Ooredoo under fire for firing Kuwaiti workers

SUBSCRIPTION Diplomats, officials congratulate 2 Sheikh Sabah 40 PAGES NO: 16289 150 FILS THULQADA 23, 1435 AH www.kuwaittimes.net China s Xi makes maiden India 12 visit to reset ties Forensic sleuths sketch Richard 29 III s brutal end Last-gasp Boateng goal hands 20 Bayern win over City Ooredoo under fire for firing Kuwaiti workers Max Americana says top shareholder reviewing stake KAC studying Boeing offer DUBAI: Kuwait Food Co (Americana) asked for its shares to be suspended on the Kuwaiti bourse yesterday after its main shareholder said it was reviewing its portfolio, including its stake in the firm. Americana said Al-Khair National for Stocks and Real Estate Co was working with unidentified financial and legal advisers to look at its strategic options, which included action related to its holding in one of the Gulf s largest food firms. The firm is owned by the Al-Kharafi family, the majority shareholder in Americana with a 66.8 percent stake. This is the first time that either Americana or the Kharafis have disclosed any potential changes in the company s ownership. In its bourse filing, Americana said it had provided a copy of a letter from its top shareholder to the Kuwait bourse which had informed it of Al-Khair s move on Tuesday. Americana also referenced another letter from the Kharafi entity which was dated July 17, 2014, and had been sent to the bourse and the stock market regulator, the Kuwait Capital Markets Authority, at the time. It did not disclose the nature of the July letter in yesterday s filing. Americana said in previous bourse statements, including one on Tuesday, that its board and executive management had no knowledge of any Continued on Page 13 MPs demand action Company denies political motives ROME: HH the Prime Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah meets Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in the Italian capital yesterday. The premier handed a written message from HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah expressing good wishes to the president and the Italian people. KUNA (See Page 2) Emir: Qatar doesn t back extremists Top Saudi clerics warn against joining jihadists BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Qatar s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani shake hands after a joint press conference following talks at the chancellery yesterday. AFP BERLIN/RIYADH: Qatar s emir said in Germany yesterday that his wealthy Gulf state does not back Islamic terrorist organisations, and Chancellor Angela Merkel said she had no reason to doubt him. The leaders spoke in Berlin where the emir was visiting, some three weeks after a German minister angered Doha by linking it to financing of the jihadist militant group Islamic State (IS). Qatar has never supported extremist groups, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani told a joint press conference, according to the German simultaneous translation. What is happening in Iraq and Syria is extremism, and those groupings are being partially funded from abroad, but Qatar has never and will never support terrorist organisations, he said. Germany said last month it regretted any offence caused in Doha after its Development Aid Minister Gerd Mueller, speaking about the IS, told public radio: Who is financing these troops? Hint: Qatar. Merkel said that in her first-ever meeting with the 34-year-old emir, I also asked all the questions that are being discussed here and have no reason to doubt the emir s statements. She said that the joint press conference could serve to correct misconceptions, and stressed that both Doha and Berlin had joined the US-led alliance to combat IS. Both leaders also touched on another contentious issue - the reported human and labour rights violations of migrant workers building 2022 World Cup facilities that have sparked an international outcry. Merkel, whose national team won this year s championship, said that I made very clear that we hope that especially in a country that is among the rich countries of the world, the labour conditions are good for guest workers. The emir said that there have been errors and problems, and we don t say we are an ideal state that makes no mistakes. Continued on Page 13 By B Izzak and Nawara Fattahova 44º Min 26º High Tide 05:27 & 20:46 Low Tide 00:08 & 14:03 KUWAIT: A number of MPs yesterday raised the bar in their assault against Ooredoo telecom company for firing 60 Kuwaitis in a restructuring plan that also laid off 105 expatriates. MPs demanded strong action against the company, with one lawmaker calling for cancelling its licenses and contracts, another demanding changes to national laws on employment while a third threatening that the measure will not pass off without penalty. The government said it was aware of the issue and called on companies to abide by the law while thanking other companies for offering to employ the sacked Kuwaitis. Ooredoo Telecom (previously Wataniya), which is 93- percent owned by Qatar s Ooredoo (previously Q-tel), held a press conference at its headquarters yesterday to explain the redundancies. Saleh Al-Houti, Head of the Human Resources Sector at Ooredoo Kuwait, explained that the job cuts were part of the restructuring plan of the company. This decision was taken by the board of directors as part of the company s restructuring plan to increase efficiency, serve customers more effectively and simplify the organization, he said during the press conference. Houti said the sacked employees will receive a threemonth salary in accordance with the law, health and life insurance, free calls and will be provided additional benefits. He denied any political reason for the Saleh Al-Houti firings. The restructuring plan was not the result of any political reason and the laid off employees won t be replaced with others. But there are new departments that need new qualifications that were not available, and we will search in the local market to hire them. We also won t be cutting jobs of current expat employees to replace them with Kuwaitis, he pointed out. Several senior staff have left the telecom provider in recent months, including the previous CEO. Houti said that Ooredoo had not lost any noticeable number of subscribers as a consequence of the layoffs. Portability from one operator to another is still going on, and we haven t noticed any dramatic change. Clients are shifting to other operators while clients from other operators are subscribing with our company. Regarding news spread on social media of some of our clients sending us letters to end using our services, we respect their decision, but we haven t received any official requests yet, he added. Ooredoo Chairman Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdullah Al-Thani said in a statement that as a result of the dismissals, the percentage of Kuwaitis in the company has increased to 46 percent among 662 employees. The percentage will be raised to 60 percent by February next year. Continued on Page 13 Widow offers insight into Gaza spying GAZA CITY: The 48-year-old Palestinian woman s husband was shot to death in 2012 by militants in the Gaza Strip for spying for Israel. A mother of seven, she herself was jailed by Gaza s Hamas rulers for aiding and abetting a spy - her husband. The widow s account to AP gave a rare look into the secret espionage side of the war between Israel and the Hamas militant group. According to her, Israeli security agents took advantage of her late husband s financial troubles a decade ago, luring him into collaborating by offering him a permit to work in Israel. She was later recruited when she was allowed to take one of their children to Israel for medical treatment. Our life was hell. We were scared, she said of their years feeding Israel information. I used to look over my shoulder when I am out in the market, get scared when I see a police car. The woman, who was released in December, spoke on condition of anonymity GAZA: In this Nov 20, 2012 file photo, Palestinian gunmen ride motorcycles as they drag the body of a man who was killed earlier as a suspected collaborator with Israel in Gaza City. AP because Hamas does not allow freed collaborators to talk to the press. Israel has historically relied on collaborators against Palestinian militants and activists, recruiting them with methods ranging from entrapment and blackmail to cash and perks. Hamas, in turn, has done whatever it can to stop collaborators - particularly by killing them in public as a deterrent to others - since it holds them responsible for helping Israel assassinate dozens of its top figures. The issue emerged again with the latest round of fighting in Gaza, which ended late last month. During the war, militants gunned down 22 suspected spies, almost all of them on a single day after three senior Hamas military operatives were killed in an Israeli airstrike apparently guided by collaborators. Palestinians human rights groups sharply criticized Hamas for carrying out extrajudicial killings. It was a terrifying message to society and a deterrent to other collaborators, Salah Abdel-Atti of Gaza s Independent Commission for Human Rights said. But rights concerns win little sympathy among Palestinians, who widely see informing for Israel as unforgivable treason - even among Gazans opposed to Hamas iron fisted control of the territory since 2007. Ramiz Abu Jazar, a Gazan whose brother was killed by Hamas in intra-palestinian fighting in 2007, said he s all for killing collaborators. They are like cancer in society, he told the AP. They sold their souls to the devil. Continued on Page 13 KILMARNOCK, Scotland: A pro-independence supporter rides on a road southwest of Glasgow yesterday ahead of a referendum on Scotland s independence. AFP Scotland braces for independence vote EDINBURGH: The campaign for Scotland s independence referendum went down to the wire yesterday ahead of a knife-edge vote that will either see Scotland break away from the United Kingdom or gain sweeping new powers. The Yes and No camps mobilised thousands of volunteers to take to the streets across Scotland in a final push to win over undecided voters in a heated debate that has fired up Scots on both sides. Three new opinion polls suggested a very narrow majority against independence but showed that the undecideds could swing it either way with just hours to go before polls open today at 0600 GMT. I m really optimistic that if we do have independence, we can start building a society that works for all of us, said 24-year-old Sam Hollick, a Yes activist from the Green Party who was campaigning at a stand in Edinburgh blaring a song by Scottish band The Proclaimers. Continued on Page 13

LOCAL KUWAIT: Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah receives a commemorative plaque from Ambassador Abdou Lahad Mbacke. KUNA HH the Amir receives top military and security officials. Diplomats, military, security officials congratulate Amir on UN honoring Sheikh Sabah pledges continuous support for humanitarian activity KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al- Jaber Al-Sabah received yesterday heads of diplomatic missions who expressed congratulations on his proclamation by the United Nations as Humanitarian Leader and the State of Kuwait as a Humanitarian Center. HH the Amir received the diplomats at Bayan Palace, with attendance of HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, Acting Minister of Justice and Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, leading officials of the Foreign Ministry and the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Senegal s Ambassador Abdou Lahad Mbacke. Addressing the diplomats, HH the Amir expressed deep gratitude for their congratulations and kind sentiments, manifested on the occasion of the UN proclamations, the praise for the distinctive role of the State of Kuwait in the realm of humanitarian action and the partnerships with the international community, represented by the United Nations in all such efforts. HH the Amir expressed appreciation for this graceful gesture that depicts depth of the relations between the State of Kuwait with friendly and sisterly states. Undoubtedly, His Highness stated, the praise heaped upon our dear homeland by the United Nations, is an unprecedented step in the UN records, reflects the high status of the State of Kuwait in the sector of humanitarian action, for sake of sparing lives and alleviating hardships throughout the world. Such praise is due to the efforts and humanitarian initiatives to aid those in need, relieving those stricken in wars and natural catastrophes, victims of which have been drastically mounting along with the increasing regretful consequences, particularly over the past years. Kuwait will continue to support any humanitarian activities in line with its stable foreign policy, designed to help any states seeking help, HH the Amir re-pledged, noting that such an approach is based on the Kuwaiti s genuine traits and the country s history. Life-long devotion For his part, Ambassador Mbacke congratulated HH the Amir, noting that Sheikh Sabah was chosen by the UN for such HH the Amir receives a gift from Major General Yusuef Abdullah Al-Ansari, Director General of Kuwait Fire Service Directorate as Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Sabah looks on. honoring due to his life-long devotion for charitable work as well as for the Kuwaiti people s generous contributions worldwide. Ambassador Mbacke noted HH the Amir s allotment of USD one billion for development in Africa during the 2013 Arab-African summit, USD 800 million for relieving the Syrian people, USD 200 million for the honorable life fund in Islamic nations, USD 300 million for funding development schemes in Asia, USD 500 million for development in eastern Sudan and USD 500 million for activating the development initiative in the Arab states in 2009. Moreover, he noted activities by the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, funding projects in some 103 states, with KD 5.2 billion, the Kuwait donation of USD four million for the fight against Ebola, the donations for victims of the 2011 tsunami in Japan, in addition to the diplomatic efforts for ironing out differences among the brothers and friends. All these efforts have rendered you the best to be designated the Humanitarian Leader, as well choosing your country as the Humanitarian Center. The dean of the diplomatic corps lauded the efforts of the Kuwaiti associations, also noting the annual award of USD one million in the name of the late Dr Abdul-Rahman Al-Sumait, as a tribute to this personality that had played a prominent role in charitable action in Africa. Well-deserved Also yesterday, HH the Amir received top state military and security officials who congratulated him on the UN honoring. Sheikh Sabah, with the presence of HH Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, also received Acting Prime Minister, Interior Minister, Acting Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs and Acting Minister of Defense Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and top commanders of Kuwaiti Army. Addressing His Highness, on behalf of the gathering, Sheikh Mohammad said the UN honoring of HH the Amir was well-deserved and is a source of pride for all Kuwaitis. In response, HH the Amir thanked the Minister and the Army officials for their good sentiments and lauded their loyalty to the dear homeland. HH the Amir also received Acting Prime Minister, Interior Minister, Acting Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs and Acting Minister of Defense Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al- Hamad Al-Sabah and top interior ministry officials who came to congratulate HH the Amir on the UN honoring. On behalf of the attendants, Sheikh Mohammad delivered a short speech to congratulate HH the Amir on the UN honoring. HH the Amir welcomed the top officials and expressed great appreciation of their sacrifices to preserve Kuwait s security and stability as well as the safety of all citizens and residents. HH also wished them success in their work. Sheikh Sabah also received Deputy Commander of National Guard Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and top National Guard commanders who congratulated him on the UN honoring. Sheikh Mishaal delivered a congratulatory speech on the occasion on behalf of HH the Amir. For his part, Sheikh Sabah welcomed the attendants, thanked them for their good sentiments and wished them success in their mission. Meanwhile, HH the Amir received Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, Acting Minister of Justice and Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al- Sabah, Director General of Kuwait Fire Service Directorate (KFSD) Major General Yusuef Abdullah Al-Ansari and several senior KFSD leaders. The Minister and KFSD officials congratulated HH the Amir on the UN honoring. The meetings were attended by Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al- Sabah and top state officials. KUNA Prime Minister meets Italian President, premier Officials emphasize necessity of fighting terrorism ROME: His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, accompanied by a delegation of ranking officials on a current mission in Italy, met with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in the Italian capital yesterday. During the meeting, HH the Prime Minister handed over a written message from HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah expressing good wishes to the president and the Italian people. The message also dealt with the historic and solid ties between the two countries. In the message, HH the Amir invited the Italian President to visit Kuwait. The two sides held talks during the meeting on international issues of common concern, namely Middle Eastern affairs, emphasizing necessity of exerting greater efforts in the fight against terrorism. Later yesterday, Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak held talks with his Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi at the Chigi palace in Rome. The meeting discussed means of fostering bilateral ties in all fields, focusing on economy and investment. The two premiers also addressed developments in the Middle East, and the international efforts seeking to achieve security and stability in the region. They also exchanged views on a host of regional and international issues of common concern, besides bilateral cooperation to combat terrorism. The Italian Premier held a luncheon banquet for HH the Prime Minister and the accompanying delegation. Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak also met Rome s Mayor Ignazio Marino yesterday, and the two sides discussed the distinguished Kuwaiti-Italian relations and means to give them a strong impetus. Defense cooperation Meanwhile, Kuwait s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Khaled Al- Jarrah Al-Sabah met Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti yesterday. Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah is a member of the accompanying delegation of ROME: HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak during his meeting with his Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi. KUNA HH the Prime Minister s delegation. During the meeting, both sides stressed firm relations and close cooperation between Kuwait and Italy in various fields, especially the military one. They also discussed preparations and arrangements for a joint defensive cooperation committee meeting due in Kuwait in October. Both ministers also underlined the significance of strategic relations between both countries and the implementation of bilateral military agreements. Also yesterday, First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah received heads of the Arab diplomatic missions in Italy. During the meeting, Morocco s ambassador to Italy, Hassan Abou Ayoub, welcomed Sheikh Sabah Khaled on behalf of the Arab diplomats in the Italian capital, saying that such meetings contribute much to the coordination of Arab diplomatic action. For his part, Sheikh Sabah Khaled reviewed the key points relevant to His Highness the Prime Minister s visit to Italy. The meeting also addressed developments on the regional and international levels. Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ambassador Khaled Al-Jarrallah and a number of top officials from the Premier s Diwan and the Ministry attended the meeting. Germany visit After wrapping up his visit to Italy, HH the Prime Minister and his accompanying delegation left for Germany, the second leg of a European tour. In Germany, Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak will attend on behalf of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al- Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah a ceremony to be held by leading auto maker Daimler AG on the 40th anniversary of cooperation with the State of Kuwait. KUNA Kuwaiti-German commercial exchange satisfactory KUWAIT: Kuwaiti-German commercial exchange is at a satisfactory level with Germany exporting 1.32 billion euros worth of goods to Kuwait in 2013 while receiving around 356 million euros from Kuwait, German Ambassador Eugen Wollfarth to Kuwait said yesterday. Ambassador Wollfarth said that bilateral relations were excellent, adding both countries would celebrate 50 years of diplomatic ties. The upcoming visit by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah to Germany would see the Kuwaiti official meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and also would have Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak attend the 40th anniversary of partnership between Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) and the auto-maker, Daimler. Previous visits by Kuwaiti officials helped to further bolster relations, said the Ambassador, noting that the upcoming visit by the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak would take relations to the next level. The German diplomat took the chance to laud the Kuwaiti leadership s humanitarian efforts, saying the recent UN honoring of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al- Jaber Al-Sabah as a Humanitarian Leader was Ambassador Eugen Wollfarth in recognition of Kuwait s efforts as a global Humanitarian Center. In regards to Kuwaiti Investments in Germany, Wollfarth said that they amounted to around USD 18.3 billion mostly through KIA. On German investments, the Ambassador said that several German companies are present in Kuwait and many local investors have shares in them, making these companies a true representation of German-Kuwaiti partnership. KUNA Ambassador to Turkey denies investors report ANKARA: Kuwait s ambassador to Turkey, Abdullah Al-Thuwaikh recently denied a Turkish media report attributing to him a statement threatening that Kuwaiti investors might leave Turkey in case any member of Kuwait s diplomatic mission there was deported over a traffic accident. Those reports are completely untrue, he stressed, denying making any statements about Kuwaiti investments in Turkey. He also denied having anything to do with a recent traffic accident involving a Kuwaiti diplomat. Investigations in the accident are in progress by the concerned Turkish authorities, he added, confirming his full trust in the investigation and the Turkish judiciary. Al-Thuwaikh also hailed the historic and deep-rooted Kuwaiti-Turkish relations and cooperation in various fields. He also encouraged Kuwaiti private sector companies to take advantage of the investment opportunities available in Turkey, thanks to the deeprooted relations set and nurtured by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and the Turkish officials. KUNA

LOCAL Kuwait to focus on Asian markets for crude oil KUWAIT: Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), the mother company of the national oil establishments, plans face-to-face deliberations with clients in Asia to determine their near future needs of the crude oil. Jamal Al-Loughani, the KPC s Managing Director for the international marketing, said in a statement yesterday, that the KPC international market staff, would hold a number of crucial meetings with the KPC major clients in Taiwan and Japan in last week of this month, September. Jamal Al-Loughani These meetings are planned for exchanging views and determining the clients desire with respect of the KPC contracts for the coming year, he said, indicating that a KPC delegation would also hold talks with leaders of these two Asian countries to examine prospected marketing opportunities for sake of bolstering the corporation s status in this key Asian market. The delegation will proceed to Singapore to attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation s (APEC) conference, in addition to holding meetings with new possible clients there. Japan and Taiwan imports some 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Kuwait 300 barrels for Tokyo and 200 for Bangkok, in addition to purchasing various oil derivatives and gas. The KPC has already indicated that it adopts a pragmatic policy with respect to its exportation of two million barrels of crude oil per day. Kuwait, since years ago, has been exporting 80 percent of its oil output to eastern Asian countries and 20 percent to the two Americas and Europe, Al- Loughani stated earlier this week. Forecasts indicate that Asian markets are large and demand is growing there, as compared to the demand in the United States where it is dropping due to utilization of shale oil, and in Europe, as a result of economic slowdown, Al- Loughani had said. KUNA Kuwait has a prosperous future: Report BRUSSELS: Kuwait is a country embarking on the road to a prosperous future, wrote the Arab-Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce (ABLCC) in its latest magazine. It noted that in February 2010, as per the directions of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the National Assembly approved a five-year development plan in order to further develop the country. The strategy comprises a longterm plan, the State Vision Kuwait 2035. ABLCC said that by eliminating the difficulties for local and international investors, reducing bureaucratic restrictions, as well as enacting new laws to protect and encourage investments, among others, Kuwait could attract new investments and become a financial and economic hub in the region and the world. Kuwait, which is bordering three major markets, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, enjoys a strategic geographical location, noted the publication. Kuwait is home to one of the largest oil reserves in the world and a major player in the global energy market. The authorities are looking to increase oil production to 4 million barrels per day by 2020, it stated. The Kuwaiti financial system is well developed which makes it an attractive destination for foreign institutions to offer specialized services, it said. Kuwait has the 3rd largest total healthcare expenditures in the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council. Since efforts are made to open the sector to private and foreign investments, private sector investments are expected to reach US $1.8 billion by 2016, it noted. Through the years, Kuwait National Petroleum Company has made important investments in Belgium and Luxembourg. Indeed, Kuwait Petroleum, which made the strategic decision to invest in Belgium, is nowadays one of the biggest players on the Belgian fuel market, it said. Established in 1978, the Brussels-based ABLCC plays role of a bridge between Belgium, Luxembourg and the Arab countries. KUNA ROME: HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah and high-ranking officials with KPI executives and staff at the company s headquarters yesterday. KUNA Premier visits Kuwaiti oil company in Italy ROME: HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al- Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, accompanied by a delegation of ranking officials during the current visit to Italy, has visited the headquarters of the Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI) yesterday. Nizar Al-Adsani, the Chief Executive Officer of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), welcomed the Premier and made a presentation about activities of the oil company, the second largest petroleum corporation operating in this European nation. He boasted of the company s growth and expansion, hoping the Premier would lend further support for the corporation and its ventures in Italy. KPI CEO, Bakheet Al-Rashidi, along with managers of various KPI s sectors, presented a detailed address about the company s accomplishments and operations in Europe and Asia, affirming that the KPI ranks second in Italy among the oil companies, with a 16 percent stake in the domestic market after the Italian oil and gas company, ENI. He explained that the KPI has grown after acquiring assets and operations of the oil company, Shell. At conclusion of the gathering, Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak expressed satisfaction at what he had heard regarding the successful Kuwaiti ventures in Italy, lauding the faithful and sincere personnel for serving well Kuwait s interests. Kuwait petroleum Italy, a KPI s subsidiary, is a major petroleum corporation serving in the Italian market. It operates, in partnership with ENI, Milazzo refinery, capacity of which amounts KUWAIT: The Commercial Bank of Kuwait will be one of the sponsors of Kidz Stop 2014 organized by Hala Expo in 360 Mall on September 17, 18 and 19. Kidz Stop 2014 will have a playful children s theme and fun activities as well as a stage with exciting performances. The event will be held in the Exhibition Hall and ranges from kids clothing to educational and sports academies and good will organizations such as Loyac and KACCH from Bait Abdullah. Hala Expo have previously organized highly successful events in 360 Mall such as Hala Ramadan and Hala T rkiye. Kidz Stop 2014 will be the perfect destination for parents and children who want to get to 200,000 barrels per day. It also owns 3,500 distribution fuel stations, in addition to several oil and lubricants plants. The Prime Minister arrived in Italy on Tuesday, starting an official visit during which he would hold talks with top officials on cementing bilateral ties. KUNA CBK sponsors Kidz Stop 2014 ready for the back to school season or buy clothing and accessories for Eid AlAdha. Holders of the My First Account who visit the the booths of Play, Saveco, Cookie Dough and Ultra Level Football Academy at the event will receive exclusive discounts when they use their card. It should be noted that My First Account is a savings account designed for children aged 0 to 14 years old. The account contributes in a perfect way for parents who want to secure a better future for their children and saving money for them from an early age in addition to many educational and recreational activities all around the year.

LOCAL Group image of KFSD and EQUATE Fire Department, EQUATE launch Safe Campaign KUWAIT: Continuing their partnership in all relevant fields, Kuwait Fire Safety Directorate (KFSD) and EQUATE Petrochemical Company, Kuwait s first private sector petrochemical company, launched Safety at Every Home Campaign (Safe). Speaking about the campaign, KFSD Director of Public Relations & Media Colonel Khalil Al-Ameer said, In an effort to avoid different hazards and potential incidents at home and other various places, Safe Campaign has been launched to embody the strategic objectives KFSD is aiming to achieve throughout Kuwait by having such a partnership with EQUATE. For this purpose, the campaign will hold a number of awareness activities at a number of colleges, universities and malls where KFSD members will share guidelines and precautions regarding fire extinguishers, types of fires, smoke alarms, gas cylinders, gas leaks, fire evacuation, dealing with different emergencies and the importance of calling Emergency Number 112 when needed. Finally, it gives me great pleasure to extend utmost appreciation and gratitude to EQUATE for its significant role in supporting various initiatives by KFSD which always aspires to benefit and ensure the safety of society as a whole. IS members arrested in Kuwait, warrants issued for others Suspects accused of funding, promoting, fighting with radical group KUWAIT: Local dailies reports contradicted about the exact number of Islamic State-affiliated people so far detained by security forces. However, these numbers vary between four and eleven suspects. In confirmation that IS members do exist in Kuwait, local daily Al-Jarida said that the public prosecution has detained seven suspects accused in two separate cases of joining IS, said security sources, noting that travel restrictions and warrants were also issued for thirteen others (ten citizens and three bedoons) who were mentioned while interrogating the detained suspects. In this regard, judicial sources said that the suspects were detained for ten days at the central prison and explained that the first case involved a citizen and a bedoon who were accused of distributing leaflets and an Egyptian working in a printing press where the leaflets were printed. The second case includes four suspects - three citizens and a bedoon accused of funding IS by transferring over KD 14,000 to Syria. The suspects confessed that they were in contact with someone who made fatwas on whom to recruit and that they did nothing illegal in Kuwait except wait for the Islamic Caliphate. Meanwhile, Al-Anbaa said that state security referred four suspects (two citizens and two bedoons) to the public prosecutor, who were then referred to the central prison for 21 days pending further investigations. Al-Rai said that the state security has referred eleven suspects belonging to various nationalities to the public prosecution. Notably, three of the suspects were accused of printing hundreds of leaflets calling for and promoting terrorist ideology that undermines basic structures in the country, calling for changing the regime by force and accusing regime leaders of being infidels, calling for joining an organization that calls for accusing the Kuwaiti society of being an infidel one and joining an internationally banned organization. Precautionary measures Earlier reports had indicated that the Ministry of Interior is taking precautionary measures to prevent Islamic State (IS) supporters from infiltrating or operating in Kuwait, and to investigate residents who might support the radical Islamic group. Security officials are also coordinating with Saudi security and intelligence to exchange information and lists of wanted people. According to unnamed sources quoted in local Arabic press, there was a strict surveillance recently set up to prevent GCC nationals returning from Turkey and Syria from entering Kuwait over suspicions of being ISIL members. Eight hundred non-kuwaitis who had been on a list of IS members were banned from entering Kuwait and were immediately deported on arrival at Kuwait Airport, said the sources, noting that fingerprints of both Arabs and foreigners suspected of belonging to IS were investigated, identified and then deported. Additionally, under the supervision of the public prosecution, passengers traveling to Turkey, Syria or Iraq were banned from carrying more than KD 3,000. Kuwait s state security are also fully alert and are closely monitoring all suspected IS supporters in Kuwait and have so far traced over 30 of them. Yet, there are more birds to catch, said a source quoted in the Arabic press without being named. One of the recently arrested individuals has provided extensive information about various people within Kuwait supporting the Iraq and Syria-based terrorist organization. Security forces are also closely watching IS supporters movements, especially in Jahra where many of them dwell and have been ideologically influenced by citizen Abdul Mohsen Th. (AKA: Abu Jandal), who lives in the same area, is currently fighting with IS in Dier Ezzor, Syria and has a great influence over his fans and followers. The Lion According to the security sources, Abu Jandal, who had been seen in many videos while holding a knife behind a kneeling person and taking part in the operations, is a Kuwaiti citizen in his thirties from Jahra. Affected by Jihadist ideology, he left to fight in Syria where he joined IS and is considered its second general after Abu Atheer Al-Halabi. He was the leader of the Knights Battalion in the Syrian area of Al-Hasakah before he left to fight in Iraq. Abu Jandal, dubbed The Lion, has repeatedly criticized clergymen Shafi Al-Ajmi and Al-Ar our through his Twitter account for their condemnation of killings committed in Syria. According to security information, Abu Jandal married an Iraqi Jihadist and has a baby boy named Jandal. He is an IS leader and has been in many photos while cooking for the group members who considered this as modesty from their leader. Cleric Shafi Al-Ajmi said that the international coalition against ISL would harm all believers and protect IS for a while. The greatest disorder our region is witnessing is this so-called international coalition against ISIL because it targets uprooting all good trees and replace them with evil ones...all scholars must meet to discuss this crisis before being victimized as sheep attacked by wolves, he warned. Al-Jarida, Al-Anbaa and Al-Rai KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti Coastguard carried out a security campaign at the Haishan area against overfishing in the Kuwait Bay. Three boats were confiscated, and their owners were referred to the relevant authorities for further action. Crime R e p o r t Wedding shooters arrested KUWAIT: Ahmadi detectives confiscated three weapons from citizens who fired them during weddings in Dhahr, Abu Halaifa and Sabahiya in separate incidents. They were charged with possessing unlicensed weapons. Conmen in police custody Two persons who work in a real estate company were charged with swindling after taking KD 150 from a citizen for employing his wife, then acting busy and ignoring his calls. The man filed his complaint at Adan police station. Illegal fishing The coastguard arrested three citizens who were fishing in an off-limit area. The three attempted to escape before being caught. They were charged at Sharq police station. Firemen fight A Kuwait Fire Service Directorate officer and a fireman fought and filed complaints at Sharq police station. They submitted medical reports claiming injuries. The police officer in charge was able to convince them to drop charges against each other. Drug possession Two men and a girl were arrested in possession of heroin in Mahboula after they approached a car with tinted windows. The three were sent to concerned authorities. Meanwhile, two men were arrested by Mubarak Al-Kabeer patrols for possession of shabu and drug paraphernalia. Police stopped the car for a traffic violation, and while the officer was writing the ticket, he saw the passenger throwing an envelope out, so he picked it up and found out it contained shabu. Both were sent to concerned authorities. Fugitive nabbed Special task policemen arrested a citizen in his thirties who is wanted to serve a three-month jail sentence. He had hashish, Captagon pills, three shabu envelopes, one heroin envelope and a small pair of scissors. He was taken to concerned authorities. Al-Rai

LOCAL Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Award launches 14th session KUWAIT: The 14th session of His Highness Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah s Informatics Award has been launched, featuring newly-introduced activities and workshops that envisage further development for the sector. Bassam Al-Shemmari, member of the Award s Supreme Committee, speaking at a press conference late on Tuesday, said the award is making strides in the third phase of its march, launched in 2011. The Award has been presenting developed performance, year after year, currently reaching an aloft status on the international informatics map, he said, affirming that it encouraged and granted opportunities to Arab innovators. He expressed gratitude to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for patronizing the Award regular courses and his personal attendance of honoring gatherings for winners. KUWAIT: Bassam Al-Shemmari speaks at the press conference. KUNA Moreover, he thanked His Highness Sheikh Salem Al-Ali, the Chief of the National Guards, founder and patron of the Award. The Award launching of the prize, Sheikh Sabah Al- Ahmad Platform for Humanitarian Action, several days ago, marked the Award s inauguration of its 14th year. Axes of the 14th session include the informatics diwan and the dialogue assembly. In line with the new approach, websites will be awarded on the basis of the audience magnitude. The award will be granted to five electronic sites and five smart applications, at a total value of USD 150,000, with USD 15,000 for each winner. The Kuwaiti Award, which contributes to promoting Arab electronic websites and smart applications, has become lucrative for internet users in various corners of the globe. KUNA Preparations underway for industries, construction expo Event highlights national product, building issues KUWAIT: The National Industries Company and ExpoTag for Organization Exhibitions & Conferences Company announced the start of preparations to launch the 4th Industries & Construction Exhibition, under the auspices and to be inaugurated by the Minister of State for Housing Affairs on December 7-10, 2014, Badriya Ballroom, Jumeirah Hotel-Kuwait, with the participation of a number of government bodies and major construction and building plants in Kuwait. In this respect, the Deputy Chairman And Executive President of National Industries Company, Dr Khaled Al Sobaih, said in a press statement that the exhibition in its fourth cycle is characterized by offering new ideas and the existence of diversified companies for the service of visitors. He pointed out that the exhibition aims at presenting everything required in the construction phases, the relevant products as well as the latest finishing and décor products in line with the taste of the Kuwaiti citizen, by inviting numerous companies operating in this field. This is in order to enable the citizen to obtain all his requirements in this respect under one roof. He pointed out that the exhibition will provide the opportunity to the government authorities to reply to the inquiries of citizens, facilitate the licenses and solve any pending problems which may be addressed during the exhibition, as well as offer discounts agreed upon with the companies participating in the exhibition. Great gathering Al Sobaih pointed out that the success met by the exhibition over the past three years confirms the extent of confidence of the concerned companies and bodies in this great industrial gathering, which services and supports the construction and building sector in Kuwait. Al Sobaih pointed out that the Industries and Construction Exhibition is distinguished by numerous sponsorships and participations from different bodies, whether concerned government authorities such as the Public Authority for Housing Welfare, Kuwait Municipality, Ministry of Electricity and Water, Kuwait Credit Bank, in addition to the Public Authority for Industry, a such bodies contribute in offering the full support to all the participating plants in order to help largely in organizing this gathering so that the citizen finds all his needs of the construction materials required by him. Meanwhile, he pointed out that the private sector has extensive sponsorships and diversified participations in the exhibition, represented in sponsorship and participation of a big number of companies concerned with the industries, building, construction, dècor and finishing materials, as well as the sponsorship and participation of a number of local banks and their support to this event, and the attention of companies from the Arabian Gulf to offer their products, as well. Exhibition Objectives Al Sobaih confirmed that those in charge of the 4th Industries and Construction Exhibition are very concerned for its success as it is a big event, through which everything of concern to the private and public sectors in connection of building materials are presented, for the purpose of informing the citizens of the latest in these industries, particularly those benefiting from the housing welfare program. Al Sobaih added that the 4th Industries and Construction Exhibition will be in line with the new development approaches and plans in the country by offering the latest products and latest in the building and construction industry in the world, on which the various development projects in Kuwait in the various sectors will depend. Further, there will be a focus on marketing the exhibition in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Bahrain, UAE and State of Qatar, for the purpose of attracting gulf products to satisfy the needs of the Kuwaiti market of construction materials. He pointed out to the concern of the national industries and organizing company that the exhibition area is large and distinguished, to enable the sponsors and participants to offer the materials they wish, while providing all the dècor requirements in this respect in order for the presentation to be unique and high style to meeting the satisfaction of its visitors. Gulf Bank Organizes Wellness Awareness Campaign KUWAIT: Gulf Bank recently launched a Wellness Awareness campaign for its employees, in partnership with its insurance administrator ACE and insurance partners. The campaign is aimed at providing advice to staff on techniques to maintain a healthy daily routine and a balanced healthy lifestyle through qualified specialist doctors During the course of 8 weeks, the campaign team will be visiting a number of Gulf Bank s branches to talk to employees about healthy lifestyle habits as well as providing on the spot assessments and advice for individuals. Gulf Bank is committed to delivering its wellness awareness message to employees to help them understand the potential long-term benefits of having regular medical check-ups. As a leading financial institution Gulf Bank will continue to encourage its employees to take advantage of initiatives and opportunities that promote a healthy lifestyle. (From left) Dr Abbas Al-Shammari, professor Mohammad Al-Moqataía and professor Yousri Al-Alassar. KILAW host Orientation Meeting KUWAIT: Fifty-five LLM students have joined KILAW this year. With the beginning of the fall semester of the academic year 2014/2015, an orientation meeting was held with the new students to give them the incentive for a fruitful academic start in the LLM Program, and to prepare the students for the decorate Program. In the presence of the assistant dean for academic affairs and head of the English department, KILAW s dean and president professor Mohammad Al-Moqata a started the orientation meeting by a welcome speech in which he thanked the students for choosing KILAW for their LLM Program. He added that this choice was due to students trust that KILAW meets the academic requirements for such Programs, and the professors supervising the Program are carefully chosen. Indeed, there are fifteen professors responsible for the Program, something that reflects KILAW s keen interest in providing the best academic entities to enable the graduates in their future life. Professor Al-Moqata a concluded that the LLM Program enables the students to academically write their theses in English. The study is mandatory in both Arabic and English. In his turn, professor Yousri Al-Assar, KILAW assistant dean for academic affairs, welcomed the students, and stressed on the importance of attendance and involvement in class discussions. He added that it is very important to finish the Program in two years maximum unless a contingency occurs and delays the graduation for one extra semester. Dr Abbas Al-Shammari, head of the English language department, notified the students of the importance of English language whether for legal terminology or academic writing. It is worth mentioning that every English language course completes the other courses, especially that four out of six LLM courses are delivered in English, while the rest are delivered in Arabic.

LOCAL kuwait digest In whose interest was offset suspended? Finest human cooperation In my view Washington s war against ISIL By Dr Bader Al-Daihani The offset system, followed in 120 countries around the world, mandates foreign companies winning military contracts worth KD 3 million or more, or winning government tenders worth KD 19 million or more, to invest at least 30 percent of the contract value with local partners in local markets for infrastructure, pass technology to the local market, provide local and overseas job and training opportunities for nationals and support Kuwait s foreign aid programs. The national offset company was established in 1992 as a closed shareholding company fully owned by the government and started operating late 2006. As usual, the government failed in running the company and mismanaged using the offset revenues as many financial and administrative violations were committed. Instead of assessing the company s performance, radically reforming its path and holding those responsible accountable so that this helps boost non-oil revenues, the government decided suspending the program last week, which poses considerable losses on the national economy. According to available information, the offset projects were worth over KD 100 million. Why was the program frozen this time? According to his response to this question in Al-Jarida s issue on Sept 9, the finance minster justified the suspension. We have to reconsider it because many foreign companies criticized the system and told Kuwait that it was discouraging. That s why we suspended it to avoid preventing those companies from operating in Kuwait, the minister said. In other words, freezing the offset program came in response to foreign investors demands on amending the obligations imposed on them according to the offset system despite the sheer damage this would cause to the national economy, especially since the government s decision was made at a very critical time when oil prices are violently fluctuating and drastically dropping to levels that are almost close to balancing with the national budget, which might lead to budget deficits. The suspension decision also coincided with the government s repeated statements about budget imbalances and the necessity to develop non-oil revenues. That is fine but how can this be achieved? Apparently, what the government means by developing non-oil revenues is overburdening citizens with low and medium incomes, because of their mismanagement through cancelling subsidies, imposing new fees, increasing current ones or imposing indirect income taxes! Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Jarida IS was not born out of the blue. According to a brilliant description by one of the bloggers, it is our own child. It is an illegitimate one, though. It has dozens of fathers and one mother that is hiding amongst us, in our own houses and within our societies. One that has been discreetly expanding throughout our history, thanks to official authorities oppressing laws such as those of publication and penal ones in addition to religious and ideological taboos of Arab Muslim societies that all prevent shaking IS foundations and uprooting it from surrounding Arab peoples sentiments! One of IS fathers is a historical culture of fanaticism to doctrine that has existed ever since the battle of Siffin that was described by Taha Hussein as the Great Fitna (turmoil). In fact it was not a turmoil at all. It was rather a conflict over power and religious legitimacy in terms of who was the real representative of Islam as a state, not only as a religion. Though this conflict took place 1,400 years ago, Muslims are still paying its price in blood and decapitated heads. Another father of IS is the colonial West represented by France and UK who distributed the Ottoman inheritance according to the Sykes-Picot treaty by the end of World War I according to their own colonial interests, regardless of those of regional peoples and tribes. The next bigger father came represented in Uncle ISIL IS old family! Al-Anbaa kuwait digest By Hassan Al-Essa Sam that freed some of us from others, such as Kuwait from the Iraqi invasion and liberating Bosnia and Kosovo from the Serbs. However, it had previously signed sacred pacts with tyrant regimes in the Arab world to ensure steady flows of oil. It also utilized this alliance in its Cold War with the Soviet Union. Then, the American Frankenstein and his allies of our regimes created a monster to tear apart the Soviets in Afghanistan before it turned up against its creators on 9/11 and then returned to our region - to its birth land to breed and multiply under many names such as the new khawarij, the misled group, terrorism and many others. The worst of IS fathers is Arab regimes and their unsuccessful states that have been oppressing all opposition calls and reinforcing corruption, leaving no alternative for the miserable, deprived and underprivileged but religion, doctrine and tribes to voice their socioeconomic dissatisfaction with the abusive oppressing Arab regimes. IS fathers and their ancestors are living with us nowadays in our houses, our streets, our schools and means of expression. They are everywhere in modern history s trash and cannot be destroyed by fighter planes. They can only be fought with justice, free thinking that criticizing all sociopolitical taboos! Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Jarida By Labeed Abdal local@kuwaittimes.net Providing urgent humanitarian aid to those affected by floods in India is a humanitarian duty that falls in line with the principle of global cooperation in times good or bad. The catastrophe that hit our great friend requires meeting all basic needs of those affected and help improve their conditions which have greatly been affected due to the floods that swept through the Indian part of Kashmir. There are many people who became displaced by the recent calamity, and remain in dire need for urgent aid. Efforts must focus on ensuring that necessary aid, such as food and basic requirements for shelter, reach those affected by the crisis as soon as possible. Efforts must focus on ensuring that necessary aid, such as food and basic requirements for shelter, reach those affected by the crisis as soon as possible. This natural disaster has killed around 200 people, and rendered thousands of others displaced after water submerged large areas of the capital Srinagar, destroying roads, telecommunication towers and electricity lines, which caused many areas to become isolated. Landslides also occurred in several nearby areas. These events revive old calls for regional cooperation for early prediction of natural disasters by utilizing the latest technologies and expertise in weather forecast. This can at least help reduce the damage of destructive natural disasters. We need in these critical times to see the finest examples of cooperation between countries worldwide, such as relief responses following the Katrina hurricane in the United States and the tsunami in Japan.

New Qaeda wing in South Asia claims major attack Page 11 Xi makes a maiden India visit; sets tone for future relations Page 12 IS goes underground in Syrian stronghold Group moves fighters, sets up sleeper cells BEIRUT: Islamic State has gone underground in its Syrian stronghold since President Barack Obama authorized US air strikes on the group in Syria, disappearing from the streets, redeploying weapons and fighters, and cutting down its media exposure. In the city of Raqqa, 450 km northeast of Damascus, residents say Islamic State has been moving equipment every day since Obama signaled on Sept 11 that air attacks on its forces could be expanded from Iraq to Syria. Islamic State activists who typically answer questions on the Internet have been off line since then. Its leaders have not given a direct response to Obama: his speech last week was not mentioned in a video released on Saturday showing the beheading of British hostage David Haines by an Islamic State militant. As the United States tries to assemble a coalition to fight Islamic State, the jihadist group appears to be trying to leave as much uncertainty as possible about its strategy. Facing US air strikes in Iraq, Islamic State fighters abandoned heavy weaponry that made them easy targets and tried to blend into civilian areas. In anticipation of similar raids in Syria, the group may already be doing the same. In Raqqa, the group has evacuated buildings it was using as offices, redeployed its heavy weaponry, and moved fighters families out of the city. They are trying to keep on the move, said one Raqqa resident, communicating via the Internet and speaking on condition of anonymity because of safety fears. They have sleeper cells everywhere, he added. They only meet in very limited gatherings. The top US general promised on Tuesday a persistent and sustainable campaign against Islamic State in Syria, and Washington is probably already watching its positions in Raqqa. Obama approved surveillance flights over Syria last month, and footage taken by activists earlier this month appeared to show an American-made drone over the city. The militants are not dormant; the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence in the country s civil war, said they had shot down a Damascus government war plane near Raqqa using anti-aircraft guns. However, another resident said: Islamic State is now carrying out tactical defensive moves by relocating their assets to different places so that their heavy weaponry is not all concentrated in one place. Raqqa and the surrounding province is Islamic State s main base in Syria. Last month, its fighters drove the final government forces from the area when it seized an air base. Since seizing the Iraqi city of Mosul in June, the group has also extended its control over neighboring Deir al-zor province, which borders Iraq. Making good on its promise to redraw the Middle East, Islamic State has declared a new province including territory on both sides of the frontier. Fear drives up price In Raqqa, Islamic State had taken charge of many aspects of civilian life, managing everything from traffic to bakeries in an effort to establish a state run according to its own, radical interpretation of Islam. Islamic State has been trying to give a sense of business as normal even as it has reduced its presence in the streets, said another resident of the city whose population numbered about 200,000 before the civil war. They are giving the impression they don t care, the resident said. These days the fighters are not deployed heavily on the streets. Only those who have to are appearing. The streets are empty and the people are worried and scared. Some activists did appear on the outskirts of Raqqa on Tuesday. They were pictured collecting wreckage of the downed Syrian war plane and loading it into the back of a truck flying the group s black flag. Since Obama s speech, shops in Raqqa have been closing early and the value of the US dollar has jumped in the local hard currency market, residents said. Dozens of people have left the city, though there has been no sign of mass migration. While preparing for an attack, Islamic State has also been trying to promote its cause among residents. Some already express support for the group whose rule has brought a modicum of stability, albeit in a hardline form. A 14-point statement distributed in recent days reminded residents of Islamic State rules such as its ban on smoking and drinking, and requirement for women to cover up and stay at home. It also warned that anyone who dealt with President Bashar Al-Assad s government would face death. But the statement also tried to promote the group, telling residents they would see the great difference between Islamic State rule and that of the oppressive secular government - a reference to Assad. Live joyfully and in plenty in an Islamic government, declared the statement, which was obtained by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Hassan Hassan, an analyst at the Delma Institute in Abu Dhabi, said the statement amounted to a carrot and stick approach. It was obviously a move to reassure people but warn them at the same time, he said. However, governing Raqqa would come second to survival in the face of US air strikes. (Islamic State) has always had that back-up plan, even before the news of an imminent action by Americans, Hassan said. It s important to realize these people don t need to be in bases. In one of the few responses to Obama s announcement, an Islamic State supporter warned of attacks on the United States and its allies if they continued to carry out military action against the group, the SITE monitoring service said on Tuesday. Hassan said the group had yet to issue a proper response. They are reflecting on what to do next. It s probably their way of making it vague - so that people don t know what to expect. Reuters Independence votes torpedo EU, Spain warns MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy yesterday branded moves for independence such as those in Scotland and Spain s Catalonia region a torpedo to European integration. The conservative premier s comments sharpened the political tone in a potentially crucial week for the Catalan independence movement, which is closely watching the outcome of Scotland s independence vote today. Everyone in Europe thinks that these processes are hugely negative, financially and economically, Rajoy told the Spanish parliament. These processes are a torpedo to the waterline of the European spirit, because Europe has been built to integrate states, not to fragment them, he added. Scotland s referendum on Thursday, approved by the British government, has fired up nationalists in Catalonia, a northeastern region of Spain with a distinct language and culture. Catalans want to seize full political and economic control of their region from Madrid. Catalonia is the richest part of Spain but has suffered in the economic crisis that broke out in 2008. Tomorrow the Catalonia regional parliament is scheduled to approve a new law that is says will allow a consultation vote on November 9 to ask Catalans whether they want independence. Rajoy has described such a vote as illegal and vowed to block it. The new Catalan law is expected to be annulled by Spain s Constitutional Court. Catalonia s president Artur Mas has vowed to push ahead with a consultation but only by legal means. Mas has hinted at a possible snap election in the region if Catalans are prevented from voting. He told the regional parliament on Monday that he would like to finish his current four-year term as president, but that would only be possible if Catalonia can vote on November 9 with full democratic guarantees. Mas has forecast that Scotland would be quickly readmitted to the European Union if the country separated from Britain, but Rajoy took the opposite view yesterday. That process requires the unanimous agreement of the 28 states of the EU... I have spoken with representatives of those 28 states and there is little enthusiasm for such processes, he said. I fear there would be very little facilitation of that by the 28 states of the European Union. AFP LONDON: The Union Flag and Saltire, the national flag of Scotland, are flown above Horseguards in central London yesterday, ahead of the referendum on Scotland s independence. AFP

INTERNATIONAL After rush to flee, displaced Iraqis lack crucial drugs ARBIL: Milad was an operating theatre nurse in Qaraqosh before jihadists seized Iraq s largest Christian town. Now he compiles long lists of medicines that his fellow displaced Iraqis sorely lack. He fled the turmoil in the territory north of Baghdad seized by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) since June to take refuge in Iraqi Kurdish territory further north. After having abandoned all but the bare essentials in the face of the IS advance, many of the displaced in the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil have set up camp in public gardens, in schools and outside churches. The United Nations says an estimated 1.8 million Iraqis have been displaced by violence in the country this year. In their dash to escape the brutality of the jihadists, few had time to gather medical files or prescriptions essential to treating their ailments. So since his own arrival in Arbil on August 8, Milad spends a good part of each morning touring an assortment of makeshift camps to assess medical needs and shortages. Children and old people are constantly brought forward with their needs for medication-in scant supply despite countries such as France and Austria having flown in consignments. Aid organizations have been able to draw up lists and evaluate needs in the large refugee camps that have sprouted up across Iraqi Kurdistan. Milad homes in on the smaller camps, which can still house as many as 300 displaced people. He fills sheets of paper with a catalogue of medical complaints: a child with heart problems, another whose parents say has a brain that s not working properly, a blind man... the list goes on and on. At the end of his tours, Milad delivers the information he has gathered to Dr Laith Hababa, who visits the next day with whatever medicine he can muster up. Hababa, a fellow Qaraqosh native, also puts in shifts as a volunteer doctor in the afternoons at the Habib Malh Health Centre in Arbil, having been granted permission to use the facility after its operating hours. Word spread fast of his cost-free consultations, and he and a small team of other volunteers now see between 400 and 600 patients a day. The big challenge is to get hold of medication, said Hababa. Left everything behind During Milad s tour through a hall used in normal times for wedding receptions, several women came forward clutching half-empty packets of pills in their hands and asking for refills. When we fled (Qaraqosh) we left everything behind: the examinations, the X-rays... We just took some medicine, said the grandmother of Sada, a three-year-old girl with a brain disease. The small child, who is not able to walk, was stretched out in the heat on a mattress on the ground. Nearby, 46-year-old Sana said she suffers from elephantiasis and showed the documentation to prove it. Milad took note and tore off another sheet of paper, adding it to a compendium of conditions and requests for medication. The situation is precarious in the large camps. And we are coming up to winter.. Everybody will have health issues, said Valley Edwar, who runs the clinic of St Joseph s church in Ankawa, a suburb of Arbil. Edwar said the proximity in which camp dwellers are obliged to live encourages the spread of skin diseases and other sicknesses. Fortunately, for now there s no epidemic, said Dr Saman Hussein Barzanghy, director general of health services in Arbil province. But another doctor, Saleh Dabbakeh of the Red Cross, cautioned: The seasons change and health problems start, especially as these people are living in groups. AFP Good Bye Marx! Hungary cleans up for Orban s revolution BUDAPEST: Budapest s Corvinus University is no hotbed of communist troublemakers and far from nostalgic for the old regime, but students are pining for a cherished bronze of Karl Marx removed last week. When communism fell in Hungary 25 years ago, so did the many statues of Lenin and other heroes but the monument to Marx remained standing at the prestigious institution in the capital. Last weekend, the four-meter statue of the father of communism-installed just three years after Soviet tanks crushed an uprising in Hungary in 1956 - finally went. We have to strengthen and show our Corvinus identity, which is lacking now, said Zsolt Rostovanyi, rector of the university in Budapest, known until 1990 as Karl Marx University. The Marx statue is not part of that identity. For many students - not yet born during Hungary s more than four decades of communist rule-this is a shame. The imposing effigy in the entrance hall-seated, brow furrowed, clutching a book assumed to be his famous Das Kapital -was something of a mascot, a figure of fun. New students were photographed next to him on their first day and again when they graduated, slotting their diplomas into Marx s outstretched hand to be snapped by family and friends. At freshers parties the bar is in front of the statue, so it s like Marx is serving the drinks, Patricia, a third-year student, told AFP before the statue was taken away. Other pranks included putting a heart in Marx s hand on Valentine s Day. Used study books were often sold in front of it, and Let s meet at Marx was a common refrain among undergraduates. Racist and classist But the fate of the statue-it was taken to a historical exhibition at the university, with its replacement yet to be decided-throws up more serious questions. Even though Rostovanyi denies any political pressure, an open letter to the university from state secretary for human resources Bence Retvari in January said that Marx was racist and classist. The German thinker s writings laid the foundation for inhuman dictatorships and genocides of the 20th century, Retvari wrote. Others suggest the statue s removal is part of Prime Minister Viktor Orban s revolution to revamp this country of 10 million people, and not just aesthetically. A former anti-communist radical turned dyed-in-the-wool conservative, the 51-year-old-returned to power this April, again with a landslide-is seen as bent on reforming Hungary s economy, institutions and social fabric after decades of left-wing misrule. Father-of-five Orban has vowed to create an illiberal democracy and has praised Russia under President Vladimir Putin as a successful model -prompting some pundits to label him a populist autocrat. Following on from independent media, activists say his latest target appears to be foreign-funded nongovernmental organizations, which he calls paid foreign activists. In recent weeks, police raided several such NGOs for alleged financial irregularities. Human Rights Watch called it yet another step to intimidate civil society. Part and parcel of Orban s mission, critics say, has been the renaming and rearranging of public squares, and Marx s removal-no matter how tiny the appeal of Marxism to students today-fits into this. It could be an important symbolic part of the government s narrative of spearheading a revolution since their election victory in 2010, said historian Andras Mink from the Central European University. For them Marx represents continuity between communism and the two chaotic decades of post-communism. The government feels that after their new election win in April, they can have a final caesura and break with the past, Mink said. No matter what affect he and his thoughts had on history, this is only a statue, it belongs to the university, said Erzsebet Hamar, a student starting her second year. AFP RAQA: Syrian civilians stand at the site where a Syrian government forces aircraft fell after it was shot down by militants of the Islamic State (IS) group over the Syrian town of Raqa. AFP Syria air strikes kill 48 After Obama speech, Islamic State wins new recruits BEIRUT: At least 48 people including rebel fighters have been killed in Syrian government air bombardments around a town in the central province of Homs, a monitoring group said yesterday. Two days of air strikes left women and children among the dead, including a mother who was killed along with five of her children, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors violence in Syria through a network of sources. Around a dozen fighters and multiple rebel commanders were also confirmed killed in the bombardment, which targeted Talbiseh, a town north of the city of Homs on the country s main north-south highway. In May, Syrian rebels had abandoned their last stronghold in the heart of Homs city, which had been an epicentre of the revolt against President Bashar Al-Assad. The death toll from the bombardment on Talbiseh - which took place on Tuesday and yesterday - is expected to rise because dozens of people including children were in critical condition, the Observatory said. More than 190,000 people have been killed in Syria s conflict and millions more displaced, according to the United Nations. The conflict began more than three years ago as a peaceful protest movement and turned into civil war after a government crackdown. New recruits in Syria Islamic State has won new recruits in Syria since President Barack Obama signaled last week that air strikes against the group will be expanded from Iraq to its strongholds in northern and eastern Syria, a group monitoring the war said yesterday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 162 people had joined Islamic State training camps in Aleppo province since Sept 10, when Obama said he would not hesitate to strike Islamic State in Syria. The new recruits do not represent a big increase in the size of IS, which is estimated by intelligence agencies at 20,000 to 30,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq. But they do illustrate the risk that US-led efforts to crush Islamic State will end up winning it more followers. Islamic State s main Syrian bases are in the northern and eastern provinces of Raqqa and Deir Al-Zor, which borders Iraq. The group moved west into Aleppo in August, seizing territory from other insurgents and occupying strategic hilltops, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Observatory. The Islamic State s new recruits joined two of its training camps in the area. Abdulrahman, whose organization gathers information from all sides in the Syrian conflict, estimates the group now has more than 50,000 fighters in Syria alone. Four of the new recruits were Australian nationals and 15 of them non-syrian Arabs who crossed from Turkey, the Observatory said. The rest were Syrians, most of them formerly fighters with the Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda s official affiliate in the Syrian war and a rival of Islamic State. Obama declared his plans to establish a broad coalition against Islamic State last week. World powers meeting in Paris on Monday gave public backing to military action to fight the group in Iraq. Al- Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have both urged rival Islamist groups in Iraq and Syria to stop fighting each other and unite against the US-led alliance preparing to attack. Agencies Terror of Kenya Westgate siege haunts one year on NAIROBI: For Kenyan security guard Maurice Adembesa Ombisa the horror of Nairobi s Westgate mall massacre lasted just minutes: he was one of the first of the 67 people killed in the attack. But for his widow and two young children, who on Sunday mark the one year anniversary of the bloodbath four-day siege, the trauma of the killings is as bitter as ever. Our lives have changed forever, said Ombisa s widow Eunice Khavetsa, who now cares for her nine-year old son and seven-year old daughter alone. On a busy Saturday afternoon, the highrise shopping centre was crowded with hundreds of shoppers or friends meeting for a meal. Then four gunmen from Somalia s Al- Qaeda linked Shebab stormed the upmarket mall, hurling grenades and shooting scores in cold blood with AK-47 rifles. Women and children were hunted down in supermarket aisles and executed, in what the Shebab said was revenge for Kenya s sending of troops to fight the extremists in Somalia as part of an African Union force. Ombisa, who carried out security checks on cars entering the building, was earning a wage to support his family. He was shot soon after the men burst from the car, spraying bullets at anyone they could see. Life since has been extremely difficult, his 27-year old widow Khavetsa said, who lives in a simple tin hut home in one of Nairobi s crowded slum districts. She said that as her husband had been a new employee of the security firm. The family received no compensation-although a small amount of money was received from the Kenyan Red Cross which organized a public support fund. The children are now looking up to me for everything-from school fees, food to clothing-and I can barely afford house rent. Like a war zone Since losing her husband of eight years, she has struggled to cope. It s been a tough year, she said. My in-laws have deserted us, they don t even come to see the children. Miriam Okola, 29, said it s painful to recall the death of her husband, a driver who had been shopping in the large mall for his employer. Photographs of him bring back painful memories. My children have been bothering me, asking about their dad-to a point where I have been forced to put his photos away, Okola said, barely holding back her tears. Leah Njuki, who was working as a sales attendant, escaped unharmed from the attack, but with the mall closed since the attack-a large section collapsed during the four days of fighting and a fierce fire-she struggles to get by. I lost my job, and I haven t been lucky to get another one, the mother of one said. On Sunday, prayers will be held in places of worship, and a candle lit memorial and concert will take place, with video testimonies from survivors. It looked like a war zone, a massacre had taken place, said Abdul Haji, who ran into the mall to rescue people during the attack. What these people were doing in Westgate was the complete opposite of what Islam teaches us. I saw children who had been shot at, I saw young girls who had been killed, I saw elderly who had been killed. AFP NAIROBI: A file image grab shows shoppers taking cover inside the Westgate mall. Kenya will commemorate on September 21, 2014 the one year anniversary of the shopping centre attack that still haunts the country. AFP

INTERNATIONAL Israel warns EU against bad deal on Iran nuke JERUSALEM: Israel s Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz yesterday urged the European Union not to make a bad deal with Iran over its nuclear program, ahead of crucial talks. Steinitz suggested outgoing EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton may be in a rush to conclude a deal before she steps down at the end of this year. He also said the fight against Islamist extremists in Iraq and Syria should not harm efforts to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear bomb. Iran and world powers are preparing for new talks starting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week in New York. Western countries accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies. We appreciate Catherine Ashton s efforts, but the Iranians might tend to believe that if somebody has to finish his job on this date, then somebody will have extra motivation to try to conclude a deal, SEOUL: South Korean soldiers detained a US citizen trying to swim across the river border into North Korea-reportedly to meet leader Kim Jong-Un-the South s defense ministry said yesterday. A male American citizen was arrested last night while attempting to swim across the river to North Korea, a ministry spokesman told AFP, adding that he had been handed over to the relevant authorities. According to the Yonhap news agency, the man-believed to be in his late 20s or early 30s-told investigators from the state intelligence service that he had wanted to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Nobody at the US embassy was immediately available for comment. A government source, cited by Yonhap, said a border patrol had come across the man shortly before midnight as he lay exhausted on the southern bank of the Han River where it forms part of the western section of the North- South frontier. Attempted crossings of the heavily militarised border are rare and extremely dangerous. In September, a South Korean man who tried to swim to the North across the Imjin River section of the border was he said. I hope this is not the case. I hope that Catherine Ashton can say, OK, I ve tried but if the Iranians have shown no flexibility so far... maybe there is no deal, Steinitz said. We are deeply concerned... we feel the negotiation is going in the wrong direction, he added, without elaborating. Israel has long threatened military action against Iran to stop it obtaining nuclear weapons capability, and slammed world powers including its US ally for opening up talks with Iran last year. Steinitz urged world powers not to sideline the Iran issue as they concentrate on battling extremists from the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and Syria, echoing remarks made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week. Some people think let s clean the table, let s close the Iranian file, he said. Israel supports the coalition against (IS)... but not at the expense of the struggle against the Iranian nuclear project, he said. AFP S Korea detains American trying to swim to N Korea shot dead by South Korean troops manning a nearby guard post. The latest incident carries echoes of the case of another American, Evan Hunziker, who swam across the Yalu River from China to North Korea in 1996. Naked and apparently drunk, Hunziker purportedly undertook the swim as the result of a dare with a friend he had been drinking with. He was arrested in the North on espionage charges and detained for three months before his release was secured during a visit to Pyongyang by the then New Mexico congressman, Bill Richardson. North Korea currently has three American citizens in detention-kenneth Bae, Matthew Miller and Jeffrey Fowle. On Sunday, Miller was sentenced to six years hard labour for hostile acts against the regime, four months after he was arrested for allegedly ripping up his tourist visa at immigration. Bae, a Korean-American described by Pyongyang as a militant evangelist, was sentenced last year to 15 years of hard labor for seeking to topple the North s regime. Fowle, who entered the North in April as a tourist, is expected to be tried soon, following his arrest for reportedly leaving a Bible at a hotel. AFP FLORIDA: US President Barack Obama takes part in a briefing at US Central Command (CENTCOM) at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida yesterday. From left: National Security Advisory Susan Rice, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Obama, Commander of US Central Command, General Lloyd Austin, and Commander of US Special Operations Command General Joseph Votel. AFP Jihadists under pressure as Washington mulls strategy Obama trying to avoid another quagmire BAGHDAD: Elite Iraqi troops backed by US jets battled jihadists just south of Baghdad yesterday as Washington devised a strategy for expanded operations against the Islamic State group. President Barack Obama prepared to meet with US commanders to decide how to turn the tide on the most powerful and brutal jihadist group in recent history while keeping a promise not to drag America into another military quagmire. The White House scrambled to play down a suggestion by the top US officer that deploying ground forces was an option but expanded air strikes were already turning up the heat on the Islamic State (IS) group. According to Iraqi military and tribal leaders, US jets struck three IS targets in an area south of Baghdad which has been dubbed the triangle of death, killing at least four militants. A leader of the Janabi tribe in the flashpoint region of Jurf Al-Sakhr, less than 50 kilometers south of Baghdad, said Iraqi soldiers had fought IS militants until yesterday. The main focus was an area of Jurf Al-Sakhr called Fadhiliya. They fought deep into the night but the Iraqi army was not able to enter the place, a leader from the local Janabi tribe said. The US military issued a statement late Tuesday that spoke of three air strikes southwest of Baghdad but did not specify where. The Jurf al-sakhr region is seen as a key area because it sits on the Euphrates River between the major Sunni insurgent bastion of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, and the country s most revered Shiite holy sites south of the capital. Ground forces? The tribal leader and an army lieutenant said the push was led by the Golden Brigade, which is widely recognized as the best force in the country. Critics say it may be the only credible fighting force in what is sometimes derided as a checkpoint army. The brigade, which spearheaded an offensive the retake the country s largest dam north of Mosul last month, has been hopping from one key frontline to another. The US administration has said that its strategy in Iraq would involve helping to revamp an army it had not finished training when the eight-year occupation ended in 2011. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday that US military advisers could provide close-combat advising. But the White House insisted the idea of US troops in battle was a purely hypothetical scenario. The more than 160 air strikes launched by the US since August 8 have achieved some results, apparently forcing top IS leaders to cross the border back into neighboring Syria. On Tuesday, Kurdish peshmerga forces-which have been receiving military equipment from Washington and some of its Western alliesretook seven Christian villages east of Mosul with US air support. The villages had been emptied of their population during an IS offensive in August. According to a senior Kurdish leader, Roj Nuri Shaways, a top IS military commander known as Abu Abdullah was killed in the fighting. Calls have been mounting in Iraq for Washington to expand its air support to Sunni tribesmen fighting the jihadists, particularly in the town of Dhuluiyah, north of Baghdad. Global threat Yesterday, Obama is to sit down with General Lloyd Austin, chief of US Central Command at his Florida headquarters. The president plans to discuss the plan for building an international coalition to degrade and destroy (IS), White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. British and French planes have already started surveillance missions over Iraq. In Washington, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told US lawmakers Tuesday that plans were being laid to hit targets in Syria, where the IS group is holding Western hostages and has a stronghold in the city of Raqa. This plan includes targeted actions against ISIL safe havens in Syria, including its command and control, logistics capabilities, and infrastructure, Hagel told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Over the past month, IS sparked global outrage by releasing video footage of two US reporters and a British aid worker being beheaded. It also warned it would take the battle to America and its allies. A US court on Tuesday indicted a Yemeni-born US man for allegedly providing material support to IS by recruiting members for jihad in Syria. French lawmakers the same day approved a new antiterror bill aimed at preventing potential jihadists from travelling to Iraq or Syria. AFP WHO urges increased effort to fight Ebola, praises Cuba GENEVA: The commitment of Cuba is an example of the kind of international effort that is needed to strengthen the activities of response to the Ebola epidemic and strengthen national capacities, Margaret Chan, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said in an official statement issued at the headquarters of the WHO in Geneva. Chan added that Cuba is renown worldwide for its ability to train doctors and nurses, as well as for its generosity in helping other nations in its path towards progress. She also said that WHO welcomed the commitment to send 165 Cuban health professionals to face Ebola in West Africa. The support, announced on Friday in Geneva by the Cuban Health Minister Roberto Morales, includes doctors, nurses, epidemiologists, specialists in infection control and intensive care. The Cuban health professionals will be sent to Sierra Leone in the first week of October and will stay there for six months, Chan said, and noted that all of them have worked in Africa before. If we are to go to war against Ebola, we need the resources to fight it, said the director general of the WHO.

INTERNATIONAL French parliament approves jihadist travel ban PARIS: France s parliament yesterday approved a new anti-terror bill aimed at preventing potential jihadists from travelling to Iraq, Syria or elsewhere by confiscating their passports. The travel ban on French nationals could be imposed where there are serious reasons to believe that someone is planning to travel abroad to take part in terrorist activities, war crimes or crimes against humanity or in a theatre of operations of terrorist groups and in conditions likely to jeopardize public security upon their return to French territory, according to the text. Under the scheme the travel ban may be imposed for six months, renewable for up to two years. Someone placed under the order would have their passport and French identity card confiscated. Six months is a reasonable period because this is a serious measure, said Sebastien Pietrasanta, a deputy with the ruling Socialists, who introduced the bill. He was responding to an amendment put forward by the conservative opposition UMP party for an initial one-year travel ban. Anyone targeted by the new laws would have the right to legal redress, though the administration would not be able to reveal any classified information in relation to the case, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told parliament. The French move echoes plans under way in neighboring Britain where Prime Minister David Cameron wants to give border police powers to seize passports from suspected would-be jihadists at the border. His government is also drawing up measures to ban British nationals suspected of being jihadists from returningbut how this could be enforced is contentious. Violation of the new French rules would be punishable by three years in prison and a hefty fine, measures that may also deter those who do manage to sneak out from returning to France. According to Cazeneuve, around 930 French citizens have been travelling to and from Iraq and Syria recently, a 74 percent increase in eight months. Of those 36 were killed while overseas. Pietrasanta said the new measures would also save people from themselves, particularly young men and women who have just begun to be radicalized and who risk getting caught up in armed struggles. The minister said that in recent months some 70 departures from France, deemed suspect, could have been prevented had this legislation been in place. The draft law, which also targets messages posted on the Internet, is being rushed through the French parliament and is set to go to a single-round formal vote. AFP Sporadic explosions and gunfire rattle E Ukraine KIEV: Sporadic explosions and artillery fire rattled around the Ukrainian rebel stronghold of Donetsk yesterday, just a day after lawmakers offered temporary self rule to the separatists fighting in the east. The Ukrainian military said several people were killed and wounded in gunfire overnight in the flashpoint region, but gave no details and there was no immediate confirmation from local officials. Pro- Moscow rebels gave Kiev s apparent olive branch a cautious welcome but also defiantly insisted it would not stop their fight for full independence as part of Novorossiya ( New Russia ). Lawmakers unanimously approved the special status law just moments before they ratified a landmark pact with the European Union that steers Ukraine decisively away from Russia s sphere of influence. And Moscow, virulently opposed to Ukraine s pro-western shift, signaled it had no intention of backing down in the most serious standoff with the West since the Cold War. It announced plans on Tuesday to send more troops to Crimea, which it invaded and swiftly annexed in March, in apparent retaliation for US-led war games under way in western Ukraine. Rebels mull self-rule law Stop people dying The self-rule legislation and an amnesty law for fighters was drawn up as part of a peace plan signed by both Kiev and Moscow that is seen as the most significant push to end the five-month conflict in Ukraine s rustbelt. President Petro Poroshenko said Ukraine was now approaching a point at which people stop dying in the east and finally... have the chance to elect their own leaders. And we will have to come to an understanding with these leaders, bringing people peace, calm and harmony. A total of almost 2,900 people have been killed and at least 600,000 forced to flee their homes across the war-battered east, according to UN figures. And although the crisis may be abating, up to 30 civilians and Ukrainian servicemen have been killed since the September 5 truce, most in shelling around the rebel stronghold of Donetsk. Andrei Purgin, deputy prime minister of the selfproclaimed Donetsk People s Republic, said the rebels would study the legislation, describing it as a positive signal because it marks Kiev s return to reality. But he also said bluntly that Donbass no longer has anything to do with Ukraine. The special status legislation gives three years of limited selfrule to the separatist regions of both Donetsk and Lugansk and calls for local polls in December. It also guarantees the right for Russian to be used in all state institutions-a particularly sensitive issue in the mainly Russophone regions collectively known as Donbass. Another law grants amnesty to the insurgents and Ukrainian government forces over their actions during the conflict, although rights groups have alleged abuses by both sides that could be considered war crimes. Washington said the legislation underscored Kiev s continuing commitment to resolve the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine peacefully. Blueprint for transformation The European and Ukrainian parliaments held simultaneous votes on Tuesday to ratify a historic political and economic pact whose rejection by the former government last year triggered the current crisis. Poroshenko said the adoption of the association agreement was Ukraine s first step towards membership of the 28-nation bloc. Tell me, who will now dare to shut Ukraine s doors to Europe? said Poroshenko, who is heading to Washington for talks with US President Barack Obama today. EU leaders hailed it as a blueprint for Ukraine s transformation into a modern and prosperous European democracy. US State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said Ukraine had made history in the face of great challenges. But the occasion was muted by a decision to delay until 2016 the implementation of a free trade deal, an apparent concession to the Kremlin. The rejection of the broad EU pact by Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych in November set off the bloody chain of events that led to his ouster in February, Russia s subsequent seizure of Crimea and the unleashing of the revolt in the east. Moscow s denials of involvement have not spared it from waves of punishing Western sanctions that have left President Vladimir Putin more isolated than at any stage of his 15-year rule. Russia further unnerved its neighbors with the announcement of plans to boost troop numbers in Crimea because of what it described as the escalating Ukraine crisis and the buildup of foreign troops on its border. The United States and 14 other countries are currently staging military drills in western Ukraine and NATO earlier this month unveiled plans to boost its forces in eastern Europe in response to Russia s aggression. AFP PARIS: It s one of the worst kept secrets in French politics: Nicolas Sarkozy, who leapt to power in 2007 before suffering a humbling defeat five years later, is poised to make his comeback this week. After several years of will he-won t he, France s former bling-bling leader is expected to announce his return to the cutthroat political front-line despite being directly or indirectly involved in at least seven graft investigations. The energetic 59-year-old-who inspires hate and adoration in equal measure-is due to announce, any time between Friday and Sunday, that he is standing for the presidency of the centre-right opposition UMP party. A political heavyweight, the man who once told journalists they would never hear from him again if he lost the 2012 polls, will reemerge just as his one-time nemesis Francois Hollande struggles to contain an economic crisis that has seen his popularity sink to record lows. But experts warn that a Sarkozy comeback will be no easy feat. He had gradually forged the image of a wise man who stayed on the edge of the river and who only made comments every now and then, says Pascal Perrineau from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris. But if he becomes UMP president, he will be asked for his opinion on everything every morning. There is a risk he will be worn down. KIEV: A protestor wearing a mask shouts as he climbs a gate next to a line of Ukrainian National Guard servicemen blocking the entrance to the President Palace in Kiev, as activists from far-right nationalist movements protested against the adoption of laws that give extra self-rule powers to some rebel-held territories in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions on eastern Ukraine. AFP Cardinals reject pope s message of hope for remarried couples ROME: Pope Francis s hopes of easing the Catholic Church s tough stance on remarried couples has hit a stumbling block, with five cardinals coming out firmly against reform ahead of a key meeting, Italian media reported yesterday. The Argentine pontiff, whose defense of the poor and vulnerable has stirred up the winds of change within the centuriesold institution, rocked traditionalists last weekend by marrying couples in Saint Peter s Basilica who had been living in sin according to the Church s rule book. Of the 20 couples gathered in the heart of the Vatican to take their vows with the leader of the Roman Catholic Church s blessing, some had already been cohabiting and one bride was a single mother. The debate began in earnest in February after Francis s close ally German Cardinal Walter Kasper, tapped by the 77-year-old pope to address the world s cardinals on hot-button issues, sparked controversy by calling for a more merciful approach to remarried Catholics who want to take communion. In a mass in his private chapel, Francis also said the Church must accompany... not condemn those whose marriages break down. Out of the uproar among conservatives has come a book, Remaining in the Truth of Christ, which brings together the opinions of five leading Catholics including Kasper s most vocal critic Gerhard Ludwig Muller, prefect of the doctrinal watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith-and four other experts. AFP France s scandal-hit Sarkozy poised to make a comeback investigations that involve him in one form or another. He was charged in July with corruption and influence peddling related to his alleged attempt to interfere in judicial proceedings in another case. There are also legal questions around the financing of his 2007 and 2012 campaigns which could come back to bite him. If he becomes UMP president... Sarkozy s political agenda will be constantly pushed around by an investigation into this case or that case, by a judge summoning him for questioning, says Perrineau. And while his supporters are desperate for him to return to politics, the wider French population doesn t really care. A poll released on Tuesday by OpinionWay found that 64 percent of French people are not interested in his upcoming comeback announcement. Can t be the same At a time of near-zero growth and record unemployment, all eyes will nevertheless be on whether Sarkozy will come back a changed man after a fiveyear term that saw him pull off audacious foreign policy moves but broadly fail on the economic front, particularly on jobs. Rather than coming down, unemployment rose to close to 10 percent on Sarkozy s watch at the height of the financial crisis, and more than double that rate among young people. His bling-bling image also shocked the country after he celebrated his 2007 victory at a posh Paris restaurant and went straight for a holiday on his billionaire friend s yacht. The same? asks L Express weekly on its front-page photo collage of Sarkozy in 2014 and back in 2007. Gone is the 2012 worn-down candidate. The political animal is back, wrote the magazine. AFP A lot of legal woes Sarkozy has largely remained out of the public eye since his electoral defeat, only making appearances in carefully orchestrated outings such as at the concerts of his singer-wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. He has been working the highly-paid conference circuit in New York, London, Rio de Janeiro, Doha and Amman. But the son of a Hungarian immigrant still remains hooked on public office. Many in the embattled and divided UMP party are loyally devoted to Sarkozy, but he also has a lot of rivals within. Chief among these is Alain Juppe, a popular politician who served as defense and then foreign minister under Sarkozy and has announced he will stand for UMP primaries planned for 2016, with a view to running for president the following year. Polls suggest Juppe is the favorite among the French even if Sarkozy remains the most popular within his own camp. Father-of-four Sarkozy will also have to juggle ongoing PARIS: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy jogs in Paris. AFP

INTERNATIONAL News i n b r i e f Pakistan air strikes kill 40 insurgents ISLAMABAD: Pakistan s military said yesterday it killed 40 insurgents and destroyed five of their hideouts in fresh air attacks as part of a major offensive against the Taleban in the northwest. Pakistan began the long-awaited push to clear the bases from North Waziristan district, on the Afghan border, in June after a bloody attack on Karachi airport finally sank faltering peace talks with the rebels. A military statement said that in precise aerial strikes five hideouts and ammunition dumps were destroyed and forty insurgents including foreigners were killed in the villages of Nawe Kili and Zaram Asar, north of Dattakhel in North Waziristan. The conflict zone is offlimits to journalists, so there is no way to independently verify the number and identity of those killed. Air strikes, artillery, mortars and ground troops have all been used to retake territory in North Waziristan, which had become a haven for fighters with the Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant outfits. The semi-autonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border have for years been a hideout for Islamist militants of all stripes-including Al-Qaeda and the homegrown TTP as well as foreign fighters such as Uzbeks and Uighurs. Two killed as Tunisian forces, militants clash TUNIS: Tunisian police killed two Islamist militants in clashes near the Algerian border, the interior and defense ministries said yesterday, after Tunis raised the security alert level before elections next month. Since April, thousands of troops have been deployed in Tunisia s mountainous Chaambi region on the border with Algeria, where Islamist fighters - some of them linked to Al-Qaeda - have taken refuge. Security and army forces killed two terrorists in the Mezrgue Chams area of Kasserine city. One of them was likely an Algerian, the defense and interior ministries said in a joint statement. Security forces seized several weapons, including two Kalashnikov assault rifles and two hand grenades, the statement added. Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa said on Tuesday that Tunisian security forces were heightening security across the North African country with special focus in border areas monitoring arms smuggling and Islamist groups. Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jedou last month warned of a militant threat to disrupt the elections and derail the country s democratic progress. King of Sweden escapes unhurt from an accident STOCKHOLM: King Carl Gustav XVI of Sweden escaped unhurt from a car accident in Stockholm yesterday, according to the Swedish Royal Court. The car that the King was travelling in had a minor collision at Nockeby bridge just outside the Drottningholm Palace, the court said in a statement, adding that the monarch was unhurt and continued on a journey to the north of Sweden after the accident. Sweden is one of world s safest countries to drive in-according to traffic accident statistics-but the country s royal family have had some notable mishaps on the road. A district known as The Kings Bend (Kungens Kurva), southwest of the capital-home to the world s largest Ikea store-was named after the current monarch s grandfather, Gustaf V, whose car wound up in a ditch there in 1946 when his driver took the turn too fast. The King s Roundabout in the southern town of Norrkoeping, was named after Carl Gustav XVI who collided with another car there in 2005 when driving his BMW. 7.1-magnitude quake hits off Guam: USGS WELLINGTON: A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit off the Pacific island of Guam yesterday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, but no tsunami warning was issued as the tremor was too deep. The quake struck in the sea at a depth of 133 kilometers some 48 kilometers northwest of the US territory s capital Hagatna. A destructive tsunami was not generated because this earthquake is located too deep inside the earth, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said. Guam, the largest island in Micronesia with a population of 180,000, is no stranger to earthquakes, but tsunamis hit only rarely. The largest quake in recent years hit in 1993. Although no one died in the 7.7-magnitude tremor, several people were injured and buildings suffered structural damage. Geoscience Australia said yesterday s quake, which it estimated at a magnitude of 6.6, was not shallow enough to have generated a tsunami. It gave Guam a good shake but not enough to do much damage, no damage likely, seismologist Daniel Jaksa said. Jaksa added that the Guam tremor hit about three minutes after a 6.0 magnitude quake struck off the Pacific nation of Vanuatu but the two were unrelated. Yemeni troops battle Shiite rebels, 20 dead SANAA: At least 20 people were killed when Shiite Muslim rebels clashed with army soldiers and allied tribesmen in an outer suburb of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, tribal and medical sources said yesterday. Tribal sources told Reuters the rebels had gained control of Wadi Dhahr suburb in the fighting, the latest in an escalating conflict between the Sunnidominated government and Houthi Shiites fighting for more territory and control in the north. The conflict is further destabilizing a country struggling with a range of threats, including a separate secessionist movement in the south and an al Qaeda insurgency. Fighting has also broken out in northern Al-Jawf province, where 22 people were killed on Tuesday, following weeks of sometimes bloody anti-government protests by Houthi supporters in Sanaa. Tribal sources said that at least 12 Houthi gunmen and gunmen from the Sunni Islah group were killed in yesterday s clashes. At least two medical sources said eight army soldiers died, after the Houthis stopped units heading to the suburbs to halt the rebels advance. A Houthi leader said the rebels had destroyed two of the army s armored vehicles. SANAA: Yemeni women wave national flags and flash the sign of victory during a pro-government sit-in to protest against the climate of violence. AFP Clashes in Bangladesh after top Islamist spared death sentence Sayedee to spend the rest of his natural life in jail DHAKA: Bangladesh s highest court yesterday commuted the death sentence on a top Islamic preacher, triggering angry protests by both his Islamist supporters and secular opponents and clashes with police. In a surprise ruling, the Supreme Court said 74-yearold Delwar Hossain Sayedee should spend the rest of his natural life in jail for crimes during the 1971 liberation war with Pakistan. Sayedee s death penalty passed last year by a war-crimes tribunal triggered the deadliest political violence in the country s history, and thousands of police were deployed before yesterday s ruling. We had expected that the court would uphold his death sentence, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told AFP, adding that he was unhappy with the verdict. Alam said Sayedee was a war criminal and torturer of women who had forcibly converted minority Hindus to Islam during the nine-month conflict, which led to the creation of Bangladesh from former East Pakistan. Violence erupted between police and hundreds of secular demonstrators who converged on Dhaka University after yesterday s verdict to protest at perceived leniency. Armed with batons, police fired tear gas and a water cannon to try to disperse the demonstrators who shouted slogans and threw stones at officers. This is part of negotiations between the government and the Jamaat-e- Islami party, said protest leader Imran Sarker, whom police said was among seven people injured. Secular activists have long called for the banning of Jamaat, the country s largest Islamist party of which Sayedee was the vice president, accusing its leaders of atrocities committed during the war. Jamaat, blamed for last year s violence, called a two-day nationwide strike starting from today, saying Sayedee was prosecuted on false and fabricated charges. Some 2,000 of its activists clashed with police in the northwestern city of Rajshahi, where officers fired rubber bullets and tear gas, deputy police commissioner Nahidul Islam said. They staged protests in a regimented way and threw several cocktail bombs, forcing police to retaliate. We also arrested about 20 Jamaat activists, he said. Clashes also broke out between Jamaat protesters and police in DHAKA: Bangladeshi police use teargas to try to break up a demonstration against a court ruling commuting the death sentence of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee yesterday. AFP several other towns, leaving more than 40 people injured, online news portal Banglanews24 said. Popular preacher Sayedee shot to prominence in the 1980s after he started preaching in some of the Muslim-majority nation s top mosques. In his heyday he would draw hundreds of thousands to his sessions and CDs of his speeches were top sellers. Many of his supporters even claimed to have seen his face on the moon in a mark of his saintly status. His conviction in February 2013 on eight charges of murder, rape and persecution of Hindus sparked riots by thousands of supporters nationwide, leaving more than 100 people dead. Sayedee s lawyer said he was dissatisfied with the latest ruling, adding his client should have been acquitted on all charges. The evidence against him does not warrant conviction or sentencing even for a day, lawyer Tajul Islam said. Sayedee is among about a dozen Islamic leaders to have been convicted by the much-criticized tribunal set up by the secular government to investigate crimes during the 1971 war. Islamists say its trials are more about settling scores than delivering justice. The Islamists convicted so far were all SRINAGAR: Kashmiri people wade along a water-logged street in the Lal Chowk area of Srinagar yesterday. The main city in Indian Kashmir has drowned completely under floodwaters, a senior official said, with the deadly inundation now affecting about two million people in neighboring Pakistan and threatening its all-important cotton industry. AFP SRINAGAR: Parminder Singh carefully lifted one of the bloated bodies from his boat as he described the horrors confronting Indian Kashmir residents after the worst floods in a century. After days of trying and with waters receding, Singh finally managed to return to his house in Indian Kashmir s main city of Srinagar on Tuesday, but his heart sank on arrival. My house was collapsed, gone, and I saw limbs floating under the debris, a pale and shaking Singh said as he placed the body, one of two he had discovered on his trip, on an embankment. Singh, a businessman, said he was not at home in the neighborhood of Jawahar Nagar when the floods hit on September 7, destroying buildings and leaving his family fighting for their lives. I tried very hard to find somebody to help but the officials said: What can we do? We are helpless ourselves, he said. Singh did not want to talk in detail about his family, whose fate is unknown, but a friend pulled out a postcard-sized photo of Singh s two children no more than five-years-old. Army and other emergency officials have battled to rescue tens of thousands of people stranded by the floods, triggered by heavy monsoon rains, that hit the northern Himalayan region and neighboring Pakistan. More than 450 people have been killed in both countries and hundreds of villages submerged including in the Kashmir Valley, the centre of an insurgency against Indian rule of the disputed region. Rotting carcasses The waters have now receded, revealing broken homes, mounds of rubbish and dead animals. The stench of rotting carcasses is overwhelming, and doctors fear an outbreak of disease from the dirty waters left behind. On a boat ride through Singh s Jawahar Nagar suburb, residents who have refused to leave their partly inundated homes called out for medical supplies and fresh water. Dogs, left on the roofs of flooded homes when their owners were evacuated, howled. Elsewhere in the normally picturesque city of one million people, at least three shallow graves were seen on embankments. A girl s high school in the Hyderpora area has been turned into a relief centre, staffed entirely by residents and Kashmiris who have flown into the region to help, with no government officials in sight. In a day I removed 30 (dead) dogs, one horse, two cows and six truckloads of garbage, said volunteer Bilal Bhat, who has been trying to clean up his neighborhood, after gaining use of a boat. Several hundred people are sleeping in the courtyard of the school, and were receiving basic medical assistance, water and other relief. Swati Jha, with aid group AmeriCares, said the greatest fear now was an outbreak of disease, adding the stagnant waters must be pumped from the city to prevent this happening. The most urgent need is to clean the water and burn the carcasses. We are looking at diseases like cholera and typhoid, said Jha as she and other doctors pored over a map in a bid to try and reach hard-hit villages outside the city. Authorities have been accused of moving accused of being leaders of pro-pakistani militias who were behind the murder of thousands of people including some of Bangladesh s top professors, writers, journalists and doctors. Last December one of Sayedee s top colleagues was hanged after the tribunal found him guilty of war crimes. Rights groups say legal procedures at the tribunal fall short of international standards. The government rejects the accusations, saying the trials are needed to heal the wounds of the war that it claims killed three million people. Independent estimates put the number of deaths between 300,000 and 500,000. AFP New Qaeda wing in South Asia claims a major attack ISLAMABAD: Al-Qaeda s South Asia wing has claimed responsibility for hijacking a Pakistani naval ship and trying to use it to fire rockets at US vessels in the Arabian Sea, in the first major assault by the newly created group. The SITE monitoring service quoted its spokesman, Usama Mahmoud, as saying a group of militants had succeeded in seizing control of the Pakistani frigate PNS Zulfiqar and tried to use it to attack nearby US vessels. These mujahideen had taken control of the Pakistani ship, and they were advancing towards the American fleet when the Pakistani army stopped them, he said. As a result, the mujahideen, the lions of Allah and benefactors of the Ummah, sacrificed their lives for Allah, and the Pakistani soldiers spoiled their hereafter by giving up their lives in defence of the enemies of the Ummah the Americans. SITE said Mahmoud s statement also provided a picture and a detailed layout of the PNS Zulfiqar. The navy and the army s press wing were not immediately available for comment. The naval yard on Pakistan s Arabian Sea coast is a strategically important facility at the centre of U.S.- Pakistani security, anti-terrorism and anti-trafficking cooperation. The foiled attack comes at a time when regional powers are already concerned about stability as USled forces continue to withdraw from neighboring Afghanistan, potentially creating a security gap for insurgents to exploit. The attack, which lasted several hours, also shows just how much the Islamist militants are capable of striking at the heart of Pakistan s vast security apparatus and raises questions about the nuclear-armed nation s ability to guard its installations. Reuters Floating bodies, shallow graves in flood-hit Kashmir SHUJA ABAAD: In this aerial photograph taken from a Pakistan Army helicopter, a building is surrounded by floodwaters in Shuja Abaad, some 40 kms from Multan. AFP too slowly to help stricken residents since the disaster unfolded, with some rescue officials even attacked by angry residents. The state s top official, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, has conceded authorities have been overwhelmed by the scale of the floods, which he said were the region s worst in 109 years. AFP

INTERNATIONAL Border rows, railways likely topics of China-India talks NEW DELHI: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in India yesterday as the two Asian giants take steps to boost commercial ties. China has pledged to invest billions of dollars in Indian railways, industrial parks and roads, but ties between the nuclear-armed nations have long been held back by distrust, mostly over their contested border. Here are some facts about India-China relations and issues likely to come up for discussion: Border dispute China beat India in a brief border war in 1962 and relations have remained sour over their still-disputed 3,500-km frontier. India has reported a rise in incursions by Chinese troops in recent years, charges China denies. Modi is expected to take a tougher stance with neighboring countries, including China. In the first such signal, Modi s government eased restrictions on building roads and military facilities along the border to boost defense preparedness and close the gap on China s superior transport network. Visas China often refuses to stamp visas on Indian passports from disputed territories and instead staples them to the page, a practice that infuriates India. China has refused to issue visas to Indians from Arunachal Pradesh state, where the two countries fought the 1962 war, saying they do not need permission to travel to China. China claims the whole of Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls South Tibet. In 2012, India started stamping its own map on visas it issues to holders of new Chinese passports that contain a map depicting disputed territory within China s borders. The visa issue is likely to be on the agenda during Xi s visit. Trade ties China is India s largest trading partner, with two-way trade at about $66 billion last year. However, $51 billion of that came from Chinese exports. India hopes Chinese leader makes maiden India visit, seeks to reset ties Xi sets tone for future relations AHMEDABAD: India s new prime minister rolled out the red carpet for Xi Jinping in his home town yesterday, as the Chinese president began a maiden visit with both sides seeking to reset the relationship between Asia s rival superpowers. Narendra Modi has pulled out all the stops for Xi s arrival, organizing an intimate riverside dinner in Ahmedabad, the main city in his home state of Gujarat, where giant billboards in Chinese, Gujarati and English have been put up to welcome him. With both sides eager to emphasize cooperation over competition, Xi said in an article published yesterday that the world s factory and the world s back office made a winning combination, welcoming Indian businesses to China and pledging much-needed funding for infrastructure development. Despite his hardline nationalist reputation, Modi moved quickly to engage with China after winning office this year on a campaign promise to revive India s flagging economy, which experts say has been held back by weak infrastructure. But Modi has also made clear he sees China as a competitor and intends to pursue a more muscular foreign policy than the previous centreleft Congress party government. During his election campaign, he said that China would have to shed what he called its expansionist mindset, although he also spoke of his admiration for China s economic success. The neighbors, now nuclear-armed, fought a brief but annual two-way commerce of more than $65 billion. But Indian data shows the trade deficit with China has soared to more than $40 billion from just $1 billion in 2001-02. Experts said China would seek to allay Indian concerns over the widening deficit as it tries to cement its relationship with its western neighbor at a time of heightened tensions with Japan and several Southeast Asian nations over disputed sea territory. new investments from China will partly help offset its trade deficit. China plans to invest about $7 billion in two industrial parks in western India, media reported this month. India will also ask its neighbor to set up manufacturing units for exports as it seeks to revive its economy. Railways India has the world s fourth-longest rail network but has added only 11,000 km of track since independence in 1947. China, in comparison, added 14,000 km of track in the five years to 2011. China is expected to pledge billions of dollars of investment in India s rail network that can help reform the now-decrepit British-built system. Nuclear ties In 2013, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the two countries would cooperate in civil nuclear energy. Leaders of the two energy-starved countries may discuss the possibility of a civil nuclear cooperation agreement, Indian officials said. China has committed $6.5 billion to finance the construction of a major nuclear power project in Karachi, the financial hub of neighboring Pakistan, India s traditional foe. But Beijing might make a push to supply India with its new-generation reactors, The Hindu newspaper said. Reuters AHMEDABAD: China s President Xi Jinping (center), Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Xi s wife Peng Liyuan pose for photograph as they arrive in Ahmedabad. AFP bloody war in 1962 over the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh in the eastern Himalayas, and are still embroiled in a bitter dispute over the territory. Border issues are on the agenda for Xi s visit, but both sides say they want to focus on economic cooperation, with India seeking Chinese funding for an overhaul of its dilapidated railways and cooperation in nuclear energy. China-India relations have become one of the most dynamic and promising bilateral relations in the 21st century, wrote Xi in the article in The Hindu daily. China is India s biggest trading partner, with Tibet protesters detained Modi enjoys a close relationship with Japan s President Shinzo Abe, and analysts have said he may be able to leverage Beijing s rivalry with Tokyo to secure Chinese investment. China s consul-general in Mumbai Liu Youfa told the Times of India daily ahead of the visit that Xi would commit investments of over $100 billion, pointing out that this was three times the amount pledged by Japan during a visit by Modi earlier this month. Xi heads to India after visiting the Maldives and Sri Lanka as China increasingly asserts its influence in a region that has traditionally come under India s sphere of influence. Before flying out yesterday morning, Xi launched the construction of a $1.4 billion port city in Sri Lanka s capital, a strong reminder of Beijing s growing foothold in the Indian Ocean region. Colombo has sought to allay Indian fears by insisting its relations with Beijing are based on commercial rather than security considerations. But some in New Delhi still fear China s growing engagement in the region is a deliberate strategy to encircle India. The presence in India of the Dalai Lama, Tibet s exiled spiritual leader, is another source of tension between India and China. Police in New Delhi detained around 10 Tibetan protesters outside the Chinese embassy yesterday morning. Another Tibetan was detained at the former hermitage of independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, now a museum, which Xi was due to visit later. The man, who was carrying a Tibetan flag, said he was there to tell Xi to free Tibet. Xi will today hold formal talks with Modi and India s President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi and sign a series of agreements expected to include nuclear cooperation and new Chinesefunded industrial parks. But it will be an opportunity for the two leaders-who met in July at a BRICS summit in Brazil-to talk in a less formal setting. Modi, who celebrated his 64th birthday yesterday, has planned a riverside stroll and private dinner in a luxury tent before Xi flies to New Delhi. Workers were out in force on the roads leading to Ahmedabad airport overnight, repainting white lines and leveling the surface. But not everything went smoothly. Xi s Air China plane sat on the tarmac for several minutes as workers appeared to struggle to attach stairs to allow him and his wife Peng Liyuan to disembark. AFP Taiwan shows force in biggest naval exercise HUALIEN: Taiwan s navy fired anti-submarine rockets and guns yesterday simulating their response if China launched an invasion, as part of the island s biggest naval drill in 25 years. The event was presided over by President Ma Ying-jeou and staged primarily in the coastal waters off the eastern Hualien county. A total of 88 vessels were mobilized during the event, which is part of the five-day Han Kuang 30 (Han Glory 30) war game that began on Monday. By the number of warships, it is the biggest naval drill for 25 years, defence ministry spokesman David Lo said. The exercise, which is held annually, usually features around 50 vessels, Vice Admiral Huang Shu-kuang said. This year the war games included a scenario where Taiwan was facing attack by Chinese invaders and featured a simulated submarine ambush on the naval forces, as well as staged attacks by air and other ships. The scenario is multiple threats by the enemy from the air, the surface and under the sea, Huang said. At the end of the drill, Ma reviewed the fleet in a rare grand maritime parade. Ties between Taiwan and China have improved markedly since 2008 after Ma f the China-friendly Kuomintang party came to power on platform of ramping up trade and tourism with China. But China still refuses to renounce its use of force against Taiwan should the island declare formal independence. Taiwan and China split in 1949 at the end of a civil war. AFP HUALIEN: A rocket fires from a US-made Perry-class frigate during the Han Kuang drill at sea near eastern Hualien yesterday. AFP XINJIANG: Foreign diplomats from countries including Germany, Britain and Canada who had travelled to observe the proceedings of the trial of Ilham Tohti, a former economics professor at a university in Beijing, gather outside after they were barred from entering the Urumqi Intermediate People s court in Urumqi yesterday. AFP Uighur s professor charged for separatism BEIJING: A prominent Uighur academic charged with separatism rejected evidence presented by Chinese prosecutors yesterday on the first day of a trial that has drawn criticism from international judicial and human rights activists. Authorities in China s western Xinjiang region say Ilham Tohti, an economics professor who championed the rights of the region s Muslim Uighur people, had promoted its independence, serious allegations which carry the maximum penalty of death. Tohti s case, which has attracted high-level concern in the United States and the European Union, is seen as an extension of a government crackdown on dissent in Xinjiang, where tension between Uighurs and majority Han Chinese has led to violence. Prosecutors essentially finished presenting evidence against Tohti, including testimony from his former students, his lawyer, Li Fangping said, rejecting it as made under duress. Most of the students said Professor Tohti had separatist goals or intentions, Li told Reuters by telephone after the first day in court in Xinjiang s capital, Urumqi. We believe they weren t trustworthy statements, that they were made under pressure, Li said, adding that Tohti refused to accept the testimony. Seven of Tohti s students, who had worked on a Uighur-language website he managed, were also detained after his Jan. 15 detention in Beijing. Tohti and his student were sent to Urumqi, despite his lawyers petitions to have the trial transferred to Beijing where he lived and worked. Beijing blames a series of violent attack in Xinjiang and around the country on Islamist militants, who it says want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. Tohti, who taught at Beijing s Minzu University, which specializes in ethnic minority studies, has said he never associated with any terrorist organization or foreign-based group and has relied only on pen and paper to diplomatically request human rights and legal rights for Uighurs. International outcry Police set-up a two-block cordon around the court in Urumqi and blocked access to reporters and a group of at least nine Western diplomats who sought to observe the trial, one diplomat told Reuters by telephone. One said authorities had told the diplomats, from countries including the United States, Britain, France and Germany, that they had not applied for access in time, LEGAZPI: Lava cascaded down the Philippines most active volcano yesterday as authorities rushed to evacuate thousands ahead of a possible deadly eruption. Mostly women, children and the elderly carrying bags of clothes were hauled out of farming villages near Mayon volcano s slopes on board army trucks and minibuses. Soldiers went from house to house asking residents to evacuate, after authorities on Monday raised the third highest alert in a five-step scale, meaning a full-scale eruption is possible within weeks. Before dawn yesterday, Mayon s crater glowed red as molten rocks flowed as far as halfway down its slopes. The volcano s worldrenowned perfect cone appeared to have been deformed, swollen with lava that had risen from the Earth s core. At least 8,000 of the target 50,000 people had been moved to temporary shelters, with the operation expected to run for three days, regional civil defense director Bernardo Alejandro said. However he said the evacuation operation was sapping precious disaster-relief funds though the trial date was only confirmed by Tohti s lawyers on Friday. A photo obtained by Reuters of the scene near the courthouse showed police with riot shields and batons setting up sixfoot tall poster-like barricades with phrases invoking openness and unity. Let the world understand Xinjiang, let Xinjiang go out to the world, one of the posters read. China s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, reiterated at a regular press briefing that China s judicial organs will try the relevant case on the basis of facts in accordance with the law. But Tohti s prosecution prompted an international outcry. The United States and the European Union have called for Tohti s release, and his lawyers have decried judicial abuses and mistreatment, from his being incommunicado in detention to the withholding of food for more than a week at a time. We reiterate our calls for Chinese authorities to release Professor Tohti and the students who were detained with him, a US Embassy spokesperson told Reuters....His arrest silenced an important Uighur voice that peacefully promoted harmony and understanding among China s ethnic groups, particularly Uighurs, the spokesperson said, adding that China needed to differentiate between peaceful dissent and violent extremism. China says extremist groups in bordering south and central Asian countries are spurring the violence in Xinjiang and around China, though the government has produced little evidence and experts question the extent of the links. Activists counter that the government s repressive policies, including controls on Islam, have provoked unrest pitting Uighurs against China s ethnic Han majority. Tohti has repeatedly denied the charges he faces, which provide for a sentence of 10 years to life in prison, or a maximum punishment of death in extreme cases. The ruling Communist Party tightly controls courts and guilty verdicts in such cases are typically a foregone conclusion. Human Rights Watch has called the trial a travesty of justice and the exiled World Uyghur Congress said his prosecution would only intensify ethnic conflict. China hopes that by charging Ilham Tohti it can threaten Uighur intellectuals of conscience to accept and spread China s policies of enslavement, Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the group, said in an emailed statement. Reuters Filipinos evacuated; volcano spews lava and manpower in Albay province, which is regularly battered by typhoons at this time of year. The province can sustain them (in evacuation centres) for not more than a month... we cannot exhaust all our disaster funds on Mayon, Alejandro said. The deadliest and most powerful of the roughly 20 typhoons that batter the Philippines every year happen towards the end of the year, bringing floods, landslides and storm surges to eastern provinces such as Albay that face the Pacific Ocean. State volcanology agency director Renato Solidum said more magma was moving up the crater each day, although for the time being the alert level would remain at three. Level five means an eruption is occurring. The 2,640-metre (8,070-foot) Mayon, located about 330 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of Manila, is a draw for local and foreign tourists but an enduring danger for anyone getting too close. Four foreign tourists and their local tour guide were killed when Mayon last erupted, in May 2013. AFP

NEWS Ooredoo under fire for firing Kuwaiti... Continued from Page 1 State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Al- Abdullah Al-Sabah said in a statement that the government is aware of the sudden sacking of a number of Kuwaiti employees by a telecom company. He said the government will implement the law that requires private sector companies to employ a certain percentage of Kuwaitis, particularly in light of constitutional articles that consider employment of citizens a must. Sheikh Mohammad thanked national firms like Zain, National Bank of Kuwait and others for offering to employ the sacked Kuwaitis. Meanwhile, Shiite MP Abdulhameed Dashti launched a campaign against Ooredoo, saying that Kuwaitis do not want to see the company s officials in Kuwait. MP Faisal Al- Kandari called for implementing the law against companies that dismiss Kuwaiti employees, including refusing to renew their contracts. Kandari said the Kuwaiti government Continued from Page 1 There have been instances of Palestinians collaborating out of political conviction. Most embarrassing to Hamas, the son of the group s co-founder Sheikh Hassan Youssef spied for Israel between 1997 and 2007, dubbed the Green Prince. Now in the US, Mosab Yousef later wrote that he did so in part out of revulsion at Hamas actions. But the large majority of collaborators are believed to do so because of blackmail or financial gain. Everything starts and ends with money, said an operative from Israel s domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet, which runs Palestinian informants. Many are recruited at Erez, Israel s border crossing with Gaza, when they seek an entry permit, said the operative, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the issue with the media. On the Gaza side of Erez, a large sign put up by Hamas warns travelers against being recruited by Israelis. An AP reporter this week witnessed firsthand how the Israeli military uses access to Israel through Erez to get information from Palestinians. On the Israel side outside the crossing terminal, a Palestinian businessman who had just entered from Gaza sat waiting for his brother, who was crossing with him but was held up by border officials inside the terminal. A uniformed army lieutenant speaking Arabic approached the man and promised to help his brother, but first asked him dozens of questions about life in Gaza, from the number of factories damaged in the latest war, to the mood on the streets and power supply. The questioning - casual in tone - lasted about 15 minutes, and the man answered with little hesitation. In the end, the officer insisted on taking the man s mobile phone number. The brother emerged soon after. Hamas Interior Ministry, which is in charge of security, says it has executed 12 collaborators since 2007 after closed-door trials. Rights groups say another 53 alleged collaborators were gunned down by Hamas militants in that same period. Often, they were dragged out of prisons where they had been detained on suspicion of spying and were shot. The husband of the widow who spoke to the AP was recruited around a decade ago, when Israel still directly controlled Gaza before its withdrawal from the tiny Mediterranean coastal territory in 2005. The man once worked in Israel as a garbage collector, at a time when thousands of Gazans were allowed to enter Israel daily for Americana says top shareholder... Continued from Page 1 proposals to acquire the company and the firm had not received any offers. Saudi Arabia s Savola Group said on Aug 13 it had held preliminary talks with one of Americana s major shareholders about a potential deal. On Tuesday it disclosed it had hired JP Morgan to advise it. A joint offer from private equity firms KKR & Co and CVC Capital Partners and a bid from a third interested party could be lodged by a deadline for second-round bids in mid-october, sources told Reuters. Americana, which has a market value of around $4.3 billion, added in yesterday s statement that it had requested trade in has been trying to convince citizens to seek jobs in the private sector after the limitations in the public sector and the company s decision has badly hurt such measures. MP Askar Al-Enezi said the National Assembly must not let such a decision pass without a penalty. MP Humoud Al- Hamdan said amendments must be introduced to existing laws to prevent the sacking of Kuwaitis by private companies. MP Saud Al-Huraiji said MPs will seek the use of constitutional, monitoring and legislative tools to prevent the sacking of Kuwaiti employees. He said that the government is required to pay the salaries of all dismissed Kuwaitis until they find suitable jobs. The Youth Association of Kuwait also issued a statement on the matter, calling on the government and parliament to work together to enact laws that protect employment in the private sector, especially that fresh graduates are hesitant to work in this sector out of fear of termination and low job security. Widow offers insight into Gaza spying work. But his permit was revoked because of his involvement in a car theft, his wife said. His wife began making frequent trips to neighboring Egypt to buy goods to sell in Gaza. When he tried to do the same, Israeli security agents stopped him on the Gaza side of the border. They offered him his Israel work permit back in exchange for collaboration, the wife told the AP. Later, his wife grew suspicious because he was frequently going up on the roof of their house to make phone calls. When she confronted him, he confessed and told her, I am not hurting anyone. I just give them a phone number, a name or information on a tunnel. She did not join her husband in collaborating until 2008, when she was allowed to accompany one of their children being treated at an Israeli hospital. She was asked to go to the hospital s security office, and there an Israeli gave her money to buy presents for herself and her children. A few days later, he gave her $14,000 along with instructions to leave the cash in various drop points around Gaza to pay other informants. We left money under rocks, in garbage bins and by walls, she said. Shortly before their arrest in 2011, she said, the husband received a call from the Israelis, who described a car to him and asked him to head immediately to the main road outside his home and wait for it. When he saw the car, he called the Israelis and reported that two people were in it. More than an hour later, she said, the Israelis bombed the car, killing its occupants - apparently militants. During the last round of Israel-Hamas fighting in 2012, several senior Hamas figures were killed in an airstrike, and the husband and five other alleged collaborators were pulled from prison by masked men and shot to death at a Gaza intersection. The body of at least one of the six was also dragged in the street by a motorcycle, though it s not known if it was that of the husband. The widow was convicted in a Hamas court and sentenced to seven years in prison. She was pardoned in December to look after her children. Now she struggles to raise her children with little money. She did not speak of being harassed because of her conviction, but said: the neighbors give me insincere smiles, but I know what they are thinking of us. She reflected little about the rights or wrongs of working with Israel - showing a mix of denial, a desire to defend her husband s reputation and a relief that the fear of those years was over. My husband was a kind man, she insisted. He would never hurt anyone. AP its stock be halted to protect it from the potential impact of inaccurate information. Separately, Kuwait Airways is studying an offer to buy 10 Boeing 777 passenger jets, the chairwoman of the carrier said, confirming local news reports about the possible deal. The deal might be valued at about $3.2 billion, according to the list prices of the aircraft. Asked about media reports that the airline was studying an offer to buy 10 new Boeing 777 planes, Rasha Al-Roumi said Yes in a text message sent to Reuters. The airline signed a contract with rival planemaker Airbus earlier this year to buy 25 aircraft and lease 12 others. Reuters Scotland braces for independence vote Continued from Page 1 But at a No rally in Glasgow, former British prime minister Gordon Brown appealed to Scots wartime patriotism and said voting against separation would still mean Scotland gaining much greater local power. We fought two world wars together, he told hundreds of supporters. There s not a cemetery in Europe that doesn t have a Scot, a Welshman, an Irish and an Englishman side by side. When they fought together, they never asked each other where they came from, he said. Differences over whether to support Yes or No have divided families and lifelong friends and the Church of Scotland on Wednesday called for a spirit of unity and cool heads and calm hearts. The rise in support for the Yes campaign has also sent jitters through the financial markets, helping to bring down the value of the pound and dragging down the stocks of Scotlandbased companies. Scotland s pro-independence First Minister Alex Salmond has dismissed the economic arguments -including what currency an independent Scotland would use as the Bank of England has ruled out a currency union - as scaremongering by the No campaign. In a letter to the people of Scotland, Salmond urged the electorate to seize its historic chance to end the 307-year-old union with England. Wake up on Friday morning to the first day of a better country. Wake up knowing you did this - you made it happen, Salmond wrote. It s about taking your country s future into your hands. Don t let this opportunity slip through our fingers. Don t let them tell us we can t. Let s do this. But Heather Whiteside, a 21-year-old graduate from Glasgow University who came to see Brown at a campaign event in the city said the prospect of a Yes victory was very scary. Nationalism is a bad kind of politics, it tries to create artificial barriers between people, she said. A Yes victory would not mean independence overnight but would sound the starting gun on months and possibly years of complex negotiations on separating two deeply linked economic systems. It could lead to Prime Minister David Cameron s resignation and would embolden other separatist movements around the world. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy weighed in on the debate yesterday, branding moves for independence like Spain s Catalonia region a torpedo to European integration. Everyone in Europe thinks that these processes are hugely negative, financially and economically, Rajoy told the Spanish parliament. All three polls in yesterday s papers showed that going it alone would be rejected by 52 percent to 48 percent, with undecided voters excluded. But the results were within margins of error and many commentators have said the final outcome is Emir: Qatar doesn t back extremists Continued from Page 1 But I think the good news is that we have tackled a lot and have initiated many changes in relation to the situation of foreign workers and we are working seriously on improving this situation. Energy-rich Qatar is a major investor in several large German companies, including automaker Volkswagen and construction company Hochtief, and a buyer of German military hardware. Merkel stressed that we re happy about every Qatari investment and said Germany could help especially in infrastructure and environmental technology and renewable energy for the post-fossil fuel age. Separately, Saudi Arabia s top religious body yesterday warned Muslims against joining militant groups, saying their deviant doctrine has no place in Islam. The Council of Senior Ulema, a group of top Muslim scholars, said it was prohibited under Islamic sharia law to join the fighting. It called for the prosecution of inciters involved in recruiting militants to join the conflicts in Iraq and Syria. Terrorism... has nothing to do with jihad (holy war) in the name of Allah. Islam has nothing to do with this deviant doctrine, the council said in a statement. The council s head, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al- Sheikh, last month branded Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) extremist group enemy number one of Islam. Saudi Arabia, a largely Sunni kingdom, favours a strict form of Islam but has been exasperated by the rise of Islamist radicals across the Middle East. The religious council s stance reflects the Saudi clerical community s hostility towards IS jihadists, known for their brutality. IS fighters - already well established in Syria - have seized vast swathes of Sunni territory in neighbouring Iraq since June, and have carried out beheadings and other atrocities. The council said terrorist acts carried out by GLASGOW: Anti-independence supporters demonstrate in Glasgow s George Square yesterday on the eve of Scotland s independence referendum. AFP too close to call ahead of time. Record numbers have registered for the referendum - 97 percent of eligible voters - and turnout is expected to be very high with officials saying it could be around 80 percent. In Edinburgh, Fatima Somner, a 45-year-old cashier of Moroccan origin married to an Englishman, said she was hoping for a No victory. People who will vote no are the ones who have money. Poorer people are going to vote yes, she said. They hope that things will change for the better for them. But it will be the opposite, everything will become more expensive! AFP Shiite movements such as Lebanon s Iran-backed Hezbollah, Yemen s Houthi rebels and Iraq s Asaib Ahl al- Haq were also prohibited and criminal. It also criticized what it called crimes of terrorism practiced by the Israeli occupation. The scholars said authorities have to track down instigators of conflict and financiers of terrorism because they commit one of the greatest sins which is disobeying the ruler. They said they support the government s decision to prohibit citizens from fighting in conflicts abroad. Though the council did not recommend specific punishments, it is considered a religious sin and a criminal act in Saudi Arabia to rebel against the king, who oversees Islam s two holiest sites in Makkah and Madinah. To help back up its religious ruling, the council referred to words of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), who warned against following those who want to divide the nation. This is a warning to the advocates of division, strife and sedition, and a warning to those who followed them from going too far in order to avoid the punishment of torment in this world and the hereafter, the statement said. The scholars added that any Muslim who thinks jihad - or striving in the path of God - means joining a terrorist group is ignorant and has gone astray. Saudi Arabia is expected to be among the key regional partners of a US-led international coalition to fight IS, which has carved out a stronghold in large areas of Syria and Iraq. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers who took part in the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the United States were from the kingdom. After the attacks, Saudi Arabia came under criticism from the US State Department over the lack of religious freedom in its school textbooks, and was accused of promoting intolerance. Saudi authorities have long feared a backlash from jihadist groups, particularly after a spate of Al-Qaeda attacks in the kingdom from 2003 to 2006. Agencies

ANALYSIS THE LEADING INDEPENDENT DAILY IN THE ARABIAN GULF ESTABLISHED 1961 Founder and Publisher YOUSUF S. AL-ALYAN Editor-in-Chief ABD AL-RAHMAN AL-ALYAN EDITORIAL : 24833199-24833358-24833432 ADVERTISING : 24835616/7 FAX : 24835620/1 CIRCULATION : 24833199 Extn. 163 ACCOUNTS : 24835619 COMMERCIAL : 24835618 P.O.Box 1301 Safat,13014 Kuwait. E MAIL :info@kuwaittimes.net Website: www.kuwaittimes.net Issues Sarko: Bling-bling comeback king By Richard Carter won t hear about me anymore, Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters as he contemplated You defeat to Francois Hollande in the 2012 French presidential election. Just over two years later, the one time bling-bling leader with the singer wife is poised to announce his comeback, aiming to save France from its deep political and economic crisis. Undeterred by a tangled web of interconnected legal difficulties, the energetic 59-year-old son of a Hungarian immigrant has been agonising for months about a return to front-line politics. Love him or hate him, there is no denying he is a divisive character. Many in his conservative UMP party are loyally devoted to him but polls show a majority of voters would prefer him to remain in the wilderness. Nicolas Sarkozy s return is a very good thing for him, but a very bad thing for the UMP, said political analyst Philippe Braud. His tilt at the Elysee Palace will reawaken a Sarkophobia which is still extremely strong in France, he told AFP. Before Sarkozy can even think of taking on Hollande, the only president in history more unpopular than he was, he must first beat off UMP rivals, notably former prime minister Francois Fillon and his own former foreign minister Alain Juppe. Perhaps a more daunting obstacle is his tangle of legal woes. He was charged in July with corruption and influence peddling in a case that won him the unhappy distinction of being the first former president to be detained for police questioning in a criminal probe. There are also legal questions around the financing of his 2007 and 2012 campaigns which could come back to bite him. Come Back Stronger But his allies say his legal travails, which they ascribe to pressure from the ruling Socialists, will only make him all the more determined. Self-confidence is not something he lacks. Former president and mentor Jacques Chirac once said he doesn t doubt anything, especially not himself. And indeed, Sarkozy has been here before. Last year, he was charged with taking advantage of France s richest woman when she was too frail to know what she was doing, in a case that centres on cash-stuffed envelopes allegedly being passed to UMP officials. When the charge was finally dropped in October, his path back to power appeared to have been cleared and polls showed he was best placed to bring the Elysee back to the UMP. But the drip-drip negative impact of being constantly linked to graft cases appears to have chipped away at his standing with voters on the right of the political spectrum. Bling-bling President After his humiliating 2012 defeat by Francois Hollande, Sarkozy largely shunned the limelight, concentrating instead on making money on the international conference circuit. He has often appeared in public in the shadow of his wife, former supermodel and now singer Carla Bruni, sporting unstatesmanlike designer stubble. But in the end, the cut and thrust of political life proved an irresistible lure. Sarkozy has always been something of an outsider in the staid world of French politics. The son of a Hungarian aristocrat who arrived penniless in France, Nicolas Sarkozy de Nagy-Bosca burst on to the political scene as a town mayor at 28, an MP at 34 and minister at 38. He won the presidency at only 52 and was initially seen as a much-needed breath of dynamism, making a splash on the international scene and wooing the corporate world. Breaking a longstanding taboo, Sarkozy also put his private life on display, divorcing his second wife while in office and publicly wooing Bruni. He married the singer in 2008 and the two had a daughter, Giulia, a few months before the 2012 election. But as France s economy floundered amid the wider eurozone economic crisis, Sarkozy s public image took a beating. His so-called bling-bling style - the seeds of which were laid with a champagne-soaked election night party at a glitzy Champs Elysees restaurant - provoked outrage as job losses mounted. Hollande, a mild-mannered Socialist party apparatchik, seemed the perfect antidote two years ago but has since run into his own problems - especially in turning around the French economy. And, if Hollande s former partner Valerie Trierweiler is to be believed, the man who set himself up as the normal president secretly despises the poor, calling them the toothless. With Hollande so unpopular, the election is there for the taking, but some doubt whether Sarkozy is the man to do it. If Sarkozy runs, the Socialists are assured of victory - not with Hollande but with a different candidate, said Braud. AFP All articles appearing on these pages are the personal opinion of the writers. Kuwait Times takes no responsibility for views expressed therein. Kuwait Times invites readers to voice their opinions. Please send submissions via email to: opinion@kuwaittimes.net or via snail mail to PO Box 1301 Safat, Kuwait. The editor reserves the right to edit any submission as necessary. Obama commitment to Mideast allies tested By Jason Szep After about 15 hours of flying and five hours of meetings, sleep finally caught up with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Baghdad. It was 6:04 pm. After sinking into his seat at the center of the cavernous interior of a C-17 military transport plane, he cradled his head in his palm, put his feet on a desk and shut his eyes. Visibly tired, too, were his retinue of aides as they took their seats, some clutching briefing papers with notes scribbled in the margin from meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi and the government he had formed a day earlier on Sept 9. Kerry s exhaustion was understandable after nearly 24 hours of non-stop travel and meetings. America s fatigue in the Middle East could be a different story: the Iraqis who met Kerry may wonder if his boss, President Barack Obama, has the energy or stomach for what lies ahead in a country he has spent most of his nearly six years in office trying to leave behind. The challenge is highlighted by a Reuters/Ipsos poll on Friday showing that while Americans support Obama s campaign of airstrikes against Islamic State militants, they have a low appetite for a long campaign against the group. Several important tests loom for the US administration s nascent coalition to degrade and defeat the ultra-hardline Islamic State whose militants have seized a third of both Iraq and Syria, declared war on the West and beheaded two American journalists and one British aid worker. The complexity of eliminating Islamic State, which By Caroline Stauffer and Brian Winter requires stabilizing Iraq, building up its armed forces and creating a western-backed rebel force in Syria, could take years, testing Obama s commitment and that of whoever succeeds him in 2017. There s a real general distrust among our regional allies about our commitment to this because we ve been missing in action for the last three years, said David Schenker, a specialist on Syria at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former Pentagon adviser on Syria during President George W. Bush s administration. In Baghdad, Amman, Jeddah, Ankara, Cairo and Paris in the last week, Kerry laid plans for a USled coalition of regional and outside powers. It would hammer the black-clad fighters of Islamic State militarily, dry up its funding, eliminate its safe havens in Syria, block its ability to recruit fighters and try to extinguish its extremist ideology. Kerry, who will report on his trip to Obama and Congress this week, insists this is different from past US operations in the region. This is not the Gulf War of 1991, he told reporters in Paris on Monday. And it s not the Iraq War of 2003... We re not building a military coalition for an invasion. We re building a military coalition together with all the other pieces for a transformation, as well as for the elimination of ISIL itself, he said, invoking an acronym for the Islamic State group. Question of Commitment World powers meeting in Paris on Monday gave a symbolic boost to that effort, publicly backing military action to fight Islamic State militants in Iraq. France sent jets on a reconnaissance mission The handsome, accomplished grandson of one of Brazil s most beloved politicians, Aecio Neves has been preparing his whole life to be president, friends say. Aecio grew up in a political cradle, said one of his longest-serving advisers, Danilo de Castro. And that, paradoxically, best explains why he s languishing in Brazil s presidential election race. Neves, 54, has tumbled into a distant third place in polls over the past month as voters who are tired of President Dilma Rousseff s leftist government embrace a candidate who more obviously represents change and a break with Brazil s political establishment - environmentalist Marina Silva. Neves struggles speak broadly to the overall malaise currently plaguing Brazil. After an economic boom last decade that brought millions out of poverty, the economy has slowed dramatically since 2011 and slipped into recession earlier this year. Voters are increasingly frustrated with slow growth, high inflation, corruption and the political class in general. In most previous elections, Neves would have benefited from his record as a probusiness senator and former governor of Brazil s second-most populous state of Minas Gerais. He left office in 2010 with an approval rating just shy of 90 percent and he is favored by many investors and business groups. But due to Brazil s recent struggles, his insider status has become a clear albatross - especially among young, educated middle-class voters who he was counting on for support but who have largely embraced Silva instead. In the past week, Neves has tried to fight back by stressing both youth and experience. He has played soccer with former stars including the popular Zico while also warning that only he has the party support to change Brazil in the right direction. Aides and supporters point out that the campaign ahead of the Oct 5 election has been extremely volatile, and that Neves and his centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) are positioning themselves for one last big shift. I don t see a need to change what we re doing, Neves running mate Aloysio Nunes told Reuters on Monday. This election has seen a lot of changes already. We ll see how the electorate reacts. Neves has a long way to go. Recent polls show him with about 15 percent support compared to 36 percent for Rousseff and 33 percent for Silva. Unless Neves stages a dramatic comeback, his rivals will go into an Oct. 26 runoff which polls show is too close to call. Analysts see two possible paths for Neves to claw back into contention. One would involve Silva, who has a history of volatile decisions and feuding with allies, self-imploding. The other, perhaps more likely scenario would see one or both opponents getting caught up in one of the corruption scandals that often rock Brazilian campaigns. Local media have recently linked senior leaders from Silva and Rousseff s parties to graft at staterun oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, and more allegations are possible in coming weeks. Otherwise, Neves, who declined requests for an interview, may have to content himself with building his reputation for the next election in 2018. His chances are very slim, said Cristiano Noronha of political risk consulting firm Arko Advice in Brasilia. Silva would have to err a lot in the final stretch. to Iraq, a step towards becoming the first ally to join the US-led air campaign there and a senior US official said some Arab countries had promised to take part. Tomorrow, Kerry will chair a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, which will provide countries which quietly backed the US coalition an opportunity to do so publicly. But questions remain over how far each will commit to a fight that US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Tuesday will not be an easy or brief effort. A 45-page State Department document detailed offers of assistance from about 40 countries, but these are mostly humanitarian. Military commitments are rare and small. Albania, for instance, plans to provide 22 million rounds of AK- 47 bullets, 15,000 hand grenades and 32,000 artillery shells to Kurdish forces in Iraq. US fighter jets have conducted over 160 airstrikes on Islamic State positions in Iraq, resuming military action Obama and many Americans hoped were part of history when US combat forces pulled out of the country in 2011. The most senior US military officer, General Martin Dempsey, raised the possibility on Tuesday that American troops might need to take on a larger role in Iraq s ground war, though Obama also ruled out a combat mission. US officials play down the prospect of imminent air attacks on the Islamist group s heartland in Syria and it remains unclear who, if anyone, would join them. The United States will present a legal case before going into Syria, US officials say, justifying strikes largely on the basis of defending Iraq from militants who threaten its sovereignty and have Silva s Surge Until a month ago, Neves was solidly in second but on Aug 13 third-placed candidate Eduardo Campos died in a plane crash and the campaign was immediately upended. Campos running mate, Silva, took his place and turned out to be a much more effective candidate. Her up-from-nothing life story - she was born into a family of poor rubber tappers - and her record as a campaigner against corruption and deforestation captured anti-rousseff voters imaginations in a way that neither Campos nor Neves had. Neves knows he can t compete with Silva on soaring rhetoric or moral issues so he has emphasized his record as governor - which he says shows in concrete terms how he would run Brazil. There s a candidate out there who is promising a bunch of great things without taken shelter in neighboring Syria during its threeyear-old civil war. Overall Coordinator Entering Syrian airspace would deepen a conflict that already cuts across sectarian lines. Islamic State is made up of Sunni militants fighting a Shiite-led government in Iraq and a government in Syria led by members of a Shiite offshoot sect. Briefing US reporters in Paris, Kerry said there were several discussions with foreign ministers on how to defeat Islamic State inside Syria. He did not go into specifics, but he emphasized that it was not just about the airstrikes. Kerry and his advisers often describe the anti-islamic campaign as holistic. The approach was set out in a six-paragraph communique issued on Sept. 11 and signed by 10 Arab countries - Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and six Gulf states including rich rivals Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The Arab states agreed to eight main tasks: stopping the flow of foreign fighters, countering Islamic State financing, repudiating their ideology, ending impunity, providing humanitarian relief, reconstruction of Islamic State-hit areas, supporting states that face acute Islamic State threats, and, as appropriate, joining in the many aspects of a coordinated military campaign. The United States specifically wanted the words as appropriate, one senior State Department official said. We wanted to be an overall coordinator of this effort, the official said. So, as appropriate means as part of an overall campaign plan, and as this continues to move forward. Reuters Neves: Insider in an election about change Senator Aecio Neves, candidate of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB) for the presidential election, speaks at the Art Museum in Rio de Janeiro on Sept 10, 2014. AFP saying how she ll do it, Neves said, in a clear reference to Silva, at a recent campaign appearance back home in Minas Gerais. Our candidacy is the candidacy of responsibility... of a safe journey. Reuters visited Minas Gerais earlier this month and spoke to several of Neves allies and rivals, as well as many voters. For the most part, they described an effective, austere government that would be welcomed by investors if mimicked at the national level - especially at a time when Brazil s fiscal accounts are under pressure and fueling high inflation upward of 6 percent a year. By slashing some public salaries, taking a pay cut himself and reducing the number of government departments, Neves eliminated Minas Gerais wide budget deficit. That brought in investment and a unique World Bank loan that funded education and anti-poverty initiatives. Not everyone was a fan. Some teachers said he scrapped their benefits system in 2003, and then he and his successors failed to fully implement a new system of meritbased bonuses. Neves supports a state less and less involved in people s lives, said Beatriz Cerqueira, coordinator of the Minas Gerais teacher s union and a longtime critic. De Castro, Neves adviser, conceded the initial budget cuts were very tough but said the housecleaning led to a surge in investment. Neves says that as president he would seek to raise Brazil s investment rate to 24 percent of gross domestic product from its recent level of around 18 percent, primarily by courting the private sector. That would help solve supply-side bottlenecks that have in large part caused the economy to average less than 2 percent growth a year since Rousseff took office in 2011. Reuters

SPORTS Hughes replaces captain Clarke SYDNEY: Top order batsman Phil Hughes has replaced Michael Clarke in the Australia squad for next month s one-day international series against Pakistan after the Australia captain was ruled out by a hamstring injury. Hughes, who was overlooked for the original squad despite scoring two half centuries against South Africa in the recent triangular one-day series in Zimbabwe, had been included in the test squad to play Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates. The 25-year-old was already scheduled to travel to the UAE earlier than his test team mates to spend time working on his batting against spin with the team s coaching consultant, Sri Lanka great Muttiah Muralitharan. In and out of the team with depressing regularity in his test career, Hughes only made the trip to Zimbabwe for the ODI series after an injury to Shane Watson. The lefthander boasts a batting average of 37.31 in his 24 one-day internationals and will now have his chance to earn a place in the squad for next year s World Cup, which Australia are co-hosting with New Zealand. Clarke, Australia s leading batsman, flew home from Zimbabwe with an injury that a series of investigations confirmed to be a significant hamstring injury, Cricket Australia physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said on Tuesday. Reuters London Marathon raises record amounts for charity LONDON: Runners at the London Marathon have raised almost half a billion dollars for charity in the last five years and continue to break fundraising records each year, sponsors Virgin Money announced yesterday. The total raised for charity since the company took over as title sponsors of the annual 26.2 mile race in 2010 stands at 264.1 million pounds ($430.96 million), exceeding Virgin s own ambitious target. Runners in this year s race around London s icon-laden streets raised 53.2 million pounds for good causes, meaning the marathon broke the Guinness World Record for the largest annual single-day charity fundraising event for the eighth consecutive year. When Virgin first got involved with the London Marathon we set the bar high and challenged runners to not only complete their 26 miles, but within five years also help raise 1/4 billion pounds for good causes, Virgin founder Richard Branson said in a statement. Today s news shows that not only have we all risen to that challenge, but during the 2014 Virgin Money London Marathon we smashed right through it. Since the race began in 1981, over 920,000 runners have completed the course, raising more than 716 million pounds for a plethora of charitable causes. Reuters South Africa recall Burger CAPE TOWN: Former World Rugby Player of the Year Schalk Burger was recalled to South Africa s squad for the Rugby Championship tests against Australia and New Zealand in place of injured Francois Louw, the South African Rugby Union said yesterday. Burger has been playing in Japan, where he has a club match on Friday after which he will join up with the Springbok squad in Cape Town, preparing to face Australia on Sept. 27 and a final game with New Zealand in Johannesburg on Oct. 4. Burger returned to the national fold in June after almost two years out with injury and illness. He came off the bench to face Wales in two tests and started versus Scotland but missed the first four Rugby Championship tests due to club commitments. With Willem Alberts still out injured, Schalk s versatility helps as he can cover any position in the loose trio, South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer said in a statement yesterday. He is also very experienced, brings leadership qualities and has been with us so he will slot back in easily. Schalk played a superb role in June mentoring the younger players in the squad, and he ll be able to carry on with that especially with players such as Warren Whiteley and Oupa Mohoje, who has shown massive improvement after only playing in a handful of Super Rugby matches and making his test debut earlier this season. The 31-year-old Burger has 71 caps and was named the best player in world rugby 10 years ago. Reuters SAINT LUCIA: West Indies wicket keeper Danesh Ramdin closes in on the wickets as Bangladesh batsman Shaiful Islam connects off a delivery from bowler Jerome Taylor on day four of the second and final Test. AFP Benn spins Windies to victory GROS ISLET: Spinner Sulieman Benn took five wickets and Jerome Taylor reached the milestone of 100 Test wickets as Bangladesh crumbled to a 296-run defeat late on the fourth day of the second and final Test against the West Indies at the Beausejour Stadium on Tuesday. Set an improbable target of 489 after the home side declared their second innings at 269 for four, 45 minutes into the day, the tourists crashed from 158 for two to be dismissed for 192 just before a shower swept across the ground. Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal (64) and Mominul Haque (56) held up the West Indies for over three hours with a secondwicket partnership of 110, but when Tamim skied an attempted sweep off Benn to midwicket it was the trigger for the collapse. It was completed when Kemar Roach breached the defence of Shafiul Islam to set off the West Indies victory celebrations in their 500th Test and a 2-0 sweep of the series. This is unbelievable, said an overjoyed West Indies captain Denesh Ramdin, who waited until senior batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul completed his 30th Test hundred in the morning before declaring. It s a wonderful feeling but we know that there are greater challenges ahead. Captain Mushfiqur Rahim was the last hope for Bangladesh taking the match into the fifth day after Tamim and Mominul departed. West Indies 1st Innings - 380 Bangladesh 1st Innings - 161 West Indies 2nd Innings (overnight 208 for 4) K. Brathwaite c Shamsur Rahman b Mahmudullah 45 L. Johnson b Taijul Islam 41 K. Edwards c S Rahman b S Islam 2 D. Bravo b Mahmudullah 7 S. Chanderpaul not out 101 J. Blackwood not out 66 Extras (lb-5, w-2) 7 Total (77 overs, 4 wickets declared) 269 Fall of wickets: 1-76 (Johnson), 2-81 (Edwards), 3-97 (Bravo), 4-100 (Brathwaite) Did not bat: D. Ramdin (captain), K. Roach, J. Taylor, S. Benn, S. Gabriel Bowling: Taijul Islam 28-5-81-1, Al-Amin Hossain 4-0-18-0, Robiul Islam 12-3-42-0 (2w), Shafiul Islam 13-1-42-1, Mahmudullah 16-2-64-2, Mominul Haque 4-0-17-0. SCOREBOARD However he was bowled for the second time in the match, falling to Taylor who then promptly trapped Robiul Islam legbefore to become the 20th West Indian to claim 100 wickets in Test cricket. We showed some resistance for a while but that s not good enough, said a crestfallen Mushfiqur. We need to play better for longer periods if we want to be competitive going forwards. Chanderpaul was named Man of the Match while his teammate, opening batsman Kraigg Brathwaite, took the Man of the Series honours. Following unbeaten innings of 85 and 84 previously in the series, Chanderpaul s unbeaten 101, together with 66 not out from Jermaine Blackwood, allowed Ramdin to close his side s innings inside the first hour. Bangladesh got off to a flying start in the 15 overs they faced to the interval, Shamsur Rahman taking on Taylor and hooking the fast bowler for successive sixes over square-leg. Taylor had the last laugh however when, in attempting to repeat the shot, Shamsur found Kirk Edwards on the square-leg boundary and departed for 39. Benn, 33, then removed new batsman Anamul Haque to a catch at the wicket but Mominul displayed admirable discipline and dedication alongside Tamim, only for all their good work to be in vain when they fell to the left-arm spinner. AFP SAINT LUCIA: Scoreboard after West Indies beat Bangladesh on the fourth day of the second Test at the Beausejour Stadium in Gros Islet on Tuesday: LONDON: England fans will have great hopes when the country stages the 2015 World Cup in a year s time. But they will not be alone, with rugby officials hoping the fact many of the key behind-the-scenes staff at the widelypraised London 2012 Olympic Games, including England Rugby 2015 chief executive Debbie Jevans, are now running their showpiece event will produce a financial as well as sporting dividend. Already the International Rugby Board (IRB) has estimated that the 2015 World Cup will probably make 150 million ($239 million), a 60 percent increase from the 2011 edition in New Zealand, which although it is the home of the reigning world champions and more of a rugby mad nation than England, has access to a much less lucrative commercial market. Officials now expect the 2015 edition to be Bangladesh 2nd Innings Tamim Iqbal c Gabriel b Benn 64 Shamsur Rahman c Edwards b Taylor 39 Anamul Haque c Ramdin b Benn 0 Mominul Haque c Gabriel b Benn 56 Mahmudullah lbw Gabriel 0 Mushfiqur Rahim b Taylor 11 Nasir Hossain lbw Benn 2 Taijul Islam c and b Benn 4 Shafiul Islam b Roach 14 Robiul Islam lbw Taylor 0 Al-Amin Hossain not out 0 Extras (lb-1, w-1) 2 Total (77.4 overs, all out) 192 Fall of wickets: 1-47 (Shamsur Rahman), 2-48 (Anamul Haque), 3-158 (Tamim Iqbal), 4-160 (Mahmudullah), 5-160 (Mominul Haque), 6-167 (Nasir Hossain), 7-173 (Taijul Islam), 8-188 (Mushfiqur Rahim), 9-188 (Robiul Islam), 10-192 (Shafiul Islam). Bowling: J. Taylor 13-4-39-3, K. Roach 15.4-1-43-1, S. Benn 32-6-72-5 (1w), J. Blackwood 2-0-4-0, S. Gabriel 11-2-24-1, Johnson 4-0-9-0. Result: West Indies won by 296 runs the most profitable World Cup of all time, topping the 122.4m surplus from the 2007 event in France. We are fortunate in having a country that has already staged a Rugby World Cup and recently organised an Olympic Games stage the 2015 World Cup, IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset told AFP in an interview. The Frenchman added: A British friend of mine joked to me that their model is France 2007 but with a 10 percent decrease in costs and a 10 percent increase in revenue. However, as with many major sporting events questions remain regarding ticket availability and price. England 2015 are pledged to deliver at least 80 million in revenue to the IRB, for whom the World Cup provides some 95 percent of their income. This effectively means they have to sell 2.9 Brewers down Cardinals ST. LOUIS: Hector Gomez pinch ran in the ninth and scored the tying run and then blooped a two-out single to right in the top of the 12th to score the go-ahead run as the Milwaukee Brewers won 3-2 over the St. Louis Cardinals. It was the fifth win in six games for the Brewers (79-72), who pulled within four games of the firstplace Cardinals in the National League Central and stayed 1-1/2 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates for the second NL wild card spot. St. Louis (83-68) lost for just the sixth time in 26 home games and had their division lead over Pittsburgh dipped to 2-1/2 games. Nationals 3, Braves 0 Shortstop Ian Desmond hit a long two-run homer and right-hander Tanner Roark pitched seven scoreless innings as the Washington Nationals clinched the National League East championship with a 3-0 win over the Atlanta Braves. Desmond ripped his 23rd homer deep in the left-center field stands at Turner Field against Atlanta right-hander Aaron Harang in the sixth inning to break up a scoreless game and give the Nationals the only runs they would need. Roark (14-10) allowed five hits and struck out four as Washington won its second division championship in three years. Orioles 8, Blue Jays 2 Steve Pearce and Jimmy Paredes both homered early while Alejandro De Aza added a three-run triple as the Baltimore Orioles wrapped up their first American League East division title in 17 years with an 8-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Pirates 4, Red Sox 0 Charlie Morton pitched five scoreless innings and the surging Pittsburgh Pirates blanked the Boston Red Sox 4-0. Morton (6-12) notched his first win since July 2 and helped the Pirates (80-70) to their ninth victory in 11 games. The Pirates remain ahead of Milwaukee for the second National League wild card and closed in to 2-1/2 games behind St. Louis for the NL Central. Catcher Russell Martin and left fielder Starling Marte both hit home runs. Twins 4, Tigers 3 Aaron Hicks walk-off RBI infield single lifted the Minnesota Twins to a 4-3 victory over the firstplace Detroit Tigers. Down one after closer Glen Perkins blew a two-run lead in the top of the ninth, the Twins rallied to upset the American League Central leaders, allowing Kansas City a chance to reel in their division lead. Rockies 10, Dodgers 4 The Colorado Rockies emphatically ended their offensive drought, pounding the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-4. The Rockies had nine hits, seven fewer than the Dodgers, but Colorado utilized several productive outs to score its first three runs, then got a two-run homer from left fielder Corey Dickerson in the fourth to take a 5-0 lead. Giants 2, Diamondbacks 1 San Francisco catcher Buster Posey homered and shortstop Brandon Crawford hit a tie-breaking sacrifice fly in the seventh inning to give the Giants a 2-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Right-hander Jake Peavy (6-4) gave up one run and five hits in 7-2/3 innings as the Giants (83-68) broke a three-game losing streak and closed to within three games of the Dodgers in the NL West. Rays 6, Yankees 1 Derek Jeter got hit by a pitch that nearly started a brawl and the Tampa Bay Rays ran off to a 6-1 win over the New York Yankees. The Rays blew the game open with a four-run rally in the seventh while Rays reliever Steve Geltz struck shortstop Jeter on the forearm with a pitch in the eighth, one of a handful of spiteful incidents. Mets 9, Marlins 1 New York Mets rookie second baseman Wilmer Flores enjoyed the first two-homer game of his career in a 9-1 win over the Miami Marlins. Flores hit a three-run homer in the fifth and a two-run shot in the seventh on his way to finishing million tickets across the 48 games of the tournament as a whole. That explains why one of the great traditional club rugby grounds of England, Leicester s Welford Road, has been overlooked in favour of the larger capacity stadium of Leicester City football club. It also underlines why Cardiff s Millennium Stadium, which can seat more than 75,000 and whose retractable roof is a guarantee of play, has been allocated eight matches, including two quarter-finals, even though it is in Wales. But while Wales are in the same pool as England and Australia-the so-called group of death -from which only two can qualify for the knockout stages, the key fixtures between the teams will all take place at London s Twickenham, rather than in Cardiff. According to figures published Monday on the official ticketing website, 30 of the 48 ST. LOUIS: Peter Bourjos No. 8 of the St. Louis Cardinals is caught trying to run out a double against Jean Segura No. 9 of the Milwaukee Brewers in the ninth inning. AFP Philadelphia 4. American League Eastern Division W L PCT GB Baltimore 91 60.603 - Toronto 77 73.513 13.5 NY Yankees 76 74.507 14.5 Tampa Bay 74 78.487 17.5 Boston 66 85.437 25 Central Division Detroit 84 67.556 - Kansas City 82 68.547 1.5 Cleveland 77 73.513 6.5 Chicago White Sox 69 82.457 15 Minnesota 64 87.424 20 Western Division LA Angels 94 57.623 - Oakland 83 67.553 10.5 Seattle 81 69.540 12.5 Houston 67 84.444 27 Texas 58 92.387 35.5 3-for-4 with three extra-base hits, three runs scored and six RBIs. Cubs 7, Reds 0 Right-hander Jake Arrieta fell short in a no-hitter bid but still closed with a one-hit shutout as the Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-0. Arrieta (9-5) tossed 7 1/3 no-hit innings before giving up a double to left-center to Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips with one out in the eighth. He threw 109 pitches, struck out a season-high 13 and walked just one. Indians 4, Astros 2 Corey Kluber struck out a career-high 14 batters as the Cleveland Indians won 4-2 over Houston. Kluber (16-9) allowed one run on seven hits and two walks over seven innings while recording his ninth double-digit strikeout game this season. White Sox 7, Royals 5 Conor Gillaspie hit a three-run triple in the seventh inning, and the Chicago White Sox rallied to beat the Kansas City Royals 7-5. Chicago trailed 5-4 before loading the bases in the seventh ahead of Gillaspie s hit. Rangers 6, A s 3 Rookie Jake Smolinski hit his first career home MLB results/standings Baltimore 8, Toronto 2; Pittsburgh 4, Boston 0; Washington 3, Atlanta 0; NY Mets 9, Miami 1; Tampa Bay 6, NY Yankees 1; Chicago Cubs 7, Cincinnati 0; Chicago White Sox 7, Kansas City 5; Minnesota 4, Detroit 3; Cleveland 4, Houston 2; Milwaukee 3 St. Louis 2 (12 innings); Colorado 10, LA Dodgers 4; San Francisco 2, Arizona 1; Seattle 13, LA Angels 2; Texas 6, Oakland 3; San Diego 5, games in 13 stadiums across 11 cities are set to be over subscribed and requiring a ballot. National League Eastern Division Washington 87 63.580 - Atlanta 75 76.497 12.5 Miami 73 77.487 14 NY Mets 73 79.480 15 Philadelphia 69 82.457 18.5 Central Division St. Louis 83 68.550 - Pittsburgh 80 70.533 2.5 Milwaukee 79 72.523 4 Cincinnati 71 81.467 12.5 Chicago Cubs 67 84.444 16 Western Division LA Dodgers 86 65.570 - San Francisco 83 68.550 3 San Diego 70 80.467 15.5 Arizona 62 89.411 24 Colorado 60 91.397 26 run, powering the Texas Rangers to a 6-3 victory over Oakland, delivering a blow to the Athletics wild-card playoff push. Smolinski, who was activated from the disabled list before the game, launched a two-run homer off A s left-hander Scott Kazmir in the fourth inning, giving Texas a 2-0 lead. The A s (83-67) own the American League s top wild-card spot, but the Kansas City Royals are one game back. Padres 5, Phillies 4 Shortstop Alexi Amarista put the Padres ahead with a two-run homer in the sixth inning and righthanded starter Ian Kennedy and three relievers held Philadelphia to four hits as San Diego beat the Phillies 5-4. Amarista s two-out, 357-foot drive into the first row of seats in right erased a 3-2 Phillies lead. Amarista was 3-for-4 and finished a triple shy of the first cycle in Padres history. Mariners 13, Angels 2 The Seattle Mariners built an insurmountable lead with two big innings on their way to a 13-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels. With the win, the Mariners moved into a tie with the Royals for the second wild-card spot. For the Angels, their magic number to clinch the division was reduced to two thanks to the Rangers victory over the A s. Reuters High stakes at play in 2015 World Cup MAGICAL ATMOSPHERE But of the 18 labelled as unlikely to be balloted, seven are being staged at the Millennium Stadium.Prices for adults range from 15 for low-profile group games up to 715 for the most expensive seat for the October 31 final at Twickenham. One unofficial site was even offering a ticket for the final at 8,870 ($14,428, 11,130 euros. I don t like seeing tickets as commodities, I want to see them getting into the hands of people who want to watch the event, said Jevans. Of course, there are other measures than the purely financial by which to judge the worth of a sports event and few things succeed in creating a buoyant tournament quite like home success. The economics will work wherever England get to, IRB chief executive Brett Gosper told the Guardian. But to really get that magical atmosphere and the home population behind it, it would be great for the host side to go all the way. And for Lapasset, seeing a new country upset the existing elite, as Argentina and Fiji have done at previous World Cups, would also be an important sign of the growth of the global game. I would love it if there was a surprise team in the quarter-finals. A team like Georgia, which nearly beat Ireland in 2007, he told AFP. They have a great rugby history and culture, and they have produced an enormous number of players for many clubs. They deserve to go to the next level. AFP

LENIN SPORTS American football back in London with extra game LONDON: The NFL roadshow rolls into London again next week for the first of three games designed to build its international fan base and lay the foundations for a team in the British capital. The Oakland Raiders face the Miami Dolphins at Wembley Stadium on Sept. 28 and the home of English soccer will stage a further two NFL clashes over the autumn. The NFL has been playing regular season games in London since 2007 but the interest among European fans means that another fixture has been added this year. We re playing at Wembley with an 84,000 capacity. For three games, we re selling a quarter of a million tickets which is basically the sort of inventory most teams are selling for half a season, said Mark Waller, the NFL s executive vice-president, international. That level of demand naturally prompts renewed speculation that London could become a permanent home to an NFL team. Waller, a Briton in charge of overseeing the game s international growth, believes such a move would be positive but is careful not to set any target date for when it could happen. If I could be in London watching a hugely important game of a team that is based out of London competing in the National Football League, I think that is an exciting concept, he said in a telephone interview. CHAMPIONS LEAGUE EXAMPLE Waller notes that the growth of the elite Champions League club competiton in European soccer over the past two decades underlines the demand from fans, sponsors and broadcasters for top quality action from international locations. It feels like what we have to offer fits in a space that is going to keep on growing, he said. The team that does it has to be competitive, he added, aware that the novelty would wear off if a London team failed to match rivals on the field. Waller would not be drawn on how a London franchise could fit into the NFL s 32-team format. The focus, for now, he said was on showing that regular trips to Britain could fit into the NFL schedule and not put too much strain on players. In this year s London programme, the Detroit Lions will play the Atlanta Falcons at Wembley on the last Sunday in October, before the Jacksonville Jaguars meet Dallas Cowboys in November. The Jaguars are owned by Shahid Khan, who bought west London soccer club Fulham last year and is one of a growing band of U.S. businessmen who have invested in sports teams on both sides of the Atlantic. The latest London trip comes when the NFL is having to contend at home with negative headlines and pressure from sponsors over its handling of domestic violence cases involving some of its athletes. Waller acknowledged that the NFL had to be careful to protect its image but added that its leadership had proved its worth on many occasions. Any bad publicity in any area is a danger and a risk if you don t respond to it and rectify it, he said. I believe we work incredibly hard to do what is right for the game, and for the game in the long term. Reuters Mercedes duo set for Singapore street fight JAPAN: Angelique Kerber of Germany returns a shot against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine during their women s singles second round match of the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament. AFP Kerber in Pan Pacific q-finals TOKYO: Top-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany beat Ukraine s Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-4 yesterday to reach the quarter-finals of the $1 million Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. Kerber, the world number eight, grabbed two straight games after the pair were 4-4 in the first set and overcame a 1-3 deficit in the second set to defeat the 35thranked Svitolina in 86 minutes. In the quarter-finals, Kerber will take on Slovakia s sixth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova who outlasted American Coco Vandeweghe 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 in the round of 16. It s always tough to play your first match in a tournament, said Kerber, who has won four WTA titles. But I m happy about my game, about how I played. It s nice to be back because I have great memories from last year. Kerber finished runner-up to Czech Petra Kvitova in last year s Pan Pacific. In a much touted secondround match, seventh-seeded Lucie Safarova battled back to beat wild card Belinda Bencic 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, spoiling the Swiss teenager s upward momentum this year. The 27-year-old left-handed Czech lost three straight games after the pair were 3-3 in the first set, but in the second she broke Bencic s serve in the third game and delivered five aces. In the decisive set, Safarova broke the 17-year-old in the first and fifth games before conceding no point in the eighth game, finishing her off with two straight aces, her ninth and 10th of the match. It was a very tough match. I m really happy I could win, said Safarova, ranked 15th in the world. It is very nice to face new young players and play very well. Bencic, fresh from her run to the quarter-finals at the US Open two weeks ago which boosted her world ranking, said: I can just take the positive out of this match and I didn t think it was too bad. Ranked 34th in the world, she added: I was playing great in the first set but to be in the top 15, you have to hold that level over three sets. Safarova, who reached the semi-finals at this year s Wimbledon, faces third-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the round of eight. Ivanovic, 10th in the world, beat former world number one Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, the 2012 and 2013 Australian Open champion, 6-3, 6-4. Azarenka is ranked 25th. AFP JAPAN: Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic celebrates her win over Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in their women s singles second round match at the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament. AFP SINGAPORE: Brazilian Felipe Massa feels he has turned a corner after his first podium of the season in Italy last time out and is cautiously confident his Williams team can catch Red Bull in the constructors championship. Massa, who joined Williams at the start of the season after eight years with Ferrari, finished an emotional third at Monza at the home race for his former team which helped his new side move above his old colleagues in the constructors race. Williams are third in the standings on 177 points, 15 ahead of Ferrari and 95 behind Red Bull, with six rounds remaining starting with Sunday s Singapore race under the lights at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. Mercedes are well out in front but Massa was optimistic of adding to his own personal 55 point haul and, with the help of in-form team mate Valtteri Bottas, continue to rack up the points for the resurgent Williams team who only managed five last season. We re planning to close the gap in every race...to catch even Red Bull which is a bit far, but you ll never know, the Brazilian told Reuters on Wednesday. Everything can change pretty quickly in Formula One in two or three races. The situation is different. Maybe we have the opportunity to fight for the second place. I think the work and the job we are doing this year is going very well. So there s still a lot to improve in the second part of the season and also next year. The twisting, demanding and lengthy street circuit in hot, humid and this week hazy Singapore will be one of the tougher races for Massa and Williams, though. The team will have some upgrades on the car for this weekend but Massa acknowledged Monza was a high-speed track that suited them better. Monza was a fantastic race for us. We managed to finish on the podium, which was great, he said of the race 10 days ago. We finished third and fourth. We managed to pass Ferrari in the constructors championship so going for third place, I think it was a very important race for us. It was fantastic to be back on the podium. I hope we can carry on being back on the podium for most of the races. I think it s (Singapore) always a difficult race, a different track. Not the best track for us. I really expect we can be there, I really expect we can be competitive and I hope we can fight again for the podium. Williams head of vehicle performance Rob Smedley was also wary of the demands that the Singapore race would put on his team this week. SINGAPORE: Mercedes team mates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton renew their sometimes hostile rivalry on the floodlit streets of Singapore this weekend at a circuit where mistakes or collisions normally result in race retirement. With six races remaining in the 19-round season, Germany s Rosberg leads Hamilton by 22 points but the momentum and crowd sentiment are on the Briton s side after he won in Monza a fortnight ago following his ruined grand prix in Belgium. Hamilton failed to finish in Spa last month after an unnecessary collision with Rosberg but gained a modicum of revenge in Italy when the German relinquished first place to his team mate after cracking under pressure midway through the race. Rosberg finished second in both races and was booed on the podium on each occasion for benefiting from his over-aggressive approach in Belgium but Mercedes will be hoping the pair can rein in their fighting instincts to avoid further mishaps. Since Monza, however, Formula One have banned radio race assistance, including coded messages, so it will be interesting to see how the team can control their drivers on an unforgiving 23-turn layout in the heat and humidity of Singapore. Mercedes, who have won all but three of the 13 races this season, are expected to dominate once again with Hamilton installed as a marginal favourite due to his better record on the Marina Bay Street Circuit, where he won in 2009. Despite the highs and lows, I m still well and truly in the hunt for the championship and that is something that gives me huge motivation for the final six races - starting in Singapore, Hamilton said in a team release. It s a great place to begin the final flyaway phase of the season. The city is buzzing and the track is mega. It s a street circuit and I love street circuits. The Briton was unfortunate not to win the inaugural race in 2008 and a mechanical failure when clear at the front denied him victory two years ago, while Rosberg can take heart from one of his earliest successes in Formula One at the venue. I got my second ever podium here with P2 in 2008 and I generally enjoy street circuits, so I m looking to go one better this time around, the German said. SECOND FIDDLE World champion Sebastian Vettel has endured a miserable winless campaign but arrives in Singapore seeking a fourth straight victory in the race in an improving Red Bull that is expected to present the sternest opposition to Mercedes. The German, however, has been forced to play second fiddle to team mate Daniel Ricciardo all season with the Australian winning three races, leading to whispers in the paddock that Vettel s future could lie away from Red Bull, with Ferrari a possible destination. While Red Bull have moved quickly to quash any exit rumours, team principal Christian Horner was also keen to play down expectations of a return to the top of the tree for the reigning champions in Southeast Asia. At Singapore, there are a few more corners Nico Rosberg in action in this file photo. and a few less straights (than at Monza), Horner said after his cars came fifth and sixth in Italy. We re looking forward to going back there. It s a track that we ve always gone well at in the last few years. But there s no guarantees in this business, and we expect the Mercedes to be incredibly quick. The Mercedes-powered Williams has been somewhat of a revelation this season with Valtteri Bottas claiming four podiums in the last six races while his team mate Felipe Massa enjoyed a third-place finish in Monza. Another strong result is expected in Singapore but Bottas believes the car will find it difficult to compete for another podium finish with its aerodynamic efficiency less effective on the demanding and tight Singapore roads. Singapore, maybe Brazil, they could be difficult ones, the Finn said. But we reckon there are some good ones to come. We are still aiming to bring some updates later in the season, so Suzuka, Austin and Abu Dhabi, for example, I think we can fight for the podium definitely. We ll keep pushing. Reuters Williams can catch Red Bull, says Massa LONDON: The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews announced yesterday that prominent figures from women s golf will be allowed to join if it votes to accept female members. The R&A, golf s governing body along with the United States Golf Association (USGA), will vote on Thursday on whether to admit women for the first time in its 260-year history. Members will also be asked if they would accept the immediate admission of 15 female members, including former USGA president Judy Bell and former leading amateur player Carol Semple Thompson. The club is balloting its members on a change to its membership rules that would enable it to welcome women members, said an R&A spokesman. Over 2,400 ballot papers Felipe Massa The track has a few issues that we have to work around, such as the lack of grip that on a normal track would improve, but here doesn t, he said in a statement. This results in a lot of wheel spin and oversteer which affects the balance of the car. The main focus for the team is the constructors championship now and we have to establish ourselves in third position, which we regained from Ferrari in Monza. Reuters R&A set for historic vote on women golfers have been sent out and the vote is independently scrutinised by Electoral Reform Services. A simple majority is required to effect the proposed change. Should the outcome be in favour of welcoming women members, the decision will take immediate effect. The first women members in a mixed membership Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews are likely to have made a significant contribution to the development of our sport. Speaking in March, R&A chief executive Peter Dawson said the club felt it had strong support in favour of female members. Thursday s vote will take place on the same day that the people of Scotland vote in a referendum on whether or not to become independent from the United Kingdom. AFP

LENIN Nepalese champ mounts unlikely cycling challenge KATHMANDU: A short and skinny former cycle mechanic from one of the world s poorest countries is hoping to beat the odds and surprise Asia s best mountain bikers at the Asian Games. Nepal s Ajay Pandit Chhetri, who is 5ft 4in (1.62m) tall and weighs just 48 kilos (106 pounds), is a shopkeeper s son who won his first race on a borrowed bike. When he makes his Asian Games debut in the cross-country race on October 1, he ll be riding a bike that cost far less than his competitors cutting-edge machines. But in his favour is a life steeped in mountain biking after spending years since childhood riding Nepal s remote Himalayan trails. And in Incheon, Chhetri believes he can make an impression by finishing in the top five. Even now, those racing against me in South Korea will have bikes costing double of mine, Chhetri told AFP. It is like a fight between a khukri (a traditional Nepalese knife) and a gun. Chhetri has been Nepal s national champion since 2009, quite a feat considering he couldn t afford his own mountain bike when he won his first race aged 15. At the time, even a low-end mountain bike costing about 20,000 rupees ($205) was out of his reach, until well-wishers pitched in to help him pay for it. It amuses me when people get surprised by my achievements, he said. I may be thin and short, but my hard work and preparation has brought me this far. Chhetri s love of mountain biking comes from long before he dreamt of winning medals. As a young boy, he spent his free time riding around hills on the outskirts of Kathmandu. I was always good at sports, but cycling appealed to me because it is all about an individual s effort. It is about what you can do, he said. His evolution as a competitive racer Chris Froome came almost by chance. Tired of going to a mechanic every time his bike broke, he joined a workshop to learn how to fix it himself. Soon, his expertise as a mechanic brought him into contact with mountain bikers visiting Nepal, who opened his eyes to the possibilities and prompted him to enter his first race. When I was repairing... those powerful cycles, I used to dream about owning them. Now I know that dreams can come true, he said. Chhetri, 26, has spent the past four months training rigorously for the Asian Games, but he has continued to taste success along the way. Last week he became the first foreigner to win the 268-kilometre (167 miles) Tour of the Dragon race in Bhutan, smashing the course record by more than 30 minutes. Chhetri s experience of Himalayan terrain helped him navigate the hilly course, including four treacherous mountain passes, three of which were over 10,000 feet (3,000 metres). He is no stranger to competing at altitude, having won Nepal s annual 400-kilometre Yak Attack, dubbed the world s highest mountain bike race, four times. The race kicks off in Kathmandu, traverses the Annapurna mountain circuit at more than 17,500 feet and ends close to the Chinese border. Although Nepal is naturally blessed with a terrain perfect for mountain biking, Chhetri said a lack of government support and insurance discourages riders from turning professional. Often we don t take on challenging routes even if we want to because there is no insurance to fall back on. What will happen to me if I break my bones? Chhetri is travelling to Incheon with 197 other athletes who will represent Nepal in 24 sports, including athletics, martial arts and wrestling. AFP Froome leads British assault on Ponferrada LONDON: Former Tour de France champions Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins were named in the Great Britain team for the Road World Championships in Spain that was announced yesterday. But while Froome, who recently came second in the Tour of Spain behind Alberto Contador, will spearhead a nine-man team in the men s road race, Wiggins will only feature in the time-trial. Froome, the 2013 Tour de France winner, is joined in the road race squad by Geraint Thomas, Pete Kennaugh and David Millar, who is due to retire at the end of the season. British Cycling technical director Shane Sutton said: I m pleased with the teams we ve selected for the UCI Road World Championships. Across the board, we have some real podium contenders. For the men s road race, Chris proved he s in good shape by coming second at the Vuelta and I m pleased David Millar will be leading the team in his last outing in Great Britain kit. The line-up for the men s road race in Ponferrada on September 28, the final day of the competition, is completed by Steve Cummings, Luke Rowe, Yates twins Simon and Adam, and Ben Swift. Wiggins, who won the Tour de France in 2012 before adding the time-trial gold medal at the London Olympics, will compete in the September 24 race-against-the-clock, alongside Alex Dowsett. Lizzie Armitstead leads the six-strong women s squad, which also includes two-time junior world champion Lucy Garner but does not feature a competitor for the time-trial. AFP OCA throws Iranian official out of Asiad SEOUL: The president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) apologised yesterday after an Iranian official was thrown out of the Asian Games in South Korea after being charged with sexual harassment. Police had charged the official following a complaint by a female volunteer at a soccer stadium. A Palestine soccer player has also been charged with the same offence after another incident at the athletes village. OCA President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al- Sabah told Reuters in an interview that the OCA had taken the necessary action to respond to the incidents and that it would serve as a lesson to all the other athletes and officials at the Sept. 19 to Oct. 4 Games in Incheon, west of Seoul. We are sorry to start the Games with these kinds of incidents, he said. There was a quick resolution, the organising committee and the city appreciated that the OCA did our job. But we are sorry about this. The OCA said in a statement earlier yesterday that Amereh Ahmad, who looked after the equipment for the Iran soccer team, had been banned from all Asian Games sites, including the athletes village, venues and hotels. I think now others will understand what is against the law and what are the lines they cannot cross, said Sheikh Ahmad. Although this is a negative incident, there can be a positive from it. It is part of the Games to educate, to exchange cultures and to understand other nationalities and cultures. The OCA has asked Iran s National Olympic Committee to send the official home. The Olympic Council of Asia has issued a zero tolerance policy for any cases of sexual harassment at the Asian Games in Incheon, Korea, it said in a statement. It was not a matter of a physical attack; it was verbal sexual harassment, the OCA said of the incident, which took place on Monday at a soccer stadium in Ansan. The OCA will not tolerate any misbehavior of this nature and we will take a tough stance. We cannot accept this, so we have removed him from the Games. South Korean police had said on Tuesday the official had admitted touching the volunteer but did not consider his actions to be illegal. Yesterday, police told Reuters they had charged a player from Palestine s soccer team with sexual harassment following a complaint from a female staff member at the athletes village. The player, who was not identified, was charged without physical detention and the case transferred to the prosecutor s office, the police confirmed. Reuters SPORTS Photo of the day Chris Christensen performs in Copenhagen, Denmark. www.redbull.com INCHEON: Thousands of athletes and officials gathered in Incheon yesterday as the clock ticked down to Asia s biggest sports spectacular and organisers fretted over low ticket sales. Long queues formed at South Korea s Incheon airport two days ahead of the start of the Asian Games, an Olympic-size event with 36 sports, 45 countries and about 10,000 athletes. China, with roughly one-tenth of the competitors, will dominate proceedings, four years after walking off with a record 199 golds and 416 medals overall at Guangzhou 2010. China s Olympic swim stars Sun Yang, Ye Shiwen and badminton s Lin Dan will hog the limelight along with Japan s emerging athletes and South Korean home favourites. Attention is also focusing on North Korea s team as they make the rare and politically sensitive trip south to compete for their sports-loving supreme leader, Kim Jong-Un. Sexual harassment cases tainted the build-up after an Iranian official was kicked out for verbally harassing a volunteer and a Palestinian footballer was accused of groping a woman in the athletes village. Organisers are also braced for swathes of empty seats with just 18 percent of tickets sold across the sprawling, 49-venue site as of early this week. The Games will be declared open at a gala ceremony in Incheon s 62,000-seat, purposebuilt main stadium on Friday, headlined by K- Pop stars and Gangnam Style singer Psy. Incheon organisers are calling it a frugal Games which at about $2 billion, is costing a fraction of Guangzhou 2010 and pales in comparison with the Beijing and Sochi Olympics. World and Olympic champions dot the entry sheets, while many teams are using Incheon as a chance to blood young athletes ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. China s controversial Sun will be the main attraction in the pool and looks set to face South Korea s Park Tae-Hwan and Japan s Kosuke Hagino in the 200m and 400m freestyle. The two-time Olympic champion is back after a seven-month ban imposed following his brief jail term last year for driving a Porsche without a licence and colliding with a bus. In athletics, China s Zhang Peimeng will attempt to become the first native Asian to run the 100m in less than 10 seconds. China will go for clean-sweeps in their specialist sports of diving, table tennis and badminton, where the highly decorated Lin Dan may meet his Malaysian rival Lee Chong Wei. Japan are trying to make it a men s and women s football double in the home of their arch-foes South Korea, a result which would sorely test the patience of home fans. And war-ravaged Afghanistan can write another chapter in their cricketing fairytale by winning their biggest title yet, four years after claiming silver in Guangzhou. Such tales of perseverance, especially from Thousands flood in ahead of Asian Games Asia s pockets of severe poverty, will provide a running theme as countries like Nepal and East Timor take on their wealthier neighbours. And organisers are urging Incheon s residents to come out and support the full range of events rather than just those in which South Korea is strong. On Monday, an organising committee official said only five percent of athletics tickets INCHEON: China s synchronised swimming team practices at the Munhak Park Tae-hwan Aquatics Center. The 17th Asian Games will open in Incheon, South Korea tomorrow, with 45 nations and territories competing in 36 sports. AFP had been sold and six percent for football. We hope people can come out to watch other nations, too, because this is a festival for all Asians, the official said. That will really help us stage a successful event. Despite the slow sales, Incheon officials say the long-term goal is to position what is South Korea s third-biggest city, just west of Seoul, as an Asian financial hub. AFP INCHEON: Performers have their makeup applied backstage prior to a rehearsal for the opening ceremony of the 2014 Asian Games at the main stadium venue in Incheon. AFP Thai princess going for gold INCHEON: The Thailand team for the 17th Asian Games includes a real-life princess with a downto-earth approach to life and a heart set on winning gold. Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana, the granddaughter of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, has been chosen to represent her country in equestrian, riding a horse called Prince Charming. The 27- year-old has already competed at the Asian Games before, but in a different sport. She was a member of the Thai badminton team at the 2006 Games in Doha, where she spurned any special treatment by opting to stay in the athletes village. Although she has ridden horses since childhood, Princess Sirivannavari only started showjumping seriously a few years ago, while she was studying fine arts and working as a fashion designer in Paris. She made the Thailand team for last year s South East Asian Games, where she finished 10th in individual dressage and fifth in the team event, and has set her sights on winning gold in Incheon even though the competition is harder. I am well-prepared for the Asian Games, she told the Bangkok Post. I have trained hard since the end of the SEA Games with the aim of representing Thailand again at the Incheon Games. It will be tougher than the SEA Games and I will do my best. Princess Sirivannavari is the latest in a long line of royals to compete internationally in equestrian, a traditionally popular sport among monarchs. At the last Olympics, there were three royals in the equestrian events - Britain s Zara Phillips as well as Prince Abdullah bin Miteb and Prince Faisal Al Shalan, both from Saudi Arabia. There are six equestrian events at Incheon s Dream Park, a former waste disposal site that Korean officials have transformed into a riding centre, but Princess Sirivannavari is entered in just two, the individual and team dressage. I prefer dressage because it s the foundation of equestrian sport and requires such a great deal of concentration, Princess Sirivannavari told reporters. The rider and horse must develop a strong bond and be able to communicate with one another, more so than in any other equestrian regime. And, since I love art so much, I find dressage very elegant and beautiful. Every posture is marvellous, and the rider has to dress up too. I also like free style, in which the rider has to control the horse according to the rhythm of the music that s played. Reuters

LENIN SPORTS World Cup 2022 the ultimate goal for Afghanistan LONDON: The 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been beset by controversy, but for the visionaries bringing soccer back to life in Afghanistan it represents a shining, magical light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel. It is an almost impossible dream, but our dream is that Afghanistan, an Asian nation, takes part in an Asian World Cup in Qatar in eight years time, Sayed Ali Reza Aghazada, the general secretary of the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF), told Reuters. It might be beyond us, we might not be able to make it happen, but the fact we can even talk about this shows just how far we have come in a very short space of time. Even if we fail to make those finals, just to take part in qualifying for the World Cup, and to see our sport progress and develop technically would be a huge success for us after soccer virtually died in our country. The sport has been reborn after wars, upheaval and the Taliban regime plunged the nation into despair. To all intents and purposes, there was no organised soccer in Afghanistan for almost 30 years and the national team did not play a match from 1984 until 2002. Liverpool s English midfielder Steven Gerrard (right) celebrates in this file photo. Liverpool face challenge to revive fluent form LONDON: Without the departed Luis Suarez and injured Daniel Sturridge, Liverpool returned to the Champions League with a win but face a challenge to recover the free-scoring form that put them back among the European elite. A last-minute penalty converted by captain Steven Gerrard, after Dani Abalo had levelled for Bulgarian champions Ludogorets, following an exquisite 82nd minute opener by Mario Balotelli, gave Anfield reason to cheer on Tuesday. Reality, however, soon quelled any fears of uncontrolled optimism as manager Brendan Rodgers and Gerrard both called for improvement if any dreams of the club s halcyon days in Europe are to be revived. We are not yet at the level we were last season, but we will get there, said Rodgers. It was a great night in the end because we won. Ludogorets played very well and to get the win was very important. We did OK, but it wasn t better than OK, said Gerrard. There s a lot to learn... The former England captain, who resigned from national service following the national team s disappointing early exit at the World Cup, had more praise for striker Balotelli, a 16 million pounds ($26.11 million) recruit from AC Milan in August. You have to give Mario credit, said Gerrard. It didn t go his way for long periods, but the sign of a good goalscorer is to keep going and get a chance... However, Liverpool clearly face a struggle to find their former fluency with the more static, if statuesque, Italian at centre-forward in lieu of the swift incisive scissor-cutting combinations provided by Suarez and Sturridge at their best. Suarez, who scored 31 Premier League goals, and Sturridge, who netted 21 times, revelled in angled running and sharp-passing interplays, often involving Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho and roaming 19-year-old England winger Raheem Sterling. Without the Uruguayan s movement and precision, Liverpool s attack appeared predictably focused on Balotelli s dependable but less expansive leadership which made it more difficult for the midfield to find moving targets with their passing. As The Daily Telegraph s match report put it: In Sturridge s absence, the onus was on Balotelli to provide forward impetus, but the cartographers will not need protective gloves when handling the Italian s heat map. Liverpool, without the goalscorers of last season, are again a work in progress as Rodgers seeks a new design. The cutting edge has gone, but the manager has a bigger, and stronger, squad from which to mould a solid replacement. It may not dazzle as often, or have the flair of the side that finished second last term, but should prove capable of handling the dual challenge at home and abroad, starting with Saturday s Premier League trip to West Ham United. Reuters Yes or No for Celtic in Europa League PARIS: Celtic face a tough trip to Salzburg today, the day of Scotland s independence referendum, while Everton host Wolfsburg and Tottenham go to Partizan Belgrade as the epic quest for the Europa League reaches the 48-team group phase. The pick of the round however sees holders Sevilla host Dutch outfit Feyenoord in Group G with the pair boasting five titles between them in the competition. Feyenoord beat Tottenham 4-2 in 1974 before their classic 3-2 win, at their home stadium, over Borussia Dortmund in 2002. The Spaniards, specialists in the competition, beat Middlesbrough 4-0 in 2006, edged Espanyol on penalties the following season and also won on penalties against Benfica last year to go into the pot as champions. This is the first match-day of the round-robin phase with the top two from each of the 12 groups of four qualifying for the knock-out phase, where they are joined by the third-placed teams from the group phase of the Champions League. British bookmakers feel a Celtic win is even less likely than a Yes vote for Scottish independence, a national referendum taking place the same day which will massively overshadow the game, with the odds heavily stacked against in both cases. Celtic bagged a 2-1 win over Aberdeen at the weekend after a rocky patch without a win since August 16. New boss Ronny Deila was however able to field new signings Aleksandar Tonev, Stefan Scepovic and Swedish striker John Guidetti, on-loan from Manchester City, in their morale boosting win. But pressure is mounting on the 1994 finalists Salzburg too, as their coach Adolf Hutter has overseen three straight defeats with club owner and energy drink magnate Dietrich Mateschitz looking for a return on his investment. They lost their previous manager Roger Schmidt and star player Senegal s Sadio Mane to Southampton in the summer. Both Celtic and Salzburg however are expected to qualify from Group D. In Group C, Spurs will put their stadium delay worries out of mind as Mauricio Pochettino takes his side to Belgrade. A late own-goal denied Tottenham a win at Sunderland at the weekend as Pochettino called for a killer instinct against Partizan Belgrade. Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen in a free, attacking midfield role has been on brilliant form for Spurs and Sunderland boss Gus Poyet described them as the best side they d played this season. Everton face Germany s Wolfsburg, who are as yet winless in the Bundesliga, and can count on new signing, the Cameroon striker Samuel Eto o, coming back from injury for the game. American World Cup hero Tim Howard sounded the battle cry for the Toffees with the keeper telling the club s own website - The fact that the winners get a Champions League spot is a small incentive for me. Lifting that cup would be brilliant. Russian league club FC Krasnodar suffered an unexpected 2-0 home defeat on Sunday at the hands of newly-promoted Ufa ahead of their Europa League encounter with French side Lille. Azerbaijan champions Qarabag had a morale-boosting 3-0 win over AZAL Baku at the weekend but manager Gurban Gurbanov acknowledged that meeting Saint-Etienne in Group F would be another story. In the other match in the pool Inter Milan face Ukraine s Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. The final is in the Warsaw national stadium Wednesday, May 27, 2015 and Poland s representative in the competition is Legia Warsaw, who take on Belgian newcomers Lokeren in Group L. Elsewhere Greek giants Panathinaikos face Russian big shots Dinamo Moscow, Germany s Borussia Monchenglad bach take on Spain s Villarreal and Napoli host Sparta Prague. AFP UNIQUE VOTE Today there are state championships which comprise teams from all 34 of Afghanistan s provinces and an eight-team tournament staged over 45 days in Kabul at the end of the season. As well as attracting regular capacity crowds at both the Ghazi and Kabul stadiums, the eight teams were formed in a unique way when the tournament started in 2011. Kate Hodgkinson, the English Premier League s International Development Manager, explained the process. In the first season the host TV broadcaster set up an X-Factor style TV show with the general public voting for which players would play in which team. That s how they got the public involved, it was popular and it worked. Things have now moved on to such a degree that Afghanistan clinched the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship last year, having finished runners-up in 2011. On their way to the title, they won four of their five matches, including a 2-0 victory over six-time champions India in the title decider in Kathmandu, Nepal. The scenes in Kabul after we won were like nothing I have ever seen before, said Sayed Ali Kazemi, the president of the AFF s Youth Committee. The war was forgotten, the Taliban was forgotten, people rejoiced like fans anywhere else in the MADRID: When Iker Casillas triumphantly hoisted the Henri Delaunay Cup aloft in Kiev after Spain claimed a second consecutive European crown in 2012, he could scarcely have believed that within two years he would be roundly whistled by fans at Real Madrid s Bernabeu stadium. Born and bred in the Spanish capital and a product of the club s academy, goalkeeper and captain Casillas has been singled out by some supporters following a stuttering start to La Liga. They first vented their anger during Saturday s 2-1 home defeat to city rivals Atletico Madrid after Casillas was beaten at a corner by a Tiago header and the whistling continued during Real s thumping 5-1 victory over FC Basel in Tuesday s Champions League Group B opener. To be sure, there were plenty of fans in the giant arena who clearly still worship Saint Iker and immediately the whistles rang out they were generally drowned out with warm applause. Casillas was also given an ovation when he produced one of the miraculous saves that earned him his moniker and in recent years underpinned Spain s glorious six-year run at the top of the world game. Nonetheless, he remains under a cloud and under pressure from Real s new keeper Keylor Navas, who starred for Costa Rica at the World Cup finals in Brazil while Casillas had a torrid time as holders Spain failed to make it past the group stage. Exactly why some Real fans have lost faith in Casillas - local media has been full of conspiracy theories - is difficult to fathom and piling blame on the keeper for the club s poor start in La Liga is manifestly unfair. But as well as the division among the supporters, there has been a steady stream of reports of dressing room splits and Casillas s team mates and coach Carlo Ancelotti were less than proactive in coming to their captain s defence. It is hard not to conclude that all is not well behind the scenes at the world s richest club by income and that the iron control president Florentino Perez exerts over decision-making may be counterproductive. I am not going to enter into debates, it would be stupid, Real s Spain centre back Sergio Ramos told reporters when quizzed about the whistling after the Basel game. The institution comes before all else and we have to focus on our own work, he added. Iker lives with it. He knows that he can t please everyone. He is not a robot and it s normal that he is affected. Perez has not made any public comment on the situation and it has long been reported that his relationship with Casillas is uneasy at best. The construction magnate did visit the dressing room after the Basel game to present Casillas with a replica of the fountain in central world. Football had a long history in Afghanistan before the Taliban destroyed everything. The FA was formed in 1922, we joined FIFA in 1948, and took part in the London Olympics that year. Now we are rebuilding and it is special that cricket is rebuilding too. It is part of the normalisation of the country and at last things are moving in the right direction. PREMIER LEAGUE The Premier League have played a role in helping the sport move forward in the country by organising coaching courses with Afghans. These are held in Dubai rather than Afghanistan for security reasons on the advice of the British Council s Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Jeremy Weeks, the head coach of the league s Premier Skills unit, has witnessed the astonishing transformation these courses have brought about. We basically started with those interested in coaching but otherwise with little or no idea of what coaching meant, he said. Most of the players who could play went to play in Iran or India, but that is changing now and they are staying to play in Afghanistan and the coaching is improving all the time with dramatic impact. Over the years a total of 27 Premier League Madrid where fans celebrate the club s titles to mark his decade and a half in the first team. HERO STATUS So how could a player who has spent his entire professional career with Real and helped win a host of trophies lose his untarnished hero status in so little time? The beginning of his fall from grace can be traced back to a fractured hand he suffered when Real defender Alvaro Arbeloa accidentally kicked him during a King s Cup game at Valencia in January 2013. Then-coach Jose Mourinho brought in Diego Lopez as what most assumed would be a temporary replacement but Casillas failed to win back his starting spot and it quickly became clear that the relationship between the captain and the manager had broken down. After Mourinho left in disgrace and returned to Chelsea at the end of the 2012-13 season, most expected Casillas to be restored to undisputed number one under Carlo Ancelotti but the Italian used an awkward rotation policy last term with Lopez playing in La Liga and Casillas in the Champions League. Real came close to losing the final of Europe s elite club competition after a Casillas error gifted Atletico a first-half goal but Ramos saved him with a 93rd-minute equaliser before Real romped to a 4-1 victory in extra time. Casillas appears to be Ancelotti s first choice in both La Liga and the Champions League this season, at least for the time being, clubs have sent 140 coaches to 25 countries in Asia, the Americas and Africa but it is fair to say that one of the biggest challenges in many ways was Afghanistan and our coaches are doing a brilliant educational job helping bring Afghan football back to life. The Ghazi stadium returned to life as a sports arena in 2008 and the nightmares of the public executions that took place there are slowly receding. Afghanistan were absent from FIFA and Asian confederation congresses for years, but are now reintegrated into the global football family, to the delight of Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, the Asian vice-president on the FIFA executive committee. The Afghan federation is now benefiting from FIFA grants and help from the AFC s Asian Football Development Project (AFDP), while Prince Ali told Reuters he was delighted the English FA had contributed so much to the Afghan cause. They have helped enormously, with grass roots and women s football too, he said. Afghanistan are doing things their way and went out and beat India to win the SAFF title last year, which was amazing. It is very positive they are focused on Qatar 2022 as their ultimate goal. I wish them well, they have overcome all the threats, they have survived, and that should make us all very proud. Reuters Casillas s fall from grace highlights divisions at Real LONDON: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has asked fans and critics for patience with England striker Danny Welbeck and his team after a forlorn display in their 2-0 Champions League defeat at Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday. Wenger, who takes his team to second-placed Aston Villa for a key Premier League fixture on Saturday, admitted Arsenal were well beaten by a dominant Dortmund whose pressing game squeezed his team into submission and exposed all their frailties. It s very difficult to go into any individual assessment of any player because as a team we were not at the requested level, said Wenger. They were very, very strong in midfield, yes, stronger than us in midfield, he said. It was very difficult... Wenger, who has guided Arsenal into the Champions League group stages for 17 successive years, was reluctant to dwell on his team s defects until he has seen videos of the game again, but defended Welbeck, a 16 million pounds transfer window deadline day signing from Manchester United. Danny will improve - we don t have to make a problem of that, he told reporters. He had a very lively first half. He had two or three good chances, but couldn t finish them. There was one obvious one... We have to be patient with him. Welbeck wasted his easiest of three chances in the first half when, with the score still goalless, he turned on to a pass from Aaron Ramsey, but steered his shot wide. It was, said one commentator, an example of the bright movement that showed why Arsenal has signed him and, at the same time, a miss that explained why United had been happy to sell him. Welbeck scored both goals in England s Euro 2016 qualifier in Switzerland on September 8, just a week after his transfer, but he has not scored a Premier League goal since March 8 when Manchester United won 3-0 at West Bromwich Albion. His profligacy was more starkly exposed either side of the interval when Dortmund s strikers Ciro Immobile and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang completed rapid breakaways with clinical finishes. SPAIN: Real Madrid s goalkeeper Iker Casillas stops the ball in this file photo. By the end, Dortmund had accumulated 22 shots to Arsenal s four, prompting suggestions it was like men against boys and exposing the English team s lack of a defensive midfielder to protect a fragile defence. Captain Mikel Arteta, retained by Wenger when he rejected a chance to re-sign Cesc Fabregas, who instead joined Chelsea, was overrun and struggled with his passing under pressure. The diminutive left side of Arsenal s team - left-back Kieron Gibbs and midfielders Jack Wilshere and, when not switching to the right, German World Cup winner Mesut Ozil - appeared to lack the required power, pace and height but has become a target for fans who are clearly unhappy with his form and perhaps blame him, at least in part, for the downfall of Mourinho. Christian Panucci, who had a three-year stint playing with Casillas at Real in the late 1990s, defended his former team mate and noted that it was not the first time the home fans at the Bernabeu had criticised one of their own. WHISTLES INTO APPLAUSE Club legends including Alfredo Di Stefano and Zinedine Zidane were targeted when results were not deemed satisfactory, while even current top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo has felt the wrath of supporters on occasions. The Bernabeu has not changed, it s always the same, former Italy defender Panucci said in an interview with Spanish sports daily As published on Tuesday. Sometimes it is divided, added the 41-yearold, now an assistant coach to Fabio Capello with the Russian national team. There are times when the fans whistle you and you have to accept it. I was surprised, for me the (Atletico) goal is not Iker s fault. He is a lad with the personality to react and turn them (the whistles) into applause. As is so often the case in soccer, a good run of results will likely put an end to the protests. If the reverse happens and fans persist in targeting Casillas, he may seriously consider bringing an end to his time at the club he has represented since the age of 10. Reuters Wenger asks for patience Arsenal s English striker Danny Welbeck. to cope up with the pressure. Others, including Chile forward Alexis Sanchez, were anonymous on the night and laboured to make any impact. Arsenal papered over the cracks last season, their former striker and Wales international John Hartson told the BBC, adding they could have conceded five or six... Without overreacting, it was a really woeful defensive performance. Wenger s subdued mood suggested he had realised the inclusion of 19-year-old Spanish defender Hector Bellerin, given his debut in the daunting Westfalenstadion, was also a gamble that did not pay off. Reuters

PORTUGAL: Porto s Colombian forward Jackson Martinez (center) vies with Bate Borisov s defender Egor Filipenko (left) and defender Denis Polyakov during the UEFA Champions League football match. AFP Porto stroll to victory PORTUGAL: Algerian international Yacine Brahimi scored three times as former European champions Porto crushed BATE Borisov 6-0 in their opening Champions League Group H match yesterday. The Belarusian visitors never recovered from a dreadful mistake by goalkeeper Sergei Chernik in the fifth minute. He miscued a throw straight to midfielder Brahimi, who ran into the penalty area PORTUGAL: Maribor substitute Luka Zahovic pounced on an embarrassing defensive blunder from Sporting to rescue a 1-1 draw in stoppage time against the Portuguese club in their Champions League Group G opener on Wednesday. The 18-year-old Slovenian forward headed home a loose ball in the second minute of injury time after Sporting s centre-back pairing fluffed clearances in a panicked attempt to hold on to a lead given them by Nani s devastating strike. The Manchester United outcast had cut in from the right in the 80th minute and drilled a left-foot shot into the bottom corner in the game s one moment of outstanding quality. It looked enough to give Sporting the points before the Slovenian champions hit back on their return to the Champions League group stages after and scored from a narrow angle. Brahimi added a fine solo goal after 32 minutes, running from the halfway line, and Colombian international Jackson Martinez, who also hit the post and bar, scored the third goal in the 37th minute. Brahimi, Adrian Lopez and Vincent Aboubakar completed the rout in an equally one-sided second half to give Porto their biggest win in the competition. Reuters Maribor share point with Sporting 15 years away. Sporting dominated possession and territory but were wasteful going forward - epitomised by Nani s mixed overall performance - and Maribor will feel as though they deserved something out of the game. Had their finishing been more clinical, especially that of Brazilian striker and captain Tavares, the home side could have emerged with even more at the Ljudski stadium. Tavares was a powerful presence throughout for Maribor, though Nani was also denied by a sharp save from Jasmin Handanovic who kept out his half-volley. Both sides had hit the woodwork in the first period. First Sporting s Andre Carillo clipped the crossbar with a right-foot curler before Maribor defender Aleksander Rajcevic thundered a header on to the base of Rui Patricio s post from a brilliant free kick by Dare Vrsic. Reuters Bilbao thwarted by Shakhtar BILBAO: Athletic Bilbao failed to mark their Champions League return with a victory when they were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Shakhtar Donetsk in their Group H opener yesterday. The contest at Bilbao s impressive new San Mames stadium was evenly-matched, with both sides creating plenty of chances and the home side perhaps narrowly having the upper hand. Bilbao finished fourth in La Liga last season and are making only their second appearance in the Champions League group stage and their first since the 1998-99 campaign. The club, coached by their former striker Ernesto Valverde, manage to compete at the highest level even though they only use players of Basque origin. Group H also includes Porto and BATE Borisov and the Portuguese side got their campaign off to a spectacular start when they thrashed the Belarussians 6-0 on Tuesday. Reuters SPAIN: Shakhtar Donetsk s Brazilian midfielder Douglas Costa (right) vies with Athletic Bilbao s forward Iker Muniain (left) during the UEFA Champions League football match. AFP SPORTS LONDON: Chelsea made a spluttering start to their Champions League campaign as Klaas-Jan Huntelaar s second-half equaliser earned Schalke a surprise 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge yesterday. Jose Mourinho s side had been in dominant mood in the early weeks of the season and they looked well in control of their Group G opener after an early strike from Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas. But Fabregas s first goal for Chelsea since his 27 million ($44 million) pre-season move from Barcelona was the prelude to a frustrating evening for the Blues, who wasted a string of chances to finish off Schalke and were made to pay when Huntelaar fired home to give the Germans the point their perseverance deserved. The Premier League leaders will still expect to qualify from a group also including Sporting Lisbon and Maribor, but this was hardly the kind of ruthless performance required to go one step further than last season s semi-final appearance. Fuelled by the predatory finishing of Spain striker Diego Costa, who has scored seven times in four matches since arriving from Atletico Madrid, Mourinho s men had reeled off four successive victories. But despite Costa s impressive form, Mourinho opted to rest the Brazil-born star and handed Didier Drogba his first start since his return to the Bridge. Drogba s last contribution for Chelsea in Europe was to score the decisive penalty in their dramatic win against Bayern Munich in the 2012 Champions League final. But this turned out to be a night to forget for the Ivory Coast forward as he laboured for long periods and was unable to replicate Costa s menacing displays. Chelsea defeated Schalke both home and away in the Champions League group stage last season and it wasn t long before Jens Keller s men were in trouble again as the Blues took the lead in controversial fashion in the 11th minute. Stretching to win possession, Fabregas lunged in on Max Meyer, missing the ball and leaving the Schalke midfielder writhing in agony. With furious Schalke appealing for the foul, Croatian referee Ivan Bebek instead waved play on and Fabregas sprinted to receive a clever back-flicked pass from Eden Hazard in the area before guiding a cool finish past Ralf Faehrmann. MADE TO PAY Fabregas should have doubled Chelsea s lead before half-time when he lofted a pass to Branislav Ivanovic and surged onto the return ball, only to miscue his left-footed shot over the bar. Schalke gradually came into the match and Ghana midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng lashed in a fierce long-range effort that brought a fine save from Thibaut Courtois. The visitors came even closer to equalising on the stroke of half-time when Julian Draxler s impressive acceleration took him past Ivanovic and Gary Cahill and into the area where he drilled a low shot just past the far post with only Courtois to beat. Ivanovic was denied by Faehrmann from an acute angle as the hosts pressed for the killer second goal after the interval. Schalke frustrate Chelsea to clinch surprise 1-1 draw AMSTERDAM: A viciously struck free-kick by Danish international Lasse Schoene allowed Ajax to come from behind and draw 1-1 with Paris Saint- Germain in their Champions League Group F opener yesterday. The French champions had taken a 14th-minute lead at the Amsterdam Arena thanks to Edinson Cavani s 28th goal on his 50th appearance for the club, but they were made to pay for their failure to add to their advantage. PSG s line-up included three former Ajax stars in Gregory van der Wiel, Maxwell and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the latter welcomed by a banner from the home fans which read: Welcome home son of God. David Luiz was passed fit to start in central defence for the away side while Blaise Matuidi was preferred to Javier Pastore in midfield. Laurent Blanc s side have been quarter-finalists in each of the last two seasons, and the Paris coach urged his team on the eve of this game to prove that they are capable of going all the way this time. Ajax, meanwhile, have not made it beyond the group stage since 2005/06 and the Dutch champions came into this game on the back of a less than convincing start to their domestic campaign. Frank de Boer s side-who had Lucas Andersen and Icelander Kolbeinn Sigthorsson back did well at home in the Champions League last season, beating Barcelona and Celtic and holding AC Milan. Nevertheless, they looked set for a long evening when poor defending allowed PSG to open the scoring. Danish international left-back Nicolai Boilesen was to blame, tamely losing possession to Lucas inside his own penalty area, allowing the Brazilian to set up Ibrahimovic. The Swede s shot was blocked by Ricardo van Rhijn but Cavani followed up to convert the rebound. PSG should have doubled their lead in the opening minute of the second half, but Lucas could only fire wide of the left-hand post with just the goalkeeper to beat after dispossessing Niklas Moisander. Ajax could have crumbled in the spell LONDON: Chelsea s Brazilian defender Filipe Luis (left) vies with Schalke s German midfielder Sidney Sam during the UEFA Champions League, Group G football match. AFP that followed, but they were let off the hook by poor finishing on behalf of the visitors, with Ibrahimovic shooting wide and then having a freekick saved by Jasper Cillessen before Lucas was denied by the keeper at the end of another breakaway. Marquinhos then headed inches wide from a Lucas free-kick in the 67th minute, and the Brazilian defender was involved as Ajax drew level seven minutes later. He was booked for holding back Thulani Serero just outside the area, and Schoene stepped up to score from the resulting There was more frustration for Chelsea when Drogba muscled his way into a dangerous position from Hazard s pass, but then clipped his shot wide. And Schalke made Mourinho s side pay for their profligacy in the 62nd minute. In a reversal of Chelsea s goal, Fabregas was dispossessed after a possible foul from Huntelaar, whose pass released Draxler to launch a rapid counter-attack that ended with Dutch striker Huntelaar planting a clinical low strike past Courtois to stun the Bridge into silence. Mourinho called for the cavalry, sending on Costa and Loic Remy for the final 18 minutes. Remy went close to bagging the winner, but the France striker s shot was headed off the line by Roman Neustaedter. That set the stage for a tense finale as Chelsea poured forward, but Hazard shot over and then saw his poked effort blocked by Faehrmann. AFP NETHERLANDS: Ajax Amsterdam s Niklas Moisander (left) and Paris Saint-Germain s Lucas Mouras (right) fight for the ball during a UEFA Champions League football match. AFP Schoene s free-kick rescues Ajax ROME: Forward Gervinho and 37-year-old captain Francesco Totti produced virtuoso performances to help AS Roma maul a shambolic CSKA Moscow 5-1 against an ugly backdrop of crowd violence in the Champions League yesterday. Gervinho scored twice and set up another goal for new signing Juan Iturbe as Roma raced to a four-goal lead in just over half an hour against the Russians, who were well out of their depth at the Stadio Olimpico. Totti, starting his 23rd season at his only professional club, orchestrated the win, spraying passes around effortlessly from midfield in the Group E match. There were ugly scenes in the second half as CSKA fans let off flares in the stands and fought with stewards, before riot police were called in to stop the trouble. Italian media also reported problems outside the stadium, showing photographs of smashed car windows and unconfirmed reports said that two people were taken to hospital with stab wounds. Roma, back in the Champions League for the first time since 2010/11, got off to a flying start when Gervinho created an opening for free-kick, his strike just too strong for Salvatore Sirigu, who did get a touch. It could have been even better for Ajax, but another free-kick by Schoene in the 77th minute was turned onto the post by Sirigu. PSG held out for a draw which leaves them with only one win from their last eight away outings, a run stretching back to the start of April, and there is now extra pressure on them before they host Barcelona 1-0 winners at home to APOEL yesterday-in two weeks time. AFP Roma too good for CSKA Iturbe and the 20 million euro (25.73 million US dollar) signing from Verona slotted past Igor Akinfeev in the sixth minute. Iturbe returned the compliment four minutes later as he picked out Gervinho and the Ivorian produced some nifty footwork to fire home the second. Ten minutes later, Maicon got behind the CSKA defence on the right and scored with a shot which slipped through the demoralised Akinfeev s hands. Totti set Gervinho free with an exquisite firsttime pass and the Ivorian cut inside his marker, leaving him sprawling on the pitch, before firing the fourth after only 31 minutes. CSKA suffered another defensive disaster when Sergei Ignashevich headed past Akinfeev five minutes after halftime, although the Russians pulled themselves together after that. Ahmed Musa pulled one back with eight minutes left, the first goal Roma have conceded this season. The only dampener for Roma was when Iturbe limped off with an injury midway through the first half. Reuters

SPAIN: Barcelona s Brazilian forward Neymar da Silva Santos Junior (center) vies with Apoel s Brazilian defender Joao Guilherme (right) during the UEFA Champions League football match. AFP Barca scrape to victory BARCELONA: A goal by Gerard Pique gave Barcelona a winning start to their Champions League campaign, but they were far from convincing 1-0 victors at home to Cypriots APOEL Nicosia yesterday. Pique headed home the only goal of the game from Lionel Messi s free-kick midway through the first-half, but APOEL managed to subdue a much changed Barca side despite the presence of Messi and Neymar up front. And Luis Enrique s men had debutant Marc-Andre ter Stegen to thank for a fourth consecutive victory to start the season as the German keeper made a flying save in stoppage time to deny Gustavo Manduca. Barca do though go to the top of Group F as Ajax held French champions PSG 1-1 in Amsterdam with Barca set to travel to Paris on matchday two. We struggled. We tried to move the ball quickly and we didn t manage to do it, Barca midfielder Xavi Hernandez told Canal Plus. It is true we dominated. We tried through the middle and wide, but they defended very well. In the end it was a tiring game, but we have won and we have to treat it like it is. It is always good to start the group stage with three points, added Xavi, who equalled compatriot Raul s all-time record of Champions League appearances with 142. Enrique made nine changes from the side that started Saturday s 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao with Messi and Munir El Haddadi the only players to retain their place. Sergi Samper became the latest youngster to make his debut in the early stages of Enrique s reign, whilst Neymar was handed his first start of the season after coming off the MUNICH: A last-gasp goal from defender Jerome Boateng gave Bayern Munich a 1-0 win over Manchester City in their opening Champions League Group E clash yesterday. Boateng broke the deadlock against his former club with a powerful shot after the Germans controlled the game, but failed to crack open a tight defence until the 90th minute. City, who had come back from two goals down to beat Bayern 3-2 in Munich in the group stage last year, were largely on the backfoot but successfully kept the Germans at bay, with keeper Joe Hart making several crucial saves, until the last minute. This was the third time in the last four seasons the two teams have been drawn together in the group stage of the competition. Roma are top of the group after crushing CSKA Moscow. Bayern, with winger Franck Ribery out injured and Arjen Robben on the bench, were slow out of the blocks as both teams cautiously tried to get a foothold in the game. There were four changes for City from the team which drew 2-2 with Arsenal on Saturday with suspended Pablo Zabaleta replaced by Bacary Sagna and Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri and Edin Dzeko earning starting spots. The hosts gradually got on top and almost took the lead when Thomas Mueller sneaked into the box, but Hart parried his powerful header over the bar in the 20th minute. Seconds later the England keeper pulled off another sensational save to palm Mario Goetze s deflected effort past the post before City responded with a curling Edin Dzeko shot that sailed narrowly wide. The English champions, with suspended coach Manuel Pellegrini in the stands and his assistant Ruben Cousillas alone on the bench, successfully closed down space to keep Bayern at bay outside the penalty area. David Alaba tried his luck twice from long range but again Hart was on hand to rescue his team. The Bavarians increased the pressure in the second half but had problems bench to score both his side s goals at the weekend. The number of changes appeared to affect Barca s rhythm in the first-half as they dominated without creating many clear-cut chances from open play. Messi was first to threaten with a curling free-kick that Urko Pardo in the APOEL goal did well to turn to safety. Barca then went in front from another Messi free-kick as this time the Argentine s in-swinging delivery was headed home at the near post by Pique. Messi and Neymar were continuing to link-up well after the former provided the Brazilian with two assists at the weekend and the roles were reversed five minutes before the break as Messi fired Neymar s cutback towards goal and Pardo made another impressive save. A similar pattern ensued after the break, but the visitors also provided more of a threat and wasted two half chances as Tomas De Vincenti saw a goalbound effort deflected wide by Marc Bartra before Mario Sergio s cross was cut out by Dani Alves with two unmarked teammates waiting for a better delivery. Barca should have put the game to bed when Alves picked out Neymar at the back post, but his header was heading off target before Munir turned the ball home and was rightly flagged for offside. Neymar and Messi were foiled again as the game entered stoppage time, Neymar s deflected shot was well saved by Pardo and Messi s follow up brilliantly blocked by Sergio. And the hosts could have been made to pay for a lacklustre display when Ter-Stegen was forced into the first serious save of his Barca career when he tipped Manduca s well-struck effort behind for a corner. AFP Boateng stunner gives Bayern win over City GERMANY: Manchester City s Argentinian defender Martin Demichelis (right) and Bayern Munich s striker Thomas Mueller (left) challenge for the ball during the first leg UEFA Champions League Group E football match. AFP cracking open a tight City defence. The introduction of Robben and forward Claudio Pizarro late in the game helped provide an added impetus and Bayern s pressure finally told when Boateng fired home. -Reuters

Business Bank Asya vows to see off smear campaign Markets cheer $81bn China stimulus report Saudi market rises on economic reform plans Page 22 Page 25 Page 23 Hung orders largest ever fleet of Rolls-Royce Phantoms Page 26 HONG KONG: A vendor checks a display prior to the opening of the Hong Kong Jewelry and Gem fair at the convention and exhibition Centre yesterday. AFP De Beers warns diamonds aren t forever HONG KONG: The De Beers diamond cartel warned yesterday that global production will decline from 2020, a trend that could spell pricier bling for consumers. A dearth of major new diamond finds means that production might not keep up with ever-increasing demand from the United States, China and India, the firm claimed. Unless major new discoveries are made in the coming years, supply can be expected to decline gradually from 2020, De Beers said, forecasting rocky times ahead for the $85 billion a year industry. Existing mines in Botswana, South Africa and Namibia are becoming depleted and the need to Supply expected to decline gradually from 2020 dig deeper has made operations less profitable. De Beers said exploration has now turned to Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Arctic Siberia and Canada. But the last major mine discovery came a decade ago in India, at Rio Tinto s yet to be completed Bunder project. Still, a shortage of supply might not necessarily be bad news for the Luxembourg-based firm, which accounts for around 33 percent of overall rough diamond sales. Demand from the United States-the world s largest market for diamonds-and growing appetite for the gems from China and India s middle class, will likely create a seller s market. Even under scenarios of volatile or weaker global economic growth, demand for diamonds is expected to show positive real growth in the next decade, De Beers said. China, India demand growing China has the fastest growing demand, jumping to a share of about 15 percent of the world s diamond market from less than three percent in 2003. But it is not expected to overtake the US market s 40 percent share for more than a decade, De Beers CEO Philippe Mellier said. China and India, the engine for growth, these two big markets clearly could be as big as the US in the next maybe 15 years, said Mellier, who was in Hong Kong for the Jewelry and Gem Fair. For China to go up to 40 percent share of the world market, it s still some ways to go, Mellier said, adding he expects the Chinese market to grow more than 10 percent per annum for many more years. De Beers said China s anticorruption drive, which has hurt demand for luxury goods, would not affect the diamond industry. I think our business is less impacted by that compared to others, Stephen Lussier, CEO of De Beers Forevermark said, with diamonds usually used at weddings and other emotional events in life. Global diamond jewelry sales were around US$79 billion in 2013, up three percent compared to 2012, according to De Beers first Diamond Insight Report. Sales are expected to grow in the long term helped by recovery in the US economy as well as the growth of the middle class in the developing markets of China and India. The company had said earlier than it expects good to very good second quarter results in India, which has seen increasing demand for the gems. Founded in 1888 in South Africa, De Beers last year reported $1 billion in operating profit-more than double that of 2012. AFP Maha Al-Ghunaim Global directors back executive management KUWAIT: The Board of Global Investment House met yesterday with the executive management team of the company, Maha Al-Ghunaim, Bader Al-Sumait, Khawla Al-Roumi and Nawal Mulla-Hussain who submitted their resignations prior to the general meeting of the company held on September 14, 2014. The board has expressed to the executive management team its full support, trust and complete commitment to resolving the issues leading to the resignations. Both the board and executive management have agreed that all the resigned executives will stay in place with full authority and work together to promptly resolve these issues in the best interest of all stakeholders. Sony warns of $2.14bn annual loss, cuts 15% global staff TOKYO: Sony yesterday said it would lose $2.14 billion this fiscal year, more than four times its earlier forecast as the Japanese electronics giant blamed a downturn in its mobile phone business. The company also said it would cut the smartphone unit s global staff by 15 percent-about 1,000 jobs-and not pay dividends for the first time since its shares started trading in Tokyo in 1958. The surprise announcement that Sony was heading for 230 billion yen net loss in the fiscal year to March 2015 comes only months after it tipped a loss of just 50 billion yen, citing a turnaround in its hard-hit television unit. Sony has cut expectations for sales in the money-losing smartphone business, which has been hit by weaker-thanexpected results in emerging markets, as it faces off against global rivals including Samsung and Apple. The US tech giant is releasing its newest iphone in Japan this week, which was likely to boost Apple s soaring presence in the Japanese market and heap more pressure on sales of Sony s rival Xperia offering. Other firms are also offering new products with innovative technology-this business experiences dramatic changes in products and services, Sony chief Kazuo Hirai told reporters in Tokyo. Hirai-who has been leading a sweeping restructuring of Sony-said smartphone makers in neighbouring China were another threat forcing down prices in the market. The environment is changing and becoming more severe, he said, adding that Chinese smartphone makers are advancing and they have expanded outside China. Slimming down The ballooning loss forecast-which Sony blamed on taking a charge to account for the declining value of its mobile unit-was likely to resurrect fears that the once world-leading electronics company has a lot more work ahead to cast off years of losses. Hirai said Sony would shake up its mobile unit to concentrate on top-end smartphones, and slim down the number of lower-end models. We are shifting our strategy from one aimed at expanding market share and sales volume to one that focuses on profitability, he said. The new earnings estimate will see Sony post a 40 billion yen operating loss-reversing earlier expectations for a 140 billion yen profit-on previously forecast sales of 7.8 trillion yen. In May the firm posted a bigger-than-expected loss of 128.37 billion yen in the fiscal year to March. That came several months after announcing 5,000 job cuts at its struggling computer and television units. Sony has seen its credit rating slashed to junk as it undergoes a painful corporate overhaul, including exiting the PC business and liquidating assets that saw the $1.0 billion sale of its Manhattan headquarters. The firm is also selling properties at a prestigious Tokyo site where its headquarters had been for six decades. Hirai has repeatedly shrugged off pleas to abandon televisions, which he insists remain central to Sony s core business. Japanese manufacturers have suffered badly in their TV divisions as razor-thin margins and fierce overseas competition weigh on profits. However, Sony has fared the worst, with its earnings trailing struggling domestic rivals Panasonic and Sharp, both of which have reported profits following record losses as they overhaul their vast businesses. Sony s Tokyo-listed shares ended down 1.82 percent at 2,123.5 yen yesterday, with the earnings downgrade announced shortly after markets had closed. AFP Air France strike enters third day PARIS: Air France scrapped more than half its flights yesterday as pilots extended a strike into a third day, defying Prime Minister Manuel Valls who urged them to stop their incomprehensible industrial action. Pilots have walked off the job in protest at the airline s plans to expand its lowcost leisure subsidiary Transavia France, whose pilots are cheaper to employ. Unions fear the company will seek to cut costs by running more low-cost Transavia flights at the expense of Air France operations. An Air France source told AFP that the hourly cost of employing a Transavia France pilot was some 40 percent less than a pilot at the senior group. A pilot for the French flag carrier earns about 75,000 euros ($97,000) a year on average while captains of long-haul flights can earn up to 250,000 euros. Air France was running only four out of 10 flights yesterday, as frantic negotiations between unions and management failed to provide the hoped-for breakthrough. Valls told French radio: We have to stop this strike. It is regrettable that a single category of employee, in this case pilots, can bring air transport in the country to a standstill. He said the strike was incomprehensible to most French people and was weighing heavily on Air France, on its finances but also on the attractiveness and the image of our country. Air France boss Frederic Gagey has put the daily losses from the strike at 10 to 15 million euros. And the travel disruption is unlikely to stop in the near term, with pilots threatening a week-long strike, which would be the longest since 1998. Today, the airline hopes to put on a similar number of flights-around 42 percent of planned trips-said director of operations Catherine Jude. Strike has to stop Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron also weighed in, saying: We can no longer accept that the country is blocked by a few people... I think the strike has to stop. Management has attempted to make some concessions to pilots fears, limiting the Transavia fleet to 30 planes instead of the 37 originally planned until 2019. Macron called on the company to make a few concessions. Unions want to ensure Air France pilots are at the controls of any plane with more than 100 seats, regardless of the operating company-transavia included. As in previous days, airports were largely deserted as Air France notified passengers in advance that their flights were cancelled. AFP

BUSINESS Fears for S Sudan s future after foreign worker ban NAIROBI: A move by war-torn South Sudan to turf out foreign workers has been met with shock, consternation and dire predictions that the country is being led towards total collapse. On Tuesday the government ordered all non-governmental organizations, private companies, banks, insurance companies, telecommunication companies, petroleum companies, hotels and lodges working in South Sudan... to notify all aliens working with them in all positions to cease working within a month. It said the resulting vacancies, ranging from receptionists to company directors, should be filled by governmentvetted South Sudanese nationals. Purportedly designed to protect the rights and interests of the people of South Sudan, the move comes nine months into a brutal civil war that aid agencies say has pushed the world s youngest nation to the brink of a man-made famine. According to the United Nations, 1.3 million people have been displaced internally, and many of them are dependent on free food, shelter and healthcare delivered by a network of international aid groups. Aid agency Oxfam, which provides help ranging from clean water to food for people living in appalling conditions, said the restrictions could be devastating. It would massively disrupt aid programs across the country which feed over one million people, said Oxfam s Tariq Riebl. South Sudan is on a knife-edge and could easily tip into famine in 2015. We need to be expanding aid programmes in South Sudan, not restricting them. The healthcare charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), said it has for months been trying to recruit South Sudanese midwives, but had been unable to fill the chronic vacancies. The private sector also predicted disaster. JUBA: A South Sudanese boy carries water inside the Protection of Civilians (PoC) site located at the United Nations Missions in Sudan (UNMIS) yesterday. AFP Tens of thousands of skilled workers from regional neighbors including Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda are in the country, and together they run South Sudan s mobile telephone network, banking sector, upstream oil activities, hotels and other key infrastructure. South Sudan itself suffers from a major shortage of skilled workers, with only around a quarter of the population able to read and write. Bad memories of Idi Amin Mwangi Kimenyi, a senior fellow and director of the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution, said South Sudan appeared to be treading a path already taken during one of the darkest periods in Africa-the rule of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. The decision by the government is clearly a stupid one. It lacks any sound basis, and it runs counter to any informed and developmental-minded leadership, Kimenyi wrote, saying he failed to comprehend how a struggling economy would take actions that accelerate the downward spiral of economic growth and human development. Such a move reminds us of the action by Idi Amin, who, early in his reign, expelled foreigners and even seized their investments. The consequences of such actions-namely the collapse of the Ugandan private sector, are well-known. Jok Madut Jok, former senior government official and academic, said the decree was embarrassing. A person cannot just wake up one day, go to an office and with a stroke of a pen issue an order-no discussion, no change to labor laws, no debate on immigration, nothing, he said. Should Kenyan and Ugandan teachers, for example, be expelled while we do not have any local teachers? Think before you act, people. There are, however, signs that the South Sudanese government may already be backpedalling. Quoted by Kenya s Daily Nation newspaper, government spokesman Mawien Makol Ariik insisted there would be no expulsions. We are asking organisations to consider those positions where South Sudanese qualify. Where they don t let the foreign workers do the job, he was quoted as saying. Fighting broke out in the oil-rich country, also the world s youngest nation, in December 2013 following a clash between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar. The war spread rapidly across the country and has been marked by widespread human rights abuses and atrocities by both sides-and has exacerbated the human resources problem by causing a major brain-drain. AFP Audit watchdog revises corporate governance LONDON: Britain s audit and accounting watchdog has overhauled its corporate governance code for UK companies, it said yesterday, to make them safer for investors by giving more information about how they are run and an assessment of any potential risks facing the business. Among the changes announced by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), as part of what it said were its efforts to foster longer-term thinking by companies and investors, are a host of new rules on risk management, remuneration and shareholder engagement. The changes to the Code are designed to strengthen the focus of companies and investors on the longer term and the sustainability of value creation, FRC Chief Executive Stephen Haddrill said in a statement. The revised TUNIS: Bureaucracy, a lack of competition and a banking system in ruins have ossified the Tunisian economic model, the World Bank said yesterday, calling for sweeping reforms. Poverty and soaring unemployment were behind the 2011 uprising when Tunisians overthrew longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The World Bank said Tunisians had surprised the world with the audacity of the revolution, adding that similar audacity is now required in the economic reforms. Our analysis highlights an economy that has remained frozen in low valueadded activities and where firms are stagnating in terms of productivity and jobs creation, it said in a report published yesterday. The World Bank said it had wrongly praised Tunisia s economic model, which dates back to the 1970s, during the rule of Ben Ali and urged the government to make sweeping reforms. It called for an end to the separation of Code will apply to accounting periods beginning on or after Oct 1, 2014. The new Code will present really big challenges for boards over the next few months, said Robert Hodgkinson, the executive director at chartered accountant body ICAEW. It will take a great deal of work for them to ensure they are compliant. The changes include requiring companies to robustly assess the main risks facing their business and explain how they are being managed or mitigated, the FRC said in a statement. It said companies should state whether they consider it appropriate to adopt the going-concern basis of accounting and identify any material uncertainties about their ability to continue to do so. Reuters Tunisia must show audacity in reforms, says World Bank the economy into offshore and onshore sectors, a policy that was at the heart of the Tunisian model. In the former, dedicated to exports, Tunisia is confined to low valueadded assembly activities, while in the onshore sector, which covers activities dedicated to the domestic market, protectionism and monopolies stifled competition and hampered innovation and productivity, the Bank said. This also led to businesses clustering along Tunisia s coast, deepening the divide with the interior. Just 50 percent of the economy is open to competition, the World Bank said, while various administrative issues cost businesses about 13 percent of their revenues. Jobs created are few and unskilled and fail to meet the needs of Tunisia s hundreds of thousands of unemployed graduates. The rigidity of the country s employment law also led businesses to limit the number of people they hire, or to use indirect ways of recruitment using insecure contracts, the report said. AFP Bank Asya vows to see off smear campaign Chief executive says lender is on solid footing ISTANBUL: The head of Turkey s Bank Asya has vowed to strengthen its capital base and see off what he described as a systematic campaign to undermine it, warning the attack on his bank could sour foreign investors views of Turkey. The Islamic lender, with more than a million deposit-holding customers and 280 branches, is caught at the centre of a power struggle between President Tayyip Erdogan and Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic cleric whose sympathizers founded the bank. Erdogan accuses Gulen, who is based in the United States, of seeking to overthrow him and has pledged to continue purging institutions such as the police and judiciary, where Gulen is believed to wield influence, of his supporters. In an interview on the Samanyolu Haber TV station broadcast late on Tuesday, Chief Executive Ahmet Beyaz said Bank Asya had one of the strongest capital structures in the industry and had not turned any customers away despite its troubles. This bank is based on very solid foundations. Some people may have withdrawn deposits, but others have come to us, Beyaz said, adding most of its customers were ignoring what he described as a smear campaign. Bank Asya s profits and deposits tumbled in the six months since December, when the rift between Erdogan and Gulen burst into the open with a government graft scandal which the then-prime minister blamed on the cleric s network of supporters. Its shares have fallen more than 40 percent since the start of this week, when they resumed trading after more than a month s suspension over uncertainty about the bank s future, more than halving its market capitalisation since mid-december. There is a campaign to undermine our bank, Beyaz told Samanyolu Haber, which is close to the Gulen network. We are one of the banks with the strongest capital structures and capital adequacy ratios. We had a 17.5 percent capital adequacy ratio at the end of the first half and it will be around 20 percent at the end of the third quarter, he said. The government cancelled tax collection and social security payment contracts with Bank Asya last month. Local media reports say state-owned firms and institutional depositors loyal to Erdogan withdrew 4 billion lira, or some 20 percent of the bank s total deposits, earlier in the year, although Bank Asya has not commented on these figures. Its total deposits fell to 13.6 billion lira ($6.16 billion) by the second quarter from 18.5 billion at the end of 2013, according to its balance sheet. Pro-government newspapers have carried almost daily reports on Bank Asya s woes, portraying it as a failing bank being propped up by members of Gulen s network. The bank said on Tuesday that it was raising its paid-in capital by 25 percent to 1.125 billion lira ($509 million) with cash from shareholders. Investors worried Beyaz said foreign investors hold half of Bank Asya s listed shares and that the fiveweek suspension of its stock had worried them. A 300-billion euro fund which owns a stake had written to the government expressing concern, he said. This kind of unlawful and criminal activity against Bank Asya could change a large fund s view about Turkey, not just on Bank Asya, he said, adding that the bank had opened more than 300 court cases to defend itself. This attack on our bank could be waged against another bank or organization tomorrow. Rule of law should be put in place. Erdogan has vowed to pursue his struggle against Gulen, a battle which has already seen him purge thousands of police and hundreds of judges and prosecutors deemed loyal to the cleric in moves which raised concern about judicial independence in the EU candidate nation. Erdogan accuses Gulen s followers of seeking to establish a parallel state and of orchestrating last December s corruption probe against his inner circle, when the sons of several ministers and businessmen close to him were arrested. They have since been released as investigations have stalled. Top government officials appeared to be at odds over a possible state purchase of Bank Asya last month, with Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan saying state-run Ziraat Bank, which is looking to launch its own Islamic banking unit, could buy it. An advisor to Erdogan subsequently denied such a plan. Erdogan was quoted by Turkish media as saying late on Monday that the BDDK banking watchdog should take steps against Bank Asya if necessary, but did not specify what that might involve. If clients cannot draw out deposits, it means their capital ratio is shrinking considerably. The BDDK has steps to take. Otherwise the BDDK itself will be responsible, he was quoted by the Hurriyet newspaper as telling reporters on his plane back from an official visit to Qatar. Beyaz said any customer wishing to withdraw funds had been able to do so, adding that not a single client had been turned away in the 10 months since the campaign against the bank began. Reuters EXCHANGE RATES Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. ASIAN COUNTRIES Japanese Yen 2.721 Indian Rupees 4.763 Pakistani Rupees 2.812 Srilankan Rupees 2.200 Nepali Rupees 2.973 Singapore Dollar 229.380 Hongkong Dollar 37.027 Bangladesh Taka 3.699 Philippine Peso 6.593 Thai Baht 8.989 Irani Riyal transfer 0.271 Irani Riyal cash 0.273 GCC COUNTRIES Saudi Riyal 76.551 Qatari Riyal 78.876 Omani Riyal 745.710 Bahraini Dinar 762.460 UAE Dirham 78.177 ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 42.250 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 40.048 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.339 Tunisian Dinar 163.740 Jordanian Dinar 405.380 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.926 Syrian Lira 2.046 Morocco Dirham 33.719 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 286.950 Euro 372.750 Sterling Pound 465.720 Canadian dollar 264.470 Turkish lira 133.000 Swiss Franc 309.050 Australian Dollar 269.740 US Dollar Buying 285.750 GOLD 20 Gram 245.000 10 Gram 124.000 5 Gram 64.000 UAE Exchange Centre WLL COUNTRY SELL DRAFT SELL CASH Australian Dollar 242.43 239.43 Canadian Dollar 266.30 267.30 Swiss Franc 316.40 314.40 Euro 378.15 379.15 US Dollar 285.20 288.20 Sterling Pound 476.30 479.30 Japanese Yen 2.77 2.79 Bangladesh Taka 3.685 3.955 Indian Rupee 4.724 5.024 Sri Lankan Rupee 2.191 2.626 Nepali Rupee 2.952 3.487 Pakistani Rupee 2.798 2.790 UAE Dirhams 77.572 78.18 Bahraini Dinar 759.08 761.15 Egyptian Pound 39.89 40.49 Jordanian Dinar 405.90 411.55 Omani Riyal 741.70 749.00 Qatari Riyal 78.76 79.31 Saudi Riyal 76.18 76.58 Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd Rate for Transfer Selling Rate US Dollar 285.000 Canadian Dollar 263.455 Sterling Pound 473.415 Euro 379.460 Swiss Frank 312.305 Bahrain Dinar 758.565 UAE Dirhams 78.020 Qatari Riyals 79.160 Saudi Riyals 76.265 Jordanian Dinar 402.555 Egyptian Pound 39.805 Sri Lankan Rupees 2.190 Indian Rupees 4.718 Pakistani Rupees 2.815 Bangladesh Taka 3.678 Philippines Pesso 6.511 Cyprus pound 700.020 Japanese Yen 3.740 Syrian Pound 2.860 Nepalese Rupees 3.895 Malaysian Ringgit 91.005 Chinese Yuan Renminbi 46.750 Thai Bhat 9.910 Turkish Lira 131.285 Bahrain Exchange Company CURRENCY BUY SELL Europe Belgian Franc 0.007478 0.008478 British Pound 0.455008 0.464008 Czech Korune 0.005375 0.017375 Danish Krone 0.045615 0.050615 Euro 0.364391 0.372391 Norwegian Krone 0.041211 0.046411 Romanian Leu 0.083511 0.083511 Slovakia 0.008312 0.018312 Swedish Krona 0.036292 0.041292 Swiss Franc 0.300161 0.310361 Turkish Lira 0.132759 0.139759 Australasia Australian Dollar 0.257531 0.269031 New Zealand Dollar 0.230798 0.240298 America Canadian Dollar 0.255682 0.264182 US Dollars 0.283350 0.288050 US Dollars Mint 0.283850 0.288050 Asia Bangladesh Taka 0.003314 0.003914 Chinese Yuan 0.045355 0.048855 Hong Kong Dollar 0.034999 0.037749 Indian Rupee 0.004460 0.004861 Indonesian Rupiah 0.000020 0.000026 Japanese Yen 0.002618 0.002798 Kenyan Shilling 0.003236 0.003236 Korean Won 0.000270 0.000285 Malaysian Ringgit 0.087176 0.093176 Nepalese Rupee 0.002965 0.003135 Pakistan Rupee 0.002709 0.002989 Philippine Peso 0.006467 0.006747 Sierra Leone 0.000062 0.000068 Singapore Dollar 0.224381 0.230381 South African Rand 0.020497 0.028997 Sri Lankan Rupee 0.001900 0.002480 Taiwan 0.009478 0.009658 Thai Baht 0.008604 0.009154 Arab Bahraini Dinar 0.756009 0.764009 Egyptian Pound 0.038799 0.041899 Iranian Riyal 0.000079 0.000081 Iraqi Dinar 0.000185 0.000245 Jordanian Dinar 0.401325 0.408825 Kuwaiti Dinar 1.000000 1.000000 Lebanese Pound 0.000140 0.000240 Moroccan Dirhams 0.023314 0.047314 Nigerian Naira 0.001170 0.001805 Omani Riyal 0.740595 0.746275 Qatar Riyal 0.078245 0.079458 Saudi Riyal 0.076017 0.076717 Syrian Pound 0.001702 0.001922 Tunisian Dinar 0.160274 0.168274 Turkish Lira 0.132759 0.139759 UAE Dirhams 0.077280 0.078429 Yemeni Riyal 0.001297 0.001377 Al Mulla Exchange Currency Transfer Rate (Per 1000) US Dollar 286.200 Euro 374.200 Pound Sterlng 471.200 Canadian Dollar 265.750 Indian Rupee 4.730 Egyptian Pound 40.010 Sri Lankan Rupee 2.190 Bangladesh Taka 3.690 Philippines Peso 6.534 Pakistan Rupee 2.798 Bahraini Dinar 762.150 UAE Dirham 77.950 Saudi Riyal 76.450 *Rates are subject to change

BUSINESS Al-Mazaya participates in Cityscape Global 2014 Al-Mazaya Holding announced its participation in the 13th Cityscape Global Exhibition, which will take place in Dubai from September 21-23. Al-Mazaya will exhibit via its stand at Hall 1 in Dubai International Exhibition and Convention Centre. Speaking on the occasion, Ibrahim Al-Saqabi, CEO of Al-Mazaya Holding, affirmed the company s eagerness to participate in major real estate exhibitions, including Cityscape Global Exhibition, one of the world s largest real estate events, which serves as an ideal platform that brings together clients and developers under one roof to exchange experiences and business opportunities. Al-Mazaya has been committed to participate in Cityscape over the last ten years. Al-Saqabi said that Al-Mazaya s participation in this edition of Cityscape comes as part of a marketing plan aimed at strengthening the company s presence in different markets across the region, with a particular focus on the UAE s real estate market, in the light of the positive indicators of market recovery and the tangible upturn in real estate transaction movement on various real estate units and on multi-purpose units. Al-Saqabi clarified that the real estate market in Dubai has shown a greater resilience and ability to adapt to changes. He praised the visionary strategy adopted by Dubai government in dealing with market changes in the recent financial crisis and in the recovery period, which has led to outstanding results, reflected by the increased confidence by local and international investors and comeback, stronger than ever, to invest. This return is clearly evident from the trend by companies to launch new projects and by individuals readiness to buy residential units. Speaking about the company s participation in the exhibition this year, he said: The company decided, as we always do, to exhibit its products in a unique look and to present projects that meet the demand of local market and investors, alike, through a range of different sizes of multi-purpose projects that meet the requirements of market dealers. Al-Saqabi added: Al-Mazaya will utilising this platform to network with its clients and introduce its rewarding offers on its 25 residential buildings Q- Point in Dubai Land. The project is underway and the remaining residential units will be offered starting from AED550,000 with housing finance facilities and low instalments. In addition, we will be highlighting our various projects in Kuwait, KSA, Bahrain, Oman, Lebanon and Turkey. Al-Mazaya s business plan for the upcoming period will also be unveiled, as we are seeking through this participation to support all of our underway and completed projects. Al-Saqabi concluded that Al-Mazaya s presence at Cityscape will be an opportunity to meet a large number of investors and partners, including the Turkish Dumankaya, with which the company recently signed a partnership deal to enter investment in the Turkish real estate market, in response to the development in this market and the increasing interest of GCC investors to buy residential units and office spaces in Turkey. Ibrahim Al-Saqabi Saudi market rises on economic reform plans Government policy body to consider taxing unused land MIDEAST STOCKS MARSEILLE: People hold placards during a demonstration gathering notaries protesting against a government planned reform to regulate their profession yesterday. AFP France is sick : Economy minister PARIS: Crisis-hit France is sick, the country s new economy minister said yesterday, urging immediate reforms to tackle sky-high unemployment and an economy that has failed to grow in six months. France is sick. It s not well. We have to describe the situation as it is, Emmanuel Macron told French radio. There has been a fever for several years in this country which is called mass unemployment... there is no choice but to reform the economy, stressed Macron, a 36-year-old former Rothschild banker, who was a surprise choice for economy minister. France, the euro-zone s second-largest economy, is suffering from a record high unemployment rate-over 10 percent-and has registered no economic growth in the past two quarters. Given the anemic outlook, the government was forced to more than halve its growth forecast for this year from 1.0 percent to 0.4 percent. Paris is also battling to reduce its ballooning public deficit, which is expected to be 4.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, dropping only marginally to 4.3 percent in 2015. It has gone back on a promise to the European Union to get the deficit below the maximum of three percent of GDP by next year, pushing it back to 2017 and setting France on a collision course with Brussels and austerityminded Germany. Added to its economic woes, the country is weighed down by a political crisis that has seen President Francois Hollande plumb record lows in opinion polls and a shock cabinet reshuffle in August to purge dissenters. The government s unpopularity is due to a lack of results, said Macron. We didn t go far enough in our first two years, we didn t reform and we are paying, if I may say, for a lost decade, added the minister. I ve had enough In a rare victory for the government, Prime Minister Manuel Valls scraped through a parliamentary confidence vote on Tuesday by 269 votes to 244. However, around 30 MPs from the ruling Socialist Party abstained in the vote, a rebellious left-wing rump that could cause problems for the government in future parliamentary votes. In a 46- minute speech in the lower house of parliament, Valls also called for an end to talking down France. I ve had enough of this permanent criticism of France and its ability to exert influence in the world, he told deputies. The French government s response to the economic crisis is the so-called Responsibility Pact, a package of 40 billion euros ($52 billion) in tax breaks for business, financed with 50 billion euros in public spending cuts. But the plan has been the target of left-wing ire for being too business-friendly and too austere at a time of economic crisis. Valls on Tuesday pledged he would not be swayed from this path despite sniping within his own party. There will be no U-turn, no change in direction, no zigzagging, he vowed. The fresh-faced Macron has already come under fire from the left-wing elements of the Socialist Party, especially given his banker background. He did not win any friends on the left when he called into question France s 35-hour week, a cherished policy of the Socialists, in an interview he had given before taking office but published on his first day as minister. France s economic woes have reheated an old debate about European powerhouse Germany and whether it should do more to bolster growth in the euro-zone. Valls called on Germany to fully live up to its responsibilities ahead of a trip to Berlin next week, adding that an accord between our two countries is indispensable to restart growth and give the European project its real ambition. Without mentioning France by name, a spokesman for German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble replied drily: Any criticism that Germany invests too little is empty. AFP NEW DELHI: Indian laborers talk and drink tea during a break from work at a market yesterday. The labor sector of the Indian economy consists of roughly 487 million workers, the second largest after China, and of these over 94 percent work in unincorporated, unorganized enterprises ranging from pushcart vendors to home-based diamond and gem polishing operations. AFP DUBAI: Saudi Arabia s stock market led the region higher yesterday because of optimism over the government s economic reform efforts, while other markets were buoyed by a more positive global mood. The main Saudi index gained 0.8 percent to 11,081 points, with major mining company Ma aden rising 3.1 percent. The Capital Market Authority said on Wednesday that it would permit off-market trading of shares in companies which had been suspended or delisted from the exchange. There are only a few such companies at present, but investors took the reform as a positive step for the market because it would reduce risks for shareholders in firms that were suspended because of accumulated losses. By allowing shares to trade OTC, this will help all shareholders to exit the shares if they wish, said Turki Fadaak, head of research at Al- Bilad Investment. Also, Saudi media reported yesterday that the Supreme Economic Council, a top policy body chaired by King Abdullah, would study whether to tax undeveloped urban land as part of efforts to end a serious housing shortage. The proposal has been circulating in the government for years, but the involvement of the Supreme Economic Council could indicate an official decision is drawing near. Such a tax might benefit the stock market as a whole by stimulating construction activity and reducing the amount of money locked up in land speculation. It could be costly for some wealthy individuals and companies with large land banks, however; property developer Dar Al-Arkan was the most heavily traded stock on Wednesday, dropping 2.6 percent. Saudi food maker Savola rose 1.5 percent after Kuwait Food Co (Americana) asked for its shares to be suspended because its main shareholder, a firm owned by the Al-Kharafi family, was reviewing its stake. It was the first time that either Americana or the Kharafis had publicly disclosed the possibility of a change in the company s ownership. Savola is a potential bidder for the business. Region Elsewhere in the region, markets edged up in line with DUBAI: A lack of water threatens Iraq s plans to raise its oil output, boost its stumbling economy and become a leading producer in the region after Saudi Arabia. A multi-billion dollar common seawater injection scheme designed to boost production from the giant export oilfields in Iraq s south is snarled up in red tape and acrimony. The seawater injection project is core to the development of the southern fields - which account for most of Iraq s production - and aims partly to flush oil to the surface and overcome declines in production at fields such as Rumaila, West Qurna, Zubair and Majnoon. While the Islamist insurgency has hit oil exports from Iraq s northern pipeline, the southern oilfields have not been affected by Baghdad s fight with Islamic State. But the shortage of water is hurting production at two main southern fields: West Qurna-1 and Zubair, official and industry sources told Reuters. Further production declines from both mature fields look likely if water scarcity persists, the sources said. Output from West Qurna-1 - operated by ExxonMobil - has fallen almost 40 percent to around 300,000 barrels per day compared with last year, an industry source said, adding that a shortage of water was one of the reasons. Zubair, run by Italy s ENI, is feeling the pain too. A source at state run South Oil Company said production from Zubair had fallen, but declined to give further details. It was currently pumping around 280,000 bpd, the source said. Red tape and disputes 100 percent correct, another Iraqi oil source in Baghdad said when asked if lack of water was a reason behind the production decline in the two oilfields. Infrastructure and logistical constraints, as well as security worries, have already forced Iraq to cut its 2014 oil output target more than once-to 3.7 million bpd from an initial target of 4.5 million bpd, excluding Kurdish oil exports. Saudi Arabia s output was around 9.6 million bpd in August, according to OPEC figures. The water injection project, where the first phase is designed to pump 5.2 million bpd of treated seawater from the Gulf to the fields, was originally supposed to be completed by the end of 2013. It is now not due to come online before 2018-2019, the sources say. When the plan was announced in 2010, US oil company ExxonMobil was chosen to take the lead in coordinating initial studies for the plan. global stocks and commodity prices, which were boosted by speculation that the US Federal Reserve would maintain a pledge on low interest rates later in the day. In Dubai, a spate of profit-taking by retail investors to raise money for the initial public offer of Emaar Properties malls unit eased, and the market index closed flat. Emaar shares rose 0.5 percent. After the close, Emaar said its existing shareholders would be allocated one share in the malls unit for every 36 held in the parent firm; 10 percent of the entire offer has been earmarked for Emaar shareholders in this way. In Abu Dhabi, Waha Capital climbed 1.9 percent and was the most heavily traded stock; its board was to discuss a share buyback program on Wednesday. The company has not said how big the program might be. YESTERDAY S HIGHLIGHTS Dubai The index closed flat at 4,985 points. Abu Dhabi The index rose 0.4 percent to 5,172 points. Qatar The index edged up 0.2 percent to 14,165 points. Egypt The index rose 0.4 percent to 9,575 points. Saudi Arabia The index gained 0.8 percent to 11,081 points. Kuwait The index edged up 0.2 percent 7,587 points. Oman The index inched up 0.1 percent to 7,497 points. Bahrain The index climbed 0.3 percent to 1,473 points. Reuters Iraq s oil output revival at stake for want of water But red tape and disputes over cost delayed the plan for months, and Exxon was removed from the project in 2012 due to disagreements over the economics of the deal. State-run South Oil Co has since taken over project management. Apart from the project itself, hurdles to approving contracts for service work, such as building new pipelines and drilling wells, as well as getting visas and customs clearance are top complains by oil executives working in the south. It is not just getting the water to the field, it is getting the pumps and pipes to get it into the ground, and then new kit to separate out the larger quantities of water, said a second industry source. Quite a bit of the fate of production is in the hands of those who have the inclination to speed up the process. Officials at South Oil Company could not be reached for comment and an oil ministry spokesman said he had no immediate comment and was still looking into the matter. Production falls Zubair produced 315,000 bpd on average during the second quarter of this year, according to a document by South Korea s KOGAS, a partner with Eni at the field. Madhi Abdul Razzaq, head of the joint management committee for West Qurna-1 told Reuters in March last year that output from the field was 480,000 bpd and it had been projected to reach 600,000 bpd by the end of 2013. In June, former Oil Minister Abdul-Karim Al-Luaibi told reporters in Vienna that output from West Qurna-1 was around 350,000 bpd. He gave no reason for the drop. Oil production has definitely been impacted but I have not seen any indication of what s happening with the common seawater supply project, absolutely none, the first industry source said. Rumaila oilfield, which accounts for almost half of Iraq s production and is operated by BP, gets around 500,000-700,000 bpd of treated water from the Qarmat Ali facility, which covers its water needs, at least for now. Even relatively young oilfields such as West Qurna-2, run by Lukoil, and Majnoon, led by Royal Dutch Shell, may start feeling the pressure by 2016-2017 as they need water to manage their reservoirs and lift output, the industry sources said. Revisions to some of the existing contracts between Baghdad and foreign oil companies include a provision that protects the companies in case Iraq cannot supply the water needed to boost output, two sources told Reuters. Reuters Irate Frenchwoman pays taxes with 30 kilos of small change GRENOBLE: A disgruntled taxpayer in southern France paid her annual bill using 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of small change in protest at the way taxes are collected. The unemployed 28-year-old woman, who gave her name only as Audrey D., had to pay 1,107 euros ($1,435) in tax on her 2013 salary, which was on average 1,400 euros. To pay the taxes on time, I had to sell my car, she told AFP. Income tax in France is levied once a year in September on the salary earned the previous year. Initially, she went to the tax office to pay in a single cash lump sum. It hurts less that way, she said. However, officials told her she could only pay 300 euros at a time. She paid the first three tranches and then decided to make a statement with the remaining 207 euros. She marched into the tax office with a pink piggy bank and rolls of tiny one, two and five centimes coins. I ve got a good friend in a bank who helped me, she explained. She smashed the piggy bank on the counter and handed over the small change. At first, she received short shrift, but the ice was gradually broken and the tax officials lightened up as they counted out the payment. I ve nothing against paying taxes. But what I don t like is paying so much. We re not cash cows, she complained. Warming to her theme, she sent an open letter to President Francois Hollande and Finance Minister Michel Sapin to protest against the rises in taxes, against this government that takes us for idiots but basically because I m French and I love to whinge. AFP

BUSINESS Iron ore miners battle for survival as perfect storm hits SYDNEY: High-cost Australian miners are battling for survival as plunging iron ore prices push many to breaking point, with analysts seeing no significant short-term recovery as Chinese demand for steel wanes in line with sliding property prices. Australia, the world s largest exporter of iron ore, is heavily dependent on China s hunger for resources even as its economy transitions away from an unprecedented mining investment boom. A year ago, iron ore fetched about US$135 a ton. This month it hit a five-year low of US$81.90, slumping 40 percent since January. The weaker price has also hit Australian government coffers, reducing tax revenue just as it makes a push to bring the budget back into surplus. Australia produces 17 percent of the global iron ore, second only to China s output of 39 percent. I think the iron ore market s got a perfect storm at the moment, ANZ s global head of commodity research Mark Pervan told AFP. Australian junior miners Termite Resources and Western Desert Resources-which operate at a much higher cost than majors BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Vale-have already collapsed, and there are fears others could follow. On the supply side, record levels of iron ore production in Australia from the world s largest miners BHP and Rio have pushed millions more tons into the global market. But demand from China has weakened as the property market softens. New home prices have fallen for four straight months, according to Chinese data, weighing on steelmakers that depend on the sector as a pillar industry, Pervan said. While the Australian jump in supplydriven by strong prices three years ago-was forecast, the continued output from Chinese miners has exacerbated the price decline. The plunge in the iron ore price has been so severe that Goldman Sachs last week called it the end of the Iron Age. In a research note, analysts Christian Lelong and Amber Cai wrote that in our view, 2014 is the inflection point where new production capacity finally catches up with demand growth, and profit margins begin their reversion to the historical mean. In other words, the end of the Iron Age is here. Lelong and Cai added that the weak demand outlook in China and the structural nature of the surplus make a recovery unlikely. Heavyweights still turning a profit Despite the tough environment, BHP and Rio, as low-cost producers, are still raking in large profits. The falling prices could also help them by removing smaller competitors, UBS global commodity analyst Daniel Morgan said. If prices are above $100 a ton where they have been, it encourages new entrants, he told AFP, citing the massive $10 billion Roy Hill iron ore project in Western Australia as an example. And so while that s happening, it makes sense for BHP and Rio and Vale to put more tons into the market to make a return but also to discourage new entrants. UBS estimates that break-even costs for BHP and Rio are about $40-$45 a ton but smaller Australian miners such as Atlas Iron and Mount Gibson-seen as marginal producers at current prices of about $85 may come under pressure. A lift in prices early this week has raised hopes, and a relief rally was possible if there were multi-day gains, Pervan said. But he did not believe the fundamentals were compelling enough for a strong recovery. Even so, some financial institutions, including ANZ, have forecast the iron ore price to return towards $100 by the end of the year with seasonal weakness set to lift in November and December on restocking activity. Iron ore prices, even at $85 a ton, were structurally high compared with where they were in past decades, added HSBC s chief economist for Australia Paul Bloxham. We see iron ore staying at a level that continues to make the bulk of Australia s iron ore producers profitable, he said. Certainly, Australia s mining boom is over, but mining GDP is continuing to expandit s just that it s expanding at a more modest pace than it used to. AFP MARANDOO: This undated file photo shows a worker inspecting iron ore stockpiles at the outback location of Marandoo. AFP

BUSINESS EU food producers get extra cash to help with Russia ban BRUSSELS: EU officials have agreed new measures to help food producers hit by a Russian ban on agricultural imports and will publish them over the coming days, the European Commission said. Moscow in August imposed a one-year embargo on meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables from the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia and Norway in retaliation for Western sanctions over Moscow s involvement in the Ukraine crisis. EU farm exports to Russia are worth some 11 billion euros ($14.3 billion) annually, or roughly 10 percent of the bloc s agricultural sales. The Russian embargo has affected EU products worth 5 billion euros, said the Commission, the EU executive. Following debate with representatives of the 28 member states on Tuesday, the Commission is finalizing the text and budget for a new compensation scheme and expects to make an announcement in the coming days, spokesman Roger Waite said. Official publication is expected early next week, with new rules entering into force straight away, he said. Waite said he could not yet give a figure for the budget. In the immediate aftermath of Russia s ban, the Commission announced 125 million euros in aid for producers to help them cope with a glut of fresh produce that depressed markets. But it suspended that plan this month after a surge in claims. Polish farmers asked for more compensation than EU officials say the entire bloc exports to Russia in a year. It remained unclear how much money was being disbursed under the 125 million euro plan. The new measures are in addition to the previous aid program. Like the prior scheme, the aim of the new cash is to stabilize prices by paying producers to take some of the surplus off the market, through steps such as giving food to schools and other institutions or not harvesting it in the first place. The Commission said producers of fresh fruit and vegetables had been the first to be affected because Russia announced the ban when harvesting was at its peak. EU officials will now analyze exports of products, including citrus, apples, pears, other fruit and some vegetables, made over September to December last year to predict where help needs to be targeted. The impact varies from country to country, with eastern EU nations such as Poland and Lithuania heavily dependent on the Russian market, while the European Union s biggest agricultural economy, France, has voiced concern about the knock-on effects of surplus produce on the prices its growers can charge. Shaking off a slump Meanwhile, new car registrations in the European Union showed further recovery in July and August, industry data showed yesterday, with strong figures even in countries struggling to maintain growth. Sales of new cars rose 5.6 percent in July and 2.1 percent in August, the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA) said, showing the market is shaking off a slump. French manufacturer Renault performed strongly in July with a 10.4-percent rise, but fell back 3.1 percent in August. Sales for Dacia, Renault s Romanian low-cost brand, surged 20.8 percent in July but slipped to a 2.7-percent rise in August. Growth was better in other European markets, with Germany-the continent s leading car manufacturer-posting a 6.8-percent increase in sales in July, before contracting 0.4 percent in August. The VW group comprising Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda remained the undisputed EU leader, taking 25.4 percent of all sales since the beginning of the year. In Spain, which only emerged from recession in 2013 and is grappling with an unemployment rate of just under 25 percent, sales rose 11.1 percent in July and 13.7 percent in August. Car sales in the UK grew by 6.6 percent in July and 9.4 percent in August, figures showed. The economic situation in the whole of Europe is better than that of France, and that shows in the automotive market, said Jean-Francois Belorgey, partner at EY (formerly Ernst & Young). New car registration grows He noted that impressive growth statistics must be taken in context as more cars are traditionally bought in August due to summer sales. In terms of raw numbers, 1,041,683 cars were registered in the EU in July, and 688,464 in August. In the first eight months of 2014, registrations of new cars grew by 6.0 percent, ACEA said, continuing the upward trend that began 12 months ago. European car manufacturers were hard hit during the financial crisis and then the euro-zone debt crisis, when businesses and consumers cut their spending, although German manufacturers weathered the storm relatively well. Several governments introduced incentive schemes for the purchase of new cars involving bonuses for the scrapping of old vehicles. These programs helped support sales for as long as they lasted, but sales tended to drop off again when the schemes ended. In the last year, sales have begun to recover but from an exceptionally low base, and the weak state of many European economies still weighs on overall sales. Agencies PHNOM PENH: Cambodian workers shout slogans during a launch of campaign to demand higher wages at a garment factory industrial park yesterday. AFP Cambodian garment workers press factories for pay rise PHNOM PENH: Cambodian trade unionists and hundreds of garment workers yesterday launched a campaign for a $77 monthly pay hike, turning up the pressure on factories ahead of looming wages talks. About 500 workers joined a brief rally at a garment factory in an industrial park in Phnom Penh to urge international buyers, including GAP, Levi s, H&M, Puma and ZARA to lift their basic wage to $177 a month. Scores of soldiers armed with rifles were also deployed near the rally and at nearby factories, witnesses told AFP. The workers are asking for a minimum monthly wage of $177 a $77 increase to the current base wage. With the current wages, the garment workers cannot have a decent living, Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union, told AFP. We hope to get an appropriate salary for the workers to live decently, he said, adding that workers and unionists would organize similar rallies at more than 200 factories across the country. Most of the workers who joined the rally wore orange-colored T-Shirt bearing $177 or carried banners proclaiming we need $177.The campaign comes ahead of a planned negotiations between the government, unions and factories later this month to set next s year minimum wage for the industry. Disputes over wages, safety and conditions in Cambodia s lucrative garment industry are frequent and sometimes turn violent. A crackdown on striking garment workers in early January left at least four people dead. The multi-billion dollar industry employs about 650,000 people and is a key source of foreign income for the impoverished country. Cambodia earns around $5.5 billion in garments export last year. Western brands in May said they were prepared to factor in the price of higher salaries in Cambodia to avoid production line delays due to unrest. Following the mass strike subsequent bloody crackdown in January, the minimum wage was increased to $100 per month. At least six union leaders face charges in connection with that mass strike, according to rights activists. Two of them have been place under court supervision banning them from joining meetings with unionists and public gatherings. AFP BEIJING: A woman pushes a trolley in a mall yesterday. Chinese consumer prices rose 2.0 percent in August on-year, official data showed. AFP Markets cheer $81bn China stimulus report Expected measures include targeted cuts SHANGHAI: A reported $81 billion injection into China s major banks is probably the first of a series of fresh stimulus measures by Beijing to bolster its flagging economy, the world s second largest, analysts said yesterday. Online portal Sina late Tuesday quoted financial institutions as saying the People s Bank of China (PBoC), the central bank, would channel 500 billion yuan ($81 billion) into the country s five biggest banks, all stateowned. The PBoC has not confirmed the move. We believe Beijing (is) to introduce a slew of other easing and stimulus measures in coming weeks to re-boost confidence and re-stabilize growth, said Bank of America Merrill Lynch China economist Lu Ting. Expected measures include targeted cuts in the amount of funds banks must place in reserve, speeding up development projects and quicker fiscal spending, he said in a research note. Hong Kong s Hang Seng Index closed up 1.0 percent yesterday on the report. Mainland China s two stock markets were less impressed, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index finishing 0.49 percent higher and the tech-heavy Shenzhen Composite Index gaining 0.66 percent. US stocks earlier reacted to the report on Tuesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average MOSCOW: The detention of a billionaire on money-laundering charges sent shockwaves through Russia s business and political circles yesterday and prompted comparisons with a crackdown on former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The Investigative Committee, which reports directly to President Vladimir Putin, announced late Tuesday that Vladimir Yevtushenkov had been placed under house arrest and was being investigated for misappropriation or embezzlement linked to an oil deal. The move was reminiscent of the prosecution of Khodorkovsky, once Russia s richest man and head of the now-defunct Yukos oil firm, who spent a decade in jail up to 2013 in what his supporters say was revenge for challenging the Kremlin. Many said Yevtushenkov s arrest marked a watershed for Russian business as the authorities signalled that even tycoons loyal to the Kremlin were no longer immune from prosecution. The 65-year-old Kremlin-friendly chairman of Sistema conglomerate, who is Russia s fifteenth wealthiest man with a fortune of $9 billion (7 billion euros) according to Forbes, must now wear an electronic bracelet, said a spokeswoman for the prison service. He has been placed under arrest until mid-november in his country residence outside Moscow and is rising 0.59 percent to 17,131.97 points and the broad-based S&P 500 up 0.75 percent at 1,998.98. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of Communications will receive the funds in equal amounts over three months through the central bank s so-called Standing Lending Facility, a tool it uses to manage short-term liquidity, Sina and analysts said. The report follows a string of weak data for August, including a five-year low for industrial output growth and a surprise drop in imports, which have put in peril the government s target of 7.5 percent annual economic expansion for this year. Such a move highlights the fact that China s policymakers are sensitive to the significant weakening seen in the August activity data and the move would be in line with our call that monetary policy will be eased further to boost the economy, Nomura said in a research note. Property downturn China s gross domestic product grew 7.5 percent year-on-year in the second quarter this year, improving from 7.4 percent in the first quarter, banned from using the Internet, said a spokeswoman for Moscow s Basmanny court which ordered his detention. The probe into Yevtushenkov centers on how his holding acquired oil company Bashneft and followed speculation that Russia s biggest oil producer Rosneft run by Putin s loyal lieutenant Igor Sechin was keen to get its hands on the company. The high-profile arrest stunned economists and analysts who said it was a further blow to an economy battered by Western sanctions, capital flight and looming recession. The house arrest of a businessman of such level is absolutely unprecedented, said Sergei Guriyev, the former dean of Moscow s New Economic School who fled Russia last year after coming under pressure from investigators over a case linked to Yukos. The most dangerous thing for investors is that they no longer understand the rules of the game, Guriyev, now professor of economics at Paris-based Sciences Po, told AFP in written remarks. What seemed impossible, now happens every day. Daylight robbery Khodorkovsky pointed the finger at Sechin and said the arrest showed Putin was losing his grip on domestic politics. I see in this a total loss of control by the president, who simply does not see what is going on under his own nose, Khodorkovsky told Vedomosti business daily. If he did see, I doubt that he would so misjudge the situation and give such an order, said Khodorkovsky. I still hope that our president will at some point tear himself away from his new conquests and see what is happening in the country, he added, apparently referring to Russia s annexation of Crimea in March and its confrontation with the West over Ukraine. Rosneft, targeted by Western sanctions, denied any role in the which was the worst since a similar 7.4 percent result in July-September 2012. But some analysts played down the impact of the anticipated move. The impact of such a move on boosting corporate investment and supporting real economic growth will be relatively limited in our view, as the property downturn continues to worsen, excess capacity accumulates and business outlook remains weak, said Wang Tao, head of China economic research at investment bank UBS. Analysts said the scale of the injection was equivalent to around a 0.50 percentage point cut in the reserve requirements for banks, the amount of funds they are required to set aside. We expect monetary conditions to loosen modestly, which will provide some much-needed support for demand growth, Goldman Sachs said in a research note. Although further measures are anticipated, analysts said, some rejected the possibility of China cutting reserve requirements across the board or slashing interest rates. China s central bank set up the Standing Lending Facility in 2013 to meet liquidity demands from banks, typically from a one- to three-month period, using it in both June and September last year, as well as in January. The PBoC only reports use of the lending facility on a quarterly basis. AFP Russian billionaire s arrest sparks fears of second Yukos Vladimir Yevtushenkov investigation. Khodorkovsky, who has accused Sechin of orchestrating his downfall, was suddenly released from prison late last year and now lives in Switzerland in self-imposed exile. Yevtushenkov s arrest sparked fears that authorities, who are under pressure to keep the battered economy afloat, could move in on other private businesses too. We have a really bad feeling about this... this all makes us think of a second Yukos case, an aide to a senior Russian official was quoted as saying. This is even not a racket, this is simply daylight robbery, wrote former deputy finance minister and economist Sergei Aleksashenko. An oil company in Russia is too attractive a business not to pique the interest of people close to the authorities. Sistema is a vast holding which has major interests in the country s biggest mobile telephone company MTS and a range of other assets. The Investigative Committee said it had launched the probe because it had sufficient grounds to believe Yevtushenkov was involved in the legalization of property acquired by criminal means. Sistema responded that the accusation was without foundation. Shares in Sistema dropped 28 percent at the opening in Moscow yesterday and lost 35.70 percent at 0945 GMT in London trading. AFP Venezuela faces default fears as LatAm economic woes mount CARACAS: Despite sitting atop the world s largest oil reserves, Venezuela s government is facing mounting concerns about its solvency, prompting a downgrade that has added to Latin America s recent economic bad news. Venezuela owes more than $6.4 billion in debt payments in October, equal to one-third of its total declared hard currency reserves. The overall economic picture is also bleak, with Venezuelans hit by chronic shortages of basic goods, annual inflation of more than 60 percent and a stricken economy that S&P said risked shrinking up to 3.5 percent this year. Bleak outlook That prompted the ratings agency to lower Venezuela s rating one notch Tuesday, to CCC+, taking the South American country deep into speculative grade territory. S&P warned investors that Venezuela faced at least a one-intwo likelihood of default over the next two years. It gave the country a negative outlook, indicating the strong possibility of a new downgrade over the medium term. Economic recession, high inflation and growing external liquidity pressures will continue to erode the government s capacity to pay external obligations over the next two years, it said. Critics accuse the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro, the political heir to late leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez, of distorting the economy by spending lavishly on subsidies, imposing strict foreign exchange controls and recklessly printing the bolivar currency to pay a deficit estimated at 15 percent of GDP. The economy has been hit by stagnant oil exports-which bring in 96 percent of its foreign currency reserves-and falling output, forcing it to import more and more food and other goods. The central bank says its foreign reserves have fallen 25 percent in 18 months. Maduro, keen to soothe markets, vowed last week the government would pay its debts down to the last dollar. In 15 years of revolution (since Chavez came to power), Venezuela has shown that it keeps its promises, Maduro said.but analysts say badly needed economic reforms have been stalled because of the strength of a radical political faction in Maduro s government. Rafael Ramirez, a powerful oil minister who had promised to reform the government s strict currency controls, was recently replaced in a cabinet shake-up and made foreign minister in what many saw as a sidelining. AFP

BUSINESS Luxury entrepreneur Stephen Hung orders largest ever fleet of Rolls-Royce Phantoms for Louis XIII Hotel in Macau Luxury entrepreneur Stephen Hung has purchased the largest Rolls-Royce Phantom fleet in the world, placing an order for 30 Bespoke Extended Wheelbase Phantoms for his Louis XIII hotel in Macau. This transaction represents the world s single largest order of Rolls-Royces ever. Two of the fleet will be the most expensive Rolls-Royce Phantoms ever commissioned. The deal was formalized on September 16, 2014 at a signing ceremony at the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood in West Sussex, England. The signing ceremony was attended by Rolls-Royce CEO, Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes, Louis XIII Chairman, Stephen Hung, the Board of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Louis XIII executives and a representative from Graff Diamonds. Macau is rapidly evolving into the luxury capital of the world and we are honored to have the opportunity to add to Macau s many distinctions, the world s largest fleet of Rolls- Royce Phantoms, including the two most luxurious vehicles Rolls-Royce has ever built. Louis XIII and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars share the same philosophy: to deliver the perfect experience to the world s most discerning customers, said Louis XIII Chairman, Stephen Hung. We at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars are delighted and honored that Hung has commissioned Rolls- Royce to provide the largest single order of Phantoms in history. The Louis XIII fleet of Phantoms promises to be one of most impressive sights ever seen in Macau when they arrive at the Louis XIII hotel in 2016. Hung s commission reaffirms Phantom s pinnacle position as the motor car of choice for those seeking to experience the finest luxury the world has to offer, commented Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes, Chief Executive Officer of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. Each of the 30 Rolls-Royces has been extensively customized by Rolls-Royce s Bespoke design team at Goodwood working hand-in-hand with Hung and Louis XIII to create truly distinctive vehicles. Newly created bespoke elements have been applied extensively both to the interior and exterior of the cars including bespoke clocks designed and created by Graff Luxury Watches. The two most expensive Phantoms will additionally feature external and internal gold-plated accents. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has also helped to design the parking and driveways to house the fleet at Louis XIII and will train Louis XIII s chauffeurs from Macau in the appropriate driving and handling of the unique vehicles. The Phantom fleet will chauffeur the guests of Louis XIII, located on the Cotai Strip in Macau, when it is opened in the first half of 2016. GBI executive Mekky recognized for outstanding leadership achievements DUBAI: A visionary and a forward-thinker, Ahmed Mekky CEO of GBI was honored with the prestigious CEO of the Year award in the telecoms category at the CEO Middle East Awards 2014 held in Dubai on Wednesday. The Telecoms CEO of the Year award by the CEO Middle East magazine is given in recognition of Mekky s outstanding performance that has contributed to GBI s success over the past year. Mekky received the award during a high profile ceremony held at Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel on September 10. Chief executives, senior officials and guests attended the event which celebrated the achievements of leading individuals from various industries across the Middle East region. On the occasion of the award, Mekky said, The recognition by CEO Middle East is a true reflection of the way our organization engages and aligns with the whole ecosystem. This honor is a credit to the dedication and hard work of the entire GBI family. The CEO Middle East Awards recognize the very best achievements and individual excellence of high-level executives in 15 categories from the region s major industry sectors, including hospitality, technology, aviation, banking and retail. These awards represent the region s most prestigious accolades that reward outstanding success, innovation and ethics across key industries in the region. Held annually, the CEO Middle East awards honor CEOs through the appreciation of innovative business, business excellence and overall business success. The awards acknowledge publicly the vital contribution made by individuals and their companies to the vibrancy of business within the UAE and across the region. Ahmed Mekky is a co-founder and a Board Member of GBI. As CEO, Mekky has lead the company to build the first ever private and neutral submarine cable in the region, with onward connectivity to Europe, Africa and Asia. Mekky has over 18 years experience in the telecom sector across the MENA region along with a well-established network of senior business relationships with the major communications companies in the region. Prior to founding GBI, Mekky had worked with various companies in the region and successfully completed projects encompassing both telecoms infrastructure and satellite communications for them. flydubai expands network in Asia New flights to Almaty and Shymkent KUWAIT: flydubai s inaugural flight to Almaty landed yesterday at Almaty International Airport and was met by a traditional water cannon salute. This marked the start of the airline s operations to Kazakhstan. Upon arrival in Almaty the inaugural flight was received by Akhmetzhan Yessimov, Mayor of Almaty, Askar Mussinov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Suhail Mattar Al-Ketbi, UAE Ambassador to Kazakhstan, Askar Shokybayev, Consul General of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, and other senior officials. On board the flight were Director General of Dubai Municipality, Hussain Nasser Lootah, flydubai s Chief Executive Officer, Ghaith Al-Ghaith, and Senior Vice President Commercial (UAE, EU, ME, CIS), Jeyhun Efendi. Accompanying them was a senior delegation from Dubai Municipality including Mohammad Abdul Kareem Julfar, Dawoud Abdul Rahman Al-Hajeri, Khalid Mohammed Sharif Al-Awadhi, Humaid Saeed Al-Marri and Mohamad Mahmood AlNoori. Commenting on the launch of flights, Ghaith Al-Ghaith said: The start of flydubai s direct flights from Dubai to Almaty and Shymkent, provide a convenient link between these economic hubs in the Middle East and Central Asia. It marks a milestone in the relations between our countries and sees the expansion of flydubai s network in the region to five countries. Kazakhstan and the UAE have both demonstrated impressive growth in various industries, including oil, Islamic finance and construction. With flights from Dubai operating four times a week to Almaty and twice a week to Shymkent, these routes present new opportunities for increasing business, tourism and trade. With breathtaking natural landscapes, unspoilt nature reserves, rugged snow-capped mountains and ancient cities, Kazakhstan is the perfect destination for skiing, hiking, mountain climbing and sightseeing and is only a fourhour direct flight from Dubai. Commenting on flydubai s growing network, Jeyhun Efendi said: We are pleased to increase capacity between Dubai and Kazakhstan. Business Class will be available on our flights to Almaty and Shymkent, providing passengers with a more personal and comfortable travel experience. In addition our inflight entertainment system, with over 1,000 hours of entertainment, is available in English, Arabic and Russian. During the trip to Almaty the airline showcased its Business Class offering and its ever-expanding network. flydubai will also host representatives from the Kazakhstani business community in the evening at an inaugural dinner to mark the launch of flights and highlight Suhail Mattar Al-Ketbi, UAE Ambassador to Kazakhstan between Director General of Dubai Municipality, Hussain Nasser Lootah (right) and flydubai CEO Ghaith Al-Ghaith (left). Dubai as a leading tourist destination. Flydubai has built up a network of 80 destinations across 41 countries and many of these destinations were previously underserved from Dubai, including Ashgabat in Turkmenistan, Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan and Dushanbe in Tajikistan. Damas CEO named Retail CEO of the Year DUBAI: Anan Fakhreddin, CEO of Damas, the Middle East s leading jewelry and watch retailer, has been honored with the Retail CEO of the Year award at the CEO Awards ME 2014 in recognition of his achievements across the Gulf region. Anan Fakhreddin s award is a testament to his active presence and achievements in the region s jewelry retail sector since the year 2000. Under Fakhreddin s leadership, Damas has transformed from a famous brand in Dubai to a famous international jewelry brand from Dubai. Also he has effectively realigned the business, retail and product strategies of Damas, an industry leader in the dynamic luxury goods market that is routinely impacted by new interest rates, rising gold prices and varying consumer tastes. The award ceremony took place on 10 September at the Emirates Towers. An independent judging panel consisting of the Arabian Business magazine s editorial staff and industry leaders and experts came together to select the CEO winners. The CEO Awards recognize and reward outstanding success, innovation and ethics across Middle Eastern Business. The awards honor CEO s through the appreciation of innovative business, business excellence and overall business success, and acknowledge publicly the vital contribution made by individuals and their companies to the vibrancy of business within the UAE and across the region. Karam Awad, Managing Director of ITP Executive, said: At CEO magazine, we have always endeavored to recognize the contribution of businesses across the region. Over the last few years, a significant number of CEOs and their companies have put in a stellar performance that has played a crucial role in the resurgence and rapid growth of the country s economy. Anan Fakhreddin s contributions in accelerating the growth of the region s jewelry market exemplify this commitment to progress. Acknowledging the honor, Anan Fakhreddin said: At Damas, we align our operations with Dubai s vision for growth. It is this mandate that led to the company s restructuring in 2013, the evolution of a new business strategy and subsequent reformatting of our business model. We are continually pushing the limits to improve our standards and competencies in the jewelry sector across the Middle East. Industry distinctions such as the CEO Awards ME reaffirm our commitment to shaping the luxury sector. In line with the new strategy that we have already started to implement, Damas will continue to evolve and expand not only across the GCC but worldwide as it transforms from a reputed home-grown brand in Dubai to a reputed international jewelry brand from Dubai. We are particularly proud of this accomplishment as it places us among esteemed stalwarts in the field.

technology Canon launches new range of business inkjet printers DUBAI: Canon Middle East has announced a significant update to its SoHo and small business print portfolio with the launch of MAXIFY, a new range of business inkjet printers designed to support the demand from small and home offices for high volume, colour printing. Canon s new MAXIFY inkjet printer range consists of four multifunctional devices (MFDs), the MAXIFY MB2040, MB2340, and the MAXIFY MB5040 and MB5340 as well as one single-function printer (SFP), the ib4040. The MAXIFY range enables Canon to offer greater choice to small business customers that are looking for professional quality colour printing as well as high-quality copying, scanning and faxing. Durable design for extra reliability All of the models in the new MAXIFY range have been designed with durability in mind to reliably handle the high print volumes required by small and home offices. The MB2040 and MB2340 will support home office environments with a recommended print capacity of up to 1000 pages per month, while the MB5040, MB5340 and ib4040 have been designed for small office printing and support higher print volumes of up to 1500 pages per month. The new devices also maximise productivity in the office with a First Print Out Time (ISO-FPOT) as low as seven seconds and A4 print speeds at 23 ipm for black-and-white and 15 ipm for colour. In addition, the MAXIFY MB5340 features Canon s new Single Pass 2-sided Scan functionality, which allows both sides of the document to be scanned simultaneously. Two CIS sensors scan both the front and back of the page as it moves through the printer, enhancing scan and copy speeds and saving valuable time when large batches of documents need to be processed in one go. Business quality colour at a competitive price Delivering high-quality inkjet printing at a competitive price, the MAXIFY printers use a new Dual Resistant High Density (DRHD) ink that has been designed specifically for the range. Building on Canon s FINE ink technology, the new ink is specially formulated for business documents and is water, friction and marker resistant for extra durability. Allowing small businesses to produce high quality documents, the DRHD ink delivers striking black text and vivid colours on graphics, whilst also enabling small businesses to benefit from low cost per page printing. The range delivers cost-effective colour prints thanks to new highyield XL ink tanks. Aimed at home offices, the MAXIFY MB2040 and MB2340, produce up to 1200 black-and-white pages, while the small office MAXIFY printers, the MB5040, MB5340 and ib4040, produce up to 2,500 black-and-white pages before cartridges need to be replaced, reducing printer downtime. Users can also benefit from up to 20 percent additional cost savings by purchasing Canon s DRHD inks in multi-packs, which help small businesses to cut costs without reducing the quality of their printed documents. Supporting a connected office With a host of connectivity features, Canon s MAXIFY range is perfect for flexible working and for office spaces where printers are shared by a team or small businesses. Wi-Fi connectivity allows the printers to deliver wireless printing from mobile devices. Canon s MAXIFY Cloud Link offers printing from and scanning to, cloud storage providers such as Evernote, Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive(tm), directly from the printer screen. In addition, Canon s MAXI- FY Printing Solutions App delivers similar functionality via a smartphone or tablet. The printers are also compatible with mobile printing solutions such as Apple AirPrint and Google Cloud Print. The MAXIFY MB2040, MB2340, MB5040, MB5340 printers also feature Canon s scan-to-email function, which allows users to save time and send scanned documents and images as email attachments directly from the printer. Monitor and control costs Gaining greater visibility of the printing habits of a small business also helps to identify usage patterns and arms small businesses with the information they need to control print costs. The new MAXIFY range has been designed with this in mind, featuring control options that allow business owners to restrict specific functions, for example protecting the ability to copy in colour by setting a password. The new printers also offer the option to keep a record of total volumes printed, scanned or faxed, to allow users to get a better picture of how the device is being used in the office. German brothers ready to make billions from e-commerce empire Rocket and Zalando to float in coming weeks FLORIDA: An XBox 360 Minecraft game is seen at a GameStop store. AFP In hot pursuit of the next Minecraft TOKYO: The staggering $2.5 billion that Microsoft has just shelled out for Minecraft and its quirky graphics will be foremost in developers minds at the Tokyo Game Show this week, where simple yet immersive games are expected to figure heavily. After seeing the tech titan bid to cash in on the 100 million people who spend hours constructing their own Minecraft worlds and share them online, industry figures will be looking for the next big thing at the four-day event. Asia s largest digital entertainment exhibition, which kicks off today in the vast hangar-like buildings of Makuhari just outside Tokyo, will have a whole section for gaming with a social side. It is already big business-games played online or accessed through sites such as Facebook are hot on the heels of traditional consoles and are set, by some estimates, to overtake them in terms of revenue in the nottoo-distant future. Nowadays most games have some social features included in them, which has led to an increase in the number of end-users, said market research firm Reportlinker. The research company dates the take-off of social gaming to the success of Farmville, a simulation game hosted initially by Facebook in 2009 in which users build farms with their friends. The global video game industry was worth a whopping 6.3 trillion yen (around $59 billion) in 2013. A full 70 percent of that is through downloads via console, PC or smartphone, according to Japanese game specialists Enterbrain. Games have moved from the console package to the data packet, said Enterbrain. This trend is set to grow in the future-analysts at technology research company TechNavio forecast that the global social gaming market will grow an average of 18 percent every year until 2018. Chat with friends In Japan, popular entertainment platforms Gree and DeNa/Mobage owe their success to social gaming, which they developed widely on Japanese flip-phones before smartphones came on the scene. Online messaging app Line, launched in 2011 as a communication service to rival US-based Skype and WhatsApp, has also branched out into games, whilst Japanese Facebook-precursor Mixi relies on its socially connected electronic diversions to survive. Each of these big four companies on the Japanese gaming scene boasts from 25 to 40 million users in Japan. The defining feature of social gaming in Japan is that it is scattered disparately between several hundred different developers who contribute to these platforms, explained Serkan Toto, a specialist on the Japanese game market. Japanese people play social games to kill time or to chat with friends, pastimes that generate profit-mobile social gaming in Japan was worth 360 billion yen ($3.3 billion) in 2013, according to Cesa, a Japanese association working in the sector. This means that social gaming is hot on the heels of the more traditional market of consoles and their physical discs, which was valued at 410 billion yen ($3.8 billion). But the dividing line is becoming increasingly blurred. The success of Sony s latest home console, the PlayStation 4 (PS4), can be attributed to incredibly immersive gaming experiences along with deep social capabilities and entertainment provided by our network, said Andrew House, president of Sony Computer Entertainment, back in January. The console has sold 10 million units in under 10 months. Gamers will be flocking to the four-day Tokyo Game Show to try the latest offerings in long-running sagas created for Sony PS4, the Microsoft Xbox One or the Nintendo Wii U. Pocket consoles such as the PS Vita or the Nintendo 3DS will also be represented. Some 220,000 visitors are expected at the exhibition, where more than 400 exhibitors will be displaying their wares. AFP BERLIN: Oliver Samwer and his brothers Marc and Alexander are on the brink of becoming Germany s newest billionaires with the flotations of Rocket Internet and the European online fashion site Zalando it helped launch in 2008. The sons of a lawyer who encouraged them to read Germany s Handelsblatt finance daily, they want to make Rocket the world s biggest e-commerce platform outside the United States and China by conquering markets that Amazon or Alibaba have yet to dominate. Deciding as teenagers to go into business together, they will now profit from the estimated 5 billion euros ($6.5 billion) flotation of Rocket, in which their Global Founders Fund has a 52.3 percent stake. Zalando, in which they own a 17 percent share, could be worth about 4.5 billion and separate flotations of other Rocket start-ups might follow next year. Marc, the oldest, is like the foreign minister of the family, who speaks very well. Alex, the youngest, is the intellectual with a fine sense of strategy and the long-term, said Joel Kaczmarek, the author of a new German biography of the Samwers titled The Godfathers of the Internet. Oliver is something in between, the typical middle child with sharp elbows who had to do the most to prove himself... Winning is everything for him. Dubbed the most aggressive man in the Internet by German monthly Manager Magazin, Samwer criss-crosses the globe to drum up investment and visit the dozens of start-ups his firm Rocket Internet has set up from Rio to Jakarta in the last few years. The flotations - set to be Germany s biggest technology listings since the bursting of the dot.com bubble a decade ago - are riding in the wake of this week s expected listing of Alibaba, potentially the world s biggest ever. Applying German value Set up in 2007 in Berlin, Rocket has already launched Amazon-like websites for general goods in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America as well as five fashion sites in emerging markets and numerous online marketplaces for everything from real estate to taxis, food delivery and home services. Pilloried for copying businesses pioneered in Silicon Valley, Oliver Samwer says Rocket is taking Internet innovation to the next level by applying German values of hard work and organization. As these industries mature, like any industry, innovation doesn t stop, it just moves down the chain into execution, SAN FRANCISCO: Early reviews of Apple iphone 6 models to be released on Friday sang praises of the large-screen handsets, proclaiming that bigger truly is better. The public asked for bigger and Apple delivered not only bigger but better, too, tech news website Slash Gear said in its review. A stunning Retina HD display, blisteringly fast A8 processor, and class-leading connectivity make these the best iphones ever. Mixed in with details about improvements to cameras operations and delivery, Samwer told staff in a memo last week after announcing Rocket s listing plan. Rocket s most successful venture to date is Zalando, which Oliver Samwer helped launch in 2008 with two fellow graduates of Germany s elite WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management. It has since grown to become Europe s biggest online fashion site with annual sales on track to exceed 2 billion euros in 2014. Oliver, the 42-year-old middle Samwer brother, is the chief executive of Rocket Internet and the sibling most in the public eye, while Marc, 44, focuses on the Global Founders Fund that manages the trio s fortune. Alexander, 39, is the brother with closest links to Zalando, where he is a member of the supervisory board. While the Samwers are still the second-biggest shareholders in Zalando, the firm is no longer part of the Rocket empire. Lessons for entrepreneurs The brothers early ventures have already made them multi-millionaires - they sold German online auction site Alando to ebay Inc in 1999, their Jamba mobile phone ring tone firm to Verisign in 2004 and their European daily deal site Citideal to the US original - Groupon - in 2010. The success of Zalando, which now dwarfs the Amazon-owned Zappos fashion site it copied, has encouraged the Samwers to hold onto the companies they found for longer rather than seeking a quick exit. We are long-term players, Oliver Samwer said on a conference call last week as he announced Rocket Internet s plan to raise 750 million euros in fresh capital as current investors pledged not to sell their shares for a year. The three excelled at school and university: Marc studied law in Cologne then business at Stanford, Alexander took a degree in politics and economics at Oxford University and then an MBA from Harvard, while Oliver attended Germany s WHU and its US partner, the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. During his studies, Oliver co-wrote a paper entitled America s Most Successful Startups. Lessons for Entrepreneurs and started putting what he had learnt into practice on his return to Germany by launching e-bay clone Alando in 1999. Hard work Oliver has called Rocket Internet McKinsey on steroids, and most venture founders are drawn from top business schools, investment banks and consultancies like McKinsey. I and screens was advice that would-be buyers inclined to use smartphones as, well, phones, should opt for an iphone 6 instead of its bigger-screened brother the iphone 6 Plus. There are a couple of reasons why the Apple iphone 6 Plus might also be too big for me to purchase, Lauren Goode wrote in a review at Recode.net. But I have to admit it: I m tempted. I really like this phone. And to people who actually prefer huge smartphones: You are going to like this phone, too. Reviewers said that while the iphone 6 Plus will die to win and I expect the same from you, he wrote in an email to a team working on an online furniture start-up that was leaked in 2011 to the TechCrunch website. The time for the blitzkrieg must be chosen wisely, so each country tells me with blood when it is time. Samwer quickly apologized for that language - blitzkrieg refers to the Nazi military strategy of a lightning war - but he remains unafraid to ruffle feathers by speaking bluntly. The father of three told senior retail executives at a conference in June that they were out of touch with smartphonesavvy youngsters and risked being left behind as e-commerce renders stores obsolete, particularly in emerging markets. What you fear will come much faster. Go out very paranoid, he said. Every time I come home, what do you think happens? My wife shows me this or that fashion site... she doesn t say let s go shopping on Saturdays anymore. Her shopping happens all the time. I go home tonight and we have to buy online again. High-profile investors One former executive for a Rocket Internet start-up who declined to be named said working for Samwer had been a great learning experience but not a very enjoyable one. They hire two CEOs for every company and they make them compete...it becomes a place where people backstab, the person said. There is none of that fun entrepreneurial spirit you have in real entrepreneurial companies. Rocket Internet spokesman Andreas Winiarski said the company hired multiple founders for ventures so they can share responsibility and said they usually acted in a cooperative way. Rocket is a young, fresh, motivated team. Oliver demands a lot of his people and he can be tough when things don t go as expected but nobody has made as many millionaires as he has in recent years, Winiarski said. He has raised billions of euros from high-profile investors most recently German service provider United Internet AG and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company. Other investors include billionaire American industrialist Leonard Blavatnik, JP Morgan Asset Management and retailers such as Britain s Tesco and Germany s Tengelmann and Rewe. Oliver has tremendous energy and is very straightforward, said Vigo Carlund, a board member for Kinnevik, the Swedish investment firm which is the biggest investor in Zalandoand has a large stake in Rocket Internet too. Reuters Early reviews praise new iphones BEIJING: A shop assistant works behind a computer at a store selling Apple products, including the iphone. AFP was a weighty handful, Apple tastefully modified the design to make it comfortable to hold and use. TechCrunch referred to the iphone 6 Plus as the first truly welldesigned big smartphone. Pre-order frenzy New iphone 6 models boost screen sizes in what some see as the company catching up to a phablet trend combining features of smartphones and tablets. Apple s main rival Samsung has long had a range of larger handsets and is due to soon release a new Galaxy Note 4 phablet. The iphone 6 has a screen of 4.7 inches and the 6-Plus is 5.5 inches, allowing Apple to adapt to consumers apparent preference for bigger displays. Apple hasn t fumbled, David Pogue of Yahoo Tech news said in a review. Its two new iphones are excellent, beautiful and state of the art. Worthy heirs to the iphone throne. Some reviewers noted that the iphone 6 Plus is pricier than rival phablets, and that the latest Apple smartphones cost tidy sums if prices are not offset by telecom firms in exchange for locking into service contracts. Apple on Monday said it had received record pre-orders for its new iphone models, and that some customers will have to wait for the larger-screen versions of the smartphones. The California tech giant said more than four million pre-orders were received in the 24 hours after the new devices went on sale last Friday. Demand for the new iphones exceeds the initial preorder supply and while a significant amount will be delivered to customers beginning on Friday and throughout September, many iphone pre-orders are scheduled to be delivered in October, Apple said in a statement. The announcement means Apple may see shortages and long lines at its retail stores when sales begin on Friday. Sales are set to open at 8 am local time in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and Britain. Some 20 more countries will get the iphone September 26. Some of the new iphones will also be available from carriers and other retailers. Apple last Tuesday unveiled its first smartwatch and two large-screen versions of the iphone, in a move to recapture its role as a trend-setter. Apple added in a new mobile wallet that will allow consumers to simply tap their phones to pay retailers. AFP

HEALTH & SCIENCE Urine test for cervical cancer virus offers better alternatives ATLANTA: US President Barack Obama makes a statement following meetings at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. AFP Ebola spiraling out of control LONDON: A simple urine test for the virus that causes cervical cancer could offer a less invasive and more acceptable alternative to the conventional cervical smear test, researchers said on Tuesday. In a study comparing the accuracy of urine sample testing with smear testing conducted by a doctor, scientists from Britain and Spain found the results were good and said using the urine test to detect human papillomavirus (HPV) could lead to more women agreeing to be screened. The detection of HPV in urine is noninvasive, easily accessible and acceptable to women, and a test with these qualities could considerably increase uptake, the researchers said on Tuesday in thebmj.com, the online version of the British Medical Journal. The study, which analysed 14 studies involving 1,443 sexually active women, was led by Neha Pathak of the women s health research unit at Queen Mary University of London. Compared with cervical smear samples, urine HPV testing had an overall sensitivitythe proportion of positives correctly identified-of 87 percent, and a specificity-the proportion of negatives correctly identified-of 94 percent. Urine testing for the particularly high risk strains of HPV that cause the majority of cervical cancer cases, had an overall sensitivity of 73 percent and a specificity of 98 percent compared with cervical samples. HPV is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections, with up to 80 percent of sexually active women infected at some point in their lives. Infection with specific high risk strains of HPV can cause cervical cancer, which kills around 266,000 women a year globally, according to the World Health Organisation. By the far the vast majority of cervical cancer deaths are in poorer countries where access to screening and prevention methods is less widely available. In a smear test, an instrument called a speculum is inserted into the vagina to allow access to the cervix and a brush is used to collect cells from the surface of the cervix. In wealthier developed countries, cervical screening for HPV has been in place for many years and have been able to catch many potential cancer cases before they develop. More recently, national immunization programs using vaccines from drugmakers Merck and GlaxoSmithKline have been launched to protect girls from HPV. Yet in developing nations, where some 445,000 cases were diagnosed and 230,000 women died of cervical cancer in 2012, infrastructures have not yet been established to run national screening programs and HPV vaccination is still rare. In a commentary on Pathak s study, Henry Kitchener, professor and chair of gynecological oncology at Manchester University noted that even in developed countries such as Britain, for example, cervical screening coverage has fallen below 80 percent in recent years. This is partly due to some complacency about cervical cancer as it starts to be come less common, he said, but also partly due to emotional factors such as embarrassment or fear of an invasive speculum examination. Using a urine test instead of a smear could persuade those reluctant women to come for regular screening, Kitchener said, while in lower income countries that lack infrastructure self sampling (urine testing) might even be beneficial and cost effective for all women who are eligible for screening. Reuters US to set up command and control center in Liberia ATLANTA: President Barack Obama issued a global call to action to fight West Africa s Ebola epidemic on Tuesday, warning the deadly outbreak was unprecedented and spiraling out of control, threatening hundreds of thousands of people. Speaking as he unveiled a major new US initiative which will see 3,000 US military personnel deployed to West Africa to combat the growing health crisis, Obama said the outbreak was spreading exponentially. Here s the hard truth. In West Africa, Ebola is now an epidemic of the likes that we have not seen before, Obama said. It s spiraling out of control. It is getting worse. It s spreading faster and exponentially. Today, thousands of people in West Africa are infected. That number could rapidly grow to tens of thousands. And if the outbreak is not stopped now, we could be looking at hundreds of thousands of people infected with profound political and economic and security implications for all of us. As well as the military deployment, the US will also set up a command and control center in the capital of Liberia, the hardest-hit country, build new treatment centers and train health workers. Precise timing on deployment was still unclear. No deployment in the coming days. The troops have to be properly trained and equipped, a Pentagon official said privately. Among the US soldiers sent to West Africa will be doctors and also engineers to set up the field hospitals, the official said. Meanwhile, the United States moved to fund these plans. Specifically, the Department of Defense plans to ask Wednesday to have reprogrammed an additional $500 million in Fiscal Year 2014 Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funds to provide urgent humanitarian assistance First domestic case of chikungunya in Brazil BRASILIA: Brazil s authorities on Tuesday reported the first domestically contracted cases of the mosquitoborne chikungunya virus, prompting the government to announce it was stepping up attempts to control the disease. The joint disease, which causes high fever and painful arthritis, is endemic to Africa and south Asia but has been moving north as well as west. Brazil s cases emerged in Oiapoque municipality in the northern region of Amapa, bordering French Guiana, where cases have also been reported. The Brazilian health ministry said the two sufferers appeared not to have traveled abroad recently, suggesting they must have contracted chikungunya in Brazil. The country reported 37 cases between January and this month, although on each occasion the patient had contracted the disease abroad. A health ministry spokesman said the government would step up control measures to combat an illness which bears some resemblance to dengue fever and for which there is no vaccine. Europe reported its first locally transmitted case of the mosquito-borne illness in 2007, in Italy and the first home-grown case reported in the United States emerged in July. The ministry revealed it has alerted health authorities and communities to the possibility of further cases and planned to have sprayed with pesticide hatcheries of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits dengue, to limit its spread. According to the Pan American Health Organization, the Southern Cone states saw the majority of dengue cases detected globally this year. Of a total 670,139 cases in the region, 659,051 were in Brazil, 249 of them fatal. Earlier this year, British bio-tech firm Oxitec revealed it was using genetically modified mosquitoes to fight dengue after altering the DNA of the Aedes aegypti. When the mosquitoes pass on the genetic modification to their offspring, the latter die ahead of adulthood and before they can either bite or transmit the dengue virus. AFP to fight Ebola, an administration official said. This is separate from the funds already put toward the effort, including the $175 million already dedicated, and the $88 million requested through a continuing resolution. The Ebola epidemic has killed more than 2,400 people in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone this year. The virus can fell its victims within days, causing severe fever and muscle pain, weakness, vomiting and diarrhea-in some cases shutting down organs and causing unstoppable bleeding. No licensed vaccine or treatment exists. Security Council action The United Nations Security Council is poised to adopt a resolution on Thursday exhorting countries to provide more field hospitals and urgent aid to the crisis-stricken region. Likely passage of the resolution marks only the third time that the Security Council will vote on a public health crisis after resolutions on AIDS in 2000 and 2011. This has gone beyond health issues, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said. It has gone to areas affecting social and economic situations. It may even affect political stability if not properly contained and treated. The United Nations said nearly one billion dollars would be needed to beat back the worstever outbreak of the disease, which is on track to infect 20,000 people by the end of the year. The world body has set a goal of stopping the spread of Ebola within six to nine months but aid agencies are complaining that help has been too slow. Ban is planning a high-level event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly next week to draw attention to the crisis. UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos told reporters in Geneva the Ebola crisis faced a huge funding challenge. The capacity of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia to provide even the most basic necessities is on the brink of collapse, she warned. The United Nations said the response to the crisis would require $987.8 million (763 million euros), with about half needed for Liberia. World needs to do more The World Bank meanwhile approved a $105 million grant, part of a $200 million pledge made in early August aimed at helping people cope with the economic impact of the crisis and strengthening public health systems. The world needs to do much, much more to respond to the Ebola crisis in these three countries, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement. The UN said if the international community and affected countries respond swiftly and energetically, transmission should begin to slow by the end of the year and halt by mid-2015. The level of surge we need to do is unprecedented. It is massive, the United Nations Ebola coordinator David Nabarro told reporters. China will send a 59-person mobile laboratory team from its Centre for Disease Control to Sierra Leone, including epidemiologists, clinicians and nurses-bringing the number of Chinese medics in the country to 174, the WHO said. The EU, Britain, France and Cuba have also pledged to send medical teams and other aid to the region. But this is far from enough, warned Joanne Liu, head of the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity. Noting that the known Ebola toll represents only a fraction of the real number, she stressed that the ground response remains totally and lethally inadequate. The window of opportunity to contain this outbreak is closing, she warned. AFP SINGAPORE : Staff members perform a surgery at the LASIK Surgery Clinic (LSC) in Singapore yesterday. The LASIK Surgery Clinic (LSC), a Singapore Medical Group (SMG) is the first private eye clinic in Singapore to acquire the multi-million dollar machine, ZEISS Femtosecond Laser System and to offer the procedure. AFP LONDON: The first volunteer in a fasttracked British safety trial of an experimental Ebola vaccine made by GlaxoSmithKline received the injection yesterday, trial organizers said. The candidate Ebola vaccine, which GSK co-developed with the United States National Institutes of Health, has also been given to 10 volunteers taking part in a separate trial in the United States, and so far there were no signs of any serious adverse reactions, doctors said. The vaccine is designed to specifically target the Zaire strain of Ebola, the one circulating in the West Africa epidemic, the worst Ebola outbreak recorded. Since the vaccine contains no infectious Ebola virus material, only one of its genes, experts say there are no concerns that any of the subjects will contract the deadly disease. Latest data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) show about 2,500 people have died of Ebola in an outbreak that started in March and has infected almost 5,000 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. The British trial is being run by a team at Oxford University. A spokeswoman for the Oxford team said the first volunteer in the UK trial was vaccinated early yesterday, but gave no further information. She said more details would be given later. Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told a US Senate panel on Tuesday that no red flags indicating serious adverse reactions have been NEW SOUTH WALES: This file photo shows a local resident walking her dogs past a now exposed storm water barrier on Old Bar Beach in the coastal town of Old Bar. AFP Rising sea levels to cost Australia billions: Study SYDNEY: Rising sea levels could threaten infrastructure worth more than Aus$226 billion ($205 billion) in Australia if climate change is left unchecked, a study warned yesterday. The Climate Council report said the most serious consequences of rising seas would be an increase in the frequency of coastal flooding and the retreat of shorelines. Both these threats could cause massive damage in Australia, where the majority of the population lives on the coast and where cities, towns and infrastructure are concentrated, it said. Coastal flooding is a sleeping giant, the report said, adding that the potential for economic damage was huge. More than $226 billion in commercial, industrial, road and rail, and residential assets around Australian coasts are potentially exposed to flooding and erosion hazards at a sea level rise of 1.1 meters, a high end, but quite plausible, scenario for 2100. When he came to power a year ago Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who once said climate change science was absolute crap, axed the government-funded Climate Commission in a bid to find savings. It was soon re-launched as the Climate Council-an independent watchdog operating as a non-profit body funded by public donations. Its report said the sea level had already risen and was still rising as a result of climate change, and was likely to climb 0.4 to 1.0 meter (1ft 3ins to 3ft 3ins) through this century. Risk of coastal flooding But even a 0.1 meter rise in sea level increased the risk of coastal flooding, a First UK volunteer gets experimental GSK Ebola shot found in the 10 healthy volunteers vaccinated there so far. The trials are seeking to determine not only whether the vaccine is safe, or causes adverse side effects, but also whether it triggers the production of antibodies against the Ebola virus. The aim is to complete the tests by the end of 2014, after which vaccines could be deployed on an emergency basis. GSK says it plans to begin making up to about 10,000 doses of the vaccine at the same time as the initial clinical trials, so that if they are successful, the vaccine could be made available immediately for an emergency immunization program. Ben Neuman, a virologist at the University of Reading who is not involved in the vaccine studies, said it was important potential problem in Australia where more than half the coastline is vulnerable to recession, it said. A sea level rise of 0.5 meter could involve a potential retreat of sandy shorelines by 25 to 50 meters, it added. The report said the combined impact of inundation and shoreline recession put thousands of homes and businesses and 27,000 to 35,000 kilometers (16,740 to 21,700 miles) of roads and rail at risk. In addition, rising sea levels also posed dangers for many of Australia s species and natural attractions, including the Great Barrier Reef, due to the drowning of reefs, salt water intrusion destroying freshwater habitats and sandy beach erosion. At particular risk of the rising sea levels were the coastal communities living on the Torres Strait islands in northern Australia, the report said. The Climate Council said Australia s infrastructure had been built for the climate of the 20th century and was unprepared for the problems associated with unchecked climate change. We need deep and urgent cuts in greenhouse gas emission this decade and beyond if we are to avoid the most serious risk from rising sea levels and coastal flooding, it said. Australia s conservative government recently scrapped a carbon tax designed to combat climate change but has said it is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 5.0 percent below 2000 levels by 2020. On Tuesday, Abbott announced he would skip a United Nations climate change summit this month attended by 125 other world leaders. AFP not to get ahead of the results. There is clearly a need for this vaccine, but what is not clear is whether it will work well enough to protect someone from Ebola, he said. He said the experimental shot uses some of the best available technology to give the immune system a good long look at its target, a small but vitally important part of the virus, but added: We won t really be able to tell whether the vaccine works until it is tested on the ground in West Africa. Study data from an animal trial of an Ebola vaccine similar to this GSK one showed that it was effective for at least five weeks in lab monkeys but required boosting with an additional vaccine to extend its protection to 10 months. Reuters

HEALTH & SCIENCE Yoga and the fascia By Vya Freeman Fascia...the stuff that holds us together. We are amazing, awesome, electro-magnetic beings! And there are many aspects to the awesome human form that I could write about, but for now, I would like to bring your awareness to the Fascia. The fascia, that holds information and has its own intelligence. We need to consciously include the awareness of our fascia in our yoga practice...through appropriate Yin (restorative) or Yang (dynamic) poses. One of the many things we all have in common is we are all made of fascia. We are wrapped in and held together with the stuff. Muscles, nerve fibres, other fibres, and organs are all interconnected with each other through the fascia. In yoga we are always creating new space internally, physically and energetically. The fascia helps us to do this as it can provide elasticity so to give the bones and organs enough space to move and function better. We are also looking through our breath and postures for stability and groundedness. The fascia will help give us stability through holding the different tissues together, as well as transport prana through the energy channels of the body. Prana being lifeforce. We all want to be lean, toned, flexible, strong, balanced, calm and healthy. So, having a balanced yoga practice of our yin and yang is important. The restorative (yin) practice will enhance your awareness of coming into the body. Allowing you to feel the more subtle sensations and energies that you may not notice in a dynamic practice. Restorative practice is all about slowing down and being more meditative. It is in this slow, quiet, practice that we target the fascia through stimulating vital energy to flow through the it. Holding a restorative pose for about 20 breaths or so, we give the fascia a chance to let go. For example, the butterfly pose (Bhadakonasana) allows the muscles to relax then the fascia receives a healthy stress, and can become more elastic and stronger. Opening the hip joints in a very deep way and in turn creating more flexibility and stability. This then becomes very healing, and deeply nurturing for the whole organism: you! Healing the physical, mental and emotional bodies. Our dynamic (yang) practice will create heat in the body, strengthening, lengthening and toning the muscles and will then have many positive consequences as a result, for example, it will help one s digestion and ability to metabolize, not only our food but in the way we digest information and the world around us. This practice also has a wonderful way of relaxing the mind and deepening our awareness to the breath. Although our restorative and dynamic are very different types of practices they complement each other for sure, bringing more healthy balance into our lives. We can then become more of the more as we get in touch with our true divine nature and allow our awesome energy to flow through and express itself through our surface bodies. Mental, physical, emotional and intuitive. We are living in a crazy, aggressive, materialistic, fast world. Take care to bring your awareness into your mind s eye. Many people are working out, many times a week without much awareness of the contraction that is taking place in the body, as muscles shorten and our work out only enhances the armor and yang energy creating more imbalance instead of cultivating a more peaceful way of being. We need to slow down! And connect to our inner sanctuary, the stillness within to allow our fascia to let go and help us become more spacious. Connect with the fascia, experiencing healthy organs, expansive breath and free flowing energy with balanced emotions. Our outer world, reality, merely reflects our inner world. I really hope this inspires you to be more aware in your yoga practice and if you do not have a practice, start. Don t wait. Now is the time. Now is your only forever! Freeman is a bowen & lymphatic drainage practitioner ECB, polarity therapist PT and a registered Akhanda, Hatha Yoga teacher. Forensic sleuths sketch Richard III s brutal end A horrific demise for history s most controversial monarchs PARIS: King Richard III likely perished at the hands of assailants who hacked away pieces of his scalp and rammed spikes or swords into his brain as the helmetless monarch knelt in the mud. So suggests a report, published yesterday, that in dry forensic prose exposes the horrific demise of one of English history s most controversial monarchs. It backs anecdotal evidence, made famous by Shakespeare, that Richard was unhorsed before he met his doom. Bringing together 21st-century science and sketchy knowledge of 15th-century history, the analysis provides a chilling tableau of the brutality of warfare in late mediaeval England. Richard was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field in Leicestershire, central England, on August 22, 1485. The monarch s death was the culmination of a three-decade war for the throne, bringing the curtain down on the three-century dynasty of his Plantagenet clan, and ushering in the Tudors. The most likely injuries to have caused the king s death are the two to the inferior aspect (lower part) of the skull-a large sharp-force trauma possibly from a sword or staff weapon, such as a halberd or bill, and a penetrating injury from the tip of an edged weapon, said Guy Rutty, a pathologist at the University of Leicester. A halberd was a mediaeval battle axe with spiked point, and a bill was a hooked-tip blade on the end of a pole. No horse Richard s head injuries are consistent with some near-contemporary accounts of the battle, which suggest that Richard abandoned his horse after it became stuck in a mire and was killed while fighting his enemies, said Rutty. The study, published in The Lancet medical journal, used X-ray computed tomography (CT) for a microscopic analysis of a skeleton found in 2012 under a car park at a former church. After being lost for five centuries, researchers identified the remains as Richard s, backed by DNA analysis and radiocarbon-dating. LEICESTER: An undated handout picture from the University of Leicester shows the full skull of the skeleton of king Richard III found at the Grey Friars Church excavation site. AFP The new paper documents nine injuries to the head at or shortly before death, and two to the torso that were likely inflicted postmortem. The two blows that probably killed the king likely came from a sword or spike driven into the brain at the base of the skull. They are consistent with the victim having been in a prone position or on its knees with the head pointing downwards, the study s authors wrote. Non-fatal injuries included three cuts to the top of the skull that would have sliced off much of the scalp. A knife or dagger was stuck right through his face, from right cheek to left. Richard s injuries represent a sustained attack or an attack by several assailants, said Sarah Hainsworth, a professor of materials engineering at the university. The wounds to the skull indicate that he was not wearing a helmet, and the absence of defensive wounds on his arms and hands indicate that he was otherwise still armored at the time of his death. Assuming that he had been wearing his royal armor, two injuries to the trunk must have been inflicted after Richard s body was stripped, the team said. One was a blow to the right tenth rib with what was probably a fine-edged dagger. The other was a thrust, probably by a sword driven upwards through the right buttock that would have penetrated his bowels and other soft pelvic organs-a blow that would have caused fatal bleeding had he been alive. Contemporary accounts Without any soft tissue to analyze, the scientists looked at sometimes tiny marks left on the bonescuts, abrasions, punctures and so on-and compared them with the known impacts caused by the weapons of the time. The gory reconstruction of his death is heavily dependent on assumptions about the wearing of armor and the loss of helmet, but chimes with several contemporary accounts. One version of events penned the year after Richard s death, said his naked body was slung over his horse like a saddlebag and brought to Leicester. Insults were directed at the corpse by the crowds-which could be when an onlooker inflicted the pelvic wound by thrusting a blade through the king s buttock, according to the new investigation. Further mutilation of his corpse would have been stopped-to display his dead body as a trophy, the defeated king had to be recognizable. Richard died aged 32 after only two years on the throne. Contemporary accounts described him as generous and a good monarch, but his reputation was blackened by the victorious Tudors. In Shakespeare s play Richard III, the king s spinal curvature was transformed into a hunchback, and his character was murderous and hungry for power. AFP

WHAT S ON It was a glamorous moment and a celebration of love on Saturday as Mary and Isaac joined hand in holy matrimony at the Life Abundant International Fountain Church in Kuwait City. The event attracted lots of dignitaries, families, friends and well-wishers. May God bless you and grant your hearts desires. Amen. AUK Intensive English program receives re-accreditation by CEA OSN marks new season with 60 movie premieres OSN, the leading pay-tv network in the Middle East and North Africa, heralds a brand-new programming season this September with 60 movie premieres and 20 exclusive and award-winning television series. Every day of the week, one much-awaited new series or a new season will mark its premiere in the MENA region only on OSN, at 20.00 KSA, to coincide with its telecast in the US or UK. Underlining OSN s appeal as the go-to destination for the newest and most exclusive content in global entertainment, the new programming season will also see the network taking the lead in Arabic content with 10 much-awaited Arabic shows marking their premiere. Viewers can enjoy five Arabic series showing at the top of each hour from 19:00 to 23:00 KSA. It is an unmatched prime-time on OSN with new Arabic series, the latest television series and blockbuster Hollywood movie premieres at 19:00, 20.00 and 21.00 KSA slots, respectively. All of the new programs are available in spectacular HD ensuring a captivating home-entertainment experience. Khulud Abu Homos, Executive Vice President, Programming & Creative Services, OSN, said: We are celebrating this new programming season with a range of award-winning series, much-awaited Hollywood premieres on TV and a variety of entertainment programs that underline our credentials as the region s exclusive provider of premium content. Our focus is to bringing the best in global entertainment at the same time as it airs across the world, first and exclusively to our subscribers. Several Emmy-winning series this year are now available to our viewers with seven shows airing seven days a week at 20.00 KSA. The new season offers compelling entertainment choices for all members of the family - and is a mark of our continued commitment to our viewers. What s On - Submission Guidelines All photos submitted for What s On should be minimum 200dpi. Articles must be in plain text and should include name and phone numbers. Articles and photos that fail to meet these requirements will not be published. Please send them to news@kuwaittimes.net The American University of Kuwait (AUK) announced that its Intensive English Program (IEP) has been granted unconditional re-accreditation for a period of ten (10) years by the US-based Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA). This significant accomplishment is indicative of exceptional teamwork, a program capable of building upon its strengths and successes, and of the standards that the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) upholds in the delivery of education, said Dr Rawda Awwad, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at AUK. My appreciation goes to the IEP faculty and staff, and former Directors of the IEP, Rebecca Loomis, Debra Hoffer, and the current Director Sandra Stein who participated in this process. My appreciation also goes to all University departments and units that supported this effort. The Intensive English Program at AUK received its first CEA accreditation back in 2009 after a rigorous two-year examination process through which a team of international evaluators conducted an onsite review that included Gulf Insurance, the leading insurance services provider in Kuwait and the Middle East, recently organized a blood donation campaign at its headquarters. The campaign, which was organized in collaboration with the Central Blood Bank, aims at promoting social awareness in contributing to saving lives. The company, through its comprehensive social responsibility program, continues to lead a wide range of activities across the society. The need for blood across Kuwait remains a priority, where a minimum of 250 blood donations are required on a daily basis. Employees along with the company s customers contributed to the cause, and were eager to donate blood. Gulf Insurance thanked the participants of this campaign including employees, clients as well as the Central Blood Bank s management, which played a vital role in the success of this campaign. As part of the company s ethos, it important to continue contributing to such initiatives and becoming active members of the local social fabric. financial audits, student services assessment and a survey of all procedures. Based on the entire process and the teams report to the CEA Accrediting Commission, IEP was granted international accreditation in August 2009. At that time, AUK was the second institution to achieve CEA accreditation Dr. Rawda Awwad for its Intensive English Program in the in the Middle East. To receive re-accreditation, the University submitted to the Commission a letter of intent in April 2012 in order to pursue the distinguished designation. In November 2013, the IEP team submitted a self-study report to the CEA. All program materials were sent for review to internationally recognized subject specialists chosen by the CEA. Standards addressed included the mission, curriculum, faculty, length and structure of the program, program development, planning and review, facilities, administrative and fiscal facilities, student services, recruiting, student achievement and student complaints. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, CEA was founded in 1999 by English language professionals as a specialized accrediting agency. Its purpose is to provide a means for improving the quality of English language teaching and administration through accepted standards. CEA conducts accreditation reviews in the US and internationally. CEA is recognized by the United States Department of Education, whose approval attests to the high quality of CEA as an accrediting agency. The recognition allows English language institutions in the United States to use CEA accreditation for purposes of certification to admit international students. As part of the AUK College of Art and Sciences, the IEP is designed to support students who need to improve their English language skills to the level required to study at AUK. The Program enables students to gain sufficient mastery of the English language and successfully apply the critical thinking skills they need to excel as students both during and after their formal studies. The American University of Kuwait (AUK) is an independent, private, equal opportunity, and co-educational liberal arts institution of higher education. The educational, cultural and administrative structure, methods and standards of AUK are based on the American model of higher learning. The language of instruction is English. More information on the American University of Kuwait can be found at www.auk.edu.kw Gulf Insurance organizes blood donation campaign Khairan hosts 7th Baghli Award for Grateful Sons The Touristic Enterprises Co (TEC) s acting PR and marketing manager, Sager Al-Bader said that TEC is always keen on performing its communal services and communicating with all its visitors in its various facilities. He added that with this in mind, TEC would host the 7th Al- Baghli Award For Grateful Sons at Al-Khairan resort. Al-Bader also thanked the award organizing committee for choosing Al-Khairan as a venue for their celebration. An open day activity would be held on Friday, September 26 for geriatric home tenants and elderly citizens who receive special care at their own houses by volunteers. On his part, the Award Patron, Ibrahim Al- Baghli praised TEC s role in hosting and supporting the award ceremony activities - namely that played by TEC s CEO, Khaled Abdullah Al- Ghanim in providing all kinds of recreational activities to both citizens and residents in Kuwait. He added that a special recreational program and various competitions would be arranged with the aim of boosting the elderly relations with their families. Holding such activities usually brings various generations closer together, he pointed out. Ibrahim Al-Baghli Sager Al-Bader Venmany Association Kuwait organizers welcomed Ravi Varma Thampuran - a noted journalist and writer at Kuwait International Airport. Varma is in Kuwait to participate in Venmany Onam program.

WHAT S ON Group photo Women International Group holds first monthly meeting KUWAIT: The Women International Group (WIG) has resumed its cultural activities for the new year (2014-2015) by holding its first monthly meeting at the Radisson SAS Hotel. The program was attended by Arab and foreign ambassadors wives in addition to other female diplomats. Wife of the ambassador of Malta, Josephine Hall was appointed the committee president. She briefed the members on her yearlong agenda and activities. WIG s new President Josephine Hall Alisa Al-Duaij Henriette Shams Elaina Nikky, Ghosy, Suzan Group photo Michele Blacket Sabiha Qaber Al-Qinae Maria Bolvet Anna Mebdian Fareeda Ban Alexa and Maria Egyptian Ambassador s Spouse Vera Al-Mutawa

00:45 Buggin With Ruud 01:35 Animal Cops Houston 02:25 Shamwari: A Wild Life 02:50 Shamwari: A Wild Life 03:15 Bondi Vet 04:05 Steve Irwin s Wildlife Warriors 04:30 Steve Irwin s Wildlife Warriors 04:55 Lair Of The Mega Shark 05:45 Buggin With Ruud 06:35 Animal Airport 07:00 Meerkat Manor 07:25 Dogs 101 08:15 Wild Britain With Ray Mears 08:45 Wild Britain With Ray Mears 09:10 Weird Creatures With Nick Baker 10:05 Call Of The Wildman 10:30 Call Of The Wildman 11:00 Into The Shark Bite 11:55 Meerkat Manor 12:20 Animal Airport 12:50 Bondi Vet 13:45 Steve Irwin s Wildlife Warriors 14:15 Steve Irwin s Wildlife Warriors 14:40 Shamwari: A Wild Life 15:05 Shamwari: A Wild Life 15:30 Dogs 101 16:30 Wild Britain With Ray Mears 17:00 Wild Britain With Ray Mears 17:25 Preposterous Pets 18:20 Call Of The Wildman 18:45 Call Of The Wildman 19:15 Wild Ones 19:40 Wild Ones 20:10 Secret Creatures Of Jao 20:40 Secret Creatures Of Jao 21:05 Sharks Of Palau 22:00 Wild Ones 22:25 Wild Ones 22:55 Secret Creatures Of Jao 23:25 Secret Creatures Of Jao 23:50 Sharks Under Glass 00:15 Eastenders 00:45 Doctors 01:15 Last Man Standing 02:05 Call The Midwife 03:00 The Old Guys 03:30 Stella 04:15 The Weakest Link 05:00 Nuzzle & Scratch: Frock n Roll 05:20 Boogie Beebies 05:35 The Green Balloon Club 06:00 Nina And The Neurons 06:15 Nuzzle & Scratch: Frock n Roll 06:35 Boogie Beebies 06:45 The Green Balloon Club 07:15 The Weakest Link 08:00 As Time Goes By 08:30 The Old Guys 09:00 Eastenders 09:30 Doctors 10:00 Last Man Standing 10:50 Call The Midwife 11:45 As Time Goes By 12:15 The Old Guys 12:45 Big Bear Diary 13:10 Eastenders 13:40 Doctors 14:10 Last Man Standing 15:00 Call The Midwife 15:55 As Time Goes By 16:25 The Weakest Link 17:10 Eastenders 17:40 Doctors 18:10 Last Man Standing 19:00 Dead Boss 19:30 Big School 20:00 Last Tango In Halifax 20:55 Afterlife 21:40 Afterlife 22:30 Gracie! 23:50 The Weakest Link 00:25 Simply Italian 00:45 Nordic Cookery With Tareq Taylor 01:10 The Hairy Bikers Ride Again 01:40 Bargain Hunt 02:25 Bargain Hunt 03:10 Bargain Hunt 03:55 Homes Under The Hammer 04:45 Food & Drink 05:15 Simply Italian 05:40 Nordic Cookery With Tareq Taylor 06:10 Bargain Hunt 07:00 Bargain Hunt 07:45 Bargain Hunt 08:30 Homes Under The Hammer 09:20 Food & Drink 09:50 Simply Italian 10:15 Nordic Cookery With Tareq Taylor 10:40 Bargain Hunt 11:25 Bargain Hunt 12:10 Bargain Hunt 12:55 Homes Under The Hammer 13:45 The Restaurant UK 14:35 Food & Drink 15:05 Simply Italian 15:30 Nordic Cookery With Tareq Taylor 16:00 Bargain Hunt 16:45 Bargain Hunt 17:30 Bargain Hunt 18:20 Beat My Build 19:10 Nordic Cookery With Tareq Taylor 19:35 Rachel Khoo s Kitchen Notebook: London 20:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 20:45 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 21:30 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 22:15 Bargain Hunt 23:00 Beat My Build 23:50 Nordic Cookery With Tareq Taylor 00:20 River Monsters: Amazon Titanic 02:00 Fast N Loud 02:50 Storage Hunters 03:15 Lost And Sold 03:40 The Liquidator 04:05 How It s Made 04:30 How Do They Do It? 05:00 Gold Divers: Under The Ice 06:00 World s Top 5 06:50 Deadliest Catch 07:40 Fast N Loud 08:30 Storage Hunters 08:55 Lost And Sold 09:20 The Liquidator 09:45 How It s Made 10:10 How Do They Do It? 10:35 River Monsters 11:25 River Monsters: Amazon Titanic 13:05 Storage Hunters 13:30 Lost And Sold 13:55 The Liquidator 14:20 Deadliest Catch 15:10 World s Top 5 16:00 Fast N Loud 16:50 How It s Made 17:15 How Do They Do It? 17:40 Gold Divers: Under The Ice 18:30 You Have Been Warned 19:20 What Happened Next? 19:45 What Happened Next? 20:10 Lost And Sold 20:35 The Liquidator 21:00 You Have Been Warned 21:50 What Happened Next? 22:15 What Happened Next? 22:40 Dynamo: Magician Impossible 23:30 You Have Been Warned 00:00 Violetta 00:45 The Hive 00:50 Art Attack 01:15 Art Attack 01:40 Jungle Junction 01:50 Jungle Junction 02:05 Jungle Junction 02:15 Jungle Junction 02:30 Violetta 03:15 The Hive 03:20 Art Attack 03:45 Art Attack 04:10 Jungle Junction 04:20 Jungle Junction 04:35 Jungle Junction 04:45 Jungle Junction 05:00 Art Attack 05:25 Art Attack 05:50 Mouk 06:00 Jessie 06:25 Liv And Maddie 06:45 Dog With A Blog 07:10 I Didn t Do It 07:35 Sabrina: Secrets Of A Teenage Witch 07:55 Win, Lose Or Draw 08:20 Suite Life On Deck 08:45 A.N.T. 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01:00 Devious Maids 02:00 Burn Notice 03:00 American Horror Story: Coven 04:00 White Collar 05:00 Warehouse 13 06:00 Psych 07:00 Glee 08:00 Criminal Minds 09:00 Devious Maids 10:00 Warehouse 13 11:00 White Collar 12:00 Emmerdale 12:30 Coronation Street 13:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 14:00 Criminal Minds 15:00 Psych 16:00 Emmerdale 16:30 Coronation Street 17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 18:00 Criminal Minds 19:00 Warehouse 13 21:00 The Fosters 22:00 Mistresses 23:00 American Horror Story: Coven 00:00 Bones 01:00 Good Morning America 03:00 Strike Back 04:00 Bates Motel 05:00 Good Morning America 07:00 Emmerdale 07:30 Coronation Street 09:00 Unforgettable 10:00 Emmerdale 10:30 Coronation Street 12:00 24: Live Another Day 13:00 Bones 14:00 Live Good Morning America 16:00 Unforgettable 17:00 24: Live Another Day 18:00 Bones 19:00 Unforgettable 20:00 Chicago Fire 21:00 Bones 22:00 Strike Back 23:00 Bates Motel 00:00 The Marine 3: Homefront 02:00 Inside Man 04:15 Terminal Velocity 06:00 Lakeview Terrace 08:00 One Good Cop 10:00 Jurassic Park 11:45 Inside Man 14:00 Lakeview Terrace 16:00 One Good Cop 18:00 Special Forces 20:00 Jurassic Park 22:00 The Scorpion King 00:00 Inside Man-PG15 02:15 Terminal Velocity-PG15 04:00 Lakeview Terrace-PG15 06:00 One Good Cop-PG15 08:00 Jurassic Park-PG15 09:45 Inside Man-PG15 12:00 Lakeview Terrace-PG15 14:00 One Good Cop-PG15 16:00 Special Forces-PG15 18:00 Jurassic Park-PG15 20:00 The Scorpion King-PG15 22:00 Safe-PG15 00:00 Big Trouble-PG15 02:00 The Big Bus-PG 04:00 Hotel Transylvania-PG 06:00 Three Men And A Little Lady- PG 08:00 The House Bunny-PG15 10:00 Something New-PG15 12:00 Hotel Transylvania-PG 14:00 4 Wedding Planners-PG15 16:00 The House Bunny-PG15 18:00 Over The Hedge-FAM 20:00 Pitch Perfect-PG15 22:00 Life Happens-PG15 01:00 Beasts Of The Southern Wild- PG15 03:00 Faces In The Crowd-PG15 05:00 Emperor-PG15 07:00 Everything Must Go-PG15 09:00 The Words-PG15 11:00 Emperor-PG15 13:00 Pop Star-PG15 15:00 Bernie-PG15 17:00 The Words-PG15 19:00 The Fifth Estate-PG15 21:15 Promised Land-PG15 23:30 Citizen Gangster-PG15 01:30 Jagged Edge-18 03:30 Moonrise Kingdom-PG15 05:15 Drew Peterson: Untouchable-PG15 07:00 Blue Lagoon: The Awakening-PG15 09:00 Of Two Minds-PG15 10:30 Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You-PG15 12:30 Moonrise Kingdom-PG15 14:30 Alfie Boe: The Bring Him Home Tour-PG15 16:45 Of Two Minds-PG15 18:30 No Country For Old Men- PG15 21:00 Killing Them Softly-18 22:45 On The Road-R 01:00 World War Z-PG15 03:00 The Chateau Meroux-PG15 05:00 Austenland-PG15 07:00 Despicable Me 2-PG 09:00 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2-PG15 11:00 Ender s Game-PG15 13:00 Love And Honor-PG15 15:00 Turbo-PG 17:00 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2-PG15 19:00 LOL-PG15 21:00 Temptation: Confessions Of A Marriage Counselor-PG15 23:00 This Is The End-18 01:00 Back To The Sea 02:45 Marvel s Next Avengers: Heroes Of Tomorrow 04:15 Kong Return To The Jungle 06:00 Angel s Friends 08:00 Easter Egg Escapade 10:00 Turboosters 11:30 Angel s Friends 13:00 The Legend Of Sasquatch 14:30 Tony Hawk: Boom Boom Sabotage 16:00 Barbie Presents: Thumbelina 18:00 Turboosters 20:00 Snowflake, The White Gorilla 22:00 Tony Hawk: Boom Boom Sabotage 23:30 Barbie Presents: Thumbelina 00:00 The Greatest Movie Ever Sold-PG15 02:00 Fun Size-PG15 04:00 Arthur 3: And The War Of Two Worlds-PG 06:00 Madea s Witness Protection- PG15 08:00 Battle Of The Year-PG15 10:00 Class-PG15 12:00 Madea s Witness Protection- PG15 14:00 Red 2-PG15 16:00 Battle Of The Year-PG15 18:00 The Great Gatsby-PG15 20:30 G.I. Joe: Retaliation-PG15 22:30 2 Guns-18 00:00 PGA European Tour highlights 01:00 PGA Tour highlights 02:00 WEB.COM tour Highlights 03:00 NRL Full time 03:30 Futbol Mundial 04:00 AFL Premiership highlights 05:00 ITM Cup 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 AFL Premiership highlights 09:00 Currie Cup 11:00 ITM Cup 13:00 Golfing World 14:00 top 14 16:00 WEB.COM tour Highlights 17:00 PGA Tour highlights 18:00 Golfing World 19:00 Trans World Sport 20:00 Inside The PGA Tour 20:30 European tour weekly 21:00 The Rugby Championship 23:00 Golfing World 01:00 V8 Supercars 04:30 WEB.COM TOUR 05:30 Top 14 Highlights 06:00 NRL Full Time 06:30 Futbol Mundial 07:00 Indycar Highlights 08:00 NRL Premiership 10:00 Golfing World 11:00 V8 Supercars 14:30 NRL Full Time 15:00 Futbol Mundial 15:30 WWE This Week 16:00 WWE RAW 19:00 WWE Vintage 20:00 V8 Supercars Highlights 21:00 V8 Supercars Highlights 22:00 WWE Vintage 23:00 Indycar Highlights 00:30 Champions League T20 Highlights 01:30 Champions League T20 Highlights 02:30 ICC Cricket 360 03:00 Caribbean Premier Leaue Highlights 04:00 England Women v South African Women T20I Highlights 05:00 Champions League T20 Highlights 06:00 Champions League T20 Highlights 07:00 ICC Cricket 360 07:30 Champions League T20 Highlights 08:30 Champions League T20 Highlights 09:30 Champions League T20 Highlights 10:30 Champions League T20 Highlights 11:30 Champions League T20 Highlights 12:30 Champions League T20 Highlights 13:30 Natwest T20 Blast Highlights 14:30 Natwest T20 Blast Highlights 15:30 Champions League T20 Highlights 16:30 Champions League T20 Highlights 17:30 Live Champions League T20 21:00 ICC Cricket 360 21:30 Champions League T20 Highlights 22:30 Champions League T20 Highlights 23:30 Champions League T20 Highlights 00:10 Hoarding: Buried Alive 01:00 Hoarding: Buried Alive 01:50 My Naked Secret 02:15 My Naked Secret 02:40 I Didn t Know I Was Pregnant 03:05 Secretly Pregnant 03:55 Long Island Medium 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 Craft Wars 07:50 Oprah s Master Class 08:40 Oprah s Next Chapter 09:30 Toddlers & Tiaras 10:20 Say Yes To The Dress 10:45 Say Yes To The Dress 11:10 Cake Boss 11:35 17 Kids And Counting 12:00 Little People, Big World 12:25 Oprah: Behind The Scenes 13:15 Hoarding: Buried Alive 14:05 Secret Eaters 14:55 Brides Of Beverly Hills 15:20 Cake Boss 15:45 Craft Wars 16:35 Toddlers & Tiaras 17:25 Say Yes To The Dress 17:50 Say Yes To The Dress 18:15 17 Kids And Counting 18:40 Little People, Big World 19:10 Oprah: Behind The Scenes 20:05 Brides Of Beverly Hills 20:30 Cake Boss 21:00 My Five Wives 21:55 Secret Eaters 22:50 Long Island Medium 23:15 Secretly Pregnant D Arcy to co-star with Atwell in Marvel s Agent Carter James D Arcy is set to join the cast of Marvel s ABC drama series Agent Carter opposite Hayley Atwell. Enver Gjokaj and Chad Michael Murray are also aboard. Inspired by the feature films Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the series stars Captain America s Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter. It s 1946, and peace has dealt her a serious blow as she finds herself marginalized when the men return home from fighting abroad. Working for the covert Strategic Scientific Reserve, Peggy must balance doing administrative work and going on secret missions for Howard Stark all while trying to navigate life as a single woman in America, in the wake of losing the love of her life - Steve Rogers. D Arcy will play Howard Stark s butler and ally to Agent Carter. D Arcy was most recently seen as the villain in Fox s Let s Be Cops and can be seen next in Warner Bros Jupiter Ascending. He is repped by CAA, Management 360 and Markham Froggatt and Irwin. Reuters

Classifieds Kuwait SHARQIA-1 NO GOOD DEED (DIG) THE NOVEMBER MAN (DIG) NO GOOD DEED (DIG) LIFE OF CRIME (DIG) NO GOOD DEED (DIG) NO GOOD DEED (DIG) NO GOOD DEED (DIG) SHARQIA-2 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (DIG) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (DIG) JAWAZA MIRI (DIG) (Arabic) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (DIG) JAWAZA MIRI (DIG) (Arabic) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (DIG) SHARQIA-3 AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (DIG) AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (DIG) INTO THE STORM (DIG) IF I STAY (DIG) AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (DIG) INTO THE STORM (DIG) AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (DIG) MUHALAB-1 NO GOOD DEED (DIG) NO GOOD DEED (DIG) LIFE OF CRIME (DIG) NO FRI+SAT+MON POWER (DIG) (Telugu) FRI+SAT+MON NO GOOD DEED (DIG) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (DIG) NO GOOD DEED (DIG) NO GOOD DEED (DIG) MUHALAB-2 HERCULES (DIG) AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (DIG) IF I STAY (DIG) AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (DIG) INTO THE STORM (DIG) AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (DIG) MUHALAB-3 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (DIG) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (DIG) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (DIG) JAWAZA MIRI (DIG) (Arabic) JAWAZA MIRI (DIG) (Arabic) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (DIG) FANAR-1 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (DIG) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (DIG) IF I STAY (DIG) 12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:15 PM 12:05 AM 1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM 12:45 PM 2:45 PM 4:45 PM 6:45 PM 8:45 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM 12:30 PM 2:15 PM 5:00 PM 4:00 PM 7:00 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM 1:00 AM 1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 7:45 PM 9:45 PM 11:45 PM 1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM 1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (DIG) IF I STAY (DIG) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (DIG) FANAR-2 AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (DIG) AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (DIG) INTO THE STORM (DIG) FINDING FANNY (DIG) (HINDI) THU+FRI+SAT AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (DIG) NO THU+FRI+SAT INTO THE STORM (DIG) AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (DIG) AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (DIG) FANAR-3 SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR (DIG) SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR (DIG) HERCULES (DIG) LIFE OF CRIME (DIG) HERCULES (DIG) SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR (DIG) SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR (DIG) FANAR-4 NO GOOD DEED (DIG) NO GOOD DEED (DIG) NO GOOD DEED (DIG) JAWAZA MIRI (DIG) (Arabic) NO GOOD DEED (DIG) JAWAZA MIRI (DIG) (Arabic) NO GOOD DEED (DIG) FANAR-5 THE EXPENDABLES 3 (DIG) THE EXPENDABLES 3 (DIG) POWER (DIG) (Telugu) MARY KOM (DIG) (HINDI) POWER (DIG) (Telugu) POWER (DIG) (Telugu) POWER (DIG) (Telugu) THE EXPENDABLES 3 (DIG) MARINA-1 IF I STAY (DIG) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (DIG) AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (DIG) IF I STAY (DIG) IF I STAY (DIG) AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (DIG) AS ABOVE, SO BELOW (DIG) MARINA-2 NO GOOD DEED (DIG) INTO THE STORM (DIG) INTO THE STORM (DIG) NO GOOD DEED (DIG) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (DIG) 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:05 AM 1:00 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:00 PM 7:00 PM 9:00 PM 11:00 PM 1:00 AM 12:45 PM 2:45 PM 4:45 PM 6:45 PM 8:45 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM 12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:15 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM 1:00 PM 4:00 PM 3:30 PM 6:30 PM 6:30 PM 9:30 PM 10:00 PM 12:30 AM 12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM 1:00 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:00 PM 8:45 PM MATRIMONIAL Seeking marriage proposals for Tamil CSI Christian girl, 29, 5 5, working as Doctor (MBBS, MD) in MoH Kuwait, wheatish complexion, kindly contact: email: balaq8@yahoo.com (C 4758) 14-9-2014 Sunni Shaikh Muslim parent invite alliance for their daughter MBA 24/163, from respectable family of well settled boys. Email: mganchaudhry@yahoo.com (C 4757) 11-9-2014 LOST I, Mobeenah Baloch (maiden name Mobeenah Elias Manjre), have lost my original degree certificate for Bachelors in Business Administration from Madurai Kamaraj University dated April 2009 registration number A7A4119730. If found please call on +965-66362310 16-9-2014 CHANGE OF NAME Shajimon Jose Chirathadathil, S/O Joseph Chirathadathil, holder of Indian Passport No. J-5342968 hereby change my name to Shajimon Jose (given name) Chirathadathil (surname). Address: Chirathadathil, Kuravilangad, Kottayam, Kerala-686633. (C 4767) Jolly James, D/O Manamthadathil Mathai Chacko, holder of Indian Passport No. J-5342969 hereby change my name to Jolly (given name) James (surname). Address: Manamthadathil, Kattappana, Idukki, Kerala. (C 4768) 18-9-2014 I, Woodha Lalitha, holder of Indian Passport No. M0493709 issued in Kuwait, resident 10-6-27, Nookalamma Temple, Ramaroa Peta, Kakinada, A.P, India, have changed my name Woodha Lalitha to Shaik Salma. (C 4760) I, Shabbir Hussain, holder of Indian Passport No. Z2402995, resident Muslim Colony, Banswara, Rajasthan, India, hereby change my name to Shabbir Hussain Katka. (4761) I, Zainab Shabbir Husain, holder of Indian Passport NO. K7924263, resident Saifypura, Nai Abadi, Banswara, Rajasthan, India, hereby change my name to Zainab Shabbir Husain Katka. (C 4762) 16-9-2014 FOR SALE Toyota Jeep Land Cruiser GX RV8, silver color, 79,000 km, Al-Sayer maintained, full options, sunroof, camera, sensor, alloy rim, screen etc, model 2012, installment possible, cash price KD 11,750/- negotiable. Contact: 99105286. (C 4759) 15-9-2014 ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation - two fully furnished & spacious bedrooms in C-A/C flat in Ishbiliya, block 1, very close to Farwaniya are available. Single Pakistani/Indian Muslims preferred. Contact Afzal Shafi # 99714430. (C 4763) Room with attached bathroom in Salmiya near Amman Roundabout, for single bachelor only, C-A/C with furniture, 2 BR + 2 bath new flat with small family, rent KD 135. Contact: 98007972/50038875. (C 4766) 18-9-2014 REQUIRED Filipina employee for a restaurant in Sharq, near the Skating Rink, Discovery Complex Tel: 55622180 SITUATION VACANT Wanted Indian house driver, must have transferable residency and Kuwait driving license, good knowledge of Kuwaitís streets and areas. Contact: 96995555. (C 4764) 18-9-2014 Prayer timings Fajr: 04:14 Shorook 05:34 Duhr: 11:42 Asr: 15:11 Maghrib: 17:50 Isha: 19:07 112 NOTICE July 20, 2014 Mr. Naga Malleswara Rao Busim son of Mr. Busim Seshayya, resident of 6-90, PO Mori S.K. Palli, East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh and Miss Devi Naga Lakshmi Bokka daughter of Mr. Bokka Yesubabu, resident of 4-48, Ainavilli Pedapalem, Mutyaswaram, Ainavilli, East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh, both Indian nationals, presently residing in Kuwait, have given notice of intended marriage between them under the Foreign Marriage Act, 1969. If anyone has any objection to the proposed marriage, he/she may file the same with the undersigned according to the procedure laid down under the Act/Rule within thirty days from the date of publication of this notice. (J.S. Dangi) Second Secretary (Consular) and Marriage Officer Embassy of India, Kuwait. P.O. Box 1450-Safat-13015 Kuwait. Fax No. 0091-11-22573910 E-mail: sscons@indembkwt.org THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FORCIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988 Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw) Arrival Flights on Thursday 18/9/2014 Airlines Flt Route Time QTR 1084 Doha 00:05 JZR 267 Beirut 00:25 DLH 637 Dammam 00:35 JZR 239 Amman 01:00 PGT 858 Istanbul 01:25 MSC 403 Sohag 01:30 SAI 441 Lahore 01:35 THY 764 Istanbul 01:40 RJA 642 Amman 01:45 GFA 211 Bahrain 02:00 RBG 555 Alexandria 02:05 UAE 853 Dubai 02:25 JAI 576 Kochi/Abu Dhabi 02:35 ETD 305 Abu Dhabi 02:45 FDB 067 Dubai 03:05 MSR 612 Cairo 03:15 QTR 1076 Doha 03:30 MSC 401 Alexandria 04:00 FDB 077 Dubai 04:15 THY 770 Istanbul 04:35 JZR 539 Cairo 04:55 DHX 170 Bahrain 05:10 JZR 555 Alexandria 05:15 KAC 412 Manila/Bangkok 06:15 IRA 673 Ahwaz 06:20 BAW 157 London 06:35 JZR 563 Sohag 06:35 JZR 1541 Cairo 06:40 KAC 382 Delhi 07:30 JZR 503 Luxor 07:40 FDB 053 ubai 07:45 KAC 302 Mumbai 07:50 KAC 206 Islamabad 07:50 QTR 1086 Doha 07:55 SVA 512 Riyadh 07:55 KAC 332 Trivandrum 08:00 KAC 352 Kochi 08:05 UAE 855 Dubai 08:25 KAC 362 Colombo 08:45 ABY 125 Sharjah 08:50 KAC 284 Dhaka 08:55 IRA 667 Esfahan 09:00 ETD 301 Abu Dhabi 09:30 IZG 4161 Mashhad 09:40 FDB 055 Dubai 09:40 QTR 1070 Doha 10:00 GFA 213 Bahrain 10:40 MEA 404 Beirut 10:55 TBZ 5483 Mashhad 11:00 QTR 8646 Doha 11:10 MSC 405 Sohag 11:20 FDB 8051 Dubai 11:45 JZR 165 Dubai 11:50 FDB 065 Dubai 11:55 JZR 561 Sohag 12:00 SYR 341 Damascus 12:05 FDB 071 Dubai 12:35 JZR 241 Amman 12:40 UAE 871 Dubai 12:45 MSR 610 Cairo 13:00 MSR 579 Sohag 13:05 THY 766 Istanbul 13:10 FDB 057 Dubai 13:30 KAC 538 Sohag 13:40 KAC 672 Dubai 13:40 QTR 1078 Doha 13:45 JZR 779 Jeddah 14:20 GFA 221 Bahrain 14:20 SVA 500 Jeddah 14:30 FDB 081 Dubai 14:55 KAC 788 Jeddah 15:00 AGY 680 Alexandria 15:20 KNE 470 Jeddah 15:35 ABY 127 Sharjah 15:35 MPH 093 Amsterdam 15:40 OMA 645 Muscat 15:50 KNE 460 Riyadh 15:55 KAC 118 New York 16:00 JZR 535 Cairo 16:05 QTR 1072 Doha 16:15 NIA 251 Alexandria 16:20 RJA 640 Amman 16:20 FDB 051 Dubai 16:25 JZR 125 Bahrain 16:25 UAE 857 Dubai 16:45 ETD 303 Abu Dhabi 16:45 KAC 562 Amman 16:50 FDB 073 Dubai 16:55 SVA 510 Riyadh 17:15 UAL 982 IAD 17:25 GFA 215 Bahrain 17:30 KAC 742 Dammam 17:35 JZR 177 Dubai 17:45 KAC 176 Geneva/Frankfurt 17:45 FDB 075 Dubai 17:45 JZR 777 Jeddah 17:50 TAR 328 Tunis/Dubai 18:05 KAC 542 Cairo 18:15 QTR 1080 Doha 18:25 KAC 786 Jeddah 18:30 JZR 483 Istanbul 18:35 KAC 104 London 18:45 FDB 063 Dubai 18:45 AXB 393 Kozhikode 18:55 KAC 618 Doha 19:00 ABY 129 Sharjah 19:00 GFA 217 Bahrain 19:00 UAE 875 Dubai 19:05 KAC 774 Riyadh 19:15 KAC 502 Beirut 19:20 KAC 674 Dubai 19:25 KAC 614 Bahrain 19:35 JAI 572 Mumbai 19:35 OMA 647 Muscat 19:55 FDB 061 Dubai 20:05 DLH 634 Frankfurt 20:15 MEA 402 Beirut 20:15 JZR 189 Dubai 20:25 MSR 618 Alexandria 20:30 DHX 173 EBL 20:50 KLM 417 Amsterdam 20:55 FDB 079 Dubai 21:05 ALK 229 Colombo 21:10 FDB 069 Dubai 21:10 UAE 859 Dubai 21:15 QTR 1074 Doha 21:30 ETD 307 Abu Dhabi 21:30 GFA 219 Bahrain 21:45 FDB 059 Dubai 22:10 ETD 309 Abu Dhabi 22:15 AGY 684 Sohag 22:20 AIC 981 Chennai/Hyderabad/Ahmedabad 22:25 UAL 981 Bahrain 22:40 JZR 157 Dubai 22:55 JZR 185 Dubai 22:55 BBC 043 Dhaka 23:10 BON 102 Sarajevo 23:15 JAI 574 Mumbai 23:20 MSR 614 Cairo 23:30 JZR 513 Sharm el-sheikh 23:30 THY 772 Istanbul 23:45 Departure Flights on Thursday 18/9/2014 Airlines Flt Route Time AIC 976 Goa/Chennai 00:05 JZR 562 Sohag 00:10 JAV 622 Amman 00:15 NIA 264 Alexandria 00:20 JAI 573 Mumbai 00:20 MSR 615 Cairo 00:30 BBC 044 Dhaka 00:35 KLM 411 Amsterdam 00:55 JZR 502 Luxor 01:30 DLH 637 Frankfurt 01:35 THY 773 Istanbul 02:20 MSC 404 Sohag 02:30 SAI 442 Lahore 02:35 RBG 556 Alexandria 02:45 PGT 859 Istanbul 02:55 FDB 070 Dubai 03:40 UAE 854 Dubai 03:45 FDB 068 Dubai 04:05 ETD 306 Abu Dhabi 04:10 MSR 613 Cairo 04:15 QTR 1077 Doha 04:25 MSC 406 Sohag 05:00 FDB 078 Dubai 05:00 QTR 1085 Doha 05:20 JZR 560 Sohag 05:35 THY 765 Istanbul 06:00 DHX 172 EBL 06:10 JAI 575 Abu Dhabi/Kochi 06:30 RJA 643 Amman 06:35 THY 771 Istanbul 06:50 GFA 212 Bahrain 07:00 KAC 415 Kuala Lumpur/Jakarta 07:00 JZR 240 Amman 07:05 JZR 164 Dubai 07:15 IRA 672 Ahwaz 07:20 KAC 537 Sohag 08:00 BAW 156 London 08:25 FDB 054 Dubai 08:25 JZR 778 Jeddah 08:45 SVA 513 Riyadh 08:55 QTR 1087 Doha 08:55 JZR 534 Cairo 09:15 KAC 671 Dubai 09:25 ABY 126 Sharjah 09:30 KAC 787 Jeddah 09:35 JZR 482 Istanbul 09:40 UAE 856 Dubai 09:50 IRA 668 Mashhad 10:00 ETD 302 Abu Dhabi 10:15 FDB 056 Dubai 10:20 KAC 101 London/New York 10:25 IZG 4162 Mashhad 10:40 QTR 1071 Doha 11:00 KAC 561 Amman 11:25 KAC 541 Cairo 11:30 GFA 214 Bahrain 11:35 KAC 501 Beirut 11:40 KAC 165 Rome/Paris 11:45 MEA 405 Beirut 11:55 TBZ 5484 Mashhad 12:10 JZR 776 Jeddah 12:15 MSC 402 Alexandria 12:20 FDB 066 Dubai 12:40 FDB 8052 Dubai 13:00 KAC 785 Jeddah 13:00 SYR 342 Damascus 13:05 JZR 176 Dubai 13:10 FDB 072 Dubai 13:15 JZR 124 Bahrain 13:30 MSR 580 Sohag 13:50 MSR 611 Cairo 14:00 DIAL161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION THY 767 Istanbul 14:10 FDB 058 Dubai 14:10 UAE 872 Dubai 14:15 KAC 741 Dammam 14:35 QTR 1079 Doha 14:55 GFA 222 Bahrain 15:05 KAC 673 Dubai 15:05 QTR 8646 Dhaka 15:30 KAC 617 Doha 15:30 FDB 082 Dubai 15:35 KAC 773 Riyadh 15:50 JZR 188 Dubai 15:50 SVA 505 Jeddah 16:00 ABY 128 Sharjah 16:15 AGY 685 Sohag 16:20 KNE 471 Jeddah 16:30 KAC 613 Bahrain 16:35 KNE 461 Riyadh 16:45 OMA 645 Muscat 16:50 JZR 266 Beirut 17:05 MPH 093 Dubai/SIN 17:10 FDB 052 Dubai 17:10 JZR 512 Sharm el-sheikh 17:15 QTR 1073 Doha 17:20 RJA 641 Amman 17:20 NIA 252 Alexandria 17:20 FDB 074 Dubai 17:35 ETD 304 Abu Dhabi 17:45 SVA 511 Riyadh 18:15 GFA 216 Bahrain 18:20 JZR 184 Dubai 18:20 UAE 858 Dubai 18:25 FDB 076 Dubai 18:25 JZR 156 Dubai 18:35 UAL 982 Bahrain 18:40 JZR 538 Cairo 18:40 TAR 328 Tunis 18:55 QTR 1081 Doha 19:25 FDB 064 Dubai 19:25 JZR 238 Amman 19:25 ABY 120 Sharjah 19:40 GFA 218 Bahrain 19:45 AXB 394 Kozhikode 19:55 KAC 283 Dhaka 20:30 UAE 876 Dubai 20:35 JAI 571 Mumbai 20:35 FDB 062 Dubai 20:45 KAC 361 Colombo 20:50 KAC 331 Trivandrum 20:50 OMA 648 Muscat 20:55 KAC 343 Chennai 20:55 KAC 351 Kochi 21:05 MEA 403 Beirut 21:15 JZR 554 Alexandria 21:15 MSR 619 Alexandria 21:30 KAC 543 Cairo 21:30 DHX 171 Bahrain 21:50 FDB 080 Dubai 21:50 KLM 417 Dammam/Amsterdam 21:55 ETD 308 Abu Dhabi 22:15 ALK 230 Colombo 22:20 UAE 860 Dubai 22:25 KAC 381 Delhi 22:30 QTR 1075 Doha 22:40 KAC 301 Mumbai 22:40 GFA 220 Bahrain 22:45 FDB 060 Dubai 22:50 ETD 310 Abu Dhabi 23:00 KAC 203 Lahore 23:10 AGY 681 Alexandria 23:20 KAC 205 Islamabad 23:35 KAC 411 Bangkok/Manila 23:40 KAC 415 Kuala Lumpur/Jakarta 23:50 JZR 1540 Cairo 23:50

34 stars CROSSWORD 671 STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19) Libra (September 23-October 22) There are extra charm and charisma in the way you come across to others today. When faced with difficult situations or difficult people, you can be exceptionally creative. Speaking in front of a group, you may speak very convincingly. You communicate with great enthusiasm. Your words just flow out and carry an emotional impact that brings your point or your ideas home to your listeners. Things are happening in your career and your future may strengthen now depending upon your drive to achieve, which is strong and works in your favor. This is a good time to get ahead in your work or personal life. This evening your desires are strong and you will want to enjoy yourself. Romance is possible. There is a basic drive to appreciate and taste life. You could be in the limelight, particularly with superiors or in relation to your work. You may find that you enjoy your job more than usual. There is much mental busywork now. A good time, when your efforts really pay off and things seem to run smoothly. Now you have the opportunity for sustained work that allows you to coordinate and organize like never before. There is time to clean off your desk and complete any uncompleted tasks before the end of this workday. Cultivate and collect positive images of successful situations as well as relaxed settings-use these to ease tensions. A heightened interest in health and diet, as well as an urge to get things organized into a rational system, agrees with this. Music will lift your spirits tonight. Taurus (April 20-May 20) Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You may find yourself coordinating events and communicating with new people. Your company may have decided to open another store in another area of town or some such scenario. You could be chosen to make sure everything runs smoothly. It looks as though there are requests for your services that are not included in your job identification. You might put your request in for additional pay before the action begins. Using your mind to negotiate obstacles and dilemmas is a great talent. You tend to radiate success. This afternoon is a time of concentration and working through any professional matters. You can demonstrate great understanding and sensitivity to your friends at this time. You may enjoy dinner away from the home this evening. Some days are just difficult to maneuver around. It could be hard to figure out the right move. You may feel frustrated as to where you are headed in life just now. Someone older or in an authoritative position may disapprove of your decisions just now-it may be a bit hard to think. Thinking long-term, however, you will be able to come up with just the right technique, step, method or frame of words to create some positive reaction when it comes to pleasing the customer and the supervisor. An upswing in sales or in stock can be the result of some internal change that requires many people to cooperate. You will be pleased with the results of your efforts this day. The pleasures of music can calm the beast in all of us. Enjoy music this evening. Gemini (May 21-June 20) Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) ACROSS 1. Young sheep. 5. Type genus of the Cariamidae comprising only the crested cariama. 12. Counting the number of white and red blood cells and the number of platelets in 1 cubic millimeter of blood. 15. A translucent mineral consisting of hydrated silica of variable color. 16. The trait of lacking restraint or control. 17. Concerning those not members of the clergy. 18. World's longest river (4187 miles). 19. Used to wrap around pipes or boilers or laid in attics to prevent loss of heat. 20. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth. 21. (Arthurian legend) The most virtuous knight of the Round Table. 23. A highly unstable radioactive element (the heaviest of the halogen series). 24. Realistic Norwegian author who wrote plays on social and political themes (1828-1906). 26. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables. 28. Informal terms for the mouth. 31. A decree that prohibits something. 35. Being of use or service. 38. A white soft metallic element that tarnishes readily. 39. Widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions for its fragrant flowers and colorful fruits. 41. Tree bearing large brown nuts containing e.g. caffeine. 42. A starch made by leaching and drying the root of the cassava plant. 45. The rate at which red blood cells settle out in a tube of blood under standardized conditions. 46. In a murderous frenzy as if possessed by a demon. 48. A public promotion of some product or service. 49. A member of the most numerous indigenous people of the Philippines. 51. An upstart who makes conceited, sardonic, insolent comments. 53. One of two alternative forms of a genes that can have the same locus on homologous chromosomes and are responsible for alternative traits. 54. A radioactive element of the actinide series. 55. Wearing footgear. 57. Duck of the northern hemisphere much valued for the fine soft down of the females. 62. Evergreen Indian shrub with vivid yellow flowers whose bark is used in tanning. 64. A metrical unit with unstressedunstressed-stressed syllables. 68. The holy city of Shiite Muslims. 70. A light touch or stroke. 71. Small European freshwater fish with a slender bluish-green body. 72. A particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography). 73. With eagerness. 76. A passage with access only at one end. 77. United States playwright who collaborated with George S. Kaufman (1904-1961). 78. Widely separated especially in space. 79. A lipoprotein that transports cholesterol in the blood. DOWN 1. Primarily temporal sense. 2. The capital of Western Samoa. 3. A public area set aside as a pedestrian walk. 4. Offering little or no hope. 5. West Indian tree having racemes of fragrant white flowers and yielding a durable timber and resinous juice. 6. A port city in southwestern Iran. 7. A small piece of cloth. 8. Any tree or shrub of the genus Inga having pinnate leaves and showy usually white flowers. 9. A nearly horizontal passage from the surface into a mine. 10. The second day of the week. 11. Any disease of the throat or fauces marked by spasmodic attacks of intense suffocative pain. 12. People having the same social or economic status. 13. A very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk. 14. A bluish shade of green. 22. (Greek mythology) The goddess of youth and spring. 25. A small cake leavened with yeast. 27. Any of various spiny trees or shrubs of the genus Acacia. 29. Of or relating to of comprising atoms. 30. Any of the cylindrical filaments characteristically growing from the epidermis of a mammal. 32. A coarse obnoxious person. 33. The selling of something purchased. 34. Danish philologist (1846-1896). 36. A cord that is drawn through eyelets or around hooks in order to draw together two edges (as of a shoe or garment). 37. Having come or been brought to a conclusion. 40. So adjusted as to be appropriate or brought into harmony. 43. American professional baseball player who hit more home runs than Babe Ruth (born in 1934). 44. In a state of sleep. 47. The quarter of many North African cities in which the citadel is located. 50. Surveying instrument consisting of the upper movable part of a theodolite including the telescope and its attachments. 52. A genus of Paridae. 56. A deliberately misleading fabrication. 58. (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) Optical device that produces an intense monochromatic beam of coherent light. 59. A Buddhist who has attained nirvana. 60. Filled with a great quantity. 61. A telegram sent abroad. 63. A Spanish unit of length (about a yard) having different values in different localities. 65. (used of count nouns) Every one considered individually. 66. The act of moving along swiftly (as before a gale). 67. A Swiss patriot who lived in the early 14th century and who was renowned for his skill as an archer. 69. Any of several small ungulate mammals of Africa and Asia with rodent-like incisors and feet with hooflike toes. 74. Of or related to the genital and urinary organs or their functions. 75. A period of time containing 365 (or 366) days. Your instinctive orientation at this time is in taking care of business. You may take some risks today, even if you appear a bit unconventional. You will prosper through new insights, inventions and an independent point of view. Breakthroughs in your career could open up during this time, making it possible for you to solve problems and reach new levels of accomplishment. Improved solutions, insights and approaches make this a time not to be ignored. A dental checkup can be very positive this week. There is an instinctive urge to learn about better nutrition and better health at many levels. You may want to join a health spa so that there is some regular exercise in your life. Diet, exercise and work somehow mean more to you now. Cancer (June 21-July 22) You may be tempted to only focus on what you dislike today. However, you can be more fully empowered by using this time to embrace your strengths. If at work, keep a journal of date, time, event, problem and how you helped to create a good or successful outcome. If you are put in difficult situations that seem to have no ending, it may be time for a good compromise or a future change. You should be experiencing rewards for your hard work soon. There is the possibility of new visions or sudden insights into your plans-perhaps a reassessment. Breakthroughs and insights into future plans will become clearer as time moves along. Parents and friends as well as a career advisor may be quite helpful. Move to music this evening. Leo (July 23-August 22) Ambitious schemes and the pursuit of success and status take on a high priority. This brings a focus on the practical, the successful, the realistic-whatever it takes to get you ahead in the long run. The meek may inherit the earth, but the clever will collect the rent. Ambition and achievement are qualities you hold in special regard. You look for ways to get ahead and perhaps combine business and pleasure. Seeing both sides of an issue and figuring out resolutions to opposing views take on more importance in your life. Intense focus on your career can find you mercilessly cutting back and getting down to the bare essentials regarding the path or direction you are taking with your life. You enjoy the climb as well as the rewards. Virgo (August 23-September 22) Ah, the middle of the week and work is progressing nicely. Mystery and intrigue surround the day and you may be delighted with the opportunities to solve problems and concentrate on whatever work is in front of you. If the mystery and intrigue seem centered around you, then the concentration on work is welcomed. If you are solving the mystery or the intrigue for others, you are in the perfect place. You have found the right job for your talents and while you may outgrow it someday, you are an asset and will receive plenty of recognition for your hard work. To discuss materialism on your birthday would not be fair; suffice it to say you teach others to rise above the ego and be appreciative of everything through your example. Wordsearch Puzzle You like to work with words and ideas and have a natural appreciation for anything that is literary or artistic. Your sense of discernment when it comes to matters of literary and intellectual taste is refined. You could write poetry or prose, and you put a high value on the written word. You enjoy good conversations and may be skilled at speaking and communicating. The lunch hour today could bring some fun conversations your way. This afternoon you may have to be careful not to disturb others with your urge to talk-you will do well in matters that concern proofing and editing. Expect a more confident, outgoing attitude, for you have brought to close a time of inward examination and learning. There is a growing sense of direction and self-worth. Capricorn (December 22-January 19) There could be change in the air with regard to your working situation. You may want to be open to the new ideas of others. This may mean moving in a different direction within the same company for which you work or taking a class to brush up on some technical skills. You are driven when it comes to fulfilling your ambitions and carving out a career. There is no lack of energy or drive here; nothing can stand in your way. Lots of energy goes into making the right moves. Most of your co-workers will find you outgoing, enthusiastic and diplomatic. Friends, group projects and community concerns could play key roles that effect your career direction. Relaxation can be found in your own backyard. Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Everything points to your taking the initiative today. Interest and success in a career requires activity, whether it is physical, mental or emotional-you need to be moving! Work and career should be a primary focus during this time. There is an opportunity to make good decisions-clear choice is yours. You are at your most practical and what happens with the remainder of this week may have a lasting effect on your life direction. Patterns, habits and new ideas will be forming. You love to tinker around and might enjoy a hobby that involves some sort of design or mechanics. After work, this hobby may be the only thing on your mind. Setting a timer that will give you time for this hobby will also remind you to stop and enjoy some time with your family. Pisces (February 19-March 20) You may have to repeat or clarify instructions several times this day, particularly to one individual. Write to-do lists for yourself and check all paperwork, including contracts. You may feel left out or passed over just now. Your own requirements may appear to separate you from where the rest of the gang is headed. You may miss the interaction that comes with being social but work demands a temporary time of intense focus. This afternoon you draw emotional sustenance and a sense of security from friends and social involvement. There are plenty of things to grab your attention and your spirits are lifted when a young person opens up to you. Keep track of expenditures by updating your checkbook this evening. Budgeting is favorable. Yesterday s Solution Yesterday s Solution Daily SuDoku Yesterday s Solution

For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 information INTERNATIONAL CALLS Sabah Hospital 24812000 Amiri Hospital 22450005 Maternity Hospital 24843100 Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital 25312700 Chest Hospital 24849400 Farwaniya Hospital 24892010 Adan Hospital 23940620 Ibn Sina Hospital 24840300 Al-Razi Hospital 24846000 Physiotherapy Hospital 24874330/9 Kaizen center 25716707 Rawda 22517733 Adaliya 22517144 Khaldiya 24848075 Kaifan 24849807 Shamiya 24848913 Shuwaikh 24814507 Abdullah Salem 22549134 Nuzha 22526804 Industrial Shuwaikh 24814764 Qadsiya 22515088 Dasmah 22532265 Bneid Al-Gar 22531908 Shaab 22518752 Qibla 22459381 Ayoun Al-Qibla 22451082 Mirqab 22456536 Sharq 22465401 Salmiya 25746401 Jabriya 25316254 Maidan Hawally 25623444 Bayan 25388462 Mishref 25381200 W Hawally 22630786 Sabah 24810221 Jahra 24770319 New Jahra 24575755 West Jahra 24772608 South Jahra 24775066 North Jahra 24775992 North Jleeb 24311795 Ardhiya 24884079 Firdous 24892674 Omariya 24719048 N Khaitan 24710044 Fintas 23900322 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 GOVERNORATE PHARMACY ADDRESS PHONE Ahmadi Sama Safwan Fahaeel Makka St 23915883 Abu Halaifa Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd 23715414 Danat Al-Sultan Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd 23726558 Jahra Modern Jahra Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 24575518 Madina Munawara Jahra-Block 92 24566622 Capital Ahlam Fahad Al-Salem St 22436184 Khaldiya Coop Khaldiya Coop 24833967 Farwaniya New Shifa Farwaniya Block 40 24734000 Ferdous Coop Ferdous Coop 24881201 Modern Safwan Old Kheitan Block 11 24726638 Hawally Tariq Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St 25726265 Hana Salmiya-Amman St 25647075 Ikhlas Hawally-Beirut St 22625999 Hawally & Rawdha Hawally & Rawdha Coop 22564549 Ghadeer Jabriya-Block 1A 25340559 Kindy Jabriya-Block 3B 25326554 Ibn Al-Nafis Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St 25721264 Mishrif Coop Mishrif Coop 25380581 Salwa Coop Salwa Coop 25628241 PRIVATE CLINICS Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf 22547272 Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari 22617700 Dr. Abdel Quttainah 25625030/60 Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar 23729596/23729581 Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari 22635047 Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan 22613623/0 Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe 23729596/23729581 Dr. Verginia s.marin 2572-6666 ext 8321 Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan 22655539 Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami 25343406 Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly 25739272 Dr. Salem soso 22618787 General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer 22610044 Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher 25327148 Internists, Chest & Heart Dr. Adnan Ebil 22639939 Dr. Mousa Khadada 22666300 Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan 25728004 Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra 25355515 Dr. Mobarak Aldoub 24726446 Dr Nasser Behbehani 25654300/3 info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com 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 Kaizen center 25716707 Noor Clinic 23845955 Endocrinologist Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman 25339330 Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888 Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab 25722291 Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees 22666288 Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi 25330060 Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah 25722290 Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad 24555050 Ext 210 Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital 25339667 Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib 2611555-2622555 MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123 William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677 Afghanistan 0093 Albania 00355 Algeria 00213 Andorra 00376 Angola 00244 Anguilla 001264 Antiga 001268 Argentina 0054 Armenia 00374 Australia 0061 Austria 0043 Bahamas 001242 Bahrain 00973 Bangladesh 00880 Barbados 001246 Belarus 00375 Belgium 0032 Belize 00501 Benin 00229 Bermuda 001441 Bhutan 00975 Bolivia 00591 Bosnia 00387 Botswana 00267 Brazil 0055 Brunei 00673 Bulgaria 00359 Burkina 00226 Burundi 00257 Cambodia 00855 Cameroon 00237 Canada 001 Cape Verde 00238 Cayman Islands 001345 Central African 00236 Chad 00235 Chile 0056 China 0086 Colombia 0057 Comoros 00269 Congo 00242 Cook Islands 00682 Costa Rica 00506 Croatia 00385 Cuba 0053 Cyprus 00357 Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 Czech Republic 00420 Denmark 0045 Diego Garcia 00246 Djibouti 00253 Dominica 001767 Dominican Republic 001809 Ecuador 00593 Egypt 0020 El Salvador 00503 England (UK) 0044 Equatorial Guinea 00240 Eritrea 00291 Estonia 00372 Ethiopia 00251 Falkland Islands 00500 Faroe Islands 00298 Fiji 00679 Finland 00358 France 0033 French Guiana 00594 French Polynesia 00689 Gabon 00241 Gambia 00220 Georgia 00995 Germany 0049 Ghana 00233 Gibraltar 00350 Greece 0030 Greenland 00299 Grenada 001473 Guadeloupe 00590 Guam 001671 Guatemala 00502 Guinea 00224 Guyana 00592 Haiti 00509 Holland (Netherlands) 0031 Honduras 00504 Hong Kong 00852 Hungary 0036 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Iceland 00354 India 0091 Indian Ocean 00873 Indonesia 0062 Iran 0098 Iraq 00964 Ireland 00353 Italy 0039 Ivory Coast 00225 Jamaica 001876 Japan 0081 Jordan 00962 Kazakhstan 007 Kenya 00254 Kiribati 00686 Kuwait 00965 Kyrgyzstan 00996 Laos 00856 Latvia 00371 Lebanon 00961 Liberia 00231 Libya 00218 Lithuania 00370 Luxembourg 00352 Macau 00853 Macedonia 00389 Madagascar 00261 Majorca 0034 Malawi 00265 Malaysia 0060 Maldives 00960 Mali 00223 Malta 00356 Marshall Islands 00692 Martinique 00596 Mauritania 00222 Mauritius 00230 Mayotte 00269 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 Moldova 00373 Monaco 00377 Mongolia 00976 Montserrat 001664 Morocco 00212 Mozambique 00258 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Namibia 00264 Nepal 00977 Netherlands 0031 Netherlands Antilles 00599 New Caledonia 00687 New Zealand 0064 Nicaragua 00505 Nigar 00227 Nigeria 00234 Niue 00683 Norfolk Island 00672 N. 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lifestyle G O S S I P Houston live album due in November Nearly three years after her death, an album and DVD of live performances by Whitney Houston is to be released in November, her long-time producer announced Tuesday. She was without question the greatest vocalist in the world, Clive Davis told NBC television announcing the November 10 release of Whitney Houston Live: Her Greatest Performances. There was no one like her, he added. Houston died in February 2012 on the eve of the Grammy Awards at age 48. She was found dead in her hotel bathroom, shortly before a party in the hotel hosted by Davis. A coroner ruled that the singing legend died of accidental drowning, with cocaine and heart disease listed as contributing factors. Beyonce and Jay Z recording together? Beyonce and Jay Z are reportedly working on a new album together. The couple - who have twoyear-old daughter Blue Ivy together - have just completed their On The Run joint world tour and are now planning to head into the recording studio together for a record which is likely to be released later this year or early 2015. DJ Skree revealed the news on his Dash Radio show, claiming: I have confirmed and talked to a couple sources. The pair ended their tour in Stade de France, Paris, at the weekend and paid tribute to one another in front of 81,000 fans. Beyonce, 33, told her 44-year-old spouse: I m your biggest fan. The 99 Problems star replied: It s been an honor and a pleasure to share the stage with you. I couldn t dream for anything else [than] to be in this stadium with the woman I love, who I believe is the greatest entertainer of our time. I love her. She s my wife. The tour has been blighted by rumors that the couple s marriage is on the rocks, but Beyonce s father, and former manager, Matthew Knowles, recently claimed they orchestrated the speculation to boost ticket sales. He said: I know, because we ve done this. From experience, there s a tour going on. So you sometimes have to ignite that tour. It s called a Jedi mind trick. The Jedi mind trick fools you a lot. Delevingne cast in Paper Towns Cara Delevingne is to star in the upcoming John Green adaptation Paper Towns. The model is to play the role of Margo in the new film, which is the second best-selling Green novel to be turned into a movie, following on from The Fault in Our Stars. Green took to Twitter to confirm the casting news, saying: Cara Delevigne s audition blew everyone away (including me!) and she understands Margo profoundly. I am so excited! Jake Schreier, the director of the film, observed that the model s audition was something special. Meanwhile, Delevingne was understandably delighted to have been cast in the role, tweeting: Thank you so much guys!! I am so excited! Ahhhh! X (sic) It s also been confirmed that Nat Wolff will star alongside Delevingne as Quentin, who is asked Margo to help her gain revenge on people who have hurt her. When Margo vanishes, he follows a series of clues that he hopes will lead to finding her. Delevingne is, of course, predominantly known as a model, but she has also appeared in Sky Arts Playhouse drama Timeless and will soon star in The Face of an Angel, the forthcoming Amanda Knox movie. Paper Towns is set to be released next summer. Man bitten by snake on set of The Maze Runner Aman has been bitten by a rattlesnake on the set of The Maze Runner. The snake wrangler - who was hired to remove the dangerous reptiles from the set of the science fiction thriller - was bitten by the baby rattlesnake as he attempted to capture it and was quickly rushed to hospital. According to one of the film s young stars Thomas Brodie-Sangster, the man has since made a full recovery. He told the New York Post newspaper s Page Six column at the Cinema Society screening of the post-apocalyptic teen picture: He got bit, but it was fine. He got bit by a little baby rattlesnake. He did get rushed to the hospital, but he was the only one. The 24- year-old actor and his co-star Dylan O Brien were lucky to escape injury themselves after discovering two lethal black widow spiders. Fortunately the pair weren t phased by the incident and Thomas insists the find only added to the excitement on the Louisiana set. When asked about the kinds of snakes they encountered, he said: Not all poisonous, but we had five different types of venomous snakes and two different kinds of poisonous spiders. There was a scene Dylan and I do by a log.?.?. we did it for hours, and then we got up and a bit of bark fell off and there were two black widows where we were resting our backs. It kind of added to the excitement. Boyle expecting backlash Susan Boyle is expecting a backlash from John Lennon and Pink Floyd fans. The former Britain s Got Talent star has recorded versions of the Beatles legend s Imagine and the psychedelic rockers Wish You Were Here for her new album Hope and she admits creating her own interpretations of the iconic songs is a risk. She told Scotland s Herald newspaper: I hope I have done them justice in my own way. John Lennon s Imagine was one of the hardest to record, not because of the music or the vocals but because I wanted to do his song justice. Of course the die-hard Lennon fans will probably criticize but I hope that people like my personal take on the song. The album also includes versions of Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon And Garfunkel, and Sarah McLachlan s Angel and the Wild Horses hitmaker says every track was chosen because of their inspirational and hopeful messages. She added: I themed this album around inspiration and hope because those are two elements we all need in our life to drive us forward and inspire us to go out and capture our dreams - they worked for me. Perry leads EMA nominations Katy Perry leads the nominations for this year s MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) with seven. The Prism singer is followed closely by Ariana Grande, who is up for six awards, with both stars contesting alongside Nicki Minaj, Taylor Swift and Beyonce for the Best Female prize. The two women will also compete for another two prizes, Best Song - for which Katy s Dark Horse is nominated with Ariana s Problem - and Best Pop. Happy hitmaker Pharrell Williams is nominated for five trophies, as are newcomers 5 Seconds of Summer. They are followed by One Direction, Nicki Minaj, Iggy Best Song: Ariana Grande feat. Iggy Azalea - Problem Eminem feat. Rihanna - The Monster Katy Perry feat. Juicy J - Dark Horse Pharrell Williams - Happy Sam Smith - Stay With Me Best Pop: 5 Seconds Of Summer Ariana Grande Katy Perry Miley Cyrus One Direction Best Female: Ariana Grande BeyoncÈ Katy Perry Nicki Minaj Best Male: Ed Sheeran Eminem Justin Bieber Justin Timberlake Pharrell Williams Best Live: Beyoncé Bruno Mars Justin Timberlake Katy Perry One Direction Best New: 5 Seconds Of Summer Ariana Grande Charli XCX Kiesza Sam Smith Best Video: Iggy Azalea feat. Rita Ora - Black Widow Katy Perry feat. Juicy J - Dark Horse Kiesza - Hideaway Pharrell Williams - Happy Sia - Chandelier Best Rock: Arctic Monkeys The Black Keys Coldplay Imagine Dragons Linkin Park Best Alternative: Fall Out Boy Azalea, Eminem, Sam Smith and Kiesza, who have all received four MTV EMA nominations each. Meanwhile, Crazy Stupid Love singer Cheryl has been selected as a Wild Card entry in the Best UK & Ireland Act following a fan vote, and will contest for the prize with 1D, Calvin Harris, Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran, with the winner competing in the Best Worldwide Act category alongside other regional champions. The 2014 MTV EMAs take place at The SSE Hydro Arena in Glasgow on Sunday, November 9. Fans can vote for the winners at MTVEMA.com. 2014 Selected MTV EMA nominations: Lana Del Rey Lorde Paramore Thirty Seconds To Mars Best Hip-Hop: Drake Eminem Iggy Azalea Kanye West Nicki Minaj Best Electronic: Afrojack Avicii Calvin Harris David Guetta Hardwell Biggest Fans: 5 Seconds Of Summer Ariana Grande Justin Bieber Nicki Minaj One Direction Best Look: Iggy Azalea Katy Perry Nicki Minaj Rita Ora Taylor Swift Best Push: 5 Seconds Of Summer Ariana Grande Charli XCX Cris Cab John Newman Jungle Kid Ink Kiesza Lorde Sam Smith Zedd Best UK & Ireland Act: One Direction Calvin Harris Sam Smith Ed Sheeran Cheryl Best US Act: Beyoncé Katy Perry Eminem Pharrell Williams TBC Hiddleston to star in Skull Island Tom Hiddleston has been handed a starring role in the new King Kong movie Skull Island. The actor, who plays the role of Loki in the Marvel films, has agreed to play a lead role in the new film, which follows the Peter Jackson-directed King Kong remake released in 2005. Details of his role are still to be confirmed, however his casting serves to underline Hiddleston s rising status in Hollywood, especially among sci-fi and adventure film fans. Legendary, the studio behind the eagerlyawaited flick, unveiled a teaser trailer for Skull Island at Comic Con in the summer. At the time, it was widely reported that British filmmaker Joe Cornish had been offered the chance to direct the movie. That has transpired to be unture, however, as Legendary have announced that Jordan Vogt- Roberts - who is currently working on the movie adaptation of the Metal Gear Solid videogame - has been drafted in. What s more, it s been reported that Max Borenstein has been brought in to write the film, with the movie studio hoping that the latest version of the classic story will outperform Peter Jackson s at the box office. Skull Island is set for release in November 2016. New Jack Reacher film promises to be three-hander in terms of audience appeal Chris McQuarrie will not be directing the next Jack Reacher film, according to Lee Child. The 59-year-old author has revealed the director of the first movie, which starred Tom Cruise as the protagonist, will not have the same director due to his other commitments. Child told Empire magazine: McQuarrie is going to be in post-production on Mission Impossible 5. He just physically can t do it. It s going to be a new backroom crew, which I think is good. I thought the McQuarrie movie was fantastic, but let s see someone else s take on it. The upcoming sequel - which will reportedly see Cruise reprise his role from the first film - will be based on the eighteenth book in Child s Jack Reacher series Never Go Back, and he s confessed they chose that to follow on from original because of the range of characters and gripping storylines. He explained: It s almost a threehander in terms of audience appeal - you ve got Reacher, you ve got the woman sidekick (Major Susan Turner), and then you ve got this strong teenage girl character which they were very interested in.

lifestyle M U S I C & M O V I E S A minute with: Ethan Hawke on lessons from Robin Williams It has been more than 25 years since a young Ethan Hawke stepped on his desk to salute his teacher, portrayed by Robin Williams, in Dead Poets Society. Hawke, 43, has taken on some 50 roles since and this year received his third Oscar nod for best adapted screenplay for Before Midnight, shared with Richard Linklater and Julie Delpy. His 12-year Boyhood project with Linklater has won critical praise, while his documentary on classical pianist Seymour Bernstein has also been warmly received at recent film festivals. Hawke Ethan Hawke spoke with Reuters about Seymour: An Introduction, its underlying themes on art and mentorship, and how Williams helped him find his barbaric yawp. Q: What were some of the biggest lessons you learned from Seymour? A: One of the ways that (teachers and mentors) can be most helpful is helping us see our blind spots, when we delude ourselves. It s so hard for us, as people, to have real self-awareness about where we re deluded - little ways in which we lie to ourselves, or have been lying to ourselves for decades. And when you work with somebody who really respects you and who genuinely wants you to grow, you feel that they can help you to see where you re hurting yourself. Q: Do you think classical music is underappreciated? A: All of the higher art forms are suffering... It s like we re literally indoctrinating our children to be distracted all the time. Film review Q: How do you feel about classical music? A: It s the same way I feel about Shakespeare. Is it wonderful to be educated about it? Yes, it is. But if you do Shakespeare and you play it correctly, high school students who d never heard Shakespeare will love it. They ll laugh, they ll be moved, it s beautiful and if you hear Bach played well, it stops your heart. You don t need an education to love that music. Q: Seymour talks about the pitfalls of perfecting technique at the expense of the art. Do you see that in acting? A: A lot of young people - talented people - will come at it with this huge emotion and it s wonderful, but it s completely out of control. They don t know when to be funny, they don t know when to be serious, they don t know when to be emotional. The trouble with cinema is they leave it up to the director to decide all this stuff... They can make a decent performance out of it, because it s all edited. But when you act on the stage, you have to do that for yourself. Q: You played Todd Anderson in Dead Poets Society opposite Robin Williams. What was that experience like? A: I think the sadness with Robin is this person that brought the world so much joy, and to have it be revealed that we didn t do the same for him. When we re young, it s easier to find mentors and teachers and Dead Poets Society is about that. It s about young people with a great mentor who s telling them to hear their own voice: What will your verse be? Something happened to me with Robin. It s the scene where he writes on the chalkboard, I sound my barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world, which is a Walt Whitman quote. And he wants me to sound my barbaric yawp. It s a very difficult scene to play and the director wanted to do it in one take. He wanted it to have an authenticity and it was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. And when it was over, Robin just held my hand, and whispered, Remember this. Very, very beautiful moment for me, you know? And I ve hunted, sought that moment out again, all the time. My thoughts about his passing were extremely sad, but it was clear to me in 1988 that this is a person who was in serious pain, that he carried with him for decades. Reuters A Walk Among the Tombstones Scott Frank s detective thriller A Walk Among the Tombstones is, at heart, a fully old-fashioned pulp potboiler-set in the convincingly ancient-feeling era of 1999 enlivened on one hand by a committed Liam Neeson, playing a more cerebral version of his usual avenging heavy, and soured by some predictable yet relentlessly sadistic savagery toward women, this adaptation of Lawrence Block s novel ought to at least provide a healthy counterprogramming option at the box office. Starting with a 1991 prologue, we re introduced to detective Matt Scudder (Neeson), a racial-epithet-spewing drunken cop straight out of the Popeye Doyle school. Double-fisting whiskey with his morning coffee, Scudder happens to be out of sight in a tavern when a trio of armed assailants burst in and shoot the barkeep. Scudder gives chase and takes out all three, only later realizing a young girl was killed in the crossfire. Come 1999, Scudder has retired from the police force and given up the drink, working as a kindly unlicensed P.I. when he s not telling his story at AA meetings. Through a fellow addict, he s introduced to Brooklyn drug trafficker Kenny Kristo (Dan Stevens), who hires him to locate the two men who abducted his wife. Kenny already paid the ransom, only for the kidnappers to lead him to a car with his wife s butchered body in the trunk. Now he simply wants revenge. Taking on the case, the technophobic Scudder relies on his wits and shoe leather, tracking suspicious types through the boroughs, reading up on old cases in library archives, and at times simply wandering the streets. Neeson s late-career evolution into one of modern cinema s most reliable action stars has been something of an odd turn-possessed as he is of such an inherent likability and an ineluctable kindness in his eyes-and it s a pleasure to see him allowed to play a quieter character here than the rope s-end brawlers he s limned of late. Along the way, he s assisted by a sardonic homeless teenager named TJ (Brian Astro Bradley), who sleeps in the library and helps Scudder with Internet research. (The impending Y2K bug is a popular conversation topic throughout.) The character is a bit hard to buyand he speaks with urban slang that would have seemed suspiciously out of date 15 years agoyet his relationship with Scudder somehow works, as TJ attempts to serve as a sort of assistant, having absorbed volumes of Hammett and Chandler in his spare time. Gradually, the two realize that Scudder s current case is not the first of its kind: A pair of kidnappers have been targeting the wives of drug dealers (who are unlikely to go to the police) for months, always viciously killing their captives once payment has been received. Shadowy boogeymen It would hardly be an exaggeration to state that every single female character of any note in A Walk Among the Tombstones is either stalked, mutilated, raped or murdered (in nongraphic yet disquieting, disturbingly stylized detail), and none is granted more than a line or two of dialogue along the way. (Curiously, the literary Scudder s love interest Elaine Mardell has been cut from the adaptation, as well as previously attached cast member Ruth Wilson.) Frank certainly never waters down the gruesomeness of the story s violence, which is philosophically commendable, but the film he s constructed is otherwise too much of a meat-andpotatoes genre exercise to bear the weight of such horrors. Part of the fault here may lie in Frank s presentation of the killers, who spend the first half of the film as shadowy boogeymen, only to be formally introduced as an apparent gay couple reading the morning paper over breakfast. Played by David Harbour and Adam David Thompson, these two are hardly budding Buffalo Bills, and Frank never figures out what to do with their characters: Lacking any sort of recognizable motivations for their grotesque crimes, the newly visible villains diffuse a degree of the film s tension and introduce an odd undertone of oblique homophobia along the way. In the film s strangest scene, the two killers are seen casing out a Russian drug lord s house when they happen upon his preteen daughter (Danielle Rose Russell) crossing the street. They stare in disbelief as she walks by, waving at them in slow-motion, with Donovan s Atlantis playing on the soundtrack, a sequence bizarrely reminiscent of Bo Derek running across the beach in 10. Reuters US singer Pharrell Williams performs on stage during his Dear Girl tour at the Max- Schmeling- Halle in Berlin on September 16, 2014. AFP Rihanna rips US network for pulling song amid NFL scandal Pop star Rihanna on Tuesday blasted a US television network for wavering on whether to use one of her songs in its American football broadcasts, amid a furor in the league over domestic violence. CBS had planned to play Jay-Z s Run This Town, featuring Rihanna, at the start of its season-opening Today Night Football program, which last week featured the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Baltimore Ravens-whose star Ray Rice has been banned from the National Football League over knocking out his now-wife. CBS dropped the song, as well as a comedy segment, citing a need for the appropriate tone to the broadcast. Apparently, it had the intention to use it in the opening of this week s program. But Rihanna-herself the victim of a highly publicized 2009 assault by singer and thenboyfriend Chris Brown-wasn t impressed with the move. CBS you pulled my song last week, now you wanna slide it back in today? NO, thank you! Rihanna wrote in an early morning tweet. Awave of civil awareness across Taiwan, Hong Kong and China is inspiring more documentary makers to unearth stories that otherwise would not be told, according to an award-winning Taiwanese director. In the past two years, there has been this prevailing value, Kevin Lee Hui-jen told AFP. This awareness reflects citizens mistrust in their leaders. Lee said the trend is strongest in Taiwan, where the public is increasingly wary of warming ties with China which still considers the self-ruling island part of its territory awaiting reunification. Almost all social movements in Taiwan [now] have some documentary filmmakers filming them, he said. In one example earlier this year, the Taipei Documentary Filmmakers Union shot The Day of Uprising as tens of thousands of students belonging to the Sunflower movement occupied Taiwan s legislature in protest at a cross-straits trade agreement with mainland China. Lee, 45, said Taiwan s Sunflower and Hong Kong s Occupy Central civil movements were examples of a public actively questioning its leaders. In Hong Kong public discontent has been growing over rising inequality, increased political interference and the perceived cosy relationship between the city s powerful business elite and Beijing. Hong Kong s Occupy Central movement threatened civil disobedience if China ruled out open elections in the former British colony. Activists had their hopes for genuine democracy dashed after China announced last month that candidates for the city s next leader in 2017 would be vetted by a pro-beijing committee and that only two or three people would be allowed to stand. The movement has since lost steam. Democracy and freedom are universal values, said Lee. Amid the various forms of political and economic pressure, can Taiwan and Hong Kong safeguard their freedom? The key lies in young people and civil awareness. Denied in China Lee won the Grand Prize and Best Documentary at this year s Taipei Film Festival for Unveil the Truth II: State Apparatus, his sequel to Unveil the Truth: Government Virus (2013) which seeks to uncover alleged bureaucratic mishandling of avian flu breakouts on the island. He is taking part in Hong Kong s annual Chinese Documentary Festival this month showcasing 44 films. Among those from China include a look at urban encroachment on traditional farmlands and ways of life; a reflection on the bitter legacy of conflict on a small village in China s Xinjiang province and the impact of desertification in Gansu province. The irony is that stringent censorship means mainland Chinese audiences are rarely-if ever-given the opportunity to watch such films. The Chinese government last month shut down the annual Beijing Independent Film Festival, which had scheduled a number of documentaries for screening, including Lee s. China s leaders under President Xi Jinping have taken aim at civil society, imposing greater censorship in what analysts call an effort to muffle dissent that is proving powerfully effective. Filmmakers are having a lot of difficulties there, said Tammy Cheung, a Hong Kong-based documentary film maker and co-founder of the Visible Records organisation, which stages the festival giving Chinese filmmakers the chance to show their work to a predominantly Chinese audience. They might take their films to international festivals but they rarely get the chance to show them to their own people, said Cheung. They are still trying to have their voices heard. In this April 13, 2014 file photo pop star Rihanna arrives on the red carpet for the 2014 MTV Movie Awards at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. AFP Giving people a voice Hong Kong-based 32-year-old Jo Cheng, whose mournful Via Dolorosa is screening at the festival, trained her cameras on the plight of a Hong Kong street sleeper in a city whose gap between rich and poor is among the world s widest. I didn t really think of an audience when I started, she explained. I was more concerned with learning how to tell a story. But documentaries provide a platform for difference communities to ask questions and find out answers. Lee, who started out as a television producer, said cheaper digital filming equipment had significantly brought down the threshold for making documentaries, meaning more were now being made. Y all are sad for penalizing me for this, she tweeted. The audacity. Soon after the tweets, CBS indicated the song was out for good. In a statement that did not mention Rihanna directly, the network said it would go in a different direction and use our newly created Today s Night Football theme music. CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus, speaking last week to Sports Illustrated, said the network had made changes amid criticism that the professional sports world was slow to punish Rice, who was filmed at a casino knocking out the woman who is now his wife. The network also cut a comedy segment from Today s broadcast as we needed to have the appropriate tone and coverage, the executive told the magazine. Brown pleaded guilty in 2009 to assaulting Rihanna, who suffered facial injuries and was forced to cancel an appearance at that year s Grammy Awards. Rihanna later resumed a relationship with Brown, shocking many fans. AFP Asia documentary makers ride wave of civil awareness This picture taken on September 12, 2014 shows Taiwanese documentary film director Kevin Lee Hui-jen posing for a photograph in Taipei. AFP United Nations Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon has designated Leonardo DiCaprio as a UN Messenger of Peace with a special focus on climate change. DiCaprio, a longtime environmental activist, will address the UN. Climate Change Summit on Sept 23. Mr DiCaprio is a credible voice in the environmental movement, and has a considerable platform to amplify its message, said Ki-moon. I am pleased he has chosen to add his voice to UN efforts to raise awareness of the urgency and benefits of acting now to combat climate change. The actor s Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation was established in 1998 with the mission of protecting the Earth s last wild places and implementing solutions for a more harmonious relationship between humanity and the natural world. He s focused on protecting biodiversity, ocean and forest conservation and climate change. Nevertheless director Cheng works various part-time jobs to fund her films and struggles to attract financial support due to limited prospects in terms of box office returns and audience. But documentaries and social media are giving more people a voice, and allowing more topics to be discussed, she said. I want to look at issues that are covered up, and too protected. Lee added that when it came to China, getting subjects to go on record with an opinion was difficult due to worries over any potential consequences. But they must never forget one thing: over-tolerance will become servility; unchecked servility will make one forget the importance of freedom, said Lee. Hong Kong s Chinese Documentary Festival runs until October 4. AFP DiCaprio selected as United Nations Messenger of Peace Leonardo DiCaprio It s an honor to accept the role of UN Messenger of Peace on Climate Change and to support the Secretary General in his efforts to address one of the most important issues we face as a global community, DiCaprio said. I feel a moral obligation to speak out at this key moment in human history it is a moment for action. How we respond to the climate crisis in the coming years will likely determine the fate of humanity and our planet. He also posted a Tweet on his Twitter account: Honored to accept at this key moment for #Climate2014. RT @UN: Ban Ki-moon names @LeoDiCaprio Messenger of Peace http://t.co/gfoevhlvaj Leonardo DiCaprio (@LeoDiCaprio) September 16, 2014 DiCaprio is one of 12 Messengers of Peace and one Goodwill Ambassador who advocate on behalf of the UN. Reuters

lifestyle F a s h i o n Global fashion circus swings into Milan Models present creations from the Gucci collection during the 2015 Spring / Summer Milan Fahion Week yesterday in Milan. AFP photos Is the devil still wearing Prada? Has King Giorgio (Armani) still got the regal touch? And how are the pretenders to his throne shaping up? As the global fashion circus shifted into Milan yesterday, the answers to these and some other pressing issues should be a little clearer by the weekend. Global hemlines up or down? The trend is supposed to be a predictor of which way stocks are headed and there was a time when the only place to get a definitive answer to that question was Milan. But, like its soccer teams, AC and Inter, Italy s economic epicenter is no longer quite the market-moving force it once was, when it comes to if-you-have-to-ask-the-price-youcan t-afford-it clothing. The world of high fashion has moved on, globalised and diversified and the competition has never been more ferocious. New York is punching harder than ever on the back of a Stateside economic recovery that so far has eluded Italy and the rest of the eurozone. London has ditched quirky-bizarre in favor of quirky-commercial and Paris is, well, Paris. So there is a feeling among insiders that Milan has something to prove this week as the cream of Italian creativity presents its vision of what well-heeled women the world over should be wearing through the spring and summer of 2015. Armani protege in spotlight Sign of the times, perhaps: this week s show will not, as had become traditional, be brought to a close by Armani. Instead the 80- year-old master of sartorial understatement has opted to show his eponymous collection on Saturday, apparently because of concern that the most influential tailors of opinion in the world of fashion will all be heading home before the week officially wraps up on Monday. According to fashion media reports, Armani s decision to pull out of the final day prompted some other leading houses to stamp their stilettos and insist on following suit, a state of affairs which has given the week a lop-sided look with the sixth and final day dedicated to new talent and devoid of a marquee name. And the feeling that all is not absolutely fabulous in the upper echelons of the Italian style industry has been enhanced by the ongoing spat that means Dolce & Gabbana, one of the country s best known brands internationally will, once again, not be part of the official program of shows. Lionel Messi s favorite designers will nevertheless be showcasing their 2015 Spring/Summer collection on Sunday. Gucci are the biggest hitters on the opening day (Prada s stuff will be strutted today) but there will also be keen interest in the collection being presented by Angelos Bratis, whose increasingly confident touch with elegant womenswear has seen him tipped as a potential successor should Armani himself decide to hand over the creative reins at his huge global empire. Bratis, who was born in Greece but studied in the Netherlands, is the latest in a series of young designers who have benefited from Armani s sponsorship and he will be showing in the veteran s own Armani Teatro, following in the footsteps of other promising emerging talents including Stella Jean and Julian Zigerli. Later in the week there will be particularly keen interest in the collection presented by Elisabetta Franchi, a well-established and commercially successful designer from Bologna who is putting on a Milan show for the first time in the hope of bolstering the growing international reputation of her very feminine clothing targeted at the urban workwear market. AFP Models present creations from the Byblos Milano collection during the 2015 Spring / Summer Milan Fashion Week.

lifestyle F a s h i o n MASSIMO DUTTI presents fall collection Fall brings with it the purest essence of Massimo Dutti and winter wraps it in garments that are hard to forget. This time it s not about urban versus casual style, but the right combination of both. The woman is urban and ultra-feminine. She wears maxi garments in soft fabrics such as silk or flannel. The masculine touch for her outfits is provided by extra sized coats or jacket suits. Accessories, as always, are the key to her sophistication. The man consolidates his style opting for grey or beige palettes, enriched by subtle touches of ochre or indigo. The triumphant fusion of tailoring with casual can be seen in the balanced blend of suits with ankle boots, cashmere sweaters or waistcoats. This season is definably all about colours, like beige, taupe soft grey, ochre, indigo or burgundy perfectly mixed with the lasted style prints like the camouflage or the gales check. And, of course, the maximum quality is needed, especially in the fabrics like the, wool flannel, cashmere or leather and fur,that are a total must and become a surprising combination with nylon garments. The brand Massimo Dutti was founded in 1985. The brand started primarily as men s fashion business. In 1991, was acquired by Inditex Group, and in 1995 the Brand launched the women s collection offering a range of styles, from urban, casual to timeless sophistication. In 2003, the company launched a children s line under the brand name Boys & Girls. This collection is gradually being introduced in several countries to stores. Over the years, has experienced rapid growth by enhancing its leadership in the European market and securing its position internationally, currently counting with more than 680 stores in 65 countries. The collections Women The women s collections speak to the urban, sophisticated yet effortless woman between the ages of 25 and 45. Based on an in-house creation concept, she is a city dweller, practical, elegant and contemporary that believes in her style and knows what she wants. The woman aims for a style that is personal while adding touches of fashion trends set on international catwalks. The Collection is comprised of several action lines, not only with respect to fabrics, but also for accessories and fragrances. All of them together create a common harmonious selection of trends, styles, colours and textures each season. Men The men s collections speak to the urban, contemporary man between the ages of 25 and 60. Since its beginnings, Massimo Dutti Men radiates a unique personality: from starting out as a shirt maker and moving on to create men s clothing lines from the most tailored to the most casual in all pieces of the collections. This brand shares a concept by all of the collections and based on the quality of materials and the combination of textures and styles. The following is a breakdown of the Dutti Man lines: Personal tailoring The brand s tailoring service offers a wide selection of fabrics and cuts to best enhance a personal style.the brand has refreshed its tailoring concept which aims for a more exclusive and personal service while offering Suits, Jackets and Shirts, with established patterns, our customers are able to select their favorite fabrics such as cotton, wool and cashmere, in a wide range of colours. The individual personalization of buttons, linings and lapels are also a part of the personal tailoring service giving the garment an exclusive touch. The boys & girls The boys and girls collections are geared towards young customers between the ages of 2 and 16. In 2003, launched the boys & girls collection with one-of-a-kind fresh and youthful designs that speak to our young followers. The store: A new global store concept The stores exude a sense of exclusivity and they are specially designed thinking of the customer experience. The new store image is based on a progressive evolution of the boutique concept that identifies the chain s stores. The change is based primarily on finishes and shapes that aim for warmer, more contemporary spaces and environments. Walnut wood, brass, leather and dark marble are the dominant materials in the new architectural design that blends modern lines and classic details, the signature of the firm. The stores are designed to ease movement and feature strategically placed lighting and furniture, all developed and designed in-house by the interior design team. The store layout together with carefully display of merchandising allows the customer to experience an inviting and effortless product selection. LONDON FASHION WEEK Models present creations from the Fashion East collection during the 2015 Spring / Summer London Fashion Week in London on September 16, 2014. AFP photos Models present creations from the Meadham Kirchoff collection during the 2015 Spring / Summer London Fashion Week.

Global fashion circus swings into Milan 38 This picture shows Attacus atlas butterfly sitting on a visitor s face, at the Botanical Garden of Masaryk University in Brno. There are about twenty butterflies that fly freely in the greenhouse among visitors. AFP Indian masterpieces up for sale in New York Paintings by one of India s most important modern artists go under the hammer in New York, highlights in a booming market for Asian art featured this week. Three oils on canvas by pioneering Indian abstract artist Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde, who in 1964 based himself in New York, are being offered for auction by Christie s and Bonham s. Bonham s canvases, signed and dated 1961 and 1963, come from the artist s nonobjective series and were acquired by US artist Morris Graves, who described him as fine-or superb-as Mark Rothko at his best. The auction house values the oil paintings, which have spent 45 years with a San Francisco collector, at $300-500,000 and $600-800,000 respectively. Christie s is offering a 1971 publicly known painting Untitled in moss green for $750,000 to $900,000, which it says showcases the painter, philosopher and alchemist at the zenith of his career. Gaitonde s prices don t yet compare to the stratospheric ones fetched for Western art, but experts say he is poised to join the international modern art canon, and that there is a robust, emerging market in modern Indian art. The Guggenheim in New York on October 24 opens the first museum exhibition dedicated to the famously reclusive artist, and Gaitonde work has recently set records in the Asian art world. In 2012 Christie s set a world record for a modern Indian painting by selling a canvas for $3.79 million. In March, Sotheby s sold another Gaitonde for $2.5 million. Bonham s three-year-old department of Indian, Himalayan and South Asian art, a minnow compared to powerhouses Christie s and Sotheby s, has billed yesterday s sale as a real coup. It couldn t be a better time to offer these, Mark Rasmussen, Bonham s junior specialist, told AFP. He regards Gaitonde as the most sought-after modern Indian painter, and said he expected bids from collectors as well as international institutions. Poetry on canvas Born in Nagpur, India in 1924, Gaitonde was inspired early on by Swiss artist Paul Klee, then turned towards abstraction and cultivated a lifelong interest in Zen Buddhism. He studied in Bombay and in 1964 lived at New York s Chelsea Hotel, then a cultural hub that housed Bob Dylan, Arthur Miller and Leonard Cohen. Deepanjana Klein, head of South Asian modern and contemporary art at Christie s, called Gaitonde s work poetry on canvas. There is only a finite body of great work and collectors know that. When they see something great they will come and get it, she told AFP The last decade has seen an astonishing explosion in the global market for Asian art, fueled by new, cashrich wealth in China but in which European and US collectors have kept pace. Catching up with Western prices Jonathan Stone, head of Asian art at Christie s and based in Hong Kong, told AFP that the growth was so fast that Asian art prices are starting to catch up with Western art. Chinese art has taken a lot of the headlines, but the interest in Southeast Asian art has grown considerably, and I know there has been a significant growth in the Indian contemporary and modern market, he said. Christie s had an inaugural sale in Mumbai last year and is setting up in Shanghai to capitalize on new clients, but Stone says none of that detracts from Asian sales week in New York. New York remains almost unique in the way we re able to offer such a range of Asian art across all cultures and all epochs, he said. Christie s hopes to make $26 million from Asian art this week, and Sotheby s a whopping $42.5 to $58 million, bolstered by Chinese ceramics and classical painting and calligraphy. Bonhams upper estimate for its Chinese, Indian and Japanese art sales is $10 million. Bruce MacLaren, a Chinese art specialist at Bonhams, said some artists are selling for at least 10 times what they were selling for 10 years ago. Chinese imperial, 18th, 19th and 20th century art does well, and buyers from mainland China really command the market, he said. They re absolutely transforming the way the market is behaving, he told AFP. AFP Chinese collectors jet in to buy Wallace Chan jewels at Biennale Chinese collectors flew in by private jet this week to buy the latest creations from the world s top designers at the 2014 Biennale des Antiquaires, and made a beeline for Wallace Chan s intricately crafted jewelry. One of the great names in his field of contemporary design, his sculptures of insects, flowers and fish sculptures in colored titanium and colorful gems drew collectors, artistic directors at top jewelry houses, up-and-coming designers and artisans seeking inspiration for their own work. When I carve, and when I work on a gemstone, I am very tender, Chan told Reuters at the Sept. 11-21 exhibition in Paris s vast Grand Palais. When I see a gem, if I feel for it, I try to communicate it through light and colors, he said. Works on display included On Dragon Fly Wings, made of oval-shaped jadeite, pink sapphires, colored diamonds and garnets in a carved titanium setting. This is where jewelry meets art at the highest level, said Alexander Davis, who owns a boutique in Mayfair, London, Chan and fellow A-list designer Giampiero Bodino showcased their work alongside some of the finest jewels from the world s top brands and designers as well as vintage works from the likes of Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Bulgari. The leading Parisian houses produced striking pieces that reflected their past and defined them as brands: Cartier s panther, Van Cleef & Arpels gem-encrusted fairy clips - inspired this time by the fairy tale, Peau d ane, and Bulgari s Serpenti collection, with snakes a house emblem since the 1940s. Dior presented jewels inspired by its own couture heritage. Mingling with the super-rich was Paris-based Jothi-Seroj Ebroussard, of Atelier Ebroussard, a young artisan who has worked on pieces for some of the leading Parisian maisons. He came to to gather ideas, admiring the combinations of precious materials and the transformable applications of the pieces, and to network with prospective clients. Among the billionaire crowd, Laurence Graff, the king of diamonds, and an art lover, wove between the booths. His firm showed off extraordinarily rare gemstones including the Royal Star of Paris - a mesmeric brooch featuring the Graff Sunflower, a 107.46 carat yellow cushion-cut diamond - and the Graff Perfection, a 100.00 carat D flawless pear-shape drop. The world has seen very few diamonds that exceed 100 carats, so it is unprecedented that two stones of such quality and carat weight have been brought together in one jewel. Vintage jewelry also was a big draw for collectors. Siegelson presented outstanding Art Deco pieces, including an aquamarine, diamond and enamel bracelet by Jean Fouquet, for Maison Georges Fouquet, Paris, dated 1926, and a Tutti Frutti bracelet by Cartier, circa 1928. Art Deco influences permeated the contemporary designs at the show. Among them, the tassels seen on some Piaget, Chanel and Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry. Rome-based jewelr Bulgari showed off pieces from its heritage collection, including actress Elizabeth Taylor s platinum and emerald necklace - a wedding present from her husband Richard Taylor in 1964. Reuters A painting by Indian artist Gaitonde is seen on display at the Bonhams auction house in New York on September 15, 2014. AFP