imam brutally killed - dt news...2018/06/08 · 03 big story monday, august 6, 2018 hormuz strait...

Russia names action-movie star Seagal as US envoy Moscow

Russia has appointed action movie star Steven Seagal as a special envoy for humanitarian ties with the United States.

The Foreign Ministry announced the move yesterday on its Facebook page, saying Seagal’s portfolio in the unpaid position would be to “facilitate relations between Russia and the United States in the humanitarian field, including cooperation in culture, arts, public and youth exchanges.”

Seagal is an accomplished martial artist — like Russian President Vladimir Putin. The actor, who was granted Russian citizenship in 2016, has vocally defended the

Russian leader’s policies, including Russia’s 2014 annex-ation of Crimea, and has criticised the US government.

Last year, Ukraine banned Seagal from entering the country for five years, citing national security reasons.

The Flight of Fury star, still popular with Russian au-diences, has recently defended the Russian government over claims that it meddled in 2016 US elections.

The 66-year-old has called President Putin “one of the great living world leaders”, and when Seagal was granted Russian citizenship, said he hoped it would be a symbol of how relations between Moscow and Washington were starting to improve.

Seagal was also granted Serbian citizenship in 2016, following several visits to the Balkan country.

03Hormuz Strait closure will be ‘suicidal move’ for Iran

05Elections to House, municipal councils to be held on ‘Nov 24’

06Stand-up comedians to tickle funny bone

7

US denies role in Maduro ‘assassination’ bid12WORLD

BUSINESSC E L E B S

Roberts attend Broadway’s ‘Pretty Woman’ previewActor Julia Roberts recently attended the Broadway adaptation of her 1990 hit romantic drama ‘Pretty Woman’ as a mark of respect to director Gary Marshall. P 16

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Imam brutally killed Body found inside a plastic bag in Al Mazra area near Askar scrapyard

• A 35-year-old Bangladeshi national was arrested in connection with the murder.

TDT|Manama

A senior imam at a mosque was kidnapped and cut into pieces allegedly by a group of Bangla-

deshi men.

The victim - Abduljaleel Hamood - went missing in the early hours of yes-terday after he had gone to perform the Al Fajr prayers (dawn prayer).

Unable to contact the imam, his family members alerted the police, which began the hunt of “missing man” in full swing.

The imam’s picture and information was shared on social media by his family members, which went viral instantly.

Putting an end to the mystery after a few hours, the Interior Ministry an-nounced that the imam’s body was found

in pieces inside a plastic bag in Al Mazra area near the scrapyard in Askar.

A 35-year-old Asian man was arrested in connection with the murder. Interior Ministry has begun a probe into the incident.

Sources said the suspect was working as a prayer reciter at the mosque, where Abduljaleel was the imam.

He was trading in free visas and the imam had warned him many a time against it, leading to the enmity, the sources added. Abduljaleel Hamood

His Majesty’s Representative for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Supreme Council for Youth and Sports (SCYS) Chairman and Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) President HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa interacts with a robot after opening the Bahrain Scientific Centre for Sustainable Development Goals yesterday. He hailed Bahrain’s landmark strides and ranking among advanced countries which promote the sustainable developments goals (SDGs) in the world. See page 4

Promoting SDGs Egyptian troops kill 52 militants in Sinai

• The troops and security forces also destroyed 15 vehicles laden with weapons and ammunitions while trying to infiltrate the western border, and 17 more in the southern military region

Cairo

Egyptian troops and secu-rity forces have killed at least 52 suspected mili-

tants in recent days, the army said in a statement yesterday, as authorities push ahead with an operation to crush Islamic State.

The deaths brings to more than 300 the number of sus-pected Islamist militants killed in the operation that the Egyp-tian army, backed by police and other security forces, launched in February as part of a cam-paign to eradicate insurgents behind a wave of violence in the desert region.

The statement, issued by the defence ministry, said that troops and security forces also destroyed 15 vehicles laden with weapons and ammuni-tions while trying to infiltrate

the western border, and 17 more in the southern military region.

In Sinai, the statement said that 13 “extremely dangerous takfiris” were killed in an op-eration by security forces in the city of Al Arish, the cap-ital of North Sinai province. Egypt uses the term takfiri to refer to Islamist militants who often accuse their victims of being infidels. The remaining 39 militants were killed in var-ious military operations across northern and central Sinai, the military statement said, without giving any breakdown.

The Egyptian military has said that hundreds of militants have been killed in the oper-ation, which President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered after an attack on a mosque last Novem-ber in which hundreds of wor-shippers died.

The deaths have raised to at least 313 suspected militants, ac-cording to military statements.

313militants have been killed by Egyptian

military as part of the anti-terror operation launched in February

this year.

Seagal has been an admirer of Putin’s leadership.

Sanctions noose tightens on Iran London

Iran is staring into the economic abyss as the

US restores crippling sanc-tions that have already sparked protests country-wide and sent the value of the Iranian rial tumbling.

The US Treasury Depart-ment’s new sanctions are wide-ranging and block Tehran from acquiring US dollars, and trading in gold and other precious and in-dustrial metals.

They also cover the au-tomotive sector and debt markets — effectively pre-venting the country from seeking relief at home by raising international cap-ital.

The measures even ex-tend to the sale of pistachio nuts and Persian rugs. Fur-ther sanctions targeting the banking and energy sectors will follow on November 4.

Clashes, looting in eastern Ethiopia Addis Ababa

Residents in the vola-tile Somali region of

eastern Ethiopia yesterday reported riots, looting and ethnic attacks, as the US embassy in Addis Ababa advised its citizens to avoid the region.

It was unclear what trig-gered the unrest which be-gan on Saturday but photos circulating on social media showed Ethiopian military vehicles deployed in Jig-jiga.

The US embassy in Ad-dis Ababa said Saturday the Ethiopian military had “seized control of key high-ways, government build-ings, and the airport in Jijiga”.

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018

03

big story


Hormuz Strait closure will be ‘suicidal move’ for Iran The GCC economies could be badly hit if Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz

Sources: MEHR News Agency, S&P Global Platts, Stratfor

Strait of Hormuz – key oil waterwayThe Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most crucial oil transportroutes, with a third of global oil tanker traffic – carrying 18.5 million

barrels of crude and condensate – passing through the strait every day

© GRAPHIC NEWS

Jask

Qeshm

Sirri

Bandar-e-Abbas Larak Island

Abu MusaOccupied byIran, claimedby UAE

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps naval bases MaritimeboundaryDeep-watershipping lane

U N I T E DA R A B

E M I R A T E S

I R A N

O M A N

O M A N

AbuDhabi

IRANUAE

IRAN

OMAN

STRAITOF

HORMUZ

40km25 miles

Fujairah

Tehran

SAUDI ARABIA U A E

IRAQ

IRANBahrain: HQof U.S. 5th

Fleet

IRAN

OMAN

Shipping lanes for tankersare just two nautical

miles wide, separatedby buffer zone

648

502

314

165 155138 127 114 109 77

261

China Iranian crude oil and gascondensate shipments(thousand barrelsper day, June 2018)

Condensate330,000 bpd

Crude oil2.28 million bpd

India

SouthKorea

Turkey Italy Japan UAESpainFrance

Greece

Others

2.61million

bpd

The Gulf states including

Kuwait have plans ready for implementation

in case of emergency.

MR AL RASHIDI

The move will be suicidal for Iran as 30 per cent of the world’s oil passes through this strait. CAPTAIN AL MAHMOOD

Hyper inflation and other economic disasters will follow if Iran commits this dangerous act. DR HUSSAIN

More than our oil exports, aluminum exports are important to the Kingdom’s economy. MR KHALIFA

• Earlier, Kuwait’s Oil, Electricity and Water Minister, Bakheet Al Rashidi, said the Gulf states were ready for a possible closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran.

• Iran has pledged, through its senior political and military officials, that it will not allow, through the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, any other party to export oil from the Gulf if the United States applied its sanctions.

TDT|Manama Thamer Tayfour

Iran’s recent threatenings to close the Hormuz Strait if the US blocks its oil exports

have sparked a debate about the possible consequences the move could offer to the region.

The threatenings also fol-lowed the attack of Iran-allied Houthis on Saudi vessels in Bab Al Mandab Strait.

Tribune spoke to a few mari-time and economic experts over the possible economic and stra-tegic impact such a move could have in the region. They viewed that it would be similar to open-ing the doors of the hell.

Among the consequences, the economic impact will be severe in the Kingdom as the closure will lead to heavy budgetary losses apart from hyper infla-tion.

“It’s impossible for the strait to be closed even for one hour,” said Captain Mahmood Al Mahmood, the Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Tribune, who is also a maritime expert.

“The move will be suicidal for Iran as 30 per cent of the world’s oil passes through this strait. The GCC including Bahrain exports more than 80pc of oil through the Strait of Hormuz.”

C a p t a i n M a h m o o d A l Mahmood said American,

French, British and Gulf vessels are roaming in these waters to protect trade and security and hence Iran would think twice before engaging in any misde-meanors.

Arif Khalifa, another maritime expert, said Bahrain wouldn’t be able to export anything if Iran closes Hormuz Strait. “We are not bothered about our oil exports, but aluminum exports are important to the Kingdom’s economy and budget. Japan is the second largest importer of aluminum from the Kingdom. Our other exports including pet-rochemical products will also be adversely affected.”

Mr Khalifa said that the ef-fects of closure will be huge on the Kingdom’s economy while expressing hope that Iran wouldn’t commit such a histor-ical mistake.

Economic expert Dr Jassim Hussain dismissed the possibil-ity of Iran committing the act. “Iran won’t take such a step and it is just a remote possibility.”

“Even the decision can destroy Iranian economy. Of course, Gulf economies including that of Bahrain will be affected badly. Hyper inflation and other eco-nomic disasters will follow if Iran does this dangerous act.”

Earlier, Kuwait’s Oil, Electric-ity and Water Minister, Bakheet Al Rashidi, said the Gulf states were ready for a possible clo-

sure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran.

“The Gulf states have plans ready for implementation in case of emergency,” Al Rashidi, said in response to a reporter’s question about the possibility of closing the Strait of Hormuz.

In May, US President Donald Trump announced the with-drawal of the United States from the nuclear deal with Iran and the re-imposition of sanctions previously lifted under the deal, as well as the introduction of new restrictive measures against Tehran.

US Treasury Secretary Stephen Menuchin confirmed earlier this month that the list included a ban on Iranian oil, threatening that the United States would impose sanctions on all coun-tries that would continue to buy Iranian oil.

In response to these threats, Iran has pledged, through its senior political and military officials, that it will not allow, through the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, any other party to export oil from the Gulf if the United States applied its sanc-tions.

Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani said his country was not seeking to escalate regional tensions and undermine inter-national shipping, but would not give up its right to export oil to other countries.

The commander of the naval forces in the Iranian army, Ad-miral Hussain Khanzadi, said that keeping the Straits of Hor-muz open, is linked to the secu-rity of Iranian interests, calling on the international community to implement its obligations to Tehran.

A file picture showing the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

The GCC including Bahrain exports more than 80pc

of oil through the Strait of Hormuz.

KNOW

DID

30per cent of world oil is transported through

Hormuz Strait.

04MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018

Bahrain Scientific Centre opened First of its kind in the world, the centre aims to promote 17 sustainable development goals Manama

The Bahrain Scientific Centre for Sustainable Development Goals was

opened yesterday officially by His Majesty’s Representative for Charity Works and Youth Af-fairs, Supreme Council for Youth and Sports (SCYS) Chairman and Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) President His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

The newly-established mile-stone is the first hub of its kind in the world, that promotes the implementation of 17 sus-tainable development goals – a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations in 2015 and endorsed by the world leaders.

Shaikh Nasser toured differ-ent sections of the scientific centre and was informed about cutting edge equipment as well as the programmes which target the youth category.

He hailed Bahrain’s landmark strides, ranking among advanced

countries which promote the sustainable developments goals (SDGs) in the world.

He paid tribute to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khali-fa, hailing his farsighted vision that promoted development and turned Bahrain into a model to emulate in the region.

He commended His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister for translating the royal vision in the Govern-ment Action Plan (GAP).

“Bahrain gives the priority to investing in youngsters and honing their skills, being the cornerstone to implement the sustainable development goals,” he said.

He underlined the initiatives which were launched, citing particularly the King Hamad Award for Youth Empowerment to achieve the sustainable devel-opment goals.Shaikh Nasser tours the facility in the presence of ministers and senior government officials.

His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, yesterday received the Chairman of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), Sameer Abdullah Nass, and the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Zayed Al Zayani, at Riffa Palace. During the meeting, His Royal Highness highlighted the importance of strengthening the role of the private sector as the main driver of the Kingdom’s development by enhancing the business environment and diversifying key sectors.

HH Royal Guard Commander Brigadier Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, yesterday at Isa Air Base, in the presence of HH Commander of the Royal Guard’s Special Force, Major Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, received a group of Bahrain Defence Force (BDF)’s Special Task Force participating in the Operation Restoring Hope in Yemen within the Saudi-led Arab Coalition. The Royal Guard Commander hailed their dedication to the sacred national duty alongside their brethren of the Saudi-led Arab coalition to support legitimacy in Yemen.

Police team dismantle drug cartel

• The defendants were charged with smuggling and peddling drugs as part of the cartel.

TDT|Manama

Police officers dismantled a drug cartel in-volved in smuggling large quantities of banned drugs from Saudi into Bahrain.

As part of the operation, cops arrested seven, aged between 28 and 37, for being part of the cartel. One was a Saudi national, while six others were Bahrainis including a woman.

According to police records, the cartel members concealed the drugs in car tyres and they would smuggle them into Bahrain on a daily basis with

the help of a Saudi man. The cartel’s activities came to light after a tip-

off revealed that the second and third defendants, aged 30 and 37 respectively, were operating a drug racket and were importing banned drugs from Saudi Arabia with the help of their Saudi co-defendant.

A squad was formed in order to bust the gang and the second defendant was arrested in a local restaurant, although he tried to resist.

“I was receiving drugs from the Saudi man, who would every day come to Bahrain,” the second defendant told prosecutors.

Further investigations uncovered that there were other three people linked to the cartel, including the woman, and they were all nabbed.

The defendants were charged with smuggling and peddling drugs in the Kingdom as part of the cartel.


INTERIM CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTSFor the six months period ended 30 June 2018 (Reviewed)

)Amounts are expressed in thousands of US dollars(

Reviewed byErnst & Young

Yaser Hamad Al-Jar

Acting CEOwww.inovest.bhDr. Omar Salem Al Mutawa

Chairman

INTERIM CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF INCOME

Three months ended

30 JuneSix months ended

30 June

2018 2017 2018 2017OPERATING INCOMENet income from construction contracts 3,270 2,849 5,860 5,777Income from investment in real estate 1,302 658 2,665 1,799Income from investments 5,034 4,207 5,034 4,207Fee for management and other services 284 210 541 450Net share of (loss) / income from investment in a joint venture and associates )952( 534 )1,073( 569

Other income 747 538 1,871 859TOTAL OPERATING INCOME 9,685 8,996 14,898 13,661OPERATING EXPENSESStaff costs 1,208 1,044 2,254 2,410General and administrative expenses 523 758 1,170 1,626Property related expenses 733 31 945 98Financing costs 188 205 369 419Depreciation 189 117 336 222TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES 2,841 2,155 5,074 4,775NET OPERATING PROFIT 6,844 6,841 9,824 8,886Recoveries from impaired recievables 478 2,238 860 8,372PROFIT FOR THE PERIOD 7,322 9,079 10,684 17,258Attributable to :Equity shareholders of the parent 7,180 9,083 10,166 17,267Non-controlling interest 142 )4( 518 )9(PROFIT FOR THE PERIOD 7,322 9,079 10,684 17,258BASIC AND DILUTED EARNINGS

PER SHARE (US cents) 2.54 3.19 3.59 6.06

INTERIM CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION

Reviewed30 June

Audited31 Dec

2018 2017ASSETSCash and bank balances 28,569 21,740Accounts receivable 41,098 45,383Investments 16,201 18,487Investment in a joint venture and associates 91,514 85,938Investment in real estate 76,823 76,823Property, plant and equipment 11,968 12,965Other assets 2,154 4,018TOTAL ASSETS 268,327 265,354LIABILITIES AND OWNERS´ EQUITYLiabilitiesOther liabilities and accounts payable 96,249 102,256Financing from a bank 11,099 12,927Total liabilities 107,348 115,183Owners´ EquityShare capital 114,604 114,604Less: Treasury shares )1,239( )1,239(

113,365 113,365Reserves 1,957 1,999Retained earnings 17,368 7,036Equity attributable to Parents› shareholders 132,690 122,400Non-controlling interest 28,289 27,771Total owners´ equity 160,979 150,171TOTAL LIABILITIES AND OWNERS´ EQUITY 268,327 265,354

INTERIM CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

Six months ended30 June

2018 2017

OPERATING ACTIVITIESProfit for the period 10,684 17,258Adjustments for:Depreciation 1,021 896Net share of (income) / loss from investment ina joint venture and associates 1,073 )569(

Realised (gain) / loss on sale of investments - )500(Gain on sale of investment in real estate - )1,030(Gain on bargain purchase - associate - )3,135(Fair value gain on transfer of investment to investment in a joint venture and associates - )252(

Recoveries from impaired recievables )860( )8,372(11,918 4,296

Net changes in operating assets and liabilities:Short-term deposits (with an original maturity of more than 90 days) )1,608( 767Accounts receivable 948 )987(Receivable from real estate lease right - )57(Other assets 1,864 835Accounts payable )6,049( 5,364Net cash from operating activities 7,073 10,218INVESTING ACTIVITIESProceeds from sale of investment in real estate - 4,822Purchase of property, plant and equipment )24( )876(Purchase of investment in a joint venture and associates - )5,029(Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment - 73Net cash used in investing activities )24( )1,010(FINANCING ACTIVITIESNet movement in financing from a bank )1,828( )1,748(Dividend paid - )7,977(Purchase of treasury shares - )45(Net cash used in financing activities )1,828( )9,770(NET MOVEMENT IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS 5,221 )562(

Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period 21,540 32,617CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS AT THE END OF THE PERIOD 26,761 32,055Non cash transactions:Purchase of investment in a joint venture and associates 6,649 -Purchase of investments 2,286 -Transfer of treasury shares 42 -

Investment in real estate acquired against accounts receivable - 5,199

Transfer from investment to investment in a joint venture and associates - 748

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN OWNERS’ EQUITYFor the six months period ended 30 June 2018

Equity attributable to parent´s shareholders

Sharecapital

Sharecapital

Share premium

Statutory reserve

Share option

reserveRetainedearnings

Total parent›sshareholders›

equityNon-

controling interest

At 1 January 2018 114,604 )1,239( 1,957 42 7,036 122,400 27,771 150,171

Transfer of treasury - - - )42( 166 124 - 124

Profit for the period - - - - 10,166 10,166 518 10,684

At 30 June 2018 114,604 )1,239( 1,957 - 17,368 132,690 28,289 160,979

At 1 January 2017 114,604 )651( 1,371 42 9,118 124,484 13,640 138,124Reversal of appropriationto charity funds - - - - 626 626 - 626

(Dividend paid (note 19 - - - - )7,977( )7,977( - )7,977(

Purchase of treasury shares - )45( - - - )45( - )45(

Profit for the period - - - - 17,267 17,267 )9( 17,258

At 30 June 2017 114,604 )696( 1,371 42 19,034 134,355 13,631 147,986

Elections to House, municipal councils to be held on ‘Nov 24’ • The elections will be held for five days at four centres in four governorates.

• According to the recent amendment to election laws, members of dissolved political societies will not be able to contest elections owing to the violation of the Constitution.

TDT|Manama

The elections to the House of Rep-resentatives and municipal coun-cils in the Kingdom will be held

on November 24, according to reliable sources.

Candidates will be able to file nomi-nations since the beginning of October, which will be verified in detail before being accepted by electoral officials, the sources said.

According to convention and laws of the land, the date of elections will be announced by order of His Majesty at least 45 days in prior.

The royal decree will encompass all aspects of elections. The voting process will begin at 8 am in the morning and will go up to 6 pm in the evening. The decree will also invite the citizens to vote and elect their representatives.

The minimum voting age in the King-dom is 21 and the citizens can cast their votes in the electoral district on the basis of residences.

If a citizen doesn’t have a residence, his family residence will be taken into account.

The elections will be held for five

days at four centres in four governo-rates.

The candidates should be citizens of the Kingdom (minimum ten years after obtaining the citizenship) and must not be less than 30 years of age. They must know to read and write Arabic.

The candidate must not have his membership at the House of Represent-atives or Shura Council cancelled due to loss of trust or failing to fulfill the

membership criteria. Also, there should not be any crimi-

nal cases filed against the candidates. A candidate is ineligible even he/she has been pardoned after committing the crime.

According to the recent amendment to election laws, members of dissolved political societies will not be able to contest elections owing to the violation of the Constitution.

The voting process will start at 8 am in the morning and will go up to 6 pm in the evening.

21is the minimum voting

age in the Kingdom.

HRH Premier issues edicts Manama

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince

Khalifa bin Salman Al Khal-ifa issued Edict 25/2018 and Edict 26/2018 yesterday.

Edict 25/2018 stipulated the amending of Article 1 of Edict 32/2011 regarding cre-ation and formation of the National Committee for Uni-fied Purchases of Medicines.

The committee has been restructured as follows: Professor Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa (Chairman), Aisha Adel Al Baloushi as representative of the Royal Medical Services (Deputy Chairperson), Sima Mo-hamed Zainal, as representa-tive of the Ministry of Health (MoH)

Roya Mohamed Al Abbasi, representing the National Health Regulatory Author-ity (NHRA) Rehab Ahmed Al Nuaimi, representing the MoH, Wijdan Saleh Mnaizel, representing the MoH, Fadi Samir Ayyoub, represent-ing King Hamad University Hospital (KHUH), Fahmida Khanem Mohamed, as repre-sentative of the Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa Specialist Centre for Cardiology and Ayat Shawqi, representing the MoH (as Committee Rapporteur).

Edict 26/2018 stipulated the replacement of Dr Samir Al Atoom, President of the Royal College of Surgeons Medical University by Dr Mazin Mohammed Juma as a representative of private universities in the Adviso-ry Committee of Bahrain’s Quality Assurance of Edu-cation and Training (BQA) to complete the term of his predecessor.


Stand-up comedians to tickle funny bone Auditions begin today at the 7th Wave Performing Arts School TDT|Manama Harpreet Kaur

The Stand Up Comedy Society in Bahrain in co-ordination with the 7th

Wave Performing Arts School will be hosting the stand up comedy auditions today at the 7th Wave Performing Arts School, providing a platform for young stand up comedians to showcase their talent.

The auditions will be held from 5 pm to 8 pm, and any par-ticipant can come and register for the audition. The main pur-pose of this audition is to give the opportunity to the people in Bahrain and Saudi to perform in three different shows, the or-ganisers said.

Speaking to Tribune, Giulia Tuzzi, programme coordina-tor of the 7th Wave Performing Arts School said, “The initiative comes from the Stand Up So-ciety and its founder Abdulla Nezar. The aim of the Stand Up Society is to have its community showing its strength by gath-ering the best materials while giving to new talents the op-portunity to emerge in a relaxed environment.

“The participants will have 10- 15 minutes to perform and the most talented ones will be selected for the shows.

“The 7th Wave Performing Arts School values first and fore-most, the rich Arabic culture and its artistic traditions. Arabic artists often gain their inspira-tion not only from their current surroundings, but also from oth-er civilizations nearby, or even from civilizations in the past.

“Further, the values of many cultures are interwoven in Bah-rain’s history. From Islamic

art to India, Europe, Africa, the Company values above all this rich tradition of bridging cul-tures through the arts.”

“The 7th Wave is a Bah-rain-based school that pro-vides performing arts and fit-ness courses, drop-in classes, weekend workshops, week in-tensives and events. We have an incredible array of offerings for kids, teens and adults with

a vision of connecting commu-nities and bridging cultures through creative expression where we are constantly striv-ing to provide world-class mul-ticultural artistic education,” Gulia added.

Sharing similar views, Stand Up Society founder Abdul-la Nezar, said, “The society is organising this audition event for the first time and it is the fourth time having shows like this around the country.

“Most of the time its commu-nity would focus more in open mics and small comedy shows. We focus on stand up comedians growing in the region, so this au-

dition will help provide the op-portunity to young to showcase their talents and work towards developing their skills.”

“A couple of years ago there was a absolutely no platform for budding stand up comedians. A year and a half ago surprisingly people started to attend open mic events at Malja and then at the Ravens Nest.

“Moreover, the community started to grow and current-ly there is a bunch of 10 active performers in this country. The Stand Up Comedy society is a community-based organisation trying to help comedians to get more opportunities by providing a proper support and founda-tion.

“There is, unfortunately, a lack of support, but there are schools such the 7th Wave and venues like Ravens Nest and oth-ers that are trying to help the Stand Up Society proving ven-ues and helping organise shows and performances.

“However, this is a new con-cept and the society is creat-ed and managed by comedians for comedians. We are trying to provide something exciting and different to break the daily routine thus we are develop-ing three shows in August and a huge surprise in November,” Abdullah added.

We have an incredible array of offerings for kids, teens and adults

with a vision of connecting

communities and bridging cultures through creative

expression. MS GIULIA

We focus on stand up comedians

in the region, so this audition will help provide the opportunity to

young to showcase their talents and

work towards developing their

skills. MR ABDULLA

The 7th Wave is a Bahrain-based

school that provides performing arts and

fitness courses, drop-in classes, weekend

workshops and week intensives.

KNOW

DID

Second wife wins property caseTDT|Manama Ali Tarif

The High Civil Court or-dered the Survey and

Land Registration Bureau to re-register the ownership of a property to include a widow, whose name wasn’t among the heirs.

The plaintiff was the sec-ond wife of the original own-er of the building, but she wasn’t included among the heirs and his first wife, three sisters and two sons became the new owners of the prop-erty following his death.

According to the plaintiff’s lawyer Eman Mohammed Ali, the woman’s name was taken off deliberately by oth-er heirs when they applied for a new ownership cer-tificate despite the fact that a lawful division of shares entitled to her to be among the new owners.

She added that the num-ber of the deceased man’s heirs were seven, including her client. “But the other six tried to manipulate the pa-pers and discarded her name and didn’t allow her a share in the property.”

However, the defendants underlined to the court that they didn’t know that their father married for the sec-ond time. Thus, they reg-istered the building under their names only.

They manipulated the papers and discarded her

name in attempt to disallow shares in

the property. EMAN MOHAMMED ALI

Airport Road-Shaikh Salman Street intersection work completed TDT|Manama

The Works Ministry has completed the work to expand the intersection

between Airport Road and Shaikh Salman Road, Works, Municipalities Affairs and Ur-ban Planning Minister Essam Khalaf said yesterday.

The expansion included the addition of a lane to allow a left turn at the intersection of Shai-kh Salman Road and Airport Road near the Social Welfare Centre in Muharraq.

The project will permit fast-er access to the intersection of Shaikh Isa bin Salman Bridge and Muharraq Northern Health Centre, in addition to easing congestion for visitors to Muharraq Central Market.

This project will increase the capacity of Shaikh Sal-man Road by 75 per cent, improve the efficiency of the intersection, and reduce the waiting time on the inter-section with Airport Road by 25pc.The work is expected to reduce traffic on the intersection.

University role stressed Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Zayed Al Zayani yesterday met Al Ahlia University Chairman Dr Abdulla Youssef Al Hawaj and president Dr Mansour Al Aali, who outlined planned academic programmes and activities in all fields. The minister reiterated the Government’s support to national universities in Bahrain as well as the youth category in line with the strategy aimed at promoting small and medium enterprises (SMEs). He commended the vital role played by universities in creating a favourable business environment and honing innovation to spur national economic growth. The meeting was attended by Assistant Undersecretary for Industrial Development Abdulkarim Al Rashid and SMEs Development Director Shikha Al Fadhel.

Volume of waste on the rise Manama

The overall volume of waste increased by 13 per cent over the first half of 2018, compared with the same period last year.

The Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning disposed of around 1 million tonnes of waste between January and June, up from 885,000 tonnes over the same pe-riod in 2017.

“The tangible increase resulted from the rise in construction, industrial and trade-related waste, in addition to public parks,” said Undersecretary for Municipalities Affairs Dr Nabeel Abul Fateh.

In a statement issued, he said that domestic waste and other types of waste decreased over the first half of this year, com-pared with the same period last year.

The overall volume of construction waste soared by 46 per cent to reach 497,000 tonnes, up from from 341,000 tonnes during the first half of 2017, according to statistics released by Estedama Centre.

07

business


MOHAMED ISA

Karak Break!

Anyone for a cup of Moroccan tea?What is your best customer experience? Here is one of

mine. In February 2018, I spoke in a conference in Mar-rakesh, Morocco. As an avid traveler, I did not read much about the hotel the organizers booked for me; I trusted the choice of my Swiss partners. However, I researched Marrakesh to a great deal in order not to waste any time before or after the confer-ence. I planned to go on three tours to explore the neighboring cities. That is why I love speaking abroad!

The moment I arrived at the hotel, the staff greeted with many wide smiles. As I walked to the reception area, the recep-tionist greeted me with my name: “Welcome to La Mamounia Hotel Mr. Isa!” It seemed the chauffeur notified her of my arrival. Instead of the usual check-in process, the nice recep-tionist invited me to sit in the lounge to complete the process. In a few seconds, another staff offered me a glass of cold milk with rose water and three Moroccan dates. They were out of this world! After we finished, she asked me: “Are you ready to see your suite, Mr. Isa?” “More than ready,” I replied.

She guided me to my suite. It was majestic. The sitting area was massive. The bedroom was spacious. And as for the bath-room, what can I say! Complete indulgence. The authentic and detailed Moroccan interiors were marvelous across the suite. I commented: “This must be the best hotel in Marrakesh.” She replied: “No Sir. This is the best hotel in Morocco. Wait until you see the view from your balcony.” The view was breath-taking. The garden of the hotel was incredible. There were thousands of olive trees, palm trees, and orange trees. The birds were singing. Far in the horizon, I could see the Atlas Mountains covered with snow. It was like staying in Paradise. I thought: “I will never leave my suite. I am taking sick leave!”

At night, someone rang the bell of the suite; it was another happy staff. He was checking if I needed anything like extra towels or toiletries. Later in the evening, another bright staff offered me a plate of fresh strawberries and replaced the Lily flowers and the Red Roses in the suite. I experienced a contin-uous cycle of customer care! I have great memories in every spot in the hotel. The gardens, the corridors, the swimming pool, the spa, the mouthwatering food, and most importantly the sincere, courteous and professional staff.

I totally agree with what Winston Churchill when he told Franklin Roosevelt in 1943 about his stay in the hotel: “This is a wonderful place, and the hotel one of the best I have ever used.” Anyone for a cup of Moroccan Tea?

Mohamed Isa is an Award-Winning Speaker & Best-Selling Author. Reach him at [email protected].

Gulf Hotels Group opens its first hotel in Dubai • The 269-room, four-star deluxe hotel is just 15 minutes away from the Dubai International Airport

TDT| Manama

Gulf Hotels Group (GHG), Bahrain’s leading home-grown hospitality pro-

vider, has announced the open-ing of Gulf Court Hotel Business Bay in Dubai, the group’s latest addition to its hotel portfolio. The new hotel is the first part of GHG’s regional expansion plan.

The 269-room, four-star de-luxe hotel is situated within one of Dubai’s grandest projects, the Dubai Water Canal, just 15 minutes away from the Dubai International Airport.

The Gulf Court Hotel Busi-ness Bay offers a variety of room categories and suites all with views of the canal and boasts a number of restaurants and lounges, a banquet hall and meeting rooms, health and rec-reational facilities including a swimming pool, kid’s pool and fitness centre, a spa, nightclub, karaoke rooms and ample car parking.

The hotel will cater to both business and leisure travellers, being in close proximity to the central commercial district, as

well as having easy access to Dubai Mall, with its array of international shops and Burj Khalifa, both are just 1½ kilo-metres away.

On August 1, the hotel opened its doors to welcome its first guests, Abdulrahman Al Hujay-lan and Khalid Al Hujaylan, who were welcomed by the Group’s Director of Operations, Nils Ax-ing, the Hotel’s General Manag-er, Marc Voller, and members of the Hotel’s management team.

“It is another landmark day in the history of the Group. Since the opening of the Gulf Hotel Bahrain Convention & Spa back

in 1969, the Group has been committed to delivering the highest standards of Bahraini hospitality and the opening of Gulf Court Hotel Business Bay is the first step of our regional expansion programme,” said Garfield Jones, Gulf Hotels Group CEO.

“We aim to deliver the same standards of hospitality, food and service that has made the Gulf Hotel such an iconic prop-erty in the region and for all visitors to Dubai from Bahrain, we aim to provide a little taste of home away from home,” Gar-field said.

Guests at the newly-opened hotel in Dubai

KNOW WHAT

The new hotel is the first part of Gulf Ho-tels Group’s regional

expansion plan

INOVEST posts $10.17m net profit in first halfTDT| Manama

INOVEST has reported a con-solidated net profit of $10.166

million for the first half of 2018, a 41 per cent decline as com-pared to $17.267 million for the same period last year.

The decline is mainly the re-sult of higher recoveries from impaired receivables booked during the first half of 2017 vis-a-vis the same period of 2018. Accordingly, Earnings Per Share attributable to the equity share-holders of the parent company for the first half of 2018 amount-ed to US cents 3.59 as compared to US cents 6.06 for the same period in 2017.

As a positive and healthy in-dicator, the consolidated net operating profit increased by 11 per cent, reaching $9.824 mil-lion during the first half of 2018 in comparison to $8.886 million for the same period of 2017.

Also, the total operating in-come increased by 9 per cent from $14.898 million for the six-month period ended 30 June 2018 to $13.661 million for the same period of last year.

The consolidated operating expenses increased from $4.775 million in the first half of 2017 to $5.074 million for the same period of 2018, representing an increase of 6 per cent, which is due to the increase in the oper-ating expenses from managing

additional properties. The equity attributable to par-

ent shareholders, increased by 8 per cent to stand at $132.690 million at the end of the first half of 2018 in comparison to $122.400 million at 2017 year-end.

As of 30 June 2018, INOVEST reported consolidated total as-sets of $268.327 million, repre-senting slight increase by 1 per cent during the first half of 2018 in comparison to $265.354 mil-lion as of 2017 year-end.

Looking more specifically at INOVEST’s quarterly financial results illustrates that for the three months ended 30 June 2018, INOVEST’s recorded a con-solidated net profit attributable to the parent shareholders of

US$ 7.180 million in compar-ison to US$ 9.083 million for the same quarter of last year , representing 21% decrease and, accordingly, the Earnings Per Share attributable to the equity shareholders of the parent com-pany for the second quarter of 2018 amounted to US cents 2.54

as compared to US cents 3.19 for the same period in 2017 The consolidated operating profit for this quarter increased by 8% to reach US$9.685 million in comparison to US$8.996 million for the second quarter of 2017. Without any major change, the net operating profit increased slightly from US$6.844 million for the second quarter ended 30 June 2018 to US$6.841 million for the same period of last year. On the liquidity front, INOVEST further improved its liquidity position, with cash and bank balances representing 11% of the total consolidated assets. As of June 30th 2018, the cash and bank balances rose by 31% to reach US$ 28.569 million from US$21.740 million as of 31 De-cember 2017.

“INOVEST has taken some great strides towards ensuring that 2018 is a fruitful year for the Group; our success in doing so thus far will be the basis for developing a business direction that ensures sustainability and balance in an otherwise turbu-lent regional business climate,” said INOVEST’s Chairman Dr. Omar Al Mutawa.

“At this midpoint in the year, we are proud to be able to sus-tain quarter on quarter growth in our profitability as well as ap-propriate returns to our share-holders,” said INOVEST Acting CEO, Yasser Al Jar.

Dr. Omar Al Mutawa Yasser Al Jar

$9.83mis the consolidated net operating profit of the

company during the first half

Huawei launches innovative antenna for 5G rolloutTDT| Manama

Huawei, a leading global provider of information

and communications technol-ogy infrastructure and smart devices, will implement its new “1+1 antenna moderni-zation” concept and solutions to accelerate the roll out of commercial 5G networks in Bahrain, the company said yesterday.

With the challenge of in-creasing revenues and making a progress in digital operations and maintenance, telecom op-erators in the Kngdom are keen to introduce new 5G solutions that will help capitalize the infrastructure to expand the latest technology services pro-vided to users. The arrival of 5G will present a new opportu-nity for comprehensive strate-gy deployment. 5G technology will increase network capacity and enable seamless cover-age and ultra-low latency that many new mobile applications

require. As one key element in mobile networks, antennas will need to receive and trans-mit on more frequency bands than ever.

John Lu Yuedong, CEO of Huawei Bahrain, said: “5G will open up a world of economic opportunities, giving rise to new industries and revitalizing old ones. The deployment of 5G will require close coopera-tion between vendors, carriers, government, and enterprises.”

John Lu Yuedong


Chinese media calls US tariffs ‘blackmail’Reuters| Singapore

China’s state media has said the government’s

retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion of US goods showed rational restraint and they accused the United States of blackmail. China’s finance ministry recently unveiled new sets of additional tar-iffs on 5,207 goods import-ed from the United States, with the extra levies rang-ing from five to 25 percent on a total value of goods less than half of that proposed by US President Donald Trump’s administration. The response follows the Trump administration’s proposal of a 25-percent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.

“China’s countermeas-ures are rational,” the Glob-al Times, a tabloid run by the official People’s Daily, said in a commentary.

“China will not rush to compete with US numbers,” it said, echoing comments made by state television.

The United States and China implemented tar-iffs on $34 billion worth of each others’ goods in July. Washington is expected to soon implement tariffs on an additional $16 billion of Chinese goods.

Renewable energy training programme concludes• Fory-six contractors and consultants, out of 52, took part in the intensive training course

TDT| Manama

Electricity and Water Af-fairs Minister Dr. Ab-dulhussain Mirza yes-

terday awarded certificates to the participants of a training programme for solar system engineers, contractors and con-sultants.

The second edition of this year’s course was held at the Electricity and Water Author-ity (EWA)’s Training Centre in Sitra. Fory-six contractors and consultants, out of 52, who took part in the intensive training programme, held over a week in June, in cooperation with the Sustainable Energy Unit, passed.

The ceremony was held in the presence of the United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Amin Al-Sharqawi and a number of officials.

The programme was an im-portant part of the strategy for

implementing and encouraging the use of renewable energy in Bahrain.

The minister said their in-terest in renewable energy is in line with the interest of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in encouraging the use of clean energy to achieve sus-tainable development and is part of the steps that Bahrain seeks to achieve towards fulfilment of its national goals related to renew-able energy and energy efficien-

cy. The minister thanked the officials of the Electricity and Water Authority, the Sustainable Energy Unit, and the consulting company for their cooperation.

Al-Sharqawi congratulated the course participants for be-ing trained in the installation and maintenance of photovol-taic solar panels, which, he said, would contribute to the creation of new jobs in the field of mod-ern technology transfer as well as in the field of installation and

maintenance as people would be able to install solar panels at their homes and in factories.

He said the United Nations Development Programme is supporting the Sustainable En-ergy Unit by providing it with the necessary technical exper-tise to achieve the objectives of the National Energy Plan.

Al Sharqawi said he is con-fident that 5 per cent of new energy will be achieved by 2025 as a promising sector and will

help Bahrain attract new in-vestments, and create jobs for young Bahrainis. He affirmed that these activities are one of the most important supporting steps that will strengthen Bah-rain’s steps towards realising the national energy ratios adopted by the Cabinet at the beginning of 2017 and realizing its inter-national commitments, includ-ing the objectives of sustainable development, energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Electricity and Water Affairs Minister Dr. Abdulhussain Mirza with participants of the training programme

BAB to hold open dialogue with banking institutions• Central Bank and EDB are participating in the event on October 8

TDT| Manama

Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB) will hold its first

open dialogue with members, non-members and partners of the Association on October 8.

The meeting will address mechanisms to enhance the BAB’s role as an effective rep-resentative for the banking institutions with the Central Bank of Bahrain in the context of their common objective of strengthening the financial and banking sector as it has been for the past 50 years.

“The dialogue will provide an opportunity for banking in-stitutions to meet with the CBB, Economic Development Board and BCCI, which will brief these institutions on the most impor-

tant efforts and achievements in favour of strengthening the Bahrain Financial Center and its joint ambitions,” BAB said.

Adnan Ahmed Yousif, Chair-man of the Association, said that this meeting comes within the framework of the associ-ation’s keenness to open and expand new channels for com-munication with banks in Bah-rain and informing them with the programs, initiatives, and achievements of the Associa-tion and listening to their views

with regards to developing the performance of the Association and matters it should adopt.

Dr. Waheed Al Qassim, CEO of BAB said: “Our objective is to strengthen the role of BAB as a platform that brings together all of us to exchange experienc-es and expertise, and discuss the specific needs of the bank-ing sector in terms of capacity building, training and research-es, and to enhance BAB’s ability to meet the aspirations of its members”.

Dr. Waheed Al QassimAdnan Ahmed Yousif

The first winner of National Bank of Bahrain’s (NBB) AlWatani personal loan promotion draw with prize. The lucky winner, selected through a raffle draw, won back BD15,000 of his loan amount. The winner, Rashed Khalifa Rashed Ahmed Al Binzayed, was presented with the prize at NBB’s Manama main branch in the presence of NBB’s management team.

The free health check-up conducted by Bahrain Financing Company (BFC) for people staying in the vicinity of its Budaiya village branch. The camp, held as part of BFC’s annual CSR initiative, was conducted in association with Al Hilal Medical Centre. More than 150 people, who walked into the branch between 9am to 12pm, utilised the opportunity.

The joint meeting held by Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) with the Capital Municipality at Bait Al Tijjar. The meeting was attended by BCCI Second Vice-Chairman Mohammed Al Kooheji and Director-General Engr. Shawqiya Humaidan. Al Kooheji hailed the efforts of the Capital Municipality and expressed the keenness of the Chamber in supporting all endeavors that aim at reviving and upgrading the markets. The head of the Commercial Markets Committee Abdulhakeem Al Shemeri also attended the meeting. A detailed presentation revealing the Capital Municipality’s development projects for Manama, Sitra, and Jidhafs central markets for 2018 to 2020 was also made during the meeting.


Closing BellSAUDI 0.1% » 8,243

DUBAI 0.1% » 2,978

ABU DHABI 0.1% » 4,806

QATAR 0.9% » 9,897

KUWAIT 1.1% » 5,410

BAHRAIN 0.3% » 1,354

OMAN 1% » 4,370

EGYPT 0.4% » 15,737

TSMC third quarter revenue hit by virusReuters| Taipei

A c o m p u t e r v i r u s o u t b r e a k h a s h i t

third-quarter results at Tai-wan Semiconductor Man-ufacturing Company Ltd, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, the company said yesterday. On Saturday, TSMC, a major supplier for Apple, said that a number of its computer systems and fab tools had been infected by a virus, but the problem had been contained.

The company expects full recovery on Aug. 6, the company said in an updated statement on Sunday.

“TSMC expects this in-cident to cause shipment delays and additional costs. We estimate the impact to third quarter revenue to be about three percent, and impact to gross margin to be about one percentage point,” it said.

“The company is confi-dent shipments delayed in third quarter will be recov-ered in the fourth quarter 2018,” the chipmaker said.

Iran Air to receive 5 ATR planes before US sanctionsAFP| Tehran

Iran Air said yesterday it was set to take delivery of

five new planes from Fran-co-Italian firm ATR just be-fore renewed US sanctions go into effect.

“Based on existing agree-ments, five new ATR aircraft will land at Mehrabad Air-port at 9 am (0430 GMT) tomorrow (Sunday),” the national carrier said on its Telegram channel.

The new ATR-72600 planes are part of a deal for 20 new aircraft that Iran Air agreed to buy in April 2017, of which eight have been delivered so far.

The deal was thrown into doubt by the US decision to withdraw from a 2015 nuclear deal between Teh-ran and major powers and reimpose sanctions, part of which are due to resume from Tuesday.

North Korea foreign minister to visit Iran AFP| Tehran

North Korea’s foreign minister Ri Yong Ho is

due to visit Iran on Tues-day, Iranian media reported yesterday.

Ri is set to jet in as the United States reimposes sanctions on Iran following Washington’s withdraw-al from the 2015 deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear pro-gramme.

The US is currently also pushing Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear capabilities after President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un agreed a vague commitment to “denuclear-isation of the Korean Pen-insula” at their landmark summit in June. North Ko-rea’s top diplomat will meet Iranian Foreign Minister.

Gulf insurers jump on Q2 results, petchems down • Positive Q2 results partly offset impact of lower oil prices

Reuters| Dubai

Gulf stocks were mixed yesterday, with some companies’ positive fi-

nancial results offsetting a bear-ish background due to persisting global trade concerns and lower oil prices.

Oil gave up earlier gains late last week as fears that Chinese demand could taper weighed on prices. Brent crude futures settled at $73.21 per barrel on Friday, down 24 cents from their previous close.

As a result, some Saudi petro-chemical companies shed value. Blue chip Saudi Basic Indus-tries Corporation (SABIC) lost 0.3 percent, while Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co and Metha-nol Chemicals Co dropped 1.1 percent and 1.7 percent, respec-tively.

Boosted by positive financial results, Saudi Arabia’s retailer and mall developer Fawaz Ab-dulaziz Alhokair Co was among the best performers, jumping 9.9 percent after it reported a first-quarter net profit of 249.2

million riyals ($66.45 million) versus 232.4 million riyals one year earlier. The company’s fi-nancial year ends on March 31.

The best performer was Bupa Arabia for Cooperative Insurance Co, which soared 10 percent after posting a sec-ond-quarter net profit of share-holder capital investment of 23.2 million riyals against 16.6 million riyals during the same

period one year earlier.This lifted other insurers,

with Company for Cooperative Insurance jumping 9.3 percent.

In Dubai, where the index was up 0.1 percent, most trad-ing volume was concentrated on Drake and Scull International (DSI), which was up 1.4 percent. The company has been lagging because of concerns about its financial position, business

outlook and the outcome of an investigation by United Arab Emirates authorities into finan-cial violations by previous man-agement. It gained 1.4 percent on Sunday.

Insurers were up in Dubai too, with Takaful Emarat Insurance rising 3.3 percent – the best per-forming stock. The company last week posted a second-quarter net profit attributable to share-

holders of 347 million dirhams ($94.48 million), up from 253 million dirhams one year earlier.

It was followed by Dar Al Takaful, up 2.1 percent, and Du-bai Islamic Insurance and Rein-surance Co, which gained 2pc.

The Abu Dhabi index lost 0.1 percent, pulled down by RAK Properties, which on Sunday posted a drop in profit for the first half of the year to 29 mil-lion dirhams from 61.7 million dirhams for the same period one year earlier. Shares in the developer dropped 3 percent.

In Qatar, the index lost 0.9 percent, as Qatari banks – in-cluding heavyweight Qatar Na-tional Bank - shed value. The lender lost 2.2 percent, while Commercial Bank and Masraf Al Rayan lost 1.5 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

Saudi petrochemical companies shed value on lower oil prices. - (File photo)

Huawei in British spotlight over use of US firm’s software• A report last month said it found “shortcomings”which exposed the country’s telecoms networks to security risks

Reuters| London/San Francisco

Huawei Technologies is facing increased scrutiny

in Britain because it is using an aging software component sold by a firm based in the United States, one of the coun-tries where lawmakers allege its equipment could facilitate Chinese spying, sources told Reuters.

The fact that the British misgivings stem in part from Huawei’s relationship with a

US company shows how trade wars and heightened national security concerns are making it harder for technology firms and governments to safeguard

products and communication networks.

A report last month by a British government oversight board charged with analyzing

Huawei equipment said it had found technical and supply chain “shortcomings” which exposed the country’s telecoms networks to new security risks.

US and Australian lawmakers have

said Huawei’s prod-ucts can be used to facilitate espionage operations, an alle-

gation it denies

An ageing software component sold by the firm could allegedly facilitate spying

KNOW WHAT

Britain likely to leave EU without dealAFP| London

Britain is now likely leave the European Union

without a deal due to the “intransigence” of the Eu-ropean Union, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told the Sunday Times.

The pro-Brexit minister said that the chances of a no-deal Brexit were now “60-40”, laying the blame on EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

“I think the intransigence of the commission is push-ing us towards no deal,” he said in an interview with the Sunday Times.

“If the EU decides that the theological obsession of the unelected is to take priority over the economic wellbeing of the people of Europe then it’s a bureau-crats’ Brexit -- not a people’s Brexit -- then there is only going to be one outcome.”

GCC inclusion in JP index may lead to $30bn inflowThe National| Dubai

The inclusion of Arabian Gulf region into JP Morgan’s

widely tracked emerging market government bond gauge could lead to $30 billion of inflows and lower borrowing costs for the individual states, according to a new report.

The inclusion in the Emerging Market Bond Index (EMBI) will make the region’s debt market

access easier, Bank of Ameri-ca Merrill Lynch said in its lat-est Global Emerging Markets Weekly report. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, and Bah-rain sovereign bonds will make up a sizeable portion of the in-dex, between 10-11 per cent of the EMBI, it said. The GCC states are expected to be included next month, according to Reuters.

“Potential EMBI inclusion is a swing factor for GCC credit

[except Oman],” according to the report. “Sovereigns will also now be able to issue debt to a new audience of emerging market credit-focused investors, which should increase primary [debt] demand.”

In theory, flows could reach $40bn, which should be sup-portive for credit performance in the coming months. BofAML estimates the real number to be closer to $30bn.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, set the emerging market record when with its debut $17.5bn sovereign bond in October 2016.- Bloomberg

WHEN SOMETHING IS IMPORTANT ENOUGH, YOU DO IT EVEN IF THE ODDS ARE NOT IN YOUR FAVOR.ELON MUSK

QUOTE OF THE DAY


Hon. Chairman Najeb Yacob Alhamer | Editor-in-Chief Mahmood AI Mahmood | Deputy Editor-in-Chief Ahdeya Ahmed | Chairman & Managing Editor 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

LEANNE TORY-MURPHY

Giorgia Mirto gestures at the lines of simple metal rods topped with lami-

nated signs in a forgotten corner of a crowded cemetery in the Sicilian port city of Palermo. The signs, stained with rust and mildew, read “sconosciuto” or “ignoto” — they mark the graves of the unidentified victims of migrant shipwrecks.

Mirto’s animated presence and bright blue eyes bely the gravity of her mission. As one of the founders of the Mediter-ranean Missing Project, she has dedicated her life to document-ing what she calls border deaths, people who die or go missing while crossing the sea.

The Mediterranean has been the deadliest migratory route in the world in recent years, with more than 8,000 deaths in 2016 and 2017. So far in 2018 there have been more than 600 deaths. The vast majority of the bodies of deceased migrants that are found remain uniden-tified, and many are never found at all, leaving thousands of fam-ilies in the dark as to the fate of their loved ones.

Mirto has spent years ana-lyzing news reports, poring through police documents and visiting rows of unnamed graves in towns and cities through-out Italy’s south. Her quest is motivated by a sense of obliga-tion and her own history of loss. Her grandfather was kidnapped by the Mafia and never seen

again. “We don’t know what happened,” she says, “no one has been charged and we never got the body in order to bury it.”

When people die in a “mass disaster” — more than five deaths — the standard pro-cedure developed by the Red Cross is to begin Disaster Victim Identification, a process driven by forensic police and medical specialists. Despite the dozens of shipwrecks on the Central Mediterranean route since 1990, only three cases have been treat-ed as mass disasters by Italy’s interior ministry. This means that whether victims are iden-tified or not is entirely at the discretion of local authorities.

When there is a plane crash, victims are identified and fam-ilies informed. Mirto compares what has happened in the Med-iterranean to multiple plane crashes but says the resources and will to identify the victims has most often been lacking.

Part of the problem is that in order for police departments to invest resources in the identifi-cation of bodies there needs to be a criminal prosecution. The only substantial source of pros-ecutions has been misplaced ones against migrants pressed to become boat drivers — an unfortunate prerequisite.

The cost of not knowing for bereaved families goes beyond the emotional. “A wife should know that she is now a widow,” says Mirto. “She can start to in-herit her husband’s things, she can remarry, her children may be entitled to state benefits.

Following a shipwreck off the Libyan coast on August 24, 2014, it fell to police inspector Angelo Milazzo, in Siracusa, Sicily, to identify the victims.

Having had previous experi-ence with another shipwreck some years before, as well as having worked on investigations of online crime such as pedo-philia and child pornography, he was able to refine a social media-based approach to mi-grant victim identification, and

managed to identify 22 of the 24 deceased within two weeks.

Milazzo started with survi-vor testimony, working with an interpreter to get as much information as possible about the victims. He and the inter-preter simultaneously searched Facebook and Arabic news sites

(the passengers were Syrian) for news on the shipwrecks and for family members searching for their loved ones. Sometimes he would receive direct phone calls, saying for example, “’I am this person’s mother, I haven’t heard from him in three, four or five days. His ship sank. I want

to know whether he is alive or dead,’” Milazzo recounts to Mir-to. “What am I supposed to do?” he says. “I shouldn’t tell them?”

Milazzo’s experience identi-fying the victims of the August 2014 shipwreck is an exception. Between 1990 and 2013 for ex-ample, only one in five of the

Untold stories of families of shipwreck victimsFamilies of victims are the most invisible part of this whole tragedy

The beautiful and peaceful Kingdom of Bahrain has made us expatriates feel

right at home for decades. We moved to Bahrain in the late 90’s and have seen Bahrain grow sub-stantially and we grew with it. I enjoyed soaking up the diverse culture and the phenomenal love offered by people on this sweet island. As a family, we truly appre-ciated the affection and freedom offered by the gracious royals of this country.

However, I visited Bahrain in March this year after 4 years and was baffled to witness the dete-riorating kindness that I was so proud of. My family and I have experienced

some truly challenging situations but I am absolutely appalled at

what we stumbled upon recently.I want to shed some light on the

experience of a fresh college gradu-ate, who began working for a group of hotels recently. Soon after she started working, we learnt how unsafe these hotels and serviced apartments were for women. The management of the hotel has creat-ed an unhealthy and vicious atmos-phere by ill-treating and demoral-izing women by referring to them in a derogatory manner which is not only disappointing, but also an absolutely shame.

Due to the society we grow up in, we are taught to keep quiet, brush it under the rug or else be a victim of character assassination. I am utterly disgusted that higher man-agement, who are placed in such imperative roles, can stoop down

to such petty levels. This young girl was informed two weeks after her resignation that she will not be getting her passport or get paid for her hard work. She was also asked to reimburse the hotel for a customer walking out of the hotel without paying.

My question to the management is…would you expect your 22 year old daughter to stop a man who did not pay? Shouldn’t that be the re-sponsibility of the hotels security? I am an honors graduate in hospitality and I do not recall ever being taught to treat your internal customers this way. Instead, we learnt the impor-tance of being hospitable to your internal and external guests. In fact, I am horrified that this kind of injus-tice is still currently being practiced in a beautiful country like Bahrain.Hotels and service apartments still remain unsafe for women staff.

How long women need to confront workplace abuse? C I V I L I A N ’ S T R I B U N E

WHEN SOMETHING IS IMPORTANT ENOUGH, YOU DO IT EVEN IF THE ODDS ARE NOT IN YOUR FAVOR.ELON MUSK

QUOTE OF THE DAY



LEANNE TORY-MURPHY

Giorgia Mirto gestures at the lines of simple metal rods topped with lami-

nated signs in a forgotten corner of a crowded cemetery in the Sicilian port city of Palermo. The signs, stained with rust and mildew, read “sconosciuto” or “ignoto” — they mark the graves of the unidentified victims of migrant shipwrecks.

Mirto’s animated presence and bright blue eyes bely the gravity of her mission. As one of the founders of the Mediter-ranean Missing Project, she has dedicated her life to document-ing what she calls border deaths, people who die or go missing while crossing the sea.

The Mediterranean has been the deadliest migratory route in the world in recent years, with more than 8,000 deaths in 2016 and 2017. So far in 2018 there have been more than 600 deaths. The vast majority of the bodies of deceased migrants that are found remain uniden-tified, and many are never found at all, leaving thousands of fam-ilies in the dark as to the fate of their loved ones.

Mirto has spent years ana-lyzing news reports, poring through police documents and visiting rows of unnamed graves in towns and cities through-out Italy’s south. Her quest is motivated by a sense of obliga-tion and her own history of loss. Her grandfather was kidnapped by the Mafia and never seen

again. “We don’t know what happened,” she says, “no one has been charged and we never got the body in order to bury it.”

When people die in a “mass disaster” — more than five deaths — the standard pro-cedure developed by the Red Cross is to begin Disaster Victim Identification, a process driven by forensic police and medical specialists. Despite the dozens of shipwrecks on the Central Mediterranean route since 1990, only three cases have been treat-ed as mass disasters by Italy’s interior ministry. This means that whether victims are iden-tified or not is entirely at the discretion of local authorities.

When there is a plane crash, victims are identified and fam-ilies informed. Mirto compares what has happened in the Med-iterranean to multiple plane crashes but says the resources and will to identify the victims has most often been lacking.

Part of the problem is that in order for police departments to invest resources in the identifi-cation of bodies there needs to be a criminal prosecution. The only substantial source of pros-ecutions has been misplaced ones against migrants pressed to become boat drivers — an unfortunate prerequisite.

The cost of not knowing for bereaved families goes beyond the emotional. “A wife should know that she is now a widow,” says Mirto. “She can start to in-herit her husband’s things, she can remarry, her children may be entitled to state benefits.

Following a shipwreck off the Libyan coast on August 24, 2014, it fell to police inspector Angelo Milazzo, in Siracusa, Sicily, to identify the victims.

Having had previous experi-ence with another shipwreck some years before, as well as having worked on investigations of online crime such as pedo-philia and child pornography, he was able to refine a social media-based approach to mi-grant victim identification, and

managed to identify 22 of the 24 deceased within two weeks.

Milazzo started with survi-vor testimony, working with an interpreter to get as much information as possible about the victims. He and the inter-preter simultaneously searched Facebook and Arabic news sites

(the passengers were Syrian) for news on the shipwrecks and for family members searching for their loved ones. Sometimes he would receive direct phone calls, saying for example, “’I am this person’s mother, I haven’t heard from him in three, four or five days. His ship sank. I want

to know whether he is alive or dead,’” Milazzo recounts to Mir-to. “What am I supposed to do?” he says. “I shouldn’t tell them?”

Milazzo’s experience identi-fying the victims of the August 2014 shipwreck is an exception. Between 1990 and 2013 for ex-ample, only one in five of the


The beautiful and peaceful Kingdom of Bahrain has made us expatriates feel

right at home for decades. We moved to Bahrain in the late 90’s and have seen Bahrain grow sub-stantially and we grew with it. I enjoyed soaking up the diverse culture and the phenomenal love offered by people on this sweet island. As a family, we truly appre-ciated the affection and freedom offered by the gracious royals of this country.

However, I visited Bahrain in March this year after 4 years and was baffled to witness the dete-riorating kindness that I was so proud of. My family and I have experienced

some truly challenging situations but I am absolutely appalled at

what we stumbled upon recently.I want to shed some light on the

experience of a fresh college gradu-ate, who began working for a group of hotels recently. Soon after she started working, we learnt how unsafe these hotels and serviced apartments were for women. The management of the hotel has creat-ed an unhealthy and vicious atmos-phere by ill-treating and demoral-izing women by referring to them in a derogatory manner which is not only disappointing, but also an absolutely shame.

Due to the society we grow up in, we are taught to keep quiet, brush it under the rug or else be a victim of character assassination. I am utterly disgusted that higher man-agement, who are placed in such imperative roles, can stoop down


My question to the management is…would you expect your 22 year old daughter to stop a man who did not pay? Shouldn’t that be the re-sponsibility of the hotels security? I am an honors graduate in hospitality and I do not recall ever being taught to treat your internal customers this way. Instead, we learnt the impor-tance of being hospitable to your internal and external guests. In fact, I am horrified that this kind of injus-tice is still currently being practiced in a beautiful country like Bahrain.Hotels and service apartments still remain unsafe for women staff.

How long women need to confront workplace abuse? C I V I L I A N ’ S T R I B U N E

1965US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.

1991Takako Doi, chair of the Social Democratic Party, becomes Ja-pan’s first female speaker of the House of Representatives.

1997Korean Air Flight 801 crashed at Nimitz Hill, Guam killing 228 of 254 people on board.

2012NASA’s Curiosity rover lands on the surface of Mars.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY

I am utterly disgusted that higher management, who are placed in such imperative roles, can stoop down to such petty levels.

Italian cemeteries are very full. Plots tend to be owned or leased by

families, and remains are regularly exhumed and stored above ground in order to make room. An unclaimed body will be

transported to wherever there is space.


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4TWEETS

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Shri Rajkumar Bado-le, Minister of Social

Justice & Special Assis-tance, Govt of Mahar-ashtra went to Thailand to be ordained as a Bud-dhist monk at Wat Taat Tong, Bangkok, 30 July-5 August 2018. His name during priesthood was ‘Buddha Balo’. May Sir be blessed by Dharma.

@Chutintorn_Sam

Making others hap-py is not a ques-

tion of sacrificing our own happiness. Trying to make others happy, even when we do not always succeed, is a source of great satisfac-tion. Anger and hatred are signs of weakness, while compassion is a sure sign of strength.

@DalaiLama

Ditto! The Universe releases both, Posi-

tive and Negative ener-gy. It’s entirely up to us which one we want to tap into. The power to decide our destiny is in our hands.

@sadhavi

Iran, and it’s economy, is going very bad, and

fast! I will meet, or not meet, it doesn’t matter - it is up to them!

@realDonaldTrump

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

editorial stances)

bodies brought to Sicily follow-ing sinkings were identified. This is due to the enormous var-iability in procedures in the var-ious prefectures and the ways that corpses are managed and transported, often becoming dif-ficult to trace.

The police investigation is

only the first step. The police will notify the public prosecu-tors’ office and in some cases an investigation is launched into the circumstances of the death. Sometimes a coroner will exam-ine the bodies, take DNA sam-ples and write up a report, but often this procedure is skipped and the health authority simply issues a death certificate.

Then the search for a burial site begins. Simply put, Italian cemeteries are very full. Plots tend to be owned or leased by families, and remains are regularly exhumed and stored above ground in order to make room. An unclaimed body will be transported to wherever there is space. The practices may range anywhere from in-dividual families offering space to deceased migrants in their family plot to large mass graves.

Abdelhafid Kheit is the presi-dent of the Islamic Community of Sicily and has been an imam in the eastern city of Catania for over 20 years. He says that it is difficult to follow tradi-tional burial practices because the bodies often arrive in a high

state of decomposition due to the sea water. The first time he was asked to oversee the process, he says, he was taken aback by the state of the corps-es. “It remains one of the most difficult memories of my life,” he says.

Kheit describes the burial services he performs in Catania as “a moment of invocation, of memory… also a moment of pain, and of sharing that pain with everyone.” Despite the dif-ficulty of his task he says that, “the beautiful thing is not to remain indifferent to others’ suffering. It is human work, and one discovers himself through this work.” He recalls one fu-neral in particular when 17 ca-davers were brought to Catania and they were able to find a place for them through collab-oration with the mayor and a lo-cal university. The graves were adorned with verses from the poem “Migrations” by Nigeri-an Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka.

“Loose sands dog my steps. Loose sands of deserts, of chis-eled seabed shrouds — For some went that way before the an-swer could be given – will there be sun? or rain? We’ve come to the bay of dreams.”

Mirto is concerned that the lack of attention given to count-ing, tracing and identifying mi-grant deaths at sea means that “this part of our history is be-ing denied.” She hopes that the families of victims, whom she calls “the most invisible part of this whole tragedy,” will find truth, justice and eventually, peace.

(Leanne Tory-Murphy is a writer, researcher, and translator currently

living in Palermo, Italy)



My question to the management is…would you expect your 22 year old daughter to stop a man who did not pay? Shouldn’t that be the re-sponsibility of the hotels security? I am an honors graduate in hospitality and I do not recall ever being taught to treat your internal customers this way. Instead, we learnt the impor-tance of being hospitable to your internal and external guests. In fact, I am horrified that this kind of injus-tice is still currently being practiced in a beautiful country like Bahrain.

It is heart wrenching to know that such demeaning and insulting be-havior is not being put to shame just

because our society prefers to keep it hush. I would love to comprehend how this young girl resigning from a company immediately results in harassment and mudslinging and no one can do anything about it? Why should we, as a society, allow people in such positions to continue keep-ing their jobs and enjoy their perks at the expense of innocent young women who are working hard to support themselves? Is this the kind of example we are setting for our generations to come?

Such insensitivity towards wom-en must be addressed so that we make a safer environment for our mothers, sisters and daughters.

Latika Farrell

How long women need to confront workplace abuse?

Readers can mail their letters to [email protected]

A tale of two seas

The future of our oceans continues to be challenged by a long list of threats – warming waters, acidification, pollution, drilling, overfishing and destruction of our coral reefs are pushing our global ocean to the brink.

There is something about Bahrain’s sea. Perhaps it is the colour, perhaps it is its size, and perhaps it is the millions of

years of maritime history entrenched within its seabed. From serving as a trade center linking Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley in the Bronze Age, to becoming known as Tylos, the center of pearl trading by the ancient Greek civilization. Today, Bahrain’s sea is so culturally significant; we named our country after it, twice.

Treading its coastline, one can enjoy the sights of mangrove forests, moored dhows and pink flamingos painted across the landscape. Once at sea, the ability to bask amongst Bah-rain’s best-kept secrets, in the form of shoals, inlets and natural islands, dispersed through-out our streamlined waters, provides us with limitless vitality. As one dives deeper, or as one sails further, discoveries of coral reefs nestled between seagrass beds feeding the world’s second largest population of the magnificent dugong, or sea cow await. The vision of the world’s largest and only population of migra-

tory desert bird species, the Socotra Comorant, stretching across the vastness of Hawar Islands, is a sight any Bahraini can boast about.

But this is not a love letter to the sea. This is a tale of two seas, or two choices, that we need to make. We can choose the first sea, the sea of dynamic wonder, abundant in natural resources and food for both humans and animals. This sea can serve us as place where we can live our days in its bound-less streams of recreation. If this is the sea we want, we too need to serve it, for there is a second sea with the second choice. This sea is the result of the choice to continue the rampant rate of pollution on a daily basis, while destroying ir-replaceable coastal and marine ecosystems. This sea is chocked with plastic debris, harmful

chemicals and biodiversity loss. The choice between these two seas is simple, and one we can only make together.

Bahrain’s sea is connected to our global oceans, providing half of the world’s oxygen supply and regulating the global climate system. The future of our oceans continues to be chal-lenged by a long list of threats – warming waters, acidification, pollution, drilling, overfishing and destruction of our coral reefs are pushing our global ocean to the brink. Over the last ten years, humans have produced more plastic than during the whole of the last century and this number is only set to increase. The #1 manmade object that sailors see in our oceans are plastic bags. A report has stated that the weight of plastic will outweigh fish by 2050. It has been estimated that approximately 1 million sea birds are killed from plastic annually. It is important to you, as a consumer, to know that carelessly discarded plastic may also break down in the sea, especial-ly in warmer waters, releasing toxic chemicals that can be digested by fish and inevitably end up on our lunch tables.

Change has already happened. First hand, I have seen the disappearance of Bahrain’s marine water wells “chochab”, sensitive coral reefs and dramatically different fish catch. As a Bahraini community, we urgently need to individually protect and value vital marine ecosystems rath-er than treat them as endless resources to be exploited and a dumping ground for our waste. Our sea is part of our home, and must be kept clean for generations of humans and animals to enjoy.

(Dr Mohamed Mubarak Bin Daina is the Chief Executive of the Supreme Council for Environment)

DR MOHAMED MUBARAK BIN DAINA

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world


US not ‘starry-eyed’ about NKorea nuclear deal: BoltonAFP | Washington

As North Korea report-edly continues to build

missiles and produce plu-tonium, a top aide to US President Donald Trump said yesterday that “there’s nobody in his administra-tion starry-eyed about the prospects of North Korea actually denuclearizing.”

National Security Advi-sor John Bolton said that the “point may well come” when the US concludes that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is not serious about promises to denuclearize.

But Bolton, speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” said Trump had gone out of his way to make it easy for Kim to comply with promises made when the two men met on June 12 in Singapore.

“The president is giving Kim Jong Un a master class on how to hold a door open for somebody,” he said, “and if the North Koreans can’t figure out how to walk through it, even the pres-ident’s fiercest critics will not be able to say it’s be-cause he didn’t open it wide enough.”

Afghan suicide blast kills three Czech soldiersAFP | Kabul

A s u i c i d e b o m b i n g claimed by the Taliban

killed three Czech soldiers on patrol in eastern Afghan-istan on Sunday, the deadli-est assault on NATO troops for many months.

“Three Resolute Sup-port service members were killed by a suicide bomber during a combined, dis-mounted patrol with Af-ghan forces in eastern Af-ghanistan,” NATO’s Resolute Support mission said in a statement.

Pakistan road crash kills 18: policeAFP | Peshawar, Pakistan

A collision between a pas-senger bus and an oil

tanker killed at least 18 peo-ple and wounded 25 others in northwestern Pakistan, police said on Sunday.

The bus was heading to the southern port city of Karachi with about 48 pas-sengers when it collided with the truck near the city of Kohat Saturday, police official Ijaz Khan told AFP.

The vehicles were trav-elling towards each other on a single-lane road when they collided, Khan said. Of the 25 people wounded, he added, nine were seriously injured.

Sohail Khalid, the Kohat police chief, also confirmed the incident and the toll.

US denies role in Maduro ‘assassination’ bid

• Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro survives apparent assassination attempt

• President blames Colombia after apparent drone attack during speech in Caracas

AFP | Caracas, Venezuela

The United States yes-terday denied involve-ment as Nicolas Madu-

ro blamed the opposition and Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos for an alleged “assassination” attempt on the Venezuela president.

Venezuela’s far-left govern-ment said seven soldiers were wounded by the alleged attack using explosive-laden drones during a military parade in Ca-racas on Saturday.

Maduro pointed the finger at outgoing Colombian Presi-dent Santos and “the ultra-right wing,” a term he uses to describe domestic opposition, as a mys-terious rebel group claimed re-sponsibility.

US national security advisor John Bolton insisted there was “no US government involve-ment” and even suggested that the incident could have been

“a pretext set up by the regime itself.”

Venezuela has already reacted to Saturday’s events with a se-ries of arrests as Attorney Gen-eral Tarek William Saab, who was also present at the parade, warning: “There will be a ruth-less punishment.”

Saab said the names of those arrested would be revealed on Monday.

Once safely entrenched back in the presidential palace, Ma-duro barked out a defiant mes-sage to his detractors in a na-

tional address.

‘No forgiveness’ “Justice! Maximum punish-ment! And there will be no forgiveness,” he warned, spark-ing fears of an anti-opposition offensive in a country already reportedly holding some 248 political prisoners.

“I am fine, I am alive, and af-ter this attack I’m more deter-mined than ever to follow the path of the revolution,” added the successor to the late author of Venezuela’s socialist revolu-

tion, Hugo Chavez.State te levis ion images

showed Maduro looking up disconcertedly in the middle of a speech, having heard a bang, before members of the country’s National Guard lined up in the parade suddenly scattered.

“It was an attack to kill me,

they tried to assassinate me,” Maduro said.

Communication Minister Jorge Rodriguez said there was “an explosive charge... detonat-ed close to the presidential po-dium” and in several other spots along the parade held in central Caracas. Saab told CNN he saw a drone filming the event explode.

No drones could be seen in the television broadcast, which showed bodyguards jumping in front of Maduro to protect him with flexible ballistic shields. The broadcast was quickly cut.

Meanwhile, a policeman who requested anonymity told AFP that drones may have been re-leased from a nearby apartment that suffered a fire after one exploded. However, other ac-counts attributed the fire to the accidental explosion of a gas cylinder.

In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, security personnel surround Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro during the attack as he was giving a speech in Caracas, Saturday.- AP

An injured soldier being helped following the explosions. - AFP photo

I am alive and victorious.

Everything points to the Venezuelan ultra-right in alliance with the Colombian ultra-

right, and that the name of Juan Manuel Santos is behind this

attackNICOLAS MADURO

Hidden WW2 Eire sign revealed after gorse fire

BBC | Dublin

A Wo r l d Wa r Two - e ra landmark that had disap-

peared from sight has been rediscovered along the Irish coast after a wildfire scorched the ground.

The aerial sign was spotted at Bray Head, County Wick-low, by the Garda (Irish police) Air Support Unit as they flew over the area after the blaze.

The letters spell the word Eire, which means Ireland in the Irish language.

Over 80 Eire signs were dot-ted around the coast in WW2 to warn bombers they were flying over a neutral country.

The whitewashed letters were carved into headlands during the war as navigational

message to both Allied and German pilots.

Many of the signs are still in plain view, and some have been restored by volunteers in recent years, including one at Malin Head, County Donegal.

The Eire sign was revealed after a large gorse fire in Bray Head

KNOW

BETTER

The Eire signs were dotted around the

Irish coast in WW2 to warn bombers they were flying over a

neutral country

Bangladesh PM urges protesters to go homeAFP | Dhaka

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged stu-

dents yesterday to go home as police fired tear gas at teenage protesters during an eighth day of unprecedented demonstra-tions over road safety which have paralysed parts of Dhaka.

Students in their tens of thou-sands have brought parts of the capital to a standstill since two teenagers were killed by a speeding bus.

The unrest quickly spread beyond the capital. Authorities have shut down mobile inter-net services across swathes of the country, officials and local media said.

On Saturday the protests took a violent turn in Dhaka’s Jigatala neighbourhood, with more than 100 people injured as police fired rubber bullets at demonstrators.

A car carrying US ambassa-dor Marcia Bernicat was also attacked by “armed men” but she escaped unscathed, the em-bassy said.

The violence continued yes-terday with police firing tear gas into a large crowd marching

toward an office of the ruling Awami League party, an AFP correspondent said.

Dozens of protesters were attacked by people alleged to be ruling party activists, some armed with machetes, in Dha-ka’s Dhanmondi neighbour-hood.

Twelve were treated at Dhaka Medical Colleague Hospital, police inspector Bacchu Mia told AFP.

A photographer for an inter-national news organisation was

among those beaten.Hasina warned yesterday

that a “third party” could sab-otage the protests and put the safety of demonstrators at risk.

“That’s why I request all guardians and parents to keep their children at home. What-ever they have done is enough,” the prime minister said from her office.

Hasina’s warning came as protesters marched towards the scene of Saturday’s clashes chanting “We want justice!”

Bangladeshi students march during a student protest in Dhaka (AFP)


Melania praises LeBron James AFP | Washington

After Donald Trump sniped back at LeBron

James’ suggestion that he fuels American racial di-vides, support has flooded in for the NBA great -- in-cluding from the US presi-dent’s own wife, Melania.

In an interview on Tues-day -- also broadcast late Friday -- Los Angeles Lak-ers player and philanthro-pist James told CNN he believed Trump “is kind of trying to divide us.”

“He’s kind of used sport to... divide us and that’s something I can’t relate to, because I know that sport was the first time I ever was around someone white. You know?” said James, who on Monday opened an elemen-tary school for at-risk youth in his native Akron, Ohio.

Israel hits Gaza targets over ‘arson balloons’AFP | Gaza City, Palestine

An Israeli drone attacked a Palestinian militant

base in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, moderate-ly injuring two people, se-curity officials in the Ha-mas-ruled territory said.

They said the facili-ty, north of Beit Lahiya, was used by a small group known as Al-Mujahedeen, which despite its name that means holy warriors in Ar-abic is not a Salafist move-ment.

The Israeli military said one of its aircraft fired at two targets in the strip’s northern area, describing one of them as “a vehi-cle that served a terrorist squad for launching arson balloons”.

It also attacked “a terror-ist squad that was launch-ing arson balloons from the northern Gaza Strip into Israel”, the army said in an English-language state-ment.

Palestinians in Gaza have been flying balloons and kites carrying incendiary devices across the border into Israel, starting hun-dreds of fires.

ETA member leaves Spanish prison after 30 yearsAFP |Madrid

A key ETA member on Sunday left jail in Spain

after 30 years behind bars for his role in attacks by the Basque separatists, in-cluding their deadliest ever, prison authorities said.

Santiago Arrospide Sara-sola, better known as Santi Potros, was sentenced to a total of almost 3,000 years in prison, but in Spain actual jail time cannot exceed 30 years.

He left the Topas prison in the western city of Sala-manca “in the early hours of the morning”, a spokesman told AFP.

Santi Potros is believed to have been the head of ETA’s military organisation.

WWII plane crash kills 20 Investigation under way after mid-century JU-Air plane crashed into Swiss Alps

AFP | Flims, Switzerland

Twenty people died after a vintage World War II air-craft crashed into a Swiss

mountainside at the weekend, police said yesterday.

“The police have the sad cer-tainty that the 20 people aboard perished,” police spokeswoman Anita Senti told a news confer-ence.

There were 11 men and nine women aboard, including an Austrian couple and their son, she said.

The German-built Junker JU52 HB-HOT aircraft, dating from 1939 and nickamed “Iron Annie”, was a collectors’ air-craft.

It crashed into Piz Segnas, a 3,000-metre (10,000-foot) peak in the east of the country on Saturday at an altitude of 2,540 metres on the mountain’s west-ern flank, Senti said.

According to German-lan-guage newspaper Blick, the flight had taken off from Ticino in the south of the country and had been due to land at the Due-bendorf military airfield near Zurich on Saturday afternoon.

Swiss reports said the passen-gers were returning from Locar-no, a holiday spot in southern Switzerland on Lake Maggiore, where they had arrived early

Friday. The 20 Minutes newspaper

quoted a witness who was on the mountainside at the time of the crash.

“The plane turned 180 de-grees to the south and fell to the ground like a stone,” the wit-ness said, adding that the debris was scattered over “a very small area” -- indicating that an explo-sion was unlikely to have been the cause of the crash.

Andreas Tobler, Grisons can-ton chief of police said there was “no longer any hope of finding anyone alive.”

An investigation has been launched into the cause of the

accident.As this kind of collectors’

aircraft is not equipped with “black box” flight data and voice recorders, investigators must rely on eyewitness accounts and analysis of debris.

Daniel Knech of the Swiss safety investigation service SESE said the crew did not have time to send out a distress signal. He said hot weather conditions did not contribute to the crash.

The aircraft belongs to JU-Air, a company with links to the Swiss air force, the ATS news agency reported.

JU-Air CEO Kurt Waldmeier told reporters that the plane had

undergone maintenance inspec-tion in July.

‘Deeply saddened’ JU-Air said on its website that it was “deeply saddened” and its “thoughts were with the passen-gers, the crew and families and friends of the victims”.

The company’s flight opera-tions were suspended, it said.

JU-Air says it runs a small fleet of four Junker planes, all built in 1939, which are for hire. Its pilots are ex-military and professional pilots, all of them volunteers.

The Junker JU52 is made of corrugated steel and was built by

the German firm Junkers from the 1930s to 1950s. It was used as a military transport plane as well as a bomber during World War II.

On its website, JU-Air men-tions one past accident, in 1987, at the Koblenz airport in Ger-many in which no one was hurt.

In another Swiss plane crash on Saturday, a tourist plane car-rying a couple and two young children crashed in a forest in the Nidwald canton and imme-diately burst into flames. No sur-vivors have been found.

A general view of the accident site (AFP)

MAY LIKE IT

The plane was one of the three JU-52s used by the Swiss air force

for more than 40 years. When they were taken out of service, a cam-paign was launched,

which enabled the air-craft to be transferred to civilian use in 1982

Indonesia quake kills at least 37, injures dozensAFP | Lombok, Indonesia

A major earthquake on the In-donesian holiday island of

Lombok killed at least 37 people and injured dozens, officials said yesterday, damaging homes and triggering panic among tourists and locals.

The powerful quake was also felt on the neighbouring island of Bali, one of Indonesia’s most popular attractions, where people ran onto the streets in terror.

The shallow seven-magni-tude tremor struck just 10 kilo-metres (six miles) underground, according to the US Geological Survey, followed by further sec-ondary quakes and nearly two

dozen aftershocks.It was the second quake to hit

Lombok, whose beaches and hiking trails draw holidaymak-ers from around the world, in a week.

Rescue officials said much of the damage had hit Lombok’s main city of Mataram.

Agung Pramuja, a senior of-ficial with the Mataram search and rescue agency, told AFP the death toll had climbed to 37.

Residents of the city described a strong jolt that sent people scrambling to get out of build-ings.

“Everyone immediately ran out of their homes, everyone is panicking,” Iman, who like many Indonesians has one name, told AFP.

Electricity was knocked out in several parts of the city and patients were evacuated from the main hospital, witnesses and officials said.

Pictures showed patients ly-ing on their beds outside the clinic while doctors in blue scrubs attended to them.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agen-cy, said most of the damaged buildings in the city were built with substandard construction materials.

7The latest tremor

had a magnitude of seven and struck just 10 km underground according to the US Geological Survey

Czech tourist killed by shark in EgyptAFP | Cairo

A Czech tourist was killed by a shark while swim-

ming in the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt, authorities said Sunday.

The man died 20 kilometres north of Marsa Alam city as “a result of an attack by a shark”, city council chairman General Atef Wagdy told AFP.

The health ministry is co-ordinating handing over the body to the Czech embassy, Wagdy said.

Local media reported on Friday that human remains were found on a beach in Mar-sa Alam.

The environment ministry has set up a committee to in-vestigate the death and will issue a report, Wagdy added.

Marsa Alam attracts divers

who explore coral and other marine life, including fish and sharks.

“There is no problem in diving” around Marsa Alam, but people who swim on the surface in deep waters beyond the coral can be vulnerable to attack, Wagdy said.

In 2015, a shark killed a Ger-man tourist off Egypt’s Red Sea coast, marking the first death in five years.

There were six recorded shark attacks in Egyptian wa-ters in 2010, including a spate of five in five days unusually close to the shore that killed another German and injured four other foreign tourists in December that year.

The 2010 attacks forced the government to close off a stretch of beach in the Sharm el-Sheikh resort for a week.

Zimbabweans pray for peaceHarare, Zimbabwe

Clergymen led prayers for peace as Zimbabweans

went to church for the first Sun-day service since this week’s historic elections, marred by deadly violence and fraud claims.

“Zimbabwe right now needs peace, it needs unity. Zimba-bwe is known for peace, it’s a peace-loving nation,” said wor-shipper Emmanuel Masvikeni, 46.

“People dying to prop up the politicians... is not justified,” Masvikeni told AFP in front of the imposing carved stone fa-cade of Harare’s Sacred Heart Catholic Cathedral.

“I was quite disturbed, taken aback and very worried,” he said of Wednesday’s unrest.

Religious leaders in the Christian-majority country called for calm after troops in

central Harare opened fire on demonstrators protesting al-leged electoral fraud, killing six.

Inside Sacred Heart, wor-shippers bathed in the light of the green stained-glass win-dows sang songs of praise in the local Shona language while dancing in the aisles.

In the pews, young men in new Converse sneakers rubbed shoulders with pensioners in blazers and bright patterned dresses.

“It is the church that encour-ages unity among us citizens of the country -- despite their affiliations,” said accounting student Clemence Matare, 24.

Relatives and friends mourn at the funeral gathering for Sylvia Maphosa, shot during the post election violence in Harare (AFP)

A Balinese temple is seen partially collapsed in Badung in Bali island yesterday after a major earthquake rocked neighbouring Lombok island.- AFP photo

AFP| Frankfurt am Main

Turkish novelist Asli Erdogan, living in exile in Germany as she risks a life sentence on terror charges at home, thinks the writ-ing is on the wall: her country is

sliding into fascism.The award-winning author, still trauma-

tised by the four months she spent in an Is-tanbul prison, warns that Turkey’s institutions are “in a state of total collapse”.

In President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- no relation -- she sees a man tightening control over everyday Turkish life, emboldened by an outright victory in June elections, sweeping new powers and a crackdown on opponents.

“The extent of things in Turkey is like Nazi Germany,” the flame-haired 51-year-old told AFP in an interview in Frankfurt, her tempo-rary home as she awaits the outcome of her court case in absentia.

“I think it is a fascist regime. It is not yet 1940s Germany, but 1930s,” said Asli.

“A crucial factor is the lack of a judicial system,” she added, describing a country of overcrowded prisons and pro-Erdogan judges in their twenties rushed in to replace ousted peers.

Asli herself was among the more than 70,000 people caught up in a wave of arrests under a state of emergency imposed after a failed 2016 coup against Erdogan.

She was held for 136 days over her links to a pro-Kurdish newspaper before being unex-pectedly freed on bail.

The detention of the author of such novels as “The City in Crimson Cloak” and “The Stone Building and Other Places”, famed for their unflinching explorations of loss and trauma, drew international condemnation.

Turkey’s Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk has called her “an exceptionally per-ceptive and sensitive writer.”

‘Pathetically funny’ Turkey’s post-coup purge targeted not just

alleged backers of preacher Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for the attempted putsch,

but also opposition media and people accused of ties to Kurdish militants.

Turkish authorities reject accusations of widescale rights violations after the coup, and the state of emergency was lifted last month, after Erdogan was re-elected under a new executive-style presidency giving him direct control of ministries and public institutions.

“Erdogan is almost omnipotent,” Asli said.“He decides on the price of medicine, on the

future of classical ballet, his family members are in charge of the economy... Opera, which he hates, is also directly tied to him,” she added, chuckling.

“That’s the nice thing about fascism, it’s also pathetically funny sometimes.”

Turkish lawmakers have also approved new legislation giving authorities greater powers in detaining suspects and imposing public or-der, which officials say is necessary to combat multiple terror risks.

“It’s an emergency state made permanent,” said Asli.

‘Not bluffing’ As for herself, Asli has given up hope of

being acquitted and returning to Turkey an-ytime soon.

“They are not bluffing,” she said she real-ised after several journalists were sentenced to life terms.

She faces charges of spreading “terror prop-aganda” for her work as a literary advisor to the newspaper Ozgur Gundem.

The paper itself was shut down, accused by Turkish authorities of being a mouthpiece for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), considered a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.

The next hearings in Asli’s case are sched-uled for October and March.

The diminutive former physicist said the wait for the verdict was “almost unbearable”.

“One of the biggest tortures you can do to a human being is to keep his fate unknown.”

‘You write with blood’ Released from prison in late December

2016, it took Asli until last September to get her passport back from Turkish authorities.

She immediately left for Germany, follow-ing other Turkish artists and intellectuals into exile.

She now lives in Frankfurt, the recipient of a flat and a monthly stipend as part of the international Cities of Refuge project.

The scheme aims to provide persecuted writers with a safe haven from where they can continue working.

But Asli, who has written eight books trans-lated into 20 languages, hasn’t been able to pick up a pen yet.

Struggling with insomnia, depression and health problems, it has been easier to “play the professional writer” in past months, travelling abroad for literary events and talks.

But slowly her nightmares about prison are becoming less frequent, she said, while a pain-ful neck hernia has done her the unexpected favour of forcing her to slow down.

Asli said she was getting “more in the mood” to write, but her immediate focus remained on raising the plight of those still locked up in Turkey.

“I have been pushed into a political role, which I try to carry with grace.”

But when she is ready, she will put her own experiences of prison to paper, in what Asli predicts will be “a very heavy confrontation”.

“In literature, you have to be more than 200 percent honest,” she said. “You write with blood.”

14

features


For exiled novelist, Turkey is ‘like 1930s Germany’The award-winning

author, still traumatised by the

four months she spent in an Istanbul

prison, warns that Turkey’s institutions

are “in a state of total collapse”

Asli Erdogan- AFP photo

The extent of things in Turkey

is like Nazi Germany. I think

it is a fascist regime. It is

not yet 1940s Germany, but

1930sASLI ERDOGAN

15

entertainment


C R O S S W O R D

S U D O K U

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION

How to playPlace a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.

Y O U R S T A R T O D A Y

AriesYou may be having a difficult time getting your opin-ions across to others, Aries. For some, your ideas may seem too self-centred. For others, you may come across as insensitive to the situation. Do your best to understand what others are telling you. Don’t be surprised if you don’t receive the loving strokes that you feel you deserve.

TaurusThe emotional swings that you could feel today might put a damper on your fantasy world, Taurus. Remem-ber that it’s up to you to nurture these dreams. Try not to let emotional tides of the day affect your long-range strategy for realizing your most treasured visions.

GeminiPeople around you are apt to be touchy, Gemini, so be careful how you interact with them. You’ll find that they can see beyond any sort of facade and easily detect dissention within the ranks. Be honest about your opinion, regardless of how you think it will be received.

CancerWhile other people may be confused and distressed, you’re actually the one with all the answers, Cancer. Indeed, you’re best equipped to deal with the difficult situations that are likely to arise on a day like this. You have the ability to see through thick walls that others erect as barriers.

LeoBe passionate about the thing you love the most, Leo. Instead of trying to eat every single thing at the buffet table, just pick one or two items that you like the best and eat them with great enjoyment. Feel free to take some for later. Don’t let anyone talk you into a dish that doesn’t appeal to you.

VirgoYou may feel like a skipping record, Virgo. You’ve been scratched and mistreated, and now you continue to repeat the same thing over and over until you’ve driven your point home. This isn’t your doing, so don’t be concerned if you hear protests that you’re sending others over the edge.

LibraThere could be some tough forces questioning your most cherished dreams, Libra. Be careful about con-fronting someone who wants to poke holes in your idealism. You could end up feeling like a punctured balloon that’s slowly deflating. Do whatever you can to avoid the aggression at work to bring you down.

ScorpioYou’re in a unique position to understand all sides of the issues, Scorpio. While this is apt to give you a tremendous advantage over those who still have their heads stuck in the sand, this knowledge also gives you a greater responsibility to others.

SagittariusYou may be feeling rather anxious, Sagittarius. Perhaps you have a big date coming up and your mind is buzz-ing with how to make the best impression. Remember that the harder you try, the further away you’ll push the object of your desire. The most important part of impressing another is having confidence. Relax.

CapricornThis could be one of those days in which you feel like you just can’t get anything right, Capricorn. In an ef-fort to appease other people, you may think you have to make some adjustments that make you feel uneasy. This uncomfortable feeling could turn into nervous-ness, restlessness, and eventually anger.

AquariusYou may feel a need to add some fantasy to your daily routine today, Aquarius. Do you have someone in mind you’d like Cupid’s arrow to strike? Well, don’t rely on a cherub to do your work for you. Get out and do some target practice of your own so you’ll be prepared when you see the object of your desire.

PiscesYour psychic sense is apt to be keen as you fill your mind with fanciful scenarios, Pisces. These pictures in your head aren’t as farfetched as you might think. Today would be a good day to listen to your inner guid-ance - the aspect of yourself that’s keyed into hearing subtle important messages.

B E E T L E B A I L E Y

Across

1- To increase in value; 11- Fancy-schmancy; 15- Predecessor; 16- ___ Nui (Easter Island); 17- Brass wind instrument; 18- French summers; 19- ___ Lingus (Irish carrier); 20- Health resort; 21- Without any flaws; 23- Cry from a hacker; 25- The lot; 27- Causing goose bumps; 28- Rudner and Moreno; 30- Facing outward; 33- Like Shirley Temple’s hair; 35- Support beam; 36- Offshoot; 38- ___ Ababa; 41- End-of-workweek shout; 43- Organization; 45- Realm at Asgard; 49- Grow to maturity;

51- Friday’s creator; 52- Actor Brynner; 54- Baseball team; 55- To the extent that; 58- Guy’s counterpart; 60- Slangy negative; 61- ___ arms (angry); 62- Inverted; 65- Twining plant stem; 66- Those with whom you take math and geology; 67- Fulda tributary; 68- Large African antelope;

Down1- Amorous relationship; 2- Controversial; 3- Itching; 4- Rule, for short; 5- “___ Tu” (‘70s hit); 6- Mea ___; 7- Breathe in; 8- Year abroad; 9- Maryland athlete, for short; 10- Sea eagle; 11- Like better; 12- Westerns; 13- Coined money; 14- Speed; 22- Bring back into stock; 24- Pusher pursuer; 26- 61, in old Rome; 29- Slide; 31- TV listings abbr.; 32- X-ray units; 34- Hindu discipline; 37- Zip; 39- Pack ___ (quit); 40- Lie down face up; 42- Move through the air; 44- Roman household gods; 45- Nest-building wasp; 46- Relative by marriage; 47- One that lends; 48- Majestic; 50- Freshest; 51- Meat stew braised in red wine; 53- Pass into disuse; 56- St. Louis landmark; 57- Actress Ward; 59- Leg or arm; 63- Mediterranean isl.; 64- Not for a Scot;

PTI | New York

Actor Julia Roberts re-cently attended the Broadway adaptation

of her 1990 hit romantic drama ‘Pretty Woman’ as a mark of respect to director Gary Mar-shall.

According to a report, the 50-year-old actor was a sur-prise guest at the special me-morial performance of Broad-way’s ‘Pretty Woman: The Mu-sical’, held for the late director at the Nederlander Theatre in

New York City.Roberts was joined by the

late director’s wife, Barbara; daughter Kath- leen; and son, Scott, a t t h e preview screen-ing.

Roberts and Marshall, who died in 2016 at the age of 81, first worked together on ‘Pret-ty Woman’, and later collab-orated on ‘Runaway Bride’, ‘Valentine’s Day’ and ‘Mother’s Day’.

The musical, starring Sa-mantha Barks and Andy Karl, will officially debut

on the Broadway on Au-gust 16.

Barks has taken on the role of Vivian while Karl

will portray business-man Edward Lewis, a role famously played by Richard Gere.

“I nearly passed out!” Barks said of the moment

s h e f o u n d out about

Roberts’ a t tend -ance at c u r t a i n

call.

16 MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2018

THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME (15+) (ACTION/COMEDY) NEW

MILA KUNIS, SAM HEUGHAN, KATE MCKINNON

CINECO (20) 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 MN + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)DAILY AT (VIP I): 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PMSEEF (II) (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)SEEF (I) 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM SAAR 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM WADI AL SAIL 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM

HARB KARMOZ (PG-15) (ACTION/CRIME/THRILLER/DRAMA) NEW

AMIR KAKAR, GHADA ABDEL RAZEK, MOSTAFA KHATER

CINECO (20) 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM + (12.45 MN THURS/FRI)SEEF (I) 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM SAAR 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PMWADI AL SAIL 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM

OUR HOUSE (15+) (DRAMA/HORROR/THRILLER) NEW

THOMAS MANN, NICOLA PELTZ, XAVIER DE GUZMAN

CINECO (20) 12.00 + 2.00 + 4.00 + 6.00 + 8.00 + 10.00 PM + 12.00 MNSEEF (II) 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 + 5.30 + 7.30 + 9.30 + 11.30 PM WADI AL SAIL 5.00 + 7.00 + 9.00 + 11.00 PM

PATRICK (PG) (COMEDY) NEW

BEATTIE EDMONDSON, ED SKREIN, TOM BENNETT

CINECO (20) 11.15 AM + 1.15 + 3.15 + 5.15 + 7.15 + 9.15 + 11.15 PMSEEF (II) 10.45 AM + 12.45 + 2.45 + 4.45 + 6.45 + 8.45 + 10.45 PM

FANNEY KHAN (PG-15) (HINDI/COMEDY/DRAMA) NEW

AISHWARYA RAI BACHCHAN, ANIL KAPOOR, RAJKUMMAR RAO

CINECO (20) 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.45 + 6.30 + 9.15 PM + 12.00 MNSEEF (I) 12.45 + 3.30 + 6.15 + 9.00 + 11.45 PM SAAR 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PM WADI AL SAIL 12.15 + 3.00 + 5.45 + 8.30 + 11.15 PM

LEO DA VINCI: MISSION MONA LISA (PG) (ANIMATION/COMEDY/ADVENTURE) NEW

JOHNNY YONG BOSCH, CHERAMI LEIGH, BRYCE PAPENBROOK

CINECO (20) 11.15 AM + 1.15 + 3.15 PM

SEEF (II) 12.00 + 2.00 + 4.00 + 6.00 PM SAAR 12.00 + 2.00 + 4.00 PM WADI AL SAIL 11.00 AM + 1.00 + 3.00 PM

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE FALLOUT (PG-15) (ACTION/THRILLER/CRIME)

TOM CRUISE, HENRY CAVILL, VING RHAMES

CINECO (20) (IMAX 3D): 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM (VIP II): 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PM (ATMOS): 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 PM + 12.00 MN 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 4.00 + 7.00 + 10.00 PM + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)SEEF (II) 11.45 AM + 12.45 + 2.45 + 3.45 + 5.45 + 6.45 + 8.45 + 9.45 + 11.45 PM + (12.45 MN THURS/FRI) 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 4.00 + 7.00 + 10.00 PM + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)SAAR 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM WADI AL SAIL 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 + 11.15 PM

SKYSCRAPER (PG-13) (ACTION/THRILLERA/DRAMA)

DWAYNE JOHNSON, NEVE CAMPBELL, PABLO SCHREIBER

CINECO (20) 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MN +(12.30 MN THURS/FRI)SEEF (II) 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM + (12.45 MN THURS/FRI)WADI AL SAIL 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM

HOTELTRANSYLVANIA 3: SUMMER (PG) (ANIMATION/COMEDY/DRAMA)

ADAM SANDLER, ANDY SAMBERG, FRAN DRESCHER

CINECO (20) 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 + 5.30 + 7.30 + 9.30 + 11.30 PMDAILY AT (DUBBED IN ARABIC): 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 2.30 + 4.30 + 6.30 + 8.30 + 10.30 PMSEEF (II) 11.00 AM + 1.00 + 3.00 + 5.00 + 7.00 + 9.00 + 11.00 PM WADI AL SAIL 11.15 + 1.15 + 3.15 + 5.15 PM

THE FIRST PURGE(18+) (ACTION/CRIME/HORROR)

MARISA TOMEI, LEX SCOTT DAVIS, LUNA LAUREN VELEZ

CINECO (20) 11.00 AM + 1.00 + 3.00 + 5.00 + 7.00 + 9.00 + 11.00 PM

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVENTURE)

PAUL RUDD, EVANGELINE LILLY, MICHAEL PENA

CINECO (20) 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM SEEF (II) 2.00 + 7.00 PM + 12.00 MN

OCEAN’S EIGHT (PG-15) (COMEDY/CRIME)

SANDRA BULLOCK, CATE BLANCHETT, ANNE HATHAWAY

CINECO (20) 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM

JURRASIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER/SCI-FIC-TION)

BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD, CHRIS PRATT, JEFF GOLDBLUM

DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PMSEEF (II) 11.30 AM + 4.30 + 9.30 PM

THE ESCAPE PLAN 2: HADES (PG-15) (ACTION/THRILLER)

SYLVESTER STALLONE, DAVE BAUTISTA, XIAOMING HUANG

CINECO (20) 11.45 AM + 1.45 + 3.45 + 5.45 + 7.45 + 9.45 + 11.45 PM

THE INCREDIBLES 2 (PG) (ANIMATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE)

CRAIG T. NELSON, SAMUEL L. JACKSON, CATHE-RINE KEENER

CINECO (20) 11.15 AM + 3.45 + 8.15 PM

AL ABLA TAMTAM (PG-13) (ARABIC/COMEDY)

YASMIN ABDULAZIZ, HAMDI ALMIRGHANI, BAYOUMI FOUAD

CINECO (20) 1.45 + 6.15 + 10.45 PM

KARWAAN (PG-13) (HINDI/DRAMA/COMEDY) NEW

IRRFAN KHAN, DULQUER SALMAAN, MITHILA PALKAR

SEEF (II) 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM

THE ASHRAM (PG-15) (FANTASY/THRILLER) NEW

SAM KEELEY, MANOEL ORFANAKI, HERA HILMAR

SEEF (II) 11.15 AM + 1.15 + 3.15 + 5.15 + 7.15 + 9.15 + 11.15 PM

SHOCK AND AWE (PG-15) (BIOGRAPHY/DRAMA) NEW

WOODY HARRELSON, JAMES MARSDEN, ROB REINER

SEEF (II) 8.00 + 10.00 PM + 12.00 MN

MULK (PG-15) (HINDI/DRAMA) NEW

TAPSEE PANNU, RISHI KAPOOR, ABDUL QUADIR AMIN

SEEF (I) 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30

BUYBUST (18+) (FILIPINO/ACTION/THRILLERA) NEW

ANNE CURTIS, BRANDON VERA, VICTOR NERI

SEEF (I) 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM

KOODE (MALAYALAM) NEW

PRITHVIRAJ, NAZRIYA NAZIM, PARVATHY

SEEF (I) 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 PM + 12.00 AL HAMRA 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 PM + (12.00 MN THURS/FRI)

KNOW WHAT

Roberts attend Broadway’s ‘Pretty

Woman’ preview

NAME CHANGE

I, MAHIPAL, S/O, VIKRAM SINGH, holding Indian

Passport No. H1080800 dated

04/08/2018 issued at BAHRAIN having

permanent residence at (full address in India) Bankora,

Dungarpur (Raj) presently residing at Flat #736, Road

419, Block 304, MANAMA, Bahrain will henceforth be known

as (Given name) MAHIPAL (surname)

SINGH CHOUHAN. Objection(s) if any

may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O

Box 26106, Al Seef, Kingdom of Bahrain.

NAME CHANGE I, MEETHALE

VEERANCHERI ABDUL NASSAR, S/O, MEETHALE

VEERANCHERI EBRAYI, holding Indian Passport

No. J5369453, dated 12/05/2011 issued

at BAHRAIN, having permanent residence

at (full address in India) NO.32/433 A, VALIYA KALADATH,

ARAKKILAD, PUTHUR P.O, BADAGARA-673104,

KERALA, INDIA presently residing at Flat #1, Bldg.

407, ROAD NO. 3412, Block 334, MAHOOZ, Bahrain

will henceforth be known as (Given name)

MEETHALE VEERANCHERI (surname) ABDUL NASSAR. Objection(s) if any may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O Box 26106, Al

Seef, Kingdom of Bahrain.

NAME CHANGEI, ABDUL KARIM NIZAR, S/O ABDUL KARIM, HOLDING INDIAN PASSPORT NO.Z2984632 DATED ON 09/12/2014,ISSUED AT TRIVANDRUM, HAVING PERMANENT RESIDENCE AT PALAVILAKOM HOUSE, EDAVA P O, TRIVANDRUM DIST, KERALA PRESENTLY RESIDING AT P O BOX 2431, FLAT NO 31, BLDG 161, ROAD NO 3304, MAHOOZ, BAHRAIN WILL HENCEFORTH BE KNOWN AS(GIVEN NAME) NIZAR (SURNAME) ABDUL KARIM, OBJECTION(S), IF ANY,MAY BE FORWARDED TO EMBASSY OF INDIA, P.O BOX 26106,BLDG 1090,ROAD 2819, BLOCK 428,AL SEEF, BAHRAIN

The movie ‘Pretty Woman’ was originally going to be titled

$3,000. This was supposed to represent the amount Edward

paid Vivian. However, many found the title to be somewhat

confusing, so once they received the rites of the song “Pretty

Woman,” the title was promptly

changed

Sherilyn Fenn joins Rudolph Valentino biopicPTI | Los Angeles

‘Twin Peaks’ Sherilyn Fenn has been roped in

to play silent film star Alla Nazimova in ‘Silent Life, an indie biopic about Rudolph Valentino.

Valentino was a Hollywood superstar in the silent movie era and died unexpectedly in

1926. Vladislav Kozlov is directing

the film and will play Valenti-no, as per reports.

Kozlov is producing the pro-ject with Natalia Dar under their Dreamer Pictures banner, along with Yuri Ponomarev. The script was written by Kozlov, Dar, and Ksenia Jarova.

Patrick Stewart to reprise Star Trek role in new seriesAFP | Los Angeles

Actor Patrick Stewart de-lighted fans Saturday by

boldly going back to his role as Jean-Luc Picard, which he said he will reprise in a new Star Trek series.

The British actor, 78, said he would return to the iconic role during a surprise appearance at the annual Star Trek conven-tion in Las Vegas, said “it is an unexpected but delightful sur-prise to find myself excited and invigorated to be returning to Jean-Luc Picard and to explore new dimensions with him.”

“Seeking out a new life for him, when I thought that life was over.”

The new series, which the

CBS All Access streaming ser-vice will carry, is to center on Picard’s life post Star Trek: Next Generation.

That series ran from 1987 to 1994 with 178 episodes, and spawned several films, the last in 2002.

“I will always be very proud to have been a part of the Star Trek: The Next Generation, but when we wrapped that final movie in the spring of 2002, I truly felt my time with Star Trek had run its natural course,” Stewart said.

“It has been humbling to hear stories about how The Next Generation brought peo-ple comfort, saw them through difficult periods in their lives or how the example of Jean-Luc

Patrick Stewart

McKellar to star in ‘The Fiddling Horse’

• The actress will play character of a woman who inherits a racehorse

ANI | Los Angeles

American actress Danica Mae McKellar is all set to

star in the upcoming come-dy-drama ‘The Fiddling Horse.’ Mckellar who has been roped in to play the leading role, will portray the character of a wom-an who inherits a racehorse

and eventually teams up with a jockey-trainer to execute a long-con to cash in on the mon-etary and social winnings at the racecourse.

Produced by FortyFPS Pro-ductions and MK Ultra Pro-ductions, the comedy thriller is expected to go on floors this summer. The flick is being di-rected by Canadian Director C.J. Wallis of ‘Perfect Bid’ fame.

In addition to acting, McKel-lar has also written six non-fic-tion books, all of which encour-age girls to have confidence and succeed in mathematics.Danica Mae McKellar

Julia Roberts

South Africa ride on Hendricks tonAFP | Pallekele, Sri Lanka

Batsman Reeza Hen-dricks smashed a cen-

tury on his one-day interna-tional debut to set up South Africa’s series-clinching 78-run victory over Sri Lanka in the third match in Pallekele yesterday.

Hendricks made 102 off 89 deliveries to help South Africa post 363-7 and then bowl out the hosts for 285 in 45.2 overs. They took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

Dhananjaya de Silva tried to keep the chase alive with a career-best 84 but Sri Lanka’s batting crumbled under the ever-increasing run-rate.

Fast bowler Lungi Ngidi claimed four wickets while fellow paceman Andile Phe-hlukwayo took three.

But it was Hendricks, a right-hand batsman who has played 12 Twenty20 internationals, who set up

the win for his side that had been swept aside in the two Tests.

The 28-year-old became only the third South African batsman to register a hun-dred in his first ODI. Colin Ingram and Temba Bavuma are the other two.

Jean-Paul Duminy’s 92 off

70 balls, and half-centuries by Hashim Amla and David Miller, also contributed to South Africa’s imposing to-tal after being put into bat first.

“Brilliant today. Once again, the batting was fan-tastic. We played aggres-sive,” said skipper Faf du

Plessis, who injured his shoulder while attempting a tough catch in the 10th over and stayed away for the rest of the game.

“And obviously, for a debutant to play that free-ly was great to see. Every game, there’s one or two guys putting their hands up,” du Plessis said of Hen-dricks.

Amla gave South Africa a brisk start with his run-a-ball 59 before being bowled by medium-pacer Thisara Perera, who returned im-pressive figures of 4-44.

Kohli tops rankingAFP | Birmingham, United Kingdom

Virat Kohli broke new ground by topping the International Cricket Council Test batting

rankings for the first time in his career when the latest edition was published yesterday.

The India captain, already at the head of the equivalent one-day inter-national batting chart, found himself at the summit of these standings after scoring 149 -- his maiden Test century in England -- and 51 during the series opener at Edgbaston.

Unfortunately for Kohli, his impres-sive match haul of exactly 200 runs could not prevent an India defeat by 31 runs on Saturday’s fourth day in Birmingham, with England now 1-0 up in a five-match series.

Kohli’s two innings boosted his ranking rating by 31 points and helped him end Steve Smith’s 32-month reign as the top-ranked batsman in Test cricket.

Former Australia captain Smith is currently serving a 12-month inter-national ban for his role in a ball-tam-pering scandal during a Test against South Africa at Cape Town in March,

Kohli is now on top of the rankings for the first time in an impressive 67-Test career that has yielded 5,754 runs at an average of 54.28, including 22 hundreds.

He now leads Smith by five points, but will have to maintain the form in the remaining four Tests to end the series as the world’s highest-ranked batsman. Kohli is the seventh Indian, and first since Sachin Tendulkar in June 2011, to hold the number-one Test batting position.

Apart from Kohli and Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag and Dilip Vengsarkar are the other India bats-men to have been in the top spot dur-ing their Test careers.

However, at 934 points, Kohli has become India’s highest-ranked bats-man, 14th overall, on the all-time tally of points.

Kohli had entered the Edgbaston Test on 903 points, 13 points behind former opening batsman Gavaskar, and is now ahead of the ICC Cricket Hall of Famer by 18 points.

Meanwhile James Anderson, Eng-land’s all-time leading Test wick-et-taker, remained on top of an un-changed top 10 in the Test bowling rankings following his impressive display at Edgbaston which included a brilliant duel with Kohli.

The rankings will next be updated following the second Test between England and India at Lord’s, which begins on August 9.

17

sports


149Virat Kohli found himself

at the summit of these standings after scoring 149

Scorecard

South Africa 363 for 7 (Hendricks 102, Duminy 92, Amla 59, Miller 51, Thisara 4-75) beat Sri

Lanka 285 (de Silva 84, Ngidi 4-57, Phehlukwayo

3-74) by 78 runs

at Seef District too

Um al Hassan +973 17728699

Seef District +973 17364999

Virat Kohli celebrates his century on day two of the first Test at Edgbaston

KNOW WHAT

Kohli is the fastest cricketer to have scored more than 20 ODI centuries. He took only 133 innings to achieve this

feat. The previous holder of the record was Sachin Ten-

dulkar with 197 innings.

South Africa’s Reeza Hendricks plays a shot (AFP)

Media briefing on MMA eventTDT | Manama

Brave Combat Federation held a media briefing in Rabat, Morocco

regarding the first ever global mixed martial arts event to be hosted in Mo-rocco. This is the first time the event is being hosted in African continent.

The event will be held under the patronage of His Majesty King Mo-hammed VI, of Morocco. The press conference was presided by Lu-cas Carrano, Director of Brave, Abu Azaitar, Ottman Azaitar and Meriem.

The conference elaborated the de-tails of the event to media in Morocco

and the initiatives by His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa to develop the sport of mixed martial arts around the world.

Brave Combat Federation is the first organisation to host a global mixed martial arts event in Morocco.

The event is of historic significance for Morocco as it marks the largest live broadcast coverage ever for a mixed martial arts event hosted in the conti-nent of Africa.

A total of 18 fighters from 11 nations are confirmed to compete in the event. Brave 14 will be hosted in Omni Sport Indoor Club Tangier, Morocco on 18th August.

Bahrain creates history for broadcast coverage TDT | Manama

Bahrain based Brave Combat Feder-ation confirmed the largest broad-

cast coverage for a mixed martial arts event hosted in the continent of Africa.

Brave 14 will be hosted in the Omni Sport indoor club of Tangier, Morocco on 18th August.

Brave 14 will be broadcasted live across Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, Australia and Africa.

The coverage is the largest for a modern day combat sports event host-ed in the continent of Africa. Star-Sat and VodaCom will act as the live broadcast partners for Africa.

Abu Dhabi Sports will broadcast its first mixed martial arts event from the continent of Africa in the MENA region.

The event will be streamed live through digital content provider - Fite TV, in Canada, Australia, UK and USA.

FloCombat will solely focus in the United States of America. Brave Com-bat Federation had secured the patron-age from His Majesty King Moham-med VI of Morocco to host Brave 14.

A total of 11 nations have confirmed to be represented in the fight card cre-

ating the largest global representation for a professional mixed martial arts event in the continent of Africa.

Athletes will represent USA, Cana-da, UK, Russia, Sweden, Italy, France, Brazil, Mexico, Syria and Philippines.

“We are committed to grow our global broadcast footprint through constantly expanding list of broadcast partners. Brave 14 marks the first step by initiative under instructions of HH Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa to continent of Africa. More events will be revealed alongside upcoming global partnerships during the Brave Global Expansion 2018 conference held in Bahrain on 8th August, 2018 at Ritz Carlton”, said Mohammed Shahid, President of Brave Combat Federation.

We are committed to grow our global broadcast

footprint through constantly expanding list

of broadcast partners MOHAMMED SHAHID

Brave 14 press conference held at Rabat, Morocco

Buzarnescu, Sakkari to battle for WTA title• Sakkari escapes Collins to reach first career final

AFP | Los Angeles

Fifth-seeded Mihaela Bu-zarnescu will be gunning

for her first WTA title Sun-day when she takes on Maria Sakkari in the final at San Jose, California.

Romania’s Buzarnescu, ranked 24th in the world, ral-lied to beat fourth-seeded Bel-

gian Elise Mertens 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.Mertens, the world number

15, took the first set despite heavy pressure on her serve from Buzarnescu.

The two traded breaks to start the second before the Ro-manian won four games in a row to take a 4-1 lead.

Heading into the third, Mertens’ level had clearly dropped. She called for a train-er to treat her right forearm, but Buzarnescu won the last six games to seal the win and avenge her loss to the Belgian in the final at Hobart in Jan-uary.

Mertens had gone on to win titles at Rabat and Lugano this year, but was vying to reach the first Premier level final of her career.

Greece’s Sakkari, ranked 49th in the world, will also be chasing a first career title on Sunday.

She rallied from a set and two breaks down to beat American Danielle Collins 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.

“I think it’s part of my char-acter and the way I grew up playing - I like drama,” the Greek player said after the vic-tory. “When things get tighter, I’m more used to it. It’s in my character, Spartan.”


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De Minaur throughAussie teen’s epic fightback books title clash with Zverev

AFP | Washington

Australian 19-year-old Alex De Minaur saved four match points Sat-

urday and advanced to Sunday’s ATP Washington Open final, where he will face third-ranked defending champion Alexander Zverev.

The Aussie teen outlasted 20-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev 5-7, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 after two hours and 52 minutes while 21-year-old German Zverev ousted Greek teen Stefanos Tsit-sipas 6-2, 6-4.

“It’s one of the biggest wins of my career,” De Minaur said. “Dug deep and never gave up. Couldn’t be prouder of myself.”

De Minaur, ranked 72nd, won last six points of the tie-breaker to force a third set, then broke 46th-ranked Rublev in the final game, winning on his fourth match-point chance when the Russian double faulted.

“I’m probably going to look back on that and not know how I did that,” De Minaur said. “I managed to string along some great points. It was one of my best matches.

“I had to play some really good points to get myself out of there. I took advantage of a lot of short balls and tried to dic-tate and that turned the match around.”

It will be the youngest com-bined age of any ATP final since 20-year-old Rafael Nadal beat 19-year-old Novak Djokovic in 2007 at Indian Wells after the ATP’s first all-21-or-under

semi-finals since 1995 in Buenos Aires.

“This is amazing for tennis,” Zverev said. “It’s good to see the young guns come up.”

Zverev seeks his ninth career

ATP title and third of the year after Munich and Madrid. He could join a Washington back-to-back champions list that in-cludes Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro (2008-09) and Amer-icans Andre Agassi (1990-91 and 1998-99) and Michael Chang (1996-97).

“I’m playing great and hope-fully I can win,” Zverev said. “I hope I get out there and play a good match and get to Toronto with another title.”

It’s only the second career ATP final for De Minaur, the son of a Spanish mother and Uruguayan father who lost to Russian Daniil Medvedev in January’s Sydney final.

De Minaur, aided by a walk-over Friday when three-time Grand Slam champion Andy

Murray withdrew before their quarter-final, could become the first player to win his first ca-reer title at Washington since James Blake in 2002.

Rublev, who returned in July from a three-month layoff due to a lower back stress fracture, beat American Denis Kudla 6-1, 6-4 earlier Saturday in a rain-delayed quarter-final.

Rublev broke DeMinaur at love to close out the first set and raced ahead 6-2 in the tiebreak-er, but De Minaur hit an ace, service winner and forehand winner to pull level, then forced a third set on a Rublev mis-hit and wide backhand.

De Minaur lost his only meet-ing with Zverev in a Davis Cup fifth-set tie-breaker earlier this year.

Alex de Minaur of AustraliaAlexander Zverev

This is amazing for tennis. It’s good to see the young guns

come up. I’m playing great and hopefully

I can win. I hope I get out there and play a good match and get to Toronto with another title

ALEXANDER ZVEREV

The win at the ATP Los Cabos Open helps validate a career best season for Fabio Fognini as this is his third title of 2018 to go with wins in Sao Paulo and Bastad

Fognini topples Del Potro in final of Los Cabos OpenAFP | Los Angeles

Italian Fabio Fognini cap-tured his first career hard-

court title on Saturday, sur-prising Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-2, in the final of the ATP Los Cabos Open.

It is the 31-year-old Fognini’s eighth ATP Tour victory but his first on hardcourts after pre-viously winning only on clay.

The win helps validate a ca-reer best season for Fognini as this is his third title of 2018 to go with wins in Sao Paulo and Bastad.

He is projected to rise one

spot in the new world rankings on Monday to No. 14.

Del Potro had won their only previous meeting in 2015 in Sydney, Australia and was going for his second title in Mexico this year. He also won a tournament in Acapulco.

After dropping the first three games, Fognini fought back and used his forehand to push Argentina’s Del Potro behind the baseline.

Del Potro started to come unglued and Fognini was re-turning everything into play as he went on to win 12 of the final 15 games of the match.

Mihaela Buzarnescu

WTA San Jose tourna-ment started out as

the British Motor Cars Invitation in 1971 on

the Virginia Slims cir-cuit. Prior to 1978, the

tournament was known as the Virginia Slims of

San Francisco

Redemption for Japanese history-maker Momota

India’s Sindhu’s jinx in big finals continues unabated

AFP | Nanjing, China

Kento Momota dedicated his world title yesterday to

those who stuck by him when a gambling scandal threatened to wreck the history-maker’s budding career.

The explosive 23-year-old convincingly defeated China’s highly promising Shi Yuqi 21-11, 21-13 in Nanjing, becoming the first Japanese man to win the World Championships.

Carolina Marin claimed her own slice of history as the Spaniard became the first woman to win three badmin-ton world crowns with an em-phatic victory over P.V. Sindhu of India.

Momota’s career descended into controversy in 2016 when Japanese badminton chiefs suspended him for more than a year for visiting an illegal casino, denying him a place at the Rio Olympics.

Momota, number two in the world at the time, has been working his way back to the top ever since and was the pre-tournament favourite in Nanjing.

After dismissing Shi, Mo-

mota was coy about his tem-porary absence from the sport, but said after a pause: “There was a time when I was away.

“But I got a lot of help and support from many people, this title is a good reward for them.”

Momota, now seventh in the rankings, said he wanted to emulate greats Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan, two super stars who have reigned over badminton for well over a decade.

Lee missed the tournament because of illness and Lin was well beaten by Shi in the third round.

“They have had long and successful careers and like them, I want to give the audi-ence enjoyment,” said Momo-ta, whose championship-win-ning point was a huge anti-cli-max -- the shuttlecock hitting the top of the net before falling in his favour.

The Japanese immediate-ly apologised to Shi, who was playing in front of his home-province crowd and appeared nervous, making numerous errors.

Kento Momota of Japan hits a shot against Shi Yuqi of China


Dovizioso wins duel of Ducatis in Brno

AFP | Brno, Czech Republic

Italian Andrea Dovizioso celebrated his 100th race for Ducati by holding off

teammate Jorge Lorenzo to claim his second win of the season at the Czech MotoGP

in Brno yesterday.Dovizioso had the Spaniard

0.178sec behind him at the line with defending world champion and series leader Marc Marquez (Honda) third at 0.368.

Italian veteran Valentino Ros-si (Yamaha) finished fourth at nearly three seconds behind af-ter enjoying a strong start from

second in the grid behind Dovizioso.

Dovizioso, 32, started on pole position for the

first time since 2016.By the end of a thrilling

race held in sweltering tem-peratures, Dovizioso handed Ducati their first win in Brno since Australian Casey Stoner in 2007.

Notably missing from the top five finishers during the past

five editions in Brno, Dovizioso capitalised on his strong start to stay at the head of the pack for most of his near 42-minute spell on the circuit.

At first put under pressure by

Rossi before the Italian veteran dropped off the pace, Dovizio-so kept his composure during the crucial, final laps where he held firm to keep challenges by Lorenzo and Marquez at bay.

“I really didn’t expect to be so fast today,” said Dovizioso, who also claimed victory in the season-opener at Qatar.

“I’m very happy for the whole team.”

Marquez’s third place means he remains top of the standings

on 181 points and a 49-point lead on Rossi and 68 on Dovizioso.

“It’s good,” said Marquez. “I need to finish all the races now, this is the key.”

He added: “I was happy with my speed, I could follow Dovey ... but the problem is fighting against the Ducati guys. They have such a strong acceleration.”

Portugal’s Miguel Oliveira, on a KTM, claimed his second win of the season to take command of the Moto 2 series lead.

Oliveira started from fourth on the grid but after a thrilling duel with Luca Marini (Kalex), who started on pole, the Portu-guese got his nose over the finish line to beat the Italian by just 0.070secs.

Another Italian, Francesco Ba-gnaia (Kalex), was third at 0.525.

In the Moto 3 category, Italian Fabio Di Giannantonio, riding a Honda, held off Spaniard Aron Canet to claim his maiden pro-fessional win.

Di Giannantonio, 19, started fifth “but pushed his bike all the way” on his way to beating team-mate Canet by 0.112sec.

Czech racer Jakub Kornfeil (KTM), who had started on pole, finished third.

Italian Marco Bezzecchi (KTM), who finished sixth, now leads the standings after 10 races with a three-point lead on Spain’s Jorge Martin, who pulled out on Friday due to a fracture in his left hand.

Andrea Dovizioso leads the pack a merry dance in Brno (AFP)

KNOW WHAT

The bikes used in MotoGP are pur-

pose-built racing bikes - ‘prototypes’ - which are not available for purchase by the gen-

eral public and cannot be legally ridden on

public roads

Glasgow, United Kingdom

Teenager Bruce Anderson’s goal in time added on de-

nied Rangers manager Steven Gerrard a winning debut in the Scottish Premiership as Aber-deen secured a 1-1 draw with 10-man Rangers.

Gerrard, who took on his first senior manager’s role af-ter coaching the Liverpool Un-der-18 side last season, could feel hard done by.

Despite his side being re-duced to 10 men in the 12th minute with the straight red card for Alfredo Morelos they had dealt easily with an ineffec-tive Aberdeen until 19-year-old Anderson fired home from 15 yards out on his debut for the Dons.

“We were magnificent,” Ger-

rard told Sky Sports.“We were very good with 11

men, and even better with 10. Aberdeen had no idea against

us. For 93 minutes it was per-fect.

“It’s frustrating to lose the late goal. Every single player to a man was fantastic. Aberdeen only had one idea and it was to lump it into the box.

“I’m very pleased walking away from here (Aberdeen),” added the 38-year-old former Liverpool and England midfield great.

For Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes it was only the third time -- two draws and one win -- in nine clashes with Rangers he has managed to take some-thing from the game.

He admitted his side’s lack of effectiveness was down to a hard Europa League qualifier second leg against English side Burnley last Thursday which they lost after extra time.

Aberdeen players celebrate Bruce Anderson’s late goal that earnt them a point against Rangers

Anderson’s late strike denies Gerrard winning start

KNOW WHAT

Since his debut, Steven Gerrard rep-resented England at

2000 and 2004 Euro-pean Championships, as well as 2006 and the 2010 World Cup, where he first cap-tained his country

Saudi gamer wins FIFA eWorld Cup final Reuters | London

Saudi Arabia’s Mosaad Al-dossary saw off Belgian

adversary Stefano Pinna 4-0 on aggregate in the two-leg-ged FIFA eWorld Cup Grand Final on Saturday to walk away $250,000 richer.

The 18-year-old gamer, who competes as ‘MSDossary’, also collected an invitation to the world soccer body’s Best FIFA Football awards in September and a gleaming new trophy.

“I’m really proud that I made my country proud,” said the Saudi after winning each leg 2-0 on PlayStation and Xbox consoles while a frustrated Pin-na failed to find a way through on goal.

The two men faced each oth-er on a central stage at London’s O2 Arena, separated only by

their screens.“This is my second event in

the UK and second win so I think this is my second home. I

hope every year I am the cham-pion again,” said the teenager, who had a cousin sitting with him as coach.

Mosaad ‘MSDossary’ Aldossary of Saudia Arabia celebrates after defeating Stefano ‘Pinna’ Pinna of Belgium in the Final of the FIFA eWorld Cup 2018 at The O2 Arena in London

Defender Gibson costs Burnley joint club record feeAFP | London

Ce n t r a l d e f e n d e r B e n Gibson signed for Pre-

mier League side Burnley for a joint club record fee of £15mil l ion ($19.5mil l ion, 16.8million euros) on Sunday from Championship outfit Mid-dlesbrough.

The 25-year-old -- capped at all age levels by England up to Under-21 -- signed a four year

contract after he stayed loyal to Middlesbrough when they

were relegated after just one season in the Premier League a year ago.

However, Gibson -- neph-ew of Middlesbrough chair-man Steve Gibson -- has been persuaded to move with the attraction of a potential Eu-ropa League group campaign if Burnley come through the qual-ifying rounds and ‘Boro having failed to regain their Premier League status.

Ben Gibson

Andrea Dovizioso of Italy waves a flag after winning the MotoGP competition

AFP | London

Sergio Aguero spoiled Chelsea man-ager Maurizio Sarri’s first taste of English football as the Argentine’s

double gave Manchester City a stylish 2-0 victory in the Community Shield yesterday.

Blues boss Sarri, hired to replace the sacked Antonio Conte last month, en-dured a miserable debut in the prestig-ious friendly at Wembley as lacklustre Chelsea were swept aside by Premier League champions City.

Picking up where they left off in their record-breaking campaign last term, Pep Guardiola’s team took an early lead through Aguero, who rewarded City’s dominance with a second goal after the break.

The last side to win the Community Shield and then go on to clinch the Premier League title were Manchester United in 2010-11.

On this evidence, City could follow in their arch rivals’ footsteps at the end of the season.

City’s German winger Leroy Sane was forced off injured at half-time, giving Guardiola a scare ahead of their Premier League opener at Arsenal on August 12.

But that was the only sour note for City as they got back in the groove in impressive style.

While the Community Shield serves as curtain raiser to the new season, City and FA Cup holders Chelsea have very different ambitions for Premier League campaign, which kicks off on Friday.

City are favourites to defend the title and among the top Champions League contenders after becoming the first English top-flight team to secure 100 points last season.

In contrast, Chelsea are starting from scratch after chain-smoking former banker Sarri was hired from Napoli as an antidote to his antagonistic prede-cessor Conte.

But healing the wounds of Conte’s fractious two-year reign -- which end-ed with Chelsea 30 points behind City in fifth place -- won’t be easy for Sarri, as this spluttering performance under-lined.

Sarri and Guardiola are close friends and dined together on the eve of the Community Shield, yet this first expe-rience of Chelsea’s reduced status must have left a nasty taste for the Italian.

Aguero milestone Consigning Conte’s favoured 3-4-2-1 formation to the bin, Sarri sent Chelsea out in a 4-3-3 system that malfunctioned from start to finish.

Sarri has brought Italy midfielder Jorginho with him from Napoli to serve as the pivot for his manager’s attacking gameplan.

But Jorginho made an underwhelm-ing start, repeatedly giving the ball away in dangerous areas.

Phil Foden drove at the heart of the Chelsea defence to set up City’s 13th-minute opener with little resist-ance from Jorginho or anyone else.

Foden’s incisive run ended with a simple pass to the unmarked Aguero, who applied the finishing touch with a fine low strike from the edge of the area.

It was Aguero’s 200th City goal -- making the Argentina striker the first player to reach that milestone for the Eastlands outfit.

Foden’s contribution was the high-light of an assured display from the 18-year-old midfielder that belied his tender age and showed why he is hailed by City staff as the ‘Stockport Iniesta’.

After 10 appearances for City last season, when he also inspired England’s Under-17 World Cup triumph, Foden could be on the brink of a breakthrough campaign.

In the absence of Eden Hazard, still resting after the World Cup, Chelsea unveiled a precocious talent on their own in Callum Hudson-Odoi.

The 17-year-old winger gave a glimpse of his blistering pace and nimble foot-

work when he cut in from the left flank to bring City goalkeep-er Claudio Bravo into action with a stinging drive.

Hudson-Odoi was a rare bright spot for Chelsea, with subdued Spain striker Alvaro Morata offering little evidence he can make amends for last sea-son’s flop.

Inspired by Aguero, City could have won by five but they settled for one more in the 58th minute.

Aguero made a clever run to meet Bernardo Silva’s pass with a clini-cal finish that flashed past Willy Ca-ballero as the champions showed Sarri the size of the task ahead of him.

Aguero ruins Chelsea bow


Sergio always has a little bit with his

physicality… maybe he

needs a little bit more

time to take his physical

condition. But he arrived so

sharp, so goodPEP GUARDIOLA

KNOW

BETTER

Sublime Manchester City sweep Chelsea aside to lift Community Shield

Manchester City’s Belgian defender Vincent Kompany lifts up the FA Community Shield as Manchester City players celebrate their victory (AFP)

The Community Shield started life as the Charity

Shield, which ran from 1908 until its name change in 2002. It came from the original Sheriff of London Charity Shield, which was

played annually between a leading amateur club and

professional club

Sergio Aguero

imam brutally killed - dt news...2018/06/08 · 03 big story monday, august 6, 2018 hormuz strait...

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