US embassy in Turkey targeted - News of Bahrain

Melania Trump laments cyber bullyingWashington

US First Lady Melania Trump renewed her campaign to tackle cyber

bullying yesterday, as her hus-band lit up the Internet with a stream of invective against his perceived foes.

Appearing at a health depart-ment building outside Wash-ington, the Slovenia-born first

lady urged tech companies to listen more to “children’s ideas and concerns” about online bullying.

“Let’s face it: most chil-dren are more aware of the benefits and pitfalls of social media than some adults,” she said.

“In today’s global society, social media is inevitably a part of our children’s daily

lives. It can be used in many positive ways, but also can be destructive and harmful when used incorrectly,” she said.

Since coming to office Me-lania Trump has spoken rela-tively infrequently in public.

She was treated at Walter Reed hospital on May 14 for what aides called a “benign” kidney condition and was re-leased a few days later.

03‘Plasticising’ of Heya Beya to harm nature

04 Eid experience for non-Muslims

05 Witness set to testify in fraud case

10

Imran Khan vows change13WORLD

OP-EDC E L E B S

‘Mile 22’ was shot in 42 daysDirector Peter Berg says it was a remarkable expe-rience to shoot “Mile 22” in just 42 days. The movie was filmed between No-vember 2017 and February 2018, filming the majority of its interior shots in At-lanta, Georgia. P16

TUESDAYAUGUST 2018

200 FILS

ISSUE NO. 7845

Choosing between voters’ will and Iran’s theocratic isolation

Claire Holt announces second marriage 16 SHOW

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T W I T T E R A T T A C K S DON’T MISS IT

The Daily Tribune wishes the Kingdom’s

leadership, the people of Bahrain and all its readers

a very happy Eid Al Adha.

Muslim pilgrims pray at Mount Arafat, also known as Jabal Al Rahma (Mount of Mercy), southeast of the Saudi holy city of Mecca, yesterday. Arafat is the site where Muslims believe the Prophet Mohammed gave his last sermon about 14 centuries ago after leading his followers on the pilgrimage. See page 14

Prayers fill the airUS embassy in Turkey targeted Nobody hurt in the attack; an attempt to create chaos, says Erdogan

The impact of a round fired is seen in a window of the US Embassy in Ankara.

• The assailants fired six bullets at an embassy security gate from a passing white vehicle around 0530 am local time (0230 GMT), three bullets hitting an iron door and a window, the Ankara governor’s office said.

Ankara

Turkish authorities detained two men suspected of shoot-ing at the US Embassy in the

capital Ankara yesterday, in an at-tack that coincides with increased tensions between the two NATO al-lies over the trial of a US pastor in Turkey.

Nobody was hurt in the attack, which President Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman condemned as an at-tempt “to create chaos”. The Turk-ish Foreign Ministry said it had in-creased security for the embassy and other US missions and employ-ees in Turkey.

The assailants fired six bullets at an embassy security gate from a passing white vehicle around 0530 am local time (0230 GMT), three

bullets hitting an iron door and a window, the Ankara governor’s of-fice said.

It issued another statement on Monday evening saying two men in their late 30s had been detained and a vehicle and pistol seized and that the men had confessed to the shooting.

It said both suspects had criminal records and their links were being investigated.

The embassy is closed this week for a public holiday to mark the Is-lamic Eid Al Adha festival.

“We can confirm a security inci-dent took place at the US Embas-sy early this morning. We have no reports of any injuries and we are investigating the details,” said David Gainer, the embassy spokesman. “We thank the Turkish National Police for their rapid response.”

40per cent is the

depreciation of Turkish lira against US dollar in

the past few days.

‘No new cases of fake degrees’Manama

The Public Prosecution said that it has not received any new notifi-cations regarding the issue of fake

academic degrees. “The Ministry of Education referred to

the Public Prosecution, five years ago, the case of a private university which forged official documents,” said Acting Attorney General, Head of the Public Prosecutor’s Technical Office, Ahmed Al Qurashi.

He made the statement yesterday in

response to a report published in a local newspaper under the title “Ministry of Education refers qualifications fakers to the Public Prosecution”.

The court then convicted the private uni-versity of tampering with the accreditation certificates issued by the Higher Education Council, faking the students’ grades and using forged documents.

Al Qurashi said that the Public Prosecu-tion would deal with any new cases of fake degrees, take legal action against suspects and refer them to stand criminal trial.

Let’s face it: most children are more

aware of the benefits and pitfalls of social

media than some adults.

MELANIA

His Majesty extends Eid greetings Manama

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa yes-

terday exchanged cables of congratulations and good wishes on Eid Al Adha with the Gulf Cooperation Coun-cil (GCC), Arab and Islamic countries’ leaders.

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and His Royal Highness Prince Sal-man bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier, also exchanged congratulatory cables with GCC, Arab and Islamic countries’ leaders.

King Salman arrives in Mina Jeddah

Saudi Arabia’s King Sal-man arrived in Mina,

in the holy city of Makkah yesterday, to supervise the services provided during the Hajj pilgrimage.

As Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman is there to oversee the com-fort of the pilgrims and “en-sure the services provided by the relevant government and private sector bodies meet the needs of the pilgrims and allow them to complete their Hajj rituals with ease, tran-quility and safety,” according to Saudi Press Agency.

02TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2018

India exempts duty on relief goods Highest Level 3 designation is given when the state may not have the capacity to respond adequately

• The Indian Government has declared the Kerala floods as a ‘calamity of a severe nature’, categorising it as a Level 3 disaster.

TDT|Manama OP Sreesadan

Indian Finance Minister Piyush Goyal has said the central government is ex-

empting basic customs duty and Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) for the goods import-

ed or supplied for flood relief operations in Kerala.

“India stands with Kerala in this hour of need. The Central Government is exempting basic customs duty and IGST for the consignments of aid and relief materials being despatched or imported from abroad for the affected people,” Piyush Goyal

tweeted.Meanwhile, the Indian Gov-

ernment has declared the Kerala floods as a ‘calamity of a severe nature’, categorising it as a Level 3 disaster.

Consequent to the order of de-claring Kerala Floods a calamity of severe nature, every MP can contribute up to INR 1 crore from

MPLADS funds for Kerala relief. The highest Level 3 desig-

nation is given when the state may not have the capacity to respond adequately and re-quire assistance from the Cen-tre.

Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said the Aviation regulator Direc-torate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is monitoring airfares for flights connecting flood-hit Kerala but it should not be seen by airlines as micro-man-agement by the government as this is a unique situation of ‘humanitarian crisis’.

Amid concerns raised by many including on social me-dia platforms about steep fluc-tuations in air ticket prices to and from Kerala, where the main airport at Kochi has been shut till August 26, Prabhu said the ministry as such cannot interfere with the fares but it is “doing it” in this time of crisis.

In an interview to PTI, Prab-hu said the DGCA is monitor-ing the movement of airfares. “It is a unique situation. It is a

humanitarian crisis... We have told the airlines that it is not a micro-management job,” he said.

The minister said airlines have also been persuaded to carry cargo free of cost to Kerala in

this crisis situation.The State-run Air India sub-

sidiary -- Alliance Air -- on Mon-day commenced operations from Kochi naval base -- INS Garuda -- with an ATR-72 aircraft to aid the rescue operations in flood-hit Kerala.

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, budget passenger carrier IndiGo would also com-mence scheduled operations from INS Garuda today.

The development comes as the state reels under the worst bout of floods in the recent past.

The grim situation has left the state with only two operational civil airports at Thiruvanan-thapuram and Calicut, as oper-ations at Kochi airport have been suspended till August 26.

Southern Governor, HH Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, yesterday paid a visit to the Southern Governorate Police Directorate, where he met officers, non-commissioned officers and individuals. The governor extended deepest congratulations to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier, on Eid Al Adha, wishing them many happy returns.

Labour and Social Development Minister, Jameel Humaidan, received writer, Saleh Hussein, who presented him with copies of his book on corporate governance in government companies. The minister lauded the efforts exerted by the author to compile his valuable books and publications, expressing hope that they will enrich the national library and benefit researchers.

Members of Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam arrange relief items collected from the Kingdom.

Budget passenger carrier IndiGo would commence scheduled operations from INS

Garuda today.

KNOW

DID

Children throw ‘Heya Beya’ baskets into sea as part of the celebrations.

03

big story

TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2018

• Environmentalists say that parents should have been careful in not purchasing the plastic pots for the children to use for the celebration.

• The use of plastic Heya Beya pots is hazardous to the environment, according to environmentalists.

TDT|ManamaMohammed Zafran

Environmentalists and prominent ac-tivists have raised alarm bells over the use of plastic pots as part of Heya Beya

celebrations, which they say are harmful to the environment.

Despite the official instruction from author-ities to use the traditional palm frond baskets for Heya Beya, many people instead have been opting plastic pots.

Environmentalists say that parents should have been careful in not purchasing the plas-tic pots for the children to use for the cele-bration.

The use of plastic Heya Beya pots is haz-ardous to the environment, according to environmentalists.

The pots contribute to plastic pollution in the sea, which is one of the biggest environ-mental concerns of the century.

The plastic, because of not being biode-gradable, have negative repercussions on sea life. According to environmentalists, the plastic jeopardizes the natural ambience of

the marine life and may also wash up back in the beaches contributing to pollution at the beaches.

Supreme Council for Environment urged people to opt for the traditional baskets stating, “Be kind to nature by choosing the traditional Heya Beya in-stead of the plastic one”.

“It is really not worth the efforts for us to continue cleaning the beaches all the time if people want to continue to support pollution. There are alternatives to the plastic pots, which are the tradi-tional baskets that do not cause harm to the environment.

“Plastic pots have been used every year and we are tired of picking them up,” Bahrain Beachcombers Founder Darren Schneder told Tribune.

Another environmentalist group Recy-cle Points Bh stated that traders must be banned from selling plastic Heya Beya pots.

“Plastic pots are not biodegradable and cause pollution in our beaches. Please buy traditional ones and report those who sell Heya Beya in plastic pots. Trad-ers who do sell Heya Beya in plastic pots should have them confiscated and fined,” the group stated.

“It’s our responsibility as parents to make sure we set good examples to our children by making sure our traditions and habits do not create an negative impact on our environment.

“It is not the people it is the traders that are at fault because if you can only find those in plastic pots you will have to buy it to avoid disappointing your kids, the traders should be fined and product confiscated. Sea animals eat the traditional palm frond baskets with

Traditional ‘Heya Beya’ baskets made of palm fronds are encouraged by environmentalists.

‘Plasticising’ of Heya Beya

Plastic pots are not

biodegradable and cause

pollution in our beaches. Please buy traditional ones and report those who sell Heya Beya in plastic pots.

RECYCLE POINTS BH

Plastic pots have been used every

year and we are tired of

picking them up.

MR SCHNEDER

seedlings so no negative environmen-tal impact.”

“Do not buy your Heya Beya in plastic pots but stay true to tradition and buy those made from palm fronds (500 fils) they are biodegradable and considered food for sea-creatures.

“The National Cleanliness Law states that dumping and littering whether on main roads or neigh-borhoods, on pavements or alleys, at

beaches or wasteland are prohibited,” the group stated.

Heya Beya is an annual Bahraini tradition, which encourages children to plant seeds in baskets. The basket is watered daily until the seeds sprouts and grows into a plant; on the day of the ritual, the children wear tradi-tional dresses and celebrate on the shores of Bahrain before throwing the basket into the sea.


Open House to offer Eid experience for non-Muslims

Grand Mosque ready to welcome huge number of people

• Eid open house events have grown exceptionally since it began in 1999. The turnout for the first year was in the twenties while second year it rose to 98 and now thousands of visitors turn up during Eid open house events, according to organisers.

• In its official statement, the centre stated that the event would provide a chance for the guests to learn more about Eid and the Islamic culture.

TDT|ManamaMohammed Zafran

In order to promote peace-ful coexistence and spread the joy of Eid Al Adha to

non-Muslims, the Ahmed Al Fateh Islamic Centre will host an Eid Open House event at Al

Fateh Grand Mosque. On the second and third day

of Eid, Bahrain’s largest mosque will be welcoming non-Muslims and treating them to a special

Eid experience. Ahmed Al Fateh Islamic Cen-

tre coordinator Farahat Al Kindy told Tribune that Eid Open House has become immensely popular and that the mosque is expecting to welcome a huge number of people.

Eid Open House events have grown exceptionally since it be-gan in 1999. The turnout for the first year was in the twenties while second year it rose to 98 and now thousands of visitors turn up during Eid open house events, Al Kindi noted.

Speaking to Tribune, Al Kindi explained that a number of stalls

have been arranged. He said that around a hundred volunteers are expected to work as tour guides at the mosque. “The numbers of full time employees are only a few and so we depend on vol-unteers for the smooth running of the event.”

In its official statement, the centre stated that the event would provide a chance for the guests to learn more about Eid and the Islamic culture.

“The Ahmed AI Fateh Islamic Centre is pleased to host a very special Eid Open House event on the 2nd and 3rd days of the Eid Holidays. This corresponds to

August 22nd and 23rd, 2018 from 9 am-4 pm on both days.

“The main purpose of this function is to provide a unique opportunity for people of all faiths to join us in celebrat-ing the Muslim festival of Eid El-Adha and learn about the Islamic culture,” the centre stated.

“The Centre is dedicated to spreading the message of peace, love and peaceful co-existence between all peoples and wel-comes all non-Muslim expa-triates and tourists who wish to visit this great architectural marvel.

“Visitors will experience tra-ditional Bahraini hospitality and interact with local Muslim tour guides and volunteers in serene and friendly atmosphere.

“In addition, there will be sev-eral other activities such as Ar-abic calligraphy and traditional dress corner. The visitors will also be given a guided tour of the Grand Mosque and briefed on the importance of Eid and the Pilgrimage. There will also be a special corner for the children,” it stated.

For further inquiries contact coordinator Al Kindy or the centre on telephone number 17-727773 or mobile number 35901415 or 37748400.

Eid Open House events are being regularly held at the Al Fateh Grand Mosque. A visitor trying Arab costumes during one of the previous Open House events.

The centre is dedicated to spreading the

message of peace, love and peaceful

co-existence between all peoples and

welcomes all non-Muslim expatriates

and tourists who wish to visit this great

architectural marvel. MR AL KINDI

1999was the year in which first Eid Open House

was held.

‘Inmate sought exemption from prison rules’TDT|ManamaMohammed Zafran

Bahraini inmate Has-san Mushaima who is serving life sentence

for his attempts to topple the government refused to attend specialist doctors’ appointments as he sought exemption from rules, ac-cording to Bahrain Embassy in the UK. In response to protests held by his son Ali Mushaima outside the em-bassy claiming that medical treatment was refused to his fa-ther, the embassy stated that Has-san sought special treatment and refused to cooperate with rules.

According to the embassy, Hassan is at fault at for missed appointments with medical spe-cialists as he declined to attend the appointments as he refused to wear prison uniform and wanted “special treatment”.

“The embassy would like to reiterate that Hassan Mushai-ma refused to attend specialists’ appointments at outside hospi-tals, including his scheduled PET scans scheduled last year (oncol-ogists advised a scan every six months) because Mushaima re-fuses to wear the prison uniform.

“Unlike many other jurisdic-tions, inmates in Bahrain wear their own clothes, not uniforms, while in prison. However, when inmates leave the prison facility, whether to attend a trial or go to hospital or visitation, they are required to wear a uniform,” the embassy stated.

“There is a key distinction here between Hassan Mushaima ex-ercising his will and choosing

not to attend scheduled medical appointments and him being re-fused.

“In essence, it appears that the subject matter is a request for special treatment and rule ex-emptions rather than any other human rights consideration, as no comment or complaint have been made regarding changing the rules concerning prison uni-forms,” the embassy stated.

Bahrain’s rights watchdog National Institution for Human rights had previously refuted claims that the inmate was de-nied medical treatment at Jaw prison. Director-General of Ref-ormation and Rehabilitation had also confirmed that Hassan was being provided with complete medical care.

Ali who is a fugitive sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison, has been holding the protest out-side the embassy in recent weeks. The protest has been called a po-litically charged publicity stunt and criticized for causing a hin-drance to those who wished to visit the embassy.

An investigation conducted

by three human rights organization The Gulf European Center for Hu-man Rights, the Bahrain Human Rights Watch and the International Human Rights Organ-ization concluded that the protest was political in nature rather than hu-man rights one.

A spokesperson for the three organization said that they received many complaints from the peo-ple about the inconven-

ience caused by the protests. “This sit-in is a deliberate attack

on the right to safely cross the road and a program that violates the rights of the people and has a negative impact on the security of the Bahraini embassy and the people working in the embassy because the protestors are sit-ting-in front of the Embassy for 13 days day and nights,” the spokes-person said.

The independent investiga-tion also revealed that the pro-test was political and had links to Iran. “The three human rights organizations (the Gulf European Center for Human Rights, the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society and Organisation of the Global Message for Human Rights) respect and believe in human rights issues.

“However, the three organiza-tions received many oral docu-ments from the people, and then the European Gulf Center began investigating the case, so that it could easily prove that this sit-in outside the Embassy of Bahrain is political operations linked to Iran and not human rights demands.”

The office of the Bahrain Embassy in London.


Prosecution witnesses fail to attend BD1.5m embezzlement case hearingThree ex-staff accused of cheating a private company by transferring funds into personal accounts

• The defendants’ lawyer Abdullah Sahwan said that the prosecution witnesses failed to attend to the court hearing to give their version of events and the court adjourned the case until September 5, 2018.

• The company’s lawyer said previously that the general manager was serving in the company for 21 years and he collaborated with his co-defendants in pocketing money generated from selling movable properties owned by the company but they didn’t record them in its accounts.

TDT|Manama Ali Tarif

The Lower Criminal Court has adjourned the case of three Asian employees, aged 53, 35 and 49, accused of embezzlement after

prosecution witnesses failed to appear in court. The three men were serving in a major con-

struction company, from where they allegedly embezzled BD1.5m. The trio include the general manager, the project manager and a quantity surveyor.

The defendants’ lawyer Abdullah Sahwan said that the prosecution witnesses failed to attend to the court hearing to give their version of events and the court adjourned the case until September 5, 2018.

He revealed to Tribune that he insisted during the hearing on Sunday on his clients’ innocence and requested to release them on bail.

“I am perplexed at the absence of the prosecu-tion witnesses under the pretext that they aren’t in Bahrain, although they were aware there was a court hearing.

“During the previous hearing, we questioned one of the company owners, and the hearing lasted for a very long time because we asked him around 100 questions.

He pointed out that the indictment list against the trio didn’t include they had embezzled BD1.5m, stating the defendants are accused of pocketing an amount between BD11,000 and BD41,000.

Lawyer Sahwan also expressed his confidence

in the integrity of Bahrain’s judicial system. The company’s lawyer, Maha Jaber, said pre-

viously that the general manager was serving in

the company for 21 years and he collaborated with his co-defendants in pocketing money gen-erated from selling movable properties owned by the company but they didn’t record them in its accounts.

“They have been doing this for three years, and the company discovered their misconduct recently. An auditing process was performed via an external auditing firm, in which it was discovered that the general manager transferred BD1.5m to his country in the past three years, although his total earnings since his recruitment don’t exceed half million Bahraini dinars,” she added.

Explaining how the suspects manipulated the company’s accounts, she said: “The defendants used to deposit the money earned through selling the movable properties into their accounts.

“And then show in the records that they used it in carry-out other activities for the company in collaboration with another company which was operating in waste collection.

“The quantity surveyor was forging the reports submitted to the company about the sites in which it was working in return of bribes pro-vided by the general manager and the project manager.”

The defendants used to deposit the money earned

through selling the movable properties into their

accounts. MS JABER

Insisting on my clients’ innocence, I have requested

the court to release them on bail. I have great faith in

judiciary. MR SAHWAN

Many streets in the Capital Governorate have been decked up for Eid Al Adha celebrations. Many events are being held across the Kingdom marking the festival.

In a festive mood

Witness set to testify in BD700,000 fraud case• The British man and the Turkish woman were arrested in the showroom and they informed the authorities that there were another two men involved in the act including a GCC man and a Yemeni man.


A prosecution witness will take the stand on August 27, 2018, to testify in the

case of a fraudster pair involved in attempting to con BD700,000 out of a local car dealer.

The duo were earlier sen-tenced to three years behind bars

each by the High Criminal Court. The pair include a British man

and a Turkish woman, who land-ed in police net after attempting to con a local car dealer out of luxury cars worth BD700,000 using counterfeit credit cards, according to court files.

Investigations into their case were launched after the General Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security received a tip-off on the presence of a counterfeiting gang involved in embezzling mon-ey from ATMs via forging bank card authorisation numbers.

While the investigations were underway, a credit card issu-ing company sent one of their representatives to police to file a complaint after receiving a call from a local car dealer, informing them about being approached by an expatriate

couple requesting to buy luxu-ry cars at a value of BD700,000 using a credit card.

“We accepted their offer and we drafted a purchase contract but we informed the competent authorities about the operation owing to the amount involved.

“The British man said he would leave Bahrain and would complete the transaction when

he arrives back,” a salesman serving for the car dealer told prosecutors.

“When he came back, he in-sisted to complete the purchase offline, and this triggered our suspicions. Thus we notified the card issuing company,” he added.

The British man and the Turk-ish woman were arrested in the showroom and they informed the authorities that there were another two men involved in the act including a GCC man and a Yemeni man.

All of the defendants were tried before the Lower Crim-inal Court, which sentenced the British man and the Turk-ish woman to three years behind bars each for fraud.

The GCC man and the Yemeni national suspect, however, were acquitted due to lack of proof.

Illegal gambling joint trial adjourned

• The defendants had earlier pleaded not guilty before the High Criminal Court.


The court hearing of five Bangladeshi men who converted a Muharraq

house into a gambling joint has been adjourned until Septem-ber 12, 2018, for a review.

Aged between 33 and 54, the defendants are said to have managed the place illegally and were inviting others to come and gamble their money.

Their activities exposed fol-lowing a tip-off to an under-cover agent, after which police kept tabs on the house.

And it was found that many

people were visiting the place at different times daily, starting from 10:00 pm until 3:00 pm.

Investigations revealed that one of the five would visit the house every day to collect his share from the profits made.

Police officers raided the house last May and four men were arrested while they were playing cards.

They turned on their fifth co-defendant, accusing him of running the place.

They even helped police of-ficers to arrest him as one of them called him and asked him to come to the house.

He said to have resisted ar-rest and attacked police of-ficers when he arrived.

The first defendant was charged with assaulting cops too.

The defendants had earlier pleaded not guilty before the High Criminal Court.

New chief for UNIC appointed Manama

United Nations Secre-tary General António Guterres has appointed

Samir Aldarabi as the Director of the United Nations Informa-tion Centre for Gulf Countries located in Manama. Mr Aldarabi assumed his duties on August 1, 2018.

Prior to this appointment, Mr Aldarabi was the Acting Director of the United Nations Informa-tion Centre in Manama, leading the strategic communications and building understanding and support for the aims and goals of the United Nations in Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emir-ates since June 2015.

From 2002 to 2015, Mr Al-darabi held key public informa-tion positions across the United Nations Secretariat. He served as Director of the United Na-tions Information Centre in Sa-na’a from 2010 to 2015, where he also joined the United Nations

Special Political Mission for Yemen; as the National Deputy Director of Radio Miraya with the United Nations Mission in Sudan in Khartoum from 2009 to 2010; and as a radio producer at United Nations Headquarters from 2002 to 2009.

Before joining the United Nations, Mr Aldarabi was the Spokesperson and Arab Press Coordinator for the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy, a non governmental organiza-tion, from 2003 to 2004; and led the media campaign for the first ever population, housing and establishment census at the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics from 1997 to 1998.

When he came back, he insisted to complete the purchase offline,

and this triggered our suspicions. Thus we notified the card

issuing company. SALESMAN

Mr Aldarabi


A day full of fervour, huesSpecial celebrations marking the Day of Arafah held on the shores of Busaiteen beach

• Heya Beya is a unique Bahraini tradition in which children plant wheat and barley grains in baskets made of palm fronds.

• The tradition is also observed in other countries of the region including Kuwait and the UAE.

TDT|ManamaThamer Tayfour

The Day of Arafah was celebrated in great zeal across the Kingdom yesterday.

Many children yesterday celebrated Heya Beya in great fervour.

Heya Beya is a unique Bahraini tra-dition in which children plant wheat and barley grains in baskets made of palm fronds.

They hang these baskets in the porti-cos of their houses before throwing in sea on the Day of Arafah.

Children wear traditional Bukhnug costumes during the occasion adorned with gold thread while the boys wear the traditional dress with a waistcoat as well as a skull cap.

They sing folk songs with passion and pleasure while throwing ‘Heya Beyas’ into sea.

The tradition is also observed in other countries of the region including Ku-wait and the UAE.

The Muharraq Governorate held ‘Heya Beya’ celebrations on the shores of Busaiteen, opposite to the traditional island of Sayya.

Hundreds of children from various part of the Kingdom attended the cel-ebrations.

Speaking to Tribune, Muharraq Gov-

ernor Salman Bin Hindi said ‘Heya Beya’ is a tradition considered to be part of our true culture, which we strive to preserve by taking it to the next generation. The present generation should be proud of their past generation and culture.

“Muharraq Governorate is keen on reviving traditional festivals while preserving our original her-itage. The new generation should be able to celebrate the success and achievements of their fore-fathers by performing these tra-ditions.”

Stand-up comedian Ahmed Sharif set to enthrall fans

• It is a combination of standup comedy, live theatrical play and a musical performance. The show will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel during Eid Al Adha on 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of August 2018.

TDT|Manama Harpreet Kaur

Ahmed Sharif, a renowned stand-up comedian and a social media influenc-

er is all set to perform live and enthrall the audience.

The Ahmed Sharif Show, which is presented by Tarteeb, is considered to be one of the newest and astonishing shows that have never occurred be-fore in the region including Bahrain.

It is a combination of stan-dup comedy, live theatrical play and a musical performance. The show will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel during Eid Al Adha on 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of Au-gust 2018.

Speaking to Tribune, Ahmed said, “I consider ‘Standup Com-edy’ as a new edition to myself. Until this moment, I have par-taken in live comedy plays, TV shows and series, as well as so-

cial media as an influencer and a comedian. I very much look for-ward to my journey in stand-up comedy and most importantly reach the utmost expectation for all my fans and audience.

“The show is going to be one of a kind not just in Bahrain but in the Gulf region where is it going to be a treat for all the audience as it is going to a com-bination of standup comedy, live dramas and a musical.

“In addition, an exclusive video will video will further be showcased at the event which is made with the support of Ju-maan Al Rowaie, who is a legend in the GCC’s cinematic industry.”

“There is a high demand on standup comedy in Bahrain. Unfortunately, one of the main challenges that we face as influ-encers and talented individuals is that there is a lack of support by both private and governmen-tal sectors in Bahrain.

“However, Tarteeb under-stands the high demand on these types of entertainments in Bahrain and have already par-taken in this field with ‘chick-en nuggets’ a standup comedy show starring Khaled Janahi and Imran Alaradi.

“As a result, people were real-ly happy and satisfied with the show. Now, with Tarteeb’s sup-

port, I am certain and confident that Ahmed Sharif Show will be successful and shall provide an outstanding entertainment experience. In Bahrain, we need more companies like Tarteeb that helps and supports such events.

“Another challenge that we face is the scarcity of arranged halls and stages available in Bahrain. We usually tend to rely on hotel halls, which are usually fully booked or quite expensive to reserve. Thus, it will be chal-lenging for us to provide the highest quality of entertainment for our audience with such a challenge,” Ahmed added.

Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa received Terror Crimes Prosecution chief Advocate General Dr Ahmed Mohammed Al Hammadi, who presented a copy of his PhD thesis, from the College of Law at the University of Ain Shams, titled “Protecting Criminal Witnesses – Comparative Study”. The minister commended the efforts exerted by Dr Ahmed Al Hammadi, stressing the importance of scientific studies which represent a reference for researchers and specialists.

Oman to host international transport conferenceManama

Oman will host the 32nd Internation-al Road Transport

Union (IRU)’s World Con-gress 2018 under the title “Innovation in Transport”. The three-day is organ-ised by the Oman Global Logistics Group (ASYAD) and IRU.

The conference aims to enable road transport specialists to discuss the challenges facing the sec-tor and propose innovative solutions to meet these challenges by presenting the best international ex-periences and practices in the presence of a number of transport ministers and logistics leaders around the world, Oman News Agency (ONA) reported.

The conference will at-tract international invest-ments and projects to the Sultanate, promote the Sultanate as a promising logistics centre, highlight the Sultanate’s distinctive land-, sea- and air infra-structure, and allow the development of expertise for Omani human cadres through sharing experi-ences with specialists in the transport sector from different countries.

The event will focus on innovation in a number of areas including logistics and technologies that are growing steadily. It will include interactive discus-sion sessions to allow par-ticipants to communicate, exchange ideas, experienc-es and best practices.

Minister receives researcher

The show poster released by organisers.

The show is going to be one of a kind not just in Bahrain but also in the Gulf region. It will be a treat for all the

audience as it is going to be a combination of standup comedy, live

dramas and a musical. AHMED

Hundreds of children took part in the celebrations held on Busaiteen beach.

Muharraq Governor Salman Bin Hindi attended the celebrations.

07

business


Ola starts operations in BritainLondon, United Kingdom

Indian ride-hailing com-pany Ola began operating

in south Wales on Monday ahead of a planned expan-sion across Britain by the end of the year, intensifying its battle with US rival Uber.

Britain is Ola’s second venture into a foreign mar-ket after it started opera-tions in Australia in Feb-ruary.

Unlike Uber, the company offers customers the option of private hire vehicles and taxis on one platform.

Ola “looks forward to providing passengers with a dynamic, new responsible service,” Ben Legg, manag-ing director of Ola UK, said in a statement.

Legg emphasised Ola’s screening processes for drivers and safety features such as 24/7 voice support and an option to share ride details with emergency con-tacts.

Ola was launched in 2011 and claims to handle around a billion rides a year across India’s major centres and seven cities in Australia.

Ride-hailing apps are booming in India despite stiff opposition from tradi-tional taxi firms and some initial concerns about pas-senger safety.

Ola and Uber are locked in an aggressive fight for a greater share of India’s taxi-app market, which is esti-mated to be worth around $10 billion.

India seeks jeweller’s extradition from UKNew Delhi, India

Indian authorities said yesterday they have asked

Britain to extradite fugitive billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi after he was seen there.

Modi, who is allegedly at the centre of a $1.8 billion fraud, fled India in February and has since been linked to several countries.

But a Central Bureau of Investigation spokes-person said: “We received confirmation from Britain through our Interpol chan-nels that Nirav Modi has been seen there.”

The bureau was also in contact with the United States, France, Singapore, Belgium, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong as it launched a global hunt for the tycoon.

Modi and his uncle and business partner Mehul Choksi, a diamond mer-chant, are accused of ille-gally diverting loans from the bank to foreign-based companies. Choksi is be-lieved to be in Antigua.

Before the case Forbes es-timated his worth at $1.73 billion, placing him 85th on India’s rich list.

Bahrain’s clean energy drive gets US backing

Dr Mirza holds talks with US House of Representatives headed by Mary Martin

TDT | Manama

A visiting US delegation yesterday hailed Bah-rain’s progress in the

electricity, water and renewable energy sectors saying “they wish to activate more international cooperation in these areas.”

The move, according to the head of the delegation, would help encourage investments in the sector as well as boost trade and scientific research in the Kingdom.

This came as Electricity and Water Affairs Minister Dr Ab-dulhussain Mirza was receiving a delegation from the Energy and Trade Committee of the US House of Representatives, head-ed by Mary Martin.

The minister praised the his-torical 200-year old relations between Bahrain and the United States of America and made a presentation on the plans and projects of the electricity, water and renewable energy sector.

The meeting highlighted the steps taken by the government in the field of energy sustain-ability along with investment opportunities available to com-

panies. Bahrain leadership, Dr Mirza said, paid great attention to encouraging the use of clean energy and the government had set up national goals for energy

efficiency and renewable energy to achieve comprehensive and sustainable development.

The delegation members said they were pleased to see Bah-

rain’s experience and the pro-gress and thanked the minister for his interest and encourage-ment to strengthen mechanisms of cooperation.

Minister receives the US delegation

A picture showing the Eid Al Adha celebrations held by National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) at the NBB Home for the Elderly. The celebrations, in the presence of NBB volunteers, included a performance of traditional songs and dances as well as live cooking stations. Minister of Labour and Social Development commended the efforts of NBB and its staff for their continued support and initiatives to promote the well-being of the community

Total has left Iran, oil ministerTehran, Iran

French energy giant To-tal has officially quit

its multi-billion-dollar gas project in Iran, Oil Minis-ter Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Monday, following the reimposition of US sanc-tions.

“Total has officially left the agreement for the devel-opment of phase 11 of South Pars (gas field). It has been more than two months that it announced that it would leave the contract,” he told the ICANA news agency.

The United States said in May that it was abandoning the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposing sanctions on Iran in two phases.

Under-fire Apple removes 25,000 apps in ChinaChina is one of Apple’s largest markets, accounting for roughly 20 percent of its revenue last year

AFP | Beijing, China

Apple said yesterday it had removed many gam-

bling-related apps from its Chi-nese app store as the US giant comes under scrutiny amid trade tensions between Beijing and Washington.

Apple removed 25,000 apps suspected of facilitating gam-bling and illegal lotteries, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday, emphasising there was still work to be done.

“Reporters have discovered even after the Apple company’s large-scale repairs, loopholes still exist,” said CCTV anchor Chang Xiao.

A CCTV report last month ac-cused the company of allowing illegal gambling apps to prolif-erate.

“We have already removed many apps and developers for trying to distribute illegal gam-bling apps on our App Store, and we are vigilant in our efforts to find these and stop them from

being on the App Store,” the company said in a statement.

With the rhetoric between Washington and Beijing heat-ing up, China’s state media has probed for deficiencies in Ap-ple’s China operations.

Another state media report last month tore into Apple for what it claimed was inade-quate filtering of messages sent through its iMessage service.

The app store clearance did little to abate the criticism from CCTV.

Women pose for a selfie in front of an Apple Store undergoing renovation at a mall in Beijing


Canada’s Trudeau to run again in 2019Montreal, Canada

Canadian Prime Min-ister Justin Trudeau

announced Sunday he will run for re-election in 2019 legislative polls.

The Liberal Party leader was officially nominated by his party in the central Montreal district of Papi-neau, a centrist stronghold he has represented since 2008. He was re-elected in 2011 and 2015.

He spoke of his “deep conviction that despite the politics of fear and division, staying positive, pulling people together, looking for ways to emphasize our common ground, our shared values among our differenc-es, is the only way to build a stronger country, a stronger world.”

Trudeau also promised to reduce the gap between rich and poor, and to lift up indigenous populations.

Volkswagen recalls 700,000 SUVs

Frankfurt am Main, Ger-many

Ge r m a n a u t o b e h e -moth Volkswagen said

Monday it was recalling 700,000 SUVs around the world, warning that lights built into their sunroofs risk short-circuiting if they be-come wet.

The fault affects cars be-longing to the current gen-eration of the Tiguan and Touran models manufac-tured before July 5 this year, a spokesman for the firm told news agency DPA.

Heat from a short-circuit could damage the roof and in extreme cases start a fire, German industry magazine Kfz-Betrieb reported.

The spokesman said VW was still working on a fix but hoped to complete test-ing “soon”.

In the meantime, car owners can continue using their vehicles unless they notice signs of a short cir-cuit, including the ambient lighting not working or singe marks appearing.

Business economists say Trump tariffs will harm US: survey

• Some companies across the United States have blamed the tariffs for layoffs, squeezed profit margins and possible bankruptcies.

Washington, United States

Business economists over-whelmingly worry President

Donald Trump’s trade wars will harm the US economy, according to a survey released yesterday.

The Trump administration on Thursday is due to impose its latest round of punitive tariffs on China, putting 25 per cent duties on another $16 billion in imports, with Beijing poised to retaliate dollar-for-dollar.

The twice-yearly survey by

the National Association for Business Economics also found respondents were split on De-cember’s sweeping tax cuts, but agreed Congress should do more to shrink the expanding budget deficit.

NABE Vice President Kevin Swift said more than 90pc of the 251 economists surveyed said the tariffs and threats of tariffs had “unfavorable consequential impacts.”

“Panelists also expect unfa-vorable consequential impacts should the United States with-draw from NAFTA,” Swift said in a statement, referring to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Washington, Ottawa and Mex-ico City began talks a year ago to revise the 24-year-old trade pact, which Trump has threat-ened to scrap should negotiators

fail to reach an acceptable deal. Officials have become more op-

timistic in recent days that they could finalize a NAFTA rewrite

by the end of the year.Some companies across the

United States have blamed the tariffs for layoffs, squeezed prof-it margins and possible bank-ruptcies. Lawmakers in Trump’s own Republican party have expressed outrage about the multi-front trade conflicts and warned of long-term damage to the economy.

But White House officials say the American economy is more than robust enough to endure the conflict, which they believe will ultimately result in more equitable trade that reduces the US trade deficit.

A majority of those surveyed by NABE approved of December’s corporate tax reductions but only a small share favored the changes for individuals, which Democrats have criticized as unduly favorable to the wealthy.

More than 80pc believed cur-rent fiscal policy would expand the budget deficit as a share of GDP, and agreed Congress should work to reduce it.

Large majorities also favoured fighting climate change and combating income inequality but were split on how to achieve the latter goal, according to the report.

According to the latest NABE survey, 60pc of respondents be-lieved economic policy should do more to combat climate change.

In addition, 74pc said eco-nomic policy should do more to combat income inequality but respondents were divided on the best means of doing this: 47pc supported more education to improve worker productivity, while 33pc favoured more pro-gressive taxation.

US President Donald Trump (L), his wife Melania Trump and their son Barron (C) walk on the South Lawn upon his return to the White House after a weekend in Bedminster,

© GRAPHIC NEWSSources: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Defense News

Sales of U.S. weapons soar

TOP THREEU.S. CLIENTS(% of exports)

GLOBAL SHARE OF MAJORARMS EXPORTS, 2013-17 (%)

TREND IN INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERSOF MAJOR WEAPONS, 1978–2017

Australia6.7% Saudi

Arabia18%

UnitedStates

UAE7.4%

U.S.34% ofmarket

Netherlands2.1%

50

40

30

20

10

01980 85 90 95 00 05 10 15

Other10%

Italy, 2.5%

Israel, 2.9%

Spain, 2.9% UK, 4.8%

China, 5.7%

Germany, 5.8%

France6.7%

Russia22%

74.2%

America sold more weapons in the first six months of 2018 than allof fiscal 2017, signing off on $46.9 billion in weapons sales to foreign

partners and allies – surging past the 2017 total of $41.9 billion

CHANGE IN VOLUMEOF ARMS EXPORTS2008-12 TO 2013-17 (%)4035302520151050

-5-10-15

U.S

.

Rus

sia

Fran

ce

Ger

man

y

Chi

na

25

-7.1

27

-14

38

Top five arms sellers,accounting for 74.2%of global arms exports

SIPRI trend-indicator value: Measureof volume of international transfers ofmajor weapons

US sold almost $42 billion in weapons to foreign govts in 2017

America sold more weap-ons in the first six months

of 2018 than all of fiscal 2017, signing off on $46.9 billion in weapons sales to foreign part-ners and allies – surging past the 2017 total of $41.9 billion.

The size of the world’s arms market rose by 10 per cent over the five years to Decem-

ber 2017, compared with the previous five years. America’s slice of this expanding pie was 34pc, up from 30pc in the pre-vious five years. America and its five nearest rivals (in de-scending order Russia, France, Germany, China and Britain) account for nearly 80pc of to-tal sales.

Ethiopia opens plant to turn waste into energyEthiopia | energy | waste

Ethiopia on Sunday inaugu-rated a power plant which

converts waste into energy, next to a filthy open-air dump in Addis Ababa where a land-slide last year killed more than 110 people.

Named Reppie, the facility is the first of its kind in Africa, according to the government and the British company Cam-bridge Industries behind the project, and will turn 1,400 tons of waste per day into en-ergy. Ethiopian President Mu-latu Teshome said at the cer-emony that the country “has been investing extensively in hydro power, geothermal, wind energy and now biomass to boost the manufacturing sector with a supply of clean,

renewable energy.”Reppie is located beside a

massive dump called Koshe, a slang word for “dirt” in the country’s main Amharic lan-guage. There for over 40 years, Koshe serves as the main rub-bish tip in Ethiopia’s capital which has a rapidly rising pop-ulation, currently at more than four million people.

A huge landslide killed more than 110 people in March 2017, which scavengers blame on the construction of the incinera-tion plant next door.

Building of the plant began in 2014 at a cost of around 118 million dollars. The incinerat-ed waste will generate steam which will then drive a turbine that produces electricity at a projected power of 25 mega-watts per day.

Malaysia calls for China’s help with fiscal problems• Malaysia’s national debt is around $250 billion

• China is the top trading partner of Malaysia

AFP | Beijing, China

Malaysian Prime Minis-ter Mahathir Moham-ad called on China’s

top leadership to help with his country’s fiscal problems yesterday, as he seeks to revise major Beijing-backed projects signed under his country’s scandal-plagued former regime.

The 93-year-old leader, who returned for a second stint as premier following a shock election win in May, has railed against a series of deals struck with Chinese state-owned com-panies by the administration of toppled leader Najib Razak.

His government has sus-pended China-backed projects worth more than $22 billion, including a major rail link, and Mahathir had pledged to raise the issue of what he views as unfair terms related to some of the deals on his five-day trip.

During a press conference with Chinese Premier Li Ke-qiang at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Mahathir thanked

China for agreeing to increase imports of specialty agricul-tural products, such as durian fruit.

But Mahathir also said he ex-pected more from the world’s second largest economy.

“I believe that China will look sympathetically towards the problems that we have to re-solve and perhaps help us in resolving some of our internal fiscal problems,” he said.

During his nine-year rule, Na-jib was accused of cutting quick deals with Beijing in return for help paying off debts linked to a massive financial scandal that ultimately helped bring down his long-ruling coalition.

Last week, Mahathir had said that he would look to cancel or modify the previous admin-istration’s agreements with China, stressing that “the most important thing is for us to save money”.

Mahathir is seeking to cut Malaysia’s national debt, which has ballooned to some $250 billion. Despite the threat to revise China-linked contracts, Mahathir is seeking to strength-en business ties with Beijing during the trip.

He met the founder of e-com-merce giant Alibaba, Jack Ma, in the eastern city of Hangzhou on Saturday. Mahathir also

oversaw the signing of a co-operation agreement between Chinese auto firm Geely and Malaysian carmaker Proton.

China is the top trading part-ner of Malaysia, which is home to a substantial ethnic Chinese minority.

Bilateral ties were warm un-der the old regime, and Chinese investment into the country surged as Beijing signed deals for major infrastructure and construction projects.

But critics said there was of-ten a lack of transparency and the terms, such as interest rates on loans, were unfavourable to Malaysia, fuelling suspicions about Najib’s real motives.

Najib and his cronies were ac-cused of plundering billions of dollars from a sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB, in an audacious fraud.

Since losing power, Najib has been charged over the scandal and will stand trial. He denies any wrongdoing.

As well as the rail link, which would have run from the Thai border to Kuala Lumpur, the government has suspended a China-backed project to build pipelines after alleging that almost all the money for the work was paid out but only a fraction of the project had been completed.

I believe that China will look

sympathetically towards the

problems that we have to resolve and perhaps help us in resolving some of our internal fiscal

problemsMAHATHIR MOHAMAD

MALAYSIAN PRIME MINISTER

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (L) and China’s Premier Li Keqiang talk during a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing


$72.08 per barrel was the price of Brent crude futures

at 1336 GMT

PepsiCo buys SodaStream New York, United States

PepsiCo said yesterday it was buying Israeli com-

pany SodaStream for $3.2 billion as the US beverage giant contends with falling demand for sugar-laden soft drinks among health-con-scious consumers.

SodaStream makes ma-chines that carbonate home tap water, and both PepsiCo and its arch-rival Coca-Cola have been diversifying away from their mainstay fizzy drinks in part to counter the onset of anti-obesity sugar taxes around the world.

SodaStream offers con-sumers “the ability to make great-tasting beverages while reducing the amount of waste generated”, Pep-siCo chief executive Indra Nooyi, who is stepping down following 12 years at the helm, said in a state-ment.

Turkey lodges complaint against US tariffs: WTOGeneva, Switzerland

Turkey has lodged a complaint against ad-

ditional US duties on steel and aluminium at World Trade Organization, the in-ternational trade court said yesterday.

US President Donald Trump earlier this month announced on Twitter that he had doubled steel and aluminium tariffs on Turkey amid a row over an Amer-ican pastor held for two years on terror charges.

“Turkey claims that the measures are inconsistent with a number of provisions of the WTO’s Agreement on Safeguards and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994,” said a statement on the WTO’s website.

The first stage in the pro-cess is a request for bilateral consultations to attempt to resolve the dispute. It can take years to resolve dis-putes if WTO trade judges become involved.

The announcement of the tariffs on August 10 caused the Turkish lira to crash nearly 20 percent, and prompted Turkish Presi-dent Recep Tayyip Erdogan to claim his country was vic-tim of a “political plot” and an “economic war”.

Markets display optimism • US-China talks slated for Wednesday and Thursday

• China appeared to be moving to support the yuan

• Turkish lira was hovering above six to the dollar

AFP | London, United Kingdom

Optimism over signs that China and the United States will start working

to resolve their trade dispute helped stock markets across the world move higher on Monday.

“Equity markets are buoy-ant ahead of the US- China trade talks which commence on Wednesday,” said market analyst David Madden at CMC Markets UK. The talks slated for Wednesday and Thursday are the first since the US and China began slapping tariffs on tens of billions of dollars worth of goods, and according to the Wall Street Journal they are aimed at easing the dispute so US Presi-dent Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping can hold a summit in November.

“Investors will be hoping that negotiations between China

and the US can start to break the trade tariff deadlock or at the very least open the door to a summit between President Trump and President Xi, which might begin to ease the pres-sure,” noted Rebecca O’Keeffe, head of investment at Interac-tive Investor.

A possibility that the months-long row which has battered world markets could be brought to an end was enough to spur optimism on trading floors.

London closed the day 0.4 per cent in afternoon trading, with Paris adding 0.7pc and Frankfurt climbing 1.0pc.

On Wall Street, the Dow was 0.3pc higher in late morning

trading.In Asia, both Hong Kong and

Shanghai closed more than one-pc higher.

Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader, point-ed out that Beijing, which is struggling to support the econ-omy while also addressing a debt mountain, may have had a “lightbulb moment” last week with the release of more weak data and a sharp drop in the troubled yuan.

Authorities in China appeared to be moving to support the yuan last week as it headed towards seven to the dollar, its weakest level since January 2017.

Some observers have suggest-

ed the central bank has been letting the yuan soften in recent weeks to offset the effects of any US tariffs, a claim China has denied.

Elsewhere Monday, the Turk-ish lira was hovering above six to the dollar, well off the record levels around seven seen last week but still facing pressure after Ankara and Washington traded fresh sanctions threats as the row over a detained Ameri-can pastor drags on.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s on Friday downgraded Turkey’s sovereign debt for the second time in four months and warned of a recession in 2019.

“The worry over Turkey’s

currency crisis eased slightly last week as the lira rebounded against the US dollar. But this isn’t the end of the problem,” said Masayuki Kubota, chief strategist at Rakuten Securities.

“The harder the Turkish gov-ernment finds it to borrow mon-ey, the harder it will be for Turk-ish banks to raise funds, and it would not be a surprise if the country’s banks were hit with downgrades themselves,” said Madden at CMC Markets UK.

Attention this week turns also to the annual central bankers’ symposium at Jackson Hole in Wyoming, which will be fol-lowed for clues on US interest rate plans among other issues.

Traders work on the floor at the closing bell of the Dow Industrial Average at the New York Stock Exchange

Key figures around 1530 GMT New York - Dow Jones: 0.3 percent at 25,754.12 points

London - FTSE 100: 0.4pc at 7,591.26 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: 1.0pc at 12,331.30 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: 0.7pc at 5,379.65 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: 0.7pc at 3,395.64

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: 0.3pc at 22,199.00 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: 1.4pc at 27,598.02 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: 1.1pc at 2,698.47 (close)

Euro/dollar: $1.1439 from $1.1441 at 2100 GMT Friday

Pound/dollar: $1.2763 from $1.2749

Dollar/yen: 110.45 from 110.57 yen

Dollar/Turkish lira: 6.17 lira from 6.03 lira

Wall Street’s bull run nears new landmarkThe US stock market all set to mark 3,453 straight days without suffering a drop of 20 per cent

AFP | New York, United States

Bolstered by a period of ex-traordinary monetary stim-

ulus followed by generous tax cuts, Wall Street stands at the cusp of another landmark this week.

The US stock market on Wednesday will mark 3,453 straight days without suffering a drop of 20 per cent. That makes it the longest “bull market” since World War II, according to lead-ing Wall Street statisticians.

“It’s an encouraging milestone because it’s the sign that there is

life left in this market,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strate-gist at CFRA Research.

The marathon march higher began in March 2009, just after the financial crisis erased more than half the value of the S&P 500, the broad-based US stock index.

When stocks fall at least 20pc below their previous record, they exit a “bull market” and enter a “bear market.”

Although “bulls” and “bears” are very much in the psyche of Wall Street, there is no official authority on these designations

and some experts quibble over the dates.

The current bull market began amid the emergency steps taken by the Federal Reserve, which set ultra-low interest rates and sought to spur investment fur-ther with billions of dollars in bond purchases in a program known as “quantitative easing.”

“This bull market started with interest rates lower than any other bull market,” said Stovall. “That helped fuel economic growth as well as earnings in-creases.”

Wall Street stocks have avoid-

ed major declines, even as the Fed has pulled back from these easy-money policies.

Stocks got another shot of sup-port in late 2017 when President Donald Trump and congression-al Republicans succeeded in pushing through a tax overhaul that cut the tax rate on corporate profits from 35pc to 21pc.

That has led to huge earnings gains. Companies in the S&P 500 have reported a nearly 25pc jump in second-quarter profits per share compared with the year-ago period, according to FactSet.Wall Street Bull sculpture is seen in the Financial District in New York

Brent stabilises near $72 Reuters | Singapore, Moscow

Brent oil stabilised near $72 per barrel yesterday

after several weeks of decline, weighed down by concerns over slowing global economic growth but supported by an expected fall in supply from Iran due to US sanctions.

Brent crude futures, a benchmark for internation-al oil prices, were at $72.08 per barrel at 1336 GMT, up 25 cents.

US West Texas Intermedi-ate (WTI) crude futures were down 3 cents at $65.88 per barrel.

Last week, Brent declined for a third consecutive week, while WTI fell for a seventh week due to concerns about a slowdown in economic growth because of US-Chinese trade tensions and weakness in many emerging economies.

China and the United States will hold trade talks this

month, the two governments said late last week, in a bid to resolve an escalating tariff war that threatens to engulf all trade between the world’s two largest economies.

Still, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow warned Beijing not to underestimate President Donald Trump’s re-solve in what Kudlow called a “battle to eliminate tariffs and non-tariff barriers and quotas, to stop the theft of intellectual property and to stop the forced transfer of technology”.

Chinese buyers shift to Iranian tankers for oil Reuters | Beijing, Singapore

Chinese buyers of Iranian oil are starting to shift their

cargoes to vessels owned by Na-tional Iranian Tanker Co (NITC) for nearly all of their imports to keep supply flowing amid the re-imposition of economic sanctions by the United States.

The shift demonstrates that China, Iran’s biggest oil cus-tomer, wants to keep buying Iranian crude despite the sanc-tions, which were put back after the United States withdrew in May from a 2015 agreement to halt Iran’s nuclear program.

To safeguard their sup-plies, state oil trader Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp and Sinopec Group, Asia’s biggest refiner, have activated a clause in its long-term supply agreements

with National Iranian Oil Corp (NIOC) that allows them to use NITC-operated tankers, accord-ing to four sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

The price for the oil under the long-term deals has been

changed to a delivered ex-ship basis from the previous free-on-board terms, meaning that Iran will cover all the costs and risks of delivering the crude as well as handling the insurance, the sources said.

Representative picture

THREE THINGS CANNOT BE LONG HIDDEN: THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE TRUTHBUDDHA

QUOTE OF THE DAY


C I V I L I A N ’ S T R I B U N E

We will soon see whether Iraq and Lebanon’s politicians have

the foresight to open their nations to the international community — or bow to Iran and embrace dysfunctional,

theocratic isolation.

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

BARIA ALAMUDDIN

A decade ago, regional deci-sion-makers breathed a sigh of relief at a deal that resolved yet

another chronic bout of tension in Leba-non. However, this 2008 “Doha Accord” proved to be a poison pill, conferring upon Hizbollah a “blocking third” of the governing system — a political weight they never relinquished — enabling Tehran and Hezbollah to time after time put the political process in a chokehold until other parties eventually cave in. Hassan Nasrallah today behaves as if he has a God-given right to always obtain everything he demands — and to hell with the consequences for Lebanon.

Saad Hariri’s long-running efforts to form a government are being thwarted by Nasrallah’s insistence on normal-ized relations with Bashar Assad. This is the same Assad who colluded with Hezbollah to assassinate Saad’s fa-ther, Rafiq Hariri. And the same Assad who threatened to “break Lebanon” over Rafiq Hariri’s head if he didn’t submit to Damascus’ demands. Assad has devolved from regional strongman to Iranian puppet, so Saad Hariri is unsurprisingly unwilling to prostrate himself and humiliate Lebanon.

We hope he stands his ground, but such aggressive brinkmanship over every issue has become exhausting and prohibitively costly for Lebanon.

Likewise, after each round of Iraqi elections Tehran dogmatically blocks all efforts at government formation until it obtains the Cabinet it wants. Iran’s paramilitary allies, Al Hashd Al-Shaabi, won a miserable 48 out of 329 seats in the May elections — one wonders how they could hope to de-mand any influence at all. Yet all Iran needs is a sufficient parliamentary rump to block all alternative configu-rations until it has bribed, threatened and cajoled enough politicians into accepting its writ. Iraq and Lebanon

are the only states I can think of where political life is routinely obstructed for months or years during wrangling over the choice of Cabinets and ministers.

A veteran diplomat warned me that a Tehran-aligned government in Bagh-dad could precipitate “economic war” between Iran and the West, with Eu-ropeans and Americans potentially shut out of Iraqi markets altogether. Hence Prime Minister Haider Abadi’s impossible situation: If Iraq wants to do business with the West, US sanctions must be respected.

Yet Tehran’s ayatollahs would see Iraqis starve before allowing Baghdad’s leaders to compromise on this issue. This is one crisis Abadi can’t spin his way out of by smiling and telling both sides what they want to hear. US sanc-tions may thus paradoxically force Iraq even more tightly into Iran’s poisoned embrace, compelling it to suicidally distance itself from the global financial system.

Having grown up in Lebanon, I un-derstand that this small nation will probably always be a playground for re-

gional powers. However, not all foreign powers are equally malign. Post-war Germany was divided into American, British, French and Russian spheres of influence. The three Western powers exerted their influence with a lighter touch and West Germany was conse-quently transformed from bombed-out fascist dictatorship to modern mir-acle in two decades. East Germany,

meanwhile, was the vanguard of the USSR’s aggressive efforts to expand communism, and consequently it stag-nated and imploded.

Similar tendencies are obvious in Lebanon: After the civil war, certain ar-eas enjoyed massive Gulf Cooperation Council and Western investment and became the luxuriant envy of the Mid-dle East. Other areas went backwards under stultifying theocratic misrule, economic neglect, and the terrible im-pact of the narcotics trade. Yet it is the backwards-looking theocratic model that is in the ascendancy, particularly after Hezbollah waded through rivers of blood to portray itself as the victor in Syria.

The once-mighty, Arab, oil-rich Iraq is today a broken nation; no more able to avoid Iranian imperialism than tiny Lebanon. We would like to buy into Muqtada Al Sadr’s rose-tinted vision of a sovereign Iraq rejecting all foreign interference, but in the real world Leb-anon and Iraq require backing from benign regional powers in shaping their destinies away from the three evils of

militancy, corruption and sectarianism. Pro-Iranian parties in Baghdad —

despite what is often said — are not un-assailably popular or dominant. They aren’t even the leading force within the Shiite political constellation. Yet these proxies have won by exploiting Tehran’s muscle to force other parties into line and outmaneuver their rivals, sometimes by playing their cards more cleverly and sometimes by digging in their heels until others acquiesce.

Iran is not a dominant global player, despite how it is often portrayed. It is a second-rate regional pariah in terminal decline because of its leaders’ behavior. Iran wants to permanently drag Iraq and Lebanon into that growing cluster of outcast pariah states that are ostra-cized because they can’t and won’t play by the international rules. Why would any sane Iraqi want this for their na-tion? Lebanon has been partly shielded by its well-educated, diverse and liber-al communities, who reject the writ of Wilayat Al Faqih — but how long can they hold out? Rather than Hariri and Abadi being compelled to beat a lonely path to Damascus and Tehran, there are infinitely greater opportunities on offer by unambiguously re-engaging with the Arab heartland.

When Iran suddenly pulled the plug on electricity supplies to southern Iraq this summer — precipitating nationwide protests — it was Kuwait that stepped in, restoring light and air-condition-ing to Iraqi homes. We have seen huge investments from the GCC and oth-er Arab states in Iraqi reconstruction, infrastructure and the private sector. Donald Trump’s administration has, meanwhile, been seeking Russian sup-port in curbing Iran’s regional influence.

In May, the vast majority of Iraqis voted for political parties opposed to Tehran’s agenda. Now we get to see whether Iraq and Lebanon’s politicians have the foresight to listen to voters and open their nations to the international community — or bow to Tehran and em-brace dysfunctional, theocratic isolation.

(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 interviewed numerous

heads of state.)


Iran is not a dominant global player, despite how it is often portrayed. It is a second-rate regional pariah in terminal decline

With unity, we can overcome any crisis Kerala will take some time to come out of

the crisis triggered by floods and land-slides. Nearly 400 people have died and

the state administration is still having a tough time to deal with accumulated losses including the vast destruction of infrastructure. But what strikes me most is the unity shown by people and the support received by the community from outside. Help poured in from neighboring states including Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kar-nataka. Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar also offered

help the state and its people. The small state with 44 rivers is known for its scenic beauty. But know we have realized the dangers when these rivers take their ferocious forms. We can’t take a myopic view on the human invasion on nature, which is seen as one of the reasons behind such natural calamities. What we needed is a reconciliation and efforts to restore the environment in its place, while moving ahead with recovery efforts.

Ramshankar Parameshwaran

THREE THINGS CANNOT BE LONG HIDDEN: THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE TRUTHBUDDHA

QUOTE OF THE DAY


C I V I L I A N ’ S T R I B U N E

We will soon see whether Iraq and Lebanon’s politicians have

the foresight to open their nations to the international community — or bow to Iran and embrace dysfunctional,

theocratic isolation.


BARIA ALAMUDDIN

A decade ago, regional deci-sion-makers breathed a sigh of relief at a deal that resolved yet

another chronic bout of tension in Leba-non. However, this 2008 “Doha Accord” proved to be a poison pill, conferring upon Hizbollah a “blocking third” of the governing system — a political weight they never relinquished — enabling Tehran and Hezbollah to time after time put the political process in a chokehold until other parties eventually cave in. Hassan Nasrallah today behaves as if he has a God-given right to always obtain everything he demands — and to hell with the consequences for Lebanon.

Saad Hariri’s long-running efforts to form a government are being thwarted by Nasrallah’s insistence on normal-ized relations with Bashar Assad. This is the same Assad who colluded with Hezbollah to assassinate Saad’s fa-ther, Rafiq Hariri. And the same Assad who threatened to “break Lebanon” over Rafiq Hariri’s head if he didn’t submit to Damascus’ demands. Assad has devolved from regional strongman to Iranian puppet, so Saad Hariri is unsurprisingly unwilling to prostrate himself and humiliate Lebanon.

We hope he stands his ground, but such aggressive brinkmanship over every issue has become exhausting and prohibitively costly for Lebanon.

Likewise, after each round of Iraqi elections Tehran dogmatically blocks all efforts at government formation until it obtains the Cabinet it wants. Iran’s paramilitary allies, Al Hashd Al-Shaabi, won a miserable 48 out of 329 seats in the May elections — one wonders how they could hope to de-mand any influence at all. Yet all Iran needs is a sufficient parliamentary rump to block all alternative configu-rations until it has bribed, threatened and cajoled enough politicians into accepting its writ. Iraq and Lebanon

are the only states I can think of where political life is routinely obstructed for months or years during wrangling over the choice of Cabinets and ministers.

A veteran diplomat warned me that a Tehran-aligned government in Bagh-dad could precipitate “economic war” between Iran and the West, with Eu-ropeans and Americans potentially shut out of Iraqi markets altogether. Hence Prime Minister Haider Abadi’s impossible situation: If Iraq wants to do business with the West, US sanctions must be respected.

Yet Tehran’s ayatollahs would see Iraqis starve before allowing Baghdad’s leaders to compromise on this issue. This is one crisis Abadi can’t spin his way out of by smiling and telling both sides what they want to hear. US sanc-tions may thus paradoxically force Iraq even more tightly into Iran’s poisoned embrace, compelling it to suicidally distance itself from the global financial system.

Having grown up in Lebanon, I un-derstand that this small nation will probably always be a playground for re-

gional powers. However, not all foreign powers are equally malign. Post-war Germany was divided into American, British, French and Russian spheres of influence. The three Western powers exerted their influence with a lighter touch and West Germany was conse-quently transformed from bombed-out fascist dictatorship to modern mir-acle in two decades. East Germany,

meanwhile, was the vanguard of the USSR’s aggressive efforts to expand communism, and consequently it stag-nated and imploded.

Similar tendencies are obvious in Lebanon: After the civil war, certain ar-eas enjoyed massive Gulf Cooperation Council and Western investment and became the luxuriant envy of the Mid-dle East. Other areas went backwards under stultifying theocratic misrule, economic neglect, and the terrible im-pact of the narcotics trade. Yet it is the backwards-looking theocratic model that is in the ascendancy, particularly after Hezbollah waded through rivers of blood to portray itself as the victor in Syria.

The once-mighty, Arab, oil-rich Iraq is today a broken nation; no more able to avoid Iranian imperialism than tiny Lebanon. We would like to buy into Muqtada Al Sadr’s rose-tinted vision of a sovereign Iraq rejecting all foreign interference, but in the real world Leb-anon and Iraq require backing from benign regional powers in shaping their destinies away from the three evils of

militancy, corruption and sectarianism. Pro-Iranian parties in Baghdad —

despite what is often said — are not un-assailably popular or dominant. They aren’t even the leading force within the Shiite political constellation. Yet these proxies have won by exploiting Tehran’s muscle to force other parties into line and outmaneuver their rivals, sometimes by playing their cards more cleverly and sometimes by digging in their heels until others acquiesce.

Iran is not a dominant global player, despite how it is often portrayed. It is a second-rate regional pariah in terminal decline because of its leaders’ behavior. Iran wants to permanently drag Iraq and Lebanon into that growing cluster of outcast pariah states that are ostra-cized because they can’t and won’t play by the international rules. Why would any sane Iraqi want this for their na-tion? Lebanon has been partly shielded by its well-educated, diverse and liber-al communities, who reject the writ of Wilayat Al Faqih — but how long can they hold out? Rather than Hariri and Abadi being compelled to beat a lonely path to Damascus and Tehran, there are infinitely greater opportunities on offer by unambiguously re-engaging with the Arab heartland.

When Iran suddenly pulled the plug on electricity supplies to southern Iraq this summer — precipitating nationwide protests — it was Kuwait that stepped in, restoring light and air-condition-ing to Iraqi homes. We have seen huge investments from the GCC and oth-er Arab states in Iraqi reconstruction, infrastructure and the private sector. Donald Trump’s administration has, meanwhile, been seeking Russian sup-port in curbing Iran’s regional influence.

In May, the vast majority of Iraqis voted for political parties opposed to Tehran’s agenda. Now we get to see whether Iraq and Lebanon’s politicians have the foresight to listen to voters and open their nations to the international community — or bow to Tehran and em-brace dysfunctional, theocratic isolation.

(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 interviewed numerous

heads of state.)


Iran is not a dominant global player, despite how it is often portrayed. It is a second-rate regional pariah in terminal decline

With unity, we can overcome any crisis Kerala will take some time to come out of

the crisis triggered by floods and land-slides. Nearly 400 people have died and

the state administration is still having a tough time to deal with accumulated losses including the vast destruction of infrastructure. But what strikes me most is the unity shown by people and the support received by the community from outside. Help poured in from neighboring states including Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kar-nataka. Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar also offered

help the state and its people. The small state with 44 rivers is known for its scenic beauty. But know we have realized the dangers when these rivers take their ferocious forms. We can’t take a myopic view on the human invasion on nature, which is seen as one of the reasons behind such natural calamities. What we needed is a reconciliation and efforts to restore the environment in its place, while moving ahead with recovery efforts.

Ramshankar Parameshwaran

1911The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincenzo Perugia, a Louvre employee.

1945Physicist Harry Daghlian is fatally irradiated in a criticality accident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

1991Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.

2017A solar eclipse traverses the continental United States.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY


TOP

4TWEETS

04

02

03

01

76 years ago, nearly 5,000 Canadian sol-

diers stormed the beach-es of Dieppe – more than 3,300 were killed, wounded, or taken pris-oner. Today, we remem-ber them and honour their courage & sacrifice. #LestWeForget

@JustinTrudeau

The work done by #Kerala fisherman in

saving lakhs of lives from flood hit areas is high-ly commendable. They took up the work of res-cuing people, given their knowledge of local water bodies, without caring for their own lives. #Ker-alaFloodRelief

@ashokgehlot51

Look at the ultimate adaucity of The terror-

ists who made an attempt on Umar Khalid’s life . They have boasted about it in a video on WhatsApp. Gave an appointment to the police n did’nt turn up . So far, even after six days , police has done just nothing . Why ?

@Javedakhtarjadu

“Let’s face it: Most children are more

aware of the benefits and pitfalls of social media than some adults but we still need to do all we can to provide them with in-formation and tools for successful and safe online habits,” Melania Trump says at cyber-bullying prevention summit.

@JenniferJJacobs

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

editorial stances)

GAYATRI CHAKRAVORTY

On August 5, Shahidul Alam, the acclaimed Bangladeshi photojour-

nalist, was dragged from his home by around 30 plainclothes policemen and taken into custo-dy. The policemen forced their way into Alam’s apartment building at 10:30 pm, snatched the cellphones of the building’s security guards and destroyed its video surveillance cameras.

Yet someone managed to record the moment via a cell-phone video. Alam can be heard screaming. “I am innocent,” he says, repeatedly. And, “I want a lawyer.” It was horrifying to watch Alam, whom I know as an amiable, self-effacing, bril-liant man, scream in the video. Thus does terror enter our daily lives these days.

Alam’s work over the decades has captured some of the most important political and ecologi-cal questions in Bangladesh and the region around it. A friend remembers waking up to the tragedy of the Rohingya peo-ple from Myanmar after seeing an exhibition of Alam’s pho-tographs in New York. I first encountered his work after a cyclone in Bangladesh in 1991. I was involved in the relief effort and visited the affected area after the storm. Alam’s photo-graphs captured the reality of my experience. Befittingly, in 2014, Alam was awarded the

Shilpakala Padak, one of the highest honors for artists in the country, by the president of Bangladesh.

The trigger for Alam’s arrest was an interview he did with Al-Jazeera, in which he spoke critically of the brutal repres-sion of student demonstrations in Dhaka by the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasi-na. He also spoke about official corruption, years of misrule, the suppression of dissent and extrajudicial killings and dis-appearances under the watch of Hasina’s governing Awa-mi League. Paradoxically, the imprisonment of Alam only proved his point.

After a speeding bus killed two students in Dhaka in late July, thousands of students — including schoolchildren — protested in the streets. As the protests intensified into a general outcry against the gov-ernment, the government re-sponded by unleashing mobs of the Awami League party faithful to attack the student protesters. Researchers from Human Rights Watch spoke to several eyewitnesses who described how the protesters were attacked by members of Bangladesh Chhatra League and Awami Jubo League, the student wing and the youth wing of the Awami League.

Alam was among the journal-ists who witnessed the Awami League faithful attacking stu-dent protesters while the police stood by. He photographed the protests and the repression.

The celebrated photojour-nalist wasn’t the only person arrested. Numerous student protesters were also arrested

and were tortured in police custody.

General elections in Bang-ladesh are expected between October and December. It is the obligation of artists and intellectuals to be construc-tively critical of their country of citizenship. Hasina’s gov-ernment must be deeply afraid of a credible, respected person like Alam, whose criticisms are taken seriously, both national-ly and globally. His arrest and imprisonment is an attempt to silence critical voices.

Hasina’s government is not stopping with his arrest. It is trying to find ways of defaming him and tarnishing his repu-tation. Alam’s partner, Rahnu-ma Ahmed, an anthropologist, visited him in prison and was startled to realize their meeting was being secretly videotaped by the prison authorities.

“Friends in the electronic media tell me they have been instructed by the agencies to produce ‘dirty stories’ on Sha-hidul, there is even talk of con-structing him as a pedophile

— pathetic given his love for children known to everyone,” Ahmed said in an email.

This is not surprising, given the bleak drift toward authori-tarianism in Bangladesh in the past few years. As reported by Human Rights Watch and nu-merous journalists, hundreds of Bangladeshis have been picked up by law enforcement agencies and have disappeared for weeks or months at a time. The where-abouts of many of them remains unknown. In the name of a war on drugs, hundreds have been killed by extrajudicial means.

Two days after Alam’s arrest, he was produced in a Dhaka court and charged under Sec-tion 57 of Bangladesh’s infa-mous Information and Com-munication Technology Act, for online speech that “hurts the image of the nation.” He was barefoot and limping when he was dragged into court. Wit-nesses said Alam showed clear signs of mental and physical abuse. He shouted: “I have been assaulted. My bloodstained shirt was washed and put back on me. I was threatened that if I didn’t testify as they directed, I would be further ... “ Then his voice trailed off and the rest of what he said was unclear.

The court allowed the police to keep Alam in custody for a week and also allowed brief visits to a hospital for medical treatment. On Aug. 12, Alam was produced in court again and sent to jail until the inves-tigations into charges against him are completed. If convict-ed, he faces up to 14 years in prison.

The feeling among Bangla-deshis is that the judiciary has

stopped working and the po-lice do not protect. There is no academic freedom, so the uni-versities can play no role in the development and restoration of constitutionality. Sexual vio-lence is rampant. The electoral process is steeped in coercive violence. A culture of fear has enveloped the country.

It is impossible for Alam to get a fair trial in Bangladesh. Hasina’s son has accused Alam of inciting violence.

“Because of his false posts and allegations, students be-came enraged and attacked the police and our party office,” Hasina’s son wrote on social media. “Many policemen and several of our activists were injured. One of them, Arafatul Islam Bappy even lost his eye-sight and is now permanently crippled.”

This is bound to have a neg-ative effect on how the police and the courts treat Alam.

Apart from massive violations of Alam’s rights, a breakdown of social justice looms over Bangladesh. The prosecution of peaceful protesters demon-strates that Hasina’s govern-ment understands justice only as revenge.

The arrest, abuse and incar-ceration of Alam brutalizes his person and attacks the right to a free press and the promise of social justice. Bangladesh must immediately release him and the arrested student protesters from prison and drop the charg-es against them.

(Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is a professor and the founder of the Insti-

tute for Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia University.)

Who Is Afraid of Shahidul Alam?

As reported by Human Rights Watch and

numerous journalists, hundreds of Bangladeshis

have been picked up by law enforcement agencies and have disappeared for

weeks or months at a time. The whereabouts of many of them remains unknown.

The imprisonment

of Bangladesh’s most respected photojournalist

illustrates the country’s drift towards

autocracy

12

world


At least 14 killed in Rio security operationsRio de Janeiro, Brazil

Rio de Janeiro’s drug war hit a bloody crescendo

Monday when at least 14 people were reported killed in a huge operation by sol-diers in impoverished fave-las and during a rush-hour police car chase.

The military command heading security in Brazil’s second biggest city said eight people died in the sweep of favelas “and there could be more.”

The military command said 4,200 soldiers, backed by armored vehicles and aircraft, entered the Penha neighborhood and the Ale-mao and Mare favela com-plexes -- poor, densely pop-ulated swaths of city in large part run by heavily armed drug traffickers.

Only 70 police officers were said to be involved, suggesting a turnaround from previous operations into the dangerous favelas where police have taken the lead and soldiers provided backup.

According to the Rio po-lice force, 948 pounds (430 kg) of drugs were seized in the Mare.

Malaysia hunt for missing radioactive materialKuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Malaysian police are hunting for an indus-

trial device containing radi-oactive material that went missing from the back of a pick-up truck earlier this month, reports and an offi-cial said Monday.

The radiography device disappeared on August 10 as it was transported out-side the capital Kuala Lum-pur, the New Straits Times newspaper reported.

Authorities fear the de-vice, which contains the radioactive isotope iridi-um-192 and, could fall into the hands of militants and be used to make a dirty bomb, the paper said.

Deputy Home Minister Azis Jamman confirmed the incident had taken place but insisted “everything is un-der control”.

The company that owned the device -- which weighed 23 kilograms (50 pounds), and consisted of a large metal tube with a handle on top -- reportedly used it to detect cracks in metal as part of inspection protocols in the energy, power and transportation sectors.

It was lost as it was trans-ported to the company’s of-fice from the town of Ser-emban.

Police initially detained two technicians who had been transporting the de-vice, and reported it miss-ing, reports said. However they were later released.

Woman survives 10 hours after falling off cruise shipAFP | Zagreb, Croatia

A British tourist who fell off a cruise ship near Croatia has

been rescued and is safe after spending a full night in the Adri-atic Sea, officials said Monday.

“I was in the water for 10 hours, so these wonderful guys rescued me,” the woman, ap-pearing in good health, told Cro-atia’s National Television (HRT) after her rescue on Sunday.

“I am very lucky to be alive.”The tourist, who said she “fell

of the back” of the Norwegian Star cruise ship, was found by

Croatia’s Coast Guard on Sunday around 1.3 kilometres (0.8 miles) from where she went overboard, a defence ministry spokesman told AFP.

The rescuers used the wind and sea currents to pinpoint her location, he added.

“We saved a human life, it is a feeling that cannot compare to anything,” the rescue ship’s captain Lovro Oreskovic said in a statement on the ministry’s website.

Norwegian Cruise Line de-clined to comment on how the passenger went overboard.

“The guest was found alive, is currently in stable condition, and has been taken ashore in Croatia for further treatment,” the company said in a statement to AFP.

“We are very happy that the individual, who is a UK resident, is now safe and will soon be re-united with friends and family.”

The incident took place while the Norwegian Star was on its way to Venice, the cruise com-pany said. Tourism accounts for 20 per cent of Croatia’s gross do-mestic product, drawing some 18 million visitors each year.

British tourist Kay Longstaff speaks to the press upon her arrival in Pula with the Croatia’s coast guard ship,

SMILE

The tourist, who said she “fell of the

back” of the Nor-wegian Star cruise

ship, was found by Croatia’s Coast

Guard

Calamity of a lifetime Floods give way as to stench and uncertainty in Kerala

• Rescue operation almost complete

• Efforts towards rehabilitation begins

• Kerala CM praised fishermen for joining the rescue mission

• Worst hit areas are Thrissur and Chengannur

• Floods have caused an estimated $3 billion in damage

AFP | Aluva, India

Floodwaters receded in Kerala yesterday, leav-ing Indian rescuers the

grim task of retrieving bodies as the death toll from the worst monsoon rains in a century rose above 400.

With nearly three quarters of a million people packed into re-lief camps in the southern state, known for its tourist beaches and hill resorts, authorities also fear outbreaks of disease.

After more than a week of fierce downpours, rainfall eased Monday and flood levels fell in some districts. Army helicop-ters and boats kept up missions to find trapped survivors and

drop food and water in isolated villages.

Officials said 22,000 people were rescued on Sunday. At least 30 bodies were also found taking the death toll above 200 since the torrential rain started fall-ing on August 8 and more than 400 since the monsoon started in June.

At least 1,000 were feared stranded in five villages around Chengannur, one of the districts worst hit by the deluge.

An Indian Navy team made a temporary rope bridge across a stream in Thrissur district on Sunday to rescue 100 people stranded for days.

Commercial flight operations to Kochi, the state’s main city, resumed Monday after the navy opened its airstrips for small passenger aircraft. The city’s international airport has been ordered shut until Sunday.

The floods have left wide-spread desolation in the city.

Mumthaz fled her home in the Malikapeedika district of Kochi with her daughters aged 13 and nine last Thursday.

She went to her husband’s parents in another neighbour-hood but within a few hours even that was also flooded and they had to be rescued and taken to a relief camp.

Hunt for missing“It was surreal. The water was close to the knees at one point and within a few minutes it was touching five feet with a cur-rent so strong that we saw big cars floating like tin cans,” said Mumthaz, who has only one name.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the priority now

was to provide clean drinking water and restore power sup-plies to the state of 33 million people.

“The total number of people taking refuge at the 5,645 relief camps has risen to 724,649,” Vi-jayan told reporters Sunday.

He said health officers would be deployed in each village to check the spread of communi-cable diseases.

Thousands of army, navy and air force personnel have fanned out to help those stranded in remote and hilly areas. Doz-ens of helicopters have been dropping tonnes of food, med-icine and water over areas cut off due to damaged roads and bridges.

In worst hit areas such as Thrissur and Chengannur, res-cuers are searching inundated houses where they have found the bodies of those trapped by the fast rising floodwaters.

“They didn’t think that it would rise this high -- 10 to 15 feet (3-4.5 metres) at some plac-es -- when the initial warnings were issued,” said Ashraf Ali K.M, who is leading the search in the small town of Mala in Thrissur.

Fishermen have sailed inland from Kerala’s coast to join the search, as volunteers set up soup kitchens and an international appeal was made for financial help.

Vijayan praised the fishermen for joining the rescue mission.

The state government said each boat would get 3,000 ru-pees ($43) for each day of their work and that authorities would pay for any damage to them.

The floods have caused an estimated $3 billion in damage but the bill is likely to rise as the scale of devastation becomes clearer.

An Indian Navy team made a temporary rope bridge across a stream in Thrissur district on Sunday to rescue 100 people stranded for

days

400people have died since

heavy rain hit Kerala. Toll is feared to rise

People are airlifted by Indian Navy soldiers

A woman cries as she holds her son after they were evacuated from a flooded area in Aluva


I will fight the corrupt. Either this country will survive

or the corrupt people IMRAN KHAN

Afghanistan awaits response to truce offerKabul, Afghanistan

Afghanistan was yester-day awaiting the Tali-

ban’s response to President Ashraf Ghani’s proposal for a three-month ceasefire, an offer welcomed by the United States and NATO af-ter nearly 17 years of war.

Ghani unveiled the offer during an Independence Day address late Sunday, saying police and troops would observe the truce from this week -- but only if the militants reciprocated.

The move followed an ex-traordinarily violent week in Afghanistan that saw the Taliban storm the provincial capital of Ghazni -- just a two-hour drive from Kabul -- and press the fight against security forces across the country, with estimates sug-gesting hundreds of people may have been killed.

It also came just hours af-ter an airstrike against a Tal-iban convoy killed around 100 militant fighters.

Terror suspect in court over UK ‘attack’London, United Kingdom

A terror suspect accused of crashing his car into

the security barriers sur-rounding Britain’s Houses of Parliament appeared in court Monday charged with attempted murder.

Sudanese-born British national Salih Khater is accused of driving into a group of cyclists and then police officers last Tuesday.

He appeared at Westmin-ster Magistrates Court in London yesteday where he was remanded in custody following a seven-minute hearing. The 29-year-old is charged with two counts of attempted murder of mem-bers of the public and of po-lice officers.

Multiple quakes rock Lombok

Mataram, Indonesia

At least 10 people are dead after a string of

powerful quakes rocked the Indonesian holiday island of Lombok, authorities said yesterday.

The latest quakes struck Sunday, with the first measuring 6.3 shortly be-fore midday. It triggered landslides and sent people fleeing for cover as parts of Lombok suffered blackouts.

It was followed nearly 12 hours later by a 6.9-magni-tude quake and a string of powerful aftershocks.

The picturesque island next to holiday hotspot Bali was already reeling from two deadly quakes on July 29 and August 5 that killed nearly 500 people.

Ten people were killed in the strong quake Sunday evening, mostly by falling debris, including six people on the neighbouring island of Sumbawa, according to the national disaster agency.

Imran Khan vows change • Vows to improve Pakistan’s relationship with neighbouring countries

• Retains interior ministry portfolio for himself

• Announces austerity drive including turning residence into a university

AFP | Islamabad, Pakistan

Imran Khan made his first speech as Pakistan’s prime minister late Sunday, giving

a wide-ranging, televised ad-dress in which he announced reforms targeting corruption and focusing on human devel-opment in the rapidly growing country.

Khan addressed the nation for more than an hour, repeating many of his campaign pledges to build an Islamic welfare state but also touching on issues rare-ly mentioned by Pakistani prime ministers such as fighting child sex abuse and climate change.

Without naming names, he vowed to improve Pakistan’s relationship with neighbouring countries, and to improve secu-rity in restive Balochistan prov-ince and the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.

“We want peace, because Pa-kistan cannot prosper until the peace is restored,” he said.

Khan said he has retained the interior ministry portfolio for himself as he personally over-sees steps against money laun-dering and graft.

The former cricketer also an-

nounced an austerity drive to trim back the trappings of gov-ernment, such as selling most

of the vehicles allotted to the prime minister, cutting down on staff and turning the official residence into a university.

“I will fight the corrupt. Ei-ther this country will survive or the corrupt people,” he said.

Khan called for a progressive tax system, vowing to spend the money on the neediest -- such as malnourished children, and justice for victims of abuse -- and on fighting climate change.

Few in Pakistan pay their taxes currently, and he did not

explain how he would enforce more taxation, especially on the rich.

He and his cabinet face a myr-iad of challenges including a faltering economy, militant ex-tremism, water shortages, and a rapidly growing population ne-gating growth in the developing country, among others.

The most pressing is a loom-ing balance-of-payments crisis, with analysts predicting Paki-

stan will have to go to the In-ternational Monetary Fund for a bailout.

Khan did not confirm if his government would ask for the loan, but stated: “We have to stand up on our own feet... By going with a begging bowl, no nation becomes great.”

His finance minister Asad Umar has said they will decide by September if they will go to the IMF.

Pakistan’s cricketer-turned politician and head of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) party Imran Khan, taking the oath as a Member of Parliament during the first session of the Parliament in Islamabad following general election

Pakistan FM calls for dialogue with IndiaIslamabad, Pakistan

Pakistan wants an “unin-terrupted, continued di-

alogue” with India, its new foreign minister said yester-day, stressing the importance of talks between the nucle-ar-armed countries who have fought three wars.

“We are not only two neigh-bours but we are two atom-ic powers,” Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who became Paki-stan’s foreign minister for the second time after being sworn in Monday, told his first press conference.

Pakistan’s new Prime Minis-ter Imran Khan also called for a better relationship with India in his first televised address late Sunday, as did the previous government of Nawaz Sharif.

“We have long-lasting prob-lems... we don’t have, in my opinion, any solution other than talks,” Qureshi said of the relationship with India, especially in a situation “where reaction time is very limited”.

Qureshi said Indian Prime

Minister Narendra Modi had sent a letter congratulating Khan, and “sent a message to start talks”.

There was no official state-ment on the letter from the Indian foreign ministry, but the Press Trust of India also reported its existence and con-tent.

The new foreign minister also said he wanted to travel to Afghanistan to deliver a “mes-sage of love, friendship and a new beginning”.

“Without peace and stabili-ty in Afghanistan, there won’t be rest, peace and stability in Pakistan,” he said. Qureshi previously held the position of foreign minister between 2008 and 2011.

Malaysia makes record $12 mn rhino horn seizureKuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Malaysia has made a record seizure of 50 rhino horns

worth an estimated $12 million at Kuala Lumpur airport as they were being flown to Vietnam, authorities said yesterday.

Customs officials found the parts in cardboard boxes on Au-gust 13 in the cargo terminal of the capital’s airport, said Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim, head of Ma-laysia’s wildlife department.

The 50 rhino horns weighed 116 kilogrammes (256 pounds) and are worth about 50 million ringgit ($12 million), he told AFP, adding that the seizure was “the

biggest ever in (Malaysia’s) his-tory in terms of the number of horns and value”.

Vietnam is a hot market for rhino horn, which is believed to have medicinal properties

and is in high demand among the communist nation’s growing middle class.

Trade in rhino horn was banned globally in 1977 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), but illegal hunters have deci-mated rhino populations to sate rampant demand in East Asia.

A single kilo of rhino horn can fetch tens of thousands of dol-lars in the region, where many falsely believe it can cure cancer.

All rhino species are under threat of extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Abdul Kadir said authorities were unable to identify the or-igin of the animal parts. Rhi-no horn sent to Asia typically comes from Africa.

Officials also found a huge stash of animal bones -- believed to be from tigers and leopards -- in the same shipment, with an estimated value of 500,000 ringgit.

Authorities have not made any arrests over the seizures.

Elizabeth John, from wild-life trade watchdog Traffic, de-scribed the rhino horn seizure as “staggering” and urged author-ities to track down the people behind the smuggling attempt.

Malaysian Wildlife Enforcement division Director Salman Bin Haji Saaban displays seized rhino horns and other animal parts at the Department of Wildlife and National Parks headquarters in Kuala Lumpur o

US rejects Turkey’s offer to release pastor: reportWashington, United States

President Donald Trump’s administration has reject-

ed Turkey’s offer to condition the release of an American pastor on clearing a top Turk-ish bank of billions of dollars in US fines, media reported.

Washington and Ankara are locked in a bitter feud over the nearly two-year jailing of An-drew Brunson over disputed terror charges. In exchange

for Brunson’s release, and that of other US citizens as well as three Turkish nationals work-ing for the US government, Turkey asked Washington to drop a probe into Halkbank, which is facing possible fines for helping Iran evade US sanc-tions. But the US said that dis-cussions regarding the fines and other areas of dispute be-tween the two countries were off the table until Brunson was released.

Anthrax scare hits France103 people had come into contact with infected animals

AFP | Gap, France

More than 50 cows, sheep and horses have died in

France’s most serious outbreak of anthrax in two decades, ac-cording to officials who have warned of a vaccine shortage.

Authorities in the mountain-ous Hautes-Alpes region of southeastern France said the infection, which can spread

to humans and is deadly in its rarest forms, had spread to 28 farms since June.

Anthrax is transmitted by spores that can stay inactive in the ground for decades, in-cluding in the bodies of dead animals.

French vets have been bat-tling to contain the outbreak because the Spanish labora-tory which produces the vac-cines has been closed through-out August for the summer vacation.

Representative picture

Shah Mehmood Qureshi

14

features


Day of repentanceProphet Mohammed delivered his final sermon on Mount Arafat, where pilgrims gather every

year from across the globe to atone for their sins

Mount Arafat | Saudi Arabia

Muslim pilgrims ascended Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia yesterday for the climax of the an-nual hajj which brings

together more than two million people from around the world.

Carrying brightly coloured umbrellas under the blazing sun, a sea of worship-pers scaled the rocky hill southeast of the holy city of Mecca for a day of prayers and repentance.

Arms raised, pilgrims repeated “There is no God but Allah” and “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).

“The feeling is indescribable,” said Umm Ahmad, 61, who made the trip from Egypt.

Some of the pilgrims -- men in white seamless garments and women in loose dresses -- pushed elderly relatives in wheelchairs on the second day of the hajj, one of the world’s largest annual gatherings.

Muslims believe Prophet Mohammed delivered his final sermon on Mount

Arafat, where pilgrims gather every year from across the globe to atone for their sins.

“It feels great,” said 37-year-old Paki-stani Jai Saleem.

“I have always seen this area, since my childhood, in photographs and on televi-sion,” he said, adding that he cried when

he and his wife arrived on Mount Arafat.

‘Closer to Allah’Workers were hurriedly picking up emp-ty water bottles near a yellow sign that read “Arafat starts here” in both English and Arabic.

“We know that it’s a difficult task,” said Amna Khan, a 35-year-old American Muslim pilgrim.

“That’s why we are all here. We’re doing this to get closer to Allah, to be absolved.”

A sea of worshippers scaled the rocky hill southeast of the holy city of Mecca for a day of prayers and reflection where Muslims believe Prophet Mohammed delivered his final sermon.

Some of the pilgrims -- men in white seamless garments and women in loose dresses -- pushed elderly relatives in wheelchairs on the second day of the hajj, one of the world’s largest annual gath-erings.

A hot wind blew across the hill, also known as Jabal al-Rahma (Mount of Mercy), and the surrounding plain after a downpour late Sunday. Many faithful

could be seen sipping from bottles of water.

“I knew it would be a little hard to climb Mount Arafat,” said Nigerian pil-grim Saidou Boureima.

“So I prepared for this challenge by working out. And God willing, we can see it through.”

After sunset, the pilgrims will leave for nearby Muzdalifah where they will gather pebbles to perform the symbolic “stoning of the devil”.

The ritual begins in earnest on Tues-day as Muslims observe the first day of Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice, which marks the end of the hajj.

Muslims traditionally slaughter sheep for the three-day Eid al-Adha, a tribute to the prophet Abraham’s sacrifice of a lamb after God spared Ishmael, his son.

They will consume some of the meat and give the rest to poor people unable to buy food.

The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam which every Muslim is required to complete at least once in their lifetime if they are healthy enough and have the means to do so.

Pilgrims scale Mount Arafat for peak of hajj

Muslim pilgrims gather on Mount Arafat, also known as Jabal al-Rahma (Mount of Mercy), southeast of the Saudi holy city of Mecca, on Arafat Day

The hajj in

numbersMore than two mil-

lion pilgrims are taking part this year, ac-cording to official fig-ures, compared to 1.86 million in 2016 and just 24,000 in 1941.

Some 18,000 civil defence employees,

among tens of thousands of security personnel, are helping safeguard pilgrims, officials say. Additionally, thousands of security cameras have been set up along the pilgrimage route.

Twenty-five hospi-tals backed by 180

ambulances and more than 30,000 health practitioners have been mobilised to provide emergency services to pilgrims, according to the hajj ministry.

Tens of thousands of air-conditioned

tents have been set up to house pilgrims.

Around 14,000 in-ternat ional and

domestic flights have so far transported pil-grims, according to of-ficial figures. Around 21,000 buses have also been used.

Around 16,000 tel-ecommunication

towers and 3,000 WiFi access points have been set up to serve pilgrims, the hajj ministry says.

Eight million copies of the holy Koran and

their translations as well as other religious books will be handed out to pilgrims, official figures show.

Saudi Arabia hopes to welcome 30 million

pilgrims annually in the kingdom by 2030. Mus-lims also flock to the country for the umra pilgrimage, which can be performed at any time of the year.

Around 54 million pilgrims have at-

tended the hajj over the past 25 years, according to official figures.

KNOW WHAT

After sunset, the pilgrims will leave for

nearby Muzdalifah where they will gather pebbles to perform the

symbolic “stoning of the devil”

15

entertainment


C R O S S W O R D

S U D O K U

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION

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

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

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

AriesIf certain projects or tasks have seemed difficult for you to finish, today’s energy will give you the zip you need. The energy indicates that things will go well for you once you get started. It’s a good time to meet with others to discuss business or other arrangements.

TaurusYou might feel more energetic than you have in a long time. A powerful energy that increases your mental acuity and physical strength can really help you finish anything that’s pending. If you managed to accomplish so much already that you have time to spare, it’s fine to help others with their load.

GeminiIf there’s something you’ve wanted to take on, today’s the day. There’s an increase in your physical and men-tal strength. Dispose of any insecurity or lack of con-fidence and take the steps to tackle a project or goal. You have an innate ability to make sound judgments and this is what you need to trust.

CancerIf you’ve been feeling sluggish lately, this will be a welcome day for you. You’ll feel a surge in energy that greatly increases your creativity and physical strength. Seize the opportunity to be outside for sports or a walk. Such things will direct your energy and give your mind a chance to clear.

LeoIf there’s something interesting that you’ve wanted to try, this is a great day for it. Adventure brings excite-ment, creative flow, and energy, which are essential to you. You’re highly artistic. Continual stimulation is required to keep your psyche healthy. Experience something new today, even if it’s a walk in a new place. You’ll get the adrenaline you need.

VirgoWith today’s energy, you can take steps toward getting things in order. Tackle desk drawers, closets, storage rooms, or filing cabinets. When you create order, you gain a sense of peace and personal control. Mental organization, such as goal planning, brainstorming, or scheduling, will add to this, too.

LibraToday’s energy can have you feeling ready for any-thing. Given your more radical approach, you may need to keep in check. Humanitarianism is part of your being, so if the pursuit of something you want hurts others, it would be a serious contradiction.

ScorpioToday might be a good day to take a second shot at something that didn’t work out the first time. Falling flat on your face can damage your self-esteem and confidence, but such things are part of life, and they really do add character.

SagittariusYour ability to find innovative approaches to things may serve you well today. Strong energy and mental acuity continue today, and you’ll find that most things come easily. When approaching projects, take extra time to consider possibilities. Try seeing things from every angle.

CapricornIf long-overdue work has piled up, today is the day to dig in. This is especially so for things you weren’t able to handle yesterday. Fortunately, you have added strength and mental acuity. Things will go smoothly. Make the most of this energy by not putting off an-ything. The pile will just grow if you procrastinate.

AquariusDon’t worry about being productive today. You might still accomplish more than you have in a long time. The cosmic energy indicates that if you didn’t get everything done that you wanted to yesterday, you’re sure to do it today. Dig in your heels and go. Things will get done with time to spare.

PiscesExpect an added boost of physical energy today. It’s an excellent day to clean out closets. Exercise like yoga or walking will be most enjoyable. It could also prove to be well worth your while to look at your goals. Are you where you want to be at this stage of your life or are there changes that need to be made?

W O R D O F T H E D A Y

SatietyDefinition:1 : the quality or state of being fed or grati-fied to or beyond capacity : surfeit, fullness2 : the revulsion or disgust caused by over-indulgence or excess

Did You Know?You may have accurately guessed that sati-ety is related to satisfy, satiate (meaning “to satisfy fully or to excess”), and sate (which means “to glut” or “to satisfy to the full”). Satiety, along with the others, ultimately comes from the Latin word satis, which

means “enough.” English speakers appar-ently couldn’t get enough of satis- derived words in the 15th and 16th centuries, when all of these words entered the language. Satiety itself was borrowed into English in the mid-1500s from the Middle French word satieté of the same meaning.

Across

1- Mother of Hermes; 5- Bloody conflicts; 9- Emerald City prin-cess; 13- “Splendor in the Grass” screenwriter; 14- Chick of jazz; 15- Chamber; 16- Good-for-nothing; 18- “The Time Machine” people; 19- Keep under restraint; 20- Region bordering a sea-coast; 22- List of candidates; 23- Words of denial; 24- Markka replacement; 26- Large lizard; 31- Having four sharps; 34- Small batteries; 37- Wait ___ Dark; 38- In spite of; 42- Madame de ___; 43- He ran from Iran; 44- Leaves in a bag; 45- Semihard light yellow cheese; 47- Shakespearean villain; 50- According to;

53- In search of; 57- Caribou; 61- Small pellet; 62- Injectable diazepam, in military lingo; 63- Capable of being terminated; 65- ___ all-time high; 66- Rock; 67- Mai ___; 68- Capital of Yemen; 69- Eliel Saarinen’s son; 70- Waiting for the Robert ___;

Down1- Tends; 2- Slippery as ___; 3- ___ Kick Out of You; 4- Add fizz; 5- Exclamation of surprise; 6- You ___ right!; 7- Sublease; 8- Italian sausage; 9- Nabisco treat; 10- “J’accuse” author; 11- Heath; 12- In the middle of; 14- Jailbird; 17- Mon ___!; 21- Started; 23- ___ Ark; 25- Urban scourge; 27- Sturm ___ Drang; 28- Squabbling; 29- Baseball team; 30- Pond organism; 31- Technical sch.; 32- Denier’s words; 33- And others: Abbr.; 35- Blond shade; 36- Flight of steps; 39- Bent-ley of “American Beauty”; 40- Troy story; 41- I get it!; 46- Deadly fly; 48- Profit; 49- Recently; 51- Golfer Calvin; 52- Diamond flaw?; 54- Like ziti; 55- “Dallas” matriarch; 56- Actress Witherspoon; 57- Some TV’s; 58- I could ___ horse!; 59- ___ instant; 60- Granny; 61- Filled pastry crust; 64- 6, on a phone;

Claire Holt announces second marriageIANS | Los Angeles

“The Vampire Diaries” actress Claire Holt has

married beau Andrew Joblin, a real estate executive.

Holt, 30, took to her Ins-tagram page on Monday and shared the news of her wedding among her followers, reports dailymail.co.uk.

She posted a picture of her-self with Joblin from the wed-ding day. They posed alongside a dog. It was captioned with the wedding date “8.18.18”.

Holt confirmed her rela-

tionship with Joblin in July last year by sharing a photo-graph from their holiday in Italy.

This is the actress’ second wedding. She was previously married to film producer Mat-thew Kaplan.

16 TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2018

8.18.18Claire Holt posted a picture of herself with Joblin from the wedding day

captioned “8.18.18”

MILE 22 (15+) (ACTION/THRILLER) NEW

MARK WAHLBERG, LAUREN COHAN, IKO UWAIS

CINECO (20)(IMAX 2D): 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PM + (1.00 AM UPTO SAT) (VIP I): 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT) (ATMOS): 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM + (2.00 AM UPTO SAT) 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM + (2.00 AM UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 11.00 AM + 12.00 + 1.15 + 2.15 + 3.30 + 4.30 + 5.45 + 6.45 + 8.00 + 9.00 + 10.15 + 11.15 PM + (12.30 MN + 1.30 AM UPTO SAT)SAAR 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PM + (1.00 AM UPTO SAT)WADI AL SAIL 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM + (1.45 AM UPTO SAT)

EL BADLAH (PG-13) (ARABIC/COMEDY) NEW

TAMER HOSNY, AKRAM HOSNI, MAJED EL MASRY, AMINA KHALIL

CINECO (20)12.30 + 2.30 + 4.30 + 6.30 + 8.30 + 10.30 PM + (12.30 MN + 2.30 AM UPTO SAT)SEEF (I) 12.00 + 2.00 + 4.00 + 6.00 + 8.00 + 10.00 PM + 12.00 MN + (2.00 AM UPTO SAT)SAAR 10.45 AM + 12.45 + 2.45 + 4.45 + 6.45 + 8.45 + 10.45 PM + (12.45 MN UPTO SAT)WADI AL SAIL 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 + 5.30 + 7.30 + 9.30 + 11.30 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT)

THE DARKEST MINDS (PG-13) (THRILLER/SCI-FICTION) NEW

AMANDLA STENBERG, MANDY MOORE, BRADLEY WHITFORD

CINECO (20) 11.15 AM + 1.30 + 3.45 + 6.00 + 8.15 + 10.30 PM + (12.45 MN UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM + (1.45 AM UPTO SAT)SAAR 5.30 + 7.45 + 10.00 PM + (12.15 MN UPTO SAT)WADI AL SAIL 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PM + (1.00 AM UPTO SAT)

PAPILLION (15+) (THRILLER/DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY) NEW

CHARLIE HUNNAM, RAMI MALEK

CINECO (20) 11.00 AM + 1.45 + 4.30 + 7.15 + 10.00 PM + (12.45 MN UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 7.45 + 10.30 PM + (1.15 AM UPTO SAT)WADI AL SAIL 3.30 + 9.15 PM

CHARMING (PG-13) (ANIMATION/COMEDY) NEW

DEMI LOVATO, WILMER VALDERRAMA, SIA

CINECO (20) 11.00 AM + 1.00 + 3.00 + 5.00 + 7.00 + 9.00 + 11.00 PM + (1.00 AM UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 10.45 AM + 12.45 + 2.45 + 4.45 + 6.45 + 8.45 PM SAAR 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 PMWADI AL SAIL 12.15 + 2.15 + 4.15 PM

FROM A HOUSE ON WILLOW STREET (15+) (THRILLER/HORROR) NEW

CARLYN BURCHELL, SHARNI VINSON, GUSTAV GERDENER

CINECO (20) 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 5.00 + 9.30 PM + (2.00 AM UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 5.30 + 7.30 + 9.30 + 11.30 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT)

THE MEG (PG-15) (ACTION/THRILLER)

JASON STATHAM, RUBY ROSE, BINGBING LI

CINECO (20) 10.45 AM + 12.15 + 1.15 + 2.45 + 3.45 + 5.15 + 6.15 + 7.45 + 8.45 + 10.15 + 11.15 PM + (12.45 MN + 1.45 AM UPTO SAT)SEEF (I) 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM + (2.15 AM UPTO SAT)WADI AL SAIL 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT)

THE EQUALIZER- 2 (15+) (ACTION/CRIME/THRILLER)

DENZEL WASHINGTON, PEDRO PASCAL, ASHTON SANDERS

CINECO (20) 12.45 + 3.15 + 5.45 + 8.15 + 10.45 PM + (1.15 AM UPTO SAT) (VIP II): 11.45 AM + 2.15 + 4.45 + 7.15 + 9.45 PM + (12.15 MN UPTO SAT)SEEF (I) 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT)SAAR 12.00 + 2.30 + 5.00 + 7.30 + 10.00 PM + (12.30 MN UPTO SAT)WADI AL SAIL 2.45 + 3.15 + 5.45 + 8.15 + 10.45 PM + (1.15 AM UPTO SAT)

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

TOM CRUISE, HENRY CAVILL, VING RHAMES

CINECO (20) 10.30 AM + 1.30 + 4.30 + 7.30 + 10.30 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 12.30 + 3.30 + 6.30 + 9.30 PM + (12.30 MN UPTO SAT)WADI AL SAIL 12.30 + 6.15 PM + 12.00 MN

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

DWAYNE JOHNSON, NEVE CAMPBELL, PABLO SCHREIBER

CINECO (20) 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00+ 9.15 + 11.30 PM + (1.45 AM UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PM + (1.15 AM UPTO SAT)

CHRISTOPHER ROBIN (PG) (FAMILY/ADVENTURE/COMEDY)

EWAN MCGREFOR, HAYLEY ATWELL, BRONTE CARMICHAEL

CINECO (20) 10.45 AM + 1.00 + 3.15 + 5.30 + 7.45 + 10.00 PM + (12.15 MN UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 10.45 AM + 1.00 + 3.15 + 5.30 PM

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

ADAM SANDLER, ANDY SAMBERG, FRAN DRESCHER

CINECO (20) 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 + 5.30 + 7.30 + 9.30 + 11.30 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 2.30 + 6.45 + 11.00 PM

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

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

CINECO (20) 1.15 + 6.00 + 10.45 PM

OCEAN’S EIGHT (PG-15) (COMEDY/CRIME)

SANDRA BULLOCK, CATE BLANCHETT, ANNE HATHAWAY

CINECO (20) 11.00 AM + 3.45 + 8.30 + (1.15 AM UPTO SAT)

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

MILA KUNIS, SAM HEUGHAN, KATE MCKINNON

CINECO (20) 2.30 + 7.00 + 11.30 PM

MAZINEGER Z: INFINITY (PG) (ANIMATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE) NEW

SHOTARO MORIKUBO, AI KAYANO, SUMIRE UESAKA

SEEF (II) 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 PM

A DAY AFTER VALENTINE (PG-15) (FILIPINO/ROMANTIC/DRAMA) NEW

JC SANTOS, BELA PADILLA, LAUREN YOUNG

SEEF (II) 12.15 + 4.30 + 8.45 PM + (1.00 AM UPTO SAT)

SATYAMEVA JAYATE (PG-15) (HINDI/ACTION/THRILLER)

JOHN ABRAHAM, MANOJ BAJPAYEE, AISHA SHARMA

SEEF (II) 11.45 AM + 4.30 + 7.30 + 10.45 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT)

GOLD (PG-13) (HINDI/DRAMA/SPORT/HISTORY) NEW

AKSHAY KUMAR, FARHAN AKHTAR, MOUNI ROY

SEEF (II) 10.30 AM + 1.30 + 10.30 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT)

HAPPY PHIRR BHAG JAYEGI (PG-15) (HINDI/COMEDY) NEW

JIMMY SHEIRGILL, SONAKSHI SINHA, DIANA PENTY

SEEF (I) 2.00 + 7.30 PM + (1.00 AM UPTO SAT)

JAWANI PHIR NAHI ANI 2 (PG-13) (URDU/COMEDY/ROMANTIC) NEW

MAWRA HOCANE, KANWALJIT SINGH, HUMAYUN SAEED

SEEF (I) 4.00 + 9.45 PM AL HAMRA ON WEDNESDAY 22ND: 12.00 MNFROM THURSDAY 23RD: 12.00 NOON

LOAD WEDDING (PG-13) (URDU/COMEDY/ROMANTIC) NEW

MEHWISH HAYAT, FAHAD MUSTAFA (II), SAMINA AHMED

SEEF (I) 10.30 AM + 1.15 + 7.00 PM + (12.45 MN UPTO SAT)AL HAMRA 22ND: 9.00 PM FROM THURSDAY 23RD: 3.00 PM

PARWAAZ HAI JUNOON (PG-13) (URDU/DRAMA/COMEDY/ROMANTIC) NEW

HAMZA ALI ABBASI, AHAD RAZA MIR, SHAZ KHAN

SEEF (I) 11.15 AM + 4.45 + 10.15 PM AL HAMRA 6.00 PM

LAKSHMI (TAMIIL) NEW

PRABHU DEVA, AISHWARYA RAJESH, SALMAN YUSYFF KHAN

AL HAMRA FROM THURSDAY 23RD: 9.00 PM + (12.00 MN UPTO SAT)

CHRISTOPHER ROBIN (PG) (FAMILY/ADVENTURE/COMEDY)

EWAN MCGREFOR, HAYLEY ATWELL, BRONTE CARMICHAEL

WADI AL SAIL 11.15 AM + 1.30 + 3.45 PM

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SITUATIONS VACANT

‘Mile 22’ was shot in 42 daysIANS | Los Angeles

Director Peter Berg says it was a remarkable ex-perience to shoot “Mile

22” in just 42 days.The movie was filmed be-

tween November 2017 and February 2018, filming the majority of its interior shots in Atlanta, Georgia during the first five weeks, before moving to Bogota, Colombia for the re-mainder of the shoot, where the exterior action scenes were filmed.

“It was remarkable how Pres-ident Santos (former Colombia President Juan Manuel San-tos) and his government really opened up their city to us,” Berg said in a statement to IANS.

Written by Graham Roland and Lea Carpenter, “Mile 22”, featuring Mark Wahlberg, is the story of an elite American intel-ligence officer who, with the help of the top-secret tactical command unit, tries to smuggle a mysterious police officer with sensitive information out of a foreign country.

To lay the groundwork for filming an action film, which involves multiple car chases, gunfire and explosions, the filmmaker started talking to officials of the Colombian gov-ernment and the city of Bogota

back in June of 2017. One of the most important special per-mits the makers had to get was to allow aerial filming in what were normally the city’s no-fly zones.

“We were basically given keys to the city. We were allowed to go into their equivalent of Times Square and shut it down for 10 days and do some pretty hectic stuff. The fact that we were able to use the real city and interact with the real city in a pretty kinetic way really helped give us the look we were going for,” he added.

Mark Wahlberg with director Peter Berg

KNOW WHAT

Peter Berg made his film debut in the 1989 buddy

comedy Never on Tuesday. He direct-ed his first film, the dark comedy Very

Bad Things, in 1998

Camila Cabello uses eggs as face maskIANS | Los Angeles

Singer Camila Cabello puts eggs on her face to make her

pores smaller.“My mom and I do this thing

where you get the white of an egg yolk and you put it on your face, and it makes your pores smaller,” Cabello told Glamour.

The “Havana” hitmaker thinks it is extremely important to look after your skin inside and out so she drinks lots of water every day and scrubs her face every night before bed, re-

ports femalefirst.co.uk.“You have to just take care of

your skin and drink a lot of wa-ter, and always wash your face before you go to bed, no matter how tired you are,” she said.

The Cuban pop superstar is considered to be one of the most stylist and beautiful wom-en in the music business but she said she was not always so make-up savvy and it was only after auditioning for “The X Factor USA” at the age of 15 in 2012 that she started taking beauty seriously.Camila Cabello

Claire Holt

Locklear returns to social media

IANS | Los Angeles

“Dynasty” star Heather Locklear, who was on

a social media break amid her legal and personal struggles, has returned to the online plat-forms for the first time in four months.

The 56-year-old took to her Instagram account and post-ed a photo of her Maltese dog Mister, who was seen resting in Locklear’s arms and sport-ing a pair of sunglasses, reports

foxnews.com.She captioned it “Sun shin-

ing day.”The post was the first since

April 13.Locklear was arrested in

February after an alleged con-frontation with her boyfriend, Chris Heisser. The “Melrose Place” actress then allegedly attacked officers who were responding to the incident, and then last month, Locklear was hospitalised following an alleged overdose.

Heather Locklear

NAME CHANGEI, JOEL ABRAHAM VARGHESE S/o , VARUGHESE ABRAHAM PULOOR, holding Indian Passport No. M9745465, Dated on 13/12/1999, issued at BAHRAIN having permanent residence at PULOOR HOUSE, VARAYANOOR PO, THIRUVALLA, PATHANA-MTHITTA DISTRICT, KERALA, pres-ently residing at FLAT NO 13,BLD NO 83, ROAD NO.1108, BLOCK 311, MANAMA, BAHRAIN will henceforth be known as (Given Name ) JOEL ABRAHAM (Sur-name) VARGHESE . Objection(s), if any, may be forwarded to Em-bassy of india, P.O Box No 26106, Bldg.1090, Road 2819, Block 428, Al Seef, Bahrain.

17

sports


at Seef District too

Um al Hassan +973 17728699

Seef District +973 17364999

Djokovic grabs Cincy title The Serb beats Federer to complete Masters matched setAFP | Cincinnati, United States

Novak Djokovic ended a career-long jinx, lifting the trophy in Cincinnati

at last to complete a matched set of Masters 1000 titles.

Djokovic, who came up empty in five prior Cincinnati finals, defeated seven-time winner Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

The former world number one became the first man to win all nine of the ATP’s Masters 1000 events in the elite series’ current configuration.

Federer, meanwhile, lost a fi-nal in the hardcourt US Open tuneup for the first time.

“I played five finals (here) be-fore, and most of those finals I lost to this great man, Roger ... thank you for letting me win here once in Cincinnati,” Djok-ovic joked.

“This is a dream come true,” Djokovic said. “I finally won Cincinnati after six finals, some against the greatest ever, Roger.”

Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam winner, said his game wasn’t sharp -- but he didn’t want to take anything away from Djokovic’s achievement.

“Novak is a great champion,” Federer said. “This is about him making history.”

Federer ’s streak of 100 straight unbroken service games in Cincy was ended by Djokovic in the seventh game of the first set.

The 37-year-old Swiss had been aiming for a 99th career

trophy, but was unable to get over the line due in part to four double-faults at the most inop-portune of times, but he said his return game was also lacking.

“It was definitely not my best day on the return - it was just awful,” Federer said. “Missing every second serve on the fore-hand side, I don’t know what that was about.

“But I don’t even want to look for reasons why it happened,” he added. “Novak totally deserved to win today. This (effort) was not good enough.

“Good week, but I’m happy it’s over and I need to rest,” add-ed Federer, his eye on the US Open starting in New York in eight days.

Djokovic claimed the open-

ing set in 37 minutes and came back from an early break in the second to overhaul his longtime rival as they played for the 46th time.

‘Wonderful feeling’

The Serb now leads Federer 24-22 and has won their last three encounters.

The pair had not played since the 2016 Australian Open semi-finals more than two and a half years ago.

Wimbledon champion Djok-ovic claimed his Masters re-cord on his first match point and now heads to the US Open as a title favorite after a string of sub-par seasons and an el-bow injury which required surgery.

“It’s a wonderful feeling. it’s been a couple of tough months for me with an injury and then winning Wimbledon and Cin-cinnati,” Djokovic said.

Roger Federer (left) and Novak Djokovic (right) pose for photos with their trophies

KNOW WHAT

Novak Djokovic is the only player who has

defeated both Feder-er and Nadal in the

same tournament on 3 different occasions

Sagan signs on for Tour Down UnderAFP | Sydney

Three-time world champion Peter Sagan on Monday became the first

big name to confirm he will start his 2019 season at the Tour Down Under.

The Slovakian master will be making his fourth appearance at the event on the streets of Adelaide and through the surrounding countryside from January 10-20. South Australia holds a place close to Sagan’s heart, with the Bora-Hansgrohe rider making his professional Tour debut there in 2010.

“Once again I am looking forward to being at the Santos Tour Down Under,” he said, after taking out the warm-up People’s Choice Classic and stage four honours this year.

“This iconic Australian race is the perfect start to the UCI World Tour season. It has it all, a challenging course, warm weather and the pas-sionate fans.”

His commitment gives race director Mike Turtur a handy bargaining chip as he tries to entice other big names to Adelaide.

“Peter Sagan is a gentleman of the sport and the most popular cyclist in the world,” Turtur said.

“He’s had a good year so he knows that starting here in Australia is ben-eficial, as clearly he likes to hit the ground running.”

South Africa’s Daryl Impey was the overall winner at this year’s sea-son-opening Tour Down Under.

Halep: I gave up in Cincinnati finalSport Star | Cincinnati

A fatigued Simona Halep said she “gave up” in the Cincinnati Mas-

ters final after failing to convert a match point in her three-set loss to Kiki Bertens.

Rogers Cup champion Halep was on the brink of back-to-back titles but the world number one was unable to make the most of her chance in the second-set tie-break as she went down 2-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 on Sunday.

It ended Halep’s nine-match win-ning run and the Romanian star – who had won 18 of her last 19 matches dating back to her French Open tri-umph – lamented a lack of energy and execution.

“I had match ball. So I was there,” top seed Halep said. “Didn’t take my chance. In the third set I was empty and I couldn’t fight anymore.”

“We played many rallies, and it was a very physical match. That’s why the end I couldn’t make it anymore. I was also I can say I gave up, because I didn’t have energy left. But she played really well, and she really deserves to win that, this title, because her level was very high,” Halep added.

While there was disappointment for Halep, there was jubilation for Bertens as the world number 17 celebrated a remarkable comeback. Bertens reigned supreme in Charleston earlier this year but Sunday marked the big-gest title of the Dutchwoman’s career.

“I think I didn’t have really a good time to get nervous, because I was just

so tired,” Bertens said. “I think it was such a tough match, and after winning that second set I knew, like, anything is still possible.

“I had a chat with [coach] Raemon [Sluiter] at 2-1 [in the third set] and I was, like, ‘I’m dead’. Then I said to myself, ‘No, I can do this. Let’s go for it.’ I was, like, ‘Yeah, I know this feeling,’” Bertens elaborated. “I had this feeling before in the practices. So I know that I can keep on going. It’s for a title, so of course you can always give a little extra and just go for it. And that’s what I did.”

Simona Halep (L) and Kiki Bertens with their trophies

We played many rallies, and it was a very

physical match. That’s why the end I couldn’t

make it anymore. I was also I can say I gave up,

because I didn’t have energy left

CHASE KALISZ

Kohli piles on the agony for England

AFP | Nottingham, United Kingdom

India captain Virat Kohli led from the front with a well-

made hundred to strengthen his side’s iron grip on the third Test against England at Trent Bridge yesterday.

Kohli, who fell for 97 in In-dia’s first innings, top-scored with 103 as the tourists, look-ing to bounce back from 2-0 down in this five-match series, piled up a total of 352 for seven declared.

That left England needing a mammoth 521 for victory, albeit with more than two days to get the runs.

But no side have made more to win in the fourth innings of a Test than the West Indies’ 418 for seven against Australia at St John’s, Antigua, in 2003.

England’s corresponding record is their 332 for seven against Australia at Melbourne

back in 1928/29.Kohli’s declaration left Eng-

land with an awkward nine overs in which to bat.

But Alastair Cook (nine not out) and Keaton Jennings (13 not out) got them through to a close score of 23 without loss.

India resumed Monday on 124 for two, already 292 runs in front, with Cheteshwar Pujara 33 not out and Kohli unbeaten on eight.

With three days still left to play, India could dictate the course of the game after skittling England out for 161, with pace bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya taking a stun-ning five for 28 in six overs.

From 54 for none, England lost nine wickets for 74 runs and only avoided the follow-on thanks to Jos Buttler’s 39.

England lost all 10 of their wickets inside a session -- the third time that had happened since 2016.

Cheteshwar Pujara completes a run as Stuart Broad fires in a throw

India suffer kabaddi defeatAFP | Jakarta

India’s men suffered their first ever kabaddi defeat at

the Asian Games when they slumped 24-23 to South Korea in a group match on Monday.

The seven-time champions beat both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on Sunday to stamp their authority but they met their match in South Korea, ending a run of 32 straight wins. India have only lost once before in the home-grown, breath-holding sport, after they went down to same oppo-nents at the 2016 World Cup.

“What a massive upset. South Korea beats India in men’s Ka-baddi @asiangames2018 24-23. Indians looked a bit com-placent,” former India hockey captain Viren Rasquinha said on Twitter.

Kabaddi, an ancient sport rooted in Indian mythology, made its Asian Games debut in Beijing in 1990.

The game requires yoga-like breathing skills as two sev-en-player teams send a raider into enemy territory to tag an opponent before returning to safety, all on one breath.

Sun scorches rivals to win Asian Games swim titleAFP | Jakarta

Chinese battering ram Sun Yang smashed his rivals to

create history yesterday as the swimming goliath scooped the first-ever Asian Games men’s 800 metres freestyle gold with another monstrous perfor-mance.

For once though he didn’t have it all his own way.

Greeted like a rock star by high-pitched squeals from excit-able female fans in Jakarta, the three-time Olympic champion returned to the pool expecting to anchor China to victory in the 4x200m free -- only for the pesky Japanese to tear up the script.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Olympic hope Rikako Ikee picked up her second and third Asian titles in the women’s 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle.

But it was the talismanic Sun who sprinkled stardust on pro-ceedings as ever, storming to vic-tory in the 800m free in a Games record of seven minutes, 48.36 seconds -- almost five seconds clear of Japan’s Shogo Takeda.

He also came agonisingly close to completing a relay fightback.

But Japan’s Katsuhiro Matsu-moto clung on to seal a fingertip upset in 7:05.17 and dash Sun’s hopes of winning five gold med-als in Indonesia.

China and Japan finished day two of the six-day meet neck and

neck on seven gold medals.Sun, who powered to the

200m title at the weekend, un-coiled his rippling two-metre frame to pull away over the sec-ond half of the 800m, leaving Takeda and Vietnam’s Nguyen Huy Hoang flailing in his wake.

“That gives me confidence for 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” Sun told reporters.

“It was a pity we lost the relay but Japan swam a great race. Two finals in one night isn’t a problem for me but I can still work on my endurance for sure.”

Ikee double Ikee crushed it in the 50m fly,

breezing to victory in a Games

best of 25.55 -- almost half a second clear of China’s Wang Yichun.

The 18-year-old, who has become the new face of swim-ming in Japan, is expected to be a force in the 100m free and 100m fly at the 2020 Olympics in her home city.

And after setting a new meet best in the 100m free in help-ing Japan win the weekend’s 4x100m relay, Ikee ducked un-der the record again in the in-dividual race, touching in 53.27 after a brave fight from China’s Zhu Menghui.

“I achieved what I came to do tonight so I’m delighted,” said Ikee. “The plan was to conserve energy in the first half of the race

and finish strong -- that’s exactly what happened.”

Defending champion Kosuke Hagino was stunned by China’s Wang Shun in the men’s 200m individual medley.

Wang caught his Japanese rival over the last leg of free-style to win in 1:56.52 as Hagino clocked 1:56.75.

“I’m delighted,” said Wang. “It gives me confidence to beat such a great swimmer.”

However, there were some late crumbs of comfort for Olym-pic silver medallist Hagino, who swam a superb third leg in the 4x200m relay.

“I kind of cramped up in the medley,” he admitted. “There just wasn’t enough in the tank.”


Son keeps eye on Spurs as he chases goldAFP | Jakarta

Son Heung-min said he’s cheering on his Spurs team-mates in the Premier

League even as he undertakes a difficult mission for gold in far-flung Indonesia that could make or break his career.

The South Korea forward said he had followed Spurs’ “posi-tive” 3-1 win over Fulham from thousands of miles away at the Asian Games, where a gold med-al would exempt him from his 21-month compulsory military service.

Son, 26, was speaking after he scored the only goal in South Korea’s 1-0 win over Kyrgyzstan that sent the defending champi-ons into a last-16 clash with Iran.

“Of course I always follow Tottenham -- I was very happy because Lucas scored his first Premier League goal for us, and Harry (Kane) scored in August,” said Son.

“I’m following wherever I go. When they play Manchester United I will support them.”

Son is playing at the Asian Games after being granted spe-cial permission by Spurs, with whom he signed a new, five-year contract last month.

“I can’t say I’m 100 percent sure to win the gold medal. We

are on the way to make some-thing, and to win some tro-phies,” he said.

“But I’m not thinking about it already, the final... We can enjoy this evening, and from tomorrow we can be ready for the round of 16.”

Before leaving for Jakarta, Son apologised to his Spurs team-mates for his absence for up to three weeks on interna-tional duty.

“Of course I’m still very sor-ry,” Son added.

South Korea were all but cer-

tain to reach the round of 16 pri-or to kick-off, as only an 11-goal loss to Kyrgyzstan would have prevented their passage.

Son, making his first start of the competition, volleyed home from a tight angle in the 63rd minute as South Korea laboured to victory, after their shock 2-1 defeat to minnows Malaysia.

A few hundred flag-waving Koreans in the stands roared with approval as Son’s name was announced in the starting line-up.

Son Heung Min (C) of South Korea runs with the ball past Odilzhon Abdurakhmanov (R) of Kyrgyzstan during their men’s football preliminary group E match of the 2018 Asian Games in Bandung

Gold medallist China’s Sun Yang celebrates during the victory ceremony of the men’s 800m freestyle swimming event

Indian wins women’s wrestling gold

AFP | Jakarta

Vinesh Phogat became In-dia’s first women’s wres-

tling champion at the Asian Games on Monday to extend a family legacy in the sport which was immortalised in a celebrated Bollywood film.

Phogat outclassed Japan’s Yuki Irie 6-2 to win 50kg final in Jakarta and was then hoist-ed on the shoulders of team staff draped in the Indian flag.

The 23-year-old is a cous-in of former Commonwealth champions Geeta and Babita Kumari Phogat, whose rise from obscurity to wrestling fame was captured in 2016’s ‘Dangal’, an international hit.

“I had targeted gold. I had three-four silvers at the Asia

level. My body responded well, I had trained well and God was being kind,” Phogat told reporters.

“I am rough and tough and a risk-taker. I take risks in life and they pay off. I have lot of self-belief that there is nothing that I can’t do,” she said.

The omens were good for the 2014 bronze medallist when she began the compe-tition with a win over China’s Sun Yanan, against whom she had suffered a leg injury at the 2016 Olympics.

“Injuries are a part of a sportsperson’s life. And I have heard somewhere that injuries only strengthens an athlete. I have come back stronger from that Rio heartache,” she beamed.

India’s Vinesh (R) celebrates after beating Japan’s Yuki Irie (L)

KNOW WHAT

Olympic/athlet-ic medalists and

are amongst the few allowed

to bypass the mandatory

service in South Korea and

Son still has a chance to gain

his own

North Korean stars sweep to weightlifting doubleAFP | Jakarta

North Korea’s pint-sized weightlifters ruled the

roost as the secretive nation bagged their first two gold medals of the Asian Games yesterday.

Ri Song Gum pipped local favourite Sri Wahyuni Agus-tiani to open their account in the women’s 48kg class then pocket rocket Om Yun Chol retained his Asian Games men’s 56kg title with ease as he defeated eternal Asian rival Kim Tuan Thach of Vietnam.

Ri, who is just 4ft 7in (140cm) tall, hoisted a massive 112kg in her first clean and jerk attempt to power past Agus-tiani who had led after the first snatch discipline.

Then Om, who is not much taller at 4ft 11in (151cm), raised 160kg in the clean and jerk for a 287kg total, 7kg ahead of Thach, the reigning world champion, who also had to settle for silver behind Om in Incheon four years ago.

Indonesia took their sec-ond lifting medal of the day as Suramat Bin Suwoto Wijoyo was awarded the bronze after a 272kg total.

London 2012 Olympic gold medallist Om, known for his exuberant celebrations, gave a reserved fist pump as he made his winning lift and depart-ed the stage with just a wave before failing at two 172kg at-tempts that would have beaten his own Asian Games record set in 2014.

Four Japan athletes kicked out AFP | Jakarta

Four Japanese basketball players were sent home

from the Asian Games in dis-grace for paying prostitutes for sex as the regional Olympics was hit by scandal on Monday.

The players were spotted in a notorious red light district of Jakarta in their national jer-seys, JOC officials said, adding that the four had been ordered to leave immediately.

News that Yuya Nagayoshi, Takuya Hashimoto, Takuma Sato, Keita Imamura had been booted out will come as a ma-jor embarrassment for Japan, who will host the Tokyo Olym-pics in two years’ time.

“I just feel a sense of shame,”

Japan’s chef de mission Yas-uhiro Yamashita told report-ers. “We deeply apologise and intend to give the ath-letes thorough guidance from now on.”

The basketball players had dinner after leaving the Games village last Thursday and are believed to have been solicited by a pimp to go to a hotel with women, Yamashita added.

They “paid for the services of prostitutes”, Yamashita said, according to Japan’s Kyodo news agency.

The story broke after the four, who play in Japan’s B-League, were spotted in the red light district by a report-er for Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper.


I was pleased with the team in general and Gareth put in a great

performance. Bale offers us solutions. He played well, like many

of his teammates. In the structure

that we are trying to create, there are

players with different characteristics and Gareth has his own

JULEN LOPETEGUI

Real start La Liga with victory

Gareth Bale scored as Real Madrid started life without Cristiano Ronaldo and

AFP | Madrid

Real Madrid got their La Liga campaign off to a winning start with a 2-0

victory at home to Getafe on Sunday in their first league out-ing since the summer depar-tures of Cristiano Ronaldo and coach Zinedine Zidane.

The European champions ensured the three points at the Santiago Bernabeu with a 20th-minute goal from Dani Carvajal and a Gareth Bale strike on 51 minutes.

Keylor Navas held on to his place as Real Madrid’s starting goalkeeper despite the arrival of Thibaut Courtois.

Costa Rica international Na-vas has been first choice since 2015 but had been expected to make way for Courtois, a recent 35-million-euro recruit from Chelsea who was voted best goalkeeper at this summer’s

World Cup.Julen Lopetegui, who re-

placed Zidane as coach, also selected Nacho at the heart of the defence rather than French World Cup winner Raphael

Varane.Real, playing their first La

Liga game since the departure of Ronaldo to Juventus, went into Sunday’s game on the back of a 4-2 defeat to Atletico Ma-drid in the UEFA Supercup in midweek.

But they were rarely in trou-ble on Sunday.

Bale was unlucky when a div-ing header came back off the crossbar in the first half before the Welshman was key in the build-up to the first goal with Carvajal heading in his cross.

Another defensive error helped Real grab their second goal when Marco Asensio stole the ball and sent over a cross for Bale to score with his left foot.

Asensio was close to getting his name on the scoresheet but was denied by the woodwork.

Meanwhile, Portuguese strik-er Andre Silva marked his La Liga debut with a hat-trick as

Sevilla romped to a 4-1 win at Rayo Vallecano, surpassing his total of goals scored for AC Mi-lan in the whole of last season’s Serie A.

Silva had managed just two goals for the Serie A giants and was loaned out to Sevilla this summer.

Franco “Mudo” Vazquez opened the scoring with a back-heel in the 15th minute before Silva bagged his first just after the half hour mark.

The 22-year-old added his second in first-half stoppage time after a corner and com-pleted his hat-trick 10 minutes from time.

However, he endured a nerv-ous wait before he could cele-brate, requiring the VAR to over-turn an offside decision which had ruled out Silva’s effort.

It was the first time in La Liga history that the VAR had made such an intervention.

Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale in action

Ronaldo, Modric, Salah up for Player of theYearAFP | Paris

Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed

Salah make up the three-man shortlist for the UEFA Player of the Year award for the 2017/18 season, European football’s governing body announced on Monday.

Ronaldo -- the winner in each of the last two years -- and Modric both starred for Real Madrid as the Spanish giants won the Champions League for the third year run-ning, while the latter also won the Golden Ball for the best player at the World Cup after inspiring Croatia on their run to the final.

Meanwhile, Egyptian star Salah scored 10 times as Liver-pool made it to the Champions League final, before losing 3-1 to Real in Kiev.

Salah was forced off with a shoulder injury in the first half of that game after a clash with Real defender Sergio Ramos.

He also netted 32 goals in his debut Premier League season, with that tally a record for a 38-game campaign.

Lionel Messi came fifth in the voting by a jury of 80 coaches from clubs who played in the Champions League and Europa League, as well as 55 journalists representing each UEFA member nation.

The Barcelona star came second to Ronaldo last year but also failed to make the final three-man shortlist in 2016.

Atletico Madrid’s France star Antoine Griezmann, who scored twice as his club beat Marseille 3-0 in the Europa League final, just missed out in fourth.

Man Utd fans should be ‘mad’, admits Pogba

AFP | London

Manchester United mid-fielder Paul Pogba be-

lieves the club’s fans have every right to vent their anger after a first-half collapse saw the Red Devils beaten 3-2 by Brighton.

Jose Mourinho’s men are already three points adrift of Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham, who they face in their next Premier League fix-ture.

“We always play for the shirt

and the fans, this is not the re-sult we or they wanted,” Pogba told MUTV. “They should be very mad. We should be mad. Everybody is mad.”

Pogba scored his second penalty of the season deep into stoppage time at the Amex, but by then it was too little, too late for the visitors as Mourinho’s pre-season pre-dictions of defensive problems were realised on a difficult afternoon for centre-backs Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly.

Paul Pogba belives Manchester United fans are right to be furious with their performance in losing to Brighton

Inter Milan shocked in Serie A opener, Dzeko hits Roma stunnerAFP | Milan

A late Edin Dzeko stunner got AS Roma off the mark in

their Serie A campaign at Torino on Sunday but Inter Milan made the worst possible start with a 1-0 loss at Sassuolo.

Roma’s win meant the top three from last year’s campaign all won their opening round of matches.

Champions Juventus, with new superstar signing Cristiano Ronaldo making his debut, won 3-2 at Chievo on Saturday with runners-up Napoli coming back to win 2-1 at Lazio.

But Inter Milan -- fourth last season -- suffered an early upset after Domenico Berardi slotted in a 27th-minute penalty to give all three points to their rivals from Modena.

“ T h i s h a s c o m p l i c a t e d everything,” said Inter coach Luciano Spalletti.

“Sassuolo did well on the counter-attack, they were com-pact without giving anything.

“We lost the game because of a penalty and Sassuolo didn’t create many chances.”

Sassuolo dominated the first half, earning a penalty when Joao Mario brought down Fed-erico Di Francesco in the penalty

area. Inter Milan’s top scorer last

season Mauro Icardi came close twice, with Croatian Ivan Perisic also sending the ball over the top in the second half.

Dzeko’s late strike Earlier Roma’s only goal came one minute from time following spectacular play by new Dutch signing Justin Kluivert, son of former Barcelona striker Patrick Kluivert.

The 19-year-old came on as a second-half substitute, run-ning down the right flank, drib-bling past past three players to provide the crucial cross which Dzeko lashed into the far top corner.

“It was a great cross, and I scored even better goal!” Dzeko joked.

“Last year I scored one that was maybe a bit better (against Chelsea), but this is among the

best three.“I saw Kluivert on the right

and hoped he would cross it to the back post, which is fortu-nately what he did. He definitely changed the game.”

Venezuelan Tomas Rincon had Torino’s best chance as he rattled the crossbar on 39 min-utes.

Iago Falque thought he had scored for the hosts three min-utes after the break but his at-tempt was ruled offside after a look at the VAR.

Former Paris Saint Germain player Javier Pastore missed a number of chances against his former teammate Salvatore Si-rigu in the Torino goal.

Lorenzo De Silvestri limped off after a knock and allowed Ola Aina to also get his first Serie A game just days after arriving on loan from Chelsea, with new Roma goalkeeper Robin Olsen making several saves.Sassuolo forward Domenico Berardi in action

KNOW WHAT

Inter Milan are the only Italian side nev-er relegated to have

been Serie B

Bahrain seals last-16 round berth in Asian Games footballTDT | Manama

Bahrain’s under-23 foot-ball team made it to the

last-16 round of the football championship, part of the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, after a clinical 3-2 victory over Malaysia yesterday.

The win saw Bahrain clinch one of the four-best third-placed teams, along with Korea Repub-lic, who needed a 63rd-minute strike by Son Heung-min to beat Kyrgyz Republic 1-0 in the same Group ‘E’. Bahrain will now face Vietnam in the competition’s final 16.

Despite needing full points to qualify, Bahrain started the game miserably and their de-fence failure to clear their lines resulted in pinball in the box, a loose ball eventually fell to the edge of the box and Syahmi Safari as on hand to hammer a blistering first-time drive past Ammar Ahmed.

However, a lapse in concen-tration from the Malaysians in the 33rd minute saw them give away possession outside their own area to Mohamed Marhoon.

The fleet-footed forward advanced into the box before squaring a pass to the unmarked Al Hardan, who clinically found

the back of the net for the equal-iser.

Just four minutes later, Bah-rain capitalised on more in-decisive defending to take the lead; Al Shamsan left unmarked inside the area to meet a cor-

ner and nod the ball past Ifwat Akmal.

The Bahrainis continued to look the more dangerous of the two sides after halftime and reg-ularly carved apart the opposi-tion defence only to be denied

by the woodwork, as well as let down by some hesitant finishing.

Yet, a minute from time, Al Hardan made sure of the win from a counterattack as he was played in down the right and sent a delicate chip over the on-

rushing Ifwat.There was still time for more

drama with Akhyar Rashid win-ning a penalty in injury-time for Malaysia after being tripped inside the box by Ahmed Bug-hammar, and Safawi Rasid made

no mistake in sending Ahmed the wrong way from the spot.

Bahrain out of 10m rifle eventMeanwhile, Bahrain crashed out of the 10m rifle event as Mahmood Haji came close to win one of the places in the fi-nal scoring 623.6 points. In the women’s event, Safa Al Dossary and Hanan Rahma were also out finishing 29th and 31st, respec-tively. The 3 position 50-metre men’s shooting event begins today when Haji and Hussain Abduljabbar compete for a place in the finals.


Bahrain edge Iran

TDT | Manama

Bahrain boosted their hopes of reaching the semi-finals in the handball championship after a

comprehensive 29-23 victory over Iran

yesterday at the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang.

Despite losing key players Hussain Al Sayyad and Hasan Madan, who were dismissed with the red card in the first half, the Bahrainis showed high spirit

and determination to win the match full points as they kicked started the second round of the competition.

Playing at GOR Popki Cibubur sports hall, Bahrain started the game well and took a 16-13 lead at half-time thanks to

excellent saves from goalkeeper Mo-hammed Abdulhussain and success-fully-executed counter attacks led by Ali Abdulqader, Mohammed Habib, Al Samahiji and Bilal Basham.

The team was congratulated after

the match by Bahrain ambassador to Indonesia Dr Mohammed Ghassan and Supreme Council for Youth and Sports assistant secretary general and Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) secretary general Abdulrahman Askar.

Bahrain won 29-23 boosting hopes of reaching semis

Bahrain’s Ali Merza Ali (R) take a shot as Iran’s Seyedalireza Mousavi (L) tries to stop

Bahrain’s Abbas Alasfoor in action

US embassy in Turkey targeted - News of Bahrain

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