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NO: 15554- Friday, August 31, 2012<br />
www.kuwaittimes.net<br />
Morsi roasts Iran<br />
TEHRAN: Leaders of the Non-<br />
Aligned Movement (NAM) pose for a<br />
family photo before the start of the<br />
NAM summit yesterday. (Inset)<br />
Iranian President Mahmoud<br />
Ahmadinejad (left) speaks to<br />
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi<br />
during the summit. — AFP<br />
Max 47º<br />
Min 33º<br />
See Page 10
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Just kiddin’, seriously<br />
Mismanaging managers<br />
Nobody leaves a bad job but people will leave a bad<br />
boss. The manager and the employee relationship is<br />
not always like bread and butter. Sometimes, if not<br />
most of the time, it’s like a predator and a prey. If you think<br />
I’m exaggerating then you would be one of those people<br />
who are lucky and haven’t come across a bad manager or a<br />
boss.<br />
There are so many kinds of managers and here are some<br />
examples:<br />
Managers who cannot work alone but can with their own<br />
team: These managers are a fatal threat to new employers.<br />
It’s like a pack of wolves that stick only with each other and<br />
reject any outsiders. The new employee will feel like he’s<br />
entering a lion’s den. This kind of manager will make the new<br />
employee’s life miserable in every sense until they push them<br />
to quit. They will intimidate him; weave untrue stories to put<br />
him in trouble until he leaves.<br />
Managers who take advantage of employees: These kinds<br />
of managers will oblige the employee to work their backside<br />
all day and night and take complete credit for it.<br />
Managers who perceive a smart employee as a threat:<br />
Some managers push the employee to the corner when they<br />
are threatened by a smarter, more knowledgeable and<br />
KUWAIT: Watermelons<br />
are piled up in front of<br />
an ‘electronics’ shop -<br />
with its signboard only<br />
in Bengali with a bit of<br />
English and no Arabic -<br />
in Hasawi. — Photo by<br />
Fouad Al-Shaikh<br />
By Sahar Moussa<br />
sahar@kuwaittimes.net<br />
charismatic employee. They feel threatened to the extent of<br />
using every trick in the book to safeguard their ‘throne’. May<br />
God have mercy on the employee.<br />
Managers who don’t appreciate a good employee and<br />
end up taking him for granted by never giving him a bonus<br />
or promotion.<br />
Managers who misuse their power and position and end<br />
up using it for their own personal advantage by sexually<br />
harassing them.<br />
Managers who are not fair and not even close to knowing<br />
what this word means, by not giving the employee his salary<br />
or any extra money for any overtime job.<br />
Managers who are workaholics and don’t have a life and<br />
assume that their employees don’t have one either.<br />
Managers who create problems and talk bad about<br />
employees, following the rule: ‘When you divide, you rule’.<br />
Managers who use employees to get what they want by<br />
manipulating them to do their dirty jobs.<br />
And finally, managers who simply excel at mismanaging.<br />
To be objective, there are managers who give you inspiration<br />
and you learn a lot from them, and consider them as<br />
leaders but I believe that they are only few. I write this column<br />
because it applies to every country and employee in the<br />
whole world. This topic deserves attention as <strong>Kuwait</strong> has a<br />
large number of expats who come from all over the world<br />
just to work here. Many silently suffer bad bosses because<br />
they have no choice. I hope that Human Resources team in<br />
every firm or company will pay more attention to helpless<br />
employees and listen to their complaints with compassion<br />
and understand where they’re coming from.<br />
To every bad boss you should know that Karma is bad too.<br />
Local<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong>’s my business<br />
D: The personality<br />
we love to hate!<br />
By John P Hayes<br />
local@kuwaittimes.net<br />
At my business seminars, the majority of attendees are<br />
Dominant personalities, as opposed to Influencers,<br />
Steadies or Compliants (also known as Competents). In<br />
business, the D personality rules! And why not? Ds are problem<br />
solvers, decision makers and goal getters. If you want to sell<br />
something, or build a business, you need Ds. The Ds are hard<br />
working and energetic. Ds aren’t troubled by challenges, or<br />
people who say “No.” The D says, “Tell me what you want done,<br />
and then get out of my way and I’ll do it!”<br />
Dominants (sometimes called Drivers) are popular because<br />
they naturally take charge and get results. They are leaders.<br />
Board Chairs, CEOs, Vice Presidents, Directors - they are almost<br />
always high D personalities. They are known for getting things<br />
done! But it’s the way they get things done that gets them into<br />
trouble. If you get between a D and his goal, you will be<br />
ignored, run over, or worse. At a minimum you will be blamed<br />
for getting in the way or slowing things down! Ds don’t like<br />
rules and regulations. They invented the saying, “Rules are<br />
made to be broken.” And they break the rules hourly.<br />
Ds are “fault finders,” and it’s never their fault.<br />
Consequently, they’re often seen as rude and selfish. They’re<br />
rarely good team players, unless they lead the team, and things<br />
will always be done their way. The D’s saving grace:<br />
Performance! Ds will make more sales, recruit more people,<br />
and climb more mountains than anyone else in the company.<br />
Perhaps it’s easy to see why other personalities clash with Ds. If<br />
you’re a people person (an Influencer), a loyal person (a<br />
Steady), or a stickler for details (a Compliant), you get easily irritated<br />
by brash Ds, both at work and at home.<br />
You can get the best of the Ds, however. And by the best, I<br />
mean you can let them do their thing while also appreciating<br />
them. A good D can’t be stopped, so put them into situations<br />
where you need results. Give them the authority to make decisions,<br />
but check on them - every day. Even the Chairman of the<br />
Board must be accountable to other board members. Most<br />
importantly, praise the Ds! In spite of their gruff exterior, they<br />
seek your praises. They want to be congratulated and rewarded.<br />
They want everyone to know - friends, family, colleagues -<br />
that they’re important. Shower the D with gifts and awards -<br />
they prefer cash! - and the D will continue to perform for you.<br />
NOTE: Dr John P. Hayes is a marketing professor at Gulf<br />
University for Science & Technology. Contact him at<br />
questions@hayesworldwide.com or via Twitter @drjohnhayes.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
By Ben Garcia<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong>’s public parks, normally<br />
used for jogging, contemplating,<br />
playing and other forms of entertainment<br />
and recreational activities, are<br />
now slowly being renewed and upgraded.<br />
Many of them have built sections<br />
dedicated for children’s playgrounds.<br />
The usually secluded or fenced-in public<br />
parks are now open, without fences or<br />
barriers. Further, improvements are<br />
ongoing and are estimated to be completed<br />
within a year. In Salmiya Park, for<br />
example, there is a new children’s corner,<br />
albeit with one problem - lighting.<br />
“It could only be used in the early morning<br />
hours since there are no lights<br />
installed for our children to see and play<br />
safely at night,” an Indian mother told<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong> <strong>Times</strong>. “You know the weather in<br />
the afternoon in <strong>Kuwait</strong>; its unbearable,<br />
so the best time for children to play is<br />
the evening. But how can they enjoy the<br />
play area if they can barely see it?” she<br />
added.<br />
Another complaint she had were the<br />
closed and filthy washrooms. “I don’t<br />
know why they leave the park without<br />
toilets - it is a necessity and they have to<br />
provide it for users. Even the smallest<br />
establishment anywhere in the world<br />
has to have washrooms. Why don’t we?”<br />
she asked.<br />
Water fountains are also installed in<br />
some public parks, as well as basketball<br />
and football courts, walking or jogging<br />
paths, and even picnic areas.<br />
Public parks in <strong>Kuwait</strong> are maintained<br />
by the municipality, supplying them<br />
with water and making sure that sur-<br />
roundings are clean and, if possible,<br />
green. There are also mini-parks in various<br />
locations and districts in <strong>Kuwait</strong>,<br />
although some of them are mere playgrounds<br />
for children, attached to known<br />
establishments. In Soukh Mubarakiya,<br />
Local<br />
Parks get kid-friendly<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong>’s public parks undergoing<br />
facelifts, new children’s playgrounds open<br />
for example, a newly renovated playground<br />
is now being used by many children<br />
from various locations. It is<br />
equipped with new amenities children<br />
can enjoy, including slides, swings, seesaws<br />
and even water fountains.<br />
— Photos by Ben Garcia
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Photos from Instagram account:<br />
SCWD<br />
Local<br />
What’s more fun than clicking a beautiful<br />
picture? Sharing it with others! This<br />
summer, let other people see the way<br />
you see <strong>Kuwait</strong> - through your lens. Friday<br />
<strong>Times</strong> will feature snapshots of <strong>Kuwait</strong> through<br />
Instagram feeds. If you want to share your<br />
Instagram photos, email us at<br />
instagram@kuwaittimes.net
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
By Nawara Fattahova<br />
Abdullah, 30, currently a government<br />
employee in a ministry,<br />
sits at his desk for five<br />
hours every day, sipping tea and<br />
reading Tweets. On rare occasions<br />
he will send out CVs to large, pri-<br />
vate companies as he seeks<br />
employment and professional<br />
growth. “The restricted growth<br />
opportunities in the public sector<br />
and the lack of trust in us as <strong>Kuwait</strong>i<br />
employees are forcing me to reconsider<br />
my options here and move<br />
back to the UK where I studied,”<br />
Abdullah said.<br />
Abdullah’s case is not isolated. In<br />
a country where two-thirds of the<br />
labour force is made up of foreigners<br />
and the government provides a<br />
cradle-to-grave social system,<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong>is who want to grow and<br />
develop are increasingly considering<br />
greener pastures. In the current<br />
post-recession mode, the social<br />
insecurity for private sector<br />
employees, the political vacuum,<br />
the continuously skyrocketing cost<br />
of living and the regional turmoil<br />
that has taken hold in the Gulf,<br />
have all conspired to create a new<br />
migratory wave for <strong>Kuwait</strong>is. Fresh<br />
graduates and other young professionals<br />
are starting to look at<br />
opportunities away from home.<br />
To exacerbate the sense of insecurity,<br />
the constant spread of<br />
rumours about possible Gulf turmoil<br />
with serious repercussions for<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong> have sent shivers down the<br />
collective <strong>Kuwait</strong>i spine. Just in the<br />
last week, a Whatsapp broadcast<br />
spread false information that the<br />
United States embassies in <strong>Kuwait</strong><br />
and Bahrain advised their citizens<br />
not to register their children in<br />
schools for this year and to send<br />
them home before Oct 2012. The<br />
American Embassy in Bahrain officially<br />
denied issuing any statement<br />
warning its citizens to leave the<br />
country before October.<br />
Some <strong>Kuwait</strong>is seek refuge from<br />
the domination of big business and<br />
contemplate moving abroad to settle,<br />
while people like Salah, a 29year-old<br />
businessman, laments the<br />
wasta. He said, “Although I am<br />
financially comfortable, I feel I am<br />
lacking many other things. I’m<br />
doing well in my business, but I’m<br />
still a small businessman in a place<br />
where all privileges go to the big<br />
businessmen from well-known families.<br />
There is no chance for competition<br />
in our country, and the situation<br />
is different elsewhere, places<br />
where they respect work and performance,<br />
rather than wasta or<br />
family position.”<br />
For Salah, settling abroad is<br />
being triggered by the dearth of<br />
equal chances between citizens in<br />
the community. “The problem of<br />
inequality exists in many different<br />
fields, not only in business,” Salah<br />
said, providing an example from his<br />
own job application experience.<br />
“Many times I tried to apply to different<br />
institutions, and although I<br />
met the conditions I didn’t succeed<br />
because I don’t have wasta,” he<br />
said. To illustrate his point, he said<br />
he once submitted a proposal for<br />
executing a project to recycle car<br />
tyres, but he never received<br />
approval. “Then I opened my<br />
Local<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong>is looking for a<br />
home away from home<br />
garage alone, without the government’s<br />
support,” he said. “All that<br />
we hear about supporting young<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong>is in starting small businesses<br />
is not true. Maybe if I demanded<br />
doing a project for cookies or cupcakes<br />
they would agree,” added<br />
Salah.<br />
He is now considering moving to<br />
France. “I have received an offer<br />
from a person I know to move to<br />
France and be paid $15,000 a<br />
month. I am really considering this<br />
offer,” he said, noting the bitter disappointment<br />
he feels due to the<br />
political and social situation in<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong>. “I have lived here for the<br />
first 29 years of my life, so why not<br />
try to shift somewhere else to see<br />
how my life could be there?” he<br />
asked.<br />
Mansour, 26, a scriptwriter and a<br />
“person of art”, as he describes himself,<br />
was actively participating in<br />
the rallies, hoping for a change in<br />
the current stagnation of the country.<br />
Today, he says he is facing the<br />
dilemma to either stay in <strong>Kuwait</strong>,<br />
receive all the social benefits the<br />
country offers and “pass time”, or<br />
move somewhere else where he<br />
has a chance to become someone.<br />
“My craft is unique and you cannot<br />
make it here,” he says.<br />
Meanwhile, Nawaf, 32, has a relative<br />
who has lived in France for<br />
over 20 years. He explained that<br />
his father’s uncle, at over 60 years<br />
of age, is now working in a popular<br />
international institute in France<br />
representing <strong>Kuwait</strong>. After he<br />
retired, he decided to stay there<br />
with his two children. “Here he<br />
owns a house which he is renting<br />
and doesn’t want to come to live<br />
here. Before moving he was a<br />
teacher at <strong>Kuwait</strong> University. His<br />
uncle married a British woman<br />
when he was in <strong>Kuwait</strong> and moved<br />
with her. The fact that it’s been<br />
easy for him to adapt to life<br />
abroad means that it is not so<br />
hard,” Nawaf said.<br />
Nawaf, however, finds constantly<br />
moving has made another of his<br />
relatives less happy. He tells the<br />
story of his single 55-year-old<br />
uncle, who has to change locations<br />
every four years because of his<br />
work for the <strong>Kuwait</strong> Airways<br />
Corporation in their different<br />
branches around the world.<br />
“He moves to different countries,<br />
mostly in Asia and Europe. For<br />
more than 20 years he has been living<br />
in these countries and has never<br />
come back to <strong>Kuwait</strong>. Only during<br />
Ramadan he comes and rents a<br />
room in a hotel. He is not married<br />
and I feel sad for him,” he said.<br />
(Velina Nacheva contributed to this<br />
report)
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
By Nawara Fattahova<br />
The annual pearl diving organized by the<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong> Sea Sports Club (KSSC) and held<br />
from Aug 23-30, 2012 concluded yesterday<br />
at the club with the welcoming of the participants’<br />
families. This year the trip was shortened<br />
to one week due to the holy month of<br />
Ramadan and Eid. The divers returned from<br />
their expedition with 500 pearls of varying sizes.<br />
Celebrating its 24th year of preserving <strong>Kuwait</strong>i<br />
tradition, nine traditional dhows were used in<br />
this year’s diving trip, carrying about 160 young<br />
men. The annual pearl diving is held under the<br />
patronage of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-<br />
Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.<br />
Not only were the sailors happy about participating<br />
in this activity, but so were their family<br />
members. “This is the second time for my<br />
brother to participate in the pearl diving trip.<br />
He is 16 years old and he also participated last<br />
year. Although we missed him a lot around the<br />
house, especially since he is my only brother,<br />
I’m happy he participated. I think this traditional<br />
activity teaches him to depend upon himself<br />
and be strong in any situation. He loves the sea,<br />
so he enjoys going along on this trip. We<br />
encouraged him to participate,” Ghaida, a sister<br />
of one of the divers told <strong>Kuwait</strong> times.<br />
Older people were reminded of their past<br />
during the gathering. “My 17 year old grandson,<br />
Abdulrahman, is participating in the pearl diving<br />
trip for the first time. I think it’s great, as it<br />
shows the new generation how we lived in the<br />
past before the oil era. I heard from my father<br />
about the pearl diving, which was difficult at<br />
that time and lasted for many months. Today,<br />
everything is easy and the young people should<br />
know how their fathers lived. I love the idea of<br />
this activity and I think all young men should try<br />
it,” said Um Khalil.<br />
Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs Jamal<br />
Shehab, representing the Amir during the ceremony,<br />
praised the achievements of the participants.<br />
“This year’s collection of pearls<br />
was better than in previous<br />
years. Also, there<br />
are seasoned divers and<br />
captains participating<br />
on this trip to share their<br />
experiences with the<br />
young divers,” he pointed<br />
out. “This activity<br />
awakens different emotions<br />
in me, as a <strong>Kuwait</strong>i,<br />
and it reminds me of our<br />
fathers’ work. We call it an<br />
activity today, while it was<br />
a source of living in the<br />
past. Celebrating this day<br />
expresses our respect to the<br />
past and traditions. This<br />
activity teaches self-confidence and strengthens<br />
the young people’s love of their country. It<br />
also teaches them teamwork. The government<br />
should support the KSSC to help it organize this<br />
traditional activity every year,” he added.<br />
Director General of the Public Authority for<br />
Youth and Sports (PAYS) Faisal Al-Jazzaf said<br />
that the participants returned safely and<br />
learned of their <strong>Kuwait</strong>i heritage during the diving<br />
trip. “PAYS always supports the activities of<br />
our youth, and pearl diving is one of the most<br />
significant activities. Pearl diving connects the<br />
past with the present. The sea heritage of old<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong> represents the main pillar or base on<br />
which the modern economy of <strong>Kuwait</strong> was<br />
built. And I would like to thank everybody who<br />
supported these young men in their trip,” he<br />
stressed. After the dhows arrived on the beach<br />
at KSSC, the divers were welcomed by their<br />
family members. Some of the participants then<br />
performed a traditional <strong>Kuwait</strong>i maritime song<br />
and dance routine.<br />
Local<br />
Young pearl divers return to shore<br />
— Photos by Joseph Shagra
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
LONDON: HH the Amir of <strong>Kuwait</strong> Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-<br />
Sabah left yesterday for the United States on a private visit. The Amir was<br />
seen off here by National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi, <strong>Kuwait</strong>’s<br />
Ambassador to the UK Khaled Al-Duwaisan and other officials. — KUNA<br />
AMMAN: Jordan said <strong>Kuwait</strong> has<br />
agreed to donate $1.25 billion for<br />
Jordanian development projects.<br />
Planning Ministry Secretary<br />
General Saleh Kharabsheh said the<br />
money will be spent on water,<br />
renewable energy and other crucial<br />
projects. A planning ministry<br />
statement said the first batch of<br />
$250 million will be dispersed<br />
soon through the <strong>Kuwait</strong>i Fund for<br />
Arab Economic Development. It<br />
said Jordan will receive a similar<br />
amount every year until 2016.<br />
The statement said an agreement<br />
to that effect was signed in<br />
Amman yesterday. With limited<br />
resources, Jordan depends on foreign<br />
donations to keep its sluggish<br />
economy afloat. Jordan’s<br />
longtime ally, the United States, is<br />
the largest aid donor to the Arab<br />
kingdom, with contributions<br />
exceeding $10 billion in the last<br />
decade. — AP<br />
KUWAIT: Director General of the Directorate General of Civil<br />
Aviation (DGCA) Fawaz Al-Farah said yesterday that the directorate<br />
has recently completed the construction of four new<br />
departure gates at <strong>Kuwait</strong> International Airport (KIA). Al-Farah<br />
told KUNA that these gates include lounges for departing<br />
passengers and directly overlook the aircraft runway. The<br />
gates are reached by buses that ferry passengers back and<br />
forth.<br />
He said that these gates include numbers (9) and (10) in<br />
the south-eastern terminal and (27) and (28) in the southwestern<br />
terminal of the building.<br />
He said that the addition of these new gates will lift the<br />
terminals’ capacity by 40 percent to keep pace with the continuous<br />
increase of air traffic and number of passengers at<br />
KIA. Farah noted that the directorate is currently working on<br />
the completion of the contractual procedures to schedule<br />
additional renovations and is awaiting the approval of funds<br />
in the state budget in order to sign a contract for this project<br />
with the winning company. — KUNA<br />
Local<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong> donates<br />
$1.25bn to Jordan<br />
Money to be used on crucial projects<br />
AMMAN: KFAED and Jordanian officials sign an agreement yesterday.<br />
— KUNA<br />
4 new departure gates<br />
open at <strong>Kuwait</strong> Airport<br />
Qatar’s Rasgas hit<br />
by computer virus<br />
DUBAI: Qatar’s Rasgas has found a virus in its office computer<br />
network, the world’s second-biggest liquefied natural gas<br />
(LNG) exporter said yesterday, just two weeks after the<br />
world’s biggest oil producer in neighbouring Saudi Arabia<br />
was hacked into.<br />
“The company’s office computers have been affected by<br />
an unknown virus ... It was first identified on Monday,”<br />
Rasgas, one of two Qatari LNG producers, said in a statement.<br />
“Operational systems both onsite and offshore are secure and<br />
this does not affect production at the Ras Laffan Industrial<br />
City plant or scheduled cargoes.”<br />
It was not clear whether Rasgas has been victim of the<br />
same malicious software or hacker group that targeted about<br />
30,000 desktop PCs at Saudi Aramco on Aug 15. Saudi<br />
Aramco also said oil production and key data were unaffected<br />
by the intrusion into its office networks by a virus thought<br />
designed to wipe files from desktop hard drives. But two<br />
weeks on, the Saudi Aramco website www.aramco.com<br />
which was taken offline by the company to limit options for<br />
further attacks, remained down yesterday. — Reuters<br />
Bahrain police<br />
charged over<br />
teenager’s death<br />
DUBAI: A Bahrain policeman has been<br />
charged over shooting dead a Shiite<br />
teenager when a group of protesters<br />
attacked security forces with petrol<br />
bombs, an investigator said. The public<br />
prosecution “accused the policeman who<br />
opened fire on one of the attackers of<br />
premeditated murder,” said official,<br />
Nawaf Hamza, late on Wednesday,<br />
according to BNA state news agency. He<br />
said the accused was released but has<br />
been banned from travel. His name and<br />
nationality have not been revealed. But<br />
the public prosecution issued a later<br />
statement saying the charge against the<br />
policeman was “preliminary”, pending an<br />
investigation which so far shows the<br />
killing was “likely a case of self defence”.<br />
Sixteen-year-old Shiite Hussam Al-<br />
Haddad died of his injuries on August 17,<br />
after police opened fire under attack from<br />
petrol bombs in Sunni-dominated<br />
Muharraq, close to the capital, according<br />
to the interior ministry. The Sunni-ruled<br />
kingdom, home to the US Fifth Fleet and<br />
strategically situated across the Gulf from<br />
Iran, has continued to witness sporadic<br />
Shiite-led demonstrations mostly outside<br />
the capital since it crushed a pro-democracy<br />
uprising in March last year. Hamza<br />
said the investigation revealed that police<br />
fired warning shots at 25 to 30 protesters<br />
attacking their patrol with petrol bombs,<br />
and that the defendant shot Haddad as<br />
he was about to hit him from close range<br />
with a Molotov cocktail. The ministry had<br />
said at the time that security forces acted<br />
in self-defence. — AFP
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
15<br />
New Orleans<br />
levees<br />
17<br />
hold<br />
as Isaac floods<br />
Gulf coast 18<br />
Twin typhoons<br />
raise fears in<br />
disaster-prone<br />
N Korea<br />
Romney’s speech<br />
to Republican<br />
convention to be<br />
vital moment<br />
TEHRAN: Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi (centre) delivers his speech as his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (left) and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh look on during<br />
the Non-Alligned Movement (NAM) summit yesterday. — AFP<br />
Syria’s ‘oppressive regime’ must go<br />
Iran summit stumbles on nuclear, Syria criticism<br />
TEHRAN: A showpiece summit hosted by Iran<br />
stumbled as soon as it opened yesterday when<br />
the head of the UN pressed Tehran on its<br />
nuclear stand, and Egypt’s new leader publicly<br />
sided with Syria’s opposition. The double challenge,<br />
before the leaders and delegates of the<br />
120-member Non-Aligned Movement, upset<br />
Iran’s plans to portray the two-day summit as a<br />
diplomatic triumph over Western efforts to isolate<br />
it. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<br />
opened the event with a speech blasting the<br />
United States as a hegemonic meddler and<br />
Israel as a regime of “Zionist wolves.”<br />
He also stated that his country “is never<br />
seeking nuclear weapons” and accused the UN<br />
Security Council, under US influence, of exerting<br />
an “overt dictatorship” over the world. UN<br />
chief Ban Ki-moon, who looked irritated at<br />
Khamenei’s remarks, shot back that Iran should<br />
boost global confidence in its nuclear activities<br />
by “fully complying with the relevant (UN)<br />
Security Council resolutions and thoroughly<br />
cooperating with the IAEA,” the UN’s nuclear<br />
watchdog. He warned about the current state<br />
of bellicose rhetoric coming from Israel and<br />
Iran, saying “a war of words can quickly spiral<br />
into a war of violence.” Egypt’s new President<br />
Mohamed Morsi-making the first visit to Iran by<br />
an Egyptian head of state since the 1979 Islamic<br />
revolution-in turn embarrassed his hosts by<br />
voicing support for the opposition in Syria,<br />
which is fighting the Damascus regime unwaveringly<br />
backed by Iran.<br />
“The revolution in Egypt is the cornerstone<br />
for the Arab Spring, which started days after<br />
Tunisia and then it was followed by Libya and<br />
Yemen and now the revolution in Syria against<br />
its oppressive regime,” Morsi said. That contradicted<br />
the line put out by Damascus and<br />
Tehran, which assert that the Syrian uprising is<br />
a “terrorist” plot masterminded by the United<br />
States and regional countries.<br />
Morsi’s address prompted a walkout by the<br />
Syrian government delegation and drew a<br />
sharp response from Syria’s Foreign Minister<br />
Walid Muallem, who accused the Egyptian<br />
leader of inciting further bloodshed in Syria.<br />
Iran’s state media failed to mention the contentious<br />
parts of Ban and Morsi’s speeches in<br />
their coverage of the summit. Morsi reportedly<br />
had a short one-on-one with Iranian President<br />
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before leaving Tehran,<br />
in which they discussed Syria and possibility of<br />
reviving ties.<br />
Iran nuclear activity under UN scrutiny<br />
The summit to-and-fro over Iran’s nuclear<br />
ambitions had its roots in an unusually frank<br />
meeting Ban held with Khamenei and<br />
Ahmadinejad after arriving on Wednesday. Ban<br />
told them Iran needed to provide “concrete”<br />
steps to ease the international showdown<br />
which has raised the spectre of airstrikes on<br />
nuclear facilities, threatened by both Israel and<br />
the United States. Tensions have been raised by<br />
the International Atomic Energy Agency unveiling<br />
a new Iran “task force” to scrutinise Tehran’s<br />
nuclear programme and its compliance with<br />
UN resolutions. Additionally, the latest IAEA<br />
report on Iran’s nuclear progress was expected<br />
to be released this week-possibly even during<br />
the Tehran summit. The report is said to highlight<br />
expanded enrichment in Iran and suspicions<br />
concerning an off-limits military base in<br />
Parchin, outside Tehran, where warhead design<br />
experiments might have taken place.<br />
Ban, whose presence at the summit had<br />
been criticised by the United States and Israel,<br />
also took Iran’s leaders to task for recent comments<br />
calling Israel a “cancerous tumour” that<br />
should be cut out of the Middle East. He urged<br />
both Iran and Israel to cool the bellicose language.<br />
“I strongly reject any threat by any (UN)<br />
member state to destroy another, or outrageous<br />
comments to deny historical facts such as<br />
the Holocaust,” Ban said in his summit speech.<br />
“Claiming another UN member state does<br />
not have the right to exist or describe it in racist<br />
terms is not only utterly wrong but undermines<br />
the very principles we have all pledged to<br />
uphold,” he said. “I urge all the parties to stop<br />
provocative and inflammatory threats. A war of<br />
words can quickly spiral into war of violence.<br />
Bluster can so easily become bloodshed. Now is<br />
the time for all the leaders to use their voices to<br />
lower, not raise, tensions,” he said. A total of 29<br />
heads of state or government are attending the<br />
Tehran summit, including those of Afghanistan,<br />
India, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Palestinian<br />
Authority, Sudan, Qatar and Zimbabwe. North<br />
Korea was represented by its ceremonial head<br />
of state, parliamentary president Kim Yong-<br />
Nam, rather than the country’s leader Kim<br />
Jong-Un. — AFP
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security<br />
Council warned yesterday against<br />
attempts to threaten the security and<br />
stability of Lebanon amid outbursts of<br />
violence and escalating tensions in the<br />
country fueled by the 17-month conflict<br />
in neighboring Syria. The warning<br />
was contained in a resolution unanimously<br />
passed by the council to renew<br />
a 11,500-strong UN peacekeeping force<br />
in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL and based<br />
in a Hezbollah stronghold in the south<br />
to monitor a cessation of hostilities<br />
with Israel.<br />
The resolution condemned “all<br />
attempts to threaten the security and<br />
stability of Lebanon, reaffirming its<br />
determination to ensure that no such<br />
acts of intimidation will prevent UNIFIL<br />
from implementing its mandate.” A<br />
roadside bomb wounded five French<br />
peacekeepers in southern Lebanon in<br />
December, one of several attacks on<br />
the UN force last year. France blamed<br />
Syria for the attack, saying it had acted<br />
through its Lebanese ally, powerful<br />
Shi’ite Muslim militant group<br />
Hezbollah.<br />
Syria, which has had far-reaching<br />
influence in Lebanon for decades,<br />
denied any links to the attack. Syrian<br />
President Bashar al-Assad withdrew<br />
troops from Lebanon in 2005 after a 29year<br />
presence and Hezbollah remains a<br />
strong ally. France, Lebanon’s former<br />
colonial power, has contributed the<br />
largest number of troops to the UN<br />
peacekeeping force and is increasingly<br />
concerned the Syrian crisis-which<br />
International<br />
UN warns against threats to Lebanon<br />
Fall of Maldives<br />
president not a<br />
‘coup’, claims panel<br />
COLOMBO: A Commonwealth-backed investigation in the<br />
Maldives yesterday dismissed claims that a coup forced<br />
Mohamed Nasheed from the presidency in February and<br />
declared it was a legitimate transfer of power. The panel’s report<br />
concluded that Nasheed, who alleged he was ousted in a coup,<br />
had resigned voluntarily-a judgment promptly rejected by his<br />
party which staged another street protest and clashed with<br />
police.<br />
The Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI), consisting of four<br />
nationals named by political parties and a Singaporean judge<br />
nominated by the Commonwealth, found the change of president<br />
was “legal and constitutional”. “The resignation of President<br />
Nasheed was voluntary and of his own free will,” it said in a 62page<br />
report which was also signed by a Canadian and New<br />
Zealander who functioned as observers for the UN and the<br />
Commonwealth.<br />
Nasheed’s departure “was not caused by any illegal coercion<br />
or intimidation,” the report said. Nasheed has previously told his<br />
supporters that it would be legitimate to challenge the current<br />
government through “street action” if the report rejected his<br />
claims that he was overthrown in a military and police coup.<br />
Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) activists took to the<br />
streets yesterday night in a repeat of protests that have gripped<br />
the capital Male for the past six months.<br />
Police Superintendent Abdulla Nawaz said they arrested at<br />
least 23 activists. “They have assaulted one of our officers and<br />
damaged the windows of a police vehicle,” Nawaz said when<br />
contacted by telephone. MDP activists said about 50 of their supporters<br />
had been arrested within a two-hour period and accused<br />
police of clamping down on their nightly street demonstration.<br />
“We will keep up our campaign to press for early elections,”<br />
MDP spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor told AFP by telephone.<br />
He rejected the CoNI report as a “total outrage”. However, both<br />
the Commonwealth and the United States welcomed the report.<br />
“We urge all parties to respect those findings, to exercise<br />
restraint, obey the rule of law, and continue to express themselves<br />
in a peaceful and non-violent manner,” the US state<br />
department said in a statement.<br />
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said that<br />
“the task ahead for all Maldivians must be to strengthen democracy”.<br />
“An atmosphere of peace and public order is essential for<br />
that to happen,” he said. Nasheed’s nominee on the CoNI panel<br />
resigned late on Wednesday saying that it had ignored vital evidence,<br />
including photographs and videos. —AP<br />
MALE: A supporter of former president Mohammed<br />
Nasheed is detained during a protest after the commission<br />
of national inquiry released its report yesterday. — AP<br />
SYDNEY: Rescuers plucked 55 survivors<br />
from the ocean yesterday, more than a<br />
day after an asylum-seeker boat heading<br />
for Australia disappeared off the<br />
Indonesian coast with 150 people<br />
aboard. After Indonesia abandoned its<br />
search, six people were rescued<br />
overnight by a cargo ship and 49 more<br />
were pulled from the water by an<br />
Australian navy crew after being located<br />
by spotter planes late yesterday. “The<br />
vessels have recovered 55 survivors.<br />
Three have serious injuries but are in a<br />
stable condition,” the Australian<br />
Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said,<br />
adding that the search was being scaled<br />
back.<br />
“Vessels will remain on scene<br />
overnight, but have limited search capability<br />
until daylight Friday.” The head of<br />
Indonesia’s rescue mission at Merak port<br />
in western Java said it appeared that<br />
one of the survivors had been bitten by<br />
a shark. Indonesia’s National Search and<br />
Rescue Agency (Basarnas) received an<br />
alert from AMSA early Wednesday that a<br />
boat was in distress between Java and<br />
Sumatra, 220 nautical miles from the<br />
Australian territory of Christmas Island.<br />
Basarnas sent two police rescue<br />
boats and a helicopter but found noth-<br />
ing and returned to base, only for AMSA<br />
to task the cargo ship APL Bahrain,<br />
which responded to an earlier broadcast<br />
to shipping, to attend a broader search<br />
area. The captain of the Bahrain said<br />
screams and whistles alerted his crew as<br />
it scoured the Sunda Strait in darkness.<br />
“We were doing scheduled searching.<br />
At the last moment when I was<br />
thinking to abort, I heard some noises,<br />
and we spotted them in the water,”<br />
Captain Manuel Nistorescu told the<br />
Sydney Morning Herald’s website. “I<br />
(sent) a crew to get them and it was not<br />
easy... It was dark.” He said the rescued<br />
men appeared to be in good condition,<br />
adding that they said the pump on their<br />
boat failed and the vessel began taking<br />
on water. “They had an engine break<br />
and the water was coming, and the<br />
pump for pumping out the water was<br />
not working and the boat sinks. This is<br />
what I understand from them,” he said.<br />
Australian Home Affairs Minister<br />
Jason Clare said there were serious concerns<br />
for those still missing, who include<br />
women and children. “We have grave<br />
fears for a lot more,” he said. “Don’t<br />
underestimate how hard it is to find<br />
people in the middle of the sea.” AMSA<br />
said the survivors were expected to be<br />
began as peaceful pro-democracy<br />
protests-could spread into Lebanon.<br />
In an annual foreign policy speech<br />
on Monday, French President Francois<br />
Hollande said a solution to the Syrian<br />
crisis had to be found before it spread<br />
beyond its borders.<br />
“I realize the difficulty of the task<br />
and the risks, but what is at stake goes<br />
far beyond Syria,” he said. “It concerns<br />
the entire security of the Middle East<br />
and especially the independence and<br />
stability of Lebanon.” —Reuters<br />
SYDNEY: A poster promoting an Australian television documentary “Go back to where you came from” a campaign for<br />
refugee rights are dispayed on a street board yesterday. — AFP<br />
55 rescued from missing<br />
Indonesia asylum boat<br />
Rush of asylum-seekers before Australian crackdown<br />
taken to Merak in Indonesia’s Java for<br />
medical attention. An Indonesian rescue<br />
boat carrying doctors was steaming to<br />
the area where the boat sank along with<br />
a police ship.<br />
Four merchant vessels were continuing<br />
the search alongside HMAS Maitland<br />
and two Australian P3 Orion aircraft.<br />
Australia is facing a steady influx of asylum-seekers<br />
arriving by boat, many of<br />
whom use Indonesia as a transit hub,<br />
paying people-smugglers for passage<br />
on leaky wooden vessels after fleeing<br />
their home countries.<br />
Canberra this month said 300 boatpeople<br />
had died en route to the country<br />
this year, with vessels being intercepted<br />
by the Australian navy on almost a daily<br />
basis. Two weeks ago, Canberra<br />
announced its intention to transfer asylum-seekers<br />
to Nauru and Papua New<br />
Guinea in the Pacific as part of a tough<br />
new policy to deter them from making<br />
the dangerous sea voyage. But more<br />
than 1,000 boatpeople have arrived<br />
since the policy was adopted. “My message<br />
to them is, don’t get on the boat,”<br />
said Clare. “What we’ve seen today is<br />
there is a real risk people will die... that<br />
people will end up at the bottom of the<br />
sea.” — AFP
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
LAGOS: This file photo shows a Nigeria secret service officer<br />
standing guard during a court hearing. — AP<br />
Nigeria secret police<br />
details leaked: Report<br />
LAGOS: Personnel records of former and current members of<br />
Nigeria’s top domestic spy agency, including home addresses<br />
and names of immediate family members, leaked onto the<br />
Internet in a threatening message that claimed to come from a<br />
radical Islamist sect that’s killed hundreds of people this year<br />
alone, The Associated Press has learned. The leak of personal<br />
data of more than 60 past and current employees of Nigeria’s<br />
State Security Service remained easily accessible on the Internet<br />
for days and had details about the agency’s director-general,<br />
including his mobile phone number, bank account particulars<br />
and contact information for his son.<br />
Many of agents listed who could be reached by the AP said<br />
they received no official warning from the spy agency that their<br />
information had been posted online nor been otherwise alerted.<br />
The material has been deleted from the comment section of<br />
a website, but the security breach astonished spy service veterans<br />
and calls into question whether Nigeria’s intelligence community,<br />
whose agents already have released suspected terrorists<br />
out of religious and ethnic sympathies, are too compromised<br />
from within to stop the violence now plaguing Africa’s<br />
most populous nation.<br />
A senior Nigerian intelligence official said authorities were<br />
aware that the leak had happened and that many were embarrassed<br />
by it. He spoke on condition of anonymity as information<br />
about the leak was not to have been made public. Marilyn<br />
Ogar, a spokeswoman for the State Security Service, declined to<br />
answer questions Thursday about the posting of the information.<br />
The State Security Service, created in 1986 by then-military<br />
ruler Gen Ibrahim Babangida, monitors domestic dissent in<br />
Nigeria, an oil-rich nation of more than 160 million people.<br />
Though geared toward stopping terrorism and destabilizing<br />
coups, the agency routinely faces criticism for targeting government<br />
critics. In Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, the agency operates out<br />
of cars made to look like the many green taxis that roam the<br />
streets. Plain-clothed agents of the service routinely question<br />
foreign journalists at airports, border crossings and on city<br />
streets if they see reporters conducting interviews. Agents carrying<br />
assault rifles often guard major events in the country.<br />
Many agents for the typically secretive agency are preoccupied<br />
with concealing their identities, as most try to blend unnoticed<br />
into society. The information leak came in two postings<br />
earlier this month on a website that provides rewritten news on<br />
Nigeria. The first posting threatened to kill agents of the State<br />
Security Service on behalf of Boko Haram, a radical Islamist sect<br />
responsible for more than 660 killings this year alone in Nigeria.<br />
The second posting simply offered a block of text containing<br />
biographical and other details about the agents.<br />
Though the comments have been removed, the AP is not<br />
identifying the website involved as cached versions of the comments<br />
remain online and intelligence service agents have been<br />
killed by Boko Haram members in the past. The list includes former<br />
and current agents across the country, including Director-<br />
General Ekpeyong Ita. Those reached by the AP who were willing<br />
to talk expressed disbelief that sensitive information like<br />
that could make its way to the Internet.<br />
“I was shocked to see my details posted on the Internet,”<br />
said one former agent, who declined to be named out of safety<br />
concerns. “I’ve not heard anything from anybody. I was surprised<br />
that such information could be leaked.” Another man on<br />
the list said he simply once served as a doctor to help the<br />
agency on an on call basis only. The list appeared to include<br />
lower-ranking agents, as well as one-time state directors for the<br />
agency.—AP<br />
MIAMI: Prosecutors in the<br />
Guantanamo war crimes tribunals have<br />
filed new terrorism charges against a<br />
Saudi prisoner accused of plotting with<br />
Al-Qaeda to blow up oil tankers off the<br />
coast of Yemen, the Pentagon said on<br />
Wednesday.<br />
Ahmed al Darbi could face life in<br />
prison if convicted on six charges that<br />
include conspiracy, aiding and abetting<br />
the hazarding of a vessel and aiding<br />
and abetting terrorism. Darbi, 37, is<br />
accused of working as a weapons<br />
instructor at an Al-Qaeda camp in<br />
Afghanistan in the late 1990s and meeting<br />
al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden<br />
there. He also is charged with abetting<br />
a plot to bomb civilian tankers in the<br />
Strait of Hormuz and off the coast of<br />
Yemen from 2000 to 2002.<br />
Specifically, he is accused of using al<br />
Qaeda money to buy a boat and GPS<br />
navigational devices and helping<br />
obtain travel documents for al Qaeda<br />
operatives. He also is accused of abet-<br />
ting the plot to bomb a French oil<br />
tanker, the MV Limburg, off Yemen in<br />
2002. The blast killed a Bulgarian crewman<br />
and dumped tens of thousands of<br />
gallons of oil into the Gulf of Aden.<br />
“Mr Al-Darbi’s alleged crimes are<br />
serious violations of the law of war that<br />
were committed to terrorize and wreak<br />
havoc on the world economy,”<br />
Brigadier General Mark Martins, the<br />
chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo<br />
tribunals, said in a statement. Darbi’s<br />
lawyer did not immediately respond to<br />
a request for comment on Wednesday.<br />
Darbi, who was captured in<br />
Azerbaijan in 2002, said previously said<br />
he used his boat only to carry sheep<br />
across the Strait of Hormuz. If Darbi<br />
were to plead guilty and cooperate<br />
with Guantanamo prosecutors in<br />
exchange for leniency, he could be a<br />
useful witness against another prisoner<br />
facing death penalty charges stemming<br />
from al Qaeda attacks on vessels.<br />
That prisoner, alleged al Qaeda<br />
International<br />
US charges Saudi at Gitmo with<br />
plotting to bomb oil tankers<br />
Prisoner Ahmed Al-Darbi could face life in prison<br />
Palestinians<br />
backtrack<br />
on bid for<br />
UN upgrade<br />
RAMALLAH: Palestinian officials yesterday<br />
appeared to backtrack on a pledge to make a fresh<br />
bid for upgraded UN membership on September<br />
27. Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian<br />
president Mahmud Abbas, told AFP the date<br />
would be decided next week when Abbas meets<br />
the Arab League in Cairo. “The president will have<br />
Palestinian, Arab and international consultations to<br />
set a date for the UN bid to present the request for<br />
non-member state status for Palestine,” he said.<br />
“After the Tehran summit, the president will go<br />
to Cairo to attend the Arab League follow-up committee<br />
meeting on September 5 and 6 which will<br />
set a date for the Palestinian bid seeking a status<br />
upgrade to non-member state.” Abbas was yesterday<br />
at a Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran<br />
where members are expected to vote on a political<br />
declaration endorsing Palestinian plans for<br />
upgrading their status from observer entity to a<br />
non-member observer state.<br />
Last September, Abbas made a high-profile<br />
effort to obtain full member status for Palestine at<br />
the UN, but the request was never put to a vote in<br />
the Security Council where the United States had<br />
pledged to veto it. The outcome of the NAM summit<br />
would have a “big effect” on Palestinian plans,<br />
Abu Rudeina said. “The decisions taken at the NAM<br />
summit will have a big effect on the bid to seek<br />
non-member UN status for Palestine,” he said,<br />
without explaining further.<br />
On August 4, Palestinian foreign minister Riyad<br />
al-Malki had said Abbas would make the upgrade<br />
request on September 27 during the UN General<br />
Assembly. “In the upcoming session of the General<br />
Assembly next month, President Abbas will speak<br />
about this on the 27th. Palestine will apply immediately<br />
to the UN, and the head of the General<br />
Assembly will be informed that Palestine wants to<br />
obtain non-member status,” he told reporters.<br />
“After that, we will begin communicating with all<br />
components of the General Assembly to talk about<br />
the appropriate date” for a vote on the issue. Nimr<br />
Hammad, political adviser to Abbas said the UN<br />
upgrade request would definitely go ahead, but<br />
confirmed the date would only be set “in the<br />
upcoming weeks.” —AFP<br />
chieftain Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, is<br />
accused in the plot to attack the<br />
Limburg, as well as sending suicide<br />
bombers to ram a boat full of explosives<br />
into the side of the USS Cole in the<br />
Port of Aden in 2000. The attack on the<br />
US warship killed 17 sailors. Charges<br />
similar to those announced on<br />
Wednesday were filed against Darbi in<br />
2007 and referred for trial in 2008 in the<br />
Guantanamo war crimes tribunals. A<br />
lawyer familiar with the original charges<br />
said Darbi was given $50,000 of al<br />
Qaeda money to further the boats plot<br />
but spent a lot of it on prostitutes and<br />
drugs.<br />
Those charges were dismissed in<br />
2009 to give the Obama administration<br />
time to review its Guantanamo policy.<br />
President Barack Obama tried unsuccessfully<br />
to shut down the<br />
Guantanamo detention camp, which<br />
still holds 168 foreign prisoners, and<br />
move the prosecutions into US civilian<br />
courts. — Reuters<br />
ISTANBUL: Turkish soldiers march during a military parade marking the 90th<br />
anniversary of Victory Day yesterday. Turkey commemorates the anniversary<br />
of the day in 1922 that marked the end of Turkey’s independence war with a<br />
victory over Greek occupation troops in Anatolia. — AFP<br />
Tunisia media accuses<br />
govt of clampdown<br />
TUNIS: Tunisian journalists and media<br />
figures yesterday accused the government<br />
of clamping down on freedom of<br />
expression, as the Islamist-led state is<br />
criticised for tightening its grip on the<br />
press. Two state-run newspapers said<br />
their new director, who they consider<br />
too close to the ruling Ennahda party,<br />
censored an article they were to publish<br />
criticising his appointment by the government.<br />
And the head of a TV channel<br />
gave himself up to the authorities yesterday<br />
under an arrest warrant, claiming<br />
this was ordered in retaliation for a political<br />
satire show his station aired.<br />
International NGOs have recently criticised<br />
the Tunis government for seeking<br />
to manipulate the media, including by<br />
appointing new directors to head public<br />
media groups without consulting their<br />
staff.<br />
“This is harassment,” a journalist and<br />
unionist said of the alleged censorship<br />
by state-owned Dar Assabah press group<br />
director Lotfi Touati of newspapers Le<br />
Temps and Essabah. The two dailies were<br />
to run an article criticising Touati’s recent<br />
appointment to his position by the gov-<br />
ernment, but he stopped it being printed<br />
overnight Wednesday and called the<br />
police to the office, Sana Farhat told AFP.<br />
“The new heads want to control the<br />
newspapers’ editorial line,” Farhat<br />
added, accusing the director of taking<br />
orders from the government. She said<br />
the article, which was also to announce a<br />
September 11 strike, was replaced by<br />
commercials. Meanwhile Sami Fehri,<br />
head of Ettounsiya TV, turned himself in<br />
to the attorney general’s office almost a<br />
week after his arrest warrant was issued,<br />
his lawyer told AFP.<br />
In a video statement released during<br />
the night, Fehri said he was going to the<br />
attorney general to allege unlawful prosecution<br />
and an attack on freedom of<br />
expression. “Freedom of expression with<br />
which we live since January 14 (2011, the<br />
day Ben Ali fled Tunisia) is threatened,”<br />
said Fehri. He believes his arrest was<br />
ordered because of his channel’s satirical<br />
puppet show, which was recently and<br />
abruptly halted allegedly under pressure<br />
from the authorities. Fehri last week told<br />
Express FM radio he would not fight the<br />
warrant.—AFP
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
International<br />
Former rebel bastion now battleground in Angolan vote<br />
HUAMBO: Once the stronghold of the feared Unita<br />
rebels, Angola’s second city Huambo has emerged<br />
as a key battlefield in Friday’s general elections as<br />
the party struggles in politics to regain its territory.<br />
“This year the battle is going to be competitive. The<br />
ruling party is no longer certain of easy victory, and<br />
its historic rival needs to prove that it can still<br />
mobilise” its supporters, said Alicerces Mango, a<br />
local official with the new Casa opposition party.<br />
Huambo resonates with symbolism from the 27year<br />
civil war. As the stronghold of the Union for the<br />
Total Independence of Angola (Unita), the city of<br />
400,000 people suffered some of the war’s most<br />
crushing battles. The southern city infamously lived<br />
under siege for 50 days. After the war, Huambo was<br />
left devastated.<br />
It finally fell to President Jose Eduardo dos Santos<br />
and the ruling MPLA in 2008 elections, when the<br />
People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola<br />
won the province’s five seats in parliament. That vic-<br />
MOMBASA: Local tourists walk at the Kenyatta public beach yesterday. — AFP<br />
Kenyan prez visits<br />
riot-hit port city<br />
MOMBASA: Kenyan President Mwai<br />
Kibaki arrived in the port city of<br />
Mombasa yesterday after days of violence<br />
sparked by the killing of a radical<br />
Muslim cleric, as authorities insisted<br />
security has been restored. Hundreds of<br />
armed security officers have been<br />
deployed in Mombasa to quash stonethrowing<br />
rioters who took to the streets<br />
in their hundreds following the assassination<br />
of preacher Aboud Rogo<br />
Mohammed on Monday.<br />
“We have tightened security, we<br />
have enough security forces,” said<br />
regional police chief Aggrey Adoli,<br />
speaking a day after attackers hurled a<br />
grenade at a police truck, wounding at<br />
least four officers. “We have not had<br />
problems today.” The attack, in which<br />
the Red Cross said one person was<br />
killed, was the second such blast since<br />
riots broke out on Monday, with an earlier<br />
grenade killing three policemen on<br />
Tuesday.<br />
Kibaki flew to Mombasa to open an<br />
agricultural trade fair, a longstanding<br />
engagement, but one which is also<br />
viewed as a government effort to show<br />
confidence in security in the city,<br />
Kenya’s main port and a key tourist<br />
hub. For two days, angry youths fought<br />
running battles with police, looting<br />
churches and torching cars. But Muslim<br />
leaders said yesterday the situation had<br />
improved, with many businesses closed<br />
during the rioting now open. “Things<br />
are much calmer after last night’s house<br />
to house searches by the police...<br />
Mombasa is slowly returning to normal,”<br />
said Khalid Hussein, head of the<br />
local organisation Muslims for Human<br />
Rights. “All we can do is pray that police<br />
do not go out on a revenge mission<br />
since some of their own have fallen victim<br />
to the violence. This might provoke<br />
the rioters again.”<br />
The murdered cleric-popularly<br />
known as Rogo-was on US and UN<br />
sanctions lists for allegedly supporting<br />
neighbouring Somalia’s Al-Qaedalinked<br />
Shebab militants. Rogo had<br />
fiercely opposed Kenya’s invasion of<br />
southern Somalia last year to attack<br />
Shebab bases. The United States and<br />
United Nations had accused him of<br />
recruiting and fundraising for the<br />
extremist insurgents.<br />
Prime Minister Raila Odinga on<br />
Wednesday visited Mombasa, where he<br />
called for the nation to come together<br />
to stop religious violence. “We are not<br />
going to allow outside forces to incite<br />
Kenyans to create religious war,”<br />
Odinga said, after meeting with religious<br />
leaders from the majority-Muslim<br />
region, which also has a significant<br />
Christian population. Foreign<br />
embassies-including those of Australia,<br />
Britain, France and the United Stateshave<br />
issued travel warnings for<br />
Mombasa, where several large tourist<br />
resorts are based. —AFP<br />
tory more than anything exposed the frailty of Unita<br />
as an opposition party, without its notorious leader<br />
Jonas Savimbi who was killed by the army in 2002.<br />
Unita took only 10 percent of the ballots in 2008.<br />
“Today we are better organised,” said Liberty<br />
Chiyaka, Unita’s provincial secretary. “We have visited<br />
all the villages to explain that their vote is secret.<br />
We will have two party representatives at each<br />
polling station, and will do our own compilation of<br />
the results.” “Unlike in 2008, we can monitor the<br />
vote, and we will do everything to minimise the<br />
impact of fraud,” he said.<br />
Unita has used its campaign to underscore worries<br />
about the election, from the integrity of the voter<br />
roll to the MPLA’s use of public resources-especially<br />
the broadcast media-in its campaign. The party<br />
faces other challenges from within. Top Unita<br />
leader Abel Chivukuvuku split away in April to form<br />
the new Casa party with a top MPLA figure and a<br />
clutch of smaller opposition parties.—AFP<br />
LONDON: The British government has stripped a<br />
London university of its right to sponsor visas for overseas<br />
students, leaving 2,000 of students facing possible<br />
deportation. London Metropolitan University had<br />
its Highly Trusted Status-which allowed it to sponsor<br />
visas for students from outside the European Unionrevoked<br />
by the UK Border Agency on Wednesday over<br />
alleged failings in its procedures.<br />
The move means current overseas students have<br />
60 days to enrol on a course elsewhere, with more<br />
than 2,000 students facing deportation if they fail to<br />
find another university, according to the National<br />
Union of Students (NUS). The union warned of “catastrophic”<br />
effects on Britain’s industry for educating<br />
students from overseas, which was estimated last year<br />
to be worth £14 billion (17.7 billion euros, $22.2 billion).<br />
Almost 300,000 non-EU foreign students were<br />
enrolled in Britain in the 2010-11 academic year. The<br />
university said on its website: “The implications of the<br />
revocation are hugely significant and far-reaching...<br />
Our ABSOLUTE PRIORITY is to our students, both current<br />
and prospective, and the University will meet all<br />
its obligations to them.”<br />
Immigration minister Damian Green told BBC radio<br />
that after an audit lasting six months, the Border<br />
Agency found “a serious systemic failure where it<br />
appears that the university doesn’t have the capacity<br />
to be a proper sponsor”. He said that a quarter of students<br />
there lacked permission to stay in the country,<br />
while there was insufficient evidence that students<br />
spoke English and no proof that half of those enrolled<br />
had been attending lectures.<br />
But he sought to reassure prospective students<br />
that “this will not be replicated across the university<br />
sector”. The government had formed a task force to<br />
assist current students whose visas are set to be<br />
revoked, he added. The NUS labelled the move political,<br />
linking it with promised immigration quotas<br />
brought in by Prime Minister David Cameron’s government.<br />
It said it had contacted Cameron to “express anger<br />
at the way decisions have been made in recent weeks<br />
and to reiterate the potentially catastrophic effects on<br />
higher education... as an export industry”. A Border<br />
Agency spokesman said: “The latest audit revealed<br />
problems with 61 percent of files randomly sampled.<br />
Allowing London Metropolitan University to continue<br />
to sponsor and teach international students was not<br />
an option.<br />
LUANDA: National Union for the Total Independence of<br />
Angola (UNITA) supporters react as they listen to a speech<br />
of their leader Isaias Samakuva (unseen) during the final<br />
rally campaign. — AFP<br />
2,000 students at risk<br />
of deportation from UK<br />
‘Problems with one university, not whole sector’<br />
“These are problems with one university, not the<br />
whole sector.” London Metropolitan is in the top 20<br />
British recruiters of international students, with 6,000<br />
EU and non-EU overseas students in 2010-11, according<br />
to government figures. It said it was working<br />
closely with bodies including the Border Agency to try<br />
to resolve the problems. — AFP<br />
Killer wants Punk<br />
Riot freed: Russia<br />
MOSCOW: The bodies of two slain women were<br />
found in Russia beneath a scrawled message<br />
demanding freedom for the jailed members of the<br />
Punk Riot band, officials said yesterday. While a<br />
Russian investigator cautioned that the killer was<br />
possibly trying to mislead police by drawing attention<br />
to the punk provocateurs, the alleged link<br />
between a killer and anti-Putin protesters was<br />
immediately seized upon by Russian media and pro-<br />
Kremlin publicists. Some publications ran headlines<br />
claiming that Punk Riot supporters “committed” or<br />
“inspired” a double homicide. The coverage was full<br />
of the mostly negative terms used by Kremlinfriendly<br />
television networks and media in their coverage<br />
of the protesters’ trial.<br />
A Moscow court earlier this month sentenced<br />
three Punk Riot members to two years in jail for performing<br />
a “punk prayer” against President Vladimir<br />
Putin at a Moscow cathedral in February. The trial,<br />
widely seen as Kremlin-orchestrated, caused an<br />
international furor, with celebrities such as Paul<br />
McCartney urging Russian authorities to free the<br />
band. The jailed band members’ attorney said on<br />
Twitter that “what happened in Kazan is horrible,”<br />
calling the case “either a horrendous provocation or<br />
a psychopathic” case.<br />
“I am sorry that some freaks are using Punk Riot’s<br />
band name,” Nikolai Polozov was quoted by the<br />
Interfax news agency as saying. Russia’s<br />
Investigative Committee said the women, aged 76<br />
and 38, were killed late last week in their apartment<br />
in the central city of Kazan with the words “Free<br />
Punk Riot” written on the wall in English, “presumably”<br />
with blood.—AP
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
KUMASI: Ghana’s ruling National Democratic Congress<br />
met yesterday and was expected to endorse President<br />
John Dramani Mahama for December elections following<br />
the death of John Atta Mills last month. Mills had been set<br />
to run for re-election in the December vote before he died<br />
on July 24 at age 68. No official cause has been given, but<br />
there have been unconfirmed reports that he suffered<br />
from throat cancer. Some 2,000 delegates, including<br />
Mahama and former president Jerry Rawlings, were<br />
attending the congress in Kumasi in south-central Ghana,<br />
traditionally a stronghold of the opposition but where the<br />
NDC is seeking to make inroads. Mahama, who had been<br />
vice president before Mills’s death, was sworn in to serve<br />
out the remainder of the late leader’s term, as dictated by<br />
International<br />
Ghana ruling party meets to endorse prez candidate<br />
SENEGAL: Protesters gather outside the Gambian embassy yesterday to<br />
demand President Yahya Jammeh halt the mass execution of prisoners, and<br />
urging the international community to intervene. The banner reads: “Stop<br />
summary executions. The African Union and ECOWAS must react”. — AFP<br />
Senegalese protest mass<br />
execution of prisoners<br />
DAKAR: Scores of Senegalese protested<br />
outside Gambia’s embassy yesterday to<br />
demand that President Yahya Jammeh<br />
halt the execution of prisoners as another<br />
38 convicts face the firing squad in coming<br />
weeks. Demonstrators implored the<br />
international community to intervene<br />
after nine prisoners, including two<br />
Senegalese citizens, were executed for<br />
their crimes last Sunday in the tiny country<br />
which is wedged into Senegal.<br />
The protesters chanted “Yahya assassin!<br />
Jammeh criminal!” and “Jammeh to<br />
the ICC (International Criminal Court)” as<br />
a handful of riot police kept watch. “We<br />
want to alert the international community<br />
to say there are 38 people on death<br />
row and if nothing is done ... these people<br />
will be executed and thrown into<br />
mass graves,” said Alioune Tine of the<br />
Dakar-based African Assembly for the<br />
Defense of Human Rights.<br />
“As we speak no remains are in the<br />
hands of families.” Tine said the 47-yearold<br />
Gambian leader was a “modern day<br />
Idi Amin” referring to the former<br />
Ugandan dictator, and: “We must<br />
absolutely end the regime of this dictator.”<br />
The former soldier who seized power<br />
in a bloodless coup in 1994, has vowed<br />
to carry out all death sentences by mid-<br />
September.<br />
Sheriff Bojang, a Gambian journalist<br />
exiled in Dakar like many of his colleagues<br />
who have fled persecution, is the<br />
first cousin of one of those executed on<br />
Sunday, Lieutenant Lamin Jarjou - one of<br />
three soldiers killed. He said his cousin<br />
was accused of involvement in a bloody<br />
counter-coup attempt in 1994, and<br />
another several years later. “That is what<br />
they said. He was tried, obviously they<br />
were beaten, coerced into signing things.<br />
We believed there was never a fair trial,”<br />
Bojang told AFP.<br />
Like most prisoners in Gambia, Jarjou<br />
was convicted by judges known locally<br />
as “machinery judges”, hired by Jammeh<br />
from Nigeria. “He has the right to fire and<br />
hire them anytime so they only do what<br />
he wants them to do.” In all the time<br />
Jarjou was in prison, the only person to<br />
see him was his brother, for 10 minutes,<br />
during a hospital stay, said Bojang.<br />
“Everybody was shocked ... nobody<br />
was aware of it,” he said of the execution.<br />
His body has also not been returned to<br />
the family for proper Muslim burial rites.<br />
Amnesty has said many on death row<br />
were tried on “politically motivated<br />
charges and subjected to torture and<br />
other ill-treatment to force confessions.”<br />
Last year eight military top brass,<br />
including the former army and intelligence<br />
chiefs and the ex-deputy head of<br />
the police force, were sentenced to death<br />
for treason. Jammeh, who claims he can<br />
cure AIDS, is often pilloried for rights<br />
abuses and the muzzling of journalists.<br />
He has in the past threatened to cut off<br />
the heads of homosexuals and heaps<br />
derision on any criticism from the West.<br />
Often accused by observers of paranoia,<br />
seeing coup plots around every corner<br />
and regularly reshuffling his government<br />
and top military officials, Jammeh<br />
rules the tiny nation with an iron fist. “We<br />
have information that he has become<br />
completely mad; it is that in fact, there is<br />
no explanation,” said Diene Ndiaye of<br />
Amnesty Senegal.<br />
Mahawa Cham, a former Gambian<br />
lawmaker (2001-2006) and member of<br />
Jammeh’s party, has no doubt that the<br />
president will continue his plans to execute<br />
the remaining prisoners. “I believe<br />
he will continue to carry out the executions.<br />
This is a man who doesn’t have<br />
sympathy for a human being. He thinks<br />
he is always right,” Cham said. Senegal<br />
has another citizen on death row awaiting<br />
execution and Jammeh’s move to<br />
execute its citizens has caused a diplomatic<br />
spat between the nations. On<br />
Wednesday Gambian Ambassador Mass<br />
Axi Gey was summoned by Senegal’s<br />
Prime Minister Abdoul Mbaye to inform<br />
him of “the unacceptable” nature of the<br />
executions and urge Jammeh to spare<br />
the life of the third prisoner. — AFP<br />
MOSCOW: Moscow yesterday sold off<br />
for $277 million its landmark Hotel<br />
Metropol near the Kremlin, an iconic Art<br />
Nouveau building where Lenin once<br />
gave speeches and stars like Michael<br />
Jackson have stayed. Starting at 8.7 billion<br />
rubles ($270 million), the auction<br />
rapidly ended after just two bids with<br />
the winner being a Russian subsidiary<br />
of the current operator, which is linked<br />
to the country’s largest hotel chain. No<br />
international chains were among the<br />
three participants in the auction. The<br />
winner, a company called Okhotny<br />
Ryad Deluxe, is a subsidiary of the current<br />
operator of the five-star hotel,<br />
spokeswoman for Moscow’s property<br />
department Oksana Vaghina told AFP.<br />
The operating company, also called<br />
Metropol, is controlled by the chairman<br />
of the board of Azimut Hotels, Russia’s<br />
largest hotel chain, Alexander<br />
Klyanchin, the Interfax news agency<br />
said. General director of Metropol<br />
Yevgeny Ustenko told journalists he<br />
would ensure that the establishment,<br />
just a short walk from the Red Square,<br />
was “the best hotel in Moscow”. Asked<br />
whether the hotel would become part<br />
of the Azimut chain, which specialises in<br />
business travellers, he said, “I can’t tell<br />
you yet, probably not.”<br />
The high-end auction was part of a<br />
drive to privatise thousands of publiclyowned<br />
non-residential properties in<br />
Moscow, which began in 2004. Experts<br />
said the city hall sold the hotel for a<br />
good price, since the starting price was<br />
high, and that international chains<br />
would be wary of taking on such a<br />
major project in Russia at present. “The<br />
starting price is high, appropriate to the<br />
market price,” said Olga Kochetova,<br />
director of valuation services at Knight<br />
Frank in Russia.<br />
“Probably international chains didn’t<br />
take part because they aren’t up to this<br />
at the moment. Considering the situation<br />
in Europe, they’re afraid to buy<br />
such properties in Russia and Eastern<br />
Europe, seeing such investments as<br />
quite risky.” “The amount of investment<br />
is large, and the starting price is high.<br />
There could not have been many participants.<br />
This isn’t unusual for such tenders,”<br />
said Sergei Lyadov, public relations<br />
chief at City-XXI Vek property<br />
developers.<br />
The auction sold off both the building<br />
measuring almost 40,000 square<br />
metres (430,000 square feet) and its<br />
land. It did not include the moveable<br />
contents, which the hotel’s website lists<br />
as hundreds of antiques from Meissen<br />
porcelain to hardwood furniture and<br />
the west African nation’s constitution.<br />
Mills’s death upended the presidential race in a country<br />
that recently became a significant oil producer and is<br />
praised as a stable democracy in an often turbulent<br />
region. The transition has so far gone smoothly. Analysts<br />
say the election is likely to be close. Mills won the 2008<br />
vote with less than a one percent margin. — AFP<br />
Moscow sells celebrated<br />
Metropol hotel for $277m<br />
Drive to privatise thousands of non-residential properties<br />
MOSCOW: Cars pass five-star hotel Hotel Metropol in central<br />
Moscow, yesterday. — AFP<br />
paintings that still belong to the state.<br />
One of Moscow’s most ornate buildings,<br />
the hotel was designed by British<br />
architect William Walcot and completed<br />
in 1905 on the commission of one of<br />
Russia’s richest entrepreneurs and<br />
patron of the arts, Savva Mamontov. Its<br />
facade is decorated with a ceramic panel<br />
by Russian artist Mikhail Vrubel called<br />
the “Princess of Dreams” and bas-reliefs<br />
depicting the four seasons. The<br />
Bolshevik authorities took over the<br />
hotel, then the largest in Russia, after<br />
the 1917 revolution and Lenin used to<br />
declaim to supporters from a balcony in<br />
one of the restaurants.<br />
The hotel was managed by the<br />
Intourist travel agency during the<br />
Soviet era. It underwent a major refit of<br />
its 362 rooms in 1991, becoming the<br />
country’s first five-star hotel. Among<br />
those who stayed there were singers<br />
such as Michael Jackson and<br />
Montserrat Caballe, film stars Marlene<br />
Dietrich and Arnold Schwarzenegger<br />
and world leaders including former<br />
French president Jacques Chirac.<br />
However the Metropol’s glamour<br />
has faded lately and stars recently visiting<br />
Moscow such as singer Madonna<br />
and actor Johnny Depp have favoured<br />
another central hotel in the luxury Ritz-<br />
Carlton chain. The Metropol’s building<br />
and its interior is listed as a historic<br />
monument of national significance,<br />
meaning that the new owner must not<br />
destroy its period features in any<br />
restoration work. — AFP<br />
Hopes high for resolution<br />
at S African mine standoff<br />
JOHANNESBURG: World number three platinum producer Lonmin and<br />
mediators were optimistic about a breakthrough in talks with workers yesterday<br />
to end a three-week strike after violence left 44 people dead. Talks<br />
brokered by South African government officials resumed after negotiators<br />
met for 12 straight hours the day before in the northwestern town of<br />
Rustenburg. “I think today will be the deciding day in terms of the way forward.<br />
I think it’s D-Day,” mediator Bishop Jo Seoka from the South African<br />
Council of Churches told AFP.<br />
Lonmin spokeswoman Sue Vey said the government mediation was<br />
“very constructive”. “We hope to find a resolution today,” she told AFP. The<br />
company wants a “peace accord” sealed before starting negotiations on<br />
workers’ wage demands. But workers, who say they earn 4,000 rand ($470,<br />
380 euros) a month and want 12,500 rand, insist they will not go back<br />
underground until their demands are met.<br />
Representatives of big player the National Union of Mineworkers<br />
(NUM) and the smaller Association of Mineworkers and Construction<br />
Union (AMCU), whose bitter rivalry has been blamed for the unrest at the<br />
mine, were also at the talks. At the Wednesday meeting there was “a general<br />
understanding that everybody wants peace, a stable environment<br />
conducive to work,” said Seoka. But little progress was made on workers’<br />
demands.—AFP
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
SEOUL: A South Korean protester shouts slogans during a<br />
rally against Japan’s sovereignty claims over disputed<br />
islets called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima and<br />
demanding an apology and compensation for the victims<br />
during Japanese colonial rule yesterday. — AP<br />
Japan, N Korea meet<br />
for second day of talks<br />
BEIJING: Japan and North Korea were in close contact for a<br />
second day, officials said yesterday, as the countries seek to<br />
find enough common ground for possible future discussions at<br />
a higher level. Diplomats from the two sides held their first<br />
face-to-face encounter in four years Wednesday in Beijing, in<br />
relatively low-level talks Japan characterised as “matter-of-fact<br />
and frank.”<br />
The countries, which have no formal diplomatic relations,<br />
have long been at odds over numerous issues including North<br />
Korea’s abduction of Japanese citizens and the legacy of<br />
Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean peninsula. Beyond their<br />
bilateral relationship, however, the meetings in China’s capital<br />
are being closely watched for any clues as to whether North<br />
Korea’s foreign policy could change under new leader Kim<br />
Jong-Un. Kim, believed to be in his late 20s, took over leadership<br />
of the communist state after his father Kim Jong-Il died in<br />
December. Diplomats began the second day of meetings<br />
shortly before midday at North Korea’s embassy after having<br />
met the previous day at Japan’s diplomatic mission, according<br />
to a Japanese official, who declined to be named.<br />
Yesterday’s encounter ended after a little less than two<br />
hours and the two sides were keeping in touch, though it was<br />
unclear if they would gather again, said the official with the<br />
Japanese embassy. In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu<br />
Fujimura emphasised that the talks were very much alive even<br />
if yesterday’s physical meeting had ended for the time being.<br />
“We have continued coordination with each other,” he told<br />
a news conference. Japanese broadcaster NHK television<br />
reported North Korean and Japanese diplomats were staying<br />
in contact by phone while receiving instructions from their<br />
governments. In another sign the sides were making some<br />
headway, news agency Jiji press said Japan’s delegation had<br />
postponed its return to Tokyo until today.<br />
A key issue for Japan is the fate of its citizens abducted by<br />
North Korean agents to help train spies, amid suspicions that<br />
Pyongyang has failed to provide all the information it has<br />
about them. “The abduction issue is among the most important<br />
of the various problems between Japan and North Korea,”<br />
Fujimura said.<br />
“As a matter of course, there won’t be any change in our<br />
stance that we want to discuss it.” Secretive North Korea<br />
admitted in 2002 its agents kidnapped Japanese in the 1970s<br />
and 1980s to help train spies by teaching them Japanese language<br />
and culture, and later allowed five of them and their<br />
families to return home.<br />
It said a number of others died, though many in Japan hold<br />
out hope they remain alive. There are also suspicions that<br />
Pyongyang’s agents abducted more Japanese than they<br />
admitted. Japan says North Korea agreed to reopen investigations<br />
into the fate of abducted Japanese when the two sides<br />
last met in 2008. Impoverished yet highly militarised North<br />
Korea remains suspicious of Japan, which is a close military ally<br />
of the United States. Pyongyang also regularly blasts Japan for<br />
its colonisation of the Korean peninsula in the first half of the<br />
20th century and treatment of ethnic Koreans in Japan. — AFP<br />
SEOUL: Twin typhoons are renewing<br />
fears of a humanitarian crisis in North<br />
Korea, where poor drainage, widespread<br />
deforestation and crumbling infrastructure<br />
can turn even a routine rainstorm<br />
into a catastrophic flood. Typhoon<br />
Bolaven struck the North on Tuesday<br />
and Wednesday, submerging houses<br />
and roads, ruining thousands of acres of<br />
crops and triggering landslides that<br />
buried train tracks - scenes that are all<br />
too familiar in this disaster-prone nation.<br />
A second major storm, Typhoon<br />
Tembin, pounded the Korean Peninsula<br />
with more rains yesterday.<br />
The storms come as North Korea is<br />
still recovering from earlier floods that<br />
killed more than 170 people and<br />
destroyed thousands of homes. That in<br />
turn followed a springtime drought that<br />
was the worst in a century in some<br />
areas. Foreign aid groups contacted yesterday<br />
said they are standing by in<br />
Pyongyang, but had not received new<br />
requests for help from the North Korean<br />
government. They had little information<br />
on the extent of damage and were relying<br />
on reports from state media. The<br />
country’s wariness toward the outside<br />
world, as well as a primitive rural road<br />
system, means aid may be slow arriving,<br />
if it is allowed to come at all.<br />
“These fresh storms, coming just a few<br />
weeks after the serious flooding - they do<br />
raise concerns because we see parts of<br />
the countryside battered again that have<br />
already been left in a vulnerable state,”<br />
said Francis Markus, spokesman for the<br />
International Federation of Red Cross and<br />
Red Crescent Societies in East Asia.<br />
Tembin’s strong winds and hard rain<br />
were pounding South Korea yesterday,<br />
as residents of some cities waded<br />
through streets flooded with murky,<br />
knee-deep water. The national weather<br />
BEIJING: Giving up his successful career as the head of a medical<br />
research firm to spend his days at home reading from children’s<br />
story books was a tough choice for Chinese father<br />
Zhang Qiaofeng. But Zhang, one of a small but growing number<br />
of Chinese parents who are turning their backs on the<br />
country’s rigidly exam-oriented state-run school system, felt<br />
he had no choice. “China’s education system has special problems,”<br />
said Zhang, a wiry-looking graduate of one of the country’s<br />
top universities.<br />
“I want my son to receive a style of education which is<br />
much more participative, not just the teacher talking while<br />
students listen. Most of my son’s time is set aside for following<br />
his interests, or playing.” From a small apartment on the outskirts<br />
of Beijing, Zhang teaches his son Hongwu for four hours<br />
a day, in contrast to the six hours of compulsory classes the<br />
seven-year-old used to sit through at primary school.<br />
In the living room where he holds most of his classes,<br />
Zhang rattles through a long list of gripes with China’s education<br />
system, from what he calls its “obsession” with exam<br />
results to an overly authoritarian teaching style. China has<br />
made impressive progress in rolling out universal education<br />
across the country, with urban areas such as Shanghai claiming<br />
a perfect school enrolment rate. The United Nations says<br />
China has a youth literacy rate of 99 percent.<br />
But many parents complain about the focus on rote learning<br />
and passing exams, which means that children spend long<br />
hours in class. Chinese children spend an average of 8.6 hours<br />
a day in school, with some spending 12 hours in the classroom,<br />
according to a 2007 survey conducted by China’s Youth<br />
agency in Seoul said the storm would<br />
move off the peninsula’s east coast and<br />
that some cities in North Korea would<br />
see severe weather conditions. There<br />
were no deaths reported from Tembin;<br />
20 people were dead or missing in<br />
South Korea from Bolaven.<br />
North Korea has yet to release casualty<br />
details, though heavy rains that might<br />
be little more than an inconvenience<br />
elsewhere can be calamitous there.<br />
Downpours trigger landslides that barrel<br />
down the country’s deforested mountains.<br />
For years, rural people have felled<br />
trees to grow crops and for fuel, leaving<br />
the landscape barren and heavily eroded.<br />
Rivers overflow, submerging crops,<br />
inundating roads and engulfing hamlets.<br />
Since June, thousands have been<br />
left without clean water, electricity and<br />
access to food and other supplies. That<br />
leads to a risk of water-borne and respiratory<br />
diseases and malnutrition, aid<br />
workers say.<br />
Because the North annually struggles<br />
to produce enough food from its rocky,<br />
mountainous landscape to feed its 24<br />
International<br />
Twin typhoons raise fears<br />
in disaster-prone N Korea<br />
Second typhoon pounds S Korea, kills two<br />
million people, a poorly timed natural<br />
disaster can easily tip the country into<br />
crisis, like the famine in the 1990s that<br />
followed a similar succession of devastating<br />
storms.<br />
A North Korean land management<br />
official acknowledged in an interview<br />
with The Associated Press that widespread<br />
deforestation and a lack of basic<br />
infrastructure have made the country vulnerable<br />
to the typhoons and storms that<br />
batter the peninsula each year. “It’s<br />
important for the future of our children<br />
to make our country rich and beautiful,”<br />
Ri Song Il, director of external affairs for<br />
the Ministry of Land and Environmental<br />
Protection, said in June.<br />
He said a campaign is under way to<br />
replenish forests, build highways and<br />
construct proper irrigation at the order<br />
of North Korea’s new leader, Kim Jong<br />
Un. He held up a green pamphlet on<br />
land management that was the first official<br />
document Kim published after taking<br />
power from his father. But it may be<br />
too little, too late, for this year’s summer<br />
rains. — AP<br />
SEOUL: A man carries his dog to safer place from the cage yesterday. — AP<br />
Parents reject China’s classrooms<br />
and Children Research Center. Lao Kaisheng, an education<br />
policy researcher at Beijing Normal University, said growing<br />
numbers of Chinese parents were demanding more of a say in<br />
how their children were educated.<br />
“There’s been a rapid rise in home schooling, especially in<br />
the past few years,” he told AFP. “Parents who home school<br />
tend to have more strict requirements for their children’s education,<br />
and feel that schools won’t meet their children’s individual<br />
needs.” No official figures are available for the proportion<br />
of Chinese parents educating their children at home, but<br />
Lao estimates it at less than one percent.<br />
One of the most prominent is Xu Xuejin, who moved from<br />
the booming eastern Chinese manufacturing hub of Zhejiang<br />
to the picturesque but sleepy southwestern town of Dali to<br />
provide a better environment for his two children. “Chinese<br />
children are taught to compete from a young age,” Xu told<br />
AFP by phone. “Students who can’t compete are eliminated...<br />
there’s too much pressure on them.” Xu, a Christian, said he<br />
wanted to give his children a more “Bible-centred” education<br />
than they could get in school, a key motivating factor in countries<br />
such as the United States where home schooling is<br />
becoming more popular.<br />
An Internet discussion forum he started in 2010 for Chinese<br />
home schoolers to swap classroom materials and discuss educational<br />
theory now has more than 4,000 registered members.<br />
Worries about the legality of home schooling feature heavily<br />
on the forum Chinese law states that children must be<br />
enrolled in school aged seven and receive compulsory education<br />
for nine years. — AFP
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
CHAR DARAH: Fahima had just arrived<br />
home from school when members of<br />
the Afghan Local Police (ALP), a UStrained<br />
militia charged with making<br />
Afghans in Taleban strongholds feel<br />
more secure, started hammering on<br />
the front door searching for her father.<br />
They elbowed it open and, frustrated at<br />
not finding him, started beating her<br />
younger brother, prompting 17-yearold<br />
Fahima to intervene. One of the<br />
men turned and shot her dead.<br />
“She was in her first days as an<br />
eleventh grade student,” said Fahima’s<br />
father, Khuja, who believes the killing<br />
was score settling over an old land dispute.<br />
“Offenders are still serving as<br />
local policemen and they are free.<br />
Police say the killer has escaped but<br />
he’s walking in public with his gun and<br />
no one is able to catch him.” The ALP<br />
was set up in 2010 in villages where the<br />
national force is weak, a flagship project<br />
of U.S. General David Petraeus, who<br />
stepped down as commander of foreign<br />
forces in Afghanistan in 2011.<br />
The government began recruiting<br />
everyone from farmers to shopkeepers<br />
for the militia, hoping to take the edge<br />
away from the Taleban in their rural<br />
bastions. American officials have hailed<br />
the ALP as an effective homegrown<br />
force which has restricted the ability of<br />
the Taleban to move in the countryside.<br />
In northern Kunduz province’s<br />
Char Darah district, a Taleban stronghold<br />
until recently, people credit the<br />
ALP for making it safer to travel and<br />
send children to school against frequent<br />
insurgent opposition to education,<br />
especially for girls.<br />
“The Taleban here were demanding<br />
money from local people, beating<br />
them if they refused. Now we don’t let<br />
them do it,” said Gul Ahmad, an ALP<br />
commander in Sarak Bala village. But<br />
security gains made by the now<br />
20,000-strong militia are often overshadowed<br />
by mounting accusations of<br />
abuses, including rape and murder.<br />
Human rights groups say ALP members<br />
sometimes act like warlords, demanding<br />
bribes, skimming contracts and<br />
committing the kind of atrocities that<br />
rattled Afghanistan in a civil war that<br />
killed 50,000 people before the Taleban<br />
took over in 1996. Afghans already have<br />
enough to worry about. Many fear the<br />
United States and other Western allies<br />
will abandon Afghanistan after 2014,<br />
when most NATO combat troops will<br />
have gone, leaving them at the mercy<br />
of the Taleban. There is widespread talk<br />
of another civil war. The ALP was supposed<br />
to ease public anxiety, not fuel it.<br />
Uniforms, a salary,<br />
but little discipline<br />
Duties range from manning checkpoints<br />
and running patrols to providing<br />
security forces with intelligence on<br />
insurgents. Each member gets a<br />
monthly salary and food worth about<br />
$180 and are issued brown uniforms<br />
and an AK-47 rifle. Some acquire heavier<br />
weapons like machineguns or rock-<br />
et-propelled grenades on their own<br />
and prefer the traditional flowing shirt<br />
and baggy trousers to mix in with the<br />
population in farming villages with<br />
mudbrick homes. Many complain they<br />
are underpaid and have to borrow or<br />
steal from the poor locals they are<br />
meant to protect.<br />
“My father works as a farmer and I<br />
have to help him live. If I don’t get<br />
enough money then I’ll have an eye on<br />
other local people’s pockets,” said<br />
Lutfullah, 28. Their pasts often don’t<br />
inspire confidence either. Rights<br />
groups say some were former Taleban<br />
fighters or members of militias that<br />
wreaked havoc in Afghanistan for<br />
decades. There are reports of the ALP<br />
joining the Taleban.<br />
“Some of them are guilty of repeated<br />
killings,” said Hussain Ali Moin, coordinator<br />
for the Afghanistan’s Independent<br />
Human Rights Commission. More than<br />
100 ALP members have been jailed for<br />
crimes including murder, bombings,<br />
rapes, beatings and robbery, according<br />
to chief military prosecutor Mohammad<br />
Rahim Hanifi.<br />
In one of the most high-profile cases,<br />
an ALP commander and four of his<br />
men entered a house in Kunduz<br />
province, assaulted a family and<br />
abducted their 18-year-old daughter,<br />
Lal Bibi, in May. She told her family she<br />
was chained to a wall and repeatedly<br />
raped before being brought home a<br />
week later.<br />
“She says if she does not get justice<br />
International<br />
Abuse allegations mount against Afghan police force<br />
JAMNAGAR, India: Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel and volunteers pull the wreckage to<br />
look for survivors after two air force helicopters collided and crashed at a field in Sarmat<br />
village yesterday. — AP<br />
9 killed as Indian<br />
helicopters collide<br />
NEW DELHI: Nine Indian air force personnel<br />
were killed yesterday when two Russiandesigned<br />
military helicopters apparently collided<br />
in mid-air, the military and police said.<br />
Air force spokesman Wing Commander<br />
Gerard Galway said the two Mi-17 helicopters<br />
were “flying in close formation” over a<br />
firing range in the western state of Gujarat<br />
when they crashed. “It is likely it was a midair<br />
collision,” Galway told AFP, confirming<br />
that all nine on board the two aircraft had<br />
died.<br />
Galway said an inquiry would establish<br />
exactly how the accident occurred. An air offi-<br />
cial who did not want to be named said the<br />
two helicopters were practising firing over the<br />
range near a military airbase in Jamnagar district<br />
when the accident happened. Jamnagar<br />
police chief Harikrishna Patil told AFP by telephone<br />
from the accident site that the aircraft<br />
appeared to have collided before they came<br />
down in cotton fields near a village.<br />
“One of the helicopters also caught fire<br />
after hitting a high-tension power cable,” he<br />
said. India plans to buy up to 400 helicopters,<br />
worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to<br />
replace its ageing fleet of Russian- and Britishsupplied<br />
aircraft. — AFP<br />
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani intelligence officials<br />
confirmed yesterday that a US drone strike last<br />
week near the Afghan border killed the son of<br />
the founder of the powerful Haqqani militant<br />
network, a major blow to one of the most<br />
feared groups fighting American troops in<br />
Afghanistan. Badruddin Haqqani, who has<br />
been described as the organization’s day-today<br />
operations commander, was killed on Aug.<br />
24 in one of three strikes that hit militant hideouts<br />
in the Shawal Valley in<br />
Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal area, said<br />
two senior intelligence officials, speaking on<br />
condition of anonymity because they were not<br />
authorized to talk to the media. The presence of<br />
the mostly Afghan Haqqani network in North<br />
Waziristan has been a major source of friction<br />
between Pakistan and the US. The Obama<br />
administration has repeatedly demanded<br />
Pakistan prevent the group from using its territory<br />
to launch attacks in Afghanistan, but<br />
Islamabad has refused - a stance many analysts<br />
believe is driven by the country’s strong historical<br />
ties to the Haqqani network’s founder,<br />
Jalaluddin Haqqani.<br />
The Pakistani intelligence officials didn’t<br />
specify which strike on Aug. 24 killed<br />
Badruddin, but said he was leaving a hideout<br />
when the US missiles hit. The confirmation of<br />
his death came from their sources within the<br />
Taleban, which is allied with the Haqqani network,<br />
and agents on the ground, they said. But<br />
neither the officials nor their sources have<br />
actually seen Badruddin’s body.<br />
Pakistani intelligence officials previously<br />
said they were 90 percent sure Badruddin was<br />
killed in a drone strike in a different part of<br />
North Waziristan on Aug 21. It’s unclear what<br />
caused the discrepancy. Afghanistan’s intelligence<br />
agency said several days ago that its<br />
operatives had confirmed Badruddin’s death,<br />
she will set herself on fire,” her 56-yearold<br />
father, Hajji Rustam, told Reuters.<br />
The trauma was so severe, it made him<br />
long for the days when rapists were<br />
publicly stoned to death or flogged<br />
under Taleban rule. “The Taleban were<br />
better than the ALP,” he said. “At least<br />
they respected our honour. They<br />
opposed only women’s activities in<br />
public, but these people assault us in<br />
our homes.”<br />
Stricter vetting<br />
The problems may multiply, with<br />
plans to boost the force to 30,000 and<br />
make it operational over most of the<br />
country. Some of the attacks allegedly<br />
committed by the ALP also seem to be<br />
motivated by sectarian rivalries, which<br />
could complicate efforts to tame the<br />
force. In southern Uruzgan province, an<br />
ALP commander belonging to the<br />
Hazara minority ethnic group in late<br />
July gunned down 15 Pashtun civilians<br />
in Khas Uruzgan, a day after the<br />
Pashtun Taleban killed two of his<br />
friends, officials said.<br />
“Commander Abdul Hakim Shujahi<br />
took nine villagers out of their houses<br />
and took them to the Matakzai area of<br />
the village and killed them with stones<br />
and gunshots,” said Mohammad Waris<br />
Faizi, who heads the Independent<br />
Human Rights Commission investigation<br />
office in the province. “Then he<br />
and his people arrested six villagers<br />
from the Khak Afghan area and killed<br />
them too,” Faizi said. — AFP<br />
Pakistani officials confirm<br />
death of crucial militant<br />
but did not provide any details. A senior<br />
Taleban commander has also confirmed the<br />
militant’s death. A Taleban spokesman in<br />
Afghanistan, Zabiullah Mujahid, has however<br />
rejected reports of Badruddin’s death, calling<br />
them “propaganda of the enemy.” The US does<br />
not often comment publicly on the covert CIA<br />
drone program in Pakistan and has not said<br />
whether Badruddin was killed.<br />
The areas where the American drone strikes<br />
generally occur are extremely remote and dangerous,<br />
making it difficult for reporters or others<br />
to verify a particular person’s death.<br />
Badruddin is considered a vital part of the<br />
Haqqani structure. He is believed to be the network’s<br />
day-to-day operations commander,<br />
according to a report by the Institute for the<br />
Study of War. — AP<br />
HYDERABAD: Indian policemen detain<br />
activists of various student organizations<br />
during a protest yesterday. The students<br />
were protesting against the Andhra Pradesh<br />
state government’s decision to put a cap of<br />
35,000 rupees ($625)on funds released under<br />
the fee reimbursement scheme for engineering<br />
and other professional courses. — AFP
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
New Orleans levees hold<br />
as Isaac floods Gulf coast<br />
Isaac rainfall lifts US farmers’ spirits<br />
NEW ORLEANS: Severe flooding from<br />
Tropical Storm Isaac inundated the Gulf<br />
Coast early yesterday, but the multi-billion-dollar<br />
defenses built after<br />
Hurricane Katrina devastated New<br />
Orleans seven years ago held firm. The<br />
National Hurricane Center said Isaacwhich<br />
was downgraded from a hurricane<br />
to a tropical storm on Wednesdaywould<br />
continue to weaken as it<br />
moved north into the US state of<br />
Arkansas, but it warned of further<br />
flooding. The Miami-based forecasters<br />
said at 0900 GMT that Isaac would<br />
likely be downgraded to a Tropical<br />
Depression later yesterday, but that<br />
the slow-moving storm would continue<br />
to batter the region with heavy<br />
rain and high winds.<br />
Officials on Wednesday ordered<br />
the evacuation of some 3,000 people<br />
in coastal Plaquemines Parish, the<br />
area hardest hit by the storm, with top<br />
winds still gusting at 45 miles (75 kilometers)<br />
per hour, hindering rescue<br />
efforts. Louisiana Governor Bobby<br />
Jindal said at least one person may<br />
have died as a result of Isaac, which<br />
made landfall as a hurricane late<br />
Tuesday. Dozens of people were<br />
forced to huddle on roofs and in attics<br />
waiting hours for rescue from their<br />
homes after a massive storm surge<br />
spilled over levees in low-lying areas<br />
outside the stronger defenses built<br />
around New Orleans.<br />
Isaac was nowhere near as strong<br />
as Hurricane Katrina, which struck<br />
exactly seven years ago, but has<br />
already caused significant damage to<br />
about 800 homes in Plaquemines<br />
Parish alone, Jindal told reporters.<br />
Residents were urged to stay indoors,<br />
with officials warning it would be at<br />
least a day before winds calmed<br />
enough for crews to repair downed<br />
power lines. Heavy rains-up to 25<br />
inches (64 centimeters) in some areaswill<br />
continue through today, the NHC<br />
said.<br />
Isaac may wind up causing as much<br />
as $2.5 billion in damage in and<br />
TRES MARIAS: Mexican federal police shot and wounded<br />
two CIA operatives last week, security sources said, in an<br />
apparently deliberate attack that could hurt US-Mexico<br />
cooperation in their war against drug cartels. The two<br />
experienced officers were just south of the capital on their<br />
way to a Mexican Marine base on Friday, working with local<br />
authorities on a training mission, when federal police riddled<br />
their armored van bearing diplomatic plates with bullets.<br />
The men, traveling with a Mexican Marine captain,<br />
were wounded and taken to a hospital for treatment,<br />
though their injuries were not life-threatening. Their vehicle’s<br />
tires and rear windshield were shot out. A dozen federal<br />
police officers detained and questioned over the<br />
attack have been ordered held in custody for 40 days. In<br />
initial statements to federal prosecutors, they claimed they<br />
confused the Americans for criminals.<br />
However, witnesses who saw the shooting at a bend in<br />
the road outside the small town of Tres Marias told Reuters<br />
the gunmen were dressed in plain clothes and pursued the<br />
around Louisiana and in the offshore<br />
oil sector in the Gulf of Mexico,<br />
according to early estimates from natural<br />
disaster modeler Eqecat. More<br />
than a half million people were left<br />
without power in Louisiana, and tens<br />
of thousands more huddled in darkened<br />
homes in Alabama, Florida and<br />
Mississippi after Isaac snapped utility<br />
poles and downed power lines. In<br />
New Orleans, Mayor Mitch Landrieu<br />
declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew after<br />
Isaac made landfall twice as a category<br />
one hurricane.<br />
‘Part of my roof is missing’<br />
Plaquemines Parish president Billy<br />
Nungesser said damage from Isaac in<br />
some areas was worse than that<br />
wrought by Katrina, citing his own<br />
home as an example. “Part of my roof<br />
is missing. The back wall has moved<br />
and the water is being pushed<br />
through the bricks into the house,” he<br />
said Wednesday. Across the state,<br />
more than 4,000 people were<br />
crammed into shelters. Dozens of<br />
nursing home residents, many in<br />
wheelchairs, were among those taken<br />
to higher ground by the National<br />
Guard in high-water trucks. Rescues<br />
were also under way in suburbs west<br />
of New Orleans late Wednesday after<br />
the storm surge swelled Lake<br />
Pontchartrain on the city’s north side.<br />
Claude Jones, 61, was trying to nap on<br />
a cot in the Belle Chasse high school<br />
gymnasium without much luck. He<br />
had spent two nights there already<br />
and with his trailer home likely<br />
destroyed-could be there for many<br />
more. “I’m worried about my family,”<br />
he told AFP. “My cousin’s still down<br />
there and they say they can’t rescue<br />
him because the weather’s so bad.”<br />
Sharon Sylvia said she spent the<br />
night trapped on her roof in the<br />
LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN: A sherriff’s vehicle sits in flood waters caused by<br />
Isaac yesterday. — AP<br />
pounding rain, calling for help that<br />
did not arrive until morning. “Water’s<br />
over the top of the roof,” she told<br />
WWL television. “We had to break<br />
through the ceiling and out through<br />
the attic. It’s very bad down there.<br />
Very bad.” US President Barack<br />
Obama, who has been regularly<br />
briefed on the storm, late Wednesday<br />
declared a “major disaster” exists in<br />
Louisiana and Mississippi, paving the<br />
way for more federal aid to local<br />
authorities.— AFP<br />
Mexican police attack CIA officers<br />
Americans firing from unmarked cars and on foot-a classic<br />
style of gangland hits in Mexico. “We had no idea at all they<br />
were police. They looked like criminals,” said one woman<br />
who witnessed the incident but asked not to be named for<br />
fear of repercussions.<br />
A Mexican government official, speaking on condition<br />
of anonymity, said the evidence suggested gang members<br />
and corrupt police had carried out the attack before other<br />
police arrived at the scene and prevented the men being<br />
killed. “This was not an accident,” the official said.<br />
Witnesses said the CIA driver made impressive evasive<br />
maneuvers which likely saved the lives of those inside the<br />
car, and they believe they heard hundreds of bullets fired,<br />
estimating the incident lasted around six minutes.<br />
The Mexican official said the vehicle was chased for<br />
about 4 km (2.5 miles) before it was halted, and that shell<br />
casings from AK-47s, which are not used by Mexican police<br />
and are a weapon of choice for drug cartel members, were<br />
found at the scene. — Reuters<br />
International<br />
Obama still a draw<br />
on college campuses<br />
CHARLOTTESVILLE: The crowds may be smaller and<br />
the candidate grayer, but college towns are still proving<br />
to be President Barack Obama’s best shot at<br />
enthusiastic audiences. More than 26,000 people<br />
combined showed up to hear the president speak<br />
during his three-state college town tour this week,<br />
which ended Wednesday with a rally near the<br />
University of Virginia. The crowds at the outdoor rallies<br />
have tilted younger, underscoring the Obama<br />
campaign’s efforts to target college students as they<br />
return to school and re-energize a constituency that<br />
was critical in propelling Obama to the White House.<br />
“Change was possible because you made it possible,”<br />
Obama told 7,500 people at a pavilion near the<br />
University of Virginia. “So you can’t get tired now<br />
because we’ve got more work to do.” The school<br />
declined the campaign’s request for the president to<br />
speak on campus, saying it would disrupt classes on<br />
the second day of the semester. By the standards of<br />
most presidential campaigns, Obama is speaking to<br />
impressively large audiences. But Obama is being held<br />
to the standards he set in 2008, when the youthful<br />
candidate with the rousing speeches attracted jawdropping<br />
crowds.<br />
With thousands of young people crammed into the<br />
sweltering, standing-room-only open-air pavilion on<br />
Wednesday, hundreds more stood outside its fenced<br />
perimeter, in some places shoulder-to-shoulder 40 to<br />
50 feet deep. But even some of those who went<br />
through heavy security to see Obama speak said their<br />
enthusiasm had waned.<br />
“It no longer has the distinctiveness that it used to<br />
have,” said William Proffitt, a University of Virginia student.<br />
“That was amazing, seeing the first African-<br />
American president elected, but that died off within a<br />
year.” In 2008, more than 100,000 people showed up<br />
to hear him speak in Denver. He spoke on the same<br />
trip at Colorado State University, where upwards of<br />
50,000 people filled a quad in the center of campus.<br />
When Obama returned to Colorado State on Tuesday,<br />
the crowd totaled 13,000.<br />
Obama’s campaign dismisses the notion that the<br />
smaller crowds equal less enthusiasm for the president<br />
this time around. Aides suggest the numbers are<br />
purposely being kept low, citing the cost of holding<br />
larger events and the president’s desire to travel to<br />
smaller cities in battleground states. Security restrictions<br />
are also tighter around a current president than<br />
a candidate.<br />
Obama drew his largest crowd in May, during his<br />
first re-election rally at Ohio State University. More<br />
than 14,000 people showed up to hear the president<br />
and first lady Michelle Obama speak, short of the<br />
18,000 people the campaign predicted would fill the<br />
campus basketball arena to capacity. Away from the<br />
college town circuit, the president has been generated<br />
even smaller audiences, often 3,000 people or less.<br />
Campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said the<br />
president would still have “plenty of time for big rallies<br />
between now and Election Day.” The campaign is<br />
banking on big numbers next week when Obama<br />
accepts the Democratic nomination at an outdoor<br />
football stadium in Charlotte, NC. The stadium holds<br />
up to 74,000 people.<br />
Campaign aides won’t say whether the full stadium<br />
will be open for seating during next Thursday’s primetime<br />
speech. Tens of thousands of tickets, called<br />
“community credentials”, have been distributed,<br />
according to the campaign. Obama also accepted his<br />
party’s nomination in 2008 at an outdoor football stadium.<br />
His campaign had little trouble filling the 84,000<br />
seats. The president’s aides say crowd size is one issue<br />
they’re happy to debate with Republicans. Even<br />
though Obama’s audience numbers are down compared<br />
to his 2008 campaign, he is still drawing larger<br />
crowds than GOP rival Mitt Romney. Most of Romney’s<br />
events are carefully choreographed in made-for television<br />
settings that provide seating for hundreds of<br />
people, not thousands. — AP
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Romney’s speech to Republican<br />
convention to be vital moment<br />
Big speech culminates Tampa convention<br />
TAMPA: Mitt Romney faces a critical<br />
test in his White House bid yesterday<br />
when he addresses the Republican<br />
National Convention, an opportunity<br />
to convince millions of Americans<br />
that he can forge a path to economic<br />
rebirth and provide better leadership<br />
than President Barack Obama. It will<br />
be Romney’s biggest television audience<br />
to date as much of the nation<br />
tunes in, giving some voters their first<br />
extended look at the 65-year-old former<br />
Massachusetts governor who<br />
unsuccessfully sought the Republican<br />
nomination in 2008.<br />
Romney, who can often come<br />
across as stiff, faces the challenge of<br />
making Americans feel more comfortable<br />
with him. He has a hard act to<br />
follow after the ringing “you can trust<br />
Mitt” endorsement delivered by his<br />
wife, Ann, on Tuesday night, a speech<br />
that was widely viewed as one of the<br />
most significant ever given by an<br />
aspiring first lady. Romney got a<br />
strong testimonial on Wednesday<br />
night from his vice presidential running<br />
mate, Wisconsin Congressman<br />
Paul Ryan, who generated the most<br />
enthusiasm so far at the convention<br />
with his address.<br />
“After four years of getting the<br />
run-around, America needs a turnaround,<br />
and the man for the job is<br />
Governor Mitt Romney,” said Ryan. As<br />
portrayed by Democrats, Romney is<br />
alternately a heartless corporate<br />
raider, wealthy elitist, tax evader and<br />
policy flip-flopper who should not be<br />
trusted with the keys to the White<br />
House.<br />
Despite the attacks, Romney is<br />
running even with Obama in the<br />
polls in a race that is too close to call.<br />
A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Wednesday<br />
showed the two men tied at 43 percent<br />
each. But Obama has the advantage<br />
over Romney in likability, an<br />
important characteristic that may<br />
mask other problems that the<br />
Democratic incumbent has in persuading<br />
voters to give him four more<br />
years. Arizona Senator John McCain,<br />
the Republican presidential nominee<br />
in 2008 who lost to Obama, said<br />
Romney needs to accomplish two<br />
tasks: one, convince Americans “that<br />
they believe in him and trust in him,<br />
and two, that he has a concrete plan<br />
BRASILIA: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff enacted legislation<br />
Wednesday that reserves half the enrollment at<br />
federal universities for students from public schools and<br />
gives priority to black, indigenous and mixed-race students.<br />
The law was approved earlier this month by the<br />
Senate after 13 years of debate, and was enacted by the<br />
president alongside the ministers of education and racial<br />
equality, Aloizio Mercadante and Luiza Bairros, the presidential<br />
press service said. “The legislation addresses a double<br />
challenge: first, democratizing access to universities<br />
and maintaining high quality of education,” Rousseff said.<br />
The law requires 50 percent of seats at federal universi-<br />
to get our economy back on the right<br />
track.” “We’ve got to reduce the unfavorables,<br />
and many Americans will<br />
be looking at him for the first time,”<br />
McCain told Reuters.<br />
Long journey<br />
Romney’s big speech culminates a<br />
long journey. After failing to win the<br />
Republican nomination in 2008, he<br />
plotted a return to the political arena.<br />
This year he was tested time and<br />
again by a series of conservative<br />
alternatives from Newt Gingrich to<br />
Rick Santorum. He outlasted all of<br />
them. Romney has some inherent<br />
advantages in his race against<br />
Obama. He is topping the Democrat<br />
in campaign donations, and the<br />
weakness of the U.S. economy, with a<br />
staggering 8.3 percent unemployment<br />
rate, gives him a lethal argument<br />
for change.<br />
Even so, Romney is far from closing<br />
the deal. It is unclear whether his<br />
economic proposals for tax cuts and<br />
deregulation of industries would<br />
rekindle growth and keep taxpayers<br />
dollars flowing into the Treasury to<br />
pay for expensive government entitlement<br />
programs, such as the<br />
Medicare health insurance program<br />
for seniors, which he wants to reform.<br />
Romney’s convention speech offers<br />
him a chance to break through the<br />
blizzard of negative television ads<br />
about him.<br />
Republican delegates at the<br />
Tampa convention recommended<br />
Romney be himself in his speech, talk<br />
about his background as a businessman<br />
and Olympic organizer, and offer<br />
a way forward. New York State<br />
Senator Mike Nozzolio said Romney<br />
needs to explain to voters in an<br />
understandable way that he is “competent,<br />
directed, focused, and can<br />
make the message appeal to folks<br />
TAMPA: US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney along with his<br />
grandchildren watches the Republican National Convention on television<br />
in their hotel room. — AP<br />
around the kitchen table. “He’s going<br />
to be the guest of millions of<br />
Americans in their living rooms, and<br />
this is a wonderful opportunity for<br />
people to understand what he knows<br />
and where he wants to take us,”<br />
Nozzolio said. Donna Gosney, of<br />
Boone County, West Virginia, wearing<br />
a plastic coal miner’s helmet festooned<br />
with political stickers, said<br />
Romney simply needs to say what he<br />
would do to reignite substantial job<br />
growth.“We’ve got 2,000 reasons in<br />
Boone County to vote for Mitt<br />
Romney. They’re all miners without<br />
jobs,” she said. Frank Steed, of Navarro<br />
County, Texas, said Romney should<br />
not worry about trying to appear<br />
warm and fuzzy. “He is who he is,” said<br />
Steed. “And I think he ought to be<br />
proud of that. He’s a businessman.<br />
He’s not a politician.” — Reuters<br />
Brazil enacts university quota law<br />
ties to go to students who completed their secondary education<br />
in public schools.<br />
In Brazil, many wealthy families send their children to<br />
private schools, where the standard of education is often<br />
much higher. The 50 percent quota will include a number<br />
of seats for ethnic minorities, proportional to the demographics<br />
in each state of the South American country. Of<br />
Brazil’s 59 federal universities, 32 already have limited quota<br />
systems in place. More than half of Brazil’s population of<br />
191 million is of African origin, but recent findings show<br />
that only 2.2 percent of Afro-Brazilians currently have<br />
access to universities. — AFP<br />
International<br />
200 US Marines join<br />
anti-drug efforts<br />
GUATEMALA CITY: A team of 200 US Marines began<br />
patrolling Guatemala’s western coast this week in an<br />
unprecedented operation to beat drug traffickers in<br />
the Central America region, a US military spokesman<br />
said Wednesday. “I’d say it’s extremely unique. This is<br />
the first Marine deployment that directly supports<br />
countering transnational crime in this area, and it’s certainly<br />
the largest footprint we’ve had in that area in<br />
quite some time,” said Marine Staff Sgt. Earnest Barnes<br />
at the US Southern Command in Doral, Florida.<br />
It was 50 years ago when the US military last sent<br />
any significant aid and equipment into Guatemala,<br />
establishing a base to support counter-insurgency<br />
efforts during a guerrilla uprising. That movement led<br />
to 36 years of war that left 200,000 dead, mostly indigent<br />
Maya farmers. The US pulled out in 1978.<br />
Guatemalan authorities say they signed a treaty allowing<br />
the US military to conduct the operations on July<br />
16. Less than a month later an Air Force C-5 transport<br />
plane flew into Guatemala City from North Carolina<br />
loaded with the Marines and four UH-1 “Huey” helicopters.<br />
After two weeks of setting up camp, establishing<br />
computer connections and training at the Guatemalan<br />
air base at Retalhuleu, the Marines ran through rehearsal<br />
exercises, Barnes said. Last week, their commander<br />
“gave us the thumbs up” to begin active operations, he<br />
said. This week the Marines have been patrolling waterways<br />
and the coastline, looking for fast power boats<br />
and self-propelled “narco-submarines” used to smuggle<br />
drugs along Central America’s Pacific Coast. US officials<br />
say the “drug subs” can carry up to 11 tons of illegal<br />
cargo up to 5,000 miles.<br />
Col Erick Escobedo, spokesman for Guatemalan<br />
Military Forces and Defense Ministry, said that so far<br />
the Marines have brought about the seizure of one<br />
small-engine aircraft and a car, but made no arrests. He<br />
said he expected the Marines to in Guatemala for<br />
about two months. If the Marines find suspected boats,<br />
Barnes said, they will contact their Guatemalan counterparts<br />
in a special operations unit from the<br />
Guatemalan navy that will move in for the bust. Barnes<br />
said the Marines will not accompany arrest mission, but<br />
they do have the right to defend themselves if fired on.<br />
The Marines are deployed as part of Operation<br />
Martillo, a broader effort started last Jan. 15 to stop<br />
drug trafficking along the Central American coast.<br />
Focused exclusively on drug dealers in airplanes or<br />
boats, the US-led operation involves troops or law<br />
enforcement agents from Belize, Britain, Canada,<br />
Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, France, Guatemala,<br />
Honduras, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama and<br />
Spain. Eighty percent of cocaine smoked, snorted and<br />
swallowed in the US passes through Central America,<br />
according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.<br />
Eight out of every 10 tons of that cocaine are loaded on<br />
vessels known as “go fasts,” which are open hulled<br />
boats 20 to 50 feet long with as many as four engines,<br />
according to the Defense Department.<br />
In a recent congressional briefing in Washington,<br />
Rear Adm. Charles Michel said the boats, carrying anywhere<br />
from 300 kilograms to 3.5 metric tons of cocaine,<br />
typically leave Colombia and follow the western<br />
Caribbean coastline of Central America to make landfall,<br />
principally in Honduras. In the Pacific, the same<br />
type of vessels will leave Colombia or Ecuador and travel<br />
to Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica or Mexico, Michel<br />
said. “We fight a highly mobile, disciplined and wellfunded<br />
adversary that threatens democratic governments,<br />
terrorizes populations, impedes economic<br />
development and creates regional instability,” he said,<br />
noting that authorities are able to stop only one out of<br />
every four suspected traffickers they spot. This month’s<br />
Guatemala operation by the Marines comes soon after<br />
raids under an aggressive enforcement strategy that<br />
has sharply increased the interception of illegal drug<br />
flights in Honduras resulted in the death of one person<br />
in June and four in May. — AP
Business<br />
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Egypt index climbs, UAE falls before Fed signal<br />
JAL to raise up to<br />
$8.4bn in share sale<br />
ATHENS: A woman is reflected in a graffiti-covered mirror as she waits for customers outside her sign-making shop in central Athens yesterday. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras<br />
promised his austerity-weary countrymen yesterday that new spending cuts planned for 2013-14 will be the last, but warned that without them the nation would have to leave the 17member<br />
eurozone. — AP<br />
US shares follow Europe lower<br />
Euro gains ahead of Bernanke speech<br />
NEW YORK: Stocks fell yesterday on uncertainty<br />
over the prospect for economic stimulus by the<br />
US Federal Reserve while the euro edged up<br />
after China voiced some support for the debttroubled<br />
euro zone.<br />
A successful Italian bond sale pointed to<br />
growing confidence among investors that the<br />
European Central Bank will take measures shortly<br />
to tackle more effectively the debt crisis that has<br />
plagued the 17-member currency bloc.<br />
Investors waited to see if Fed Chairman Ben<br />
Bernanke delivers firmer hints on more monetary<br />
easing at a meeting of central bankers in Jackson<br />
Hole, Wyoming today.<br />
US and European stocks declined as investors<br />
closed out positions ahead of Bernanke’s speech,<br />
which is expected to provide some clues to the<br />
Fed’s next move. “People are taking money off<br />
the table ahead of the Fed meeting, but this isn’t<br />
a panic move as seen by all sectors being impacted<br />
about the same,” said Jerry Harris, president of<br />
asset management at Sterne Agee in<br />
Birmingham, Alabama.<br />
“I wouldn’t call this a run from risky assets. We<br />
were overdue for some profit taking.” All 10 S&P<br />
sectors were lower. The cyclical groups, which<br />
closely track the pace of economic growth,<br />
declined. The Dow Jones industrial average was<br />
down 91.33 points, or 0.70 percent, at 13,016.15.<br />
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 9.92<br />
points, or 0.70 percent, at 1,400.57. The Nasdaq<br />
Composite Index was down 27.43 points, or 0.89<br />
percent, at 3,053.75.<br />
In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top<br />
European shares was down 0.6 percent at<br />
1,079.39. MSCI’s all-country world equity index,<br />
which has edged down over the past seven sessions,<br />
was 0.8 percent lower at 320.73.<br />
Any signal from Bernanke that the US central<br />
bank will embark on another asset buying program<br />
would weigh broadly on the dollar. The<br />
euro was up 0.2 percent at $1.2501, while the US<br />
dollar index was up 0.2 percent at 81.676.<br />
A rise above $1.2590 would mark the euro’s<br />
strongest level in eight weeks. Investors and<br />
economists have become more skeptical over the<br />
past two weeks that the Fed will announce<br />
another round of bond buying, or “quantitative<br />
easing,” at its mid-September meeting, according<br />
to Reuters polls during the last week.<br />
“The risk with Jackson Hole is that unless there<br />
are further strong signals of more easing, the<br />
market will take it as a disappointment,” said<br />
Christian Lawrence, currency strategist at<br />
Rabobank, adding that this would be positive for<br />
the dollar.<br />
“The bar is quite high, and if there is any paring<br />
back of talk of QE, the market is likely to react<br />
more because it is more or less expecting it.” The<br />
euro gained some support after Chinese Premier<br />
Wen Jiabao, who met German Chancellor Angela<br />
Merkel in Beijing yeterday, said he was confident<br />
the euro zone could pull out of its debt crisis and<br />
that China would be willing, after a proper risk<br />
assessment, to keep buying the region’s government<br />
debt.<br />
PAGE 20<br />
PAGE 21<br />
US Treasuries gained in price. Discounting the<br />
likelihood of the Fed’s launching new stimulus<br />
when it meets next month has been the predominant<br />
trade in recent weeks despite uncertainty<br />
over what debt would be purchased in any new<br />
program.<br />
The benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was<br />
up 7/32 in price to yield 1.6276 percent. Growing<br />
expectations of a beefed-up bond-buying program<br />
from the ECB encouraged solid demand at<br />
a sale of 7.3 billion euros ($9.15 billion) of new<br />
five- and 10-year Italian sovereign bonds on<br />
Thursday.<br />
Oil futures slid below $113 a barrel as<br />
investors looked to forthcoming data to shed<br />
light on the direction Bernanke might take. The<br />
Chicago Purchasing Managers Index and factory<br />
orders are due out on Friday and could shed light<br />
on the economy of the world’s largest crude buyer.<br />
Brent crude for October delivery fell 2 cents to<br />
$112.52 a barrel. US crude fell for a second session,<br />
down $1.23 to $94.26 a barrel. — Reuters
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
ABU DHABI: BP losing the chance to<br />
bid to maintain its major role in the<br />
United Arab Emirates oil sector may<br />
signal not just irritation with the British<br />
flagship company, but a more serious<br />
rift caused by frustration with UK policies<br />
and even broadcasts from<br />
London.<br />
Perceived BP haughtiness, anger<br />
over the West’s support for the Arab<br />
Spring and a growing sense that the<br />
UAE’s future lies in stronger ties with<br />
Asia, may have all driven the decision<br />
to block the oil major from bidding to<br />
run its biggest onshore oil fields, several<br />
well-placed sources in the UAE said.<br />
British business has basked in the<br />
Gulf sun since a protection deal with<br />
local rulers in 1820. BP has played a<br />
role in the development of its oil from<br />
the start in the early 1930s. But the<br />
West’s support for revolutions that<br />
toppled Arab leaders in 2011 and concern<br />
in Gulf states it is too welcoming<br />
of the Islamists who replaced them,<br />
has worn Britain’s centuries-old ties<br />
particularly thin, sources close to the<br />
matter say.<br />
“There was some tension between<br />
the two governments,” an industry<br />
source in Abu Dhabi told Reuters, without<br />
elaborating. “BP is looking for ways<br />
to mend this relationship,” he said,<br />
adding that attempts by the company<br />
to repair the rift with top UAE officials<br />
had been rebuffed.<br />
Three other sources close to the<br />
matter said BP had been frozen out<br />
from the pre-qualification stage for the<br />
onshore fields in part due to “tensions”<br />
between the UAE and London. UAE<br />
foreign ministry officials were not<br />
available for comment. A spokesman<br />
for Britain’s Foreign Office said only<br />
that he was aware of reports that BP<br />
has been sidelined.<br />
The UAE is Britain’s largest export<br />
market in the Middle East with construction,<br />
defence and education<br />
among the key sectors, according to<br />
UK Trade & Investment. In 2011, civil<br />
exports came to around 4.7 billion<br />
British pounds. A further factor cited<br />
by several sources in the UAE and<br />
London, is that a BBC Arabic report<br />
earlier this year on a government<br />
crackdown on Islamists in the UAE<br />
angered Abu Dhabi. It contributed to a<br />
growing feeling among Gulf leaders<br />
that London and Washington were too<br />
welcoming of the Muslim Brotherhood<br />
which swept to power in Egypt. Abu<br />
Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin<br />
Zayed al-Nahayan last met British<br />
Prime Minister David Cameron in<br />
London in June. It is not clear whether<br />
the BP role or BBC report was discussed<br />
or how the meeting went.<br />
Sources in the region also said that<br />
BP’s assumption that it would automatically<br />
be invited to bid irritated<br />
some in the UAE elite. Others have said<br />
BP executives may have angered one<br />
of the key decision makers by questioning<br />
the UAE’s plan to invite staterun<br />
Asian companies to take part, or<br />
the tight terms offered under the concessions.<br />
In addition, BP may have been sidelined<br />
because it is no longer a top<br />
three global oil giant and was left out<br />
to make room for Asian companies,<br />
which buy nearly all the UAE’s oil.<br />
UAE oil industry executives will be<br />
wary of shutting out all western oil<br />
company technology, decades of<br />
experience working on the fields that<br />
provide most of the country’s wealth,<br />
or alienating long-time western ally<br />
governments.<br />
But they may have judged that they<br />
can afford to exclude BP without doing<br />
serious harm to either, with top US oil<br />
giant Exxon and second placed Anglo-<br />
Dutch Shell still in the running along<br />
with France’s Total. “The problem with<br />
BP is that they are living in the past...<br />
other companies, Asian ones, are more<br />
competitive,” onewell-connected<br />
Business<br />
BP’s UAE rebuff shows British lustre faded in the Gulf<br />
BERLIN: A display of oled TVs is seen at the Samsung<br />
booth during the 52nd edition of the “IFA” (Internationale<br />
Funkausstellung) trade fair in Berlin yesterday. — AFP<br />
Barclays picks Antony<br />
Jenkins as new CEO<br />
LONDON: British bank Barclays yesterday named retail and<br />
business banking head Antony Jenkins as its new chief executive,<br />
replacing Bob Diamond who resigned last month over<br />
the interbank rate-rigging scandal.<br />
“Barclays announce that Antony Jenkins has been appointed<br />
as a director and as group chief executive of Barclays with<br />
immediate effect,” the group said in a statement. The Briton’s<br />
appointment comes the day after Barclays revealed that the<br />
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has launched a probe into the 2008<br />
investment deal between the bank and Qatar’s sovereign<br />
wealth fund.<br />
Jenkins declared that his top priority would be to repair the<br />
bank’s damaged reputation in the wake of the Libor affair.<br />
“We have made serious mistakes in recent years and clearly<br />
failed to keep pace with our stakeholders’ expectations,” he<br />
said in the statement. “We have an obligation to all of those<br />
stakeholders-customers, clients, shareholders, colleagues and<br />
broader society-and a unique opportunity to restore Barclays’<br />
reputation by making it the ‘go to’ bank in all of our chosen<br />
markets.<br />
“That journey will take time, we have much to do, and I<br />
look forward to getting started immediately.” Jenkins, 51, was<br />
head of Barclays’ Retail and Business Banking (RBB) business.<br />
He has been a member of the group executive committee of<br />
Barclays since 2009. — AFP<br />
CAIRO/DUBAI: Egypt’s benchmark stock<br />
index rose yesterday to its highest close<br />
since March on renewed investor optimism<br />
towards the country’s political and<br />
economic stability, traders said. The<br />
index climbed 0.5 percent to 5,332 points,<br />
bringing it closer to major technical resistance<br />
at this year’s intra-day peak of 5,473.<br />
“The political front is looking somehow<br />
pretty stable. That’s what’s encouraging<br />
the retail investors,” said Amr<br />
Mostafa of Pharos Securities. “The main<br />
force driving the market is retail<br />
investors.” Financial stocks were the top<br />
gainers, with Citadel Capital gaining 5.4<br />
percent and EFG-Hermes up 5.1 percent.<br />
The market has been buoyed by signs<br />
that President Mohamed Mursi is consolidating<br />
the authority of his new government<br />
and by Egypt’s request last week for<br />
a $4.8 billion loan from the International<br />
Monetary Fund, larger than the $3.2 billion<br />
originally envisaged. Egyptian officials<br />
said they hoped the loan would be<br />
signed by November or early December.<br />
“After the International Monetary Fund<br />
visit, the whole market will benefit but<br />
financials will definitely benefit the most,”<br />
said Mostafa. “The whole market is looking<br />
positive and looking to target the<br />
5,500 level.” Technically, the index’s rise in<br />
August has triggered a reverse head &<br />
shoulders formation, a classic sign of the<br />
start of an uptrend; the measuring objective<br />
of the formation is about 6,000<br />
points, which could be hit by the end of<br />
October if the uptrend line from the June<br />
low holds.SODIC fell 1.2 percent while<br />
Orascom Construction lost 1.2 percent.<br />
United Arab Emirates bourses closed lower<br />
for the week as investors booked<br />
recent gains ahead of US Federal Reserve<br />
Chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech today,<br />
which may signal further monetary stimulus.<br />
Other Gulf bourses were generally<br />
lacklustre.<br />
Trading activity has generally been<br />
quiet in the region in the last week of<br />
August, with investors sitting on the sidelines<br />
waiting for buying opportunities,<br />
and some still away on summer and post-<br />
Eid holidays. Dubai’s index finished 0.5<br />
percent lower at 1,548 points, continuing<br />
its retreat from a 16-week closing peak of<br />
1,587 hit on Aug. 23. Bellwether Emaar<br />
Properties declined 0.9 percent, Dubai<br />
Financial Market slipped 2.5 percent and<br />
Drake and Scull fell 1.3 percent.<br />
Abu Dhabi’s benchmark shed 0.5 percent,<br />
losing 1.3 percent for the week.<br />
“Barring economic disaster, any action<br />
out of the Fed in the next two-three<br />
weeks will not be a prudent move,” said<br />
Rakan Himadeh, equity portfolio manager<br />
at Al Mal Capital.<br />
“At best we’re likely to see continued<br />
hints of potential QE3. In the immediate<br />
term, risk-reward on stocks is not there for<br />
the bulls.” Elsewhere, <strong>Kuwait</strong>’s index<br />
eased 0.1 percent, down for only the second<br />
session in the last 11. The market has<br />
rallied 3.2 percent from an eight-year low<br />
hit on Aug. 12. Despite the continuing<br />
political deadlock in <strong>Kuwait</strong>, investor confidence<br />
has partially returned because<br />
companies have posted second-quarter<br />
earnings by the deadline, removing fears<br />
they could be suspended for failure to do<br />
source in Abu Dhabi said. “The British<br />
media was also one of the reasons. They<br />
take a small thing and blow it out of<br />
proportion and take it as an excuse to<br />
write all the bad things about the country.<br />
They are very sensitive here about<br />
such things.” A spokesman for BP<br />
declined to comment on the tender<br />
process, saying it was for Abu Dhabi to<br />
say why it had not been invited. The<br />
London-based oil company still enjoys<br />
good relations in its other UAE operations,<br />
he said. BP also has a stake in an<br />
offshore concession which expires in<br />
2018. “(BP’s exclusion) was unexpected,<br />
especially because of BP’s pioneering<br />
position in the region and given the<br />
vast interests and historical relationship,”<br />
said Kamel al-Harami, an independent<br />
oil analyst based in <strong>Kuwait</strong>.<br />
“This is very strange to us. It’s unhealthy<br />
bearing in mind the ties and Abu<br />
Dhabi’s interest in investing in the UK.”<br />
The concessions system in the UAE<br />
allows oil and gas producers to acquire<br />
equity hydrocarbons from the OPEC<br />
member in return for investing in projects.<br />
State-run Abu Dhabi National Oil<br />
Co (ADNOC) currently partners with<br />
Royal Dutch Shell, Total, ExxonMobil, BP<br />
and Partex Oil and Gas, in the Abu Dhabi<br />
Company for Onshore Oil Operations<br />
(ADCO) concession. — Reuters<br />
Egypt index climbs, UAE<br />
falls before Fed signal<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong> market rallies 3.2% from an eight-year low<br />
so in time. Thousands of <strong>Kuwait</strong>is took<br />
part in a rally late on Monday to protest<br />
any changes to the electoral law which<br />
they said could harm the prospects of<br />
opposition lawmakers in upcoming elections.<br />
The opposition bloc will meet on<br />
Sept. 2 to discuss its next steps. “A lot of<br />
investors don’t like holding positions over<br />
the weekend due to uncertainties, so<br />
retails jump out,” said a <strong>Kuwait</strong>-based<br />
trader. Shares in Wataniya rose 1.6 percent<br />
to 2.56 dinars. The telco said Qatar<br />
Telecom’s offer to buy the remaining 47.5<br />
percent stake at 2.6 dinars per share is<br />
“appropriate to shareholders interested in<br />
accepting the offer and selling their<br />
Wataniya Telecom shares”. The tender<br />
offer will start on Sept. 4 and end on Oct.<br />
4, Wataniya said in a bourse statement.<br />
Traders believe the second-largest holder<br />
in Wataniya, <strong>Kuwait</strong> Investment Authority,<br />
has approved Qtel’s offer but KIA has not<br />
responded to queries by Reuters on plans<br />
for its stake. In Qatar, the index bucked<br />
the regional trend. It gained 0.5 percent,<br />
halting a three-day slide from Sunday’s<br />
15-week high.<br />
Doha’s market is the second-worst<br />
performing Gulf market after Oman this<br />
year, with year-to-date losses at 3.4 percent.<br />
But some analysts and investors<br />
argue selling earlier this year was unjustified<br />
and that Qatari firms have strong fundamentals<br />
which benefit from clarity on<br />
government policy and economic<br />
growth. Heavyweight Industries Qatar<br />
gained 0.7 percent and Qtel climbed 1.3<br />
percent. Qatar National Bank rose 0.5 percent.<br />
— Reuters
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
BRASILIA: Brazil’s central bank cut its<br />
benchmark interest rate for the ninth<br />
straight time to a record low 7.5 percent,<br />
signaling that a year-long easing<br />
cycle may be over as the world’s No. 6<br />
economy starts to recover.<br />
The rate decision came hours after<br />
the government unveiled stimulus<br />
measures to boost consumption and<br />
investment, a move that shows that<br />
officials remains worried about the<br />
pace of recovery.<br />
The bank’s monetary policy board,<br />
known as Copom, unanimously decided<br />
to lower the so-called Selic rate by<br />
half a percentage point, as expected.<br />
However, the central bank hinted in<br />
its post-decision statement that an<br />
extra rate cut may not be needed, or it<br />
could be smaller.<br />
“The Copom considers that, if<br />
future conditions were to allow for an<br />
additional adjustment of monetary<br />
conditions, that movement should be<br />
conducted with maximum parsimony,”<br />
the bank said in the statement. It<br />
is the first time the central bank has<br />
clearly signaled in a post-decision<br />
statement that it might end the easing<br />
cycle that began in August 2011.<br />
After a year of aggressive rate cuts<br />
and more than a dozen government<br />
stimulus packages the Brazilian economy<br />
is finally showing some signs of<br />
life. Even with that massive stimulus,<br />
the Brazilian economy is seen growing<br />
less than 2 percent this year, much<br />
slower than the growth pace of its<br />
major emerging-market peers.<br />
The prospect of a stronger recovery<br />
in the second half has stoked fears<br />
of inflation becoming a problem next<br />
year after a jump in global food prices<br />
reversed the downward trend of 12-<br />
month inflation in July and mid-<br />
August. Higher annual inflation, which<br />
at 5.37 percent is slightly above the<br />
official target midpoint of 4.5 percent,<br />
could add pressure on the central<br />
bank to end the rate-cutting cycle.<br />
“The easing cycle may have ended<br />
today, but the Copom is not altogether<br />
closing the door to a potential one<br />
last iteration in this cycle, which if it<br />
takes will be within the confines dictated<br />
by ‘maximum parsimony,’”<br />
Alberto Ramos, chief Latin American<br />
economist with Goldman Sachs, said<br />
in a note. In the past, the central bank<br />
used the word parsimony to communicate<br />
to markets it planned to reduce<br />
the size of future rate cuts.<br />
The central bank has hinted before<br />
in meeting minutes it was near the<br />
end of its easing cycle, only to dismiss<br />
its own guidelines as the recovery<br />
Business<br />
Brazil cuts rate, hints easing cycle may be over<br />
MANILA: Workers are seen at a construction site in<br />
Manila yesterday. The Philippines said yesterday the<br />
economy grew a better-than-forecast 5.9 percent in the<br />
three months to June, largely due to a strong services<br />
sector. — AFP<br />
Philippine economy<br />
grows 5.9% in Q2<br />
MANILA: The Philippines economy grew a better-thanexpected<br />
5.9 percent in the second quarter, boosted by<br />
increased investment and a drive against corruption, the<br />
government said yesterday.<br />
The strong figure for April-June helped the country<br />
achieve 6.1 percent growth in the first half, with officials<br />
confident the good times would be sustained for the rest<br />
of the year. Socio-economic Planning Secretary Arsenio<br />
Balisacan credited President Benigno Aquino’s anti-corruption<br />
reforms for part of the growth, saying they had boosted<br />
the confidence of local and foreign investors.<br />
“We obviously would not have achieved (this growth)<br />
without the substantial improvement in the way people<br />
perceive the government... and the way we do business,”<br />
Balisacan told reporters.<br />
The economy grew a better-than-expected 6.3 percent<br />
in the January-March quarter, the government said,<br />
revised slightly up from an earlier estimate of 6.4 percent.<br />
Balisacan expressed confidence the momentum would<br />
continue, with 2012 growth settling at the “upper end” of<br />
the government’s target range of 5.0 to 6.0 percent.<br />
The second quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figure<br />
exceeded the 5.4-5.8 percent forecasts of independent<br />
analysts. Financial institutions also widely tipped growth<br />
to range from 4.8 to 5.4 percent.<br />
Balisacan said the second quarter figure was the third<br />
highest in the region, exceeding Malaysia, Thailand,<br />
Vietnam and Singapore. He credited the higher growth to<br />
stepped up government spending on infrastructure, low<br />
inflation, improved exports, rising tourist arrivals and the<br />
earnings sent home by about 10 million Filipino working<br />
abroad. — AFP<br />
TOKYO: Japan Airlines said yesterday<br />
its relisting on Tokyo’s stock market<br />
could raise as much as $8.4 billion-a<br />
sum that would make it the secondbiggest<br />
share sale globally this year<br />
after Facebook’s IPO. It is nearly double<br />
the amount of public money spent<br />
to keep it afloat during a massive<br />
restructuring and would represent a<br />
dramatic turnaround for the company<br />
less than three years after being<br />
forced into bankruptcy.<br />
The proceeds would allow JAL to<br />
pay back the government bailout with<br />
its sale on track to be the secondbiggest<br />
globally behind Facebook following<br />
the social networking giant’s<br />
$16.0 billion initial public offering in<br />
May. The new shares in JAL, which<br />
went bankrupt in January 2010 and<br />
saw its shares delisted the following<br />
month with debts totalling 2.32 trillion<br />
yen, were scheduled to start trading<br />
on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on<br />
September 19. Yesterday, the carrier<br />
said it would sell 175 million shares at<br />
a price between 3,500 yen and 3,790<br />
yen. The airline, which continued to<br />
fly during its time off the stock<br />
exchange, implemented massive job<br />
and route cuts as part of its overhaul.<br />
The airline underwent an aggressive<br />
cost-cutting plan guided by<br />
charismatic businessman Kazuo<br />
Inamori, who was brought in by the<br />
government to help turn the firm<br />
around. This month, the airline pointed<br />
to its improved financial health,<br />
saying net profit in the April-June<br />
quarter more than doubled to 26.9 billion<br />
yen. Cost-cutting and improved<br />
productivity were credited by the<br />
company for the result, which was up<br />
from a 12.7 billion yen net profit a<br />
year ago. Revenue climbed 12.5 per-<br />
cent on the back of a pickup in international<br />
travel demand as a strong<br />
yen, which hit record highs against<br />
the dollar late last year, prompted<br />
more Japanese holidaymakers to venture<br />
overseas.<br />
Sales from domestic operations<br />
also improved as the market recovered<br />
from slumping demand after last<br />
year’s quake and tsunami disaster in<br />
northeast Japan. The carrier kept its<br />
annual forecast unchanged, expecting<br />
a net profit of 130 billion yen in the fiscal<br />
year through March 2013. The<br />
quarterly results were a major turnaround<br />
for the carrier, which exited<br />
bankruptcy proceedings in March last<br />
year. When the carrier announced its<br />
latest financial results, JAL president<br />
Yoshiharu Ueki apologised to credi-<br />
failed to pick up speed. Most economists<br />
expect the bank to slash rates<br />
by 25 basis points in October before<br />
ending the cycle that has brought<br />
some of the world’s highest interest<br />
rates closer to that of other emergingmarket<br />
giants like India and Russia.<br />
Economists widely expect the Selic<br />
rate to remain in single digits for the<br />
foreseeable future, no small feat in a<br />
country with a long history of runaway<br />
inflation and where interest<br />
rates nearly hit 30 percent less than a<br />
decade ago.<br />
Lower rates are a top priority for<br />
President Dilma Rousseff, who has<br />
not bowed to pressure by thousands<br />
of striking public workers to raise<br />
spending. Higher government costs<br />
could stoke inflation and force the<br />
central bank to raise rates in the near<br />
future. — Reuters<br />
JAL to raise up to<br />
$8.4bn in share sale<br />
Second-biggest share sale globally<br />
tors and former shareholders who<br />
took a hit when the airline sought<br />
bankruptcy protection.<br />
He also said the airline would be<br />
able to return the 350 billion in<br />
bailout money through the share<br />
offer. Earlier this year, JAL said it had<br />
ordered 10 new Boeing 787<br />
Dreamliner aircraft as it looks to build<br />
on its recovery and fight off the threat<br />
from an emerging domestic budget<br />
sector. The announcement, part of a<br />
five-year plan, was in addition to an<br />
earlier order for 35 of the planes. Built<br />
largely with lightweight composite<br />
materials, Boeing said the Dreamliner<br />
is about 20 percent more fuel efficient<br />
than similarly sized aircraft and was<br />
the first mid-size airplane able to fly<br />
long-range routes. — AFP<br />
TOKYO: Japan Airlines jets seen at Tokyo’s Haneda airport on August 3,<br />
2012. JAL said yesterday, its relisting on Tokyo’s stock market could raise<br />
as much as $8.4 billion, as it continues a return to strength less than three<br />
years after being forced into bankruptcy. — AFP
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
SEOUL: Hyundai Motor Co. and its<br />
labor union reached a tentative agreement<br />
yesterday to eliminate night<br />
shifts and increase wages, moving one<br />
step closer to end the company’s first<br />
strike in four years.<br />
The preliminary agreement means<br />
that workers will halt limited strikes<br />
they have been staging since July,<br />
which have resulted in 1.59 trillion<br />
won ($1.4 billion) of lost output for<br />
South Korea’s largest carmaker, the<br />
company said. Hyundai and union officials<br />
wrapped up their four-month<br />
negotiations and agreed to scrap night<br />
shifts starting March 2013. Hyundai<br />
will invest 300 billion won, or $264 million,<br />
in facilities to help it maintain the<br />
current level of output despite<br />
reduced working hours.<br />
The deal will be put to a vote by<br />
Hyundai’s more than 40,000 unionized<br />
workers on Sept. 3. Kwon Oh-il, an official<br />
at Hyundai’s labor union, said it<br />
was uncertain whether the workers<br />
would approve the terms.<br />
“In previous years, there were cases<br />
when the tentative deal had failed to<br />
win majority votes,” Kwon said by<br />
phone. Since July, Hyundai’s labor<br />
union staged a series of brief walkouts<br />
to put pressure on management during<br />
negotiations. Workers at Kia<br />
Motors Co. and General Motors Co. in<br />
Korea also have staged limited strikes<br />
to press demands for an end to night<br />
shifts and new wage terms.<br />
Earlier this month, unionized workers<br />
at GM’s Korea unit rejected a tentative<br />
deal reached between management<br />
and the union’s board. The union<br />
staged a partial strike Wednesday that<br />
Business<br />
Hyundai Motor reaches deal with labor union<br />
HAMI: This picture taken on August 6, 2012 shows workers<br />
checking on a solar panel at a field in Hami, China’s farwest<br />
Xinjiang region. German Chancellor Angela Merkel<br />
said yesterday that a dispute between Chinese and<br />
European solar panel makers should be solved via talks,<br />
not trade limits. — AFP<br />
HK shares slide, China<br />
lingers at 3-1/2-year low<br />
HONG KONG: Hong Kong shares closed at their lowest in a<br />
month yesterday, with bank shares hurting after disappointing<br />
earnings from China’s Agbank and property stocks slumping<br />
on media reports about imminent curbs on the sector.<br />
Turnover stayed weak, in line with low trading interest<br />
across asset classes this week ahead of today’s annual meeting<br />
of central bankers in Wyoming. The past two years,<br />
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signalled new policy<br />
easing. Onshore Chinese markets yesterday lingered at their<br />
lowest levels since early 2009, with the metals and mining sector<br />
weak as iron ore prices sank to near three-year lows on<br />
sagging Chinese demand.<br />
Hong Hao, chief strategist at Bank of Communications<br />
International Securities, said that A-share underperformance<br />
is making more people look into whether there are bigger<br />
structural problems in the Chinese economy.<br />
He suggested that for now, investors should stay defensive<br />
and brace for more downward revision of earnings. “If you<br />
don’t have to do anything, then don’t-unless you have a<br />
strong view on quantitative easing from the Fed,” Hong said.”<br />
But even then, I’m not risking my money for a 5 percent gain<br />
in the short term.” The Hang Seng Index shed 1.2 percent to<br />
19,552.9, the lowest close since July 27. It opened below its<br />
200-day moving average, now at 19,763.7, which triggered<br />
stop-losses in the index futures market at around 19,700. That<br />
caused losses to accelerate, traders said.<br />
The CSI300 Index of the top Shanghai and Shenzhen listings<br />
slipped 0.2 percent to 2,211.4, the lowest close since<br />
March 2009. The Shanghai Composite Index ended flat as<br />
bourse volume rose 19 percent from Wednesday, almost in<br />
line with its 20-day moving average.<br />
Mining companies were weak, with Citic Pacific down 4<br />
percent. But there was some respite for beleaguered steel<br />
companies, which need iron ore. Angang Steel jumped 4 percent<br />
in Hong Kong. Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank), the<br />
sector’s third-biggest lender, fell on a bigger-than-expected<br />
margin decline. Banks’ net interest margins measure loan<br />
profitability and are expected to shrink in the wake of China’s<br />
interest rate liberalisation, which has narrowed spreads<br />
between what banks pay depositors and what they charge<br />
borrowers. —Reuters<br />
BEIJING: Expressing alarm at Europe’s<br />
debt problems, Chinese Premier Wen<br />
Jiabao called on Greece, Spain and Italy<br />
to embrace budget cuts and get their<br />
finances in order after meeting yesterday<br />
with visiting German Chancellor<br />
Angela Merkel.<br />
Wen said Beijing is willing to keep<br />
buying European bonds but gave no<br />
sign Beijing will bail out the eurozone.<br />
Merkel was in Beijing for talks aimed at<br />
boosting trade and allaying Chinese<br />
fears about Europe’s heavy government<br />
debts. China has a stake in a resolution<br />
because Europe is its biggest export<br />
market and Beijing holds billions of dollars<br />
in European bonds.<br />
“The European debt crisis has continued<br />
to worsen, giving rise to serious<br />
concerns in the international community.<br />
Frankly speaking, I am also worried,”<br />
Wen told reporters. He cited uncertainty<br />
over whether Greece leaves the eurozone<br />
and whether Italy and Spain will<br />
take “comprehensive rescue measures,”<br />
a reference to spending cuts and tax<br />
increases to balance their budgets.<br />
“Resolving these two problems rests<br />
with whether Greece, Spain, Italy and<br />
other countries have the determination<br />
for reform,” the premier said. “Resolving<br />
the European debt problem requires fiscal<br />
tightening and finding balance within<br />
individual economies.”<br />
Wen’s comments were unusually<br />
pointed for China, which says governments<br />
should not interfere in each other’s<br />
affairs. But the country’s leaders are<br />
increasingly worried about the safety of<br />
their European debt holdings and<br />
European economies where Chinese<br />
companies are expanding.<br />
Wen said Beijing was willing to buy<br />
European bonds so long as it could evaluate<br />
the risks and to help the European<br />
Union, International Monetary Fund and<br />
European Central Bank - the so-called<br />
troika - support indebted eurozone<br />
countries “in overcoming hardships.”<br />
Wen made a similar pledge of possible<br />
Chinese aid to European bailout<br />
funds during Merkel’s last visit to Beijing<br />
in February but it is unclear what the<br />
communist government has done. The<br />
European Financial Stability Fund, set up<br />
to lend to troubled governments, says<br />
China and other Asian investors have<br />
bought 40 percent of its bonds but has<br />
released no other details.<br />
Merkel told reporters that while the<br />
crisis is not over, countries such as Italy<br />
and Greece were “on an intensive road<br />
of reforms. I am convinced that this will<br />
bear fruit.” Greek politicians agreed this<br />
week on an austerity package demanded<br />
by creditors but were negotiating<br />
details. Inspectors from the troika are<br />
due in Athens next month for a review,<br />
on which hinges a rescue loan installment<br />
of euro 31 billion.<br />
“I want Greece to remain part of the<br />
eurozone,” Merkel said. “I have at the<br />
same time indicated that credibility is<br />
very important in the eurozone.<br />
Therefore we expect the program to be<br />
implemented.”<br />
Ahead of Merkel’s visit, German officials<br />
told reporters Berlin wanted to<br />
reassure Beijing that European debt is a<br />
“safe and good investment.” Later, Wen<br />
and Merkel presided at a signing ceremony<br />
for billions of dollars in business<br />
deals - a regular event during visits by<br />
European leaders.<br />
Airbus Industrie, a unit of the French-<br />
German consortium EADS, committed<br />
to invest $1.6 billion in the second<br />
phase of an aircraft final assembly plant<br />
opened in 2008 in Tianjin, Wen’s hometown.<br />
A Chinese state company signed<br />
an agreement to purchase 50 Airbus jetliners<br />
valued at $3.5 billion.<br />
Volkswagen AG, Europe’s biggest<br />
the company said caused a loss in production<br />
of 15,000 vehicles. The strike is<br />
expected to make a dent on Hyundai’s<br />
bottom line for the current quarter.<br />
However, the company will likely meet<br />
its sales target this year because it<br />
exceeded its production target in the<br />
first six months of the year, which<br />
could make up for the lost output, analysts<br />
said. “The strike is unlikely to have<br />
much impact on its annual earnings,<br />
though it will affect its quarterly financial<br />
results,” said Suh Sung-moon at<br />
Korea Investment & Securities. — AP<br />
China’s Wen calls for<br />
action on Europe debt<br />
European debt crisis continues to worsen<br />
automaker, signed a deal to invest $219<br />
million in an “environmentally friendly<br />
production facility” and vocational training<br />
initiative, also in Tianjin. Eurocopter,<br />
another EADS unit, signed an agreement<br />
to build a $12.5 million production<br />
facility in China.<br />
Officials of the two governments also<br />
signed agreements to collaborate in<br />
biotechnology, electric vehicles, agriculture,<br />
education, labor and the environment.<br />
The next round in a regular series<br />
of Chinese-German meetings was<br />
scheduled for next year, but German<br />
officials say Wen asked Merkel to come<br />
early before the Communist Party<br />
begins a once -a-decade handover of<br />
power to younger leaders in October.<br />
Merkel met later Thursday with Xi<br />
Jinping, who is due to become party<br />
leader and president. The two-day visit<br />
comes as Beijing is struggling to pull<br />
China out of its deepest economic<br />
slump since the 2008 global crisis. The<br />
government has cut interest rates twice<br />
and is pumping money into the economy<br />
with a wave of investments by state<br />
companies.<br />
A Cabinet official said Wednesday<br />
that official measures are starting to<br />
take effect and growth was “stabilizing<br />
at a slow pace.” But corporate profits are<br />
down and a survey of manufacturers<br />
released last week showed future export<br />
orders have fallen. — AP<br />
BEIJING: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, shakes hands with Chinese<br />
Premier Wen Jiabao after a joint press conference at the Great Hall of the<br />
People in Beijing, China, yesterday. — AP
THEY ARE THE 99!<br />
99 Mystical Noor Stones carry all that is left of the wisdom and knowledge of the<br />
lost civilization of Baghdad. But the Noor Stones lie scattered across the globe<br />
- now little more than a legend. One man has made it his life’s mission to seek<br />
out what was lost. His name is Dr. Ramzi Razem and he has searched fruitlessly<br />
for the Noor Stones all his life. Now, his luck is about to change - the first of the<br />
stones have been rediscovered and with them a special type of human who can<br />
unlock the gem’s mystical power. Ramzi brings these gem - bearers together to<br />
form a new force for good in the world. A force known as ... the 99!<br />
THE STORY SO FAR :<br />
Jami the Assembler’s new machine doesn’t work -- which should be impossible! New<br />
member Hamid the Praiseworthy tries to help Aleem and Mujiba to find out why...<br />
but then Aleem cries out in alarm...<br />
www.the99.org<br />
The 99 ® and all related characters ® and © 2012, Teshkeel Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan delivers the keynote address during the third day of the 2012<br />
Republican national Convention at the Tampa Bay <strong>Times</strong> Forum Wednesday in Tampa, Florida. — AFP<br />
Ryan picks up bullhorn<br />
By Andy Sullivan<br />
Paul Ryan built his reputation as a<br />
fearless wonk who wasn’t afraid<br />
to put specific numbers on his<br />
small-government ideals. Now that he<br />
is the Republican Party’s vice presidential<br />
nominee, the devil lies in the<br />
details. In a speech that marked his<br />
ascension onto the national stage,<br />
Ryan spelled out his conservative<br />
vision in the broad brush strokes of the<br />
presidential campaign, rather than the<br />
pointillistic data sets of the House of<br />
Representatives Budget Committee.<br />
But the core message at the<br />
Republican National Convention was<br />
the same. Ryan said he and his boss,<br />
Republican presidential nominee Mitt<br />
Romney, must place the federal government<br />
on a crash diet and overhaul<br />
popular benefit programs in order to<br />
avoid a European-style debt crisis.<br />
“The choice is whether to put hard<br />
limits on economic growth or hard<br />
limits on the size of government, and<br />
we choose to limit government,” Ryan<br />
said.<br />
The take-no-prisoners stance has<br />
made Ryan a hero to conservatives,<br />
but it carries risks with a broader electorate.<br />
While Americans may back the<br />
idea of spending cuts in the abstract,<br />
they tend to balk when presented<br />
with specifics. Polls show that more<br />
voters prefer keeping the Medicare<br />
health insurance plan for the elderly in<br />
place, rather than overhauling it as<br />
Ryan proposes. “As rhetoric, it was an<br />
excellent speech in going over those<br />
broad principles. Likewise as rhetoric,<br />
it glossed over the hard realities of<br />
how you would achieve what he was<br />
talking about,” said Charles Franklin, a<br />
professor at Marquette Law School in<br />
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.<br />
Perhaps it’s not surprising, then,<br />
that Ryan used personal stories to<br />
illustrate complex economic issues:<br />
the shuttered General Motors plant in<br />
his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin,<br />
the small business his mother started<br />
at age 50, and the importance of<br />
Medicare to his mother, who smiled<br />
from the audience. There were sins of<br />
omission. Ryan slammed Obama for<br />
ignoring a presidential debt panel, but<br />
failed to note that he himself served<br />
on the panel and voted against its<br />
findings. He also failed to mention that<br />
the GM plant closed before Obama<br />
took office.<br />
Left unsaid were the tradeoffs Ryan<br />
and Romney would make in order to<br />
scale back the government to the level<br />
they envision. “He didn’t say what<br />
the tough choices are,” said Steven<br />
Schier, a political science professor at<br />
Carleton College in Northfield,<br />
Minnesota. “You get into that in a convention<br />
speech, you lose the crowd,<br />
you lose the TV audience.” As a vice<br />
presidential candidate, Ryan now<br />
must play second fiddle to a man who<br />
has often been reluctant to provide<br />
details of his own economic policies.<br />
Romney has declined to say which tax<br />
loopholes he would close in order to<br />
lower income tax rates by 20 percent,<br />
and his own proposal for Medicare<br />
reforms lacks the specifics that would<br />
allow independent experts to determine<br />
how much they would cost taxpayers<br />
and beneficiaries.<br />
Democrats, of course, are happy to<br />
fill in the blanks as they argue that<br />
Romney and Ryan would gut programs<br />
that benefit the middle class<br />
and the poor in order to cut taxes for<br />
the wealthy.<br />
With Ryan’s long voting record in<br />
Congress and several years of detailed<br />
budget proposals, they have plenty of<br />
material to work with. Though Ryan is<br />
revered in Washington for his deep<br />
knowledge of fiscal policy, his skills as<br />
a salesman may be underappreciated.<br />
Only eight of his fellow Republicans in<br />
the House of Representatives backed<br />
his plan to overhaul the Medicare prescription<br />
drug program when he<br />
introduced it in 2008.<br />
Within three years, nearly all of<br />
them supported it. He has won reelection<br />
in his Democratic-leaning district<br />
by wide margins. And he sounded<br />
like he was ready for his biggest<br />
sales job yet. “Ladies and gentlemen,<br />
our nation needs this debate,” he said.<br />
“We want this debate. We will win this<br />
debate.” — Reuters<br />
By Lawrence Bartlett<br />
Opinion<br />
Afghanistan insider<br />
attacks roil NATO<br />
The scale of insider attacks by Afghan troops against<br />
their NATO allies is unprecedented in modern warfare<br />
and threatens to derail the West’s carefully laid<br />
withdrawal plans, analysts say. August has been the<br />
worst month for so-called green-on-blue attacks in<br />
Afghanistan in more than 10 years of war, with nearly<br />
one in three international coalition deaths caused by<br />
Afghan allies. Most of the dead are Americans, but the<br />
latest to die were three Australian troops killed by a<br />
member of the Afghan security forces in southern<br />
Uruzgan province on Wednesday.<br />
The assaults have spiked this year, with more than 30<br />
incidents claiming the lives of 45 coalition troops, making<br />
up about 14 percent of the overall death toll in the<br />
war for 2012. Analysts and officers agree that no other<br />
modern war, including those in Vietnam and Iraq, has<br />
seen so many cases of allies turning their weapons on<br />
international troops, but wrestle with the reasons for the<br />
phenomenon. Taleban insurgents claim responsibility<br />
for many of the attacks, saying their fighters have infiltrated<br />
the Afghan army and police, but NATO says the<br />
majority of the incidents are due to cultural differences<br />
and personal animosities.<br />
The spike in attacks has alarmed the US-led NATO<br />
force to the extent that all soldiers have been ordered to<br />
be armed and ready to fire at any time, even within their<br />
tightly protected bases. That level of distrust undermines<br />
NATO’s plans to work increasingly closely with<br />
Afghan forces as they prepare to hand over responsibility<br />
for security ahead of the withdrawal of their 130,000<br />
troops by the end of 2014. “I believe (the scale of the<br />
insider attacks) is unprecedented in the history of war,”<br />
Fabrizio Foschini of the Afghanistan Analysts Network<br />
told AFP. “It is one of the developments that ISAF is most<br />
concerned about because it represents both a military<br />
setback on the ground and it conveys a very negative<br />
perception to home public opinion.”<br />
Foschini agrees with NATO’s assessment that most<br />
attacks are due to cultural differences, and points out<br />
that many Afghans say they got on better with Russian<br />
soldiers during the Soviet Union’s 10-year occupation in<br />
the 1980s. The religious divide is also part of the picture,<br />
Foschini says, and some observers have linked the<br />
increase in attacks to the burning of Qurans at a US military<br />
base in February this year. But “the polarisation<br />
between who is a foreigner and who is an Afghan is<br />
becoming bigger because of the prolonged war and<br />
prolonged foreign presence, which is raising some hostility”,<br />
he says.<br />
Apart from the Quran burning, the image of US<br />
troops has taken a battering this year through pictures<br />
and videos showing soldiers abusing the bodies of the<br />
dead and a massacre of civilians by a rogue American<br />
trooper. Nick Mills, an associate professor of journalism<br />
at Boston University who served as a combat photographer<br />
for the US Army in Vietnam, also said he believed<br />
the green-on-blue attacks “have no parallel in recent<br />
military history”. “The Afghans know that once the<br />
Western troops leave, they are going to have to choose<br />
sides - the Kabul government or the Taleban - and the<br />
Kabul government has little respect or credibility,” he<br />
told AFP. NATO has tried to play down the importance of<br />
the attacks, pointing out that they are carried out by a<br />
tiny proportion of the Afghan forces that work with the<br />
International Security Assistance Force. But US Defense<br />
Secretary Leon Panetta has acknowledged that he is<br />
“very concerned” about the attacks and the impact they<br />
are having on cooperation with Afghan allies. Afghan<br />
opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign<br />
minister and potential presidential candidate in 2014<br />
elections, also pointed to problems within the government<br />
as a reason for the attacks.<br />
Abdullah takes President Hamid Karzai to task for<br />
what he calls his “vague” message in which he regularly<br />
calls the Taleban “brothers”, urging them to talk peace,<br />
and criticises the United States. “Sometimes you don’t<br />
know who he calls the enemy - the Taleban or the<br />
Americans,” Abdullah said. — AFP
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
www.kuwaittimes.net<br />
A Black Crowned Crane (Balearica<br />
pavonina) watches the photographer<br />
in his enclosure in the zoo in<br />
Dresden, eastern Germany yesterday.<br />
—AP<br />
Anniversary<br />
Years
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Tomatoes are summer’s glamour crop,<br />
round, red and ripe. But though zucchini<br />
will never get as many magazine<br />
covers, real cooks know you can’t beat<br />
it for versatility. If you’ve got a perfectly<br />
ripened backyard tomato, there are only a<br />
few things you should do with it (yes,<br />
admittedly, all of them are delicious). But if<br />
you’ve got a bag of zucchini, well, the sky<br />
is the limit.<br />
Here are some quick ideas.<br />
1. Bulgur salad with arugula, zucchini and<br />
pine nuts: Salt zucchini and set aside<br />
until soft. Rinse, pat dry and combine<br />
with toasted soaked bulgur and minced<br />
red onion, dress with olive oil and<br />
lemon juice and at the last minute add<br />
torn arugula leaves and toasted pine<br />
nuts.<br />
2. Ratatouille: Saute onions in olive oil until<br />
they’re tender and transfer them to a<br />
big pot. Saute zucchini until tender and<br />
add that to the pot. Saute eggplant<br />
until<br />
tender and<br />
add that to the pot.<br />
Add peeled, seeded, diced<br />
tomatoes and red wine vinegar and<br />
cook until they thicken. Add them to<br />
the pot and heat everything through to<br />
combine flavors.<br />
3. Zucchini-basil frittata: Saute sliced onion<br />
and shredded zucchini in a nonstick<br />
skillet until the zucchini is no longer<br />
moist. Stir the mixture into a bowl of<br />
beaten eggs along with grated<br />
Parmesan cheese and torn basil leaves.<br />
Return the mixture to the skillet and<br />
cook, stirring, until the egg mixture sets<br />
like soft scrambled eggs. Run the pan<br />
under a broiler just until it browns on<br />
top.<br />
4. Zuni Cafe zucchini pickles: Slice the zucchini<br />
about 1/16 of an inch thick.<br />
Combine in a bowl with a sliced onion<br />
and salt generously. Cover with ice<br />
water and set aside until the zucchini is<br />
softened, about 1 hour. Rinse and pat<br />
dry. Combine vinegar, sugar, dry mustard,<br />
mustard seeds and turmeric in a<br />
small saucepan and simmer for 3 minutes.<br />
Set aside until just warm to the<br />
touch. Pour the brine mixture over the<br />
zucchini, transfer to jars, seal tightly<br />
and refrigerate for at least a day.<br />
5. Braised zucchini with mint and lemon:<br />
Braise the zucchini in olive oil with<br />
chopped onion, garlic, lemon zest and<br />
mint. When you remove the lid and<br />
turn the heat up to high, add more<br />
lemon juice and cook until the liquid is<br />
reduced to a syrup. Cool to warm room<br />
temperature and stir in more mint and<br />
toasted pine nuts.<br />
6. Zucchini and pine nut salad: This is<br />
another very simple (and delicious)<br />
adaptation of a basic technique. Salt<br />
zucchini as in the bulgur salad and<br />
combine it with minced red onion and<br />
pine nuts and dress with olive oil and<br />
lemon juice. Stir in shredded basil just<br />
before serving.<br />
7. Zucchini in agrodolce: Cut the zucchini<br />
into large pieces. Heat olive oil and a<br />
whole peeled garlic clove until the garlic<br />
begins to brown. Add the cut-up<br />
zucchini and cook until the zucchini<br />
begins to brown, add white vinegar,<br />
sugar, toasted pine nuts, softened golden<br />
raisins and a chopped anchovy fillet<br />
and cook until the liquid reduces to a<br />
syrup. Remove from the heat, stir in<br />
chopped mint and season to taste with<br />
salt and black pepper. This can be<br />
served either warm or cold.<br />
8. Calabacitas con crema: Cut an onion<br />
into thick slices and cook slowly until<br />
golden. Add sliced garlic, shredded<br />
FOOD<br />
Zucchini<br />
can create a variety<br />
of tasty summertime dishes<br />
Zucchini can create a variety of tasty summertime dishes like Zucchini Tian. — MCT photos<br />
roasted, peeled, seeded poblano and<br />
zucchini cut into thick slabs and cook,<br />
covered, until the zucchini is tender.<br />
Add Mexican crema, increase the heat<br />
to medium, and cook until thickened.<br />
Just before serving, stir in chopped<br />
cilantro.<br />
9. Garlic and herb-stuffed zucchini: Make a<br />
flavorful tomato sauce. Cut zucchini in<br />
half lengthwise and use a melon baller<br />
to carefully remove enough of the flesh<br />
from the center to make a boat. Season<br />
lightly with salt and steam until tender.<br />
Grind fresh bread to crumbs in a food<br />
processor with basil and garlic. Pour<br />
into a bowl and stir in chopped<br />
anchovies and toasted pine nuts. Pour<br />
the tomato sauce into a lightly oiled<br />
gratin dish and spoon the breadcrumb<br />
mixture into the zucchini, mounding it<br />
slightly on top. Drizzle with olive oil and<br />
bake until the tops of the breadcrumbs<br />
are browned. Serve hot or at room temperature.<br />
ZUCCHINI FRITTERS<br />
Total time: 30 minutes, plus draining time<br />
for the shredded zucchini<br />
Servings: Makes 8 fritters<br />
1 pound zucchini<br />
Salt<br />
1 teaspoon cumin seeds<br />
1 teaspoon coriander seeds<br />
1 green onion, chopped, green part only<br />
2 tablespoons flour<br />
1 egg, beaten<br />
Olive oil<br />
Greek-style yogurt<br />
1. Shred the zucchini and put it in a colander.<br />
Sprinkle generously with salt, mix<br />
well and set aside for at least 30 minutes<br />
to drain. Toast the cumin and<br />
coriander seeds in a small dry skillet<br />
over medium heat until they begin to<br />
pop and smell fragrant. Grind in a spice<br />
grinder or mortar and pestle.<br />
2. Rinse the shredded zucchini under cold<br />
running water. Pick up a small handful,<br />
squeeze it dry and put it in the center of<br />
a linen dish towel. When you’ve<br />
squeezed all the zucchini by hand,<br />
gather the dish towel around the zucchini<br />
and twist, wringing out as much<br />
liquid as you can. The more liquid you<br />
remove, the lighter the fritter will be.<br />
3. Put the zucchini in a bowl and add the<br />
green onion, jalapeno, cumin and<br />
coriander and stir to mix well. Stir in the<br />
flour and then the beaten egg. The mixture<br />
should be sticky, but there shouldn’t<br />
be any free liquid. If there is, stir in a<br />
little more flour.<br />
4. Pour olive oil into a nonstick skillet to a<br />
depth of about one-fourth inch (it’ll<br />
take about one-fourth cup) and heat it<br />
over medium-high heat. When the oil is<br />
hot enough that a little bit of zucchini
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
sizzles immediately, drop 4 (2 to 3<br />
tablespoon) mounds of the batter into<br />
the pan, flattening them slightly with<br />
the back of a spoon.<br />
5. Fry until golden brown on one side, 3 to<br />
4 minutes, then gently flip and fry until<br />
golden brown on the other side, 2 to 3<br />
minutes. Remove to a paper towellined<br />
plate and gently pat away any<br />
excess oil.<br />
6. Serve immediately, with a dollop of<br />
thick Greek yogurt.<br />
Each fritter: 147 calories; 2 grams protein;<br />
4 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber;<br />
14 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 23 mg<br />
cholesterol; 1 gram sugar; 87 mg sodium.<br />
WOVEN ZUCCHINI WITH<br />
FRESH GOAT CHEESE<br />
Total time: 20 minutes, plus draining time<br />
for the zucchini<br />
Servings: 4<br />
3 to 4 (6- to 7-inch) zucchini<br />
Salt<br />
Olive oil<br />
1 clove garlic, minced<br />
1 tablespoon lemon juice<br />
10 to 12 cherry tomatoes<br />
8 ounces fresh goat cheese<br />
1 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably<br />
Sicilian)<br />
6 leaves fresh basil<br />
1. Trim the ends of the zucchini to make<br />
them a uniform length. Slice them<br />
lengthwise as thin as you can, about<br />
one-eighth inch (this is most easily<br />
done with a mandoline, but if you’re<br />
careful, a very sharp knife will also<br />
work). You should have at least 24 thin<br />
strips of zucchini.<br />
2. Place the zucchini in a bowl, salt generously<br />
and toss to coat, then transfer to<br />
a colander and set aside until the zucchini<br />
have softened, at least 30 minutes.<br />
3. While the zucchini are sitting, whisk<br />
together 3 tablespoons olive oil, the<br />
minced garlic and lemon juice and season<br />
with a pinch of salt. Cut the cherry<br />
tomatoes in half and season lightly<br />
with salt.<br />
4. Rinse the zucchini slices under cold running<br />
water, then pat dry with a paper<br />
towel. Return to the bowl and season<br />
with just enough of the olive oil-lemon<br />
mixture to moisten lightly.<br />
5. Weaving the zucchini may sound complicated<br />
(as with weaving a lattice-top<br />
pie), but it is not difficult at all. You’ll<br />
need 6 strips of squash for each plate.<br />
Arrange three strips of zucchini sideby-side<br />
on the first plate. Lift the middle<br />
strip and place one strip of zucchini<br />
perpendicular to the other strips and<br />
over the two outer strips, making an<br />
“H.” Unfold the middle strip over the<br />
perpendicular strip. Fold back the two<br />
end pieces on one side and lay another<br />
perpendicular strip, then unfold the<br />
end pieces. Repeat at the other end,<br />
then use your fingers to gently push<br />
the pieces together to make a tightly<br />
woven mat of zucchini. Repeat for the<br />
three remaining plates.<br />
6. Place the fresh goat cheese in a bowl<br />
and stir in the dried oregano and the<br />
remainder of the olive oil-lemon mixture<br />
to make a smooth, creamy mixture.<br />
If necessary, add a little more<br />
olive oil.<br />
7. Divide the goat cheese mixture evenly<br />
among the four plates, spooning it in<br />
the center of the zucchini mat. Scatter<br />
the cherry tomato halves around the<br />
outside. Drizzle lightly with a little<br />
more good olive oil and sprinkle with<br />
coarse salt. Tear the basil leaves into<br />
small pieces and scatter over top.<br />
Serve at room temperature.<br />
Each serving: 336 calories; 15 grams<br />
protein; 9 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams<br />
fiber; 28 grams fat; 13 grams saturated fat;<br />
45 mg cholesterol; 7 grams sugar; 599 mg<br />
sodium.<br />
ZUCCHINI TIAN<br />
Total time: 30 minutes, plus 1 to 1 hour<br />
baking time<br />
Servings: 6<br />
1 large onion<br />
Olive oil<br />
3 cloves garlic, minced<br />
Salt<br />
2 tablespoons slivered basil leaves<br />
2 zucchini, cut into \-inch rounds<br />
16 to 20 cherry tomatoes, quartered<br />
3 tablespoons slivered, pitted black olives<br />
Freshly ground black pepper<br />
4 ounces fresh goat cheese<br />
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the<br />
onion in quarters lengthwise and then<br />
FOOD<br />
in one-fourth-inch crosswise strips.<br />
Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large<br />
skillet over medium heat, add the<br />
onion and cook, stirring occasionally,<br />
until it is softened and translucent, 6 to<br />
8 minutes. Add the minced garlic and<br />
cook until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes.<br />
2. Generously oil an earthenware, glass or<br />
enameled cast-iron baking pan<br />
approximately 10 by 8 inches. Scatter<br />
the onions across the bottom, season<br />
lightly with salt and scatter the basil<br />
leaves over the top.<br />
3. Arrange the zucchini on top of the<br />
onions in a single tight-fitting crosswise<br />
row. Arrange the remaining zucchini<br />
following the same pattern, overlapping<br />
each successive row by about<br />
one-half. Scatter the cherry tomatoes<br />
and black olives evenly over the top<br />
and again season lightly with salt<br />
(remember, the goat cheese will be<br />
slightly salty) and more generously<br />
with black pepper.<br />
4. Crumble the goat cheese evenly over<br />
the top of the mixture, drizzle with<br />
olive oil and bake until the zucchini is<br />
very soft, the goat cheese is lightly<br />
browned, and most of the liquid from<br />
the vegetables has disappeared, 1 to 1<br />
1/2 hours.<br />
Each of serving: 166 calories; 6 grams<br />
protein; 8 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams<br />
fiber; 13 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat;<br />
15 mg cholesterol; 4 grams sugar; 137 mg<br />
sodium.<br />
A LOOK AT SOME TYPES<br />
There are hundreds of varieties of summer<br />
squash sold as zucchini, but they<br />
break down into two main families.<br />
Though they can be used interchangeably,<br />
each has different strengths.<br />
The familiar deep green cylindrical zucchini<br />
tends to have the best flavor, and<br />
the darker the zucchini, the better it is. But<br />
the flesh can be soft and breaks down<br />
when cooked.<br />
The light gray-green slightly bulbous<br />
zucchini, which is common at Latino and<br />
Middle Eastern markets, has a milder taste<br />
but denser, firmer flesh that holds together<br />
during cooking.<br />
You may also sometimes see round<br />
zucchini, such as Ronde de Nice and<br />
Tondo di Piacenza. These are not technically<br />
zucchini but summer pumpkins.<br />
Nevertheless, they have firm flesh and<br />
mild flavor and are very good for stuffing.<br />
— MCT
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Did you ever go through a gothic phase in high school, when<br />
you couldn’t stand even a slight fade to your jet black hair color?<br />
Those days, you probably thought highlights were only<br />
meant for the carefree blondes or the sun-kissed brunettes of the<br />
world — tortured soul, much?<br />
Or maybe you had a head full of highlights — bright blonde strands<br />
scattered on top of your dark brown hair — and wish you could transport<br />
your current colorist back to your life circa college. You know, so<br />
he could talk you out of those fake-looking streaks.<br />
Whatever your highlight history, it’s time to think about revisiting<br />
them. Highlights offer the ability to switch up your hair color without<br />
getting a dramatic overhaul, and they can bring depth and life to an<br />
otherwise blasÈ brown or dull blonde.<br />
The key to great, natural-looking highlights, say experts, is knowing<br />
what shades will work best with your hair color. To get the inside<br />
scoop, we turned to hair colorist Marco Pelusi, owner of Marco Pelusi<br />
Hair Studio, Inc. in West Hollywood, Calif. Here are his best tips on how<br />
to get the right highlight shades for every hair color (even jet black, for<br />
all of you goth queens out there).<br />
Choosing the right highlights for you<br />
Before you find out what your best highlights are, read the following<br />
tips to avoid a hair coloring disaster:<br />
• Go to a professional. While there isn’t much risk with doing an<br />
allover color at home, there’s a lot more room for error with highlights<br />
— from the thickness of the streaks to the tones and shades.<br />
Getting highlights should definitely be reserved for the salon.<br />
• Know if you look better in cool or warm tones. A simple way to figure<br />
this out is to hold a swatch of silver (cool tone) and a swatch of<br />
gold (warm tone) against your face. Whichever looks best against<br />
your skin tone tells what type of color family you should stay in.<br />
Just make sure you do this test without makeup and with sunlight.<br />
• Decide if you’re getting highlights, lowlights, or both. Pelusi says<br />
highlights are shades that are lighter than the allover hair color,<br />
while lowlights are dark colors applied to lighter hair. Lowlights<br />
tend to soften a dark color while highlights bring depth.<br />
If you have platinum blonde hair<br />
Try lowlights in a deeper blonde shade.<br />
Gwen Stefani’s hair is as blonde as it gets. If you have similarly borderline-white<br />
hair, Pelusi recommends getting “lowlights in a deeper<br />
blonde color woven throughout.” It would require touchups every<br />
three to four weeks, and over time you can gradually move to a darker<br />
color if you wish. If you want to go for an edgier look, you can concentrate<br />
the streaks like Gwen with her lowlights in the center.<br />
If you have light to medium blonde hair<br />
Try lowlights in deep blonde.<br />
Reese Witherspoon is the quintessential blonde and can wear just<br />
about any hue. This light blonde shade has a sun-kissed look with<br />
highlights that are a few shades darker. For natural looking highlights,<br />
Pelusi recommends looking at your natural hair color<br />
when coloring any part of your hair, then picking a color in the<br />
same family, but lighter.<br />
If you have light brown hair<br />
Try ashy blonde highlights.<br />
Have gorgeous light brown hair like Jennifer Lopez, but<br />
looking to change up your look? Pelusi recommends incorporating<br />
more blonde pieces throughout the hair, specifically in<br />
the lower half, as J.Lo did.<br />
If you have dark brown hair<br />
Try caramel highlights.<br />
Pelusi recommends incorporating shades of caramel, not much<br />
lighter than your natural color, into your hair. “Caramel, rather than<br />
reds or oranges will produce a subtler look,” he says. And, to keep the<br />
look even more natural, start the highlights a “little off the scalp” so<br />
that they blend easily. The trick is to use two or three different shades<br />
to create a more natural and vibrant effect, as Jessica Alba did.<br />
— www.totalbeauty.com<br />
BEAUTY
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
1. How to Win Friends & Influence People<br />
Dale Carnegie, 1936. Arguably the first self-help book in the<br />
genre.<br />
2. Keys to Success<br />
Napoleon Hill, 1947. Interviews with Carnegie, Ford, and<br />
Rockefeller led to 17 “keys” to success.<br />
3. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People<br />
Stephen Covey, 1989. Covey identifies seven qualities that we<br />
must develop in order to reach our potential.<br />
4. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living<br />
Dale Carnegie, 1948. Tired of worrying about everything,<br />
Carnegie set out to purge worry from his life.<br />
5. The Prophet<br />
Kahlil Gibran, 1923. Living a proper life is the aim, but Gibran<br />
says we can’t do by following others.<br />
6. The Alchemist<br />
Paulo Coelho, 2006. A young Andalusian sheepherder sets out<br />
in seek of money and fame.<br />
7. Who Moved My Cheese?<br />
Spencer Johnson, 1998. Two mice and two humans live in a<br />
maze where their cheese disappears. A parable for life.<br />
8. The 48 Laws of Power<br />
Robert Greene, 2000. “The 48 Laws of Power” draws inspiration<br />
from war (Sun-Tzu) and politics (Machiavelli).<br />
9. Rich Dad, Poor Dad<br />
Robert Kiyosaki, 2000. ‘What the Rich Teach Their Kids About<br />
Money - That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!’<br />
10. Awaken the Giant Within<br />
Anthony Robbins, 1992. How to Take Immediate Control of<br />
Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny.<br />
11. The Secret<br />
Rhonda Byrne, 2006. The things that we think about determine<br />
our reality. It’s the ‘Law of Attraction.’<br />
12. The 4-Hour Workweek<br />
Timothy Ferriss, 2007. Practice “selective ignorance” to give<br />
yourself more time to join the new rich.<br />
13. The Power of Myth<br />
Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers, 1991. A look at how ancient<br />
mythology is still relevant thousands of years later<br />
14. The Power of Now<br />
Eckhart Tolle, 1997. Tolle teaches move beyond thoughts of the<br />
past or future, and live, finally, in the present moment.<br />
15. The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire<br />
Deepak Chopra, 2003. ‘Coincidences’ offer glimpses of the infinite<br />
possibilities we could embrace.<br />
16. The Art of Happiness<br />
Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, 1998. A readable and enlightening<br />
look at Buddhism and the Dalai Lama.<br />
17. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience<br />
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 1991. Artists, runners, chess playerseveryone<br />
can attain ‘flow,’ and there’s little else like it.<br />
18. The Tipping Point<br />
Malcolm Gladwell, 2002. When ‘memes’ (viral ideas) come in<br />
contact with the right person, the world changes.<br />
19. The Four Agreements<br />
Don Miguel Ruiz, 2001. The four agreements are pacts that he<br />
believes you must make with yourself in order to be happy.<br />
20. The Aladdin Factor<br />
Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, 1995. Five things stand in<br />
the way of what we want: 1) Ignorance; 2) Limiting beliefs; 3)<br />
Fear; 4) Low self-esteem; and 5) Pride.<br />
21. Self-Esteem<br />
Matthew McKay (Author), Patrick Fanning, 2000. ‘A Proven<br />
Program of Cognitive Techniques for Assessing, Improving, and<br />
Maintaining Your Self-Esteem’.<br />
22. Unlimited Power<br />
Anthony Robbins, 1986. The sweeping and candid book that<br />
put Tony Robbins on the map.<br />
23. Better Than Good<br />
Zig Ziglar, 2007. Ziglar’s ideas evoke a passion that goes<br />
beyond financial gain and status.<br />
24. When Bad Things Happen to Good People<br />
Harold Kushner, 1981. Why are we here if terrible things can<br />
happen with no rhyme and no reason?<br />
25. The One Minute Millionaire<br />
Mark Victor Hansen, 2002. A fictional tale of a woman trying to<br />
claw her way out of poverty, and real-world tips for quitting<br />
your nine-to-five.<br />
26. Learned Optimism<br />
Martin Seligman, 1998. Pessimists believe external events are<br />
their fault while optimists view them as temporary roadblocks.<br />
27. The PTSD Workbook<br />
Mary Beth Williams, Soili Poijula, 2002. Simple and effective<br />
techniques for overcoming traumatic stress symptoms.<br />
28. The Last Lecture<br />
Randy Pausch, 2008. What wisdom would you try to impart to<br />
the world if you knew it was your last chance?<br />
29. Finding Your Own North Star<br />
Martha Beck, 2002. The North Star is our driving motivation<br />
that hovers somewhere near our souls.<br />
30. I’m OK-You’re OK<br />
Thomas Harris, 1969. Too often, Harris argues, we fall prey to<br />
The Contamination of the Adult.<br />
31. A New Earth<br />
Eckhart Tolle, 2008. Tolle argues humankind is on the verge of a<br />
new, non-denominational spiritual awakening.<br />
32. Outliers: The Story of Success<br />
Malcolm Gladwell, 2008. Why do some among us succeed<br />
while so many others fail to reach their potential?<br />
33. My Stroke of Insight<br />
Jill Bolte Taylor, 2006. A Harvard-trained brain scientist suffers a<br />
stroke that eventually leads her to a new state of enlightenment.<br />
34. Extraordinary Minds<br />
Howard Gardner, 1998. What traits are shared by Mozart, Freud,<br />
Woolf, and Gandhi? Gardner seeks out the ties that bind them.<br />
35. The Intention Experiment<br />
Lynne McTaggart, 2008. Experiments on the fringe of science<br />
challenge some of academia’s most hallowed precepts about<br />
the power of the mind.<br />
36. I Am a Strange Loop<br />
Douglas R. Hofstadter, 2007. Our personalities aren’t as<br />
entrenched as we like to think. Knowing how it works teaches<br />
us to manipulate it.<br />
37. Who Are You Really, and What Do You Want?<br />
Shad Helmstetter, 2003. If you truly want to succeed, you must<br />
stack the cards in your favor.<br />
38. What to Say When You Talk to Yourself<br />
Shad Helmstetter, 1990. Change your inner monologue from<br />
negative to positive and your life will change in unexpected<br />
ways.<br />
39. How to Think Like a CEO<br />
D A Benton, 1998. D.A. Benton interviewed more than 100<br />
Books<br />
CEOs to figure out how their thinking differs from that of everyone<br />
else.<br />
40. Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment<br />
Deepak Chopra, 2008. As we learn about Buddha’s transformation<br />
we learn the core tenants of religion.<br />
41. Wherever You Go, There You Are<br />
Jon Kabat-zinn, 1995. Like a poetic How-To manual, Kabat’s<br />
book is evidence that everyone can benefit from meditation.<br />
42. Stumbling on Happiness<br />
Daniel Gilbert, 2007. The one ability we have above animals is<br />
to predict the future. Unfortunately, our predictions aren’t<br />
great.<br />
43. Change Your Brain, Change Your Life<br />
Daniel G. Amen, 1999. A breakthrough program for conquering<br />
anxiety, depression, obsessiveness, anger, and impulsiveness.<br />
44. Getting Things Done<br />
David Allen, 2002. Organizing your life too much is worse than<br />
organizing at all. Clear the clutter and focus on the task at hand.<br />
45. The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook<br />
Edmund J. Bourne, 2005. A book that delves deeply into the<br />
causes of our fears and discomforts, then gives tips to overcome<br />
them.<br />
46. Goodbye to Shy<br />
Leil Lowndes, 2006. A former shy girl herself, Lowndes is now a<br />
professional speaker, and her book offers 85 ways to become<br />
more outgoing.<br />
47. Conversationally Speaking<br />
Alan Garner, 1997. Tested new ways to increase your personal<br />
and social effectiveness.<br />
48. The Magic of Thinking Big<br />
David Schwartz, 1987. Don’t worry about the size of your brain<br />
so much as your ability to think outside the box.<br />
49. How to Talk to Anyone<br />
Leil Lowndes, 2003. Lowndes details 92 steps that focus largely<br />
on meeting new people and making them friends.<br />
50. Talent Is Overrated<br />
Geoff Colvin, 2008. What really separates world-class performers<br />
from everybody else.<br />
— www.selfhelp.fm
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Steve Jobs resigned as chief executive of Apple on<br />
the evening of August 24, 2011, six weeks before<br />
he lost his long battle against pancreatic cancer.<br />
But his ideas live on in the iconic technology company<br />
he co-founded in a garage.<br />
“I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days<br />
are ahead of it,” Jobs wrote in his open resignation letter<br />
as, with a heavy heart, he was forced by ill-health to relinquish<br />
his leadership of Apple. Debilitated by the long<br />
fight with cancer, his body was no longer able to cope<br />
with the daily stress of running a multi-national that had<br />
just eclipsed oil giant Exxon Mobil as the publicly traded<br />
company with the world’s biggest market valuation.<br />
Spurred by the success of the iPhone, Apple has gone<br />
on to become the most valuable company in the history<br />
of stock markets. This week, Apple’s surging sales and<br />
new products on the horizon propelled the company’s<br />
value to 624 billion dollars, topping Microsoft’s 1999<br />
record market capitalization at the height of the internet<br />
bubble. Hollywood could not have scripted Apple’s history<br />
better.<br />
The college dropout Jobs builds one of the first<br />
home computers in a garage with friend Steve Wozniak.<br />
The company grows quickly, but a rift in management<br />
leads to Jobs’ ouster from his own company in 1985. In<br />
1997, with Apple facing oblivion in the face of rival<br />
Microsoft’s dominant Windows operating system, Jobs<br />
returns as the saviour, redesigning the once-revolutionary<br />
Macintosh computer as the iMac and making it cool<br />
once again.<br />
The first glimpse of Jobs’ greater goal emerges with<br />
the success of the iPod digital music players, and Apple’s<br />
i<strong>Times</strong> ushers the company into the business of marketing<br />
music and later films and books. Apple is now more<br />
than a simple computer manufacturer. The first iPhone<br />
was introduced in 2007. Initially laughed at by competitors<br />
such as Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer, Apple turned<br />
the entire mobile-phone market upside down with its<br />
smartphone.<br />
The iPhone’s touch screen quickly became standard,<br />
and industry giants such as Nokia and Blackberry-maker<br />
Technology<br />
Steve Jobs’ legacy: Best still to come from Apple<br />
As people migrate to laptops, desktops<br />
are fading in importance and<br />
many are wondering what one does<br />
with an old monitor. There are all kinds of<br />
options... from a backup display for a laptop<br />
to a replacement for your TV.<br />
As an extra display for a laptop, a monitor<br />
delivers some clear health benefits. One<br />
no longer has to look down at a laptop<br />
screen, meaning, in the long run, benefits<br />
both for the back and eyes. This is especially<br />
important for people who have to spend<br />
long hours in front of their laptops. Those<br />
with original monitors that have small displays,<br />
or those wanting to upgrade to a flat<br />
screen monitor, could also benefit.<br />
“The prices have, on average, sunk to<br />
about 170 euros (210 dollars),” says Roland<br />
Stehle of the German Society for<br />
Entertainment and Communications<br />
Technology (gfu). Most new models usually<br />
have high-definition (HD) resolution. full<br />
HD - 1,920 X 1,080 pixels - is almost standard.<br />
There is a choice between TN, IPS and<br />
PVA/MVA models.<br />
Twisted Nematic (TN) is the oldest technology,<br />
offering fast reactions and only limited<br />
blurring during movement. But contrast<br />
can be a problem, especially with a<br />
limited viewing angle. In-Plane-Switching<br />
(IPS) models are more expensive, but offer<br />
solid contrast and colour. An updated S-IPS<br />
version provides reaction times that are<br />
good for gaming, as well as good visibility<br />
at angles. MVA (multi-domain vertical)<br />
models offer the best contrast from all<br />
viewing angles, an aspect that’s even<br />
improved upon with patterned vertical<br />
alignment (PVA). However, neither has<br />
reaction times that match TN models.<br />
Always consider what you plan to use the<br />
monitor for before making a purchase. “If<br />
you just want a monitor for data crunching,<br />
then you don’t need to worry so much<br />
about reaction time,” says Stehle.<br />
But for gamers and those who want to<br />
watch HD films reaction times of more than<br />
three or four milliseconds are important.<br />
These models will come with higher resolutions,<br />
which, in turn, means they need a<br />
more powerful graphics card. And bear in<br />
mind that not every game can manage<br />
these resolutions.<br />
Make sure to get a monitor that fits on<br />
your desk. You should also be able to rotate<br />
it and set its height. “Anyone who can’t set<br />
the display optimally is going to be dealing<br />
with neck pain before long,” according to a<br />
test in the German computer magazine<br />
Chip Test & Kauf. HDMI, a standard port for<br />
televisions, is becoming the way to go with<br />
monitors, and more common than other<br />
ports like DVI and DisplayPort. But most<br />
manufacturers do not deliver an HDMI<br />
cable along with the monitor.<br />
Some come with two HDMI ports, while<br />
others offer a variety to make sure users<br />
won’t need an adapter to hook up their<br />
monitor. The differences continue to melt<br />
away between monitors and televisions.<br />
Some flat screens already come with a<br />
Research In Motion began to shudder at the market<br />
power of Apple. PC manufacturers learned to fear Apple<br />
in 2010 when the company launched the iPad. Rather<br />
than trying to claw back long-lost market share in the<br />
computer industry that he helped pioneer, Jobs innovated<br />
PCs into obsolescence and positioned Apple to dominate<br />
the next big thing: mobile computing.<br />
Apple is still reaping the profits from the ideas and<br />
decisions of its founder, with the iPhone raking in profits<br />
while the iPad is the growth engine. Yet new Apple chief<br />
Tim Cook has managed to step out of the shadow of his<br />
long-time mentor. While Jobs often ruled like an emperor<br />
in his kingdom, Cook has made the company more<br />
transparent.<br />
Cook heeded criticism of work conditions for employees<br />
of Apple’s Chinese suppliers, putting in place reforms<br />
at the company’s manufacturing contractors. He has listened<br />
to calls from shareholders for the payment of a<br />
dividend and did a u-turn after coming under fire for<br />
dropping out of an environmental rating system. By<br />
comparison, Jobs was famous for letting such pressure<br />
simply bounce off him.<br />
Since Cook took the helm at Apple, the company’s<br />
value has doubled to more than 600 million dollars.<br />
Investors will speculate over the coming months about<br />
the new iPhone, a smaller iPad and a broader entry by<br />
Apple into the television business. “We simply remain<br />
true to our basic principles and build the best products,”<br />
Cook said recently. “And because we are doing that, we<br />
are convinced that good times lie ahead for us.” — dpa<br />
Your old monitor<br />
might have some life in it<br />
tuner for digital television or a built-in<br />
media player. That lets them pick up video<br />
from external hard drives without a computer.<br />
Of course, such features mean more<br />
energy consumption. — dpa
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Young Chinese women in swishy dresses and<br />
strappy sandals sit in a row clutching forms<br />
that list their weight and measurements as<br />
they wait for an interview with the “appearance consultant”.<br />
Dressed as if for a beauty contest, they are<br />
among more than 1,000 bidding to make it to the<br />
next stage of this bizarre competition-the chance to<br />
join an exclusive group of 50 vying for marriage to a<br />
multimillionaire. The testing process screens everything<br />
from looks and education to family background<br />
and astrological compatibility. The 50 lucky<br />
qualifiers win the chance to meet 32 men worth at<br />
least 100 million yuan ($16 million).<br />
Although it is at the extreme end of the scale, the<br />
matchmaking event arranged by the China<br />
Entrepreneur Club for Singles in Beijing reflects the<br />
growing challenges of finding a spouse in modern<br />
China. “I don’t need to be so rich. I’m just saying I<br />
want the ability to have a good lifestyle,” said Zeng<br />
Xie, 25, wearing thick mascara and a delicate dress as<br />
she slipped out between interviews to check in with<br />
her mother.<br />
Zeng’s mother, who gave only her surname, Niu,<br />
rated her daughter’s chances of finding love in the<br />
city as low, and bemoaned her unwillingness to<br />
return to the family’s home town. “She’s got a lot of<br />
great qualities, so she has quite high standards,” said<br />
Niu. “Kids these days are working and they are so<br />
busy, they don’t have time to make friends.” Experts<br />
say the material demands of some young Chinese<br />
have escalated as the country’s wealth has grownwith<br />
home ownership a common requirement,<br />
according to Yale sociologist Deborah Davis.<br />
Davis says that transient urban lifestyles have<br />
combined with frenetic social change, booming<br />
wealth and more relaxed sexual mores to complicate<br />
the process of finding a partner in China. The escalating<br />
demands of potential spouses have come<br />
under the spotlight in recent years thanks to popular<br />
television dating shows featuring materialism so<br />
outrageous that worried authorities forced them to<br />
dial them back. One female contestant famously<br />
rebuffed a potential suitor, saying she would “rather<br />
cry in a BMW car than laugh on the backseat of a<br />
bicycle”, while another requested 200,000 yuan<br />
($31,000) to allow a man to shake her hand.<br />
Many of China’s flourishing dating websites and<br />
other matchmaking businesses target the ultra<br />
wealthy, said Wu Di, a psychology consultant and<br />
television personality who discusses dating and marriage.<br />
The China Entrepreneur Club for Singles<br />
requires men to verify their net worth and pay a<br />
200,000 yuan ($31,000) fee. Half are divorced and<br />
half of those have children-factors that might give<br />
some women pause.<br />
The criteria for women are pretty exacting. They<br />
should be 20 to 28 years old, 165 centimeters (five<br />
feet four inches) or taller, beautiful and gentle with<br />
at least a junior college education. Contest founder<br />
Cheng Yongsheng stresses that they also screen<br />
women for character, putting them through a multiple-round<br />
two-month process of “in-depth tests”<br />
and interviews with family. They cannot be too poor<br />
or they will be gold-diggers, nor can they be too rich<br />
and not appreciate the value of hard-earned money,<br />
he said.<br />
On Sunday women were assessed not only by the<br />
appearance consultant but also three others asking<br />
questions such as how did they handle stress, how<br />
would their parents describe them and what did<br />
they want in a man? Several insisted they cared<br />
about more than money. Zeng said she was perfectly<br />
content to live on her 30,000 yuan monthly salary<br />
and, as an occasional model, did not lack potential<br />
boyfriends. She sought a husband who was responsible<br />
and treated her as an equal. Chen Li, 29, wanted<br />
a life partner of good character and sighed that<br />
this might not be the best place to find him. “Rich,<br />
divorced men just want a young and pretty woman<br />
who can have babies,” she said, adding that she did<br />
not think she fitted the bill. “Being successful and<br />
being good is not the same thing.” — AFP<br />
Lifestyle<br />
This picture shows young Chinese women during an interview with the ‘appearance consultant’ arranged by Chinese Entrepreneurs Singles Club in Beijing. — AFP photos<br />
This picture shows a group of young Chinese women waiting their turn for an interview.<br />
This picture shows a young<br />
Chinese woman during an<br />
interview.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Michael Keaton<br />
Keaton cast as<br />
‘RoboCop’ CEO<br />
in remake<br />
Michael Keaton is joining the cast of the upcoming<br />
remake of Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 cultclassic,<br />
“RoboCop,” for MGM and Columbia Pictures, MGM<br />
announced Wednesday. Keaton will play the CEO of the corporation<br />
that builds RoboCop. He joins previously announced<br />
stars Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman and Samuel L Jackson in the<br />
film, which is being directed by Jose Padilha.<br />
The project is due to begin filming next month, and is scheduled<br />
to be released on August 19, 2013. Recent reports noted<br />
that British actor Hugh Laurie was in the running to take on the<br />
role, as was Clive Owen. The film is set in a crime-ridden city in<br />
which a wounded cop returns to the force as a cyborg haunted<br />
by his memories.<br />
“Michael is the final addition to the amazing cast we have<br />
assembled for this film and it is so great to have the last puzzle<br />
piece in place,” said Padilha. “We’ve got a great script, a great<br />
cast, some killer ED-209’s and I can’t wait to get Alex Murphy<br />
back on the streets.” —Reuters<br />
Trey Songz’s latest<br />
‘Chapter’ takes Billboard No. 1<br />
R&B artist Trey Songz topped the Billboard 200 album chart<br />
on Wednesday with his latest album “Chapter V,” edging<br />
out three other new entries on the chart this week. Songz’s<br />
fifth studio album sold 135,000 copies according to Nielsen<br />
SoundScan, pushing last week’s chart-topper “Based On A T.R.U.<br />
Story” from rapper 2 Chainz to No. 2 with 48,000 copies.<br />
DJ Khaled’s sixth studio album “Kiss The Ring” debuted at No. 4<br />
with 41,000 copies sold, behind the compilation of various artists<br />
on the “Now 43” album, which dropped one spot to No. 3 this<br />
week with sales of 45,000 units. Electronic-indie act Owl City (real<br />
name Adam Young) debuted at No. 7 with his fourth studio album<br />
“The Midsummer Station,” selling 30,000 copies in its first week,<br />
fueled by his hit single “Good Time” featuring Carly Rae Jepsen.<br />
Christian music band Tenth Avenue North had the fourth<br />
debut in the top ten of the Billboard 200 chart. Their third studio<br />
album, “The Struggle,” came in at No. 9 with 26,000 copies sold.<br />
Justin Bieber’s “Believe” took No. 5 in its 10th week in the chart,<br />
while Maroon 5’s “Overexposed” notched No. 6, Rick Ross’ “God<br />
Forgives, I Don’t” dropped from No. 3 to No. 8, and One<br />
Direction’s “Up All Night” rounded out the top ten. Over on the<br />
Digital Songs chart, Taylor Swift safely held onto the No. 1 position<br />
as her latest hit. —Ruters<br />
Oscar-winning US actor Tommy Lee<br />
Jones will receive an award in honor<br />
of his career at the San Sebastian<br />
film festival in Spain next month, festival<br />
organizers said yesterday. The 65-year-old<br />
“Men in Black” star will collect one of the<br />
festival’s Donostia Awards, “awarded to a<br />
great film personality in recognition for their<br />
work and career”, at a ceremony on<br />
September 28, they said in a statement.<br />
Festival organizers praised Jones as “one of<br />
the most acclaimed and accomplished<br />
actors in Hollywood”, who has had “a brilliant<br />
career spanning four decades”.<br />
Jones won the Oscar for Best<br />
Supporting Actor in 1994 for his portrayal of<br />
determined US Marshall Sam Gerard in the<br />
box office hit “The Fugitive”. His latest film<br />
“Hope Springs”, in which he co-stars opposite<br />
Meryl Streep, will be screened out of<br />
competition at the festival. Scottish actor<br />
Ewan McGregor and US director Oliver<br />
Stone will also receive a Donastia Award at<br />
San Sebastian this year. Previous recipients<br />
of the prize include Julia Roberts, Glenn<br />
Close, Ian McKellen, Richard Gere and<br />
Woody Allen.<br />
The 60th edition of the San Sebastian<br />
film festival, the oldest and most prestigious<br />
event of its kind in the Spanish speaking<br />
world, will take place between September<br />
21 and 29. — AP<br />
Lifestyle<br />
Tommy Lee Jones to get<br />
award at Spanish film festival<br />
Beanie Sigel<br />
Beanie Sigel<br />
arrested for drug,<br />
gun possession<br />
Philadelphia rapper Beanie Sigel was arrested on<br />
Wednesday on drug and gun possession charges,<br />
celebrity website TMZ.com reported, days before he<br />
was headed to prison for tax evasion. The rapper, whose real<br />
name is Dwight Grant, was arrested during a traffic stop during<br />
which police found prescription pills, marijuana, a gun and<br />
cash in his car, TMZ.com said.<br />
Sigel, 38, best known for his collaborations with rapper Jay-Z<br />
and R&B artist R Kelly, was sentenced to prison last month after<br />
owing more than $728,000 in back taxes to the Internal<br />
Revenue Service, Philadelphia’s local Fox affiliate said. A judge<br />
ordered Sigel to pay all taxes, penalties and interest, which officials<br />
said he failed to do. The rapper was due to report to prison<br />
on Sept 12. Representatives for Sigel and the Philadelphia<br />
police could not be reached for comment.—Reuters<br />
Tommy Lee Jones<br />
Poster girl for<br />
women’s boxing is now<br />
Bollywood muse<br />
India’s latest Olympic hero is hoping that a Bollywood<br />
movie on her life isn’t just about the sweat, tears and<br />
grime. Mary Kom, five-time women’s boxing world champion,<br />
won a bronze medal at the London Games, and her<br />
exploits will now be captured on the big screen. “I hope they<br />
show some romance in the film,” the 29-year-old told<br />
Reuters in a phone interview. “That’s also important, right?”<br />
The mother of two is married to Onler Kom, who is also her<br />
manager, and hopes director Omung Kumar depicts that<br />
part of her life in the film as well.<br />
Mary Kom<br />
“They will show my struggle and how difficult it was, but I<br />
don’t know who will play me-that is up to them,” she said.<br />
Bollywood isn’t really known for its sports films, but movies<br />
such as “Lagaan”-a historical epic revolving around a cricket<br />
match that was nominated for a foreign-language Oscar in<br />
2002 — and “Chak De India”, centered around the Indian<br />
women’s hockey team, have found box-office success.<br />
This year, film-maker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra is working<br />
on “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag”, a biopic on Milkha Singh, one<br />
of India’s greatest track athletes. Kom was first approached<br />
by Omung Kumar last year, but the director hadn’t found a<br />
producer at the time. Sanjay Leela Bhansali, one of<br />
Bollywood’s best known film-makers, has now been roped in<br />
to produce the biopic. “At first, I thought he (Kumar) was joking<br />
but then he did some research around my village and<br />
spoke to people, so I knew he was serious,” she said. Kom<br />
met both Kumar and Bhansali in Mumbai this week, but said<br />
she never considered playing the lead role in the project. “I<br />
cannot act, I can only box.” —Reuters
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Fall brings colder weather across the Northern<br />
Hemisphere and Hollywood’s major studios will usher<br />
into theaters cool action thrillers, chilly horror<br />
movies and some dramatic Oscar hopefuls looking for a<br />
head start on awards season. From new James Bond flick<br />
“Skyfall” to another scary “Paranormal” installment and<br />
the long-awaited Paul Thomas Anderson Scientology drama,<br />
“The Master,” there is plenty for cinephiles to dissect<br />
in the season, which begins after this weekend’s US Labor<br />
Day holiday and runs roughly to Thanksgiving.<br />
The pace of movies is slower than the US summer<br />
when the studios bring out blockbusters like “The<br />
Avengers” and “The Dark Knight Rises” weekly. But don’t<br />
let the pace fool you; fall 2012 is neither short on quality<br />
nor quantity, experts say. “Early fall can often be a little bit<br />
of a lull at the movies, but it can also be a time when real<br />
quality films can take advantage of a quiet marketplace<br />
and really stand out,” Entertainment Weekly writer Dave<br />
Karger said.<br />
The season kicks into high gear on Sept 21, with Jake<br />
Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena playing Los Angeles police<br />
battling a ruthless drug cartel in “End of Watch,” from<br />
writer/director David Ayer. Ayer, whose previous LA cop<br />
flick, “Training Day,” earned Denzel Washington a best<br />
actor Oscar, said the film shows “what it’s like to work the<br />
streets in a way very few films have ever shown,” pulling<br />
back the curtain on the cops’ lives, personal and professional.<br />
“It’s not your typical Hollywood movie. It’s very<br />
grounded, very real - almost a pseudo documentary.<br />
You’ll walk out of this movie wanting to hug a cop,” he<br />
said. Guns continue to blaze on Sept 28 when Bruce Willis<br />
and Joseph Gordon-Levitt play the same person - only 30years<br />
apart - in the time-travel flick “Looper” about assassins<br />
killing targets sent back from the future.<br />
Liam Neeson is back as the CIA-trained, overly protective<br />
father in “Taken 2” (Oct 5) when the kidnappers who<br />
swiped his daughter in the first “Taken” movie return for<br />
revenge. The best-selling Alex Cross crime novels get a<br />
reboot with Tyler Perry taking the lead role previously<br />
inhabited by Morgan Freeman in “Alex Cross” (Oct 19).<br />
This time, the detective psychologist takes on a hitman<br />
played by Matthew Fox.<br />
On Oct 12, crime takes a comedic edge in “Seven<br />
Psychopaths,” about a screenwriter (Colin Farrell) who<br />
gets involved in the Los Angeles underworld when his<br />
dog-snatching friend (Sam Rockwell) makes the mistake<br />
of kidnapping a Shih Tzu belonging to a crime boss<br />
(Woody Harrelson). The season ends with a bang as the<br />
highly anticipated “Skyfall” comes out on Nov 9, amid a<br />
celebration of 50 years of Bond movies. This time around,<br />
Daniel Craig takes his third turn as 007 with Oscar-winning<br />
filmmaker Sam Mendes at the helm of the movie and<br />
Javier Bardem as the villain, Silva.<br />
Halloween haunts & oscar bait<br />
Fall is long on horror as the studios play to fears ahead<br />
of Halloween. On Sept 21, Jennifer Lawrence finds herself<br />
haunted in “The House at the End of the Street.” On Oct 5,<br />
a ghostly entity threatens Ethan Hawke and his family in<br />
“Sinister.” If that’s not enough haunted house-themed<br />
flicks, the hugely popular franchise “Paranormal Activity<br />
4” returns on Oct 19.<br />
For family frights, animated “Hotel Transylvania” (Sept<br />
28) stars Adam Sandler as a hotelier to non-humans<br />
whose world turns upside down when an overexcited<br />
human shows up.<br />
And Tim Burton brings his usual ghoulish charm to the<br />
screen with the stop-motion animated “Frankenweenie”<br />
(Oct 5) about a young boy who resurrects his late dog,<br />
Sparky. Arf! Then, there is the Oscar race. In recent years,<br />
as Academy Award organizers moved their top film honors<br />
up by a month, to February from late March, the studios<br />
have been bringing more award hopefuls to theaters<br />
in September and October.<br />
Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” is creating Oscar<br />
buzz prior to its Sept 14 release. Set in the 1950s, the<br />
movie tells of a damaged alcoholic (Joaquin Phoenix) who<br />
is taken under wing by a charismatic leader (Philip<br />
Seymour Hoffman) of a spiritual movement not unlike the<br />
controversial Church of Scientology.<br />
Also getting attention is “Argo” (Oct 12), directed by<br />
and starring Ben Affleck. Based on real events, the movie<br />
shows a CIA specialist’s mission to free six US diplomats in<br />
1979 Iran by posing as a filmmaker and putting them<br />
among his bogus crew. Actor John Hawkes gives a tourde-force<br />
performance in “The Sessions” (Oct 26) playing a<br />
38-year-old man who, having spent most of his life in an<br />
iron lung, decides to hire a therapeutic sex surrogate<br />
(Helen Hunt) to lose his virginity.<br />
But Hawkes will see Oscar competition from Daniel<br />
Day Lewis starring as Abraham Lincoln in Steven<br />
Spielberg’s biopic, “Lincoln” (Nov 9). Fans of the filmmak-<br />
Lifestyle<br />
Thrills, chills, dramatic<br />
films dominate fall season<br />
Kim Kardashian has made nice<br />
with Old Navy, ending a yearlong<br />
battle with the clothing<br />
company over ads that allegedly used<br />
a Kim K look-alike actress to flog its<br />
togs. The ‘Keeping Up With the<br />
Kardashians’ star has settled her lawsuit<br />
with Old Navy, according to her<br />
attorney, who told TheWrap that the<br />
suit ‘was resolved to the mutual satisfaction<br />
of the parties.’ The attorney did<br />
not disclose the specifics of the settlement.<br />
Kardashian filed suit against Old<br />
Navy and its parent company, The Gap,<br />
last July in US District Court in Central<br />
California. Kardashian asked for<br />
unspecified damages and lost profits in<br />
ing Wachowski siblings (Lana and Andy of “The Matrix”<br />
movies) will try to wrap their heads around “Cloud Atlas”<br />
(Oct 26), starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry in different<br />
roles throughout six interwoven tales.<br />
“‘Cloud Atlas’ is the complete wild card,” said<br />
Entertainment Weekly’s Karger. “A two and a half-plus<br />
hour movie by the Wachowskis that looks so bizarre. It’s<br />
probably going to be one of the most polarizing movies<br />
of the season.” Finally, there is sport-themed documentary<br />
“The Other Dream Team” ( Sept 28), chronicling<br />
members of the 1992 Lithuanian Olympic basketball team<br />
as they go from life behind the Iron Curtain to newfound<br />
independence - with financial assistance from the Grateful<br />
Dead. — Reuters<br />
Kim Kardashian settles<br />
lawsuit with Old Navy<br />
the suit, though according to TMZ the<br />
reality TV sensation estimated that she<br />
had been damaged in the $15 million<br />
to $20 million range.<br />
The suit claimed that the Old Navy<br />
ads ‘used Plaintiff’s likeness in the form<br />
of a celebrity “look-alike,’’ which was<br />
‘likely to cause confusion, and have<br />
caused actual confusion, in the minds<br />
of the consuming public as to an association<br />
of Kim Kardashian with<br />
Defendant’s products and services.’<br />
That’s no small consideration, given<br />
that Kardashian has given her endorsement<br />
to myriad products, including<br />
ShoeDazzle and her own Dash designer<br />
boutiques. Old Navy confirmed that<br />
the suit had been settled. — Reuters<br />
Kim Kardashian
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Hundreds of people pushed, prodded and stretched<br />
their way to a new world record for the biggest<br />
simultaneous group massage, in the Thai capital<br />
Bangkok yesterday, organizers said. A total of 1,282<br />
entrants took part in the event at a convention centre,<br />
smashing the previous Guinness World Record of 526<br />
people set in Daylesford, Australia, in March 2010. “I feel<br />
excited and thrilled. I want Thai massage to be famous all<br />
around the world,” said 50-year-old masseuse Pinprapar<br />
Meedej. The event was staged by the Thai government in<br />
an effort to lure foreigners to a country whose touristfriendly<br />
image has been tested in recent years by deadly<br />
floods, political violence and concerns about crime and<br />
safety. “We had expected about 800 pairs but on the day<br />
of the rehearsal only this number showed up,” said event<br />
spokeswoman Supaporn Rungcharoenkiat. “But we’re<br />
sure that we broke the record.”<br />
The kingdom wants to shed its reputation for sex<br />
tourism-including brothels disguised as massage parlours-and<br />
promote itself as a growing hub for medical<br />
Lifestyle<br />
Some 641 Thai masseurs and<br />
masseuses perform massages as<br />
they establish a new Guinness<br />
World Record for Thai massage at<br />
an indoor sport arena on the<br />
outskirts of Bangkok<br />
yesterday. — AFP photos<br />
Thailand sets world record for mass massage<br />
Venetian canals transformed through a<br />
camera obscura, intimate snapshots of a<br />
prisoner’s life and a hall of whispers are<br />
among the installations on show at a new exhibition<br />
at Venice’s Palazzo Grassi. Around 30<br />
works by 27 international artists, borrowed<br />
from French billionaire Francois Pinault’s private<br />
collection, explore how the medium of<br />
video has been used to capture and challenge<br />
sensory expression and perception. The hypnotic<br />
“For Beginners” videotape by contemporary<br />
American artist Bruce Nauman is among<br />
the highlights on show at the 18th-century<br />
Palazzo Grassi museum, which the French collector<br />
bought and revamped in 2006.<br />
The 70-year-old artist’s hands are captured<br />
on screen as they respond to verbal instructions<br />
on what positions his fingers must adopt.<br />
The video is just the latest in a series of his<br />
works which incorporate human body parts.<br />
“As soon as we saw this work, we were hooked.<br />
The artist wanted to give it to a Californian<br />
museum. We fought to have it,” Pinault told<br />
French Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti ahead<br />
of the exhibition’s opening.<br />
After months of wrangling, a deal was<br />
struck: the businessman was allowed to buy<br />
the work as long as a copy went to the Los<br />
Angeles County Museum of Art. Alongside the<br />
talking hands, American artist Zoe Leonard<br />
captures the seductive beauty of the<br />
Serenissima’s waterways through a camera<br />
obscura. A light streaming in from outside<br />
pierces a lens and flips the image of the grand<br />
canal outside the Palazzo Grassi onto its head,<br />
so that the waters cover the ceiling and boats<br />
pass upside-down as enchanted viewers loll on<br />
cushions.<br />
The sense of peace contrasts sharply with<br />
Algerian-born artist Mohammed Bourouissa’s<br />
“Temps mort” installation, which collates<br />
images and sketches filmed by an inmate of a<br />
tourism. Supporters of traditional Thai massage say people<br />
in pain need look no further than their local spa.<br />
“Thailand is the number one medical hub. You can be<br />
cured with Thai massage. There’s no need to use medicine<br />
and it’s 100 percent safe,” said 39-year-old massage<br />
instructor Duangvarat Insee. Most of the people who took<br />
part were qualified massage therapists, but others were<br />
just happy to enjoy a free session of “the lazy man’s yoga”.<br />
“That was great. My legs feel good and I can walk better,”<br />
said 72-year-old pensioner Mora Saelim. —AFP<br />
Voices and images at Venice’s Palazzo Grassi exhibition<br />
Palazzo Grassi’s director Martin Bethenod poses next to ‘For Beginners’ by Bruce<br />
Nauman exhibited during the ‘Voice of Images’ exhibition at PalazzoGrassi on August<br />
29, 2012 in Venice. — AFP<br />
federal penitentiary in France on a mobile<br />
phone. Bourouissa, who lives and works in<br />
Paris, asked the prisoner to film snapshots of<br />
inside-from chains to inmates gathered behind<br />
bars-to create a poor-quality video which<br />
evokes despair and violence in its banality.<br />
In “The Passion of Joan of Arc”, Venezuelan<br />
artist Javier Tellez reworks the 1928 movie of<br />
the same name by getting mental health<br />
patients to rewrite the script to introduce the<br />
theme of madness and paranoid schizophrenia.<br />
Tellez, who often works on questions of<br />
psychiatric illnesses, then has the patients<br />
become witnesses to the trials faced in mental<br />
health institutions. In American artist Bill Viola’s<br />
1995 project “Hall of Whispers”, the pallid faces<br />
of ten people who have been gagged are displayed<br />
on a dark screen, with their eyes closed,<br />
while their protests and moans are clearly<br />
heard. Exhibition’s curator Caroline Bourgeois<br />
said video has stopped being a stand-alone<br />
medium and has become integrated into other<br />
art forms. While each of the works speak, they<br />
do not have a common message. Each visitor<br />
to the show takes away their own interpretation,<br />
she said. “Video does not have a cinematic<br />
type of narration. It’s victory that it is no longer<br />
billeted in a category but has become sculptural<br />
in a certain fashion,” Bourgeois said. “Voices<br />
of images” runs until January 13. — AFP
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
The scene outside the childhood<br />
home of Michael Jackson resembled<br />
a party as fans joined members<br />
of the pop star’s family for a vigil<br />
Wednesday, which would have been<br />
his 54th birthday. Fans danced to<br />
Jackson’s music prior to the arrival of<br />
his children and mother at the house<br />
at 2300 Jackson St, where the King of<br />
Pop, his siblings and their parents<br />
lived until 1969. In the days after<br />
Jackson’s death in 2009, the singer’s<br />
admirers piled stuffed animals, flowers<br />
and photos outside the tiny home<br />
in Gary.<br />
Among those at the Wednesday<br />
night vigil was Andrei Tejada, 32, a<br />
Chicago veterinary technician student<br />
who said she was pleased that<br />
Jackson’s relatives were attending the<br />
event. “They still remember where<br />
they started, and it shows they appreciate<br />
where they started. It’s a humbling<br />
experience to know they are<br />
here,” said Tejada, who said she visits<br />
the Jackson childhood home once a<br />
month.<br />
Other events planned by the family<br />
in Gary include a dinner Friday and a<br />
concert Saturday. Before the vigil,<br />
Jackson’s children, 14-year-old Paris<br />
and 15-year-old Prince Michael, were<br />
given blue “Team Gary” T-shirts by<br />
Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson as<br />
they posed for pictures at a casino<br />
overlooking Lake Michigan. “We just<br />
want you to know how much he<br />
meant to us and the city of Gary,” the<br />
mayor said. Paris and Prince Michael<br />
didn’t speak during the brief presentation.<br />
Later, in the moments before<br />
the vigil was to start, the two, joined<br />
by Jackson’s other child, Prince<br />
Michael II, signed autographs outside<br />
the Jackson home. A large crowd<br />
formed around them, with fans shov-<br />
ing books and posters in the teens’<br />
faces.<br />
Jackson’s sister LaToya told the<br />
crowd the family’s musical fame started<br />
in the city, east of Chicago, and in<br />
“this little house.” After saying, “We all<br />
love you, Michael,” LaToya folded her<br />
hands and looked to the sky.<br />
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition leader<br />
the Rev. Jesse Jackson showed up at<br />
the tribute, stopping in the crowd<br />
before the vigil to pose for a photo<br />
with a Michael Jackson impersonator.<br />
Jackson later said he thanked God for<br />
Michael Jackson and led the crowd in<br />
chanting, “Long live Michael!”<br />
Michael Jackson spent the first 11<br />
years of his life in Gary. The family<br />
moved out of the city known for its<br />
steel mills after the Jackson 5 struck it<br />
big in 1969 with the release of their<br />
first album.<br />
Aside from two concerts the<br />
Jackson 5 played at West Side High<br />
School in 1971, the only time the<br />
singer returned to his hometown was<br />
in 2003, when plans for a Michael<br />
Jackson Performing Arts Center in the<br />
city’s downtown were announced. It<br />
was never built. “Gary, you are family,<br />
you always will be, I love you,”<br />
Jackson said at the time. Last week, a<br />
Los Angeles judge appointed the pop<br />
star’s nephew, TJ Jackson, to share<br />
guardianship responsibilities for the<br />
late singer’s three children with family<br />
matriarch Katherine Jackson.<br />
TJ Jackson was appointed a temporary<br />
guardian last month when<br />
Katherine Jackson was incommunicado<br />
during a stay at an Arizona spa<br />
with relatives. Other family members<br />
have said Katherine Jackson was<br />
being improperly influenced regarding<br />
custody arrangements for the<br />
children, but her attorney disputed<br />
those claims. — AP<br />
Lifestyle<br />
Jackson family<br />
in Gary to mark pop star’s birthday<br />
Paris Jackson, daughter of entertainer Michael<br />
Jackson, poses with a fan.<br />
Prince, left, and Paris Jackson, son and daughter to the late pop icon Michael Jackson, display<br />
T-shirts given to them by Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson Wednesday. — AP photos<br />
Paris Jackson, daughter of entertainer Michael Jackson, receives a poster of her<br />
family from a fan.<br />
At Venice: Michael<br />
Shannon darkens<br />
‘Iceman’ role<br />
Michael Shannon is filmdom’s newest<br />
Mafia hit man, playing a killer-forhire<br />
who conceals the truth of his<br />
occupation from his picture-perfect suburban<br />
family in “The Iceman.” Israeli director<br />
Ariel Vroman says he fought for years to get<br />
Shannon into the role, fending off “more<br />
obvious choices.”<br />
Vroman said he wanted Shannon because<br />
“he comes with a darkness,” explaining it was<br />
more effective to “make that darkness more<br />
refined” than to “bring someone who is very<br />
cheesy” and try to add it.<br />
In the film, based on the real story of<br />
Richard Kuklinski, Shannon stars alongside<br />
Winona Ryder as his unsuspecting wife and<br />
Ray Liotta as the Mafia boss who recognizes<br />
hit-man potential. The film makes its world<br />
premiere yesterday in competition at the<br />
Venice Film Festival. — AP
Al-Madena 22418714<br />
Al-Shohada’a 22545171<br />
Al-Shuwaikh 24810598<br />
Al-Nuzha 22545171<br />
Sabhan 24742838<br />
Al-Helaly 22434853<br />
Al-Fayhaa 22545051<br />
Al-Farwaniya 24711433<br />
Al-Sulaibikhat 24316983<br />
Al-Fahaheel 23927002<br />
Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh 24316983<br />
Ahmadi 23980088<br />
Al-Mangaf 23711183<br />
Al-Shuaiba 23262845<br />
Al-Jahra 25610011<br />
Al-Salmiya 25616368<br />
Hospitals<br />
Sabah Hospital 24812000<br />
Amiri Hospital 22450005<br />
Maternity Hospital 24843100<br />
Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital 25312700<br />
Chest Hospital 24849400<br />
Farwaniya Hospital 24892010<br />
Adan Hospital 23940620<br />
Ibn Sina Hospital 24840300<br />
Al-Razi Hospital 24846000<br />
Physiotherapy Hospital 24874330/9<br />
Clinics<br />
Rabiya 24732263<br />
Rawdha 22517733<br />
Adailiya 22517144<br />
Khaldiya 24848075<br />
Khaifan 24849807<br />
Shamiya 24848913<br />
Shuwaikh 24814507<br />
Abdullah Salim 22549134<br />
Al-Nuzha 22526804<br />
Industrial Shuwaikh 24814764<br />
Al-Qadisiya 22515088<br />
Dasmah 22532265<br />
Bneid Al-Ghar 22531908<br />
Al-Shaab 22518752<br />
Al-Kibla 22459381<br />
Ayoun Al-Kibla 22451082<br />
Mirqab 22456536<br />
Sharq 22465401<br />
Salmiya 25746401<br />
Jabriya 25316254<br />
Maidan Hawally 25623444<br />
Bayan 25388462<br />
Prayer timings<br />
Fajr: 03:58<br />
Duhr: 11:50<br />
Asr: 15:25<br />
Maghrib: 18:19<br />
Isha: 19:39<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong> Parliament<br />
www.majlesalommah.net<br />
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
GOVERNMENT WEB SITES<br />
Ministry of Interior<br />
www.moi.gov.kw<br />
Public Authority for Civil<br />
Information<br />
www.paci.gov.kw<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong> News Agency<br />
www.kuna.net.kw<br />
Ministry of Awqaf and<br />
Islamic Affair<br />
www.islam.gov.kw<br />
Ministry of Energy (Oil)<br />
www.moo.gov.kw<br />
Ministry of Energy<br />
(Electricity and Water)<br />
www.energy.govt.kw<br />
Public Authority for<br />
Housing Welfare<br />
www.housing.gov.kw<br />
Ministry of Justice<br />
www.moj.gov.kw<br />
Ministry of<br />
Communications<br />
www.moc.kw<br />
Supreme Council for<br />
Planning and Development<br />
www.scpd.gov.kw<br />
The Public Institution for<br />
Social Security<br />
www.pifss.gov.kw<br />
Public Authority of<br />
Industry<br />
www.pai.gov.kw<br />
Prisoners of War<br />
Committee<br />
www.pows.org.kw<br />
Ministry of Foreign Affairs<br />
www.mofa.gov.kw<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong> Municipality<br />
www.municipality.gov.kw<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong> Electronic<br />
Government<br />
www.e.gov.kw<br />
Ministry of Finance<br />
www.mof.gov.kw<br />
Ministry of Commerce and<br />
Industry<br />
www.moci.gov.kw<br />
Ministry of Education<br />
www.moe.edu.kw<br />
Ministry of Information<br />
www.moinfo.gov.kw<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong> Awqaf Public<br />
Foundation<br />
www.awqaf.org<br />
ACCOMMODATION<br />
Deluxe Villa in Block 5<br />
Mishref suitable for diplomatic<br />
mission and organizations<br />
residence. Safety and security<br />
fence and ample parking<br />
space. For information, call:<br />
99123411. (C 4113)<br />
29-8-2012<br />
Three bedroom CAC flat available<br />
with a South Indian family<br />
for Indian executive lady or<br />
bachelor. Contact: 99515956.<br />
28-8-2012<br />
SITUATION VACANT<br />
Sri Lankan lady looking for a<br />
part time job, European or<br />
American house. Please call:<br />
55680045. (C 4114)<br />
30-8-2012<br />
FOR SALE<br />
Jaguar XK8, 1998, good condition,<br />
KD 1,750/- and Jaguar<br />
XJ6 Sovereign, 4 door 1995,<br />
KD 750/-. Contact: 99696299.<br />
(C 4112)<br />
30-8-2012<br />
Mitsubishi Galant 2007 (new<br />
body) golden color, km<br />
32000 only, excellent condition,<br />
KD 1900. Mob:<br />
Jaguar XK8, 1998, good condition,<br />
KD 1,750/- and Jaguar<br />
XJ6 Sovereign, 4 door 1995,<br />
KD 750/-. Contact: 99696299.<br />
(C 4112)<br />
30-8-2012<br />
Mitsubishi Galant 2007 (new<br />
body) golden color, km<br />
32000 only, excellent condition,<br />
KD 1900. Mob:<br />
50699345. (C 4111)<br />
29-8-2012<br />
For sale villa furniture like<br />
new contains of one bed<br />
room , dining room, living<br />
room fully equipped kitchen.<br />
Washer & dryer. Very reasonable<br />
price . Tel 97211688<br />
27-8-2012<br />
CHANGE OF NAME<br />
I, Arbab Raza Khan, s/o Mr.<br />
Masood Raza Khan, holder of<br />
Indian passport No.<br />
G7270724 hereby change my<br />
name as Mehboob Raza<br />
Khan. (C 4089)<br />
30-8-2012<br />
I, Loyela Joao Borges, resident<br />
of Grande Neura post,<br />
Neura IIhas Goa, have<br />
changed my name from<br />
Loyela John Borges to Loyela<br />
Joao Borges. Herein after in<br />
all my dealings and documents<br />
I will be known by the<br />
name Loyela Joao Borges.<br />
29-8-2012
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Joseph Luciano (right) and his wife Adriana play with their dogs in Clermont, Florida. — MCT<br />
Niobe and Cha-cha raced to the couch toward<br />
hospice volunteer Jim Hays during a visit to the<br />
home of patient Joseph Luciano, in Florida’s<br />
Four Corners area. The pooches competed to get the<br />
volunteer’s attention, barking and wildly waging their<br />
tails. They darted off only after he rubbed behind their<br />
ears. “They took to me right away,” said Hays, 64. “I just<br />
visit with them and show them a little attention - and I<br />
bring treats. It’s just part of the visit.”<br />
Hospice volunteers are stepping in more and more<br />
to care for the pets of dying patients - feeding and<br />
walking dogs, administering flea medication, driving<br />
pets to the groomer or veterinarian and more.<br />
“Hospice is supposed to take care of the patient and<br />
the family,” said Lisa Gray, volunteer department manager<br />
of Cornerstone Hospice and Palliative Care. “For a<br />
lot of them, their family is their pet.”<br />
Cornerstone, which rolled out the pet-care program<br />
a few months ago in Lake, Fla, paid to board Luciano’s<br />
dogs while the 85-year-old Navy veteran, his wife,<br />
Adriana, and Hays took a weekend trip to Pensacola,<br />
Fla. Adriana Luciano, 61, said she’s still able to feed and<br />
walk the dogs - Niobe is a bichon frise and Cha-cha a<br />
mixed breed - in between caring for her ailing husband.<br />
However, she said it’s a relief to have<br />
Cornerstone in case she needs help with the dogs,<br />
who sleep with them in the bedroom.<br />
“They’re like children. We can’t leave them alone for<br />
more than a few hours,” she said. Throughout the<br />
country, hospices are starting to recognize the therapeutic<br />
benefits of keeping the animal and owner<br />
together until the end, said Delana Taylor Mcnac,<br />
founder and manager of Pet Peace of Mind, a national<br />
organization that works with other hospices around<br />
the country. Nationwide, 50 hospices offer the program.<br />
“It’s catching on now that hospice is beginning<br />
to see a cultural change on the importance of pets,”<br />
she said.<br />
Cornerstone, which serves more than 700 patients<br />
and already has volunteers bring their pets into assisted-living<br />
facilities to visit hospice patients, is one of<br />
two nonprofits in the state to partner with Pet Peace of<br />
Mind. It received a grant to provide pet care, such as<br />
buying food for those who can’t afford it.<br />
Taylor Mcnac, a former hospice chaplain and veterinarian<br />
from Tulsa, Okla, estimated that 10 to 20 percent<br />
of hospice patients have pets. But only about half<br />
of them are receiving pet- care assistance. She said<br />
some patients have refused to go into hospice centers<br />
out of fear of giving up their pets. “The pets provide<br />
them comfort when they’re aging and going through<br />
the end-of-life journey. It’s important to do whatever<br />
we can to keep them together,” she said. At least three<br />
other hospices in Florida have applied to the Pet Peace<br />
of Mind program, she said.<br />
Hospice of the Comforter, which serves about 500<br />
patients a day in Florida’s Orange, Osceola and<br />
Seminole counties, doesn’t have a formal pet program,<br />
but its volunteers have been caring for patients and<br />
their pets as long as the nonprofit has been around,<br />
volunteer services director Rose van der Berg said.<br />
“Pets are another member of the family,” she said.<br />
“We recognize that.” Feeding an animal or dropping it<br />
off at the vet is considered a “standard” task such as<br />
doing household chores and running errands.<br />
Occasionally, hospice volunteers help find the pet a<br />
new home once the owner dies. “It gives them<br />
(patients) peace of mind to know that all those they<br />
Pets<br />
Taking on a dual role<br />
More hospices are stepping in to take care of dying patients’ pets<br />
love, including their pets, will be taken care,” van der<br />
Berg said.<br />
That’s the spirit the South Lake Animal League<br />
brings as it helps Cornerstone Hospice provide a “safe<br />
haven” for orphaned animals until a home can be<br />
found to take them in, president Doreen Barker said.<br />
The league is looking for a permanent home for a cat<br />
in foster care and housing another cat at its no-kill animal<br />
shelter in Groveland, she said “We will love and<br />
care for these pets until we find them a happy new<br />
home,” Barker said. — MCT<br />
Kathy Bailey (left) a volunteer<br />
with the Hospice of Summa<br />
Pet Peace of Mind, sits with<br />
hospice patient Dolores<br />
Starcher and her daughter<br />
Susan Oblisk and Starcher’s<br />
dog Catherine in Oblisk’s<br />
home. — MCT photos
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Aries (March 21-April 19)<br />
Sympathy and understanding take on greater importance<br />
now. It is wisdom that counts most. This is a good time to be<br />
patient and tread lightly when it comes to indulgence and overextending<br />
yourself. Improved solutions, insights and approaches make this<br />
afternoon productive. Your approach to any problem is original and<br />
you will create new ways of doing things that make working conditions<br />
much more pleasant. Present a new proposal on paper to the<br />
proper person in authority now—satisfaction all around is possible.<br />
Communications in computers and the electronic revolution is a perfect<br />
career choice for you—whether you are selling, repairing or operating<br />
them. There are breakthroughs available in your career now.<br />
Taurus (April 20-May 20)<br />
Hurrying through the day may not be a wise choice,<br />
especially if you plan to make deliveries. Plan your arrivals early and if<br />
you must arrive late, then do so—do not try to make up for time in a<br />
vehicle. Tensions are high today so perhaps stopping to rest a few minutes<br />
would be a good idea. You may find yourself lecturing, entertaining<br />
or teaching at this time. You have a great love of the written and<br />
spoken word and ideas in all their flavors are what you like to work<br />
with best; if you are not teaching you are a good mentor. Your enthusiasm<br />
for the intellect and the world of ideas makes it easy for you to<br />
wisely communicate to others. You have no trouble putting your feelings<br />
into words. You could just as well choose to entertain.<br />
Gemini (May 21-June 20)<br />
You may appear very relaxed today. You may find your<br />
patience with some past difficulty has paid off now. People are listening<br />
to what you have to say and you can be most persuasive. A huge portion<br />
of your time is spent in helping others through the path of teaching<br />
and informing and sometimes translating. You look for ways to<br />
achieve something self-gratifying in your work as well as financially<br />
rewarding. You love to see the results of your work. There is much mental<br />
busywork today. You might decide that it is time to update your<br />
resume. You could negotiate with higher-ups for more responsible job<br />
opportunities. Your management and directional abilities are in high<br />
focus. There are ideas within your grasp for solutions or inventions.<br />
Cancer (June 21-July 22)<br />
Your career direction gets some encouragement now<br />
and life’s problems should find easy solutions. You may benefit from<br />
an older person or one in authority today. You have an instinctive urge<br />
to get serious about taking care of yourself at many levels. Some study<br />
of herbs, health food and nutrition, holistic medicine as well as traditional<br />
care may be on your mind. Diet and exercise is important to<br />
you—you want to feel good about yourself and there is a search for<br />
that energetic feeling. Good health may be the topic of discussion as<br />
you visit with your co-worker friends today. A visitor in your home this<br />
evening brings a gift . . . this gift may not necessarily come in a package.<br />
You enjoy the company of an animal later tonight.<br />
Leo (July 23-August 22)<br />
This day moves along quickly as you quickly make important<br />
decisions. You will find your way around almost any obstacle and<br />
you are in control and able to guide yourself with ease. You have a natural<br />
psychological ability, particularly when working with the public.<br />
You can handle emotional and personal issues—vulnerable areas—<br />
where angels fear to tread. Perhaps this is not your regular job . . . careful<br />
. . . you may be asked to do this job again since you do it so well.<br />
People trust you with sensitive matters, inner worries and questions of<br />
personal identity. Some of you are very spiritual and you may find the<br />
slow moving days beneficial in finding your inner self. Actually . . .<br />
some workdays next month may give you time to meditate.<br />
Virgo (August 23-September 22)<br />
This workday moves along quite smoothly. You may be<br />
working on some legal matters, shuffling papers, etc. Your<br />
fine verbal skills and a natural sense of justice make legal work fall into<br />
your expertise. Working with laws, natural or fabricated, amounts to a<br />
real talent. Any improvements to your working style or organizational<br />
skills can be worked on now. Your love life is particularly good and passion<br />
to achieve and excel is high. If you are not married, this may be<br />
worth your consideration now. Expanding your family is another<br />
reflection worth your time. Close personal ties are most important to<br />
you now. Harmony is what you strive to achieve. Love is always good<br />
medicine for the soul. Take a walk with your sweetheart tonight.<br />
Libra (September 23-October 22)<br />
You are charming and you always manage to enchant<br />
others with your words and manner. You bring a sense of the beyond to<br />
any conversation. You enjoy working with your mind and your sharp<br />
perceptions make finding new solutions easy. You always bring an<br />
unexpected twist or insight to anything you set your mind to accomplish.<br />
You are able to teach or help others today. Through your teaching,<br />
others will learn to be more original when it comes to the words or<br />
thoughts. You may feel like being different or trying something new<br />
and unusual. This is a perfect time for new ideas, a breakthrough in<br />
thinking and a novel approach. Perhaps this is a good time to think and<br />
study. You may find yourself enjoying a special phone call tonight.<br />
Scorpio (October 23-November 21)<br />
This is a favorable time for business relating to technology,<br />
the entertainment industries, scientific experiments<br />
or intuitive studies. There is a yearning for the stimulation of new experiences<br />
such as learning to fly a plane or glider, water or snow ski, hang<br />
glide, etc., you might even say it is time for a vacation. There may be<br />
opportunities to create a team sports activity for this fall. New friends<br />
and an involvement in idealistic groups take on a greater importance<br />
now. You may have trouble understanding those who seem emotional<br />
or sentimental, yet your own practicality and factuality may attract just<br />
such types into your life. You need to feel useful and wanted and are<br />
never happy unless you are active and involved.<br />
Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)<br />
You are enterprising in your outlook and can anticipate<br />
beneficial change. You may begin a new stage in your<br />
education, or use some new information that will increase your sense of<br />
independence. You value freedom and nonconformity. Your career will<br />
be anything but ordinary. If you so desired you could find unusual ways<br />
to support yourself—at least, bring in a little extra money for now. You<br />
bring a lot of mental skill and understanding to whatever you do and<br />
you could teach or help others to take a more independent approach to<br />
their life or career. You may pursue electronics, computers, etc. An<br />
invention comes into your thoughts and you wonder if you could create<br />
an invention and make lots of money. Keep notes of your ideas.<br />
Capricorn (December 22-January 19)<br />
This is a period of heightened communication with others.<br />
This could mean a rap session to discuss improvement of<br />
working conditions. Listen carefully, before making any final decisions<br />
today—you could be missing an important piece of information. People<br />
that offer information from their experiences and an intelligent<br />
exchange of ideas have a special appeal now. Any changes you want to<br />
see in the workplace, however, may have to wait until the end of the<br />
month. This is a productive time and it looks as though you will accomplish<br />
whatever you set out to accomplish. Realizing that your personal<br />
life has been on hold lately, you may find yourself thinking about weekend<br />
plans this evening. You may decide to invite someone to your place.<br />
Aquarius (January 20- February 18)<br />
You take advantage of any spare time you have this<br />
morning to get some of your work organized and prepared for presentation<br />
or for a group or team meeting. You will be needing copies<br />
and other items that will make your meeting run smoothly.<br />
Something is not what it seems this morning and you take notes . . .<br />
later, you will be able to find out the correct step you need to take to<br />
either correct or ignore what you suspect. Take notes and add dates<br />
to your notes. This afternoon is a good day for making plans or decisions<br />
and finding your way through just about any problem you may<br />
discover. Good advice from a guide or older person may be expected.<br />
This evening there is a chance to have a little special time with someone<br />
you love.<br />
Pisces (February 19-March 20)<br />
You should find everything running smoothly today.<br />
Ideas and interaction with authority figures or older<br />
people may be in the forecast. Working with—rather than against—<br />
the flow should be easy to do. You may find yourself put to good use<br />
by your friends later this afternoon—perhaps by helping someone<br />
move. You may be able to leave work a little earlier than usual and<br />
help gather a few boxes for this move. Your sense of appreciation for<br />
your friends is sharpened and you can see how they and their family<br />
interact with each other and this just makes you more fond of the<br />
people you call friends. You may learn of a special sale and decide to<br />
take some time later to look for a piece of furniture that is like something<br />
you particularly liked today.<br />
COUNTRY CODES<br />
Afghanistan 0093<br />
Albania 00355<br />
Algeria 00213<br />
Andorra 00376<br />
Angola 00244<br />
Anguilla 001264<br />
Antiga 001268<br />
Argentina 0054<br />
Armenia 00374<br />
Australia 0061<br />
Austria 0043<br />
Bahamas 001242<br />
Bahrain 00973<br />
Bangladesh 00880<br />
Barbados 001246<br />
Belarus 00375<br />
Belgium 0032<br />
Belize 00501<br />
Benin 00229<br />
Bermuda 001441<br />
Bhutan 00975<br />
Bolivia 00591<br />
Bosnia 00387<br />
Botswana 00267<br />
Brazil 0055<br />
Brunei 00673<br />
Bulgaria 00359<br />
Burkina 00226<br />
Burundi 00257<br />
Cambodia 00855<br />
Cameroon 00237<br />
Canada 001<br />
Cape Verde 00238<br />
Cayman Islands 001345<br />
Central African Republic 00236<br />
Chad 00235<br />
Chile 0056<br />
China 0086<br />
Colombia 0057<br />
Comoros 00269<br />
Congo 00242<br />
Cook Islands 00682<br />
Costa Rica 00506<br />
Croatia 00385<br />
Cuba 0053<br />
Cyprus 00357<br />
Cyprus (Northern) 0090392<br />
Czech Republic 00420<br />
Denmark 0045<br />
Diego Garcia 00246<br />
Djibouti 00253<br />
Dominica 001767<br />
Dominican Republic 001809<br />
Ecuador 00593<br />
Egypt 0020<br />
El Salvador 00503<br />
England (UK) 0044<br />
Equatorial Guinea 00240<br />
Eritrea 00291<br />
Estonia 00372<br />
Ethiopia 00251<br />
Falkland Islands 00500<br />
Faroe Islands 00298<br />
Fiji 00679<br />
Finland 00358<br />
France 0033<br />
French Guiana 00594<br />
French Polynesia 00689<br />
Gabon 00241<br />
Gambia 00220<br />
Georgia 00995<br />
Germany 0049<br />
Ghana 00233<br />
Gibraltar 00350<br />
Greece 0030<br />
Greenland 00299<br />
Grenada 001473<br />
Guadeloupe 00590<br />
Guam 001671<br />
Guatemala 00502<br />
Guinea 00224<br />
Guyana 00592<br />
Haiti 00509<br />
Holland (Netherlands)0031<br />
Honduras 00504<br />
Hong Kong 00852<br />
Hungary 0036<br />
Ibiza (Spain) 0034<br />
Iceland 00354<br />
India 0091<br />
Indian Ocean 00873<br />
Indonesia 0062<br />
Iran 0098<br />
Iraq 00964<br />
Ireland 00353<br />
Italy 0039<br />
Ivory Coast 00225<br />
Jamaica 001876<br />
Japan 0081<br />
Jordan 00962<br />
Kazakhstan 007<br />
Kenya 00254<br />
Kiribati 00686<br />
Stars<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong> 00965<br />
Kyrgyzstan 00996<br />
Laos 00856<br />
Latvia 00371<br />
Lebanon 00961<br />
Liberia 00231<br />
Libya 00218<br />
Lithuania 00370<br />
Luxembourg 00352<br />
Macau 00853<br />
Macedonia 00389<br />
Madagascar 00261<br />
Majorca 0034<br />
Malawi 00265<br />
Malaysia 0060<br />
Maldives 00960<br />
Mali 00223<br />
Malta 00356<br />
Marshall Islands 00692<br />
Martinique 00596<br />
Mauritania 00222<br />
Mauritius 00230<br />
Mayotte 00269<br />
Mexico 0052<br />
Micronesia 00691<br />
Moldova 00373<br />
Monaco 00377<br />
Mongolia 00976<br />
Montserrat 001664<br />
Morocco 00212<br />
Mozambique 00258<br />
Myanmar (Burma) 0095<br />
Namibia 00264<br />
Nepal 00977<br />
Netherlands (Holland)0031<br />
Netherlands Antilles 00599<br />
New Caledonia 00687<br />
New Zealand 0064<br />
Nicaragua 00505<br />
Nigar 00227<br />
Nigeria 00234<br />
Niue 00683<br />
Norfolk Island 00672<br />
Northern Ireland (UK)0044<br />
North Korea 00850<br />
Norway 0047<br />
Oman 00968<br />
Pakistan 0092<br />
Palau 00680<br />
Panama 00507<br />
Papua New Guinea 00675<br />
Paraguay 00595<br />
Peru 0051<br />
Philippines 0063<br />
Poland 0048<br />
Portugal 00351<br />
Puerto Rico 001787<br />
Qatar 00974<br />
Romania 0040<br />
Russian Federation 007<br />
Rwanda 00250<br />
Saint Helena 00290<br />
Saint Kitts 001869<br />
Saint Lucia 001758<br />
Saint Pierre 00508<br />
Saint Vincent 001784<br />
Samoa US 00684<br />
Samoa West 00685<br />
San Marino 00378<br />
Sao Tone 00239<br />
Saudi Arabia 00966<br />
Scotland (UK) 0044<br />
Senegal 00221<br />
Seychelles 00284<br />
Sierra Leone 00232<br />
Singapore 0065<br />
Slovakia 00421<br />
Slovenia 00386<br />
Solomon Islands 00677<br />
Somalia 00252<br />
South Africa 0027<br />
South Korea 0082<br />
Spain 0034<br />
Sri Lanka 0094<br />
Sudan 00249<br />
Suriname 00597<br />
Swaziland 00268<br />
Sweden 0046<br />
Switzerland 0041<br />
Syria 00963<br />
Taiwan 00886<br />
Tanzania 00255<br />
Thailand 0066<br />
Toga 00228<br />
Tonga 00676<br />
Tokelau 00690<br />
Trinidad 001868<br />
Tunisia 00216<br />
Turkey 0090<br />
Tuvalu 00688<br />
Uganda 00256<br />
Ukraine 00380<br />
United Arab Emirates00976
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Word Sleuth<br />
Solution<br />
Yesterdayʼs Solution<br />
C R O S S W O R D 7 8 2<br />
ACROSS<br />
1. A zodiacal constellation in northern hemisphere between Cancer and<br />
Virgo.<br />
4. Drought-resistant Asiatic treelike shrub bearing pleasantly acid small red<br />
edible fruits commonly used in sherbets.<br />
10. Denoting a quantity consisting of six items or units.<br />
13. Automatic data processing by electronic means without the use of tabulating<br />
cards or punched tapes.<br />
14. Chipmunks of eastern North America.<br />
15. A rotating disk shaped to convert circular into linear motion.<br />
16. A sweetened beverage of diluted fruit juice.<br />
17. (usually plural) Valuables taken by violence (especially in war).<br />
19. Having a face or facing especially of a specified kind or number.<br />
21. A genus of tropical American plants have sword-shaped leaves and a<br />
fleshy compound fruits composed of the fruits of several flowers (such as<br />
pineapples).<br />
25. A woman hired to suckle a child of someone else.<br />
28. Someone who is morally reprehensible.<br />
29. An island in Indonesia south of Borneo.<br />
33. West Indian tree having racemes of fragrant white flowers and yielding<br />
a durable timber and resinous juice.<br />
35. Any of various strong liquors distilled from the fermented sap of toddy<br />
palms or from fermented molasses.<br />
36. A unit of length (in United States and Britain) equal to one twelfth of a<br />
foot.<br />
37. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits.<br />
39. A ductile malleable reddish-brown corrosion-resistant diamagnetic<br />
metallic element.<br />
40. A nucleic acid consisting of large molecules shaped like a double helix.<br />
41. A state in midwestern United States.<br />
43. (anatomy) A somewhat rounded subdivision of a bodily organ or part.<br />
48. A republic in central Europe.<br />
51. Genus of South and Central American heathlike evergreen shrubs.<br />
54. 100 kopecks equal 1 ruble.<br />
55. An anti-TNF compound (trade name Arava) that is given orally.<br />
56. A unit of absorbed ionizing radiation equal to 100 ergs per gram of irradiated<br />
material.<br />
59. A small cake leavened with yeast.<br />
60. Exhibiting or restored to vigorous good health.<br />
63. Tag the base runner to get him out.<br />
64. A software system that facilitates the creation and maintenance and<br />
use of an electronic database.<br />
65. (botany) Relating to or attached to the axis.<br />
66. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.<br />
DOWN<br />
1. The main organ of photosynthesis and transpiration in higher plants.<br />
2. Tropical starchy tuberous root.<br />
3. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy<br />
for the sale of petroleum.<br />
4. An anxiety disorder associated with serious traumatic events and characterized<br />
by such symptoms as guilt about surviving or reliving the trauma<br />
in dreams or numbness and lack of involvement with reality or recurrent<br />
thoughts and images.<br />
5. An accidental happening.<br />
6. Naked freshwater or marine or parasitic protozoa that form temporary<br />
pseudopods for feeding and locomotion.<br />
7. Being two more than fifty.<br />
8. Food mixtures either arranged on a plate or tossed and served with a<br />
moist dressing.<br />
9. A very poisonous metallic element that has three allotropic forms.<br />
10. The act of scanning.<br />
11. The United Nations agency concerned with atomic energy.<br />
12. A Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Christ.<br />
18. A strong-smelling plant from whose dried leaves a number of euphoriant<br />
and hallucinogenic drugs are prepared.<br />
Stars<br />
20. An ancient Hebrew unit of dry measure equal to about a bushel.<br />
22. A silvery soft waxy metallic element of the alkali metal group.<br />
23. An early French settler in the Maritimes.<br />
24. A public promotion of some product or service.<br />
26. United States educator who introduced reforms that significantly<br />
altered the system of public education (1796-1859).<br />
27. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill.<br />
30. A colorless and odorless inert gas.<br />
31. British informal term.<br />
32. A Kwa language spoken by the Yoruba people in southwestern Nigeria.<br />
34. Minute floating marine tunicate having a transparent body with an<br />
opening at each end.<br />
38. A copy of a written work or composition that has been published<br />
(printed on pages bound together).<br />
42. A drug (trade names Atarax and Vistaril) used as a tranquilizer to treat<br />
anxiety and motion sickness.<br />
43. Being one more than one.<br />
44. An indistinct shapeless form.<br />
45. A parliamentary monarchy in southwestern Europe on the Iberian<br />
Peninsula.<br />
46. (British) A game resembling handball.<br />
47. A plant hormone promoting elongation of stems and roots.<br />
49. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.<br />
50. Jordan's port.<br />
52. An Arabic speaking person who lives in Arabia or North Africa.<br />
53. Any of various aromatic resinous substances used for healing and<br />
soothing.<br />
57. American prizefighter who won the world heavyweight championship<br />
three times (born in 1942).<br />
58. A metric unit of volume or capacity equal to 10 liters.<br />
61. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.<br />
62. A colorless odorless gaseous element that give a red glow in a vacuum<br />
tube.<br />
Yesterdayʼs Solution
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31 , 2012<br />
Blue Jays, White<br />
Sox triumph<br />
NEW YORK: Yunel Esccobar hit a two-run homer, three doubles<br />
and drove in five runs as Toronto beat the New York Yankees 8-5<br />
Wednesday, ending CC Sabathia’s five years of dominance over<br />
the Blue Jays. Escobar had a go-ahead RBI double in the third. His<br />
homer against Sabathia in the sixth gave the Blue Jays the lead<br />
again and his two-run double off Joba Chamberlain in the ninth<br />
helped secure Toronto’s first series win since July. JA Happ (3-1)<br />
overcame a season-high five walks for the win and Casey Janssen<br />
pitched a perfect ninth for his 17th save. Sabathia (13-4) was undefeated<br />
over his last nine starts against Toronto - 8-0 with a 2.48<br />
ERA - since the beginning of his Cy Young Award season of 2007<br />
with Cleveland.<br />
White Sox 8, Orioles 1<br />
In Baltimore, White Sox rookie Dylan Axelrod took a three-hitter<br />
into the eighth inning and Chicago spoiled the Baltimore<br />
debut of Joe Saunders, scoring seven runs off the left-hander.<br />
Gordon Beckham had three hits and three RBIs to help Chicago<br />
snap a five-game road losing streak. Alexei Ramirez went 3 for 4<br />
with two RBIs and scored twice for the White Sox, who will seek a<br />
split of the four-game series on Thursday. Omar Quintanilla drove<br />
in the lone run for the Orioles, whose four-game winning streak<br />
ended. Baltimore remained 31/2 games behind the first-place<br />
New York Yankees in the AL East.<br />
Rays 8, Rangers 4<br />
In Arlington, Evan Longoria homered twice, Tampa Bay<br />
roughed up Matt Harrison and the Rays beat the Rangers to snap<br />
a four-game losing streak. After dropping the last two against the<br />
AL-West leading Rangers by one run, the Rays avoided the threegame<br />
sweep. Harrison (15-8) allowed seven runs and 12 hits in 5 1-<br />
3 innings. He took a no-hitter into the seventh and permitted two<br />
hits in eight shutout innings in his last outing Friday night against<br />
Minnesota. Tampa Bay had scored only 11 runs during their losing<br />
skid before breaking out for 16 hits against Texas. Josh Hamilton<br />
hit his 36th home run for Texas.<br />
Athletics 8, Indians 4<br />
In Cleveland, Josh Donaldson hit a three-run homer and five<br />
Athletics pitchers combined to beat the Indians. Oakland took<br />
over the AL wild-card lead by one game over Baltimore with its<br />
11th win in 13 games as Travis Blackley (5-3) gave up two runs<br />
over 5 2-3 innings. Ryan Cook got four outs for his 13th save.<br />
Donaldson connected off rookie Corey Kluber (0-3) in the fourth<br />
inning for a 3-2 lead. Shoddy fielding by the Indians, losers of 13 of<br />
14, helped the Athletics later extend the lead.Jason Donald’s<br />
homer in the third broke the Indians’ 24-inning scoreless streak,<br />
but they fell to 5-26 since July 27.<br />
Royals 1, Tigers 0<br />
In Kansas City, Bruce Chen allowed four hits over a seasonhigh<br />
eight innings, and Eric Hosmer’s infield single in the fourth<br />
drove in the only run in the Royals’ victory over the Tigers. The last<br />
time Chen (10-10) lasted eight innings was last September, in his<br />
final two starts of the year. The veteran left-hander hadn’t even<br />
gone seven in his past 11 outings. Anibal Sanchez (2-4) matched<br />
him pitch for pitch most of the night, finally looking like the guy<br />
the Tigers thought they were acquiring in a July trade with Florida.<br />
Sanchez allowed seven hits in seven innings, but the RBI single off<br />
the fists by Hosmer proved to be decisive.<br />
Twins 10, Mariners 0<br />
In Minneapolis, Samuel Deduno dominated for seven innings,<br />
Trevor Plouffe homered and had four RBIs, and the Twins beat the<br />
Mariners. The normally wild Deduno (5-2) struck out a career-high<br />
nine with no walks to help the win for just the fourth time in their<br />
last 20 games. After Trayvon Robinson singled with one out in the<br />
first inning, Deduno retired the next 18 Seattle hitters, all but one<br />
on groundballs or strikeouts. Plouffe gave the Twins a 5-0 lead in<br />
the fourth with his 20th home run and first since returning on<br />
Aug. 13 after missing 21 games with a sore thumb.Jason Vargas<br />
(13-9) failed to finish five innings for his second straight start. He<br />
allowed six runs on eight hits over 4 2-3 innings.<br />
Angels 10, Red Sox 3<br />
In Anaheim, Kendrys Morales and Chris Iannetta hit early tworun<br />
homers, C.J. Wilson snapped his 11-start winless skid and the<br />
Angels jumped all over new Boston starter Zach Stewart. Torii<br />
Hunter, Alberto Callaspo and Erick Aybar all contributed run-scoring<br />
doubles during the three innings pitched by Stewart (0-1),<br />
who yielded 10 hits and fell behind 9-1 in a horrific Red Sox debut.<br />
Five Angels had multihit games, led by Hunter’s 3-for-4 effort with<br />
two RBIs.—AP<br />
PHOENIX: Chris Heisey hit two of<br />
Cincinnati’s four late homers, including a<br />
tying shot in the seventh inning, to rally the<br />
Reds to a 6-2 victory over the Arizona<br />
Diamondbacks on Wednesday.<br />
Dioner Navarro’s solo shot two batters<br />
after Heisey’s two-run drive put Cincinnati<br />
ahead. Brandon Phillips added a two-run<br />
homer in the eighth and Heisey capped the<br />
scoring with a solo homer two outs later.<br />
The NL Central leaders swept the threegame<br />
series and sent the reeling<br />
Diamondbacks to their sixth straight home<br />
loss.<br />
Mat Latos (11-4) pitched seven innings,<br />
allowing two runs and five hits with seven<br />
strikeouts. He also had two hits in his first<br />
win since Aug. 3 against Pittsburgh and his<br />
first at Arizona since August 2010.<br />
Cincinnati trailed 2-0 until the seventh,<br />
shut out on two hits by Patrick Corbin (5-6).<br />
Todd Frazier doubled with one out and<br />
scored on Heisey’s fifth home run. The<br />
Diamondbacks lost eight of 10 on their<br />
homestand.<br />
Dodgers 10, Rockies 8<br />
In Denver, Joe Blanton pitched effectively<br />
into the eighth inning for his first win<br />
with Los Angeles and A.J. Ellis hit his first<br />
career grand slam in a victory over<br />
Colorado.<br />
Hanley Ramirez, another midseason<br />
acquisition by the Dodgers, homered in his<br />
second straight game to help Los Angeles<br />
overcome Matt Kemp’s absence and withstand<br />
Colorado’s seven-run eighth.<br />
Kemp sat out because of a bone bruise<br />
on his left knee and a sore jaw after he<br />
crashed into the outfield wall the night<br />
before. He is day to day.<br />
Blanton (9-12), who was 0-3 with a 7.71<br />
ERA in four previous starts since joining the<br />
Dodgers in an Aug. 3 trade with<br />
Philadelphia, struck out five in 7 13 innings.<br />
It was his first win since July 16 when he<br />
beat the Dodgers for the Phillies.<br />
Pirates 5, Cardinals 0<br />
In Pittsburgh, Pedro Alvarez kept up his<br />
recent tear, hitting his 26th homer and driving<br />
in three runs as Pittsburgh rolled to a<br />
victory over St. Louis.<br />
Alvarez, who homered twice on<br />
Tuesday, added to his season-long dominance<br />
of the Cardinals. His three-run shot in<br />
the third gave him seven home runs and 23<br />
RBIs in 15 games against St. Louis this year<br />
as the Pirates moved within one game of<br />
the NL’s second wild-card spot.<br />
Wandy Rodriguez (9-13) worked six tidy<br />
innings to pick up his first victory as a<br />
starter since being acquired by Pittsburgh<br />
in a trade last month. He walked three and<br />
struck out three while helping the Pirates<br />
shut out the Cardinals for the second<br />
straight night. Joe Kelly (4-6) battled control<br />
problems during five rocky innings, giving<br />
up five runs on eight hits.<br />
Nationals 8, Marlins 4<br />
In Miami, Bryce Harper homered twice<br />
for the first time in his career and first-place<br />
Washington snapped a five-game losing<br />
streak by beating Miami.<br />
Harper hit a two-run homer in the fourth<br />
inning and a solo shot in the fifth, giving<br />
the rookie 14 this season. He had a chance<br />
for a three-homer night but grounded into<br />
a double play in the ninth, spiked his helmet<br />
in frustration after crossing the bag<br />
and was ejected by umpire C.B. Bucknor.<br />
Before the game, manager Davey<br />
Johnson called a brief team meeting, which<br />
he described as upbeat. The pep talk stirred<br />
the Nationals’ bats, and they had 14 hits.<br />
Kurt Suzuki hit his first homer with<br />
Washington and Ross Detwiler (8-6)<br />
allowed three runs in 5 2-3 innings. Drew<br />
Storen came on with runners at second and<br />
third in the eighth and retired three consecutive<br />
batters to protect a 6-4 lead. Miami<br />
rookie Jacob Turner (0-2), auditioning for a<br />
job next year, allowed five runs in five<br />
innings.<br />
Padres 8, Braves 2<br />
In San Diego, with their new owners<br />
watching, Chase Headley and the Padres<br />
beat Atlanta for their ninth win in 10 games.<br />
Headley hit a two-run single and lefthander<br />
Eric Stults (4-2) won his fourth<br />
straight decision as the Padres took two of<br />
three from the Braves, who lead the NL<br />
wild-card race.<br />
The third generation of the O’Malley<br />
family was introduced at a news conference<br />
earlier Wednesday, promising to run the<br />
Padres in the same first-class manner that<br />
Walter and Peter O’Malley once ran the<br />
Dodgers. The new ownership group<br />
includes Peter O’Malley’s sons, Kevin and<br />
Brian, and nephews Peter and Tom Seidler.<br />
It also includes San Diego businessman<br />
Ron Fowler, the executive chairman who<br />
has been designated as the team’s control<br />
person. The group bought the Padres for<br />
$800 million from John Moores. Headley’s<br />
two-run single in the fifth off Tommy<br />
Hanson (12-7) gave San Diego a 4-1 lead.<br />
Mets 3, Phillies 2<br />
In Philadelphia, Lucas Duda hit a two-run<br />
homer, Matt Harvey had another sharp outing<br />
and New York beat the Phillies for its<br />
fourth straight win.<br />
The Mets have won five straight in<br />
Philadelphia and seven of eight overall this<br />
season. Harvey (3-3) allowed two runs and<br />
six hits, striking out six in 6 1-3 innings. He<br />
also had an RBI single. The rookie has a 2.76<br />
ERA in seven starts.<br />
Tyler Cloyd (0-1) yielded three runs over<br />
six innings in his major league debut while<br />
filling in for Cole Hamels, scratched from the<br />
start because of a gastrointestinal illness.<br />
Cloyd allowed three runs and seven hits<br />
in six innings. The 25-year-old righty was 15-<br />
1 with a 2.26 ERA in the minors this season,<br />
including 12-1 with a 2.35 ERA at Triple-A<br />
Sports<br />
Reds pound D’backs<br />
Lehigh Valley.<br />
Josh Edgin, Robert Carson and Jon<br />
Rauch combined to get five outs before<br />
Frank Francisco finished for his 22nd save in<br />
25 tries.<br />
Brewers 3, Cubs 1<br />
In Chicago, Mike Fiers tossed 7 1-3 solid<br />
innings to lead Milwaukee to its eighth<br />
straight victory over Chicago. Fiers (8-6)<br />
held the Cubs to four hits and struck out six,<br />
helping Milwaukee beat its division rival for<br />
the 13th time in 16 meetings this season.<br />
The Brewers have won eight of nine overall<br />
and moved within five games of .500 for the<br />
first time since July 21.<br />
Fiers sent down 14 straight batters at<br />
one point and won his second straight start,<br />
but Milwaukee’s streak of eight straight<br />
games with at least 10 strikeouts came to an<br />
end. It was the longest such streak since<br />
1900.<br />
John Axford finished for his 22nd save<br />
in 30 chances. Jeff Samardzija (8-12) gave<br />
up seven hits and three runs - two earned<br />
PHOENIX: Arizona Diamondbacks’ Jacob Elmore (right) connects on a run-scoring<br />
double as Cincinnati Reds catcher Dioner Navarro watches in the fourth inning of a<br />
baseball game. — AP<br />
— in seven innings. He struck out 10.<br />
Jean Segura stroked a go-ahead single in<br />
the seventh and scored an insurance run<br />
when Chicago committed two errors after<br />
he stole second base. The bumbling Cubs<br />
have dropped 22 of 28 and fell 31 games<br />
under .500, their worst mark since Sept. 30,<br />
2006.<br />
Giants 6, Astros 4<br />
In Houston, Hunter Pence hit a threerun<br />
homer and Joaquin Arias drove in two<br />
with a triple to help San Francisco beat<br />
Houston.<br />
Pence has been an Astros nemesis since<br />
they traded him in July 2011, hitting four<br />
homers in seven games against his former<br />
team with the Phillies and Giants.<br />
The crowd of 13,207 was the smallest in<br />
the history of Houston’s 12-year-old ballpark.<br />
The previous low came a night before.<br />
George Kontos (1-0) struck out four in 2<br />
2-3 scoreless innings for the win after Barry<br />
Zito yielded seven hits and three runs in a<br />
season-low 2 1-3 innings. Javier Lopez got<br />
two outs for his fifth save.<br />
Dallas Keuchel (1-7) retired 14 in a row<br />
after Pence’s homer. The Astros, who own<br />
the worst record in the majors, have lost<br />
four straight and 11 of 12. — AP
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
PARIS: Toulouse backs coach Jean-<br />
Baptiste Elissalde says he is not too worried<br />
by his side’s tepid start to the Top<br />
14 season ahead of the top-of-the-table<br />
clash with much-improved Biarritz<br />
tomorrow.<br />
The two sides both won their opening<br />
two games, but reigning champions<br />
Toulouse failed to impress, with a onepoint<br />
win over Castres on the opening<br />
day followed by a 37-22 victory over<br />
bottom side Mont-de-Marsan last weekend.<br />
Biarritz defeated Mont-de-Marsan<br />
and won away at Agen to go top, level<br />
on nine points with Toulouse, and one<br />
point ahead of the only other undefeated<br />
side, Toulon.<br />
Former international scrum-half<br />
Elissalde said that it was still too early in<br />
the season to draw firm conclusions<br />
about who would be the top teams.<br />
“After just two games, you simply do<br />
not know enough,” he said. “After four<br />
games you start to get a better idea and<br />
after 10, then you have a really good<br />
idea of how things are panning out. So<br />
we will wait until then.”<br />
Still, Elissalde knows that the talentpacked<br />
Toulouse side will have to step<br />
up their game a notch if they want to<br />
keep their unbeaten record and go solo<br />
at the top of the league. “We are looking<br />
to improve week by week,” he said.<br />
“Against Mont-de-Marsan we made<br />
a lot of technical mistakes-too many<br />
mistakes. The new rules have something<br />
to do with it and if we lose so<br />
many balls at Biarritz, we are in for a<br />
tough time of it.”<br />
There was good news for Toulouse<br />
with the return to training of star utility<br />
back Maxime Medard, who needed a<br />
knee operation in February after tearing<br />
cruciate ligaments in the Six Nations<br />
game against Scotland.<br />
Biarritz backs coach Jack Isaac was in<br />
complete agreement with Elissalde that<br />
it was too early to say who would be<br />
the top teams this season or whether<br />
his side could continue to bounce back<br />
from last season’s struggles.<br />
“Of course it would be stupid to say<br />
that I am unhappy with our results so<br />
far, but quite honestly we are only two<br />
games into the season and now we face<br />
up to Toulouse and that will be a real<br />
test for us against a team who have the<br />
potential to again win the championship.<br />
We must not get carried away,”<br />
the Australian said.<br />
The Basque side have been hit with<br />
the news that international scrum-half<br />
Dimitri Yachvili will be out for two to<br />
three months with a slipped disc in his<br />
back.Toulon coach Bernard Laporte has<br />
Sports<br />
Toulouse set for early showdown<br />
Offence is the best<br />
N Z defence, says<br />
captain Taylor<br />
MUMBAI: Attacking the Indian spinners is the best possible way to survive<br />
against them, according to New Zealand captain Ross Taylor.<br />
The visitors lost by an innings and 115 runs in the first test in Hyderabad<br />
with the Indian spin duo of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and left-arm spinner<br />
Pragyan Ojha sharing 18 of the 20 wickets.<br />
New Zealand were bundled out for 159 and 164 in their first and second<br />
innings respectively and need<br />
to tackle the spinners better if<br />
they are to avoid a whitewash<br />
in the two-test series. “It’s never<br />
easy when you lose a test by<br />
over an innings,” Taylor told<br />
reporters on the eve of the<br />
final test in Bangalore. “We<br />
need to forget about it as<br />
quickly as possible, talk<br />
amongst the group and find<br />
ways of playing Ashwin and<br />
Ojha.<br />
“We have to be brave and<br />
courageous and attack them<br />
and hopefully put pressure<br />
back on them. “And when we<br />
attack them, there hopefully<br />
won’t be many men around<br />
the bat.”<br />
Ashwin picked up 12 wickets<br />
while Ojha bagged six as<br />
the match finished within four<br />
days in Hyderabad. But Taylor<br />
ruled out making any hasty<br />
changes for the second test.<br />
BANGALORE: New Zealand cricket team<br />
captain Ross Taylor (rear) yawns as he<br />
watches teammate Martin Guptill bat in<br />
the nets during a training session. —AP<br />
“We gave them faith in the<br />
first game and we’re going to<br />
give them a go in the next<br />
game as well,” Taylor said. “We<br />
didn’t play as well as we would<br />
have liked, but this is another<br />
opportunity to show how good we are as a team.” Taylor’s counterpart<br />
Mahendra Singh Dhoni will just try to stick to the tried and tested formula that<br />
worked perfectly for them in Hyderabad. “We don’t need to be overconfident...<br />
and whatever we did right in the first test, we have to repeat everything and try<br />
to stick to the basics and keep things simple,” Dhoni said.<br />
This is the first test series for India post the retirements of batting stalwarts<br />
Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman and the hosts chose Cheteshwar Pujara and<br />
Suresh Raina to fill the vacant spots in the batting order. While Pujara scored his<br />
maiden test hundred, Raina, who averages under 29 in the 16 tests he has<br />
played so far, could score only three. Dhoni threw his weight behind left-handed<br />
batsman, who is an integral part of India’s one-day side. “He has played just<br />
one game after Laxman has retired, so we have to give a fair amount of time to<br />
every individual who becomes the part of the side,” Dhoni said. —Reuters<br />
NEW YORK: Kim Clijsters’ illustrious singles career drew to<br />
an emotional close on Wednesday when the former world<br />
number one was knocked out of the second round of the<br />
US Open by Britain’s Laura Robson.<br />
Robson’s compatriot Andy Murray later made light work<br />
of Croatia’s Ivan Dodig to reach the third round but it was<br />
the 7-6 7-6 defeat of Belgian Clijsters that grabbed the<br />
attention as the first significant upset of the tournament.<br />
Murray’s 6-2 6-1 6-3 second round victory completed the<br />
third consecutive night of uncompetitive matches on the<br />
showcase Arthur Ashe Stadium. The big names have won<br />
six matches in prime time for the loss of only 24 games.<br />
Eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic earlier survived a major scare<br />
against Guillaume Rufin to be one of nine men to recover<br />
from two-set deficits in the opening round.Clijsters, threetimes<br />
a US Open champion, remains in the doubles and<br />
mixed doubles but the loss to Robson was her final singles<br />
match before she quits the tour to concentrate on family<br />
life. She saved two match points in the 12th game of the<br />
second set with a searing forehand volley and a huge first<br />
serve. The tiebreak was tense as Clijsters fought to extend<br />
her career but Robson, the world number 89 playing with<br />
fearless aggression and pinpoint accuracy, converted her<br />
third match point and it was all over for the 29 year old. “I<br />
have played some of my best tennis here and some of my<br />
best matches,” Clijsters said. “It is a place that has inspired<br />
me. This feels like the perfect place to retire - but I just wish<br />
already intimated that he will hand a<br />
call-up for the first time to the former<br />
golden boy of French rugby Frederic<br />
Michalek for a place on the bench for<br />
the trip to Mont-de-Marsan.<br />
The half-back returned to play in<br />
France in the close season after a stint<br />
with Super 15 outfit Coastal Sharks in<br />
South Africa, but was not included in<br />
the squad for the opening two games.<br />
Michalak is currently Toulon’s understudy<br />
at fly-half to England star Jonny<br />
Wilkinson, but is expected to get a<br />
place in the starting line-up soon.<br />
“The number 10 shirt is a difficult<br />
one to manage-very strategic,” former<br />
France coach Laporte said. “Fred has<br />
been with us for just three weeks and<br />
we do not want to ask too much of him<br />
too early. He has signed up with us for<br />
three years so we will give him the time<br />
to properly adapt.” — AFP<br />
NEW YORK: Andy Murray, of Britain, tracks the ball on a shot by Ivan Dodig, of Croatia, in the second<br />
round of play at the US Open tennis tournament. — AP<br />
Clijsters knocked<br />
out of US Open<br />
it wasn’t today. “I fought and gave it my all but just wasn’t<br />
good enough in the end.”It’s been a great adventure. It’s all<br />
been worth it but I’m looking forward to the next part of my<br />
life.” Robson paid tribute to Clijsters in an on-court interview.<br />
“I was just trying to play as well as I could because if I<br />
didn’t, I knew Kim would completely dominate,” Robson<br />
said. “I want to say thanks to Kim for being such a great role<br />
model for so many years. I have grown up watching you<br />
play and it has been an honour to finally play against you.”<br />
Other matches on Wednesday went mostly to script, the<br />
only mild surprises involving lower seeds. World number<br />
one Victoria Azarenka overpowered Belgian qualifier Kirsten<br />
Flipkens 6-2 6-2 in 65 minutes in a blustery Arthur Ashe<br />
Stadium before defending champion Sam Stosur recorded<br />
a routine 6-3 6-0 win over Edina Gallovits-Hall. Stosur met<br />
Redfoo of the music group LMFAO before he watched her<br />
match and his presence at courtside inspired a victory<br />
dance by the Australian.<br />
“I figured, well, there’s only going to be maybe one<br />
chance you can do that at the U.S. Open with him there,”<br />
Stosur said. “I’m sure I looked like a goose.” Russia’s third<br />
seed Maria Sharapova trounced Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-<br />
0 6-1 in the first of two night matches. Murray was equally<br />
untroubled in his win over Dodig and thousand of spectators<br />
walked out before the match was completed. Scratchy<br />
in his opening round match against Alex Bogomolov, the<br />
Scot had all guns blazing against Dodig. —Reuters
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Man United rely on<br />
new signing Van Persie<br />
in Rooney’s absence<br />
LONDON: Manchester United will need new signing Robin van<br />
Persie to shoulder the goal-scoring burden when they travel to<br />
promoted Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday<br />
(1500 GMT) without the injured Wayne Rooney.<br />
Former Arsenal striker Van Persie scored on his first start for<br />
United in the 3-2 comeback win over Fulham last weekend and<br />
manager Alex Ferguson was delighted with the way the<br />
Dutchman linked up with fellow new signing Shinji Kagawa<br />
who was also on target.<br />
“I was pleased with both of them. It’s early on and they’ll<br />
have a better understanding as time goes on,” said Ferguson.<br />
Substitute Rooney suffered a deep gash to his thigh against<br />
Fulham and the England striker remained in the headlines this<br />
week as British media speculated the 26-year-old could be on<br />
his way out of Old Trafford after being left out of the starting<br />
lineup. “Read the nonsense in the papers and heard what people<br />
have to say,” Rooney said on Twitter. “Absolute rubbish.<br />
Here to stay.” United, who started the season with a defeat at<br />
Everton, could welcome back Jonny Evans after injury to ease<br />
their problems in defence.<br />
Southampton have been thrown in at the deep end in their<br />
first top-flight season since 2005 having opened the campaign<br />
against champions Manchester City. They gave City a scare<br />
before losing 3-2 and have yet to pick up a point from their two<br />
games. Fifth-placed City host Queens Park Rangers again on<br />
Saturday (1630) with the Londoners having a different look to<br />
the team that conceded two stoppage-time goals in May to<br />
hand their opponents the title after a busy time in the transfer<br />
market for manager Mark Hughes.<br />
QPR suffered a 5-0 home drubbing by Swansea City on the<br />
opening day before drawing 1-1 at Norwich City last week.<br />
“It’s important to remember there are a lot of new faces in<br />
this team,” striker Bobby Zamora told the club website<br />
(www.qpr.co.uk). “We are not all going to click straight away,<br />
it’s not going to be perfect from the get-go.” City drew at<br />
Liverpool last time out courtesy of a defensive error from Martin<br />
Skrtel which allowed Carlos Tevez to score his 100th goal in<br />
English football but it left manager Roberto Mancini conceding<br />
there was room for improvement.<br />
“We lost two goals from free kicks so I think we need to<br />
improve,” the Italian said. “We are not 100 percent for many<br />
reasons, for this it is important we didn’t lose this game.”<br />
Liverpool’s Turkey playmaker Nuri Sahin could make his<br />
debut in Sunday’s home match against Arsenal (1230). Sahin,<br />
on loan from Real Madrid, was not registered in time for the<br />
Europa League playoff against Hearts late yesterday. “We’ll<br />
assess the player and I’m sure he’ll be involved in the squad at<br />
the weekend,” manager Brendan Rodgers said. European champions<br />
Chelsea, top of the table with three wins from as many<br />
games, are not in action this weekend because they play<br />
Atletico Madrid in the Super Cup on Friday. — Reuters<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong>i swimmers<br />
top Arab tourney<br />
AMMAN: <strong>Kuwait</strong>i national team taking part in a regional Arab<br />
swimming tournament being hosted here snatched five gold<br />
medals, four silver and three bronze. Some 85 swimmers of<br />
both sexes representing nine Arab countries are taking part in<br />
this Arab sport gathering.<br />
Head of the <strong>Kuwait</strong>i delegation Ahmed Mohamed<br />
expressed, in a statement to <strong>Kuwait</strong> News Agency (KUNA)<br />
appreciation for the results achieved by the team and its<br />
efforts to keep at the forefront of other teams.<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong>i swimmer Abdullah Thuwaini won three gold<br />
medals in the 100-meter freestyle, 200-meter freestyle and 50<br />
backstroke categories, while Abbas Qali snatched the gold<br />
medal in the 50-meter butterfly while Salman Qali won the<br />
gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly category.<br />
The silver medal went to swimmers Salman Qali in the 50meter<br />
butterfly and Saud Al-Tayyar in the 400-meter medley,<br />
while Mohammed Madouh competed in the 100 free, while<br />
Abdullah Al-Thuwaini, Mohammed Madouh, Ahmed Hussein<br />
Mohammed and Shoaib Al-Thuwainy won the 200 meters<br />
freestyle relay.<br />
The bronze medals went to the players Mohamed Madouh<br />
in the 200-meter freestyle and Jarah Al-Bakhit in the 1500<br />
meters and 800 meters freestyle.<br />
The head of the delegation praised the results of the<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong>i team which has contributed to the raising high of<br />
KUWAIT: The Minister of Information<br />
and State Minister for Cabinet Affairs<br />
Sheikh Mohammad Abdallah Al-<br />
Mubarak Al-Sabah hailed <strong>Kuwait</strong>i<br />
Olympic double-medalist shooter<br />
Fehaid Al-Daihani on Wednesday in a<br />
ceremony organised by the <strong>Kuwait</strong><br />
Shooting Club this evening, held to<br />
commemorate Al-Daihani for his accomplishment<br />
in snatching an Olympic<br />
bronze medal in double trap shooting,<br />
and his training team.<br />
“Fehaid Al-Daihani is one of the more<br />
accomplished Arab shooters, having<br />
succeeded in winning two medals in<br />
two Olympics,” said the minister.<br />
The sharp shooter had taken an earlier<br />
bronze in the Sydney 2000 Olympics<br />
in the same shooting discipline. The<br />
minister went on to commend <strong>Kuwait</strong>i<br />
shooters for their international accomplishments,<br />
which led to a number of<br />
them qualifying for London.<br />
Shooters Talal and his father<br />
Abdullah Al-Rashidi “are the first<br />
(<strong>Kuwait</strong>i) father and son to have both<br />
qualified for an Olympics,” he said.<br />
He also hailed Mariam Erzouqi for<br />
being “one of the first female shooters<br />
in the Gulf region to have achieved the<br />
feat.” Meanwhile, Director General of the<br />
Public Authority for Youth and Sports<br />
(PAYS) Faisal Al-Jazzaf expressed joy at<br />
the accomplishment, which was able to<br />
happen after His Highness the Amir’s<br />
gesture in sending a letter to the<br />
International Olympic Committee (IOC)<br />
to allow <strong>Kuwait</strong> to participate with its<br />
own flag, instead of that of the IOC.<br />
“This accomplishment bestows upon<br />
us a huge responsibility in making<br />
future decisions that serve <strong>Kuwait</strong>i<br />
sports and national teams,” he said.<br />
On rewarding of athletes by PAYS,<br />
he said that “the time has come to<br />
change many rules on this, which do not<br />
give us room to urge larger financial<br />
support.”<br />
Sports<br />
KUWAIT: (Left to right) Abdullah Al-Rashidi, Fehaid Al-Daihani, Talal Al-Rashidi and Mariam Erzouqi.<br />
Sheikh Mohammad honors<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong>i Olympic medalist<br />
KUWAIT: Information Minister and State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh<br />
Mohammad Al-Abdallah (3rd from right) with other officials during the honoring<br />
ceremony.<br />
<strong>Kuwait</strong>’s flag at this Arab sport gathering. — KUNA KUWAIT: Al-Daihani being Honored on stage by Infomation Minister and other officials.<br />
For her part, director of the <strong>Kuwait</strong>i<br />
and Gulf Cooperation Council women’s<br />
sporting bodies Sheikha Naeema Al-<br />
Ahmad Al-Sabah also hailed the<br />
achievement. Later, Fehaid Al-Daihani<br />
told reporters he was gratified for being<br />
honored.<br />
On his earlier announced plans to<br />
quit the sport, he said “I had originally<br />
planned to quit after this medal, but I<br />
have now decided, at the behest of HH<br />
the Amir, to look forward to the upcoming<br />
Olympics in 2016”. —KUNA
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Udinese, homeless<br />
Cagliari add to<br />
Italy soccer troubles<br />
ITALY: Italian football has been given two more reminders<br />
of the sorry state of its domestic game by Udinese’s failure<br />
to qualify for the Champions League and the plight of<br />
homeless Cagliari.<br />
Udinese’s penalty shootout defeat to Braga, a side made<br />
up largely of journeymen Brazilian players, on Tuesday<br />
means Italy will have only two teams in the group stage.<br />
After falling to Arsenal at the same stage last year,<br />
Udinese’s latest setback has also raised worries about the<br />
future of the team who have habitually overachieved in<br />
recent seasons and been one of the success stories in the<br />
league. Coach Francesco Guidolin, who led them to a thirdplace<br />
finish last season, fourth the season before that and<br />
saw his best players sold off on both occasions, did not<br />
think he would get another chance to reach the group<br />
stage with the club.<br />
“Evidently I am not capable of leading a team into the<br />
Champions League,” said a dejected Guidolin, who has<br />
been persuaded to stay on.<br />
“When you get so close several times and can’t go<br />
through, you have to learn from that experience and<br />
accept the truth.” Before the match, he had warned that<br />
failure could be the end of Udinese’s impressive run.<br />
“It cannot be taken for granted that this team can carry<br />
on doing so well as, to do that, we would have to be magicians<br />
and I cannot perform miracles.”<br />
Udinese must now try and pick themselves up and face<br />
titleholders Juventus at home on Sunday (1600 GMT). Their<br />
defeat has led to soul-searching in the Italian media<br />
although, rather than looking for solutions at home, some<br />
are suggesting that it is time for UEFA to merge the<br />
Champions League and Europa League into one huge<br />
tournament. Italy had its quota of automatic Champions<br />
League places cut from three to two this season after Serie<br />
A dropped below the Bundesliga in the rankings used to<br />
calculate the number of berths per country. Udinese’s misfortune<br />
came on top of a miserable summer marked by the<br />
Calcioscommesse match-fixing scandal, which led to points<br />
deductions for four Serie A teams, and the failure to attract<br />
top names to the country. If Italy needed a timely reminder<br />
of why the top players no longer want to come, then the<br />
confusion over the venue for Sunday’s Cagliari-Atalanta<br />
match (1845) has provided it. The Sardinian side has moved<br />
out of Stade Sant’Elia, its home since 1970, due to disagreements<br />
with the local authorities and growing safety worries.<br />
During the second half of last season, these forced<br />
Cagliari to play home games in Trieste, 1,000 kilometres<br />
and closer to Belgrade than their own base.<br />
Cagliari had intended to move to the Is Arenas stadium<br />
in the commune of Quartu Sant’Elena, around five kilometres<br />
outside the city. But with workmen rushing to finish<br />
necessary improvements to the new arena, Cagliari said in<br />
a statement that permission to play the match had not<br />
been granted. —Reuters<br />
PARIS: With a place in the Champions League group<br />
stage assured, Lille switch their focus to domestic action<br />
as they take on big spending Paris St Germain in a stern<br />
test of their Ligue One title credentials on Sunday (1900<br />
GMT).<br />
The 2011 French champions needed an extra time<br />
goal on Wednesday to continue in the lucrative European<br />
tournament at the expense of FC Copenhagen in a game<br />
defender Franck Beria had labelled “the match of the<br />
year”. “It was important to qualify for the club and its<br />
future,” goalkeeper Mickael Landreau said after the 2-0<br />
victory over the Danes.<br />
Lille, who signed France playmaker Marvin Martin and<br />
Ivory Coast forward Salomon Kalou this summer to make<br />
up for the departure of Eden Hazard to Chelsea, are widely<br />
regarded as the main challenger to PSG in this season’s<br />
title race. But the distraction of the European campaign<br />
has led to a disappointing league start. Lille could only<br />
MADRID: Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova<br />
has work to do on his defence before the<br />
visit of Valencia this weekend after errors<br />
from Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano<br />
handed Real Madrid the Spanish Super<br />
Cup.<br />
Jose Mourinho’s men scored twice in<br />
the first 19 minutes at the Bernabeu on<br />
Wednesday, capitalising on mistakes from<br />
both central defenders to score and win 2-<br />
1 on the night and deal Vilanova his first<br />
defeat since replacing Pep Guardiola.<br />
In last week’s first leg, it was goalkeeper<br />
Victor Valdes who committed a howler<br />
allowing Angel Di Maria to grab a late goal<br />
for Real that effectively gifted them the<br />
first trophy of the season as they won on<br />
the away goals rule after a 4-4 aggregate<br />
draw.<br />
Barca, who host Valencia on Sunday<br />
(1930 GMT), top La Liga with two wins<br />
from two but have shown some lapses in<br />
concentration at the back in their opening<br />
games. “There are things we need to correct,”<br />
Vilanova told reporters after the loss,<br />
preferring to focus on the way his side<br />
reacted to the goals and Adriano’s 29thminute<br />
red card to come back into the<br />
game with Lionel Messi’s freekick.<br />
Barca and Spain defender Pique told<br />
reporters: “We should have done better at<br />
the start of the game, but to play here<br />
with 10 men as we did deserves respect.”<br />
Barca captain Carles Puyol sat out<br />
Wednesday’s game as a precaution after<br />
fracturing a cheekbone against Osasuna<br />
last weekend, but could return wearing a<br />
face mask to tighten up the backline.<br />
The Catalans also have a slight doubt<br />
over fullback Dani Alves who was forced<br />
to drop out of the second leg just before<br />
kickoff after suffering a muscle twinge in<br />
the warm up.<br />
While Vilanova faces up to his first set-<br />
Sports<br />
SPAIN: Barcelona’s Lionel Messi from Argentina (right) and goalkeeper Victor Valdes (left) react in this file photo. —AP<br />
Preview<br />
Barcelona to work on defence<br />
Lille take on big spending PSG<br />
draw 1-1 at home to Nancy ten days ago then relied on<br />
Landreau’s superb performance to save a point at lowly<br />
Nice last weekend.<br />
“Now we will focus on resting and have only the PSG<br />
game in mind,” said coach Rudi Garcia, who had<br />
revamped his starting lineup at Nice to prepare for the<br />
European tie. Sunday’s clash will also be an important<br />
match for PSG, who lie 11th on three points from three<br />
games after two goalless draws in disappointing showings<br />
at Ajaccio and Bordeaux.<br />
Defender Thiago Silva, one of the biggest signings of<br />
the summer, could make his debut at Lille after joining<br />
from AC Milan, while another recruit, Argentina forward<br />
Ezequiel Lavezzi, is serving the second of his two-match<br />
ban. While PSG have endured a stuttering start,<br />
Olympique Marseille are enjoying a bright beginning, but<br />
the memories of their 10th-place finish last season have<br />
left them cautious when talking about their French title<br />
back of the campaign, Mourinho has overcome<br />
his with flying colors. Real failed to<br />
register a victory in their first three outings<br />
of the season, drawing 1-1 at home with<br />
Valencia, losing the Super Cup first leg 3-2<br />
in Barcelona and then suffering a shock 2-<br />
1 league defeat at Getafe.<br />
Mourinho criticised the attitude of his<br />
players after the Getafe game and<br />
appeared to have elicited the response he<br />
was looking for when they defeated Barca<br />
at home for the first time in four years.<br />
“This was the Madrid we all want to<br />
see,” Real and Spain defender Alvaro<br />
Arbeloa told reporters. “We are the first to<br />
acknowledge we didn’t give our best<br />
against Valencia and Getafe. The coach<br />
was right. This is the image we need to<br />
give.” Mourinho did not speak after their<br />
Super Cup triumph but returns to the<br />
Bernabeu for the visit of Granada on<br />
Sunday (1750 GMT). — Reuters<br />
chances. Marseille top the table on nine points from three<br />
games without conceding a goal and entertain European<br />
hopefuls Stade Rennes on Sunday (1500).<br />
“We have to keep both feet on the ground and appreciate<br />
this situation because we went through hard times,”<br />
defender Rod Fanni said this week.<br />
“After the end of the season, we said to ourselves that<br />
it should never happen again. We have a new coach, a<br />
fresh spirit. Last season was an accident,” added in-form<br />
striker Andre-Pierre Gignac, who has already doubled his<br />
tally from last season with two goals.<br />
Second-placed Olympique Lyon, who lie two points<br />
behind Marseille, face Valenciennes, also on seven points,<br />
on Saturday (1500) without forward Lisandro Lopez who<br />
faces three weeks out because of injury. Defending champions<br />
Montpellier, who are suffering their worst start to a<br />
season in 15 years with one point, travel to bottom-side<br />
Sochaux, the only team without a point. — Reuters
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
MONACO: Fate largely smiled on Manchester United<br />
and holders Chelsea in yesterday’s Champions League<br />
draw, but Manchester City found themselves drawn<br />
into a daunting group with Real Madrid, Ajax and<br />
Borussia Dortmund.<br />
Chelsea, who beat Bayern Munich on penalties in<br />
last season’s final to claim the trophy for the first time,<br />
were drawn in Group E alongside Italian champions<br />
Juventus, Shakhtar Donetsk, and Danish debutants<br />
Nordsjaelland.<br />
Juventus will be appearing in the Champions<br />
League for the first time since the 2009-10 season and<br />
are likely to present the strongest challenge to Roberto<br />
di Matteo’s side.<br />
United found themselves in similarly benign surroundings<br />
in Group H, having been pitted against<br />
Portugal’s SC Braga, Galatasaray of Turkey and<br />
Romanians CFR-Cluj in the draw in Monaco.<br />
However, manager Sir Alex Ferguson will not need<br />
reminding that it was from a similarly straightforward<br />
group-containing Benfica, FC Basel and Cluj’s domestic<br />
rivals Otelul Gelati-that the three-time champions<br />
failed to progress last season.<br />
United, beaten 3-1 by Barcelona in the 2011 final,<br />
are appearing in the group phase for a record 18th<br />
time. As in 2011, this season’s final will also take place<br />
at London’s Wembley Stadium, to mark the 150th<br />
anniversary of the English Football Association.<br />
City’s pool, Group D, unites the reigning champions<br />
of England, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, and<br />
is sure to be dubbed the ‘Group of Death’.<br />
Roberto Mancini’s side were drawn in a similarly taxing<br />
group last season and failed to reach the knockout<br />
phase, with Bayern Munich and Napoli finishing above<br />
them on their first appearance in the Champions<br />
League. Along with Spain, England are one of only two<br />
countries with four teams in the group phase and their<br />
fourth representatives, Arsenal, will face Schalke,<br />
Olympiacos and debutants Montpellier, the French<br />
champions, in Group B.<br />
Sports<br />
Chelsea, United spared as Man City get difficult draw<br />
Iniesta crowned<br />
European<br />
player of season<br />
MONACO: Barcelona’s Spanish midfielder<br />
Andres Iniesta received the UEFA Best Player<br />
in Europe award yesterday after pipping<br />
Cristiano Ronaldo and club-mate Lionel<br />
Messi in a journalists’ poll.<br />
It is his second major individual honour of<br />
the summer, after he was named Player of<br />
the Tournament for his role in Spain’s triumph<br />
at Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.<br />
The award was decided by 53 European<br />
journalists who cast their votes during yesterday’s<br />
Champions League group-stage draw<br />
in Monaco. Iniesta, 28, received 19 votes,<br />
with Ronaldo and Messi-the winner of last<br />
year’s inaugurual prize-each receiving 17.<br />
“I am very honoured and I dedicate this<br />
award to my Barcelona and Spain teammates,”<br />
said Iniesta, who received the award<br />
from UEFA president Michel Platini.<br />
“I am privileged to be here with two such<br />
great footballers as Leo and Cristiano.” An<br />
artful attacking midfielder, Iniesta has won<br />
every major honor in the game with<br />
Barcelona and Spain over the last four years<br />
and notably scored the extra-time winner<br />
against the Netherlands in the 2010 World<br />
Cup final in South Africa.<br />
Despite his success at Euro 2012, Iniesta<br />
saw Barcelona miss out to Ronaldo’s Real<br />
Madrid in last season’s La Liga title race,<br />
while the Blaugrana also fell to eventual<br />
champions Chelsea in the semi-finals of the<br />
Champions League. — AFP<br />
MONACO: Spanish player Andre Iniesta poses with the ‘UEFA Best Player in Europe 2012<br />
Award’ yesterday in Monaco. — AFP<br />
Real storm back to take Super Cup from Barca<br />
MADRID: Real Madrid claimed their first Spanish<br />
Super Cup in four years and a morale-boosting<br />
success against their arch-rivals when Gonzalo<br />
Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo struck in a 2-1<br />
win against 10-man Barcelona on Wednesday.<br />
The victory over error-prone Barca, who had<br />
Adriano sent off in the 28th minute, meant the<br />
tie finished 4-4 on aggregate after the Catalans<br />
won last week’s first leg 3-2 at the Nou Camp<br />
and Real took the trophy on the away goals rule.<br />
It was a much-needed success for Jose<br />
Mourinho’s side after they failed to win in their<br />
opening three matches of the season and<br />
crashed to a shock 2-1 defeat at city rivals<br />
Getafe in La Liga on Sunday. Mourinho had<br />
warned his players he wanted a vast improve-<br />
ment and they responded with two goals inside<br />
20 minutes thanks to poor Barca defending that<br />
allowed first Higuain on 11 minutes and<br />
Ronaldo eight minutes later to burst free and<br />
score.<br />
Lionel Messi gave Barca a chance of pulling<br />
off an unlikely comeback when he curled in a<br />
spectacular free kick from 30 metres moments<br />
before the break. Pedro drew a brilliant save<br />
from Iker Casillas and both sides had chances in<br />
a frenetic ending but Real held firm to end<br />
Barca’s three-year grip on the trophy.<br />
The second-leg victory also broke Barca’s<br />
seven-match unbeaten streak at the Bernabeu<br />
and was Real’s first home win in a “Clasico” since<br />
May 2008. “At the Nou Camp they had a chance<br />
for a fourth goal and in the next move we<br />
scored the one that kept us in with a chance,”<br />
Casillas said in an interview with Spanish television.<br />
“We dominated the first half and the match<br />
in general, although we had to suffer a bit at the<br />
end,” he added. “We were on a poor run and we<br />
owed this to the fans. We haven’t started the<br />
season well but some days you have good luck<br />
and some you don’t.” Real’s opening goal came<br />
when Javier Mascherano, playing his 100th<br />
game for Barca, failed to clear a long ball from<br />
Pepe and Higuain raced clear and fired a shot<br />
under Victor Valdes. Mascherano’s central<br />
defensive partner Gerard Pique was then at fault<br />
for Real’s second.—Reuters<br />
There was one other newcomer in the draw in the<br />
shape of Malaga, who qualified by overcoming<br />
Panathinaikos in the play-off round earlier this week.<br />
The Spanish side were drawn in Group C with Zenit<br />
Saint Petersburg, Anderlecht and seven-time champions<br />
AC Milan, who will have been relieved to avoid a<br />
more difficult group after a summer in which they lost<br />
a glut of leading players. Barcelona, finalists in two of<br />
the last four seasons, landed in Group G, where they<br />
will have fellow former champions Benfica and Celtic<br />
for company, as well as Spartak Moscow.<br />
Big-spending Paris Saint-Germain, meanwhile, will<br />
fancy their chances of qualifying from a group that also<br />
includes FC Porto, Dynamo Kiev and Dinamo Zagreb.<br />
Last season’s beaten finalists Bayern Munich were<br />
placed in Group F alongside Valencia, they team they<br />
beat on penalties in the 2001 final, as well as Lille of<br />
France and Belarusian outfit BATE Borisov. The opening<br />
batch of group ties are scheduled for September<br />
18/19. — AFP<br />
Draw for the 2012-13 Champions League<br />
group stage, held in Monaco yesterday:<br />
Group A<br />
Porto<br />
Dynamo Kiev<br />
Paris St Germain<br />
Dinamo Zagreb<br />
Group B<br />
Arsenal<br />
Schalke 04<br />
Olympiakos Piraeus<br />
Montpellier HSC<br />
Group C<br />
AC Milan<br />
Zenit St Petersburg<br />
Anderlecht<br />
Malaga<br />
Group D<br />
Real Madrid<br />
Manchester City<br />
Ajax Amsterdam<br />
Borussia Dortmund<br />
Group E<br />
Chelsea<br />
Shakhtar Donetsk<br />
Juventus<br />
Nordsjaelland<br />
Group F<br />
Bayern Munich<br />
Valencia<br />
Lille<br />
BATE Borisov<br />
Group G<br />
Barcelona<br />
Benfica<br />
Spartak Moscow<br />
Celtic<br />
Group H<br />
Manchester United<br />
Braga<br />
Galatasaray<br />
CFR Cluj<br />
Champions League<br />
First matches to be played Sept. 18 and<br />
19.—Reuters
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012<br />
Records tumble<br />
as China takes<br />
first Games gold<br />
LONDON: World records tumbled in the<br />
pool and on the cycling track yesterday, as<br />
the first day of competition at the London<br />
Paralympics got under way and China won<br />
the Games’ first gold medal.<br />
At the Velodrome, seven-time<br />
Paralympic champion Sarah Storey-who<br />
won five swimming titles before taking two<br />
more when she switched to cycling in 2008<br />
— clocked a new world best 3min<br />
32.170sec in the women’s C5 3km individual<br />
pursuit.<br />
The 34-year-old British cyclist’s time was<br />
quicker than the winner of the same event<br />
for non-disabled athletes at the UCI Track<br />
Cycling World Cup event held at the same<br />
venue in February.<br />
Joanna Rowsell, who was a member of<br />
the British women’s team that won gold in<br />
the team pursuit at the Olympics earlier this<br />
month, won that race in 3:32.364.<br />
Storey, who was born without a functioning<br />
left hand, now races against Anna<br />
Harkowska of Poland in the final and said<br />
the crowd had spurred her on to the record.<br />
“I know we heard our colleagues say this<br />
during the Olympics but it’s so hard to<br />
explain the energy they give you. I just can’t<br />
explain it really,” Storey told Channel 4. “On<br />
the last lap I could hear I was on for the<br />
record. This is everything. I’ve been working<br />
on this in training so hard. I’m so chuffed.”<br />
Meanwhile two other world records were<br />
set in qualifying for the women’s C1-2-3<br />
3km individual pursuit: Zeng Sini, a C2 rider<br />
from China, broke the world best to book a<br />
place in the gold medal race against<br />
Australia’s Simone Kennedy.<br />
Australia’s women then posted a new<br />
world record in the C4 3km individual pursuit,<br />
with Susan Powell qualifying quickest<br />
in 4min 03.306sec to earn the right to meet<br />
US rider Megan Fisher to win gold.<br />
Kieran Modra and Scott McPhee will race<br />
their Australian compatriots Bryce Lindores<br />
and Sean Finning for glory in the men’s<br />
blind and visually impaired 4km tandem<br />
pursuit. At the Aquatics Centre, Britain’s<br />
Jonathan Fox signalled his intent to<br />
upgrade his 100m backstroke S7 Paralympic<br />
silver four years ago, lowering his own previous<br />
world best by 0:59sec to 1min 9.86sec.<br />
The 21-year-old is now favourite for the title<br />
after US swimmer Lantz Lamback, the<br />
defending champion from Beijing, could<br />
only finish 10th quickest in his heat and<br />
failed to qualify.<br />
New Zealand’s Sophie Pascoe then set a<br />
new world best of 2min 28.73sec in the<br />
women’s 200m individual medley, while<br />
Fox’s team-mate Nyree Kindred lowered the<br />
Paralympic record in the women’s 100m<br />
backstroke S6 in 1min 27.96sec.<br />
The end of a morning of swimming heats<br />
coincided with the final of the women’s R2<br />
10m air rifle at the Royal Artillery Barracks,<br />
which saw China’s Zhang Cuiping win the<br />
Games’ first gold, scoring 104.9 for an overall<br />
score of 500.9.<br />
Manuela Schmermund, of Germany, won<br />
silver while New Zealand’s Natalie Smith<br />
picked up bronze. A total of 28 medals were<br />
up for grabs on Thursday: 15 in the pool,<br />
five at the Velodrome in track cycling; four<br />
in judo; two in power lifting; and two in<br />
shooting. The day’s programme also<br />
includes heats in archery, equestrian, goal-<br />
Sports<br />
ball, table tennis, sitting volleyball and<br />
wheelchair basketball.<br />
Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the<br />
Games at a showpiece ceremony on<br />
Wednesday involving more than 3,000 volunteer<br />
and professional performers, many<br />
of them with a disability, combining music,<br />
dance and aerial acrobatics.<br />
British scientist Stephen Hawking,<br />
described by organisers as “the most<br />
famous disabled person anywhere on the<br />
planet”, narrated parts of the ceremony,<br />
which was aimed at challenging perceptions<br />
about disability and changing attitudes.<br />
— AFP<br />
LONDON: Members of the British team (bottom) watch the ball as they play Russia in a men’s sitting volleyball preliminary round pool A match at the 2012<br />
Paralympics. — AP
Records tumble<br />
as China takes<br />
first Games gold<br />
Page 47<br />
LONDON: China’s<br />
Zeng Sini wins the<br />
women’s individual<br />
C1-2-3 pursuit final<br />
cycling event<br />
during the London<br />
2012 Paralympic<br />
Games at the<br />
Olympic Park’s<br />
Velodrome. — AFP