Bahrain accepts '90%' of critical UN report - Kuwait Times

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2012 THULQADA 4, 1433 AH www.kuwaittimes.net 

conspiracy theories 

Campaign 

of hatred 

By Badrya Darwish 

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net 

Yesterday was the United States. Today it is 

France. Tomorrow, I do not know where. What 

is this vicious attack against Prophet 

Muhammad (PBUH)? Why now all of a sudden? 

There is a history of insulting Prophet Muhammad 

(PBUH) with mocking cartoons, which ended up with 

the boycott of Danish products all over the Arab 

world. When the incident happened, the Prime 

Minister of Denmark had to come out, apologize and 

try to mend relations with the Arab world. 

Why the unnecessary animosity and hatred 

today seven years later? The Prophet (PBUH) is not 

here anymore. That means that whoever is doing 

the insults simply aims to abuse Muslim feelings. 

He has no other agenda. This now looks like a 

campaign. It is not an individual act to pin on a 

guy under probation. It is not just a stupid whim 

coming from a narrow-minded and failed filmmaker. 

We thought we could blame it on the silliness 

of a person. 

But when such acts are repeated again by a wellknown 

French publication, then such insults are not 

innocent. It is meant as an insult to the whole 

Muslim world - over a billion of people spread all 

over the world. Many people living in countries as far 

apart as Japan, the United States and Asia, Latin 

America and the Arab world are Muslims. Many 

Muslims live in Europe. There is no country in the 

world without a Muslim population. I am sure in the 

surroundings of the Vatican there are Muslims. Why 

the targeted abuse then? 

Right after the furor over the film, a famous USbased 

publication tried to rub salt into the wound 

with their abusive cover story called “Muslim Rage”. I 

do not buy that it is about freedom of speech anymore. 

This seems like a very calculated and wellstudied 

move. It is a campaign of hatred. It has a certain 

agenda. Do not accuse the Muslims of being terrorists. 

Those who abuse and intentionally attack 

religions and prophets should be held responsible. 

I do not buy the talk of freedom of opinion and 

expression. How about the freedom to publish the 

pictures of Kate Middleton topless? The palace in the 

UK banned the publication of the princess’ pictures. 

Why doesn’t an international body come up with 

laws and regulation, such as the one they all proudly 

took part in calling it “the war on terror”. 

I have repeated many times that terror has many 

faces. It is not just about bombs and murder. It is not 

just about angry crowds burning flags or throwing 

stones at an embassy building. Abusing other people’s 

feelings intentionally is worse. It is the worst 

kind of terror because it is hidden. I am sure that 

there are international networks behind this. I am 

quite confident and sure that the West’s secret police 

will discover who is behind this because even if there 

is a Muslim in the middle of nowhere, they can find 

him. How about the perpetrators now? What will be 

their punishment and who will punish them? 

GENEVA: Bahrain said 

yesterday it accepted “90 

percent” of reforms 

urged by the UN Human 

Rights Council (HRC) in 

the wake of a popular 

uprising, amid US criticism 

that the kingdom 

was dragging its feet. 

“The government of 

Bahrain is pleased to fully 

accept 145 (out of 176 

recommendations) and partially 

accept 13 more,” Foreign Minister 

Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa 

told the Council, adding that “significant 

challenges remain”. “We have 

undertaken unprecedented reforms”, 

US Army tests 

body armor 

tailored for 

female soldiers 

Lohan arrested 

in New York 

for 

36 

hitting 

pedestrian 

Messi double 

gives Barca 

comeback 

20 

win 

against Spartak 

French cartoons 

fuel Muslim fury 

France braces for backlash, shuts embassies, bans demos 

Bahrain accepts ‘90%’ 

of critical UN report 

Sheikh Khalid 

he said, responding to 

numerous recommendations 

by the Council first 

made in May and covering 

notably Bahrain’s 

criminal justice system, 

the prevention of torture 

and the rights of women, 

children and minorities. 

The Bahraini representative 

also pointed to 

the creation of a special 

unit tasked with investigating mistreatment 

by security services. But 

he added: “Some, unfortunately 

believe that continued unrest on the 

streets affords them 

Continued on Page 13 

An Indian Muslim student hits a burning effigy of US President 

Barack Obama as others shout anti-US slogans during a protest 

against an anti-Islam movie in Kolkata yesterday. (Inset) French 

satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo’s publisher Stephane 

Charbonnier clenches his fist as he presents to journalists yesterday 

the latest issue which contains several cartoons caricaturing 

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). — AFP 

By Hanan Al-Saadoun 

KUWAIT: Flash raids were carried out 

by the Ministry of Interior against residency 

violators and wanted criminals 

in all governorates of Kuwait yesterday, 

especially in areas with a high 

percentage of marginal laborers. The 

campaign began early morning yesterday 

with the participation of security 

chiefs, the traffic department, the 

criminal investigations department, 

special forces and medical emergency 

teams in Bneid Al-Gar. The campaign 

resulted in the arrest of 2,136 people, 

some of whom were wanted for different 

cases including residency violations 

and crimes like theft and drug 

peddling. 

Security officials said the campaign 

will continue in all governorates 

against all residency violators and 

criminals. Security sources said that a 

majority of residency violators are 

Article 20 domestic workers who were 

brought to Kuwait by unscrupulous 

sponsors who abandoned them on 

the streets to work for others without 

reporting them as absconding. The 

sources said such sponsors will be held 

liable as per the law. They added that 

security and safety of the public is the 

main concern in all governorates. 

Meanwhile, inspectors from the 

Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor also 

launched a surprise inspection campaign 

yesterday in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh 

and Farwaniya that resulted in exposing 

a large number of fake companies. 

Assistant undersecretary for labor 

affairs Jamal Al-Doussari said the fake 

companies were rented offices without 

any staff working in them. He 

added that such offices are rented for 

certain periods in an attempt to circumvent 

the law until workers are 

brought from abroad. The “companies” 

are then closed and open only for 

inspections. 

“More raids will be conducted all 

over Kuwait and all legal actions will 

be taken against violators,” Doussari 

said, calling for closing down the violating 

companies’ dossiers with the 

ministry. He added the government 

will prevent violating companies from 

having any work permits issued for 

them unless they can prove that the 

workers actually work for them. 

Max 43º 

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PARIS: Fresh protests erupted in the Muslim world yesterday 

over an anti-Islam film as a French magazine 

added fuel to the fire with the publication of obscene 

cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). France 

braced for a backlash over the cartoons, stepping up 

security at its embassies and banning demonstrations 

on its own soil as senior officials and Muslim leaders 

appealed for calm. More than 30 people have been 

killed in attacks or violent protests linked to the controversial 

US-made film “Innocence of Muslims”, including 

12 people who died in an attack by a female suicide 

bomber in Afghanistan on Tuesday. 

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby called 

the drawings outrageous but said those who were 

offended by them should “use peaceful means to 

express their firm rejection”. Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party, 

Ennahda, condemned what it called an act of 

“aggression” against Muhammad (PBUH) but urged 

Muslims not to fall into a trap intended to “derail the 

Arab Spring and turn it into a conflict with the West”. In 

Egypt, Essam Erian, acting head of the Muslim 

Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, told Reuters: 

“We reject and condemn the French cartoons that dishonour 

the Prophet (PBUH) and we condemn any 

action that defames the sacred according to people’s 

beliefs.” In the northern Paris suburb of Sarcelles, one 

person was slightly hurt when two masked men threw a 

small explosive device through the window of a kosher 

supermarket. Police said it was too early to link the incident 

to the cartoons. One small local Muslim group filed 

a legal complaint against the weekly but there were no 

reports of reaction on the streets of France. 

In Pakistan yesterday, around 1,000 students from 

the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party took to the 

streets in the eastern city Lahore, chanting anti-US slogans 

and burning the American flag. 


Scores held, fake firms busted 

Surprise raids launched across Kuwait 

KUWAIT: Police round up hundreds of residency violators in Bneid Al-Gar 

after a surprise raid yesterday. — Photo by Hanan Al-Saadoun 

Iranian FM meets Assad 

DAMASCUS: Iran’s foreign minister met embattled 

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad yesterday, calling for a 

Syrian solution to the civil war, as a rights watchdog 

accused Damascus of waging “relentless, indiscriminate” 

attacks against its own people. Speaking on arriving in 

Damascus, Ali Akbar Salehi said a solution to the 18month 

conflict lies “only in Syria and within the Syrian 

family”. Salehi, who called this week for a simultaneous 

halt to the fighting by both regime and rebel forces, 

added this should be done in “partnership with international 

and regional organisations”. 

Following their meeting, Assad said the war engulfing 

Syria was targeting not only it but the “axis of resistance”, 

a term Syria, Iran and Lebanon’s Shiite movement 

Hezbollah use to refer to their common opposition to 

Israel. He also said “Syria has shown openness in dealing 

with all initiatives put forward to find a solution to the 

crisis. The key to any initiative’s success is the sincerity 


DAMASCUS: Syrian President Bashar Al- 

Assad (left) welcomes Iranian Foreign 

Minister Ali Akbar Salehi upon his 

arrival for a meeting yesterday. — AFP 

Study links GM 

corn to cancer 

France orders probe 

LONDON: In a study that prompted sharp criticism 

from other experts, French scientists said yesterday 

that rats fed on Monsanto’s genetically modified 

corn or exposed to its top-selling weedkiller suffered 

tumours and multiple organ damage. The 

French government asked the country’s health 

watchdog to investigate the findings further, 

although a number of scientists questioned 


A combination image of three pictures feature 

rats with tumors after they were fed a diet of 

genetically modified (GM) maize produced by 

US chemical giant Monsanto. — AFP 

No raise in 

haj quotas 

‘Syrians not barred’ 

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has rejected requests by 40 

countries to increase their haj quota this year 

because of development projects now under way in 

the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, local 

dailies said yesterday. Saudi Arabia also denied allegations 

that the kingdom has barred citizens of 

war-hit Syria from performing the pilgrimage. “The 

ministry has apologised to all countries which had 

asked to increase the number of their pilgrims this 

year... (because of) the giant development projects 

in Makkah and Madinah which make it difficult 

Continued on Page 13

KUWAIT: An Interior Ministry inspection campaign in progress in Bnaid Al-Qar yesterday. The campaign 

resulted in the arrest of 2,136 people. — Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun 

LOCAL 

KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti lawmaker 

believes that the Muslim 

Brotherhood in Kuwait is trying to 

put pressure on the government by 

taking part in demonstrations “after 

losing their typical alliance with the 

government”. “The Muslim 

Brotherhood and their youth 

activists are part of the political 

scene who we respect. However I 

believe that they’ve become bankrupt 

after failing to reach power”, 

said MP Saleh Al-Mulla in statements 

to Al-Qabas on Tuesday. 

While the Muslim Brotherhood 

isn’t officially represented in Kuwait’s 

political landscape, the Islamic 

Constitutional Movement (ICM) is 

often considered as the political arm 

of the pan-Arab group in Kuwait. 

Meanwhile, Al-Mulla criticized the 

Cabinet’s step to challenge the constitutionality 

of the electoral law, but 

indicated that “we cannot claim to 

be protecting the constitution without 

recognizing the Cabinet’s right 

to take that step”. If the law is found 

unconstitutional, the liberal lawmaker 

urged the Cabinet to “hold thorough 

discussions with political 

groups in the country to reach an 

agreement on an amendment”. 

The Cabinet had challenged the 

constitutionality of the electoral law 

with the Constitutional Court, which 

is scheduled to announce its ruling 

on September 25th. If the law is 

found unconstitutional, the Cabinet 

can release a modified law via an 

emergency decree after the 2009 

parliament is dissolved; which is likely 

to be taken as the first step after 

the ruling is announced. 

The Cabinet had opted to verify 

the constitutionality of the electoral 

law - which divides Kuwait into five 

constituencies - in order to protect 

future election results from appeals. 

The parliament, elected last 

February, was annulled by a 

Constitutional Court ruling last June 

which found last year’s decree to dissolve 

the 2009 parliament to be 

unconstitutional. 

The opposition, on the other 

hand, strongly rejected a “monoaction” 

by the government, requiring 

that a new law is approved by a 

parliament elected after the 2009 

parliament is dissolved. 

Represented by the Majority Bloc, 

a coalition of 34 oppositionists who 

dominated majority seats in the 

2012 parliament, the opposition has 

staged two demonstrations at the 

Iradah Square since August 27th as 

part of their campaign to garner 

public pressure against any step taken 

individually by the Cabinet to 

change the electoral system. 

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2012 

Muslim Brotherhood lost 

alliance with govt: Al-Mulla 

Preparations underway for demonstration 

KUWAIT: More companies and leading 

groups have joined the list of 

sponsors for the 2nd GCC Women 

Economic Forum (GCCWEF), which 

will be organized by the Leaders 

Group Co. for consultancy and development 

under the title, “GCC Women 

and Investment Opportunities.” The 

event will be held under the aegis of 

Sheikhah Ayeda Salem Al-Ali at the 

J.W. Marriott in Kuwait on September 

25 and 26. The Kuwait Petroleum 

Corporation (KPC) has announced 

that it will offer a platinum sponsorship 

for the forum based on its belief 

that women can play a crucial role in 

the economy and to celebrate 

women’s outstanding participation 

in various investment and developmental 

fields, particularly the oil sector. 

“The oil sector is very proud of 

the role women have played, both in 

the past and the present,” KPC managing 

director for government relations 

and PR and media Sheikh Talal 

Khaled Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah stated. 

He also noted that supporting 

women’s role in economics and 

investment will positively reflect on 

Kuwait and the progress made by 

the GCC countries. 

On his part, the Kuwait Small 

Projects Development Co. (KSPDC) 

general manager, Hassan Al-Qena’e 

said his firm will provide a golden 

sponsorship for the forum, given the 

support it has lent to small projects 

and because of its role in developing 

the private sector, which will eventually 

help achieve the government’s 

goal of sustainable economic development. 

“Small and medium proj- 

KUWAIT: KUNA categorically denies accusations by 

Kuwaiti MP Walid Al-Tabtabaei that claimed it had published 

Iranian statements a day before they were published 

on Fars News Agency, stressed Editor-in-Chief 

Rashed Al-Ruwaishid yesterday. 

The report which involved statements by Iranian MP 

Mohammad Karim Abedi were published on KUNA’s 

bulletin over two hours and a half after they were published 

by the Iranian news agency early on Sunday, Sept 

16, affirmed Al-Ruwaishid. Al-Ruwaishid noted that the 

article was immediately translated from Farsi into Arabic 

and was published on KUNA’s official website before 

Hassan Al-Qenae 

ects are the cornerstone of women’s 

investments and therefore, the 

forum will encourage GCC women 

to take the initiative of joining the 

world of business,” he added, noting 

that his company’s stall at the exhibition 

that is being held on the sidelines 

of the forum, will offer a chance 

to women business leaders to communicate 

with business owners that 

have creative ideas and with investment-focused 

entrepreneurs. 

Munira Mohammed Sager Al- 

Mousherji, the representative of 

McDonald’s in Kuwait, said that the 

Al-Mousherji Catering Co., which 

owns the McDonald’s franchise in 

Kuwait, plans to offer a silver sponsorship 

during the forum. 

“Sponsoring this forum is part of our 

long history of supporting such initiatives 

and communal activities,” 

she stated. The acting PR and media 

manager of Kuwait Airways 

Corporation (KAC)’, Yousif Al-Abdel 

And while preparations are 

underway for the third demonstration 

next Monday on the eve of the 

Constitutional Court’s ruling, Al- 

Qabas reported, quoting sources 

close to the Majority Bloc, that 

“members are divided between a 

team which believes that a larger 

crowd is expected, and another who 

feel that more protests hurt the 

bloc’s popularity, in the long-term”. 

(Qabas) 

Meanwhile, bloc member Nayef 

Al-Merdas told Al-Rai daily that 

“youth groups plan to head after 

[Monday’s] demonstration to the 

Palace of Justice, where they are prepared 

to stay the night until the 

[Constitutional Court’s] ruling is 

made” the following morning. 

Meanwhile, MP Musallam Al- 

Barrak issued statements from 

Iradah Square in which he reiterated 

his rejection of “forcing the judiciary 

into politics”, and refused speculation 

that links the opposition’s calls 

for an elected prime minister and 

suggestions of targeting the ruling 

system. 

“If the ruling system faces any 

threat, we will join all Kuwaitis in 

defending it”, Al-Barrak said, “however, 

our demands for a constitutional 

monarchy and elected Cabinet will 

continue”. —Al-Rai 

More sponsors join 

Gulf Women Forum 

Sheikh Talal Khaled 

Kareem, said the national carrier will 

be displaying its support for the 

forum by acting as the official carrier 

of all participants flying in from GCC 

states. “Our contribution stems from 

the fact that the forum is a GCC and 

Kuwaiti joint initiative. 

The forum’s organizing committee 

stated that it has received the 

support of other sponsors, including 

the Arabic version of the ENTREPRE- 

NEUR magazine as a media sponsor. 

The committee added that the magazine’s 

Editor-in-Chief and Chairman 

of its Board, Al-Jawhara Bint Torky 

will address the forum and speak on 

the role of media in supporting businesses. 

The committee also named 

the Good Health magazine, published 

by Sheikhah Entisar Salem Al- 

Ali Al-Sabah, UNIDO, CBK, the 

Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic 

Development, the Kuwait Financial 

Center and the Gatehouse Bank as 

additional sponsors for the event. 

Al-Tabtabaei accusations ‘baseless’ 

being released by the Iranian agency in Arabic a day later. 

“Fars news agency writes its news in four languages; 

Farsi, English, Turkish and Arabic, and the Arabic translated 

product was where the honorable MP Al- 

Tabtabaei must have obtained his information, a whole 

day later after being published in Farsi,” explained 

KUNA’s Editor-in-Chief. KUNA depends on Fars’ news 

bulletin as a legitimate source as it is considered the 

semi-official news agency of Iran, and KUNA does not 

adopt its news written in the English and Arabic languages 

as information could be lost in translation or 

delayed as a result of the endeavour. — KUNA

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah 

receiving at Bayan Palace yesterday Minister of Commerce and Industry and 

Minister of State for Housing Affairs Anas Khalid Al-Saleh who introduced 

Director General of the Public Authority for Housing Care Sobhi Yousef Al-Mulla, 

Director General of Public Authority for Industry Barrak Abdulmohsen Al- 

Sabeeh, the Director General of the Kuwait Stock Exchange Faleh Abdulla Al- 

Raqaba, Assistant Undersecretary for Planning Fawaz Yousef Al-Shallal and 

Assistant Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Mansour Faraj Al-Saeed to the Amir 

on the occasion of assuming their new duties. 

Virtual Job Fair to focus 

on hospitality industry 

KUWAIT: Adding to the success of its 

Virtual Job Fair (VJF) concept, Bayt.com, the 

region’s number one job site, will host a VJF 

that is specifically targeted towards the 

hospitality industry in the Middle East. 

Employers and job seekers from across the 

region are invited to participate in the 

online job fair, which will be held from Sept 

23 to 27. 

The Bayt.com Hospitality Virtual Job Fair 

is supported by event sponsor Marriott 

International Inc. and The Ritz-Carlton 

Hotel Company L.L.C, alongside media 

sponsors. 

Since its inception in 2000, Bayt.com has 

maintained a prominent position as a leading 

recruitment platform for the hospitality 

sector. At present, the job site’s community 

of professionals working in the hospitality 

industry consists of more than 500,000 job 

seekers, whose talents and experience 

spans all career levels and job roles in the 

hospitality industry. 

“Bayt.com’s Virtual Job Fair concept is 

the natural revolution of the traditional job 

fair. It takes into consideration today’s fast 

pace of business, and the need for employers 

and job seekers alike to find results in 

the quickest, most convenient and costeffective 

ways,” said SuhailMasri , VP Sales 

at Bayt.com. “Our experience in recruitment 

for employers in the hospitality industry 

and the sheer number of relevant job seekers 

that are registered on Bayt.com makes 

this the ideal sector to select as the focus of 

our first industry-specific VJF. We encourage 

hospitality- industry employers to take 

advantage of this opportunity to find top 

quality candidates specifically targeted to 

their requirements, in a cost-effective and 

highly efficient manner that ensures they 

can maximize their choice and reach when 

it comes to candidate recruitment across 

career levels and job roles.” 

Robert Dodds, Vice President - Human 

Resources, Marriott International Inc. and 

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company L.L.C, 

Middle East and Africa Continent, said; “We 

at Marriott and Ritz-Carlton are delighted 

to be part of such a pioneering and innovative 

event such as Bayt.com’s Hospitality 

industry Virtual Job Fair. With the help of 

Bayt.com, who are committed to facilitate 

employment in the Hospitality industry, we 

look forward to bringing recruitment to the 

next level, ensuring the most qualified talent 

is recruited and trained to rapidly fill 

open positions.” 

Bayt.com’s exciting Virtual Job Fair con- 

cept is unique in that it allows employers to 

fully interact with job seekers through an 

immersive, interactive virtual environment. 

The VJF platform mimics a traditional job 

fair setting but eliminates the inconveniences 

and logistics required to participate. 

It presents numerous advantages, not least 

of which is easy accessibility from anywhere 

in the world, less planning, no need 

for costly stand manufacturing and logistics 

and a far speedier implementation and 

execution. 

When participating in one of Bayt.com’s 

Virtual Job Fairs, which take place fully 

online, employers and job seekers can use 

a range of digital tools, such as chat rooms, 

webcasts, and webinars to exchange vital 

job-related information. Jobseekers can 

search for available jobs and submit their 

CVs, while employers can interact with jobseekers 

through virtual ‘booths’. 

Participating employers benefit from 

increased brand awareness, particularly 

amongst Bayt.com’s extensive portfolio of 

jobseekers - made up of over 500,000 registered 

users directly relevant to the hospitality 

industry and an additional eight million 

professionals with varied skills and experience 

across the industry spectrum. With 

Bayt.com’s Virtual Job Fair, there are minimal 

resource requirements in return for 

maximum exposure, which translate to 

lower costs and a higher return on investment 

for employers than with a traditional 

job fair. Moreover employers benefit from 

the excellent measurability the online job 

fair enables and the ease of managing the 

entire recruitment process particularly in 

terms of candidate sourcing and screening 

and selection. 

In 2011 alone, Bayt.com’s Virtual Job 

Fairs attracted more than 31,000 registered 

job seekers, with over 100,000 total visits 

for the duration. Overall employer booth 

views averaged more than 10,000 (26,000 

on average for Sponsor booths and an 

average of 15,000 for Platinum; 10,000 for 

Gold and 4,000 for Silver booths) with 

employers reporting a high satisfaction on 

their return-on-investment. 

Jobseekers wishing to participate in 

Bayt.com’s Hospitality Virtual Job Fair can 

register for free any time from today until 

the week of the Fair at http://virtualjobfair.bayt.com.Once 

logged in, candidates 

are able to apply for jobs on a 24/7 basis, at 

their own convenience and from the privacy 

and comfort and confidentiality of their 

own home or office environment. 

Jordan PM praises Kuwait 

for providing $1.25bn grant 

AMMAN: Jordanian Prime Minister Fayez 

Tarawneh praised yesterday Kuwait’s efforts 

in granting Jordan $1.25 billion as part of its 

contribution to the $5 billion grant by the 

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). 

Kuwaiti ambassador to Jordan Hamad Al- 

Duaij was speaking to KUNA after meeting 

the General Director of the Kuwait Fund for 

Arab Economic Development (KFAED) Abdul 

Wahhab Al-Bader and Minister Tarawneh, 

who praised the support of HH the Amir, the 

government and the Kuwaiti people. 

The Jordanian prime minister highlighted 

the fund’s contributions to achieving sustainable 

development in Jordan by funding economic 

and social projects. Tarawneh noted 

the strong ties and the economic cooperation 

between the two countries. 

Kuwait is the top Arab investor in Jordan 

and Tarawaneh stressed the importance of 

Kuwaiti investment in his country. 

According to ambassador Al-Duaij, 

Tarawaneh in the meeting pointed out the 

economic situation in Jordan, especially related 

to power outages and the Egyptian gas 

shortage as well which has led to high petrol 

prices. For his part, the Director of KFAED 

affirmed Kuwait’s commitment to providing 

support to Jordan under the signed agreements. 

Jordan’s minister of planning Jaafar 

Hassan was also present at the meeting. 

Al-Bader praised Jordan’s government 

measures to undertake structural inequity of 

the economy in order to achieve higher 

growth rates. He also said he admires Jordan’s 

political stability, which attracts investors. 

KFAED signed an agreement yesterday with 

the Jordanian government, in which Kuwait 

granted Jordan an annual USD 250 million as 

part of a total USD 1.25 billion aimed at funding 

development projects over a five-year 

period. — KUNA 

Health minister denies 

role in KMA dissolution 

KUWAIT: Minister of Health Dr Ali Al-Obaidi 

denied having any connection with a recent 

decision to dissolve the Kuwait Medical 

Association’s board, asserting that the body 

falls under the supervision of the Ministry of 

Social Affairs and Labor. 

Dr Al-Obaidi’s statements came Tuesday, 

shortly after the decision made recently by 

Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Salem Al- 

Othaina to dissolve the KMA’s board over 

financial violations detected by the KMA’s 

General Assembly. Earlier reports hinted that 

Al-Othaina made his decision based on a recommendation 

from Al-Obaidi over old dis- 

putes he has with the KMA’s board. 

Meanwhile, several doctors welcomed 

the decision which they believe “shows that 

doctors have the ability to change any board 

for the KMA they believe has deviated 

fromits course”. Conflicts had previously 

happened between the dissolved board and 

a number of doctors over financial violations 

they accused the board member of being 

involved in. 

In the meantime, source said that the dissolved 

board’s members plan to take “an 

immediate legal action” against the social 

minister’s decision. 

By Nawara Fattahova 

local 

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Journalist Association 

(KJA) held a press conference to discuss the 

current prices existent in co-operatives coinciding 

with the United Nations celebrating 

2012 as the Year of Co-operatives. The event, 

which was held at KJA’s office in Shuwaikh, 

also marked the golden jubilee of the establishment 

of Kuwait’s first co-operative society 

in Keifan. Abdulaziz Al-Samhan, the head of 

the Co-operative Societies Union noted that 

the organization is currently controlling the 

prices of 22,000 items sold through co-ops, 

out of about 60,000 to 70,000 such items that 

are sold there. 

“The Union has a committee that keeps 

tabs on the companies that supply goods to 

the co-ops. The committee allows these companies 

to sell their goods on the basis of the 

prices approved by it,” Al-Samhan explained. 

However, many people have complained 

about the hike in prices of some goods in a 

short time span. “The supplier can demand 

that the price of a certain item be raised and 

we have a procedure in place to address such 

a demand. The supplier has to first justify the 

demand by providing to the committee, relevant 

documents, such as bills from the country 

of origin, where the price has increased. It 

also has to attach a copy of the bank transfers 

made, proof of customs department’s 

cheques as well as other documents,” added 

Al-Samhan. 

“After that, the committee reviews the documents 

to decide the extent of the hike in 

prices. Usually, such hikes range between 

three percent and seven percent. In some cases, 

it might touch up to 15 percent. I don’t 

remember it being higher than that, although 

the companies often demand for a 30 percent 

or more hike,” he stated. 

“So when an item’s price appreciates by 35 

percent, for instance, we know that it could 

not have been approved by the committee. 

In that case, inspections of co-ops are ordered 

and violators are penalized. Sometimes we 

may even ban the company from supplying 

goods to the co-ops,” Al-Samhan pointed out. 

The Union has now demanded data pertaining 

to all items sold through co-ops so 

that it can guard against any unfair price 

hikes. “We are pressing the co-ops to let the 

union assume full control of the remainder of 

the items for the benefit of customers and 

shareholders, who are more important for us. 

The difference in the prices of some items 

sold by different co-ops might be due to an 

ongoing discount promotion or festival, or it 

may be on account of the co-ops supplying 

certain item themselves,” stressed Al-Samhan. 

He added that co-ops along with the public 

and private sectors are the third largest 

entity, as far as assets and the number of customers 

served are concerned. “The co-ops are 

run on the basis of a system, which involves 


Co-ops Union plays major 

role in controlling prices 

Call for data pertaining to sold items 

holding elections, generating profits, and rendering 

services to the shareholders and residents 

of the area. It also provides social services 

and runs projects in the area as per its 

budget. We always aim to improve our services,” 

he pointed out. 

However, co-ops face certain stumbling 

blocks. “The Co-ops Union is short of staff, 

which delays the processing of paperwork, 

especially for investors, and results in financial 

losses to the tune of tens of thousands,” stated 

Al-Samhan. 

The number of co-ops has increased with 

the growth of urban population and new residential 

areas coming up. “Around 25 co-ops 

existed at the time the Union was founded in 

1982. That number has grown and touched 55 

today. Now we need to expand the Union to 

absorb these additional co-ops and any new 

ones that will be created along with new 

cities being built,” he noted. 

Al-Samhan also proposed the establishment 

of a co-operative bank for handling the 

finances of co-ops. 

KUWAIT: Abdulaziz Al-Samhan (middle) addressing the press conference at the KJA 

on Tuesday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Medcomm enriches Arabian 

Conference on Information, 

Communications Security 

KUWAIT: Middle East Digital Communications 

(Medcomm), the leading information and 

communications consulting services company 

and the strategic business partner of the 

world-class company “Booz Allen Hamilton” 

announced yesterday their participation in the 

upcoming 2nd Arab Conference on 

Information and Communications Security 

(ACICS2) that will be held by the Central 

Agency for Information Technology (CAIT) 

under the sponsorship of His Highness Sheikh 

Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, the 

prime minister of Kuwait. 

Salem Methyeb Al-Othaina, the minister of 

communications, will represent the prime minister 

during the opening ceremony that will be 

held at Al-Raya Conference Center of 

Courtyard Marriott Hotel and on Sept 24 and 

25. Information security of cloud computing, 

e-government security issues, corporate and IT 

governance, and IT auditing will be among the 

many topics to be covered by the conference 

speakers. The opening ceremony will take 

place at 6:30 pm and will be attended by many 

industry leaders and specialists. The 

Conference proceedings will focus on the lat- 

KUWAIT: As part of the preparations made 

by the United Nations Educational, Scientific 

and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in cooperation 

with Boubyan Bank for the environmental 

program “The Big Tree Society”, Mark 

Sutcliffe, Project Officer -Natural Science 

Section at UNESCO - Doha Office recently visited 

Kuwait and met with Waleed Al-Yaqout, 

GM - Administration Group at the Bank to 

discuss the latest developments related to 

the initiative. 

The meeting witnessed discussions about 

the preparations for launching the initiative 

announced last June on the celebration of 

the World Environment Day by examining all 

necessary elements to actually launch the 

initiative and spread it among all schools in 

Kuwait in ways that realize its objectives. 

Meanwhile, all the details of the initiative 

including the ways of competition among 

schools, all conditions related to the way of 

schools’ participation in the initiative, and 

the competition that will be held among 

schools for proposing initiatives and projects 

for environmental conservation will be 

announced next October. 

“The Big Tree Society” is a program directed 

to schools for the purpose of enhancing 

awareness of the importance of environmental 

conservation, which will be launched for 

the first time in Kuwait at the beginning of 

the new school year in September 2012. 

The program implemented by Boubyan 

Bank in cooperation with UNESCO encourages 

students of all ages and all school years 

to positively impact their future and provides 

them with the opportunity to explore their 

personal capabilities through participation in 

a special competition aiming at enhancing 

environmental awareness and impact on the 

environment. 

As UNESCO’s Mark Sutcliffe said, “The Big 

Tree Society’s overall aim is to enhance the 

est technologies and solutions to protect our 

IT assets against the flood of threats that hit 

them on a continuous basis. 

The proliferation of mobile devices (mobile 

phones, tablets, etc.) will be extensively discussed. 

A special focus will handle the issues of 

developing the qualified human resources that 

can develop and implement sustainable, 

dependable, upgradable, scalable, and highly 

available security solutions and services. 

Naser Al-Karmi, the Managing Director of 

Medcomm, will address the audience during 

the opening ceremony. Commenting on the 

conference proceedings, he said “Guy Petreson 

of Booz Allen Hamilton, who is a well-known 

information security specialist, will present his 

paper about Information Security Strategies 

Planning and Training to highlight challenges 

of information security and to better understand 

their implications in Kuwait”. 

He added “we hope that the conference 

triggers an ongoing workshop with the participation 

of government agencies and local and 

international technology vendors to benefit 

from technology and information security 

solutions available today. 

KUWAIT: Al-Yaqout receiving UNESCO representative. 

Preparations continue 

for launch of ‘Big 

Tree Society’ initiative 

behaviour of people and their relationship 

with the buildings they are in, such as 

schools, where the ecological footprint can 

be actively improved, especially via the 

development of improved water, energy, and 

waste-management, as well as reflecting on 

their environmental health.” 

The initiative is based on two rules: The 

first is that the students must be the ones 

who decide on how to change their behaviour, 

and the second is that the solution must 

involve everyone in the school, from the 

teachers to the students. 

Apart from these two rules, schools are 

free to choose to follow any environmental 

program they want, or they can even create 

their own. 

Commenting on the initiative, Al-Yaqout 

said: “It is a pleasure for us to be partners for 

one of the biggest UN organizations in raising 

the level of awareness of the necessity to 

take more practical steps towards sustained 

environmental conservation out of the care 

of all of us for the future of coming generations.” 

“Boubyan Bank believes in the necessity 

of cooperation among all parties in any 

society in order to take the actions and introduce 

more initiatives that help create actual 

awareness of the importance of the environment, 

and it is the responsibility of current 

generations to conserve the environmental 

resources we now have to sustain future generations,” 

he added. 

Al-Yaqout also expressed his wish, as well 

as the wish of all Boubyan Bank’s staff that 

this initiative realizes its objectives, whether 

on the level of Kuwait schools or the Kuwaiti 

society, especially being the first of its kind 

that is implemented in cooperation between 

the UNESCO and a Kuwaiti bank which 

believes in the importance of social responsibility 

and its role as a private institution in 

raising the level of awareness of social issues. 

local 

KUWAIT: Thirteen women were freed from a 

brothel in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh where they were 

imprisoned and forced into prostitution by a 

man who was arrested. The operation took place 

recently following investigations carried out by 

Farwaniya detectives based on information 

about an Asian man’s illegal activity. The Asian 

victims told police that the male suspect collected 

money by forcing them into prostitution. The 

man is in custody pending legal action. 

‘ 

Deportee’ caught 

Investigations following a residency violator’s 

arrest revealed that the suspect used a 

forged passport to re-enter Kuwait after being 

deported earlier. The Asian man was arrested in 

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh after police discovered that 

he was deported. Police later confirmed that 

the man managed to come back to Kuwait 

using a forged passport. 

Alcohol found 

Farwaniya police are looking for the owner 

of a car which was found recently on Airport 

Road with liquor bottles inside. Two patrol officers 

were granted permission to search a car 

they found parked in a no-parking spot on the 

side of a busy street. After finding imported 

liquor bottles inside, the officers headed back 

to Farwaniya police station and filed a case. An 

arrest warrant for the car’s owner has been 

issued. 

Fugitive caught 

A fugitive was arrested recently after being 

caught driving under influence and with possession 

of drugs. The suspect was pulled over the 

side of a road in Al-Nugra for driving recklessly. 

The patrol officers immediately noticed that the 

man was in an unstable state, and learned that 

he is on the wanted list for failing to pay KD 

5,000 in debt. Police also found three hashish 

rolls hidden inside the man’s cigarette’s box. He 

remains in custody pending legal procedures. 

Counterfeit products 

A man was caught in Al-Salmi stealing counterfeit 

products held inside the customs’ warehouse 

at the border checkpoint. Customs officers 

were assigned to monitor the warehouse 

after noticing that some shipments sealed with 

red wax were opened. An Asian man was caught 

sneaking inside the warehouse. The suspect confessed 

to stealing counterfeit items and selling 

them in Kuwait. He was referred to the proper 

authorities to face charges. 

Kidnap foiled 

Two people were arrested in Al-Fahaheel on 

Tuesday following a failed attempt to kidnap a 

teenager with the intention of sexual assault. 

Special task force officers were reported 

patrolling the area when they noticed a young 

man running and signaling for help. The 16-yearold 

pointed at a car that was following him, say- 


KUWAIT: A honoring ceremony for artist Shadi Al-Khaleej in progress at Crowne Plaza hotel on Tuesday. 

— Photos by Joseph Shagra 

13 Asian women freed 

from brothel in Jleeb 

Alcohol found in abandoned car 

Politics ‘inevitable’ at 

upcoming ASPA Summit: 

Peruvian diplomat 

KUWAIT: Despite the fact that the next Summit 

of South American-Arab Countries (ASPA) is 

more of an economic and cultural gathering, 

yet delving into political issues seems to be 

inevitable, Charge d’Affaires at the Peruvian 

Embassy in Kuwait Gustavo Bravo said. “Actually, 

Syria and Paraguay are not participating in the 

Summit,” Bravo said. “South American countries 

see the case of Paraguay the way Arab countries 

view the situation in Syria,” he said, adding “this 

would reflect on the Summit.” The event will be 

held on Oct 1 and 2 in Lima, Peru, with the participation 

of 34 countries; 12 South American 

and 22 Arab, and with the coordination and 

support of the Arab League and Union of South 

American Nation (UNASUR). 

Both the South American and Arab countries 

were suspended from their respective 

blocks; UNASUR and the League. 

Paraguay was suspended following the 

political impeachment, which last June 

removed Fernando Lugo from presidency and 

replaced him with Federico Franco. 

“I look at it (the Summit) as an opportunity 

to see common challenges and find regional 

solutions for them, as both regions went 

through similar events. 

“It hasn’t been decided if political conflicts in 

both regions would be included in the Summit’s 

final communique,” Bravo noted. 

ASPA is a forum for policy coordination 

between countries in these two regions, and a 

mechanism for the cooperation in the field of 

economy, culture, education, science and technology, 

preservation of the environment, 

tourism and other topics relevant to the sustainable 

development of those countries and contribute 

to world peace. 

Bravo indicated that many world leaders and 

heads of government have confirmed personal 

attendance, including Argentina’s President 

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Brazilian 

President Dilma Rousseff, Ecuador’s Rafael 

Vicent Correa Delgado, Guyana’s Donald 

Ramotar and Uruguay’s Jose Mujica. 

List of prominent Arab leaders includes King 

Abdullah of Jordan, Lebanese President Michel 

Suleiman, Palestinian President Mahmoud 

Abbas, Amir of Qatar Hamad Bin Khalifa Al- 

Thani and Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki. 

Furthermore, Bravo noted that there will also be 

a special meeting on South American and Arab 

journalism for press and media personnel in 

both regions. 

“Expectations are big from both regions,” he 

stressed. More than 400 Arab and South 

American business leaders are also expected to 

show up. “There will also be a special meeting 

for representatives of Arab investment funds, 

organized by the Inter-American Development 

Bank. 

“This event is very significant to Peru. It is 

actually a public policy of the country as we will 

also be hosting the annual meetings of the 

World Bank and the International Monetary 

Fund in 2015 and the Asia-Pacific Economic 

Cooperation Summit (APEC) in 2016.” His 

Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al- 

Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, will head Kuwait’s 

delegation to the Summit. 

In addition, a meeting of the council for the 

ministers of foreign affairs will be held in parallel 

to the summits; the ASPA and CEOs, in which 

Kuwaiti Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister 

Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah will 

take part. 

The first ASPA Summit was held in Brasilia, 

Brazil, in May 2005, while the second took place 

in Doha, Qatar, in March 2009. The Lima Summit 

was scheduled to be held in February 2011, but 

was postponed due to the Arab Spring uprisings. 

Turning to bilateral relations with Kuwait, 

the Peruvian envoy said that ever since the 

Peruvian Embassy opened here last year, it 

embarked on promoting the country’s tourism 

industry through contacting and holding seminars 

and presentations to local travel agencies 

in a bid to spread the word about the land of 

the Inca Empire. 

Moreover, Bravo said that both Kuwaiti and 

Peruvian societies enjoy many similarities when 

it comes to architecture; seen in old buildings in 

Lima and traditional souks in Kuwait City, as well 

as food and music. He also pointed out to an initiative 

by the embassy here to establish a student 

exchange program and a scholarship plan 

for Peruvian PhD students to study Arabic 

Language at Kuwait University.—KUNA 

ing that two men inside went after him after he 

managed to escape from their clutches. He further 

explained that the suspects forced him 

inside their car when he was walking with his 

friend, who was physically assaulted by the suspects. 

The two were forced to stop and arrested 

after a knife was found with them. They were 

referred to authorities to face legal action. 

Forgery network 

Three people were arrested recently in connection 

with a major forgery case in which they 

traded illegal forged stamps. Investigations 

were on following information about the activity 

of a male suspect who sold government 

stamps at state service offices with reduced 

prices. The Egyptian man was arrested after 

being monitored for a period of time. He admitted 

during investigations that he was selling a 

stamp worth KD 10 at KD 8 to expatriate workers. 

He provided information about an Arab suspect 

who he said provided him with the forged 

stamps. The suspect was later arrested, and 

admitted to supplying the Egyptian man with 

KD 10 stamps at KD 6 each. He further said that 

he keeps 1,000 forged stamps in his car, and 

provided information about a compatriot he 

said had been providing him with the stamps. 

The third suspect was soon arrested, and admitted 

that his brother regularly smuggles the 

stamps - which he said are forged in Turkey. 

— Al-Rai, Al-Anbaa, Al-Watan, Al-Jarida 

Documentary film on 

Oman National Day 

MUSCAT: A Kuwaiti media delegation has conducted a 

number of interviews with Kuwaiti and Omani officials as 

part of making a documentary film celebrating Oman’s 

42nd National Day. 

Head of the delegation, Dr Mohammad Menaif Al- 

Ajmi, said yesterday that the Kuwaiti Information Ministry 

delegation has carried out many interviews with both 

countries’ officials; on top of those was one made with 

Kuwaiti envoy to Oman Salem Al-Zamanan. 

The Kuwaiti envoy said, in the interview, that Oman 

has witnessed a major rise in all of its government and 

private sectors which introduced this Gulf country to the 

world 42 years ago. 

These great changes and giant projects has modernized 

Oman at all levels, turning it into a country that is 

prevailed by security and stability. 

Al-Zamanan concluded his interview by lauding the 

Kuwaiti-Omani relations that have been built on strong 

foundations for many years. 

This documentary is part of a media cooperation 

amongst the Gulf Cooperation Council’s states, Al-Ajmi 

pointed out. —KUNA

KUWAIT: Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh 

Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani is aware of 

the parties which floated rumors linking 

him and the opposition in Kuwait, but 

chooses not to respond because “the 

special relationship with Kuwait is a priority, 

so is maintaining concord between 

the Gulf Cooperation Council countries”. 

Sheikh Hamad also believes that “the 

majority of Kuwaitis realize the main 

goal” behind spreading rumors which 

often accuse him of providing financial 

support to certain Kuwaiti parties which 

have a hand in the current situation in 

Kuwait; the most recent one being 

instructing MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei over 

the phone to proclaim Sheikh Jaber Al- 

Mubarak Al-Sabah as the last prime minister 

from the Mubarak branch of the ruling 

family. 

The Qatari premier made these statements 

during an interview with Kuwait’s 

Al-Rai daily, in which he called people 

behind the campaign against him in 

Kuwait to “provide any proof, even one 

that is not accepted by court” to support 

their claims. 

And while categorically referring to 

the accusations as “complete lies”, Sheikh 

Hamad argued that Qatar wouldn’t “blatantly 

interfere in an internal Kuwaiti 


matter” as the rumors suggested. 

“Some parties create a problem to 

take attention away from the real problem”, 

he said, adding that Qatar has “a 

clear policy not to interfere in the internal 

affairs of any country”. “I support 

those who wish lasting stability in 

Kuwait, and my goal has always been 

and will always be to improve [bilateral] 

relations”, he added. Sheikh Hamad took 

the opportunity during the interview to 

express faith in “prudence of the Kuwaiti 

leadership” and “His Highness the Amir 

Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah’s leadership 

and vision”, while also indicating 

that “constructive dialogue between the 

executive and legislative authorities is 

necessary to overcome issues peacefully”. 

“Kuwait has a constitution that was voted 

by the parliament, therefore it must be 

respected by all parties”, he said. 

The interview, conducted by Al-Rai’s 

Editor-in-Chief Majid Al-Ali published 

yesterday, addressed accusations at 

Qatar of creating problems in the region. 

Sheikh Hamad said that no evidence was 

ever presented to support such claims. 

“Qatar has no problems with any party, 

and we support people’s freedom of 

choice in determining their rulers”, he 

said, reiterating rejection to rumors 

local 

No support for Kuwaiti 

opposition: Qatar PM 

Accusations ‘complete lies’ 

about Qatari support to the Muslim 

Brotherhood. Regarding the situation in 

Syria, Sheikh Hamad said that President 

Bashar Al-Assad is left with no other 

option but to “take a bold step to surrender 

power to an organized government, 

on the condition that no party takes 

revenge against another”. 

Meanwhile, the Qatari PM denied 

rumors which claim that Qatar no longer 

allows Lebanese Shiites to work in or 

travel to the Gulf state due to Hezbollah’s 

positions. “Despite the differing views, 

Qatar won’t hesitate to take the same 

decision to rebuild Lebanon as the one 

taken after the 2006 war, if a similar situation 

occurs today”, he insisted. 

Regarding the low-budget movie 

offending Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) 

and the violent reactions it stirred, 

Sheikh Hamad did not see any “interest 

for the American administration” to be 

involved in the movie in any manner. 

He added however that “certain parties 

could be behind the movie seeking 

to create disorder”. Other topics mentioned 

during the interview include the 

joint GCC market, which Sheikh Hamad 

described as important “as it includes 

areas of investment with greater returns 

between the GCC countries”. — Al-Rai 

Ministry prepares 

new commercial 

companies act 

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has 

said that the ministry has finished preparing the new 

commercial companies’ act. 

In a statement to Al-Anbaa newspaper published 

yesterday, Assistant Undersecretary for companies 

affairs and commercial licenses Dawood Al-Sabej said 

that the act will soon be raised to the Minister of Trade 

and Industry Anas Al-Saleh, and later the Council of 

Ministers. 

He added that “this commercial act is characterized 

by creating mechanisms and new financial instruments 

such as issuing negotiable bonds, in addition to the 

standard of governance, especially in the case of separating 

the ownership of the company and its management.” 

Most recently, the concept of single ownership 

companies has been introduced “in order to stimulate 

the corporate sector.” In addition, he said that the new 

act will include legislation instruments as they are part 

of the Islamic finance, “which contribute to the organization 

of the work of companies operating in accordance 

with Islamic Sharia law.”— KUNA

kuwait digest 

Kuwait’s 

weapons market 

By Dr Naji Al-Zaid 

Three thousand forty-four felony crimes. Two 

thousand fifty-eight misdemeanor crimes. 

Twenty-four cases of possession of an unlicensed 

firearm. Eight-eight muggings at gunpoint. 

These are official statistics detailing crimes reported 

last year and published recently by the press. 

Meanwhile, a local daily published an investigative 

report about the spread of weapons in Kuwait, 

which provides a breakdown on the price of firearms 

sold illegally in the country. For example, the report 

detailed how a 0.25mm handgun is available for 

KD300, a 9mm gun is sold for KD600, rifles are available 

for prices ranging between KD350 and KD600, 

whereas an AK47 can be obtained for KD950 and an 

M16 for KD1200. 

The report also quotes sources who indicate that 

the Ministry of Interior’s Border Security Department 

and Customs General Department are responsible 

for monitoring the smuggling of weapons into 

Kuwait. 

It’s unimaginable to see weapons being within 

anyone’s reach and available in the black market, 

sometimes for less than what you can pay for a new 

computer. 

Could this mean that some within the Interior 

Ministry’s departments are allowing weapons to be 

smuggled into the country? And if the ministry is truly 

responsible for weapons control, then what is the 

reason behind the lack of serious efforts to collect 

unlicensed weapons in Kuwait? It’s not a secret that 

this lack of control has led to weapons spreading 

throughout the country. 

Many people have fallen victim to shootings in 

Kuwait, and many others were either killed or injured 

by stray bullets. Despite that, people have not 

received a response to demands to limit the possession 

of weapons. 

Under Kuwaiti law, licensing a firearm is controlled 

by certain terms that include keeping a firearm 

inside a household for the owner’s protection. This 

means that carrying a firearm while in public, even if 

it is licensed, is not allowed. Yet, weapons continue to 

remain in the possession of a large number of citizens, 

some of whom could behave recklessly, while 

others feel that taking a firearm wherever they go 

feeds their pride. Nevertheless, it’s not surprising to 

see weapons spreading when the Interior Ministry 

does not make the slightest effort to collect unlicensed 

weapons. 

How can large numbers of firearms enter Kuwait 

and be made easily available to the public? How are 

we supposed to feel safe? These are simple questions 

that come to mind while reading the statistics mentioned 

in the recent press report. If reporters can 

obtain details about the number, prices and types of 

weapons available at the local black market, I don’t 

think state authorities have any excuse to stop them 

from launching a campaign to arrest illegal weapons 

traffickers. — Al-Qabas 

In my view 

Which side 

will you take? 

By Hassan Al-Essa 

Anumber of preachers and lawmakers have 

strongly reacted to the recent ruling made by 

the Supreme Judiciary Council, which 

allowed women to work as judges, by issuing 

Fatwas and by demanding that the move be 

scrapped. 

Though this opinion is regressive 

in nature and takes advantage 

of the right to freedom of 

expression, one cannot reject it 

outright as there is more than 

one person who harbors such 

feelings. The real danger is not 

in expressing the opinion itself, 

but rather in the threats made by 

MP Hayef being taken seriously. 

Well, this is their opinion and whether that opinion 

is based upon the opinions of Faqeehs or 

Muslim scholars, who are described as scientists and 

placed on an equal footing with physicists and doctors, 

or merely drawn from their personal social 

prejudices that portray women only as a child-bearing 

machine and not someone who is fit to be 

appointed as a judge and sentence guilty men to 

prison. 

Though this opinion is regressive in nature and 

takes advantage of the right to freedom of expression, 

one cannot reject it outright as there is more 

than one person who harbors such feelings. The 

real danger is not in expressing the opinion itself, 

but rather in the threats made by MP Hayef being 

taken seriously, where he demanded that a legislation 

be issued, which strikes down the Supreme 

Judicial Council’s decision, effectively banning 

women from working as judges. 

Assuming that such a legislation is passed in the 

near future, how will the activists defending the 

constitution or the conservatives that constitute the 

majority amongst the opposition react? How will 

they face their supporters? Will they support the 

constitutional call for equality among citizens, 

regardless of religion or gender? Will they pretend 

to support the constitution and call for a separation 

of powers, which would imply alienating the judiciary 

from politics? But will agreeing with such Fatwas 

also imply that they are willing participants in this 

attempt to scuttle women’s rights? Which side will 

they take? — Al-Jarida 

The individuals who create political problems in 

the country include members of the trading 

class, be it those involved in political dealings, 

the money lenders or even the merchants. Those living 

in the ‘Shahbander chamber’ can construct buildings 

on land, which they are able to acquire free of 

cost, and their main concern revolves around how 

much they can extract from their sizable incomes 

generated from the oil business. 

They are the one who manipulate MPs, they are the 

one who control and drive up the prices of foodstuffs, 

which have appreciated more than 30 percent in the 

last few months. These slaves of money have managed 

to halt growth in this country, and any project 

proposed by the government that is aimed at achieving 

growth is hijacked by such individuals, who end 

up dividing the gains amongst themselves, while the 

project is ruined and laid to rest at the Sulaibikhat 

graveyard. 

These merchants of the ‘Shahbandar chamber’ 

charge a fee and a percentage of the commission 

earned from every tender, claiming that they are the 

ones who have built this country from scratch. 

Therefore, no government or party can dare to visit 

their building and make them aware of the violations 

they have committed. That is because this is the building 

from where the actual business of the government 

is conducted. 

The members of this group are the real ministers 

and they hold the power to appoint the Minister of 

Finance and the Minister of Commerce, along with 

placing their consultants in every council of ministers 

and in close proximity with every important position 

of power in this country. 

The actual MPs end up creating a crisis and are 

unable to stabilize the country, while the political 

wheelers and dealers, which include some bank owners, 

who control the rate of interests applicable to 

loans, decide as per their whims how the country 

should be run. All of them are members of Ali Baba’s 

cave, including one trader, who trades in everything, 

even the blood of people, and is known as an arms 

LOCAL 

kuwait digest 

Everything is possible in this country 

It appears that we either act foolishly or just pretend 

to be foolish when we demand that the 

United Nations release a resolution criminalizing 

any insults leveled at a religion. If such a law is 

enforced, then we would be in trouble. 

First of all, the concept of religion in Muslim and 

Jewish communities is very different from others. 

Religion in both of these communities shapes cultural 

identities. Muslim communities, for example, characterize 

themselves on the basis of Islam first, before 

any other distinction. On the other hand, when a man 

in Europe indentifies himself as a Christian, his religious 

identity in this context, is different from the 

identity of a Muslim man in a similar situation. 

Therefore, just as the concept of religion is different in 

Muslim and Jewish communities, so is the concept of 

what constitutes as an insult to one’s religion. 

The second reason why I believe this law could 

prove to be problematic is that there are people 

among us who refuse to recognize any other religion 

than the three Abrahamic religions. So, Buddhism, 

Hinduism, Taoism and thousands of other religions 

are not only ignored, but there are people who 

demand that these religions be eradicated from our 

society. Such demands can also be classified as religious 

insults. 

Third and most importantly, Muslim countries cannot 

ask the world to respect Islam, while other religions 

are being offended in Muslim communities. 

Religious minorities often feel marginalized by religious 

majorities in some countries. In Nigeria, members 

of the Boko Haram organization are known to 

burn churches, while people are still praying inside. In 

Libya, Sufi shrines are razed. In Afghanistan, the 

Taliban desecrated a statue of Buddha, while clerics 

applauded from the sidelines. In Egypt, Christians’ 

homes were burnt down during violence that was 

By Mohammad Ahmad Al-Mulla 

dealer in the Middle East. It is said that one day, while 

he was in his deewan, he challenged his audience by 

saying, “Do you see that Iranian who works as a blacksmith?” 

When they replied in the affirmative, he said 

that by next year the Iranian would be a Kuwaiti citi- 

The members of this group are 

the real ministers and they hold 

the power to appoint the 

Minister of Finance and the 

Minister of Commerce, along 

with placing their consultants in 

every council of ministers and in 

close proximity with every 

important position of power in 

this country. 

zen. Members of the group refused to believe him, 

but indeed after a year the Iranian was found wearing 

a ‘dishdasha’ and sitting as a mute spectator in the 

deewan. When the ‘Shahbandari’ man asked if anyone 

recognized him, everyone in the audience said no. 

He then pointed out that the Iranian blacksmith 

was now a Kuwaiti citizen. The audience was shocked 

and asked him how he had managed to pull it off? To 

which he replied that everything is possible in this 

country. Today, this Iranian’s sons are Kuwaitis and his 

daughter is working as a secretary for a female MP. 

Unfortunately, every one in Kuwait realizes that the 

real political crisis stem not from the lack of protection 

lent to the constitution, or imparting social justice, 

but from the widespread financial corruption 

rampant in the country.. I don’t blame them. I blame 

the unusual kindness extended to these individuals 

by our sheikhs and the government. — Al-Shahed 

kuwait digest 

Demanding respect for our religion 

By Jaafar Rajab 

sparked by a conflict between a Christian laundry 

owner and a Muslim man, whose shirt was burned by 

the shop. In Kuwait too, a lawmaker has called for the 

destruction of churches, but later stated that he was 

misquoted and had actually demanded that no new 

licenses be granted for setting up churches. In Iraq, 

churches and other places of worship are bombed by 

roving religious militias. In Pakistan, sectarian clashes 

take place throughout the year and in Turkey, sectarian, 

religious and racial discrimination continues to 

take place. In Iran, the Baha’i sect is constantly 

scorned. A culture of contempt for other religions has 

been exposed in our societies, when people mock 

others for what they believe in. And after doing so, we 

demand that others respect Islam and our religious 

feelings? 

Insult is not only borne out of making a low-budget 

movie, publishing an offensive cartoon or making 

a public statement. Insulting religion is far more serious, 

when it permeates the social culture, rather than 

remain an individual practice. Insulting religion 

doesn’t only imply writing an article, which attacks a 

certain religion, but also by denying a person the 

right to practice their religion freely. Respecting religion 

isn’t only reflected in attempts made to avoid 

insulting religious figures, but also by making sure 

that a follower of Mohammad and a follower of Jesus 

share equal rights. 

There are people in our culture who use terms 

such as ‘Jew’, ‘Christian’, ‘Magian’ or ‘Hindu’ when they 

want to curse someone. Yet, we demand that the 

world stop the practices of people who want to 

offend Islam. Take a look at the religious TV channels 

that we broadcast and see the extent of hatred featured 

on the programmes these channels show in 

order to realize that the problem lies with us and not 

with others. — Al-Rai 


letters to Muna 

Making Kuwait 

a safer place 

Hi Muna; 

Iregularly read your articles in the Kuwait Times and 

am saddened when I see people only talking about 

food, entertainment, having fun, etc. but never display 

any concern for the rise in the negative things that 

are happening in Kuwait. 

Regarding the recent news of an expat being kidnapped, 

raped and killed, it just seems so easy for 

criminals to get away with committing crimes like this, 

especially since the concerned authorities are so slow 

to react and take steps to prevent such incidents from 

taking place. However, the authorities seem to have 

registered a lot of such cases recently. 

It has also become quite common for such people to 

gain access to private buildings, or attack pedestrians in 

broad daylight, which begs an answer to the question 

that which place should now be considered the safest 

in Kuwait, especially when security agencies fail to take 

any preventive measures? Things will continue to 

remain this bad, unless people wake up to the reality of 

what is happening in Kuwait. 

Only last night, a car started chasing our office transport 

at around 2 am, from the Avenues till the first drop 

location in Salmiya. The girl who was dropped there 

was followed by some ‘sabab,’ but was lucky after she 

managed to quickly enter the lift in her building and 

escape to safety. I would request you to please include 

this letter in your column, so that people in Kuwait can 

be made to realize the problems being faced by expats 

and can help making Kuwait a safer place for them. 

Regards, 

Vicky 

Respected Madam, 

I have been reading your articles from a long time 

and find them very interesting, as you are raising your 

voice against different social injustices. I would also like 

to divert your attention to a very serious issue. 

We, i.e. people hailing from Pakistan, have been living 

in Kuwait from a long time and have played an 

important role in the development of the country, both 

at the national and international levels. Our feelings 

stem from a true Islamic spirit of Muslim fraternity. 

The government of Kuwait had imposed sanctions 

on all types of Pakistani visas nearly three years ago, 

and effective measures are still to be adopted on either 

side that will eliminate such obstacles. We are suffering 

as a result of this policy and the entire setup of our family 

has also been disturbed. 

I would request you to personally focus on this issue 

through the media and also help us get a proper visa, 

so that we can spend our lifetime in Kuwait. 

Thanks, 

A Requester. 

Dear Muna, 

I read your article and it made me happy to see your 

concern for underprivileged people. Poor people who 

work hard even during Ramadan or on any other day 

have to brave the elements of nature to earn their livelihood. 

On top of that, they are also not paid enough 

and often have to subsist on a single meal so that they 

can save money for their families. Madam, I know families 

who even keep their dogs in conditions better than 

these people. Anyway, thanks a lot. 

Regards, 

Cleaning supervisor 

Dear Muna, 

KPTC bus staff is still finding it difficult to understand 

that customers do not need to make a payment if they 

present prepaid cards. Most commuters are still finding 

it hard to convince KPTC drivers about the use of prepaid 

cards and are instead forced to pay their bus fare. 

Perhaps, the KPTC should put up a list in every bus, 

which points out that commuters owning prepaid 

cards are not required to pay again when they board a 

KPTC bus. 

As far as I know, KPTC is aware of this rule, but 

chooses to feign ignorance about it, which is really 

appalling. 

From: Zaheer 

Dear Muna, 

Why are we suffering? Even though my mother is a 

Kuwaiti citizen, our family is failing to get Kuwaiti passports. 

This is unfair and we feel we are being victimized 

for no fault of ours. I would request you to please write 

an article about this as there are many other similar cases 

where children of Kuwaiti mothers are unable to procure 

passports issued by the Kuwaiti government. 

Best Regards, 

Taimur 

Dear Muna, 

I have always appreciated your articles in the Kuwait 

Times. You have a kind heart, progressive thinking and 

treat everyone equally. You are the only one, who highlights 

the problems of expats for the public. 

I just want to draw your attention to the plight of 

Mahboula residents. I am also a resident of the same 

area. Our locality has been suffering on account of 

extensive renovations being carried out on roads and 

our sewerage system and because of other construction 

work. I am not suggesting that the work should 

stop or that it is illegal, but that the construction schedule 

has not been adequately planned. Moreover, the 

company, which is involved in this job, has also been 

very careless. Their workers are unmindful of the trouble 

they cause for the residents including children and 

women, as well as sick and elderly people. They block 

the road without opening an alternative route. These 

days, they have blocked the main road in Mahboula, 

without providing an alternative, which has inconvenienced 

school-going children, their parents and working 

professionals. Things have been continuing like this 

for the last three years, but earlier the problem was only 

limited to different streets, but now the whole locality 

has been affected. There is not a single road or street in 

Mahboula which has not been affected. Our vehicles 

have been damaged due to the uneven roads and other 

obstacles that we encounter daily on our way home. 

Even during Ramadan, people found it difficult to reach 

mosques. If they provide us with an alternative route, 

they can continue working for as long as they want. But 

not opening roads for use for weeks and months on 

end is unfair. Please pass on our concerns to the relevant 

authorities or write an article, which draws attention 

to our area. 

Thanking you in anticipation. 

Best Regards, 

Shaf


WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama’s 

campaign allies continued to push out an 

unauthorized video of rival Mitt Romney dismissing 

the half of Americans who don’t pay 

income taxes, while the Republican nominee 

tried to turn the campaign disruption into a 

debate over the role of government in family 

finances. “My course for the American economy 

will encourage private investment and 

personal freedom,” Romney wrote in an op-ed 

essay in yesterday’s USA Today. “Instead of 

creating a web of dependency, I will pursue 

policies that grow our economy and lift 

Americans out of poverty.” 

It remains to be seen whether Romney’s 

remarks at a private fundraiser, captured on 

hidden camera, would shake loose a dead 

heat that’s persisted in the presidential campaign 

for months. An Associated Press-GfK 

poll out yesterday shows an improvement in 

Obama’s job approval rating and confidence 

in the country’s direction, but the race is a 

dead heat among those most likely to vote. 

Romney’s USA Today essay avoided mention 

of the claim he makes on the video that 

nearly half of Americans believe they are victims 

and entitled to a range of government 

support and that as a candidate, he doesn’t 

feel a need to worry about them. His running 

mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, told KRNV- 

TV in Reno, Nev., that Romney “was obviously 

inarticulate in making this point” that government 

dependency and economic stagnation 

have risen under Obama. 

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid took 

to the Senate floor Wednesday to question 

whether Romney himself could be one of the 

Americans who pay no federal income tax. 

Reid has charged before that Romney hasn’t 

paid taxes some years, but the senator hasn’t 

backed up the claim with evidence, and 

Romney has insisted that’s not true. “We’ll 

never know, since he refuses to release tax 

returns from the years before he was running 

for president,” Reid said. 

“So who are those Americans Mitt Romney 

disdains as ‘victims’ and ‘those people?’” said 

Reid, D-Nev., in a prepared speech. “They’re 

not avoiding their tax bills using Cayman 

Island tax shelters or Swiss bank accounts like 

Mitt Romney.” Obama, appearing Tuesday on 

CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman,” rejected 

the notion that many Americans feel they 

are victims. “One thing I’ve learned as president 

is that you represent the entire country,” 

he said. A super political action committee 

Scandinavian mags publish topless Kate photos 

supporting Obama was more pointed in the 

first television advertisement using Romney’s 

words, released Wednesday morning and 

scheduled to run in battlegrounds Colorado, 

Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. 

The ad includes video of Romney saying, “I’ll 

never convince them they should take personal 

responsibility.” An announcer interjects, 

“And Mitt Romney will never convince us he’s 

on our side.” 

With early and absentee voting beginning 

in a number of states, both sides hoped to 

lock in votes long before Election Day. The 

first of three presidential debates is scheduled 

for Oct. 3, and the two camps were looking 

to secure any edge as Obama’s post-convention 

polling advantage seemed to be 

ebbing. Obama planned a rare full day at the 

White House Wednesday, including a private 

meeting with Myanmar democracy leader 

Aung San Suu Kyi; Romney scheduled a 

fundraiser in Atlanta and two appearances in 

Miami, including a candidate forum with the 

Spanish-language TV network Univision. The 

Romney campaign continued to respond to 

the criticism of his fundraiser remarks 

Wednesday by pointing out videotaped comments 

Obama made in 1998 as evidence he 

favored government redistribution of wealth. 

An Illinois state senator at the time, Obama 

said he believes in redistribution “at least to a 

certain level to make sure everybody’s got a 

shot.” “I know some believe that government 

should take from some to give to the others,” 

Romney said in an interview Tuesday on Fox 

News Channel. 

“I think the president makes it clear in the 

tape that was released today that that’s what 

he believes. I think that’s an entirely foreign 

concept. I believe America was built on the 

principle of government caring for those in 

need, but getting out of the way and allowing 

free people to pursue their dreams.” 

But in his Fox interview, Romney continued 

to cast a segment of the country as 

unable to rally around his tax-cutting message. 

“I recognize that those people who are 

not paying income tax are going to say, ‘Gosh, 

this provision that Mitt keeps talking about 

lowering income taxes, that’s not going to be 

real attractive to them,’” Romney said. “And 

those that are dependent upon government 

and those that think government’s job is to 

redistribute, I’m not going to get them.” Some 

Republicans distanced themselves from their 

party’s nominee. —AP 

Page 8 

Top Colombia drug lord 

captured in Venezuela 

Obama allies push secret Romney video 

Obama job approval rising: Poll 

Israel military holds 

largest snap drill 

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military yesterday 

conducted its largest snap drill in years as 

tensions with Iran over its nuclear program 

rise and civil war in neighboring Syria rages. 

Military chief Lt Gen Benny Gantz ordered 

the exercise to test the competence and 

preparedness of several units in the armed 

forces, a military statement said. It called the 

drill in northern and central Israel “part of a 

routine inspection” that “does not indicate 

any changes” in the country’s alert levels. 

Tens of thousands of soldiers were mobilized 

for the exercise, including artillery and 

air force personnel, making the drill unique 

because of the number of soldiers and senior 

officers involved, several officials said. 

They spoke on condition of anonymity, 

according to military regulations. 

As part of the exercise, troops were dispatched 

by air from central part of the country 

to the Israeli-controlled part of the Golan 

Heights, captured from neighboring Syria in 

the 1967 Mideast war, the officials said. The 

drill ended with a live fire exercise in the 

Golan. Israeli leaders have repeatedly said 

they fear Syria’s stockpile of chemical 

weapons and missiles might fall into the 

hands of anti-Israel militants during the 

fighting there. Israel is also concerned that 

Iran is close to developing nuclear weapons. 

Tehran has denied such claims, insisting its 

nuclear program has no military component. 

Israel has been warning of an Iranian 

nuclear threat for nearly two decades. The 

country’s leaders have recently suggested 

they would be prepared to strike Iran’s 

nuclear facilities unilaterally to prevent 

Tehran from acquiring atomic bombs. The 

military has been systematically planning 

ways to stop the Iranians for years, acquiring 

military aircraft, bombs and refueling planes 

and testing long-range missile systems in 

exercises that could serve as a model for 

striking targets in Iran, some 1,000 miles 

(1,600 kilometers) away. Israel also possesses 

an arsenal of Jericho ballistic missiles and 

German-made Dolphin submarines reportedly 

capable of striking Iran. — AP 

Page 10 

DALLAS: Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov Mitt Romney points to the socks of Charlie Pearce, his Trip Director, after he 

gave him a pink tie before he boards his campaign charterplane at Love Field yesterday. — AP 

KFC outlet fired 

at in Lebanon 

TYRE: Thousands of supporters of the Shiite Hezbollah movement 

protested yesterday in the southern city of Tyre against 

a US-made film mocking Islam and cartoons of Prophet 

Mohammed (PBUH), hours after gunmen fired at a KFC restaurant. 

“America, America, you are the great satan!” and “Israel is 

the enemy of the Muslims!” chanted protesters as they poured 

onto the streets of Tyre. Protesters carried posters saying: “We 

sacrifice ourselves for you, O messenger of God,” “All our problems 

are from America,” and “Muslims and Christians in 

defence of the Prophet’s (PBUH) dignity.” 

Yesterday’s protest came after Hezbollah leader Hassan 

Nasrallah on Monday called for such demonstrations across 

Lebanon following the spread of the anti-Islam film on 

Internet, saying it was “the worst attack ever on Islam.” Most 

demonstrators travelled to Tyre from nearby villages in south 

Lebanon, much of which was destroyed by a deadly war with 

Israel in 2006. Support for Hezbollah in this war-battered 

region is near-total, with majority of its residents Shiite. 

Yesterday’s protest were being held against the film, 

“Innocence of Muslims”. The movie triggered violent protests 

across the Muslim world, with 30 people killed in the unrest 

over the past week, including one who died in clashes with 

the security forces in Lebanon. Addressing the crowd in Tyre, 

Hezbollah executive bureau member Nabil Qaouq warned the 

US and France against entering into a confrontation with the 

Muslim world. “O Americans, it is better for you to take a step 

back, and not to get stuck in an all-out confrontation with the 

Islamic ummah (nation),” said Qaouq. 

“France has also chosen to take a position of animosity 

against the ummah,” he said. Both countries should “be aware 

of the Muslim ummah’s rage, because it is capable of doing 

anything to defend the dignity of the messenger of God.” 

“I am ready to sacrifice my blood, my daughter and my 

money for the Prophet (PBUH),” protester Mohammed Hallawi 

told AFP, adding he would like to see non-Shiites join the 

protests too. Lebanon’s Sunni Muslim cleric Ahmed Al-Assir 

has called for a demonstration in downtown Beirut on Friday 

to protest what he described as “attacks on Muslims.” Hours 

before demonstrators flooded the streets of Tyre, gunmen 

opened fire on a KFC fast-food restaurant, just days after 

another one was torched, a security official said. The attack 

occurred at dawn in the southern city of Nabatiyeh. The US 

chain’s restaurant was not open at the time and no one was 

reported hurt. —AFP

INTERNATIONAL 

National icon keeps campaign guessing ahead of Ghana polls 

ACCRA: The military shooting range along a 

windswept beach appears desolate and unassuming, 

but it is home to a controversial piece of history for 

Ghana and its former president Jerry Rawlings. It was 

here in 1979 that eight ex-military regime members, 

including former heads of state, were executed by firing 

squad after a coup that brought Rawlings to power 

and led to his domination of politics for years to come. 

The bearded and tough-talking Rawlings is now 65 and 

long out of office, but it seems the former military ruler 

turned elected leader is not finished stirring controversy, 

particularly as another presidential election nears. 

Rawlings’ support in December’s presidential polls 

will be important for incumbent John Dramani 

Mahama, the candidate for the National Democratic 

Congress party he founded, against opposition flagbearer 

Nana Akufo-Addo. He has however given mixed 

signals about where he stands. Much will be at stake in 

the vote in the country of more than 20 million, seen in 

recent years as a rare example of stable democracy in 

West Africa. 

Already a major producer of gold and cocoa, Ghana 

began significant oil production for the first time in 

2010. It is expected to be a close vote, and the NDC will 

face an even more difficult path to maintaining power 

if Rawlings, still adored by many, is not fully behind it, 

some analysts say. His comments in recent months 

have raised eyebrows, particularly following the July 

AAZAZ: Syrian students attend classes at an improvised school on the border with 

Turkey. — AFP 

Makeshift schools teach 

Syria’s ‘liberty generation’ 

AAZAZ: “This is the letter ‘A.’ Who knows a 

word beginning with A?” “Airplane!” the 

young pupils cry out together in a 

makeshift school in Aazaz, a northern 

Syrian town devastated by aerial bombardment. 

Khadijeh, 14, proudly displays the 

notebook, pencil and eraser provided to 

her by the school this autumn. 

On the cover page, she has drawn flags 

of the Syrian revolution and amid flowers 

and hearts has also written slogans against 

the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad, 

prey to an unprecedented revolt for the 

past year and a half. “My school was 

bombed but this one is even better, even 

though we have no chairs or desks,” she 

says, still smiling. 

At one time, rebels battling the regime 

took up residence in schools in the area, 

leading to their subsequent targeting and 

destruction by the security forces. “What 

would I do at home anyway? I much prefer 

to be here and learn,” chimes in 12-year-old 

Zakiyyeh, Khadijeh’s neighbour, who like all 

of her peers has donned her best clothing 

to come to school at the start of the new 

academic year. 

With a white lace scarf covering her hair, 

Khadijeh talks about her future. “I want to 

become a doctor to help people,” she says. 

Others have even greater ambitions, like 

13-year-old Ismail. He has already learned 

how to say “hello” and “please” in his 

English class, and has no intention of stopping 

there. One day he wants to be a minister 

in the government. 

“Any minister, interior, foreign... I don’t 

mind,” he says seriously. Aged from six to 15 

and divided into small non-mixed classes of 

20, the children sit on the floor facing small 

whiteboards. Around 100 schoolchildren 

altogether, listening attentively to the les- 

death of president John Atta Mills, his former ally 

turned rival. There are also rumours that he and his 

wife are backing a newly created party. 

“He’s playing games with all of us, isn’t he?” said 

Kojo Asante of the Centre for Democratic Development 

think tank in Accra. “It’s classic Rawlings-sort of says a 

lot of things and (we) still can’t make any real sense of 

what exactly he means.” A spokesman for Rawlings 

declined to comment and refused requests to interview 

the ex-president. It is perhaps indicative of 

Rawlings’ legendary charisma that he has maintained 

his reputation as a brusque truth-teller despite his 

seemingly unclear position in the campaign. 

That aspect of his personality was illustrated shortly 

after Mills’ death. Rawlings bluntly said the late president 

had been suffering from cancer and could only 

work a few hours per day, while seeming to suggest 

that Mills should have resigned. The comments came 

without an official cause of death having been 

announced and with the country in mourning for Mills, 

who was respected for his integrity and had been planning 

to run for re-election. 

Rawlings’ appearance at the ruling party’s congress 

in August to nominate Mahama generated an electric 

response from the faithful at the stadium, but his 

speech offered backhanded support of the president. 

“Electoral victory will depend on a number of things, 

such as how quickly you can restore integrity to the 

son of the day. The youngest recite the 

Arabic alphabet while others ponder mathematics 

exercises, learn basic English or 

read the Quran. 

A student turned teacher 

Ahmed Karkubi-a former rebel who left 

the front line after being wounded to 

return to his profession as a teacher-oversees 

three makeshift schools. Each school 

operates in two sessions, with the first 

group of pupils two hours in the morning, 

and the second two hours in the afternoon. 

He says that 1,000 students have enrolled 

for the new school year in Aazaz, which 

before the conflict was home to 70,000 

people. 

Every afternoon, Karkubi also brings 

meals to the children in his pick-up truck. 

“It’s been a long time since they were in 

school-they may forget everything. This is 

why we have restarted classes,” he says. 

Haneen Al-Jebbine, 18, would normally be 

at university. But she has been unable to 

attend classes for some time because of the 

shelling and the suppression of the student 

movement in Aleppo, the largest city 

in northern Syria, some 60 kilometres (35 

miles) away from Aazaz. 

Since she cannot attend classes herself, 

she has decided to give them instead. 

Today, she is teaching verses from the 

Quran to a group of attentive young girls. 

She responded to a call from her colleague 

Abu Al-Fattah, 28, who is constantly on the 

lookout for more teachers to achieve an 

ambitious objective: “To train the generation 

of liberty and dignity to represent 

modern Syria.” For the teachers and students 

who share his common vision, this 

means a Syria free from the rule of Assad, 

the president “who bombs schools.” — AFP 

Ethiopian leader to be sworn in 

ADDIS ABABA: Hailemariam Desalegn, who 

was appointed Ethiopia’s acting prime minister 

on the death of long-time ruler Meles 

Zenawi last month, will be formally sworn 

into office tomorrow, officials said. “The party 

council felt that an extraordinary session 

should be held tomorrow... the two officials, 

the two chairs who have been appointed, will 

be sworn in,” government spokesman 

Shimeles Kemal said yesterday, referring to 

Hailemariam and his deputy. 

On Saturday, Hailemariam, 47 and a water 

engineer by training, was elected to the head 

of the ruling coalition, the Ethiopian Peoples’ 

Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). 

Hailemariam comes from the minority 

Wolayta people, from the Southern Nations, 

Nationalities and Peoples Region, where he 

was president for five years. Education minister 

Demeke Mekonnen, who was elected 

deputy chair of the EPRDF, will take over the 

post of deputy prime minister from 

Hailemariam. 

Under the constitution, the prime minister 

is elected by lawmakers in parliament. The 

EPRDF is made up of four parties, each representing 

a specific region: Meles’s party the 

Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, the Oromo 

Peoples’ Democratic Organisation, the 

Amhara National Democratic Movement and 

the South Ethiopian Peoples’ Democratic 

Movement, the party of Hailemariam. It holds 

an overwhelming parliamentary majority. 

A close ally of Meles as deputy prime minister 

and foreign minister since 2010, 

Hailemariam rose to prominence after the 

party’s fourth win, a landslide victory in 2010. 

Some analysts have argued that Hailemariam 

will be handicapped by his relatively young 

age, lack of experience and the fact he was 

not part of the rebel movement which toppled 

Mengistu, unlike many in the ruling elite. 

Instead, Hailemariam, who studied civil 

engineering in Addis Ababa, was completing 

his master’s degree at Finland’s Tampere 

University when Mengistu fell. “He is a political 

novice, he has not been part of the old 

guard, he has not been in the bush fighting 

with the rebels when they fought against 

Mengistu,” exiled opposition leader and former 

mayor of Addis Ababa Berhanu Nega 

told the BBC. 

Some analysts say Hailemariam’s ethnic 

origins in the south of the country will play 

against him as many key figures, like Meles, 

hail from the Tigray region in the north of 

the country. Others argue that on the contrary 

his position outside the Tigray power 

base will work in his favour. “His ethnicity is 

considered an advantage, because it is a 

minority in a multi-ethnic region and, most 

importantly, not from the numerically dominant 

Oromo or Amhara,” International Crisis 

Group said in a recent report. Meles, a 

regional strongman who died after a long illness 

aged 57, was hailed as an African hero 

and was a key Western ally in a region home 

to Al-Qaeda-linked groups, but was also criticised 

by rights groups for a crackdown on 

basic freedoms. — AFP 

MOGADISHU: They get death threats, they need 

armed escorts and they never take the same 

route twice - Somali journalists reporting on 

events in their largely lawless country have to 

take extreme measures to survive. The scene of 

near unremitting conflict for the last 20 years, 

Somalia has made headlines as the scene of suicide 

bombings, street battles and pirate attacks 

on shipping. Better news has now emerged, with 

the rebirth of Mogadishu after Islamist rebel 

fighters retreated last year and this month’s relatively 

smooth presidential election, the first to 

take place in the country in 45 years. 

Nevertheless, Somalia remains one of the 

world’s most dangerous countries for journalists, 

whether they are reporting from the street or 

the conference room. And while reporters have 

made easy targets in the fighting between government 

forces and Islamist rebels, the dangers 

that confront the Somali media will be familiar 

enough to the war-weary inhabitants of 

Mogadishu, whose bullet-riddled city was for 

years one of the most dangerous on earth. 

Abdifatah Ahmed, who goes by the nickname 

Kalga’al, or ‘my dear’, has been a journalist in 

Somalia for more than a decade. 

Wearing his trademark rectangular, tinted 

sunglasses, the blind journalist said he faced 

harassment from both sides when reporting the 

conflict between Al-Shabaab militants and 

Somali government forces between 2008 and 

2011. “I’ve received several threatening messages,” 

said Kalga’al who recently joined independent 

Goobjoog (Observer) FM, and was sitting 

down to edit a piece in one of the independent 

radio station’s soundproof studios. 

“Al-Shabaab used to send us threatening 

messages telling us we portrayed them in a bad 

manner, that we’re biased and that we’ve sided 

with the government. They warned us that if 

we didn’t stop, our lives would be in danger.” 

“And the government would also send us messages 

saying we’ve misquoted them,” Kalga’al 

said in the station’s recently refurbished offices, 

where workmen were installing closed-circuit 

security cameras. 

“When will we be next?” 

Although Mogadishu is much safer than it 

was a year ago when Islamist militants roamed 

the streets fighting Somali government and 

African peacekeeping troops, Al-Shabaab rebels 

are still managing to launch guerrilla suicide 

tacks. Last week, three suicide bombers attacked 

a hotel where the new Somali president and the 

Kenyan foreign minister were giving a press conference, 

sending journalists running for cover. 

The Committee to Protect Journalists says 42 

journalists have been killed in the line of duty 

since 1992 in Somalia, 25 of whom were murdered 

because of their reporting. “The government 

of Somalia has not registered a single conviction 

in each of these deaths; if suspects were 

ever detained they were never brought to trial,” 

said Mohamed Keita, CPJ’s Africa Advocacy 

Coordinator. “The impunity in the killings of journalists 

in Somalia creates a lasting chill of fear 

and insecurity that forces other journalists to 

either flee or self-censor, and the world loses 

from the reduction of sources of information,” he 

told Reuters. The National Union of Somali 

presidency,” Rawlings growled. 

While few doubt he can have an impact on the campaign, 

there is debate over how much. A younger generation 

that has now begun to play a major role in 

Ghanaian politics is not as familiar with his larger-thanlife 

past. “They don’t know Rawlings,” said pollster Ben 

Ephson. “Without Rawlings, the NDC can still win, but 

they have to work harder.” 

Rawlings’ life has been intertwined with much of 

the recent history of Ghana. He was a 31-year-old air 

ACCRA: This file picture shows former president 

Jerry Rawlings of Ghana. — AFP 

Journalists says nine journalists and media workers 

have been killed so far this year forcing many 

to take security precautions in the face of everpresent 

danger. So alarming are the perils facing 

journalists, some parents have forbidden their 

children from taking up the career. “I’m sure 

they’ll be killed,” said Bile Hussein, who has 

banned his two sons, recent high school graduates, 

from being journalists. “All violent groups in 

Somalia don’t want to hear the truth. 

Journalists are always dying for airing important 

news.” Seeking safety in numbers, Kalga’al 

said he often goes with a group of journalists to 

cover events where the government wants to 

boast about security gains - events that Al- 

Shabaab fighters are most likely to target. 

“Whenever we get threatening messages, we 

feel insecure. We wonder when we will be targeted? 

At work, or while we’re covering news?” 

he said, as other colleagues looked over notes 

for their radio piece. 

Despite the dangers, Mogadishu boasts a 

vibrant media scene in the capital alone there 

are 22 radio stations, 7 television stations and 

three daily newspapers. That translates into hundreds 

of journalists in the industry, most of 

whom have not been trained to work in dangerous 

environments. Heba Mahmoud, a petite, 

veiled teenager who is an anchor on a local television 

station, said she always changes the route 

she takes to and from work. “I haven’t joined this 

job for money, it’s my hobby. But I don’t take the 

same road twice,” she told Reuters. 

Another journalist who works for an international 

media outlet, but refused to be named, 

said he limited his movements as much as possible. 

“Whenever a colleague of ours is killed, 

injured or kidnapped we think: ‘When will we be 

next?,” he said. “If there’s any story that I think 

will be sensitive, I steer away from it,” he told 

Reuters. 

Self-censorship and fear 

Mohamed Ibrahim, who works for an interna- 


force officer when he was arrested for a 1979 coup bid 

against a military regime widely seen as having badly 

mismanaged the country. Rawlings was later freed by 

supporters and a coup led to him taking charge of a 

new military government, under which the former 

regime members were taken to the shooting range on 

the beach. 

Rawlings’ and his fellow soldiers handed over to a 

civilian government later in 1979, but it was short-lived. 

The flight lieutenant would lead another coup in 1981 

in response to a fresh descent into corruption. 

Appreciated for his handling of the economy, he 

became elected president after 1992 polls and won 

another mandate in 1996 before handing over power 

at the end of his two-term limit to the opposition, 

which had won 2000 elections. 

Mills, who won the 2008 elections, had served as 

Rawlings’ vice president, but they later fell out. Various 

theories have been put forward as to why, including 

Mills’ reluctance to forcefully pursue corruption charges 

against members of the ex-administration. Asante, the 

Centre for Democratic Development analyst, says 

Rawlings seems to be flirting with a risky strategy with 

the election ahead. If the party is seen as having won 

without him, it could relegate him to irrelevance, he 

said. He seems to be searching for a way of “keeping 

himself in play,” said Asante. “So his next move will be 

interesting.” — AFP 

Somali journalists under fire 

despite Mogadishu peace plan 

Union blames militants for most killings 

STOCKHOLM: A Swedish celebrity magazine published 

controversial pictures yesterday of Prince 

William’s wife Catherine sunbathing topless, a day 

before its Danish sister magazine was to do the 

same. The Swedish magazine Se och Hoer splashed 

11 pictures, taken during the couple’s vacation in 

southern France several weeks ago, over three pages. 

Five of the photographs show the princess’ bare 

breasts, and one grainy shot taken from the front 

shows her removing her turquoise-coloured bikini 

bottoms. The magazine was the fourth publication to 

print the paparazzi pictures which have outraged the 

British royal family. They were first published by 

French magazine Closer last week, then in Ireland’s 

Daily Star and Italy’s Chi magazine. They have already 

been widely circulated on the Internet. “This is nothing 

unusual, these are quite nice pictures if you compare 

them with other celebrity pictures that we publish 

all the time,” Se och Hoer chief editor Carina 

Loefkvist told AFP. 

The publication in Sweden did not make headlines, 

with only two tabloids mentioning it and the 

rest of the media ignoring it. Loefkvist had no figures 

for the number of copies Se och Hoer sold yesterday. 

“It’s been a bit of a topic of conversation... but it’s 

nothing special,” she said. The magazine had a regu- 

tional English-language newspaper and heads 

the Somali journalists’ union, said many 

reporters exercised this form of self-censorship 

to limit their exposure to stories which might 

prove dangerous. He blamed Al-Shabaab militants 

for most of the killings, saying they had 

claimed at least five this year. The Islamists 

launched their insurgency in 2007, and quickly 

took over the capital. After seizing control of the 

mosques, their imams forced television and 

radio stations to air Al-Shabaab ideology. 

Facing pressure from African peacekeeping 

troops, who recently captured the port of Marka 

from the militants, as well as separate military 

campaigns from Kenyan and Ethiopian troops, 

the rebels are on the defensive. 

“Now they are losing territory day after day 

and they don’t have the capability to control the 

media. So (they) are trying to silence the media 

by killing journalists,” Ibrahim said at the journal- 

SHABELLE: Ugandan African Union forces arrive in KM50 Ala-Yasir, Lower Shebelle as part of 

rotation. — AFP 

lar weekly circulation of 105,600 in 2011. Se och Hoer 

belongs to the Denmark-based Aller Media company 

that also owns the Danish celebrity magazine Se og 

Hoer, which announced that it also plans to publish a 

16-page spread with the pictures on Thursday. 

Neither the Swedish nor the Danish magazine were 

going to make the pictures available online. Loefkvist 

said her magazine bought the pictures last Friday 

“from photographers and photo agencies, the way 

we always do” and “before everything erupted”. Of 

the 11 pictures it printed, only one shows Kate fully 

clothed, wearing a pink dress, while one is of the 

house where they were staying. None of the photos 

is credited. The chief editor of the Danish magazine, 

Kim Henningsen, said he was “incredibly proud” to 

have obtained the sole Danish rights to the photos. 

“Our readers love to follow the lives of the royals and 

they want scoops,” he said on the magazine’s website, 

noting these were photographs “which the 

whole world is talking about but very few have actually 

seen.” The decision to publish the photos has 

incensed the royal family, whose lawyers have 

obtained a civil injunction and sought criminal 

charges in Paris in a bid to curb their spreading. 

French authorities on Tuesday banned Closer 

magazine from any further distribution of the pic- 

ists’ union headquarters. As he spoke a random 

gunshot was heard outside, still a normal occurrence 

in Mogadishu. 

Ibrahim said the government had failed to 

investigate the killings. General Abdullahi Barise, 

head of the criminal investigation unit, said: “We 

have done thorough investigations, we have 

more information about the killings of journalists 

in Mogadishu.” He did not elaborate. “If the 

government doesn’t take any action, it’ll be a 

threat for other journalists,” said Ibrahim, who 

has received death threats linked to his work. 

Four months ago, Ibrahim said he received a 

call telling him: “You have to stop what you’re 

doing. You work for the Christians.” Ibrahim’s 

solution was not to answer calls from unknown 

numbers. But like many journalists, who know 

they can never shield themselves whatever precautions 

they take, he has become fatalistic. “I 

was afraid at first, but later I understood that 

nobody can kill you unless God wills. That’s how 

we’ve been working day-to-day since 2007,” 

Ibrahim said. — Reuters 

Scandinavian mags publish topless Kate photos 

tures and began a criminal probe into how they were 

obtained. An injunction ordered the magazine to 

hand over all forms of the pictures to the British royal 

couple within 24 hours or face a 10,000-euro 

($13,000) fine for every day’s delay. The injunction 

also bans the glossy magazine from reusing them in 

print or on its website and re-selling them on pain of 

further 10,000-euro fines for each infringement. 

Asked about Thursday’s publication in the Danish 

magazine, a spokeswoman for St James’s Palace, the 

office of Prince William and Catherine, issued a similar 

comment to the one made after the publication 

in Italy. “As we’ve said, we will not be commenting on 

potential legal action concerning the alleged intended 

publication of the photos save to say that all proportionate 

responses will be kept under review,” a 

spokeswoman said. Loefkvist said she was “not really” 

concerned about any potential legal action over the 

Swedish magazine’s decision to print the photos. 

“We’ll have to see what they think of it ... This was a 

regular news judgement,” she said. In Sweden, the 

press is governed by a self-regulated code of ethics 

and not legislation. Complaints can be filed to a socalled 

Press Ombudsman, who decides whether to 

take the matter before a kind of tribunal, called the 

Press Council. — AFP

UNITED NATIONS: A silent killer that 

stalked Nikita Khrushchev, Yasser Arafat, 

Fidel Castro and other world leaders as 

they gave historic speeches has been 

exhumed from the United Nations 

headquarters. Enough asbestos to bury 

a football field in more than five meters 

(16 feet) of lethal blue dust has been 

extracted from the building during a $2billion 

plus renovation aiming to turn it 

into a clean, green Manhattan landmark, 

according to the chief architect. 

World leaders who gather at the annual 

UN debate next week will see a gleaming 

modernist skyscraper, far from the 

gutted building they visited last year. 

Tinted windows put on the outside 

and office occupancy sensors inside will 

help cut energy use by half. Rainwater 

harvesting and low-flow toilets will 

reduce water consumption by nearly 

two thirds. Carbon emissions will be cut 

by 45 percent. And for the stylists, the 

building’s 1950s and sixties fake-leather 

naugahyde furniture has been brought 

back to life to give some floors the air of 

a “Mad Men” set. 

The East River tower, designed by an 

international team including Brazil’s 

Oscar Niemeyer and French-Swiss legend 

Le Corbusier, is marking its 60th 

anniversary and has long needed an 

injection of architectural botox. A white 

plastic sheet covers the leaking General 

Assembly dome, which will be the next 

stage of the project. The headquarters 

was built at a time when asbestos was 

ubiquitous, according to Michael 

Adlerstein, the preservation architect 

leading the diplomatic and technical 

exploit. “It was put on like mayonnaise. 

It was put on every pipe, every wall,” he 

told AFP. 

Had Soviet leader Khrushchev 

banged his shoe a bit harder during his 

angry 1960 speech to the General 

Assembly, had Palestinian icon Arafat 

fired the gun he held in his landmark 

1974 address, the asbestos might have 

loosened. But Adlerstein, who has also 

worked on the renovation of the nearby 

Statue of Liberty and of the Taj Mahal in 

India, stressed that the dust has been 

taken out in an “absolutely safe” operation 

that passed thousands of air quality 

tests. The dust notorious for causing 

mesothelioma cancer is just one of 

many challenges tackled. There was also 

the task of getting debris out and hundreds 

of construction workers in each 

day, all while presidents and ministers 

carried on daily meetings. “The Statue of 

Liberty and Ellis Island are wonderful 

monuments, but unlike the UN you 

could close them, you could do the 

work,” said Adlerstein. Electric and water 

pipes have regularly been cut by accident 

as the UN Security Council and 

other bodies meet. “You get quite an 

abrupt reaction from the people who 

are trying to run a meeting and their 

power goes off. It is far more complicated 

than anything I have attempted to 

do in terms of an historic site,” he added. 

The Security Council moved to a 

temporary home in the basement. UN 

international 

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was 

exiled to a prefabricated office in the 

grounds of the complex. Now the 

around 3,300 UN staff are moving back 

into the 39-floor skyscraper floor by 

floor. By next week, some 1,100 will be 

in place. Ban should be back in his 38th 

floor office in November. The Security 

Council will return to its historic chamber 

in February. 

Norway, which decorated the 1952 

Council chamber, is again providing fabric 

and wood for the refurbishment of 

the horseshoe-shaped chamber where 

wars have been started and averted. The 

table and UN and national flags will go 

back in their same places. “It will have 

new electronics, there will be videoconferencing 

and other hi-tech opportunities, 

but basically it will be the same 

room,” said the architect. 

Russia is renewing the Council consultations 

room that it paid for in 1952 

and where decades of secret talks have 

since been held. China, Turkey, the 

Netherlands, Denmark and more than a 

dozen other countries are decorating 

lounges, hallways and other rooms in 

the building. “The finished product will 

be quite a wonderful reflection of the 

way the UN looked in 1952,” Adlerstein 

said. To bolster its green credentials, 

new air conditioning, water and heating 

systems have been put in. Specially tinted 

glass will keep the air cooler in New 

York’s sweltering summers and warmer 

in the long winters. 

Nearly all the old glass and other 

debris has been smashed up and recycled. 

A lot of furniture is being re-used. 

On the 27th floor for conference rooms, 

imitation leather easy chairs and lounge 

tables look fresh out of a 1960s Madison 

Avenue advertising agency. The original 

mail chutes in which letters were 

dropped from each floor to the basement 

have been shined up and kept 

though they are not used any more. 

Eighty percent of the old building was 

private offices, now 80 percent is open 

plan. “The old office space was traditional 

American corporate office space of the 

early 1950s,” said Werner Schmidt, a UN 

information officer and veteran employee 

of the building in both its states. “The 

doors were closed and the walls were 

high. There were eight different kinds of 

office configuration depending on where 

you were in the hierarchy. You had a big 

window or a small window or no window 

at all.” Adlerstein believes Le Corbusier 

and Neimeyer would approve of the 

work. —AFP 


UN HQ goes from blue to green in facelift 

$2bn renovation aims to make it a landmark 

NEW YORK: Artists and journalists stand in front of a hand-woven 

tapestry which will decorate the headquarters of the United 

Nations in New York. — AFP 

Georgia minister quits 

over jail rape scandal 

TBILISI: Georgia’s prisons minister resigned yesterday over 

videos showing the alleged beating and rape of convicts that 

caused outrage ahead of bitterly-contested elections in the ex- 

Soviet state. Some of the graphic video footage, aired late 

Tuesday by opposition television station TV9, showed a weeping 

half-naked male prisoner at a jail in Tbilisi begging for mercy 

before apparently being raped with a stick. “What happened in 

penitentiary number 8 is horrific and I have submitted my resignation 

to the prime minister,” minister Khatuna Kalmakhelidze 

said in televised comments. 

Another video released by the interior ministry showed prison 

guards brutally kicking an inmate. A Georgian government statement 

said that 15 alleged perpetrators had already been arrested 

and claimed that the videos were staged by paid provocateurs 

paid to discredit the authorities ahead of the polls. “It should be 

noted that these were premeditated crimes and there is evidence 

that those who arranged, conducted and recorded these abuses 

TBILISI: Women cry as they hold the picture of a 

relative during a protest rally against torture in 

prisons as demonstrators block one of the capital’s 

main streets yesterday. —AFP 

were paid to do so,” the government statement said. 

The videos have caused a scandal ahead of the October 1 

polls which will see the ruling party of President Mikheil 

Saakashvili facing a major challenge from an opposition bloc led 

by billionaire tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili who has vowed to oust 

the government. Several hundred people staged an angry 

protest and blocked one of the capital’s main streets, some carrying 

hand-drawn pictures of prisoners being beaten and others 

holding photographs of relatives allegedly abused in jails. 

“I am protesting against torture in prisons, which are under 

the strict control of the authorities. The authorities are responsible 

for what’s happening there,” one demonstrator, bank worker 

Mikheil Javakhishvili, told AFP. “All of Georgia must take to the 

streets in protest against this horror,” said another protester, 

Sophia Gabichvadze. 

Saakashvili said in a statement that Georgia “will not tolerate 

such behaviour-in its prisons or anywhere else”. “We have not 

overcome years of impunity and lawlessness to allow some people, 

whether they are from the criminal world or, worse, from the 

penitentiary system itself, to commit such crimes,” he said. The 

interior ministry said in a statement that the alleged abusers were 

prison officers who “exercised inhumane treatment against prisoners 

and made video records according to a previously elaborated 

plot”. One of the videos purports to show an inmate tied to 

the bars of a cell with what appears to be a stick inserted in his 

anus. A voice repeatedly asks him: “What are you?” The alleged 

convict replies that he is a crime boss. Next month Saakashvili’s 

governing party faces its toughest electoral battle since coming 

to power after the 2003 Rose Revolution, against a revitalised 

opposition led by tycoon Ivanishvili whose TV station aired some 

of the prison videos. Tensions have escalated, raising fears of confrontation 

in the small Western-backed Caucasus republic with a 

recent history of political unrest. The opposition has often 

accused the government of being responsible for maltreatment 

of convicts. But the government statement said that “all necessary 

action will be taken to ensure that such abuses never again 

occur in Georgian prisons”. — AFP 

British police caution 

against arming officers 

LONDON: A top British policeman 

warned yesterday against rushing 

into any move to routinely arm officers 

after two unarmed policewomen 

were killed in a gun and 

grenade attack. Fiona Bone, 32, and 

Nicola Hughes, 23, died after going 

to investigate a reported robbery in 

Tameside, Greater Manchester, 

northwestern England, on Tuesday. 

The killings have reopened a longrunning 

debate about whether 

British police should regularly carry 

weapons like their counterparts in 

the United States and other countries. 

But Hugh Orde, the president of 

Britain’s Association of Chief Police 

Officers and a former police chief in 

Northern Ireland, cautioned against 

such a move. “Guns don’t necessarily 

solve the problem,” he told BBC 

radio. “You only have to look at the 

American experience. Many colleagues 

in America are lost without 

even drawing their gun at close 

ranges.” 

He said it was the “clear view of 

the British police service from top to 

bottom” that they prefer to be 

unarmed because members of the 

public dislike approaching officers 

carrying weapons, Orde said. Most 

British police officers do not routinely 

carry weapons, although armed 

police do however protect sensitive 

sites and all forces have armed 

response units. 

An increasing number also carry 

Taser stun guns. Prime Minister 

David Cameron on Tuesday said the 

killings should not reopen the 

weapons debate, adding that the 

incident was “supposed to be the 

response to a domestic burglary and 

that wouldn’t normally require 

armed officers.” Interior minister 

Theresa May cut short a holiday yesterday 

to travel to Manchester. 

Police meanwhile admitted that 

the man arrested on suspicion of the 

killings of the policewomen, Dale 

Cregan, had been released on bail in 

June after being questioned about 

another murder. Cregan, 29, handed 

himself in to a police station on 

Tuesday after the police officers 

were killed. He was already one of 

Britain’s most wanted men, having 

been suspected of involvement in 

the murders of a father and son, 

David and Mark Short, in separate 

incidents in August and May respectively. 

Greater Manchester Police Chief 

Constable Peter Fahy said it was 

“absolutely normal” that during 

some investigations there is insufficient 

evidence to charge a suspect. 

“In those circumstances suspects 

have to be released on bail as there 

are strict time limits covering how 

long suspects can be held in custody 

without charge. That is exactly what 

happened in this case.” — AFP

WASHINGTON: Washington rolled out 

a red-carpet welcome yesterday for 

Myanmar democracy icon Aung San 

Suu Kyi, who held talks with President 

Barack Obama and finally receive 

Congress’s highest honor. Obama will 

meet his fellow Nobel peace laureate 

for the first time in a private session at 

the White House, which will be closed 

to the press. The talks come a day after 

Suu Kyi called for an end to US sanctions 

on her impoverished country, 

saying “in the end we have to build our 

own democracy.” 

The Obama administration has taken 

pains to ensure the celebration 

around her visit does not detract from 

the simultaneous trip to the United 

States by Myanmar leader Thein Sein, 

who unleashed the reforms, much to 

global surprise. US officials have insisted 

Thein Sein deserves to be recognized 

for pushing through such speedy 

reforms in the South East Asian nation, 

which until last year had been run for 

half a century by the military. 

Freed in 2010 after 15 years of under 

house arrest, Suu Kyi has received a 

rapturous welcome on her first visit to 

Washington since her release. She was 

to receive the US Congress’ highest 

honor, the Congressional Gold Medal 

awarded in 2008 during her confinement. 

On Tuesday in her first public 

appearance of an 18-day trip, Suu Kyi 

thanked the United States for its support 

but said reforms must proceed 

without the pressure of sanctions. 

“I do not think that we need to cling 

onto sanctions unnecessarily because I 

want our people to be responsible for 

their own destiny and not to depend 

too much on external props,” Suu Kyi 

said, in a speech at the Asia Society. 

Careful to avoid antagonizing 

Myanmar leaders, she also insisted 

INTERNATIONAL 

Suu Kyi gets historic Washington welcome 

PHOENIX: In this file photo, Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies (left) check the 

shoes of a suspect arrested during a crime suppression sweep in Phoenix. — AP 

Arizona immigration law 

spurs learning campaign 

PHOENIX: An education campaign for 

illegal immigrants to remain largely silent 

when they’re pulled over by police is 

being put into practice in Arizona after a 

federal judge ruled that the most contentious 

part of the state’s immigration 

law can take effect. Natally Cruz and 

Leticia Ramirez have been telling immigrants 

who are in the United States illegally, 

like themselves, that they should offer 

only their name and date of birth - and 

carry no documents that show where 

they were born. 

US District Judge Susan Bolton ruled 

Tuesday that police can immediately start 

enforcing the law’s so-called “show me 

your papers” provision. It requires officers, 

while enforcing other laws, to question 

the immigration status of those suspected 

of being in the country illegally. Ramirez 

and Cruz had remained hopeful the provision 

would be blocked, but they were 

preparing by sending a message to communities 

of illegal immigrants that they 

should respectfully stand their ground 

against police. 

“We want to teach the community how 

to defend themselves, how to answer to 

police, how to be prepared, and to have 

confidence that they’re going to have 

help,” Ramirez said. Bolton’s decision is the 

latest milestone in a two-year legal battle 

over the requirement. 

The US Supreme Court upheld the provision 

in June on the grounds that it doesn’t 

conflict with federal law. Opponents 

responded by asking Bolton to block the 

requirement on different grounds, arguing 

its enforcement would lead to systematic 

racial profiling and unreasonably long 

detentions of Latinos. Bolton said early 

this month she wouldn’t block the provision. 

A coalition of civil rights groups is 

awaiting a ruling from the 9th US Circuit 

Court of Appeals on their latest effort to 

prevent the questioning requirement 

from taking effect. 

A hotline operated by civil rights advocates 

recently has been fielding calls from 

people wanting to know what their rights 

are if officers question their immigration 

status. Lydia Guzman, leader of the civil 

rights group Respect-Respeto, said additional 

volunteers are being sought to 

answer calls and document reports of 

abuses. If a police agency plans a special 

immigration patrol, volunteers armed 

with video cameras will be sent there to 

capture footage of traffic stops, Guzman 

said. 

Arizona lawmakers passed the law in 

2010 amid voter frustration with the 

state’s role as the busiest illegal entry 

point in the country. Five states - 

Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina 

and Utah - have adopted variations on 

Arizona’s law. It’s a tool for local police, but 

it won’t cure the state’s immigration woes, 

said Republican Gov Jan Brewer, who 

signed the measure. 

“Only the federal government has the 

resources and responsibility necessary to 

achieve that,” Brewer said. The law’s opponents 

are spreading out across the state, 

asking police departments not to enforce 

the provision. The incentive they offer: 

better cooperation from immigrants who 

would be more likely to report crimes, 

said Carlos Garcia, an organizer with 

immigrant rights group the Puente 

Movement. 

Not enforcing the provision could 

open up officers to lawsuits from people 

claiming the agencies aren’t fully enforcing 

the law. Some backers of the requirement, 

including Maricopa County Sheriff 

Joe Arpaio, have questioned the level of 

cooperation they will get from federal 

immigration agents. 

Federal officials say they will check 

people’s immigration status when officers 

call. But they’ll send an agent to arrest 

someone only when it fits with their priorities, 

such as catching repeat violators and 

those who are a threat to public safety 

and national security. Cruz, originally from 

Guanajuato, Mexico, said she has never 

been pulled over in the United States but 

fears the law will lead to racial profiling 

and will separate families. — AP 

BERLIN: The fanfold panorama print ‘The Wall’ by artist Yadegar Asisi is seen during 

the construction of the panorama yesterday. The huge 15 meters high and 

60 meters wide panorama of the Berlin Wall will be displayed for public up from 

Sept. 22, 2012 for about a year near the former Checkpoint Charlie. — AP 

improved relations with Washington 

would not pose a threat to Myanmar’s 

Chinese ties. 

The opposition leader had long 

supported economic sanctions to pressure 

her jailers, Myanmar’s junta, and 

her change of view will probably be 

taken seriously in Washington. The 

United States began rolling back 

restrictions in July, opening Myanmar 

up to US investment despite Suu Kyi’s 

earlier unease about US firms doing 

business with the state-owned oil and 

gas company. 

“There are very many other ways in 

which the United States can help us to 

achieve our democratic ends and help 

us to build up the kind of democratic 

institutions that we are in such need 

of,” Suu Kyi said. 

Suu Kyi, now a member of parliament, 

said she believes President Thein 

Sein is “keen” on change in the nation 

CIUDAD VICTORIA: A big fire erupted at a 

natural gas pipeline distribution center near 

Mexico’s border with the United States on 

Tuesday, killing 26 maintenance workers and 

forcing evacuations of people in nearby 

ranches and homes. Mexico’s state-owned oil 

company, Petroleos Mexicanos, initially 

reported 10 deaths at the facility near the city 

of Reynosa, across from McAllen, Texas. Later, 

the death toll was raised to 26, including a 

man who was run over when he rushed onto 

a highway running away from the facility. 

Pemex said at a news conference Tuesday 

night that the fire was extinguished in 90 minutes 

and the pipeline was shut off. The 

pipeline carries natural gas from wells in the 

Burgos basin. The company’s director-general, 

Juan Jose Suarez, said four of those killed 

were Pemex employees and the rest were 

employed by contractors. He told reporters in 

Reynosa that 46 other workers were injured, 

including two hospitalized in serious condition. 

Suarez said they haven’t found any evidence 

showing it was an attack. 

Company executives said there was a gas 

leak, followed by an explosion, but the precise 

cause had not been determined. “Why there 

was such leak is something that must be 

investigated,” said Carlos Morales Gil, Pemex’s 

director of exploration and production. Civil 

protection officials evacuated ranches and 

homes within three miles (five kilometers) of 

the gas facility, which is about 12 miles (19 

kilometers) southwest of Reynosa. 

Authorities didn’t say how many people 

were evacuated, but the area is sparsely populated, 

Tamaulipas state’s civil protection 

director Pedro Benavides told a Televisa station. 

The highway that connects Reynosa to 

the industrial city of Monterrey was closed to 

traffic, authorities said. Egidio Torre Cantu, 

governor of the state of Tamaulipas, sent condolences 

to the victims’ relatives and vowed 

to make sure those injured receive help for 

their recovery. 

Pipelines carrying gasoline and diesel in 

Mexico are frequently tapped by thieves looking 

to steal fuel. Several oil spills and explosions 

have been blamed on illegal taps. But 

thieves seldom target gas pipelines. In 

December 2010, authorities blamed oil 

thieves for an oil pipeline explosion in a cen- 

formerly known as Burma but said the 

judiciary-and not the executive-was 

reform’s “weakest arm.” “We have 

passed a first hurdle, but there are 

many more hurdles to cross,” she said. 

On the eve of Suu Kyi’s trip, her party 

said that authorities freed another 

87 political prisoners in what analysts 

saw as a new gesture by Thein Sein 

ahead of his arrival in the United States 

next week. Many US observers believe 

Thein Sein launched the reforms out of 

concern over Beijing’s overwhelming 

political and economic dominance in 

Myanmar. 

Suu Kyi began her visit Tuesday by 

meeting Secretary of State Hillary 

Clinton, who marveled at her political 

odyssey. “It’s wonderful to see Suu Kyi 

back in Washington as a free and forceful 

leader of a country opening up to 

the world in ways that would have 

been difficult to imagine even recent- 

tral Mexico city near the capital that killed 28 

people, including 13 children. The blast 

burned people and scorched homes, affecting 

5,000 residents in an area six miles (10 kilometers) 

wide in San Martin Texmelucan. 

In another development, Mexican authorities 

hunted for 131 escaped inmates near the 

US border Tuesday after a mass prison break 

which officials suspect was organized by the 

ultra-violent Zetas drug cartel. Some 5,000 

Mexican soldiers and police fanned out across 

the Texas border region, causing traffic jams 

as they inspected trucks and cars, one day 

after the prisoners fled through a tunnel in 

the northern state of Coahuila. 

Across the Rio Grande, US authorities were 

on alert and patrolled their side of the border 

with helicopters amid concerns that the 

inmates could make a run for the United 

States. Jorge Luis Moran, public security secretary 

in the northern state of Coahuila, told 

reporters that those at large had links to the 

Zetas. “The line of investigation is that the 


ly,” Clinton said. But Clinton warned 

Myanmar still had “a lot of work” to do, 

including freeing remaining political 

prisoners and ending alleged military 

contacts with North Korea, and warned 

against “backsliding.” 

“The government and the opposition 

need to continue to work together 

to unite the country, heal the wounds 

of the past and carry the reforms forward,” 

said Clinton, who paid a landmark 

visit to Myanmar in December. 

Clinton also called for Myanmar to 

address tensions in Rakhine state, 

where recent violence between majority 

Buddhists and the Muslim Rohingya 

minority left scores dead and displaced 

tens of thousands of people. Suu Kyi 

has come in for rare criticism from 

human rights activists, who have 

pressed her to speak out on behalf of 

the 800,000-strong Rohingya population. 

— AFP 

At least 26 killed in 

Mexico gas plant fire 

Mexico hunts for escaped inmates, cartel suspected 

$1 million bail for 

LA man over death 

threat posts 

LOS ANGELES: A former Yale University student 

was jailed on $1 million bail, an amount normally 

reserved for murder or other crimes that could 

result in life sentences, after authorities say he 

made online death threats to children. Eric Yee, a 

21-year-old who recently withdrew from the Ivy 

League university, posted on the ESPN sports website 

that he was watching children and wouldn’t 

mind killing them, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials 

said Tuesday. 

Yee was taken into custody Monday at his parents’ 

home, which is on a street that overlooks two 

schools in Santa Clarita, California. Several guns 

were found there. 

Sheriff’s Lt Steve Low said Yee was arrested for 

investigation of making terrorist threats. Experts 

said the bail amount was very high for a person suspected 

of making terrorist threats. 

Yee was arrested after the sports network ESPN 

reported threats were posted in a reader response 

section to an online story about new Nike sneakers 

that cost $270 a pair. Some of the nearly 3,000 reader 

comments on the story talked about children 

possibly getting killed over the expensive sneakers, 

said ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys. 

The post that led police to Yee referred to a 

shooting that would be like the one in Aurora, 

Colorado, where 12 people were killed and 58 others 

were injured in July, authorities said. Sheriff’s 

investigators were working with Bristol police and 

police at Yale University, which said Yee was a student 

until he withdrew this May for undisclosed reasons. 

A Yale website listed him as a member of its 

class of 2012 and a participant in a leadership training 

program. — AP 

Zetas cartel was able to organize the escape 

because the prisoners who were held on federal 

charges had ties with this group,” Moran 

told local radio. State police officers were 

attacked by gunmen with high-caliber 

REYNOSA: Firefighters climb a ladder as they try to control a fire after an explosion at a 

gas pipeline distribution center in Reynosa, Mexico near Mexico’s border with the United 

States. — AP 

CONCORD: Andy Martin, a.k.a. Anthony 

Martin-Trigona, is a legend in his own 

mind. He is a self-proclaimed “corruption 

fighter,” “Internet powerhouse” and 

“Republican foreign policy expert.” Martin 

is not a lawyer but he is a serial litigator - a 

“notoriously vexatious and vindictive” 

one, in the words of one 

federal appeals court opinion. 

He is currently trying to get a 

New Hampshire judge to undo 

the sale of The Balsams grand 

hotel and appoint a receiver to 

reopen it immediately. He has 

volunteered his services to be 

that receiver. The 66-year-old 

Martin has twice run for president 

of the United States and earlier this 

month apologized to GOP presidential 

nominee Mitt Romney for not endorsing 

him sooner. Martin says his lawsuit in 

Honolulu instigated the “birther movement” 

that challenges the validity of 

President Barack Obama’s Hawaiian birth 

certificate and background. He says he 

plans to return to Hawaii later this month 

for further investigation. 

“He’s the greatest snake oil salesman in 

history,” Martin said of Obama during a 

90-minute interview with The Associated 

Press last week. He is executive director of 

the anti-Obama website committeeofonemilliontodefeatbarackobama.com. 

Martin graduated from the University of 

Illinois Law School in 1973 but was denied 

admission to the bar because he “lacks the 

qualities of responsibility, candor, fairness, 

self-restraint, objectivity and respect for 

weapons and grenades when they tried to 

reach the prison after Monday’s escape, raising 

suspicions that the Zetas were involved, 

he added. A source close to the state prosecutor’s 

office said the escape may be linked to 

the Zetas’ battle against the rival Gulf Cartel. 

Several prison escapes have taken place in 

the last two years in Mexico, a country struggling 

to stem a relentless wave of murders 

and kidnappings committed by an array of 

warring traffickers. “The drug cartels have taken 

their internal wars into the prisons,” said 

Jose Luis Musi, a prison issues expert at the 

United Nations University. Last February, 30 

Zetas members escaped from a prison in the 

northern state of Nuevo Leon during a massacre 

that killed 44 inmates from the Gulf 

Cartel. —Agencies 

Gadfly has colorful past 

in politics and in court 

the judicial system,” according to one federal 

court ruling. 

The Chicago Tribune, in a profile of 

Martin three years ago, said the Illinois 

Supreme Court - in denying his admission 

to the bar - also cited a Selective Service 

report that stated Martin has a 

“moderately severe character 

defect manifested by well-documented 

ideation with a paranoid 

flavor and grandiose character.” 

That profile was triggered 

by a radio ad by Martin - then 

running in Illinois for US Senate 

- in which Martin said he had it 

on “solid rumor” that his opponent 

was gay. 

Martin says he was denied admission 

to the bar because he helped research 

details of a scandal that rocked the court. 

His history of filing lawsuits - some laced 

with anti-Semitic vitriol - goes back 

decades. In Connecticut in 1984, US 

District Court Judge Jose Cabranes issued 

an order barring Martin from filing any 

more lawsuits. The 2nd Circuit Court of 

Appeals - which covers Connecticut, 

Vermont and New York - upheld the order, 

calling Martin “perhaps the most prolific 

litigator in this circuit’s history.” 

Years later, when Cabranes was divorcing 

his first wife, Martin filed a motion to 

be appointed guardian of the couple’s 

two children. Martin last week dismissed 

the numerous federal court opinions critical 

of his vexatious litigation, saying, “If 

one judge tells a lie, the others like to pigpile.” 

— AP

KABUL: The Afghan president yesterday 

urged his nation to rally behind the 

push for peace despite persistent violence, 

evoking the memory of a former 

leader who was assassinated while trying 

to broker negotiations with the 

Taleban. 

“We should all strive for peace,” said 

Hamid Karzai, adding that doing so is a 

way to continue the mission of slain former 

President Burhanuddin Rabbani, 

killed by a suicide bomber posing as an 

emissary from the insurgents. 

Karzai spoke at a memorial marking 

the one-year anniversary of Rabbani’s 

death. The ceremony came a day after a 

suicide bomber rammed a car packed 

with explosives into a minibus carrying 

foreign aviation workers to the airport 

in Kabul, killing at least 12 people, 

including nine foreigners. A militant 

group said the attack aimed to avenge 

an anti-Islam film that ridicules the 

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The film 

has sparked angry protests across the 

Muslim world, including in Afghanistan, 

after a video clip of it was posted on the 

Internet last week. 

The suicide attack came at a time 

when the Afghan-US alliance appears 

increasingly shaky and many Afghans 

predict civil war after the majority of 

international forces depart at the end of 

2014. The Afghans may have to stand 

on their own more quickly than previously 

envisioned. A rash of attacks by 

Afghan police and soldiers against their 

international counterparts has prompted 

the NATO military coalition to 

restrict joint operations with Afghan 

forces. 

So far this year, 51 international service 

members have died at the hands of 

Afghan forces or militants wearing their 

uniforms. That is more than 18 percent 

of the 279 international troops who 

have been killed in Afghanistan since 

the beginning of the year, according to 

figures compiled by The Associated 

Press. Under the new NATO rules issued 

on Sunday, operations with small-sized 

Afghan and coalition units are no 

longer considered routine and require 

the approval of the regional commander. 

Previously, coalition troops routinely 

conducted operations such as 

patrolling or manning outposts with 

small units of their Afghan counterparts. 

It’s unclear whether the coalition’s 

exit strategy can succeed with 

less partnering with Afghan policemen 

and soldiers, who are slated to take 

over for foreign combat troops by the 

end of 2014. Before Rabbani’s slaying, 

Afghans and their international partners 

seemed more optimistic about the 

INTERNATIONAL 

future. Rabbani was the head of a 

group tasked with bringing the Taleban 

to the negotiating table and NATO was 

in the process of handing over cities 

and provinces to Afghan control and 

stepping back into the role of advisers 

and mentors. 

Then on Sept. 20, 2011, a man posing 

as a high-level insurgent emissary 

seeking peace went into a meeting 

with Rabbani with a bomb hidden in 

his turban. He detonated the explosive 

as he shook Rabbani’s hand, killing the 

former president on the spot. Rabbani’s 

son later took on the leadership of the 

peace council, but talks are widely considered 

stalled, if they ever truly started. 

And Taleban attacks and assassina- 


Afghanistan leader urges peace after suicide blast 

LAHORE: Pakistani riot policemen stand guard during a protest rally organised 

by the hard line Sunni party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) near the US consulate against 

an anti-Islam movie yesterday. — AFP 

Bomb kills nine 

in Peshawar 

Pakistan army kills 29 Taleban 

PESHAWAR: The Pakistani military said it 

killed 29 Taleban fighters yesterday in the 

final stage of an operation aimed at forcing 

hundreds of insurgents back across the border 

into Afghanistan. Soldiers used artillery, 

helicopter gunships and fighter jets against 

the insurgents, accused of beheading 17 

Pakistani soldiers in June. The battle was the 

culmination of weeks of operations in the 

remote valleys of the Batwar area of Bajaur 

tribal agency near the border. It highlighted 

once again the difficulty of preventing 

insurgents from crossing the border to 

launch attacks or flee from Pakistani or 

NATO forces bolstering the Afghan government. 

Around 400 militants had crossed 

from Afghanistan into Pakistan on August 

23 and attacked villages, said a senior security 

official based in Khar, the main town of 

Bajaur. The army launched operations that 

killed around 120 militants, another security 

official said from the border town of 

Peshawar. Twenty-five soldiers also died in 

the fighting. “The militants escaped to their 

sanctuaries in Afghanistan and even left the 

bodies of their slain fighters,” said the 

Peshawar-based official. 

He said the armed forces were now 

establishing posts along that section of the 

Afghan border to thwart future incursions. A 

spokesman for the militants confirmed the 

attacks were staged by fighters from several 

regions. Pakistan and the United States, 

which has by far the largest foreign contingent 

in Afghanistan, have accused each other 

of failing to secure the border. Some US 

officials say Pakistan deliberately lets some 

insurgents through, a suggestion Pakistan 

strongly rejects. Joint efforts to secure the 

long and mountainous border were hampered 

by a NATO strike against a Pakistani 

base last November that killed 24 Pakistani 

soldiers and severely damaged relations 

between Pakistan and the United States for 

several months. In another development, a 

bomb apparently targeting a Pakistan air 

force vehicle ripped through a van in the 

country’s northwestern city of Peshawar yesterday, 

killing nine people, officials said. Glass, 

metal and pieces of human flesh littered the 

ground near a busy market on the city’s 

Kohat road after the explosion, which investigators 

said was likely to have been detonated 

remotely. “At least nine people have been 

killed in the blast and 34 others wounded,” 

senior administration official Javed Marwat 

told AFP. Shafqat Malik, a senior official with 

the bomb disposal squad said the blast hit 

the van as it approached a parked car and 

appeared to have been targeting a Pakistan 

Air Force van which was also damaged in the 

explosion. —Agencies 

Australian parliament 

slams same-sex marriage 

SYDNEY: Australia’s parliament voted 

overwhelmingly yesterday to reject gay 

marriage, after days of heated debate 

that saw one senator resign from a key 

role after linking same-sex unions to 

bestiality. The House of Representatives 

voted down the bill to legalise marriage 

between same sex couples by 98 to 42, 

with Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard 

and opposition conservative leader 

Tony Abbott both voting against it. 

Gillard had allowed Labor MPs a conscience 

vote on the issue-meaning they 

were free to vote how they wanted 

rather than along party lines-while the 

opposition had opposed it. 

Labor frontbencher Anthony 

Albanese, who voted for the reform, 

said despite the bill’s failure the figures 

were encouraging. “Just a few years ago 

there wouldn’t have been the support 

of anything like 42 votes on the floor of 

the national parliament for a marriage 

equality bill,” he told reporters. “All the 

figures show that there is majority community 

support on this issue... and I 

think at some future time, parliament 

will catch up with the community opinion.” 

The vote ends several days of 

debate on the bill, during which one 

senator sparked outrage by linking 

same-sex marriage to sex with animals. 

The furore surrounding the comments 

forced him to resign from his parliamentary 

role. Speaking on the bill late 

Tuesday, outspoken Liberal Senator 

Cory Bernardi said he questioned what 

the next step would be if the government 

redefined marriage so that two 

people could wed regardless of their 

gender. “The next step, quite frankly, is 

having three people or four people that 

love each other being able to enter into 

a permanent union endorsed by society,” 

he told the Senate. “There are even 

some creepy people out there... (who) 

say it is okay to have consensual sexual 

relations between humans and animals. 

Will that be a future step?” Elements 

within the Liberal Party slammed the 

comments, including high-profile former 

leader Malcolm Turnbull who 

described them as “hysterical, alarmist, 

offensive”. 

Liberal leader Abbott said Bernardi 

had offered yesterday to resign his position 

as his parliamentary secretary as a 

result, and he had accepted this. 

Staunch Catholic Abbott, who opinion 

polls suggest could become prime minister 

when an election is held next year, 

described Bernardi as “a decent bloke 

with strong opinions” but said his comments 

had been ill-judged. — AFP 

JALALABAD: Afghan university students torch an effigy of US President 

Barack Obama during an anti-US demonstration yesterday. — AFP 

NEW DELHI: India’s crisis-torn government 

looked set to offer a limited 

rollback of its hike in diesel prices yesterday 

after a key ally withdrew from 

the coalition, reducing it to a minority 

administration and raising the risk of 

an early election. Prime Minister 

Manmohan Singh’s government is 

widely expected to survive the blow 

to its parliamentary strength, but its 

new dependence on regional parties 

averse to reform will reduce its room 

for further steps to revive economic 

growth. Mamata Banerjee, the firebrand 

chief minister of West Bengal 

state, announced on Tuesday that she 

was pulling her party out of the coalition 

after Singh stood firm on a slew 

of economic reforms, including the 

opening of India’s retail sector to 

global supermarket chains. 

But a concession to pull her back 

from the brink before deadline 

tomorrow appeared to be on the 

cards after an emergency meeting at 

Singh’s residence. A senior source in 

his Congress party said the government 

was considering a partial reduction 

in last week’s 12 percent increase 

in diesel prices, which economists 

had long called for to rein in subsidies 

that have blown out the budget 

deficit. A government official said the 

hike of 5 rupees per litre could be 

pegged down to 3 or 4 rupees, and a 

new limit on the consumption of subsidised 

cooking gas cylinders may 

also be raised. However, Congress 

party leaders said there would be no 

U-turn on allowing investment from 

foreign retail chains such as Wal-Mart 

Stores into the retail sector. “The government 

is not in a mood to relent 

(but) ... there could be some cosmetic 

rollback,” one party leader told 

Reuters. 

If Banerjee does pull her 19 lawmakers 

out of the ruling United 

Progressive Alliance (UPA), the 

Congress-led coalition will be left 

with 254 seats in parliament, 18 short 

of a simple majority. “The beginning 

of the downfall of the UPA government 

has started,” said Ravi Shankar 

Prasad, spokesman of the main opposition 

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 

amid speculation that the government 

may fall before its mandate 

runs out in mid-2014. 

Government will survive, but for 

how long? 

While Singh can count on two 

other regional parties outside the 

coalition to prop it up with a combined 

seat tally of 43, both are also 

opposed to retail liberalisation, which 

could once again endanger a policy 

that stalled last year amid street 

protests. The move on retail was 

among a series of “big bang” reforms 

launched last week. They are seen as 

crucial to reviving India’s flagging 

economic growth, reining in a bloated 

fiscal deficit and warding off the 

spectre of a credit rating downgrade. 

Singh’s renewed drive for reform 

had cheered investors as a sign that 

the government was finally shaking 

off months of policy inertia. However, 

the measures sparked a furious backlash 

from Banerjee and other political 

leaders, who condemned them as a 

tions of government allies only 

increased this summer. Karzai recalled 

how Rabbani consoled him when the 

president lost a brother who was 

gunned down by insurgents in July 

2011. Many Afghans criticized Karzai for 

continuing to pursue reconciliation 

with the Taleban but Rabbani stood by 

his side, telling him that “you did not 

lose the voice of peace. The Afghan 

nation needs peace.” 

Speaking after Karzai at the memorial, 

Rabbani’s son lashed out at the 

Afghan government, accusing it of not 

doing enough to bring his father’s murderers 

and those of other politicians to 

justice. “People have the right to know 

who the people are behind these series 

of killings and why,” Salahuddin 

Rabbani said. “Unfortunately, the government 

has failed in its investigations.” 

On Wednesday, a bomb hidden in a 

parked motorcycle exploded outside a 

police training center in western 

Afghanistan, killing two security 

guards, said Herat provincial police 

spokesman, Noor Khan Nikzad. He said 

six guards were also wounded in the 

explosion. No one immediately claimed 

responsibility for the attack, but it 

matched the pattern of Taleban strikes 

that typically target Afghan forces or 

government workers. — AP 

Indian government on 

ropes as ally withdraws 

India may roll back on diesel hike 

FORT CAMPBELL: Female soldiers from Fort 

Campbell deploying to Afghanistan will field 

test the first Army body armor that is shorter 

and better tailored specifically to fit women’s 

physiques. Members of a female engagement 

team from the 101st Airborne Division, who will 

be directly interacting with Afghan women 

during the upcoming deployment, have been 

equipped with the female prototypes of the 

newest generation of Army tactical vests. On 

Tuesday at the Army installation on the 

Tennessee-Kentucky state line, the female soldiers 

showed the new features of the vests during 

qualification trials with their M4A1 rifles. 

The 101st Airborne Division first suggested 

the idea of a better fitting vest for women in 

2009 after female soldiers said that they often 

had trouble bending over, getting in and out of 

tight spaces like military vehicles, or positioning 

their rifles against their shoulders, said Maj 

Joel Dillon, the Army’s assistant product manager 

for the vests. 

Dillon said the long plates inside the vests 

would rub against their hips and cut into their 

thighs when they sit down. After a lot of testing 

and measurements, the Army came up with a 

vest that is shorter to accommodate smaller 

torsos and have tailoring to fit closer to 

women’s chests. The new vest eliminates gaps 

between the material and the body and can be 

fitted with smaller side ballistic inserts for small 

waist sizes. 

“With a vest that is too long, if they lay their 

rifle on the ground or drop it, it’s very hard to 

bend over to pick it up because that plate digs 

into their side. Now they can bend down and 

touch their toes and so they are more mobile 

and therefore you can get additional safety 

because you can perform better,” he said. 

The vest has a lighter feel because it won’t 

KOLKATA: The chief Minister of the eastern Indian state of West 

Bengal and the leader of the political party Trinamool 

Congress(TMC) Mamata Banerjee addresses a press conference, 

as her party secretary and Union Railways minister Mukul Roy 

reacts yesterday. — AFP 

rest on the female soldier’s shoulders like the 

male versions do, Dillion said. The need for better 

fitting armor became clear as women in the 

Army have been fighting on the front lines of 

Iraq and Afghanistan for years, Dillon said. He 

noted that women now make up 14 percent of 

the Army and are closer to combat than they 

have been previously. “These female engagement 

team soldiers will be going on patrol with 

infantry units, engaging with the female populace. 

Because of that, they are going to be on 

the front lines, so we want them to be the first 

to be fitted with this new armor,” he said. 

Based on comments from 19 female soldiers 

wearing the new body armor, the Army will 

continue to make adjustments before going 

into large scale production for the rest of the 

Army. Spc. Gilliann Campbell, 22, called the 

new body armor “a dream” compared to the old 

vests. A former gymnast, Campbell said she 

feels much more flexible in the new vests and 

demonstrated that with a couple of cartwheels. 

“I remember as a joke, my friends tipped me 

upside down and my old armor fell right off 

me. 

It didn’t fit me at all. But with this, I did a 

cartwheel when I first got it and it did not move 

at all,” she said. Small differences in the vests, 

like having enough space on her shoulder to 

set her rifle or being able to get the armor on 

quickly, can be critical when you only have seconds 

to react in combat, Campbell said. 

“I feel safer in my own abilities because it 

lets me do what I need to do as a soldier,” she 

said. “With my other armor, I felt a fear in my 

head that I was not able to perform to the best 

of my abilities. Now I can.” 

Spc. Sarah Sutphin, 32, said women in the 

Army had to make adjustments to work around 

the limitations of the male-designed body 

needless attack on hundreds of millions 

of poor people. The BJP said it 

would try to push for a special sitting 

of parliament to be convened to hold 

a confidence vote, which could 

potentially bring the government 

down. However, lawmakers are not 

due to meet for their next session 

until late November. Growth in Asia’s 

third-largest economy has languished 

near its slowest in three years 

amid an avalanche of criticism for 

Singh’s government, which has grappled 

with a spate of political scandals 

since his second term began in 2009. 

“The government is in a critical situation 

but they will somehow survive 

for now,” said political analyst Amulya 

Ganguli. 

“A minority government cannot, 

however, last that long. We may look 

at elections being brought forward,” 

he said. National elections are due by 

2014, when Singh is expected to stand 

down. Several party and government 

officials had earlier told Reuters that 

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had 

assessed the risks of losing coalition 

allies over the measures and concluded 

the government was safe. 

Banerjee came to power in West 

Bengal in 2011, ending more than 

three decades of Communist rule in 

the state. Colloquially known as “Didi”, 

or “elder sister”, Banerjee’s supporters 

hail her as a champion of India’s poor 

and dispossessed. But her politics 

have been a thorn in the side of the 

government. Her protests were instrumental 

in blocking a slew of economic 

measures, from retail reform to 

allowing foreign direct investment 

into India’s aviation and insurance 

sectors. — Reuters 

Army tests body armor for female soldiers 

armor. She said the benefits of a better fit 

became clear during their marksmanship training 

Tuesday. Previously they would have to 

shift the vests while firing their rifles, or move 

gear around on the vest so they could lie closer 

to ground, she said. 

She said she didn’t even realize how ill-fitting 

the old vests were until they started trying 

out the new vests for the last couple of weeks. 

“We need to be protected and still do our jobs 

and be able to fire our weapons the same,” she 

said. — AP 

FORT CAMPBELL: Sarah Sutphin adjusts 

her new body armor while training on a firing 

range. — AP

SHANGHAI: A small group of Chinese protesters march with an anti-Japan banner in 

front of the Japanese Consulate General yesterday. — AP 

China police clean up after 

angry anti-Japan protests 

BEIJING: Chinese police cleared roadblocks 

and some Japanese businesses reopened yesterday 

after days of angry protests over 

Japan’s wartime occupation and its recent 

purchase of islands also claimed by Beijing. 

Beijing sanitation workers used high-pressure 

hoses to erase the stains of paint bombs 

hurled at the Japanese Embassy the day 

before. Roadblocks were removed, allowing 

for normal traffic around the embassy, and 

police shooed pedestrians away. 

Some Japanese shops, restaurants and 

factories in China that closed to avoid being 

targeted by protesters were open again. 

Large and sometimes violent anti-Japan 

protests roiled many Chinese cities over the 

weekend, triggered by the Japanese government’s 

decision last week to purchase some 

disputed East China Sea islands from their private 

Japanese owners. More demonstrations 

followed Tuesday, the 81st anniversary of 

Japan’s invasion of China, an emotional 

remembrance that further stoked the outrage. 

In Beijing, the bitterness spilled over to 

the nearby US Embassy, with about 50 protesters 

surrounding the car of US Ambassador 

Gary Locke and trying to block him from 

entering the compound. Locke told reporters 

yesterday that Chinese authorities were “very 

quick” to move the demonstrators away. “It 

was all over in a matter of minutes, and I never 

felt in any danger,” he said. The US, a close 

ally of Japan, has said it is staying out of the 

territorial dispute. The incident came amid 

heightened vigilance for American diplomats 

following violent attacks on US embassies in 

Libya, Yemen and Egypt. The embassy said it 

has asked China’s government to do everything 

possible to protect American facilities 

and personnel. 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman 

Hong Lei told a regular news briefing yesterday 

that the incident was “an individual case,” 

but that China was investigating it. Though 

the anti-Japan demonstrations have wound 

down, at least temporarily, there has been no 

progress in resolving the territorial dispute 

bedeviling relations between the two Asian 

economic powerhouses. The rhetoric on both 

sides has remained uncompromising. 

China’s future leader, Xi Jingping, told visiting 

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta yesterday 

that Japan’s purchase of the islands 

was a farce, according to the official Xinhua 

News Agency. “Japan should rein in its behavior 

and stop any words and acts that undermine 

China’s sovereignty and territorial 

integrity,” Xinhua quoted Xi as saying. In 

Tokyo, former Japanese Defense Minister 

Shigeru Ishiba said losing a piece of Japan 

would mean “losing the whole country.” The 

islands - called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu 

in China - are tiny rock outcroppings that 

have been a sore point between China and 

Japan for decades. Japan has claimed the 

islands since 1895. The US took jurisdiction 

after World War II and turned them over to 

Japan in 1972. 

Japan’s government sees its purchase of 

some of the islands as a way to thwart a 

potentially more inflammatory move by the 

governor of Tokyo, who had wanted not only 

to buy the islands but also develop them. But 

Beijing sees Japan’s purchase as an affront to 

its claims and its past calls for negotiations. 

Beijing has sent patrol ships inside 

Japanese-claimed waters around the islands, 

and some state media have urged Chinese to 

show their patriotism by boycotting Japanese 

goods and canceling travel to Japan. The 

islands are important mainly because of their 

location near key sea lanes in the East China 

Sea. They are surrounded by rich fishing 

grounds and as-yet untapped underwater 

natural resources. Chinese state media have 

also reported that boats were headed to the 

waters around the disputed islands for seasonal 

fishing. Hong, the foreign ministry 

spokesman, said such activities were within 

China’s rights. “The Diaoyu Islands have 

belonged to China since ancient times,” he 

said. “It is totally legitimate and reasonable 

for Chinese fishing vessels to fish in relevant 

waters.” — AP 

Software mogul enters 

S Korea presidential race 

SEOUL: Popular software mogul Ahn 

Cheol-Soo declared his candidacy yesterday 

for South Korea’s presidential election, 

setting up a three-way race with a number 

of potentially game-changing permutations. 

“Now, I will run in the presidential 

election,” Ahn told a press conference, as 

he laid out a campaign platform of job 

creation, big business reform and reducing 

the country’s growing income gap. 

“The people have expressed their desire 

to see reform in politics,” said the softspoken 

50-year-old whose announcement 

ended a year of fevered speculation about 

his presidential ambitions. Ahn’s entry into 

the race has the potential to split the liberal 

vote between himself and Moon Jae-In- 

SEOUL: Ahn Cheol-soo, the founder of Seoulbased 

antivirus maker AhnLab, waves as he 

arrives for a press conference yesterday. — AP 

the chosen candidate of the leftist opposition 

Democratic United Party (DUP). 

Analysts say that scenario would effectively 

hand the election to the ruling conservative 

New Frontier Party candidate, 

Park Geun-Hye, the daughter of South 

Korea’s former military ruler Park Chung- 

Hee. The opposition had been hoping 

Ahn would reach an arrangement with 

Moon, with one of them stepping aside to 

unify support behind a sole candidate 

capable of challenging Park at the ballot 

box on December 19. However, in his 

announcement address, Ahn appeared to 

rule out any immediate accommodation 

with the DUP. 

“It is not proper to talk about a unified 

candidate right now,” he said. Most opinion 

polls have shown Park slightly ahead 

of Ahn with Moon in third place, although 

the DUP candidate has received a substantial 

ratings boost since winning his 

party nomination on Sunday. Jin Chang- 

Soo, a political analyst at the independent 

Sejong Institute, said Ahn and Moon 

could be biding their time before “agreeing 

on a unified candidacy in a dramatic 

way at the last moment.” 

Ahn has never participated in an election 

before or held any political office. “It’s 

true that I don’t have much experience in 

politics but I have worked in various fields 

such as IT, medicine, business management 

and education and my exposure in 

such diverse sectors will be helpful,” he 

said. “The country needs political reform, 

economic innovation and a digital-era 

mindset,” he added. 

Analyst Jin said Ahn’s campaign would 

have a tough ride as he comes 

under increasing public scrutiny 

with no party machine to 

back him up. “He still has to 

prove he is capable of leading 

the country,” Jin said. In a book 

entitled “Ahn Cheol-Soo’s 

Thoughts”-published in June 

and seen by some as a presidential 

manifesto-Ahn advocated 

Swedish-style social welfare 

and criticised President 

Lee Myung-Bak’s hardline policy 

towards North Korea. “The 

policy that isolates the North 

and assumes its imminent collapse 

only intensified cross- 

border tension and damaged 

peace on the peninsula,” he 

said. In his public appearances, 

he has repeatedly called for the 

overhaul of an economy dominated 

by a few powerful conglomerates, 

known as “chaebols”. 

However, on Thursday, he ruled out 

any drastic, overnight reforms saying 

changes “must be made gradually” to 

keep the economic growth engine ticking 

over. Hundreds of supporters-including 

teenagers in school uniform-cheered and 

chanted Ahn’s name during the press conference 

at the Salvation Army building in 

Seoul. An unlikely political star admired by 

young liberal voters but dismissed by critics 

as an unseasoned idealist, Ahn is best 

known for building the South’s first antivirus 

software firm after a glittering career 

in medicine. Ahn stood down as CEO of 

his AhnLan software firm in 2005 — 

though he remains board chairman-to 

pursue an academic career. He is currently 

dean at the School of Convergence 

Science and Technology in Seoul National 

University. —AFP 

international 

BEIJING: China implicated for the first time yesterday 

former senior politician Bo Xilai in a criminal 

act while avoiding naming him directly, in a 

published account by state media of the trial of 

his one-time police chief. Wang Lijun, ex-police 

chief of southwestern Chongqing city, tried to 

tell “the Chongqing party committee’s main 

responsible person at the time” - in other words, 

then-Chongqing Communist Party boss Bo - that 

Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, was suspected of murdering 

a British businessman. But Wang was “angrily 

rebuked and had his ears boxed”, according to 

Xinhua news agency’s official account of Wang’s 

trial this week in Chengdu city, near Chongqing. 

The virtually unmistakable reference to Bo 

increases the chances of him facing criminal 

charges, possibly for covering up a crime or corruption. 

So far, Bo has only been accused of 

breaching internal party discipline. He has not 

responded publicly to the allegations against 

him. The Bo scandal has rocked Beijing, exposing 

rifts within the ruling Communist Party - elements 

of which are strong supporters of Bo’s 

populist, left-leaning policies - at a time when 

China is preparing for a once-in-a-decade leadership 

change. 

Wang, 52, lifted the lid on the murder and 

cover-up of British businessman Neil Heywood 

in February when he went to the US consulate in 

Chengdu and, according to sources, told envoys 

there about the murder that would later bring 

down Bo. Within two months of Wang’s 24-hour 

visit to the consulate, Bo was sacked as party 

boss and from the Communist Party’s Politburo 

and Bo’s wife Gu was accused of poisoning the 

businessman. 

A court has since given Gu a suspended 

death sentence for the killing in late 2011. 

Xinhua said that the day after Gu had poisoned 

Heywood in a Chongqing hotel, Wang met her 

and she acknowledged that she had killed him. 

Wang secretly recorded that conversation, but 

did not act on Gu’s admission. “After arriving in 

Chongqing, I would often go to the home of 

Bogu Kailai. I felt Bogu Kailai was very good to 

me,” Xinhua said, citing Wang’s testimony. Bogu 

is Gu’s official but rarely used family name. “At 

the time, my selfish motives were guiding me. I 

didn’t want to face this case,” Wang said. 

However, as the weeks went on Xinhua said 

problems began to arise between Wang and Gu. 

He felt that she was turning on him. 

Investigations 

Several of Wang’s colleagues became targets 

of “illegal investigations” and Wang began to feel 

he was in danger and so decided to flee. The 

only corruption cases mentioned in the Xinhua 

account involved close business cronies of the 

former politician - potentially opening a corrup- 


China implicates Bo Xilai 

Scandal exposes rifts within Communist Party 

BEIJING: Top Chinese leaders have a better 

understanding of America’s new focus on the 

Asia-Pacific region, but they are concerned that 

there is too much emphasis on China’s military 

build-up rather than economic or diplomatic 

efforts, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said 

yesterday. After two days of meetings with political 

and military officials, Panetta said he comes 

away hopeful that the two nations can work 

together to bolster security in the region. 

While it appears Panetta is not leaving China 

with any tangible agreements, he believed he 

had assured his hosts that US plans to add 

troops, ships and a new missile defense site in 

the region are not meant to threaten China. “The 

key for them is that as we develop and strengthen 

our presence here, that we do it in conjunction 

with developing a strong US-China relationship,” 

Panetta told reporters shortly after he met 

with China’s future leader, Vice President Xi 

Jinping. “That gave me a lot of hope that they 

understand exactly what our whole intention is 

here.” More broadly, Panetta’s time in China was 

focused on slowly repairing America’s long troubled 

military relationship with China - and opening 

the door for better communications so that 

the two nations can avoid misunderstandings. 

Still, his visit came as violent protests raged 

around the country, over a territorial dispute 

between China and Japan. 

The US says it will remain neutral in the matter. 

But protesters slammed America, charging 

that the increased US activity in the region has 

emboldened Japan and other countries to challenge 

China in such disputes. 

Panetta spent much of his time explaining 

the US military’s new shift to the Pacific, which 

has fueled worries of increased tensions or conflict 

with China and its 2.3 million-member 

People’s Liberation Army. In a speech to Chinese 

troops yesterday, he laid out a more pointed 

argument that the growing American presence 

in the region includes an effort to build a 

stronger relationship with Beijing. 

“Our rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region is 

not an attempt to contain China. It is an attempt 

to engage China and expand its role in the 

Pacific,” Panetta said in a speech to cadets and 

young officers at the Engineering Academy of 

PLA Armored Forces. “It is about creating a new 

model in the relationship of two Pacific powers.” 

He acknowledged that improving relations 

and building trust will take time and said, 

“Despite the distance ... that we have traveled 

over the past 40 years, it is clear that this journey 

is not yet complete, particularly for our two militaries.” 

Tensions between the U.S. and China 

have reverberated across the region, often 

focused on America’s support of Taiwan, which 

China regards as a breakaway province. China 

has threatened to use force to block any 

Taiwanese bid for formal independence. 

The US also has been very vocal in blaming 

China for cyberattacks that emanate from the 

country and steal critical data from US government 

agencies and American companies. 

Panetta has stressed that change will take time. 

But he said he sees real progress towards building 

a military-to-military relationship with China. 

“We will have our differences,” Panetta told 

reporters. “But the key is if we can have open 

communications and the ability to express views 

in a candid way... that more than almost anything 

tion angle against Bo himself. Xu Ming, a plastics-to-property 

entrepreneur whose long association 

with Bo extended for over two decades, 

offered two homes in Beijing worth over 2.85 

million yuan to a relative of Wang’s, Xinhua said. 

In return, Wang helped free three of Xu’s 

associates that had been taken into custody in 

Chongqing. Xu was detained in March, the day 

before Bo’s ouster was announced. A former 

intelligence agent, Yu Junshi, who has also been 

detained since March, was cited as renting 

expensive villas for Wang, in return for the freedom 

of another man held by the Chongqing 

police. Yu had also known Bo since the 1990s. 

Bo had been considered a strong candidate 

for the next top leadership body, which is 

expected to be unveiled at the party’s 18th congress 

next month. Vice President Xi Jinping is 

seen as all but certain to take over as party chief 

and inherit the challenge of trying to heal internal 

wounds. Bo’s downfall has stirred more public 

division than that of any other party leader for 

more than 30 years. 

To leftist supporters, Bo became a charismatic 

rallying figure for efforts to reimpose party control 

over dizzying, unequal market growth. But 

he had made some powerful enemies among 

those who saw him as a dangerous opportunist 

who yearned to impose his harsh policies on the 

entire country. — Reuters 

New Asia focus not aimed 

to contain China: Panetta 

MOTAAIN: Nighttime during the Indonesian occupation 

meant staying indoors for Franchilina ‘Anche’ 

Cabral-she was too scared of the military to do anything 

else. Now, 13 years after East Timor voted for 

independence, its fastest female cyclist and more 

than 300 others have cycled across the border into 

Indonesia on the Tour de Timor as a gesture of 

friendship between the two nations. This year is the 

fourth Tour de Timor, but the first time the six-day 

mountain bike race has crossed international borders, 

weaving through Indonesian West Timor into 

the mountainous enclave of Oecusse. 

“In 1999 it was really hard because of the 

Indonesian army,” said Cabral, who last year claimed 

victory in the women’s category of the race. “We 

were afraid to go out at night so we’d just stay 

home. We felt there was no freedom,” she said. 

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and occupied 

the small half-island nation for 24 years, during 

which more than 183,000 people died from fighting, 

disease and starvation. 

In 1999 East Timor voted for independence in a 

UN sponsored referendum, but after the vote militias 

went on a campaign of violence, destroying 

much of the nation’s infrastructure. “Everybody 

knows Timor and Indonesia had problems before, 

but this race is an opportunity for us to rebuild our 

relationship, so we can be good neighbours,” 27year-old 

Cabral told AFP, after finishing the fourth 

phase of the six-stage race, that began Monday and 

ends Saturday. 

“It was really great to see so many Indonesians 

lined up along the route and cheering us on when 

we rode through,” Cabral said. The Tour de Timor was 

originally an initiative of Nobel laureate and former 

president Jose Ramos-Horta to promote peace in 

East Timor. “If Timor-Leste can host a successful Tour 

de Timor, a bike race that engages hundreds of participants, 

locals and internationals, then it must 

mean that the country is peaceful,” he said, using the 

country’s formal name. Ramos-Horta says he dis- 

BEIJING: US Secretary of Defense Leon E Panetta is presented with second gift, a plate commemorating 

his visit to China, from General Liang Guang Lie, Chinese Minister of National 

Defense, after an official dinner. — AFP 

cussed the tour crossing the border with Indonesian 

President Susilio Bambang Yudhoyono last May. “He 

immediately understood and grasped the symbolic 

importance of the Tour de Timor crossing into 

Indonesian Territory on the way to Oecusse and 

back.” It has been a busy year for East Timor, one of 

Asia’s poorest countries that celebrated a decade of 

formal independence in May and also held presidential 

and parliamentary elections that were largely 

peaceful. By the end of this year it will bid farewell 

to UN peacekeepers, the present contingent here 

since 2006 after a political crisis in which dozens 

were killed and tens of thousands displaced. The 

only major violence since then was a failed assassination 

attempt in 2008 on Ramos-Horta, who has 

remained steadfast in calling for forgiveness and 

else can lead to improved relations between the 

US and China.” Panetta met yesterday with Xi, 

who reappeared just days ago after a puzzling 

two-week disappearance that raised questions 

about his health. Xi stood to greet the American 

delegation in a lavish room in the Great Hall of 

the People and energetically shook Panetta’s 

hand. Once seated, he said Panetta’s visit “will be 

very helpful in further advancing the state-tostate 

and military-to-military relations between 

our two countries.” Panetta told Xi that the two 

Pacific powers have common concerns and that 

he is confident they will be able to improve their 

dialogue. While Panetta’s meetings with Chinese 

leaders this week touched on many of the disagreements 

between the two countries, his 

address to the academy stressed the need for 

each nation to trust the other and try to cooperate 

and communicate more. It is time, he said, to 

stop focusing on areas of dispute and suspicion 

and see the potential in areas where the two 

nations can work together. — AP 

E Timor cycle tour recalls 

memories of occupation 

DILI: Australian Russell Noble (front) passes the finishing line in Dili. — AFP 

reconciliation over the occupation. Tour de Timor 

volunteer Helio Miguel Araujo crossed the border 

from East Timor into Indonesia for the first time in 

1999, fleeing to a refugee camp in Kupung. The now 

22-year-old left East Timor for six months, but in that 

time lost family members in the violence. “After six 

months I felt I had to go back home, and we decided 

to go back but had to hide from the Indonesian government.” 

Despite losing many family members and 

friends, Araujo is adamant about the need to forgive 

and forget the past. 

“If we just think about the past then what will 

happen to our future? We need to forget about the 

past and focus on our development.” Despite offshore 

oil and gas fields, East Timor’s abject poverty is 

visible everywhere. —AFP

NEWS 

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan Muslims burn an effigy of US President Barack Obama during a protest yesterday against an anti-Islam film produced in the United States. — AP 

Iranian FM meets Assad 

Continued from Page 1 

of the intentions behind it.” Salehi said the country 

was “facing a problem, and we hope that this problem 

can be solved as soon as possible”. He also said “Syria has 

very strong, solid ties with Iran, especially at the political 

level,” and that he would discuss the conflict with Syrian 

officials. Salehi’s call for an end to fighting came at a 

meeting in Cairo on Monday of the Syria “contact group,” 

to which Iran, as well as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey 

belong. Tehran, a staunch ally of the regime in 

Damascus, is also proposing the four countries dispatch 

observers to Syria in an effort to quell the violence. Last 

month, the United Nations withdrew its own observers 

after both sides failed to respect an April ceasefire to 

which they had committed themselves. 

In a statement, Amnesty International said “civilians, 

many of them children, are the main victims of a campaign 

of relentless and indiscriminate attacks by the 

Syrian army”. It said it had new evidence “of a pattern 

which has emerged in recent weeks in areas where government 

forces, pushed into retreat by opposition 

forces, are now indiscriminately bombing and shelling 

lost territory - with disastrous consequences for the civilian 

population.” 

And the former head of Syria’s chemical arsenal, 

Major General Adnan Sillu, was quoted by British newspaper 

The Times as saying he believed the regime would 

eventually use those weapons against civilians. The 

Times quoted defected Major General Sillu as saying he 

had been involved in “serious discussion about the use 

of chemical weapons, including how we would use them 

and in what areas”. Sillu said he defected three months 

ago after being party to the top-level talks about the use 

of chemical weapons against both rebels and civilians, 

which he said he was convinced the regime would eventually 

do. 

Meanwhile, rebels withdrew from three southern districts 

of Damascus after weeks of heavy combat and 

shelling, while the army bombarded districts of the city 

and adjacent areas, the Syrian Observatory for Human 

Rights said. It said the army later stormed one of the districts 

from which the rebels had withdrawn, setting fire 

Study links GM corn to cancer 


the study’s basic methods and Monsanto said it felt 

confident its products had been proven safe. Gilles-Eric 

Seralini of the University of Caen and colleagues said rats 

fed on a diet containing NK603 - a seed variety made tolerant 

to dousings of Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller - or given 

water with Roundup at levels permitted in the United 

States, died earlier than those on a standard diet. Experts 

not involved in the study were sceptical, with one accusing 

the French scientists of going on a “statistical fishing trip” 

and others describing its methods as well below standard. 

The animals on the genetically modified (GM) diet suffered 

mammary tumours, as well as severe liver and kidney damage, 

according to the peer-reviewed study which was published 

in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology and 

presented at a news conference in London. The researchers 

said 50 percent of male and 70 percent of female rats died 

prematurely, compared with only 30 percent and 20 percent 

in the control group. 

Monsanto spokesman Thomas Helscher said the company 

would review the study thoroughly. However, he 

added: “Numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies performed 

on biotech crops to date, including more than a 

hundred feeding studies, have continuously confirmed 

their safety, as reflected in the respective safety assessments 

by regulatory authorities around the world.” 

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are deeply 

unpopular in Europe but dominate major crops in the 

United States after Monsanto introduced a soybean genetically 

altered to tolerate Roundup in 1996. Experts asked 

by reporters to review the scientific paper advised caution 

in drawing conclusions from it. Tom Sanders, head of the 

nutritional sciences research division at King’s College 

London, noted that Seralini’s team had not provided any 

data on how much the rats were given to eat, or what their 

growth rates were. “This strain of rat is very prone to mammary 

tumours particularly when food intake is not restricted,” 

he said. “The statistical methods are unconventional ... 

and it would appear the authors have gone on a statistical 

fishing trip.” 

Mark Tester, a research professor at the Australian 

Centre for Plant Functional Genomics at the University of 

Adelaide, said the study’s findings raised the question of 

why no previous studies have flagged up similar concerns. 

“If the effects are as big as purported, and if the work really 

is relevant to humans, why aren’t the North Americans 

to homes. The bodies of 11 people were found in the 

Jobar district of Damascus, some of them belonging to 

people who had been detained by security forces, the 

Observatory added. 

A network of activists, the Syrian Revolution General 

Commission (SRGC), described as “disaster areas” the Al- 

Hajar al-Aswad, Qadam and Assali districts, and the 

Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp. “Since July 15, these 

neighbourhoods have suffered fierce army assaults, as 

well as indiscriminate shelling targeting civilian homes 

and shops,” it said. The SRGC accused the regime of “carrying 

out a series of summary executions” in the south of 

the capital, adding that at least 200 people have been 

killed in the afflicted districts since the outbreak of violence 

there mid-summer. It appealed to international 

agencies to “help the residents of these disaster areas.” 

The Observatory said dozens of people were killed or 

wounded in shelling in Sahl al-Ghab in the central 

province of Hama. Amateur video posted on YouTube 

showed several bodies wrapped in white sheets 

stretched out on the floor of a house. “They died when 

the army pounded the village with helicopters,” said the 

unidentified cameraman. “God is greater than you, O 

Bashar (Al-Assad).” And regime forces killed a woman at 

her home in the coastal city of Latakia when she tried to 

stop them from arresting her son, the Observatory said. 

In Aleppo, where the two-month-old battle for control 

of the commercial capital remains fluid, the army 

said rebels attacked several military positions in the east 

overnight and that helicopter gunships eventually drove 

them off. They also again assaulted the local headquarters 

of the feared air force intelligence agency, but without 

success. The Observatory said there was shelling in 

several eastern districts of the city. In other developments, 

rebels gained control of a border crossing on the 

Turkish frontier after clashes with government troops, a 

Turkish official told AFP. 

The Observatory said 43 people had been killed 

nationwide so far yesterday, including 30 civilians, after 

173 died the previous day. It says more than 27,000 people 

have died since the uprising erupted in March 2011, 

while the United Nations puts the figure at more than 

20,000. — AFP 

dropping like flies? GM has been in the food chain for over 

a decade over there - and longevity continues to increase 

inexorably,” he said in an emailed comment. David 

Spiegelhalter of the University of Cambridge said the 

methods, statistics and reporting of results were all below 

standard. He added that the study’s untreated control arm 

comprised only 10 rats of each sex, most of which also got 

tumours. While supporters of GM crops say previous studies 

have overwhelmingly pointed to their safety, critics 

argue there is still limited information about the long-term 

effects since the crops have only been around for just over 

15 years. In France, where opposition to GMOs has led to a 

ban on growing such crops, the government said it had 

asked its health and safety agency to assess the study and 

had also sent it to the European Union’s food safety agency 

(EFSA). “Based on the conclusion ..., the government will 

ask the European authorities to take all necessary measures 

to protect human and animal health, measures that 

could go as far as an emergency suspension of imports of 

NK603 maize in the European Union,” the French health, 

environment and farm ministries said in a joint statement. 

Seralini, the scientist at the centre of the latest research, 

previously raised safety concerns based on a shorter rat 

study in 2009. His new study takes things a step further by 

tracking the animals throughout their two-year lifespan. 

Michael Antoniou, a molecular biologist at King’s College 

London, who helped draft the paper, told reporters at a 

London briefing that its findings highlighted the “need to 

test all GM crops in two-year lifelong studies”. “I feel this 

data is strong enough to withdraw the marketing approval 

for this variety of GM maize temporarily, until this study is 

followed up and repeated with larger number of animals 

to get the full statistical power that we want,” he said. 

Seralini believes his latest lifetime rat tests give a more 

realistic and authoritative view of risks than the 90-day 

feeding trials that form the basis of GM crop approvals, 

since three months is only the equivalent of early adulthood 

in rats. France’s Jose Bove, vice-chairman of the 

European Parliament’s commission for agriculture and 

known as an opponent of GM, called for an immediate suspension 

of all EU cultivation and import authorisations of 

GM crops. “This study finally shows we are right and that it 

is urgent to quickly review all GMO evaluation processes,” 

he said in a statement. The study is also likely to create friction 

in the United States, where opponents of genetically 

engineered foods in California are fighting to have all 

GMOs removed from the food supply. — Reuters 

French cartoons fuel Muslim fury 


A similar number demonstrated in Karachi, burning an effigy 

of US President Barack Obama, while in Islamabad, around 

500 lawyers burst into the capital’s diplomatic enclave, chanting 

anti-US slogans and castigating the government for not 

taking strong action against the film. The Pakistan government 

declared Friday - the Muslim holy day - a national holiday 

in honour of Muhammad (PBUH), in a sudden announcement 

made after religious parties called for a day of protest. 

In neighbouring Afghanistan, about 1,000 protesters took 

to the streets in the east of the country, blocking a key road to 

Kabul and chanting “Death to America” and “Death to the enemies 

of Islam”. Indonesia saw hundreds of protesters tear up 

the American flag and throw eggs at the US embassy in the 

capital Jakarta. In Lebanon, gunmen opened fire on a KFC 

fast-food restaurant, just days after another outlet of the US 

chain was torched and a demonstrator killed in a protest over 

the film. No one was hurt in yesterday’s attack. The Shiite 

movement Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has called for 

a string of protests all week in Lebanon to denounce what he 

described as the “worst attack ever on Islam”. 

Muslim men and women in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka 

also staged their first demonstration yesterday, with several 

hundred gathering in the capital Colombo near the US 

embassy to denounce the film. “Innocence of Muslims,” a 

crudely made film produced by extremist Christians in the 

United States, has triggered protests in at least 20 countries 

since excerpts were posted on the Internet. In reaction to the 

uproar, the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published 

cartoons mocking the film and caricaturing the Prophet 

(PBUH). The leftwing, libertarian publication’s offices were firebombed 

last year after it published an edition that it called 

Sharia Hebdo. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said he feared a 

backlash over the cartoons and said embassies and other 

French institutions in around 20 countries will be closed 

Friday for fear of being targeted in protests after weekly 

prayers. Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said anyone offended 

by the cartoons could take the matter to the courts but 

made it clear there would be no action against the weekly. 

“We are in a country where freedom of expression is guaranteed, 

including the freedom to caricature,” he said. 

Leaders of the Muslim community in France - the largest in 

western Europe said an appeal for calm would be read out in 

mosques across the country on Friday but also condemned the 

magazine for publishing “insulting” images. Al-Azhar, Sunni 


a political advantage. To keep up the momentum and media 

coverage, they fuel the flames of extremism and violence.” Sheikh 

Khalid said scores of police personnel had been investigated and 

23 prosecutions initiated, resulting in three convictions and sentences 

so far. Some $2.6 million compensation had been paid to 

the families of 17 deceased victims. “Let us follow the path of dialogue, 

not propaganda,” he said, before abruptly cancelling a 

planned news conference. Since Feb 2011, thousands of antigovernment 

protesters have staged regular demonstrations and 

called for reforms in the Gulf kingdom, which is ruled by the 

minority Sunni Khalifa family. The Shiite-led opposition’s 

demands for an elected government involve constitutional 

changes that would reduce the power of the dynasty. While the 

21st session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva saw several 

countries including China, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Yemen 

applaud Bahrain for its moves so far, the United States was less 

forthcoming. “The government needs to be attendant to 

accountability,” Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for 

Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, told reporters outside the 

chamber, adding that progress was “slowing down”. “We have yet 

to see a successful prosecution of anyone in connection with 

some of the torture cases and deaths in custody last year. It’s now 

a long period,” he said, adding that he planned to meet the 

Bahraini representative later in the day. Cases involving doctors 

and prominent human rights activists still in detention or pending 

after the demonstrations “need to be resolved”, he added. 

No raise in haj quotas 


to accommodate more numbers,” haj minister Bandar 

Al-Hajjar was reported as saying. Every Muslim country has 

a haj quota of 1,000 pilgrims per million inhabitants. 

The quota system was imposed after an attempt by 

Saudi police to stifle a demonstration by Iranian pilgrims 

holding an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in 1987 sparked 

clashes in which 402 people died, including 275 Iranians. 

Last year, nearly three million Muslim pilgrims performed 

the haj, the world’s largest annual gathering. The authorities 

had not indicated that they would be able to accommodate 

more pilgrims this year. Saudi King Abdullah has 

officially launched a $10.6-billion extension project of the 

Grand Mosque in Makkah. The peak of this year’s haj is 

expected to take place on or around Oct 25. The haj is one 

of the five pillars of Islam and must be performed at least 


Islam’s highest authority, condemned the publication of cartoons, 

while the Vatican’s official daily Osservatore Romano 

said that the satirical images could throw “fuel on the fire”. But 

Charlie Hebdo’s editor, Stephane Charbonnier rejected the criticism. 

“We have the impression that it’s officially allowed for 

Charlie Hebdo to attack the Catholic far-right but we cannot 

poke fun at fundamental Islamists,” he said. 

“It shows the climate. Everyone is driven by fear, and that is 

exactly what this small handful of extremists who do not represent 

anyone want: to make everyone afraid, to shut us all in a 

cave,” he told Reuters. Speaking outside his offices in an eastern 

neighbourhood with many residents of North African origin, 

Charbonnier said he had not received any threats over the 

latest cartoons. In a message on its Twitter account, Charlie 

Hebdo said its website had been hacked, but referred readers 

to a blog it also uses. The United States had condemned the 

content of the anti-Islam film while defending the right to free 

speech, and took a similar line on the French cartoons. “We 

know that these images will be deeply offensive to many and 

have the potential to be inflammatory. But we’ve spoken 

repeatedly about the importance of upholding the freedom of 

expression that is enshrined in our constitution,” White House 

spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. “In other words, we don’t 

question the right of something like this to be published, we 

just question the judgment behind the decision to publish it.” 

Washington has also moved to boost security in the wake 

of the protests, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying 

the US was taking “aggressive steps” to protect diplomatic missions 

worldwide. Among those killed in the protests so far have 

been four US diplomatic staff in Libya, including ambassador 

Chris Stevens. Pakistan, along with Afghanistan and 

Bangladesh, blocked video-sharing website YouTube this week 

after it failed to remove the offending film. YouTube said yesterday 

it had extended its restrictions on the video to Saudi 

Arabia, saying it is among countries where the film is considered 

illegal. YouTube parent Google said in a statement that 

the “Innocence of Muslims” would be restricted “in countries 

where it is considered illegal by local authorities; that is, to 

date, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia”. The firm last 

week restricted access to the film in Egypt and Libya after 

unrest in those countries, and has been adding countries to 

the list. The California-based maker of the film, Nakoula 

Basseley Nakoula, a 55-year-old Egyptian Copt and fraudster 

who was sentenced to 21 months in prison in the United States 

in June 2010, has not been seen since Saturday when he was 

questioned. — Agencies 

Bahrain accepts ‘90%’ of critical UN report 

While acknowledging continued violence on the streets 

involving “Molotov cocktails and young kids throwing things at 

the police”, Posner criticised the “excessive force, large amounts of 

tear gas” used by police in response. “Those are things that are 

not helping to lead to an environment where a negotiation dialogue 

is going to be fruitful,” he said, adding that Washington 

would continue to hold discussions with Bahrain on police and 

labour reform, trade union membership and the freedom of 

expression. “Human rights issues in Bahrain are critically important 

and they actually help reinforce our security interests. A stable, 

healthy democratic Bahrain where human rights issues are 

dealt with appropriately is one that is going to be a strong ally 

and we need that,” said the US representative. 

Posner told the UN forum Bahrain was at a crossroads. It had 

shown “great courage” last year in setting up and accepting the 

recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of 

Inquiry, but 10 months later implementation had lagged, he said. 

On Sept 4, a Bahraini civilian court upheld jail sentences of 

between five and 25 years against leaders of last year’s prodemocracy 

uprising, a decision that could further ignite unrest. 

“Activists are not criminals,” Nada Dhaif, who was originally sentenced 

to 15 years for helping organise a medical tent for protesters, 

told the UN session. Maryam Al-Khawaja, acting president of 

the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, said violations remained 

widespread. “Use of excessive force is still a tool for suppressing 

daily protests, with unprecedented use of tear gas during 

protests and inside residential areas,” she said, adding that arbitrary 

arrests and beating of detainees continued. —Agencies 

once in a lifetime by all those Muslims who are able to do 

so. “The kingdom is currently working on finalising all 

measures needed in coordination with the concerned 

authorities to enable Syrian pilgrims to perform” the pilgrimage, 

haj ministry undersecretary Hatem Qadi said. The 

kingdom “provides them with all facilities” needed and “is 

giving special care to arrangements for the arrival of 

Syrians, knowing the difficult circumstances experienced 

by the brotherly people of Syria,” Qadi told AFP. Syrian state 

news agency SANA reported on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia 

has barred Syrians from entering the country for the haj. 

“The Syrian High Committee of hajj has announced the 

halt to the pilgrimage this year, due to a failure to reach 

consensus with the Saudi authorities,” SANA said. The 

Syrian committee “took all necessary steps for the 2012 hajj 

season, but the relevant ministry in Saudi Arabia did not 

sign the accord that it does every year,” it added.

THE LEADING INDEPENDENT 

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Issues 

Mistrust, rivalry, 

bad timing fan 

Japan-China row 

W hen 

By Linda Sieg 

Japan’s central government confirmed a 

media leak on July 7 that it was considering buying 

islands at the core of a feud with Beijing, the 

timing could hardly have been worse given the symbolism 

in China, where a 1937 incident on that date is seen 

as the start of Tokyo’s full-fledged invasion of the country. 

“To China, it looked as if Japan had done this on purpose 

with evil intentions,” said a Japanese source familiar with 

Tokyo’s stance on the row, adding the timing was accidental. 

That instance of ill-timing was just part of the 

complex diplomatic and domestic puzzle that led to a 

flare-up in the row over the islands, which the Japanese 

government bought this month in an attempt to defuse 

a crisis by preempting another, more provocative plan by 

the nationalist governor of Tokyo. 

The feud triggered violent protests in China, threatened 

business ties between Asia’s two biggest 

economies and risked maritime clashes in the geopolitically 

vital region. On Wednesday, China’s leader-in-waiting, 

Xi Jinping, denounced the purchase of the Japanesecontrolled 

islands as a “farce” and said Tokyo should “rein 

in its behaviour”. Both sides are sure to keep arguing over 

who is ultimately to blame for the row, which has its roots 

in mutual mistrust and rivalry as well as China’s bitter 

memories of Tokyo’s wartime aggression. But for Japan, 

the risks of miscalculating how China can apply its growing 

clout have been put on potent display. “It is worse 

than 2005 and maybe the worst since the end of the war,” 

said Yoshihide Soeya, director of the Institute of East 

Asian Studies at Keio University in Tokyo, referring to the 

sometimes violent anti-Japanese protests seven years 

ago. 

The origins of the row over the islands, called the 

Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, stretch back 

decades and the idea of nationalising them had been 

kicking around for years. But the current flare-up can be 

traced to April, when Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara 

abruptly floated a plan to have his metropolitan government 

buy three of the five islets from their private 

Japanese owner and build facilities there to “protect” 

them from Chinese incursions. 

Many in Japan worry China has become far more 

aggressive in pressing its claims to the uninhabited isles 

and resent Beijing’s efforts to bolster those claims by 

sending fishing and patrol boats to the surrounding 

waters. Those concerns were flagged in the government’s 

annual defence white paper in July. Caught between the 

rock of Ishihara’s bid, which was backed by a majority of 

Japanese voters and for which he quickly amassed donations, 

and a hard place of outraging China by buying the 

islands itself, Japan’s government opted for what officials 

hoped China would come to see as the lesser of two evils. 

“The government understood that that would lead to 

a very difficult situation vis-a-vis China, so they decided 

to acquire the islands themselves, using the buzzword 

that the islands needed to be controlled in a calm way,” 

said Hitoshi Tanaka, a former senior Japanese diplomat. 

Japanese officials sought to convey that message both 

through public comments as well as back channels. 

“Nationalising the islands would be a better policy option 

for the sake of peaceful and stable relations (between the 

two countries),” Deputy Prime Minister Katsuya Okada 

told reporters earlier this month. “Our stance should be 

understood by the Chinese people.” 

Evidence suggests, however, that while Japanese policymakers 

recognised the risk of buying the islands, they 

may have overestimated the ability or willingness of 

Beijing to curb public outrage ahead of a once-in-adecade 

leadership change. “We expected this level of 

demonstrations, but the violence and damage to 

Japanese companies went beyond what the Chinese 

government could control,” said a ruling party lawmaker 

close to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. “That was a bit 

unexpected.” 

Critics say Japanese policymakers should have been 

more sensitive to domestic dynamics in China, where the 

government is preoccupied with a leadership change 

that will happen at a Communist Party congress that 

opens as early as next month. “They could have tried to 

negotiate with the owners to postpone a decision until 

the end of the year or next year,” said Linda Jakobson, 

director of the East Asia Program at the Lowy Institute for 

International Policy in Sydney, Australia. “I think they certainly 

misread the fragility of the political situation in 

China at the moment.”— Reuters 

All articles appearing on these pages 

are the personal opinion of the writers. 

Kuwait Times takes no responsibility 

for views expressed therein. Kuwait 

Times invites readers to voice their 

opinions. Please send submissions via 

email to: opinion@kuwaittimes.net or 

via snail mail to PO Box 1301 Safat, 

Kuwait. The editor reserves the right 

to edit any submission as necessary. 

14 opinion 


Chinese leaders may regret anti-Japan protests 

By Chris Buckley 

C hina’s 

decision to open its streets to a 

wave of anti-Japan protests could end up 

rebounding on Beijing, which has 

emerged from days of fervent nationalism 

with eroded authority at home and fewer 

options in dealing with Tokyo. The mass 

protests, ignited by a renewed territorial dispute, 

contained some criticism of Beijing as 

being too soft on its traditional Asian rival, creating 

pressures that could help push China’s 

incoming new leadership deeper into a diplomatic 

corner. China’s likely next president, Vice 

President Xi Jinping, emerged days ago from 

two unnerving weeks out of public view, when 

he was apparently ill. Now he and other leaders 

risk being seen as hiding from a widespread 

hunger for Beijing to be tougher 

against Tokyo and other regional rivals. 

“We think that the government is too soft 

and we want to show what we think,” said 

Zhang Xin, one of the many thousands of protesters 

who converged on the Japanese 

embassy in Beijing over recent days to vent 

their rage. He and tens of thousands of other 

patriotic demonstrators nation-wide have condemned 

Japan for buying a cluster of disputed 

islands in the East China Sea - an outpouring of 

patriotism that would have been both assuring 

and alarming to Chinese Communist Party 

leaders viewing videos and reports of the 

protests in their leafy, walled compound in 

central Beijing. 

Assuring because the crowds so fervently 

embraced Beijing’s message that it had a rightful 

claim over the islands, which Tokyo calls the 

Senkaku and Beijing calls the Diaoyu. Alarming 

because so many protesters were prepared to 

say publicly that they did not think their coun- 

By Andy Sullivan 

R epublican 

presidential candidate Mitt 

Romney isn’t backing down from a hidden-camera 

video that shows him disparaging 

nearly half the nation’s voters. But it 

was clear on Tuesday that he has a lot more 

explaining to do if he wants to win over the 

broad swath of voters whose support he will 

need to oust Democrat Barack Obama from 

the White House in the Nov. 6 election. While 

Obama’s Democrats have focused on the 

growing divide between the wealthiest 1 percent 

of Americans and the other 99 percent, 

Romney gave voice to a split that has preoccupied 

conservatives during the past year: 

the 53 percent who pay federal income taxes 

and the 47 percent who do not. 

In the videotaped remarks at a $50,000-aplate 

fundraiser in Florida in May - brought to 

light on Monday by the liberal magazine 

Mother Jones - Romney equated the second 

group with those who support Obama. “My 

job is not to worry about those people,” 

Romney says on the video. “I’ll never convince 

them they should take personal responsibility 

and care for their lives.” But to win the Nov 6 

election, Romney will need the backing of 

many of those “takers”, as his vice presidential 

running mate, Paul Ryan, has called them. The 

“47 percent” aren’t just low-income city 

dwellers who rely on food stamps, housing 

support and other programs that traditionally 

have been championed by Democrats. 

Many are retirees and working-class white 

voters who are wary of government’s role in 

their lives and who have tended to vote for 

Republicans in recent years, even as they take 

advantage of tax credits and government 

assistance. Romney’s challenge now is to soften 

his blunt language into an effective appeal 

to those who have struggled in the wake of 

the worst recession since the 1930s. 

And despite his harsh language at the 

Florida fundraiser, analysts say he will have to 

assure voters that he could be a president for 

all Americans, not just half of them. “He’s 

going to have to explain it in a much more 

concise and compassionate way, especially 

when Obama will likely challenge him on it,” 

Republican strategist Ron Bonjean said. So 

try’s leaders had the strength to act on that 

claim. “China should make its own demands as 

a great power,” said Zhang, a 25-year-old 

wholesale food distributor. “I feel disappointed 

in the government. It’s not democratic enough 

and doesn’t heed our voice. I hope our leaders 

can catch up. There’s no conflict between 

democracy and patriotism.” 

Many demonstrators held up portraits of 

Mao Zedong, the late Communist revolutionary 

leader who still serves as a default icon of 

unity and resolve in times of international tension. 

But many protesters also invoked Mao as 

a sly rebuke to China’s current rulers, including 

President Hu Jintao, who have not made any 

public statements about the crisis since Japan 

bought three of the five disputed islands from 

a private owner last week, triggering condemnation 

from Beijing. “Mao was new China’s first 

leader and he knew how to be tough on foreigners,” 

said Shi Lei, 25, a seafood salesman 

from China’s northeast. “If he were still alive we 

would be at war by now. Hu Jintao and those 

people are useless and impotent before 

Japan’s provocations.” 

“Mao is our hero because he fought the 

Japanese and won,” said Chi Lixin, a 29-yearold 

Beijing businessman. “Our leaders today 

talk only of peaceful diplomacy and look what 

happened. They are giving away our land.” 

That mixture of nationalism and frustration 

was echoed by many in the crowds in Beijing, 

Shanghai, Guangzhou and other Chinese 

cities. Thousands of police and anti-riot troops 

are sure to prevent that frustration turning into 

protests against the government, and by yesterday, 

police were bundling away would-be 

demonstrators at the Japanese embassy in 

Beijing. “Of course, there truly are problems 

with Japan, but at the same time the govern- 

far, Romney has been unable to translate 

widespread dissatisfaction with the economy 

into a lead in the polls, as voters consistently 

have rated Obama as more likeable and trustworthy. 

Romney, a former private equity 

executive with an estimated fortune of $250 

million, already is battling perceptions that he 

is an out-of-touch elitist, in part because of 

ads by Obama’s team that have cast Romney 

as a job killer whose company, Bain Capital, 

sent thousands of US jobs overseas. The video 

could cement a perception that he does not 

care about the concerns of ordinary 

Americans, several observers said. “This is 

going to stick in a lot of throats,” said Boston 

University communications professor Tobe 

Berkovitz. 

The percentage of US households that 

paid no federal income taxes in 2011 was 

actually closer to 46 percent, according to the 

nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. The Census 

Bureau says a record 49 percent of households 

received government benefits this year. 

Both figures have increased sharply in recent 

ment has used this to bundle up a domestic 

discontent and export it to Japan,” said Li 

Weidong, a political commentator and former 

magazine editor in Beijing. “But it’s trying to 

calibrate that venting. The government doesn’t 

want to let this get out control.” 

The risks to Xi and other emerging leaders 

are longer term than street protests, said 

experts on Chinese politics. The Chinese government 

is preoccupied with the leadership 

succession that will happen at a Communist 

Party congress set to open as early as next 

month. No firm date has been set. That succession 

has been jolted by scandals and uncertainties, 

and the government is navigating the 

economy through an unexpectedly sharp 

slowdown in growth. The breakdown of relations 

with Japan will add to that brew of 

uncertainties, and yet pent-up public demands 

for a tough response from China will make it 

harder for Beijing to settle for compromise 

without appearing weak at home. 

“Certainly nobody wants to be viewed as 

soft on Japan,” said Susan Shirk, a professor of 

China and regional relations at the University 

of California, San Diego. Even if risks of military 

confrontation between Asia’s two biggest 

economies remain scant, room for China to 

engage in diplomatic give-and-take has 

shrunk, narrowing the options for any early 

exit from the territorial dispute. “Everybody is 

competing for promotion and having a reputation 

for being soft on Japan would be definitely 

bad for your prospects...,” said Shirk, who was 

a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State during 

the Clinton administration. 

Chinese experts on Japan see rough times 

ahead. “We have entered a new stage. In the 

past, the Chinese government advocated setting 

aside the (island) dispute and developing 

years because of an aging population and the 

deepest recession since the 1930s. 

The trend has alarmed conservatives, who 

worry that the growth of the welfare state 

could sap Americans’ initiative. “I think we’re 

coming close to a tipping point in America 

where we might have a net majority of takers 

versus makers in society,” Ryan said at the 

Heritage Foundation last October, long 

before Romney selected him as his vice presidential 

running mate. 

Other prominent Republicans, including 

former presidential candidate Michele 

Bachmann and Eric Cantor, the No. 2 

Republican in the House of Representatives, 

have argued that everyone should pay at 

least a nominal amount of income tax. But 

the divide between “makers” and “takers” is 

not as simple as Romney put it. According to 

the Tax Policy Center, almost two-thirds of 

those who paid no income taxes did pay federal 

payroll taxes, which support the Social 

Security pension program and the Medicare 

health plan. Many are exempt thanks to lower 

bilateral relations,” said Liu Jiangyong, a professor 

of international relations at Tsinghua 

University in Beijing. “That period of history is 

over. We’re in a new phase of history, and that 

was a totally inevitable outcome of Japan purchasing 

the islands,” said Liu, who has advised 

Beijing. For Xi, this new phase could be especially 

troublesome. He is virtually certain to 

succeed Hu Jintao as Communist chief this 

year and as president at a parliament session 

in March. Like any new Chinese leader, Xi must 

try to establish his authority even while his 

predecessors retain considerable influence. In 

addition, there are widespread expectations 

that he will be more assertive and nimble than 

Hu, including abroad. Chinese analysts and 

Western diplomats have said Xi is not the hardline, 

militarist nationalist of some portrayals. 

But activists campaigning for China to regain 

control of the disputed East China Sea islands 

said Xi would have to be more assertive than 

Hu in pressing Japan, or risk losing credibility. 

Tong Zeng, president of the China 

Federation for Defending the Diaoyu Islands, 

cited a speech Xi gave in July. In that speech at 

Beijing’s elite Tsinghua University, Xi said China 

would “protect relations with nearby countries 

and broader regional stability, on the basis of 

staunchly defending its national sovereignty, 

security and territorial integrity”, the Xinhua 

news agency reported at the time. For Tong, 

the activist, that was a signal of a tougher line 

on the East China Sea islands and other territorial 

disputes. “I believe that after he gets into 

office, the government will have a new policy 

on these issues,” Tong said in an interview 

before the latest protests. “Public opinion is 

overwhelmingly in favour of defending the 

Diaoyu islands, and so I think the government 

will have to intensify its efforts.” — Reuters 

Romney needs the ‘47%’ to win 

US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney plays with the 

five children of his son Josh aboard his plane on Tuesday in Salt Lake 

City. — AFP 

tax rates and targeted tax breaks that were 

pushed by Republicans. 

Among those who receive government 

benefits, one-third received Social Security 

and Medicare - popular programs that are 

available to all retirees, not just those with 

low incomes. Romney will need support of 

people in both groups if he is going to win. 

Elderly voters have become an important 

part of the Republican coalition in recent 

elections, and Romney is struggling to hold 

on to his advantage among voters age 60 and 

older. Romney’s lead over Obama among voters 

in that group was nearly 20 percentage 

points last week but has declined to less than 

a 4-point lead this week, according to 

Reuters/Ipsos tracking polls. Obama leads 

among all other age groups. 

Romney is not likely to win among lowerincome 

voters but he will need to limit his 

losses among this group in order to carry battleground 

states such as Ohio. Romney currently 

has the backing of 37 percent of voters 

with income under $50,000, according to a 

New York Times/CBS poll released last week. 

Conservative pundit Bill Kristol termed 

Romney’s “47 percent” comments “stupid and 

arrogant” in the Weekly Standard and warned 

that they could alienate voters in both of 

those groups. A Republican congressional 

aide said Romney’s remarks were “completely 

boneheaded” and could hurt his appeal 

among undecided voters. The aide said he 

did not think support would erode among 

Republicans, however. Romney intends to 

talk in coming days about his plan to boost 

the economy and create more good-paying 

jobs that would allow people to earn enough 

money to pay taxes, a campaign official said. 

“They shouldn’t be on food stamps, they 

should be getting paychecks,” the aide said. 

The first debate with Obama on Oct 3 now 

looms as a particularly important hurdle for 

Romney, who will have to convince financially 

struggling voters that he is not writing them 

off, several Republicans said. “The debates are 

crucial,” Republican strategist Taylor Griffin 

said. “If Romney can put these gaffes in the 

context of the fact that he’s someone who 

knows how to run things, operate things, he’ll 

do OK.” — Reuters

Ovechkin joins Dynamo 

MOSCOW: Alexander Ovechkin has become the latest high-profile player 

to return to Russia since the NHL announced a lockout on Sunday 

when he signed a contract with his former club Dynamo Moscow. 

Several big-name Russian players have taken advantage of the workstoppage 

in North America to move across the Atlantic and join the 

rival Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). 

New Jersey Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk 

signed a lucrative deal with big-spending SKA 

St Petersburg on Tuesday while three other 

players, including NHL MVP Evgeni Malkin, 

joined Metallurg Magnitogorsk at the weekend. 

Colorado Avalanche goaltender Semyon 

Varlamov said he was returning to his former 

club Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, who have assembled 

a new team this year after their entire roster 

was killed in a plane crash that left 44 people 

dead last September. Ovechkin, who celebrated 

his 27th birthday on Monday, 

has decided to rejoin Dynamo 

despite an even bigger offer from 

wealthy city neighbours CSKA, local 

media reported. —Reuters 

SEATTLE: Taylor Teagarden stroked a pinchhit 

RBI single to right in the 18th inning to 

help give the Baltimore Orioles a 4-2 comeback 

victory over the Seattle Mariners on 

Tuesday. Baltimore maintained a threegame 

lead over the Los Angeles Angels for 

the wild-card spot. 

Nate McLouth opened the 18th with a 

walk, and advanced to third off J.J. Hardy’s 

single through the right-side hole. Teagarden 

then lifted his game-winner down the rightfield 

line. Hardy later scored on Mark 

Reynolds’ fielder’s choice. 

The Orioles rallied in the ninth off starter 

Erasmo Ramirez, who had allowed just two 

hits and was sitting on a 2-0 lead entering 

the inning. 

Pinch-hitter Ryan Flaherty and McLouth 

opened with singles to bring in closer Tom 

Wilhelmsen, but Chris Davis followed with a 

two-run single to right. It’s the first time the 

Orioles have been 20 games over .500 since 

the last day of the 1997 season. 

Tigers 12, Athletics 2 

In Detroit, Miguel Cabrera homered 

twice, including an eighth-inning grand 

slam, and the Detroit Tigers had no trouble 

overcoming an early injury to right-hander 

Max Scherzer in a 12-2 rout of the Oakland 

Athletics on Tuesday night. 

Cabrera matched a career high with six 

RBIs and now has 40 homers on the season - 

also a career best. 

Prince Fielder and Jhonny Peralta added 

home runs for the Tigers, who remained 

three games behind the first-place Chicago 

White Sox in the AL Central. 

Scherzer left after two innings because of 

a fatigued throwing shoulder. An MRI 

showed no structural damage. Darin Downs 

(2-1) pitched 2 2-3 scoreless innings for the 

win. Oakland rookie AJ Griffin (6-1) lost for 

the first time in his career. 

White Sox 3, Royals 2 

In Kansas City, Gavin Floyd pitched seven 

crisp innings, Alex Rios hit a tiebreaking 

sports 

Martin retains time trial title 

VALKENBURG: Germany’s Tony Martin lived up to expectations 

when he edged out American Taylor Phinney to retain the time trial 

world title at the end of a demanding 45.7-km individual effort yesterday. 

The win capped a tough season for pre-race favourite 

Martin, who broke his wrist on the Tour de France and had to settle 

for silver in the Olympic time trial behind Bradley Wiggins. 

Wiggins, who will start Sunday’s road race, skipped the event 

after an exhausting year that saw him become the first Briton to 

win the Tour and then took Olympic gold in London. 

Swiss Fabian Cancellara, the 2008 Olympic champion and four 

times time trial world champion, also did not take part after failing 

to recover from a shoulder injury. 

Martin, who won the trade teams world title on Sunday with 

Omega Pharma-Quick Step, clocked 58 minutes 39 seconds, 

according to provisional results. 

The 27-year-old beat Phinney by only five seconds after the 

American had set the best time at the first check point. Vasil 

Kiryienka of Belarus won the bronze a huge 1:45 off the pace. 

Heavy rain showers disrupted the early starters but roads were 

mostly dry for the favourites on a tricky, hilly course. It did not help 

Marco Pinotti, though, as the Italian suffered a suspected broken 

collarbone when he crashed out in a left-hand corner while battling 

for a place in the top three. —Reuters 

homer in the seventh and the Sox beat the 

Royals for their fifth consecutive win. 

Alejandro De Aza and Gordon Beckham 

also went deep for AL Central-leading 

Chicago, which maintained a three-game 

advantage over Detroit. 

Floyd (10-10), who was making his second 

start since coming off the disabled with 

an elbow flexor strain, gave up two runs in 

the first inning and nothing after that. Luke 

Hochevar (8-14) allowed just one single the 

next four innings before Beckham led off 

the sixth with his 16th home run. 

Red Sox 7, Rays 5 

In St. Petersburg, Felix Doubront limited 

Tampa Bay’s sputtering offense to one hit 

over six innings and the Boston Red Sox rallied 

for a victory that dealt another blow to 

the Rays’ fading playoff hopes. 

Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, James 

Loney, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ryan 

Lavarnway drove in runs for the Red Sox, 

who beat their AL East rivals for the second 


Big deal for Nehwal 

NEW DELHI: Top Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has signed a three-year deal 

worth a reported $7.4 million with a sports management company, underlining 

badminton’s growth in the otherwise cricket-crazy country. 

The only non-Chinese in the top five of women’s badminton, Nehwal won a 

bronze in this year’s London Olympics and capped the celebrations 

by signing a contract with Rhiti Sports that 

makes her India’s highest paid sportsperson outside 

cricket. “With Rhiti’s background and credibility, 

they know how to balance things and that is a big 

plus point,” Nehwal said in a media release. 

According to Wednesday’s Indian Express 

newspaper, the three-year deal with the company 

which also manages Indian cricket captain 

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is worth 400 million 

Indian rupees. “We’re very thrilled with the base 

amount and it’s an honour since she’s the first 

non-cricket athlete they’ve taken on,” Nehwal’s 

father Harvir Singh told the newspaper. “We are 

proud to be associated with someone who is not 

only a youth icon for women in the country 

but has also done a lot for badminton as a 

sport,” said Arun Pandey, chairman and managing 

director of Rhiti Sports. —Reuters 

Orioles and Tigers advance 

Brewers thrash Pirates 

PITTSBURGH: Yovani Gallardo gave up 

just two hits over 6 2-3 innings and the 

surging Milwaukee Brewers dropped the 

weary Pittsburgh Pirates 6-0 on Tuesday 

night. 

Gallardo (16-8) struck out six and 

walked four to win his eighth straight 

decision as Milwaukee moved in front of 

fading Pittsburgh in the jumbled 

National League wild-card race. The 

teams entered the day 21/2 games back 

of the Cardinals, who played Houston later. 

Ryan Braun had two hits, drove in a 

run and stole three bases for the Brewers, 

who have won six of seven. Milwaukee’s 

seven stolen bases were the most by the 

franchise since it moved to the National 

League in 1998. Carlos Gomez and 

Jonathan Lucroy had three hits apiece for 

the Brewers. 

AJ Burnett (15-8) gave up two runs in 

six innings but couldn’t stop Pittsburgh’s 

late season swoon. The Pirates are 4-12 

this month. 

Cardinals 4, Astros 1 

In St Louis, Kyle Lohse threw seven 

scoreless innings for his 15th victory and 

contributed an RBI double as the 

Cardinals beat the Astros to stay in front 

for the second NL wild card. 

Fernando Abad (0-5) had a career-best 

six strikeouts in the Astros’ 100th loss. 

They’re 8-8 this month under interim 

manager Tony DeFrancesco and need 

nine wins in the final 14 games to avoid 

topping last season’s franchise-record 

106 losses. 

Jon Jay had two hits and two RBIs for 

the Cardinals, coming off a 2-5 trip but 

with a favorable upcoming schedule with 

the next eight against lowly Houston and 

Chicago. With 14 games to play, the 

defending World Series champions are 

11/2 games ahead of the Dodgers. Lohse 

(15-3) matched his season best for victories 

set in 2008 with St. Louis. Jason Motte 

worked the ninth for his 36th save in 43 

chances. 

Giants 6, Rockies 3 

In San Francisco, Tim Lincecum 

pitched San Francisco one win closer to 

an NL West crown as the Giants lowered 

their magic number to clinch the division 

to seven. 

Lincecum (10-14) struck out six and 

walked two in 6 1-3 scoreless innings on 

a day the second-place Los Angeles 

Dodgers were postponed by rain in 

Washington. Marco Scutaro had three 

singles, drove in a run and scored twice 

and Xavier Nady had two RBI singles for 

PITTSBURGH: Milwaukee Brewers 

starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo 

throws to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 

first inning of a baseball game. —AP 

the Giants (85-63), who moved a seasonhigh 

22 games over .500. 

Wilin Rosario hit a two-run homer off 

Santiago Casilla in the eighth inning, 

matching the Rockies’ rookie record of 25 

set by Todd Helton in 1998. 

Angel Pagan extended his own San 

Francisco record with an RBI triple in the 

eighth, his major league-leading 14th. 

Jeff Francis (5-6) lost consecutive starts 

for just the second time all season and 

his winless stretch reached four outings 

since he beat the Dodgers on Aug. 27. 

Marlins 4, Braves 3 

In Miami, Jose Reyes hit a two-out RBI 

single in the 10th inning, and Miami 

overcame an awful ninth inning to snap 

Atlanta’s four-game winning streak. 

With one out in the 10th, pinch-hitter 

Rob Brantly was walked by Cory Gearrin 

(0-1), and Gorkys Hernandez was hit by a 

pitch. Following a strikeout, Reyes hit a 

blooper that fell in front of a diving Jason 

Heyward in right field, and Brantly scored 

without a play. Atlanta lost to Miami for 

only the fourth time in 14 meetings. 

The Braves rallied from a 3-0 deficit in 

the ninth to tie the game. Heyward doubled 

to start the inning against Steve 

Cishek, and Chipper Jones walked on a 3- 

2 pitch. With one out, Dan Uggla singled 

home a run, and Brian McCann followed 

with a tying two-run double off Mike 

Dunn. John Buck hit a two-run homer for 

Miami. Heath Bell (3-5) pitched a perfect 

10th. 

Reds 3, Cubs 1 

In Chicago, Homer Bailey pitched 

effectively into the eighth inning, Ryan 

Hanigan hit a three-run double and 

Cincinnati moved closer to the NL 

Central title. 

The Reds’ Dusty Baker managed his 

3,000th major league game, and 

Cincinnati reduced its magic number to 

four over the Cardinals to clinch the division. 

Bailey (12-9) took a two-hit shutout 

into the eighth before Darwin Barney 

had his second single of the night and 

pinch-hitter Bryan LaHair hit an RBI double 

to make it 3-1. Sean Marshall then 

came in and hit pinch-hitter Dave 

Sappelt before getting a strikeout and 

grounder to end the threat. 

Jonathan Broxton worked a perfect 

ninth for his third save in five chances 

with Cincinnati, which acquired him in a 

July 31 deal with Kansas City. Cubs righthander 

Justin Germano (2-8) lost his 

sixth straight start. 

D’backs 3, Padres 2 

In Phoenix, Ian Kennedy pitched eight 

innings to earn his 14th victory, Miguel 

Montero drove in two runs with two doubles 

and the Diamondbacks finally got a 

home win against the Padres. San Diego 

was 6-0 in Arizona this season before 

dropping the series opener. Kennedy (14- 

11) allowed one run and seven hits. A 21game 

winner in 2011, Kennedy is 8-3 in 

his last 12 starts. Eric Stults (6-3) gave up 

three runs and five hits in six innings in 

his first loss since June 3. JJ Putz allowed 

a run in the ninth on Will Venable’s sacrifice 

fly before finishing for 30th save in 35 

opportunities. —AP 

straight night, extending Tampa Bay’s losing 

streak to four games and dropping the 

third-place Rays six games behind the division-leading 

New York Yankees. Doubront 

(11-9) walked five and struck out five, ending 

a stretch in which he went 0-5 over 

eight starts dating to late July. The Red Sox 

took the lead with an unearned run off Kyle 

Farnsworth (1-6) in the sixth. 

Twins 6, Indians 5 

In Cleveland, Darin Mastroianni scored 

the go-ahead run from second base on an 

infield hit in a two-run 12th inning and the 

Twins tied the Indians for fourth place in the 

AL Central. 

Mastroianni singled with two outs and 

stole second off Scott Maine (1-1), the teamrecord 

10th pitcher used by Cleveland. Alexi 

Casilla then poked a ball between first and 

second that second baseman Jason Kipnis 

fielded in short right. 

But Casilla was safe when first baseman 

Matt LaPorta fielded Kipnis’ throw, but was 

not on the bag. LaPorta held the ball before 

reacting too late to throw out Mastroianni 

at home. Tyler Robertson (2-2) pitched 1 1-3 

innings for the win. 

Angels 11, Rangers 3 

In Anaheim, Jered Weaver earned his 

100th victory, Chris Iannetta had a two-run 

single and scored on a wild pitch during a 

crazy eight-run rally in the fourth inning, 

and the Angels moved up in the AL playoff 

race with a victory over Texas. 

Erick Aybar had three hits and scored 

two runs for the Angels (81-67), who moved 

within 31/2 games of wild card-leading 

Oakland with their 15th win in 20 games 

after the Athletics (84-63) lost at Detroit. 

Weaver (18-4) gave up third-inning 

homers to Mike Napoli and Ian Kinsler during 

seven innings of six-hit ball. 

Ryan Dempster (6-2) yielded six hits and 

five runs while failing to get out of the 

fourth inning, ending his five-start winning 

streak. —AP

SINGAPORE: The 2012 Formula One season 

so far, ahead of the Singapore Grand 

Prix on Sunday: 

Australian Grand Prix — March 18 

McLaren’s Jenson Button threw down 

the gauntlet to two-time defending world 

champion Sebastian Vettel as he relegated 

the German to second in a flying start to 

the season. McLaren had locked down the 

front row of the grid and it was Button who 

nipped past pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton at 

the start and went on to dominate. Vettel 

grabbed a giant slice of luck when a timely 

safety car intervention allowed him to steal 

second from Hamilton late in the race. 

Mark Webber was fourth for Red Bull and 

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished fifth. 

Standings: Button 25pts, Vettel 18, 

Hamilton 15 

Malaysian Grand Prix — March 25 

A nearly hour-long storm interruption 

threw the race into confusion and left drivers 

fighting just to stay on the track. Alonso 

emerged from the chaos at the head of the 

field and drove his unrated Ferrari brilliantly 

to win the unpredictable race, chased all 

the way by Mexico’s Sergio Perez who 

claimed a career-high second place for 

Sauber. Hamilton, heading another grid 

one-two for McLaren, was happy to settle 

for third again after an early crash left 

Button outside of the points alongside 

Vettel, who suffered a late puncture following 

a collision with Narain Karthikeyan. 

Standings: Alonso 35, Hamilton 30, 

Button 25 

Chinese Grand Prix — April 15 

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg claimed what 

he termed an “amazing” first victory in 111 

attempts as he led from pole position to 

take the Chinese Grand Prix in style. The 

German’s faultless drive in Shanghai saw 

him home more than 20 seconds ahead of 

the McLarens of Jenson Button and Lewis 

Hamilton, for what was also Mercedes’ first 

victory since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. 

Webber was fourth and Vettel fifth after 

some frantic jostling for the other podium 

places. Alonso trailed in ninth. 

Standings: Hamilton 45, Button 43, 

Alonso 37 

Bahrain Grand Prix — April 22 

Bahrain’s controversial race went off 

without incident after a week of angry 

protests away from the desert circuit that 

put the non-sporting focus on reform 

demands in the Gulf state. Vettel led from 

start to finish to claim his first win of the 

year to take over as leader of the title race. 

He registered his 22nd career victory with a 

near-flawless drive from pole position. In 

second came Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 

champion, and the Finn’s Lotus team-mate 

Romain Grosjean. 

Standings: Vettel 53, Hamilton 49, 

Webber 48 

Spanish Grand Prix — May 13 

Pastor Maldonado became the first 

Venezuelan to win an F1 race by triumphing 

at the Spanish Grand Prix before going 

on to play an heroic role in a dramatic blaze 

in his Williams team’s garage. Maldonado’s 

win, in just his 24th race, was also the 

team’s first victory since the 2004 Brazilian 

Grand Prix and came on the weekend of 

team founder Frank Williams’ 70th birthday. 

He later carried his young cousin to safety 

after the team garage was engulfed by 

flames. A total of 16 people were injured, 

one with severe burns, when the fire 

believed to have been caused by an electrical 

fault in a fuel rig-broke out. On the track 

the Venezuelan produced a flawless race, 

holding off Alonso. Raikkonen was third. 

Standings: Vettel 61, Alonso 61, 

Hamilton 53 

Monaco Grand Prix — May 27 

Webber steered his Red Bull to victory 

and claimed his first win this year and his 

team’s third successive Monaco Grand Prix 

sports 

victory. It was Webber’s second win in the 

race and the eighth of his career - it also 

meant six different drivers had won the 

opening six races of this season - the first 

time this has happened in the history of 

the Formula One world championship. 

Webber started from pole to finish sixtenths 

of a second clear of Rosberg with 

Alonso third for Ferrari. Vettel was fourth 

ahead of Hamilton and Felipe Massa in the 

second Ferrari. 

Standings: Alonso 76, Vettel 73, Webber 

73 

Canadian Grand Prix — June 10 

Hamilton made it seven different winners 

in seven races when he drove with 

flawless speed and control to win in 

Montreal. He produced a magnificently 

judged performance in a race that passed 

off smoothly despite a weekend of student 

protests and police action resulting in 

around 60 arrests, to seize his first win of 

the year. Grosjean of Lotus came home second 

after an equally well-judged race to 

finish ahead of Perez. Hamilton’s triumph 

came five years to the day after he had 

claimed his maiden victory at the Circuit 

Gilles Villeneuve. It was his 18th career victory. 

Standings: Hamilton 88, Alonso 86, 

Vettel 85 

European Grand Prix — June 24 

Local hero Fernando Alonso became 

the first man to win two Formula One races 

this year by driving his Ferrari to victory in 

Valencia. Alonso, who drove a superb race 

from 11th on the grid, was followed home 

by Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus and seven-time 

champion Michael Schumacher of 

Mercedes. The race was punctuated by 

incident, with Lewis Hamilton of McLaren 

crashing out after a final lap collision with 

Pastor Maldonado of Williams. Defending 

double world champion Sebastian Vettel of 

Red Bull was forced to retire despite dominating 

most of the race after starting from 

pole position as was his nearest challenger 

Romain Grosjean of Lotus. 

Standings: Alonso 111, Webber 91, 

Hamilton 88 

British Grand Prix — July 8 

Red Bull driver Mark Webber served 

notice that he is a contender for the drivers’ 

world title by winning a dramatic race at 

Silverstone. The Australian posted a nearflawless 

performance to come in ahead of 

Ferrari rival Fernando Alonso. Webber’s 

teammate Sebastian Vettel took third. 

There was an acrimonious collision when 

Pastor Maldonado of Williams drove into 

Sergio Perez’s Sauber and a pit-lane accident 

when Kamui Kobayashi braked late 

and hit his own mechanics at a pit stop. 

McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Jenson 

Button-the home favourites-finished 

eighth and 10th. 


Vettel 100 

German Grand Prix — July 22 

Fernando Alonso started from pole 

position and dominated the race in consummate 

style, leading from start to finish. 

Home favorite Sebastian Vettel was handed 

a 20-second penalty for running off the 

track at a hairpin exit as he tried to pass 

Jenson Button on the penultimate lap. The 

penalty bumped him from second to fifth 

and left Button in second. Button’s McLaren 

team-mate Lewis Hamilton had hoped to 

make his 100th Formula One race a memorable 

one, but had to retire after a series of 

problems including a puncture caused by 

debris left on the circuit following an early 

crash involving Felipe Massa, Romain 

Grosjean and Bruno Senna of Williams. 


Vettel 110 

Hungarian Grand Prix — July 29 

Lewis Hamilton delivered a flawless 

drive from pole position to the chequered 

flag to revive his title challenge, resisting 


Formula One: The 2012 season so far 

McLaren aims for 

pole position 

PARIS: McLaren aims for pole position in 

Paris McLaren Automotive will use its 

Paris Motor Show appearance to preview 

its next generation ultimate supercar 

- the P1 - which takes much of its 

technological and spiritual inspiration 

from the company’s Racing division. P1 

has one simple goal: to be the best driver’s 

car in the world on road and track. 

At the Paris Motor Show, Mondial de 

l’Automobile 2012, P1 is previewed as a 

design study. Next year a production 

version, which the company aims to put 

on sale within 12 months, will be 

revealed. 

‘P1 will be the result of 50 years of 

racing and road car heritage,’ says 

McLaren Automotive Executive 

Chairman Ron Dennis. ‘Twenty years ago 

DUBAI: Toyota Racing’s TS030 Hybrid driven 

by Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre, led 

from start to finish for the team’s first victory 

in just its third race with a dominant performance 

in the Six Hours of Sao Paulo at 

Interlagos, the fifth round of the FIA World 

Endurance Championship which took 

place in Brazil. Alex and Nicolas started 

from pole position as the #7 Toyota car 

maintained its record of having led every 

race in which it has competed, and also 

sealed Toyota’s first victory in an FIA world 

championship race since the 1999 Rally of 

China. 

Toyota’s last success in international 

endurance racing came 20 years back 

when the TS010 won at Monza in 1992. 

we raised the supercar performance bar 

with the McLaren F1 and our goal with 

P1 is to redefine it once again.’ 

‘Our aim is not necessarily to be the 

fastest in absolute top speed but to be 

the quickest and most rewarding series 

production road car on a circuit’, says 

McLaren Automotive Managing Director 

Antony Sheriff. ‘It is the true test of a 

supercar’s all round ability and a much 

more important technical statement. It 

will be the most exciting, most capable, 

most technologically advanced and 

most dynamically accomplished supercar 

ever made.’ 

When P1 goes into production later 

next year, it will sit above the 12C and 

12C Spider, in terms of both price and 

performance. 

This victory completes a remarkable 

journey for the THS-R (Toyota Hybrid 

System - Racing). The project to develop a 

hybrid system for motorsport began in 

2006 under Hisatake Murata, now Hybrid 

Project Leader at Toyota Racing. The project 

created history in July 2007 when a 

Toyota Supra became the first-ever hybrid 

winner, in the Tokachi 24 Hours. The pioneering 

super capacitor technology has 

been extensively developed, reducing 

weight and increasing power, leading to 

the unique powertrain in the TS030 Hybrid. 

Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Team President of 

Toyota Racing said, “This is an incredible 

day for all of us. To stand on the top step of 

the podium has been our dream and to 

SINGAPORE: Formula One enfant terrible Lewis 

Hamilton is again in the spotlight this week as 

fevered speculation over his future dominates the 

build-up to the Singapore Grand Prix. 

The 27-year-old Briton lies second in the standings 

behind Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, after a consummate 

drive in Italy brought his third win of the 

season and renewed hope of a second world title. 

Formula One is embarking on a four-stop Asian 

swing, from Singapore’s glittering, skyscraper-studded 

night race, to Japan, South Korea and India, 

which may settle this year’s unpredictable title 

race. But the precocious Hamilton’s off-track affairs 

are dominating headlines after he admitted his 

future was undecided at long-term employer 

McLaren, and a reported cooling of relations with 

team-mate Jenson Button. 

The 2008 world champion brought a sharp 

rebuke from Button after he tweeted sensitive 

team information during this month’s Belgian 

Grand Prix. His muted victory celebrations in Italy 

were widely noted. In the run-up to Singapore, the 

14th of 20 races, Hamilton stressed he was “happy 

with McLaren”-but said he had not committed to 

any team next season, when he is out of contract. 

Mercedes are courting his signature. 

“No, I haven’t committed to any team as yet. I 

don’t have a timeline either,” Hamilton said, at a 

promotional event in Mumbai. 

“I won my first world championship with 

McLaren and I am happy with their background, 

the people and environment there,” he added. It is 

the latest in a series of distractions for Hamilton, 

whose 2011 season was affected by problems with 

his girlfriend, Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole 

Scherzinger, and who lost his aunt to cancer last 

achieve this in only our third race is a 

dream come true. Thanks to everyone 

involved in this project; so much hard work 

has gone into this and victory makes it all 

worthwhile. 

Thanks also to Audi for a clean fight; we 

really enjoyed competing with them and 

they were very fair. We have huge respect 

for them and what they have achieved 

over the past decade and more; to beat 

such a strong opponent has not been easy. 

It’s not only a fantastic result for Toyota 

Racing, it also shows how exciting the FIA 

World Endurance Championship is. We 

know Audi will come back strongly in the 

next races so we are looking forward to 

continuing our close, and genuinely 

friendly, rivalry.” 

Hisatake Murata, Hybrid Project leader 

said, “The project to develop a hybrid system 

for motorsport started back in 2006; at 

the time it seemed like an almost impossible 

task. But thanks to the dedication of 

my colleagues at Motor Sport Division, 

Toyota Motor Corporation’s Hybrid 

Department, Toyota Motorsport GmbH 

and ORECA, we have turned this dream 

into a reality. Today the system performed 

flawlessly and it was very clear how the 

300hp of boost made a real difference to 

our lap times. The hydraulic braking and 

energy recovery worked in perfect harmony 

so I am very proud of what we have 

achieved. To win against tough, experienced 

opposition like Audi with such an 

advanced technology is a great credit to 

everyone involved.” 

month. The bejewelled driver won on Singapore’s 

“darty”, demanding street circuit in 2009, but 

retired with a puncture in 2010 and finished fifth 

last year after tangling with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. 

“Both those races were unlucky for me-I think I 

need a better roll of the dice this time around!” he 

told the Formula One website. 

Alonso meanwhile will look to stretch his 37point 

lead over Hamilton-with Lotus’s Kimi 

Raikkonen and defending champion Sebastian 

Vettel not far behind-in a Ferrari car written off at 

the start of the year as a dud. 

The softly spoken Alonso has won in Malaysia, 

Nicolas Lapierre started the race maintaining 

his lead into the first corner and set 

the pace upfront before Alex Wurz took 

over and extended the lead to over a 

minute. With two-and-a-half-hours to go, 

Lapierre extended the #7 TS030 Hybrid’s 

lead to a complete lap. As the race entered 

its final hour, Lapierre handed over to 

Wurz; a very short fuel stop with just a few 

minutes to go allowed him to take a welldeserved 

victory by over a minute. 

Toyota Racing Team Driver, Alex Wurz 

added, “I am proud to be a Toyota driver. 

Toyota has developed this incredible 

hybrid technology and I think we have 

shown it today. Our Toyota Hybrid System - 

Racing has been simply outstanding. 

strong late pressure from Kimi Raikkonen. 

Hamilton’s win was his second of the year 

and the 19th of his career. Raikkonen’s 

Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean and 

defending world champion Sebastian 

Vettel of Red Bull came in third and fourth, 

with Fernando Alonso in fifth. As they 

climbed the podium, a grinning Hamilton 

said to Raikkonen: “It’s just like old times, 

Kimi.” 


Vettel 122 

Belgian Grand Prix — Sept 2 

Jenson Button claimed his second win 

of the year and 14th of his career in a race 

marred by a horrific first-bend crash that 

took out his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, 

championship leader Fernando Alonso, 

and Romain Grosjean. Grosjean’s Lotus 

went airborne as he tried to get past 

Hamilton, a move that earned the 

Frenchman a one-race ban and fine. 

Sebastian Vettel took second with Kimi 

Raikkonen third to complete a podium of 

champions. Michael Schumacher, in his 

300th Grand Prix and back at his favourite 

circuit where he made his debut in 1991, 

finished seventh. 

Standings: Alonso 164, Vettel 140, 

Webber 132 

Italian Grand Prix — Sept 9 

Lewis Hamilton won his third race of the 

year with a commanding drive from pole 

position which moved him up to second in 

the drivers’ standings. Sauber’s Sergio Perez 

roared through the field to finish second, 

with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso claiming 

third to extend his championship lead. But 

a retirement dashed the title hopes of 

Hamilton’s McLaren team-mate Jenson 

Button. The race was also overshadowed 

by speculation over Hamilton’s future after 

he admitted his team for next year was 

undecided. 

Standings: Alonso 179, Hamilton 142, 

Raikkonen 141.—AFP 

All eyes on Hamilton 

before Singapore race 

his home country Spain, and Germany, and has finished 

out of the points only once, when he retired 

in Belgium after a pile-up on the first corner. 

Vettel, who became Formula One’s youngest 

double champion last year, is struggling in the pursuit 

of a third straight world title in a Red Bull car 

whose innovations have been crimped by new 

technical rules. 

However Raikkonen has impressed in his return 

to Formula One from rallying, while Sauber’s young 

Mexican Sergio Perez claimed his second runnerup 

spot this year in Italy-fuelling speculation he 

could replace Massa at Ferrari.—AFP 

Lewis Hamilton in action in this file photo 

Toyota Hybrid dominates World Endurance Championship 

Next race at Bahrain International Circuit 

I like Interlagos, a circuit that is really 

special for me, so it is a great feeling to win 

here with Toyota Racing in only our third 

race. Thank you to the entire team and 

Nicolas for doing a great job. It was not 

easy and we pushed like crazy. The key was 

certainly the tyre management and we 

were able to make the difference in the 

second stint thanks to our Michelin tyres. 

Our team President said at Le Mans “you 

watch, we push”. We will continue in this 

way during the following races.” 

Toyota Racing’s next action comes at 

the Bahrain International Circuit for the Six 

Hours of Bahrain on 29 September when 

Wurz and Lapierre will again be driving the 

Toyota Hybrid No.7 TS030.

sports 

Sabol brought the NFL down to eye level 

NEW YORK: Without ever playing a 

down in the pros, Steve Sabol got millions 

to fall hard for the NFL. The older 

you are, the more likely that is. 

Before Sabol and his father, Ed, 

came along in the early 1960s, football 

looked lost on TV. The players seemed 

small and faceless, like cogs in a 

machine. All the histrionics on the 

sidelines between the plays seemed 

pointless. 

Neither the contact on the field nor 

the crowd in the background produced 

much above an audible hum. 

Watching was only slightly more 

entertaining than playing a board 

game popular at the time called 

“Electric Football.” It hummed a lot, 

too. Then the Sabols hauled all those 

cameras and mics down to eye level 

and occasionally peeked behind the 

scenes. The modest father-son enterprise 

that became NFL Films made the 

game look and sound exactly like the 

messy, sometimes-noble human 

enterprise it was. 

Just before the snap you heard 

coaches hollering instructions and 

often as not afterward, cursing their 

fate or pleading with the refs. In 

between, the players wrestled or flew 

around in a dizzying ballet and then 

collided, grunting and groaning all the 

while. By slowing down the action and 

cranking up the volume, the Sabols 

revealed a game that was faster, more 

graceful, much more violent and yet 

somehow more intricate than most of 

us imagined. 

In lockstep with TV, the NFL began 

its steady climb to the top of the 

sports heap, rarely putting a foot 

down wrong. It merged with the rival 

AFL and Monday Night Football took 

off. Great teams and rivalries popped 

up in every corner of the country. 

As word of Steve Sabol’s death, at 

age 69 from brain cancer, reverberated 

across the league, evidence continued 

to roll in showing the NFL has 

never been more popular. Whether 

measured by revenues, fan interest or 

television ratings - viewership for the 

first two weeks of the season set 

Watson powers Australia 

to easy win over Ireland 

COLOMBO: Shane Watson’s allround brilliance 

powered Australia to an easy seven-wicket 

victory over Ireland in their 

opening Group B match of the Twenty20 

World Cup yesterday. 

Opening the bowling, Watson claimed 

three wickets for 26 runs and returned to 

hammer a 30-ball 51 as Australia chased 

down the 124-run victory target with 29 

balls to spare. Watson and his opening 

partner David Warner (26) put a brisk 60run 

stand in the first seven overs to set 

the tone for what turned out to be a 

comfortable chase. 

Australia lost their third wicket when 

Kevin O’Brien trapped Michael Hussey 

(10) in the 11th overs but Cameron White 

(22 not out) and captain George Bailey 

(six not out) stayed put to ensure an easy 

victory for the 2010 finalists. 

Watson removed Irish captain William 

Porterfield with the first ball of the match 

and later broke a dangerous-looking fifth 

wicket partnership between the O’Brien 

brothers - Niall (20) and Kevin - both of 

whom fell to the blond Australian. 

“It wasn’t as much a wicket-ball I suppose,” 

Watson said referring to his first d 

elivery that dismissed t he I rish captain. 

“But it just w orked out luckily enough.” 

Ireland: 

W. Porterfield c Starc b Watson 0 

P. Stirling c Watson b Starc 7 

E. Joyce c Warner b Maxwell 16 

N. O’Brien b Watson 20 

G. Wilson lbw b Hogg 5 

K. O’Brien cWade b Watson 35 

A. Cusack not out 15 

T. Johnston b Starc 7 

N. Jones not out 14 

Extras (lb-3,w-1) 4 

Total (For 7 wickets; 20 overs) 123 

Fall of wickets: 1-0 2-15 3-25 4-33 5-85 

6-86 7-101. 

Bowling: Watson 4-0-26-3, Starc 4-0-20- 

SCOREBOARD 

“I t was a blueprint for this game and I 

am not exactly sure that is going to 

absolutely continue,” he said on h is role 

as a new ball bowler. “Depending on the 

teams, we will play in the conditions I 

suppose that could potentially change.” 

Watson was involved in the dismissal 

of the other Irish opene r P aul Stirling 

(seven), c atching him off f ast bowler 

Mitchell Starc i n the fourth over as 

Ireland lost th ere s econd wicket wit h 15 

runs on the board. “Stirling is a quality 

hitter of the ball. So we knew that was a 

v ery important wicket, as well as ( the 

wicket of) K evin O’Brien,” Watson said. 

Ireland, having elected to bat first, 

never really recovered after losing their 

captain to the first ball and slumped to 

33 for four wickets in 7.2 overs. 

Irish skipper Porterfield said they lost 

too may wickets in quick successions 

which denied them a bigger total. “If we 

had come up with an extra 40-45 runs it 

would have given us a chance,” he said. 

At one stage, even the 100-mark 

looked a distant possibility for Ireland 

but they s till managed to post 123 for 

seven wickets largely because of the 52run 

fifth wicket stand between the 

O’Brien brothers. — Reuters 

COLOMBO: Scoreboard of the Australia v Ireland Group B match of the Twenty20 

World Cup at the R Premadasa Stadium yesterday. 

2, Cummins 4-0-29-0, Maxwell 2-0-12-1, 

Christian 2-0-11-0, Hogg 4-0-22-1. 

Australia: 

D. Warner c K O’Brien b Dockrell 26 

S. Watson run out 51 

M. Hussey lbw b K O’Brien 10 

C. White not out 22 

G. Bailey not out 6 

Extras (lb-4, w-6) 10 

Total (3 wickets; 15.1 overs) 125 

Fall of wickets: 1-60 2-91 3-95. 

Bowling: Rankin 4-0-28-0, Johnston 2- 

0-21-0, Cusack 2-0-10-0, Dockrell 3.1-0- 

31-1, Stirling 1-0-13-0, K. O’Brien 3-0- 

18-1. 

COLOMBO: Australia’s batsman Shane Watson plays a shot during their ICC 

Twenty20 Cricket World Cup match against Ireland. —AP 

Al-Qana’ei to attend AIPS 

meeting in Azerbaijan 

KUWAIT: Kuwait Journalists 

Association’s Secretary Faisal Al- 

Qana’ei heads to Baku, Azerbaijan 

today to take part in a meeting for 

the Executive Committee of the 

International Sports Press 

Association (AIPS), ahead of the 

2012 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 

which takes place in Azerbaijan from 

Sept 22 to Oct 13. 

Al-Qana’ei attends the meeting 

as the Vice President of AIPS, as 

well as the First Deputy Chairman 

of the Asian Sports Press Union 

(ASPU). 

Faisal Al-Qana’ei 

records - the NFL’s lead over its competitors 

is widening. 

Yet Tuesday’s news was dominated 

by discussions about the miserable 

performance of the replacement officials 

the night before and 

Commissioner Roger Goodell’s running 

feud with several current and former 

New Orleans Saints about their 

role in a highly organized bounty 

scheme. 

The first issue called into question 

the league’s commitment to the 

integrity of the game and the safety of 

its players. The way the people in 

charge have handled the second matter 

- releasing evidence in piecemeal 

fashion, and only when forced to - 

they’ve only strengthened suspicions 

they have something to hide. In some 

ways, the game has rarely seemed 

more small-minded and distant from 

the myths Sabol painstakingly created. 

As both an all-Rocky Mountain 

Conference running back and art history 

major at Colorado College, he 

seemed uniquely qualified for the 

COLOMBO: Former champions India 

endured a scare from fearless Afghanistan 

before recording a 23-run win in the World 

Twenty20 in Colombo yesterday. 

India, sent in to bat, took advantage of 

their rivals’ butter-fingered display to recover 

from a bad start and post 159-5, with 

Virat Kohli top-scoring with 50 off 38 balls. 

The Afghans, batting with gay abandon, 

raced to a comfortable 75-2 in the 12th over 

before a late collapse saw the non-Test side 

being bowled out for 136 with three balls to 

spare. 

Mohammad Nabi was the star batsman 

with an aggressive 31 off 17 balls with two 

boundaries and as many sixes, while Karim 

Sadiq made 26 and skipper Nawroz Mangal 

chipped in with 22. 

Seamer Lakshmipathy Balaji and left-arm 

spinner Yuvraj Singh claimed three wickets 

each and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin 

took two, but India were fortunate to 

emerge unscathed from the group A match. 

The Afghans continued to attack till the 

end, but the loss of regular wickets cost 

them an unlikely win. 

Tall left-arm seamer Shapoor Zardan 

gave the Afghans a superb start when he 

removed openers Gautam Gambhir and 

Virender Sehwag by the fifth over with only 

22 runs on the board. 

But Afghanistan, playing their second 

World Twenty20, were let down by a shod- 

HAMBANTOTA: South Africa hopes to end 

Zimbabwe’s World Twenty20 campaign 

today when the African teams meet in a 

Group D match. 

Sri Lanka crushed Zimbabwe by 82 runs 

in the tournament opener on Tuesday and 

another defeat will bring the curtains down 

on Zimbabwe as only the top two teams 

from the four groups advance to the Super 

Eights. 

South Africa’s Hashim Amla says his 

teammates were more interested in how the 

pitch played at Mahinda Rajapaksa 

International Cricket Stadium in this south- 

work. Sabol wasn’t blind to the terrible 

toll the game extracted, how it broke 

players’ bodies and sometimes later in 

life, wiped away their memories and 

worse. He was put off by the commercialism, 

and troubled by the way players 

from the past were short-changed 

by the pension plan. Mostly, though, 

he wanted people to see and hear 

what he did. Sabol would have been 

delighted to hear the way a friend 

described his life’s work: “Baryshnikov 

had nothing on John Stallworth leaping 

for a pass in the end zone when 

you saw it through the lens of NFL 

Films.” 

What’s sad is how recent events 

have convinced so many people with 

a stake in the game to lower their 

gaze. The Ravens-Eagles game had 

barely ended Sunday before Ravens 

quarterback Joe Flacco invited a fine 

by questioning whether the league 

understood too much was at stake to 

continue using replacement officials. 

Earlier in that same game, one of 

those officials reportedly said to 

dy display in the field, dropping four catches, 

two of them return catches by 

Mohammad Nabi. Yuvraj, who opened his 

account with a six, put on 46 for the third 

wicket with Kohli before he was caught at 

third-man off spinner Karim Sadiq. Skipper 

Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit a four and six off 

ern port city, rather than the result. 

“I think more importantly for us was how 

the wicket reacted and the kind of scores 

you are looking at (in) this ground and also 

the size of the field,” Amla said. “I think that 

was more important to us than what happened 

in the game.” 

The staggering bowling figures of 6-8 

from Sri Lanka spinner Ajantha Mendis on 

Tuesday would have encouraged the 

Proteas spinners, former captain Johan 

Botha and Robin Pietersen. 

Fast bowler Albie Morkel was nursing a 

back complaint and had a scan on Tuesday. 


Eagles running back LeSean McCoy, “I 

need you for my fantasy team.” 

By the end of Monday night’s 

Denver-Atlanta game, the officiating 

was so bad that former quarterback 

and current ESPN analyst Steve Young 

tore into the league for locking out 

the regular officials in the first place 

and the tone-deaf way it’s responded 

to the mounting criticism since. 

“The NFL doesn’t care what you 

think,” Young said more than once, 

explaining that was because the higher-ups 

knew fans would tune in to 

watch games - and money would continue 

to pour into the league’s coffers - 

no matter who officiated them or how 

poorly. 

That’s precisely the kind of arrogance 

that, in the hands of a filmmaker 

with Sabol’s consummate skill, 

would have foreshadowed a fall. 

Here’s hoping that the league finds its 

bearings first, by remembering that 

no matter how big or complicated the 

game gets, it’s still people that make 

it go. —AP 

COLOMBO: Afghanistan’s batsman Karim Sadiq (right) plays a shot as India’s wicket keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni watches during their 

ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup match. —AP 

Fearless Afghanistan go 

down fighting to India 

India 

G. Gambhir b Shapoor 10 

V. Sehwag c Shahzad b Shapoor 8 

V. Kohli c Nabi b Dawlat 50 

Y. Singh c Shapoor b Sadiq 18 

S. Raina b Nabi 38 

M. Dhoni not out 18 

R. Sharma not out 1 

Extras: (lb2, w14) 16 

Total (for five wickets, 20 overs) 159 

Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Gambhir), 2-22 

(Sehwag), 3-68 (Yuvraj), 4-114 (Kohli), 5-148 

(Raina). 

Bowling: Shapoor 4-0-33-2 (w4), Dawlat 4-0- 

25-1 (w4), Naib 2-0-15-0, Sadiq 4-0-33-1, 

Nabi 4-0-35-1 (w6), Shenwari 2-0-16-0 

Afghanistan 

Mohammad Shahzad c Yuvraj b Balaji 18 

Nawroz Mangal lbw b Yuvraj 22 

SCOREBOARD 

the final two deliveries to carry India past 

the 150-run mark. India play defending 

champions England next in Colombo on 

Sunday. Afghanistan await England at the 

same venue on Friday. The top two teams 

from the group will advance to the Super 

Eights round. —AFP 

COLOMBO: Scoreboard of the World Twenty20 group A match between Afghanistan and 

India at the Premadasa stadium yesterday. 

Karim Sadiq c Gambhir b Yuvraj 26 

Asghar Stanikzai c Dhoni b Yuvraj 6 

Mohammad Nabi c Sharma b Ashwin 31 

Samiullah Shenwari c and b Ashwin 1 

Shafiqullah Shafaq lbw b Pathan 8 

Gulbodin Naib c Raina b Balaji 5 

Najibullah Zadran run out 5 

Dawlat Zadran b Balaji 8 

Shapoor Zadran not out 0 

Extras: (lb2, w3, nb1) 6 

Total (all out, 19.3 overs) 136 

Fall of wickets: 1-26 (Shahzad), 2-52 

(Mangal), 3-75 (Sadiq), 4-75 (Stanikzai), 5-76 

(Shenwari), 6-100 (Shafiqullah), 7-119 (Nabi), 

8-125 

(Najibullah), 9-136 (Naib), 10-136 (Dawlat). 

Bowling: Zaheer 3-0-32-0, Pathan 4-0-29-1 

(nb1), Balaji 3.3-0-19-3 (w1), Sharma 1-0-10- 

0, Yuvraj 4-0-24-3, Ashwin 4-0-20-2 (w2) 

India won by 23 runs 

South Africa looks to end Zimbabwe’s Twenty20 run 

Preview 

But manager Mohammad Moosaji said the 

paceman will hopefully be available for 

selection. 

Zimbabwe coach Alan Butcher said it was 

a big disappointment to see his batsmen 

being dismissed for 100 in 17.3 overs after 

Sri Lanka posted a challenging 182-4. 

“Obviously it’s our last chance to progress 

in the tournament and to do so we will have 

to put in a vastly improved performance 

than against Sri Lanka,” he said. “But we have 

to pick ourselves up and be positive against 

what we know is a very good side.” —AP

SPORTS 

SPAIN: Jose Mourinho should send his dry-cleaning 

bill to Roberto Mancini, with an attached note: 

“Roberto, will you pay this? It was, after all, partly your 

fault.” Sliding on his knees in exaltation across the turf 

of the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, leaving grass 

stains on his trousers, must have exasperated the Real 

Madrid manager’s tailor. 

But the celebration was a backhanded compliment 

to Mancini and his team, Manchester City. It showed 

that Mourinho regards the English champion as a 

force to be reckoned with, even though this is only its 

second Champions League season. Mourinho surely 

would not have soiled his beautiful suit had this been 

a mere run-of-the-mill Madrid victory over one of 

Europe’s lesser teams. And that, for City, must count as 

progress. Of course, losing 3-2 to a Cristiano Ronaldo 

goal in the 89th minute stings. “It’s not on,” grumbled 

City’s goalkeeper, Joe Hart. But as they regroup for 

their Premier League match against Arsenal on 

Sunday, Hart and his teammates should draw some 

consolation from City’s club motto: “Superbia in proelio” 

- “Pride in battle.” Because, for 89 minutes in 

Madrid, they brought that phrase alive. 

Returning to Manchester with a point from Madrid 

would have been better for City, three would have 

been ideal. But the first match of any Champions 

League campaign is important for broadcasting statements 

of intent, too. 

In unpicking Dynamo Kiev 4-1, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 

Thiago Silva and other stars recruited by Paris Saint- 

Germain in an estimated euro 260 million splurge 

since June 2011 started to prove that they are more 

than just clotheshorses for brand Qatar. More performances 

like that will send Europe the message that 

the wealth of PSG’s Gulf owners is genuinely making 

the Parc des Princes a daunting venue for visiting 

teams, and not just a parking lot for the players’ luxury 

cars. At Manchester United, manager Alex Ferguson 

intends to demonstrate that last year’s failure to reach 

the Champions League knockout stage won’t become 

a habit. Goals from Lukas Podolski and Gervinho 

proved there is still life at Arsenal without Robin van 

Persie. The same cannot be said of 7-time European 

champion AC Milan, jeered off the pitch after a scoreless 

draw with Anderlecht that showed how sorely 

Ibrahimovic will be missed at the San Siro. 

The messages City sent from Madrid were mixed. 

In 42 seasons of European competition, Madrid never 

lost its opening match at the Bernabeu. At 2-1, City 

was just 5 minutes away from ruining that record dating 

back to 1955. That City came so close to what 

would have amounted to a coup d’etat in European 

football should worry its other opponents in Group D, 

Borussia Dortmund and Ajax Amsterdam. And it 

planted a giant “HANDLE WITH EXTREME CAUTION” 

sign for Madrid’s return trip to the Etihad Stadium in 

Manchester on Nov. 21. 

Yaya Toure showed he can reverse the tide of a 

game almost single-handed for City with his rampaging 

runs from midfield, brushing off opponents like a 

bowling ball through pins. Hart was impenetrable as a 

wall in the first half when Madrid played by far the 

best football. Carlos Tevez, so disgraceful 12 months 

ago when he wouldn’t do as he was told by Mancini, 

was a model of selfless dedication to the team, tireless 

and patient in a lonely attacking role. 

Hart’s bitterness after Karim Benzema and then 

Ronaldo dramatically scored twice in four minutes to 

win was encouraging, too, because it demonstrated 

that City traveled to Madrid with more ambition than 

simply to acquit itself decently. “We’re not a team that 

should come here and pat ourselves on the back for 

doing well. We’re a team that gets results,” Hart said. 

Well, not this time. But the unprecedented $1 billion 

spent by Abu Dhabi Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al 

Nahyan to utterly transform City since he bought the 

club in 2008 makes it easy to overlook how far it has 

come so quickly and that Tuesday was City’s first time 

playing Madrid. 

City was playing lower league English football 

when Madrid was winning its seventh, eighth and 

ninth European titles in 1998, 2000 and 2002. In the 

late 1980s, when Madrid was jetting off to play the 


Losing well to Real is progress for City 

Ulsan, Bunyodkor hold 

edge in AFC quarters 

SINGAPORE: South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai 

eked out a narrow win and Uzbek champions 

Bunyodkor fought back to draw 

Adelaide United 2-2 as the AFC Champions 

League quarter-finals got under way yesterday. 

Ulsan had Brazilian striker Rafinha’s 

deflected shot to thank for their 1-0 firstleg 

victory over Al Hilal, while Bunyodkor 

will have the psychological edge for next 

month’s return tie after rescuing a precious 

point in Adelaide. 

In yesterday’s later matches, World Cupwinning 

coach Marcello Lippi’s Guangzhou 

Evergrande take on two-time champions Al 

Ittihad in Jeddah, and Iran’s Foolad 

Sepahan are against Al Ahli in Isfahan. In 

Ulsan, Rafinha found the net after nine 

minutes with a shot which took a wicked 

deflection off Al Hilal captain Majed Al 

Marshadi on its way past goalkeeper 

Abdullah Mohammed. 

The Saudi visitors had their chances to 

level and Ulsan were grateful to goalkeeper 

Kim Young-Kwang, who made a fine save at 

the death to deny Abdulaziz Al Dosari. 

Earlier in Adelaide, the Reds, finalists in 

2008, had looked in command with a 2-0 

lead after the first 18 minutes through goals 

by Iain Ramsay and Evan Kostopoulos. 

But the match turned on an incident 

just before half-time, when Adelaide 

defender Nigel Boogaard was shown the 

red card for bringing down Kamoliddin 

Murzoev, who was through on goal with 

only keeper Eugene Galekovic to beat. 

Jasur Khasanov scored directly from the 

resulting free kick with a brilliant left-foot 

strike to the top right-hand corner for the 

Uzbeks to trail 2-1 at half-time. 

It was all Bunyodkor in the second half 

and they equalised in the 75th minute 

when Shavkat Salomov pounced on a 

missed clearance from defender Iain Fyfe to 

beat Galekovic from close range. 

Bunyodkor could have taken a one-goal 

advantage to their home second leg in 

Tashkent on October 3, only to be denied 

by a brave block from defender Antony 

Golec at the near post in stoppage time. 

Bunyodkor, who have yet to beat 

Adelaide United in three meetings in this 

season’s competition, have two important 

away goals in their favour for the second 

leg to progress to the semi-finals of the 

Asian showpiece. “We played them off the 

park for the first 30-40 minutes,” Adelaide 

coach John Kosmina said. “But we did not 

take our chances and allowed them back 

into the game. “We got a bit too complacent 

and comfortable at 2-0, but I am confident 

we can go over to Uzbekistan and get 

a result.” Later Guangzhou, Lippi’s expensively 

assembled Chinese champions who 

are making their debut, take on the 10year-old 

tournament’s most successful 

club, Saudi Arabia’s Al Ittihad, who lifted 

the trophy in 2004 and 2005. In Isfahan, Al 

Ahli, the third Saudi club still standing, will 

make their first appearance in the quarterfinals 

since 2005 when they take on former 

group rivals Sepahan at the Foolad Shahr 

Stadium. The second legs will take place on 

October 2 and 3. — AFP 

Tiger Woods 

Tiger happy with season, 

despite major drought 

ATLANTA: Tiger Woods has not won a major 

title in more than four years but he is delighted 

with his progress this season, highlighted 

by three victories on the PGA Tour, after a 

frustrating 2011 campaign cut short by injury. 

The American former world number one 

missed three months, and two of the four 

majors, last year after injuring his Achilles 

during the Masters in April. 

“This has been a really good season to 

come back from last year, not being able to 

play at all, and then being able to train properly 

and practise properly,” Woods told 

reporters on Wednesday ahead of this week’s 

Tour Championship. 

“Hence I’m producing the results I know I 

can produce. I’ve made some great strides 

this year. I went from probably most of my 

career not being a very good driver of the ball 

to now being one of the better ones out here 

on tour. “That is exciting for me. That is one of 

the reasons why my scoring average is where 

it’s at right now. I’ve been very 

consistent.”Helped by his three wins on the 

2012 PGA Tour, Woods lies second behind 

Rory McIlroy in the FedExCup points standings 

coming into this week for the fourth and 

final playoff event of the season. 

He also occupies second place in the scoring 

average charts, his 68.892 being trumped 

only by McIlroy’s 68.836. “My short game is 

finally starting to come around too, which is 

nice,” said Woods. “I made some good 

changes this summer, and they’re finally start- 

KUWAIT: TACK kick started its 2012/2013 

cricket season with the introduction of 7- 

A-Side One Day Festival tournament on 

Sept 14, 2012 with the participation of as 

many as 32 teams. What gave this tournament 

an added impetus was the involvement 

of top cricketers from all over 

Kuwait and an exciting concept that saw 

many close fought games. 

The “knock out” nature of the format 

meant that only the winners progressed 

to the next round and the losers had to 

head home. The biggest upset of the day 

saw pre tournament favorites “Safety Plus 

Dashers” knocked out by the dangerous 

“Desert Scorpions” in the preliminary 

matches. 

On the other hand, “Titans” and 

“Aroma” qualified for the finals after playing 

some nerve wrecking league matches 

that saw Aroma qualify to the finals 

after their batsman Bilal managed to hit a 

six of the last ball to eventually see his 

team through to the finals whereas on 

the other hand “Titans” came through a 

stiff challenge from “Desert Scorpions” in 

ing to click in.” Asked what he still needed to 

do to clinch a 15th major title, Woods replied: 

“I think just putting it all together at the right 

time. I’ve put it together at three events this 

year. They just happen to be not the major 

championships. 

“I just need to have those weeks where I 

put it together and coincide with a major. 

They’re not easy to do. I haven’t really done it 

that often. I’ve done it 14 times ... so they’re a 

little harder to do.” 

Woods won the most recent of his 14 

major titles at the 2008 US Open before his 

game went into decline after the 2009 season 

following assorted leg injuries and the breakdown 

of his marriage. 

However, the American has been in good 

health since October and he ended a twoyear 

winless streak with victory in December 

at the limited-field Chevron World Challenge 

which he hosts in California. This week, 

though, Woods is fully focused on trying to 

land FedExCup honours for a third time, having 

previously triumphed in 2007 and 2009. 

“It really would top it off,” the world number 

two said. “I’ve had a really good season, 

and to win the Tour Championship, the 

FedExCup, and then have my fourth win ... all 

of those are positive things. 

“These are the 30 of the hottest players 

this year, so you’re beating a really good field,” 

Woods said of the elite field at East Lake. “The 

guys are all playing well. I’ve done it twice, 

and hopefully I can do it again.” —Reuters 

the quarter finals and “NAPESCO” in the 

semi finals and qualified to the finals in 

the very last over. Thereafter, the final 

match between “Titans” and “Aroma” 

turned out to be an easy affair for the 

“Titans” as they were clinical enough in 

Fifty of the world’s best street style soccer players 

will be showing off their extraordinary 

skills at the 2012 Red Bull Street Style World 

Finals in Lecce, Italy on Sept 22 after winning their 

national championships in preliminary events 

staged around the world. 

“It’s a great honor to represent Kuwait at the 

Red Bull Street Style World Final in Italy. I have 

trained a lot for this competition and watched 

videos of my opponents in order to plan my tactics. 

My goal is to advance to the quarter finals and if I 

do that I will be the first Arabic person to do so.” 

said an excited Karam Humaidani. 

The world’s best street style players will be battling 

it out for glory in the most prestigious 

freestyle football championship that will be held 

this year in the “Heel of the Boot” in the southern 

ensuring a comfortable and well 

deserved victory over Aroma with the 

major contribution coming from their 

star player “Farhan” who was also named 

Man of the Tournament. The winners and 

runners up prizes were handed out by 

SPAIN: Real Madrid’s coach Jose Mourinho from Portugal reacts after Cristiano Ronaldo scored the 

winning goal during a Group D Champions League soccer match against Manchester City. — AP 

Italian town of Lecce from September 20-22. After 

previous world championships held in Sao Paulo, 

Brazil (2008) and Cape Town (2010), the 2012 finals 

will be held for the first time in Europe, where the 

winners from the 50 national championships in the 

sport that combines soccer with rhythm and style 

will do their best to impress a jury with their eyecatching 

tricks and movements. The rules of the 

game are simple: 3 minutes, 2 players, 1 ball. 

The setting for the 2012 world finals could hardly 

be more dramatic. Discovered at the beginning 

of 1900, the Roman Amphitheatre of Lecce is located 

in the very city centre, in Sant’Oronzo square. 

For it dimensions, it’s among the most important 

Roman monuments in Puglia. Italy freestyle 

Guenther Celli, a native of Brescia who won the 

Italian national finals on May 5 in Pavia, will be trying 

to win the title for Italy after Arnaud “Sean” 

Garnier of France won the 2008 finals and Norway’s 

the “Chief Guest - Mahmoud Abdullah” 

who has been sponsoring the TACK tournaments 

for many years now and 

through his continuous support; TACK 

has seen a lot of success in its short history. 

Getting the tournament completed in 

likes of Milan and PSV Eindhoven, City supporters 

were keeping up their spirits in what was then 

England’s Division Two by taking inflatable bananas, 

balls, giraffes and dinosaurs to games. 

That’s old history now, but history weighs on the 

present, too. Individually, many of Mancini’s players 

have ample experience. Toure, for example, won the 

2009 Champions League with Barcelona. But they 

looked inexperienced when they were leading Madrid 

- which, as a team, in that situation, they still are. The 

defending was too often chaotic and the ball-retention 

poor, making it too easy for Madrid to get back 

into the game twice and, finally, to win it. 

City was especially vulnerable down the right 

flank, with Marcelo and Ronaldo given too much 

space to strike. Just as Tottenham’s Gareth Bale before 

him, Ronaldo exposed Maicon, City’s Brazilian rightback 

hired from Inter in August, as sluggish against 

the speediest, most slippery attackers. And why 

Vincent Kompany ducked rather than parry Ronaldo’s 

winning strike was a mystery - even to Hart, who 

immediately remonstrated with his captain. 

Still, that City pushed Madrid so hard is something. 

Not every team causes Mourinho to mess up a fine 

pair of trousers in joy and relief. It isn’t what City wanted, 

but it is progress.— AP 

World’s best Street Style 

footballers head for Italy 

Karam Humaidani: ‘My goal is to advance to the quarterfinals’ 

Karam Humaidani performing 

Red Bull Street Style 

Anders “Azun” Solum won the 2010 title. 

Red Bull Street Style has grown incredibly popular 

in football bastions around the world. Athletes 

go head-to-head, expressing themselves while 

showing off their various ball tricks with their bodies. 

The jury evaluates the athletes’ style, technique, 

and creativity in combination with music. 

The jury members, chosen from the fields of 

soccer and breakdance, will evaluate control, creativity 

and style. It will include Soufiane Touzani 

(NED/Overall), Hee Young Woo (KOR/Control), Erik 

“Palle” Sjolander (SWE/Best Trick), Omar “Roxrite” 

Macias (MEX/Style), Pippo Inzaghi and Fabio 

Cannavaro (ITA/Creativity), 

The competitors will challenge each other, alternating 

control of the ball every 30 seconds. The 

players will take turns executing their most spectacular 

tricks in one-on-one battles following the 

rhythm of the music. 

TACK organizes Super 7 Cricket Tournament 

Winners TITANS Runners-Up AROMA CC 

one day with as many as 32 matches 

would not have been possible without 

the contributions from TACK Organizing 

committee who were instrumental in 

organizing and overseeing the successful 

completion of all matches.

MUNICH: Bayern’s Philipp Lahm (front) and Valencia’s Jonas challenge for the ball 

during the Group F Champions League soccer match. — AP 

Bayern ease to victory 

over 10-man Valencia 

MUNICH: Bayern Munich produced a dominant 

performance here yesterday in their 

Champions League opener to beat Spanish 

opponents Valencia 2-1 in what was a 

repeat of the 2001 Champions League final 

which Bayern had won on penalties. 

Bastian Schweinsteiger gave Munich the 

lead in the 38th minute and then Toni 

Kroos doubled the advantage after 76 minutes 

for the 2012 finalists. Nelson Valdez 

pulled a goal back a minute into injury 

time. Bayern’s Croatian international striker 

Mario Mandzukic could have restored the 

two goal advantage but his penalty was 

saved in the third minute of injury-time 

after Valencia’s Adil Rami was sent off for a 

second bookable offence. 

Bayern were rarely challenged until 

Valdez’s late goal in the showdown in 

Group F, which sees them top the group 

with Belarus side BATE Borisov, who 

stunned French side Lille 3-1 also on 

Wednesday. 

Munich boss Jupp Heynckes made four 

changes to his Bundesliga line-up from the 

weekend with Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery 

and Claudio Pizarro returning while new 

buy Javi Martinez made his first start in the 

place of Luiz Gustavo. 

Valencia had three changes from the 

weekend with Joao Pereira, Ricardo Costa 

and Andres Guardado. Bayern had the first 

chance of the game after four minutes but 

Kroos shot over the bar from 11 yards out. 

Munich never let up and continued to 

dominate, Kroos was close again 15 minutes 

later but Valencia keeper Diego Alves 

made a good save. 

Then Robben’s dangerous shot in the 

35th minute was deflected wide right and 

Dante’s header was fisted away just seconds 

later. Bayern finally broke through 

after 38 minutes with Ribery passing to 

Robben, who instead of shooting passed to 

Schweinsteiger and the midfielder’s effort 

was deflected by Aly Cissokho into the far 

corner to make it 1-0 for the hosts. 

The Spanish side finally ventured forward 

in the 52nd minute but Bayern keeper 

Manuel Neuer had no problem stopping 

Guardado’s long distance strike. 

The energetic Kroos went close again in 

the 58th minute with a blast from the edge 

of the box which keeper Diego Alves had to 

tip over his crossbar. 

Valencia had another chance in the 68th 

minute on a counter attack but Jerome 

Boateng deflected Sofiane Feghouli’s 

attempt for a corner. Kroos found the back 

of the net in the 76th minute with a right 

foot blast into the upper left corner from 

about 18 yards out to wrap up the points. 

Valencia pulled a goal back a minute 

into injury time with a header by Valdez 

but Mandzukic’s hopes of scoring on his 

Champions League debut were frustrated 

as Diego Alves got down to save his 

penalty. — AFP 

Shakhtar blank 

CL debutants 

DONETSK: A double from Armenian midfielder 

Henrik Mkhitaryan gave Ukrainian 

giants Shakhtar Donetsk a 2-0 win over 

Danish Champions League debutants 

Nordsjaelland here yesterday in their opening 

Group E match. 

Mkhitaryan’s double-one in each halftook 

his tally this season to 11 goals in 14 

games in league and Champions League. 

Shakhtar’s highly-rated Brazilian forward 

Willian-who had been a target for 

Tottenham Hotspur in the summer-had 

made a couple of bright runs early on for 

the hosts but sent one effort wide and the 

other one had been goalbound before 

being deflected for a corner. 

However, it was Nordsjaelland who had 

the first shot on target as 36-year-old veteran 

midfielder Nicolai Stokholm let fly with a 

great effort which Shakhtar goalkeeper 

Andriy Pyatov was equal to. The Danish 

side were more than holding their own and 

American central defender Michael 

Parkhurst exemplified that by getting his 

head in the way of a Razvan Rat volley 

which laid him out. 

However, the hosts were beginning to 

turn the screw and Mkhitaryan and then 

Rat both went close with efforts as the half 

came to a conclusion. 

Mkhitaryan then missed with a volley 

but, a minute from half time, he finally put 

away a chance to add to his growing reputation 

as a marksman. 

The lively Mkhitaryan had a great 

chance to double his side’s lead 13 minutes 

into the second half but Nordsjaelland 

goalkeeper Jesper Hansen got down well 

to block his effort. 

The classy Armenian, though, made no 

mistake 14 minutes from time when he 

knocked the ball home after the ball came 

back to him following his initial attempt to 

play in a teammate. 

Hansen had been outstanding all night 

and, having denied Willian’s curling effort, 

he then came to his side’s rescue late on 

with a double save from Shakhtar’s 

Croatian captain Darijo Srna and then the 

Czech Tomas Hubschman. — AFP 

UKRAINE: Henrik Mkhitaryan (right) of Shakhtar Donetsk challenges for the ball 

against Jores Okore of Danish FC Nordsjaelland during a Group E Champions League 

match. — AP 

19 SPORTS 

LONDON: Juventus stunned Champions 

League holders Chelsea as Fabio Quagliarella’s 

late strike rescued a dramatic 2-2 draw at 

Stamford Bridge and ruined Oscar’s command 

performance for the Blues yesterday. 

Oscar marked his first start for Chelsea with 

an impressive brace that included a stunning 

solo effort to fire Roberto Di Matteo’s side into 

a 2-0 lead before half-time in their Group E 

opener. But the Brazil midfielder’s heroics 

were in vain thanks to a gutsy recovery from 

the Italian champions, who reduced the 

deficit before the break through Arturo Vidal 

and salvaged a point with 10 minutes left 

thanks to Quagliarella’s clinical finish. While 

Blues boss Di Matteo, who splashed out £25 

million to sign Oscar from Internacional during 

the close-season, will have been encouraged 

by his new recruit’s eye-catching display, 

it was Chelsea’s defensive frailties that were 

the defining factor. 

“We found ourselves in a great position to 

win the game and we only got a draw but we 

knew we were playing a quality side,” Di 

Matteo told Sky Sports. “We feel a little deflated 

because we were ahead but it’s going to 

be a tough group.” Asked about Oscar’s performance, 

Di Matteo added: “We were just 

waiting for the right game for him, it was 

wonderful to watch. The second goal was fantastic.” 

The Champions League trophy was 

paraded around Stamford Bridge by military 

personnel just before kick-off. And the fond 

memories of their final triumph over Bayern 

Munich in May seemed to inspire Di Matteo’s 

side as they set the early tempo. But Juventus 

had a glorious chance to snatch the lead 

against the run of play midway through the 

half. Andrea Barzagli floated a long pass over 

the top of the Chelsea defence and Claudio 

Marchisio’s run evaded the offside trap, yet, 

with only Petr Cech to beat, the midfielder’s 

first touch was poor and he could only poke a 

shot straight at the Chelsea goalkeeper. 

There was more confusion in the Chelsea 

back-four soon after when Branislav Ivanovic 

carelessly conceded possession to Vidal, who 

slipped a pass through to Mirko Vucinic. The 

Juventus striker had a clear sight of goal but 

dragged his shot wide. Chelsea made the visitors 

pay for their profligacy in the 31st minute 

as Oscar opened the scoring. 

Eden Hazard slipped a pass to Oscar 25 

yards from goal and the Juventus defence 

made the fatal mistake of standing off the 

Brazilian. He took full advantage with a powerful 

strike that a crucial deflection off 

Leonardo Bonucci as it flashed past Gianluigi 

Buffon. Oscar took the spotlight again just 

two minutes later. With his confidence skyhigh, 

the Brazilian collected Ashley Cole’s pass 

on the edge of the penalty area and fooled 

two Juventus defenders with a sublime flick 

to make space for a magnificent curling effort 

that raced into the top corner of Buffon’s goal. 

At that point Chelsea were rampant, but their 

lack of defensive solidity allowed Juventus 

back into the match in the 38th minute. 

When Vidal took possession 30 yards out, 

he should have been closed down by the 

Chelsea rearguard. Instead they allowed the 


Juventus fightback steals 

the spotlight from Oscar 

GLASGOW: Celtic failed to get their 

Champions League campaign off to a flying 

start as they were held to a goalless draw by 

Group G rivals Benfica at Parkhead yesterday. 

After an absence of four years the Hoops 

had been desperate to announce their arrival 

back in the competition with a win. But they 

had to settle for a point against the Lisbon 

side in a match where clear cut chances were 

few and far between. 

Despite a frantic start the home side failed 

to test Benfica keeper Artur Moraes and it was 

the Portuguese who came closest with Fraser 

Forster doing well to deny Moreno Rodrigo’s 

shot. The keeper had to be sharp to denied 

Ezequiel Garay at the start of the second half 

while Celtic had a penalty appeal turned 

down after James Forrest fell in the box as neither 

side could make the breakthrough. 

Favorites Barcelona top Group G after coming 

from behind to claim a 3-2 win over Spartak 

Moscow at Camp Nou. 

At Celtic Park, Gary Hooper, who had been 

struggling with a knock, was named on the 

bench as Miku started as the lone striker while 

Benfica left top scorer Oscar Cardozo on the 

bench. 

In a frenzied start Celtic had a chance 

immediately when Kris Commons sent a 

chipped effort over the bar. The game was 

barely 90 seconds old when Miku set 

Commons up for another effort but his shot 

was blocked and the danger cleared. 

Celtic were pinning Benfica back in their 

own half but despite their dominance of possession 

they failed to test the Portuguese 

keeper. However, Benfica, who topped a 

group containing Manchester United on their 

way to last season’s quarter-finals, fired a 

warning shot in the 32nd minute when 

Rodrigo chased a long ball behind the Celtic 

defence but Forster rushed from his line to 

block the Spaniard’s shot. 

LONDON: Chelsea’s Frank Lampard ( left) competes with Juventus’ Mirko Vucinic during their 

Champions League Group E soccer match at Stamford Bridge. — AP 

Moments later Benfica launched a quick 

counter-attack from a Celtic corner but Kelvin 

Wilson made an important tackle to stop 

Nicolas Gaitan just over the half way line. 

Benfica came close to opening the scoring 

in the 62nd minute when Garay stooped low 

to get his head on Gaitan’s corner but Forster 

dived low to turn it round his near post. 

The Portuguese side sensed an opportunity 

and Cardozo was soon off the bench to 

replace captain Pablo Aimar in a bid to get the 

winner. 

In an attempt to reclaim the initiative Celtic 

midfielder to advance to the edge of the area 

and drill a low strike past Cech. It took a fine 

stop from Buffon to keep Juventus in with a 

chance early in the second half as the veteran 

goalkeeper pushed away Ivanovic’s dipping 

shot, while Juan Mata, on as a substitute for 

Oscar, fired into the side-netting. 

But Juventus, back in the Champions 

League after a three-year absence, were 

unbeaten in their last 42 Serie A games and 

they showed the spirit that characterised that 

epic run to snatch a dramatic equaliser in the 

80th minute. 

Di Matteo’s men were the authors of their 

own downfall. John Obi Mikel made the first 

mistake as he surrendered possession and 

then Luiz and John Terry were caught trying 

to play offside, allowing Quagliarella to ran 

onto Marchisio’s pass and guide a clinical finish 

under Cech. Quagliarella could even have 

won it for Juventus in the final moments, but 

his looping shot clipped the crossbar. — AFP 

Celtic held on return 

to Champions League 

Bastos gives 

Cluj 2-0 win 

BRAGA: Rafael Bastos scored twice in the first half to give Cluj 

a 2-0 win at Braga yesterday in the Champions League. Bastos, 

a Braga reject, put the visitors ahead in the 19th when he 

linked up with Modou Sougou on a counterattack and slotted 

the ball past the goalkeeper. 

The Brazilian struck again 15 minutes later, getting past 

three Braga defenders down the left before blasting the ball 

past Beto. Braga had most of the possession in northern 

Portugal but fell prey to the Romanian team’s quick counterattacks 

and ruthless finishing. 

The triumph was Cluj’s second victory in three appearances 

in the competition. It had lost its previous five 

Champions League away matches. The teams are in Group H 

along with Manchester United and Galatasaray. Pantelis 

Kapetanos squandered a chance to increase the lead on a 

counterattack when he ran at Beto unchallenged but shot just 

wide. Mossoro, Eder and Hugo Viana, with a powerful volley, 

all tested Cluj goalkeeper Mario Felgueiras as Braga pushed 

forward. Braga went all out to get back into the game after the 

break, with Felgueiras producing some spectacular saves, 

especially from Ruben Micael at close range in the 60th. The 

home team was cautious in defense, though, and lacked numbers 

in attack where its moves quickly faded. —AP 

GLASGOW: Celtic’s Victor Wanyama (center) vies for the ball with Benfica’s Eduardo Salvio 

(right) and Nemanja Matic during their Champions League Group G soccer match.— AP 

Group A 

Paris SG 1 1 0 0 4 1 3 

FC Porto 1 1 0 0 2 0 3 

Dinamo Zagreb 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 

Dynamo Kiev 1 0 0 1 1 4 0 

Group B 

Schalke 04 1 1 0 0 2 1 3 

Arsenal 1 1 0 0 2 1 3 

Montpellier 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 

Olympiakos 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 

Group C 

Malaga 1 1 0 0 3 0 3 

Anderlecht 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 

AC Milan 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 

Zenit 1 0 0 1 0 3 0 

Group D 

Real Madrid 1 1 0 0 3 2 3 

Dortmund 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 

Man City 1 0 0 1 2 3 0 

Ajax 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 

replaced the ineffectual Emilio Izaguirre with 

Hooper in the hope Artur would finally be 

tested. The game became more stretched 

with Benfica’s Eduardo Salvio sending a longrange 

shot harmlessly over the bar before 

substitute Bruno Cesar curled his effort just 

over the upright. 

Commons tried his luck with an audacious 

chip from the half way line but Artur was 

equal to it before referee Nicola Rizzoli waved 

away their penalty claims when Forrest went 

down in the box under the challenge of 

Lorenzo Melgarejo. — AFP 

Champions League table 

PARIS: Champions League tables after the opening round of group matches (played, won, 

drawn, lost, goals for, goals against,points): 

Group E 

Shakhtar 1 1 0 0 2 0 3 

Chelsea 1 0 1 0 2 2 1 

Juventus 1 0 1 0 2 2 1 

Nordsjaelland 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 

Group F 

BATE Borisov 1 1 0 0 3 1 3 

Bayern Munich 1 1 0 0 2 1 3 

Valencia 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 

Lille 1 0 0 1 1 3 0 

Group G 

Barcelona 1 1 0 0 3 2 3 

Benfica 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 

Celtic 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 

Spartak 1 0 0 1 2 3 0 

Group H 

CFR Cluj 1 1 0 0 2 0 3 

Man United 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 

Galatasaray 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 

Sporting Braga 1 0 0 1 0 2 0


Fearless Afghanistan 

go down 

17 

fighting to India 

Juventus 

19 

fightback steals 

the spotlight 

from Oscar 

Formula One: The 2012 season so far Page 16 

LONDON: Manchester United’s Michael Carrick (center) is challenged by Galatasaray’s Fernando Muslera as he scores during their Champions League Group H soccer match. —AP 

Man United off to winning start 

MANCHESTER: Michael Carrick’s first European struck after only seven minutes, appearing at the to the United defence, with Nordin Amrabat cap- lucky not to concede a penalty. 

and narrowly past the far post. 

goal in three years saw Manchester United start end of a magnificent, flowing move that also ping a lightning fast counter-attack with an 18-yard But the hosts were then presented with the per- United were living dangerously and Galatasary 

their Champions League campaign with a 1-0 vic- involved Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa before shot that clipped the top of the crossbar, before fect opportunity to take a stranglehold on the missed another glorious chance to claim the 

tory over Galatasary at Old Trafford yesterday. rounding goalkeeper Fernando Muslera to slot into Felipe Melo came close with a header from a set- game six minutes into the second half when Rafael equaliser their play merited on 71 minutes when 

It was far from the convincing performance that the empty net. 

piece. At the other end, Muslera saved early at the collected a Paul Scholes pass, darted into the area Emre Colak found Burak Yilmaz on the break and 

manager Sir Alex Ferguson had asked of his players United could count themselves fortunate to be feet of Nani, a Paul Scholes shot almost fell kindly and was brought down down by Burat Yilmaz. the latter’s shot was well saved by de Gea, who also 

as their Turkish opponents twice hit the woodwork in that position, however, as the Turkish visitors had for Kagawa and Antonio Valencia’s wicked cross Incredibly, following on from the examples of kept out Colak’s follow-up. 

and failed with two very strong penalty claims. a strong penalty appeal turned down inside the was palmed away by the goalkeeper. 

Robin van Persie and Javier Hernandez, who each United brought on Darren Fletcher, the 

United also missed a penalty for the third con- opening minute when Nemanja Vidic appeared to Selcuk Inan then pulled a free-kick back to the missed a spot-kick in United’s last two games, Nani Scotland international who has been sidelined 

secutive game, with Nani failing with a second half bring down Umut Bulut, although experienced edge of the area for Hamit Altintop, who delivered stuttered in his run-up and saw an unconvincing since November 2011 with a bowel disease, as a 

effort which would have brought United some German referee Wolfgang Stark rejected the a powerful strike which clipped the outside of the penalty attempt comfortably saved by Muslera, substitute to a rousing Old Trafford reception, 

much-needed breathing space. 

appeals. The incident left Bulut nursing an injury, post. United continued to live dangerously until the diving to his right. 

although it was another replacement, Hernandez, 

However, after their embarrassing group-stage the forward limping off after 15 minutes to be half-time whistle with Carrick tackling Altintop The miss could have proved even more costly, who could have doubled their lead as he placed a 

elimination last season, this was at least a step in replaced by the former Bolton striker Johan from behind just inside the area, as television five minutes later, when Inan headed a cross from Nani through ball well wide and into the side-net- 

the right direction. England midfielder Carrick Elmander. But Galatasaray were a constant menace replays once more suggested the home side were the impressive Altintop beyond David de Gea’s dive ting. — AFP 

SPAIN: Barcelona’s Cesc Fabregas (right) duels for the ball against Spartak Moscow’s Kirill Kombarov (left) during a Champions League Group G soccer match. — AP 

Messi rescues Barca against Spartak 

BARCELONA: Lionel Messi came to the rescue with a late 

double to earn Barcelona a 3-2 victory over Group G opponents 

Spartak Moscow yesterday as the Catalans stuttered in 

the opening match of their Champions League campaign. 

Barca are aiming for their third Champions League trophy 

in five years but could have had their first home defeat in the 

competition in nearly three years when Romulo gave the visitors 

the lead on the hour mark. 

The hosts have made a blistering start in La Liga with four 

straight wins and went ahead early on through Cristian Tello, 

but an own-goal from Dani Alves after 29 minutes brought 

Spartak back into the contest. Barca were enjoying the vast 

majority of the play but Romulo’s second-half goal left them 

staring at potentially their first loss at the Camp Nou since 

another Russian club, Rubin Kazan, won here in 2009. 

Messi, though, put their European ambitions back on 

track with two poacher’s goals inside the last 20 minutes. 

Spartak’s Spanish coach Unai Emery had never beaten 

Barcelona during his time in charge of Almeria or Valencia 

and it was always likely to be a severe test as his new charges 

arrived in the Catalan capital. 

However, if they were looking for any weaknesses then 

the Barca backline has not looked particularly comfortable of 

late and they were missing two integral parts in Carles Puyol 

and Jordi Alba. Spartak’s game plan, to defend deeply, was 

clear from the start, but inviting Barca to attack can be a dangerous 

tactic at the Camp Nou as they invariably find a way 

through. Tello should have given the home side the lead after 

10 minutes but he scooped his shot round the post following 

a delightful through ball from Messi. 

While Barca were dominating, their situation deteriorated 

at the back as Gerard Pique had to go off a couple of minutes 

later having injured his leg while shooting and Alex Song was 

forced to step into the defence. A physical Spartak side had a 

distinct height advantage but it mattered little while they ball 

was at the other end, and Tello made up for his earlier miss 

with a fine shot from the edge of the area to give Barca the 

lead. The youngster stepped inside Kirill Kombarov before 

slotting past ‘keeper Andriy Dykan and into the far corner. 

Tito Vilanova’s men looked comfortable at that point, but 

Spartak drew level from a rare breakaway, Emmanuel 

Emenike making a marauding run down the right before seeing 

his harmless pass steered into his own goal by Dani Alves 

on the back foot. 

Barca once again went on the offensive and Spartak were 

left hanging on against waves of attacks, with Sergio 

Busquets coming within a whisker of scoring with a header 

which he glanced wide from a corner. After the restart the 

intensity dropped out of Barca’s play and the game began to 

open up. Messi forced a good save out of Dykan at one end 

and then Spartak stole into the lead as Aidan McGeady supplied 

the Brazilian Romulo, who finished clinically into the 

corner. Vilanova took off Alves and switched to a three-man 

defence as they looked to get back in the game and Messi 

once again proved to be the difference. He first knocked in a 

Tello pass from close range on 71 minutes and then headed 

home an Alexis Sanchez cross with ten minutes to go. — AFP 

BATE stun Lille 

LILLE: A remarkable three-goal salvo in the first half gave BATE Borisov a 

first-ever Champions League win yesterday, 3-1 at Lille, to leave the 

French club facing a huge task to rescue their campaign already. 

Aleksandr Volodko, Vitali Rodionov and Edgar Olekhnovich all found 

the net for the Belarussian visitors, who had failed to win in 12 previous 

attempts in the group stage of the competition. 

And while Aurelien Chedjou reduced the deficit for the home side in 

the second half, their subsequent pressure failed to produce another goal 

and their first group-stage game in their impressive new stadium turned 

out to be something of a damp squib. 

In a Group F also containing Bayern Munich and Valencia, Rudi Garciaís 

side needed to get their campaign off to a positive start but, having won 

just once in their opening five domestic games, confidence was not at its 

highest. 

And instead BATE, who have won the Belarussian title in each of the 

last six seasons, stunned the Grand Stade by taking a sixth-minute lead 

when Volodko collected possession 25 yards from goal in a central position, 

turned and sent a vicious shot arrowing over Mickael Landreau and 

into the top right-hand corner of the net. 

This Lille side, featuring Salomon Kalou, a Champions League winner 

with Chelsea last season, is not short of experience at the highest level, 

but they were caught out repeatedly on the break after that and fell further 

behind after just 20 minutes. 

BATE broke quickly, with former Arsenal and Barcelona midfielder 

Aleksandr Hleb and Aleksandr Pavlov combining to set up Rodionov to 

score. Rodionov had already scored four times as BATE came through 

three qualifying ties to make it to this stage, but he was fortunate to have 

this goal count as he was offside when the final ball was played. Luck may 

not have been on Lilleís side, but they were also the architects of their 

own downfall, particularly when conceding a third goal just before the 

interval. The home defence was pulled apart again, and Olekhnovich was 

allowed two attempts before beating Landreau. By this point, BATE were 

in dreamland, while the home supporters greeted the half-time whistle 

with a deafening chorus of boos. 

Garcia threw on Nolan Roux and Ryan Mendes, debutants in the competition, 

in a bid to spark his side into life in the second half, but it was 

always going to be an uphill struggle. 

No side had come back from 3-0 down to take something from a 

Champions League game since Liverpool in the 2005 final and went on to 

win on penalties. 

Chedjou did pull one back on the hour when his header from a leftwing 

corner hit the underside of the bar and landed just the right side of 

the line. But Mendes, Dimitri Payet and Florent Balmont all missed further 

chances, and Lille could have conceded again, Hleb striking the side-netting 

at the end of another breakaway. 

With a trip to Valencia to come next before a double-header against 

Bayern, Lilleís chances of further progression already look very slim. And 

BATE should face a stiffer test when they entertain the German giants in 

their next game. — AFP

Business 


Crude falls on economic 

woes, Saudi intervention 

Page 22 

BoJ easing helps shares 

but euro worries return 

Page 23 

Indonesia’s missing ingredient: Islamic finance Page 23 

Ford promotes 

all new Fusion 

Page 23 

ALLAHABAD: Local trade union members display rotis, or Indian bread, during a protest against Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Allahabad, India yesterday. A key ally of India’s ruling coalition withdrew its support from the government 

Tuesday to protest recent economic reforms, including a move to open the country’s huge retail sector. — AP 

Unemployment mounts as Iran economy falters 

Problems compounded by soaring prices, brain drain 

DUBAI: A wealthy Iranian businessman sits in the lobby of one 

of Dubai’s most luxurious hotels, shaking his head as he 

laments the state of Iran’s economy. “Business is drying up, 

industry is collapsing. There’s zero investment,” he said. “I know. 

I see it with my own eyes.” He is en route from Europe, where 

he runs a company that makes electrical goods, to Iran, a trip 

he makes several times a year. Iranians are reeling under tough 

economic sanctions imposed by Western countries since the 

start of the year over the Islamic Republic’s pursuit of its 

nuclear program, which Washington says is a drive to develop 

a weapons capability. 

Inflation is running at 25 percent officially, and could in reality 

be double that, economists say, and hundreds o f thousands 

have lost their jobs as trade embargoes have curbed 

export prospects and made it difficult for many Iranian companies 

to obtain vital raw materials. Even when they do so, a 

plunge in the rial currency - which has halved in value over the 

last 12 months - has pushed up overheads, forcing employers 

to cut payrolls. “We’re close to seeing mass unemployment in 

cities and queues for social handouts. There are few alternatives 

for those people and many will end up on the bread line,” 

said Mehrdad Emadi, an Iranian-born economic adviser to the 

European Union, who is based in the UK. 

A series of conversations conducted by Reuters with 

Iranians by telephone reveal how widespread unemployment 

is becoming. They requested that their identities or the names 

of their employers not be revealed because of the sensitivity of 

the issue. Mona, 31, lost her job in the human resources 

department of a large private contractor in the oil, gas and 

construction industries six months ago and has struggled to 

find work since. 

The company started to trim its workforce of 6,000 three 

years ago but conditions sharply deteriorated last year and 

many staff didn’t receive their wages for months. Mona says 

she lost her job after she and some of her colleagues wrote a 

letter to their managers protesting about their withheld 

wages. “At first I was only concerned about how to spend my 

time but soon the reality of the horrible economic situation 

kicked in,” she said by telephone from Tehran. 

In her quest for work, she has run through her savings, sold 

some jewelry to pay the bills and is left feeling helpless and 

suffering from increasing bouts of depression. “I have no hope 

for the future. When you lose hope, you stop caring,” she said. 

Ali, a 42-year-old mechanical engineer, suffered a similar fate 

three months ago when he was laid off by a small industrial 

equipment maker after sanctions made it increasingly difficult 

for the company to import crucial materials from Europe. 

“What could we do? We couldn’t get this stuff from China, the 

quality just isn’t good enough,” he said by telephone. 

The company now employs 400 people, down from more 

than 1,000 two years ago, a nd Ali worries it will soon have to 

close down, like many others. “So many industrial projects in 

Iran are grinding to a halt,” he said. “No companies are investing. 

They think there may be war and everything will be lost.” 

As Israel continues to threaten military action over Iran’s 

nuclear program, European Union states are putting together a 

new set of sanctions to increase pressure on Tehran, Britain 

said last week. Iran says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes. 

CAR OUTPUT PLUNGES 

The International Monetary Fund, in April, said the Iranian 

economy grew 2 percent last year and predicted it would grow 

0.4 percent this year - but it may well be doing a lot worse. The 

country was the world’s fourth-largest oil producer in 2011 but 

its crude exports have slumped to about 1 million barrels a day 

from around 2.4 million last year, according to the US Treasury 

and other analysts. Iranian officials refute those figures. The 

Iranian Statistical Centre put the unemployment rate at 12.9 

percent for the first three months of the Iranian year that 

began in March, more than a percentage point lower than in 

the previous three months. 

Analysts find the statistics impossible to believe. “The figures 

aren’t even close,” said Emadi, who believes the headline 

unemployment figure is above 20 percent. Iran-based economists 

and members of parliament critical of the government, 

Palestinian fiscal crisis ‘worsening’ 

RAMALLAH: A fiscal crisis in the aid-dependent Palestinian economy 

will worsen unless foreign funding increases and Israel eases 

its restrictions in the occupied West Bank, the World Bank said yesterday. 

“Donors do need to act urgently in the face of a serious fiscal 

crisis facing the PA (Palestinian Authority) in the short term,” 

Mariam Sherman, the World Bank’s country director for the West 

Bank and Gaza Strip, said in a statement. 

In a report issued ahead of a conference on Palestinian aid in 

New York next week, the World Bank forecast a $1.5 billion deficit 

in the PA budget in 2012. It said only $1.14 billion in donor funding 

to cover the gap had been received. The PA, which exercises 

limited self-rule in the West Bank, receives most of its aid from the 

United States, the European Union and Arab nations. But over the 

past several years there has been a shortfall in aid coming from 

Arab states resulting in the PA being unable to pay salaries to its 

153,000 civil servants on time, on several occasions this year. A 

hike in taxes in early September caused by economic accords with 

Israel that peg Palestinian sales tax to high Israeli rates sparked 

demonstrations in West Bank cities and calls for the government 

to resign. To appease the crowds and end protests, Prime Minister 

Salam Fayyad announced a rolling back of the tax increases. The 

report said the presence of Israeli settlements, which control some 

42 percent of West Bank territory, was stifling the potential for 

Palestinian economic growth. To build their economy, the World 

Bank said, the Palestinians need access to “Area C”, the territory 

covering 60 percent of the West Bank where Israel maintains full 

control under interim peace accords and most settlements are 

located. Area C includes most of, but not all, the settlements. 

“The continuous growth in the size of land that is allocated for 

settlement activity within the West Bank has fragmented the territory 

into smaller and more disconnected enclaves,” the report 

said. The United Nations deems all settlements in the West Bank to 

be illegal. Israel disputes this and has sanctioned 120 official settlements 

since capturing the West Bank in a 1967 Middle East war. 

In the report, the World Bank forecast that Gross Domestic 

Product growth in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would slow 

to 5.6 percent in 2012 from 5.9 percent last year. 

Sherman said that even if donor countries met their aid 

pledges, “sustainable economic growth cannot be achieved without 

the removal of the barriers preventing private sector development, 

particularly in Area C”. The World Bank said the PA had made 

“credible efforts”, towards tackling its crisis and building its institutions 

but Israeli measures “remain the major impediment.” 

Sherman cited difficulties in obtaining Israeli entry permits to the 

West Bank for foreign investors, a ban on the import of “dual use” 

items that Israel fears could be used in weaponry and limits on 

access to natural resources. 

“The most important message of this report is that economic 

cohesion is not achievable when the areas in which people have 

to operate and go about their business are crisscrossed by impediments,” 

Sherman said. The report said Israel has recently shown a 

willingness to consider the relaxation of specific restrictions in 

Area C, and had, according to its Foreign Ministry, approved 119 

Palestinian infrastructure projects in 2011. —Reuters 

estimate that 500,000-800,000 Iranians have lost their jobs in 

the past year. Emadi cites the car industry, the biggest manufacturing 

sector, as the main cause of the sharp decline in 

employment, after Iranian media reported a 30 percent drop in 

car and component production in the past six months. Iran 

was the 13th-largest auto maker in the world in 2011, producing 

1.6 million vehicles, but higher prices due to the soaring 

costs of components have caused a drop in demand. 

France’s Peugeot Citroen halted shipments of vehicle kits 

for assembly in Iran earlier this year, saying international sanctions 

barring transactions with the country’s banking system 

made it difficult to obtain sales financing. It denied caving in to 

US pressure on Iran. The deteriorating economy has been compounded 

by the government’s withdrawal of generous subsidies 

on staple goods and fuel in favor of cash handouts over 

the past 18 months. The government action has been driven in 

part by a need to rein in its own spending due to foreign sanctions. 

BRAIN DRAIN 

The slump is not just confined to the industrial sector. 

Nasrin lost her job as a university lecturer 18 months ago and 

has struggled to find a teaching or research post since. She 

makes ends meet by getting temporary research jobs, and says 

she is fortunate because she owns her own apartment. “If I was 

not supported by my family, I would be in a miserable state 

now,” she said in an email to Reuters in Dubai. “It’s so humiliating 

for me to turn to some places for work, but I’ve had to.” 

Nasrin knows of more than 20 university professors in 

Tehran alone who have been sacked or forced to retire. S he 

said funding for research projects was drying up and was now 

dependent on having influential contacts. Like many frustrated 

Iranian professionals, she is now intent on leaving the country 

if she can, a trend that has led to a brain drain in recent years as 

those that have the money and contacts to do so have gone 

abroad. In 2009, the latest available data, Iran was losing more 

than 150,000 of its educated and skilled citizens annually, 

according to the IMF. — Reuters 

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas 

News 

in brief 

Doha Bank plans 

50% capital raise 

DUBAI: Doha Bank, the Qatari lender which issued a $500 

million bond in March, plans to raise its capital by 50 percent 

in the first quarter of 2013 to meet strategic business 

requirements, it said yesterday. Doha Bank’s board of 

directors approved plans for a capital hike at a meeting on 

Sept 18, and will now seek approval from shareholders at 

an extraordinary general assembly, the bourse statement 

said. No details of how the bank plans to raise capital or 

the size and date of issue were provided in the statement, 

which said these would be disclosed after the necessary 

studies and approvals were in place. Doha Bank, has a 

market capitalization of about $3.2 billion, according to 

Thomson Reuters data and is Qatar’s fifth largest lender. 

Qatar banks are expected to benefit from the gas-rich 

country’s breakneck expansion plans and many have 

already tapped capital markets this year. Lenders in the 

Gulf Arab state need to depend less on deposits and issue 

more debt and Islamic bonds to raise capital if they are to 

continue fuelling the country’s growth, a senior Standard 

& Poor’s executive said in July. 

Australia retains 

S&P’s AAA rating 

SYDNEY: International credit agency Standard & Poor’s 

yesterday affirmed mining-driven Australia’s AAA rating 

with a stable outlook, but warned about its growing 

reliance on the Chinese economy. Australia is one of only 

a handful of nations to hold the top rating, with its economy 

growing a solid 0.6 percent in the three months to 

June and 3.7 percent from a year earlier. But the figure 

was less than half the upwardly revised 1.4 percent in the 

first quarter of 2012 and below analyst predictions of 0.8 

percent, held back by key trade partner China’s slowdown 

and European woes. S&P said the AAA rating reflected 

Australia’s “ample fiscal and monetary policy flexibility, 

economic resilience, public policy stability, and a financial 

sector that appears to be sound”. “While strong demand 

for its commodities continues-from emerging Asia, and 

particularly China-we believe Australia’s economic 

prospects remain favorable,” said credit analyst Kyran 

Curry. But he also warned that it faces significant risks. 

“Considerable risks remain for Australia’s growth 

prospects, prosperity, and credit quality,” he said. 

UAE’s Etihad Rail 

appoints new CEO 

ABU DHABI: Etihad Rail, the developer of a $11 billion 

railway network in the United Arab Emirates said yesterday 

it appointed Nasser Al-Mansoori as the company’s 

new chief executive. Mansoori, a UAE citizen, has been 

working with the state-owned company since 2009 and 

assumes his new role immediately, a statement from 

Etihad Rail said. He replaces Richard Bowker who left the 

company in March. The UAE railway network comprises 

three stages with the first stage underway after a $900 

million civil and track works contract was awarded in 

October 2011. Phase one will link the western region cities 

of Habshan and Ruwais by 2013 and connect Shah and 

Habshan by 2014. The second stage will connect the Abu 

Dhabi rail network to Jebel Ali in Dubai as well as links to 

the borders of Saudi Arabia and Oman. The third phase 

will expand the network to the northern emirates. The 

network will also form a part of the Gulf Cooperation 

Council Railway Network - linking the UAE to Saudi Arabia 

via Ghweifat in the west and Oman via Al Ain in the east.

EXCHANGE RATES 

Commercial Bank of Kuwait 

US Dollar/KD .2740000 .2860000 

GB Pound/KD .4500000 .4600000 

Euro .3620000 .3710000 

Swiss francs .2980000 .3040000 

Canadian Dollar .2830000 .2950000 

Australian DLR .2900000 .2990000 

Indian rupees .0040000 .0058500 

Sri Lanka Rupee .0020000 .0035000 

UAE dirhams .0759460 .0767090 

Bahraini dinars .7399160 .7473520 

Jordanian dinar .3870000 .4100000 

Saudi riyals .0720000 .0780000 

Omani riyals .7253550 .7326450 

Egyptian pounds .0430000 .0510000 

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES 

US Dollar/KD .2797500 .2818500 

GB Pound/KD .4544120 .4578230 

Euro .3665560 .3693080 

Swiss francs .3015850 .3038490 

Canadian dollars .2870110 .2891660 

Danish Kroner .0491630 .0495320 

Swedish Kroner .0424370 .0427560 

Australian dlr .2926600 .2948570 

Hong Kong dlr .0360850 .0363560 

Singapore dlr .2283670 .2300820 

Japanese yen .0035560 .0035820 

Indian Rs/KD .0000000 .0052220 

Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 .0021380 

Pakistan rupee .0000000 .0029920 

Bangladesh taka .0000000 .0034630 

UAE dirhams .0761950 .0767670 

Bahraini dinars .7423380 .7479100 

Jordanian dinar .0000000 .3986560 

Saudi Riyal/KD .0746200 .0751800 

Omani riyals .7269070 .7323630 

Philippine Peso .0000000 .0068060 

Bahrain Exchange Company 

22 

BUSINESS 


Iraqi Kurdistan sees itself as home to oil majors 

LONDON: Iraqi Kurdistan sees itself 

soon becoming a major energy player 

hosting the world’s biggest oil companies 

- including one that may tap part of 

Iraq’s giant Kirkuk oilfield - and making 

use of its own strategic export pipeline 

system across Turkey. Kurdistan’s Energy 

Minister Ashti Hawrami said the developments 

are for the good of Iraq 

although the policies also show the 

emergence of a northern region in control 

of its oil reserves, estimated at 45 

billion barrels. 

Oil and land rights have been at the 

centre of a long-running dispute 

between Kurdistan and Iraq’s central 

government. Last week, the Kurdistan 

Regional Government (KRG) reached a 

deal with Baghdad to end a dispute 

over oil payments and agreed to sustain 

oil exports of 140,000 barrels per 

day (bpd) this month - rising to 200,000 

bpd for the rest of the year. By 2013, the 

KRG’s exports are expected to climb to 

250,000 bpd and will continue to be 

shipped through a Baghdad-controlled 

pipeline to Turkey. Hawrami unveiled a 

plan earlier this year to build pipelines 

to Turkey to cope with an expected rise 

in exports to 1 million bpd for 2015. 

He’s sticking with it. “Kurdistan’s oil 

Morphey, Wright 

return to Kuwait 

for KIPS 2012 

KUWAIT: Following the beginning of their partnership 

with Top Real Estate Group in early 2011 and a successful 

KIPS last year the specialist Lettings and 

Management Company will be back in force with two 

top directors attending the week long exhibition. Billy 

Wright head of Management 

and Sam Morphey head of 

Investment are keen to build 

upon the solid start to the 

Kuwait - UK connection. The 

pair commented: “We believe 

that the service offered to 

Kuwaiti clients is unrivalled. 

Having an Arabic speaking 

office in Kuwait, that is linked 

directly to the lettings and 

Sam Morphey 

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. 

ASIAN COUNTRIES 

Japanese Yen 3.570 

Indian Rupees 5.195 

Pakistani Rupees 2.972 

Srilankan Rupees 2.135 

Nepali Rupees 3.560 

Singapore Dollar 230.520 

Hongkong Dollar 36.303 

Bangladesh Taka 3.429 

Philippine Peso 6.763 

Thai Baht 9.140 

Malaysian Ringgit 92.065 

management on the ground 

in the UK means that our 

clients receive the very best 

service and communication throughout.” “Since the 

incorporation of the agreement a number of services 

have been adapted to tailor to our Middle Eastern 

clients’ needs,” said Wright. He explained: “It became 

clear that a number of clients preferred to utilize their 

properties during the summer months rather than rent 

them out. This lead to us building our vacancy management 

team and utilizing our vast array of contacts to 

ensure our clients received the best care at the most 

cost effective rates for when their properties are empty.” 

Specialising in London and Milton Keynes based 

properties MPW have taken on many Middle Eastern 

clients through the partnership. Morphey commented: 

“It is great to have built on our successful start to the 

partnership with TREG and being able to offer our specialist 

services to clients based outside the UK”. 

“It is also very encouraging to be taking on such illustrious 

clients including a bank in our first year and we 

will look to build from here.” 

is going out and the revenue will be 

for all of Iraq. It will not be for the 

Kurdistan region alone,” Hawrami said 

after speaking at an FT energy conference 

in London. 

“We recognise that we need investment 

in the infrastructure to boost 

export capacity, and we are doing 

that. We are ahead of the game, so 

we’ll continue with it.” Last week’s oil 

export and payment deal will resolve 

only part of a broader feud between 

Baghdad and Kurdistan over oil and 

territory that has involved major companies 

including Exxon Mobil, 

Chevron and Total who have signed 

exploration deals with the KRG, contracts 

the central government says are 

illegal. 

Big Oil’s foray into Kurdistan began 

last October with Exxon. Hawrami says 

more majors are on the way. Norway’s 

Statoil and US ConocoPhillips are 

actively looking. Sources say Royal 

Dutch Shell - which was close to moving 

into the region twice before - may 

be tempted to look again. “I’m expecting 

within this year to see more major 

companies coming in and negotiating 

for whatever we have - whether by 

mergers and acquisitions or farming in 

SINGAPORE: Brent crude fell below $112 a barrel yesterday 

on concerns over the capacity of a fragile global 

economy to support demand and indications that 

the world’s top oil exporter Saudi Arabia was pumping 

more oil to bring down prices. The drop for a third 

consecutive day comes after global crude benchmarks 

hit four-month highs last week after the US Federal 

Reserve unveiled an aggressive bond-buying program 

aimed at stimulating growth in the world’s biggest oil 

consumer. Brent November crude was down 31 cents 

at $111.72 a barrel at 0123 GMT. At the close on 

Tuesday, the benchmark had dropped 4 percent since 

the start of the week, marking the biggest two-day 

percentage drop since July 23. 

US October crude was up 8 cents at $95.37 a barrel, 

after settling below its 200-day moving average in the 

previous session of $96.57 a barrel. The contract 

expires today. US November crude was up 5 cents at 

$95.67 a barrel. “Clearly after the rally from last week, 

it is easy to understand why Saudi Arabia was keen to 

send a message to the market that it would be acting 

to lower oil prices,” said Ric Sponner, chief market analyst 

at CMC Markets in Sydney. 

On Tuesday, a senior OPEC Gulf source said Saudi 

Arabia was pumping around 10 million barrels per day 

(bpd) and would take action to keep prices around 

$100. The source added that OPEC and other producers 

outside the cartel would be moving to pump more 

oil to keep prices from spiking. 

Oil prices have gained around 27 percent since hitting 

a 2012 low of $88.49 in June as investors have 

worried about security of supply from the Middle East 

and North Africa and on expectations that commodity 

GCC COUNTRIES 

Saudi Riyal 75.057 

Qatari Riyal 77.336 

Omani Riyal 731.060 

Bahraini Dinar 747.580 

UAE Dirham 76.641 

ARAB COUNTRIES 

Egyptian Pound - Cash 47.950 

Egyptian Pound - Transfer 46.134 

Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.313 

Tunisian Dinar 181.400 

Jordanian Dinar 396.860 

Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.888 

Syrian Lier 4.910 

Morocco Dirham 33.776 

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES 

US Dollar Transfer 281.350 

Euro 368.990 

Sterling Pound 458.600 

Canadian dollar 290.050 

Turkish lire 157.000 

Swiss Franc 304.820 

US Dollar Buying 280.150 

GOLD 

20 Gram 328.000 

10 Gram 166.000 

5 Gram 84.250 

COUNTRY SELL CASH SELL DRAFT 

Australian dollar 297.200 295.700 

Bahraini dinar 747.830 747.830 

Bangladeshi taka 3.680 3.437 

Canadian dollar 292.100 290.600 

Cyprus pound 552.300 

Czek koruna 45.800 

Danish krone 50.200 

Deutsche Mark 167.800 231.500 

Egyptian pound 48.040 46.142 

Euro Cash 371.500 370.000 

Hongkong dollar 36.940 36.790 

Indian rupees 5.390 5.200 

Indonesia 0.032 0.031 

Iranian tuman 0.161 

Iraqi dinar 0.235 

Japanese yen 3.660 

Jordanian dinar 398.500 398.460 

Lebanese pound 0.190 0.189 

Malaysian ringgit 94.020 94.020 

Morocco dirham 45.500 

Nepalese Rupees 4.320 3.270 

New Zealand dollar 236.300 234.800 

Nigeria 1.822 

between companies,” said Hawrami, 

who became energy minister in 2006. 

“Within a couple of years, Kurdistan 

will be home to 12 to 15 companies as 

opposed to 50. So there will be significant 

consolidation, which is normal.” 

One of the oil majors may be awarded 

a contract to treble output at the 

Khurmala dome - the northernmost 

part of Iraq’s giant Kirkuk oilfield that’s 

now being revived by private Iraqi 

Kurdish KAR group. By the end of this 

year, Khurmala is expected to be 

pumping 100,000 bpd - up from current 

capacity of 85,000 bpd. 

“We’re looking at taking it to 

250,000 to 300,000 barrels a day. This 

is something that probably requires 

three or four years, but that’s part of 

our plan,” said Hawrami. “The field is 

complex and has a lot of technical 

issues and challenges. It requires 

investment, high technology and 

management.” 

The Kirkuk oilfield is a flashpoint in 

relations between Baghdad and Arbil - 

the KRG’s seat of government. But 

Hawrami said Arbil’s agreement with 

Baghdad over oil payments and 

exports could pave the way for a wider 

rapprochement. “I believe the problem 

Norwegian krone 50.400 

Omani Riyal 730.430 730.250 

Pakistani rupees 3.070 2.977 

Philippine peso 7.000 6.758 

Qatari riyal 77.780 77.350 

Saudi riyal 75.030 75.080 

Singapore dollar 231.540 231.540 

South Africa 36.310 36.310 

Sri Lankan rupees 2.679 2.130 

Sterling pound 460.300 458.300 

Swedish krona 43.800 

Swiss franc 306.600 305.100 

Syrian pound 4.300 4.300 

Thai bhat 9.460 9.310 

Tunisian dollar 198.263 

UAE dirham 76.670 76.570 

U.S. dollars 281.600 281.200 

Yemeni Riyal 1.350 

GOLD 

10 Tola 1,875.940 

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 


US Dollar 281.200 

UAE Exchange Centre WLL 

COUNTRY SELL DRAFT SELL CASH 

Australian Dollar 297.53 299.000 

Canadian Dollar 292.49 292.000 

Swiss Franc 308.03 307.000 

Euro 370.67 370.500 

US Dollar 280.55 281.700 

Sterling Pound 459.15 458.000 

Japanese Yen 3.65 3.690 

Bangladesh Taka 3.434 3.560 

Indian Rupee 5.181 5.400 

Sri Lankan Rupee 2.129 2.290 

Nepali Rupee 3.256 3.530 

Pakistani Rupee 2.975 3.150 

UAE Dirhams 76.45 77.000 

Bahraini Dinar 747.01 746.500 

Egyptian Pound 46.12 47.800 

Jordanian Dinar 399.70 398.500 

Omani Riyal 730.16 735.000 

Qatari Riyal 77.47 78.000 

Saudi Riyal 75.02 75.300 

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd 

Rate for Transfer Selling Rate 


Canadian Dollar 288.297 


Euro 368.280 

will go away. Everybody will be looking 

at thanking the other party that’s 

increasing production because he’s 

really increasing production for the 

benefit of the Iraqi people,” said the 

KRG energy chief. 

Baghdad is meanwhile in talks with 

BP about a project to revive Kirkuk. 

The ageing oilfield is composed of 

three main geological formations, or 

domes: Khurmala, Baba, and Avana. 

Khurmala straddles Arbil province and 

is administered by the KRG under a 

2008 agreement with Baghdad. The 

Oil Ministry’s new development of 

Kirkuk would not include Khurmala. 

Hawrami said the KRG, autonomous 

with its own government and armed 

forces since 1991, would also be interested 

in capturing the gas that is now 

being flared from the Avana dome, 

although Arbil would consult with the 

Kirkuk governorate and the federal 

government first as is required by 

Iraq’s constitution. 

The KRG minister said the region 

was also looking to expand its gas 

capacity first to meet domestic 

requirements, then to increase power 

generation capacity and fuel industrial 

use and provide power to neighboring 

prices would rise due to economic stimulus measures 

by the United States, Europe and China. 

“High oil prices at these levels are unsustainable 

and will end up weakening demand and slowing 

economies, and that isn’t a good thing in the long run 

for any oil producer,” Spooner said. Crude and distillate 

stocks were expected to be up 1.0 million barrels, with 

gasoline inventories up 1.2 million barrels, a Reuters 

survey of analysts taken ahead of weekly reports 

showed. 

EYE ON CHINA 

The health of the economy in China, the world’s 

second-largest oil consumer, continues to be a primary 

market focus, with a preliminary reading of 

China’s purchasing managers’ index for September set 

to be released on Thursday, along with similar data 

from the United States. 

“I’m not expecting to see any change in the trend 

of the past few months, things are likely to get worse 

before it gets better,” Spooner said. 

“The anticipation is that the Chinese economy is 

going to remain weak and it’s going to take some time 

before we start to see a turnaround.” Investors are also 

continuing to fret over Europe’s debt crisis with growing 

concerns that Spain, which is at the heart of the 

euro-zone debt crisis, is unable to lower its massive 

public deficit and control its soaring debt. “The decisions 

the Spanish government needs to take are hard, 

and it won’t come easy, ideally they would like to 

avoid that option,” Spooner said. 

Madrid has already called on its European counterparts 

for a lifeline of up to $100 billion euros for 

Iraqi provinces. Exports to energy-hungry 

Turkey and beyond would come in 

the next year or two, he said. The first 

steps for exports are already being 

made. KAR group is building a gas 

pipeline from Khurmala to a power 

station in Dohuk, near the border with 

Turkey. Hawrami said the pipeline 

would be finished by the end of the 

year and there would be enough gas 

by then to feed to the power station, 

which is now running on more expensive 

diesel fuel. 

Hawrami said construction of a parallel, 

1 million bpd crude oil pipeline, 

which will run from Khurmala to Fish 

Khabour near the border with Turkey, 

has not started but is expected to be 

completed by 2014. 

“We haven’t asked anyone to do it 

yet. We’re looking at the other part of 

the pipeline on the Turkish side,” said 

Hawrami. “So when that comes 

together, it might be one large project.” 

In the meantime, small quantities 

of Kurdish condensate are being 

trucked into Turkey in exchange for 

much-needed diesel and kerosene, he 

said. Baghdad has said that only the 

central government has the right to 

ship oil and gas. — Reuters 

Crude falls on economic 

woes, Saudi intervention 

High prices seen holding back global economic growth 

its banks, but investors are not confident the country 

is capable of meeting its financial obligations 

and return to economic growth without international 

aid. — Reuters 

MATOSINHOS: Portuguese workers of the Galp Energia’s 

refinery seen outside during the first of a 3-day strike 

over pay, health insurance and working conditions in 

Matosinhos, outskirts of Porto, Portugal. — AP 

Swiss Frank 294.707 

Bahrain Dinar 743.669 

UAE Dirhams 76.457 

Qatari Riyals 77.104 

Saudi Riyals 74.871 

Jordanian Dinar 395.968 

Egyptian Pound 46.067 

Sri Lankan Rupees 2.125 


Pakistani Rupees 2.967 


Philippines Pesso 6.733 

Cyprus pound 689.046 


Thai Bhat 9.025 

Syrian Pound 4.356 

Nepalese Rupees 3.248 

Malaysian Ringgit 89.546 

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. 

Currency Rate per 1000 (Tran) 


Pak Rupees 2.968 


Sri Lankan Rupees 2.130 


Philippines Peso 6.770 

UAE Dirhams 76.580 

Saudi Riyals 75.065 

Bahraini Dinars 746.800 

Egyptian Pounds 46.125 

Pound Sterling 461.800 

Indonesian Rupiah 2.990 

Yemeni Riyal 1.550 

Euro 373.700 

Canadian Dollars 294.200 

Nepali rupee 3.200 

Al Mulla Exchange 

Currency Transfer Rate (Per 1000) 


Euro 370.350 

Pound Sterling 458.200 

Canadian Dollar 290.400 


Indian Rupee 5.202 

Egyptian Pound 46.130 

Sri Lankan Rupee 2.124 


Philippines Peso 6.735 

Pakistan Rupee 2.972 

Bahraini Dinar 747.200 

UAE Dirham 76.440 

Saudi Riyal 74.950 

*Rates are subject to change

BUSINESS 

Indonesia’s missing ingredient: Islamic finance 

KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesians often 

complain that neighboring Malaysia is 

stealing their traditional dances and 

costumes for its tourism marketing. If 

they were to take something in return, 

however, they could do worse than 

replicate Malaysia’s approach to Islamic 

finance. Islamic finance in Asia is a distinctly 

Malaysian affair. Indonesia, an 

emerging regional powerhouse with 

the world’s biggest Muslim population, 

does not even figure. Indonesia needs 

to address this shortcoming. Islamic 

finance could help it solve two of its 

biggest financing challenges: funding 

infrastructure and reducing its dependency 

on foreign borrowing. 

The prospect is especially tantalizing 

because Indonesia is in a position to 

learn from Malaysia’s experience and 

develop its own Islamic capital markets 

much more quickly. It could even 

exploit the deep liquidity pool that 

Malaysia has built. Take infrastructure. 

Indonesia plans to spend US$200bn on 

infrastructure between now and 2014. 

Progress, however, has been slow. 

Indonesia has been clearing the legal 

obstacles. It was a long time coming, 

but the country recently passed laws 

that allow the government to acquire 

forcibly land that has been earmarked 

for infrastructure projects - long 

thought to be the biggest legal hurdle 

to the infrastructure build-out. 

The other hurdle is figuring out 

where the money is going to come 

from. Infrastructure finance requires 

long tenors, and Indonesia’s banks - 

though very well capitalized - are facing 

strong regulatory pressure to shorten 

lending maturities in accordance 

with Basel III requirements. Foreign 

banks are facing the same issue, on top 

of lending crises in their home markets, 

so are in no position to fill in that gap. 

Islamic finance, however, could step 

into the breach. Like project financing, 

Islamic bonds - or sukuk - are assetbacked 

or asset-based structures, mak- 

LAGOS: People buy secondhand clothes at Katangua market in Lagos, Nigeria. — AP 

Secondhand clothes from 

West flood Nigeria markets 

LAGOS: At Nigeria’s Katangua Market, 

that castaway from the West means big 

money. Shipping container after shipping 

container arrive in the market in 

Lagos, filled to the brim with plasticwrapped 

bales of secondhand clothes 

from the US and elsewhere. Traders 

scour, barter, hem and haw over T-shirts, 

bras, pants and shoes sent to help clothe 

a nation of more than 160 million people 

where the textile industry largely collapsed 

years ago. 

But while much comes in as Western 

donations, those on the receiving end 

sell them instead of giving them away, 

creating a massive industry that makes it 

even harder for Nigeria’s remaining 

clothing manufacturers to complete 

against a tidal wave of cotton and polyester. 

“More often than not what people 

call donations actually ends up been 

hijacked by people ... who profiteer from 

it,” said Diran Akinleye, an economics 

professor at the University of Lagos. “So 

even though it starts out in the US or the 

(United Kingdom) as a donation, it ultimately 

becomes a business on this side.” 

Katangua Market sits past the international 

airport, surrounded by suburbs of 

Nigeria’s largest city. Piles of clothes 

ranging from jeans to underwear lay on 

the ground as traders pick through them, 

selecting what they want to buy. Some 

sell the clothes direct to customers while 

other buyers will take the items to shops 

in and outside of the city. Nearby, rows of 

tailors sit at foot-cranked sewing 

machines, repairing tears and resizing 

some large shirts. 

Piles of bras and panties litter the 

ground. T-shirts bear strange, cryptic slogans, 

like a cartoon character saying “No, 

no no!” A jersey with the No 3 reads 

“Pittsburgh.” Other shirts are more recognizable, 

like an Obama 2008 campaign 

shirt or an “I Love NY” T-shirt on a woman 

sewing nearby. “We need this clothing,” 

Sukuks could help fund US$200 billion projects 

said clothing trader Sunny Nnjiofor. 

“Most of the factories that produce all 

this clothing materials have folded up.” 

Some clothes sell here for three pieces to 

a $1, a bargain compared to locally made 

shirts. 

Traditional clothing still has its place, 

though increasingly poor women will 

wear a cloth wrapper around her waist 

while wearing a secondhand T-shirt from 

the US Western-style button-up shirts 

and pants also are increasingly worn by 

men. Nigeria once had a thriving textile 

industry, largely based in the northern 

city of Kano. But in recent decades, as 

Nigeria’s state-run electricity company 

fell into shambles, the mills slowed and 

finally stopped. 

Some companies, like Omas Nigeria 

Ltd, still produce clothes for government 

agencies and private businesses, but 

making a profit has grown increasingly 

difficult as they depend on diesel generators 

for electricity, said Margaret Orubu, 

Omas’ managing director. “The cost of 

production is very high. Electricity, to 

water, the rent and (other charges are) 

very expensive compared to what people 

bring in from abroad,” Orubu said. “If 

you compare the price you’ll find out 

that after production, the cost of the 

ones we produce here are very, very 

expensive.” 

While undercutting costs, the importation 

of donated clothing provides jobs 

in the country’s massive gray labor market. 

Tailors wander through streets here, 

snapping scissors to announce their 

presence. Salesmen drape the secondhand 

clothes over their arms, walking 

through neighborhoods to show off their 

wares. Marketers decline to talk about 

how they source the clothes from 

abroad, but acknowledge much of it 

comes from donations. Some of it also is 

thought to be ferried over from neighboring 

Benin as contraband. — AP 

Bank of England united in 

freezing rates, stimulus 

LONDON: Bank of England policymakers 

voted unanimously in favor of 

keeping British interest rates at a 

record low earlier this month and 

maintaining its stimulus policy, the BoE 

said yesterday. Minutes from the central 

bank’s policy meeting on 

September 5-6 revealed that all nine 

policymakers voted to keep its key rate 

at 0.50 percent, where it has stood 

since March 2009. The BoE’s Monetary 

Policy Committee (MPC) were also 

united in maintaining the size of the 

bank’s asset purchasing program, or 

quantitative easing (QE) stimulus, at 

£375 billion ($597 billion, 473 billion 

euros). However, the minutes did state 

that growth was expected to be “subdued 

and uncertain”, and some MPC 

members signaled that more QE was 

likely to be required. 

“For most members this (QE) decision 

was relatively straightforward, 

although some of these members felt 

that additional stimulus was more likely 

than not to be needed in due course, 

while others saw the risks to inflation 

in the medium term as being more balanced 

around the target,” the minutes 

read. Under QE, the central bank creates 

new cash that is used to purchase 

assets such as government and corporate 

bonds in a bid to increase lending 

by retail banks and boost economic 

activity. “September’s MPC minutes do 

little to diminish the prospects of further 

policy stimulus over the coming 

months,” said Capital Economics Martin 

Beck. 

He added: “We still expect another 

£50 billion of asset purchases to be 

announced at November’s meeting 

and for QE to ultimately reach £500 billion. 

“We also think there continues to 

be a decent chance of an interest rate 

cut in November.” — AFP 

ing them well-suited to financing infrastructure. 

Malaysia has used sukuk to 

fund infrastructure projects ranging 

from ports and airports to roads and 

bridges. More than 40% of all sukuk 

originated in Malaysia are destined for 

infrastructure finance. 

Indonesia has been building a regulatory 

framework for Islamic finance 

but is yet to make the key change 

required for sukuk to become a viable 

project financing tool - the distinction 

between beneficial and legal ownership. 

Beneficial ownership is when a 

person or entity enjoys some of the 

benefits of property rights without 

actually holding legal title to the property. 

Beneficial ownership is essential in 

Islamic structures where investors, 

instead of earning interest, gain 

income derived from an asset - even 

when they do not hold that asset’s 

legal title. 

Indonesia clearly understands the 

importance of recognizing beneficial 

NEW YORK: Ford Motor Co dispatched its top 

brass, including Chief Executive Alan Mulally, 

to major US cities to promote the 2013 Fusion, 

its redesigned family sedan that takes aim at 

Toyota Motor Corp’s Camry. The secondlargest 

US automaker began shipping the 

Fusion, which boasts a more athletic design 

and more fuel economy options, to dealers 

last week. Ford hopes the third-generation 

Fusion, coupled with the new Escape 

crossover launched this spring, will boost its 

US market share. 

The media blitz comes as Ford’s board of 

directors develops a succession plan for 

Mulally, 67. Ford is also cutting costs in 

Europe, where it expects to lose more than $1 

billion this year. Ford’s sales in Europe fell 29 

percent in August, while overall industry sales 

dropped 8.5 percent. 

“There is a tremendous decrease in 

demand, but we’re absolutely committed to 

Europe,” Mulally said at a Fusion event in New 

York. “That will involve some restructuring.” 

The board is looking to name Mark Fields, 

Ford’s head of North and South America, chief 

operating officer, a sign that he could be the 

heir apparent to Mulally, a source told Reuters 

last week. 

But on Tuesday, Mulally kept a lid on the 

finer details of Ford’s plans for Europe and his 

own plans for retirement. He said Ford has a 

strong internal bench of potential leaders and 

he was “pleased to continue to serve as CEO 

of Ford.” “Please don’t vote me off,” he joked to 

reporters. Under Mulally’s “One Ford” plan, 

Ford is moving toward building more cars 

using fewer platforms, a move that cuts costs 

but allows Ford to offer more features at a 

lower price. The Fusion is the latest Ford car to 

receive a global overhaul, after the Fiesta subcompact 

and Focus compact car. The Fusion 

will be sold as the Mondeo in Europe and 

China. These models share about 75 percent 

of the same parts. 

The Fusion competes in the midsize sedan 

segment of the US auto market, dominated 

by the Toyota Camry and Honda Motor Co’s 

Accord. Through August, sales in this breadand-butter 

segment have risen 26 percent, 

while overall auto sales are up 15 percent, 

Ford said. “This is a transitional vehicle for our 

company,” J Mays, Ford’s chief creative officer, 

said Monday night at an event in Miami 

Beach. He compared its impact to the 1955 

Thunderbird, the 1962 Lincoln Continental or 

ownership, because the sovereign’s 

two global sukuk have involved selling 

the beneficial interests to certain properties. 

It now needs to pass laws that 

will allow domestic issuers to use the 

same beneficial ownership framework. 

As well as financing infrastructure, a 

domestic sukuk market would also 

help Indonesian corporates reduce 

their dependency on foreign borrowing. 

Ever since borrowing too much 

short-term dollar debt in the run-up to 

the Asian financial crisis 15 years ago, 

Indonesia has worked hard to develop 

a local currency debt market. The rupiah 

bond market has had one of its 

busiest markets ever this year, printing 

Rp45.5trn ($4.8bn) of bonds so far. 

But that still pales in comparison to 

Indonesian bond issuance offshore, 

which stands at US$9.2bn year to date. 

The development of a sukuk market 

could help address this imbalance. 

About 210m of Indonesia’s 240m people 

are Muslims, creating a large pool 

the 1964 Mustang. The base model of the 

revamped Fusion will cost $21,000, the same 

as the base price of the outgoing Fusion, Mays 

said. 

TOUTING ‘47’ MPG 

Ford is offering three gasoline-powered 

versions of the Fusion as well as a hybrid and 

a plug-in hybrid. In a press release, Ford said 

the Fusion hybrid gets 47 miles per gallon on 

the highway and in the city, beating out the 

Camry hybrid. At the New York event with 

American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, Mulally 

held a sign touting the “47” figure. Ford also 

passed out T-shirts with the Fusion hybrid’s 

fuel economy figures. Boosting fuel efficiency 

has been a pillar of Ford’s vehicle strategy for 

the past six years. Ford is vying beat Toyota’s 

record on fuel economy with new electrified 

models this year. 

Ford must also meet federal government’s 

corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) target 

of 54.5 mpg by 2025. This translates to 36 

mpg or higher in real world driving, analysts 

say. The average fuel economy of Ford’s cars 

and trucks for model year 2011 was 21.3 mpg, 

up from 18 mpg in 2006, US government data 


of natural demand for Islamic finance 

products. It is the government, however, 

that needs to provide the top-down 

part of the equation in the form of the 

necessary regulations and tax incentives 

that will ensure Islamic finance 

becomes a viable option. 

Indonesia also lacks the large pool 

of liquidity that Malaysia’s pension 

funds provide, and that is another area 

for government action. But Indonesian 

sukuk issuers would at least be able to 

tap Malaysia’s pool of money almost 

immediately - much as Middle Eastern 

issuers are already doing. Malaysia is 

the world leader in Islamic bonds, and 

its geographic, cultural and linguistic 

proximity to Indonesia - the very thing 

that leads to arguments over the heritage 

of traditional dances and costumes 

- is something that should make 

replicating its Islamic finance prowess 

easier. If it becomes a success, no one 

will care whether it was home-grown 

or not. — Reuters 

Ford promotes 

all new Fusion 

CEO declines to detail succession, Europe plans 

MOSCOW: In the far north of 

Siberia, Russian scientists have 

stepped up research on a oncesecret 

deposit of diamonds whose 

scale dwarfs anything ever discovered 

and could turn world markets 

“upside down”. Soviet scientists 

had in the 1970s uncovered the 

100-kilometre Popigai Crater left 

by a huge asteroid in Siberia 35 

million years ago. A closer inspection 

of the dramatic impact zonelying 

thousands of kilometers from 

any city-revealed a fine material 

that was actually super-compressed 

diamonds caking the permafrost. 

For a long time, the discovery 

of the diamond deposit 

was a state secret. It was little publicized 

after the fall of the Soviet 

Union when its sheer remoteness - 

2,000 kilometers from the main 

Trans-Siberian railway line-made 

exploitation impossible. 

But interest is now picking up 

thanks to work by the Novosibirskbased 

Sobolev Institute of Geology 

and Mineralogy, which this week 

gave rare information about the 

deposit to the media. The deposit 

contains not the precious diamonds 

so adored by brides and 

shows. The industry average for 2011 was 22.8 

mpg. To meet these ambitious standards, Ford 

is counting on turbocharged engines, startstop 

systems, hybrid technology “and something 

we haven’t invented yet,” said Raj Nair, 

Ford’s head of product development, at an 

event near Detroit. Ford plans to cut weight 

from future models by using lightweight 

NEW YORK: Ryan Seacrest (left) and Alan Mulally, Ford’s president and CEO, launch the all 

new Ford Fusion, America’s most fuel-efficient midsize sedan, in Times Square. — AP 

monarchs but the industrial 

strength “impact diamonds” that 

could be used for deep-sea drilling 

or forging finely delicate machine 

parts. “They (the USSR) discovered 

it in the 1970s and decided to 

make it secret,” Sobolev Institute of 

Geology and Mineralogy director 

Nikolai Pokhilenko said in a telephone 

interview. 

“We were building synthetic 

diamond plants at the time, so all 

the natural industrial diamond 

research was frozen,” he explained. 

Russian media reports said that 

Soviet experts had known at the 

time that the so-called “abrasive” 

powers of highly-compressed diamonds 

found in the open were 

much stronger than those made 

by synthetic firms. But the 

Communist era’s logic dictated the 

promotion of the chemical industry 

and five-year plans that outlined 

specific production quotas 

for everything from synthetic diamonds 

to bars of soap. 

The field was left almost entirely 

unexplored for the subsequent 

30 years. It was finally declassified 

in the 1990s at a time of deep economic 

crisis that prevented any 

serious production or investment 

work. Pokhilenko said the find was 

then essentially forgotten before 

his institute picked up its study 

again three years ago. “They only 

examined 0.3 percent of the entire 

materials. Ford is also designing and making 

key electric-drive components in-house to cut 

costs and accelerate development of these 

technologies. 

Buyers of the 1.6-liter Fusion with a turbocharged 

engine can purchase the $295 

auto start-stop system, which shuts the 

engine off when the car is stopped at a light. 

Ford is looking to provide this option in a larger 

number of its vehicles. 

The Fusion also offers a lane-keeping system 

that alerts a driver if the car drifts into 

another lane. The Fusion can also parallel park 

itself, with the active park assist feature. 

“That’s been a key point in our turnaround 

and our success, we’ve really pushed on being 

a technology leader and making sure we 

bring those technologies to the mainstream,” 

Nair said. — Reuters 

Popigai: Russia’s vast and untouched diamond crater 

territory of the crater and had 

already established 147 billion 

carats worth of (industrial) diamonds. 

So we are talking about 

many trillion (carats),” said the scientist. 

— AFP 

MOSCOW: People walk past Sberbank’s headquarters in Moscow. 

Russia sold 7.58 percent of the biggest Russian bank Sberbank, 

raising $5.2 billion yesterday in a successful auction that underlined 

strong investor interest in its nascent privatization drive. The 

auction is one of the first major offerings in a three-year $40-billion 

privatization program that the Russian government hopes 

will bring in much needed funds for an increasingly pressured 

budget. — AFP

24 business 


Wen to meet EU amid debt crisis, trade row 

BEIJING: Chinese Premier Wen 

Jiabao meets Europe’s leaders today 

as the world’s second-biggest economy 

falters in the euro-zone debt crisis 

downdraft and the two sides face 

a long list of trade disputes. Wen is 

attending his last China-EU summit 

in Brussels, meeting European 

Council President Herman Van 

Rompuy and European Commission 

President Jose Manuel Barroso, as 

well as EU foreign policy head 

Catherine Ashton. 

Beijing has repeatedly expressed 

concern about the EU slowdown and 

offered help in resolving the debt crisis 

but at the same time has been 

increasingly forced to take costly 

stimulus steps of its own to sustain 

growth. Wen told visiting German 

Chancellor Angela Merkel last month 

that despite “serious concerns,” 

Beijing was ready to continue investing 

in euro-zone sovereign debt markets 

“on condition of fully evaluating 

the risks.” He also said China was 

ready to strengthen communication 

and discussion with the EU, the 

European Central Bank, the 

International Monetary Fund and key 

countries to support indebted eurozone 

nations. 

Europeans have expressed hope 

that China could deploy some of its 

trove of about $3 trillion in foreign 

exchange reserves-the largest in the 

world-to invest in EU bailout funds. 

Wen’s visit comes, however, with the 

European debt situation showing 

some improvement after the ECB 

announced a bold plan to buy government 

bonds so as to cut borrowing 

costs for under-pressure eurozone 

economies. That move is in turn 

linked to the bloc’s new bailout fund, 

the European Stability Mechanism, 

which was finally cleared earlier this 

month by Germany’s top constitutional 

court, allowing full implementation. 

In Brussels, EU sources said 

the talks would consolidate ties 

ahead of major Chinese leadership 

changes, due later this year and early 

next, and “it is not a summit for big 

decisions.” The summit will reflect EU 

appreciation of Wen’s role in building 

ties and “look forward to continuing 

(the relationship) with the new leadership,” 

one of the sources said. 

Given the adverse economic 

backdrop, it would be important that 

both sides give a strong signal of 

“mutual confidence” in the future, 

the source added. While stressing 

the positives, the EU source also recognized 

a long list of disputes but 

argued that they were only to be 

expected give the importance of 

the relationship as a whole. The 27state 

EU bloc is China’s single largest 

export market while China is the 

EU’s second largest trading partner 

after the United States, with total 

trade worth nearly 430 billion euros 

in 2011. In that context, a series of 

disputes-including the recent EU 

anti-dumping probe into Chinese 

solar panels, the biggest of its kindshould 

be kept in proportion, the 

EU source said. “Frictions only touch 

a small part of that,” the source said, 

adding that EU procedures were to 

protect EU industry and well understood 

by all concerned. 

EU sources said the community 

was also worried by increasing territorial 

disputes-in the South China 

Sea and between Japan and China 

over disputed islands-and stressed 

the need for diplomatic solutions. 

“We are all disturbed by the escalation,” 

the EU source said, adding: “I 

doubt it is directly linked to the 

leadership” change. “Periods of transition 

can be bumpy,” the source 

said. Other contentious issues to be 

covered will likely include human 

rights in China, and Syria and Iran 

on which Beijing has opposed 

activist Western policies, the 

sources said. 

Thomas Koenig, London-based 

China program coordinator with 

the European Council on Foreign 

Relations, said he would be looking 

to see if the crisis had eased sufficiently 

for the EU to assume a more 

robust stance towards Beijing. 

“With China, it’s always important 

to emphasize reciprocal engagement,” 

Koenig said, adding he was 

hoping for a “little more candid 

assessment of the situation” in the 

relationship— AFP 

PHNOM PENH: A Cambodian man rides on top of a cyclo (a type of tricyle) loaded with handicraft 

baskets travelling along a street in Phnom Penh yesterday. Cambodian Finance Minister 

Keat Chhon said that the country’s economy was forecast to grow by 6.9 percent in 2012, 

slightly down from an earlier outlook of 7 percent following a drop in exports in the key garment 

sector.—AFP 

Global shares rise 

BoJ easing helps shares amid Euro worries 

LONDON: Global shares rose and the 

yen fell to a one-month low yesterday 

after the Bank of Japan became the 

latest leading central bank to offer 

aggressive new measures to stimulate 

economic activity. Nagging concerns 

about debt-strained euro-zone 

members Greece and Spain limited 

the gains, however, pushing the euro 

back towards the $1.30 mark against 

a mildly stronger dollar and dragging 

back oil prices. “The feel-good factor 

from the Bank of Japan’s move has 

worn off quickly and it’s back to 

European matters,” said Investec 

strategist Phillip Shaw. 

“The questions are over the 

Spanish bailout and whether Spain 

will receive support from the ECB. 

There is also some focus on Greece 

and whether it will get some more 

time for its spending cuts.” 

Japanese stocks rallied to four-month 

high after the BOJ said it would 

increase its asset buying and loan 

program, currently its main monetary 

easing tool, by 10 trillion yen ($127 

billion) to 80 trillion. Its announcement 

followed a decision by the 

Federal Reserve to pump $40 billion a 

month into the US economy until the 

jobs market improved and new plans 

from the European Central Bank to 

fight the region’s debt crisis. 

But the positive mood was waning 

by midday in Europe. The MSCI index 

of global stocks and top European 

shares clung to minor gains of 

between 0.05 and 0.3 percent as 

euro-zone worries sent German, 

French and Spanish markets into neg- 

Japan Airlines up slightly 

in Tokyo trading debut 

TOKYO: Less than three years after it collapsed into bankruptcy, 

Japan Airlines Co Ltd (JAL) made a modest market 

return yesterday, with its shares closing 1 percent above 

the price set for the world’s second-biggest IPO of the year. 

The $8.5 billion initial public offering had been priced conservatively 

to take account of the airline industry’s tough 

outlook, with full-service carriers such as JAL under threat 

from low-cost operators in an already weak economy. 

JAL’s stock opened around 3 percent above the IPO 

price of 3,790 yen, but soon leveled off to close 1.1 percent 

higher at 3,830 yen - ranking it alongside Air China Ltd as 

Asia’s second-biggest airline by market value behind 

Singapore Airlines Ltd. Trading volume topped 40 million 

shares, worth around $2 billion. Traders had suggested JAL, 

which emerged from bankruptcy with the highest level of 

operating profits in the industry, might climb as much as 

10 percent on its market return given trading indications 

on the unofficial grey market. 

CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets initiated coverage with a ‘buy’ 

rating on the stock, while Macquarie Capital Securities rated 

it ‘outperform’. Both cited attractive valuations with a 

price-to-earnings ratio of about 5, around a third of the 

industry average. But both also noted the tough outlook 

for legacy, full-service airlines like JAL given increasing 

competition from budget carriers. Also, Japan’s air travel 

market is mature and offers little prospect for volume 

growth. 

“We find it difficult to recommend JAL or any other 

Japanese airline as a long-term fundamental investment,” 

Macquarie analyst Nicholas Cunningham wrote in a client 

note. “In short, our recommendation comes down to a valuation 

call.” Brokers had warned that Japanese retail 

investors, who took up 70 percent of the IPO, might be 

quick to take profits given uncertainty over whether JAL’s 

earnings may have already peaked. “I’m not too bullish on 

JAL. Low-cost carriers have a larger market share now and 

competition is fiercer. It’s unclear whether they can maintain 

their current level of profit,” said Masato Futoi, head of 

cash equity trading at Tokai Tokyo Securities. 

Budget airlines currently make up less than a tenth of 

the Japanese market but are expected to grow that to 

ative territory before rebounding. 

With key housing market data 

expected to confirm a recent uptick 

in the sector Wall Street was expected 

to open higher after dipping on 

Tuesday. Many big stock markets 

have risen 15-20 percent since June 

on expectations of central bank 

measures, all of which have either 

been met or exceeded over the last 

two weeks. 

Analysts are now questioning 

whether the rises can be sustained 

with economic fundamentals still 

decidedly weak. “What we have seen 

over the last two weeks has been positive 

for stock markets because there 

is enormous liquidity, and due to low 

interest rates there is a lack of alternative 

investment opportunities,” said 

ING analyst Carsten Brzeski. “If the 

central banks continue to ease policy 

then it will of course be positive for 

markets but there is not that much 

more room to ease. In the next one to 

two months the only additional easing 

I could see is another rate cut by 

the ECB.” 

EURO JITTERS 

The Bank of Japan action helped 

to offset concerns about tensions 

between Japan and China over a disputed 

group of islands in the East 

China Sea. The yen fell to a onemonth 

low of 79.23 to the dollar 

while euro-zone jitters pushed the 

euro down 0.1 percent to $1.3032, a 

full cent below a four-month high set 

on Monday. Bond markets were 

mixed. With riskier assets looking 

more appealing due to the central 

bank stimulus, yields fell slightly on 

Italian and Spanish bonds. But the 

ongoing euro-zone worries saw the 

strongest demand since January at a 

German two-year debt auction. Bund 

futures were last 30 ticks higher on 

the day at 139.76, moving further 

from the 5-1/2 month low of 138.41 

hit on Monday. 

Oil prices were also impacted, giving 

up earlier gains to sink to a sixweek 

low of $111.23 a barrel. They 

remain more than 25 percent higher 

than three months ago, however. 

Gold, which has a twin appeal as a 

safe-haven asset and inflation hedge, 

shrugged off the concerns to sit at a 

6-1/2 month high of $1,772.49 an 

ounce. China’s economy remains a 

major worry for global markets. The 

government said on Wednesday the 

export outlook was grim and demand 

may be weaker in the next few 

months than it has been so far this 

year. “With the European Central 

Bank, the US Federal Reserve and 

now the Bank of Japan - the world’s 

major central banks - moving to ease, 

there will now be expectations for the 

PBOC (People’s Bank of China) to follow 

suit,” said Jackson Wong, Tanrich 

Securities’ vice-president for equity 

sales. Minutes from the Bank of 

England’s latest meeting showed policymakers 

were unanimous in keeping 

interest rates and their asset purchases 

unchanged, but a number 

indicated the economy may need 

additional support in the coming 

months.— Reuters 

Stock closed 1.1 percent above IPO price 

nearer 25 percent over the longer term. JAL is part-owner 

of JetStar Japan, a budget carrier run in partnership with 

Australia’s Qantas Airways Ltd. JAL’s biggest local rival All 

Nippon Airways has invested in two low-cost operators. 

“Listing our stock is just the starting line for us as a private 

company,” JAL President Yoshiharu Ueki told a briefing at 

the Tokyo Stock Exchange. “I’m not going to get caught up 

in where the stock is today. We will focus on boosting our 

corporate value through sound management and work to 

gain the trust of our shareholders.” 

BIG DEAL 

Everything about JAL’s fall and revival has been big. The 

airline’s IPO was second only this year to social networking 

giant Facebook Inc’s $16 billion offering. Its $2.5 billion 

operating profit in the past business year was top-of-theclass 

for the industry, and its balance sheet, saddled with 

$25 billion in debts when it failed in January 2010, has 

been scrubbed clean. 

The Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation of 

Japan (ETIC), a state-backed fund that injected 350 billion 

yen into the carrier, sold its entire 96.5 percent stake in the 

IPO, generating around a $4 billion profit for national coffers. 

Under ETIC’s supervision, JAL took a knife to its bloated 

cost structure - shedding about a third of its workforce 

to around 31,000, slashing pension payouts and retiring its 

line-up of gas-guzzling jumbo jets. JAL’s cost per available 

seat kilometer (CASK) - a commonly used metric equal to 

the cost of maintaining a seat over the distance travelled - 

has dropped to 11.4 yen ($0.14) from 13.8 yen before bankruptcy. 

ANA’s CASK is 12.9 yen. 

JAL executives put the airline’s swift revival down to the 

management system brought in by Chairman Emeritus 

Kazuo Inamori - in which individual business units are held 

accountable for maximizing profits, even those not directly 

generating revenue. Under that system, unit leaders meet 

monthly to share cost-saving ideas and competitive intelligence, 

and are directed to put that information to work 

immediately, accelerating business decisions. Previously 

JAL’s divisions operated in silos, with little thought given to 

trimming costs, executives have said.— Reuters

WASHINGTON: The International 

Monetary Fund has warned Argentina 

it could face sanctions in December if 

it did not move to begin providing 

more accurate economic data. In a 

review of Argentina’s progress since it 

was given six months in February to 

meet IMF data standards, the IMF 

executive board said it “regretted the 

lack of sufficient progress” in Buenos 

Aires’s efforts to bring its data reporting 

into compliance. “The board took 

note of the ongoing dialogue 

between the IMF and the authorities 

regarding the measures, and called on 

Argentina to implement the measures 

without delay,” it said in a statement. 

The board gave Buenos Aires 

another three months, until December 

17, when it will again review the issue. 

At that time the board “may consider 

additional steps based on Argentina’s 

response, and in line with IMF procedures,” 

it warned. That left Argentina 

on a path to become the first country 

ever censured by the board for faulty 

economic data-though the board 

could again put off action in 

December. Failure to meet IMF rules 

can lead to sanctions, including suspending 

a member’s voting rights-an 

extremely rare event which would be a 

first for a developed G20 country like 

Argentina. 

The IMF and Argentina have been 

battling over Buenos Aires’s widely 

questioned official data on inflation 

and gross domestic product since last 

year, with private sector economists 

saying the government vastly under- 

25 business 

IMF warns Argentina over unacceptable data 

Frederic Copper David Hanson 

OSN strengthens Digital and 

Business Development team 

KUWAIT: OSN, the leading Pay-TV network 

in the Middle East and North Africa, 

has strengthened its management team 

with the appointment of David Hanson 

as Director of Digital and Frederic 

Copper-Royer as Business Development 

Director. The new appointments demonstrate 

OSN’s dedication in building a 

team of experts to help bring innovative 

viewing solutions and the best of premium 

content to the region. Both David 

and Frederic bring with them a wealth of 

experience from working in similar roles; 

David previously at Sky TV and Frederic 

at Nokia Corporation. 

David Hanson has been with OSN for 

over seven years and was Director of 

OSN’s movies channels and On Demand 

services. He will now be responsible for 

heading the digital team and growing 

OSN’s online viewing platform, OSN Play. 

Frederic, who has a background in securing 

strategic revenue generating partnerships, 

joins OSN to focus on growing 

external partnerships and increasing its 

revenue opportunities. 

The new appointments are in line 

with OSN’s strategy to expand the company’s 

digital platform, develop its innovative 

viewing solutions and new business 

opportunities across the region. 

Emad Morcos, Vice President of Strategy, 

Business Development and Digital at 

OSN said: “I am delighted to have David 

and Frederic join the team. David has 

extensive knowledge about the brand 

and the industry through his years with 

the company and was closely involved 

during the launch of OSN Play in the 

region. 

Frederic on the other hand has extensive 

experience in the music industry 

rolling out partnership agreements - this 

makes them both ideal candidates and I 

am confident that together we will 

expand OSN’s digital offerings further 

making us the number 1 entertainment 

company in the region.” Before moving 

to Dubai in 2005, David worked for Sky 

TV in London where he was Channel 

Manager. More recently he has been an 

important asset to the OSN team where 

he played a key role as head of programming 

for the region. 

Frederic joins the OSN team following 

a stint at Nokia Corporation MENA where 

he was responsible for rolling out the 

music division. Prior to that he was at 

EMI where he was responsible for negotiating 

and implementing revenue sharing 

systems for digital partners in the MENA 

region. 

KIB, Ford collaborates 

for easy car financing 

KUWAIT: Kuwait International Bank has 

announced its partnership with Arabian 

Motors Group-Hamad M Al Wazzan and 

Partners, Ford’s Agent in Kuwait, to offer 

special financing packages for the bank’s 

customers. The collaboration comes as 

part of KIB’s continuous search for new 

benefits and privileges to offer exclusively 

to its customer base. On the occasion, 

Assistant GM of Retail Banking 

Department R K Nair said in a press statement: 

“We aim to provide our customers 

with the best Shariah Compliant financing 

solutions that ultimately add value to 

their daily lives and offer them exclusive 

benefits.” 

Nair also added: “The joint coopera- 

tion we have with the Arabian Motors 

Group-Hamad M Al Wazzan and Partners, 

Ford’s Agent in Kuwait, came to meet the 

desires of KIB customers who are interested 

in purchasing a Ford car. The customer 

will now be able to purchase their 

car with easy financing and installment 

plans with discounts ranging from KD 

500 - KD 1000 in addition to a number of 

benefits such as warranty for five years or 

100,000 KM and a complimentary car 

registration. Terms and conditions do 

apply for the above mentioned benefits. 

In conclusion, Nair emphasized that customers 

can learn more about KIB’s services 

and products by visiting the bank’s 

website on www.kib.com.kw 

Taiwan boosts airport 

amid tourism boom 

TAIPEI: Taiwan, which is seeing a boom 

in tourism from China, will spend Tw$463 

billion ($15.4 billion) on a new terminal 

and other facilities at its main airport, the 

government said yesterday. In addition 

to a third terminal at the Taoyuan international 

airport in the island’s north, the 

surrounding area will get an aerospace 

industrial park and special zones for cargo 

and logistics, said the transportation 

ministry. 

Taiwan, which relaxed controls on 

travel from China in 2008, received 1.78 

million Chinese tourists last year, and 

calls have been mounting for better facilities 

to accommodate the growing 

inflow. 

The new terminal, the centerpiece of 

the “Taoyuan Aerotropolis” project with a 

budget of Tw$50 billion, is set to begin in 

2014 and is expected to start operating 

in 2018, the ministry said. The project is 

expected to generate Tw$2.3 trillion in 

“economic benefits” and 260,000 new 

jobs as well as Tw$84 billion in business 

and land tax revenues for the government 

from 2011 to 2030, a transportation 

official said. 

The “economic benefits” include growing 

revenues for construction companies, 

raw material suppliers, airlines, 

transportation service providers as well 

as spending from more visitors, he said. 

The airport, which was inaugurated 30 

years ago, has been a frequent target of 

criticism, with complaints ranging from 

leaking toilets and roofs to a lack of trolleys. 

International visitors to the island 

reached a record 6.08 million in 2011, 

compared with the previous high of 5.5 

million in 2010, according to the tourism 

bureau. — AFP 

states the pace of price rises. Last 

week the government released 

monthly figures that implied an annual 

inflation rate through August of 

around 10 percent. But a group of private 

economists who average their 

inflation estimates put the pace of 

price rises at 24 percent, according to 

media reports. 

On Monday Moody’s downgraded 

the outlook on its B3 junk-level debt 

rating for Argentina to negative from 

stable. Moody’s cited its stalemate 

with creditors, its “haphazard policy 

environment,” and “growing concerns 

about the quality and reliability of 

Argentina’s official data reporting, 

specifically about inflation and GDP 

estimates that continue to be significantly 

at odds with private sector esti- 

MARIKANA: South African police 

fired tear gas yesterday to disperse 

protesters near a mine run 

by top platinum producer Anglo 

American Platinum (Amplats), the 

first sign of unrest spreading after 

strikers at smaller rival Lonmin 

won big pay rises. Within hours of 

Lonmin agreeing to a pay 

increase of 11 to 22 percent, 

workers at neighboring mines 

were calling for similar hikes, suggesting 

more trouble in store 

after six weeks of industrial action 

that has claimed 45 lives and 

threatened Africa’s biggest economy. 

“We want management to 

meet us as well now,” an organizer 

for the militant Association of 

Mineworkers and Construction 

Union (AMCU) at Impala Platinum, 

the number two producer said. 

“We want 9,000 rand ($1,100) a 

month as a basic wage instead of 

the roughly 5,000 rand we are 

getting.” He declined to be named 

for fear of recriminations from the 

company. Lonmin shares soared 

more than 9 percent to levels not 

seen since police shot dead 34 

miners on Aug. 16 outside its 

Marikana mine, 100 km (60 miles) 

northwest of Johannesburg. 

However, the deal could add 

13 percent to the company’s 

recurrent costs, plus an additional 

$10 million for a one-off back-towork 

bonus, Nomura said in a 

note. Lonmin is already battling 

with a shaky balance sheet and 

unprofitable shafts. 

The settlement has also sown 

more strife in the area, with police 

clashing with an angry crowd in a 

township at a nearby Amplats 

mine outside the “platinum belt” 

city of Rustenburg. Police 

spokesman Dennis Adriao said 

officers fired tear gas, stun 

grenades and rubber bullets to 

disperse an “illegal gathering”. He 

had no information on any casualties. 

A labor activist said workers 

who have stayed off the job at 

Amplats, which accounts for 40 

mates.” Moody’s pointed out that 

Buenos Aires benefits by the underreporting, 

because more than 20 percent 

of its sovereign debt is indexed to 

inflation. In July 2011 the IMF gave the 

Argentine government 180 days to 

improve the quality of the statistics, 

which it is obliged to provide the 

Washington-based global lender. But 

rather than take action, in February 

the IMF gave the government another 

180 days to measure up. Paulo 

Nogueira Batista, Brazil’s representative 

on the IMF executive board, said 

not everyone on the board was happy 

with the terse statement issued 

Tuesday. “I would have liked the statement 

to focus more on the willingness 

of the Argentinean authority to undertake 

the recommendations of the IMF,” 

percent of global supplies of the 

metal used for catalytic converters 

in cars, were inspired by 

Lonmin and would press on with 

their demands. “The mood here is 

upbeat, very celebratory,” 

Mametlwe Sebei, a community 

representative near Rustenburg 

said. “Victory is in sight. The workers 

are celebrating Lonmin as a 

victory.” Amplats had to suspend 

its Rustenburg operations last 

week because of the unrest. Those 

mines restarted on Tuesday but 

the company admitted many 

workers had stayed away. 

Platinum prices rose a little yesterday 

after falling 2.6 percent a day 

earlier on news of the Lonmin 

deal. 


he told AFP. In Buenos Aires, the government, 

contacted by AFP, declined 

to comment on the IMF action. The 

IMF and Argentina have a long history 

of troubled relations, with successive 

governments blaming the Fund for 

domestic economic failures and the 

country’s deep troubles in international 

debt markets. In January 2006 the 

government paid off Argentina’s debt 

with the IMF-some $9.5 billion-and cut 

links with the Fund. Since then 

Argentina has been the only country 

in the G20 that does not allow annual 

economic assessments by official IMF 

teams. But at the end of 2010, the IMF 

was invited back to assist with collection 

and formulation of economic 

data, opening the way to the current 

impasse. — AFP 

Lonmin deal stirs more 

South Africa mine strife 

Pay hikes may be red rag to other workers 

Gulf Bank announces its 

cards prize draw winner 

KUWAIT: Gulf Bank yesterday announced Abbas 

Booriden as the lucky winner of its third monthly 

cards prize draw, which offers all its cardholders the 

chance to win one of the BMW cars of the 5th, 6th, 

7th Series or X6 series, as well as giving 10 winners 

the chance to earn 100,000 loyalty points each, per 

month. The draw took place on September 16th, at 

Gulf Bank’s Head Office, where the first winner; 

Abbas Majid Ibdan Booriden won a brand new 2012 

BMW 730i, while, Vasudeva Rao Kattimani, Khouloud 

Reda Naama Reda, Nouf Abbas Abdullah Abul, Aqeel 

Hussain Jaber Amir, Muhamad Mansour Hmoud Al- 

Hajri, Maryam Ibrahim Ali Al-Hawal, Waled Kamal 

Mahmoud, Bader Sultan Asad Mohammad, Amar 

Mohammed Salman Yadikar, and Zlaikha Haji Al- 

Qabandi each earned 100,000 loyalty points. 

Aly Shalaby, Gulf Bank’s General Manager, 

Consumer Banking Group said: “I would like to congratulate 

all the winners of this competition, and we 

are looking forward to rewarding more of our loyal 

cardholders each month. In this campaign, we are 

offering all our cardholders an opportunity to win a 

range of great prizes and this is our way of thanking 

them for their continued trust in Gulf Bank’s services. 

We value our customers and we want them to continue 

to feel that they are getting the best and 

fastest banking services in Kuwait whilst also enjoying 

the opportunity to enter valuable draws.” 

Any current or prospective Gulf Bank cardholder 

who spends more using their credit cards locally and 

internationally or debit cards abroad will be eligible 

enter the draw. The campaign started in June 2012, 

and will run through to January 14th 2013. To find 

out more about Gulf Bank’s promotions, customers 

can visit one of Gulf Bank’s 56 branches, or contact 

the Bank’s Customer Contact Centre on 1805805 for 

assistance and guidance, or log on to www.e-gulfbank.com, 

Gulf Bank’s website. 

LONMIN WORKERS 

CELEBRATE 

At Marikana, strikers celebrat- 

MARIKANA: A striking miner gestures as the miners listen to the 

news that they secured a 22 percent pay hike from London-listed 

Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana. — AFP 

MANAMA: Sakana Holistic Housing 

Solutions, Bahrain the innovative Islamic 

mortgage finance provider recently 

signed an agreement with Top Expo 

Group, Kuwait confirming participation 

in the forthcoming Kuwait International 

Property Show (KIPS 2012) which will be 

held from 24th to 29th September 2012 

at Kuwait International Fair Center, 

Meshrif, Kuwait. Sakana will be showcasing 

exclusively Fontana Towers - an 

exclusive luxurious living on the Juffair 

waterfront, Bahrain comprising of 400 

freehold apartments. Sakana will be 

offering mortgage financing up to 80% 

of the property value subject to maximum 

BD 350,000 and up to 25 years 

term for GCC residents. 

R Lakshmanan, Chief Executive Officer, 

Sakana said: “We are delighted to participate 

in KIPS 2012 and showcase Fontana 

Towers which offers a distinct lifestyle 

above the ordinary and ready to live. We 

are aware that Kuwaiti nationals and 

companies have been major investors in 

Bahrain real estate market and we 

believe this development will generate 

considerable interest from them. “ 

Fontana Towers is a residential freehold 

tower designed with a blend of 

sophistication and elegance and a symbol 

of luxury and modern living with 400 

freehold apartments - studios, 1, 2 and 3 

bedroom apartments and exclusive 

penthouses in 4 interconnected skyscrapers. 

Features include exclusive 

ed their settlement as a triumph 

for AMCU, which exploded onto 

the South African labour scene in 

January when its turf war with the 

dominant National Union of 

Mineworkers (NUM) led to a sixweek 

closure of the world’s largest 

platinum mine, run by Implats. 

Thousands of Lonmin workers 

and their families gathered at a 

soccer pitch near the mine to sing 

victory songs and denounce 

NUM, a key ally of the ruling 

African National Congress (ANC). 

“AMCU is coming. We told 

them and they are coming,” one of 

the chants ran. One man held up 

a banner reading: “Death 

Certificate; first name: NUM; cause 

of death: corruption”. The discontent 

rolling through the sector has 

found fertile ground in the shanty-towns 

that ring the mines. “The 

ripple effects will continue to be 

felt. The outcome of the negotiation 

at Marikana will likely set a 

new benchmark for mining more 

generally and wage costs are set 

to rise substantially,” JP Morgan 

said in a research note. Amplats 

and Implats shares were up 0.1 

percent and 0.5 percent respectively 

at 1010 GMT. 

Wage hikes in the mining sector 

have been leap-frogging inflation 

for years, reducing margins in 

the industry as productivity has 

struggled to keep pace. But the 

typical miner has several dependents 

to feed and so pay rises that 

outpace inflation may not go far 

as the gains evaporate at the 

kitchen table. 

Racing food inflation due to 

soaring global grain prices will 

only stoke workers’ hunger. The 

gold sector has also not been 

spared, with 15,000 miners at 

the KDC West operation of Gold 

Fields, the world’s fourth largest 

bullion producer, on an illegal 

strike. Gold Fields’ chief executive 

Nick Holland told Reuters 

on Tuesday his company could 

“go on for quite some time” 

despite the KDC West disruption. 

— Reuters 

Sakana to showcase 

Towers in KIPS 2012 

male and female fully equipped gym, 

indoor pool, Jacuzzi, communal outdoor 

swimming pool with sundeck, health 

club, spa, courts for tennis, basketball, 

squash, indoor games room, kids play 

area children gaming zone, mini-theatre, 

private cafÈ, multi-purpose halls, fully 

equipped business centre and convenience 

stores. 

R Lakshmanan

LONDON: In the early 1870s, property prices in 

Vienna, Berlin and Paris soared on the back of a 

state-promoted building boom fuelled by easy 

credit extended against the collateral of unbuilt or 

unfinished houses. The crash that followed parallels 

what has happened more recently and may, with 

other lessons from US history, provide pointers for 

the euro-zone crisis. As the property prices soared, 

Europe’s world was turned upside down. Thanks to 

grain elevators, conveyor belts and huge 

steamships, American farmers opening up the fertile 

Midwest were able to export vast quantities of 

wheat and then processed food. 

Grain producers from Russia and central Europe 

simply could not compete with what came to be 

known as the American Commercial Invasion. The 

crash came in central Europe in May 1873 as the 

low costs of the new industrial superpower 

exposed long-held growth assumptions as unrealistic. 

Continental banks collapsed, prompting British 

lenders to hold back their capital, unsure who was 

most exposed to souring mortgages. Interbank 

rates rocketed. The banking crisis soon spread to 

the United States. Railway companies were among 

the first casualties, burdened by complex financial 

instruments that promised investors a fixed return. 

Fast forward 135 years and this tale of woe, by 

US historian Scott Reynolds Nelson, bears an uncanny 

resemblance to today’s chronic banking and 

debt problems, according to Stephen Ross, a professor 

of financial economics at the Massachusetts 

Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of 

Management. “Substituting Asia for America and 

the West for Europe, we get a description of what 

has happened in the current crisis. The West has 

been financed by the new producing economies of 

the East and that fueled a housing and consumption 

binge,” he said. 

“Not unlike 1873, the financial institutions and 

the new financial instruments made this easier, and 

the role of government to prod an expansion of 

affordable housing played a major role,” Ross added 

in a recent lecture at the Cass Business School in 

London. Crises, he concluded, are just as much a 

feature of the nexus between politics and finance 

today as they were in the late nineteenth century. 

Which in turn helps explains why, as the current 

malaise stretches into a sixth year, there is keen 

interest in teasing out the lessons to be learned 

from history. 

NOT FOR THE FIRST TIME 

As well as the 1873 meltdown, Nelson profiles 

American financial calamities in 1792, 1819, 1837, 

1857, 1893 and 1929. All resulted in Europeans 

wondering “if Americans would honor their financial 

promises, or was America simply a nation of 

deadbeats?” Hence the title of Nelson’s work, “A 

Nation of Deadbeats: An Uncommon History of 

America’s Financial Disasters”. 

Then as now, complex financial engineering was 

a frequent feature when boom turned to bust, 

according to a Reuters review of Nelson’s book by 

Bernard Vaughan. In each case, as with the dodgy 

railroad bonds, financial intermediaries convinced 

themselves that the instruments they had created 

were sophisticated enough to protect them from 

defaults. “And in each case the complex chain of 

institutions linking borrowers and lenders made it 

impossible for lenders to distinguish good loans 

from bad,” Nelson, a history professor at the College 

of William and Mary, writes. 

The 1837 financial crunch gives its title to another 

trawl through financial history by Alasdair 

Roberts, a professor at Suffolk University law school 

in Boston. In “America’s First Great Depression: 

26 business 

Economic Crisis and Political Disorder after the panic 

of 1837”, Roberts describes how a burst property 

bubble - yes, again - triggered a banking crisis - yes, 

again - that by 1842 led to a third of US states being 

in default on their foreign debts. The parallel with 

the euro-zone crisis barely needs spelling out. For 

Mississippi, an early defaulter, read Greece. 

The United States was roughly 60 years old at 

the time, as is the European Union now, which 

makes the far-reaching policy response to the 

states’ debt crisis especially intriguing, according to 

Charles Robertson, an economist with Renaissance 

Capital in London. Six defaulting states adopted 

constitutional debt brakes, while eight others introduced 

borrowing limits - a drive echoed, 170 years 

later, by the fiscal compact agreed by euro-zone 

members at Germany’s bidding. As investors 

regained confidence, the prices of Pennsylvania’s 

and Indiana’s bonds more than doubled between 

1842 and 1847. Holders of defaulted Greek debt will 

be hoping that history repeats itself. 

NOT SO CHEERY PARALLEL 

In another echo of Europe today, American politics 

got messy as populist politicians harangued 

banks and investors. But as global recovery set in by 

1845, the American economy and the political climate 

stabilized. Most of its states regained market 

access. However, Robertson draws a darker lesson 

from Roberts’s book, namely that the economic 

shocks of the first Great Depression loosened the 

bonds forged in the war of independence from 

Britain 60 years earlier and paved the way for the US 

civil war of 1861-1865. Southern American states 

favored free trade with Britain, while the northern 

states wanted tariffs and taxes to build up manufacturing. 

Europe, too, faces a fundamental northsouth 

divide, Robertson argues. “The core around 


US meltdowns: History lessons for the euro 

Radical fiscal response to 1837 crisis echoed in EU 

Behbehani, NBK declare 

winner Joint Promotion 

KUWAIT: Mohammed Saleh and 

Reza Yousuf Behbehani, the authorized 

distributors of GMC vehicles in 

Kuwait, and National Bank of Kuwait 

announced Jamal Ghader the winner 

of their Joint Raffle Draw 

Promotion held during Ramadan. 

The promotion was held in conjunction 

with National Bank of Kuwait 

exclusively for NBK customers who 

purchased any of GMC new cars during 

the promotion offering them the 

chance to enter the draw to win a 

Pearl White GMC Acadia 2012. “NBK 

being the leading bank in Kuwait, 

we were expecting the promotion to 

be successful, and so it was. 

Many customers took advantage 

of this offer and bought their new 

GMC vehicles during the promotion 

period,” stated Adel Behbehani, 

Director of Sales at MSRY 

Behbehani. Ever since its launch, the 

Acadia has been a leading vehicle in 

its segment of cross-over vehicles 

and in considered the best in its 

class due to its elegant exteriors, 

spacious interiors, fuel efficiency 

and performance. The vehicle has 

met with astounding success in the 

local market amongst both citizens 

and residents. NBK maintains its 

leading position in both the local 

and regional markets throughout its 

best-in-class services and exclusive 

promotions. 

NBK offering special 

packages for expats 

KUWAIT: NBK offers expatriates 

customized packages catering 

to their financial needs, including 

quick approval for financing 

in Kuwait up to KD 50,000, free 

online money transfers, free 

credit cards for the first year as 

well as mortgages services in 

Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, London, 

New York, Paris and United Arab 

Emirates, “NBK facilities are 

extensive, easily accessible and 

are coupled with investment 

and life style -related benefits,” 

said Ahmed Al Khader, NBK’s 

Assistant General Manager, 

Consumer Banking Group. “We 

are offering expatriates who 

transfer their salary to NBK very 

attractive rates on financing with 

flexible repayment tenures, fast 

approvals and minimal fuss”. 

Al Khader added: “NBK customers 

will also enjoy free online 

money transfer to all NBK 

accounts across all countries. Al 

Jawhara account holders also 

earn chances to win KD 5,000 

weekly, KD 125,000 monthly and 

KD 250,000 quarterly with Al 

Jawhara draws. Customers who 

transfer their salaries to NBK can 

also can get the chance to enter 

Ahmed Al Khader 

a monthly draw to win a year’s 

salary.” NBK’s expatriate banking 

solutions ultimately reflects the 

individual needs of the customer, 

providing them with the 

freedom and control to manage 

their finances efficiently from 

the comfort of home or office, 24 

hours a day, 7 days a week via 

the website www.nbk.com , 

mobile banking service or the 

call center Hala Watani on 

1801801. 

KUWAIT: During the course of more than three and a 

half decades, the face of the world’s best selling premium 

car, the BMW 3 Series, has constantly evolved. 

Designers have always managed to incorporate 

dynamics, innovation and aesthetics into a harmonious, 

modern and future-oriented overall concept, 

whilst at the same time preserving traditional values. 

As a result, each BMW 3 Series has retained its unmistakable 

brand identity and can be identified as a BMW 

at the very first glance. 

However, the roots of the BMW 3 Series reach back 

as far as the 1960s. As a manufacturer of sporty, elegant 

sedans, BMW had at that time already developed 

a characteristic profile. With a notchback body design, 

front-mounted engines and rear-wheel drive, a basic 

principle was established back then (BMW 1500/2000) 

that still prevails to this very day. With the arrival of 

the BMW 1600 in 1966, the 2-door 02 Series, which 

produced such famous models as the 1600ti or the 

2002ti, was launched on to the automotive market 

and eventually replaced by the BMW 3 Series. 

The presentation of the first BMW 3 Series in July 

1975 marked the beginning of one of the most 

remarkable success stories in BMW model history. 

Although the 2-door sedan bore a strong resemblance 

to the BMW 5 Series introduced in 1972, the market 

witnessed the launch of an entirely new vehicle with 

compact dimensions and a sporting character. The 

predominant design feature of the front end was also 

the brand’s characteristic symbol, which was clearly 

identifiable even from a distance - the BMW kidney 

grille. 

1975-1983 

The design of the first BMW 3 Series is characterized 

by large windows, a distinctive wedge shape and, 

of course, BMW’s brand-typical face, the front end 

being dominated by the kidney grille vividly protruding 

from the radiator cover to continue up slightly 

scoop-shaped along the bonnet to the windscreen. 

With short overhangs and a track width of 1,364 millimeters 

at the front, the new sports sedan boasts a 

rather low-slung appearance. Vertically mounted indicators 

flank the large round headlights on each side. 

On the occasion of its presentation, BMW gives the 

new model the best chance of success: “Timeless and 

without superficial gallery play, the design of the 

BMW 3 Series will also become a trendsetter for the 

next decade.” 

1982-1993 

In 1982, the second generation of the BMW 3 

Series presents itself as a worthy successor. As a result 

of a sensitively enhanced design and optimized aerodynamics, 

the new model has gained significantly in 

presence. The approx. 35 mm increase in track width 

also contributes towards the sedan’s distinctively 

powerful look. Finally, on the whole, the body appears 

smoother and rounder, the sleek front end being the 

result of extensive wind tunnel tests, which is not 

least underscored by a drag coefficient of 0.37. 

The now low-slung front end boasting the flat 

BMW kidney grille elongates the entire front end of 

the vehicle, particularly as the double headlights now 

featured on all 3 Series models are located far on the 

outside. The smooth transition into all adjoining body 

surfaces not only determines the characteristic shape, 

but also ensures a good air flow around the vehicle. 

The low-set bonnet with its wide scoop rising gently 

from the front enhances aerodynamics, its surface not 

being interrupted by air intake openings. 

In 1990, the time had apparently come to replace 

the original BMW 3 Series with an exceedingly elegant 

successor model. It is an entirely newly conceived 

sports sedan, the dimensions of which have increased 

all round, both surprising and pleasing the public to 

an equal extent. Besides the slim silhouette, the 

smooth front end of the new model is immediately 

evident, as the double headlights are now conjointly 

mounted behind a glass cover. 

In addition to dynamic lines and a distinctive 

wedge shape, a significantly lower bonnet and a 

raised rear end, technical refinements such as windows 

installed flush with the car body and targeted 

diffuser cooling air circulation inside the engine compartment 

also contribute towards the outstanding 

drag coefficient of 0.29 (316i). This BMW has therefore 

virtually nothing in common with its predecessor, but 

the family resemblance still remains recognizable. 

Thanks to typical styling elements such as the kidney 

grille and double headlights, it is still obviously a 

BMW, even though the dominating design element 

and symbol of the brand was now flatter and wider. 

1998-2005 

When the fourth generation of the BMW 3 Series is 

launched in May 1998, the compact sports sedan is 

some 40 mm wider and even the track width has 

increased by 60 mm compared with its predecessor. 

At that time, BMW designers describe the styling of 

the front end as follows: “On the whole and in essential 

details, the front end, the typical BMW face, has 

been reinterpreted, but it is still that unmistakable 3 

Series face.” 

The double kidney grille is integrated into the bonnet 

and, together with the dual round headlights 

located behind clear glass covers, again shapes the 

powerful character of the new BMW 3 Series’ face. 

Compared with the front ends of the BMW 5 and 7 

Series, the lower headlight surrounds form a distinctive 

separation: Here, the curvatures of the reflectors 

located in the exterior bodywork are finely outlined 

by a slight indication of curvatures, resulting in a 

clearly visible interruption of the horizontal line above 

the bumper. 

2005-2011 

With the launch of the fifth generation in the year 

2005, BMW brings to the market a BMW 3 Series that 

is strong in character and exudes significantly more 

presence and power than its predecessor. Only a year 

after the market launch, the new styling strategy and 

the progressive design vocabulary gain the highest 

level of recognition, resulting in the BMW 3 Series 

being presented with the “World Car of the Year” 

award in New York. 

Members of the creative BMW design team are 

already convinced of the value of their work beforehand: 

“Within the series, the design has consistently 

developed in both small and larger steps. The new 3 

Series represents a particularly high level of advancement 

in the vehicle’s design history.” Although the car 

makes only a proportionally moderate leap compared 

to the predecessor model, it does stand out from it 

significantly and noticeably. With the double kidney 

grille and dual headlights curved at the top, it exhibits 

the typical front end of a modern BMW - a focused 

facial expression. 

2012 

The success story of the 3 Series over the past 37 

years continues with the sixth generation of the 

Germany is a low-debt, high-savings, manufacturing 

and export powerhouse, with a preference for 

deflation to protect savings. Much of the south is a 

low-savings, high-borrowing group of countries 

with an inherent preference for inflation to resolve 

their debt burdens,” he said in a report. 

Europe will not descend into civil war, but the 

ties binding the euro-zone are weak, with deep cultural 

and linguistic differences and limited labor 

mobility, he added. “A break-up of the currency 

union is more plausible, because the key popular 

support for the euro-zone union is not emotional, 

nationalistic or rooted in fears of external threats. It 

is primarily economic,” Robertson concludes. 

The metronomic recurrence of crises might suggest 

that markets and regulators are incapable of 

learning: the one still festering broke out within a 

decade of the dotcom boom and bust and Asia’s 

financial meltdown of 1997/98. “My gravest concern 

is that with all the talk about reform we really 

haven’t done anything that we can confidently say 

will stop or even make a second crisis less likely,” 

said Ross, the MIT professor. “The banks, for example, 

will still have razor-thin equity margins and 

governments will still provide the backstop.” 

In fact, Ross acknowledged, policymaking is 

much more enlightened than it was last century. 

For example, governments no longer close banks in 

response to a crisis, as they did to disastrous effect 

during the Great Depression of the 1930s. But, he 

concluded, there are only so many lessons to be 

learned from studying the historical record. 

Financial accidents will keep happening as night 

follows day. “It is difficult for people to believe that 

crises are endemic to the political-economic system 

and even more difficult to believe that crises and 

failures will always be a feature of political economic 

systems,” he said. — Reuters 

BMW 3 Series blends BMW 

style, exceptional talent 

world’s best-selling premium car. This model is the first 

BMW to be available with three different line options: 

Modern, Sport and Luxury - three distinctive design 

personalities for the exterior and interior, enabling customers 

to choose among a number of exclusive finishes 

and equipment variants to suit their taste. 

The 6th generation BMW 3 Series interprets the 

classic design features of the BMW 3 Series model of 

the 1960s with a new lease on life. The new powerful 

design elements include a new BMW face, with flat 

headlights reaching along as far as the BMW kidney 

grille. This emphasizes the elegantly dynamic design 

of the new BMW 3 Series, which has increased in 

length (+93mm), width (front +37mm, rear +47mm) 

and wheelbase (+50mm) compared to the predecessor 

model, giving the car an elegant and athletic silhouette. 

The interior of the car also saw a noticeable 

increase in space which meant significant benefit for 

the rear passengers. The classic BMW interior surfaces 

and lines flow over the instrument panel towards the 

front passenger side of the cabin, where they form a 

smooth and protective border. The cockpit wraps 

around the driver and ensures that all important functions 

are within easy reach. 

Drive and chassis technology have always been key 

areas of expertise for the brand, and agility and driving 

dynamics remain outstanding attributes of the 

new BMW 3 Series. A choice of three powerful engines 

is available: the 335i 6-cylinder, the 328i and the 320i 

4-cylinder with an eight-speed automatic gearbox. 

With the addition of the BMW 320i, BMW Group 

expanded its 3 Series product offering and made the 

world’s best-selling premium car even more accessible 

to a wider customer audience all over the world. 

Although more than 37 years lie between the first 

generation of 1975 and the current BMW 3 Series, 

both front ends attest to an unmistakable brand identity 

and in spite of the great difference in age, are 

both immediately recognizable as members of the 

same family. 

Then and now, the design bestows the BMW 

sedan with its styling and personality, expressing 

contemporary and trendsetting dynamics, innovation 

and aesthetics. Hence, each generation of the compact 

sports sedan stands for BMW tradition and 

modernity alike. And each model combines classic 

and innovative elements that interpret this theme in 

their very own way.

technology 

Messaging apps show mobile Internet’s rise in Asia 

SEOUL: A handful of smartphone apps 

that began as basic instant messaging 

services have amassed several hundred 

million users in Asia in just a couple of 

years, mounting a challenge to the popularity 

of online hangouts such as Facebook 

as they branch into games, e-commerce, 

celebrity news and other areas. 

Among them is Line, which has grown 

to 60 million users, mostly in Asia including 

at least 29 million in Japan. Its developer 

estimates the number of users will reach 

100 million by the end of this year. Also 

popular is Kakao Talk with 60 million users, 

more than half in South Korea where it 

originates. Other successful messengers 

are Nimbuzz made by an India-based firm 

which has amassed 100 million users 

including 31 million in Asia, and WeChat by 

China-based Tencent, which is nearing 200 

million users. 

The rapid growth of such applications 

underlines that people are increasingly 

going online using mobile phones and 

other wireless devices. It is a trend that has 

proved problematic for the world’s most 

popular social networking site. Facebook 

has lost more than $50 billion of its market 

value since its initial public offering largely 

due to doubts about its ability to successfully 

insert advertising into the mobile version 

that a large and growing number of 

its 955 million users access from smartphones. 

“Japan, Korea and to a lesser 

extent China are leading the way in terms 

of mobile messaging-centric apps that 

move into diverse and potentially very 

profitable new service areas like gaming, 

affiliate marketing, next-generation emoticons,” 

said analyst Mark Ranson at research 

firm Ovum. “Offering a free, high quality 

messaging service is a good way of building 

a large and loyal user base which can 

later be introduced to more readily monetizeable 

services.” 

Instant messaging, also known as IM, 

was first popularized on desktop computers 

with applications such as Microsoft 

Messenger that evolved from text-based 

chatting and sharing files to the voice calls 

and video conferencing that Skype is 

known for. The advent of smartphones 

took IM back to basics with services such 

as WhatsApp and Blackberry Messenger 

that allowed for real-time chatting, swapping 

photos and not much else. The new 

TOKYO: Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. President and CEO, Andrew 

House, right, and Sony Computer Entertainment Japan President Hiroshi 

Kawano show the new PlayStation 3 and PS VITA during a news conference 

in Tokyo, yesterday. Sony Corp. is introducing a smaller, slimmer 

and lighter version of its PlayStation 3 home console ahead of the yearend 

holidays as it gears up for growing competition in games from 

smartphones. — AP 

Sony plans slimmer 

PlayStation 3 

TOKYO: Sony Corp. is introducing a smaller, 

slimmer and lighter version of its PlayStation 

3 home console ahead of the year-end holidays 

as it gears up for growing competition in 

games from smartphones. 

The announcement Wednesday from the 

Japanese electronics and entertainment company 

comes a day ahead of the annual Tokyo 

Game Show, where game makers show their 

wares. But the iPhone 5 smartphone from 

Apple Inc. is hogging much of the attention, 

already drawing long lines for pre-orders at 

some retailers, and more lines are expected 

ahead of Friday’s launch. 

The new PlayStation 3, closer to the size of 

a laptop, is half the size of the original model, 

introduced in 2006. It also offers more harddrive 

memory at 500 gigabytes and 250 gigabytes, 

up from the current 320 GB and 160 GB 

options. 

The global rollout starts Sept. 25 in North 

America, where the 250 GB version will sell 

for $269. The other version sells for $299 from 

Oct. 30. In Japan, the models go on sale Oct. 4 

for 29,980 yen ($380) and 24,980 yen ($316). 

Tokyo-based Sony is struggling as its other 

electronics businesses get battered by competition 

from Apple’s iPhones as well as by 

cheaper Asian rivals. The maker of Bravia TVs 

and Walkman portable players posted its 

worst loss in its 66-year history for the fiscal 

year ended in March - its fourth straight year 

of red ink. 

The company is banking on games to help 

steer a turnaround. President Kazuo Hirai 

spent much of his career leading the game 

division. To woo consumers, Sony is slashing 

the price on its PlayStation Portable, or PSP, 

mobile device as it increasingly focuses on its 

upgraded PlayStation Vita, which went on 

sale last year, for on-the-go games. 

The PSP, which first went on sale in 2004, 

comes down today in Japan. There is no 

change to the US price now. 

Sony plans to expand entertainment 

based on cloud computing, which offers storage 

and other computer services over the 

network, after recently acquiring Gaikai Inc., a 

US game company. 

The PlayStation Vita won’t be getting any 

upgrades just yet. But it will be available in 

new colors, blue and red, in addition to white 

and black, but only in Japan. 

Some speculation is buzzing about a 

PlayStation 4, possibly before the end of next 

year, but officials were mum on that topic. 

The PS Vita, which has a touch-panel, 

allows users to live-stream video and works 

as an electronic book function for colorful 

comics, according to Sony. 

But Sony has already slashed its PS Vita 

sales target for this fiscal year through March 

2013, to 12 million units, down from 16 million 

that was given three months earlier. 

In lowering the target, Sony pointed to the 

economic slowdown, especially in Europe. 

But it also noted the intense competition 

from smartphones and social-networking 

entertainment. 

Hiroshi Kawano, who heads Sony’s game 

business in Japan, said the networking feature 

of PlayStation 3 allows users to enjoy millions 

of tunes, karaoke at home and a growing 

library of movies. 

“Even after six years, the PlayStation 3 has 

not lost momentum and continues to deliver 

powerful home entertainment,” he said at a 

Tokyo hall. — AP 

TOKYO: An employee from NTT DoCoMo demonstrates the prototype 

model of a new hands-free tablet operated by eye-controled input with 

an infrared eye-tracking device at a press preview in Tokyo yesterday. 

The user can scroll a browser, turn pages of electronic books and play 

games. — AFP 

instant messaging apps such as Line have 

evolved into online destinations in their 

own right. “I use Line messenger every day, 

about every hour ... instead of text messages 

or emails,” Supinda Toochinda, a 31year-old 

interior designer in Bangkok, said 

in an email. She said Line was the only 

mobile application she’d spent money 

with, buying elaborate emoticons called 

stickers that can be sent to friends while 

chatting. 

Part of the appeal of the applications is 

the ability to create an unlimited number 

of group chats and the ease with which 

connections can be made - the apps automatically 

create a contacts list by harvesting 

the contacts list saved in the phone. At 

the same time, managing privacy is simpler 

than on a social networking site. 

Analysts say these mobile messengers 

are showing more nimble and promising 

moves in the efforts to make such mobile 

services profitable without relying solely 

on advertising. 

“Kakao Talk and Line are seeing opportunities 

as Facebook isn’t making money 

from users of its mobile website and app,” 

said Ryu Han-seok, director of the 

FRANKFURT/BOSTON: The German government 

urged the public on Tuesday to temporarily 

stop using Microsoft Corp’s Internet Explorer 

following discovery of a yet-to-be repaired bug 

in the Web browser that the software maker said 

makes PCs vulnerable hacker attacks. 

It issued the warning as a researcher said he 

found evidence that suggests the hackers who 

exploited the flaw were seeking to attack 

defense contractors. 

Microsoft said on Monday that attackers can 

exploit the bug in its Internet Explorer, used on 

hundreds of millions of computers, to infect the 

PC of somebody who visits a malicious website 

and then take control of the victim’s computer. 

The German government’s Federal Office for 

Information Security, or BSI, said it was aware of 

targeted attacks and that all that was needed 

was to lure Web surfers to a website where hackers 

had planted malicious software that exploited 

the bug. 

“A fast spreading of the code has to be 

feared,” the German government said in its statement. 

BSI advised all users of Internet Explorer to 

use an alternative browser until the manufacturer 

has released a security update. Officials with 

Microsoft did not respond to a request to comment 

on the move by the German government, 

although the company downplayed the impact 

of the flaw in a written statement. 

“There have been an extremely limited num- 

Technology, Labor and Culture Institute, a 

consulting company, in Seoul. “In the 

mobile markets in Asia, they are ahead of 

the game.” 

“It is probably tough to compete with 

Facebook in the US or Europe. But in 

Japan, South Korea and other Asian countries, 

they have a good chance of beating 

Facebook,” said Ryu. While Line messenger 

is expanding to photo editing and sharing, 

social games and Twitter-like features that 

allow users to follow corporate brands or 

celebrities, its windfall came from sales of 

virtual goods. Sales of stickers - a $1.99 

bundle of cute pictures of cartoon characters 

or animals - have been its biggest revenue 

generator. In August, users spent 

about $3 million to send the elaborate 

emoticons when they chat with friends. 

Kakao Talk, which is only accessible on 

mobile devices, says it is trying to develop 

a business model that isn’t dependent on 

advertising. Since its launch in 2010, it has 

added a free voice calling service, a gift 

shop to send Starbucks drink coupons to 

friends, and options for receiving weather 

and news, discount vouchers and music 

videos. “We are not interested in displaying 

ber of attacks,” said company spokeswoman 

Yunsun Wee. “The vast majority of Internet 

Explorer users have not been impacted.” 

The company said it planned to release software 

to protect PCs from attack within the next 

few days. Customers must manually install the 

code by visiting Microsoft’s website and clicking 

on a link. 

Microsoft did not say how long it will take to 

release a full update to Internet Explorer, which 

will automatically be loaded onto the machines 

of most customers. Several security researchers 

have said they expect the update within a week. 

The vulnerability in Internet Explorer was 

identified on Friday after the PC of a security 

researcher from Luxembourg was infected while 

analyzing a computer server that was used last 

year to launch a cyber industrial espionage campaign 

on at least 48 chemical and defense companies. 

The victims of the so-called “Nitro” attacks 

included Fortune 100 corporations that develop 

compounds and advanced materials, according 

to security software maker Symantec Corp , 

which disclosed them in October 2011. 

Network security firm AlienVault said on 

Tuesday it has discovered three other servers 

that host malicious websites that exploit the 

newly found Internet Explorer vulnerability. 

Jaime Blasco, manager of AlienVault Labs, 

said he found evidence suggesting they target- 


mobile banner ads just to make money,” 

Kakao Inc. CEO Sirgoo Lee said in an interview 

with The Associated Press. The app 

has been wildly popular in South Korea. 

Even a small disruption in service makes 

news and it has entered the local lexicon 

with the phrase “let’s do ka talk.” South 

Koreans are typically connected to multiple 

group chats on Kakao Talk, holding 

conversations in separate chat rooms with 

family, a group of close friends, co-workers 

and other circles. 

According to Appsooni.com, which 

compiles data on Android applications, 

South Koreans used Kakao Talk for 62 minutes 

a day on average in August, compared 

with 17 minutes on Facebook’s Android 

application. 

In a move seen as bringing the threeyear-old 

startup close to generating a profit, 

Kakao introduced mobile games to its 

users in July. 

“Giving gifts or sending emoticons are 

business models that Facebook doesn’t 

have. Facebook simply displays ads so its 

model is different from ours. (Facebook’s) 

profit models are not tailored for mobile 

users,” Lee said. — AP 

Germany urges public to 

stop using Internet Explorer 

Govt says hackers using bug to launch attacks 

HANOVER: Fair workers demonstrate the use of a VW Caddy Maxi car for 

wheelchair users at the stand of Volkswagen (VW) at the Internationale 

Automobil-Ausstellung (IAA) for Commercial Vehicles in Hanover, central 

Germany, yesterday. Around 1,900 exhibitors present their products during 

the fair for mobility, transportation and logistics running until 

September 27, 2012. — AFP 

Apple, publishers offer 

EU e-book antitrust 

settlement 

BRUSSELS: Apple Inc and four major 

publishers have offered to let retailers 

such as Amazon.Com Inc sell e-books at 

a discount, in a bid to end an EU 

antitrust investigation, the European 

Commission said yesterday. 

EU regulators have been investigating 

Apple’s e-book pricing deals with 

Simon & Schuster, News Corp unit 

HarperCollins, French group Lagardere 

SCA’s Hachette Livre, Verlagsgruppe 

Georg von Holtzbrinck, which owns 

Macmillan in Germany, and Pearson 

Plc’s Penguin group. 

Apple and the publishers, with the 

exception of Penguin, have offered to 

settle with the Commission, which 

began its inquiry last December. 

“For a period of two years, the four 

publishers will not restrict, limit or 

impede e-book retailers’ ability to set, 

alter or reduce retail prices for e-books 

and/or to offer discounts or promo- 

tions,” the European Commission said in 

its Official Journal, detailing the offer 

under consideration. Reuters reported 

the proposal on Aug. 31. 

The Commission said the publishers 

and Apple also offered to suspend 

“most-favoured nation” contracts for 

five years. Such clauses barred publishers 

from deals with rival retailers to sell 

e-books at prices lower than those set 

by Apple. 

The EU watchdog said third parties 

have a month to provide feedback on 

the proposals. If the response is positive, 

the Commission will end its investigation. 

HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster 

and Hachette reached a settlement with 

the U.S. government in April with similar 

proposals. According to analysts at UBS, 

e-books account for about 30 percent of 

the US book market and 20 percent of 

sales in Britain, but are still negligible 

elsewhere. — Reuters 

ed defense contractors. As an example, he said 

he found a related virus on a site that provides 

news on India’s defense sector. 

“It seems that these guys are behind big targets,” 

he said.Internet Explorer was the world’s 

second-most widely used browser last month, 

with about 33 percent market share, according 

to StatCounter. It was close behind Chrome, 

which had 34 percent of the market. 

Until the new software is available from 

Microsoft, thecompany advises customers to use 

a free security tool, which is known as the 

Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit, or 

EMET, to mitigate the risk of attacks. It is available 

through an advisory on Microsoft’s website: 

http://blogs.technet.com/b/msrc/ 

The EMET software must be downloaded, 

installed and then manually configured to protect 

computers from the newly discovered 

threat, according to the posting from Microsoft. 

The company also advised customers to adjust 

several Windows security settings to thwart 

potential attackers, but cautioned that doing so 

might impact the PC’s usability. Some security 

experts have said it would be too cumbersome 

for many PC users to implement the measures 

suggested by Microsoft. Instead they advised 

Windows users to temporarily switch from 

Internet Explorer to rival browsers such as 

Google Inc’s Chrome, Mozilla’s Firefox or Opera 

Software ASA’s Opera. — Reuters 

LG unveils its 

latest flagship 

smartphone 

SEOUL: LG Electronics will launch the Optimus G smartphone 

next week in South Korea, pinning high hopes 

on the new Android device to help revive its loss-making 

mobile business. LG said Tuesday that the Optimus 

G will go on sale in Japan next month and in the US in 

November. That would put LG’s new phone, which costs 

$894 without subsidies from operators in South Korea, 

in competition with Apple’s iPhone 5 and Samsung’s 

Galaxy Note II smartphones during the fall and the winter 

holidays. 

Previous Optimus smartphones have failed to make 

a mark in the fastest-growing segment of the mobile 

phone market. LG’s mobile division posted losses of 

nearly 1 trillion won ($895 million) in 2010 and 2011 

combined. LG’s mobile chief said the company hopes 

the G smartphone will help accelerate the division’s 

turnaround. 

“The Optimus G is our flagship phone with a competitive 

edge,” Park Jong-seok, LG’s mobile business president, 

told reporters at a media event. “We are trying to 

make phones differentiated from our rivals.” 

LG Electronics Inc. was the world’s third-largest handset 

maker before being overtaken by Apple in the highend 

market and China-based ZTE Corp. in the low-end. 

Analysts said LG was focused on making handsets 

primarily for voice calls and text messaging, which 

delayed its response when Apple’s iPhone took the 

mobile market by storm. 

The Seoul-based company has reduced its reliance 

on rudimentary phones to bank on advanced gadgets 

using Google’s Android operating system. But its efforts 

have not paid off so far. LG’s mobile communications 

division reported an operating loss of 57 billion won in 

the second quarter. 

International Data Corporation puts LG at No. 5 

among global mobile-phone makers after Samsung 

Electronics, Nokia, Apple and ZTE in the three months 

ending in June. 

As LG’s struggles with mobile phones continue, various 

affiliates at LG Group, a major industrial group in 

South Korea, joined forces to create the G smartphone. 

LG Display, which supplies screens for Apple’s iPhone 

and iPad, manufactured 4.7-inch displays for the G, 

while other LG affiliates made a battery and a 13megapixel 

camera. The G smartphone is powered by 

Qualcomm’s quad-core processor and supports access 

to a faster wireless network. 

LG also added new video-related features. The G can 

dim the video in a translucent layer, allowing users to 

send text messages or write emails while watching the 

show in the background. It also allows users to zoom 

into a scene while playing the video using a two-finger 

pinch. — AP

health & science 

FDA urged to set standards for arsenic in rice 

WASHINGTON: Consumer groups are pressuring 

the Food and Drug Administration to set federal 

guidance on allowable levels of arsenic in rice, 

prompting the agency to study the issue and consider 

possible new standards. 

So far, FDA officials say they have found no evidence 

that suggests rice is unsafe to eat. The 

agency is in the middle of conducting a study of 

1,200 samples of grocery store rice products - short 

and long-grain rice, cereals, drinks and even rice 

cakes - to measure arsenic levels. 

Arsenic is thought to be found in rice in higher 

levels than most other foods because it is grown in 

water on the ground, optimal conditions for the 

contaminant to be absorbed in the rice. There are 

no federal standards for how much arsenic is 

allowed in food. 

Arsenic is naturally present in water, air, food 

and soil in two forms, organic and inorganic. 

According to the FDA, organic arsenic passes 

through the body quickly and is essentially harmless. 

Inorganic arsenic-the type found in some pes- 

ticides and insecticides - can be toxic and may pose 

a cancer risk if consumed at high levels or over a 

long period. 

How much organic and inorganic arsenic rice 

eaters are consuming, and whether those levels are 

dangerous, still remains to be seen. FDA 

Commissioner Margaret Hamburg says consumers 

shouldn’t stop eating rice, though she does encourage 

a diverse diet just in case. 

“Our advice right now is that consumers should 

continue to eat a balanced diet that includes a 

wide variety of grains - not only for good nutrition 

but also to minimize any potential consequences 

from consuming any one particular food,” she said. 

The agency on Wednesday released 200 of the 

expected 1,200 samples after Consumers Union, 

publisher of the magazine Consumer Reports, 

released its own study and called for federal standards 

for arsenic in rice. The FDA will not complete 

its study until the end of the year, Hamburg said, 

and cannot draw any conclusions from the results 

until then. 

Local Multiple Sclerosis 

patients come together 

Experts to address at the second MS forum in UAE 

DUBAI: Following the enormous success of the 

first-ever Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patient forum in 

March of this year, the UAE MS Task Force has 

announced that the second forum will take 

place on Friday 21 September in Dubai. 

More than 100 patients and their relatives 

attended the first forum sponsored by global 

healthcare leader Novartis, in addition to educational 

sessions held in hospitals all over the UAE, 

where as many 50 patients and their caregivers 

attended. 

Painkillers can 

cause headaches 

LONDON: Common painkillers 

could be causing people to have 

headaches, the UK health watchdog 

warned yesterday. People 

who regularly take medicines 

such as aspirin, paracetamol and 

triptans could be causing themselves 

more pain than relief, the 

National Institute for Health and 

Clinical Excellence (Nice) said. 

Medication “overuse” could 

contribute to headaches for people 

who have been taking such 

medicines for up to alf of the 

days in a month over three 

months, a spokesman said. The 

watchdog estimated that one in 

50 people who experience 

headaches suffer because of 

medication overuse. 

Nice said common over-thecounter 

treatments are effective 

for easing the pain of occasional 

headaches but using them for 

tension-type headaches or 

migraine can reduce their effectiveness 

and cause further pain. 

People who suffer from such 

headaches could be in a vicious 

cycle where their headaches are 

getting worse because of medication 

overuse and to alleviate 

symptoms they take more drugs. 

Issuing new guidance to 

healthcare professionals, Nice 

said that different headaches 

require different treatments and 

so a correct diagnosis is vital. 

More than 10 million people in 

the UK experience regular or 

frequent headaches, according 

to Nice. 

They account for one in 25 GP 

consultations. Martin Underwood, 

a GP and professor of primary care 

research at Warwick Medical 

“The feedback from the first forum will 

encourage more patients, and even doctors, to 

attend this second meeting,” said Dr. Suzan 

Nouri, Consultant Neurologist at Rashid 

Hospital, a key member of the Task Force and a 

member of the Emirates Neurology Society 

(EMINS). 

“We expect at least 100 patients this time 

from all hospitals across the country, and they 

will benefit from the two eminent international 

speakers we have invited to share best practice, 

School who chaired the guideline’s 

development, said “We have 

effective treatments for common 

headache types. 

“However, taking these medicines 

for more than 10 or 15 days 

a month can cause medication 

overuse headache, which is a disabling 

and preventable disorder. 

“Patients with frequent tensiontype 

headaches or migraines can 

get themselves into a vicious 

cycle, where their headaches are 

getting increasingly worse, so 

they take more medication which 

makes their pain even worse as 

they take more medication. 

“I hope this guideline will 

improve awareness of medication 

overuse headache both in 

primary care and among the 

general public because prevention 

is simple and treatment is 

difficult. “Explaining to patients 

that they should abruptly stop 

their medication, knowing that 

their headache will get much 

worse for several weeks before it 

will improve, is not an easy consultation.” 

Dr Gillian Leng, deputy chief 

executive of Nice, added 

“Although headache is the most 

common neurological problem 

seen by GPs and neurologists, 

many people are not receiving 

correct or timely diagnoses. 

“The key features of medication 

overuse and the symptoms 

that distinguish the 

types of primary headache can 

be overlooked and concerns 

from patients about possible 

underlying causes can lead to 

unnecessary hospital investigations”. 

— KUNA 

Both studies show relatively similar levels of 

arsenic in rice. The FDA’s analysis showed average 

levels of 3.5 to 6.7 micrograms of inorganic 

arsenic per serving, while Consumer Reports 

found levels up to 8.7 micrograms. The FDA 

released 200 samples, while Consumer Reports 

tested 223. 

It is almost impossible to say how dangerous 

these levels are without a benchmark from the 

federal government. Consumer Reports uses New 

Jersey’s drinking water standard - a maximum of 5 

micrograms in a liter of water - as comparison 

because it is one of the strictest in the country. 

But it is unclear how accurate it is to compare 

arsenic levels in water and arsenic levels in rice - 

most people consume more water than rice, so 

drinking water standards may need to be tougher. 

It is because of this uncertainty that groups like 

Consumers Union have urged the FDA to set a 

standard. Urvashi Rangan of Consumers Union 

says the group is not trying to alarm rice eaters 

and parents feeding their children rice, but to 

as well as local speakers from various disciplines 

including rehabilitation, psychology - MS 

patients need a combined approach to their 

treatment,” she added. 

Professor Sven Schippling, Deputy Head, 

Department of Neuroimmunology and Clinical 

Multiple Sclerosis Research, Department of 

Neurology 

University Medical Center Zurich and 

Professor Volker Limmroth, Professor of 

Neurology, Chairman, Department of Neurology 

at Cologne City Hospitals in Germany, will be 

presenting up-to-date scientific data on the 

newest treatment option for MS. 

“These forums are an excellent way to meet 

with other patients and learn more about how 

each person manages their illness - once we all 

have help in knowing what to do and what not 

to do, we’ll all have better lives,” said a local MS 

patient, who attended the first forum in March. 

MS is a nervous system disease with no 

known cause that affects the brain and spinal 

cord. MS damages the myelin sheath that surrounds 

and protects the nerve cells which slows 

down or blocks messages between the brain and 

the body, leading to the symptoms of MS: these 

include visual disturbances, muscle weakness, 

trouble with coordination and balance, sensations 

such as numbness, prickling, or “pins and 

needles”, and thinking and memory problems. 

Research figures show MS affects around 25 

to 50 people in 100,000 in Arabic populations 

and about 100 per 100,000 in Northern 

Europeans who display the highest risk of MS 

across the world, with prevalence seeming to 

increase with further distance from the equator 

[1, 2]. 

Globally, MS affects women more than men 

[2] and often begins between the ages of 20 and 

40. The disease can be mild but some people 

lose the ability to write, speak or walk. There is 

no cure for MS, but medicines can slow disease 

progression and help control symptoms. 

Plea over cancer 

research funding 

LONDON: Historic under-investment 

is one of the key reasons pancreatic 

cancer has the lowest survival 

rates here of almost any cancer, 

a charity said yesterday. 

There should be a new 

approach to directing research 

funding into cancers of “unmet 

need”, the charity Pancreatic 

Cancer UK said. Around 4 percent 

survive the disease for five years 

or more, a figure that has hardly 

changed in 40 years, the charity 

said. It is the fifth most common 

cause of cancer deaths in the UK 

yet receives only 1 percent of the 

total research spend, it added. 

The charity is to commit 500,000 

pounds to a new research innovation 

fund which will support 

innovative approaches to the 

biology, treatment and diagnosis 

of the disease, and called for “significant 

and sustained investment” 

into its study. 

Its report, “A cancer of unmet 

need: the pancreatic cancer 

research challenge”, highlights what 

the charity describes as a direct link 

between increased investment in 

research and increased rates of survival. 

An analysis of research spending 

shows, on the basis of mortality 

rates, that investment in pancreatic 

cancer research is significantly disproportionate 

to the burden of the 

disease, it says. There are around 

7,900 deaths annually and it has 

the lowest one-year survival rate of 

the 21 most common cancers, but 

only 553 pounds per death per year 

is spent on pancreatic cancer 

research. 

By comparison, in breast cancer, 

which has one of the highest one- 

year survival rates of all cancers, 

there are around 11,550 deaths 

annually and 3, 613 pounds is 

spent on research per death per 

year. If pancreatic cancer were on 

par with breast cancer, it says, more 

than 29 million pounds a year 

would be spent on research - a seven-fold 

increase in investment - 

instead of the 5 million pounds currently 

spent. 

The charity called for the development 

of a strategic approach 

that would enable research to 

develop at a steady and sustainable 

rate. A spokeswoman said, 

“Pancreatic Cancer UK proposes 

that the UK needs to aim to double 

its pancreatic cancer research 

spend within the next three years. 

This equates to 10 million pounds 

by 2015 and brings it roughly on 

par with the level of spend per 

death of prostate and bowel cancer”. 

Charity chief executive Alex 

Ford said, “We are committed to 

working with others to double survival 

rates for pancreatic cancer 

patients in the UK. In order to do 

this, we strongly believe there 

needs to be significant and sustained 

investment in research into 

the disease. 

“Our report serves as a call to 

action to all within the UK research 

community to give serious thought 

to how we can work together to 

change the pancreatic cancer landscape 

for the better.” 

A Department of Health 

spokeswoman said: “We must find 

ways to support GPs better in identifying 

symptoms which could be 

pancreatic cancer, to enable earlier 

diagnosis. —KUNA 


educate them so they can diversify their diets. 

Consumers should be more protected since 

arsenic is a known carcinogen, she said. 

“It doesn’t make sense not to have standards 

for rice,” she said. The Consumers Union study 

found higher levels of arsenic in brown rice than 

white rice, a result of how the two different types 

are processed. It also found higher levels in rice 

produced in Southern U.S. states than in rice from 

California or Asia. 

Hamburg cautioned that neither the FDA nor 

Consumers Union had tested enough samples to 

be certain of any trend. “These are very few samples 

and there is great variability in the levels,” she 

said. The consumer group’s push on arsenic in rice 

comes a year after it pressured the FDA to define 

standards for arsenic in apple juice. Michael Taylor, 

the FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods, said 

Tuesday that the agency had completed that 

assessment and would be making recommendations 

soon. The levels found in apple juice are low, 

he said. — AP 

A file picture taken on March, 29, 2008 in Clermont-Ferrand, central France, shows 

people forming the OGM (French for GMO) logo as they demonstrate during an 

action untitled “Without GMO = 0%” as part of a nationwide action to denounce the 

culture of genetically-modified organisms in open fields. The European Commission 

said yesterday, it had requested the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to 

review the results of a study demonstrating the toxicity of GMOs on health and 

promised to“draw the conclusions “. — AFP 

Funding cuts imperil Europe 

fight against TB, AIDS virus 

LONDON: Cuts in global funding for 

Eastern Europe and Central Asia are 

undermining the fight against tuberculosis 

(TB) and the AIDS virus, threatening to 

push already high rates of disease and 

drug-resistance even higher, experts said 

yesterday. 

In a report by leading European nongovernmental 

health organisations, the 

experts called on the European Union to 

step in to fill the gaps left by global 

donors to countries within and neighbouring 

its borders. 

TB already kills seven people every 

hour in the European region while 1.4 

million people in Europe have the 

human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) 

that causes AIDS. Countries in Eastern 

Europe and Central Asia have some of 

the world’s fastest growing HIV epidemics, 

and the region is the only one 

globally where the number of new HIV 

cases continues to rise every year. 

Europe is also home to the world’s 

highest documented rates of drugresistant 

TB. 

“Diseases do not respect borders,” said 

Patrick Bertrand of Global Health 

Advocates France, one of the NGOs 

behind the report. “To address global 

health issues such as TB and HIV, the 

European Union must pay attention to 

what is happening both within its member 

states and its neighbours. Now is not 

the time to falter and allow for all the 

progress we’ve made to be lost.” 

The public-private Global Fund to 

Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the world’s 

largest financial backer of the battle 

against the three infectious diseases, said 

in November last year it had been forced 

to cancel a round of new grants and 

would make no new funding available 

until 2014. 

Wednesday’s report found that 

because of these shortfalls, caused partly 

by cuts by some donor governments to 

aid budgets during economic down- 

turns, and due to changes in Global Fund 

eligibility criteria, funds for middleincome 

countries such as some in 

Eastern Europe and Central Asia have 

been limited. 

As a result, it said, some countries lack 

the money needed to aggressively tackle 

their TB and HIV epidemics. The report 

noted that the Global Fund not only supports 

treatment and prevention programmes, 

but also funds civil society 

organisations that can lobby national 

governments to begin to fund such programmes 

themselves. 

Experts who contributed to the report 

said underfunding of HIV and TB programmes 

in the Europe “will inevitably 

contribute” to rising rates of disease and 

drug-resistance. 

“This will cost lives and cause an enormous 

drain on the European region’s 

economy due to increased treatment 

costs and lost productivity,” they wrote. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) 

estimates that if steps are not taken to 

address drug-resistant TB Europe, economic 

losses to the region will be $12 

billion within five years. 

“This is an issue where the European 

Union has a unique opportunity to 

demonstrate leadership and to ensure 

these vulnerable populations are not 

abandoned,” said Aaron Oxley, director of 

RESULTS UK, another NGO involved in 

the report. 

The NGOs called for the EU to make 

targeted investments in the health of its 

neighbours, where the Global Fund is 

unable to, and to ensure it honoured 

existing pledges to the Fund and seeks 

to increase support for it in the years 

ahead. 

The WHO warned last year that multi 

drug-resistant and extensively drugresistant 

forms of TB are spreading at an 

alarming rate in Europe and will kill thousands 

unless health authorities do something 

to halt the pandemic. — Reuters 

DRESDEN, Germany: Animal keeper Rainer Kraut spray-washes elephant ìDrumboî on 

Tuesday. More than 2,000 animals of circa 300 species live at the zoo that counts 

around 700,000 visitors yearly. — AFP

health & science 

600 sickle cell disease patients in Kuwait to benefit 

OMAN: Kuwaiti experts joined Omani, Bahraini and international 

doctors to discuss the treatment and management 

of the genetic blood disorder sickle cell disease in 

Oman last weekend. The speaker tour, sponsored by 

health leader Novartis Oncology, aimed to deliver up-todate 

clinical data and optimal practice in the treatment of 

the disease. 

According to Professor Adekunle Adekile, Head of 

Pediatric Hematology Unit, Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital, 

and Chairman, Department of Pediatrics, Kuwait 

University, Kuwait, who presented information on the disease 

registry in Kuwait, sickle cell disease is one of the 

most common genetic diseases in the world, especially in 

areas affected both currently and previously by malaria, as 

the sickle cell trait tended to provide protection against 

malaria infection. Professor Adekile estimates that prevalence 

of the sickle cell trait is around 3 to 6 percent, with 

the disease affecting up to 1 percent - a significant number 

considering that it applies only to the local population. 

Recent implementation of a registry in Kuwait with 

the approval of the Ministry of Health has allowed local 

doctors to estimate that up to 600 patients suffer from 

the genetic disease, with almost 300 patients already 

registered. 

“Children born with sickle cell disease tend to have two 

significant problems - anemia, which in itself comes with 

problems, and abnormal shaping of red blood cells, which 

tend to block small blood vessels, cause recurrent pain, 

and can affect any part of the body,” added Prof Adekile. 

Sickle cell disease is named after the abnormal sickleshape 

that red blood cells take in affected individuals. “In 

addition to the two major problems mentioned, there are 

other complications that must be addressed. Patients are 

very prone to bacterial infections and major organs, particularly 

the spleen, begin to malfunction. As a result, 

many children that don’t have access to specialized medical 

centres die in their first few years of life due to infection,” 

Prof Adekile warned. 

Ischaemic stroke is one of the most devastating complications 

that affects children and, to a lesser extent, 

adults with sickle cell disease. Approximately 24 percent of 

patients experience stroke before the age of 45, and the 

risk is highest in the first decade of life. 

Early diagnosis is crucial to the management of the dis- 

ease, with local doctors stressing the importance of newborn 

screening and familial education seminars to help 

prevent or mitigate complications. “The registry is incredibly 

important because we need to compare regional data 

to the rest of the world. It is also useful for planning purposes 

and formulating appropriate and uniform management 

protocols.It would be even more helpful if there was 

a combined Gulf registry where we could pool data and 

increase quality of care across the entire region,” added 

Prof Adekile. 

The general public tends to be more informed of the 

blood disorder thalassemia, and more awareness is required 

for sufferers of sickle cell disease. “Contrary to thalassemia, 

patients with sickle cell disease are not recognizable in their 

developmental appearances and diagnosis, though easy, 

occurs via screening,” said Dr.AndroullaEleftheriou, Head of 

the International Thalassemia Foundation, which also covers 

sickle cell disease, and who spoke at the Oman congress. 

“We very much look forward to providing information 

that policy makers and the medical community can use to 

help implement policies to assist in the management of 

these blood disorders,” she added. 

Adekunle Adekile§ 

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

Write to us 

SEND US YOUR 

INSTAGRAM PICS 

What’s more fun than clicking a beautiful 

picture? Sharing it with others! This 

summer, let other people see the way 

you see Kuwait - through your lens. Friday Times 

will feature snapshots of Kuwait through 

Instagram feeds. If you want to share your 

Instagram photos, email us at 

instagram@kuwaittimes.net 

UPCOMING EVENTS 

Free accounting seminar 

ACCA - Association of Chartered Accountants of UK 

has recently introduced the Diploma in 

Accounting and Business program for entry level 

career seekers in Accounting and Business with no 

prior educational requirements. ITI the leading name 

in training and education in Kuwait is organizing a 

free seminar on Wednesday the 26th at 7 pm for students 

and parents who are desirous of starting a 

career in the rewarding field of accounting with international 

recognitions. The seminar is free for all and 

will be held the campus in Farwaniya. 

LLL Kuwait meeting 

Our next LLL Kuwait meeting for working women 

will take place this Sunday, September 23, from 

4:15 to 5:45 pm, at the Bright Minds Learning Center, 

Rumaithiya, Block 9 Corner of Abo Hanifa Street & 

Street 96 House 1, Basement. 

Onam celebration 

Konni Nivasi Sangamam celebrates Onam on 

Friday, 21st September 2012 from 10 am to 4 pm 

at Abbassiya United Indian School. Public meeting 

honored with presence of prominent dignitaries from 

social-cultural-political sectors, maveli, athapookalam, 

chendamelam, ganamela, mimicry and other cultural 

events will be conducted as part of the program. 

Ccome and enjoy! Feel the experience of traditional 

tastes! Have lots of fun & frenzy! rock with music! 

Calling all Ten-pin Bowlers 

The Indian Bowling League (IBL) Season 3 will be 

held at Cozmo Entertainment, Salmiya commencing 

on Friday the 28th of September at 3 pm. Kindly 

reserve your team in advance to avoid disappointment, 

on a first come first serve. 

‘Leniency of Islam’ 

An unprecedented initiative of KTV2 (English channel) 

is the new program by the name ‘Leniency of 

Islam’ presented by Shaikh Musaad Alsane and directed 

by Hamid Al-Turkait. The program is mainly meant 

to address the expatriates living in Kuwait. Religious 

questions are received through the program email 

qislam@tv.gov.kw and sms can be sent to- 97822021 

and answered by the lecturer and Imam in Awqaf 

Ministry Shaikh Musaad Alsane - a Master Degree 

holder in Sharia and fiqih from Kuwait University. So 

don’t forget to watch the program every Friday at 1:00 

pm. 

NAFO Onam on Sept 21 

National Forum Kuwait (NAFO Kuwait) will celebrate 

Onam 2012 with its full spirit and fervor on 

Friday, September 21, 2012 at the Indian Community 

School Auditorium from 10.00 am onwards. Indian 

Ambassador Satish C Mehta will be the chief guest on 

this happy occasion. A galaxy of eminent personalities 

in Kuwait is also expected to join the celebration. 

Starting from the floral carpet called “Athapookkalam,” 

NAFO family will present various cultural programs 

bringing back the nostalgic memories of a bygone era 

of prosperity, equality and righteousness under the 

golden reign of Mahabali. In addition, a grand sumptuous 

meal, the traditional ‘Onasadya’ will also be 

served. 

Focus Kuwait 6th annual day 

As a part of the 6th anniversary celebrations, 

Forum of Cadd Users (FOCUS Kuwait), a non-political, 

non-religious organization is set to stage a mega 

cultural event “Focus Fest-2012”. This mega event will 

be a blend of traditional and contemporary dance 

and musical extravaganza by renowned South Indian 

playback singers Jyotsna and Sudeesh. Scheduled for 

the afternoon of Friday, October 12, 2012, at the Al- 

Jeel Al-Jadeed School Auditorium, Hawally, the mega 

musical show, is expected to be a super-hit in Kuwait. 

Audition for ZEE Antakshari 

For the first time Indian Cultural Society brings you 

live excitement of ZEE - International Antakshari in 

Kuwait. Audition & first round will be held in Kuwait, 

there after followed by semi finals in India & Grand 

Finale in Dubai. Complete team of Carnival films & Zee 

TV will be in Kuwait for the final round of selection on 

Friday 5th October with Jaaved Jaaferi: Celebrity 

Judge, Akriti Kakkar: Female Bollywood Singer & Host 

of Antakshari, Manish Paul: Host for Auditions, 

Sarfaraz Khan: Actor, Director and Producer, Michael 

Amin: Producer & Director Carnival films world. 

Musicians, Male Singer & many more for live performances. 

Final audition at 10 am & music show at 7.30 

pm at AIS-Hawally. 

Send to What’s On 

upcoming events, birthdays or 

celebrations by email: 

local@kuwaittimes.net 

Fax: 24835619 / 20 

30 

WHAT’S ON 

AUK President Dr Winfred 

Thompson received the 

Ambassador of the Kingdom of 

Belgium to Kuwait Damien Angeleton a 

visit to AUK on Tuesday. The meeting 

covered a wide array of topics, including 

opportunities of cultural and educational 

collaboration between AUK 

and Belgian institutions. ‘The 

Ambassador and I had a very positive 

meeting exploring opportunities for 

cooperation between Belgian educa- 

IIS embarks on a promising vision 

future is not some place we are going but 

the one we create. The path to success is not 

“The 

found, but made.”(John Schaar’s) 

First September 2012 was an exciting day as the 

school reopened after enjoying a delightful summer 

vacation. The day was made extra-ordinary by the 

Principal F.M. Basheer Ahmed whose magnanimous 

approach and penchant for excellence has taken the 

shape to formulate the VISION OF IIS. He proclaimed the 

vision of IIS with an amazing PowerPoint presentation 

programme. 

The programme began with a welcome address by 

vice principal Mrs. Narinder Kaur. In her speech she edi- 

Konkani drama 

Comedian Salu Faleiro, a wellknown 

Goan playwright and 

winner of several awards in 

Konkani One Act Play competitions, 

will stage his second tiatr in Kuwait 

entitled ‘Aitar Budhvar’. The drama 

will be staged on 16th November 

2012 at Kuwait Medical Association 

Hall, Jabriya, starting at 4 pm. It will 

feature superstars and top cast of 

Konkani stage from Goa, 

Mangalore, Kuwait and the Middle 

East. Comedian Salu’s first tiatr 

‘Arxeant Hanslo Arxeant Roddlo’, 

staged way back in 2006 was widely 

acclaimed as one of the best dramas 

staged in Kuwait. 

Kuwait Pangla Association (KPA) celebrated 

the Feast of the Nativity of the 

Blessed Virgin Mary on 14th September 

2012 at the Indian Public School Auditorium, 

Salmiya, Kuwait with sense of zeal. Infant 

Mother Mary’s statue was well decorated with 

jasmine flowers brought all the way from 

Pangla. 

It was also the day for Pangalites in Kuwait 

to choose their new head of the association 

and new committee for year 2013 - 2014 as 

the current committee was finishing their 

tenure. Pangalites in Kuwait could not have 

asked for a better day than this as most the 

Pangalites were gathered under roof to celebrate 

Monti Fest and feeling very nostalgic. 

The event was divided in to two parts, 

AGM and Mother Mary’s Birthday celebration. 

The program started with a warm welcome 

and prayer by our own compare Albert 

Quadras. This was followed by AGM. 

Manoj Rego, KPA Secretary for year 2011- 

2012 read the detailed report of various KPA 

activities during their tenure. Rashmi 

fied the importance and need to maintain consistency 

in discipline and attitudes which contribute for the 

overall development of the school in general and development 

of a child in particular. Following this, Principal 

F.M. Basheer Ahmed addressed the gathering. In his 

speech he proudly announced the glorious vision of IIS 

which aims at developing the skills, attitude and values. 

The vision not only aims at student centered learning 

but serves as an exposure to adapt, develop and implement 

the learning skills among the students. After successfully 

defining the vision, he then dealt with the topics 

like, What induces violent behaviors in students?, 

Strategies to prevent violent behavior and the role of 

teachers to control the students. 

During the session teachers actively participated in 

the interactive dialogue session which stimulated the 

teachers to present the ideas they have come up with 

due to experience with the students. Teachers narrated 

the statement given by one of the students “I am 

dumped in one room neglected by parents”. This statement 

attributes one of the reasons for violent behaviour 

in children in gulf in particular. Hand outs were also circulated 

among teachers to bring about strategies to 

prevent violent behaviours. Indeed it was an enlightening 

session for all to sharpen their skills, to understand 

the behaviour, and psychology of the students. It was a 

good exposure for the teachers to tread on the road of 

excellence with more strength and caliber. 

The programme came to an end with vote of thanks 

proposed by vice principal Mrs Narinder Kaur. She 

thanked the principal for envisaging a vision to IIS and 

teachers for their active participation. 

D’mellow read the new drafted KPA constitution. 

Albert Quadras conducted the procedure 

of forming the new committee for year 2012 - 

2013. All the positions were unanimous chosen. 

Core Committee 

Ignatius Quadras President, Mala Menezes 

Vice President, Wilson Cornelio Secretary, 

Rashmi Dmello Joint Secretary, Arun Noronha 

Public Relation Officer, Manoj Rego Cultural 

Secretary, Victor Martis Treasurer, Naveen 

Monis Internal Financial Auditor 

Committee Members 

Herald Quadras, Jerald Quadras, Laveena 

D’souza, Priya Cardoza, Floyd Sequeria , 

Stevan Castelino, Anita Martis, Vivian 

Rodrigues, George Dsouza, Anil Alva, Remi 

Cornelio and Vivet Dsouza 

Advisory Committee 

Lawrence Martis and Jerome D’Souza, out- 

Study in 

Canada 

exhibition 

Organized by the Embassy of Canada, 

the seventh annual Middle East 

Education Initiative (MEEI) will be 

visiting Kuwait from Oct 2 to 4, 2012. 

Representatives of 20 leading Canadian 

universities and colleges will be available to 

meet students, parents, teachers and guidance 

counsellors to present the advantages 

of studying in Canada. On Wednesday, Oct 

3, 2012 a Study in Canada exhibition will be 

held at the Marina Hotel, Salmiya from 6:00 

- 9:00 pm for potential students and their 

parents to attend. The Canadian institutions 

will also be visiting local schools to speak to 

interested students about opportunities to 

study in Canada 


AUK president meets Belgian 

ambassador to Kuwait 

going President Jerald Quadras expressed his 

heartfelt gratitude to all KPA members for 

extending their whole hearted supporting 

during his tenure as president. He wished the 

new committee all the very best. 

The second and main program kick started 

and a welcome dance by Viola Martis and 

bringing the new harvest (rice grain - konshi) 

by newly wedded couple Floyd and Smitha 

Sequeria and handed over to a Hilda Cornelio 

and then offered to Mother Mary in reverence. 

The konshi was brought from all the 

way from Pangla a day before the event. 

All children were given a plate of flowers 

to venerate our beloved Mother Mary. Adults 

and children together sung beautiful Konkani 

hymns while honoring our beloved mother. 

All children were given a piece of sugarcane 

and sweets to mark and to increase their 

love for our beloved Mother Mary. 

Mario Cornelio took over from Albert 

Quadras to compate the remaining program. 

Viola Martis enthralled the audience with 

her yet another spectacular dance. Keith & 

tional and cultural institutions and the 

American University of Kuwait’, said 

Thompson 

The Kingdom of Belgium is a federalstate 

in Western Europe. It is a founding 

member of the European Union and 

hosts the EU’s headquarters, and those 

of several other major international 

organizations such as NATO. Belgium 

covers an area of 30,528 square kilometers, 

and it has a population of about 11 

million people. 

Greetings 

Happy birthday to our lovely Jessica and Riya 

both of them celebrate their second birthday 

today. We wish you both good health and happiness 

throughout your life. Best wishes coming 

from father, mother, brother, uncles, aunties, 

cousins, Suresh, Rajesh, Venu, Uarma, Srinu, 

Bapri, Mousa, Anand, Madu H Sanjhi, Suneeta, 

Mamun (Akash) and grandfather, grandmother, 

family, relatives in India and Kuwait. 

Happy birthday to Mohd Abdul Numan Khan. 

Best wishes from father Mohd Abdul Khan, brother 

Mohd Abdul Nabil Khan, Mohd Abdul Rahman 

Khan, and mama Mohd Sami. 

KPA celebrates feast of Nativity of Mary 

Kuwait Cricket, the apex body of cricket in Kuwait 

would like to invite school cricket teams to participate 

in their tournaments which are planned 

to be held at the turf ground at Sulaibiya. Kuwait 

Cricket intends to conduct two cricket tournaments 

for U-15 and U-18 school children who should have 

valid Kuwait residence and be a student of their 

respective school. The tournaments will be played on 

Saturdays at Sulaibiya grounds and the matches will 

be 30 overs. 

Kuwait Cricket’s principal aim is to provide quality 

cricket to the young school cricketers in Kuwait and 

guide them to face international exposure which will 

nurture and develop their sporting skills. Moreover, 

Kuwait Cricket also aims to make use of sports to 

strengthen friendship and to bridge the gap between 

Kayce D’Souza sung a beautiful English song. 

There were many games for children which 

was thoroughly enjoyed by each one and 

won many prizes. DJ David provided excellent 

music which brought everybody to the floor 

and had loads of fun. 

It was lunch time; George D’Souza said the 

grace before meal. A delicious traditional 

lunch was served in banana leaf with various 

vegetarian dishes, fish curry and sweet (oorn) 

This followed with the last game that was 

Housie Housie. 

The event concluded with a vote of thanks 

by Arun Noronha. The program was ably compared 

by our own Albert Quadras and Wilson 

Cornelio. 

Kuwait, Sept 18, 2012 : Kuwait Pangla 

Association (KPA) celebrated the Feast of the 

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 14th 

September 2012 at the Indian Public School 

Auditorium, Salmiya, Kuwait with sense of 

zeal. Infant Mother Mary’s statue was well 

decorated with jasmine flowers brought all 

the way from Pangla. 

Kuwait Cricket to organize open tourney for schools 

cultures and communities. Kuwait U-16 & U-19 teams 

have made various successful international tours to 

countries like Singapore, Malaysia, UAE, Nepal and 

Pakistan. Participation of school cricket teams will 

undoubtedly play a pivotal role in ensuring the success 

of the open cricket tournament and we look forward 

to your confirmation of attendance. A meeting 

of school representatives will be arranged shortly.

31 

WHAT’S ON 

Dr Salah Ayed Al-Sharhan new VP 

of Planning & Development at GUST 

As of the latest GUST Board of Trustees meeting on 

September 10, Dr. Salah Ayed Al-Sharhan, Associate 

Professor in the Department of Computer Science, 

was announced to be the new Vice President of Planning 

and Development at the university. Due to his outstanding 

performance during the last 10 years and his vast 18-year 

scientific and practical experience in the industry and as 

one of the first faculty members in the university, there 

couldn’t be a better fit for the position and the new 

responsibilities that it entails. 

Dr Al-Sharhan joined GUST in September 2002, its first 

semester, and has been a member of its progress and 

growth since then and played a key role in co-founding the 

Multimedia and Media departments at GUST. He also was 

the first Head of Department of Computer Science and MIS 

Departments. He is the founder of the e-Learning Center 

of Excellence at GUST. 

Dr. Al-Sharhan has been a great representative for 

the university in many conferences locally and internationally. 

He organized the International Conference on 

PAWS ...this is why 

we are existing! 

Yesterday PAWS got an emergency 

call from an American lady in Bayan. 

An obviously abandoned, very 

friendly cat was abused over several days 

by children and a harris in the neighborhood. 

Unfortunately, this cat was very 

trustful to people. Her jaw was dislocated 

by a kick, one of her ribs was broken by 

another kick; the day before the rescue the 

same children tried to set her on fire. Now 

the animal is suffering from a severe 

wound under her stomach. 

The rescue itself was very unspectacular; 

I searched for her, she was hiding very 

exhausted under a tree in the street. 

When I talked to her she started mewing 

and approached me with shaking legs. I 

picked her up and had to fight my discomfort 

to hurt her more, because a 

huge part of her stomach was crusted 

with blood and loose skin. She was pouring 

in my arm and rubbed her crooked 

head in my hand. I could admit her as a 

PAWS emergency case to the Royal 

Animal Hospital. The vets were amazed 

by her personality; she was unbelievably 

friendly and thankful that people took 

care of her. She has a very good chance 

to recover and will be advertised for 

adoption soon. 

The reason I am telling you this story 

is simple; This cat and many other hundred 

pets every year are thrown away like 

garbage. They are neglected by owners, 

abused by humans, because they are 

sick, ugly, useless or just unnecessary. We 

need people like this lady. We need 

responsible people and we need PAWS 

to take care of them! 

PAWS rescued and treated so many ani- 

Technology and Communications in 2008, which was 

one of the largest conferences of its kind in Kuwait. He 

has built and maintained excellent relationships with 

several universities around the world. Dr. Al-Sharhan 

also has completed numerous research projects in his 

field of specialization and published many papers in scientific 

journals. 

GUST is proud to have such an accomplished professional 

as a part of its team and is confident that Dr. Al- 

Sharhan will fulfill his new responsibilities in his new role 

as VP of Planning and Development with the same efficiency, 

consistency and integrity that he has shown the university 

in the past 10 years. 

Dr Salah Ayed Al-Sharhan holds a degree in Computer 

Science from the Kuwait University in 1992, a master’s 

degree in Applied Sciences of Systems Design Engineering 

from the University of Waterloo in 1999, and a doctorate in 

Systems Design Engineering also from the University of 

Waterloo in 2002. The university wishes him the best luck 

in his new role. 

mals during the last seven years. Many of 

them would have been euthanized in other 

shelters or countries, because they were 

too crashed, too broken, too sick or 

injured. 

But we, at PAWS, with all our silent 

helpers and committed volunteers from all 

nations don’t care for breed, value or beauty. 

Who are we to judge if a creature has 

enough value to live or not? Every animal 

given a positive perspective by our cooperating 

vets, will get a chance to live! 

If PAWS has to close the shelter doors, 

will there be enough people in Kuwait to 

rescue these animals during nights and 

days? Are there enough people willing to 

pay a fortune to save a simple life? 

PAWS became a valuable institution in 

KUWAIT. People know us beyond the borders. 

People trust and believe in our work 

in helping the nameless, voiceless animals. 

We should not let PAWS give up 

because of incomprehensible circumstances. 

We have to find a new place for 

the shelter. We need to raise a huge 

amount of money to make another move 

to another area somewhere in Kuwait! 

Please, help us with donations and your 

personal network! 

Since our eviction notice we have been 

working untiringly to find a solution. We 

hope and pray to find a permanent location 

soon. 

We would like to thank YOU for the 

donations you made already, for the many, 

many calls of support and assistance. 

Kuwait, you have never left us alone! 

May you all be blessed and trust furthermore 

in us! We will not give up! PAWS 

will continue! 

Kuwait leadership mastery 

The US Middle East Partnership 

Initiative (MEPI) of the State 

Department has awarded a grant 

to GUST’s Professional Advancement 

and Continuing Education Center 

(PACE) and Dr John P. Hayes of GUST’s 

College of Business to implement the 

Kuwait Leadership Mastery. The grant 

provides funding for 50 youth (ages 17- 

24) and women in Kuwait to learn leadership 

skills and receive a special certificate 

upon completing the program. 

The Kuwait Leadership Mastery program 

will consist of four evening seminars 

and a graduation ceremony. 

Participants will learn a variety of techniques, 

tools and skills that will help 

them better prepare for the job market 

and ultimately to advance the interests 

of Kuwait. Seminars will be hosted at 

GUST, but PACE emphasizes that participants 

are being recruited from across 

Kuwait. Details about the program, and 

an application, are available at 

KuwaitLeadershipMastery.com. The first 

seminar will occur Wednesday, Nov 7. 

“Leadership skills are in great 

demand worldwide,” says Dr. Hayes, a 

marketing professor at GUST, and the 

developer of the program. “Employers 

eagerly recruit employees with leadership 

abilities. These are people who can 

set goals, make sound decisions, plan 

their work systematically, and mobilize 

teams of people. Leaders generally are 

given greater responsibility and earn 

more money. I look forward to working 

with youth and women in Kuwait who 

want to develop or improve their leadership 

skills.” 

MEPI offers assistance, training, and 

support to groups and individuals striving 

to bring change to the Middle East 

and North Africa. MEPI works in 18 

countries and territories. Its approach is 

bottom-up and grassroots, responding 

directly to local interests and needs. To 

date, MEPI has contributed more than 

$600 million to more than 1,000 grant 

projects. 

Syed Shahed Reza, Ambassador of Bangladesh to Kuwait paid a courtesy visit to 

Capt Yousef A. Al-Humaidi, Chairman of Kuwait Airways on September 17 at 

Kuwait Airways office. During the hour long meeting Syed Shahed Reza discussed 

with Capt Yousef A. Al-Humaidi a number of issues of mutual interest for both 

countries. 

Vanitha vedi Onam 

Vanita vedi, Kuwait will be celebrating 

the Onam festival this 

year as titled Ragothsavam- 

2012 on Friday 28th September 2012 

at Kaithan Indian Community school. 

This is a full day program. Prof. 

Omanakutty the famous classical 

musician will be the chief guest. A 

classical music recitation 

‘Sangeethakacheri’ by Prof. 

Omanakutty will be showcased. 

Shanta R. Nair (Program convener) Dr. 

Vasanthy S. Nair, Minerva Ramesh 

(Joint conveners) Sumathi Babu, 

Sajitha Scaria, Shobha Suresh, 

Presanna Ramabhadran, Rema Ajith, 

Valsa Stanley and Valsa Sam are selected 

for various committees. Sam 

Pynummoodu is the patron of 

Ragothsavam-2012. 

Embassy 


Information 

EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA 

The Australian Embassy Kuwait does not 

have a visa or immigration department. All 

processing of visas and immigration matters 

in conducted by The Australian Consulate- 

General in Dubai. Email: info.ausdxb 

@vfshelpline.com (VFS) immigration. dubai 

@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office); Tel: +971 4 355 1958 

(VFS) - +971 4 508 7200 (Visa Office); Fax: +971 4 

355 0708 (Visa Office). In Kuwait applications can 

be lodged at the Australian Visa Application 

Centre 4B 1st Floor, Al-Banwan Building Al-Qibla 

Area, Ali Al-Salem Street, opposite the Central 

Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Working 

hours and days: 09:30 - 17:30; Sunday - Thursday. 

Or visit their website www.vfs-au-gcc-com for 

more information. Kuwait citizens can apply for 

tourist visas on-line at www.immi.gov.au/e 

visa/e676.htm. 

n n n n n n n 

EMBASSY OF ARGENTINE 

The Embassy of Argentina requests all 

Argentinean citizens in Kuwait to proceed 

to our official email ekuwa@mrecic.gov.ar 

in order to register or update contact information. 

The embassy encourages all citizens to do 

so, including the ones who have already registered 

in person at the embassy. The registration 

process helps the Argentinean Government to 

contact and assist Argentineans living abroad in 

case of any emergency. 

n n n n n n n 

EMBASSY OF BRITAIN 

Consular section at the British Embassy will 

be starting an online appointment booking 

system for our consular customers 

from Sunday, 01 July 2012. All information including 

how to make an appointment is now available 

on the embassy website. In addition, there is 

also a “Consular Appointment System” option 

under Quick links on the right hand side on the 

homepage, which should take you to the 

“Consular online booking appointment system” 

main page. Please be aware that from 01 July 

2012, we will no longer accept walk-in customers 

for legalisation, notarial services and certificates 

(birth, death and marriages). If you have problems 

accessing the system or need to make an 

appointment for non-notarial consular issues or 

have a consular emergency, please call 2259 

4355/7/8 or email us on consularenquirieskuwait 

@fco.gov.uk. If you require consular assistance 

out of office hours (working hours: 0730-l430 hrs), 

please contact the Embassy on 2259 4320. 

n n n n n n n 

EMBASSY OF CANADA 

The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 

24, Al-Mutawakel St, Block 4 in Da’aiyah. 

Please visit our website at 

www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada 

is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday 

through Thursday. The reception is closed from 

12:30 to 01:00 pm for lunch break. Consular 

Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 

09:00 until 12:00 on Sunday through Wednesday. 

Individuals who are interested in visiting, working 

or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the 

website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at 

www.UAE.gc.ca. 

n n n n n n n 

EMBASSY OF FRANCE 

The Embassy would like to inform that 

starting September 2nd, 2012, visa 

demands for France will be handled by the 

outsourcing company “Capago - MENA 

Company”. Capago - MENA’S Call Center will be 

operational starting Sunday August 26 for setting 

appointments beginning September 2nd (+965 

22270555). 

n n n n n n n 

EMBASSY OF KENYA 

The Embassy of the Republic of Kenya 

wishes to inform the Kenyan community 

residents throughout Kuwait and the general 

public that the Embassy has acquired new 

office telephone numbers as follows: 25353982, 

25353985 - Consular’s enquiries 25353987 - Fax 

Our Email address: info@kenyaembkuwait.com. 

n n n n n n n 

EMBASSY OF KOREA 

The Embassy of the Republic of Korea 

wishes to inform that it has moved to 

Mishref. New Address: Embassy of the 

Republic of Korea Mishref, Block 7A, Diplomatic 

Area 2, Plot 6 The Embassy also wishes to inform 

that it will be opened to the public on the following 

office hours: Saturday to Thursday Morning: 

8:00 am to 12:30 pm. Lunch Break: 12:30 pm to 

1:00 pm. Afternoon: 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm 

n n n n n n n 

EMBASSY OF MYANMAR 

Embassy of the Republic of the Union of 

Myanmar would like to inform the general 

public that the Embassy has moved its 

office to new location at Villa 35, Road 203, Block 

2, Al-Salaam Area in South Surra. The Embassy 

wishes to advice Myanmar citizens and travellers 

to Myanmar to contact Myanmar Embassy at its 

new location. Tel. 25240736, 25240290, Fax: 

25240749, e-mail:myankuwait11@gmai1.com. 

n n n n n n n 

EMBASSY OF NIGERIA 

The Nigerian embassy has its new office 

in Mishref. Block 3, Street 7, House 4. For 

enquires please call 25379541. Fax- 

25387719. Email- nigeriakuwait 

@yahoo.com or nigeriankuwait@yahoo.co.uk. 

n n n n n n n 

EMBASSY OF UKRAINE 

The Embassy of Ukraine reminds that 

Ukrainian Parliamentary Election will 

take place on October, 28, 2012 in the 

Embassy’s premises. Please be advised to refer 

to the Embassy to check your personal data in 

the Electoral Register as well as in the list of 

Consular Registration.

00:45 I’m Alive 

01:35 Untamed & Uncut 

02:25 Air Jaws Apocalypse 

03:15 Mutant Planet 

04:05 Monster Bug Wars 

04:55 Cheetah Kingdom 

05:20 Shamwari: A Wild Life 

05:45 RSPCA: Have You Got What It 

Takes? 

06:10 RSPCA: Have You Got What It 

Takes? 

06:35 Wildlife SOS 

07:00 Baboons With Bill Bailey 

07:25 Crocodile Hunter 

08:15 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild 

08:40 Breed All About It 

09:10 The Really Wild Show 

09:35 The Really Wild Show 

10:05 Air Jaws 


11:25 Bondi Vet 

11:55 Animal Cops Houston 

12:50 Escape To Chimp Eden 

13:15 Escape To Chimp Eden 

13:45 Animal Precinct 

14:40 Air Jaws 

15:30 Karina: Wild On Safari 

16:00 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild 

16:30 Panda Adventures With Nigel 

Marven 

17:25 Must Love Cats 

18:20 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 


19:40 Bondi Vet 

20:10 Cheetah Kingdom 

20:35 Shamwari: A Wild Life 

21:05 Adrift: 47 Days With Sharks 

22:00 Austin Stevens Adventures 

22:55 Venom Hunter With Donald 

Schultz 



00:20 Holmes On Homes 

01:50 Antiques Roadshow 

02:45 To Build Or Not To Build? 

03:10 Saturday Kitchen 2008/09 

03:35 Living In The Sun 

04:30 MasterChef 

05:00 Raymond Blanc’s Kitchen 

Secrets 

05:25 Living In The Sun 


06:45 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 

07:30 MasterChef Australia 

08:15 MasterChef Australia 



10:20 Bargain Hunt 


12:00 Extreme Makeover: Home 

Edition 






Edition 

18:00 Nigel Slater’s Simple Suppers 

18:30 The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook 

18:55 Rick Stein’s French Odyssey 

19:20 Rick Stein’s French Odyssey 

19:45 James Martin’s Champagne 

20:10 Come Dine With Me 





Edition 

Edition 

00:15 Deadliest Catch 

01:10 Eyewitness 

01:35 Superhuman Showdown 

02:30 Mythbusters 


04:20 Border Security 

04:50 Auction Hunters 

05:15 How Do They Do It? 

05:40 How It’s Made 


07:00 American Chopper: Senior vs 

Junior 


08:45 Ultimate Survival 





11:25 Superhuman Showdown 





15:05 Ultimate Survival 

16:00 American Chopper: Senior vs 

Junior 

16:55 Wheeler Dealers 







21:00 Deconstruction 

21:30 American Guns 

22:25 Hellriders 

23:20 Ultimate Cops 

23:20 Surviving Disaster 

00:35 Mighty Ships 

01:25 Nextworld 

02:15 Race To Mars 

03:05 The Gadget Show 

03:35 Smash Lab 

04:25 Through The Wormhole With 

Morgan Freeman 




07:50 Head Rush 

07:53 Weird Connections 

08:20 How Does That Work? 

08:50 Prototype This 






13:00 Meteorite Men 





16:00 Head Rush 

16:03 Weird Connections 

16:30 How Does That Work? 





19:30 Wallace & Gromit’s World Of 

Invention 

19:55 Wallace & Gromit’s World Of 

Invention 

20:20 Bang Goes The Theory 




22:00 Prank Science 

22:25 Prank Science 





00:15 Little Einsteins 

00:40 Jungle Junction 



01:30 Special Agent Oso 


02:00 Lazytown 
















06:45 Handy Manny 



07:45 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 

08:10 The Hive 

08:20 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 




09:15 Mini Adventures Of Winnie The 

Pooh 

09:20 Mouk 

09:35 Mouk 




10:45 Art Attack 

11:10 Imagination Movers 



Pooh 


Pooh 











15:00 Mouk 


15:25 101 Dalmatians 

15:40 101 Dalmatians 



16:45 Art Attack 






18:35 Pixie Hollow Games 


Pooh 


19:30 Lion King 1 1/2 

20:45 Mouk 





22:20 Timmy Time 







Lazytown23:50 Lazytn 

00:25 Wrestling With Reality 

00:50 Wrestling With Reality 

01:20 Pro Bull Riders 2010 

02:15 World Combat League 

03:10 TNA: Greatest Matches 

04:05 The Cool Guy Files 


05:00 M1 Challenge 


07:00 Ride Guide Mountainbike 2009 

07:25 Ride Guide Mountainbike 2009 

07:55 Alli Presents 

08:50 Best Of The Streets 


09:45 Blood, Sweat And Gears 

10:40 Fantasy Factory 



12:30 Danger Men 

13:25 Carpocalypse 




16:10 Alli Presents 



18:00 Danger Men 


19:50 Carpocalypse 




22:35 TNA: Greatest Matches 

23:30 M1 Challenge 

00:05 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 


00:55 Unique Sweets 


01:45 Unique Eats 


02:35 Food(Ography) 



04:15 Guy’s Big Bite 

04:40 Outrageous Food 


05:30 Chopped 

06:10 Barefoot Contessa 


07:00 Iron Chef America 



08:40 Paula’s Best Dishes 

09:05 Paula’s Best Dishes 

09:30 Jenny Morris Cooks Morocco 

09:55 Cooking For Real 


10:45 Healthy Appetite With Ellie 

Krieger 

11:10 Kelsey’s Essentials 

11:35 Hungry Girl 

12:00 Chopped 





14:30 Kid In A Candy Store 

14:55 Kid In A Candy Store 


15:45 Food Network Challenge 



17:25 Jenny Morris Cooks Morocco 





19:30 Chopped 

20:20 Iron Chef America 

21:10 Barefoot Contessa - Back To 

Basics 

21:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To 

Basics 


Krieger 


Krieger 




23:40 Guy’s Big BiteBite 

00:30 Ghost Lab 

01:20 A Haunting 

02:05 Behind Mansion Walls 

02:55 American Greed 

03:45 Extreme Forensics 

04:30 Ghost Lab 

05:20 A Haunting 

06:10 Disappeared 

07:00 Forensic Detectives 

07:50 Murder Shift 

08:40 Mystery Diagnosis 

09:30 Real Emergency Calls 

09:55 Who On Earth Did I Marry? 

10:20 True Crime With Aphrodite 

Jones 


12:00 Street Patrol 

12:25 Street Patrol 


13:40 Mystery Diagnosis 

14:30 Real Emergency Calls 



Jones 


17:00 Forensic Detectives 




Jones 

19:55 Stalked: Someone’s Watching 

20:20 Nightmare Next Door 

21:10 Couples Who Kill 

22:00 I Was Murdered 

22:25 I Was Murdered 

22:50 Nightmare Next Door 

23:40 Dr G: Medical Examiner 

23:40 Scorned: Crimes Of Passion 

00:00 Market Values 


01:00 Bondi Rescue: Bali 


02:00 Kimchi Chronicles 


03:00 Food School 


04:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less 

Travelled 

05:00 Bondi Rescue 











Travelled 








14:30 Delinquent Gourmet 




Travelled 





19:00 Wheel2Wheel 

19:30 Wheel2Wheel 



21:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The 

Planet 

21:30 Pressure Cook 

22:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 

23:00 Extreme Tourist Afghanistan 

23:00 Naked Science 

00:00 Hunter Hunted 

01:00 Hooked 

01:55 The Living Edens 

02:50 Shark Nicole 

03:45 Night Stalkers 

04:40 Shane Untamed 

05:35 Animals Behaving Badly 




09:15 Python Hunters 

10:10 Swamp Men 


12:00 Hooked 


14:00 Sixgill Shark: Into The Abyss 










23:00 Hunter Hunted 

02:00 My Bloody Valentine-R 

TV PROGRAMS 

04:00 Fade To Black-18 

06:00 Hidalgo-PG15 

08:15 Men In Black II-PG 

10:00 Takers-PG15 

12:00 True Justice: Brotherhood- 

PG15 

14:00 Men In Black II-PG 

16:00 Taxi-PG15 

18:00 True Justice: Brotherhood- 

PG15 

20:00 Gridlock’d-18 

22:00 Hostel: Part III-18 

20:00 Fighting-PG15 

22:00 Homecoming-18 

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon 

Stewart 

01:00 The Colbert Report 

01:30 The League 

02:30 Hot In Cleveland 

03:00 30 Rock 

03:30 Community 

04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay 

Leno 

07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 

08:30 30 Rock 


Leno 


Stewart 



18:00 30 Rock 

18:30 Baby Daddy 

19:00 The Simpsons 

19:30 How I Met Your Mother 


Leno 


Stewart 


22:00 Family Guy 

23:00 Hot In Cleveland 


00:00 The Glades 

01:00 Supernatural 

02:00 Combat Hospital 

03:00 Greek 

04:00 Bunheads 

05:00 Franklin & Bash 


07:00 Emmerdale 

07:30 Coronation Street 

08:00 The Closer 

09:00 Supernatural 

10:00 Combat Hospital 

11:00 Bunheads 



13:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 





17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 


19:00 Parenthood 

20:00 X Factor Us 

22:00 American Horror Story 

23:00 Greek 

23:00 Greek 

01:00 The Running Man-18 

03:00 D.E.B.S-18 

05:00 Aeon Flux-PG15 

07:00 Ladder 49-PG15 

09:00 All Star Superman-PG15 

11:00 Aeon Flux-PG15 

13:00 Triassic Attack-PG15 

15:00 All Star Superman-PG15 

17:00 Little Big Soldier-PG15 

19:00 Full Metal Jacket-18 

21:00 Blood Out-18 

23:00 Jake’s Closet-PG15 

23:00 The Speak-18 Luste 

00:00 My Last Five Girlfriends-PG15 

02:00 Wayne’s World-PG15 

04:00 I’ll Be Home For Christmas-PG 

06:00 A Cinderella Story: Once Upon 

A Song-PG 

08:00 Wayne’s World-PG15 

10:00 The Open Road-PG15 

12:00 Flipped-PG 

14:00 Letters To Juliet-PG15 

16:00 The Open Road-PG15 

18:00 Big Mommas: Like Father, Like 

Son-PG15 

20:00 Without A Paddle-PG15 

22:00 The 41-Year-Old Virgin Who...- 

18 

01:00 Desperate Hours: An Amber 

Alert-PG15 

03:00 Charlie St. Cloud-PG15 

04:45 Walk The Line-PG15 

07:00 Eight Below-PG 

09:00 2001: A Space Odyssey-PG15 

11:15 Ike: Countdown To D-Day- 

PG15 

12:45 Miles From Nowhere-PG15 

14:15 2001: A Space Odyssey-PG15 

16:30 Anna And The King-PG15 

19:00 Random Hearts-PG15 

21:15 Patriot Games-PG15 

23:15 Burlesque-PG15 

23:30 Square Grouper-18 

01:00 True Grit-PG15 

03:00 The Winning Season-PG15 

05:00 Unanswered Prayers-PG15 

06:45 Wall Street: Money Never 

Sleeps-PG15 


11:00 Glee: The Concert Movie-PG15 

13:00 Justice For Natalee Holloway- 

PG15 

15:00 Unstoppable-PG15 


19:00 The King’s Speech-PG15 

21:00 Cowboys & Aliens-PG15 

23:00 Going The Distance-18 

00:00 Turandot-PG 

02:00 Toyz Goin’ Wild-PG 

04:00 Cher Ami-PG 

06:00 Mickey’s Twice Upon A 

Christmas-FAM 

07:45 Queen Of The Swallows-FAM 

10:00 The Apple & The Worm-PG15 

12:00 Shrek Forever After-FAM 

14:00 Supertramps-FAM 

16:00 The Hairy Tooth Fairy 2-PG 

18:00 The Apple & The Worm-PG15 

20:00 The Nutty Professor-FAM 

22:00 Supertramps-FAM 

22:15 Resident Evil 4: Afterlife-18 

SHARQIA-1 

PREMIUM RUSH (2D-Digital) 12:45 PM 

ROBOT & FRANK (2D- Digital) 2:45 PM 





PREMIUM RUSH (2D-Digital) 12:45 AM 

NO SUN+TUE+WED 

SHARQIA-2 

BAIT (3D- Digital) 12:30 PM 

FINDING NEMO (3D-Digital) 2:30 PM 



RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION 8:30 PM 


RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION 12:30 AM 


SHARQIA-3 

SILENT HOUSE (2D- Digital) 1:30 PM 


WAR OF THE DEAD (2D-Digital) 5:30 PM 

SEVEN BELOW (2D-Digital) 7:15 PM 



SILENT HOUSE (2D- Digital) 1:15 AM 


MUHALAB-1 








MUHALAB-2 





PREMIUM RUSH (2D-Digital) 




MUHALAB-3 


TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) 2:30 PM 





BAIT (3D- Digital) 12:45 AM 


FANAR-1 






ROBOT & FRANK (2D- Digital) 12:15 AM 


FANAR-2 








FANAR-3 


STOLEN (2D-Digital) 2:45 PM 


HEROINE -Hindi (2D- Digital) 6:45 PM 


WAR OF THE DEAD (2D-Digital) 12:45 AM 


FANAR-4 









FANAR-5 

SILENT HOUSE 1:30 PM 

THE EXPENDABLES 2 3:30 PM 






MARINA-1 








MARINA-2 









MARINA-3 









AVENUES-1 







AVENUES-2 







KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (20/09/2012 TO 26/09/2012) 


AVENUES-3 








AVENUES-4 





NO TUE (25/09/2012) 

Special Show “PREMIUM RUSH 

(2D-Digital)” for Mr. Dhari Al Aiban 7:15 PM 

TUE (25/09/2012) 




AVENUES-5 








AVENUES-6 








AVENUES-7 



BARFI! (Hindi)(2D-Digital) 5:45 PM 



AVENUES-8 





STOLEN (2D-Digital) 12:30 AM 


AVENUES-9 


Starting Time=12.30am 





WAR OF THE DEAD (2D-Digital) 12:15 AM 


AVENUES-10 








AVENUES-11 








360 º- 1 








360 º- 2 








360º- 3 






360 º- 4 








360 º- 5 


FRI+SAT 





360 º- 6 







360 º- 7 

THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2D-Digital) 2:30 PM 






360 º- 8 









360 º- 9 (VIP-1) 








360 º-10 (VIP-2) 








360 º- 11 








360 º- 12 








360 º- 13 








360 º- 14 






TETA RAHIBA (2D-Digital) 12:30 AM 


360º- 15 







AL-KOUT.1 









AL-KOUT.2 








AL-KOUT.3 









AL-KOUT.4 








BAIRAQ-1 









BAIRAQ-2 








BAIRAQ-3 








PLAZA 





LAILA 


PREMIUM RUSH 6:30 PM 


PREMIUM RUSH 10:30 PM 

AJIAL.1 



THAPPANA (Malayalam) (2D-Digital) 7:30 PM 

PREMIUM RUSH (2D-Digital) 10:30 PM

Classifieds 

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION 

Arrival Flights on Thursday 20/9/2012 

Airlines Flt Route Time 

JZR 185 DUBAI 0:15 

QTR 148 DOHA 0:20 

JZR 267 BEIRUT 0:50 

SAI 441 LAHORE 1:30 

ETH 620 ADDIS ABABA 1:45 

GFA 211 BAHRAIN 2:20 

UAE 853 DUBAI 2:25 

ETD 305 ABU DHABI 2:30 

FDB 67 DUBAI 3:10 

MSR 612 CAIRO 3:20 

QTR 138 DOHA 3:25 

JZR 503 LUXOR 3:55 

KAC 544 CAIRO 4:10 

THY 770 ISTANBUL 4:35 

KAC 154 ISTANBUL 4:55 

JZR 1541 CAIRO 4:55 

DHX 170 BAHRAIN 5:00 

JZR 555 ALEXANDRIA 6:00 

KAC 412 MANILA 6:15 

BAW 157 LONDON 6:30 

JZR 529 ASSIUT 6:40 

KAC 206 ISLAMABAD 7:15 

KAC 382 DELHI 7:30 


KAC 302 MUMBAI 7:50 

KAC 332 TRIVANDRUM 7:55 

KAC 352 COCHIN 8:05 

KAC 284 DHAKA 8:15 

KAC 362 COLOMBO 8:20 


ABY 125 SHARJAH 8:30 

IRA 605 ISFAHAN 8:35 


QTR 132 DOHA 9:00 

IZG 4161 MASHAD 9:10 

IRA 617 AHWAZ 9:15 



BAB 436 BAHRAIN 9:35 



MEA 404 BEIRUT 10:55 


MSR 618 ALEXANDRIA 11:25 

KNE 470 JEDDAH 11:35 

VTF 302 AL MAKTOUM 12:00 

MSC 401 ALEXANDRIA 12:00 

SYR 341 DAMASCUS 12:05 

JZR 561 SOHAG 12:30 


KAC 672 DUBAI 13:40 



OMA 645 MUSCAT 14:00 

JZR 241 AMMAN 14:05 



QTR 140 DOHA 14:25 

SVA 500 JEDDAH 14:30 

RJA 640 AMMAN 14:55 


KAC 546 ALEXANDRIA 15:05 

QTR 134 DOHA 15:15 

KAC 118 NEW YORK 16:00 

JZR 357 MASHAD 16:20 



UAL 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 17:10 


SVA 510 RIYADH 17:20 


TAR 328 TUNIS 17:35 

JZR 777 JEDDAH 17:40 

KAC 176 GENEVA 17:45 



KAC 502 BEIRUT 18:00 


QTR 144 DOHA 18:20 

KAC 786 JEDDAH 18:40 


KAC 104 LONDON 18:45 


MSR 624 SOHAG 18:55 

MSC 405 SOHAG 19:00 

RBG 3553 ALEXANDRIA 19:05 


KAC 618 DOHA 19:20 


KAC 614 BAHRAIN 19:30 

JAI 572 MUMBAI 19:35 

KAC 774 RIYADH 19:40 

KAC 562 AMMAN 19:50 

AXB 389 KOZHIKODE 19:55 




QTR 146 DOHA 20:25 


ALK 229 COLOMBO 20:55 


JZR 135 BAHRAIN 21:15 



BBC 43 DHAKA 21:25 


QTR 136 DOHA 21:35 

JZR 513 SHARM EL SHEIKH 22:00 


AIC 981 CHENNAI 22:25 


UAL 981 BAHRAIN 22:40 


DLH 636 FRANKFURT 23:10 



KLM 411 AMSTERDAM 23:40 


Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw) 


Depature Flights on Thursday 20/9/2012 

Airlines Flt Route Time 

AIC 976 GOA 0:05 

UAL 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 0:25 

DLH 637 FRANKFURT 0:30 



SAI 442 LAHORE 2:30 

ETH 621 ADDIS ABABA 2:45 





QTR 139 DOHA 4:50 

QTR 149 DOHA 5:40 

JZR 560 SOHAG 6:05 





KAC 545 ALEXANDRIA 8:10 

BAW 156 LONDON 8:25 







IRA 606 MASHHAD 9:35 


QTR 133 DOHA 10:00 

KAC 101 LONDON 10:00 



IRA 616 AHWAZ 10:15 


JZR 356 MASHHAD 10:30 

IZG 4162 MASHHAD 10:35 



KAC 165 ROME 11:45 


KAC 501 BEIRUT 12:00 

JZR 776 JEDDAH 12:15 


MSR 623 SOHAG 12:25 


MSC 406 SOHAG 13:00 

SYR 342 DAMASCUS 13:05 

KAC 785 JEDDAH 13:10 





KAC 561 AMMAN 14:40 






KAC 617 DOHA 15:45 

RJA 641 AMMAN 15:50 

JZR 512 SHARM EL SHEIKH 15:55 

VTF 300 KANDAHAR 16:00 

SVA 505 JEDDAH 16:00 

QTR 135 DOHA 16:15 

KAC 773 RIYADH 16:25 

KAC 613 BAHRAIN 16:30 



QTR 141 DOHA 17:45 



JZR 134 BAHRAIN 18:20 

TAR 328 TUNIS 18:25 


UAL 982 BAHRAIN 18:30 

SVA 511 RIYADH 18:35 



QTR 145 DOHA 19:20 



RBG 3554 ALEXANDRIA 19:45 

MSR 607 LUXOR 19:55 

MSC 402 ALEXANDRIA 20:00 


KAC 283 DHAKA 20:15 



KAC 331 TRIVANDRUM 20:50 

KAC 343 CHENNAI 20:55 

KAC 351 KOCHI 21:05 






DHX 171 BAHRAIN 21:50 

ALK 230 COLOMBO 21:55 

JZR 1540 CAIRO 22:05 




QTR 137 DOHA 22:35 

KAC 301 MUMBAI 22:40 

KAC 205 ISLAMABAD 22:45 

JZR 554 ALEXANDRIA 23:00 

BBC 44 DHAKA 23:05 

QTR 147 DOHA 23:10 

AXB 390 MANGALORE 23:10 


KAC 411 BANGKOK 23:40 

JZR 528 ASSIUT 23:50 

KAC 415 KUALA LUMPUR 23:50 

FOR SALE 

Furnished room with balcony 

and separate bath in a 

2 bedroom flat near 

Abbassiya opp new BEC. 

Call 99516426. (C 4143) 

Subaru outback model 

2005, metallic color, 

mileage 2,12,000. Passing 

up to May 2013, good interior 

& exterior for only KD 

600. Tel: 22493358. 

Toyota Camry model 2011 

GL silver color, 8,600 km 

done, excellent condition, 

price KD 4,350. Contact: 

66839506. (C 4138) 

17-9-2012 

Kuwait Parliament 

www.majlesalommah.net 

Ministry of Interior 

www.moi.gov.kw 

Public Authority for Civil Information 

www.paci.gov.kw 

Kuwait News Agency 

www.kuna.net.kw 

Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affair 

www.islam.gov.kw 

Ministry of Energy (Oil) 

www.moo.gov.kw 

Ministry of Energy (Electricity and Water) 

www.energy.govt.kw 

Public Authority for Housing Welfare 

www.housing.gov.kw 

Ministry of Justice 

www.moj.gov.kw 

SITUATION VACANT 

Lady Chartered Accountant 

seeking suitable placement. 

Phone: 97572174. (C 4137) 

16-9-2012 

Wanted full time 

maid/nanny in Salwa. 

Offering KD 120 salary. 

Must speak English and be 

good with small children. 

Call 9768-7172. 

CHANGE OF NAME 

I, Donga Hanumanthu Ram 

holder of Indian Passport 

No: F2522828, son of 

Donga Swamy has changed 

my name to DONGA HANU- 

MANTHA RAO. (C 4142) 

Ministry of Communications 

www.moc.kw 

Supreme Council for Planning and Development 

www.scpd.gov.kw 

Prayer timings 

Fajr: 04:16 

Duhr: 11:41 

Asr: 15:09 

Maghrib: 17:47 

Isha: 19:04 

GOVERNMENT WEB SITES 

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR 

CIVIL INFORMATION 

Automated enquiry 

about the Civil ID card is 1889988 

The Public Institution for Social Security 

www.pifss.gov.kw 

Public Authority of Industry 

www.pai.gov.kw 

Prisoners of War Committee 

www.pows.org.kw 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs 

www.mofa.gov.kw 

Kuwait Municipality 

www.municipality.gov.kw 

Kuwait Electronic Government 

www.e.gov.kw 

Ministry of Finance 

www.mof.gov.kw 

Ministry of Commerce and Industry 

www.moci.gov.kw 

Ministry of Education 

www.moe.edu.kw 

Ministry of Information 

www.moinfo.gov.kw 

Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation 

www.awqaf.org

34 stars 

CROSSWORD 802 CALVIN & HOBBES 

ACROSS 

1. The rate at which heat is produced by an individual in a resting 

state. 

4. The food served and eaten at one time. 

10. System of measurement based on centimeters and grams 

and seconds. 

13. Of or relating to a member of the Buddhist people inhabiting 

the Mekong river in Laos and Thailand. 

14. (Greek mythology) Greek god of darkness who dwelt in the 

underworld. 

15. 10 hao equal 1 dong. 

16. (Old Testament) The second patriarch. 

18. An Iranian language spoken in Afghanistan. 

19. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey). 

20. A genus of Ploceidae. 

21. Relatively small gnawing animals having a single pair of constantly 

growing incisor teeth specialized for gnawing. 

23. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a 

common policy for the sale of petroleum. 

25. An international organization of European countries formed 

after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation 

among its members. 

26. A male monarch or emperor (especially of Russia prior to 

1917). 

29. 4-wheeled motor vehicle. 

31. God of love and erotic desire. 

35. The topmost one of two. 

37. An early form of modern jazz (originating around 1940). 

39. A feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or 

cause). 

40. Japanese ornamental tree with fragrant white or pink blossoms 

and small yellow fruits. 

41. A member of a North American Indian people of southwestern 

Oregon. 

43. A fraudulent business scheme. 

46. An association of countries in the western hemisphere. 

47. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind. 

50. Used of a single unit or thing. 

52. The vein in the center of a leaf. 

55. Greek mythology. 

59. Remove a bar from (a door, for example). 

63. A port in southwestern Scotland. 

64. One of the five major classes of immunoglobulins. 

65. Surveying instrument consisting of the upper movable part 

of a theodolite including the telescope and its attachments. 

67. The cry made by sheep. 

68. The network in the reticular formation that serves an alerting 

or arousal function. 

69. West Indian tree having racemes of fragrant white flowers 

and yielding a durable timber and resinous juice. 

70. Inquire about. 

DOWN 

1. A sudden minor shock or meaningless interruption. 

2. An independent group of closely related Chadic languages 

spoken in the area between the Biu-Mandara and East Chadic 

languages. 

3. Taking place over public roads. 

4. A summary that repeats the substance of a longer discussion. 

5. A trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group. 

6. A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling). 

7. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth. 

8. A sudden forceful flow. 

9. Wild ox of the Malay Archipelago. 

10. A wad of something chewable as tobacco. 

11. A measuring instrument for measuring and indicating a 

quantity or for testing conformity with a standard. 

12. The act of rising upward into the air. 

17. Love intensely. 

22. Red pear-shaped tropical fruit with poisonous seeds. 

24. An international organization of European countries formed 

after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation 

among its members. 

27. A detailed description of design criteria for a piece of work. 

28. The capital of Western Samoa. 

30. A unit of weight used in some Moslem countries near the 

Mediterranean. 

32. (prefix) Indicating difference or variation. 

33. Informal terms for a mother. 

34. Type genus of the Anatidae. 

36. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali metal group. 

38. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America. 

42. A Dravidian language spoken in southern India. 

44. God of death. 

45. A public promotion of some product or service. 

48. English theoretical physicist who applied relativity theory to 

quantum mechanics and predicted the existence of antimatter 

and the positron (1902-1984). 

49. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens. 

51. (Akkadian) God of wisdom. 

53. Any tree or shrub of the genus Inga having pinnate leaves 

and showy usually white flowers. 

54. A software system that facilitates the creation and maintenance 

and use of an electronic database. 

56. A metabolic acid found in yeast and liver cells. 

57. An unfledged or nestling hawk. 

58. Any of various strong liquors distilled from the fermented sap 

of toddy palms or from fermented molasses. 

60. A unit of length equal to one thousandth of an inch. 

61. An agency of the United Nations affiliated with the World 

Bank. 

62. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits. 

66. A white soft metallic element that tarnishes readily. 

67. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens. 

Yesterday’s Solution 

POOCH CAFE 

NON SEQUITUR 




Aries (March 21-April 19) 

STAR TRACK 

You can develop new skills and opportunities to advance 

your competitive position now through further education, or 

perhaps in working as an apprentice to learn a skill. There are opportunities now 

to enjoy the complete opposite side of the pendulum and begin a vacation, religious 

pilgrimage, artistic pursuits and cultural or educational improvement. You 

may want more independence and have a restless urge for physical activity and 

competition. Improved physical fitness can increase your vitality and give you 

greater self-confidence. As your personal expression now carries a forceful influence, 

you will find yourself asserting your leadership abilities. The evening brings 

a wonderful opportunity to cook a meal for your very best friend! 

Taurus (April 20-May 20) 

This is a favorable time for seeking employment or promotion 

as well as for learning new duties and travel related to your work. You have an 

increased self-confidence to try new things that are daring, unusual and inventive. 

You are able to pursue your goals for greater independence. It is a time of 

change, stimulating friends and new acquaintances. This is also, a favorable time 

for profitable enterprises in the technology and entertainment fields. You have 

increased concentration and perception into the motives of others—you may 

write letters of protest. The time is favorable for any research or for revealing hidden 

factors and inhibitions. If there are secret manipulations or conspiracies, they 

can surface where you can gain control. 

Gemini (May 21-June 20) 

Progress is good, although there may be a bit of the unexpected 

involved; favorable changes are occurring. There is a 

greater chance for independent activities now. Your intuitive and inventive energies 

are steady and the time is favorable for all technological and humanitarian 

enterprises. This is a favorable time for a job change or a move. Friends and colleagues 

tend to give you their approval and business affairs go smoothly. Changes 

can emerge from obscurity, offering you more freedom, stability and leisure. 

Health improves as tension eases—therapies can have a beneficial effect. Your 

intuitive and imaginative powers are stimulated and you can focus on worthwhile 

goals and productive enterprises. This evening is excellent for studies of all kinds. 

Cancer (June 21-July 22) 

This can be a time of leadership, as you have the power to 

sway others in your group and initiate reforms. Your competitive 

attitude may also stimulate possible aggressiveness and jealousy in relationships. 

Avoid dangerous situations. Mental efforts intensify. You may have a curiosity 

about the unknown with a compulsive train of thought directed toward finding 

answers within yourself or toward solving problems. Investigation and scientific 

research draws your attention. Communications may involve corporate business, 

insurance, taxes or inheritance. You may also be privy to secret plots. You can be 

subject to uncompromising mental attitudes and irrevocable decisions. Tonight is 

a good time for entertaining friends. 

Leo (July 23-August 22) 

It can be a time of increased dealings with corporate business, 

insurance, taxes or inheritance. You may have intuitive 

insight into business or professional affairs and organize new methods or restructuring. 

You can be aware of political and professional power struggles and 

intrigues. There could be some changes in your professional environment. 

Cooperation is needed to avoid ego conflicts in dealing with partners and equals 

today. You will be as considerate of others’ goals as you are with your own. You 

have a deepened emotional sensitivity and insights drawn from memory. Longburied 

feelings from the past can be reexamined and released or purged. You will 

enjoy harmony in business, social and romantic relationships in the future. 

Virgo (August 23-September 22) 

This can be a strange, chaotic time when you may wish to 

ignore your responsibilities; however, there are rewards for the 

perseverance it takes to complete your duties and stay with whatever program 

you have set out for yourself. You can be a mentor and set examples for others to 

follow—it is common for co-workers to come to you with questions. Superiors 

know your accomplishments. You may find options available soon for a new position 

of responsibility in the workplace. You can uncover the solution to difficult 

situations and swing the best deal. There are important professional relationships 

coming your way—reputation and status can be revered. You will enjoy a little 

down time this evening if you accept a small party invitation for this eve. 

Libra (September 23-October 22) 

Unexpected changes can disrupt the usual order and routine 

of life. You may want more creative freedom in your work, 

but you need to get the attention of those in control. You may vacillate between 

the comfort of your position and the challenge of seeking new achievements. 

Friends or family may be helpful if you open up and talk about ways in which you 

could progress in your professional surroundings. Your responsibility toward others 

may increase and this may be the motivation toward real change in business—more 

money. Look for ways to make a positive difference by revealing 

facts and important information. This may be a good time to exercise diplomacy. 

This is the perfect time to take a class and replace old information. 

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) 

You are filled with plenty of energy that is best applied in 

your work or accomplishing your goals. This is also a most favorable 

time to work with a group of close associates. Projects may come to completion 

now. Listen to other people’s opinions—you may want them to listen to you 

some day. The social activities you involve yourself with now may bring about 

romance for you, particularly through pursuits like religion and volunteer work. 

There is also a great love of children and, if you are married, you may be inclined 

to pursue lovemaking in the hopes of obtaining an offspring. This is a good time 

for you to express your desires. Circumstances create many chances for making 

new friends. Plan on future gatherings; these times boost the spirit. 

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) 

There could be a contest of wills today. This may take the 

form of a propaganda play, either by you or by another. It may 

entail a disagreement where you and another take opposing positions. Do not 

allow others to talk you into spending your time and energy in areas you know to 

be detrimental. Work that requires precision, careful planning and patience is 

favored. You will find cultural, religious and legal matters end on the positive for 

now. Generosity, financial gain, hospitality and favors may be bestowed upon 

you. You will need to exercise the ability to compromise—it is not worth the hassle 

to defend your position. Be careful not to give up something of value. Eating a 

balanced meal will improve your health. 

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) 

This is a great time to use your ability to think fast. There are 

opportunities on the drawing board, so to speak, that will be fun 

challenges. There will be some requirements for decisive action in order to 

accomplish what you set out to do. This may mean a bit of competition and the 

struggle to win is the fun of the race. Whether you are thinking of climbing a 

mountain, bicycling across country or creating the next contest for employees in 

the workplace . . . you are a high achiever and will be pleased with your success at 

the finish line. Business and recreational travel is favored—as are outdoor sports. 

There is a feeling of luck that could be false—take care if gambling. Be wise and 

stay away from discussions involving religion or politics. 

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) 

You should be attentive to all the work you do today, for there 

is a tendency to gloss over all the usual things that need to be 

done. You must be judicious in personal decisions about finances. Spare no opportunity 

that comes your way just now, especially when it comes to wise moneymaking 

efforts. Leave yourself a two-day leeway for change of mind where finances are 

concerned. This afternoon is an excellent time to be with loved ones—whether you 

are at work or at play. You should try your best to communicate your needs and 

desires to friends and relatives in order to avoid any misunderstandings. 

Intellectually based friendships may be plentiful and you learn a great deal from 

them. You and a co-worker may enjoy some entertainment tonight. 

Pisces (February 19-March 20) 

You are respectful to your superiors and you set an example 

of finding answers and methods of working that do not require 

a constant check by higher-ups. This ability to work quickly and efficiently by your 

own capabilities is quite impressive. Interactions with the opposite sex on the 

professional level may occur a great deal just now. Be wary of becoming charmed 

by someone you work closely with just now. You should take every opportunity 

to get outside and enjoy the natural world—especially during the noon break. 

Work will seem easier when you return after a pleasant noon break. Your creative 

ideas are flowing this afternoon. You have a great love for family and friends. Your 

friendships are firm and harmonious.

For labor-related inquiries 

and complaints: 

Call MSAL hotline 128 

Sabah Hospital 24812000 

Amiri Hospital 22450005 

Maternity Hospital 24843100 

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital 25312700 

Chest Hospital 24849400 

Farwaniya Hospital 24892010 

Adan Hospital 23940620 

Ibn Sina Hospital 24840300 

Al-Razi Hospital 24846000 

Physiotherapy Hospital 24874330/9 

Kaizen center 25716707 

Roudha 22517733 

Adhaliya 22517144 

Khaldiya 24848075 

Keifan 24849807 

Shamiya 24848913 

Shuwaikh 24814507 

Abdullah Salim 22549134 

Al-Nuzha 22526804 

Industrial Shuwaikh 24814764 

Al-Khadissiya 22515088 

Dasmah 22532265 

Bneid Al-Ghar 22531908 

Al-Shaab 22518752 

Al-Kibla 22459381 

Ayoun Al-Kibla 22451082 

Al-Mirqab 22456536 

Sharq 22465401 

Salmiya 25746401 

Jabriya 25316254 

Maidan Hawally 25623444 

Bayan 25388462 

Mishref 25381200 

W.Hawally 22630786 

Sabah 24810221 

Jahra 24770319 

New Jahra 24575755 

West Jahra 24772608 

South Jahra 24775066 

North Jahra 24775992 

North Jleeb 24311795 

Al-Ardhiya 24884079 

Firdous 24892674 

Al-Omariya 24719048 

N.Kheitan 24710044 

Fintas 23900322 

Ophthalmologists 

Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 

Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 

Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 

Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 

Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 

Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 

Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 

Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) 

Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 

Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 

Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 

Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 

Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 

Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 

Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 

General Practitioners 

Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 

Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 

Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 

Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 

Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 

Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 

Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 

Urologists 

Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 

Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 

Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 

Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 

Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 

Psychologists 

/Psychotherapists 

Soor Center 

Tel: 2290-1677 

Fax: 2290 1688 

information 

GOVERNORATE PHARMACY ADDRESS PHONE 

Ahmadi Sama Safwan Fahaeel Makka St 23915883 

Abu Halaifa Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd 23715414 

Danat Al-Sultan Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd 23726558 

Jahra Modern Jahra Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 24575518 

Madina Munawara Jahra-Block 92 24566622 

Capital Ahlam Fahad Al-Salem St 22436184 

Khaldiya Coop Khaldiya Coop 24833967 

Farwaniya New Shifa Farwaniya Block 40 24734000 

Ferdous Coop Ferdous Coop 24881201 

Modern Safwan Old Kheitan Block 11 24726638 

Hawally Tariq Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St 25726265 

Hana Salmiya-Amman St 25647075 

Ikhlas Hawally-Beirut St 22625999 

Hawally & Rawdha Hawally & Rawdha Coop 22564549 

Ghadeer Jabriya-Block 1A 25340559 

Kindy Jabriya-Block 3B 25326554 

Ibn Al-Nafis Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St 25721264 

Mishrif Coop Mishrif Coop 25380581 

Salwa Coop Salwa Coop 25628241 

STAATTE OF KUWA K AIT 

DIRECTORAT 

TE GEN GENERAL OF CIVIL AV VIAT TION 

METEOROLOGICAL DEPAARTMENT 

DAY: Y 

BY NIGHT: 

BY DAY Y: : 

We ednesday 

WA ARNING 

STAATTION 

KUWA AIT CITY 

KUWA AIT AIRPORT T 

NUWA AISEEB 

WA AFRA 

SALMI 

ABDALY Y 

JAL ALIYAAH 

FA AILAKA 

AHMADI PORT T 

UMM AL-MARADEM 

WA ARBA - BUBYA AAN 

DAY Y DATTE 

Thursday 

Friday 

Saturday 

Sunday 

PRIVATE CLINICS 

Plastic Surgeons 

Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf 22547272 

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari 22617700 

Dr. Abdel Quttainah 25625030/60 

Family Doctor 

Dr Divya Damodar 23729596/23729581 

Psychiatrists 

Dr. Esam Al-Ansari 22635047 

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan 22613623/0 

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians 

DrAdrian arbe 23729596/23729581 

Dr. Verginia s.Marin 2572-6666 ext 8321 

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan 22655539 

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami 25343406 

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly 25739272 

Dr. Salem soso 22618787 

General Surgeons 

Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer 22610044 

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher 25327148 

Internists, Chest & Heart 

Dr. Adnan Ebil 22639939 

Dr. Mousa Khadada 22666300 

Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan 25728004 

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra 25355515 

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub 24726446 

Dr Nasser Behbehani 25654300/3 

info@soorcenter.com 

www.soorcenter.com 

19/09/2012 

Expected WWe 

eather for the Next 24 Hours 

Paediatricians 

Dr. Khaled Hamadi 25665898 

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed 25340300 

Dr. Zahra Qabazard 25710444 

Dr. Sohail Qamar 22621099 

Dr. Snaa Maaroof 25713514 

Dr. Pradip Gujare 23713100 

Dr. Zacharias Mathew 24334282 

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon 

Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, 

FRCS (Canada) 25655535 

Dentists 

Dr Anil Thomas 3729596/3729581 

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar 22641071/2 

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed 22562226 

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer 22561444 

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan 22619557 

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash 22525888 

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan 25653755 

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari 25620111 

Neurologists 

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri 25633324 

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan 25345875 

Gastrologists 

Dr. Sami Aman 22636464 

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly 25322030 

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali 22633135 

Kaizen center 

25716707 

Te el.: 161 Ext.: 26 2627 - 2630 

Fax: 24348714 

WWW.MET.GOV. 

.KW 

Relatively hot becoming fair later on with light to moderate north westerly wind, with speed of 12 - 35 

km/h 

Hot Hot with light to to moderate north westerly wind, wind, with speed of 15 15 - 38 38 km/h 

20/09 

21/09 

22/09 

23/09 

MAX. REC. MIN. N. EXP. 

43°C 

31 31°C 

43°C 26 26°C 

43°C 27 

°C 

44°C 29 

°C 

41°C 24 

°C 

43°C 26 

°C 

42°C 27 

°C 

42°C 27 

°C 

41°C 32 

°C 

39°C 33 

°C 

43°C 21 

°C 

WEAT THER 

hot 

hot 

hot 

hot 

PRA PRAY YER TIMES 

Fajr 

04:15 

Sunrise 

05:35 

Zuhr 

11:42 

Asr 

15:10 

Sunset 

17:48 

Isha 

19:06 

All times are local time unless otherwise stated. 

No Current Wa arnin arnings 

4 DAY YS FORECAST 

Issue Time 

Endocrinologist 

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman 25339330 

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888 

Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 

Physiotherapists & VD 

Dr. Deyaa Shehab 25722291 

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees 22666288 

Rheumatologists: 

Dr. Adel Al-Awadi 25330060 

19:00 

SFC. CHAR T 19/09/2012 1200 UTC 

T emperatur emperatures 

MAX. MIN. 

43 °C 

42 °C 

42 °C 

42 °C 

Wind 

Direction 

26 °C NW 

25 °C NW 

25 °C NW 

25 °C NW-VRB 

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah 25722290 

Internist, Chest & Heart 

DR.Mohammes Akkad 24555050 Ext 210 

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid 

MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC 

Assistant Professor Of Medicine 

Head, Division of Cardiology 

Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital 

Wind 

Speed 

15 - 38 km/h 

12 - 35 km/h 

12 - 35 km/h 

08 - 30 km/h 

RECORDED YESTERDAYY 

ATT 

KUWAA 

AIT AIRPORTT 

MAX. Temp. 

43 °C 

MIN. Temp. 

25 °C 

MAX. RH 

20 % 

MIN. RH 

04 % 

MAX. Wind 

NW 57 km/h 

TOTA 

AL RAAINFA 

ALL IN 24 HR. 

.04 mm 

19/09/12 14:53 UTC 

V1.00 

T1.06 

Consultant Cardiologist 

Dr. Farida Al-Habib 2611555-2622555 

MD, PH.D, FACC 

Inaya German Medical Center 

Te: 2575077 

Fax: 25723123 

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 

Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677 


Al-Madena 22418714 

Al-Shohada’a 22545171 

Al-Shuwaikh 24810598 

Al-Nuzha 22545171 

Sabhan 24742838 

Al-Helaly 22434853 

Al-Fayhaa 22545051 

Al-Farwaniya 24711433 

Al-Sulaibikhat 24316983 

Al-Fahaheel 23927002 

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh 24316983 

Ahmadi 23980088 

Al-Mangaf 23711183 

Al-Shuaiba 23262845 

Al-Jahra 25610011 

Al-Salmiya 25616368 

INTERNATIONAL 

CALLS 

Afghanistan 0093 

Albania 00355 

Algeria 00213 

Andorra 00376 

Angola 00244 

Anguilla 001264 

Antiga 001268 

Argentina 0054 

Armenia 00374 

Australia 0061 

Austria 0043 

Bahamas 001242 

Bahrain 00973 

Bangladesh 00880 

Barbados 001246 

Belarus 00375 

Belgium 0032 

Belize 00501 

Benin 00229 

Bermuda 001441 

Bhutan 00975 

Bolivia 00591 

Bosnia 00387 

Botswana 00267 

Brazil 0055 

Brunei 00673 

Bulgaria 00359 

Burkina 00226 

Burundi 00257 

Cambodia 00855 

Cameroon 00237 

Canada 001 

Cape Verde 00238 

Cayman Islands 001345 

Central African 00236 

Chad 00235 

Chile 0056 

China 0086 

Colombia 0057 

Comoros 00269 

Congo 00242 

Cook Islands 00682 

Costa Rica 00506 

Croatia 00385 

Cuba 0053 

Cyprus 00357 

Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 

Czech Republic 00420 

Denmark 0045 

Diego Garcia 00246 

Djibouti 00253 

Dominica 001767 

Dominican Republic 001809 

Ecuador 00593 

Egypt 0020 

El Salvador 00503 

England (UK) 0044 

Equatorial Guinea 00240 

Eritrea 00291 

Estonia 00372 

Ethiopia 00251 

Falkland Islands 00500 

Faroe Islands 00298 

Fiji 00679 

Finland 00358 

France 0033 

French Guiana 00594 

French Polynesia 00689 

Gabon 00241 

Gambia 00220 

Georgia 00995 

Germany 0049 

Ghana 00233 

Gibraltar 00350 

Greece 0030 

Greenland 00299 

Grenada 001473 

Guadeloupe 00590 

Guam 001671 

Guatemala 00502 

Guinea 00224 

Guyana 00592 

Haiti 00509 

Holland (Netherlands) 0031 

Honduras 00504 

Hong Kong 00852 

Hungary 0036 

Ibiza (Spain) 0034 

Iceland 00354 

India 0091 

Indian Ocean 00873 

Indonesia 0062 

Iran 0098 

Iraq 00964 

Ireland 00353 

Italy 0039 

Ivory Coast 00225 

Jamaica 001876 

Japan 0081 

Jordan 00962 

Kazakhstan 007 

Kenya 00254 

Kiribati 00686 

Kuwait 00965 

Kyrgyzstan 00996 

Laos 00856 

Latvia 00371 

Lebanon 00961 

Liberia 00231 

Libya 00218 

Lithuania 00370 

Luxembourg 00352 

Macau 00853 

Macedonia 00389 

Madagascar 00261 

Majorca 0034 

Malawi 00265 

Malaysia 0060 

Maldives 00960 

Mali 00223 

Malta 00356 

Marshall Islands 00692 

Martinique 00596 

Mauritania 00222 

Mauritius 00230 

Mayotte 00269 

Mexico 0052 

Micronesia 00691 

Moldova 00373 

Monaco 00377 

Mongolia 00976 

Montserrat 001664 

Morocco 00212 

Mozambique 00258 

Myanmar (Burma) 0095 

Namibia 00264 

Nepal 00977 

Netherlands (Holland) 

0031 

Netherlands Antilles 00599 

New Caledonia 00687 

New Zealand 0064 

Nicaragua 00505 

Nigar 00227 

Nigeria 00234 

Niue 00683 

Norfolk Island 00672 

Northern Ireland (UK) 

0044 

North Korea 00850 

Norway 0047 

Oman 00968 

Pakistan 0092 

Palau 00680 

Panama 00507 

Papua New Guinea 00675 

Paraguay 00595 

Peru 0051 

Philippines 0063 

Poland 0048 

Portugal 00351 

Puerto Rico 001787 

Qatar 00974 

Romania 0040 

Russian Federation 007 

Rwanda 00250 

Saint Helena 00290 

Saint Kitts 001869 

Saint Lucia 001758 

Saint Pierre 00508 

Saint Vincent 001784 

Samoa US 00684 

Samoa West 00685 

San Marino 00378 

Sao Tone 00239 

Saudi Arabia 00966 

Scotland (UK) 0044 

Senegal 00221 

Seychelles 00284 

Sierra Leone 00232 

Singapore 0065 

Slovakia 00421 

Slovenia 00386 

Solomon Islands 00677

Robbie Williams 

becomes a father 

British pop star Robbie 

Williams has become a father 

for the first time, announcing 

the arrival of a baby girl - Theodora 

Rose, “affectionately known as 

Teddy”. The 38-year-old singer said 

his daughter was born Tuesday, 

weighing 7 pounds 4 ounces (3.28 

kilos). “Baby, mummy and daddy 

are all rockin...” Williams said in a 

message on his website late on 

Tuesday. “Thank you for your best 

wishes.” The girl was born in 

London, British media reported. 

Williams announced in March that 

he and his wife Ayda Field were 

expecting their first child. Williams 

married the actress at his Beverly 

Hills home in 2010. Williams forged 

a successful solo career after leaving 

British boy band Take That in 

1995, and signed one of the 

world’s biggest music deals with 

EMI in 2002. He has sold over 60 

million albums as a solo artist, 

rejoining the boy band in 2010. 

Lindsay Lohan 

has been arrested 

T he 

‘Liz & Dick’ actress was taken 

into custody by police for leaving 

the scene of an accident after 

allegedly clipping a pedestrian with her 

car in New York City. According to 

TMZ.com, Lindsay was pulling in at low 

speed to park her 

Porsche Cayenne 

near the Dream 

Hotel when she 

allegedly hit the 

knee of an 

unnamed man in 

his 30s. One of 

Lindsay’s passengers 

got out and 

checked her vehicle 

for damage, 

and then the 

group went into 

the hotel. Police 

were called and 

when she walked 

out of the building 

at 2.30am - 

around half an 

hour after the 

accident - the actress was arrested. 

Lindsay, 26, was booked for the misdemeanour 

offence of leaving the scene 

of an accident and released with a desk 

appearance ticket, meaning she did not 

have to pay bail before release. The 

alleged victim was not knocked down 

by the vehicle and had no visible 

injuries, but was still taken to hospital. 

Though the offence is a misdemeanour, 

it could trigger a probation violation in 

the ‘Mean Girls’ star’s jewelry theft case 

as one of the conditions of probation is 

that she obeys all laws. 

Tulisa has 

apocalypse nightmare 

T ulisa 

Contostavlos keeps having a nightmare about 

the apocalypse. The ‘Young’ hitmaker has had a 

recurring bad dream every two months since she 

was a young girl where the world ends after being struck 

by a big meteorite and she is the only person left alive. 

She said: “I’ve had them since I was little. At first they were 

weekly and now they’re every two months. “What happens 

is the world ends, there’s a meteorite and a big tidal 

wave and only I survive.” When she wasn’t having night 

terrors, the singer spent her younger years thinking about 

pop success and getting tattoos. Tulisa admits she came 

very close to getting her ‘Female Boss’ forearm tattoo 

inked onto her neck - but she’s pleased she didn’t because 

she would have never got a job as a judge on ‘The X 

Factor’. She told the Daily Star newspaper: “It was in my 

hood days. I was so close to getting the ‘Female Boss’ tattoo 

on my neck. “Thank God I didn’t, Simon Cowell never 

would have hired me for ‘X Factor’!” This week Tulisa was 

nominated for the Best Female prize at the upcoming 

MOBO Awards and attended the nominations launch party 

at the Floridita restaurant in London. She will battle 

Emeli Sande, Jessie J, Jessie Ware, Rebecca Ferguson and 

Rita Ora for the accolade at the ceremony at Liverpool’s 

Echo Arena on November 3.— Agncies 

C hinese 

Annie Lennox has married for a third 

time. The Scottish singer-songwriter’s 

publicist confirms Lennox married 

Mitch Besser in a private ceremony Saturday 

in London. Several reports in the British press 

over the weekend described the ceremony, 

which was held aboard a boat on the Thames 

36 

lifestyle 

G O S S I P 

Gong Li to play 

‘ The Last Empress’ 

actress Gong Li will take the lead role 

in the Chinese-US joint production of “The 

Last Empress,” co-producers Seven Stars Film 

Studios announced on Tuesday. The film, set in a 

turbulent moment in Chinese history, tells the story 

of Empress Cixi’s life and her complex relation- 

Lennox marries American 

doctor in London 

Richards 

‘obsessed’ 

with ashtrays 

D enise 

Richards is “obsessed” with vintage 

ashtrays. The 41-year-old actress - 

who married to troubled star Charlie 

Sheen from 2002 to 2006 - loves cigarette 

paraphernalia, despite the fact she doesn’t 

smoke herself. The Hollywood beauty - who 

has daughters Sam, eight, and Lola, seven, 

from her marriage to Charlie Sheen, and a 

third girl Eloise, who she adopted in June 2011 

- wrote on twitter: “I dont know why but I’m 

obsessed with buying vintage ashtrays ... I 

don’t even smoke... (sic)” Denise is not the only 

Hollywood beauty to enjoy collecting unusual 

things; burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese is a 

fan of vintage taxidermy. Her collection of 

dead animals includes a full-sized stuffed 

ostrich, and she also has a penchant for 

unusual hats. Dita said: “I collect vintage taxidermy: 

I have two big heart-shaped domes 

filled with birds, I have a bear rug, a monkey 

and a full ostrich. I also have a collection of 

rare feathers I got from a famous place in 

France that supplied feathers to Josephine 

Baker and Mistinguett and all the showgirls in 

Paris for 300 years. “My hat collection is massive. 

I have several hundred, and a whole 

room in my house devoted to them.” 

River. Lennox’s two daughters served as 

bridesmaids. Lennox rose to fame as the 

singer for the multiple Grammy-winning duo 

The Eurythmics before embarking on a solo 

career. Besser is an American doctor and 

founder of the charity mothers2mothers. 

They are both 57. 

Patrick Carney of The Black Keys 

has gotten married. The rock 

drummer married Emily Ward on 

Saturday at the home they share in 

Nashville. The Keys’ publicist says the 

couple was joined by about 350 family 

and friends for the back-yard ceremony. 

Comedian Will Forte officiated. Ward 

wore a dress by Carolina Herrera and 

walked down the aisle to “Crimson and 

Clover” by Tommy James & The 

Shondells. Carney was accompanied 

down the aisle by the couple’s Irish 

wolfhound Charlotte. The wedding party 

included Ward’s sister Danielle 

Shuster and brother Henry Ward, while 

Carney was accompanied by his brothers 

Will Carney and Barry Stormer. Dan 

Auerbach, Carney’s bandmate in the 

Grammy Award-winning rock ‘n’ roll 

duo, also attended. 

ships with Emperor Guang Xu and Imperial advisor 

American Costa, both of whom shared a desire to 

modernize China. “Gong Li was our first choice to 

play the complex empress,” Seven Stars 

Entertainment Group Chairman Bruno Wu said in a 

statement. “With Gong Li’s international appeal, we 


are confident the movie will excite and resonate 

with audiences across the world.” The film is set to 

begin production at the end of 2013 and will be 

dedicated to the memory of Jake Eberts, whose 

joint venture with Seven Stars had been developing 

the project. 

Katy Perry has 

climbed a volcano 

The ‘Part of Me’ hitmaker has apparently 

been taking inspiration from Elizabeth 

Gilbert’s post-divorce memoir ‘Eat, Pray, 

Love’ in making a trip to see some spectacular 

sights. Referring to the title of the book, 

Katy - whose divorce from Russell Brand 

was finalized in July - tweeted alongside a 

picture: “I ate, I prayed, I climbed a volcano.” 

It seems the brunette pop star has 

been getting in touch with her spiritual 

side recently, meditating and cleansing 

her “chakras”. She tweeted on Monday: 

“Getting some bad things out my 

chakra’s! #eloquent (sic)” And two days 

earlier she wrote: “Starting the day with a 

group meditate #breakfastofchampions 

(sic)” Meanwhile, Katy has signed up to 

perform at a fundraising concert for US 

President Barack Obama. According to the 

Hollywood Reporter, the ‘Wide Awake’ hitmaker 

will be one of several artists who will 

perform at the 30 Days to Victory concert 

at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theater 

on October 7. Tickets start at 

$44 for supporters under 40, 

while general admission 

seats will be $250. A dinner 

with the president at a 

nearby restaurant will follow 

the concert, with tickets 

costing $25,000. 

Drummer Carney of 

The Black Keys married 

Dawson had no prom date 

Rosario Dawson didn’t have a 

date for her high school prom. 

The 33-year-old actress - who 

is currently in a relationship with 

director Danny Boyle - insists she 

wasn’t always a hit with guys. She 

admitted: “I went to prom stag.” The 

brunette beauty recently ran into 

her high school crush and she blasted 

him for making her feel “invisible”. 

According to the New York Post 

newspaper, he told her: “You didn’t 

look like that in high school.” She 

replied: “Yeah, I did, and you are just 

confirming that I was invisible to 

you. That’s fine. Moving on.” Rosario 

has previously revealed her mother 

Isabel was very open about sex with 

her when she was a teenager 

because she didn’t want her daughter 

to follow in her footsteps and get 

pregnant at a young age. The ‘Sin 

City’ star said: “My mom Isabel was 

pregnant with me when she was 

just 16, and she taught me not to 

get pregnant when I was young. She 

raised me talking to me about sex, 

maybe a little too early. But she 

made sure I had the choices she didn’t 

have. I wanted to go travelling 

and wanted to do this and that. “So I 

have avoided getting pregnant, and 

marriage. I am not against either. 

But my mom did not marry my biological 

dad, who I’ve never even 

met. She married Greg (Dawson) 

when I was a baby and I regarded 

him as my real dad.”

Review 

lifestyle 

M U S I C & M O V I E S 

Oscar, you’ve got mail: Electronic voting on tap for 2013 Oscars 

Voting for the Oscars is going electronic for 

the first time in a move that will speed up the 

process and could give an boost to younger, 

edgier movies. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts 

and Sciences said on Tuesday that a new online voting 

system will be used for the first time in its 85year 

history for the Oscars that will be handed out 

in February 2013. In a transition process, the academy’s 

6,000 members also will be able to use traditional 

paper ballots to nominate and select the best 

actors, films, directors, screen writers and other winners 

of 2012. 

In the past, Oscar ballots have been mailed 

around the world to Academy members - directors, 

File photo 

shows Brenda 

Strong arriving 

for the Dallas 

launch party in 

London. 

Emmy nominees 

dish on dream 

guest-starring roles 

Christina Hendricks, Julie Bowen and Jesse Tyler Ferguson 

have earned repeat Emmy nods for their work on their regular 

shows, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their eye 

on some sweet guest-starring gigs on other top programs. 

Producers, take note: Here’s a look at the shows these and other 

Emmy nominees would love to try. 

“I’d love to do a guest spot on ‘Downton Abbey.’ I’m absolutely 

in love with ‘Homeland.’ I think it’s amazing. I would do anything 

they asked me.” - Hendricks, nominated for the third time for playing 

Joan Harris on “Mad Men.” “Oh God, I don’t know. ‘Dynasty?’ I 

just want to wear really big shoulder pads and have crazy big 

hair.” - Bowen, who won the supporting actress award for her role 

as Claire Dunphy on “Modern Family” and is nominated again this 

year. “I’m a huge fan of 

‘Parks and Recreation,’ but I 

think I’d like to do something 

totally different, like 

‘American Horror Story.’ Oh 

sure, I’ll get killed. That 

sounds fun. Or I’ll play a 

nun, a spooky nun.” - 

Ferguson, enjoying his 

third consecutive nomination 

for playing Mitchell 

Pritchett on “Modern 

Family.” “I would love to do 

a part on ‘Boardwalk 

Empire.’ I’d have to play 

some guy that comes out 

from the West, a new hitter 

in town.” - Bill Paxton nomi- 

File photo shows Christina 

Hendricks attending the Hollywood 

Foreign Press Association luncheon 

at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly 

Hills. — AP photos 

nated for playing Randall 

McCoy in the miniseries 

“Hatfields & McCoys.” 

“‘Homeland’ would be at 

the top of my list. It 

depends how it goes in 

series two. Maybe an 

agent? I’d like to play an 

FBI or CIA agent.” - Joanne Froggatt, nominated for supporting 

actress for “Downton Abbey.” 

“I would love to do a guest role on ‘Girls.’ That show is about as 

good as it gets.” - Max Greenfield, up for supporting actor in the 

comedy “New Girl.” “I have a classical background. I would love to 

be on ‘Game of Thrones’ as some kind of queen coming in to challenge 

the Starks - wearing all those amazing costumes and wielding 

a sword. The actors are so good. That would be a dream.” - 

Brenda Strong, nominated for her voiceover work on “Desperate 

Housewives.” “‘Game of Thrones,’ but I’m an American, so I don’t 

think that would happen. For that show, I’d go to the moon.” - 

Sarah Paulson, up for her supporting role in the HBO movie 

“Game Change.” The Emmy Awards will be presented Sunday at 

the Nokia Theatre and broadcast live on ABC. — AP 

File photo 

shows Julie 

Bowen 

attending the 

Academy of 

Television Arts 

and Sciences’ 

Performers at 

the Sheraton 

Universal Hotel, 

in Los Angeles. 

actors, screenwriters, producers and other leading 

film industry figures - and the results have been 

tabulated by hand by the PricewaterhouseCoopers 

accounting firm. Industry watchers said the move to 

electronic voting could be difficult for some academy 

members, who have a reputation for being older 

and more conservative by nature. 

“People love to conjure up the academy as being 

made up of 90-year-old geezers who’ve never 

opened an email before and think the Internet is a 

passing fad,” said Tom O’Neil of awards website 

Goldderby.com. “It could end up having a profound 

effect if there is a drop off on the older voters who 

are frustrated by the new system and pass on vot- 

Three of America’s leading stage performers - 

Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli and Aretha Franklin 

- paid tribute to Marvin Hamlisch on Tuesday, honoring 

the late composer for his contributions to 

Broadway and movies, as well as their personal lives. The 

invitation-only tribute for the composer of numerous hit 

records, movies and musicals such as “A Chorus Line” 

was held at the New York’s Juilliard School for the Arts 

where Hamlisch studied as a boy after three years earlier 

displaying at the age of 4 a gift for mimicking music. 

Hamlisch died after a brief illness in Los Angeles on 

Aug. 6 at the age of 68, causing an outpouring of grief 

from well-known entertainers and fans and prompting 

Streisand, Hamlisch’s friend for the past 45 years, to 

organize the tribute. Streisand performed “The Way We 

Were - one of Hamlisch’s best known songs and one of 

Streisand’s biggest hits - in the tribute’s finale. She also 

recalled how they first met in 1963 when Hamlisch was 

the rehearsal pianist for Streisand’s movie “Funny Girl,” 

who would also on occasion fetch the cast coffee. 

“Because I didn’t drink coffee, he was assigned to get 

me a chocolate doughnut,” Streisand told the laughing 

audience filled with friends, family and stars including 

Michael Douglas, Sarah Jessica Parker and lyricists Alan 

and Marilyn Bergman. “But instead of just one, he always 

brought me two and so our love affair began.” Streisand 

told how she forged a friendship with the New Yorkborn 

composer based on a shared passion for “music, 

film and food,” and “without explaining why or how, we 

understood each others anxieties,” while joking about 

their shared Jewish heritage. 

Minnelli’s constant 

They ended up with a long history of working 

together, including Hamlisch’s turn as musical director 

and arranger of Streisand’s 1994 US concert tour as well 

as writing the score for Streisand’s 1996 film, “The Mirror 

Has Two Faces.” Hamlisch had called Streisand “the best 

voice there is.” Earlier Liza Minnelli, who performed “If 

You Really Knew Me” from Hamlisch’s Tony-nominated 

1979 musical, “They’re Playing Our Song,” said she met 

the composer, “when I was 14 and a half, and he was 15 

ing, leaving the younger voters to pick more hip 

choices,” O’Neil said. The academy said on Tuesday it 

was introducing online voting after extensive consultations 

with its members. Members also will be 

able to get help casting their ballots at electronic 

stations set up at academy-affiliated properties in 

London, New York and Los Angeles and through a 

24-hour telephone help line. The Hollywood 

Reporter’s Scott Feinberg said he believed that part 

of the academy’s rationale also was to consolidate 

the movie awards season, which begins in 

November and ends in February with the Oscars 

ceremony. “They’re not thrilled that the awards 

campaigns have grown to be so big and expensive 

and three-quarters,” and soon became best friends: “He 

was one of my few constants that I had in my life.” 

Aretha Franklin sang a rousing version of Hamlisch’s 

power ballad “Nobody Does It Better,” which he wrote as 

the theme song for the 1977 James Bond film “The Spy 

Who Loved Me.” She inserted the lyric, “Marvin, you are 

the best” to audience cheers before lowering her voice 

for the spiritual ballad “Deep River.” Other performers 

included Chinese pianist Lang Lang, British stage singer 

Maria Friedman and trumpeter Chris Botti who all performed 

songs from the 1975 musical “A Chorus Line,” for 

which Hamlisch won a Tony award and a Pulitzer Prize 

and which at the time became the most successful show 


that it actually does sway voters,” Feinberg said. “So 

many awards shows happen before the Oscars. 

Because the season is so long, there is a sense that it 

takes away some of the luster from the Oscars.” The 

academy announced it has moved its Oscar nominations 

date to Jan 10 - five days earlier than previously 

scheduled - in order to give the public and its 

members more time to see the nominated movies 

before the annual ceremony in Hollywood. 

Tuesday’s online voting announcement followed 

the Academy giving the go-ahead last year to make 

copies of films vying for the Oscars available to 

members through online streaming, rather than on 

traditional DVDs. — Reuters 

Streisand, Minnelli, Franklin 

sing for Marvin Hamlisch 

Liza Minnelli Barbra Streisand 

on Broadway. 

Hamlisch worked right up until the days before his 

death and the tribute showed off one of his more recent 

songs about his love for life, “While I Still Have The Time,” 

from the Jerry Lewis stage-adapted comedy musical, 

“The Nutty Professor,” which opened this year. Hamlisch 

had the rare distinction of winning Emmy, Grammy, 

Oscar and Tony awards. His wife, Terre Blair Hamlisch, 

began the tribute recalling how Hamlisch often said he 

believed in the power of music to connect people, and 

Streisand ended it 90 minutes later. A scholarship program 

at The Juilliard School was established in 

Hamlisch’s memory. — Reuters 

Rapper Kreayshawn’s debut is fairly empty 

Kreayshawn, “Somethin ‘Bout Kreay’” 

(Columbia Records) 

It’s unfortunate that the beats 

throughout Kreayshawn’s debut 

album are brilliant, but her lyrics and 

stories are not. “Somethin ‘Bout Kreay’” 

features top-notch production work 

from Free School, Diplo, Boys Noize and 

DJ Two Stacks - and these beats would 

be another rapper’s dream. But 

Kreayshawn, the charismatic 22-year-old 

newcomer, doesn’t use them well: While 

she’s playful throughout the album, 

there is no depth to her rhymes. 

“Gucci, Gucci” has a catchy hook, but 

the overall song about her disregard for 

An international film festival opens 

today in what may seem the unlikeliest 

of places: North Korea. Held 

every two years, the Pyongyang 

International Film Festival offers North 

Koreans their only chance to see a wide 

array of foreign films on the big screen - 

from Britain, Germany and elsewhere (but 

not America). And it’s the only time foreigners 

are allowed into North Korean theaters 

to watched movies alongside locals. 

This year, festivalgoer will get the chance 

to see two feature films shot in North 

Korea but edited overseas: the romantic 

comedy “Comrade Kim Goes Flying,” a joint 

North Korean-European production, and 

“Meet in Pyongyang,” made in conjunction 

with a Chinese studio. 

While it’s true that homegrown movies 

predictably tend toward Communist propaganda 

with a healthy dose of tear-jerker, 

North Korea is a film-crazy country. Wellto-do 

residents pay as much as 500 won 

(about $5 according to official exchange 

rates) to see new releases from the government-run 

Korean Film Studio, as well as 

Russian and Chinese imports. Those who 

don’t have the means to go to the theater 

tune into the Mansudae TV channel, which 

shows mostly Chinese and Eastern 

European films on weekends. Some recent 

offerings have included “Crouching Tiger, 

Hidden Dragon,” and the only western 

offering shown on state TV in recent memory, 

the British film “Bend It Like Beckham,” 

which aired in 2010. 

This year, a huge screen in front of the 

Pyongyang train station has become 

another popular place to watch movies. On 

Monday, hundreds of locals stood transfixed 

by a North Korean drama in a plaza in 

designer brands is annoyingly repetitive. 

The uneven “Left Ey3,” about a deceitful 

boyfriend, references TLC’s Left Eye, who 

burned down her boyfriend’s house. She 

also raps on the song: “Heard my man is 

cheating with another (girl) in my house, 

now I’m finna make a scene like I’m Amy 

Winehouse.” 

REALLY? Try again. Kreayshawn tries 

singing on “luV Haus,” but the drowning 

track is uneventful. This album will leave 

you asking: Foxy Brown and Missy Elliott, 

when will your records be released? 

Check out this track: “Summertime,” 

with its smooth feel, is the best of this 

bunch. — AP 

front of the station. The late leader Kim 

Jong Il, who died in December, was a notorious 

film buff. He was 7 when he saw his 

first film - “My Hometown” - the inaugural 

film made at by the Korean Film Studio. 

The film, about a young man who returns 

to his village after Korea is liberated from 

Japan, made a lifelong impression on the 

future leader, according to Choe Hung 

Ryol, director of the studio’s external affairs 

department. In 1973 Kim published a treatise 

called “On the Art of the Cinema,” in 

which he extolled filmmaking as a way to 

aid the people’s “development into true 

communists.” 

“Creative work is not a mere job, but an 

honorable revolutionary task,” he wrote. In 

1978, Kim “recruited” a South Korean director, 

Shin Sang-ok, and his actress ex-wife, 

Choi Eun-hee. According to the late director’s 

memoirs, he was lured to Pyongyang 

to make propaganda films, but he and his 

wife slipped away from their bodyguards 

during a 1986 trip to Vienna. Kim’s father, 

North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, also 

wrote a film called “The Flower Girl,” and 

current leader Kim Jong Un also has a keen 

interest in film, according to Korean Film 

Studio spokesman Choe . 

In an interview with The Associated 

Press, Choe acknowledged that the main 

purpose of North Korean cinema is propaganda. 

“Our films carry a different purpose 

than movies made in other countries,” he 

said. “We make films for the purpose of ideological 

education.” And to play with the 

emotions of the audience, evidently. “If you 

watch a lot of North Korean films, you’ll 

find yourself crying a lot,” he said. “If you 

don’t cry, you’re clearly a person without 

emotion.” 

A visit to the film studio is a lot like 

going back in time, from the thatched cottages 

of a bygone rural Korea, to the 

ancient royal palaces of the Choson 

Dynasty, to a louche depiction of 1950s 

South Korea compete with brothels, pubs 

and pharmacies. “American tourists who 

come here always tap the walls to see if the 

buildings are real,” Choe said. “They say the 

sets in Hollywood are just facades.” For 

British filmmaker Nicholas Bonner and his 

Belgian co-producer Anja Daelemans, the 

upcoming North Korean premiere of 

“Comrade Kim Goes Flying” will be a 

moment nearly seven years in the making. 

The film, a romantic comedy about a 

This CD cover 

image released 

by Columbia 

Records shows 

the latest release 

by Kreayshawn, 

”Somethin ‘Bout 

Kreay.” —AP 

Film festival opens in movie-crazy N Korea 

coal miner who dreams of becoming an 

acrobat, was shot in North Korea in 2010 

with a local cast, directed by veteran North 

Korean filmmaker Kim Gwang Hun, and 

edited in Belgium. “It’s not what you expect 

from North Korea, and it’s not something 

people have seen before,” he said. Writing 

the script took three years, as the North 

Korean and European members of the 

team worked to come up with a story line 

that was both entertaining and politically 

safe for showing in North Korea. Bonner 

credits his the Koreans with contributing 

some of the film’s funniest moments. —AP 

(From left) Tommy Johnson, Celissa Stringer, actress Roz Ryan and Alexus attend TV 

One &BobbCat Films Premiere For Latest Sitcom “The Rickey Smiley Show“ at The 

Buckhead Theater on September 17, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia. —AFP

ROKSANDA ILLINCIC 

Taking her inspiration from artists, Roksanda Illincic’s catwalk 

show had plenty of ensembles for the woman who 

wants to look stylish without trying too hard. Simple, streamlined 

shapes like tailored shifts and breezy A-line dresses 

came in high-impact color combinations that really popped: 

Tangerine with cobalt, mango, dirty pink or white. Sometimes 

all the colors came together on one dress like a modern 

abstract painting. Models cradled oversized satin clutch bags 

The models have packed up, the temporary runways 

taken down. London Fashion Week on Tuesday 

wrapped up five hectic days of women’s wear 

shows, a whirlwind display of new colors and textures for 

next spring from big name designers and newcomers 

alike. London hosts a more eclectic collection of designers 

and labels than fashion weeks in New York, Milan and 

Paris, and the latest crop of spring and summer designs 

seen this week has been a big mish-mash: Futuristic 

metallic leathers at Burberry, sweet ‘50s pastels at 

Temperley, ‘70s disco fever at Jonathan Saunders, and 

‘90s minimalism at quite a few other shows. While there 

was no overriding theme, there were micro-trends set to 

make their way to high street stores come spring. Allwhite 

and monochrome outfits were seen everywhere, as 

were pretty confectionery shades of mint and lemon. 

Futuristic, shiny materials like plastic or fabrics with a 

foil-like, iridescent or even holographic sheen were popular, 

as was the use of sheer, feminine layers in organza, 

chiffon or mesh. On Tuesday, things kicked off with ‘70s- 

SIMONE ROCHA 

Budding talent Simone Rocha has her designer dad’s giant 

shoes to fill, but she seems to be taking it all in her stride. The 26year-old 

showcased her latest spring collection at London 

Fashion Week Tuesday, a collection of all-white outfits, sheer cutout 

panels, neons and leather that mixed schoolgirl innocence 

with cool attitude. The collection started with dazzling white 

button-up shirts and boyish shapes in Broderie Anglaise, but the 

prim look was soon undercut by thigh-revealing, irregular 

shaped sheer panels on the front or back of skirts. High-collared, 

neat shapes in muted shades of butter and toffee followed, but 

soon things were shaken up with a pale sundress overlaid with a 

high-shine neon yellow PVC plastic, all-over metallic gold foil 

vests and skirts, and floral-crocheted skirts and oversized jackets 

in fluorescent yellow and neon coral. Models wore mannish 

brogues with clear plastic soles and heels, a design that has been 

worn by celebrities including Rihanna and proved to be Rocha’s 

best-selling product. Rocha debuted at London Fashion Week in 

2010. 

lifestyle 

F a s h i o n 

and wore patent courts with multi-colored block heels. The 

show, staged in the Savoy Hotel’s glamorous ballroom, ended 

with a series of ensembles made in a glossy, laminated organza. 

Illincic counts US first lady Michelle Obama and Britain’s 

Kate Middleton among fans of her sleek style. Her show had 

many of her popular signature elements: Beautiful colors, 

high-waisted silhouettes, feminine bell sleeves and modest 

mid-calf or ankle-grazing hemlines. But this season the 

designer said she wanted to shake up the elegance with casual 

wear - like taking an evening dress shape and making it out 

of T-shirt or jersey materials. “It gives an element of fun, something 

unexpected,” she said. 

inspired florals, wide-leg trousers and mannish suits at 

luxury label Mulberry, best-known for its leather handbags. 

The collection, delivered with a humorous British 

flair, nodded to several of the season’s popular trends: 

Sleek trouser suits, all-season leather, metallic jacquard, 

and head-to-toe ice-cream pastel shades. 

Model-turned-designer Roksanda Illincic followed 

with a collection of dresses with simple feminine shapes 

and minimal detailing, leaving her use of beautiful color 

combinations and glossy fabrics to do the talking. Day 

Five also saw collections by a handful of younger and 

adventurous designers. Simone Rocha, the daughter of 

British fashion institution John Rocha, deftly combined 

schoolgirl innocence and tough attitude, while maverick 

duo Meadham Kirchoff sent the party home with a spectacularly 

whimsical show of Marie Antoinette fashion 

gone mad. Tuesday’s shows ended a week that saw models 

and celebrities like Kate Moss and One Direction’s 

Harry Styles flocking to the catwalks’ front row. Lady 

Gaga stole the limelight Sunday with a starring turn at 

MULBERRY 

Luxury brand Mulberry has ditched 

most of the playfulness in its recent seasons, 

showcasing a spring collection 

that’s still quirky but definitely grown-up. 

Mulberry’s show at London’s swanky 

Claridge’s hotel was decorated with 

dozens of garden gnomes and fake geckos 

crawling on rose bushes - a typically 

wacky atmosphere of pretty English garden 

meets exotic creatures. But appearances 

were deceptive, and the clothes 

themselves were more sophisticated 

than the setting suggested. 

Creative director Emma Hill sent mod- 


milliner Philip Treacy’s comeback show. The fashion 

brigade moves on to Milan for more shows that begin 

Wednesday. Paris Fashion Week begins next Tuesday. 

MEADHAM KIRCHOFF 

English-French design duo Edward 

Meadham and Benjamin Kirchhoff are 

known for staging riotously fun and 

different shows, and this season they 

met expectations with a collection 

piled high with over-the-top, Marie 

Antoinette style corsets, bodices, 

bows and frills. Although the invitation 

and the opening track told of a 

humorous “damsel in distress” theme, 

the models were more like fairy godmothers 

with an enchanted wardrobe. 

Acting sleepy or deep in thought in 

their theatrical outfits, models drifted 

around stands set up on the catwalk 

and plucking roses and cupcakes from 

them. There were big puffy sleeves, 

thigh-high boots, feather gloves and 

big skirts layered over skinny trousers, 

all embellished with lashings of bows 

and jewels. Not very practical, but certainly 

shows the fun and entertaining 

face of London fashion. — AP 

els down the catwalk in oversized leather 

biker jackets and mannish tuxedos in 

navy, black and white. The 1970sinspired 

collection had floral embroidery, 

floor-length skirts, flower buttons and 

high-waisted wide legs, updated with 

metallic jacquard printed with mini-flowers 

and geckos. Leather separates and 

trouser suits balanced flirty pleated 

skirts. There were muted brown ensembles 

along with head-to-toe sweet pastels 

in mint and peach - including pastelcolored 

shoes and handbags, the brand’s 

bestselling item.

Italy’s top luxury brands including Fendi, Prada and 

Versace take to the catwalks for Milan fashion week 

from yesterday to show off hotly-awaited springsummer 

2013 collections to global fashionistas. Gucci is 

set to kick off the fashion extravaganza, which will see 

68 Italian and international brands strutting down runways 

in a week of shows, boutique openings, cocktail 

presentations and parties. British designer John 

Richmond, famed for his rock-inspired creations, also 

stars on Wednesday, followed on today by Prada and 

Emporio Armani. Etro, known for its trademark bright 

colours and bold patterns, will take to the catwalk 

tomorrow, along with Moschino and two Versace 

lifestyle 

F a s h i o n 

Models display creations 

as part of Elena Miro 

Spring-Summer 2013 

fashion show yesterday 

during the Women’s 

fashion week in Milan. 

—AFP photos 

shows-followed by a rock-and-roll party with live band 

to show off Versace’s Versus collection. 

Saturday opens with German designer Tomas Maier, 

who will unveil his latest creations for Bottega Veneta, 

followed by Fendi and Jil Sander’s hotly-awaited collection-the 

first since she rejoined as creative director in 

February. On Sunday, it will be the turn of Marni, Dolce 

& Gabbana and Giorgio Armani, after which the Armani 

house will host a glitzy inauguration party for a new 

exhibition to showcase the Italian designer’s most 

memorable creations. Fashion week winds up with 

DSquared2, Roberto Cavalli and Gianfranco Ferre on 

Monday, with Tuesday dedicated to up-and-coming 

new designers. Beneath the frantic pre-show preparations 

taking place in the city’s palaces, parks and historic 

monuments-including the imposing 14th century 

Sforzesco Castle-there is an air of apprehension over the 

sector’s health. 

Last week the fashion industry forecast a 5.6-percent 

drop in revenue for 2012 to 60.2 billion euros ($79 billion), 

down from an earlier 5.2-percent estimate-and 

luxury brands in the recession-hit country are being 

squeezed. While many fashion houses are now focusing 

their efforts on expansion abroad-particularly in economic 

powerhouses such as China and Brazil-there are 

still bids to attract wealthy visitors to Italy’s commercial 


capital. Fashion week this season will be marked by a 

string of boutique openings-from Just Cavalli-opening 

on the exclusive Corso Matteotti with a party on Fridayto 

British lingerie brand Agent Provocateur. 

And in a declared bid to boost Made in Italy, Nicole 

Minetti, a television starlet-turned-politician on trial for 

procuring prostitutes for former Italian prime minister 

Silvio Berlusconi, will model lingerie on the catwalk for 

Parah according to media reports. — AP


A Hindu holy man reacts to camera at the Pashupatinath temple during Teej festival celebrations in Katmandu, Nepal, Tuesday. During the 

festival, Nepalese Hindu women observe a day-long fast and pray for their husbands and for a happy married life. Those who are unmarried 

pray for a good husband. — AP 

German advertising tycoon Christian Boros speaks to journalists prior 

to a guided visit of the Boros Collection, housed in a former World War II 

bunker in downtown Berlin.—AFP 

Art patrons Christian and Karen Boros have thrown 

open the doors this week to their own personal 

World War II air raid bunker in Berlin, showing off 

gems from their 700-work collection. A tree made of 

found objects by Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, 

Turner prize winner Wolfgang Tillmans’s edgy photography 

and giant spider-web installations by Tomas 

Saraceno all resonate against a one-of-a-kind backdrop. 

In the centre of the German capital, near the old Cold 

War border crossing at Friedrichstrasse station, the vast 

and gloomy concrete above-ground cube has over the 

last four years become one of the city’s top artistic 

attractions. 

In May 2008, a first selection of works from the couple’s 

private collection went on display, attracting 

around 120,000 visitors until it closed earlier this year for 

a top-to-bottom overhaul. “It was a difficult decision to 

take” to close the original exhibition because most artists 

featured in it had personally installed their creations 

themselves, Karen Boros said at a preview of the show. 

“But we said to ourselves that if we were going to 

change something we should change everything.” 

Karen Boros and her Polish-born husband, who made 

Photograph of the Selma-to-Montgomery Freedom March 1965 taken by late actor, 

director and photographer Dennis Hopper displayed at the exhibition ‘Dennis Hopper 

- The Lost Album’ at the Martin-Gropius-Bau museum in Berlin, yesterday. 

A sculpture called “Flying Garden/Airport City” by 

Argentinian artist Tomas Saraceno. 

his fortune in advertising in western Germany, delved 

into their archive to decide which works should now get 

a turn in the spotlight. All the artists now featured have 

ties to Berlin, where many air raid shelters and disused 

industrial spaces have won a new lease of life as cultural 

venues. “The oldest work dates from 1990 and the most 

recent, six hours ago,” Christian Boros said last week. 

“Thomas Zipp, who has a key to the bunker, came to 

install his work overnight,” said the collector, who takes 

pride in the relationships he has developed with the 

artists he supports. “It’s not as if the artists don’t care 

how their works are shown,” said Boros, especially “in an 

exhibition space that is far from optimal like this bunker”. 

But the historically evocative space lends a powerful 

aura to the works. 

Built in 1942 according to plans by Albert Speer, 

Hitler’s favorite architect, the bunker was designed to 

protect 2,500 people from aerial bombing during World 

War II. The Soviet occupiers used it as a prison for two 

years after the war, and it became the “Banana Bunker” in 

communist East Germany as a storage site for tropical 

fruits sent from brother country Cuba. After the Berlin 

Wall’s fall, it became one of the most popular techno 

Acollection of more than 400 recently rediscovered 

prints in which Dennis Hopper documented 

the US arts scene of the mid-1960s, the civil 

rights movement and much more is going on show in 

Berlin. The actor and director’s daughter, Marin Hopper, 

said yesterday of the exhibition at the German capital’s 

Martin-Gropius-Bau: “It’s a visit with him. It’s like being 

with him - it’s a very intimate experience seeing the 

photographs.” 

The black-and-white, small-format photos were taken 

between 1961 and 1967, when Hopper was out of 

favor in Hollywood and before he directed “Easy Rider.” 

The prints were selected by Hopper for an exhibition in 

Fort Worth, Texas, in 1970. The prints - some now showing 

signs of wear - were found among Hopper’s belongings 

after he died in 2010.—AP 

Robbie Williams 

becomes a father 

36 

Aweek of Asian art auctions yielded 

strong results at Christie’s and 

Sotheby’s as both houses said they 

exceeded their sales’ estimates, together taking 

in more than $90 million. The totals highlighted 

the increasing importance of Asian 

art collecting as a driver in the global market, 

continuing strong activity seen over the last 

18 months despite a lackluster global economy. 

Sotheby’s said in a statement that it saw 

a total of $46 million for its three sales over 

the course of the week, while Christie’s 

reported $44.7 million at five sales spread 

over four days. The auction rivals had each 

estimated total sales of about $30 million for 

the week. 

“There was global participation,” Christie’s 

international head of Asian art Jonathan 

Stone said in a statement, adding that this 

reflected “a worldwide demand for the greatest 

objects of Asian art.” Before the sales, 

Stone told Reuters that “the share of 

Christie’s sales turnover enjoyed by Asian art 

worldwide has more than doubled in the last 

five years,” and the results spoke to the sector’s 

ongoing strength. Indeed, Asian art has 

on occasion outpaced the once predominant 

Impressionist and modern categories. 

Among highlights, a Ming Dynasty blue 

clubs of the capital and later notorious for its decadent 

sex parties-traces of fluorescent paint on the walls recall 

the bunker’s former incarnation. 

It was probably “the noisiest nightclub in the world”, 

said Christian Boros, noting the thick concrete walls, 

absence of windows and low ceilings allowing sound to 

resonate in the smoky rooms. The couple bought the 

five-storey structure in 2003 and perched a spectacular, 

sunlight-flooded apartment on the roof. Christian Boros 

admitted that deciding on works was not always easy for 

spouses with extremely distinct tastes. 

“When you collect art as a couple, there are really 

three people collecting me, my wife and the two of us 

together,” he joked. He pointed to the installation 

“Teenage Room” by Sweden’s Klara Liden, an elaborate 

black bunk-bed creation built for the Venice Biennale in 

2009. “My wife adores it but I can’t stand it,” he admitted 

with a smile. — AFP 

and white moonflask, which was used as a 

doorstop in a Long Island, New York, home 

and only recently came to attention after its 

owners spotted a similar piece in a Sotheby’s 

advertisement, sold for $1.3 million at 

Sotheby’s, which had estimated it to sell for 

$600,000 to $900,000. Also at Sotheby’s, an 

Imperial jade seal from the late 18th century 

estimated to fetch up to $1.2 million soared 

to $3.5 million at the Chinese ceramics and 

works of art sale. It was the top price of the 

week at either house. 

Henry Howard Sneyd, vice chairman at 

Sotheby’s for Asian art, said that the $27 million 

sale, which easily beat its high estimate, 

was “a good indication of the continuing 

international demand for the very best 

Chinese art.” Before the sales, Sneyd had spoken 

to Reuters of the strong growth in the 

Asian art market since 2006, especially in 

mainland China where a surge of new collectors 

has been shoring up more established 

Chinese art clientele from Hong Kong, 

Taiwan, Europe and the United States.— 

Reuters 

US artist Stephen G Rhodes’ sculpture “Imagineered Continuum: Chain Self History”. 

Chinese artist Ai Wei-Wei’s “Tree” . 

A camerawoman films during a press preview of the exhibition “Dennis Hopper, The 

Lost Album” . — AP/AFP photos

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