Ministry of Health registers three new cases of Coronavirus

02Rising Iran Corona deathsa ‘huge cause of concern’

04Arab health ministers discuss COVID-19 outbreak

05Two Bahrainis convicted in robbery case lose pleas

8

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Ministry of Health registers three new cases of CoronavirusTDT | Manama

The Ministry of Health has registered three new Coronavirus (COVID-19)

cases carried by one male and two female Bahraini nationals arriving at Bahrain Internation-al Airport via indirect flights from Iran, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 41.

The ministry highlighted that the patients have been transferred to an isolation centre for further treatment, noting that all COVID-19-in-fected patients are in a stable condition and receiving on-going care from a specialised medical team.

The Ministry of Health began implementing a mobile testing process for citizens returning

from Iran during February, in order to ensure full medical ex-aminations are carried out as per official measures applied to combat the spread of Coronavi-rus (COVID-19).

The mobile testing units will provide citizens with the com-fort of being tested in their ar-eas of residence and allow for efficient medical examinations to be carried out across the

Kingdom, to ensure all citizens remain safe.

The ministry further empha-sised that all the individuals that will test negative are instructed to follow the health guidelines, which include self-isolation for a total of 14 days, while being granted a paid medical leave for 14 days and a specialised med-ical team will follow up with them accordingly.

T A C K L I N G T H R E A T

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210 fils (includes VAT)

Coronavirus (COVID-19) updates:

Latest update: 11:00 PM29 February 2020

Measures taken:

Number of infected cases: 41All infected patients are in a stable condition and are receiving ongoing care from a specialised medical team

Activated a mobile testing process for citizens and residents returning from Iran during February

All citizens and residents returning from Iran during February must immediately call 444 to schedule their medical examinations to ensure their safety, and the safety of citizens and residents

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa received a written message from Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and UAE Armed Forces Deputy Supreme Commander His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, enclosing an invitation to attend the launch of operations at the first (Baraka) station for peaceful nuclear energy. This came as HM the King yesterday received, at Al Safriya Palace, UAE Ambassador to Bahrain Shaikh Sultan bin Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan who delivered the message. His Majesty accepted the invitation, extending thanks to HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. His Majesty hailed the achievement as a historical milestone and a source of pride, which adds to the UAE landmark development and civilisational strides in all fields. HM the King said that the achievement will also contribute to bolstering the UAE standing and pioneering role at the regional and global levels.

His Majesty invited for UAE event

• Iran’s success or failure in combating the virus will have an impact far beyond the country’s 80 million people in the region.

• It is a big matter of worry for the world community that Iran may be underreporting the number of cases in the country.

Riyadh

The rapid spread of corona-virus raised fears of a pan-demic yesterday, with five

countries reporting their first cas-es, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warning it could spread worldwide and Switzerland can-celling the giant Geneva car show.

“The outbreak is getting big-ger,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a news briefing in Geneva.

“The scenario of the coronavirus reaching multiple countries, if not all countries around the world, is something we have been looking at and warning against since quite a while.”

The outbreak of the new virus in Iran has been dramatic — the head of Iran’s task force to stop the illness, known as COVID-19,

was seen coughing, sweating and wheezing across televised inter-views before acknowledging he was infected.

Then days later, a visibly pale official sat only meters away from President Hassan Rouhani and other top leaders before she too reportedly came down with the virus.

Iran’s success — or failure — in combating the virus will have an impact far beyond the country’s 80 million people as the majority of cases in the Mideast now link back to Iran.

“All organisations are trying their best to combat this virus,” Health Ministry spokesman Ki-anoush Jahanpour said.

On Friday, Jahanpour again re-ported a huge spike in cases, saying there were now 388 confirmed coronavirus cases in Iran and 34 deaths.

In brief remarks from Tehran, he cautioned the number of cases would likely further spike as Iran now has 15 laboratories testing samples.

In Tehran and other cities, au-thorities cancelled Friday prayer services to limit crowds. In the capital, Radio Tehran that typically carries the prayer played only tra-ditional Iranian music.

Universities are to remain closed another week.

Questions still remain over Iran’s count. Experts, including at the WHO, worry the Islamic re-public may be underreporting the number of cases in the country.

More first cases More countries report first cases of Coronavirus infection

Virus outbreak in Iran has sickened hundreds, including officials.

41cases of Coronavirus infection have been

registered in the Kingdom until now.

The scenario of the Coronavirus reaching multiple countries is

something we have been looking at and warning

against since quite a while.

WHO SPOKESMAN

Another migrant influx Istanbul

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says

18,000 migrants have crossed Turkish borders into Europe after the country “opened the doors” for them to travel.

The number is expected to hit 25,000 to 30,000 in the coming days, he said.

Turkey could no longer deal with the amount of peo-ple fleeing Syria’s civil war, he added.

Greece says it has blocked thousands of migrants from entering “illegally” from Turkey.

Greek authorities fired tear gas to attempt to dis-perse the crowds.

Turkey’s decision followed a deadly attack on Turkish troops by Syrian government forces in northern Syria this week.

Taliban deal to bring US troops home Washington, DC

President Trump says it is “time to bring our peo-

ple back home” after the US signed a deal with the Taliban aimed at bringing peace to Afghanistan.

Mr Trump said 5,000 US troops would leave Afghan-istan by May and he would meet Taliban leaders in the near future, without speci-fying where.

The US and Nato allies have agreed to withdraw all troops within 14 months if the militants uphold the historic deal.

Talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban are due to follow.

02SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020

‘Heroic role’ of Health Ministry staff lauded TDT | Manama

The Minister of Health, Faeqa Al Saleh, highlighted the ministry’s confidence in

its national healthcare profession-als who continue to work tirelessly to safeguard the health of the King-dom’s citizens and residents.

Ms Al Saleh further highlight-ed the ministry’s efforts in imple-menting a mobile testing process for citizens returning from Iran during February, in order to en-

sure full medical examinations are carried out as per official measures applied to combat the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19).

She added that the mobile test-ing units will provide citizens with the comfort of being tested in their areas of residence and allow for efficient medical examinations to be carried out across the Kingdom, to ensure all citizens remain safe.

She underlined the ministry’s commitment to combating COV-ID-19, reiterating His Royal High-

ness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister’s remarks on the importance of all citizens and residents uniting to preserve the Kingdom’s health and safety.

The minister noted that if pa-tients being examined by the mo-bile testing units test negative, they will be instructed to follow the health guidelines outlined by the ministry, which include self-iso-lation for a total of 14 days, while

being granted a paid medical leave for 14 days.

The minister concluded by reit-erating the importance of all citi-zens and residents abiding by the international health guidelines issued by the ministry, and for all individuals returning from Iran during February to call the 444 hotline number, isolate themselves at home, follow further instruc-tions given by the medical team, and schedule medical examina-tion as soon as possible.

I urge citizens and residents of the Kingdom to abide by WHO health guidelines issued by the ministry. MS AL SALEH

Embassies informed on precautions Manama

The Labour and Social Development Minis-

try has stressed the im-portance of co-operation and complementarity be-tween various official and private parties in order to fight and prevent Corona-virus (COVID-19), out of the national responsibility to preserve Bahraini society.

The Labour Ministry held meetings with the representatives of the embassies of expatriate workers’ countries, and informed them about the precautionary and preven-tive measures taken to en-sure the safety and health of everybody.

In this regard, Assistant Undersecretary for Labour Affairs, Ahmed Jaffar Al Hayki, met representatives of the embassies of India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Nepal, and discussed with them the measures in force.

The Labour Ministry also formed a work team, including engineers and inspectors from the Pro-fessional Inspection and Occupational Safety, to carry out field visits to labour accommodation and distribute leaflets and guidance posters, as well raise awareness on the dangers of the Coronavi-rus and the required pre-ventive and precautionary measures.

The Labour Ministry had also placed, in co-op-eration with the Ministry of Health, banners and an-nouncements about COV-ID-19 in many languages near the workers’ accom-modation and in industrial areas in various regions of the Kingdom.

It has also communicat-ed with expatriate work-ers through text messages to update them about the latest developments and procedures required to protect them, as well as about the measures tak-en to combat the virus, including the allocation of a special medical cen-tre with qualified medical teams.

Representatives of the embassies lauded the prac-tical steps and preventive measures taken to prevent the spread of Coronavirus at production sites.

They also praised the Kingdom’s keenness to provide healthy and safe work environment for workers at the private sec-tor’s establishments.

Rising Iran Corona deaths a ‘huge cause of concern’

Over 200 people have died in Iran after being infected with Coronavirus

• Over 2,000 people have already returned to the country from Iran while many more will be brought back soon.

• The ministry has called on all Bahraini citizens currently in Iran to register their details by calling 973-17227555.

TDT | Manama

Fears are growing across the Middle East that coronavi-rus has infiltrated a main

pilgrimage route, which could lead the deadly pathogen to vul-nerable refugee populations, causing perhaps unprecedented public health crises across the region.

Concern is centred on the Ira-nian shrine city of Qom, which is thought to be a hub of the disease and the likely source of its spread elsewhere in the country and in neighbouring states, where in-fected travellers have been diag-nosed in recent days.

Situation in Iran is much more dire than official statistics sug-gest, according to a report in the BBC. The report indicates that there have been 210 deaths in Iran due to Corona virus.

This would mean the number of coronavirus cases in the coun-try would be more than 10,000. This leads to more cause of con-cerns for people who returned

from Iran in past month. This comes as 2,000 people

have already returned to the country from Iran while many more will be brought back soon.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that it has begun implementing an evacuation plan for Bahraini nationals in Iran in-cluding screening and quarantine

procedures, in response to the outbreak of Coronavirus (COV-ID-19) across Iranian cities.

The ministry has called on all Bahraini citizens currently in Iran to register their details by calling 973 17227555.

The ministry has said that in co-operation with relevant enti-ties in the Kingdom, will take all precautionary measures in order to guarantee the safety of Bah-raini citizens currently present in Iran before their arrival in the Kingdom.

These will include all nec-essary preventative measures following their arrival at the Bahrain International Airport, including screening and quar-antine procedures in order to ensure the safety of citizens and residents and public health in the

Kingdom.“At least 210 people in Iran have

died as a result of the new coro-navirus disease, sources in the country’s health system have told BBC Persian. Most of the victims are from the capital, Tehran, and the city of Qom, where cases of Covid-19 first emerged.

“The figure is six times high-er than the official death toll of 34 given by the health ministry earlier on Friday. The ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour insisted it was being transparent and accused the BBC of spreading lies.

“It comes after a member of parliament for Qom accused the authorities of a cover-up and the US expressed concern that they may not be sharing information,” the BBC reported.

Bahraini medical staff have been in full alert to receive patients.

Members of the medical team handling the ‘Corona situation’ in the Kingdom.

Health Ministry deploys mobile medical units TDT | Manama

Mobile medical units will be used by the health authorities in

the Kingdom to test Bahraini returnees from Iran.

The units will be sent by the ministry to the areas of resi-dences of the returnees. This is due to the high rate of corona-virus infections in Iran and the risk that the returnees could be infected.

According to the ministry, the mobile units are state-of-the-art and well equipped.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has stepped up efforts to

spread awareness about corona-virus as they urge residents and citizens to take ‘hygiene meas-ures’.

The ministry has urged citi-zens and residents to take var-ious measures to protect them-selves from coronavirus.

Ministry sources said that ed-ucational campaigns are in full swing to create awareness in the public about the novel coro-navirus.

The modes used to create awareness include traditional media, social media and even SMS campaign which was re-cently done.

“Kindly be reminded to take the following precautions to re-duce the risk of contracting the Coronavirus (Covid-19): Wash your hands regularly and thor-oughly using soap and water. Use alcohol-based sanitisers.

“Clean and disinfect frequently used objects and surfaces such as door handles. Cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing, and dispose of used wipes properly. Avoid contact with people expe-riencing a fever or suffering from a cough,” the ministry stated in a mass SMS campaign, which was sent out to Bahrainis and expatri-ates across the Kingdom. The Health Ministry has deployed mobile medical units to carry out Coronavirus tests.

03 SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020

14

All returnees from Iran during the month of February

Must call 444 to schedule a medical

appointment

Those who schedule an appointment and test Negative:

Must self-isolate at home for a period of 14 days

Will receive a paid medical leave for 14 days

To all citizens and residents


More efforts pledged for Bahrain’s comprehensive growthManama

Capital Governor Shaikh Hisham bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa has extended

heartfelt thanks and gratitude to His Majesty King Hamad bin

Isa Al Khalifa for renewing the royal trust in re-appointing him as Capital Governor.

The Capital Governor stressed that the royal trust is an incen-tive to exert more efforts to op-timise services and continue the

modernisation and development march spearheaded by HM the King and supported by His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa,

Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier.

The Capital Governor pointed out continuous work to achieve citizens’ aspirations and devel-opment goals in order to fur-

ther consolidate the Kingdom’s standing at regional and interna-tional gatherings.

He wished HM the King abun-dant health to continue spear-heading the Kingdom’s growth and prosperity. Shaikh Hisham

Arab health ministers discuss COVID-19 outbreak

Cairo

The Arab health minis-ters yesterday called for an emergency meeting

of experts to review plans and exchange expertise on com-bating the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

The ministers issued a pan-Ar-ab statement, calling for the ex-perts’ emergency meeting to be held during the second week of March 2020.

The statement stressed the importance of implementing preventive measures to reduce infection rates, taking into con-

sideration the World Health Or-ganisation (WHO) protocols to combat (COVID-19) on the nation-al and global levels.

It underlined the need to ex-change of information and pre-cautionary plans and step up co-ordination between health agencies and related sectors, in light of the escalating risk of this virus which is spreading in var-ious countries, including some Arab countries.

The statement voiced Arab citizens’ over the mounting risks of virus which spread to various countries in the world, including some Arab states,

stressing the importance of co-ordinating pan-Arab efforts and preventive measures to contain the epidemic.

The communique praised the proactive steps undertaken by China to combat the disease, expressing confidence in the ability of China to overcome the plague and taking efficient measures in support of inter-national efforts to prevent the spread of this epidemic virus.

It also voiced solidarity with China, reiterating support to the efforts exerted by the Beijing Government to combat the vi-rus outbreak.

Ms Al Saleh at the meeting held in Cairo.

‘We Bahrain Vijay Makkal Iyakkam’ conducted an awareness programme yesterday and distributed free face masks. An awareness programme was also held to tackle Coronavirus threat in the Kingdom.

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa tasked Nabeel Al Hamer, the Media Adviser to HM the King, to extend his sincere condolences to Ala and Jamal Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, on the death of their father, former Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak. Mr Al Hamer also conveyed HM the King’s condolences and sympathies to all members of the family of the late President as well as his praise of the late president’s qualities, honourable stances towards Bahrain and efforts in strengthening between the two countries. HM the King also praised the service of the late president for his country and the Arab and Islamic nations, praying to God Almighty to rest his soul in peace, grant his family the fortitude to bear the painful loss and protect everyone from misfortune and keep them in good health and wellness. Ala and Jamal Mohammed Hosni Mubarak and the members of the family expressed deep gratitude to HM the King for his heartfelt condolences and noble sentiments for the late president.

The New Millennium School DPS Bahrain organised a recreational visit to the Bahrain National Museum as a reward to the students of some grades for maintaining the ‘Cleanest Classroom Record’ throughout the session. In order to groom the children as responsible global citizens, the school had taken up this initiative to appreciate the students for maintaining cleanliness in and around their classroom and reward them in the form of additional field trips. Children felt exhilarated on seeing the repository of 6,000 years of Bahrain’s history. The students shared their reviews stating that, it was an excellent learning experience for them. The students, parents and teachers expressed their heartfelt thanks to the management and the principal, for motivating the students by organising such an enriching field trip.


Important Notice to shareholders: • The financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2019 and Proxy Forms are available on GFH’s website at www.gfh.com, or Bahrain

Bourse’s website www.bahrainbourse.com , or they can alternatively be requested directly from the Group or the Share Registrar.• If the shareholder is a company, the representative who will attend the meeting shall present the authorization letter issued by the authorized

person in the company and sealed by the company’s seal. The authorization letter shall be submitted prior to the deadline for depositing proxies.• Proxy Forms shall be deposited at least 24 hours prior to the fixed time of the meeting, as indicated below, ensuring that they will be received on

time. Proxy Forms received after the fixed time will be considered invalid for the purpose of the meeting. - Delivery by hand at the Bank’s premises, by fax at +973 17911380, or e-mail at [email protected]. - For shareholders in Kuwait: Kuwait Clearing Company, P.O. Box 22077, Kuwait. Fax No. +965 2469457. - For shareholders in other countries: Karvy Computershare W.L.L., P.O. Box 514, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain. Fax No. +973 17212055 For any enquiries, please contact Investors Relation Department on +973 17538787

InvitationAnnual General Meeting for the financial year ended 31st December 2019

The Board of Directors of GFH Financial Group BSC (“the Group”) is pleased to invite the esteemed shareholders to attend the Annual General Assembly meeting to be held on Monday 23rd March 2020, at 11:00 A.M. at the Group’s headquarters in Bahrain Financial Harbour, East Tower - 28th floor, to discuss and approve the following agenda items, and if the required legal quorum is not available, the second meeting will be held on Monday, 30th March 2020, or a third meeting, if required, will be held on Monday 6th April 2020 at the same time and place.

Agenda of the Annual General Meeting:

1. To approve the minutes of the previous Ordinary General Meeting held on 29th December 2019.2. To discussing and approve the Board of Directors report on GFH’s business activities for the financial year ended 31st December 2019.3. To listen to the Sharia Supervisory Board’s report on GFH’s business activities for the financial year ended 31st December 2019.4. To listen to the external auditors’ report for the financial year ended 31st December 2019.5. To discuss and approve the consolidated financial statements for the financial year ended 31st December 2019.6. To approve the Board of Directors’ recommendation to allocate the net profit for the year 2019 as follows:

a) Transfer an amount of US$ 8,011,000 to the statutory reserve;b) Allocate an amount of US$ 500,000 for charity activities and civil society organizations, in addition to an amount of US$ 568,000 for Zakat Fund.c) Cash dividends on all ordinary shares, excluding treasury shares, at a rate of 5.57% of share nominal value, equivalent to USD 0.0148 cents per

share amounting to approximately US$ 50,000,000.

Event Date

Cum-Dividend Date(Last day of trading with entitlement to dividends) 26th March 2020

Ex-Dividend Date(First day of trading without entitlement to dividends) 29th March 2020

Record Date for Bahrain Bourse and Dubai Financial Market listed shares(The Day on which all shareholders whose names are on the share register will be entitled to dividends) 30th March 2020

Record Date for Boursa Kuwait listed shares(The Day on which all shareholders whose names are on the share register will be entitled to dividends) 31st March 2020

Payment Date(The Day on which the dividends will be paid to the entitled shareholders) 13th April 2020

d) To transfer an amount of USD 21,029,200 as retained earnings for the next year.7. To approve the Board of Directors’ recommendation to allocate US$ 2.2 million as remuneration for members of the Board of Directors.8. To discuss and approve the corporate governance report for the financial year ended 31st December 2019, and GFH’s compliance with the

governance requirements issued by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and the Central Bank of Bahrain.9. To authorize the Board of Directors to take all the resolutions, approvals and authorization of all transactions concluded during the ended financial

year with any related parties or major shareholders of GFH, as indicated in note 26 of the financial statements and as outlined in the Board of Directors’ report presented to the annual general meeting and the notes of the financial statements pursuant to the provisions of Article (189) of Bahrain’s Commercial Companies Law.

10. To release the members of the Board of Directors from liability in respect of their acts for the financial year ended 31st December 2019.11. To approve the appointment / reappointment of the external auditors of GFH for the year 2020, and authorize the Board of Directors to

determine their fees, subject to obtaining the approval of the Central Bank of Bahrain.12. Elect/appoint GFH’s board of directors, consisting of ten seats for the upcoming three years, from 2020 to 2022, subject to obtaining the

approval of the Central Bank of Bahrain.13. To discuss any other matters in accordance with Article 207 of the Commercial Companies Law.

Jassim Mohamed Al SeddiqiChairman of the Board of Directors

Two Bahrainis convicted in robbery case lose pleas

Pleas were rejected following a retrial ordered by the Cassation Court

• The duo were identified following police investigations and they admitted to their crimes.

• The pair allegedly kidnapped their victim and took him to a remote area before robbing him.

TDT | Manama

The High Appeals Court has upheld the sentence issued against two men

convicted of robbing BD1,100 from an Asian man after posing as police officers.

The pair were earlier sen-tenced to 15 years behind bars each, but a set of different judges

at the High Appeals Court re-duced their jail terms to 10 years behind bars each on appeal.

Subsequently, the Cassa-tion Court ordered a re-tri-al. Later, the High Appeals Court, under a different judicial panel, upheld the sentences against them.

It’s said that the pair tracked their victim after leaving a bank in Isa Town, after which they posed as police officers and kid-napped him.

“They robbed BD1,100, which I had as well as my phone after they eye-folded me and tied my hands using a plastic wrap.

“They dragged me into their car and they disposed me in a remote area,” the victim told prosecutors.

It’s claimed that the pair were involved in robbing

three other places, from which they pocketed a total amount of

BD9,000. The duo were identified fol-

lowing police investigations and they admitted to their crimes.

Ithra Programme 2020 First Phase concludes Manama

Al Mabarrah Al Khalifia Foundation (MKF) has concluded the first phase

of the Youth Enrichment Pro-gramme, (Ithra 2020) for its third year for the second batch, which was held under the slo-gan “Employment and Techni-cal Skills”.

The first phase included nu-merous skills and activities that aimed to develop the personal-ities of the participants, as well as gain a number of employment skills required to enable them to learn more about themselves.

The programme’s activities contributed to enhancing the participants’ capabilities in problem-solving, decision-mak-ing, as well as being able to adapt

to changing environments.The attendance rate dur-

ing the first phase of the pro-gramme reached 84 per cent, where participants focused on self-development skills dur-ing the first week of the pro-gramme, in addition to attend-ing a presentation on future jobs and the different career paths. The “Market D” initi-ative launched by the Youth Programme Department was explained to participants, and roles were distributed to team members to complete practical and theoretical exercises.

Concluding the first day of the programme, uniforms were dis-tributed, along with a self-eval-uation questionnaire that was completed by the participants.

The second week of the pro-

gramme witnessed a number of activities conducted by the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance at the InterConti-nental Hotel.

This week’s programme fo-cused on critical thinking by us-ing the six thinking hats method and mental maps, as the pro-gramme aimed to strengthen

the skill of adapting to changes rapidly and effectively.

In addition, the programme also focused on enhancing lan-guage skills and fluency, as well as the ability to present and

express as an individual while instilling a sense of creativity within the participants.

During the third week, and with the co-operation of Alif Foundation, a number of practi-cal applications, field challeng-es, as well as a workshop and training activities on creative thinking were organised at the Sofitel Hotel.

While the fourth and final week of the first phase was marked by a review of different types of technology and soft-ware by Shaikha Latifa Al Khal-ifa from Clever Play.

The programme aimed to ed-ucate participants on the impor-tance of technology and the var-ious aspects related to it, as well as enhance the skills of using programming and technology.

The first phase included numerous skills and activities that aimed to develop the personalities of the participants.

The programme aimed to educate participants on

the importance of technology and the

various aspects related to it.

KNOW

DID

Renewable energy projects outlinedManama

Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA) Pres-

ident Dr Abdulhussein Mirza received Council of Representatives mem-bers MP Adel Abdulrah-man Al Asoomi, who was accompanied by Jorda-nian MP Khalil Hussein Ateya, currently on visit to the Kingdom.

Dr Mirza commended joint co-operation be-tween the legislative and executive branches of government in the King-dom, praising the role of lawmakers on addressing citizens’ issues and en-hancing legislations.

Dr Mirza outlined projects undertaken by the Sustainable Ener-gy Authority as well as planned programmes and achievements to optimise the use of renewable en-ergy and promote its ef-ficiency.

Sustainable Energy Authority, Tamkeen discuss co-operation

Manama

President of the Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA), Dr Abdulhussain Mirza,

received the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the La-bour Fund (Tamkeen), Shaikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa.

The two sides discussed areas of the ongoing co-operation be-tween SEA and Tamkeen.

Dr Mirza praised Tamkeen’s exemplary cooperation and

swift response to all initiatives aimed at achieving the national goals regarding renewable ener-gy and energy efficiency in the Kingdom.

This, he said, embodies Tam-keen’s commitment to support-ing the growth and sustainabil-ity of the pillars of the national economy.

Dr Mirza gave a presenta-tion about the projects and programmes currently imple-mented by SEA in the field of

renewable energy, and Tam-keen’s remarkable role in SEA’s achievements.

Shaikh Mohammed bin Isa commended the Kingdom’s ef-forts to achieve sustainable de-velopment goals, especially in the field of renewable energy, stressing the need to discuss areas of joint co-operation between public and private institutions to come up with complementary solutions that serve efforts to move towards sustainable energy.

He pointed out that the renewable sector ensures a promising future based on benefiting from sustainable and clean energy resources.

It also contributes to at-tracting investors to develop renewable energy projects, in light of the existing supporting environment, represented by the government and advanced infrastructure, he said.Dr Mirza with Shaikh Mohammed.

06

business

SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020

The launch of the new Passenger Terminal

Building will increase BIA’s capacity to 14

million passengers a year, many of whom will be international

visitors. We are confident that stc Bahrain’s range of

products and services will make it easier

for these visitors to stay connected to their personal and

professional lives while in Bahrain

BAC CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, MOHAMED YOUSIF AL BINFALA

BAC, stc Bahrain in deal for retail store at new terminal• The store will offer a range of telecommunications products and services

TDT | Manama

Bahrain Airport Company and stc Bahrain signed a five-year concession

agreement for the operation of a retail store at Bahrain Inter-national Airport’s (BIA) new Pas-senger Terminal Building.

The store will offer staff and international visitors a range of telecommunications products and services.

BAC Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Yousif Al Binfalah and stc Bahrain Chief Execu-tive Officer, Nezar Banabeela signed the deal in the presence of Minister of Transportation & Telecommunications and Bah-rain Airport Company (BAC) Chairman, Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed.

Commenting on the deal, Al Binfalah said: “The launch of the new Passenger Terminal Build-

ing will increase BIA’s capacity to 14 million passengers a year, many of whom will be interna-tional visitors. We are confident that stc Bahrain’s range of prod-ucts and services will make it easier for these visitors to stay connected to their personal and professional lives while in Bahrain. We look forward to

working with stc Bahrain and delivering a comfortable, con-venient, and hassle-free airport experience.”

Banabeela said: “With its state-of-the-art facilities and strong retail presence, the new Passenger Terminal Building will offer travellers an improved airport experience with greater

convenience. stc Bahrain con-tinues to invest as an economic enabler, offering the most in-novative technologies and ser-vices to meet the demands of customers and support Bahrain’s transition into a key aviation and tourism hub.”

Upon landing, the first thing many passengers do is turn on

their mobiles phones, which can result in costly roaming charges. Passengers can avoid such fees by purchasing a local pre-paid SIM card at the Arrivals Area, enabling them to enjoy swift and seamless coverage from the moment they arrive in the King-dom.

Alongside stc Bahrain, Batel-

co and Zain Bahrain will oper-ate retail outlets and offer their services at the new terminal, ensuring broader and faster mo-bile coverage for travellers and tenants.

BAC Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Yousif Al Binfalah and stc Bahrain Chief Executive Officer, Nezar Banabeela signed the deal in the presence of Minister of Transportation & Telecommunications and Bahrain Airport Company (BAC) Chairman, Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed and other officials

Bahrain Bourse (BHB) hosted a workshop for various Kuwait-based scale-ups to showcase the opportunities available for companies seeking growth capital by listing on the Bahrain Investment Market (BIM). Eight representatives from various companies attended the workshop, as part of the Roadshow organized by Brilliant Labs to explore Bahrain’s supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem. Currently, the BIM’s network of authorized consulting firms includes Grant Thornton, KPMG, Key Point, BDO Consulting, SICO, and Almoayyad Chambers.

Luxembourg becomes first country with free public transport

• Transport workers were concerned about what impact the measure would have on their job security

Luxembourg

Luxembourg yesterday be-came the first country in

the world to offer free public transport, as the small and wealthy EU country tries to help less-well-off workers and reduce road traffic.

Some cities elsewhere have already taken similar, partial measures. But the transport ministry said it was the first time such a decision covered an entire country.

The free transport, flagged as “an important social measure”, affects approximately 40 per-cent of households and is esti-mated to save each one around 100 euros ($110) per year.

Not all passengers were aware of the change, which was brought forward one day ahead of schedule.

“It’s free? I didn’t know,” said a woman in her 50s who gave her first name as Dominique as she waited at Luxembourg’s main train station.

Transport workers were con-cerned about what impact the measure would have on their job security.

“We don’t yet know” what will happen to their positions, said one ticket seller at the sta-tion who declined to give his name.

“All the public transport workers are worried. It’s not

yet clear.”

Traffic woesThe measure is part of a plan

intended to reduce congestion.Private cars are the most

used means of transport in the Grand Duchy, account-ing for 47 per cent of busi-ness travel and 71pc of leisure transport.

With more than 200,000 people living in neighbouring France, Germany and Belgium who work in Luxembourg and most of them driving in, that makes for major traffic jams at peak hours.

The population of the tiny country is just 610,000 and those cross-border workers account for half the total em-ployees.

The capital city of Luxem-bourg has invested in its public transport network, notably by building a tram network, but commuters complain it is still patchy. It will be some years before the network links to the

northern airport, for instance.“There’s been an enormous

delay to the development of public transport,” said Blanche Weber, head of the Luxembourg Ecological Movement pressing for better links on environmen-tal grounds.

“Systematic and continu-ous investment is a sine qua non (essential) condition for promoting the attractiveness of public transport,” admitted transport minister Francois Bausch.

Sales of tickets on the domes-tic network -- which cost two euros per journey -- previously covered just eight percent of the 500-million-euro cost of running the transport system. That shortfall will now be met from the treasury.

Ticket machines are to be gradually removed from sta-tions, but offices selling tickets for international train trips and for first-class seating in Luxem-bourg -- which continues to be a paying service -- will remain.

Former British finance minister says would have cut income taxReuters | London

Former British finance min-ister Sajid Javid said he

would have cut income tax cut if he had not resigned this month after a clash with Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Javid told The Times news-paper the centerpiece of next month’s budget would have been a cut from April in the basic rate of income tax to 18 pence in the pound, from 20 pence, and he had plans to re-duce the basic rate to 15 pence from 2025.

In his first major interview since resigning in a clash with Johnson over the role of his advisers, Javid urged Rishi Su-nak, not to tear up fiscal rules, which commit the government to balance day-to-day spend-ing within three years when his successor delivers his first budget on March 11.

Javid said he would have paid for the income tax cuts partly through cutting waste in gov-ernment spending.

“I passionately believe that where you can afford it tax cuts are a good thing and now that we have a majority, we should be much more aggressive on the tax cuts for the long term,” Javid said. Javid said he had also planned to reduce stamp duty, would have introduced a network of fast-charging sta-tions for electric vehicles and provided help for the five mil-lion adults lacking basic literacy and numeracy skills to retrain.

Javid quit after losing a pow-

er struggle over who should control Britain’s economy. Javid said he resigned after he re-fused the prime minister’s de-mand to sack his own team of advisers.

“In my mind it was black and white,” he said. “Even if I had entertained the idea for a second I would be absolutely humiliated afterwards.”

Sunak became finance min-ister after agreeing to the con-ditions imposed by the prime minister.

Sajid Javid arrives at Downing Street in London, Britain

Private cars are the most used means of transport in Luxembourg, but the government is hoping to change that with the new free ride policy


Regulators move to fine telecoms for selling location dataWashington

US regulators moved to im-pose fines Friday against

the nation’s four major wire-less carriers for selling location data of customers without their consent.

The Federal Communications Commission proposed fining T-Mobile more than $91 mil-lion; AT&T some $57 million; Verizon $48 million, and Sprint $12 million.

The wireless firms were ac-cused of having disclosed mobile network user location data to a third party without authoriza-tion from customers, the FCC said.

The FCC began an investiga-tion after a report that a sher-iff in Missouri used a “loca-tion-finding service” operated by a prison communications ser-vices company called Securus to track whereabouts of people including a judge and law en-forcement officers.

The carriers provided access to customer location data to “aggregators” who then resold information to services such as

Securus, according to the reg-ulator.

“American consumers take their wireless phones with them

wherever they go,” FCC chair-man Ajit Pai said in a release.

“And information about a wireless customer’s location is

highly personal and sensitive.”US telecom firms have been on

notice for more than a decade that they are required to safe-

guard location data gathered about users, Pai added.

Sizes of the fines were based on how long carriers contin-ued to sell customer location information without prop-er safeguards and how many parties had access, the FCC said.

The telecom companies will get to provide evidence and ar-guments to the commission be-fore the fines are finalized.

Some privacy activists said the penalties failed to go far enough.

Lisa Hayes of the Center for Democracy & Technology, a digital rights organization, called the fines too little and too late.

“This kind of egregious pri-vacy violation and the weak en-forcement response by the FCC further demonstrate why the US needs a strong, comprehen-sive, national privacy law,” said Hayes.

“The current lack of a law means that anyone willing to spend a few hundred dollars can buy the location data of another

person at any moment in time.”Gaurav Laroia of the consum-

er group Free Press said the FCC action comes more than a year after activists filed complaints on these practices.

“Press reports surfaced over a year ago that AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon were sell-ing their customers’ real-time location information to data brokers,” Laroia said. “That in-formation was then available on the open market, putting people in real physical danger.”

Sprint said that it is reviewing the FCC’s notice regarding the proposed fine and had no com-ment other than to say it takes customer privacy seriously.

“When we learned that our location aggregator programme was being abused by bad actor third parties, we took quick ac-tion,” T-Mobile said in response to an AFP inquiry.

T-Mobile added that it will dispute the FCC’s conclusions and the fine.

Verizon and AT&T did not im-mediately respond to requests for comment.

Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai said fines against wireless carriers stem from the sale of customer location data without consent

Top British home office mandarin quits in bullying rowReuters | London

Britain’s top government official in the ministry

responsible for policing and counter-terrorism resigned yesterday, saying there had been an orchestrated cam-paign to remove him.

Philip Rutnam quit after reports of tensions between him and Home Secretary Priti Patel, including allegations she mistreated officials. Patel has denied the allegations against her.

Rutnam, who has worked the government for 33 years, took the unusual step of mak-ing a statement outside his home alleging Patel was be-hind the campaign to oust him.

“In the last ten days I have been the target of a vicious and orchestrated briefing cam-paign,” he told reporters.

“It has been alleged that I have briefed the media against the Home Secretary. This along with many other claims is completely false,” Rutnam said.

“The Home Secretary cate-gorically denied any involve-ment in this campaign to the Cabinet Office. I regret, I do not believe her,” he added

Rutnam said he had tried to reconcile with Patel, at the request of the cabinet secre-tary and Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

“But despite my efforts to

engage with her, Priti Patel has made no efforts to engage with me to discuss this,” he said.

Rutnam said that this gave him “very strong claims” for constructive dismissal, which he would be pursuing in the courts. He added while his experience was “extreme”, it was part of a “wider pattern” in government.

The Home Office directed calls for a request for comment to the Cabinet Office, respon-sible for the administrative functions of the government. The Cabinet Office did not im-mediately respond to a request for comment.

Patel was forced to resign as Britain’s aid minister in 2017 over undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials.

Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel leaves Downing Street in London, Britain

India’s Airtel says $1.1 billion payment complies with order on dues

• The court had ordered Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel among others, to pay 920 billion rupees in overdue levies and interest by Jan. 23

Reuters | New Delhi

India’s Bharti Airtel Ltd said it was complying with a Su-

preme Court order to pay dues, after it paid more than 80 billion

rupees ($1.10 billion) to the De-partment of Telecommunica-

tions (DoT) yesterday.The court, which had ordered

Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel among others, to pay 920 billion rupees in overdue levies and interest by Jan. 23, rejected pe-titions last month to review its October order.

Airtel has deposited with the DoT 30.04 billion rupees and an additional 50 billion as an ad-hoc payment to cover differ-ences, if any, it said.

“We have now complied,” the company said in a state-ment, referring to the judg-

ment and court directions of Oct 24, 2019.

The Supreme Court over-turned a lower court ruling and agreed with the government’s definition of adjusted gross rev-enue (AGR), which mobile carri-ers have contested for more than a decade.

Companies say AGR should comprise just revenue accrued from core services, while the government says it should in-clude all revenue, such as money from rent, land sales or sale of scrap.

Bharti Airtel office building in Gurugram, previously known as Gurgaon, on the outskirts of New Delhi

Activist investor wants to oust Twitter chief• Twitter early this month reported that it added millions of new users and boosted ad revenue in the fourth quarter

San Francisco

An a c t i v i st i nve st o r known as a major Re-publican political sup-

porter wants to wrest control of Twitter from co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, US media re-ported Friday.

Elliott Management, founded by billionaire Paul Singer, has acquired a stake in the social media firm and wants to re-move Dorsey, CNBC said, citing an unnamed source.

The firm pushed for the change stating that Dorsey’s at-tention is divided between run-ning Twitter and his financial transactions startup Square, and that Dorsey intends to live part of each year in Africa.

Twitter early this month re-ported that it added millions of new users and boosted ad revenue in the fourth quarter, sparking optimism over its

growth prospects.Dorsey sa id during an

earnings call that the results capped “a great year for Twit-ter” and that Twitter has been able to boost users by making the service “more instantly relevant.”

“This is an incredibly strong foundation to build upon,” he told analysts.

The latest report suggested Twitter is making headway as it seeks to keep pace with bigger social networks like Facebook and Instagram while it works to filter out abuse and manip-ulation.

Twitter will have growth op-portunities this year from the

2020 US elections and Olympic Games.

The platform has been seek-ing to expand its user base be-yond celebrities, journalists and politicians.

Dorsey has stressed that a pri-ority for Twitter is to “increase healthy public conversation” by rooting out inappropriate content and misinformation.

Despite his plans to spend part of the year living in Africa, Dorsey said he won’t be ham-pered by his travel.

“We do need to figure out how to build a company that is distributed, that is not bur-dened by time zones but advan-taged by them,” he said.

Elliott Management has acquired a stake in Twitter and wants to remove chief Jack Dorsey, pictured in August 2013

Trump nominates controversial ally as intel chief

Washington

US President Donald Trump announced Re-

publican lawmaker John Ratcliffe as his intelligence chief Friday, sparking fresh controversy over a crucial position that has lacked a permanent office holder for months.

The 53-year-old Trump loyalist was nominated as director of national intel-ligence after Dan Coats stepped down in July last year, but withdrew from consideration after strong criticism of his credentials from Democrats and a tepid response from key Repub-licans.

Trump instead named counterterrorism expert Joseph McGuire as acting director, overseeing the 17 agencies of the intelligence community including the CIA and National Security Agency.

But he forced McGuire out on February 20 after a senior intelligence official told Congress in a closed briefing that the Russians were again supporting Trump’s bid for reelection.

The revolving door con-tinued to spin as Trump appointed another loyalist, Richard Grenell, two weeks ago. But the former ambas-sador to Germany had no relevant experience and was viewed as highly po-litical.

The Supreme Court overturned a lower

court ruling and agreed with the

government’s defi-nition of adjusted

gross revenue (AGR), which mo-bile carriers have

contested for more than a decade

John Ratcliffe has already been rejected as director of national intelligence, after questions about his credentials forced the president to drop him from consideration


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: 36458394 | Email:[email protected] | Website: www.newsofbahrain.com | Printed and published by Al Ayam Publishing

BARIA ALAMUDDIN

Pity the Iranians participat-ing in an election process so severely rigged that, even

according to the state media, 200 out of 290 Majlis seats had effec-tively already been assigned. The crushing victory for the hard-lin-ers was thus preordained. Many new entrants into the Majlis are lightweight, inexperienced figures whose principal common denom-inator is their rabidly extremist world views.

These were elections where more than 55 percent of the 16,000 candidates were pre-emptively dis-qualified by the Guardian Council. Even 90 deputies from the current Majlis were summarily ruled as being unsuitable for public office. Unsurprisingly, 90 percent of those who were disqualified were rela-tive moderates, leaving the reform-ist camp struggling to produce a coherent list of candidates even in strongholds like Tehran. Indeed, reformists appear to have been wiped out altogether in the cap-ital, while winning only about 10 percent of seats throughout other parts of the country.

Such grotesquely unfair proce-dures convinced most Iranians not to bother voting. Participation sank to a historic low — about 20 per-cent in Tehran — despite Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demanding that vot-ing was a “religious and patriotic

duty.” Armed Forces commander Mohammed Bagheri demanded maximum turnout to counter the “terrorist American regime’s axis of hostility and evil.”

In the current fraught regional climate and under intensified US sanctions, Khamenei is remolding his administration along unmistak-ably confrontational lines; prepar-ing the ground for a monolithically radicalized administration after Iran’s presidential election next year. Yet, by extinguishing all non-militant voices, the only alternative the regime offers citizens is mass mobilization and revolution. The ruthless suppression of continuous bouts of uprisings has already cost hundreds of lives.

Iran is experiencing a tumul-tuous plunge in living standards, combined with soaring prices for basic goods. During 2019 alone, the economy contracted by 9.5 percent, while inflation was estimated at 40 percent. This regime prefers to see citizens starve before even considering meaningful cuts to its bankrolling of overseas terrorism and paramilitary operations, which amount to several billion dollars every year. Indeed, financial data quoted in the currently circulating draft budget is widely assessed to be wholly disconnected from the unremittingly dire state of the re-gime’s finances.

Widespread public disillusion-ment with the corrupt, incompe-tent leadership was recently com-pounded by the regime’s botched attempt to cover up the shooting down of a civilian plane packed with its own citizens. The regime has also clumsily sought to cov-

er up a major outbreak of coro-navirus, which is already causing multiple deaths, with Iran rapidly becoming the most critical vector for the epidemic outside of China. Iran’s paranoid political culture makes international cooperation over the pandemic particularly fraught. There was anger in Leb-anon after Hezbollah obstructed the cancelation of flights from Iran after the first reported corona-virus case of a woman returning from Qom — despite pilgrimage visits between Iraq and Iran being halted.

More aggressive overseas pol-icies by a radicalized regime can only be disastrous for Lebanon

and Iraq, where hard-liners have been agitating for more aggressive crackdowns against protesters. Ali Larijani’s Beirut trip — the first significant political visit since the formation of the Hezbollah-bro-kered government — sought to consolidate Lebanon’s locus with-in Iran’s “Axis of Resistance.” Lar-ijani’s visit represented a deliber-ate attempt to scare off Western and Arab funding and support, while ludicrously pledging that Tehran’s destitute regime would help stave off bankruptcy in Bei-rut. Israel’s military in recent days warned that Lebanon would pay a “devastating price” for Hezbollah provocations.

COURAGE IS THE GREATEST OF ALL VIRTUES, BECAUSE IF YOU HAVEN’T COURAGE, YOU MAY NOT HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO USE ANY OF THE OTHERS.SAMUEL JOHNSON

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Iran’s hardliners

seize control of sinking

shipAfter eight years of using

reformists as window dressing, Khamenei appears resolved

to reset the regime to its fundamentalist default

DR VIJAYAKUMAR HEGDE

The recent reporting of Coro-navirus Disease (COVID19) in the Kingdom of Bahrain

as confirmed by the Ministry of Health hit the panic button among many of the residents of the King-dom. We, at Al Hilal Hospital and Medical Centers, aim to increase the public awareness about the Virus.

The outbreak of respiratory dis-ease caused by a novel (new) coro-navirus was first detected in Wu-han City, Hubei Province, China and which has now been detected in 37 locations internationally, in-cluding 33 confirmed cases (at the

time of writing this article) in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The virus has

been named “SARS-CoV-2” and the disease it causes has been named “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbre-viated “COVID-19”).

The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, and dry cough. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea. These symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually. Some people become infected but don’t devel-op any symptoms and don’t feel unwell. Most people (about 80%) recover from the disease without needing special treatment. Around 1 out of every 6 people who gets COVID-19 becomes seriously ill and develops difficulty breathing. Old-

Alhilal Hospital

and Medical Centers

have been carrying out

campaigns to boost public

awareness about

Coronavirus

Tackling the Corona outbreak Preventive measures for everyone

Most people who become infected experi-ence mild illness and recover, but it can be more severe for others. Take care of your

health and protect others by doing the following:l Regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water.

Why? Washing your hands with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand rub kills viruses that may be on your hands.l Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing.

Why? When someone coughs or sneezes they spray small liquid droplets from their nose or mouth which may contain virus. If you are too close, you can breathe in the droplets, including the COVID-19 virus if the person coughing has the disease.l Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth.

Why? Hands touch many surfaces and can pick up viruses. Once contaminated, hands can transfer the virus to your eyes, nose or mouth. From there, the virus can enter your body and can make you sick.l Make sure you, and the people around you, follow good respiratory hygiene. This means covering your mouth and nose with your bent

elbow or tissue paper when you cough or sneeze. Then dispose of the used tissue paper immediately.

Why? Droplets spread virus. By following good respiratory hygiene you protect the people around you from viruses such as cold, flu and COVID-19.l Stay home if you feel unwell. If you have a fe-ver, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical attention and call in advance. Follow the direc-tions of your local health authority.

Why? National and local authorities will have the most up to date information on the situation in your area. Calling in advance will allow your health care provider to quickly direct you to the right health facility. This will also protect you and help prevent spread of viruses and other infections.l Stay informed on the latest developments about COVID-19. Follow advice given by your healthcare provider, your national and local public health authority or your employer on how to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.

Why? National and local authorities will have the most up to date information on whether COVID-19 is spreading in your area. They are best placed to advise on what people in your area should be doing to protect themselves.

Preventive measures for persons who are in or have recently visited (past 14 days) areas where COVID-19 is spreading

l Follow the guidance outlined above. (Preven-tive measures for everyone)l Stay at home if you begin to feel unwell, even with mild symptoms such as headache and slight runny nose, until you recover.

Why? Avoiding contact with others and visits to medical facilities will allow these facilities to operate more effectively and help protect you and others from possible COVID-19 and other viruses.

l If you develop fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical advice promptly as this may be due to a respiratory infection or other serious condition. Call in advance and tell your provider of any recent travel or contact with travelers.

Why? Calling in advance will allow your health care provider to quickly direct you to the right health facility. This will also help to prevent possible spread of COVID-19 and other viruses.



BARIA ALAMUDDIN

Pity the Iranians participat-ing in an election process so severely rigged that, even

according to the state media, 200 out of 290 Majlis seats had effec-tively already been assigned. The crushing victory for the hard-lin-ers was thus preordained. Many new entrants into the Majlis are lightweight, inexperienced figures whose principal common denom-inator is their rabidly extremist world views.

These were elections where more than 55 percent of the 16,000 candidates were pre-emptively dis-qualified by the Guardian Council. Even 90 deputies from the current Majlis were summarily ruled as being unsuitable for public office. Unsurprisingly, 90 percent of those who were disqualified were rela-tive moderates, leaving the reform-ist camp struggling to produce a coherent list of candidates even in strongholds like Tehran. Indeed, reformists appear to have been wiped out altogether in the cap-ital, while winning only about 10 percent of seats throughout other parts of the country.

Such grotesquely unfair proce-dures convinced most Iranians not to bother voting. Participation sank to a historic low — about 20 per-cent in Tehran — despite Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demanding that vot-ing was a “religious and patriotic

duty.” Armed Forces commander Mohammed Bagheri demanded maximum turnout to counter the “terrorist American regime’s axis of hostility and evil.”

In the current fraught regional climate and under intensified US sanctions, Khamenei is remolding his administration along unmistak-ably confrontational lines; prepar-ing the ground for a monolithically radicalized administration after Iran’s presidential election next year. Yet, by extinguishing all non-militant voices, the only alternative the regime offers citizens is mass mobilization and revolution. The ruthless suppression of continuous bouts of uprisings has already cost hundreds of lives.

Iran is experiencing a tumul-tuous plunge in living standards, combined with soaring prices for basic goods. During 2019 alone, the economy contracted by 9.5 percent, while inflation was estimated at 40 percent. This regime prefers to see citizens starve before even considering meaningful cuts to its bankrolling of overseas terrorism and paramilitary operations, which amount to several billion dollars every year. Indeed, financial data quoted in the currently circulating draft budget is widely assessed to be wholly disconnected from the unremittingly dire state of the re-gime’s finances.

Widespread public disillusion-ment with the corrupt, incompe-tent leadership was recently com-pounded by the regime’s botched attempt to cover up the shooting down of a civilian plane packed with its own citizens. The regime has also clumsily sought to cov-

er up a major outbreak of coro-navirus, which is already causing multiple deaths, with Iran rapidly becoming the most critical vector for the epidemic outside of China. Iran’s paranoid political culture makes international cooperation over the pandemic particularly fraught. There was anger in Leb-anon after Hezbollah obstructed the cancelation of flights from Iran after the first reported corona-virus case of a woman returning from Qom — despite pilgrimage visits between Iraq and Iran being halted.

More aggressive overseas pol-icies by a radicalized regime can only be disastrous for Lebanon


COURAGE IS THE GREATEST OF ALL VIRTUES, BECAUSE IF YOU HAVEN’T COURAGE, YOU MAY NOT HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO USE ANY OF THE OTHERS.SAMUEL JOHNSON

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Iran’s hardliners

seize control of sinking

shipAfter eight years of using

reformists as window dressing, Khamenei appears resolved

to reset the regime to its fundamentalist default

DR VIJAYAKUMAR HEGDE

The recent reporting of Coro-navirus Disease (COVID19) in the Kingdom of Bahrain

as confirmed by the Ministry of Health hit the panic button among many of the residents of the King-dom. We, at Al Hilal Hospital and Medical Centers, aim to increase the public awareness about the Virus.

The outbreak of respiratory dis-ease caused by a novel (new) coro-navirus was first detected in Wu-han City, Hubei Province, China and which has now been detected in 37 locations internationally, in-cluding 33 confirmed cases (at the

time of writing this article) in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The virus has

been named “SARS-CoV-2” and the disease it causes has been named “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbre-viated “COVID-19”).

The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, and dry cough. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea. These symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually. Some people become infected but don’t devel-op any symptoms and don’t feel unwell. Most people (about 80%) recover from the disease without needing special treatment. Around 1 out of every 6 people who gets COVID-19 becomes seriously ill and develops difficulty breathing. Old-

Alhilal Hospital

and Medical Centers

have been carrying out

campaigns to boost public

awareness about

Coronavirus


Most people who become infected experi-ence mild illness and recover, but it can be more severe for others. Take care of your

health and protect others by doing the following:l Regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water.

Why? Washing your hands with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand rub kills viruses that may be on your hands.l Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing.

Why? When someone coughs or sneezes they spray small liquid droplets from their nose or mouth which may contain virus. If you are too close, you can breathe in the droplets, including the COVID-19 virus if the person coughing has the disease.l Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth.

Why? Hands touch many surfaces and can pick up viruses. Once contaminated, hands can transfer the virus to your eyes, nose or mouth. From there, the virus can enter your body and can make you sick.l Make sure you, and the people around you, follow good respiratory hygiene. This means covering your mouth and nose with your bent






l Follow the guidance outlined above. (Preven-tive measures for everyone)l Stay at home if you begin to feel unwell, even with mild symptoms such as headache and slight runny nose, until you recover.

Why? Avoiding contact with others and visits to medical facilities will allow these facilities to operate more effectively and help protect you and others from possible COVID-19 and other viruses.



For Iranians themselves, this farcical vote abandoned all pretenses of democracy

and accountability. With domestic disenchantment

worsening by the day, perhaps the radicalising

consequences of these elec-tions represent a moment of divorce between the regime and its citizenry, which are moving in fundamentally

different directions.


TOP

4TWEETS

04

02

03

01

A high school student in Washington state

is the latest U.S. resident to preliminarily test pos-itive for the coronavirus and is part of a growing group of victims that were diagnosed with COVID-19 due to commu-nity spread.

@ABC

The U.S. and Taliban have reached a his-

toric peace deal that may pave the way for the end of America’s longest war. Sec-retary of State Mike Pom-peo is in Doha, Qatar to witness the signing. Many American troops will be withdrawn from the region as a result of the deal.

@TODAYshow

Foreign Secretary @HarshShringla called

on former President @KarzaiH today & discussed a wide range of issues of mutual interest. Recalling President Karzai’s visit to India in January this year, FS appreciated his contribu-tions to strategic partnership between India-Afghanistan.

@MEAIndia

“We know con-t a i n m e n t i s

possible, but the win-dow of opportunity is narrowing.”@UN chief @antonioguterres calls for solidarity and full global support, with all countries fully assuming their responsibilities to contain COVID-19 with-out stigmatization

@CGTNOfficial

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

editorial stances)


We will see both the regime and the public contemplating ever more desperate measures to escape the crippling burden of sanctions and international isolation, par-ticularly if Donald Trump remains in power beyond the 2020 US pres-idential election. Some observers even worry that Tehran may cal-culatedly trigger a regional war in a frantic attempt to reshuffle the regional deck of cards. A few hard-boiled regime theorists argue that Ruhollah Khomeini’s dictator-ship prevailed only by embarking on his blood-soaked war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, forcing Iranians to unite behind the flag and dispatching a generation of

troublesome, unemployed young men to be slaughtered as front-line cannon fodder.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 2005 election victory followed on the heels of a state-supervised purge of moderates in the 2004 Majlis elec-tions — very similar to the process we have just witnessed. Ahmadine-jad’s belligerent regime spearhead-ed campaigns of insurgency and terrorism in Iraq and other states, while taking a highly provocative approach to foreign policy and the nuclear file; in 2006 it pushed Hez-bollah into a ruinous conflict with Israel. After eight years of using reformists like Mohammed Javad Zarif and Hassan Rouhani as win-dow dressing, Khamenei appears resolved to reset the regime to its fundamentalist default.

Iran’s radicals have long blamed the nation’s economic woes on the naivety and weakness of the reformists, while sabotaging all attempts at engagement with the West. However, once these ex-

tremists control all the regime’s principal power centers, the buck will unmistakably stop with them. There will be no mistaking the ugly, deranged face of this regime.

Over the past couple of years, there have been continuous pat-terns of provocation by Iran: At-tacks on Gulf shipping, oil instal-lations, military targets and diplo-matic sites. Experienced generals like Qassem Soleimani repeatedly took the region to the brink, only to step back and defuse tensions at the last minute. Under a remodeled regime dominated by brainwashed, like-minded radicals, there will be no voices of restraint.

Even though direct confron-tation with Israel and the US would obviously be catastroph-ic, fire-breathing radicals could easily become prisoners of their own rhetoric and high-risk grand-standing. In an already-tense en-vironment, a regime where Ne-anderthal hard-liners hold all the levers of power might not be able to restrain itself from plunging the region headlong into war.

For Iranians themselves, this farcical vote abandoned all pre-tenses of democracy and account-ability. With domestic disenchant-ment worsening by the day, per-haps the radicalising consequenc-es of these elections represent a moment of divorce between the regime and its citizenry, which are moving in fundamentally different directions.

(Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle

East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has inter-

viewed numerous heads of state.)

1868The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity is founded at the University of Virginia.

1870Marshal F. S. López dies during the Battle of Cerro Corá thus marking the end of the Paraguayan War.

1872Yellowstone National Park is established as the world’s first national park.

1971President of Pakistan Yahya Khan indefinitely postpones the pending national assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY

An honest approach to a

crisis

As Bahrain grapples with the tip of the iceberg called the COVID-19 pandemic, everybody is torn be-

tween a sense of fear and a feeling of a certain security that the government seems to be on top of the game.

From Day 1 when the Case Zero was identified, the numbers rapidly rose till it crossed thirty in three days.

Bahraini authorities have been not only quick but very efficient in their response.

By transforming the Muharraq Geriat-ric Hospital into a quarantine treatment centre and providing world-class care for patients, the Ministry of Health has worked swiftly to avert a full-blown disaster.

But I think what sets apart the Bah-rain government’s response from that of the other so-called ‘hot spots’ in this pandemic, is the communication lines and the reaching out of the government.

There have been ex-traordinary efforts made to inform the public of action taken, the safety measures to be followed and above all, the tracking of the virus.

Unlike many countries which tried to conceal the enormity of the num-bers in the hope that they would be able to control them and leave business and tourism untouched, Bahrain has put the inter-ests of the people first and foremost and sought to manage this disaster with transparency and medical precision.

These include barring travel to and from affected areas to putting in place clean-up measures in pub-lic spaces and monitoring pharmacies so that the masks that people use as a preventive measure are not hoarded or sold at out-rageous prices.

There are information bulletins regularly circu-lated to the public and there has been excellent leadership in terms of handling a health crisis.

These are signs that Bahrain’s leaders have al-

ways put the welfare of the people first and that transparency and an honest approach are always the first defence against disaster.

As citizens and residents, we too have responsibilities in such a trying time.

We need to avoid spreading rumours, scare-mongering and we must co-oper-ate with authorities to cross this chal-lenging period safely.

Re-emphasising basic hygiene habits such as washing and disinfecting hands and frequently used surfaces are some old-fashioned precautions that will go a long way in maintaining barriers against disease.

I wish all readers good health and safety.

(Captain Mahmood Al Mahmood is the Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Tribune and the President of the Arab-African Unity Organisation for Relief, Human Rights and Counterterrorism)

CAPT. MAHMOOD AL MAHMOOD

Unlike many countries which tried to conceal the enormity of the numbers in

the hope that they would be

able to control them and

leave business and tourism

untouched, Bahrain has put

the interests of the people first

and foremost and sought to

manage this disaster with transparency

and medical precision.

er people, and those with under-lying medical problems like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, are more likely to develop serious illness. About 2% of people with the disease have died. People with fever, cough and difficulty breathing should seek medical at-tention.

People can catch COVID-19 from others who have the virus. The disease can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales.

These droplets land on objects and surfaces around the person. Other people then catch COVID-19 by touching these objects or sur-faces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth. People can also catch COVID-19 if they breathe in droplets from a person with COVID-19 who coughs out or ex-hales droplets. This is why it is important to stay more than 1 meter (3 feet) away from a person who is sick.

(Dr Vijayakumar Hegde MBBS, MD (Pathology) is a specialist doctor at Al

Hilal Hospital and Medical Centers.)









10

world


In case the infectious disease spreading

beyond control finds its way into our

country, it will entail serious consequences

KCNA QUOTED KIM AS SAYING.

Kim warns of ‘serious consequences’ if virus reaches N.KoreaSeoul

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned top party

officials of the “serious conse-quences” of failing to prevent an outbreak of the new coronavirus in the country, state media re-ported yesterday.

The impoverished nation, with a weak and ill-equipped healthcare system, has closed its borders to prevent the spread of the disease into its territory.

Kim told a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea that the fight against the virus was a “crucial state affair for the defence of the people” that required maximum discipline, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“In case the infectious disease spreading beyond control finds its way into our country, it will entail serious consequences,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

Two senior officials -- party vice-chairmen Ri Man Gon and Pak Thae Dok -- were sacked, and a party unit disbanded for corruption, the report said, indi-cating that they may have been involved in graft linked with the anti-epidemic measures.

“No special cases must be al-lowed,” he added, and ordered officials to “seal off all the chan-nels and space through which the infectious disease may find its way”.

Pyongyang has not reported a single case of COVID-19, which has killed more than 2,800 peo-

ple and infected over 84,000 people in dozens of countries since it emerged in neighbouring China.

North Korea has banned tour-ists, suspended international trains and flights and placed hundreds of foreigners in quar-antine to prevent an outbreak.

It has also reportedly postponed the new school term.

With loudspeakers blaring hygiene messages, ambassadors locked in their compounds, and state media demanding “abso-lute obedience”, North Korea’s anti-coronavirus measures have been described as “unprecedent-

ed” by diplomats.South Korea, meanwhile, is

battling a major outbreak of the virus with more than 2,300 cases -- the highest number outside mainland China.

Germany’s ambassador to the United Nations has said the Se-curity Council would adopt hu-manitarian exemptions to the sanctions imposed on Pyong-yang over its weapons pro-grammes, and allow the export of equipment to help North Ko-rea fight the coronavirus.

But “the problem is that right now the North Koreans closed the borders,” Christoph Heus-gen said Thursday after a closed-door Security Council meeting about the reclusive state.

The members of the Security Council called on North Korea “to allow this equipment in. So the population can be protect-ed,” he added, without elabo-rating on the type of equipment.

North Korea has banned tourists, suspended international trains and flights and placed hundreds of foreigners in quarantine to prevent an outbreak

North Korea has not reported a single case of the coronavirus, which has infected tens of thousands in neighbouring China, South Korea and Japan

Bernie Sanders look-alike enjoying the ride

Los Angeles

Up until a few years ago, Jeff Jones was going about his

life, minding his own business and enjoying his passion for music.

Then Bernie Sanders burst onto the national political stage, prompting many to do double takes on seeing Jones, who bears a striking resem-blance to the Democratic pres-idential candidate.

“Around 2015, people start-ed asking if anyone told me I looked ‘sorta like’ Bernie Sand-ers,” Jones, who wears glasses and sports a tuft of white hair like Sanders, told AFP at a re-cent rally in California for the Vermont senator.

“This happened so often that my youngest daughter Robin suggested I make an ‘I am not Bernie’ shirt as a gag.”

With Sanders riding high in the polls for the presiden-tial nomination, Jones, who lives in Los Angeles, has been making much use of his “I am not Bernie” shirt as he attends rallies for the candidate, gladly posing for pictures with wide-eyed voters.

When asked, Jones, who at 77 is a year younger than his doppelgänger, even manages to imitate Sanders’ demeanor, hunching his shoulders, tou-sling his hair and lifting his arms as he scowls.

“I’m a Bernie fan,” says Jones, who was a registered Republican until the 2016 elec-tions that saw Donald Trump win the presidency.

He said he considers the resemblance to Sanders an “accident of nature” and is good-humored about it.

“It’s just a gag... and I’ve turned down requests to play Bernie characters and for shoots and this sort of thing,” he said. “It has to serve Bernie’s purpose, otherwise I don’t want to be involved.”

Jones said he has never per-sonally met Sanders but knows what he’ll do if that were to happen.

“In some public forum, such as a leftward leaning TV show, I would apologize to Bernie for all the people telling him he looks like ME, then present to him a sweatshirt to resolve the confusion,” he said. “It says ‘I AM NOT JEFF.’”

Jeff Jones says he doesn’t mind posing for pictures with wide-eyed voters at rallies

Mahathir Mohamad loses PM race, scandal-plagued party returns• A royal statement said Muhyiddin was chosen by the king

AFP | Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad lost a pow-er struggle yesterday

with a little-known ex-interior minister to be the country’s new leader in a shock twist that will return a scandal-plagued party to power.

Muhyiddin Yassin’s sur-prise victory not only sidelines Mahathir, who had been the world’s oldest premier at 94, but also dashes the hopes of Anwar Ibrahim of becoming leader any time soon.

A royal statement said Muhy-iddin was chosen by the king, who appoints the country’s premiers after deciding who commands most support from MPs, following the collapse of a reformist ruling coalition last week.

Mahathir and Anwar’s “Pact of Hope” alliance stormed to a historic victory in 2018 that broke the six-decade stran-glehold on power of a corrup-tion-riddled coalition, but it was riven by infighting over who should succeed Mahathir.

Tensions exploded last week after a failed bid to push out Anwar and stop him becoming leader -- prompting the govern-ment’s collapse and Mahathir’s shock resignation.

The victory of Muhyiddin and his coalition, which is dominat-ed by the multi-ethnic country’s

Muslim majority, dashed hopes that the reformist alliance had secured enough support to re-turn to power and is likely to spark much public anger.

Not only does it remove a democratically elected gov-ernment but it also signals the return to power of the United

Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the scandal-plagued party of disgraced ex-leader Na-jib Razak.

UMNO was the lynchpin of a long-ruling coalition toppled from power at historic elections two years ago amid allegations Najib and his cronies looted

state fund 1MDB. Najib is now on trial for corruption.

His coalition also includes the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), a hardline outfit push-ing for tougher Islamic laws in Malaysia.

Addressing supporters out-side his Kuala Lumpur house, Muhyiddin said: “I urge all Ma-laysians to take the decision that has been made by the palace today well. Pray that we will succeed for a greater Malaysia in the future”.

The palace said earlier that appointing a prime minister could not be delayed as the country “needs a government for the well-being of the peo-ple”, and that Muhyiddin would be sworn in Sunday.

But James Chin, a Malaysia expert from the University of Tasmania, said he was “very surprised” that Muhyiddin got the job.

“It is very bad news for the country,” he said. “One of the parties in this government is the fundamentalist PAS and they want to establish an Islamic state.”

Former interior minister Muhyiddin Yassin (C) is set to become Malaysia’s prime minister in a shock twist to a week of political chaos

Anwar Ibrahim’s hopes of becoming prime minister have been dashed by the surprise move

Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad has lost a power struggle to a little-known ex-interior minister, ending his premiership


Super-high heels free women, says shoe king LouboutinAFP | Paris

Super-high heels can free women, says legendary

French shoe designer Chris-tian Louboutin, who insists that wearing his towering six-inch stilettos is a “form of liberty”.

While some feminists see vertiginous heels as sexual en-slavement, Louboutin believes the opposite -- even if it means women have to walk slowly and carefully in his iconic red-soled creations.

“Women do not want to give up wearing high heels,” the de-signer said before “The Exhibi-tionist”, a retrospective of his 30-year career, opens in a Paris museum Wednesday.

While Louboutin also makes trainers and flat shoes, he ad-mitted that when it comes to the spike-heeled classics that made his name: “I don’t think about comfort when I design.”

“No shoe with a 12cm (5 inch) heel is comfortable... but people do not come to me looking for a pair of slippers,” said Louboutin, who helped bring high heels back into fashion in the 1990s and 2000s.

They are not meant to be worn all the time, but super high heels allow women to express them-selves and break free of crushing norms, he said.

“To be a woman is also about enjoying one’s freedom to be feminine if you want. Why re-nounce (high heels) when you can have them and flats,” he said.

Not meant to be comfy

“I don’t want people to look at my shoes and say: ‘They look re-ally comfortable!’ The important thing is that people say: ‘Wow, they’re beautiful!’”

Even if they can only totter around in their Louboutins, that is no bad thing, he said.

If the shoes “stop you run-ning”, that is something “posi-tive”, he added.

Having learnt his art under

Roger Vivier, the man who claimed to have invented the stiletto, Louboutin became a household name in the 1990s after Princess Caroline of Mo-naco fell for one of his first solo creations.

Pop stars from Madonna to Tina Turner and Jennifer Lopez were soon competing with half of Hollywood for fittings.

But even as some luxury brands like Dior, led by feminist designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, have taken an axe to towering heels, Louboutin insisted they still had their place.

“People project themselves and their stories into my shoes,” he said, pointing to a particularly high pair of intricate lace boots called Corset d’Amour, embroi-dered with scenes of love-mak-ing.

Louboutin revealed his life-long fascination with heels was sparked when he was 10 years old and saw a sign banning the shoes at the Palais de la Porte Doree -- the museum now hold-ing his retrospective.

“I started to draw them be-cause of that sign,” he said, which was put up to save the museum’s parquet floors.

Forbidden pleasures“I think the fact that high

heels were forbidden played on the unconscious... there was also the mystery and the fetishistic side... the simple drawing

of a high-heeled shoe is often associated with sexuality,” he added.

Louboutin also credited the sign with plunging him into “the universe of curves” which was to shape his art.

And he insisted that is art was not just about making heels higher and higher.

He has also been working on making his shoes disappear into the wearer’s leg in a series which he calls Les Nudes -- in a varie-ty of skin colours -- as well as designs which lengthen the leg.

Other highlights of the often cheeky show, which runs until July 28, include a hologram of a shoe that turns into the bur-lesque star Dita Von Teese as well a series of Louboutin-sport-ing nudes shot by the American film director David Lynch.

Louboutin rejoices in the fact that his shoes have now become so iconic that his name has be-come a shorthand for luxu-ry and sexiness, popping up in rap songs, films and books.

“Pop culture is neither controlled or controllable, so I am very happy about that,” he add-ed.

Louboutin in “the English granny’s sitting room” of his new Paris show. A closer look reveals that many of the granny’s ornaments are rather risque

While Louboutin also makes trainers and flat shoes, he admitted that when it comes to the spike-heeled classics that made his name: “I don’t think about comfort when I design.”

Refugee restaurant seeks to win Spanish hearts

AFP | Madrid

Hala and Alex learned to cook with their moth-ers, Yoli learnt while

preparing meals for her large family.

The trio, who were forced to flee Syria, Sudan and Venezuela respectively, are now the chefs at a unique Madrid restaurant that aims to change the lives of refu-gees and alter how people see them, at a time when the arrival of large numbers of migrants fleeing poverty and prosecution stokes tensions across Europe.

Gathered in the kitchen wear-ing black aprons bearing the name of the restaurant, “Refu-sion”, in large orange letters, the three prepare typical dish-es from their native countries: moussaka from Syria, kafta from Sudan and tequeños from Ven-ezuela.

Each came to Spain for differ-

ent reasons -- Hala Doudieh, 29, because of the war in Syria, Alex Medina, 24, to live freely as a transsexual and Yoli Medina, 52, because of the economic crisis in Venezuela -- and the eatery provides them with stable work which has improved their lives in their new home.

“I am a black trans refugee woman, it’s hard to find work, I made food, sold falafels on the street to survive,” Alex, who sports long black hair in braids and was named Ahmed Mo-hamed at birth, said.

Alex, who learned to cook with her mother in Khartoum, fled Sudan three years ago be-cause she feared for her life due to her identity.

She said she was “happy and comfortable” at the restaurant in the northeastern Madrid neighbourhood of Valdeaceder-as which has a high immigrant population.

“I can work and dress however

I want and prepare food with love and affection,” she added.

‘Stable work’Refusion was set up by “peo-

ple who want to offer stable work to people who are not sta-ble economically, sociologically or socially, people who want to give an opportunity to refugees who like working in the kitch-en,” said Doudieh, who arrived in Spain with her family from war-torn Damascus in 2013.

She was referring to the five founding members of the restau-rant, which opened its doors last year with the aim of expanding to employ more refugees.

The founding partners are all volunteers at the charity “Madrid for Refugees”, which helps recent arrivals integrate in Spain.

It organises evening courses where a refugee teaches people how to make food from their country. The three chefs from

Refusion have all given these classes.

“That is the project, to try to provide stable work to people who have had very complicated histories and allow them to in-tegrate because our state gives them refugee status but then doesn’t help them, or does lit-tle, to integrate them,” said one of the Spanish founders of the charity, Elena Suarez.

She said the goal is to “use food to change a bit the negative discourse we have about refu-gees” in Spain, which receives the most asylum requests in the European Union after Germa-ny and France according to the bloc’s statistics agency Eurostat.

“We won’t be intimidated by what is happening and by new parties,” she add-ed in a reference to far-right anti-im-migrant party Vox which became the third-biggest par-ty in Spain’s par-liament in a No-vember 2019 g e n e r a l election.

‘A blessing’Since then the handful of ta-

bles at the restaurant, which is decorated with a big map of the world with flags from the coun-tries its customers hail from, is often full and its three chefs struggle to fill the home delivery orders.

Paula Lajarain, a 26-year-old tattoo artist who often goes to the restaurant with her father, described the venue as “super cool”.

“Seeing that they are getting ahead, that people like the place a lot, makes me really happy, and the food is very good,” she said as she waited for her falafel order to be made by Doudieh.

The Syrian chef was helped by two new assistants -- a 22-year-

old Venezuelan who arrived in Spain in October and

a 19-year-old Moroccan who smuggled himself into Spain’s North Af-rican enclave of Ceuta hidden under a bus.

“For me entering this collective has been

a blessing,” said Me d i n a , w h o

learned to cook by preparing Sunday lunch for her large f a m i l y i n northern Venezue-la.

The Refusion team

Refusion was set up by “people who want to offer stable work to people who are not stable economically, sociologically or socially, people who want to give an opportunity to refugees who like working in the kitchen,” said Doudieh, who arrived in Spain with her family from war-torn Damascus in 2013.


Jailed Kurdish leader becomes literary star behind barsIstanbul

He may be languishing in jail but with his books flying off the shelves,

Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas has joined an illus-trious line of Turkish prison writers.

A former presidential candi-date and persistent thorn in the side of Turkey’s current leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Demirtas has spent more than three years in jail and faces up to 142 years more if convicted of ties to Kurd-ish militants, which he denies.

“I am engaged in a major bat-tle of wills because I am a po-litical prisoner and this is mo-tivating me to expose my cre-ativity,” Demirtas said in writ-ten responses sent through his lawyers from his cell in western Edirne city.

Despite the possible sentence hanging over him he has found some consolation in his ev-er-growing number of readers as sales of his books, written in Turkish, reach into the hun-dreds of thousands.

His first book, Seher (Dawn), was published in 2017 -- a collec-tion of short stories that contain glimpses into daily lives of ordi-nary people including women characters whose voices often go unheard.

It has turned into a runaway success, translated into 16 lan-guages with 240,000 copies printed.

Demirtas has followed up with another short story collection “Devran”, and now a full novel, “Leylan.”

“I would without hesitation choose literature” over politics, Demirtas said.

‘Naive’The charismatic politician,

who founded and led the Peo-ples’ Democratic Party (HDP), was once nicknamed the “Kurd-ish Obama” by some admirers for his rhetorical skills.

But the 46-year-old former lawyer was detained in the sweeping crackdown that fol-lowed a failed coup in July 2016, which Erdogan’s critics say was used as a pretext to remove op-ponents and civil society activ-ists.

“Today politics is nothing more than a collective swindle. We are jailed because my friends and I are not involved in this fraud ring,” Demirtas said.

“Literature is, however, a more naive, cleaner domain,” he said,

where “every reader is at least free to make his own decisions”.

Writing is also a form of “re-sistance” to the monotony of prison life, he added.

“There is nothing here but four walls and a door. We spend almost all our time in a small cell... everything is directed to-wards weakening the human will and wrecking one’s person-ality.”

Despite his widespread pop-ularity, Demirtas has many de-tractors in Turkey’s bitterly di-vided political scene.

Many Erdogan supporters and nationalists say he has failed to sufficiently distance himself from the Kurdistan Workers’

Party (PKK), an armed group which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the state.

There was controversy in Jan-uary over the staging of Demir-tas’s second book “Devran”, with Interior Minister Suleyman Soy-lu saying: “They cannot clean the blood from their hands with theatre plays.”

Demirtas told AFP he could not take Soylu seriously as “a minister in one of the most cruel and unlawful governments in Turkey’s political history.”

Nonetheless, it was not easy for the play’s director Julide Kural, who struggled to find performers willing to join the production.

Instead of four actors as planned, she ended up with just one and was forced to read some of the male parts herself.

“I thought I could easily find the four actors because the book is legal, and sold everywhere,” she said.

Demirtas’s publisher, Emir Ali Turkmen, head of Dipnot pub-lishing house, said the politician had joined a long line of famed writers working in Turkish cells.

“Unfortunately Turkey’s pris-ons have produced many writers throughout history. Nazim Hik-met who is famed today as one of the world’s greatest poets, did some of his best work in prison,” he said.

He reeled off other high-pro-file names, such as Orhan Kemal, Aziz Nesin and Sabahattin Ali -- the latter known for his best-

seller Madonna in a Fur Coat. Jailed twice in 1933 and in 1941, Ali was killed while attempting to flee the country.

“Unfortunately, that’s Tur-key’s fate,” said Turkmen.

Dipnot has received threats from nationalists for publishing Demirtas, but Turkmen says the pressure was not comparable to the days when books written in prison were banned by the authorities.

The controversy has certain-ly not been bad for sales. In a recent visit to a book shop in an upmarket neighbourhood of Is-tanbul, Demirtas’s newest book was completely sold out.

“There is a sympathy for Demirtas and the books have offered a glimpse of hope for many segments in society. Even the hesitant now tend to buy and read them,” said bookseller Burcu Yazlar.

A book reader in Ankara, Ca-hit Segmen, said: “I bought one of his books both to know him closer and also to see his literary side. I also find him politically close to my beliefs and so I want to support him.”

Demirtas says books, dreams and news from outside keep him inspired.

He remains fiercely defiant against those who have locked him up: “No matter what black propaganda and slander they hide behind, our resistance will be overpowering.”

Selahattin Demirtas has been in jail for more than three years

Director Julide Kural struggled to find performers willing to take part in a production of one of Demirtas’s works

Demirtas’s publisher Emir Ali Turkmen says he has has received threats from nationalists for publishing the jailed politician’s books

A former presidential candidate and persistent thorn in the side

of Turkey’s current leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Demirtas has spent more than three years in jail and faces up to 142 years

more if convicted of ties to Kurdish militants, which he

denies.

Banned! New York sends plastic bags packingAFP | New York

Consumerist mecca New York targets its throwa-way culture this weekend

with a ban on single-use plastic bags that has been years in the making and is still rare in America.

New Yorkers like to see them-selves at the forefront of efforts to save the environment but are used to receiving groceries in free plastic bags, often doubled up to ensure sturdiness.

Today, that will c h a n g e w h e n N e w

York becomes only the third US state to outlaw the non-bi-odegradable sacks blamed for c h o k i n g rivers, lit-

tering neighborhoods and suf-focating wildlife.

Environmental activists wel-come the new law but caution that exemptions will weaken its

effect, while some small busi-nesses worry the ban might

negatively impact their profits.At the Westside Market in

Manhattan, 66-year-old Janice Vrana, who says she has been shopping with a reusable cloth bag for a decade, is delighted “pervasive” plastic sacks are be-ing banished.

“You could drive over them 500 times with a Mack Truck

and they probably wouldn’t break down. Whatever lit-tle I can do, I do,” she said.

Janine Franciosa, a 38-year-old who

works in adver-tising, said it is great people

are becoming more aware

of how their “everyday purchases

are affect-ing the envi-

ronment.”But not everyone

is happy.

Westside Market manager Ian Joskowitz, 52, told AFP some customers were “upset” because they use free plastic bags as gar-bage bags.

FinesNew York uses some 23 billion

plastic bags every year, accord-ing to the state government.

About 85 percent are thrown away, ending up in landfills, and on streets and beaches, it says.

After several failed attempts, lawmakers finally approved the ban in April 2019.

It bars all retailers who pay state taxes -- such as department stores, supermarkets, neighbor-hood corner stores and gas sta-tions -- from providing plastic bags to customers.

Violators can expect fines of up to $500, although officials have said they will give stores time to adapt to the new rules.

The ban will “protect our nat-ural resources for future gener-ations,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo when he announced the legislation last year.

The law allows New York city and counties to levy a five-cent tax on paper bags, with part of the resulting revenue going to an

environmental protection fund.Kate Kurera, deputy director

of Environmental Advocates of New York, says the ban will cause “a tremendous reduction” in plastic waste pollution.

She laments, however, that food takeouts, beloved by the city’s 8.6 million inhabitants, are exempt.

Other exemptions include bags for prescription drugs, plas-tic wrapping for newspapers delivered to subscribers, and bags used solely for non-pre-packaged food such as meat and fish.

Kurera wishes the govern-ment would make the paper bag fee mandatory to force custom-ers to bring their own carriers, noting that producing paper bags is intensive in terms of oil, fossil fuels and trees used.

‘Live with it!’“Ideally neither bag is prefer-

able,” she told AFP. “Behavior is slower to change when people know they can get a free paper bag.”

Greg Biryla, New York state director at the National Feder-ation of Independent Business, says alternatives can cost up to

seven times more than plastic bags.

“They are proportionally more burdensome on small businesses who aren’t ordering in as big a quantity as their big business counterparts,” he told AFP.

California and Oregon have statewide bans of plastic bags while Hawaii has a de facto ban.

Four other states have bans starting soon while Texas has prevented its cities from outlaw-ing plastic bags.

New York is viewed as one of the most innovative cities in the world, but on the issue of plastic it has some catching up to do internationally.

Ubiquitous across the Big Ap-ple are single-use plastic uten-sils such as cutlery, straws and stirrers, which European Union countries have voted to outlaw by next year.

New York’s older residents note that plastic bags only be-came available in US grocery stores in 1979, signaling how quickly habits can change.

“When I was growing up we brought our own bags,” shopper Denise Shaleaon said, adding of the ban: “The New Yorker will have to live with it!”

A shopper with groceries in plastic bags walks in New York’s Upper East Side neighborhood on February 28, 2020, ahead of the statewide ban on plastic bags

THE INVISIBLE MAN (15+)(THRILLER/HORROR ) OASIS JUFFAIR: 12.45 + 3.30 + 6.15 + 9.00 + 11.45 PMOASIS JUFFAIR (VIP): 12.00 + 2.45 + 5.30 + 8.15 + 11.00 PMCITY CENTRE: (1.00 AM THURS/FRI.)CITY CENTRE:(ATMOS): 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.45 + 6.30 + 9.15 + 12.00 MNCITY CENTRE (IMAX 2D): 12.00 + 2.45 + 5.30 + 8.15 + 11.00 PMCITY CENTRE (VIP I) : 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PMSEEF (I): 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.45 + 6.30 + 9.15 + 12.00 MNSEEF (II): (12.30 MN THURS/FRI.)WADI AL SAIL: 12.45 + 3.30 + 6.15 + 9.00 + 11.45 PM

ELISABETH MOSS, ALDIS HODGE, STORM REID

PARADISE HILLS (PG-15) (THRILLER/DRAMA/FANTASY) OASIS JUFFAIR: 1.00 + 6.00 + 11.00 PMCITY CENTRE: 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 + 12.00 MNSEEF (II): 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PMWADI AL SAIL: 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM

EMMA ROBERTS, DANIELLE MACDONALD, AWKWAFINA

THAPPAD (PG-15) (HINDI/DRAMA/THRILLER) OASIS JUFFAIR: 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 + 12.00 MNCITY CENTRE: 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PMSEEF (I):11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PMWADI AL SAIL: 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 + 11.15 PM

TAAPSEE PANNU, TANVI AZMI, SUSHIL DAHIYA

STARDOG AND TURBOCAT (PG)OASIS JUFFAIR (KIDS CINEMA): 12.45 + 5.00 + 9.15 PMCITY CENTRE: 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 2.30 + 4.30 PMSEEF (II): 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 2.30 + 4.30 + 6.30 + 8.30 + 10.30 PMWADI AL SAIL: 11.00 AM + 1.00 + 3.00 + 5.00 PM

LUKE EVANS, NICK FROST, GEMMA ARTERTON

A MILLION LITTLE PIECES (18+) (DRAMA) SEEF (II): 11.00 AM + 3.15 + 7.30 + 11.45 PM

AARON TAYLOR-JOHNSON, BILLY BOB THORNTON, ODESSA YOUNG

VFW (18+) (ACTION) SEEF (II): 1.15 + 5.30 + 9.45 PM

WILLIAM SADLER, DORA MADISON, SIERRA MCCORMICK

AIYAI : WRATHFUL SOUL (15+) (HORROR/THRILLER) SEEF (II): 12.30 + 4.15 + 8.00 + 11.45 PM

KABIR SINGH, TAHLIA JADE HOLT, PENNY ANNE LACE

DOORDARSHAN (PG-15) (HINDI/COMEDY)CITY CENTRE: 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PMSEEF (II): 10.30 AM + 3.30 + 8.30 PM

MAHIE GILL, MANU RISHI CHADDHA, DOLLY AHLUWALIA, SUPRIYA SHUKLA

IK SANDHU HUNDA SI (PG-13) SEEF (II): 1.00 + 6.00 + 11.00 PM

AMRO MAMDOOH ,MAJDI IDRIS ,AMAD RASHAD

STOCKHOLM (PG-15) (ARABIC/THRILLER/DRAMA)SEEF (II): 10.45 AM + 2.30 + 6.15 + 10.00 PM

AMRO MAMDOOH ,MAJDI IDRIS ,AMAD RASHAD

BAD BOYS FOR LIFE (PG-15)(ACTION/COMEDY/CRIME) OASIS JUFFAIR: 10.30 AM + 3.15 + 8.15 PMCITY CENTRE: 10.45 AM + 12.30 + 1.30 + 3.15 + 4.15 + 6.00 + 7.00 + 8.45 + 9.45 + 11.30 PM ( 12.30 MN THURS/FRI.)CITY CENTRE (VIP II) : 12.00 + 2.45 + 5.30 + 8.15 + 11.00 PMSEEF (II): 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PMWADI AL SAIL: 10.30 AM + 3.30 + 8.30 PM

WILL SMITH, MARTIN LAWRENCE, VANESSA HUDGENS

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (PG) (ADVENTURE/ACTION/COMEDY/OASIS JUFFAIR (KIDS CINEMA): 10.30 AM + 2.45 + 7.00 + 11.15 PMCITY CENTRE: 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM SEEF (II): 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PMWADI AL SAIL: 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PM

JIM CARREY, BEN SCHWARTZ, JAMES MARSDEN

THE CALL OF THE WILD (PG)(ADVENTURE/FAMILY) ن CITY CENTRE: 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 + 12.00 MN + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI.)SEEF (II): 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PMWADI AL SAIL: 1.15 + 6.15 + 11.15 PM

HARRISON FORD, DAN STEVENS, OMAR SY

BRAHMS: THE BOY II (15+)(HORROR/THRILLER) ن CITY CENTRE: 12.00 + 2.00 + 4.00 + 6.00 + 8.00 + 10.00 + 12.00 MN

KATIE HOLMES, RALPH INESON, OWAIN YEOMAN

1917 (PG-15)(WAR/ACTION/DRAMA) 1917 Winner of 3 Oscar AwardsCITY CENTRE: 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PMSEEF (II): 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM

GEORGE MACKAY, DEAN-CHARLES CHAPMAN, MARK STRONG

JUMANJI THE NEXT LEVEL ننننننن ننننن CITY CENTRE: 12.15 + 3.00 + 5.45 + 8.30 + 11.15 PMSEEF (II): 1.00 + 6.00 + 11.00 PM

DWAYNE JOHNSON, JACK BLACK, KEVIN HART

DOLITTLE (PG)(ADVENTURE/COMEDY/FAMILY) نننننن CITY CENTRE: 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PMSEEF (II): 10.45 AM + 3.45 + 8.45 PM

ROBERT DOWNEY JR., ANTONIO BANDERAS, MICHAEL SHEEN

PARASITE (15+)(KOREAN/COMEDY/DRAMA/THRILLER) Winner of 4 Oscar AwardCITY CENTRE: (DISTRACTION FREE SCREEN): 1.00 + 6.30 + 12.00 MN

SONG KANG HO, LEE SUN KYUN , MARIA SIMON

BIRD OF PREY (15+)(ACTION/ADVENTURE/CRIME) نCITY CENTRE : 1.30 + 6.30 + 11.30 PM

MARGOT ROBBIE, MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD, EWAN MCGREGOR

THE GENTLEMEN (15+)(CRIME/ACTION) ننننننن نننننن CITY CENTRE: 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM

MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, CHARLIE HUNNAM, HENRY GOLDING

FANTASY ISLAND (15+)(THRILLER/HORROR) ننCITY CENTRE: 11.00 AM + 4.00 + 9.00 PM

LUCY HALE, MAGGIE Q, PORTIA DOUBLEDAY

AL FELOUS (THE MONEY) (PG-15)CITY CENTRE: 1.30 + 6.15 + 11.00 PM

TAMER HOSNY, ZEINA, KHALID EL-SAWI

FROZEN 2 (PG)(ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY) CITY CENTRE: 11.00 AM + 3.30 + 8.00 PM

KRISTEN BELL, IDINA MENZEL, JOSH GAD

SPIES IN DISGUISE (PG)(ANIMATION/ACTION/ADVENTURECITY CENTRE: 1.15 + 5.45 + 10.15 PM

WILL SMITH, TOM HOLLAND, KAREN GILLAN

THIEF OF BAGHDAD (PG-13)CITY CENTRE: 11.15 AM + 4.00 + 8.45 PM

MOHAMMED EMAM, YASMINE RAEIS, AMINA KHALIL

LITTLE WOMEN (PG)(DRAMA/ROMANTIC) نننننن نننن Winner of 1 Oscar AwardCITY CENTRE: (DISTRACTION FREE SCREEN): 10.30 AM + 3.45 + 9.15 PM

SAOIRSE RONAN, EMMA WATSON, FLORENCE PUGH

MALANG (PG-15)(HINDI/ACTION/ROMANTIC/THRILLER) SEEF (I): 5.30 + 11.30 PM

ADITYA ROY KAPOOR, ANIL KAPOOR, DISHA PATANI

AYYAPPANUM KOSHIYUM (PG-15)(MALAYALAM) OASIS JUFFAIR: 12.45 + 4.00 + 7.15 + 10.30 PMSEEF (I):10.30 AM + 1.45 + 5.00 + 8.15 + 11.30 PM

PRITHVIRAJ, BIJU MENON, RENJITH, SABUMON

VARANE AVASHYAMUND (PG-13)(MALAYALAM) OASIS JUFFAIR: 11.45 AM + 2.30 + 5.15 + 8.00 + 10.45 PM

SURESH GOPI, SHOBANA, DULQUER SALMAAN, KALYANI PRIYADARSHAN, URVASHI

KANNUM KANNUM KOLLAIYADITHAAL ()(TAMIL) From Friday 28th Feb. OASIS JUFFAIR: 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PMSEEF (I): 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PMWADI AL SAIL: 1.45 + 8.00 PMAL HAMRA: 5.30 + (12.00 MN FRI.)

DULQUER SALMAN, RITU VARMA, RAKSHAN

TRANCE ()(MALAYALAM) OASIS JUFFAIR: 10.30 AM + 1.45 + 5.00 + 8.15 + 11.30 PMSEEF (I): 10.45 AM + 2.00 + 5.15 + 8.30 + 11.45 PMWADI AL SAIL: 10.30 AM + 4.45 + 11.00 PMAL HAMRA: 11.00 AM + 2.15 + 8.45 PM

FAHADH FAASIL, NASRIYA NAZIM, GAUTHAM MENON, SOUBIN SHAHIR, VINAYA-KAN, DILEESH POTHEN

DRAUPATHI (PG-13)(TAMIL) From Friday 28th Feb. SEEF (I): 11.30 AM + 8.30 PM

KARUNAS, NISHANTH, RICHARD RISHI

PARAMAPADHAM VILAYATTU (PG-15) (TAMIL) From Friday 28th Feb. SEEF (I): 2.30 PM

TRISHA, NANDHA, RICHARD, AL AZHAGAPPAN, VELA RAMAMOORTHY


Across1- Gush; 5- Handle roughly; 9- Pudding ingredient; 13- Gillette brand; 14- Discom-bobulated; 16- Spot on the tube; 17- Corn covering; 18- Follows orders; 19- Network of nerves; 20- Lo-cal; 21- Pitch; 22- Steeples; 24- Swift; 26- Read ‘em and ___!; 27- Gravy, for one; 29- Removes errors; 33- Silvery fish; 34- Cheer; 35- Female rabbits; 36- Broadcast; 37- Merchandise; 38- Queue after Q; 39- How sweet ___!; 41- Singing brothers’ surname; 42- Clock faces; 44- Intensified; 46- Gal’s guy; 47- Jason’s craft; 48- Monk’s hood; 49- One of the 12 apostles; 52- Ingot; 53- Cool!; 57- Carefree outing; 58- Luigi’s love; 60- Cube creator Rubik; 61- Billy ___ had a hit song with “White Wedding”; 62- Some locks; 63- Cpls.’ superiors; 64- Record with a VCR; 65- Student’s hurdle; 66- In order (to);

Down 1- Satirist Mort; 2- Spitting sound; 3- Formerly, formerly; 4- Sleepless; 5- ___-tung; 6- No longer on deck; 7- Consumer; 8- “Conquest of Space” writer Willy; 9- Zebralike; 10- Affirm solemnly; 11- Movable barrier; 12- Poems, often used to praise someone or something; 15- Declares positively; 23- For each; 25- Perform in a play; 26- Tree covered land; 27- Strike hard; 28- Lofty nest; 29- Whispered sweet noth-ings; 30- Reef material; 31- Unit of magnetic induction; 32- Fast fliers; 33- Stated; 34- Lover of Juliet; 37- Used by passengers to board a ship; 40- Glitter; 42- Drops on the grass; 43- Ailment; 45- Prior to; 46- Land covered with trees; 48- Ministers to; 49- Got down; 50- Zip; 51- Fall; 52- Chadic language; 54- So; 55- Organization to promote theater; 56- Throw; 59- Floor covering where the cat sat!;

S U D O K U C R O S S W O R D

Yesterday’s solutionYesterday’s solution

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

Greta Gerwig’s ‘Little Women’ adaptation is genuinely extraordinary• The movie doesn’t “update” the novel, but does much better

This beautifully acted, thoughtfully directed adaptation of Alcott’s be-

loved story about sisterhood is exactly the heartfelt and uplift-ing modern classic moviegoers need.

Twenty-five years after direc-tor Gillian Armstrong wowed audiences with her star-studded

take on the March sisters, Ger-wig offers up her vision for a new generation, with a gifted en-semble cast, lush and evocative period touches, and a framing story that focuses even more on Jo’s creative ambitions. Gerwig even manages to handle the age-old Laurie problem (Chalamet’s Laurie is even dreamier than Christian Bale’s in the 1994 film) with more nuance than previous filmmakers. She’s also the first director to make Amy (the ex-cellent Pugh) come even close to being sympathetic.

Ronan is once again revela-

tory as she explores Jo’s pas-sionate, opinionated, and strong-willed nature. Dern is fabulous as the patient, loving, and wise Marmee, and Meryl Streep seems to be having the time of her life as the rich, deliciously judgemental Aunt March.

Although it takes a moment to adjust to the fact that Pugh plays both the impulsive pread-olescent and clear-headed debu-tante-aged versions of Amy, the actress is so good that it doesn’t matter. Scanlen’s Beth steals scenes with her quiet but pow-erful generosity, and Watson’s

Meg is beautiful and kind. The supporting men are

equally impressive: Laurie’s rich but sensitive grandfather (Chris Cooper), tutor/suitor John Brooke (James Norton), and Transcendentalist Civil War veteran Father March (Bob Odenkirk) are all depicted with great care. Gerwig’s lovely re-make is as poignant as its pre-decessors, and it’s also full of hope for a better tomorrow -- one the March family believed in, fought for, advocated, and modelled with their values and deeds.

M O V I E R E V I E W

A scene from the movie


I, JOMON PUTHENPURAYIL VARGHESE Father

of HADDIN XAVIER JOMON, holder of Indian Passport No. M8962492 dated 31/08/2015 issued

at Bahrain , having permanent residence

at Puthenpurayil, Industrial Estate Nagar PO, Changanachery, Kottayam, Kerala. Presently residing

at Flat No.11, Entrance No.694 , Road No. 2913,

Block No: 329, Salmaniya, Bahrain do hereby change my Son name as ( Given

Name ) HADDIN XAVIER , (Surname ) JOMON,

objection if any may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O.Box 26106, Bldg No. 1090, Road No. 2819 , Block 428, Al Seef,

Kingdom of Bahrain.

C H A N G E O F N A M E

Salman celebrates 30mn followers on Instagram with quirky videoMumbai

Superstar Salman Khan now has 30 million fol-

lowers on Instagram and he made a ‘thank you video’ for his growing fan base.

Sharing a boomerang video of himself thanking his fans, Salman, who has been entertaining the au-dience since the eighties, wrote: “Ouii ma 30 million! Thank u all!”

Fans in return have l e f t h i m comments like: “Love yo u Sa l m a n khan”, “Ohoo swag” and “m ur biggest fan sir @beingsal-mankhan I love uh”.

After wrapping up shoot-ing for “Bigg Boss 13” as its host, the superstar’s next movie will be “Radhe”. It will see an Eid 2020 release and will feature actress Dis-ha Patani opposite him.

The actor had also made an announcement of his next project after “Radhe”. “Ka-bhi Eid Kabhi Diwali” will be a collaboration between Salman and filmmaker Sajid Nadiadwala.

Las Vegas

Singer Christina Aguilera has shared that she has recorded new material

for the upcoming live-action film “Mulan”.

“The live-action ‘Mulan’ is coming out, by the way. You have to go see it,” she told the crowd during her show in Las Vegas earlier this week, re-ports etonline.com.

“I recorded a new ‘Reflec-tion’, and new material for the movie. So, I’ve been working on that. But this is the origi-nal,” added the singer, whose song “Reflection” was featured in the 1998 animated Disney film.

In August last year, Aguilera was honoured as a Disney Leg-

end during Disney Legends Ceremony at D23, which she began by singing “Reflection”.

“I auditioned with the song ‘Reflection’ and (it) coincided with getting my first record deal,” Aguilera had shared.

“And the fact that I sang ‘Re-flection’, which jump-started everything, getting my foot in the door, it’s so cute and so amazing to look back and see the growth in your life, in your career and just in yourself. It’s just a great day.”

She also touched on the message in “Reflection”, say-ing: “It’s an important mes-sage that I promote…To live your truth, to show what you are inside, to be brave, to be a fighter… What defines you is who you are inside.”

Daniel Radcliffe on why he won’t

play Harry Potter again

London

Ac t o r D a n i e l

R a d c l i f f e continues to

take up projects that give him

chances to move away from Hogwarts.

He has now opened up on why he won’t be reprising his role as the young wizard, Harry Potter, anytime soon.

Asked if he would return as Harry Potter in the “Fan-tastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” films, Radcliffe told Variety: “I don’t think so. I don’t like to say no to things, but it’s not something t h a t I ’ m rushing to do. I feel like those f i l m s h a v e moved on and they’re do-ing just fine without us. I’m happy to keep it that way.”

“I like what my life is now. I’m not saying that I’ll never go back into any franchise, but I like the flexibility that I have with my career now. And I don’t want to get into a situation where I’m signed up for one series for years in advance,” added the ac-tor, who played the beloved character from 2001 to 2011.

He will be soon seen in “Escape From Pretoria”, a true-life prison drama.

#dreambig: Geri Halliwell’s throwback pic of Spice Girls

London

Singer Geri Halliwell has shared a throwback photo of the Spice Girls in an inspiring

post.The 47-year-old looked back at

the successful journey with her fellow bandmates Mel B, Mel C, Emma Bunton, and Victoria Beck-ham, reports mirror.co.uk.

Sharing the photo with her mil-lion-strong Instagram following, Halliwell wrote: “Back in the day trinity studios near maiden head. Singing ‘We’re gonna make it hap-pen’ #dreambig.”

In the photo, Mel C is seen put-ting her hand on Halliwell’s shoul-der while Bunton is pouting next to Beckham and Mel B.

The British girl group formed in 1994 and became the best-selling female group of all time.

The group dominated the music world from the moment they re-leased their first single, “Wannabe” in 1996. They parted ways in 2000.

Netizens impressed as Taylor

Swift plays a man in new single ‘The Man’

Los Angeles

Scores of fans of singer Taylor Swift are impressed with her newly released self-directed single -- The Man -- in which she plays a dark-haired, bearded man. Neti-

zens showered favourable reactions on social media immediately after the music release.

‘The Man’ not only sees her completely trans-formed as a man but the singer is also in the direc-tor’s chair for the first time. The new music video, with the help of prosthetics, features a disguised Swift.

Many of the music enthusiasts took it to Twit-ter to share their admiration, love and favoura-

ble reactions for the ‘Love Story’ on her new song that came up with a surprise.

One of her fans who identified herself with the handle name -Christina

Crowley-Arklie praised the con-cept that the singer brought

in this time.

Adam Levine apologises for “unprofessional’’ concert in ChileLos Angeles

Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine has

tendered an apology for the band’’s lacklustre perfor-mance in Chile.

Levine and Maroon 5 were heavily criticized for their gig during the coun-try’’s Vina del Mar Festi-val on Thursday. Chilean f a n s of the band took to

Twitter to ex-press their frustration w i t h t h e pop group.A video has

also went vi-ral that shows Levine leav-

ing the stage and complain-ing to the organisers, “That was a TV show. That was not a concert”.

The 40-year-old singer on Friday took to his Insta-gram story to apologise to the fans, saying sound issues made it difficult for them to perform at the concert.

“To be totally frank, there were some things holding me back sonically last night, and I let them get to me. It impacted how I was behav-ing onstage, which is unpro-fessional and I apolo-gise for that. Hilary Duff asks Disney to move

‘Lizzie McGuire’ revival to HuluLos Angeles

Actor Hilary Duff has urged Disney to consider moving her “Lizzie McGuire” revival series to Hulu,

days after production on the show was put on hold.

The 32-year-old actor is returning to the titular role that made her famous in early 2000s with the new show which has been set up at the company’s streaming service Disney Plus.

The revival will trace Liz-zie’s journey as an adult in New York, where she now has the dream job, dream apartment and a perfect chef boyfriend but the in-securities of her teenage years have also followed her in adulthood.

Duff took to Ins-tagram to post her appeal to Disney, saying she remains passionate about the project but she believes there is a “huge responsibil-ity” on the makers to create a show that will feel more “authentic” to the fans.

Daniel Craig not ‘allowed’ to drive iconic James Bond carLos Angeles

Actor Daniel Craig has one regret from his shooting experience of the new James Bond film, “No Time To Die”.

He wasn’t allowed to drive the iconic 007 ride, Aston Martin DB5, during high-speed chase scenes owing to safety concerns.

The 51-year-old told Top Gear Magazine that he couldn’t drive and act at the same time, as it was seen to be too dangerous. So, stunt driver Mark Higgins took his place during high-speed chase scenes in the film, reports dailymail.co.uk.

“You know we fake it, don’t you? We’re not allowed to do that anymore, although I do go driving. I was allowed to donut the

DB5 in Matera, which was great,” Craig explained.

Higgins spoke with Esquire about getting behind the wheel for Craig’s final Bond film, and revealed that everything “done is for real”.

“I think a lot of these films are going away from CGI and trying to make it as real as possible,” Higgins said.

He added: “The environment we were driving in was very, very restricted and very, very tight. So it’s a difficult place to work in.”

Daniel Radcliffe

Salman Khan

Adam Levine

Christina Aguilera records

‘new material’

for ‘Mulan’

Geri Halliwell’

Christina Aguilera

Djokovic saves three match points to set up Dubai final with TsitsipasReuters | Dubai

World number one Novak Djokovic saved three

match points to beat France’s Gael Monfils 2-6 7-6(8) 6-1 on Friday as he set up a final show-down at the Dubai Open with Greek second seed Stefanos Tsit-sipas.

Djokovic is yet to lose this year and the Australian Open cham-pion extended his unbeaten run in 2020 to 17 matches with what was also his 17th win over Mon-fils.

“It was truly an escape, he was clearly the better player for two sets,” Djokovic said.

“I was fortunate to work my way back in the second set. Gael is playing as well as he has played ever, I’ve played him many times. I know I have a good defense but what he did today for two sets was unbelievable.”

A double break in the opening set gave Monfils an early advan-tage as Djokovic dropped his first set of the tournament, fail-ing to find answers when faced with Monfils’ long reach and

well-angled returns.Djokovic’s drop shots that had

held him in good stead in the tournament also proved to be ineffective against the athletic Monfils, who was up to the task of lengthening rallies to prevent the Serb from controlling points.

Djokovic finished with 17 un-forced errors in the first set and his frustrations only mounted when he was broken at 1-1 in the second, with the 32-year-old screaming in the direction of his team while the crowd roared its approval for Monfils.

But Djokovic had his share of fans in the crowd too and they egged him on to restore parity as he converted his first break point to make it 3-3. Howev-er, a visibly tiring Monfils still held on to save five set points to take it to a tiebreak. Mon-fils was doubled over between every point at this stage but the Frenchman then got a second wind in the tiebreak to go 6-3 up, before squandering three match points. Djokovic then benefited from a double fault to convert his eighth set point.

15

sports


18DAYS

TO BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX

2020

Al Hala, Bahrain Club advance to Cup quartersTDT | Manama

Al Hala and Bahrain Club both powered into the quarter-finals of this

year’s Khalifa bin Salman Cup last night.

Al Hala completely dominat-ed Sitra in a 96-67 win while Bahrain Club defeated Al Etti-had 106-94 to go through.

Both games were played at Khalifa Sports City arena in Isa Town.

Hala and Bahrain Club are now set to face off in the round of eight.

Al Hala raced out to a 31-7 lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back in their game. They took advantage of their superior size as six-foot, 10-inch Senegalese big man Mansour Kasse had no opposing professional to compete with on Sitra.

Hala enjoyed a nearly insur-mountable 61-20 lead at the half and took the foot off the gas the rest of the way, allowing Sitra to reduce the final losing margin. Hala led by as many as 47 points in the contest.

Kasse finished with 25 points and 14 rebounds to pace Hala, while Hasan Gerashi had 12 and Ahmed Khalifa 11.

Abdulla Ali scored 18 to pace Sitra in defeat while Ali Eid had 15.

In Bahrain Club’s win, they were in control from the very start as they took a 32-22 lead at the end of the first period. They stayed ahead 58-50 at the half, before stretching their advan-tage to 88-73 after three. In the final canto, they went ahead by as many as 19 points following a three-pointer by Nooh Ali, en route to securing the result.

Serbian-Bosnian professional Dragan Tubak led all scorers with 36 points for Bahrain Club. The towering seven-foot, one-inch centre was an efficient 16-of-19 from the field and also had 17 rebounds. Khalid Ali came off the bench to contribute 16 while Jalal Akbar had 14. Nooh Ali and Fadhel Abbas both finished with 11 for their team.

For Ettihad, who were play-ing without a professional, Fadhel Abdulelah had a valiant 32-point effort as a substitute. Ali Ghadeer added 15 to go with nine rebounds and seven assists while Nasser Adel scored 14 in the loss.

Cup action continues this evening with another two games on schedule, with Al Ahli bat-tling Samaheej and Al Najma going against Nuwaidrat.

On March 5, two quarter-final games will be held with Muhar-raq facing Isa Town and Riffa going head to head with Mana-

ma. All four teams were given direct berths in the last eight.

Another quarter-final will then be between the winners of Ahli-Samaheej and Najma-Nu-waidrat, with the victor of that

moving on to meet the winner of the Muharraq-Isa Town affair in the semi-finals.

The semi-finals are set from March 18 to 26, to be followed by the final on May 2.

A player in action during the match

ICICI Invincibles team members with their trophies after winning BCICAI Premier Cricket League 2020. BCICAI organized the tournament for members and families at the Gulf Air Club Salmabad. 12 men’s team and 2 women’s team comprising a total of over 130 participants had a fantastic outing playing against each other. ICICI Invincibles sponsored by ICICI Bank lifted the Mens Champions trophy, while MacRoh Maidens sponsored by MacRoh Bakes won the Women’s final. The other participating teams were sponsored by KPMG, BDO, GRANT THORNTON, Assure Audit, AM Consulting, ASP Auditing, Yateem Centre, P. Haridas Sons, Abbas Dadabai Group, Bahrain Financing Company, Lost Paradise of Dilmun and Hasnia

Nadal strolls into Acapulco final• Rafael Nadal defeats Grigor Dimitrov in semi final

• Spaniard to face Fritz for title

AFP | Los Angeles

Rafael Nadal used a steady stream of blistering fore-

hand winners and a heavy dose of precision serves to book his spot in the ATP Mexico Open final with a convincing 6-3, 6-2 win over Grigor Dimitrov.

The two-time tournament champion will be the favourite to claim his third Acapulco title when he faces unseeded Taylor Fritz in the final.

It has been 15 years since world No. 2 Nadal won for the first time here. He also won in 2013 and improved to 18-2 at this event overall.

“I’m very happy. A great vic-tory against one of the best players in the world and a good friend,” Nadal said after his one-sided victory on Friday night. “I think I’ve increased my level during the match, so it’s positive for me.”

The top seed clinched the victory on his first match point. He fell behind 0-30 in the final game but ral-lied to win the next four points.

On match point, seventh seed Dimitrov hit a backhand that clipped the top of the net

and bounced in. But it hung in the air just long enough for Na-dal to race forward and blast a cross-court forehand that the Bulgarian had no chance on.

Nadal continued his domi-nance of Dimitrov, improving to 13-1 lifetime. Nadal has only lost 20 games in his first four matches this week and is yet to lose a set.

The unseeded Fritz defeated fellow American John Isner in the other semi-final 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.

“He’s playing well. He has a great serve, fantastic shots from the baseline. It’s going to be a tough one,” Nadal said of Fritz. “I know I’m going to have to be at my best and I hope to be ready for it.”

This will be the first meeting between Nadal and 22-year-old Fritz.

The second set progressed nearly identically to the first set, with Dimitrov breaking early for a 2-0 lead before Na-dal stormed back.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov

India, Pakistan to clash at neutral Asia Cup venueAFP | Mumbai

The next Asia Cup will be held in Dubai so that

arch-rivals India and Pakistan can both take part, Indian cricket chief Sourav Ganguly said.

The tournament had been scheduled for Pakistan in Sep-tember but India had refused to take part unless it was held on neutral territory because of tensions between the two countries.

“The Asia Cup will be held

in Dubai and both India and Pakistan will play,” Ganguly said late Friday before leaving for an Asian Cricket Council meeting in Dubai.

India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral series since 2012-13 when Pakistan crossed the border for a series of one-day internationals. With their decades-old dispute over Kashmir at a new peak, India has stopped all sports teams going to Pakistan and they have only clashed in cricket at major international events.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits areturn to Gael Monfils of France

Double honour for Bahrain’s horse-racingPort Lions and Dark Power claim top spots in Saudi World Cup

TDT | Manama

The horse Port Lions, owned by His Majesty the King’s Representative for

Charity Works and Youth Af-fairs, National Security Advisor and Supreme Council for Youth and Sports Affairs (SCYS) Chair-man His Highness Shaikh Nas-ser bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, has today won the 2100-metre-long race for open category as part of the Saudi World Cup, the richest horse in the world.

The horse Dark Power, owned by His Highness Shaikh Isa bin Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, son of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has also won the second race.

HH Shaikh Nasser bin Ham-ad Al-Khalifa congratulated HH Shaikh Isa bin Salman bin Ham-ad Al-Khalifa on the achieve-ment of his horse Dark Power.

He paid tribute to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khal-ifa, attributing the landmark achievement to the outstand-ing royal care enjoyed by horse racing sport, and the equestrian port in particular, which rep-resents an aspect of Bahrain’s longstanding heritage and fore-fathers’ legacy.

He said he was keen on par-ticipating in the Saudi interna-tional horse race so as to con-tribute to its success and support the maiden equestrian global event organized by of the King-dom of Saudi Arabia and hon-our the Kingdom of Bahrain as well.

“The outstanding result achieved by the horse Port Lions in the race gives cause for opti-mism in attaining more strides in the upcoming races, continuing to achieve gold in the golden age and honouring Bahrain high in the next races”, he said.

HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa concluded his state-ment by thanking all the author-ities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the well-organized event, which, he said, contrib-uted to the success of the global horse race.

HH Shaikh Isa bin Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa expressed pride at the victory achieved by the horse Dark Power, in the second race, which was held as part of the Saudi World Cup.

He hailed Bahrain’s landmark achievements at the regional and international levels paying tribute to HM King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa for the royal care

for equestrian sports, which represent an authentic part of Bahrain’s longstanding history.

HH Shaikh Isa bin Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa congratulat-ed HH Shaikh Nasser bin Ham-ad Al Khalifa on the victory of his horse,Port Lions, in the first race for open category as part of the Saudi World Cup, wishing him more achievements in in all sports arenas.

He praised the outstanding or-ganization of the maiden edition of the Saudi Arabian World Cup, expressing thanks and apprecia-tion to Saudi Arabia for the good hospitality and warm welcome enjoyed by all the participants.


HH Shaikh Isa bin Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa with the trophy

HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al-Khalifa receives the trophy

Horses in action during the race

Glissman signs with Brave CF; debuts against Andreas Stahl

• Louis Glissman is set for his first fight with BRAVE CF at its 37th edition in Stockholm

TDT | Manama

Danish submission-art-ist Louis Glissman is the

latest addition to the ever-ex-panding BRAVE Combat Feder-ation roster. BRAVE CF officials confirmed that the 29-year-old welterweight next bout is going to be under the Bahrain-based promotion.

Glissman’s debut is a debut on a par with his skills and potential, as he will be wel-comed to the fastest-growing MMA promotion in the world by Sweden’s fan-favourite An-dreas Stahl. Stahl vs Glissman will be added to the upcoming BRAVE CF debut in the Scandi-navian country, on April 18, in Stockholm.

With a professional record of six wins and only one loss, Louis “Spartacus” Glissman is currently on a six-win streak. Glissman honours his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu background at “Arte

Suave Copenhagen” with an 85% finish-ratio in his career, four of those coming by way of submission.

Andreas “Real Steel” Stahl holds a professional record of 12 wins and four losses. A product of the renowned Swedish camp Allstars Training Center, the striking specialist is a two-time

UFC veteran and is currently on a two-win streak.

BRAVE Combat Federation’s debut in Sweden is sched-uled for April 18, in the capi-tal Stockholm. The fight night will be promoted in association with the local Mixed Martial Arts powerhouse AK Fighting Championship.

The outstanding result achieved by

the horse Port Lions in the race gives

cause for optimism in attaining more strides in the upcoming races, continuing to achieve gold in the golden age

and honouring Bahrain high in the next racesHH SHAIKH NASSER BIN HAMAD AL-KHAL-

IFA

Five-wicket haul for Jamieson as New Zealand take chargeAFP | Christchurch

Kyle Jamieson continued his eye-catching intro-

duction to Test cricket with a five-wicket haul Saturday as New Zealand took the honours on day one of the second Test against India in Christchurch.

New Zealand, who won the crucial toss with an inviting green pitch on offer, were 63 without loss at stumps after rolling India for 242.

Tom Blundell was on 29 with Tom Latham on 27.

Jamieson, who has his sights on becoming established as an all-rounder, grabbed the headlines on debut with four wickets and a sparking 44 runs in New Zealand’s 10-wicket first Test victory in Wellington.

He backed that up in Christchurch with five for 45 to blunt a promising start by India in the second Test.

“I guess it has fallen my way in the first couple of Tests,” Jamieson said, but added the Hagley Oval wicket required more precision than Welling-ton’s Basin Reserve.

“Your margin for where you try and land the ball becomes a little bit smaller and when we

overpitched they put it away, if we missed wide they put that away. So it was a matter of hanging in there and as a collective we managed to do that and have a good day.”

Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari all collected half centuries for India to show that the green wicket was not as threatening as expected, and Vihari be-lieved the side were at least 60 runs short.

“I think 300 plus would have been an ideal total on this wicket, but we showed more intent that we did in Welling-ton and that’s a positive,” he said.

Kyle Jamieson celebrates with teammates after taking a wicket

Man City’s Sane steps up return from injuryAFP | London

Leroy Sane ramped up his return from injury as

the Manchester City wing-er played 57 minutes with the club’s under-23 side on Friday.

Germany international Sane has not played since suffering a knee ligament injury in the Community Shield against Liverpool in August.

Sa n e, w h o w a s P FA Young Player of the Year in City’s 2017-18 Premier League-winning campaign, returned to training last month.

The 24-year-old played his first match since on Fri-day as City’s Elite Develop-ment Squad faced Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in Premier League 2.

Sane’s return to the pitch is welcome news for City manager Pep Guardiola, who will hope his star can play a role in their bid for a successful end to the sea-son.

“It is always nice to ease back and get a feel for the game,” Guardiola had said of Sane before the game.

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