ogists. tial meetingmight bebrief,dependingontheadvice ofpsychol- timing ofthereunionremainedunclear, andofficialssaidtheini- see hisfamilyface-to-faceforthe firsttimesincehiscapture.The stances ofhisdisappearanceand whetherhedesertedhispost. eventually facequestionsfrom investigators aboutthecircum- in uniformtobeheldbyinsurgents intheAfghanistanwar,will Army MedicalCenter.The28-year-oldsoldier,theonlyAmerican where hewillundergofurthermedicaltreatmentatBrooke from amilitaryhospitalinGermanytoSanAntonio,Texas, ly fiveyearsincaptivity.SergeantBoweBergdahlflewovernight yesterday andwasduetosoonreunitewithhisfamilyafternear- swap withtheAfghanTalebanreturnedtoUnitedStates WASHINGTON: with concern situation eyes last monthremainunclear.—AFP detainees. Theconditionsforthe12detaineestransferred ties stillhelpoverseethecasesofforeign,non-Afghan Kabul governmentunderanagreement.ButUSauthori- Washington handedovercontrolofParwanprisontothe their combattroopsfromAfghanistanthisyear, the UnitedStatesandNATOallieswithdrawingmostof agreeing tothetransferoffiveTalibanfigures.With but somelawmakershaveslammedtheWhiteHousefor held atGuantanamo.BoweBergdahlwasfreedonMay31 tured byAfghaninsurgentsandfiveTalebanmilitants prisoner swapinvolvingthereleaseofaUSsoldiercap- measures adoptedinthewakeofSept11attacks. ons asitseekstodrawalineundertheextraordinarylegal is tryingtoshutdowntheGuantanamoandParwanpris- are reluctanttoreleasethem.TheObamaadministration but oftenlacksufficientevidencetotrythemincourtand cases, USauthoritiessuspectdetaineeshaveterrorlinks the USmilitaryprisonatGuantanamoBay,.Inboth difficulties attheParwancentersimilartothoseposedby transfer 10daysbeforehand,theofficialadded. . TheDefenseDepartmentnotifiedCongressofthe anonymity. Themoveleft38non-Afghandetaineesatthe prison, thedefenseofficialtoldAFPonconditionof back totheirhomecountrieslastmonthfromtheParwan national, aKuwaitiand10Pakistanidetaineesweresent pects havebeenheldforyearswithouttrial.AFrench military prisoninAfghanistanwhereforeignterrorsus- States hasrepatriatedadozeninmatesfromsecretive WASHINGTON: returns toUS from secretUSjail But first,hewillreceivemoremedical attentionandisdueto Kuwaiti released F

The moveatParwancameamidcontroversyovera President BarackObama’sadministrationfaceslegal SUBSCRIPTION ormer 3

The Americansoldierfreedinacontroversial 150 Fils A USofficialsaidyesterdaytheUnited AUDY UE1,21 SABN1,13 HNo:16196 1435 AH SATURDAY, SHAABAN16, JUNE14,2014 Iraqis tofightmilitants Top Shiiteclericurges Obama: USwillhelpbutIraqmustmendrifts POW Continued onPage 13

and Kurdishzones. that couldpartitionitintoSunni,Shiite pushed thenationclosertoaprecipice withdrawal attheendof2011.Ithas threat toIraq’sstabilitysincetheUS ed Sunnis,hasemergedasthebiggest Saddam-era figuresandotherdisaffect- which alsodrawssupportfromformer boring .Thefast-movingrebellion, chaos causedbythecivilwarinneigh- a widerregionalconflictfeedingoffthe threatens toembroilIraqmoredeeplyin east ofBaghdad.TheISILassaultalso in anethnicallymixedprovincenorth- made freshgains,capturingtwotowns Islamic StateofIraqandtheLevant address thecountry’spoliticaltroubles. tary actionunlesstheymovedto Iraqi leadersthathewouldnottakemili- countering theinsurgency,butwarned Obama saidheisweighingoptionsfor dead andwounded.USPresidentBarack offensive, citingreportsofhundreds “extreme alarm”atreprisalkillingsinthe territory, andaUNofficialexpressed tants whohaveseizedlargeswathsof defend theircountryfromSunnimili- ship yesterdaycalledonallIraqisto BAGHDAD: and theNetherlands attheArenaPonteNova yesterday. Netherlandsbeatthe defendingchampions5-1.— AP(SeePage48) SALVADOR, : ’RobinvanPersie scoresagoalduringthegroup BWorldCupfootballmatch betweenSpain colors inscreens to havericher Samsung tablets F 30 Prime MinisterNouriAl-Maliki’s Fighters fromtheAl-Qaeda-inspired LYING DUTCHMANSAVESTHEDAY! Iraq’s Shiiteclericalleader- often aftermeetinglittleresistancefrom as wellmilitaryandpolicebases- town ofTikritandsmallercommunities, city ofMosul,SaddamHussein’shome- overran thecountry’ssecond-largest form acoherentresponseaftermilitants Shiite-led governmentisstrugglingto northern city.—AP militants fromtheIslamicStateofIraqandLevant(ISIL)tookoverthis MOSUL: ChildrenplayyesterdaywithanIraqiarmyhelmetleftbehindafter over rejection Beckenbauer FIFA bans 46 threat. was theircivicdutytoconfrontthe told worshippersatFridayprayersthatit revered ShiitespiritualleaderinIraq, Grand AyatollahAliAl-Sistani,themost state securityforces.Arepresentativefor Continued onPage13 Min Max 29º 42º LOCAL SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 Kuwait takes arrest five part in blood donation day Filipina ‘masseuses’ KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Central Blood Bank shares worldwide celebrations to mark World Blood Donor Day today. Dr Reem Al-Radhwan, in charge of the Ministry of Health Man falls from Salmiya building blood transfusion department, said Kuwait’s participation in this global event will be KUWAIT: Hawally police arrested five Filipinas in violation of source said the man in his 40s fell from his flat, and passersby through various activities iqama law after a police patrol spotted the women in the area informed Interior Ministry operations about the incident. and workshops intended and asked them for their IDs. They told police that they pro- Investigations are underway. to promote the need for vide massage services from their home. They were sent to A bedoon was stabbed by an acquaintance due to earlier “safe blood” and express immigration detectives. disputes in Naseem. A security source said family members gratitude to people who In other news, an ungrateful man beat his mother and took the victim to the hospital. The suspect was charged with donate their blood. kicked her out of the house at night due to a financial dispute. attempted murder and is being sought by police. A major celebration, The woman called Salmiya police and he is being sought. Fourteen Asians accused two persons wearing police uni- under the sponsorship of Police arrested an extremely drunk expat in Fahd Al- forms, of storming their residence, beating them and stealing Minister of Health Dr Ali Ahmad, as they noticed he was in an abnormal condition and KD 534 and 9,200 Nepalese rupees before escaping. A security Al-Obaidi, will be held on talking to himself. When they approached him, he attempted source said the fourteen Asians complained to Fintas police June 18 to honor blood to escape before being brought under control. The Indian about the incident, and that Ahmadi detectives are conducting donors and sponsors, man was sent to concerned authorities. a manhunt for the two. Lawyer Duwaim Al-Muwaizri filed a namely communities, A patrol in the capital arrested a drug user and sent him to complaint against a citizen at the Firdous police station accus- Dr Reem Al-Radhwan embassies, companies, narcotics and alcohol authorities after arresting him with 30 ing him of insulting religions and God by an animated film. The military authorities and illicit tablets. The arrest was made after spotting a car being source said the accused is being summoned for questioning. personnel and families. The local ceremony will be driven erratically. It was stopped, and during a routine inspec- A citizen told Ahmadi police that his 48-year-old wife was themed “safe blood for saving mothers”, Radhwan said, tion, 30 tablets were found with the man who is a citizen in his missing, and an absconding case was filed. A security source noting that it is also slogan of the global event. twenties. He was sent to concerned authorities. said that a fight broke out between children of Syrian and Moreover, Kuwait will witness this year laying the cor- The body of an expat was recovered by the coroner follow- Jordanian families, leading to a fight between the mothers as nerstones of cooperative blood transfusion centers in ing a fall from the ninth floor of a Salmiya building. A security other residents watched. — Al-Rai Ahmadi and Adan Hospital. For its part, the “Club 25 for Blood Donors” will also hold a celebration under the title “Grant life to those who grant it to us.” The Central Blood Bank annually receives up to 75,000 donors, the MoH offi- Kuwait proposes cial said, noting that need for blood has been mounting due to increasing traffic accidents, need for blood for women in labor and childbirth in addition to some abnor- mal hereditary cases. She called on nationals and residents to donate blood to save lives. — KUNA e-portal on laws

GENEVA: A Kuwaiti delegation to the Kuwait, World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) being held here suggested sign three MoUs yesterday the formation of an e-portal that would contain the myriad laws and BUDAPEST: Kuwait and Hungary signed yesterday three memos of legislative acts from around the world. understanding for cooperation in fields of health, water, and agricul- Head of the delegation Munawer Al- ture. The memos were signed in a ceremony held here with the pres- Hadba told KUNA the portal would serve ence visiting Kuwait’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of those seeking information on the laws of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and his any country, for instance, on taxes, edu- Hungarian counterpart Dr Tibor Navracsics. “There are more opportu- cation, tourism and healthcare among nities to sign joint agreements that include various cooperation areas, other vital information. particularly economic and investment between the two countries in The portal, engulfing laws from many order to benefit from exchange of their expertise in these two fields,” countries in one location, would also give Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled said. users the opportunity to compare Kuwait’s FM described Kuwaiti-Hungarian as relation as strong and between these laws with ease and objec- based on solid and historical friendship. He also indicated that he has tivity, said Hadba. He expressed delight conducted today fruitful meetings with Hungarian officials, notably official discussions with Dr Navracsics that addressed different aspects that the International Telecommunication of bilateral relations between the two countries and ways to strength- Union (ITU) was seeking to adopt the en them, in addition to a number of subjects of joint interest, particu- Kuwaiti suggestion. The (ITU) is a special- ized agency of the United Nations that is GENEVA: Head of the Kuwaiti delegation Munawer Al-Hadba to the World larly the situation in the Middle East and the world. He recalled Summit on the Information Society. —KUNA Hungary’s principle and honorable stance during the time of the Iraqi responsible for issues that concern infor- invasion to Kuwait in 1990, as well as its effective role in liberating mation and communication technologies. Affairs to the summit and presented cations between the National Assembly Kuwait and putting-out the flaming fires from Kuwaiti oil wells, The Kuwaiti delegation represents the attendees a thorough account on efforts and Kuwaiti citizens via the Internet, said burned by Iraqi troops. — KUNA State Ministry for National Assembly of the ministry to establish firm communi- Hadba. — KUNA MSAL seeks to regulate donations

KUWAIT: Informed sources said the NGOs and in presence of international accusations against it, and Heritage Revival Society) have received receipt books Foundations Department sent a memo to Social Affairs the involvement of some NGOs in financing terror. used in the 11th project to collect donations during and Labor Minister and State Minister for Planning and The sources said Subaih is keen on spending dona- the upcoming month of Ramadan. They said the num- Development Affairs Hind Al-Subaih that includes a tors’ money in the right ways, and said the law should ber of books received by the societies totaled 1,620, new mechanism to regulate donation collection dur- be applied to everyone without discrimination. She distributed as follows: 1,000 for Islamic Heritage, 600 ing the holy month of Ramadan. The sources said the said those who insist on violating the law by following for Direct Aid and 20 for Bashayer Al-Khair. The sources goal behind this mechanism is to protect charitable devious and crooked ways to collect money away from said the total number of receipt books to be distrib- work from strangers who distort its image and waste the ministry’s supervision and without its prior uted to NGOs who are allowed to collect donations is its goals, in addition to making sure that collections approval will be punished. 3,645, adding that there is a circular on rules and regu- are sent to those who deserve them and make sure Meanwhile, the sources said that three societies out lations that organize charity work, and these will be they is not used in a way that harms Kuwait, especially of 11 (Direct Aid, Bashayer Al-Kahair and the Islamic distributed to NGOs during Ramadan. —Al-Jarida LOCAL SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

Kuwait restricts camel movement

KUWAIT: Only hours after the announcement of the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) that the MERS coronavirus was found in 5 camels, it issued an administrative decision to ban the import and export of camels in Kuwait. This move is part of measures to limit the infection and stop the spread of the virus. PAAAFR Deputy General Manager for Animal Wealth Affairs Hanadi Bastaki said decision number 713/2014 aims at containing MERS and preventing it from spreading. It also aims at accounting for all cases and ensuring public health and safety. She said there is full alert at the highest level to put the virus in check, and take all preventive measures to ensure Kuwait returns to its previous state of being free of the virus. Meanwhile, ambulance supervisor at the Medical Emergencies Department Ahmad Buarki said a special team of paramedics have been prepared to deal with suspected cases of MERS. He said it will be headed by the chief of infection prevention unit for medical emer- gencies Yusra Ghalib. Buarki spoke during the closing ceremony of the paramedics’ awareness campaign about MERS which was held Thursday morning at the MED premises in Sabhan. KUWAIT: Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Khaled Al-Jarallah (second left) is seen with officials at the Russian Embassy as He said preventive material such as masks, gloves it celebrates National Day. — KUNA and other necessities, in addition to sterilizing the ambulance. Baurki said a special sterilization station was established for suspected case to be sent to the Amir visit to to infectious diseases hospital to ensure that all techni- cians are protected from the virus. — Al-Anbaa give big boost to ties News Kuwait watches Iraq with concern in brief KUWAIT: Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Khaled Al-Jarallah said Meanwhile, on a different topic, Jarallah stressed on the need Thursday that the upcoming visit by His Highness the Amir to move effectively and secure coordination among countries in Army denies alleged Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to Russia this fall “will the region, including fortifying the home front against terrorist MoD press statement give a quantum leap” to bilateral ties. “The visit will be highly sig- organizations due to tensions in the region. Asked about a map KUWAIT: The Department of Moral Guidance and Public nificant due to issues that are going to be discussed, and the published recently by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Relations in Kuwait’s Armed Forces denied yesterday agreements to be signed by both sides,” Jarallah told reporters on (ISIL) that includes Kuwaiti territories, Jarallah said: “We had statements issued in the press attributed to Deputy the sidelines of the celebration of Russia’s National Day by the repeatedly warned about the seriousness of the situation in Iraq.” Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sheikh Khaled Al- Russian Embassy. Jarallah added ISIL does not target only Kuwait, but the entire Jarrah Al-Sabah. This came in a press statement issued by “The relations with the Russian Federation at all levels are region as well, adding that the new map confirms that “we must the department, affirming that Sheikh Khaled has not excellent, outstanding and historical,” he said, noting that Kuwait be cautious and move through security coordination including made any statement to the press in writing or verbally, was one of the first countries in the region that set up relations fortifying our internal front in the GCC countries.” Regarding the adding that all press statements by the minister or any with Russia. The undersecretary added that contacts with friends possibility of an Iranian or Turkish military intervention in Iraq to high-placed official in the Ministry of Defense are sent via in Russia are ongoing and continuous, including visits of officials curb ISIL’s expansion, including Kuwait’s position on such a mat- the Department of Moral Guidance and Public Relations between the two countries, affirming on the existence of a joint ter, Jarallah said “I have neither confirmation nor certain informa- to the local media and to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). coordination with Russia and understanding on many regional tion and therefore we are not part of this intervention and the The department urged the local media not to publish any and international issues. issue related to brothers in Iraq.” — KUNA statements ostensibly made by Ministry of Defense offi- cials without prior permission from the ministry. FM inaugurates new embassy in Travelers to UK told to hold return tickets ATHENS: First Deputy Prime Minister capital Budapest, concluding an official jubilee of diplomatic relations with and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah visit to Greece to mark the golden Kuwait. — KUNA LONDON: The Kuwait Embassy in London on Thursday Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah inaugurated urged Kuwaiti nationals travelling to the UK to hold Kuwait’s newly-built embassy in Athens return tickets to avoid being denied entry. This require- on Thursday during an official ceremo- ment is part of the new British immigration regulations ny. The event was attended by Greece’s applicable to all foreign visitors to the UK including Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister GCC citizens, according to a statement by the embassy. Evangelos Venizelos, the Argentine The embassy voiced hope that all Kuwaiti travelers will Ambassador to Greece and Greek and comply with the regulations in order to avoid any Kuwaiti diplomats. Sheikh Sabah, during inconvenience. a speech at the event, stressed the depth of friendly relations between Youth centers screen both countries, noting the inauguration WCup matches free of the new embassy reflects a successful KUWAIT: The youth centers overseen by the Public diplomatic relationship based on coop- Authority for Youth and Sports are open to welcome eration and partnerships under all domains. those who wish to see the matches of the World Cup cur- Sheikh Sabah along with his Greek rently taking place in Brazil, said an authority official yes- counterpart were both taken on a tour terday. Supervisor of youth centers Ahmad Al-Dhafiri told of the facility, located in the heart of the KUNA the centers are equipped with wide TV screens city, by Kuwait’s Ambassador to Greece which will show all the World Cup matches free of charge Raed Abdullah Sayyed Rajab Al-Refaei. to whoever wishes to view them anytime during the The event was followed by the Kuwaiti ATHENS: First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah tournament, which lasts for a whole month. First Deputy Premier and Foreign Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and his Greek counterpart Evangelos Venizelos Minister departing to the Hungarian inaugurate Kuwait’s newly-built embassy. — KUNA LOCAL SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

Al-Rahma Int’l sets up a camp for Syrian refugees in north Lebanon. — KUNA Kuwaiti charities set up camps for Syrians New shelters opened in Lebanon

BEIRUT: Kuwait’s Al-Rahma International Separately, the Kuwaiti Women’s Charity opened yesterday a camp for Charity Team opened yesterday a shelter Syrian refugees in Rihaniyya town in for 200 displaced Syrian families in Beqaa northern Lebanon. Al-Rahma’s camp in in eastern Lebanon. The center can Rihaniyya consists around 300 tents with accommodate 200 families, Fouziya Al- all accessories and services, as well as a Amaim, head of the team’s delegation, mosque, at a total cost of KD 60,000, stated to KUNA, adding that the total cost Abdullah Al-Ajmi, head of Al-Rahma’s del- of the center is KD 97,000, all donated by egation to Beirut, told KUNA. Kuwaiti women. Al-Rahma has built over 1,000 tents The charity team will also offer finan- and around 600 rooms in shelters for cial and psychological support to dis- Syrian refugees in various Lebanese cities, placed Syrian families, Amaim said, Ajmi noted, expressing hope that this aid expressing her hopes that the team will would help alleviate some of the Syrians contribute to alleviating the suffering of refugees’ sufferings. He also conveyed conflict-traumatized Syrians. Furthermore, Syrian refugees’ gratitude and apprecia- Kuwait’s Consul General in Lebanon tion to the Kuwaiti leadership and people Mohammad Al-Wugayan lauded the for their noble humanitarian stances charity team’s humanitarian assistance to towards their Syrian brothers and sisters displaced Syrians. He also hoped the during their current crisis. Malik Jedidiah, Kuwaiti aid would help ease the suffering Chairman of the Association of Muslim Syrians in Lebanon, and lauded the sig- Scholars in Lebanon, said that Kuwait is an nificant role played by Kuwaiti philan- oasis of philanthropy work and generosity thropic institutions to provide aid and as its humanitarian stamp is present support to Syrian refugees in various across the world. Lebanese areas. — KUNA

Kuwaiti women’s charity team opens a shelter for Syrian refugees in eastern Lebanon. — KUNA

Available at The Sultan Centre & Carrefour SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 Diminished Alarmed by Iraq, Iraq to Seven charged with loses its influence 8 cooperate with ‘foe’ US 9 defaming PM 10

JERUSALEM: Muslim worshipers walk in front of the Dome of Rock, at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam’s third most holy site, in the old city of Jerusalem. — AFP Arabs, face off over ‘Jerusalem’ Trade at risk; hails ‘refreshing’ move

SYDNEY: Australia could face trade sanctions by reverse this position,” Abdulhadi said of the the government persisted with its stance, which government,” he said, adding that the issue Arab nations over its decision to stop using the diplomatic protest. He added that trade sanc- he said left Australia isolated. could also be taken to the United Nations term “occupied” when referring to East tions could be put in place against Canberra if “It depends on the reaction of the Australian General Assembly. “Unfortunately I think there Jerusalem, the head of the Palestinian delegation will be negative consequences for the to Canberra warned yesterday. Izzat Abdulhadi (Australian) government.” Australia’s export said Australia’s new stance on East Jerusalem, trade with the Middle East is significant, account- which was annexed by Israel in a move never Qatar to pay Hamas ing for billions of dollars annually, particularly in recognized by the international community, was wheat and meat, with Qatar and Jordan major a “substantial policy shift”. former civil servant markets for live sheep. “We want to maintain the “We think that it’s very provocative and trade and we will work very hard with them to unuseful, and it’s not appropriate,” Abdulhadi RAMALLAH: Qatar is stepping in temporarily to staff received their salaries but their Hamas ensure that that happens,” Australian Deputy said. His comments came after 18 diplomats help the new Palestinian unity government pay counterparts did not. This prompted Hamas to Prime Minister Warren Truss told reporters yes- from countries including , and former employees of Islamist movement demand last week that employees from its dis- terday. Israel seized East Jerusalem during the Hamas’s disbanded Gaza government, an official banded Gaza government be taken onto the PA 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move protested to Australia’s Department said yesterday. The Gulf state said it would con- payroll. Hamas disbanded its Gaza government of Foreign Affairs in Canberra on Thursday. never recognized by the international communi- tribute a total of $60 million (44 million euros) under a reconciliation deal signed in April with ty. The Palestinians claim Arab East Jerusalem as Australia said last week it would no longer refer while the Palestinian Authority grapples with a the West Bank-based Palestine Liberation to East Jerusalem as “occupied” because the the capital of their promised state. The interna- pay row, the first challenge for a government Organization, which dominates the PA. The PA tional community views all Israeli construction term carries pejorative implications and was nei- formed to try to end years of Palestinian rivalry. has so far refused to pay Hamas’s 50,000 civil ser- on land seized in 1967, including the West Bank, ther appropriate or useful. “It is important, as far Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah “received a vants, who are not registered as its employees phone call from the Qatari Prime because they were appointed after the Islamist as illegal and a major obstacle to a negotiated as you can, not to use loaded terms, not to use peace agreement. pejorative terms, not to use terms which suggest Minister (Sheikh Abdullah bin Naser Bin movement ousted bitter rivals Fatah-which Abdulhadi said he would meet Foreign that matters have been prejudged and that is a Khalifa Al-Thani), who told him that $20 million dominates the PLO-from Gaza in 2007. Minister Julie Bishop next week and was hopeful freighted term,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott said. would be transferred each month for three Former Hamas premier Ismail Haniya, who months to pay Gaza employees,” government resigned after the unity government was formed that Australia could explain the decision. “Maybe spokesman Ihab Bseiso said in a statement. The last week, phoned Qatar’s Emir on June 5, when Disputed territories we can avoid all this sort of thing if we can have money would go to the West Bank-based the dispute arose, to ask for his help in support- The comments sparked fury in the Arab good discussions,” he said. A Department of Palestinian Authority, Bseiso said, and a “special ing the new government. The Emir Sheikh Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said world, with the Jordanian and Palestinian gov- fund” would be set up to pay wages while the Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, then “promised to officials at Thursday’s meeting of diplomatic offi- ernments summoning Australia’s diplomatic rep- government discussed how to resolve the issue. help,” particularly with paying the salaries of resentative in protest. Israel hailed the move as The row started when the PA’s Gaza-based employees, a Hamas statement said. —AFP cials had agreed to maintain an “open dialogue” “refreshing”. “We asked the government to on the issue. — AFP INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 Diminished France loses influence in Europe Economy, domestic politics sap French influence

PARIS: It’s not a good sign when the leader of a G7 nation bringing the Germans around. Now France is mostly absent.” Angela Merkel’s conservatives and Italian Prime Minister feels the need to state his country still matters. That is precisely Paris was at the forefront of European integration from the Matteo Renzi’s centre-left were the big winners of the what French President Francois Hollande did at a meeting of creation of the European coal and steel community in the early European elections. European Union leaders last month after his Socialist party’s 1950s to the establishment of a single currency in the 1990s as humiliating defeat by the hard right National Front in an ally and counterweight to Berlin. Repeat offender European Parliament elections. “France is not weakened ... It’s But its clout has diminished in the last decade due to the Renzi, like Hollande, wants a greater focus on growth, but a great country. It’s the country that matters in Europe togeth- bloc’s eastward enlargement, the French rejection of a pro- he is committed to a programme of economic and political er with ,” Hollande, the most unpopular French leader posed EU constitution in a 2005 referendum and the country’s reforms that seems more ambitious than the French plan, and since opinion polling began, told reporters. economic stagnation and loss of competitiveness compared to he intends swifter implementation. “People are looking to An array of diplomats and officials involved in EU policy- Germany. Since his election in 2012, Hollande has repeatedly Renzi now in the way they looked briefly to Hollande in 2012 making told Reuters France’s influence, sapped by its persist- said he wants to “reorient” the 28-nation union away from fis- to stand up to Merkel,” the former Europe minister said, speak- ent economic problems, has been hit further by the election, in cal austerity to focus on promoting growth and employment. ing on condition of anonymity. which the Socialists came a distant third behind Marine Le Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said this week that Paris France has narrowed its public deficit and remains an Pen’s far-right and the opposition conservatives. “Hollande is a was preparing proposals for when EU leaders meet later this important military power with a permanent seat on the UN devalued currency,” a former European affairs minister from month to set the bloc’s priorities for the next five years. Yet Security Council. Its borrowing costs are very close to record one member state said. “If we need something, we go to the diplomats say it is Berlin and Rome that are most likely to lows because bond markets assume French debt has an Germans. Before, we used to go to the French as a way of shape any new policy bargain, since German Chancellor implicit German guarantee. —Reuters News in brief

Car crashes into CNN ATLANTA: Police are investigating after a car crashed into a lobby at CNN Center, the news network’s headquarters in downtown Atlanta. WSB-TV reports that the Mercedes Benz shattered the glass entryway of the lobby on the building’s north side around 4 am yesterday. The car smashed through a large panel of glass and came to rest in the middle of the lobby. By 7 am, workers were sweep- ing glass shards from the floor. The lobby was open, but yellow tape blocked off the section where the car went through and a section of glass of around 10 feet high and about 15 feet long was completely gone. Police say two people were in the car at the time of the crash. Information about their conditions wasn’t immediately available.

Fingers chopped off PATNA: Police in eastern India were searching yesterday for six men who allegedly chopped off a 19-year-old man’s fingers before pouring acid into his eyes following a minor dispute, an officer said. The man was recovering in hospi- tal following the attack late Thursday in which most of his : Local citizens gather around a burning military vehicle at a site of a battle between Ukrainian troops and fingers were hacked off in a village in Bihar state, local pro-Russian fighters in Mariupol, eastern yesterday. — AP police superintendent Chandrika Prasad said. “He was attacked, beaten half dead, his fingers chopped off and acid poured into his eyes by some people over a dispute,” Ukrainian troops reclaim said Prasad, from Samastipur district where the attack took place. “Police have began an investigation into the case and raided several places to arrest the named accused in port city from separatists the case, who are absconding after the shocking incident,” he said. Initial police enquiries found the man was attacked when residents objected to him repairing his Rebels control territory in the east motorcycle which had broken down in front of their home in Vanbhaur village, local police official Susdhir Kumar Razak said. “Some people ordered him not to repair his MARIUPOL: The Ukrainian flag fluttered over the regional head- roads from the southeastern border with Russia into the rest of motorcycle in front of this house but he ignored them, quarters of Mariupol yesterday after government forces reclaimed Ukraine and steel is exported through the port. Regaining control of which angered them,” he said. the port city from pro-Russian separatists in heavy fighting and said the long and winding frontier is also vital for the government because they had regained control of a long stretch of the border with it accuses Moscow of allowing the rebels to bring tanks, other Lebanon extradites Italian Russia. The advances are significant victories for the pro-European armored vehicles and guns across the porous border. Avakov said the leadership in a military operation to crush the armed rebellion, government forces had won back control of a 120-km (75-mile) stretch ROME: Lebanon extradited to yesterday a 72-year-old which began in east Ukraine in April, and hold the former Soviet of the border that had fallen to the rebels, but it was unclear who con- ally of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who is want- republic of 45 million together. trolled other parts of the some 2,000-km frontier. ed by Rome over mafia links, airport officials said. Former In central Mariupol, police cordoned off several streets, where senator Marcello Dell’Utri, who was arrested in Beirut in roadblocks of sandbags and concrete blocks, once manned by rebels, Ukrainian gas compromise mid-April on an Interpol warrant, landed in Rome’s were riddled with bullet-holes and the burnt-out hulk of an armored The rebels rose up in the Russian-speaking east and southeast after Fiumicino airport and was handed over to police, the offi- personnel carrier with rebel insignia smouldered. “At 10:34 am the Russia annexed Crimea in March following the overthrow of Moscow- cials said. Italian media said he was transferred by ambu- Ukrainian flag was raised over City Hall in Mariupol,” Interior Minister leaning President Viktor Yanukovich, who had triggered protests by lance to the capital’s Rebibbia prison. Italian media reports Arsen Avakov wrote on Facebook, less than six hours after the attack spurning trade and political pacts that would have deepened ties with also said Dell’Utri, who had claimed he was in the began on the city of 500,000, Ukraine’s biggest Azov Sea port. A min- the European Union. The new president, Petro Poroshenko, intensified Lebanese capital for health treatment, is expected to be istry aide said the government forces stormed the rebels after they the military operation against the rebels after he was elected on May transferred soon to Parma prison, known for its first-class were surrounded and given 10 minutes to surrender. At least five sep- 25 but is also trying to win support for a peace plan. Yesterday a sepa- medical facilities. Italy’s top court in May upheld a seven- aratists and two servicemen were killed in the battle before many of ratist leader Denis Pushilin said he was potentially open to the idea of year sentence against Dell’Utri, who was convicted of serv- the rebels fled. A group of around 100 Mariupol citizens, who had talks provided there were mediators present, including Russia. “If an ing as a mediator between Berlusconi and the Sicilian gathered in the town centre to show their opposition to the govern- international organization were also involved that would be a plus mafia. He led the advertising arm of Berlusconi’s media ment’s actions, exchanged obscenities and crude gestures with too,” he said in an interview on Russian television. Poroshenko’s aides business empire, and helped the billionaire’s political Ukrainian soldiers, who were driving through town in a column of say progress has been made at initial meetings with a Russian envoy debut with the foundation of the Forza Italia (Go Italy) par- armored trucks. “The government brought everything here, including and that any immediate threat of a Russian invasion has receded. ty in the early 1990s. Berlusconi himself began community a cannon... people were not allowed to come and witness how the Moreover, Ukraine said it was ready to pay a compromise price of $326 service in Italy on May 9 for tax fraud, marking a spectacu- government was shooting its own citizens,” 52-year-old Andrei per 1,000 cubic meters for Russian natural gas to avert the threat of lar fall from grace. Nikodimovich said. Mariupol, which has changed hands several times Moscow cutting off supplies and allow time to reach a long-term pric- in weeks of conflict, is strategically important because it lies on major ing agreement. —Reuters INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

Alarmed by Iraq, Tehran willing to cooperate with Washington

ANKARA: Shiite Muslim is so alarmed by Sunni insurgent gains in Iraq that it may be willing to cooperate with Washington in helping Baghdad fight back, a senior Iranian official said. The idea is being discussed internally among the Islamic Republic’s leadership, the senior Iranian official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official had no word on whether the idea had been raised with any other party. Officials say Iran will send its neighbor advisers and weaponry, although probably not troops, to help its ally Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki check what Tehran sees as a profound threat to regional stability, officials and analysts say. Islamist militants have captured swathes of territory includ- ing the country’s second biggest city Mosul. Tehran is open to the possibility of working with the to support Baghdad, the senior official said. “We can work with Americans to end the insurgency in the Middle East,” the offi- cial said, referring to events in Iraq. “We are very influential in Iraq, Syria and many other countries.” For many years, Iran has been aggrieved by what it sees as US efforts to marginalize it. Tehran wants to be recognized as a significant player in regional security.

Common cause Relations between Iran and Washington have improved SYRIAN-IRAQI BORDER: An image made available by the jihadist Twitter account Al-Baraka news shows Islamic State of modestly since the 2013 election of President Hassan Rouhani, Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants waving the trademark Jihadist flag as vehicles drive on a newly cut road through the who promised “constructive engagement” with the world. Syrian-Iraqi border between the Iraqi Nineveh province and the Syrian town of Al-Hasakah. — AFP And while Tehran and the United States pursue talks to resolve the Islamic state’s decade-old nuclear standoff with the West, they also acknowledge some common threats, Syrian insurgents pause including the rise of Al-Qaeda-style militancy across the Middle East. On Thursday, President Barack Obama said the United States was not ruling out air strikes to help Baghdad and reinforce from Iraq fight the insurgents, in what would be the first US armed intervention in Iraq since the end of the US-led war. Rouhani on Thursday strongly condemned what he called violent acts by insurgent groups in the Middle East. “Today, in our region, ISIL insurgents suspend battles in most of Syria unfortunately, we are witnessing violence, killing, terror and displacement,” Rouhani said. “Iran will not tolerate the terror BEIRUT: The Syria branch of the Islamic days. We don’t know why exactly. There territory along the Syrian border will and violence ... we will fight against terrorism, factionalism State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has is only some fighting northeast of give the group greater freedom of and violence.” put fighting on hold in Syria while it Aleppo,” Abdulrahman told Reuters by movement of men and materiel across Asked on Thursday about Iranian comments, US State brings in weapons seized inside neigh- telephone. Clashes between other rebel the two countries. Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: “Clearly, we’ve boring Iraq, a monitoring group that groups and government forces contin- “Light and heavy weaponry, military encouraged them in many cases to play a constructive role. tracks the violence said yesterday. ISIL, a ued across Syria’s civil war fronts, he vehicles, and money seized by ISIL dur- But I don’t have any other readouts or views from our end to Sunni Islamist splinter of Al-Qaeda, has said. He said that ISIL, Sunni Islamists ing the capture of (Iraq’s) Mosul will be portray here today.” Fearing Iraq’s war could spill into Iran, battled rival rebel groups in Syria for who have surged out of north Iraq to moved into desert areas of eastern Syria, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has urged the inter- months and clashed occasionally with menace Baghdad and want to establish which ISIL has been using as a staging national community to back Maliki’s administration “in its President Bashar Al-Assad’s forces. their own medieval-style state spanning ground for attacks,” he said. ISIL gained fight against terrorism”. Brigadier-General Mohammad Hejazi But its fighters appear to hold back in Iraq and Syria, have moved weapons more ground in Iraq overnight, moving said Iran was ready to supply Iraq with “military equipment or Syria this week, especially in their east- into eastern Syria. into two towns in the eastern province consultations,” the Tasnim news agency reported. “I do not ern stronghold near the Iraqi border, “Our people saw weapons on the of Diyala, while US President Barack think the deployment of Iranian troops would be necessary,” while their Iraqi wing was making rapid road in Syria,” he said. Photos posted on Obama considered military strikes to he was quoted as adding. military gains. Rami Abdulrahman, head social media by ISIL supporters also halt their lightning advance. The senior Iranian official said Iran was extremely worried of the Syrian Observatory for Human appear to show military equipment, Syria’s civil war started with pro- about the advance of ISIL, also a major force in the war against Rights, said that ISIL may have negotiat- including American Humvee patrol cars, democracy street rallies in 2011 but Iran’s close ally Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, carving out a ed a truce with rival rebel brigades in being moved. Reuters cannot confirm turned into an armed insurgency after a swathe of Syria territory along the Iraqi border. “The danger of Syria, although it was still laying siege to they were taken into Syria but the sup- military crackdown on civilian protest- extremist Sunni terrorist in Iraq and the region is increasing ... parts of the eastern city of Deir Al-Zor, porters say they were driven across the ers. Hardline factions like ISIL have gath- There have been several high-ranking security meetings since where Assad’s forces and Al-Qaeda-affili- frontier. Matthew Henman, Head of IHS ered strength in the conflict, which has yesterday in Tehran,” the official said. “We are on alert and we ated Nusra Front rebels are also dug in. Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre, killed 160,000 people and displaced mil- also follow the developments in Iraq very closely.”— Reuters “(ISIL) has not being fighting for four said in a report that ISIL’s capture of Iraqi lions of people. — Reuters Specter of Iraq disintegration looms as Afghans elect leader

KABUL: Over dinner in Kabul one evening this desertion rates among Afghan troops at But many fear that the final face-off for the presi- often a strong inclination by Western policymak- week, the conversation among a group of offi- between 30 and 50 percent a year despite dency between Tajik candidate Abdullah and his ers to shrug and say the Afghan forces will mud- cials turned darkly from today’s run-off round in advances that have been made in recent years. Pashtun rival, Ashraf Ghani, could unleash an dle through somehow - but as we’ve seen in Iraq, Afghanistan’s presidential election to the stun- Even the frontrunner for the presidency, ethnic struggle, especially if the election is per- security challenges sometimes rise sharply in the ning march of Sunni Islamist rebels towards Abdullah Abdullah, said on Thursday he saw ceived to have been won by fraud. Throw into years after a major international troop presence,” Baghdad. In many ways, the smooth election of a some similarities between his country’s situation the mix an economy under massive stress, for- he said. The Taleban, for their part, see the insta- successor to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Iraq that showed the need for a “responsi- eign aid drying up and doubts about the ability bility that could be generated by the election as would be a triumph for a war-worn country that ble” US military exit strategy. “If there is one les- of Afghanistan’s fledgling security forces to cope an opportunity to gain momentum. has never known a democratic transfer of power. son from what has happened in Iraq it is that the on their own in the long term. They have made gains over the past year, Despite that milestone, there is widespread con- sectarian policies will not work anywhere,” he inflicting heavy losses on Afghan security forces, cern that Iraq could turn out to be a chilling told a teleconference with a Washington think Ethnic divides who are bracing for a full withdrawal of US prophecy for Afghanistan after Iraqi troops threw tank. “So building trust among the people will be “Iraq now stands as a stark example of what troops by 2016 but have largely stood their down their weapons in the face of determined important.” can happen if the United States and its allies fail ground against a spike in attacks over the past assaults by jihadists this week. Like Iraq, Few would predict that Afghanistan is head- to mitigate the aftermath of an armed interven- 18 months. “If the political situation worsens Afghanistan also has entrenched ethnic rivalries. ed anytime soon for a breakdown like the one tion, and this will probably haunt the discussions because of these bogus elections, we have the Its security forces also have an alarmingly playing out in Iraq, where jihadists determined of Afghanistan as NATO leaders prepare for a ability to bring law and order, as our government high turnover rate, with the US Special Inspector to establish their own state have scattered gov- September summit in Wales,” said Graeme Smith proved it in the past,” said Taleban spokesman General for Afghanistan Reconstruction putting ernment troops in parts of the north and west. of the International Crisis Group (ICG). “There’s Zabihullah Mujahid. —Reuters INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

Seven charged with Modi kicks into gear with defaming India PM defense and dam projects NEW : Police in southern India have arrested seven peo- ple, including four students, and charged them with defaming Environmentalists caution government the country’s new prime minister in a college magazine, officials said yesterday. The arrests came after an annual student maga- NEW DELHI: India’s new government kicked into gear this week, neighbor. The 63-year-old’s first foreign foray will be on Sunday to zine at the Government Polytechnic College in Kerala state clearing billions of dollars worth of long-delayed defense projects, tiny Bhutan, a Himalayan buffer between India and that has included a photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a collage of including a big navy base, as well as approving the scaling-up of one long been a close Indian military and diplomatic ally. what it called “negative faces.” Others included in the collage of the country’s biggest dams. The decision to give the projects the were Adolf Hitler, Osama bin Laden and former US President go-ahead despite concern about their environmental and social Higher dam George W Bush. The seven people were arrested Wednesday impact signals Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s no-nonsense Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has promised to end a prolonged and charged with defamation and criminal conspiracy, said dis- approach to issues he considers to be important for national security. period of paralysis at the Defense Ministry where weapons acquisi- trict police chief N Vijaya Kumar. They were released on bail The clearances were made over several days and were the first major tions and infrastructure contracts were frozen because of fear of cor- Thursday. If found guilty, they could face prison terms and stiff decisions from the government that swept to power on May 16 on ruption scandals. Javadekar said he had also cleared the second phase fines. The four students helped edit the magazine. The others promises of getting Asia’s third-largest economy moving and build- of a naval base in Karwar, on the west coast, that had stalled because who were arrested included the college’s top official, the maga- ing a stronger country. environmental activists had warned the ecology of the Western Ghats zine’s faculty adviser and the owner of the company that printed Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said the government mountains would be affected. The base is intended to take the load the publication. could not compromise on efforts to build military and civil infrastruc- off Mumbai port, used by the navy and civilian ships. The navy has Police seized a printing press and computers used to design ture on the border with China as well the west-coast naval base in as also said it wanted a more secure base to berth its latest aircraft carri- the magazine, as well as nearly 400 copies of the magazine, an alternative to crowded Mumbai port. As well as the $2 billion er. Kumar said. “They were arrested under several charges, includ- ing defamation, intentional insult to provoke breach of peace, extension to the Karwar base in the southern state of Karnataka, “Mumbai is a target. We need an alternative. It is of strategic criminal conspiracy and printing matter known to be defamato- Javadekar approved a radar station in the Andaman and Nicobar importance,” he said. The Environment Ministry is also trying to fast- ry,” he said. Police made the arrests after Yuva Morcha, or Youth islands in the Bay of Bengal. track roads and defense projects classified as strategic. Radars and Front, a group affiliated with Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata A defense source said he also planned to fast-track road building telecommunications projects within 100 km (62 miles) of the 4,000- Party, complained about the photo. along the disputed border with China. Javadekar said China had built km (2,500-mile) border with China, large parts of which are disput- An official said the college has temporarily suspended five infrastructure in the Coco Islands, which are controlled by Myanmar ed, will be put on an automatic approval list, a defense source said. students involved in planning and printing the magazine. All five and just to the north of the Andamans. “If you have a situation where As well as the military projects, the government on Thursday belong to the Students’ Federation of India, a student wing of China is sitting in front and we won’t do anything, how can you run approved a long-stalled proposal to raise the height of the Narmada the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The SFI runs the college’s the country like this,” he said in comments made available to Reuters dam to 138.73 meters (455 feet), from 121.92 meters (400 feet), so student union. The student union publishes the magazine each yesterday. more water will be available for drinking, irrigation and power gen- year based on a theme. This year’s issue, which was distributed The radar station proposal had earlier been turned down because eration. last week, explained world history through pictures of faces. The the Environment Ministry under the last government saw a threat to The project will benefit Modi’s home state of Gujarat. As chief magazine listed people under five categories: spiritual, literature, the Narcondam Hornbill, an endangered bird species. The radar on minister of the state, he campaigned for approval to build the dam world leaders, negative and sports. Narcondam island is one of 18 that the military has planned, running higher to protect farmers from drought. Activist Medha Patkar, who Modi, who was sworn in as prime minister late last month, north to south along the Andamans, which straddle the strategic sea- has long campaigned against the project, said about 250,000 peo- was chief minister of the western Indian state of Gujarat when way leading to the Malacca Straits. This year, India’s patchy radar ple will be displaced. She said the government appeared to have it was ripped by sectarian violence in 2002. More than 1,000 meant it was unable to say whether missing Malaysian airlines flight rushed into the decision without looking at the social and environ- Muslims were killed and Modi was widely seen as having MH370 had passed over the islands. Modi met China’s foreign minis- mental impact as required by law. “How could the government deal done little to stop the carnage, though he denies any wrong- ter this week and is likely to visit Beijing this year, but he is also keen to with such a grave situation and go ahead just because Mr Narendra doing. —AP quickly build up border defenses that have fallen far behind India’s Modi is the prime minister?” she said. — Reuters

NORTH WAZIRISTAN: Pakistani residents pack belongings into a truck in Miranshah in the North Waziristan tribal agency. The exodus from the mountainous North Waziristan district on the Afghan border began late May following Pakistani air strikes, locals have said. — AFP fighting drives families into Afghanistan

KABUL: Hundreds of Pakistani families have fled from a surge of escape war in their homeland but the fighting in Pakistan this cion, and even hostility, rather than cooperation on security. fighting between Pakistani government forces and militants into week has sparked a rare flow of civilians the other way. Pakistan for years supported the Afghan Taleban, who are neighboring Afghanistan, an Afghan government official said yes- “Around 300 Pakistani families have escaped because they are fighting to expel US-led foreign forces from Afghanistan, while terday. Pakistani government forces have been launching air worried about fighting between Pakistani forces and Pakistani battling the Pakistani Taleban at home. Some Pakistani Taleban strikes against Pakistani Taleban fighters in a northwestern valley Taleban,” said Jabar Nahimi, governor of eastern Afghanistan’s fighters, who want to overthrow the Pakistani state, are based in near the Afghan border in recent days, after Taleban fighters raid- Khost province, over the border from northwest Pakistan. “We mountain hideouts in eastern Afghanistan, from where they raid ed the country’s biggest airport, in Karachi, late on Sunday. have provided aid for 100 of these families and the rest will be into Pakistan. Pakistan is considering a full-scale offensive against Missile-firing US drone aircraft have also, for the first time in six helped soon ... We have also provided vaccinations as we are con- Pakistani Taleban fighters in its northwest which would likely push months, attacked militants this week in Pakistan’s North Waziristan cerned about polio.” Both Afghanistan and Pakistan are facing more villagers across the largely unmarked border into region, a lawless militant stronghold on the Afghan order. Millions threats from al Qaeda-linked Taleban factions but relations Afghanistan. More than 30 people were killed in the Pakistani of Afghan civilians have for decades sought shelter in Pakistan to between the neighbors are more often marked by mutual suspi- Taleban raid on Karachi airport. — Reuters

NEWS SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

Top Shiite cleric urges Iraqis to fight... Former POW returns... Continued from Page 1 from the South Lawn of the White House. on Baghdad, but the capital would be a Continued from Page 1 Neighboring Shiite powerhouse Iran far more difficult target with its large “Citizens who can carry weapons and signaled its willingness to confront the Shiite population. So far, the militants Amid a media frenzy over his case, Bergdahl’s parents, who fight the terrorists in defense of their growing threat from the militant blitz. have stuck to the Sunni heartland and live in Idaho, appealed for privacy. “While the Bergdahls are country, its people and its holy sites Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported former Sunni insurgent strongholds overjoyed that their son has returned to the United States, Mr. should volunteer and join the security that former members of Tehran’s power- where people are already alienated by and Mrs. Bergdahl don’t intend to make any travel plans public,” forces,” said Sheik Abdul-Mahdi Al- ful Revolutionary Guard have announced Maliki’s government over allegations of the family said in a statement issued through an Idaho National Karbalaie, a cleric whose comments are their readiness to fight in Iraq against the discrimination and mistreatment. The Guard spokesman, Colonel Tim Marsano. “They ask for contin- thought to reflect Sistani’s thinking. He Islamic State, and Iranian state TV quoted militants also would likely meet far ued privacy as they concentrate on their son’s reintegration,” warned that Iraq faced “great danger” President Hassan Rouhani as saying his stronger resistance, not only from gov- Marsano said. and that the responsibility of fighting the country will do all it can to battle terror- ernment forces but by Shiite militias. Bergdahl’s disappearance from a base in eastern Afghanistan militants “is everybody’s responsibility, ism next door. “The Islamic Republic of Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr and the in 2009 fueled speculation that the soldier abandoned his post and is not limited to one specific sect or Iran will apply all its efforts on the inter- Asaib Ahl al-Haq Shiite militia vowed to before he was captured and that he may face prosecution by group.” national and regional levels to confront defend Shiite holy sites, raising the military authorities. The US Army said it would ensure Bergdahl In Geneva, UN human rights chief terrorism,” the report said Rouhani told specter of street clashes and sectarian “receives the necessary care, time and space” to complete his Navi Pillay warned of “murder of all Maliki by phone. killings. Still, Baghdad authorities have transition after the ordeal. He was due to undergo more medical kinds” and other war crimes in Iraq, Iranian officials denied reports their tightened security around the capital and treatment and “debriefings” with a team of specialists, it said. where her office says the number of forces were actively operating inside Iraq, residents are stocking up on essentials. But it added that once the “reintegration” is complete, “the those killed in recent days may run into however. Iranian lawmaker Mansour Hundreds of young men crowded in Army will continue its comprehensive review into the circum- the hundreds and the number of wound- Haghighatpour, who sits on an influential front of the main army recruiting center stances of his disappearance and captivity.” ed could approach 1,000. Pillay said her parliamentary committee on national Thursday after authorities urged Iraqis to Bergdahl has been denounced by some commentators and office has received reports that militants security and foreign policy, told AP that help battle the insurgents. retired soldiers who say he placed his fellow troops in danger by rounded up and killed Iraqi army soldiers Baghdad is capable of fighting the mili- The Islamic militants also declared allegedly walking off the base alone. His family has reportedly as well as 17 civilians in a single street in tants, but that Tehran would consider they would impose shariah law in Mosul, faced death threats and his hometown of Hailey, Idaho had to Mosul. Her office is hearing of “summary other options if asked. Iran has built close which they captured on Tuesday, and cancel a planned celebration for his release due to concerns executions and extrajudicial killings” as political and economic ties with postwar other areas they seized. Online video about security. “The city of Hailey respectfully requests that peo- ISIL militants overran Iraqi cities and Iraq, and many influential Iraqi Shiites showed ISIL fighters holding a parade in ple do not pre-judge this young man,” Fritz Haemmerle, the towns this week, the statement said. have lived for stretches of time in the a Mosul neighborhood, with many of the mayor of the small town, said in a statement Monday. “I am extremely concerned about the Islamic Republic. Iran earlier this week gunmen cruising in armored vehicles acute vulnerability of civilians caught in halted flights to Baghdad because of seized from Iraqi forces. A fighter using a Bergdahl was handed over to US special forces in the cross-fire, or targeted in direct attacks security concerns and said it was intensi- loudspeaker urged the people to join the Afghanistan on May 31 in return for five senior Taliban detainees by armed groups, or trapped in areas fying security measures along its borders. militant group “to liberate Baghdad and who were sent to Qatar from the US-run prison in Guantanamo under the control of ISIL and their allies,” Police officials said militants driving in Jerusalem”. The Islamic State’s black ban- Bay, Cuba. The exchange has triggered outrage among some US Pillay said in a statement. “And I am espe- machine gun-mounted pickups entered ners adorned many of the captured vehi- lawmakers who have accused President Barack Obama of capit- cially concerned about the risk to vulner- the two newly conquered towns in Diyala cles. Some in the crowd shouted “God is ulating to “terrorists” and failing to fulfil his obligations to give able groups, minorities, women and chil- province late Thursday - Jalula, 125 km with you” to the fighters. Congress advance notice about transfers of Guantanamo dren.” northeast of Baghdad, and Sadiyah, 95 In northern Iraq, Kurdish security detainees. Obama did not specify what options km north of the Iraqi capital. Iraqi soldiers forces have moved to fill the power vacu- Bergdahl has yet to speak to the news media about his experi- he was considering, but he ruled out abandoned their posts there without any um caused by the retreating Iraqi forces - ence, but letters and other correspondence from him suggest he sending American troops back into com- resistance, they said. Residents of Jalula taking over an airbase and other posts was in a troubled state of mind before his disappearance and bat in Iraq. “We’re not going to allow our- said the gunmen issued an ultimatum to abandoned by the military in the ethni- that he distrusted his commanders. “Leadership was lacking, if selves to be dragged back into a situation the Iraqi soldiers not to resist and give up cally mixed city of Kirkuk. Three plane- not non-existent,” he wrote in a letter sent to his family during his in which, while we’re there we’re keeping their weapons in exchange for safe pas- loads of Americans were being evacuat- time in captivity, obtained by The Daily Beast website. The letter, a lid on things, and after enormous sacri- sage. After seizing the town, the gunmen ed from a major Iraqi air base in Sunni one of two sent to Bergdahl’s family via the International fices by us, after we’re not there, people announced on loudspeakers that they territory north of Baghdad, US officials Committee of the Red Cross, is marked by numerous spelling start acting in ways that are not con- have come to rescue residents from said Thursday, and Germany urged its cit- errors. “The conditions were bad and looked to be getting worse ducive to the long-term stability and injustice and that none would be hurt. izens to immediately leave parts of Iraq, for the men that where actuly (were actually) the ones risking thi- prosperity of the country,” Obama said The Islamic State has vowed to march including Baghdad. — AP er lives from attack,” he wrote in a March 23, 2013 letter. — AFP INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 Violence underscores morphing of Al-Qaeda Taleban, ISIL, Boko Haram, AQAP rain terror attacks

WASHINGTON: In Iraq, an Al-Qaeda splinter Afghan Taleban, who provide their Pakistani group is threatening Baghdad after seizing comrades with funding and logistical sup- control of two cities. In Pakistan, the Taleban port. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has long attacked a major airport twice in one week. advocated peace talks with the Taleban but And in , the Islamist militant group the picture changed radically after the airport Boko Haram was blamed for another mass kid- attack, with public opinion swinging back napping. A cluster of militant attacks over the again in favour of an all-out military opera- past week is a reminder of how the once-sin- tion against the militants. Signaling possible gular threat of Al-Qaeda has changed since escalation, US drones struck Taleban hide- the killing of Osama bin Laden, morphing or outs in Pakistan, killing at least 10 militants in splintering into smaller, largely autonomous response to the Karachi airport attack, offi- Islamist factions that in some cases are now cials said on Thursday, in the first such raids overshadowing the parent group. Each move- by unmanned CIA aircraft in six months. ment is different, fueled by local political and Pakistani government officials said Islamabad sectarian dynamics. But this week’s violence is had given the Americans “express approval” a measure of their ambition and the long-term for the strikes - the first time Pakistan has potential danger they pose to the West. admitted to such cooperation. Between 2010 and 2013, the number of Al- Qaeda and Al-Qaeda-related groups rose 58 Boko Haram percent and the number of “Salafi jihadists” - In Nigeria, Islamist group Boko Haram, violent proponents of an extreme form of another Al-Qaeda-linked group, has stepped Islam - more than doubled, according to a up attacks in recent months after the kidnap- report by the RAND Corp think tank. Daniel ping of more than 200 schoolgirls in April Benjamin, former US State Department coun- sparked international outrage. The group is terterrorism coordinator under President suspected in the abduction last week of up to Barack Obama, said he was “considerably 30 women form nomadic settlements in more optimistic 18 months ago than ... now” Nigeria’s northeast, close to where it grabbed about the threat posed by Al-Qaeda-related the schoolgirls, residents and Nigerian media groups. Few examples are more vivid than the said. The militants were reported to be fall of northern Iraq, which has raised the demanding cattle in exchange for the prospect of the country’s disintegration as a women. Along with a desire for international unified state. attention, analysts believe the increasingly Sunni insurgents known as the Islamic ferocious attacks are designed to embarrass State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, seized the the Nigerian government and ultimately give northern city of Mosul on Tuesday, and then Boko Haram more negotiating power in its overran an area further south on Wednesday, demand for the introduction of sharia law in capturing the city of Tikrit and threatening northern Nigeria. Bomb attacks in the capital Iraq’s capital, Baghdad. The militants are of Abuja in the run-up to the World Economic exploiting deep resentment among Iraq’s Forum in May killed scores of people and Sunni minority, which lost power when the illustrated the powerlessness of security 2003 US-led invasion toppled Saddam forces to stop them. Hussein. Since the US withdrawal in 2011, the Ahead of an election next year, President Sunni population has become increasingly Goodluck Jonathan appears at pains to show alienated from Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s his government can tackle Boko Haram, Shiite-dominated government and his US- ordering a “full-scale operation” against the trained military. This has helped fuel the stun- group and authorizing security forces to use ning resurgence of ISIL. The group seeks to “any means necessary under the law.” But create a caliphate based on medieval Sunni that’s easier said than done, given the diffi- Islamic principles across Iraq and neighboring culties faced by security forces in Africa’s Syria, where it has become one of the fiercest most populous nation. Some analysts say rebel forces in the civil war to oust President BAGHDAD: Iraqi Shiite men clean weapons as they get ready to defend their Sadr City that while Boko Haram’s tactics are similar to Bashar Al-Assad. ISIL underscores the com- district in case of an attack by Sunni extremists in Baghdad. —AFP Al-Qaeda’s, any links are tenuous at best. plexity of the new galaxy of militant groups. by what they saw as Maliki’s sectarian rule and Tensions high in Pakistan “They’ve got no particular interest in attack- Earlier this year, it split from the core Al-Qaeda failure to build an inclusive government and Tensions are also running high in Pakistan, ing Western targets. It’s all focused on their organization completely, after a dispute army. The future members of ISIL, then calling where a brazen attack by the Pakistani aims: introducing sharia law and a level of between ISIL’s leader and bin Laden’s succes- themselves the Islamic State of Iraq, were Taleban on the country’s biggest airport in autonomy, self-determination for the north,” sor, Ayman Al-Zawahiri. ready when the uprising in Syria started in Karachi underscored the resurgence of an said Martin Roberts, a senior Africa analyst at 2011 and moved in to take advantage of the Islamist group with longtime ties to Al- research firm IHS. Talking about years chaos. Bolstered by their success on the bat- Qaeda. Ten militants were killed in a gun bat- One group that has repeatedly set its Even if Iraq can survive the onslaught, there tlefield, they renamed themselves the Islamic tle that claimed at least 34 other lives. The sights on American targets is the Yemen- is no saying how long it might take to restore State of Iraq and the Levant. Pakistani Taleban has vowed a large-scale based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula order. “This is a very protracted war against With ISIL’s lightning advance in Iraq in campaign against government and security (AQAP), which was believed to have been terror,” said an adviser to Maliki. “We are not recent days, the army has seen thousands of installations after months of failed peace behind the failed attempt in 2009 to blow up talking about months. We are talking about soldiers desert their posts in the north. And in negotiations. a Detroit-bound airliner by the so-called years.” It has taken years for the situation to Baghdad, fears of a sectarian bloodbath have In response, the Pakistani army is expect- “underwear bomber.” reach its current low point. After the 2003 Iraq grown. Benjamin, now at Dartmouth ed to ramp up air strikes in restive tribal In a message to the US Congress on invasion, the disgruntled Sunni population ini- University, said that groups like ISIL and rival areas. So far, cities like Islamabad and Lahore Thursday, Obama repeated his administra- tially served as the base for a bloody insur- Jabhat Al-Nusrah in Syria, while serious region- have not seen the kind of violence that has tion’s warnings that AQAP is “the most active gency against the US military and emerging al problems, do not pose the same direct plagued other parts of the country. But and dangerous affiliate of Al-Qaeda today.” Shiite majority rule. threat to the United States and its allies that observers expect that to change. The But the militant splinter groups are evolving That revolt appeared to have been quelled bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda did. “We shouldn’t lose Pakistani Taleban operate closely with Al- so rapidly that - thanks to ISIL’s rapid expan- by the time US troops left in December 2011. sight of that,” he said. “I don’t think it’s an exis- Qaeda, which has senior commanders sion and to operations against AQAP in Yemen But Iraqi Sunni grievances simmered, fanned tential threat by any means.” deployed in the tribal areas, as well as the - that may no longer be true. — Reuters UK mandates banks for Ukraine signals compromise Britain unveils measures to Businessmaiden sovereign sukuk16 in gas price row with Russia17tackle rising house prices 20 SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 to slash corporate tax rate in growth bid 18

BEIJING: A high-speed train travels on the railway to Beijing in Nanning, southern China’s Guangxi province yesterday. Growth in China’s industrial output and retail sales accelerated in May, with consumption increasing at its fastest pace since December, official data showed yesterday. — AFP (See Page 19) IEA says Iraq oil supplies not at risk Saudi proposes OPEC meets even less often

PARIS: A lightning advance by jihadists across nations, pointed to the long-term importance of after surging $2.13 in New York on Thursday to the market for some time, but so far have been northern Iraq has rekindled concern on oil mar- Iraq for the global energy market. It calculated reach its highest level since September. largely offset by record growth in non-OPEC sup- kets, but the IEA cautioned yesterday that sup- that “roughly 60 percent of the growth in OPEC ply,” it said. plies from leading exporter Iraq may not be at crude production capacity for the rest of this China imports jump The IEA said global supplies rose by 530,000 immediate risk. In the past week militants have decade will come from Iraq.” The 12-nation oil The IEA put Iraq’s daily oil production in May barrels per day in May, to 92.6 mbd, mostly due swept across northern Iraq and were closing in on cartel, which supplies one third of the world’s at 3.37 million barrels per day, up from 3.32 mbd to increases in non-OPEC output. It kept its global the capital Baghdad, sparking fears that OPEC’s crude, earlier this week decided to hold their col- in April. That put it behind Saudia Arabia at 9.75 oil demand forecast at a rise of 1.3 mbd in 2014 to number two producer could be hit and sending lective production target at 30 million barrels per mbd, and which has spare capacity estimated at 92.8 mbd. oil prices to their highest levels of the year. day (bpd), where it has stood since late 2011, as 3.31 mbd which could be used to calm markets in The IEA also pointed to a surge in imports by “Concerning as the latest events in Iraq may they said the oil market was stable. case supplies are cut off elsewhere. China, likely for expanding the country’s strategic be, they might not for now, if the conflict does Oil producing nations have expressed their OPEC-member has been rocked by vio- reserves, as supporting oil prices. The additional not spread further, put additional Iraqi oil sup- satisfaction with oil prices slightly above $100 a lence that has slashed the North African nation’s crude demand of up to 1.2 mbd in April and May, plies immediately at risk,” the Paris-based barrel-where they have been for most of this output to less than 100,000 barrels per day in ear- was roughly equivalent to the current losses in International Energy Agency said on a cautionary year-as it brings them in sufficient revenue while ly June according to the IEA, down from output of Libyan production, the IEA noted. note in its monthly oil market report. not crimping growth in consuming nations. 1.4 mbd one year ago. Saudi Arabia has suggested OPEC meet just It pointed out that Iraq’s relatively small out- But oil prices rose to nine-month highs in Overall OPEC supplies edged up to 29.99 mbd once a year, rather than twice, a sharp reduction put from the north of the country has been off Asian trading on Friday as militants closed in on in May. The IEA also noted that the stability in oil from the days when the group met for up to sev- the market since March due to violence while Iraq’s capital Baghdad, with Brent North Sea markets has been due to record gains in non- en times a year in the early 2000s. The OPEC meet- output from the south has been on the rise and crude gaining 28 cents to $113.30 per barrel after OPEC output. ings since 2012 have produced no policy change production has hit a 30-year high. shooting up $3.07 in London trade on Thursday. “Perception of heightened political risk in and Wednesday’s gathering in Vienna was no However the IEA, the energy monitoring and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate North Africa and the Middle East and chronic dis- exception, sticking with its production target of 30 policy arm of the OECD group of advanced advanced 47 cents to $107.00 in afternoon trade ruptions in Libyan exports have been a feature of million barrels per day (bpd). — Agencies BUSINESS SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 UK mandates banks for maiden sovereign sukuk Fist Islamic bond by Western sovereign

LONDON: The British government has mandated Chartered. The sukuk will use an ijara structure, a banks to arrange a five-year 200 million pound ($336 sharia-compliant sale and lease-back contract, allow- million) sukuk - the world’s first Islamic bond to be ing the rental income of three central government issued by a Western sovereign. The Islamic bond could offices to underpin the transaction. be issued in the coming weeks, subject to market con- In an ijara sukuk, a party leases equipment, build- ditions, The Treasury said in a statement late on ings or other facilities to a client for an agreed rental Thursday. price - a popular format among both sovereign and The roadshow will start on June 17 in Jeddah and corporate issuers. Kuala Lumpur, then moving to Riyadh, Dubai, Doha, Britain has six full-fledged Islamic banks and over and Abu Dhabi, ending in London on June 20, lead 20 institutions in the country that offer sharia-compli- banks said. A sovereign sukuk is the centrepiece of ant financial services, which follow religious principles Prime Minister David Cameron’s bid to position such as a ban on interest and gambling. London as a leading hub for Islamic finance, as compe- A sovereign sukuk could help Britain’s Islamic banks tition heats up with financial centres in the Middle East to help manage their short-term liquidity needs. In and Asia. The bond would be issued before similar March, The Bank of England said it was studying ways transactions planned by Luxembourg, Hong Kong and to increase the number of sharia-compliant assets that , all keen to diversify their funding sources Islamic banks can use in their liquidity buffers, a step and tap liquidity provided by increasingly wealthy towards reducing concentration risks in the sector. Islamic investors. In January, Britain appointed HSBC to Britain considered a sovereign sukuk six years ago, arrange the deal and it has now added four more but that issuance never materialized as the Debt banks to the syndicate: Qatar’s Barwa Bank, ’s Management Office decided the structure was too CIMB, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Standard expensive at the time. — Reuters Cheaper gas, food push down US producer prices

WASHINGTON: The prices US com- months earlier. That was the largest unemployment remains at histori- LAHORE: A Pakistani vendor loads roasted corn onto a handcart in panies receive for their goods and yearly increase since July. The cally high levels. That limits con- Lahore yesterday. Pakistan is gripped by a chronic energy crisis which services fell in May, offering evi- Federal Reserve prefers inflation at sumer spending and makes it hard- has put a brake on industrial productivity, and is struggling to control dence that inflation is mild. The about 2 percent as a guard against er for businesses to raise prices. inflation, currently at 8.6 per cent. — AFP producer price index, which meas- deflation, which occurs when prices Still, low inflation has enabled the ures the cost of goods and services actually fall. Deflation can also drag Fed to pursue extraordinary stimu- before they reach the consumer, down wages and typically leads to lus programs to try and boost the Oil edges higher on dropped 0.2 percent last month, recessions. economy. It has begun to unwind the Labor Department said yester- Inflation, as measured by the some of that stimulus, cutting its Iraq insurgency day. The decline was driven lower consumer price index, has been monthly bond purchases to $45 bil- by cheaper food and gas, and fol- mostly below 2 percent for the past lion from $85 billion last year. LONDON: Brent crude oil pared gains week, the biggest weekly rise since lows two months of strong gains two years. Consumers may like low The bond purchases, intended but remained above $113 a barrel last July, while U.S. crude was on track that had suggested inflation might prices, but weak inflation also to lower long-term interest rates, yesterday on easing concerns that an for its biggest jump since December. be perking up after being dormant occurs when the economy is slug- are expected to be trimmed by insurgency in Iraq would trigger a “You want to have a premium as for two years. gish. Wage growth has been mea- another $10 billion when Fed offi- sudden and significant halt in its oil Iraq is more unstable than last week, In the past 12 months, producer ger for the past four years, and cials meet again next week. — AP exports. but with no disruptions, how much prices have risen 2 percent, match- “The market in general is trying to can you keep,” Jakob at Petromatrix ing the Federal Reserve’s inflation assess the risks on Iraq. There was a said. The United States has threat- target. That’s down from an annual big market reaction and then the IEA ened military action against Islamist gain of 2.1 percent in April. Palladium falls to (International Energy Agency) said it militants who have taken towns and Wholesale food prices fell 0.2 per- did not see a risk to supplies so the cities in Iraq, raising concerns over its volatility is reflecting this,” Olivier oil exports. The militants, a Sunni off- cent after four months of steep one-month low increases. And wholesale gas prices Jakob at Petromatrix consultancy shoot of al Qaeda, were moving into LONDON: Palladium fell to a one-month low yesterday, adding to said. Most of Iraq’s current oil exports two towns in the eastern province of dropped 0.9 percent, suggesting come from south of Baghdad, still far Diyala after security forces aban- consumers may see some relief at the previous session’s sharp fall, as investors awaited confirmation from the Islamist rebel fighters. doned their posts. the gas pump in coming months. that South Africa’s longest ever mining strike would end soon. Should they reach south of Baghdad, The IEA played down fears over Another reason producer prices Platinum, however, inched higher as its near 3 percent loss on analysts expect them to encounter the possible sudden loss of oil exports fell: retailer and wholesaler profit Thursday - its biggest daily drop since June 2013 - was sufficient to much greater resistance. from Iraq in its monthly Oil Market margins declined 0.5 percent after spur some buying, traders said. The leader of South Africa’s AMCU Iraqi exports from the north are Report. “Concerning as the latest two months of strong gains. union said that a wage deal was imminent and he hoped to meet considered safe for the moment, ana- events in Iraq may be, they might not Excluding the volatile food, energy with producers Lonmin, Anglo American Platinum and Impala lysts said, as the major Kirkuk oil hub for now, if the conflict does not and profit margin categories, core Platinum yesterday or over the weekend to relay the response of his is held by Kurdish forces. “While the spread further, put additional Iraqi oil producer prices were unchanged in members to their offer. Iraqi military faces low morale issues supplies immediately at risk,” the May and also rose 2 percent in the Palladium was down 1.5 percent per ounce to $817.70 by 1201 in the north, Shia fighters would Paris-based agency said. Analysts say past year. The drop in profit mar- GMT, having touched its lowest since May 16 earlier. It plunged 4 prove much more resilient in protect- oil markets are finely balanced at the gins comes after strong gains in percent on Thursday, just a day after rallying to a 13-1/2 year high on ing their homes and provinces in moment and another significant blow April and March. Retailer and signs of a deadlock in the wage talks and on demand from the auto southern Iraq, and Sunni insurgents to supply could push up prices even sector, which accounts for more 70 percent of total offtake. Platinum have no local support,” Ayham Kamel, further. The IEA said yesterday that wholesaler profit margins had fall- en in the winter as companies rose $3.75 an ounce to $1,438.90. director of the Middle East and North OPEC would need to produce one South Africa’s crippling five-month strike in the platinum belt has Africa at Eurasia Group, wrote in a million barrels per day (bpd) more oil rolled out discounts to lure shop- pers through the doors during lifted palladium prices by more than 15 percent this year, outpacing research note earlier this week. Brent on average in the second half of 2014 gains in platinum which is up just six percent. was up 55 cents at $113.57 per barrel to balance the global market, which harsh winter storms. Analysts’ estimates put platinum output losses at 1.1 million as of 1142 GMT, off a peak of $114.69, will see a steep seasonal spike in Wholesale prices rose 0.6 per- its highest since September. It gained demand. The agency raised its esti- cent in April and 0.5 percent in May. ounces and palladium at around 600,000 ounces. “If we see the more than $3 on Thursday. US crude mate for demand for OPEC crude oil Some of those increases have been workers agree to the wage deal there could be some additional was up 48 cents at $107.01, off a high in the second half of this year by passed onto consumers. The con- weakness but it still leaves a market where supply has been disrupt- of $107.68, also a nine-month high. A 150,000 bpd from its forecast last sumer price index, the most widely ed for several months,” Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen said. day earlier it gained $2.13. Brent was month to an average of 30.9 million followed inflation measure, rose 2 “Overall there will be some long-term buyers that will look to pick set to gain more than 5 percent this bpd. —Reuters percent in April compared with 12 the metals up at any major correction.” —Reuters Business SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 HK’s financial hub braces for possible shutdown

HONG KONG: Multinational companies and financial institutions in Hong Kong are drawing up emergency plans in the event of a partial shutdown of the financial hub’s business district this summer due to a planned pro-democracy protest. Activists have threatened to lock down the Central area of Hong Kong, home to some of Asia’s biggest companies and banks, as part of a campaign for the right to choose candidates for a poll in 2017 to elect Hong Kong’s next leader. Democracy protests over the past year have stoked friction and unnerved Beijing leaders fearful of an opposition democrat taking the city’s highest office. Concerns about growing discontent and the threatened closure of city’s business district by the so-called Occupy Central activists have prompted companies and financial authorities to prepare for the worst. Protest organizers hope to draw tens of thousands to their move- ment, but no date or specifics have yet been announced on their action. The protest could start as early as July 1. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the de facto central bank, said it would carry out a “business continuity planning drill” shortly with member banks to “protect the critical areas of their business and to cope with disruptions”. Rhonda Lam, a spokeswoman at the HKMA, declined to confirm how many banks were involved or whether the drill was directly related to Occupy Central, but said it would address the “inaccessibility of banks’ headquarters or offices due to any possible events that may happen in Central”. Malawian fishermen pulling up fish in their nets, on the shores of Lake Malawi, near the Makawa Fishing Village in the Beijing issues warning Lake side District of Mangochi, eastern Malawi. Although fishermen have been trawling the deep, clear waters of Lake The thorny issue of political reforms has continued to dog the for- Malawi in Africa’s Great Rift Valley for decades, over the past decade some fishermen speak of seeing their catches mer British colony that reverted to Chinese rule in 1997 amid promis- shrink by as much as 90 percent. Lake Malawi, one of the deepest in the world, is estimated to have the largest concen- es to grant the free-wheeling capitalist hub broad-ranging autono- tration of freshwater fish species-up to 1,000, according to the UN Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). — AFP my, pitting a feisty opposition pro-democracy movement against Beijing’s conservative Communist Party leaders. On Tuesday, China published a report warning Hong Kong that there were limits to its Ukraine signals compromise freedom and it should adhere strictly to the law, in what was seen as a veiled threat. The Occupy Central organizers have stressed, however, that their civil disobedience movement is “non-violent” and motivated largely in gas price row with Russia by China’s refusal to allow a truly fair election in 2017 that would include opposition democrats. Hong Kong’s incumbent pro-Beijing leader Leung Chun-ying has Moscow sets deadline to cut off gas supplies warned such a protest would be illegal and won’t be tolerated. Protesters have demanded full democracy in 2017, with a key condi- KIEV: Ukraine said yesterday it was trade pact with the EU. Moscow has also pipelines via Ukraine. Gazprom says tion being the open nominations of candidates so that anyone, including China critics, can run for office. But Beijing has rejected ready to pay a compromise price for offered to cut the price to $385 by elimi- Ukraine should pay $1.95 billion of that, citing the city’s mini-constitution that states all nominees must Russian natural gas for 18 months to nating an export duty of $100 per 1,000 those debts by Monday or face a cut in be endorsed by a 1,200-strong election committee, which is stacked avert the threat of Moscow cutting off cubic metres. This would be around the supplies. with Beijing loyalists. supplies and allow time to reach a long- average price for Russian gas in Europe. Asked if Kiev would pay by then, term pricing agreement. Andriy Russia says Ukraine has piled up Kobolev said: “I am not ready to answer Contingency planning Kobolev, chief executive of state gas more than $4 billion in debts to state that because there are still five more The head of property-to-retail conglomerate Wharf Holdings , company Naftogaz, said the price of exporter Gazprom, which also delivers hours until the end of the day. Anything Peter Woo, as well as Hong Kong’s second wealthiest person, proper- $326 per 1,000 cubic metres - higher gas to the EU, half of it through can happen.” — Reuters ty mogul Lee Shau-Kee of Henderson Land, have cautioned that any than what Kiev wants to pay and lower paralysis of the main business hub would damage the city’s reputa- than what Russia demands - was pro- tion. The Hong Kong Bankers Club, whose members include most of posed by the European Commission Once a model, Ghana’s the city’s major banks, said it would have a contingency plan in place during talks. before July 1. The private club, along with other tenants including In talks that are made even more dif- Italian luxury fashion group Prada and auditor ficult by the conflict in Ukraine, in which economy loses its shine PricewaterhouseCoopers, have been advised by landlord Hongkong Kiev accuses Moscow of backing a sepa- ACCRA: Rising bond yields, mounting pumping oil. “The situation is becoming Land Holdings Ltd to be prepared for trouble. —Reuters ratist rebellion in eastern regions, Russia inflation and a weakening currency have quite critical. There has been a chronic has threatened to cut off supplies to taken the shine off Ghana, a country until underestimation of the seriousness of the Ukraine if it fails to start paying off bil- recently hailed as a model for African problem by the authorities,” said Angus lions of dollars in debts by Monday. growth. Downie, head of economic research at The Russian Energy Ministry has ruled An oil boom helped fuel five years of Ecobank. In May, faced with worsening out holding any more talks with Kiev GDP growth above 8 percent making economic indicators and rising calls for and the EU before the Monday deadline. Ghana an star, a stable action, the government of President John “In our opinion the European democracy whose population of 25 million Mahama said it would adopt a “home Commission has proposed a compro- was moving steadily into middle income grown” stabilisation policy rather than mise that is not bad,” Kobolev told status. It is now, however, paying a steep resort to an IMF financial assistance pro- reporters, suggesting that Kiev should price for not coming through with a new gram. Such a policy would necessarily pay this price for an 18-month interim tranche of fiscal reforms. Political consen- include spending cuts, steps for increasing sus is stymied, the public is dismayed by revenue and an answer to costly public period. “Ukraine will be ready under rising costs and the dream of new wealth sector wages, the single biggest contribu- such a compromise to pay its unpaid is on hold. tor to the rise of the deficit in 2012 to 11.8 bills from the past,” he said. But adding Analysts put the immediate difficulty percent. The government held a strategic that he had received offers from down to a delay in announcing reforms, planning meeting last month but is yet to European companies to deliver gas at a saying it makes it harder for the govern- announce new reforms. Instead, it is urg- lower price, he said: “Even so, we believe ment to meet its 2014 economic targets ing patience and pointing to measures to it is still rather high.” He gave no details and has increased the chance it will even- tighten foreign exchange rules and raise of the offers he said he had on his desk. tually need a bailout from the rates, coupled with subsidy cuts last year. HONG KONG: A protester wearing a gas mask looks on Russia almost doubled the price to International Monetary Fund (IMF). Officials also say a Eurobond to be after policemen arrested a villager for setting up banners $485 per 1,000 cubic metres after It has also created a perception of poli- issued in US dollars in July will lower debt on a structure of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong yes- Ukraine’s Moscow-leaning president cy drift at a time of economic trouble costs, while seasonal cocoa inflows will terday. The demonstrators are demanding the Hong Kong was toppled in February. Ukraine wants rather than decisive action to shore up steady a currency that has fallen 28 per- government to withdraw a development plan for the Moscow to stick to the price of $268.5 gains made during the boom years in cent this year, the steepest decline in city’s North Eastern New Territories which is to turn farm- offered after Yanukovich spurned a which the gold and cocoa exporter started Africa. —Reuters lands into housing estates. —AFP Business SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 Yield famine could Japan to slash corporate make Cyprus a feast for bond investors tax rate in growth bid

LONDON: Cyprus is preparing to sell bonds to yield-starved investors in the next few weeks, making a return to markets BoJ chief calls for speedier reforms that looked very distant just a year ago when it was bailing-in bank depositors and imposing capital controls. Still mired in : Tokyo said yesterday it was slashing Japan’s corporate tax recession, and with its credit ratings deep in junk territory fol- rate, one of the world’s highest, as the country’s top central banker lowing a debt exchange last year that ratings agencies classed called for speedier reforms to unshackle an economy long mired in as a default, the island hired five banks this week to oversee a red tape. The cuts would bring the levy under 30 percent within a few planned bond sale. That would mark the fastest comeback to years, resulting in a tax rate ranging from 20 percent to 29 percent, markets of any of the euro-zone countries that were forced to depending on the jurisdiction. seek international aid as a debt crisis engulfed the currency Company taxes, including a rate of 35.6 percent in Tokyo, are the bloc. It would also take place while capital controls are still in second-highest in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and force, although Nicosia says it aims to lift them by the end of Development (OECD) behind the United States, which some critics the year. say has held back the world’s number three economy. Japan’s levy is With interest rates in developed countries at historic lows made up of both national and local taxes. Tokyo is cutting the nation- and investors grabbing anything that offers even a tiny pick- al rate to bring down firms’ overall burden in a bid to stimulate hiring up in yield, the sale is expected to be a success. “Now is the and corporate investment, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces grow- best time for Cyprus to establish itself in markets. Push, push, ing pressure to deregulate politically powerful sectors, including the push for yield,” said Dan Fuss, vice chairman of Kansas City- agricultural industry. “We’re aiming to reduce the effective corporate based Loomis Sayles & Company. tax rate... within a few years,” Abe told reporters in Tokyo, adding that The returns on offer are hard to match. Cyprus’s benchmark reductions would start from the fiscal year beginning in March 2015. February 2020 bonds yield 4.75 percent, well above the 2.8 The conservative premier-who swept to power in late 2012 on a percent offered by similar bonds of , which recently exited its bailout, and the roughly 2 percent yield on Spanish and Italian debt. Yields on top-rated bonds are even lower, which pushes investors to buy riskier assets to maximize returns. In April, twice bailed-out Greece sold five-year bonds yielding just under 5 percent in one of the fastest returns to commercial borrowing of a state that had defaulted on debt. Last week, the European Central Bank cut all its policy rates TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to and promised more liquidity for banks in a move that fostered reporters at his official residence in Tokyo yesterday. Japan even more demand for high-risk assets. “The yield ... is attrac- will slash one of the world’s highest corporate tax rates as tive. That was the case before the ECB last week and the tone part of a wider bid to shake up the economy and drive has improved since then,” said Robert Tipp, chief investment growth, prime minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday. — AFP strategist at Newark-based Prudential Fixed Income, which holds Cypriot and Greek debt. reporters, as the BoJ held fire on expanding its massive stimulus cam- paign after a two-day meeting. Kuroda added that the BoJ would Good pupil “support the government” by keeping up its bid to reach a 2.0 per- Such borrowing costs look appealing for Cyprus as well. TOKYO: Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda ges- cent inflation target by next year. Higher-rated states in the euro zone had to pay much more to Abe is expected to release further details about his plan later. tures as he answers questions during a press conference sell their debt only two years ago. Politically, the market return Some lawmakers had expressed concern at cutting corporate taxes would be an endorsement of the island’s resolve in sticking to at the headquarters in Tokyo yesterday. — AFP when only about 30 percent of Japanese firms pay anything-due to the tough terms of its rescue package, while is likely pledge to rescue Japan from years of deflation-said his government weak finances. Tokyo’s finances are under increasing pressure as it to offer it as proof that its bitter austerity medicine has wanted to “send a clear message” with the tax cuts. “Japan’s corpo- struggles with the spiralling healthcare and social costs of a rapidly worked. rate tax will become growth-oriented... to help boost jobs and ageing society. Cyprus has constantly outperformed expectations since it improve people’s livelihoods,” he said. Abe is facing calls to make Abe has pushed through plans to start deregulating the energy signed the 10 billion euro aid deal in March 2013. Its economy good on the final tranche of his growth action plan, dubbed sector and improve access to childcare for working parents. But his is expected to contract by 4.2 percent this year, less than the “Abenomics”, which started in early 2013 with a huge public spend- much-touted first attempt at a package of structural reforms fell flat 4.8 percent initially expected, and some, such as local consul- ing spree and an unprecedented monetary easing campaign by the last summer, amid accusations they were too timid at taking on tancy Sapienta, see the decline in output at closer to 3 percent. Bank of Japan. That gave the economy a shot in the arm and set off a Japan’s many vested interests. The island has also gradually reduced capital controls in the stock market rally as firms’ profitability grew on the back of a sharply Yesterday, a government panel gave Abe more than 200 propos- past year, although investors with money in some Cypriot weaker yen. But there are growing fears that the nascent recovery als for deregulating sectors including health and agriculture. They banks still cannot move cash abroad without prior approval. may run into trouble without major reforms, after Tokyo hiked con- appeared to back off from a planned overhaul of agricultural cooper- The restrictions do not affect investments in government sumption taxes in April to bring down its massive national debt. atives in favor of letting the powerful farm lobby revamp itself. bonds directly, but the fact that money cannot move freely in Doubters say that Abe will not be able to deliver a full-scale overhaul and out of the country is usually a big deterrent for any foreign Time running out of the economy, including shaking up rigid labor markets and taking investor. Not this time, though. “At the moment I don’t think Abe’s hand-picked central bank governor Haruhiko Kuroda-a key on farmers who fiercely oppose free-trade deals. The premier faces a investors care a lot about capital controls ... market prices sug- architect behind Japan’s war on years of falling prices and tepid delicate balance as ordinary citizens struggle with lackluster wage gest they’re likely to be able to issue,” said Michael growth-repeated his call for action yesterday. “The BoJ strongly growth and rising prices for everyday goods-the result of Tokyo’s bid Michaelides, rates analyst at RBS. expects that the government will implement the (reforms) policy, as it to stoke long-absent inflation as well as April’s consumption tax hike is important to improve labor supply and productivity,” he told to 8.0 percent from 5.0 percent. — AFP The Greek comparison There are no concrete details about what kind of bonds may be on offer, with the roadshow yet to start. But analysts Telecom Italia shake-up opens reckon a five- or even a 10-year might be feasible, while the buyers are likely to be the same ones who bid for the Greek bonds: a large part will probably go to British- and US-based door to activist investors hedge funds. Hans Humes, chief investment officer at Greylock Capital, who bought Greece’s bonds, said he was interested in LONDON: For decades many of Italy’s top companies have ment of an all-independent board and the likely dismantling Cyprus. been in the grip of shareholder pacts, often stifling reform, but of Telco make further change possible. Generali, which owns “What Cyprus has over Greece is that they didn’t do a sov- its largest telecoms operator, Telecom Italia, could soon break 19.3 percent of Telco, said on Wednesday it would exercise its ereign debt restructuring,” said the New York-based veteran of free, letting in activist investors who sense an opportunity for right to withdraw from the pact at the first available opportu- troubled debt markets. profitable change. nity next week. Greece’s new bond now yields around one percentage The trigger could be as soon as June 15, when financial One activist investor, US fund Amber Capital, already has its point less than when it was issued - something which may groups Mediobanca, Assicurazioni Generali and Intesa foot in the door, with a small stake of under 1 percent, but one encourage investors to buy. But beyond any profits it may Sanpaolo could end a 2007 shareholder pact in Telco, the of its fund managers, Giorgio Martorelli, said he expects more bring, a Cypriot market comeback will have a deeper meaning. “For the country itself and for the people that have gone holding company that controls Telecom Italia. to join it when the pact is dismantled. And there is a packed through the crisis it will show that if you keep persevering and The tight control of Telco’s core shareholders, led by agenda for those that do. do the right things you will be able to access the market Spanish telecom Telefonica, has discouraged most other “What activists can do for Telecom Italia is to support initia- again,” said Stuart Culverhouse, chief economist at distressed investors from buying in. tives to cut the company’s debt pile, reduce its exposure to debt brokerage Exotix in London. “It would also be seen by Marco Fossati, whose investment vehicle Findim owns 5 Brazil and align management’s incentives with shareholders’ Brussels and other European capitals as an endorsement of the percent of the telecom, tried but failed in October to change value creation,” Martorelli said. Telecom Italia needs to attract actions they have taken.” — Reuters Telecom Italia’s board, which he said acted in the interests of new investors to help tackle its hefty 27.5 billion euros ($37 the core shareholders, not the rest. But the recent appoint- billion) of debt. —Reuters BUSINESS SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

S African union leader says wage deal soon

JOHANNESBURG: The leader of South Africa’s AMCU union said yes- terday a wage deal with the top three platinum producers was immi- nent, signalling a possible end to a crippling five-month strike that has disrupted global output of the metal. Workers from the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) begged leader Joseph Mathunjwa on Thursday to end the country’s longest mining strike and sign the latest offer - an increase of about 20 percent, or 1,000 rand ($93) a month. Mathunjwa told Johannesburg radio he would take the offer to more AMCU members at mines yesterday, before meeting with manage- ment at Lonmin, Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum later or over the weekend to relay the response of his miners to their offer. “At least there is light at the end of the tunnel, which is not the light of a goods train,” he told Talk Radio 702. The major outstanding sticking point was whether the wage deal should stretch over three or five years, he said. “We are in quite a sensitive stage of trying to resolve this and reach an agreement. We won’t do things haphazard- ly,” he said. South Africa is home to 80 percent of the world’s known platinum reserves and the strike has halted production at mines that usually account for 40 percent of global output of the precious metal. Prices of platinum and palladium, which fell nearly 3 percent and 4 percent respectively on Thursday on signs a wage deal may be BEIJING: Residents waiting at a bus stop in the central business district in Beijing. China’s industrial output growth accelerated reached, rebounded from the sell-off yesterday. The strike by the to 8.8 percent year-on-year in May, official data showed yesterday while retail sales hit their highest level since December in 70,000 AMCU members began in January and dragged Africa’s most signs of renewed strength in the world’s second-largest economy. —AFP advanced economy into contraction in the first quarter. Mining out- put fell at the steepest rate in half a century, pulling manufacturing down with it and putting the economy at risk of a recession. China’s May data shows When it first downed tools, AMCU said it wanted a roughly 150 percent pay rise to 12,500 rand per month, but platinum companies said this was totally unrealistic and for much of the negotiations said signs of steadying growth it wouldn’t go beyond 10 percent.

‘Very damaging’ More stimulus eyes to curb slowdown Fitch ratings agency changed its outlook on South Africa to nega- tive from stable yesterday, partly due to the impact of the strike. BEIJING: China’s economy showed some signs of stabilizing in May as of 2014 from a year earlier - the weakest since the government start- Standard and Poor’s is also expected to adjust its rating after local the government unveiled more stimulus measures to avert a sharper ed a new statistics method in 2011 though slightly ahead of fore- markets close. Shares in Anglo American gained 1 percent by 0844 slowdown, but signs of further deterioration in the property market casts. GMT, while Impala Platinum rose 0.7 percent. indicate more policy support may still be needed. As the property sec- Real estate investment, which affects more than 40 other sectors Lonmin, which is the most exposed to the strike, gained nearly 1 tor accounts for more than 15 percent of China’s output, a prolonged from cement to furniture, rose 14.7 percent in January-May, down percent, after jumping 9 percent in the previous session. Even if a deal or more precipitous decline will likely influence whether the world’s from 16.4 percent in the first four months. Newly started property is agreed, platinum producers face renewed financial challenges after second-largest economy risks a shallow or a deeper downturn, jeop- construction fell 18.6 percent in the first five months from a year ear- suffering huge revenue losses in the strike and with the prospect of ardizing Beijing’s 7.5 percent growth target for the year. lier, the fourth consecutive period of decline. Analysts predicted the paying increased salaries, while restarting mines that have lain dor- Yet, leaders are reluctant to unveil massive aid like the 4 trillion worst is yet to come. “The trend of slowing property investment mant for five months.—Reuters yuan ($640 billion) stimulus implemented during the global crisis in growth is likely to continue in coming months as more and more 2008-09, which took local governments deep into debt. Instead, they home buyers stay on the sidelines,” said Tang Jianwei, an economist have unveiled a series of more modest steps in recent months in at Bank of Communications in Shanghai. hopes the economy will regain traction. “The broader picture is that the property sector is still putting More easing on the cards? downwards pressure on the economy but this appears to have been A Reuters poll in April forecast China’s economic growth could largely offset by infrastructure spending and other targeted (stimu- slow to 7.3 percent in the second quarter from a 18-month low of 7.4 lus) measures, which have shored up other areas of the economy,” percent in the previous quarter, with full-year growth of 7.3 percent in Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics, said in 2014, the weakest in 24 years. Premier Li Keqiang has signaled some a note. “We expect policymakers to stick with this targeted approach, flexibility in achieving this year’s 7.5 percent growth target, but ana- at least for the time being. If property remains a drag on the rest of lysts say the government needs to prevent growth from falling the economy ... more concerted efforts - including a broad cut to towards 7 percent that could fuel job losses and threaten social stabil- (banks’) required reserve ratio - may be needed to support growth.” ity. Stimulus measures unveiled so far include speeding up the con- Steady growth in industrial production may signal that stimulus struction of railway projects and public housing, as well as orders to measures are offsetting the broader economic downdraft from the local governments to fast-forward their fiscal spending, while the cen- ailing property market, for now. And stronger consumer demand tral bank has eased monetary conditions by guiding market rates low- along with a modest export recovery may also be picking up part of er and cut reserve requirements for certain banks to free up more the slack. Factory output rose 8.8 percent in May from year earlier, in money for lending. Other data for May showed new bank lending and line with market expectations and improving slightly from 8.7 per- money supply rose faster than expected, while total fiscal spending cent in April, data showed yesterday. Retail sales, a key gauge of con- by the central and local governments surged nearly 25 percent in May A striking miner from Wonderkop township in Marikana sumption, rose 12.5 percent, the fastest pace since December and from a year earlier. Some analysts expect the central bank to lower waits to receive news on an ending strike proposed deal yes- beating market expectations. Investment, however, continued to fal- reserve requirements for banks across the country in coming terday near Rustenburg. — AFP ter. Fixed-asset investment grew 17.2 percent in the first five months months.—Reuters Fitch revises S Africa outlook to negative

JOHANNESBURG: Fitch ratings agency yesterday revised the out- cent that it issued during the last country review in December 2013. ment is aware of the “challenges South Africa faces.” It said the gov- look on South Africa to negative from stable and affirmed its credit The agency said that the government “faces a challenging task to ernment has “prioritized” an ambitious National Development Plan rating at ‘BBB’, near the bottom of the investment-grade scale. raise the country’s growth rate and improve social conditions, which which will kickstart the economy and reduce poverty by 2030, The ratings agency said the outlook revision was partly due to a has been made more difficult by the weaker growth performance notably through major infrastructure projects. The program was strike at platinum mines, the country’s longest-ever mining stop- and deteriorating trends in governance and corruption.” approved in 2012, but implementation has been piecemeal in the pages that began in January when workers downed tools. “This will require an acceleration of structural reforms,” it said. The face of fierce opposition of left-leaning government allies, which On Thursday, the world’s three top platinum producers-Anglo agency also voiced concern over President Jacob Zuma’s new cabi- brand it too neoliberal. The mining strike helped push the economy American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin-said they had “in net, appointed after general elections last month returned his African into its first contraction since the global economic crisis five years principle” reached a deal to end the 21-week deadlock over pay. National Congress to power and secured him a second term in office. ago in the first quarter of this year, raising the specter of recession. Fitch said South Africa’s outlook for growth had deteriorated after a “In Fitch’s view, the track record of some key ministerial appoint- South Africa holds around 80 percent of the world’s known plat- 0.6-percent contraction in the first quarter of this year, and it revised ments and shortcomings in administrative capacity mean this is sub- inum reserves, and platinum group metals raked in 9.0 percent of its 2014 GDP growth forecast down to 1.7 percent from the 2.8 per- ject to downside risks.” The country’s Treasury noted that the govern- export earnings last year. — AFP BUSINESS SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

Carney signals earlier rate rise in Britain

LONDON: Britain could become the first major economy to increase would be the first since July 2007. Carney said of 2015 on Thursday. “The BoE seems to be slightly ahead of tighten monetary policy since the 2008 financial crisis, Bank Britain’s economy still had scope to grow without pushing the Fed as far as rate hikes are concerned,” said Lutz of England Governor Mark Carney signalled, sending ster- up inflation, which stood at 1.8 percent in the year to April. Karpowitz, currency analyst at Commerzbank. The US cen- ling shooting to a five-year high against the dollar yester- But he saw little sign yet of a slowdown in the pace of tral bank is still sending a dovish message that rates will day. Government bond yields soared, construction stocks expansion that the central bank had pencilled in for the sec- remain low for an extended period. Rob Wood, chief UK tumbled and interest rate futures priced in a first hike by ond half of the year. economist at German bank Berenberg, said Carney’s shift December after Carney said rates could rise sooner than This brings into view one or more interest rate rises reflected the British economy’s buoyancy. financial markets had thought - his most hawkish signal to before a general election due next May - something that “It is flying now. Employment is rising at a record pace date. could hurt the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition and we see no sign of economic growth slowing from its “There’s already great speculation about the exact tim- by raising mortgage costs for home-owners at time when current approaching 4 percent annualized pace,” Wood ing of the first rate hike and this decision is becoming more the Labor opposition is highlighting the cost of living. said. balanced,” Carney said in a speech late on Thursday. “It The pound sterling hit a 5-1/2 year high against a trade- Speaking alongside British finance minister George could happen sooner than markets currently expect.” weighted basket of currencies. Short sterling rate futures Osborne, Carney also said the central bank would carefully Relatively few economists had expected rates to fell, pricing in the first hike by December. weigh the merits next week of tackling housing market increase until the second quarter of next year given the cen- The interbank rate curve (SONIA) also pointed to a rate risks, including an undesirable loosening in mortgage tral bank’s previous long term “forward guidance”. The rise by the end of the year, compared with the first quarter underwriting standards.—Reuters

BNP got high-level warnings on sanctions- busting in 2006

PARIS: French bank BNP Paribas was warned in 2006 by a high-ranking US Treasury official and in three reports by legal experts that it risked being penalized for breaking US sanctions, according to Le Monde newspaper. Since France’s biggest bank flagged the risk of a big fine in February this year, sources close to the affair have said it ignored early warnings of the risks it faced. They pointed out that the alleged offending transactions being investigated by US authorities continued until 2009. The French newspaper’s report, written as talks acceler- ate towards a possible $10 billion fine and other penalties, said Stuart Levey, then the US Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, made a visit to Paris in September 2006.The paper, drawing on the findings of its own investigation, said Levey met the bank’s top offi- cials, including Baudoin Prot, who has since become chair- man, in its boardroom. Levey was there not to talk about the legal risks, but to warn the bank to be vigilant, citing the names of a number of blacklisted Iranian banks, the Le Monde report said. US President George Bush had called Iran part of an SEOUL: People use their mobile phones in a market in Seoul yesterday. ’s central bank on June 12 kept key interest “Axis of Evil” and wanted European banks to stop working rates unchanged for the 13th consecutive month as Asia’s fourth-largest economy shows signs of steady recovery. — AFP there. Levey took the same “clear” message to other European banks, Le Monde reported. A second set of warnings also came in 2006, the report said, this time from Britain unveils measures to legal experts, after ABN Amro was fined $40 million for breaking sanctions against Iran and Libya in January of that year. Until that point, lawyers Cleary Gottlieb had assured BNP Paribas it was not at risk as long as it operated tackle rising house prices outside US territory, Le Monde said. However the ABN Amro fine was a first - covering transactions done outside Fitch affirms AA+ credit rating for Britain the United States. After it, Cleary Gottlieb changed its advice to say there was a risk in certain cases. Two other LONDON: Britain’s finance minister George Osborne has unveiled build housing developments. expert reports commissioned by the bank came to a simi- measures aimed at curbing London’s surging house price inflation, “We saw from the last (financial) crisis the dangerous tempta- lar conclusion. as the Bank of England stands ready to finally raise interest rates. It tions for politicians to leave the punch bowl where it is and keep BNP Paribas was not immediately available to com- comes as Fitch on Friday affirmed its AA+ credit rating for Britain the party going on for too long,” said Osborne, a member of Prime ment on the Le Monde report. The bank has said publicly and gave it a “stable” outlook, citing the country’s accelerating Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party that heads Britain’s only that it is in discussions with US authorities about “cer- economic recovery. In a keynote speech to business leaders deliv- coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. tain US dollar payments involving countries, persons and ered in the capital late on Thursday, Chancellor of the Exchequer “I want to make sure that the Bank of England has all the entities that could have been subject to economic sanc- Osborne announced plans for up to 200,000 new homes and said weapons it needs to guard against risks in the housing market,” tions”. It has set aside $1.1 billion for the fine but told he would strengthen the Bank of England’s ability to impose Osborne said. “I want to protect those who own homes, protect shareholders it could be far higher than that. Last month it restrictions on how much home buyers could borrow. those who aspire to own a home, and protect the millions who also said it had improved control processes to ensure such Osborne appeared to heed the advice of the International suffer when boom turns to bust.” Osborne accepted however that mistakes did not occur again. The suggestion that Prot had Monetary Fund (IMF), which recently warned that a lack of supply his planning proposals would have to clear a lot of hurdles before a personal warning from the US Treasury puts a new focus was fuelling Britain’s price boom that is most pronounced in becoming law, pointing out that previous reforms had been “hard- of attention on him after the bank announced the depar- London. Speaking alongside Osborne at the so-called Mansion fought and controversial”. ture of chief operating officer Georges Chodron de House gathering, Bank of England governor Mark Carney said the Yesterday, Fitch noted that “favorable macroeconomic trends, Courcel on Thursday. BoE could raise its main interest rate from a record-low level of including strong GDP growth, falling unemployment and inflation US authorities - five of them in all including the New 0.50 percent sooner than expected. Such a move would also help close to the (Bank of England’s) 2.0 percent target, have continued York financial regulator - are investigating whether BNP to dampen Britain’s housing market, according to analysts. The in the UK economy” since the agency’s last review in December. evaded US sanctions between 2002 and 2009. Sources BoE’s main rate has stood at 0.50 percent since March 2009. “Fitch expects the recovery in major advanced economies, includ- familiar with the matter say they are trying to establish Carney said the need for “vigilance and activism” was most ing the euro-zone, the UK’s largest trading partner, to strengthen whether the bank stripped out identifying information acute in the housing market which was “showing the potential to gradually in 2014-15, while emerging markets growth will be from wire transfers so they could pass through the US overheat”. Osborne meanwhile promised an “urban planning rev- broadly stable, avoiding the risk of sharp slowdown,” it added in a financial system without raising red flags. — Reuters olution”, in which the government could force local councils to statement. — AFP 14, 2014 SATURDAY, JUNE JUNE SATURDAY, www.kuwaittimes.net

Valerie Biles is dressed in costume trying to be selected as Ms Bonnaroo at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival on Thursday, in Manchester, Tenn.— AP

20142014 BonnarooBonnaroo MusicMusic andand ArtsArts FestivalFestival SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley would love to be a physiologist

he 27-year-old beauty enjoys modelling but is fas- “bonkers” because of their love of cockney rhyming cinated by bother biology and design so has slang phrases. She said: “Jason has taught me nearly the Tdiverse ideas about an alternative career. She said: whole diction of cockney rhyming slang. I get quite a few “I would love to have the patience to be an interior odd looks because people don’t expect it to come out of designer, but I also like the idea of being a physiologist.” my mouth. In the US people just think we are bonkers!” The ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’ actress thinks it is The British star feels “mostly” happy and thinks true hap- important to set career targets and is always happy to piness comes from working on yourself and doing what say no to things she doesn’t want to do. Asked to give you think is right. She said: “I do believe to be happy you advice to aspiring models, she told online publication have to work on yourself. You have to listen to yourself Violet Grey: “Keep your wits about you. Be smart. Say no and stay true to your heart.” if something makes you feel uncomfortable. Have goals and go after them, and practice good manners.” Rosie is happily settled with boyfriend Jason Statham and says when they visit America for work people think they are

he ‘Rover’ star doesn’t have any- where to live after his parents Tmoved into his home in Los Angeles while he was away filming his parents new movie ‘Life’ in Toronto in March. Daniel Radcliffe’s Speaking on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ last banned him from having tattoos night, the British hunk explained: “I’ve kind of found myself a little bit more at

he ‘Woman in Black’ actor is a big fan of body art and would is home in LA. My parents borrowed my love to have a quote by his favourite playwright Samuel house, which I was borrowing off some- Beckett inked across his body, but he thinks his mum and one else and then they kicked me out of T it when I came back from Toronto. So dad would go ballistic if they found out. According to the Daily Star newspaper, he said: “I want the line from Beckett - ‘Try, fail, that’s the end of that, so I’m now home- try again and fail better’ - either on my arm or chest. Although I less again.” The 28-year-old actor, who shouldn’t really talk about tattoos in case my mum and dad hear previously claimed he slept behind an about it.” The 24-year-old star also revealed he is no longer fazed archway following his split from ex-girl- by ‘Harry Potter’ fans incessantly approaching him in public. friend Kristen Stewart in 2012, insists he Daniel added: “I don’t get nearly as annoyed as some of my doesn’t know where his possessions are friends do. All my friends think it’s rude but I don’t think twice currently kept. When asked where he about it. There will always be people with ‘Harry Potter’ books to stores his belongings when he doesn’t sign and I have accepted that.” The actor previously said he have a home, Robert replied: “I’m not thinks tattoos are “really, really cool”, although he isn’t such a fan entirely sure. It’s somewhere. I wish I of Harry Styles’ multitude of random inkings - which include a knew.” However, the ‘Cosmopolis’ star ship, a giant butterfly and a pair of matching branches on his admitted he makes up a lot of lies hips. When the One Direction singer’s tattoos were described to because he is overcome with panic dur- him, Daniel joked: “Like prison tattoos? Isn’t that what you have ing interviews. He said: “It’s [I lie due to] when you’ve done five years?” panic ... I have extraordinary heavy sali- va. If I try and spit, I can only get it about a foot and someone informed me the other day it’s because I have very heavy saliva. I thought it was because I didn’t have much lip power. But I find it easier homeless again when I’m lying, I think the panic and Lea Michele’s new boyfriend Robert Pattinson adrenaline loosens the saliva.” insists he is a dating coach he ‘Glee’ actress reportedly confronted Matthew Paetz this week over online reports he worked for male com- Tpanionship website Cowboys4Angels, but he told her he was never a gigolo. According to TMZ, Matthew admitted he went on “a few dates” with female clients but only as research so he could understand what the men experienced and coach them through. Lea - who was left devastated last year by the death of her boyfriend Cory Monteith - is said to have believed his account and they are staying together after he promised never to do it again. However, the website insists Matthew went on “more than a few” dates with female clients for almost a year, charging $350 an hour for his time under the alias of Christian. His profile has been deactivated since he began dating the 27-year-old beauty - who he met on the set of her music video for ‘On My Way’ - and it’s thought Matthew’s last assignment was a weekend with a client at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in California in April. Prior to his profile being hidden, Lea’s beau billed himself as a certi- fied life coach, dating expert and massage therapist. SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

Kanye West, Kim planning daughter’s first birthday he rapper and reality star, who married in Italy last month, want to celebrate baby North’s big day on Sunday with a Tbash which they can be proud to show her when she’s old- er. A source told HollywoodLife.com: “They’ll be home with North and having a party. Small, with family and and close friends. “They’re planning a lot of surprises for North and want to throw her a party that is fabulous beyond belief and something that they can show her when she’s older.” Kanye, 37, and Kim, 33, are keen to “capture every moment” of the special day, which they will cherish for years to come. The source added: “Kanye’s going to have his video recorder going, and you know Kim going to be recording and taking pictures, too. “They’ve already begun a huge family photo album, like a scrapbook of just the three of them, and since this will be North’s first birthday, they’re going to capture every moment. It will be an overwhelming day for all three of them.” Marc Anthony ordered to pay ex-wife $26,800 a month in child support he Latino singer had the amount he currently pays Dayanara Torres for their sons Cristian, 13, and Ryan, T10, doubled from the $13, 400 he was previously giving to her. Dayanara originally asked the court to rule her former Ellie Goulding spouse - who also has six-year-old twins Max and Emme from his marriage to Jennifer Lopez - should pay her a stag- wasn’t ‘aesthetically gering $123, 426 a month as 10 years have passed since their divorce and her family’s needs have changed, but the judge pleasing enough’ presiding over the case rejected her request. Marc, 45, was opposed to paying such a huge sum as he reportedly believes the increase in funds would spoil his sons “rotten” he ‘Burn’ singer - who shot to fame after win- and worries the extra income would result in them becom- ning the Critics Choice Award at the Brits in ing addicts. He hired a psychologist to write a letter to the T2010 - was concerned that her looks might limit judge highlighting all the problems that could arise from her success and tried to conceal her features during children living in Los Angeles in the thick of the entertain- photoshoots. She told ES Magazine: “At one time, I ment industry. The couple married in 2000 and divorced in was getting all this musical success, but I wasn’t get- 2004, with Marc handing over a house in Florida, a BMW, a ting all the things that went with it, like magazine Lincoln Navigator, a golf club membership, as well as a vaca- covers. “I was convinced for a long time I wasn’t aes- tion budget under their previously-agreed terms. He also thetically pleasing enough. I would have to angle my Kimberly Perry married paid her $70,000 legal fees for the divorce. face to hide the side of my nose, or my chin. “Then I he Band Perry singer tied the knot with baseball star J. P. stopped caring. I let go. Put a different energy out Arencibia at the First Presbyterian Church in Greeneville, there-then [the covers] all started to happen.” Ellie, Tennessee before a reception at her parents’ nearby home. 27, also slammed critics who has called her “too ath- T Close friends and family were joined by a string of famous faces, letic” after she appeared on UK TV show ‘The X Factor’ including country singer Carrie Underwood and her husband last year in a sheer Julien Macdonald dress. She said: Mike Fisher and Miranda Lambert and her husband Blake “They said my body was ‘too athletic’. Too athletic? Shelton. Last September, the Texas Rangers catcher chose “Isn’t it admirable that someone has worked so hard Kimberly’s parents home as the setting for his proposal. The 29- to look good and be healthy?” The blonde beauty - year-old beauty previously said: “I came back out on the front who has previously dated Radio 1 DJ Greg James and porch and he was standing there and he got down on one knee. Skrillex and has been romantically linked to Ed It was perfect.” And J.P. felt it was important to have his partner’s Sheeran and One Direction’s Niall Horan - also family around when he popped the question. He previously said: opened up about her relationship with McBusted’s “We had it set up that the family was sitting there and I was going Dougie Poynter. She said: “It feels great to be with to show up at the bottom of the hill and have her see me and someone without needing them.” have me walk up. “They’re a close family and I wanted them there” The couple met at the Florida Strawberry Festival in February 2012 after the 28-year-old sportsman managed to get backstage to meet the singer, who he had admired from her music videos. —Bangshowbiz SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

A “Len Dong” dancer (C) performing at a local temple in “Len Dong” dancer (C) performing as attendees sitting arround at a local temple. The Vietnamese spirit medium dances in a Hanoi. — AFP photos trance, attacking invisible enemies with a sword as drums beat, musicians chant, and dozens of curious onlookers watch in amazement. Len Dong: An ancient shaman dance for modern ?

he Vietnamese spirit medium dances in a trance, attacking prepare offerings-from chickens to “ChocoPie” snack cakes-for the Dong can help people under intense stress or suffering from low- invisible enemies with a sword as drums beat, musicians altar. During the ceremony-an auspicious date for the event is care- level psychological disorders, Thinh, a renowned professor of Tchant, and dozens of curious onlookers watch in amazement. fully picked in advance by the shaman-the practitioner will seem- Vietnamese culture at a top state research institute, said. Civil servant by day and practitioner of traditional spiritual posses- ingly drift in and out of a trance, singing, chanting and dancing to “They practice Len Dong to rid themselves of their problems sion rituals when the mood takes her, Nguyen Thi Hoa is clad in a the minimalist, rhythmic music. and return to their normal life,” the professor, who has spent more richly embroidered red robe as she performs a Len Dong ceremony “It’s not just the insane dancing of people who have lost their than three decades studying Len Dong, told AFP. at a private Hanoi temple. dignity,” said cultural researcher Ngo Duc Thinh. The practise of Len “As society develops, spiritual pressures multiply. Stress “I have no idea what I’ve been doing,” Hoa told AFP after the becomes more serious-and this creates more chances for Len five-hour performance, which involved at least 15 costume Dong,” according to Thinh. changes. “I could not believe I had smoked like a chimney and drunk like a fish,” the normally teetotal 52-year-old said. Social stigma “Could you tell me what I told you to do?” Hoa, who is not a pro- Hoa practices Len Dong at least twice a year. fessional Len Dong shaman and only undertakes the rituals when “I don’t dare tell my mother as she would say I was crazy,” said the spirits move her, asked friends who had watched the entire per- the bureaucrat, who spends around 40 million dong (nearly $2,000) formance. Len Dong, which uses musical invocations to lure spirits to put on each performance. Her work colleagues, mostly commu- to possess mediums and communicate with others, has been per- nist party members, are also not aware of her Len Dong practice- formed in Vietnam for centuries. the ritual has at times been considered heresy, and was totally Practitioners and attendees-people can donate to help cover banned until the 1980s by the communists, although rituals contin- the costs of a Len Dong performance without having to directly ued in secret. “I received several warnings from police, asking me to participate-usually turn to the ancient ritual to ease stress or hop- stop my practice,” said a professional Len Dong practitioner, speak- ing for help from the spirits with romantic or professional prob- ing on condition of anonymity about that period of time. lems. For decades, Len Dong was restricted by French colonial and Even now, practicing Len Dong can carry a government fine of Vietnamese communist leaders, but the tradition is enjoying a flur- around $250 which aims to prevent private for-profit practitioners ry of popularity since restrictions were relaxed a decade or so ago- rather than genuine Len Dong devotees like Hoa. “The government and some say it is a useful vent for stressed citizens. tried to ban it, but they in fact have failed. It’s impossible to ban Len Dong,” researcher Thinh said. But it might be necessary to regulate Old cure for new ills? it, some experts say. Len Dong practitioners usually offer their serv- Six years ago, Hoa began suffering from insomnia, lack of ices at temples between Vietnam’s lunar new year-usually around appetite and tiredness. Conventional doctors could not rid her of late January-to the end of the third lunar month in April. Since her ills. On the advice of a friend, she visited a Len Dong practition- restrictions on the practice were lifted, business is booming and er, who told her to try performing the spirit possession ritual her- some newly wealthy Vietnamese are willing to pay up to $50,000 self. “To my surprise, my health started improving at once,” she for a Len Dong service. The trouble is, it is hard for people to tell the said, adding that she started seeing positive changes at work as difference between genuine Len Dong practitioners and con artists. well. “Several practitioners, who have only some ability, have used that Len Dong is an ancient Vietnamese custom which involves “call- to cheat people for money,” one practitioner told AFP. “That makes ing the spirits of the dead into the bodies of the living to connect people confused-they can’t differentiate between real and fake Len past and present,” one of the main research books on the topic HANOI: This picture taken on March 25, 2014 shows a “Len Dong.” — AFP says. Musicians play traditional songs to help the shaman enter a Dong” dancer (C) performing with burning incense sticks as trance. Multiple assistants help the shaman to change costumes or attendees sitting arround at a local temple in Hanoi. SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

A section of old railroad track is seen in the plants on the High Line in New York. Formerly an People take in the view over West 20th Street on the High Line in New York. elevated train track, the High Line was converted to an elevated park in the Chelsea section of Manhattan and opened five years ago with officials claiming it attracts more tourists than the Statue of Liberty. New York’s High Line fetes fifth birthday

ew York’s High Line-a public park built on elevated for- mer train tracks-is celebrating its fifth birthday, with Nofficials claiming it attracts more tourists than the Statue of Liberty. Inspired by the “Coulee verte” in Paris, the urban prome- nade snakes nearly 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) along Manhattan’s West Side, providing stunning views of the sky- line and Hudson River. Stretching from Gansevoort Street in the trendy Meatpacking District to West 30th Street, it is set up on an old rail structure that was initially doomed for demolition. But now the pedestrian-only park is replete with greenery that includes 300 kinds of carefully maintained perennials, grasses, shrubs and even trees. Dutch landscape artist Piet Oudolf, who drew up the plans for the space, gave it a kind of wild feel that is in constant flux as the seasons change. Locals and tourists alike flock to the High Line, open daily from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm in the sum- mer, to relax or take in artistic installations or tours-all for free. A green oasis the city, it has become a popular spot to go for a walk, rest up, paint or simply soak in the scenery. And it’s proven to be quite a hit since the first section opened on June 8, 2009. People sit at tables with a view of the Hudson River on the High Line in New York. — AFP photos “This year, we expect over five million visitors, which is ning costs and maintenance are covered by donations from more visitors than the Statue of Liberty,” said Jenny Gersten, individuals, foundations and corporations according to David, executive director of “Friends of the High Line,” the nonprofit who calls the funding model “unusual.” that runs and maintains the park with an army of volunteers. Fifteen years since the start of his dream, he’s still amazed “It is quite extraordinary,” she told AFP. Gersten recalled at how far the project has come. “It is such a magical proj- how, when co-founders Joshua David and Robert Hammond ect,” David said, as High Line volunteers and friends enjoyed first opened the High Line half a decade ago, “they didn’t some birthday cake. “We thought we might have 400,000” vis- know what people were going to think.” “They opened the itors per year. The High Line, which can get crowded on week- doors and said ‘Will people come? How many people will ends, has in a matter of years transformed the neighborhoods come?’” she said. “And it has been a success beyond anything it passes through. we imagined.” Luxury buildings have sprung up alongside it, with others still under construction. Marie Detree, visiting from Paris, said New section opens soon she was smitten with the park. “I’m totally hooked,” she said, A second section followed in June 2011 and construction is admitting she had been returning each day. underway to complete a third, extending between 30th and “The design is very beautiful, very minimalist but functional 34th Streets and due to open by the end of the year. “It is an at the same time ... it’s amazing.” — AFP experience of New York City that takes you up in the air, 30 feet (nine meters), to look out in ways that you can’t have any- where else,” Gersten said. The project took 10 years to materialize, starting with a neighborhood meeting in 1999 where co-founders David and Hammond pitched to preserve the weed-overgrown train tracks and turn it into a park. “We only had a sliver of hope that it would happen,” David, a former writer, told AFP. Initial setbacks aside, the project slowly took shape. Former mayor Michael Bloomberg backed it, providing $112 million for con- People take in the struction that began in 2006. view over West 20th That came on top of tens of millions of dollars raised by the Street on the High “Friends of the High Line” group. Today, 90 percent of the run- Line in New York. SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 lays out silver won from US treasure-hunters

pain has proudly put on show tens of thousands peace treaty with Britain in 1802 but that soon broke tion of the estimated 580,000 found in the wreck. of silver coins from a 19th-century shipwreck that down. British ships thought the Mercedes was carrying Most of those on show have been cleaned and are Sit won back in court from US treasure hunters. treasure bound for Napoleon’s coffers. They fired can- laid out in a glass case, but some are displayed just as The country’s soon-to-be king, Felipe, and future nons at the Mercedes, blowing up its powder kegs and they were found, lumped together with mud. queen Letizia on Thursday launched the exhibition in sinking it-a moment captured in a contemporary oil Some 8,000 other coins from the ship went on central Madrid celebrating the return of the sunken painting in the exhibition. show last month at the Museum of Subaquatic treasure to Spain. The attack, known as the Battle of Cape Santa Maria, Archaeology in the southeastern Spanish city of They viewed treasures and documents that tell the led Spain to declare war on Britain and re-enter the Cartagena. A third exhibition also opened on Thursday story of how British warships blew up the Nuestra Napoleonic Wars. In May 2007, deep-sea search spe- in Madrid’s Naval Museum, telling the story of the bat- Senora de las Mercedes, sending its precious cargo to cialists Odyssey Marine Exploration found the wreck at tle and the Mercedes. the bottom of the sea. a depth of 1,700 feet (518 meters) in the Atlantic. More than just a pile of treasure, the winning of the The highlight of the show, in the basement of Spanish authorities said at the time that the trove lost cargo was a point of pride for Spain. Madrid’s recently reopened National Archaeological was worth at least 350 million euros ($474 million) One of the organisers of the new exhibition, Museum, is a glass case containing heaps of more than overall. It is thought to be the most valuable sunken Manuel Mortari, hoped it would “serve as a precedent 30,000 tarnished silver coins. The cargo came to Spain treasure discovery in history. and make people aware of the importance of her- in 2012 after a five-year legal battle with Odyssey, the Odyssey challenged Spain’s sovereign claim to the itage”.”A big battle has been won,” he told AFP. “It is US company that hauled it up two centuries after it cargo and said the wreck lay in international waters. like winning a World Cup it raises the country’s self- sank. “It’s emotional,” said James Goold, a US lawyer and descendants of the treasure’s original owners esteem.” who fought Spain’s case in the courts. “To get it back to also claimed it. But a judge in Florida ruled in March The future king and queen shook hands with Spain says to me: ‘Mission accomplished’.” 2012 that the trove belonged to Spain. The US youngsters gathered to greet them at the museum, Supreme Court turned down a final appeal by Odyssey smiling and chatting with them before going down to Sea battle, treasure hunt in May 2012. view the treasure. On October 5, 1804, the Mercedes was nearing the Felipe, 46, is to be sworn in as king on Thursday, coast of Spain on its way from Peru, part of the Spanish Winning the battle replacing his father Juan Carlos, 76, who is abdicating empire at the time. Spain and France had signed a The 30,000 coins on show in Madrid are just a frac- after 38 years on the throne. — AFP US foodies fight back in cheese aging row

n recent weeks, out of the blue, it suddenly became hard for some American foodies to Ismile and say cheese. The US government’s Food and Drug Administration had questioned the hygiene standards of the centuries-old technique of aging artisanal cheese on wooden shelves. The fear was that wood, which is porous, can harbor bacteria. At stake are some all- time favorites: Parmesan, cheddar and Gruyere. The row has wafted into the corri- dors of power on Capitol Hill. A petition surfaced Sunday on a section of the White House web page that is open to the public, calling on the adminis- tration of President Barack Obama to “lift the FDA restrictions on ripening cheese on wood- en boards.” So far, it has more than 5,700 sig- natures. Then on Wednesday, a dozen law- makers urged cheese-loving colleagues to keep the FDA from “going after the centuries- old aging process.” While the FDA seems to have since backed down, the row nevertheless sent a shockwave through the industry.

‘Threat’ to tradition It all started a few months ago in New York state, according to Nora Weiser, director of the American Cheese Society. VIEUX-FERRETTE: Bernard Antony, Master cheese ripener, is pictured in a cheese cellar on April 10, 2014, in Vieux-Ferrette (eastern The FDA, citing hygiene reasons, cited sev- France). The US government’s Food and Drug Administration had questioned the hygiene standards of the centuries-old technique of eral cheese-makers for using wooden boards aging artisanal cheese on wooden shelves. — AFP to age their products. state of Wisconsin, America’s cheese capital, “Wood has not only a very strong safety The FDA said it had historically expressed Clarifications were sought. After all, the alone produces 15,000 tons of cheese aged record as an aging material but also a very concern over whether wooden shelves where cheese-makers argued, the method has been on wooden shelves. long history of adding flavor and quality,” cheese is aged could be cleaned properly. around for, well, ages. Monica Metz, the added Weiser. The earlier FDA comment “was provided as branch chief for the FDA’s Center for Food ‘Save our cheese’ The American Cheese Society asked the background information on the use of wood- Safety and Applied Nutrition’s Dairy and Egg A “SaveOurCheese” campaign has been FDA to reconsider its interpretation of the cir- en shelving”, the statement said, acknowledg- Branch, cited an old rule that the surfaces on launched in recent days on Twitter and cular. Trade policy analyst William Watson of ing that “the language used in this communi- which cheeses are aged must be able to be Tumblr. And the number of signatures on the the Cato Institute said the FDA’s move “seems cation may have appeared more definitive properly cleaned. We The People petition continued to grow. to be part of a bizarre crusade to ban flavorful than it should have.” Weiser said the clarification that came “People have been aging cheese on wood cheese.” Amid all the protests, the FDA even- On Thursday, Weiser rejoiced. “We are from the FDA made things even muddier. The since before the FDA even existed,” said tually issued a statement that was seen by delighted that cheese-makers may continue old rules made no mention of wood, she said, Kristin Hunt, a food writer on the web site foodies as a climbdown. crafting the cheeses we love using this tradi- adding that to ban this type of aging would Thrillist. “The FDA does not have a new policy ban- tional cheese-making practice,” she told AFP. be “a threat to traditional cheese-making “This is devastating news for anyone who ning the use of wooden shelves in cheese- “We are encouraged that further discussions methods”. She said a ban would affect not eats non-Kraft cheese, as many artisan vari- making,” it said. Then late Wednesday, it between the artisan cheese community and only US-made cheeses but also imported eties are currently aged on wooden boards,” issued another statement saying it had not FDA will preserve wood aging and other tradi- ones such as Parmesan and cheddar. she said, referring to a common, inexpensive banned nor planned to ban the use of wood- tional cheesemaking methods for all styles She said that every year, the midwestern brand of American cheese. en shelves to age cheese. and types of cheeses.” — AFP SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

US actress, civil rights activist Ruby Dee dies at 91

NEW YORK: Oscar-nominated actress Ruby Dee, who was also the play “A Raisin In The Sun” in 1959 and the film version known for her activism during the US civil rights movement, released two years later. has died at the age of 91. The actress received an Oscar nomination in 2008 for her The stage, television and film star-a pioneer among small but memorable cameo in Ridley Scott’s crime drama America’s black actresses-died Wednesday at her home in “American Gangster.” New Rochelle, New York, with her family at her side, her agent In addition to “Do the Right Thing,” Dee also had a role in Michael Livingston told AFP. another classic Lee film, “Jungle Fever,” as the loving but The diminutive actress-a native of Cleveland, Ohio-worked gullible mother of two very different children. alongside her late husband Ossie Davis in some of her most memorable roles, in a career that began in the 1940s. Civil rights leader President Barack Obama said he would never forget watch- Dee and her late husband were ardent civil rights activists. ing Dee perform as an irascible neighborhood watchdog in Dee was a member of the Congress of Racial Equality as well Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” on his first date with his now as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored wife Michelle. People. Dee “captivated and challenged us,” the first African- Their leadership in the civil rights movement “helped open American president of the United States said in a statement. new doors of opportunity for all,” Obama said. “Through her remarkable performances, Ruby paved the way The couple also served together as masters of ceremony for generations of black actors and actresses, and inspired during the historic 1963 March on Washington led by civil African-American women across our country.” rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr, who was a close friend of Dee was a student at the American Negro Theatre in New the couple’s, as was firebrand activist Malcolm X. At the York’s Harlem neighborhood that produced stars such as Tony Awards in New York on Sunday, black actress Audra Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. McDonald-who made history in winning her sixth Tony- She played more than 100 roles, including in 1950’s “The paid tribute to Dee, Diahann Carroll, Maya Angelou and Jackie Robinson Story” and the late 1970s television adapta- Billie Holiday in her acceptance speech. In Dee’s honor, tion of Alex Haley’s epic novel “Roots.” Broadway theaters will dim their lights for a minute on In this February 24, 2008 file photo, nominee for Best She appeared alongside her husband in the Broadway pro- Friday night. — AFP Supporting Actress (“American Gangster”) Ruby Dee arrives for duction “Jeb” in 1946, before marrying him two years later. the 80th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood. Dee died at her The couple remained married until Davis’s death in 2005. New Rochelle, New York, home on June 11, 2014, according to One of Dee’s most notable roles came alongside Poitier in her representative, Michael Livingston. She was 91. — AFP Sharapova signs with Avon for new fragrance

ew French Open champion Maria Sharapova has some- Avon Luck will be launched in Europe in September and thing else to celebrate: a new fragrance. The tennis ace then will be rolled out in North America and Asia after that. Nis the face of Avon Luck, for men and women. It’s her Sharapova says Avon Luck will encourage people to “savor first partnership with the beauty brand, but not her first per- and truly enjoy our triumphs,” which is what she’s been doing fume; she launched an eponymous one with Parlux nearly 10 lately. She won her fifth Grand Slam title with her French Open years ago. victory over Simona Halep last Saturday. — AP

Digital vs celluloid debate grips movie world

irector Quentin Tarantino lambasts digital film-making as out 35mm “the standard for the highest, best quality” will be nothing less than the “death of cinema as I know it”. lost. Nolan, meanwhile, predicts that studios will allow 35mm to DConverts hail it as a democratising force for good that is completely disappear unless directors insist on it. cheaper and faster than celluloid. Alain Roulleau, whose family has run Paris’s oldest cinema A debate is raging in the film world about the merits of since 1948, however, dismisses all this as “nostalgia”-and points shooting movies on 35mm film versus digital cameras. out that most studios have already stopped supplying films in In one corner are those who believe digital’s practical and 35mm. economic benefits make it impossible to resist. In the other, Located on the slopes of Montmartre, Paris’s old artists’ quar- “purists” such as Tarantino and “The Dark Knight Rises” director ter, Studio 28 with its Jean Cocteau-designed lamps and painted Christopher Nolan who cherish the visual “texture” of 35mm and red steps, has old-world charm in buckets. In the projection warn that something important is being lost. “The fact that most room, though, Roulleau has made sure this small independent films now are not presented in 35mm means that the war is cinema is bang up to date. Roulleau took the decision to install lost,” Tarantino told the Cannes Film Festival last month, digital projection equipment four years ago and admits he describing digital projections as “just television in public”. “almost cried” when he saw the quality of the first digital “Apparently the whole world is OK with television in public- images, which he described as “very icy, too perfect, with no but what I knew as cinema is dead!” the “Pulp Fiction” and “Kill atmosphere”. Fortunately, he says, since then the quality has Bill” director said. seen constant improvements and in the past year he has shown only two films in 35mm.—AFP Just ‘nostalgia’ JJ Abrams, another celluloid devotee, who has just started shooting the new “Star Wars” movie, has also warned that with- Maria Sharapova SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 Russell Crowe circling Shane Black’s film ‘The Nice Guys’ n a red-hot package taking shape, Oscar winner Russell Crowe and Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling are being courted to star in IShane Black’s noir film “The Nice Guys,” multiple individuals familiar with the project have told TheWrap. Joel Silver is producing via his Silver Pictures banner and will be shopping the project to studios and independent financiers in the coming days, as various development executives have been closely tracking “Nice Guys.” Representatives for Gosling and Crowe cautioned that it’d be premature to call either actor attached, especially Crowe, as the project may conflict with his publicity schedule for his upcoming directorial debut “The Water Diviner.” Black and Anthony Bagarozzi wrote “The Nice Guys” years ago, but the project has been languishing in development until recently gaining new momentum. The duo actually staged a pub- lic reading of the script in October 2011 at the Austin Film Festival. Set in smoggy 1970s Los Angeles, story follows Jackson Healy (muscle-for-hire, recovering alcoholic) and Holland March (pri- vate eye, practicing alcoholic), who are brought together by the suicide of a fading porn star. However, the dead girl’s aunt is con- vinced she saw her niece alive and well after the highly publi- cized incident. March needs money, takes the case, and within days, it’s blossomed into a far-reaching murder conspiracy, bizarrely rooted in smog and the U.S. auto industry. In addition to “The Water Diviner,” Crowe recently wrapped Gabriele Muccino’s drama “Fathers and Daughters.” He just starred in Darren Aronofsky’s “Noah” and will likely be in the mix this awards season. Gosling’s directorial debut “Lost River” recently premiered to mixed reviews at Cannes. He’ll soon be seen in an untitled Terrence Malick movie set amid the music scene in Austin, Texas. He’s represented by Anonymous Content and LBI Entertainment. Black is the veteran blockbuster screenwriter who most Cast members, from left, Andrew Stewart-Jones, Cory Michael Smith, Victoria Cartagena, Ben McKenzie, Zabryna recently wrote and directed “Iron Man 3,” which grossed more Guevara and Robin Taylor attend a special screening of “Gotham” hosted by FOX at the Crosby Street Hotel on than $1.2 billion worldwide. He has been developing a “Doc Thursday, in New York. — AP Savage” movie at Sony. — Reuters ‘Dragon’ seeks to burn up ‘Jump Street’ at US box office

ow to Train Your Dragon 2” will battle it out with parents that have split up,” “Game of Thrones” star Kit another blockbuster sequel, “22 Jump Street,” at Harrington, who voices Eret, said at a Beverly Hills press con- “Hthe US box office this weekend, as the summer ference ahead of the film’s release. One character, seasoned film season gets into full swing. Viking warrior Gobber, even flirts with coming out as gay at “Dragon” reunites the main characters from 2010’s first film one point. This was due to an ad lib by Scottish actor and talk but adds a host of new colorful flame-breathing beasts in a 3D show host Craig Ferguson, who added an extra line in the spectacular that DreamWorks Animation hopes will enthrall recording studio, when Gobber sees a married couple having family filmgoers. “Jump Street” meanwhile has Jonah Hill and a fight. “The line I had was ‘So this is why I never married.’ And Channing Tatum back together as an unlikely pair of under- I ad-libbed the line, ‘And there’s one other reason’,” he told cover drug agents, two years after “21 Jump Street” brought reporters. “I said ‘That’s a Gobber’s coming out.” the original TV series to the big screen. Whatever the meaning, the line stayed in the final cut. While teens and older audiences could swarm to see the R- Bock estimated that the movie, which has an impressive 96 rated comedy from Friday night, it will be children and their percent critics’ approval rating on the Rotten Tomatoes movie parents flocking to watch the PG-rated “Dragon” over the review website, will make about $68 million for the weekend weekend. “‘Jump Street’ may win Friday, but ‘Dragon 2’ should in the US. carry the weekend, as it’s the most anticipated animated film “Exciting, emotionally resonant, and beautifully animated, of the summer,” said Jeff Bock of box office tracker Exhibitor ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’ builds on its predecessor’s suc- Relations. cesses just the way a sequel should,” was Rotten Tomatoes’ The first “Dragon” instalment earned $495 million and two assessment on the eve of its release. “22 Jump Street,” which Oscar nominations, and the 3D sequel was enthusiastically scored 92 percent on the “Tomatometer,” meanwhile, should received at this year’s Cannes Film Festival last month. Variety make an estimated $56 million, the Exhibitor Relations analyst said the new movie “breathes fresh fire into the franchise,” said. adding: “And a good thing, too, since DWA desperately needs Hill-who had to take emergency PR action barely a week another toon to cross the half-billion-dollar threshold.” before its release, apologizing for using a homophobic slur- The movie tells the story of Hiccup and Toothless, the returns with Tatum as undercover officers Schmidt and Jenko. young hero and his dragon sidekick from the first movie, after “Boasting even more of the bromantic chemistry between they discover an ice cave that is home to hundreds of new its stars-and even more of the goofy, good-natured humor wild dragons and a mysterious Dragon Rider. that made its predecessor so much fun — 22 Jump Street is There are some surprises, not least because, unusually for a the rare sequel that improves upon the original,” according to family movie, the hero lives in a one-parent family. Rotten Tomatoes. — AFP Teresa Palmer arrives at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival - “I haven’t seen many animated films where they deal with “The Ever After” Premiere - on Thursday, in Los Angeles. — AP something that so many kids in our world deal with .. having SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

Balinese women carry offerings during a parade at the 36th Bali Art Festival in Denpasar, on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali yesterday. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono opened the festival highlighted with a parade by traditional art teams and cultural displays from Bali and other Indonesian provinces. — AFP Katy Perry to support education during US tour s Katy Perry returns stateside to kick off “I thought, instead of shopping my way around the North American leg of her Prismatic the world, why not educate my way around the AWorld Tour, she’s reflecting on the hard world?” she said. Perry and her team hope to vis- work that got her here and preparing to pay it it every nearby national park while on the 46- forward. “I’m an American girl that had a dream, city North American tour, which starts June 22 in executed a dream, came from nothing - and that Raleigh, North Carolina. They also plan to stop at really is the American dream,” Perry said. “I’m Dollywood in Tennessee. happy to be that example and hopefully inspire Perry embraced the “Make Roar Happen” other people to do that.” effort because so many of her fans are students. The 29-year-old pop star is doing more than But she doesn’t let being a role model drive her inspiring - she’s leading by example and lending behavior. “I’m aware that people look up to me, her fame to support American teachers. Perry but I hope it’s more an inspirational thing and helped present a $1 million donation Thursday not like, ‘Katy Perry makes these decisions for from Staples Inc. to support teacher projects herself, so therefore I’ll make decisions based on during the upcoming school year. She’ll also those Katy Perry makes,’ because that’s not how invite fans at her concerts to join the “Make Roar anyone should live their life,” she said. “But I Happen” initiative at DonorsChoose.org, where hope they’re inspired by my hard work, my they can select projects to support and make ambition, and my integrity.” donations as small as $1. Perry will be on the road through October “I really believe knowledge is power, espe- before launching the European leg of her tour cially for females,” she said in an interview. “I feel next year. So is the former wife of Russell Brand like our education makes us more confident.” and girlfriend of John Mayer enjoying being free Perry said although she “wasn’t raised with a In this Saturday, March 29, 2014 file photo, Katy Perry arrives at MOCA’s 35th Anniversary and single as she adventures around the globe? great education,” she seeks it out now, visiting Gala presented by Louis Vuitton at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, in Los Angeles. Perry “I am relishing being very present,” Perry said. museums and national parks while on the road. stopped by Staples Center on Thursday, to announce her support for teachers. — AP “I’m relishing living one day at a time.” — AP TECHNOLOGY SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

Computers replace humans reading weather reports

ANCHORAGE: Two outpost offices of the National life and death. The forecasts are broadcast on NOAA’s nology this week through the Fairbanks office, one of Weather Service in Alaska are finally ending what has weather radio network. In Nome and Kodiak, weather three forecast offices in Alaska. Other smaller outpost been a bygone practice for most of the nation for reports are crucial for many because of the severe offices scattered throughout the state have already almost two decades - using real human voices in radio weather that can affect fishing vessels in far-flung gone the digital voice route. forecast broadcasts. regions, including the Bering Sea (think of the violent A technological kink, however, prompted the The Nome and Kodiak offices are switching to com- storms on the cable television show “The Deadliest Nome office to go back to local weather service puterized voices that nationally go by the names of Catch”) and the Gulf of Alaska. employees reading the forecasts until the problem is Tom, Donna and, in some parts of the country, Knowing what the weather will do is also extremely rectified in the near future, officials said. Spanish-speaking Javier. It’s an idea first hatched in important to pilots and passengers needing to get to It’s a job that meteorological technician Robert the mid-1990s as part of a move to modernize the larger cities. Kodiak is on an island, and Nome is on the Murders dreaded when he first moved to Nome, an weather service, an agency of the National Oceanic western coast with no roads to link it to another major old gold rush town about 550 miles northwest of and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Alaska hub city. The weather forecasts are so impor- Anchorage. Then he got to enjoy reading the fore- Local weather forecasts are a big deal to many peo- tant that they are also broadcast over radio stations in casts. He was watching the reality ple in Alaska because, more than in some other parts Nome, including KNOM, which first reported the show, “Bering Sea Gold,” last season when he heard of the United States, the forecasts can be a matter of changes. The Nome office briefly activated the tech- one of his own broadcasts in the background.—AP Tesla gives up patents to ‘open source movement’

WASHINGTON: Electric carmaker Tesla announced Thursday it was giving up its patents to “the open source movement,” to help spur electric vehicle technology. The unusual move comes with Tesla enjoying huge success, but against a backdrop of multiply- ing legal squabbles among technology firms over patents. “All our patents belong to you,” Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said in a blog post. “Yesterday, there was a wall of Tesla patents in the lobby of our Palo Alto headquarters. That is no longer the case. They have been removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle tech- nology.” Musk, an entrepreneur who made a fortune with the PayPal online payment service and also heads the space travel firm Space X, said he does not want patents to halt growth of an important environmental technology. “We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform,” he wrote. He said when Tesla was launched, “we felt compelled to create patents out of concern that the big car companies would copy our technology and then use their NEW YORK: A member of the media tries out a new Samsung Galaxy Tab S after the tablet’s debut at a press conference in New massive manufacturing, sales and marketing power to overwhelm York. New tablet computers from Samsung will feature screens that are richer in color than standard LCDs. — AP Tesla.” But he said this turned out not to be the case. “We couldn’t have been more wrong,” he said. “The unfortunate reality is the opposite: electric car programs (or programs for any vehicle that Samsung tablets to have doesn’t burn hydrocarbons) at the major manufacturers are small to non-existent, constituting an average of far less than one per- cent of their total vehicle sales.” Musk added that Tesla “will not initiate patent lawsuits against richer colors in screens anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.”

Patent costs and benefits Larger AMOLED screens are difficult to produce Brian Love, a Santa Clara University law professor, said he has NEW YORK: New tablet computers from Samsung will feature Undercutting price seen a “very positive reaction” to Tesla’s decision “There is an screens that are richer in color than standard LCDs. These Samsung does have the advantage of making its own screens, ongoing debate in this country about the costs and benefits screens, known as AMOLED for active-matrix organic light- and the South Korean company can afford to reduce profit mar- patents bring to small companies,” Love told AFP in an email. emitting diodes, are already found in smartphones made by gins on tablets if that boosts volume and reduces costs on the “In his statement, Elon Musk explains that, while he originally Samsung and a few other manufacturers. But until now, tablets screen-production business. What it learns from making tablet thought patents were worthwhile, he has since come to believe haven’t used them because larger AMOLED screens are more screens might even help it one day make affordable AMOLED tel- that they generally do more harm than good.” But Love said it is not clear if Tesla is in fact ceding all its rights. difficult to produce. Samsung Electronics Co. is trying to evision sets. “Rather, it seems to be simply promising not to proactively sue change that with its upcoming line of Android tablets, called Samsung did release an AMOLED tablet in 2012, but it was those who enter the electric car market and use similar technolo- the Galaxy Tab S. On Thursday, Samsung announced two such expensive and didn’t sell well. The new ones will be priced more gy,” he said. Robert Stoll, a former US patent commissioner who models, with screens of 8.4 inches and 10.5 inches, as measured competitively. The tablets are a quarter of an inch (6.6 millime- practices law in Washington, said that Tesla “must have a good diagonally. ters) thick, which is thinner than iPads. The smaller version is also business reason for wanting to freely share its electric car patents The tablets will start selling in the US in July at $400 for the lighter than the iPad Mini, while the larger one is about the same with others.” Stoll told AFP: “ Tesla might be planning to distin- smaller model and $500 for the larger one - the same as com- as the iPad Air. The new tablets will sport displays of 2,560 pixels guish itself from the competitors it helps by producing a better parable iPads. Models with 4G LTE cellular access are expected by 1,600 pixels, matching what’s found in the Pro series. By com- product from its longer history in this industry or by inventing and later in the year. Samsung is the world’s second-largest maker parison, Apple’s iPad Air is at 2,048 pixels by 1,536 pixels. Apple patenting better electric cars than are available today.” of tablets, behind Apple and its trend-setting iPads. In recent markets its displays as “Retina” and doesn’t believe more pixels He added that the move is not unprecedented and that the US years, Samsung has been gaining market share - at Apple’s will necessarily be discernible to the eye. Apple is expected to Patent Office has a mechanism to allow companies to cede their expense - by offering a wide range of sizes and quality. refresh its iPad lineup this fall. patent rights. Tesla earlier this year unveiled plans for a so-called Earlier this year, it unveiled a “Pro” brand aimed at profes- Until now, iPad rivals have succeeded largely by undercutting “Gigafactory” for advanced electric car batteries as part of a plan sionals. The “Tab” brand has been used on Samsung’s budget Apple on price, and better hardware hasn’t been enough, said to move from niche manufacturer to mass market carmaker. The tablets and don’t come with a stylus, as Samsung’s “Note” Rhoda Alexander, director of tablet and monitor research at IHS. company says it hopes to bring the cost of production down and tablets do. With the new screens, Samsung is elevating the Tab AMOLED screens could change that, she said, because colors will produce 500,000 cars a year. Tesla, which makes a $75,000 sedan line to become its flagship tablet. Besides producing richer col- pop out when compared side by side at a Walmart or a Best Buy. in heavy demand from well-heeled buyers, saw shares quadruple ors, AMOLED allows tablets to be thinner and use less power The new tablets will also let people make calls when a last year on expectations of surging growth. Shares in Tesla because screens typically don’t require backlighting. But IHS Samsung phone is nearby and to unlock the device with a finger- dipped 0.46 percent to end at $203.52. The company’s market val- analyst Sweta Dash said the performance gap between print. The tablets can support up to eight user profiles, so mem- ue is above $25 billion, a figure which suggests investors expect AMOLED screens and regular LCDs has narrowed, while bers of a household can get separate home screens simply by huge growth from the California firm. — AFP AMOLED screens can cost 10 to 30 percent more to make. swiping their finger on the sensor. — AP TECHNOLOGY SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 E3 offers more ways to have fun

LOS ANGELES: Multiplayer action has (Ubisoft) matches a five-man SWAT team been part of video-games going back to against five terrorists who are holding a “Pong,” and ever since home consoles in a suburban home. Can the went online, few major games are good guys break through the bad guys’ released without some way to compete defenses and rescue the innocent civil- or cooperate with friends. ian? It’s more like a high-stakes chess But online play has become pre- match than a bang -bang shoot-’em-up. dictable, too often settling for some vari- “Battlefield Hardline” (Electronic ation of death match or capture-the-flag. Arts) takes the long-running war series This year, more online games are finding into the urban jungle, with cops and new ways to encourage teamwork. robbers replacing the soldiers. The “It’s a big co-op year at E3,” said demo plays like an interactive version “Evolve” designer director Chris Ashton of the movie “Heat,” with a gang of 16 at the 2K Games booth. “That’s cool. I thieves trying to flee a heist as 16 cops grew up with a little sister who never chase them. Let’s hope EA’s online wanted to play games against me. She servers can handle all the mayhem. only wanted to play games if we played “Splatoon” (Nintendo) is a more together. So if there are more co-op whimsical take on the online shooter. games out there, I’m excited to play Two teams of four are armed with paint TALLAHASSEE: This photo taken June 11, 2014 shows the Berkshire Manor Apartments in Tallahassee, Fla., one them.” guns, and the goal is to fill the arena location where the “Stingray” surveillance device was used extensively by the Tallahassee Police Department. Here are five games from this year’s with more of your color. Players can also The Obama administration has been quietly advising local police not to disclose details about surveillance tech- Electronic Entertainment Expo that turn into squids, who can fly to wherev- nology they are using to sweep up basic cellphone data from entire neighborhoods. — AP promise something different when it er their teammates are and hide in areas comes to cooperative titles: “Evolve” (2K that match their color. It’s all the fun of Games) pits four players against one. territorial combat with the gory head Cross latest attempt at Sounds unfair, but the four teammates shots. are mere humans sent to track down and “Just Dance Now” (Ubisoft) brings the slay a massive monster. In the E3 demo, popular rhythm franchise to smart- stealth cellphone towers it’s a kraken who can fly and shoot light- phones. Instead of requiring a motion- ning bolts, and it evolves into an even detecting game console like the Wii U, it Cellphone towers growing in popularity more dangerous beast as it gobbles up uses your phone’s accelerometer to helpless wildlife. The hunters - assault, determine if you’re moving in time to the DES MOINES: One might be hidden in a cross on a guised designs. “We’ve been in favor of disguising them trapper, medic and support - are no music. Ubisoft says there’s no limit on church lawn. Others are disguised as a cactus in the if you can and you can do it well,” said spokesman Max dummies, though, and the climactic bat- how many dancers can synch up the app desert, a silo in farm country or a palm tree reaching into Ashburn. But even some of the disguised towers are tles are exhausting and exhilarating. and join in, so it could be the ultimate a sunny sky. Whatever the deception, the goal is the dead giveaways. “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege” flash-mob generator. — AP same: concealing the tall, slender cellphone towers that “You can tell right away that they’re not what they most Americans need but few want to see erected in pretend to be,” Ashburn said. “Sometimes the attempt to their neighborhoods. cover them up actually makes it stand out more than if As telecommunications companies fill gaps in their they just put up the tower.” When Verizon first contacted networks, many have sought to camouflage the ungainly the church last year, the company proposed standard outdoor equipment that carries the nation’s daily supply designs for the tower. The church ultimately pushed for of calls, texts and data. It’s another indication of how the the cross-shaped design, which mirrors a tower outside a industry is evolving to meet the demands of consumers church in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie. who insist on ever-increasing amounts of wireless infor- STEALTH Concealment Solutions Inc., a South mation but won’t tolerate large antennas looming over Carolina-based company that offers hidden antennas their homes, parks and other beloved sites. and towers, has created dozens of multi-tasking steeples “Each community and each neighborhood can be dif- and crosses over the years. ferent, so we really have to work on a case-by-case basis In 1992, a BP sign at a gas station in Atlanta earned with each city and with each zoning authority,” said the distinction of being the first stealth cellphone tower Karen Smith, a spokeswoman for Verizon. in the country, according to the company. Designs have So-called stealth cellphone towers have been around expanded over the years and now include a quirky pole for more than two decades and appear to be growing in in Liberty, Michigan, that looks like a pencil. Cindy popularity. They have been concealed in a wide variety Wishart, a STEALTH spokeswoman, said the company is of ways, including in a stop sign in New Orleans, a pine constantly educating people about the industry and its tree in Kinnelon, New Jersey, and a water tower in San possibilities. “They always associate concealment as a Dimas, California. tree,” she said. “It’s just so much more than that.” LOS ANGELES: People play a video game at the Square Enix booth at the Now an Iowa church wants to join the club by build- Specific data on the number of stealth towers is limit- Electronic Entertainment Expo, 2014, in Los Angeles. — AP ing a tower in the shape of a cross. It’s a move that’s ed, but STEALTH said it works on up to 800 projects a irked some nearby residents who think the design will be year. The Wireless Association, an industry trade group too big and too out of place. It also shows how sensitive also known at CTIA, said the presence of towers in gener- the issue can still be. al around the country has dramatically increased over China’s startups hope for The First Presbyterian Church in Des Moines is work- the years in an effort to expand coverage. ing with Verizon to construct a tower that will be dressed At the end of 1997, the country had just over 50,000 boom after Alibaba IPO up as an 11-story cross. The deal, which is being cell towers. By the end of 2012, the most recent year for reviewed by a city zoning board, includes annual com- which information is available, that number had jumped BEIJING: Nils Pihl has spent 18 months building what he calls cutting-edge soft- pensation to the church. to more than 300,000. Stubert said he was surprised by ware to crunch “really big data sets.” But instead of going to Silicon Valley, the 27- “Like a lot of churches, we have to keep each year the community backlash. year-old Swede and his four colleagues have been working on his invention from a finding ways to pay our bills,” pastor Ken Stubert said. “It’s ridiculous,” he said. “Churches put up crosses all small apartment overlooking smoggy northwest Beijing. “It’s an unusual church that doesn’t have to worry about the time that are simply crosses. This will be a cross that’s In typical startup fashion, they’ve raised hundreds of thousands of dollars after something like that.” Suzette Jensen said the tower’s also helping us to pay our bills.” Jensen said the tower countless pitch meetings and were racing to prepare their product for launch. height and color wouldn’t match the church’s exterior, should be put in another location because space outside Their investors are in Beijing as well as the US. making it an instant eyesore. The pastor said that would the church is too small. In Des Moines, a minimum 10- China might seem an odd choice for young tech entrepreneurs. Instead of inno- not happen. acre lot is needed for a communication tower. The vation and risk taking, the country is more associated with state domination of the church has just over three acres. economy, rampant intellectual property theft and heavy duty government censor- Disguised towers Smith, of Verizon, would not go into detail about the ship of social media. “We pay some pretty high property taxes. We feel tower, although she did say the company chooses loca- Perceptions, however, are changing. The high profile success of Jack Ma’s e- very strongly that it’s going to be a detriment to the val- tions that fit within a geographic radius and meet engi- commerce company Alibaba, which is planning a giant initial public offering in the ue of our homes,” she said, adding that neighbors are neering specifications. People constantly need more US this year, has drawn attention to how the former startup outmaneuvered eBay considering legal action. Scenic America, a nonprofit that data “to do all the different multimedia applications that in China to become the world’s biggest online bazaar. More recently, use of smart- works to preserve scenery along the nation’s roads, has are now part of their lives,” Smith said, creating continual phones and the mobile Internet has grown explosively, creating new opportunities generally opposed the building of more communication pressure to “add more capacity to our network to stay for e-commerce and other tech ventures.—AP towers, but the group has been more amenable to dis- ahead of that demand.” — AP TV listings SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

11:05 The Planners 13:30 Through The Wormhole With 06:25 A.N.T. Farm 22:25 A.N.T. Farm Takeaway 11:55 The Planners Morgan Freeman 06:45 Mako Mermaids 22:50 Good Luck Charlie 07:50 Shetland 12:45 The Planners 14:20 Through The Wormhole With 07:10 Suite Life On Deck 23:10 Wolfblood 08:50 Dirk Gently 13:35 Homes Under The Hammer Morgan Freeman 07:35 Good Luck Charlie 23:35 Wolfblood 09:45 Seven Dwarves ANIMAL PLANET HD 14:25 Homes Under The Hammer 15:10 Da Vinci’s Machines 07:55 Jessie 10:40 The Chase 03:15 Preposterous Pets 15:15 Homes Under The Hammer 16:00 Nyc: Inside Out 08:20 Mako Mermaids 11:35 David Suchet: The Mystery Of 04:05 Animal Maternity Ward 16:10 Homes Under The Hammer 16:50 USA Memory Championships 08:45 Liv And Maddie Agatha Christie 04:55 Animal Cops Houston 17:00 Homes Under The Hammer 17:40 Sci-Fi Science 09:05 Good Luck Charlie 12:30 Agatha Christie’s Poirot 05:45 Treehouse Masters 17:50 Masterchef: The Professionals 18:05 Sci-Fi Science 09:30 Dog With A Blog 14:05 56 Up 06:35 Wildlife SOS 18:20 Masterchef: The Professionals 18:30 Prophets Of Science Fiction 09:55 Austin & Ally 03:15 THS 15:00 Big Star’s Little Star 07:00 Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors 19:10 Masterchef: The Professionals 19:20 How Tech Works 10:15 Jessie 04:10 THS 15:55 Vera 07:25 My Cat From Hell 20:00 Masterchef: The Professionals 19:45 How Tech Works 10:40 Cheetah 05:05 Extreme Close-Up 17:35 Blandings 08:15 Too Cute! 20:55 Come Dine With Me 20:10 The Future Of... 12:15 Gravity Falls 05:30 Extreme Close-Up 18:05 Shetland 09:10 Gator Boys 21:40 Come Dine With Me 21:00 How Techies Changed The 12:35 Dog With A Blog 06:00 THS 19:00 Big Star’s Little Star 10:05 Call Of The Wildman 22:30 Come Dine With Me World 13:00 A.N.T. Farm 07:50 Style Star 19:55 The Hungry Sailors 10:30 Swamp Brothers 23:15 Come Dine With Me 21:50 Sci-Fi Saved My Life 13:25 Jessie 08:20 E! News 20:50 Vera 11:00 Tanked 22:40 You Have Been Warned 13:45 Austin & Ally 09:15 The Drama Queen 22:35 Ant And Dec’s Saturday Night 11:55 Treehouse Masters 23:30 Weird Connections 14:10 Good Luck Charlie 10:15 The Drama Queen Takeaway 12:50 Galapagos 23:55 Weird Connections 14:35 Mako Mermaids 11:10 Eric And Jessie: Game On 23:35 David Suchet: The Mystery Of 13:45 Galapagos 15:00 Flubber 11:35 Eric And Jessie: Game On Agatha Christie 14:40 Galapagos 16:30 Cars Toons 12:05 E! News 15:35 Speed Of Life 16:35 A.N.T. Farm 13:05 Beyond Candid With Giuliana 03:35 Prototype This 16:30 Speed Of Life 17:00 Good Luck Charlie 14:05 Keeping Up With The 04:30 Prototype This 17:25 Speed Of Life 17:20 Jessie Kardashians 05:20 Prototype This 18:20 Treehouse Masters 03:10 The Hive 17:45 Dog With A Blog 15:00 Keeping Up With The 06:10 Prototype This 19:15 Gangland Killers 03:20 Art Attack 18:10 Liv And Maddie Kardashians 07:00 How Tech Works 03:00 Hard Time 20:10 Shamwari: A Wild Life 03:45 Art Attack 18:30 Mako Mermaids 16:00 Giuliana & Bill 07:25 How Tech Works 04:00 Family Guns 20:35 Shamwari: A Wild Life 04:10 Jungle Junction 18:55 Good Luck Charlie 17:00 Giuliana & Bill 07:55 The Future Of... 05:00 The Border 21:05 Shark City 04:25 Jungle Junction 19:20 Violetta 18:00 E! News 08:45 Mythbusters 06:00 Sea Patrol 22:00 Gangland Killers 04:35 Jungle Junction 20:05 Austin & Ally 19:00 Fashion Police 09:40 Mythbusters 07:00 The Pack 22:55 Shamwari: A Wild Life 04:45 Jungle Junction 20:30 Jessie 19:30 Eric And Jessie: Game On 10:30 Mythbusters 08:00 Wild Kalahari 23:20 Shamwari: A Wild Life 05:00 Art Attack 20:50 Dog With A Blog 20:00 Keeping Up With The 11:20 Mythbusters 09:00 Rescue Ink 23:50 Up Close And Dangerous 05:25 Art Attack 21:15 Jessie Kardashians 12:10 Mythbusters 10:00 Banged Up Abroad 05:50 Mouk 21:40 Shake It Up 21:00 Keeping Up With The 13:00 How Tech Works 11:00 Hard Time 06:00 Austin & Ally 22:00 Austin & Ally Kardashians 22:00 Eric And Jessie: Game On 12:00 Family Guns 22:30 Eric And Jessie: Game On 13:00 The Border 23:00 Hello Ross 14:00 Somewhere In China 03:30 Alan Carr: Chatty Man 23:30 Chelsea Lately 15:00 Hunter Hunted 04:15 The Weakest Link 16:00 Wild Untamed Brazil 05:00 Jackanory Junior 17:00 Rescue Ink 05:15 Little Human Planet 18:00 Banged Up Abroad 05:20 The Green Balloon Club 19:00 Wild Kalahari 05:45 Nina And The Neurons: In The 20:00 World’s Toughest Fixes Lab 21:00 The Known Universe 06:00 Balamory 03:25 Andy Bates American Street 22:00 Alaska Wing Men 06:20 Jackanory Junior Feasts 23:00 Rescue Ink 06:35 Little Human Planet 03:50 Iron Chef America 06:40 The Green Balloon Club 04:40 Chopped 07:05 Nina And The Neurons: In The 05:30 Unwrapped Lab 05:50 Tastiest Places To Chowdown 07:20 Charlie And Lola 06:10 Food Network Challenge 07:30 Last Of The Summer Wine 07:00 Tastiest Places To Chowdown 08:00 The Job Lot 07:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:30 It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia 07:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 08:25 The Mimic 02:00 The League 08:50 The Weakest Link 08:15 Food Network Challenge 02:30 Weeds 09:35 Doctor Who 09:05 Siba’s Table 03:00 Last Man Standing 10:20 BBC Proms 2011: Human Planet 09:30 Have Cake, Will Travel 03:30 New Girl Prom 09:55 Have Cake, Will Travel 04:00 Seinfeld 04:30 The Tonight Show Starring 11:40 The Weakest Link 10:20 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Jimmy Fallon 12:25 Last Woman Standing Basics 05:30 My Boys 13:20 Doctor Who 10:45 Extra Virgin 06:00 The Goodwin Games 14:05 Doctors 11:10 Siba’s Table 06:30 Friends 14:30 Doctors 11:35 Cooking For Real 07:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers 15:00 Doctors 12:00 Andy Bates Street Feasts 08:00 Seinfeld 08:30 My Boys 15:30 Doctors 12:25 Unique Eats 09:00 Last Man Standing 16:00 Doctors 12:50 Barefoot Contessa - Back To 09:30 Enlisted 16:30 Rock & Chips: Special: Xmas Basics 10:00 The Michael J. Fox Show 2010 13:15 Hungry Girl 10:30 Friends 17:25 Doctor Who 13:40 Hungry Girl 11:00 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 14:05 Food Network Challenge 18:10 The Mystery Of Edwin Drood 12:00 The Goodwin Games 19:00 Hunderby 14:55 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 12:30 Seinfeld 19:25 The Job Lot 15:20 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 13:00 My Boys 19:50 Mistresses 15:45 Chopped 13:30 Friends 20:40 Waking The Dead 16:35 Siba’s Table 14:00 New Girl 14:30 Enlisted 21:35 The Mimic 17:00 Siba’s Table 15:00 The Michael J. Fox Show 22:00 The Cafe 17:25 Guy’s Big Bite 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 22:25 Being Erica 17:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 16:30 The Goodwin Games 23:10 Doctor Who 18:15 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 17:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers 23:55 The Mystery Of Edwin Drood 18:40 Barefoot Contessa - Back To 18:00 Dads Basics 18:30 The Neighbors 19:00 Cougar Town 19:05 Extra Virgin 19:30 Melissa & Joey 19:30 Siba’s Table 20:00 The Tonight Show Starring 19:55 Cooking For Real Jimmy Fallon 20:20 Chopped 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 03:20 Masterchef: The Professionals 21:10 Food Network Challenge 22:00 Saturday Night Live 03:50 Masterchef: The Professionals 23:00 Weeds 22:00 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 04:40 Masterchef: The Professionals 23:30 Late Night With Seth Meyers 05:35 Masterchef: The Professionals 06:30 The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook 07:00 Come Dine With Me 07:50 Come Dine With Me 03:00 Nip/Tuck 08:35 Come Dine With Me 05:00 56 Up 04:00 Bones 09:25 Come Dine With Me 05:55 The Hungry Sailors 05:00 Criminal Minds 10:15 Come Dine With Me FREELANCERS ON OSN MOVIES HD ACTION 06:45 Ant And Dec’s Saturday Night 06:00 The Glades TV listings SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

07:00 The Mob Doctor 07:00 Now You See Me-PG15 21:00 Jack Reacher-PG15 08:00 Made In Jersey 09:00 Cheerful Weather For The 23:15 The Campaign-18 09:00 Criminal Minds Wedding-PG15 10:00 Castle 10:45 Jobs-PG15 06:00 Trans World Sport 01:30 Immortals-PG15 11:00 Bones 13:00 The Twilight Saga: Breaking 07:00 This is PGA Tour Latinoamerica 03:30 Skyfall-PG15 03:05 Long Island Medium 12:00 Emmerdale Dawn Pt. 2-PG15 07:30 Total Rugby 06:00 Snake Eyes-PG15 04:20 What Not To Wear 12:30 Coronation Street 15:00 Buried-PG15 04:15 Dino Time 08:00 Live NRL Premiership 08:00 Metal Shifters-PG15 06:00 Super Soul Sunday 13:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 17:00 Old Stock-PG15 OSN MOVIES PREMIERE HD 10:00 NRL Premiership 10:00 Special Ops-PG15 07:00 What Not To Wear 14:00 Made In Jersey 19:00 Faces In The Crowd-PG15 04:00 Gnomeo & Juliet-PG 12:00 Total Rugby 12:00 Daylight-PG15 07:50 Secret Eaters 15:00 The Glades 21:00 Hick-PG15 06:00 Charlie And The Chocolate 12:40 Live AFL Premiership 14:00 Metal Shifters-PG15 08:40 Iyanla, Fix My Life 16:00 Emmerdale 23:00 Maniac-R Factory-PG 15:30 Top 14 15:30 The Dark Knight Rises-PG15 09:30 Toddlers & Tiaras 16:30 Coronation Street 08:00 The Great Ghost Rescue-PG 17:30 Super Rugby 18:15 Daylight-PG15 10:20 Say Yes To The Dress 17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 10:00 Love Will Keep Us Together- 19:30 WWE This Week 20:15 The Killing Jar-18 10:45 Say Yes To The Dress 18:00 Made In Jersey PG15 20:00 IndyCar Series 22:00 Freelancers-R 11:10 Cake Boss 19:00 Burn Notice 12:00 Hope Springs-PG15 22:30 Live IndyCar Series 11:35 Jon & Kate Plus 8 20:00 Top Gear (US) 14:00 Standing Ovation-PG15 12:00 Little People, Big World 21:00 Witches Of East End 16:00 The Great Ghost Rescue-PG 03:15 The Raven 12:25 Super Soul Sunday 22:00 Supernatural 18:00 The Expatriate-PG15 05:15 Darling Companion 13:15 Here Comes Honey Boo Boo 23:00 Nip/Tuck 00:00 Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo- 20:00 The Colony-PG15 07:15 Playdate 13:40 Here Comes Honey Boo Boo PG15 22:00 The Haunting In Connecticut 2: 09:00 True Love 14:05 World’s Worst Mum 02:00 The Guard-PG15 Ghosts Of Georgia-18 14:55 Extreme Couponing 11:00 The First Grader 03:00 IPL Highlights 04:00 Spy Hard-PG15 15:20 Cake Boss 13:00 An Inconvenient Truth 09:00 ICC Cricket 360 06:00 Daddy Day Camp-FAM 15:45 What Not To Wear 15:00 Broken Bridges 09:30 IPL Highlights 08:00 Over The Hedge-FAM 16:35 Toddlers & Tiaras 17:00 The First Grader 10:30 IPL Highlights 10:00 The Longest Yard-PG15 17:25 Say Yes To The Dress 03:00 Boardwalk Empire 19:00 Smashed 04:00 Super Rugby 11:30 IPL Highlights 12:00 Spy Hard-PG15 17:50 Say Yes To The Dress 04:00 Mistresses 20:30 American Gangster 06:00 This is PGA Tour HD 12:30 ICC Cricket 360 05:00 Last Resort 14:00 Splash-PG 18:15 Jon & Kate Plus 8 23:15 Best Laid Plans 06:30 Inside The PGA Tour 13:00 IPL Highlights 06:00 Good Morning America 16:00 The Longest Yard-PG15 18:40 Little People, Big World 07:00 Emmerdale 07:00 live NRL Premiership 15:00 IPL Highlights 18:00 10 Things I Hate About You-PG15 19:10 Super Soul Sunday 09:00 24 09:00 ICC Cricket 360 16:00 ICC Cricket 360 20:00 The Hot Potato-PG15 20:05 Extreme Couponing 10:00 Emmerdale 09:30 Top 14 16:30 IPL Highlights 22:00 Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo- 20:30 Cake Boss 13:00 24 05:00 Monsters University-PG 12:00 Live Champions Tour 17:20 Live IPL 14:00 Last Resort PG15 21:00 Bling It On 06:45 Star Trek Into Darkness-PG15 14:00 Live PGA European Tour 21:00 ICC Cricket 360 15:00 Live Good Morning America 21:55 Craft Wars 09:00 The Sapphires-PG15 18:30 Inside The PGA Tour 21:30 IPL Highlights 16:00 24 22:50 Long Island Medium 18:00 C.S.I. 10:45 Iron Man 3-PG15 19:00 Live PGA Tour 22:30 IPL 19:00 24 13:00 Fastest-PG15 23:15 My Teen Is Pregnant And So Am 21:00 C.S.I. 15:00 Class-PG15 22:00 Mistresses 03:00 Jobs-PG15 17:00 The Sapphires-PG15 23:00 Boardwalk Empire 05:15 The Key Man-PG15 19:00 Silver Linings Playbook-PG15

Checker to Rock Hall of Fame: Let me in! hubby Checker wants the Rock be in there.” He added: “The Rolling and Roll Hall of Fame to know it’s Stones, they’re in there. The Beastie Boys Ctime to induct him. “I don’t want are in there, they’re young. Hall and to get in there when I’m 85 years old. I’ll Oates were just in there and they’re still tell them to drop dead, so you better do making money.” He made the comments it quick while I’m still smiling,” Checker on the red carpet for the annual said on Thursday. Songwriters Hall of Fame gala in New Checker’s recording of “The Twist,” York where Checker performed “Let’s followed by “Let’s Twist Again,” are con- Twist Again” for the ASCAP Centennial sidered among the most popular songs celebration. in the history of Rock and Roll.”‘Let’s At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Twist Again’ was the first rock ‘n’ roll induction ceremony in April, Daryl Hall song that received a Grammy (in 1962),” mentioned that Hall and Oates was the Checker pointed out. first Philadelphia-based band to be The 72-year old recording artist inducted. And after mentioning Chubby equates a place in the Cleveland, Ohio- Checker, he responded: “Why isn’t he based hall to the ability to sustain his in?” — AP career. “If you put me in when I’m too old to make a living, then it’s no good for me to THE LONGEST ON OSN MOVIES COMEDY HEALTH SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 Mental health patients forced to wait a month for treatment Not easy for new patients to get quick appointment

WASHINGTON: It’s not just veterans who the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said sometimes have to wait for health care. Wednesday that “at the very minimum, there is Depending on where you live and what kind of a need for 700 new physicians in the VA.” care you want, in parts of the country it’s not always easy for new patients to get a quick New Patients Vs Existing appointment. The busier the office, the less space for a new Need routine primary care? The average wait patient and some doctors simply don’t accept to see a family physician for the first time ranged newcomers. Ejnes is a Rhode Island internal from 66 days in Boston to just five days in Dallas, medicine physician with 1,500 patients, enough according to a survey in 15 large cities by health that he only accepts new patients who are fami- care consulting firm Merritt Hawkins. ly members of existing ones. Some offices close And doctors are bracing for new demand to new patients during busy times of the year, from millions of people newly insured through like a bad flu season, and accept them again the federal health care law. during slow periods. “To say it’s an easy solution to the VA prob- “It’s supply and demand,” Ejnes said. “It takes lem - we’ll just have them get care in the com- a lot of persistence, a lot of phone calls, to find munity - overestimates the capacity the commu- someone.” Existing patients get priority for nity has to absorb these folks,” said Dr. Yul Ejnes future appointments. Even the VA audit found of the American College of Physicians. returning patients usually had shorter waits for a primary care appointment, with some excep- Veteran Waits Made Headlines tions. A government audit shows more than 57,000 veterans have been waiting at least three What About Urgent Visits? months for their first appointments at Veterans The American Academy of Family Physicians Affairs medical centers and an additional 64,000 says 80 percent of its members make provisions who enrolled for VA care over the past decade BLOOMINGTON: In this Aug. 11, 2008 file photo, from left, daughter Lisa Wagner watches for same-day appointments. Half also offer never got seen by a doctor. The longest waits for Maria Cofrancesco, VA Medical Center Dementia Care Coordinator, as she tests extended hours, with some appointments early an initial primary care appointment ranged from Alzheimer patient John Wagner’s balance during a follow-up visit to the center in or in the evening to catch people who can’t get 145 days in Honolulu to 73 days in Richmond, Bloomington, Minn. An internal investigation released this month that looked at wait off work for a doctor’s appointment and those Virginia. times for all sorts of care across the VA system showed that new mental health patients who otherwise would go to the emergency To help, Congress is moving to allow more were routinely forced to wait a month or more to start treatment. — AP room for a sudden problem, said AAFP president veterans who encounter delays to seek VA-paid OB/GYN appointment ranged from 46 days in Why The Wait? Dr. Reid Blackwelder. care, temporarily, from a non-VA doctor. (The VA Boston to 10 days in Seattle. Those are averages. Partly, there aren’t enough doctors. A gray- How many patients say they’re able to get already had allowed some outside care, The longest reported wait time was a stunning ing population that needs more medical care quick appointments when they need them? A although veterans have complained that it’s dif- 256 days for a particular Minneapolis dermatolo- was straining the system even before the new survey by Medicare overseers found 82 percent ficult to access and includes a series of bureau- gist. You could wait 129 days for a certain health care law opened the way for more people of beneficiaries seeking an appointment for an cratic hurdles that must be cleared.) Seattle family practice and 132 days for one San to start looking for a regular doctor. With older illness or injury never had to wait longer than Diego cardiologist, the survey found. physicians retiring, too, there aren’t enough new they wanted. A Commonwealth Fund survey But What’s The Civilian Wait? But people frustrated by waits for one doctor ones coming on board to meet growing published last year found almost half of adults in There are no national statistics. But Merritt often can seek another, depending on their demand. the US got a same- or next-day appointment the Hawkins’ survey, released earlier this year, illus- insurance and how far they’re willing to drive. Primary care physicians get the most atten- last time they were sick, compared with about trates there’s variation around the country when Sure enough, Merritt Hawkins’ survey showed tion, and nearly 20 million people live in areas 70 percent of those surveyed in Germany and it comes to choosing a new physician. that in multiple cities, there were physicians officially designated in need of more, said Dr. . The longest waits overall were in Boston - an with appointments available in just one day Atul Grover of the Association of American average of 45.4 days - while Dallas had the even for a new patient. Medical Colleges. But specialists can be hard to What’s Too Long? shortest at 10.2 days. But the kind of doctor you That’s not the only way to measure. The find, too, especially in rural areas and in parts of The VA has lifted its goal of 14 days to get an need makes a difference, the survey found. Massachusetts Medical Society’s annual the country where new doctors haven’t kept up appointment, after investigators determined The wait for a first-time appointment with a statewide survey found wait times ebb and flow. with rapid population growth. That includes workers falsified records to cover up delays. For cardiologist averaged 32 days in the nation’s The wait for a first-time appointment with an parts of the Southeast and Southwest, particu- private doctors, there are no national standards capital but only 11 days in Atlanta. Got knee internal medicine specialist was 50 days in 2013, larly Arizona, Nevada and Texas, he said. on waits. pain? Waits for an initial consultation with an up from 44 days the previous year. In contrast, The AAMC estimates that by 2020, there will California, however, does have some rules orthopedic surgeon averaged 18 days in San the wait for a family physician dropped to 39 be a shortage of 45,000 primary care physicians requiring that certain types of health plans Diego and five days in Philadelphia, Minneapolis days, from 45 in 2012, and the wait for a gas- and 46,000 surgeons and specialists nationally. ensure their customers get timely access: 48 to and Houston. troenterologist was 33 days, 11 days shorter Pending legislation calls for the VA to hire more 96 hours for an urgent need, and 10 to 15 busi- For a well-woman visit, waits for a first-time than the previous year. doctors. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chairman of ness days for a non-urgent need. — AP NASA readies satellite to measure atmospheric CO2 WASHINGTON: NASA is preparing a July 1 the gas. “Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere NASA envisions it becoming the lead lion tonnes of CO2 in the atmosphere each launch for its first satellite dedicated to plays a critical role in our planet’s energy bal- satellite for a six-strong fleet that will circle year, leading to an unprecedented accumu- measuring atmospheric levels of carbon ance and is a key factor in understanding the Earth every 99 minutes, allowing nearly lation of the greenhouse gas. dioxide, a greenhouse gas that plays a key how our climate is changing,” said Michael simultaneous observations across the globe. Climate scientists have concluded that role in climate change. Freilich, director of NASA’s Earth Science OCO-2, designed to operate for at least two the increase of CO2 emissions from human CO2 levels have reached their highest Division. years, will take measurements of carbon activities, especially from fossil fuels and point in at least 800,000 years, according to “With the OCO-2 mission, NASA will be emissions and carbon sinks around the deforestation, have upset the planet’s natu- the US space agency. The Orbiting Carbon contributing an important new source of world to help scientists analyze how they ral carbon cycle, prompting rising tempera- Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite is very simi- global observations to the scientific chal- change over time. In April, monthly concen- tures and planet-wide climate change. lar to its predecessor, OCO-1, which was lenge of better understanding our Earth and trations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere Currently, less than half of the CO2 emitted destroyed during its launch in February its future,” he added in a statement. surpassed 400 particles per million in the by human activities remains in the atmos- 2009. The satellite will help provide a more The OCO-2 satellite will be launched on a northern hemisphere, which NASA said was phere, scientists say. Measurements of CO2 complete and global picture of man-made United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from the highest level in at least the past 800,000 levels taken by the new satellite will be and naturally occurring CO2 emissions as Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, years. Human activities-including the burn- combined with data obtained by land- well as the effects of carbon “sinks,” like aiming for an orbit at 438 miles (705 kilome- ing of fossil fuels like oil, natural gas and based observatories, airplanes and other oceans and forests, which absorb and trap ters) above the Earth’s surface. coal-are blamed for emitting nearly 40 bil- satellites. — AFP

SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

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In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers use seats

Arrival Flights on Saturday 14/6/2014 JZR 177 Dubai 17:45 QTR 1071 Doha 11:00 Airlines Flt Route Time KAC 176 Geneva/Frankfurt 17:45 KAC 521 Al Najaf 11:15 QTR 1084 Doha 00:05 JZR 777 Jeddah 17:50 KAC 671 Dubai 11:20 JZR 239 Amman 00:20 IZG 4161 Mashhad 18:00 KAC 541 Cairo 11:30 JZR 267 Beirut 00:25 KAC 542 Cairo 18:15 GFA 214 Bahrain 11:35 JZR 539 Cairo 00:30 MSC 407 HRG 18:20 KAC 501 Beirut 11:40 DLH 637 Dammam 00:35 QTR 1080 Doha 18:25 JZR 356 Mashhad 11:40 JZR 555 Alexandria 01:25 FDB 063 Dubai 18:35 KAC 165 Rome/Paris 11:45 PGT 858 01:25 KAC 104 London 18:45 IAW 158 Al Najaf/Baghdad 12:00 SAI 441 Lahore 01:35 CLX 732 Luxembourg 18:50 JZR 776 Jeddah 12:15 THY 764 Istanbul 01:40 JAV 621 Amman 18:50 MSC 402 Alexandria 12:20 RJA 642 Amman 01:45 IRA 669 Mashhad 18:50 SYR 342 Damascus 13:05 GFA 211 Bahrain 01:55 ABY 129 Sharjah 18:55 JZR 176 Dubai 13:10 UAE 853 Dubai 02:25 KAC 618 Doha 19:00 IRM 1189 Mashhad 13:15 ETD 305 Abu Dhabi 02:30 GFA 217 Bahrain 19:05 FDB 072 Dubai 13:15 JAI 576 Kochi/Abu Dhabi 02:35 KAC 774 Riyadh 19:15 FDB 056 Dubai 13:20 PIA 239 Lahore 03:05 KAC 502 Beirut 19:20 JZR 124 Bahrain 13:30 FDB 5067 Dubai 03:05 KAC 674 Dubai 19:25 MSR 580 Sohag 13:50 RJA 644 Amman 03:10 KAC 742 Dammam 19:30 MSR 611 Cairo 14:00 MSR 612 Cairo 03:15 KAC 614 Bahrain 19:35 THY 767 Istanbul 14:10 OMA 643 Muscat 03:20 JAI 572 Mumbai 19:35 UAE 872 Dubai 14:15 QTR 1076 Doha 03:25 OMA 647 Muscat 19:55 KAC 561 Amman 14:45 MSC 401 Alexandria 04:00 KAC 562 Amman 20:00 QTR 1079 Doha 14:55 THY 770 Istanbul 04:35 KNE 474 Jeddah 20:00 FDB 058 Dubai 15:00 DHX 170 Bahrain 05:10 FDB 5061 Dubai 20:05 MSR 576 Sharm el-Sheikh 15:00 KAC 412 Manila/ 06:15 DLH 634 Frankfurt 20:15 GFA 222 Bahrain 15:05 BAW 157 London 06:35 MEA 402 Beirut 20:15 IRC 527 Mashhad 15:30 JZR 563 Sohag 06:35 ABY 121 Sharjah 20:20 KAC 617 Doha 15:30 KAC 416 Jakarta/Kuala Lumpur 06:40 JZR 189 Dubai 20:25 KNE 473 Jeddah 15:35 FDB 053 Dubai 07:00 MSR 618 Alexandria 20:30 KAC 773 Riyadh 15:50 KAC 382 Delhi 07:30 KLM 415 Amsterdam 21:05 JZR 188 Dubai 15:50 KAC 204 Lahore 07:35 ALK 229 Colombo 21:10 SVA 505 Jeddah 16:00 JZR 503 Luxor 07:40 UAE 859 Dubai 21:15 ABY 128 Sharjah 16:15 KAC 302 Mumbai 07:50 ETD 307 Abu Dhabi 21:30 KAC 741 Dammam 16:30 KAC 206 Islamabad 07:50 QTR 1074 Doha 21:30 KNE 471 Jeddah 16:30 QTR 1086 Doha 07:55 FDB 059 Dubai 21:40 KNE 463 Madinah 16:30 KAC 352 Kochi 08:05 GFA 219 Bahrain 21:45 KAC 613 Bahrain 16:35 KAC 344 Chennai 08:20 KNE 480 Taif 22:00 KNE 481 Taif 16:40 UAE 855 Dubai 08:25 AIC 975 Chennai/Goa 22:25 RJA 641 Amman 16:55 KAC 362 Colombo 08:45 KAC 786 Jeddah 22:40 IRM 1187 Tehran 17:00 ABY 125 Sharjah 08:50 UAL 981 Bahrain 22:40 KAC 785 Jeddah 17:00 KAC 284 Dhaka 08:55 JZR 185 Dubai 22:55 JZR 266 Beirut 17:05 IRM 1186 Tehran 09:10 JAI 574 Mumbai 23:20 JZR 512 Sharm el-Sheikh 17:15 ETD 301 Abu Dhabi 09:30 JZR 513 Sharm el-Sheikh 23:30 QTR 1073 Doha 17:20 FDB 5055 Dubai 09:35 MSR 614 Cairo 23:30 TBZ 5484 Mashhad 17:30 QTR 1070 Doha 10:00 THY 772 Istanbul 23:45 GFA 213 Bahrain 10:40 FDB 052 Dubai 17:40 IAW 157 Baghdad/Al Najaf 11:00 JZR 538 Cairo 17:40 Departure Flights on Saturday 14O/6/2014 ETD 304 Abu Dhabi 17:45 MSC 405 Sohag 11:20 Airlines Flt Route Time IRM 1188 Mashhad 11:50 AIC 976 Goa/Chennai 00:05 NIA 252 Alexandria 17:50 JZR 151 Dubai 11:50 JZR 562 Sohag 00:10 SVA 511 Riyadh 18:15 SYR 341 Damascus 12:05 JAI 573 Mumbai 00:20 UAE 858 Dubai 18:15 FDB 071 Dubai 12:35 MSR 615 Cairo 00:30 GFA 216 Bahrain 18:20 FDB 055 Dubai 12:40 NIA 264 Alexandria 00:50 JZR 184 Dubai 18:20 JZR 241 Amman 12:40 KLM 413 Amsterdam 00:55 UAL 982 Bahrain 18:40 UAE 871 Dubai 12:45 JZR 502 Luxor 01:30 JZR 238 Amman 18:45 MSR 610 Cairo 13:00 DLH 637 Frankfurt 01:35 IZG 4162 Mashhad 19:00 MSR 579 Sohag 13:05 THY 773 Istanbul 02:20 MSC 408 HRG 19:20 THY 766 Istanbul 13:10 SAI 442 Lahore 02:35 QTR 1081 Doha 19:25 QTR 1078 Doha 13:45 PGT 859 Istanbul 02:55 KAC 287 Dhaka 19:30 FDB 057 Dubai 13:50 FDB 5068 Dubai 03:45 ABY 120 Sharjah 19:40 MSR 575 Sharm el-Sheikh 14:15 RJA 645 Amman 03:55 FDB 064 Dubai 19:50 KAC 546 Alexandria 14:15 MSR 613 Cairo 04:15 GFA 218 Bahrain 19:50 GFA 221 Bahrain 14:20 ETD 306 Abu Dhabi 04:20 IRA 666 Esfahan 19:55 JZR 779 Jeddah 14:20 OMA 644 Muscat 04:20 JAV 622 Amman 19:55 SVA 500 Jeddah 14:30 QTR 1077 Doha 04:25 KAC 363 Colombo 20:05 IRC 526 Mashhad 14:30 PIA 240 Sialkot/Islamabad 04:35 CLX 732 Hong Kong 20:20 KNE 472 Jeddah 14:40 MSC 406 Sohag 05:00 JAI 571 Mumbai 20:35 KAC 522 Al Najaf 14:55 QTR 1085 Doha 05:20 KNE 475 Jeddah 20:45 JZR 257 Beirut 14:55 UAE 854 Dubai 05:30 FDB 5062 Dubai 20:50 KAC 788 Jeddah 15:00 THY 765 Istanbul 06:00 KAC 331 Trivandrum 20:50 ABY 127 Sharjah 15:35 JAI 575 Abu Dhabi/Kochi 06:30 OMA 648 Muscat 20:55 KNE 470 Jeddah 15:35 RJA 643 Amman 06:35 ABY 122 Sharjah 21:00 IRM 1180 Mashhad 15:45 THY 771 Istanbul 06:50 KAC 351 Kochi 21:05 KNE 462 Madinah 15:45 GFA 212 Bahrain 07:00 MEA 403 Beirut 21:15 TBZ 5483 Mashhad 15:50 JZR 240 Amman 07:05 JZR 552 Alexandria 21:15 RJA 640 Amman 15:55 JZR 150 Dubai 07:15 MSR 607 Luxor 21:25 KNE 460 Riyadh 15:55 KAC 545 Alexandria 07:20 KAC 543 Cairo 21:30 KAC 118 New York 16:00 JZR 256 Beirut 07:30 DHX 171 Bahrain 21:50 KAC 672 Dubai 16:00 FDB 054 Dubai 07:50 KLM 415 Dammam/Amsterdam 22:05 JZR 535 Cairo 16:05 BAW 156 London 08:25 ETD 308 Abu Dhabi 22:15 QTR 1072 Doha 16:15 JZR 778 Jeddah 08:45 ALK 230 Colombo 22:20 JZR 125 Bahrain 16:25 QTR 1087 Doha 08:55 UAE 860 Dubai 22:25 ETD 303 Abu Dhabi 16:45 JZR 534 Cairo 09:15 KAC 381 Delhi 22:30 NIA 251 Alexandria 16:50 ABY 126 Sharjah 09:30 QTR 1075 Doha 22:40 UAE 857 Dubai 16:55 KAC 787 Jeddah 09:35 KAC 301 Mumbai 22:40 FDB 051 Dubai 16:55 UAE 856 Dubai 09:50 GFA 220 Bahrain 22:45 SVA 510 Riyadh 17:15 ETD 302 Abu Dhabi 10:15 KNE 461 Riyadh 22:50 UAL 982 IAD 17:25 FDB 5056 Dubai 10:15 FDB 060 Dubai 23:00 JZR 357 Mashhad 17:30 IRM 1181 Mashhad 10:20 KAC 205 Islamabad 23:35 GFA 215 Bahrain 17:30 KAC 101 London/New York 10:25 KAC 411 Bangkok/Manila 23:40 Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw) SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

2. Common Indian weaverbird. 3. A member of the British order of honor. CROSSWORD578 4. The compass point midway between east and southeast. 5. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad. 6. (botany) Relating to a plant of the family Araceae. 7. 1 species. 8. The capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the Congo river opposite Brazzaville. 9. Conforming to an ultimate standard of perfection or excellence. 10. A silvery soft waxy metallic element of the alkali metal group. 11. God of the earth. 12. A clique that seeks power usually through intrigue. 13. Large dark brown North American arboreal carnivorous mammal. 14. An ordered reference standard. 21. Tranquilizer (trade name Ativan) used to treat anxiety and tension and insomnia. 25. The last (12th) month of the year. 27. (British) A waterproof raincoat made of rubberized fabric. 29. A high-crowned black cap (usually made of felt or sheepskin) worn by men in and Iran and the Caucasus. 30. The seventh month of the civil year. 31. A flat-bottomed volcanic crater that was formed by an explosion. 36. The Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the Dali region of Yunnan. 37. Flemish painter who was a founder of the Flemish school of painting and to have pioneered modern techniques of oil painting (1390-1441). 39. Hungarian choreographer who developed Labanotation (1879-1958). 40. In bed. 41. Ctenophores lacking tentacles. 43. Earlier in time. 45. 40th President of the United States (1911- ). 48. Shrubby lichens of the family Usneaceae having a flattened thallus. 50. Used of a single unit or thing. ACROSS 54. Greek mythology. 1. A French abbot. 57. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens. 5. Stopping short and refusing to go on. 58. A descent down a nearly vertical surface by using a doubled rope that is coiled 12. The unit of frequency. around the body and attached to some higher point. 15. South African term for `boss'. 59. Australasian kingfishers. 16. Sea catfishes. 61. Held back. 17. A former agency (from 1946 to 1974) that was responsible for research into atomic 63. Having the head uncovered. energy and its peacetime uses in the United States. 64. Swelling from excessive accumulation of serous fluid in tissue. 18. A harp used by ancient Greeks for accompaniment. 65. A woman of refinement. 19. A unit of weight equivalent to 1000 kilograms. 67. An officer who acts as military assistant to a more senior officer. 20. A coffee cake flavored with orange rind and raisins and almonds. 22. Take in solid food. 70. A musical percussion instrument. 23. take exception to. 72. A guided missile fired from shipboard against an airborne target. 24. An official language of the Republic of South Africa. 73. The compass point that is one point east (clockwise) of due north. 26. Tropical woody herb with showy yellow flowers and flat pods. 74. An international organization of European countries formed after World War II to 28. An inflammatory disease involving the sebaceous glands of the skin. reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members. 32. (Akkadian) God of wisdom. 77. A hard malleable ductile silvery metallic element that is resistant to corrosion. 33. A room equipped with toilet facilities. 34. Concerning those not members of the clergy. 35. Lower in esteem. Yesterdayʼs Solution 38. A drug (trade names Calan and Isoptin) used as an oral or parenteral calcium blocker in cases of hypertension or congestive heart failure or angina or migraine. 42. Thickening of tissue in the motor tracts of the lateral columns and anterior horns of the spinal cord. 44. A port in southwestern Scotland. Yesterday’s Solution 46. (Babylonian) God of wisdom and agriculture and patron of scribes and schools. 47. A cut of pork ribs with much of the meat trimmed off. 49. The corporate executive responsible for the operations of the firm. 51. A piece of furniture that provides a place to sleep. 52. Valuable fiber plant of East Indies now widespread in cultivation. 53. A Dravidian language spoken in southern India. 55. A radioactive element of the actinide series. 56. Extinct flightless bird of New Zealand. 60. Wild or seedling sweet cherry used as stock for grafting. 62. A small cake leavened with yeast. 66. A river that rises in central Germany and flows north to join the Elbe River. 68. The act of scanning. 69. Tropical starchy tuberous root. 71. Tree of low-lying coastal areas of southeastern United States having glossy leaves and racemes of fragrant white flowers. 75. Chief port of Yemen. 76. A city in central Texas. 78. A benevolent aspect of Devi. 79. English monk and scholar (672-735). 80. Containing or constituting or characterized by pleasing melody. 81. A member of a Mayan people of southwestern Guatemala.

DOWN 1. (usually followed by `to') Having the necessary means or skill or know-how or authori- ty to do something.

Daily SuDoku Yesterday’s Solution SPORTS SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

MLB CAPSULES Tempers flare as Rockies overpower Braves 10-3

DENVER: Corey Dickerson hit Atlanta catcher Gerald Laird with his backswing and tempers quickly flared, setting off a tense sequence and leading to several ejections Thursday as the Colorado Rockies beat the Braves 10-3. The Rockies led 8-3 in the eighth inning when Dickerson knocked off Laird’s facemask with his swing - Dickerson said it was an accident. Laird was down for several minutes before walking off and being replaced by Evan Gattis. With his next pitch, Atlanta reliever David Carpenter hit Dickerson in the thigh and was ejected. Rockies manager Walt Weiss bolted from the dugout and began yelling at Carpenter, as well as in the general direction of Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. Weiss was held back by plate umpire Jordan Baker before being ejected. When he returned to the dugout, Weiss smashed a bat against the wall. In the ninth, Rockies reliever Nick Masset hit Gattis in the hip with a pitch. Both Masset and Rockies bench coach Tom Runnells were immediately tossed. Jhoulys Chacin (1-4) pitched seven scoreless innings. Ervin Santana (5-3) took the loss.

TIGERS 4, WHITE SOX 0 Max Scherzer tossed a three-hitter in his first career complete game, and Victor Martinez hit his 16th homer to lead Detroit. Scherzer (8-2) was back in his 2013 Cy Young form, striking out eight and walking three while outdueling Chicago starter Chris Sale (5- 1). Only three times did the White Sox have COLORADO: Andrelton Simmons #19 of the Atlanta Braves leaps over Charlie Culberson #23 of the Colorado Rockies on a fielder’s men in scoring position. Sale was nearly as choice in the eighth inning of a game at Coors Field. The Rockies beat the Braves 10-3. — AFP sharp as Scherzer. He struck out 10 - all swing- Philadelphia Phillies beat San Diego in a the eighth time in nine games and fell a sea- pitched a perfect ninth for his 14th save. Ortiz ing - to match a season high and allowed five steady rain to complete a three-game sweep. son-worst eight games under .500 at 29-37. hit his 15th homer in the fifth against Josh hits in seven innings. Martinez hit a solo shot Brignac, whose three-run homer in the ninth Ryan Braun opened the 13th with an infield Tomlin (4-3) to make it 3-0. into the left field bullpen to lead off the fifth gave the Phillies a 3-0 victory a night earlier, single off Carlos Torres (2-4). Lucroy drove an and Miguel Cabrera drove in two runs for hit a drive off Dale Thayer for a 4-2 lead. 0-1 pitch to left field for his fifth home run. ASTROS 5, DIAMONDBACKS 4, 10 innings Detroit. Bryan Holiday drove in an insurance Mayberry connected an inning later off Alex Mark Reynolds added an RBI single and Rickie Chris Carter homered leading off the bot- run in the ninth. Torres. Making a spot start for Ryan Howard, Weeks was hit by Dana Eveland’s pitch with tom of the 10th inning for Houston. Carter, Mayberry also doubled twice. Kyle Kendrick the bases loaded. Zach Duke (4-0) tossed a who homered twice on Wednesday, hit his GIANTS 7, NATIONALS 1 (2-6) allowed one earned run in six innings. perfect inning and Francisco Rodriguez fin- 13th homer of the season into the Crawford Tim Hudson threw seven strong innings Eric Stults (2-8) allowed four runs and eight ished in a non-save situation. Boxes in left field off JJ Putz (1-1). Miguel and left with a major league-best 1.81 ERA as hits in five-plus innings. Montero tied it at 4-4 in the ninth with a the San Francisco Giants avoided a four-game PIRATES 4, CUBS 0 home run on the first pitch by closer Chad sweep and beat Washington. Michael Morse ORIOLES 4, BLUE JAYS 2 Andrew McCutchen had two doubles and Qualls. Carlos Corporan had a two-run home got three hits and scored twice for the Giants, Kevin Gausman gave up one run over six two RBIs to help Pittsburgh beat Chicago. run and Jon Singleton homered and drove in who had a five-game winning streak before innings and Delmon Young homered for Russell Martin also doubled twice for the two runs for the Astros, who have won six of Washington came to town. The Nationals Baltimore. Nick Markakis had two hits and an Pirates and rookie Gregory Polanco got a hit their last eight games. Tony Sipp (1-0) struck have lost just twice in 10 games. Hudson (7-2) RBI for the Orioles, who moved within 3 1-2 in the third straight game since his call-up. out one in a scoreless 10th for the win. allowed one unearned run and six hits. The games of first-place Toronto in the AL East. Edinson Volquez (4-5) pitched seven effective Singleton drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in Giants are 7-0 in games he has started at Gausman (2-1) allowed five hits, walked three innings to win for the third time in his last five the first inning and broke a 1-all tie with his home. Blake Treinen (0-3) remained winless at and struck out three in his second consecutive starts. McCutchen, the reigning National solo shot in the third. Corporan extended the major league level despite a 2.08 ERA. solid outing. Zach Britton worked the ninth for League MVP, broke it open with a two-run Houston’s lead to 4-1 with his home run in the his sixth save. Buehrle (10-3) yielded four runs double in the fifth off Jeff Samardzija (2-6). fourth. Chris Owings hit a solo homer to get REDS 4, DODGERS 1 and eight hits in 6 1-3 innings to lose his sec- McCutchen is batting .428 (18 of 42) with 15 Arizona within 4-3 in the seventh inning. Todd Frazier hit a two-run homer off Zack ond straight start following a six-game win- extra-base hits in June. Luis Valbuena had Greinke, who lost his perfect record at Great ning streak. The left-hander allowed three runs two doubles for the Cubs, who went 0 for 8 YANKEES 6, MARINERS 3 American Ball Park, and the Cincinnati Reds or fewer in 12 of his previous 13 starts. Toronto with runners in scoring position to fall for the Derek Jeter had a memorable final regular beat the Los Angeles Dodgers for a split of has lost three straight and five of six. fourth time in five games. season appearance in Seattle with three hits, their four-game series. The Reds won the last two runs scored and two RBIs, and New York two games to finish a 5-5 homestand that left BREWERS 5, METS 1, 13 RED SOX 5, INDIANS 2 completed its first three-game sweep of the them stuck closer to the bottom of the NL Jonathan Lucroy hit a tiebreaking homer in Jon Lester worked into the eighth inning season. Jeter was honored by the Mariners Central than the top. Alfredo Simon (9-3) gave a four-run 13th inning for Milwaukee in a and David Ortiz hit a two-run homer to lead before the start of the series, then helped up seven singles in eight innings, joining the game that had an unusual rain delay that last- struggling Boston. Brock Holt hit a two-run jump start the Yankees. Jeter had a singles in Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright as the NL’s nine- ed all of 3 minutes. Aramis Ramirez homered double and Daniel Nava had three hits as the his first two at-bats off Seattle starter Roenis game winners. Greinke (8-3) had been 4-0 in and finished with three hits for the Brewers Red Sox won for just the third time in their Elias (5-5), then greeted reliever Dominic five games at Great American. (40-27) who completed a 5-3 road trip with last 10 games, a dismal stretch that began Leone with a two-run single in the fourth that their 10th victory in 15 games overall, match- with a three-game sweep by the Indians last gave the Yankees a 6-1 lead. Jeter finished PHILLIES 7, PADRES 3 ing a season high at 13 games above .500. The week. Coming off his shortest start of the sea- the series with seven hits. Jacoby Ellsbury hit Pinch-hitter Reid Brignac lined a tiebreak- Mets stranded seven runners from the ninth son, Lester (7-7) allowed two runs - one a two-run homer in the first inning to extend ing, two-run double in the sixth inning, John through the 11th and blew a bases-loaded earned - on eight hits and a walk with four his hitting streak to 16 games and gave starter Mayberry Jr. hit a three-run homer and the opportunity with a chance to win. They lost for strikeouts in 7 2-3 innings. Koji Uehara Chase Whitley (2-0) an early lead. — AP SPORTS SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

From childhood, golf was focus for Lucy Li

SAN FRANCISCO: Jim McLean has coached child prodigies at his golf schools around the world for decades, so he thought he had seen just about every kind of young hopeful out there. Then came Lucy Li. The 11-year-old from the suburbs south of San Francisco became the youngest player to qualify for the US Women’s Open by winning the sectional at Half Moon Bay in California by seven strokes last month. Her journey to Pinehurst No 2 in North Carolina, where the tournament begins Thursday, is the quickest and most unique of anybody in the field. A sixth grader with braces and a sharp short game, Li’s fam- ily came to California from Hong Kong and she has been train- ing at McLean’s golf school in Miami since she was 7. As he has with many young golfers when they arrive, McLean gave her the Dr Seuss book, “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” Li not only read the book. She memorized it. “She’s incredibly smart,” McLean said. “And an incredibly fast learner.” That much is clear. Little else about Li’s life is. Her family has declined interview requests, only issuing a statement through the USGA that she is honored to play in the prestigious tournament. Those who have watched Li’s rapid rise tell a story of a girl who skips down fairways and brings candy bars to club mem- bers, a focused competitor with a powerful swing and polished putting, and a youngster whose family has dedicated time and money to grow her game. McLean said Li is homeschooled through an online Stanford University program and spends the winter months training with him in Miami, where she is watched over by her aunt, Tao Zeng, an eye doctor. The rest of the time Li spends in Silicon Valley with her father, Warren Li, a computer consultant, and her mother, Amy Zeng, a former table tennis player who works in the technology industry, he said. Li’s brother, Luke, studies at Princeton. McLean said Li’s mother tried pushing her toward other activities such as music, ballet and aerobics. But Li’s brother played golf competitively, NORTH CAROLINA: Martin Kaymer of Germany hits his tee shot on the sixth hole during the second round of the 114th and she wanted to be just like him. “She started to like golf, US Open at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, Course No 2 yesterday in Pinehurst, North Carolina. — AFP and then all she wanted to do was golf,” McLean said. “It didn’t come that easy for her. She worked.” Joby Ross is a golf instruc- tor at Mariners Point in Foster City, just a few short miles from Li’s home in Redwood Shores. Ross remembers Li’s brother Kaymer stretches US and cousin practicing at the course first, but the family later turned their attention to Li after she began whacking a few balls on the range while waiting for them to finish a tourna- ment. “They were very serious with her more than the other Open lead to 6 shots two,” Ross said. “Her mom and her aunt were always with her. They would use the practice and short-game area for hours on end. I’d see them in the morning and they’d bring a lunch with them, and they’d stop and have a little lunch break and contin- PINEHURST: Martin Kaymer took advantage of a rain-soft- round. Kaymer, who gained a major confidence boost from his ue practicing, chipping and pitching and they’d go onto our ened Pinehurst layout to stretch his overnight lead at the US victory at the elite Players Championship last month, has grass tee where they could hit shots. It was a pretty extensive Open to a commanding six shots with five holes to play in the played near-flawless golf at challenging Pinehurst over the last practice session for a young kid.” Ross had his concerns about second round yesterday. The 29-year-old German, three ahead two days in the year’s second major. whether Li’s family pushed her too hard at an early age. A few of the chasing pack after opening with a five-under-par 65 His opening 65 included six birdies and a lone bogey and times, he saw her having a tantrum with her mom and aunt. that he described as “exceptional”, birdied four of his first 13 the former world number one was error-free for his first 13 “She was crying and I asked, ‘What was the problem?’” Ross holes under sunny skies to move to nine under for the tourna- holes yesterday. With barely a breath of wind on Pinehurst’s recalled. “She seemed pretty frustrated and I thought, ‘Well, ment. That left him six strokes in front of his closest pursuers, fabled No. 2 Course which was softened by 0.64 inches of rain maybe they were making her be out there too long.’ And they burly Zimbabwean Brendon de Jonge and long-hitting overnight, Kaymer birdied the 10th, 13th and 16th to reach said, ‘Oh, she’s just upset because we have to leave, and she American Dustin Johnson. the turn in three-under 32. Seeking a second major title after wants to stay.’” De Jonge, who had carded a 68 on Thursday, was one clinching his first in the 2010 PGA Championship, he picked up Hollis Kelley, an instructor at Cinnabar Hills Golf Club in San under for the day after 15 holes while Johnson, who opened another shot at the par-four third to forge six ahead of the Jose, said Li plays the course often when she is in California. He with a 69, was two under for his round with four holes remain- chasing pack before parring the fourth. World number one said Li is a favorite in the pro shop, where she often hands out ing. Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, the 2010 US Open Adam Scott, who had struggled with his short game on the Quaker Chewy chocolate chip granola bars to the staff. “For champion at Pebble Beach, and American Kevin Na were at way to an opening 73, was two under for the day after 13 her size, she has extraordinary power,” Kelley said. “Because of two under for the tournament but yet to start the second holes but a distant 10 strokes behind Kaymer. — Reuters her stature, at this point she couldn’t overpower a golf course. But pound for pound, she’s very powerful. She has a great short game. Her game is pretty boring. She doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. She shoots a couple under par and it just seems like it’s an everyday thing for her.” Froome suffers nasty Li set a record last year in the US Women’s Amateur as the youngest qualifier at age 10. She also was the youngest in the US Women’s Amateur Public Links to reach match play, losing in the first round to a college player. Li captured the girls’ 10- crash; Bakelants wins 11 division at the inaugural Drive, Chip and Putt contest at Augusta that preceded the Masters this year. Then she beat second-place qualifier Kathleen Scavo by seven strokes at Half POISY: Belgian Jan Bakelants, riding for Omega Pharma-Quick Bakelants, 28 and a Tour de France yellow jersey holder for two Moon Bay to surpass the mark set by Lexi Thompson, who was Step, won the sixth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine yester- stages last year, won a two-man sprint against Dutch time-trial 12 when she made it to the 2007 US Women’s Open at Pine day while overall leader Chris Froome recovered from a nasty champion Lieuwe Westra after the duo broke free of an escape Needles. McLean also coached Thompson - along with several crash to keep the yellow jersey. Froome, the defending Tour de group down the stretch. other PGA and LPGA players over the years - but thought Li France champion, came home with his jersey and shorts shred- The stage covered 178.5km from Grenoble to Poisy with third was too young to train when her mother first called him. He ded after crashing with 7.5km to race. place going to Czech rider Zdenek Stybar, who won a sprint said he changed his mind after Li and her mother met with He lost over a minute on the peloton but sportsmanship pre- from a small group 24 seconds behind the leaders. With today’s him in Miami, when he saw the family’s commitment and Li’s vailed as main rival Alberto Contador and the rest of the pack decisive mountain stage on the penultimate day, Froome is cer- love for golf. “I couldn’t turn them down,” he said. McLean waited for Froome to catch up. The Kenyan-born British Sky rider tain to be attacked by Contador who lies 12 seconds back. The said he has put a heavy emphasis for Li to play the course had deep grazes and cuts across his back, shoulder, elbow and stage will culminate with two beyond category climbs and a instead of practice on the range. He said Li has made the hip as he arrived over four minutes behind Bakelants. “It’s noth- summit finish where the race is almost certain to be won or lost. biggest strides with her short game since she arrived, and her ing serious,” said Froome. “I must have hit a hole and the front Also tied for second is Dutchman Wilco Kelderman who closed consistent ball-striking ability and concentration is rare for a golfer of any age.— AP wheel slipped. It hurts but I haven’t broken anything,” he added. the gap on Contador during Thursday’s fifth stage. — AFP SPORTS SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014

Australia rocked by new drugs charges

MELBOURNE: Australia’s national anti-doping agency has charged 34 current and former Australian Rules foot- ball players with drugs violations, rocking the country’s richest and most well-attended sport. The charges are the culmination of a 16-month investigation into the administration of dubious supplements in 2012 at the Melbourne-based Essendon Bombers, one of the Australian Football League’s oldest and most powerful teams. The AFL disqualified Essendon from the competi- tion’s playoffs last year, banned the club’s head coach James Hird for 12 months and slapped the team with a record fine for bringing the full-contact indigenous game into disrepute. But the fate of the players remained uncertain, with investigators relying on witness testimony and circum- stantial evidence rather than positive drug tests. “Based on the advice of our legal counsel and a review of the evi- dence... I have reached the conclusion that these players have a case to answer under the World Anti-Doping Code,” ASADA CEO Ben McDevitt said. Essendon reluc- tantly acquiesced to the AFL’s sanctions last year, but chairman Paul Little said the club would fight the charges against the players in court and cast doubt on the legality MIAMI: San Antonio Spurs center Tiago Splitter (22) goes to the basket against the Miami Heat in the first half in Game 4 of the joint investigation by ASADA and the AFL. of the NBA basketball finals in Miami on Thursday, June 12, 2014. — AP “Enough is enough,” Little told reporters in Melbourne after confirming the club had launched legal action against ASADA. “We will not be bullied and we Spurs blitz Heat again will not allow our players to be hung out to dry any longer. “The structure that was put in place, the joint MIAMI: The visiting San Antonio Spurs again for Miami to claim a third successive NBA and that’s what competition does.” James at investigations structure, was not legally enforceable. torched the two-time defending champions crown. “We’ll lay everything out, look under times resembled a man fighting a lone bat- “We’re very confident around that and the courts will Miami Heat in their own backyard, moving to the hood, and see what we need to do. tle, propping up an ailing Heat ship but determine whether our confidence is justified or not. within one victory of clinching the NBA When we’re right, we can beat anybody in unable to stem the tide as Miami’s champi- “We’re very happy to run the course of an 18-month or championship after a 107-86 win in Game any building and that’s the only focus for the onship hopes began to drain away and the two-year investigation.” An independent probe commis- Four on Thursday. The one-sided win gave next 48 hours,” he said. “San Antonio is play- fans headed for the exits long before the sioned by the club last year found governance failures the Spurs, who clinched Game Three by 19 ing great. They’re moving the basketball. end. With Dwyane Wade’s radar clearly awry had contributed to a “disturbing picture of a pharmaco- points in Miami, a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals They’re exploiting where we’re normally and James subdued, Heat trailed 55-36 at logically experimental environment”. and put them in position to claim a fifth good, so we have to do a better job.” the half and never looked like staging a Local newspapers reported grisly details of players championship in 15 years when the series comeback. shifts to San Antonio for Game Five tomor- Miami letdown A more aggressive James, upping his being taken away from their training base to be injected row. No team has ever prevailed in the NBA Spoelstra said fatigue was not a factor. intensity, did his best to give the home fans with peptides in private clinics. Peptides are short chains finals after falling behind 3-1. Kawhi Leonard “Both teams are playing the same minutes, hope but said his hot-scoring run in the third of amino acids which athletes can take in supplement led San Antonio’s balanced, ball-sharing same time of year. We just have to figure it quarter “meant nothing”. The Spurs led by 24 form to aid muscle growth and re-generation. A number attack with 20 points along with 14 rebounds out. We have 48 hours. I’ve got to do a better heading into the fourth quarter and James of them are banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency and Tony Parker added 19 points as all 13 job for my team. “They (San Antonio) played admitted “they smashed us”. “They came in (WADA), including growth hormone and Insulin-like players on the roster joined in the scoring great. We just couldn’t get into a rhythm on and were much better than us in these two Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1). ASADA is also investigating the spree for the Spurs. either side of the ball, and then it just went games. It’s just that simple. They’re a high-oil administration of banned supplements to multiple play- “I just think we’re playing Spurs basket- from there.” If Heat fans had expected a reac- machine and they move the ball extremely ers at one of the country’s top-flight rugby league ball. We’re just moving the ball, and we’re tion from their lopsided loss on Tuesday, well.” Two other less heralded Spurs stood just playing the way we’ve been playing all they were in for a letdown as San Antonio out through their contributions. Australian teams, the Sydney-based Cronulla Sharks, and is expect- season,” said Parker. “We just have to stay quickly took control, racing to a 13-4 lead in backup guard Patty Mills scored 14 points, ed to lay charges in coming days. focused, and we’ll be ready. We just have to the early exchanges. “This was probably the including 4-of-6 from three-point range, and think about last year. We don’t need more biggest surprise of the series,” said Spoelstra. France’s Boris Diaw had a great all-round Show cause motivation than that,” the Frenchman added “I think everybody came in expecting game with eight points, nine rebounds and The scandal threatens to bring Essendon to its knees, in reference to last year’s Finals defeat by something dramatically different than this, nine assists. — Reuters with a majority of those charged still active players on Miami in an epic series decider. LeBron the club’s 47-man roster. First-time doping offenders James, a shadow of himself during the first face a two-year ban, according to the WADA code, but half, came alive in the third quarter in scoring PSG, Luiz sign 5-year deal could have their suspensions reduced if they cooperate 19 of Miami’s 21 points but it was not with authorities. The players have 10 days to respond to enough to slow the dazzling Spurs. Four- LONDON: Even in the cosmopolitan world sive midfielder. His royal blue number four time NBA most valuable player James led the of European football, with players of a shirt has already been given to new sign- the charges, which ASADA refer to as ‘show cause Heat with 28 points, with Chris Bosh next notices’. “This information along with the evidence col- dozen nationalities on the books of a sin- ing from Barcelona, Spain World Cup mid- highest with 12. gle club, coaches can see advantages in fielder Cesc Fabregas. lected by ASADA will be put to the independent Anti- pairing compatriots which is why Chelsea Rafa Benitez played Luiz in front of the Doping Rule Violation Panel for consideration,” ASADA Offensive show have sold David Luiz. Manager Jose back four during his brief spell as Chelsea said. ASADA chief McDevitt said he hoped to cut deals. Looking ahead to Game Five and possibly Mourinho is happy to stick with English coach and Mourinho contradicted an ear- “You could end up going from two years to 12 months beyond, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich centre backs John Terry and Gary Cahill lier promise by often doing the same. to six months,” McDevitt told state radio ABC. “What I’m said “every closeout game is very difficult”. and allow Brazil World Cup defender Luiz Playing further forward minimizes the encouraging individuals now, and the club, and the AFL, “I’m pleased that they performed as well as to link up with fellow countryman Thiago danger of conceding a goal from Luiz’s is to have a think about this very carefully and have dis- they did while we’ve been in Miami, and Silva in the Paris St Germain defense. The occasional rushes of blood to the head, as that’s about as far as it goes,” he told cussions with us.” Ligue 1 champions announced yesterday well as offering more opportunities to uti- reporters. “Now we’ve got to go back home that the player had signed a five-year con- lize his formidable shooting power. Even six-month bans for all players involved would and play as well or better.” San Antonio put gut Essendon’s playing roster, with the impact on spon- tract with them. Chelsea supporters still recall one stun- on a sensational offensive show in Game. According to media reports, the trans- ning goal from more than 30 metres sorship and season tickets certain to bite hard. The club Three by shooting an NBA Finals record of 76 fer fee is a world record for a defender, against west London neighbors Fulham in lies ninth in the 18-team table, halfway through the percent in the first half of that runaway road between 40 ($67.16 million) and 50 mil- April 2013. AFL’s regular season. New AFL chief executive Gillon win. On Thursday, they put themselves in lion pounds, beating the 36 million PSG Even when playing in defense Luiz has McLachlan, who has walked into a firestorm after replac- position to avenge last year’s agonizing loss paid for Silva in 2012. Chelsea, moving always loved to burst forward, often risk- ing long-serving boss Andrew Demetriou last week, said with another sublime display of ball move- closer towards breaking even, can now ing being caught out of position, the charges were “just the start of a long process”. “It’s ment and motion that produced wide open give Portuguese Mourinho funds towards although the Brazilian featured alongside essentially a proposition, an allegation to which they three-point chances and open layups and the new striker he covets, likely to be Cahill at the back when Chelsea won the dunks. For Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, it was have to respond,” he told ABC radio. “It’s not an indica- Atletico Madrid’s Diego Costa. Luiz, 27, is 2012 Champions League final against another night of frustration and his belea- equally adept at centre half or as a defen- Bayern Munich. —Reuters tion of guilt.”— Reuters guered troops now need a record comeback SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 44

Brazil counts World Cup costs Mega-events may get less ambitious

RIO DE JANEIRO: Plagued by delays and opposition at home, the ready for prime time. Soccer’s European body UEFA has already got countries other than the most advanced soccer economies like World Cup in Brazil might be a turning point for sporting mega- the message - reducing the burden on any one country for its Britain or Germany, stadiums have to be built and infrastructure events, forcing soccer’s governing body and the International European Championship, with the 2020 tournament to be played improved to put on events like the World Cup. The challenge is Olympic Committee to accept less ambitious bids to reduce the risk in 13 cities across Europe. how to make them less ambitious and less controversial without of public backlash. Described by Brazil’s government as “the Cup to excluding developing nations who almost always need to invest end all Cups,” the tournament kicked off on Thursday to a backdrop Flat-out nervous heavily to get venues up to standard. of controversy and concern. For sponsors the equation may be changing too, as negative A different FIFA source said there was a growing awareness of The world soccer organization, FIFA, is facing corruption allega- headlines have swelled from the usual trickle to a flood. the social and economic responsibility that came with putting on tions over how Qatar won the right to host the 2022 World Cup as Sponsors took the rare decision to speak out on the corruption the World Cup but that the bidding process remained one of faith - well as match-fixing claims, fewer countries are keen to host big probe into Qatar’s bid, with Adidas saying the negative debate you have to trust the country chosen will deliver on its promises. events and even some sponsors are starting to question the “halo around FIFA “is neither good for football nor for FIFA and its part- Still, the tide seems to be turning because of growing popular effect” of associating with them. Ever since the 1992 Olympics in ners.” Coca-Cola was similarly outspoken. “The minute soccer resistance to huge spending on sporting events. For Maennig the Barcelona, which set the gold standard, large sporting events have moves from the sports pages to the political pages I think sponsors answer lies in bids that are more collaborative with the local popu- been increasingly used to drive infrastructure projects and try to have to get concerned because their message is getting crowded,” lation. “I am pushing my home city Berlin to have a completely dif- regenerate cities. Sports economists and sources inside FIFA say said David Carter, director of the Sports Business Institute at the ferent Olympic bid (for 2024) by asking residents to participate in Brazil, the most expensive World Cup ever at an estimated cost of University of Southern California. “People are flat-out nervous,” he an Olympic concept they would be in favor of,” he said. — Reuters $11.3 billion, has shown both the limits and the risks of this model. said. “The last thing you can afford when you’re investing hundreds Although the nature of the bidding process means countries of millions of dollars into a global sports opportunity is to have to able to splurge on state-of-the-art stadiums will still attract support, cross your fingers and hope for it to turn out alright.” there is a growing sense among the populations of cities and Carter said the price FIFA commands from sponsors was at risk Cuiaba under nations considering being hosts for major sporting events that big- of going down if they saw less benefit from being directly connect- ger is not always better. “I think we are at a turning point in the his- ed with FIFA and the World Cup. Still, that is unlikely to happen tory of mega-events and I think the turning point will lead to a very anytime soon given that sponsorship deals are usually organized construction much reduced ambition towards infrastructure connected with over many tournaments - Adidas for example has signed up as a these events,” said Wolfgang Maennig, a professor at Hamburg FIFA sponsor until 2030. And the mega-events remain very healthy University who specializes in sports economics. on some levels. For example, the prices for television rights have as World Cup For Maennig, who won Olympic gold at Seoul 1988 as a German continued to rise with little sign of abating. Sixty percent of rower, big sporting events have become so political and controver- Brazilians now think hosting the Cup is bad for Brazil, according to a sial they risk losing both corporate sponsors and countries willing recent poll, and thousands have marched nationwide carrying ban- comes to town to host them. He points to the IOC’s difficulty in finding a country to ners telling FIFA to “go home.” hold the 2022 Winter Olympics. Germany’s Munich and Brazil may have exploded with street parties as its team won the CUIABA: World Cup venue Cuiaba’s road network is undergoing Switzerland’s St Moritz-Davos both withdrew planned bids when opening game on Thursday but scattered violent protests were a a facelift of Hollywood proportions. The charming provincial people in the two places voted ‘no’ in referendums, leaving the IOC reminder that many locals remain angry over the cost of the tour- venue for clash between and Australia may be the smallest scrambling for a suitable candidate. In Brazil, which will also host nament. One source working at a leading World Cup sponsor said of all the 2014 World Cup cities, but it can proudly put in a claim the 2016 Olympics, protests and strikes have dominated the public the firm had been forced to change its marketing strategy in to have the mother of all roadworks. Fans emerging from the mood since millions took to the streets during a World Cup warm- response to public negativity surrounding this year’s event. Green City’s airport this week were greeted by tarmac chaos-an up last June to bemoan poor public services. However, Andrew Sneyd, an executive at World Cup sponsor asphalt lunar landscape, but unlike the Moon, without the nice “The positive to be taken out of Brazil is that we have learnt Budweiser responsible for marketing, was more upbeat on Brazil, view of Earth. A multitude of man-made craters-a health hazard from it and will do things differently next time,” one FIFA source saying it was Budweiser’s largest campaign to date and no adjust- for any caipirinha-guzzling supporter-mounds of sand, cement said. The source added that FIFA should have insisted that Brazil cut ments had been made in response to local opposition. mixers, and heavily-laden trucks with claxons blaring, made life the number of host cities from 12, which would have reduced the trying for the average hire car. The terrain was more suited to a number of potential problems with unfinished infrastructure, and Change not easy 4x4, or better still a Sherman tank. “It’s a mess,” taxi-driver made good on the threat to move games if venues weren’t quite Changing the way these events are structured is not easy. In Eduardo, a cuiabano, happily conceded. “But once it’s finished, it’ll make life easier for us.” Like the city, Cuiaba’s brand new sta- dium, the Arena Pantanal, has endured its own frustrations, and even tragedy-a worker was electrocuted last month on its way to hosting four first round matches. Legal disputes held up work at the 40,000-seater eco-friendly site but it eventually received its FIFA seal of approval. On Thursday a posse of workmen were defying sizzling 34 degree celsius heat to apply the final touches ahead of the following day’s 2200 GMT kick-off. The pitch looked for the most part pristine, although one of the goalmouths was a bit threadbare. The 15,000 seats noted as missing by FIFA secre- tary general Jerome Valcke in April were now present and cor- rect, and on first impressions it looks as though organizers could give themselves a pat on the back. Cuiaba, which prides itself on being bang smack in the centre of South America, has been slow to succumb to World Cup fever. Thursday morning, a smattering of Australians, rucksacks on their backs, were booking into their hotels, while under the shade of the Cerrado trees in the Praca de Republica, red-shirted Chilenos were sipping coconut juice and extolling the virtues of Chile’s Barcelona star Alexis Sanchez. In the square in Cuiaba’s historical centre, street-seller Mathieus was doing a roaring trade selling Brazil shirts to locals. “Finally I’m making some money,” he smiled, explaining stock had been slow to shift up to then. Chile, who go into the game as red hot favorites against the Socceroos, will have plenty of support on Friday, judging by those fans already pitching tents at a camp site near the stadium. A convoy of some 800 cars has made the 4,500 kilometer trek from Chile to Brazil, across the Andes and passing through . “It’ll be like a home game against the Australians, we think there’ll be about 20,000 of us,” proudly predicted one of the intrepid fans from Santiago, Hugo Mendez. “We’re going to qualify, I’ve got faith in the players,” chipped in another, Herman Molina. After Friday, Cuiaba’s next bout of World Cup duty sees Russia taking on South Korea, followed by Nigeria against Bosnia with Japan and to close on June 23. But those road- CUIABA: Supporters of Chile sing in front of the Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba, Brazil, one day before the group B World Cup soccer works could be around for a little longer. — AFP match between Chile and Australia. — AP SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 45

Ipsos releases results of who Arabs are cheering • Majority of [Kuwait] football lovers cheer for [Brazil] •Support for the Brazil football team tops most Arab countries’ votes

psos MediaCT has released the results of Uniqueness of the team: France (81.7%) Total Ipsos Football Score: Brazil (73.7%) Uniqueness of the team: Brazil (84.7%) Ithe ‘Ipsos Football Score’ (IFS), which is a Total Ipsos Football Score: Brazil (77.5%) Total Ipsos Football Score: Netherlands two-month long national representative Jordan chooses Brazil (84.4%) survey* conducted across 11 MENA coun- Tunisia chooses Brazil Chances of winning the title: Germany tries. The independent survey seeks to gauge Chances of winning the title: Brazil (88.7%) (79.5%) Bahrain chooses Spain the sentiment of Arab football lovers and Favorite team: Brazil (84.0%) Favorite team: Italy (86.1%) Chances of winning the title: Argentina their favorite teams, assessing who they Loyalty towards the team: Brazil (82.0%) Loyalty towards the team: Germany (84.3%) (76.4%) think will win the title in the World Cup 2014. Popularity of the team: Brazil (79.0%) Popularity of the team: Brazil (92.6%) Favorite team: Spain (80.9%) The ‘Ipsos Football Score’ was designed by Uniqueness of the team: Argentina (85.5%) Uniqueness of the team: Spain (86.2%) Loyalty towards the team: Portugal (90.0%) Ipsos MediaCT to categorically rank the vari- Total Ipsos Football Score: Brazil (83.9%) Total Ipsos Football Score: Brazil (84.3%) Popularity of the team: Spain (81.9%) ous football teams based on specific vari- Uniqueness of the team: Portugal (80.0%) ables such as favorability, likeability, loyalty, chooses Brazil Iraq chooses the Netherlands Total Ipsos Football Score: Spain (79.2%) popularity, uniqueness (tactics and abilities), Chances of winning the title: Brazil (72.3%) Chances of winning the title: England (90.0%) For more information, visit the ‘Ipsos MENA’ as well as their chances of winning the title. Favorite team: Brazil (75.3%) Favorite team: England (87.6%) page on Facebook. The independent study then assessed the Loyalty towards the team: Portugal (71.9%) Loyalty towards the team: Netherlands *The information included in the survey is based importance and significance of each of these Popularity of the team: Italy (82.4%) (80.7%) on independent research conducted by Ipsos and variables, and a comprehensive score was Uniqueness of the team: Germany (79.5%) Popularity of the team: Netherlands (91.2%) is in no way sponsored or associated with FIFA™. derived from these results. The study cov- ered Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, , Tunisia, Qatar and Jordan. In general based on the results, the Brazilian football team received the highest score in most of the 11 Arab countries sur- veyed. Here are the results per country: Egypt chooses Argentina Chances of winning the title: Portugal (45.1%) Favorite team: Italy (45.3%) Loyalty towards the team: England (41.8%) Popularity of the team: Argentina (45.1%) Uniqueness of the team: Argentina (52.5%) Total Ipsos Football Score: Argentina (44.1%)

Saudi Arabia chooses Argentina Chances of winning the title: Argentina (61.8%) Favorite team: Argentina (65.4%) Loyalty towards the team: England (61.5%) Popularity of the team: Argentina (70.2%) Uniqueness of the team: Portugal (63.9%) Total Ipsos Football Score: Argentina (64.1%)

Kuwait chooses Brazil Chances of winning the title: Brazil (76.2%) Favorite team: Germany (84.7%) Loyalty towards the team: Italy (81.7%) Popularity of the team: Brazil (89.9%) Uniqueness of the team: Spain (84.8%) Total Ipsos Football Score: Brazil (80.9%)

Lebanon chooses Brazil Chances of winning the title: Brazil (76.1%) Favorite team: Brazil (84.7%) Loyalty towards the team: Brazil (80.6%) Popularity of the team: Brazil (91.1%) Uniqueness of the team: Brazil (82.9%) Total Ipsos Football Score: Brazil (82.6%)

Morocco chooses Spain Chances of winning the title: Spain (71.2%) Favorite team: Spain (71.7%) Loyalty towards the team: Spain (71.7%) Popularity of the team: Brazil (76.4%) Uniqueness of the team: Spain (75.9%) Total Ipsos Football Score: Spain (72.9%)

Qatar chooses Brazil Chances of winning the title: Brazil (71.2%) Favorite team: Germany (76.6%) Loyalty towards the team: Argentina (72.4%) Popularity of the team: Italy (84.2%) SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 46

Colombia, Greece plagued by striker setbacks

BELO HORIZONTE: Colombia and Greece phase matches.” Greece, the shock European clash today in Group C plagued by fears over champions in 2004, were knocked out in the where their World Cup goals will come from. first round in South Africa in 2010. The South Americans were rocked when talis- They can call on first-choice striker Kostas manic striker Radamel Falcao lost his battle to Mitroglou who has plenty to prove after his be fit for the finals after suffering a serious £12 million (15m euros, $20m) move from knee injury playing for French club Monaco in Olympiakos to Fulham turned into a night- January. Immediately, Jose Pekerman’s team mare. The player called ‘Pistolero’ by his ador- lost a man who has scored 20 goals in 51 ing Greek fans made just one start for the internationals since his debut in 2007. London club, who were relegated from the The 28-year-old was his country’s top scor- Premier League while he spent most of his er in the qualifying campaign as his nine goals time fighting a knee injury. The 26-year-old helped Colombia make the finals for the first has eight international goals but he has a time since 1998. In the absence of Falcao, knack of scoring at the right time. He scored Teofilo Gutierrez, who plays his club football twice in Greece’s 3-1 home win against at River Plate in Argentina, is expected to car- in the first leg of their World Cup ry his team’s goal-scoring burden starting play-off and found the target again in the against the Greeks. return leg in Bucharest. Gutierrez, 29, has scored 12 goals in 30 That ended in a 1-1 draw as Greece made internationals and will be supported by Victor it to Brazil 4-2 on aggregate. Mitroglou made Ibardo, the Cagliari winger, or Porto’s Jackson his name at Olympiakos, once scoring 15 Martinez. Colombia, whose best World Cup goals in 17 matches, including a Champions run was a last-16 appearance in 1990, have 18 League hat-trick. Greece will be skippered players who feature in the European leagues. MANAUS: Photo shows a general view of the Arena Da Amazonia in the World Cup host today by another Fulham player, Georgios One of those is Falcao’s Monaco teammate city of Manaus, Brazil. — AP Karagounis, the 36-year-old who has 135 James Rodriguez, a key figure in midfield who matched groups at this World Cup,” said the Few mysteries caps. “Our main goal is to make it to the is a genuine threat from free-kicks. However, Porto player. “ have very experi- Colombia skipper Mario Yepes, 38, believes knockout rounds, which is something we his appetite for the hard yards of defense has enced players with a lot of quality, Japan are there will be little to choose between his side have never done before,” said Karagounis of often been called into question. always at the World Cup and cover every and Greece. “In football, there are few myster- a Group C which also includes Japan and Martinez believes the 2014 Colombia team blade of grass, and Greece are tactically very ies. We have an overview of what Greece are Ivory Coast. “In order to do this, we have to has more talent than the 1994 squad who strong. “When you’re at a World Cup, the first like and I would think they have a clear idea of take each game as it comes. The most impor- went to the United States finals as one of the thing you say to yourself should be, ‘We don’t Colombia,” said Atalanta defender Yepes, who tant game for us is against Colombia. This is favorites but flopped in the first round. “I know how far we’re going to go, but we do sees possession of the ball as key. “It’ll be a our first game and they are a dangerous think that it’s one of the most evenly- know how far we want to go’.” very complicated game, as will all the first team.” — AFP England, Italy braced FIFA bans Beckenbauer for rumble in jungle RIO DE JANEIRO: FIFA yesterday Beckenbauer case has now been started and that it would have to be played in MANAUS: Cloying humidity and a parched pitch will add to the sense banned German football legend Franz by investigatory chamber member winter.” According to British media of danger when England and Italy launch their World Cup campaigns in Beckenbauer from any football-related Vanessa Allard, added the FIFA state- reports, quoting thousands of emails the steamy Amazon jungle city of Manaus today. With South American activity for 90 days after he refused to ment. The international spotlight has linked to the case, Beckenbauer went to champions Uruguay also lurking in Group D, along with , both speak to an inquiry into allegations that fallen on Garcia’s investigation following Qatar as a guest of bin Hammam before Roy Hodgson’s England and Cesare Prandelli’s Italy approach the game Qatar paid bribes to secure votes for its allegations reported by the Sunday the 2010 vote and met the state’s emir. knowing they can scarcely afford to lose if they are to reach the last 16. 2022 World Cup bid. “Franz Times newspaper that a former Qatar They added that he returned after the The rainforest humidity, which hovers at around 80 percent, is likely to Beckenbauer was today provisionally football boss and FIFA vice-president, weigh heavily on the tempo of the game and the two sides must also banned from taking part in any football- Mohamed bin Hammam paid more than get to grips with a desiccated playing surface at the purpose-built related activity, at any level, for 90 days,” five million dollars to get support for the Amazonia Arena. said a statement released by football’s emirate’s bid. Head groundsman Carlos Botella has admitted that the pitch is in governing body. The ban against Beckenbauer is “bad shape” and emergency work was required on Thursday to cover The 68-year-old Beckenbauer, who largely symbolic as he is no longer on up its dry brown patches with green dye. The teams last met in the won the World Cup as a player in 1974 the FIFA executive and has no real role quarter-finals of the 2012 European Championship in Kiev, when Italy and as a coach in 1990, was on the FIFA in German football, apart from being prevailed on penalties after a 0-0 draw that they largely dominated. executive board in 2010 when the 2022 Bayern Munich’s honorary president. Possession of the ball will be key amid the intense heat, but England tournament was awarded to Qatar. He Because of his playing and coaching striker Wayne Rooney is convinced that his side now possess the has always refused to declare who he record and his role as head of the weapons to unsettle opponents of Italy’s calibre. voted for, but has expressed surprise at German committee which organized the “We’ve got a lot of energy, a lot of pace in the team, and if we can pick the right moments, we can really hurt teams with the pace and Qatar’s victory. Beckenbauer left the 2006 World Cup he remains very influ- tempo that we can hit them at,” said the Manchester United forward. FIFA executive in 2011, but remains on ential in international football. In an “But in international football, you can’t just go out there and attack, FIFA’s football committee. Beckenbauer, interview with Bild newspaper pub- attack, attack. We have to be a bit cautious. “This is the top end of foot- known as “the Kaiser”, refused to coop- lished this week, Beckenbauer said he ball and you might get picked off. We have to stick to our plans that erate with Michael Garcia the former US had nothing to hide, but complained we’ve worked on the last few weeks and pick the right moment.” While federal prosecutor who headed an that Garcia had refused to pose his expectations of an English triumph in the final on July 13 are low, investigation in the votes for the Qatar questions in a language he understood. Hodgson’s squad is dotted with exciting young players who thrilled vote and another that awarded the 2018 “I have absolutely nothing to hide neutrals during the 2013-14 Premier League season. World Cup to Russia. and I am clearly also of the opinion that Franz Beckenbauer The ban was ordered by FIFA’s Ethics there must be sanctions for those All eyes on Pirlo Committee adjudicatory chamber responsible when corruption is proved,” vote. Beckenbauer has not confirmed Everton midfielder Ross Barkley, 20, and 18-year-old left-back Luke because a breach of FIFA’s code of he told Bild. “I was ready to answer all any trip to Qatar. Shaw will start on the bench, but 19-year-old Liverpool winger Raheem Ethics “appears to have been committed pertinent questions, but they sent them The Sunday Times said that bin Sterling could line up in attack alongside Rooney and club-mate Daniel and a decision on the main issue may to me in a legal English that I could not Hammam paid the millions of dollars to Sturridge. With Danny Welbeck an injury doubt due to a thigh problem not be taken early enough.”The appar- understand in such a compex case. “So I dozens of football federation officials and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain recovering from knee ligament damage, ent breach relates to Mr Beckenbauer’s politely asked that the interview be held around the world, many from Africa, in Southampton’s Adam Lallana seems likely to occupy one of the flanks. failure to cooperate with an Ethics in German and I was refused. So I said: return for support for Qatar’s campaign. Rooney and the livewire Sterling are vying for the number 10 role Committee investigation despite repeat- ‘Never mind,’” Beckenbauer added. The allegations have caused a major in England’s 4-2-3-1 formation, and whoever plays there will have the ed requests for his assistance, including Beckenbauer said he had a right to controversy for FIFA leader Sepp Blatter. responsiblity of keeping Andrea Pirlo under close surveillance.Eight years after masterminding Italy’s triumph at the 2006 tournament in requests that he provide information keep his FIFA vote in 2010 secret. But he Major sponsors have called for a proper Germany, the 35-year-old Pirlo is embarking upon his final World during an in-person interview or in added: “People with a memory will inquiry and European football bosses Cup. Italy are seeking to atone for their wretched showing at the response to written questions provided remember that I declared just after (the have said Blatter should stand down 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when the holders crashed out in the in both English and German,” said the vote) that the choice of Qatar surprised when his term ends next year. Blatter, first round. —AFP statement. me. And I was one of the first to say that 78, has said he wants to stand for anoth- A formal investigation of the a World Cup over there was impossible er four years. — AFP SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 47

Matches on TV (Local Timings)

FIFA WORLD CUP Chile v Australia 1:01 beIN SPORTS 1 HD beIN SPORTS 2 HD beIN SPORTS 11 HD beIN SPORTS 13 HD beIN SPORTS 1 HD FR beIN SPORTS 1 FR Colombia v Greece 19:00 beIN SPORTS 1 HD beIN SPORTS 2 HD beIN SPORTS 13 HD beIN SPORTS 1 HD FR beIN SPORTS 1 FR Uruguay v Costa Rica 22:00 beIN SPORTS beIN SPORTS 1 HD beIN SPORTS 2 HD beIN SPORTS 11 HD beIN SPORTS 13 HD beIN SPORTS 1 HD FR beIN SPORTS 1 FR NATAL: Cameroon’s goalkeeper Charles Itandje (back) concedes a goal that was disallowed during the Group A football match between TOMORROW and Cameroon at the Dunas Arena in Natal yesterday. — AFP England v Italy 1:01 BBC One beIN SPORTS Mexico outclass beIN SPORTS 1 HD beIN SPORTS 2 HD beIN SPORTS 11 HD beIN SPORTS 13 HD beIN SPORTS 1 HD FR sorry Cameroon beIN SPORTS 1 FR Ivory Coast v Japan 4:00 beIN SPORTS 1 HD FR NATAL: Oribe Peralta scored a second-half winner Charles Itandje inside the quarter hour. But despite their mercy, Rafael Marquez and Hector Moreno beIN SPORTS 1 FR in a 1-0 victory over Cameroon in rain-lashed Natal replays showing the Villarreal striker to be onside, collided at the back post to see the ball go wide. yesterday in a match which once again raised ques- the goal was chalked off by Colombian referee Mexico had the ball in the net for a second time tions over the standard of refereeing at the World Wilmar Roldan. Cameroon did not sight goal until when Dos Santos flashed a header past Itandje at Cup. Miguel Herrera’s Mexico side dominated minutes later when Eric Choupo-Moting tapped the back post following a corner, although it too FIFA defends throughout but went in for the half-time break feel- past ‘keeper Guillermo Ochoa after the ball had was waved off by Roldan. ing aggrieved after seeing what looked like two been headed back into the box following a corner Japanese perfectly valid goals chalked off for offside. Those only to be ruled off side. Cameroon eventually set- Crowd in raptures decisions did little to appease a Mexican media tled and Stephane M’Bia flashed a header wide Cameroon coach Volker Finke replaced defend- which cried foul after seeing Group A opponents from Alexandre Song’s corner on 18 minutes. er Cedric Djeugoue with Dany Nounkeu for the referee in Brazil awarded a questionable penalty in a 3-1 win The Africans spurned a far better chance when start of the second half, but the African side were over on Thursday. But against Cameroon, Tottenham defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto finished soon under pressure. Barely a minute after the WCup storm whose pre-World Cup was marred by a bitter row off a mazy run down the left to deliver for Samuel restart Itandje was forced to block from Peralta as over bonuses, Mexico were a class apart. Eto’o, but the Chelsea striker saw his first-time shot the Santos Laguna striker jumped on to Dos After a cagey start at a sodden Estadio das flash wide. Mexico remained a constant threat and Santos’s smart dink. At the other end, Choupo- RIO DE JANEIRO: An international storm of con- Dunas, Giovani Dos Santos appeared to have when Choupo-Moting brought down Francisco Moting saw a deflected shot come off the the foot troversy hit Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura opened Mexico’s account when he first-timed Rodriguez to hand Mexico a free kick the Cameroon of defender Francisco Rodriguez as Ochoa collect- yesterday after he gave a bitterly contested Miguel Layun’s delivery past Cameroon ‘keeper defense was caught unawares. With the goal at ed with ease. Cameroon threatened on 53 minutes penalty that set Brazil on the way to victory over when a curling free kick by Assou-Ekotto, following Croatia in the World Cup opening game. Global governing body FIFA defended Nishimura. But it Hector Moreno’s foul on M’Bia, took a deflection off also faced questions over the state of the pitch to the Mexican wall to send Ochoa the wrong way but be used for the key England-Italy clash in Manaus the ball flew wide. today. Croatia’s coach and players erupted in fury Mexico finally had the ball in the net, this time at Nishimura’s decision to award a penalty for good, just after the hour when Dos Santos saw against defender Dejan Lovren for a foul on his low drive parried by Itandje and into the path of Brazilian centre forward Fred on Thursday night. Peralta, who drove home from 10 metres out to Television replays indicated that Lovren barely send the largely Mexican crowd of 39,216 into rap- touched Fred. Croatian media called it an “inex- tures. Coach Herrera replaced midfielder Andres cusable mistake”. A top Brazilian newspaper used Guardado with Marco Fabian and minutes later a front page headline “arigato”-thank you in Manchester United forward Javier Hernandez came Japanese. Social media in Japan lambasted on in place of Peralta. A chorus of ‘Ole’ began to Nishimura’s action, while World Cup players said ring around the stadium as the Mexicans took con- that more and more of their counterparts would trol, and in the final 10 minutes Hernandez chased try to get away with such penalties. The game deep in Cameroonian territory to cut back for was deadlocked 1-1 in the 70th minute when the Fabian, who was blocked by a defender. ball went to Fred in the penalty area. He had his Cameroon threatened in the final five minutes back to the goal and went to the ground with when Eto’o sent Benjamin Moukandjo through Lovren immediately behind. “Two billion people I on the right but the Nancy midfielder’s drive think saw that it was not a penalty. I didn’t touch across goal was blocked by an alert Rodriguez. him,” said Lovren, a centre back with English Mexico had Ochoa to thank in the final two min- Premier League side Southampton. “We’re really utes when the ‘keeper pulled off a spectacular disappointed but what can you do against 12 dive to parry Moukandjo’s header from Assou- players? You can’t do anything,” he added. “If NATAL: Cameroon’s forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (left) fights for the ball with Mexico’s Ekotto’s delivery. However Mexico almost made it that’s a penalty, we don’t need to play football defender Hector Moreno, Mexico’s defender Francisco Rodriguez (second right) and Mexico’s two at the death when Layun dispossessed a anymore. Let’s play basketball instead,” declared midfielder Hector Herrera (right) during a Group A football match between Mexico and Cameroon defender to deliver for Hernandez, Croatia’s coach Niko Kovac. —AFP Cameroon at the Dunas Arena in Natal during the 2014 FIFA World Cup yesterday. — AFP who volleyed just over.— AFP Mexico outclass sorry Cameroon SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2014 SATURDAY, SportsSports 47 Superb Dutch humiliate Spain

RIO DE JANEIRO: Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben scored twice each as cious three points for Miguel the Netherlands avenged their 2010 World Cup final defeat to Spain with a Herrera’s side. But the main record 5-1 drubbing of the defending champions yesterday. Van Persie talking point after the game pounced in each half as the Dutch recovered from a controversial Xabi Alonso was Colombian referee penalty to inflict a crushing defeat on the reigning kings of world and Wilmar Roldan who chalked European football. Stefan De Vrij got the Netherlands’ other goal as Spain off what looked like two slumped to the heaviest defeat ever inflicted at a World Cup on the reigning valid Mexico goals in the champions. first half. “The referee has It was Spain’s worst defeat in more taken two goals off us but Netherlands' than half a century, coming 51 years we go away with three Spain's goalkeeper Arjen Robben after a 6-2 defeat to Scotland in Iker Casillas points and in top spir- 1963. Thousands of fans gathered its,” Mexico coach in Madrid to watch the game on Miguel Herrera said. giant screens were left stunned into Football chiefs silence by the rout. The extraordi- have introduced the nary Group B drama in the northern use of goal-line tech- Brazilian coastal city of Salvador has nology at this potentially turned the World Cup per- World Cup, anx- mutations on their head. If Spain fail to ious to avoid a recover the form which saw them win repeat of the back-to-back European titles either fiasco at the 2010 tour- side of their 2010 World Cup triumph, nament when they could conceivably crash out in England’s Frank the first round, or face a daunting Lampard saw a clash with Brazil in the last 16. legitimate goal not given in his The walloping eclipsed more refer- team’s last 16 match with eeing controversies on the second day Germany. FIFA President Sepp of competition. FIFA officials earlier Blatter said earlier this week the defended Japanese referee Yuichi use of technology should be tak- Nishimura after he awarded Brazil a bit- en further, suggesting the intro- terly contested penalty in their open- duction of a possible video-replay ing game victory over Croatia. Referees based challenge system similar to chief Massimo Busacca insisted those used in other sports. However ref- Nishimura had been justified in erees chief Busacca said yesterday he was awarding the spot-kick after an unconvinced more technology was the alleged foul by Dejan Lovren on answer. “When the situation is clear 100 per- Brazilian striker Fred. “He had a very cent of course it (technology) can really help the refer- good position,” said Busacca, refer- ee to say ‘Yes, the player scored a goal by his hands’. ring to a photo of the incident But these situations are very rare,” Busacca said. In a which appeared to show Lovren’s separate controversy, the pitch in the Amazon city of hands making contact with Fred. Manaus due to host its first World Cup match when England “When he saw the hands doing play Italy there today is not up to the required standard, accord- something he makes it (the deci- ing to world players union FIFPro. There are large dry areas on the sion).” pitch and some of it has been spray painted green, according to But no sooner had referees reporters who have been to the stadium. Neither England nor Italy chief Busacca sprung to have officially complained ahead of the much-awaited Group D Nishimura’s defense then the game today. In yesterday’s other game in Group B saw Chile took on standard of officiating was Australia.— AFP again under scrutiny as Mexico took on Cameroon. Mexico’s Oribe Peralta scored the only goal of a rain-lashed Group A game in Natal, securing a pre-