celebs 8 @newsofbahrain op-ed deborra-lee loves to · 2019/4/3 · shamima begum’s dutch hubby...

Shamima Begum’s Dutch hubby wants to return to Holland with herLondon

The Dutch husband of Shamima Begum, the British-born teenager who ran away to join Daesh in Syr-

ia in 2015, has said he wants her to return to the Netherlands with him.

Yago Riedijk and Begum married days after she arrived inside Daesh-held ter-ritory aged 15.

Riedijk, 27, is being held in a Kurdish detention center in north-eastern Syria. He faces a six-year jail term for joining

a terror organisation if he returns to the Netherlands.

In an interview with the BBC, Riedijk admitted fighting for the group but says he now wants to return home with his wife and their newborn son.

Riedijk said he rejected Daesh and had tried to leave the group, according to the BBC. He added that he was imprisoned in Raqqa and tortured after the extremists accused him of being a Dutch spy.

Begum, now aged 19, and Riedijk es-caped from the town of Baghouz, the last

Daesh-held area in eastern Syria, as the terror group’s territory collapsed.

Her husband surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters, and Begum and their newborn son Jerah ended up among 39,000 people at the Al Hawl refugee camp in northern Syria.

Begum was moved to another camp nearer the Iraqi border after receiving death threats.

She had earlier said that she wanted to return to Britain but her British citizen-ship was revoked on security grounds.

02 Patriotic stances hailed

03India fintech companies invited to set up base in the Kingdom

04Man who hid drugs in underwear in smuggling bid, jailed by court

8

Syria pounds IS village 7WORLD

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Arab solidarity call Interior Minister calls for joint Arab stances against Iranian interferences and other threats in the region

• The Interior Minister also highlighted the successful implementation of Maan Programme at Bahrain schools.

• On the sidelines of the session, the Interior Minister met his Saudi counterpart and praised the strong ties between the two brotherly countries.

Tunis

Arab solidarity is the only solution to tackle threats faced by the region, said

Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, who led Bahrain’s delegation at the 36th session of the Arab Inte-rior Ministers Council in Tunisia.

The meeting was held under the patronage of Tunisian Pres-ident Beji Caid Essebsi and was chaired by honorary President of the council Saudi Interior Minis-ter Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif Al Saud.

General Shaikh Rashid said that Arab states should take joint stances against foreign inference in the internal security, especially from the part of Iran.

“The disregard for the sover-eignty and national identity of the

Arab states has prompted the Ira-nian leaders to talk about Iran’s great Persian borders on various occasions. This is a violation of the sovereignty of its neighbour-ing countries, including the Arab and Islamic states.

“We are facing many security challenges, including the misuse of the communication technolo-gy that becomes an issue in the security scenario and a security burden for all countries without exception.

“The technology is exploited effectively by terrorist groups and this has helped them to un-dertake terrorist operations in developed areas and cities.

“This calls for coordination among all countries so as to limit the exploitation of technology by terrorist groups and unification of procedures between communica-tion and information technology authorities to draft appropriate legislation that meets the rapid development in the communica-

tion sector.” The Interior Minister also

highlighted the successful imple-mentation of Maan Programme at Bahrain schools. “The pro-gramme aims to educate stu-dents of different levels to pro-tect themselves against addiction through avoiding drugs, and to improve their awareness about the risks posed by narcotics and their harmful psychological and physical effects,” he said.

On the sidelines of the session, the Interior Minister met his Saudi counterpart and praised the strong ties between the two brotherly countries under the leaderships of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdu-laziz Al Saud.

He also appreciated Saudi Ara-bia’s honourable role in backing the security co-operation be-tween the two countries. The two leaders also discussed secu-rity coordination and issues of common interest.

General Shaikh Rashid at the Arab Interior Ministers’ Council meeting in Tunis.

The disregard for the sovereignty and national identity of the Arab states has

prompted the Iranian leaders to talk about Iran’s great Persian borders on various

occasions. GENERAL SHAIKH RASHID

New-look Mazaya housing programme launchedManama

The Ministry of Housing has started receiving ap-plications from citizens

wishing to benefit from the new edition of Mazaya programme.

Large numbers of people re-ported to the ministry head-quarters to be updated about the social housing scheme and get informed about the new privileg-es and criteria.

The Ministry of Housing along-side Kuwait Finance House-Bah-rain have launched Mazaya pro-gramme – a social housing fi-nance scheme – in collaboration with the private sector.

“The ministry has received many queries ever since the new-look Mazaya programme was an-nounced and its application acti-vated on the 1st of March,” said

Undersecretary Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa.

Under the new-look format, the maximum age of beneficiar-ies has been raised from 35 to

50 years, and the minimum and maximum salary of the benefi-ciary is set at between 500 and 1500 dinars.

New options have also been

added to the programme, regard-ing the financing of construction and the purchase of housing land plot.

“These features and additions

come within the framework of continuous development of the programme launched by the ministry in 2013,” said Under-secretary Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, stressing the proposals and requests of citizens to increase the maximum age to benefit from the programme and diversification of funding options.

Prospective beneficiaries being briefed on the programme at Housing Ministry office.

500Bahraini dinars is the

minimum monthly income fixed for

the beneficiaries of new-look Mazaya

programme.

A photo showing Shamima Begum with her baby boy at a camp near Iraqi border.

Algeria’s Bouteflika offers new promise Algiers

Algerian President Ab-delaziz Bouteflika’s

campaign manager has for-mally submitted official pa-pers yesterday confirming that he will seek re-elec-tion, with Ennahar TV saying he had offered to step down after a year if re-elected.

A b d e l g h a n i Z a a l a n e submitted the papers at the constitutional council in Algiers responsible for collecting the papers of candidates for the April 18 presidential election. The

president also wrote a letter that was read out on state television by Zaalane on his behalf.

The ailing leader vowed in the 11th-hour letter to organize a “national con-ference” that would set a date for early polls which he would not contest. Ennahar TV said that this would be held within a year.

Zaalane added that Al-geria needs to complete its journey towards democra-cy, development and pros-perity.

Bouteflika also vowed to fight all forms of bribery and corruption in his country, and that he would prepare a new constitution that will lay the foundation for the birth of a new Algerian re-public.

Bouteflika

02MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2019

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has stressed that the Bahraini people has managed, throughout its long history and civilisational depth, to build an advanced nation, noting that Bahrainis will remain effective in the development and progress march witnessed by their country in various fields. HRH the Premier made the statements while receiving, at the Gudaibiya Palace yesterday, senior Royal Family members, with whom he reviewed local issues.

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa praised the advanced level of Thailand in providing top-quality medical services, stressing its high-tech medical facilities and qualified competencies. He described medical co-operation between Bahrain and Thailand as a reflection of distinguished and ever-growing relations between the two friendly countries in light of mutual keenness to further bolster them. HRH the Premier was speaking as he received at Gudaibiya Palace yesterday a Thai delegation representing investors in the medical sector, on the occasion of their visit to Bahrain. He stressed keenness of the Kingdom of Bahrain to boost co-operation with Thailand in the medical field by exchanging experiences and visits and signing more agreements. He lauded growing bilateral cooperation and mutual keenness to bolster it so as to serve common interests.

His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, yesterday received the Ambassador of the Republic of India to the Kingdom of Bahrain, Alok Kumar Sinha, at Riffa Palace. During the meeting, HRH the Crown Prince and the Ambassador reviewed bilateral ties, and exchanged views on issues of common interest. Ambassador Sinha expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the opportunity to meet HRH the Crown Prince.

Southern Governor Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa has honoured a number of Civil Defence servicemen, marking the World Civil Defence Day which falls on March 1. Civil Defence Deputy Director-General Colonel Ali Mohammed Al Houti attended the ceremony. Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa commended the role of the civil defence servicemen in protecting lives and properties and enhancing community security and safety, hailing their rescue efforts in the Southern Governorate last year.

United Parents Group has swept the Pakistan School’s Board of Management elections 2019 by a good majority. The other group, which contested the election was Bahrain Pakistan Society Group. Both groups comprised parents of students at the Pakistan School. A total of 18 contestants were in the fray. The United Parents Group headed by the chairman of the sitting Board, Sami ur Rehman swept all the seven seats with a huge majority. The candidates of the United Parents Group declared winners are Qari Sami-ur-Rehman, Shah Jehan Khan, Mohammed Ahmed Asif, Qaisar Mehmood, Mohammed Naseem, Abdul Qayyum and Sadaf Arif. In a total of 1408 parents, 777 parents turned up to cast their vote.

The Annual Day celebration of the Indian Ladies Association (ILA) saw an overwhelming response with over 100 members attending the induction of the new committee at Wandhyam Grand Hotel Manama Bahrain. The new committee members are Kalpana D Patil (President), Sangeetha S Agarwal (Vice-President), Minakshi Sharma, Sushma Anil, Jayashree Shom, Kaihekushan Kazi, Sushma Misra, Niolfer Baig and Deepa Mishra. Mamta Sinha, wife of Indian Ambassador Alok Kumar Sinha was the special guest at the event.

Patriotic stances hailed


India fintech companies invited to set up base in the Kingdom

Bahrain has proved success as the test bed for innovations in financial services space

• The EDB has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra government to provide a framework for co-operation to promote fintech in their respective markets.

• Terming India as a key market, Ms Buhejji said EDB had a roadshow in Mumbai to attract fintech companies in December.

TDT | Manama

In a bid to promote Bahrain as financial tech hub, the coun-try is seeking participation

from Indian firms to become a part of the growing fintech space

in the region, The Economic Times, a leading Indian business daily reported yesterday.

Bahrain provides a pletho-ra of opportunities to Indian fintech firms for open banking, blockchain, crypto assets, robo advisory and remittances, the newspaper said.

“Financial service sector is the second biggest contributor to the GDP behind oil and gas and the effort is to grow the sector further,” Bahrain Economic De-velopment Board (EDB) Senior Manager (business development - financial services) Dalal Bu-hejji was quoted by the news-

paper. “The Central Bank of Bahrain

has put in the right ecosystem to support growth and innovation. We have seen different new reg-ulations coming out recently to support open banking, crypto asset trade regulation and draft regulation on robo advisory,”

she said. Bahrain acts as the test bed for

innovations in financial services space as the country provides many advantages including low cost of doing business, right ac-celerator and incubators, among others, she said, adding some Indian companies have applied for sandbox.

Generally, sandbox is seen as a safe zone to test financial in-novation which sees a limited rollout of new products to select customers.

Terming India as a key market, Buhejji said EDB had a roadshow in Mumbai to attract fintech companies in December.

The EDB, the investment pro-motion arm of Bahrain, also signed a Memorandum of Un-derstanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra government to provide a framework for co-op-eration to promote fintech in their respective markets.

To promote startups, a public private partnership platform in

the name of Bahrain Fintech Bay has been created that provides physical space for fintech com-panies, the newspaper added.

Bahrain has been recently hosting many seminars and workshops related to financial technologies.

We have seen different new

regulations coming out recently to support open

banking, crypto asset trade

regulation and draft regulation on

robo advisory. MS BUHEJJI

HRH Premier briefed on progress of developmental projects • HRH the Prime Minister underlined meeting citizens needs and aspirations and providing them with a prosperous life.

Manama

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa

was briefed on the work pro-gress of a number of develop-ment projects presented by Min-ister of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning, Es-sam Khalaf.

HRH the Prime Minister di-rected to expedite the work pro-gress of four health and devel-opment projects, including the Mohammed bin Khalifa Cardiac Centre in Awali.

He directed to finalising the technical details before putting the Khalifa Town Health pro-ject out to tender. And directed to start the execution steps of the Muharraq Medical Complex that comprises of an elderly care centre, maternity hospital and a car parking.

HRH the Prime Minister lis-tened to a briefing on the Saada project and directed to start the second stage. He also listened to a brief on the progress of the Muharraq Central Market, which is in its final stages.

HRH the Prime Minister un-derlined meeting citizens needs and aspirations and providing them with a prosperous life.

He noted the government’s keenness to implement hous-ing, health, educational and infrastructure projects in con-formity with highest standards. He directed the officials to pay visits to work locations and meeting citizens to learn about their remarks and to consider them.

He praised the Works Minis-try’s efforts to implement and follow up various development projects, noting the ministry’s commitment to the quality and efficiency standards in the im-plementation of the same pro-jects. HRH the Premier being briefed on developmental projects at Gudaibiya Palace.

Falak Unreasonable Thinking Summit kicks off TDT | Manama Harpreet Kaur

Under the patronage of Minister of Oil Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, The Falak

Unreasonable Thinking Summit on in-novation, disruption and out-of-the-box thinking kick-started yesterday.

Inaugurated by Oil Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, the summit aimed to educate and inspire the Bahraini Business Community, especial-ly start-up entrepreneurs, and to show the Kingdom of Bahrain in a positive light and help position it as a centre for creativity, innovation and excellence.

The two-day event which is organ-ised by Falak Consulting in cooperation with the National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA), and supported by a number of national and international compa-nies witnessed the participation of a high-level group of experts and students from local and international universities in order to enrich the participants’ expe-rience and enable them to build a better

future for the Kingdom. “This is a great effort to attract many

creative minds from different countries to present different models of devel-opment experiences in different fields, which aims at building stronger econ-omies through the exchange of infor-mation, experiences and practices and to transform this information and ideas into successful investment opportunities in the Kingdom of Bahrain.”

“The world today is the world of modern digital technologies, which are rapidly evolving and changes where these digital changes should be kept up-to-date and that they should be pre-pared for everything new in the world arena to invest in establishing several projects that affect the improvement of the standard of living and the national economy in Bahrain.

“Moreover, innovation is a driving force for global economic growth and it is important in attracting and creating creative and innovative human cadres capable of applying modern technology to reach innovative solutions in elim-

inating the many problems faced by different industries. Including the oil sector, which is one of the most impor-tant sectors in the world.

“The NOGA is always striving to strengthen its current and future oil projects by training its employees and empowering them in leadership posi-tions through which they can take the

appropriate decisions in developing the oil sector and provide specialised researches to develop oil services and products,” Shaikh Mohammed stated.

Suhail Al Gosaibi, CEO of Falak Con-sultancy and organiser of the event further told Tribune, “I would really thank the Minister of Oil for sponsor-ing the event for the third time as most

people think the oil industry is an old industry but they don’t realise that the oil industry is a very high and modern industry and the amount of technology required and the efforts put to develop new technology is incredible.

“I would thank all the inspiring inno-vative pioneers from all over the world who spoke at the conference.

“Moreover, I am delighted at the re-sponse we received from the people where we had a wide variety of speakers address the audience speak on inno-vation, disruption and unreasonable thinking, thus we made sure we brought people from different fields, where we had entrepreneurs, inventors, along with having a Member of Parliament, India, Dr Shashi Tharoor, speak at the event where the whole point was to inspire the Bahrain Community.”

“Moreover, the highlight was when we asked the young participants what their feedback was and they said the conference has expanded their horizon which means that the event was a 100 per cent success,” he added.

Shaikh Mohammed with other dignitaries at the summit.


CORRIGENDUMTribune’s

on March 1, 2019, carried a wrong dateline (January 4).

The error is regretted.

Man who hid drugs in underwear in smuggling bid, jailed by court Defendant charged with attempting to smuggle narcotics with the intention of selling it in Bahrain

TDT | Manama

An Asian man arrested at Bahrain International Airport while attempt-

ing to smuggle in more than 600 grammes of narcotic pills by hid-ing in his undergarments, has been sentenced.

The man was sentenced yes-terday by the First High Criminal Court to five years of imprison-ment, to pay a fine of BD3,000 and to be deported after com-

pleting his sentence.The details of the case showed

that the man’s suspicious behav-iour led a Customs Department officer to carry out a frisk on the passenger.

In the X-Ray examination of his luggage, the officer noticed medical pills hidden in cigarette packets and the defendant’s un-derwear.

A total of 634.65 grammes of narcotic pills known as “Ya Ba” was found stashed in different

places of the man’s luggage, in-cluding his socks and clothes.

In the interrogation, the de-fendant confessed that he had received the narcotics from another passenger on the same flight, which stopped in Kuwait before flying to Bahrain.

He claimed that he accept-ed an amount of BD500 from the alleged other passenger for smuggling the pills into Bahrain.

However, the defendant didn’t provide any further details on the identity of the alleged pas-

senger. Additionally, his urine ex-

amination showed that he had abused the same substance that was seized from him.

The Public Prosecution ac-cused the defendant of attempt-ing to smuggle narcotics with the intention of selling it in Bahrain, in addition to drugs possession and abuse.

The court issued its verdict yesterday and ordered to con-fiscate the detected substance.

Ministry to organise eCommerce Forum TDT | Manama

Th e e C o m m e r c e and Information

Technology Directo-rate in Ministry of In-dustry, Commerce and Tourism will organise the first edition of the e C o m m e r c e Fo r u m and Exhibition for high school students 2019 in a strategic partnership with Labour Fund “Tam-keen” and with the sup-port of Bahrain Mumta-lakat Holding Company “Mumtalakat” as a Silver sponsor of the event.

The event will also be done in cooperation with the Student Affairs Directorate in Ministry of Education that will be held on Wednesday, 27th March 2019, in Bahrain National Charter Monu-ment in Sakhir from 8:00 am – 12:00 pm.

This initiative is in line with the vision of the Kingdom’s directions to build a productive economy that is able to compete internationally by upgrading the private sector, individuals and institutions, and ena-bling it to play its na-tional role in promoting economic development.

Woman wins custody of two children from hubbyTDT | Manama

The Lower Jaffari Sharia Court has ordered to grant the custody of two children to their mother after

their father disavowed them and didn’t bear their expenses since last November.

The court’s decision came yesterday af-ter the woman lodged a complaint against her husband, accusing him of not paying any alimony to their two children for four months.

The court also ordered the husband to pay a temporary monthly alimony of BD60 to the wife and BD80 to children.

According to the complainant’s lawyer Ammar Al Taranja, the husband suddenly stopped providing for his wife and chil-dren since November, forcing her to seek her rights through the legal channel.

He confirmed that the couple got mar-ried in March, 2013, and they have two children, three and four years old boys.

She demanded the court to oblige him of urgently paying alimony for herself and the children, since they have no other source of income.

The lawyer explained that the Family Law in the Kingdom of Bahrain obliges the husband of bearing the expenses of

his wife and children (if any), explaining that “it is the right of the wife despite her financial status”.

Mr Al Taranja referred to Article 46 of Law 19 of 2017 (Family Law), which men-

tions that “alimony is a right of the person who is expended on it, including food, clothing, housing, and the subsequent treatment, service, and other necessities of custom”.

The lawyer demanded that the hus-band is urgently ordered to pay monthly alimony of BD300 to the wife and minor children, inclusive of food, clothing and necessary needs and requirements, as well as the urgent provision of custody of the children to the plaintiff, and ob-ligate the defendant to pay all related fees and expenses, including the fees of the lawyer.

AGU hosts training course for KHUH, SMC doctors

TDT | Manama

The Simulation and Med-ical Skills Centre at the Arabian Gulf University

(AGU) recently hosted a training course titled “Medical Risks and Emergencies Through the Medi-cal Simulation Programme”.

The course was attended by more than 22 doctors from King Hamad University Hospi-tal (KHUH), Salmania Medical Complex (SMC) and AGU.

Head of the Simulation and Medical Skills Centre Dr Taysir Garadah said the theoretical and practical training consisted of six medical stages including two emergencies.

He confirmed that four doctors from KHUH, headed by Dr Anees Shary, two doctors from SMC and the permanent simulation team took part in the training.

Dr Garadah said the partic-ipating doctors dealt with the cases as if they were in a real hospital.

The training included thora-centesis, trans-tracheal oxygen therapy, medical recovery and handling of ventilator, Elec-trocardiogram (ECG), Electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) and other medical procedures. In the course. The participating doctors perform these proce-dures in addition to attending six lectures.

Dr Garadah explained that the medical purpose of the pro-gramme is creating a new gener-ation of doctors who are capable of professionally deal with emer-gencies and urgent medical con-ditions through medical practise.

He reiterated that AGU is keen on serving the medical commu-nity by developing the possible medical means and medical

creativity to generally improve doctors’ professionalism.

Referring to the coopera-tion offered by KHUH and its contribution to the success of the course, Dr. Garadah added: “This is what distinguishes the relationship between AGU and KHUH, where the benefits of the joint medical relations are now being reaped at different levels and fields. The direct transfer of operations and lectures from the hospital to the students of the College of Medicine and Med-ical Sciences at the university succeeds in transferring the ex-pertise and modern technology.”

500Bahraini dinars was

given to the defendant to smuggle narcotics

into the Kingdom.

The husband suddenly stopped providing for his wife and

children, forcing her to seek her rights through the legal channel.

MR AL TARANJA

Doctors undergo training at one of the sessions at AGU.

05

world

MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2019

SpaceX capsule docks on ISS

Washington, United States

SpaceX’s new Dragon cap-sule successfully docked

on the International Space Station on Sunday, NASA and SpaceX confirmed dur-ing a live broadcast of the mission.

“We can confirm hard cap-ture is complete,” NASA said.

The announcement was met with applause at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Tex-as.

The docking began at 1051 GMT, more than 248 miles (400 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface, north of New Zealand -- and 27 hours af-ter the capsule’s launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Although the contact ap-peared slow, the ISS and the capsule were moving at a speed of over 27,000 kilome-ters per hour in orbit around the Earth.

On board the ISS, the crew -- American Anne McClain, Russian Oleg Kononenko, and

Canadian David Saint-Jacques -- were scheduled to open the airlock at 1330 GMT.

The mission is a test launch with only a dummy on board the capsule ahead of a manned flight scheduled for later this year.

The Dragon capsule will re-main on the ISS until Friday before detaching to splash down in the Atlantic. It will be slowed by four parachutes, in what is the one of the mission’s riskiest stages.

The launch is a key step to-wards resuming manned space flights from US soil after an eight-year break.

After the shuttle program was shut down in July 2011 following a 30-year run, NASA began outsourcing the logistics of its space missions.

It pays Russia to get its peo-ple up to the ISS orbiting re-search facility at a cost of $82 million per head for a round trip.

In 2014, the US space agency awarded contracts to SpaceX and Boeing for them to take over this task.

Artist’s rendering of the Dragon spacecraft docking with the ISS (Courtesy of SpaceX)

800 Palestinians to exit Gaza for Mecca

Gaza City, Palestinian Terri-tories

Some 800 Palest inians crossed yesterday from the

Gaza Strip into Egypt on their initial stage of a pilgrimage to Mecca, the first time since 2014 Egyptian authorities have granted visas for such a trip.

The pilgrims left at around dawn and were to be met by buses on the Egyptian side to bring them to Cairo’s air-port, from where they would fly to Mecca in Saudi Ara-

bia, said a Palestinian official at the Rafah crossing in the Gaza Strip.

Fifteen Gazans among the 800 were not authorised to cross, according to a Palestin-ian security official at Rafah, without providing the reasons.

Security sources on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing confirmed it was the first such permission for the Muslim umrah pilgrimage since the start of Egyptian mil-itary operations in northern Sinai in 2014.

Palestinians pilgrims are led to board a bus at the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt

US wants to know if Pakistan used F16s

Reuters Islamabad/Srinagar

The United States said yesterday it was trying to find out if Pakistan

used US-built F-16 jets against Indian warplane, potentially in violation of US agreements.

Pakistan and India both car-ried out aerial bombing mis-sions this week, including a clash on Wednesday that saw an Indian pilot crashing in the re-gion in an incident that alarmed global powers and sparked fears of a war.

A Pakistan military spokes-man on Wednesday denied In-dian claims that Pakistan used F-16 jets.

Pakistan returned the cap-tured Indian pilot on Friday in a high-profile handover Islam-abad touted as a “peace ges-ture”, which appeared to sig-nificantly dial down tensions, but both sides remain on high alert.

At the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border between the two countries, there was relative calm in the past 24 hours, both armies said yester-day. But Indian security forces said they were carrying out major anti-militancy opera-tions and had shot dead two militants.

The US Embassy in Islama-bad said yesterday it was look-ing into reports that Pakistan used F-16 jets to shoot down the Indian pilot, a potential violation of Washington’s mil-itary sale agreements that lim-it how Pakistan can use the planes.

“We are aware of these re-ports and are seeking more information,” a US Embassy spokesperson said. “We take all allegations of misuse of de-fence articles very seriously.”

While Pakistan has denied using F-16 jets during a dog-fight that downed an Indian Mig-21 warplane on Wednes-day, it has not specified which planes it used, though it assem-bles Chinese-designed JF-17 fighter jets on its soil.

It is not clear what exact-ly these so-called “end-user agreements” restrict Pakistan from doing. “The US Govern-ment does not comment on or confirm pending investigations of this nature,” the US Embassy added. On Thursday Indian officials displayed to reporters parts of what they called an air-to-air missile that can only be fired from F-16 jets, alleging they were used to bomb its side of the disputed Kashmir bor-der on Wednesday.

A Pakistan military spokes-man told reporters on Wednes-day that Pakistani jets “locked” on Indian targets to demon-strate Pakistan’s capacity to strike back at India, but then chose to fire in an empty field where there would be no casu-alties.

The fragment of the missile fired by Pakistani F-16 fighter jet (Courtesy of ET)

ITHMAAR HOLDING B.S.C. (THE "COMPANY")INVITATION FOR THE ANNUAL ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING

1. Each Shareholder, regardless of the number of the shares he or she owns, shall have the right to attend the Meeting, and shall have a number of votes equal to the number of shares he or she owns in the Company. Any provision or decision to the contrary shall be null and void.

2. Any Shareholder may appoint a proxy to attend the Meeting

on their behalf, provided that the proxy holder may not be the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Director serving on the Board of Directors or an employee of the Company. However, this shall not prejudice the right to delegate a first-degree relative. Legal representatives of the members lacking capacity or under legal incapacity shall represent them in the Meeting (Article 203 of the BCCL).

3. Shareholders intending to appoint a proxy to represent them at the Meeting are requested to present the proxy form to the Company or Bahrain Clear B.S.C. (Closed) no later than 24 hours prior to the time of the Meeting. Proxy forms may be obtained from the offices of Bahrain Clear B.S.C. in Bahrain Financial Harbour Gate, Level 4, PO Box 3203, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain.

4. The Board of Directors report, financial statements of the financial year ended on 31 December 2018 and explanatory memorandum may be obtained electronically from the Company's website, Bahrain Bourse website, Boursa Kuwait website, or Dubai Financial Market website, or from the Company's head office at Al Seef Tower, Al Seef District, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain or from the share registrar.

HRH Prince Amr Mohammed Al FaisalChairman of the Board of Directors4 March 2019

The Board of Directors of the Company cordially invites the shareholders of the Company ("Shareholders") to attend the Annual Ordinary General Meeting of the Company (the “Meeting”). The Meeting will be held on Monday, 25th of March 2019 commencing at 1:30 pm at Ramee Grand Hotel, Al Seef District, Kingdom of Bahrain, to discuss items set forth in the following agendas. In the event that the quorum for the Meeting is not achieved, a second Meeting will be held on Wednesday, 3rd of April 2019 at the same time and in the same venue. In the event that the quorum for the second Meeting is not achieved, a third Meeting will be held on Thursday, 11th of April 2019 at the same time and in the same venue, regardless of the number of the shareholders who will be in attendance.

AGENDA OF THE ANNUAL ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING:

NOTES:

1. To receive and approve the minutes of the Ordinary General Meeting of the Company held on 26th of March 2018.

2. To discuss and approve the Directors’ Report on the Company’s business and financial position for the financial year ended 31 December 2018.

3. To receive the Sharia Supervisory Board’s Report on the Company’s business for the financial year ended 31 December 2018.

4. To receive to the External Auditors’ Report on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements for the financial year ended 31 December 2018.

5. To discuss and approve the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements for the financial year ended 31 December 2018.

6. To ratify and authorize, as applicable, the transactions during the financial year ended 31 December 2018, with any related parties or major shareholders, as stated in Note No. 40 of the financial statements in accordance with Article 189 of the Bahrain Commercial Companies Law No. 21 for the year 2001 and its amendments (“BCCL”).

7. To review the expenses paid or will be paid to some of the Directors in relation to advisory services provided to the Company during the financial year ended 31 December 2018, in accordance with Article 188 of the BCCL (details in the explanatory memorandum).

8. To discuss and approve the Board of Directors report on the Company’s Corporate Governance for the financial year ended 31 December 2018 and the Company’s compliance with the requirements of the Central Bank of Bahrain (“CBB”).

9. To discharge the Board of Directors of the Company from any liability resulting from the performance of their respective duties during the financial year ended 31 December 2018.

10. To appoint / elect new members of the Board of Directors of the Company for the next three (3) years, subject to the approval of the CBB.

11. To appoint new members of the Sharia Supervisory Board of the Company.

12. To review and approve the aggregate benefits and remuneration of the members of the Sharia Supervisory Board for the financial year ending 31 December 2019.

13. To adopt the Board of Directors’ recommendation to re-appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers ME Limited as the external auditors of the Company for the financial year ending 31 December 2019, subject to the approval of the CBB, and to authorize the Board of Directors to determine their remuneration accordingly.

14. Any other matters arising in accordance with Article 207 of the BCCL.


As they gallop to life...Syria’s Arabian beauties plod way to recovery

AFP | Damascus, Syria

A shadow of her former self after years of war, 11-year-old Arabian mare

Karen stands quietly as a Syrian vet gently pushes a syringe into her pale grey neck.

“Karen used to be the beauty queen of all horses,” says the vet, Ahmad Sharida.

But inside her stable near Da-mascus today, her hips jut out viciously from her overgrown speckled coat.

Weak and withdrawn, Karen is unable to even whinny.

After almost eight years of war, she is one of dozens of Ara-bian horses from all over Syria recovering from the physical and psychological trauma of the fighting.

Prized for their beauty, endur-ance and speed, Arabian pure-breds are one of the oldest horse breeds in the world.

In Syria, Bedouins have bred them in the north of the coun-try for centuries, seeking to maintain the purity of the local bloodlines.

Before the conflict, Sharida had proudly watched Karen

grow from a long-leg-ged foal into a grace-ful equine beauty.

“I know her very well. I was the one who brought her

out of her mother’s belly,” says the vet, a stethoscope hanging

around his neck.But he lost sight

of Karen after she was stolen from her stable in

Eastern Ghouta in 2012, the same year rebels

overran the region northeast of Damascus.

The area suffered five years of regime bombardment, as well as food and medicine shortages under a crippling siege, before Russia-backed government forc-es took it back last year.

Sharida had long fled his home region but returned to search for missing Arabian horses and immediately recognised Karen when he found her in October.

“I was so shocked,” says the 51-year-old vet.

“She was all skin and bones, and could barely stand up.”

‘Kidnapped and killed’ Like all other horses he found,

she was frail and sick after years of being surrounded by fighting, not enough food, and no medical attention.

Syria’s war has killed more than 360,000 people and dis-placed millions since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

And it has taken a toll on the country’s equine population too.

“Horses have greatly suffered, just like us all,” says Moham-med Ghaith al-Shaib, head of the state’s Arabian Horse Office.

“They’ve also been displaced, kidnapped and killed.”

Of the 8,500 horses that Syria registered with the World Arabi-an Horse Organization (WAHO) in 2011, it has lost 3,000 in the war, he says.

But the conflict in Syria has turned around in recent years, and after a series of victories against rebels and jihadists, President Bashar al-Assad’s re-gime is now in control of almost two-thirds of the country.

Having returned to one re-gion after another, the Damascus authorities are now trying to protect the country’s Arabian purebreds.

Since 2014, WAHO has recog-nised 2,400 new Syrian foals as Arabian, after samples from their manes were sent off for DNA testing in Germany, Shaib says.

Horses rescued from retaken areas are being looked after at a state-run stables west of the capital, Damascus.

A daughter?At the stables in Dimas,

staff are paying special attention to Karen’s re-covery.

She hails from the Hadbaa strain of Arabian purebreds, so called after their long eyelashes and mane.

But after years of war, she is the only known female sur-vivor of a rare Syr-ian branch of that family.

“The Hadbaa En-zahi Fawaeira were already at risk of dying out before the war,” says Shaib.

But “today, it’s only Karen”.

Arabian mares are of-ten seen as more precious than their male counter-parts, as they carry the bloodline from one gener-ation to the next.

Once Karen has re-gained her health, her carers hope to artificially insem-

inate her so that she can give birth to a daughter.

To maintain her bloodline, a Syrian purebred should father that female foal -- but he does not need to come from the same strain.

Karen is just one of many Ara-bian horses all over Syria recov-ering from conflict.

‘Greatly affected’In the adjacent hippodrome,

trainer Jihad Ghazal watches a student trot around the red-earth arena on a horse with a shiny brown coat.

Nejm -- “star” in Arabic -- spent the war in Da-

mascus, a city which has remained rela-tively sheltered from

the conflict.

But the mare was one of the luckier ones, says Ghazal, who is full of anecdotes about the suffering of her kind.

“Horses are very sensitive, and the sounds they hear greatly affect them,” says the 40 year-old, wearing jeans and trainers.

During the war, an alleged Israeli strike hit Dimas, trau-matising pregnant mares, for example.

“For a year afterwards, foals were born paralysed or dead because their mother had been so terrified,” he says.

In 2016, a horse was so shocked by a blast that, within hours, he had killed himself.

“He banged his head against metal until he died.”

Weak and withdrawn, Karen is unable to even whinny. After almost eight years of war, she is one of dozens of Arabian horses from all over Syria recovering from the physical and psychological trauma of the fighting.

Syrian mare Karen (C), which hails from the Hadbaa Enzahe strain of Arabian purebreds, stands at a stable in the town of Dimas, west of the capital Damascus

Karen (R) stands at a stable in the town of Dimas


If there are any credible leads

and any specific proposals, especially from Ocean Infinity,

we are more than willing to look at it

ANTHONY LOKETRANSPORT MINISTER

Algerians protest Bouteflika bid for fifth termAlgiers, Algeria

Hundreds of students staged new protests

Sunday in the Algerian cap-ital and other cities against a fifth term for ailing Pres-ident Abdelaziz Boutefli-ka as he faced a midnight deadline to register for April elections.

Chanting “Bouteflika go away”, protesters rallied near the main city centre campus of the University of Algiers, cordoned off by police, AFP journalists said.

Hundreds more students held rallies at campuses across Algiers, including at the Faculty of Law near the headquarters of the Consti-tutional Council.

Police fired water cannon to prevent protesters from reaching the Council, where candidates must register for the presidential race, secu-rity sources said.

Rallies inside and outside campuses in the northeast-ern city of Annaba also drew hundreds chanting “anti-Bouteflika” slogans, a local journalist said on con-dition of anonymity.

Bouteflika’s announce-ment in February that he would seek another five-year term despite his failing health has unleashed angry protests. In France, Alge-ria’s former colonial power, at least 2,000 people joined anti-Bouteflika rallies in Paris and other cities.

‘Equine strep throat’ kills 4,000 donkeys in NigerNiamey, Niger

A contagious bacteri-al infection known as

“equine strep throat” has killed more than 4,000 don-keys in northern Niger since early December, local offi-cials said Friday.

“Of the 8,392 donkeys af-fected by equine distemper or equine strep throat, more than half succumbed since the infection appeared in the first 10 days of Decem-ber,” said the regional au-thorities in Agadez, Niger’s renowned gateway to the Sahara.

The others survived after being treated for the infec-tion, which hit donkeys in the Ingall area, public tele-vision reported.

The government’s min-ister for pastoral issues, Mohamed Boucha, vis-ited Agadez this week to assess the impact of the outbreak.

“You can see bodies litter-ing the pastureland and the watering holes and there is a real danger of contamina-tion” spreading through the area, he said.

The risk “is even great-er” due to the fact that the infection can be trans-ferred between equine animals and also through the pasture itself, given that the treatment of a sick animal can take several weeks, veterinary officials said.

Malaysia open to proposals to revive MH370 huntKuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Malaysia is open to restart-ing the hunt for Flight

MH370 if firms come forward with credible leads and con-crete proposals, the trans-port minister said yesterday, five years on from the plane’s disappearance.

The Malaysia Airlines jet van-ished in March 2014 with 239 people -- mostly from China -- on board, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

No sign of it was found in a 120,000-square kilometre (46,000-square mile) Indian Ocean search zone and the Aus-tralian-led hunt, the largest in aviation history, was suspended in January 2017.

US exploration firm Ocean In-finity mounted a fresh hunt on a “no find, no fee basis” last year for several months, using hi-tech drones to scour the seabed, but did not locate the plane.

Hundreds of people, including some of the relatives of those onboard, gathered at a Kuala Lumpur shopping mall Sunday to mark the anniversary of the jet’s disappearance.

Only a few fragments of MH370 have been found, all of them on western Indian Ocean shores. Two of those pieces were

put on display Sunday for the first time at the memorial.

There is no new search planned, but Transport Minister Anthony Loke said at the event that the government was open to hearing proposals to resume the hunt.

“If there are any credible leads

and any specific proposals, es-pecially from Ocean Infinity, we are more than willing to look at it,” he said.

Jacquita Gonzales, whose husband Patrick Gomes was a crew member on the flight, said there was “no closure until the plane is found, until we exact-

ly know what happened to the aircraft and our loved ones on board.

“It gets tougher every year, because we are all expecting some answers.”

In a long-awaited final report into the tragedy released in July last year, the official investiga-

tion team pointed to failings by air traffic control and said the course of the plane was changed manually.

But they failed to come up with any firm conclusions, leav-ing families of those onboard angry and disappointed.

Family members with unaccounted for loved ones hold lit candles during a memorial event ahead of the fifth anniversary of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, in Kuala Lumpu

Afghan villagers carry sheep along a flood affected area in Arghandab district of Kandahar province. At least 20 people were killed by flash floods in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, the UN said as heavy rains swept away homes and vehicles and potentially damaged thousands of houses.

R u n t o s u r v i v e

Syria pounds IS villageAFP | Baghouz , Syria

Kurdish-led forces backed by US warplanes rained artillery fire and air

strikes Sunday on besieged and outgunned jihadists making a desperate last stand in a Syrian village.

Islamic State group fighters holed up in Baghouz, the last sliver of the once-sprawling “ca-liphate” that their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed in 2014, responded with small arms fire as the Syrian Democratic Forces advanced.

Reporters near the front line saw explosions lighting up the sky over the eastern Syrian farming village after an airstrike hit an underground ammunition depot.

The crackle and thud of gun-fire and shelling filled the air, as

did plumes of thick black smoke over Baghouz, a small cluster of ruined buildings nestled in

a palm-lined bend of the Eu-phrates.

“There are tunnels. We’re not

sure how many members of the Islamic State are still inside,” an SDF commander said from a

rooftop about 400 metres from the front line.

“They are completely be-sieged. They have planted many explosive devices in the houses and on the roads,” he said.

The jihadists’ last redoubt was said to be about half a square kilometre in size a week ago and it shrank even fur-ther with the last few hours of fighting.

The SDF had in recent days maintained a buffer of about one kilometre (0.6 miles) between their forces and the holdout ji-hadists hunkered down in their final bastion.

But they resumed their ad-vance on Friday evening after processing what they said was the last batch of civilians, mostly jihadists’ relatives, fleeing the enclave.

Women and children wait to be searched by members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) after leaving the Islamic State (IS) group’s last holdout of Baghouz

Guaido calls for mass protests ahead of return to VenezuelaCaracas, Venezuela

Venezuela’s opposition leader called for mass pro-

tests across the country today as he announced his return to the country after a week touring Latin American allies.

“I’m announcing my return to the country. I am calling on the Venezuelan people to mobilize all over the country tomorrow at 11:00 am (1500 GMT),” Guaido said on Twitter.

Guaido, who has been recog-nized by more than 50 coun-tries as interim president, gave no details of when or how he would return.

He asked supporters to pay close attention for messages of where the demonstrations would take place on Mon-

day. “Let’s go Venezuela,” he said.

Defying a travel ban by Pres-ident Nicolas Maduro, Guaido slipped across the border to Colombia last week to try to bring in the aid and to meet with visiting US Vice President Mike Pence.

The 35-year-old political newcomer continued on to Brazil, where he met the new right-wing president, Jair Bol-sonaro, and on Friday traveled to Paraguay and Argentina. He has spent the weekend in Ecuador.

Guaido stunned the world on January 23, proclaiming himself Venezuela’s acting president after the National Assembly he leads declared Maduro a usurper.


Hon. Chairman Najeb Yacob Alhamer | Editor-in-Chief Mahmood AI Mahmood | Deputy Editor-in-Chief Ahdeya Ahmed | Chairman & Managing Director P Unnikrishnan | Advertisement: Update Media W.L.L | Tel: 38444692, Email: [email protected] | Newsroom: Tel: 38444680, Email: [email protected] & circulation: Tel: 38444698/17579877 | Email:[email protected] | Website: www.newsofbahrain.com | Printed and published by Al Ayam Publishing

STEPHEN WERTHEIM

In the past several months, a meaningful debate has finally started to emerge over Amer-

ica’s role in the world. Politicians and analysts — left, right and cen-tre — are conceding that long-standing mistakes have brought the United States to an uncertain moment. Provoked by President Donald Trump, they are conclud-ing that the bipartisan consensus forged in the 1990s — in which the United States towered over the world and, at low cost, sought to remake it in America’s image — has failed and cannot be revived.

But the agreement ends there. Foreign policy hands are putting forward something like opposite diagnoses of America’s failure and opposite prescriptions for the fu-ture. One camp holds that the United States erred by coddling China and Russia, and urges a new competition against these great power rivals. The other camp, which says the United States has been too belligerent and ambi-tious around the world, counsels restraint, not another crusade against grand enemies.

Though still in formation, these camps are heading for a clash in the 2020 presidential race, if not in a straightforward way. Each has

bipartisan backing. Each finds a little to like in Trump but rejects him as a member. And each is will-ing to pull back from wars in the Middle East. It’s this contest, not the sound and fury over “America First,” that is set to redefine Amer-ica’s world role in the 21st century, during the rest of the Trump years and beyond.

Trump has consistently criti-cised American leaders for being too weak and too generous to-wards other countries, and none more than China. When he began his campaign in 2015, he decried China as a “bigger problem” than the Islamic State, denouncing Bei-jing’s trade practices alongside its military buildup. Now, a growing number of foreign policy experts, including centrists who deprecate the president, agree — and add Russia to the list of great power competitors.

In this view, the United States emerged from the Cold War with naïve hopes: It welcomed China into the World Trade Organisa-tion and Russia into the G-20 and expected them to liberalise their societies and conform to an Amer-ican-led “world order.” Instead, China and Russia became more authoritarian and more assertive, shaping global politics against America’s wishes. As the latest National Security Strategy main-tains, the United States assumed its power would be “unchallenged and self-sustaining” and “surren-dered our advantages” as a result.

The Trump administration has

led the way in confronting Chi-na, an agenda that transcends its internal fissures. Under Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, who left the administration after denouncing the president’s worldview, the Pentagon oriented itself around the premise that “great power competition — not terrorism — is now the primary focus of US na-tional security.”

The administration increasing-ly treats China’s economic actions as national security threats. In the past several months, the Unit-ed States has pushed its allies to block the Chinese tech giant Hua-wei from participating in their five-generation wireless networks on the grounds that the Chinese state could use the company to conduct espionage. This move may mark a pivot towards the economic containment of Chi-na, with core North Atlantic and East Asian alliances of the Cold War reconstituted in opposition to Chinese economic and political power.

Pressuring China is one of Trump’s only policies to have gained bipartisan traction. Eliza-beth Warren, eyeing 2020, accuses Russia and China of “working flat out to remake the global order” in their authoritarian image. Sim-ilarly, think-tankers who began the Trump presidency defending the “liberal international order” are changing tack. The Brookings Institution’s Thomas Wright, for example, now writes off the Rus-so-Chinese “neo-authoritarian

world,” urging America to lead the “free world” against it. The mes-sage is not far from that of Vice President Mike Pence, who in October blasted China as a cryp-to-totalitarian force committing aggression wherever it goes, even when it finances infrastructure in poor countries.

Despite the rhetoric, the most

basic aims of great power compe-tition remain to be defined, espe-cially towards a rising China. Does the United States seek merely to modify Chinese conduct, or to block China’s ascent outright? How much economic separation from China do national security concerns warrant? The irony is that Trump himself, having ratch-

JUST TRY NEW THINGS. DON’T BE AFRAID. STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONES AND SOAR, ALL RIGHT?MICHELLE OBAMA

QUOTE OF THE DAY


Is it time for the US

to confront other great

powers, or to retreat?

OMAR G ENCARNACIÓ

Anyone looking for evi-dence of how irrational politics can be should look

to Catalonia right now.Earlier this month, Catalan

separatists in the Spanish Par-liament voted against the 2019 national budget proposal of the Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, forcing a snap general election in late April. The sep-aratists were retaliating against Sánchez because he would not agree to a referendum on Catalan independence. The last referen-dum, organised in October 2017, which was declared illegal by Spain’s Constitutional Tribunal and boycotted by those opposed to independence, plunged Spain into its deepest political crisis since the death of Gen. Francisco Franco in 1975.

In forcing early elections and the potential fall of the Sánchez government, which came to pow-er in June following a vote of no confidence against Prime Min-ister Mariano Rajoy of the con-servative Popular Party, the Cat-

alan separatists appear willing to forfeit the best chance they have had in decades to advance Cata-lan autonomy. The Sánchez gov-ernment has supported dialogue with Catalan separatists; appoint-ed many Catalans to prominent cabinet positions, including Mer-itxell Batet, responsible for man-aging regional affairs; and agreed to a substantial increase in public spending in Catalonia for 2019. It even consented to talks about amending the Spanish Constitu-tion to expand autonomy for all of Spain’s regions.

Those gains could be quickly erased if the Popular Party is re-turned to power, something that the separatists were apparently aware of when they voted against the budget proposal. The newspa-per El País reported that separa-tist leaders voted “with long fac-es” because they knew that they were most likely contributing to the rise of a new government that could reimpose direct control of Madrid over Catalonia as the Ra-joy government did in 2017.

Indeed, chances are that a new right-wing government in Madrid would be even more intolerant of Catalan separatism than Ra-joy was. Since Rajoy’s departure from office, the Popular Party has hardened its stance on Catalan separatism, in no small measure

because of the rise of Vox, a new far-right party that made a splash in regional elections in Andalusia in December, when it won 12 seats in the Andalusian Parliament on a platform that combined anti-im-migrant rhetoric with a hard line on the Catalonia crisis. Vox has gone as far as to call for abolish-ing altogether Spain’s system of regional autonomy and outlawing separatist political parties.

Why would the separatists pos-sibly want this outcome? For the

simple reason that a viable path to securing Catalan independence remains elusive. Since 2011, both conservative and social demo-cratic governments in Madrid have rejected a state-sanctioned independence referendum for Catalonia. So Catalan separa-tists are now banking on political victimhood as the best strategy for rebooting the independence project. To do this, they need to depict Catalonia as the victim of Madrid’s brutal oppression in the

hopes that this would earn their cause international support.

Carles Puigdemont, the presi-dent of Catalonia until he fled to Belgium, where he remains to-day, to escape prosecution from Spanish authorities for having declared Catalonia an inde-pendent republic, has been ex-ploiting the violence around the 2017 referendum to demonstrate the lengths that Madrid will go to deny Catalans the right to self-determination. On a recent trip to the United States, Quim Torra, Puigdemont’s successor, accused the Spanish government of violating civil and political rights in Catalonia and of holding “political prisoners.” At home, Catalan separatists have framed the trial that began this month of the 12 organisers of the illegal referendum on charges of rebel-lion and sedition as a persecution of Catalan nationalism.

But for the victimhood strat-egy to succeed, the separatists need a better foil in Madrid than Sánchez and his socialist gov-ernment. Rather than dialogue and compromise, the separatists appear to desire intolerance and intransigence — maybe even a dose of violence. In other words, they want a Popular Party gov-ernment supported by Vox and Ciudadanos, a center-right party

from Catalonia that vehemently opposes Catalan independence. Because of the fragmentation of the party system, the results of an election more than a month away are difficult to predict. But given recent polling, it is easy to imagine the Popular Party — with support from Ciudadanos and Vox — being able to oust Sánchez.

The consequences of a co-alition government led by the Popular Party and incorporating Vox would extend far beyond the issue of Catalonia. It would be the first time the far right made it into a Spanish government since Franco’s death, and the toll on Spanish democracy would be

Will Spain become a victim of the Catalan separatists?They’ve brought down a government. Now, they could bring down the entire country

The separatists also need to consider that it is far

from clear that a right-wing government would bring their region any closer to

independence.



STEPHEN WERTHEIM

In the past several months, a meaningful debate has finally started to emerge over Amer-

ica’s role in the world. Politicians and analysts — left, right and cen-tre — are conceding that long-standing mistakes have brought the United States to an uncertain moment. Provoked by President Donald Trump, they are conclud-ing that the bipartisan consensus forged in the 1990s — in which the United States towered over the world and, at low cost, sought to remake it in America’s image — has failed and cannot be revived.

But the agreement ends there. Foreign policy hands are putting forward something like opposite diagnoses of America’s failure and opposite prescriptions for the fu-ture. One camp holds that the United States erred by coddling China and Russia, and urges a new competition against these great power rivals. The other camp, which says the United States has been too belligerent and ambi-tious around the world, counsels restraint, not another crusade against grand enemies.

Though still in formation, these camps are heading for a clash in the 2020 presidential race, if not in a straightforward way. Each has

bipartisan backing. Each finds a little to like in Trump but rejects him as a member. And each is will-ing to pull back from wars in the Middle East. It’s this contest, not the sound and fury over “America First,” that is set to redefine Amer-ica’s world role in the 21st century, during the rest of the Trump years and beyond.

Trump has consistently criti-cised American leaders for being too weak and too generous to-wards other countries, and none more than China. When he began his campaign in 2015, he decried China as a “bigger problem” than the Islamic State, denouncing Bei-jing’s trade practices alongside its military buildup. Now, a growing number of foreign policy experts, including centrists who deprecate the president, agree — and add Russia to the list of great power competitors.

In this view, the United States emerged from the Cold War with naïve hopes: It welcomed China into the World Trade Organisa-tion and Russia into the G-20 and expected them to liberalise their societies and conform to an Amer-ican-led “world order.” Instead, China and Russia became more authoritarian and more assertive, shaping global politics against America’s wishes. As the latest National Security Strategy main-tains, the United States assumed its power would be “unchallenged and self-sustaining” and “surren-dered our advantages” as a result.

The Trump administration has

led the way in confronting Chi-na, an agenda that transcends its internal fissures. Under Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, who left the administration after denouncing the president’s worldview, the Pentagon oriented itself around the premise that “great power competition — not terrorism — is now the primary focus of US na-tional security.”

The administration increasing-ly treats China’s economic actions as national security threats. In the past several months, the Unit-ed States has pushed its allies to block the Chinese tech giant Hua-wei from participating in their five-generation wireless networks on the grounds that the Chinese state could use the company to conduct espionage. This move may mark a pivot towards the economic containment of Chi-na, with core North Atlantic and East Asian alliances of the Cold War reconstituted in opposition to Chinese economic and political power.

Pressuring China is one of Trump’s only policies to have gained bipartisan traction. Eliza-beth Warren, eyeing 2020, accuses Russia and China of “working flat out to remake the global order” in their authoritarian image. Sim-ilarly, think-tankers who began the Trump presidency defending the “liberal international order” are changing tack. The Brookings Institution’s Thomas Wright, for example, now writes off the Rus-so-Chinese “neo-authoritarian

world,” urging America to lead the “free world” against it. The mes-sage is not far from that of Vice President Mike Pence, who in October blasted China as a cryp-to-totalitarian force committing aggression wherever it goes, even when it finances infrastructure in poor countries.

Despite the rhetoric, the most

basic aims of great power compe-tition remain to be defined, espe-cially towards a rising China. Does the United States seek merely to modify Chinese conduct, or to block China’s ascent outright? How much economic separation from China do national security concerns warrant? The irony is that Trump himself, having ratch-

JUST TRY NEW THINGS. DON’T BE AFRAID. STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONES AND SOAR, ALL RIGHT?MICHELLE OBAMA

QUOTE OF THE DAY


Is it time for the US

to confront other great

powers, or to retreat?

OMAR G ENCARNACIÓ

Anyone looking for evi-dence of how irrational politics can be should look

to Catalonia right now.Earlier this month, Catalan

separatists in the Spanish Par-liament voted against the 2019 national budget proposal of the Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, forcing a snap general election in late April. The sep-aratists were retaliating against Sánchez because he would not agree to a referendum on Catalan independence. The last referen-dum, organised in October 2017, which was declared illegal by Spain’s Constitutional Tribunal and boycotted by those opposed to independence, plunged Spain into its deepest political crisis since the death of Gen. Francisco Franco in 1975.

In forcing early elections and the potential fall of the Sánchez government, which came to pow-er in June following a vote of no confidence against Prime Min-ister Mariano Rajoy of the con-servative Popular Party, the Cat-

alan separatists appear willing to forfeit the best chance they have had in decades to advance Cata-lan autonomy. The Sánchez gov-ernment has supported dialogue with Catalan separatists; appoint-ed many Catalans to prominent cabinet positions, including Mer-itxell Batet, responsible for man-aging regional affairs; and agreed to a substantial increase in public spending in Catalonia for 2019. It even consented to talks about amending the Spanish Constitu-tion to expand autonomy for all of Spain’s regions.

Those gains could be quickly erased if the Popular Party is re-turned to power, something that the separatists were apparently aware of when they voted against the budget proposal. The newspa-per El País reported that separa-tist leaders voted “with long fac-es” because they knew that they were most likely contributing to the rise of a new government that could reimpose direct control of Madrid over Catalonia as the Ra-joy government did in 2017.

Indeed, chances are that a new right-wing government in Madrid would be even more intolerant of Catalan separatism than Ra-joy was. Since Rajoy’s departure from office, the Popular Party has hardened its stance on Catalan separatism, in no small measure

because of the rise of Vox, a new far-right party that made a splash in regional elections in Andalusia in December, when it won 12 seats in the Andalusian Parliament on a platform that combined anti-im-migrant rhetoric with a hard line on the Catalonia crisis. Vox has gone as far as to call for abolish-ing altogether Spain’s system of regional autonomy and outlawing separatist political parties.

Why would the separatists pos-sibly want this outcome? For the

simple reason that a viable path to securing Catalan independence remains elusive. Since 2011, both conservative and social demo-cratic governments in Madrid have rejected a state-sanctioned independence referendum for Catalonia. So Catalan separa-tists are now banking on political victimhood as the best strategy for rebooting the independence project. To do this, they need to depict Catalonia as the victim of Madrid’s brutal oppression in the

hopes that this would earn their cause international support.

Carles Puigdemont, the presi-dent of Catalonia until he fled to Belgium, where he remains to-day, to escape prosecution from Spanish authorities for having declared Catalonia an inde-pendent republic, has been ex-ploiting the violence around the 2017 referendum to demonstrate the lengths that Madrid will go to deny Catalans the right to self-determination. On a recent trip to the United States, Quim Torra, Puigdemont’s successor, accused the Spanish government of violating civil and political rights in Catalonia and of holding “political prisoners.” At home, Catalan separatists have framed the trial that began this month of the 12 organisers of the illegal referendum on charges of rebel-lion and sedition as a persecution of Catalan nationalism.

But for the victimhood strat-egy to succeed, the separatists need a better foil in Madrid than Sánchez and his socialist gov-ernment. Rather than dialogue and compromise, the separatists appear to desire intolerance and intransigence — maybe even a dose of violence. In other words, they want a Popular Party gov-ernment supported by Vox and Ciudadanos, a center-right party

from Catalonia that vehemently opposes Catalan independence. Because of the fragmentation of the party system, the results of an election more than a month away are difficult to predict. But given recent polling, it is easy to imagine the Popular Party — with support from Ciudadanos and Vox — being able to oust Sánchez.

The consequences of a co-alition government led by the Popular Party and incorporating Vox would extend far beyond the issue of Catalonia. It would be the first time the far right made it into a Spanish government since Franco’s death, and the toll on Spanish democracy would be


The separatists also need to consider that it is far

from clear that a right-wing government would bring their region any closer to

independence.

C I V I L I A N ’ S T R I B U N E


TOP

4TWEETS

04

02

03

01

The most disappointing & objectionable state-

ment was of the former Prime Minister Dr. Man-mohan Singh. He stated that he was disturbed with the “Mad rush of mutual self-destruction” by the two nations. According to him perpetrator of terror-ism & its victim are both at par.

@arunjaitley

Ma d u ro h a s l i e d about the humani-

tarian crisis in Venezuela, he contracts criminals to burn food and medicine intended for the Vene-zuelan people, and now he is lying about purport-ed aid from Russia.

@AmbJohnBolton

I’m back in Brooklyn, the place I was born

and raised, to kick off this historic campaign. We’re going to win this election because we will put together the strong-est grassroots coalition in the history of American politics. #BernieInBro-oklyn

@BernieSanders

Many kudos for Wing Commander abhi

Varthaman the face of India’s resistance to en-emy aggression. Great poise and confidence in face of adversity. We are proud that he received his wings in 2004 and matured as fighter pilot during UPA

@salman7khurshid

Disclaimer: (Views expressed by columnists are personal and need not necessarily reflect our

editorial stances)

eted up tensions, may merely seek leverage towards a trade deal. He is disposed to regard no country as a permanent ally or permanent enemy. But America’s hardening line has bipartisan support and it won’t be easy to reverse.

At the same time, Trump has helped to incite a counter-move-ment. A trans-partisan coalition,

aligning progressives and lib-ertarians, is encouraged by the electoral success of his criticism of Middle East interventions, but seeks much greater restraint than the president has delivered. Those who advocate restraint believe the United States went wrong by expanding, not contracting, its global responsibilities after the Soviet Union collapsed.

Trump shares some of these inclinations. “Great nations do not fight endless wars,” he pro-claimed in the State of the Un-ion. He has pledged to pull most ground troops out of Syria and is pursuing negotiations with the Taliban in Afghanistan. On the whole, though, most advocates of restraint find little to like in Trump’s militarised foreign poli-cy. They see a president who has attempted to assert American dominance over the world, boost-ing the defence budget, escalating military interventions in the Mid-dle East and Africa, and imposing new sanctions on Iran and now Venezuela.

Yet they also see an opportunity to constrain the United States’ military adventurism by opposing the war powers of an unprincipled and unstrategic commander in chief.

The bill also offers a template for further withdrawals, accord-ing to its Senate sponsors, Demo-crat Chris Murphy, independent Bernie Sanders and Republican Mike Lee. “Since 9/11, politicians have become far too comfortable

with American military interven-tions all over the world,” they have written. The next step may be to repeal the Authorisation for the Use of Military Force passed after the Sept 11 attacks, which succes-sive presidents have used to justi-fy almost unlimited warmaking in the greater Middle East.

Restraint is advancing on the left of the Democratic Party, but it’s not yet clear whether it can pierce the center as domestic proposals like Medicare for All have done. Calls to cut military spending, advanced by Sanders and House progressives, have not quite become a core principle of the progressive movement. And advocates of restraint tend to be-come less vocal and unified when they turn beyond the Middle East. The sponsor of the House’s Yem-en resolution, Rep. Ro Khanna, has distinguished himself by sup-

porting diplomacy with North Ko-rea and opposing regime change in Venezuela, but he stands apart. The restraint coalition would ben-efit from taking a similarly global view if it is to advance a compre-hensive alternative to the status quo.

Does the future belong to great power competition or restraint? Partisans of each camp have good reason to feel the wind at their back. Decades of policy failure have converged with the daily eruptions of Trump to throw open the question of what Amer-ica’s place in the world should be.

What’s more, the two camps have not quite trained their sights on each other. That is partly be-cause advocates of great power competition in the establishment remain obsessed with Trump, while advocates of restraint have been marginalised for so long that they need to pick their battles. One can even glimpse the outlines of a tacit bargain between them, breaking down geographically: As restrainers try to end wars in the Middle East, centrists pivot towards the Pacific, where the adversaries are larger but war less likely.

For now, savvy politicians can adopt both positions at once. Warren, for example, denounc-es Chinese and Russian be-haviour at the same time that she promises to remove troops from Afghanistan and “cut our bloated defence budget.” And Democrat-leaning experts not

previously outraged by Ameri-ca’s Middle East entanglements now bemoan them as distrac-tions. Before long, it will be only anti-Iran, pro-Israel hard-lin-ers — members of the Trump administration and Democratic leadership included — who will strongly defend America’s pos-ture in the region.

But the two sides disagree fun-damentally, and Americans de-serve a forthright debate between them after decades of stifling con-sensus. Advocates of great power competition, after all, will hardly accept cutting military spending even if all they seek is to main-tain current levels of superiority over a rising China and an asser-tive Russia. Restrainers, for their part, might succeed spectacularly in the Middle East, only to find America embroiled in a new Cold War. To avoid being outflanked, they ought to amplify the poten-tial for co-operation with China, a power that has successfully prac-ticed its own form of restraint, refraining from war for the past 40 years.

In the upcoming election, bat-tles within the parties may prove as consequential as the main fight between them. For if the last two years have shown anything, it is that America’s purpose in the world is deeply unsettled, and just might be poised for a major change.

(Stephen Wertheim is a visiting assistant professor of history at

Columbia University.)

1665English King Charles II declares war on the Netherlands marking the start of the Second An-glo-Dutch War.

1675John Flamsteed is appointed the first Astronomer Royal of England.

1681Charles II grants a land charter to William Penn for the area that will later become Pennsylvania.

1776American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army fortifies Dorchester Heightswith cannon, leading the British troops to abandon the Siege of Boston.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY

2020 to see a monumental clash over America’s place in the worldDoes the future belong to

great power competition or restraint? Partisans of each camp have good reason to feel the wind at their back.

enormous. It could bring an as-sault on the hard-won rights of women, immigrants and LGBT people. It could also unleash a wave of nationalism not seen in Spain since the Franco regime, one that would undermine re-gional home rule not only in Cat-alonia, but also in other regions like the Basque Country.

Enabling the rise of the far right into government would also be a betrayal of the traditional values of the Catalan nationalist movement. Since the transition to democracy, this movement has placed Catalan autonomy ahead of independence. Its progressive wing, represented by the Repub-lican Left of Catalonia, a political party founded in the 1930s, has a proud history of standing up for the rights of women, workers and sexual minorities.

The separatists also need to consider that it is far from clear that a right-wing government would bring their region any closer to independence. In fact, the result of the strategy of victi-misation in Catalonia could well be to diminish democracy for Spain as a whole.

(Omar G Encarnación is a professor of political studies at Bard College and

the author of “Democracy without Justice in Spain: The Politics of Forget-

ting,” among other books.)


The aerial battles between India and Pakistan could serve as a catalyst for an

immense clash with grim con-sequences for mankind. Nuclear fall out could plunge temper-atures to below ice age condi-tions ushering in the dreaded nuclear winter

In a fully fledged nuclear conflict between India and Pa-kistan, 500 million people will die within 72 hours. Nuclear weapons present the world with several deadly paradox-es. The most destructive mili-tary instruments ever devised, that have remained unused for decades despite the constant warfare since their debut in Hi-roshima and Nagasaki nearly 70 years ago. Nevertheless,unused in battle and often declared to be unusable,they dominate strategic thought and ensure that military questions preoc-cupy the nuclear powers more persistently than ever before in peacetime.

India and Pakistan are en-gaged in a deadly game of nu-clear brinkmanship. Both are are rehearsing nuclear chess by trading nuclear insults. The shadow of nuclear Armageddon looms over their fragile lines of control.

Ever since, Japan was nuclear incinerated,world leaders have had the wisdom to avoid anoth-

er nuclear war. Humanity wit-nessed the terrifying destruc-tive power of nuclear weapons and vowed never to repeat the mistake. There is a frightening real risk that mankind has not witnessed it’s last nuclear war.

We live in the shadows of a new and deadly war. Many so-ber observers believe the world is closer to to nuclear war now, than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Indo-Pakistani war tactics are now in the realm of the ra-tionality of irrationality.

It is the equivalent to nuclear roulette,a version of political roulette in which the entire world is at stake, with a two or three chambered revolver. Every small conflict pulls the trigger in nuclear roulette. In the metaphor, of nuclear rou-lette, every day, we pull the trigger of the many chambered nuclear gun pointed at the head

of civilization.Brinkmanship between Modi

and Khan, is a shared risk of war in which each side pushes the other towards the brink of disaster or war even closer in order to force the other side to capitulate at the last second. These two deadly nuclear scor-pions will not survive a strategic nuclear exchange. The only way to survive nuclear roulette,is to put down the atomic gun. The current constellation of global events make nuclear war virtu-ally inevitable.In the aftermath of a massive nuclear exchange, the living will envy the dead. Hundreds of computer nuclear simulations reveal that every major city in both countries will be incinerated.

Dense poisonous radio active debris will encircle the whole of Asia, Southern Russia, the entire Middle East and major parts of Europe. Admirals and

Generals in both countries false-ly believe that they will emerge victorious in a nuclear conflict. This deadly myth is embedded in their respective nuclear doc-trines.their first and second strike capabilities, are fatally flawed, they will not survive the nuclear holocaust that will fol-low. In a nuclear strike against Pakistan mega cities are under India’s missile envelope such as Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Peshwar, Quetta, Multan, Hyderabad, Islamabad and Bahawalpur will cease to exist.

In a massive Pakistani nu-clear strike Bhopal, Thane, Indore, Nagpur, Kanpur, Luc-know, Mumbai, Delhi, Banga-lore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad ,Jaipur, Pune, Surat and many other cities will be utterly dev-astated. Once nuclear war is unleashed,there will be no turn-ing back.

The electro magnetic pulse produced by the nuclear fire-balls will destroy communica-tions on a scale that mankind has never witnessed,encom-passing over 1,000 kilometers. Our civilisation will come to an abrupt end. India and Pakistan must stop playing nuclear chess and atomic roulette.

The fate of humanity is at stake.Farouk Araie,

Johannesburg

India, Pakistan stop playing nuclear chess

10

business


BAC offers airport as venue for Spring of Culture 2019TDT | Manama

In a first, Bah-rain Airport

Company (BAC), a Silver Sponsor of the Spring of Cul-ture 2019, is offering Bahrain International Airport (BIA) as a venue for the Kingdom’s largest annual art and culture festival.

Now in its 14th year, the fes-tival, which takes place from February to April, offers more than 60 events, including con-certs, performing arts and visual arts held at prestigious modern and historical venues around the Kingdom.

Among them are the Bahrain National Museum, the Cul-tural Hall, the Art Centre, the Shaikh Ebrahim Centre, and now the BIA Arrivals hall.

B A C C h i e f Executive Of-ficer, Mohamed Yousif Al Bin-falah said: “We hope to contin-ue to support

public events with the opening of the New Passenger Termi-nal Building, which will pro-vide an even better venue for such activities and promote the Kingdom as a favoured cultural and touristic desti-nation.”

Launched in 2006, the Spring of Culture has gath-ered a large following over the years, becoming the sec-ond most anticipated event in Bahrain after the Formula One Grand Prix, selling out most of its shows. It attracts a wide audience base from within the Kingdom and also abroad.

Now in its 14th year, the festival, takes place from February to April

Alba accelerating to 50pc of Line 6 Capacity : Shaikh DaijTDT | Manama

Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) said its Line 6 Expansion

Project has gained further mo-mentum with the handover of 172 pots for commissioning on 1 March 2019.

Commenting on this occa-sion, Alba’s Chairman of Board of Directors, Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa, said: “We are pleased to an-nounce that Potline 6 is now in full ramp-up mode with the handover of the next set of 172 pots for commissioning.”

“Once the start-up of the ad-ditional 172 pots is complete, Alba will have commissioned a total of 212 pots (50pc of Pot-

line 6 capacity).” “We look forward to see the

positive financial benefits that this additional capacity will bring to our bottom-line.”

Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa, Chairman

Bahrainis benefit hugely from digital transactions

BENEFIT records a big jump in direct electronic funds transfer transactions

• 960 thousand Fawri+ transactions in 2018 valued at BD 175 million with an annual increase exceeding 99pc

• Use of GCC bank cards to pay for purchases increased by 146pc

TDT | Manama

Bahrainis are increas-ingly benefiting from the virtues of cashless

payments, which according to BENEFIT produced an annual increase exceeding 99 per cent jump in its Fawri+ transactions during 2018.

Fawri, Fawri+ and Fawateer payment services, according to BENEFIT, all achieved new highs in direct electronic funds trans-fer transactions within Bahrain in 2018 as compared to 2017.

Total transactions complet-ed through Fawri+ last year reached 959,689, compared to 372,385 in 2017, or an increase of 158pc, while total fund transfers amounted to approximately BD 175m.

The favourable indicators achieved by the Company in 2018, BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Officer Abdulwahid AlJanahi said, consolidate the electronic financial transactions culture in the Bahraini society, and em-phasize the great importance of enhancing electronic banking services.

“2018 saw a 4 per cent decline in the number of cheques in circulation to around 3.2m from 3.3m in 2017,” AlJanahi added.

As for Fawri, the total trans-action volumes reached to 5.8m in 2018 compared to 4.9m in 2017 equivalent to an increase of 19pc with a value of BD 11.2 billion in 2018 compared to 9.7 billion in 2017.

Moreover, the total number of transactions completed through the Fawateer service last year

exceeded 1.6m, compared to 1.2m in 2017, or 34pc increase where the total value of the transitions exceeded 133m in 2018.

The use of bank cards be-tween GCC member states to pay for purchases saw a boom in 2018, with total completed transactions exceeding 1.1m in 2018, compared to 430 thousand in 2017, or an increase of 146pc.

On the other hand, the use of ATM cards for local payment transactions increased by 16pc in 2018 to over 23m payment transactions, compared to 19m in 2017. “Domestic direct fund transfer transaction services have shown the critical need for concentrating on electron-ic transactions based on usage indicators in 2018 compared to 2017,” AlJanahi said.

Fawri+ is an out-standing service al-lowing clients of all commercial banks to transfer any amount not exceeding BD 1,000 daily. Trans-actions can be per-formed round the clock with a maxi-mum of 30 second fund availability, by keying-in the beneficiary’s IBAN number and the transfer amount only.

Fawri is a service enabling commercial bank clients to trans-fer any amount within hours on business days. This service allows the safe and easy transfer of funds to a single beneficiary or multiple beneficiaries, including for example salaries and other payments.

Fawateer is a bill collection service provided to several bill issuers and offered to clients of commercial banks to pay all bills at a single location. This service also includes query capability and allows for bill payment within 30 seconds.

BIHR and Wyndham Grand Manama Hotel announce skill development projectTDT | Manama

Bahrain Institute of Hospi-tality and Retail – Hotel

Tourism Management Insti-tute (BIHR-HTMi) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the 5-star luxury hotel Wyndham Grand Manama Hotel.

The two organisations aim to collaborate for the employ-ment and skills development of young Bahraini students, and other initiatives and pro-

jects that are beneficial for both parties.

Ali Sulaibeekh, BIHR’s Direc-tor stated, “This commitment is to support Bahrainisation and aid the current employment gap and demands in the King-dom’s Hospitality and Tourism industry; a long-term legacy spearheaded by the Dadabai Family.

“We, at Wyndham Grand Ma-nama, believe in hiring positive attitude and developing Talent through motivation and coach-

ing,” said Anwar Hajjar, Acting General Manager of Wyndham Grand Hotel. We are commit-ted to employ Bahrainis and develop them to be success-ful with us through creating a career path for them of their choice.”

BIHR said it has designed its programmes to serve all the em-ployment needs and levels of the hospitality sector. These pro-grammes are qualifying students to work at different managerial levels.Officials following the deal signing

Infonas backs BDB’s cloud migrationTDT | Manama

Hamad Al-Amer, Managing Director, Infonas, con-

gratulated Khalid Al Romaihi, the Chairman, Bahrain De-velopment Bank, for the suc-cessful migration of the Bank’s website (www.bdb-bh.com) to Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Al-Amer said BDB is lead-ing the GCC’s financial institu-tions through their adoption of Serverless Architecture. In-fonas focuses on cloud-native, and Serverless technologies. The Serverless model enables

businesses to build modern websites and applications with increased agility and lower to-tal cost of ownership. Infonas, an AWS Consulting Partner and AWS Professional Services are supporting the BDB’s cloud mi-gration efforts.

Hamad Al-Amer


Automakers seek to electrify Geneva• More than 660,000 visitors are expected to descend on Geneva’s Palexpo from March 7 through 17

• High-end brands like Aston Martin, Audi and Mercedes will be showing off concept electric SUVs

• Bentley will present its new Bentayga Speed, which has been categorised as the fastest SUV

• Lamborghini’s new sleek Huracan Evo Spyder and Porsche’s 911 are also expected to turn heads

Paris, France

The Geneva Motor Show kicks off this week with automakers eager to

show off new electric models, even as they nervously eye a ho-rizon coloured by trade wars and Brexit uncertainty.

After years of growth and re-cord profits, the sector took a sharp U-turn in mid-2018 amid an unexpected slowdown in Chi-na, which is by far the world’s biggest market, counting one out of three registered cars on the planet.

And with just three weeks to go before Britain is to leave the European Union on March 29, carmakers are bracing for the very likely possibility of a “no-deal Brexit”, which is expected to spell cataclysm for the in-dustry.

The automakers heading for Europe’s biggest annual car show, which opens on March 7, are already suffering from the ongoing trade war between Washington and Beijing, and

are wary about increased tariffs the US might slap on European imports.

On top of such tensions, car-makers have also been pushed to pump huge investments into electrifying their fleets in order to respect strict CO2 emissions standards that will take effect in the EU next year and be further tightened in the coming decade.

Slim profitsFollowing the tough condi-

tions of 2018, manufacturers of cars and auto equipment “will see slim profits in 2019,” said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, who heads the Center for Automo-

tive Research (CAR) in Germany.“We can already expect profit

warnings, production reduc-tions and job cuts,” he told AFP.

“This is not a good climate for a show filled with glitz and glamour.”

After a one-percent drop last year, he predicted the global car market would slip two percent in 2019 to 81.9 million individ-ual cars sold -- or three million fewer than in 2017.

As a result, factories were struggling, with overca-pacity esti-

mated at “well above five mil-lion units.”

“The good times that we have known for the past decade are behind us,” agreed Flavien Neu-vy, head of the Observatoire Cet-elem, which conducts economic surveys in the global automotive industry.

Automakers, he said, are at high risk of being hit with heavy fines in Europe as of next year, when strict emissions limits that

require a

company’s entire fleet to emit no more than 95 grams (3.4 ounces) of CO2 on average per vehicle, kick in.

These targets, he said, are “al-most impossible to keep.”

A recent study by the BCG con-sultancy estimated that each car maker stands to be hit with be-tween 500 million and one bil-lion euros ($570 million to $1.1 billion) in fines.

Limit the damage“They will really need to

sell a lot

of electric vehicles to limit the damage,” Neuvy said, pointing out sales of diesel-fuelled cars are sliding quickly as sales of petrol-fuelled vehicles, which emit more CO2, rise.

At the same time, people are still drawn to gas-guzzling SUVs, which currently account for one in three vehicles sold.

The models going on show in Geneva reflect industry con-cerns, with a wide range of con-cept electric vehicles on display from middle-class carmakers like Citroen and Honda, which will present their visions of a far more battery-powered future.

At the same time, high-end brands like Aston Martin, Audi and Mercedes will be showing off concept electric SUVs.

They are scrambling to catch up with Californian electric carmaker Tesla, which won’t be present at the show, but will weigh heavily on everyone’s mind at a time when its Model 3 sedan -- already a best-seller in the United States -- is revving up in Europe.

And French automakers Re-nault and Peugeot will present the latest reincarnations of pop-ular city cars like the Clio and the Peugeot 208, with the latter available for the first time in an electric version.

World’s fastest SUVDespite the constraints, the

Geneva show remains a draw for luxury automobile enthusiasts and is unlikely to disappoint in terms of glitz and glamour.

Bentley will present its new Bentayga Speed, which has been categorised as the fastest SUV in the world, capable of reaching 306 kilometres per hour (190 mph).

Lamborghini’s new sleek Huracan Evo Spyder and Por-sche’s 911 are also expected to turn heads, as is Ferrari’s F8 Tributo, with its powerful 720-horsepower engine.

More than 660,000 visitors are expected to descend on Ge-neva’s Palexpo from March 7 through 17 to cast their eyes over some 900 vehicles.

A general view of the Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva.

Tesla won’t be present at the show, but will weigh heavily on everyone’s mind at a time when its Model 3 sedan -- already a best-seller in the United States -- is revving up in Europe.

Peugeot plans US return 30 years after exitNew York, United States

Some 30 years after exiting the United States due to plung-

ing sales, Peugeot is preparing a return to a market where it previously knew glory at the famed Indianapolis 500.

PSA Group Chief Executive Carlos Tavares said this week that the Peugeot -- a brand known for its lion logo -- is the parent company’s pick for the US market. The company plans to sell Peugeot autos in the US by 2026 in line with a multi-step 10-year plan first announced in 2016.

The comeback is be-

ing devised as PSA, which also sells cars under the Citroen and Opel brands, faces pressure from investors to diversify its reve-nues beyond Europe at a time when US sanctions have torpe-doed ambitions in Iran and the Chinese auto market has slowed considerably.

What kind of cars will be sold? What will be the silhouette? Will Peugeot work through existing dealerships, an expensive prop-osition in some key cities, or sell directly to customers and skip certain markets?

For now, the automaker

isn’t offering many details.“We believe we’re being fru-

gal,” said Larry Dominique, chief executive of PSA North America.

“We believe we’re being very careful and making sure that we do this the right way because new brands entering the US and Canadian market does not hap-pen very often.”

Auto experts say the ambi-tious plan will not be easy to execute.

Peugeot plans initially to sell vehicles in the US that are im-port-

ed from China and Europe. Peugeot plans to launch in

a single US state and will then ramp up. The company has identified 15 US states and four Canadian provinces that are es-pecially receptive to imports.

Peugeot can compete in these markets with models that have sold well in Europe such as the 3008 and 5008 SUVs. But the brand’s smaller sedan models, which sell well in Europe, are deeply out of favor in America.

Peugeot also could face tough competition from new

entrants, espe-cially China,

whose

groups such as GAC, Great Wall and Kandi plan to market in the US in the coming years.

Peugeot exited the United States in 1991, having clearly been surpassed by Japanese ri-vals. In that year, it sold 3,500 vehicles.

Peugeot vehicles triumphed at the Indianapolis 500 three times in the early 20th Century and the brand to this day figures prominently at other races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France.

Italian brands Fiat and Alfa Romeo have had mixed success since being introduced in the US a few years. Sales of

Fiats nosedived 43.8 percent in 2018 to 15,521, while Alfa Ro-meo’s sales dipped 0.6 percent to 23,800.

Karl Brauer of Kelley Blue Book warned that Fiat’s per-formance in the US could be a template for what happens with Peugeot.

Fiat “bailed out at roughly the same time that Peugeot bailed out and then it came back into the market almost a decade ago and it’s never really gotten a strong following,” Brauer said.

“I think it’s going to be a big challenge for them.”Representative picture (Courtesy of Motor1


Closing BellSAUDI 0.5 pct to 8,534 pts

DUBAI 0.3 pct to 2,642 pts

QATAR was closed for a holiday

ABU DHABI 0.3 pct to 5120 pts

EGYPT 0.1 pct to 14,820 pts

KUWAIT 0.8 pct to 5,525 pts

OMAN 0.2 pct to 4,138 pts

BAHRAIN 0.3 pct to 1,417 pts

KNOW WHAT

Taxing rich, an idea gaining ground in USNew York, United States

Long out of favour in the United States, the idea of taxing rich individu-

als and corporations to pay for healthcare or to combat ine-quality is gaining ground among Democratic politicians.

While the United States re-veres free enterprise and is home to the world’s largest number of billionaires, such tax proposals have been gain-ing traction in political circles in recent weeks.

More than one Democratic contender in next year’s presi-dential elections are campaign-ing on some plan to tax the wealthy.

And they have been encour-aged by famous billionaires such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the world’s second and third wealthiest people, who worry about America’s severe wealth inequality.

Vermont’s left-leaning Sena-tor Bernie Sanders was among the first in the recent wave. During his 2016 presidential campaign he called for higher federal income taxes to pay for free college tuition and univer-sal healthcare.

Massachusetts Senator Eliz-abeth Warren has proposed a two-percent wealth tax starting at $50 million in earnings. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is calling for a levy on financial transactions, and Sanders says inheritances should be taxed up to 77 percent.

With the Democrats now in control of the House of Repre-sentatives, the undisputed me-dia star of the freshman class, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is leading the charge: she has pro-posed a tax of 70 percent on any income over $10 million to help pay for a proposed “Green New Deal” to de-carbonize the US economy and help prevent cat-astrophic climate change, while offering universal healthcare and guaranteed employment.

This so-called marginal rate of 70 per cent is not unprece-dented in the United States, but

was last at that level 1981. The current top marginal tax rate is 37 percent.

Raising corporate taxes is another Democratic priority, a subject inflamed by the re-cent controversy over Amazon, which has reported no feder-al income tax expenses for the past two years. That has stoked debate over highly profitable companies that do not pay into government coffers.

Some Republicans have pushed back, with outspoken and media savvy Ocasio-Cortez drawing the most fire.

Grover Norquist, an anti-tax activist who has long pushed Republican lawmakers to pledge never to raise taxes, warned in January against soaking the rich, saying such taxes “always slip down to hit the rest of us.”

But Joseph Thorndike, a his-torian specializing in US tax pol-icy, said a reversal of the post-war trend of cutting taxes is within sight.

‘Social tensions’“Something is happening

here,” he said. “We are be-

g i n n i n g t o have a discus-sion about that that we haven’t had since t h e 1 9 6 0 s or e v e n the 50s.”

Top marginal tax rates in the United States were very high following World War II, maxing out at 94 percent. They be-gan to fall in the 1960s and were slashed again un-der President Ron-ald Reagan in the 1980s.

In late 2017, Donald Trump and the Repub-l ican majori ty in Congress cut co rpora te a nd personal income t a x ra t e s , d e -spite unanimous Democratic op-position which denounced the tax overhaul as a giveaway to the rich.

T r u m p , h i m s e l f a b i l l i o n -a i r e , h a s a t t r a c t e d widespread scorn for refusing to d i s c l o s e h i s o w n i n c o m e tax returns, and a c c u s a t i o n s that his fami-ly maintained its wealth by evading taxes, an accusation he denies.

Ya w n i n g income gaps are one rea-son, Thorndike said.

“People are will-ing to tolerate rich people getting rich-er as long as middle class people are also

doing better,” he said. “When the middle and laboring class is stagnating, that creates social tensions.”

Trump himself may have been catalyst.

While most major changes in US tax policy came in times of crisis -- wars or deep reces-sions -- Trump’s unconven-tional presidency could mark “a sharp enough break” to bring about change, Thorndike said.

A Morning Consult poll conducted late

last month for Politico found 74 per cent of

voters were generally in favor of higher taxes for the rich, while 73pc favored this for corpo-rations. Furthermore,

90pc believed such tax revenues should go to pay for healthcare or

infrastructure.

Gulf Hotel promotes Charbel Hanna to Deputy GMTDT | Manama

The Gulf Hotel Bahrain Convention & Spa has

announced the promotion of Charbel Hanna as Deputy General Manager for Bahrain’s legendary hotel, The Gulf Ho-tel Bahrain Convention & Spa.

Having joined the Gulf Hotel Bahrain from 2007 to 2012 and after pursuing several roles in different hotels, Charbel Hanna, re-joined the Gulf Ho-tel family in January 2017 as Executive Assistant Manager in-charge of Food & Beverage. Charbel Hanna

Saudi Arabian index rises as FTSE Russell countdown begins• Saudi index up 9 pct in 2019, outperforming Gulf peers

• Saudi’s entry to FTSE Russell emerging index on March 18

• Kuwait index jumps on banking rally

Reuters | Dubai

Saudi stocks ended higher yes-terday, helped by optimism

over fund inflows ahead of the entry by the Gulf’s biggest mar-ket to the FTSE Russell’s emerg-ing market index in a little more than two weeks.

The Tadawul main index was

up 0.5 per cent, led by financial stocks. Samba Financial Group rose 1.1pc and Al Rajhi Bank climbed 0.4pc.

Al Tayyar Travel Group surged 5.7pc as investors looked beyond its 2018 full-year loss to take comfort from its plans to raise

3 billion riyals ($800 million) in fresh capital.

One trader, who asked not to be named, said speculation around a possible takeover of Dubai-based ride-hailing firm Careem by Uber Technologies is also fuelling gains in Al Tayyar’s

stocks, given the company’s mi-nority stake in Careem.

Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange expects passive fund inflows of $15 billion to $20 billion this year as it gears up for inclusion in emerging market bench-marks, its chief executive told Reuters on Thursday.

“The first phase of FTSE in-clusion should drive in 10pc of the estimated total $6 billion in passive flows into the Saudi market,” said Vrajesh Bhandari, a senior portfolio manager at Al Mal Capital.

He said bigger moves are ex-pected when global index pro-vider MSCI adds Saudi stocks to its global benchmark in two tranches in May and Au-gust, but he cautioned that the Saudi market’s valuation appears rich.

The Saudi index has gained

about 9pc this year and is out-performing its Gulf peers, with its shares trading at nearly 17 times earnings.

Saudi stocks will be the largest Middle East market in the FTSE Emerging Index with an overall weighting of 2.7pc, according to the index-compiler FTSE Russell said.

The inclusion will happen

in several tranches and will be completed by December this year. The first 25pc tranche will be added from March 18, according to the FTSE Russell document.

Dubai stocks were up 0.3, re-bounding from a sell-off on Fri-day when profit-taking set in after a sharp rally in property stocks on strong fourth-quarter earnings at companies linked to Emaar Properties.

The Kuwaiti index gained 0.8pc fuel led by banking stocks. Burgan Bank ended 1.9pc up after recently posting a rise in quarterly earnings. Kuwait Finance House rose nearly 1pc.

Egyptian stocks, which have been the best performers in the Middle East this year with gains of 13.7pc, ended 0.1pc up on Sun-day, led by financials.

A trader watching stock movements (file)

Saudi cabinet approves tourism visa for foreign travellers: media

Reuters | Dubai

Saudi Arabia’s cabinet has

approved elec-tronic visas for foreign visitors to attend sporting events and con-certs, local media reported, as the world’s top oil exporter tries to diversify its economy and open up its society.

The country has previous-ly restricted visas to resident workers, business travellers, and Muslim pilgrims who are given special visas to travel to holy sites.

Economic reforms pushed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aim to lift total

tourism spending in the kingdom - by local citizens as well as foreigners - to $46.6 billion in 2020 from $27.9 billion in 2015, the government has said.

Plans to admit significant numbers of tourists from abroad have been dis-cussed for years.

“Embassies and consulates will be able to issue the visas within 24 hours of receiv-ing a request,” the daily Arab News reported on Saturday, citing a cabinet decision last week.

It did not specify when the visas would become available.

Tourists are seen attending a Formula E race in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Embassies and consulates will be able to issue the visas within 24

hours of receiving a request, the

daily Arab News reported

M o v i e R e v i e w

13 MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2019

I, SARATH RAJ S/O. MEETHALA ELAMBILAPURATH RAJAN, holding Indian Passport No. H2332437 dated 08-04-2009 issued at Bahrain having permanent residence at MANIKOTH HOUSE, KOTTAPPALLY, CHEMMARATHUR PO, KOZHIKODE DIST , KERALA. presently residing at FLAT NO. 32, BLDG. NO. 1128, ROAD NO. 615, BLOCK NO. 306, RASRUMAN, BAHRAIN will henceforth be known as (Given Name) SARATH (Surname) RAJ Objection(s), if any, may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O. Box No. 26106, Bldg. 1090, Road 2819, Block 428, Al-Seef, Bahrain.

I, SAMSON HERMAN VAZ S/O PAUL PETER VAZ, holding Indian Passport No. J1747182, dated 23.03.2010 issued at BAHRAIN having permanent residence at (full address in India) 26, LAND MARK, ANAND NAGAR, VASAI ROAD, THANA. presently residing at (full address in Bahrain) Flat - 5, Bldg- 54, Shk. Duaij Ave, Gudaibiya -324, will henceforth be known as (Given name) SAMSON HERMAN (Surname) VAZ. Objection(s) if any, may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O Box 26106, Bldg 1090, Road 2819, Block 428, Al Seef, Kingdom of Bahrain.

I, ARIKADAN DAVID PAULOSE F/O AMFRID PAULOSE , holder of Indian Passport No L3421815 dated 06/04/2014 issued at Bahrain, having permanent residence at ARIKKADAN HOUSE, P.O. ALOOR, THRISSUR, KERALA - 680683. Presently residing at FLAT NO.33,BUILDING NO.788 ,ROAD NO.2716,BLOCK NO:327, ADLIYA, BAHRAIN do hereby change my son name as (Given Name) AMFRID, (Surname) PAULOSE, objection if any may be forwarded to Embassy of India ,P.O.Box 26106, Bldg No. 1090, Road No. 2819 , Block 428, Al Seef, Kingdom of Bahrain.

I, MUHAMMAD ELAVANA S/O ABOOBACKER, holding Indian Passport No. H1825141 dated 08-03-2009 issued at Bahrain having permanent residence at ELAVANA HOUSE, PO. IRINGATH, VIA. PAYYAOLI, KOZHIKODE DT, KERALA. presently residing at BLDG. NO. 264, ROAD NO. 4105, BLOCK NO. 341, JUFFAIR, BAHRAIN will henceforth be known as (Given Name) MUHAMMAD (Surname) ELAVANA Objection(s), if any, may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O. Box No. 26106, Bldg. 1090, Road 2819, Block 428, Al-Seef, Bahrain.

I, JAYAPRAKASH NARAYANA MENON S/O M G NARAYANA MENON, holding Indian Passport No. Z2402307, dated 17.09.2012 issued at KUWAIT having permanent residence at (full address in India) FLAT NO 1A HARBOUR POINT KURISUPALLY OPP COCHIN SHIPYARD RAVIPURAM ERNAKULAM KERALA 682015, presently residing at (full address in Bahrain) HOUSE 2583, ROAD, 6261, BLOCK 362, BILAD AL QADEEM, will henceforth be known as (Given name) JAYAPRAKASH NARAYANA (Surname) MENON. Objection(s) if any, may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O Box 26106, Bldg 1090, Road 2819, Block 428, Al Seef, Kingdom of Bahrain.

CHANGE OF NAME

OASIS JUFFAIR1-FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY (15+) (DRAMA/COME-DY/BIOGRAPHY) NEW

DWAYNE JOHNSON, FLORENCE PUGH, JACK LOWDENDAILY AT: 12.30 + 5.00 + 9.30 PM DAILY AT (VIP): 10.45 AM + 3.30 + 8.15 PM

2-TOTAL DHAMAAL (PG-13) (HINDI/COMEDY/ADVEN-TURE) NEW

AJAY DEVGN, MADHURI DIXIT, ANIL KAPOORFROM THURSDAY 21ST 7.00 PM ONWARDSDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.45 + 6.30 + 9.15 PM + 12.00 MN

3-THE KNIGHT OF SHADOWS: BETWEEN YIN AND YANG (PG-13) (ACTION/COMEDY/FANTASY) NEW

JACKIE CHAN, ELANE ZHONG, ETHAN JUANDAILY AT: 2.45 + 7.15 + 11.45 PM

4-KIKORIKI. DEJAVU (G) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY) NEW

DENIS CHERNOV, JEFFREY HYLTONDAILY AT(KIDS CINEMA): 10.45 AM + 2.45 PM

5-JUNE (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) NEW JOJU GEORGE, RAJISHA VIJAYAN, SARJANO KHALID, ARJUN

ASOKANDAILY AT: 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PM

6-KODATHI SMAKSHAM BALAN VAKEEL (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) NEW

DILEEP, MAMTA MOHANDAS, PRIYA ANANDDAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 + 11.15 PM

7-ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVEN-TURE/ROMANTIC)

ROSA SALAZAR, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, JENNIFER CONNELLYDAILY AT: 1.15 + 6.30 + 11.45 PM DAILY AT (VIP): 1.00 + 5.45 + 10.30 PM

8-GULLY BOY (PG-15) (HINDI/DRAMA/MUSICAL) ALIA BHAT, RANVEER SINGH, SIDDHANT CHATURVEDI

DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM

9-THE LEGO MOVIE 2 (G) (ANIMATION/ACTION/AD-VENTURE/COMEDY)

CHRIS PRATT, ELIZABETH BANKS, WILL ARNETTDAILY AT (KIDS CINEMA): 12.30 + 4.30 + 9.00 PM

10-SPIDER MAN INTO THE SPIDER VERSE (PG) (ANI-MATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE)

HAILEE STEINFELD, NICOLAS CAGE, MAHERSHALA ALIDAILY AT (KIDS CINEMA): 6.45 + 11.15 PM

11-URI: THE SURGICAL STRIKE (15+) (HINDI/ACTION/DRAMA)

VICKY KAUSHAL, KIRTI KULHARI, PARESH RAWALDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 3.45 + 9.00 PM

12- KUMBALANGI NIGHT (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) FAHADH FAASIL, SHANE NIGAM, SOUBIN SHAHIR

DAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 2.45 + 5.45 + 8.45 + 11.45 PM

13-9 (PG-15) (MALAYALAM) PRITHVIRAJ SUKUMARAN, PRAKASH RAJ, MAMTA

MOHANDASDAILY AT: 2.00 + 8.00 PM

14-PERANBU (PG-15) (TAMIL) MAMMOOTTY, SADHANA, ANJALI

DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 5.00 + 11.00 PM

CITYCENTRE1- FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY (15+) (DRAMA/COME-DY/BIOGRAPHY) NEW

DWAYNE JOHNSON, FLORENCE PUGH, JACK LOWDENDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MN + (12.45 MN THURS/FRI)DAILY AT (VIP II): 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PM

2- TOTAL DHAMAAL (PG-13) (HINDI/COMEDY/ADVEN-TURE) NEW

AJAY DEVGN, MADHURI DIXIT, ANIL KAPOORFROM THURSDAY 21ST 7.00 PM ONWARDSDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.45 + 6.30 + 9.15 PM + 12.00 MN

3- DUMPLIN (15+) (COMEDY/DRAMA) NEW DANIELLE MACDONALD, JENNIFER ANISTON,

LUKE BENWARDDAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PM

4- UPGRADE (15+) (ACTION/THRILLER) NEW LOGAN MARSHALL-GREEN, RICHARD ANASTASIOS, ROSCO

CAMPBELLDAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.00 + 3.00 + 5.00 + 7.00 + 9.00 + 11.00 PM

5- THE KNIGHT OF SHADOWS: BETWEEN YIN AND YANG (PG-13) (ACTION/COMEDY/FANTASY) NEW *- JACKIE CHAN, ELANE ZHONG, ETHAN JUAN

DAILY AT: 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)


ROSA SALAZAR, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, JENNIFER CONNELLYDAILY AT (IMAX 3D): 2.15 + 7.00 + 11.45 PMDAILY AT: 12.15 + 2.45 + 5.15 + 7.45 + 10.15 PM + (12.45 MN THURS/FRI)


DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM

8-COLD PURSUIT (15+) (ACTION/CRIME/DRAMA) LIAM NEESON, EMMY ROSSUM, LAURA DERN

DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 MN + (12.45 MN THURS/FRI)DAILY AT (VIP I): 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM

9-HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U (PG-15) (THRILLER/COMEDY/CRIME)

JESSICA ROTHE, RUBY MODINE, PHI VUDAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 12.45 + 2.45 + 4.45 + 6.45 + 8.45 + 10.45 PM

10-THE UPSIDE (PG-15) (COMEDY/DRAMA) KEVIN HART, BRYAN CRANSTON, NICOLE KIDMAN

DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM

11-GLASS (PG-15) (THRILLER) JAMES MCAVOY, BRUCE WILLIS, SAMUEL L. JACKSON

DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM


CHRIS PRATT, ELIZABETH BANKS, WILL ARNETTDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 PMDAILY AT (IMAX 2D): 12.00 + 4.45 + 9.30 PM

13-NADI ELREGAL EL SERI (PG-15) (ARABIC/COMEDY) KARIM ABDULAZIZ, GHADA ADEL, MAJDE ALKIDDAWI

DAILY AT: 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM

14-AQUAMAN (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVENTURE) JASON MOMOA, AMBER HEARD, NICOLE KIDMAN

DAILY AT: 12.45 + 3.30 + 6.15 + 9.00 + 11.45 PM

15-JOHNNY ENGLISH STRIKES AGAIN (PG) (COMEDY/ACTION/ADVENTURE)

ROWAN ATKINSON, OLGA KURYLENKO, EMMA THOMPSONDAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 3.00 + 7.15 + 11.30 PM

16-HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD (PG) (ANIMATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE)

CATE BLANCHETT, JONAH HILL, GERARD BUTLERDAILY AT: 2.15 + 6.30 + 10.45 PM

17-RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET (PG) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY)

JOHN C. REILLY, SARAH SILVARMAN, GAL GADOT DAILY AT: 12.45 + 5.00 + 9.15 PM

18-THE PRODIGY (18+) (THRILLER/HORROR)

TAYLOR SCHILLING, JACKSON ROBERT SCOTT, PETER MOONEY

DAILY AT: 9.45 + 11.45 PM

19-SPIDER MAN INTO THE SPIDER VERSE (PG) (ANI-MATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE)

HAILEE STEINFELD, NICOLAS CAGE, MAHERSHALA ALIDAILY AT: 12.00 + 4.15 + 8.30 PM

SEEF (II)1 FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY (15+) (DRAMA/COME-DY/BIOGRAPHY) NEW

DWAYNE JOHNSON, FLORENCE PUGH, JACK LOWDENDAILY AT: 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM

2- TOTAL DHAMAAL (PG-13) (HINDI/COMEDY/ADVEN-TURE) NEW

AJAY DEVGN, MADHURI DIXIT, ANIL KAPOORFROM THURSDAY 21ST 7.00 PM ONWARDSDAILY AT: (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)

3-DUMPLIN (15+) (COMEDY/DRAMA) NEW DANIELLE MACDONALD, JENNIFER ANISTON, LUKE

BENWARDDAILY AT: 1.00 + 5.15 + 9.30 PM

4- UPGRADE (15+) (ACTION/THRILLER) NEW LOGAN MARSHALL-GREEN, RICHARD ANASTASIOS,

ROSCO CAMPBELLDAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.00 + 4.00 + 6.00 + 8.00 + 10.00 PM + 12.00 MN

5- THE KNIGHT OF SHADOWS: BETWEEN YIN AND YANG (PG-13) (ACTION/COMEDY/FANTASY) NEW

JACKIE CHAN, ELANE ZHONG, ETHAN JUANDAILY AT: (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)

6-WHAT THEY HAD (PG-15) (DRAMA) NEW HILARY SWANK, MICHAEL SHANNEN, ROBERT FORSTER

DAILY AT: 1.00 + 5.00 + 9.00 PM

7-THEN CAME YOU (PG-15) (COMEDY/ROMANTIC/DRAMA) NEW

NINA DOBREV, MAISIE WILLIAMS, ASA BUTTERFIELDDAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 3.15 + 7.30 + 11.45 PM

8- KIKORIKI. DEJAVU (G) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY) NEW

DENIS CHERNOV, JEFFREY HYLTONDAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 1.00 + 2.45 + 4.30 PM

9-TIME OUT (PG-15) (ARABIC/COMEDY/ROMANTIC) NEW

MAGUY BOU GHOSN, YORGO CHALHOUB, WISSAM SABBAGHDAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 3.00 + 7.00 + 11.00 PM

10-ALONE / TOGETHER (PG-15) (FILIPINO/ROMANTIC/DRAMA) NEW

LIZA SOBERANO, ENRIQUE GIL, JASMINE CURTISDAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM


ROSA SALAZAR, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, JENNIFER CONNELLYDAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 MN


DAILY AT: 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 PM + 12.00 MN


DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM

14-THE UPSIDE (PG-15) (COMEDY/DRAMA) KEVIN HART, BRYAN CRANSTON, NICOLE KIDMAN

DAILY AT: 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM


CHRIS PRATT, ELIZABETH BANKS, WILL ARNETTDAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 4.00 + 8.15 PM

16-HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD (PG) (ANIMATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE)

CATE BLANCHETT, JONAH HILL, GERARD BUTLERDAILY AT: 2.00 + 6.15 + 10.30 PM

SEEF (I) 1- TOTAL DHAMAAL (PG-13) (HINDI/COMEDY/ADVEN-TURE) NEW

AJAY DEVGN, MADHURI DIXIT, ANIL KAPOORFROM THURSDAY 21ST 7.00 PM ONWARDSDAILY AT: 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PM


JACKIE CHAN, ELANE ZHONG, ETHAN JUANDAILY AT: 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM

3- KODATHI SMAKSHAM BALAN VAKEEL (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) NEW

DILEEP, MAMTA MOHANDAS, PRIYA ANANDDAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 2.45 + 5.45 + 8.45 + 11.45 PM

4-JUNE (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) NEW JOJU GEORGE, RAJISHA VIJAYAN, SARJANO KHALID,

ARJUN ASOKANDAILY AT: 12.15 + 3.00 + 5.45 + 8.30 + 11.15 PM

5- KANNE KALAIMAANE (PG-13) (TAMIL) NEW UDHAYANIDHI STALIN, TAMANNAH

FROM FRIDAY 22ND DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 4.00 + 9.00 PM

6-L.K.G (PG-13) (TAMIL) NEW RJ BALAJI, PRIYA ANAND

FROM FRIDAY 22ND DAILY AT: 1.30 + 6.30 + 11.30 PM

7- KUMBALANGI NIGHT (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) FAHADH FAASIL, SHANE NIGAM, SOUBIN SHAHIR

DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PM

SAAR1-FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY (15+) (DRAMA/COME-DY/BIOGRAPHY) NEW

DWAYNE JOHNSON, FLORENCE PUGH, JACK LOWDENDAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + (11.15 PM THURS/FRI)


AJAY DEVGN, MADHURI DIXIT, ANIL KAPOORFROM THURSDAY 21ST 7.00 PM ONWARDS

DAILY AT: 12.15 + 3.00 + 5.45 + 8.30 + (11.15 PM THURS/FRI)


JACKIE CHAN, ELANE ZHONG, ETHAN JUANDAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 1.00 + 6.15 + (11.30 PM THURS/FRI)


ROSA SALAZAR, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, JENNIFER CONNELLYDAILY AT: 6.00 + 8.30 + (11.00 PM THURS/FRI)


DAILY AT: 3.15 + 8.30 PM


CHRIS PRATT, ELIZABETH BANKS, WILL ARNETTDAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 1.30 + 3.45 PM

AL HAMRA1- KODATHI SMAKSHAM BALAN VAKEEL (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) NEW

DILEEP, MAMTA MOHANDAS, PRIYA ANANDDAILY AT: 3.00 + 9.00 PM + (12.00 MN THURS/FRI)

2-JUNE (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) NEW JOJU GEORGE, RAJISHA VIJAYAN, SARJANO KHALID,

ARJUN ASOKANDAILY AT: 12.00 + 6.00 PM

WADI AL SAIL1-FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY (15+) (DRAMA/COME-DY/BIOGRAPHY) NEW

DWAYNE JOHNSON, FLORENCE PUGH, JACK LOWDENDAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PM


AJAY DEVGN, MADHURI DIXIT, ANIL KAPOORFROM THURSDAY 21ST 7.00 PM ONWARDSDAILY AT: 12.45 + 3.30 + 6.15 + 9.00 + 11.45 PM

3-UPGRADE (15+) (ACTION/THRILLER) NEW LOGAN MARSHALL-GREEN, RICHARD ANASTASIOS, ROSCO

CAMPBELLDAILY AT: 7.45 + 9.45 + 11.45 PM


JACKIE CHAN, ELANE ZHONG, ETHAN JUANDAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PM

5- KIKORIKI. DEJAVU (G) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY) NEW

DENIS CHERNOV, JEFFREY HYLTONDAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 1.15 PM


ROSA SALAZAR, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, JENNIFER CONNELLYDAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM

7-GULLY BOY (PG-15) (HINDI/DRAMA/MUSICAL) NEW ALIA BHAT, RANVEER SINGH, SIDDHANT CHATURVEDI

DAILY AT: 3.00 + 8.30 PM


DAILY AT: 6.00 + 11.30 PM


CHRIS PRATT, ELIZABETH BANKS, WILL ARNETTDAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 1.00 + 3.15 + 5.30 PM

‘Bigger’: bodybuilding biopic won’t pump you up

As relatively handsomely mounted as this mov-ie is, it’s also kind of a

shambles. Had I not read a press release about it prior to attending its New York screen-ing, I would not know who the damn thing was even about until a whole half-hour in.

Advertising itself in an opening credits text, as be-ing “Based On An Extraordi-nary Life,” the movie opens in a funeral home. Robert Forster, sporting a grey mous-tache, upbraids D.J. Qualls for coming to the place wearing sneakers. The person in the coffin—this is perhaps a very poorly attended funeral, or maybe this meeting is before the actual service, nobody tells me anything in this movie—is Benny, the brother of Forster’s character, whom Qualls calls Joe. Benny, Joe tells the Qualls character, who’s a writer doing something about Joe, was a person of substantial achieve-ment, a nominee for the No-

bel Peace Prize, and stuff like that. Ok, so is this movie about Ben?Not really—it flashes back to the 1919 birth of Joe in Montreal, and his mother’s irritation that he’s not a girl. Ben is his younger brother, and as kids the two are fasci-nated by circus strongmen. Just as we’re getting settled in for a nice long flashback, and some illumination as to who the movie is going to pick as its central character, we’re back at the funeral home.

Eventually the brothers haul a sign in front of a store-front with the name “Wei-der” on it, and I’m like, “oh, of course, this is about Joe Weider, the bodybuilding guru I know almost nothing about except that he was a bodybuilding guru.”

At this point the movie (di-rected by George Gallo from a script Gallo co-wrote with Andy Weiss, and, to judge by the spacing out of credits, an-other script that was written

by Brad Furman and Ellen Furman) settles in to a pretty conventional and linear and coherent biopic mode. Joe Weider, played with square-jawed stolidity by Tyler Hoechlin, is a person of very narrow focus. Obsessed with the cultivation of physical perfection, he spends hours drawing an ideal Adonis. He concocts exercise routines and studies diet, and puts his findings in a fanzine that ex-pands into a genuine main-stream magazine. He is met frequently with anti-Semi-tism both casual and press-ing, and when he and Ben get into mainstream of what in the ‘30s and ‘40s was still a very small culture, they make a lifelong enemy of …well, in this movie it’s an entirely fic-tional character named Bill Hauk. Hauk is represented as a bodybuilding contest pro-moter and publisher who’s a loudmouth bigot with thin skin and violent tendencies.

14 MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2019

For Reservations, Call:Umm Al Hassam 17728699 Seef District 17364999

Idris Elba is a ‘man child’Los Angeles

Hollywood actor Idris Elba, 46, feels he is “a

bit” of a “man child”.Elba, who has children

Isan, 17, and Winston, 4, from previous relationships and is engaged to Sabrina Dhowre -- can relate to playing faded DJ Charlie in the upcoming series “Turn Up Charlie” because he still wants to live out parts of his own youth, despite his adult responsi-bilities, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

He said: “What’s interest-ing about it is that my charac-ter isn’t paternal. He’s a man child. Which I feel I am a bit -- I can relate to that. I’m a dad, a parent and I love my kids. But there are parts of my youth that I feel like I ha-ven’t quite lived -- and I will.

Deborra-lee loves to ignore mean posts

Los Angeles

Hollywood star Hugh Jackman’s wife De-borra-lee Furness has

“never” Googled herself, be-cause if people have “mean” things to say about her, it’s not her problem.

Asked whether she’s ever Googled herself, Furness told Stellar magazine: “Nev-er. Because you know what? It’s nothing to do with me. If someone sitting in Des Moines (Iowa) is going to say some-thing mean about someone they don’t even know, it’s their problem.”

The “Legend of the Guard-ians” actress also spoke about gender equality, saying the world, especially the film industry, is “on our way” to achieving true equality.

“We are on our way -- I see a

lot more cinematographers and directors (in the industry who are women) -- but we’ve still got a long way to go,” she said.

Meanwhile, Jackman said he never goes more than two weeks without seeing his wife.

He said: “She has the two-week rule. No roles that take you away that long. That was that rule, which we have kept for 25 years.”

Zayn tweets ‘Love you’

to Gigi after split talk

Los Angeles

Singer Zayn Malik tweeted an affection-ate message to mod-

el Gigi Hadid, following reports that the two have split again.

“Gigi Hadid, love you,” the singer wrote to Gigi on Twitter on Saturday, reports people.com

Just months after revealing their rekindled romance on so-cial media fol-lowing a brief

split in March 2018, multiple outlets reported in January that the two had recently ended it again. The stars first started dating in November 2015.

Ian McKellen apologises for controversial commentsLos Angeles

Veteran actor Ian McKellen has apol-ogised after making

controversial comments about the sexual assault al-legations that have been l e v e l l e d against ac-tor Kevin Spacey and filmmaker Bry-an Singer.

McKellen, 79, released a statement on Twitter on Saturday, saying that his comments were “wrong”, reports people.com.

Rose McGowan doesn’t regret abortion decisionLos Angeles

Actress Rose McGowan accepted that she had an abortion and says

she does not regret her decision.The “Grindhouse” star opened up

about her decision via Twitter on Friday, as she responded to a statistic that one in four women has terminated a pregnancy before the age of 45, reports aceshowbiz.com.

“I have had an abortion and I sup-port this message,” the 45-year-old actress wrote.

“I am not ashamed, nor should you be. That 60 per cent of those who

choose to have abortions are already mothers says a lot - they understand more than anyone. I was on birth con-trol and it failed. I realized I could not bring a child into my world and simul-

taneously change the world.”

Aretha Franklin, Count Basie join Blues Hall of FameLos Angeles

Aretha Franklin, Count Basie, Booker T. & the MGs are among the

performers named as induct-ees to the Blues Hall of Fame.

The Blues Foundation an-nounced this year’s honou-rees on Friday. An induction ceremony is scheduled for May 8 at the Halloran Centre for the Performing Arts and Education in Memphis, Ten-nessee, reports variety.com.

The Blues Foundation points out that the very first record Franklin ever released after signing with Columbia was a song called “Today I Sing the Blues” and her fifth album was “Unforgettable: A Tribute to Dinah Wash-ington”. In 1980 she released a compilation of her more blues-oriented early materi-al, “Aretha Sings the Blues”.

The Blues Foundation names recordings as well as artists to its Hall of Fame, and the singles being inducted this year include Muddy Waters’ “Rollin’ Stone”, Ray Charles’ “I Got a Woman” and El-more James “Shake Your Moneymaker” along with Elmore James’ 1965 compi-lation “The Sky Is Crying”.

Emma Roberts cast in Netflix

rom-com ‘Holidate’

Los Angeles

Emma Roberts is set to feature in Netf-lix’s romantic com-

edy “Holidate”.According to Variety, John

Whitesell is attached to direct with Tiffany Paulsen penning the script.

The plot revolves around Sloane (Roberts) and Jack-son, two singles who hate the holidays since their continual

lack of a significant oth-er subjects them to the judgement of their family members or stuck with awkward dates.

When they meet, they decide to be each other’s plus-ones for every holiday celebration over the course of one year.

The male lead is yet to be finalised.

The film will be co-produced b y M c G ’ s Wonderland Productions.

P r o d u c -tion is ex-pected to begin later this year.

Travis Scott deletes instagram account after denying he cheated on KylieLos Angeles

Travis Scott has de-leted his Instagram account, two days

after rumors claimed he allegedly cheated on Kylie Jenner, which he denied.

The 26-year-old rap-per, who shares 1-year-

old daughter Stormi Web-ster with the 21-year-old Keep-

ing Up With the Kardashians star, has not explained why he left the social network.

On Thursday, he had tweeted that he was unable to perform his show in Buffalo, New York because he was “under the weather.” TMZ reported that he was not really sick but had rather gotten into a recent argument with Kylie,

who accused him of cheating on her. His rep later said the

rapper “strongly” denies any allegations of cheating and in-sists there was no fight between the pair. The rep reiterated that Travis canceled his show because of illness.

She has the two-week rule. No roles that take you away that long. That was that rule, which we

have kept for 25 years.

HUGH JACKMAN

Ian McKellen

Idris Elba

Travis Scott

Kylie Jenner

Zayn Malik

John Cena

and Nikki Bella

Hugh Jackman and Deborra-lee

Emma Roberts

Rose McGowan

Nikki Bella “completely done” with WWE legend John Cena

Los Angeles

WWE legend John Cena has had his hopes of a

reunion with Nikki Bella dashed as she’s reportedly “completely done” with him.

Just last week, Bella, real name Stephanie Nicole Garcia-Colace, suggested she was open to rekindling their troubled relationship.

The couple split in July 2018 after six years togeth-er, but Bella, 35, gave a sur-prising interview hinting at a possible reconciliation with Cena, 41.

The former Divas Cham-pion told Hollywood Life: “I’m looking for someone I can just spend every night

with, whether that could potentially be John again in the future or someone new. That’s the one thing I want most.”

Stating she only wanted to see him happy because that was what he deserved, she added: “You never know with the future, right? Sometimes people get back together, some-times they don’t. I guess one day at a time.”

However, the picture now appears to have changed.

Despite remaining close to Cena, who proposed to her at WrestleMania 33, the reality TV star has lately been getting closer with a guy who appears to have won her heart.

Hussain crowned double champion as national drag racing season endsTDT | Manama

Hani Hussain was the star man of the 2018/2019

Bahrain Drag Racing Cham-pionship, after clinching a double title following the sea-son’s final round held over the weekend at Bahrain Interna-tional Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.

Hussain won the champion’s trophy in both the Pro Mod and Index 8.5 categories to highlight a glittering awards night on Saturday at BIC’s Pad-dock Club.

The Bahraini was at the forefront of this season’s group of newly crowned champions, each of whom not only took home new silverware but were also presented with prestig-ious Wally trophies – a grand

honour only bestowed upon winners of National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) events.

Hussain was one of four Bahrainis to emerge as a cham-pion. The others included Ali Abdulla in the Street 4 and 6 category, Hussain Akbar in the Super Street V8 and Mo-hamed Al Taitoon in the Bike 9.50 class.

Also winning titles were five competitors from Saudi Ara-bia, three from Kuwait and two from the UAE.

The Saudi champions fea-tured Mohammed Hussain in the Super Street 6-Cylinder, Nabeel Al Isa in the Outlaw 10.5, Mohammed Jawad in the Index 9.5, Ali Abdulrahman in the Index 10.5 and Mishari Al Turki in the Super Street Bike class.

Kuwait’s winners were Bad-er Dashti in the Outlaw Front-Wheel-Drive (FWD) catego-ry, Mohamed Suliman in the Street V8 and Bader Bin Edan amongst the Street Bikers.

The season’s last two cham-pions from the UAE were Jas-sim Al Ali in the Outlaw Rear-Wheel-Drive (RWD) class and Abdulmajed Hussain in the Competition 4.5.

Kyrgios beats Zverev to win Acapulco ATP crown

AFP | Acapulco, Mexico

Australian Nick Kyrgios capped a scintillating run

in Acapulco with a 6-3, 6-4 vic-tory over world number three Alexander Zverev Saturday to claim his first ATP title in more than a year.

Kyrgios defeated three top-10 players on the way to the title, saving three match points in a second-round victory over second-ranked Rafael Nadal -- owner of 17 Grand Slam titles -- and beating No. 9 John Isner in the semis.

He also beat three-time

Grand Slam winner Stan Waw-rinka in the quarter-finals of a drama-filled week that saw him shake off hostile crowds, illness, injuries and moments of malaise -- not to mention a post-match scolding from Nadal.

His win over Zverev was a remarkably straightforward affair.

“I just chucked in a lot of drop shots, tried to keep him guessing, that’s all you can do,” said Kyrgios, a for-mer world number 13 who has slipped to 72nd in the world.

Galaxy honour David Beckham on MLS opening day

AFP | Los Angeles

Major League Soccer kicked off a new season on Sat-

urday with 10 games and a tribute to football great David Beckham whose arrival in 2007 helped usher in a new era for the then upstart league.

A statue of the former Eng-land captain was unveiled by the LA Galaxy outside their sta-dium in an emotional ceremony prior to their 2-1 victory over the Chicago Fire.

Beckham’s former Galaxy coach Bruce Arena and team-mate Robbie Keane, as well as Beckham’s wife, Victoria, at-tended the ceremony.

“From day one when myself, Victoria, and the kids arrived in this city we felt at home and for that we will be forever grate-ful,” said Beckham, who is set to become an MLS club owner when expansion side Inter Mi-ami joins the league.

“This city has always felt like home for me. My wife, my kids, my parents, and my friends, I couldn’t have had the career I had without the support from you guys.”

Beckham made headlines around the world when he moved to the United States in 2007 after an illustrious career at Manchester United and Real Madrid.

His Galaxy deal was widely reported to be for $250 million over five years, but in reality the $250 million figure was his po-tential earnings from salary, en-dorsements and club revenue. His base salary was $6.5 million a year but he was promised a percentage of Galaxy revenues.

Beckham played for the Gal-axy until 2012, taking league titles in his final two campaigns, during a career that also fea-tured a stop with England’s na-tional team.

“He wasn’t one of the fast-est players on the field, nor did he score many goals,” Arena said. “He was an outstanding passer and a great free-kick specialist.

“He was an intelligent and skillful player. He was simply a great leader and a winner.”

15

sports


KNOW WHAT

Hussain won the cham-pion’s trophy in both

the Pro Mod and Index 8.5 categories

Barca beat Real to edge closer to title

Barcelona’s clasico victory heaps pressure on Real Madrid’s Santiago Solari

• Second successive loss to arch-rivals will not help Real manager’s chances of retaining his job

AFP | Madrid

Barcelona won their sec-ond Clasico in four days on Saturday and Real

Madrid might have to win the Champions League if Santiago Solari is to be in charge for the next one.

After knocking them out of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday, Barca returned to the Santiago Bernabeu for a 1-0 victory that surely eliminates their greatest rivals from the title race too.

Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos locked heads after Ramos flung an arm into Messi’s face but, despite the scoreline and a few half-chances, that was about the most trouble Madrid caused.

Messi would have been proud of Ivan Rakitic’s delightful chip, a rare moment of precision that in the end settled another Cla-sico high on vigour but lacking in either real quality or rhythm.

“What we wanted was to de-liver our best and to inflict dam-age on our rival,” Barca coach Ernesto Valverde said. “We have

done that.”The onus was on Madrid, not

only to make amends for their defeat in midweek but to reduce the nine-point gap between them and La Liga’s leaders.

Instead, Barcelona extended it to 12 and the way their players jumped up and down in front of the away fans after the final whistle suggested they felt this was a major hurdle overcome.

Barcelona also now own 96 victories in this fixture to Real Madrid’s 95, the first time they

have been in front in 87 years.When Solari took over in No-

vember, his team were seven points adrift of the Catalans and the fact the deficit has almost doubled since might not reflect the improvement in perfor-mances.

But this was the first time Ma-drid have lost three in a row at home in 15 years and these are surely the matches president Florentino Perez will remember when he considers his coach’s future next summer.

“You go through spells, some-times everything goes for you and sometimes it doesn’t,” said Solari. “In these two games it hasn’t.”

All that realistically remains now is the Champions League, in which Madrid will carry a 2-1 lead into Tuesday’s second leg at home to Ajax.

Europe has rescued them be-fore and it also revived Gareth Bale, who endured another frus-trating night on only his third start in 10 games.

Lionel Messi tussles with Real Madrid defender Dani Carvajal

A car in action during the Drag Racing Championship at BIC

Former Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham poses beside his newly unveiled statue at the Legends Plaza in Carson, California

Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios holds the trophy after defeating German tennis player Alexander Zverev

Drag and Drift thrills tonight at BIC

TDT | Manama

Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) hosts to-

night the Ebrahim K Kanoo Drag and Drift Night, offer-ing motorsport enthusiasts twice the thrills in this ac-tion-packed double-header.

In this event, participants will get the chance to take their very own cars or mo-torbikes and push them to their limit in a safe and controlled environment, either down the drag strip or around a drifting course, or both.

BIC’s world-class quar-ter-mile strip is a member of the prestigious National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Worldwide Network, and it will host the drag runs. The drifting venue is a specially configured facility at BIC’s car park number five.

A l s o a s p a r t o f t h e evening’s drag racing pro-gramme, BIC is offering the immensely thrilling Dragster Experience. This is one of the circuit’s most unique and ultimate-adren-aline activities, as it gives participants a taste of pure speed.

Jorginho fires Chelsea as recalled Kepa shines

Gonzalo Higuain and Jorginho struck either side of Calum Chambers’ equaliser as Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea secured back-to-wins

AFP | London

Jorginho fired Chelsea to a 2-1 win at struggling Ful-ham yesterday as Blues

keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga began to make amends for his Wemb-ley mutiny with an impressive display.

Maurizio Sarri’s side took the lead through Gonzalo Higuain before Calum Chambers equal-ised at Craven Cottage.

In an incident-packed first half, the much-maligned Jorgin-ho restored Chelsea’s lead with his first goal since the opening weekend of the season.

Chelsea were also indebted to Kepa for a series of superb saves that preserved their lead after the break, lifting the sixth placed Blues within two points of fourth placed Manchester

United.Sarri had dropped Kepa for

Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Totten-ham on Wednesday as punish-ment for the Spaniard’s refusal to be substituted during last weekend’s League Cup final de-feat against Manchester City.

But Sarri had insisted Kepa re-mained his “first choice” and the world’s most expensive keeper returned in place of Willy Ca-ballero after his one-game de-motion.

Despite an improved display in caretaker manager Scott Parker’s first game following the midweek sacking of Claudio Ranieri, second bottom Fulham have lost eight of their past nine league games and sit 10 points from safety.

Sarri’s decision to restore Kepa to the team was a gam-ble that could have backfired as Chelsea made a nervous start.

After Ryan Babel’s cross opened up the Chelsea defence,

Cesar Azpilicueta threw himself in the path of Tom Cairney’s goal-bound shot, with the re-bound falling to Joe Bryan, who curled wide from the edge of the area.

Kepa’s return almost started in embarrassing fashion when he made a complete hash of catch-ing Kevin McDonald’s cross in a swirling wind, the ball slipping through his grasp as he was chal-lenged by Babel.

It would have been an open

goal for Babel, but the Fulham winger was slow to react and Kepa scrambled back to dive on the ball.

Chelsea made the most of their escape to take the lead in the 20th minute.

Willian’s pass picked out Az-pilicueta’s run down the right and Chelsea’s captain whipped over a cross that Higuain met with an instinctive volleyed fin-ish.

It was Higuain’s third goal in eight games since the Argentine striker joined on loan from Ju-ventus in January.

Kepa redeemed himself with an acrobatic save to keep out Al-eksandar Mitrovic’s volley from Ryan Sessegnon’s cross.

From the resulting corner, Chelsea were punished for an awful piece of defending as Fulham grabbed a 28th minute equaliser.

South Africa beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets in first ODI AFP | Johannesburg

South African captain Faf du Plessis hit an unbeaten cen-

tury as South Africa cruised to an eight-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the opening one-day international in Johan-nesburg.

The hosts won the toss at the Wanderers Stadium, asked Sri Lanka to bat and bowled them out for 231, a total South Africa overtook with more than 11 overs to spare.

Du Plessis made 112 not out as South Africa cruised to vic-tory and then praised veteran leg-spinner Imran Tahir for ensuring South Africa chased a modest total.

Tahir took three for 26 in ten overs as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 231 after being sent in on a good batting pitch. He twice broke partnerships that threatened to take Sri Lanka to

a challenging total.“He is probably my biggest

weapon as a captain over the years,” Du Plessis said of Tahir.

But the captain added that early strikes by Lungi Ngidi, playing in his first internation-al match since suffering a knee injury in November, had also been important.

“Imran bowled brilliantly in the middle overs today but it is really important to get wickets with the new ball,” said Du Plessis.

Ngidi took the first two wickets to reduce Sri Lanka to 23 for two.

Tahir, who turns 40 later this month, was not included among Cricket South Africa’s contracted players, announced last week. But he showed he remains a key member of the country’s one-day bowling at-tack with an immaculate per-formance.


English Premiere LeagueWatford 2 - 1 Leicester City

Fulham 1 - 2 Chelsea

Everton 0 - 0 Liverpool

Italian Serie ATorino 3 - 0 Chievo

Genoa 0 - 0 Frosinone

SPAL 0 - 2 Sampdoria

Udinese 2 - 1 Bologna

German BundesligaVfB Stuttgart 5 - 1 Hannover 96

French Ligue 1Guingamp 0 - 0 Nantes

Lille 1 - 0 Dijon

Nice 1 - 0 Strasbourg

Lyon 6 - 1 Toulouse*Scores as of closing

KNOW WHAT

Higuain has scored three goals in eight

games since he joined on loan from Juventus

in January

Chelsea’s Italian midfielder Jorginho (3rd R) watches his shot beat Fulham’s Spanish goalkeeper Sergio Rico (L) for their second goal

New Zealand crush Bangladesh by innings after Boult bags fiveAFP | Hamilton, New Zealand

Defiant centuries from S o u m y a S a r k a r a n d

Mahmudullah were in vain as Trent Boult’s five-wicket haul gave New Zealand a crushing victory over Bangladesh in the first Test by an innings and 52 runs in Hamilton yesterday.

After the stubborn dou-ble-century partnership took Bangladesh to 361 for four in their second innings, Boult opened the final chapter of the Test when he bowled Soumya for 149.

The crucial wicket ended a 235-run stand with Mahmudul-lah (146) for the fifth wicket and saw Bangladesh cave in with the Test all over 68 runs later, just after tea on day four.

“The fight today was as tough as Test cricket does get,” New Zealand captain Kane William-son said after Boult’s lethal spell with the second new ball trumped the 54-over battle by Soumya and Mahmudullah.

It was Soumya’s maiden hun-dred and the fifth and highest century for Mahmudullah as they pounded the boundaries and took control of the short-ball barrage that decimated their first innings.

“That plan didn’t work very

well for us today and we had to go back to trying to stop some scoring for a period of time, be-cause they were scoring quick-ly,” Williamson said.

“There was some fantastic batting.

“When the breakthrough came with the second new ball, which was obviously a fairly long time coming, it was great that we were able to open up an

end from that point on.”The match had belonged to

New Zealand long before they declared their first innings at a colossal 715 for six -- a first in-nings lead of 481 -- but Soumya and Mahmudullah were deter-mined to make crossing the fin-ish line as difficult as possible for the hosts.

Mahmudullah called it a “gutsy innings” as they batted

together for nearly three ses-sions and produced the sixth best partnership by a Bangla-desh pair.

When Boult finally bowled S o u mya , t h e 2 6 -ye a r- o l d left-hander stood motionless for several seconds as he realised the significance of his wicket before departing the ground.

The remaining five wickets lasted only 18 overs.

Bangladesh first innings 234 (Tamim Iqbal 126; Wagner 5-47, Southee 3-76)New Zealand first innings 715 - 6 dec (K. Williamson 200 not out, T. Latham 161, J. Raval 132, C. de Grand-homme 76 not out; Soumya Sarkar 2-68)Bangladesh second innings (overnight 174-4)Tamim Iqbal c Watling b Southee 74Shadman Islam c Boult b Wagner 37Mominul Haque c Taylor b Boult 8M. Mithun c Williamson b Boult 0Soumya Sarkar b Boult 149Mahmudullah c Boult b Southee 146Liton Das b Boult 1Mehidy Hasan c Raval b Wagner 1Abu Jayed b Boult 3Khaled Ahmed not out 4Ebadat Hossain c Boult b Southee 0Extras (w6) 6Total: (all out; 103 overs) 429Result: New Zealand won by an innings and 52 runs

South Africa’s Faf du Plessis(c) plays the winning shot

Bangladesh’s Mahmudullah plays a shot

celebs 8 @newsofbahrain op-ed deborra-lee loves to · 2019/4/3 · shamima begum’s dutch hubby...

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