SPORTS 8 @newsofbahrain OP-ED Unbeaten Liverpool · Unbeaten Liverpool extend lead Liverpool sent...

Avoid skin-lightening creams ‘at all costs’London

Consumers are being warned to steer clear of skin lightening creams

that can “act like paint strip-per”.

The Local Government As-sociation warns the products should be “avoided at all costs” after recent seizures by trading standards officers.

Many contained the bleach-ing agent hydroquinone - the creams can also contain mer-cury.

The British Skin Foundation said people should speak to a doctor if they had any concerns about their skin.

The LGA says the toxic prod-ucts are being sold by rogue re-tailers, as well as online and at car boot sales and market stalls.

And they do not always spell out the correct levels of ingre-dients, putting consumers at risk.

Hydroquinone, described by the LGA as “the biological equivalent of paint stripper”, can remove the top layer of skin, increasing the risk of skin cancer, and cause fatal liver and kidney damage.

Mercury can cause similar life-threatening health prob-lems.

Unless they are issued on pre-scription by a doctor, creams containing hydroquinone, ste-roids or mercury are banned in the UK - because of their poten-tially serious side-effects.

Lisa Bickerstaffe, a spokes-woman for the British Skin Foundation, said the issue of illegal skin lightening creams came up “year after year”.

She added: “It’s difficult to know whether the problem is increasing due to the illicit way the products are sold under the counter and online.

“Ingredients in these cos-metics can cause serious health problems and the British Skin Foundation strongly advises against using them.

02Global praise for Premier’s initiatives to sustain peace

03

‘Shortage of water adversely affecting agriculture expansion across Bahrain’

04Over 270 public staff attend programme on rights laws

8

Saudi implements public decency code 5WORLD

OP-EDS P O R T S

Unbeaten Liverpool extend leadLiverpool sent out an om- inous warning to the rest of the Premier League yesterday, proving they can win ugly as Harry Kane rescued 10-man Tottenham. P16

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Bahraini sculptor Khalil Al Madhoun participated in the Belgorod Art Forum at Shukhov University in Russia. He is among the eight international sculptors participating in the forum. Mr Al Madhoun holds a master’s degree in art education from Helwan University in Cairo. He has participated in many art and sculptural shows in America, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq, Austria, Egypt, Turkey, Kuwait and Lebanon.

Sculptural marvel

Many contained the bleaching agent hydroquinone and mercury.

US rejects Iran minister’s request to visit friend in hospitalNew York

The US has denied permis-sion for Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to

visit a colleague in hospital in New York unless Iran releases a US citizen held in detention.

On Saturday the US State Department said that it would only allow Mr Zarif to visit the country’s ambassador in a US hospital if Tehran releases a detained American citizen.

In a statement it said: “For-eign Minister Zarif would like to visit a colleague who is in

the hospital receiving world-class care.

“Iran has wrongfully de-tained several US citizens for years, to the pain of their fam-ilies and friends they cannot freely visit.

“We have relayed to the Ira-nian mission that the travel re-quest will be granted if Iran releases a US citizen.”

Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s UN ambassador, is undergoing cancer treatment at a hospital

in New York, where Mr Zarif was visiting for the United Na-tions General Assembly.

Mr Zarif and other Iranian officials are under strict travel restrictions when they are in the US that limit them to the area around the UN headquar-ters.

Tensions between Washing-ton and Tehran have soared since last year, when US Presi-dent Donald Trump left a 2015 deal aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program, and imposed punishing sanctions on the Is-lamic republic.

We have relayed to the Iranian mission that the

travel request will be granted if Iran releases

a US citizen. US STATE DEPARTMENT Mr Zarif

• You have to decide and the time now is to decide, not only for Assad, but for those who support him, said Ambassador James Jeffrey.

Washington, DC

A senior US official said that Syrian president Bashar Al Assad and his

backers will not be allowed to pursue a military campaign and seek a political solution at the same time.

The remarks came on Friday, a day after the US concluded that the Assad regime had again used chemical weapons this year, soon after starting an of-fensive to reclaim the rebel-held north-western province of Idlib.

Ambassador James Jeffrey, the US special envoy for Syria, said a constitutional committee agreed between the government in Damascus and the opposition meant it was time for Mr Al As-sad to choose between war or peace negotiations.

“A military victory for Assad in this – or anybody else in this conflict and a political settle-

ment are mutually exclusive,” said Mr Jeffrey.

“You have to decide and the time now is to decide, not only for Assad, but for those who support him. This is a message we’ve been passing on to the

Russians with whom we are dealing very closely on this.”

Mr Jeffrey was speaking on the sidelines of the United Na-tions General Assembly. The UN confirmed on Monday agree-ment between the Syrian gov-ernment and opposition on the constitutional committee.

The panel, which will have co-chairs and 150 members, is considered a tentative first step towards peace. It is due to start its work in the next four weeks, tasked with writing a new con-stitution that would shape the path to elections.

The wreckage of an educational centre destroyed in Idlib strikes.

1,100civilians nearly have been killed since late April in Syria strikes.

New push for Syrian peace

US says Bashar Al Assad can’t pursue peace while making war

King holds call with Egypt Prez Manama

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa held

a telephone call yesterday with Egyptian President Ab-del Fattah El-Sisi.

They discussed regional issues, stressing the need for concerted efforts to confront regional challenges and pre-serve the Arab national se-curity.

HM the King expressed the Kingdom of Bahrain’s appre-ciation of Egypt’s efforts on the Arab scene to bolster regional and international peace and security.

The King lauded distin-guished fraternal relations between both countries, stressing the kingdom’s keenness to boost bilateral cooperation.

His Majesty also wished the Egyptian President every success in leading Egypt to more growth and prosperity.

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• Shaikh Hussam conveyed greetings from HRH the Premier to the organisers and participants.

• Former President of Trinidad and Tobago Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona hailed HRH the Premier’s initiative regarding the International Day of Conscience.

New York

The initiative of His Roy-al Highness Prime Min-ister Prince Khalifa bin

Salman Al Khalifa won praise during a ceremony held on the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly (UNGA) meetings in New York, the US.

The United Nations endorsed HRH the Premier, declaring April 5, the annual International Day of Conscience. The two-day annual event was held by the Federation Of World Peace and Love.

The event was attended by Cabinet Minister Mohammed Al Mutawa, Shaikh Hussam bin Isa Al Khalifa, president of the award of His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa for Sus-tainable Development, diplo-mats, representatives of the UN agencies and NGOs.

Federation Of World Peace and Love (FOWPAL) President

Dr Hong, Tao-Tze addressed the opening ceremony hailed HRH the Premier’s initiative who paved the way for the procla-mation of the International Day of Conscience.

He commended the defining step for the international efforts, which seek to build a sustainable world base in peace, human sol-idarity between countries and peoples all over the world.

He said that the world is in dire need shift in the path of a culture of peace consisting

of values, attitudes and behav-iours that reflect and inspire conscience in the hearts of all human being.

“Destiny is the only thing we all have in common, which can bind us together, irrespective of differences in colour, skin, language, gender or belief. The seeds of love and peace lie in awakening the human con-science, which is fuelled by the warmth of communication be-tween human hearts that radiate the splendour of life,” he said.

He described conscience as quintessential to protect human rights and stressed collective re-sponsibility to build a world free from fear and wars, underlining the need to pass these values to coming generations.

Shaikh Hussam conveyed greetings from HRH the Premier to the organisers and partici-pants, stressing the importance of the topics which represent a response to HRH the Premier’s initiative which highlights the importance of promoting a cul-

ture of conscience bolster-ing the efforts of states and peoples to achieve sustaina-ble development, that repre-sents a fundamental pillar for achieving security, stability and peace.

He underlined HRH the Premier’s visions and stances which urge the international community to play an active role in achieving internation-al security and peace.

“HRH the Premier’s initia-tive, with the proclamation

of the 5th of April the annual International Day of Conscience, represents a new beginning to turn the culture of internation-al conscience from theory into practice.

He reiterated Bahrain’s keen-ness on enhancing cooperation with the Federation Of World Peace and Love (FOWPAL) in all that serves the common goals to achieve peace and love between different peoples and promote a culture of conscience.

Former President of Trinidad and Tobago Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona hailed HRH the Premier’s initiative re-

garding the International Day of Conscience, which aims to achieve security, peace and sta-bility in the world.

He commended the initiative which, he said, reflects Bahrain’s awareness of the nature of the challenges facing the interna-tional system and the dire need to contribute positively to the foundations of a world based on cooperation and collective action that meets the aspirations of peoples in development.

UN Under-Secretary-General of a United Nations programme and former Executive Director of UN-HABITAT Anna Tibaijuka stressed the necessity of mus-tering international efforts to achieve HRH the Premier’s initi-ative regarding the International Day of Conscience.

“The initiative is an impor-tant step towards a world free from all forms of conflict and disputes,” she said, praising HRH the Premier’s initiatives and vi-sions that advocate international issues of priority.

Global praise for Premier’s initiatives to sustain peace

HRH the Premier’s vision highlighted at the high-profile event held in New York

Mr Al Mutawa being honoured at the event. Shaikh Hussam speaks at the event.

The move represents a new beginning to turn the culture of

international conscience from theory into

practice.SHAIKH HUSSAM

Focus on Bahrain-UN ties New York

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Moham-

med Al Khalifa, conveyed the greetings of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, His Royal Highness the Prime Min-ister, Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and His Royal High-ness the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Gu-terres, and their wishes to him of further success in leading the United Nations.

This came as the Minister of Foreign Affairs met with the Sec-retary-General on the sidelines of the 74th Session of the Unit-ed Nations General Assembly in New York.

The UN Secretary-General noted the Kingdom’s policy of co-operation with the United Nations and its vital role in pre-serving peace and security in the region.

For his part, Shaikh Khalid hailed the efforts of the UN Sec-retary-General to develop the work of the organisation on peace and security, sustainable devel-opment, and other issues and challenges facing the countries

of the world. He reiterated the King-

dom’s solidarity with the Sec-retary-General’s endeavours to achieve a more prosperous future for all countries, wishing him fur-ther success.

Separately, The Foreign Minis-ter met the Deputy Prime Minis-ter and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, Rashid Mere-dov.

He commended the growing bilateral relations in all fields, noting the valuable outcomes of the visit of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to Turkmenistan where he held key talks with President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, which led to

the signing of several agreements supporting joint cooperation be-tween the two countries.

He stressed the importance of exchanging visits between the of-ficials of both countries to further develop cooperation at all levels to achieve their common interest.

For his part, the Turkmen Pre-mier and Foreign Minister hailed the distinguished course of rela-tions between the two countries which reflects their keenness to develop bilateral cooperation and joint coordination.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs also met the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Yemen, Mohammed Abdullah Al Hadh-rami.

Shaikh Khalid with Mr Guterres.


‘Shortage of water adversely affecting agriculture expansion across Bahrain’

Ministry has been exploring latest technologies to overcome challenges in the agricultural sector

• Dr Abdulkarim said that the agricultural sector has been constantly developing locally, regionally and globally, owing to the use of modern technologies.

• He highlighted the government initiatives to promote the agricultural sector, namely the provision of marketing outlets for farmers.

TDT | Manama

Ways of employing smart agriculture techniques to increase efficiency

and productivity and achieve food security remained the focus as the Kingdom marked Arab Agricul-ture Day on September 27.

Dr Abdulaziz Mohammed Abdulkarim, the Assistant Un-dersecretary for Agriculture Af-fairs at the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning, said expansion of agri-culture using latest technologies has been one of the top priorities of the government.

“The Works Ministry has been keen to attach great importance to the agricultural sector in ad-dition to providing the necessary support to farmers as part of the efforts of the Kingdom to improve food security.

“However, the agricultural sector in Bahrain continues to maintain its position, due to the government’s keen interest in this vital sector.”

He pointed out that the main challenges facing the agricultural sector in the Kingdom are the scarcity of agricultural land and

salinisation of soil and lack of water.

“The department has been try-ing to overcome these challenges by adopting agricultural techno-logical methods such as hydro-ponics and aquaponics as well as modern irrigation techniques and all of them have proved suc-cessful.”

Dr Abdulkarim said that the agricultural sector is constantly developing locally, regionally and globally, thanks to modern tech-nologies in the use of alternative energy sources such as solar ener-

gy, the expansion of treated water use, plant varieties tolerant to salinity and drought, in addition to biotechnology in improving plant genetic traits, and methods of control agricultural pests and methods of monitoring through remote sensing systems.

The Assistant Undersecretary for Agricultural Affairs highlight-ed the government initiatives to promote the agricultural sector, namely the provision of market-ing outlets for farmers, repre-sented by the permanent farmers market in Bhora Aali, in addition to the seasonal farmers market in the Botanical Garden in Budaiya.

“This experience has proved its success in marketing local agricultural products and its contribution in supporting food security.”

He explained that among the initiatives, the development of agricultural laboratories of the Agency for Agriculture and Ma-rine Resources, and the intro-duction of various agricultural initiatives to promote this sector, is expected to make a qualita-tive leap in improving services to farmers and importers.

“This is in addition to the agen-cy works to provide support to farmers and provide extension services and promote agricultural investments in the Kingdom.”

He pointed out that the agen-cy is keen to rehabilitate trained national cadres capable of deal-ing with latest agricultural tech-niques.

One of the objectives set is to protect and develop the agricul-tural sector and find the required balance between agricultural and urban land to ensure appropriate levels of GDP in support of local food security, the official added.

The Assistant Undersecretary also said that the efforts being implemented in the sector con-stitute constructive steps towards achieving comprehensive sus-tainable development.

Hydroponic farming has been a great success in the Kingdom.

The department has been trying to

overcome these challenges by

adopting agricultural technological methods

such as hydroponics and aquaponics as well

as modern irrigation techniques.

DR ABDULKARIM

Aquaponics refers to any system that combines conventional

aquaculture with hydroponics

in a symbiotic environment.

KNOW

DID

Woman loses appeal in drug peddling case

TDT | Manama

Th e H i g h A p p e a l s Court has upheld the five years’ imprison-

ment given to a 38-year-old Asian woman convicted of sell-ing shabu in the Kingdom.

According to court files, the defendant’s illegal activities came to light after the police received a tip-off from the an-ti-narcotics directorate.

A police officer in plain clothes was assigned to arrest her red-handed, and he man-aged to convince her to sell drugs to him after he spoke with her on the phone.

“And when she arrived, she handed a crystal bag to the under-cover agent and the latter gave her the money,” the Prosecutors said.

There was shabu worth

BD100 in the bag, and police officers followed her until she reached her house, they added.

The officers surrounded the accused as soon as she arrived. “And they seized several bags containing shabu and a digital scale from her apartment as well as money in different cur-rencies. The woman was also fined BD3,000 for her crime.”

The officers seized several bags

containing shabu and a digital scale from

her apartment as well as money in different

currencies. PROSECUTORS

Dr Fawzi Amin named head of IFRC delegation in GCCManama

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cres-cent Societies (IFRC), the

world’s largest humanitarian network, has appointed Dr Fawzi Amin as the head of its delegation in the GCC.

Dr Amin is the first Bahraini and GCC national to hold this position since delegation’s es-tablishment in the Jordanian capital Amman in 1980s, and currently located in Dubai since 2012.

Dr Amin will take up his new duties upcoming October in his office at the delegation’s headquarters in Dubai.

As the head of delegation, Dr Amin is responsible for co-ordination between the Red Crescent Societies in the GCC, increasing societies’ communi-

cation with the regional head-quarters in Beirut, implement joint training programmes, and organise co-operation to re-spond to federation’s calls on disaster relief cases around the world.

In his new position, Dr Amin will also work to strengthen the implementation of relief operations to assist disaster victims and carrying out de-velopment work to strengthen the capacities of National So-cieties members, where IFRC work focuses on four core ar-eas: promoting human values, disaster response, disaster preparedness, and health and community care.

Dr Amin joined the Bahrain Red Crescent Society in 1980, and served as chairman of the first aid committee for several years.

Later, he was elected as a member of the Board of Direc-tors of the Society, and in 2012 was elected Secretary-General of the Society.

With society’s board and ex-ecutive team’s support, he was able to promote the Bahrain Red Crescent march and rep-

resent Bahrain’s humanitarian work in various regional and international forums.

Dr Amin’s efforts during this period focused particularly on the rehabilitation of Bahraini Red Crescent youth volunteers through their participation in various training programmes and attendance at the meetings of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Cres-cent, in order to form a second row of young leaders who are able to assume various tasks in the society.

Founded in 1919, the IFRC comprises 190-member Red Cross and Red Crescent Na-tional Societies, a secretariat in Geneva and more than 60 dele-gations strategically located to support activities around the world. This year the IFRC cel-ebrated its 100th anniversary.

Dr Amin

OIC praises Saudi’s $50m donation to UNRWA Riyadh

The Organisation of Is-lamic Cooperation (OIC) praised Saudi Arabia’s

donation worth $50 million to the UN’s relief agency for Pal-estinian refugees UNRWA on Saturday.

OIC Secretary-General Yousef Al Othaimeen also praised do-nations made by other member states of the organisation.

Saudi Foreign Minister Ibra-him Al Assaf announced the donation to the core program budget of the United Nations

Relief and Works Agency for Pal-estine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) for 2019 on Thursday during a meeting with UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York.

“The renewed and generous donation by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is of great signif-icance to our Agency… We are very grateful for the dynamic partnership and cooperation with the Kingdom,” said Mr Krahenbuhl.

UNRWA is a UN agency and

provides assistance and protec-tion to some 5.4 million Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Gaza.

The opening this week of the new semester at United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNR-WA) schools in the Middle East comes amid the agency’s fiscal crisis that began with a reduc-tion in US funding.Adnan Abu Hasna, a Gaza-based spokes-man for UNRWA, told The Me-dia Line that the agency had a $150 million deficit, and that unless the shortfall was made

up the agency would be unable to completely fund operations and salaries for 2019.

“We opened the new school semester despite the financial challenges,” Abu Hasna elabo-rated. “The number of the Pales-tinian refugee students increases as do their needs, especially in the Gaza Strip that is experi-encing a difficult humanitarian situation.”

He added that “UNRWA’s in-come doesn’t cover its expenses because of the growing need among the Palestinian refugees for the agency’s services.”

Saudi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al Assaf (second from right) meets UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krhenbhl (second from left) in New York.


Foreign Minister holds talks with Mauritanian, Albanian counterparts New York

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Moham-

med Al Khalifa, met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co-opera-tion of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, on the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Na-tions General Assembly in New York.

The Minister of Foreign Af-fairs expressed his pride and appreciation for the brotherly

relations between the King-dom of Bahrain and the Islam-ic Republic of Mauritania in all fields and the diversity of their common interests which embodies their endeavours to deepen bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

For his part, Mr Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed underlined the strength of the brotherly his-torical relations between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, noting the great efforts made by the Kingdom of Bahrain

in strengthening Arab frame-works, maintaining Arab na-tional security and establish-ing peace and security in the region.

Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa also met with Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania, Gent Cakaj, where he expressed the Kingdom of Bahrain’s keenness to promote various aspects of relations with the Republic of Albania and to intensify communica-tion between officials of the

two countries in order to open wider horizons of cooperation, in addition to commending the efforts of the Republic of Alba-nia in combating terrorism.

For his part, Gent Cakaj praised the development and progress of the Kingdom of Bahrain in all fields, and its important role in consolidat-ing security and stability in the region and enhancing co-oper-ation among all countries in the interests of all based on mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs. Shaikh Khalid with Mr Ismail Ahmed.

Over 270 public staff attend programme on rights laws

State institutions’ role in promoting human rights stressed Manama

The fourth and last pack-age of the third edition of Hoquqi Programme (My

Rights 3) concluded here last Thursday.

More than 270 public sector employees attended 16 lectures held within the programme, or-ganised by the Bahrain Insti-tute for Political Development (BIPD), the Supreme Council for Women (SCW), the Judicial and Legal Studies Institute (JLSI) and the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR).

Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Minister, Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa, praised the efforts exerted within the third edition of the programme during four months.

He stressed that the initia-

tive is an example of the efforts exerted by state institutions, in partnership with civil society organisations to promote legal and human rights, consolidate the citizenship culture and the human rights principles, as well as support the rule of the law.

Information Affairs Minister and Board of Trustees Chair-man of the Bahrain Institute for Political Development (BIPD), Ali Al Romaihi, said that the theme of the third edition of the programme, “the Parliamentary Culture”, was successful as it coincided with the beginning of the Fifth Legislative Term in Bahrain, which, he said, provid-ed a good opportunity to shed light on the role of the Legisla-tive Branch.

The minister affirmed that the programme has embodied the

highest levels of love for the na-tion, and contributed significant-ly to promoting and fostering po-litical, legal and rights awareness among the public sector employ-ees, expressing hope that the next editions will enhance the Bahraini citizens’ contributions to the national action march in various sectors.

Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Women (SCW), Hala Al Ansari, stressed the importance of the pro-gramme in consolidating aware-ness of the Bahraini women’s constitutional and legal gains to strengthen their effective role and increase their national con-tributions.

She asserted that the pro-gramme has become one of the key channels used by the SCW to highlight the issues it adopts, including Bahrain’s efforts, strat-egies and systems to support Bahraini women’s competitive potentials and stability and con-tributions to developing society, through the focus on the National Plan for the Advancement of the Bahraini Women (2013-2022).

It also provided an opportu-nity to shed light on Bahrain’s

strides in the field of integrating women’s needs in the develop-ment plans to activate one of the constitutional principles of ensuring equal opportunities and gender balance.

NIHR’s Chairperson, Maria Khoury, stressed the importance of promoting the comprehensive political and legal culture among the public sector employees to consolidate behaviours and prac-tices that are based on political and rights awareness and ensure the continuity of building the democratic process in society.

She lauded the fruitful out-comes of the programme, noting that it has contributed to the graduation of a number of em-ployees who enjoy distinguished skills and competence in the fields of scientific research and writing human rights reports.

Bahraini workforce declines by 3.6pcTDT | Manama Pradeep Puravankara

The Kingdom’s Labour Mar-ket Regulatory Authority

(LMRA) indicators for the pres-ent year showed a decline in the number of Bahraini workers by the end of this year to 153,103, which is a decline by 3.6 per cent year-on-year compared to 158,814 workers in the second quarter of the previous year.

The authority noted that the decline in the number of national workers is due to the exit of the second batch of the voluntary retirement scheme in the public sector last June 2019, opposed by a rise in em-ployment in the private sector.

Total expats at the end of the second quarter of this year reached 594,944 workers com-pared to 601,461 workers in the second quarter of 2018, a de-crease by an annual rate of 1.1 per cent.

The average wage of citizens in the present quarter was BD532, down by 1.1pc year-on-year, compared to BD538 in the same quarter last year.

The contracting sector continued to hold the highest number of new work permits with 26.7pc of the total work permits issued, followed by the trade activities sector with 19.3pc, followed by the accom-modation and food services sector with 14.6pc.

A total of 16,499 expats were transferred to a new employ-er during the second quarter including the workers who moved after the expiration or revocation of their work permit.

The initiative is an example of the efforts exerted by

state institutions, in partnership with civil society organisations to promote legal and

human rights. SHAIKH KHALID

16,499expats were

transferred to a new employer during the second quarter of the

current year.

More than 70 donors took part in the blood donation camp organised by Area 16 Toastmasters team at King Hamad University Hospital. Division C Director DTM Jahangir Khan, Area 16 Director T M Veena Nagaraj and Asst Division Director T M Roshan Levis attended the camp.

Blood donation camp

The Northern Municipality has completed cleaning the open channels for rainwater drainage in Hamad Town as part of its preparations to tackle the rainy season. The municipality urged citizens not to throw building and other wastes into the open channels that would disrupt the flow of rainwater, in turn causing floods in the area.

Cleaning work begins BIPA’s efforts to achieve SDGs 2030 stressedManama

The Director-General of Bahrain Institute of Public Administration

(BIPA), Dr Raed Mohammed bin Shams said the institute’s winning of the King Hamad Youth Empowerment Award to Achieve Sustainable Devel-opment Goals (SDGs) was the result of the efforts to work in line with the comprehensive vision of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

He stressed the institute’s interest in the SDGs 2030 which were endorsed by 193

countries in 2015.Dr. bin Shams affirmed that

the award has drawn up a stra-tegic administrative roadm-ap to activate the role of the youth and enhance their capa-bilities to create a long-term governmental impact on the path of achieving the SDGs 2030.

He pointed out that BIPA is considered as the first govern-ment institution at the inter-national level to include the SDGs 2030 in its programmes aimed at building administra-tive capabilities.

05

world

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2019

The regulations are meant to ensure that visitors and tourists in the kingdom are

aware of the law relating to public behaviour so that

they comply with it

A GOVERNMENT MEDIA STATEMENT

KNOW WHAT

Saudi implements public decency code• Violations listed include littering, spitting, queue jumping, taking photographs and videos of people without permission and playing music at prayer times

• Fines range from 50 riyals (£11) to 6,000 riyals (£1,302)

Reuters | Riyadh

Saudi Arabia said yesterday it would issue fines for 19 offences related to public

decency, such as immodest dress and public displays of affection, as the kingdom opens up to for-eign tourists.

The Interior Ministry decision accompanies the launch of a visa regime allowing holidaymakers from 49 states to visit. Till now, most visitors have been Muslim pilgrims and business people.

Violations listed on the new visa website also include litter-ing, spitting, queue jumping, tak-

ing photographs and videos of people without permission and playing music at prayer times. Fines range from 50 riyals (£11)

to 6,000 riyals (£1,302).“The regulations are meant to

ensure that visitors and tourists in the kingdom are aware of the

law relating to public behaviour so that they comply with it,” a government media statement said.

It said Saudi police had the sole responsibility for monitor-ing offences and imposing fines.

The ban on women driving has been lifted and public entertain-ment, including once banned cinemas, has flourished. Many restaurants and cafes have re-

moved physical barriers sep-arating genders and no longer stop serving customers at prayer times.

Some women now wear more colourful abayas, the loose fit-ting robes worn over their clothes that are usually black, or no longer wear the robes at all.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has spearheaded the social opening and reforms to diversify the economy away from oil, said last year that wom-en in Saudi Arabia did not need to wear a headcover or abaya as long as they dressed respectfully.

The Gulf country, which shares borders with Iraq to the north and Yemen to the south, boasts vast tracts of desert but also verdant mountains, pris-tine beaches and historical sites including five UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Saudi dancers perform during the launch of a new tourist visa regime at a dinner at historic Diriyah in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

On 26 September 2017, King Salman issued a statement recognising the right of Saudi women to drive in keeping with Sharia. Licenses were issued to women starting on 24 June 2018.

Huge tanker blast sparks fire injuring 18 in South Korea

Seoul

A huge blast on an oil tank-er in a South Korean port

Saturday sparked a raging fire that spread to a nearby vessel, leaving 18 people injured, au-thorities said.

A ball of fire shot up high above the ship and thick black smoke billowed into the air, dramatic images showed. Firefighters struggled to con-tain the blaze and prevent it spreading, shooting streams of water up onto the deck from beside the vessel in the south-east port of Ulsan.

All 25 of those on board the Cayman Islands-flagged tank-er and the 21 people on the sec-ond ship have been rescued, according to the Coast Guard.

Twelve sailors and six rescue

workers were injured, Yon-hap news agency said, quoting local authorities. Nine of the injured were South Korean.

The Russian vice-consul in Busan said the tanker crew comprised 10 Russians, includ-ing the captain, and none had been seriously injured.

“Some received medical help on the spot, but no Russian has been hospitalised,” said Evge-ny Evdokimov, quoted by the Russian news agency Tass.

“There were no repairs or loading operations under-way on the ship at the time of the explosion. It is obviously something in the cargo that caused the explosion and the fire,” he said.

The Coast Guard said the cause of the blast was being investigated.

Firefighters struggled to contain the blaze

China condemns US approval of H.Kong bill: spokespersonXinhua | Beijing

A spokesperson for the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs

Office of the State Council on Thursday voiced strong con-demnation over and firm op-position to the passing of the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 by US congressional com-mittees.

“We strongly condemn and firmly oppose such an act of gross interference in China’s domestic affairs and serious violation of international laws and basic norms governing international relations,” the spokesperson said in a state-ment.

“Hong Kong belongs to Chi-na,” said the spokesperson, not-ing that the affairs of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) are purely Chi-na’s internal affairs and brook no interference from any out-side forces.

The spokesperson said any activity that endangers Chi-na’s national sovereignty and security, challenges the power of the central government and the authority of the Basic Law of the HKSAR, or uses Hong Kong to infiltrate and under-mine the mainland constitutes a challenge to the bottom line of the “one country, two systems” principle.

The Chinese people, includ-ing the Hong Kong compatriots, cannot allow such a challenge no matter where it comes from, the spokesperson noted.

Since Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, the policies of “one country, two systems,” “the people of Hong Kong gov-erning Hong Kong” and a high degree of autonomy for the HK-SAR have been implemented, and the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents have been fully protected in accordance with the law.

“The success of the ‘one

country, two systems’ practice in Hong Kong has been uni-versally acknowledged,” the spokesperson said.

Hong Kong is one of the major trading partners of the United States. Maintain-ing Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity and stability is in the interests of all countries in the world, including the United States.

Under the guise of human rights and democracy, the US congressional committees and some politicians have passed the so-called Hong Kong Hu-man Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 to support the forc-es that oppose China and are creating chaos in Hong Kong and a very small number of rioters, fueling the chaos in Hong Kong.

“This will seriously harm China-U.S. relations and will not do any good to the United States itself,” the spokesperson noted.

Iraq to open border-crossing with Syria on MondayReuters | Baghdad

Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi has

approved the reopening on Monday of the Qaim bor-der-crossing with Syria, state news agency INA said, the latest sign of normal-isation between Baghdad and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

The crossing will be re-opened for travellers and trade, INA reported on Fri-day, citing Iraq’s border agency chief.

The western Anbar prov-ince town of Qaim, 300 km (185 miles) west of Bagh-dad, was recaptured from Islamic State in November 2017 and was the group’s last bastion in Iraq to fall.

Iraq’s government recent-ly called for the reinstate-ment of Syria’s membership of the Arab League, which was suspended in 2011 over its crackdown on protesters at the start of the civil war.

Chinese chili farmers are celebrating the upcoming 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China with a sea of red. Giant images of the national flag and Chinese map have been elaborately formed using tons of dried pepper.

R e d h o t c h i l i

p a t r i o t s : C h i n e s e

f a r m e r s s p i c e u p

N a t i o n a l D a y


Fight to wear hijab in the ring

AFP | Berlin

Berlin boxer Zeina Nas-sar’s fighting spirit has won her plenty of titles,

but her battle to wear the hijab in the ring has also made her an equal opportunity champion.

Today, the 21-year-old, who discovered female boxing by watching online videos as a teenager, is a German amateur featherweight champion and dares to dream of Olympic glory.

Her path so far took all the determination she could mus-ter, Nassar said, sipping an iced coffee at a cafe in Berlin’s Kreuz-berg district, where she grew up.

“It was as if I had to prove twice as much because not only am I a woman who boxes, but I also wear the headscarf,” she said, during a break between gruelling training sessions.

“In the end it made me strong-er,” she laughed, her made-up face known to countless Ins-tagram fans framed by a pas-

tel-coloured floral headscarf, sunglasses perched on top.

Next year’s Tokyo Olympics and then the Paris Games in 2024 “are my great dream, my great goal,” smiled the young woman.

That dream only came with-in reach in February, when the International Boxing Associa-tion (AIBA) amended its rules to allow Muslim boxers to wear a hijab and fully cover their bodies in the ring.

When it comes to qualify-ing, “now the prerequisites are the same for all,” said Nassar, who in training and in competition wears the head covering as well as a full-length top and leggings.

“Only sporting performance should count. We must not be reduced to our external appear-ance.”

‘I’m super fast’Her list of achievements al-

ready includes six Berlin titles in the featherweight category, and

t h e

2018 German Championship title.

In 24 official fights, Nas-sar, who weighs 57 kilos (125 pounds), recorded 18 victories, including one by KO, which is rare in this category.

“My boxing style is very un-conventional but I’m super fast. It’s my strength,” she said, mimicking a few uppercuts and hooks.

“For my opponents

it ’s very unpleasant to box against me,” she laughed.

But for many years, the educa-tion and sociology student could not compete in international fights because of her attire.

This year, the German Boxing Federation, which had changed its own rules in 2013, put for-ward Nassar for the Europe-an Under-22 Championships, which however barred her due to her outfit.

Nassar, who also speaks Ara-bic and regularly travels to Leb-anon, her parents’ country of origin, said it never occurred to her to take off her hijab for

boxing.“Why should I have done

that?” she said. “For me it has always been clear that I would fight with my head-scarf.”

In Germany, the wearing of the headscarf tends to be widely accepted on the grounds of religious free-dom.

CriticsThe fight isn’t won yet,

however.The Berliner’s Olympic ambi-

tions, like those of other sports-women wearing the headscarf, run up against critics who bran-dish a rule for the Olympics pro-hibiting the display of any polit-ical, religious or racial symbols.

“Even if the boxing associa-tion, like most federations, has given in, the Olympic Charter has not changed,” argued Annie Sugier, president of the Interna-tional Women’s Rights League.

Criticising the participation in the Olympics of countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia whose sportswomen have to be cov-ered “from head to toe”, Sugier called hijabs in sports “sexual apartheid”.

In France in April, Iranian fe-male boxer Sadaf Khadem won her first official fight dressed in shorts and a vest.

‘Modest fashion’Despite the controversy sur-

rounding the hijab in some West-ern countries, sportswear giants have already begun offering

less skin-revealing clothes

to cash in on the “modest fash-ion” market, which is now worth hundreds of millions of euros.

Nassar is a brand ambassador for US sportswear maker Nike, which has been marketing a sports hijab for nearly two years.

The female boxer, who is very active on social media, has be-come a role model for young Muslim women in particular.

“If you want to get to the top, you have to fight,” read a recent message by the boxer.

“Nothing is simply a gift. Ac-cepting challenges and growing beyond them. And don’t forget to smile.”

Before leaving the cafe, she posted a new picture of herself on Instagram and told AFP: “I want to show people that an-ything is possible if you fight for it.”

Nassar’s picture was also used in a poster campaign to mark the 70th anniversary of the German constitution, the Basic Law.

It promoted Article 4, which states that “the undisturbed practice of religion shall be guaranteed”.

Zeina Nassar said that she felt like she had to prove twice as much because she was a woman boxer and wore the headscarf

Zeina Nassar discovered female boxing by watching online videos as a teenager“For me it has always been clear that I would fight with my headscarf,” says Berlin boxer Zeina Nassar

Although Zeina Nassar dreams of competing at the Olympics, critics brandish a rule for the Olympic Games which prohibits the display of any political, religious or racial symbols

Croc-spotting drone patrol takes off Down Under• The technological solution came from adapting newly developed shark-spotting drones

Cairns | Australia

Australia’s rugged crocodile country could become saf-

er thanks to world-first drones which were given a test flight.

T h e h i g h - t e c h d r o n e s known as “croc spotters” were tested near Cairns, Queens-land, patrolling along river-beds and detecting animals as they went.

Armed with what designers say is a world-first artificial in-telligence algorithm, they can identify the reptiles in creeks, rivers and beaches.

Despite the animals’ formi-

dable reputation, attacks from freshwater and saltwater croc-odiles on humans are relatively rare in Australia.

But five attacks in Queens-

land’s touristic north in 2017-2018, including two fatal attacks, and unusual sightings more than 40 kilometres inland had au-thorities concerned.

The technological solution came from adapting newly de-veloped shark-spotting drones to detect a different kind of apex predator.

As the pilot operates the drone, the algorithm scans the video and sends an alert back to the pilot if it picks up on a threat below.

Designers say the algo -rithm is 93 per cent accurate, while the naked eye is around 16-19pc.

Mark Phillips, from drone provider Westpac Little Ripper, said his team spent hundreds of hours feeding data into the technology.

“A lot of time above crocs, a lot of images fed into the algo-rithm as it’s a learning algorithm which means it then gets better at spotting,” he said.

“Different water conditions, sizes, shapes of the crocs, sitting still or swimming, it has to learn

everything about them and can then make a better detection.”

University of Technology Syd-ney researcher Nabin Sharma said Queensland authorities are keen to roll the technology out as part of their CrocWise Programme, which informs the public about crocodile populations from a conservation perspective.

The new technology also al-lows pilots to relay information instantly to an app, that could be downloaded by the public.

“The difference is the lag, you’re virtually getting re-al-time information over the net, within one second instead of waiting 30 seconds for the information to appear,” Phillips said.

There are already more than 100 drones deployed by rescue services across Australia, mostly supporting emergency situa-tions.

The high-tech drones known as ‘croc spotters’ were tested along riverbeds, detecting animals as they went

Militants kill eight in deadly ambush in Egypt’s SinaiReuters | Cairo

Seven soldiers and one civilian were killed in an

ambush in Egypt’s North Si-nai region on Friday, securi-ty sources said, in an attack claimed by Islamic State.

Two soldiers were also wounded in the attack in Bir al-Abed, the two security sources said.

Islamic State said 15 sol-diers had been killed in the attack, in a statement car-ried by its Amaq agency.

Egypt has long been fight-ing Islamist militants, who have waged an insurgency in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula. Also on Friday, Egypt said security forces had killed 118 mili-tants in north and central Sinai in the “past period”, without giving dates.


KNOW WHAT

Markle pays secret tribute to murdered S.Africa studentCape Town

Meghan Markle has visit-ed the site where a young

female student was murdered in South Africa last month in a show of solidarity with victims of gender violence in one of the world’s most dangerous coun-tries for women.

The Duchess of Sussex tied a yellow ribbon in memory of 19-year old Uyinene Mrwetyana, brutally raped and killed in the coastal city of Cape Town, where she was attending university.

The visit took place secretly this week but was announced on the official Sussex Royal Ins-tagram page on Saturday.

“Visiting the site of this tragic

death and being able to recog-nise Uyinene... was personally important to The Duchess,” said the Instagram post, adding that Meghan also met her mother to relay her condolences.

South Africa is plagued by gender-based violence, with at least 137 sexual offences com-mitted per day, according to of-ficial figures.

In August alone, more than 30 women were killed by their spouses.

Mrwetyana’s murder is among a handful of recent cases that sparked widespread demonstra-tions across the country.

Protesters are calling on the government to do more to pro-

tect women and crack down on perpetrators.

Meghan -- an outspoken women’s rights advocate -- is in South Africa as part of a 10-day official trip with her husband Prince Harry and their baby son Archie.

The Duke and Duchess both expressed their support for the ongoing fight against gender vi-olence on the first day of their tour earlier this week.

“Please know that my husband and I have been closely following what you’ve been experiencing here, as best we can from afar,” said Meghan, addressing young girls in Cape Town’s Nyanga township on Monday.

“Now that we are with you, we are eager to learn and see first-hand the work that you’re doing.”

Meghan and Archie remained in South Africa this week after Harry left for Botswana, Angola and Malawi.

The former actress, who has been advocating women’s rights since long before marrying Har-ry in 2017, has taken part in a series of private meetings to “deepen her understanding of the current situation”, according to the Instagram post.

Prince Harry rejoins his fam-ily in Johannesburg next week before returning home on Oc-tober 2.

The Duchess of Sussex ties on a ribbon as she visits the memorial to murdered South African student Uyinene Mrwetyana in Cape Town

Afghans vote amid deadly violence• Results are not expected until October 19

• Polls closed at 5:00 pm (1230 GMT) after a two-hour extension

AFP | Kabul

Afghans voted in presiden-tial elections amid tight security yesterday, even

as insurgents attacked polling centres in a series of blasts and clashes across the country that left at least two people dead.

The first-round vote marks the culmination of a bloody election campaign that despite a large field of candidates is seen as a close race between Presi-dent Ashraf Ghani and his bit-ter rival Abdullah Abdullah, the country’s chief executive.

Wary authorities placed an uneasy Kabul under partial lockdown, flooding streets with troops and banning trucks from entering the city in an effort to stop would-be suicide bombers targeting residents as they cast their votes.

Polls closed at 5:00 pm (1230 GMT) after a two-hour extension due to long queues of people still waiting to vote, the Independent Election Commission said.

Compared to previous elec-tions, the initial toll appeared relatively light, though author-ities provided little information about reported blasts and on-going armed clashes with the Taliban in various provinces.

A security official who re-quested anonymity told AFP that two civilians had been killed and 27 wounded in Taliban bomb-ings and mortar attacks at poll-ing centres across the country.

Serious security incidents were reported in several prov-inces including Kunduz, Nan-garhar, Kabul, Bamiyan and Kandahar.

The Taliban, who unleashed a string of bombings during the two-month election campaign, claimed to have conducted hun-dreds of attacks against Afghan-istan’s “fake elections”.

Ghani, having voted at a Ka-bul high school, said the most important issue was finding a leader with a mandate to bring peace to the war-torn nation.

“Our roadmap (for peace) is ready, I want the people to give us permission and legitimacy so that we pursue peace,” said Ghani, who is seeking a second

term.Some 9.6 million Afghans are

registered to vote, but many lack faith that after 18 years of war any leader can unify the fractious country and improve basic living conditions, boost the stagnating economy or bolster security.

Observers from the Afghan-istan Independent Human Rights Commission said turnout appeared to be low, especially among women.

Still, many voters braved in-surgent attacks and long queues to cast a ballot.

“I know there are security

threats but bombs and attacks have become part of our every-day lives,” 55-year-old Mohiud-din, who only gave one name, said.

“I am not afraid, we have to vote if we want to bring chang-es.”

Abdullah and Ghani both

claimed victory in the 2014 election -- a vote so tainted by fraud and violence that it led to a constitutional crisis and forced then-US president Barack Oba-ma to push for a compromise that saw Abdullah awarded the subordinate role.

“The only request I have from the election commission is that they ensure the transparency of the election because lots of people have lost their trust,” said Afghan voter Sunawbar Mirzae, 23.

Problems votingVoting in Afghanistan’s fourth

presidential election was sup-posed to take place at some 5,000 polling centres across the country but hundreds were closed due to the security sit-uation.

Many Afghans said voting went smoothly, triumphantly holding up fingers stained in indelible ink to show they had cast a ballot, but several said they had experienced problems.

“I came this early morning to cast my ballot. Unfortunately my name was not on the list,” said Ziyarat Khan, a farmer in Nangarhar. “The whole process is messy like the last time.”

Campaigning was hampered by violence from the first day, when Ghani’s running mate was targeted in a bomb-and-gun at-tack that left at least 20 dead.

Bloody attacks have continued to rock Afghanistan, including a Taliban bombing at a Ghani rally last week that killed at least 26 people in the central province of Parwan near Kabul.

The interior ministry said it had deployed 72,000 forc-es to help secure poll ing stations.

Election officials say this will be the cleanest election yet, with equipment such as biometric fingerprint readers and better training for poll workers to en-sure the vote is fair.

Candidates need more than 50 per cent of the vote to be declared the outright winner, or else

the top two will head for a second round in

November

Women queue to vote in Herat. Election officials say it will be the cleanest election yet but the US embassy says it is disturbed by complaints about security and fraud

Some 9.6 million Afghans were registered to vote, but many have lost any hope that after 18 years of war any leader can unify the fractious countryAfghans cast ballots in the country’s presidential election, with a series of blasts

reported across the country

Zimbabwe’s Mugabe buried in home village

Reuters | Kutama

Zimbabwe’s founding leader Robert Mugabe

was buried on Saturday in his home village of Kuta-ma, ending a dispute be-tween his family and the government of his succes-sor President Emmerson Mnangagwa over his final resting place.

Mugabe ruled Zimba-bwe for 37 years from inde-pendence in 1980 but was a polarising figure idolised by some for his role in the country’s liberation strug-gle and hated by others for ruining a promising nation through disastrous econom-ic policies and repression against opponents.

He died in a Singapore hospital on Sept. 6 aged 95, bitter at the way former al-lies including Mnangagwa conspired to topple him in November 2017 and told his family he did not want his “tormentors” to preside over his burial, family mem-bers said.

His burial marks the end of an era for one of Africa’s last “Big Men”.

After Mass by a Roman Catholic priest and speech-es by family members, Mug-abe was buried in the court-yard of his rural homestead without the pomp and fun fare usually reserved for na-tional heroes.

His wife Grace, children and close relatives, gov-ernment officials and the media witnessed the burial ceremony.

As Mugabe’s casket was lowered into the ground, Grace, who covered her face with a black veil, was flanked by her sister and children and was seen sob-bing and wiping tears with a white handkerchief.

A coffin containing the body of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe arrives at his rural village in Kutama, Zimbabwe


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

KAREEN SHAHEEN

The shock appointment of a new Syrian honorary con-sul in North America with

close ties to president Bashar Al Assad, followed by a hasty rev-ocation in his status, has caused deep consternation among the displaced diaspora.

Waseem Ramli had been ap-pointed Montreal’s honorary con-sul, responsible for processing the paperwork of tens of thousands of Syrians in eastern Canada and much of the US. When pho-tographs emerged of Mr Ramli, beaming as he posed alongside Mr Al Assad, there were fears the Syrian diaspora would be exposed to the long arm of the regime.

When he was separately pic-tured with Canadian Prime Min-ister Justin Trudeau, lending the former businessman and restau-ranteur an air of credibility, it struck fear in the hearts of Syri-ans across the country, who were terrified they would have to go through him for any official busi-ness involving their homeland.

Last night their fears were as-suaged somewhat when Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland revoked his status, say-ing it should never have been ap-proved. Nevertheless, the episode has highlighted the vulnerability of the diaspora, particularly refu-gees who fled the regime.

Mr Ramli had been due to take up his post next week, a position that would have given him the

authority to handle the affairs of thousands of Syrians in Canada, including refugees who had been resettled in the country by the Trudeau government, as well as about 250 members of the White Helmets, the volunteer rescue group that saved countless lives from the rubble of areas decimat-ed by Assad regime airstrikes.

According to Maclean’s news magazine in Canada, Mr Ram-li branded the White Helmets a “terrorist organisation” and an “affiliate of Al Qaeda” in an inter-view while his social media pages carried propaganda in support of the regime and the red Hummer he was seen driving around Mon-treal had the president’s visage sprayed on a window.

Yet Maclean’s also reported how, after he appeared at a Liberal Party fundraiser in the summer alongside Mr Trudeau, he was nominated for the position by the government in Damascus.

It also alleged Mr Ramli had tried to intimidate Syrian oppo-sition activists in Canada taking part in protest activities by tak-ing photos. Mr Ramli denied the allegations but acknowledged in the interview that he had raised money for the Syria Trust for De-velopment, the charity run by Mr Al Assad’s wife Asma.

When the allegations emerged, Ms Freeland expressed shock at Mr Ramli’s “unacceptable” ap-pointment and said: “No one who shares Mr Ramli’s views should have ever been approved by Glob-

al Affairs Canada to serve in this capacity. Upon review of the de-partment’s decision, I have in-structed officials to immediately revoke his status.”

As commendable as the swift response has been, addressing the genuine concerns of vulnerable Syrians in Canada, many of whom arrived in the country as part of a resettlement programme that has taken in thousands of displaced

Syrians, it is nevertheless con-cerning how Mr Ramli came to be appointed in the first place.

Many of those Syrians were welcomed at a time when an-ti-refugee sentiment, xenopho-bia, nationalism and physical and metaphorical walls were going up all over the world.

The challenge of balancing the needs of ordinary Syrians to con-duct government business while

THE FOUNDATION OF SUCCESS IN LIFE IS GOOD HEALTH: THAT IS THE SUBSTRATUM FORTUNE; IT IS ALSO THE BASIS OF HAPPI-NESS. A PERSON CANNOT ACCUMULATE A FORTUNE VERY WELL WHEN HE IS SICK.P. T. BARNUM

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Assad’s new loyalist consul in

Canada had to go – for the sake

of all SyriansTens of thousands of Syrian

refugees would have been forced to go through regime

sympathiser Waseem Ramli to qualify for basic services

SHOLTO BYRNES

After the UN gathering on Monday, at which world leaders were admonished

by 16-year-old activist Greta Thun-berg – a speech that has since been watched by millions – it would be hard to see how the issue of climate change and mankind’s urgent need to take responsibility for the envi-ronment could be any more high profile. Every day there is news of concern, whether it be of retreating ice caps, cities and island nations at risk from rising sea levels, or of the reach of micro-plastic pollution.

Addressing the summit called by UN secretary general Antonio Guterres, Hollywood actor Harri-son Ford made clear that crisis is already upon us. He said: “When a room in your house is on fire, you don’t say: ‘There is a fire in a room in my house.’ You say: ‘My house is on fire,’ and we only have one house.”

Mr Ford could have been speak-ing figuratively. In fact, he meant his words literally. For “our house” is indeed on fire. It is not just the Brazilian Amazon, the so-called lungs of our planet, that is burn-ing, producing clouds of smoke that can be seen from space. Millions of hectares in Bolivia have gone up in flames too – although you might not have heard much about it – while the outside world has been even slower to recognise the devastation caused by fires in Indonesia on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. The resultant air pollution is so bad that one of Indonesia’s provinces – Riau – has declared a state of emergency.

Neighbouring Malaysia is airlifting its citizens in the area back home.

Other countries such as India also suffer repeatedly from large-scale forest conflagration, which can sometimes be attributable to parched weather conditions but is often a cheap – and illegal – way for landowners to clear areas for agricultural cultivation.

These are regular occurrences, yet the world is so far from taking the steps necessary to combat them that they seem to be unstoppable. I wonder if it is partly because so many environmental disasters, from fires to the retreat of glaciers in the Himalayas – the third pole – are just too distant from people in developed nations to strike them as real and present dangers?

Let me for once be personal and tell you what it is to experience the impact of this burning world. For the south-east Asian haze, as it is somewhat euphemistically called, does not stay in one place. It blows from Indonesia next door to Singa-pore and Malaysia. At first, it might not be too bad. This year, howev-er, it became a thick, dirty fog that blanketed most of the country, to the extent that the Malaysian city of Kuching temporarily won the dubious honour of having the most polluted air in the world.

Buildings in close sight disappear. You can’t tell if it is a sunny day as the sky is obscured. Step outside and it smells as if you’ve stood too close to a bonfire. Spend any time in the open air – for sometimes, you must – and for hours afterwards your mouth feels as though it is coated

with ashes.Schools close on government or-

ders. Working parents wonder how to cope with cooped-up children

unable to expend their energy out-doors. Parks and playgrounds stand

The recent haze affecting

Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore is a

smoking gun indicative of a far bigger

problem




KAREEN SHAHEEN

The shock appointment of a new Syrian honorary con-sul in North America with

close ties to president Bashar Al Assad, followed by a hasty rev-ocation in his status, has caused deep consternation among the displaced diaspora.

Waseem Ramli had been ap-pointed Montreal’s honorary con-sul, responsible for processing the paperwork of tens of thousands of Syrians in eastern Canada and much of the US. When pho-tographs emerged of Mr Ramli, beaming as he posed alongside Mr Al Assad, there were fears the Syrian diaspora would be exposed to the long arm of the regime.

When he was separately pic-tured with Canadian Prime Min-ister Justin Trudeau, lending the former businessman and restau-ranteur an air of credibility, it struck fear in the hearts of Syri-ans across the country, who were terrified they would have to go through him for any official busi-ness involving their homeland.

Last night their fears were as-suaged somewhat when Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland revoked his status, say-ing it should never have been ap-proved. Nevertheless, the episode has highlighted the vulnerability of the diaspora, particularly refu-gees who fled the regime.

Mr Ramli had been due to take up his post next week, a position that would have given him the

authority to handle the affairs of thousands of Syrians in Canada, including refugees who had been resettled in the country by the Trudeau government, as well as about 250 members of the White Helmets, the volunteer rescue group that saved countless lives from the rubble of areas decimat-ed by Assad regime airstrikes.

According to Maclean’s news magazine in Canada, Mr Ram-li branded the White Helmets a “terrorist organisation” and an “affiliate of Al Qaeda” in an inter-view while his social media pages carried propaganda in support of the regime and the red Hummer he was seen driving around Mon-treal had the president’s visage sprayed on a window.

Yet Maclean’s also reported how, after he appeared at a Liberal Party fundraiser in the summer alongside Mr Trudeau, he was nominated for the position by the government in Damascus.

It also alleged Mr Ramli had tried to intimidate Syrian oppo-sition activists in Canada taking part in protest activities by tak-ing photos. Mr Ramli denied the allegations but acknowledged in the interview that he had raised money for the Syria Trust for De-velopment, the charity run by Mr Al Assad’s wife Asma.

When the allegations emerged, Ms Freeland expressed shock at Mr Ramli’s “unacceptable” ap-pointment and said: “No one who shares Mr Ramli’s views should have ever been approved by Glob-

al Affairs Canada to serve in this capacity. Upon review of the de-partment’s decision, I have in-structed officials to immediately revoke his status.”

As commendable as the swift response has been, addressing the genuine concerns of vulnerable Syrians in Canada, many of whom arrived in the country as part of a resettlement programme that has taken in thousands of displaced




THE FOUNDATION OF SUCCESS IN LIFE IS GOOD HEALTH: THAT IS THE SUBSTRATUM FORTUNE; IT IS ALSO THE BASIS OF HAPPI-NESS. A PERSON CANNOT ACCUMULATE A FORTUNE VERY WELL WHEN HE IS SICK.P. T. BARNUM

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Assad’s new loyalist consul in

Canada had to go – for the sake

of all SyriansTens of thousands of Syrian

refugees would have been forced to go through regime

sympathiser Waseem Ramli to qualify for basic services

SHOLTO BYRNES

After the UN gathering on Monday, at which world leaders were admonished

by 16-year-old activist Greta Thun-berg – a speech that has since been watched by millions – it would be hard to see how the issue of climate change and mankind’s urgent need to take responsibility for the envi-ronment could be any more high profile. Every day there is news of concern, whether it be of retreating ice caps, cities and island nations at risk from rising sea levels, or of the reach of micro-plastic pollution.

Addressing the summit called by UN secretary general Antonio Guterres, Hollywood actor Harri-son Ford made clear that crisis is already upon us. He said: “When a room in your house is on fire, you don’t say: ‘There is a fire in a room in my house.’ You say: ‘My house is on fire,’ and we only have one house.”

Mr Ford could have been speak-ing figuratively. In fact, he meant his words literally. For “our house” is indeed on fire. It is not just the Brazilian Amazon, the so-called lungs of our planet, that is burn-ing, producing clouds of smoke that can be seen from space. Millions of hectares in Bolivia have gone up in flames too – although you might not have heard much about it – while the outside world has been even slower to recognise the devastation caused by fires in Indonesia on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. The resultant air pollution is so bad that one of Indonesia’s provinces – Riau – has declared a state of emergency.

Neighbouring Malaysia is airlifting its citizens in the area back home.

Other countries such as India also suffer repeatedly from large-scale forest conflagration, which can sometimes be attributable to parched weather conditions but is often a cheap – and illegal – way for landowners to clear areas for agricultural cultivation.

These are regular occurrences, yet the world is so far from taking the steps necessary to combat them that they seem to be unstoppable. I wonder if it is partly because so many environmental disasters, from fires to the retreat of glaciers in the Himalayas – the third pole – are just too distant from people in developed nations to strike them as real and present dangers?

Let me for once be personal and tell you what it is to experience the impact of this burning world. For the south-east Asian haze, as it is somewhat euphemistically called, does not stay in one place. It blows from Indonesia next door to Singa-pore and Malaysia. At first, it might not be too bad. This year, howev-er, it became a thick, dirty fog that blanketed most of the country, to the extent that the Malaysian city of Kuching temporarily won the dubious honour of having the most polluted air in the world.

Buildings in close sight disappear. You can’t tell if it is a sunny day as the sky is obscured. Step outside and it smells as if you’ve stood too close to a bonfire. Spend any time in the open air – for sometimes, you must – and for hours afterwards your mouth feels as though it is coated

with ashes.Schools close on government or-

ders. Working parents wonder how to cope with cooped-up children


The recent haze affecting

Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore is a

smoking gun indicative of a far bigger

problem



TOP

4TWEETS

04

02

03

01

Trump told the Rus-sians he didn’t care

about election inter-ference. He asked the Ukrainian president to dig up dirt on a political opponent. And the White House tried to cover it up. What else are they hiding?

@KamalaHarris

Can you imagine if these Do Nothing

Democrat Savages, peo-ple like Nadler, Schiff, AOC Plus 3, and many more, had a Republican Party who would have done to Obama what the Do Nothings are doing to me. Oh well, maybe next time!

@realDonaldTrump

Deeply grieved to learn of the shoot-

ing of Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal, a Sikh Indian-American officer in Houston. We have just visited that city. My con-dolences to his family.

@DrSJaishankar

It’s the duty of #IAAF and WADA to ensure

that all athletes in the world compete fair and square and in the true spirit of the game. I have pledged my support for the cause, and have signed the athletes integ-rity pledge!

@PTUshaOfficial

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

editorial stances)




avoiding the veneer of normali-sation with a regime responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Syrians has always been a tough one.

The Syrian state is an unavoid-able interlocutor for a variety of routine transactions, such as renewing a passport, designat-ing power of attorney or getting married. It has taken advantage of that position to raise millions

of dollars at a time of econom-ic hardship and war. The Syri-an passport is one of the most expensive in the world and in a country like Turkey, which has more than three million refugees and is teeming with members of the opposition, it can cost more than $1,000 to get an expedited passport that might only be valid for two years.

Syrian consuls were rarely more than bureaucrats who generally avoided the limelight, antago-nising host countries, or being overtly visible, even if they were loyal functionaries. This allowed consular activities to continue uninterrupted, even in countries that were hostile to the Syrian government. In exchange, the re-gime was able to raise funds.

Accepting the appointment of a provocative apparatchik in the Canadian case was particularly

puzzling as Damascus does not hold any leverage over Ottawa.

The Assad regime has all but won the military conflict, yet has limited resources to draw upon to alleviate its economic crisis. It craves international legitimacy and the eventual lifting of sanc-tions and reconstruction aid to rehabilitate its image and its pow-ers.

The Assad regime’s victory, en-abled by the support of Russia and Iran, has spurred a halting and largely behind-the-scenes ef-fort among some western powers to re-establish contacts with the Syrian government. This is driv-en by a variety of factors, among them the realpolitik of dealing with a central government that is there to stay for the time being, fear of a prolonged war, the pos-sibility of an economic crisis spur-ring new waves of refugees and migrants, the chance to mediate in a political solution between the regime and the opposition, and a desire for a slice of the lucrative reconstruction pie.

But the Canadian example of-fers a cautionary tale. It is far from a wholesale embrace of a bloodsoaked regime but it high-lights the vulnerability of the hu-man beings who have had to flee this regime’s many war crimes and atrocities. Making them part of the conversation in how to re-engage with Syria and push for justice, accountability and a guarantee of their basic rights is paramount.

1979The dictator Francisco Macias of Equatorial Guinea is shot by soldiers from Western Sahara.

1980NASA launches STS-26, the first mission since the Challenger disaster.

1990Construction of the Wash-ington National Cathedral is completed.

1990The YF-22, which would later become the F-22 Raptor, flies for the first time.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY

Get ready for Oct 16, Think ‘food security’

Let me confess: as a traditional Bahraini and one with strong links to the sea, I am very fond

of sea food. The classic Bahraini sea-food specialities like Machboos with plump hammour or Safi with rice or simple grilled fish are favourites in my home.

Like most Bahrainis, we do eat other meats, especially chicken and lamb but with an increasingly sed-entary life and health conscious-ness, meat-eating is something we do largely on special occasions. In any case, meat was always a rare treat in Bahraini cuisine in the old-en days.

With prosperity came global res-taurant and fast food chains and foods in supermarket aisles and our diets changed steadily from the mid-seventies onwards. The resulting explosion of obesity-relat-ed diseases can be traced to highly processed food diet and an excess of meat.

Now we are going to the other end of the spectrum: in many UAE res-taurants, I understand that guests are steered towards a variety of eco-logically sound choices, away from fish varieties that are over-fished or

caught in ways that hurt the marine environment.

The first step towards a world where food securi-ty serves the community and safeguards the envi-ronment is to cut back on food waste. In Bahrain, we generate up to 300 tonnes of food waste on an ordi-nary day and this doubles to twice that amount dur-ing Ramadan and festivals. Even though world food production has reached re-cord levels in recent years, one third of the world’s food today is either lost or wasted.

In Bahrain, when I see the sheer variety of foods from all over the world in

our shopping trolleys, I am daz-zled – at the same time, I think we should be aware that every morsel wasted, spells doom for our future food security.

On October 16, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has called for marking World Food Day 2019 to stop food waste. A call has gone out for us all to raise awareness by using social media to share pictures of ingredients we have missed out on using – like an extra-ripe fruit or a half-used can of chickpeas and devising a recipe for the same.

The campaign starts October 1, which is why I am reaching out to you all to participate – not just women and children but men too. After all, this earth, which is at its most fragile state, belongs to us all and many of our fellow-humans are staring at a life of needless hunger.

(Captain Mahmood Al Mahmood is the Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Tribune and the President of the Arab-African Unity

Organisation for Relief, Human Rights and Counterterrorism)

CAPT. MAHMOOD AL MAHMOOD

Even though world food

production has reached record levels in recent

years, one third of the world’s food today is either lost or

wasted.

The Assad regime’s victory, enabled by the support of Russia and Iran, has spurred a halting and

largely behind-the-scenes effort among some western

powers to re-establish contacts with the Syrian

government.


empty, as do swimming pools. It is just too dangerous to breathe the air.

For it is not just inconvenient. Tourists cancel visits, hurting an important part of the local econo-my. Any businesses that operate in the open air, as many do in warm countries, suffer badly. Illnesses, respiratory, heart and eye-related, rise. Unicef has warned that nearly 10 million children in the region have been put at risk by this year’s fires.

Eventually it clears, but one is still left with a sense of fury that we have to endure something that ought, with the necessary political will, to be preventable. At least Joko Widodo, the Indonesian president, has called for a crackdown on those responsible. A former vice presi-dent, Jusuf Kalla, was provocative-ly insouciant about Malaysian and Singaporean complaints in 2015. “For 11 months, they enjoyed nice air from Indonesia and they never thanked us,” he said. “They have suffered because of the haze for one

month and they get upset.” What is even more infuriating is that the prevailing winds do not send smoke to Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.

But ultimately this is not just a local or regional issue. According to the EU’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, the fires in the Amazon and Indonesia have pumped out more carbon dioxide in six weeks than Australia does in a whole year, or double Spain’s annual emissions. Singapore’s Straits Times said it was like putting 145 million average-sized cars on the road for a year.

This should be a huge worry for everyone, wherever they are. This is a world that is struggling badly to keep to the targets it has been able to agree on and which we know to be insufficient in any case. Nev-er mind how conscientious we are when it comes to reusing plastic bags, or sorting out the rubbish for recycling. Important though such efforts are, they are a drop in the ocean compared to the ill effects of the continents burning – even more so when we rely on their forests to absorb carbon dioxide, and the areas burned are likely to be lost for good to agriculture and not reforested.

Yet one can be sure that the fires will return next year. Which rais-es the question: are we really, fun-damentally, even remotely serious about tackling climate change? We only have one house. Not just Ms Thunberg but our children and future generations will be right to denounce us if we do not act with far, far more urgency to maintain its upkeep.

From the Amazon to South-East Asia, our house is on fireSchools close on

government orders. Working parents wonder how to cope with cooped-

up children unable to expend their energy outdoors. Parks and

playgrounds stand empty, as do swimming pools.

10

business


BCCI seminar on GCC Motorcycles and Tires Specifications and StandardsTDT | Manama

Bahrain Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (BCCI)

will hold this Sunday a Sem-inar on “GGC’s Specifications and Standards for Motorcycles and Tires” for motorcycles and tires manufacturers and importers.

The seminar aims to raise

awareness and educate the attendees on the supervisory programme on motorcycles and tires, as well as to ad-dress the challenges for ob-taining the Gulf conformity certificates.

The event, on Sunday at 9:30 am in Al Majles Hall of Bait Al Tijjar, is held in cooperation with the Inspection and Metrol-

ogy Directorate (Ministry of In-dustry, Commerce and Tourism)

and the GCC Standardisation Organisation.

The session will clarify the role of all involved parties in issuing certificates and inquir-ies and concerns raised by the traders and audience.

The seminar, BCCI said, will support the effective imple-mentation of customs technical regulations.

BAB partners with Bahrain Financial Markets AssociationTDT | Manama

Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB) has signed a Memorandum of Under-

standing with Bahrain Financial Markets Association to serve the financial and banking sector in the Kingdom and increase coordination between banks, financial institutions, brokerage firms and traders in financial markets.

The MoU will examine the possibility of issuing reports and research on various issues related to the financial sector, coordinate participation in lo-cal, regional and international events and conferences.

The deal also calls for coor-dinating economic, financial, cultural and scientific lectures and seminars to raise awareness of financial and banking culture.

Chief Executive Officer of BAB, Dr Waheed Al Qassim, said the MoU will look at channel-ling opportunities with public, private, and concerned bodies in the financial sector to enhance the role of banks in serving the national economy.

“We hope that this cooper-ation will be reflected in the services provided by the two associations to its members, es-pecially as the financial market industry and trading in sukuk,

bonds, stocks are an important part of banks and financial insti-tutions work,” said Dr Al Qassim

Vice President of Bahrain Fi-nancial Markets Association, Abdulla Dawood stressed the MoU is in line with association’s efforts to cooperate with local organisations, bodies and asso-ciations in Bahrain and GCC, and

in Arab and foreign countries to achieve professional inte-gration.

“The MoU reinforces net-working opportunities with fi-nancial institutions and calibres working for the banking sector in Bahrain, especially those in-volved in trading in financial markets,” said Dawood.

Dawood highlighted the As-sociation to strengthen coop-eration among traders in the GCC financial markets, develop professional competencies, pro-vide Bahrainis and Gulf citizens opportunities in financial mar-kets, attract foreign investments and activate trading in the GCC stock exchanges.

Chief Executive Officer of BAB, Dr Waheed Al Qassim and Vice President of Bahrain Financial Markets Association, Abdulla Dawood following the deal signing

BBK grooming new generation of fintech bankers TDT | Manama

BBK has announced the com-mencement of its Fintech

Management Trainee Pro-gramme which aims at further developing the FinTech ecosys-tem in the Kingdom and setting the foundation for the Bank’s digital transformation journey.

The three-month programme, which welcomed a number of bright, local talent into the BBK offices, packs ten intensive courses, tech talks, panels and exercises designed to develop the digital skillset of the par-ticipants.

It will explore topics such as Data Science & Analytics, Dev-Ops, Cloud Computing, Block-chain, User Interface and User Experience Design, Agile Pro-ject Management, Information and Cyber Security, Card Pro-cessing, Machine Learning and IOT among others.

Commenting, Reyadh Sater, Chief Executive of BBK said the transformation of financial tech-nologies in the banking calls for new roles such as data analysts, innovation experts, designers, AI and machine learning spe-cialists. “Simply, we need a new generation of bankers that are equipped with the skills to meet the changing needs of customers in today’s fast-paced digitized economy.”

Hassan Burshaid, General Manager Human Resources &Administration Group said: “Bahrain recognized some time ago that the creation of a pool of local fintech talent was a vital element in fintech success.”

“We are nurturing a new gen-eration of Bahraini bankers to not only support the bank, but also the region’s digital trans-formation towards a cashless society,” Burshaid added.

Participants posing for a group photo session during the commencement of BBK’s Fintech Management Trainee Programme

The event will held on Sunday at 9:30 am in Al Majles Hall of Bait

Al Tijjar

China FM tells UN protectionism risks causing global recession

United Nations | United States

China’s foreign minister warned Friday that pro-

tectionism could trigger a world recession as he vowed to stand firm in a trade row with the United States.

“The lessons of the Great Depression should not be for-gotten,” Wang Yi told the Unit-ed Nations General Assembly in New York.

“Tariffs and provocation of trade disputes, which upset global industrial and supply chains, serve to undermine

the multilateral trading regime and global economic and trade order,” he said.

“They may even plunge the world into recession,” the for-eign minister added.

His comments come amid an intense showdown with US President Donald Trump, who has slapped tariffs on the world’s second largest econ-omy over what he calls un-fair practices and intellectual property theft.

“China will never be (cowed) by threats or subdued by pres-sure,” Wang said in clear refer-ence to the trade row.

“The lessons of the Great Depression should not be forgotten,” China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the UN General Assembly

Road map for Puerto Rico’s exit from bankruptcy filed in US courtReuters | San Juan

Puerto Rico would reduce a major portion of its debt

by more than 60% under a long-awaited restructuring proposal the bankrupt US com-monwealth’s federally created financial oversight board filed in court on Friday.

The so-called plan of ad-justment covering $35 billion of bonds and claims and more than $50 billion of pension liabilities would allow Puerto

Rico to exit a form of bank-ruptcy that commenced in May 2017 if it wins US District Court approval.

“This is the beginning of the end of Puerto Rico’s bank-ruptcy process,” José Carrión, chairman of the oversight board, told reporters following a public hearing on the plan. Plan support agreements cov-er $4 billion of bonds so far, up from $3 billion when an initial deal was announced in June.

KNOW WHAT


FAA training inspectors weren’t qualified, Investigators sayAssociated Press

Investigators say many Fed-eral Aviation Administration

inspectors who worked on pi-lot-training standards for the grounded Boeing 737 Max and other planes were themselves unqualified and insufficiently trained.

The US Office of Special Counsel also says the FAA gave a Senate committee misleading answers when the panel asked about the issue.

“The FAA’s failure to ensure safety inspector competency for these aircraft puts the flying public at risk,” Special Counsel Henry Kerner said Tuesday.

Kerner’s office notified Pres-ident Donald Trump and Con-gress about its findings, which started with a complaint from a whistleblower.

The FAA said in a statement that it was reviewing Kerner’s finding.

“We remain confident in our representations to Congress and in the work of our aviation safety

professionals,” the FAA said.The special counsel’s disclo-

sures are another setback for the FAA, which is already under

scrutiny for its certification of the 737 Max. According to pub-lished reports, senior FAA offi-cials did not understand a key

flight-control system that was later implicated in two deadly crashes.

The FAA determined that 16 of

22 inspectors had not finished their formal training and of the 16, 11 did not hold a flight-in-structor license, a requirement for the job. But, the FAA told Congress this spring, none of the unqualified inspectors worked on training standards for the Max.

The special counsel said that was not true. Based on infor-mation from the whistleblow-

er and other evidence, Kerner said, there were “undertrained” inspectors in the Max program and it is likely they were nei-ther qualified to certify other pilots to fly nor to recommend how pilots should be trained for procedures and maneuvers on the plane.

The Max remains grounded after two crashes killed 346 peo-ple. Boeing is nearing comple-tion of changes that it hopes will persuade regulators to let the plane fly again, and pilot training has emerged as a key issue.

Some safety advocates and relatives of passengers killed in the crashes demand that pilots be trained on flight simulators before the plane is put back in service — a requirement that would delay the plane’s return by weeks or months. Boeing be-lieves that training on the up-dated flight-control system can be done on tablet computers and FAA technical advisers agree, al-though the agency has not made a final decision.

Caution flags are shown on flight sensors on a Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplane being built at Boeing’s assembly facility in Renton, Washington

Almost 500 Boeing 737 Max planes remain

grounded worldwide

GFH long term ratings affirmed TDT | Manama

GFH Financial Group (GFH) announced yes-

terday that Capital Intelli-gence Ratings (CI Ratings) has affirmed its Long-Term Foreign Currency Rating (LTFCR) and Short-Term Foreign Currency Rating (ST FCR) at ‘BB’ and ‘B’, re-spectively, with the outlook for the ratings at stable.

The ratings affirmation, CI said, was supported by strong and increased liquid-ity reported by the Group and underpinned by an im-proved funding profile.

Hisham Alrayes, CEO of GFH, said, “We’re extreme-ly pleased with continued market recognition in the strong results and progress we continue to deliver at GFH.”

Japan power firm execs admit $3m in ‘gifts’ from local official

• The money and gifts totalled 320 million yen over seven years from 2011

Tokyo

The president of a Japanese power firm admitted Fri-

day that he and other execu-tives received money and gifts worth around $3 million from a town hosting one of their nuclear plants.

The money and gifts totalled 320 million yen over seven years from 2011 and came from the late deputy mayor of Takahama town, where Kansai Electric (KEPCO) has a nuclear plant.

“I deeply apologise for caus-ing great concern to stakehold-ers and the public,” KEPCO president Shigeki Iwane told reporters.

The admission came after investigations by tax author-ities into the deputy mayor revealed the payoffs.

“We were afraid our rela-tionship with the local govern-ment would be damaged” if the gifts and money were rejected, Iwane said.

“We had in mind to return them at the right time. We

knew they were expensive gifts and we had to return them one day.”

But Iwane added he “would not reveal the details of who received what and when as the information is private,” saying some of the gifts had already been returned.

According to local media, tax agency investigations found that former deputy mayor Eiji Moriyama received a 300-mil-lion-yen commission from a local construction company that was hired for projects at the Takahama nuclear power plant.

Moriyama reportedly told authorities he had decided to give KEPCO officials the money in the form of cash and gifts as a token of his appreciation.

It was not immediately clear if KEPCO, which runs the Taka-hama nuclear plant with four reactors in central Fukui pre-fecture, would face sanctions over the incident.

Before Iwane’s press con-ference, Trade and Industry Minister Isshu Sugawara said a “thorough probe” was nec-essary.

“If (the news) is true, it’s an extremely egregious and serious situation. It could shake the trust of communi-ties where nuclear plants are located.”

It was not clear if KEPCO, which runs the Takahama nuclear plant, would face sanctions over the incident

PM Johnson referred to police watchdog over bizwoman links• Under the referral, the authority will try to determine whether there are grounds for a full investigation

Reuters | London

Th e g o v e r n m e n t o f London said it had re-ferred Prime Minister

Boris Johnson to Britain’s po-lice watchdog for potential investigation over allegations of misconduct involving a US businesswoman while he was mayor of London.

The Greater London Au-thority (GLA) said on Friday it had referred a “conduct mat-ter” concerning Johnson to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which investi-gates complaints connected to the police.

The referral follows allega-tions, first reported by The Sun-day Times, that when Johnson was mayor, he failed to declare close personal links to tech en-trepreneur Jennifer Arcuri who received thousands of pounds in public business funding and places on official trade trips.

Asked about the referral, Johnson’s spokesman told Reu-ters: “The prime minister as mayor of London did a huge amount of work when selling our capital city around the world, beating the drum for London and the UK.

“Everything was done with propriety and in the normal way,” he added.

The matter has been referred to the police watchdog because Johnson was head of the May-or’s Office for Policing and Crime, a role equivalent to a police commissioner, during his 2008-2016 term as mayor.

Under the referral, the au-thority will try to determine

whether there are grounds for a full investigation that could lead to criminal charges of mis-conduct in public office.

The GLA said in a statement: “The Monitoring Officer of the GLA has today recorded a ‘conduct matter’ against Bo-ris Johnson and referred him to the Independent Office for Police Conduct so it can assess whether or not it is necessary to investigate the former May-or of London for the criminal offence of misconduct in public office.”

It said the action had been taken in accordance with the Police Reform and Social Re-sponsibility Act 2011.

In a letter to Johnson, the GLA said: “Subject to any expla-nation provided by you, these matters give rise to a suggestion that there has been a failure to safeguard the public purse and if so that amounts to a signifi-cant breach of public trust.

“These are the ingredients

of the offence of misconduct in a public office,” said the letter from the office of the authori-ty’s monitoring officer, which was made public.

The letter said Innotech, Ar-curi’s then company, received 11,500 pounds ($14,000) from London & Partners, the may-or’s promotional agency, for two events in 2013 and 2014. She was able to attend a trade mission to Singapore and Ma-laysia in 2014 through Play-box, one of her companies, even though an initial application through Innotech had been declined.

The letter said the Moni-toring Officer was also aware “from media reports and else-where” that Arcuri also had been allowed to participate in events around two other trade missions — to New York and Is-rael in 2015 — although she had not qualified for the New York mission and had been rejected for the mission to Israel.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seen in Downing Street in London, Britain

Hong Kong police fire tear gas, water cannon to halt protest Reuters | Hong Kong

Hong Kong police fired tear gas and water can-

non yesterday to disperse anti-government protest-ers who threw rocks, broke government office windows and blocked a key road near the local headquarters of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

A series of protests for and against the city’s Com-munist Party rulers in Bei-jing is planned ahead of the 70th anniversary of the Peo-ple’s Republic on Tuesday, including at the consulate of former colonial power Brit-ain. Police fired blue water, used in other countries to help identify offenders, as protesters regrouped 100 yards (metres) away.

“A large group of violent protesters are occupying Harcourt Road. They also hurled bricks at police of-ficers. Their acts pose a se-rious threat to the safety of everyone on site,” police said in a statement.


Trump told Russians not concerned about election meddling: Washington Post

• Trump told Lavrov and Kislyak he was not concerned about Russian meddling because the United States did the same in other countries

Reuters | Washington

President Donald Trump told two Russian officials in a 2017 meeting that he

was not concerned about Mos-cow’s meddling in the US elec-tion, which prompted White House officials to limit access to the remarks, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

A summary of Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Russia’s for-eign minister and its ambassador to the US was limited to a few officials in an attempt to keep the president’s comments from being disclosed publicly, the Post said, citing former officials with knowledge of the matter.

Trump’s 2017 meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergei Kislyak was already considered controversial after it was learned that Trump disclosed highly classified information about a planned Islamic State operation.

On election interference, Trump told Lavrov and Kisly-ak he was not concerned about Russian meddling because the United States did the same in other countries, the Post report-ed.

CNN, citing people familiar with the matter, said efforts to limit access to Trump’s conver-sations with foreign leaders ex-tended to phone calls with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told report-ers that procedures for handling records of Trump’s conversa-tions with world leaders had changed early in his tenure after calls with Mexico’s president and Australia’s prime minister were leaked.

Pompeo subpoenaed as Democrats press impeachment

AFP | Washington

Democrats charged aggres-sively into an impeachment

investigation of President Don-ald Trump on Friday, ordering Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to turn over Ukraine-related documents and scheduling tes-timony for witnesses to alleged abuse of power by the US leader.

Three House committees gave Pompeo one week to pro-duce the documents, saying multiple State Department of-ficials have direct knowledge of Trump’s efforts to enlist the Ukraine government’s help in his US domestic political cam-paign for reelection.

They also announced in-terviews scheduled with five State officials, including former ambassador to Ukraine Masha Yovanovitch, whom Trump re-portedly forced out earlier this year for resisting his efforts to pressure Kiev to probe Demo-cratic rival Joe Biden.

“The Committees are inves-tigating the extent to which President Trump jeopardized national security by pressing

Ukraine to interfere with our 2020 election and by withhold-ing security assistance provided by Congress to help Ukraine counter Russian aggression,” they said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelo-si declared that the impeach-ment investigation would move quickly, saying the evidence from an intelligence whistle-blower’s complaint against Trump of abuse of power and an attempted cover-up was un-ambiguous.

“The clarity of the president’s actions is compelling and gave us no choice but to move for-ward,” Pelosi said.

“This is about the national security of our country: The president of the United States being disloyal to his oath of of-fice, jeopardizing our national security, and jeopardizing the integrity of our elections.”

White House reelsThe White House was reel-

ing, appearing not to have a strategy in place yet to coun-ter the Democratic investiga-tive onslaught after a week of fast-moving events rocked the

foundations of Trump’s tem-pestuous two-and-a-half-year presidency.

In a series of tweets Trump attacked Democrats -- includ-ing Adam Schiff, the lawmaker named Friday by Pelosi to lead the impeachment probe -- call-ing them liars.

In a video leaked from a private gathering Trump held Thursday with US diplomats in New York, Trump made clear he was battling for his survival.

“We’re at war. These people are sick,” Trump says in the vid-eo obtained by Bloomberg.

Public support grows for impeachment

Support mounted for im-peachment after the release of the anonymous whistleblower’s complaint, reportedly made by a CIA analyst who had worked in the White House.

It accused Trump of pres-suring Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July 25 phone call to supply dirt on former vice president Biden, the favorite to represent Demo-crats against Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

The complaint also re-vealed that White House aides, alarmed at Trump’s implicit offer to release aid in exchange for Zelensky’s help, sought to hide the record of the call in a highly secure computer sys-tem normally used only for the country’s most top-secret in-telligence.

More than 300 high-level professionals from the nation-al security community signed a letter supporting the impeach-ment investigation.

“President Trump appears to have leveraged the authority and resources of the highest office in the land to invite ad-ditional foreign interference into our democratic processes. That would constitute an un-conscionable abuse of power,” they said.

Meanwhile public support for impeachment jumped, ac-cording to two new polls. The Hill-HarrisX survey showed support up 12 percentage points to 47 per cent, against 42pc opposed, while Politico’s poll showed support up seven points to 43pc, now equal to those op-posed.

‘We should move quickly’ Democrats said articles of

impeachment -- formal charg-es -- against Trump could be completed in as soon as a month and then swiftly debated and voted on in the House, where the party has a majority solid enough to ensure passage.

The case would then be hand-ed to the Senate to try Trump -- who, for the moment, appears able to count on a Republican majority in the chamber to prevent his conviction and re-moval.

“We should move quickly but not hurriedly, and we should fo-cus on this Ukraine call,” Dem-ocrat Eric Swalwell, a member of the House Intelligence Com-mittee, said on CNN.

“As a former prosecutor, I should tell you that cases are made much easier when the defendant cops to the act, and here the president is not deny-ing what he said.”

“We don’t need to have a months-long hearing ... We have the president’s own words, and we have his conduct after the fact,” he said.

US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi says Democrats had ‘no choice’ but to investigate President Donald Trump for abuse of power

US President Donald Trump (L) and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: Democrats subpoenaed Pompeo for documents related to the mounting impeachment investigation of the US leader

Beijing hopes glitzy new airport will take off as aviation hub• At full capacity, Daxing would be the world’s largest single terminal in terms of traveller capacity, according to its designers

• The building was designed by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, who died in 2016

Beijing

Beijing’s new futuristic air-port that resembles a giant

starfish -- opened days before the country celebrates the 70th anniversary of communist rule -- promises to transform the Chi-nese capital into a major Asian aviation hub.

Located 46 kilometres (29 miles) south of Tiananmen Square, Beijing Daxing Inter-national Airport will be able to handle 45 million passengers by 2021, with plans for 72 million by 2025 and 100 million by 2040.

It was opened by President Xi Jinping Wednesday, but had an immediate hitch when its maiden commercial flight -- an A380 superjumbo heading to the southern city of Guangzhou -- was delayed by nearly 30 min-

utes.About a decade ago, Daxing

was a sleepy suburb of dusty farmland and cramped quar-ters home to migrant workers building roads and skyscrapers in the city.

Now -- with the airport code PKX -- Daxing is seen as an embodiment of the “Chinese dream” Xi has offered his fellow citizens.

At 700,000 square metres (173 acres) -- about the size of 100 football pitches -- the new struc-ture will be one of the world’s largest airport terminals.

So far only China United Air-lines has shifted their operations to the new hub but operations manager Wang Qiang said an-other seven domestic and eight international airlines would ar-rive in the “near future.”

British Airways, Cathay Pa-cific and Finnair have already announced new routes to tap

into its potential.The SkyTeam alliance --

which includes Delta, Air France and Dutch airline KLM -- was also expected to move, along with local partners Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines.

The building was designed by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, who died in 2016.

The central atrium, with curves like a rolling landscape, is supported by eight giant columns and skylights filling the terminals with natural light.

Relatives and friends can also watch as their loved ones pro-ceed to boarding gates through a viewing gallery.

An underground train station and metro line will allow travel-lers to reach Beijing city within 20 to 30 minutes.

- Have money, will travel -The project cost 120 billion

yuan ($17.5 billion), or 400 bil-lion yuan if rail and road links are included.

At full capacity, Daxing would be the world’s largest single ter-minal in terms of traveller ca-pacity, according to its designers.

Dozens of self check-in coun-ters -- where travellers only need to scan their passports -- have been setup alongside conven-tional airline counters to speed up operations.

Traveller Xie Hangyu said the check-in procedures were “very smooth and very convenient.”

The current Beijing Capital International Airport -- the world’s second largest -- is al-ready overflowing, handling 100 million passengers last year.

With the opening of Daxing, Beijing joins a select group of cities, including Tokyo, London, Paris and New York, that have two long-haul international air-ports.

At 700,000 square metres (173 acres) - about the size of 100 football pitches - the new structure will be one of the world’s largest airport terminals

M O V I E R E V I E W

Little Monsters: A zom-com with hearts both beating and otherwiseLupita Nyong’o continues her new reign over horror in this hilarious Australian comedy

• Abe Forsythe’s Aussie horror comedy strands a school field trip in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, to delightful results

It’s hard to express just how desperately the world needs to see a zombie-slaying Lu-

pita Nyong’o playing Taylor Swift songs on a ukulele to a kindergarten class in the Aus-tralian bush until you’ve actually seen it. On this front alone, Abe Forsythe’s sophomore feature Little Monsters is a gift. Smiling and singing, Nyong’o’s unforget-table Miss Caroline fights back her own fears in order to calm her young students, bringing the concept of “duty of care” to a whole new level.

It’s a classic day-trip gone wrong scenario when a class full of young five-year-old Aus-tralians and their schoolteacher find themselves in the path of an army of rampaging, brain-hun-gry zombies, escaped from a top secret US military facility that is

located bewilderingly close to a kid-friendly wildlife sanctuary. Convincing her pupils that the ravaging undead hordes who have circled the gift shop where they have found temporary pro-tection are in fact just playing a fun ‘game’, keeping the children calm and feeling safe is Miss Caroline’s primary goal, even

more so than protecting her own life.

Added to the mix is aggres-sive, socially tone-deaf manchild Dave (Alexander England), the uncle of one of Miss Caroline’s students who – amongst many of the adult male relatives of her pupils, we are told – has de-veloped a serious crush on the

young teacher. Despite so overt-ly lacking the skill-set required to deal with young children, Dave regardless volunteers to join the excursion ostensibly as a helper, considering it the perfect excuse to spend time with Miss Caroline.

Thrown into the mix is an-other textbook case of failed

masculinity, the international-ly-famous American children’s television star Teddy McGiggle, played in a spectacularly repul-sive turn by Josh Gad. But noth-ing can take the shine off Miss Caroline’s dedication to her stu-dents, and her professionalism and compassion teach both men lessons that will dramatically change the direction of each of their lives.

Following on from the success of his break-out 2016 debut fea-ture Down Under – a scathing black comedy set around the very real horrors of the 2005 Cronulla race riots in Australia

– Forsythe’s inspiration for that first film was sparked by ques-tions about the kind of world he was bringing his young baby son into. Again, Forsythe’s child served as inspiration for Little Monsters, yet in a notably differ-ent way; just like Dave’s nephew Felix (Diesel La Torraca) in the film, Forsythe’s son has severe allergies. Forsythe’s own expe-rience of letting go of his at-risk child into the care of another human being – a teacher – was a lesson that left him profoundly moved and wanting to highlight the specialness of those called to a teaching vocation.

A simultaneously scathing ex-pose of hollow masculine bra-vado, a deliberately naff zombie romantic comedy (even the kids joke about how shabby the zom-bie effects are), and Taylor Swift fanfic, Little Monsters is above all else a love letter to school teachers. Full of heart and music and joy as much as it is blood and guts, Nyong’o is electrify-ing; alongside Jordan Peele’s Us, Little Monsters consolidates her place as one of the year’s most unexpected but very welcome horror superstars.

ABOMINABLE (PG)(ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY)OASIS JUFFAIR (KIDS CINEMA) :11.45 AM + 4.15 + 6.30 + 11.00 PMOASIS JUFFAIR (KIDS CINEMA) :(ARABIC DUBBED) :2.00 + 8.45 PMOASIS JUFFAIR (3D): 12.45 + 9.15 PMCITY CENTRE 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PMCITY CENTRE : (ARABIC DUBBED) 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PMCITY CENTRE :(3D) 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PMSEEF (II): 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PMSEEF (II):(ARABIC DUBBED): 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PMWADI AL SAIL: 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PMSAAR: 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 8.45 + (11.00 PM THURS./FRI)

CHLOE BENNET, TENZING NORGAY TRAINOR, ALBERT TSAI

THE INFORMER (15+)(CRIME/DRAMA)OASIS JUFFAIR : 2.15 + 7.00 + 11.45 PMOASIS JUFFAIR (VIP): 11.15 AM + 4.00 + 8.45 PMCITY CENTRE :11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 + 12.00 MN + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)CITY CENTRE VIP (I): 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PMSEEF (I): 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM SEEF (II):(1.00 AM THURS/FRI)WADI AL SAIL: 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 MNSAAR: 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 9.00 + (11.30 PM THURS./FRI)

JOEL KINNAMAN, ROSAMUND PIKE, CLIVE OWEN

BORN A KING (PG)(DRAMA/HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY) OASIS JUFFAIR :12.00 + 4.45 + 9.30 PMOASIS JUFFAIR (VIP): 1.45 + 6.30 + 11.15 PMCITY CENTRE : 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PMSEEF (I): 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PMWADI AL SAIL: 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PMSAAR: 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + (11.15 PM THURS./FRI.)

ABDULLAH ALI, RAWKAN BINBELLA, ED SKREIN

LITTLE MONSTERS (15+)(COMEDY/HORROR)CITY CENTRE: 12.00 + 4.45 + 9.30 PMSEEF (II): 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 + 12.00 MN WADI AL SAIL:2.30 + 7.15 + 12.00 MN

LUPITA NYONG’O, ALEXANDER ENGLAND, JOSH GAD

THE WEDDING YEAR (15+)(ROMANTIC/COMEDYCITY CENTRE :11.00 AM + 1.00 + 6.30 + 12.00 MNSEEF (II): 12.00 + 2.00 + 4.00 + 6.00 + 8.00 + 10.00 + 12.00 MNSAAR: 1.00 + 5.15 + 9.30 PM

SARAH HYLAND, JENNA DEWAN, ANNA CAMP

THE ROOKIES (PG-15)(ACTION/COMEDY)CITY CENTRE : 2.15 + 7.00 + 11.45 PMSEEF (II): 11.00 AM + 3.15 + 7.30 + 11.45 PM

TALU WANG, SANDRINE PINNA, MILLA JOVOVICH

COLD BLOOD LEGACY (PG-15)(CRIME/THRILLERSEEF (II):1.15 + 5.30 + 9.45 PMJEAN RENO, SARAH LIND, JOE ANDERSONPREY (15+)(THRILLER/HORROR)SEEF (II): 12.00 + 4.45 + 9.30 PM

JOEY ADANALIAN, JOLENE ANDERSON, VELA CLUFF

RAMBO: LAST BLOOD (15+)(ACTION/CRIME OASIS JUFFAIR :12.45 + 6.15 + 11.45 PM

CITY CENTRE : 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 + 12.00 MN + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)CITY CENTRE VIP (II): 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PMSEEF (I): 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MN WADI AL SAIL:12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PMSAAR: 10.45 AM + 3.00 + 7.15 + (11.30 PM THURS/FRI)

SYLVESTER STALLONE, PAZ VEGA, SERGIO PERIS-MENCHETA

ANGEL HAS FALLEN (PG-15)(ACTION/THRILLER CITY CENTRE :11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)SEEF (II): 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM

GERARD BUTLER, MORGAN FREEMAN, JADA PINKETT SMITH

AD ASTRA (PG-13)(DRAMA/THRILLER CITY CENTRE : 12.00 + 2.45 + 5.30 + 8.15 + 11.00 PM CITY CENTRE (IMAX 2D) : 10.30 AM + 3.45 + 9.15 PMSEEF (II): 12.00 + 5.45 + 11.30 PMWADI AL SAIL: 12.00 + 4.45 + 9.30 PM

BRAD PITT, TOMMY LEE JONES, RUTH NEGGA

KHAYAL MAATA (PG)(COMEDY/DRAMA) CITY CENTRE : 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)SEEF (II): 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM

AHMAD HELMY, MINNA SHALABI, HASSAN HOSNEY

DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD (PG)(ADVENTURE OASIS JUFFAIR :10.30 AM + 5.00 + 11.30 PMCITY CENTRE: 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PMSEEF (II): 11.15 AM + 4.00 + 8.45 PM

ISABELA MONER, Q’ORIANKA KILCHER, BENICIO DEL TORO

FAST & FURIOUS: HOBBS & SHAW (PG-15) CITY CENTRE: 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PM CITY CENTRE (IMAX 2D) : 1.00 + 6.30 + 12.00 MNSEEF (II): 2.00 + 6.45 + 11.30 PM

DWAYNE JOHNSON, JASON STATHAM, IDRIS ELBA

THE LION KING (PG)(ADVENTURECITY CENTRE: 12.00 + 2.30 + 5.00 + 7.30 + 10.00 PMSEEF (II): 1.30 + 6.15 + 11.00 PM

DONALD GLOVER, SETH ROGEN, CHIWETEL EJIOFOR

IT CHAPTER TWO (15+)(HORROR CITY CENTRE :3.00 + 8.30 PM

JAMES MCAVOY, JESSICA CHASTAIN, BILL HADER

DREAM GIRL (PG-15)(HINDI/COMEDYOASIS JUFFAIR : 12.45 + 3.30 + 6.15 + 9.00 + 11.45 PMCITY CENTRE : 1.00 + 6.30 + 12.00 MN

AYUSHMANN KHURRANA, NUSHRAT BHARUCHA, ABHISHEK BANERJEE

THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE 2 (PG)(ANIMATION OASIS JUFFAIR : (3D) 3.00 + 7.15 PMCITY CENTRE: 11.00 AM + 3.30 + 8.00 PM

SUDEIKIS, JOSH GAD, AWKWAFINA

TOY STORY 4 (G)(ANIMATION CITY CENTRE:1.15 + 5.45 + 10.15 PM

TOM HANKS, TIM ALLEN, JOAN CUSACK

47 METERS DOWN : UNCAGED (15+) CITY CENTRE: 12.00 + 4.00 + 8.00 + 12.00 MN

SOPHIE NÉLISSE, CORINNE FOX, BRIANNE TJU

READY OR NOT (18+)(THRILLER CITY CENTRE: 2.00 + 6.00 + 10.00 PM

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

ALADDIN (PG)(ADVENTURECITY CENTRE: 10.30 AM + 3.45 + 9.15 PM

WILL SMITH, NAOMI SCOTT, MENA MASSOUD

CHHICHHORE (PG-15)(HINDIOASIS JUFFAIR :12.15 + 3.00 + 5.45 + 8.30 + 11.15 PM

SUSHANT SINGH RAJPUT, SHRADDHA KAPOOR, VARUN SHARMA

KAAPPAAN (PG-15)(TAMIL) OASIS JUFFAIR :3.00 + 8.30 PMSEEF (II): 2.30 + 8.15 PMAL HAMRA: (12.00 MN THURS/FRI)

MOHANLAL, SURYA, BOMAN IRANI, ARYA, SAYYESHAA SAIGAL, PRAKASH RAJ

LOVE ACTION DRAMA (PG-15)(MALAYALAM) OASIS JUFFAIR : 12.00 + 2.45 + 5.30 + 8.15 + 11.00 PM

NIVIN PAULY, NAYANTHARA, AJU VARGHESE

GANAGANDHARVAN (PG)(MALAYALAM)STARTING FRIDAY 27th ONWARDSOASIS JUFFAIR : 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PMSEEF (I): 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.45 + 6.30 + 9.15 + 12.00 MN WADI AL SAIL: 2.45 + 8.30 PM AL HAMRA: 12.00 + 6.00 PM

MAMMOOTTY, SIDDIQUE, SNEHA BABU

NAMMA VEETTU PILLAI (PG)(TAMIL)STARTING FRIDAY 27th ONWARDSOASIS JUFFAIR :11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 + 11.15 PMSEEF (I): 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PMWADI AL SAIL: 11.45 AM + 5.30 + 11.15 PMAL HAMRA: 3.00 + 9.00 PM

SIVAKARTHIKEYAN, AISWARYA RAJESH, ANU EMMANUEL

13 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2019

KNOW WHAT

Zombies chew up a petting zoo in this im-mature horror-farce,

but star Lupita Nyong’o survives with

her dignity intact

Lupita Nyong’o in ‘Little Monsters’

14 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2019

Kartik Aaryan’s female fan proposes to him on one kneeMumbai

Kartik Aaryan has managed to win over a huge fan base

-- especially female fans -- with his chocolate-boy looks and acting skills. Only last month, a video did the rounds showing a female fan pulling Kartik’s cheeks.

And now a new video has gone viral showing one of his female followers pro-posing to him on one knee.

According to reports, the girl bunked her college for 15 days and waited out-side Kartik’s house to get a glimpse of him. Finally, when she got to meet him recently, she wasted no time in proposing to him!

In the video, Kartik can be heard telling g i r l : “Yo u okay? Don’t

do this!”The fan then

asked for pic-tures and Kartik

obliged.Several social media us-

ers have declared Kartik as “the National crush”.

On the work front, Kar-tik is on a roll. His last film “Luka Chuppi” has crossed the Rs 100-crore mark. He will be next seen in “Pati Patni Aur Woh” and “Bhool Bhulai-yaa 2”.

Kartik will also seen ro-mancing his r u m o u r e d beau Sara Ali Khan in Im-tiaz Ali’s se-quel to “Love Aaj Kal”.

How Alia Bhatt wished beau Ranbir Kapoor on 37th birthday!

Mumbai

On Ranbir Kapoor’s 37th birthday, actor Alia Bhatt shared an unseen picture of her beau which will leave

you in awe of two!Pinning a picture of the ‘Rockstar’ actor

on her Instagram profile, the ‘Dear Zindagi’ actor wrote, “happy birthday you.”

Kapoor’s mother Soni Razdan too extended a special way in the

comment section writing, “Happy Birthday !”

Earlier in the day, Ran-bir’s mother Neetu Ka-

poor also wished the actor on Instagram with throw-back pictures of her son.

“This day brings loads of nostalgia !!! When there were no event

managers When we would go shopping a week before the birthdays When we went crazy with Khoi bag back presents dance competitions fancy dress prizes the birthday gift was a big one !!! “ she wrote.

The two created a buzz with their relationship rumours flying all around. But as the two jetted off to New York together to meet Rishi Kapoor earlier in June, their chem-istry did no longer remain a secret.

Anushka Sharma praises husband Virat Kohli for hosting Indian Sports Honour

Mumbai

Actress Anushka Shar-ma says she is proud of her cricketer husband

Virat Kohli for hosting Indian Sports Honours (ISH), which recognises sporting talent in India.

Anushka Sharma was inter-acting

with the

media along with husband and Indian captain Virat Kohli at the second edition of Indian Sports Honours on Friday in Mumbai.

The initiative has the back-ing of Sanjiv Goenka, Chair-man, RP-SG Group and India captain Kohli. Top perform-ers in 17 sporting disciplines were felicitated.

The winners of 11 catego-ries (Jury Honours) were decided by ISH Jury mem-bers, which comprised sporting champions such as Pullela Gopichand, Abhinav Bindra, Sardar Singh, Mahesh Bhu-

pathi, P T Usha and Anjali Bhagwat.

Apart from the Jury Honours, there were six ‘Popular Choice Honours’. Win-ners for this were decided through an online voting process on Twitter.

Los Angeles

Two pop-icons Taylor Swift and Katy Perry are all set to perform at

the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball tour this holiday season.

The 12-city tour will kick off on December 1 in Tampa, Florida, reported Fox News. Apart from the singers, the star-studded lineup tour will also witness ace musi-cians like Billie Eilish, BTS, Lizzo, Lil Nas X, Sam Smith, Camila Cabello, Khalid, Halsey, the Jonas Brothers, 5 Seconds of Summer, Normani, Char-lie Puth, French Montana, Dan + Shay and Monsta X.

The frenzy fans can catch a glimpse of their favourite stars live in Inglewood, San Francisco, Phila-delphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago and At-lanta, according

to iHeartMedia, which announced the

news on Friday, as cited by Fox News.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan unites with friend in ParisMumbai

The beauty queen Aishwar-ya Rai Bachchan who en-joys a huge fan following

does not have a dearth of friends and the actor bumped into an old friend Eva Longoria, an Ameri-can actress, on Thursday.

The ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ ac-tor shared a video on Instagram where the two ladies can be seen showering love and praises on each other.

“I have met my friend. We have unit-ed here in Paris,” Eva said in the video.

“Why do you get

more beautiful? I don’t want to be next to you anymore,” she con-tinued, to which the Aishwarya replies, “Look who’s talking.”

On several occasions, Aish-warya and Eva have strutted

Cannes Film Festival red carpet.

On the profes-sional front, Aish-warya was last seen in ‘Fanney Khan’ alongside Anil Kapoor and

Rajkum-m a r

Rao.

Feeling so much better: Kylie

Jenner after hospitalisationLos Angeles

Beauty mogul and reality TV star Ky-lie Jenner who

was hospitalised for flu-like symptoms and skipped Paris Fashion Week has updated her fans that she is ‘Feeling much better’.

The 22-year-old star gave the update as she showed off her ‘Kylie Cosmetics x Balmain Col-lection’ in an Instagram video on Thursday.

“All right, so before I get into this today, I just want to say thank you guys so much for all the well wish-es, to my friends, to my followers,” she said in the clip. “I really appre-ciate it. I’m feeling so much better.”

According to Us Weekly Ky-lie “has been really sick” and “is bummed” that she couldn’t promote the collection at Paris Fashion Week but “is trying to take care of herself and get better.”

On Wednesday, a source con-firmed to the outlet that Kylie was admitted to a Los Angeles hospital and was doing well under med-ical supervision.

‘Where it all began’ for Justin, Hailey!Los Angeles

With just a few days to go for his second wedding with model

Hailey Baldwin, singer Justin Bieber revisited his initial days of dating and shared a beautiful glimpse of “where it all began” for the two!

The two are all set to tie the knot for the second time next week but before that happens, Bieber shared an utterly adorable throw-back picture, tak-ing his fans back to the time when the two had just started dating.

The capture shared on Ins-tagram, features Bieber with his signature shaggy hairstyle,

whereas Baldwin is seen smiling with her arm

around her beau and holding up a peace sign.

“My wife and I where it all began,” the ‘Sorry’ fame singer captioned.

The cute picture caught the attention of many of the couple’s friends and family members.

TV personality and beauty mo-gul, Kylie Jenner, commented on the photo, writing, “This is

amazing.”Bieber’s mom Pattie

Mallette wrote: “Oh my heart. How adorable!”

The singer and mod-el have known each

other from the time they were teens. Their romance start-ed in 2016.

Christie shuts

down Wendy by posting

injury photos

Los Angeles

Supermodel Chris-tie Brinkley who

previously responded to TV host Wendy Williams’

claims that she had faked her recent injury by appeal-ing the latter to “be kind” has now posted sever-al photos of her injuries obtained dur-ing ‘Dancing with the Stars’ rehearsal.

“It goes against my better judgement to acknowledge haters and conspiracy theorists but because this involves my precious daughter I’m set-ting the record straight,” Brinkley wrote on Insta-gram.

Taylor Swift, Katy Perry among others to perform

at Jingle Ball tour

Christie Brinkley

Katy Perry

Taylor Swift Kylie

Jenner

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Ranbir Kapoor

Justin and

Hailey

Kartik Aaryan

Virat Kohli and

Anushka Sharma

15

sports


Barca end away-day bluesGoals by Luis Suarez and Junior Firpo seal Barcelona’s morale-boosting La Liga victory at GetafeReuters | Madrid

Barcelona ended a string of bad results away from home in La Liga with a

2-0 win at Getafe yesterday.Strikes by Luis Suarez and

Junior Firpo either side of half time gave the Spanish champi-ons their first win of the season on the road, although they fin-ished with 10 men after Clement Lenglet’s dismissal.

It was Barcelona’s first win in their last nine competitive games away from Camp Nou and it eased the pressure on man-agerErnesto Valverde.

Barca moved provisionally into second with 13 points from seven matches, one behind lead-ers Real Madrid who were to face Atletico Madrid later yes-terday.

“Lately teams have made a lot of chances against us but today they didn’t make so many,” said Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-An-dre ter Stegen, whose pass set up Suarez for the opening goal.

“In some moments we used our experience, which is im-portant. In the end you have to stick together and know how to defend.

“I’m happy I could do some-

thing for the team [setting up Suarez] and take three points back to Barcelona.”

The Catalans were without captain Lionel Messi and teen-ager Ansu Fati as well as winger Ousmane Dembele who suffered a thigh injury before the game.

Getafe attacked boldly from the start, looking to test the nerve of the Spanish champions, while Carles Perez and Suarez came close at the other end.

Ter Stegen made a fine save to keep out Angel Rodriguez as the hosts threatened at the

Coliseum Alfonso Perez.Barcelona’s German goalkeep-

er then played a crucial role in the opener, charging out of his area to regain possession before lofting a fine pass over the top of the defence for Suarez.

The Uruguayan coolly lobbed

Getafe goalkeeper David Soria to send Barcelona ahead in the 41st minute.

Firpo doubled the lead four minutes after half time, tuck-ing home from close range after Perez’s effort was only parried by Soria.

Lenglet was sent off in the final stages for a late challenge which earned him a second yel-low card, while Angel missed a late chance, allowing Barcelona to keep their first clean sheet in La Liga this season.

Barcelona’s Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez shoots to score

Lately teams have made a lot of

chances against us but today they

didn’t make so many. In some

moments we used our experience,

which is important. In the end you have

to stick together and know how to

defendMARC-ANDRE TER STEGEN

Lewandowski fires Bayern on topAFP | Berlin

Philippe Coutinho shone again and Robert Le -

wandowski made history for Bayern Munich as the defend-ing champions went top of the Bundesliga yesterday with a 3-2 win at Paderborn after Leipzig crashed against Schalke.

While Bayern were squeezing past bottom club Paderborn, Leipzig were shocked 3-1 at home to Schalke to surrender top spot.

Defending champions Bayern took full advantage to top the Bundesliga table before Tues-day’s key Champions League clash at Tottenham Hotspur.

Coutinho, who is rebooting his career on loan in Munich after an unhappy stint at Barce-lona, played a key role by setting up Serge Gnabry for the opening goal with a sublime first-half pass.

Having scored his first Bayern goal the week before in a rout of Cologne, the Brazilian play-maker tapped home Gnabry’s neat pass after the break before substitute Kai Proeger pulled a goal back for Paderborn.

With time almost up, Le-wandowski showed great fin-ishing to put away a Niklas Suele pass to make it 3-1 and became the first Bayern player to score in each of the first six

matches of the season, bringing his tally for this campaign to 10.

However, there were nervous looks in Bayern’s ranks in the final ten minutes after Pader-born defender Jamilu Collins beat Germany goalkeeper Ma-nuel Neuer from 30 metres out late on.

In Leipzig, Morocco interna-tional midfielder Amine Harit inspired Schalke to an impres-sive away win, drilling home a penalty and setting up a first Bundesliga goal for Welsh teen-ager Rabbi Matondo.

The Royal Blues raced into a 2-0 lead with first-half goals as towering Senegalese cen-tre-back Salif Sane headed home from a corner on 29 min-utes, then Harit drilled home a penalty just before the break.

The referee took a long look at the replays after Harit went down after the faintest of con-tact from Mali defender Amado Haidara. Harit slammed home the spot kick.

Schalke, under ex-Hudders-field coach David Wagner, made sure of the three points when Matondo claimed his first Bun-desliga goal since joining from Manchester City.

Harit again did the damage, punishing a mistake in midfield then putting in a well-timed pass which sent Matondo away to fire home on 58 minutes.

Emil Forsberg’s consolation goal came too late for Leipzig.

The shock result shook up the table as Bayern climbed one place to top, Schalke leapt from fifth to second and Leipzig dropped to third.Munich’s Polish forward Robert Lewandowski (C) shoots to score a goal

KNOW WHAT

Robert Lewandowski became the first Bay-ern Munich player to score in each of the

first six rounds of Bun-desliga matches after

netting his 10th league goal of

Ronaldo helps ease Juventus past SPAL and top Serie AAFP | Milan

Cristiano Ronaldo returned from an injury scare to

score as Juventus eased past struggling SPAL 2-0 and took top spot in Serie A yesterday.

Ronaldo notched up his third consecutive goal at home this season after 78 minutes in Turin to add to Miralem Pjanic’s opener just before the break.

Juventus have 16 points from six games, one ahead of Inter — the only team with maximum points — before their game at Sampdoria later yesterday.

Ronaldo was rested for the midweek win over Brescia as a precaution with a slight mus-cular problem ahead of Tues-day’s Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen in Turin and next weekend’s clash with Inter at the San Siro.

The damage could have been worse for SPAL, who achieved just their second ever win over the Turin giants last April, but for some fine saves from Alba-nian goalkeeper Etrit Berisha.

Berisha, on-loan from Ata-lanta this season, got his hand to deny Paulo Dybala’s curling goal-bound effort just after half an hour, and then parried a point-blank Aaron Ramey header off a Ronaldo cross in front of goal.

Pjanic had a shot cleared off the line before connect-ing with a Sami Khedira assist to fire in from a distance for his second goal of the season after the winner at Brescia midweek.

Dybala set up Ronaldo for the second with the Portu-guese star’s downward header beating Berisha, after he had been frustrated in two earlier efforts.

Juventus’ Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo scores a header

Sabalenka beats Riske in WTA Wuhan final

AFP | Wuhan, China

Aryna Sabalenka became the first player to claim

back-to-back titles in Wu-han thanks to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory over American Ali-son Riske in the final yes-terday.

The 21-year-old improved her record at the event to a perfect 12-0 and joins Petra Kvitova as the only two-time Wuhan Open cham-pions.

In a rematch of their final in Shenzhen last January, Sabalenka utilised her su-preme power game once again to overcome Riske in 114 minutes in front of a 13,000-strong centre court crowd. She unleashed 18 aces and won 79 percent of her first-serve points.

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus poses with her trophy after defeating Alison Riske of USA

Japan’s Honda urges Man Utd to sign himAFP | Tokyo

Japanese football star Keisu-ke Honda yesterday market-

ed himself to Manchester Unit-ed in an unusual and apparently desperate Twitter plea, as he hunts for a new club.

“Give me an offer,” the for-mer AC Milan striker tweeted from his verified account, tag-ging United’s official twitter account.

“I don’t need money but I need to play with great team and great team mate!,” said the

33-year-old, one of the highest-profile names in Asian football.

Honda is trying to find a new club in Europe after leaving Australia’s Melbourne Victory in May.

He is aiming to c o n t i n u e p l a y-ing international f o o t b a l l a f t e r a n n o u n c i n g his intention to compete at Tokyo

2020 Olympics as an over-age player.

Honda shot to fame at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa when his

goals helped Japan reach the last 16.

He has 37 goals in 98 appearanc-es for his coun-try, and was the first Japanese player to score at three World

Cups -- 2010, 2014 and 2018.


For us it was important to win, we had unbelievably big chances. In the first half we had two big chances and in the

second one which we scored from. These games, they are not all beauties and you

have to work hard for the results

JURGEN KLOPP

Unbeaten Liverpool extend lead Henderson howler hands Liverpool narrow victory at spirited Sheffield United

• Harry Kane secures much-needed win for 10-man Tottenham

• Lampard gets first home league win as Chelsea beat Brighton

AFP | London

Liverpool sent out an om-inous warning to the rest of the Premier League

yesterday, proving they can win ugly as Harry Kane rescued 10-man Tottenham.

Frank Lampard’s Chelsea beat Brighton 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, winning at home for the first time in the league under their new manager, courtesy of a Jorginho penalty and a Willian strike.

Elsewhere, there was a first league win of the season for Wolves, against bottom club Watford, while West Ham’s draw at Bournemouth lifted them to third in the table.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool won their seventh Premier League game out of seven to pull eight points clear ahead of Manches-ter City, thanks to Georginio Wijnaldum’s fortunate strike in a 1-0 victory at Sheffield United.

T h e E u ro p e a n c h a m p i -

ons looked short on invention against the well-organised Blades until Wijnaldum’s shot from the edge of the box 20 min-utes from time trickled between the legs of United goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

Liverpool, who have won 16 consecutive league games, finished a single point behind

champions Manchester City in the Premier League last season but are now setting a searing pace as they chase their first top-flight title since 1990.

“For us it was important to win, we had unbelievably big chances,” Klopp told BT Sport.

“In the first half we had two big chances and in the second

one which we scored from. These games, they are not all beauties and you have to work hard for the results.”

The hosts had their chances to spring a huge shock against their off-colour opponents but all of their good work was un-done with one mistake when Wijnaldum pounced on a loose

ball 20 yards from goal.His strike should have been

easily handled by Henderson, who instead watched on in hor-ror as the ball slipped under his grasp.

Kane strikesTottenham boss Mauricio

Pochettino recalled his big guns for the Premier League game against Southampton at home, making 11 changes from the side that suffered a shock League Cup loss at Colchester in mid-week.

Spurs had won just two of their opening eight games in all competitions before yesterday

and looked in deep trouble when they were reduced to 10 men against Brighton.

Tanguy Ndombele fired the home side ahead in the 24th minute but they suffered a blow when Serge Aurier was sent off after half an hour for two yellow cards.

Hugo Lloris then gifted South-ampton an equaliser with a goal-keeping howler, Danny Ings dis-possessing the Frenchman in his six-yard box and forcing the ball home before Kane restored the home side’s lead shortly before half-time.

The win lifted Spurs into fourth place in the Premier League, one spot behind West Ham, who drew 2-2 away to Bournemouth after beating Manchester United last week.

Chelsea boss Lampard said his side’s home win, coupled with a clean sheet, would boost his players’ confidence.

Crystal Palace were 2-0 win-ners against Norwich, thanks to a Luka Milivojevic penalty and a late Andros Townsend goal while a Matt Doherty strike and a Daryl Janmaat own goal gave Wolves a much-needed 2-0 vic-tory against Watford.

Aston Villa’s John McGinn gave his side a 2-1 lead in the 79th minute but Chris Wood levelled for Burnley just two minutes later and the match finished level.

Georginio Wijnaldum of Liverpool scores his team’s first goal

Ferrari’s Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc waves to the audience after taking pole position

Ferrari’s Leclerc on pole in RussiaAFP | Sochi, Russia

Charles Leclerc confirmed Ferrari’s Formula One re-

surgence when he reeled off his fourth consecutive pole po-sition with another stunning lap yesterday as he topped the times in qualifying for Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix.

The in-form Monegasque clocked a best lap of one minute and 31.628 seconds to improve his time in the final seconds and set up an end to Mercedes’ five-year domination of the event since it began in 2014.

After three successive Ferrari wins, two by Leclerc, he ap-pears set to extend the scarlet scuderia’s run of current suc-cess to four races.

His performance made him the first Ferrari driver since Michael Schumacher in 2001, when Leclerc was only three years old, to secure four straight poles.

Series leader and defend-ing five-time champion Lewis Hamilton pulled out a dazzling final sector and final lap to take second ahead of Sebastian Vet-tel in the other Ferrari by a nar-row margin.

Vettel, who won in Singapore last Sunday, was third ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who is set to take a grid penalty, Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes and Carlos Sainz of McLaren.

“The car felt amazing. It defi-nitely feels amazing to be back on pole, but I don’t know if it’s the best track to start on pole,” said Leclerc.

“The straight at the start is very long. It definitely feels very special (to take four consecu-tive poles), but I don’t want to think about those stats!”

Hamilton said he remained amazed at Ferrari’s power and speed on the straights.

“I tell you, it was a tough ses-

sion. These guys have another level on the straights – jet mode.

“I gave it everything I had and the team was able to tink-er and push forward… I didn’t expect to get on the front row.”

Vettel said: “Obviously I’m not entirely happy and extract-ed maximum from the car. Turn One is a long way – and we’re on different tyre strategies com-pared to the Mercs. Personally, I need a good start and then you worry about the race.”

The session began in dry and warm conditions following overnight rain with Hamilton, on softs, leading the way be-fore a lurid spin from Williams’ Robert Kubica was followed by Red Bull new boy Alex Albon crashing heavily at Turn 13.

He lost control and went into the barriers, damaging the rear of his car. He was unhurt. This led to a brief red flag stoppage before Vettel went top ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen.

Mbappe makes decisive return for PSGReuters | Paris

Kylian Mbappe’s return boosted Paris St Germain

as the France striker set up Neymar for a soft goal in a 1-0 victory at Girondins de Bor-deaux in Ligue 1 yesterday.

Mbappe, back as a substitute after a lengthy injury, burst down the right flank in the 70th minute and Neymar just had to tap in as PSG reclaimed the league lead with 18 points from eight games.

They lead Nantes, who snatched a 1-0 win at Olym-pique Lyonnais, by two points.

PSG travel to Galatasaray in Champions League on Tuesday, without the suspended Neymar, who has scored his team’s last three goals in Ligue 1.

Mbappe, who missed a month of competition with a muscle problem, played only 30 min-utes as a second-half substitute but his impact was immediate after a dull first half.

PSG, however, controlled the game as Idrissa Gueye, back after being rested in Wednes-day’s 2-0 home loss to Amiens, and Marco Verratti, returning from suspension, stabilized the midfield.

PSG have now won all their six matches in all competitions without conceding a goal with Gueye on the pitch.

Earlier, Olympique Lyon-nais’s winless streak stretched to seven games in all competi-tions as they slumped to a 1-0 home defeat to Nantes.

Nantes prevailed thanks to a 58th-minute own goal by Fer-nando Marcal and the Canar-ies, with 16 points from eight games, are second in the stand-ings.

Paris Saint-Germain’s French forward Kylian Mbappe (R) kicks the ball in front of Bordeaux’s French goalkeeper Benoit Costil

Keisuke Honda

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