Alonso thrills home fans with Valencia win 11

Issue No. 1470 www.alwatandaily.com 150 Fils with IHT

MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2012 @alwatandaily 12 PAGES

Islamist candidate Mursi wins Egyptian presidencyCAIRO: Islamist Mohamed Mursi of the

Muslim Brotherhood was declared Egypt’s first democratic president on Sunday by the state election committee, which said he had defeated former general Ahmed Shafik with 51.7 percent of last weekend’s run-off vote. He succeeds Hosni Mubarak, who was overthrown 16 months ago af-ter a popular uprising. The military council which has ruled the biggest Arab nation since then has this month curbed the powers of the presidency, meaning the head of state will have to work closely with the army on a planned democratic constitution.

Thousands of Brotherhood supporters burst into cheers on Cairo’s Tahrir Square, waving na-tional flags, setting off fireworks and chanting “Allahu Akbar!” or God is Great, greeting a dra-matic victory, tempered by the army’s continu-ing role. “Say! Don’t fear! The military must go!” crowds chanted.

For Mursi, a US-educated engineer who spent time in jail under Mubarak, a spokesman said: “This is a testament to the resolve of the Egyptian people to make their voice heard.”

Shafik, a former air force commander and Mubarak’s last prime minister, offered no imme-diate reaction. He has said he would offer to serve in a Mursi administration. Mursi, 60, won the first round ballot in May with a little under a quarter of the vote.

He has pledged to form an inclusive govern-ment to appeal to the many Egyptians, including a large Christian minority, who are anxious over religious rule.

The military council will retain control of the biggest army in the Middle East, whose closest ally is the United States. Mursi has said he will

respect international treaties, notably that signed with Israel in 1979, on which much US aid de-pends. President Mursi will struggle to control the levers of state,” Elijah Zarwan, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Re-lations, said in Cairo. He will likely face foot-dragging and perhaps outright attempts to under-

mine his initiatives from key institutions. Faced with such resistance, frustration may tempt him to fall into the trap of attempting to throw his new weight around,” Zarwan told Reuters. “This would be a mistake. “His challenge is to lead a bitterly divided, fearful, and angry population toward a peaceful democratic outcome, without becoming a reviled scapegoat for continued mili-tary rule.”

Mursi will not enjoy the extent of modern, pharaonic powers exercised by Mubarak: those have been curtailed by a military establishment which will decide just how much he will be able to do in government. The Brotherhood had said it would press on with protests against the army’s latest rulings.

Still, his victory in the country’s first free presidential election breaks a tradition of domi-nation by men from the armed forces, which have provided every Egyptian leader since the over-throw of the monarchy 60 years ago, and installs in office a group that drew on 84 years of disci-plined grassroots activism to catapult Mursi into the presidency.

He has promised a moderate, modern Isla-mist agenda to steer Egypt into a new democratic era where autocracy will be replaced by transpar-ent government that respects human rights and revives the fortunes of a powerful Arab state long in decline.

Mursi is promising an “Egyptian renaissance with an Islamic foundation”. The Brotherhood believes in establishing an Islamic state gradually and through peaceful means, but Mursi’s focus has been mostly on issues affecting the majority of Egyptians since the revolt, such as the deterio-rating economy. -Agencies

MORE ON 12

VSEngland

2Italy

4

FILE - Presidential candidate Mohammed Mursi. (AP)

Fireworks explode as supporters of Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential candidate Mohamed Mursi cel-ebrate his victory in the election at Tahrir Square in Cairo June 24, 2012. (Reuters)

Mohammed Al-Salman, Mohammed Al-Khaldi, Osama Al-Qatari and Ahmed Al-ShemmariStaff Writers

KUWAIT: The ministerial committee, which has been tasked with outlining measures for the enforcement of the Constitutional Court’s ver-dict ordering the dissolution of the 2009 Par-liament, on Sunday received the court’s brief. The committee hence decided to have the rul-ing published in the official gazette tomorrow (Tuesday).

An informed official source stated that the ministerial committee had scrutinized the cir-cumstances leading up to the verdict and ac-cordingly set out a proper mechanism for en-forcing it. The committee is expected to submit a report to the Cabinet, during an extraordinary session on Wednesday, to review the options reached by the committee so that it can decide on the most appropriate one. Meanwhile, the National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi

arrived home on Sunday and is expected to have an audience with His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah to discuss a mechanism for addressing the political situation in the country and end the current state of “indecision”. Re-portedly, the officials will also underscore the need for the convening of the 2009 assembly before it is re-dissolved.

They will also discuss the options at hand to ensure the legitimacy of the Cabinet before it resigns and demands the disbandment of the Parliament, in line with constitutional param-eters.

Upon his arrival, Al-Kharafi told reporters that he upholds the court’s ruling and that he is back to enforce it. Reacting to a question about the fate of the current Parliament, the speaker said this issue is not within his jurisdic-tion; rather it is a prerogative of His Highness the Amir.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Amir to decide on fate of Parliament: Al-Kharafi

Double leg amputee scales Mount Kilimanjaro 9

Turkey takes jet downing to NATO, Syria tension soars

DAMASCUS: NATO said on Sunday it will discuss Turkey’s accusation that Syria shot down one of its warplanes in interna-tional airspace, as Damascus suffered heavy losses and violence scaled new heights. Syria’s surging bloodshed saw at least 63 people killed on Sunday, nearly half of them troops who died in clashes with rebels, activists said. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned Ankara’s southern neighbor not to challenge Turkey’s military, as Britain, another member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, offered support for “robust” international action.

“According to our conclusions, our plane was shot down in international airspace, 13 nautical miles from Syria,” Davutoglu told Turkey’s TRT television. “The Syrians knew full well that it was a Turkish military plane and the nature of its mission,” he said. “Nobody should dare put Turkey’s (military) capabilities to the test.” British Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “The (President Bashar Al- Assad) regime should not make the mis-take of believing that it can act with impunity. More on 3

Tunisia extradites former Gadhafi PM to LibyaTRIPOLI: Tunisia extradited former

Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi’s prime minister to Libya on Sunday, a Libyan se-curity official said, making him the first se-nior official to be sent back for trial under the country’s transitional leadership.

Defense ministry official Mohammed Al-Ahwal told Reuters that a helicopter had transferred Al Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi to the capital Tripoli. “Al-Mahmoudi is now in Tripoli and we are holding him in a pris-on.” A security official at the prison, who declined to be named, told Reuters that Al-Mahmoudi was undergoing medical checks. Al-Mahmoudi served as the Libyan dicta-tor’s prime minister from 2006 until he fled to neighboring Tunisia around the time that rebel fighters took Tripoli in August.

His extradition could establish a prec-edent for other countries who have given refuge to or arrested members of Gadhafi’s old entourage.

Libya’s government and the Internation-al Criminal Court - which indicted Gadhafi’s son Seif Al-Islam in June for crimes against humanity stemming from the crackdown on last year’s revolt - have argued for months over where he should be tried. Tripoli con-siders it a matter of national pride and a measure of the country’s transformation for Seif Al-Islam’s and other Gadhafi loyalists trials to be held in Libya. But human rights groups have questioned whether Libya’s jus-tice system can meet the standards of inter-national law and say he should be handed over to the ICC instead. More on 3

Firebrand cleric says Iraqi PM should resign

NAJAF, Iraq: The firebrand Iraqi cleric whose followers are a swing vote in the nation’s ongoing government crisis said Sun-day that the prime minister should resign if he cannot produce reforms. In a rare and wide-ranging press conference, hardline Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr admonished the Shiite-led govern-ment, saying it has shut Iraq’s minorities out of power and failed to fix legal systems and other public services.

As a result, and to jumpstart the nation’s all but paralyzed government, Al-Sadr said he is prepared to direct his party’s 40 lawmakers to support a no confidence vote against Prime Minis-ter Nouri Al-Maliki - so long as he is assured other political blocs in parliament provide the rest of the 163 votes needed.

His declaration delivers a sharp blow to Al-Maliki’s efforts to hold on to power. The Shiite prime minister kept his job after 2010 national elections failed to produce a clear winner only with grudging support from Al-Sadr, an old nemesis. “If the head is reformed, everything beyond it is reformed,” Al-Sadr said about ways to fix the government. He added: “I do not support a no confidence vote if it hurts the Iraqi people. But the no con-fidence is not what has delayed the government from doing its duty.”

An adviser to Al-Maliki, Ali Al-Moussawi, declined to com-ment on Al-Sadr’s statements. -AP

Chinese technicians at the Jiuquan Space Centre monitor the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft as it prepares to link with the Tiangong-1 module just over a week into a manned space mission which includes China’s first female astronaut, following an automatic docking, on June 24, 2012. The Chinese spacecraft on June 24 successfully completed the country’s first manual docking in orbit, a milestone in an ambitious program to build a space station by the end of the decade. (AFP)

Saudis give women Games go-aheadPARIS: Saudi Arabia, where sports events for women are banned, will allow

females to compete in the Olympic Games for the first time, its embassy in London said in a statement issued Sunday.

The Saudi Olympic Committee will “oversee participation of women athletes who can qualify”, the BBC quoted the statement as saying.

The issue of women in sport remains extremely sensitive in the ultra-conserva-tive Muslim state, where women are not even allowed to drive cars and the authori-ties shut down private gyms for women in 2009 and 2010.

Equestrian jumping contestant Dalma Malhas, 18, is likely to be the country’s only female athlete to qualify for this summer’s Games in London which get under-way on July 27. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei are the only three countries never to have sent women athletes to the Olympics. But Qatar has already announced it will send a three-woman team to London. -AFP

Venezuela cutting oil for Paraguay: Chavez

CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says his country will cut off oil shipments to Par-aguay to protest the ouster of Fernando Lugo.

Chavez says Lugo’s removal as president last week was illegal and his insists Venezuela will not recognize the new government of Federico Franco.

The Paraguayan senate’s swift decision to oust Lugo has drawn condemnation around Latin America.

Chavez spoke before a military parade on Sunday and compared Lugo’s removal to the 2009 coup that re-moved Manuel Zelaya in Honduras. Lugo has suggested that national and international clamor could lead Para-guayan lawmakers to reverse his impeachment. -AP

Sea rise faster on East Coast than rest of globeWASHINGTON: From Cape Hatteras,

N.C., to just north of Boston, sea levels are rising much faster than they are around the globe, putting one of the world’s most cost-ly coasts in danger of flooding, government researchers report.

US Geological Survey scientists call the 600-mile swath a “hot spot” for climbing sea levels caused by global warming. Along the region, the Atlantic Ocean is rising at an annual rate three times to four times faster than the global average since 1990, accord-ing to the study published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

It’s not just a faster rate, but at a faster pace, like a car on a highway “jamming on the accelerator,” said the study’s lead au-thor, Asbury Sallenger Jr., an oceanogra-

pher at the agency. He looked at sea levels starting in 1950, and noticed a change be-ginning in 1990.

Since then, sea levels have gone up globally about 2 inches. But in Norfolk, Va., where officials are scrambling to fight more frequent flooding, sea level has jumped a total of 4.8 inches, the research showed. For Philadelphia, levels went up 3.7 inches, and in New York City, it was 2.8 inches. Climate change pushes up sea levels by melting ice sheets in Greenland and west Antarctica, and because warmer water expands.

Computer models long have projected higher levels along parts of the East Coast because of changes in ocean currents from global warming, but this is the first study to show that’s already happened. More on 8

KUWAIT: Sources related to Al Watan said that the committee set up by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to look into the conditions of fishing businesses in the country where they might come up with new recommendations whereby fishing would be banned for an extended period which may reach a full one year.

Sources explained that the reason behind such drastic measure is to give fish ample opportunity to breed.

The committee however is also expected to rec-ommend that alternative ways to make fish avail-able in the market is highly recommended.

The meeting is expected to be attended by sev-eral state departments as well representatives of

local fishing businesses. The Environmental Public Authority (EPA) is expected to endorse the deci-sion citing the red tide and its impact on the fish. Another factor is the presence of sewage water dumped into the sea water which is also fatal to the fishery resources.

On their part, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s representatives is also expected to raise the issue of Mishref Plant and the catastrophic im-pact it has had on the fish.

Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research and Training (KISR) is also expected to be present to provide detailed account of the situation as well as the possibility of farming fish inland as an alterna-tive way. More on 2

Possibility of no fishing for one full year: Ministry of Commerce

localmonday, JUnE 25, 2012

alWaTaN DaIlY

2

Elections candidacy only applicable to ‘true Kuwaitis’: MP Dashti

Possibility of no fishing for one full year: Ministry of Commerce

Staff Writer

KUWAIT: member of Parliament (mP) ab-dulhamid dashti called on His Highness the amir Sheikh Sabah al-ahmad al-Sabah to issue an amiri decree introducing new amendments to the existing amendment laws pertinent to the elections of members of the parliament.

The mP stated that the new amendments should stress that only original Kuwaitis can be applicable for elections candidacy and to disqual-ify those who became naturalized from running in the elections.

mP dashti explained that such move is in total conformity with the country’s constitution

and laws.mP dashti’s new draft bill is related to alter-

ing article 19, item 35/1962 in relevance to the elections of members of parliament. dashti seeks to alter the text as follows:

“It is a condition that whoever wishes to run the race that his name should be listed in one of the elections list and that his father should be a Kuwaiti national tracing his ancestry back to the pre-1920 registration,” he explained.

dashti argued that the existing text only states that the name of the candidate should be listed in the elections list which as dashti argues that it is in a direct and blatant violation of article 28 in the Constitution item a which clearly states that

the candidate should be a Kuwaiti national and that means both father and mother should be Ku-waitis and that they trace their ancestry back to the pre-1920 registration.

“This is not all, the candidate should also prove that they had resided in the country as normal citizens because as it stands the elections regulations regarding the candidates are in con-tradiction to the laws,” he remarked.

He went on to add that by introducing such amendments this would hamper any attempts by those who were naturalized and at the same time do away with the existing condition that after 20 years of naturalization, a naturalized Kuwaiti would be qualified to run the race.

Tarq OrabiStaff Writer

KUWAIT: Sources related to al Watan said that the committee set up by the ministry of Com-merce and Industry to look into the conditions of fishing businesses in the country where they might come up with new recommendations whereby fish-ing would be banned for an extended period which may reach a full one year.

Sources explained that the reason behind such drastic measure is to give fish ample opportunity to breed.

The committee however is also expected to recommend that alternative ways to make fish available in the market is highly recommended.

The meeting is expected to be attended by sev-

eral state departments as well representatives of local fishing businesses. The Environmental Public authority (EPa) is expected to endorse the deci-sion citing the red tide and its impact on the fish. another factor is the presence of sewage water dumped into the sea water which is also fatal to the fishery resources.

on their part, the ministry of Commerce and Industry’s representatives is also expected to raise the issue of mishref Plant and the catastrophic im-pact it has had on the fish.

Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research and Training (KISR) is also expected to be present to provide detailed account of the situation as well as the possibility of farming fish inland as an alterna-tive way.

on their part, the ministry of Interior is also

expected to be present to define areas where fish-ing would be permitted and authorized and the time that such activities would be allowed.

Similarly, representatives from the Public au-thority for agriculture and Fish Resources (Paa-FR) are expected to be present to discuss the pos-sibility of setting up farms and the needed and required support and subsidy anticipated for such new venture.

Kuwait oil representative Ismail al-Khawari would carry out a presentation showing ways and means of farming fishing inland following the re-sounding success by the Kuwait oil Company (KoC) of setting up 1000 farms ascertaining the great potentials of such experiment and that it would be successful as it has been executed in the country.

‘Strategic alternative’ brings salaries to par according to

qualifications: CSCKUWAIT: “adopting the ‘strategic alternative’ system regarding employ-

ment is one of the viable solutions that would bring to par salaries in different institutions according to professional qualifications,” said Civil Service Com-mission (CSC) Undersecretary mohammad al-Roumi in an interview published here, Sunday. In remarks to an arabic local daily, the official said that the said system is a systematic and scientific means to reach balance in the state em-ployees’ salaries budget. It offers a long-term vision and a gradual rather than sudden solution for current problems.

The objective of this system is finding a comprehensive framework for the salaries and wages in the government sector that is both fair and all-inclusive, and one which is based on the positions’ specifications adopted by the commis-sion. al-Roumi noted that the system would bring more justice to the salaries, pay, and allowances and help towards a more just system and processing in terms of promotions and qualification assessment.

“To benefit from the system”, he said, “a standing higher committee under the commission must be formed to manage and direct the new system and to review the financial state of affairs of state institutions every three years. There must also be legislative, political, leadership, and executive support at all state institutions and the recommendations of the said committee must be binding to guarantee success.” There is much effort at present on the part of the Council of ministers, the Civil Service Commission, and other state bodies all aim at bringing more equality among employees in harmony with the state’s general interest, economy, and overall development scheme. -KUna

Amir to decide on fate of Parliament: Al-Kharafi

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

This comes at a time when the majority Bloc’s legal committee prepared a statement, which was made available to members of the bloc on Sunday at ahmad al-Saadoun’s diwaniya in Khaldiya. The bloc will read out the statement during a press conference to be held in due course.

on the other hand, a number of mPs representing the minority Bloc met at mP ali al-Rashed’s diwaniya to discuss all the developments, as well as the fate of the panels set up to probe alleged illicit financial deposits and transfers.

an informed source, in the meantime, affirmed that most of the members of the 2009 assembly declined to be used by the government to offer constitu-tionality to its dissolution. The source added that in the event that the disbanded Parliament makes a comeback, a series of sessions must be convened to rectify the violations committed by the 2012 assembly and finalize the budget. He noted that this will be followed by Cabinet’s resignation and a request that the Parliament be dissolved so that fresh elections can be called. moreover, a num-ber of lawmakers have warned the government against endorsing the budget and amending electoral constituencies through emergency decrees.

For his part, mP Khaled al-Sultan argued that the decree for the dissolution of 2009 Parliament remains valid and that the Constitutional Court does not have a right to reinstate it. He went to say that there is no need for resignation and that any session to be convened by the dissolved Parliament will be regard-ed invalid. “The attempt to have the budget passed by a dissolved Parliament is invalid and unacceptable,” al-Sultan assertively said.

Further, former mP Rola dashti said, “We need a discourse that brings peo-ple together and build rather one that disunites and destroys...The culture of intimidation, misleading and political tension that we have been witnessing is intended to achieving narrow electoral gains to the detriment of the country’s interests.”

Fourth Ring-Road development to decrease traffic: OfficialKUWAIT: “The development of the

fourth Ring-Road is aimed at increasing traffic capacity and avoiding jams,” said an official here Sunday.

Undersecretary for traffic affairs at the ministry of Public Works Engineer Saud al-naqi told Kuwait news agency (KUna) that the fourth ring-road was one of main vital highways in the country, adding that with the considerable amount of urban development within the area, it was imperative to build new structures that help facilitate transport in the coun-try.

“The development project would be executed in three phases that would last for a period of 84 months,” said al-naqi.

The development plan would lead to the inclusion of four lanes with no traf-fic lights for inter-sections. The areas near the fourth ring-road would be connected with each other without being linked to the main-road. -KUna

Handout image of the Fourth Ring-Road’s diagram. (KUNA)

First phase of overhauling Kuwait’s aerial sector proceeding: Official

KUWAIT: Kuwait International airport is cur-rently a site of a progressing venture for overhaul-ing infrastructure of the national aviation sector, according to an aviation official.

Some of the major aspects of the project are the installment of a new radar and upgrading auto-matic landing systems, said Khaled al-Shayji, dep-uty director General of Civil aviation for aerial navigation Services, in an interview with Kuwait news agency (KUna).

Elaborating, he said that the first phase of the venture included a “package” of sub projects de-signed to bolster the infrastructures of the obser-vation and navigation systems, with installment of latest models of radars, surveillance and power networks, as well as networks of basic services, in-stallations and equipment.

The renovation of the sector is conducted on

bases of standards and recommendations of the International Civil aviation organization (ICao), designed for maximum safety, efficiency and order of the aviation operations.

moreover, “The ventures include training cadres for administration, operations and mainte-nance,” he said.

as to executed projects, al-Shayji mentioned the control center, the national monitoring and observation center at the airport, which is the core of the operational systems - building of which is situated on a 112, 500-square-meter plot of land. another one is construction of the infrastructure of the power station at the air facility.

He cited other sub projects within the whole overhaul scheme of the air aviation sector, namely construction of the building and system of moni-toring and the new radar system for optimum

flights’ safety. al-Shayji added that the authority would work out, soon, two contracts for two more ventures, one for rapid and digital information exchange among the departments and sectors of the facility, and the other for upgrading the back-up systems for aiding aircraft for landing in bad weather.

In this vein, he noted that some of the aircraft are specially equipped to land in extremely bad or dusty weather, and hinted that new devices and guidance systems would be installed to aid planes upon landing, particularly those with limited back-up systems for such conditions.

The authority is looking forward to finalize first phase of the overhaul process by 2015, in line with the national strategy of making Kuwait Inter-national airport the main air facility in the region. -KUna

World corporations show interest in water treatment project in Umm Al-Hayman

KUWAIT: over 15 international alliances and corporations showed interest in and presented qualifications for the construction, operation, and manage-ment of the expansion project for Umm al-Hayman sanitary water treatment station, said the Partnership Technical Bureau (PTB) on Sunday.

The PTB said deadline for application and filing of qualifications by inter-national corporations and local companies and bodies not listed with Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) for said project was last Thursday, adding the project is to be executed in line with law 7/2008. This is a key development project to be executed under the supervision of the ministry of Public Works, it pointed out.

The initial phase of the project involves treatment of 500,000 cubic meters per annum, and the capacity is to go up to 700,000 in the second phase, along with the urban expansion in the southern region of the country.

after this qualification stage, the KSE-listed companies and bodies are to present their applications for the same project.

The PTB had first announced the project back in January. -KUna

KFAED grants $5 million for Mali agricultural projects

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Fund for arab Economic development (KFaEd) has signed a grant agreement with mali to finance several small-sized agricultural projects worth five million US dollars, it said here Sunday.

The grant is to be dispensed through its branch in mali and is aimed at achiev-ing food security and increasing food pro-duction through the provision of loans to finance small and micro enterprises in the field of food production, the fund said in a statement.

The agreement was signed by mali’s minister of Finance Tina Kalopala and deputy director-General of the Kuwaiti state fund Ghanim al-Ghunaymaan, add-ed the statement. This is the second grant agreement the KFaEd has thus far signed with the government of mali, the earlier of which is worth $2.4 million.

It has also provided the west african nation with 10 loans worth $160.5 mil-lion and technical assistance for an eco-nomic feasibility study worth $2.7 mil-lion. -KUna

Mali’s Minister of Finance Tina Kalopala (right) and Deputy Director-General of the Kuwaiti state fund Ghanim Al-Ghunaymaan (left) shaking hands during the signing of an agreement Sunday, June 24, 2012. (KUNA)

Diplomat heads to Luxembourg for GCC-EU talks

LONDON: Foreign ministry Undersecretary Khaled al-Jarallah departed London for Luxembourg on Sunday to attend a meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and European Union (EU) foreign ministers.

Seeing off the official, who had earlier represented his country in GCC-British talks, was head of the diplomatic corps and Kuwaiti ambassador to the UK, Khaled al-duwaisan, along with embassy staff.

The talks between representatives of the arab Gulf union and the United Kingdom agreed on cooperation in a number of areas of mutual concern, including attaining safety, security and economic prosperity in the Gulf region, exchanged trade and investment and further diplomatic representation.

Prince Saud Faisal al-Saud headed the GCC ministerial com-mittee in the talks, while British Foreign Secretary William Hague headed his side. -KUna

Kuwaiti charity-funded refugee housing units

in Darfur readyKHARTOUM: Preparations are complete for refugee housing units in north

darfur’s capital of al-Fashir, funded by a number of Kuwaiti charities, it was announced on Sunday.

The ‘Kuwaiti village’ was funded with money raised by charities the Interna-tional Islamic Charitable organization (IICo) and the Kuwaiti Joint Committee for Relief and the awqaf General Secretariat.

around two million US dollars were raised by the charities from the people of Kuwait for the project, director of the office of Kuwait’s charity organization in Sudan, dr. ahmed al-Sanusi told KUna. The village consists of 48 integrated residential units on a 400 square meter area in a addition to a mosque, a school, a water plant, a hospital, a social centre and a police office. -KUna

WORLD mondAY, June 25, 2012

ALWATAN DAILY

3

Turkey takes jet downing to NATO, Syria tension soars

DAMASCUS: nATo said on Sunday it will discuss Turkey’s ac-cusation that Syria shot down one of its warplanes in international airspace, as damascus suffered heavy losses and violence scaled new heights.

Syria’s surging bloodshed saw at least 63 people killed on Sunday, nearly half of them troops who died in clashes with rebels, activists said. Turkish Foreign minister Ahmet davutoglu warned Ankara’s southern neighbor not to challenge Turkey’s military, as Britain, an-other member of the north Atlantic Treaty organization, offered sup-port for “robust” international action.

“According to our conclusions, our plane was shot down in in-ternational airspace, 13 nautical miles from Syria,” davutoglu told Turkey’s TRT television.

“The Syrians knew full well that it was a Turkish military plane and the nature of its mission,” he said.

“nobody should dare put Turkey’s (military) capabilities to the test.” British Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “The (President Bashar Al-Assad) regime should not make the mistake of believing that it can act with impunity. It will be held to account for its behav-ior.”

NATO to discuss issuenATo said it will meet on Tuesday to discuss the issue follow-

ing a request by Turkey. “under Article 4, any ally can request con-sultations whenever, in the opinion of any of them, their territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened,” a nATo spokeswoman said.

damascus said it downed the F-4 Phantom on Friday after it violated Syrian airspace. Turkey had on Saturday acknowledged the plane may have done so, in comments seen as a bid to cool tensions between the former allies, but it now appears to have taken a harder stance.

“Syria was merely exercising its right and sovereign duty and de-fense,” Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad makdissi was quoted as saying on Sunday in a local, a pro-government daily.

“There is no enmity between Syria and Turkey, but political ten-sion (exists) between the two countries.

“What happened was an accident and not an assault as some like to say, because the plane was shot while it was in Syrian airspace and flew over Syrian territorial waters,” makdissi said.

Cnn-Turk television reported that search and rescue teams have located the wreckage of the jet at a depth of 1,300 meters (yards) in the sea, but did not give its precise location or refer to the fate of the two missing pilots. Ankara said it could not confirm the report.

Bloodshed in SyriaAt least 63 people were killed on Sunday in Syria, nearly half of

them regime troops who died in clashes with rebels, the Syrian ob-servatory for Human Rights reported. At least 16 soldiers were killed in the northern province of Aleppo, while the rest died in neighboring Idlib province and in the provinces of damascus and deir el-Zor in the east, the watchdog said.

“The clashes happened almost simultaneously at dawn,” in Alep-po, which borders Turkey, the observatory’s head Rami Abdel Rah-man told AFP.

The fighting took place in the town of dara Aza and at military checkpoints near the town of Al-Atarib and the village of Kafr Halab, the Britain-based watchdog said. The observatory reported that fol-lowing an attack on an artillery battalion also in Aleppo, a number of soldiers defected, taking with them a large quantity of weapons.

In another setback for the regime, rebels captured 11 government soldiers in the central province of damascus, it added.

“This is one of the bloodiest weeks in the conflict,” Abdel Rahman said. The observatory also reported that rebels had shot down a Syr-ian regime helicopter near the Jordanian border.

According to observatory figures, 94 people were killed in Syria last monday, 62 on Tuesday, 88 on Wednesday, 168 on Thursday, 116 on Friday and 116 more on Saturday. “It’s like we are in a war,” Abdel Rahman said.

“Sometimes when two countries are at war, not even 20 people are killed a day. But now in Syria it has become normal to have 100 killed each day.”

A Russian ship that tried to deliver attack helicopters to Syria en-tered the northern port of murmansk on Sunday after being forced to turn back when news of its mission was leaked. An unnamed Russian diplomatic source said the ship, the Alaed, would soon try again to make the highly controversial delivery under the Russian flag.

The switch appears to be an attempt to avoid security inspections that come when sailing under the flag of a third country.

The Alaed was forced to turn back after its mission was initially mentioned by the uS State department and then reported in the Brit-ish press. Those reports prompted the ship’s British insurer to with-draw coverage. -AFP

TRIPOLI: Tunisia extradited former Libyan leader muammar Gadhafi’s prime minister to Libya on Sunday, a Libyan se-curity official said, making him the first senior official to be sent back for trial un-der the country’s transitional leadership.

defense ministry official moham-med Al-Ahwal told Reuters that a heli-copter had transferred Al Baghdadi Ali Al-mahmoudi to the capital Tripoli. “Al-mahmoudi is now in Tripoli and we are holding him in a prison.”

A security official at the prison, who declined to be named, told Reuters that Al-mahmoudi was undergoing medical checks. Al-mahmoudi served as the Lib-yan dictator’s prime minister from 2006 until he fled to neighboring Tunisia around the time that rebel fighters took Tripoli in August. His extradition could establish a precedent for other countries who have given refuge to or arrested members of Gadhafi’s old entourage. Libya’s govern-

ment and the International Criminal Court - which indicted Gadhafi’s son Seif Al-Islam in June for crimes against hu-manity stemming from the crackdown on last year’s revolt - have argued for months over where he should be tried.

Tripoli considers it a matter of na-tional pride and a measure of the coun-try’s transformation for Seif Al-Islam’s and other Gadhafi loyalists trials to be held in Libya. But human rights groups have questioned whether Libya’s justice system can meet the standards of inter-national law and say he should be handed over to the ICC instead.

mabrouk Khorchid, Al-mahmoudi’s lawyer in Tunisia, said neither he nor the former Libyan prime minister’s family had been given any prior warning that he was about to be extradited. “I believe this is a state crime and is against human rights,” he said. “This is a sad moment for human rights in Tunisia. I think he’s going to be

tortured and treated illegally and believe that those who handed him over bear part of the responsibility.”

Khorchid said he had not been al-lowed to see his client for 20 days and had heard that Al-mahmoudi had been placed in solitary confinement and had suffered a nervous breakdown since Tuni-sia’s justice minister said last month that an extradition was imminent. “We called the presidency and they said they had not signed the extradition order and we were surprised that he was handed over like this,” he said. A Tunisian court ruled as far back as november that Al-mahmoudi should be extradited. But Tunisian Presi-dent moncef Al-marzouki later said the handover would not happen until the situation in Libya had stabilized and Al-mahmoudi could be guaranteed a fair trial after Gadhafi himself was killed by rebels and his rotting corpse left on dis-play. -Reuters

Tunisia extradites former Gadhafi PM to Libya

Israeli court okays deportation

of Ivory Coast migrants

JERUSALEM: An Israeli court on Sunday upheld government plans to deport illegal migrants from the Ivory Coast, paving the way for the imminent expulsion of an estimated 2,000 Ivori-ans.

The united nations declared Ivory Coast “a crisis state” in 2004 after years of civil unrest. But after fighting ended and economist Alassane ouattara was president as president in 2011, Israel said it was cancelling a long-standing policy of “collective protection” for Ivo-rian migrants.

on Sunday, the Jerusalem district Court rejected a petition by 132 Ivo-rian emigres requesting that their status be restored, or that alternatively each be enabled to apply for refugee status, or given leave to stay on humanitarian grounds.

The petition argued that “based on many international reports, including re-cent un reports, the situation in Ivory Coast is still dangerous,” and their status should therefore not change.

But the court ruled that the new policy, based on Israeli foreign ministry evaluations, was reasonable and propor-tionate.

Sabine Hadad, spokeswoman for the interior ministry’s population and mi-gration authority, told AFP there were approximately 2,000 Ivorians in Israel, and that their expulsion would begin in July.

Last week, Israel flew home a first plane load of 120 illegal immigrants from South Sudan who it said had agreed to be voluntarily repatriated. Since June 10, Israel has arrested hundreds of Africans in a nationwide roundup with the aim of deporting them.

At Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting, Prime minister Benjamin netanyahu an-nounced that a second flight to South Su-dan would leave Israel on monday. “Two additional planes will leave next week,” he added.

Hadad said 150 South Sudanese who agreed to leave Israel voluntarily would fly directly to the capital Juba between monday and Tuesday. -AFP

A handout image released by the Syrian opposition’s Shaam News Network on June 24, 2012, shows Syrians carrying the coffin of a person killed during the Syrian army offensive of the restive city of Homs on June 20, 2012. (AFP)

CAIRO: Sudanese security forces used tear gas to break up anti-regime demonstrations in Khartoum on Sunday, opposition figures said, as the government vowed to press ahead with economic aus-terity measures that set off a wave of un-rest last weekend. In messages broadcast by the Sudanese state media, the regime threatened “stern measures” against the protests, which first targeted the austerity moves but have expanded to include calls for the ouster of longtime President omar Al-Bashir. Several hundred students gath-ered at Khartoum university, where the demonstrations started eight days ago,

said Kamal omar of the Popular Congress Party. He said pro-government “militias” attacked them. other opposition figures said police fired tear gas to break up the rally and arrested dozens of students.

The official SunA news agency re-ported late Saturday that authorities instructed police to “deal sternly with saboteurs.” The regime is determined that “subversive incidents” would not deter it from implementing recent economic deci-sions, the news agency said.

Protesters reject a government aus-terity plan that slashed subsidies and doubled the price of fuel and food. They

also appear to be inspired by Arab Spring uprisings that brought down regimes in neighboring egypt and Libya and are demanding the downfall of Al-Bashir’s regime. demonstrations have been con-centrated near Khartoum university on the banks of the Blue nile river but have also spread to the city’s far-flung outskirts and at least one provincial capital.

Representatives of Sudan’s opposi-tion parties say they have been meeting to come up with a unified stand on the protests. Police and security forces have arrested a number of party leaders in the past days, they say. -AP

Sudan steps up crackdown on protests

ANKARA: Turkey said on Sunday it had carried out air strikes on nine Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq be-tween June 22-24, days after severe clashes on the other side of the border.

The Turkish military said in a statement that most of the targets were in the Qandil region and were hideouts and caves belonging to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants. It said all its planes had returned safely to their bases.

Turkish soldiers and Kurdish militants clashed last week in one the most intense battles this year of the separatist con-flict, with 26 combatants killed in fighting at army outposts in southeast Turkey, officials and security sources said.

up to 100 fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) launched simultaneous dawn attacks on three military

observation points in Hakkari province near Turkey’s moun-tainous border with Iraq, killing eight soldiers and wounding 19, the sources said.

masoud Barzani, president of the Iraqi Kurdish region, criticized Turkey’s air strikes, saying that a peaceful solution was the only answer.

“It is unfortunate that we are seeing this kind of deterio-ration and we are against the operations that are carried out inside Turkey or the air raids that are carried out by Turkey in areas in Iraqi Kurdistan,” Barzani told a news conference in the Iraqi Kurdish capital Arbil on Sunday.

The oil-producing autonomous region of Kurdistan is a potential flashpoint for tensions among ethnic Kurds, Turk-men and Iraqi Arabs. -Reuters

Warplanes strike Kurdish militants in northern Iraq

Much is riding on the United Nations Rio+20 summit. Many are billing it as Plan A for Planet Earth and want lead-

ers bound to a single international agreement to protect our life-support system and prevent a global humanitarian crisis. Inaction in Rio would be disastrous, but a single international agreement would be a grave mistake. We can-not rely on singular global policies to solve the problem of managing our common resources: the oceans, atmosphere, forests, waterways, and rich diversity of life that combine to create the right conditions for life, including seven bil-lion humans, to thrive.

We have never had to deal with problems of the scale facing today’s globally intercon-nected society. No one knows for sure what will work, so it is important to build a system that can evolve and adapt rapidly.

Decades of research demonstrate that a va-riety of overlapping policies at city, sub-nation-al, national, and international levels is more likely to succeed than are single, overarching

binding agreements. Such an evolutionary ap-proach to policy provides essential safety nets should one or more policies fail.

The good news is that evolutionary policy-making is already happening organically. In the absence of effective national and international legislation to curb greenhouse gases, a grow-ing number of city leaders are acting to protect their citizens and economies. This is hardly sur-prising - indeed, it should be encouraged.

Most major cities sit on coasts, straddle riv-ers, or lie on vulnerable deltas, putting them on the front line of rising sea levels and flooding in the coming decades. Adaptation is a neces-sity. But, with cities responsible for 70 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions, mitigation is better.

When it comes to tackling climate change, the United States has produced no federal mandate explicitly requiring or even promot-ing emissions-reductions targets. But, by May last year, some 30 US states had developed their own climate action plans, and more than 900 US cities have signed up to the US climate-protection agreement.

This grassroots diversity in “green policy-making” makes economic sense. “Sustainable cities” attract the creative, educated people who want to live in a pollution-free, modern urban environment that suits their lifestyles. This is where future growth lies. Like upgrad-

ing a mobile phone, when people see the ben-efits, they will discard old models in a flash. Of course, true sustainability goes further than pollution control. City planners must look be-yond municipal limits and analyze flows of re-sources - energy, food, water, and people - into and out of their cities.

Worldwide, we are seeing a heteroge-neous collection of cities interacting in a way that could have far-reaching influence on how Earth’s entire life-support system evolves. These cities are learning from one another, building on good ideas and jettisoning poorer ones. Los Angeles took decades to implement pollution controls, but other cities, like Beijing, converted rapidly when they saw the benefits. In the coming decades, we may see a global system of interconnected sustainable cities emerging. If successful, everyone will want to join the club.

Fundamentally, this is the right approach

for managing systemic risk and change in com-plex interconnected systems, and for success-fully managing common resources - though it has yet to dent the inexorable rise in global greenhouse-gas emissions. Rio+20 has come at a crucial juncture and is undoubtedly impor-tant. For 20 years, sustainable development has been viewed as an ideal toward which to aim. But the first State of the Planet Declara-tion, published at the recent mammoth science gathering Planet Under Pressure, made it clear that sustainability is now a prerequisite for all future development. Sustainability at local and national levels must add up to global sustain-ability. This idea must form the bedrock of na-tional economies and constitute the fabric of our societies.

The goal now must be to build sustain-ability into the DNA of our globally intercon-nected society. Time is the natural resource in shortest supply, which is why the Rio summit

must galvanize the world. What we need are universal sustainable development goals on is-sues such as energy, food security, sanitation, urban planning, and poverty eradication, while reducing inequality within the planet’s limits. As an approach to dealing with global issues, the UN Millennium Development Goals have succeeded where other initiatives have failed. Though not all MDGs will be met by the target date of 2015, we can learn a great deal from the experience.

Setting goals can overcome inertia, but ev-eryone must have a stake in establishing them: countries, states, cities, organizations, com-panies, and people everywhere. Success will hinge on developing many overlapping policies to achieve the goals.

We have a decade to act before the eco-nomic cost of current viable solutions becomes too high. Without action, we risk catastrophic and perhaps irreversible changes to our life-support system. Our primary goal must be to take planetary responsibility for this risk, rather than placing in jeopardy the welfare of future generations.

Elinor Ostrom, a Nobel laureate in econom-ics, was Chief Scientific Advisor to the Planet Under Pressure conference and is Professor of Political Science and Senior Co- Research Di-rector of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University.

OPINION / VIEWSMONDAY, JUNE 25, 2012

ALWATAN DAILY

4

Have an opinion?

If your submission grabs our attention, we’ll let you know what we think and possibly publish it on this page. Give your opinion a voice. Write for Al Watan Daily today.

Share it with the world! The Al Watan Daily accepts articles written on any subject, expressing personal views on topics you care about or in reaction to a column already published in our pages. We will review it and then get back to you. Just email us your thoughts at opinion@alwatandaily.com

The views and opinions presented on the ‘Opinion’ & ‘Views’ page are the authors’ own, and do not necessarily represent those of Al Watan Daily and its staff.DISCLAIMER:

Al Sawari International for advertising & publishing

EDItor-IN-CHIEF

Dr. Ali AltarrahGENErAl MANAGEr

Dina Al-Mallak

CONTACT US to SubSCrIbE: +(965) 2482 6780

Al WAtAN HotlINE: 1822255

TO ADVERTISE: tel. +(965) 2249 5103 Fax. +(965) 2249 5107

E-mail: times@choueirigroup.com

For PrESS rElEASES: alwatandaily@alwatandaily.com or info@alwatandaily.com

EDITORSDarlynn Amara

Halah Al GharaballyAmina Mustafa

Ali MarafieAngie Galal

Julius Paul Coelho fOR CLASSIfIEDSFAX: +(965) 2492 5797

E-mail: classifieds@alwatandaily.com

In the absence of effective national and international legislation to curb greenhouse gases, a growing number of city leaders are acting to protect their citizens and economies.

When democracies collide Irrational decisions in a plunging economyShamlan Yusuf Al-Eisa

The civil and political situation; com-pounded with the business atmo-sphere in Kuwait has always been

such that we have a long way to go if we are indeed serious about realizing all those aspirations, dreams and hopes of the people that the government always claims it will strive to attain. It is clearly evident that the government’s long-held plans of transform-ing Kuwait into a commercial, regional and entrepreneurial center will certainly not materialize if it stubbornly chooses to stick to its outdated and outmoded policies and procedures that are simply not conversant with the business atmosphere nor are they feasible with the changing times.

Looking at the way the government seems to be playing second fiddle to the tune that the MPs want it to play especially where the private sector is concerned (as is evident in the fact that the government caters to their every whim and fancy) there cannot be a shadow of doubt in one’s mind that the MPs, for obvious reasons, are taking undue advantage of the situation and the help-lessness of the government. This is clearly evident in the fact that there have been nu-merous occasions wherein MPs have issued provocative statements that they are against the private sector simply because that sec-tor is awash with unscrupulous merchants who are just a bunch of marauding thieves that have been, since time immemorial, pil-laging and plundering the wealth of people through repeatedly increasing the prices of food and other items.

It is, by now, open knowledge that the new policies of the government are defi-nitely directed towards abusing power and

authority as is evident in the fact that there still exists rampant corruption in most, if not all, government apparatuses. To cite a case in point, it was only last week that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry headed by Min-ister Anas Al-Saleh, who also happens to be a former member of the Chamber of Com-merce and Industry, took the terrible initia-tive of actually shutting down major and reputed commercial companies in Kuwait. What on earth was he thinking when he took that decision -- bearing in mind the underly-ing fact that those companies employ over 60,000 employees -- most of whom happen to be Kuwaiti nationals? I just cannot bring myself to comprehend what exactly is go-ing on in the minds of some decision mak-ers in our country - especially in a country that is so resourceful and financially secure. What I’m trying to say here is: instead of encouraging companies in the private sec-tor to expand and promote their business enterprises, we are deemed to witness the government taking a host of irrational and abusive measures against companies in the private sector. This was clearly evident when news was splashed across the pages of local newspapers recently claiming that the min-istry recently shut down two of the major food companies in Kuwait.

The two companies namely; the Kuwait Food Company (Americana) and the Sultan Center in Salwa were shut down for some-thing as trivial as food inspectors unearthing six chocolate bars that had expired a week ago at the Sultan Center in Dajeej, while Americana was shut down after some mea-sly sachets of expired salted peanuts were found on one of the shelves. I personally feel that it is only normal to find some stray cases of expired food items at major whole-

sale stores that deal with an approximate yet staggering 45,000 plus food and various other items on a daily basis.

I also cannot comprehend the reasons why the authorities do not follow standard operative procedures before taking any deci-sions like (in this particular case) they could have issued warnings to those companies or even penalized them for those irregularities instead of just demanding then to down their shutters at a moment’s notice. Unintended and honest mistakes are witnessed at most, if not all, establishments and hence; there are certain rules and regulations that are usu-ally followed like; shutting companies who blatantly repeat their offences even after the issuance of two or three warnings or fines. In fact; it is a crying shame that that the young minister decides to shut down the stores for an indefinite period of time for a reason as petty as jumping over a fence. It now seems pretty obvious that the government that is represented by the likes of this young min-ister is trying to appease the National As-sembly as best as it possibly can, in desperate attempts to avoid interpellation motions be-ing slapped on it at the drop of a hat. It is pa-thetic that the government is least concerned over the heavy losses that owners and share-holders of Americana and Sultan Center will be deemed to incur due to the shutdown. It is also unfortunate that the government has turned Kuwait into an oil-dependent country and most importantly; has failed to shoulder its responsibilities efficiently. How can the government even contemplate transforming Kuwait into a financial and commercial hub if it maintains such a stance? I personally feel that Kuwait can achieve that status - but only when the weathered old lady opens her mouth to sing.

Green from the grassroots

The multipolar nature of today’s international system will again be on display at the upcom-ing G-20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico. Glob-

al problems are no longer solved, crises managed, or global rules defined, let alone implemented, the old-fashioned way, by a few, mostly Western, powers. Incipient great and middle powers, such as India, Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkey, and South Africa, also demand their say.

Some of these powers are still emerging econ-omies. Politically, however, most of them have crossed the threshold that has long limited their ac-cess to the kitchen of international decision-mak-ing. The five permanent members of the United Na-tions Security Council (the “P-5”) still defend their right to veto resolutions, and their military power is unmatched. But they can no longer dispose of sufficient resources, competence, and legitimacy to cope with global challenges or crises on their own.

Bipolarity is a thing of the past, and it is un-likely to re-emerge in a new Sino-American “G-2.” It is equally unlikely for the foreseeable future that any one club of countries, such as the G-7 or G-8, will again assume a quasi-hegemonic position. Even the G-20 in its current composition may not really represent the forces that can and will shape the twenty-first century.

For the United States, the European Union, Japan, and other members of the “Old West,” the good news is that most of the emerging powers that are positioning themselves for a more active global role are also democracies. Within the G-20, only two states - China and Saudi Arabia - explic-itly do not want to be liberal democracies, while a third, Russia, has developed into an autocracy with a democratic facade.

The not-so-good news is that these new dem-ocratic powers do not necessarily share the Old West’s political agenda. For example, they differ about climate policies, seeing a threat to develop-ment. Similarly, while new middle and great powers do not always agree, they are generally more skep-tical of both international sanctions and military interventions.

Moreover, some of the most important of these states differ substantially with the US, and often also with the EU, about the right approach toward regional conflicts, especially in the Middle East. Thus, in 2010, the US found itself in a serious dip-lomatic dispute with Turkey and Brazil about how to resolve the conflict with Iran over its nuclear program. Without actually admitting it, the US was clearly unhappy that these two states tried to play a diplomatic role of their own in the dispute.

Differences are also apparent where new dem-

ocratic middle or great powers have formed new groups or clubs, such as the BRICS, together with non-democratic powers. India, Brazil, and South Africa are using such formats in a pragmatic way to pursue their interests, or simply to demonstrate their increased international weight. There is little agreement between them and Russia or China - both P-5 members - with regard to political values or to fundamental questions of international or-der.

Along with many other states in the global South, however, Russia and China tend to defend the principle of non-interference, and they are generally reluctant to support any US or European attempts to project democracy or defend human rights in other countries. Not a few policymakers in the US and in Europe have reacted with aston-ishment, or even annoyance, to these emerging democratic powers’ attempts to pursue their own agendas on the world stage.

Such reactions partly reflect old thinking rooted in the Cold War, when democratic countries might differ over details, but would agree about the main questions of international politics. Those who pur-sued a different agenda on substantial matters were either not part of the “democratic camp” or were not important international players. By contrast, a central feature of today’s globalized, multipolar world is that shared democratic values do not guar-antee agreement about substantial questions of in-ternational politics.

The more democracies there are, the more conflicts of interests and differences are likely to emerge between democratic countries. There is little reason to react with anger when states like Turkey, Brazil, and South Africa set priorities differ-ent from those of Europe or the US, or have differ-ent views about how to deal with the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iran, development aid, democracy promo-tion, or environmental protection. The US example shows clearly that democratic great powers often pursue their interests with little regard for a global common good that others have defined.

In other words, the international order is be-coming more pluralistic. The task for established Western democracies is to accept and cope with such “democratic differences” on the international level, and to seek multilateral coalitions to man-age or solve problems. In principle, the EU is better positioned than the US (and certainly than China) to take on this task. Europeans are well practiced in dealing with differences and shaping consensus among principally like-minded states.

That said, Europe needs to learn to be clearer and more transparent about the interests underly-ing its own policies, rather than suggesting that its positions on a specific subject represent the only rational implementation of democratic values and norms.

Volker Perthes is Executive Chairman and Direc-tor of Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Berlin.

Elinor OstromProject Syndicate

The US example shows clearly that democratic great powers often pursue their interests with little regard for a global common good that others have defined.

Volker PerthesProject Syndicate

Ali Farzat

NEWS IN BRIEFGunmen kill 3 policemen in southwest PakistanQUETTA: Gunmen killed three police-men in a drive-by shooting on the out-skirts of Pakistan’s troubled southwestern city of Quetta on Sunday, police said. The shooting comes a day after gunmen on motorcycles shot dead eight men at a laundry in a busy area of Quetta, the capi-tal of oil- and gas-rich Baluchistan prov-ince, before fleeing. “Two gunmen riding a motorbike opened fire on a police mo-bile van, killing three policemen,” senior local police official, Sikandar Tareen, told AFP. He said that the incident happened while the policemen were on a routine patrol in the area. Another local police official Abdul Qayyum also confirmed the incident and casualties. Police and security forces are frequently attacked in insurgency-plagued Baluchistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan. There was no claim of responsibility for the latest incident. -AFP

Zimbabwean police investigate finance ministerHARARE: Zimbabwean police said on Sunday they had launched an investiga-tion connected with finance minister Ten-dai Biti, and a state-owned newspaper said the probe was over the disappear-ance of 20 million US dollars in a failed bank. Biti told the Sunday Mail he was not responsible for the missing money, which was part of a 2009 emergency In-ternational Monetary Fund (IMF) facility and intended to help distressed manufac-turing firms. The paper said Biti had trans-ferred the money from the IMF into local bank Interfin, closed this month due to a liquidity crisis. “Yes the money is miss-ing. The fact that Interfin was appointed the fund manager means it was them who were handling the money and not me,” he told the Sunday Mail. Assistant police commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena told Re-uters on Sunday: “There is an investiga-tion going on but I cannot give any details at the moment.”-Reuters

Nigeria’s Boko Haram free 40 in prison breakLAGOS: Nigeria’s Islamist sect Boko Haram stormed a prison in their north-eastern heartland on Sunday, freeing 40 inmates, police said, in the latest of a string of attacks blamed on the group. “There was an attack on the Yobe prison this morning, the Boko Haram sect at-tacked the prison through the Emir pal-ace, 40 inmates escaped,” said Patrick Eg-buniwe, Yobe State police commissioner. “They attacked with rifles, the police and the joint task force confronted them and the Boko Haram members that were shot were carried away by the sect.” He said two of the attackers were shot dead and some policemen were injured. Gun bat-tles between sect members and security forces in Yobe’s capital Damaturu killed 40 people on Tuesday last week. Boko Haram has been blamed for several prison breaks in the past and one of the group’s few demands has been that its imprisoned members should be freed. -Reuters

WORLD MoNDAY, JUNE 25, 2012

ALWATAN DAILY

5

Bolivia police deny deal, recommit to ‘mutiny’LA PAZ: Police in Bolivia rejected Sunday a pay deal be-

tween the government and the unions and recommitted to a mu-tiny that has seen the military deployed onto the streets to keep the peace.

The government of leftist President Evo Morales has accused the striking police of setting the stage for a possible coup attempt by stockpiling weapons and pressuring other units to turn over their arms.

Bolivian Interior Minister Carlos Romero announced over-night that the government had signed a deal on new salary terms and that officers had agreed to end their mutiny in key cities.

“our dialogue with the police has ended and we were able to reach sound agreements in order to overcome this police crisis that has taken place in recent days,” Romero told a press confer-ence.

“I want to say to our colleagues that we must restore (law en-forcement) services, with the commitment that we must provide quality service and professionalism,” said police sergeant Edgar Ramos, a union representative. But within hours any such deal appeared to be falling apart.

“We reject the deal and we are carrying on with the mutiny,” a non-identified officer told a public meeting in La Paz, before a march by some 300 police past the gates of the heavily-guarded presidential palace.

“Police mutiny! Police mutiny!” they chanted, while any of-ficials and employees found in police stations across the capital were being turned out by strike supporters, accused of not join-ing the movement. Police in other major cities like Potosi, Co-chabamba and Beni had also rejected the deal, which would have seen pay packages boosted by 220 bolivianos (32 US dollars) a month, Catholic radio Fides reported.

Refusing to budge from their demand for a minimum pay hike to 2,000 bolivianos ($287), from the current average of $195 a month, police in the capital denounced union leaders for caving in to the government.

“The leaders are traitors, they are salesmen for the govern-ment,” one uniformed officer shouted, refusing to be identified because he said he feared government repression. Many of the mutineers wore hoods. Their demands also include full pay upon retirement, a police ombudsman, and the overturning of a law that bans them from publicly expressing their opinions.

In addition, demonstrators are calling for the resignation of the national police chief, Colonel Victor Maldonado. Defense Minister Ruben Saavedra on Saturday announced that the mili-

tary was deploying more troops onto the streets to protect pri-vate property and ensure public order. “The military police will redouble their personnel in the main cities of the country, with patrols and guards in the streets, to avoid excesses against private property,” Saavedra said in a statement.

Police sergeant Javier Quispe, a spokesman for the strikers, denied any plans for a coup, calling it a “total lie.”

“We want to tell the public it’s not like that. This is a just demand for a fair salary,” Quispe said.

The mutiny began Thursday when protesters took over the

headquarters of the country’s riot police and eight other police stations. It then spread to more than two dozen police stations and command centers across the country.

on Friday, a crowd of some 300 striking police, dressed in civilian clothes and covering their faces, attacked the National Intelligence Directorate, smashing windows, pulling out furni-ture, documents and computers, and even setting flags ablaze.

Roughly 300 protesters later hurled rocks and smashed win-dows at national police headquarters. Police on duty outside the building offered no resistance. -AFP

Armed mutinied policemen stand on the roof of a police headquarters in La Paz, on June 23, 2012 during a police strike de-manding a salary increase. (AFP)

Greek PM to miss EU summit, ‘troika’ postpones trip

ATHENS: Greece’s new prime minister and incoming finance minister, who have been ill, will miss this week’s EU summit when Athens will propose easing the terms of its bailout and international lenders have had to postpone a first meeting with the team.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras underwent eye surgery on Saturday and Vassilis Rapanos is in hospital after suffering from nausea, intense abdominal pains and dizziness on Friday before he could be sworn in as finance minister.

The foreign minister and outgoing finance minister will attend the June 28-29 meeting to ask for the terms of the 130 billion euro (162.96 billion US dollars) bailout to be loosened.

A European Union official said the unex-pected turn of events had forced the postpone-ment of a visit to Athens on Monday by officials from Greece’s “troika” of lenders - the Europe-an Union, European Central Bank and Interna-tional Monetary Fund.

The officials had been expected to meet Samaras and Rapanos and set a later date for a review of Greece’s implementation of reforms required under the program.

“The troika’s visit has been postponed for a few days,” the EU official said on condition of anonymity. “A new date will be announced in the coming days.”

Samaras’s coalition government, sworn in last week, has called for the renegotiation of the painful terms of the financial lifeline, which is keeping Greece from bankruptcy but at the cost of harsh economic suffering.

The government faces a stern test at the two-day EU summit, with euro zone paymaster Ger-many particularly resistant to giving Athens any leeway.

Greece will be represented by Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos and outgoing Finance Minister George Zanias, government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said.

He said Samaras would leave hospital on Monday after undergoing a successful operation to repair a damaged retina.

“The orders of his doctor are for him not to travel and to stay at home for a few days,” he said. The hospital said his condition was “good and improving.”

“The prime minister cannot travel by car or by plane,” Panagiotis Theodosiadis, chief doctor at the Attika hospital, told Mega TV.

Responding to strong public pressure during a fifth year of recession, the government’s pro-gram calls for tax cuts, extra help for the poor and unemployed, a freeze on public sector lay-offs and more time to cut its deficit.

Greece’s euro zone partners have offered only adjustments to make up for the weeks of paralysis during two elections since early May and a deeper than expected recession.

But there will be no radical re-write, they say. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeu-ble said Greece had already forfeited much of Europe’s trust.

Greece’s new coalition brings together New Democracy, Socialist PASoK and the small Democratic Left in an uneasy alliance facing an emboldened opposition.

Before he could be sworn in, incoming Fi-nance Minister Rapanos was rushed to the Hy-geia Hospital. Doctors said on Saturday he had undergone a scanning test and that he was “sta-ble and improving.” He was to continue drug therapy but no further details were available on his illness. -Reuters

BANGKOK: Thailand’s “red shirts” turned out in force on Sunday to warn the judiciary they will not stand by if a plan to amend the constitution is rejected, a rewrite critics say is aimed at allowing exiled former premier Thak-sin Shinawatra to come home.

The current prime minister is Yingluck Shi-nawatra, Thaksin’s sister. Her administration, including leaders of the red shirt protest group, describe the amendments and related amnesty moves as part of reconciliation plans to end a seven-year crisis.

The Constitutional Court is examining arguments that the government’s amend-ments could threaten Thailand’s constitutional monarchy. A final decision is expected in July, which will determine whether the debate can go ahead in August. The present constitution was brought in under a military government in 2007 after Thaksin was ousted in a coup the previous year. According to police estimates, 35,000 red shirts had gathered at Democracy Monument in central Bangkok by late after-noon, many from Thaksin strongholds in the north and northeast, meeting in a festive atmo-sphere under light police presence.

A provisional court order this month caused the suspension of parliamentary debate on changes to the constitution, temporarily averting a crisis with all the potential to flare up into another bloody street protest.

“The courts take their orders from the rul-ing classes. They are an obstacle to true democ-racy and that is why we are here today - this country still doesn’t have true democracy,” Somwang Assarasee, a red shirt leader, told Reuters.

“If the court decides the charter cannot be amended, we will not listen. We are prepared to defy the court.”

Rallies by the red shirts, mostly drawn from poorer sections of society, and rival anti-Thaksin yellow shirts have frequently spilled over into violence. At least 90 people died and

almost 2,000 were injured during a protracted red shirt rally in 2010 that was put down by the military. He has chosen to live in exile rather than return and serve time in prison after be-ing found guilty of abuse of power.

The red shirts say the latest court order shows complicity between the judiciary and a powerful elite around the royalist establish-ment and the army. The courts have made deci-sions on several occasions in recent years that have caused pro-Thaksin governments to fall.

“The injunction against the charter amend-ment bill reinforces the red shirts’ view that the judicial odds are stacked against them,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political analyst at

Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.“Their street mobilization this time sends

signals they will not stand by and be disenfran-chised yet again,” he added.

The red shirts chose June 24 for their lat-est gathering as it marks the anniversary of a revolution that brought an end to absolute monarchy in 1932. Thaksin has been accused of republican leanings - taboo in a country where the king is revered by many - although he has always denied that. To the anger of some red shirts, Yingluck has ignored calls to amend lese-majeste laws that can give lengthy prison sentences to those found guilty of insulting the royal family. -Reuters

Thai ‘red shirts’ rally as constitutional clash looms

A “Red Shirt” demonstrator (left) holds up a portrait with an image of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra (pictured left) and his sister, current Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, as they gather at Democracy Monument in Bangkok on June 24, 2012 to mark the 80th anniversary of the June 24, 1932 coup. (AFP)

Pakistan decree to stop challenges to ex-PM’s actions

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday issued a de-cree to prevent actions taken in the past two months by the ex-premier, recently ousted by judges, from being challenged in court.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday or-dered the dismissal of Yousuf Raza Gilani as prime minister after convicting him of contempt in April for refusing to reopen Swiss corruption cases against Zardari.

The move was the culmination of a stand-off between the judiciary and the government, and forced the main ruling Pakistan People’s Party to hastily elect Raja Pervez Ashraf as the new premier on Friday in a bid to end the crisis.

Sunday’s decree aims to prevent ac-tions taken and orders passed by Gilani between April 26 - when he was con-victed of contempt- and his dismissal this week from being challenged in any Paki-stani court, according to the text of the ordinance.

When they ousted Gilani, the Su-preme Court said he was no longer prime minister from the date of his contempt conviction, raising the prospect of any ac-tions he took as premier in the past two months being challenged.

“Any actions taken, orders passed, di-rections issued, advice given to president or appointments made by Yousuf Raza Gilani, shall be deemed to have been val-idly done,” the ordinance said.

“The provisions of the ordinance shall have, and shall be deemed to always have had, effect accordingly.”

It said that “no suit, prosecution or any other legal proceedings including a petition shall lie in any court or forum in-cluding the Supreme Court” against any order made or functions performed by the former premier.

The PPP government, dogged by cor-ruption allegations, has been locked in a stand-off with the judiciary for years. Zardari was forced to ditch his first choice to replace Gilani, Makhdoom Shahabud-din, after an anti-narcotics court ordered his arrest over a drugs scandal. -AFP

LONDON: British Prime Minister Da-vid Cameron on Sunday proposed scrap-ping rent subsidies for Britons under 25, in a newspaper interview likely to strain his Conservative Party’s coalition with the Liberal Democrats for the second time in a week. Requiring almost 400,000 low-paid and unemployed young Britons to live with their parents if they cannot afford market rents could save just under 2 billion pounds ($3.1 billion) a year, Cameron said in an in-terview with the Mail on Sunday.

Asked about the proposal in a BBC in-terview, Lib Dem Deputy Finance Minister Danny Alexander said the coalition had al-ready implemented major welfare reforms - including cuts to housing benefit - and that these should be allowed to bed down first.

Separately, the Archbishop of Canter-bury Rowan Williams, leader of more than 80 million Anglicans worldwide and a long-standing critic, accused Cameron of “aspi-rational waffle designed to conceal a deeply damaging withdrawal of the state from its

responsibilities to the most vulnerable”.The Conservatives and the centre-left

Liberal Democrats formed a coalition in May 2010, and have regular public disagree-ments, though weak ratings for both parties limit any incentive to end the coalition be-fore elections must be held in 2015.

A YouGov opinion poll released on Sun-day for the Sunday Times showed support for the opposition Labor Party at 43 percent, the Conservatives on 34 percent and the Lib Dems on 9 percent. Earlier this week, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg opposed plans from Michael Gove, the education minister, to reintroduce separate exams for able and less able pupils at the age of 16. Such exams were phased out in 1986, partly because they were viewed as reinforcing social divi-sions. While Cameron said there would be exemptions to any ban on housing benefits for under-25s in special cases - such as for those suffering from domestic violence - he argued that the current benefits system re-duced incentives for people to work.

“The system currently sends the signal you are better off not working, or working less. It encourages people not to work and have children, but we should help people to work and have children,” he was quot-ed as saying. Britain’s unemployment rate stands at 8.2 percent - relatively low given the depth of its economic slump after the financial crisis - but for those aged 18-24 it is 19.9 percent.

The Mail on Sunday said Cameron also favored forced community work for 5,000-10,000 people unemployed for more than 2 years who were deemed to be work-shy and unwilling to take part in training programs.

Cameron will announce further details of his plans in a speech on Monday.

one of Cameron’s main themes in the 2010 election campaign was the “Big Soci-ety,” which aimed to encourage voluntary community work. It was this that the Arch-bishop of Canterbury decried as “aspira-tional waffle” in book extracts published on Sunday by the observer. -Reuters

UK’s Cameron proposes axing youth housing subsidy

BUSINESSUS Crude

$80.15 $0.39London Brent

$91.51 $0.53Kuwait Crude

$90.12 $1.72Information Courtesy: KAMCO

market watch

KUWAIT DUBAI QATAR OMAN ABU DHABI BAHRAIN EGYPT SAUDI

cUrreNcIeSUS DollarBuy 0.28Sell 0.281

EuroBuy 0.3519Sell 0.3533

British PoundBuy 0.4369Sell 0.4371

Japanese YenBuy 0.3486Sell 0.3487

Saudi RiyalBuy 0.0746Sell 0.0749

UAE DirhamBuy 0.0762Sell 0.0765

Qatari RiyalBuy 0.07690Sell 0.07720

Bahraini DinarBuy 0.7426Sell 0.7454

Indian RupeeBuy 0.4903Sell 0.4906

Philippine Peso

Buy 0.00659Sell 0.0066

Prices in Kuwaiti fils. As of June 24, 2012. Courtesy: KAMCO

OIL marketS

1.15%5834

0.66%1461

0.29%8230

0.17%5656

1.11%2481

0.36%1124

0.43%67453.34%

4166

MOnDAY, JUnE 25, 2012

In Focus

Zugzwang

CAPITALS: ‘Zugzwang’ is a term long used in chess, that describes a situation where one in compelled to make a move which one would prefer to avoid. The 21st century business Zugzwang is likely to be a reverse - compulsion not to make a move, when one would prefer to make a move.

There has been a recent rush of US companies to issue low cost debt. Colgate - Palmolive raised 500 million US dol-lars for 10 years at only 2.3 percent, McDonald’s raised $400 million for seven years at a two percent yield, and Johnson & Johnson borrowed $500 million for two years at just 70 basis points. In many instances the cost of borrowing for US companies is now lower than dividend yields and companies will be tempted to use cheap borrowings to buy back their shares and increase their earnings per share. There are two corollaries to this debt funded buyback of shares. Firstly, a borrowing is a borrowing, however low the cost of borrow-ing is, and operations must generate sufficient funds to re-pay. Secondly, the use of low cost debt to fund buyback of shares implies a lack of confidence in management’s ability to invest in operations and deliver a return of at least three percent over ten years. Zugzwang with regard to borrowing seems to be a good policy.

The USA is sore with India on a number of counts. not the least being that students of Indian origin regularly bag the Spelling Bee contest top spots and, since 2007 an Indian has claimed the world chess championship (the US formerly holding the distinction of dethroning the former Soviet bloc champions). now, it seems that, adding insult to injury, India is likely to be the world’s largest exporter of buffalo meat. This sort of turns on its head and even gives a whole new twist to the legendary Buffalo Bill, his Wild West adventures and Red Indians. Given time, these are likely to become ad-ventures of the not so wild east and not so red, Indians. India will be the leading exporter of beef in 2012, ahead of Aus-tralia and Brazil. India’s exports of buffalo meat have tripled since 2009, to over 1.5 million tons a year. Outsourcing of beef exports is something America cannot complain about, unlike complaining about call centre (or BPO) operations in India. The west certainly cannot have its beef, eat it and complain about it too.

Yum! (KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell) is quickly attempt-ing to replicates its success in China to other emerging mar-kets. From 600 stores in 2001, Yum now has over 4,000 stores in China, far ahead of McDonald’s meagre 1,400 plus stores. Yum’s strategy has been to localize the menu where possible, establish robust regional supply chains and extend into both metros and mini metro cities. By 2020, research indicates that the Chinese middle class will exceed 150 million and that over 350 Chinese and Indian cities will be target mar-kets for global brands. The world’s market for luxury goods is set to expand at between seven percent to 10 percent each year on account of the increasing number of millionaires in Asia. The global market for luxury goods is around 1.5 trillion dollars (that in fact exceeds the GDP of Spain and Australia).

You and Me (U and Mii) are the new console and so-cial network respectively of nintendo, with the promise of another revolution in living rooms. Investors were not im-pressed and speculation focused on when (or rather how) management would stop offering their 3DS hardware at sharply reduced prices, and whether customers had the time, patience or appetite for yet another technological rev-olution. It seems to be a good time to play computer games, but not such a good time to play around with the business model.

The views expressed above are the writer’s own. and do not necessarily represent those of Al Watan Daily and its staff.Savio is a financial and management advisor with a back-ground in economics. He has carried outconsulting and management intervention projects in several countries such as USA, UK, Australia, Kenya, Armenia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia etc. The writer may be contacted on saviosgomes@gmail.com.

Exclusive to Al Watan Daily

Savio S. Gomes

Greenback rises against Kuwaiti dinar to KD 0.280

Egyptian pound at 7-year low ahead of vote resultCompiled by Al Watan Daily

CAPITALS: The exchange rate of the US dollar against the Kuwaiti dinar was up to KD 0.280, whereas the euro dropped to KD 0.352 compared to Thursday’s figures, said the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) on Sun-day. Meanwhile, the exchange rate of the Sterling pound was down to KD 0.436. The Japanese yen remained un-changed at KD 0.003 yet the Swiss franc dropped to KD 0.293.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s currency, the pound, weakened to its lowest against the US dollar in more than seven years on Sunday as the country waited to see if a former military officer or a member of the Muslim Brotherhood would be its next president.

The pound was bid at as low as 6.055 to the dollar, its weakest since Dec. 30, 2004.

“It is definitely because of the uncertainty sur-rounding the election results,” a currency dealer at a Cairo-based bank said. “There is heavy selling to local customers. I think there is a lot of panic among local cus-tomers.”

The election committee is due to announce the result of last weekend’s polarizing run-off vote at a news con-ference at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT).

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsy says he won the race. If so, it would thrust into power a group which former president Hosni Mubarak spent three de-cades fighting and which is distrusted by many Egyp-tians.

A win by his rival, former air force commander Ahmed Shafik, could provoke an angry backlash on the streets, despite his assurances that he also wants an inclu-sive government.

The cost of insuring Egypt’s debt against default jumped to its highest in 3.5 years last week after allega-tions of fraud delayed the result of the presidential elec-tion.

The dissolution earlier this month of the parliament elected after last year’s overthrow of veteran president Mubarak has also alarmed investors, who fear Egypt will hurtle towards a balance of payments crisis and a cur-rency collapse.

Uncertainty overshadows EuropeIn more news, FX markets lacked a sense of direction

last week, with many factors affecting risk appetite. Spec-ulation over another monetary easing from the Federal

Reserve and the Bank of England overshadowed the re-sults of the Greek elections at the beginning of the week. This was stated in a specialized weekly money markets report prepared by the national Bank of Kuwait (nBK). The euro started the week on a strong footing, with the pro-euro party winning the majority in the Greek parlia-ment.

The single currency opened the week at 1.2715, con-siderably higher than last week’s close of 1.2636, and continued its rise to reach the week’s high of 1.2747. The euro quickly lost its steam, on worries over Spain’s dete-riorating banking situation and increasing talks that the country might need another payment from the European Central Bank (ECB) as soon as the beginning of July. The euro then closed the week at 1.2570 after Moody’s

downgraded some of Europe’s biggest banks. The Ster-ling pound followed suit with its European counterpart, as it opened the week at 1.5742 and fell to 1.5663, as the BOE’s meeting minutes showed that more members voted on additional stimulus for the British economy. Cable plummeted towards the end of the week after mul-tiple downgrades of major banks, and closed the week at 1.5590. The Japanese Yen opened at 78.90, and weak-ened during the week as the US dollar gained across the board, reaching a 2-month high of 80.56, before closing the week at 80.45. The Swiss Franc witnessed a lot of volatility, as it opened sessions at 0.9448 before reaching a low of 0.9422. The Franc rose towards the end of the week to reach a high of 0.9591, before ending at 0.9555 on Friday night.

A farmer ploughs his field to sow millet seeds against the backdrop of pre-monsoon clouds at Shapur village in the western Indian state of Gujarat June 24, 2012. An average or normal monsoon means rainfall between 96 and 104 percent of a 50-year average of 89 centimeters during a four-month season from June. Monsoon rains are a key factor for global commodities markets, strengthening the output of various crops in India, which could help bring relief to Asia’s third-largest economy in its battle with high food prices. (Reuters)

Dubai’s Daman sells 22.7% stake, says near to IPOJAFZA repays $2 billion Islamic bond

DUBAI: Daman Investments, the Dubai-based in-vestment management company, sold a 22.7 percent stake through a private placement which values the firm at 440 million UAE dirhams (119.8 million US dol-lars) and said it eventually plans to offer shares to the public.

Daman, which is active in asset management, raised 100 million dirhams from the sale, by offering 588,235 new shares at 170 dirhams each, the company said in a statement Sunday. no details were given on who bought into the offering.

The sale was part of the firm’s strategy to broaden its shareholder base before an eventual initial public offer-ing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“The accomplishment of a successful initial public offering (IPO) to be listed on one of the markets in the

UAE is the clear and focused objective of Daman’s me-dium-term strategy,” Shehab Gargash, chief executive of Daman Investments, said.

In 2009, Daman said it had attracted a strategic in-vestor who committed to invest 100 million dirhams in the company, and was moving ahead to secure addition-al equity investment of about 200 million dirhams.

But that fundraising valued Daman at about 850 million dirhams, nearly double the current valuation, signalling the extent to which investment firms in the UAE have suffered post the global financial crisis.

Dubai’s benchmark index has fallen 76.9 percent since its 2008 peak, while Abu Dhabi’s exchange has dropped 51.9 percent in the same time frame.

IPO activity in the UAE has also been scarce since the global financial crisis, with market volatility and a reluctance among retail investors, burnt by the collapse in stock prices from their pre-crisis peak, being cited as the main the reasons for the lack of new public of-ferings.

The last listing on the Dubai benchmark was Drake

& Scull in March 2009, while the Abu Dhabi index has only seen a couple of minor sales since 2008 - the larg-est being Eshraq Properties’ 55 percent offering in May 2011, which raised 825 million dirhams.

In more news, Dubai state-owned industrial hub Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA) repaid in full a 7.5 billion dirhams ($2.04 billion) Islamic bond, or Sukuk, on June 21, five months ahead of maturity, a regulatory filing from the company said on Sunday.

The early redemption of the Sukuk certificates was expected after the company, a unit of state conglomer-ate Dubai World, secured agreement from bondholders to change the terms of the notes last month.

The Sukuk was refinanced through a $1.2 billion Sharia-compliant loan, along with a new Sukuk issue of $650 million and the company’s own cash resources.

The timely repayment of JAFZA’s sukuk was a ma-jor investor concern this year, but early redemption has helped lift confidence in the emirate’s credit story, as demonstrated by a strong rally on Dubai sovereign and government-related bonds last week. -Agencies

Tokio Marine affiliate soars in Saudi bourse debutDUBAI: Shares in an affiliate of Japanese insurance

giant Tokio Marine & nichido Fire Insurance Company soared as they listed on the Saudi Arabian stock mar-ket on Sunday, showing strong demand for fresh eq-uity among Saudi investors despite the global market slump.

Alinma Tokio Marine traded as high as 100 Saudi riyals, a tenfold increase from its initial public offer price of 10 riyals. It was at 76 riyals after an hour of trading, with 5.5 million shares having changed hands in hectic trade. Many Saudi stocks more than double on listing, because initial public offers (IPO) shares are traditionally sold at cheap valuations by international standards. The government encourages IPOs as a way of distributing corporate wealth to its citizens.

Alinma Tokio Marine’s jump was large even by Sau-di standards, however. Even though the overall Saudi stock market has been hit by the global slump - the local index is down 15 percent from this year’s peak - many investors remain cash-rich because of the boom-ing Saudi economy and are eager for new investment opportunities, analysts said.

“We will see the price supported for the first few days, and then there will be some selling pressure” as short-term investors take profits, said Tarek Al-Mady, an independent financial analyst in Riyadh.

Alinma Tokio Marine was seen as particularly at-tractive because, as an insurance stock, it is focused

on Saudi Arabia’s domestic economy rather than the shaky global economy.

The company plans to develop Islamic insurance or Takaful products for both retail and corporate custom-ers; they will be sold through the national branch net-work of Alinma Bank, a co-founder of the firm.

Islamic insurance has been expanding rapidly in the Gulf although growth has slowed in recent years. The growth of Takaful contributions in Saudi Arabia, which accounts for about half of the global total, slowed to 12 percent in 2010, the most recent year for which data is available, from a compound annual growth rate of 38 percent during 2005-2009, a report by consultants Ernst & Young said in April.

Alinma Tokio Marine’s IPO of six million shares, or 30 percent of the company, raised 60 million riyals ($16 million) and was more than 16 times subscribed, according to Alinma Bank, which was lead underwrit-er. The company is owned 29 percent by the Japanese parent and 29 percent by Alinma.

Foreign investors can theoretically obtain access to Saudi IPO shares through swap agreements with Saudi financial institutions, but this is expensive and cumber-some. Saudi authorities have been preparing to open the stock market to direct investment by foreign insti-tutions, but analysts think that because of volatility in global markets, the opening may be postponed until next year. -Reuters

KSE red at end of session

KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange’s KSE15 index ended Sunday’s trading session with a loss of 1.11 points to read 962.97 points. The price index lost 67.59 points to 5,833.98 points. The weighted index also lost 0.83 points to 397.19 points. Trades came to 3,259 transactions, worth 19,065,307.859 Kuwaiti dinars and volume reached 161,259,497 shares.

Top share for the day was that of Credit rating and collection K.S.C.C. The biggest loser was Al-Sawfa Group Com-pany and top volume share was that of Gulf Finance House.

The 14 sector indices were mostly red upon closing.

Kuwait Stock Exchange indices were red, on Sunday, an hour after trading started. The price index read 5,859.95 points, a down of 41.62 points. The weighted index read 396.5 points, a loss of 1.52 points, and the KSX 15 index also showed a drop of 3.36 points at 960.72 points. Trades came to 1,481 transactions by that time, worth KD 7,899,266.286, with 84,934,348 shares changing hands so far. -KUnA

Greece breached bailout rules with staff hiring

CAPITALS: Greece breached the rules of its EU-IMF loan agreement by taking on some 70,000 public sector staff in two years, undermining efforts to re-duce the state payroll, a report said on Sunday. To Vima weekly said the hirings in 2010 and 2011 were highest in local administration, health, the police and culture, where the number of employees actually increased.

It cited a report from a permanent mission to Athens of the so-called ‘troika’ of international creditors, the EU, IMF and the European Central Bank, and data given by outgoing finance minister George Zannias.

An unidentified troika official told the daily: “While they legislated rules to reduce the number of civil servants, they were bringing people in through the win-dow.” The official added that over 12,000 people were hired by local councils even as a cost-cutting initiative merging mu-nicipalities was underway.

Zannias’ report to the new govern-ment coalition after June 17 elections al-

legedly reveals that although over 53,000 civil servants retired in 2010, the overall number of state staff was almost steady at 692,000 people, To Vima said.

In this case, most of the vacancies were filled immediately, the daily said. Similarly, although another 40,000 staff left in 2011, the net reduction on the pay-roll was only 24,000. By this time, Greece had promised to only hire one civil ser-vant for every five that left.

But over 16,000 people were hired in-stead of the allowed 8,000, To Vima said.

The report came ahead of an expected EU-IMF audit starting on Monday. Struc-tural reforms pledged in return for billions of euros in EU-IMF loans were suspended in April as the country held two elections in six weeks, with the first on May 6 fail-ing to produce a workable government.

The new government, built around the conservatives and backed by socialists and moderate leftists, on Saturday said it wanted to freeze further civil service lay-offs and bargain for a two-year extension to its tough fiscal adjustment.-AFP

5,819.19 Volume 161,341,437Weighted Index -0 83 397 19 398 02 397 95 394 98Price index -67.59 5,833.98 5,901.57 5,900.97

Sunday 24 June, 2012

Index Change Closing Last Closing High Low

Value (KWD) 19 069 245Weighted Index -0.83 397.19 398.02 397.95 394.983,278

Security High LowTrades

Last Change Security High Low

Value (KWD) 19,069,245KSX 15 -1.11 962.97 964.08 963.80 954.30 Number of Trades

MARIN 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

TradesLast ChangeVolume Value (KD) Trades Volume Value (KD) Trades

106 0 0URC 106 106 326 900 34 651 21MARIN 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

1 255IKARUS 0 0 0 0

106 0.0-4.0

URC 106 106 326,900 34,651 21112 280,000 33,360 16 1180 0 0.0 NRE 122

2,000 510 -5.0320 10.0 SRE 255 255IPG 320 320 35,000 11,200 251,060 1,706 11 34 0.50 0.0 PEARL 34 33NAPESCO 0 0 0 0 0

110 25 2 226 0.0132 0.0 TAM 226 216AREFENRGY 132 132 30,000 3,960 10 0 0 0 0.051 0.0 AREEC 0 0GPI 51 48 302,000 15,030 20

ABAR 186 186 500 93 2 186 0 0 0.0Oil & Gas 367,500 30,283 25 944.43

10.0 MASSALEH 0 0 0 0

3 108 0.0 ERESCO 890 0 0 0.0

PIPE 110 108 25,400 2,744

31,712 41 32 -2.0UREC 0 0 0

10.07 ARABREC 33 31 995,500

1,020 0.0BPCC 590 590 1 581 927 933 337 32 590

MABANEE 1,020 1,000 409,626 410,010 31-1.0

KFOUC 300 275 13,000 3,600 3 275 -5.089 50,000 4,450 2 89

3 515 5 61 1.0-10.0 INJAZZAT 61 59 58 500BPCC 590 590 1,581,927 933,337 32 5900.0 INVESTORS 18

3,515 5 61 1.0ALKOUT 0 0 0 0

-10.0 INJAZZAT 61 59 58,500

Basic Materials 1,836,525 980,227 55 918.01IRC 40 39 877,600 34,256 26

0.0ALQURAIN 188 186 216,198 40,547 17 188 -2.0

17 10,327,370 176,948 138 180 0

27 80 -1.0SANAM 0 0 0 0 0

-8.11 ALTIJARIA 80 78 1,176,347 92,53739 -2.0

348,086 81 77 -5.00.0 AAYANRE 81 77 4,444,5250 0.0

KCEM 380 375 85,000 31,900 5 380REFRI 156 156 20 3 0.0CABLE 1,140 1,100 17,500 19,630 9 1,140 0.0

0 0 0 0 01 156 2.0 AQAR 0

1,367 3 67 -3.0PCEM 860 850 140,541 119,719

-6.0 MAZAYA 68 67 20,1000 0.0

SHIP 184 180 511,490 92,375 27 180ALAQARIA 0 0 0 0 0

-2.5PAPER 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

28 9,761,092 283,287 128 2847 860 -20.0 ADNC 30

0 0 0 0.00.0 GRAND 0 0 00 0.0

MRC 0 0 0 0 0 0THEMAR 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0.0ACICO 238 230 15,600 3,588

0.0 GRAND 0 0 0MRC 0 0 0 0 0 00.0

GGMC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 02 238 0.0 TIJARA 0

0 0 0 0.0KPAK 0 0 0 0

0.0 ARKAN 0 0 041 0.0

HCC 0 0 0 0 0 0TAAMEER 44 39 20,713 798 10

0.0KBMMC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

0 0 0 0 00 0 0.0 ARGAN 039 -2.5ABYAAR 41 39 4,160,618 163,788 85

109,079 76 28 -2.5EQUIPMENT 148 148 400,000 59,200

0.0 MUNSHAAT 29 28 3,891,050NICBM 0 0 0 0 0 00.0

NCCI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 015 148 -10.0 FIRSTDUBAI 0

0 0 0 0.0SALBOOKH 34 33 145,000 4,798

0.0 REAM 0 0 00 0.0

GYPSUM 0 0 0 0 0 0KBT 0 0 0 0 0

-1.0AGLTY 380 375 648,032 245,690 17 380 -5.0

33 10,000 331 2 376 33 -2.0 MENA 370 0.0ALMUDON 0 0 0 0 0AGLTY 380 375 648,032 245,690 17 380 -5.0

8,801 32 39 0.5CLEANING 108 104 760,142 81,124

0.0 MARAKEZ 41 36 232,3200 0.0

EDU 0 0 0 0 0 0ALMUDON 0 0 0 0 0

-5.0CITYGROUP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

330 1,492,000 497,795 61 33049 106 -4.0 REMAL 335

-2.0KCPC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

-12.75KGL 90 86 238,500 21,139 22 89

Real Estate 39,097,432 2,261,491 811 912.88

98 0.0KINV 98 98 45,896 4,498 41,400 1 280 0.0

NAFAIS 0 0 0 00.0 FACIL 280 280 5,000HUMANSOFT 0 0 0 0 0 0

-1.0SAFWAN 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

36 934,502 33,839 25 360 0 0.0 IFA 37

179,522 38 325 0.0MAYADEEN 21 19 19,924,201 387,611

1.0 KPROJ 325 320 560,928102 -4.0

GFC 25 23 55,000 1,285 5 25NINV 106 102 1,759,715 182,229 54

-2.5CGC 1,160 1,160 2,501 2,901 2 1,160 -40.0

41 1,006,000 41,500 40 41130 19 -2.5 COAST 430 0.0TII 0 0 0 0 0CGC 1,160 1,160 2,501 2,901 2 1,160 -40.0

0 0 0 0.0UPAC 0 0 0 0

-2.0 SECH 0 0 00 0.0

MTCC 83 83 18,500 1,536 1 83TII 0 0 0 0 0

0.0ALAFCO 280 280 5,400 1,512 1 280 -5.0

0 0 0 0 00 0 0.0 IIC 0

0 0 0 0.0LOGISTICS 216 212 199,110 42,580

-4.0 IFC 0 0 0116 2.0

MUBARRAD 53 49 537,781 26,803 29 49SGC 116 116 20,000 2,320 1

-8.0106 48,565 5,242 3 10617 214 -4.0 MARKAZ 110SCEM 72 72 40,000 2,880 1 72 -4.0

0 0 0 0.0QCEM 59 57 225,000 13,035

-1.0 AIG 0 0 00 0.0

GCEM 89 87 173,000 15,187 5 89KMEFIC 0 0 0 0 0

0.0FCEM 76 73 1,398 102 2 76 2.0

0 0 0 0 014 58 -2.0 ALAMAN 0

Industrials 24,163,716 1,176,678 409-2.0 ALMAL 38 37 590,000

126 -10.0RKWC 104 104 20,000 2,080 2 104

ALOLA 134 126 1,684,384 217,866 30

3,755,300 96,003 68 25 -2.5901.81 -12.72 GIH 27 2522,095 14 38 -1.0

Industrials 24,163,716 1,176,678 409 3,755,300 96,003 68 25

0.0

2.5901.81 12.72 GIH 27 25

1,347 4 33 -2.50.0 BAYANINV 34 33 40,2000 0.0

0KSH 0 0 0 0 0 0

AAYAN 0 0 0 0 0

PAPCO 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0 0 00 0 0.0 GLOBAL 0NSH 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0.00.0 KFIC 0 0 00 0.0

CATTL 0 0 0 0 0 0OSOUL 0 0 0 0 0

DANAH 83 80 37,500 3,014 0.0POULT 126 126 1 0 1 126 0.0

0 0 0 0 06 83 0.0 KAMCO 0

0 0 0 0.0Consumer Goods 37,501 3,014 7

0.0 ISKAN 0 0 037 -2.5

FOOD 0 0 0 0 0 0NIH 37 37 45,000 1,643 5

31 -1.5MHC 0 0 0 0 0 0

ALDEERA 33 31 364,154 11,516 150 0 0 0 0.0913.36 0.00 MADAR 0 0

0 0 0 0.00 ALSAFAT 0 0 0MHC 0 0 0 0 0 00 ALSALAM 218

0 0 0 0.0ATC 0 0 0 0

0 ALSAFAT 0 0 0

Health Care 0 0 0 0.00EKTTITAB 70 68 2,123,359 145,991 42

6.0YIACO 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

212 3,841,782 824,279 147 2180 0

0 0 0.0ALMADINA 50 48 1,286,110 62,798 56

0.00 QURAINHLD 0 0 0 068 -2.0

0 0 0 0.0KHOT 192 192 0 9 1

-10 NOOR 0 0 048 -2.5

KCIN 890 890 2,000 1,780 1 8902 0164 100 16 1 1642 192 10 TAMINV 164KHOT 192 192 5,057 971 2.0

SULTAN 102 100 210,000 21,400 4 100 -2164 100 16 1 1642 192 10 TAMINV 164

0 0 0 0.0EYAS 0 0 0 0

0 TAIBA 0 0 00 0.0

CABLETV 0 0 0 0 0 0EXCH 0 0 0 0 0

0.0IFAHR 300 300 100 30 1 300 10

27 11,100 299 3 290 0 0 KSHC 31

6,373 9 62 1.0-6 KCIC 63 59 106,22162 -5.0

MASHAER 244 244 20,000 4,880 1 244STRATEGIA 62 62 100 6 1

6,373 9 62 1.0OULAFUEL 350 330 2,315,051 809,788

6 KCIC 63 59 106,221MASHAER 244 244 20,000 4,880 1 2440.0

MUNTAZAHAT 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 023 330 -20 MANAFAE 0

0 0 0 0.0SOOR 0 0 0 0

0 AMWAL 0 0 037 -2.5

JAZEERA 0 0 0 0 0 0GNAHC 40 37 9,790 386 4

0.0FUTUREKID 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 00 0 0 MASAR 0

246 323 156 26 2 52 MANAZEL 28 26 9 371 85883 -5.0

ALNAWADI 100 100 17 500 1 750 1 100ALIMTIAZ 87 83 828,902 70,202 50

246,323 156 26 -2.5ALRAI 0 0 0 0

2 MANAZEL 28 26 9,371,858ALNAWADI 100 100 17,500 1,750 1 100-4.0

ZIMAH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0206 244,500 50,737 13 2060 0 0 NIND 208

7 1 62 3.0KOUTFOOD 0 0 0 0

2 BIIHC 62 62 11088 -1.0

UFIG 244 232 2,700 636 2 244UIC 89 88 871,500 76,702 24

0.0Consumer Services 2,572,408 841,235 35 940.88 -2.38 SENERGY

0 0 0 0 00 0 0 SHOP 0-2.060 57 137,602 7,936 13 59Consumer Services 2,572,408 841,235 35 940.88 2.38 SENERGY-6.0

ZAIN 710 700 1,795,067 1,274,294 39 710 0

2.0AGHC 130 128 60,000 7,760 3 128

60 57 137,602 7,936 13 59

26,092 12 69 -5.0HITSTELEC 72 69 5,293,000 371,535

100 KPPC 72 69 373,50018 -2.5

NMTC 2,220 2,120 171,654 376,396 45 2,220ALSAFWA 20 18 9,796,760 177,702 132

Telecommunications 7,259,721 2,022,225 184 886.13 6.80 JEERANH44 100 4 1 44100 69 -2 TAHSSILAT 44

0.0EKHOLDING 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 05.0

0 0EKHOLDING 0 0 0 0 0 036 -1.0

22 410GFH 36 35 23,986,924 848,311 247

0.0NBK 1,040 1,020 3,574,815 3,646,321 90 1,020 0

3,401,558 1,239 838.76 -19.381 790 20 Financial Services48,615 22 46 -2.5

CBK 790 790 50 400 INOVEST 49 46 1,030,000GBK 410 400 760,000 308,600

0 0ALMUTAHED 880 880 25,000 22,000 1 880ABK 0 0 0 0 0

64,939,962

0 0 0 0.010 MAREF 0 0 0ALMUTAHED 880 880 25,000 22,000 1 8800 0 0 0.00 0.0094 250 -10

0 0 0 0.0KIB 255 246 7,807,977 1,950,753

10 MAREF 0 0 0

0 0 0 0.0BOUBYAN 620 610 147,143 89,758

-10 ASC 0 0 0425 0

KFIN 710 690 1,647,687 1,152,064 63 700BURG 425 425 2,415,039 1,026,392 68

-5.0UGB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

63 31,890 2,017 6 6315 620 0 SAFTEC 73212 10.0

AUB 0 0 0 0 0 0FUTURE 212 212 100 21 1

580 1 116 2 00 HAYATCOMM 116 116 5 000

Investment Instruments

AUB 0 0 0 0 0 036,990 2,619 8 1104.15

580 1 116 -2.0

0 0 0 0.0

ITHMR 34 33 4,570,031 150,0510 HAYATCOMM 116 116 5,000

-4.35BAREEQ 0 0 0

Banks 20,947,742 8,345,979 486 945.69-11.57132 33 -2 Technology

0.0GINS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

0 0 0 0 00 0 0 AFAQ 0KINS 0 0 0 00 0.0ALSHAMEL 0 0 0 0 0GINS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

0 0 0 0.0WINS 0 0 0 0

0.0 SAFRE 0 0 00 0.0

AINS 0 0 0 0 0 0ALSHAMEL 0 0 0 0 0

0.0KUWAITRE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

30 30,670 921 7 310 0 0.0 AJWAN 31

345 2 35 0.0WETHAQ 0 0 0 0

0.0 MASAKEN 35 35 10,0000 0.0

FTI 0 0 0 0 0 0SPEC 0 0 0 0 0

0.0ARIG 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 00 0 0.0 DALQAN 00 0 0ALEID 0 0 0 0 0ARIG 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0

Insurance 0 0 00.0 MIDAN 0 0 0

0 0.0BKIKWT 0 0 0 0 0 0

ALEID 0 0 0 0 0

20,170 1,573 7 78 5.00.00 0.00 FLEX 78 770 0 0 0.0

0.0SOKOUK 0 0 0 0

0 KCLINIC 0 0 099 5.0

AINV 0 0 0 0 0 0THURAYA 99 89 1,100 108 2

50 20,000 990 1 500 0 0.0 AMAR 500 0 0

2.5SOKOUK 0 0 0 048 -0.5

50 20,000 990 1 500 0 0.0 AMAR 5015.86

For more information, call 1 80 42 42, www.globalinv.net

Parallel Market 81,940 3,937 19 995.342.5

KRE 49 48 510,001 24,480 12

BUSINESSMONdAY, JuNe 25, 2012

ALWATAN DAILY

7

Saudi Arabia Islamic finance assets estimated at $94 billion, says Deloitte

CAPITALS: A deloitte Middle east Islamic Finance Knowledge Cen-ter (IFKC) report, entitled ‘empowering Risk Intelligence in Islamic Finance’, ad-dresses and investigates the important is-sues in practice and regulation in Islamic Finance in the current market challenges. The report also assesses the impact of Islamic Financial Institutions in different countries, highlighting that Saudi Arabia is one of the main contributors to the Is-lamic Finance industry, with an estimated 94 billion uS dollars in Islamic Finance Assets. This was stated in a press release this week. Based on analysis provided by deloitte Middle east Islamic Finance Knowledge Center, the total of the Saudi Arabia Islamic Finance Assets, valued at $94 billion, represent 26 percent out of total Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Is-lamic Finance assets and 8.2 percent out of total Global Islamic Finance assets.

The report also focuses on the gover-nance and structural aspects of an effec-tive risk management framework in Is-lamic Finance. It presents new findings in the practice of Islamic Finance risk man-agement that offer guidance to boards in managing risk in troubled times. It is based on a survey and group of case stud-ies developed during the second half of 2011, on 20 leading Islamic Financial in-stitutions from the Middle east and South east Asia, with aggregate assets of more than $50 billion. It also includes several interviews conducted with industry lead-ers and risk management executives.

“Greater pressure has been placed on financial institutions offering Islamic Financial services to galvanize risk expo-sure and governance capabilities,” com-mented dr. Hatim el Tahir, director of the deloitte Middle east Islamic Finance Knowledge Center (IFKC). “Global and regional jurisdictional regulatory reforms are continuing. How this regulation will affect the Islamic Finance sector and the role of IIFS in the economy is yet to be seen,” he added.

The deloitte report finds that Saudi Arabia saw the launch of one the first and most important institutions in the Is-lamic Finance (IF) Industry. The Islamic development Bank (IdB) is a multilateral development financing institution estab-lished in Jeddah in 1975. up until today, the (IdB) has contributed over uS$ 200 million of technical support to nearly 70 Islamic Financial Institutions (IFI) around the world.

Furthermore, Saudi Arabia saw the establishment of other prominent institu-tions that played a role in the advance-

ment of IF. This includes the founding of the International Association of Islamic Banks in 1977, with a goal of promot-ing and facilitating cooperation between Sharia-compliant financial institutions, as well contributing to harmonization of the industry on an international level.

Today, there are four Islamic Com-mercial Banks operating in Saudi. They include: Al Rajhi Bank, $58.8 billion total assets; Bank Al Jazira, $10.3 billion total assets; Alinma Bank, $9.8 billion total as-sets and Bank Albilad, $7.4 billion total assets.

Aside from Islamic Commercial Banking, Cooperative Insurance industry evolved considerably in the KSA during the past nine years. There are currently more than 30 Cooperative insurance com-panies, total assets of over $7 billion with the largest company being The Company for Cooperative Insurance (Tawniya) with total assets of uS$ 1.9 billion. The concept of Cooperative Insurance was introduced in KSA in 2003 after all conventional in-surance companies were exempted from Saudi Arabia and the Cooperative Insur-ance regulations were passed, setting the basis of providing insurance on a coop-erative basis in accordance with Islamic Shari’a. However there was no detailed guidance as to what constitutes coopera-tive insurance but it is accepted that there are differences to the Takaful model.

The Sukuk market in Saudi Arabia (the Islamic equivalent of debt) is con-sidered the third largest in the world af-ter Malaysia and uAe, according to the IIFM Sukuk report. Total issue number of 25 with issue size of uS$ 17.1 billion up until december 2011. The single largest Sukuk issue ever was issued from Gen-eral Authority of Civil Aviation in Saudi Arabia in January 2012 with an issue size of $4 billion on a Murabaha. Many Islam-ic finance forecasts and analysis predicts that Saudi Arabia and South east Asia will dominate the Sukuk market in 2012 with high quality quasi-sovereign issues.

However, in light of the global regu-lations in the financial services industry, Islamic Financial institutions are being heavily impacted. Islamic Financial insti-tutions and their systems of governance will continue to evolve as new regulations are issued. executives of Islamic Financial Institutions, along with executive risk of-fers, will equally play an important role in coordinating risk management imple-mentation and activities between boards and Sharia’a Supervisory Boards and other business supporting units in the in-stitution.

‘Touch’ becomes the new brand for Lebanon’s mobile provider mtc touchCAPITALS: Zain Group, a pioneer

of mobile telecommunications in the Middle east and North Africa (MeNA), has revealed the new brand name for its management operation in Lebanon. Af-ter many successes and accomplishments achieved in the country over the past eight years under the name ‘mtc touch’, the company has unveiled a vibrant new brand - ‘Touch - Managed by Zain’. This was stated in a press release on Sunday.

On this occasion, Zain Group’s Chief executive Officer, Nabeel Bin Salamah said, “The launch of the “Touch” brand, was supported by a significant promo-tional campaign using the theme: “In My New World”, which is aimed at support-ing the company’s strategic direction. The introduction of the new brand also rep-resents the end of Zain Group’s previous ‘MTC’ branding across all of our opera-tions.”

Bin Salamah continued: “The launch of this new identity represents Zain Group’s hopes and aspirations in Leba-non’s telecommunications sector, in which the company has achieved several mile-stones and asserted its leading position especially with a customer base which exceeds two million customers.”

To introduce the new brand, “Touch” held an impressive event at a reception venue in Baabdat under the patronage of the Lebanese Minister of Telecommunica-tions, Nicolas Sehnaoui, and numerous Lebanese dignitaries, government offi-cials, and industry leaders including the Minister of Information, Walid daouk, the Minister of Agriculture, Hussein al Hajj Hassan and the representative of the Lebanese Army, Brigadier-General Jean Kahwaji, Colonel Henry Ibrahim, as well as editors and media figures, busi-ness partners and Touch management and employees.

An extensive entertainment pro-gram was scheduled for this event, which peaked with a performance from the su-perstar Ragheb Alameh who performed some of his best songs from his large rep-ertoire. The master of ceremony for this special event was the renowned media figure George Kordahi who was also a guest of honor. The entertainment pro-gram also included a show from 8eme art, and an act from “Ma fi Metlo”. Launching this program was the innovative unravel-ing of the new logo with the laser show from the French performance artist, Theo

dari, followed by a live transmission from the Touch headquarters at Charles Helou which lit the skies with its light show.

Zain Group was first awarded its man-agement contract for “Touch’s” network in June 2004 a deal that lasted for a pe-riod of four years, and was characterized by Zain operating and growing one of the two mobile operators in Lebanon. This initial management agreement has been renewed several times since, with the last 12-month renewal coming on Feb. 1, 2012. On the occasion of the rebranding, Hisham Akbar, Zain Group’s Chief Com-mercial Officer said that ‘Touch - Man-aged by Zain’ values the close collabo-ration between Zain and the Lebanese government, represented by the Ministry of Telecommunications, which were both instrumental in facilitating the launch of the new brand.

Akbar said, “Zain Group has come a long way in the past eight years to estab-lish itself as a valued asset to the people of Lebanon. It has done everything in its power to gain their trust, and today as the new brand is introduced, we enter a new era of service to the society, as we strive to offer excellent mobile services.” Akbar continued, “As a brand, “Touch” carries a set of values that reinforce positivity and hope of a new world where each and ev-ery one of our customers can dream for and work towards a better life.” Nicolas Sehnaoui, the Lebanese Minister of Tele-communications, said, “I would like to congratulate “Touch” on the launch of its new brand, through which it brings alive people’s aspirations and dreams in line with its “In my New World” campaign.” Sehnaoui concluded his speech by saying, “We encourage and support communica-tion, especially that the word “Touch” means communication via mobile net-work.” At the brand reception, Claude Bassil, “Touch’s” General Manager com-mented, “This is the last time I address you in the name of mtc touch. This occa-sion takes me back eight years, specifical-ly to June 2004 when our mother compa-ny, Zain (then MTC) won the contract for the operation of MIC2, which went on to carry the brand mtc touch all this time.” “From that time to this, the company has gained the trust of our customers and I am pleased and proud to announce for the first time that the number of custom-ers that “Touch” is currently serving has surpassed two million.”

WASHINGTON: From Cape Hatteras, N.C., to just north of Boston, sea levels are rising much faster than they are around the globe, putting one of the world’s most costly coasts in danger of flooding, government researchers re-port.

US Geological Survey scientists call the 600-mile swath a “hot spot” for climbing sea levels caused by global warm-ing. Along the region, the Atlantic Ocean is rising at an an-nual rate three times to four times faster than the global av-erage since 1990, according to the study published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

It’s not just a faster rate, but at a faster pace, like a car on a highway “jamming on the accelerator,” said the study’s lead author, Asbury Sallenger Jr., an oceanographer at the agency.

He looked at sea levels starting in 1950, and noticed a change beginning in 1990.

Since then, sea levels have gone up globally about 2 inches. But in Norfolk, Va., where officials are scrambling to fight more frequent flooding, sea level has jumped a total of 4.8 inches, the research showed. For Philadelphia, lev-els went up 3.7 inches, and in New York City, it was 2.8 inches.

Climate change pushes up sea levels by melting ice sheets in Greenland and west Antarctica, and because warmer water expands.

Computer models long have projected higher levels along parts of the East Coast because of changes in ocean currents from global warming, but this is the first study to show that’s already happened.

By 2100, scientists and computer models estimate that sea levels globally could rise as much as 3.3 feet. The accel-erated rate along the East Coast could add about 8 inches to 11 inches more, Sallenger said.

“Where that kind of thing becomes important is during a storm,” Sallenger said. That’s when it can damage build-ings and erode coastlines.

On the West Coast, a National Research Council report released Friday projects an average 3-foot rise in sea level in California by the year 2100, and 2 feet in Oregon and

Washington. The land mass north of the San Andreas Fault is expected to rise, offsetting the rising sea level in those two states.

The USGS study suggests the Northeast would get hit harder because of ocean currents. When the Gulf Stream and its northern extension slow down, the slope of the seas changes to balance against the slowing current. That slope then pushes up sea levels in the Northeast. It is like a see-saw effect, Sallenger theorizes.

Scientists believe that with global warming, the Gulf Stream and other ocean currents are slowing and will slow further, Sallenger said.

Jeff Williams, a retired USGS expert who wasn’t part of the study, and Stefan Rahmstorf, a professor of ocean phys-ics at the Potsdam Institute in Germany, said the study does a good job of making the case for sea level rise accelera-tion.

Margaret Davidson, director of the Coastal Services Center for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-tration in Charleston, S.C., said the implications of the new research are “huge when you think about it. Somewhere between Maryland and Massachusetts, you’ve got some bo-daciously expensive property at risk.”

Sea level projections matter in coastal states because flood maps based on those predictions can result in restric-tions on property development and affect flood insurance rates.

Those estimates became an issue in North Carolina re-cently when the Legislature proposed using historic figures to calculate future sea levels, rejecting higher rates from a state panel of experts.

The USGS study suggests an even higher level than the panel’s estimate for 2100.

The North Carolina proposal used data from University of Florida professor Robert Dean, who had found no re-gional differences in sea level rise. Dean said he can’t argue with the results from Sallenger’s study showing accelerating sea level rise in the region, but he said it’s more likely to be from natural cycles. Sallenger said there is no evidence to support that claim. -AP

LIFEMONDAY, JUNE 25, 2012

Sea rise faster on East Coast than rest of globe

FILE - Buildings are seen near the ocean as reports indicate that Miami-Dade County in Florida in the future could be one of the most susceptible places when it comes to rising water levels due to global warming. (AFP)

China submersible breaks 7,000-meter mark

PARIS: A manned Chinese submersible broke through the 7,000-metre mark for a new national deep water dive record on Sunday, state media said, as the Asian giant showed off its technological might.

The “Jiaolong” craft reached 7,020 me-ters (23,031 feet) in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean on its fourth dive since arriving in the area earlier this month, state television said.

The dive came on the same day China successfully completed its first manual space docking, a complex maneuver that will bring the country a step closer to build-ing a space station.

“This (dive) shows the performance of the submersible is stable,” mission chief commander Liu Feng told a live television broadcast from aboard the ship supporting the submersible.

“The level of our technical personnel is getting better and better.”

The Jiaolong -- named after a dragon from Chinese mythology -- carried three men into the Mariana Trench, the deepest place in the world, then returned to the choppy surface after nearly 11 hours.

The same submersible reached 5,188 meters in a Pacific dive in July last year. And in a series of three previous dives since June 15, the craft has gone deeper still. Experts say 7,000 meters is the limit of its design.

Other manned submersibles have gone deeper than China’s craft. Earlier this year, American film director James Cameron de-

scended almost 11,000 meters to the bot-tom of the Mariana Trench.

His effort is believed to have at least equaled the record for the deepest manned dive, set by a US Navy officer and a Swiss oceanographer in 1960, according to Guin-ness World Records.

China intends to use the submersible for scientific research, such as collecting samples of undersea life and studying geo-logical structures, as well as future develop-ment of mineral resources, experts say.

On its third dive on Friday, the crew col-lected samples of water and sediment and took photos of sea life, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Scientists say the ocean floors contain rich deposits of potentially valuable miner-als, but the extreme depths pose technical difficulties in harvesting them on a large scale.

And the stability and durability of the craft presents further difficulties for future operations.

The recent round of dives have seen some technical glitches, such as the break-down of communications equipment and problems with the adjustable ballast sys-tem, state media has reported.

The 7,000 meter dive was previously scheduled for Monday, state media had re-ported. The reasons for the change of date were unclear but mean the record-setting dive came the same day as China’s land-mark space maneuver. -AFP

WASHINGTON: It’s not just man’s closer primate relatives that exhibit brain power. Dol-phins, dogs and elephants are teaching us a few lessons, too. Dolphin brains involve completely different wiring from primates, especially in the neocortex, which is central to higher functions such as reasoning and conscious thought.

Dolphins are so distantly related to hu-mans that it’s been 95 million years since we had even a remotely common ancestor. Yet when it comes to intelligence, social behavior and communications, some researchers say dolphins come as close to humans as our ape and monkey cousins.

Maybe closer.“They understand concepts like zero, ab-

stract concepts. They do everything that chim-panzees do and bonobos can do,” said Lori Marino, a neuroscientist at Emory University who specializes in dolphin research. “The fact is that they are so different from us and so much like us at the same time.”

In recent years, animal researchers have

found that thought processes in critters aren’t a matter of how closely related they are to humans. You don’t have to be a primate to be smart.

Dolphin brains look nothing like human brains, Marino said. Yet, she says, “the more you learn about them, the more you realize that they do have the capacity and character-istics that we think of when we think of a per-son.” These mammals recognize themselves in the mirror and have a sense of social identity. They not only know who they are, but they also have a sense of who, where and what their groups are. They interact and comprehend the health and feelings of other dolphins so fast it as if they are online with each other, Marino said. Animal intelligence “is not a linear thing,” said Duke University researcher Brian Hare, who studies bonobos, which are one of man’s closest relatives, and dogs, which are not.

“Think of it like a toolbox,” he said. “Some species have an amazing hammer. Some spe-cies have an amazing screwdriver.”

For dogs, a primary tool is their obses-sive observation of humans and ability to un-derstand human communication, Hare said. For example, dogs follow human pointing so well that they understand it whether it’s done with a hand or a foot; chimps don’t, said Hare, whose upcoming book is called “The Genius of Dogs.”

Then there are elephants.They empathize, they help each other, they

work together. In a classic cooperation game, in which animals only get food if two animals pull opposite ends of a rope at the same time, elephants learned to do that much quicker than chimps, said researcher Josh Plotnik, head of elephant research at the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation in Thailand. They do even better than monkeys at empathy and rescue, said Plotnik. In the wild, he has seen elephants stop and work together to rescue another el-ephant that fell in a pit. “There is something in the environment, in the evolution of this spe-cies that is unique,” he says. -AP

Animal smarts: What do dolphins and dogs know?

Sleep may ease symptoms of Parkinson’s disease: StudyCONNECTICUT: Sleep seems to improve the motor function of people with

Parkinson’s disease, researchers have found according to HealthDay News.This “sleep benefit” occurs for some patients even though they are without

their medication while sleeping, the study authors said. However, how sleep helps patients’ motor function remains unclear, and not all Parkinson’s patients experi-ence this improvement, according to the report, published in the June issue of the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease.

“If the subjective experience of sleep benefit is proven to be related to an objec-tive improvement in motor function, this could have considerable clinical benefits,” the study’s lead investigator Dr. Sebastiaan Overeem, of the department of neurol-ogy, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands, said in a journal news release.

In conducting the study, the researchers questioned 243 patients with Parkin-son’s disease about their motor and non-motor symptoms. They also assessed the patients’ symptoms of depression, functioning and quality of life. The investigators found that nearly 47 percent of the patients experienced a sleep benefit, or a clear improvement in their Parkinson’s symptoms after a night’s sleep.

Daytime naps were also taken by 98 of the 243 patients. Of these “regular nap-pers,” 46 percent did not notice a sleep benefit at all. On the other hand, 20 percent of nappers said they experienced a reduction in their Parkinson’s symptoms only after a night of sleeping, and 13 percent reported an improvement only after their nap. Meanwhile, 20 percent of nappers reported an improvement in their symptoms following both their naps and nighttime sleep.

“It is tempting to speculate whether daytime naps might constitute a possible therapeutic application,” noted Overeem.

While the study uncovered an association between sleep and Parkinson’s symp-toms, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

The researchers pointed out that there were no demographic or clinical differ-ences -- such as age at onset of the disease and type of treatment -- between those who experienced the sleep benefit and those who did not. There were also no dif-ferences in depression, quality of life, memory, fatigue and sleep quality between these two groups.

The study authors added that their findings are based on patients’ perceptions of a sleep benefit, which are subjective. More research is needed to objectively as-sess changes in symptoms of Parkinson’s disease after a period of sleep.

“Further study is important to identify possible determinants and underlying mechanisms of sleep benefit, in order to identify those patients most likely to ben-efit from sleep,” Overeem concluded. “Both our research and previous studies show it’s important to renew research on this intriguing subject.”

BEIJING: A Chinese spacecraft carry-ing three astronauts docked manually with an orbiting module on Sunday, a first for the country as it strives to match American and Russian exploits in space. The Shenzhou 9 capsule’s maneuver with the Tiangong 1 mod-ule was shown live on national television. It follows a docking last week that was carried out by remote control from a ground base in China. The Chinese astronauts have been liv-ing and working in the module for the past week as part of preparations for manning a permanent space station. They returned to the Shenzhou 9 capsule early Sunday and disconnected in preparation for the manual reconnection.

Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China’s manned space program, told reporters in Beijing that hand levers were used to control Shenzhou 9 and position it to dock with the orbiting module. The maneuver was “precise and perfect” and the three astronauts carried it out “calmly and skillfully,” Wu said.

“This success in manual docking repre-sents a major breakthrough in our space ren-dezvous and docking technologies,” Wu said.

China’s next goals include another manned mission to the module later this year and replacing Tiangong 1, which was launched last year, with a permanent space station around 2020. Possible future missions could

also include sending a man to the moon.China’s permanent space station is to

weigh about 60 tons, slightly smaller than NASA’s Skylab of the 1970s and about one-sixth the size of the 16-nation International Space Station. The Shenzhou 9 crew includes 33-year-old Liu Yang, an air force pilot and China’s first female space traveler. Liu is joined by mission commander and veteran astronaut Jing Haipeng, 45, and crew mate Liu Wang, 43. Their mission, which is expect-ed to last at least 10 days, is China’s fourth manned mission. Shenzhou 9 launched June 16 from the Jiuquan center on the edge of the Gobi desert in northern China.

Wu said the astronauts will spend three to four more days in the module before returning to the capsule and manually separating from Tiangong 1. Once back in Shenzhou 9, they will return to Earth within a day, she said. China is hoping to join the United States and Russia as the only countries to send indepen-dently maintained space stations into orbit. It is already one of just three nations to have launched manned spacecraft on their own. Wu said China spent 20 billion yuan (US$3.1 billion) on its space program between 1992 and 2005. By the time the next Shenzhou mission is completed, Beijing will have spent an additional 19 billion yuan (US$3 billion), she said. -AP

Chinese spacecraft docks with orbiting module

FILE - A photo of the giant screen at the Jiuquan space center shows the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft undergoing the automatic docking with Tiangong-1 module on June 18. (AP)

Plastics chemical linked to obesity in kids

CONNECTICUT: It’s hard to imagine a pacifier or a rubber ducky making your child fat ACCORDING TO HealthDay News.

But new research suggests that chemicals called phthalates, which are found in the plastics that pacifiers and toys are typically made of, may be linked to higher rates of obesity in children.

The chemical, called di-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), is suspected of being able to alter biological functions in-volved in fat metabolism. In the study, children with the highest DEHP levels had nearly five times the chance of being obese compared with those who had the lowest DEHP levels.

How could a chemical used to soften plastics trigger fat development in a child?

“It may trigger the master regulator of fat creation and lipid metabolism,” explained study co-author Dr. Mi-Jung Park, a pediatric endocrinologist and professor at Inje University College of Medicine, in Seoul, South Korea.

DEHP may do two different things that increase fat development, Park said. It may reduce the effect of an-drogen – a male sex hormone -- which lowers body-mass index (BMI). It may also disrupt thyroid function, which plays a role in weight gain. Interfering with androgen or thyroid hormones can affect appetite or a person’s rate of metabolizing food, she explained.

Other studies have linked phthalates to breast growth in boys, reproductive problems in men and low birth weight.

The researchers measured blood levels of DEHP in 204 children ranging from 6 to 13 years old; 105 were considered obese and 99 were of normal weight.

Children with a higher BMI, a measurement of body fat, had higher DEHP levels. The increased risk of obe-sity with elevated DEHP levels was not related to the amount of physical activity they got or their daily calorie intake.

Park said parents should understand that phthalates are virtually everywhere – in food, water, plastic bags and packaging wraps, cosmetics, lotions, shampoo and toys. Pregnant women, premature infants and young children may be particularly sensitive to the chemical, she said. “Putting hot water or hot food into a plastic container may be dangerous,” she added.

Johanna Congleton, senior scientist and toxicolo-gist at the Environmental Working Group in Washington, DC, recommends avoiding exposure to phthalates. “It’s a good precautionary measure, and consumer product manufacturers should phase out the use of such com-pounds,” she said.

CULTUREALWATAN DAILY

9MONday, JUNE 25, 2012

Zumba no longer just exercise, it’s big business

MIAMI: alberto Perez started out as a street performer and then an aerobics teacher in Colom-bia, making extra cash on the side teaching the wives of businessmen how to dance in nightclubs in his hometown, Cali.

Today, he stands at the center of the Zumba exercise craze, having helped transform Zumba Fitness, a private company, into a rapidly growing fitness empire with heavyweight investor backing.

“I’m not a businessman, but I knew this had the potential to be something special,” said Perez, who along with two Colombian associates founded the Miami-based company.

Zumba, a Latin dance-inspired aerobic work-out, has exploded from a Miami gym phenomenon to infomercial and dVd smash hit into a global craze with some 12 million people taking classes every week in at least 125 countries. Zumba Fit-ness now boasts being the largest branded fitness program in the world. Started on a shoestring bud-get in a Miami garage nearly 11 years ago, Zumba Fitness now has more than 200 employees, and a pair of New york investment firms is betting the craze has staying power.

The accidental instructorZumba got its start by chance in the 1980s.Perez, who is known as Beto, was eking out a

living as a street performer and salsa and meringue nightclub dancer known for his boyish model looks and muscular physique.

One day the owner of a nearby gym called and asked if Perez could stand in for an injured aero-bics teacher. He agreed - but didn’t mention he had never done aerobics and rushed out and bought a copy of Jane Fonda’s Workout Book.

His fitness career was born.Months later, getting ready for a class, Perez

forgot his aerobics music. Instead, he put on his own merengue and salsa tapes and improvised dance moves for a workout, creating what today is known as Zumba.

It proved to be a hit and he quickly developed a loyal following before he moved to Bogota, where he briefly worked as a choreographer with pop star Shakira. In 1999, Perez packed up and headed to

Miami, speaking no English but hoping to make a breakthrough in the Latin-flavored US city with his new dance exercise class.

He struggled before eventually building up a large, adoring fan base of mostly Colombian ex-patriate women, including the mother of alberto Perlman.

Then a technology entrepreneur, Perlman lost his job in the dot-com bust two years later and was struggling with what career move to make next. He co-founded Zumba Fitness and is now its chief executive.

“My mom had been taking his classes for years,” he said. “She would tell me about this amazing class but I never paid attention. When the bubble burst, I went to have dinner at her house and she kept saying ‘Talk to Beto, maybe you guys could start a gym.’”

“I said I’d meet with him but I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with him,” Perlman recalled. But after watching a class, he came up with the idea for a new fitness video he hoped could be an info-mercial success.

The men sought to put a name on the exercise, first thinking of the Spanish word rumba, which loosely translates as party, but realized it was al-ready trademarked.

“We just went through the alphabet to see what rhymes with rumba,” Perlman said. “We were getting nervous by the end, nothing sounded good - bumba, kumba. Then we settled on Zumba, it was perfect.”

12 million and countingPerlman said growing the instructor and stu-

dent base is the firm’s top priority, with a goal of one day reaching 100 million students, more than eight times the current number.

The company has also launched its own line of brightly colored clothing, Zumba footwear and a glossy magazine named “ZLife”, all designed in its Miami office.

But it is also focused on developing TV shows, pushing into global markets, particularly Eastern Europe, asia and Latin america, and exploiting a new business opportunity: fitness concerts.

“I see Zumba Fitness also as an entertainment brand,” Perlman said. “It’s becoming a music, TV and concert platform.”

Fitness fads rise and fall. But two prominent investment firms have made bets Zumba Fitness will avoid going the way of workout has-beens like Jazzercise, Thighmaster and the ab Rocket.

“you see a lot of feasts and famines in the fit-ness industry,” said Richard Wells, managing direc-tor of New york-based Insight Venture Partners, a private equity and venture capital firm that has invested in Twitter and Tumblr.

The firm made a minority investment in Zum-ba Fitness earlier this year. “They are just scratch-ing the surface of its potential,” Wells said.

The Raine Group, a media and entertainment investment firm based in New york, also has in-vested in the firm.

Neither company would reveal the size of its investment.

Perlman said Zumba Fitness hopes to draw on the firms for media, entertainment and technology resources and has no plans to go public.

“While there isn’t a lot we rule out at Zumba Fitness, this is not on our radar at this time,” he said.

The zumba ecosystemOnce Zumba gained exposure on infomercials,

fans started asking for more. The company began receiving calls at all hours of the day from people saying “I want to be a Zumba instructor,” said Per-lman.

By 2005, the company decided to develop the global instructor network and Zumba took off. The instructors each pay $30 a month to receive regular installments of new music and dance and exercise steps.

“It’s their ecosystem,” said Wells, the investor.The network has turned Zumba instructors in

the United States and across the globe as far away as South Korea and Norway into entrepreneurs.

“It’s become my small business,” said Betsy dopico, a native Cuban who moved to Miami from Mexico four years ago and now teaches Zumba classes. -Reuters

FILE-Alberto Perez (cen-ter), founder of Zumba Fitness, performs on stage during a meeting in Rimini, cen-tral Italy May 11, 2012. (Reuters)

Double leg amputee scales Mount KilimanjaroFRANCE: a double leg amputee has

pulled himself up africa’s highest moun-tain, disproving doctors who said he would never be a functioning member of society.”

Spencer West, 31, lost his legs as a child after a genetic disorder -- sacral agenesis -- paralyzed the lower half of his body.

But he didn’t let that stop him: the resident of the Canadian city of Toronto arrived at the summit of Mount Kiliman-jaro, some 6,000 meters above sea level, on Tuesday, calling it an incredible per-sonal feat.

“Reaching the peak of Mount Kili-manjaro was the most mentally and phys-ically challenging thing I have ever done, but in doing so, it reinforced the power-ful message of believing in yourself, and believing in others,” West told aFP from Nairobi, Kenya.

“Physically, it was challenging be-cause I climbed the majority of the moun-tain on my hands, which put a lot of stress on my shoulders and arms,” he said, esti-mating he hoisted himself up 80 percent of the way.

West was accompanied on the trek by his two best friends, david Johnson and alex Meers.

Their goal was to raise money for Free the Children, an organization that sup-plies drinking water to hundreds of peo-

ple in Kenya, which in 2011 experienced its worst drought in 60 years.

Philanthropy aside, West also had the personal goal of disproving doctors who, as of the age of five, told his parents he would “never be a functioning member of society.”

On a blog named “Redefine Possible,” the hikers posted photos and videos of their endeavor, during which they trekked for an average of four hours per day.

Some of the entries reveal that West’s journey across sand and snow contained moments of tribulation and doubt.

On the sixth day, he wrote: “I thought yesterday was hard and cold. It was. But it was nothing compared to today. This was by far the hardest day yet.”

Still, he remained unabashed in his quest to reach the summit.

The next day, on June 19, West an-nounced triumphantly, “This was it. The day that possible would be redefined. It was an almighty struggle, but ... WE MadE IT!”

But the quintessential climber isn’t done.

“Thanks to everyone’s support, we’ve raised more than $500,000 (US$487,852) for Free The Children’s clean water proj-ects in Kenya, but our goal is $750,000 (US$731,778) -- so I’m really hoping to continue my Redefine Possible journey to reach my goal,” he said. -aFP

This handout photograph obtained June 22, 2012 courtesy of Free the Children shows double amputee Spencer West after ascending Mount Kilimanjaro, at 5,895 meters, the highest mountain in Africa. (AFP)

Philippines’ musicians sing their way out of poverty

FRANCE: On a mock-up stage in a Philippine music studio, single-mum Joanna Talibong is sing-ing for her life.

The former church-choir girl is nervous and struggling to stay in key as she battles through more than a dozen takes of the syrupy Olivia New-ton-John ballad “Suddenly”.

If she and keyboard-playing friend Jason Pang-goy can get their video-demo right, they stand a chance of securing a series of gigs in South Korea that would enable them to start a long journey out of crushing poverty.

“I did not finish college, so I don’t have many job options... overseas I can earn a lot more,” the carpenter’s daughter tells aFP during a break from singing at the studio in a rundown quarter of Ma-nila, the country’s capital.

Roughly nine million Filipinos, or 10 percent of the population, work overseas because there are so few job opportunities in their largely impover-ished homeland.

While many toil as largely anonymous maids, sailors, construction workers and laborers in for-eign countries, tens of thousands also stand under spotlights entertaining crowds as singers and musi-cians.

From high-class hotel bars in the Middle East to Las Vegas casinos, ex-pat pubs in asia and luxury cruise liners sailing the Caribbean, Filipinos are of-ten found performing near-perfect cover versions of almost any genre.

Talibong is desperate to join them, or she will be forced back to a bar in a small northern Philip-pine city where for the past three months she and Panggoy have played to tobacco traders and travel-

ling salesmen for $3.50 a night.adding to her problems is her nine-month-

old son, who has a clubbed foot and lives with his grandparents while Talibong pursues her musical career.

Her manager has lined up a six-month booking for Talibong and Panggoy at bars in South Korea that would pay them each $800 a month, and she knows exactly where her first pay cheques would be spent.

“My priority is an operation for my son’s clubbed foot. That’s really my goal. That’s what’s pushing me to work really hard,” says Talibong, who is just 21 years old.

But first the duo’s demo tape -- which also in-cludes a Taylor Swift and Matchbox 20 numbers -- must pass muster with the artist review board in Seoul, a review process that takes about a month.

Their manager, Wilma Ipil, who has been send-ing an average of two bands to South Korea every month since 2008, concedes the duo may not get the gig, amid growing competition from other Fili-pino talents trying to make it overseas.

“Previously, even inexperienced musicians got hired,” says Ipil, who sang in Hong Kong, Thailand and China herself before going into band manage-ment.

“But now, with the wealth of talent available, promoters have become more discriminating.”

Nevertheless, the demand for Filipino perform-ers overseas is enormous, according to Jackson Gan, the head of the music studio where Talibong is recording her demo.

“Our only competition is ourselves. The whole world knows that if you have a low budget but

need quality, you get Filipino talent,” says Gan, who also acts as an agent for other export acts.

Gan estimates between 25,000 and 30,000 Filipino musicians and singers play in 3,000 clubs, hotels, cruise ships and restaurants around the world at any one time. The pay generally ranges from $800-1,500 a month, according to Gan.

Gan attributes the success of Filipino perform-ers overseas to the deep roles music and dance has in local culture.

“Some of my singers were discovered at ka-raoke joints,” says Gan, a 20-year veteran of the business, who’s scouting regimen sees him serv-ing as judge at singing contests in remote villages across the country.

Gan says Philippine musicians are also well-known for their warm audience rapport, a reflec-tion of a general easygoing nature for which Filipi-nos are famous.

“That is a very important part of the music. It’s not just plain singing,” he says.

But there are some inspirational success stories for those who continue to dream of making it big.

The most famous is arnel Pineda, who for many years fronted Filipino bands in Manila bars and in Hong Kong.

His big break came in 2007 when members of US rock group Journey were looking for a new lead singer and saw clips of him singing the band’s songs on youTube.

Pineda was hired soon after an audition in the United States, and his first album fronting the band debuted in the top 10 of the american Billboard Charts. Pineda and Journey continue to perform at sold-out concerts around the world. -aFP

Milan 2013 summer menswear starts with mixed bag

MILAN: The first day of the Milan menswear shows for next summer was a mixed bag of old favorites and new en-tries.

The biggest news Saturday was the re-turn of Jil Sander to her eponymous label after an eight year absence. She marked her comeback with a prim and precise collection dotted with color and trendy styles, showing she is willing to update her minimalist trademark.

The Sander event was nearly over-

shadowed by the unconventionally bright Burberry collection aimed at dispelling any British summer gloom.

dolce&Gabbana, using non-profes-sional models imported from Sicily and harking back to yesteryear styles, showed that summer dressing can and should stay genuine and simple. Luxury comes in the details. Still to come in the four-day preview showings are such big Italian de-signer names as Versace, Prada, Missoni, armani and Fendi. -aP

Models display creations as part of Dolce & Gabbana Spring-Summer 2013 Mens-wear collection on June 23, 2012 during the Men’s fashion week in Milan. (AFP)

Song Of The Day

Fahad AlSabahStaff Writer

Song: Under The SunArtist: CherylAlbum: A Million LightsGenre: PopIn short: As far as summer songs go, Cheryl’s “Under The Sun” ticks all the right boxes; it’s not groundbreaking, but it’s very well seasoned.

To listen to the song visit www.alwatandaily.comE-mail your feedback to falsabah@alwatandaily.com

The Buzz

ENTERTAINMENTALWATAN DAILY

10mondAy, JUnE 25, 2012

Girls star Jemima Kirke pregnant with second childJemima Kirke, who plays free-spirited Jessa Johansson on HBo’s “Girls,” is pregnant, reports Access Hollywood. The actress, 27, confirmed the happy news to the ny daily news on Wednesday. The impending arrival marks the second child for the British-born star and her husband, attorney michael mosberg, who are already parents to 20-month-old daughter Rafaella. The two-time mommy-to-be gave birth to Rafaella just six weeks prior to shooting the “Girls” pilot and was initially hesitant to sign on for the HBo series. “[‘Girls’ Cre-ator] Lena [dunham] came to me two days before I gave birth--we were just lying on the bed, chatting and she’s like, ‘Will you be in my pilot?’ I said, ‘Are you kidding? I will have just had this baby and be 30 pounds overweight.’ But I did it,” Jemima told The Glow. “She’s got a way with words. Rafaella was 6 weeks old when I started filming the pilot, so I brought her with me to set. Sometimes we would shoot from 6 a.m. to midnight, or 2 in the afternoon to 7 a.m.” “Girls” will return to HBo with new episodes in January 2013.

Two bodies found at hotel where Whitney Houston diedTwo bodies discovered at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where singer Whitney Houston died in February and where the Emmy awards for daytime television will take place later on Saturday, were believed to be the victims of a murder-suicide, police said. Beverly Hills police said in a statement on Saturday that they responded to a call late on Friday night and found the bodies of an elderly man and woman at the hotel. “Investigators believe they are the victims of a murder-suicide,” said police spokesman mark Rosen. The identities of the two people were not released and no other details were given. Houston was found dead in a bathtub at the same hotel on February 11. Her death was ruled as ac-cidental. -Reuters

Shakira pregnancy rumors false: FatherBelly dancing Colombian pop star Shakira is not pregnant, her father said in an effort to quell rumors that have gone vi-ral in Latin America. “I’ve heard certain media announce the confirmation of my daughter’s pregnancy,” William mebarak said in a statement. “That’s absolutely false.” Stories specu-lating that the singer, who famously rollerbladed around a beach in a bikini top for her music video “Loca,” would soon become a mother have been circulating in Latin Ameri-can media for weeks. According to the reports, the father is Shakira’s longtime companion, Spanish soccer star Gerard Pique. Some media outlets even go so far as to claim the 35-year-old’s supposed pregnancy is being complicated by toxo-plasmosis, a parasitic infection. Stories were first published by the Colombian and mexican press, before being picked up elsewhere in the region. Shakira fans say it was her father who first who alluded to his daughter’s alleged pregnancy in a television interview. But mebarak vehemently disputed that. “I’m hoping for good news, and hope it happens soon, because she knows it will make us all rejoice,” mebarak said. “I’ve never said otherwise.” Currently in Poland to watch her boyfriend play in the Euro 2012 soccer championships, the singer is preparing songs for an upcoming album. -AFP

Ann Curry fans petition to save her Today jobAnn Curry is reportedly being phased out of her co-anchor position at “Today,” but a group of fans is trying to turn back the tide and persuade nBC otherwise with an online peti-tion. The petition, posted on Change.org on Friday, has so far attracted 500 signatures from Curry loyalists intent on keep-ing her face on the morning airwaves. “dear Today Show at nBC,” the petition reads. “We Love Ann Curry! Ann Curry Loves us and the Today Show!” The petition was launched by Phoenix. Ariz. resident Stephen Crowley, an Iraq war veteran who says he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and that Curry’s presence on the “Today” show has had a steady-ing influence on him. Along with the signatures, the petition has drawn passionate testimony from Curry fans who are distraught over the possibility of her departure. “Ann Curry is the best personality on the show,” one commenter asserts. “If she leaves the show I’ll switch to ‘GmA.’” “Sorry nBC, if Ann goes, I go,” another Curry partisan vowed. “Cable has much more to offer in the mornings these days, so I won’t stick with ‘Today’ if she’s gone.” nBC has not commented on the reports of Curry’s departure. -Reuters

General Hospital wins big with 5 Daytime Emmys

NEW YORK: The daytime Emmys show-ered “General Hospital” with five trophies, including best drama, while giving Regis Philbin a fond farewell as a departing talk-show host. nBC’s “Today” show won as best morning show and the syndicated “Jeopar-dy!” was named best game show at the an-nual ceremony Saturday.

“Live with Regis and Kelly” was saluted as best entertainment talk show (its first-ever nod in that category) and for best talk-show hosts. Philbin ended his long run as its co-host last november, with a replacement yet to be

named to join Kelly Ripa as the syndicated series continues. Heather Tom, who won as best lead actress for CBS’ “The Bold and the Beautiful,” made history as the first to win in that category after having previously won as both best younger actress and supporting actress. Anthony Geary won as lead actor for “General Hospital.” The ABC soap also won for supporting actress (nancy Lee Grahn), supporting actor (Jonathan Jackson), and di-recting team.

The syndicated “dr. oz” was named best informative talk show.

Bill Geddie, longtime associate of Bar-bara Walters and executive producer of her ABC talk show “The View,” received the life achievement award.

“There’s not a lot of glamour and glory in daytime,” Geddie told the room in his accep-tance remarks. “But when you think about it, we’re all here with the best of intentions: We just love making TV!”

Held in Beverly Hills, Calif., the 39th Annual daytime Emmy Awards was telecast on the HLn channel, having moved to cable for the first time after airing on CBS the past

two years. The awards are bestowed by the national Academy of Television Arts & Sci-ences.

The Beverly Hilton, where the presen-tation originated, was the site only hours earlier of what investigators believe was a murder-suicide. Police responding to a report of a shooting late Friday found a man and a woman dead from gunshot wounds in a guest room. The luxury hotel was also the site of Whitney Houston’s death in February, when the singer drowned in the bathtub of her room. -AP

List of Daytime Emmy Winners:Drama series: “General Hospital.”Lead actress (Drama): Heather Tom, “The Bold and the Beautiful.”Lead actor (Drama): Anthony Geary, “General Hos-pital.”Supporting actress (Drama): nancy Lee Grahn, “Gen-eral Hospital.”Supporting actor (Drama): Jonathan Jackson, “Gen-eral Hospital.”Younger actor (Drama): Chandler massey, “days of our Lives.”Younger actress (Drama): Christel Khalil, “The young and the Restless.”Drama series directing team: “General Hospital.”Drama series writing team: “days of our Lives.”Game show: “Jeopardy!”Game-show host: Todd newton, “Family Game night.”Informative talk show: “dr. oz.”Entertainment talk show: “Live with Regis and Kel-ly.”Talk-show host: Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa, “Live with Regis and Kelly.”Morning show: “Today.”Culinary program: “Bobby Flay’s Barbecue Addic-tion.”Culinary/lifestyle host: Sandra Lee, “Semi-Home-made Cooking.”Children’s animated program: “Penguins of madagas-car.”Performer in a children’s program: Kevin Clash (as Elmo), “Sesame Street.”Legal/courtroom program: “Last Shot with Judge Gunn.”New approaches in daytime entertainment: “Take This Lollipop” (online).

The cast from “General Hospital” poses after winning the Emmy for “Outstanding Drama Series” at the 39th Daytime Emmy Awards in Beverly Hills, California June 23, 2012. (Reuters)

Judge details reasons for not blocking ABC show

LOS ANGELES: CBS is unlikely to succeed in its efforts to win copyright infringement claims over rival network ABC’s new show “The Glass House,” a federal judge said Friday. US district Judge Gary Feess has refused to block “Glass House,” which premiered monday, and detailed his reasons in a 16-page ruling released Friday.

CBS wants to stop the show from airing, argu-ing it violates copyrights and trade secrets from its series “Big Brother.”

Feess, however, noted the unpredictable na-ture of reality television and said the genre does not generally include plot or other expressions of ideas that are subject to copyright protection. Ideas alone cannot be protected by copyright, and courts must consider how the ideas are ex-pressed when disputes arise.

Both shows employ dozens of cameras to check in on a houseful of contestants vying for a cash prize, but Feess ruled the shows are likely to play out very differently.

“Until the cameras begin to record, there is no plot, there is no (dialogue), there is no pace or sequence of events, and there are no fixed characters because there is no author,” his ruling stated. “There is a setting, which is hardly novel, and some general ideas regarding the structure of the show, but little else.”

“’Reality,’ it turns out, is hard to copy,” Feess wrote.

The ruling is unlikely to end the fight between the two networks. CBS says it will continue to pursue the case and is seeking additional evi-dence from ABC and “Glass House” producers.

“This is only one preliminary step in a long road; we will now aggressively move two steps forward,” CBS wrote in a statement. The network has argued that nearly 30 former “Big Brother” staffers are now working on “Glass House” and some may have violated confidentiality agree-ments.

Feess agreed with ABC attorneys who argued that many of the filming techniques employed on “Glass House” are not unique to “Big Brother” and are used in other reality shows.

“We’re pleased the Court agreed with ABC’s arguments that The Glass House is a very different show and people working in the reality television industry should not be prevented from bringing their skills to a new employer,” ABC wrote in a statement. “We are thrilled viewers will now get a chance to continue to enjoy and participate in ABC’s The Glass House.”

The rivalry between the two networks hasn’t just been confined to the courtroom or airwaves. CBS on Wednesday issued a tongue-in-cheek news release claiming it’s developing a reality se-ries called “dancing on the Stars” - a jab at ABC’s “dancing With the Stars.”

CBS described the mock series - staged in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery - as featur-ing “moderately famous and sort of well-known people” who will compete by dancing on stars’ graves. -AP

French virtuoso pianist Brigitte Engerer dies at 59

Taiwan rock band Mayday sweep music awards

PARIS: Taiwan rock band mayday won a string of awards, including best album and best band, at the Golden melody Awards for Asia’s best mandarin chart music in Taipei on Saturday.

“I want to thank our fans who have supported us for the past 13 years and I want to thank the judges,” mayday lead singer Ashin told a cheering crowd in the Taipei Arena.

The five-member band also bagged best song of the year, best producer, best

composer and best arrangement for its latest hit album “Second Round.”

Singapore singer-composer Tanya Chua saw off Taiwan pop divas A-mei and Hebe Tien as well as fellow Singa-porean Stefanie Sun to win her third best female singer title.

“I feel like I am dreaming, I didn’t expect to win this award again,” Chua said.

Taiwanese rocker Ascent Chan was the night’s surprise winner when he beat

four better known rivals, including Hong Kong’s Eason Chan and Taiwan pop star and last year’s winner Jay Chou, to be crowned best male singer.

“I actually thought I’d lose. I want to thank Jay Chou... I want to thank the judges and my family,” he said.

Performers from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, malaysia and Singa-pore competed in more than 20 cat-egories at the 23rd edition of the awards. -AFP

PARIS: French virtuoso pianist Bri-gitte Engerer, known for her brilliant in-terpretations of French and Russian rep-ertoire, died in Paris on Saturday at the age of 59, her agent said in a statement.

Engerer “played with some of the very best”, said Concerts de Valmalete, and “brought all of her talent to what was a continual quest for musical truth”.

French President Francois Hollande said in a statement he was “saddened” by the news of her death and said Engerer’s “talent... honored France”.

Engerer always “supported young musicians... while pursuing a remarkable international career”, he said.

“We will all remember her great per-sonal bravery” in “fighting the illness that took her from us.” Engerer had been bat-tling cancer for several years.

Born on october 27, 1952 in Tunis, Engerer started playing the piano at age four and went to study at the Paris Con-servatory at the age of 11.

In 1969 she left Paris for the moscow Conservatory, which gave her a deep af-filiation with the works of Russian com-posers, including Tchaikovsky’s “The Seasons” and mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”. She would later release recordings of both.

“A part of her became Russian,” her agent said.

Stanislas neuhaus, her teacher at the moscow Conservatory, once described Engerer as “one of the most brilliant pia-nists of her generation”.

“Her playing is characterized by its artistry and romantic spirit, its depth, the perfection of her technique and her innate ability to reach the listener,” he said.

Invitations to perform as a soloist with some of the world’s top orchestras took Engerer from Berlin, Paris and Vi-enna to Japan and new york’s Carnegie Hall, playing under conductors including daniel Barenboim and Gary Bertini.

Her life was “an unremitting search for musical truth to which she gave all her talent”, the Concerts de Valmalete said.

A fan of chamber music, Engerer also regularly performed with other instru-mentalists such as the violinist olivier Charlier and the cellist Henri demar-

quette. She was well-known for her high-profile four-hand piano performances with Russian pianist Boris Berezovsky.

Engerer gave her last concert on June 12 at the Champs-Elysees Theatre in Paris playing Schumann with the Paris Cham-ber orchestra, 50 years after first playing in the prestigious venue.

She received a number of honors, including the French Legion of Honor, and in 2011 was given a lifetime achieve-ment award by the French music industry. -AFP

FILE - French pianist Brigitte Engerer thanks the audience after receiving an award of Honor during the 18th Victoires de la Musique Classique ceremony (France’s classical music award) in 2011. (AFP)

EUGENE, Oregon: Jeremy Wariner churned down the track and, believing he was in the clear, coasted toward the finish line. He was simply trying to conserve energy. He nearly went home early.

A tactical error almost cost Wariner in the semifinals in the 400 meters at the US Olympic trials Saturday. After a casual stroll down the backstretch, Wariner had to hustle to the line to earn the fourth and final spot in his heat. “But I made it to the next round,” he said.

He held off a hard-charging Torrin Lawrence, who nearly caught him with a late burst.

Up until that little lapse of judgment, it had been a solid race for Wariner. And despite slowing down, he still turned in a solid time of 45.27 seconds. Even then, he still was well behind top rival LaShawn Merritt, who easily posted the top mark in the semifinals at 44.78. Wariner knows it’s going to take another gear to make this squad.

“I’m where I want to be at,” said Wariner, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist. “I’ll show you all.”

The final is Sunday.Wariner insists he’s returning to the Wariner of old, the one who

dominated the rivalry with Merritt and captured the 2004 Olympic gold medal.

Lately, he’s been hampered by injuries. He sat out the end of last season as he recovered from a case of turf toe. While on the shelf, he also had an injured knee repaired. Now, Wariner is steadily working his way back. “I got out well,” he said. “My first 200 was perfect and I worked the turn real well. But I kind of eased up down the home stretch and it cost me toward the end.”

Merritt said he knows all about the fine line between trying to save strength and finishing strong.

“You have to go from the gun to the finish line,” he said. “I’ve lost thousands of dollars in prize money by a tenth of a second. “You don’t know where everybody is. People have late surges and every-thing. You’ve got to run all the way to the finish line, unless you’re clearly in the lead.” -AP

SPORTSMONDAY, JUNE 25, 2012

ALWATAN DAILY

11

Formula one

Cricket

TennisOlympics

VALENCIA, Spain: Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso thrilled home fans by winning an incident-packed European Grand Prix in Valencia on Sunday to take the overall championship lead and become Formula One’s first repeat winner of the season.

The Spaniard was joined on the podium by two former Ferrari champions - Kimi Raikkonen second for Lotus and Michael Schumacher third for Mercedes. The victory lifted Alonso, who had started 11th on the grid, to the top of the standings with 111 points, 20 clear of Red Bull’s Australian Mark Webber, after eight of 20 races.

It was the 29th career win for Alonso, who won his two titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006. Alonso was helped by the mechanical problems that forced pole starter Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean out of the race, while McLaren’s previous championship leader Lewis Hamilton crashed out in the closing laps.

It was still a momentous achievement on a twisty street circuit that had seen three of the past four winners start on pole and nobody win from lower than third place. “It’s may-be the best victory I have had in terms of emotions,” Alonso told a news conference after sharing the emotion with fans and being mobbed by photographers in the Mediterranean sunshine. “Here now, with the European championship of football on, and all the fans, I am feeling very proud to be Spanish at the moment,” said Alonso, who had wiped away tears of joy as he stood for the anthems.

Hamilton was fighting to defend third place when he was knocked off the track by Venezuelan Pastor Maldona-do’s Williams, with two laps remaining.

The 2008 champion pounded the steering wheel with his fists in fury, before tossing it out of the cockpit. Seven times world champion Schumacher made his way through the debris to grab third in his Mercedes, his first podium finish since he was at Ferrari in 2006 and first of a come-back that started in 2010. Now 43, he was the oldest driver to stand on the Formula One podium since Australian Jack Brabham finished second at Brands Hatch in Britain at the age of 44 in 1970. “As we crossed the line, I asked my team where we finished,” said the German. “They said third and I couldn’t believe it. I had lost count. It’s a wonderful feeling to be back after such a long time.”

Vettel, world champion in 2010 and 2011, had led from pole and was heading towards his third consecutive victory in the port city when his Red Bull lost power in lap 32. He parked up, tossing a glove at the wall in disgust.

“The engine stalled and switched off and there was nothing we could have done. At the moment it’s not clear what exactly was the problem,” he said after returning to the pits.

Grosjean had been competing for the top spot, and the chance of becoming the eighth different winner in eight races, when the Frenchman also had to retire with an alter-nator problem when placed second in lap 41 of the 57 lap race. Alonso, who had said after qualifying on Saturday that the ‘podium is out of reach’, defied conventional wisdom to take his second victory after Malaysia in March Marussia’s Timo Glock missed the race after failing to recover from a stomach complaint that forced the German to miss qualify-ing on Saturday. -Reuters

Alonso thrills home fans with Valencia win

Ferrari Formula One driver Fernando Alonso of Spain takes the checkered flag to win the European F1 Grand Prix at the Valencia street circuit June 24, 2012. (Reuters)

HARARE, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe crushed favor-ites South Africa by nine wickets Sunday as the non-cap Twenty20 tri-nations tournament at Harare Sports Club reached a stunning climax.

It was the second time in five days that the host nation put their powerful neighbors to the sword in a warm-up event for the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lan-ka this September and October.

Zimbabwe won by 29 runs last Wednesday in the pool phase of a tournament that included Bangladesh, but lost by six wickets to South Africa Saturday and entered the final as outsiders.

South Africa made 146-6 off 20 overs with Faf du Plessis (66) top scoring and Zimbabwe reached 150-1 with 17 balls to spare thanks to a superb unbeaten partnership between captain Brendan Taylor (59) and Hamilton Masakadza (58).

Many South African cricket writers had argued against the Proteas going to Harare, saying Zimbabwe and Bangladesh were too weak to provide meaningful opposition.

“I am over the moon after beating a quality team and so proud of the boys,” said No 3 batsman-cum-wicketkeeper Taylor. “We don’t get days like these very often so we are going to enjoy ourselves tonight.”

“The squad has been working really hard over the past three months and we accept that we must put in more hard yards than some other teams. After losing on Saturday, I just told the boys to remain calm.”

It was a dismal tournament for South Africa opener and captain Hashim Amla as an 88 not out was fol-lowed by a string of low scores and he made just three runs in the final after big hitter Richard Levi went for a duck off his first ball.

“I thought 146 was a defendable total so hats off to Zimbabwe,” said Amla. “While Zimbabwe were the better team on the day, we have learnt a lot regarding who should go to Sri Lanka and who should hot.”

Taylor was voted man of the match and the four half-centuries of No 1 batsman Masakadza during the eight-day tournament earned him the man of the series award. -AFP

Zimbabwe crush favored South Africa in T20 final

Pakistan face tough task to save first test

Zimbabwe’s batsman Hamiton Masakadza in action during the Twenty20 tri-nations final match between South Africa and Zimbabwe at Harare’s Sports Club, Harare, Zimbabwe on June 24, 2012. (AFP)

GALLE, Sri Lanka: Pakistan were fac-ing defeat at 36 for three wickets in their second innings at the close on the third day of the first test against Sri Lanka on Sunday after being set a formidable win-ning target of 510 runs. Sri Lanka, who scored 472 in the first innings, closed their second innings at 137-5, leaving Pakistan with a tough task of batting out 15 overs and the entire two days to save the test.

Pakistan, who were shot out for 100 in their first innings, lost wickets regularly during their run chase.

Nuwan Kulasekera once again broke through the Pakistan batting ranks to fin-ish with two wickets for 13 runs.

He separated the openers when he had skipper Mohammad Hafeez edging a low catch to Mahela Jayawardene at first slip in the fifth over. Hafeez hit only a boundary in his innings. Kulasekera struck again 10 minutes before the close when he bowled the other opener Taufiq Umar through the gate for 10. Rangana Herath picked up the wicket of Azhar Ali for seven when he edged a catch to Thilan Samaraweera at second slip.

Younis Khan (0) and nightwatchman Saeed Ajmal (11) survived the remaining overs but Pakistan still required 474 more runs. The hosts, having decided against enforcing the follow-on, lost three wick-ets in the afternoon session looking for quick runs. Tharanga Paranavitana (25) and Tillakaratne Dilshan set the tone with an opening partnership of 81 off 20 overs before Saeed Ajmal separated them.

Ajmal won a leg-before appeal against Paranavitana and four runs later, Dilshan fell to Junaid Khan to depart after a 58-ball 56 that included nine fours.

Kumar Sangakkara, who was stranded on 199 not out in the first innings, made just one run before mistiming a drive to extra cover where Taufiq Umar held the catch to give Ajmal his second wicket of

the innings.Sri Lanka lost Mahela Jayawardene

for 14 and Thilan Samaraweera for 15 af-ter the tea break before applying the clo-sure to their innings.

Earlier, spinners Herath and Suraj Randiv bowled Pakistan out for 100 at lunch after the visitors had resumed on 48 for five.

Pakistan’s last five wickets lasted just a session as Herath (3-30) and Randiv (4-13) ran through the bottom order.

Left-arm spinner Herath made the first breakthrough of the day by trapping Younus Khan (29) leg before. Younus was clearly unhappy with the decision and television replays later showed him get-ting an inside edge on to the pads.

Compounding Pakistan’s misery, debutant Mohammad Ayub and wicket-

keeper Adnan Akmal were involved in a mix-up where both batsmen finished at the striker’s end.

Akmal swept Herath to fine leg and set off for a run then called for a second but Ayub hesitated. Akmal found himself at the same end when the throw from Nu-wan Pradeep came to Herath, who had plenty of time to take off the bails at the non-striker’s end.

After Akmal departed for nine the end came swiftly. Randiv trapped Abdur Rehman lbw for one and finished off the innings when Umar Gul (two) made a big heave and the resulting top edge was caught by wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene to give the bowler his fourth wicket of the innings.

Herath ended Ayub’s innings at 25, trapping him lbw. -Reuters

Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Kulasekara (second right) celebrates with captain Mahela Jayawardene (left) after taking the wicket of Pakistan’s Taufeeq Umar during the third day of their first test cricket match in Galle June 24, 2012. (Reuters)

LONDON: For almost a decade it seemed Roger Federer was guest of honor on finals day at nearly every grand slam event but over the past 12 months Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have con-spired to strike him off the guest list.

Between winning his first major at Wimbledon in 2003 and a record 16th slam at the Australian Open in 2010, Federer failed to reach the showpiece match in one of the big four tournaments just five times and contested an astonish-ing 22 finals.

So regular were his appearances in the finals that, when he was absent, it felt a little like attending a Madonna concert where the Queen of Pop had failed to show up.

Unfortunately for Federer, considered the most gifted player to have swung a tennis racket, his run of success has dried up and he is not happy being just one of the crowd.

Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open champion Djokovic and Nadal have split the last nine major trophies between them and they have also contested the last four slam finals.

Federer feels it is time someone gate-crashed their party and winning a re-cord-equaling seventh Wimbledon crown would be a good start.

“It’s my time of the year now,” said Federer who was kitted out in a collared, long-sleeved cream jumper complete with purple trim and a green ‘RF’ logo

embossed on the upper right arm.“I fancy my chances here and at the

US Open. It’s exciting times ahead,” he told reporters at Wimbledon on Saturday.

The rivalry between the top three has electrified not just the tennis community but the whole sporting world.

It seems each time one of the trio reaches a final, a host of records are on the line. Over the next 42 days, not only will they will be chasing a Wimbledon crown but the number one ranking is also up for grabs, as is the Olympic gold medal when the All England Club hosts the ten-

nis event during the London Games.Djokovic is a bona fide member of the

top-three club now but he admitted that had it not been for the Federer-Nadal ri-valry, he might not have been the player he is today.

“Their rivalry is one of the most re-spected rivalries in the history of our sport, if not the biggest rivalry,” Djokovic, who will begin the defense of his crown against Juan Carlos Ferrero on Monday, said.

“They’re two great champions, two tennis players that made the history of

this sport. Every time you a see a Federer/Nadal match, everybody is excited. Even I’m excited to see it. “Playing against both of them made me a better player. They also made me work harder.”

It is no wonder that Nadal, who has already bagged 11 majors, relishes the challenge of playing in this era.

“I feel very lucky to be part of these two rivalries. It’s something that brings special motivation to my game, the moti-vation to keep improving my tennis,” said Nadal who won a record seventh French Open title two weeks ago.

“If you are not able to improve your level you are dead in this very competi-tive world of tennis.”

Federer is aware many people have written his tennis obituary over the past two years, especially after he was knocked out in the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2010 and 2011, and he is determined to show he can rise from the ashes.

“I want to do better; I have to do bet-ter in this event,” said the Swiss who was beaten here by Tomas Berdych in 2010 and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga last year.

“I could have gone further the last couple of years. Maybe the other guys were just too good. Maybe I wasn’t quite at my best. Who knows what the combina-tion was?

“But it’s up to me to make that dif-ference now and take it to the next step. Then once hopefully I am there, I can reach for the title. -Reuters

Federer sets sights on seventh Wimbledon titleWariner hangs on to advance to 400 final

Roger Federer of Switzerland trains on the practice courts at Wimbledon in London June 24, 2012. (Reuters)

GDANSK, Poland: Germany captain Philipp Lahm is hoping the Warsaw stadium roof will remain open for their Euro 2012 semifinal on Thursday to ensure cooler temperatures when they bid to book a spot in the final.

The roof had been shut for the tournament opener between co-hosts Poland and Greece, creating a humid greenhouse temperature and atmosphere that was not to every player’s liking. “We are playing an open-air sport so I would wish it stays open to get some fresh air in,” Lahm told reporters on Sunday. “I don’t like it when it is too hot.” “At the end of the day it is not me who makes that decision though.” The Germans will take on Italy or England, who play later on Sunday, in their fourth con-secutive semifinal at a major tournament.

European soccer’s governing body has said it will seek to keep the roof open for the rest of the tournament after a much-criticized decision to close it ahead of the open-ing match due to a thunderstorm.

Polish media and officials complained that humid conditions in the stadium contributed to their team’s poor second-half performance in a 1-1 draw. Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger could be doubtful for the European Championship semifinals because of a lin-gering ankle injury. Germany plays either Italy or Eng-land on Thursday in Warsaw. Schweinsteiger revealed in an interview Sunday that his right ankle hasn’t healed properly after an injury in February and that it’s creating problems in the tournament. The Bayern Munich player has an important role in central midfield. -Agencies

SPORTSMONDAY, juNE 25, 2012

Football

VSEngland

2Italy

4

KIEV, Ukraine: Alessandro Diamanti scored the decisive penalty kick Sunday to send Italy through to the European Championship semifinals with a 4-2 win in the shootout following a 0-0 tie with England and a spot.

Ashley Young hit the crossbar with England’s third, and Ashley Cole’s attempt was saved by Gian-luigi Buffon.

Italy will next play Germany in the semifinals on Thursday in Warsaw, Poland.

Mario Balotelli, Andrea Pirlo - with an audacious slow chip-shot down the middle of the goal - and An-tonio Nocerino also scored for Italy. Steven Ger-rard and Wayne Rooney scored England’s penalties.

The match ended 0-0 after 120 minutes of play. The Italians twice hit the post, but were also let down by poor composure in front of goal. Diamanti clipped the post with a curling cross in the 101st minute, and swept a clear shot wide in the clearest chance of the second period of extra time.

Nocerino, another substitute, thought he had scored from Diamanti’s cross in the 115th but was offside.

Daniele De Rossi hit the post in the third minute, and Buffon saved a shot from Glen johnson in the

fifth.For England, it was yet another exit from a major

tournament in the quarterfinals after a penalty shoo-tout. England lost to Portugal in the same manner at Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup.

Italy dominated the match, which ended 0-0 after 120 minutes of play. The Italians twice hit the post, but were also let down by poor composure in front of goal. Diamanti clipped the post with a curling cross in the 101st minute, and swept a clear shot wide.

The first scoreless match at Euro 2012 was neither dull nor lacking good soccer.

Italy’s attacking desire and creativity under coach Cesare Prandelli had playmaker Andrea Pirlo at its heart. Italy had 35 shots, compared to only nine for England.

England had briefly led the shootout after Ric-cardo Montolivo missed Italy’s second penalty. His shot went wide of joe Hart’s right post as the England goalkeeper guessed correctly.

Rooney then sent Buffon the wrong way, firing in his spot kick to the keeper’s right to give England a 2-1 lead.

The momentum shifted after Pirlo’s bold piece of skill leveled at 2-2. – AP

Italy beats England on penalties at Euro 2012

Italy’s Alessandro Diamanti scores the winning penalty goal against England’s Joe Hart during their Euro 2012 quarter-final soccer match at the Olympic stadium in Kiev June 24, 2012. (Reuters)

GNIEWINO, Poland: The fact that Spain have two days fewer than Portugal to prepare for Wednesday’s Euro 2012 semifinal will have an impact but the world and European champions cannot use it as an excuse, physio javier Minano said on Sunday. Portugal played their quarter-final against Czech Republic on Thursday, while Spain’s last-eight match against France was on Saturday and Mi-nano said that would give the Portuguese “something of an advantage” over the holders in Donetsk.

“There is no doubt that it has an im-pact but then again we had a day longer

than the French to prepare for the quar-ter-final so we can’t use it as an excuse either,” he added in a rare appearance at a news conference at Spain’s training base in Gniewino, northern Poland.

Like all the other national teams com-peting in Poland and ukraine, the Spanish players have endured a long, hard season with their clubs and Minano said it was impossible to tell whether they were close to their physical limit.

“A few years ago it was unthinkable that a player could play 5,000 minutes of football in a season, which is the case with some of these footballers,” he added.

“It’s a challenge for them no doubt but it’s the same for other teams and the response has been good.

“Based on that response, the coach is picking the players who he believes can perform the best.”

Spain had yet to decide whether they will return to Gniewino after the semifinal if they get through to the final on july 1 in Kiev, or whether they will head directly to the ukrainian capital, Minano added.

“The calm and the excellent facilities we have found in Gniewino will certainly play a major role in the decision,” he said. -Reuters

Preparation time will have impact: Spain physio

Spain head coach Vicencte del Bosque prepares his team during a training session of Spain prior to the Euro 2012 soccer quarterfinal match between Spain and France in Donetsk, Ukraine, Friday, June 22, 2012. (AP)

Germany’s Philipp Lahm scores a goal during the Euro 2012 quarter-final soccer match against Greece at the PGE Arena in Gdansk, June 22, 2012. (Reuters)

CARSON, California: Mike Magee, Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan scored first-half goals and the Los Angeles Galaxy earned a 3-0 win over the Vancou-ver Whitecaps for their third consecutive victory.

The Galaxy opened the scoring in the 16th minute when Magee capitalized on a scramble in the box to send home his third goal of the season past Whitecaps goalkeeper joe Cannon.

After spending the early part of the season mired near the bottom of the league, the win may signify a turning point for the defending MLS champions.

“It’s been a good week. If someone would have said we would have gotten nine points from the games we were playing in six days it would have been nice but obviously it would have been difficult but we’ve done it,” star David Beckham said.

“Vancouver is a good team, they’re a quick team but the first-half performance killed them off com-pletely. We didn’t pass the ball as well in the second half like we did in the first half but it’s a great week for us.”

Making his first appearance for the Galaxy (6-8-2) since returning from Euro 2012 duty with Ireland, Keane went through the Whitecaps defense and dou-bled the Galaxy’s lead in the 30th minute.

After his goal, Keane held up a shirt that read “RIP james Nolan” paying tribute to a 21-year-old Irish fan,

who died of an apparent accidental drowning while in Poland to follow Keane and the Ireland national team at the European Championships.

“It was just a gesture because the Irish people are very close and they stick with each other through good times and bad times,” Keane said. “He was a big, big soccer fan and it was a shame so it was just a show of respect really.” Keane helped create the third goal in the 40th minute as well when he fired a shot in the box into the hand of jay Demerit setting up a penalty kick that was converted by Donovan. After watching his team get blanked by the Galaxy, Vancouver coach Martin Rennie was full of praise for Los Angeles.

“The movement of Keane and Donovan, my opin-ion was like world class. Their movement was fantastic. They caused so many problems with the way they came out at the backline,” Rennie said. “Tonight I think they were really on form and their midfield’s passing and movement was very good as well. We happened to find them on a good night and they punished us.” Vancou-ver fell to 7-4-5 on the season. Donovan was pleased with his team’s successful run.

“A great week, a great end to the week. I think we deserved what we got tonight because we put in a lot of work in the last few weeks,” Donovan said. “It was nice to get rewarded for that.” -AP

Galaxy blank Whitecaps 3-0

German Lahm hopes for al fresco semifinal

Alain Rochat (center) of the Vancouver Whitecaps fights for the ball with David Beckham (right) and Hector Jimenez (left) of the Los Angeles Galaxy at The Home Depot Center on June 23, 2012. (AFP)

MIAMI: Lionel Messi scored three goals and helped set up three others for the Masters team in a 7-7 draw with the Stars on Saturday night in the World Soc-cer Masters Tour. Messi assisted on a goal by Rondon in the 82nd minute and scored in the 84th minute to tie it at 6.

Edison Cavani’s penalty kick in the

88th minute gave the Stars a brief lead, but Ariel Ortega converted on a penalty kick of his own in the 90th minute to preserve the draw.Luis Suarez had three goals for the Stars. The announced crowd of 48,327 withstood a steady rainfall from the start. It was the third and final stop for the all-star tour that also had events in

Cancun, Mexico, and Bogota, Colombia.Diego Milito and Didier Drogba also

scored for the Masters.Radamel Falcao, james Rodriguez

and Nene added goals for the Stars.uS national players Carlos Bocanegra

and Maurice Edu saw action, but did not figure into the scoring. -AP

Messi scores three goals in World Soccer Masters Tour

Schweinsteiger could be doubtful for semifinals