sports 6 @newsofbahrain favourite nadal op-ed documenting ... · 9/06/2019 · resume talks 6...

400 million Facebook users’ phone numbers exposed in privacy lapse Washington

Phone numbers linked to more than 400 mil-

lion Facebook accounts were listed online in the latest privacy lapse for the social media giant, US me-dia reported Wednesday.

An exposed server stored 419 million records on users across several databases -- including 133 million US accounts, more than 50 million in Vietnam, and 18 million in Britain, according to technology news site TechCruch.

The databases listed Facebook user IDs -- unique digits attached to each account -- the profiles’ phone numbers, as well as the gender listed by some accounts and their geographical loca-tions, technology website TechCrunch reported.

The server was not password protect-ed, meaning anyone could access the

databases, and remained online until late Wednesday when TechCrunch contact-ed the site’s host.

Facebook confirmed parts of the report but down-played the extent of the exposure, saying that the number of accounts so far confirmed was around half of the reported 419 million.

It added that many of the entries were duplicates and

that the data was old.“The dataset has been taken down

and we have seen no evidence that Facebook accounts were compro-mised,” a Facebook spokesperson said.

Following the 2018 Cambridge Ana-lytica scandal, when a firm used Face-book’s lax privacy settings to access millions of users’ personal details, the company disabled a feature that allowed users to search the platform by phone numbers.

03 Bahrain best for expats

04 Syrian refugee crisis

08 US, China to resume talks

6

Bahamians stunned in Dorian’s wake5WORLD

OP-EDS P O R T S

Favourite Nadal advance into semisRafael Nadal beats Diego Schwartz-man to remain on course for fourth US Open title|P12

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER, 2019

210 FILS ISSUE NO. 8226

Documenting change in Saudi Arabia

Jennifer Aniston opens up about turning 50 10 CELEBS

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Aerial footage has shown scenes of catastrophic damage in Abaco with hundreds of homes missing roofs, cars submerged or overturned, widespread flooding and boats reduced to matchwood. Dorian was a Category 5 hurricane -- the highest on the five-level wind scale -- when it hit the northern Bahamas, leaving a trail of destruction and killing at least 20 people. (See page 5)

Trump’s Middle East envoy Greenblatt resigns

Reuters | Washington

Jason Greenblatt, a key architect of President

Donald Trump’s much-de-layed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, said yesterday he has resigned.

Greenblatt said in a state-ment it had been “the hon-our of a lifetime” to work in the White House.

A senior administration official said Greenblatt was going to spend more time with his family but left on good terms and “holds the confidence of the presi-dent.”

Earlier in the day, officials had hinted that Greenblatt planned to resign once the long-delayed US peace plan for Israel and the Palestini-ans that he has been work-ing on is released.

Russia’s Novatek announces launch of huge Arctic gas projectVladivostok, Russia

Russia’s Novatek yes-terday announced the

launch of a major liquefied natural gas project in the Arctic with Chinese, French and Japanese partners.

The privately owned company said that a “final investment decision” had been made on financing the $21 billion Arctic LNG 2 pro-ject with partners including France’s Total, CNPC and CNOOC of China, and a Jap-anese consortium.

Hurricane batters Bahamas

Deputy King directs EWA to re-issue bills for next 3 months TDT | Manama

Deputy King, His Royal High-ness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, directed EWA to con-

tinue re-issuing water and electricity invoices for Bahraini citizens at their primary residence (single account), while urging all government entities to “ensure” the accuracy of the services they provide”.

Invoices will be re-issued for Septem-ber, October and November based on last year’s invoices for the same period if they are lower than those issued this year.

The directive was given as the Deputy King met with the President of the Na-tional Audit Office (NAO), Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, at Riffa Pal-ace.

The Deputy King also directed EWA to expedite the launch of a newly devel-oped invoicing system which ensures the highest level of service in line with international best practices.

“It is a national priority to ensure the optimal use of resources while safe-

guarding the interests of citizens and guaranteeing the Kingdom’s comprehen-sive development,” said the Deputy King.

Later, Shaikh Ahmed presented an NAO report detailing the preliminary results of an investigation into the mechanisms used to calculate the electricity and wa-ter bills for June, July and August.

The report detailed technical and procedural aspects of the investigation, which has been conducted by the NAO in line with the directives of HRH.

The Deputy King praised the efforts of the NAO and the EWA in preparing the report, stressing the importance of com-pleting the investigation in coordination

with all relevant authorities. The report says that the circumstances

which affected the billing system were limited to the beginning of this year’s summer and that timely intervention and recalculation efforts have safeguarded the interests of the customers.

Recalculations were done for June, July and August.

The Deputy King further stressed the Kingdom’s commitment to upholding the principles of accountability, fairness and transparency across all government entities.

For his part, Shaikh Ahmed expressed gratitude for the opportunity to meet the Deputy King and noted HRH’s continued support for meeting the development needs of citizens.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Shaikh Khalid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, the Min-ister of Interior, Shaikh Rashid bin Ab-dullah Al Khalifa, Minister of Electricity and Water Affairs, Dr A.Hussain Bin Ali Mirza, Minister of Finance and National Economy, Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa attended the meeting.

Deputy King HRH Prince Salman with President of the National Audit Office (NAO)

US, Huthis hold talks

AFP | Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia

Washington is in talks with Yemen’s Iran-aligned Huth-is in a bid to end the coun-

try’s war, a top US official said yester-day, the first such contact in more than four years.

The negotiations open a direct chan-nel between President Donald Trump’s administration and the Huthis amid the threat of a broader regional conflict with Iran.

“We are narrowly focused on trying to end the war in Yemen,” Assistant Secretary of Near Eastern Affairs Da-vid Schenker told reporters during a visit to Al-Kharj air base near the Saudi capital Riyadh.

“We are also having talks to the ex-tent possible with the Huthis to try and find a mutually acceptable negotiated solution to the conflict.”

Schenker gave no further details on the talks, which mark a renewed effort to end a complex conflict that has left

tens of thousands dead and sparked what the United Nations labels the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Senior Huthi official Hamid Assem said he could neither confirm nor deny the rebels were in talks with Wash-ington.

“That the United States says they are talking to us is a great victory for us and proves that we are right,” he said.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Washington was preparing for direct talks with Huthis and that its negotiating team would be led by Christopher Henzel, who became the Trump administration’s first ambassa-dor to Yemen in April.

A State Department official said yesterday that “the US ambassador to Yemen and other US diplomats talk to all Yemenis to further US objectives in the country”.

“We are focused on supporting a comprehensive political agreement that will end the conflict,” the official said.

US Assistant Secretary of Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker (2nd-R) is shown purported Iranian weapons seized by Saudi forces from Yemen’s Huthi rebels, during a visit to a military base in Al-kharj in central Saudi Arabia

Jason Greenblatt

02FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

Continuous effort pledged to achieve SDGsTDT | Manama

Bahrain yesterday pledged c o n t i n u o u s e f f o r t s t o

strengthen its legislative infra-structure to enhance effective social participation and achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This came as Member of the Representatives Coun-cil, MP Ahmed Al-Damistani took part in the Third World Parliamentary Forum on Sus-tainable Development Goals in Indonesia.

Speaking at the forum, Al Da-mistani said Bahrain through its Government Action Plan (GAP) seeks to adopt sustainable de-velopment strategies aimed at improving its institutions’ per-formance and ensuring their involvement in the development

process. “Kingdom’s priorities include

combating corruption and de-veloping its work mechanisms, commensurate with SDGs,” he said.

The forum from September 4 to 5 was held on the theme ‘Combating Inequality through Social and Financial Inclusion’.

Al-Damistani called for creat-ing a suitable international en-

vironment to support countries’ efforts to achieve SDGs, stressing the importance of expanding the participation of all social segments in the development process.

The Representatives Coun-cil’s delegation to the World Forum comprises MPs Ahmed Al-Damistani, and Ibrahim Al-Nafaie.

The first session of the fo-

rum focused on the role of infrastructure and industrial innovation in fostering equal opportunities, as well as in elim-inating inequalities and creating inclusive communities.

The second session discussed ways to ensure rural access to clean water supply, sanitation and hygiene, and focused on finding solutions to reach the poorest and the marginalised in improving their health, nu-trition and productivity.

The forum called upon gov-ernments to renew their com-mitment and give more atten-tion in delivering the SDGs time-ly through tangible actions and mainstreaming and localising the SDGs, based on the cultures, local languages and conditions, or uniqueness of a respective country.

BDF Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa yesterday paid inspection visits to several BDF units. The commander-in-chief reviewed the units’ administrative and combat readiness, as well as their military preparations and work progress. Shaikh Khalifa expressed his deep appreciation of the outstanding efforts exerted by the BDF staff under the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the King and the Supreme Commander.

RCO schoolbag project: Funds credited to students’ accountsTDT | Manama

The Royal Charity Organ-isation (RCO) yesterday

announced crediting funds for purchasing back-to-school supplies to all its sponsored students ahead of the academ-ic year 2019-2020.

The “Schoolbag Project” is within RCO’s interest in en-couraging its affiliates to pur-sue their education, said RCO Secretary-General, Dr Mustafa Al-Sayed.

Al-Sayed said RCO is keen to create suitable conditions for orphans to continue their edu-cation and achieve outstanding results.

The gesture, he said, is in

line with the directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, RCO’s Honorary Presi-dent to ensure that RCO-spon-sored students’ needs are pro-vided. Al-Sayed extended con-gratulations to all students on the new school year, wishing everyone success.

RCO’s Social Care Direc-tor, Badr Ali Qambar, said RCO cares for its sponsored students through many pro-jects including honouring of high-achieving students, re-habilitation courses for its scholarship students, granting scholarships for distinguished students and regular follow-up on its affiliates’ academic per-formance to motivate them.

Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) Acting Chief Executive, Shaikh Salman bin Mohammed Al Khalifa headed Bahrain’s delegation to the 21st GCC eGovernment Executive Committee meeting, hosted in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh on Tuesday and attended by chief executives and general managers of GCC eGovernments. During the meeting, the Committee reviewed the implemented resolutions of the General Secretariat report and discussed several topics, including the follow-ups on the implementation of GCC eGovernment strategy initiatives, and recommendations on enriching and updating the online content of the GCC eGovernment portal.

HH Shaikha Moza bint Hamad Al Khalifa Girls’ school opens

TDT | Manama

Southern Governor attended the opening ceremony of

the largest public school in Bahrain Her Highness Shaikha Moza bint Hamad Al Khalifa Comprehensive Girls’ School in Jaw as directed by His Royal Highness the Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.

Dr Majid bin Ali Al Nuai-mi, Education Minister and Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Essam bin Abdullah Khalaf were present.

Shaikh Khalifa conveyed HRH Premier’s thanks and appreciation to the ministers and all competent parties and said that the BD11 million pro-ject would contribute to the upbringing of well-qualified students.

Southern Governor said that the education process in the Kingdom, which this year cel-ebrates its 100th anniversary is witnessing a continuous de-velopment.

The school includes primary middle and high school levels and will serve Khalifa Town and the neighbouring areas.

During the forum held in Indonesia

Free seminar for parents on ‘Simplified Maths’TDT | Manama

Global Institute of Man-agement Science is con-

ducting a free seminar for parents of students from grade 4 onwards on sim-plified maths using Vadic Formulas.

The seminar will be held at the Institute’s auditorium on Saturday at 4 pm.

The seminar will be con-ducted by Ms Vrushali Joshi, a prominent Vedic Maths tutor.

Vedic way of learning maths helps the students to fall in love with one of the scary sub-jects in school.

The tricks will assist them to learn mathematics with ease and fun. It increases the logical thinking in the students and resolves any problems with lateral thinking.

There will be regular classes on weekends along with Maths tuition from 14th Septem-ber onwards. Call 35583350, 33609508 to reserve your seats for the seminar.

The opening ceremony

The Minister of Finance and National Economy, Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa with the Minister of State for Financial Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, Obaid bin Humaid Al Tayer, and the Minister of Finance of the State of Kuwait, Dr Nayef bin Falah Al Hajraf, at Bahrain International Airport. The Ministers arrived in Bahrain this evening to attend a periodic follow-up meeting on the results of implementing the initiatives related to the Kingdom’s Fiscal Balance Programme, launched in October 2018. The Programme aims to achieve a balance between the Kingdom’s government expenditure and revenue by the year 2022.

Information Ministry mourns media advisorManama

The Ministry of Informa-tion mourns media advi-

sor Ahmed Al Murshed who passed away yesterday morn-ing after a long journey laden with work and achievement in the press and media.

Al Murshed started working at the Information Ministry in the mid-1970s and took up many missions at the Radio

and Television, the publica-tions and local news. He also worked as an advisor and me-dia expert for local and Arab parties.

The Information Ministry staff extend sincerest condo-lences to the family of the de-ceased, praying to Allah the Almighty to bless him with mercy, rest his soul in vast par-adise and provide his family with patience and consolation.

03

big story

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

Country Report

Overall Ranking Ease of Settling In Index

Quality of Life Index

Working Abroad Index

Family Life Index

6386Satisfaction Level

21752581

75% Global

81%Bahrain

21% Global

25%Bahrain

Transportation Infrastructure

63% Global

86% Bahrain

Childcare Options

26 out of 64 13 out of 36

17 Digital Life 43 Leisure Options 27 Health & Well-Being 20 Safety & Security 6 Personal Happiness44 Travel & Transportation

10 Family Well-Being12 Availability of Childcare & Education 20 Costs of Childcare & Education 9 Quality of Education 4 Childcare Options 18 Options for Children’s Education

29 out of 64Cost of Living Index

10 Career Prospects & Satisfaction 29 Economy & Job Security21 Work & Leisure

18 out of 6448out of

61

17out of

64

19out of

67

1out of

65

1out of

68

7out of

64

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201922 out of 64

2 out of 64 4 Feeling at Home 5 Finding Friends 10 Friendliness 3 Language

Personal Finance Index

BahrainCountry Report




Family Life Index


21752581

75% Global

81%Bahrain

21% Global

25%Bahrain


63% Global

86% Bahrain

Childcare Options







61

17out of

64

19out of

67

1out of

65

1out of

68

7out of

64

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201922 out of 64



Bahrain

Country Report




Family Life Index


21752581

75% Global

81%Bahrain

21% Global

25%Bahrain


63% Global

86% Bahrain

Childcare Options







61

17out of

64

19out of

67

1out of

65

1out of

68

7out of

64

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201922 out of 64







Family Life Index


21752581

75% Global

81%Bahrain

21% Global

25%Bahrain


63% Global

86% Bahrain

Childcare Options







61

17out of

64

19out of

67

1out of

65

1out of

68

7out of

64

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201922 out of 64



Bahrain

Country Report




Family Life Index


21752581

75% Global

81%Bahrain

21% Global

25%Bahrain


63% Global

86% Bahrain

Childcare Options







61

17out of

64

19out of

67

1out of

65

1out of

68

7out of

64

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201922 out of 64







Family Life Index


21752581

75% Global

81%Bahrain

21% Global

25%Bahrain


63% Global

86% Bahrain

Childcare Options







61

17out of

64

19out of

67

1out of

65

1out of

68

7out of

64

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201922 out of 64



Bahrain

Country Report




Family Life Index


21752581

75% Global

81%Bahrain

21% Global

25%Bahrain


63% Global

86% Bahrain

Childcare Options







61

17out of

64

19out of

67

1out of

65

1out of

68

7out of

64

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201922 out of 64



Bahrain

Country Report




Family Life Index


21752581

75% Global

81%Bahrain

21% Global

25%Bahrain


63% Global

86% Bahrain

Childcare Options







61

17out of

64

19out of

67

1out of

65

1out of

68

7out of

64

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201922 out of 64



Bahrain

Representative picture (Courtesy of Telegraph)

Bahrain best for expats

• Expats find it easy to settle down in Bahrain

• Expats also find it easy to make friends in Bahrain

• Taiwan is rated best in the world

TDT | Manama

Bahrain, expatriates say, is offering them and their families a better quality

life beating 57 other top desti-nations around the world, a new survey finds.

In terms of “working abroad and family life”, the survey by Expat Insider says, expats are “generally happy” and is also “finding it easy to settle in this country.”

The Kingdom achieved this feat despite losing some grounds in the form of six ranks while continuing in the top ten coun-tries for career prospects and job satisfaction (10th).

The survey ranks Bahrain 26th in the Quality of Life in-dex, 13th in Family life index, 2nd in Ease of settling in Index, 18th in Working abroad index, 22nd in Personal Finance Index and 29th out of 64 in the Cost of Living Index.

At the other end of the rank-ing, Kuwait (64th out of 64), Italy, and Nigeria are the worst destinations for expats in 2019.

While Kuwait is the coun-try where expats find it hard-est to settle in, Italy offers the

worst work-life and Nigeria the worst quality of life in the world.

The annual survey by InterNa-tions approached 20,259 expats representing 182 nationalities and living in 187 countries or territories for information on various aspects of expat life. Participants were asked to rate up to 48 different aspects of life abroad on a scale of one to seven.

On life in Bahrain, expats, the survey says, seem to be less satisfied with their work-ing hours (3rd in 2018 to 27th in 2019) and their job security (5th to 19th)

Sixty-two per cent of the re-spondents are happy with the state of the economy, which is just about the global average (63pc).

Expat parents are also slightly less happy, ranking Bahrain 13th out of 36 coun-tries in the Family Life Index (vs. 7th out of 50 countries in 2018).

Friendly attitudeStill, more than nine in

ten parents (93pc) rate the friendly attitude towards families with children posi-tively (vs. 81pc globally) and expats keep having no issues with settling in in their new country (2nd).

Easy to settle downMore than four in five re-

spondents (82pc) told the sur-vey it is easy to settle down in Bahrain (vs. 59pc globally).

Easy to make friendsThey find it easy to make

friends (68pc vs. 54pc glob-

ally) and to live in the coun-try without speaking the lo-cal language (94pc vs. 45pc globally).

Coming out first on the list is Taiwan, which is rated best in the world for the afforda-bility of healthcare. Vietnam, Portugal, Mexico, Spain and Singapore follow Taiwan in the rankings.

Vietnam is voted the sec-

ond-best country for expats in 2019, after ranking 14th out of 68 destinations in 2018.

The UK ranks 58th out of 64 countries in the Expat Insid-er 2019 survey amid ongoing Brexit uncertainty: it has fallen 14 places in terms of political stability, now ranking among the ten worst countries in the world for this factor (57th).

03

big story


Country Report




Family Life Index


21752581

75% Global

81%Bahrain

21% Global

25%Bahrain


63% Global

86% Bahrain

Childcare Options







61

17out of

64

19out of

67

1out of

65

1out of

68

7out of

64

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201922 out of 64







Family Life Index


21752581

75% Global

81%Bahrain

21% Global

25%Bahrain


63% Global

86% Bahrain

Childcare Options







61

17out of

64

19out of

67

1out of

65

1out of

68

7out of

64

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201922 out of 64



Bahrain

Country Report




Family Life Index


21752581

75% Global

81%Bahrain

21% Global

25%Bahrain


63% Global

86% Bahrain

Childcare Options







61

17out of

64

19out of

67

1out of

65

1out of

68

7out of

64

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201922 out of 64







Family Life Index


21752581

75% Global

81%Bahrain

21% Global

25%Bahrain


63% Global

86% Bahrain

Childcare Options







61

17out of

64

19out of

67

1out of

65

1out of

68

7out of

64

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201922 out of 64



Bahrain

Country Report




Family Life Index


21752581

75% Global

81%Bahrain

21% Global

25%Bahrain


63% Global

86% Bahrain

Childcare Options







61

17out of

64

19out of

67

1out of

65

1out of

68

7out of

64

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201922 out of 64







Family Life Index


21752581

75% Global

81%Bahrain

21% Global

25%Bahrain


63% Global

86% Bahrain

Childcare Options







61

17out of

64

19out of

67

1out of

65

1out of

68

7out of

64

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201922 out of 64



Bahrain

Country Report




Family Life Index


21752581

75% Global

81%Bahrain

21% Global

25%Bahrain


63% Global

86% Bahrain

Childcare Options







61

17out of

64

19out of

67

1out of

65

1out of

68

7out of

64

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201922 out of 64



Bahrain

Country Report




Family Life Index


21752581

75% Global

81%Bahrain

21% Global

25%Bahrain


63% Global

86% Bahrain

Childcare Options







61

17out of

64

19out of

67

1out of

65

1out of

68

7out of

64

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201922 out of 64



Bahrain

Representative picture (Courtesy of Telegraph)

Bahrain best for expats

• Expats find it easy to settle down in Bahrain

• Expats also find it easy to make friends in Bahrain

• Taiwan is rated best in the world

TDT | Manama

Bahrain, expatriates say, is offering them and their families a better quality

life beating 57 other top desti-nations around the world, a new survey finds.

In terms of “working abroad and family life”, the survey by Expat Insider says, expats are “generally happy” and is also “finding it easy to settle in this country.”

The Kingdom achieved this feat despite losing some grounds in the form of six ranks while continuing in the top ten coun-tries for career prospects and job satisfaction (10th).

The survey ranks Bahrain 26th in the Quality of Life in-dex, 13th in Family life index, 2nd in Ease of settling in Index, 18th in Working abroad index, 22nd in Personal Finance Index and 29th out of 64 in the Cost of Living Index.

At the other end of the rank-ing, Kuwait (64th out of 64), Italy, and Nigeria are the worst destinations for expats in 2019.

While Kuwait is the coun-try where expats find it hard-est to settle in, Italy offers the

worst work-life and Nigeria the worst quality of life in the world.

The annual survey by InterNa-tions approached 20,259 expats representing 182 nationalities and living in 187 countries or territories for information on various aspects of expat life. Participants were asked to rate up to 48 different aspects of life abroad on a scale of one to seven.

On life in Bahrain, expats, the survey says, seem to be less satisfied with their work-ing hours (3rd in 2018 to 27th in 2019) and their job security (5th to 19th)

Sixty-two per cent of the re-spondents are happy with the state of the economy, which is just about the global average (63pc).

Expat parents are also slightly less happy, ranking Bahrain 13th out of 36 coun-tries in the Family Life Index (vs. 7th out of 50 countries in 2018).

Friendly attitudeStill, more than nine in

ten parents (93pc) rate the friendly attitude towards families with children posi-tively (vs. 81pc globally) and expats keep having no issues with settling in in their new country (2nd).

Easy to settle downMore than four in five re-

spondents (82pc) told the sur-vey it is easy to settle down in Bahrain (vs. 59pc globally).

Easy to make friendsThey find it easy to make

friends (68pc vs. 54pc glob-

ally) and to live in the coun-try without speaking the lo-cal language (94pc vs. 45pc globally).

Coming out first on the list is Taiwan, which is rated best in the world for the afforda-bility of healthcare. Vietnam, Portugal, Mexico, Spain and Singapore follow Taiwan in the rankings.

Vietnam is voted the sec-

ond-best country for expats in 2019, after ranking 14th out of 68 destinations in 2018.

The UK ranks 58th out of 64 countries in the Expat Insid-er 2019 survey amid ongoing Brexit uncertainty: it has fallen 14 places in terms of political stability, now ranking among the ten worst countries in the world for this factor (57th).


KNOW WHAT

Iran, Russia, and Hezbol-lah support the Syrian Arab Republic and the Syrian Armed Forces militarily, with Russia

conducting airstrikes and other military operations

since September 2015.

Syrian refugee crisis, the biggest since WW II: DERASAT Chairman• Bahrain donated $20 million to the refugees’ cause

• At least 13.1 million people require humanitarian assistance

• Turkey says it would start allowing Syrian refugees to flee to Europe

TDT | Manama

The Syrian refugee cri-sis has become a global humanitarian crisis “on

a scale we have not seen since World War II or the partition of India,” said a top DERASAT official.

The crisis, a “daunting chal-lenge for the global community”, is also straining the “economies of Greece and many other coun-tries,” said Dr Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, the Chair-man of the Board of Trustees of the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International, and Energy Stud-ies (DERASAT).

He was addressing a work-shop organised to discuss the challenges of internally dis-placed Syrians or those left the country due to brutality of war.

“Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011 at least 13.1 mil-lion people required humanitar-ian assistance,” said Dr Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa.

He, however, warned the “numbers alone can never truly illustrate the human tragedy at the heart of this issue.”

Of the 13.1 million “six million are internally displaced,” he said adding: “Another five million have crossed borders.”

“Of those, approximately 3.6 million have landed in Tur-key, a million in Lebanon, over 650,000 in Jordan and over a million in the European Union.”

These numbers, the DERASAT Chairman said, are alarming and portray the enormous scale of the crisis.

“Some would go as far as to argue that the politics of many European countries have shifted irreversibly due to the migrant

crisis, much of whom are Syri-an refugees,” he said during the half-day workshop.

The workshop, which pre-sented a platform for Western nations to clarify their position on the crisis, was attended by experts and senior officials from the UN ESCWA, UN-Habitat, World Bank, research centres, non-governmental organisations as well as government officials.

Bahrain, Dr Shaikh Abdulla stressed, has never hesitated in assisting its Syrian brethren.

“Under direct orders from His Majesty the King, the Royal Charity Organisation has done much to protect and provide for the needs of Syrian refugees.”

Bahrain, he said, built schools and hospitals, as well as water wells for clean drinking water. “In Jordan, Bahrain has built an educational complex with four separate schools that can collectively teach 9,600 pupils.”

In cooperation with UNICEF,

water well, hospital, as well as 3,000 housing units were built by Bahrain in Jordan.

“Under the directives of His Majesty the King, Bahrain do-nated $20 million to the refu-gees’ cause.”

“All of the above and much more have been achieved by working with the respective gov-ernments, the UN and NGOs,” said Dr Shaikh Abdulla.

Turkey issues warningMeanwhile, in another devel-

opment yesterday Turkish Pres-ident Tayyip Erdogan warned Europe that it would start al-lowing Syrian refugees to flee to Europe if Ankara did not get more international support.

Turkey is home to more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees and recently called for a “safe zone” in the war-torn country’s north-east, to which refugees could return.

If the safe zone does not happen, “we will be forced to open the doors. You either give support, or if you won’t, sorry, but we can only put up with so much,” Erdogan said.

“Are we going to shoulder this burden alone?” he asked during the televised speech in Ankara.

Erdogan claimed Turkey had spent $40 billion on refugees and criticised the West, espe-cially the European Union, for failing to live up to its promises.

Under a 2016 agreement, the EU promised Ankara six billion euros ($6.6 billion) in exchange for stronger controls on refugees leaving its territory for Europe, but Erdogan said only three bil-lion euros had so far arrived.

“We may be forced to do this (open the gates) to get this (international support),” he said.

EU Commission spokeswom-an Natasha Bertaud denied the claim later on Thursday, telling reporters in Brussels that the EU had provided 5.6 billion euros to Turkey under the agreement, with “the remaining balance due to be allocated shortly”.

Turkey fears a fresh influx of refugees as the Syrian govern-ment advances into the last rebel stronghold of Idlib.

It also hosts hundreds of thou-sands of Iraqis and Afghans flee-ing conflict in their countries.

Turkey hosts more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees and was promised six billion euros by the EU in exchange for keeping most from reaching Europe

Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, at least 13.1 million people have required humanitarian assistance, six million of whom are internally

displaced. Another five million refugees have crossed international borders. Of those, approximately 3.6 million have landed in Turkey, a million in Lebanon, over 650,000 in Jordan and over a million in the

European Union. These numbers are alarming, and portray the enormous scale of the crisis.

DR SHAIKH ABDULLA BIN AHMED AL KHALIFA

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE BAHRAIN CENTER FOR STRATEGIC, INTERNATIONAL, AND ENERGY STUDIES (DERASAT)

Turkey is home to more than 3.6 mil-

lion Syrian refugees and recently called

for a “safe zone” in the war-torn

country’s northeast, to which refugees

could return

Bahrain condemns terrorist attack in Afghanistan TDT | Manama

Bahrain yesterday strongly condemned the “terrorist

bombing” in Afghanistan that killed at least 10 people includ-ing two NATO troops.

The car bomb blast shook Shash Darak, a heavily fortified area adjacent to the Green Zone and home to several important complexes including the Na-tional Directorate of Security (NDS), the Afghan intelligence service.

The Ministry of Foreign Af-fairs affirmed Bahrain’s solidar-ity with the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and support for its efforts to combat violence and

terrorism.The ministry, in a statement,

expressed deepest condolences to the families and relatives of the victims and wished rapid recovery to survivors.

Apparent surveillance footage of the attack, which occurred at about 10:10 am (0540 GMT), showed a grey minivan explode just after it had cut in front of a line of white SUVs waiting to make a right turn onto a street.

One nearby pedestrian can be seen turning and trying to run away as the minivan crashed through a barrier just before the blast. Resolute Support, the US-led NATO mission in Afghan-

istan, said a Romanian and an American service member had been killed in the explosion.

Romania’s defence ministry said the Romanian soldier had been conducting a joint patrol near the Green Zone.

The American death brings to at least 16 the number of US military killed in action in Af-ghanistan this year, just as Wash-ington is seeking a way out of its longest war.

According to interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi, at least 10 people were killed and 42 more wounded.

On Twitter, Taliban spokes-m a n Z a b i h u l l a h Mu j a h i d

claimed responsibility for the attack, saying a “martyrdom seeker” -- or suicide bomber -- had triggered the car bomb and that 12 “foreign invaders” were killed.

Massoud Zazai, who owns a photo studio across the street from the blast site, said he was in his shop when the explosion happened.

“I fell off my chair and it got dark inside the shop because of smoke and dust,” Zazai said.

The attack was close to where the Islamic State group killed nine journalists in a blast in April last year, including AFP Kabul’s chief photographer Shah Marai.

At least 10 people were killed and 42 more wounded, according to interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi

05

world


French rooster Maurice triumphs in battle over right to crowAFP | Rochefort, France

The owner of famed French rooster Maurice emerged

victorious yesterday from a legal battle with her neighbours over his early-morning crowing, with a court upholding the bird’s right to sing in the day.

The case brought by the neighbours of Maurice’s owner Corinne Fesseau has made head-lines around the world, seen as symptomatic of the tensions in the countryside between rural folk and holiday home owners.

“Maurice won and the plain-tiffs must pay his owner 1,000 euros in damages,” Fesseau’s lawyer Julien Papineau said.

Fesseau had told the court in Rochefort, western France, that nobody on the picturesque Atlantic island of Oleron had ever complained about Maurice before a couple of pensioners bought a holiday home next door.

Jean-Louis Biron, himself a retired farmer, and his wife Jo-elle, from the Haute-Vienne re-gion of central France, claimed that they were being roused at 4 am by Maurice’s shrill wake-up call.

Fesseau said she made sever-al attempts to silence her pet, including placing black sheets around his coop to trick him into thinking that morning had not yet broken -- all to no avail.

Reacting to the ruling Thurs-day, she shouted a victorious “Cocorico” (French for cock-a-doodle-doo) outside the court-room and said she was “speech-less”.

“It’s a victory for everyone in the same situation as me. I hope it will set a precedent for them,” she said, calling for a new “Mau-rice law” protecting the sounds of the countryside.

‘Save Maurice’ T-shirts

What began as a dispute be-tween neighbours ballooned into a national cause celebre, with 140,000 people signing a “Save Maurice” petition or proudly displaying his picture on “Let Me Sing” T-shirts.

Critics saw the lawsuit as part of a broader threat to France’s hallowed rural heritage by out-siders and city dwellers unable or unwilling to understand the realities of country life.

The couple’s lawyer however rejected the characterisation of the case as a battle between

“bobos” -- bourgeois bohemians -- and countryfolk, arguing that the 7,000-strong town of Saint-Pierre d’Oleron where Fesseau lives could not be considered the countryside.

The town’s mayor Christo-phe Sueur, a staunch ally of local woman Fesseau, took a different view, arguing that residents had always lead a rural life-style, “with vegetable gardens and henhouses.”

‘Merely audible’To verify the Birons’ claim

that Maurice was disturbing the peace, a court official was sent to

their home three nights in a row to assess the hour and volume of Maurice’s call.

The official found that the rooster crowed “intermittently” between 6.30-7.00 am (0430-0500 GMT), not from 4 am, and said the noise was “mere-ly audible” but by no means loud if the couple closed their windows.

The court castigated the Birons for bringing what it called a “frivolous” case, saying they should have tried to settle the matter amicably.

In many rural areas in France, some villagers resent richer urbanites buying up property in declining farming villages, which played into the fierce “yellow vest” anti-government protests that erupted around the country last November.

The mayor of the southwest-ern village of Gajac, Bruno Di-onis, penned a furious open letter in May in defence of the rights of church bells to ring,

cows to moo, and donkeys to bray throughout rural France.

He has asked the govern-ment to inscribe the sounds on France’s heritage list.

Babbling geeseMaurice and his owner are

not the only ones ruffling feath-ers. This week a woman in the duck-breeding heartland of the Landes region was brought to court by a newcomer neighbour fed up with the babbling of the ducks and geese in her back gar-den.

A petition in support of “the Hardy ducks,” as they have been dubbed, after the name of a near-by lake, has garnered some 5,000 signatures.

“More and more people are heading to rural areas, not to work in agriculture, but to live there,” Jean-Louis Yengue, a ge-ographer at the University of Poitiers, said.

“Everyone is trying to defend their territory.”

Corinne Fesseau with her rooster Maurice in the garden of her home in Saint-Pierre-d’Oleron, western France

First a rooster, now ducks are the subject of a French court case pitching locals against newcomers

Fesseau said she made several attempts to silence her pet, in-

cluding placing black sheets around his coop to trick him into think-ing that morning had

not yet broken -- all to no avail

Four dead as monsoon deluge sparks Mumbai chaos

Mumbai

A six-year- old boy was among four people killed

after severe flooding hit India’s financial hub Mumbai, result-ing in dozens of cancelled or delayed flights, officials said yesterday.

Mumbai -- home to 20 mil-lion people -- has been hit by torrential downpours over the past two months amid the an-nual monsoon deluge.

Non-stop rain over several hours on Wednesday para-lysed traffic, halted trains and delayed airport operations at the western city.

“We recovered a six-year-old boy Abubakar’s body from the drains after yesterday’s flood-ing,” Mumbai police official Shashikant Awghade said.

Awghade said the child fell into a drain during the deluge on Wednesday. His parents

searched for him through the night, but his body was only found by police early Thurs-day.

Two municipal officers died after “falling in rainwater” and another man drowned in a riv-er on Wednesday, the city’s disaster management cell spokesman Tanaji Kamble said.Residents spoke of being trapped in traffic for several hours amid chaotic scenes.

“It was a nightmare and the entire city came to a standstill,” chartered accountant Kevin Gogri said.

Maharashtra state govern-ment minister Ashish Shelar said schools would be closed on Thursday “as a precaution-ary measure”.

Many office workers stayed at home amid warnings of heavy rain from the meteoro-logical department, although conditions eased later in the day.

Non-stop rain over several hours paralysed traffic, halted trains and delayed airport operations at the western city

Boris Johnson’s brother quits UK government

London

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was dealt

a fresh blow yesterday when his brother Jo quit the gov-ernment, saying he could no longer reconcile “family loyalty and national inter-est”.

Jo Johnson had cam-paigned strongly against Britain’s exit from the Eu-ropean Union in 2016, a po-sition that put him at odds with his older and more fa-mous brother Boris.

But he took a job in his brother’s government as universities and science minister, a position he had held previously.

“It’s been an honour to represent Orpington (a Lon-don suburb) for nine years & to serve as a minister under three prime ministers,” Jo Johnson tweeted.

“In recent weeks I’ve been torn between family loyalty and the national in-terest -- it’s an unresolvable tension & time for others to take on my roles as MP & minister.”

Jo Johnson

Bahamians stunned in Dorian’s wake

Reuters | Nassau, Bahamas

Stunned residents of the Bahamas surveyed the wreckage of their homes

and officials struggled to assess the number killed by Hurricane Dorian, as the storm bore down on the South Carolina coast yesterday, threatening record flooding.

Some 70,000 people in the Bahamas needed immediate humanitarian relief after the most damaging storm ever to hit the island nation, the United Nations said.

Aerial video of the worst-hit Abaco Islands in the northern Bahamas showed widespread devastation, with the harbor, shops, workplaces, a hospital and airport landing strips dam-aged or decimated, frustrating rescue efforts.

One of the most powerful Caribbean storms on record, Dorian was rated a Category 5 hurricane when it killed at least 20 people in the Bahamas. Authorities expect that number to rise, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said at a news briefing, as retreating floodwaters re-vealed the scope of destruction.

One of the storm survivors

on the Abaco Islands, Ramond King, said he watched as swirl-ing winds ripped the roof off his house, then churned to a neighbor’s home to pluck the entire structure into the sky.

“‘This can’t be real, this can’t be real’,” King recalled thinking. “Nothing is here, nothing at all. Everything is gone, just bodies.”

With telephones down in many areas, residents posted lists of missing loved ones on social media. One Facebook post by media outlet Our News Bahamas had 2,500 comments, mainly listing lost family mem-bers.

Dorian killed one person in

Puerto Rico before hovering over the Bahamas for two days with torrential rains and fierce winds that whipped up 12- to 18-foot (3.7- to 5.5-meter) storm surges.

D o r i a n w a s b a r r e l i n g north-northeast just off the coast of the United States on Thursday, moving at about 8 miles per hour (13 kph) with 110 mph (175 kph) winds, the top strength of a Category 2 storm on the five-point Saffir-Simp-son wind scale.

More than 2.2 million people in Florida, Georgia, North Car-olina and South Carolina had been ordered to evacuate, but Florida avoided a direct hit.

Damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian on the Great Abaco island town of Marsh Harbour, Bahamas

Arab News | Dubai

Sara bin Safwan founded the Banat Col-lective in 2016 to connect with other like-minded people, championing

their art through the group’s website, banat-collective.com.

The group aims to help society to rethink the way women of colour are perceived by showcas-ing contemporary art, poetry and other writings. The collective publishes artistic works in print and online and hosts events aimed at spreading awareness and encouraging debate.

“A lot of the artists are young and emerging and never had the chance to be either exhibited or publicized, so we interview them to offer a critical, insightful look at their work,” said Safwan, 25.

Now an assistant curator at Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Safwan graduated from London’s world-famous Central Saint Martins college in 2015 with a degree in culture, criticism and curation.

It was while studying in Britain that she de-veloped a keen interest in post-colonial theory; the Banat Collective focuses on themes relating to both womanhood and intersectionality, which is an analytic framework to identify how inter-

locking systems of power impact those most marginalized in society.

“The mission is not only to connect artists but open up discussions about Arab womanhood in the region, because there’s not necessarily any

other place to do so. We do that through art, poetry and other writings,” Safwan said.

“I use the word ‘womanhood’ to make it a more accessible term because if I use ‘feminism,’ it’s a very politically charged word that has al-most been tainted by Western ideologies. And those Western ideologies don’t necessarily fit within our context as Middle Easterners.”

“In the Middle of it All” is the collective’s de-but publication. Released in 2018, the book is a 31-artist collaboration of visual art, writing and poetry. Our book is a means to help us stand out — it’s thoughtfully curated and tackles a specific issue, which is ‘coming of age’,” she says.

“It’s a notion that’s taboo in the Arab world and either unheard of or misunderstood. It was a chance for female artists to tell their own story.

“Throughout the book, we go through many topics such as puberty, identity, sexual har-assment and abuse, sisterhood, motherhood, beauty standards and all these other societal expectations.”

The collective held its first exhibition as part of March’s Art Dubai fair, showcasing a short film, “Ivory Stitches & Saviors” by member Sarah Alagroobi, which she describes as an “unflinching glimpse into identity, colonialism and whitewashing.”

Says Safwan: “It’s a tribute to all women of color who have been marginalized and, all too often, erased.”

Another work by Palestinian-Canadian artist Jana Ghalayini is comprised of a 26-meter-long piece of chiffon on which visitors can draw with chalk pastels in response to questions posed by the artist including “How does your environ-ment affect your identity?”

Safwan adds: “The themes we explored were vulnerability and community — it was a way to introduce ourselves in person because previous-ly we only had an online presence.”

Born and raised in the UAE to Honduran and Emirati parents, Safwan is now working with Alagroobi and Ghalayini to brainstorm ideas for future projects that include a podcast series on the notion of shame. The collective is self-fund-ed and run by volunteers.

“I hope there will be more opportunities to showcase our work and collaborate with others. This year, we will be publishing more content,” Safwan said.

FOR TO BE FREE IS NOT MERELY TO CAST OFF ONE’S CHAINS, BUT TO LIVE IN A WAY THAT RESPECTS AND ENHANCES THE FREEDOM OF OTHERSNELSON MANDELA

3114 BC 19091901 1916TODAY IN HISTORYQUOTE

OF THE DAYFRIDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

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

Date Maya/Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar starts dating from (as corresponds to the Julian Calendar).

Word received that Ameri-can explorer Robert Peary had discovered the North Pole, 5 months earlier

US President William McKinley is shot by Leon Czolgosz, an anar-chist, while visiting the Pan-Amer-ican Exposition in New York

1st true supermarket, the “Pig-gly Wiggly” is opened by Clar-ence Saunders in Memphis, Tennessee

F R A M E S

O P P O R T U N I T Y

Female-led art collective in UAE

wants society to rethink the way

women of colour are perceived

Saudi Arabian photographer

Tasneem Alsultan has

spent the past year and a

half capturing the social

shifts in the Kingdom

Documenting change in Saudi Arabia

Creative group gives female artists a chance to tell their story

Banat Collective focuses on themes relating to both womanhood and

intersectionality, which is an analytic framework to identify

how interlocking systems of power impact those most marginalized in

society

The sweeping social changes in Saudi Arabia over the past 18 months or

so have provided her with plenty of opportunities — whether on assignment

for The New York Times or National Geographic, or working on personal

projects

Arab News | Dubai

Tasneem Alsultan has established herself as one of the most sought-af-ter, and talented, photographers in

the region. She describes herself as “a pho-tographer interested in social and gender issues,” and even her wedding photogra-phy (with which she started her career and which continues to help fund her personal projects) eschews the usual portrait-style coverage for a more narrative-driven style.

“I don’t want to be ‘just’ a photogra-pher,” she says. “I want to provoke peo-ple to feel, to think.” And the sweeping social changes in Saudi Arabia over the past 18 months or so have provided her with plenty of opportunities to do just

that — whether on assignment for The New York Times or

National Geographic, or working on personal

projects.She has captured

tangible changes through images of “women at con-certs, women driv-

ing cars, women working in the pub-

lic sectors, women en-tering football stadiums,

and being active in stadi-ums,” she says. “But then there’s

also a subconscious change, almost, of how we react to those things.”

The most significant shift in Alsultan’s professional, and personal, life has been the lifting of the ban on women driving in the Kingdom. Even though she has had a license for around 12 years, having lived in Bahrain, Dubai and the US in that time, “I’d never been to places outside of the big cities before really,” she says. “Now I’m

going everywhere and photographing a different perspective — things that haven’t been seen, not just outside of Saudi, but even by Saudis. It’s great. I’ve been driving to places that are seven hours away, staying for a few days, then going back.

“Every time I get in a car, driving, I can’t believe that it actually happened,” she con-tinues. “I don’t think it’s the driving that’s the issue, though; it’s that I take the lead in where I want to go. It’s about control.”

Here, Alsultan talks us through a few examples of her work — “telling evocative stories in a way that will hopefully make a difference.”

“Bride and Groom”I see wedding photography as a narra-

tive, as storytelling, whereas many people just see it as portraits. I still have calls from confused clients, like, ‘So, do you use back-drops?’ Nope. ‘Do you use Photoshop.’ No. ‘So, what do you do?’ [Laughs.] I get it. It’s fine. I’m not the photographer for every

client, and I don’t think I should be a jack of all trades — I don’t think anyone should be if they’re serious about this — but I love it. I see it as a story about love and intimacy with a beginning and an end. I love asking the couple how they met and how they’re unique. I like how little moments make this couple want to live together forever.

The wedding was in a beautiful big ball-room in Jeddah. And the couple walked onto a balcony on the top tier and every-one’s looking at them from below. They exchanged rings, looked at each other and then walked down. They’re not a very cheesy couple, this was just a moment. As a photographer, you’re the storyteller. It’s not about manipulating the facts, it’s more about highlighting things — a moment that they might not have seen as romantic. But because I photographed it at the right time, it looks like they’re dancing, almost.

“Cheerleaders”This was an assignment for The New

York Times, covering the first female bas-ketball tournament in Jeddah. There were 3,000 women, apparently, in this stadium and it was a beautiful event. People wanted to attend just to be part of that moment; we were part of the ‘big change.’ You can see one of the girls is looking straight at the camera. It’s important, as much as I can, to be invisible. That’s very difficult, especially in this part of the world, where we’re very conscious about how we look. But it’s my job to just stay there and wait until I have the least number of people looking at me.

“Homecoming”I was photographing tourism in Saudi,

and in Al-Ula specifically, for The New York Times. I photographed all these ex-pats coming in and enjoying the country, but I felt like it wasn’t really their story to tell. After two days of only finding expats,

I got to meet locals. This woman and her female relatives, who are all in the photo, are originally from Al-Ula, but they’ve been living in Jeddah for the last 20 years. They drove all the way back just to visit their hometown. They didn’t go to the Andrea Bocelli concert, they were just interested in being happy in nature. And I think that was very important. It was a beautiful moment. They were saying, like, ‘We didn’t know our hometown would ever be on the map in Saudi. Now every-one knows about it!’ I think everyone in the world would like to explore their own country. We haven’t had that chance. And now we do.

“The Driving Lesson”Faisal was teaching his wife to drive. He

posted this photo on social media, and it got so many attacks. “How dare you share a photo of your wife?” “You’re not jealous

at all… what is this?” He got more attacks than people being happy. It showed, I guess, that many people are not prepared for these big changes. They feel threat-ened. But he was excited and happy to be teaching his wife to drive.

The good thing was, we complained about the online harassment, and the government intervened and people were either told off or their accounts were shut down.

This image was about waiting for the right moment, again. I don’t always get it right straight away, but there’s usually one shot, when I look through them, where I think, “That’s the one that doesn’t look like I’m there.”

What I’ve learned from being a pho-tojournalist is that you try to get as lit-tle content as possible in writing, and more in how the photo is taken. So that poster makes you understand that it’s in Saudi and, at least, what year it was taken.

A photo by Tasneem Alsultan tit A photo by Tasneem Alsultan titled “Cheerleaders” led “Cheerleaders”A photo by Tasneem Alsultan titled “Homecoming”

A photo by Tasneem Alsultan titled “Tea Time”A photo by Tasneem Alsultan titled “Bride and Groom”

A photo by Tasneem Alsultan titled “The Driving Lesson”

Sara bin Safwan

Jana Ghalayini’s work at Art DubaiA work by Nasreen Shaikh Jamala Lail The mission is not only to

connect artists but open up discussions about Arab womanhood in the region,

because there’s not necessarily any other place to do so. We do

that through art, poetry and other writings

SARA BIN SAFWAN

Tasneem Alsultan

08

business


Gulf Air in collaboration with Gulf Aviation Academy (GAA) and Bahrain Airport Services (BAS), has organised a ‘Kids Day’ for its staff in the airline’s headquarters in Muharraq. Employees and their children took part in various fun-filled activities as well as airline related exercises such as plane evacuation, fire and smoke safety procedures and other interactive sessions with various stakeholders from the three organizations.

US, China to resume talks in Washington in October• The talks were supposed to have resumed this month

• The top officials last met in Shanghai in July

Beijing

China and the United States will resume trade talks in Washington in

early October, Beijing said yes-terday, allaying fears that new punitive tariffs would lead to a breakdown in the protracted negotiations.

The world’s two biggest econ-omies have been embroiled in a tense year-long tariffs row, which escalated on September 1 when both sides swapped fresh levies on goods worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

The talks were supposed to have resumed this month but China’s commerce ministry said Vice Premier Liu He, Beijing’s pointman on trade, agreed to October in a phone call with US Trade Representative Rob-ert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin yesterday.

The officials agreed to “work together and take practical ac-tions to create favourable con-ditions for consultations”, the ministry said in a statement.

It added both sides would “maintain close communica-tion” ahead of the talks.

The news will be seen as a sign of optimism in a trade war that has weighed on the glob-al economy and stock markets while also shaking diplomatic relations between the two glob-al powers.

The top officials last met in Shanghai in July for discussions that were described as “con-structive” but ended with no announcements.

US President Donald Trump soon afterwards said he would increase tariffs on more than half-a-trillion dollars’ worth of imports, prompting Beijing to respond with fresh tariffs on US goods worth $75 billion. Those were the levies that kicked in this month.

Tensions continued to mount over the summer, with Trump earlier this week accusing Chi-nese negotiators of holding out for a better deal in hopes he will be voted out in next year’s presidential elections.

The US president has also claimed China is being forced back to the negotiating table because of the country’s slowing economy.

Policy toolsO f f i c i a l s i n B e i j i n g o n

Wednesday discussed new measures to keep the country’s economy growing in the face of an “increasingly complicated and challenging external envi-

ronment”, according to an offi-cial statement.

Policy tools proposed at a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang include cuts to the amount of cash banks must keep in re-serve to encourage more lend-ing, especially to smaller and medium-sized businesses. An increase in the use of local gov-ernment bonds to finance infra-structure projects was also put forward.

This week economists in-cluding Bloomberg Economics cut their forecasts for China’s economic growth in 2020 to below 6.0 percent as a result of increasing risks from the tariff war with the US.

But while Trump points to China’s weakening economy, observers warned that a survey Tuesday showing the US manu-facturing sector had contracted for the first time in three years was a worrying sign.

At the recent Group of Sev-

en meeting in France, Trump spoke of new communications between US and Chinese negoti-ators -- giving financial markets a brief boost -- though China’s foreign ministry said it was un-aware of such contacts.

This week Beijing said it had lodged a complaint against the US with the World Trade Or-ganization (WTO), the day after the new tariffs came into force.

While the US-China negotia-tions began in earnest in Janu-ary and seemed at first to make progress, they were abrupt-ly called off in the spring by Trump.

They resumed in June at the highest levels on the margins of the G20 summit meeting in Osa-ka, Japan, when Trump met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

But in its complaint to the WTO, Beijing accused the new US tariffs of “seriously violating the consensus reached by the leaders of our two countries in Osaka”.

The world’s two biggest economies have been embroiled in a tense year-long trade war

NBD’s gains boost Dubai• Emirates NBD extends rally on foreign ownership

• All but one property shares slide in Dubai

• Emaar falls for the third straight session

• Financials strong in Egypt

Reuters

The Dubai stock market rose yesterday mainly helped

by its largest lender Emirates NBD, while Egypt rebounded on the back of financials.

Dubai’s index closed 0.4 per cent up, with Emirates NBD increasing 1.5pc and Dubai Is-lamic Bank, the United Arab Emirates’ largest sharia-com-pliant lender, adding 0.6pc.

Emirates NBD has been rising since Monday after it raised its foreign ownership limit to 20pc from 5pc.

But developers capped the gains with Emaar Properties, the emirate’s largest listed developer, sliding 0.8pc ex-tending losses for a third day in a row.

The realtor’s chairman said on Wednesday he did not ex-pect a change in the company’s business after Dubai’s ruler set up a new real estate committee to regulate and control market supply.

Dubai’s property prices have contracted by 25-35pc since a mid-2014 peak and will con-tinue to decline sharply this year and next, as a slowdown in the economy and an over-supply of housing units pose big downside risks to already weak outlook of real estate sec-tor in the Emirate, a Reuters poll showed.

The Egyptian blue-chip index was up 0.6pc with its biggest bank, Commercial In-

ternational Bank, rising 1.6pc, while Eastern Company ad-vancing 3.3pc.

Last month, Egypt reported its lowest headline inflation rate in nearly four years, and its central bank cut interest rates by 150 basis points on Thursday.

Egypt’s index is up 14.6pc so far this year, beating most regional markets.

The Saudi index slipped 0.1pc, driven down by a 0.9pc fall in market heavyweight Saudi Basic Industries and a 1pc drop in Saudi Telecom Company.

Saudi Arabia may have to revise down economic growth estimates as lower crude out-put and tumbling oil prices take their toll on economic ac-tivity, with some economists forecasting a contraction this year in the world’s biggest oil exporter, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The Saudi central bank fore-cast economic growth of at least 2pc this year but econ-omists now expect margin-al growth at best or a slight shrinkage, its second in two years.

The Abu Dhabi index lost 0.2pc as Abu Dhabi Commer-cial Bank ended 1.5pc lower.

Qatar’s index also ended lower to close at 0.4pc down with Qatar National Bank, the Gulf’s largest lender by assets, falling 1.2pc and Qatar Islamic Bank down 1pc.

Closing Bell SAUDI 0.1pc » 8,055 pts

ABU DHABI 0.2pc » 5,114 pts

DUBAI 0.4pc » 2,891 pts

QATAR 0.4pc » 10,253 pts

EGYPT 0.6pc » 14,933 pts

BAHRAIN 0.6pc » 1,551 pts

OMAN 0.3pc » 3,998 pts

KUWAIT » 6,547 pts

India considering tax cut on hybrid vehicles

Reuters | New Delhi

India is considering a cut in the goods and services tax

(GST) rate on hybrid vehicles, Transport Minister Nitin Gad-kari said yesterday.

The government ’s plan comes as the auto sector bat-tles with a steep drop in sales

due to feeble consumer de-mand, with several top auto-makers and component manu-facuturers cutting production and laying off employees.

The Business Standard newspaper had reported on Wednesday that the govern-ment was examining a 15 per-centage point tax cut for hy-brid vehicles.

ndia’s Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari

IT CHAPTER TWO (15+) (HORROR/DRAMA) اااا ااااOASIS JUFFAIR : 10.45 AM + 5.00 + 8.15 + 11.30 PM OASIS JUFFAIR (VIP):11.45 AM + 5.30 + 11.15 PM CITY CENTRE :10.30 AM + 2.00 + 5.30 + 9.00 PM + (12.30 MN + 1.00 AM THURS/FRI)CITY CENTRE (VIP I) :1.00 + 4.30 + 8.00 + 11.30 PM CITY CENTRE (IMAX 2D) :12.30 + 4.00 + 7.30 + 11.00 PM CITY CENTRE (ATMOS) :10.15 AM + 1.30 + 5.00 + 8.30 PM + 12.00 MNSEEF (II): 11.00 AM + 2.15 + 5.30 + 8.45 PM + 12.00 MN + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)WADI AL SAIL: 12.30 + 3.45 + 7.00 + 8.30 + 10.15 + 11.45 PM SAAR:12.45 + 4.00 + 7.15 + 8.15 + 10.30 + 11.30 PM

JAMES MCAVOY, JESSICA CHASTAIN, BILL HADER

CHHICHHORE (PG-15) (HINDI/DRAMA/COMEDY) اFROM THURSDAY 7.00 PM ONWARDSOASIS JUFFAIR : 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM CITY CENTRE :11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM SEEF (I):11.45 AM + 2.45 + 5.45 + 8.45 + 11.45 PM WADI AL SAIL: 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 + 11.15 PM SAAR: 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PM

SUSHANT SINGH RAJPUT, SHRADDHA KAPOOR, VARUN SHARMA

PLAYMOBIL: THE MOVIE (G) (ANIMATION/ADVENTUREOASIS JUFFAIR (KIDS CINEMA): 11.00 AM + 3.00 + 7.00 + 11.00 PMCITY CENTRE : 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PM SEEF (II): 10.30 AM + 2.30 + 6.30 + 10.30 PM WADI AL SAIL:10.30 AM + 12.30 + 2.30 + 4.30 + 6.30 PM SAAR: 12.15 + 2.15 + 4.15 + 6.15 PMDANIEL RADCLIFFE, ADAM LAMBERT, ANYA TAYLOR-JOYJUST A STRANGER (15+) (FILIPINO/ROMANTIC/DRAMAOASIS JUFFAIR: 10.30 AM + 4.00 + 6.45 + 9.30 PM SEEF (II):11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM

ANNE CURTIS, MARCO GUMABAO , EDU MANZANO

BERLIN, I LOVE YOU (15+) (ROMANTIC/DRAMA)SEEF (II): 2.30 + 7.15 PM + 12.00 MNWADI AL SAIL: 11.45 AM + 4.30 + 9.15 PM

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, HELEN MIRREN, LUKE WILSON

LIGHT OF MY LIFE (PG-15) (DRAMA) SEEF (II):12.00 + 4.45 + 9.30 PM WADI AL SAIL: 2.00 + 6.45 + 11.30 PM

CASEY AFFLECK, ANNA PNIOWSKY, TOM BOWER

SURKHI BINDI (PG) (PUNJABI/COMEDY/ROMANTIC/DRAMA) SEEF (II): 3.30 + 9.00 PM

GURNAM BHULLAR, SARGUN MEHTA, RUPINDER RUPI, NISHA BANO

KHALEB SHANAB (PG) (ARABIC/COMEDY)CITY CENTRE :2.30 + 7.15 PM + 12.00 MNSEEF (II): 9.30 PM + 11.15 PM

AMMAR AL RAHMA, SAAD ABDULLAH, MOHAMMED AL KINDI

ANGEL HAS FALLEN (PG-15)(ACTION/THRILLER/DRAMA) OASIS JUFFAIR : 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PMOASIS JUFFAIR (VIP): 3.00 + 8.45 PMCITY CENTRE : 11.00 AM + 12.00 + 1.30 + 2.30 + 4.00 + 5.00 + 6.30 + 7.30 + 9.00 + 10.00 + 11.30 PM + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)CITY CENTRE VIP (II): 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 + 12.00 MNSEEF (I): 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 + 12.00 MN

WADI AL SAIL: 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PMSAAR:11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM

GERARD BUTLER, MORGAN FREEMAN, JADA PINKETT SMITH

SAAHO (PG-15)(ACTION/CRIME/THRILLER) اااا OASIS JUFFAIR (HINDI): 10.45 AM + 2.00 + 8.15 + 11.30 PM SEEF (II) (HINDI) : 10.30 AM + 1.45 + 5.00 + 8.15 + 11.30 PM

PRABHAS, SHRADDHA KAPOOR, MANDIRA BEDI

FAST & FURIOUS: HOBBS & SHAW (PG-15)(ACTIONاا CITY CENTRE: 10.15 AM +12.00 + 1.00 + 2.45 + 3.45 + 5.30 + 6.30 + 8.15 + 9.15 + 11.00 + 12.00 MNSEEF (II): 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PM

DWAYNE JOHNSON, JASON STATHAM, IDRIS ELBA

KHAYAL MAATA (PG)(COMEDY/DRAMA) اااا اااا CITY CENTRE : 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM SEEF (II): 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PMWADI AL SAIL: 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM

AHMAD HELMY, MINNA SHALABI, HASSAN HOSNEY

DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD (PG)(ADVENTURECITY CENTRE:10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 + 12.00 MNSEEF (II): 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PM

ISABELA MONER, Q’ORIANKA KILCHER, BENICIO DEL TORO

THE LION KING (PG)(ADVENTURE/DRAMA/FAMILY) CITY CENTRE: 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM SEEF (II): 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 PM

DONALD GLOVER, SETH ROGEN, CHIWETEL EJIOFOR

47 METERS DOWN : UNCAGED (15+)(THRILLER/ HORROR) CITY CENTRE: 12.00 + 2.00 + 4.00 + 6.00 + 8.00 + 10.00 PM + 12.00 MN

SOPHIE NÉLISSE, CORINNE FOX, BRIANNE TJU

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (18+)(DRAMA/COMEDY) CITY CENTRE : 10.30 AM + 1.45 + 5.00 + 8.15 + 11.30 PM

LEONARDO DICAPRIO, BRAD PITT, MARGOT ROBBIE

THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE 2 (PG)(ANIMATION/ADVENTUREOASIS JUFFAIR (KIDS CINEMA): 1.00 + 5.00 + 9.00 PMCITY CENTRE: 2.00 + 6.30 + 11.00 PM SEEF (II): 12.30 + 4.30 + 8.30 PM

SUDEIKIS, JOSH GAD, AWKWAFINA

TOY STORY 4 (G)(ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY) CITY CENTRE: 11.45 AM + 4.15 + 8.45 PM

TOM HANKS, TIM ALLEN, JOAN CUSACK

ALADDIN (PG)(ADVENTURE) ااااا ااااCITY CENTRE: 11.45 AM + 4.30 + 9.15 PM

WILL SMITH, NAOMI SCOTT, MENA MASSOUD

READY OR NOT (18+)(THRILLER/ HORROR) اا اا ااااا CITY CENTRE: 11.45 AM + 1.45 + 3.45 + 5.45 + 7.45 + 9.45 + 11.45 PM

SAMARA WEAVING, ADAM BRODY, MARK O’BRIEN (IX)

MISSION MANGAL (PG-13)(HINDI/DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY) اا OASIS JUFFAIR : 1.15 + 6.30 + 11.45 PM

AKSHAY KUMAR, VIDYA BALAN, ANIRBAN BHATTACHARYYA

BATLA HOUSE (15+) (HINDI/DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY) اااا ااا OASIS JUFFAIR : 4.00 PM

JOHN ABRAHAM, MRUNAL THAKUR, NORA FATEHI

PORINJU MARIAM JOSE (PG-15)(MALAYALAM) OASIS JUFFAIR: 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 PM

JOJU GEORGE, CHEMBAN VINOD, NYLA USHA

THANNEER MATHAN DINANGAL (PG-13)(MALAYALAM) OASIS JUFFAIR: 10.30 AM + 3.45 + 9.00 PM

VINEETH SREENIVASAN, IRSHAD, MATHEW THOMAS

ITTYMAANI (PG)(MALAYALAM)FROM FRIDAY 06TH OASIS JUFFAIR : 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 5.45 + 11.45 PM SEEF (I): 11.45 AM + 2.45 + 5.45 + 8.45 + 11.45 PM AL HAMRA: 9.00 PM + (12.00 MN FRI)

MOHANLAL, SWASIKA, RADHIKA SARATHKUMAR

BROTHER’S DAY (PG-13)(MALAYALAM) FROM FRIDAY 06TH OASIS JUFFAIR :12.45 + 6.15 + 11.45 PM SEEF (I): 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 + 11.15 PM AL HAMRA: 6.00 PM

PRITHVIRAJ SUKUMARAN, MIA GEORGE, MADONA SEBASTIAN, AISHWARYA LEKSHMI

ENAI NOKI PAAYUM THOTA (PG-15)(TAMIL)FROM FRIDAY 06TH FROM 12.30 PM ONWARDSOASIS JUFFAIR: 2.45 + 5.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PMSEEF (I): 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 PM + 12.00 MNAL HAMRA: 12.00 NOON + 3.00 PM

DHANUSH, MEGHA AKASH, SUNAINA

MAGAMUNI (PG-15)(TAMIL) FROM FRIDAY 06TH SEEF (II): 12.30 + 6.00 + 11.30 PM

AARYA, INDUJA , MAHIMA, ROHINI

9 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

M O V I E R E V I E W

Joker: Joaquin Phoenix’s villain has last laugh in twisted taleDirected by Todd Phillips, ‘Joker’ stars Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz and Frances Conroy

• Todd Phillips’s daring reboot of the DC Comics antihero is brilliantly brought to life by its star

• Joaquin Phoenix is astonishing as a mentally ill geek who becomes the killer-clown

Joker is a 2019 American psychological thriller film directed by Todd Phillips,

who co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Silver. The film, based on DC Comics characters, stars Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker.

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 85% based on 40 reviews, with an average rating of 8.73/10. The website’s critical consensus reads: “Joker gives its infamous central char-acter a chillingly plausible origin story that serves as a brilliant showcase for its star – and a dark evolution for comics-inspired cinema.”

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating “generally favourable reviews”. At its premiere, the film received an eight-minute standing ova-tion.

Writing for IGN, Jim Vejvo-da gave Joker a perfect score, writing the film “would work just as well as an engrossing character study without any of its DC Comics trappings; that it just so happens to be a brilliant Batman-universe movie is icing on the Batfan cake.” He found it a powerful and unsettling allegory of contemporary neglect and vi-olence, and described Phoenix’s performance as the Joker as en-grossing and “Oscar-worthy”.

Similarly, Xan Brooks of The Guardian—who also gave the film a perfect score—called it “gloriously daring and explo-sive” and appreciated how Phil-lips used elements from Scorsese films to create an original story.

Variety’s Owen Gleiberman wrote: “Phoenix is astonishing as a mentally ill geek who be-

comes the killer-clown Joker in Todd Phillips’ neo-Taxi Driver knockout: the rare comic-book movie that expresses what’s happening in the real world.”

David Ehrlich of IndieWire was more mixed and gave the film a “C+”. He felt that while “Joker is the boldest and most

exciting superhero movie since The Dark Knight”, it was “also incendiary, confused, and po-tentially toxic.” Ehrlich thought that the film would make DC fans happy and praised Phoe-nix’s performance, but criticized Phillips’ direction and the lack of originality.

A more critical review came from Glenn Kennedy of Roger-Ebert.com, who gave the film two stars out of four. Though he praised the performances and thought the story worked, Ken-nedy criticized the social com-mentary and Phillips’ direction, finding the film too derivative

and believing its focus was “less in entertainment than in gener-ating self-importance.”

Time magazine’s Stephanie Zacharek, in a negative re-view, criticized Phoenix’s per-formance as over-the-top and felt that while Phillips tried to “[give] us a movie all about the emptiness of our culture... he’s just offering a prime example of it.” She argued the plot was non-existent, “dark only in a stupidly adolescent way,” and “stuffed with phony philosophy.”

Joker was screened at the Venice Film Festi-val where it received a lot of praise for its storyline as well as

performances

KNOW WHAT

Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker in Todd Phillips’s film of the same name

10 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

celebs

Jennifer Aniston opens up about turning 50ANI | Los Angeles

American actor Jennifer Aniston, who never shies away from speaking her

mind, opened up about ageing, saying she doesn’t “feel any dif-ferent”.

The actor, who turned 50 in February, spoke about how she felt entering a new decade of her life for the October cover story of InStyle, reported Us Weekly.

“Fifty was the first time I thought, ‘Well, that number,’” Aniston said.

“I don’t know what it is be-cause I don’t feel any different. Things aren’t shutting down in any way,” she added.

She also went on to say that she feels “physically incredible”.

She added, “I feel physical-ly incredible. So it’s weird that

it’s all of a sudden getting telegraphed in a way

that’s like, ‘You look amazing for your

age.’ I think we need to estab-lish some etiquette around that dialogue and verbiage.”

However, if there’s one thing that Aniston doesn’t like about ageing, is her grey hair.

“I’m not gonna lie -- I don’t want grey hair,” she said.

But nothing is going to slow her down. “Women were never allowed to have power. Power feels sexy to me today, as does women’s intelligence and how capable and creative they are,” she said of the current state of her career.

Aniston celebrated her birth-day in February alongside family and friends, including ex-hus-band Brad Pitt at Sunset Tower in Los Angeles. Courtney Cox, Reese Witherspoon, George Clooney, and Amal Clooney, Jon Hamm, Kate Hudson, Lisa Kud-row, Robert Downey Jr, Laura Dern, were among some of the other pals who attended the grand birthday bash.

“Jen spoke to Brad briefly. At

one point she hugged him and thanked him for coming,” an insider told Us Weekly at that time, noting that other attend-ees “were surprised to see Brad there and were making a big deal of it”.

“But it didn’t seem like that big of a deal to Jen. The in-vite went out to a ton of peo-ple and he accepted. She was happy he was there, but that was it. She was busy making the

rounds,” the source added.Another ex in attendance

was singer John Mayer, whom Aniston dated on and off from February 2008 to March 2009. The two went through a widely publicised split but have stayed friends through the years.

Aniston’s birthday came al-most a year following her split from husband Justin Theroux but that didn’t stop Theroux from wishing his former wife a happy birthday on social media.

“Happy Birthday to this fierce Woman. Fiercely loving. Fierce-ly kind. ....and fiercely funny,” Theroux captioned the post.

Fifty was the first time I thought,

‘Well, that number. I don’t know what it is

because I don’t feel any different. Things aren’t shutting down

in any wayJENNIFER ANISTON

Ariana Grande sues Forever 21 for $10

million over look-alike ad campaign

Reuters | Los Angeles

Popular singer Ariana Grande has sued Forever

21 for $10 million, accusing the fashion retailer and a

beauty company started by its billionaire found-

ers’ daughters of pig-gybacking off her fame and influence to sell their wares.In a complaint filed on

Monday, Grande said Forever 21 and Riley Rose misappropriat-ed her name, image, likeness and music, including by employing a “strikingly similar” looking model, in a website and social media campaign early this year.

She said this followed the breakdown of talks for a joint marketing campaign

because Forever 21 would not pay enough for “a celebrity of Ms. Grande’s stature,” whose longer-term endorsements generate mil-lions of dollars in fees.

Adele getting ‘ready physically and emotionally’ to release new music soon

ANI | Los Angeles

Singer-songwriter Adele is channeling her heartache

into music and will soon treat her fans with new

songs.

Multiple sources told People that the ‘Hello’ singer, who announced her separation from longtime love Simon Konecki about four months back, is going to release new songs

sooner than later.“She is definitely getting ready both

mentally and physically to promote new music. It seems it will happen later this year,” a source close to the 31-year-old singer said.

“She talks about last year as a very difficult year, and she’s said in the past that creating new music is almost like therapy. You can tell that she is ready to share with her fans,” the source add-ed, hinting that the songstress’s new music may be inspired by her recent heartbreak.

In her previous albums ‘19’, ‘21’, and ‘25’, the Grammy-winning singer poured

her heart into the songs, and a music industry source said that Adele’s upcom-ing work will be just as intimate.

“She is so busy, but her life is bet-ter-rounded than it was before. She is very fulfilled being an artist. New music is still a big deal for her, and she feels alive and happy,” said the industry source.

Since announcing her breakup, Adele has been shuttling between the UK and Los Angeles, spending time with her loved ones. Over the summer, the singer travelled with her 6-year-old son, Angelo, and the two are thick as thieves.

ANI | Los Angeles

American actor Brad Pitt recently opened up about his journey to sobriety, and what

he had learned from a year-and-a-half in an all-male Alcoholics Anonymous group.

The actor, who seemed to be at his can-did best, revealed some intimate details

about his life in an interview with The New York Times, reported People.

The 55-year-old star looked back on his decision to give up drinking, which came after his split from ex-wife Angelina Jolie.

“I had taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privilege,” Pitt said.

The ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ star said that

he started attending Alco-holics Anonymous meet-

ings, where he shared the most person-al parts of his life.

Brad Pitt opens up about getting sober after divorce from Angelina Jolie

Justin Bieber opens up about his steep fall from graceAP | New York

Justin Bieber is opening up about a string of “bad decisions” that led

him to go from being a beloved teen performer to “the most ridiculed, judged and hated person in the world.”

In a very personal and in-trospective Instagram post , the

pop star examines how childhood fame led to depression, lack

of responsibility, “doing pretty heavy drugs” and

becoming disrespectful to women. At age 18, he had “millions in the

bank” but “no skills in the real world.”

Now 25, Bieber credit-ed the support of friends, his Christian faith and his marriage with helping turn his life around.

He wrote: “It’s taken me years to bounce back from all of these terrible decisions, fix broken rela-

tionships, and change rela-tionship habits.”

Priyanka and Nick both named People’s best dressedReuters | Los Angeles

Actress Priyanka Chopra and her pop star husband

Nick Jonas were named the best dressed of 2019 by Peo-ple magazine on Wednesday, marking the first time in the celebrity magazine’s history that a couple has shared top style honors.

Chopra, 37, a former Miss World who became a star in both Hollywood and Bolly-wood, and Jonas, 26, topped People’s annual best dressed

list in an eclectic slate that included actor Billy Porter and tennis champion Serena Williams along with style-set-ting veterans such as Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga and Celine Dion.

“It’s the first time ever that we have had a man or a couple on the Top 10 list, let alone as the best dressed. But it really felt like these two deserved it,” People’s style and beauty director, Andrea Lavinthal, told Reuters.

“The combination of the two of them is so exciting to watch. (Jonas) is not exactly someone who just wears a black tuxedo and stands next to her on the red carpet. You can tell that he enjoys fashion as much as she does,” Lavinthal added.

Chopra, who became the first Indian to headline a U.S. television drama series as the star of “Quantico,” mar-ried the younger of the three Jonas Brothers musicians in New Delhi in December 2018, becoming one of the most sought-after celebrity couples in the world.Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas

Jennifer Aniston

Ariana Grande

Adele

Justin BieberBrad

Pitt

Rahmat and Afghan steer Afghanistan to 271/5 after day oneESPN | Dhaka

During the course of his rescue act with Asghar Af-

ghan, Rahmat Shah made his-tory by becoming the first Test centurion from Afghanistan. It went a long way in ensuring Afghanistan ended the day on top at 271 for 5, with Bangla-desh’s four-pronged spin attack finishing with fewer rewards than they would’ve hoped on a surface tailor-made to suit their strengths.

Having missed a century in heartbreaking fashion against Ireland earlier this year, Rah-mat stayed calm and got there with a superb cut shot past short third man as the sparse Chattogram crowd made enough noise to acknowledge the feat. However, he fell off the next ball to a sharp catch at first slip, perhaps consumed by a dip in concentration as he went for a loose drive to a delivery that skidded through. In all, he struck 10 fours and two sixes in his 187-ball knock.

Rahmat was strong square of the wicket on the off side, earn-ing five boundaries through the

cut shot. His driving through cover and the flick through midwicket were also pristine.

Early in his innings, he was a tad aggressive, even hoicking the spinners over deep mid-wicket but once he gauged the surface, he shelved the big shots and focused on playing himself in and making it count.

He added 120 for the third wicket with former captain Af-ghan after they slipped to 77 for 3 at lunch. The pair rattled the score along in a wicketless second session where the spin-ners were often guilty of trying too hard, and in the process bowling either too short of full. On their part, the batsmen re-frained from chasing wide de-liveries.

Solskjaer responsible if Man United do not compete for title-MaticReuters | London

Out-of-favour Manchester United midfielder Ne-

manja Matic says manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will have to hold himself responsible if the club are not in the running for the Premier League title this season.

Serbian Matic, a fixture in United’s midfield since his move from Chelsea in 2017, has played only 22 minutes this season after making one ap-pearance as a substitute.

U n i t -ed, who l a s t won the l e a g u e title in 2013, a r e c u r r e n t l y eighth in the table after four games and trail league leaders Liverpool by seven points.

“The coach must opt

for the team that will fight for the title and if he does not win, he bears the responsibility,” Matic told reporters ahead of Serbia’s Euro qualifier against Portugal on Saturday.

“I have been in football for a long time, I have played al-most all the games for all the clubs in the last 10 years. In order for me to play, one had to sit on the bench and accept that fact, and so do I now.”

S o l s k j a e r h a s p i c k e d 22-year-old Scott McTominay to partner Paul Pogba in cen-

tral midfield in their first four games,

f r o m w h i c h they have one win, one loss

a n d t w o draws.

M a t i c said he respected the decision but was determined to

prove to the Norwegian manager that he belonged in the starting line-up.

Andreescu rallies to semis Bianca Andreescu battles back to set up US Open semifinal clash against Belinda Bencic

• Canadian teen Bianca Andreescu advanced to her first Grand Slam semi-final by beating Belgium’s Elise Mertens

• Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic defeated Croatia’s Donna Vekic

AFP | New York

Canadian Bianca Andree-scu became the first teen US Open semi-finalist

in a decade, rallying to defeat Belgium’s Elise Mertens on Wednesday and advance to a last-four matchup with Belinda Bencic.

Andreescu, a 19-year-old from suburban Toronto, downed 25th seed Mertens 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to book a clash against fellow Slam semi-final debutante Bencic, the Swiss 13th seed who beat Croatian 23rd seed Donna Vekic 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.

“I’m honestly speechless,” Andreescu said. “I need some-one to pinch me right now. Is this real life?”

Either Bencic or Andreescu, who have never played each other, will reach her first Slam final on Saturday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where first-time Slam winners have been crowned three of the past four years.

“Semi-final feels great right now,” Bencic said.

“I was dreaming about this day coming but you never know. I worked hard for this. Yeah,

very nice feeling.” Andreescu, a winner this year

at Indian Wells and Toronto, is the first teen in the US Open’s last four since Caroline Wozni-acki in 2009.

She credited being tested in her wins with giving her the poise to battle back after drop-ping the first set against a foe who had not dropped a set in the tournament.

“I think it’s just the experi-ence from playing these huge events this past year,” she said.

“All that experience is just catching up.” Andreescu could become the first teen to win a Grand Slam title since Maria Sharapova captured the 2006 US Open and she would be the youngest US Open cham-pion since Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2004.

“This is honestly so crazy,” said 15th seed Andreescu.

“A year ago I was in the qual-ifying round. I remember I was suffering from a back injury.” Mertens had lost only 16 games in four matches, but Andreescu, her first seeded foe, hit 40 win-ners to 22 for Mertens.

Mertens broke for a 3-1 edge when Andreescu missed a back-hand volley then held twice to claim the first set in 38 minutes.

“I was getting irritated be-cause I wasn’t playing my best tennis,” said Andreescu. An-dreescu broke at love for a 4-2 lead and closed the second set by taking 16 of the last 20 points.

In the third, Andreescu smashed a backhand winner to break for a 5-3 lead and another on match point.

“I’ve been working a lot on my fitness and mental strength,” said Andreescu. “It’s a result of all the hard work I’ve been putting in.”

Calm in big moments

Bencic knocked out top-ranked defending champion Naomi Osaka in the fourth round, assuring the Japanese star will be replaced atop the rankings on Monday by French Open champion Ashleigh Barty of Australia.

Bencic, who reached the 2014 US Open quarter-finals, ensured a return to the world rankings top-10 for the first time since June 2016 with the victory.

She sank as low as 328th after numerous injuries and 2017 left wrist surgery but the 22-year-old Swiss began the year 55th and has climbed from there, thanks in part to her third ca-reer WTA title in February at Dubai.

“Through the tough times it helped me to see a little differ-ent way the tennis when you can’t always play,” Bencic said.

“For me this perspective changed and I’m enjoying so much the tennis now.” Bencic went on a 5-1 tie-break run to seize a 6-3 edge and took the first set after an hour when Ve-kic swatted a forehand beyond the baseline.

11

sports


I think it’s just the experience

from playing these huge events this

past year. All that experience is just

catching upBIANCA ANDREESCU

KNOW WHAT

Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan became the youngest player

ever to captain a test team when he led

his side in the match against Bangladesh

Bianca Andreescu of Canada hits a return against Elise Mertens of Belgium

Afghanistan‘s Rahmat Shah plays a shot

Brave CF fighters bring joy to wounded officers in open workouts TDT | Manama

BRAVE Combat Federation, one of the biggest MMA pro-

motions in the world, founded in the Kingdom of Bahrain, has joined forces with LFC, the big-gest martial arts organization in Colombia. The first event of that landmark partnership will take place this Saturday night, in Bogotá, with a fight card mixing the absolute best Colombian talent with some of the biggest international stars.

Yesterday, a few of the big-gest names from the fight card paid a visit to DCRI, Centro de Rehabilitación Inclusiva. While there, they showed the wounded soldiers and police officers some of the techniques they hope to put in display on Saturday night.

Felipe Silva, a mixed mar-tial artist from Brazil, known for his Knockout prowess, praised the initiative of put-ting together the soldiers and giving them a rundown on the best techniques from mixed martial arts.

“I loved getting together with the DCRI, and this is the type of thing BRAVE and LFC have done since they signed the agreement. It was awesome to receive their energy ahead of fight night and I hope that some of them can cheer for me, even though my opponent is Colombian”

Felipe went on to invite sev-eral police officers that use the facilities at DCRI to join him in training, including service member Edson, an amputee who turned 21 years old yester-day. The crowd went wild with

the opportunity that a few of their friends had to train with the best-mixed martial arts in the world.

The same seen with the oth-er fighters who worked out, such as Luana Pinheiro, Yas-meli Araque, and Gabriel Fly, who all showed their gratitude to the Military officers of Co-lombia.

Silva will headline the show against Dumar Roa, from Co-lombia. On fight night, he will have the companionship of his teammate, Gabriel Fly. The Featherweight BRAVE CF title contender goes up to Light-weight to face Jon Zaráte in a match of epic proportions, as both men are very well known in their home countries. Both men train under legendary mixed martial artist and one of the biggest names in the sport, Cristiano Marcello, who was also excited to see MMA getting its due recognition in Colombia.

“Amazing to see the DCRI full of people who have proudly served their countries. Amaz-ing that they were all very keen to learn more about MMA and I hope my fighters have provid-ed enough for them to check out the fights and become fans of BRAVE CF and LFC too”, said Marcello.

BRAVE 26 takes place at the Coliseo Hernan Jaramillo, Sa-litre, on Saturday night, with 11 fights that are sure to send Colombian mixed martial arts to the next level. The partner-ship between LFC and BRAVE CF has made possible by the tireless work of Jaime Barón, LFC president, and Mohammed Shahid, president of BRAVE CF.

Leclerc empowered for Ferrari’s Monza home raceAFP | Milan

Charles Leclerc will be propelled by an upgrad-

ed Ferrari power unit and his own raw emotions, this weekend when he bids to claim a second career vic-tory at the Italian Grand Prix.

The 21-year-old Mone-gasque’s maiden Formula One triumph was shroud-ed in tragedy at last week-end’s Belgian Grand Prix following the death of his close friend Anthoine Hubert.

For Leclerc and his team-mate four-time champion German Sebastian Vettel, the race in the old royal park at Monza offers another opportunity to show their cars’ superior power and straight-line speed against champions Mercedes.

“It’s time for our home Grand Prix and there can be no better way to come to Monza than as the winner of the last round in Spa-Fran-corchamps,” said Binotto, ahead of this weekend’s race.

Nemanja Matic

Favourite Nadal advance into semis• Rafael Nadal beats Diego Schwartzman to remain on course for fourth US Open title

• Matteo Berrettini outlasts Gael Monfils in US Open epic to reach semis

AFP | New York

Rafael Nadal will play Italy’s Mat-teo Berrettini in the US Open semi-finals after the 18-time

Grand Slam champion defeated Ar-gentine 20th seed Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 7-5, 6-2.

Second seed Nadal -- a winner at Flushing Meadows in 2010, 2013 and 2017 -- beat a spirited Schwartzman for the eighth time in as many meetings in a nearly three-hour match that finished early yesterday morning.

Schwartzman put up firm resistance against Nadal and twice fought back from double-break deficits in the first two sets, but the Spaniard found anoth-er gear at crucial moments to secure an eighth semi-final berth in New York.

“Straight sets but big challenges es-pecially after the first two sets, having 4-0 and 5-1 and losing both breaks in a row, but I know how good he is when he’s confident,” Nadal said.

“I’m so happy how I accepted the situation and challenge and kept go-

ing, point after point. Here I am in the semi-finals. I’m super happy, it means everything.”

Nadal, who was forced to retire dur-ing last year’s semi-final against Juan Martin del Potro, played down con-cerns over his left forearm as he re-ceived treatment early in the third set.

“Physically I am fine. Today was a very heavy day, big humidity out there. I’m this kind of player who sweats a little, but sometimes under these con-ditions it’s tough,” he said.

Nadal is the only former major cham-pion left in the men’s field following the elimination of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, leaving him as the clear frontrunner in his pursuit of a 19th major title.

Schwartzman, who stands a mere 5ft 7in (1.70m), was bidding to become the shortest Grand Slam semi-finalist since 5-foot-6 Harold Solomon at Roland Garros in 1980.

“He’s like a lion in the middle of the jungle. He’s a fighter,” Schwartzman said of Nadal.

“He knows how to play the important moments every single time. I played eight times, and every important mo-ment he played better than me.”

‘Great fight’ Berrettini, the 24th seed, became the

first Italian man to reach the US Open semi-finals in 42 years.

He matched Corrado Barazzutti’s run to the last four in 1977 after outlasting 13th-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) in three hours

and 57 minutes.The 23-year-old Berrettini joined

Barazzutti, 1976 Roland Garros cham-pion Adriano Panatta and Marco Cec-chinato as just the fourth Italian to ad-vance to a men’s Grand Slam semi-final in singles.

“What a great fight. I think it was one of the best matches I maybe ever saw -- I was playing but I also saw. I’m really happy I don’t know what to say,” Berrettini said.

The first-time Slam quarter-finalist

blew a 5-2 lead in the final set and four match points before finally seeing off Monfils in a thriller at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“I was lucky I had match points and he didn’t have it -- it’s better when you have them. I’m really proud of myself, I was always focusing on the next point.”

A nervous Berrettini doubled-faulted on his first match point at 5-3 before a resolute Monfils fought off two more on his serve to send the deciding set into a tie-break.

Monfils coughed up a costly pair of double faults in the breaker -- and 17 in total -- as Berrettini surged 5-2 ahead, the Frenchman rescuing a fourth match point before a booming serve from the Italian clinched a memorable win.

“Right now I don’t remember any points, just the match point. I remem-ber also my double fault I must be hon-est,” Berrettini said.

Defeat for Monfils prolonged France’s lengthy wait for a first men’s Grand Slam title since Yannick Noah won the French Open in 1983.

“I know how to bounce back, I’ve had some tough ones here before,” said Monfils, who was beaten by Roger Federer in the 2014 quarter-finals after holding two match points.

“It was tough, I was just competing as much as I could but there was a big lack of serve today.”


Rafael Nadal of Spain hits a return to Diego Schwartzman of Argentina

KNOW WHAT

Matteo Berrettini matched Corrado

Barazzutti’s run to the last four in 1977 after

outlasting Gael Monfils in three hours and 57

minutes

Australia’s Steve Smith scores double century in Ashes returnAFP | Manchester

A masterful double cen-tury from the prolific

Steve Smith carried Aus-tralia to 497-8 declared against England on day two of the fourth Ashes series Test at Old Traf-ford in Manchester yesterday.

Smith returned to the XI after being ruled out of last week’s third Test at Headingley in Leeds

due to a concussion. He had been struck on the side of

the neck by a fierce short delivery from fast bowler Jofra Archer during the second Test at Lord’s in London.

T h e f i d g e t y right-hander now has three double tons in Ashes series cricket – the third most after Aus-

tralia’s Sir Donald Bradman and Eng-land’s Wally Ham-mond with eight

and four, respectively.Smith’s three highest scores

in Test-match cricket are all against England. He was unable to surpass his 239 in Perth in 2017 and 213 at Lord’s in 2015, though.

He was eventually out for 211. This would have been sub-stantially less, had Jack Leach not bowled a no-ball shortly after Smith reached three fig-ures. Leach had Smith caught by slip fielder Ben Stokes, but overstepped the bowling crease.

Smith’s stay was particularly important after opener David Warner fell for a duck. Warner was in solid form during the In-dian Premier League and World

Cup earlier this year, but has a mere 79 runs in seven innings this series.

The South African-born Mar-nus Labuschagne’s impressive rise through the Australian ranks continued yesterday.

He welcomed a fourth suc-cessive half-century during a telling 116-run alliance with Smith.

England’s reply reached 23 for one by the close of play. Opener Rory Burns and night-watchman Craig Overton will resume on Friday.

The five-match series is cur-rently locked at 1-1. Australia won the series opener at Edg-baston in Birmingham on the back of Smith’s successive cen-turies. The Lord’s match was drawn. The Leeds fixture was won by England, thanks largely to a sensational fourth-innings century from all-rounder Ben Stokes.

Jofra Archer of England reacts after missing a return catch of Steve Smith (R) of Australia

211runs were scored by Steve Smith before

losing his wicket

As coach I wouldn’t have wanted Neymar back, says del BosqueReuters | Madrid

Former Spain manager Vicente del Bosque has said he would not have

brought Neymar back to La Liga had he been coach of Barcelona or Real Madrid, even though he recognises the Brazilian’s outstanding qualities as a player.

Barcelona held several meetings with Paris St Germain to bring the Brazilian back to the Camp Nou two years after he walked out on them to join the French side for a world record fee of 222 million euros (about $245 million).

But the two clubs failed to strike a deal before the transfer window closed on Sept. 2, with PSG’s sporting director Leon-ardo claiming that the Spanish champions had failed to meet his side’s asking price.

Leonardo also acknowledged that his club had spoken to Real Madrid about the forward.

Neymar has scored 51 goals for PSG but both of his seasons in France have been marred by serious injuries at key stages in the campaign.

He also had an on-field dispute with team mate Edinson Cavani over penalty taking duties.

“I think it would have been good for the Spanish league if he had come back

but if I was a coach of a club I wouldn’t have brought him back,” Del Bos-que told Span-ish television network Es-tudio Esta-dio.

“ W h i l s t I’ll say he is a bril-liant play-er, I don’t think very highly of him for other rea-sons.”

Del Bosque, who won the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 as Spain coach plus two Cham-pions League titles as coach of Real, also criticised Neymar for the manner in which he left Barcelona in 2017.

“With Barcelona he did not behave well, in fact he behaved badly, very bad-ly,” he added.

“If you surveyed Barcelona fans I’m sure that more than half of them wouldn’t want him back. There’s a reason for that.”

‘I’m not sure he’s learned anything’: Laver calls for Kyrgios ban

AFP | New York

Tennis great Rod Laver has called for Nick Kyrgios to be suspended

from the ATP Tour over bad behav-iour, saying his fellow Australian appears not to be learning from his

mistakes.The explosive and

temperamental 24-year-old Kyrgios has a history of noto-

rious outbursts and is being inves-

tigated for potential rule violations after calling the ATP Tour “corrupt” during the US Open last week.

While he later backed away from the comment, it followed a record US$113,000 fine issued to him by the ATP for his actions at the Cincinnati Masters in August.

During that meltdown, he smashed two racquets and described an um-pire as a “tool”, with his sanction in-cluding fines for ball abuse, leaving the court without permission, an au-dible obscenity and unsportsmanlike conduct.

Neymar

Nick Kyrgios

sports 6 @newsofbahrain favourite nadal op-ed documenting ... · 9/06/2019 · resume talks 6...

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