Four pulled from cave - newsofbahrain.com · named as Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Al Abdalatif. The foreign na - tional who was killed was from Bangladesh. An investigation was underway

03Loan sharks reign over oceans of illegal debts

04Plea to set up petrol pumps at fishing ports

05Child gangs harming $100m housing project

10

It’s homecoming for Syrians 12WORLD

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Jennifer Lawrence won’t go method Jennifer Lawrence says she was mortified when director Francis Lawrence urged her to keep the Russian accent she adopted for her role as ballerina-turned-spy in “Red Sparrow” outside of filming because she knew her friends would not be impressed. P16

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DON’T MISS IT

Accidents claim fifth victim in three days

• The 19-year-old female lost control over her car leading to a crash on Roundabout 16.

TDT|ManamaMohammed Zafran

Traffic accidents have claimed a fifth victim in a span of three days.

A Bahraini teenager died in an accident yesterday in Ham-ad Town.

The 19-year-old female lost

control over her car leading to a crash on Roundabout 16, according to the Interior Min-istry, which confirmed the in-cident on Twitter.

A worker died while a second succumbed to injuries in hos-pital after an 18-wheeler truck rammed into a bus on Shaikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah High-way. Eight others were also in-jured in the accident.

Two Bahraini youth - a male and a female - got killed in an accident on Friday after the car they were travelling crashed into a cement barri-er on Shaikh Isa Bin Salman Highway.

Soldier, Bangladeshi national killed in Saudi terror attack

• The three men opened fire at 3:45 pm local time from a car, an interior ministry spokesman said.

Riyadh

A member of Saudi Ara-bia’s security forces and a foreign citizen were

killed in an attack at a check-point in Buraidah, Qassim Prov-ince, yesterday.

Two of the attackers were also killed and another in-

jured, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The three men opened fire at 3:45 pm local time from a Hyun-dai Elantra, an interior ministry spokesman said.

The dead security officer was named as Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Al Abdalatif. The foreign na-tional who was killed was from Bangladesh. An investigation was underway.

Saudi police on alert after a security official and an expatriate was killed at a checkpoint in Buraidah.

The exhausted boys were carried on stretchers from an ambulance to a helicopter near the caves before being flown to hospital.

Four pulled from cave 13 foreign divers, five members of Thailand Navy guided the boys to safety

• The boys, aged between 11 and 16, went missing with their 25-year-old coach after soccer practice on June 23, setting out on an adventure to explore the cave complex near the border with Myanmar and celebrate a boy’s birthday.

• An Australian doctor checked the health of the boys on Saturday night and gave the all-clear for the operation to proceed.

Bangkok

Four of 12 Thai schoolboys were rescued from a flooded cave yesterday in a daring

and dangerous operation to save the children and their soccer coach who have been trapped under-ground for more than two weeks.

The operation to rescue the remaining eight boys - some as young as 11 and weak swimmers - and the coach was called off at nightfall until Monday to give the divers time to replenish oxygen supplies and ensure all prepara-tions were complete.

Thirteen foreign divers and five members of Thailand’s elite navy SEAL unit guided the boys to safety through narrow, submerged passageways that claimed the life of a former Thai navy diver on Friday.

“Today was the best day, the best situation in terms of the weather, the health of the boys, our water management for our rescue effort,” the head of the rescue operation, Narongsak Osottanakorn, told a news con-ference.

“Today we managed to rescue and send back four children to

Chiang Rai Prachanukrua Hos-pital safely.”

The rescuers needed at least 10 hours to prepare for their next operation, involving about 90 divers in total, 50 of them from foreign countries, he said.

A helicopter flew the four boys to the nearby city of Chiang Rai, where they were taken by ambu-lance to the hospital.

Their ordeal has drawn huge media attention in Thailand and abroad, and getting the boys out safely could be a boost for Thai-land’s government ahead of a general election next year.

“Today is D-Day,” Narongsak had earlier told reporters.

Bursts of heavy monsoon rain soaked the Tham Luang Cave area in northern Chiang Rai province on Sunday and storms were expected in coming weeks, increasing the risks in what has been called a “war with water and time” to save the team.

The boys, aged between 11 and 16, went missing with their 25-year-old coach after soccer

practice on June 23, setting out on an adventure to explore the cave complex near the border with Myanmar and celebrate a boy’s birthday.

The rescue teams had re-hearsed the plan for several days, Narongsak said, and had managed to drain the cave water level considerably, but needed to move fast.

Prajak Sutham Pipat Bodhi

Nattawut ‘Tle’ Takamsai Monhkhol Boonpiam

20hours of operation

planned to rescue the rest trapped in the

cave.

Train derailment kills 10 in Turkey Istanbul

Ten people were killed and more than 70 in-

jured yesterday when a train packed with week-end passengers derailed in northwest Turkey, the health ministry said.

The train, with over 360 people on board, was traveling from the Edirne region on the Greek and Bulgarian borders to Is-tanbul’s Halkali station when six of its carriages derailed in the Tekirdag region.

“According to initial findings, 10 people lost their lives and 73 people were injured,” Health Ministry Undersecretary Eyup Gumus told state-run news agency Anadolu.

He also told local media more than 100 ambulanc-es have been sent to the scene.

US soldier killed in Afghanistan Kabul

A US service member has been killed in an

apparent insider attack in southern Afghanistan.

Two other American military personnel were injured in the attack and are in a stable condition, according to the Nato-led Resolute Support mission.

In a statement, the Tali-ban said that a member of the Afghan security forc-es had opened fire on US troops in Uruzgan, killing four people and wounding several others.

The reason for the dis-crepancy in the numbers is not clear, but it is possi-ble the other three deaths were fellow Afghans.

02MONDAY, JULY 9, 2018

China and Arab States: Drawing up a Blueprint for Belt and Road Cooperation in the New Era

On the Upcoming Eighth Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum

The Eighth Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab States Coopera-tion Forum (CASCF) will be held

in Beijing on 10 July. It will be attend-ed by Emir Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait, representatives from the other 21 Arab countries, and the Secretary-General of the Arab League, and President Xi Jingping will address the opening ceremony. This meeting will be another important event in Chi-na-Arab relations, following President Xi’s participation in the sixth CASCF Ministerial Meeting in 2014 and his vis-its to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Arab League Headquarters in 2016. At the meeting, China and Arab states are ex-pected to have in-depth discussions on how to jointly advance the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and strengthen overall cooperation with a view to drawing up a blueprint for China-Arab relations in the new era.

China and Arab countries share a long history of exemplary interactions. The past 2,000 years have witnessed unin-terrupted exchanges between the Chi-nese and Arab peoples through land and sea links, which facilitated mutual learning between two great civilizations. Since the mid-20th century, we have supported each other in our respective struggles for national independence and development, writing a new chapter of friendship and cooperation. The incep-tion of the CASCF in 2004 has further upgraded China-Arab relations, by add-ing a new driver in addition to the bilat-eral channels, and has thus accelerated the growth of China-Arab cooperation across the board.

As president Xi aptly puts it, China and Arab countries, who are natural partners in Belt and Road cooperation, need to follow the Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and in-clusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit, and seek greater synergy in our respective pursuits of national renewal. The visionary guidance and commit-ment coming from our leaders have lent a fresh impetus to China-Arab relations.

The last four years have seen multiple highlights in the fruitful exchanges and

cooperation between China and Arab states, with a special focus on Belt and Road cooperation.

— Over the past four years, we have maintained frequent high-level exchang-es, including President Xi’s successful visits to the Middle East and the visits to China by the heads of state of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Palestine. Such exchanges have contributed to deepening political trust and kept bilat-eral ties running at a high level. China has established or upgraded its strategic relations with 11 Arab countries. It has supported Arab countries in exploring their own paths of development, and Palestine in restoring the lawful rights of its people. Arab countries, on their part, have given China valuable support on issues concerning its core and major interests.

The scope of our result-oriented busi-ness cooperation and people-to-people exchanges has kept growing to cover a wide range of areas, including satellite launch and cotton production. The CAS-CF institution building has made signif-icant progress. The effective operation of over ten mechanisms, including the Ministerial Meeting, the Senior Officials’ Meeting, the Entrepreneurs Conference, and the Energy Cooperation Conference, has fueled our Belt and Road coopera-tion in various respects.

— Over the past four years, we have worked in concert to cement the “1+2+3” cooperation framework featuring one focus (energy cooperation), two prior-ity areas (infrastructure and trade and investment facilitation), and three high-tech sectors for breakthroughs (nuclear energy, aviation satellite and new ener-gy). Sustained efforts have been made to advance the “four action plans”, namely cooperation in four major fields of pro-moting stability, identifying new forms of cooperation, conducing production capacity cooperation, and deepening friendship.

Our pursuit of greater complementa-rity between development strategies has resulted in new progress in China-Ar-ab cooperation. China has signed Belt and Road cooperation MOUs with nine Arab states and production capacity cooperation agreements with five Arab states. Both the Silk Road Fund and the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank have invested in Arab countries. In 2017, China-Arab trade approached US$200 billion, up by 11.9 percent year-on-year, and direct Chinese investment in Arab countries reached US$1.26billion, an increase of 9.3 percent.

— Over the past four years, we have added new dimensions to our cooper-ation in the traditional areas of ener-gy, infrastructure and trade. The Has-syan clean coal power plant in Dubai, equipped with the world-leading ul-tra-supercritical technology, and the Attarat power plant in Jordan, a dream come true of oil shale power generation, have taken China-Arab power coopera-tion to a new level. Several large infra-structure projects are well underway,

including Phase II of the Khalifa Port in the United Arab Emirates and the train project in the 10th of Ramadan City of Egypt. They are expected to make the development of Arab countries better connected. Moreover, the cluster effect of the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone is being felt.

Our cooperation has continued to up-grade and deepen through innovation. We have inaugurated a Technology Transfer Center, and held a success-ful Beidou Cooperation Forum. China has helped Algeria put its cooperation between China and Arab states. The China-Arab states Forum on Reform and Development, two platforms for ex-perience sharing in governance, reform and development, have been warmly received by Arab countries.

— Over the past four years, we have added more substances to our mutually beneficial cooperation in home-grown development, social progress and per-sonnel exchanges, delivering tangible benefits to our peoples. China has drawn up plans to provide assistance to Pales-tine and humanitarian assistance to Syr-ia, Lebanon, Jordan, Libya and Yemen, as was announced by President Xi. It has trained over 6000 people of different professions for Arab countries.

While encouraging competitive pro-duction capacity to go global, China has helped Arab countries build up capacity for home-grown development in light of their need for economic diversification in the Middle East. In this process, Chi-na has paid special attention to helping Arab countries improve their people’s lives, which is essential for the local economy. For instance, a Chinese en-terprise opened China’s first overseas fiberglass production base in the Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, creating over 2,000 local jobs and mak-ing Egypt the largest fiberglass producer in Africa and third largest producer in the world.

Arab countries, for their part, have fa-cilitated visits of Chinese nationals to the region. Today, nine Arab countries give visa-free or visa-upon-landing treatment to Chinese nationals, and 150 passenger flights and 45 cargo flights are run be-tween China and Arab countries every week. As a result, the number of Chinese tourist arrivals in the region is soaring year by year. In the opposite direction, Arabian specialties of premium qual-ity, including long-staple cotton from Egypt, olive oil from Tunisia, chocolate from Lebanon and dates from the Gulf Arab countries, have entered Chinese households with the help of e-commerce platforms.

The world today is at a critical junc-ture of major development, transforma-tion and adjustment. China is making big strides on its new journey toward the two centenary goals and showing a stronger commitment to deepening re-form on all fronts and opening wider to the world. Likewise, Arab counties have unveiled major initiatives of future-ori-ented reforms for national rejuvenation.

Our development visions are getting more aligned and more complementary, placing China-Arab relations at a new staring point. Under the changing cir-cumstances, we need to work together for a new type of international relations, for a community with a shared future for mankind, and for a peaceful external en-vironment and an equitable world order conducive to our national rejuvenation.

At the forthcoming Eighth Ministerial Meeting, China and Arab countries will follow the guidance of our leaders, ex-plore ways to advance future-oriented cooperation centered around the BRI, and further upgrade China-Arab rela-tions.

China and Arab countries will become partners in promoting peace and stabili-ty. We need to strengthen coordination, continue to support each other on issues of major interests and core concerns, and safeguard the common interests of de-veloping countries. We should promote political settlement of hotspot issues and uphold common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security as we strive to restore peace and tranquility to the Middle East at an early date and do our share in bringing about a world of prosperity and stability.

China and Arab countries will become partners in pursuing reform, develop-ment and shared prosperity. We need to support each other in exploring de-velopment paths tailored to national conditions. We can achieve common progress and development by tapping into the complementarity of our respec-tive strengths and needs, by seeking syn-ergy of our development strategies at a faster pace, and by increasing experience sharing on governance. In our pursuit of development, we must stay committed to a people-centered approach and de-liver more benefits to our peoples.

China and Arab countries will become partners in conducing practical cooper-ation for win-win outcomes. We need to follow the principles of extensive con-sultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, as we broaden cooperation in infrastructure, aviation satellite and en-ergy and carry out key projects such as ports and industrial parks. China looks forward to signing with more Arab coun-tries the MOU on Belt and Road coopera-tion to take our practical cooperation to a higher level.

China and Arab countries will be-come partners in championing cultural exchanges and mutual learning. We will encourage more people-to-people exchanges and deepen cooperation in science, education, culture, health and information. By building more bridges for interactions, we will enhance mutual understanding and friendship between our peoples and contribute to the pro-gress of human civilization.

A new blueprint brings new hope. A new beginning heralds new achieve-ments. I am convinced that the giant ship of China-Arab friendship and coopera-tion will ride the wave toward a bright future.

By H.E. Wang Yi, State Councilor and Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China

03

big story

MONDAY, JULY 9, 2018

It is impossible for banks to

create a safe and legal alternative

to this because of regulations and other reasons

DR MASHAL

Many are not thinking of

consequences before

approaching these dangerous loan

sharks for money. MR PANDEY

10per cent or above are the general interest rate charged by the

loan sharks per month.

• Low-income expatriate labourers are always in need of money amid rising expenses in the Kingdom and they easily become prey to these loan sharks.

• The interest calculating system used by these loan sharks are so complicated that once anyone gets into their den coming out is almost impossible.

n Loan sharks are individuals who lend money charging higher interests.

n They use violent methods to harass their customers to obtain money.

n They are likely to charge extortionate rates of interest from customers.

n Authorities generally find it difficult to tackle them as they operate underground.

n They also benefit from the lack of strict rules and regulations against them.

n A majority of loan sharks themselves and their customers are expatriates.

Many crimes including violent attacks are often associated with

illegal money lending. A few years

ago, a Pakistani loan shark was

killed by a Filipino expatriate who was

allegedly threatened for not paying back

the amount he borrowed.

KNOW

DID

TDT|ManamaMohammed Zafran

With more than 120 per cent interest rate

per year and taking valu-ables and even passports as collateral, loan sharks are making life miserable for many expatriates who were gullible enough to approach them.

Some expatriates risk losing everything, in the underground world of money lending and bor-rowing. Charging exu-berant interest rates, the loan sharks are making a fortune preying on des-perate victims.

Speaking to Tribune, Dr Yousef Mashal, an economist, said he has been observing the underground borrowing and lending scene for the past 30 years and in the authorities have failed to end this illegal practice.

“This has been a common practice in Bahrain throughout the 30 years that I have been observing it. The victims are mainly expatriates. I have not witnessed this practice in the Bahraini society because pay-ing interest is something looked down upon in any Islamic soci-ety,” he said.

According to sources, the in-terest rate can be over 10pc per month if someone borrows mon-ey from these loan sharks.

Collateral

Valuables like gold, passport, ATM cards are some of the col-lateral taken by the loan sharks. “Unfortunately approaching loan sharks have become so common and widespread. Peo-ple do not think twice before approaching them for money,” said Him Lal Pandey, an activist and social worker.

According to sources the most common collateral is gold. “Giv-ing gold is the easiest way to obtain loans. They can easily sell the gold and make their money in case you do not pay up.”

The sources say higher amounts of money would only be

given to those having a month-ly salary of BD400 or higher. “A person earning a meager amount, like a labourer, can only expect a small loan such as a BD100 or 200 or somewhere in that range.

“People mainly approach loan sharks for money owing to the procedural difficulties involved in obtaining bank loans. The agreements for the loan can also be made in their home-country, taking any prop-erty as collateral.”

A victim, who wished not to be identified, said he bor-rowed BD600 from a loan shark to pay for his father’s medical treatment and to travel to his home-country.

“My father was seriously ill and I had to go back to Nepal to see him, and I badly need-ed money. There was no way I could immediately obtain the amount I needed for my father’s treatment and air-tickets oth-er than by approaching a loan shark.

“I got loans and in three months I would end up paying an interest of about BD150. After three months I somehow man-aged to pay the whole amount

and the interest or else I would have been in a big danger.“

Benefits

Saleem, a graphic designer, working in Manama said he was approached by someone he re-cently acquainted for an amount of BD500.

“I lent BD500 to this person whom I know through a mu-

tual friend. He said he is a businessman and will return the amount with interest once he gener-ates profit, so it would be a win-win situation for both of us.

“This is basically like investing in a business. I would like to carry out such money transfers as they reap good benefits,” he said.

Solutions

Dr Mashal said that there isn’t anything real-istic the banking industry could do to offer alter-natives catering to the

vulnerable population. “A solution which involves

banks offering small loans so that the modest segment of the people can get legal loans in-stead of going to loans sharks may sound like a great idea but is unrealistic.

“There are many regulations involved and its too difficult to have a solution for this through banks. So this is something only the Ministry of Interior can tackle through the strict en-forcement of the law and crack-ing down on anyone engaged in these activities.”

Scams

Pandey highlighted recruit-ment scams through which labourers are charged huge amounts to obtain work visas in the Kingdom as one of the reasons behind the growth of loan sharks.

“These poor workers are giv-en the big amounts to obtain visa by these loan sharks, who charge hefty interest on them once they start receiving their salaries. If they refuse to pay they are threatened of dire con-sequences.”

Authorities have failed to stop illegal money lending activities in the Kingdom.

Loan sharks reign over oceans of illegal debts

Charging 120 per cent interest per year and keeping passport as collateral, how loan sharks in the Kingdom trap victims in endless debt?

Hard Bite


Plea to set up petrol pumps at fishing ports

Fishermen undertake huge risk as they transport fuel from petrol pumps to seaports

Summer season is the biggest threat, as the petrol containers may explode due to the heat and pressure. MR FARHAN

A simple cigarette thrown near the car is enough to cause a disaster. It’s not at all safe to carry petrol. MR AL BURHAMI

Any mishap could occur while they transport fuel. It would be a tragedy if they get involved in an accident. MR AL DOSSARY

• According to the fishermen, there are only two seaside fuel pumps in Bahrain located in Sitra and Muharraq.

Manama|TDTMuhannad Mansour

Sailors in Bahrain are demanding the authorities to establish seaside petrol pumps to fill their boats and

avoid the dangers that accompany the transportation of petrol gallons using their private cars from fuel stations to seaports.

This comes as a group of Bahraini fish-ermen raised the matter and warned of the hazards of improperly transporting fuel in such hot weather conditions.

Redha Farhan, a Bahraini amateur fishermen who runs an Instagram page concerned with fishing in Bahrain and is followed by around 100, 000 users, spoke to Tribune yesterday on the fish-ermen’s plea.

Mr Farhan explained that the com-plaints were mostly received by fisher-men from the northeastern coasts of the island, including Busaiteen, Samaheej, Al Dair, Hidd and Galali.

“Fishermen from these areas have to drive to fuel stations, fill huge containers of petrol and transport them in their pri-vate vehicles back to the ports, so they can fill the tanks of their boats. This is an extremely dangerous process. Anything could happen while they’re moving the petrol. Summer season is the biggest threat, as the petrol containers may explode due to the heat and pressure,” Mr Farhan said.

Conveying the fishermen’s requests, Mr Farhan called for establishing fuel

pumps to serve the fishermen in these areas, adding that “it’s safer, better and more convenient”.

Professional Fisherman Hassan Al Burhami says he sails from Karbabad coast in the northern parts of Bahrain. He claimed the fishermen of the area travel to fuel stations outside the vil-lage to fill gallons of petrol for their boats.

“We fill six 60-litre gallons of petrol for each fishing trip. The process is tough and dangerous. The gallons are heavy. As per the instructions of fuel stations, we have to fill the gallons out-side our vehicles, then we have to carry them and place them in the car again. When we reach the coast, we have to carry them again. In low tide, we have to walk in the mud and carry the gallons

for long distances so we can reach the boats. It’s an exhausting process,” Mr Al Burhami described.

He also said that because of the un-

paved roads inside the village, the fuel is leaked from the gallons because of the bumpy ride. “A simple cigarette thrown near the car is enough to cause a disas-ter,” Mr. Al Burhami commented.

According to the fishermen, there are only two seaside fuel pumps in Bahrain located in Sitra and Muharraq.

New Pumps Tribune spoke to MP Hamad Al Dos-

sary, who earlier confirmed that he sub-mitted a request to Oil Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa to establish fuel pumps at several fisher-men’s ports around the island.

Mr Al Dossary affirmed that the min-ister approved the establishment of four-five seaside petrol pumps in dif-ferent areas, including his constituency (Budaiya). The MP said he’s personally

following up on the matter and that the tenders for the projects have been offered but not awarded yet.

Speaking more on the project that’s intended to be established in Budaiya, Mr Al Dossary said it would be Bahrain’s first amphibious fuel station, serving cars and boats.

He said it would benefit more than 400 fishermen of villages located on the western and northern coasts of the Kingdom, including Malkiya, Hamala, Jasra, Budaiya and Diraz.

The MP underlined the dangers of transporting petrol containers by private cars saying, “Any mishap could occur while the fishermen transport the fuel. It would be a tragedy if they get involved in a traffic accident and the petrol spills , which is likely to happen.”

Fishermen want seaside fuel pumps similar to the ones in the picture to avoid the dangers of transporting petrol using their private cars.

Petrol gallons exposed to the heat pose threat to fishermen’s safety

Oil Minister has approved the setting up of four seaside petrol pumps

in different areas of the Kingdom.

KNOW

DID

East Hidd Town project reviewed Manama

Preparations are in full swing to open the first phase of the East Hidd Town project.

“Work on the first phase known as “Bu Shaheen Neighbourhood is nearing completion”, said Housing Minister Bassem Al Hamer.

“The rehabilitation of 498 land plots has also progressed tangibly reaching 88 per cent,” said Mr Al Hamer, adding that work to link en-trance to the first phase with the road network has so far reached 85pc.

The minister made the statement as he paid a field visit yesterday to re-view the progress of work on the East Hidd Town project, accompanied by Assistant Undersecretary for Housing

Projects Sami Abdulla Buhazaa and other officials and engineers.

The visit aims to ensure the im-plementation of the directives of His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa last May to fast-track work on the project.

The East Hidd Town is one of the key housing project which were launched to construct 25,000 units which feature in the Government Action Plan (GAP), stemming from the royal order to build 40,000 units.

The minister gave directives to step up preparations to open the “Bu Sha-heen Neighbourhood” which repre-sents the first phase of the East Hidd Town.Mr Al Hamer along with other officials review the project.


Child gangs harming $100m housing project

Children are known for

mischievous acts but these

are undesirable behaviour,

which should be stopped.MR AL ASFOOR

• The absence of security guards also enable these children to easily carry out their acts of vandalism.

TDT|Manama Abbas Al Mughanni

A torrent of vandalism unleashed by a group of children has be-gun to adversely affect a $100

million housing project in Sitra. The project has 745 housing units

and many of them now have broken window panes and damaged doors caused by pelting of stones and other objects by these children.

The absence of security guards also

enable these children to easily carry out their acts of vandalism.

Speaking to Tribune, MP Majeed Al Asfoor, lawmaker and representative of Sitra district, said it’s high time parents control these children from doing acts of vandalism.

“The project is almost over and the keys will be handed over to benefi-ciaries once the power and water con-nections are provided. Children are known for mischievous acts but these are undesirable behaviour, which should be stopped.”

He said the only solution would be to complete the distribution of units so that the families will not allow chil-dren to do such harmful acts. “These things are causing huge amounts of losses to the Housing Ministry.”

Abullah Mohammed, a former munic-

ipality employee, who has been allo-cated a housing unit in Block 609, said he was unhappy over children damag-ing his house by pelting stones. “I was waiting for the keys to be handed over and children four days ago broke the window panes of my house.”

Abdulla said it is very painful to see small children damaging the house, for which he and his family have been waiting for more than 18 years. “These children aren’t strangers. They are from our village only. How can we accept our own children harming our own houses?”

Abbas Ali, another beneficiary of the project, said the children are innocent but they are not realising the con-sequences of their behaviour. “They could be throwing stones at the houses allocated to their own close relatives.”

Hasan Ahmed, an expert in social issues, said the blame should be on parents as they are failing to take care of their children. “Emotional depri-vation of children is the biggest cause behind these acts of vandalism. If this is not addressed now they might end up doing much worse things for the society.”

Hasan said that with the advent of technological world, parents are often forgetting to take care of their chil-dren. “No parent these days engage in conversations at length with their children. None at home got time to teach moral values to children.

“It’s not about breaking window panes, but what matters is how these children can become good citizens of tomorrow when they go against social values?”

Broken window pane after a group of children threw stones on a housing unit. The project in Sitra has 745 housing units.

Call to fine parents as children damage park facilities TDT|Manama Abbas Al Mughanni

A call has gone out to fine the parents of chil-dren who vandalise facilities at gardens and parks across the Kingdom.

The parks and gardens, about 200 of them, are maintained by the government after spending mil-lions of dinars, according to sources.

Speaking to Tribune, Muharraq Municipal Council chairman Mohammed Al Sinan said the council was planning to fine parents starting with BD50 for acts of vandalism carried out by their children.

“A child does not understand and does not know what he is doing, but the parents can’t escape from their children’s undesirable behaviour. Undoubted-ly, the parents should be fined if they don’t watch their children at parks and gardens.”

He said there are plans to install CCTV cameras at parks to monitor children who are damaging gaming facilities.

Northern Municipal council chairman Moham-med Bouhmoud said parents should exercise more caution to stop such behaviors from the part of children.

Refusing the idea of increasing the number of security guards at parks, Mr Bouhmoud said, “If we

deploy security guards parks will not be parks. We don’t want to take children to Public Prosecution. What we want is the cooperation from the part of parents.”

Citizen Jassim Ahmed said he doesn’t understand how parents are tolerating their children who de-stroy public properties. “Parents should guide their children properly against doing such acts.”

Amina Hassan, a mother, welcomed the proposal to fine parents. “It will lead to parents controlling their children. Or else some children are capable of destroying all parks in the Kingdom.”

A child doesn’t understand what he is doing, but

the parents can’t escape from

their children’s undesirable behaviour.

MR AL SINAN

We don’t want to take children

to Public Prosecution.

What we want is the cooperation from the part of

parents.MR BOUHMOUDChildren many a time end up destroying gaming facilities at parks.


Welfare schemes to usher in urbanisation • HRH the Premier commended the efforts exerted by the Southern Governor to follow up on the needs of the governorate and keenness to meet them, praising the distinguished initiatives he launched to serve the local citizens.

Manama

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa

has stressed that the ultimate goal of the government’s programmes is to ensure the requirements of stability and welfare for the Bah-raini citizens.

“We are working on completing the services for all governorates, and the government is keen to ensure that its projects cover all towns and villages, within the kingdom’s comprehensive devel-opment strategy,” he said.

HRH the Prime Minister was speaking while receiving Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister, Essam Khalaf, and Southern Governor, HH Shai-kh Khalifa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, at the Gudaibiya Palace yesterday.

HRH the Premier was briefed

about the health centre project in Khalifa Town and events hall project in Al Dour.

The Prime Minister asserted that under the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the kingdom is witness-ing a growing urban development process coupled with high-level services delivered by the govern-ment to the citizens and residents.

The Prime Minister expressed satisfaction with the progress made in the service projects wit-nessed by the Southern Gover-norate in the educational, health and housing fields, which will fulfill the aspirations of the cit-izens there.

The Premier was briefed by the minister and the governor about the Khalifa Town’s health-

centre project, which includes 15 consulting clinics, a 14-bed emergency unit, a laboratory, a radiology section, a pharmacy, eight dental clinics, a maternity ward and a child education and care section.

HRH Premier was also in-formed about the designs of the events hall in Al Dour, which will cover 2023 square metres, with a built area of 730 square metres.

Designed according to distin-guished Bahraini architecture, the hall will be constructed in 18 months, and will include all ser-vices.

The Prime Minister gave di-rectives to implement the two projects in record time accord-ing to the highest quality levels, stressing the importance of con-

structing more events halls and community facilities that foster communication among members of the Bahraini society.

HRH Premier commended the efforts exerted by the Southern Governor to follow up on the needs of the governorate and keenness to meet them, prais-ing the distinguished initiatives he launches to serve the local citizens.

The Prime Minister also praised the strenuous efforts being made by the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning to imple-ment the government’s sus-tainable development policies through the projects it is cur-rently implementing across the kingdom.

HRH the Premier reviews progress of healthcare project in Khalifa Town in the presence of Shaikh Khalifa and Mr Khalaf.

Sacked employee ordered to settle loan with company TDT|Manama Ali Tarif

The High Labour Court ordered a Bahraini

employee to pay BD33,740 to a local company which loaned him the money to build his house, but sacked him for failing to report to work for five consecutive days.

The Bahraini man was serving in the compa-ny since 2014 and he was earning a monthly salary of BD1,315 from the company.

He is said to have taken a loan of BD57,800 to con-struct his house.

However, he was sacked in December 2015 for not attending the work for five days in a row without a valid reason.

Both parties have ex-changed filing lawsuits against each other, as the employee was demanding a compensation for what he called an unjustified dis-missal.

According to his lawyer, the employee was absent because he was in deten-tion, and he tried to resume his duties as soon as he was released from jail.

The High Labour Court ruled that the company must pay BD975 to the em-ployee for terminating his contract. But he was also ordered to return the money he borrowed from the com-pany to build his house.

Doctor convicted of embezzlement appeals verdict

• The accused is said to have bagged medicines worth BD9,868 between 2015 and 2016.

TDT|Manama Ali Tarif

A Bahraini medical doc-tor convicted of pre-scribing medicines

from a public pharmacy in bad faith has appealed against one year sentence.

The defendant was earlier sentenced to one year in pris-on, but her punishment was replaced with social service.

However, her keenness to clear herself from wrongdoing saw her appealing her verdict before the High Appeals Court, which decided to review her case on 18th September 2018.

The Bahraini woman was put on trial after a pharmacist serving at a public pharmacy accused her of misconduct.

The pharmacist was in charge of dispensing medi-cines prescribed by doctors for patients and he notified her superiors that the physician was issuing medication in bad faith.

“She was prescribing cer-tain types of medicines to her patients and tell them to come back to her after they obtain them from the hospital phar-macy. And she would later

seize some of them under the pretext that they weren’t suit-able for them now,” the phar-macist told prosecutors earlier.

“She also gave prescriptions for children containing medi-cines for adults. When I asked her why she was issuing med-ication that exceeds patients’ needs, she replied ‘good you notified me’,” he revealed.

“I also noticed that she was forging the prescriptions on the system to show the pa-tients, in fact, received two types of medicines,” he con-tinued.

The doctor was referred to the Public Prosecution after a commission of inquiry probed her case, and confirmed the wrongdoing.

The defendant was accused of seizing the medicines and sell them in her own private clinic. She is said to have bagged BD9,868 worth of medicine between 2015 and 2016.

She was prescribing certain types of medicines to her patients and tell

them to come back to her after they obtain them from the hospital

pharmacy. WITNESS

Students excel in Pakistan board exams As many as 131

students from Pakistan Urdu

School appeared for SSC II annual exam-inations in which 100 per cent quali-fied in the science stream, while for arts group, the passing percentage for girls was 94.74pc and boys 78.26pc.

Aysha Amjad Dua E Zahra Fatima Shakeel Sundus M. Shabbir

Mohammed Waleed Khawaja Muhammad Salman Mushtaq Arsal Rizwan Khushboo Maseera Abrar

Faiza Farooq Maram Amir Zia Mohammad Ibrahim Hamza Faisal Ammar Abdullah

07

business


MOHAMED ABDULLA ISA

Karak Break!

Happened on a Kuwaiti beach!

Yes, it happened on 17 February 2017 at Salmiya Beach in Kuwait. I was walking on the white sands enjoying the

sound of waves and the cool breeze playing with my hair. OK, I admit. I exaggerated. My picture above says it all. Seriously speaking, it was a great break away from the corporate world. Until I heard that unique sound, the iPhone makes every time you receive an email. I hoped it was not a spam email. On the contrary, it was a superb email.

When I finished the first draft of my book “Chai Karak: A Customer Service Story,” I sent it to several customer service experts asking them for reviews. I received more than a dozen testimonials, but one indeed stood out. It was from Amy Castro. She is a communication expert based in Texas, USA. Her words were music to my ears.

Here is what she said in her email: “May I ask about the audience for your book? If your audi-

ence is or includes primary English speakers, may I also offer assistance with a few simple edits for the reader whose first language is English to help ensure your book shines in the best light … Please let me know. I do not want to offend or overstep my boundaries, only to help.”

She blew me away. Amy did not know me at that time. She did not have to read the book or provide me with a review. I merely asked for a favor. She sought my permission to see if she could offer editing suggestions to make my book better. Of course, go for it. You are my hero! I continued to enjoy the cool breeze at the beach. I felt happy. My book is getting better and better. But then I thought, maybe, I should make it easier for Amy to make the suggestions. I sent another email saying: “If you wish, I could send you the Word file.” She delighted me more when she informed me she converted the PDF into Word and started the editing process.

This is an extract from another email from her on the same day: “I had a chance to read your book and write a review. I enjoyed your story and reading about your journey. It illustrates customer service shortfalls that so many organizations are blind to. Thank you for sharing it with me.” Did you notice that she thanked for sharing the book with her? What a spirit! Let’s put this story in perspective. I was not a customer. I did not pay any fees. And yet, I received outstanding service from Amy.

Let’s all provide great service like the impressive Amy Castro. Mohamed Isa is an Award-Winning Speaker & Best-Selling

Author. Reach him at [email protected].

Alba sales, production surge in second quarter• Production topped 252,081 metric tonnes (mt), up by 23 per cent year-on-year

• Value-added sales averaged 60 per cent of total shipments versus 61 per cent in Q2, 2017

TDT| Manama

Despite the market vola-tility and trade tensions, Aluminium Bahrain

(Alba) has closed the second quarter of 2018 by achieving the best-ever production and metal sales’ volume, the company said in a statement yesterday.

Production topped 252,081 metric tonnes (mt), up by 23 per cent year-on-year (YoY), while sales’ volume jumped by 19 per cent YoY to reach 249,595 mt versus 210,157 mt in Q2 2017. Value-added sales averaged 60

per cent of total shipments ver-sus 61 per cent in Q2 2017.

For the first half of 2018, pro-duction throughput reached 511,480 mt versus 453,395 mt in H1 2017 (up by 13 per cent YoY) while sales volume increased by 48,143 mt to top 501,232 mt year-to-date.

Commenting on Alba’s opera-tional performance in Q2 2018, Alba’s Chief Executive Officer,

Tim Murray, said: “Thanks to our resilience, we have bounced-back stronger with double-digit increase in our production and sales volume. We aim to con-tinue with the same momentum we kicked-off this year to finish 2018 stronger.” Alba will release its second quarter 2018 finan-cial results to the public on July 23, 2018 as well as upload the IR presentation on its investor

relations section at www.albas-melter.com.

Alba’s Line 6 expansion pro-ject is one of the largest brown-field developments in the re-gion. Expected to begin pro-duction by January 1, 2019, this project will boost the smelter’s per-annum output by 540,000 mts, bringing its total produc-tion capacity to 1.5 million met-ric tonnes per year.

Tim Murray Alba will increase total production capacity to 1.5 million metric tonnes per year

GFH’s Indian township project inaugurated TDT| Manama

GFH Financial Group (GFH) yesterday announced that its

Indian subsidiary, in conjunc-tion with The Wadhwa Group, one of regional leading develop-ers in Indian state of Maharash-tra, has inaugurated Wadhwa Wise City, an integrated town-ship project in Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area (NAINA) at Panvel, India.

The Wise City, which qual-ifies for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) urban scheme, will open phase one of the project with 5,500 afforda-ble homes in a joint develop-ment between Wadhwa Group and Valuable Properties Pvt Ltd, the Indian subsidiary of GFH. The City has received strong market response with more than 900 units sold during the pre-launch phase itself.

Most customers were first time home buyers and the pro-ject is expected to make Panvel the most sought-after region for affordable housing. Wise

City will offer a unique propo-sition of efficient Studios and 1 and 2- bedroom apartments that will be constructed in various phases. Out of the total land holdings of Valuable Properties, the Wadhwa Group is planning to develop 138 acres at the first phase where all project approv-als are in place.

“In Panvel, the most coveted township Wadhwa Wise City has now been launched. With this launch, an affordable hous-ing stock is being made available at the Wise City. The project

has considered all amenities required for common citizens and the township will be wiser and smarter. With this, more developers will come to this belt,” said Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, who presided over the inaugural ceremony.

The project supports the In-dian government’s mission of ‘Housing for All’. Maharashtra government is working to fulfil its target of one million afforda-ble houses in the Mumbai Met-ropolitan Region by 2022.

The Wadhwa Group and Valuable Properties officials during the inauguration of the township project

KNOW WHAT

The Wise City is a joint development project of Wadhwa Group and Valuable Properties, a unit of

GFH

Batelco, Entertainer launch co-branded mobile app

TDT| Manama

Batelco has renewed its partnership agreement

with the Entertainer, the lead-ing provider of loyalty and reward solutions, to deliver benefits for Batelco customers. The co-branded mobile App, gives Batelco customers easy access to a wide range of “Buy One Get One Free” offers from merchants across the King-dom and hotel offers around the globe. Batelco is the only telecom company in Bahrain

to collaborate with the Enter-tainer and publish the mobile App with “Buy One Get One Free” offers in restaurants, At-tractions & Leisure, Beauty & Fitness, hotel accommodation etc. Batelco A/General Man-ager Consumer Division Maha Abdulrahman and Entertainer Strategic Partnerships Man-ager Conor Hyland signed the agreement in the presence of Global Head of Partnerships - Telecommunications Alberto Platas, during a recent meeting at Batelco’s headquarters.

Batelco A/General Manager Consumer Division Maha Abdulrahman and Entertainer Strategic Partnerships Manager Conor Hyland sign the agreement

Mazar Rashid Jalal who was has been appointed as the new General Manager (GM) of Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB). Mazar will lead the compliance and governance department of BisB

Yousif Ali Mirza, CrediMax CE, A. Moneem Al Ameer, Al Meer Group partner – board member, Jalal Al Ameer, General Manager and CrediMax officials during a signing ceremony at CrediMax headquarters. CrediMax has joined hands with Al Muntazah Markets to provide MaxWallet payment solution to its loyal customers


The Board of Directors of the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF) with Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain during its fourth general meeting of the year. The BIBF is planning to construct 23,000 square building at Bahrain Bay to provide the best facilities for learners. Ground-breaking is expected to start by the end of this year.

A.M. Best affirms gig-Bahrain rating• gig-Bahrain’s rating affirmed A- (Excellent). Its long-term issuer credit rating also affirmed at “a-” with the outlook stable

• The rating reflects strong balance sheet strength, strong operating performance as well as appropriate risk management

TDT| Manama

A.M. Best Internation-al has affirmed the fi-nancial strength rating

of Bahrain Kuwait Insurance Company (gig-Bahrain) at A- (Excellent). It also affirmed the long-term issuer credit rating at “a-” with the outlook for both ratings as stable, a press release has said.

After the periodic review of the company’s business performance, A.M. Best con-

firmed that the rating reflects gig-Bahrain’s strong balance sheet strength, the strong op-erating performance as well as an appropriate enterprise risk management.

Ebrahim Al Rayes, CEO of gig-Bahrain, stated that the rating reflects the financial strength of the company and its ability to meet its obliga-tions. He added that despite the increase in underwriting and investment risks resulting from the acquisition of controlling stake of Takaful International

Company B.S.C. (TIC) during the first half of 2017, gig-Bah-rain’s consolidated capital po-sition is sufficiently robust to absorb the increased capital requirements.

Al Rayes also mentioned that gig-Bahrain will continue to maintain a leading positon in Bahrain’s insurance mar-ket, which has been further strengthened following acquisi-tion of TIC and a strong position in Kuwait.

Bahrain Kuwait Insurance Company is a subsidiary of Gulf Insurance Group (GIG) which is the largest insurance Group in Kuwait in terms of written and retained premiums, with op-erations in life and non-life as well as Takaful insurance. Gulf Insurance has become one of the largest insurance networks in the Middle East and North Africa with companies in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, Bahrain, Emirates, Turkey and Kuwait.

KIPCO – Kuwait Projects Company – is Gulf Insurance Group’s largest shareholder, followed by the Canadian-based Fairfax Financial Holding Ltd.

Ebrahim Al-Rayes

NBB migrates to Cloud

TDT| Manama

National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has successfully

completed the first phase of its cloud adoption with the migra-tion of its website (nbbonline.com) to Amazon Web Services (AWS). This comes as NBB ac-celerates its digital transfor-mation, with plans underway to migrate the bank’s intranet and online banking platform to the cloud. Infonas, an AWS Standard Consulting Partner, undertook the migration of the website.

“We’re delighted to be lead-ing Bahrain’s financial institu-tions into the cloud era. This move forms part of NBB’s strate-gic approach to cloud adoption and a broader digital transfor-mation at the Bank that is cur-rently underway and aims to drive change, achieve greater

operational efficiencies and en-hance customer satisfaction. Through this migration, NBB also reinforces its support for the Government’s Cloud-First Policy, which seeks to raise the efficiency of provisioning ser-

vices while increasing secu-rity, resiliency and agility for the benefit of Bahrain and its citizens,” said Yaser Alsharifi, Chief Strategy Officer at NBB.

“For banks and financial institutions, the cloud today reduces barriers to innovation, enabling them to transform how services are delivered to customers. NBB is making a strong commitment to trans-forming and modernizing and we looking forward to continu-ing to support them as they fur-ther leverage cloud technology to innovate and bring new ex-periences to better serve cus-tomers,” said Zubin Chagpar,

Head of Public Sector, Middle East and Africa, AWS.

AWS is the leading global Cloud computing platform and is soon opening new data-centers in Bahrain, which are expected to go live in 2019.

(From left) Richard Hicks, Chief Marketing Officer at NBB, Ahmed Al-Sawafiri, Business Development Programme Manager at AWS, Yaser Alsharifi, Chief Strategy Officer at NBB, Ali Khalil from Infonas and Amgad Sami, Digital Marketing Manager at NBB

The move is part of NBB’s strategic approach to cloud

adoption and a broader digital transformation

thataims to drive change, achieve

operational efficiencies and

enhance customer satisfaction

YASER ALSHARIFI

Pakistan may seek IMF bailout: Analysts AFP| Islamabad

Pakistan’s next government, to be chosen in a July 25

election, faces growing fears of a balance of payments crisis with speculation it will have to seek its second IMF bailout in five years, analysts say.

The central bank is running down its foreign reserves and devaluing the currency in a bid to bridge a yawning trade defi-cit, and the winners of the July 25 election will have “limited time” to act, Fitch ratings agen-cy said on July 2.

Together, the economic chal-lenges are “horrendous”, said Ashfaque Hasan Khan, an ana-lyst and former financial advi-sor to the Pakistan government.

“The most important (chal-lenge) will be how to protect Pakistan’s balance of payments, how to build Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves and how to fix its fiscal position,” he told

AFP. Plagued for years by Is-lamist militancy, Pakistan -- a rapidly growing country of some 207 million people -- has been battling to get its shaky economy back on track and end a years-long chronic energy cri-

sis that has crippled industry.Confidence had grown slight-

ly in recent years, with security improving and the IMF claim-ing in October last year that the country had emerged from crisis after completing its post-2013 bailout programme.

The previous government of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif attempted to ease the power shortages, enact struc-tural reforms and improve the creaky infrastructure which had hampered growth.

China has also made progress on an ambitious multi-billion dollar infrastructure project -- the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) -- linking its western province of Xinjiang to the Arabian Sea via Pakistan.

But growth has not been as fast as many hoped. The econ-omy grew by 5.8 percent during 2017-18, its fastest since 2005 but still missing a government target by 0.2 percent.

A Pakistani man walks past a currency exchange shop in Islamabad. - AFP

Tycoon Vijay Mallya shrugs off threat of British asset seizuresIndia wants to extradite the former liquor baron from Britain to face fraud charges as banks seek to recover $1 billion loans

Reuters| Silverstone

Embattled Indian tycoon Vi-jay Mallya said yesterday

he will comply fully with court enforcement officers seeking to seize his British assets, but there was not much for them to take as his family’s lavish residences were not in his name.

India wants to extradite the 62-year-old former liquor bar-on from Britain to face charges of fraud as a group of Indian banks seek to recover more than $1 billion of loans granted to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines. A verdict is expected by early September, with July 31 the final date for closing oral submissions and appeals likely whatever the

outcome. Speaking to Reuters at the British Formula One Grand Prix, where he is principal and co-owner of the Force India team, Mallya said he would hand over British assets held in his

name. But a luxury country res-idence belonged to his children and a house in London belonged to his mother, making them un-touchable. “I have given the UK court on affidavit a statement of my UK assets. Which, pursuant to the freezing order, they are entitled to take and hand over to the banks,” he said. “There’s a few cars, a few items of jew-ellery and I said ‘OK, fine. You don’t have to bother to come to my house to seize them. I’ll physically hand them over. Tell me the time, date and place.’”

“There’s no question of being homeless because at the end of the day, they are entitled to take my assets in my name declared on oath to the court. They can’t

go one step beyond,” he said.

‘Fugitive’Mallya said a super-yacht he used for entertaining at races in Monaco and Abu Dhabi, which was recently sold at auction in Malta after a dispute over un-paid crew wages, was not his problem either.

“I have not owned the Indian Empress boat for more than sev-en years now,” he said. It had be-longed to “a Middle Eastern gen-tleman”, whose name he would not disclose, in a deal that gave Mallya use of it for one month a year, he said. Mallya has been in Britain since he left India in March 2016, unable to travel af-ter his passport was revoked, so

the annual British Grand Prix is the only race he has been able to attend since then. The Indian government’s Enforcement Di-rectorate, which fights financial crimes, is seeking to declare him a “fugitive economic offender” and to confiscate 125 billion ru-pees worth of his assets. Mallya has denied the charges, decried a “political witchhunt” and has said he is seeking to sell assets worth about 139 billion rupees ($2.04 billion) to repay credi-tors.“I think the overriding con-sideration that everybody seems to be missing is that I have put $2 billion worth of assets in front of a high court which is more than sufficient to repay the banks and indeed everybody else,” he said .

Vijay Mallya

KNOW WHAT

A verdict in the asset seizure case is expect-ed by early September,

with July 31 the final date for closing oral submissions and ap-peals likely whatever

the outcome

Gulf markets post gains• Alba gained 0.8pc after reporting rise in sales and output of 19pc and 23pc, respectively in Q2

Reuters| Dubai

Gulf stock markets were up yesterday, reflecting gains in world stocks last

week after the threat of tariffs by the United States and China on billions of dollars of trade became a reality.

The Saudi index gained 0.6 percent, with shares in retailer Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair Co rebounding 3.9 percent from heavy losses last week, when it reported a drop in annual profit and announced it would close up to 75 stores.

Retail giant Almarai report-ed profit of 660.6 million riyals ($176 million) for the second quarter, 2 percent down from 674.1 million riyals in the previ-ous period of last year, blaming a downturn in the market in part for its weaker than expected earnings. Shares in the company, which had fallen 4.5 percent in

the week before the results, rose 1.4 percent on Sunday.

The launch of value added tax (VAT) in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates has impacted the retail market in those two countries.

“VAT has squeezed the pur-chasing power of consumers and as a result affected the retail market,” said Jassim al-Jabran, senior analyst at AlJazira Cap-ital. “For Almarai, the main im-pact has been on its dairy seg-

ment because of the competition it was facing forcing it to reduce prices.”

Insurance companies contin-ued to be among the best per-formers in the Saudi exchange, still benefiting from expecta-tions of a surge in business after women started driving in the kingdom last month.

United Cooperative Assur-ance Company was the best per-former, gaining 5.7 percent.

In Dubai, where the index was

up 0.2 percent, Amanat Hold-ings was the company that post-ed the largest gains as it jumped 6.7 percent. The investment firm said last week that it has agreed to acquire Middlesex Univer-sity’s campus in Dubai, which is partly owned by embattled private equity company Abraaj.

Ajman Bank added 0.4 percent after announcing a net profit of 45 million dirhams ($12.25 million) in the second quarter of this year, up from 29.3 million

last year.Dubai’s contractor Drake &

Scull International (DSI) , one of the worst-performing stocks on the Dubai index, lost 0.3 percent.

The company has been lag-ging because of concerns about its financial position, business outlook and the outcome of an investigation into “violations” by previous management.

In Bahrain, Aluminium Bah-rain gained 0.8 percent after re-porting a second quarter annual increase in sales and production of 19 percent and 23 percent, respectively. The Bahraini in-dex added 0.4 percent. In Qatar, stocks in financial institutions posted gains ahead of second quarter results disclosures, ex-pected to start later this week.


Closing BellSAUDI 0.6% »8,223

DUBAI 0.2% »2,885

ABU DHABI 0.3% » 4,615

QATAR 0.7% » 9,325

KUWAIT 1.4% » 5,254

BAHRAIN 0.4% » 1,336

OMAN 0.1% » 4,520

EGYPT 1.8% » 15,840

Bahrain stock market index added 0.4 per cent yesterday.- Reuters (File photo)

‘Saudi Arabia increased oil output’Reuters| Abu Dhabi

Saudi Arabia has told OPEC it pumped 10.488 million

barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil last month, an increase of 458,000 bpd from the level it said it produced in May, OPEC sources told Reuters.

Saudi Arabia’s total supplies to the market in June were even

higher than well-head produc-tion, the sources said, suggest-ing the Kingdom sold crude from storage.

The sources said Saudi Ara-bia supplied 10.579 million bpd in June, a figure that includes domestic consumption and all exports, including from storage tanks. Consultants Kpler esti-mated the kingdom’s oil exports rose by 407,000 bpd in June to 7.62 million bpd compared with May. OPEC agreed with Russia and other oil-producing allies last month to raise output from July, with Saudi Arabia pledg-ing a “measurable” supply boost

but giving no specific numbers.U.S. President Donald Trump

on Wednesday again accused the Organization of the Petro-leum Exporting Countries of driving gasoline prices high-er and urged the oil producer group to do more.

Saudi King Salman bin Ab-dulaziz Al Saud assured Trump that the kingdom can raise oil production if needed and that the country has 2 million bar-rels per day of spare capacity that could be deployed to help cool oil prices to compensate for falling output in Venezuela and Iran.

US President Donald Trump has urged urged the oil producers group Opec to pump more oil into the market

OPEC agreed with Russia and other

oil-producing allies last month to raise output from July, with Saudi Arabia

pledging a “measur-able” supply boost

but giving no specific numbers

KNOW WHAT

‘Hard’ Brexit could see Philips quit Britain: CEOAFP| The Hague

Dutch electronics giant Philips warned yesterday

it may shift production out of Britain in the event of a “hard” Brexit, saying it was “deeply concerned about competitive-ness” of its operations there.

The Amsterdam-based group employs some 1,500 people in Britain, most no-tably at its baby care prod-ucts-for-export factory at Glemsford in Suffolk.

“I am deeply concerned about the competitiveness of our operations in the UK, espe-cially our manufacturing oper-ations,” Philips chief executive Frans van Houten said.

“We estimate that the cost of the (Philips’) exported prod-ucts will increase substantially under any scenario that is not maintaining the single customs union,” he said in a statement emailed to AFP. Any changes in current free trade agreements, the single customs union and current EU product certifica-tions “is a serious threat to the

competitiveness of this facto-ry,” Van Houten added, say-ing “we need to do worst case scenario planning.”Philips is the latest company in a cho-rus of major industrial players -- which also includes Jaguar Land Rover, BMW and Airbus -- to warn about the negative impact of an acrimonious split between the UK and EU.

“At the moment we are con-sidering all scenarios, includ-ing one in which there is a so-called ‘hard Brexit’,” Philips spokesman Steve Klink said.

I am deeply concerned about the competitiveness of our operations in the UK, especially

our manufacturing operationsFRANS VAN HOUTEN

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Wall Street to tune in for trade impact this profit seasonReuters| Washington

With the United States and China finally formalising

tit-for-tat import tariffs, Wall Street is gearing up to dissect US corporate earnings in the com-ing weeks for signs of a trade war impact and whether it will affect spending plans.

Investors worry the trade conflict with China, the United States’ largest trading partner, could make companies delay plans for capital expenditures, which jumped in the first quar-ter after the late December U.S. tax overhaul that included mas-sive tax cuts for corporations.

The United States and China slapped duties on $34 billion worth of each others’ imports on Friday, escalating their con-flict and suggesting there was little sign the trade dispute will soon end.

Machinery, aerospace and other industrial names have been among the hardest hit.

S&P 500 industrials have fall-en more than 5 percent since March 1, when U.S. President Donald Trump said he would impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminium, while the S&P 500 has risen more than 1 percent in that period.

Following the tax package ap-

proval, expectations were high that companies would ramp up not just buybacks and dividends but capital spending in 2018, said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial

in Newark, New Jersey.“What we’re hearing from a

number of CFOs is if the trade issue continues to dominate the headlines and create even more uncertainty, those plans may be on hold,” she said.

In the first quarter, year-over-year S&P 500 capital expend-iture growth was the highest since 2011, according to S&P Dow Jones data.

Strategists at DataTrek Re-search in New York said in a re-cent note the “primary planning headache” for corporate man-agers in the second half of the year will come from uncertainty related to trade and tariffs.Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange . Reuters (File photo)

$34bnworth of each others’ imports were slapped

duties on Friday, escalating US and China conflict and suggesting there was little sign the dispute will soon end

Alitalia on right track, says officialAFP| Rome

The Italian airline Ali-talia which went into

administration last May has seen a rise in passen-ger turnover for the second month in a row, one of its bosses said yesterday.

The results prove the company “is on the right track,” said Luigi Gubitosi, who was appointed by the government in May 2017 along with two others to steer the company then threatened with bankrupt-cy.

“We end the month of June with a growth of 10.6 percent in passenger numbers after a 7.6 percent growth in May,” he told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

“Over the second quar-ter, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and am-ortisation (EBITDA) will be balanced after a loss of 100 million last year.”

Egypt’s trade deficit up 4.1pc at $3.32 bn in AprilEgypt Today| Cairo

Egypt’s trade deficit in-creased 4.1 percent dur-

ing April 2018, recording $3.32 billion, compared to $3.19 billion in the same month of 2017, according to the state statistics agency CAPMAS.

In March, Egypt marked a trade deficit of $3.40 billion, compared to $3.19 billion in the same month of 2017, with an increase of 6.2 per-cent.

Planning Minister Hala al-Saeed said in February that Egypt’s trade deficit de-clined 15.7 percent year-on-year in the first half of fiscal year 2017/18, dropping from $21.7 billion to $18.3 billion.

In its monthly bulletin on foreign trade data, CAPMAS said that exports increased 3.7 percent to reach $2.26 billion during the month of 2018, compared to $2.18 billion during the month of 2017. The bulletin attribut-ed the increase of exports to the jump in the exports of some goods, such fresh orange, increasing by 27.9 percent, readymade gar-ments (2 percent), plastic (101.2 percent) and miscel-laneous edible preparations (14.7 percent).

THE EYE OF A HUMAN BEING IS A MICROSCOPE, WHICH MAKES THE WORLD SEEM BIGGER THAN IT REALLY IS.KHALIL GIBRAN

QUOTE OF THE DAY


Hon. Chairman Najeb Yacob Alhamer | Editor-in-Chief Mahmood AI Mahmood | Deputy Chief Editor Ahdeya Ahmed | Chairman & Managing Editor P Unnikrishnan | Advertisement: Update Media W.L.L | Tel: 17579900, Fax 17256470, Email: [email protected] | Newsroom: Tel: 17579911, Email: [email protected] & circulation: Tel: 38444692/17579877 | Email:[email protected] | Website: www.newsofbahrain.com | Printed and published by Al Ayam Publishing

ENRIQUE KRAUZE

“The third time is the one that counts” is a fa-mous Mexican saying

that Andrés Manuel López Obra-dor repeated often during his re-cent presidential campaign. Those words carried him to win with 53 per cent of the vote, according to a quick count carried out by the National Electoral Institute.

López Obrador lost the 2006 presidential race by a wafer-thin and controversial margin, lost again in 2012 and still contin-ued his democratic pursuit of the highest elected office. He trav-elled the country, town by town, establishing a close, magnetic, almost religious relationship with the Mexican people. This bond is the root and reason for his victory. Mexicans who are fed up with the country’s problems value the manner in which AMLO, as he is known, has succeeded in chan-nelling the discontent of tens of millions of people and their hopes

for what he calls “a true change.”López Obrador’s programme

has been the target of ample crit-icism, yet it contains a potential power that he will now have the chance to put into action. But beyond policy objectives, what our great country calls for (and what the world expects from us) is something much more transcendent than the victory of a leftist leader. Confronting a Unit-ed States government that has lost its moral compass, Mexico can embody a democracy marked by peace and social justice, achieved not by authoritarian methods but within the frame of a modern state, respectful of institutions, the rule of law and civil liberties.

Mexico’s ancestral problems are poverty and social inequality. Another problem is corruption, which may seem new but is not. Corruption was hidden in the past. Now the media and new institutions of transparency have put it on full display. Mexicans, aggrieved by the impunity handed to the corrupt, are showing zero tolerance.

The problem that has most di-rectly disturbed our families is criminal violence, which is be-ing perpetrated to a degree the

country has not experienced for a century, since the upheavals of the Mexican Revolution. Since 2000, more than 250,000 people

have died as a result of organized crime. Many people blame the state, arguing it has abdicated its responsibility to provide security

for its citizens.Some outstanding elements of

López Obrador’s social project are cash transfers to adults over

Trump’s preoccupation

with foreigners ‘taking

advantage’ of Americans

could still usher in an Australian-style future

DAVID T SMITH

The Trump administration re-treated last month when faced with outrage over its separa-

tion of refugee and migrant families at the Mexican border. President Donald Trump said he hated taking children away from their parents, and soon abandoned his claim that only Congress could stop it.

Such a reversal is hard to imagine here in Australia, where the ruthless deterrence of asylum-seekers has provided a template for other coun-tries in an era of hardened attitudes. Australia does not separate the chil-dren of “unauthorised arrivals” from their parents, but it does detain en-tire families in horrible conditions, sometimes for years.

Because these families are held in prison like centers on islands hundreds of miles away, Australians rarely get to see the kinds of images that provoked widespread anger in America. But even if we did, it is unlikely that public opinion or gov-ernment policy would change. We Australians understand, and many of us accept, that discouraging mi-grants from landing on our shores means cruelty.

Deterrence is a seductive policy. It promises a sense of security and sovereignty in return for atrocious

costs on a relatively small number of people, people often stigmatized as lawbreakers who need to be stopped for their own safety.

The only way to deter people desperate enough to risk death on their journey to a new country is to threaten them with conditions worse than the ones they fled. The United States has so far been unwilling to do this explicitly, and Americans seem unprepared to face the human consequences of such an approach.

But if political leaders in the Unit-ed States keep talking about a hu-manitarian crisis as nothing more than a violation of America’s laws, Americans could become inured to the suffering of migrants and more receptive to brutality. Trump’s pre-occupation with foreigners “taking advantage” of Americans could still usher in an Australian-style future.

Australia has imposed mandatory detention on immigrants without valid visas since 1992. The govern-ment of Prime Minister John How-ard toughened this policy in 2001 with the “Pacific Solution.” Under this system, asylum-seekers arriving by boat cannot apply for protection visas in Australia. Instead they are taken to detention centers in the island country of Nauru or, until recently, on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea while their claims are examined. Since 2013, it has been government policy that they cannot be resettled in Australia.

And while they wait to be pro-cessed, they languish in conditions that are often horrifying. A United

Nations report from 2017 cites iso-lation, overcrowding and limited access to basic services on Manus and Nauru, along with “allegations of sexual abuse by the service pro-viders” and continuing reports of self-harm and suicide.

This year, the Department of Home Affairs contested a federal court order that a 10-year-old who repeatedly attempted suicide on Na-uru must be brought to Australia for treatment. In 2015, the United Na-tions special rapporteur on torture found that Australia’s processing centers violated the rights of asy-lum-seekers to be free from torture. The prime minister at the time, Tony Abbott, responded that Australians were “sick of being lectured to by the United Nations.”

About 80 per cent of the asy-lum-seekers detained on Nauru and Manus are ultimately found to be

refugees. But with no prospect of ever being allowed into Australia, hundreds decide to return to their countries of origin. Australia has sought other locations for resettle-ment, including Cambodia and the United States. Canberra has so far refused offers by New Zealand to resettle refugees, arguing that this option would be too appealing to asylum-seekers.

Almost no boats have arrived in

Australia since 2014, though the Australian government has turned back an unknown number at sea. There are still some 225 people in detention on Nauru, and an esti-mated 515 in “transition centers” on Manus Island.

Some of Australia’s politicians openly defend the brutality of de-terrence policies. For many years, they have preferred to talk about “people smugglers” rather than asy-

Demonising refugees: The Australian experience Warnings by the Trump

administration that criminals use children to exploit legal

loopholes would sound familiar to Australians, whose government once claimed that asylum-seekers threw children into the sea to force the navy

to take them to Australia.

Mexico deserves Obrador The new president established an almost religious bond with the Mexican people, which will prompt a new epoch

Presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, of the MORENA party, flashes the victory sign as he arrives to vote at a polling station during general elections in Mexico City, Mexico, Sunday, July 1, 2018.

F O R T H E R E C O R D

Hottest March

The Meteorological Directorate re-ported in their monthly weather summary that the month of March

was the hottest March ever experienced in Bahrain since 1902.

The mean temperature of the month was 35.7°C which is 3.3°C above the long-term normal and goes on record as the highest mean temperatures for the month of June since 1902. The old record was 35.2°C in June 2009.

The mean maximum temperature of the month was 39.9°C which is 3.5°C above the long-term normal and goes on record as the third highest mean maximum tem-peratures for the month of June since 1946 and exceeded by June 1999 with a record of 40.2°C and June 2009 with a record of 40.0°C.

1850U.S. President Zachary Taylor dies in office at the age of 65. He is succeeded by Millard Fill-more.

1900The Commonwealth of Australia is established by an act of British Parliament, uniting the separate colonies under a federal government.

1942Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the attic above her father’s office in an Amsterdam warehouse.

1971The United States turns over complete responsibility of the Demilitarized Zone to South Vietnamese units.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY


TOP

4TWEETS

04

02

03

01

You wanted to make history @England

and you are doing just that. This has been an in-credible #WorldCup run and we’ve enjoyed every minute. You deserve this moment – Football’s Coming Home!

@KensingtonRoyal

Despite the (sadly ef-fective) attempts by

Big Oil-connected Re-publicans to spin climate change as a political is-sue in order to protect their personal wealth at the expense of the plan-et, it is in fact not a polit-ical issue. It is an issue of science.

@SethMacFarlane

Hats off to the divers & the rescue opera-

tion team working with their heart & soul to save the football players trapped in #Thailand-Caves. Our prayers and best wishes are with them, they epitomize the real idea of One World, One People. #Thailand-CaveRescue

@Ra_THORe

Made all my own money, never been

investigated for collu-sion and can go a whole sentence without lying. Swings and roundabouts.

@jk_rowling

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

editorial stances)



65, as well as the implementa-tion of scholarships and training courses for young people who lack education and work. These promising proposals contrast with other aspects of his pro-gram that are regressive, such as his connection with the Na-tional Coordinator of Workers in Education, an organization of radical teachers that favors the sale or inheritance of teaching jobs and is opposed to the formal certification of teachers. Mexi-co’s low place among education rankings globally could tumble even further.

Aiming to reverse economic backwardness in our southern states, the president-elect has proposed to subsidize agricul-ture and build new oil refineries. Serious critics have pointed out that such protectionist policies could cost Mexico its competi-tive advantages in exchange for self-sufficiency in food and en-ergy. That’s an outmoded ideal. Critics are also alarmed by the possible reversion under López Obrador of an energy reform that opened up the exploitation of oil and natural gas to foreign invest-ment and could attract as much as $200 billion. Such fears seem

well-founded, especially in view of the uncertainty surrounding NAFTA’s future. In any case, the Mexican economy is much rich-er, diversified and dynamic than ever before. I trust that López Obrador, a man known for his personal honesty and austere na-ture, will not strain the public budget nor nationalize enter-prises.

López Obrador has said, “If the president is honest, his correct behavior will have to be seconded by the other public servants.” But he has undervalued the struggle against corruption by nongov-

ernmental civil organizations. On the issue of crime, he has committed to meeting with his security council every morning. A more controversial idea that he has floated, in practical, juridical and ethical terms, is offering am-nesty to a still undefined category of criminals.

This voluntarism stems from a political culture that for mil-lenniums has revered and feared the all-powerful ruler: Aztec “tla-toani,” Spanish monarch, “cau-dillo” president. The restoration of that kind of authority could function as a deterrent for cor-rupt officials and major criminals, including drug lords. The effect might occur for a short time. But confronting the proliferation of criminal gangs requires profound institutional reform that does not depend on one man, no matter how powerful or charismatic he may be. Rather, what’s needed is the convergence of all levels of government and the organs of jus-tice with an engaged civil society.

While I have been a persistent critic of López Obrador, my core preoccupations have been polit-ical. In a nation with barely two decades of democratic experi-ence, his victory could drift into

an extraordinary concentration of power. Many Mexicans see López Obrador as a savior, but histori-cal experience has demonstrated that politics is not, nor can it be, a road to salvation. In the best of cases, it is only a means for gradual improvement. Will our new president, who is prone to insulting and disqualifying his critics, accept limits or put his own limits on his personal power?

Today we must look to the fu-ture. López Obrador should turn his personal triumph into the tri-umph of Mexico. He should set his sights on beginning a histor-ical epoch in which agreement, tolerance and full respect for freedom of expression take prec-edence over polarization, rancor and censorship. If he adopts this position and our democratic in-stitutions are strengthened, he will offer an example of ethical, democratic leadership. Mexico deserves it. The world deserves it. And both very much need it.

(Enrique Krauze is a historian, the editor of the literary magazine Letras Libres and the author of “Redeemers: Ideas

and Power in Latin America.” This essay was translated by Hank Heifetz from

Spanish.)



lum-seekers themselves. Forever banishing boat-borne asylum-seek-ers from Australia, they say, destroys the business of those who carry refugees on dilapidated vessels for profit. The politicians warn that people smugglers are watching and waiting for a moment of weakness by Australia to resume operations. Last month, Home Affairs Minis-ter Peter Dutton warned that “the hard-won success of the last few

years could be undone overnight by a single act of compassion.”

Many people’s attitudes about asylum-seekers changed in 2008. That year, the Labour Party gov-ernment of Kevin Rudd closed the Pacific detention centers and began processing asylum-seekers in Aus-tralia. This coincided with deteri-orating humanitarian conditions in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, and there was a surge in boat arrivals,

resulting in many deaths at sea. Some progressives were finally convinced of the moral need for harsh policies.

A former Labour immigration minister, Tony Burke, describes how he kept the name of a 10-week-old boy who died at sea on his desk as a reminder of why he came to support policies to discourage people from getting on boats. Labour reinstated offshore processing in 2012, but lost an election the following year to the Liberals and Abbott, who pledged to “stop the boats.” The Australi-an Greens, a smaller progressive party, is the only one in Parliament that consistently opposes offshore processing.

The severe stances of the major parties are popular. A recent study found that about two-thirds of Aus-tralians support offshore process-ing, and growing numbers support measures to turn back intercept-ed boats at sea. While a quarter of the population say policies are too tough, higher numbers usually say policies are too soft. Some Austral-ians see refugees from predomi-nantly Muslim war-torn countries as national security threats, and believe they must be dealt with as harshly as possible. Many others resent those who arrive by boat as “queue-jumpers” who have unfairly circumvented Australia’s laws, un-like the “legitimate” refugees who wait for years in United Nations refugee camps.

Government statements and pub-lic opinion reinforce each other.

Politicians justify draconian meas-ures with appeals to Australians’ sense of fairness and safety, and in turn they face an electorate that they fear would punish them if they did otherwise.

If American public opinion turns towards accepting cruel deterrent measures, it will be political rhet-oric that leads the way. Warnings by the Trump administration that criminals use children to exploit le-gal loopholes would sound familiar to Australians, whose government once claimed that asylum-seekers threw children into the sea to force the navy to take them to Australia.

While some Americans com-pared Trump’s separation policy to Margaret Atwood’s Gilead in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” when Australians seek fictional dystopias to account for our asylum policies we often reach for Ursula Le Guin. Her short story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” describes a peaceful and idyllic city-state whose happi-ness depends on the cruel impris-onment of a child in a basement. Everyone knows the child is there.

The citizens of Omelas may be disturbed by the predicament of the child, but they are convinced of its necessity. In the words of the journalist Jeff Sparrow: “Le Guin intended her story as a cautionary tale. How did we end up with two political parties using it as an in-struction manual?”

(David T Smith is a senior lecturer at the United States Studies Center at the Univer-

sity of Sydney.)




Obrador should set his sights on beginning a historical epoch in which

agreement, tolerance and full respect for

freedom of expression take precedence over polarisation, rancor

and censorship.

1850U.S. President Zachary Taylor dies in office at the age of 65. He is succeeded by Millard Fill-more.

1900The Commonwealth of Australia is established by an act of British Parliament, uniting the separate colonies under a federal government.

1942Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the attic above her father’s office in an Amsterdam warehouse.

1971The United States turns over complete responsibility of the Demilitarized Zone to South Vietnamese units.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY


TOP

4TWEETS

04

02

03

01

You wanted to make history @England

and you are doing just that. This has been an in-credible #WorldCup run and we’ve enjoyed every minute. You deserve this moment – Football’s Coming Home!

@KensingtonRoyal

Despite the (sadly ef-fective) attempts by

Big Oil-connected Re-publicans to spin climate change as a political is-sue in order to protect their personal wealth at the expense of the plan-et, it is in fact not a polit-ical issue. It is an issue of science.

@SethMacFarlane

Hats off to the divers & the rescue opera-

tion team working with their heart & soul to save the football players trapped in #Thailand-Caves. Our prayers and best wishes are with them, they epitomize the real idea of One World, One People. #Thailand-CaveRescue

@Ra_THORe

Made all my own money, never been

investigated for collu-sion and can go a whole sentence without lying. Swings and roundabouts.

@jk_rowling

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

editorial stances)



65, as well as the implementa-tion of scholarships and training courses for young people who lack education and work. These promising proposals contrast with other aspects of his pro-gram that are regressive, such as his connection with the Na-tional Coordinator of Workers in Education, an organization of radical teachers that favors the sale or inheritance of teaching jobs and is opposed to the formal certification of teachers. Mexi-co’s low place among education rankings globally could tumble even further.

Aiming to reverse economic backwardness in our southern states, the president-elect has proposed to subsidize agricul-ture and build new oil refineries. Serious critics have pointed out that such protectionist policies could cost Mexico its competi-tive advantages in exchange for self-sufficiency in food and en-ergy. That’s an outmoded ideal. Critics are also alarmed by the possible reversion under López Obrador of an energy reform that opened up the exploitation of oil and natural gas to foreign invest-ment and could attract as much as $200 billion. Such fears seem

well-founded, especially in view of the uncertainty surrounding NAFTA’s future. In any case, the Mexican economy is much rich-er, diversified and dynamic than ever before. I trust that López Obrador, a man known for his personal honesty and austere na-ture, will not strain the public budget nor nationalize enter-prises.

López Obrador has said, “If the president is honest, his correct behavior will have to be seconded by the other public servants.” But he has undervalued the struggle against corruption by nongov-

ernmental civil organizations. On the issue of crime, he has committed to meeting with his security council every morning. A more controversial idea that he has floated, in practical, juridical and ethical terms, is offering am-nesty to a still undefined category of criminals.

This voluntarism stems from a political culture that for mil-lenniums has revered and feared the all-powerful ruler: Aztec “tla-toani,” Spanish monarch, “cau-dillo” president. The restoration of that kind of authority could function as a deterrent for cor-rupt officials and major criminals, including drug lords. The effect might occur for a short time. But confronting the proliferation of criminal gangs requires profound institutional reform that does not depend on one man, no matter how powerful or charismatic he may be. Rather, what’s needed is the convergence of all levels of government and the organs of jus-tice with an engaged civil society.

While I have been a persistent critic of López Obrador, my core preoccupations have been polit-ical. In a nation with barely two decades of democratic experi-ence, his victory could drift into

an extraordinary concentration of power. Many Mexicans see López Obrador as a savior, but histori-cal experience has demonstrated that politics is not, nor can it be, a road to salvation. In the best of cases, it is only a means for gradual improvement. Will our new president, who is prone to insulting and disqualifying his critics, accept limits or put his own limits on his personal power?

Today we must look to the fu-ture. López Obrador should turn his personal triumph into the tri-umph of Mexico. He should set his sights on beginning a histor-ical epoch in which agreement, tolerance and full respect for freedom of expression take prec-edence over polarization, rancor and censorship. If he adopts this position and our democratic in-stitutions are strengthened, he will offer an example of ethical, democratic leadership. Mexico deserves it. The world deserves it. And both very much need it.

(Enrique Krauze is a historian, the editor of the literary magazine Letras Libres and the author of “Redeemers: Ideas

and Power in Latin America.” This essay was translated by Hank Heifetz from

Spanish.)



lum-seekers themselves. Forever banishing boat-borne asylum-seek-ers from Australia, they say, destroys the business of those who carry refugees on dilapidated vessels for profit. The politicians warn that people smugglers are watching and waiting for a moment of weakness by Australia to resume operations. Last month, Home Affairs Minis-ter Peter Dutton warned that “the hard-won success of the last few

years could be undone overnight by a single act of compassion.”

Many people’s attitudes about asylum-seekers changed in 2008. That year, the Labour Party gov-ernment of Kevin Rudd closed the Pacific detention centers and began processing asylum-seekers in Aus-tralia. This coincided with deteri-orating humanitarian conditions in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, and there was a surge in boat arrivals,

resulting in many deaths at sea. Some progressives were finally convinced of the moral need for harsh policies.

A former Labour immigration minister, Tony Burke, describes how he kept the name of a 10-week-old boy who died at sea on his desk as a reminder of why he came to support policies to discourage people from getting on boats. Labour reinstated offshore processing in 2012, but lost an election the following year to the Liberals and Abbott, who pledged to “stop the boats.” The Australi-an Greens, a smaller progressive party, is the only one in Parliament that consistently opposes offshore processing.

The severe stances of the major parties are popular. A recent study found that about two-thirds of Aus-tralians support offshore process-ing, and growing numbers support measures to turn back intercept-ed boats at sea. While a quarter of the population say policies are too tough, higher numbers usually say policies are too soft. Some Austral-ians see refugees from predomi-nantly Muslim war-torn countries as national security threats, and believe they must be dealt with as harshly as possible. Many others resent those who arrive by boat as “queue-jumpers” who have unfairly circumvented Australia’s laws, un-like the “legitimate” refugees who wait for years in United Nations refugee camps.

Government statements and pub-lic opinion reinforce each other.

Politicians justify draconian meas-ures with appeals to Australians’ sense of fairness and safety, and in turn they face an electorate that they fear would punish them if they did otherwise.

If American public opinion turns towards accepting cruel deterrent measures, it will be political rhet-oric that leads the way. Warnings by the Trump administration that criminals use children to exploit le-gal loopholes would sound familiar to Australians, whose government once claimed that asylum-seekers threw children into the sea to force the navy to take them to Australia.

While some Americans com-pared Trump’s separation policy to Margaret Atwood’s Gilead in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” when Australians seek fictional dystopias to account for our asylum policies we often reach for Ursula Le Guin. Her short story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” describes a peaceful and idyllic city-state whose happi-ness depends on the cruel impris-onment of a child in a basement. Everyone knows the child is there.

The citizens of Omelas may be disturbed by the predicament of the child, but they are convinced of its necessity. In the words of the journalist Jeff Sparrow: “Le Guin intended her story as a cautionary tale. How did we end up with two political parties using it as an in-struction manual?”

(David T Smith is a senior lecturer at the United States Studies Center at the Univer-

sity of Sydney.)




Obrador should set his sights on beginning a historical epoch in which

agreement, tolerance and full respect for

freedom of expression take precedence over polarisation, rancor

and censorship.

12

world


‘Terrorist attack’ kills 6 Tunisia security forcesAFP | Tunis

Six members of Tunisia’s security forces were

killed yesterday in a “terror-ist attack” near the border with Algeria, the interior ministry said, the country’s deadliest such incident in over two years.

A national guard border patrol in the Ain Sultan area of the Jenduba border province “was hit in a land-mine ambush that killed six agents” at 11:45 am (1045 GMT), the ministry said in a statement.

Relatives identify victims of deadly Thai boat sinkingAFP | Phuket

Distraught relatives descended on a Thai

hospital yesterday as many waited for news of miss-ing family members who disappeared when a tourist boat sank in rough weather, killing dozens of Chinese passengers. Recovery divers have pulled 42 bodies from the sea off the resort island of Phuket, but authorities have said 14 other passen-gers remain unaccounted for. The latest victim was found Sunday, officials said.

Toll nears 60 as Japan scrambles to rescue flood victimsAFP | Saka

The death toll from re-cord rains that have

devastated parts of Japan rose yesterday to at least 57, officials said, as rescue workers and troops strug-gled in the mud and water to save lives.

The toll is expected to rise significantly, with local media already putting the number of fatalities at 73, and dozens of people still unaccounted for in the dis-aster.

Netanyahu defends controversial deal on Polish Holocaust AFP | Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

yesterday defended a con-troversial deal on a Polish Holocaust law, but hinted he could take further ac-tion after scathing criticism from historians.

Poland amended the law last month to remove crim-inal penalties, after spark-ing outrage in Israel and elsewhere by allowing jail terms of up to three years for ascribing Nazi crimes to the Polish nation or state.

It’s homecoming for Syrians Thousands of Syrians who fled to the border with Jordan from an army offensive have now returnedAFP | Beirut

Tens of thousands have returned to their homes in southern Syria since a

ceasefire deal between regime ally Russia and rebels to end more than two weeks of dead-ly bombardment, a monitoring group said yesterday.

The deal was largely holding despite air strikes on two are-as that killed four civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said, and although rebel evacuations under the deal were postponed.

President Bashar al-Assad’s regime is determined to retake control of the key southern province of Daraa bordering Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, seven years after protests there sparked Syria’s civil war.

Since June 19, a deadly regime bombardment campaign on the province had caused more than 320,000 people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations, many to the sealed bor-

der with Jordan. On Friday, re-bels and the regime announced a ceasefire deal, providing for opposition fighters to hand over their heavy weapons and paving the way for a government take-

over of the province. More than 60,000 people have since taken to the roads from the Jordanian frontier, heading back to their homes in the east or west of the province, the Britain-based Ob-

servatory said.The UN humanitarian coordi-

nator in Jordan, Anders Peder-son, said most of the displaced along the Jordanian border had headed back inside Syria.

There are only “around 150 to 200 people right now at the border”, he said.

On Sunday, the returns were continuing, the Observatory said, even as regime warplanes pounded two areas of Daraa province.

Three civilians were killed in air strikes on Um al-Mayazin, just five kilometres (three miles) north of the Jordanian border, said the Britain-based monitor.

Syrians children sit in a backhoe’s bucket in their refugee camp in the city of Arsal in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley on the eastern border with Syria -AFP

Kashmir in lockdown amid anniversary tensions• Mobile internet services were shut down across Kashmir

AFP | Srinagar

Indian authorities imposed a lockdown in the Kashmir val-

ley yesterday, anticipating fresh unrest as separatists urged pro-tests to mark the anniversary of a popular rebel leader’s death.

Tension had been building ahead of the anniversary with three civilians, including a teen-age girl, killed during clashes on Saturday between protesters and Indian troops.

Mobile internet services were shut down across Indian-ad-ministered Kashmir, roads into

the restive valley were blocked and restrictions on movement were imposed in Srinagar.

Authorities have clamped a

total curfew in Tral, the native home of rebel commander Bur-han Wani.

The charismatic young lead-er’s death in 2016 sparked months of violent street pro-tests that left nearly 100 dead and countless more blinded by pellet fire following an Indian crackdown. Separatist leaders urged shopkeepers to keep their businesses closed in pro-test to mark Wani’s death.

Kashmir has been divided be-tween India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947, but both claim the for-mer Himalayan kingdom in full.

India has about 500,000 soldiers deployed to its half of Kashmir, where armed groups have for decades been fighting for independence or a merger with Pakistan.

An Indian paramilitary trooper stands guard during a one-day strike called by separatists in Srinagar -AFP

Kuwait’s high court sentences lawmakers to jailAFP | Kuwait City

Kuwait’s top court yester-day sentenced two serv-

ing opposition lawmakers and six former legislators to 42 months in jail after convicting them of storming parliament and assaulting police in 2011.

The Supreme Court sen-tenced five opposition activists to the same term for the same offences.

The nighttime storming of parliament in November 2011 came after a protest against then prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Sabah over corruption allegations.

The premier -- from the rul-ing Al-Sabah family -- resigned

later that month. Another former lawmaker

and two other activists were sentenced to two-year terms and 17 activists were acquitted.

Some of those convicted were done so in absentia.

The court found 34 other activists guilty of storming parliament but decided not to punish them, without immedi-ately explaining why.

Former lawmaker Mus-sallam al-Barrak -- and serv-ing Islamist parliamentari-ans Waleed al-Tabtabai and Jamaan al-Harbash -- were among those handed the 42-month jail term in one of the most publicised court cas-es in Kuwait’s history.

UAE extends compulsory military service term Reuters | Dubai

The United Arab Emirates has extended compulso-

ry military service for Emirati men from 12 to 16 months, state news agency WAM reported, amid a three-year involvement in Yemen’s war.

The UAE, a federation of seven emirates with a mostly expatriate population, is a key member of a Saudi-led mili-tary coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement to restore the internationally rec-ognised Yemeni government in exile. “The general command of the armed forces ... announced the extension of the legal pe-

riod for national service ... to 16 instead of 12 months,” WAM said late on Saturday. The UAE introduced mandatory military

service in 2014 for Emirati men. It kept participation for women optional and requiring approval of their legal guardians.

Emirati soldiers stand during rehabilitation and demining operations at the al-Anad airbase in Lahij Province, Yemen (file photo)

KNOW WHAT

More than 60,000 people

have since taken to the roads

from the Jordanian frontier

Ten killed, dozens injured in Turkey train derailmentAFP | Istanbul

Ten people were killed and 73 injured yesterday when

a train packed with weekend passengers derailed in north-west Turkey, the health min-istry said.

The train, with over 360 people on board, was travelling from the Edirne region on the Greek and Bulgarian borders to Istanbul’s Halkali station when six of its carriages de-railed in the Tekirdag region.

Over 100 ambulances have been sent to the scene, state-run TRT Haber television said TRT Haber said, quoting

Health Ministry Undersecre-tary Eyup Gumus.

The Turkish army said in a statement that it had sent helicopters to the scene.

Television pictures showed several train carriages laying on their sides, and shocked injured being taken away on stretchers as rescue workers picked through the wreckage.

“There are a large number of injured and we have fatalities,” Tekirdag governor Mehmet Ceylan told the NTV channel. “The accident happened be-cause of adverse weather con-ditions,” Tekirdag governor added.


German police arrest 10 in alleged anti-Semitic attackAFP | Berlin

German police arrested 10 people yesterday

over an alleged anti-Semitic attack in a Berlin park, with local media reporting that both victim and suspects are Syrians.

The group, aged between 15 and 25, including three women, were detained following the assault in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Police did not give the names or nationalities of the suspects or the victim, but German daily Welt had reported that all involved are Syrians.

Ethiopia, Eritrea to normalise relations after historic meeting

AFP | Addis Ababa

Ethiopia’s Prime Minis-ter Abiy Ahmed said his

country would normalise relations with neighbouring Eritrea following an histor-ic meeting with President Isaias Afwerki in Asmara yesterday, aimed at end-ing decades of diplomatic and armed strife. The an-nouncement capped weeks of whirlwind change.

Nicaragua’s President Ortega rules out early elections

AFP | Managua

Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega on Satur-

day ruled out early elections as demanded by opposition protesters in the country where more than 220 have died in unrest since April.

“Here the rules are set by the Constitution of the Re-public, through the people. You don’t just change them overnight because a group of coup plotters got the idea to do so,” Ortega said.

Greeks reject Macedonia name deal in pollAthens

A majority of Greeks re-ject a disputed name

deal that aims to end a long-running row with neighbouring Macedonia, a poll showed yesterday, with nearly half labelling it ‘treason’.

The Kappa Research poll in Ethnos daily found that 58 percent oppose the June agreement to rename Greece’s northern neigh-bour North Macedonia.

However, the same per-centage expect the deal to be ratified by Greece’s par-liament as scheduled.

Several protests have been held in Greece and Macedonia against the agreement.

Pompeo shrugs off N Korea’s ‘gangster-like’ accusationsUS Secretary of State says talks will continue and sanctions will only be lifted with denuclearisationAFP | Tokyo

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday shrugged off North Kore-

an accusations of “gangster-like” behaviour and said sanctions on Pyongyang would only be lifted with “final” denuclearisation.

Speaking in Tokyo after two days of intense discussions in Pyongyang, Pompeo insisted the talks were making progress and were being conducted in “good faith.”

In stark contrast, Pyongyang’s take was overwhelmingly neg-ative, with the North warning that the future of the peace pro-cess was being jeopardised by overbearing US demands for its unilateral nuclear disarmament.

Speaking privately, US officials suggested the harshly-worded

North Korean reaction was a negotiating tactic. But after two days of theatrical amity in

Pyongyang it illustrated the gulf that remains between the two sides. In Tokyo, Pompeo briefed

his Japanese and South Korean counterparts on the talks, and sought to reassure them that

the dialogue with North Korea would continue.

His trip to Pyongyang had been aimed at fleshing out denuclearisation commitments made during last month’s his-toric summit between President Donald Trump and North Kore-an leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea has long trum-peted a denuclearisation goal, but one that it sees as a lengthy process of undefined multilat-eral disarmament on the entire Korean peninsula, rather than a unilateral dismantlement of its nuclear arsenal.

Speaking in Tokyo, Pompeo said his efforts to push the North on disarmament had the back-ing of the entire international community. ”If those requests were gangster-like, the world is a gangster,” he said.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo waits for Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prior to their talks at Abe’s official residence in Tokyo yesterday -AFP

Boris Johnson robustly opposes Brexit plan• Johnson made his comments during eight hours of talks at May’s country residence

Reuters | London

Britain’s Boris Johnson strongly criticised Prime

Minister Theresa May’s latest Brexit proposal in typically col-ourful terms before agreeing with his colleagues to back the compromise on Friday, reports said. The foreign minister, a leading supporter of a deci-sive break by Britain from the European Union, said May’s “business-friendly” plan was a “big turd” that would need to be “polished” in order to be sold to the public, the BBC said.

Johnson made his comments during eight hours of talks at May’s country residence that ended with the cabinet, includ-ing Johnson, signing up to the plan. It was a hard-won victory. The Sunday Times said seven of the 27 ministers present spoke out against the plan.

Environment Minister Mi-

chael Gove, a key ally of John-son in the EU referendum cam-paign in 2016, defended the plan yesterday, saying it hon-oured May’s negotiating red lines and met the demands of business even if it did not match all the hopes of some anti-EU campaigners.

“I am a realist,” Gove told the BBC. “One of the things about politics is that you mustn’t, you shouldn’t, make the perfect the enemy of the good. And one of the things about this compro-

mise is that it unites the cab-inet.”

May’s plan pushes for a free-trade area for goods and contin-ued close ties with the EU.

Gove said it would give Brit-ain autonomy from EU insti-tutions and structures, while also having a free-trade agree-ment that would work in the interest of business. “(In) all of the important areas where an independent country chooses to exercise sovereignty, Britain will be able to do so,” Gove said.

Boris Johnson (file photo)

KNOW WHAT

N Korea has one of the largest armies in the world. It is esti-

mated by the US State Department that they

have an active-duty military force of up to 1.2 million personnel

Some heat relief forecast as California fires rage

Reuters | Los Angeles

California firefighters bat-tling several wildfires

that have destroyed dozens of structures and forced thou-sands of residents to evacuate will get some relief as tem-peratures cool from scorching levels later this week, the Na-tional Weather Service said.

“Starting Monday we’re go-ing to see a gradual cool down, as we shave just a few degrees off each day until about mid-week it gets to something like normal, in the mid-90s (Fahr-enheit) inland and 80s at the

coast,” said Jim Hayes of the NWS Weather Prediction Cen-tre in College Park, Maryland. Santa Barbara County officials declared a local emergency as a fast-moving wildfire destroyed 20 homes and other structures and forced thousands of resi-dents to evacuate.

The Holiday Fire, one of more than three dozen ma-jor blazes burning across the U.S. West, broke out on Friday evening near the beach com-munity of Goleta, California, south of Santa Barbara, and raced through the seaside foot-hills.

Santa Barbara County Firefighter spray water on flames at a home at the site of a wildfire in Goleta, California -Reuters

100 hot air balloons fly for Lithuania’s birthdayAFP | Kaunas

One hundred hot air balloons floated over Lithuania’s sec-

ond city of Kaunas on Saturday to mark 100 years of the Baltic state’s independence.

“The first hot air balloon fes-tival was in 1988 during Soviet times when flying balloons was formally forbidden, but no one could keep us on the ground,” organiser Gintaras Surkus, a pio-neer of the activity in Lithuania, told AFP.

One balloon flew a 100-me-tre-long national flag, while oth-ers were in shapes including

hearts and cats.“Hot air balloons are associ-

ated with the idea of freedom,” Lukas Mikelevic, a 23-year-old psychology student who is also a balloon and aeroplane pilot, said before launching.

Poles, Latvians, Estonians and Chinese enthusiasts also came to fly their balloons in Kaunas.

Until World War I, Lithuania was a province of the Russian empire, which sought to crush nationalism and even banned the Lithuanian alphabet.

The Lithuanian council de-clared independence on Febru-ary 16, 1918, when the country

was still under German occu-pation.

Brief wars with Bolsheviks and Poles followed before Lithu-ania won international recogni-tion in the following years.

Modern Lithuania was an independent nation between the two World Wars. Then the Soviet Union invaded in 1940, Nazi Germany invaded in 1941, and the Soviets returned in 1944.

Democracy campaigners launched an independence drive in the 1980s that eventu-ally made it the first Soviet re-public to declare independence in March 1990.

Hot-air balloons prepare to fly over Kaunas, Lithuania during the International 100 Hot Air Balloon Fiesta “Wind of Freedom” -AFP

14

features


The current ongoing eruption

cycle began on Jan. 3, 1983,

along the middle of the east rift

zone. By April, the eruptions became

localized at one vent

Reuters | Pahoa

Dressed in heavy c o t t o n , a h e l -met and respira-tor, Jessica Ball worked the night

shift monitoring “fissure 8,” which has been spewing foun-tains of lava as high as a 15-story building from a slope on Ha-waii’s Kilauea volcano.

The lava poured into a chan-nel oozing toward the Pacific Ocean several miles away. In the eerie orange nightscape in the abandoned community of Leilani Estates, it looked like it was flowing toward the sci-entist, but that was an optical illusion, Ball said.

“The volcano is doing what it wants to. ... We’re reminded what it’s like to deal with the force of nature,” said Ball, a ge-ologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

Scientists have been in the field measuring the eruptions 24 hours a day, seven days a week since Kilauea first explod-ed more than two months ago. They are a mix of USGS staff, University of Hawaii research-ers and trained volunteers

working six-to-eight-hour shifts in teams of two to five.

They avoid synthetics be-cause they melt in the intense heat and wear gloves to protect their hands from sharp volcanic rock and glass. Helmets pro-tect against falling lava stones, and respirators ward off sulfur gases.

This is not a job for the faint hearted. Geologists have died

studying active volcanoes. David Alexander Johnston, a USGS volcanologist was killed by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state. In 1991, American volcanologist Harry Glicken and his French colleagues Katia and Maurice Krafft were killed while con-ducting avalanche research on Mount Unzen in Japan.

Ball, a graduate of the State University of New York at Buf-falo, located in upstate New York near the Canadian border, compared Kilauea’s eruptions to Niagara Falls.

“It gives you the same feeling of power and force,” she said.

Worth the risks Kilauea, which has been erupt-ing almost continuously since 1983, is one of the world’s most closely monitored volcanoes, largely from the now-aban-doned Hawaiian Volcano Ob-servatory at the summit. But the latest eruption is one of Kilauea’s biggest and could prove to be a bonanza for scientists.

Ball and the USGS teams are studying how the magma - molten rock from the earth’s

crust - tracks through a network of tubes under the volcano in what is known as the “Lower East Rift Zone,” before ripping open ground fissures and spout-ing fountains of lava.

They are trying to discover what warning signs may exist for future eruptions to better protect the Big Island’s commu-nities, she said.

Fissure 8 is one of 22 around Kilauea that have destroyed over 1,000 structures and forced 2,000 people to evacuate. They are what make this volcanic eruption a rare event, Ball said.

“They’re common for Kilauea on a geologic time scale, but in a human time scale it’s sort of a career event,” she said.

Meanwhile, the summit is erupting almost every day with steam or ash, said Janet Snyder, spokeswoman for the Coun-ty of Hawaii, where Kilauea is located.

Scientists had thought the steam explosions resulted from lava at the summit dropping down the volcano’s throat into groundwater. This was based on Kilauea’s 1924 eruption, to which the current one is most often compared.

Scientists defy ‘force of nature’ of Hawaii

volcanoScientists have

been in the field measuring the

eruptions 24 hours a day

Kelly Wooten, a geologist and volcanologist at Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) is downloading radiometer data on rim of Halema‘uma‘u Crater in Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, U.S., December 19, 2008 -Reuters

KNOW WHAT

A USGS geologist making observations of the fissure 8 lava channel at sunset is pictured in this July 3, 2018 fisheye lens handout photograph near the Kilauea volcano eruption in Hawaii -Reuters

Poland, Ukraine still divided by WWII tragedy massacres AFP | Warsaw

Poland and Ukraine held separate cer-emonies yesterday marking 75 years since a WWII-era eth-

nic conflict between their na-tions claimed thousands of lives, as a row over history continued to sour bilateral ties.

Discord over the Volhynia massacres between 1943 and 1945 has led to a diplomatic chill between Kiev and Warsaw, whose relations deteriorated after the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party came to pow-er in Poland in 2015.

Polish President Andrzej Duda attended a mass com-memorating the Polish victims of the conflict in Lutsk, a city in Ukraine’s western Volhynia region.

Ukrainian leader Petro Po-roshenko, meanwhile, was in the Polish village of Sahryn, 125 kilometres across the border, where he opened a memorial to Ukrainians killed by Polish partisans.

In 2016, Poland’s right-wing-dominated parliament rec-ognised the Volhynia massacres as a “genocide”, a term that Kiev has rejected.

Between 1942 and 1945, mem-bers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) killed up to 100,000 Poles in the Volhynia region of what is now northwest Ukraine.

The UPA’s main objective was to win Ukraine’s independence by ousting Nazi and later Sovi-et occupiers and to clear Poles from territories that were his-torically Ukrainian land.

“It was ethnic cleansing, so that’s what we would call it to-

day,” Duda said, quoted by the PAP Polish news agency at a cem-etery in Olyka, near Lutsk.

The 2016 Polish resolution also recognises bloody reprisals by Polish partisan groups against

Ukrainians that various sources say could have claimed up to 20,000 lives.

‘Dialogue suspended’ Duda also made reference to the reprisals by Polish partisan groups, but questioned the scale of the killing, insisting that there were around 5,000 victims.

Speaking in Sahryn, Ukraine’s Poroshenko told members of Poland’s Ukrainian communi-ty that “our nations deserve to know the truth, but it is not the job of politicians.”

According to Piotr Tymon, head of the Union of Ukrainians in Poland, discussions about the massacres have come to an im-passe under the PiS government.

“The discussion is focused only on one side; Polish victims of Volhynia. Dialogue about commemorating Ukrainian

victims in Poland has been sus-pended,” he said by telephone before the ceremonies in Sahryn.

According to Tymon, who is also a historian, some 600 ethnic Ukrainian Polish citizens per-ished in the village that was one of several dozen in the region attacked by Polish partisans.

Despite these “terrible pag-es of history”, Duda insisted that Poland “wants to support Ukraine in its reforms (for) the country to be a safe state.”

Warsaw was one of the EU’s strongest supporters of Ukraine’s 2014 Maidan revolution that was followed by an ongoing conflict with Russian-backed rebels in the east of the country.

Both presidents said their vis-its were not official. Warsaw said Duda was invited to Ukraine by the local Catholic bishop in Lutsk.

This picture taken and released by the Ukrainian presidential press-service yesterday shows Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko posing for photographs among Ukrainian nationals

15

entertainment


C R O S S W O R D

S U D O K U

Across

1- Squeezes (out); 5- Tortoise’s rival; 9- Like ___ of bricks; 13- Satan; 15- Terminates; 16- Dorothy’s dog; 17- ___ Kick Out of You; 18- Take five; 19- Against; 20- Road curve; 21- Pack away; 23- Breadwinner; 25- 1968 U.S. Open champ; 26- More strange; 27- Newspapers; 30- French friend; 31- Grammarian’s concern; 32- Imaginative; 37- This, in Tijuana; 38- Noise; 40- Pianist Gilels; 41- Work boot feature; 43- Madame de ___; 44- 007 cre-ator Fleming; 45- Church office; 47- Tropical fruit; 50- Enthu-siasm; 51- Baseless derogatory story; 52- Travel on foot; 53- TV

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

AriesUnfortunately, this isn’t a day for fun and games. In fact, you might feel an annoying emotional weighti-ness, making you feel less energetic than usual. There’s a sober tone that’s asking you to take a hard-nosed look at reality and make some decisions regarding goals and plans.

TaurusYou’ll find little comfort in your emotions today. You may want to simply stick to business. Concentrate on getting things done in your regular routine. Create a plan and stick to it. This isn’t a day to deviate from the norm, nor is it a time in which you’ll find sympathy from others.

GeminiTry not to be smothering today. You may want to seek comfort in the company of others but find that this only produces grouchiness on the part of all involved. Curb your tendency to find fault in loved ones. Your best bet is to focus your energy on tasks you’ve had on the back burner for some time.

CancerThere’s a damper on your emotions today that could leave you feeling like a pot of simmering water. Just by knowing there’s a lid on things you’re likely to heat up more quickly than usual. Try to hold your temper. A furious rage will get you nowhere. Concentrate your energy on getting your material affairs in order.

LeoIt could be hard for you to feel connected to anyone today. You’re probably better off keeping to yourself. If you’re feeling sad or depressed, it’s best to work through these feelings on your own. Other people aren’t apt to be too sympathetic to your situation.

VirgoYou may feel a sense of restriction to the day, but in truth, this is for your own good. You’ll find that your acute sense of discipline comes in handy today as you tackle work with incredible enthusiasm. Your goals aren’t far from your grasp. Stay focused, and don’t let the ticking clock pressure you.

LibraFind comfort in your work today. Although it may sound ridiculous, you’ll find that getting things checked off your list is the most rewarding activity of the day. Try not to be too critical of others. Focus on your own tasks at hand. Mountains that seem too daunting will continue to grow bigger until you take the first step.

ScorpioGet your head out of the clouds. You’ll find out that nitpicky details you failed to attend to earlier are now coming back to haunt you. Don’t postpone your work any further. The time to take care of the job is now. Balance your checkbook and do your laundry. Clean your bathtub and go shopping.

SagittariusToday you need to finish whatever you didn’t get done yesterday. Themes of the journey include discipline and paying attention to the sand slipping through the hourglass. The more you’re able to accomplish, the better you’ll feel about yourself.

CapricornPut aside frivolity for a day. This is an important time to prepare for the future. Don’t take another step for-ward before you know you’re on solid ground. This is a good time to secure your goals on a piece of paper. Writing them down in ink will help you manifest them in your life.

AquariusPeople may be a bit critical of you today, and you would do well to hear what they have to say. Be receptive of feedback from others so that you may establish a healthy ego. It’s important to keep your sense of humility in check. You might find that you’re feeling rather critical as you see people moving like sloths compared to your lightning quick mind.

PiscesMaintain your psychic shield today, because you’ll need it. People’s comments may seem harsh even if they mean well. Your best defence against the critical tone of the day is to use other people’s criticisms as constructively as you can in order to build a stronger foundation from which to work. Process this energy in a positive frame of mind and use it to get things done.

listings abbr.; 56- Piedmont wine center; 57- Old Testament book; 59- Miscalculation; 61- Actual; 62- Uncommon; 63- March man; 64- Citrus drinks; 65- Stains; 66- Red coin?;

Down1- “What I Am” singer Brickell; 2- Frat party purchases; 3- Holiday lead-ins; 4- Obedience school command; 5- People of courage; 6- Again; 7- Map lines: Abbr.; 8- Highly regarded; 9- Maker of Pong; 10- Heavy metric weight; 11- Sleek swimmer; 12- Film ___; 14- Timmy’s dog; 22- Common article; 24- La Scala highlight; 25- Pond scum; 26- Acquire through merit; 27- Membership fees; 28- Type of D.A.; 29- Must’ve been something ___; 32- Theatrical hint; 33- Grand ___ National Park; 34- ___ old cowhand...; 35- Contender; 36- ___ May Clampett of “The Beverly Hillbillies”; 38- Norm; 39- A Chaplin; 42- Person who is liable to tell untruths; 43- Slithery beasts; 45- Stops; 46- Competitor of Tide and Cheer; 47- Stationed; 48- Architectural piers; 49- Metal spikes; 51- Irene of “Fame”; 52- Had on; 53- Not false; 54- Cap’n’s underling; 55- Smell ___; 58- Spring month; 60- Mythical bird;

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

16 MONDAY, JULY 9, 2018

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

PAUL RUDD, EVANGELINE LILLY, MICHAEL PENA

CINECO (20) (IMAX 3D): 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 (VIP I): 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 (ATMOS): 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 MN + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)SEEF (II) 11.00 AM + 12.00 + 1.30 + 2.30 + 4.00 + 5.00 + 6.30 + 7.30 + 9.00 + 10.00 + 11.30 PM + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI) (3D): 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM SAAR 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PMWADI AL SAIL 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM

TAG (18+) (COMEDY) NEW

JEREMY RENNER, ED HELMS, JAKE JOHNSON

CINECO (20)10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MN + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI) (VIP II): 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PM SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM + (12.45 MN THURS/FRI)SAAR 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 WADI AL SAIL 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PM

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

MARISA TOMEI, LEX SCOTTDAVIS, LUNA LAUREN VELEZ

CINECO (20)12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)SEEF (II) (12.45 MN THURS/FRI)SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PMSAAR 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PMWADI AL SAIL 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PM

LOVING PABLO (18+) (CRIME/THRILLER/BIOGRAPHY) NEW

JAVIER BARDEM, PENELOPE CRUZ, PETER SARSGAARD

CINECO (20) 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PM SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PM

TAXI 5 (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY) NEW

MALIK BENTALHA, BERNARD FARCY, RAMZY BEDIA

CINECO (20) 11.00 AM + 1.00 + 3.00 + 5.00 + 7.00 + 9.00 + 11.00 PM SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 12.45 + 2.45 + 4.45 + 6.45 + 8.45 + 10.45 PM

OCEAN’S EIGHT (PG-15) (COMEDY/CRIME) NEW

SANDRA BULLOCK, CATE BLANCHETT, ANNE HATHAWAY

CINECO (20) 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PM SEEF (II) 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MNSAAR 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PMWADI AL SAIL 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM

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

BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD, CHRIS PRATT, JEFF GOLDBLUM

CINECO (20) 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 SEEF (II) 12.45 + 3.30 + 6.15 + 9.00 + 11.45 WADI AL SAIL 1.30 + 6.30 + 11.30 PM

SANJU (PG-15) (HINDI/DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY)

RANBIR KAPOOR, SONAM KAPOOR, PARESH RAWAL

CINECO (20) 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 + 11.15 PM SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM WADI AL SAIL 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PM

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

SYLVESTER STALLONE, DAVE BAUTISTA, XIAOMING HUANG

CINECO (20) 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PMSEEF (II) 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PM

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

CRAIG T. NELSON, SAMUEL L. JACKSON, CATHERINE KEENER

CINECO (20) 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM SEEF (II) 12.45 + 3.15 + 5.45 + 8.15 + 10.45SAAR 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 PMWADI AL SAIL 11.00 AM + 4.00 + 9.00 PM

SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO (15+) (ACTION/CRIME/THRILLER)

JOSH BROLIN, BENICIO DEL TORO, ISABELA MONER

CINECO (20) 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM SEEF (II) 11.15 AM + 4.15 + 9.15 PM

DEADPOOL 2 (15+) (ACTION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY)

RYAN REYNOLDS, JOSH BROLIN, MORENA BACCARIN

CINECO (20) 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM SEEF (II) 1.30 + 6.45 PM + 12.00 MN

AL ABLA TAMTAM

(PG-13) (ARABIC/COMEDY) YASMIN ABDULAZIZ, HAMDI

ALMIRGHANI, BAYOUMI FOUAD

CINECO (20) 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 + 5.30 + 7.30 + 9.30 + 11.30 PM SEEF (II) 4.45 + 6.45 + 8.45 + 10.45 PM

RAMPAGE (PG-15) (ACTION/THRILLER/SCI-FICTION)

DWAYNE JOHNSON, JEFFREY DEAN MORGAN, WILL YUN LEE

CINECO (20) 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PM

HEREDITARY (18+) (THRILLER/HORROR)

TONI COLLETTE, GABRIEL BYRNE, ALEX WOLFF

CINECO (20) 1.30 + 6.45 PM + 12.00 MN

AVENGERS: INFINTY WAR (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVENTURE)

KAREN GILLAN, ROBERT DOWNEY JR., TOM HOLLAND

CINECO (20) 10.30 AM + 3.45 + 9.00 PM

DOBY & DISY’S DREAM TOWN (G) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE) NEW

CRAIG STEVENS, HENRY ISAAC, CLAIR WEDGE, SAMANTHA ESTER

SEEF (II) 11.30 AM + 1.15 + 3.00 PM

NA BAND NA BARAATI (PG-15) (URDU/ROMANTIC/COMEDY) NEW

KOMAL FAROOQI, SARAM JAFFERY, ZUHAIR JAFFERY

SEEF (II) 10.45 AM + 4.00 + 9.15 PM

ABRAHAMS SAN-THATHIKAL (MALAYALAM)

MAMMOOTTY, KANIKA, TARUSHI

SEEF (II) 1.45 + 6.45 + 11.45AL HAMRA 9.00 PM

QALB QMMAH (PG-15) (ARABIC/COMEDY) NEW

HESHAM MAJID, SHEKO, DALAL ABDULAZIZ

SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PM

TEJ, I LOVE YOU (TELGU) NEW

SAI DHARAM TEJ, ANUPAMA

AL HAMRA FROM FRIDAY 6TH: 12.00 NOON

MR. CHANDRAMOULI (TAMIL) NEW

KARTHIK, GAUTHAM KARTHIK, REGINA CASSANDRA

AL HAMRA ON THURSDAY 5TH: 12.00 MN FROM FRIDAY 6TH: 3.00 PM + (12.00 MN FRI)

PANTHAM (TELGU) NEW

GOPICHAND, MEHREEN PARIZADA

AL HAMRA ON THURSDAY 5TH: 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 PM FROM FRIDAY 6TH: 6.00 PM

Jennifer Lawrence won’t go method

NAME CHANGE

I, BIJU SURENDRABABU s/o Surendrababu

holding Indian Passport No. G9741539 dated 25/8/2008 issued at Trivandrum, having

permanent residence at Vellamanalil Puthen Veedu,

Kadappakada P.O., Kollam Kerala-691008

presently residing at flat no 33 building no 9 road no2001 block

no 320 Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain,

will henceforth be known as, (Given

name) Biju (Surname) Surendrababu.

Objection(s), if any, may be forwarded to

Embassy of India, P.O. Box 26106 Al Seef,

Kingdom of Bahrain.

NAME CHANGE

I, JACKSON GEORGE s/o George Joseph

holding Indian Passport No. H0917118 dated

26/09/2008 issued at Trivandrum, having

permanent residence at H.N. 17/2461 (47/68),

Kannethu Veedu, Jagathy, Thycaud.P.O., Trivandrum, Kerala,

PIN- 695014 presently residing at flat/Villa

24, Bldg. No.600, Road No.1807, Rd Name: R

1807/1807 Block No.318, Manama/ AlHoora,

Kingdom of Bahrain, will henceforth be

known as, (Given name) Jackson (Surname)

George. Objection(s), if any, may be forwarded

to Embassy of India, P.O. Box 26106 Al Seef, Kingdom of Bahrain.

IANS | Los Angeles

Actress Jennifer Lawrence says she was mortified when director Francis

Lawrence urged her to keep the Russian accent she adopted for her role as ballerina-turned-spy in “Red Sparrow” outside of filming because she knew her friends would not be impressed.

“For two weeks before the movie, Francis would say, ‘You should talk in the accent at home. Stay in the accent and talk to your friends in the accent’. I said, ‘Francis, I don’t have those kinds of friends. They would never call me again’,” Lawrence told Star magazine.

Lawrence spent several months working on the accent and though it was tough, it was an essential part of her prepara-tions, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

She said: “I had never done a foreign accent before so I spent four months before the movie figuring out what kind of dialect she would have. Once you get there and you have the costume on, you become the character and it’s easier.”

KNOW WHAT

Jennifer Lawrence could have been Bella from Twilight but was turned down in favour

of Kristen Stewart

Stallone unveils new drama ‘Creed II’ posterANI | Washington

Sylvester Stallone took to so-cial media and unveiled a

new poster of upcoming boxing drama ‘Creed II’.

In the poster, Sylvester Stal-lone is seen donning the same look from the previous movie ‘Creed I’ where he plays a box-ing coach to Michael B. Jordan’s character (Adonis Creed).

Stallone captioned it as “CREED 2 fighting the good fight this NOVEMBER!!! #mgm

On June 20, Actor Michael B. Jordan shared the first look of this upcoming boxing movie, which featured the shirtless ac-tor flaunting his chiselled abs.

It is the sequel to 2015’s ‘Creed,’ which earned more than $170 million at the world-wide box office.

It is a spinoff of Stallone’s movie ‘Rocky’.

The new flick is directed by Steven Caple Jr., from an

original screenplay written by Stallone.

‘Creed II’ will hit the theatres on November 2.

Sylvester Stallone

Jennifer Lawrence

Reeves reveals title of ‘John Wick 3’

PTI | Los Angeles

Actor Keanu Reeves has revealed that the third

“John Wick” film will be called “Parabellum”.

The 53-year-old actor shared the news during an interview with online portal ComingSoon.net.

Asked what the title means, Reeves, who por-trays the eponymous char-acter, said, “Prepare for war. It’s part of that famous sen-tence, ‘Si vis pacem, para bellum’, which translates as, ‘If you want peace, prepare for war’.” The threequel, which will be once again directed by Chad Stahelski, will also feature actor Halle Berry in a pivotal role.

Reeves said Berry’s char-acter in the film possesses “some information” about Wick as they share “a past”.

“John Wick is fighting for his life and thinks that Halle Berry’s character has some information for him. They have a past, and they get in-volved with The High Table, this kind of overlording en-tity,” he said.

The two actors will be joined by newcomers An-gelica Huston, Asia Kate Dillon, Mark Dacascos, Ja-son Mantzoukas, Yayan Ru-hian, Cecep Arif Rahman, and Tiger Hu Chen.

Keanu Reeves

Cheryl ‘in a really good place’Femalefirst | London

The 35-year-old star Cheryl Tweedy and her 24-year-

old boyfriend Liam Payne called time on their two-year relationship recently and Cheryl’s pal and former Girls Aloud bandmate Kimberley Walsh says the singer is doing great.

She told The Sun on Sunday’s Fabulous magazine: “Cher-yl’s in a really g o o d p l a c e a n d w e ’ r e just helping

each other through.”Kimberley also praised Cher-

yl for being a great mother to son Bear, 15 months.

She said: “Bear is such a hap-py, content child that she must

be doing something right. “We mother quite

similarly, which I think was always likely be-cause we’re such close friends. She’s got so many nieces and nephews that it’s like she’s always done

this.”Cheryl’s other

former bandmate Nicola Roberts

recently spoke out about the split, saying that Cheryl is doing good. She said: “She’s good, I actually think what’s been in-teresting this week is how the misogyny through the media has been played out.

Cheryl’s in a really good place and we’re just

helping each other through

KIMBERLEY WALSH

Cheryl Tweedy

17

sports


at Seef District too

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Vettel wrecks Hamilton’s home party • German seals second Silverstone win and 51st career victory

• Hamilton finishes second with Kimi Raikkonen third

AFP | Silverstone, United Kingdom

Sebastian Vettel opened a clear lead in the drivers’ world championship on

Sunday when he wrecked Lewis Hamilton’s home-race party and claimed an impressive victory in a thrilling British Grand Prix.

The four-time champion seized the lead at the start and fought back after losing the in-itiative during two safety car periods to register his second win at Silverstone and the 51st of his career.

Vettel ’s win for Ferrari

wrecked Hamilton’s hopes of taking a record fifth win in suc-cession and a record sixth over-all, but the Englishman – who was last after a collision with Kimi Raikkonen on the opening lap – produced a heroic drive to

finish second for Mercedes.His team-mate Valtteri Bottas,

on older tyres, led entering the closing laps, but was unable to resist Vettel or his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who fin-ished third. Bottas was fourth.

It was Ferrari’s first win in Britain since 2011.

Daniel Ricciardo came home fifth for Red Bull ahead of Nico Hulkenberg of Renault, Esteban Ocon of Force India, Fernando Alonso of McLaren and Kevin

Magnussen of Haas. Pierre Gasly was 10th for Toro Rosso.

“The safety car spiced it up,” said Vettel, wearing supporting tapes on his stiff neck. “I had the advantage of the tyres, but it was not easy to find a way through.”

Raikkonen apologised for his first lap brush with Hamilton which earned the 38-year-old Finn a 10-second penalty.

“It was my mistake,” he said. “I deserved the penalty, but I kept fighting.”

On another sweltering after-noon in central England, with a track temperature of 53 degrees Celsius (127 degrees Fahren-heit), the drama began imme-diately. As the lights went out, Vettel made a near-perfect start to pull clear into the lead fol-lowed by Bottas.

Hamilton, from his record 76th pole, appeared bogged down as he responded and was instantly in a scrap for third with Raikkonen, who collided with the Briton under braking into

Turn Three.Both spun and rejoined, Ham-

ilton after running off track. He was 19th and last, Brendon Hart-ley having failed to start in his Toro Rosso.

“I think my car’s broken,” said the defending champion as he reconciled himself to a charge through a field shaken by the opening lap incidents.

Sebastian Vettel celebrates after winning the British Grand Prix

Zaman leads Pakistan to victory over AustraliaAFP | Harare

Opener Fakhar Zaman cracked a career-best 91 to

help set up Pakistan’s six-wick-et win over Australia in the final of the Twenty20 tri-series at Harare Sports Club.

Zaman shared in a century stand with Shoaib Malik as Pakistan recovered from an early wobble in their pursuit of Australia’s 183 for 8, and Malik then showed all the experience of an 18-year international ca-reer to see his team home with an unbeaten 43.

It looked as though Australia had produced a masterstroke in opening bowling with Glenn Maxwell’s offspin as debu-tant Sahibzada Farhan was stumped off the first ball he

faced and Hussain Talat sliced a catch to point three balls lat-er to derail Pakistan’s chase.

Australia threatened to storm to victory, but Zaman quickly set about re-building the innings. First, he added 45 with captain Sarfraz Ahmed to take his team out of danger, and he then added 107 for the fourth wicket with Malik to seize advantage for Pakistan.

Sagan sprints to victory on stage two • Bahrain Merida’s Sonny Colbrelli finishes second

AFP | La Roche-sur-Yon, France

World champion Peter Sagan won stage two

and took the overall leader’s yellow jersey on the Tour de France on Sunday after edg-ing Bahrain Merida’s Sonny Colbrelli in a reduced sprint finish after a late crash in the peloton.

Overnight leader Fernan-do Gaviria came down in a mass high speed crash just 1.3km from the line, which Sagan and around 15 other riders avoided to set up a frantic finish.

Champion Chris Froome

avoided a repeat of his first stage tumble, the Team Sky leader staying out of trouble as he goes in pursuit of a record-equalling fifth Tour triumph.

But another Briton Adam Yates was delayed by a fall and two of his Mitchelton Scott teammates were both involved in separate falls.

Sagan, riding for Bo-

ra-Hansgrohe, edged a field of nine lined up for the fi-nal reckoning but had to deal with French specialist Arnaud Demarre and the Italian Colbrelli, who came within a hair’s breadth of the win with a daring last second wheel push to come second.

Germany’s Andre Greipel was fourth but never really involved in the struggle for first with the other three.

“It’s a great start for the fans,” said Sagan.

“Fernando won yesterday and now I’m the one with the yellow jersey,” it’s been exciting.

“I could see it was going to be a good year,” said Sa-gan, who was thrown off the Tour last year after being judged culpable of a fall that ended felw sprinter Mark Cavendish’s Tour.

Peter Sagan and Bahrain Merida’s Sonny Colbrelli in action

Bahrain expands into sports media in AfricaTDT | Manama

Bahrain had made a landmark expan-

sion into sports media in the continent of Africa through Brave Combat Federation.

The sports media will mobilise invest-ments to expand tech-nology and production quality to meet the growing demands.

The fourteenth edi-tion of the promotion is set to take place on 18 August at Sports City in Tangier, Mo-rocco.

The event marks the first time a global mixed martial arts pro-motion is organising

an event in the conti-nent.

The organisation has hosted events in 9 nations prior to an-nouncing the event in Morocco.

With the latest ena-blement the show will be broadcasted live across the continent through the broadcast partners, StarSat and VodaComm.

StarSat will be fo-cused on the live dis-tribution via televi-sion networks while VodaComm will en-able the audience to view the event live on mobile and other telecommunication platforms.

India edge England in finale

• Rohit Sharma’s magnificent 100 leads India to series win

AFP | Bristol, United Kingdom

Rohit Sharma backed up the heroics of pace bowler Hardik Pandya by

hitting 100 not out as India clinched the T20 international series at Bristol.

Sharma became only the second In-dian to pass 2,000 runs in this format

as India chased down their target of 199 with eight balls and seven wickets to spare.

England batted first and threatened to post a huge score before stuttering at the end and finishing on 198-9 after their 20 overs.

Pandya took 4-38, his best figures in T20 cricket and wicketkeeper MS Dhoni became the first player to take five catches in international T20 and ran out Chris Jordan on the last ball of England’s innings for good measure.

Then Pandya was promoted up the order to produce a quickfire 33 not out that got India home in front of a crowd that was mostly fans supporting the away team.

Sharma praised Pandya’s calmness, saying: “He has done that a few years now. He is used to it now and he is doing it perfectly. The way he bowled gave him confidence to bat.”

The 30-year-old Sharma produced his best batting of the series and put on 89 with captain Kholi, the other Indian with 2,000 T20 runs, for third wicket as India made the task look easy.

BRIEF SCORE

India 201 for 3 (Rohit 100*, Kohli 43) beat England 198 for 9 (Roy 67, Pandya 4-38)

by seven wickets

BRIEF SCORE

Pakistan 187 for 4 (Fakhar 91, Shoaib Malik 43*)

beat Australia 183 for 8 (Short 76, Finch 47, Amir

3-33) by six wickets

KNOW WHAT

Lewis Hamilton, Jim Clark and Alain Prost jointly hold the record for most British GP wins, with five apiece. Hamilton has won the last four races from 2014-2017

Rohit Sharma lifts one over covers


Croatia missing the spark Reuters | Moscow

They have experience, bags of talent and there is no questioning their fighting

spirit yet there is something still strangely lacking in the Croa-tia team which has reached the World Cup semi-finals for the second time in their history.

Croatia became only the sec-ond team to win successive penalty shootouts at the World Cup, following in the footsteps of Argentina in 1990, when they overcame Russia 4-3 on Satur-day to follow up their win over Denmark in the previous round.

Neither of those overall per-formances, however, were wor-thy of potential World Cup win-ners, nor did they seem to do justice to the quality of Croatia’s line-up, which is one of the most gifted in Russia.

Fourteen members of their squad are based in Europe’s top five leagues — England, Spain, Italy, Germa-n y a n d

France — including Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic at Real Madrid, Ivan Rakitic at Bar-celona and Mario Mandzukic at Juventus.

When Croatia stormed through the group stage with nine points from three games, they did in indeed look like

serious contenders.But the spark seems to

have gone in knockout stages and instead they have had to rely on more on resilience to get them through against less gifted opponents.

Coach Zlatko Dalic certainly showed plenty of bold, attacking intentions against Russia.

The gifted Modric and Rak-itic were fielded in the centre of midfield, with no defensive

cover, and there were two wing-ers in Ante Rebic and Ivan Per-isic and two centre forwards in Manduzkic and Andrej Kra-maric. But it did not quite work out as planned.

Croatia’s long periods of pos-session were largely unproduc-tive, the final pass was invariably missing and they were surprised by Russia’s aggressive approach.

“We were undermanned in midfield,” said Dalic. “We were left to only hit long balls. That’s not how Croatia play. That’s not our style.”

Going to extra-time and pen-alties meant using up valuable reserves of energy that could potentially put them at a disad-vantage in their semi-final on Wednesday when they face an England side who coasted to a 2-0 win over Sweden.

“There were times when we lacked energy: 240 minutes of football in six days takes its toll on you,” said Modric who, like Mandzukic and Rakitic, is into his thirties.

Croatia players celebrate after winning the penalty shootout

Modric shines but mates must do moreReuters | Sochi, Russia

Croatia progressed to the semi-finals

of the World Cup after a second suc-cessive penalty shootout on Sat-urday but their inability to put

away another un-impressive team over

90 minutes and extra time is a major worry for the Balkan side.

Croatia will now face Eng-land on Wednesday in Mos-cow and after two long and tiring games they will surely

start as heavy-legged un-derdogs.

However, a bigger issue for coach Zlatko Dalic will be how to get more decisive perfor-mances from his top players.

Luka Modric won the man of the match award for the third time in five games at this World Cup, with a superb array of passing from a deep role in midfield.

But as in the previous match against Denmark – which Cro-atia also won on penalties after an insipid 1-1 draw - all too often his team mates failed to do any-thing with them.

Up front, Mario Mandzukic was leaden and static and a strike rate of one goal apiece in five games for him, Inter Mi-

lan’s Ivan Perisic and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Ante Rebic is disap-pointing.

Ivan Rakitic, so often a key man for Barcelona, was not nearly as influential as at club level, while in defence, Russia’s Mario Fernandes beat more highly rated defenders to head home a late equalizer.

Croatia often looked reluctant to attack and Modric’s words after the game hinted at a lack of adventure that will surely cost them sooner or later.

“Russia played a good game, particularly in the first half, they surprised us, they pressed us very high, we could not build up our play,” Modric said.

The most important thing for me is that my

national team succeeded and that

we do something big. We’ve already

accomplished something big, but we want to do more. The

favourites, the big teams are home

LUKA MODRIC

Vida avoids ban over pro-Ukraine celebrationAFP | Moscow

Croatia defender Domagoj Vida escaped a FIFA ban

yesterday after posting a clip dedicating his country’s victory over Russia in the World Cup quarter-final to Ukraine.

Vida scored an extra-time goal and one of Croatia’s penal-ties in a 4-3 shootout win over the World Cup hosts in Sochi on Saturday.

Some Russian officials had called on the football governing body to take tough disciplinary measures against the Balkan team.

The ponytailed 29-year-old shouted “Glory to Ukraine!” in a video posted by former Croatia international Ognjen Vukojevic shortly after the match.

Vida has just left Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv and Vuko-jevic also played for the club during his career.

FIFA said it had studied the video and decided to issue a warning to Vida but will take no further measures.

“We can confirm that FIFA’s disciplinary committee has

sent a warning to the player Domagoj Vida due to his vid-eo statement,” a spokesperson told AFP.

Vida told Russian media after the clip was made public that he had meant no offence.

“I love Russian people,” Vida was quoted as saying. “It was just a joke.”

“Glory to Ukraine!” was a slogan of the former Soviet re-public’s pro-EU revolution that toppled a Russian-backed pres-ident in 2014.

The revolt was condemned as illegal by Moscow and sparked a crisis in relations between the two neighbouring states.

It was followed by Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and a pro-Krem-lin separatist war in eastern Ukraine that has claimed more than 10,000 lives.

Vukojevic added in the vid-eo: “This victory is for Dynamo (Kyiv) and for Ukraine! Croatia onwards!”

The clip was picked up by Russian state media and drew condemnation from some of-ficials.Croatia defender Domagoj Vida celebrate

French icon Henry plots his country’s downfallReuters | St Petersburg

The irony of Thierry Henry, one of France’s all-time

soccer greats, plotting his own country’s downfall at the World Cup in Russia has not been lost on his former team mate Didier Deschamps, who calls it a bizarre situation.

When France go up against Belgium in the World Cup semi-final at the Saint Peters-burg Stadium on Tuesday, the

40-year-old Henry will be on the opposing bench, looking to stop his country from advanc-ing to Sunday’s final.

Up against him is Des-champs, who he played along-side in France’s 1998 World Cup-winning squad and who has been Les Bleus’ coach for the last six years.

“It’s bizarre because he’s French and will be on the op-ponent’s bench,” Deschamps said yesterday on the French sports show Telefoot.

“But he is someone I really appreciate, I’m happy for him.”

Henry, who scored 51 goals in 123 international appear-ances, played for France at four World Cups in all. He was a runner-up in 2006 and also competed in 2002 and 2010.

But for the last two years he has been serving as one of Belgium coach Roberto Mar-tinez’s assistants, his first foray into coaching and seemingly an inspired choice if the rare reviews from the Belgian play-ers are anything to go by.

Belgium’s assistant coach Thierry Henry gestures during the match

World Cup ref gets life ban for bribery

Reuters | Cairo

A Kenyan linesman who had been due to offi-

ciate at the World Cup in Russia has been handed a life ban after being caught in a bribery sting.

Marwa Range was filmed received a $600 bribe dur-ing the African Nations Championship in Moroc-co in January and is one of 22 referees sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football in an unprecedented clean up, announced at the weekend.

‘Scapegoat’ Ozil should quit German team: father

AFP | Berlin

The father of Mesut Ozil said yesterday his son

should quit Germany’s na-tional squad after he was “made the scapegoat” for Die Mannschaft’s shock first-round defeat at the World Cup.

Ozil, 29, has come in for hefty criticism in Germany after the World Champi-ons crashed out in Russia, finishing bottom of their group.

Pressure had already been mounting on the Arsenal midfielder in the World Cup run-up over a controversial photograph with Turkey President Recep Tayyip Er-dogan that was seized on to question his loyalty to Germany.

Germany’s midfielder Mesut Ozil

KNOW WHAT

Having previously been part of Yu-goslavia, Croatia

played first game of international foot-

ball just prior to gaining independ-

ence in 1990


news of bahrain

As the Daily Tribune World Cup 2018 Predict and Win contest is getting immense response from the football loving readers, an exact forecast of each days matches is becoming tougher and unpredictable which adds to the excitement of the game. A winner of the past week, Maris Dealmeida was given the gift pack sponsored by Cocoa Cola. The Daily Tribune readers can participate in the Predict and Win contest by filling in the contest form published in each days TDT sports page or Website and sending it to WhatsApp 33609505 or email: [email protected]

The ‘late heroes’ of the World Cup• The competition has a history of players ‘coming to life’ late in the event

• Some of them have emerged as iconic figures of the tournament

• There are candidates for this role in 2018 among the semi-finalists

AFP | Moscow

The FIFA World Cup has a long history of players, who made few waves in the opening rounds,

yet became heroes as the competition reached its crescendo. As this year’s world finals reaches the last four, we look at some of these ‘late heroes’ of past World Cups, and some names that might be added to the list at Russia 2018.

1958 – Pele

The 1958 tournament in Sweden is of-ten remembered as Pele’s World Cup, but few people now remember that he took no part in the opening two games: an injury in a warm-up game had side-lined the 17-year-old, and instead, it was the future Italy forward Jose Altafini, who started up front for A Seleção. Pele was restored to the team for the final group game against the Soviet Union, but made little impact.

It was in the knockout rounds that O Rei exploded into life: a tense quarter-fi-nal against surprise package Wales was decided in the 73rd minute when Pele, with his back to goal, beat his man with a deft flick and twisted around to drive the ball past Jack Kelsey in the Welsh goal. That was all the extravagantly talented teenager needed: a second-half hat-trick from Pele helped Brazil to a 5-2 win over France in the semi-finals, and then came the unforgettable Final against the host nation. His two goals in that match, a brilliant chapeu and volley followed by a towering header in the last minute, heralded the arrival of a new football superstar.

1966 – Sir Geoff HurstWest Ham United striker Geoff Hurst, later knighted, was not the forward who was ‘supposed’ to lead the 1966 England team to World Cup triumph on home turf. It was Jimmy Greaves, the Totten-ham Hotspur hero, who was expected to provide the goals for the Three Lions. But Greaves failed to find the net in the opening round, and an injury kept him out of the quarter-final clash against Argentina. That tempestuous match was instead decided by Greaves’s ‘un-derstudy’ Hurst, whose clever angled header provided the only goal.

Hurst remained in the team for the semi-finals, and England coach Sir Alf Ramsey made the difficult decision to pick the same team for the Final, despite

Greaves’s return to fitness. It proved an inspired decision, as Hurst bagged a famous hat-trick in the Wembley finale to secure England’s only World Cup crown.

1982 – Paolo RossiPerhaps the most stunning and unex-pected ‘late hero’ of all was the Italian penalty-box predator Paolo Rossi. Rossi had been one of the stars of Italy’s 1978 World Cup team, but in 1982, he had only just returned to the professional game after a period of suspension, due to his involvement in a betting scan-dal. As Gli Azzurri laboured uncon-vincingly through the opening round, Rossi looked sadly out of form, and the newspapers were taking turns writing the sporting epitaph of a once great forward.

When Italy faced a dazzling Brazil in the tournament’s second phase, few gave them a prayer. The Brazilian goal-keeper Valdir Peres stated his only real worry prior to the game: that Rossi might come back to life. So it proved, with a Rossi hat-trick securing a 3-2 win for the Italians in one of the World Cup’s most memo-rable games. Rossi carried on with a brace against Poland in the semi-finals, and contributed one more in the Final against West Germany to end as the tournament’s leading scor-er, and undoubted star.

2006 – Fabio Grosso24 years later, another Italian team lifted the trophy, and it was full of re-nowned players: Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Andrea Pirlo, Francesco Totti and others. By contrast, Fabio Grosso, a journeyman left-back from the Palermo club, seemed like an interloper. Starting two of Italy’s first-round games without making much of an impression, he was hardly a name on everyone’s lips, as the knockout stage began.

In Gli Azzurri’s Round of 16 match against Australia, they had been re-duced to ten men and looked in dan-ger of elimination, when a surging run down the left from Grosso won the Italians a crucial penalty, which Totti duly dispatched. Grosso remained in the side and grew in confidence, and was on hand again to score a fine goal to break the deadlock against the hosts Germany in the semi-finals. The Final against France went to penalties after a 1-1 ex-tra-time draw, and by putting away all five of their spot-kicks in the shoot-out, Italy claimed a fourth World Cup title. And who scored the fifth penalty for the Italians, to spark the celebrations? None other than Fabio Grosso.

2018 - ???So who could join these greats of the past at Russia 2018? Here are some candidates from among the semi-fi-nalists:

Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium)Playing in a deeper role than usual, the Man-chester City maestro was somewhat subdued

during the opening round. But with Dries Mertens absent against Brazil, De Bruyne moved further forward and revelled in the role of orchestrator, scoring a crucial goal and getting himself involved in all of Belgium’s attacks and counter-attacks. Is this the start of a storming run to the finish line?

Raphael Varane (France)There had been question marks over the form of the Real Ma-drid centre-back leading into the knockout phase, but a fine glancing head-er to give Les Bleus the lead against Uru-guay, and several crucial clear-ances to-wards the end of that q u a r t e r-f i - nal encounter, may indicate that France’s star defender is approaching his best form.

Harry Maguire (England)Can the Leicester City de-fender become England’s

Fabio Grosso? Another player who has risen to the top of the profes-sional game the hard way, Maguire has been

one of the most impres-sive figures in the Three Lions’ run to the last four. In the quarter-final clash

against Sweden, he made a tangible contribution, with a powerful header to put England into the lead.

Andrej Kramaric (Croatia)Vatreni fans had been hoping for more from the Hof-fenheim for-ward, who has been in and out of the start-ing XI since C r o a t i a ’ s opening game against Nigeria. Will the quick-react ion header that handed the Balkan side their equaliser against Russia in the quar-ter-finals convince coach Zlatko Dalic to keep Kramaric in his starting line-up, in the hopes of more such goals?

Pele in action during 1958 Wordl Cup final against hosts Sweden

Fabio Grosso

Harry Maguire

De Bruyne became a first-team regular

for Belgium in their World Cup 2014 qualifying

campaign. He scored four times as the Red

Devils qual-ified for their first major

tournament in 12 years

Russia salutes heroesReuters | Moscow

The Kremlin dubbed the Rus-sian national team heroes and

proud soccer fans saluted their underdog host team after the side lost on penalties to Croatia, bring-ing an end to its World Cup chal-lenge at the quarter-finals.

Across Russia, hand-wringing fans had held their breath through extra time, hoping the team could pull off another upset. Russia en-tered the World Cup as the low-est ranking side, but reached the quarter finals against the odds.

The disappointment of defeat late on Saturday soon melted into applause as fans toasted a national side that had repeatedly defied expectations. Fans spilling out of bars chanted “Russia,” dancing in the street and singing along as music blared.

“Our boys, they really did great. A huge thank you to them for this tournament. What we achieved, that was so cool,” Andrey, a lawyer, said next to a street corner screen that had shown the match.

President Vladimir Putin did not attend the game, but watched remotely, saying the players were

heroes despite the defeat and the country was proud of them, Krem-lin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was cited as saying by Interfax.

“He watched, he was rooting for the team. We lost in a fair and great game. They are still great guys for us, they are heroes. They were dying on the pitch, we are proud with them,” Peskov was quoted as saying.

Russian rouletteDespite the result, street parties broke out in central Moscow in scenes reminiscent of the cele-brations following Russia’s shock victory over Spain on Sunday. The Kremlin likened those festivities to images of celebrations after victory in World War Two.

“It was a great match. Well done to our guys, they tried hard... I’m happy that we made it to the quar-ters for the first time in history,” said Artyom Osadchy, a student.

Russians tuned in across the country, from soldiers at their bar-racks in Rostov-on-Don to balleri-nas in Saint Petersburg back stage. Wild animal tamers at a circus in Moscow crouched round a phone streaming the game.

Russia players look dejected following their defeat in the penalty shoot out

Fernando Hierro leaves job AFP | Madrid

Fernando Hierro, who stood in as Spain coach when Julen Lo-

petegui was sacked on the eve of the World Cup, will not continue in the role, the Spanish football federation said yesterday.

Under the former Real Madrid and Spain defender, who had lit-tle previous coaching experience,

2010 winners Spain lost on pen-alties to host nation Russia in the last 16.

“After travelling many kilo-metres together, the Spanish Football Federation and Fernando Hierro have put an end to their relationship,” the federation said.

Hierro declined to return to his previous job as the federation’s technical director and “will un-dertake new professional chal-lenges”, the federation wrote.

Spain were tipped among the favourites until Lopetegui caused chaos by announcing he would become Real Madrid’s new coach after the World Cup.

The federation, fearing a split between players from Barcelona and Real, sacked Lopetegui two days before Spain’s opening game against Portugal.

Fernando Hierro looks dejected after losing the penalty shootout Andrej Kramaric

Kevin De Bruyne

Raphael Varane

England fans in London watch their team take on Sweden in the World Cup quarter-finals


AFP | Moscow

England were looking forward to their first World Cup semi-fi-nal since 1990 yesterday as host

nation Russia came to terms with the end of their extraordinary run fol-lowing defeat on penalties to Croatia.

Gareth Southgate’s young team swept Sweden aside 2-0 on Satur-

day, sparking mass celebrations in England where at least 20

million people watched the match on TV.

They will face Croa-tia, who had to endure a strength- sapping penalty shootout for the second consecu-tive match, in front of 80,000 people in Moscow’s Lu-zhniki Stadium on Wednesday.

“ C a n c e l y o u r plans for Wednes-

day night - England have reached their

first World Cup semi-fi-nal in nearly 30 years,”

said the Sun yesterday.“The dream goes on! Eng-

land in ecstasy,” trumpeted the Mail On Sunday.

Leicester defender Harry

Maguire headed England ahead in the first half in Samara and Tottenham’s Dele Alli added a second just before the hour as Southgate’s team enjoyed the lion’s share of possession.

Man-of-the-match Jordan Pickford made three outstanding saves to keep Sweden at bay, further burnishing a reputation that has grown throughout the tournament.

Captain Harry Kane, who leads the goalscoring charts in Russia with six strikes, failed to find the net for the first time but said confidence was high after England posted their best run at a major tournament since Euro ‘96.

“We’re buzzing. We know there is still a big game ahead, but we’re feel-ing really good,” he said.

England have won the World Cup just once, when they hosted it in 1966, but the public and pundits are starting to dream.

“England’s players have guaranteed they will return from the World Cup as heroes. Now they can dream of a grander ambition. Can they come home as legends?” asked former Eng-land defender Jamie Carragher in a column for the Sunday Telegraph.

Russian drama Russia’s fairytale run came to a halt as they were beaten on penalties by

Croatia after 120 gruelling minutes of football.

The Russians came into their own tournament as the lowest-ranked na-tion but, just as they did in eliminating Spain in the previous round, refused to die despite enjoying just 36 percent of possession against a superior Cro-atian team.

Croatia, led superbly by Luka Modric, thought they had won the match when Domagoj Vida rose to nod in a corner in the first period of extra time but Mario Fernandes headed home from a free-kick to pull Russia level at 2-2.

But Russia failed to convert two of their spot-kicks, leaving Ivan Rakitic with match point and the Barcelona man kept his head to seal a 4-3 win.

Russia coach Stanislav Cherchesov lamented that fortune had not smiled on his side.

“Luck was against us,” Cherchesov said. “My guys feel like conscript sol-diers whose term of service was over just when they were preparing to go into battle.

“They still want to fight that war.”Croatia, who last reached the semis

in 1998, now face the challenge of try-ing to recover in time to play England in Moscow.

But Modric said they would be ready to face Southgate’s men.

England dream

of World Cup glory

England’s players celebrate their win against Sweden in the World Cup quarter-finals

England complete ‘easy’ run to semi-finals as Russia run ends

England’s coach Gareth Southgate (R) and England’s forward Harry Kane celebrate after winning

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Four pulled from cave - newsofbahrain.com · named as Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Al Abdalatif. The foreign na - tional who was killed was from Bangladesh. An investigation was underway