TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014 RAMADAN 24, 1435 AH www.kuwaittimes.net
21 38 20
Emsak: 03:21
Fajer: 03:31
Dohr: 11:54
Asr: 15:29
Maghreb: 18:46
Eshaa: 20:15
46º
30º
07:18 & 20:44
01:18 & 15:10
By Staff Reporter and Agencies
KUWAIT: Kuwait called on UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon yesterday to urge the international community to put an end to the Israeli “aggression” in Gaza which has claimed more than 550 lives. The call came in a meeting between Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-
Sabah and Ban who arrived in Kuwait yesterday in the second leg of a regional tour aimed at pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza. The UN chief was separately received by HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the official KUNA news agency reported.
The foreign minister “renewed Kuwait’s support for the Palestinian people and condemned all Israeli acts of aggression,” KUNA said following the meeting. “He called on the UN Secretary General to urge the international community to shoulder responsibility to put an end to this dangerous aggression,” it said. The foreign minister also reiterated Kuwait ’s suppor t for the
Egyptian truce proposal which was rejected by Hamas for failing to meet its conditions. The two officials also discussed developments in Syria and Iraq.
Kuwait, which holds the rotating presidency of the
Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), received Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal on Sunday and expressed support for the Palestinians. But the Gulf state also announced its backing for the Egyptian truce proposal. In Doha, Ban urged Israel on Sunday to “exercise maximum restraint” and spare civilian lives in its campaign in Gaza. He also condemned the “atrocious action” of Israel’s attack on Shejaiya, near Gaza City, where a blistering assault that started at dawn killed 62 people and wounded at least 250. Ban is also travelling to Cairo, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Amman. — AFP
KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets United Nations Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon at Seif Palace yesterday. — KUNA
KUWAIT: In what appears to be an implementation of a government threat last week, the Cabinet yesterday revoked the citizenship of the owner of the pro-opposition Al-Youm satellite television and Alam Al-Youm newspaper and a former Islamist opposition lawmaker. In a decision described as “dangerous” and unprecedented by activists and former MPs, the Cabinet said it has decided to revoke the citizenship of Ahmad Jabr Al-Shemmari and all members of his family. It also decided to revoke the citizenship of former Islamist opposition MP Abdullah
Al-Barghash, two of his brothers and a sister.
No specific reasons and details were given for the government action. The Cabinet statement however said the action on Shemmari was based on article 13 of the nationality law which deals with cases of revoking
Kuwaiti citizenship from naturalized people. Among the reasons stipulated in the article is that authorities can withdraw citizenship from people who spread principles that aim at demolishing the economic and social systems of the country, an indirect reference to the media outlets
Shemmari owns.
The television channel and the daily have been providing major coverage to the activities of the opposition during the past two years. Both the station and the daily have been closed on several occasions by the judiciary over lawsuits filed by the information ministry. Regarding
Barghash, the Cabinet statement said revoking his citizenship was based on article 21 of the nationality law which states that authorities can withdraw the citizenship of people who obtained it on the basis of false information and data.
The Cabinet’s decisions were based on reports submitted by Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-
Sabah and come a week after the government ordered
Continued on Page 15
Ramadan Kareem
W e are in a month of munificent goodness, great righteousness and abundant blessings. It is praised abundantly in the Noble
Book of Allah the Almighty and the hadeeths of His messenger, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam (may Allah exalt his mention). It is the month of the Quran and goodness, and the month when people return to their Lord in a unique and matchless manifestation of faith.
This month is granted a privilege that is not granted to any other month, which is ten blessed days - the last ten days when Allah the Almighty sends His bounty upon His slaves by saving them from Hell. Thus we should make the best use of them by means of the following:
• Observing Itikaaf (staying in seclusion for worship) in one of the two Holy Mosques or any other mosque if you cannot observe Itikaaf in the two Holy
Mosques. Itikaaf is very important for those who devote themselves to the Lord and get rid of many endless worldly engagements. When someone observes Itikaaf, he refrains from many issues in which he usually indulges. This is witnessed and widely known. If one cannot observe complete
Itikaaf, he should stay in one of the two mosques or spend long hours in it or in any other mosque.
• Reviving all or most of the night by prayers and
Thikr (remembrance of Allah the Almighty). With the start of the last ten days of Ramadan, the Prophet
(PBUH) used to keep his family awake for prayers pray all night and tighten his waist belt (ie did not approach women). Praying at night is a great opportunity for whoever is engaged in worldly affairs -the majority of people - and cannot perform qiyaam
(voluntary night prayer), so the least people can offer in the last ten days of Ramadan is increasing qiyaam and reviving the night.
It is very strange that some righteous people are in one of the two Holy Mosques but they do not pray except eight rakaahs (units of prayer) depending upon some proofs. They have forgotten that the companions and the predecessors performed long prayers with many rakaahs and they were the first generation that knew Islam and applied its rulings in the best way. The state of the Prophet (PBUH) was known to them, along with the interpretation and understanding of his noble hadeeths in the nearest possible meanings and the best interpretations.
• We should not forget that the last ten days include a night that is the greatest night in the whole year namely the Night of Al-Qadr (Night of
Divine Decree), which is better than a thousand months. How great is this divine bounty! The one who wastes it has wasted something great.
Continued on Page 15
Death toll tops 550
7 Israeli soldiers killed in clashes
GAZA CITY: World efforts to broker a ceasefire in war-torn Gaza gathered pace yesterday as Israel pressed a blistering 14day assault on the enclave, pushing the
Palestinian death toll to 558. As
Washington and the United Nations demanded an “immediate ceasefire” in the battered Palestinian enclave, Israel announced that seven more of its soldiers had been killed during fighting in Gaza.
And there was no let-up in the Israeli offensive with another 41 Palestinians killed in a series of strikes across the enclave.
Israel also said troops killed 10 Hamas militants after they sneaked across the border through a network of tunnels that the army has been trying to destroy in an intensive four-day ground operation. And the Israeli army said another seven soldiers had been killed in fighting in Gaza.
With growing concern over the number of civilian deaths, UN chief Ban Ki-moon arrived in Cairo for top-level talks on ending the hostilities. And a day after he was caught by an open microphone saying sarcastically that the Israeli assault was “a hell of a pinpoint operation”, US Secretary of State John Kerry also flew to Cairo to try to secure an end to hostilities.
In Washington, President Barack
Obama repeated that Israel had a right to self-defence, but raised “serious concerns about the rising number of Palestinian civilians deaths and the loss of Israeli lives”. Following the deadliest day in Gaza since 2009, with at least 140 Palestinians killed on Sunday, medics pulled another
68 bodies from the rubble yesterday, emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-
Qudra said. And 41 others were killed in a series of fresh strikes across the Gaza
Strip, at least 11 of whom were children.
Continued on Page 15
BERLIN: A participant of a pro-Palestinian rally holds a sign reading “Stop Israeli terrorism against children in Palestine” yesterday in front of the Israeli Embassy. — AFP
DUBAI: Abu Dhabi has accused the
Al-Jazeera TV channel and websites close to Qatar of “fabricating” information suggesting UAE supported
Israel’s operation in Gaza, in the latest tensions between both countries. Relations between Qatar and its Gulf neighbours Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain sank to a new low in March when the three governments withdrew their ambassadors from Doha, accusing it of meddling in their affairs and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.
Islamist movement Hamas, the main power in Gaza - where two weeks of deadly violence has left more than 500 Palestinians, many of them civilians, and 18 Israeli soldiers k illed - is linked to the Muslim
Brotherhood. UAE State Minister for
Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash demanded an “official apology ” from Doha-based Al-Jazeera for publishing news stating that a meeting had taken place between foreign ministers of the UAE and
Israel, local media said yesterday .
The website of Al-Jazeera
Mubashar Misr, repor ted on
Saturday that UAE Foreign Minister
Sheik h Abdullah bin Zayed Al-
Nahayan had met with his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman and proposed “financing” the Israeli
“aggression” against Gaza “on the condition that Hamas would be completely eliminated”. Al-Jazeera was quoting a website named
“Arabi21”, which in turn said it was quoting Israel’s Channel 2. Local
Emirati media repor ted that
Channel 2 has denied it had published such information. On his
Twitter account, Sheikh Abdullah wrote that “I have chosen not to respond” to such claims.
Local media has also slammed a campaign by Qatari Tweeters accusing members of the Emirati Red
Crescent mission in Gaza of being
“spies” for Israel. Columnist
Mohammed Al-Hammadi criticised
Qatar’s “incitement against the United
Arab Emirates” in an article on Abu
Dhabi daily, Al-Ittihad. “Qatar will be held responsible for endangering the lives of the Emirati Red Crescent team due to its direct incitement against them,” he wrote. — AFP
DOHA: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (right) meets the head of the political bureau of Hamas Khaled Meshaal late Sunday. — AP
WASHINGTON: The FBI encouraged and sometimes even paid Muslims to commit terrorist acts during numerous sting operations after the 9/11 attacks, a human rights group said in a report published yesterday. “Far from protecting Americans, including
American Muslims, from the threat of terrorism, the policies documented in this report have diverted law enforcement from pursuing real threats,” said the report by Human Rights Watch. Aided by Columbia
University Law School’s Human Rights Institute,
Human Rights Watch examined 27 cases from investigation through trial, interviewing 215 people, including those charged or convicted in terrorism cases, their relatives, defense lawyers, prosecutors and judges.
“In some cases the FBI may have created terrorists out of law-abiding individuals by suggesting the idea of taking terrorist action or encouraging the target to act,” the report said. In the cases reviewed, half the convictions resulted from a sting operation, and in 30 percent of those cases the undercover agent played an active role in the plot. “Americans have been told that their government is keeping them safe by preventing and prosecuting terrorism inside the US,” said Andrea
Prasow, the rights group’s deputy Washington director.
Continued on Page 15

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
L O C A L
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts, toasted
• 2 tbsp. of lemon juice
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/4 tsp. of salt
• Dash of black pepper
• 1 tsp. of Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp. of orange juice
• Several types of lettuce
• 1/2 cup of fresh oregano
• 1/2 cup of chopped toasted walnuts
• 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup of Quaker Oats toasted
• 1 fresh mango
• In a blender or food processor, place all dressing ingredients. Cover and blend at high speed for about a minute.
• In a large bowl, toss salad ingredients and dressing.
• Garnish with mango and fresh oregano.
KUWAIT: Burgan Bank recently concluded a one day
Girgean celebration which was held at the Discovery
Center for all BuBa kids account customers. The event witnessed a large turnout by children and their families who enjoyed a wide array of fun-filled activities. As an integral part of Ramadan and Kuwaiti culture, Burgan Bank was keen to organize its Girgean event to keep children entertained. During the event, the bank distributed sweets and chocolates, while children enjoyed interactive activities, entertainment shows and competitions. As part of its wellfocused corporate social responsibility strategy, Burgan
Bank is committed to work in engaging different segments of the society through various activities.
KUWAIT: NBK opens its Iftar tent for prayers during the last 10 days of the holy month of Ramadan in observance of Laylat Al-Qadr. NBK’s
Iftar tent, located at its head office across from the Grand Mosque in
Sharq, is open during this period to host fasters for prayers and meditation and Quran recitation.
NBK Public Relations Officer Talal
Al-Turki said that NBK’s Iftar tent, which comes as a part of the bank’s social program that features a multitude of philanthropic activities, will also host fasters and NBK will continue providing Iftar Banquets at the tent while also distributing Iftar meals via special convoys to the crowded areas in Kuwait.
Al-Turki indicated that NBK has already taken the necessary preparations to receive those wishing to pray during the last 10 nights of
Ramadan and NBK staff volunteers are all set to host and attend prayers at Al Watani Iftar tents.
“By ‘Doing Good Deeds’ NBK hopes to encourage a greater sense of community and charity during
Ramadan and encourages its customers and staff to participate by
‘doing good deeds’ all month long”,
Al-Turki concluded.
KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health has taken all necessary preparations for rituals marking the last 10 days of
R amadan at the countr y ’s main mosques, a ministry official said yesterday. The MoH Medical Emergency
Depar tment has concluded the preparations for the late night prayers, said Dr Faisal Abdullah Al-
Ghanem, the department director in remarks to KUNA, explaining that makeshift clinics staffed with male and female medics and nurses have been set up at the State Grand
Mosque, Jaber Al-Ali Mosque in Al-
Shuhadaa district and Bilal Bin Rabah
Mosque in Al-Seddeeq district. These mobile medical centers are fully equipped, he said, explaining that the teams were given eight ambulances, number of which could be increased if the need for that arises.
Up to 255 worshippers taking part in the night time ser vices had been treated by these medical teams on the spot, and none has been referred to hospitals. —KUNA

L O C A L
TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
The Editor-In-Chief of Kuwait Times Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan hosted a farewell dinner for the outgoing ambassador of Belgium Damien Angele at Crowne Plaza Hotel. The
Ambassador of Romania Vasile Sofineti, Ambassador of South Korea Shin Boonam, Kuwait Times’ Adnan Saad and Javaid Ahmed also Attended. — Photos By Yasser Zayyat
A view of the audience (From left) Antoine Fakhouri, Jameel Saad, Mohammad Halawah, Antoine Al-Kallab and Zeyad Helal
KUWAIT: In the spirit of the strong relationship with the local media, Mais Alghanim celebrated the Holy Month of Ramadan by hosting an exclusive Ghabqa gathering. This informal annual event was organized in honor of the members of the press to thank them for their continuous support on all activities undertaken by Mais Alghanim Group. The evening witnessed a host of distinguished guests who all gathered at the First Floor Hall at Mais
Alghanim, Sharq branch to enjoy the distinctive hospitality of the special event. Guests were welcomed and greeted upon arrival by the
DGM- Edmond Barakat, DOM - Hany Kabeel,
Corporate Executive Chef -Ziad Hilal and the
Operation Team.
Edmond Barakat, Deputy General Manager of Barakat Foods and Mais Alghanim Group wished the guests a Ramadan Kareem while inviting them to an evening of genuine hospitality. A diverse range of sumptuous Menu filled with superb Arab delicacies and cuisines were arranged for the guests. The special Ghabqa comprised of a large array of authentic
Ramadan delights, in addition to tasty appetizers, verity of Saj selections and mixed grills,
Ramadan drinks, mouth-watering desserts and flavored Shisha. Edmond expressed his appreciation and extended gratitude to the media members for their ongoing support saying
“Mais Alghanim is pleased to share in the spirit of genuine hospitality onboard with our guests and also with our loyal customers; we organize this annual event as a sincere token of appreciation towards the members of the local media.
We continuously strive to honor the media and value them as our strategic partner.” The
Ghabqa was a wonderful opportunity for media partners to gather, meet old & new friends from the world of press & advertisement and enjoy the casual dining at Mais Alghanim. The
Ghabqa lasted till after midnight and Mais
Alghanim ensured that each and every guest had a truly memorable evening filled with an exceptional delight.
Edmond Barakat (right) with Hani, Zeyad and his wife, Rula and Naji Kanjou, Dolly
Shatat and Joseph Zeyadah
(From left) Deena Al-Ghazal, Nellie, Hani Qabeel, Shahinaz, Edmond Barakat and
Abeer
Kuwait Times Marketing Manager Adnan Saad (left) and his wife with Edmond Barakat
Zeyad Helal, Edmond Barakat, Waleed Kanafani, Hani Qabeel and Majid Hanna Edmond Barakat (right) with Piere Shawwa and his wife, and Zeyad Helal (From left) Bashar, Dana Saieedy, Hani Qabeel and Zeyad Helal
(From left) Edmond Barakat, Kowthar, Hani and Sahar (From left) Hani Qabeel, Enas Abdulaziz, Edmond Barakat, Zeyad and Rula
(From left) Hani Qabeel, Naji, Rula Abdulaziz, Ramzi Khaddaj, Ghenwa
Bashnaq, Nassruddine, Abeer, Suzi and Mohammad Roumani

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
L O C A L
KUWAIT: The labor union at the Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS) criticized the management for failure to communicate with them directly with regards to an initiative to suspend their strike. Hamad Al-Humaidhi, the Director General of PIFSS, on Sunday regretted the union’s refusal of an initiative to suspend strike and return to the negotiations’ table. But union president Manal Al-
Rashidi said following an extraordinary general assembly meeting on Sunday night that the initiative arrived through a ‘mediator’ whose authenticity could not be verified, and reiterated condemnation of the management’s stance to reject negotiating workers’ demands face-to-face. Rashidi insisted that the work stoppage of nearly 700 workers which started on June 8th will continue until their demands of pay increases and other financial privileges are fulfilled.
Salaries revision
Humaidhi, in a press release carried by Kuwait
News Agency (KUNA), said the initiative included the government’s commitment to review salaries of the Institute’s employees in a “fair” manner within the ‘strategic alternative’ system; due to be proposed in the last quarter of the current year.
“Despite positivity shown by PIFSS’s management, yet the union unjustifiably chose to carry on with the strike, thus closing the door for negotiation and crippling work at the Institute,” he pointed out. “This calls for legal procedures to take its course,” he noted. The management had recently told workers, who completed eight consecutive weeks of strike Sunday, that their ongoing work stoppage could affect their annual evaluation report, and could force the management to take measures that include salary deductions.
Union fights back
But the labor union responded by hinting that it plans to lodge a complaint with the Kuwait
Human Rights Society and even international bodies against PIFSS management if the latter took actions against employees on strike, according to Rashidi. “The union plans to present a letter of complaint to the cabinet regarding the management’s negative approach in handling the issue,” Rashidhi told Al-Qabas daily on Saturday.
She added that the management and Finance
Minister Anas Al-Saleh - who refuses to negotiate with the union until the strike ends - are required to adhere to the state’s international commitments with regards to honoring workers’ right to protest.
Earlier this month, minister Saleh hoped the labor union would cancel their strike, saying dialogue was the best mean to achieve mutual interest. Meanwhile, one of forty employees who met
PIFSS management representatives recently said that the meeting was a failure “since it was called so that employees are warned from repercussions in case the strike continues.” The worker who requested anonymity to speak said that they were told that the management planned to summon employees for questioning yesterday on accusations of abstaining from work.
By Ben Garcia
KUWAIT: The number of patients in almost all clinics and hospitals in Kuwait hasn’t changed, but the shortened Ramadan timings have affected the daily operations of some hospitals and clinics, so they look crowded, said some health workers.
Speaking to Kuwait Times, a doctor at a
Salmiya clinic said yesterday the number of patients hasn’t changed. “I think there is no change in the number of patients. They look much because we open later compared to the normal timings of our clinic,” said the doctor. “This is the usual number of patients every day. The crowd will subside from the opening hours since they are all given a chance to be examined by a physician,” he added.
But a number of patients complained they were not accommodated yesterday at the clinic. “I was here at 2 pm, and they said they’ll open at 2:30 pm. When they opened at 2:30 pm, people who were here from 1 pm rushed to the counter and I was at the tail end of the queue. When it was my turn, they said they cannot give me a number anymore because they close at 4 pm. They told me to come back at 7:30 pm instead,” grumbled the dental patient. In some hospitals, a rush of patients is also noticed by some health workers, but according to them, this is normal as some patients are visiting hospitals instead of government polyclinics.
KUWAIT: A security source said that an Egyptian woman told a
Hawally governorate police station that her 18-year-old daughter went missing a week ago after she left her home and did not return, so policemen registered an absconding case. Detectives who worked on the case found she had not left the country, but when detectives reviewed the mother’s details, they found out that the mother was supposed to be outside the countr y. The mother, 40, discovered that her passpor t was missing, which meant that the girl used it to leave the country.
Maid ‘commits suicide’
The body of an Ethiopian maid was taken from her sponsor ’s home to the medical examiner. A citizen called police earlier and told them that his Ethiopian maid hung herself in her room, adding that she did not show any unusual behavior previously.
KD 1,500, gold stolen
A citizen told Zahra police that an unidentified person stormed her home and stole a refrigerator and a laptop. Meanwhile, a citizen who works for the defense ministry told police that an unknown person entered his flat in Salwa and stole KD 1,500 and gold jewelry. Meanwhile, a female citizen told Nugra police that a man beat her then took KD 80 from her.
23 beggars arrested
A security source said immigration detectives arrested 23 beggars - 16 Asian and Arab females and seven males of various nationalities. The source said most beggars were arrested near markets and mosques, adding that some of the women had children with them to gain sympathy.
The money that was found with the beggars was confiscated and the beggars were sent to the deportation department.
Motionless body found
Security men sent the body of a citizen to the medical examiner after he was found motionless in his room. They found several tablets, and police recorded the death as a suicide. Also, police are investigating the case of a man in his forties after he was found dead in his room, and suspect foul play. A security source said the man who has a file at the psychiatric hospital was late emerging from his room, so family members went to check and found him on the floor. They noticed thick marks on his neck, so they rushed him to a nearby policlinic but it was too late.
Drug dealer jumps from the 5th floor
A drug pusher jumped from the fifth floor of a Mahboula building in an attempt to escape from police when they raided his flat.
The suspect sustained extensive injuries and was taken to hospital.
A bag he was carrying contained four sticks of hashish, while two of his friends who were with him were arrested. In a related development, Saudi customs officers at
Riqqee border center foiled the attempt of a citizen to smuggle 10 cartons and 10 boxes of ammunition along with three shotguns. He was sent to concerned authorities.
—Al-Anbaa, Al-Rai and Al-Watan
KUWAIT: Dasman Diabetes Institute, which was established by Kuwait
Foundation for the Advancement of
Sciences (KFAS) in 2006, is committed to protecting its employees and minimizing risk in work environment. In order to keep track and adherence to international safety precautions and to achieve a higher level of Accreditation
Canada International standards, the
Healthcare Planning and Development department had recently organized an
Emergency Response Planning training course. This course aimed to train and prepare employees for the highest emergency cases which might happen and how to deal with those cases with high efficiency, accuracy while avoiding and removing its dangers and apprehensions.
During the course was held recently, all participants got trained on how to deal with emergencies which can threaten the life of patients and employees. In addition, they were trained on how to manage crisis with high competency by assigning teams and committees for quick response and practiced effective interventions for removing and avoiding dangerous circumstances. Emergencies can happen anywhere and anytime and can threaten public safety. The very nature of emergency is unpredictable and can change in scope and impact. Thus, preparation and planning is critical to enhance person’s ability to act promptly and improve public and institutional safety.
Yes No

KUWAIT: Expatriates will no longer have to wait for up to 45 days before their fingerprint transactions to issue a visa are completed. The Interior Ministry is following a new mechanism that limits the waiting period to a maximum of 48 hours, according to a report.
The General Department for Residency Affairs (formerly k nown as the General Depar tment of
Immigration) reached an agreement with the
Criminal Evidence General Department to send expatriates’ fingerprints electronically to the former within
2 days after the fingerprint is taken. The process does not include newcomers because they have to wait for approval from the State Security Service, Al-Rai reported, quoting sources familiar with the news.
Meanwhile, the same daily reported that Maj Gen
Talal Marafi, the General Director of the General
Department for Residency, gave orders to officially ban drivers and company representatives from returning to Kuwait with the same job titles for two years after they leave the country. The step comes as part of efforts to prevent forgery and visa trafficking, the report said.
In related news, Al-Qabas reported that the
Ministry of Commerce and Industry gave orders to the Hawally Commercial Licensing Department to review licenses issued since the beginning of the year. The goal is to identify flawed licenses that are often used to facilitate illegal activities such as visa trafficking, according to sources quoted anonymously in the report. They added that the process includes investigations to determine whether employees are involved in finalizing transactions illegally. If the investigation proves that an error was deliberately committed, legal action will be taken against the employee and license owner, the source said. The ministry had admitted earlier this year the discovery of ‘dozens’ of forged licenses, which have since been referred to the public prosecution for further action.
In other news, Al-Qabas reported that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry canceled licenses of six domestic worker recruitment offices after discovering that their owners work simultaneously in the public sector, which violates commercial licensing regulations. Separately, Annahar daily quoted sources who revealed that are an estimated 80,000 people living illegally in Kuwait according to the
Interior Ministry’s database. The sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that crackdowns expected in the coming few weeks are expected to cause the number to drop.
— Al-Rai, Al-Qabas & Annahar
TUES DAY, JULY 22, 2014
L O C A L
KUWAIT: Convening the Kuwait Bourse
Company Constituent General Assembly goes in line with the orientation of the Kuwait
Capital Market Authority (CMA) to transfer the possession of the Kuwait Stock Exchange
(KSE) to the private sector, said chairman of the newly-established company Khaled
Abdelrazzaq Al-Khaled. The board of directors of the Bourse Company will seek to offer a successful model for privatization in the
Kuwaiti market, Al-Khaled told reporters on the sidelines of the company’s Constituent
General Assembly.
This will be achieved through completion of the basic stages that enable the company to deal with components of the market, for the sake of producing a developed model that serves mechanisms of trading, monitoring and transparency, in addition to the creation of a favorable environment for new companies to realize more profits, he explained.
According to Al-Khaled, the plan of action of the Kuwait Bourse Company will be divided into three domains that cover setting the company’s systems and bylaws as well as mechanism for dealing with the affiliate bodies besides restructuring the administrative sectors and jobs. The plan also includes privatizing the company, whose capital has been identified at KD 60 million. Privatization is divided into two phases, the first of which will see offering 50 percent of the overall capital at an auction for the listed companies. In the second phase, the other 50 per cent will be sold to the Kuwaiti citizens in a public offer.
Restructuring the company’s capital in this way is likely to create a unique variation on the Kuwaiti market, as single side will enjoy a majority share, consequently the board of directors will be free of any control, he said.
This is of course for the good of professionalism of the company, and will also have positive impact on the small investors. Launching the Kuwait Bourse Company will in no way conflict with work at the KSE, since its current board of directors has a definite mission, namely identifying the company’s systems and bylaws as well as restructuring departments and jobs, in addition to achieving the
KSE privatization, while the Stock Exchange administration will carry on with usual work, till it is of no need.
The “Kuwait Bourse Company” was proclaimed earlier today after securing approval over all procedures toward establishment, said chairman of the new entity’s constituent committee Abdullah Al-Qabandi. Addressing the Constituent General Assembly, in full quorum, Al-Qabandi noted that the company’s bylaws were adopted after gaining the approval of the Ministry of Commerce and
Industry and the Kuwait Capital Markets
Authority and notarization with the Ministry of Justice, and this was reported in the official gazette. The constituent committee has opened an account with a Kuwait bank, in which the authority subsequently deposited
25 percent of the capital, KD 60 million.
An eight-member board had also been selected, he said. The members appointed by the authority were Khaled Abdelrazzaq Al-
Khaled, Sabah Abdullah Al-Othman,
Mohammad Ahmad Al-Saqqaf, Esam
Abdelmehsin Al-Marzouq, and Mousa Ahmad
Al-Kanderi. The other three members, independents, were Mohammad Saud Al-Osaimi,
Husam Abdelrahman Al-Bassam and Saud
Faisal Al-Mutawwa’. The company is formed in line with law 7/2010, which states that all assets of Kuwait Stock Exchange come into possession of the Kuwait Capital Markets
Authority. The next move is an auction on 50 percent of capital, with bidding allowed for companies which were listed with Kuwait
Stock Exchange. There would also be a public subscription for 50 percent of company stocks for Kuwaiti nationals.—KUNA
By B Izzak
used in the attempt and measures taken a British company was awarded the project ment about the proposed strategic substi-
KUWAIT: MP Abdullah Al-Turaiji asked the finance minister Anas Al-Saleh about the measures the authorities have taken against an attempt to forge the new
Kuwaiti banknotes released just less than a month ago. The lawmaker demanded the provisional reports about the nature of the forgery attempt, the quantities of funds by the central bank to prevent such attempts in the future.
The central bank has said that the attempt was very primitive and a total failure. Turaiji also inquired about the need to issue new banknotes from technical, legal, security and economic aspects and if there were any feasibility studies before the decision was taken. The lawmaker said that to print the new banknotes and asked if the central bank had received any other offers. Turaiji also asked if the central bank has used the highest technical and security standards in the new banknotes.
In the meantime, rapporteur of the
National Assembly manpower resources committee MP Abdulhameed Dashti said the panel has sent a letter to the governtution for the current payscale of government staff. The Assembly and the government have agreed to prepare a new general payscale to remove anomalities and differences in the existing payscale system.
Dashti said that a company assigned by the assembly panel is expected to complete a study on the new payscale by mid-
October.
KUWAIT: Kuwait Municipality’s Farwaniya emergency team conducted an inspection tour at a co-op society, a confectionery store and a restaurant in Riggae. The inspectors issued two tickets for working without a health certificate and two tickets for employing workers without a health certificate.
— Photos By Hanan Al-Saadoun
By Hanan Al-Saadoun
KUWAIT: Firefighters tackled a blaze which gutted a car near a gas station in Messila. Mishref Fire Station firemen arrived to the scene minutes after the incident was reported, and managed to put the flames under control before they could spread. No injuries were reported in the incident. In another development, Farwaniya firefighters put down a fire that gutted an SUV in Dajeej. No injuries were reported. Preliminary investigations revealed that an electric short circuit caused the fire.
Fight in surgery department
The Capital prosecutor ordered the arrest of two citizens and two bedoons following a fight. A security source said an administrative supervisor from Sabah Hospital called operations because of a fight in the surgery department, so a police patrol was sent and they noticed a gathering of around 30 people with shattered glass on the floor.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the fight started in the Avenues between the Kuwaitis and bedoons, and each side called their relatives, and the fight re-started at the hospital.
House stormed
Meanwhile, the brother of a well-known media personality told Jahra police that 10 persons stormed his house following differences, resulting in cuts and wounds. Also in
Jahra, a citizen complained to police about a large amount of insects at the internal medicine department, so a patrol was sent there and police registered a case.

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
L O C A L kuwait digest
By Dr Shamlan Y Al-Essa
L ocal papers published decisions of the Cabinet to activate laws and asked concerned authorities to take whatever necessary to achieve the noble goals of imposing security and stability, as decisions regarding nationality will be taken, and the law will be applied to NGOs and hold them accountable for indulging in political action. We laud the government’s moves in intending to apply the law now, but there remains the question who is the official who got us to this point of deterioration in not applying laws and not activating them.
We, since 30 years, are hearing and reading that the government intends to apply the law on all, but nothing took place. Why? Because the reality is that leaders in the regime and government, along with the
National Assembly members, are the first to violate the law and break it, and because our subject today does not allude to MPs and their corruption, we will concentrate on the government. When the Cabinet speaks about activating the nationality laws, and this is good and required, we should ask who naturalized thousands, even hundreds of thousands following liberation without complying with the law?
It is not Kuwait people for sure - rather it is the government and no one else. The problem is that random naturalization was done without taking the country’s supreme interest into consideration, which is summarized in naturalizing those who deserve it - naturalize scientifically qualified people, martyrs’ children, children of Kuwaiti women, those who served in the military and who are trusted and honest, and those who deserve the honor of naturalization. The random naturalization was done on tribal and sectarian bases, and among strange and laughable ironies is that some of the Arab tribal members from the north were naturalized because they were thought to be Sunni - then the regime discovered that those who were naturalized were Shiites, and this is not a problem as long as all were naturalized according to the law, but this did not happen.
The government manipulated the naturalization issue, as naturalization was done on purely political and electoral grounds, on the basis that tribal members are more loyal to the regime than urbanites.
There are prominent officials who naturalized a group of loyal tribes, and now that it is too late, we hear a strange tune about implementing the law and threatening to revoke the nationality of those who violated the law.
Statement of condemnation
Gaza
kuwait digest
I decided at the start of Ramadan to spend time on researching the history of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was founded by
Hassan Al-Banna, even though some historians doubt this. My purpose was to know, as much as possible, the goals of the organization and the means it used throughout three quarters of a century to reach the level of penetration in various Western and Arab societies, particularly the Gulf. How did they establish their financial and investment empire, which made many members of the organization who were almost destitute into owners of huge wealth and prominent politicians?
Then I remembered while being buried in tens of books, references and previous columns I or others wrote about the history of the criminal Brotherhood movement, the tremendous effort exerted by the late intellectual Abdelwahab Al-Misteeri in authoring the
Jewish encyclopedia that covered all aspects of the Hebrew history in the old world and the history of Jewish groups around the world, their numbers, their presence, their organizational structures, their relations with the societies where they existed and exist, and what they faced during their long history in the form of hatred, oppression and displacement in addition to alluding to their sects and religious books in addition to their rituals and historic leaders.
He also alluded to their crises with the ruling regimes and the damaging role they had in a number of countries and societies. I remembered the effort Misteeri exerted over a quarter century, with effective assistance by many, and I discovered while being in the midst of this sea of information not only the extent of similarity between the two movements - Zionism and Brotherhood - and
By Ahmad Al-Sarraf what the latter benefitted from the first and succeeded in fulfilling half of its dream by following the same Zionist methods in creating their alleged state.
It is the dream that brought Arabs and Muslims during the past fifty years crises, tragedies, military coups, political assassinations and countless conspiracies. I discovered that the issue requires an encyclopedic effort that I am not able to in my current situation, and needs my full time for many years that I do not think that I am going to live, especially that the financial octopus of the Brotherhood was not satisfied with taking over thousands of projects in Gulf countries and Europe, but it also registered those investments in the name of offshore companies making it difficult for someone like me to follow the source of their finances, especially since a large number of senior Brotherhood leaders, in Kuwait at least, own influential shares in a large number of commercial companies and banks described as Islamic and major investment projects.
Also, there is no line that separates between their private ownership and the organization’s finances. The organization’s local and international finances estimated at more than $15 million bring those who manage them huge profits. What encouraged me more to stop the research project in the dark Brotherhood history, and crimes of some of its members, is when the social affairs minister said lately that there are no intentions to dissolve their society, the local arm of the Muslim Brotherhood that belongs to the international organization, despite all its drawbacks.
— Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Qabas
As for NGOs, we go back to the fact that the government allows the establishment of NGOs or not.
Though the law allows everyone to ask for the establishment of NGOs, as long as they are peaceful and do not interfere in politics. What happened is that the government, for shortsighted political considerations, allowed some societies to be established and closed others. What happened with the Istiqlal Club and the revoking of its license was because the government does not want Arab nationalists (Al-Khateeb group) to work, and the government opened the door for the political Islam groups to be active, and tens, rather hundreds, of Islamic charity societies and foundations were established.
Official figures from the Social Affairs Ministry indicate that 1,400 mosques are distributed in all areas of
Kuwait along with 95 charity foundations, besides 11 charity societies with 200 branches apart from malls.
Who is supervising these Islamic charity societies?
Who is monitoring the funds they get from the good people? Friendly countries headed by Kuwait’s main ally the United States, and even the United Nations, complained of the spread of money laundering, and the UN warned Kuwait against the spread of this phenomenon.
The government alone encouraged and supported political Islam groups to spread and backed them financially and morally, until the government’s stupidity and shallowness pushed it to trust the Muslim
Brotherhood at the Awqaf Ministry to work on spreading centrism in Kuwait. The Muslim Brotherhood employed their partisan members in the Ministry of
Awqaf, and no one objected over the control of the
Brotherhood on Awqaf except the Salaf Movement because it wants a piece of the government cake.
To the government, we warned many times against the spread of extremism and terrorism, and the involvement of our youth in jihadist action, and we reminded that Kuwait and Saudi Arabia contributed to the production of extremism because of injecting religion into politics and allowing political Islam to control educational and religious establishments. Today, following the Iraq and Syria events, the government finally realized the danger of injecting religion into politics.
Allah knows the amount of efforts by sincere people at the political science department to establish a center for strategic studies. I personally tried in 1981 to establish this important center, and the government did not agree until the year 2000, provided that the center be headed by Ghanem Al-Najjar, Shafiq Al-
Ghabra and myself, but I was ousted because I attempted to study political Islam, sectarianism and terrorism, and the importance of concentrating on following events in Iraq and Iran by specialized centers, but the Muslim Brotherhood took over the studies center and it was changed into the Gulf center of studies and our attempts to fight religious extremism ended. Nobody disagrees with implementing the law, but we reject selectivity in its implementation.
— Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Watan
R kuwait digest
By Abdullah Buwair iots, violence and attacking police officers. These things happened recently in Sabah Al-Nasser in our beloved Kuwait, where rioters committed actions such as banditry and hurling stones at police officers, causing chaos that spread panic among the area’s residents. It was noticed during the riots that lasted for a number of days that the percentage of teenagers among the demonstrators was high. They deliberately attacked policemen using firecrackers, while others were seen driving and raising firearms in the air.
On Sunday night, July 13, 2014, opposition members led the crowds to the Grand Mosque where they started a march towards the Palace of Justice. However, special task forces had formed a security cordon around the building, and asked the demonstrators to move back.
But the demonstrators did not comply, which forced the special task forces to use smoke bombs to disperse them.
First of all, I would like to thank the Interior Ministry for adopting a firm approach against all kinds of violence, riots, banditry and assaulting police, as well as its resolve to continue to take action in accordance with the
law against unlicensed demonstrators in order to protect
Kuwait’s security and stability and restore citizens’ faith in the law.
Safety and security are blessings that are mostly felt by those who lose them. The 1990/91 Iraqi invasion is the prime example of this. Kuwaitis inside and outside
Kuwait during that time realized the true value of the country. Even those who were welcomed in Gulf and
Arab countries could not wait for the moment to return back to their homeland. Meanwhile, those who stayed were eager for the day when Kuwait was liberated and the legitimacy of its leadership restored. Because a man without a nation is a man without an identity.
Many foreigners left their home countries and came to Kuwait to make a living. On the other hand, we,
Kuwaitis, live on this land without realizing its true value or show proper gratitude to Allah Almighty for the blessing in our hands. My words to those who participate in unlicensed demonstrations and riots in which the law is violated and people are terrorized - aren’t the events in troubled countries in the region enough to set an example?
In my view
By Labeed Abdal local@kuwaittimes.net
T he Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) has announced allowing employers to finalize transactions to issue visas and work permits to labor forces online through the ministry’s website. The step comes to help local companies and factories overcome routine procedures by having access to the ministry’s services online. I believe that this is a very important step that I hope would succeed not only for the ministry’s sake, but also for the sake of employers and most importantly, foreign workers who come to work legally in
Kuwait.
Finalizing visa transactions online drastically cuts the number of steps needed to finish paperwork. This reflects positively on the private sector, as well as foreign labor forces who seek an environment that provides them with the opportunity to work hard without worries and concerns. The step also comes at a time in which industrial projects are on the rise, making it even
more important to prevent routine that results in losses.
The ministry said that the new measures help eliminate violations such as forgery of paperwork and visa trafficking, in addition to problems like loss of documents. Furthermore, companies with government contracts will be able to carry out most services online, which also helps address problems pertaining with visas.
Simplifying procedures and eliminating bureaucracy that deterred capitals and reduced foreign investment in the country have been a public demand for years. All state departments must follow in the MSAL’s footsteps to improve the business environment in Kuwait and transform the country into an attractive destination for investors. Also, the government must speed up efforts to eliminate the sponsorship system in order to protect employees from exploitation.
kuwait digest
By Abdullah H Erakat
H ind Abu Shoushah’s grandparents threw her a party the very same day they learned that the seven year old had fasted from sunrise to sunset without even a glass of water. She and her family traveled from the West Bank city of Jericho to Abu Dis for iftar, the traditional meal that breaks the fast every night during the holy month of Ramadan. After the family ate, they threw Hind a party where she was treated like Miss America and even given a crown to wear.
“The whole family paid attention to her when she fasted the first time,’ Hind’s mother Amneh told The
Media Line. “She was so proud of herself and found the situation to be very encouraging.” Now eight,
Hind has already started fasting this year as well.
“Ramadan is something so nice because we all come together,” Hind told The Media Line. Ramadan, which began Sunday with the sighting of the new moon, is the holy month for Muslims. They fast from sunrise to
“Children need extra calories. They have extra energy so they have larger demands for calories compared to adults,” Nabulsi told The Media Line. He also said that if children are going to fast, parents should discourage them from eating foods rich in sugar during the evening iftar meal. Instead they should concentrate on foods like vegetables, fruits, high protein diets, meat and wheat cereals. Extra amounts of water are crucial, especially during the summer.
Nabulsi says parents should steer their children away from energy drinks and soda and concentrate on natural juices and water.
As for adults, Nabulsi says some can even gain weight despite fasting for 30 days from dawn to dusk.
“Some people fast all day and then consume large quantities of food, not following any kind of diet.
They will gain weight in Ramadan instead of losing it,” he said. “But if you follow the recommendations, what food you will eat, how much you will take in, exercise sunset, don’t smoke and don’t have sex. The idea is to purify the soul and refocus attention on God. Muslims also give charity to the poor during this month.
To fast, especially during the long hot days of summer is not easy. Sheikh Abu Ali of which is not against Ramadan, then you lose weight.”
Manal Samara, a Palestinian
easier in Saudi Arabia than in the West Bank.
Eizariyya near Jerusalem, says fasting teaches self-disci-
living in Saudi Arabia, says she misses her family during
Ramadan. But in some ways, observing the holy month is
“You can buy all of your groceries in one place unlike pline. “Fasting raises the will of a human being to do
going store to store in
Palestine and the shops stay things that ‘he knows will be good for him in the afterlife,”
Abu Ali told The Media Line.
“Because he or she does not eat, does not drink the whole day, he will also not lie or steal while fasting.” Muslims are obligated to begin fasting
when they hit puberty, he says. “It could be 12, it could be 13. They are not punished by God if they do not fast before that age. But in order to teach them and get them used to fasting and praying, we teach them to start fasting before that age,” he said.
His eight year old daughter, Aya, began fasting when she was just six years old. “I did not force her to open real late here,” she wrote to The Media Line.
During Ramadan, she says, many new Arab television shows air for the first time/
Samara moved to Riyadh four years ago with her husband Shadi and their two small children. Although her children are too young to fast, Samara says she and her husband still teach them about Ramadan. That and they see ‘the atmosphere of Ramadan’ with their father going to the mosque to pray the Taraweeh prayer (special Ramadan prayers prayed after Iftar), and friends coming over for Iftar.
In the West Bank city of Jericho, maximum temperdo that,” the sheikh insists.” I even told her that if she feels hungry or thirsty, that she should go to the kitchen. Why? Because she is a child. Every day I would ask her if she is tired, hungry or thirsty. But they love to fast because they see us do that,” he said.
While it is more common nowadays to see Muslim children fasting before they hit puberty, Palestinian pediatrician Dr Sami Nabulsi does not recommend it.
He says parents should be very cautious when encouraging them to fast.
atures can reach 116 Fahrenheit in the summer.
Amneh Abu Shoushah says that even children who don’t fast should participate in the iftar meal. She serves soup, salad, cucumbers and yoghurt as well as other dishes that are easy on the stomach. This year their seven year old son Talal will start fasting. He wanted to fast last year but she encouraged him to wait a year. “He came to us after he saw his sister Hind was going to fast and asked why does she get to fast and I don’t?” Abu Shoushah said. —The Media Line

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
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TRIPOLI: Libyan Ministry of Transportation Abdul Qader Mohammed Ahmed (L) inspects the destruction at Tripoli international airport in the Libyan capital yesterday after Islamist-led militiamen stepped up their assault on the country’s main airport, which is controlled by rival fighters. The fighting, which erupted on July 13 and shut the international airport, also injured 120 people, according to figures for the week until July 19. — AFP
CAIRO: Clashes between rival Libyan militias fighting for control of the capital’s international airport killed 47 people over the last week, Libya’s Health Ministry said, as violence in an eastern city killed five.
The weeklong battle in Tripoli began when Islamist-led militias - mostly from the western city of Misrata - launched a surprise assault on the airport, under control of rival militias from the western mountain town of Zintan.
The clashes resumed Sunday after cease-fire efforts failed. On Monday, the burned-out shell of an Airbus A330 sat on the tarmac, a $113 million passenger jet for Libya’s state-owned Afriqiyah Airways destroyed in the fighting.
“This was the pride of the Libyan fleet,” Abdelkader
Mohammed Ahmed, Libya’s transportation minister, told journalists at the airport. “This airplane used to fly to South
Africa, Bangladesh and China.”
Inside the airport, closed since last Monday, the fighting left holes in the ceiling and scattered bits of its roof strewn across the floor. The ministry said on its website late
Sunday that the fighting killed 47 people and wounded
120. It also said it had not yet received the full casualty report.
Libya is witnessing one of its worst spasms of violence since the ouster of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in
2011. All the militias fighting around the airport are on the government’s payroll since successive transitional authorities have depended on them to restore order.
The rival militias, made up largely of former rebels, have forced a weeklong closure of gas stations and government offices. In recent days, armed men have attacked vehicles carrying money from the Central Bank to local banks, forcing their closure.
Libyan government officials and activists have increasingly been targeted in the violence. Gunmen kidnapped two lawmakers in the western suburbs of Tripoli on
Sunday, a parliament statement said.
In Libya’s second-largest city of Benghazi, five troops were killed in an attack by Islamist militias on a barrack occupied by forces allied with Gen. Khalifa Hifter, a renegade general who has vowed to crush Islamic militias, a security official said. The assault early Monday wounded
29, the official said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists. In the past two days in Benghazi, the birthplace of anti-Gadhafi uprising, gunmen killed an army officer while he was driving home and a former special forces officer.
Meanwhile, a helicopter crashed in Benghazi while transporting cash to the eastern city of Bayda because of technical failure, according to a Joint Security Committee of Benghazi statement, posted on its official website. One person killed in the crash, it said, offering no other details.
The deteriorating security conditions prompted the UN
Support Mission in Libya last week to say it was temporarily withdrawing its staff. On Monday, Libya’s official news agency reported that the
International Committee of the Red Cross announced its withdrawal from Libya as well. — AP
BANGALORE: A local sexual abuse case took on national political overtones yesterday as students from Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s party accused a state government run by the country’s main opposition of inaction.
Hundreds of students from the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) youth wing protested in India’s IT capital of
Bangalore after a school coach was detained over an alleged attack on a 6-year-old girl that had prompted protests by parents for several days.
Once a taboo topic in India, sex crimes have become front-page news following a series of brutal rapes and murders. They have also become political minefields after the former national government led by the
Congress party seemed slow to react to a surge of public anger after a 2012 gang rape in Delhi.
About 300 BJP student activists waved flags, shouted slogans and tried to break through metal police barricades outside the Bangalore school where the roller skating coach was suspected of assaulting the girl. The coach has not been charged.
“The school administration has been avoiding all our questions and is not ready to accept any responsibility...
they are unwilling to take any action themselves or conduct an internal investigation,” said student leader Nithin
Gowda.
Police official Sharat Chandra said the protesters demanded the school’s chairman be arrested and action be against any suspected assailants.
March Against Minister
Another group of BJP students tried to march to the house of Siddaramaiah, chief minister of Karnataka state where Bangalore is the capital, to demand the resignation of his home minister. Both are from the Congress party.
About 150 protesters there were taken into brief preventive custody, police official Kamal Pant said. The head of the student group, P. Muniraju, said 300 were detained.“The state government has failed in all aspects and in security,” said Muniraju, adding his group was demanding “strict action” against the school authorities.
The girl’s mother lodged a complaint with police last week, saying her daughter was assaulted in the school on July 2. This sparked protests from parents demanding accountability.
Police said the girl was sexually assaulted but not raped. On Sunday, they said they had detained the roller skating coach as a suspect but he has not been charged so far.
Police officials are currently reviewing footage from two dozen cameras in the school for any clues, they added. — Reuters

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
QARAQOSH: Christians in the Iraqi city of
Mosul were wrong-footed by its new jihadist masters, who initially left them in relative peace but later forced them to flee for their lives.
The turnaround in the attitude of
Islamic State insurgents who overran
Mosul last month could indicate the group is now confident enough of its hold on
Iraq’s second city to impose its extreme rules.
Analysts say the relative leniency the group had shown Christians may have been a sop to allied Sunni militant groups
with a less severe interpretation of Islam.
“They tricked us, because in the beginning they did not threaten us, but after they established themselves they began imposing their terrorist laws on us,” said
Father Emmanuel Kelou, who once headed a Mosul church but now ministers to displaced Christians in the town of Qaraqosh, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) away.
Some Christians even returned to their homes after IS insurgents first took control of the city in a blistering offensive on June
9, lulled into a false sense of security by the near absence of attacks on co-religionists who stayed behind.
Last Monday, two nuns and three orphans were released in Mosul after being held for 17 days, a development the city’s Chaldean Christian Patriarch Louis
Sako described as “a glimmer of hope, and a breakthrough” in relations with the city’s
Islamist leaders.
Yet, days later and just over a month after arriving, insurgents would circulate a statement demanding Mosul’s thousands of remaining Christians convert to Islam, pay a special tax or leave, triggering an exodus of people who had barely enough time to gather a few belongings.
On Friday the city’s mosques were blaring calls for all Christians to depart by a deadline set for the following day, echoing the IS ultimatum seen by AFP, which said there would be “nothing but the sword” for those who did not comply.
Observers say IS’s expulsion of
Christians is in keeping with its proclaimed aim to create an Islamic caliphate in lands it has conquered, but that it may have waited to consolidate its hold on Mosul and other areas it had won before making a move.
The group, which espouses a puritanical version of Sunni Islam, swept vast swathes of northern and western Iraq in the days following the fall of Mosul, and is currently battling Shiite-led government forces in Saddam Hussein’s former hometown of Tikrit and in western Anbar province.
Moderate behaviour?
“My expectation is that occupying a city while a military offensive is still ongoing is a complex task, and weeding out the
Christians is not necessarily the most important thing to do first,” said Jessica
Lewis, a former US army intelligence officer who is now research director at the
Institute for the Study of War.
Also, the Christians’ treatment by IS, though harsh, was somewhat lenient for an organisation infamous for its mass executions, crucifixions and bloody videos and photos posted online. Shiite minorities in Iraq’s north have been treated far worse.
The group may be trying to avoid alienating other Sunni militant factions who may not have any quarrel with Iraq’s
Christians, who have been an integral part of the country’s social fabric for generations.
Elements of Saddam Hussein’s disbanded socialist Baath party, for example, which once counted Christian deputy premier Tareq Aziz among their number, are fighting government forces alongside IS and could be a moderating influence on the Islamists.
“Considering the group’s behaviour elsewhere and in the past, their option for Christians to flee could be seen as a slight moderation,” said Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha
Center.
“The IS will always be a severe and absolutist organisation, but considering the dynamics within the wider Sunni uprising in Iraq, it makes sense that it will be making small compromises for the sake of avoiding engendering unnecessary social tensions.”
Still, it remains to be seen how far IS will go in imposing its austere brand of
Islamic law now that it apparently feels more confident in areas that it controls.
The brutal application of sharia law by
Al Qaeda-allied militants in Iraq in 2006 and 2007 turned many of their allies into foes as Sunni tribes rose up to eject
Islamists in their midst.
“It will be interesting to see how far they will be able to push their social controls without eliciting a backlash from the local population and other insurgent groups,” said Fanar Haddad, a research fellow at the Middle East Institute of the
National University of Singapore. —AFP
GAZA: Residents of the Gaza Strip, mostly house-bound and fearful after
13 days of Israeli bombardment, lit fireworks and chanted “God is great!” into the early morning darkness on
Monday after Hamas said it had captured an Israeli soldier.
Abu Ubaida, the masked and camouflaged spokesman of the
Palestinian Islamist militant group’s
“Hundreds of martyrs have fallen and we’re under attack 24-hours a day... but today is like a holiday and we feel joy that a soldier is in our hands and we hope more will follow,” said vegetable seller Musa Abu
Attiyeh, pausing as an Israeli rocket whizzed past and crashed nearby, shaking his shop.
“Abu Ubaida’s words are bullets, soldier abducted five years earlier in a cross-border raid into the freeing of more than 1,000 Palestinians from
Israeli prisons.
Gilad Shalit’s lengthy captivity in
Gaza was a wrenching ordeal for
Israel, where military service is compulsory and many identified with his predicament. Most young men serve three years and women two in the
armed wing, announced that a soldier named as Shaul Alon was seized in heavy fighting on the Gaza border on
Sunday.
He displayed Alon’s photo ID and serial number but showed no image of him in captivity. Israel’s envoy to the
United Nations denied the claim but its army has neither confirmed nor denied the report and a spokesman said on Monday: “We still cannot rule it out.”
The report buoyed weary Gazans’ flagging morale. If confirmed, it would fulfil long-standing promises by
Hamas to grab troops in hopes of trading them for Palestinian prisoners, raising its popularity.
stronger than bullets. He doesn’t lie, ever,” the shopkeeper said. “Now it’s the Jews’ turn to feel the pressure and worry, and we will see our sons from the jails celebrating at home soon,
God willing.” Thirteen Israeli soldiers were killed in heavy fighting on
Sunday in the eastern border town of
Shejaia, where Hamas said it snatched the soldier in a rocket strike on an
Israeli troop carrier.
Israel has not yet released the names of all the dead, suggesting it is still verifying their identities from the remains. Hamas gained Palestinian acclaim and plaudits from backers in the Arab world when in 2011 it parlayed the release of an Israeli conscript armed forces from age 18. Many men in their 20s and 30s are recalled annually for a few weeks’ reserve duty.
An international campaign by
Shalit’s family kept him in the spotlight and pressured the country’s leadership, which yielded to the deal despite fears it would encourage more abductions.
ARREST SWEEP
The stakes are higher now after an
Israeli arrest campaign in the occupied West Bank netted hundreds of suspected Palestinian militants, including some freed in the 2010 swap.
The roundup was launched after two suspects allegedly linked to
Hamas kidnapped and killed three
Jewish teenagers in June. Hamas bristled, calling it a violation of their agreement and an attempt to decimate the group’s presence outside
Gaza.
Even before its claim to have abducted Alon, Hamas insisted that the release of those prisoners was a condition for a ceasefire in the current round of Gaza fighting, which has killed more than 500 Palestinians, most of them civilians.
Israel has balked at the demands and said it will continue its aerial and ground assault until the militants’ hail of rocket fire on its cities ceases.
Hamas did not specify whether the soldier was alive or dead. In 2008,
Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas traded the bodies of two soldiers it had captured and killed two years earlier for several of its prisoners in Israel.
OVER 6,000 PRISONERS
Facing grinding poverty and unemployment, Gaza’s 1.8 million residents had become increasingly discontented with Hamas’s governance of the Gaza Strip. The militant group continued to emphasize its abduction strategy as a great hope.
A billboard on Gaza City’s main street shows a Palestinian fighter in fatigues and a chequered headscarf with a limp Israeli slung over his shoulder as a tank fires in the background. It is an advert for a mini-series on
Hamas’s TV channel depicting the very events the group now boasts.
Palestinian sympathy runs deep for some 6,000 prisoners in Israeli jails swelled by more than 1,000 arrests in
June and July. Many are suspected of launching attacks on Israel. Hundreds are held without trial on secret charges.
“To free them and bring joy back to their mothers - this (abduction) is the way to do it. Now we think they’ll lighten their bombing on us, they don’t want to hurt their man,” Gaza resident
Sameh Abu Msameh said.
“(The soldier) will be released when we get a truce and our prisoners... Until then the fight will go on, then we’ll send him back home on one of our rockets,” he said with a laugh. —Reuters
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry is making a renewed push for a cease -fire between Israel and Hamas with another trip to the Middle East after the civilian death toll in the conflict sharply escalated over the weekend.
Kerry left Washington early yesterday for Cairo, where he will join diplomatic efforts to resume a truce that had been agreed to in November 2012.
He will urge the militant Palestinian group to accept a cease-fire agreement offered by Egypt that would halt nearly two weeks of fighting.
More than 500 Palestinians and 20 Israelis have been killed in that time.
The Obama administration, including Kerry, is sharpening its criticism of Hamas for its rocket attacks on Israel and other provocative acts, like tunneling under the border. It is also toning down an earlier rebuke of Israel for attacks on the Gaza
Strip that have killed civilians, including children.
In a statement Sunday evening, State
Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S.
and international partners were “deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation, and the loss of more innocent life.”
Two Americans, Max Steinberg of California and Nissim Carmeli of Texas, who fought for the
Israel Defense Forces were killed in fighting in the
Gaza Strip. The State Department confirmed the names of the two US citizens Sunday night.
Cairo’s cease-fire plan is backed by the U.S. and
Israel. But Hamas has rejected the Egyptian plan and is relying on governments in Qatar and
Turkey for an alternative proposal. Qatar and
Turkey have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is also linked to Hamas but banned in
Egypt.
War is ugly
Making the rounds of Sunday talk shows, Kerry said Hamas needs to recognize its own responsibility for the conflict. “It’s ugly. War is ugly, and bad things are going to happen,” Kerry told ABC’s
“This Week.”
Both President Barack Obama and Kerry said
Israel has a right to defend itself against frequent rocket attacks by Hamas from the Gaza Strip.
Kerry accused Hamas of attempting to sedate and kidnap Israelis through a network of tunnels that militants have used to stage cross-border raids.
He said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that
Hamas must “step up and show a level of reasonableness, and they need to accept the offer of a cease-fire.”
The nearly two-week conflict appeared to be escalating as UN chief Ban Ki-moon was already in the region to try to revive cease-fire efforts.
Obama, in a telephone call Sunday, told Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Kerry was coming to the Mideast and condemned
Hamas’ attacks, according to a White House statement.
The UN relief agency in Gaza estimates that
70,000 Palestinians have fled their homes in the fighting and are seeking shelter in schools and other shelters the United Nations has set up.
US officials said Hamas could bring relief to the
Palestinian people if it agrees to a cease-fire proposed by Egypt - a view Netanyahu is pushing as well.
Netanyahu said in an ABC interview that Israel has tried to avoid killing Palestinian civilians by making phone calls, sending text messages and dropping leaflets on their communities. But
Hamas doesn’t “give a whit about the
Palestinians,” Netanyahu said. “All they want is more and more civilian deaths.”
The prime minister said his top goal is to restore a sustainable peace, but he then will ask the international community to consider demilitarizing Gaza to rid Hamas of its rockets and shut down the tunnels leading into Israel. Kerry spoke
Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” CNN’s “State of the Union,” ABC’s “This Week,” CBS’ “Face the
Nation” and “Fox News Sunday.” —AP
DUBAI: Bahrain has filed a lawsuit to suspend Al-Wefaq’s activities for three months after the largest Shiite opposition group allegedly violated the kingdom’s law on associations, the official BNA news agency reported Sunday.
Political parties are banned in Bahrain, as in other Gulf Arab monarchies, and Al-Wefaq has the status of an association.
The ministry of justice said Al-Wefaq must rectify its “illegal status following the annulment of four general assemblies for lack of a quorum and the non-commitment to the public and transparency requirements for holding them,” as per Bahraini regulations, said BNA.
The ministry said it “filed the lawsuit following the insistence of Al-Wefaq on breaking the law... as well as its failure to amend violations related to its illegal general assemblies and the consequent invalidity of all its decisions,” BNA reported.
Al-Wefaq slammed the decision as a
“spiteful” measure that is politically motivated.
It said that the ministry’s justifications are
“false” and stressed that all general assemblies held by the association have abided by the law.
“Al-Wefaq had legally responded to all remarks, but it received no response from the ministry because there was not any fault in those general assemblies,” it said in a statement.
Al-Wefaq has led the protest movement that started in February 2011 by Bahrain’s
Shiite majority against the ruling Sunni regime and has repeatedly called for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy.
Earlier this month, Bahrain’s chief prosecutor charged the head of Al-Wefaq, cleric
Ali Salman, and his political assistant, ex-MP
Khalil Marzooq, with violating a law on foreign contacts after they met the US
Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowski.
Bahrain has said the meeting at the US embassy violated the law stipulating that contacts between political associations and foreign parties “should be coordinated with the foreign ministry and in the presence” of its representative. Manama had told
Malinowski, who is the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour, that he was “unwelcome” and should
“leave immediately.”
Bahrain is a strategic archipelago just across the Gulf from Iran. Washington is a long-standing ally of the ruling Al-Khalifa dynasty, and Bahrain is home to the US
Navy’s Fifth Fleet. —AFP
MOSUL: Jihadist militants have taken over a monastery in northern Iraq, one of the country’s best-known Christian landmarks, and expelled its resident monks, a cleric and residents said yesterday.
Islamic State (IS) fighters stormed Mar
(Saint) Behnam, a 4th century monastery run by the Syriac Catholic church near the predominantly Christian town of
Qaraqosh, on Sunday, the sources said.
“You have no place here anymore, you have to leave immediately,” a member of the Syriac clergy quoted the Sunni militants as telling the monastery’s residents.
He said the monks pleaded to be allowed to save some of the monastery’s relics but the fighters refused and ordered them to leave on foot with nothing but their clothes.
Christian residents from the area told
AFP the monks walked several miles along a deserted road and were eventually picked up by Kurdish peshmerga fighters who drove them to Qaraqosh.
The Syriac cleric said five monks were expelled from Mar Behnam. Christian families in the area said there may have been up to nine people living at the monastery.
The incident was the latest move by the Islamic State, which last month declared a “caliphate” straddling large swathes of northern Iraq and Syria, to threaten a Christian presence in the region spanning close to two millennia.
Over the weekend, hundreds of families fled Mosul, a once-cosmopolitan city which is the country’s second largest and lies around 15 kilometres (10 miles) northwest of Mar Behnam.
They abandoned homes and belongings after IS fighters running the city issued an ultimatum for Christians to convert, pay a special tax, leave or face the sword.
Families who were forced on the road and leaders of Iraq’s Chaldean and other churches said Mosul was now emptied of
Christians for the first time in history.
Jihadist fighters want to create a state based on an extreme interpretation of sharia-or Islamic law-and have targeted all minorities in the Mosul area.
Other groups such as Shiite Turkmen,
Shabak and Yazidis have suffered even more than the Christians, who have largely escaped summary executions since IS swept the region in early June.
Mar Behnam is a major Christian landmark in Iraq and a site where the local community and pilgrims traditionally pray for healings and fertility.
It was built by Assyrian king Sennacherib
II as a penance for having his children
Behnam and Sarah killed because they had converted to Christianity. —AFP

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
PROVO: A woman accused of killing six of her newborns and packing their bodies away in her garage over a decade appeared in briefly in court yesterday before a judge pushed back a planned hearing. Attorneys for 39-year-old Megan
Huntsman said in a Utah court that they needed more time before deciding whether they wanted to request a review of evidence in the case.
Defense attorney Anthony Howell said
Huntsman’s legal team is bringing on a medical
expert to help review evidence but that expert would not be available until August. Huntsman appeared in court wearing a forest green jail jumpsuit with her wrists shackled at the waist. She kept her head down, with her long, brown hair draped over her shoulders.
She is due back in court on Oct. 20. Huntsman is in jail on $6 million bail, charged with six counts of first-degree murder. She has not yet entered a plea. Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman told reporters after court Monday that prosecutors have not had any discussions about a possible plea deal.
Earlier this month, police for the first time revealed a suspected motive when they said
Huntsman had a a meth addiction when she strangled or suffocated the infants from 1996 to 2006.
Pleasant Grove Police Capt. Mike Roberts said
Huntsman did not want to care for them. Her attorney, Howell, has declined to comment on the allegations. Authorities think a seventh baby found in her garage was stillborn. Huntsman’s estranged husband, Darren West, discovered the infants’ bodies on April 12 while cleaning out the home they had shared.
West lived with Huntsman during the 10 year period the children were killed. He went to prison in 2006 and is not considered a suspect in the deaths. Investigators have said they don’t know how he could not have known about the seven pregnancies or deaths but they don’t plan to question him further. DNA results have revealed that all seven babies were full term and West was the biological father of the infants. —AP
UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security
Council will vote on an Australiaproposed resolution demanding international access to the Ukraine plane crash site and a cease -fire around the area, with diplomats pressuring a reluctant Russia to approve it.
Australian Prime Minister Tony
Abbott said his country would view a Russian veto of the resolution
“very badly,” adding that “no reasonable person” could objec t to its wording. “This is still an absolutely shambolic situation. It does look more like a garden clean-up than a forensic investigation,” he told reporters.
“Given the almost certain culpability of the Russian-backed rebels in the downing of the aircraft, having these people in control of the site is a little like leaving criminals in control of a crime scene,” Abbott added.
The United States has presented what it called “powerful” evidence that the rebels shot down the plane with a Russian surface-to-air missile and training. Other governments have stopped shor t of accusing
Russia of actually causing the crash.
Russian officials have blamed
Ukraine’s government for creating the situation and atmosphere in which the plane was downed.
Security Council diplomats held consultations late Sunday until past midnight to work out key differences between Australia and Russia.
The diplomats emerged cautiously optimistic that a resolution would be approved, but Russian
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin would not guarantee it.
“It was a worthwhile session, so let’s see what the result is going to be tomorrow,” Churk in told reporters. The resolution calls for pro -Russia separatists to allow access to the site of the downed
Malaysia Airlines passenger jet carr ying 298 people, including 37
Australian citizens and residents. It asks for the full cooperation of all countries in the region, including
Russia.
Earlier Sunday, Churk in said
Russia is concerned the draft “does not accurately reflect the need for an impartial, international investigation.” He said Russia is proposing that the International Civil Aviation
Organization, a UN agency, take the lead in the investigation. The current proposal welcomes “the decision by ICAO to send a team to assist” Ukrainian investigators.
Council ambassadors did not say if an agreement on that point had been reached Sunday. British
Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said the council will vote Monday afternoon and “we hope it will be unanimous” in favor of the resolution.
Earlier, Lyall Grant accused Russia of proposing one amendment after another to delay passage of the resolution.
“It looks like a typical Russian delay in tactics, and one can guess why they want delay,” Lyall Grant told reporters. Russia has the power to veto the resolution as a permanent council member.
Emerging from the UN meeting, both US Ambassador Samantha
Power and Chinese Ambassador Liu
Jieyi said “hope so” when asked if there was agreement on the resolution. Australia’s foreign minister,
Julie Bishop, said she expects all 15 council members to support her country’s proposal, co-sponsored by
France and Lithuania.
“Australia has a lot at stake here,”
Bishop said. “They have been murdered, and the Australian government will not rest until we’re able to bring the bodies home to the
Australian families who are waiting for them.”
The resolution also demands that armed groups who control the crash site do not disturb debris, belongings or vic tims’ remains.
Churkin said Russia had proposed “a cease-fire around the crash site” and that Australia had accepted that idea. He did not say how large the cease-fire area would be.
Earlier, Abbott said Russian
President Vladimir Putin “said all the right things” during a telephone conversation about ensuring an international investigation into the disaster. —AP
FRUITLAND PARK: Residents of this small town have been stunned by an investigative report linking two city police officers with the Ku Klux Klan, the secret hate society that once was violently active in the area.
The violence against African-
Americans that permeated the area was more than 60 years ago, when the place was more rural and the main industry was citrus. These days, the community of less than 5,000 residents northwest of Orlando has been infused by the thousands of wealthier, more cosmopolitan retirees in the area. Those who live in the bedroom community, which is less than 10 percent black, have reacted not only with shock, but disgust that officers could be involved with the Klan, the mayor said.
“I’m shocked, very shocked,” said
Chery Mion, who works in a Fruitland
Park gift shop next door to the mayor’s office. “I didn’t think that organization was still around. Yes, in the 1950s. But this 2014, and it’s rather disconcerting to know.”
Mayor Chris Bell says he heard stories about a Klan rally that took place two years before he arrived in the
1970s, but he has never seen anything firsthand. As recently as the 1960s, many in law enforcement in the South were members but “it’s exceedingly unusual these days to find a police officer who is secretly a Klansman,” said
Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the
Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups.
Five years ago, Ann Hunnewell and her Florida police officer husband knelt in the living room of a fellow officer’s home, with pillow cases as makeshift hoods over their heads. A few words were spoken and they, along with a half-dozen others, were initiated into the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, she says.
Ann Hunnewell’s ex-husband,
George Hunnewell, was fired, and deputy chief David Borst resigned from the 13-member Fruitland Park Police
Department. Borst has denied being a member.
James Elkins, a third officer who
Ann Hunnewell says recruited her and her husband, resigned in 2010 after his
Klan ties became public. While the Klan used to be politically powerful in the
1920s, when governors and US senators were among its 4 million members, nowadays it is much less active than other sectors of the radical right and has less than 5,000 members nationwide, Potok said.
“The radical right is quite large and vigorous. The Klan is very small,” he said. “The radical right looks down on the Klan.” Fruitland Park, though, has been dealing with alleged KKK ties and other problems in the police ranks since 2010, when Elkins resigned after his estranged wife made his membership public.
Last week, residents were told Borst and the Hunnewells had been members of the United Northern and
Southern Knights Chapter of the Ku
Klux Klan, though its presence in their town wasn’t noticeable. The Florida
Department of Law Enforcement sent the police chief a report linking the officers to the Klan based on information from the FBI. Both men didn’t return repeated phone messages to their homes, but Borst told the Orlando
Sentinel he has never been a Klan member.
Ann Hunnewell - who was a police department secretary until 2010 - told
Florida investigators that former Police
Chief J.M. Isom asked her and her exhusband to join the KKK in 2008, trying to learn if Elkins was a member. Isom, though, shortly after Elkins resigned, also quit after he was accused of getting incentive pay for earning bogus university degrees.
Police Chief Terry Isaacs said he took a sworn oath from Isom, who called
Ann Hunnewell’s account a lie, and that there was no record of such an undercover investigation.
The disclosure of the officers’ Klan ties harkened back to the 1940s and
1950s when hate crimes against blacks were common. That era was chronicled in the 2012 book “Devil in the Grove.”
Then-Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall shot two of four black men, dubbed the “Groveland Four,” who were dubiously charged with raping a white woman.
“Things have improved, of course,” said Sannye Jones, a local NAACP official who moved to Lake County in the
1960s. “But racism still exists, just not in the same way. People are not as open and not as blatant.” —Reuters
NEW YORK: Four emergency workers involved in the medical response for a New York City man who died in police custody after being put in an apparent chokehold have been placed barred from responding to 911 calls, the Fire Department of
New York said.
The two EMTs and two paramedics removed from the city’s emergency response system are the latest public safety workers to face reassignment as questions mount about Thursday’s death of Eric Garner. Two police officers - including the one who put his arm around Garner’s neck - have been put on desk duty.
The medics’ modified duty restrictions will remain in effect pending an investigation into their actions, fire department spokesman James Long said Sunday. Video of the arrest shot by a bystander shows one officer wrap his arm around Garner’s neck as he is taken to the ground - arrested for allegedly selling untaxed, loose cigarettes - while Garner shouts, “I can’t breathe!”
The fire department disclosed the medics’ reassignment after a second video surfaced showing at least a half-dozen police officers and emergency workers circling a man who appears to be
Garner lying on the sidewalk, handcuffed and unresponsive.
Long said placing the emergency workers on modified duty
- which includes a notice in their state health department file that they are not to respond to medical calls - is department protocol when questions arise about a medical response and was not a reaction to the post-arrest video.
The fire department said the emergency workers are employees of Richmond County Medical Center, the Staten
Island hospital where Garner was taken by ambulance and pronounced dead. Authorities said the father of six likely had a heart attack, but more tests are needed to determine the exact cause and manner of his death.
A Richmond County Medical Center spokeswoman did not immediately respond to messages. Long said the fire department took action against the hospital’s emergency responders because it oversees the city’s 911 system, a patchwork of public and privately-operated emergency services. —AP

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
LEER: A surge in the number of emaciated children arriving at a feeding centre in Leer, a muddy rebel-held town in South Sudan’s oil-rich Unity State, is fuelling fears that the world’s newest nation is on the brink of famine.
Food stocks are running low across conflict-ravaged northern regions of the country, aid workers say, and the onset of the rainy season has dashed hopes that South
Sudan’s displaced subsistence farmers will plant enough crops to feed themselves.
The country is the size of France but has hardly any paved roads and the United Nations and humanitarian agencies are struggling to provide aid to remote regions.
Even plane deliveries are dwindling as rain soddens dirt roads that act as air strips.
Aid agencies say South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of conflict, could be headed for the worst famine since the 1984
Ethiopian famine. The charity Medecins Sans Frontieres
(Doctors Without Borders) said it had treated about 1,800 malnourished children at its feeding centre in Leer since mid-May. In 2013 it treated 2,300 children during the whole year.
In relief agency feeding centres, mothers seeking medical help for skeletal children tell harrowing tales of life in the bush, where they could only scavenge for fruit or roots. “We ran and hid in the bush for months without food,” said one woman who fled fighting in the Leer region. “We were eating wild berries and plant roots.”
Her three-year-old son weighs just 2 kg because of acute malnutrition, whereas a healthy three-year-old in
South Sudan would normally weigh 10-12 kg, according to a paediatrician in Juba.
The United Nations has warned for months that a famine looms if there is no end to fighting that erupted in mid-December between the government and rebels.
More than a third of the nation’s roughly 11 million people could be on the brink of starvation by the end of the year, U.N. officials have said.
Aid agencies, who say funds to deal with the crisis are running low, complain work has been hindered by rebel and government soldiers who have looted vehicles and plundered food stores. “We lost all our nine cars,” said
Sabrina Sharmin, an acting coordinator for Medecins
Sans Frontieres (MSF), speaking in Leer last week.
“Delivering (supplies) from the airstrip to our compound is challenging; we are now using donkey carts.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) said aid agencies in Leer were treating more than 1,000 cases of child malnutrition every month.
Before violence broke out in December it was about 40 per month. Western diplomats say the looming famine is
“man made” and avoidable. But they expect thousands to die and much of the country to suffer as neither President
Salva Kiir or rebel leader Riek Machar appear ready to strike a lasting peace deal.
Food Prices Soar
South Sudan sits on Africa’s third-biggest oil reserves and the United States and other Western backers hailed independence from Sudan three years ago as a foreign policy success. But political turmoil and conflict threaten to plunge the country back into the same cycle of war and human misery that plagued its people when it was still part of Sudan and rebels were fighting the northern government in Khartoum.
At least 10,000 people have been killed and more than a million displaced since clashes between rival army factions broke out in December. Foreign investment has collapsed and the cost of the war has crippled the government’s budget. In Unity state, rebels loyal to former vice president Machar have seized oil wells and halted production. At Leer market, a handful of makeshift shops sell millet, soap and even music CDs, a rare sign of normality in a town devastated by clashes between government and rebel troops.
But Kuel Nin, 34, a sorghum seller, said days would pass without customers purchasing anything. With roads blocked and river transport too dangerous as barges have often been attacked, prices of basic commodities in rural South Sudan have risen out of reach for many.
“It is expensive,” said Nin, standing near a towering tree shading two abandoned and rusting military tanks, baking in the midday heat. “People suffer hunger, they have no money.”
While there has been some small-scale crop planting in the last couple of months, Leer County rebel commissioner Peter Keak Jal said the effort was not enough to feed the population. “We are approaching the end of the year so there will be no good food,” Jal said. “It’s going to be hard.” The U.N. World Food Programme declared a famine in the region in 2008 due to drought.
Famine is defined as when acute malnutrition exceeds
30 percent of the population and the deaths exceed two people per 10,000 each day, among other criteria.
Rebels blame the government for violating two ceasefires agreed earlier this year and for driving the nation to disaster. The government accuses the rebels of sparking the conflict. “It is of course the rebels to blame, they are now in flagrant violation of the cessation of hostilities,” Information Minister Michael Makuei told Reuters in Juba, adding that only three of the 10
South Sudanese states would be affected.
Both sides have accused the other of violating two ceasefire deals - one in January and another in May.
The blame game holds little significance for Jared
Tut. He fled Leer town after government troops attacked early in the year. He is now lying in an MSF-run hospital after diving into a river and being bitten by a crocodile.
“My house near the market was burned down (in the fighting) and I still cannot find my wife and child,” he said in hospital. — Reuters
LONDON: Mazher Mahmood, a British journalist known for his undercover work posing as a “fake sheikh”, was suspended by Rupert Murdoch’s Sun newspaper yesterday after the collapse of a celebrity trial in which he was a main witness.
His suspension comes just weeks after the editor and senior journalists from a now-defunct Murdoch tabloid were jailed for their part in a phone-hacking scandal which led to demands for action over the “dark arts” of Britain’s aggressive tabloid press.
Mahmood, well-known for revealing wrongdoing amongst politicians, celebrities and even royalty, had given evidence in the trial of Tulisa Contostavlos, a former judge on the British version of the “X Factor” TV talent show.
She had denied being involved in the supply of drugs to Mahmood while he posed as a film producer, but her trial collapsed on Monday, with the judge saying he suspected the reporter had lied to the court.
“The Sun, of course, takes the judge’s remarks very seriously. Mr Mahmood has been suspended pending an immediate internal investigation,” a spokesman for the newspaper said.
Mahmood previously worked for Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid which the media mogul was forced to shut in 2011 when it was disclosed journalists had hacked voicemails on mobile phones of thousands of people, including that belonging to a murdered schoolgirl, to find exclusive stories.
That led to a public inquiry into press ethics and demands for reform. Earlier this month, the paper’s former editor Andy Coulson and two other senior journalists were jailed for the hacking scandal following an eight month trial.
Rebekah Brooks, who later ran Murdoch’s British newspaper arm now called News UK, was acquitted of involvement, often cited Mahmood’s work during her defence as examples of good investigative journalism.
Mahmood carried out the inquiry which led to the
2011 conviction of three Pakistani cricketers for taking bribes to fix incidents in a match against England. In his most famous exclusive in 2001, he posed as an Arab sheikh to dupe Sophie, Countess of Wessex, who is married to Queen Elizabeth’s youngest son Prince Edward, into making indiscreet comments about other members of the royal family and senior politicians.
Contostavlos, who found fame in Britain as a singer with the hip-hop act N-Dubz, said his “entrapment” tactics should be outlawed.
“We have now succeeded in exposing the real culprit and most importantly the real liar,” she said outside
London’s Southwark Crown Court.
“I urge both police and News UK to investigate
Mazher Mahmood and his team and to put an end to his deceit in pursuit of sensational stories for commercial gain.”
Despite suspending Mahmood, the paper said it stood by the way in which the story was investigated.
“We are very disappointed with this outcome, but do believe the original investigation was conducted within the bounds of the law and the industry’s code,” its spokesman said. — Reuters
LES FLANADES: People walk, yesterday, in Sarcelles, a northern Paris suburb, near a restaurant of a shopping center in Les Flanades neighborhood, damaged on Sunday after a rally against Israel’s Gaza offensive descended into violence pitting an angry pro-
Palestinian crowd against local Jewish businesses. — AFP
BUDAPEST: A photo of Jewish child victims and a speech of Hungarian President Janos Ader made in
Auswitz in 2014, are seen in front of a monument commemorating victims of the country’s occupation by Nazi Germany at the Freedom square in Budapest yesterday. The government says the structure — which will depict Hungary as an angel being attacked by a German eagle — will commemorate all the victims of the country’s occupation by Nazi Germany. — AFP
BERLIN/ANKARA: Turkey’s peace process with
Kurdish militants will go on whether or not Tayyip
Erdogan wins the presidency in August, his pro-
Kurdish rival said, but he declined to reveal whether he would back the prime minister in the event of a second-round run-off.
Selahattin Demirtas, the presidential candidate for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), is running a distant third in the polls. He left unclear which of the leading candidates he might support.
Support from Kurds, who make up a fifth of the population, could be key to Erdogan’s securing the absolute majority he needs in the first round of the presidential election on Aug. 10, or equally important in the event of a run-off two weeks later.
Erdogan has done more than any previous Turkish leader to advance Kurdish rights, and he is hoping to benefit from Kurdish support as a result, in the country’s first direct election for the presidency.
Under his leadership, Turkey began peace talks with jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan in 2012, in an effort to end a 30-year-old insurgency that has killed 40,000 people. But Demirtas said the future of the peace process did not hinge on Erdogan alone.
“The negotiation process is not just a process dependent on Erdogan,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview from the western German city of Cologne, where he addressed Turkish citizens over the weekend.
“If I was president, I would make better progress.
( The main opposition presidential candidate)
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has said he does not oppose dialogue either,” he said. Support for the HDP is below
10 percent in opinion polls, suggesting a significant proportion of Turkey’s Kurds might vote for Erdogan, but the party is aiming to broaden its appeal beyond its Kurdish roots.
Sister party of the recently renamed Democratic
Regions Party (DBP), which dominates much of the mainly Kurdish southeast, the HDP was formed late last year to contest mayoral elections elsewhere in Turkey, where Kurds are in a minority.
Demirtas, a 41-year-old human rights lawyer, is significantly younger than either Erdogan, 60, or
Ihsanoglu, 70, a former head of the Organisation of
Islamic Cooperation (OIC) who is running on the ticket of the main secularist opposition Republican People’s
Party (CHP).
Despite widespread anti-government protests and a corruption scandal during his past term as prime minister, Erdogan still enjoys huge support and is widely expected to win the presidency.
Two polls last month suggested a comfortable victory in the first round on Aug. 10, putting Erdogan on
55-56 percent, a 20-point lead over Ihsanoglu. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent in the first round, a runoff vote will be held on Aug. 24. The scale of support for Erdogan has left Turkey’s disparate opposition trying to work out what alliances might dent him.
Demirtas declined to give a percentage of the vote the
HDP was targeting, or to say whom it might back in a second round. To do so, he said, “would not be in the spirit of a truly free election.” — Reuters
SARCELLES: A French rally against the deadly
Israeli offensive in Gaza once again descended into chaos yesterday as protesters looted shops and riot police lobbed tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowds. The demonstration in the northern Paris suburb of Sarcelles is the third to have deteriorated in the space of eight days in a country that counts the largest Muslim population in western Europe and a huge Jewish community.
A decision by authorities to ban protests in areas deemed too sensitive has also garnered controversy as they took place anyway and turned violent, while authorised ones elsewhere in the country-as well as in other cities across
Europe-were peaceful.
From Vienna to Stockholm and on to
Amsterdam, thousands rallied on Sunday to oppose Israel’s offensive, which has left more than 400 Palestinians and 20 Israelis dead.Though patrolled by police, few incidents were reported in those demonstrations. “We’re not anti-Semites, we’re here for the people. We call on Europeans and Americans to finally do something,” organisers of the 11,000-strong march in Vienna said.
But in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles-sometimes nicknamed “little Jerusalem” for its large community of Sephardic Jews-a banned but orderly demonstration of several hundred descended into chaos when dozens of youthsome of them masked-set fire to bins and lit firecrackers and smoke bombs. Looters then began raiding shops, wrecking a funeral home and destroying its front window as several protesters shouted: “F... Israel!”.
Some commentators in France, and the leftwing party which helped organise Saturday’s march, railed against the ban, particularly as other protests in France and Europe took place without incident.
On Saturday, parts of central London were brought to a standstill as thousands marched against the Israeli offensive.
London saw both pro- and anti-Israel rallies on Sunday, but police kept demonstrators at a distance and no arrests were made.
Some 11,000 marched in central Vienna on
Sunday to protest “the murder and oppression in
Palestine”. “We’re not anti-Semites, we’re here for the people. We call on Europeans and Americans to finally do something,” the organisers said at the start of the march. Smaller protests of 500 to
600 people were also held in the Austrian cities of Graz and Linz. In Amsterdam, they were some
3,000 marchers carrying signs including “Stop the war” and “Israel war criminals,” an AFP correspondent said. “It just has to stop. Children are being killed and they are innocent,” said Ekrem
Kara, 32, wearing a traditional Palestinian black and white keffiyeh scarf. In Stockholm about
1,000 people protested.
Another Paris rally
France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls defended the decision to stop the Paris protest, saying the violence that unfolded “justifies all the more the brave choice by the interior ministry to ban a demonstration.”
Speaking as he commemorated the anniversary of the Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup-a mass arrest of
Jews in Paris on July 16 and 17, 1942 — Valls warned of “a new form of anti-Semitism”.
He said it was spreading “on the Internet, on networks, in working class areas, among young people who are often aimless, who have no awareness of history, who hide their ‘hatred of the Jews’ behind the facade of anti-Zionism and behind hatred of the Israeli state.” President
Francois Hollande also hit out at anti-Semitism and racism Sunday, saying it would not be tolerated. “The Republic is about being able to live together, to look at our history and at the same time to always be ready to defend democratic values, not to be influenced by arguments that are too far away from here to be imported, not to be swept away by global shock waves,” he said. Meanwhile, former French prime minister and leading right-wing politician Alain Juppe criticised the Israeli offensive, which he said was seeking to destroy Hamas but “mostly what we see is terrorised families caught in the trap of the
Tsahal’s bombardments”. On his blog, Juppe said he “does not understand the Israeli government’s strategy”, and called for an immediate truce. — AFP
Access to synagogue blocked
Others raided a drugstore which caught fire.
Young girls grabbed baby milk inside. “We’re going to get the cash register,” one person shouted, his voice drowned by the noise of a police helicopter overhead and the alarm of a nearby pizzeria.
Security forces then fired rubber bullets in the direction of the looters. Not far away, riot police blocked access to the local synagogue, where a group of young men stood armed with clubs and iron bars-one of them flying an Israeli flag. The deadly bombing of Gaza has brought to light deep divides within French society-a
Jewish community increasingly concerned over anti-Semitism, a growing radical Islamic fringe, and far-left activists whose opposition to Israeli policies sometimes verges on anti-Semitism.
The violence in Sarcelles closely mirrored that of a rally Saturday in a northern district of Paris, when a protest that began peacefully spiralled out of control, leading to clashes with riot police and dozens of arrests.
Both rallies had been banned out of fear of unrest and amid concern that the Jewish community would be targeted after protesters last weekend tried to storm two synagogues in the
French capital.
ISTANBUL: Turkey’s state television channel stopped broadcasting an ambitious TV drama series about the country’s spy agency following warnings from police about a possible jihadist threat, local media reported yesterday.
TRT stopped airing the “Kizilelma” (“The
Red Apple”) just three weeks after Turkish national police urged the company to take measures against the threats the drama could pose by drawing the wrath of Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants, the Milliyet daily reported on its website.
In a memo titled “hostility toward ISIL in
Turkish dramas” and dated April 28, the police said ISIL militants were represented in
Kizilelma as a gang slaughtering and terrorising people and were being “humiliated”, according to Milliyet.
The show, which made its debut in
January amid great fanfare and chronicled the missions of a Turkish spy agency in Syria,
Iran, Iraq, was taken off air in May with the official reason “low ratings”.
It came three weeks before ISIL militants stormed Turkey’s consulate in Mosul and abducted 49 Turkish citizens as they captured swathes of northern Iraq.
The show had also came under fire for making discriminatory remarks about the country’s minority Alevi community, which follows a moderate form of Islam.
Osman Sinav, who also directed Turkish hit action series “Kurtlar Vadisi” (“Valley of the
Wolves”), said in a May interview that the show reflected Turkey’s ambitions to become a regional leader.
“In this region, there is a conflict between spy agencies. Turkey is now a country with aims and objectives. Turkey will position itself in line with these aims,” he said.
Turkey, which backs the uprising against
President Bashar al-Assad, has repeatedly denied allegations that it is shipping arms to rebels or backing Al-Qaeda linked groups in
Syria.
Ankara’s alarm has reached new heights after ISIL-which has changed its name to
Islamic State and which Turkey included on its list of terrorist organisations in Junedeclared a “caliphate” straddling Turkey’s neighbours Iraq and Syria. — AFP

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan supreme court directed
Najam Sethi yesterday to continue as the country’s cricket board chief for one week before an acting
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman can be appointed to oversee new elections. Pakistani cricket has been embroiled in administrative turmoil for more than a year with three chairmen taking the helm in the past seven months.
A two-member bench of the supreme court heard the case for five hours in Lahore on Monday after which judges Saqib Nisar and Anwar Zaheer
Jamali directed the government to appoint an interim PCB chairman within seven days. The temporary chief will also act as election commissioner.”The government will now follow the directions of the supreme court and will also implement the new constitution of the PCB,” Irfanullah Khan, a government legal adviser said. Sethi told the court that he would not be contesting the elections but said he could be part of the new governing board, which will be announced later.
The supreme court has also asked the government to implement a new cricket board constitution.
Khan said the supreme court also set aside an
Islamabad High Court order to reinstate Zaka Ashraf as PCB chairman. The power tussle at the top of the
PCB started in May 2013 soon after Ashraf became the first elected chairman of the PCB.
Ashraf was suspended by the Islamabad High
Court after a petition was filed by a former official of the Rawalpindi Cricket Association. The court described his election process as “polluted.”
The government appointed Sethi as interim PCB chairman before the IHC asked the country’s election commission to conduct elections while overruling all the decisions taken by Sethi.
But Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is also patron of the PCB, dissolved the governing board and appointed a five-member management committee that later elected Sethi as PCB chairman.
But Ashraf continued to resist and he was twice reinstated by the IHC this year before being replaced by Sethi within days. Earlier this month, the government appointed a retired judge of the supreme court as interim PCB chairman, who will also act as election commissioner, but a day later the supreme court reinstated Sethi. — AP
LUCKNOW: Armed bandits are threatening villagers with death unless they deliver 35 buckets of water each day in northern India, where water is scarce thanks to an ongoing drought and a poor supply.
So far, 28 villages have been obeying the order, taking turns to deliver what the bandits are calling a daily
“water tax,” police said.
“Water itself is very scarce in this region. Villagers can hardly meet their demand,” officer Suresh Kumar
Singh said by telephone from Banda, a city on the southern border of central Uttar Pradesh state and caught within what is known in India as bandit country.
Though the number of bandits has declined drastically in recent decades, India’s bandit tradition, which began more than 800 years ago when emperors still ruled, has continued in the hard-toreach forests and mountains of the Bundelkhand region.
The area is cut off from supply lines, leaving the bandits, reliant on surrounding villages. Since 2007, it has been starved for rain, with the yearly monsoon bringing only half the usual number of 52 rainy days a year.
“A few bandits are still active in the ravines,” Singh said. “They ask for water, food and shelter from the villages.” But while the bandits were once admired as caste warlords with a touch of Robin Hood about them, as they fought to protest feudal orders or to avenge personal wrongs, today’s bandits are considered mostly opportunistic thugs seeking personal wealth and power.
Small lakes and streams have dried up, and the bandits are reluctant to risk running into police by leaving the area to fetch water supplies. India has set a
$4,200 reward for information leading to the gang leader’s arrest on charges of murder, looting and kidnapping. — AP
KABUL: Afghan girls hold their certificates during their graduation ceremony at the Pir Massoudia Islamic madrassa in Kandahar province south of Kabul, Afghanistan, yesterday. About 50 boys and girls have graduated yesterday from the Pir Massoudia madrassa which took them two and a half years to finish up their Islamic studies at the madrassa. — AP
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu devotees smash coconuts on the ground during the Vel Hinduism festival in Colombo yesterday. Ethnic Tamils, who are mainly followers of Hinduism, are the main minority community in the island which is emerging from nearly four decades of ethnic conflict which had claimed up to 100,000 lives. — AFP
BANGALORE: Indian police beat back angry protesters who attempted to storm the premises of a top Bangalore school where a sixyear-old girl was allegedly raped, an officer said yesterday.
Several hundred activists from a student group gathered outside the school in the southern city to demand action against management whom they accuse of initially trying to hush up the case.
“We resorted to caning the activists to bring the situation under control, as some of them were attempting to pull down barricades and barge into the school premises,” a police official told AFP outside Vibgyor High
School.
Hundreds of enraged parents have held a series of protests in Bangalore since the alleged incident was revealed last week, as
India struggles to rebuild its battered reputation over levels of sexual violence in the country.
Police on Sunday arrested a 30-year-old roller-skating instructor who was expected to appear in a local court later over the attack.
Police seized a laptop containing images of children being raped from the instructor, who had worked at the school since 2011, the city’s police commissioner, Raghavendra Auradkar, told reporters.
“The videos were downloaded from porn sites through the Internet,” Auradkar said late on Sunday.
“He is married and has a three-year-old child too. We will produce him in the local court on Monday and seek his custody for further interrogation and investigation,”
Auradkar said.
India is especially sensitive to cases of sexual violence after the 2012 fatal gang-rape of a student on a moving bus in New Delhi, which led to a public outcry and new tougher laws to deter rapists.
Police said the girl had complained of the
July 2 attack to a teacher at the school, but her parents only learned of the incident a week later when she shared details with them.
The child was allegedly assaulted in a classroom at the top fee -paying institution, favoured by local politicians and business leaders.
The instructor apparently supervised rollerskating activities as part of the sports programme at the school, which has closed its doors since the uproar.
Monday’s protestors chanted slogans and submitted a letter demanding improved student safety. A school official, under security escort, assured the crowd that changes were being made. — AFP
TAIPEI: Taiwanese prosecutors yesterday said they were seeking the death penalty for a man accused of killing four people and wounding nearly two dozen others in a stabbing spree on the Taipei subway that shocked the island.
Cheng Chieh, a 21-year-old college student, was charged with four accounts of murder and 22 accounts of attempted murder for the fatal attack on May 21, the first of its kind on the city’s subway system since it began operating in 1996.
“The accused’s actions fit the definition of mass murders, his means were ruthless and inhuman, and caused irreparable harm to the victims and their families. We demand the court sentence him to death,” prosecutors said in a statement.
The incident shocked Taiwan, otherwise proud of its low levels of violent crime, and resulted in several minor injuries as edgy commuters fled trains over false alarms in the following week.
Cheng’s parents had asked for him to be sentenced to death to help ease the pain inflicted on the victims and their families, calling their son’s ac tions
“unforgivable”.
Executions are carried out in Taiwan by a single shot to the heart from the back-or, if the prisoner agrees to donate his organs, a bullet to the back of the head. Prosecutors said psychological evaluations have shown that Cheng was not in a state of mental disorder when he committed the crime, and that he is fit to stand trial.
They described him as “anti-society, narcissistic, immature and pessimistic”.
In elementary school, he vowed to “kill people in revenge” after having trouble with classmates, they said. Local media said he had been obsessed with online killing games and had written horror stories since high school.
Cheng’s parents spoke to reporters on
May 27 at the subway station outside
Taipei where the killings took place.
Although he is our child, the crime he committed is unforgivable,” Cheng’s sobbing father said.
“I think he should be sentenced to death... he should face it himself. Only by so doing may the pains inflicted on the victims and the wounded and their families be slightly eased.”
He urged judges to pass sentence on his son as soon as possible. “We hope
Cheng Chieh can act in a correct manner during his next life,” he added.
Security has been strengthened on the metro, which transports around 1.85
million people a day.
The Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation is seeking a compensation of Tw$20.61
million ($687,000) from Cheng for operational losses after it lost around 945,000 passengers in the 10 days following the attack. — AFP
KABUL: A suicide bomber targeted a police convoy in
Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province yesterday, killing two people, a policeman and a civilian, a local official said.
The attack took place in the Helmand provincial capital of Lashk ar Gah, said Omar Zwak, the spokesman for the provincial governor. He said the explosion also wounded 15 people - eight policemen and seven civilians. The police convoy was en route to the district of Sangin for an operation there, he added.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Taleban frequently use roadside bombs and suicide attacks against Afghan and NATO forces and government offices in the country.
Helmand is one of the most dangerous and insecure of the country’s provinces. Last month, hundreds of Taleban insurgents attacked several Afghan security checkpoints in Sangin district. After a week of intensive battles, more than 100 people were killed and dozens were displaced from their homes. The government subsequently deployed nearly 2,000 reinforcements there.
Insurgents also targeted Afghan security forces in overnight attacks. In northern Afghanistan, Taliban fighters ambushed a local police checkpoint in the
Qaysar district of Faryab province, an official said.
At least eight local policemen and 27 Taliban fighters were killed in the firefight that ensued, according to the provincial governor, Mohamadullha Batash.
In southern Uruzgan province, four Afghan policemen were shot to death at a checkpoint in Shahid
Asass district, said Dost Mohammad Nayuib, spokesman for the Uruzgan governor. The attackers were two other policemen from the same unit who fled the scene, said Nayuib. Another policeman was wounded in the attack, he added. — AP
BEIJING: China does not seek to fill a void left in Afghanistan by the withdrawal of US troops but will play a “huge” commercial role in helping rebuild the country, a newly appointed Chinese special envoy said yesterday.
China, which is connected to Afghanistan by a narrow, almost impassable mountain corridor, has been quietly preparing for more responsibility there after the bulk of
US-led troops pull out by the end of this year.
Some Western officials have said China is likely to emerge as a strategic player in
Afghanistan but Sun Yuxi, who was appointed special representative to the country on
Friday, said China’s involvement would remain largely commercial.
“This idea about filling a void after the withdrawal of troops, I think it doesn’t exist,”
Sun told reporters in Beijing before heading to Afghanistan today for talks.
Some Western officials have criticised
China for piggy-backing off the US-led security operation that has eliminated an al
Qaeda enclave on China’s door-step and opened up Afghanistan’s resources to international exploitation.
China’s commitment to Afghan reconstruction since the ouster of a hardline
Islamist regime in 2001 has been a relatively paltry $250 million and its security support has been mostly limited to counter-narcotics training.
But a consortium of Chinese investors is involved in a landmark $3 billion deal to produce copper in Afghanistan although work on the deposit, among the world’s largest, has been largely halted by insurgent attacks.
Sun said China looked forward to much more economic involvement which he said was essential for stability. “In the long-term, an even greater portion of our cooperation and participation in economic rebuilding will be carried out in a commercial way. This amount will be huge,” he said.
“Preserving Afghanistan’s stability is not a matter of adding troops but of helping
Afghanistan to quickly rebuild. We hope to see a rapid decrease in weaponry and a rapid increase in wealth.”
‘Highlights’
Sun, a veteran diplomat with experience of Afghanistan since the late 1970s, said US-
China cooperation on Afghanistan had been one of the “very bright highlights” in ties between the powers, whose relations are often testy.
He welcomed the withdrawal of the bulk of US-led troops and also welcomed the expected maintenance of a small, residual
US force.
“The new Afghan government should mainly be responsible for security. The
United States is preparing to withdraw, and we welcome that,” he said.
“We also welcome the United States retaining some military bases to observe for a time and cooperate to help the Afghan people and government fight terrorism.”
A major worry for China is that ethnic
Uighur separatist militants from its western
Xinjiang region will take advantage if
Afghanistan again descends into chaos.
Uighur fighters are believed to be based in militant strongholds in ungoverned stretches of the Afghan-Pakistani border.
Sun said he did not know how many were there but there had been hundreds before the US invasion of Afghanistan to oust the
Taleban in 2001. — Reuters

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
BEIJING: Police in eastern China clashed in the middle of the night with Christian protesters massed around their church yesterday, but failed to carry out a government order to remove a cross from the building, according to witnesses and online accounts.
Several people were injured in the two-hour melee. Dozens of churches in the wealthy province of Zhejiang have received government notices in the past few weeks demanding the demolition of church buildings or removal of crosses in what the government says is a campaign aimed at illegal structures, the US-based
Christian group ChinaAid says.
Rights groups and Christians say it amounts to religious persecution, which ignores the protection of religious freedom in China’s constitution.
In the latest move, police tried to remove a cross from a church in
Pingyang county close to Wenzhou city.
But the congregation surrounded the church and prevented police from getting close, two witnesses said.
“We did not want them to get close, so we joined up to stop them getting in, but they came at us and beat us,” one of the protesters, who gave his family name as Zhang, told Reuters by telephone, putting the number of police at about
500. Zhang said police had been unable to remove the cross, but had locked down the site.
Another witness, who asked not to be identified, said the clashes had started at
2 a.m. and went on for two hours. She knew of at least five people who needed hospital treatment.
“We are Christians and are not looking for trouble, and if the government comes to us with reasonable requests, we will not oppose it. But using force on us at 2 am is unacceptable and we cannot understand why they are doing it,” she added.
Pictures on the Twitter-like microblogging site Weibo and mobile messaging app WeChat showed protesters fighting with police. Several people had bloodied faces.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the veracity of the pictures and many were swiftly removed by government censors. An official who answered the telephone at the Pingyang government said he did “not understand the situation” and declined further comment.
Reuters was unable to reach Pingyang police. Zhejiang sits on the coast to the south of Shanghai and has long been known as a hub of private enterprise.
China has about 65 million Christians, split between those who worship at state-sanctioned churches and those who belong to underground churches.
Rights groups frequently accuse China of not respecting freedom of religion, charges Beijing denies.
About 90,000 “mass incidents” - a euphemism for protests - occur each year in China, triggered by corruption, pollution, illegal land grabs and other grievances. — Reuters
NEW YORK: Liu Jieyi, China’s Ambassador to the United Nations, leaves the
Security Council chambers yesterday at UN headquarters in New York after an emergency closed door meeting of the Security Council about the situation in
Ukraine and Gaza. — AFP
MANILA: Three Philippine politicians yesterday threw their weight behind a bid to impeach President
Benigno Aquino after the top court ruled his economic stimulus fund was illegal, although his control of the legislature is likely to thwart the attempt.
Two citizens’ groups filed a complaint against Aquino a week before Congress reopens for its second regular session, accusing him of betraying the public trust and violating the constitution.
“President Aquino cannot invoke or feign good faith or regularity of his acts since he created, implemented and defended the
Disbursement Allocation Program and all unconstitutional acts under it,” they said.
The complaint refers to a 145billion-peso ($3.34-billion) economic stimulus fund to boost public spending created by Aquino in
2011. But some of the money went to allies in Congress, a constitutional violation.
Yesterday’s case is the second move to impeach Aquino after a complaint last week by a former congressman, as record low popularity ratings in the two most recent independent opinion polls leave
COTABATO: Muslim guerrillas opposed to peace talks with the Philippine government tried to overrun army outposts in the strifetorn south yesterday, killing one soldier and wounding a number of civilians, the military said.
Three rebels of the Bangsamoro Islamic
Freedom Fighters (BIFF) group were also killed following the attack on Mindanao island, said Colonel Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the military unit in the area.
The army deployed helicopter gunships to send the guerrillas fleeing following the audacious midnight attack which left one soldier dead, a separate military statement said.
Hermoso said two soldiers and an unknown number of civilians were also wounded. He said such an attack was expected after the BIFF began instigating the local public against the military, accusing soldiers of kidnapping a Muslim father and son.
“They resorted to absurd propaganda to discredit the military,” he said, adding that the military was alert for more such raids.
“ The BIFF is using radio and the social media for its propaganda. These are baseless allegations.”
BIFF spokesman Abu Misry Mama said the assault was in retaliation for the alleged kidnapping on July 3. The BIFF split from the main Muslim rebel group, the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), in 2008.
The 10,000-strong MILF has entered into a ceasefire and peace talks with the government for the creation of an autonomous region for Muslim-dominated areas in the south.
However the BIFF, which is believed to have just a few hundred fighters, has rejected the negotiations and still demands a separate Islamic state in the southern
Philippines. It has previously launched attacks in Mindanao in efforts to disrupt the peace efforts.
In late-January, the military launched an offensive on BIFF strongholds, overrunning their bases and killing at least 53 of their fighters. Various Muslim armed groups including the MILF have taken part in a rebellion in the southern Philippines since the 1970s aimed at winning independence or autonomy for the country ’s Muslim minority in Mindanao, which they regard as their ancestral homeland.
About 150,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the conflict. —AFP the president looking vulnerable.
However, Aquino has unprecedented control of both houses of
Congress. His opponents need the votes of 96 of the 290 members in order to impeach him. The upper house needs two-thirds of the 24 senators to remove him from office.
Congressmen Neri Colmenares,
Fernando Hicap and Carlos Zarate endorsed yesterday’s complaint, which now goes to the House
Committee on Justice to decide whether it has substance.
Even if the move is not ultimately successful, the lengthy impeachment process will consume a lot of lawmakers’ time in weighing its merits and perhaps delaying other key legislation.
Edwin Lacierda, the president’s spokesman, declined to comment on the issue, leaving the president’s allies in Congress to decide on the complaint.
“This is a valid complaint, we will take this up,” said Niel Tupas, head of the justice panel in the lower house of Congress and a close ally of the president. “At the end of the day, it will be a numbers game because this is a purely political process.”
On July 1, the top court ruled
MANILA: File photo shows Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, talks to World Bank President Dr. Jim Yong Kim during their meeting.
Twenty-eight people, including prominent activists and a retired
Catholic bishop, filed an impeachment complaint yesterday, against
Aquino III. — AP
Aquino’s administration had violated the constitution when it collected “savings” from executive offices and distributed them to lawmakers to fund projects not approved in the budget.
Yesterday, cour t employees wore black and red shirts in protest after Aquino, the son of former president and democrac y icon
Corazon Aquino, warned top court judges of a possible constitutional crisis if they did not reverse their decision in his favour. —Reuters
PHNOM PENH: Cambodia’s prime minister and the leader of the opposition are set for their first face-to-face talks for nearly a year today, their parties have said, in a bid to jolt the kingdom from its political stasis.
The opposition has boycotted parliament since elections last July, accusing the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) of vote -rigging and calling for electoral reforms before fresh polls.
Strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen will meet with Sam Rainsy, leader of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party
(CNRP), on Tuesday, according to a statement released by the two par ties late
Sunday.
It will be their first meeting since
September last year. Rainsy cut short an overseas trip to return to Cambodia on
Saturday amid an escalating crackdown on his party, including the arrest of eight CNRP politicians last week on insurrection charges.
Analysts say the charges may have been an attempt by the ruling party to prod the opposition into ending its boycott.
“A top-level meeting between both parties leaders” was scheduled for today morning, according to the statement which added that the talks would try “to find a common political resolution”.
Rainsy has previously called for new polls before the February 2018 date offered by Hun Sen. In a message posted on his
Facebook page, Rainsy labelled Tuesday’s meeting as “final talks”. Political analyst
Chea Vannath said the meeting raised hopes of a “breakthrough” with the anniversary of the hotly disputed election looming.
“Perhaps, they (Hun Sen and Rainsy) are now willing (to resolve) problem, that’s why there are talks tomorrow,” she said.
Hun Sen, 61, who has been in power for nearly three decades, is regularly criticised by campaigners for ignoring human rights and crushing dissent. Rights groups have denounced the “trumped-up” insurrection charges against the opposition politicians, who could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
The arrests are linked to a violent demonstration today last week against the closure of Phnom Penh’s “Freedom
Pa r k ” - t h e c a p i t a l ’s m a i n d e s i gn a te d protest site. —AFP
PHNOM PENH: A Cambodian demonstrator shouts slogans during a protest in Phnom Penh yesterday. Cambodian Protesters demanded
Vietnam to recognise that Kampuchea Krom, which is now a part of Vietnam, is Cambodia’s former territory. — AFP
MANILA: A Filipino construction worker kidnapped by militia men in Libya has been beheaded by his captors, becoming the first
Filipino casualty in the renewed violence in the North African state, the Philippine government said. Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said the Filipino worker was kidnapped on July 15. He was subsequently beheaded and his decomposed body was found Sunday in a hospital in
Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city.
“The vehicle he was riding in was stopped in a checkpoint. There were three of them - a
Libyan a Pakistani and a Filipino and he was allegedly singled out because he was non-
Muslim,” Jose said.
The kidnappers initially demanded a
$160,000-dollar ransom from the worker’s employers. But the abductors called again on
Sunday, pointing them to the Benghazi hospital. Jose said it was possible the Filipino was already dead while the kidnappers were negotiating for ransom.
His family has requested that worker’s name not be released. Libya is experiencing its worst violence since Moammar Gadhafi’s regime was ousted in 2011. Rival militias, largely made up of former rebels, have been fighting for control and sometimes engaged in targeted killings. The Philippine government is currently enforcing the mass evacuation of around 13,000 Filipinos there due to the increasing violence and lawlessness, the closure of major airports, and the heightened threat to safety, particularly in Benghazi. “We are calling for total evacuation,” Jose added.
The government has identified Egypt or
Tunisia as exit routes for the Filipinos. —AP
WASHINGTON: China has sent a spy ship to international waters off Hawaii during a giant
US-led naval exercise involving 22 countries, even though Beijing is participating in the drills for the first time this year, the US Navy said yesterday.
The Navy played down any US intelligence risk associated with the proximity of the
Chinese surveillance vessel and noted that
China also sent a similar ship to monitor the last Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise two years ago.
“We’ve taken all necessary precautions to protect our critical information,” said Captain
Darryn James, chief spokesman of the US
Pacific Fleet. “We expect this ship will remain outside of US territorial seas and not operate in a manner that disrupts the ongoing Rim of the Pacific maritime exercise.”
China’s Defence Ministry, in a statement faxed to Reuters, said its naval vessels had the right under international law to operate “in waters outside of other country’s territorial waters”. “China respects the rights granted under international law to relevant littoral states, and hopes that relevant countries can respect the legal rights Chinese ships have,” it said, without elaborating.
US officials hope China’s participation in
RIMPAC helps avert misunderstandings on the high seas but analysts long cautioned the maneuvers may ultimately help Beijing strengthen its growing naval capability by observing the forces of the United States and its allies.
Still, the United States also conducts surveillance operations in international waters and airspace and the Navy did not voice protest over the appearance of the Chinese vessel, described as a Chinese Navy auxiliary general intelligence ship.
Even though the vessel was inside
America’s 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone, it was operating within international law, James said. Still, James said he was unaware of any participant doing something similar since the drills began in 1971.
“To my knowledge, this is the first time a nation has ever sent a surveillance ship near
Hawaii while also having invited ships participating in the RIMPAC exercise,” James said.
The Chinese ships participating in the drills are missile destroyer Haikou, missile frigate
Yueyang, supply ship Qiandaohu and hospital ship Peace Ark. Chinese forces include two helicopters, a commando unit and a diving unit, a total 1,100 personnel.
The exercises come at a time when tensions are high between Beijing and U.S. allies such as Japan and the Philippines over China’s pressing of territorial claims in the South and
East China Seas.
They also come after a dispute between
China and Vietnam that led to one of the worst breakdowns in ties since they fought a brief war in 1979. —Reuters

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
BEIJING: China’s Communist Party is pushing ideological or thodoxy and demanding government officials reconfirm their faith in “socialism with
Chinese” characteristics, a newspaper with close ties to the party reported yesterday.
A recent circular from the ruling party’s powerful Organisation Department said that officials must be prevented from “being disoriented and losing themselves” to the effect of Western ideals, the Global Times tabloid reported. Such Western ideals included constitutional democracy, universal values and civil society, the report said, though it added that other influences such as superstition and religion should also be guarded against.
According to the report, the circular also requires Communist Party schools and institutes to emphasise traditional
Chinese culture in their teaching, stressing that officials must protect China’s spiritual independence and shun becoming a “yes-man for Western moral values”. The report also noted that officials at the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, the top state-run think tank, said earlier in July that its main standards for evaluating officials and researchers are ideology and political discipline.
That came after they received a warning from the Central Commission for
Discipline Inspection, the party enforcement organ. The huge party, which was founded 93 years ago and has ruled
China since 1949, periodically goes through ideological spasms, often when it is in the midst of intense internal political disputes or leaders feel China is under threat. Chinese President Xi
Jinping, party general secretary since
November 2012, has vowed to restore
China to greatness, and is also simultaneously pushing a much-publicised campaign to cleanse the party of corruption. The Global Times quoted a Beijingbased professor of political science as saying that China should set up its own system of core values to resist Western values.
“The present problem is not a result of the penetration of Western ideology,” said the professor, who was not named.
The party, the largest in the world, gained 1.56 million members last year, it announced last month, though growth in membership slowed from 2012.
The party had 86.7 million members at the end of 2013, the Organisation
Department said-more than the entire population of Germany.
The 1.8 percent year-on-year increase was slower than the 3.1 percent gain in
2012, with the party attributing the decrease to new controls implemented in order to “develop the quality of party members”. —AFP
TSOUYING: A group of frogmen, a unit from Taiwan’s elite Marines, stand before foreign journalists visiting the naval Tsouying base yesterday. Taiwan has kept moderning its armed forces despite the fast warming ties between Taiwan and its former rival China. —AFP
SEOUL: North Korea’s top military body yesterday defended its recent missile tests as a legitimate exercise in self-defence, and said South
Korean and US charges of provocation were malicious and hypocritical.
The North has conducted half-a-dozen missile, rocket and heavy artillery tests over the past month, earning a verbal slap on the wrist from the UN Security Council.
The launches included a number of ballistic missile tests, which North Korea is banned from conducting under existing UN resolutions.
The National Defence Commission (NDC) said condemnation of the tests was absurd given the large-scale military drills the South Korean and
US forces conduct every year south of the border. The military allies carried out a joint naval exercise last week, and a separate two-day
“search and rescue” maritime drill kicked off yesterday with Japan also participating.
The response of Seoul and Washington was akin to a burglar rudely criticising the owner of the house he is trying to rob, an NDC spokesman said in a statement carried on the North’s official
KCNA news agency.
“The real provocations and threats made to the Korean peninsula are the whole gamut of
political and military moves being pushed forward by the US,” the spokesman said, citing the annual joint drills in South Korea.
“The more desperately the US and South
Korean authorities resort to gangster-like hostile acts, the more deadly retaliatory actions they will face,” the spokesman said, warning that any
North Korean response would come “like a bolt from the blue”. Pyongyang has been playing hawk and dove in recent weeks, mixing its tests with peace gestures that have been largely dismissed by Seoul. The two Koreas are currently trying to sort out logistics for the North’s participation in the Asian Games, which begin in
September in the South Korean city of Incheon.
Arrogance
Talks last week broke down with the North accusing the South of duplicity and arrogance, and threatening to boycott the event.
Despite the failure of the talks, North Korean state media on Sunday quoted leader Kim Jung-
Un voicing “great expectations” for the North’s athletes at the Asiad.
Meanwhile, Nor th Korea appears to be preparing for a large-scale landing operation involving all branches of its military in an apparent countermove against an upcoming Seoul-
Washington military drill, South Korea’s Yonhap
News Agency reported yesterday.
“Signs have been detected from about three weeks ago that North Korea has been preparing for a large-scale landing exercise near the western port city of Nampo,” a
South Korean government source was quoted as saying. “It appears to be a national-level consolidated drill bringing together its ground, naval and air force troops,” he added.
South Korea and the US are slated to hold an annual joint combat readiness exercise in
August to test and improve their joint defense posture against the North’s possible provocations. “Pyongyang has mobilized its weapons and other military equipment to the western coastal areas for the drill,” he said, noting that its continued artillery firing seems to be related to the planned exercise. “We’ve been taking a close look at the North’s preparation move. In the case of the exercise in Nampo in March last year,
North Korea carried out such a drill, and it appears that Pyongyang changed the plan in accordance with its leader Kim Jong-un’s schedule,” South Korean Defense Ministry spokesperson Kim Min-seok told a briefing. —Agencies

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Issues
By Abdel Hamid Zebari
C hristians in the Iraqi city of Mosul were wrongfooted by its new jihadist masters, who initially left them in relative peace but later forced them to flee for their lives. The turnaround in the attitude of
Islamic State insurgents who overran Mosul last month could indicate the group is now confident enough of its hold on Iraq’s second city to impose its extreme rules.
Analysts say the relative leniency the group had shown
Christians may have been a sop to allied Sunni militant groups with a less severe interpretation of Islam.
“They tricked us, because in the beginning they did not threaten us, but after they established themselves they began imposing their terrorist laws on us,” said
Father Emmanuel Kelou, who once headed a Mosul church but now ministers to displaced Christians in the town of Qaraqosh, around 30 km away. Some Christians even returned to their homes after IS insurgents first took control of the city in a blistering offensive on June
9, lulled into a false sense of security by the near absence of attacks on co-religionists who stayed behind.
Last Monday, two nuns and three orphans were released in Mosul after being held for 17 days, a development the city’s Chaldean Christian Patriarch Louis
Sako described as “a glimmer of hope, and a breakthrough” in relations with the city’s Islamist leaders. Yet, days later and just over a month after arriving, insurgents would circulate a statement demanding Mosul’s thousands of remaining Christians convert to Islam, pay a special tax or leave, triggering an exodus of people who had barely enough time to gather a few belongings.
On Friday the city’s mosques were blaring calls for all
Christians to depart by a deadline set for the following day, echoing the IS ultimatum seen by AFP, which said there would be “nothing but the sword” for those who did not comply. Observers say IS’s expulsion of Christians is in keeping with its proclaimed aim to create an Islamic caliphate in lands it has conquered, but that it may have waited to consolidate its hold on Mosul and other areas it had won before making a move. The group, which espouses a puritanical version of Sunni Islam, swept vast swathes of northern and western Iraq in the days following the fall of Mosul, and is currently battling Shiite-led government forces in Saddam Hussein’s former hometown of Tikrit and in western Anbar province.
Moderate Behaviour?
“My expectation is that occupying a city while a military offensive is still ongoing is a complex task, and weeding out the Christians is not necessarily the most important thing to do first,” said Jessica Lewis, a former
US army intelligence officer who is now research director at the Institute for the Study of War. Also, the
Christians’ treatment by IS, though harsh, was somewhat lenient for an organisation infamous for its mass executions, crucifixions and bloody videos and photos posted online. Shiite minorities in Iraq’s north have been treated far worse.
The group may be trying to avoid alienating other
Sunni militant factions who may not have any quarrel with Iraq’s Christians, who have been an integral part of the country’s social fabric for generations. Elements of
Saddam Hussein’s disbanded socialist Baath party, for example, which once counted Christian deputy premier
Tareq Aziz among their number, are fighting government forces alongside IS and could be a moderating influence on the Islamists.
“Considering the group’s behaviour elsewhere and in the past, their option for Christians to flee could be seen as a slight moderation,” said Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center. “The IS will always be a severe and absolutist organisation, but considering the dynamics within the wider Sunni uprising in Iraq, it makes sense that it will be making small compromises for the sake of avoiding engendering unnecessary social tensions.”
Still, it remains to be seen how far IS will go in imposing its austere brand of Islamic law now that it apparently feels more confident in areas that it controls. The brutal application of sharia law by Al Qaeda-allied militants in Iraq in 2006 and 2007 turned many of their allies into foes as Sunni tribes rose up to eject Islamists in their midst. “It will be interesting to see how far they will be able to push their social controls without eliciting a backlash from the local population and other insurgent groups,” said Fanar Haddad, a research fellow at the
Middle East Institute of the National University of
Singapore. —AFP
By E Eduardo Castillo
T he man-in-the-know nursed a latemorning beer at a bar near the Suchiate
River that separates Guatemala from
Mexico, and answered a question about his human smuggling business with a question:
“Do you think a coyote is going to say he’s a coyote?” Dressed as a migrant in shorts and sandals but speaking like an entrepreneur, he then described shipments of tens of thousands of dollars in human cargo from the slums of Honduras and highlands of
Guatemala to cities across the United States.
“It’s business,” he said, agreeing to speak to a reporter only if guaranteed anonymity.
“Sometimes, business is very good.”
Judging by the dramatic increase in the number of minors apprehended in the
United States in recent months, it seems the human smuggling business from Central
America is booming. The vast majority of migrants who enter the US illegally do so with the help of a network of smugglers known as “coyotes,” so named for the scavengers that prowl the border. It is a high-risk, often high-yield business estimated to generate $6.6 billion a year for smugglers along
Latin America’s routes to the US, according to a 2010 United Nations report. The migrants pay anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 each for the illegal journey across thousands of miles in the care of smuggling networks that in turn pay off government officials, gangs operating on trains and drug cartels controlling the routes north.
The exact profit is hard to calculate. One expert who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly put it at $3,500 to $4,000 per migrant if the journey goes as planned. Smuggling organizations may move from dozens to hundreds of migrants at a time. “We’re talking about a market where chaos reigns,” said
Rodolfo Casillas, a researcher at the Latin
American Faculty of Social Sciences in Mexico who studies migrant trafficking. The surge in unaccompanied minors and women with children migrating from Central America has put new attention on decades-old smuggling organizations.
More than 57,000 unaccompanied minors, the vast majority from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, were apprehended at the US border from October to June, according to the Border Patrol. That’s more than double the same period last year. The smugglers are profiting from the rising violence in gang-ridden cities of Central America, and the yearning of families to be reunited; parents often head north to find work and save money to send for their children, sometimes years later.
Many of the children and teenagers who travelled to the United States recently said they did so after hearing they would be allowed to stay. The US generally releases unaccompanied children to parents, relatives or family friends while their cases take years to wend through overwhelmed immigration courts.
That reality gave rise to rumors of a new law or amnesty for children.
Some say coyotes helped spread those rumors to drum up new business following a huge drop in Mexicans migrating to the
United States. Arrests of migrants on the southwestern US border dropped from about
1.1 million annually a decade ago to 415,000 last year. Immigrants’ rights advocates in the
US say they are seeing more children from
Central America who are not only fleeing gang recruitment and random violence, but who have been targeted themselves. “We deal with torture victims in the Congo and some of these kids have similar stories,” said
Judy London, a lawyer with the Public
Counsel’s Immigrants’ Rights Project in Los
Angeles. “Kidnappings on the way home from school, being held for ransom, sexual violence. We hadn’t seen the numbers of girls before.”
Service Business
Because of that, some smugglers say they are in the service business. “The most important thing is to help these people,” said another smuggler in Ixtepec, a town in the Mexican state of Oaxaca where many migrants board the northbound train known as “La Bestia,” or
The Beast. The smuggler goes by the name of
Antonio Martinez, which is most likely a pseudonym, though one that appears on an arrest record, he said. He wears Nike sport shoes, jeans and a pressed blue Oxford shirt, the two top buttons open to reveal a tattoo of Jesus
Christ on his left breast. After spending 12 years in US prisons for drug possession, he said, he converted to Christianity and fell into the coyote business. “The coyote is essential,” he said. “If you don’t have a compass, you can get lost.”
Martinez appears to be an independent contractor. He said he charges $2,500 for the trip from the Guatemalan border to the US border, where he gives Central American migrants fake Mexican identity cards and makes them learn the first stanza of the
Mexican national anthem before handing them off to another smuggler. Hopefully, if they are apprehended in the US, they’ll only be sent back to Mexico, where they can try again, Martinez said. Most smugglers charge far more, having raised their prices in recent years to compensate for the drop in Mexican business and to offset the “taxes” charged by cartels for moving people through their terrifraction of the price charged to the migrants.
One of the most important coyotes moving immigrants from El Salvador lives in Texas, he said. “It’s a criminal chain that has two segments. The invisible segment ... is dedicated to administration, organization and finances,” he said. “They don’t necessarily even see the migrants.”
Big Guys
The guides often don’t know who they are working for, he added. The big guys rarely get caught. While federal officials along the US border seem to roll out cases against human smugglers almost on a weekly basis, the targets are largely drivers and stash house operators. Coyotes get their business through social networks, from friends and family, or referrals from prior customers. Those headed for Texas generally charge half of the money up front, collect another installment by bank deposit or wire transfer along the way, and the final payment upon delivery. California-bound immigrants may pay the full fee when they arrive.
Many smugglers take their charges from
Mexico’s southern states of Chiapas and
Oaxaca to Mexico City on La Bestia, the decrepit freight train. From there, they choose one of three main routes: to
Reynosa in Tamaulipas, Ciudad Juarez in
Chihuahua, or cross the Sonoran desert to
Gulf cartel leader Osiel Cardenas Guillen, testified in great detail at the 2012 trial of another cartel member about how this arrangement worked. When Cardenas Vela ran the Rio Bravo “plaza” for the cartel from
2009 to 2011, he collected $250 to $300 for a Mexican immigrant, $500 to $700 for a
Central American and about $1,500 for someone from Europe or Asia, he testified.
He also collected a flat 10 percent fee from the smugglers to allow them to work.
“People have to view the cartels like organized crime,” said Janice Ayala, US
Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s special agent in charge in San Antonio.
“Where there’s a dollar to be made they want a cut of that particular dollar.”
Flexible
Unlike the drug trafficking organizations that tightly control their loads, human smuggling organizations are much more flexible and willing to work with various groups to keep people moving, Ayala said. They are more like independent contractors who may specialize in one segment of the journey, whether it is getting them through interior
Mexico, across the Texas-Mexico border, into a stash houses or to the interior US. All who help along the way must be paid, and their fees are a fixed part of the cost determined by the smuggling network.
tories.
The trafficker on the Guatemalan border, who spoke with AP after an intermediary negotiated the time and place, said the people he smuggles pay $10,000 a head for the trip from Central America, which covers everything from hotel and train payments to official bribes and cartel taxes. But occasionally, he said, a cartel will demand as much as an extra $5,000 on threat of death. “You have to be careful with the Zetas. They cut you in pieces and videotape it,” he said.
Speaking always in the third person, he said a smuggler dresses to blend in with the
10 to 15 migrants he moves at a given time.
Like most smugglers, he first went to the US as a migrant, where he worked as a cook and learned some English. Casillas, the migration expert, said the migrant smuggling business is a complex corporate structure. Guides at the border usually work for honchos who run the operation from afar and only pocket a the outskirts of Mexicali. Most now opt to go to Tamaulipas, the shortest, but most dangerous route because of its warring drug cartels. The number of family units and unaccompanied children arrested by the
Border Patrol in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley increased 362 percent in the first nine months of this fiscal year compared to the same period last year.
The border in South Texas is difficult to police. The Rio Grande twists and doubles back on itself as it makes its way to the Gulf of Mexico. Its banks are overgrown with carrizo cane and other brush. It takes little time for a raft or someone paddling an inner tube to reach the other side, but few attempt it these days without a guide. The Gulf cartel and Zetas control swaths of the Mexican side of the border and collect a tax for everything that passes through - people, drugs, weapons or merchandize.
Rafael Cardenas Vela, nephew of former
Mexican youths often serve as lookouts, or guides ferrying migrants across the river to the United States because if they get caught, they’re just sent back across the border instead of being prosecuted. A Mexican official familiar with human smuggling at the border but who is not authorized to speak about it publicly said child guides can make as much as $100 per immigrant. A young US citizen living in South Texas told authorities after her arrest that she was to be paid $150 per immigrant she picked up near the Rio
Grande and drove to a stash house. She got
$200 a person for driving them to Houston, according to court records.
Sometimes the person feeding and watching immigrants at the stash house is in the country illegally, too, and is working off his smuggling fee. In other cases, a local has been paid $20 per person per day for the job.
“It’s like a little chain, everyone is earning,” the Mexican official said. —AP

N E W S
TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
The Italian flag flutters in the foreground after the prow of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia emerged after operations to refloat it continued on the tiny Tuscan island of Isola del Giglio yesterday. After more than two years, the giant shipwreck is almost ready to be towed to the Italian port of Genoa where it will be dismantled. — AP
DONETSK, Ukraine: A train carrying the remains of most of the almost 300 victims of the Malaysia Airlines plane downed over
Ukraine left the site yesterday, after the
Malaysian Prime Minister reached a deal with the leader of pro-Russian separatists controlling the area. The aircraft’s black boxes, which could hold information about the crash in rebel-held eastern Ukraine but will not pinpoint who did it, would be given to the
Malaysian authorities, Prime Minister Najib
Razak said, indicating he had bypassed Kiev, which has lost control of much of the east.
The expected handover of the bodies and the black boxes, and reports by international investigators of improved access to the wreckage of the airliner four days after it was shot down, takes place against calls for broader sanctions against Russia for its support for the rebellion, though Western leaders are struggling to agree a united response. The
Malaysian leader said he had reached an agreement with the separatists for recovered bodies to be handed over to the authorities in the Netherlands, where the largest number of victims came from.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told a news conference that a train carrying around
200 body bags was on its way to rebel-held
Donetsk and then to Kharkiv, which is in
Ukrainian government hands, from where the bodies would be taken back to the
Netherlands to be identified. The shooting down of the airliner on Thursday sharply deepened the Ukrainian crisis, in which separatist gunmen in the Russian-speaking east have been fighting government forces since pro-
Western protesters in Kiev forced out a pro-
Moscow president and Russia annexed Crimea in March.
Shaken by the deaths of 298 people from across the globe, Western governments have threatened Russia with stiffer penalties for what they say is its backing of pro-Russian militia who, their evidence suggests, shot the plane down. But, with Russia challenging them to produce proof, some of those taking a firmer line are saying the acid test will be if the separatists improve access to the site and
Russia stops supporting them.
European Union foreign ministers are due to discuss further penalties on Tuesday, but the most they are expected to do is to speed up implementation of sanctions against individuals, and possibly companies, agreed in principle last week before the plane was brought down. Diplomats say more serious sanctions against whole sectors of the Russian economy will depend largely on the line taken by the Dutch, due to the number of Dutch victims.
Emotions ran high in the Netherlands, where prosecutors opened a war crimes investigation. “It is clear that Russia must use her influence on the separatists to improve the situation on the ground,” Prime Minister Rutte said. “If in the coming days access to the disaster area remains inadequate, then all political, economic and financial options are on the table against those who are directly or indirectly responsible for that,” Rutte said.
US President Barack Obama echoed that approach. “Now’s the time for President Putin and Russia to pivot away from the strategy that they’ve been taking and get serious about trying to resolve hostilities within
Ukraine,” he said at the White House. Putin and
Russia have a direct responsibility to compel separatists to cooperate with the investigation, and the burden is now on Moscow to insist that separatists stop tampering with the investigation, he said.
European security monitors said gunmen stopped them inspecting the site when they arrived on Friday, and Ukrainian officials said separatists had tampered with vital evidence, allegations echoed by Obama. “What are they trying to hide?” the US president said. But the spokesman for the European security monitors said they had had unfettered access yesterday, and three members of a Dutch disaster victims identification team arrived at a railway station near the crash site and inspected the storage of the bodies in refrigerated rail cars.
Peter van Vliet, whose team went through the wagons dressed in surgical masks and rubber gloves, said he was impressed by the work the recovery crews had done, given the heat and the scale of the crash site. “I think they did a hell of a job in a hell of a place,” he said. As they went about their work, fighting flared in
Donetsk, some 60 k m from the site, in a reminder of the dangers the experts face operating in a war zone. The government in Kiev denied sending the regular army into the centre of Donetsk, which pro-Russian separatists captured in April, but said small “self-organised” pro-Ukrainian groups were fighting the rebels in the city. Four people were killed in clashes, health officials said.
Donetsk is at the heart of a rebel uprising against rule by Kiev, and Ukrainian President
Petro Poroshenko has vowed to retake the city as part of what Kiev calls its “anti-terrorist operation” against the separatists. Russia’s defence ministry challenged accusations that pro-Russian separatists were responsible for shooting down the airliner and said Ukrainian warplanes had flown close to it. The ministry also rejected accusations that Russia had supplied the rebels with SA-11 Buk anti-aircraft missile systems - the weapon said by Kiev and the West to have downed the airliner - “or any other weapons”.
US Secretary of State John Kerry laid out what he called overwhelming evidence of
Russian complicity in the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines plane, and expressed disgust at how the bodies of the victims had been treated at the crash site. “Drunken separatists have been piling bodies into trucks and removing them from the site,” he said on NBC television on Sunday. “What’s happening is really grotesque, and it is contrary to everything President Putin and Russia said they would do.”
Television images of the rebel-controlled crash site, where the remains of victims had lain decomposing in fields among their personal belongings, have turned initial shock and sorrow after Thursday ’s disaster into anger. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he had spoken to Putin for the first time about the disaster. At least 27 Australians were on the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala
Lumpur. Abbott said an Australian investigation team was in Kiev but had been unable to travel to the site. He said there had been some improvement with the Ukrainian government offering access. “But there’s still a hell of a long way to go before anyone could be satisfied with the way that site is being treated,” Abbott said. “It’s more like a garden clean-up than a forensic investigation. This is completely unacceptable.”
Putin, in a televised address, said the downing of the airliner must not be used for political ends and urged separatists to allow international experts access to the crash site. The
UN Security Council was scheduled to vote yesterday on a resolution that would condemn the downing of the plane, and demand that those responsible be held accountable and that armed groups not compromise the integrity of the crash site. — Reuters
Continued from Page 1
“But take a closer look and you realize that many of these people would never have committed a crime if not for law enforcement encouraging, pressuring and sometimes paying them to commit terrorist acts.”
US Attorney General Eric Holder has strongly defended the
FBI undercover operations as “essential in fighting terrorism”.
“These operations are conducted with extraordinary care and precision, ensuring that law enforcement officials are accountable for the steps they take - and that suspects are neither entrapped nor denied legal protections,” Holder said July 8 during a visit to Norway. The HRW report, however, cites the case of four Muslim converts from Newburgh, New York who were accused of planning to blow up synagogues and attack a US military base.
A judge in that case “said the government ‘came up with the crime, provided the means, and removed all relevant obstacles,’ and had, in the process, made a terrorist out of a man ‘whose buffoonery is positively Shakespearean in scope,’” the report said. The rights group charged that the FBI often targets vulnerable people, with mental problems or low intelligence. It pointed to the case of Rezwan Ferdaus, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison at age 27 for wanting to attack the Pentagon and Congress with mini-drones loaded with explosives. An FBI agent told Ferdaus’ father that his son “obviously” had mental health problems, the report said. But that didn’t stop an undercover agent from conceiving the plot in its entirety, it said. “The US government should stop treating
American Muslims as terrorists-in-waiting,” the report concluded.
Mike German, a former FBI agent now with the Brennan
Center, said FBI counterterrorism excesses were a source of concern - “concerns that they both violate privacy and civil liberties, and aren’t effective in addressing real threats”. But JM
Berger, a national security expert, said law enforcement faces a dilemma: It can’t just ignore tips or reports about people talking about wanting to commit a terrorist action or seeking support for one. “The question is how to sort out which cases merit investigation and which do not,” he said. — AFP
Continued from Page 1 a revision of citizenship of people who took part in protests that undermine the country’s security and stability. Under Kuwait’s nationality law of 1959, the government can revoke citizenship granted to naturalized Kuwaitis for a number of reasons, especially if they commit crimes within
15 years of obtaining the nationality. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Kuwait is believed to have granted citizenship to tens of thousands of tribal people mostly hailing from
Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria and also from non-Arab Iran.
Online activists were divided on the government decision with some warmly welcoming the move while others strongly criticizing it as “unfair”. Former Islamist opposition
MP Mohammad Hayef said revoking citizenship of political opponents is “a grave mistake” and a “chaotic and adventurist” decision that will enter the country into a grave political era. Bader Al-Dahoum, another former Islamist MP, said the decision is to help the government cover up its corruption and fight reformists. Former Islamist MP Falah
Al-Sawwagh described the decision as “oppressive”.
The Cabinet also heard a report from Minister of Social
Affairs and Labour Hind Al-Subaih about shutting down
“scores of offices and branches” of non-profit organisations that have violated the law. The decisions have been taken following a new string of violent protests early this month after the arrest of prominent opposition leader Musallam
Al-Barrak. Dozens were arrested and several hurt in the protests. Since mid-2006, the state has been rocked by a series of political crises, leading to parliament being dissolved six times. Most opposition groups are not represented in parliament after having boycotted July 2013 polls in protest at an amended electoral law.
Separately, Kuwait’s top court yesterday upheld a 10year jail sentence for a Shiite Twitter user for insulting
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his wife and companions.
Hamad Al-Naqi, 24, was also charged with insulting Saudi
Arabia and Bahrain and spreading false news that undermined Kuwait’s image abroad, the verdict said. The court’s ruling is final and can only be commuted by the ruler. He has been in prison since his arrest in March 2012. Naqi denied the accusations, saying his Twitter account was hacked. He was first handed the jail term by the lower court in June 2012.
Human Rights Watch strongly criticised the sentence and urged authorities to immediately release him after the appeals court confirmed the sentence in October last year.
The New York-based rights watchdog said the ruling was another example of violations of the right to free speech in
Kuwait. During the past two years, Kuwaiti courts have given jail sentences to several online activists for various charges, mostly insulting the ruler through social networks.
Continued from Page 1
Seven children were among nine dead in an early air strike on a house in the southern city of Rafah, and another four children were killed in another strike on a house in Gaza City that also killed nine people. And
Israeli tank shells slammed into a hospital in Deir al-
Balah, killing four people, among them doctors,
Qudra said, indicating at least 70 other people were wounded.
Since the Israeli operation began on July 8, huge numbers of Gazans have fled their homes, with more than 85,000 people taking shelter in 67 schools run by
UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, a spokesman said. By yesterday morning, a UN school on the outskirts of Shejaiya was packed to overflowing with people seeking shelter, many sleeping in the corridors, an AFP correspondent said. And several families were sleeping in the gardens of Gaza City’s Shifa hospital in the hope they would be safe from the bombing.
Meanwhile, in southern Israel, the military said troops had killed “more than 10” Hamas militants in
“two terrorist squads” who managed to cross the border through tunnels. The army later said four of its soldiers were killed in the fighting, after initial media reports of just a few wounded. Later yesterday, the army said seven soldiers had been killed and 30 wounded in fighting in Gaza over the past 24 hours, without giving further details. The announcement came a day after 13 soldiers were killed in one day in what was the highest one-day death toll sustained by
Israeli troops since the Lebanon war of 2006.
Yesterday’s deaths raised to 27 the total number of
Israelis killed, among them two civilians hit by rocket fire, and 25 soldiers all of whom were killed in the four days since a ground operation began. Late on Sunday, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades claimed to have captured an Israeli soldier in a report that the army said it was checking, but Israel’s UN ambassador said was untrue.
Meanwhile, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas held talks in
Doha, pledging to work together for a ceasefire and to lift the blockade on Gaza, officials said. “Hamas and
Abbas agreed that all Palestinian factions should work as a team towards a ceasefire,” said Azzam Al-Ahmed, a senior official in Abbas’s Fatah party. In Lebanon,
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah offered his full backing to “Hamas’s strategy” in a telephone conversation with Meshaal, describing its conditions for ending the violence as “just”.
Hamas has so far rejected truce calls, insisting Israel end its eight-year blockade on Gaza and release scores of prisoners from Israeli jails. Israel has said its military campaign, dubbed Operation Protective
Edge, is aimed at stamping out rocket fire from Gaza.
But there has been no let-up since the operation began, 84 rockets hitting Israel yesterday, one striking the greater Tel Aviv area, and another 16 shot down, the army said. — AFP
Continued from Page 1
The majority of Muslim scholars agree that this night is one of the odd nights in the last ten nights of
Ramadan. Some scholars adopt the opinion that it is the night of the twenty-seventh day. Ubayy ibn Ka’b (may
Allah be pleased with him) swore that it is the night of the twenty-seventh day as mentioned in Saheeh
Muslim.
• Increasing reading, reflecting on and understanding the Quran along with increasing Thikr. There is no doubt that these days are the right time for this.
• It is very strange that in spite of the great virtues and ample rewards, some people like to spend their vacations that coincide with the last ten days abroad.
Hence, they are deprived of great benefits. What they will do abroad except spending their time in picnics and recreation at a time when recreation is pointless?
Rather, this time should be devoted to worship. A wise person is he who directs his capacities and time to benefit the most from these days of happiness.
• We should not forget in these ten days that we have brothers in the trenches of jihad (striving in the cause of
Allaah the Almighty). The enemies have surrounded them and they are suffering from great calamities. We should not forget them, even if the least we can do is to make sincere supplication from a heart devoted to Allah the
Exalted and charity. In this way, we will be the first to win its reward. Lastly, we should not forget the poor and the needy, especially when Eid is approaching. — Islamweb

p16 2_Layout 1 7/21/14 9:02 PM Page 1
TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
S P O R T S
KARACHI: Pakistan coach and former paceman Waqar Younis has promised to rejuvenate his country’s fast-bowling attack. Waqar, who in May accepted the coaching job for the second time in four years, said he wanted pace to play a pivotal role in Pakistan cricket again.
“We shouldn’t just be depending on our spinners, we also need to rely on our pace bowlers,” he told reporters in Lahore on Monday.
“We have some talented pacers and they can be groomed for the future.” As a player, Waqar formed a formidable new-ball attack with Wasim Akram, finishing with 373 test and 416 one-day international wickets. He and Wasim shared a total of 1705 wickets in tests and ODIs.
Waqar’s first assignment of his two-year contract as coach is a tour of Sri Lanka in August, where Pakistan play two tests and three ODIs. “Even in Sri Lanka we will not just depend on our spinners - the pace bowlers are also being prepared to do their work in those conditions,” Waqar said.—Reuters
KIEV: The owner of Shakhtar Donetsk has assured the safety of six players who refused to return to Ukraine as conflict rages around the club’s home city but warned they would be in breach of their contracts should they opt to stay away.
Shakhtar president Rynat Akhmetov confirmed that Brazilians
Alex Teixeira, Fred, Dentinho, Douglas Costa and Ismaily, and
Argentine striker Facundo Ferreira refused to travel from France to
Ukraine following a friendly against Lyon on Saturday.
The players’ action came two days after 298 people aboard a
Malaysian Airlines flight died when their plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine.
“This is true, six players did not come back with the team but they have certain contractual obligations and should they refuse to return, they will be the ones to suffer,” Akhmetov said on the club’s official website. “There is nothing to be afraid of and we are ready to guarantee their safety.” Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu blamed agents for misleading the players and taking advantage of the volatile situation in the country in an attempt to have their contracts annulled.—Reuters
LIVERPOOL: England captain Steven Gerrard announced his retirement from international football yesterday after making 114 appearances for his country.
Gerrard, 34, led the national team at the World Cup where England bowed out in the group stage and the Liverpool midfielder said he had “agonised” over the decision since returning from Brazil. “This has been a very difficult decision, one of the toughest I’ve had to make in my career,” Gerrard told the Football
Association’s FATV. “I have enjoyed every minute of representing my country and it is a sad day for me knowing that I won’t pull on the England shirt again.
“To ensure I can keep playing to a high level and giving everything to
Liverpool Football Club I believe this is the right decision, and having Champions League football back at Anfield is another big factor in my decision,” he added.
Gerrard, who made his international debut against Ukraine in 2000, trails just Peter Shilton (125) and David Beckham (115) on England’s all-time caps list. He appeared at three World Cup finals as well as three European championships and scored 21 goals for the Three Lions. He captained England in Brazil and at
Euro 2012.—AFP
NEW YORK: Jacoby Ellsbury got four hits and scored the winning run in the ninth inning off Brian McCann’s pop-fly single that dropped near three Cincinnati Reds in shallow right field, giving the New York Yankees a
3-2 victory Sunday.
Ellsbury and Derek Jeter each had an RBI single for the Yankees, who finished a threegame sweep in their first series after the All-
Star break. Ellsbury also stole two bases and made a sliding catch in center field that saved a run. He reached safely all five times up, including a leadoff single in the ninth off
Aroldis Chapman (0-3). David Robertson (1-
2) pitched a perfect ninth to give the Reds their season-high, sixth straight road loss.
chances.
DODGERS 4, CARDINALS 3
Adrian Gonzalez hit a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning off St. Louis closer Trevor
Rosenthal as Los Angeles salvaged the finale of a three-game series.
The Dodgers pulled into a virtual tie for first place with San Francisco in the NL West despite a so-so outing from Clayton Kershaw, whose run of seven straight starts allowing one or fewer runs came to an end. Yasiel Puig did not play after getting hit by a pitch on the left hand a day earlier and the Dodgers finished without Hanley Ramirez, who was taken out in the ninth - also after getting struck on the left hand. Gonzalez leads the
National League with 38 road RBIs. He missed a chance earlier, flying out with the bases loaded to end the fourth. J.P Howell (2-
3) got the last out in the eighth and Kenley
Jansen finished for his 28th save in 31
Rosenthal (1-5) struggled pitching on the third consecutive day after earning saves the first two games. Peter Bourjos’ two-run homer off Kershaw tied it in the sixth.
a three-game sweep of Kansas City.
In eight innings, the All-Star left-hander struck out eight and gave up two walks and four hits. Only one Royals player reached third base. Lester (10-7) is 4-0 with a 0.85 ERA over his last seven starts with 47 strikeouts and eight walks in a span of 52 2-3 innings.
He has yielded just one earned run in 31 innings.
Lester extended his scoreless streak to 14 innings before Junichi Tazawa got the first out of the ninth. Edward Mujica retired the next two batters. Yordano Ventura (7-8) gave up all six runs.
PADRES 2, METS 1
Odrisamer Despaigne came within four outs of the first no-hitter in San Diego’s 46year major league history as the Padres beat the New York Mets on Seth Smith’s run-scoring infield single in the ninth.
Mak ing his fifth major league star t,
Despaigne didn’t allow a hit until Daniel
Murphy doubled to left-center with two outs in the eighth. San Diego, the only active major league franchise without a no-hitter, was playing its 7,264th regular-season game.
Murphy scored on David Wright’s single to tie the score 1-1. Vic Black (2-3) walked Carlos
Quentin leading off the ninth, and Alexi
Amarista bunted, with pinch-runner
Cameron Maybin advancing to second and
Amarista reaching when the ball went through Black’s legs.
After a double play, Josh Edgin relieved, and then tumbled to the ground when he came off the mound to field Smith’s bouncer.
Joaquin Benoit (4-2) threw a perfect ninth for the win. New York scored one run in the last 18 innings of the series and has lost two in a row following a 9-2 spurt. San Diego’s
Yasmani Grandal homered in the fourth off
Zack Wheeler.
seven hits and three walks in four innings.
The veteran right-hander gave up two runs in the first and single runs in each of the next two innings.
ANGELS 6, MARINERS 5
Grant Green hit a bases-loaded single off
Fernando Rodney with two outs in the ninth inning after Albert Pujols tied it with an RBI double as the Los Angeles Angels pulled out a victory over Seattle.
Rodney (1-4), the former Angels’ closer, replaced Joe Beimel with one out in the eighth and retired the next two batters. He entered the ninth attempting to complete a five-out save and record the 200th of his career, but the Angels rallied for their major league-leading 30th come-from-behind victory. It was Rodney’s third blown save in 30 chances this season. Joe Thatcher (1-1) worked a scoreless inning for the Angels.
Seattle starter Chris Young allowed three runs and 10 hits over six innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. Angels lefty Tyler
Skaggs gave up five runs and eight hits in 6
2-3 innings.
ATHLETICS 10, ORIOLES 2
Sonny Gray struck out eight batters to win his fifth consecutive decision as Oakland pounded Baltimore. Gray (11-3) gave up two runs, one earned, two hits and two walks in 6
2-3 innings. The 24-year-old right-hander hasn’t lost since June 13 at the New York
Yankees.
The major-league best A’s (61-37) overpowered the AL East-leading Orioles (53-44) in the final regular-season meeting between the playoff-contending clubs. Oakland had
15 hits, chasing starter Kevin Gausman (4-3) in the fifth.
Eric O’Flaherty tossed 1 1-3 scoreless innings, and Sean Doolittle pitched a perfect ninth to help Oakland finish 4-2 against the
Orioles.
Stephen Vogt had three hits and drove in a run for the A’s. John Jaso tripled, singled and had two RBIs. Josh Donaldson had two singles and two RBIs.
BLUE JAYS 9, RANGERS 6
Melky Cabrera hit a tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning as Toronto beat slumping Texas. Cabrera drove in three runs and finished 3 for 5, his 13th multi-hit effort in the past 28 games, as the Blue Jays won their first series since sweeping a two-game set against Milwaukee on July 1-2.
Cabrera’s homer came on the third pitch he saw from right-hander Neftali Feliz (0-1), handing Texas its 13th loss in 15 road games.
The Rangers have won just four of their past
28 overall and are a major league-worst 39-
59. It is the first time Texas is 20 games under
.500 since finishing the 2003 season 71-91.
Todd Redmond (1-4) worked one inning for the win.
Toronto sealed it with a three-run eighth against Matt West. Rangers right-hander Nick
Tepesch allowed five runs and nine hits in 4
1-3 innings.
TIGERS 5, INDIANS 1
Drew Smyly allowed four hits in seven innings as Torii Hunter hit a two-run homer to help Detroit beat Cleveland and avoid a four-game sweep.
Smyly (6-8) didn’t give up a hit until Yan
Gomes’ two-out double in the fifth. The lefthander allowed one run on Gomes’ seventhinning homer - and two walks with six strikeouts.
Josh Tomlin (5-7) allowed four runs, six hits and a walk over 4 1-3 innings. The AL
Central-leading Tigers (54-41) stopped a four-game losing streak and increased their lead over Cleveland to 5 1-2 games.
Cleveland (50-48) had reached a season-high three games over .500 by winning four in a row.
RED SOX 6, ROYALS 0
Jon Lester allowed no earned runs for the third time in four starts as Boston completed
ASTROS 11, WHITE SOX 7
Matt Dominguez hit a two-run homer and a tiebreaking RBI double as Houston tied its season high with 17 hits in a win over the
Chicago White Sox that prevented a threegame sweep.
Chicago fell behind 4-0 early and tied it 7all in the sixth on Alexei Ramirez’s RBI double, Jose Abreu’s run-scoring single and a run-scoring two-out grounder by Dayan
Viciedo that went through the legs of All-Star second baseman Jose Altuve for Houston’s second error of the inning.
Daniel Webb (5-3) allowed RBI doubles in the seventh to Dominguez and L.J. Hoes, and
Marwin Gonzalez followed with a two-run single. Dominguez had three hits and four
RBIs.
Tony Sipp (2-1) pitched 1-1 scoreless innings as Houston stopped a three-game skid. Chicago’s John Danks lasted gave up a season-high 12 hits and seven runs in 4 1-3 innings.
career save.
RAYS 5, TWINS 3
James Loney had two hits and two RBIs, and Chris Archer won consecutive decisions for the first time this season as Tampa Bay topped Minnesota for its fifth straight win.
Archer (6-5) pitched 6 1-3 innings, giving up one earned run on six hits. Rookie Kirby
Yates got two outs in the ninth for his first
The Rays, who went 11-4 going into the
All-Star break, matched their longest winning streak of the season against the punchless Twins, who scored six runs in the threegame series. At 47-53, Tampa Bay hasn’t been this close to .500 since May 25, when they were five games under, and went on a 10game losing streak.
Kevin Correia (5-12) took over the major league lead in losses, allowing four runs on
Francisco.
MARLINS 3, GIANTS 2
NL hits leader Casey McGehee homered for the second time this season as Miami took the lead for good on a wild pitch by Tim
Lincecum in the seventh inning to beat San
Miami stopped a six-game losing streak and averted a three-game series sweep.
McGehee came in with 118 hits and 54 RBIs, and the two-run homer in the first inning was his first since May 10. Lincecum (9-6) allowed three runs in seven innings, ending his streak of wins in four consecutive starts.
Brad Hand (1-2) gave the Marlins’ shaky rotation a welcome boost by pitching seven innings to match a career high, and he allowed two runs. He had been 1-12 previously as a starter, with the lone victory in
2011. Hand lowered his ERA to 5.02 in six starts this year. Steve Cishek pitched a perfect ninth for his 21st save in 24 chances.
PIRATES 5, ROCKIES 3
Andrew McCutchen hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning and Neil Walker followed with a home run as Pittsburgh overcame a three-run deficit to beat Colorado for a three-game sweep.
With the score 3-all, Matt Belisle (2-6) relieved, and Josh Harrison worked out a seven-pitch walk leading off the seventh.
Harrison stole second and scored on a single by McCutchen, who then was caught stealing second. Walker followed with his 14th homer.
Jeanmar Gomez (2-2) pitched a one-hit seventh, All-Star Tony Watson struck out two in a perfect eighth, and Mark Melancon pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 18th save in 21 chances. Pittsburgh has two series sweeps this month after failing to sweep any during the first three months of the season.
NY Yankees 3, Cincinnati 2; Toronto 9, Texas 6; Detroit 5, Cleveland 1; Miami 3, San Francisco 2; Boston 6, Kansas
City 0; Atlanta 8, Philadelphia 2; Washington 5, Milwaukee 4; Pittsburgh 5, Colorado 3; Houston 11, Chicago White
Sox 7; Tampa Bay 5, Minnesota 3; LA Angels 6, Seattle 5; Oakland 10, Baltimore 2; San Diego 2, NY Mets 1; Arizona
3, Chicago Cubs 2; LA Dodgers 4, St. Louis 3.
Baltimore
NY Yankees
Toronto
Tampa Bay
Boston
American League
Eastern Division
W
53
50
51
47
L
44
47
48
53
Detroit
Cleveland
46 52
Central Division
54
50
41
48
Kansas City 48
Chicago White Sox 47
Minnesota 44
49
52
53
Western Division
Oakland
LA Angels
Seattle
Houston
Texas
61
59
52
41
39
37
38
46
58
59
PCT GB
.546
-
.515
.515
3
3
.470
7.5
.469
7.5
.568
-
.510
5.5
.495
.475
7
9
.454
11
.622
-
.608
1.5
.531
9
.414 20.5
.398
22
Washington
Atlanta
NY Mets
Miami
Philadelphia
Milwaukee
St. Louis
Pittsburgh
Cincinnati
Chicago Cubs
San Francisco
LA Dodgers
San Diego
Arizona
Colorado
National League
Eastern Division
53
54
43
44
46
45
52
52
43 55
Central Division
.552
.551
.469
.464
.439
-
-
8
8.5
11
54
54
52
51
43
43
40
45
45
46
47
.545
.545
-
-
.531
1.5
.520
2.5
.412
13 40 57
Western Division
54
55
44
45
.551
.550
-
-
55 .439
11
56 .434 11.5
58 .408
14
NATIONALS 5, BREWERS 4
Jayson Werth hit a game-winning RBI double in the bottom of the ninth after the
Brewers tied it in the top of the inning as
Washington edged Milwaukee.
Washington’s bullpen tossed five scoreless innings in relief of Gio Gonzalez until Rickie
Weeks’ RBI single in the ninth off closer
Rafael Soriano (1-1), who earned the win despite blowing his third save in 25 chances.
Anthony Rendon reached on a fielder ’s choice against Rob Wooten (1-4) with two outs and scored from first on Werth’s drive into the left field corner. Washington took two of three in the series. Ryan Zimmerman had two hits, including a two-run homer, for the Nationals.
NEW YORK: Brian McCann No. 34 of the New York Yankees drives in the game winning run with a single in the ninth inning against the Cincinnati Reds during their game at Yankee
Stadium. —AFP
BRAVES 8, PHILLIES 2
Tommy La Stella drove in three runs, and
Chris Johnson hit a two-run homer to back
Alex Wood and help Atlanta rout
Philadelphia.
The Braves have won of five of seven and remained second in the NL East, one percentage point behind Washington. Wood (7-
7) allowed three hits and one run with eight strikeouts in six innings to win for the first time four starts.
The first five innings were played in a steady drizzle before heavy rain caused a 1 hour, 39-minute delay in the middle of the sixth.
Philadelphia took a 1-0 lead in the second when John Mayberry Jr. homered, but the
Braves went up 2-1 in the bottom half of the inning on Johnson’s seventh homer.
Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick (4-10) gave up five hits, six runs, two walks and struck out one in five innings. Over his last six starts,
Kendrick is 1-4 with a 6.99 ERA.
one.
DIAMONDBACKS 3, CUBS 2
Josh Collmenter threw seven sharp innings as Arizona scored on an unusual play in the sixth inning to completed a threegame sweep of the Chicago Cubs.
The only run off Collmenter (8-5) came on
Anthony Rizzo’s 23rd home run of the season and third of the series. Arizona’s go-ahead run scored from third base when the first baseman Rizzo caught a pop foul while tumbling into the camera well. By rule, runners are awarded a base when a defensive player carries the ball out of play.
David Peralta, who scored on the play, drove in two runs with a double and single.
Jake Arrieta (5-2) allowed three runs and four hits in 6 2-3 innings for the Cubs. Collmenter gave up four hits, struck out four and walked
Addison Reed pitched a perfect ninth for his 23rd save in 28 tries. The Diamondbacks are 3-0 after the All-Star break for the second time in franchise history. —AP
Usain Bolt
RALEIGH: Usain Bolt will return to Rio de
Janeiro next month to run a special 100 metres on the beach, he said on his website on Sunday, but the Jamaican world record holder is now unlikely to race against Justin
Gatlin this year.
The six times Olympic gold medallist added the Aug 17 “Mano a Mano” 100m on
Copacabana Beach to three previously announced races in what he said was his finalised schedule for 2014.
Bolt streaked to victory in a 150m race at the famous beach in March 2013 on a track specially built for the event. He has delayed opening his season this year because of a foot injury and will start with a 4x100 metres relay with his Jamaican team mates at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Aug 1-2. The eight-times world champion will also run 100m races in Warsaw,
Poland on Aug 23 and at the Zurich
Diamond League meeting on Aug 28.
The schedule, unless amended, means
Bolt and US world silver medallist Gatlin, who is undefeated this year, are unlikely to meet before 2015.
Gatlin, who returned from a four-year doping ban in 2010, will not receive an invitation to race against Bolt in Zurich because of the Swiss meeting’s “policy to not invite athletes that have been banned for two years or more”, meeting director
Patrick Magyar told Reuters via email.
While the 100 metres race in Zurich is not part of the Diamond League series of events, the 200 metres race at the same meeting will be.
Gatlin could therefore still race in the longer event, because it is governed by
Diamond League rules. “If Gatlin is, by the time of Zurich, in the top three of the
Diamond Race (for the 200), we will invite him for the 200m, which is our Diamond
Race event,” Magyar said.
Gatlin, who has won 11 consecutive 100 metres and two races at 200m this year, is currently tied for fourth in the Diamond
League standings for the 200m despite running the year’s fastest time at last week’s
Monaco meeting.
Fellow American Tyson Gay, who recently completed a one -year doping ban, already is confirmed for the 200m, Magyar said. —Reuters

p17 2_Layout 1 7/21/14 9:02 PM Page 1
TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
S P O R T S
GLASGOW: New Zealand will seek to extend their stranglehold on the
Commonwealth Games rugby sevens for a fifth successive time when it gets under way at Ibrox Stadium, their bid boosted by the absence of arch-rivals Fiji.
The All Blacks have won all four previous
Commonwealth sevens tournaments, dating back to the Jonah Lomu-inspired triumph in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, and have since dominated the IRB Sevens World
Series of a sport which will be included in the Rio Olympics in 2016.
“For 16 years now Rugby Sevens has enjoyed being a key par t of the
Commonwealth Games,” said Bernard
Lapasset, president of rugby union’s world governing body, the IRB.
“To compete alongside their compatriots in a multi-sport environment is a matter of huge pride and honour for our rugby players, who are making giant strides in this new Olympic era. We wish our rugby athletes all the best in this magnificent international event.”
The Fijians will not be in Scotland, however, having missed qualification after the late inclusion of their country in the multisport event. Despite their absence, there is a formidable line-up of teams that turn out on the IRB world circuit.
Reigning champions New Zealand have been drawn in Pool A alongside Canada,
Nigeria and tournament hosts Scotland, who have named star international British and Irish Lion full-back Stuart Hogg and veteran winger Sean Lamont in the squad.
Silver medallists four years ago in New
Delhi, Australia, and bronze medallists
South Africa are top seeds in pools D and B respectively, while other World Series regulars in Samoa, England, Kenya, Wales and
Canada will be determined to challenge the dominance of the mighty Sevens All
Blacks. The beauty of the Commonwealths means there are also places for the unheralded likes of Malaysia, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uganda.
Stalwart DJ Forbes, along with Sherwin
Stowers and Tim Mikkelson plus World Cup winners Declan O’Donnell and Pita Ahki, headline the New Zealand team coached by veteran Gordon Tietjens.
“ Winning a gold medal at a
Commonwealth Games is very special,” said
Tietjens. “There is nothing better than seeing a player being presented with a gold medal and listening to the anthem.
“I am confident if these guys can perform to the best of their ability and be on top of their game we can go very well. “To win, it’s all about consistency, accuracy, strong defence and dominating possession. If we can play consistently well, and having a strong bench will help, then that plays a big hand in being successful.”
For Scottish full-back Hogg, the tournament will all be about impressing in
Glasgow, not a traditional rugby heartland in a country where football is king.
There is also the added aim of home union players trying to sparkle ahead of selection of a British team for the Rio
Games.
“The Ibrox crowd will be massive, up to
45,000, and it is exciting,” said Hogg, whose last sevens appearance was four years ago for club side Hawick. “We want to put in a performance that makes the whole nation proud.”—AFP
GLASGOW: Cycling gets underway at the
Commonwealth Games on Thursday with a large number of world class riders spread across track, road, mountain bike and the new games discipline of para-cycling. Track cycling will be one of the highest standard competitions held at Glasgow with world championship level fields in many of the events.
Some of the world’s fastest men and women on two wheels will line up on the
250m track at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome to pedal for individual and team supremacy.
Although six-time Olympic champion Sir
Chris Hoy will not compete on the track that bears his name, there will be plenty of top class competitors on display in the 17 events the venue plays host to.
The Glasgow Games were given a boost when England’s Bradley Wiggins announced he will compete in the track and road events.
The 2012 Tour de France winner and
Olympic champion will be the favorite to win his first ever Commonwealth Games gold medal in the road time trial.
Wiggins hasn’t competed on the track since 2008 but will have a point to prove in the individual and team pursuit events.
England’s golden couple Jason Kenny and
Laura Trott will prove hard to beat on the track. Double Olympic champion and recently crowned 2014 British National
Road Race champion Trott will be targeting the endurance track events, including the individual pursuit, points and scratch races.
Olympic champions Dani King, Joanna
Rowsell, Ed Clancy, Steven Burke and Philip
Hindes are also in England’s line-up.
Hoping to make headlines in the endurance events will be Scotland’s Katie
Archibald, who in recent months has gone from virtual unknown to becoming a world and European champion in the team pursuit. The 20-year-old is also expected to compete in the time trial and road race, giving her five medal oppor tunities.
Australia dominated the cycling events at the Dehli Games in 2010, taking 14 gold medals from 18 events.
Four-time track cycling world champion
Anna Meares will be amongst one of the favourites to retain her 500m time trial and individual pursuit titles.
The 30-year-old Australian is a reigning
Olympic and triple Commonwealth Games gold medallist and will compete in the sprint events.
One of her main challengers could be team-mate Steph Morton, who has previously found success at the Paralympics, winning gold as a sighted guide in London in 2012,
New Zealand’s men will be hoping to break a 12-year gold medal drought. One of the favourites to bring this run to an end for the Kiwis is Simon van Velthooven, who has a good chance in the keirin, in which he won Olympic bronze in 2012.
The New Zealander’s time trial form is also strong and he is rated as one of the top prospects for gold. In the individual pursuit veteran Marc Ryan remains a quality performer shown by his bronze in the
World Championships in Colombia in
February and he is likely to be joined by
New Zealand youngsters Patrick Bevin and
Dylan Kennett who are tipped as ones to watch.
The road Time Trials take place on July
31, only four days after the Tour de France ends, and the Road Race is on August 3.
The proximity to the Tour predictably has impacted on who will compete in the men’s road race.
However, Australia will still have plenty of muscle to flex in the men’s cycling event, despite missing several big names.
Rising star Caleb Ewan, lead-out specialist Mark Renshaw and all-rounder Simon
Clarke will be the main riders in the sevenman team.
England’s Lizzie Armistead gained a silver in the women’s Road Race at the
London Olympics in 2012 and will be wanting to go one better in Glasgow over the same course she claimed the British
National Road Race title in 2013.
Posing a threat to Armistead will be New
Zealand’s Linda Villumsen, who has been consistently winning medals on the road for the past five years. As the reigning
Commonwealth Games time trial champion, Scotland’s David Millar will be looking to defend that title as well as having an eye on capturing a medal in the road race before he closes his career.—AFP
TORONTO: IndyCar ran two races in Toronto on Sunday, where rain wreaked havoc on both the schedule and driver strategy.
The series had planned to run one race Saturday and one on
Sunday until rain washed out the first event. It instead began Sunday morning, roughly five hours before the start of the second race, and won by Sebastien Bourdais. He broke a 52-race losing streak dating to 2007 in claiming a dominating win on the dr y street course at
Exhibition Place.
But the rain returned for the second race, and IndyCar officials moved the start up 10 minutes in an attempt to run as much as possible in dry conditions. The sky eventually did open, the track became slick and drivers darted to pit road for rain tires.
When the track began to dry,
Mike Conway gambled and made an early stop to remove his rain tires. A caution minutes later sent the bulk of the field to pit road to change their tires, and Conway shot up the leaderboard.
Conway was fifth on the restart, but his dry tires were far superior to the drivers still racing on rain tires, and he quickly moved through the field and into the lead. The race, which had been scheduled to run
65 laps or 80 minutes, whichever came first, then became a timed race.
A multicar accident stopped the clock for a cleanup with 4 minutes,
32 seconds remaining, and set up one final restart. Conway pulled away on the restart and easily held off Tony Kanaan.
It was the second win of the season for Conway, who walked away from IndyCar at the end of 2012 season because he no longer wanted to race on ovals. He was hired this year to split the seat with driver/owner Ed Carpenter, who was willing to give up his car on road and street courses.
Kanaan, third in the first race of the day, was the only IndyCar driver to finish on the podium in both events. Will Power finished third as
Chevrolet swept the podium in both races. Bourdais led points leader Helio Castroneves and
Kanaan in the first race.
Bourdais, who scored his first win since returning to the US in
2011, was 11th in the second race.
The rain during Race 2 caused one frightening moment when drivers began to slide on the track when the shower first started. Juan Pablo
Montoya slipped off course into a tire barrier, and was hit from behind moments later by rookie
Mikhail Aleshin.
The contact lifted Montoya’s car off its back wheels, Aleshin slid under the car, and Montoya’s car landed on top of Aleshin. Montoya’s car had to be lifted by a tow truck off of Aleshin, and it dangled in the air with the Colombian still in the cockpit.
An uninjured Aleshin returned to his pit stand and showed off his helmet, which was marred by visible tire marks. “It was not nice at all because I was sitting under the car,” the Russian driver said. “It was getting so hot from (Montoya’s) car, I couldn’t breathe at all because the car is very hot. ... It was not a nice feeling at all.”
Race 1 had its own harrowing moment. It came to an almost immediate halt when a multicar crash led to a red flag on the opening lap. After a long delay, racing resumed with Bourdais leading the field to green. He never really had to look back and led all but six of the 65 laps.
It was Bourdais’ first victory since the 2007 Champ Car season finale in Mexico City, but the 32nd of his career. That broke a tie with Paul
Tracy and Dario Franchitti to give the Frenchman eighth place on the all-time wins list.
“I’ve got a big smile across my
TORONTO: Sebastien Bourdais of France, driver of the KVSH Racing
Dallara Chevrolet celebrates his victory in the Verizon IndyCar Series
Honda Indy Toronto Race 1 on the Streets of Toronto. —AFP face and I can’t seem to get rid of it,”
Bourdais said after the victory. “The whole race I was stressed out, it felt too easy, it felt like it was way too much under control, and it felt like it was going to go wrong at some point.” It was KVSH Racing’s first victory since Kanaan won the 2013
Indianapolis 500. Kanaan moved to
Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of last season, and Bourdais replaced him in the car.
“Hopefully, there’s more of that to come,” said KVSH co- owner
Jimmy Vasser. “When he gets on a roll, he’s unbeatable.” —AP
MELBOURNE: Australia’s frosty relationship with bad boy Bernard Tomic looks set to thaw after the
21-year-old displayed grit and passion to grind down big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic 7-6 3-6 7-6 in the Colombian Open final on Sunday.
Too late to win automatic qualification for next month’s US Open, Tomic’s second ATP title was a timely riposte to an army of critics in his home country and came only days after being dumped by powerful sports management company IMG.
“He’s a very difficult player,” Tomic said of
Croatian Karlovic, the second seed and defending champion, who might be sick of the sight of
Australians after being edged by former world number one Lleyton Hewitt at Newport earlier this month.
“He won here last year. For me it was a difficult match. I kept trying and believing in myself. Against him, if you stop believing and trying he will beat you.” Tomic’s victory has lifted his world ranking up to 70 after it had drifted out of the top 100, ending a dreadful six months in which he struggled to string two wins together after coming back from surgery on both hips. Prior to the surgery, Tomic was forced to retire in the first round of his home grand slam against Rafa Nadal in January and despite his clear discomfort, was jeered by fans at Rod Laver Arena.
He was further slammed by home media in
Australia after he bowed out in his comeback match
6-0 6-1 to Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen at the Miami
Masters, losing in 28 minutes, the quickest ATP victory since records started in 1991.
Once touted a future top-10 player, Australian tennis fans had become increasingly weary of the two-time junior grand slam champion who showed immense promise with a Wimbledon quarter-final appearance at the age of 18 but has since failed to live up to his own lofty expectations.
Tomic’s struggles have been magnified by the rapid rise of 19-year-old Nick Kyrgios, who stunned
14-times grand slam champion Nadal to also reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon earlier this month.
Supremely gifted and seen as a humble, wholesome athlete, Kyrgios’s Wimbledon breakthrough caused a frenzy Down Under and inevitably raised comparisons with Tomic. “At last, we no longer have to pretend we like Bernard Tomic,” a News Ltd commentary said before Kyrgios’s match-up with Nadal at Wimbledon. News of Tomic’s Bogota WIN prompted a backhanded compliment from the same media company. “Bernard Tomic finally did something right,” a headline on News Ltd media portal
News.com.au read yesterday. Though the victory in a minor tournament in South America may seem a small step in Tomic’s comeback, footage of the
Australian nearly breaking down in tears of frustration before collapsing on the court after closing out victory are likely to do much more for his damaged brand in Australia. —Reuters
Bernard Tomic in action in this file photo.
Bradley Wiggins celebrates in this file photo.

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
S P O R T S
HOCKENHEIM: Where have all the
German Formula One fans gone? The glamour sport was asking itself that question after tens of thousands stayed away from a home grand prix that should have been box office gold in the land of Mercedes but instead left plenty of empty seats on Sunday.
Some pointed the finger at the country’s reigning quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel, struggling for form at a below-par Red Bull this season and unhappy with the new rules and engine format. O thers blamed World Cup fatigue, Germany’s strict tax rules on corporate hospitality or the absence of
Michael Schumacher - the most successful driver of all time who retired in 2012 and is still in hospital after a near-fatal ski accident.
Whatever the reason, the facts on
Sunday were stark. The dominant
Mercedes team, with championship leader Nico Rosberg triumphant, had just won their home grand prix with a
German driver for the first time since the
1930s.
Such a result had looked on the cards for months - Mercedes have now won nine of 10 races so far - and yet instead of queues of cars on the autobahns and crowds thronging through the turnstiles, the race at Hockenheim drew an attendance of just 52,000 on Sunday.
In total, 95,000 turned up over the three days - a small crowd in one of the world’s largest car exporting nations and home of sporting marques like Porsche,
BMW and Audi.
The Sunday figure represented a 38 percent drop on the previous race at the circuit two years ago, when seven times champion Schumacher was in the last season of his comeback with a thenuncompetitive Mercedes team.
When Schumacher - the first German world champion and a four times winner in Hockenheim - announced his comeback with Mercedes in 2010, the circuit sold 10,000 tickets straight away.
Katja Heim, the circuit adviser who was involved in the race promotion, said the crowd was better than the 45,000 at the Nuerburgring last year but
Hockenheim was always more popular.
She blamed Vettel, and the return of the Red Bull-owned Austrian circuit which hosted its first race in 11 years in
June, in part for some of the empty seats.
Vettel told reporters early in the season that the new V6 turbo hybrid engines, which are much quieter than the old V8s, sounded ‘shit’. He was not the only one of that opinion, but his words had resonance. “It certainly didn’t really help that Sebastian in his frustration about the new Formula One and his car gave loads of interviews about how bad Formula One is now and that it’s not worth going there,” Heim said.
“As a four times world champion from
Germany, people believe him more than they would the sales people. So if he says there’s nothing any more for the fans, it’s not Formula One like it used to be, that was 100 percent quite damaging.” Mercedes motorsport head Toto
Wolff was inclined to agree. “ We’ve talked the sport down at the beginning of the year and we are all to blame, or many of us,” he told reporters on Sunday as he faced yet more questions about the poor turnout.
“The last couple of races were really good to watch. Lots of overtaking everywhere, so the sport is in good shape. We have to analyse properly why there are not more spectators in Hockenheim. It’s a shame,” he added.
“Is there a general trend that people just have many more options in what they do in the digital world? I don’t have an answer because from the sporting side all of us are doing it right.”
High ticket prices, with a category one weekend pass costing 515 euros
($700), were also seen as a factor - particularly with Austria offering a cheaper alternative as well as novelty value in the same German-speaking catchment area.
Austria was a sellout attraction, with tickets limited to 225,000 over the three days. An estimated 80,000 turned out on race day. Silverstone, home of the British
Grand Prix, drew around 120,000.
Heim said Austria had probably taken six or seven thousand spectators away from Hockenheim, while seats that might have gone to corporate guests in the past were harder to shift.
Germany’s World Cup success, with the national team winning their fourth title in Brazil only the weekend before
Hockenheim was also seen as contributing.
“Germany won the World Cup, and all the sports-mad people bought a ticket to Brazil,” Formula One supremo Bernie
Ecclestone told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. “They’re just worn out after so many major sports events.”
Heim agreed that was a consideration. “For Formula One, it would maybe have been better if Germany had done an England and gone out in the first round. I really believe that,” she said with a smile. But there are also deeper concerns, one to do with demographics and the need for the sport to appeal to a younger audience with other demands on their time and attention.
“Someone asked me yesterday ‘Do you think all your spec tators died away?’” laughed Heim. “ They were referring actually to the point that we need to find a trick to get new, young fans. That is something the whole sport has to embrace. We need to get cooler.” —Reuters
HOCKENHEIM: Brazilian Felipe Massa has urged Formula One’s younger drivers to calm down after he suffered another big collision in Sunday’s German Grand Prix.
The Williams driver had qualified third on the grid but failed to complete a lap after being pitched out at the first corner in a coming together with McLaren’s Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen.
Massa, whose car flipped and skidded along upside down before righting itself, blamed the Dane for the crash. “This is not the first time he was in an accident on the first lap. Most of the time these young drivers they want to win the race at the first corner,” said the former Ferrari driver.
“If you take most of the accidents that happen, they happen always with them.”
Asked what he would say to Magnussen,
Massa continued: “I would say what I’m saying to you: ‘Just take it easy’. I’m not the only one losing, he’s losing out as well. He spun, maybe his car was not the same, so for sure he lost points as well.
“I hope it’s enough for him to understand to take it easy a little bit more in the next race.” Massa’s frustration was understandable, with the Brazilian sidelined while
Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas took second place - his third successive top-three finish and the 300th podium in Williams’ history.
Massa has yet to stand on the podium this year, despite having one of the quickest cars after the dominant Mercedes, and has scored just 30 points to his team mate’s 91 in 10 races.
He drew a blank in the British Grand Prix two weeks ago when he started slowly and was then caught up in the aftermath of Kimi
Raikkonen’s first lap crash into the barriers.
The Brazilian was four th in Austria in
June, after starting on pole position, but crashed out of the Canadian Grand Prix before that when he tangled with Force
India’s Sergio Perez on the last lap. Perez was handed a grid penalty for that crash in
M o n t re a l, d e s p i t e t h e M e x i c a n’s t e a m appealing.
“I don’t remember myself, Kimi, Fernando
(Alonso) being involved as young drivers in so many things like that,” Massa said of
Sunday’s incident. “Sometimes you need to understand that you cannot win the race at the first corner.”
Magnussen, who finished ninth, said he h a d n o w h e re e l s e t o g o a n d M c L a re n backed him up. “He’d made a great getaway, and was pushing to stay close to Valtteri
Bottas. Massa was on the outside and probably didn’t see Kevin, who was on the inside line, and had nowhere to go,” said McLaren racing director Eric Boullier. “Kevin was quite blameless in the accident.”
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton said he had feared for the safety of German Grand Prix marshals who ran across the track during the race to push clear Adrian Sutil’s stranded
Sauber while other cars were lapping at speed. The Mercedes driver, who finished t h i rd i n a r a c e wo n b y t e a m m a t e N i c o
Rosberg, told reporters he had been surprised by what happened when the Sauber was left in the middle of the track after the final corner on lap 48.
While many expected the safety car to be deployed, the race direction decided not to.
“I was really concerned for the marshals, really concerned,” said the Briton.
“When you come around that corner at serious speed, and then there are marshals standing not far away from where you are driving past. For me that’s the closest it’s been for a long, long time.”
The 2008 world champion said he had b e e n re m i n d e d o f t h e 1 9 7 7 d e a t h o f
We l s h m a n To m Pr yce d u r i n g t h e S o u t h
African Grand Prix when he hit a marshal who was crossing the track with a fire extinguisher. The marshal was also killed.
“I used to work at a driving school in
Bedford (England) and one day I came in and they had this video that was playing all the time,” recalled Hamilton.
“It was a video from a race from years and years ago and a car had stopped on the track, a marshal ran across the track and got hit by a car coming past. That was the first thing I thought about. “Obviously we are not going as fast as on that straight but I was worried about the marshals...Fortunately no one got hurt.”—Reuters
KUWAIT: Lilywhite and Sports Direct scored victories in the k nock- out stage of the 35th annual Roudhan Futsal
Tournament.
Lilywhite’s win came against the tournament’s dark horse
Al-Zamel Group. The match ended with a 3- 2 score following a close performance from both teams.
Meanwhile, Sports Direct scored 9 goals to eliminate Kuwait
Investment who managed to score 4 goals in a heated match.
The 22nd day of the tournament also featured an exhibition match between Al-Arabi All-Stars and Fahaheel All-Stars. The match, which was held to commemorate late players of both clubs which ended with a 1-0 victory for Al-Arabi.

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
S P O R T S
RIO DE JANEIRO: Sifting through the ruins of Brazil’s World Cup campaign, star player Neymar says his team strove hard for glory, but other countries have moved ahead and they must catch up.
While refusing to pin the blame on former handler Luiz Felipe Scolari,
Neymar also warned young players to beware the damage some coaches could do to young players’ development. In an exclusive interview with
Globo television broadcast Sunday, the
22-year-old said Brazil deserved at best seven out of ten for a Cup showing which ended with a 7-1 semi-final mauling by champions Germany.
Asked why Brazil failed Neymar said there were simply things that could not be explained. “We cried because it was our childhood dream (to win it) and had fought hard to get to where we were.”
He added he believed he would have chosen the same 23 players as Scolari for the roster-but insisted Brazil must realize it has fallen down the pecking order and has no automatic right to success.
“I think Brazilian football is behind.
It’s behind Germany and Spain. We’ve slipped behind and we have to be man enough to admit it.”
The Barcelona star was forced to watch the semi-final from his coastal home in Sao Paulo state after he suffered a fractured vertebrae during the quarter-final with Colombia.
In that game, he was clattered in the back by Juan Camilo Zuniga in a “move that had nothing to do with football,” though he accepted the Colombian’s later apology. Forced onto the sidelines,
Neymar said there was no particular reason why Brazil’s campaign suddenly crashed around them. “There was no particular mistake made by the Selecao.
I am not someone who understands a huge amount about tactics,” he said.
And he refused to blame Scolari,
Brazil’s 2002 World Cup-winning coach who resigned after the tournament. “I had a leader (who was) one of the best
Brazilian coaches I’ve had,” he said.
Neymar insisted the team were sharp from training. “We always trained,” he said. “We gave our all.” He did indicate, however, that the intensity of training in
Brazil could be lower than in Europe.
“You train more, but sometimes you train with less determination. That’s how
Brazilians are.” Neymar revealed he felt some coaching of youngsters in the game was harmful, such as when they are told on occasion to get the ball onto their stronger foot.
“The information passed onto a player is important-you have to ask why a player did (something in error). “I almost learned things wrongly. The ball would come to my left leg. The coach would say to switch it onto my right foot to kick as I am right-handed.
“So then my father corrected that and said, no, if the ball coes to your left leg then you hit it with your left.” Neymar said he would seek to fulfill his World
Cup dream in four years time in Russia.
Already a father from a previous relationship, Neymar claimed that, at 22, it was too early to be thinking of marrying his 18-year-old flame, actress Bruna
Marquezine. Brazil are now looking to revamp their footballing structures, and are Tuesday set to re-appoint former coach Dunga to prepare for the
Selecao’s next tournament, the 2015
Copa America in Chile.—AFP
SAO PAULO: Flamengo’s season went from bad to worse on Sunday when defender Andre
Santos was punched and kicked by the club’s fans as he left the stadium after a 4-0 defeat by
Internacional that left the Rio club bottom of the
Brazilian first division.
Local media reported that the left back was hit in the face as he left Beira-rio stadium in
Porto Alegre. Angry fans also kicked him as he sought refuge in the van that was picking him up outside the dressing rooms, according to the reports.
The former Brazil and Arsenal defender has failed to impress since signing for Flamengo in
July last year and has been a constant target of fans. That anger boiled over on Sunday as
Flamengo lost again to find themselves rooted to the bottom of the league with just seven points from 11 games.
The Rio club had Chicao sent off in the first half and were no match for an Internacional side who are now one of five clubs with 19 points, six behind leaders Cruzeiro. Corinthians are in second on 20 after getting a point in a drab 0-0 draw away at Vitoria.
Cruzeiro are the only team in the top half of the table to win both their games since the
World Cup break and their 2-1 victor y at
Palmeiras on Sunday meant they extended their lead at the top of the table to five points.
Andre Santos
Ricardo Goulart got a goal after seven minutes and Manuel headed home another three minutes later. Palmeiras got one back after eight minutes of the second period through Tobio but could not grab what would have been a deserved equaliser.
The other big winners were newly promoted
Chapecoense, who came to Sao Paulo on
Saturday and beat the home side 1-0 in front of
43,075 fans, the biggest crowd of the weekend.
Gremio, Botafogo, Fluminense and Atletico
Paranaense also won.—Reuters
MEXICO: Rubens Sambueza (right) of America vies for the ball with Jonny Magallon
(left) of Leon, during their Mexican Apertura 2014 tournament football match. —AFP
MEXICO CITY: Relegation-threatened
Chivas drew 1-1 with Chiapas on Sunday in the first round of Mexico’s Apertura football tournament.
On Saturday, reigning champion Leon fell 2-1 to America, while Monterrey defeated newly promoted Leones Negros 3-1.
In other weekend results, Pumas defeated Queretaro 3-1, Puebla won 1-0 over
Tijuana, Pachuca overcame Cruz Azul 1-0,
Atlas drew 0-0 with Tigres, Santos Laguna secured a 1-0 victory over Veracruz, and
Toluca and Morelia drew 0-0.
Fernando Arce put Chivas ahead with a free k ick from 25 yards (meters) that deceived keeper Cesar Lozano, before
Chiapas equalized via Julio Nava in the
67th.
Two first half goals from Osvaldo
Martinez sent America into a 2-0 halftime lead, with Leon goalkeeper William
Yarbrough losing balance and unintentionally carrying the ball over his own line for the second.
Leon came back in the second half when Mauro Boselli slotted his second opportunity from the spot into the net in the 84th.
Humberto Suazo, Cesar Delgado and
Dorlan Pabon scored for Monterrey, with
Andres Rios earning the loan goal for
Leones Negros .
Ismael Sosa scored twice in the first half for Pumas and Daniel Luduena extended the lead after the break with a free-kick.
Angel Sepulveda scoring in second half injury time for Queretaro.
Luis Lorona scored Puebla’s only goal in the 9th minute with a shot into the corner from just inside the penalty area, with
Puebla holding on after it went down to ten men in the 67th when T V replays showed defender Efrain Cortes spat in the face of Dario Benedetto. Jorge Hernandez was shown a red card in the 71st and
Daniel Arreola six minutes later as Pachuca went down to nine players against Cruz
Azul, but it held on to win via Matias
Alustiza’s goal in the 13th. Colombia’s
Andres Renteria struck two minutes before halftime for Santos Laguna against
Veracruz.—AP
ITALY: French left back Patrice Evra is leaving
Manchester United after eight-and-a-half seasons to join Serie A champions Juventus, the
Italian club said yesterday.
Juve confirmed that they had agreed a 1.2
million-pound ($2.05 million) fee for the 33-yearold, who signed a two-year contract. Juventus will pay a further 300,000 pounds to United if they qualify for the 2015-16 Champions League.
The move means the chance of Champions
League football this season for Evra, who would have missed out on Europe’s top club competition had he stayed at Old Trafford after their seventh-place finish in the Premier League.
“After a great deal of thought I have decided the time is right for me to leave Manchester
United,” Evra told United’s website
(manutd.com). “It is the biggest decision of my career as this club is, and will always remain, in my heart.
“This club is steeped in history and I feel privileged to have become a par t of that ... An immense thank you to Sir Alex Ferguson for making it all possible, for giving me the privilege to be a captain, to be inspired by the legend of
Manchester United and to understand that nobody is bigger than the club.” Born in Senegal and raised in France, Evra began his professional career in Italy when he signed for Serie C side
Massara as a 17-year-old in 1998.
He moved to Monza in Serie B the following season, returned to France to play for Nice and then Monaco before joining Manchester United in January 2006.
He went on to win five English Premier league titles at Old Trafford, plus the Champions
League and Club World Cup in 2008.
Italian clubs are making a habit of signi n g a g e i n g p l a y e r s f r o m t h e E n g l i s h
Premier League. AC Milan signed Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien, 31, during the
J a n u a r y c l o s e s e a s o n a n d E v r a’s f o r m e r
United team mate Nemanja Vidic, 32, has
GLASGOW: Scottish champions Celtic will look to wrap up their Champions League second qualifying round tie against
Icelandic side KR Reykjavik in the unfamiliar surroundings of Murrayfield on Tuesday.
Celtic hold a slender 1-0 advantage ahead of the return leg which will be played in Edinburgh at the home of
Scottish rugby with Celtic Park out of commission due to the Commonwealth Games.
Debutant Callum McGregor struck an
84th-minute winner for the Hoops in the
Icelandic capital a week ago as new boss
Ronny Deila made a winning start to his tenure after replacing Neil Lennon last month.
Should Celtic progress the winner between St. Patrick’s Athletic and Legia
Warsaw, who drew the first leg 1-1 in
Poland, would await Deila’s men in the third qualifying round.
Striker Anthony Stokes says qualifying for the Champions League group stage, which would require Celtic to also advance from a subsequent play-off round, is imperative for the Glasgow giants. “One of the big things for me this year is getting to the group stages,” Stokes told Celtic View, the club’s official magazine.
“Doing well in Europe is a big goal for me and the team and it’s a challenge I’m looking forward to, and hopefully we can have a better campaign than last year.”
Celtic reached the round of 16 in
2012/13 but were eliminated in the group stage a year ago after finishing bottom of a pool that featured Barcelona, Milan and
Ajax.
However, Stokes, who netted 20 goals as
Celtic strolled to a third straight domestic league title last season, is hoping for another crack at Europe’s premier club competition.
“ This season our main aim is to get through these qualifiers, win the matches and get to the group stages and we will be doing everything in our power to be fit and ready to win those games,” said the Ireland international.
Defender Efe Ambrose, who was part of the Nigeria squad that reached the last 16 of the World Cup in Brazil, warned that he and his teammates could not afford to be complacent despite facing far less illustrious opponents.
“Last season we lost to Karagandy and it was a terrible picture for us and we don’t want to experience that any more this season,” said Ambrose, referring to a 2-0 defeat to then Kazak h champions Shak hter
Karagandy in the first leg of last year’s playoff round.—AFP
Patrice Evra also moved to Serie A, joining Inter Milan.
Evra’s move has come at an uncertain time for
Juventus following last week’s shock resignation of coach Antonio Conte, who won three successive Serie A titles in as many seasons in charge.
Sporting director Giuseppe Marotta said
Conte’s departure had nothing to do with clashes over transfer polic y, after repor ts that
Juventus were willing to sell top midfielders Paul
Pogba of France and Chilean Arturo Vidal.
The hugely popular and volatile Conte was immediately replaced by former AC Milan coach
Massimiliano Allegri, whose deadpan personality could not be a greater contrast to his predecessor.
Allegri won the Serie A title with Milan in
2011 but was sacked midway through last season after a dreadful start that left them languishing in mid-table.
Last week, Juventus confirmed they had signed Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata for 20 million euros ($27.06 million) while Fabio
Quagliarella was sold to neighbours Torino.
Evra’s departure from Old Trafford following those of Vidic and Rio Ferdinand leaves new
United manager Louis van Gaal short of experience in defence.
They signed 19-year-old England left back
Luke Shaw from Southampton for 30 million pounds but Van Gaal will be looking to add at least one established central defender to his squad before the new season. —Reuters
COLOMBIA: Monaco’s footballers pose with the trophy after defeating Junior de Barranquilla for the EuroAmerican Cup at the Roberto
Melendez Metropolitano Stadium. —AFP

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
17
19
LONDON: England’s James Anderson (left) lies on the ground after being run out by India’s Ravindra Jadeja (not pictured) as India’s captain and wicketkeeper MS Dhoni (second left) takes out the middle stump. — AFP
LONDON: Ishant Sharma took seven wickets as
India ended a run of 15 Tests without an away victory in an emphatic 95-run win over England at Lord’s yesterday. This victory, only India’s second in 17 Tests at Lord’s, put the tourists 1-0 up in the five-match series ahead of the third Test in Southampton on Sunday. The first Test in
Nottingham was drawn.
“I felt in the last couple of series outside
India (in South Africa and New Zealand) we were in a position to win,” said India captain
Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
“What was important was to keep working hard and it was just fantastic to see the determination and effort the guys showed.” England, set
319 for victory, collapsed to 223 all out on the final day.
Sharma took four wickets for nine runs in 21 balls after lunch as a succession of England batsmen were undone by his bouncer. In total, the 25-year-old finished with a Test-best seven for 74 to win the man-of-the-match award.
But Sharma said Dhoni deserved credit for encouraging him to bowl short. “I don’t think all the wickets are for me, they are for the captain because he’s the one that told me, ‘you are tall enough so you have to bowl a bouncer, you have to use your height’. That’s what I did and it worked for me.” This result extended England’s run without a Test victory to 10 successive matches. However, under-pressure England captain Alastair Cook said he would not quit as skipper.
“Until that bloke taps me on the shoulder and says ‘we don’t want you to captain’ I’m desperate to tr y to turn this around for
England...I’m here as long as I’m wanted.”
Yesterday’s slump saw England, who had been
173 for four, lose their last six wickets for 50 runs. Sharma’s final figures surpassed the his previous Test-best six for 51 against New
Zealand in Wellington earlier this year. England looked as if they would bat through Monday’s first session without losing a wicket. But to the very last ball before lunch, Moeen Ali turned his head away from a Sharma bouncer and gloved a simple catch to Cheteshwar Pujara at short leg. It was the end of his three-hour, 39 and a fifth-wicket stand of 101 with Joe Root, then unbeaten on 52. The resumption saw several
England batsmen fall to bouncer traps that could not have been more obvious had they been signposted.
Wicketkeeper Matt Prior, who has had a torrid season behind the stumps, decided to hook
Sharma. Several men were positioned for the shot in the deep, Prior did not get over the top of the ball and picked out Murali Vijay at midwicket. Ben Stokes fell for a duck when he miscued an intended pull to Pujara at wide mid-on.
Root, on 66, also fell to Sharma’s bouncer, hooking Sharma straight to Stuart Binny at deep backward square leg.
Stuart Broad too could not cope with a rising delivery, gloving Sharma down the legside to wicketkeeper Dhoni, with England now on the brink of defeat at 216 for nine.
The match ended when James Anderson was run out by Ravindra Jadeja’s direct hit, with the two players both facing a possible suspension following their alleged confrontation at Trent
Bridge.
LONDON: Scoreboard after India beat England by 95 runs in the second Test at Lord’s yesterday.
India first innings 295 all out
England first innings 319 all out
India second innings 342 all out
England second innings (overnight 105-4)
S. Robson lbw Jadeja
A. Cook c Dhoni b Sharma
G. Ballance c Dhoni b Shami
I. Bell b Sharma
J. Root c Binny b Sharma
Moeen Ali c Pujara b Sharma
M. Prior c Vijay b Sharma
7
22
27
1
66
39
12
B. Stokes c Pujara b Sharma
L. Plunkett not out
S. Broad c Dhoni b Sharma
J. Anderson run out
0
7
8
2
Extras: (w-1 nb-2 b-13 lb-16)
Total: (all out, 88.2 overs)
32
223
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-70, 3-71, 4-72, 5-173,
6-198, 7-201, 8-201, 9-216, 10-223
Bowling: Kumar 16-7-21-0, Shami 11-3-33-
1, Sharma 23-6-74-7 (nb-2), Jadeja 32.2-7-
53-1, Vijay 4-1-11-0 (w-1), Dhawan 2-0-2-0.
England collapsed to 72 for four on
Sunday, with Sharma removing the two senior batsmen in Cook and Ian Bell. Cook was out for 22 to make it 27 innings since the last of his England record 25 Test hundreds. Bell fared even worse, bowled for one as his run without a Test century was extended to 19 innings. Cook elected to field on a typically English ‘green top’ after winning the toss and saw India decline to
147 for seven.
But, not for the first time in recent matches, England failed to polish off the tail as India made 295 with Ajinkya Rahane scoring 103. It was a similar story in India’s second innings when, after opener Vijay’s patient 95, an eighth-wicket stand of 99 in just 100 balls between the dashing Jadeja
(68) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (52) saw the tourists to 342. —AFP
SYLVANIA: Now that she’s officially a millionaire, Lydia Ko joked she’ll have to keep a closer watch on where her paychecks go.
“I’ll probably see that going into my mom’s account,” she said with a laugh, referring to the $210,000 she got for winning Sunday’s Marathon
Classic.
The 17-year-old broke free from a late tie with So Yeon Ryu, hitting a wedge to 4 feet for birdie on the 72nd hole to take the lead. Then she tried in vain - she’s just 5-foot-5 - to see past the large gallery at 18 as Ryu missed a
6-foot birdie putt on the final hole that would have forced a playoff.
“I couldn’t see it properly. I was behind some people,” she said after her second LPGA Tour victory that matched the two Canadian Open titles she won as an amateur. “But I kind of could tell what happened by the crowd’s reaction.”
She became the youngest player to top $1 million in career earnings on the LPGA Tour. Ko is roughly 17 months younger than Lexi Thompson, previously the youngest. Ko has shown incredible consistency in her rookie year on tour, making the cut in all 15 tournaments she’s entered. She has six top-10 finishes in addition to her wins, with five of those being topfives.
Ryu had poured in a big-breaking,
25-foot birdie putt on the 17th to pull even. But then Ko stuck her approach at the par-5 closing hole and calmly rolled in the birdie putt for a 6-under
65 that left her at 15-under 269. Ryu hit a brilliant third shot to the green, but pushed her 6-footer at the 18th.
“Absolutely I’m disappointed I missed (that) birdie putt,” she said.
“Sometimes if I get something lucky, then I get something that is unlucky. I just accept it and let it go.”
Ko was resilient, also shrugging aside a challenge from veteran Cristie
Kerr, who pulled into a tie with her on the homeward nine.
Ko, who proudly bears the flag of her native New Zealand on her golf bag, started the final round in fifth place, three shots behind co-leaders
Laura Diaz and Lee-Anne Pace.
While they foundered, she crept up the leaderboard with birdies at holes 3 and 4. She tied for the top spot with a 12-foot birdie putt at the par-3 eighth, then took a solo lead for the
OHIO: Lydia Ko, of New Zealand, holds up her trophy after winning the
Marathon Classic LPGA golf tournament at Highland Meadows Golf Club. — AP first time after hitting her approach to
10 feet at the 10th.
Kerr, seeking her 17th career victory, rolled in a left-to-right breaker from
15 feet at the 13th to pull even. But her approach on the 399-yard, par-4
15th missed left and settled into heavy rough. She muscled the pitch shot onto the green, but it rolled 6 feet past and she lipped out the par putt.
Kerr, who shot a 67 to finish three shots back in third, failed to apply pressure when she could not birdie the closing two par-5s.
“I had a good/bad week,” she said.
“I didn’t play 17 and 18 well all week. If you’re going to win here you have to take advantage of those holes.”
Ko hit a pitching wedge from 121 yards to 6 feet past the pin, then rolled in the downhill putt for a two-shot lead at the 16, but Ryu birdied four of six holes late in her round to tie.
Playing in the pairing immediately in front of Ryu, Ko hit three perfect shots on the closing par-5, which is bisected by a large, deep valley with a creek at the bottom. Her 72-yard chip shot nestled 4 feet away and she drilled it into the heart of the hole to regain the lead. — AP
HOYLAKE: Tom Watson looked the picture of charm and grace as he outplayed scores of golfers half his age at last week’s British Open but, make no mistake, he did not win eight majors without having a steely edge.
The 64-year-old United States Ryder Cup captain has more than half an eye on the match against holders Europe in Scotland in
September and he made two verbal declarations at Hoylake that left no doubt as to how seriously he is taking the biennial team event.
Watson left open the possibility that some of his 12 players may not be called upon until the last-day singles and he rejected the notion that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are guaranteed places in his side. Asked by Reuters in an interview if he planned to rotate his team on the opening two days in order to make sure everyone gets a taste of the action ahead of the singles, he shrugged his shoulders.
“Who knows?,” he said. “I told my players when I was captain for the first time in 1993 and I’ll them the same now, I’ll do whatever I can to win this thing.”
Five-times Open champion Watson ended his Hoylake campaign in rousing fashion on
Sunday when a four-under 68 gave him a tie for 51st place.
Among the players lower than the veteran
American on the final leaderboard were former world number ones Woods and Luke
Donald, seventh-ranked Matt Kuchar, number eight Jason Day and last month’s US Open champion Martin Kaymer.
Watson will continue to compete at this week’s Senior British Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales before beginning the countdown to the Ryder Cup.
The American, who led his team to victory over Bernard Gallacher’s Europeans in his previous match in charge at The Belfry 21 years ago, does not want to over-complicate matters for his team when they get to Gleneagles.
“I will only do two things, as I see it,” said Watson who surprised MasterCard cardholders at nearby Caldy Golf Club last week and delivered a golf lesson as part of the #PricelessSurprises programme
(http://www.theopen.com/MasterCard).
“How do I assess their play and how do I think the players can affect our team out on the course? “I’ll set the stage, arrange all the practice sessions, help them to learn their lines, but when they go out it’s down to them to perform.” Watson’s vice-captain Andy North told Reuters this month that the American skipper’s popularity in Scotland, scene of four of his five Open triumphs, would be an advantage. “I don’t buy that, I don’t buy that at all,” scoffed Watson. — Reuters

B
TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
DUBAI: Men are pictured walking near a gold souq. — AP
League tables
The shift can be seen in Thomson Reuters league tables for Gulf loan syndications. As recently as 2011, the list of the top 25 arrangers of syndicated loans in the region included 20 foreign banks. In the first half of this year, there were only eight banks from outside the region.
HSBC, which headed the list in the first half of
2013, has moved down to third position and been replaced at the top by Saudi Arabia’s
Samba. Standard Chartered dropped to 21st place from fourth.
Abu Dhabi’s First Gulf Bank, which has vaulted to second place from 23th, said its rise was the result of a much more active approach to the market. “FGB’s change in strategy from July last year focused around increasing product offerings and hence providing more tailored solutions to meet its core clients’ requirements,” said Steve Perry, head of debt origination and syndications. “FGB is now more front-and-centre with clients rather than supporting through participations.”
The increased desire of Gulf banks to lend can be seen in the fact that even as total lending in the region has increased over the past year, the amount of syndicated lending has actually dropped, because banks are doing more big bilateral deals rather than sharing out loans with other banks.
In Saudi Arabia, for example, bank lending to the private sector climbed 12.0 percent from a year earlier to the equivalent of $319 billion in
May, according to central bank data. In the
United Arab Emirates, gross lending rose 8.3 percent to $357 billion. But new syndicated lending in the Middle East fell 45 percent from a year earlier to $17.5 billion in the first six months of 2014,
Thomson Reuters LPC data shows.
The trend can also be seen in the more attractive terms which banks are offering to borrowers. The average tenor of Gulf syndicated loans so far this year is 6.27 years, according to
Thomson Reuters LPC, up from 5.77 years at the same point last year. Borse Dubai, the emirate’s holding company for its stock exchanges, was able to take out a $500 million, three-year loan from Dubai Islamic Bank last month at 90 basis points over the London interbank offered rate, according to a source familiar with the deal.
That was a spectacularly cheap rate, especially for a company that appeared close to default five years ago. Some Gulf banks are willing to cut their fees substantially to win loan business; total Middle Eastern syndicated loan fees shrank to $101.2 million in the first half of
DUBAI: Cash-rich Gulf banks are grabbing a growing share of the region’s loan market as they cut fees and ease terms, elbowing aside some of the foreign banks which used to dominate lending. The shift reflects the weakened state of European and US banks in the wake of the global financial crisis; they face cost-cutting and regulatory pressures in their home markets, preventing them from going after business in the Gulf so aggressively.
But it also reflects a change in the operating environment for Gulf banks. Aided by high oil prices and rapid economic growth in the region, they have been able to rebuild their balance sheets since the crisis and in many cases cut back provisions for bad loans, leaving them flush with cash. They are now scrambling to deploy that cash by lending it out - even at ultra-easy terms which they would not have considered just a year ago.
“It is indeed a good time for quality borrowers in the middle to smaller end of the market to approach local banks,” said Pinak Maitra, group chief financial officer at Kuwait Projects Co, a big investment holding company. “Local banks are more eager to lend today than at any time in the last five years. They are offering finer terms, have greater appetite for longer tenors than in the past.”
2014 from $216.3 million a year earlier,
Thomson Reuters data showed. That was a 53 percent drop, steeper than the fall in lending volume. The result is that European banks, some of which are now returning to the Gulf as lenders after retreating from emerging-market business two years ago, are finding the environment less lucrative. “There is no doubt that increased regulation and capital requirements have increased the cost of lending for most international banks, making some opportunities economically unattractive for them,” said
Simon Meldrum, director for regional loan syndication at Royal Bank of Scotland.
Bonds
One effect of the Gulf banks’ enthusiastic lending has been to reduce corporate bond issuance in the region; companies have little incentive to go through the complex procedures for a bond issue if they can easily take out a loan from their local bank. Companies in the
United States have traditionally raised about 80 percent of their debt through bonds and 20 percent via loans; in Europe, the ratio has been about 30 percent bonds and 70 percent loans.
In the Gulf, the balance is believed to be even more skewed towards loans because of the relatively undeveloped nature of the region’s bond market, and Gulf banks’ lending spree appears to have skewed it further over the past year. “Banks are able to tailor deals to fit with the business needs of the borrower much more than the bond market. This is a real competitive tool that the banks can use. Equally important, borrowers have greater flexibility to prepay in the loan market compared to the bond market,” KIPCO’s Maitra said.
Middle Eastern bond issuance shrank 16 percent from a year earlier to the equivalent of $22 billion in the first half of 2014, according to data from Thomson Reuters and Freeman
Consulting. Last month Dubai’s DP World, one of the world’s largest port operators, signed a jumbo $3 billion, five-year loan deal refinancing its debt at cheaper terms. In other times, it might have used a bond issue.
How long will the trend continue? One potential constraint on Gulf banks’ lending is their loan/deposit ratios. But these still look far from rising to levels that would curb their lending. The ratio of Saudi banks’ combined private sector and government lending to total deposits was 0.86 in May, for example, below
0.89 in 2009. The ratio of UAE banks’ loans to deposits was 0.98 in April, down from 1.07 at end-2011.
Another factor is regulation. To limit risks in the banking system, Saudi regulators have won a reputation in the last couple of years for pressing banks to set aside ample provisions for bad loans. Last year, the UAE imposed caps on bank lending to state-linked companies and local governments.
New Basel III banking standards, to be introduced around the world in the next few years, will oblige banks to set aside more money as capital. Ultimately, these factors are likely to limit the amount of money which Gulf banks are able to lend, and so encourage companies to issue more bonds. The process is likely to be slow, however; many Gulf banks are comfortably above the Basel III capital standards, and
UAE banks have five years to comply with the new state exposure rules.
Meldrum at RBS said it was important not to read too much into the latest syndicated loan league tables, which could change quickly. But he added that local institutions were clearly set to play a bigger role in the
Gulf loan market. “Regional banks are now well capitalized and this liquidity means they can lend more. Also, they now wish to seek to capture a greater share of (the) client/transaction wallet by leading deals rather than just participating,” he said. — Reuters

Ahmed Yousuf Behbehani
TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
B U S I N E S S
ABK achieves 11 percent growth in profits
KUWAIT: Ahmed Yousuf Behbehani, the Chairman of the board of Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait announced that ABK achieved a net profit of KD 19.1 million for the half year ended 30 June 2014, compared to KD 17.2 million in the corresponding period in 2013, representing an 11 percent increase. Earnings per share (EPS) at 12 fils, and return on equity (ROE) at 7.11 percent were ahead of the prior period performance of 11 fils, and 6.69 percent respectively.
The operational revenues amounted to KD59.9 million compared to KD 57.8 million in the corresponding period of
2013. The NPL ratio had reduced to 2.18 percent compared to2.68 percent in the corresponding period in 2013. The
Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) was 23.16 percent.
Commenting on the financial results of the first half of2014,
Ahmed Yousuf Behbehani, the Chairman of the board, stated the following:
“ABK managed to maintain its good performance and ability to achieve profits in spite of the stressful economic conditions. The 11 percent growth in net profits during this period is an outstanding performance in the light of the difficult political and economic conditions witnessed in the region. ABK also witnessed robust growth with total assets growing by 19 percent to KD 3.8 billion from the beginning of the year. Customer deposits also grew by 19 percent to
KD 2.3 billion during this year.
Behbehani stressed that ABK has strong capital base and the Capital Adequacy Ratio of around 23.16 percent in line with the newly introduced Basel 3 regulations. This has enhanced the bank’s position and its ability to grow and provide necessary finance to the local and international companies inside Kuwait in addition to retail and corporate finance for the individuals and companies operating in the
United Arab Emirates. The bank’s ability to maintain its credit ratings issued by international credit classification agencies such as Moody’s Investors Services, with stable outlook, enhances the confidence in the strong capital position of the bank and its ability to mitigate risks and achieve profits.
Further, the bank is in the process of upgrading its IT infrastructure to the latest technology to provide better services to its customers. The chairman also pointed out that the bank continuously reviews and adjusts its strategy to cope with the developments of the financial markets. We are committed to improve the operational efficiency, provide high quality banking services to our customers and to employ high caliber banking staff who are well trained to provide best services to ABK customers.
As for his expectations about the economic prospects during 2014, Behbehani stated the following: “The economic conditions are not expected to be improving amid the political turmoil witnessed in the region. However, once the political and economic conditions improve, we will benefit from the economic opportunities by financing the state projects and increase our market share, whilst focusing on expanding the business of our foreign branches in Dubai and Abu-Dhabi. We will also focus on expanding our branches in the various areas of Kuwait to better serve our customers.
UK offers workers choice to cash in pension savings
LONDON: Britain will give more workers a choice to cash in their pension savings, the government said yesterday, expanding reforms set out earlier this year that hit insurers’ share prices. Finance minister
George Osborne caught Britain’s pensions industry by surprise in March when he said he would scrap a rule forcing many people to buy an annuit y, a financial produc t which converts a retiree’s pension pot into a guaranteed income.
From April, people will also face much less of a tax penalty if they access their pension savings early at the age of 55. Osborne said yesterday that these rights would apply to more pension schemes than originally planned, taking the total number of people affected to 18 million, over half the workforce. The government said it was going ahead with its plans - seen as the biggest reform of pensions in a generation after consulting industry, employers and consumer groups.
“It’s right to support hard-working people that have taken the long-term decision to save for their future and I’m pleased that the responses we had to our proposals on making pensions more flexible have been overwhelmingly positive,” Osborne said.
Osborne’s Conservative Party saw a small boost in opinion polls after the reforms were announced earlier this year although it is now again lagging the opposition
Labor par ty as May ’s national elec tion approaches.
Companies which sell annuities will also be able to sell more complex products that do not pay a constant income and allow one - off lump -sum withdrawals. S ome industry experts fear that people may be sold unsuitable investments. “It will become increasingly difficult for ordinary investors to discern whether they are actually getting a good product or not,” said Tom McPhail, head of pensions research at brokers
Hargreaves Lansdown.
The government will offer free guidance for people looking to cash in their pensions, funded by a levy on the industry. Insurers’ shares were little changed. Shore Capital equity analyst Eamonn Flanagan said the moves were largely as expected. But prices of long-dated British government bonds fell with 30-year yields up as much as 2 basis points on the day as investors feared the changes would reduce demand. Insurers have traditionally bought long-dated government bonds to cover annuity payouts.
The finance ministry said it expected the long-term effec t would be small. “I t is expected that there will still be a strong continuing demand for high-quality fixedincome assets, including government and corporate bonds,” it said. Some analysts have said the changes could give a shortrun boost to tax receipts but impose longterm costs, if older people decide to draw down more taxable income early in their retirement, but potentially end up dependent on the state later.—Reuters
Yemen struggles towards fuel price reform as funds crumble
SANAA/DUBAI: A clampdown on state spending was an effort by Yemen’s government this month to win public support before its biggest economic reform in years: higher fuel prices. But an angry public may not be won over. In the capital Sanaa, where roads to petrol stations have been choked for months by queues of cars waiting for scarce fuel supplies, the frustration is palpable.
“I’ve been standing in line for six hours ...
By the time I arrived at the front of the queue, they told me there was no fuel left,” doctor
Waddah Hashed said. “Our lives have become hell.” Taxi driver Mohammed Al-Heemi has organized a group of his colleagues to exchange information on which pumps in the city happened to have petrol.
“One day we work, the next day we stand in a queue. This has been our life for the past four months,” he said. “It is obvious the government wants to persuade us of the need for the price rise, but the people cannot take this anymore.” “The people will go out ... to bring down the government if the price of fuel is raised.” The public mood is a big risk for the government as it tries to shore up its rickety finances. One of the poorest countries in the
Arab world, Yemen’s economy has always struggled, but political instability since the region’s Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 have left it particularly vulnerable. The government has been trying for more than a year to secure a loan of at least $560 million from the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is pressing for reforms such as cuts in subsidies which keep down prices of petrol and other fuel. In the long run, reducing the subsidies would be good news for the state budget; they cost about $3 billion last year, or a third of state revenue. Some of the money freed up by the reform could be used to increase fuel supplies, easing the shortages which anger the public. But the immediate impact of the reform would be to raise fuel prices for
Yemeni consumers - potentially, a politically explosive step. A previous attempt by the government to cut subsidies in 2005 led to unrest which left some 20 people dead and over 300 wounded. The reform was cancelled.—Reuters
HEART: Afghan residents buy watermelons at a busy market during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. — AFP
Reforming Egypt’s black market:
High hurdles, gigantic rewards
Peruvian economist advises Sisi on shadow economy
CAIRO: The economist behind a plan to unlock at least $380 billion worth of assets from Egypt’s black market says President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi must first restore another asset that has depreciated over the years: the trust of a wary public. That is a tall order in a country where the government has chronically neglected basic duties, in many cases leaving citizens to fend for themselves and find ways around laws and bureaucracy that hinder more than help.
But Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, who has been consulted by dozens of world leaders on private property reform over the last 25 years and has met with Sisi three times since May, is confident the president will use a narrow window of opportunity to address Egyptians’ pervasive suspicion of government.
“Egyptians don’t trust their own administration,” de
Soto told Reuters. “They’re not going to hand in names or data, so you’ve got to start by establishing credibility.”
He has given Sisi a plan outlining specific changes to the bureaucracy and legal code needed to integrate an estimated 60 percent of the population into the system by registering and documenting ordinary
Egyptians’ assets. He predicts such reforms could more than double economic growth rates within five years by giving people access to credit and the protections of legal status. Forecasts for Egypt’s growth this year range between 2 and 2.5 percent. De Soto’s initiative is part of efforts to restore public finances, attract foreign investment and revive an economy battered by three years of political turmoil and unrest, and is expected to be implemented alongside others including from
US consultancy Strategy& and investment bank
Lazard. Sisi is also standing by other ambitious initiatives, such as one to build 48 new cities in the desert.
De Soto said in an interview that Sisi had begun appointing officials to form an agency which would run a communications campaign aimed at building consensus for the reforms and ensuring their implementation. The presidency did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. But a statement from Sisi’s campaign released two weeks before elections in May said the candidate had met with de Soto to discuss “a vision for the future of the informal economic sector in
Egypt”.
Sisi, who ousted elected President Mohamed Morsi last year following protests against his rule and won
93 percent of votes cast in May, has already expended some political capital on tax hikes and subsidy cuts.
Previous governments have talked about reforming the economy without much effect. De Soto met with officials from President Hosni Mubarak’s government a decade ago and all the candidates in the 2012 presidential elections, including Morsi of the banned
Muslim Brotherhood. Obtaining buy-in from a public that may not like the status quo but has repeatedly felt cheated by empty government promises is the first step of de Soto’s plan - and likely its biggest obstacle for Sisi. De Soto predicts it will take about a year. “I think has realized what his historic moment is and he really wants to turn the country around,” de Soto told
Reuters by telephone from Lima. “It’s got to be relatively quickly because you’ve got to take advantage of expectations being high now.”
Break the inertia
The symptoms of informality, which de Soto calls “a disease of government”, are unavoidable in Egypt.
Unlicensed vendors flood the streets, hawking everything from clothes and electronics to vegetables and seafood. The microbuses that many Egyptians rely on for transport skirt meaningful regulation. Whole districts spring up inside major cities and operate beyond government control, a phenomenon that has become regarded as normal.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s massive public sector puts up red tape in the way of millions of Egyptians who resort to living and working beyond the law. Loss of faith in central government was a main cause of the 2011 uprising that ended Mubarak’s 30 years in power.
Mistrust only increased in the following years, as police abandoned their posts, and officials avoided making decisions they feared could land them in jail.
The key to his plan, said de Soto, is for Sisi to “create enough enthusiasm for the idea of being able to work within a system where everybody obeys the law... That allows you to break the inertia.”— Reuters
EXCHANGE RATES
Al-Muzaini Exchange Co.
Japanese Yen
Indian Rupees
Pakistani Rupees
Srilankan Rupees
Nepali Rupees
Singapore Dollar
Hongkong Dollar
Bangladesh Taka
Philippine Peso
Thai Baht
Irani Riyal transfer
Irani Riyal cash
Saudi Riyal
Qatari Riyal
Omani Riyal
Bahraini Dinar
UAE Dirham
ASIAN COUNTRIES
2.791
4.709
2.865
2.168
2.954
229.360
36.491
3.636
6.501
8.811
0.271
0.273
GCC COUNTRIES
75.444
77.735
734.930
751.430
77.074
Egyptian Pound - Cash
Egyptian Pound - Transfer
Yemen Riyal/for 1000
ARAB COUNTRIES
39.850
39.467
1.320
Tunisian Dinar
Jordanian Dinar
Lebanese Lira/for 1000
Syrian Lira
Morocco Dirham
167.540
399.520
1.898
2.016
34.699
US Dollar Transfer
Euro
EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES
282.800
387.290
Sterling Pound
Canadian dollar
Turkish lira
486.560
267.680
133.020
Swiss Franc
Australian Dollar
US Dollar Buying
319.910
267.810
281.600
20 Gram
10 Gram
5 Gram
GOLD
245.000
124.000
64.000
COUNTRY
Australian Dollar
Canadian Dollar
Swiss Franc
Euro
US Dollar
Sterling Pound
Japanese Yen
Bangladesh Taka
Indian Rupee
Sri Lankan Rupee
Nepali Rupee
Pakistani Rupee
UAE Dirhams
Bahraini Dinar
Egyptian Pound
Jordanian Dinar
Omani Riyal
Qatari Riyal
Saudi Riyal
UAE Exchange Centre WLL
2.957
2.864
76.93
751.37
39.47
401.78
734.16
77.96
75.41
SELL DRAFT
253.58
267.38
322.39
388.50
282.30
487.31
2.83
3.638
4.703
2.171
3.492
2.790
77.39
753.44
40.07
407.43
741.46
78.51
75.81
SELL CASH
250.58
268.38
320.39
389.50
285.30
490.31
2.85
3.908
5.003
2.606
Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd
Rate for Transfer
US Dollar
Canadian Dollar
Sterling Pound
Euro
Swiss Frank
Bahrain Dinar
UAE Dirhams
Qatari Riyals
Saudi Riyals
Jordanian Dinar
Egyptian Pound
Sri Lankan Rupees
Indian Rupees
Pakistani Rupees
Bangladesh Taka
Philippines Pesso
Cyprus pound
Japanese Yen
Selling Rate
282.650
267.935
483.335
386.070
317.135
752.300
76.930
78.515
75.645
399.240
39.477
2.171
4.700
2.863
3.639
6.477
694.245
3.780
Syrian Pound
Nepalese Rupees
Malaysian Ringgit
Chinese Yuan Renminbi
Thai Bhat
Turkish Lira
2.885
3.935
89.785
45.955
9.775
133.510
CURRENCY
Belgian Franc
British Pound
Czech Korune
Danish Krone
Euro
Norwegian Krone
Romanian Leu
Slovakia
Swedish Krona
Swiss Franc
Turkish Lira
Australian Dollar
New Zealand Dollar
Canadian Dollar
US Dollars
US Dollars Mint
Bahrain Exchange Company
SELL
Bangladesh Taka
Chinese Yuan
Hong Kong Dollar
Indian Rupee
Indonesian Rupiah
Japanese Yen
Kenyan Shilling
Korean Won
Malaysian Ringgit
Nepalese Rupee
Pakistan Rupee
BUY
Europe
0.007353
0.476110
0.006008
0.047536
0.379356
0.041660
0.086935
0.008101
0.037543
0.310332
0.134490
Australasia
0.257014
0.242477
America
0.258001
0.278800
0.279300
Asia
0.003296
0.044200
0.034412
0.004469
0.000020
0.002698
0.003220
0.000265
0.085022
0.002967
0.002663
0.008353
0.485110
0.018008
0.052536
0.387356
0.046860
0.086935
0.018101
0.042543
0.320532
0.141490
0.268514
0.251977
0.266501
0.283150
0.283150
0.003896
0.047700
0.037162
0.004870
0.000026
0.002878
0.003220
0.000280
0.091022
0.003137
0.002943
Philippine Peso
Sierra Leone
Singapore Dollar
South African Rand
Sri Lankan Rupee
Taiwan
Thai Baht
Bahraini Dinar
Egyptian Pound
Iranian Riyal
Iraqi Dinar
Jordanian Dinar
Kuwaiti Dinar
Lebanese Pound
Moroccan Dirhams
Nigerian Naira
Omani Riyal
Qatar Riyal
Saudi Riyal
Syrian Pound
Tunisian Dinar
Turkish Lira
UAE Dirhams
Yemeni Riyal
0.006418
0.000069
0.223995
0.020364
0.001871
0.009305
0.008447
Arab
0.743942
0.036594
0.000078
0.000179
0.394793
1.0000000
0.000137
0.022206
0.001140
0.728773
0.076996
0.074803
0.001754
0.162976
0.134490
0.076041
0.001276
Currency
US Dollar
Euro
Pound Sterlng
Canadian Dollar
Indian Rupee
Egyptian Pound
Sri Lankan Rupee
Bangladesh Taka
Philippines Peso
Pakistan Rupee
Bahraini Dinar
UAE Dirham
Saudi Riyal
*Rates are subject to change
Al Mulla Exchange
Transfer Rate (Per 1000)
282.250
386.900
484.850
264.700
4.702
39.465
2.167
3.634
6.488
2.860
751.800
76.900
75.400
0.006698
0.000075
0.229995
0.028864
0.002451
0.009485
0.008997
0.751942
0.039694
0.000080
0.000239
0.402293
1.0000000
0.000237
0.046206
0.001775
0.734453
0.078209
0.075503
0.001974
0.170976
0.141490
0.077190
0.001356

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
B U S I N E S S
LONDON: Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco said yesterday that chief executive Philip
Clarke will step down later this year from the troubled supermarket giant, which has also issued a profits warning. Clarke, 54, who has been at the helm for three years,
will be replaced in October by outsider and
Unilever director Dave Lewis, Tesco said in a statement, as the embattled group struggles with what it described as “challenging” trading conditions. “Tesco plc announces that Dave Lewis will join the board of Tesco on 1 October, 2014 as chief executive officer in succession to Philip Clarke,” the company said.
“Philip Clarke will continue as chief executive until that date when he will step down from the board but will continue to be available to support the transition until the end of January 2015.” Lewis, 49, has worked at Dutch food and cosmetics firm
Unilever for almost 28 years, during which he has been responsible for a number of business turnarounds, Tesco said. His current role is Global President, Personal Care.
Competition from discounters
Tesco faces fierce competition in Britain from German-owned discounters Aldi and
Lidl, as well as from traditional supermarket rivals comprising Wal-Mart division
Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Waitrose.
The group had revealed in June that it suffered its worst British sales performance for
40 years in the first quarter of its financial year.
Clarke, who has worked his way up from the shop floor to the Tesco boardroom, described the sales performance as the worst he had ever seen. And in April, the group posted the second drop in annual profits in a row, hit by difficult trading in Europe and a costly investment plan which was aimed at turning around its domestic business in Britain.
“Current trading conditions are more challenging than we anticipated,” Tesco added in a gloomy update yesterday. “The overall market is weaker and, combined with the increasing investments we are making to improve the customer offer and to build long term loyalty, this means that sales and trading profit in the first half of the year are somewhat below expectations.”
The group is battling weaker sales in its main market in Britain and launched a
£1.0-billion (1.26 billion euros, $1.7 billion) investment program in April that was aimed at turning around its domestic business. Over the past two years, meanwhile,
Tesco decided to close its failed US division
Fresh & Easy and to exit from Japan. The group also hopes that expansion into India and China can offset ongoing weakness in
Europe.
“Having taken the business through the huge challenges of the last few years, I think this is the right moment to hand over responsibility and I am delighted that Dave
Lewis has agreed to join us,” said Clarke in yesterday’s statement. “Dave has worked with Tesco directly or indirectly over many years and is well-known within the business. “I will do everything in my power to support him in taking the company forward through the next stage of its journey.”
Tesco chairman Richard Broadbent added that it was “the appropriate moment to hand over to a new leader with fresh perspectives and a new profile”.
Tesco shares rally
Investors welcomed news of the appointment of Dave Lewis. Tesco shares rallied 1.12 percent to 288.2 pence in morning deals on London’s FTSE 100 benchmark index of top companies, which was down 0.44 percent at 6,719.42 points.
“Investors will certainly be hoping that bringing an outsider in to the top role can give the company a fresh view and that
Dave Lewis can turn the tide for the group,” said Rebecca O’Keeffe, head of investment at online broker Interactive Investor. Tesco is the world’s third-biggest supermarket group after French rival Carrefour and with
US retailer Wal-Mart in first place. —AFP
DUBAI: Stock markets in the United Arab
Emirates rebounded yesterday from a sharp drop in the previous session, although Dubai remained extremely volatile because of swings in construction firm Arabtec. Bourses in Qatar and Egypt retreated. Dubai’s index closed up 2.5
percent after dropping as much as 4.3 percent shortly after the opening, when shares in
Arabtec plunged their 10 percent daily limit.
Arabtec eventually closed only 1.8 percent down, after again topping trading volumes in
Dubai. It has been gyrating wildly on speculation that Aabar Investments, a key shareholder, may raise its 18.94 percent stake in the company. In a brief statement on Sunday, Aabar disappointed investors by saying it was considering its options towards Arabtec but declining to elaborate. This triggered a fresh slide by the stock.
Arabtec said yeterday morning that its board would meet on Thursday afternoon to review its second-quarter earnings statement and other reports and recommendations, but it did not give any details, and there was no sign that the meeting would be other than routine. Many retail investors initially took leveraged positions in Arabtec and have then had to sell other UAE stocks to meet margin calls on their positions.
Even so, some fund managers are mystified and appalled - at the way in which Arabtec,
Dubai’s sixth biggest company by market capitalization, has come to set the tone for the Dubai market in recent weeks.
“I am not sure why this correlation has appeared between Arabtec and the whole market, which is illogical,” said Ali Adou, portfolio manager at The National Investor in Abu Dhabi.
“There are strong fundamentals in the UAE and investors should not relate what’s happening with a single company to the whole market.”
Abu Dhabi’s index, which fell as much as 2.0
percent earlier yesterday, also recovered and closed up 1.5 percent. Top real estate developer Aldar Properties ended 4.3 percent higher after sinking 8.3 percent in the morning.
Telecommunications operator Etisalat added
0.9 percent after reporting a 26 percent jump in second-quarter profit on Sunday. It made a net profit of 2.5 billion dirhams ($681 million) in the three months to June 30, beating the 2.19
billion dirham average forecast of analysts polled by Reuters.
Qatar, Egypt
Qatar’s bourse edged down 0.5 percent.
Qatar Navigation (Milaha) was one of the main drags, dropping 4.4 percent. The company posted a second-quarter profit of 169 million riyals
($46 million) yesterday morning, widely missing the forecast of QNB Financial Services, which had expected a profit of 218 million riyals.
Gulf International Services pulled back 1.7
percent after jumping 2.9 percent in the previous session on news that it had won a 1.2 billion riyal rig supply contract from Qatar Petroleum.
Al Khaliji Commercial Bank edged up 0.7 percent as it named chief operating officer Hesham
Ezzdine as its acting group chief executive. It had slid 1.8 percent in the previous session after reporting a 5.9 percent decrease in secondquarter net profit.
Egypt’s bourse pulled back 1.2 percent with most stocks in the red as market players cited a lack of positive catalysts and prospects for slower economic growth following austerity measures and an interest rate hike. “People are indecisive at the current stage,” said Chamel Fahmy, vice president for sales and trading at HC
Securities and Investment in Cairo.
Egypt’s central bank raised benchmark interest rates last Thursday in a surprise move seen as an attempt to hold down inflation after the government slashed subsidies on fuel and electricity. Among other factors limiting investors’ appetite is the fact that fresh financial aid from the Gulf has not been announced as quickly as investors had hoped, and “political risk from the region and specifically the Palestinian conflict”,
Fahmy said. However, “we’re not seeing aggressive selling pressure,” he said, adding that strong second-quarter earnings could change the picture. —Reuters
ABU DHABI: Asian and western firms have bid to help operate the UAE’s biggest oilfields after a deal with oil majors expired this year but the
Gulf Arab state is yet to decide whether to let
Asian oil buyers in for the long haul, sources said. A final decision on the winning firms is unlikely before early 2015 as political leaders in
Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab
Emirates, weigh whether to bring in Asian firms or stick with old partners, industry and diplomatic sources said.
At least one oil major, ExxonMobil, appears to have decided against bidding, the sources told
Reuters. ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Total and BP - have each held 9.5 percent equity stakes in the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore
Oil Operations (ADCO) concession since the
1970s. Portugal’s Partex had a 2 percent stake, and the rest was held by state run Abu Dhabi
National Oil Company (ADNOC).
After the deal expired in January, ADNOC took 100 percent of the concession. Shell, Total and BP have made their new bids, which are being evaluated by Abu Dhabi, the sources said.
Exxon, however, did not bid for the ADCO concession after it renegotiated a better deal for the
Upper Zakum offshore oilfield, which it has been operating with ADNOC and Japan’s Inpex since
2006, two sources said.
The US major pulled out its staff from the
ADCO fields earlier this year, a sign that it has dropped out of the race, sources say. “Exxon has pulled its folks out while others kept their people. (It is) 95-percent (sure) Exxon has decided not to bid,” one source told Reuters.
“They are going to make what? $2 or $3 dollars a barrel? So they probably said: ‘why have two projects in the UAE?’,” the source said. Exxon said its ADCO concession expired on Jan.10 but declined to comment about its staff and future plans. Exxon’s exit may improve the chances for the other three former partners and pave the way for newcomers to join in.
US firm Occidental Petroleum Corp, Italy’s
ENI, China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC),
Nor way ’s Statoil, Japan’s Inpex and Korea
National Oil Corp have bid for the new deal, three sources told Reuters. Rosneft has been invited to bid, but it was not clear whether
Russia’s top oil company has submitted an offer, two industry sources said.
“Abu Dhabi’s new partners are expected to be selected in early 2015. The evaluation process is under way,” one industr y source said. The onshore fields produce 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd), over half UAE’s oil output. The UAE oil minister said in January Abu Dhabi has received strong interest from international firms to participate in the ADCO fields with revised terms.
ADNOC did not respond to Reuters emails and calls for comment. A CNPC official said the
Chinese company has bid to operate the ADCO fields, but he knew no further details. None of the remaining companies vying to be part of the next phase of development would comment on the situation.
Political ties
Western oil majors have partnered Abu Dhabi for decades but several Asian energy companies are keen to secure stakes in fields that supply the growing Asian market. That would offer a chance for UAE to strengthen political ties with its biggest oil buyers such as China, South Korea and Japan. “The (UAE) leadership is turning eastwards more than before,” said ValÈrie Marcel of think tank Chatham House. “We also know that the leadership wants new types of contracts, which encourage oil companies to invest more of their technology. These forces push Abu
Dhabi towards new partners and new terms.”
Industry observers say any changes in the concessions would be made at the highest decision-making body for the oil and gas industry, the Supreme Petroleum Council. They say there is a difference in opinion inside the SPC over whether to stick with western companies, or make room for newcomers from Asia, while some would like to see ADNOC operating the fields alone. “At the end of the day it will be the political decision of the leadership in Abu Dhabi on which company will take what,” a diplomatic source said. —Reuters
MARULA PLATINUM MINE: When a wildcat strike hit Impala Platinum’s Marula mine in
South Africa’s Limpopo province this month, union leaders there had no idea it was coming.
“We were taken by surprise. We came to work that morning and everyone was outside saying they were not going to work,” said
Solomon Digoro, deputy chairman of the
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) at
Marula, 280 kilometers (170 miles) northeast of Johannesburg.
He has a better idea of what might come next: a takeover by arch rival the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union
(AMCU), which looks set to expand after leading a five-month mine strike in the western half of South Africa’s platinum belt that pushed the continent’s most advanced economy into reverse in the first quarter.
The platinum belt, which resembles a pair of half moons separated by 250 km of bush, houses the world’s richest deposits, so the strife is high on investors’ radar screens. The AMCU emerged as the dominant union on the western ‘moon’ in 2012 after poaching tens of thousands of NUM members in a turf war in which dozens of people were killed. On the eastern arm, a battle for supremacy now in its infancy appears to be following the same pattern.
AMCU has the momentum, its reputation cemented by the settlement it reached last month with Implats and rivals Anglo American
Platinum and Lonmin that saw its members get annual pay hikes of up to 20 percent.
Pointedly, the 2,000 wildcat strikers who downed tools at Marula on July 3 said they wanted AMCU’s deal, in place of the 8 percent hikes NUM secured for them last year. They returned to work the following week with a commitment from bosses to talk about their issues. NUM got the elbow.
“When it started, we went to the strikers, and our members said they did not want to talk to NUM. They wanted managers and they wanted the Rustenburg deal,” Digoro told
Reuters in NUM’s cramped pre-fabricated offices at Marula. AMCU National Treasurer
Jimmy Gama said the union had since met management, who agreed to start deducting
AMCU union dues. For investors and the mining companies, it is worryingly like history repeating itself. —Reuters
CARACAS: Chinese President Xi
Jinping was set to meet the head of Venezuela’s National
Assembly yesterday and sign agreements that will tie his energy-hungry country to the
South American oil-rich state.
Xi ’s meeting with Diosdado
Cabello comes on the last day of his two-day visit, and after he and President Nicolas Maduro agreed to increase ties between their countries to the level of
“comprehensive strategic partnership”.
Xi and Maduro also agreed to
“intensify financial cooperation” and increase cooperation in the field of energy, Xi said at a press conference Sunday. Maduro in turn praised China at the event as the “most important emerging economic power in the 21st century.” China is the second-largest market for Venezuelan oil after the United States, with an average daily volume of 640,000 barrels-in part to pay off Venezuela’s
$17 billion debt with Beijing.
The trade par tners aim to increase the exports in the coming years to one million barrels a day. Bilateral trade bet ween
China and Venezuela has been steadily rising, exceeding $20 billion in 2012. Xi hopes to deepen ties with Venezuela just as its ties with the United Statesthe region’s traditional political and economic powerhouse-are at a low point. Washington and
Caracas have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010.
Relations which suffered during the leadership of late president
Hugo Chavez have not improved under his successor, Maduro.
Latin America trade deals
The Chinese leader’s charm offensive earlier took him to
Brazil and Argentina seeking to secure new bilateral trade deals, par ticularly for coveted raw materials. Xi traveled to Brazil in mid-July for a summit of the
BRICS group of emerging powers-Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa-and South
American presidents. The gathering saw the countries agree to launch a New Development
Bank to fund infrastructure projects in developing nations as well as an emergency reserve, drawing praise from Latin
American leaders who see them as alternatives to Western-dominated financial institutions.
After the summit Xi signed deals with Brazil, met with regional leaders and proposed a
$20 billion infrastructure fund that highlights Beijing’s growing interests in the region. Xi then went to Argentina for a threeday visit, where he and President
Cristina Kirchner signed more than 20 trade deals in hydropower, marine and rail industries worth $7 billion.
The two nations also announced a deal to help Argentina build its fourth nuclear plant. Beijing will contribute $4.4 billion toward the construction of two hydroelectric dams in Argentina’s southern Santa
Cruz province and an additional
$2.1 billion to remodel strategic rail transportation for carrying goods, especially food.
Visit to Havana
Later Xi heads to longtime communist ally Cuba, where he is to announce plans to build a factory producing “biosensors” for monitoring the blood of diabetics and other patients suffering from chronic illness, Cuban media reported. Xi will spend two days Cuba, the last stop of his tour. A group of Chinese business leaders who have expressed a strong interest in investing in the island will be accompanying Xi, reports said.
This is Xi’s second visit to Latin
America since taking office in
2013. Last year Xi toured Mexico and Costa R ica, as well as
Trinidad and Tobago. —AFP

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
B U S I N E S S
LONDON: A near 10 percent drop in international oil prices since last month has taught a painful lesson to many hedge funds and other speculators in energy futures: you can ignore physical markets for only so long. Hedge funds piled into what seemed a one-way bet in early June, grabbing up oil contracts as the rapid advance of
Islamist insurgents in northern Iraq threatened supplies from OPEC’s second-largest producer at the same time that peak summer demand was approaching.
The influx of buying helped drive Brent crude oil to a nine-month peak above $115 a barrel, but signs the spike would be short-lived were hiding in plain sight, according to interviews with senior oil traders this week. While oil future prices rallied, with hedge funds accumulating a record close to 600 million barrels of oil on paper, real physical cargoes of crude were struggling as refiners held back from buying in the face of surprisingly unseasonable weak demand.
“Once the refinery runs didn’t materialize and there were some unplaced North Sea cargoes, the market got scared,” a senior trading executive at a major bank said. “Many people stopped out violently, and volumes exploded. This was the sharpest open interest decrease we have had in years - only confirming the magnitude of the pain on the move down.”
Warning signs
Between June 19 and early this week, Brent prices tumbled from $115.71 to $104.39 a barrel, racking up searing losses for many investors. To experienced market watchers the warning signs had been clear. Just prior to the Iraq-led rally in futures, the prices for physical cargoes in the
North Sea slipped to multi-year lows, with refiners declining to buy as they wrestled with weak margins for gasoline and diesel in Europe.
North Sea crudes underpin the Brent benchmark used to set prices of more than two-thirds of global oil deals. Another signal came from
Urals, Russia’s main export crude, which was experiencing a bout of counter-seasonal weakness, with refiners actually losing money on each barrel they processed for much of June.
The weakness in the North Sea and Russia combined with weak demand for oil from major
West African producers Nigeria and Angola, which have lost market share in North America due to the shale oil boom. Many cargoes were left with nowhere to go. “Some analysts were said the crude market was going to be screamingly tight this summer, but what they were missing is (that) the increase in runs was not happening in Europe but in Russia, Saudi
Arabia, and the United States, places with cheap feedstock,” said Seth Kleinman, head of energy research at Citi, who previously worked for Glencore. “This tightened crude a bit but swamped the market with gasoline and diesel, crushing margins and slashing demand from European refineries.”
Back to contango
Hedge funds and many other traders were also betting that prices would remain stronger this summer than later in the year, a market structure known in the industry as backwardation. But heavy selling in the past two weeks, which accelerated after Libya said a nearly year-long port blockade was coming to an end, drove prices for delivery next month to a sharp discount to later contracts, a structure known as contango.
That change in market structure in particular may have caught out many players, traders said. On Tuesday, volumes in Brent leapt to a record high. Contracts equal to almost 1.5 billion barrels of oil - more than two weeks of global demand - changed hands in just one session as traders adjusted so-called spread positions.
“The physical traders largely called the move in spreads correctly, while the funds were long flat price because of Iraq while also betting the backwardation would continue because of North Sea summer maintenance,” one long-time physical trader said.
“ When the move back to contango came, it was fast and violent.” To illustrate the extent of the consensus in the market before the latest rout, 22 out of 24 analysts who forecast quarterly averages for the
Brent price in latest monthly poll by
Reuters expected higher prices in the third quarter than in the last three months of this year.
Only one, Portugal’s Banco BPI, said prices would be slightly lower in the third quarter, while ABN Amro said they would be flat near $100 a barrel. Five forecasters, including banks Credit Suisse and Natixis, saw third-quarter prices averaging more than $4 a barrel above those for the last three months of 2014. By Friday Brent prices had recovered to just below $108 a barrel as the downing of a Malaysian passenger plane over Ukraine intensified the stand-off between Russia and Western powers. Physical cargoes have also strengthened. -— Reuters
NICOSIA: This picture shows a building housing the offices of FBME bank in Nicosia.
The Cyprus Central Bank said it had taken control of the local operation of FBME bank after Washington accused it of being a prime money laundering facility. — AFP
LONDON: British outsourcing group Capita is looking at opportunities in Germany as a first step to expand beyond its home market. Chief Executive Andy Parker said the company was considering expanding a customer management business in Germany after speaking with existing customers which have German parents such as energy group RWE.
Parker said that he acquired the customer management business in Munich last month to serve as a base for its initial operations in the country. “Germany is over twice the size of the UK. I think outsourcing there is probably 10 years behind where it was in the UK and therefore it’s an interesting development for us,” Parker told Reuters in a interview at his London office.
“We need to show that we are serious...
and we are prepared to have some serious conversations,” he said. Parker said he would wait to see how the German business performed before expanding into other regions such as northern Europe.
Capita, one of the major outsourcing companies in Britain, runs services ranging from the Ministr y of Defense pension scheme to police radio systems. It has benefited as central and local government and private sector companies, facing tighter budgets, have outsourced work to cut costs.
It has avoided the scandals over the private provision of public services that have damaged rivals such as G4S and Serco.
Capita this month won a six-year contract from the British government to manage new electronic monitoring services. It took over the responsibility for electronic monitoring services last year, after an audit showed that G4S and Serco were found to have overcharged the government for tagging criminals who were either dead, in prison or had never been tagged.
The company has traditionally shied away from overseas markets, unlike Serco and G4S, which have businesses overseas, including in continental Europe, North
America and Asia. Parker, who took over from industry veteran Paul Pindar in March, said his overseas strategy would be “sensible” and there was no rush to win market share. He was keen to stress that the Britain remained the company’s key focus for outsourcing opportunities, pointing to Capita’s bids on 1.2 billion pounds in contracts for
Britain’s Ministry of Justice probation services.
“We think there is still huge opportunity in the UK for outsourcing. It’s estimated that the market is worth approximately 126 billion pounds per annum and less than 10 percent of that has been currently outsourced,” he said. Britain makes up more than 90 percent of Capita’s revenue.
Analysts expect Capita to report revenue growth of 10 percent in its first half results on July 23, a level Parker said he was confident of meeting. “We do believe we can maintain that (10 pct) and the reason why we’re confident for the foreseeable future is because as we diversify, it just opens up more opportunities,” he said. Capita won 1.1
billion pounds ($1.88 billion) worth of contracts in the first quarter, and shares in the company have risen 270 percent over the past decade. — Reuters
VANCOUVER: California’s chance to keep a lid on some of the nation’s highest gas prices and join in the spoils of a domestic oil production boom is threatened by quickly growing opposition to a rail terminal in Washington state.
The hitch in the long-planned project by
Tesoro Corp exemplifies growing problems for moving crude oil on trains around the country after a string of fiery rail crashes.
While the proposed Keystone XL pipeline is the marquee battle between pump prices and environmentalist concerns, crude-by-rail is a growing issue and has a more immediate effect on domestic consumers and refiners.
The cost of delays from the crude-by-oil fight may be steepest in California, an isolated market increasingly dependent on foreign oil.
Tesoro’s project aims by mid-2015 to start sending up to 360,000 barrels per day of
North American crude, including North
Dakota Bakken and Canadian heavy, to the rail port, where all or most of the oil would ship out on tankers and barges to California refineries. That oil costs up to 25 percent less than some foreign barrels, and the Tesoro project could replace about a fifth of
California’s crude-around 40 percent of its imports.
Other states have slashed costs by using railroads to tap cheap crudes from the booming fields of North Dakota and Canada, but
California refineries still depend on arguably the country’s most expensive crude, because there are few pipelines connecting it to the rest of the country. Tesoro executives, who want to send cheaper crudes to their Carson refinery near Los Angeles as well as to other refiners, say they remain confident the project will go through. Others aren’t so optimistic. “If you had asked me eight months ago if this would happen, I’d have said yes,” said Mark
Luitwieler, co-owner of Houston-based commodity terminal and railroad logistics company Peaker Energy. “Today, there’s a lot of hair on that one.”
California drivers recently paid $4.09 per gallon compared to $3.47 in Texas, according to US Energy Information Agency data, a reflection of the extra expense of making
California’s boutique blend of less-polluting fuel and higher crude costs. Refiners in
California say that cheaper supplies from the middle of the country will help fight rising costs. Greg Garland, chief executive of independent refiner Phillips 66, in April said getting such “advantaged” crudes was top priority in California.
Tesoro’s rail-to-ship option is, in essence, a continental-scale workaround to sending crude directly to California. Obtaining permits to build crude offloading facilities in the
Golden State has proven tough for companies including Alon USA Energy and Valero Energy
Corp , which in March withdrew an application for a project in the Wilmington area of
Los Angeles. — Reuters

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
B U S I N E S S
ALLAHABAD: Indian job aspirants who have arrived to appear for tests to qualify for jobs in the Indian railways and other government services sleep at a railway station platform.
Indian Railways is one of the world’s biggest employers with more than 1.3 million employees and serves 23 million passengers a day. — AP
SYDNEY: Efforts to assuage Indian concerns about a landmark global trade pact appear to have failed, sources involved in the discussions said yesterday, setting off a frantic rush to win its support before a
Thursday deadline. India is the most prominent of a group of developing nations angry with rich countries for failing to address their concerns about a deal on trade facilitation struck by WTO member states in Bali, Indonesia, last year.
Proponents believe the deal could add
$1 trillion to global gross domestic product and 21 million jobs by slashing red tape and streamlining customs, eliminating delays at the border that can often cost more than tariffs themselves. A failure could prove disastrous for the moribund
World Trade Organization (WTO) and the system of global free trade deals it underpins.
As late as Sunday, hopes were high that publicly addressing Indian concerns during a G20 Trade Ministers meeting in Sydney this past weekend would give it a face-saving path towards reaffirming its assent before the July 31 deadline.
India stockpiles food for its poor, citing the need for food security, but doing so puts it at risk of breaking the rules of the
WTO which worries that the stockpiling of subsidized food can distort trade. In Bali,
WTO members agreed to give India a pass on its stockpiles until 2017, while negotiating a permanent solution.
Officials told Reuters that India had not supplied any clear indication of concessions it wanted, so attempts were made at the meeting to reassure it that its concerns, whatever they may be, were being heard.
“India clearly and forcefully expressed its concern that work proceed on all fronts, including food stockpiling, and received assurances that all G20 members are committed to the full implementation of all Bali agreements on the agreed timetables,” U.S.
Trade Representative Michael Froman told
Reuters yesterday.
DETROIT: Rising sales helped boost hiring and wages at US businesses in the second quarter, and companies are optimistic that the trends will continue this fall, according to a new survey by the
National Association for Business Economics. Fiftyseven percent of the 85 respondents to the quarterly survey said sales at their companies rose in the
April-June period. That was up from 53 percent in the first quarter and 35 percent in the same period a year ago. Just 5 percent of firms said sales fell during the second quarter. Respondents also said the outlook for the July-October period is strong. Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they expect sales to increase during the third quarter, and just 1 percent expects sales to decline. Respondents from the finance, insurance and real estate sector were most optimistic about sales increases, while the service sector lagged.
As sales picked up, so did hiring. Thirty-six percent of firms said they hired more workers during the second quarter, up from 28 percent in the first quarter and 29 percent in the second quarter of
2013. The employment outlook was steady, with 37 percent of respondents expecting their companies to hire more workers in the July-October period.
Finance, insurance and real estate companies were most likely to say they expect employment increases, at 48 percent; service companies were the least likely, at 28 percent. Less than 10 percent of respondents expect employment declines in the third quarter.
For the first time since October 2012, no respondents reported falling wages. Forty-three percent said their firms raised wages during the second quarter, which was than double the share that reported raising wages during the same time period a year ago. More than one-third of respondents - 35 percent - expected wages to continue to increase in the third quarter. Hiring and wage increases hit companies’ profits. Just 27 percent of respondents said their firms’ profit margins rose in the second quarter, down from 32 percent in the first quarter.
Despite the slowdown, manufacturers and financial companies both said they expect margins to grow at a faster pace in the third quarter.
Some companies improved their margins by raising prices. Twenty-five percent of respondents said their businesses raised prices in the second quarter, up from 20 percent in the two previous quarters.
Eight percent said prices fell, up from 3 percent in the first quarter. Technology and communications companies and manufacturers said prices were up during the quarter, while service companies and finance companies said prices were softer. Nearly three-quarters of respondents expect no change in the prices their firms will charge in the third quarter.
The quarterly survey by NABE is intended to gauge business conditions at members’ firms or industries.
Almost half the respondents are from companies with more than 1,000 employees. — AP
‘Main concern’
A confidential “Summary of Discussion” circulated to G20 participants by Australian
Trade Minister Andrew Robb obtained by
Reuters details what one official said was an example of India winning acknowledgment of its concerns. The document notes that specific Indian concerns about the deal were raised by the members and pledges to work constructively this week to address those issues.
In principle, the WTO could pass the agreement on the basis of a qualified majority, but experts say that would be unprecedented and virtually impossible in an organization that operates on consensus.
“India is quite influential, so let’s hope that they’re going to back down in some way,” Peter Gallagher, an expert on free trade and the WTO at the University of Adelaide, told Reuters. But despite reassurances it received at the meeting and in public afterwards, Indian officials again said on Sunday they had not been convinced.
“The way things are moving, there is no way we can agree to the trade facilitation agreement being pushed by the developed nations at WTO within the prescribed deadline. Food security has always been India’s main concern and this time we are not going to concede,” an Indian official told
Business Standard.
One official involved in the negotiations, speaking under the condition of anonymity to speak frankly, said the statement was emblematic of “erratic” Indian behavior over the deal and cast doubt on its trustworthiness as a negotiating partner.
The row over subsidies has raised fears that the so-called trade facilitation agreement, the first ever global trade agreement under the WTO, will be derailed. A deal was only reached after New Delhi extracted promises that its concerns related to food subsidies would be addressed and
Gallagher said it was unclear why those concerns were resurfacing now when they are unrelated to trade facilitation. — Reuters
OLD SAN JUAN: This photo, shows an aerial view of cruise ships docked at the Old San Juan pier in Puerto Rico. A nearly eight-year recession has sent businesses and people fleeing to the mainland US as the island tries to pay off billions in public debt. — AP
SAN JUAN: Puerto Rico’s government has managed its first balanced budget in more than a decade. Sales tax revenues are up and the publicly owned power company has won breathing room to pay its debts.
The US territory has managed to buy some time to stave off an economic crisis, but it may only be for a moment. As the island tries to pay off some $73 billion in public debt, investors crucial to keeping
Puerto Rican bonds afloat are wary at best.
“Most people are very much in a watch-and-wait mode,” said David Tawil, co-founder and portfolio manager of New York-based Maglan Capital. Puerto
Rico has a shrinking population and economy. A nearly eight-year recession has sent businesses and people fleeing to the mainland US and spooked those holding billions of dollars of the island’s debt.
That has sharply raised the cost of government borrowing and lowered the value of the bonds it has issued.
One looming threat is the condition of the Puerto
Rico Electric Power Authority, which is roughly $9 billion in debt. After raising fears it would use a new debt-restructuring law to default on a credit payment due July 1, it announced it had won a reprieve:
Creditors agreed to postpone payments on about
$800 million until July 31.
Officials also announced that revenues from the government’s sales and use tax for this past fiscal year rose 7 percent, though that was short of projections. Those glimmers of good news followed an uproar on Wall Street over a law signed June 28 that allows certain public corporations to work with creditors and restructure their debt. If no agreement is reached within nine months, the case would go to court. That makes investors nervous about a potential loss of money, depending on the court’s ruling.
Gov Alejandro Garcia Padilla touted the law as a way to protect the island’s general fund, which long has been used to support the island’s public corporations, which account for about 40 percent of Puerto
Rico’s public debt. If a public corporation defaulted on its debt without the law, bondholders could move to increase rates, which would affect public services, he said. Treasury Secretary Melba Acosta said in a statement that the restructuring law aims to make those corporations self-sufficient.
“We stand behind the act and will defend it as a reasonable and necessary measure to protect the interests of all stakeholders of our public corporations,” she said. But ratings agencies punished Puerto
Rican bonds with a flurry of downgrades. Franklin
Templeton and Oppenheimer investment funds filed a lawsuit the same day the law was signed, arguing it was unconstitutional, and financial companies began to hold conference calls with jittery investors.
While Garcia repeatedly reminded bondholders of his efforts to stabilize the economy and generate revenue, “all that stuff is secondary at this point,” Tawil said. “This law - its potential power, its unknown use and its unknown legality - I think, carries a much heavier cloud over Puerto Rico’s solvency and the potential recovery to creditors than any of the fundamental progress that is being made.”
It’s only a matter of weeks before the financial future of the power company will be known whether it will be the first to use the new law, said
Triet Nguyen, founder of Axios Advisors LLC, an
Illinois-based municipal research and investment advisory company. “Something is going to happen there by middle of August,” he said. “I think pretty much all the public corporations have severe liquidity problems.” Creditors are closely watching whether the government tries to reach substantial agreements with banks this month on how to handle upcoming payments, said Dick Larkin, director of credit analysis at Florida-based HJ Sims & Co Inc.
“They’re going to be looking for some sign of progress, not just a temporary relief,” he said. — AP
NEW YORK: Trader Dudley Devine (center) works on the floor of the New York Stock
Exchange. — AP
LONDON: Europe’s main stock markets began the week in negative territory yesterday as cautious investors tracked geopolitical developments in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Investor sentiment remains clouded by the downing of a Malaysian airliner in Ukraine last week, and by Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza.
In late morning deals, London’s benchmark
FTSE 100 fell 0.21 percent to 6,735.29 points,
Frankfurt’s DAX 30 index shed 0.56 percent to
9,666.35 points and the Paris CAC 40 reversed
0.29 percent to 4,322.53.
Milan stocks dropped 0.88 percent and
Madrid decreased by 0.29 percent. Traders remain on edge after Thursday’s Malaysia
Airlines MH17 tragedy, which the United States has said was caused by pro-Russian rebels.
Major European nations have meanwhile warned Moscow of additional possible sanctions over the crash, barely a week after the latest round of toughened embargoes on Russia.
Flight MH17 is believed to have been blown out of the sky on Thursday by a surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 passengers and crew.
Moscow stocks extend losses
The Moscow stock market sank 1.27 percent in late morning deals, as investors expressed alarm at the escalating crisis in
Ukraine and the prospect of tougher sanctions doing more damage to the Russian economy.
“Scenes of conflict dominate news screens at present, be they in Gaza, Syria or Ukraine, and the result for financial markets has been an outbreak of risk aversion,” said Chris
Beauchamp at financial spread-betting firm IG.
“The possibility of fresh sanctions against
Russia are dominating the news in Europe, which accounts for why the DAX is suffering more heavily than the FTSE, given Germany’s close trading links with the Russian bear.” Asian markets turned mixed yesterday, as bargainhunting was offset by lingering geopolitical concerns after last week’s Ukraine airplane crash.Sydney added 0.15 percent and Seoul was marginally lower, while Shanghai lost 0.22
percent and Hong Kong shed 0.29 percent.
Tokyo was closed for a public holiday.
New York shares climb
However, Wall Street had pushed higher on
Friday as a wave of corporate deals and generally positive quarterly earnings appeared to eclipse gloomy news developments in Ukraine and Gaza. “Although US markets seem to be able to completely shrug off the geopolitical risks, Europe and Asia can’t quite shake off the possible ramifications of more sanctions against Russia and the intensifying situation in the Middle East,” said Capital Spreads dealer
Jonathan Sudaria. “With the turn of events still evolving at a rapid pace, traders will continue to struggle to accurately discount what is most relevant.”New York’s Dow Jones Industrial
Average advanced 0.92 percent to 17,100.18
points and the broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.54
percent to end at 1,978.22 on Friday. The
European single currency climbed to $1.3524, unchanged from late in New York on Friday.
The British pound slipped to $1.7072 from
$1.7088 on Friday. The euro rose to 79.21
pence from 79.14 pence. The ruble fell against the dollar and the euro, with the dollar worth
35.12 rubles and the euro 47.50 rubles. In commodity deals, gold decreased to $1,314.71 per ounce from $1,307.25 on Friday. — AFP
HARARE: The Zimbabwe Stock
Exchange (ZSE) has been transformed into a company from a mutual society, opening the way for a public listing on the bourse it operates, finance minister Patrick
Chinamasa said yesterday. The ZSE has been owned and run by stock brokers since 1946, but after demutualization the brokers hold 68 percent while the government owns the remaining shares.
Chinamasa said stockbrokers and the government would sell half their shares when the ZSE lists. He did not give a date for the listing, but an official from the local bourse said this should happen within three years. “I am hoping and expecting that we can excite our banking sector, our pension funds, insurance companies to take up equity in the stock exchange and I hope the work starts now to try to sell that idea to them,”
Chinamasa said before signing the demutualization agreement.
The ZSE, which has 65 listed companies, had a market capitalization of
$4.9 billion yesterday. The main industrial index fell 7.7 percent during the first half of the year, in tandem with an economic slowdown. Foreign investors made up more than 55 percent of activity on the bourse, according to ZSE data. Foreign fund managers are attracted to consumer-oriented firms such as mobile phone service provider Econet Wireless, brewer Delta Corp, and food retailer
Innscor, which are all seen as well managed and with an expanding consumer base.— Reuters
LONDON: Oil and gas taxation has become a major source of conflict between producers and Britain’s tax authorities. But like other indirect taxes, the amount of attention oil and gas taxes draw is out of all proportion to the amount of money they raise for the treasury. Britain raised less than 5 billion pounds ($8.5 billion) from taxes on oil and gas production last year, about 1 percent of all central government receipts, according to the authorities.
Oil and gas taxes raised less money than duty on alcohol (10 billion pounds) or cigarettes (9 billion) and only a little more than minor imposts such as insurance premium tax (3 billion), air passenger duty (3 billion) and landfill tax (1 billion). Oil and gas revenues are tiny compared with income tax (152 billion pounds), national insurance
(102 billion), value-added tax (100 billion) and fuel duties
(27 billion). Two-thirds of oil and gas tax revenues come from the ring-fenced corporation tax (1.6 billion pounds) and supplementary charges (1.9 billion) paid by companies operating in the North Sea and other areas off the coast and onshore, with the rest coming from petroleum revenue tax (1.1 billion). Oil and gas producers no longer pay royalties on fields developed after 1982, even though the government, rather than private landowners, has owned all oil and gas deposits since the passage of the
Petroleum (Production) Act in 1934. In any case, royalty payments never amounted to more than a small share of receipts from oil and gas, and effectively stopped from
2003 with the exhaustion of older fields (“Statistics of government revenues from UK oil and gas production”,
June 2014).
Major irritant
In March, responding to heavy lobbying by the industry, the government promised a review - which was formally launched on July 14 - of North Sea oil and gas taxation. “Exploration and production is becoming harder and more expensive, and the UK is facing competition for capital from other countries,” the finance ministry admitted. But the tiny amount of tax raised from Britain’s oil and gas producers (other than payroll and sales taxes paid by all businesses) suggests taxation is not the reason behind dwindling North Sea oil production. Many in the industry hope that improved fiscal treatment can restore the sector’s fortunes, but that seems unlikely. “Oil companies have welcomed the UK government’s announcement ... that it is reviewing the North Sea oil and gas tax regime, amid concerns the fiscal burden is threatening the sector’s long-term future,” the Financial Times wrote, reflecting the industry line. A tax overhaul could “slow down this precipitous decline we’ve been seeing in oil production”, one producer told the newspaper (“Oil companies welcome North Sea tax review”, July 14). But with the entire industry paying just 4.6 billion pounds in direct and corporate taxes, it is unlikely taxation is the “burden” many claim. The reality is that Britain’s remaining offshore oil and gas deposits are relatively expensive to produce and investment is going to more promising areas such as
North America’s shale.
Fiscal stability
The oil and gas industry is on firmer ground complaining about the complexity of the tax system and frequent changes made to tax rates and allowances, and the introduction and then abolition of various special levies. Fiscal stability might help unlock more long-term investment though the industry must accept its own share of responsibility for the complexity and unpredictability of the system. Much of it is the result of past tax avoidance and fierce lobbying for specific tax breaks.
The tax authorities have been playing an elaborate game of “whack-a-mole” with production companies to collect adequate revenue from Britain’s offshore and onshore oil and gas fields. “The regime has become too bespoke. It needs to be simplified and made more predictable,” the head of the Oil and Gas UK trade association acknowledged to the Financial Times. Greater stability will require a more open and trusting relationship between the operators and tax collectors, something that will not be easy to achieve.The government’s focus is now shifting towards encouraging more onshore exploration for oil and especially gas. Ministers have hinted that yet another special regime could be created to encourage the development of relatively high-cost onshore shale deposits.
Britain has extensive shale oil and gas deposits in three major onshore sedimentary basins, which policymakers hope could be brought into production. There are many challenges but among the stiffest is intense opposition from some local communities and green groups to hydraulic fracturing in rural areas. Part of the problem, as many analysts have noted, is that local communities will bear all of the costs of oil and gas exploration without capturing any of the benefits. —Reuters

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
B U S I N E S S
DUBAI: AABC prize winners and participants of Nissan regional contest with CEO Saleh Al-Babtain and senior officials. DUBAI: AABC’s Darwin George NISTEC Best Performance Award - Body Electrical
Diagnosis & Repair.
DUBAI: Abdulmohsen Abdulaziz Al-Babtain staff took part in the 2013 Nissan regional contests held in Dubai under the theme “I am a Hero at Nissan”. It was a challenging event with 11 GCC and non-GCC NSCs being represented by a total of 53 participants competing in four competition categories.
The contests are part of Nissan’s motivation scheme for dealers and employees and aim to improve the skills and knowledge required to deliver “Customer Experience
Excellence” and retain highly skilled NSC’s
Aftersales/Sales staff with customer centric mindset.
AABC parts executive Prashanth Karivellur made his team and company proud by winning the Bronze medal in the Nissan Parts Executive Excellence Competency
(NIPEC) competition. He held off tough competition from nine other competitors, representing 9 Nissan dealerships from the five GCC countries, as well as Lebanon,
Jordan, Yemen and Azerbaijan. He was also awarded ‘Best
Performance award’ for the category ‘Telephone
Handling’.
AABC’s technician Darwin George won ‘Best
Performance award’ for the category ‘Body Electrical
Diagnosis & Repair’ competing with 15 other contestants vying for the same award. Al-Babtain’s CEO Saleh Al-
Babtain stated “Nissan is one of the leading brands upon which the success of Al-Babtain has been forged through every aspect of our daily operations. The service, sales and parts team provide a vital interface with our customers and play a key role for the organization in delivering on our promise of quality. This is an area we have invested heavily and will continue to invest in terms of our people and infrastructure.
The NISTEC, NISAC and NIPEC contests present us a unique opportunity to celebrate and reward the people who daily make a real difference to the Nissan Brand and the Al Babtain Group. Congratulations to the winners who brought glory to our Group at the regional level. A warm appreciation to Nissan Middle East for continuing to conduct these contests annually on a regional basis. I sincerely applaud all participants and thank the winners who have made us all proud!”
Mohamed Shalaby, COO of Al-Babtain group commented that “The secret of success behind Nissan Al-
Babtain is not only valuing our client but our staff as well via the ongoing staff development programs that fall within Nissan’s commitment to its position as a leader in the world of automotive with a unique product and trusted services.
The NISTEC, NISAC and NIPEC contests is a reflection of this concept where participants are given the chance to develop their skills in a competitive environment. Such programs enhance their experience that pours into the welfare of the company and finally the benefit of our customer who is our main concern, assuring the best maintenance and after sales to guarantee quality and service excellence.
I would like to express my gratitude to the management and staff for their part in the success of our team which represented Al-Babtain Kuwait in the Regional contests in Dubai. And a deeper gratitude to our loyal customers who are always trusting Nissan Al-Babtain”. Dr.
M Mahendhran Group Manager - Learning &
Development said “We are very happy with the results of the contests. It was an excellent opportunity to showcase the talent of our staff as well as to measure ourselves against the region’s best. The true strength of a company lies in its people and by developing our staffs’ motivation and talent we are ensuring that our customers get only the best. We are learning from the experience and from other winners and working hard to improve ourselves”.
Nissan Middle East Officials also commended the performance of all AABC contestants especially in the Parts category. The AABC team has proved that they are indeed ‘Heroes’. A special appreciation ceremony was conducted by the top mangement appreciating the success of AABC participants in the regional contest and during the event Saleh Al-Babtain conveyed to the winners to spread the good practice to other collegues so that all the technicians, serive advisors, sales executives follow the good techniques which will improve the customer service.
DUBAI: AABC’s Prashanth Karivellur gets NIPEC Best Performance
Award for telephone handling.
DUBAI: Saleh Al-Babtain distributes NISTEC Best Performance Award to Darwin
George.
DUBAI: Saleh Al-Babtain distributes NIPEC 2nd Runner Up Bronze medal and award to Prashanth Karivellur.
DUBAI: AABC’s Prashanth Karivellur gets NIPEC 2nd
Runner Up Bronze medal and cash award.
KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced the names of the lucky winners of its Yawmi account draw, each taking home a prize of KD 5,000. The lucky winners for the daily draws took home a cash-prize of KD 5000 each, and they are: Saleh Abdullah
Alenezi, Anwar Yousef Aman, Abdulaziz Ahmed Alsaraf,
Mohammad Abdullah Ali, and Bashar Salah Alddin Arafah.
Now, customers will be eligible to enter the draw after 48 hours only from opening the account. Customers are also required to deposit KD 100 or equivalent only to enter the daily draw, and the coupon value to enter the draw stands at
KD 10. The newly designed Yawmi account has been launched to provide a highly innovative offering along with a higher frequency and incentive of winning for everyone.
Today, the Yawmi account is a well understood product, where its popularity can be seen from the number of increasing account holders.
Burgan Bank encourages everyone to open a Yawmi account and/or increase their deposit to maximize their chances to becoming a daily winner. The more customers deposit, the higher the chances they receive of winning the draw. Opening a Yawmi account is simple, customers are urged to visit their nearest Burgan Bank branch and receive all the details, or simply call the bank’s Call Center at 1804080 where customer service representatives will be delighted to assist with any questions on the Yawmi account or any of the bank’s products and services.
Epicor Software Corporation, a global leader in business software solutions for manufacturing, distribution, retail and services organizations, yesterday announced the availability of a new Total Economic Impact (TEI) study that examines the potential return on investment (ROI) companies can achieve with the Epicor enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite. The June 2014 commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Epicor is titled, “The Total Economic Impact of
Epicor ERP: Cost Savings and Business Benefits
Attributed to Epicor ERP.”
The study is based on detailed interviews conducted with a number of Epicor customers worldwide. Their combined attributes and experiences form a composite organization from which Forrester developed a framework to measure the potential financial impact and investment return of Epicor ERP on an organization.
Based on the analysis, Epicor ERP enabled the composite organization to achieve risk-adjusted monetary benefits of more than $3.8 million, with a risk-adjusted ROI of 103% and a payback period of 15 months, in addition to $1.25 million in productivity savings bringing the total economic benefit to more than $5 million.
Furthermore, with Epicor ERP the composite organization achieved significant business benefits and productivity improvements across its supply chain management, production management, planning and scheduling, sales, finance and IT functions including:
Increased inventory turns resulting in a 15 percent reduction in average inventory levels 12 percent time savings (2,500 hours per year) in production control as a result of Epicor’s visual Kanban and lean manufacturing capabilities;
Increased productivity due to the integrated manufacturing execution system (MES) for online visibility of plant floor and plant-based transactions;
Increased sales productivity and improved customer satisfaction through more accurate sales estimates and order fulfillment, streamlined order-to-cash processing and self-service ecommerce storefront for order placement and tracking;
Improved cross-organizational financial visibility and control over financial reporting, planning, and forecasting processes, while complying with corporate, finance, and international trade standards;
Continuous improvement and increased productivity through creation and enforcement of unique business processes, alerts, and workflows that eliminate waste among critical business processes without customizing the software; and, a relatively short time to implement and deploy, lowering cost of ownership and accelerating ROI.
“We believe this Forrester TEI study substantiates the significant value that Epicor ERP delivers to our customers. The returns and benefits are even more compelling when you consider the rapid return on investment and low total cost of ownership,” said John
Hiraoka, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Epicor. “With Epicor ERP, our customers are improving productivity, increasing efficiency, and improving performance, all of which leads to a better experience for their partners and customers and can deliver lasting competitive advantage for their organizations.”
Built on a 100 percent service-oriented architecture and Microsoft .NET technologies, Epicor ERP is an endto-end, industry-specific enterprise software solution for business that provides complete freedom of choice in deployment-on premise, hosted or in the cloud as a software as a service (SaaS) solution.
KUWAIT: Ooredoo and the Applied Innovation Institute launched the second Arab Mobile App Challenge, seeking to reach out to talented young entrepreneurs and developers in the mobile space. For the first time, the challenge will be Pan
Arab in scope, so that young people from any country in the
Arab world can form teams to compete to develop new mobile apps.
Launched in 2013, the Arab Mobile App Challenge enables teams of up to six members under the age of 35 to develop mobile apps designed to make an impact in the education, health, entertainment and employability/entrepreneurship sectors. This program aims to introduce and educate young Arabs about entrepreneurship and the path to launching a start-up, as well as enhancing business skills and design abilities. Such was the success of the first edition that more than 15 percent of participants who reached the semi-final stages now have their own start-up businesses, fuelling economic growth and creating employment.
Applied Innovation Institute Board Member Dr. Paris
Del’Etraz, said: “The app market is growing at a speed we never envisioned, changing the way we interact with the world and transforming the opportunities around us. It is the perfect platform to provide spaces for young Arab nationals to express their ideas, to launch start-ups, and to develop new and authentic Arabic content that is highly needed and demanded.’
Dr. Nasser Marafih, Group CEO, Ooredoo said: “Ooredoo supports projects that enable people to fulfill their dreams and aspirations, and we are particularly focused on entrepreneurial programs for young people. We are continuing to support the
Arab Mobile App Challenge because it enables young people to harness the power and potential of mobile technology, to improve their own careers and give back to their communities.”
Ooredoo supports a rich portfolio of youth entrepreneurial initiatives across its footprint, and isa founding partner of the
Arab Mobile App Challenge. In 2014, the program has been expanded to offer a mix of direct and web-based activities open to teams of young people in the Middle East and North Africa, who will join participants in North America and South East Asia in the challenge. With the combined competitor base of the three regions, it will be the largest mobile app challenge in the world this year. Top prizes include $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000 rewards for first, second and third places, as well as the chance to compete in the Global App Challenge in Barcelona, hosted by the Mobile World Congress.
In addition, participants benefit from on-going support programs, including mentorship, partner matching and development training, to enable the young participants to realize their start-up goals. In Qatar, the program will be supported by the
Qatar Business Incubation Centre. Partners on the programme include Pearson, IE Business School, Mada, Oasis400, Wamda,
MIT Enterprise Forum, Potential, In5, Intigral, Afkar.Me, Badir
Lebanon, +961 Co Working Space, the Queen Rania Centre for
Entrepreneurship, and Int@j Jordan. Young people wishing to take part in the Challenge will have three months to register from today. Once registered, they will receive regular updates via email and social media, with training beginning in
September, both online and in major cities across the Arab world.

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014 t e c h n o l o g y
By Anick Jesdanun
NEW YORK: Amazon’s new “unlimited” e-book service lets you read 600,000 books. That sounds like more than you’ll ever read, but I found myself struggling to find the books I wanted. It turns out that the library of
600,000 is bit like a small bookstore with a few current titles such as “The Hunger Games,” attached to a blocksized bargain bin of obscure stuff mixed with
“Robinson Crusoe” and other classics that are in the public domain and available for free online anyway.
Startups Scribd and Oyster both offer better value for avid readers of popular books. Though Oyster has only
500,000 books and Scribd has 400,000, both offer extensive libraries from two of the largest publishers,
HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster. Kindle Unlimited doesn’t. Kindle Unlimited and Oyster both cost $10 a month, while Scribd goes for $9. All three offer the first month free.
Weeks ago, as I was reviewing Scribd and Oyster, I asked colleagues to suggest books that ought to be on such services. I also added titles from my own wish list.
Of the 75 I checked, Oyster had 17 and Scribd had 16.
That’s not a lot. I got even fewer with Kindle Unlimited six matches, plus one that’s free for everyone. But through Amazon’s $99-per-year Prime program, I could already read four of those six books for free on Kindle devices. Only “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson and
“Flash Boys” by Michael Lewis require the Kindle
Unlimited subscription.
Under Prime, however, I can read only one book a month. Kindle Unlimited lets you download 10 books at a time on up to six devices. Those devices don’t have to be Amazon devices, as Prime requires. Kindle
Unlimited also beats its rivals in several ways:
It has 2,000 audiobooks from Amazon’s Audible business. They’re synchronized to the corresponding
REVIEW
File photo, the 8.9-inch Amazon Kindle HDX tablet computer is held up for a photo in Seattle. Amazon is rolling out a new subscription service that will allow unlimited access to thousands of electronic books and audiobooks for $9.99 a month in the online giant's latest effort to attract more users. —AP
books, so if you need to break off reading to drive, you can have the audiobook play instead, starting where you left off reading.
For the first three months of your subscription, you can choose one additional audiobook per month from
Audible’s larger catalog. You get to keep these books even if you cancel your subscription. Only Kindle
Unlimited permits reading on Kindle e-readers such as the Paperwhite. I personally prefer reading without distractions from email and Facebook. Kindle apps for phones and tablets are more sophisticated than the competition.
For instance, you get an estimate of how much time you need to finish the chapter or the book, based on your personal reading speed. Oyster does that only for the chapter, while Scribd offers neither. Kindle apps are available for a greater range of devices. Oyster works on iPhones, iPads and Android devices. Scribd supports those, plus Macs and Windows devices. Kindle does all that, plus webOS and BlackBerry devices.
Back in 2011, Amazon began making a selection of movies and TV episodes available for free to Prime members. At the time, the free service had 5,000 videos
- but few that I actually wanted to watch. That’s been expanded to more than 40,000 and includes decent movies and shows. Amazon has even commissioned original shows for Prime, including the John Goodman comedy “Alpha House.” Kindle Unlimited will have to follow the same path and expand its library to be useful for most people. With any of these services, you need to be reading three or more books a month to make it worth the subscription. Otherwise, buying the e-book through Amazon or a discount service such as
Entitle is more economical. The limited selection makes it tougher to find those three books a month, especially for those who already get a book a month for free through Prime.— AP
LOS ANGELES: Microsoft announced the biggest layoffs in its 39-year history Thursday, outlining plans to cut
18,000 jobs in a move that marked the CEO’s sharpest pivot yet away from his predecessor’s drive for the company to make its own devices. Although some cuts had been expected ever since Microsoft acquired Nokia’s mobile-device unit, the number amounted to 14 percent of the Microsoft workforce - about twice what analysts had estimated.
The cuts will include some 12,500 jobs associated with the Nokia unit - nearly half of the 28,000 employees
Microsoft brought on board in April through the acquisition. When the cuts are complete, the company will still have about 10,000 more employees than before the
Nokia acquisition, with an overall headcount of 109,000.
In a public email to employees, CEO Satya Nadella said the changes were needed for the company to “become more agile and move faster.” The move also pushes Nokia to focus solely on the Windows Phone operating system.
Nadella is clearly backing away from former CEO Steve
Ballmer’s strategy of getting Microsoft to make its own smartphones and tablets. “He’s making a pretty serious game-changing strategy move away from hardware,” said
Michael Turits, managing director of equity research for financial services company Raymond James & Associates.
Nadella indicated that Microsoft will largely abandon low-price Nokia Asha phones - which work on their own non-Windows operating system - and reverse a strategically questionable move by Nokia in February to launch a line of phones called “X” that supported rival Google Inc.’s
Android platform.
Closing studio
“To win in the higher price tiers, we will focus on breakthrough innovation that expresses and enlivens
Microsoft’s digital work and digital life experiences,”
Nadella said in the memo. Some 1,350 Seattle-area workers around Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington, headquarters were laid off Thursday, as were 1,800 workers in
Hungary and nearly 370 in San Diego. The Nokia cuts include 1,100 jobs in Finland.
In addition, the company is closing its Xbox
Entertainment Studios, a 2-year-old venture based in
Santa Monica, California, that produced original video content but was seen as separate from Microsoft’s core business. Microsoft Corp expects charges of $1.1 billion to $1.6 billion over the next four quarters, largely for severance payments. The move puts the company on track to meet the target it set in September, when it announced the Nokia purchase, of saving $600 million in annual costs within 18 months after the deal closed.
Ballmer announced the Nokia deal a month after he said he was resigning.
FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives said the cuts were about double what Wall Street was expecting.
“Microsoft needs to be a leaner and meaner technology giant over the coming years in order to strike the right balance of growth and profitability around its cloud and mobile endeavors,” he said. The move dwarfs Microsoft’s previous biggest job cut, when it eliminated about 5,800 jobs in 2009. That was the company’s first widespread layoff.
Lacking crucial features
Microsoft has been shifting its focus from traditional
PC software to cloud computing and cloud-based products like its Office 365 productivity software that can operate on mobile devices. With its $7.3 billion acquisition of Nokia’s cellphone business, Microsoft had sought to meld its software and hardware business into a cohesive package, similar to rival Apple. But investors had lingering doubts about the strategy, especially because the two brands’ market share in smartphones and tablets was so far behind Apple and Samsung.
According to the latest financials, the Surface and Nokia device units are both losing money. Nokia phones ran a wide array of operating systems that were not helpful to
Microsoft’s Windows brand. The Asha operating system, for instance, lacked features like the ability to use mobile versions of Office software or even GPS mapping.
Soon after the deal was announced, Nokia’s overall handset sales plunged 29 percent in the final quarter of last year, even as its high-end Lumia devices grew quickly. The Nokia purchase “is not a deal that (Nadella) agreed upon or negotiated or perhaps really wanted,” said Scott Kessler, senior equity analyst at S&P Capital
IQ. “Secondly, it seems that the market has changed pretty significantly over the last year ... pretty traumatic cuts seem probably somewhat appropriate at this point.”
In a letter to employees, Executive Vice President
Stephen Elop said the company will drive sales of its
Windows Phone by targeting the lower-price smartphone market with its Lumia devices. A separate memo by a Microsoft executive in India posted by the BGR website said the company will stop engaging with developers on new apps for Nokia X, Asha and Series 40 phones, but maintain support for customers who own the phones.
In a blog post a week ago, Nadella hinted at the move, saying Microsoft had to “change and evolve” its culture for the “mobile-first and cloud-first world.”
Nadella planned to provide more details when
Microsoft reports fiscal 2014 results on Tuesday. He will also address staff Friday at a monthly question-andanswer session. Shares of Microsoft closed up 45 cents, or 1 percent, to $44.53 on Thursday. The stock is up about 19 percent since the start of the year. — AP
NEW YORK: Facebook is testing a “Buy” button in its latest effort to help businesses boost their sales through the world’s biggest online social network. The company said in a statement Thursday that the button will let people buy products directly from businesses without leaving Facebook.
A “Buy” button appears at the bottom of sponsored ads and is being tested by a limited group of several small- and medium-sized US businesses. The move comes as Facebook continues to grow its advertising business. The company will account for 7.8 percent of global digital ad spending this year, up from 5.8 percent in 2013, according to eMarketer.
Google, the world’s No. 1 recipient of ad dollars, is expected to account for 31.5 percent of ad spending in 2014.
EMarketer analyst Debra Aho said that not long ago, most businesses thought Facebook was better suited for building awareness than driving sales, but the Menlo Park,
California-based company is trying hard to change that image. “With this step, Facebook is becoming even more firmly established as a major player in direct response advertising, and though this test is still only a test, it’s a definite sign that Facebook wants to restart its efforts to become an e-commerce company as well,” she said. Facebook says it won’t share users’ credit and debit card information with other advertisers.
The company said it will provide more details once it has gathered feedback from the test. In January, Facebook said in a blog posting that it was working on offering more ways for direct-response marketers to communicate with
Facebook users. Mobile advertising is one of Facebook’s fastest-growing revenue categories. Nearly 80 percent of its users access the site on smartphones and other portable gadgets. In the January-March quarter, earnings nearly tripled and revenue grew sharply as advertising revenue rose 82 percent.
Meanwhile, mobile commerce is growing at a fast clip, and is expected to total $304.1 billion in 2014, up 15.5 percent from the prior year, according to eMarketer. Mobile commerce will account for 19 percent of all e-commerce sales this year, or $57.79 billion. Facebook shares fell $1.25 to close at $66.41 on Thursday. — AP
SEOUL: South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc yesterday said
Japanese rival Toshiba Corp is seeking 109.15 billion yen
($1.08 billion) in damages in a lawsuit filed over the suspected leak of NAND flash memory chip technology. SK
Hynix disclosed the amount in a regulatory filing after receiving official notice of the lawsuit, which was filed in
Japan in March.
Toshiba is also seeking to have SK Hynix destroy all information about the technology in question and cease production and sales of NAND memory products using that technology, according to the regulatory filing. SK
Hynix said it would seek to have the lawsuit dismissed. A spokesman at the company declined to elaborate beyond what was stated in the regulatory filing, and Toshiba could not be immediately reached for comment.
Toshiba and US partner SanDisk Corp filed separate civil lawsuits against SK Hynix seeking damages over the suspected theft of data related to their flagship flash memory chip technology used in smartphones and tablet computers.
The suits followed the arrest by Tokyo police of a former
SanDisk engineer. SanDisk in March said the engineer is
“alleged to have illegally taken SanDisk’s proprietary technical information and to have subsequently provided it to
SK Hynix,” where he later worked. — Reuters
THE VATICAN: In this file photo, Pope Francis has his picture taken inside St. Peter’s Basilica with youths from the
Italian Diocese of Piacenza and Bobbio who came to Rome for a pilgrimage, at the Vatican. Pope Francis is demanding justice for the victims of Argentina’s worst terrorist attack, using a video recorded on an amateur smartphone. — AP
SEOUL: South Korea’s capital Seoul said yesteday it planned to ban the smartphone car-hailing service Uber, saying it raised passenger safety issues and threatened the livelihood of licensed taxi drivers. The Uber app which allows clients to connect directly with “black car” services was launched in
Seoul in August last year. But the city council said it bypassed strict controls imposed on licensed taxi drivers, including background checks, insurance and vehicle upkeep and safety.
“We are looking into related laws to block Uber and similar apps that arrange such illegal transportation activities,” the council said in a statement. “Uber users should be aware that it’s hard to be covered by insurance even if a car accident occurs, let alone the issues of potential mechanical problems and background of drivers,” it said. The council said it would roll out its own mobile app for hailing existing, licensed taxis in December.
“Uber is charging customers while avoiding the regulatory process, which creates unfair competition for taxi drivers and encroaches on their business,” it said. California-based Uber is the most prominent of the apps that are shaking up the traditional taxi landscape in cities around the world. It has already faced significant resistance from regulators in several countries, who accuse it of unfair competition and lack of standards. The firm also sparked angry protests by cab drivers in nations including France, the US and Germany who fear it is chipping away at their client base. Uber operates in 41 countries in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the
Asia-Pacific. -— AFP
ROCKVILLE: In this file photo, Todd Torbert, a Verizon cable splicing technician, works to connect the glass fibers to the Verizon FiOS fiber network in Rockville, Md. — AP
NEW YORK: Verizon is boosting the upload speeds of nearly all its FiOS connections to match the download speeds, vastly shortening the time it takes for subscribers to send videos and back up their files online. Starting yesterday, all new subscribers will get “symmetrical” connections. The cheapest plan will deliver 25 megabits per second up and down, an increase from 15 megabits down and 5 megabits up.
Current subscribers will see their upload speeds raised over the coming months, product manager Fowler Abercrombie said. He expects that 95 percent of Verizon customers will see higher speeds. For the rest, fully symmetrical speeds may not be possible for technical reasons. With the speed increase, Verizon Communications
Inc. is taking advantage of a technical ability that its all-fiber FiOS network has. Rival offerings from cable companies, for the most part, can’t match that because cables were originally designed to send video to homes, not the other way around. Cable upload speeds top out at about 35 megabits per second, while Verizon’s top tier now offers 500 megabits per second.
Those who share or upload big files will get the greatest use out of higher upload speeds. At the new bottom-tier speed of 25 megabits per second, uploading an hour-long, 3-gigabyte high-definition video would take 16 minutes, a fifth of the time it would have taken on the previous 5-megabit plan. At the highest,
500-megabit tier, the upload would take just 50 seconds. Verizon’s marketing materials claim that higher upload speeds will also benefit online gamers and eBay shoppers. In real-life use, however, it would be very rare for these activities to see a boost from higher upload speeds.
Verizon has just over 6 million FiOS
Internet customers. — AP

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
H E A L T H & S C I E N C E
NEW YORK: It has been a circus prop, a toy and a 1950s fad, and now the hula hoop is making a comeback as a workout tool that fitness experts say provides an effective cardio and even meditative workout. A new generation of hoop activists is putting another spin on the hoop, which ancient Greeks fashioned from grapevines and used to exercise the hips.
Circus hooper Marawa Ibrahim, known professionally as Marawa the
Amazing, lives a nomad’s life performing and teaching hula hooping around the world. “Fitness hooping is what I’m really into. Even at circus school I developed a workout using core muscles to push the hoop,” said Ibrahim, who can spin 133 hoops simultaneously and has appeared on the UK reality show “Britain’s Got
Talent.” The 32-year-old Australian said anyone, regardless of age or fitness level, can keep the hoop spinning but choosing the right size hoop is essential.
“You can’t hoop with a kid’s hoop.
When you were a kid you were half as tall,” she said, adding that a hoop should reach to the hips, at least. “I used to teach a gym class of overweight women.
I made hoops that were almost up to their armpits and they could do it.”
Proper technique also means balance.
Even the pros can develop lopsidedness, she said, so spin in both directions in order to tone the body evenly, head to toe. Kelly Str ycker is the director of
Chicago Hoop Dance, a communitybased collection of performers, teachers and students who practice hooping as a form of moving meditation similar to
Yoga, or Chi-gong, the Chinese system of exercise and breath control.
“There definitely is a circus overlay in hoop dance,” said Strycker, adding toned muscles and weight loss are common benefits. “It tends to be a fitness workout because of the nature of the movement.”
Str ycker said hoop dancing, which includes elements of yoga, attracts mainly women between 25 and 60 who want a fitness routine they will do. Her classes, held at venues including parks and beaches around Chicago, include 20 to
25 minutes of yoga moves, lunges and squats, and hooping for the wrists, hands, shoulders, legs, hips and waists.
“The meditative aspect is in the rhythm, the rocking movement that stimulates the heartbeat, the back and forth,” she said.
Dr Cedric X Br yant, chief science officer at the American Council on
Exercise (ACE), said a 2011 ACE-sponsored study found that hooping could burn up to 600 calories an hour. “We found that just by the nature of movement it did a prett y effec tive job,”
Bryant said. “ The only downside is if one had difficulty mastering move ment. But larger hoops reduce the learning curve.” Ibrahim said a hoop, u n l i k e a t r a p e z e , i s p o r t a b l e a n d fun. “Walk up to any kid and they’ll have a go at it,” she said. “Everyone’s happy.” —Reuters
MELBOURNE: Campaigners at the world AIDS conference are taking aim at countries with antigay laws, accusing them of creating conditions that let HIV spread like poison. Powerfully mixing concerns over human rights and health, the issue threatens to divide western donor countries where gay equality is making strides from poor beneficiary nations where anti-gay laws persist or have been newly passed, say some.
Nobel laureate Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, who co-discovered HIV and co-chairs the six-day confermonstrous laws that only marginalize populations that are already the most vulnerable in society.”
Experts point to bitterly-won experience in the war on AIDS, which has claimed 39 million lives in 33 years: HIV spreads stealthily from stigmatized minorities and into the mainstream population, where it then can spread like wildfire. If gays or bisexuals are jailed or persecuted, this discourages them from taking an HIV test or seeking treatment if they are infected. It creates a toxic atmosphere of silence and fear-a perfect breeding ground for HIV. The scenario is simihave passed laws enshrining equal rights to marriage, health care and pensions for gays, other countries have pushed through legislation to prosecute them. According to a report issued last week by the UN agency UNAIDS, 79 countries have laws that criminalize same-sex practices, and seven of them have the death penalty for it.
Recent adopters of anti-gay legislation include
Uganda and Nigeria. India has restored colonialera anti-sodomy laws. Russia has passed legislation banning even the distribution of information about homosexual orientation. Kene Esom, a
Nigerian who works in South Africa for a gay campaign group, the African Men for Sexual Health and Rights, said these laws sometimes crippled efforts to spread the word about safe sex and expand access to life-saving HIV drugs.”Some laws ban freedom of assembly and freedom of association” for gays, he said. “That means groups can’t meet or even receive funds.”
ence, seized Sunday’s opening ceremony to lay down a barrage of fire at laws targeting minorities who bear a disproportionate share of the global pandemic. “The cruel reality is that in every region of the world, stigma and discrimination continue to be the main barriers to effective access to health,” she said. “We need again to shout out loud that we will not stand idly by when governments, in violation of all human rights principles, are enforcing lar, say specialists, when sex workers and intravenous drug users are criminalized.
The 12,000 delegates attending the 20th
International AIDS Conference are being urged to sign a “Melbourne Declaration” which insists that all gay, lesbian and transgender people “are entitled to equal rights and to equal access to HIV prevention, care and treatment information and services”. But just as more and more western countries
Donor anger
In a keynote speech, former Australian high court justice and human rights advocate Michael
Kirby said patience was wearing thin among western countries which donated roughly half of the $19 billion (14 billion euros) in funds to fight
AIDS in developing economies last year. Most of the money is spent buying drugs that keep millions of infected people alive. “Someone must tell those who will not act the practical facts of life in our world,” Kirby said acidly. “They cannot expect taxpayers in other countries to shell out, indefinitely, huge funds for antiretroviral drugs if they simply refuse to reform their own laws and policies to help their own citizens.” Jean-Francois
Delfraissy, head of France’s National Agency for
AIDS Research (ANRS), said he feared the medical consequences if the money stopped flowing.
Donor frustrations at repressive laws were best voiced through the Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, TB and Malaria to avoid charges of interference by rich countries in the domestic politics of poor ones, he said. “I’m a doctor, so my reflex is to think that these countries need antiretrovirals like everyone, and we should not be punishing patients in the hope of getting a government to shift its position. “However, the Fund is not just a bank, it’s a moral entity,” he said. “It can set general lines (for disbursement), so funding can be conditional.” —AFP
Religious leaders criticize Sierra Leone over Ebola
FREETOWN: Religious leaders in
Sierra Leone criticized the government’s handling of an Ebola outbreak that has killed 194 people in the West Africa country, saying a lack of information was prompting rural communities to shun medical help.
Bishop John Yambasu, chairman of an interfaith task force, said he was
“seriously disappointed” the government had failed to declare a public health emergency and pump more resources into the fight against
Ebola, which has infected 400 people in the country during a regional epidemic.
The World Health Organization
(WHO) said last week that Ebola had killed 603 people in total in Sierra
Leone and neighboring Guinea and
Liberia since February, the world’s deadliest outbreak of the disease.
The highest number of deaths in recent weeks had been recorded in
Sierra Leone, the WHO said. It warned of resistance from remote rural communities to allowing access to doctors amid fears that outsiders were spreading the disease.
“Every day in this country the number of new cases is increasing.
To us as religious leaders that is unacceptable,” Yambasu, head of the
United Methodist Church of Sierra
Leone, told Reuters. He said the government was too concerned by the
“political connotations” of declaring an emergency. Health Minister
Miatta Kargbo has said the Ebola outbreak is “a serious matter” but has not reached emergency levels. Amid a lack of funds to fight the outbreak, dozens of laboratory technicians at
Sierra Leone’s only Ebola-testing facility went on strike last week over a $20 monthly risk premium which they were promised but never paid.
Ebola causes fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea and was first detected in Democratic Republic of
Congo in the mid-1970s. Spread through contact with blood and bodily fluids, it is one of the deadliest viruses, killing up to 90 percent of those infected, and has no known cure. Yambasu said that in Kailahun in eastern Sierra Leone - the epicenter of the outbreak - locals had dug trenches to bar ambulances and police from accessing their communities. Many locals regard being taken to an isolation ward as a death sentence.
“It is likely that people are dying in the bush” due to lack of information about the disease, he said, adding that leaving those infected in their communities was encouraging the virus to spread. Yambasu said religious leaders would preach in their churches and mosques for a change of attitude towards the disease and would visit the centre of the outbreak and call for change. Sierra Leone’s religious leaders played a leading role in ending a brutal 1991-2002 civil war.
“It is as a result of our experiences of the past that we have invited ourselves into this Ebola struggle,” he said. —Reuters
MELBOURNE: A campaign to encourage circumcision among men in sub-Saharan
Africa to help protect them against the
AIDS virus was backed by new research yesterday showing that men who have had the operation are unlikely to engage in unprotected sex. Three major trials have previously shown that, for heterosexual men, male circumcision reduces the risk of contracting HIV by as much as 60 percent-a finding that has prompted the UN’s World
Health Organization (WHO) to recommend it as a voluntary prevention option, to be used along with the condom. But some experts have warned that circumcised men, believing themselves to be shielded, are likely to become more promiscuous after the operation, and less likely to wear a condom.
The new study, coinciding with the 20th
International AIDS Conference in
Melbourne, took a long look at this argument yet found no evidence to support it.
University of Illinois at Chicago researchers questioned more than 3,000 men aged 18-
35 in Kenya’s Nyanza province who had just been briefed about the option of circumcision and advised on safe sex and testing for
HIV. At the start of the study, half of those enrolled decided to be circumcised, while the others chose to remain uncircumcised.
They were asked about their sex life, with followup questions every six months over the following two years.
During this period, sexual activity increased in both groups, especially among those aged 18-24, the investigators found.
But risky sex-such as having multiple partners or having intercourse in exchange for providing money or gifts-declined, while use of condoms rose. Just as revealing was self-perception. Men who were circumcised often believed they had lessened their risk of acquiring HIV. Thirty percent considered themselves high-risk before circumcision, while just 14 percent considered themselves so after.
Among those who decided not to be circumcised, 24 percent considered themselves high-risk at the study’s start, and 21 percent still did at the end. But the different perceptions did not translate into different behavior, sex-wise. “Countries that have been holding back on implementing medical circumcision programs due to a lack of evidence regarding risk compensation should have no concerns about scaling-up programs,” said lead scientist Nelli
Westercamp in a press release issued by the university. The research appears online in a specialist journal, AIDS and Behavior.
Food voucher incentive
Separately, a presentation at the
Melbourne conference said that offering men compensation in the form of food vouchers worth around $9 or $15 (6.5 or 11 euros) was a useful incentive for the circumcision campaign. The WHO and
UNAIDS recommend voluntary circumcision in 14 countries in eastern and southern Africa where HIV is highly prevalent.
But most countries remain far short of reaching their targeted numbers-and investigators have found that many men are deterred by the loss of wages from time off work to have the operation, and the cost of travelling to and from the clinic to have it carried out. Harsha Thirumurthy of the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill led a team who studied 1,504 uncircumcised men in Nyanza aged 25-49 who were randomly assigned to groups where they were offered food vouchers of varying amounts to offset the cost of the operation or offered no compensation at all. Nine percent who were offered the equivalent of
$15 decided to get circumcised within the next two months, while 6.6 percent did so if offered $8.75.
Among those offered $2.50, the takeup was only 1.9 percent. In the “control” group, where no compensation was offered, just
1.6 percent got circumcised within the following two months. The increase was
“modest” overall but much higher among married and older men, a group that had been harder to persuade, according to the scientists. “The interventions also significantly increased the likelihood of circumcision uptake among participants at higher risk of acquiring HIV. This latter result is especially promising from an HIV prevention standpoint,” according to the study, published in the Journal of the American
Medical Association (JAMA). —AFP
WHITE PLAINS: Experts say the case of a mother accused of poisoning her 5-year-old son to death with salt appears to be an example of how social media feeds into Munchausen by proxy, a disorder in which caretakers purposely harm children and then bask in the attention and sympathy. Lacey Spears, of Scottsville,
Kentucky, has pleaded not guilty to charges of depraved murder and manslaughter in the
January death of her son, Garnett-Paul Spears, whose sodium levels rose to an extremely dangerous level with no medical explanation.
As Spears moved around the country -
Alabama, Florida and eventually New York - she kept friends updated on her son’s frequent hospitalizations with photos and musings on
Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and a blog. “My sweet angel is in the hospital for the 23rd time,” she tweeted in 2009. A series of reports on the case by The Journal News, which covers the
New York suburbs, found she kept it up right through her son’s death, with 28 posts in the last 11 days of Garnett’s life, including, “Garnett the great journeyed onward today at 10:20 a.m.”
Dr Marc Feldman, a psychiatrist and forensic consultant in Birmingham, Alabama, who wrote the book “Playing Sick,” said he believes the Internet has contributed to the number of
Munchausen by proxy cases, estimated from one study to be more than 600 a year in the US.
In a case exposed in 2011 in Great Britain, a childless 21-year-old woman joined an Internet forum for parents, claiming to have five children and chronicling her nonexistent baby’s battle with celiac disease and bacterial meningitis. Doctors at Seattle Children’s Hospital found three cases of mothers who falsely blogged that their children were near death and were rewarded with support.
“There are instantly accessible and endlessly supportive groups out there that will pray with you and cry with you if you purport your child to be ill,” Feldman said. Mark Sirkin, director of the mental health counseling program at
Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, said that with social media, “you can expand your circle from the people you know to strangers who you’ve never met - you’re just getting that much more attention.” While prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Spears case have yet to mention Munchausen in court papers or hearings, experts say the disorder could play a role because Spears fits the pattern of caregivers who invent, exaggerate or cause a health problem in someone in their care and then seek to portray themselves as a hero.
Spears, who was living in suburban New
York when her son died, is accused of administering sodium through a feeding tube he had in his stomach while he was hospitalized at
Westchester Medical Center. Prosecutors say she did it in the bathroom, where there were no surveillance cameras. “This mother was intentionally feeding her child salt at toxic levels,” Westchester County prosecutor Doreen
Lloyd said at Spears’ arraignment. She also alleged that Spears had done Internet research on the effects of sodium and that Spears had tried to dispose of a bag tainted with sodium by asking a friend to “get rid of it and don’t tell anybody.”
According to court documents, Spears told police she used only “a pinch of salt” for flavor when feeding her son fruits and vegetables through his tube. Spears said the feeding tube was necessary because Garnett couldn’t keep food down. Some friends told The Journal
News they saw no sign of that. They were also confused by her claims that Garnett’s father was killed in a car accident. A man who says he’s the father lives in Alabama. Her attorney
Stephen Riebling said last week that the defense would focus “on the relevant facts, not fiction.” —AP

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
H E A L T H & S C I E N C E
KRAKOW: Too weak to stand on his feet after swallowing poison for garden slugs, Smoky the hedgehog is fighting for his life. Thanks to a devoted Polish animal lover, he has a chance.
Andrzej Kuziomski set up Poland’s first and only hedgehog shelter after as a bicycle courier he came across hundreds of the small, quilled mammals that had been killed or maimed in run-ins with humans. “He hasn’t eaten anything for days...
He weighs less than half of what he should,” the
45-year-old says as he holds Smoky, gently stroking his prickly back. The refuge on the outskirts of Krakow has space for up to 50 sick or injured hedgehogs. Driven from their habitat by rapid urbanization and poisoned by the intensive use of insecticides, these omnivores have had little choice but to adapt to city life, while facing its mortal dangers.
Indeed, in parts of the capital Warsaw their numbers have exploded, forcing city authorities to install “Beware of Hedgehogs” signs. But in reality, their distinctive protective quills are no match for car tyres. Nor is their habit of rolling up into a ball, a defense mechanism used to foil predators. Despite being a protected species, the hedgehog is at risk of disappearing from Europe within the next 20 years, Kuziomski warns.
Venturing into urban settings is their “last cry for help” as environmental factors squeeze them out of traditional habitats like forests and fields, he says. “If we don’t help them now, soon our children will only read about them in books,”
Kuziomski said.
Lawnmowers, dogs
His passion for these prickly yet undeniably cute creatures began in 2007, when he plied the streets of Krakow as a bike courier. “Every day, I saw dozens of hedgehogs squashed by cars. At night, I had nightmares. That’s when I decided to do something,” he says. In cities and suburbs, hedgehogs are also “shredded by lawnmowers, mauled by dogs, or even burned alive by gardeners who set fire to piles of leaves that hedgehogs like to sleep in,” Kuziomski adds. He often finds them near death, poisoned by pesticides or herbicides, dismembered or burned, like one female he was given.
“She looked more like a roast chicken just out of the oven than a living animal,” he recalls.
“Thanks to several operations, she survived, but she will never be fit for release and will have to stay in the shelter until the end of her days.” Since
2010, Kuziomski says he has nursed back to health several dozen hedgehogs and then released them into the wild, far from cities and their many perils.
Consumed by his mission, Kuziomski says that like the nocturnal hedgehog, he has also become a creature of the night. When the sun goes down, they wake up and he goes about feeding them, administering medicines, treating wounds and cleaning cages. —AFP
WARSAW: Poland will appeal to Europe’s top court over a
European Union ban on flavored tobacco products, saying it will be unfairly affected as one of the region’s biggest consumers and producers of menthol cigarettes. The ban is a part of EU-wide anti-smoking legislation, due to be implemented in 2016, which also includes tougher rules on packaging and marketing. Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the
Economy Janusz Piechocinski has said that menthol-flavored cigarettes should be considered a traditional product - not unlike the Swedish “snus”, powdered tobacco placed under the lip - and therefore exempt from the directive. According to the World Lung Foundation, Poland remains one of the EU’s heavy-smoking nations, with annual consumption of 1,586 cigarettes per capita - twice as large as Britain’s. But while the country’s tobacco consumption rates are by no means extraordinary, its affection for menthol certainly is: nearly one in every five cigarettes sold here is menthol-flavored, compared to one in ten in Sweden and below one in a hundred in
Spain, Austria or Slovakia.
“Menthol cigarettes were introduced to Poland in 1953 and Polish smokers have developed a unique taste for them,” said Magdalena Wlodarczyk, representing British American
Tobacco , Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco
International, which together have 99 percent of the Polish market. “There is no reason why they should get hit so hard over this.” As well as being a consumer, the country is also the second-largest producer of tobacco in the EU, with Polish tobacco farms employing over 60,000 people.
It is also the seventh-largest manufacturer of cigarettes in the world, with five processing sites and six factories employing further thousands. Poland’s tobacco industry welcomed the government’s appeal, to be made to the Court of Justice of the European Union. “Burley, the tobacco used in production of menthol cigarettes because of its flavor-absorbing properties accounts for nearly 40 percent of Poland’s production,” said
Lech Ostrowski, head of the National Union of Tobacco
Farmers, representing 7,000 producers. “We can’t all switch to growing Virginia, because the market will simply not accommodate it and prices will fall.”
A report commissioned by Poland’s National
Association of the Tobacco Industry says the new tobacco legislation will destroy 30,000 jobs in production, manufacturing and distribution. The report also estimates that it will cost the country up to nine billion zlotys ($3 billion) in lost tax revenue every year, as Polish menthol smokers turn to cigarettes smuggled in from Belarus and Ukraine. A KPMG study commissioned by the same body estimates that illegal cigarettes account for over 10 percent of market share across the EU and nearly 14 percent in Poland itself. “By ensuring that tobacco products look and taste like tobacco products, the new rules will help to reduce the number of people who start smoking in the EU,” European Health
Commissioner Tonio Borg said in a statement.
Borg spoke of the devastating effect tobacco had on the health of EU citizens, citing 700,000 premature deaths every year and 14 fewer years of life on average for smokers. Poland’s
Minister of Health Bartosz Arlukowicz supported the legislation, and Piechocinski said the appeal caused a “fierce argument” between them. But while the economic concerns seem to have ultimately outweighed the public health risks, the
Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki said that tobacco farmers needed to use the time the appeal buys them and invest in other crops, as “the war for tobacco was already lost”. —Reuters

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
W H AT ’ S O N
T he American University School of Kuwait (AUS), the country’s most technologically-advanced 21st century creative learning private school, celebrated the end of the school year with promotion ceremonies for the 104 students enrolled in Pre-Kindergarten to grade 5 last week.
These promotion ceremonies marked the first year of the school’s establishment, where it recognized the achievements of some of Kuwait’s future leaders as they advanced to their next grade level. AUS invited parents to share the accomplishments of their child in a ceremony that highlighted each student’s milestone efforts this school year.
AUS Founding Director, Jennifer J. Beckwith, Ph.D., said,
“We are very proud of the achievements of our young students in this first year of our school. AUS was established to offer parents a better educational choice for their children in a
21st century environment that is reinforced with cutting edge educational tools and technologies, and world-class educators who are committed to the progress and success of every child in their classrooms. On behalf of everyone at AUS we thank our parents for putting their trust in us during ourinaugural year.”
In addition to new and inventive software, AUS uses technological innovations, student tablets, interactive smart boards, child-scaled open classroom areas, to help students excel in an environment that is similar to the digital world they are familiar with today.
The school follows the Common Core American Standards curriculum, which focuses on conceptual understandings and procedures starting in the early grades for reading, mathematics, science and social studies. The school’s teaching and learning strategies work to assist students to make connections using thematic units across academic disciplines.
Beckwith added, “At AUS, we offer small class sizes for individualized learning with the latest educational materials and interactive technology. AUS students are taught by qualified
American and Arab teachers who are skilled in the latest teaching methods to form a positive educational environment that drives academic excellence and character building.”
“Our goal is for students to learn how to make connections between disciplines from a very early age, and learn how to use technology in a positive way that will be a pillar in their future success.”
AUS opened in September 2013 for Pre-Kindergarten through grade 5 students. The Middle School for grades 6 through 8 will open this September. A fully accredited High
School will be available to students beginning with grade 9 forthe 2015-2016 school year.
The school provides a one-to-one tablet program that allows educators and students to take advantage of the pedagogical change in the way information is provided in a school setting. Students collaborate wirelessly through a combination of tablets, teacher podcasts for enhanced comprehension, digital texts, and engage in higher order thinking activities. The AUS curriculum allows discovery of new ways to impart to students the skills they will need in the 21st century.
In addition to the curriculum, the school offers after-school activities that include sports, classes about applications on computers and tablets, music, academic enrichment sessions, and French, among others. The school will eventually showcase an in-house video production lab that will provide television studio broadcasts within the school. Courses in robotics,
AutoCAD, computer art, and digital photography, as well as drama and music classes, will also be offered at the secondary level.
H appy 22nd birthday to our dearest Dahara
Wijeratne! You are a very kind, generous and loving person.
Thank you for being such an angel and caring so much for everyone! I guess you are just one fabulous grand-daughter, daughter and sister! With loads and loads of love; Amma, Appi,
Achiamma, Neehara nangi and Amaya nangi.
A s the holy month of Ramadan comes to an end, a colourful celebration awaits guests at Movenpick
Hotel & Resort Al Bida’a Kuwait.
Guests can enjoy a city break at the
Movenpick Hotel & Resort Al Bida’a during
Eid and take advantage of discounted room rates, complimentary breakfast and a wide range of kids’ activities including kids dance, water activities, cooking classes, cartoon characters and a lot more.
Guests can also tantalise their taste buds with diverse sumptuous buffets ranging from the colourful freshly caught seafood, the delicious cuts prepared at the live cooking stations and the rich assortment of international buffets with gourmet choices followed by mouthwatering selection of Arabic sweets and the tempting crepe corner.
Children can enjoy the spirit and joy of
Eid with a variety of exciting activities such as face painting, thrilling magic shows, DJ, kids dance and many more.
“Offering special packages and discounts to celebrate Eid Al Fitr is our token of appreciation for the continuous support of our valued guests. We traditionally partake to this joyful season because life is better when shared.” Said Maged Gubr, the hotel’s General Manager.
T he second half of Ramadan has started and Millions of people around the world honor this holy month with acts of service and prayers. Malabar Gold & Diamonds, the leading jewellery retailer strengthens its CSR activities in the GCC region this Ramadan, embracing the spirit of giving. The group provided iftar meals for 350 people at Meena Abdullah desert camp in Kuwait. They are also planning for such events at labour camps in Wafra desert, Meena Al Zoor,
Fintas, Hassawi, Reggae, Mangaf and
Ahmadi in association with Kerala
Islamic Group (KIG), Youth India and
Kuwait Kerala Muslim Association.
Over 4000 people will be benefitted by this.
The jewellery group hosts iftar events in various parts of GCC, by organizing a month long calendar of activities, in association with likeminded organizations. Over 50,000 residents in GCC will be benefitted by their CSR initiatives this Ramadan.
Such initiatives are planned in UAE with Community Development
Authority-Dubai, Sharjah Charity
International and Awqaf to benefit the needy and they are planning to provide over 42,000 special iftar meals during this period. Iftar meals are being provided at Sajjah Camp and
Sharjah scouts throughout the holy month of Ramadan. The group also conducted similar events at Marris-
Ras Al Khaima and Municipality labour camp in Ajman as a part of their CSR activities in the region.
In Bahrain, they are planning to provide over 3750 iftar meals to the labours at Asker, Akker, Jau, Asari,
Hamad Town and Isa Town throughout Ramadan, in association with
Discovery Islam, Al Hedaya Centre.
The group has also organized an iftar event at Friendship Society for Blinds,
Bahrain on 11 July 2014 for the visually impaired members of the society with their family. Zakat was distributed to five families and gifts were given to kids and other members.
About 150 people attended the event.
They have also organized iftar gathering at Muttrah Souk, Muscat and Dhofar Club- Salalah, Oman. Over
4200 people gathered at the event.
The jewellery chain is planning to conduct an iftar get together at Al Ali
Engineering W.L.L., Qatar on 17 July and are expecting to serve 850 people.
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the jewellery group provided iftar meals to over 1500 people, in the event held at Shifa Sanayya Baladiya
Labor Camp, Riyyadh on 5 July in association with Riyadh Muslim
Coordination Committee.
Since its inception in 1993, Malabar
Group has been actively involved in
CSR activities with the aim of creating a difference to the community in and around their area of operations. The importance of CSR activities for
Malabar Group has grown over the decades and the group sets aside 10% of its net profit for the benefit of the needy. They undertake social welfare activities all year long, focusing on five priority areas such medical, educational sector, environment as well as housing and women empowerment.
P akistan Arts Circle, (Firqa Funoun al Pakistania), established in 1964, registered with Ministry of Social Affairs,
Kuwait, is back in action. PAC Oresident, M Kamal Azhar, last Thursday arranged an Urdu poetic gathering and the mushaera lasted for two hours in which most renowned poets,
Dr Ayyub Raaz, professsor Taslim Akbar, khalid Sajjad, Ziauddin
Asar and Safdar Ali Safdar.
The mushaera was presided over by Khalid Sajjad and the initial announcements conducted by the Kamal Azhar.
The programme started with the recitation of holy Quran by
Saad Chowqdhry and Naate Maqbool was presented by Ahmad
Mohammad in a most impressive manner. The programame was conducted by Janab Khalid Sajjad to preside over the functions.
Asar whose first appearence in Kuwait mushaera was a great success and the audience appreciated his verses and requested him to participate in all future programmes. Afterwards Janab
Ayyub Raaz, Professor Taslim Akbar, Kamal Azhar, Safdar Ali safdar presented their best peotic versions at the end Khalid Sajjad presented his Kalam and presiding speech.
PACS president announced that the next mushaera will be held in Sdhallah after Eid ul Fitr in August.
J umeirah Messilah Beach Hotel&
Spa, Kuwait’s idyllic resort, is set to welcome Eid Al Fit’r celebrations with a special Eid Brunch for the entire family at the Garden Café and a ‘Layali
Al Eid’ at Arabesque.
During the first three days of Eid Al
Fit’r, Garden Café will host a brunch buffet that includes a kids’ buffet of cotton candy and other treats.
At Arabesque, the perfect venue for shisha lovers, guests will be entertained by a live oud player while being served with hot and cold mezzeh and a selection of beverages. In addition,
Talise Spa, the most sought after destination for relaxing and tranquil experiences, presents a ‘Summer Beauty Skin
Revival’ package that includes a traditional Dead Sea body scrub, a shower and facial treatment.
The hotel’s other restaurants and cafÈs resume regular operations after
Ramadan. Salt, the signature seafood restaurant, will present a large a la carte menu of international and contemporary cuisine focusing on fresh fish and seafood.
Offering live lobster and a variety of fish from its eye-catching aquarium, it also provides the perfect ambience to enjoy Canadian lobster cooked to the guest’s preference.
Pepper, the premium steakhouse restaurant with a classy and extravagant dÈcor, located opposite Salt, will serve up different cuts of US prime beef to satisfy cravings for mouthwatering steaks.
F amily and friends are invited for our annual Eid Open
House. Why not conclude this great month by celebrating with us? Enjoy a traditional Arabian buffet dinner, Arabic calligraphy, Henna, a cultural presentation, a bouncy castle, donkey rides, and more!! Shuhada Area -
Block 4, Street 413, Villa 67 - Kuwait Thursday July 31 @ 5-
8pm To register, phone: 25231015.
O n the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr
Holidays, the Embassy will be closed from Sunday, July 27th to
Thursday, July 31st and will resume duties on Sunday, August 3rd, 2014.

W H AT ’ S O N
TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
T he Kuwait chapter of the IAA announced its new board members, after an election, which was held at
2014.
the Banquet Hall of Holiday Inn Salmiya on 15th July,
Walid Kanafani, the President of IAA - Kuwait chapter and all board members welcomed the members who attended the election. Adnan al Rashed was invited to attend the event as IAA Honorable guest. Kanafani welcomed all members, reviewed the works of the past two years, its various activities and important achievements. He emphasized that all work done, was the efforts of the entire team and he was very proud to say, that the Kuwait chapter has a very good position among the other chapters in the world.
During the past 2 years, Kuwait chapter managed to participate in many workshops, informative seminars on leadership and grooming professionals, and was actively involved in attending the International Congress meetings and promoted Kuwait by sending representative from
Kuwait to be a part of the conference and share in its various activities.
Al Rashed thanked the audience and Kanafani, for his invitation to attend this event and also reflected the first time he was approached by Kuwait Journalist Association to help in the possibility of creating the IAA Kuwait Chapter under the umbrella of Kuwait Journalist Association. Then, he thought, it would be short lived and they would soon forget the idea, but he stated, ‘Let me tell you, that I am very proud of their work, initiatives and their sincere commitment and excellent performance & cooperation towards the IAA Kuwait Chapter. I personally, admire their hard work and applaud them for whatever they have managed and wish all the best for the voting and the new members.
Kanafani, thanked Al Rashed and gifted him a plaque for his continuous encouragement and support. He also thanked Ahmed Behbehani the Chairman of Kuwait
Journalist Association for his relentless support.
Kanafani, announced the names of the six outgoing members of the previous team who were listed on the ballot to extend their tenure and also the names of the new members who expressed their intention to serve the association by joining in the ballot.
After the ballots were cast, five members were re-elected from the previous board and 3 new elected members joined the board. The names of the new team for the working tenure from 2014 to 2016 are as:
* Walid Kanafani - President
* Iqbal Al Haddad - Vice President
* Adnan Saad - General Secretary
* Bassam Gharayeb - Treasurer
* Marwan Farah - Board Member
* Sami Hanna - Board Member
* Elie Farah - Board Member
In his address to the media, after the elections, the
President Elect, Walid Kanafani, reiterated, that as President of the IAA - Kuwait Chapter, he is aware that this is not just a title, but comes with a huge responsibility which in turn demands total dedication of his time to serve the association to the best of his ability for the next two years. He added that he was honoured and elated to be entrusted with this responsibility.
He noted, that the results of the elections have shown that, there is a big irony among the membership, pointing out that the seven board members elected, are exactly the same as the previous term, ‘ so with that equation, it is easy to interact and find solution, as there is good coordination and mutual understanding among the board and this will assist in smoothly completing the works undertaken in the previous years and also plan a lot of more interesting and fruitful assignment for the coming years, which will uplift the superiority and professionalism of this industry.
As known, that the role of the IAA is to monitor and assist the Advertising industry to ensure that there is harmony and coordination between the media and other economic sectors. We have a lot of new projects, which will be very soon activated on the appointment of the new team.
The President - elect, noted that since IAA is well represented in Dubai, through their successful entities such as
Dubai Lynx and others, Kuwait team will be working in close coordination with these entities for the benefit of the industry, adding that cooperation will enhance professionalism of practitioners through regular visits by speakers and orators with the industry. Besides, there are plans for many conferences and educational programmes, to ensure that every single member of the IAA is benefitted.
He emphasized that, the main objective of the association is to increase the membership in the chapter, through visits to all agencies and clients, as well as media houses to inform them more about the association, its role in the industry and invite them to be a part of this association.
Media practitioners will also be kept updated on all activities and future plans within the organization.
Stressing on the open-door policy of the new board,
Kanafani disclosed, that the membership hopes to fully support every member, and at the same time, assuring all members that there are always available, for any information or queries, needed from and about the association.
Suggestions, are also welcomed. We are always ready to listen and work hard to make everything more professionally right within the advertising industry.
Referring to the priority projects on the agenda of the new board within the two year period, Kanafani, stated, that on the top of the board list, is to get in touch with the most important sectors, writers, readers and others members of the media fraternity who have accomplished themselves in the media arena, to get them to visit Kuwait and share their experiences. This can only happen, with the support and coordination with the other Middle East and GCC chapters of the association, who will be more than cooperative to share their experiences for the benefit of the Kuwait chapter.
With regards, to the importance of the IAA, in the field of advertising and media relations, the Kuwait Chapter
President elect, stated, that though the association is worldwide, one available in every country, each one is unique and differs from the other, due to its socio-economic and geo-political circumstances prevailing in every country. While, some chapters may have all the essential tools to function with the right parameters to achieve their objectives, others fall short of tools to function and meet their set objectives.
The Ad Eaters project is one of the oldest projects to be revived, among the many events on the new Board’s agenda. It may not be directly choreographed by the IAA, but the association could be one of the main sponsors. For any project, that stands to benefit the industry, be it marketing, public relations or any other project, if the association is not the primary organizer, it should be one of the main sponsors. As, to the next step after the election, Kanafani said that the IAA Board meets weekly to discuss all future plans, as well as, on-going projects.
All corporations involved in marketing communications need a pro-active partner and advocate for freedom of commercial speech. The IAA is a one-of-a-kind strategic partnership which champions the interests of all the disciplines across the spectrum of marketing communications from advertisers to media companies, agencies to marketing companies and agencies as well as individual practitioners.
With over 4,000 individual members, in over 70 countries, IAA has become a brand champion, allowing the industry to flourish without unwarranted restrictions. This impressive international network encompasses corporate members, as well as institutions and associations.

00:45 Beast Lands
01:35 Untamed & Uncut
02:25 Safari Vet School
02:50 Safari Vet School
03:15 Give Me Shelter
03:40 Give Me Shelter
04:05 Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors
04:35 Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors
04:55 Animal Cops Miami
05:45 Roaring With Pride
06:35 Breed All About It
07:00 Animal Airport
07:25 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild
07:50 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild
08:15 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101
09:10 Baby Planet
10:05 Growing Up...
11:00 Animal Precinct
11:55 Animal Airport
12:20 Breed All About It
12:50 Outback Rangers
13:15 Outback Rangers
13:45 Into The Pride
14:40 Safari Vet School
15:05 Safari Vet School
15:30 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild
16:00 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild
16:30 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101
17:25 Pandamonium
18:20 Penguin Safari
19:15 World’s Wildest Cities: Manaus
19:45 World’s Wildest Cities: Manaus
20:10 Galapagos
21:05 Safari Vet School
21:30 Safari Vet School
22:00 World’s Wildest Cities: Manaus
22:30 World’s Wildest Cities: Manaus
22:55 Galapagos
23:50 Animal Cops Miami
00:15 Bill’s Kitchen: Notting Hill
00:40 Nordic Cookery With Tareq
Taylor
01:10 Eating In The Sun
01:35 Bargain Hunt
02:25 Bargain Hunt
03:10 Bargain Hunt
03:55 Homes Under The Hammer
04:50 Nigel Slater’s Dish Of The Day
05:20 Bill’s Kitchen: Notting Hill
05:45 Eating In The Sun
06:15 Bargain Hunt
07:00 Bargain Hunt
07:45 Bargain Hunt
08:30 Homes Under The Hammer
09:20 Nigel Slater’s Dish Of The Day
09:45 Bill’s Kitchen: Notting Hill
10:10 Nordic Cookery With Tareq
Taylor
10:35 Bargain Hunt
11:20 Bargain Hunt
12:05 Bargain Hunt
12:50 Homes Under The Hammer
13:40 Gok’s Fashion Fix
14:30 Nigel Slater’s Dish Of The Day
14:55 Bill’s Kitchen: Notting Hill
15:20 Nordic Cookery With Tareq
Taylor
15:45 A Taste Of My Life
16:10 Bargain Hunt
16:55 Bargain Hunt
17:40 Bargain Hunt
18:25 Marbella Mansions
19:10 Nordic Cookery With Tareq
Taylor
19:35 How To Cook Like Heston
20:00 Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition
20:45 Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition
22:15 Bargain Hunt
23:00 Marbella Mansions
23:45 Nordic Cookery With Tareq
Taylor
00:30 River Monsters
01:20 Off The Hook: Extreme
Catches
01:45 Off The Hook: Extreme
Catches
02:10 Robson’s New Extreme
Fishing Challenge
03:00 Fast N’ Loud
03:50 Storage Hunters
04:15 Container Wars
04:40 Storage Wars Canada
05:05 How Does It Work
05:30 How Stuff’s Made
06:00 Gold Rush
07:00 Dual Survival
07:50 Yukon Men
08:40 Fast N’ Loud
09:30 Storage Hunters
09:55 Container Wars
10:20 Storage Wars Canada
10:45 How Does It Work
11:10 How Stuff’s Made
11:35 River Monsters
12:25 Off The Hook: Extreme
Catches
12:50 Off The Hook: Extreme
Catches
13:15 Robson’s New Extreme
Fishing Challenge
14:05 Storage Hunters
14:30 Container Wars
14:55 Storage Wars Canada
15:20 Dual Survival
16:10 Yukon Men
17:00 Fast N’ Loud
17:50 Treehouse Masters
18:40 Futurescape With James
Woods
19:30 Gold Rush
20:20 How Does It Work
20:45 How Stuff’s Made
21:10 Container Wars
21:35 Storage Wars Canada
22:00 Treehouse Masters
22:50 Futurescape With James
Woods
23:40 Mythbusters
00:20 The Gadget Show
00:45 How Stuff’s Made
01:10 Prototype This
02:00 Sport Science
02:45 Mythbusters
03:35 Sci-Fi Saved My Life
04:30 How The Universe Works
05:20 Scrapheap Challenge
06:10 Through The Wormhole
07:00 Engineering Volcanoes
07:55 Human Body: Ultimate
Machine
08:45 Invisible Worlds
09:40 Through The Wormhole
10:30 Mega Builders
11:20 How The Universe Works
12:10 Scrapheap Challenge
13:00 How Stuff’s Made
13:30 Invisible Worlds
14:20 Mythbusters
15:10 Scrapheap Challenge
16:00 Mega Builders
16:50 Through The Wormhole
17:40 Prototype This
18:30 Sport Science
19:20 The Gadget Show
19:45 How Stuff’s Made
20:10 Mythbusters
21:00 Alien Planet Earths
21:50 Real Superhumans
23:30 How The Universe Works
00:00 Violetta
00:45 The Hive
00:50 Art Attack
01:15 Art Attack
01:40 Wolfblood
02:05 Wolfblood
02:30 Violetta
03:10 The Hive
03:20 Art Attack
03:45 Art Attack
04:10 Jungle Junction
04:20 Jungle Junction
04:35 Jungle Junction
04:50 Jungle Junction
05:00 Art Attack
05:25 Art Attack
05:50 Mouk
06:00 Austin & Ally
06:25 Austin & Ally
06:45 Mako Mermaids
07:10 Mako Mermaids
07:35 Jessie
07:55 Jessie
08:20 Win, Lose Or Draw
08:45 Good Luck Charlie
09:05 Dog With A Blog
09:30 Phineas And Ferb
09:55 Phineas And Ferb
10:15 Liv And Maddie
10:40 Teen Beach Movie
12:15 Jessie
12:35 Jessie
13:00 Austin & Ally
13:25 Phineas And Ferb
13:45 Phineas And Ferb
14:10 The Adventures Of Disney
Fairies
14:35 Dog With A Blog
15:00 Dog With A Blog
15:25 Liv And Maddie
15:50 Liv And Maddie
16:10 Mako Mermaids
16:35 Win, Lose Or Draw
17:00 The Sword In The Stone
18:20 Disney Mickey Mouse Shorts
18:30 Mako Mermaids
18:55 Mako Mermaids
19:20 Violetta
20:05 Liv And Maddie
20:30 Jessie
20:50 Dog With A Blog
21:15 Mako Mermaids
21:40 Austin & Ally
22:00 Good Luck Charlie
22:25 A.N.T. Farm
22:50 Shake It Up
23:10 Wolfblood
23:35 Wolfblood
00:00 Escape Club
00:55 Chelsea Lately
01:25 Style Star
01:50 Style Star
02:20 Keeping Up With The
Kardashians
03:15 Extreme Close-Up
03:40 Extreme Close-Up
04:10 THS
05:05 E!ES
06:00 THS
07:50 Style Star
08:20 Fashion Police
08:45 Eric And Jessie: Game On
09:15 Giuliana & Bill
10:15 Giuliana & Bill
11:10 The Drama Queen
12:05 Fashion Police
12:35 Extreme Close-Up
13:05 Extreme Close-Up
13:35 THS
14:30 Style Star
15:00 Keeping Up With The
Kardashians
16:00 Keeping Up With The
TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
T V P R O G R A M S
00:05 Fast Food Gone Global
00:55 Grill It! With Bobby Flay
01:20 Roadtrip With G. Garvin
01:45 The Next Food Network Star
02:35 Unique Eats
03:00 Unique Eats
03:25 Guy’s Big Bite
03:50 Iron Chef America
04:40 Chopped
05:30 Unwrapped
05:50 Tastiest Places To Chowdown
06:10 Chopped
07:00 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam
07:25 Roadtrip With G. Garvin
07:50 Guy’s Big Bite
08:15 Iron Chef America
09:05 Barefoot Contessa
09:30 Amazing Wedding Cakes
10:20 Easy Chinese
10:45 Chopped
11:35 Grill It! With Bobby Flay
12:00 Reza, Spice Prince Of India
12:25 Charly’s Cake Angels
12:50 Siba’s Table
13:15 Jenny Morris Cooks Morocco
13:40 Guy’s Big Bite
14:05 The Next Food Network Star
14:55 Roadtrip With G. Garvin
15:20 Guy’s Big Bite
15:45 Chopped
16:35 Fast Food Gone Global
17:25 Jenny Morris Cooks Morocco
17:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives
18:15 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives
18:40 Siba’s Table
19:05 Reza’s African Kitchen
19:30 Guy’s Big Bite
19:55 Roadtrip With G. Garvin
20:20 Chopped
21:10 Chopped
22:00 Guy’s Big Bite
22:25 Guy’s Big Bite
22:50 Roadtrip With G. Garvin
23:15 Roadtrip With G. Garvin
23:40 Guy’s Big Bite
Kardashians
17:00 #RichKids Of Beverly Hills
17:30 #RichKids Of Beverly Hills
18:00 E! News
19:00 Giuliana & Bill
20:00 Giuliana & Bill
21:00 Eric And Jessie: Game On
21:30 Keeping Up With The
Kardashians
22:30 E! News
23:30 Chelsea Lately
00:00 Jurassic C.S.I.
01:00 The Numbers Game
01:30 The Numbers Game
02:00 Banged Up Abroad
03:00 Light At The Edge Of The
World
04:00 Mega Breakdown
05:00 Engineering Connections
06:00 Pirate Patrol
07:00 Lords Of War
07:30 Mystery Files
08:00 Jurassic C.S.I.
09:00 The Numbers Game
09:30 The Numbers Game
10:00 Banged Up Abroad
11:00 Light At The Edge Of The
World
12:00 Mega Breakdown
13:00 Engineering Connections
14:00 Pirate Patrol
15:00 Lords Of War
15:30 Mystery Files
16:00 Jurassic C.S.I.
17:00 The Numbers Game
17:30 The Numbers Game
18:00 Banged Up Abroad
19:00 Situation Critical
20:00 Mad Scientists
20:30 Mad Scientists
21:00 Naked Science 2.5
22:00 Megastructures
23:00 World’s Toughest Fixes
00:00 The Truth Behind
01:00 Race To The Bottom Of The
Earth
02:00 Animals At The Edge
03:00 Wild Untamed Brazil
04:00 World’s Toughest Fixes
05:00 The Known Universe
06:00 Alaska Wing Men
07:00 My Dog Ate What?
08:00 The Truth Behind
09:00 Race To The Bottom Of The
Earth
10:00 Animals At The Edge
11:00 Wild Australia
12:00 World’s Toughest Fixes
13:00 Big, Bigger, Biggest
14:00 Dangerous Encounters
15:00 Ape Man
16:00 Wild Case Files
17:00 Ancient Secrets: Cathedrals
Decoded
18:00 Ultimate Survival Alaska
19:00 Adventure Wanted
20:00 Somewhere In China
21:00 Britain’s Underworld
22:00 Nat Geo’s Most Amazing
Photos
22:30 Nat Geo’s Most Amazing
Photos
23:00 Inside
00:30 The Daily Show With Jon
Stewart
01:00 The Colbert Report
01:30 Seinfeld
02:00 Seinfeld
02:30 The Mindy Project
03:00 Cougar Town
03:30 Raising Hope
04:00 My Boys
04:30 The Tonight Show Starring
Jimmy Fallon
05:30 Back In The Game
06:00 The War At Home
06:30 Melissa & Joey
07:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers
08:00 My Boys
08:30 Back In The Game
09:00 Cougar Town
09:30 About A Boy
10:00 Hot In Cleveland
10:30 Melissa & Joey
11:00 The Tonight Show Starring
Jimmy Fallon
12:00 The War At Home
12:30 My Boys
13:00 Back In The Game
13:30 Melissa & Joey
14:00 Raising Hope
14:30 About A Boy
15:00 Hot In Cleveland
15:30 The Daily Show With Jon
Stewart
16:00 The Colbert Report
16:30 The War At Home
17:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers
18:00 The Simpsons
18:30 Parks And Recreation
19:00 Trophy Wife
19:30 Modern Family
20:00 The Tonight Show Starring
Jimmy Fallon
21:00 The Daily Show With Jon
Stewart
21:30 The Colbert Report
22:00 Sean Saves The World
22:30 2 Broke Girls
23:00 The Mindy Project
23:30 Late Night With Seth Meyers
01:00 Everyone’s Hero
02:45 Marvel’s Next Avengers:
Heroes Of Tomorrow
04:30 Twigson
06:00 Princess And The Pea
08:00 Rainbow Valley Heroes
10:00 Happily N’Ever After: Snow
White
11:30 The Happets
13:00 Emperor’s Secret
14:30 The Happy Cricket
16:00 Super Buddies
18:00 Happily N’Ever After: Snow
White
20:00 Renart The Fox
22:00 The Happy Cricket
23:30 Super Buddies
00:00 The Carrie Diaries
01:00 Witches Of East End
02:00 The Newsroom
03:00 C.S.I.
04:00 Sleepy Hollow
05:00 Rake
06:00 The Carrie Diaries
07:00 Once Upon A Time In
Wonderland
08:00 Scandal
09:00 Witches Of East End
10:00 Rake
11:00 Sleepy Hollow
12:00 Emmerdale
12:30 Coronation Street
13:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show
14:00 Scandal
15:00 The Carrie Diaries
16:00 Emmerdale
16:30 Coronation Street
17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show
18:00 Scandal
19:00 Twisted
20:00 Royal Pains
21:00 Dracula
22:00 True Detective
23:00 C.S.I.
00:00 Rewind-PG15
02:00 After Earth-PG15
04:00 The Forger-PG15
06:00 Hit List-PG15
08:00 Three Investigators And The
Secret Of Terror...-PG
10:00 After Earth-PG15
11:45 White House Down-PG15
14:00 Fun Size-PG15
16:00 Three Investigators And The
Secret Of Terror...-PG
18:00 Now Is Good-PG15
20:00 Grown Ups 2-PG15
22:00 Mental-18
00:00 The Blacklist
01:00 Necessary Roughness
02:00 Good Morning America
03:00 Rescue Me
04:00 House Of Cards
05:00 Necessary Roughness
06:00 Good Morning America
07:00 Emmerdale
07:30 Coronation Street
08:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show
09:00 Almost Human
10:00 Emmerdale
10:30 Coronation Street
11:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show
12:00 Grey’s Anatomy
13:00 The Blacklist
14:00 Live Good Morning America
16:00 Almost Human
17:00 Grey’s Anatomy
18:00 The Blacklist
19:00 Almost Human
20:00 Grey’s Anatomy
21:00 The Blacklist
22:00 House Of Cards
23:00 Rescue Me
00:00 Inside Man-PG15
02:15 Piranhaconda-PG15
04:00 Hellboy: Sword Of Storms-PG
06:00 Jesse Stone: Benefit Of The
Doubt-PG15
08:00 Dante’s Peak-PG15
10:00 21-PG15
12:00 Dick Tracy-PG15
14:00 Red Eye-PG15
15:45 Inside Man-PG15
18:00 21-PG15
20:00 Ghostbusters II-PG
22:00 Red Dawn-PG15
00:00 Snowmen-PG
02:00 Beethoven-FAM
04:00 Down Periscope-PG15
06:00 Hot Rod-PG15
08:00 Beethoven’s Second-PG
10:00 Snowmen-PG
12:00 Down Periscope-PG15
14:00 Hot Rod-PG15
01:00 Futbol Mundial
01:30 Trans World
02:30 Super League
04:30 NRL Premiership
06:30 ICC Cricket 360
07:00 Golfing World
08:00 Super Rugby
10:00 NRL Premiership
12:00 Live NRL Premiership
14:00 ICC Cricket 360
14:30 Futbol Mundial
15:00 AFL Premiership
17:30 ICC Cricket 360
18:00 Golfing World
19:00 PGA Tour Highlights
20:00 PGA European Tour
Highlights
21:00 NRL Premiership
23:00 AFL Premiership Highlights
01:00 PGA European Tour
06:00 Trans World Sport
07:00 PGA Tour
12:00 Challenge Series Golf
Highlights
12:30 Web.Com Tour
14:30 IndyCar Series
17:30 V8 Supercars
20:00 AFL Premiership Highlights
21:00 PGA Tour Highlights
22:00 PGA European Tour
Highlights
23:00 Bellator MMA
00:30 ICC World T20 Highlights
01:30 ICC World T20 Highlights
02:30 ICC World T20 Highlights
03:30 ICC Cricket 360
04:00 IPL Highlights
05:00 IPL Highlights
06:00 Natwest T20 Blast Highlights
07:00 IPL Highlights
08:00 IPL Highlights
09:00 ICC Cricket 360
09:30 Bangladesh v India ODI
Highlights
10:30 Bangladesh v India ODI
Highlights
11:30 Bangladesh v India ODI
Highlights
12:30 ICC Cricket 360
13:00 England v Sri Lanka T20I
Highlights
14:00 England v Sri Lanka ODI
16:00 Pitch Perfect-PG15
18:00 The Sisterhood Of The
Traveling Pants-PG15
20:00 Teen Wolf Too-PG15
22:00 Father Of The Bride-PG15
01:45 Murder On The Home Front-
PG15
03:30 Smashed-PG15
05:00 The Beach-PG15
07:00 Me And You-PG15
09:00 Five-PG15
10:45 The Rainmaker-PG15
13:00 Wild Card-PG15
15:00 My Kid Could Paint That-
PG15
16:45 The Rainmaker-PG15
19:00 All The King’s Men-PG15
21:15 Resistance-PG15
23:00 Arbitrage-PG15
Highlights
15:00 England v Sri Lanka ODI
Highlights
16:00 ICC Cricket 360
16:30 Natwest T20 Blast Highlights
20:30 ICC Cricket 360
21:00 Bangladesh v India ODI
Highlights
22:00 Bangladesh v India ODI
Highlights
23:00 Bangladesh v India ODI
Highlights
01:00 Star Trek Into Darkness-PG15
03:15 The Mortal Instruments: City
Of Bones-PG15
05:30 Charlie And The Chocolate
Factory-PG
07:30 Lego Batman: The Movie - DC
Super Heroes Unite-PG
09:00 Cheerful Weather For The
Wedding-PG15
11:00 You Will Meet A Tall Dark
Stranger-PG15
12:45 Star Trek Into Darkness-PG15
15:00 Oz The Great And Powerful-
PG
17:15 Cheerful Weather For The
Wedding-PG15
19:00 Hitchcock-PG15
21:00 Les Miserables-PG15
23:45 Dark Tide-PG15
00:00 American Restoration
01:00 Pawn Stars
01:30 Pawn Stars
02:00 Storage Wars
02:30 Storage Wars
03:00 American Restoration
04:00 The Legend Of Shelby The
Swamp Man
04:30 The Legend Of Shelby The
Swamp Man
05:00 Pawn Stars
05:30 Pawn Stars
06:00 American Restoration
07:00 Storage Wars: New York
07:30 Storage Wars: New York
08:00 American Restoration
08:30 Cajun Pawn Stars
09:00 Storage Wars Texas
09:30 Counting Cars
10:00 Pawn Stars
10:30 Pawn Stars
11:00 Storage Wars
11:30 Storage Wars
12:00 Storage Wars: New York
12:30 Storage Wars: New York
13:00 Mountain Men
14:00 Storage Wars
14:30 Storage Wars
15:00 Storage Wars: New York
15:30 Storage Wars: New York
16:00 American Pickers
17:00 Pawn Stars
17:30 Pawn Stars
18:00 Storage Wars
18:30 Storage Wars
19:00 American Pickers
20:00 Storage Wars
20:30 Storage Wars
21:00 Pawn Stars
21:30 Storage Wars
22:00 Pawn Stars
22:30 Pawn Stars
23:00 Pawn Stars
00:30 Crime Stories
01:30 My Ghost Story
02:30 Killers: Behind The Myth
03:30 The Mysterious Dr. Swango
04:30 Private Crimes
05:00 Beyond Scared Straight
06:00 The First 48
07:00 Private Crimes
10:00 Fatal Vows
11:00 Beyond Scared Straight
12:00 Born To Kill
13:00 Look Who’s Stalking
14:00 Fatal Vows
15:00 Fred Dinenage: Murder
Casebook
16:00 Curious & Unusual Deaths
16:30 Private Crimes
17:00 Homicide Hunter
18:00 The First 48
19:00 The Devil You Know
20:00 Beyond Scared Straight
21:00 Curious & Unusual Deaths
21:30 Born To Kill
22:30 I Killed My BFF
23:30 Model Killers
01:00 The Good Doctor-PG15
03:00 Vanishing On 7th Street-
PG15
04:45 The Flowers Of War-PG15
07:15 The Good Doctor-PG15
09:00 The Words-PG15
10:45 The Flowers Of War-PG15
13:15 Centre Place-PG15
15:00 The Chateau Meroux-PG15
17:00 The Words-PG15
18:45 The Lady-PG15
21:00 I, Anna-PG15
23:00 Heavy Duty-PG15
00:35 Ultimate Shopper
01:25 Mob Wives
02:15 Hoarding: Buried Alive
03:05 Mob Wives
03:55 I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant
04:20 Say Yes To The Dress
04:45 Say Yes To The Dress
05:10 Toddlers & Tiaras
06:00 Oprah: Behind The Scenes
07:00 What Not To Wear
07:50 The Undateables
08:40 World’s Worst Mum
09:30 Toddlers & Tiaras
10:20 Say Yes To The Dress
10:45 Say Yes To The Dress
11:10 Cake Boss
11:35 Jon & Kate Plus 8
12:00 Little People, Big World
12:25 Oprah: Behind The Scenes
13:15 The Next Great Baker
14:30 Ultimate Shopper
15:20 Cake Boss
15:45 What Not To Wear
16:35 Toddlers & Tiaras
17:25 Say Yes To The Dress
17:50 Say Yes To The Dress
18:15 Jon & Kate Plus 8
18:40 Little People, Big World
19:10 Oprah: Behind The Scenes
20:05 Extreme Couponing All-Stars
20:30 Cake Boss
21:00 The Face UK
21:55 Breaking Amish: Brave New
World
22:50 Long Island Medium
23:15 The Face UK

C
TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
UAE
ETD
QTR
GFA
FDB
ETD
AIC
UAL
SYR
JAI
MSR
THY
KAC
GFA
KAC
KAC
KAC
JAI
OMA
FDB
DLH
MEA
MEA
MSR
KLM
ALK
QTR
KAC
KAC
FDB
KAC
AXB
ABY
RJA
QTR
NIA
FDB
ETD
UAE
SVA
UAL
GFA
JZR
JZR
KAC
KAC
QTR
GFA
SVA
KNE
KAC
KAC
ABY
GFA
MEA
MSC
IRA
JZR
KAC
UAE
MSR
THY
KAC
KAC
KAC
FDB
ABY
KAC
IRA
ETD
FDB
MEA
QTR
DHX
KAC
BAW
KAC
JZR
FDB
KAC
KAC
SVA
QTR
KAC
KAC
UAE
MSR
OMA
QTR
THY
MSC
JZR
THY
JZR
PGT
THY
RJA
ETH
GFA
PIA
UAE
JAI
ETD
THY
FDB
RJA
Airlines Flt
Arrival Flights on Tuesday 22/7/2014
Route
QTR
JZR
1084
239
Doha
Amman
JZR
JZR
PGT
267 Beirut
539 Cairo
4650 ESB
565
858
764
642
620
211
239
853
576
305
768
067
644
Sohag
Istanbul
Istanbul
Amman
Addis Ababa
Bahrain
Islamabad/Sialkot
Dubai
Kochi/Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi
Istanbul
Dubai
Amman
612
643
1076
1464
401
555
770
170
412
157
416
503
053
302
206
512
Cairo
Muscat
Doha
Istanbul
Alexandria
Alexandria
Istanbul
Bahrain
Manila/Bangkok
London
Jakarta/Kuala Lumpur
Luxor
Dubai
Mumbai
Islamabad
Riyadh
1086 Doha
332
352
855
Trivandrum
Kochi
Dubai
125
284
675
301
Sharjah
Dhaka
Lar
Abu Dhabi
055 Dubai
406 Beirut
1070 Doha
213
404
Bahrain
Beirut
405 Sohag
3407 Mashhad
561
614
Sohag
Bahrain
871
610
766
742
514
672
057
Dubai
Cairo
Istanbul
Dammam
Tehran
Dubai
Dubai
1078 Doha
221 Bahrain
500
472
Jeddah
Jeddah
788
562
127
Jeddah
Amman
Sharjah
640 Amman
1072 Doha
251
051
303
857
Alexandria
Dubai
Abu Dhabi
Dubai
510
982
215
177
777
678
542
Riyadh
IAD
Bahrain
Dubai
Jeddah
Muscat/Abu Dhabi
Cairo
217
618
774
674
572
647
061
636
402
408
618
415
229
1080 Doha
786 Jeddah
166
063
Paris/Rome
Dubai
104
393
129
London
Kozhikode
Sharjah
Bahrain
Doha
Riyadh
Dubai
Mumbai
Muscat
Dubai
Frankfurt
Beirut
Beirut
Alexandria
Amsterdam
Colombo
981
341
574
614
772
804
859
307
Dubai
Abu Dhabi
1074 Doha
219 Bahrain
059
309
981
21:15
21:30
21:30
21:45
Dubai 22:10
Abu Dhabi 22:15
Chennai/Hyderabad/Ahmedabad 22:25
Bahrain
Latakia/Damascus
Mumbai
Cairo
Istanbul
Cairo
22:40
22:50
23:20
23:30
23:45
23:50
19:00
19:00
19:15
19:25
19:35
19:55
20:05
20:15
20:15
20:20
20:30
21:05
21:10
18:25
18:30
18:40
18:45
18:45
18:55
19:00
15:55
16:15
16:20
16:25
16:45
16:45
17:15
17:25
17:30
17:45
17:50
17:55
18:15
13:45
14:20
14:30
14:40
15:00
15:30
15:35
10:40
10:55
11:20
11:55
12:00
12:30
12:45
13:00
13:10
13:15
13:40
13:40
13:45
08:50
08:55
09:20
09:30
09:40
09:45
10:00
05:10
06:15
06:35
06:35
07:40
07:45
07:50
07:50
07:55
07:55
08:00
08:05
08:25
03:15
03:20
03:25
03:30
04:00
04:10
04:35
02:20
02:25
02:35
02:45
02:50
03:05
03:10
Time
00:05
00:20
00:25
00:30
00:40
00:45
01:25
01:40
01:45
01:45
02:00
Departure Flights on Tuesday 22/7/2014
Airlines Flt
AIC 976
Route
Goa/Chennai
Time
00:05
561
741
302
674
056
101
407
Amman
Dammam
Abu Dhabi
Lar
Dubai
London/New York
Beirut
1071 Doha
677 Abu Dhabi/Muscat
541
214
165
405
Cairo
Bahrain
Rome/Paris
Beirut
776
402
Jeddah
Alexandria
3406 Mashhad
785 Jeddah
176
611
767
Dubai
Cairo
Istanbul
521
872
Al Najaf
Dubai
058 Dubai
1079 Doha
673
222
617
Dubai
Bahrain
Doha
473
501
773
128
641
266
Jeddah
Jeddah
Riyadh
Sharjah
Amman
Beirut
052
803
Dubai
Cairo
1073 Doha
252 Alexandria
538
304
511
Cairo
Abu Dhabi
Riyadh
206
573
615
044
411
502
635
Lahore
Mumbai
Cairo
Dhaka
Amsterdam
Luxor
Frankfurt
4651 Istanbul
406 Kabul
773
621
859
240
Istanbul
Addis Ababa
Istanbul
Sialkot
769
854
068
645
306
613
644
Istanbul
Dubai
Dubai
Amman
Abu Dhabi
Cairo
Muscat
1077 Doha
1465 Istanbul
406 Sohag
1085 Doha
560
765
575
Sohag
Istanbul
Abu Dhabi/Kochi
643
771
212
156
Amman
Istanbul
Bahrain
London
054 Dubai
1087 Doha
513
513
671
613
126
787
856
Riyadh
Tehran
Dubai
Bahrain
Sharjah
Jeddah
Dubai
287
120
218
394
363
571
062
648
343
636
351
554
403
564
216
858
982
Sohag
Bahrain
Dubai
Bahrain
238 Amman
1081 Doha
064 Dubai
Dhaka
Sharjah
Bahrain
Kozhikode
Colombo
Mumbai
Dubai
Muscat
Chennai
Dammam
Kochi
Alexandria
Beirut
409
607
171
415
308
230
860
Beirut
Luxor
Bahrain
Dammam/Amsterdam
Abu Dhabi
Colombo
Dubai
381
301
Delhi
Mumbai
1075 Doha
220 Bahrain
060
310
Dubai
Abu Dhabi
203
205
411
342
Lahore
Islamabad
Bangkok/Manila
KAC
KNE
SVA
KAC
ABY
RJA
JZR
FDB
KAC
QTR
NIA
JZR
ETD
SVA
KAC
UAE
FDB
QTR
KAC
GFA
KAC
QTR
KAC
KAC
GFA
KAC
MEA
JZR
MSC
IRA
KAC
JZR
MSR
THY
KAC
KAC
ETD
IRA
FDB
KAC
MEA
RJA
THY
GFA
BAW
FDB
QTR
SVA
KAC
KAC
KAC
ABY
KAC
UAE
QTR
THY
MSC
QTR
JZR
THY
JAI
PGT
AFG
THY
ETH
PGT
PIA
THY
UAE
FDB
RJA
ETD
MSR
OMA
PIA
JAI
MSR
BBC
KLM
JZR
DLH
KAC
KAC
QTR
GFA
FDB
ETD
KAC
KAC
KAC
SYR
MEA
MSR
DHX
KLM
ETD
ALK
UAE
KAC
ABY
GFA
AXB
KAC
JAI
FDB
OMA
KAC
DLH
KAC
JZR
MEA
JZR
GFA
UAE
UAL
JZR
QTR
FDB
DIAL161
15:35
15:45
15:50
16:15
16:55
17:05
17:10
17:15
17:20
17:20
17:40
17:45
18:15
14:15
14:15
14:25
14:55
15:05
15:05
15:30
11:00
11:20
11:30
11:35
11:45
11:55
12:15
12:20
12:55
13:00
13:10
14:00
14:10
10:15
10:15
10:15
10:20
10:20
10:25
10:45
06:35
06:50
07:00
08:25
08:25
08:55
08:55
09:15
09:25
09:30
09:30
09:35
09:50
04:25
05:00
05:00
05:20
05:35
06:00
06:30
01:50
02:00
02:20
02:45
02:55
03:35
03:40
03:45
03:45
03:55
04:10
04:15
04:20
00:15
00:20
00:30
00:35
00:55
01:30
01:35
22:30
22:40
22:40
22:45
22:50
23:00
23:10
23:35
23:40
23:50
21:20
21:25
21:50
22:05
22:15
22:20
22:25
19:30
19:40
19:45
19:55
20:05
20:35
20:45
20:55
20:55
21:00
21:05
21:15
21:15
18:20
18:20
18:25
18:40
18:45
19:25
19:25
MISCELLANEOUS
Looking for a 3-4 years old automatic car in Kerala.
Interested please call:
69080683. (C 4816)
22-7-2014
CHANGE OF NAME
I, Ibrahim Navabjan holder of Indian Passport No.
F0497541 hereby change my name to Ibrahim
Nawabjaan Shaikh
Thiruchirapalle T.N.
Mumbai. A-Sector C-Line
R.No. 11. Cheeta camp,
Trombay Mumbai 400088
MS. (C 4815)
17-7-2014 pany, earning very handsome salary owning BMW car, living in luxury furnished apartment belonging to known landlord Jatt family looking for educated and extra beautiful girl for immediate marriage. zaidiformerdiplomat@hotmail.c
om, Fintas PO Box 1476,
Code 51015 Kuwait.
Suitable alliance invited from born again Christian women between age 34 to
38 with good job, for a born again Christian bachelor, age 46. Working in Kuwait for a defense co. Contact email: vbhabal@yahoo.com
16-7-2914
MATRIMONIAL
25 years old good looking
Pakistani Lift Engineer employed in reputed com-
Fajr:
Shorook
Duhr:
Asr:
03:31
05:03
11:54
15:29
Maghrib: 18:46
Isha: 20:15

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
Aries (March 21-April 19)
You resist getting personal and tend to avoid issues that are touchy and might result in confrontation and change. Your very organized self tends to hide behind duties and responsibilities at this time. Your career may be at a rather delicate point and under a lot of pressure. It could be hard to find solutions or make the right decisions as to how to proceed. The whole process could be stopped up and sluggish. You may have to bide your time for now. There could be eruptions that overturn all of the more orderly rituals. Friends and family are a different story this evening. There is a chance to understand those around you and to have a special time with someone you love. General good feelings make this a time worth remembering.
Libra (September 23-October 22)
The key to understanding your personality and the circumstances in which you find yourself can be found in the environment or support system that surrounds you.
You are very much the creature of habit and habitat, the encircling network of friends, relationships, etc., are crucial to your success; or lack thereof. There are opportunities to network this afternoon. You appear perhaps more charming and refined than usual. Now is the time to make yourself known. Your brilliant imagination and enchanting manner transports all who meet you beyond the mundane and into the extraordinary regions where you spend a lot of your time. Romance is possible this evening. This is a time when love, creativity and self-expression satisfy a deep yearning.
Taurus (April 20-May 20)
You may have trouble getting moving today, but once you have a focus, others better stand aside. You have a stick-to-itiveness that finds you in the thick of things. Work situations may throw you into positions where you must deal with enclosed hidden interests. You may deal with education, psychology, spiritual enlightenment or teaching principles and techniques. Your attention may be drawn to the new ways in which you are getting around and staying in touch-communication at the everyday level is being changed by technology. You may not desire to learn new things, but you will try.
At home this evening you prefer the simple, ordinary virtues. A special friend needs your help in getting to the bottom of a problem and you are happy to help.
Scorpio (October 23-November 21)
Taking care of business is a major theme where your organization techniques are concerned. You will make career gains by your ability to sense quality and choose accordingly. There are plenty of opportunities to move and excel in any direction you desire. This could mean your personal financial affairs, as well as your professional accounts. This may be a great time to work with family relations and improvements.
Health and work goals take on a greater importance at this time and plans for less stress and more relaxation may be a good thing. This is also a time of good fortune, but you will be wise in determining how your finances are channeled. Perhaps a budget is in order so that you will know how and where to spend your earnings.
ACROSS
1. The language of the nomadic Lapp people in northern Scandinavia and the Kola
Peninsula.
5. Bourbon with bitters and Pernod and sugar served with lemon peel.
12. A rapid bustling commotion.
15. A device in which something (usually an animal) can be caught and penned.
16. Of the dull yellowish green of the meat of an avocado n 1.
17. Cut off from a whole.
18. A female ogre.
19. The short weak cry of a young bird.
20. A federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment.
21. Greenish-yellow pear.
22. Run or move very quickly or hastily.
24. Strike with disgust or revulsion.
26. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.
28. A colorless and odorless inert gas.
29. Being or given to servile imitation.
31. Used of certain religious orders who wear shoes.
37. A nucleic acid that transmits genetic information from DNA to the cytoplasm.
38. Small cubes with 1 to 6 spots on the faces.
40. A high-crowned black cap (usually made of felt or sheepskin) worn by men in Turkey and Iran and the Caucasus.
42. A mouth or mouthlike opening.
44. 1 species.
46. The (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb.
47. Make sharp or sharper.
50. A soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal.
52. Seed of a pea plant.
53. Obvious and dull.
54. Of or relating to Laos or its people.
57. A period of time containing 365 (or 366) days.
58. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.
60. (Greek mythology) The Titan who was father of Atlas and Epimetheus and
Prometheus in ancient mythology.
63. An unforeseen obstacle.
64. Tree of the West Indies and northern
South America bearing succulent edible orange-sized fruit.
66. Beaten eggs or an egg mixture cooked until just set.
71. A radical labor movement in the United
States founded in nd dedicated to the overthrow of capitalism.
72. Thorn apple.
76. Essential oil or perfume obtained from flowers.
77. Fish eggs or egg-filled ovary.
78. Confined to and understandable by only an enlightened inner circle.
80. American prizefighter who won the world heavyweight championship three times (born in 1942).
81. A chronic skin disease occurring primarily in women between the ages of 20 and 40.
82. A lace used for fastening shoes.
83. Water frozen in the solid state.
DOWN
1. (dialect) A short straight stick of wood.
2. Formerly a large constellation in the southern hemisphere between Canis Major and the Southern Cross.
3. Dark sweet or semisweet dessert wine from Sicily.
4. A medicinal drug used to evoke vomiting
(especially in cases of drug overdose or poisoning).
5. An impudent or insolent rejoinder.
6. The eleventh month of the civil year.
7. An oral lipid-lowering medicine (trade name Zocor) administered to reduce blood cholesterol levels.
8. The persistence of a sound after its source has stopped.
9. Desert shrub of Syria and Arabia having small white flowers.
10. A sweetened beverage of diluted fruit juice.
11. An oleoresin used in varnishes and ointments.
12. The 1st letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
13. Amino acid that is formed in the liver and converted into dopamine in the brain.
14. A translucent mineral consisting of hydrated silica of variable color.
23. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.
25. One of the 150 lyrical poems and prayers that comprise the Book of Psalms in the Old
Testament.
27. Having any of numerous bright or strong colors reminiscent of the color of blood or cherries or tomatoes or rubies.
30. Either of two large muscles of the chest.
32. (Babylonian) Father of the gods.
33. Small cubes with 1 to 6 spots on the faces.
34. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill.
35. Any of various rich and elaborate cakes.
36. The constellation that includes the southern celestial pole.
39. The cardinal number that is the sum of eight and one.
41. Small songbirds resembling larks.
43. An industrial city in southern Poland on the Vistula.
45. Large sweet juicy hybrid between tangerine and grapefruit having a thick wrinkled skin.
48. An associate degree in nursing.
49. (Greek mythology) 7 daughters of Atlas and half-sisters of the Hyades.
51. People in general considered as a whole.
55. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.
56. The fourth month of the civil year.
59. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.
61. 100 ngwee equal 1 kwacha.
62. Any of various edible mushrooms of the genus Morchella having a brownish spongelike cap.
65. Absent without permission.
67. God of death.
68. Of or relating to or characteristic of
Thailand of its people.
69. A fine grained mineral having a soft soapy feel and consisting of hydrated magnesium silicate.
70. A member of an Iroquoian people formerly living on the south shore of Lake Erie in northern Ohio and northwest
Pennsylvania and western New York.
73. The residue that remains when something is burned.
74. To an excessive degree.
75. A member of the Shoshonean people of
Utah and Colorado and New Mexico.
79. Being nine more than ninety.
Gemini (May 21-June 20)
You will prosper through new insights, inventions and an independent point of view. Your career could open up by taking the road less traveled and by you daring to be the oddball with new approaches. Communicating and getting your message across to others is at a high. Your timing is perfect for whatever you want to accomplish. You will get the most efficiency out of yourself and others in order to meet deadlines. Others may find you especially witty this afternoon. Everything conspires to reveal you at your most elegant, particularly in social situations this evening. This is a great time to reflect and understand your own situation. You are successful at getting your message across to others today-and others listen.
Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)
This could be an action-filled day when time seems to slow down around you and you can accomplish more than you had thought possible at your own speed. Acknowledgment is easy to find but you remember to stay focused and are surprised at the results by the end of your workday. Communication with influential figures or older members of your family is enhanced now. Plenty of insights are available.
The evening brings opportunities for whatever your heart desires: quiet, romance, adventure, education or whatever else you can think of is yours for the asking. Surround yourself with friends and young people, and a good time will be yours to enjoy this evening. You appreciate and enjoy the company of friends and family.
Cancer (June 21-July 22
)
Jaw-dropping experiences and new knowledge acquired make you sit up and pay attention to the happenings around you. Changes that shuffle your balance may be commonplace for the next little while. A most important job now will be to learn meditation. If you don’t know it already, listen to your body and stay balanced in your emotions and expectations. Everything fits into place. Teaching your insights to others when they are ready is an important part of this birth year. A temporary attraction of a person, place or thing is on the horizon. Learn from this new person, place or thing and then move forward. Go ahead and set the big goals for yourself this year; know that the smaller goals are already within reach.
Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
With little patience for red tape and superficialities, you insist on getting right to the heart of any question. You have a knack for putting the feelings of a group into words and may serve as a teacher or spokesperson. Communication is one area where you can always get backing from friends and co-workers. Historical ideas, articles or books may be of interest to you now. You find yourself through home and family and all things domestic. It would be excellent if you could somehow make your living in these areas. An instinctive urge to get serious about taking care of yourself at many levels is emphasized. There is a burning zeal for humanitarian goals, what is best for the manythe community. You may find yourself in a volunteer service this evening.
Leo (July 23-August 22)
There is an emphasis on close relationships and a preoccupation with ideas of fairness and harmony today. You will be concerned with issues of freedom and independence far beyond the average person. There could be long discussions with your friends about inventions and electronics this afternoon. You adjust your ideals often and struggle not to become carried away with each new vision. The world of your imagination is a major focus of change.
You are independent, confident and more than likely, more than a little self-centered. You love attention and somehow manage to gravitate to the center of almost any group. Others accept you-for they sense you are a leader and admire your manner. You fiercely protect your independence tonight.
Aquarius (January 20- February 18)
This week is one of action and embarking on new projects. You will feel more and more confident and outgoing. There is a sense of confidence that grows stronger with each passing day. Things that may have been in suspended animation for many years will now take on structure and shape. These next few months, perhaps even years, are ones in which you should plan to work hard to bring out and give shape to the ideas you have pored over in the past. You are beginning to really move forward now and can expect positive recognition. Your career and social standing take an outward trend. In summary, from this time forward, expect a more confident, outgoing attitude, for you have brought to a close a time of inward examination.
Virgo (August 23-September 22)
Others may oppose your ideas and thoughts. Outwardly you are passionate. This quality is so essential to your character that all else revolves around it. However, your current situation may demand some reevaluation. Your ability to cut through the superficial and get to the real heart of a subject comes through loud and clear. There are no secrets with you-it is just that sometimes others do not want to deal with the truth. Do not lose your cool now-you will get the response you want soon enough. Your career, sense of judgment and problem solving abilities are at the top of the list as the key components to look out for whenever you are stressed. Romance and such creative pursuits as hobbies are a good way to express excessive energy.
Pisces (February 19-March 20)
This can be an expansive and creative time in the business world. Your finances are beginning to look better and better. You may be able to enjoy and value your own life situation today or feel especially kind towards a friend or loved one. A visitor in your home may compliment you on your unique tastes or belongings. This is a very nice day, perhaps filled with some renewed appreciation for all that is beautiful. There is a sense of value and valuing that may find you lavishing affection on those near you. There is also a constant yearning to broaden your horizons. You may find yourself taking on new studies.
Customs of a foreign country, law, politics, education and religion are some of the areas which you may enjoy studying.

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014 i n f o r m at i o n
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
Jabriya
Maidan Hawally
Bayan
Mishref
W Hawally
Sabah
Jahra
New Jahra
West Jahra
South Jahra
North Jahra
North Jleeb
Ardhiya
Firdous
Omariya
N Khaitan
Fintas
Kaizen center
Rawda
Adaliya
Khaldiya
Kaifan
Shamiya
Shuwaikh
Abdullah Salem
Nuzha
Industrial Shuwaikh
Qadsiya
Dasmah
Bneid Al-Gar
Shaab
Qibla
Ayoun Al-Qibla
Mirqab
Sharq
Salmiya
24772608
24775066
24775992
24311795
24884079
24892674
24719048
24710044
23900322
25316254
25623444
25388462
25381200
22630786
24810221
24770319
24575755
25716707
22517733
22517144
24848075
24849807
24848913
24814507
22549134
22526804
24814764
22515088
22532265
22531908
22518752
22459381
22451082
22456536
22465401
25746401
Ahmadi
Jahra
Capital
Farwaniya
Hawally
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
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
Sama Safwan Fahaeel Makka St
Abu Halaifa Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd
Danat Al-Sultan Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd
Modern Jahra Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1
Madina Munawara Jahra-Block 92
Ahlam Fahad Al-Salem St
Khaldiya Coop Khaldiya Coop
New Shifa Farwaniya Block 40
Ferdous Coop Ferdous Coop
Modern Safwan Old Kheitan Block 11
Tariq Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St
Hana Salmiya-Amman St
Ikhlas Hawally-Beirut St
Hawally & Rawdha Hawally & Rawdha Coop
Ghadeer Jabriya-Block 1A
Kindy Jabriya-Block 3B
Ibn Al-Nafis Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St
Mishrif Coop Mishrif Coop
Salwa Coop Salwa Coop
23915883
23715414
23726558
24575518
24566622
22436184
24833967
24734000
24881201
24726638
25726265
25647075
22625999
22564549
25340559
25326554
25721264
25380581
25628241
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
Dermatology
Dr. Mohammed Salam
Bern University 23845955
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
Dr. Deyaa Shehab
Endocrinologist
Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman
Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888
Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924
Physiotherapists & VD
Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees
Rheumatologists:
Dr. Adel Al-Awadi 25330060
Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah
25722291
25339330
25722290
Internist, Chest & Heart
DR.Mohammes Akkad
22666288
24555050 Ext 210
Dr. Mohammad Zubaid
MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC
Assistant Professor Of Medicine
Head, Division of Cardiology
Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital 25339667
Consultant Cardiologist
Dr. Farida Al-Habib
MD, PH.D, FACC
Inaya German Medical Center
Te: 2575077
Fax: 25723123
2611555-2622555
Kaizen center
25716707
Noor Clinic
23845955
William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677
Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677
North Korea
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Panama
00850
0047
00968
0092
00680
00507
Papua New Guinea 00675
Paraguay 00595
Peru
Philippines
0051
0063
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
0048
00351
001787
00974
Romania 0040
Russian Federation 007
Rwanda
Saint Helena
Saint Kitts
Saint Lucia
00250
00290
001869
001758
Saint Pierre
Saint Vincent
Samoa US
Samoa West
San Marino
Sao Tone
Saudi Arabia
Scotland (UK)
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
00232
0065
Slovakia 00421
Slovenia 00386
Solomon Islands
Somalia
00677
00252
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
0027
0082
0034
0094
00508
001784
00684
00685
00378
00239
00966
0044
00221
00284
Luxembourg
Macau
Macedonia
Madagascar
Majorca
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Martinique
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mayotte
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Montserrat
Morocco
00691
00373
00377
00976
001664
00212
Mozambique 00258
Myanmar (Burma) 0095
Namibia
Nepal
00264
00977
Netherlands 0031
Netherlands Antilles 00599
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Nigar
00687
0064
00505
00227
Nigeria
Niue
Norfolk Island
N. Ireland (UK)
00234
00683
00672
0044
00223
00356
00692
00596
00222
00230
00269
0052
00352
00853
00389
00261
0034
00265
0060
00960
Sudan
Suriname
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Switzerland
Syria
Serbia
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Toga
Tonga
Tokelau
Trinidad
Tunisia
Turkey
00228
00676
00690
001868
00216
0090
Tuvalu
Uganda
00688
00256
Ukraine 00380
United Arab Emirates 00976
00249
00597
00268
0046
0041
00963
00381
00886
00255
0066
United Kingdom
Uruguay
USA
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela
0044
00598
001
00998
00678
00582
Vietnam 0084
Virgin Islands UK 001284
Virgin Islands US 001340
Wales (UK) 0044
Yemen
Yugoslavia
Zambia
Zimbabwe
00967
00381
00260
00263
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Congo
Cook Islands
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Cyprus (Northern) 0090392
Czech Republic 00420
Denmark
Diego Garcia
Djibouti
Dominica
0045
00246
00253
001767
Dominican Republic 001809
Ecuador 00593
Egypt
El Salvador
0020
00503
0056
0086
0057
00269
00242
00682
00506
00385
0053
00357
England (UK) 0044
Equatorial Guinea 00240
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Falkland Islands
00291
00372
00251
00500
Faroe Islands
Fiji
Finland
France
00298
00679
00358
0033
French Guiana 00594
French Polynesia 00689
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
00241
00220
00995
0049
Ghana
Gibraltar
Greece
Greenland
00233
00350
0030
00299
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bermuda
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Burkina
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Cameroon
Canada
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Cayman Islands
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Chad
Afghanistan
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Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Anguilla
Antiga
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
00359
00226
00257
00855
00237
001
00238
001345
00236
00235
0032
00501
00229
001441
00975
00591
00387
00267
0055
00673
00374
0061
0043
001242
00973
00880
001246
00375
0093
00355
00213
00376
00244
001264
001268
0054
Ivory Coast
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Liberia
Libya
Lithuania
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Guam
Guatemala
Guinea
Guyana
001473
00590
001671
00502
00224
00592
Haiti 00509
Holland (Netherlands) 0031
Honduras
Hong Kong
00504
00852
Hungary
Ibiza (Spain)
Iceland
India
Indian Ocean
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Italy
0036
0034
00354
0091
00873
0062
0098
00964
00353
0039
00225
001876
0081
00962
007
00254
00686
00965
00996
00856
00371
00961
00231
00218
00370

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014 l i f e s t y l e
G o s s i p
In this June 1, 2014 file photo, Charlie Hunnam arrives at the Huading Film Awards in Los Angeles. — AP
T he first trailer for the “Fifty Shades of Grey” movie will be released this week and the original Christian Grey, Charlie
Hunnam, says he can’t wait for the finished product.
Speaking Sunday at a Fox event as part of the Television Critics
Association press tour, the 34-year-old actor said he still believes in the film even though he’s no longer a part of it. “I’m just really excited to see it. I was just really, really invested and wanted to work with (director) Sam (Taylor-Johnson) and play that character. I’m really, really curious.”
Hunnam went on to say it’s not fair to dismiss author E.L.
James’ writing as so-called “mommy porn.” “I think people really do that book a disservice when they reduce it to that type of talk,” he said. “What (E.L. James) actually created is a really sophisticated dynamic and presented it in a package which was accessible to people who normally would be terrified of that subject ... Actually what she did was pretty brilliant.”
The “Sons of Anarchy” actor dropped out of the big-screen adaptation one month after it was announced he had landed the role of the billionaire Grey, a sexual “dominant” with major baggage who falls for an innocent college coed (played by
Dakota Johnson.) Universal Pictures and Focus Features said
Hunnam’s preparation time for the movie was limited by his TV schedule. He was replaced shortly after by actor Jamie Dornan.
Hunnam admits walking away from the part was “pretty heartbreaking.” “I don’t think people have had unchaperoned access to me since all of this went on ... the CliffsNotes were exactly what we said. I couldn’t do it because of (the) schedule.
It was as simple as that.” The actor even said he would be willing to have his audition tape be included as a DVD extra for curious fans. Hunnam says Dornan is “probably a lot better looking and a lot smoother” than he is. “I would’ve brought a certain rugged charm to (the role) but believe me, he’s going to do just fine.” “Fifty Shades” is scheduled to open on
Valentine’s Day in 2015. — AP
US rapper Nas
M any in the crowd at the Lovebox Festival in
London this weekend were not yet born when US rapper Nas released his groundbreaking “Illmatic” two decades ago, but they seemed to know all the lines anyway. The New Yorkborn hip hop star took to the main stage as the sun began setting on Saturday in East London’s Victoria
Park, giving the performance as one of a series to celebrate the anniversary of his debut record, widely considered one of the greatest rap albums of all time.
“I never sleep, ‘cause sleep is the cousin of death
... I think of crime when I’m in a New York state of mind,” Nas rapped to the crowd through an unusually hot and humid London air. Loved by hip hop purists who did not buy into some of the more commercial material in Nas’s subsequent albums,
“Illmatic” features some of the most celebrated lines in hip hop history.
As Nas performed his track “One Love”, revelers mirrored the rapper by pointing their index fingers in the air, to his obvious delight. “Half of you weren’t even born when I made this album!” the 40-year-old rapper shouted to the crowd, who cheered back enthusiastically. Daniel Fisher, a 16-year-old
Londoner, went to the festival, which also featured
British singer M.I.A. and goth-indie band The Horrors, especially to see the hip hop star.
“I love Nas - I’ve been listening to him since I was little,” Fisher said. “It’s that sort of hip hop - that conscious type - that you don’t get so much of nowadays. “I do appreciate party tracks but I just love Nas.
Even though it’s old, I still love it - I can relate to everything he says.” On Twitter, fans praised the rapper’s performance. “Nas is killing #Lovebox right now” tweeted Melody Kane, a DJ for youth broadcaster SB.TV.
Representing Queensbridge
Nas wore a T-shirt emblazoned with
“Queensbridge North Houses” in tribute to the public housing project in New York i which he was brought up - the biggest such estate in the United
States and which provided much of the inspiration for the album.
With “Illmatic”, Nas portrayed a tough, bleak picture of life in the projects at a time when smooth
R&B and party tracks dominated the charts. The album was released the same year as R&B hitmaker R
Kelly’s smash “Bump n Grind” and West Coast rapper
Snoop Doggy Dogg’s party anthem “Gin and Juice”.
Nas’s music served a different purpose: these were not songs to dance to, but words to hear. Rather than being driven by catchy beats, the production on “Illmatic” - slick but minimalist - allowed the lyrics to take centre-stage. He was followed on the main stage by M.I.A., who put on an energetic performance but was left frustrated by technical issues and finished her set early, throwing her microphone on the ground as she exited the stage. It was Nas who seemed to dominate the chat among the Hackney crowd as they drifted into the night. “Look at the number of people that turned out for him,” said 16year-old Fisher. “Nas is a legend.” — Reuters
In this Jan 19, 2014 file photo Phillip Seymour Hoffman poses for a portrait at The GenArt Quaker Good Energy
Lodge Powered by CEG, during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. — AP
C ourt documents show Philip Seymour Hoffman rejected his accountant’s suggestion that he set aside money for his three children because he didn’t want them to be “trust fund” kids. The New York Post says the children’s court-appointed lawyer recently interviewed the actor’s accountant, David Friedman.
In a July 18 filing in Manhattan Surrogate Cour t,
Friedman recalled conversations with Hoffman where the topic of a trust for his children was raised. He said Hoffman wanted his estimated $35 million fortune to go his longtime partner and the children’s mother, Mimi O’Donnell.
According to the filing, Friedman said Hoffman treated
O’Donnell “in the same manner as if she were a spouse.”
The court-appointed attorney says the actor’s will should be approved by the court because there isn’t anything suspicious about it. — AP
R adiohead’s Jonny Greenwood has been emailing song ideas to Thom Yorke for the band’s new album.
Jonny has revealed that new Radiohead material is in the works after a year-long hiatus and he and Thom are in fans can expect to wait a while before hearing any of these new songs. When asked if the group has a release date in mind, Jonny said: “No! Release? No, no idea. No. “Our plan is to start making music soon. We’ve just got to get the inerconstant contact about new compositions. Talking to The
Sunday Times, Jonny explained: “I was emailing stuff to
Thom last night, actually, but it’s not the same, is it? You don’t see him tutting.” The band took a break after touring with their last album, ‘The King Of Limbs’, but Jonny, Thom and bandmates Colin Greenwood, Phil Selway and Ed
O’Brien are ready to get back to work together. However, tia back.” In the past, Jonny has stated that the band will reunite in the studio in September. Speaking on the BBC
6Music show, he told presenter Mary Anne Hobbes: “We’re going to start up in September, playing, rehearsing and recording and see how it’s sounding.”
B eyonce has hinted that she will perform on the ‘Fifty
Shades Of Grey’ soundtrack. The 32-year-old singer posted a teaser trailer for the raunchy movie on her
Instagram account along with her crooning a sensual version of ‘Crazy In Love’. ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson - who play bondage loving billionaire
Christian Grey and virginal Ana Steele - can be seen writhing around naked in the teaser, with the full trailer to follow on
Thursday. Beyonce simply captioned the video #fiftyshades, leaving fans guessing as to her involvement. It is unclear how
Beyonce got involved in the project - which has been directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson - but her husband Jay Z’s protege Rita
Ora has a small part in the movie. The 23-year-old singer tries her hand at acting in the new blockbuster adaptation of E.L.
James’ best-selling erotic novel and she admitted she was so nervous about her role - playing Christian’s sister Mia - she worried she would mess up. Speaking in May, she said: “I’ve just shot the movie, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’. That took up a lot of my time as I didn’t wanna embarrass anybody, so I made sure I knew exactly what I was doing. “It was an incredible experience. I went from not knowing what it’s like being on a movie set, to feeling like I knew them all for years, and I wasn’t even there for that long.”
P harrell Williams, Maroon 5 and
Kasabian are among the first acts to be announced for this year’s iTunes
Festival. The concerts will take place during the month of September at London’s
Roundhouse and will also feature Beck,
Robert Plant, Blondie, Calvin Harris, Sam
Smith, David Guetta and Five Seconds of
Summer. More names are expected to be added to the list over the coming weeks.
Speaking about their performance on
September 5, Kasabian said: “We’re very proud to be in this year’s iTunes Festival line-up, and we are excited to be playing alongside so many great artists. We have had a huge year so far. Expect some surprises!” And Robert Plant, who will take to the stage on September 8, excitedly added: “We’ve been roaring around the world this summer from Morocco to the
Arctic Circle. The band is on fire. It’s now time to shake it on down in NW1.” This is the eighth year of the festival, which will take place over 30 nights in London.
Apple’s senior vice preside of internet software and services Eddy Cue said: “The iTunes Festival in London is back with another stunning line-up of world class performers and tremendous new acts.
“These live shows capture the heart and soul of iTunes and we love bringing them to our customers in the Roundhouse, as well as to the millions of people watching all over the world for free.” Tickets are free to competition winners and the gigs can also be watched live or on-demand via iTunes or Apple TV.
iTunes Festival 2014 line-up so far:
September 2: Beck
September 3: David Guetta
September 4: 5 Seconds of Summer
September 5: Kasabian
September 7: Calvin Harris and Kiesza
September 8: Robert Plant
September 9: Sam Smith
September 10: Pharrell Williams and Jungle
September 1: Maroon 5
September 16: Blondie and Chrissie Hynde
September 27: Kylie Minogue
L orde says Kanye West is like her “school principal”.
The ‘Royals’ hitmaker has admitted she looks up to the 37-year-old rapper like a school teacher who has taught her everything she knows about pop music. She told The Guardian: “(He’s) like my school principal, if the school is pop.” The 17-year-old singer has also revealed that Kanye inspired her to have confidence in herself and doesn’t care that people think she is arrogant. She explained: “I like making grand statements. The name
Lorde is quite grand and a little bit arrogant. I like that, I like the intensity of it. “I don’t mind. I’m a really big fan of
Kanye West. He’s confident and I like that.” Meanwhile, the
Grammy Award-winner - who shot to fame after releasing her debut album ‘Pure Heroine’ in 2013 - has revealed her follow-up album will have a “different vibe”. She previously told the BBC: “I think I’ve learned so much as a songwriter, there’s going to be so much of an improvement because of that. I’m working on stuff quite tentatively, it’s definitely still at the beginning and yeah, it’s totally different.” She added: “I wrote the last album about that world which was the suburb where I grew up and populated by my friends and people who were really familiar to me. Now I’m in a different place every day and I’m with new people every day and it’s a different vibe.”— Bang Showbiz

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014 l i f e s t y l e
F e a t u r e s
In this July 2, 2014 photo, vacationer Mark McCurdy, of Everett, Mass, examines shark-themed clothing at the Chatham Clothing Bar in Chatham, Mass.
Molly Saint-James, of Baltimore, right, helps her daughters Ellie McDonald, left, 6, and Poppy McDonald, 3, use telescopic viewers overlooking a beach while on vacation in Chatham, Mass.
A T-shirt with a likeness of a shark incorporating an American flag rests on a shelf in a souvenir shop. — AP photos
I n “Jaws,” the fictional mayor tried to protect the summer tourism season by keeping a lid on reports of the maneater lurking offshore. As sightings of great white sharks mount off Cape Cod in real life, however, businesses in the
Massachusetts town of Chatham are embracing the frenzy.
Shark T-shirts are everywhere, “Jaws” has been playing in local theaters and boat tours are taking more tourists out to see the huge seal population that keeps the sharks coming. Harbormasters have issued warnings but - unlike the sharks in the movies - the great whites generally are not seen as a threat to human swimmers.
Among the entrepreneurs is Justin Labdon, owner of the Cape Cod Beach Chair Company, who started selling
‘Chatham Whites’ T-shirts after customers who were renting paddle boards and kayaks began asking whether it was safe to go to sea.
“I mean, truthfully, we’ve probably grown about 500 percent in terms of the sale of our shark apparel,” he said.
The T-shirts, hoodies, hats, belts, dog collars and other accessories bear the iconic, torpedo-shaped image of great whites and sell for between $10 and $45.
He said his store brings in thousands of dollars in sales of the shark-themed merchandise. Tourists peer through coin-operated binoculars in hopes of catching a glimpse of a shark fin from the beaches of Chatham. The posh resort town is on the elbow of the cape that has a large population of gray seals - the massive animals whose blubber is the fuel of choice for great white sharks. Local shops sell jewelry, candy, clothes, stuffed animals and beverages with shark motifs.
A study released last month by scientists at the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found the number of great white sharks off the Eastern US and Canada is surging after decades of decline. Conservation efforts and the greater availability of prey such as Massachusetts’ seals, are credited with the reversal.
Shark sightings have soared from generally fewer than two annually before 2004 to more than 20 in each of the last few years off Cape Cod, where the economy depends heavily on the summer tourism season. Despite notices urging boaters and swimmers to use caution, the official reaction has been nearly the opposite of the panic depicted in “Jaws,” the 1975 film shot mainly on the
Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard.
to tourism if one of the predators bites a person. Brochures have been distributed to raise awareness of sharks and safe practices in the event of a sighting.
“You have to make sure people understand,” Cape Cod
Chamber of Commerce CEO Wendy Northcross said, “if they go to the beach and they see a family of seals there, that’s probably not the best place to hang out.” Laurie Moss
McCandless of Memphis, Tennessee, has vacationed on
Cape Cod every summer since she was a little girl and doesn’t remember hearing about sharks back then. But her son is obsessed with sharks, she said, and she’s hoping to hear more about them on their vacation in Chatham. “He loves all his sharks paraphernalia,” McCandless, 39, said as she bought a shark-themed sweatshirt for one of her three children. — AP
A painting of a shark is on display in a shop window in Chatham.
A bin is filled with plastic toy sharks in a souvenir shop.
Killing sharks
“White sharks are this iconic species in society and it draws amazing amounts of attention,” said Gregor y
Skomal, a senior marine fisheries biologist who also leads the Massachusetts Shark Research Program, who said people are coming in hopes of witnessing the animals in their splendor. “I have not been approached by anyone who has said to me ‘let’s go kill these sharks.’”
Skomal said sharks have been coming closer to shore to feed on the seals, which he said have been coming on shore in greater numbers because of successful conservation efforts.
Confrontations with people are rare, with only 106 unprovoked white shark attacks - 13 of them fatal - in US waters since 1916, according to data provided by the
University of Florida.
Still, officials are wary of the damage that could be done
A bottle opener in the likeness of a shark hangs from a hook in a souvenir shop.
An eye glass holder in the shape of a shark rests on a shelf in a souvenir shop.
Jennifer Eldredge examines shark-themed clothing at the
Chatham Clothing Bar.
P arents love back-to-school season because it gets the whole family back on a schedule. Parents hate back-toschool season because that schedule usually leaves too little time to get dinner on the table.
And it usually takes a solid month of shakedown to work out the bugs in that schedule, sorting out which days leave time for a home cooked meal, and which simply demand takeout. The meals we do make during that month need to be particularly fast and easy. September simply isn’t the time to reach for new culinary heights.
That was the inspiration for this pasta dinner, a rethinking of the classic steak and cheese grinder, but as a comforting bowl of carbs. If rice is more your style, the cheesy steak and onions would be just as good served over that. Or if you are watching the carbs, you also could spoon the mixture over bowls of steamed or roasted vegetables.
Ingredients
12-ounces whole-wheat spaghetti or other pasta
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 large red bell pepper, cored and thinly sliced
1 large green bell pepper, cored and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 pound flank steak, sliced very thinly across the grain
4 ounces grated Parmesan cheese
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente according to package directions. Drain and set aside. Meanwhile, in a small glass, mix together the soy sauce, tomato paste, water and cornstarch. Set aside.
While the pasta cooks, in a large skillet over medium-high, heat the oil. Add the onion, both peppers and the garlic. Saute until tender and just starting to brown, about 7 minutes. Add the steak and saute until just barely cooked, about 5 minutes.
Add the soy sauce mixture and return to a simmer, cooking for 2 minutes, or until thickened.
Add the drained pasta to the skillet and toss well to coat with the sauce and mix with the vegetables and steak. Add the cheese and toss until melted and mixed into the sauce. Nutrition information per serving: 510 calories; 140 calories from fat (27 percent of total calories); 16 g fat (6 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 60 mg cholesterol; 51 g carbohydrate; 6 g fiber; 4 g sugar; 42 g protein; 650 mg sodium. — AP

l i f e s t y l e
R a m a d a n
TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
This Sunday, July 6, 2014 photo, shows an Iraqi family waiting to break their fast during the hold month of Ramadan in Basra, Iraq. — AP photos
F or the millions of Muslims abstaining from food and drink from sunrise to sunset every day during Islam’s holiest month of
Ramadan, that first sip of water after a grueling fast is by far the most anticipated moment of the day. In some corners of the world, Muslims are fasting for more than 20 hours a day, depending on when the sun rises and sets in their city. It is a physical and mental exercise meant to draw worshippers closer to God and increase empathy for the poor.
But after a long day of fasting, the moment of pay-off finally comes in the form of “iftar,” the evening meal that breaks the fast. For more than
1,400 years, many Muslims have been breaking fast in the same way the Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) did: with a handful of dates and a sip of water. Next comes the feast.
Iftar is a social event as much as it is a gastronomical adventure. The celebratory meals give people reason to reconnect with friends and family, and gather around shared platters of food.
Many cultures also share in special culinary delights particular to the month of fasting. Across much of the Arab world, a juice made from sweet apricots is a staple of Ramadan iftars. In South Asia, yogurt-based drinks such as lassi are popular. In
Egypt, charities set up tables on street corners and under bridges for anyone to stop by and enjoy a free iftar. In the Gulf, community leaders and wealthy sheiks open their doors to their communities to come by at all hours of the night for food, tea, coffee and conversation. Here is a collection of
Associated Press photographs of iftars from around the world.— AP
This combination of two photos taken on Friday, July 4, 2014, shows a Muslim family waiting to break their fast, top, and their meal, bottom, during the holy month of
Ramadan in Sydney, Australia.
This combination of two photos taken on Monday, July 7, 2014, shows the Hammami family waiting to break their fast, top, and their meal, bottom, during the holy month of Ramadan in the Bardo neighborhood near the Tunisian capital, Tunis.
This combination of two photos taken on Monday, June 30, 2014, shows
Indian Muslims waiting to break their fast, bottom, and part of their meal, top, during the holy month of Ramadan at the Jama Masjid in New Delhi,
India.
This combination of two photos taken on Wednesday, July 16, 2014, shows a Muslim family posing for a photograph before breaking their fast, top, and their meal, bottom, during the holy month of Ramadan in Tucker, Ga.
This combination of two photos taken on Wednesday, July 2, 2014, shows
Chinese Muslim women posing for a photograph before breaking their fast, top, and their meal, bottom, during the holy month of Ramadan at
Niujie Mosque in Beijing, China.

l i f e s t y l e
R a m a d a n
TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
This combination of two photos taken on Tuesday, July 8, 2014, shows a
Syrian refugee family waiting to break their fast, top, and their meal, bottom, during the holy month of Ramadan, next to the Temporary Centre for
Immigrants in the Spanish enclave of Melilla, Spain.
This combination of two photos taken on Saturday, July 5, 2014, shows the
Aazzab family waiting to break their fast, top, and their meal, bottom, during the holy month of Ramadan in Casablanca, Morocco.
This combination of two photos taken on Wednesday, July 9, 2014, shows a Muslim family waiting to break their fast, top, and their meal, bottom, during the holy month of Ramadan in Istanbul, Turkey.
This combination of two photos taken on Sunday, July 6, 2014, shows an Iraqi family waiting to break their fast, left, and their meal, right, during the holy month of Ramadan in Baghdad, Iraq.
This combination of two photos taken on Sunday, July 6, 2014, shows a
Muslim family waiting to break their fast, top, and their meal, bottom, during the holy month of Ramadan in Nairobi, Kenya.
This combination of two photos taken on Thursday, July 11, 2014, shows a
Malaysian Muslim family waiting to break their fast, top, and their meal, bottom, during the holy month of Ramadan in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
This combination of two photos taken on Tuesday, July 15, 2014, shows a
Sudanese family waiting to break their fast, top, and their meal, bottom, during the holy month of Ramadan on the outskirts of Khartoum, Sudan.
This combination of two photos taken on Thursday, July 3, 2014, shows an
Iranian Muslim family waiting to break their fast, top, and their meal, bottom, during the holy month of Ramadan in Tehran, Iran.
This combination of two photos taken on Monday, July 7, 2014, shows a
Muslim family waiting to break their fast, top, and their meal, bottom, during the holy month of Ramadan at their home in Kabul, Afghanistan.
This combination of two photos taken on Wednesday, July 2, 2014, top, and
Thursday, July 3, 2014, bottom, shows a Yemeni family waiting to break their fast, top, and a meal during the holy month of Ramadan in Sanaa, Yemen.

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2014
38
Spanish matador Juan Jose Padilla waves a pirate flag during a bullfight at La Linea de la Concepcion’s bullring on July 20, 2014.—AFP
wild
H ot Wheels and the dark side of The Force are carpooling to Comic-Con this week. Mattel is unveiling a full-size working replica of a Darth Vader character car at the toy maker’s booth during the four-day pop-culture celebration in San Diego.
The ride marks the first collaboration from the “Star
Wars” sci-fi franchise and the popular toy car brand. The custom-built vehicle is capable of going up to 80 miles per hour. The dashboard inside will resemble the interior of the
Sith lord’s helmet and emit his signature breathing sounds.
Mattel is among several toy makers releasing limited edition collectible toys at Comic-Con. A special edition of the die-cast Darth Vader car encased in a replica of a lightsaber will be on sale at the convention for $40.—AP
This photo provided by courtesy of Mattel, Inc shows the ‘Hot Wheels Life-Sized Darth Vader Car.—AP photos
Photo shows exclusive, collectible toys available from Hasbro at 2014 Comic-Con, in San Diego.
An exclusive My Little Pony Equestria Girls collectible toy available from Hasbro at 2014 Comic-Con, in San Diego.
This photo shows a detail of the ‘Hot
Wheels Life-Sized Darth Vader Car.
This photo shows a toy car, ‘Hot
Wheels: Star Wars-Darth Vader.’
This photo provided by courtesy of Mattel, Inc shows a toy car, ‘Hot Wheels: The Homer.’
A pit bull named Ace is being hailed as a hero for licking the face of a sleeping, deaf 13-year-old Indianapolis boy to alert him that the house was on fire.
Indianapolis Fire Department Capt. Rita Reith says Nick Lamb was home alone and sleeping without his hearing aids when the fire began
Wednesday. “My dog licked my face and woke me up,” Lamb said. “I was like, ‘Stop it! What?
You want to be fed?’ I thought he wanted to be fed or go outside.”
Ace didn’t stop licking Nick until the teen got up, too. That’s when he realized the house was full of smoke. “I couldn’t hear anything because I had my cochlear implants off. ... My dog Ace smelled it,” Lamb said. “I just wanted to get out.” Without his shoes but with Ace by his side, he covered his nose and mouth with his T-shirt darted out the back door, grabbing one of his implants along the way.
He then called his mother and 911.
Lindsay Bernard, Lamb’s mother, credited Ace with saving her son from injury. “It’s amazing, because if he wouldn’t have been there, he probably wouldn’t have even woke up,”
Bernard said. Lamb, who was born deaf, told firefighters that this was the first summer he was old enough to stay home alone and that he had returned from summer camp just three days earlier. Firefighters found the family’s cat, “Pixie,” inside the home. She was taken to a vet for smoke inhalation and was expected to recover. Damage to the home was estimated at $175,000.—AP
Photo shows exclusive, collectible toys available from Mattel.