Three Held with Dozens of Unlicensed Firearms

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SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 RAMADAN 7, 1435 AH No: 16217 Kurds seeking Djokovic downs independence Dimitrov to reach Emsak: 03:09 Fajer: 03:19 referendum Wimbledon final Dohr: 11:52 Asr: 15:26 Maghreb: 18:51 11 44 Eshaa: 20:22 Three held with dozens

of unlicensed firearms Max 48º 150 Fils Min 29º 26 pistols, 19 machine guns, 5 hunting rifles seized

By Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: Three arms dealers were arrested yesterday with possession of a large number of unlicensed firearms in addition to drugs. The weapons found with the suspects include 1 bazooka, 26 pistols, 19 machine guns, 5 hunting rifles, and 1 shotgun, in addition to live ammunition. Police also found 150 grams of shabu (methamphetamine) and 150 drug pills in the suspects’ possession. The arrest happened following investigations about a Kuwaiti man with possession of an assortment of weapons. Drug Control General Department detectives moved to the man’s house in Riqqa with a warrant based on information that he was in possession of drugs. They raided the house and found 2 machine guns, 3 pistols, 4 rifles and 1 shotgun, in addition to the drugs. The man gave information of a Gulf national that he said provided him with the contrabands. Police raided the second suspect’s house and found 15 pistols, 6 machine guns and a large number of live ammunition. Police then raided the house of a third suspect, a Kuwaiti man, after the second suspect gave his identity. A bazooka, 11 machine guns, 1 rifle, 8 pistols and a large number of live ammunition were found inside. The detainees were KUWAIT: Photo shows some of the unlicensed firearms seized by detectives. — Photo by Hanan Al-Saadoun referred to the proper authorities to face charges. Ramadan Kareem Europe’s airports boost The Prophet Muhammad’s Sermon about Ramadan screening over US fears alman Al-Farasi (RA) narrated that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) delivered a sermon on the last day of the month of PARIS: France yesterday said it is boosting SSha’ban. “O People! The month of Allah (Ramadan) has passenger screening at its airports, responding come with its mercies, blessings and forgiveness’s. Allah has to a request from Washington for extra securi- decreed this month the best of all months. The days of this ty for US-bound flights over fears Islamist radi- month are the best among the days and the nights are the best cals could be plotting new attacks using hard- among the nights and the hours during Ramadan are the best to-detect bombs. The French move, to come among the hours. This is a month in which you have been invit- into force next Monday and Tuesday, follows ed by Him (to fast and pray). Allah has honored you in it. In similar action already implemented by Britain, every breath you take is a reward of Allah, your sleep is worship, and notably impacts Europe’s two busiest your good deeds are accepted and your invocations are hubs, Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle. answered. Combined, an average 2.5 million passen- Therefore, you must invoke your Lord in all earnestness with gers a day pass through the two airports. hearts free from sin and evil, and pray that Allah may help you French and British authorities urged passen- to keep fast, and to recite the Holy Quran. Indeed! Miserable is gers to allow extra time to get past the addi- the one who is deprived of Allah’s forgiveness in this great month. While fasting remember the hunger and thirst of the tional measures, which were not specified but Day of Judgment. Give alms to the poor and needy. Pay respect were believed to focus on footwear and elec- to your elders, have sympathy for your youngsters and be kind tronic items such as mobile phones and com- towards your relatives and kinsmen. puters. US officials on Wednesday publicly Guard your tongue against unworthy words, and your eyes demanded enhanced security for airports in TOULOUSE: A picture taken at the Blagnac airport in Toulouse shows from scenes that are not worth seeing and your ears from Europe and the Middle East which have direct French soldier standing guard as part of France’s national security alert sounds that should not be heard. Be kind to orphans so that if US flights. They did not say whether they had system “Plan Vigipirate”. France has joined other nations in bolstering your children may become orphans they will also be treated intelligence about a specific plot, but their with kindness. actions suggested alarm. security at its airports in line with a US request to enhance screening for Continued on Page 11 Continued on Page 11 direct US flights. — AFP LOCAL SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

Interior warns of strict actions against rioters Unlicensed demonstrations in Sabah Al-Nasser, Riqqa

KUWAIT: The Interior Ministry will strictly face any acts of vio- in the operation, including five people who live in Riqqa and lence, riot and incitement, and will act strongly against any eight in Sabah Al-Nasser. practices that threaten the security and safety of the nation “The ministry appeals to everyone to consult reason, and and citizens, and to protect public and private properties and calls upon parents to take responsibility for the actions com- the state’s top interests. mitted by their teenage and young sons, and to prevent them In a statement yesterday, the ministry announced that a from participating in actions that bring harm to themselves, group of people and ‘troublemakers’ organized an unlicensed their families and the society,” the statement reads. demonstrations Thursday night at several streets in Sabah Al- Nasser and Riqqa, in violation of the law that bans unlicensed marches. The gatherers deliberately caused troubles, blocked roads, disrupted traffic and attacked public and private properties, the Interior Ministry said. “These illegal actions resulted in dis- turbing security in the residential area, spreading panic among citizens and blocking the Sixth Ring Road and other streets as well as property damage at a restaurant,” the statement reads. The gatherers also put people’s lives at risk when they set a number of garbage containers and tires on fire, the statement adds. The ministry also indicated that teenagers and young men were enticed to confront police officers and commit illegal acts. “Despite continuous attempts to talk the gatherers out of committing illegal practices, they continued gathering, blocking main streets and assaulting police officers by hurling stones at them as well as at the Sabah Al-Nasser police sta- KUWAIT: ‘Troublemakers’ holding unlicensed demonstration tion,” the ministry said. Thursday night in Sabah Al-Nasser and Riqqa. The ministry further indicated that 13 people were arrested — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

KUWAIT: The Interior Ministry announced yesterday arrest of 19 men and women for begging. The ministry has launched a campaign to tackle the increased activity of beggars during the holy month of Ramadan, especially near mosques, markets, bank branches and at traffic lights. The detainees were taken to the Criminal Investigations Department for further action. LOCAL SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 Court rejects Barrak release petition Assembly passes record budget, closes term

By B Izzak closing ceremony for the current term and setting Oct 29 means that barrak will remain in prison until next Monday. to start the next term. The judge will then decide whether to release Barrak or KUWAIT: The National Assembly yesterday passed a record budget In another development, the court yesterday rejected a keep him in prison as the trial goes on. of KD 23.2 billion for the 2014/2015 fiscal year which projected a petition by the lawyer of opposition leader Mussallam Al- The opposition immediately held an emergency meet- deficit of KD 3.13 billion amid strong criticism by MPs over the gov- Barrak to release him. The court however set July 7 to ing amid reports that it plans to step up protests to press ernment’s failure to check rising spending. open the hearing of the former lawmaker’s case which for Barrak’s release. The spending figure, the biggest in Kuwait’s history, is 10.5 percent up on last year’s estimates of KD 21 billion. The deficit becomes higher if the transfers for the future generations fund of KD 5.017 billion are added. Revenues are projected at KD 20.07 billion, up 11 percent on last fiscal year’s projections. Oil revenues are projected at KD 18.8 billion while non oil income is estimated at KD 1.26 billion. Oil income is calculated on the basis of $75 a barrel and a daily production of 2.7 million barrels per day. Like the previous 15 fiscal years, the new budget is expected to end up in a surplus because the actual price of oil is well over $100 a barrel and average daily production is 3.0 million barrels. MPs strongly criticized the continued rapid rise in spending, par- ticulary current expenditure on wages and subsidies which are estimated at KD. 5.6 billion and KD. 5.9 billion, respectively. Head of the budgets committee MP Adnan Abdulsamad said capital spending, which goes for development and infrastructure projects, acounts for only 10 percent of all expenditures which is very low. Finance Minister Anas Al-Saleh said that between 2001 and 2013, public spending rose six-folds to around KD 19.3 billion, blaming a rapid rise in subsidies and wages for the increase. After passing the state budget, the National Assembly held the

6- What was the first thing that the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) said when he arrived to Medina?

- ‘Honor your kinship, and pray while people are KUWAIT: Dozens of people were saved from a fire that gut- asleep, you enter Heaven in peace.’ ted an apartment at a nine-storey building in Hawally Thursday. Firefighters and paramedics rushed to the scene in response to an emergency call made minutes before iftar Yes No time about a fire in a second-floor apartment. Firemen from the Hawally and Salmiya fire stations worked simultaneously to evacuate dozens of people who were trapped behind thick smoke, and tackle the blaze. Several people were treated for smoke inhalation onsite. —By Hanan Al-Saadoun LOCAL SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 Car mechanic brutally assaulted in Fahaheel Maid threatens to commit suicide

KUWAIT: A man was charged with attempt- Ingrate son KD300. Detectives are investigating. ed murder after he brutally assaulted a car Search is on for a teenager who physically mechanic over a dispute pertaining with his assaulted his mother when she did not grant Farwaniya fight performance. The incident took place in him permission to go to Failaka with his friends. Two men exchanged blows and stabs while Fahaheel where a man fixed his car at a The woman, a Kuwaiti in her forties, filed the fighting over a car parking spot in a Farwaniya mechanic, but came back hours later claim- case at the Qairawan police station. She told mall. Passersby called police who arrived and ing that the same malfunction returned. officers that her son went furious when she told sent the two to hospital under tight security. The two engaged in an altercation which him he could not go because she fears for his Meanwhile a citizen smashed the glasss of his evolved when the angry customer hit the safety. Investigations are ongoing. neighbor’s car because he parked the car in Egyptian mechanic with a metal object on front of his house. Police are investigating. his head. The victim went to the hospital Woman harassed and then to the police station to file a case A citizen had no respect for the holy month Hit and run against the suspect who had escaped the of Ramadan when he approached a woman Fahaheel detectives are on the hunt for the scene, according to his statements. and urged her to commit vice acts during day driver of a 4WD vehicle who caused the delay of time at a mall in Kuwait City and forcing her to a citizen and her three daughters from arriving Suicide attempt accept his phone number. The woman then at an Iftar party they were invited to, because he A domestic worker attempted to com- went to Sharq police station and filed a com- hit their car shortly before sunset and drove off. mit suicide after her employer denied her plaint saying that the man chased her while she A security source said the woman told police request to travel to her home country, was shopping, harassed her and did not leave that while she was driving with her daughters according to her statements. Police had until she accepted the phone number. Police on Fahaheel road she was surprised by a 4WD headed to a building in Farwaniya where a are investigating. hitting her car. The woman gave police the man reported that his housemaid threat- license plate number, as detectives are investi- ened to jump from the window of her room Road accident gating. inside his third-floor apartment. The A Syrian expat was run over by a car driven Nepalese woman had asked her employer by an Indian expat in Salhiya area. The Syrian Jahra harasser for permission to leave immediately, but was crossing the road when he was hit by the Jahra police arrested a loafer who was the sponsor told her to postpone her plans car and sustained fractures and critical injuries. harassing women in a mall. A security source until after Ramadan. Police were able to He was rushed to Amiri hospital for treatment. said police operations received several calls negotiate the maid out of her suicide plans, about a young man who frequents a Jahra mall then escorted her to the Farwaniya police Woman held harassing women, so police went to the mall station where she was charged with Ahmadi police patrols sent an Arab woman and arrested him. attempted suicide. to immigration detectives after catching her while begging in Fahaheel market. A security Family dispute Child negligence source said the woman was seen by policemen Three men in Adan Hospital attempted to A child was hospitalized with burn who checked her identification and found out keep a man from beating a girl in Adan Hospital injuries after his leg was exposed to boiled that she is an Arab expat. She was arrested and parking lot, without realizing that the girl is the KUWAIT: Firefighters put out a fire at a bridge located water inside his house in Fahad Al-Ahmad sent to detectives for further action. man’s daughter. A security source said the three at the new Jahra Road project on the Fourth Ring Road area. The seven-year-old’s parents rushed were heading towards the hospital when they Thursday night. Firemen from Shuwaikh and him to the Adan Hospital where he was Salmiya robbery saw the man beating the girl prompting them Sulaibikhat stations were dispatched to the scene after diagnosed with severe burn injuries on his An Egyptian woman was robbed while in to try and stop him, but a fight ensued and right thigh and leg. The parents told offi- a Salmiya by an unknown man who blows were exchanged. Onlookers called police the fire was reported. They were able to control the cers that a kettle fell on his leg accidently, snatched her purse and ran away. The victim who took them all to the police station for ques- blaze which completely destroyed a wooden scaffold. after which they were told to report to the said she was approached by a man while she tioning, where it was found out that the girl is No injuries were reported. —By Hanan Al-Saadoun area’s police station to face negligence was in a Salmiya mall and snatched her purse the man’s daughter and he was beating her charges. which contained Civil ID card, ATM card and because of a family dispute. No increase in minimum GPA for scholarships KUWAIT: Kuwait’s acting education minister overruled a decision to increase the minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) that qualifies high school graduates to apply for scholarships paid by the state. Ministry officials had previously agreed to increase the GPA to 78 percent for arts sector graduates, and 80 percent for science sector graduates. KUWAIT: NBK’s tent near the Grand Mosque. Dr Abdulmuhsen Al-Medej, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Acting Minister of Education and Higher Education, canceled the decision during a meeting with Ministry of NBK distributes more than Higher Education officials Thursday, and reverted the minimum to 75 percent for both sectors, Al-Qabas reported. Nearly 28,000 high school students graduated this year, 1000 iftar banquets daily raising concerns that the government might struggle to find places for all graduates to enter the overcrowded KU or the KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) distributes “The distribution scale and range of Al-Watani state’s scholarship program. But a senior academic said that daily Iftar banquets during the Holy month of Iftar banquets this year also include distributing the plan taken so far means that an admission crisis is unlikely Ramadan at NBK’s tent held near the Grand Mosque thousands of fast-breaking meals via special convoys this year. as part of NBK “Do Good Deeds in the Holy month of to numerous mosques, strategic and crowded loca- “The KU allocated seats for 8,000 new students, while the Ramadan” campaign. tions in Kuwait. A large number of NBK staff volun- Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) Talal Al-Turki, NBK public relations officer said: teers, will be ready to serve the fasters”, Al-Turki said. allocated 10,000 seats,” said Dr Ahmad Al-Athari, the General “NBK Iftar banquets, an annual NBK philanthropic tra- “By ‘Doing Good Deeds’ NBK hopes to encourage Director of the PAAET. “[The Ministry of Higher Education] dition and a landmark activity within the bank’s cor- a greater sense of community and charity during allocated 4,000 for internal scholarships, and 6,000 for scholar- porate social responsibility, acquire much more Ramadan and encourages its customers and staff to ships outside.” momentum this year distributing more than 1000 participate by ‘doing good deeds’ all month long”, “This is an indication that the capacity is sufficient for this Talal Al-Turki Iftar banquets.” Al-Turki concluded. year,” he said.

SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 India nurses in Iraq Cameron’s ex-aide Coulson Reporter from Philippines conflict ‘to be freed’ 8 jailed in UK hacking case 10 wins AFP’s Kate Webb Prize 12

SULAIMANIYAH: In this Thursday, July 3, 2014 photo, an elite unit of women Kurdish Peshmerga fighters train in Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles (260 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq. Some Kurdish women living in Northern Iraq are training to be peshmerga, as the self-ruled Kurdish region’s militia is known, to fight against the imminent threat of Islamic militants and to protect their land. —AP Iraq cleric rebukes lawmakers over disunity ‘The goal of change demands sacrifice’

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s top Shiite cleric chastised parliament yesterday for fail- tion of a possible third term for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. government wants to incorporate. ing to unite in the face of a jihadist-led blitz that threatens to break up Seen as sectarian and divisive by many, the Shiite premier points to the country, and urged lawmakers to quickly form a government. his huge popular mandate after his State of Law coalition dominated Freedom for nurses A top Sunni leader backed away from his bid to become speaker of April’s parliamentary elections. But his bid for re-election was dealt a Yesterday, meanwhile, 46 Indian nurses who have been trapped in parliament when it reconvenes next week, a move that could break the blow by Osama al-Nujaifi, who held the speaker’s position in the previous Iraq by the crisis were freed and were to return to their homeland. deadlock after a farcical opening session that dampened hopes Iraq’s parliament and announced he would not seek a new tenure. The nurses, who were working at a hospital in Saddam’s hometown fractious politicians could close ranks in a time of crisis. The complex game of alliances being played over Iraq’s top three of Tikrit when the offensive began last month, were later transferred by And in a rare piece of good news in the weeks since jihadist-led mili- posts means that, although the two men are rivals, Nujaifi’s withdrawal is anti-government fighters to the insurgent-held city of Mosul before final- tants overran swathes of territory, 46 Indian nurses caught up in the con- seen as removing a key obstacle to Maliki’s ouster. ly being released yesterday. That issue, along with the capture of 39 oth- flict were freed and headed home. With parliament next due to meet “The goal of change demands sacrifice, and I am willing to do this for er Indian workers in Mosul, left Indian authorities scrambling to secure Tuesday, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani criticised lawmakers for failing to the sake of my nation, its people and the future of my country,” said their release and their fate is the first foreign crisis for new right-wing pick a speaker at this week’s opening session, which saw MPs trade Nujaifi, long a virulent critic and rival of the premier. Prime Minister Narendra Modi. threats before walking out. But in a sign of still-persistent divisions, Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud On the ground, Iraqi forces were struggling to break the stalemate. “The failure to elect a head of parliament and their deputies before it Barzani called Thursday on his autonomous region’s lawmakers to speed Security forces entered Awja, Saddam’s birthplace, after fierce clashes adjourned was a regrettable failure,” Sistani’s spokesman Ahmed al-Safi up work on an independence referendum. but the government had yet to reclaim the nearby city of Tikrit despite a said during a Friday prayer sermon in Karbala. Washington reacted coolly to that, with White House spokesman more than week-long offensive. “The speeding up of forming a government within the constitutional Josh Earnest saying the United States continues “to believe that Iraq is The cost of the conflict has been high for Iraq’s forces. Nearly 900 framework with wide national consensus is of the utmost importance,” stronger if it is united.” security personnel were among 2,400 people killed in June, the highest Safi added. He was echoing earlier remarks from UN envoy Nickolay US Vice President Joe Biden met Barzani’s chief of staff and stressed figure in years, according to the United Nations. Mladenov, who warned that a failure to form a government would lead the “importance of forming a new government in Iraq that will pull Meanwhile, US leaders have contacted Iraqi players and widened to “Syria-like chaos.” together all communities” to combat the Islamic State (IS), the group efforts to convince key regional leaders to help resolve Iraq’s political Octogenarian Sistani is revered by Iraq’s Shiite majority and his leading the insurgent drive, the White House said. chaos, putting in calls to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah and Turkish Prime stature dwarfs that of any single politician. The Kurds’ long-held statehood dream, which Baghdad opposes, has Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. been advanced by one of Iraq’s worst political and security crises since On Wednesday, Maliki made an amnesty offer apparently aimed at Blow to Maliki the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. splitting the broad alliance of jihadists, Saddam loyalists and anti-govern- Deputies need to choose a speaker and then elect a president before Kurdish forces have moved in to take control of the disputed north- ment tribes waging the offensive, later expanding it to include officers they can move on to the formation of a government, and the key ques- ern city of Kirkuk and a swathe of surrounding territory that the regional from Saddam’s armed forces. —AFP INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 India nurses in Iraq conflict ‘to be freed’

BAGHDAD: A group of 46 Indian nurses trapped in Iraq are to He said that the group was separate from another 39 been caught up in the unrest in Iraq, where some 10,000 be freed, one of them told AFP yesterday, in a rare piece of Indian workers being held in Mosul, Iraq’s second-biggest city Indian expatriates are working. positive news in a crisis threatening “Syria-like chaos”. and the first to fall in an offensive that has overrun swathes of The country’s foreign ministry last month announced it The nurses, who were working at a hospital in Saddam territory north and west of Baghdad. would stop granting its nationals permission to travel to Iraq Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit when a swift jihadist-led offen- The father of one of the nurses, Chakiriyamthadathil for work, while it advised those travelling for other purposes sive began last month, are currently being held in the militant- Joseph from southern Kerala state, reported that five of the to cancel their plans. Along with the Indian workers caught up held city of Mosul. women had sustained minor injuries while being moved from in the violence, dozens of Turkish nationals have also been They are expected to move to the Kurdish regional capital Tikrit to Mosul due to an explosion. seized. More than 30 Turkish truck drivers were freed on Arbil where Indian officials are waiting to receive them and fly Thursday after three weeks in captivity, but a separate group them home. The abductions, along with the capture of 39 oth- ‘Not to worry’ of almost 50 Turks seized in an attack on the Turkish consulate er Indian workers in Mosul, have left Indian authorities scram- “She told us not to worry and asked us to pray,” Joseph in Mosul last month remain in captivity. bling to secure their release and their fate is the first foreign told AFP, saying he had spoken to his daughter on her mobile Militants led by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group crisis for the new right-wing government of Prime Minister phone late on Thursday which she had hidden from her cap- launched a lightning offensive on June 9, and swiftly took con- Narendra Modi. “Some here... they are saying... we will go to tors. The father of a second nurse called Shruti S. Nair, like trol of large chunks of five provinces, sparking a crisis that has Arbil,” Tincy Thomas, one of the nurses, told AFP by telephone, Joseph from the Kottayam district of Kerala, said that his alarmed world leaders. adding that the group had recently been moved to Mosul daughter was unharmed and the women had been treated Iraqi security forces wilted in the face of the initial from Tikrit, where their ordeal began on June 11. well. A spokesman for the Indian foreign ministry, confirming onslaught but have since performed more capably, albeit with An Indian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, the nurses were changing location on Thursday, denied there mixed results in offensive operations. said the group were expected later on Friday in Arbil, which is had been a bomb blast but said some of them had sustained More than 2,000 people were killed as a result of last a short drive from Mosul but has been insulated from the minor injuries from broken glass. month’s violence, with the militant onslaught displacing hun- unrest. The diplomat said that a team of Indian government Neither of the nurses’ fathers was available for comment dreds of thousands of people and putting pressure on Prime officials were waiting to receive them in Iraq’s autonomous after news broke that the women were to be released. Minister Nuri al-Maliki. UN special envoy Nickolay Mladenov Kurdish region, and that arrangements were being made to fly The Indian foreign ministry also declined to comment on has warned that if Iraq does not follow its constitutional politi- the nurses back to India. the news. India estimates that around 120 of its nationals have cal process, it risks descending into “Syria-like chaos”. — AFP Al Jazeera faces conservative backlash after Arab Spring Perceived backing for Brotherhood riles Gulf Arabs

DOHA: Al Jazeera, the Qatari-funded televi- that had empowered the Muslim the channel’s sister “Live” and “Egypt” stations sion station whose reporting of the 2011 Arab Brotherhood. have continued to beam live streams of Spring uprisings won it millions of viewers in Added to that, Al Jazeera’s image as cham- Brotherhood protests and broadcast call-in the Middle East, is defiant following a back- pion of the underdog changed over the shows whose participants inevitably back lash by Arab governments that accuse it of course of the Arab Spring, when its coverage ousted president Mursi. supporting Islamists. drew charges from some viewers that the net- On June 23, three Al Jazeera journalists work was supporting the Brotherhood over New media ventures JERUSALEM: Israeli border police officers check the identifi- were sentenced by an Egyptian court for up to other opposition groups working to topple Qatar is also trying its hand at media diver- cation card of a Palestinian woman on her way to Jerusalem 10 years in jail for aiding a “terrorist organisa- authoritarian rulers in Tunisia, Egypt and sification. The Gulf state plans to open a through the Qalandia security checkpoint, on the outskirts tion” - a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood Libya. Al Jazeera says its coverage is even London-based news channel called Al Araby, of the West Bank city of Ramallah, yesterday. — AP that helped sweep Hosni Mubarak from pow- handed. “I’ve stopped watching Al Jazeera industry sources have said. A source involved er in 2011 only to be ousted itself last year in given the fact it no longer tells its viewers the in the project said the outlet will give voice to an army-backed coup. truth. It’s sowing trouble and inciting destruc- “all those who support the Arab Spring revo- Israel on high alert The ruling reflected the misfortunes of the tion in the Arab world,” said Mohamed Semai, lutions”. Muslim Brotherhood - in retreat across much a shopkeeper in Algiers. Efforts to build a market in the United for slain Palestinian of the Middle East after the Arab Spring Al Jazeera’s troubles came to a head in States have faltered, however. Al Jazeera turned into sectarian war - and was equally a Egypt, after army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi America was launched in August 2013, with teen funeral blow to Al Jazeera and its patron Qatar. They toppled Mohamed Mursi of the Brotherhood 12 bureaus in major cities around the country. are under pressure in countries such as Egypt, following protests against his rule last year. Failure to capture a sizeable US audience led JERUSALEM: Israeli police flooded east Jerusalem ahead of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Souag said the network’s offices were fre- to cost and job cuts, according to sources the funeral of a Palestinian teenager believed killed by Israelis Emirates that are intent on crushing the quently attacked by “thugs” and authorities close to Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera America is aver- and the first Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Muslim Brotherhood and accuse Qatar and Al eventually forced them to shut in July 2013 aging just 15,000 viewers, roughly half those Ramadan. Jazeera of promoting the group’s activities. after Mursi was ousted. Sisi was elected presi- who tuned in to its predecessor, Current TV, Mohammed Abu Khder, 16, who was kidnapped and found The journalists denied the Egyptian charge dent in May. Despite the closure and arrests, according to Nielsen. — Reuters dead Wednesday, was to be buried in east Jerusalem’s and the verdict was denounced by press freedom advocates. Al Jazeera said there wasn’t “a Shuafat neighbourhood after the midday (0900 GMT) prayers, shred of evidence” against its staff and they with tensions running high after two straight days of violence. had been convicted for “defending people’s Israeli commanders meanwhile waited to see if a series of right to know what is going on in their world.” statements by Israeli leaders promising to “meet quiet with The channel says it provides objective cover- quiet” would bring a halt to the latest flare-up of violence on age of all opposition groups. “Al Jazeera’s edi- the Gaza border. torial policy is not a subject to be bargained Media reports spoke of a possible truce in the making after about or compromised on and we’ll never do a week of militant rocket fire into southern Israel and retaliato- this now and there’s no discussion about this,” ry air strikes against Gaza. There were no official statements Mostefa Souag, the network’s acting director from Israel or its Hamas foe in Gaza and the army reported general, told Reuters. The channel, Souag said that four rockets and two mortar rounds were fired at Israel in an interview, is under pressure from author- yesterday morning. Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system ities in several places because “it is the most intercepted one of the rockets, and the other projectiles hit transparent, balanced and unbiased of all open ground. The Jerusalem Post quoted “a senior security Arab channels”. source” as saying that it would become clear during Friday if Founded in 1996 as part of Qatari efforts to Hamas was ready for a ceasefire. turn economic power into political influence, “We’ll see what the bottom line is,” the source said. Al Jazeera has often adopted the role of sup- “Whether Hamas understands our message within 24 hours.” porter of the dispossessed. News website Ynet quoted a senior security source as say- Brotherhood can’t be ignored ing: “The ball is in Hamas’s court. We told Hamas that quiet From 2011 until last year, Al Jazeera and its will be answered with quiet and that if there is no quiet, they Gulf benefactor Qatar looked set to benefit ISTANBUL: Internally displaced Iraqis, fleeing violence notably in Tikrit or in will suffer a very hard blow.” from the new Arab order. But a power-sharing the Anbar and Diyala provinces, wait near their luggage before boarding buses Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim told AFP “Hamas is not agreement in Tunisia, where the Arab Spring to travel to Istanbul in Turkey, yesterday in the northern oil hub city of Kirkuk. interested in an escalation or war in Gaza, but at the same began, a military-backed takeover in Egypt Fighting is raging in Iraq following a lightning offensive this month by jihadists time it is not possible for it to remain silent on the continued and a loss on the battlefield to extreme from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and other militants that has killed aggression against Gaza and the West Bank.” —AFP Islamist forces in Syria, rolled back triumphs more than 1,000 people and displaced tens of thousands. — AFP INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

Tensions simmer in riot-hit Myanmar city

MANDALAY: Police patrolled tense damaging property. local bicycle shop owner, was held stoking religious tensions, while the streets in Myanmar’s second-largest city “The violence happened because of Thursday, hours after he was killed while security forces have been accused of yesterday as anger and disbelief rippled hate speech and misinformation spread on his way to attend early morning failing to prevent attacks. through violence-hit communities fol- online,” an official from the president’s prayers. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi lowing deadly Buddhist-Muslim clashes office, who asked not to be named, told Kari Hasan, the head of nearby blamed the authorities for the worsen- that raised fears of spreading unrest. AFP. Shaeshaung mosque, said the Muslim ing violence and warned of the dangers Calm returned to Mandalay after the He said the situation was now under community had become a target of hate of unsubstantiated reports. city was placed under curfew Thursday control and the government so far had speech and had been let down by the “The authorities should properly han- to quell violence that saw mobs wield- no specific plan to tackle inflammatory authorities. “If something happens they dle those people who are spreading ing airguns, swords, rocks and other remarks posted on the Internet. Friends suddenly say it is because of Islam. With rumours. Without rule of law, more riots weapons go on a rampage, leaving one and relatives of the Buddhist man killed the new government we expected good will come,” she told Radio Free Asia, Buddhist and one Muslim dead. on Wednesday, a 36-year-old father of things but we only get bad things,” he according to remarks posted on the It was the latest in a string of deadly three, expressed their shock and out- said. broadcaster’s website. religious clashes that have plagued the rage as they prepared to hold his funer- In a monthly radio address broadcast former junta-run nation for two years, al. Fears of more riots this week, Myanmar’s reformist prompting warnings that the country’s “He was like a brother to me,” said Sectarian clashes have left at least President Thein Sein said the country fragile transition to democracy could be Htwe, who was with the dead man on 250 people dead and tens of thousands was a “multi-racial and -religious nation” imperilled. the night of the attack. He showed AFP displaced since fighting first broke out that could only maintain stability if peo- Violence broke out on Tuesday after injuries on his hand that he said were in western Rakhine state in 2012. ple live “harmoniously”. an accusation of a rape of a Buddhist slash marks from a “sword” used by a Most of the victims of the violence “For the reform to be successful, I woman by two Muslim men from a local group of Muslims to kill his friend. have been Muslim and clashes have would like to urge all to avoid instiga- tea shop was spread on the Internet, “I will hold a grudge for the rest of often erupted as a result of rumours or tion and behaviour that incite hatred prompting a crowd of hundreds to gath- my life,” he said of the attack. A funeral individual criminal acts. among our fellow citizens,” he said, er near the business, hurling stones and for the dead Muslim man, a popular Radical monks have been accused of according to an official transcript. —AFP Ukraine agrees to crisis talks with rebels, Russia Military claim of control over most of conflict zone KIEV: Ukraine’s embattled new leader February ouster of a pro-Kremlin admin- both pressed Putin on Thursday to make agreed yesterday to immediate crisis istration and fuelled by Russia’s subse- sure the separatists attend the next talks with rebel commanders and Russia quent seizure of Crimea. Nearly three meeting. aimed at stemming the bloodshed that months of guerrilla warfare has killed Poroshenko’s decision to propose has threatened his country’s survival more than 460 people and left Western the next discussions for today followed and ruptured East-West ties. leaders frustrated by repeated media- yet another telephone exchange with Clashes in the economically-vital bor- tion failures. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and der regions of Lugansk and Donetsk But the ongoing low-scale warfare on French President Francois Hollande. HONG KONG: This photo taken on July 3, 2014 and have picked up with renewed vigour the European Union’s eastern frontier The Ukrainian leader then told EU provided to AFP yesterday by the Hong Kong news- since Ukrainian President Petro has also unified the West in its biggest foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton paper South China Morning Post shows lawmaker Poroshenko tore up a 10-day ceasefire pushback to date against Putin’s seem- that he had “proposed a place and time Wong Yuk-man (top-2nd R) being restrained as he for the meeting and is waiting the other throws a glass in the direction of Hong Kong Chief party’s confirmation.” Executive Leung Chun-ying (far L) during a question Kiev has balked at the idea of holding another round-table in rebel-held and answer session at the Legislative Council Donetsk-a location in which Moscow (Legco) chamber in Hong Kong as other lawmakers carries widespread influence. (R) protest by holding up placards. —AFP A source at the Organisation and Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) a Vienna-based body first Organisers of formed to preserve peace in the Cold War era and now leading the nascent Hong Kong peace talks-said Donetsk remained the most likely venue for the so-called Contact Group discussion. rally arrested But the number two man in the Donetsk rebel cabinet told Interfax that HONG KONG: Police yesterday arrested the organisers of he had been told that Kiev had rejected Hong Kong’s biggest pro-democracy rally since the city was the city for security reasons and was handed back to China, sparking outrage from campaigners LUHANSKAYA: In this photo taken on Tuesday, July 2, 2014, Olga, who instead proposing the Belarus capital who denounced the “political suppression”. gave only her first name cries as a local man tries to help her, as they walk Minsk. Five members of the Civil Human Rights Front, including its together from her burnt house after a Ukrainian Government forces convener, were arrested three days after the march, which the group said mobilised half a million people to voice anger at airstrike in Luhanskaya village near Luhansk, eastern Ukraine. —AP Russia as ‘junior partner’ The United States has preferred not Beijing’s ever-tightening grip on Hong Kong. earlier this week. ing attempt to reassert command over to play a direct role in the negotiations “They are making arrests even though we have had such a His decision on Monday was immedi- former Soviet lands. this time around after its decision to peaceful procession,” the group’s convener Johnson Yeung ately followed by the launch of a “mas- Russia now faces the threat of devas- send senior diplomats during the winter said after two of his colleagues were picked from their homes sive” offensive by Kiev that led President tating economic sanctions should Putin protests in Kiev enraged the Kremlin. on Friday morning. Vladimir Putin to warn that Russia has fail to explicitly order the militias to lay Obama has had regular phone calls “This isn’t about any one reason, this is about political sup- the right to protect its compatriots in down their arms. with European heads of state and Putin pression,” he told reporters before surrendering to police with Ukraine. France and Germany-still hoping to himself that underscored his concern two others from the group. Police did not immediately com- The head of Ukraine’s national securi- avoid new punitive steps that would about Russia’s expansionist threat, but ment on the arrests. ty and defence council said government damage their own economies-have Washington’s long-distance approach But the group’s vice convener Icarus Wong told AFP that forces had regained control over 23 of spearheaded efforts to set up new has done little to appease Moscow. they were arrested on frivolous charges including “obstruc- the conflict zone’s 36 local regions. But European-mediated discussions that “The United States believes that it tion of police duties” during the largely peaceful rally. A Hong the military also reported the loss of would bring Poroshenko’s envoys into won the Cold War and that Russia-a suc- Kong lawmaker on Thursday hurled a glass of water at the nine soldiers in the latest overnight rare contact with the rebel command. cessor to the Soviet Union-lost,” Deputy city’s Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, expressing anger over exchanges of mortar fire. US President Barack Obama and Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told his perceived silence on the July 1 rally, television footage The uprising was sparked by the British Foreign Secretary William Hague Moscow’s Kommersant daily. —AFP showed.—AFP INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

Australian police charge woman for ‘racist’ train rant SYDNEY: Australian police have charged fucking bogan children off the seat”, the YouTube by a passenger on Wednesday, that woman, I do agree”. a woman for racially abusing passengers mother, Jade Marr, told the Newcastle had been viewed more than 250,000 “There’s no excuse to rant at people on a train after a video recording her tirade Herald. times by Friday morning and attracted like that,” she said. “It’s awful and I was posted online and went viral, sparking “It was unbelievable to think some- almost 1,000 comments. wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, a social media backlash. body would say those things and act like Most of the comments criticised Bailey regardless of any race.” Bailey initially gave The 55-year-old, named by Australian that,” Marr said. The Australian slang term for her outburst, although several were her name as Sue Wilkins to passengers media as Karen Bailey, was arrested late “bogan” roughly translates as “trashy”. supportive of her remarks. Australia’s Race and some media outlets once the video of Thursday after allegedly launching an Bailey then turned her attention to other Discrimination Commissioner Tim her rant went viral. expletive-filled rant at young children and passengers as they filmed her outburst, Soutphommasane said on Twitter that The incident came two years after a an Asian woman during a Sydney train telling a man beside an Asian woman that “there is no excuse for acts of racial insult, French-speaking woman singing on a journey. “he can’t even get a regular girlfriend, he’s humiliation and intimidation”. Melbourne bus was told by a man to New South Wales police said she was got to get a gook”. “When confronted with such conduct, “speak English or die” in another video charged with offensive language and will The term gook is a disparaging term to everyone should consider a response, posted on the Internet that went viral. appear in court later this month. describe Asians. Bailey also mocked the including reporting it to a relevant authori- Two Chinese students were burned, Bailey started to scream at two children Asian woman’s accent and pulled back her ty,” he wrote. Bailey told media group beaten and racially abused on a Sydney aged seven and 10 after she boarded the eyes to ridicule her features. Ninemsn she was having a “really, really train in the same year, sparking an uproar train, telling their mother to “getting your The video, which was posted on rotten day” and “it’s awful what I said to on China’s social media sites. —AFP

Nigerian soldiers block roads, burn buses in Lagos protest LAGOS: Nigerian soldiers blocked roads, fired shots into the air and burned several buses in Lagos yesterday after a soldier was killed in a bus accident, an episode residents said recalled the country’s former military dictatorship. Nigeria has been a democracy since shortly after the death of military ruler Sani Abacha 1998, but rights groups say abuses and indiscipline by its troops remain a problem, especially in the remote northeast, where an Islamist insurgency threatens stability across Africa’s largest economy and top oil producer. “The rampaging soldiers already burnt five ... buses,” Femi Oke- Osanyitolu, director general of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for Lagos state, told Reuters by telephone, calling it “barbaric and uncivilised.” There were no deaths or injuries in the incident, he said. The soldiers, he said, were reacting to the killing of one of their number who was hit by a bus while riding a motorcycle. Nigerian bus drivers have a reputation for reckless driving, although it was not clear whose fault the accident was. “The governor of the state is currently talking with the superior officers of the army to restore order within the area,” around Ikorodu Road, on the sprawling Lagos mainland, Oke-Osanyitoluhe said. The defence spokesman did not immediately comment on the sol- LONDON: Andy Coulson, (C) a former top aide to British Prime Minister David Cameron, arrives at the Old diers’ behaviour. Disturbances continued for several hours from the Bailey in central London, ahead of his expected sentencing in the phone-hacking trial, yesterday. —AFP morning into the afternoon. Local TV stations broadcast pictures of the buses up in flames. Twitter buzzed with comments from Lagos residents comparing it to the days of military dictatorship in the 1970s and UK PM’s ex-media chief jailed 80s. Then, Lagos was Nigeria’s capital and scenes of military indiscipline in its streets were commonplace - and well publicised in the songs of Afrobeat star Fela Kuti. “They were armed to the teeth, we are all afraid, for Murdoch tabloid hacking everybody was afraid of stray bullets because the soldiers were shooting sporadically (in the air) to scare away people,” Bunmi Ajayi, a pub- No one is above the law: Cameron lisher of children books who had to shut his office, said. Another witness, Segun Alabi, said soldiers were preventing buses LONDON: British Prime Minister David sentence was read out in a packed Court illegally intercept voicemails on mobile from passing through and confiscating and destroying people’s smart- Cameron’s former media chief Andy 12 at London’s Old Bailey court. phones, was the only one of seven defen- phones to prevent witnesses filming them. —Reuters Coulson was jailed for 18 months yester- “Mr Coulson ... has to take the major dants to be convicted following a long- day for encouraging widespread phone- blame for the phone hacking at the News running trial, one of the most expensive hacking by journalists to obtain scoops at of the World,” judge John Saunders said. of its kind in British legal history. the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid he “He knew about it and encouraged it Rebekah Brooks, his predecessor as edited. when he should have stopped it.” News of the World editor who later ran Coulson, editor of the now defunct The sentence was passed exactly three News Corp.’s British newspaper arm, was News of the World newspaper from 2003- years to the day that the Guardian news- among those found not guilty of phone- 2007, was convicted last week of conspir- paper published revelations that staff on hacking and other allegations. The two acy to intercept voicemails on mobile the paper had hacked into the voicemails had been lovers for part of the time they phones following a high-profile eight- of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler. worked together, according to testimony month trial at London’s Old Bailey court. That sparked widespread outrage that emerged during the trial. “What this says is that it’s right that across the country and prompted Three ex-senior journalists from the justice should be done and that no one is Murdoch to close the 168-year-old paper who pleaded guilty before the trial above the law,” said Cameron, who has tabloid just days later. It emerged that began were also sentenced on Friday. apologised for having hired Coulson. the newspaper had listened into mes- Assistant Editor Greg Miskiw and Chief Opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband sages of thousands of targets - from Reporter Neville Thurlbeck were given six has criticised Cameron for bringing a movie stars to crime victims to govern- months in jail, while one-time News “criminal into the heart of Downing ment ministers - to obtain information for Editor James Weatherup received a four Street”. scoops. month suspended prison sentence. ATHENS: Supporters of the far right Golden Dawn party The maximum sentence the 46-year- The judge said Coulson must have Glenn Mulcaire, a former private investi- wave flags and shout slogans outside the Athens Appeals old Coulson could have faced was two known about the failure of the paper to gator who had already gone to jail for earlier Court as a police van brings their jailed leader Nikos years but the judge said he had taken immediately tell police about Dowler’s hacking offences on behalf of the paper, Michaloliakos, his second-in-command Christos Pappas into account signs of good character out- voicemails, an act he described as “unfor- was given a six month suspended sentence and another MP, Yiannis Lagos, yesterday in Athens to side his career. givable”. after admitting further crimes including tap- defend themselves before the magistrates leading a probe Coulson showed no emotion as the Coulson, found guilty of conspiracy to ping Dowler’s phone. —Reuters into the neofascist party on additional charges. —AFP INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 Kurds seek independence referendum amid ‘chaos’

BAGHDAD: Iraqi Kurdish preparations for Josh Earnest saying that “we continue to be freed. The nurses, who were working at a Iraq’s forces. Nearly 900 security personnel an independence referendum met with believe that Iraq is stronger if it is united”. hospital in executed dictator Saddam were among 2,400 people killed in June, the frustration in Washington, which stressed “That is why the United States continues Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit when the mili- highest figure in years, according to the unity was essential to tackle a jihadist-led to support an Iraq that is democratic, plural- tant offensive began last month, are current- United Nations. onslaught that risks “Syria-like chaos”. In a istic and unified, and we are going to con- ly being held in the militant-held city of Meanwhile, Washington has contacted rare piece of positive news during the crisis, tinue to urge all parties in Iraq to continue Mosul. Iraqi players and widened efforts to con- however, a group of 46 Indian nurses working together toward that objective.” US An Indian diplomat, speaking on condi- vince key regional leaders to help resolve caught up in the conflict were to be freed, Vice President Joe Biden later met Barzani’s tion of anonymity, said the group was Iraq’s political chaos. President Barack one of them said. Iraqi Kurdish president chief of staff Fuad Hussein at the White expected later in Arbil, which is a short drive Obama called Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Massud Barzani told the autonomous House, and told the Kurdish delegation of from Mosul but has been insulated from the and Biden spoke to Iraq’s former parliament region’s parliament on Thursday that it the “importance of forming a new govern- unrest. The abductions, along with the cap- speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a prominent Sunni should make “preparations to begin to ment in Iraq that will pull together all com- ture of 39 other Indian workers in Mosul, left Arab. Biden also spoke about Iraq’s plight in organize a referendum on the right of self- munities” to combat the Islamic State (IS), Indian authorities scrambling to secure their a telephone call with Turkish Prime Minister determination”, but the US opposed the the group leading the insurgent drive, a release and their fate is the first foreign crisis Recep Tayyip Erdogan. move. White House statement said. Maliki on for the new right-wing government of Prime The top UN envoy in Iraq, Nickolay The prospect of an independent state is Wednesday said “no one has the right to Minister Narendra Modi. On the ground, Mladenov, told AFP the country faced a crisis made more attractive by what the Kurds say exploit the events that took place to impose Iraqi forces were struggling to break the akin to the devastating Syria conflict if politi- is Baghdad’s unwillingness to resolve the a fait accompli” and that the Kurds’ steps stalemate. Security forces entered Awja, cians allowed a total institutional collapse. “If issue of disputed territory and late and insuf- towards self-determination were unconsti- Saddam’s birthplace, after fierce clashes but Iraq does not follow its constitutional politi- ficient budget payments to the region. The tutional. the government had yet to reclaim the near- cal process, what is the alternative? It risks White House gave the Kurdish leader’s idea Yesterday, meanwhile, an Indian nurse by city of Tikrit despite a more than week- descending into a Syria-like chaos. And that for an independence referendum a cool told AFP that she and 45 colleagues who long offensive. is what people really need to understand, reception, with White House spokesman have been trapped in Iraq by the crisis are to The cost of the conflict has been high for very very quickly,” he said. —AFP The Prophet Muhammad’s Sermon about... Europe’s airports boost... Continued from Page 1 doesn’t hurt others during this month, Allah will safeguard him from His Wrath on the Day of Continued from Page 1 er airports in mainland France, as well as in Do repent to Allah for your sins and suppli- Judgment. Anyone who respects and treats an far-flung French territories such as Tahiti. A cate with raised hands at the times of prayer as orphan with kindness during this month, Allah The request was “based on real-time spokesman for the DGAC civil aviation these are the best times, during which Allah shall look at him with kindness on that Day. intelligence”, according to a US Homeland authority told AFP that “we cannot divulge Almighty looks at His servants with mercy. Allah Anyone who treats his kinsmen well during Security Department official, who spoke on the added measures” being taken. Answers if they supplicate, Responds if they call, this month, Allah will bestow His Mercy on him condition of anonymity. On Thursday, the However, Belgian Interior Minister Joelle Grants if He is asked, and Accepts if they entreat. on that Day, while anyone who mistreats his US embassy in Uganda warned of a possible Milquet, whose country is also stepping up O people! You have made your conscience kinsmen during this month, Allah will keep away the slave of your desires. Make it free by invoking from His Mercy. Whoever offers the recommend- plot targeting Entebbe airport, that serves airport security, told RTL-TVI on Thursday Allah for forgiveness. Your back may break from ed prayers during this month, Allah will save him the capital Kampala, for later that day. But the measures would focus on electronic the heavy load of your sins, so prostrate yourself from Hell, and whoever observes his obligations the danger period elapsed without incident. equipment such as tablets, computers and before Allah for long intervals, and make this during this month, his reward will be seventy mobile phones “to make sure there are no load lighter. Understand fully that Allah has times the reward during other months. Whoever Danger posed by Qaeda explosives”. Britain downplayed the extra promised in His Honor and Majesty that, people repeatedly invokes Allah’s blessings on me, Allah Western intelligence services are con- delays passengers would face, with Prime who perform prayer and prostration will be will keep his scale of good deeds heavy, while cerned that hundreds of Islamist radicals Minister David Cameron saying: “The safety guarded from Hellfire on the Day of Judgment. the scales of others will be tending to lightness. travelling from Europe to fight in the Middle of the travelling public must come first-we O people!, if anyone amongst you arranges Whoever recites during this month an ayah East could pose a security risk on their mustn’t take any risks.” for iftar (meal at sunset) for any believer, Allah (verse) of the Holy Quran, will get the reward of return. Most European passport-holders do His office said there was an “evolving will reward him as if he had freed a slave, and reciting the whole Quran in other months. O not need a visa to travel to the United threat” but declined to provide further Allah will forgive him his sins. A companion people! The gates of Paradise remain open dur- States. One of the radical organizations, Al- details. Although it implemented the addi- asked, “But not all of us have the means to do ing this month. Pray to your Lord that they may so.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied, not be closed for you. While the gates of Hell are Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), is of tional security from Thursday, Britain was “Keep yourself away from Hell-fire though it may closed, pray to your Lord that they never open particular concern. US and other intelli- keeping its international terror threat level consist of half a date or even some water if you for you. Satan has been chained; invoke your gence services believe AQAP is passing on unchanged at substantial, the third highest have nothing else.” Lord not to let him dominate you.” sophisticated bombmaking expertise to mil- grade out of five, where it has been since O people! Anyone who during this month itants fighting in Syria for use against July 2011. Passengers in Britain have long cultivates good manners, will walk over the Sirat - Courtesy of the TIES Center, the social and Western targets-most prominently, passen- faced tight security measures at airports fol- (bridge to Paradise) on the day when feet will educational hub for English Speaking Muslims ger aircraft. lowing high-profile threats, including a failed tend to slip. For anyone who during this month in Kuwait. For more information, please call “We have long-standing concern about attempt by British “shoe bomber” Richard eases the workload of his servants, Allah will 25231015/6 or e-mail [email protected] or terrorist groups trying to get undetected Reid to blow up a US-bound flight in 2001. make easy his accounting, and for anyone who visit www.tiescenter.net material onto planes,” a US intelligence offi- Experts say that if anyone could be cial said. AQAP “is always the group we behind the threat of a new generation of think about when we talk about unde- bombs, it was Ibrahim al-Asiri, a 32-year-old tectable bombs,” the official added. Brooke Saudi believed to be hiding out with AQAP Rogers, of the War Studies Department at in Yemen’s restive southern provinces. The King’s College London, said that for extrem- terror alert in Uganda further rattled nerves, ist groups, bringing down an aircraft was but it was not immediately clear if it was the “ultimate prize. If the attackers succeed, linked to the airport security boost. Airport it will be spectacular for them.” And “unfor- security across the world was greatly rein- tunately in aviation, it doesn’t take a big forced in the wake of the September 11, amount (of explosives) to make a boom,” 2001 attacks in the United States. — AFP said US air security expert Jeff Price. It was further tightened after the shoe- bomber plot, and when another attempt to Era of airport screening blow up “liquid bombs” on transatlantic France’s aviation authorities said in a flights was uncovered in 2006. A previous statement that its new security measures high-profile attempt by AQAP to blow up a “will be carried out in a way to limit as much US-bound plane failed on December 25, as possible inconvenience to passengers. 2009, when Nigerian Umar Farouk However delays are possible.” The stepped- Abdulmutallab tried to detonate explosives up screening is taking place at Charles de hidden in his underwear. The Detroit “under- KUWAIT: Security operatives ‘troublemakers’ holding unlicensed demonstration in Gaulle airport-which has 47 US-bound wear bomber” is now serving a life sentence Sabah Al-Nasser area on Thursday night. (See Page 2) — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat flights a day at this time of the year-and oth- in the United States. — AFP INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

Japan hits back over Beijing and Seoul WWII proposal

TOKYO: Japan yesterday hit back at China ing peace and cooperation in the region,” across Asia before and during World War defence and foreign policy stance. and South Korea, calling suggestions that he told reporters. II. While mainstream Japanese opinion China and South Korea were outraged they could jointly mark Tokyo’s wartime Both countries were the object of holds that the wartime government was in December last year when Abe paid wrongs “utterly unhelpful”, as tensions Japan’s imperialist aggression in the 20th culpable, a small but vocal tranche of the homage at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, over history shift alliances in East Asia. century and China’s state-run Xinhua political right-including Prime Minister which honours Japan’s war dead includ- The comments came after Chinese news agency cited Xi as saying Beijing Shinzo Abe-continues to cast doubt, ing several high-level officials executed President Xi Jinping and his South Korean and Seoul could “jointly hold memorial claiming the brothels were staffed by pro- for war crimes after World War II. Both opposite number Park Geun-Hye, during activities”. fessional prostitutes. This equivocation countries have also expressed disquiet summit talks on Thursday, reportedly dis- “Japan believes that such issues irritates Seoul, which sees it as symptom over Japan’s decision this week to expand cussed joining forces for the 70th anniver- should not be treated as diplomatic of Japan’s lack of penitence. the scope of its military, allowing for the sary next year of Japan’s defeat in World issues,” Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio The China-South Korean summit came first time troops to fight on behalf of an War II. Kishida told reporters in Tokyo after sug- after Beijing began publishing what it said ally under attack. At a regular press conference in Tokyo, gestions Beijing and Seoul could also co- were the “confessions” of 45 convicted South Korea and Japan are the two key Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga ordinate research into wartime sex slav- Japanese war criminals. US military allies in the region, and some said such moves were divisive. “Any ery. Around 200,000 women, mainly from China regularly accuses Japan of fail- observers have pointed to the possibility attempt by China and South Korea to Korea but also from China, Taiwan and ing to face up to its history of aggression that Beijing is keen to exploit a rift coordinate in picking apart past history Indonesia among others, were forced to in Asia, criticism that has intensified under between them to help counter US unnecessarily and making it an interna- work in brothels as “comfort women”, Abe, who won elections in December President Barack Obama’s strategic “piv- tional issue is utterly unhelpful for build- serving imperial troops as Japan stomped 2012 and has advocated a more muscular ot” to Asia. — AFP Philippine senator arrested over massive graft scandal Third member of 24-seat senate to be arrested

MANILA: Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, one of the Philippines’ most powerful politicians, was arrested yesterday over a massive corruption scandal that has shocked the country. The 90-year-old ex-defence secretary, senate president, and mar- tial-law enforcer of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos surrendered MANILA: This picture taken on July 3, 2014 shows multimedia journalist to police to stand trial on charges Patricia Evangelista working at a computer in Manila. Evangelista has won the of taking nearly $4 million in kick- Agence France-Presse Kate Webb Prize for her compelling reporting on con- backs from illegally diverted state flict and disaster in her native Philippines, AFP announced yesterday. — AFP funds. “We’re just hoping for the best... Reporter from Philippines Hopefully they will be able to provide for the needs of a 90-year- old,” his son Jack Enrile told ABS- wins AFP’s Kate Webb Prize CBN television. The network broadcast live MANILA: Multimedia journalist Patricia be formally presented at a ceremony later footage as the Enrile clan rode a Evangelista has won the Agence France- this year. The prize is named after New convoy of sports utility vehicles Presse Kate Webb Prize for her compelling Zealander Kate Webb, one of AFP’s finest though traffic to bring the patri- reporting on conflict and disaster in her correspondents, who died in 2007 at the arch from his Manila mansion to native Philippines, AFP announced yester- age of 64. Webb earned a reputation as a the national police headquarters. day. The award recognises exceptional fearless reporter while covering wars and Police cordoned off his vehicle journalism in dangerous or difficult condi- other historic events in Asia during a as the wealthy senator stepped out tions, and Evangelista, 28, produced an career spanning four decades. and walked into a police building, impressive body of work on two of the To honour Webb’s career and her pas- an AFP photographer saw. Southeast Asian nation’s most brutal sion for supporting journalists in Asia, the Enrile is the third member of events of 2013. prize recognises work by locally hired the 24-seat senate to be arrested in QUEZON CITY: Former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, sec- Evangelista spent a month reporting journalists in the region. a case that has staggered the ond left, is helped to a waiting ambulance after undergoing pro- from fishing and farming communities “Kate Webb was a journalist who stood nation, in which dozens of law- cessing at the Philippine National Police upon his surrender on devastated by Super Typhoon Haiyan, the for the voiceless at the centre of conflict makers, their staff and other offi- corruption charges yesterday at Camp Crame at suburban most powerful storm ever recorded on and disaster. Journalism is its own reward, cials are accused of embezzling Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines. — AP land that killed more than 7,000 people in but I’m honoured to be considered in my millions of dollars alloted for devel- Enrile, “considering his age and Napoles is spreading false informa- November. own way to have served her tradition,” opment projects. She travelled to the disaster zones of Evangelista said. his health”, will now ask to be tion to deflect blame. Senators Jose Estrada-son of a detained in a hospital instead of a Aquino spokeswoman Abigail the central Philippines only weeks after “It was a team effort. I couldn’t have former president-and Ramon returning from covering a 21-day stand- done this without the directors, photogra- police cell, his lawyer Enrique de la Valte described the arrests as “a Revilla, also an action film star, Cruz said. The case erupted last step forward in discerning the off between the military and Muslim phers and editors who helped produce were both arrested last month rebels in Zamboanga in the south of the the body of work.” year when businesswoman Janet truth” in the scandal. Aquino came after being charged, like Enrile, country in which more than 200 people Webb’s brother, Jeremy Webb, said Napoles was accused of colluding to power in a landslide election with “plunder”. died. “Patricia is deserving of this award Evangelista’s moving video and text story- with lawmakers to embezzle about victory in 2010, pledging to sweep The three were among dozens because, like Kate Webb, she has made it telling stood out in a strong field of con- 10 billion pesos from legislators’ away massive corruption that he indicted earlier this year in her mission to cover dangerous and diffi- tenders for the prize. “pork barrel” funds, or money for blames for the Philippines’ stub- President Benigno Aquino’s high- cult stories with a balanced, nuanced eye “Her skill is both in her sophisticated their pet projects. bornly high levels of poverty. profile anti-corruption campaign. and astonishing courage,” said Gilles simplicity of the storyline and in her abili- Napoles initially denied any Considered by many a consum- Enrile was accused of pocketing Campion, AFP’s regional director for the ty to let her interviewees dominate your wrongdoing, then in a failed effort mate political survivor, then- 172 million pesos ($3.95 million) in Asia-Pacific. attention with simple moving narratives,” to turn state witness gave prosecu- defence minister Enrile turned public funds that were allegedly “This was exemplified by her coverage Webb said. tors a list implicating more than against Marcos in 1986 to spark a of Haiyan’s destruction and the The prize is administered by the AFP diverted to ghost projects, a crime 100 lawmakers. She has also been bloodless “people power” revolt Zamboanga conflict.” Evangelista, who Foundation-a non-profit organisation set punishable life imprisonment. The charged with plunder. that ended the dictator’s 20-year works for Philippine news portal Rappler up to promote press freedom through court rejected Enrile’s request for Two of those on the list are now rule and ushered Aquino’s late and Esquire magazine, will receive a training journalists in developing coun- bail, court official Dennis Pulma members of the Aquino cabinet, mother, Corazon Aquino, into the 3,000-euro ($4,100) prize. The award will tries-and the Webb family. —AFP told reporters. but they deny the charges and say presidency. — AFP INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 US grounds entire F-35 fleet pending engine inspections

WASHINGTON: The US military said it had The Pentagon said US and industry officials Pentagon’s costliest weapons program, the inspect all engines in the fleet. Spokesman Jay grounded the entire fleet of 97 Lockheed Martin had not pinpointed the cause of the fire, which $398.6 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. It fol- DeFrank said it would be inappropriate to com- Corp F-35 fighter jets until completion of addi- occurred as a pilot was preparing for takeoff. lowed an in-flight oil leak that triggered manda- ment further since the incident was the subject tional inspections of the warplane’s single The pilot was not injured. tory fleetwide inspections of the jets last month. of an investigation. engine built by Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United The Pentagon said preparations were contin- “Additional inspections of F-35 engines have The Pentagon’s F-35 program office has Technologies Corp. uing for F-35 jets to participate in two UK air been ordered, and return to flight will be deter- made determining the cause of the fire its high- The Pentagon’s F-35 program office, Air shows later this month, but a final decision mined based on inspection results and analysis est priority and it is assessing the impact on Force and Navy issued directives on Thursday would be made early next week. The fire has of engineering data,” the Defense Department flight tests, training and operations of the radar- ordering the suspension of all F-35 flights after a already derailed plans for an F-35 jet to fly by a said in a brief statement issued late on Thursday. evading warplane. June 23 fire on an Air Force F-35A jet at Eglin Air naming ceremony for Britain’s new aircraft carri- Pratt & Whitney said it was working closely A person familiar with the situation said it Force Base in Florida, according to statements er yesterday. with Air Force officials who are investigating the was premature to rule in or out any quality by the Pentagon and the F-35 program office. The June 23 incident was the latest to hit the fire to determine the cause of the incident and problem or manufacturing defect. —Reuters INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

Dust storm hits Phoenix, flights grounded

PHOENIX: The first dust storm of the summer blasted Meteorologist Charlotte Dewey of the National derailed, at least temporarily, public and private plans. Phoenix Thursday night with strong and blinding winds Weather Service told the Arizona Republic that the The station said that among them was the cancellation that forced the cancellation of holiday plans, knocked storm swept into the Phoenix area about 7:30 pm. The of the “Red, White and Boom” Fourth of July fireworks out power to thousands, and grounded numerous wall of dust that enveloped parts of the city also snarled show in southeast Phoenix. flights. traffic as drivers slowed down because of poor visibility. A dust storm warning for the Phoenix area is in effect All inbound and outbound traffic at Sky Harbor The storm was the first of the yearly monsoon season until 10 pm. Meanwhile, officials said firefighters battled International Airport was halted after 8 pm. PDT as a and brought with it localized heavy rains. Powerful blazes in at least two buildings in west Phoenix. Local result of the storm, airport spokeswoman Julie winds, sometimes gusting to 50 mph, knocked down media reported that lightning was suspected of spark- Rodriguez said. Operations had resumed by 8:45 p.m., numerous trees and power lines. ing the fires, which were fueled by the strong winds. but not before 24 planes had been diverted to other air- Station KPHO said utilities reported that power was The Weather Service predicted a 30 to 35 percent ports, she said. cut off to more than 25,000 customers. The storm also chance of rain for Friday. —AP Police: Dad intentionally left child in hot car MARIETTA: Justin Ross Harris was a devoted and loving father who talked about his toddler son often, his friends and family say. But prosecutors have portrayed him as a man unhappy in his marriage who exchanged nude photos with several women as his son died in a hot SUV. Harris, 33, faces murder and child cruelty charges in the June 18 death of his 22-month-old son Cooper, who police say was left in a vehicle for about seven hours on a day when temperatures in the Atlanta area reached at least into the high 80s. The medical examiner’s office has said the boy died of hyperthermia - essentially overheating - and has called his death a homicide. During a three-hour hearing Thursday, prosecutor Chuck Boring questioned a police detective at length, outlining evidence he said proves Harris intentionally left his young boy in the hot SUV. But defense attorney Maddox Kilgore argued the evidence was insufficient and that the boy’s death was a trag- ic accident. A judge declined at the end of the hearing to grant Harris bond, meaning he will remain in jail as law enforcement officers continue to investigate and present their findings to the Cobb County district attorney, who will decide how to pro- ceed with the case. SAN JUAN ARRIBA: Rescue workers and volunteers stay at a gold mine where 11 miners are trapped inside Alex Hall and Winston Milling, who have both been friends after a landslide in San Juan Arriba, Choluteca in southern Honduras, Thursday. More than 300 Red Cross with Harris since college and worked with him at Home volunteers, firefighters and people who live near the mine in the town of El Corpus were digging by hand in Depot, testified that Harris talked all the time about how he an effort to reach the miners. —AP loved his son. The two went to lunch with Harris the day the boy died and had planned to go to a movie after work that day. “Nothing stuck out,” Hall said. “Nothing was weird.” The New airport security checks: two men later dropped Harris off so he could put a couple of light bulbs he had purchased in his car. Kilgore, the defense attorney, said that showed Harris did Expert explains ins and outs not mean to leave the boy there. “Why would he take his clos- est friends to his crime scene?” he asked. Kilgore said Harris WASHINGTON: The United States has called for totally normal or not be detectable at all. I think what they are really looking at now is had also sent his wife a text that afternoon asking, “When are tighter security checks at airports. Aviation It’s going to be as non-metallic as possible. traveler pattern. If I go from the US and I travel you going to pick up my buddy?” expert Jeff Price discussed with AFP a new gen- Most likely, it’s going to be liquid. Unfortunately to Yemen and that’s not something I would And Harris described himself to police as a doting father eration of bombs that Washington fears getting in aviation, it doesn’t take a big amount to normally do in the course of my business that’s who always kissed his son when he strapped him into the car aboard planes. make a boom. Due to the pressurization of the going to be a red flag for some folks. seat because “he wanted Cooper to know his daddy loves QUESTION: What are these ultra-sophisti- aircraft, a smaller level of explosives can actually Q: What kind of measures are going to be him,” Cobb County Police Detective Phil Stoddard testified. cated devices that could emerge? be more destructive on a higher altitude than it taken in airports? Harris is a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and moved to ANSWER: There’s no specific threat but would be on the ground, which makes it even A: There’s a variety of measures that they they (the intelligence services) understand Al- more important to foil on the ground before it can do that are not publically visible. Often it’s Georgia in 2012 to work for Home Depot. Qaeda has been working on new, less gets to the air. just additional scrutiny of checked bags and Harris told police that on the day of the boy’s death, he had detectable technologies. They probably got the While it is possible to wear something inside carry-on bags. In terms of slowing down the X- watched cartoons in bed with Cooper, then had breakfast information that the technology now exists and (the body), you’d have to put a lot of explosives ray process, holding more people aside for a with him at a Chick-fil-A restaurant. Surveillance video from that it needs to be deployed so they need to inside to really get the effect you want. The secondary screening, putting more detection the restaurant showed a child who “appeared wide awake and start watching for it. problem is that the body makes a great buffer behaviour personnel within the screening happy,” Stoddard said. Harris told police he forgot to drop the That’s something that’s been around for a between the explosive and the outside of the checkpoints and down at the checkbags, boy off at day care, instead driving straight to work. couple of years. Al-Qaeda has looked to come body. Typically, no, it is too complicated and pulling more bags aside for random screening, up with an undetectable device, also a device terrorists look for stuff that is easy to do. The particularly for people coming from specific Extremely upset that is a little bit more idiot-proof, that’s not too more complex it is, the more difficult it is to pull countries. Harris told police he realized the boy was still in the car as complex to trigger. That was the problem with off and terrorists want to be successful. By and large, most people probably won’t he drove to the movies after work. A defense witness testified the first under-wear bomber (in 2009). It was Q: What is the source of the new threats? notice a huge difference. Things might slow that Harris appeared to be extremely upset after pulling into too complex to trigger the bomb. A: The usual suspects are AQAP (Al-Qaeda in down a little bit. the parking lot, trying to do CPR on his son. To make it as simple as possible, typically it’s the Arabian Peninsula) down in Yemen and cer- It’s going to be slowing down the X-ray “He was saying, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, my son is dead, just doing something where the chemical mix- tain areas in Afghanistan. You got Iraq, you got machines just a little bit, the lines will move a lit- oh my God,’” witness Leonard Madden said. But Stoddard, the ture can be mixed rather quickly, rather natural- Syria which is gigantically variable, and you got tle slower, and downstairs (checked bag screen- detective, said witness accounts were not consistent. Harris ly(...) and as soon as they’re mixed, they carry people leaving the US to get some material and ing), additional proceedings, adjusting the cali- never called 911 but was on his cellphone when officers the chemical reaction that initiates the device. training somewhere else and come back here, bration of the machine to be more sensitive. arrived, Stoddard said. Harris twice refused an officer’s request So it’s far less complicated than trying to put a with some kind of Boston Marathon bomber Those are typically measures that would not be to get off the phone and was arrested when he used profani- bunch of wires together. A lot of that stuff situation (who is) less likely to be noticed with a visible for the public, additional scrutiny behind ty, Stoddard said. Harris showed no emotion while being might come up on X-ray machines and look US passport. the walls. —AFP interviewed by investigators, Stoddard said. —AP VIVA first to launch EU targeting Amazon new shared voice Merkel heads to China tax deals in crackdown Businesspost-paid plan 16 17 17 SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 Al-Zayani: Jaguar to build F-TYPE Project 7 19

POTSDAM: A new Passat model of German car manufacturer VW is presented in Potsdam, eastern Germany. —AFP Solid US job gains point at stronger recovery

WASHINGTON: The 5-year-old US recovery is gaining momentum from a goods from Asia and Europe and strengthen those economies at least age pay has grown just 2 percent a year during the recovery, roughly in surprisingly robust job market and moving the economy closer to full slightly. Much of Europe is suffering from high unemployment. And China line with inflation and below the long-run average annual growth of about health. Employers added 288,000 jobs in June and helped cut the unem- is trying to moderate its economy’s growth without slowing it too much. 3.5 percent. The lack of strong wage growth means the Federal Reserve ployment rate from 6.3 percent to 6.1 percent, the lowest since 2008. It was “If we have some momentum going into the second half of the year, it may not feel pressure to start raising short-term interest rates soon as a the fifth straight monthly gain above 200,000 - the best such stretch since helps the world economy because we’re big consumers,” said Stuart way of controlling inflation. “We are still not seeing any significant pickup the late 1990s tech boom. The stock market signaled its approval. The Dow Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services. in wage growth,” Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics, Jones industrial average surged 92 points to top 17,000 for the first time. wrote in a research note. “We suspect that Fed officials will continue to The breadth and consistency of the job growth are striking in part because Keeping up with growth cling to the view that there is still plenty of slack in the labor market.” of how poorly the year began. The economy shrank at a steep 2.9 percent The US job gains in June were widespread. Factories added 16,000 However, the steady hiring means businesses are increasingly competing annual rate in the January-March quarter as a harsh winter contributed to workers, retailers 40,200. Financial and insurance firms increased their pay- to find workers. “It’s becoming more difficult to find the candidates that the sharpest contraction since the depths of the recession. Yet employers rolls by 17,000. Restaurants and bars employed 32,800 more people. Only we’re looking for,” said Brandon Calvo, chief operating officer at Cosentino have shrugged off that setback. They’ve kept hiring. The unemployment construction, which gained a mere 6,000, reflected the slow recovery of North America, a Houston-based firm that sells materials for kitchen coun- rate dipped from 6.3 percent in May to its lowest level since the financial cri- previous years. Local governments added 18,000 education workers. But ters and bathrooms. The job gains have intensified despite the slump that sis struck with full force in the fall of 2008, when the Wall Street firm Lehman that might have been a quirk: Many schools that had been closed for snow kicked off 2014. The economy’s contraction in the first three months of Brothers went bankrupt.”This has now become a textbook jobs expansion,” days stayed open longer than usual in June, said Diane Swonk, chief econ- this year was the sharpest since the recession. Ferocious winter storms said Patrick O’Keefe, director of economic research at the consultancy omist at Mesirow Financial in Chicago. Over the past three months, job caused factories to close and prevented consumers from visiting shopping CohnReznick. “It is both broad and accelerating.” At least one nagging growth has averaged a healthy 272,000. And in May, the economy sur- malls and auto dealers. Still, the frigid weather failed to freeze hiring. Job doubt is dampening the enthusiasm: Can the stepped-up hiring lead to passed the jobs total from December 2007, when the Great Recession offi- gains ramped up with the warmth of spring and summer. higher incomes? Wages have yet to outpace inflation for most workers. cially began. Researchers at the liberal Economic Policy Institute estimate “We’ve seen hiring growth out of the winter because it was stagnant,” Eventually, analysts say, the falling unemployment rate should cause pay to that 6.7 million more jobs would have been needed to keep up with US said Richard Bitner, vice president of marketing for Visiting Angels, a home rise more sharply. But no one knows precisely when. The jobs report did population growth. health care services firm headquartered in Havertown, Pennsylvania. Most make clear that, five years after the recession officially ended, the US econo- One key challenge is whether the job gains will pull more Americans economists say annualized economic growth likely reached a solid 3 per- my is showing more vitality even as major economies in Europe and Asia back into the workforce. Many people who lost jobs during the recession cent to 3.5 percent in the April-June quarter. Growth over the entire year continue to struggle. Last month’s solid hiring followed gains of 217,000 and were never rehired have stopped looking for work. Just 62.8 percent of should be about 2 percent, they say, similar to last year’s 1.9 percent jobs in May and 304,000 in April, figures that were revised upward by a American adults are working or are looking for a job, compared with 66 expansion. Several other signs point to the economy’s brightening health. combined 29,000. percent before the downturn. The number of long-term unemployed has Auto sales rose at the fastest pace in eight years in June. Factory orders Over the past 12 months, the economy has added nearly 2.5 million dropped 1.2 million over the past year to just under 3.1 million. But the picked up last month. And home sales strengthened this spring after hav- jobs - an average of 208,000 a month, the fastest year-over-year pace since government data suggests that numerous people without jobs have given ing sputtered in the middle of last year when higher mortgage rates and 2006. Economists say the steady US hiring should fuel more purchases of up their searches - a trend that could drag on future US growth. And aver- rising prices hurt affordability. —AP BUSINESS SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

European regulator tells banks to shun Bitcoin LONDON: Europe’s top banking regulator would require a substantial body of regula- But regulators argue the lack of legal AMF. Bitcoin prices surged to $1,240 in yesterday called on the region’s banks not to tion, some components of which would need framework governing the currency, the November last year before they crashed fol- deal in virtual currencies such as Bitcoin until to be developed in more detail,” it added. opaque way it is traded and its volatility make lowing moves by exchanges, financial institu- rules are developed to stop them being Virtual currencies, most famously Bitcoin, it dangerous. Mt Gox, once the world’s tions and the government to rein in the virtual abused. The European Banking Authority have come under increasing scrutiny by biggest Bitcoin exchange, filed for bankruptcy currency. (EBA) said it had identified more than 70 risks financial regulators as their popularity has in Japan this year and at least 11 banks in its They currently trade at more than $600 a related to trading in virtual currencies, includ- grown. Launched in 2009 by a mysterious key market of China have stopped handling Bitcoin. The EBA said that the risks of virtual ing their vulnerability to crime and money computer guru, Bitcoin is a form of cryptogra- the currency. Bitcoin’s reputation was also currencies “outweigh the benefits,” such as laundering. phy-based e-money that offers a largely damaged when US authorities seized tens of faster and cheaper transactions, “which in the The London-based body in a statement anonymous payment system and can be thousands as part of an investigation into dark European Union remain less pronounced”. advised European financial institutions stored either virtually or on a user’s hard drive. Web bazaar Silk Road. “We want investors to The authority said it was also concerned that against “buying, holding or selling virtual cur- Backers say virtual currencies allow for an effi- understand fully the magnitude of the risks “anyone with a sufficient share of computa- rencies while no regulatory regime is in place”. cient and anonymous way to store and trans- attached to this currency,” said Olivier Vigna, tional power” could exploit flaws in a virtual “A regulatory approach to address these risks fer funds online. chief economist of France’s market watchdog currency. —AFP Greece’s next bailout loan installment approved ATHENS: A key body monitoring Greece’s bailout approved the disbursement of the next batch of rescue loans yesterday, after the country met outstanding reform targets that had delayed the payment. Greece’s finance ministry said the Euro Working Group, made up of finance ministry officials from the 18-country euro-zone and representatives from the European Commission and European Central Bank, approved the installment during a teleconference yesterday. Euro-zone finance ministers are expected to formally approve the disbursement of the 1 billion-euro ($1.36 billion) installment in a meeting in Brussels on Monday. To access the funds, Greece had to meet six specific targets, including passing legislation and reforming the pharmaceutical sector to lower pharmacies’ profit margins and therefore prices. Greece has relied on international rescue loans worth a total 240 billion euros from other euro-zone countries and the International Monetary Fund since May 2010 when it found itself unable to raise funds on bond markets due to a financial ATHENS: Protesting former Finance Ministry cleaning staff shout slogans following scuffles with riot police crisis. In return, it has had to overhaul its economy and impose in this file photo. —AP spending cuts and tax hikes, all under the strict supervision of its creditors. Debt inspectors from the IMF, European Central Bank and Billionaire Richard European Commission are expected to return to Athens next week to continue inspections on reforms progress for the disbursement of a further 1 billion euros. After six years of a deep recession, Greece hopes its economy will begin growth again Mellon Scaife dies at 82 this year. For the first time since its bailout, it also recently tested the bond market with the successful sale of a five-year Scaife’s net worth in 2013 at $1.4bn bond in April, raising 3 billion euros. —AP

PITTSBURGH: Richard Mellon Scaife, the bil- Forbes magazine estimated Scaife’s net worth death was determined to be a suicide; Brown lionaire heir to the Mellon banking and oil for- in 2013 at $1.4 billion. died in a plane crash. Scaife also accused VIVA first to launch tune and a newspaper publisher who funded The intensely private Scaife became widely Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel libertarian and conservative causes and vari- known in the 1990s when first lady Hillary whose investigation led to Clinton’s impeach- new shared voice ous projects to discredit President Bill Clinton, Rodham Clinton said her husband was being ment in the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, to post-paid plan has died. He was 82. Scaife died early Friday at attacked by a “vast right-wing conspiracy.” be a “mole working for the Democrats.” his home, his newspaper, the Pittsburgh White House staffers and other supporters Scaife’s stance toward the Clintons softened KUWAIT: VIVA, Kuwait’s fastest-growing and most developed Tribune-Review, reported. Scaife’s death suggested Scaife was playing a central role in years later. In an interview published in early telecom operator, announced yesterday the launch of its new comes less than two the attack. Several foundations controlled by 2008, he told Vanity Fair magazine he and the family voice post-paid plan, making it the first to launch such months after he Scaife gave millions of dollars to organizations former president had a “very pleasant” lunch a product in the Kuwaiti market, and is presented through a announced in a first-per- run by critics of Clinton, including $1.7 million the previous summer, and “I never met such a specially tailored package, fit to meet all customers’ needs. son, front-page story in for a project at the conservative American charismatic man in my whole life.” Customers will be able to enjoy this new service starting July his Pittsburgh Tribune- Spectator magazine to dig up information Clinton gave Scaife an autographed copy 3, 2014. Review that he had an about his role in the Whitewater real estate of his book, and Scaife said he later sent Customers who subscribe to VIVA’s KD 55 or KD 40 post- untreatable form of can- scandal. Scaife rarely gave interviews, but in a $100,000 to the Clinton Global Initiative. paid voice plans will be able to share unlimited voice calls, cer. “Some who dislike sit-down with George magazine editor John F (Scaife also said philandering “is something SMS (VIVA to VIVA network) and unlimited data with other me may rejoice at the Kennedy Jr in 1998, he called President Clinton that Bill Clinton and I have in common.”) secondary lines under the same contract. Customers who sub- news,” wrote Scaife, who “an embarrassment.” Scaife’s newspaper also endorsed Hillary scribe to this new service, will be able to get up to four post- Richard acknowledged making In the interview, Scaife denied that his Rodham Clinton’s bid for president in 2008. paid secondary lines, each line will be for only KD 5 monthly. Mellon Scaife political and other ene- money helped support an effort to hurt the Despite funding many causes dear to conser- For customers to enjoy this service, they should simply opt- in to the Family service to start sharing the voice and data mies. “Naturally, I can’t share their enthusi- president, but he suggested Clinton might be vatives, Scaife was libertarian on many social lines. VIVA continuously presents its customers, both prepaid asm.” He was the grand-nephew of Andrew linked to the deaths of dozens of administra- issues. He supported abortion rights, sup- and postpaid, with the exciting packages that offer excellence Mellon, a banker and secretary of the Treasury tion officials and associates, including White ported legalizing same-sex marriage and in quality of service with added value for money. As a market who was involved with some of the biggest House Deputy Counsel Vince Foster and one- marijuana, and opposed the invasion of Iraq leader, VIVA is committed to providing differentiated services industrial companies of the early 20th century. time Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. Foster’s in 2003. —AP that grants its customers a unique experience. Business SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 EU targeting Amazon tax deals in crackdown

BRUSSELS: The European Union is look- fore amount to illegal state aid. The spokesman Antoine Colombani. Apple allows units of international companies ing to add online shopping giant European Union has no jurisdiction over and Starbucks-as well as Amazon-have to pay ‘royalties’ to another unit of their Amazon to a wide-ranging probe into national tax policies, a cherished prerog- come under intense pressure from politi- business. preferential tax deals offered to multina- ative of member states, so the probe is cians and campaigners over their tax The mechanism-possible under care- tionals by three member states, a report strictly limited to rules governing free dealings. Critics and opponents say so- fully crafted laws in Ireland, Netherland said yesterday. The Financial Times said competition. called “sweetheart” deals allow the com- and Luxembourg-allows companies to European officials have requested Contacted by AFP, a spokesmen for panies to move billions in earnings from post losses in countries with higher tax Luxembourg provide documents relat- the Competition Commission said it was higher-taxed countries to lower-taxed rates and move profits to where they will ing to Amazon’s tax affairs, putting it in “entirely premature to speculate on ones, minimizing their payments. have to pay lower rates. Ever since the line to join Starbucks, Apple and Fiat as whether new investigations could target The probes are far-ranging and 2008-09 financial crisis, multinationals targets of the investigation. this or that specific company in the include a deeper look into so-called “tax have faced increased scrutiny on tax The probe announced last month is future”. “The Commission continues to rulings”, where a company negotiates a matters. The OECD, working under the to determine whether tax arrangements gather information about certain tax tax arrangement before choosing where auspices of the G20, has embarked on a offered by Ireland, Netherlands and practices in several member states in to domicile its activities. The investiga- reform campaign to stop multinationals Luxembourg give the companies an order to assess the situation from the tion also focuses on the use of transfer from exploiting loopholes and divergent unfair competitive advantage and there- point of view of EU state aid rules,” said pricing, an accounting technique that tax regimes. — AFP Germany’s BMW to invest $1 billion in Mexico plant

MEXICO CITY: Germany’s BMW announced Thursday it will spend $1 billion to build a new luxury car factory in northern Mexico that will start production in 2019 as part of an effort to expand the company’s presence in the United States. BMW board member Harald Kruger said the plant in the northern state of San Luis Potosi will have the capacity to make 150,000 cars a year while employing 1,500 people. He made the announcement in Mexico City, accompanied by President Enrique Pena Nieto. Kruger said BMW’s only other North American factory, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, will receive $1 billion in investment to increase its production capacity to 450,000 cars by the end of 2016. “This decision underscores our commitment to the NAFTA region,” Kruger said. BMW, which has 28 factories in 13 countries, is also building a plant in Santa Catarina, Brazil, which will start production later this year. The announcement came a week after Daimler and Renault-Nissan said they would spend $1.6 billion on a factory in Mexico to make premium compact cars for the Infiniti and FRANKFURT AM MAIN: A piece of graffiti depicting German chancellor Angela Merkel with a lettering reading “Money Mercedes brands. Since 2011, the BMW and Mercedes brands kills Morals” is seen in front of the new tower of the European Central Bank. — AFP have been battling each other to be the leading seller of luxury autos in the U.S. BMW has finished second each year, but not by very much. BMW’s U.S. sales have grown steadily for Merkel heads to China the past four years, with the company ending 2013 with sales almost 60 percent higher than in the recession year of 2009. Mexico has become a preferred spot for car makers because of low wages, its proximity to the United States and Asia a crucial market for Germany free trade agreements with 45 countries. Pena Nieto said BMW’s announcement shows Mexico is a country that can be BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel Germany’s markets in Europe and... the local joint venture and attend a forum on trusted by national and foreign investors. He said manufactur- heads to China this weekend for her sev- Chinese market became even more impor- urbanization. In a nod to the social probing exports represented 20 percent of all of Mexico’s exports enth visit, eager to deepen trade and tant. “There is now this almost perfect sym- lems that have accompanied China’s rise, in 1980. Today they account for 83 percent, a quarter of that investment ties between the export power- biosis: Germany needs an export market she will also visit a social centre helping from the automotive sector, he said. — AP houses of Europe and Asia. For the EU’s and China needs technology.” children of internal ‘migrant workers’. At a biggest economy, China is a crucial mass joint business council in Beijing, the market, where companies want its technol- State honors, military pomp German side is expected to address stick- ogy and millions of newly prosperous crave During her past trips, Merkel has been ing points such as fair market access for German goods from Audi sedans to luxury demonstrably impressed with China’s rap- foreign companies and respect for intel- home appliances. Merkel is set to travel id economic transformation. She has often lectual property rights. with a high-powered business delegation argued that crisis-hit Europe needs to including top executives of Siemens, VW, shape up and reform if it wants to survive Golden decade, troubled waters Airbus, Lufthansa and Deutsche Bank, the on the global market place as populous Trickier questions on human rights are Bild daily reported this week. giants like China continue to develop. likely to be discussed quietly, behind Government officials did not confirm Premier Li Keqiang will Monday receive closed doors, an approach that German the line-up but said corporate chieftains Merkel with full military honors for what officials argue can be more effective in hope to sign deals in Beijing’s Great Hall of under Chinese protocol is considered a China than finger-wagging reprimands. the People that could further cement bilat- state visit, despite the fact the chancellor There is no shortage of obvious issues. For eral business ties. China is Germany’s num- is Germany’s head of government. one, Berlin is currently hosting the biggest ber-two export market outside Europe after When she meets President Xi Jinping, it ever exhibition by Chinese dissident artist the United States. It sold goods worth 67 will be the second out of three scheduled Ai Weiwei, which Beijing has barred him billion euros ($91 billion) to China last year, meetings this year-the third being a joint from attending. while imports from the Asian giant topped cabinet session in October in Berlin, a Analysts say Merkel-who angered 73 billion euros. unique format for Beijing. Merkel starts her Beijing in 2007 by meeting Tibetan spiritu- “Over the last decade or so German three-day trip tomorrow in Chengdu, the al leader the Dalai Lama-is unlikely to exports to China have grown exponential- capital of the southwestern Sichuan allow rights questions to derail the tight ly,” said Hans Kundnani, research director at province, which at over 80 million people relationship. “My sense is that human the European Council on Foreign Relations. has about the same population as rights are increasingly being subordinated MEXICO: Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto delivers “The big turning point was the 2008-09 Germany. In the city of 14 million, where to Germany’s economic interests,” said his speech during the announcement of the first BMW car financial crisis and the subsequent euro cri- some 160 German companies are active, Kundnani. “Germany is not pushing these factory. — AP sis, when the bottom fell out of some of she will visit a plant of automaker VW’s issues as much as it used to.” —AFP BUSINESS SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 South African financial watchdog begins audit JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s financial services regulator is carrying out an internal audit in response to allegations that its former chief financial officer extorted money from a local business by threatening to scrutinize its books. The Financial Services Board (FSB) said Dawood Seedat, who was its CFO for more than eight years, stepped down shortly after local media reported the allegations two weeks ago. Media reports said Africa Cash & Carry had paid Seedat 12 million rand ($1.12 million) so that he would not shut the firm down through audits by the FSB and the Revenue Service. The wholesaler paid in different tranches and the final installment of 2 million rand was secretly filmed, the reports said. Seedat could not be immediately reached for comment. His lawyer, Darryl Ackerman, told Reuters there was “absolute- ly no truth” in the allegations. Seedat had told the watchdog he was innocent but would resign to protect the integrity of the institution, FSB spokeswoman Tembisa Marele said. The FSB said that, while Africa Cash & Carry did not fall under its jurisdiction, it would investigate whether Seedat had breached the integrity of his support role. “It’s an internal audit and an external verification by the Office of the Auditor General to make sure that whatever duties he performed for us while he was still at the FSB have not been affected or tainted by whatever he is being alleged to have done outside,” Marele said. The FSB said that before his resignation, Seedat had disclosed that he had done some consulting work for Africa Cash JOHANNESBURG: National Union of Metal workers South Africa (NUMSA) members sing and dance while & Carry. But he had not, as required, alerted his employer protesting as they picket outside Eskom Megawatt Park in Sunnighill. —AFP before his dealings with the company. Before joining the regulator, Seedat was a consultant at the government’s tax col- INSIGHT lection agency and, prior to that, the head of forensic accounting services at the National Prosecuting Authority. —Reuters Opportunities open wide for Argentina needs consumer businesses in Africa ‘urgent solution’ Micro factories viewed as nimble alternative to debt fight LONDON/ACCRA: Tucked in a corner of a put. This, plus their necessarily simple expand further but gave no details. WASHINGTON: Argentina’s Economy Minister Alex Kicillof urged fel- Guinness brewery in a run-down part of processes, means they are not for everyone, low Latin American countries Thursday to help find an “urgent solu- Ghana’s capital, flanked by industrial silos but for some larger firms, they are a low-risk Lego model vs parachute tion” to the country’s debt battle as it faces possible default. Kicillof told and crates of bottles, stands the Cube, a way to work out where to make bigger Nestle has been selling food products in a special meeting at the Organization of American States in gleaming mini-factory that may point the investments. Africa for some 60 years, with traditional fac- Washington on the country’s fight with “vulture” hedge fund bond- way forward for global consumer goods tories and distribution models. But it told holders that the country wants action, “not just words.” companies in Africa. The tiny blending and Cultural staple Reuters it now plans what it calls “modular “We need international organizations to take action,” he said. “There bottling plant for Gilbey’s gin, housed inside Established markets like South Africa and factories” with elements like boilers, com- is a problem of time. We are at the point when Argentina has 28 days to five connected shipping containers, gives Nigeria already have large food and drink pressors and offices shipped in pieces and avoid a default.” Kicillof called the situation “crazy, because we have the Diageo , the world’s largest spirits maker, a plants so pop-ups are most attractive in then assembled onsite. Depending on com- means to pay” the restructured bondholders. The economy minister way to test demand for new drinks while more modest markets like Ghana, plexity, a traditional Nestle factory can take gave no sign of whether Buenos Aires would abide by a US judge’s minimizing capital deployment. Mozambique and Zambia. In an eight-hour 15 to 24 months to build and cost 30 million order to pay more than $1.3 billion to the hedge funds, the so-called “What the Cube enables us to do is a shift at the Cube, 25 people dressed in lab to 50 million Swiss francs ($33.5 million to holdouts from the 2005-2010 restructuring of $100 billion in debt on large scale test. We can produce reasonable coats and two managers churn out 8,460 $55.9 million). By contrast, Nestle says it can which Argentina defaulted in 2001. numbers, not very high numbers, but bottles of gin that are packed by hand in the build a modular factory in less than a year, Judge Thomas Griesa ruled two years ago that the country cannot enough to give you a sense of what the mar- final step of a process that involves blending for about 12 million to 25 million francs pay one group of bondholders without paying the other. Last week, ket can take,” said Preba Greenstreet of alcohol with flavourings and blow-molding ($13.4 million to $27.95 million). Buenos Aires deposited more than $500 million in an Argentine Guinness Ghana, owned by Diageo. Small, bottles. “The concept of modularity already exists account of Bank of New York Mellon in order to make the principal and prefabricated factories are also used by In Ghana, where spirits are a staple drink ... Lego invented it a long time ago,” said interest payment due on the restructured bonds on June 30. But SABMiller and Danish dairy cooperative Arla at family and community events, Diageo can Nestle’s technical director for Asia, Oceania Griesa reiterated in a hearing in New York that the bank cannot make Foods and are under development by Nestle reach a wider market with its local Gilbey’s and Africa, Alfredo Fenollosa. “But for us it the transaction, because there was no simultaneous payment for the to start production cheaply in markets gin, which sells at around $2.50 per 75 cl bot- was a bit of a real mindset change in the holdouts. where the likely demand is unclear. tle, than with its much more expensive inter- sense that big companies normally do solid Argentina has refused for years to pay the holdouts because they Africa’s middle class is growing fast, with national brand Tanqueray. “It’s really a new stuff-built for 100 years.” He said the idea did not join the restructuring, which covered 92 percent of its defaulted 128 million households expected to have business model,” said Chris Goddard, was developed by three young engineers, debt. Griesa’s order left the country late on the payment to bondhold- annual income of $5,000 or more in 2020, up Diageo’s innovation marketing manager for freshly plucked from university, who had no ers and with only a 30-day grace period-until July 30 — before it is from just 85 million in 2008, according to a Africa, adding that the Cube, shipped from preconceived ideas about how Nestle typi- ruled in default on its debt for the second time in 13 years. report by global management consulting Britain, cost “significantly less” than a perma- cally builds factories. Lawyers for Argentina and the hedge funds, mainly NML Capital firm McKinsey & Company. International nent factory. Diageo, like the other compa- They were given six weeks to come up and Aurelius Management, are slated to meet Monday with a court- consumer and retail businesses have nies, declined to give exact figures for return with a concept and then six months to fine- appointed arbiter in hopes of resolving the dispute. Kicillof, meanwhile, noticed, accounting for 17 percent of foreign on investment. tune the idea and sell it within the company, gave no sign he would accept an invitation from NML to meet while he direct investment in 2013 from an average of Success for micro factories is not meas- where some people needed to be convinced is in the United States. 12 percent from 2003 to 2007, professional ured solely on those terms since unit costs that you could maintain the same food safe- BNY Mellon complained to Griesa in a letter dated Wednesday that services firm EY says. can be higher; SABMiller has found that suc- ty and production standards. “There are limi- it does not know what to do with the half-billion dollars Buenos Aires But many remain wary of starting up cessful micro factories can have a short life if tations to the model. It really is meant for deposited in its account last week. Griesa ordered the bank to give the local production due to political risks, high demand takes off. Other firms appear less markets that are small, and for processes money back to Argentina. But BNY Mellon said it has no instructions costs for power and materials, onorous regu- interested in the trend. Asked if it had con- that are relatively simple,” he said. In from Argentina on where to return the money, placing it in a situation lations and corruption. In the short term, sidered micro manufacturing, Unilever said it Ethiopia, it could work. It’s big enough, there of not being able to comply with the court’s order. Asking the court to pop-up factories may not be cheaper in unit already had full-scale factories in Nigeria, is business going on, things are moving fast. address the problem “as quickly as possible, the bank said it faced pos- production terms because of their small out- Kenya and South Africa and planned to Sudan is a bit more complicated.” —Reuters sible threat of litigation outside the United States from bondholders expecting payment if it returns the money to Argentina. —AFP BUSINESS SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

Al-Zayani: Jaguar to build F-TYPE Project 7 The fastest and most powerful Jaguar

-TYPE Project 7, the latest model in Jaguar’s 60mph in 3.8-seconds (0-100km/h in 3.9-seconds) and an Project 7 concept, which was unveiled last summer. Key acclaimed F-TYPE sports car range, made its debut at electronically-limited top speed of 186mph (300km/h). F- design elements include the D-type-inspired fairing behind Fthe 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed on June 26. F- TYPE Project 7 is fully road-legal, with a removable roof and the driver’s head, shorter windshield, new front bumper, TYPE Project 7 is the first Jaguar performance vehicle from 196-litre stowage space. and downforce-increasing aerodynamic modifications - Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Operations team, and will be Power is sent to the rear wheels through Jaguar’s eight- including a carbon-fiber front splitter, side skirts, rear dif- produced in an exclusive, limited-edition run of up to 250 speed Quickshift transmission and second generation fuser and adjustable rear spoiler. However, the single- units. Its distinctive roadster body, introduced in concept Electronic Active Differential (EAD). Carbon Ceramic Matrix seater concept has been transformed into a two-seater, form last summer, pays tribute to one of the most famous (CCM) brakes, available as an option on the F-TYPE R with rollover hoops for both driver and passenger now and iconic racing Jaguars: the three-time Le Mans winning CoupÈ, are fitted as standard on F-TYPE Project 7, offering integrated into the design. D-type, which in 2014 is celebrating its 60th anniversary powerful, consistent, fade-free braking. Another standard “Special Operations exists to develop a suite of products year. F-TYPE Project 7’s name pays homage to Jaguar’s sev- feature is Torque Vectoring by Braking (TVbB) which, work- and services that enable our most discerning and enthusi- en outright Le Mans wins. ing in conjunction with the EAD, enables extremely precise astic customers to indulge their passion for our cars. F-TYPE The 2014 Jaguar F-TYPE Project 7 is not only the most handling. Bespoke carbon-fibre aerodynamic aids and a Project 7 is a perfect example of one such product. It’s the focused derivative of the award-winning F-TYPE range, but unique suspension set-up enable F-TYPE Project 7 to deliv- most powerful production Jaguar ever built, and pays is also the fastest and most powerful production Jaguar er a truly engaging driving experience. homage to Jaguar’s seven outright Le Mans victories with ever built. F-TYPE Project 7’s power comes from Jaguar’s While F-TYPE Project 7 features performance-focused distinctive design cues inspired by the Jaguar D-type which 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine, now in engineering by Special Vehicle Operations - the engineer- celebrates its 60th anniversary this year” said John 575PS/680Nmform, enabling the all-aluminum-bodied car - ing and vehicle division of Special Operations - its design Edwards, Managing Director, Jaguar Land Rover Special which weighs 1585kg - to achieve acceleration from 0- has been kept true to the head-turning lines of the original Operations. BUSINESS SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 M&S to blame new website for sales fall

Norway interbank M&S board to face shareholders at AGM LONDON: British retailer Marks & Spencer is expected to blame its fourth quarter of M&S’s 2013-14 year continued into the first quar- rates at risk of transition to a new web platform for a 12th straight quarterly fall in ter, with the web transition particularly hitting sales of homewares. underlying general merchandise sales when it gives a trading The new website is a pillar of M&S’s intended transformation manipulation update on Tuesday. Britain’s biggest clothing retailer, which also into an international retailer reaching customers through stores, sells homewares and upmarket foods, will publish its first-quarter the web, tablets and mobile devices. Bolland has spent 2.3 billion OSLO: Proposed central bank reforms to Norway’s sales figures ahead of its annual shareholders’ meeting on the pounds ($3.9 billion) in the last three years pushing through Nibor interbank lending rate will not eliminate the risk same day. At the meeting, Marc Bolland, chief executive since changes to address decades of under-investment, overseeing the of manipulation, finance industry critics argue, saying 2010, is likely to face criticism from elements of Marks & Spencer’s redesign of products and stores and an overhaul of logistics to the mechanism still lacks transparency and the panel (M&S) army of small shareholders, who own about 30 percent of serve the new website. that sets the benchmark is too small. Norway promised the retailer’s equity, over the lack of a durable pick-up in clothing M&S’s food business, which contributes over half of group reforms of the Norwegian Interbank Offered Rate last sales, despite years of heavy investment. The 130-year-old group is sales, has been performing better much than clothing, outper- year after some foreign banks complained about sus- forecast to report a drop in sales of general merchandise - cloth- forming the wider food market. Analysts forecast first-quarter like- pected rigging. After investigating, the banking regula- ing, footwear and homewares - of 1.0 percent to 2.0 percent at for-like food sales up 1.5-2.5 percent, with the consensus at 2.0 shops open over a year in the 13 weeks to June 28, according to a percent - a nineteenth straight quarter of growth, helped by Easter tor said it found no evidence of rate-rigging but could company poll of 11 analysts. falling in M&S’s first quarter this year. not rule it out either. The average forecast for a fall of 1.5 percent compares with a “Whilst we expect the market to applaud the performance in That evoked unwelcome comparisons with the 0.6 percent decline in the fourth quarter. M&S cautioned in May its food ... there will probably be concern and worry by investors scandal that led to some of the world’s biggest banks new website, which went live in February, would take up to six about the general merchandise performance, most particularly being fined $6 billion for rigging the London Interbank months to “settle in”. It said this was normal in the industry and ladieswear,” said Shore Capital analyst Clive Black. Analysts are cur- Offered Rate (Libor) and its European counterpart denied there were problems with the site. Bolland is expected to rently on average forecasting a 2014-15 pretax profit of 663 mil- Euribor. Norway introduced new rules for Nibor - which say on Tuesday that better in-store clothing sales evident in the lion pounds, up from 623 million pounds in 2013-14. — Reuters sets parameters on a range of financial instruments including bonds - last autumn, including the creation of a control committee. Additional measures have been under consideration since then. In a letter to the Norwegian financial regulator published in early June, Norges Bank said regula- tions needed to be changed as soon as possible “to make Nibor more robust and create more trust than it does today”.

Concrete measures But the central bank suggested no concrete measures, something critics says it needs to rectify. “All the suggestions were sensible but they did not go far enough because ... they (the central bank) did not suggest or signal any instrument to enforce it,” Knut Anton Mork, chief economist at Handelsbanken in Oslo, told Reuters. “They have some instruments they can use if they want to. For example, they could require banks to follow their recommendations for changing the Nibor routines in return for access to central bank funding.” One of his main concerns is whether Nibor, which is set by a panel of six banks - DNB, SEB, Danske, Nordea, Swedbank and Mork’s employer Handelsbanken - is still at risk of manipulation. “Norges Bank actually points to cases that they claim to have found were deviating quotes, fixes from individual banks that were enough to change Nibor materially on a given day,” he MIAMI: A construction worker works on the site of the SoMa at Brickell apartment building in downtown Miami. — AP said. “They did not find any market reasons. Obviously that is troubling.” None of the six Nibor-setting banks Amid good jobs numbers, were implicated in the Libor and Euribor scandals. Another economist said the number of banks on the Nibor panel should be increased. “There are few banks politicians point fingers that are contributing to the Nibor and so one single bank can affect the quote,” said Kyrre Aamdal, a senior WASHINGTON: The top jobs numbers for percent unemployment rate and to the hours worked per week has not changed. economist at DNB, one of the banks that is part of that June would have seemed to be cause for fastest job growth since 1999. “The headline number masks the lingering panel. some appreciation. After all, the unemploy- “As much progress as has been made, structural weakness in the US labor market,” “There is a problem with the number of banks on ment rate dipped to 6.1 percent, the lowest there are still folks out there who are strug- said Lindsey Piegza, a chief economist at the the panel, it is small. I don’t think they have any meas- in six years, and hiring showed five months gling,” he said Thursday. “We still have not Sterne Agee brokerage. “Even if we saw ures that would increase the number of banks on the of steady growth. But the public continues seen as much increase in income and wages June’s rate of job growth every month from panel,” he told Reuters. Another concern, shared by the to perceive the economy as poor. So, head- as we’d like to see. A lot of folks are still dig- here on out, we still wouldn’t get back to central bank, is that Nibor is not a quotation of rates in ing into a midterm campaign season, the ging themselves out of challenges that arose health in the labor market for another 2 1/2 crowns, but works via the eurodollar market and is politicians on Thursday hedged their bets out of the Great Recession.” To be sure, there years,” said Heidi Shierholz of the liberal then converted into crowns. Banks argue this is neces- and pointed fingers. “In the voting booth, are real economic reasons to be wary, or at Economic Policy Institute. sary because if Nibor was quoted in crowns, it would economic perception beats economic statis- least not euphoric, over the most recent More important, beyond those statistics, tics every time,” Republican pollster Whit report. are public perceptions of the economy. An not be liquid enough. Ayres said. The labor market remains weak, with a Associated Press-GfK poll in May, found that “I feel it clouds the transparency of the Nibor mar- Indeed, after five months of steady job labor force participation rate stuck at 62.8 per- the share of those surveyed who called the ket,” said Handelsbanken’s Mork. The issue of liquidity, growth and after hitting a six-year low in cent, the lowest since 1978. Construction jobs economy “good” stood at 34 percent, while he argues, is linked to the fact that most small banks, unemployment, the reaction in Washington reached their highest since June 2009 but are 65 percent described it as poor. That’s about for historical reasons, use DNB as their settlement bank. Thursday was a collective, “Yeah, but ...”Even still more than 1.7 million jobs below its 2006 the same as it has been all year, though slight- If they relied on Nibor instead, concerns over liquidity President Barack Obama, who would be peak, according to an analysis of jobs num- ly above where it was during the partial gov- would be less acute. The finance ministry is conducting eager to take credit for an economy on the bers by the Associated General Contractors of ernment shutdown in October. Few expect a review of the potential Nibor reforms that is due to mend, felt compelled to throw in a dampen- America. Moreover, hiring has tended to be improvement in the economy over the next conclude on Aug 4. — Reuters ing caveat as he drew attention to the predominantly in low wage jobs, leading to 12 months, and more expected it to get 288,000 jobs created in June, to the lower 6.1 stagnant wage growth, and the number of worse. — AP SATURDAY, JUNE 5, 2014

Batman celebrates 75th birthday in Hollywood style Page 24-25

An Indonesian girl sits by a lamp at the Istiqlal mosque as men pray inside, in Jakarta during the “tarawih” prayer marking the eve before the start of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan on June 28, 2014.—AFP SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 ‘Fast & Furious 7’ will kick off summer next year, ‘Insidious 3’ moves to May

niversal has moved the release of “Fast & Furious 7” up one week to April 3, anointing Uthat movie as the official beginning of the blockbuster season. “Fast 7” had been scheduled for this summer, but was delayed to next year after star Paul Walker died in a car crash. Universal released “Fast Five” in April 2011, helping to estab- lish that month as a viable time for a major release. Disney released “Captain America: The Winter Solider” the first weekend of April this year. “The Conjuring” director James Wan made “Fast 7,” which stars Vin Diesel, Walker and Dwayne Johnson. Moving “Fast 7” up one week bumps back “Insidious: Chapter 3,” which Wan produced. Wan’s work on “Fast & Furious” prevented him File photo shows rock band Motorhead performs during from making the third “Insidious” film, handing off the show program of the the ‘TV total Stock Car Crash the reins to his partner Leigh Whannell. Challenge 2006’ celebrities race at the Veltins-Arena in Focus Features will release the third installment Gelsenkirchen, western Germany. — AP in the hit horror franchise May 29. That positions it up against Paramount’s “Monster Trucks,” and a week after Paul Feig’s “Spy” and Brad Bird’s “Tomorrowland.” Focus also dated a couple of oth- Motorhead fan’s er projects, announcing “Black Sea,” starring Jude Law and Scoot McNairy, will open January 23 while brain bleeds “Selfless,” a drama starring Ryan Reynolds, moves from Feb 27 to April 17. — Reuters from headbanging Jazzman Marsalis heavy metal fan was found to have bleeding in the brain a The Weinstein Co month after a night of headbanging at a Motorhead con- trumpets youth, Acert, doctors in Germany reported yesterday. Headbanging-the up-and-down movement of the head in time slapped with lawsuit over musical diversity to a heavy beat is usually seen as a harmless bit of fun. But for the unnamed 50-year-old fan, the concert was followed by constantly ‘Scary Movie 5’ bit part worsening headaches. Neurosurgeons at the Hanover Medical School found a small area of bleeding on the right side of his t’s been said that there are no small ferent movie altogether, “Demonic.” brain called a chronic subdural haematoma, where blood gathers parts, only small actors. But some- Trigg suddenly found himself trans- under the outer membrane of the brain. Itimes those small actors can create formed from “FedEx Guy” to “Cop With Invented during heavy metal’s 1970s heyday, headbanging some pretty big legal headaches. The Dog,” and at the shoot the director told has from time to time been associated with health scares such as Weinstein Company has been hit with a him to just “nod his head” in response whiplash and fractures of a cervical bone called the odontoid. But lawsuit by a man who claims he paid to another character’s line. the Hanover doctors suggest the risk could be somewhat greater. $100,000 for a bit part in “Scary Movie After Trigg told the director that he They trawled through science publications and found three other 5,” only to be robbed of his moment in had been promised a speaking role, he cases of subdural haematoma caused by headbanging, one of the spotlight. In the lawsuit, filed in Los was told that he could utter “Hey, which caused sudden death. Angeles County Superior Court on Detective” to another character in the “Even though there are only a few documented cases of sub- Monday, Michael Trigg claims that he scene. Trigg “was very uncomfortable dural haematomas, the incidence may be higher because the agreed to pay $100,000 to the website and embarrassed that the Director had symptoms of this type of brain injury are often clinically silent or Charitybuzz in exchange for a speaking Wynton Marsalis role consisting of “a few lines” in the cause only mild headache that resolves spontaneously,” said Dr he solo played by US jazzman Wynton film “Scary Movie 5,” in addition to a Marsalis to close his now-annual residency at Ariyan Pirayesh Islamian. The Lancet, which reported the January one-on-one meeting with Harvey London’s Barbican this week was a rare per- 2013 case, said the patient was otherwise healthy, had no history Weinstein. The money, according to T sonal moment in what was otherwise a master of head injuries and denied any drug abuse. The assumption is Trigg, would go to the La Jolla class in sharing the limelight. In lieu of a full- that headbanging caused high acceleration and deceleration of Playhouse. fledged encore with his 14-strong Jazz at Lincoln brain tissue, leading tiny blood vessels in the brain to burst. However, Trigg claims, the agree- Center Orchestra (JLCO), Marsalis entertained with He may also have had a tiny cyst at that spot, which would ment quickly fell apart. When he a small combo, delighting an already bouncing have helped rupture the vessels. The patient underwent keyhole received the portion of the script con- crowd with swooping scales of trumpet. surgery to drain the bleeding and was discharged after eight taining his part - the presumably much- But for much of the time over the three nights, days. His headaches subsided and a check two months later gave sought role of “FedEx Guy” - the role Marsalis allowed his band and guests to shine in had a single word, “Package.” And an him the all-clear. —AFP performances that ran the gamut from Pakistani agreement sent to Trigg to sign noted sitar jazz to reflections on the ‘50s and ‘60s music that the part was not guaranteed to of the legendary Blue Note jazz record label. make the final cut of the movie. Wednesday’s Blue Note tribute of tracks by the Eventually, the lawsuit says, Trigg not already been informed of the con- likes of Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson and Woody negotiated with Charitybuzz that he tractual commitment to Trigg and, as a Shaw, for example, involved arrangements by nine would receive a $40,000 refund if his result Trigg was not getting what he different members of the band, solos from all, and part was cut from the film, and he contracted for and was put in the awk- Marsalis himself sometimes only playing fourth received an assurance that his part ward position of having to assert his trumpet. would be “at least a full sentence in contract rights as filming was about to There were also guest performances by young length.” begin and many people (cast, crew, jazz musicians, brought on by Marsalis both to Despite that, the lawsuit claims, the etc.) were standing by to shoot the highlight and develop their skills - a tip to the 52- trouble kept on coming. Trigg says that, scene,” the lawsuit reads. year-old Marsalis’s other persona as a mentor and after paying for his flight and accommo- In addition to The Weinstein teacher. “My father is a teacher and as I grew up he dations for the shoot, he was told that Company, Trigg is suing Charitybuzz had classes in the community. When I started to go the shooting schedule had changed, and the La Jolla Playhouse. The on the road with (jazz drummer and bandleader) forcing him to cancel his trip “at signifi- Weinstein Company has not yet Art Blakey when I was 18, I started to do classes,” cant cost to himself.” responded to TheWrap’s request for Marsalis told Reuters in an interview. Trigg claims that he was promised comment. Sometime he teaches music - but not always. “I reimbursement for the canceled trip, Alleging breach of contract, negli- try to teach them mythology so they can recali- but never received any. On top of that, gent misrepresentation, and other brate how they look at the world,” said Marsalis, Musician Brian May of Queen and singer Adam Lambert the lawsuit claims, Trigg was told that counts, Trigg is seeking unspecified who has served as a United Nations goodwill perform at the Forum on July 3, 2014 in Inglewood, his part would now be included in a dif- damages. — Reuters California. —AP ambassador. —Reuters SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

Warriors in full combat gear fight during a battle at the XXIX Dagorhir Ragnarok battle game event at a field near the town of Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. — AFP photos Fantasy fighting takes modern-day US gladiators back in time n a warm summer’s day in the of Ragnarok in Slippery Rock, a small the trek to Slippery Rock to pitch tents tranquil Pennsylvania country- town north of Pittsburgh. and gather around open fires on what is Oside, elves battle crusaders, hob- “Your objective is to have more fun usually a vast wooded campground. For bits clash with knights, and archers tar- and get in more fighting that the person seven days, they engaged in “dagorhir,” get samurai swordsmen. And everyone on either side of you,” Graymael-who by a contest-cum-sport with established lives to tell the tale. Originally inspired day is 51-year-old senior civil servant rules, medieval-style outfits and non- by fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of David Vierling-told the gladiators. “If lethal weapons made with polystyrene the Rings,” the week-long Ragnarok you do that, you have won.” Ragnarok- foam. The eccentric jamboree dates Sweden, explained a Viking chieftain day to day. It’s a good release from the sees fantasy enthusiasts donning period which takes its name from the apoca- back to 1977 when it was invented by a who, away from Ragnarok, is a 28-year- pressures of the mundane world.” costumes, sliding into character and lypse of Nordic mythology-brings group of friends in the Mid-Atlantic old online salesman named William Enthusiasts like Ritchie adhere to local playing out medieval battles by whack- together enthusiasts from across the state of Maryland, all fans of “The Lord Ritchie. A Nordic history buff, Ritchie chapters that stage their own events in ing each other with padded clubs or United States who revel in heroic fanta- of the Rings.” spends his free time re-creating historic the run-up to Ragnarok. “It’s great to see swords. “This event is all about fighting,” sy literature, role-playing or just plain moments and fabricating costumes with each other once a year,” said Kyle “Jarn” declares “General Graymael” to the history, event coordinator Matthew ‘A real passion’ fellow members of their dagorhir group Nell, a 27-year-old bank employee from legion of merry combatants who gath- “Will Scarlit” Tkach told AFP. “I am myself from 898, near in Michigan. “It’s a real passion,” he said. Florida who schedules his vacation time ered late last month for the 29th edition This year, some 1,400 warriors made Uppsala,” located in modern-day “Most people get caught up in living around Ragnarok. —AFP TV star Rolf Harris faces jail for sex assaults

elevision star Rolf Harris, a household ranging police investigation set up after alle- Elizabeth II can bestow-and even painted the name in Britain and Australia for half a gations that a fellow BBC television star, monarch’s portrait on her 80th birthday. Tcentury, returned to court yesterday to Jimmy Savile, was a prolific abuser. There was also revulsion at his spectacular be sentenced for a string of indecent fall from grace in Australia, the home coun- assaults against girls and young women. The ‘Grubby and disgusting’ try that he left at the age of 22 but which Australian-born television presenter, artist Before the final sentencing, London’s treated him as a national hero. After the and songwriter was on Monday found guilty Southwark Crown Court heard statements guilty verdict on Monday, Australian Prime of assaulting four victims between 1968 and on Friday from Harris’s victims, including one Minister Tony Abbott said he was “gutted 1986, including a girl of seven or eight who by his daughter Bindi’s childhood friend. The and dismayed”. had gone to get his autograph. abuse against her began when she was 13 The 84-year-old has been on bail since his and on holiday with the Harris family, and ‘Dark side’ conviction and left his home on the River continued for a period of 16 years, prosecu- During the trial, Harris made the most of Thames in Berkshire, west of London, by tors said. “The attacks that happened have the charm that once enraptured viewers, boat as he headed to the capital for sentenc- made me feel dirty, grubby and disgusting. singing his hit “Jake the Peg” and describing ing, where he arrived with a striped suitcase. The whole sordid saga has traumatized me,” how he invented the “wobble board”, an The judge asked for a medical report before the woman said in a statement read out by a instrument he used in his song “Tie Me considering his sentence, looking at the pos- lawyer. Kangaroo Down, Sport”. But proceedings sibility Harris could die in jail. But he warned Harris admitted having a sexual relation- darkened when witnesses now in their 40s the ageing entertainer that he was likely to ship with the woman, who cannot be named and 50s took the stand to describe how face time behind bars. for legal reasons, but said it only began Harris assaulted them when they were chil- Prosecutors said on Friday they would when she was an adult. In mitigation, his dren or teenagers. not pursue allegations that Harris down- lawyer Sonia Woodley said that, with the Harris told the court he was good at dis- loaded sexual images of children, saying it exception of his daughter’s friend, all the guising his “dark side” while prosecutors said was “no longer in the public interest”. During assaults involved brief encounters and were he was a “Jekyll and Hyde” character. court arguments that can only now be Veteran entertainer Rolf Harris “opportunistic rather than predatory”. Reports suggest the entertainer, known for reported, his lawyers had contested the age “There are two sides to him and it’s a fact hit songs such as “Two Little Boys”, could arrives at Southwark Crown Court in of models found in pornographic images that he has a good side to him,” she said. now be stripped of his CBE, while there is found on his computer. Harris’s conviction London on July 4, 2014. — AFP Harris’s stature was once so great that he also the prospect of further charges. Since caused widespread shock and soul-search- where he played sold-out music gigs at top was made a CBE (Commander of the Most Harris’s conviction, a dozen more women ing in Britain, where his television programs venues such as Glastonbury. He was the sec- Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 2006 from Britain, Australia and New Zealand have were watched by millions of children and ond person to be convicted under a wide- — one of the highest honors Queen made fresh allegations against him. — AFP SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

A young man dressed like the Batman character ‘The Joker’ carries a dressed up young woman on his back as they wait for a train after attending the 15th edition of the ‘Japan Expo’ exhibition devoted to Japanese culture and entertainment on July 2, 2012 in Villepinte, a Paris suburb. — AFP photos

Costumes and props from ‘The Dark Knight’ are seen at ‘The Batman celebrates 75th Batman Exhibit’. birthday in Hollywood style er-pow! Batman is celebrating his 75th birthday this DeVito said Batman’s success stems from the lack of faith in month with a series of comic-book, video-game and the political and business class. “We look around at us, our Kother events putting Gotham’s famed Caped Crusader leaders and the young people we are supposed to look to. firmly back in the spotlight. July 23 is officially Batman Day, “There’s really nobody you can have faith in,” he said. Bruce and to mark the occasion in Hollywood, Warner Bros has Wayne has remained popular through the decades thanks to organized a VIP studio tour including Batmobiles, masks, the varied formats, from the 1960s TV series “Batman” with capes and other souvenirs of the Dark Knight. Adam West and Burt Ward, the success of which re-kindled “The world has no heroes... Batman gives you some hope sales of the original comic books. and some faith,” actor Danny DeVito, who played the caped “The passion of fans is very, very high, it’s a way of life,” said one’s nemesis the Penguin in the 1992 movie “Batman Jim Lee, artist and co-editor of DC Entertainment, the parent Returns,” told AFP in an interview. Batman was born in May company of DC Comics, at the presentation of the Warner 1939, the creation of artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, Bros exhibition. “People tattoo images of Batman all over the who were tasked by DC Comics with creating a new superhero body. It’s amazing to see how Batman has become a huge in the wake of the success of Superman. part of pop culture, he has really captivated the imagination Unlike Superman, the new hero was given a dark side, and of the entire world,” he said. rapidly became a global pop culture icon, decades before the latest generation of superheroes like Captain America, Batman very much alive Spiderman or Iron Man took to the big screen. While Film versions have kept the Batman brand alive, including Superman represents the archetypal hero with super-human the “Dark Knight” trilogy by Christopher Nolan in 2005, 2008 powers, a brightly colored costume and appears in daylight, and 2012, with Briton Christian Bale in the brooding title role. Bruce Wayne is a wealthy tycoon who changes into a mask Overall the seven Batman films (including the first four in A visitor looks at Batman masks used in the seven Batman and dark cape to bring justice to Gotham City. 1989, 1992, 1995 and 1997) have made $3.7 billion around the films at ‘The Batman Exhibit’.

Danny DeVito attends the Warner Bros VIP Studio Tour The Batman logo is seen on Batgirl’s Batblade from ‘Batman Batgirl’s Batblade from ‘Batman’& Robin’ (1997) is seen at unveiling of the Batman Exhibit celebrating Batman’s 75th & Robin’ (1997) at ‘The Batman Exhibit’. ‘The Batman Exhibit’. Anniversary. SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

The Bathammer from ‘Batman & Robin’ (1997, staring George Clooney) is seen at ‘The Batman The Batmobile from ‘Batman Returns’ (1992, starting Michael Keaton) is seen at ‘The Batman Exhibit’. Exhibit’. world, according to the boxofficemojo.com website. In terms In 2016, Batman will be back on the big screen, for the first of merchandise, apart from the usual T-shirts, baseball caps time along with Superman, in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of and posters, Batman video games are apparently all the rage. Justice.” Ben Affleck will play the caped crusader, although At the recent E3 video games conference in Los Angeles, stu- some have been skeptical about his casting. It will be interest- dio Rocksteady tempted fans with their new game “Batman: ing to see how he plays the Dark Knight, three-quarters of a Arkham Knight,” in which the hero has an ultra-light Bat- century after Batman’s birth. — AFP mobile which can transform into an armored tank.

A Catwoman costume is seen at ‘The Batman Exhibit’. A Batman costume is seen at ‘The Batman Exhibit’.

A statute of Batman is seen at ‘The Batman Exhibit’. A statute of Batman is seen at ‘The Batman Exhibit’. SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

Visitors walk through the glassed-in Conservatory which shows off tropical and other exotic Visitors to the Como Town amusement park ride on the 100-year-old Cafesjian’s Carousel. plants year round in a variety of indoor and outdoor gardens in St Paul, Minn. — AP photos Minneapolis-St Paul: 5 free things for visitors

ike many places that endure long, difficult winters, Trees,” Rembrandt’s “Lucretia,” a nearly 2,000-year-old bronze Minnesota comes alive when the weather warms up. So horse from the Han dynasty, and a late 1700s Charleston draw- Lmany people from the Twin Cities - as Minneapolis and St ing room, once part of a wealthy merchant’s home. Two Paul are known - head to lakes in northern parts of the state blocks away is “Eat Street,” a cavalcade of ethnic restaurants that the city’s attractions truly open up to out-of-towners. And along three blocks of Nicollet Avenue. as in any urban area, some of the best are free. Minnehaha falls Stone arch bridge and Mississippi river overlook A popular summer spot is Minnehaha Park, a sprawling Minneapolis traces its roots to lumber and grain milling. green space in the city’s southeast quadrant that’s hosted History buffs can get a feel for those early days with an amble family picnics and outdoor concerts for generations. The star across the Stone Arch Bridge just north of downtown. The attraction is the falls, named in the Henry Wadsworth mighty St Anthony Falls powered mills that helped build the Longfellow poem “Song of Hiawatha” and at their roaring best city, and the Falls still roar today, misting pedestrians and in June when water volume is typically high. The Minnehaha cyclists as they read plaques about the history. Look south Creek tumbles 53 feet (16 meters) over jagged limestone into toward downtown to see the few remaining grain elevators, a basin beneath a sort of half-cave before it continues into the topped by the iconic GOLD MEDAL FLOUR sign first erected Mississippi River. Visitors can get a view from above the falls or more than a century ago. take stairs to creek level to see them from below. There’s a Nearby Mill Ruins Park offers a tumbledown cross-section casual seafood-themed joint in the park pavilion; enjoy a fish of old millworks. If that’s not enough, the Mill City Museum taco (not free) on the patio watching families figuring out (not free) has more on the city’s flour past, with hands-on quad bike rentals. activities for kids and adults. A block away, get another fine view of Minneapolis’ revitalized riverfront from the Guthrie Como park zoo and conservatory Theater, where Jean Nouvel’s “Endless Bridge” juts toward the St Paul’s Como Park Zoo is small enough to be kid-friendly, river on one of the longest occupied cantilevers in the world. but big enough to hold lions and tigers and polar bears, oh The ninth floor offers visitors a fun test of courage if they’re my! Not to mention a Gorilla Forest and Wolf Woods. The willing to step onto a glass floor, though it’s sadly distorted by Sparky the Sea Lion show has been a favorite since 1956, with the yellow glass enclosure. a succession of performers as Sparky; the current mammal turns 14 this summer. Zoo keepers give daily free talks. The Minneapolis institute of arts glassed-in Conservatory shows off tropical and other exotic visitors watch the roaring Minnehaha Falls which tumbles The Walker Art Center is known for modern art but the plants year-round in a variety of indoor and outdoor gardens, 53 feet into a basis before it continues to the Mississippi place to see more traditional treasures is the Minneapolis including a Japanese garden with a bonsai pavilion. It’s a pop- River in Minneapolis. Institute of Arts. Its 87,000 objects include Van Gogh’s “Olive ular venue for weddings and a refuge from harsh Minnesota

The Stone Arch Bridge over the Mississippi River is reflected in the ‘Endless Bridge,’ left, of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 winters. Admission and parking are free; suggested donation, $3 for adults, $2 for children. Rides on 100-year-old Cafesjian’s Carousel and attractions in the Como Town amusement park cost extra.

Summit avenue walk Take a trip to the past with a stroll down St Paul’s Summit Avenue, home to stately Victorian mansions, massive church- es and Mount Zion Temple (founded by the first Jewish set- tlers to Minnesota), colleges, groomed lawns and towering trees. Bicyclists cruise the 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) stretch of pavement and joggers pound the wide sidewalks, but you can imagine Jazz Age author F Scott Fitzgerald, whose birthplace is a few blocks off Summit, sauntering down the shady street. You might even run into humorist Garrison Keillor, whose Georgian Revival home is on Summit, or Gov Mark Dayton, who lives with his German shepherds in the Governor’s Mansion donated by a lumberman’s family to the state in 1965. Take in sculptures such as the Nathan Hale statue hon- oring the hanged Revolutionary War spy or the Art Deco “Indian Hunter and His Dog” sculpture by St Paul native Paul Manship. Drink in the view of the Mississippi River Valley from the small park near the University Club of St Paul. And check out the imposing rough stone James J. Hill House, built by the Gilded Age railroad baron. — AP Three young girls watch one of the polar bears at the Polar Bear Odyssey exhibit at Como Zoo.

The story of railroad magnate James J Hill is seen on a Summit Avenue walk outside the An orangutan relaxes at the Gorilla Forest at the Como Park Zoo. Hill mansion.

US eaters weigh in for New York dog chowing contest merican world-record holders and pre- seconds); cheesecake (11 pounds in nine min- tenders to the crown of hot-dog chomper utes); lobster (44 in 12 minutes) and oysters (564 Aof the year weighed in for the hugely pop- in eight minutes), according to Major League ular annual July 4 Coney Island competition set to Eating But her favorite food? Hard-boiled eggs. draw thousands. Seventeen men and 13 women She can eat 92 in eight minutes. On the men’s are competing to see how many beef franks they side, California’s Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, 30, has can down in 10 minutes at Nathan’s Hot Dog been reigning champion for seven consecutive Eating Contest at the cheesy Brooklyn seaside years. Last year he beat his own record by eating resort yesterday. Come rain or shine-and thunder- 69 dogs, but he faces stiff competition from the storms are predicted overnight-organizers insist much smaller Matt Stonie. “I know I can beat the contest will be held outdoors and watched by him,” said Stonie. If that’s the case, Chestnut can millions more when it broadcasts live on ESPN2. console himself with his other 31 world records, Sonya “Black Widow” Thomas, 46, the reigning including in ice cream (15 pints of vanilla in six champion who chomped down 45 dogs in 2012 minutes); bratwurst sausages (70 in 10 minutes); and 36.75 last year, faces a major threat from and hard-boiled eggs (141 in eight minutes). To would-be usurper Miki Sudo, 28. “I faced Sonya 10 get the dogs down, each contestant has certain times over the last year and a half, and beat her tricks, but most soak the bread in water and eat every single time,” Las Vegas’s Sudo told a New the meat separately. Anyone who vomits is dis- York press conference on Thursday. “I hope to qualified. Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs says the win, and (to) set a new record would be great!” Independence Day contest has been running Costumed students of the art of puppetry present their thesis production of ‘anti-corrosion’ yes- Thomas, a skinny Korean-American who since 1916 — when the winner consumed 13 hot terday in Erfurt, eastern Germany during the puppet theater festival ‘Synergura’. ‘Anti-corrosion’ weighs 100 pounds (45 kilos), doesn’t just have dogs. — AFP a co production of the Academy of Dramatic Arts ‘Ernst Busch’ Berlin with the College of Fine Arts one world record, she has 23. She is the champion in Dresden. Artists from eleven countries show during the Puppet Theater Festival ‘Synergura’ of baked beans (8.42 pounds in two minutes 47 the breadth of traditional and contemporary artof puppetry until July 6. — AFP SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

This photo shows an origami work, ‘Rabbits in Motion,’ designed by Ronald Koh of Singapore, and folded by Ng Boon Choon of Malaysia, included in the exhibit, ‘Surface to Structure: Folded Forms,’ on view at Cooper Union, from June 19, 2014 to July 3, in New York. — AP photos Origami: Exhibit shows an art form unfolding

n origami exhibit at Cooper Union col- folding and then unfolding to see the crease on lege that features the work of 88 artists the page, many of these works use mathemati- Afrom around the world reveals the outer cal algorithms and computer-aided designs to limits of paper folding and its breathtaking create complex crease patterns first. The folds range of possibilities. Timed to mark the 55th come later. anniversary of a pioneering origami exhibit in Other works feature a technique called wet- the United States, also shown at Cooper Union, folding: wiping the paper with a wet sponge or “Surface to Structure” illustrates just how far the cloth before folding. The moisture loosens the art form has come. paper fibers, allowing for smooth curves instead Showstoppers include undulating, robotic of the more traditional sharp creases. “The origami triggered by wall-mounted motion sen- curves are a lot softer and the creases actually sors; large, modular, pleated panels and sculp- stronger with wet-folding,” explained Uyen tures; clothing; folded sculptures in stainless Nguyen, 22, who curated the show and made steel and cast-bronze; and even two polymer- one of the works featured. gel micro-origami figures, less than a millimeter Wet-folding allows for the voluptuous curves in size and displayed using a photographic tech- of a lion’s shaggy mane or the billows surround- nique that allows a 3-D shape to be reconstruct- ing a unicorn that appears to be standing in the ed from a series of 2-D fluorescent images. wind, and also works of elegant simplicity like Many of the works in the show are represen- “Dreamer,” by Vietnamese-American artist tations of animals, but contemporary tech- Giang Dinh, or “Lying Woman,” by Vietnamese niques allow for detail and texture unheard of artist Nguyen Tu Tuan. decades ago. While traditional origami entails

‘Shakti,’ by Joel Cooper, of the United States.

This photo shows an origami work, ‘Dreamer’ by Giang ‘Asymmetry,’ by Erik and Martin Demaine, of the United ‘Enfaltung,’ by Jule Waibel of the United Kingdom. Dinh, a master of wet folding, included in the exhibit. States. SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

Uyen Nguyen, poses with her origami work, ‘Resistant Prism,’ 2013, at Cooper Union, in ‘Fluid Dynamic,’ by Richard Sweeney, from the United Kingdom. New York.

Origami dresses and hats In the show’s science section, one wall fea- Other pieces feature an improvisational tech- tures a work entitled “Oribotics (The Future nique using crumpled tissue paper. Known as “le Unfolds),” by Austrian artist Matthew Gardiner. crimp,” it allows for a rich and detailed texture, The undulating robotic origami flowers open and exemplified by the work “Cierbol,” by Spanish close only when a viewer comes near. “The tech- artist Victor Couerjoly of Spain. The figure of a niques of origami are continually advancing,” deer whose neck gives way to gnarled tree said Nguyen. branches instead of an antlered head is roughly Although she made paper cranes and other textured and made from dark brown paper; the typical origami shapes as a child, her hobby start- result is virtually indistinguishable from tree bark. ed in earnest after she was given a book on “It’s totally different from traditional origami sophisticated origami patterns soon after starting techniques, which are all about deliberate preci- college at Cooper Union. She launched an origa- sion,” Nguyen said. The fashion submissions, mi club, whose members began making modular however, were the ones that surprised her most. structures consisting of interlocking segments. “I hadn’t even expected to include a fashion sec- “Then I went to a big origami convention and it tion, but it ended up being an important part of became a serious passion,” she said. it,” she said. Included are several origami dresses For this exhibit, which runs through Thursday and hats, a delicately folded parasol, two hand- (July 3), she and her colleagues contacted origa- bags, jewelry, and even an ornate, fingerless mi clubs around the world in search of submis- glove made of laser-cut, tessellated snakeskin by sions. The show is evenly divided between more American artist Adrienne Sack. Tessellation, an established origami artists like Robert J. Lang (of origami technique developed in the 1970s, con- the polymer-gel, micro-origami team) and sists of a large sheet of paper folded to construct younger artists, including 13-year-old Sejin Park a relative flat geometric pattern. Only recently of Korea, who contributed a black dragon. — AP has origami tessellation been taken to a more ‘Constrained Bowl,’ by Linda Smith of the United States. three-dimensional level.

‘Lion,’ by Hoang Tien Quyet of Vietnam. St Michael - The Archangel,’ by Tran Trung Hieu of Vietnam. TECHNOLOGY SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

‘Steve Jobs took our jobs’, says Finnish prime minister

STOCKHOLM: Finnish Prime Minister Alexander demand. Stubb became prime minister at the end loss-making handset business to US software Stubb yesterday accused Apple’s late founder Steve of June with an economy struggling to recover from giant Microsoft. Jobs of crushing his Nordic country’s job market by two years of recession. Only timid growth is expect- Stubb, a champion of liberalism and European selling innovations that caught Finland’s companies ed in 2014. integration, warned that he could not promise an off guard. “We had two pillars we stood on: one was “Yes, Steve Jobs took our jobs, but this is immediate shift in the economic landscape. “We the IT industry, the other one was the paper indus- beginning to change,” Stubb said. “Our forestry is shouldn’t create the illusion that the state can try,” Stubb told Swedish financial newspaper slowly but surely shifting from paper to bioener- create growth,” Stubb said. “We can do three Dagens Industri. gy. Our IT industry is moving towards gaming, it’s things to foster growth: structural reforms at the “Nalle Wahlroos, president of (Swedish bank) not just about hardware like the Nokia mobiles.” national level, liberalizing the EU internal market Nordea, described it quite well when he said the The main symbol for Finland’s economic difficul- and promoting global trade. But it is not me, as iPhone knocked out Nokia and the iPad knocked ties was the fall of Nokia, the one-time world prime minister, who can create growth in this out the forestry,” accelerating the fall of paper leader in mobile devices, which in April sold its country.” — AFP

A thumbs-up for NSA spying on foreigners

WASHINGTON: Endorsement of the NSA’s Internet surveillance programs by a bipartisan privacy board deeply disappointed civil liberties activists Wednesday while providing a measure of vindica- tion for beleaguered US intelligence officials. James Clapper, director of national intelligence, welcomed the conclusion by the independent Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board that the National Security Agency’s Internet spying on foreign targets in the US has been legal, effective and subject to rigorous oversight to protect the rights of Americans. Activist groups panned the report as a dud. It was a dizzying turnabout for a privacy board that in January drew criticism in the other direction for branding the NSA’s collection of domestic calling records unconstitutional. As they unanimously adopted their 190- page report on Wednesday, the five board members all appointed by President Barack Obama -sought to explain their largely favor- able conclusions about surveillance programs that have provoked worldwide outrage since former NSA systems administrator Edward BEIJING: This photo shows men lining up to buy lottery tickets next to a China Sports Lottery poster. — AFP Snowden revealed them last year. At issue is a spying regime, first definitively disclosed in Snowden documents last year, under which the NSA is using court China innovates to orders to obtain foreign customers’ emails, chats, videos and texts from Google, Facebook and other US tech companies under a program known as PRISM. The documents also showed that the agency is intercepting foreign data as it transits fiber optic lines in bet on World Cup the US Yahoo, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Google and LinkedIn declined to comment. The reputations of American technology companies have suf- Web firms make money through gambling fered abroad over the perception that they cannot protect customer data from US spy agencies. Last week, the German govern- BEIJING: China’s Internet giants and insurance companies are finding Huang Guihai, associate professor at the Gaming Teaching and ment said it would end a contract with Verizon over concerns about ever more innovative ways to get around the country’s strict betting Research Centre at the Macao Polytechnic Institute, told AFP. network security. European and other foreign intelligence agencies laws and reap a payout as fans wager billions on the World Cup. Insurance firms, though, have found their attempts to do World routinely demand cooperation from their national companies, US Gambling is banned in China, except where it is run by the govern- Cup business meeting official disapproval. An Cheng Insurance officials say, but those operations have not been leaked to the news ment or the proceeds donated to charity, but technology behemoths offered a “heartbreak” policy offering fans Taobao credit if their team media. Alibaba and Tencent have this year linked up with state-owned was eliminated, to “alleviate the mental shock”-effectively enabling The targets of the surveillance the US privacy board was looking provincial lotteries to enable punters to bet on the World Cup online. customers to try to profit from teams going out of the contest. at this time must be foreigners living abroad, but the NSA also col- Both have smartphone gambling apps which have proved hugely Regulators stepped in last week to issue an urgent notice that “insur- lects some American communications -either by mistake, or popular during the Brazil tournament, and on which more than 10 bil- ance products with gaming character should be suspended”, the offi- because the Americans were talking to or about foreign targets. The lion yuan ($1.6 billion) is expected to be bet legally-dwarfing the 2.3 cial news agency Xinhua said. “Some insurance companies have programs come under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of billion yuan figure reached at the 2010 finals in South Africa. Many pulled related World Cup regret insurances from the shelves,” it 2008, which legalized programs launched after the Sept 11, 2001, times more will be spent illegally. “I find it so much easier to bet on an added. attacks. Last week, the Obama administration disclosed for the first app, rather than having to go to a lottery centre,” said Li Qiang, from time that it targeted nearly 90,000 people or groups under the pro- Shanghai, who said he won 200 yuan when Uruguay beat Italy in the Fatal cost grams last year. There are 2.4 billion Internet users worldwide. group stage. Most Chinese sports betting, though, takes place via outlawed “I love the World Cup, but being Chinese, we have little way to get websites, where odds are more attractive and credit offered. Research Terror investigations involved other than to bet,” he said, lamenting the poor performanc- by sports newspaper Titan Weekly estimated an astonishing 500 bil- In January, the privacy board criticized a different program es of the national team, who are ranked 103rd by FIFA. Neither lion yuan was spent on legal and illegal online gambling during the authorized under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, through which the Tencent nor Alibaba have gambling licences, but earn revenue by act- 2006 tournament in Germany - roughly two percent of China’s GDP. NSA had been collecting billions of American telephone records ing as online platforms for provincial lotteries which offer odds bet- “The issue of illegal gambling is particularly serious during the World and searching through them in terrorism investigations. Obama has ting on most aspects of the game. Cup,” said Wang Xuehong, head of the Lottery Research Institute at since called for ending NSA’s collection of those records. Alibaba-which heavily promotes World Cup betting on its main e- Peking University. Given the scale of the demand, official restrictions For the Section 702 probe, board members noted that they commerce shopping platform, Taobao-takes a seven percent cut of on betting created opportunities for illegal operators, she said. “It is spent hours in classified briefings with intelligence officials, learning money gambled through its websites, the Beijing Youth Daily report- difficult to carry out measures to deal with it, and it is difficult to the details of how the NSA programs operate. And they came away ed. On Thursday, an advertisement on Taobao priced Brazil as supervise Internet activities.” The sums and networks involved are convinced that the public debate about the programs had been rife favorites to win the tournament at 2.3/1, less generous than the vast. The Doha-based watchdog International Centre for Sport with misconceptions. 2.75/1 generally available from British bookmakers. Alibaba, which is Security (ICSS) warned in a May report that Asian-dominated criminal For example, said board chairman David Medine, a former gov- preparing a multi-billion-dollar share offer in the US, declined to com- groups are laundering more than $140 billion in illegal sports betting ernment privacy lawyer, the Internet surveillance “is not a bulk col- ment to AFP. Tencent did not respond to a request for comment. annually, with many gamblers coming from China. lection program” but instead targets specific foreigners living Laurent Vidal, chair of the joint Sorbonne-ICSS research program abroad for terrorism or intelligence purposes. And, he said, contrary ‘Heartbreak’ insurance that produced the report, said previously: “The Chinese are not inter- to media reports, it is not true that the NSA will monitor a person if More than 500 million people in China access the Internet via their ested in local sport any more, that is why they bet on European sport.” the evidence shows just a 51 percent probability that he or she is a smartphones, according to the state-run China Internet Network In May, police in Shanghai detained 63 people for being involved in foreigner living abroad. The agency is barred from targeting an Information Center. “The law is quite strict in China, but gaming an illegal online gambling operation that was alleged to have han- American without a warrant.—AP opportunities are very accessible to anyone who has a smartphone,” dled more than 113 billion yuan.—AFP TECHNOLOGY SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 Interactive champ is one in 2 million

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil, albeit with Danish help, have won the World Cup-the interactive version, that is. “Goal from Neymar for Brazil,” screamed the commentator as August Rosenmeier, 18, opened the scoring before a 300-strong crowd Thursday in the shadow of Rio’s Sugarloaf Mountain. The real Brazil first have to get past Colombia in Friday’s quarter-final before they can dream of closing in on world title number six. But Rosenmeier’s interactive ‘Selecao’ earned him a winners prize of 44,000 reais ($20,000) after he showed masterful dexterity on his console to see off 20-year-old Briton David Bytheway. The Dane’s win makes him one in two million-that being roughly the number of competitors who embarked on the road to the final a year ago, according to FIFA. Rosenmeier and Blytheway spent thousands of hours on their consoles battling through a morass of rivals to reach Thursday’s showdown, which was streamed live to tens of thousands of online fans. Both made it through to the trophy match organized by FIFA and US electronic gaming giant Electronic Arts.The level of interest in the soccer simulator can be gauged by the fact that the makers have sold some 4.5 million copies of FIFA 13, the penultimate version of the game.

900 matches per month MENLO PARK: In this photo, a man walks past a Facebook sign in an office on the Facebook campus in Menlo Park, Calif. — AP Europe provided many of the top protagonists with France contributing 11,7 percent of players and Spain nine percent. “To reach the final, they had to be in the top two competitors across the UK opens probe into globe-having played 900 matches” in a month, explained Johann Simon, one of five Frenchmen present for the final venue held at the Moro da Urca, the mountain nestling underneath Sugarloaf Mountain. Simon, 21, is one of a handful of interactive players who Facebook’s experiment enjoys the luxury of a sponsor. He is with “Team Millennium,” which finances his travel to events and also pays him a monthly allowance. “It’s just a little-not enough to live on,” stressed Simon. Even so, over Science journal says Facebook study ‘a concern’ the past two years he has been able to travel to New York, Las Vegas, London and Amsterdam to participate in tournaments. LONDON: British regulators are investigating revelations that few days after other social media sites and essays in The New York Simon qualified after topping the monthly rankings with no less Facebook treated hordes of its users like laboratory rats in an experi- Times and The Atlantic raised red flags about the ethics of than 845 wins in his 900 matches, a record which impressed his ment probing into their emotions. The Information Commissioner’s Facebook’s experiment. rivals. “It’s not the hours you spend in front of your console which Office said Wednesday that it wants to learn more about the circum- As it has done in several past breaches of privacy etiquette, make the difference. “Above all you have to keep calm, have a good stances underlying a 2-year-old study carried out by two US universi- Facebook is now trying to make amends. Sheryl Sandberg, sense of timing, anticipate well and know the game extremely well,” ties and the world’s largest social network. The inquiry is being coor- Facebook’s chief operating officer, told television network NDTV in said Simon, who bowed out after a narrow first-round loss in Rio. dinated with authorities in Ireland, where Facebook has headquar- India that “we clearly communicated really badly about this and that ters for its European operations, as well as with French regulators. we really regret.” Later she added: “Facebook has apologized and Commentary too This is just the latest in a string of incidents that have raised questions certainly we never want to do anything that upsets users.” The words “It’s good to know the strengths and weaknesses of whichever about whether the privacy rights of Facebook’s nearly 1.3 billion of contrition sounded hollow to Jeff Chester, executive director of player to know how to take advantage of them at the right users are being trampled by the company’s drive to dissect data and the Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy-rights group. He points to moment,” explained another French player, 23-year-old Adrien promote behavior that could help sell more online advertising. In Facebook job openings looking for researchers specializing in data Viaud. He added it was also paramount to get as much match this case, Facebook allowed researchers to manipulate the content mining and analysis as evidence that the company still has every play as possible against the best players. Johann and Adrien that appeared in the main section, or “news feed,” of about 700,000 intention of digging deeper into its users’ psyches and preferences. locked themselves away for an entire week to train intensively randomly selected users during a single week in January 2012. The “They are engaged in secret surveillance of its users to figure out how ahead of the competition using the latest edition of the game data-scientists were trying to collect evidence to prove their thesis to make more money for their advertisers,” Chester said. debuting in Rio.—AFP that people’s moods could spread like an “emotional contagion” depending on the tenor of the content that they were reading. Wide user base The study concluded that people were more likely to post nega- Whatever Facebook has been doing has been paying off for the tive updates about their lives after the volume of positive informa- company and its shareholders. Facebook’s revenue last year rose 55 tion appearing in their Facebook feeds had been purposefully percent to $7.9 billion and its stock has nearly tripled in value during reduced by the researchers. The opposite reaction occurred when the past year. The concern over Facebook’s experiment comes amid the number of negative posts appeared in people’s news feeds. interest in Europe about beefing up data-protection rules. The None of the participants in the Facebook experiments were explicitly European Court of Justice last month ruled that Google must asked for their permission, though the social network’s terms of use respond to users’ requests seeking to remove links to personal infor- appears to allow for the company to manipulate what appears in mation. Suzy Moat, a Warwick Business School assistant professor of users’ news feeds however it sees fits. behavioral science, said businesses regularly do studies on how to influence behavior. She cited the example of Facebook and Amazon Red flags raised about ethics experimenting with showing different groups of people slightly dif- Facebook’s data-use policy says the Menlo Park, California, com- ferent versions of their websites to see if one is better than another at pany can deploy user information for “internal operations, including getting customers to buy products. “On the other hand, it’s extreme- troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research and service improve- ly understandable that many people are upset that their behavior RIO DE JANEIRO: Players compete in the Grand Finale of ment.” The reaction to the study itself provided evidence of how may have been manipulated for purely scientific purposes without the interactive virtual World Cup at Morro da Urca, Rio de quickly an emotional contagion can spread online. The research was their consent,” Moat said. “In particular, Facebook’s user base is so Janeiro, Brazil. — AFP released a month ago, but it didn’t provoke a backlash until the past wide that everyone wonders if they were in the experiment.” — AP Hackers take over Israel army Twitter account

JERUSALEM: Internet hackers briefly took over an Israeli army (@IDFspokesperson) late Thursday, saying the account had hacking came as Israel’s army gave regular updates on rocket Twitter account, the military said yesterday, posting an alarm- been “compromised.” fire from Gaza hitting southern Israel, after a brief uptick in the ing message that a nuclear facility had been hit by rocket fire. The account posted an apology to followers and had past week in cross-border exchanges, including retaliatory air Israeli news website Ynet posted a screen shot of what it said erased any trace of the hackers’ false messages by yesterday strikes by Israel. was the offending tweet. morning. Internet hacking group the Syrian Electronic Army Israeli warplanes pounded targets inside Gaza on Thursday “#WARNING: Possible nuclear leak in the region after 2 claimed responsibility, posting a screen shot of the army’s and militants fired at least 34 rockets into Israel, the army said. rockets hit Dimona nuclear facility” in the south of the country, Twitter page with at least two of its fake tweets. Israel warned Hamas on Thursday to put a stop to rocket fire it read. The army told AFP that “several incorrect tweets were “Always via @Official_SEA16 Long live #Palestine” read the from its Gaza power base and sent army reinforcements to the posted” on its English spokesperson’s account other tweet, linking directly to the SEA’s official account. The border with the Palestinian enclave. — AFP TV listings SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

06:00 Gold Rush 01:10 Sci-Fi Science 12:15 Jessie 12:50 Siba’s Table 07:00 Dual Survival 01:35 Sci-Fi Science 12:35 Jessie 13:15 Jenny Morris Cooks The Riviera 07:50 Alaska: The Last Frontier 02:00 Close Encounters 13:00 African Cats 13:40 Guy’s Big Bite 08:40 Fast N’ Loud 02:25 Close Encounters 13:25 Austin & Ally 14:05 The Next Food Network Star 00:45 Whale Wars 09:30 Storage Hunters 02:45 Mythbusters 13:45 Good Luck Charlie 14:55 Roadtrip With G. Garvin 01:35 Untamed & Uncut 09:55 Container Wars 00:00 Violetta 03:35 What’s That About? 14:10 Good Luck Charlie 15:20 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 02:25 Shamwari: A Wild Life 10:20 Savage Family Diggers 00:45 The Hive 14:35 Dog With A Blog 15:45 Chopped 10:45 How It’s Made 04:30 Moon Machines 02:50 Shamwari: A Wild Life 00:50 Art Attack 15:00 Dog With A Blog 16:35 Fast Food Gone Global 11:10 How Stuff’s Made 05:20 Unchained Reaction 03:15 Gator Boys 01:15 Art Attack 15:25 Liv And Maddie 17:25 Jenny Morris Cooks The Riviera 11:35 Street Outlaws 06:10 Science Of The Movies 04:05 Deadly Islands 01:40 Wolfblood 15:50 Liv And Maddie 17:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 12:25 American Chopper: Senior vs 07:00 Stephen Hawking’s Grand 04:55 Animal Cops Houston 02:05 Wolfblood 16:10 Mako Mermaids 18:15 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Junior Design 05:45 Clinically Wild: Alaska 02:30 Violetta 16:35 Win, Lose Or Draw 18:40 Siba’s Table 13:15 American Chopper: Senior vs 07:55 The Unexplained Files 03:10 The Hive 06:10 Clinically Wild: Alaska Junior 17:00 Herbie: Fully Loaded 19:05 Reza’s African Kitchen 08:45 What’s That About? 03:20 Art Attack 06:35 Breed All About It 14:05 Storage Hunters 18:40 Get Frozen 19:30 Guy’s Big Bite 03:45 Art Attack 07:00 Animal Airport 14:30 Container Wars 09:40 Science Of The Movies 18:55 Mako Mermaids 19:55 Roadtrip With G. Garvin 07:25 Mutant Planet 14:55 Savage Family Diggers 10:30 X-Machines 04:10 Jungle Junction 19:20 Violetta 20:20 Chopped 08:15 The Magic Of The Big Blue 15:20 Dual Survival 11:20 Moon Machines 04:20 Jungle Junction 20:05 African Cats 21:10 Chopped 09:10 Treehouse Masters 16:10 Alaska: The Last Frontier 12:10 Unchained Reaction 04:35 Jungle Junction 20:30 Jessie 22:00 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 10:05 Shamwari: A Wild Life 17:00 Fast N’ Loud 13:00 How Does That Work? 04:50 Jungle Junction 20:50 Dog With A Blog 22:25 Throwdown With Bobby Flay 10:35 Shamwari: A Wild Life 17:50 Idris Elba: King Of Speed 13:30 What’s That About? 05:00 Art Attack 21:15 Mako Mermaids 22:50 Pizza Cuz 11:00 Animal Precinct 18:40 Fifth Gear 14:20 Mythbusters 05:25 Art Attack 21:40 Austin & Ally 23:15 Pizza Cuz 19:30 Gold Rush 05:50 Mouk 11:55 Animal Airport 15:10 Scrapheap Challenge 22:00 Good Luck Charlie 23:40 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 20:20 How It’s Made 06:00 Austin & Ally 12:20 Breed All About It 16:00 X-Machines 22:25 A.N.T. Farm 20:45 How Stuff’s Made 06:25 Austin & Ally 12:50 Bondi Vet 16:50 Science Of The Movies 22:50 Shake It Up 13:15 Bondi Vet 21:10 Container Wars 06:45 Mako Mermaids 21:35 Savage Family Diggers 17:40 Sci-Fi Science 23:10 Wolfblood 13:45 Rogue Nature With Dave 07:10 Mako Mermaids 22:00 Idris Elba: King Of Speed 18:05 Sci-Fi Science 23:35 Wolfblood Salmoni 07:35 Jessie 22:50 Fifth Gear 18:30 Close Encounters 07:55 Jessie 14:40 Shamwari: A Wild Life 23:40 Car Chasers 00:00 Diggers 18:55 Close Encounters 08:20 Win, Lose Or Draw 15:05 Shamwari: A Wild Life 00:30 Diggers 19:20 The Gadget Show 08:45 Good Luck Charlie 15:30 Treehouse Masters 01:00 Dangerous Encounters 19:45 How Does That Work? 09:05 Dog With A Blog 16:30 The Magic Of The Big Blue 02:00 Britain’s Underworld 20:10 Mythbusters 09:30 The Wizards Return: Alex vs. 00:00 Keeping Up With The 17:25 Too Cute! 03:00 Mega Bridges 21:00 The Future Of... Alex. Kardashians 18:20 Bad Dog 04:00 Killing Lincoln 19:15 Tanked 21:50 Alien Mysteries 10:15 Liv And Maddie 00:55 Chelsea Lately 00:20 The Gadget Show 06:00 Family Guns 22:40 Human Nature 10:40 Meet The Robinsons 01:25 Style Star 20:10 Treehouse Masters 07:00 Brain Games 00:45 How Does That Work? 23:30 Moon Machines 01:50 Style Star 21:05 Shamwari: A Wild Life 07:30 Brain Games 02:20 Keeping Up With The 21:35 Shamwari: A Wild Life 08:00 Diggers Kardashians 22:00 Tanked 08:30 Diggers 03:15 Extreme Close-Up 22:55 Treehouse Masters 09:00 Dangerous Encounters 03:40 Extreme Close-Up 23:50 Animal Cops Miami 10:00 Britain’s Underworld 04:10 E!ES 11:00 Predator CSI 05:05 E!ES 12:00 A Traveler’s Guide To The 06:00 E! Entertainment Special Planets 07:50 Style Star 13:00 Air Crash Investigation 08:20 E! News 14:00 Battleground Brothers 00:15 Tareq Taylor’s Nordic Cookery 09:15 Giuliana & Bill 15:00 Brain Games 00:40 Cash In The Attic 10:15 THS 15:30 Brain Games 01:10 Cash In The Attic 11:10 E!ES 16:00 Diggers 01:55 Cash In The Attic 12:05 E! News 16:30 Diggers 02:50 Bargain Hunt 13:05 Fashion Police 17:00 Dangerous Encounters 03:35 Phil Spencer: Secret Agent 13:35 #RichKids Of Beverly Hills 18:00 Rebuilding Titanic 04:25 Simply Italian 14:05 #RichKids Of Beverly Hills 19:00 The Numbers Game 04:50 Tareq Taylor’s Nordic Cookery 14:30 Style Star 19:30 The Numbers Game 05:15 The Hairy Bikers Ride Again 15:00 Keeping Up With The 20:00 Situation Critical 05:45 Cash In The Attic Kardashians 21:00 Doomsday Preppers 06:15 Cash In The Attic 16:00 Keeping Up With The 22:00 Armageddon Outfitters 07:00 Cash In The Attic Kardashians 23:00 Naked Science 2.5 07:55 Bargain Hunt 17:00 The Drama Queen 08:40 Phil Spencer: Secret Agent 18:00 E! News 09:30 Simply Italian 19:00 The E! True Hollywood Story 09:55 Tareq Taylor’s Nordic Cookery 20:00 Eric And Jessie: Game On 10:20 Cash In The Attic 20:30 Eric And Jessie: Game On 10:50 Cash In The Attic 21:00 Giuliana & Bill 00:20 Hippo vs Croc 11:35 Cash In The Attic 22:00 Fashion Police 01:10 Monster Fish 12:30 Bargain Hunt 22:30 E! News 02:00 Brutal Killers 13:15 Phil Spencer: Secret Agent 23:30 Chelsea Lately 02:50 Crocpocalypse 14:00 Simply Italian 03:45 Hooked 14:25 Tareq Taylor’s Nordic Cookery 04:40 Built For The Kill 14:55 Cash In The Attic 05:35 Brutal Killers 15:25 Cash In The Attic 06:30 Crocpocalypse 16:10 Cash In The Attic 07:25 Hooked 17:05 Simply Italian 08:20 Mudcats 00:05 Fast Food Gone Global 17:30 Bargain Hunt 09:15 Crocodile King 00:55 Grill It! With Bobby Flay 18:15 Phil Spencer: Secret Agent 10:10 Wild Untamed Brazil 01:20 Roadtrip With G. Garvin 19:10 Simply Italian 11:05 Killer Shots 01:45 Mexican Made Easy 19:35 Come Dine With Me 12:00 Shark Men 02:10 Mexican Made Easy 20:30 Come Dine With Me 12:55 World’s Deadliest Animals 02:35 Siba’s Table 21:20 Come Dine With Me 13:50 Hippo vs Croc 03:00 Siba’s Table 22:15 Bargain Hunt 14:45 Hooked 03:25 Guy’s Big Bite 23:00 Phil Spencer: Secret Agent 15:40 Mudcats 03:50 Iron Chef America 23:50 Simply Italian 16:35 Croc Ganglands 04:40 Chopped 17:30 Wild Untamed Brazil 05:30 Unwrapped 18:25 Hidden Worlds 05:50 Tastiest Places To Chowdown 19:20 World’s Deadliest Animals 06:10 Chopped 20:10 Hippo vs Croc 07:00 Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam 21:00 Hooked 07:25 Roadtrip With G. Garvin 21:50 Mudcats 00:30 Street Outlaws 07:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 22:40 Croc Ganglands 01:20 The Fighters 08:15 Iron Chef America 23:30 Wild Untamed Brazil 02:10 Saint Hoods 09:05 Barefoot Contessa 03:00 Fast N’ Loud 09:30 Amazing Wedding Cakes 03:50 Storage Hunters 10:20 Easy Chinese: San Francisco 04:15 Container Wars 04:40 Savage Family Diggers 10:45 Fast Food Gone Global 05:05 How It’s Made 11:35 Grill It! With Bobby Flay 05:30 How Stuff’s Made 12:00 Reza, Spice Prince Of India 00:30 The Daily Show With Jon INSIDIOUS ON OSN MOVIES HD ACTION 12:25 Charly’s Cake Angels Stewart TV listings SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

01:00 The Colbert Report Stewart 03:00 Rescue Me 08:00 Trouble With The Curve-PG15 10:00 Pawn Stars 01:30 Seinfeld 21:30 The Colbert Report 04:00 House Of Cards 10:00 Marvel’s The Invincible Iron 10:30 Pawn Stars 02:00 Seinfeld 22:00 Wilfred 05:00 Good Morning America Man-PG 11:00 Storage Wars 02:30 The Mindy Project 22:30 2 Broke Girls 07:00 Emmerdale 00:15 It’s A Disaster-PG15 12:00 G.I. Joe: Retaliation-PG15 11:30 Storage Wars 03:00 Baby Daddy 23:00 The Mindy Project 08:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 02:15 Dudley Do Right-PG 14:00 Too Late To Say Goodbye-PG15 12:00 Counting Cars 03:30 Parks And Recreation 23:30 Late Night With Seth Meyers 04:00 Ski Patrol-PG15 16:00 Trouble With The Curve-PG15 12:30 Counting Cars 04:00 My Boys 09:00 Almost Human 06:00 What About Bob?-PG 18:00 The Guilt Trip-PG15 13:00 Mountain Men 04:30 The Tonight Show Starring 10:00 Emmerdale 08:00 Problem Child-PG 20:00 Taken 2-PG15 14:00 Counting Cars Jimmy Fallon 11:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 10:00 Dudley Do Right-PG 22:00 The Awakening-18 14:30 Counting Cars 05:30 My Name Is Earl 12:00 Grey’s Anatomy 00:00 The Carrie Diaries 11:45 Pitch Perfect-PG15 15:00 Counting Cars 06:00 The War At Home 13:00 The Blacklist 01:00 Chicago Fire 14:00 What About Bob?-PG 15:30 Counting Cars 06:30 Friends 14:00 Live Good Morning America 02:00 The Newsroom 16:00 Problem Child-PG 16:00 American Restoration 07:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers 03:00 C.S.I. 16:00 Almost Human 17:00 Pawn Stars 08:00 My Boys 18:00 The Little Rascals-PG 04:00 Covert Affairs 17:00 Grey’s Anatomy 02:00 Trans World 17:30 Pawn Stars 08:30 My Name Is Earl 20:00 The Animal-PG15 05:00 Switched At Birth 18:00 The Blacklist 03:00 Super Rugby 18:00 Storage Wars 09:00 Baby Daddy 22:00 Rock Of Ages-PG15 06:00 The Carrie Diaries 05:00 Super Rugby 18:30 Storage Wars 09:30 Trophy Wife 19:00 Almost Human 07:00 Last Resort 07:00 Golfing World 19:00 American Restoration 10:00 Brooklyn Nine-Nine 20:00 Grey’s Anatomy 08:00 Scandal 08:00 International Rugby Union 20:00 Counting Cars 10:30 Friends 09:00 Chicago Fire 21:00 The Blacklist 10:00 ICC Cricket 360 20:30 Counting Cars 11:00 The Tonight Show Starring 10:00 Switched At Birth 22:00 House Of Cards 10:30 Live Super Rugby 21:00 Pawn Stars Jimmy Fallon 11:00 Covert Affairs 23:00 Rescue Me 01:00 Promised Land-PG15 12:30 Live NRL Premiership 21:30 Storage Wars 12:00 The War At Home 12:00 Emmerdale 03:00 The Philly Kid-PG15 15:00 Super Rugby 22:00 American Pickers 12:30 My Boys 13:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 05:00 Abandoned-PG15 23:00 Storage Wars 13:00 My Name Is Earl 14:00 Scandal 17:00 Trans World 07:00 Oh Christmas Tree-PG 13:30 Friends 15:00 The Carrie Diaries 18:00 ICC Cricket 360 23:30 Storage Wars 09:00 Darling Companion-PG15 14:00 Parks And Recreation 16:00 Emmerdale 18:30 Total Rugby 11:00 Abandoned-PG15 14:30 Trophy Wife 17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 19:00 Golfing World 13:00 Bernie-PG15 15:00 Brooklyn Nine-Nine 18:00 Scandal 00:00 Insidious-PG15 20:00 Live Super Rugby 15:00 Riddle-PG15 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon 19:00 Switched At Birth 02:00 ATM-PG15 22:00 Live PGA Tour 17:00 Darling Companion-PG15 Stewart 20:00 Covert Affairs 04:00 Crimson Tide-PG15 19:00 96 Minutes-PG15 00:10 Oprah’s Next Chapter 16:00 The Colbert Report 21:00 The Client List 06:00 Chinese Zodiac-PG15 16:30 The War At Home 21:00 Citizen Gangster-PG15 01:00 Mob Wives 22:00 Killer Women 08:00 Skyline-PG15 17:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers 23:00 C.S.I. 23:00 Neds-PG15 01:50 Hoarding: Buried Alive 10:00 Snake Eyes-PG15 18:00 The Simpsons 00:00 Trans World Sport 02:40 I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant 12:00 Crimson Tide-PG15 18:30 Parks And Recreation 01:00 PGA European Tour 03:05 Mob Wives 19:00 Enlisted 14:00 Chinese Zodiac-PG15 07:00 Premier League Darts 03:55 Long Island Medium 19:30 The Michael J. Fox Show 16:00 Skyline-PG15 10:30 Golfing World 04:20 Say Yes To The Dress 20:00 The Tonight Show Starring 18:00 Snake Eyes-PG15 11:30 Live PGA European Tour 04:45 Say Yes To The Dress 20:00 Daylight-PG15 Jimmy Fallon 00:00 The Blacklist 00:45 The Best Man-PG15 14:30 Web.Com Tour 05:10 Toddlers & Tiaras 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon 22:00 Clear And Present Danger-PG15 02:45 Red Lights-PG15 01:00 Good Morning America 16:30 Live PGA European Tour 06:00 Oprah: Behind The Scenes 04:45 Cinderella Man-PG15 19:30 Inside The PGA Tour 07:00 Oprah: Behind The Scenes 07:15 An Inconvenient Truth-PG 20:00 WWE SmackDown 07:50 Cake Boss 09:00 The Trial-PG15 22:00 Live Super League 08:15 Cake Boss 11:00 I Am-PG15 08:40 Cake Boss 12:30 Cinderella Man-PG15 09:05 Cake Boss 15:00 Prosecuting Casey Anthony- 09:30 Six Little Mcghees PG15 10:20 My Crazy Obsession 17:00 I Am-PG15 10:45 My Crazy Obsession 19:00 Marie Antoinette-PG15 00:00 ICC Cricket 360 11:10 Extreme Couponing 21:00 Nobody Walks-PG15 00:30 Natwest T20 Blast Highlights 11:35 Extreme Couponing All-Stars 23:00 Shadow Dancer-PG15 01:30 Natwest T20 Blast Highlights 13:15 Oprah Presents: Master Class 02:30 Natwest T20 Blast Highlights 14:05 Oprah’s Next Chapter 03:30 Natwest T20 Blast Highlights 14:55 Little People, Big World 04:30 ICC Cricket 360 17:00 World’s Worst Mum 01:00 Austenland-PG15 05:00 IPL Highlights 17:50 Jon & Kate Plus 8 03:00 Between Us-PG15 06:00 IPL Highlights 18:15 Jon & Kate Plus 8 05:00 Good Day For It-PG15 07:00 ICC Cricket 360 18:40 Jon & Kate Plus 8 07:00 Monsters University-PG 07:30 Natwest T20 Blast Highlights 19:10 Jon & Kate Plus 8 09:00 You Got Served: Beat The World- 08:30 Natwest T20 Blast Highlights 19:35 Jon & Kate Plus 8 PG15 09:30 Natwest T20 Blast Highlights 20:05 Six Little Mcghees 11:00 Magic Journey To Africa-PG15 10:30 Natwest T20 Blast Highlights 21:00 Here Comes Honey Boo Boo 13:00 Austenland-PG15 11:30 ICC Cricket 360 21:25 Here Comes Honey Boo Boo 15:00 Jack The Giant Slayer-PG15 12:00 IPL Highlights 21:55 World’s Worst Mum 17:00 You Got Served: Beat The World- 13:00 IPL Highlights 22:50 Long Island Medium PG15 14:00 IPL Highlights 23:15 My Crazy Obsession 19:00 LOL-PG15 15:00 IPL Highlights 23:40 My Crazy Obsession 21:00 One Direction: This Is Us-PG 16:00 ICC Cricket 360 23:00 The Heat-PG15 16:30 Natwest T20 Blast Highlights 17:30 Natwest T20 Blast Highlights 18:30 Natwest T20 Blast Highlights 19:30 Live Natwest T20 Blast 23:00 ICC Cricket 360 00:35 Dancing On Ice 01:00 A Fairy Tale Christmas 23:30 Best of ICC WT20 02:00 Emmerdale 02:45 Gnomeo & Juliet 02:55 Coronation Street 04:30 The Great Bear 03:25 Big Star’s Little Star 06:00 Problem Child 2 04:20 The Hungry Sailors 08:00 Freddy Frogface 05:15 The Chase 10:00 Planet 51 06:05 Dancing On Ice 11:30 Wizards And Giants 00:00 Storage Wars 07:30 Big Star’s Little Star 13:00 Gnomeo & Juliet 00:30 Pawn Stars 08:25 The Hungry Sailors 14:30 Fred 2: Night Of The Living Fred 01:00 American Restoration 09:20 Take On The Twisters 16:00 Curious George: Swings Into 02:00 American Daredevils 10:15 Murdoch Mysteries Spring 02:30 American Daredevils 11:10 Emmerdale 18:00 Planet 51 03:00 Storage Wars 12:00 Coronation Street 20:00 Turboosters 03:30 Storage Wars 12:30 The Chase 22:00 Fred 2: Night Of The Living Fred 04:00 Pawn Stars 13:20 Dancing On Ice 23:30 Curious George: Swings Into 04:30 Pawn Stars 14:45 Murdoch Mysteries Spring 05:00 Mountain Men 15:35 Take On The Twisters 06:00 Storage Wars Texas 16:30 Lewis 06:30 Counting Cars 18:20 Murdoch Mysteries 07:00 Counting Cars 19:10 Coronation Street 00:00 Dangerous Attraction-PG15 07:30 Counting Cars 19:35 Take On The Twisters 02:00 G.I. Joe: Retaliation-PG15 08:00 American Restoration 20:30 Lewis 04:00 Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away- 08:30 Cajun Pawn Stars 22:20 Coronation Street PG 09:00 Storage Wars Texas 22:50 Emmerdale ITS A DISASTER ON OSN MOVIES COMEDY HD 06:00 Disturbia-PG15 09:30 Counting Cars 23:45 Murdoch Mysteries WHAT’S ON SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

Mubarak Al-Kabeer governor honours high school graduates ubarak Al-Kabeer Governor, First Lieutenant General Ahmad Al-Rujaib, patronized a ceremony organized by the governorate to celebrate graduates of high schools in the governorate. Talaq Al-Haim, the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Educational Directorate’s General Director, as well as Ahmadi Governor Sheikh Fawaz Al- MKhalid Al-Sabah and other dignitaries attended the event.

health & science SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 Free birth control becoming standard for women

WASHINGTON: More than half of privately insured women are getting free birth control under President Barack Obama’s health law, a major coverage shift that’s likely to advance. This week the Supreme Court allowed some employers with religious scruples to opt out, but most companies appear to be going in the opposite direction. Recent data from the IMS Institute document a sharp change during 2013. The share of privately insured women who got their birth control pills without a copayment jumped to 56 percent, from 14 percent in 2012. The law’s requirement that most health plans cover birth control as prevention, at no BEIJING: This photo shows Qi Lijun as he undergoes “fire therapy” at an additional cost to women, took full effect in 2013. apartment. — AFP photos The average annual saving for women was $269. “It’s a big number,” said institute director Michael Kleinrock. The institute is the research arm of IMS Burn, patient, burn: Health, a Connecticut-based technology company that uses pharmacy records to track prescription drug sales. Medical inferno in China The core of Obama’s law - taxpayer-subsidized cover- BEIJING: A therapist pours alcohol over a ic back pain, had at first been shocked by age for the uninsured - benefits a relatively small share patient and sets him alight-for some in the idea of the treatment, but added: of Americans. But free preventive care- from flu shots to China, playing with fire is a treatment for “After learning everything I don’t have colonoscopies -is a dividend of sorts for the majority illness. So-called “fire therapy”, which pro- fears any more.” The practice is based on with employer coverage. ponents claim can cure stress, indiges- Chinese folk beliefs that health depends Expanded preventive coverage hasn’t gotten as tion, infertility and even cancer, has been on maintaining a balance of “hot” and much attention as another bonus for the already used for hundreds of years and recently “cold” elements within the body. “We insured: the provision that allows young adults to garnered a blaze of attention in Chinese start a fire on top of the body, which gets remain on their parents’ policy until they turn 26. That media. There is no orthodox medical evi- rid of cold inside the body,” said Zhang, may start to change with all the discussion of birth con- dence that it is effective, a fact that mat- who claims to have lit blazes on foreign trol. Business groups and employee benefits consult- ters little to one of China’s most promi- diplomats and senior Chinese officials. ants say they see little chance that employers will roll nent fire therapists. “Fire therapy is the The treatment gained renewed public back contraceptive coverage as a result of the Supreme fourth revolution in human history... it attention this month when photos of a Court ruling. The court carved out a space for “closely surpasses both Chinese and Western man having fire applied to his crotch held” companies whose owners object on religious medicine,” said Zhang Fenghao, who went viral on Chinese social media. “Sir, grounds. Most companies don’t fit that niche. trains students at a dingy apartment in how well would you like your meat Beijing and charges around 300 yuan cooked?” joked one microblogger on Awareness of the provisions “I don’t think you will see a broad impact,” said Neil WASHIGNTON: This May 28, 1999, file photo ($48) per hour for treatment. China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo. shows a new birth control pill container He applied a herbal paste to a Trautwein, the top employee benefits expert for the National Retail Federation. “It’s a commonly offered designed to look like a woman’s makeup patient’s back, covered it with a towel Burning question compact for Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical and poured on water and a 95 percent State media have sought to dampen benefit for many employers, including retailers.” The court decision involved “a very unique set of facts,” Inc, of Raritan, NJ, displayed at the manufac- rubbing alcohol, adding proudly: “Using down enthusiasm for fire therapy, run- turer’s assembly line. — AP this method, patients can avoid opera- ning several reports on shady therapists, Trautwein added. “Intense religious beliefs, closely held tions.” The man, Qi Lijun, lay on his front some without certification and employ- companies and the vehement objection to contracep- economically advanced countries. “Awareness of the placidly as Zhang flicked a cigarette ing only a bucket of water to prevent con- tive coverage.” Before the Supreme Court ruling, some provisions of the law has not been very clear some- lighter, igniting a miniature inferno of flagrations. “There have been injuries, “grandfathered” plans unchanged since the health care times,” said Kleinrock. “Certainly this is something we orange and blue flames dancing above patients have been burned on their faces law passed were already exempt from covering pre- are going to be watching.” his spine. and bodies, because of a lack of stan- vention at no cost, but that number is expected to Birth control use is virtually universal in the United “It feels warm, not painful, just warm,” dards,” said Zhang. “I have taught tens of shrink over time as employers make coverage changes. States, but about half of all pregnancies are still said the 47-year-old, who recently suf- thousands of students, and we have nev- IMS says it is still too early to discern the health care unplanned. Forgetting to take the pill is a major reason. fered a brain haemorrhage that affected er seen an accident.” So far the practice law’s ultimate impact on birth control. At least for now, As recently as the 1990s, many health insurance plans his memory and mobility. “I think it’s has received little attention from medical it doesn’t seem like more women are going on birth didn’t even cover birth control. Protests, court cases effective.” Many in China cannot afford journals, but the theory behind it bears control because it’s free. The number of prescriptions and new state laws changed that. Obama’s law is tak- expensive treatment for chronic ailments some relation to the Chinese medicinal for oral contraceptives that were filled grew in 2013, ing it another step. Many medical groups see a strong and state health insurance is limited, practice of “cupping”, where a flame but at about the same rate as in recent years. There’s rationale for free birth control. Contraception can help sparking demand for cheaper alternative burns away the oxygen inside a recepta- also not much evidence of a shift to costlier long-acting make a woman’s next pregnancy healthier by spacing therapies. cle to create pressure on parts of a contraceptives, such as hormonal implants. More reli- births far enough apart, generally 18 months to two Zhao Jing, 49, who suffers from chron- patient’s body. — AFP able than the pill, they are gaining popularity in other years. — AP Bone marrow transplant safe for adult sickle cell patients NEW YORK: Bone marrow transplants, which that causes red blood cells to contain an abnor- have already been used to cure sickle cell dis- mal protein, which makes them take on a sick- ease in children, may also hold promise for le- or crescent-shape. These defective cells can adults, according to a new study. Using a less block small blood vessels, leading to tissue toxic bone marrow transplantation technique, damage or stroke. Other complications of the researchers brought 26 out of 30 adult patients disease are anemia, jaundice, gallstones, severe to a point where a majority of their blood cells leg and arm pain and spleen, liver and kidney were healthy and they could drastically reduce damage. their pain and other medications. Approximately 100,000 Americans, primarily “Many patients are not aware that there are of African descent, have the disorder, which is curative options,” said Dr John Tisdale. “When most common in western Africa. Tisdale said you’re a child, you can get a transplant and be children had been considered better candi- reasonably well assured that the result will be dates for bone marrow transplants, because good. Now we have data that for adults it will they can tolerate the more toxic procedure, be the same.” Tisdale is the study’s senior which typically includes using radiation to get author and a senior investigator at the National rid of the patient’s own bone marrow and BEIJING: Wang Jiayu as she undergoes “fire therapy” during a demon- Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. chemotherapy to eliminate the immune sys- stration at an apartment. Sickle cell disease is an inherited disorder tem. — AP health & science SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 Study finds little benefit, some harm from steroid shots for back pain

NEW YORK: Steroid injections widely used to treat back pain Roughly 550,000 procedures - at a cost ranging from $500 to four glucocorticoid drugs: triamcinolone, betamethasone, dex- offer little or no real benefit, according to a new study of 400 $2,000 per injection - are done each year just among Medicare amethasone or methylprednisolone. patients. Those who received the drug mixed with the painkiller recipients. “Certainly, this study raises serious questions about the The remaining patients got lidocaine alone, and all patients lidocaine scored no better on measures of disability and leg pain benefits of epidural glucocorticoid injections for spinal stenosis,” had the option of a second round of treatment. Before the injec- after six weeks than patients in a control group who received lido- Dr Gunnar Andersson of Rush University Medical Center in tions, three weeks later and again at the six-week point, patients caine injection alone. Chicago writes in an accompanying editorial in the New England scored their pain level on a 25-point scale, with 25 being the “These (injections) are so commonly used and the steroids do Journal of Medicine. worst pain. At the three-week mark, average pain scores among pose an added risk to patients without much benefit,” the study’s “It’s looking like it may be a little harder to justify doing those patients in the lidocaine group had dropped from 15.7 down to lead author Dr Janna Friedly of the University of Washington in injections for spinal stenosis in patients. But it doesn’t show it’s 13.1, and down to 12.5 after six weeks. People in the lidocaine- Seattle told Reuters Health. “I do hope patients and their doctors not effective at all,” said Dr D Scott Kreiner, co-chairman of the glucocorticoid group started out with a bit more pain - their aver- will be more cautious about using them” for spinal stenosis, she guidelines committee of the North American Spine Society, who age score was 16.1 - and they showed most of their improvement said. Lumbar spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the passageway was not involved in the research. He told Reuters Health that the at the three-week mark, scoring 11.7 at that point and 11.8 at the surrounding spinal nerves in the lower back. The resulting nerve treatment “is moderately effective, not curative, and that may or six-week mark. compression is painful and the number one reason older adults may not be enough for some patients to avoid surgery.” The difference between the groups was not statistically signifi- have spinal surgery. The combination of glucocorticoid steroids Because evidence for the effectiveness of the injections is lack- cant, meaning it could have been due to chance. A similar pattern and an anesthetic is supposed to reduce nerve inflammation and ing, the study team involved doctors at 16 sites in the US, who was seen for leg pain, where there was a slight difference at three swelling in the surrounding tissue. gave half the patients injections of lidocaine followed by one of weeks, but that disappeared by week 6. — Reuters SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

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Arrival Flights on Saturday 5/7/2014 GFA 215 Bahrain 17:30 ETD 302 Abu Dhabi 10:15 Airlines Flt Route Time JZR 357 Mashhad 17:30 FDB 5056 Dubai 10:15 QTR 1084 Doha 00:05 KAC 176 Geneva/Frankfurt 17:45 KAC 101 London/New York 10:25 JZR 239 Amman 00:20 JZR 177 Dubai 17:45 QTR 1071 Doha 11:00 JZR 267 Beirut 00:25 JZR 777 Jeddah 17:50 KAC 671 Dubai 11:20 JZR 539 Cairo 00:30 KAC 542 Cairo 18:15 KAC 541 Cairo 11:30 DLH 637 Dammam 00:35 QTR 1080 Doha 18:25 GFA 214 Bahrain 11:35 PGT 858 Istanbul 01:25 FDB 063 Dubai 18:35 KAC 501 Beirut 11:40 SAI 441 Lahore 01:35 KAC 104 London 18:45 JZR 356 Mashhad 11:40 THY 764 Istanbul 01:40 CLX 732 Luxembourg 18:50 KAC 165 Rome/Paris 11:45 RJA 642 Amman 01:45 IRA 669 Mashhad 18:50 IAW 158 Al Najaf/Baghdad 12:00 GFA 211 Bahrain 01:55 JAV 621 Amman 18:50 JZR 776 Jeddah 12:15 UAE 853 Dubai 02:25 ABY 129 Sharjah 18:55 MSC 402 Alexandria 12:20 JAI 576 Kochi/Abu Dhabi 02:35 KAC 618 Doha 19:00 SYR 342 Damascus 13:05 ETD 305 Abu Dhabi 02:45 GFA 217 Bahrain 19:05 JZR 176 Dubai 13:10 PIA 239 Lahore 03:05 KAC 774 Riyadh 19:15 FDB 072 Dubai 13:15 FDB 5067 Dubai 03:05 KAC 502 Beirut 19:20 FDB 056 Dubai 13:20 RJA 644 Amman 03:10 KAC 674 Dubai 19:25 JZR 124 Bahrain 13:30 MSR 612 Cairo 03:15 KAC 742 Dammam 19:30 MSR 580 Sohag 13:50 OMA 643 Muscat 03:20 JAI 572 Mumbai 19:35 MSR 611 Cairo 14:00 QTR 1076 Doha 03:25 OMA 647 Muscat 19:55 UAE 872 Dubai 14:15 MSC 401 Alexandria 04:00 KNE 474 Jeddah 20:00 KAC 561 Amman 14:45 JZR 555 Alexandria 04:10 KAC 562 Amman 20:00 QTR 1079 Doha 14:55 FDB 058 Dubai 15:00 THY 770 Istanbul 04:35 FDB 5061 Dubai 20:05 MSR 576 Sharm el-Sheikh 15:00 DHX 170 Bahrain 05:10 MEA 402 Beirut 20:15 KAC 673 Dubai 15:05 KAC 412 Manila/Bangkok 06:15 MSR 618 Alexandria 20:30 KAC 617 Doha 15:30 BAW 157 London 06:35 KLM 415 Amsterdam 21:05 KNE 473 Jeddah 15:35 JZR 563 Sohag 06:35 ALK 229 Colombo 21:10 KAC 773 Riyadh 15:50 KAC 416 Jakarta/Kuala Lumpur 06:35 UAE 859 Dubai 21:15 SVA 505 Jeddah 16:00 SYR 1221 Latakia 07:00 ETD 307 Abu Dhabi 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00:10 QTR 1070 Doha 10:00 GFA 216 Bahrain 18:20 GFA 213 Bahrain 10:40 NIA 264 Alexandria 00:20 JZR 156 Dubai 18:35 IAW 157 Baghdad/Al Najaf 11:00 JAI 573 Mumbai 00:20 UAL 982 Bahrain 18:40 MSC 405 Sohag 11:20 MSR 615 Cairo 00:30 JZR 238 Amman 18:45 SYR 341 Damascus 12:05 KLM 413 Amsterdam 00:55 QTR 1081 Doha 19:25 FDB 071 Dubai 12:35 JZR 502 Luxor 01:30 ABY 120 Sharjah 19:40 FDB 055 Dubai 12:40 DLH 637 Frankfurt 01:35 GFA 218 Bahrain 19:50 UAE 871 Dubai 12:45 THY 773 Istanbul 02:20 FDB 064 Dubai 19:50 MSR 610 Cairo 13:00 SAI 442 Lahore 02:35 IRA 666 Esfahan 19:55 MSR 579 Sohag 13:05 PGT 859 Istanbul 02:55 JAV 622 Amman 19:55 QTR 1078 Doha 13:45 FDB 5068 Dubai 03:45 KAC 363 Colombo 20:05 KAC 1788 Jeddah 13:50 RJA 645 Amman 03:55 CLX 732 Hong Kong 20:20 FDB 057 Dubai 13:50 ETD 306 Abu Dhabi 04:10 JAI 571 Mumbai 20:35 MSR 575 Sharm el-Sheikh 14:15 MSR 613 Cairo 04:15 KNE 475 Jeddah 20:45 KAC 546 Alexandria 14:15 OMA 644 Muscat 04:20 FDB 5062 Dubai 20:50 JZR 779 Jeddah 14:20 QTR 1077 Doha 04:25 KAC 331 Trivandrum 20:50 SVA 500 Jeddah 14:30 PIA 240 Sialkot/Islamabad 04:35 OMA 648 Muscat 20:55 KNE 472 Jeddah 14:40 MSC 406 Sohag 05:00 KAC 351 Kochi 21:05 KAC 788 Jeddah 15:00 QTR 1085 Doha 05:20 MEA 403 Beirut 21:15 ABY 127 Sharjah 15:35 UAE 854 Dubai 05:30 JZR 554 Alexandria 21:15 KNE 470 Jeddah 15:35 THY 765 Istanbul 06:00 MSR 607 Luxor 21:25 KNE 462 Madinah 15:45 JAI 575 Abu Dhabi/Kochi 06:30 KAC 543 Cairo 21:30 TBZ 5483 Mashhad 15:50 RJA 643 Amman 06:35 KAC 283 Dhaka 21:45 RJA 640 Amman 15:55 THY 771 Istanbul 06:50 DHX 171 Bahrain 21:50 KNE 460 Riyadh 15:55 GFA 212 Bahrain 07:00 KLM 415 Dammam/Amsterdam 22:05 ETD 308 Abu Dhabi 22:15 KAC 672 Dubai 16:00 KAC 545 Alexandria 07:20 ALK 230 Colombo 22:20 KAC 118 New York 16:00 FDB 054 Dubai 07:50 UAE 860 Dubai 22:25 JZR 535 Cairo 16:05 SYR 1222 Latakia 08:00 KAC 381 Delhi 22:30 QTR 1072 Doha 16:15 BAW 156 London 08:25 QTR 1075 Doha 22:40 NIA 251 Alexandria 16:20 KAC 1787 Jeddah 08:45 KAC 301 Mumbai 22:40 JZR 125 Bahrain 16:25 JZR 778 Jeddah 08:45 GFA 220 Bahrain 22:45 ETD 303 Abu Dhabi 16:45 QTR 1087 Doha 08:55 JZR 534 Cairo 09:15 KNE 461 Riyadh 22:50 UAE 857 Dubai 16:55 FDB 060 Dubai 23:00 FDB 051 Dubai 16:55 ABY 126 Sharjah 09:30 KAC 787 Jeddah 09:35 KAC 205 Islamabad 23:35 SVA 510 Riyadh 17:15 KAC 411 Bangkok/Manila 23:40 UAL 982 IAD 17:25 UAE 856 Dubai 09:50 Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw) SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

DOWN 1. (medical) A bandage consisting of a pad and belt. CROSSWORD599 2. A constitutional monarchy on the western part of the islands of Samoa in the South Pacific. 3. Limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent. 4. The capital and largest city of Yemen. 5. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth. 6. Wife or mistress of Zeus and mother of Apollo and Artemis in ancient mythology. 7. The use of nuclear magnetic resonance of protons to produce proton density images. 8. A rapid bustling commotion. 9. An appetizer consisting usually of a thin slice of bread or toast spread with caviar or cheese or other savory food. 10. Feeling or showing extreme anger. 11. (Greek mythology) Goddess of the moon in ancient mythology. 12. Of or relating to or characteristic of Thailand of its people. 13. Mentally healthy. 14. Showing characteristics of age, especially having gray or white hair. 22. A strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny. 24. Machine tool for shaping metal or wood. 26. A woman sahib. 27. A defensive missile designed to shoot down incoming intercontinental ballistic mis- siles. 28. Not treated with lead. 31. A very loud utterance (like the sound of an animal). 32. A member of the Iroquoian people formerly living east of Lake Ontario. 33. One who sets written material into type. 35. Rice cooked in well-seasoned broth with onions or celery and usually poultry or game or shellfish and sometimes tomatoes. 36. Gone by. 38. A member of the Mayan people of south central Guatemala. 41. The heading or position of a vessel relative to the trim of its sails. 43. (computer science) A kind of computer architecture that has a relatively small set of computer instructions that it can perform. 44. Perennial herb of East India to Polynesia and Australia cultivated for its large edible root yielding Otaheite arrowroot starch. 47. An intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores. ACROSS 51. Belonging to some prior time. 1. Syndrome resulting from a serious acute (sometimes fatal) infection associated with 53. The sacred city of Lamaism. the presence of staphylococcus. 55. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens. 4. Nymph who merged with Hermaphroditus to form one body. 59. The capital and largest city of Bangladesh. 12. Anterior pituitary hormone that stimulates the function of the thyroid gland. 60. A blanket that is used as a cloak or shawl. 15. The most common computer memory which can be used by programs to perform 62. Look at with amorous intentions. necessary tasks while the computer is on. 63. A platform raised above the surrounding level to give prominence to the person on it. 16. A mining town in southern Wales. 64. An independent group of closely related Chadic languages spoken in the area 17. 10 hao equal 1 dong. between the Biu-Mandara and East Chadic languages. 18. A benevolent aspect of Devi. 65. Offering fun and gaiety. 19. Of or relating to or belonging to a nation or country. 66. A golf shot that curves to the right for a right-handed golfer. 20. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods. 68. Horny plate covering and protecting part of the dorsal surface of the digits. 21. A system of solmization using the solfa syllables. 69. Type genus of the Alcidae comprising solely the razorbill. 23. A studio especially for an artist or designer. 72. Small rounded bread either plain or sweet. 25. A deep bow. 73. Be seated. 74. Antibacterial drug (trade name Nydrazid) used to treat tuberculosis. 29. Any of numerous hairy-bodied insects including social and solitary species. 78. Before noon. 30. The distinctive spirit of a people or an era. 34. Petty quarrel. 37. Designer drug designed to have the effects of amphetamines (it floods the brain with serotonin) but to avoid the drug laws. Yesterdayʼs Solution 39. A whetstone made of fine gritstone. 40. Skintight knit hose covering the body from the waist to the feet worn by acrobats and dancers and as stockings by women and girls. 42. A small part of an aggregate fruit that resembles a drupe. 45. The United Nations agency concerned with the interests of labor. Yesterday’s Solution 46. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine. 48. Being three more than fifty. 49. Provided with artificial light. 50. Fudge made with brown sugar and butter and milk and nuts. 52. An act of scaling by the use of ladders (especially the walls of a fortification). 54. A member of the people inhabiting an area of northern Mongolia and eastern Siberia. 56. A colorless and odorless inert gas. 57. A bachelor's degree in science. 58. Mild yellow Dutch cheese made in balls. 61. (from a combination of MOdulate and DEModulate) Electronic equipment consisting of a device used to connect computers by a telephone line. 67. (Hindu) A manner of sitting (as in the practice of Yoga). 70. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey). 71. Inability to walk. 75. (astronomy) An indistinct surface feature of Mars once thought to be a system of channels. 76. American prizefighter who won the world heavyweight championship three times (born in 1942). 77. A nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (trade name Clinoril). 79. A local and habitual twitching especially in the face. 80. A widely distributed system consisting of all the cells able to ingest bacteria or col- loidal particles etc, except for certain white blood cells. 81. A detested person. 82. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

Daily SuDoku Yesterday’s Solution SPORTS SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

Baseball Capsules Tanaka snaps skid; Yankees beat Twins

MINNEAPOLIS: Brian Dozier #2 of the Minnesota Twins pushes the ball with his glove towards teammate Eduardo Escobar #5 to get out Brett Gardner #11 of the New York Yankees at second base during the seventh inning of the game on July 3, 2014. — AFP

MINNEAPOLIS: Carlos Beltran gave the outstanding innings, and Detroit backed its four-game sweep. The Rangers have lost nine allowing five runs - four earned - and six hits foundering Yankees a jolt with a three-run star right-hander with three early homers. Ian consecutive road games - their longest skid over five innings. Bumgarner also drove in a homer Thursday night, lifting Masahiro Kinsler, Victor Martinez and Torii Hunter all since 2005 when current Orioles manager run for the Giants, who have lost 17 of 22 and Tanaka to his major league-leading 12th win went deep as part of a five-run first inning for Buck Showalter was at the helm. Baltimore fell out of first place in the NL West. and helping New York end a season-worst the AL Central-leading Tigers, who snapped (46-39) completed its first four-game sweep five-game skid with a 7-4 victory over the Tampa Bay’s five-game winning streak with against Texas since 2004 and improved to a DIAMONDBACKS 10, PIRATES 2 Minnesota Twins. Zelous Wheeler homered in their 12th victory in 14 games. Detroit leads season-high seven games over .500. Chen (8- David Peralta had three hits, including a his big league debut after eight years in the second-place Kansas City by five games. 3) allowed two runs and six hits with four two-run homer, and drove in four runs to help minors. David Robertson notched his 19th Scherzer (10-3) allowed a first-inning sacrifice strikeouts and two walks in six innings. He is Arizona avoid a series sweep. Arizona scored save with a hitless ninth inning and the fly by Evan Longoria, but that was the first of 4-0 in four starts against Texas with a 1.67 three runs in the sixth and seven in the ninth. Yankees started an 11-game road trip with a 10 straight hitters retired by the reigning ERA. Left-hander Zach Britton earned his 12th The Pirates are 0 for 8 in chances to sweep sigh-of-relief performance that put their American League Cy Young Award winner. save and hasn’t allowed a run in 21 consecu- opposing teams this season. They looked record back at the .500 mark. Phil Hughes (8- After allowing a single in the fourth, Scherzer tive relief appearances. primed to get their first sweep as starter 5) was rolling right along against his former retired another 13 in a row before he was Vance Worley retired the first 12 batters he team, leading 2-0 until Beltran’s big hit pulled with a pitch count of 106. Erik Bedard DODGERS 3, ROCKIES 2 faced and carried a no-hitter into the sixth cleared the tall wall above right field follow- (4-6) allowed six runs and eight hits with two Zack Greinke pitched eight solid innings inning. Ender Inciarte broke up Worley’s no- ing consecutive singles to start the fifth. walks in two innings. and Juan Uribe hit the go-ahead single in the hit bid with an RBI single with one out in the Wheeler went deep two batters later. Tanaka ninth inning for Los Angeles. Greinke (11-4) sixth. Peralta followed with his third home run (12-3) allowed a season-high four runs. ANGELS 5, ASTROS 2 got the win when the Dodgers rallied in the of the year which barely cleared the 21-foot- David Freese hit a two-run double, Matt ninth. Matt Kemp worked a leadoff walk off high fence in right field and gave Arizona a 3- ATHLETICS 4, BLUE JAYS 1 Shoemaker pitched in and out of trouble for LaTroy Hawkins (2-2), went to second on Scott 2 lead. Sonny Gray allowed four hits over seven six innings, and Los Angeles won the opener Van Slyke’s groundout and scored when Uribe innings to bounce back from his worst start of of a four-game series. Shoemaker (6-2) singled under the glove of second baseman PHILLIES 5, MARLINS 4 the season for Oakland. The Blue Jays scored allowed two runs, seven hits and three walks, DJ LeMahieu. Kenley Jansen worked the bot- Ben Revere scored the go-ahead run when their only run with the help of an odd replay and worked with runners on base in every tom of the inning to get his NL best 26th save Miami second baseman Donovan Solano bob- challenge by manager John Gibbons, who inning. The right-hander, who began the sea- in 29 chances. Uribe finished with three of the bled a grounder in the ninth, and Philadelphia wanted to have his own player called out. son in the bullpen, gave up eight runs and 11 Dodgers’ six hits. Justin Morneau and rallied to snap a six-game losing streak. Tony Stephen Vogt scored the winning run on a hits in four innings on Friday in a loss at LeMahieu had two hits each for the Rockies, Gwynn Jr led off the ninth with a walk and passed ball in the second inning and the A’s Kansas City. He had been 5-0 with a 3.00 ERA who have lost four straight and 15 of 17 to eventually scored the tying run against Miami made it hold up behind Gray and two reliev- in his seven previous starts this season. move within a half-game of last place in the closer Steve Cishek (4-4). Revere scored easily ers. Gray (8-3) walked three, struck out five Shoemaker had seven strikeouts against the NL West. when Chase Utley hit a grounder and Solano and got some help from Oakland’s defense, Astros, giving him 57 through his first 10 big could only get the out at first. Phillies closer which turned three double plays, including league starts. That broke the franchise record CARDINALS 7, GIANTS 2 Jonathan Papelbon got his 19th save in 21 one in the eighth after Josh Thole’s leadoff of 56 set by Bo Belinsky in 1962. Jason Grilli, Jhonny Peralta hit a two-run homer, Carlos chances. single. Jose Reyes hit a flyout to deep right obtained from Pittsburgh on Friday, pitched a Martinez earned his second win as a starter, Jake Diekman (3-2) got the win despite a and Oakland’s Brandon Moss made a strong scoreless eighth in his home debut, and Joe and St Louis beat reeling San Francisco. shaky eighth, giving up two runs and costing throw back to first baseman Nate Freiman, Smith worked a hitless ninth for his 10th save. Martinez (2-3) also drove in a run for the Philadelphia the lead. Marcell Ozuna had who tagged out Thole trying to get back to Cardinals, who won their second straight after three hits and scored twice for Miami, and the bag. ORIOLES 5, RANGERS 2 losing three in a row. Martinez allowed a run Christian Yelich also had a two hit night for Steve Pearce had a career-high four hits and five hits in five innings. He walked one the Marlins. Casey McGehee extended his hit TIGERS 8, RAYS 1 and drove in two runs, and Wei Yin Chen shut and struck out six. Madison Bumgarner (9-6) streak to 10 for Miami, reaching base for the Max Scherzer allowed two hits in eight down Texas again as Baltimore completed a fell to 0-3 over his past four home starts after 27th straight game. — AP SPORTS SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

Eaton rules out doubling up at 2015 worlds

PARIS: It is a step too far, even for the man dubbed Championships,” Eaton acknowledged ahead of when he claimed victory in the 400m hurdles at the world’s greatest athlete. Ashton Eaton con- Saturday’s Diamond League meet at the Stade de Oslo’s Bislett Games last month. firmed yesterday that he would not compete in the France in Paris. “I have not done any decathlon It promises to be a slightly tougher outing come decathlon and 400m hurdles at next year’s world training since my outdoor campaign started at the Saturday, with the likes of Puerto Rico’s Olympic championships in Beijing. The 26-year-old American beginning of June.” bronze medalist Javier Culson, winner in Lausanne is the Olympic and world decathlon champion, and Eaton, dubbed the world’s greatest athlete by no on Thursday, and the Dominican Republic’s Felix has also snared the world record in the grueling 10- less a figure than Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt Sanchez, a two-time Olympic champion, in the run- discipline event, becoming the only athlete to score after his victory in London two years ago, said there ning. “I was quite tired from the flight across (to over 9,000 points. was a different rhythm to competing in a single Switzerland), which meant I felt good for the first In March, he also bagged his second world event as opposed to the decathlon. “I am used to half of the race,” Culson said after victory in indoor heptathlon gold in Sopot, missing out on training for a competition, giving 100 percent and Lausanne. “I began to fatigue in the second half bettering his own world record by one second in going back into weeks of training to prepare for the and my last few hurdles were not as good as I want- the final, strength-sapping 1,000m. But this season, next one,” he said. “It’s very different travelling from ed. “But I felt smooth out there and I am looking he has walked away from what he does best for an one meet to the next with a short space of time forward to Paris.” Also in the field will be American outdoor season spent racing the 400m hurdles. “It between competitions.”Eaton, married to Canadian duo Michael Tinsley and Jonny Dutch, two sub- will be too difficult to compete in both the 400m pentathlete Brianne Thiesen Eaton, became the first 48sec runners but yet to hit that kind of form this hurdles and decathlon at next year’s World decathlete to win an event in the Diamond League season. —AFP

Britain has become Blixt makes sizzling cycling nation start to title defense ahead of Tour start LEEDS: British cycling coach Dave Brailsford said the country has become a “cycling nation” ahead of the Tour de France Stricker opens with a 66 in rare PGA Tour start departure from Leeds today. Brailsford, the general manager at Team Sky, who resigned from his role as British performance WEST VIRGINIA: Swede Jonas Blixt made a storming shots don’t really matter. You can hit one off line and gotten used to that over the years,” the 47-year-old director earlier this year, said the journey that Britain had start to his title defense at The Greenbrier Classic in it doesn’t mean anything. “And when you come out smiled. “I haven’t played much and I am kind of used embarked on 10 years ago has culminated in a complete White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia on Thursday as here, every shot means something. You’ve got to try to that fact. So I am excited about the start this week.” change of approach to cycling in the country. Not only have he charged into a one-shot lead in the opening and erase that out of your mind and do what you do Masters champion and world number three Bubba Britons won the last two Tours but defending champion Chris round. Firing at the flags whenever possible on a at home and do what you do when you’re practic- Watson, who set up home with his family at the luxu- Froome is favorite to do so again while fellow Brit Mark calm morning in the Allegheny Mountains, the 30- ing.” Stricker, whose best finish this season was a tie rious Greenbrier resort only a month ago, carded a 68 Cavendish is hotly tipped to win today’s opening stage, which year-old racked up eight birdies and two bogeys on for sixth at the Memorial Tournament last month, felt in the more difficult conditions of the afternoon finishes in his mother’s home town of Harrogate. “When we the way to a six-under-par 64 on the Greenbrier’s Old he was doing a pretty good job in that regard. “I have when the wind began to pick up. —Reuters started out 10 years ago, we started out with an ambition White Course. That left him one ahead of New around the Olympic Games and then we moved on to Team Zealand’s Danny Lee and Americans James Hahn, Sky,” said Brailsford. Jason Bohn, Chris Kirk, DA Points, Patrick Rodgers, Jim “With Team Sky we had an ambition of trying to build a Renner and Joe Durant, who tied for sixth at last team to win the Tour de France, try to win the Tour de France week’s Senior Players Championship, the year’s third with a British rider and try to do it clean. “We also had another major on the over-50s Champions Tour. ambition, to try to get a million more people in this country American world number 18 Steve Stricker, who cycling regularly and last week there were 2.1 million people has been playing a limited schedule on the PGA Tour cycling at least once a week in this country. “I think it cements in recent years, carded a bogey-free 66 in his first really where we’ve got to as a nation, that we’ve become a tournament since last month’s US Open. Blixt, who cycling nation in many respects.” Froome and Cavendish are won last year’s Greenbrier Classic by two shots after among those who have noted a rising enthusiasm for cycling in closing with a 67, was delighted with his overall strat- Britain, especially in the lead up to the Tour. egy coming into his second ever title defense on the Kenyan-born Froome, 29, the Team Sky leader, admits he is PGA Tour. “I think I relaxed a little too much the first feeling extra pressure as the reigning champion. “There defi- time,” the Swede told Golf Channel, referring to his nitely is an increase in pressure element coming back as maiden victory on the US circuit at the 2012 Frys.com defending champion, given that we’re starting on home soil,” Open and his tie for 51st at the event the following said Froome. “We’ve got huge crowds out here but I think it’s all year. “I was too comfortable. You’ve just got to realise very warm, positive energy for us.” Cavendish, 29, first rode the it’s a new golf tournament, they are four rounds to Tour in 2007 when it started in London and he said this time the play and there’s a bunch of players that can beat you. British departure feels even bigger and more exciting. “The type “So I just went out there and tried to fire at every- of support, not just in Yorkshire, but from the whole United thing,” said Blixt, who totalled only 22 putts. “I made Kingdom we’ve had for this ‘Grand Depart’ is just phenomenal,” as many birdies as possible to get a head start. I got said the Omega Pharma-Quick Step sprinter. some good breaks and made some putts.” “People who lived the Tour de France in 2007 when it started in London still talk about it being an exceptional Grand Course management Depart but I’m sure Yorkshire’s going to outdo that,” he added. Rodgers, who turned professional before the Froome is determined to buck the recent trend and defend his Travelers Championship two weeks ago and is play- Tour title. The official records show no-one has defended a Tour ing on a sponsor’s exemption at The Greenbrier, crown since Spaniard Miguel Indurain in 1995, but when asked soared into contention after a solid display of course whether that was due to the difficulty in repeating such a suc- management in the opening round. “I really hung in cess in a new “clean” era, Froome denied that played a role. “I’d there ... placed the ball where I needed to and was have to disagree with you there, with the fact that if you’ve won able to get on a good run on the (second) nine,” said it once then you’re spent for years to come,” he said. Rodgers, who stormed home in four-under 30 after “I don’t agree with that principle, (but) I do believe that you holing a wedge from 118 yards to eagle his 10th hole have pressures coming back as a defending champion having of the day, the par-four first. “I’m continuing to get won the Tour. “You definitely have a lot more on your plate settled in here the last three weeks and I’m continu- after winning the Tour; time between races just slips away from ing to learn and improve. Hopefully I’ll just build on you, you end up doing a lot more in terms of media commit- today and continue to get better as the week goes ments, sponsor commitments. “Life definitely changes after on.” Tour veteran Stricker, making only his eighth winning the Tour and if anything that’s probably a bigger factor start on the PGA Tour this season, recorded four compared to being wiped out after winning one Tour de birdies with his wife, Nicki, working as his caddie. France.” The main challenge to Froome’s dominance comes from Spaniard Alberto Contador, 31, who has been in fine form Asked to pinpoint the toughest challenge he faced as WEST VIRGINIA: Jonas Blixt of Sweden putts the ball for a birdie on the an irregular competitor on the PGA Tour, Stricker this season. The twice former winner has had his best start to a replied: “Knowing that your shots really do count. 18th hole during the first round of the Greenbrier Classic at the Old season since 2010, winning two week-long stage races and fin- “You spend a lot of time at home practicing and the White TPC in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. —AFP ishing second in three others. —AFP SPORTS SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014

Britain’s ‘Mamils’ switch Ferraris for expensive bikes

LONDON: Once a niche sport, cycling has Wiggins and Chris Froome. has written numerous books on the Tour de who said this week he was willing to do become so popular in Britain that it has France. “The demographic of the sport here everything he could to promote the Tour spawned a new breed of fans who would ‘The new golf’ in Britain is different to France, Belgium, Italy, “apart from wearing lycra”. “We would never rather buy a bike than a Ferrari and who con- MAMILs shave their legs to reduce wind Spain or other traditional cycling countries call ourselves that-it is a bit of an insult,” front their expanding waistlines by taking to resistance and are always working on their where cycling is more a working-class sport.” Wheatley said, adding that if he wasn’t wear- the open road. These “middle-aged men in bikes, sharing an obsessive interest in their Stephen Wheatley, a 59-year-old business ing the shirt of his cycling club Grappa this lycra” or MAMILs, as the tribe has unflatter- equipment, whether it is new handlebars, development specialist, admits that the hob- weekend-named after a memorable trip in ingly been dubbed, will be out in force this GPS device or brakes. “Cyclists tend to be like by is “expensive, yes, but cheaper than keep- Italy-he would wear black. “I’m nearly 60 weekend as the Tour de France begins in the years old and I think it looks faintly ludicrous northern English country of Yorkshire, many wearing the same kit as Andy Schleck or of them wearing day-glo outfits and tight Bradley Wiggins,” another British cycling star, shorts. he explained. The typical MAMIL is over the age of 35 and paid enough to afford the expen- ‘Old and too heavy’ sive brands favored by their tribe, such For all that, Wheatley rejects the stereo- as stylish cycle clothing maker Rapha, as type, he admits he has a lot of gear and well as pilgrimages to sites such as the proudly shows off his Gios bike, which he put mythical Mont Ventoux in the Provence together himself. He won’t say how much it region of southern France. “Twenty-five cost, but quips: “When I die and my wife sells years ago they might have gone out to my bikes, please ask her to add a zero to the buy a Porsche, or a supersport motor- price I told her it cost.” Noel Edwards, a 60- bike, now its a £3,000 (3,800 euros, year-old design manager, paid £6,500 for a $5,100) carbon fibre bike,” said Michael new bike and extra kit last year and has a sec- Oliver, a marketing specialist who claims ond folding bike which he uses on his com- to have come up with the term “MAMIL”, mute into work in London. Edwards is gener- which has now entered the dictionary. LONDON: A cyclist rides through the City, in central London. —AFP al secretary of his local cycling club, Gateway The hobby often starts as a way of saving Cycling, and remembers with joy how, after money and getting fit by cycling to work, geeks when it comes to equipment, they are ing a mistress and certainly less risky”. winning a magazine competition in 2007, he moving leisurely to weekend jaunts in the very aware of the latest developments,” A self-confessed “cycling addict”, he set had the chance to shake the hand of five- country. Then, during the summer months, it Oliver said. It is an expensive hobby but as off on Thursday from London with five times Tour winner Bernard Hinault. Heading means taking the family on stages of the Tour such is self-selecting and for many is a good friends to cycle to Yorkshire for the start of towards 61, he admits he is “old and too or even training in the Spanish opportunity for networking. “They talk of the Tour today. But he rejects the term heavy” but has no intention of quitting any- Mediterranean island of Majorca, where they cycling as the new golf, where business peo- MAMIL and the mockery that follows, most time soon. “I am better than I was, but I will follow the path of British champions Bradley ple do business,” said Richard Moore, who recently from Prime Minister David Cameron, never be good,” he said.—AFP

Nico Rosberg sets his teammate a challenge SILVERSTONE: Nico Rosberg dealt an early blow to Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton yesterday with the fastest lap in a British Grand Prix practice session notable for the presence of a woman driver for the first time in 22 years. The German lapped the Silverstone circuit in one minute 35.424 seconds with Hamilton, 29 points behind in the standings after eight races, second but 0.731 seconds slower than the championship leader. Hamilton has not won his home race since 2008 but desperately needs to do so to regain the momentum after being beaten by the German in the last three grands prix. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was third on the timesheets, 0.839 off Rosberg’s pace with Red Bull’s Australian Daniel Ricciardo fourth. The main talking point ahead of the first session was the appearance on track of Williams test driver Susie Wolff. Her SILVERSTONE: Mercedes-AMG’s German driver Nico Rosberg drives during a practice session at the involvement, at the wheel of the car to be raced by Finland’s Silverstone circuit in Silverstone yesterday ahead of the British Formula One Grand Prix. —AFP Valtteri Bottas on Sunday, lasted barely 20 minutes however because of a mechanical problem. On a bad morning for Williams, who finished third and fourth in Austria the weekend before last, Jones in from the cold for Paris meet Brazilian Felipe Massa then brought out the red flags after a heavy crash that also ruled him out of the rest of the session. PARIS: Fresh from representing the United Kellie Wells and Queen Harrison, winner of Powell’s pullout due to injury came only on Wolff, wife of Mercedes motorsport head Toto, managed just States in the mixed bobsled at the Sochi the New York Diamond League. Pearson, Thursday. The former 100 world record hold- four laps before an oil pressure problem forced her to park up by Olympics, Lolo Jones is making a welcome world champion in 2011, could only manage er complained of feeling a slight pain in his the side of the track on a sunny but breezy morning at Silverstone. return to the track and will race a top field at silver last year in Moscow behind Rollins, but hamstring and elected not to race as a pre- Even if that ended her track activities, Wolff was still the first the Paris Diamond League meet today. The the Paris meet is perfect timing for the caution, organizers said. woman to take part in any stage of a grand prix weekend since former double world indoor champion over Australian, with the Commonwealth Games Powell, 31, was expected to make his com- Italian Giovanna Amati tried and failed to qualify with Brabham in 60m hurdles was part of the US team that to be staged later this month and her goal petitive return in the French capital after 1992. Italian Lella Lombardi, in 1976, was the last woman to race in bagged a world bobsled gold in 2013 but for the season. But she had a slight hiccup receiving a temporary reprieve following an Formula One. “It was a really tough day but that’s Formula One could only finish 11th in Sochi. Now she has last weekend at a minor meet in Nivelles, 18-month doping ban he was issued in April. sometimes. We had an oil pressure problem which cut the her mind turned fully on the track, with an Belgium, when she lost to local hope Anne He and training partner Sherone Simpson, engines,” she told the BBC. outing over the 100m hurdles set for the Zagre. “Losing happens and Anne Zagre ran who was also suspended for testing positive “Once I had put the helmet on that was the best feeling, and as Stade de France. “If I get one more race very well,” said Pearson. “The meeting for the banned stimulant Oxilofrine at last soon as I had left the pit lane, everything felt good. Unfortunately where it’s cold and rainy I’m just gonna run remains a great event and I was hoping to year’s Jamaican Athletics Championship, have it was a short run but I’m going to look forward to Hockenheim,” in my bobsled uniform,” Jones tweeted as do better. “I was still feeling some pain in my appealed their cases to the Court of Arbitration added the Scot, who will have a second run at the German Grand she eased back into business earlier this thigh and so I had to pay a bit more atten- for Sport (CAS). A hearing is set for July 7-8. Prix later this month. Massa spun and hit the wall hard near the month at a meet in central Poland. tion to that. “At the start, I said to myself that Powell was also a late withdrawal from last exit to Stowe corner with just over an hour of practice remaining, The 31-year-old is up against a stellar field I had to give everything while still listening to week’s Jamaican Athletics Championship after bringing the session to a halt. The Brazilian was unhurt in the that includes Australian Olympic champion my body.” The men’s 100m has been hit by coming down with stomach flu. In the duo’s impact but the car suffered heavy damage. “I’m fine. I hit the out- Sally Pearson, and a powerful US quartet of two major withdrawals, firstly of world and absence, Jamaican hopes remain with Nesta side of the kerb and it just pushed me inside,” said the former world champion Brianna Rollins, newly- Olympic champion Usain Bolt and then by Carter and Nickel Ashmeade, recent winner of Ferrari driver, who will be starting his 200th race this weekend but crowned US champion Dawn Harper- Jamaican teammate Asafa Powell. While the 100m at the national championships in first at Silverstone with a British team. —Reuters Nelson, London Games bronze medalist Bolt’s absence had long been anticipated, 10.06sec. —AFP SPORTS SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 Bouchard awaits Wimbledon coronation

LONDON: Eugenie Bouchard insists she will Reluctant star only be satisfied with her meteoric rise if she is crowned queen of Wimbledon in today’s Kvitova back in final against former champion Petra Kvitova. Bouchard’s royalty-obsessed mother named the Wimbledon the 20-year-old Canadian after the younger daughter of Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth spotlight II’s second son, while her sister is named after Beatrice, Andrew’s elder daughter. Those regal connections have earned LONDON: Petra Kvitova will reluctantly return Bouchard plenty of intrigued enquires from to the spotlight in the Wimbledon final against the British media throughout her march to a Eugenie Bouchard today as the shy Czech tries first Grand Slam final and the 13th seed to emulate her breakthrough triumph on would dearly love a royal audience with the Centre Court. When Kvitova surprisingly defeat- ed Maria Sharapova to win her first Grand Slam Duchess of Kent, who presents the Venus title in the 2011 Wimbledon final, it was expect- Rosewater dish awarded to the women’s sin- ed to herald the start of a dominant period for gles champion at the All England Club. the youngster, whose aggressive style seemed And if she does lift the trophy, the ice- perfectly suited to the demands of the modern cool Bouchard may finally let her emotions power game. pour out. After falling at the semi-final stage But Kvitova’s no-nonsense on-court exterior of both the Australian and French Opens this hides a her true personality, which is far more year, Bouchard could have been forgiven for quiet and reserved, and as a result she has been embarking on a jubilant celebration follow- engaged in a long battle to deal with the harsh ing her 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 victory over world num- glare of the sporting spotlight. From being a ber three Simona Halep in Thursday’s last relatively anonymous figure on the women’s four clash on Centre Court. But like the royals tour, Kvitova’s Wimbledon victory brought her idolized by her mother, Bouchard carries her- uncomfortable and unwanted scrutiny from the self with a serene disposition and when she world’s media and fans intrigued by her sudden finally clinched victory on her sixth match rise to prominence. It was a transition that has point, she only briefly raised her arms and proved extremely difficult for Kvitova and her gave a small fist pump. form suffered as a result. “It was really a point Bouchard, the junior Wimbledon champi- when everything changed in my life after on only two years ago, holds herself to high A combination of pictures created shows Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard (left) celebrating Wimbledon,” she said. standards and becoming the first Canadian winning her women’s singles fourth round match and Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova “A lot of things changed in my life. I’m not to reach a Grand Slam final is nothing more at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London. — AFP any more too much of a private person. Of than she expected, so she will save any real just 17 in 2004. A decade later, the efferves- friend and compatriot Lucie Safarova 7-6 course the media are interested in everything, celebrations for if she wins the title this cent blonde seems set to inherit Sharapova’s (8/6), 6-1 in the semi-finals. so that’s not easy as well. I’m still living with the weekend. “I’m waiting for a big moment to mantle as the most marketable player of her The 24-year-old struggled to cope with pressure, that’s what I really need to handle.” go nuts,” Bouchard said. “Of course, achiev- generation. Bouchard is happy to accept flat- the burden of expectation after winning her Introduced to tennis by her father Jiri, Kvitova ing a lifelong dream like winning a slam is tering comparisons with the five-time Grand maiden Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in grew to idolise Czech legend Martina very exciting to me. But I feel like my job is Slam champion, but would prefer to be seen 2011. Unable to make it back to a Grand Slam Navratilova while watching television footage not done here. “There’s no need for a huge of her heroics at Wimbledon and eventually fol- as more than a clone of the glamorous final until now, Kvitova credits sports psy- celebration because I’m still working. I still Russian. “I see it as a compliment to be com- chologist Michal Safar for helping her come lowed in her footsteps onto the WTA Tour in have another match. “But it’s not a surprise 2008. She made an immediate impact, reach- pared to someone like Sharapova who has to terms with her champion status. “When I to me. I expect good results like this. So for ing the fourth round of her first Grand Slam at won five slams,” Bouchard said. “She’s a great won here in 2011 I needed to change myself me, I was like, ‘Okay, good’. It’s a step in the the French Open. Her first title arrived in Hobart champion so I see it in a positive light. “But both on and off the court a little bit,” Kvitova in 2009 and she broke into the world’s top 30 right direction.” I’m also my own person, I don’t want to be said. “I had to get used to the pressure. I won after reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals a year the next someone else. I want to be the first here quite young, and it was difficult for me later. Kvitova’s star was in the ascendant and in Shadow of Sharapova of me. “I want to be my own individual per- to handle it. “I’m still working on the mental 2011 the rest of the world got to see it as well as Bouchard’s breakthrough performance son. I’ll try to make my own history.” Standing side, that’s something I really need. “With my she won Wimbledon. has recalled memories of Maria Sharapova, in Bouchard’s way is the formidable figure of sports psychologist, it’s nice to talk with It was a fitting stage for Kvitova as she was who rocked the tennis world by defeating sixth seed Kvitova, who is back to her best someone who knows how I’m feeling before the first left-handed female player to win the Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final aged after a barren period and dismissed her close my match.” — AFP Wimbledon singles title since Navratilova in 1990. She was also the first Grand Slam winner of either gender to be born in the 1990s. But Djokovic downs Dimitrov to that was the moment everything changed for Kvitova. She crashed out of the US Open first round and struggled in her next 10 Grand Slam reach third Wimbledon final appearances. “It’s difficult to still be with the pressure every time you step on the court LONDON: Novak Djokovic moved a step allowed my opponent to get back into it,” way for Dimitrov to end his best run at a against some opponents,” Kvitova said. “You closer to his second Wimbledon title as the Djokovic said. “The fourth set could have Grand Slam. But the 23-year-old is clearly on are most of the time favorite of the match and top seed booked his third appearance in the gone either way but overall I’m happy to be the rise and will move into the top 10 for the it’s really not easy. It needs some time to get used to.” But as she matured, Kvitova has grad- final with a gritty 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (9/7) in another Wimbledon final. first time next week. There was little to sepa- ually been able to find a way to cope with those victory over Grigor Dimitrov yesterday. “It’s the semi-finals of Wimbledon playing rate them for much of the match, with expectations. Djokovic, who won the Wimbledon title in against the future star. He was fighting and Djokovic edging the first set after a poor Now 24, she has grown slightly more com- 2011, rarely hit peak form in a patchy semi- playing some great shots, so it was a tough Dimitrov service game at 2-2. Djokovic broke fortable with the trappings of success, swap- final on Centre Court, but showed all his bat- match and it’s a good win for me definitely.” for a 2-1 lead in the second set, but still ping the humble Skoda she drove when she tling qualities to overcome the Bulgarian Djokovic has been beaten in five of his last looked strangely tense and a sloppy back- won Wimbledon for a more sleek BMW and 11th seed in a three hour and two minute six Grand Slam finals, with his last major tri- hand into the net gifted Dimitrov a break moving to the millionaire’s playground of war of attrition. umph coming at the 2013 Australian Open, back in the sixth game. Monaco. And back on her favorite grass courts The 27-year-old, a six-time Grand Slam and he admitted he is desperate to end that With girlfriend Maria Sharapova cheering at Wimbledon, her form has finally returned winner, will face seven-time Wimbledon frustrating run this weekend. “I’m looking him on from the players’ box, Dimitrov over the last two weeks. Even a semi-final meet- champion Roger Federer or Canadian eighth forward to another championship match, began to unfurl some sublime winners and ing with her compatriot and close friend Lucie seed Milos Raonic in his 14th Grand Slam especially considering I have lost the last he broke again to earn a 5-3 lead before Safarova couldn’t distract Kvitova from her mis- final as he looks to avenge last year’s final couple of finals,” he said. “I will have to be at serving out the set. sion to reach a second Grand Slam final. And if defeat against Andy Murray. World number my best. It’s a big challenge. It’s the The tension and errors remained high, she does lift the Venus Rosewater dish again, two Djokovic will reclaim top spot in the Wimbledon final, the biggest event we have with both players struggling to keep their Wimbledon will be the perfect location to show rankings from Rafael Nadal for the first time in the sport, and I’m looking forward to com- footing on the dusty, sun-baked court. After she has grown up at last. “It’s Wimbledon. It’s since September 2013 if he lifts the trophy in peting in it.” coming from behind to defeat Marin Cilic in the best tournament in the world for me. This is his third Wimbledon final in four years on After his sensational quarter-final victory the previous round, Djokovic was battle- what makes tennis special,” she said. — AFP Sunday. over defending champion Murray, this hardened and stepped up his level to win the “I thought I started well, but once again I inconsistent display was a disappointing third set tie-break in flawless fashion.—AFP SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 45

Tears guaranteed as Costa Rica fairytale WCup reaches last 8 RIO DE JANEIRO: France take on Germany in a World Cup clas- faces Dutch reckoning sic while Colombia hotshot James Rodriguez will be aiming to make Brazil’s stars cry in desperation as the last eight countries start their battle for the title. Didier Deschamps’ France play SALVADOR: The irresistible fairytale of Costa Rica faces a day of dashed the dreams of millions of fans in Chile and Mexico. Joachim Loew’s Germany in Rio de Janeiro’s historic Maracana reckoning against Louis van Gaal’s hard, calculating Dutch side The 2010 finalists began the World Cup with a heady 5-1 rout of Stadium at 1600 GMT, renewing one of the most acute World today in the Brazil World Cup’s most unlikely quarter-final. Few reigning champions Spain, and then came from behind to beat Cup rivalries. Brazil take on Colombia in Fortaleza at 2000 GMT believed that Costa Rica, a small Central American country with an Australia 3-2. Objections surfaced over their counter-attacking having lost only two of their last 25 encounters, but with doubts undistinguished footballing record, would still be standing, espe- style after the 2-0 win against Chile, which was achieved with two in the air. Seven German players had influenza symptoms going cially after a group including Italy, England and Uruguay. Yet “Los late goals and with veteran forward Dirk Kuyt playing left-back. into test of the two biggest European names still in contention. Ticos” shocked Uruguay and Italy to top a group bracketing three And much sympathy for the Oranje evaporated when Arjen Most are expected to be fit however. Germany would normally World Cup winners, before battling past Greece on penalties after Robben, after earning the injury-time penalty that sank Mexico 2-1, be considered favorites, but after beating Portugal 4-0, including playing an hour with only 10 men. admitted diving during the last-16 tie. After a furor over those com- a Thomas Mueller hat-trick, the German machine has slowed. A Despite the talents of Joel Campbell and Bryan Ruiz in attack, it ments Robben will not expect any favors from Uzbek referee grueling extra-time win over Algeria got them a ticket to the last has been more a case of grit and organization than Latin flair with Ravshan Irmatov, who is yet to give a penalty in his eight-game eight. Loew said he does not listen to critics, but also acknowl- Jorge Luis Pinto’s side conceding only two goals so far and scoring World Cup career. But the Bayern Munich flyer’s duel against Keylor edged Thursday that: “We have not yet delivered our best possi- five. Costa Rica have already outdone their best World Cup per- Navas, one of the World Cup’s goalkeeping heroes whose one- ble performances, that is to come still.” formance, reaching the last 16 in 1990, much to the jubilation of handed penalty stop denied Greece, will be closely watched. Navas, France, on the other hand, have been one of the most pow- fans back home whose celebrations have stretched long into the who is expected to recover from a shoulder injury, can also expect erful qualifiers, scoring 10 goals in four games, three from Karim night. Whether the parties continue depends on the Netherlands, a work-out from Robin van Persie with emerging PSV Eindhoven Benzema. Coach Deschamps says his side have “no apprehen- whose hard-nosed approach and late comebacks have already star Memphis Depay likely to figure later on.—AFP sion or fear”. Their last three matches at the World Cup have produced 17 goals-Germany have won the last two. Their 1982 semi-final produced one of the most controversial World Cup clashes when German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher chal- lenged Patrick Battiston leaving the Frenchman with cracked ribs, two missing teeth and cracked vertebrae. Battiston said this week he still did not think he could be friends with the German. Brazil’s tears Brazil go into their game against Colombia-appearing in the quarter finals for the first time-with coach Luiz Felipe Scolari still insisting that his team will win the World Cup, while also defending the tears they have been shedding. Star striker Neymar cried when the national anthem was played in the opening game against Croatia and after his side scored a penalty shootout win against Chile in the last 16 this week. The tournament favorites had a session with the team psychologist this week as comments such the cry of “Enough!” by former captain Carlos Alberto rang out. Colombia have let the goals of 22-year-old James Rodriguez do the talking at this World Cup-five in four matches that the South Americans have convincingly won. His volley against Uruguay was one of the goals of the tournament, while Argentine coach Jose Pekerman has built up a quiet confidence around his squad, barely speaking at press conferences. “We believe in what we are doing and that’s very important in a team,” said Mario Yepes, the 38-year-old captain of a team tipped by few before the tournament. Neymar has also scored four goals however and Colombia know they face a football mountain in Fortaleza. They have never won in Brazil and their last victory against the continental giants was in 1991 in the group stages of the Copa America. Scolari still says his pre-tournament vow of a sixth World Cup win for Brazil will come true. “There are seven steps and we are going onto the fifth,” he said. Brazil’s supporters “want us to show them how we are going to win it.” Netherlands play Costa Rica and Belgium take on Argentina in the last quarter finals today.— AFP SALVADOR: Combination photo shows Netherlands’ forward and captain Robin van Persi (left) and Costa Rica’s forward and captain Bryan Ruiz. Costa Rica and Netherlands will face in a 2014 FIFA World Cup quarter-final match today in Salvador. — AFP Ticket scandal rocks WCup quarter-final

RIO DE JANEIRO: An illegal ticketing scandal tarnished the World Cup Copacabana Palace hotel,” Barucke said. A French-Algerian suspect, “With regard to ‘Operation Jules Rimet’, FIFA is fully supporting the as Germany and France geared up for a titanic quarter-final show- Mohamadou Lamine Fofana, was initially thought to be responsible local authorities in their investigations into ticket scalping and any ille- down. Police probing an international scalping syndicate said for the scam, Barucke said. “But after his arrest we realized there was gal sale of FIFA World Cup tickets,” said Weil. “FIFA and the local Thursday thousands of illegally sold tickets worth millions of dollars someone above him from FIFA with an intermediary at Match authorities will ensure that any violations will be sanctioned accord- were believed to have originated from a FIFA individual. The Hospitality,” the police official said. “We want to identify the last link in ingly,” said Weil. The developments broke as France and Germany unnamed foreign national was staying at the luxury Copacabana the chain, from the ticket touts at the stadiums, right through to those preparing to resume their fierce rivalry in Friday’s quarter-finals. Palace hotel, an official FIFA hotel during the World Cup, police com- who are above Lamine Fofona and who passed the tickets on to him.” Germany’s preparations suffered a scare on Thursday after it emerged missioner Fabio Barucke said. seven players had been affected by illness. “Seven players have some- The individual is thought to have funneled tickets to the black Millions pocketed how got light flu-like symptoms,” Loew told German ARD radio, with market with an intermediary in Match Hospitality, the official World As many as 1,000 tickets for each of the World Cup’s 64 matches the majority of those affected suffering from “sore throats”. “I hope Cup ticket agency, Barucke said. Match Hospitality also organizes tick- may be involved in the scam, which is believe to have encompassed they will all be okay,” added Loew, who is confident his side can raise eting for other major sporting events. Police made 11 arrests Tuesday three previous editions dating back to the 2002 finals. The touting their game for France. “We haven’t shown a consistent level of per- of people accused of selling tickets that may have been obtained gang could have pocketed up to $95 million per tournament, accord- formance so far,” the German coach said. “We have not yet delivered through a contact at world football’s governing body. Barucke ing to Brazil’s O Dia daily. If a FIFA official is shown to have been heavi- our best possible performances, that is still to come.” Friday’s match explained the police investigation, dubbed “Operation Jules Rimet” ly involved in the scandal it will leave another stain on the governing gives France the chance to avenge semi-final defeats to Germany in after the former French FIFA president, had been undertaken in secret body’s reputation following extensive corruption allegations sur- the 1986 and 1982 World Cups. The victor will face either hosts Brazil without contacting FIFA. rounding the vote for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. FIFA responded late or Colombia, who clash in Friday’s second quarter-final in Fortaleza. However, following the arrests “we are now calling for FIFA’s assis- Thursday with marketing director Thierry Weil saying the body was The last eight drama continues Saturday with Argentina facing tance to help us identify this FIFA person, a foreigner staying in the ready to help authorities with their enquiries. Belgium and the Netherlands up against minnows Costa Rica.—AFP SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 46

World Cup a ‘lesson’ to naysayers: Brazil’s Lula

SAO PAULO: Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who secured the World Cup during his administration, said Thursday the tournament’s success will teach a “lesson” to those who predicted failure. “We are very proud that the things that we proposed to do have taken place the right way,” Lula told a group of foreign journalists in Sao Paulo. “This cup will serve as a lesson to the pessimist.” Lula accused some media of hyping up fears of violence, protests and chaos before the World Cup in the wake of massive, and sometimes violent, demonstrations during last year’s Confederations Cup, a dress rehearsal to the ongoing event. There was also concern about stadium delays as workers had scrambled to finish several of the 12 arenas just days before the June 12 kick-off, but the games have taken place without incident. “There was terrorism before the cup,” Lula said, referring to the dire predictions. Small protests have been held during the tournament, attracting a few hundred people at most, though radical pro- testors have clashed with riot police on a few occasions. “We are conducting an orderly World Cup,” said Lula, who was president when Brazil was picked in 2007 to host the tournament. “I am very happy.” While Brazil has largely avoided unrest, Lula addressed an illegal ticket sale scandal that has BELO HORIZONTE: Firefighters and policemen work at the site where several vehicles were crushed by a viaduct that collapsed rocked the World Cup on the eve of quarter-finals. “When I in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. — AFP saw the news that there are scalpers who can be from FIFA or not, it scared me because it means that there are people inside the organization who want to make more than they are Overpass collapse kills 2 already making through a parallel market,” he said. Police probing an international scalping syndicate said thousands of illegally sold tickets worth millions of dollars in Brazil World Cup city were believed to have originated from an individual within FIFA, football’s world governing body. Turning to the upcom- ing October presidential election in Brazil, Lula said he expect- SAO PAULO: At least two people died on Thursday when an penalties against Chile in the last game has not instilled confi- ed his successor and socialist protege, President Dilma unfinished overpass collapsed in World Cup host city Belo dence in Brazil’s soccer-mad public, but news that the talented Rousseff, to gain points in opinion polls after her popularity Horizonte, overshadowing the buildup to the first quarter-finals forward Neymar is fit certainly helps. in which France face Germany and Brazil take on Colombia. The striker said he had no lingering pain from the knee and took a hit during last year’s protests. A poll published Nineteen people were also injured in the accident about two thigh injuries he suffered in the bruising encounter with Chile. Thursday showed that Rousseff had gained four percentage miles (3 km) from the Mineirao Stadium where World Cup games Colombia may not have the footballing pedigree of their oppo- points to 38 percent, well ahead of her rivals. — AFP are being played and a semi-final is due to be held on Tuesday. nents, but their free-flowing style and carefree attitude has made The cause of the collapse, which underlined Brazil’s struggle to them many people’s favorites to overcome the hosts. In James deliver infrastructure projects safely and on time, was unclear. Rodriguez, their 22-year-old attacking midfielder, they have African champions The overpass was part of a network of bus lanes that Brazil arguably the tournament’s best player so far who has scored five planned to have ready for the World Cup, but was not finished on goals, one more than Neymar, Argentina’s Lionel Messi and time. Germany’s Thomas Mueller. Nigeria risk FIFA ban Groups of people gathered around the scene of the accident, “James-mania” is sweeping Colombia, and is especially evi- some shouting furiously. “Because of the World Cup they sped dent in the city of Ibague, where he first made waves as a preco- ABUJA: African champions Nigeria risk an international everything up to finish faster,” said Leandro Brito, 23, a bank cious talent. “He’s our idol, our pride,” said Eliceo Osorio, a 50- ban due to government interference after a court sacked worker. “That’s why this tragedy has happened. They are not mak- year-old judge standing outside Ibague’s city hall, draped with a the football federation’s executive committee. Nigerian ing things properly. Everyone is very angry.” Delays in construc- banner featuring a jubilant Rodriguez. Colombia coach Jose sports minister Tammy Danagogo on Thursday appoint- tion projects and $11 billion in public spending to stage the Pekerman urged his charges not to worry about the past. Of their ed Lawrence Katiken as sole administrator of the NFF. world’s largest sporting event spurred violent protests across 25 meetings, Colombia have won just twice against Brazil, and The move comes in the wake of Nigeria’s World Cup Brazil over the last year, but they have fizzled out as the tourna- their last victory was 23 years ago. “We can’t ignore each team’s campaign which came to an end on Monday with defeat ment has progressed. past,” he said. “Their histories, idiosyncrasies and traditions carry In fact, with the World Cup generally running smoothly and weight, but that’s not to say that you’re going to win just because to France in the last 16. people transfixed by scintillating soccer, a poll published late on of what happened in the past.” Danagogo acted after a high court in Plateau State Wednesday showed President Dilma Rousseff’s popularity had granted an injunction stopping elected NFF president increased as she prepares to seek re-election in October. Support European grandees Aminu Maigari, his executive committee and the NFF for the leftist president has risen to 38 percent from 34 percent a Friday’s other quarter-final is an all-European affair, pitting congress from office. This represents direct interference month ago, the survey of eligible voters by Brazilian polling firm soccer grandees France and Germany against each other in the by government in football, which has in the past Datafolha said. It also showed that people in Brazil were more early kick-off at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Germany incurred worldwide bans handed down by FIFA. Nigeria positive about the economy and many more now favored hosting have the advantage in terms of consistency and history on the were threatened with a FIFA ban in 2010 just after the the World Cup, although whether that optimism continues biggest soccer stage of all, but “Les Bleus” cruised through the Super Eagles crashed out of the 2010 World Cup hosted should Brazil fail to win the trophy remains to be seen. group phase and then beat Nigeria 2-0, while their opponents by South Africa. found it far tougher to reach the last eight. France coach Didier This was as a result of the federal government’s deci- Pressure immense Deschamps conceded that, on one level at least, Germany had sion to withdraw the country from all international com- The host nation play Colombia in Fortaleza in Friday’s after- the advantage. “Germany is very accustomed to this competi- petitions for two years and sack the NFF management. noon kick-off and, with the weight of expectation upon them, tion,” he told reporters. “Experience is more on their side, but we The government also called for a corruption probe of the there are concerns about whether a team that have failed to will play our game.” NFF. However, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan sparkle so far can cope with the pressure. Those fears grew this Germany do have the added worry of seven players suffering will later rescind this decision for FIFA to spare the coun- week when news surfaced that a psychologist went to visit the from flu, although coach Joachim Loew said he expected all of try. But later in 2010, the FIFA hammer finally fell on the squad at their training ground, but coach Luiz Felipe Scolari them to be available to play. “Some of them still have a bit of a responded angrily to questions about Brazil’s emotional cold, but it hasn’t been the case that they have had any feeling of country when top Nigeria FA officials were dragged fragility. tiredness,” he told reporters. “I hope they all remain stable until before a court. The ban was only quashed when the “For God’s sake, please stop thinking that so and so goes there tomorrow and that overnight we don’t see any deterioration.” court ruling was set aside. Nigeria reached the knockout only for specific reasons. That’s all wrong,” Scolari told a news Midfielder Toni Kroos said he was confident Germany would pro- stage of the World Cup in Brazil for only the third time in conference, cutting off the reporter asking the question. “It’s all duce their best against France when it mattered. “I think we have their history after 1994 and 1998. Last year, the country scheduled, organized. She will go there again Sunday or Monday. a good chance of winning because in my eyes, (these matches) also won the Africa Cup of Nations as well as a fourth She has participated in a very cool way,” he added. “It’s a broad are often decided in the midfield and who dominates those duels FIFA U17 World Cup.— AFP conversation, open, calm, together with the players.” The sight of ... We know we are good there but if we all produce our perform- players breaking down in tears after their nerve-jangling win on ance then we will be the better team.”— Reuters SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 47

Messi-dependent Argentina face Belgium test

BRASILIA: Argentina will once again turn to Lionel Messi for Mexico City, which Argentina won 2-0 thanks to a glorious inspiration when they tackle star-studded Belgium in Brasilia Maradona brace. today in a World Cup quarter-final haunted by ghosts of yester- year. Victory would take Argentina into the last four-where Hazard ‘not the star’ either Holland or Costa Rica will await-for only the second time Then, as now, Argentina were dependent on the brilliance of since they last won the tournament in 1986, beating Belgium in one prodigiously gifted player, whereas Belgium’s success was the semi-finals en route.But despite results living up to expecta- built upon the emergence of an exceptionally talented generations-Argentina have won all four of their games to date-perfor- tion of players. While the Belgian side of 1986 boasted the razor- mances have not, and the team’s dependence on Messi has sharp creative instincts of Enzo Scifo, the current team can call been cited as the key factor. upon Eden Hazard, but the 23-year-old is yet to fully catch fire in With four goals in three matches, the Barcelona megastar Brazil. Although he came up with crucial and timely assists in was his side’s savior in the group phase, while in the 1-0 extra- the group-phase wins over Algeria and Russia, the Chelsea time victory over Switzerland in the last 16 he seemed the only winger is yet to score. However, coach Marc Wilmots is adamant player capable of making a difference.Diego Maradona was that Belgium do not have dependency issues of their own. scathing of the team’s performance, warning coach Alejandro “When the opponent lets him, he’s dangerous, but it’s the same Sabella that he is destined for “catastrophe” if he cannot allevi- thing with (Dries) Mertens and (Kevin) De Bruyne,” he said. ate some of the burden on the team’s outstanding player. “Eden might be picked out by the international press as the Argentina’s assault on the World Cup was supposed to be spear- star of the squad, but what I see is that Belgium are a block who headed by their ‘Fantastic Four’ attackers, but Messi is the only don’t depend on the performances of a single player.”Wilmots one who has lived up to his billing so far. has vowed to exploit a “lack of balance” in Argentina’s team Sergio Aguero is a serious doubt for the Belgium game due and he has been aided by the news that captain Vincent to a muscle injury, Gonzalo Higuain is still waiting for his first Kompany should be fit to start despite an ongoing groin prob- goal, and despite scoring the winner against the Swiss, Angel Di lem. With Aguero unlikely to recover in time, Ezequiel Lavezzi is Maria has delighted and exasperated in equal measure. Facing expected to continue in attack for Argentina at the Mane accusations that his side are overly reliant on their number 10, Garrincha National Stadium. Marcos Rojo’s suspension, mean- Sabella said that “Argentina have always had a dependence on Argentina’s forward Lionel Messi while, means that unheralded left-back Jose Maria Basanta will Messi”. It is likely to be no different against Belgium and Messi’s him at bay for seven games in succession. The Messi-Courtois be tasked with shackling the dangerous Mertens on Argentina’s task will be rendered doubly difficult by the fact that the opposi- duel is one of many subplots in a game that carries strong left flank. “Rojo is very good, but we have faith in Basanta too,” tion goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois of Atletico Madrid, has kept echoes of the last World Cup encounter between the teams in said Sabella. — AFP From mini-leagues to Messi for Belgium boys

BRASILIA: When World Cup quarter-finalists the Netherlands. Of the 23 players who Belgium last qualified for the tournament in played in that tournament, where Belgium 2002, the current squad were a disparate gaggle reached the semi-finals, eight are in the cur- of schoolboys poised unknowingly on the brink rent squad: Vermaelen, Mirallas and of global stardom. Eden Hazard, then a small, Vertonghen, plus Marouane Fellaini, Axel slender 11-year-old, was making a name for Witsel, Nicolas Lombaerts, Anthony Vanden himself as a skilful winger with the junior sides Borre and Laurent Ciman. of hometown club Royal Stade Brainois. Vincent A year later, at the 2008 Olympic Games in Kompany, the current captain, was embarking Beijing, Kompany and Mousa Dembele on his youth career with Anderlecht, while replaced Lombaerts and Witsel, and Belgium Adnan Januzaj, the Manchester United winger, reached the last four again. “After the was only seven years old-but already a member Olympics in 2008, where we finished fourth, I of FC Brussels. think we started to realize the kind of poten- In their homes and football club social tial we had,” Fellaini told FourFourTwo maga- rooms, they will have watched on television as a zine before the World Cup. “The year before, side led by pugnacious midfielder Marc Wilmots we played at the European Under-21 progressed from the group phase, only to lose Championship with a good team-we had Jan to Brazil in the last 16. Twelve years later, in Vertonghen, Thomas Vermaelen, Kevin Brazil, they are the players carrying the hopes of Mirallas, Axel Witsel, Sebastien Pocognoli... their country, and Wilmots is the figure urging Good players. “We knew we had a good gen- them on from the technical area. eration. So we thought, now let’s see what SALVADOR: Belgium’s goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois makes a save during extra-time in the Twelve now play for leading Premier League happens in five years’ time.” Five years on Round of 16 football match between Belgium and USA at The Fonte Nova Arena in Salvador on clubs, while some-including Chelsea winger from Beijing, the national team were still July 1, 2014. — AFP Hazard and the young goalkeeper Thibaut awaiting a major breakthrough after succes- Courtois-are considered to be among the best sive failures to qualify for the 2008 and 2012 players in the world. “All the young players are European Championships and the 2010 Thibaut ‘the Tarantula,’ suddenly playing abroad,” said experienced World Cup in South Africa. —AFP centre-back Daniel Van Buyten, the only player aged over 30 in the squad. “They all used to play Messi face epic battle in Belgium. They were still good players, but only as good as the Belgian league.” After years Matches on TV SALVADOR: If Argentina’s Lionel Messi has any- played a key role in Atletico Madrid’s Spanish title- of expectation, Belgium’s ‘golden generation’ (Local Timings) thing to worry about at this World Cup it should winning campaign this season, which is why his have finally arrived on the global stage and be a goalkeeper known as “the Tarantula” he has parent club Chelsea say they want him back for against Lionel Messi’s Argentina on Saturday, failed to score against in their last seven clashes. 2014-15. they can truly fulfil their potential. FIFA World Cup Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Messi It is the matches between Messi’s Barcelona will have the latest of their epic battles when and Courtois’s Atletico that makes their rivalry so ‘We started to realize’ Argentina v Belgium 19:00 their countries meet in the World Cup quarter- special. In their first meeting in September, 2011, Belgian football has undergone a revolution beIN SPORTS 1 HD finals in Salvador today. It is almost a David and Messi humiliated Courtois with a stunning hat- in recent years, after former technical director beIN SPORTS 2 HD Michel Sablon produced a radical blueprint for Goliath tale. The question is, which is which? The trick in a 5-0 win at Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadi- beIN SPORTS 11 HD 1.99 meters tall Courtois towers over his 1.69m um. The following February, a quick free-kick flum- youth development in 2006, but the emergence of the current side also owes much to serendipi- beIN SPORTS 13 HD rival Messi. moxed the Belgian to secure victory in the return ty. Most were well on their way to becoming beIN SPORTS 1 HD FR The Argentine winner of four Ballon d’Or Spanish championship game. In December 2012, professionals by the time Sablon’s proposals awards is a giant among attackers though, scoring there was another Messi brace in a 4-1 win. had taken effect, and several players-such as Netherlands v Costa Rica 23:00 four times already at this World Cup. Courtois is Since then there have been seven games in the Hazard, Kevin Mirallas, Thomas Vermaelen, and beIN SPORTS 1 HD known as “The Tarantula” because foes believe he Champions League, La Liga and the Spanish Super Jan Vertonghen-spent their formative years out- beIN SPORTS 2 HD has eight arms to keep all angles covered. And he Cup where Courtois and fate have denied the side Belgium anyway. Rather than progressing beIN SPORTS 11 HD has done it with style. Still only 22, Courtois Argentine, leading Atletico to the Spanish title through the Belgian youth system en masse, the beIN SPORTS 13 HD racked up his 100th career clean sheet against and Champions League final at Barca’s expense. In current side did not begin to take shape until beIN SPORTS 1 HD FR Russia in their Group H match last week. He two games, Messi went off injured. —AFP the 2007 Under-21 European Championship in Thibaut ‘the Tarantula,’ Messi face epic battle SATURDAY, JULY 5, 2014 JULY SATURDAY, SportsSports 47

RIO DE JANEIRO: Germany’s defender Mats Hummels (left) celebrates his goal during a quarter-final football match between Franceand Germany at the Maracana Stadium yesterday. — AFP Germany sink France, cruise into WCup semis

RIO DE JANEIRO: Mats Hummels headed the winner as against Chile when they face Colombia in Fortaleza. To ensure ue Belo Horizonte which killed two, and an illegal multi-mil- Germany beat old rivals France 1-0 to advance to the World his men were in the right state of mind for the battle ahead lion pound ticketing scandal involving a FIFA individual. The Cup semi-finals for a record fourth straight time yesterday. coach Luiz Felipe Scolari ordered an extra session with the quarter-final drama continues today when the Netherlands Borussia Dortmund defender Hummels rose to head home team psychologist this week. “I had never done anything like it play Costa Rica and Belgium take on Argentina. — AFP Toni Kroos’s free-kick on 13 minutes to settle a cagey before and I am quite enjoying it,” reported Neymar, fully fit encounter at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium. Joachim despite thigh and knee injuries against Chile. Loew’s side will now play the winner of yesterday’s second Captain Thiago Silva insisted the squad were capable of quarter-final between Brazil or Colombia in next Tuesday’s coping with the pressure. “I think we are good psychologically. semi-final in Belo Horizonte. We are doing what we love to do,” the Paris Saint-Germain France had entered the match quietly confident of aveng- defender said. Scolari, mastermind of Brazil’s fifth title in 2002, ing semi-final defeats against Germany in 1982 and 1986. But cut a confident figure at the eve of match press conference. they were left to rue a lacklustre first half performance which “Does Brazil continue to have one hand on the trophy? Yes,” saw Germany dominate in sweltering conditions. France ral- he said. “We are going on to the fifth step and there are seven lied in the second half and Hummels saved Germany with a steps.” The fourth step caused 200 million Brazilian hearts to desperate late block of a Karim Benzema shot shortly before flutter as Chile gave the hosts the fright of their lives in a bruis- Manuel Neuer parried a firm strike from Blaise Matuidi. Andre ing encounter, only succumbing in the spotkick lottery. Schuerrle should have sealed victory in the closing minutes, Four eyecatching wins have propelled Colombia to but with the goal gaping, struck his shot from Mesut Ozil’s low uncharted territory at the World Cup to face a rival they have cross directly at Hugo Lloris in the French goal. only beaten twice in 25 meetings. “We need to play our own There was still time for Neuer to save Germany at the game as we have done up to now and try to impose our play death, pulling off a brilliant block from Benzema just seconds on them,” Argentine coach Jose Pekerman reflected. “The key RIO DE JANEIRO: French supporters cheer before a quar- from the final whistle. In yesterday’s other quarter-final, Brazil is not to believe there is a favorite.” Yesterday’s games went ter-final football match between France and Germany yes- will aim to banish their jittery second round performance ahead in the shadow of an overpass collapse in semi-final ven- terday. — AFP