150

Fils

SUBSCRIPTION

7Obama urges

EU leaders to

accept Trump 43Dubnyk gets

4th SO as Wild

beat Bruins2Candidates make

youth violence

issue a priority

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016 SAFAR 19, 1438 AH NO: 17055

Min 13ºMax 28º

Trump taps Pompeo, Sessions for top jobs

Flynn named national security advisorWASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump yesterdaytapped arch-conservative Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions to beattorney general and hawkish congressman Mike Pompeo, astrident opponent of the Iran nuclear deal, as his CIA director.

The incoming commander in chief also appointed retiredlieutenant general Michael Flynn, a top military counsel to theRepublican billionaire and one of his earliest campaign surro-gates, as his national security advisor. All three have acceptedtheir appointments, Trump’s transition team said in statement.“I enthusiastically embrace President-elect Trump’s vision for‘one America,’ and his commitment to equal justice under law,”said Sessions, a 20-year veteran of Congress.

“I look forward to fulfilling my duties with an unwaveringdedication to fairness and impartiality,” added the 69-year-old,who was also one of Trump’s earliest backers.

Trump described him in the statement as a “world-classlegal mind” who was “greatly admired by legal scholars and vir-tually everyone who knows him.”

The appointments represent the president-elect’s first stepsto appoint a cabinet after a transition effort that so far has beenmarred by infighting and reshuffles on the team getting readyfor the January 20 inauguration.

For director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Trumptapped Pompeo: A congressman who became well known inthe controversy over a deadly militant attack against the USconsulate in Benghazi, Libya in 2012. “He will be a brilliant andunrelenting leader for our intelligence community to ensurethe safety of Americans and our allies,” Trump was quoted assaying in the statement.

The 52-year-old co-authored a report slamming then-secre-tary of state Hillary Clinton’s handling of the attack, in which theUS ambassador and three other Americans died. And as nation-al security adviser, Trump turned to the 57-year-old Flynn, whois set to play a key role in shaping policy for a president with noexperience in government or foreign policy.

“I am pleased that Lieutenant General Michael Flynn will beby my side as we work to defeat radical Islamic terrorism, navi-gate geopolitical challenges and keep Americans safe at homeand abroad,” Trump said. A registered Democrat, Flynn served asTrump’s leading national security adviser during the campaignand was a highly visible surrogate, with a hardline stance onIslamic extremism. He described it in an interview with the NewYork Times as an existential threat on a global scale.

Flynn is highly respected as a decorated military intelligenceofficer who helped combat insurgent networks in Afghanistanand Iraq. But he left the military after President Barack Obamafired him as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014following complaints about his leadership style. Flynn’sappointment does not need approval from the senate. But thatof Sessions as attorney general does, and he’s got baggage:Racially charged comments he made in the 1980s and whichonce cost him a chance for a job for life as a federal judge.

Back in 1986 Sessions said that a prominent white lawyerwas a “disgrace to his race” for defending African-Americans.Sessions acknowledged saying this in testimony to the USSenate at the time, but he insisted he did not mean it.

In the 1980s he also allegedly addressed a black prosecutorworking for him as “boy,” and joked about the Ku Klux Klan, say-ing he had thought its members were “OK, until I found outthey smoked pot,” according to The New York Times. — AFP

This combination of pictures created yesterday shows (L to R) US Representative from Kansas Mike Pompeo, Retired LtGen Michael Flynn and Senator Jeff Sessions. — AFP

BEIRUT/AMMAN: On the eve of Donald Trump’s electionvictory, members of a Western-backed Syrian rebel groupmet US officials to ask about the outlook for arms ship-ments they have received to fight President Bashar Al-Assad.They were told the program would continue untilthe end of the year, but anything more would depend onthe next US administration, a rebel official at the meetingsaid. When Trump takes office in January, it may stop alto-gether.

The president-elect has signalled opposition to US sup-port for the rebels, and an overhaul of policy on Syria. Themilitary aid program overseen by the Central IntelligenceAgency has given arms and training to moderate rebels incoordination with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan andothers.

It helped to support these rebels, fighting under theFree Syrian Army banner, as jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda emerged as a major force in a war approaching itssixth anniversary. US officials declined to comment on anymeetings with rebel groups, and previously have not com-mented on the CIA program given its covert nature.

But Trump has indicated he could abandon the rebelsto focus on fighting Islamic State which control territory ineastern and central Syria. He might even cooperate against

IS with Russia, Assad’s most powerful ally, which has beenbombing the rebels for over a year in western Syria.

Assad, in an interview published on Tuesday, saidTrump would be a “natural ally” if he decides to “fight theterrorists”. The rebels are looking on the bright side. Theysay support via the US-backed program has been inade-quate and Washington has stopped Saudi Arabia from giv-ing them more powerful weapons.

So the rebels hope a more isolationist United States willgive regional states a free hand, allowing Saudi Arabia toprovide the anti-aircraft missiles President Barack Obamahas vetoed. The rebel official said there had been no con-tact with US officials since Trump’s win. But were US sup-port to end and “this veto lifted”, that would be a goodoutcome, he said. “Everybody is analyzing, there are posi-tive expectations, there are negative expectations - butnothing is yet clear,” the official said.

The prospect of a shift in US policy comes at a dark timefor the rebellion. Russia on Tuesday escalated its militarycampaign in support of Assad, drawing for the first time onan aircraft carrier it has sent to the region. Assad and hisallies are tightening their grip on rebel-held easternAleppo, where heavy air strikes have resumed and insur-gents have failed to break the siege. — AFP

For Syrian rebels, Trump win adds to uncertainty

L O C A LSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

KUWAIT: Over the past decade, youth antiso-cial and violent behavior has become a greatnational concern and a top political policyissue that has been sensationalized by mediacoverage in Kuwait. Rare, yet devastatinglyviolent, these crimes are usually committedby youth at schools and public places. Youthinvolvement in such dysfunctional and vio-lent behaviors put them at risk of being incar-cerated, prosecuted, losing their education,career future, and maybe their lives.

In a so-called youth society like in Kuwait,where youth, ages 10-24, constitute aboutone-third of the total population, the needfor a new strategy to increase the likelihoodof having the youth population as an integralpart of the country’s development plan,instead of a liability, becomes crucial. Theprevailing response to youth violence andcrime by government officials, policy makers,and the juvenile justice system worldwide,and in Kuwait as well, has been reactive andpunitive.

IncarcerationAlthough intervention efforts traditionally

have focused on treatment after the fact (eg,incarceration and rehabilitation), decades ofresearch suggest that prevention is the mosteffective strategy available for reducing youthantisocial and violent behavior. To elaboratefurther on this subject, Kuwait News Agency(KUNA) interviewed two experts in the fieldsof sociology and media who called forindulging the issue of youth violence in theelectoral programs of candidates running forthe upcoming parliamentary elections slatedfor November 26.

Dr Saud Al-Ghanim, Professor ofPsychology at Kuwait University (KU) said thatyouth constitute the largest portion of theKuwaiti society and keeping eyes shut on thissignificant portion of the society, adding thatcandidates’ negligence to address issues per-tinent to youth and their criticism wouldmake youth shun eschew voting for such can-didates. Al-Ghanim added that the issue ofyouth violence to many candidates does notconstitute a phenomenon in Kuwait and notthat of a big issue to be addressed, thus,becoming less important to be discussed intheir electoral programs rather than address-ing “major issues” such as housing, educationand health issues.

Strange phenomenonHe pointed out that a large number of can-

didates believe that solving the issue of youthviolence takes time and prefer to address oth-er issues that may be of concern to a largersegment of the society such as education,health and housing. He said that the negli-gence by many candidates to address theyouth violence lies in the lacking of educa-tional background, saying that a candidatewith an educational background would forsure put this issue as a priority. He said that anumber of candidates in the 2nd constituencyhave addressed the issues pertinent to youthand not only violence as they are too close totheir worries and concern.

He added that youth violence is a strange

phenomenon to the Kuwaiti society and istotally rejected, adding that the youth look atthe MPs as their role model and if the latterwere not up to the responsibility, then, theyoung generation would follow suit. He urgedthe State Ministry for Youth to come up with asocietal solution and a state project to exploitenergies of the youth, saying that four yearsafter founding the youth ministry is still belowambitions. He also called on the State Ministryfor Youth Affairs to address the issue of youthin schools, at the home and everywhere asthe segment of youth constitutes a large por-tion of the Kuwaiti society and they are thehopes of the future.

Luring votersOn his part , Dr Yaqoub Al-Kanderi ,

Professor of Sociology and Anthropology atKU and former Dean of the College of SocialSciences, told KUNA that candidates try byall means their best to lure voters to vote forthem, saying that many candidates focus onmarginal issues and accuse each other ratherthan focusing on pressing issues includingyouth violence. He added that many candi-dates neglect to address social issues such aspersons with special needs, violence, drugs,elderly and divorce, saying that such issueswhen addressed by the candidate do notlure voters, but instead focus on other politi-cal issues which interest a large portion ofpeople.

He said the nature of the Kuwaiti societyrelies heavily on addressing political issuesinstead of social ones, saying that politics isan easy way to the hearts of voters. He assert-ed the call for building the mankind ratherthan focusing on infrastructure, saying thatthe social issues do not get the attentionneeded similar to those pertinent to the stateinfrastructure. Asked whether the current leg-islations are effective to resolve this issue, Al-Kanderi said that Kuwait is a state of institu-tions, but “we lack a problem in the imple-mentation of the law effectively”.

He also called for simplifying judicial pro-cedures and implement stricter measures

against the violators as juvenile cases takelong years until they are over and by then theactual wrongdoing would be forgotten. Onher part, Dr Malak Al-Reshaid, Professor ofSociology and Social Service Department atKU told KUNA that many candidates do notgive this issue a priority as their educationalbackground focuses primarily on politics, eco-nomics and legal approach, adding that theissue of youth violence requires the attentionof sociologists and experts in these fields.

The second aspect why many candidatesnever touch on this issue is because oncethey do, then they would have to find solu-tions to such problems which they won’t beable to do so as they lack expertise in thisdomain. She added that many candidatesalso resort to issues that lure voters such ashousing, education and health issues andbelieve that they lack knowledge if theydecide to include the issue of domestic vio-lence in their agendas. — KUNA

KUWAIT PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION

Traditional terms highlight

Kuwait’s elections’ season

KUWAIT: While visiting any ‘Maqar’ (headquarter) for the 2016 National Assembly hope-fuls, people, especially non-Kuwaitis, might mistake terms such as the latter for alien lan-guage. So, when a headquarter is ‘Yasfer’ - it means that the place is so quiet and emptythat one can hear the wind gusting right through it. Same thing with a ‘Recheech’ candi-date - one who has a slim-to-none chance of winning a seat in parliament, or in otherwords a “weak” candidate. So, to put it in perspective; a ‘Recheech’ candidate wouldmostly have his/her ‘Maqar Yasfer’. However, these words from the Kuwaiti dialect havemany meanings that might sometimes poke fun at the chances of candidates to gain aseat at parliament or commend their strong campaign. The elections are slated forNovember 26. — KUNA

Dr Malak Al-Reshaid, Professor ofSociology and Social Service Department

at Kuwait University

Dr Saud Al-Ghanim, Professor ofPsychology at Kuwait University

Dr Yaqoub Al-Kanderi, Professor ofSociology and Anthropology at KU and for-mer Dean of the College of Social Sciences

Candidates make youth

violence issue a priority

L O C A LSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

KUWAIT PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION Candidates

profiles KUWAIT: Candidates of the five con-stituencies standing for the NationalAssembly (parliament) elections for the15th legislative term, due on 26November, mostly share a high level ofeducation. Nominees of 50-years-old, orover are dominant in all constituencies.The total number of candidates in the fiveconstituencies as registration ended onOctober 29, stand at 454, males andfemales.

Out of them, there are 278 candidatesholding university degrees, about 61.23percent of the total number. Nomineescarrying diplomas are 81 (17.84 percent);59 candidates (12.99 percent) are highschool graduates, and 34 ones (7.48 per-cent) completed intermediate school, asonly two completed the primary stage,0.44 percent. Fifty-nine nominees, 12.99percent of the 278 candidates holding uni-versity degrees, had PhDs in social politics,public law, private law, constitutional law,statistics and security management.

They also studied science of Hadith,pharmacology, physical education, educa-tional management, eye surgery, comput-er science and information system, Tafseer(interpretation) of Quran sciences, politicalscience, software engineering, fundamen-tals of religion, analytical chemistry , bio-sciences, psychology, education, familymedicine, dentistry, accounting, teachingmethodology, business administration,Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), fundamentalsof Fiqh, international public law, humanrights, Islamic philosophy, civil engineer-ing, security media and economy.

As for candidates with MAs, they are 61(13.43 percent of the 278) qualified ineconomy (Islamic banking), industrialmanagement, military sciences, public law,private law, criminal law, physical educa-tion, engineering management, pharma-cology, educational management, busi-ness administration, civil engineering,strategic studies, educational methodolo-gy, technical management, libraries, envi-ronmental engineering, educational psy-chology and guidance, information docu-ments, accounting, computer science, theArabic language and Sharia (Fiqh and fun-damentals).

The 158 BA holding candidates (34.80percent) studied public administration,law, theatre, surgery, economy, geogra-phy, history, accounting, theatre, mechani-cal engineering, civil engineering, electri-cal engineering, commercial aviation,financing, media, statistics, maritime navi-gation, business administration, literature,chemistry, electronic engineering, archi-tectural engineering, dentistry, police sci-ences, philosophy, education and Sharia.

The 81 diploma holders studied at theCommercial Institute and the ReligiousInstitute, or specialized in police science,mechanical engineering, secretarial work,oil industries, business administration,technological studies, chemical engineer-ing, air traffic control, the English lan-guage, military sciences, aviation sciences,journalism, fire-fighting, minute electron-ics. As for the ages of the 454 nominees,190 candidates (41.85 percent) are 50years old over; Some 177 nominees (38.98percent) are 40-49 years old, and 87 (19.16percent) are 30-39. — KUNA

KUWAIT: The Elections’ Affairs Department of the InteriorMinistry is currently putting the last touches on the ballot boxesin preparation for the upcoming parliamentary elections, slatedfor November 26. The department’s personnel have been work-ing continuously to ensure the boxes are as transparent ahead of

the elections. Some 363 candidates, including 15 women are run-ning. Some 483,186 eligible voters, males and females, will headto the polling centers on November 26 to select their candidates.The Interior Ministry has allocated some 4,000 personnel tosupervise the elections. — KUNA

Ballot boxes ready for voters

LOCALSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19 , 2016

Photoo f t h e d a y

KUWAIT: Cannons are stationed at the historic Red Palace in Al-Jahra governorate.— KUNA

MALABO: The 4th Africa-Arab Summit will beheld next week in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.The upcoming summit, to be held onNovember 23, will build up on resolutionsmade in the previous summit. It will focus onbuilding foundations of respect, trust andcommon interest. It will also focus on findingcommon grounds on economic and sustain-able development cooperation. The 3rdAfrica-Arab Summit was held in Kuwait in2013 where it was decided to a true geopoliti-

cal openness with countries of the Africancontinent.

Kuwait has kept promises it made in theprevious summit of meeting the needs of theAfrican countries of improving their economy,infrastructure, food security, agriculture anddevelopment projects; hence bettering thelives of its people. The 3rd Summit adopted anew partnership strategy and a joint plan ofaction. The two regions reviewed progressmade in the three years since, and deliberated

on how to strengthen their cooperation inways that would live up to the expectations oftheir citizens in terms of socio cultural andeconomic development based on the princi-ples of equality, mutual interest and respect.

It issued “Kuwait Declaration” whichvoiced out a collective desire to promotecooperation in the political, economic andsocio-cultural fields between the Arab andAfrican nations as a fix of disputes and vio-lence in the two regions. The Second Africa-

Arab Summit was held in Sirte, Libya, in2010. It stressed the importance of buildinga partnership between the two regionswhich was agreed upon on the First Summitthat was held in Cairo, Egypt, in 1977. Thefirst summit came up with “CairoDeclaration” that comprised of 13 articles; itwas a true pledge of Arab and African coun-tries to develop bilateral and multilateralrelations, through long term comprehensivestrategic cooperation. — KUNA

Malabo hosts Africa-Arab Summit

BEQAA: A joint delegation from Kuwait Red CrescentSociety (KRCS) and ZAIN Kuwait telecommunication com-pany has distributed bottled fresh water on the Syrian dis-placed camps in Beqaa valley at eastern Lebanon. The dele-gation also visited the water treatment plant that was builtby KRCS jointly with Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) andwere briefed on the work progress in the plant. The soci-ety’s delegate to Lebanon Dr Musaed Al-Enezi said that thewater treatment plant project was established under theumbrella of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to supportthe displaced families.

Al-Enezi pointed out that offering fresh water for thesefamilies will ensure maintaining the children’s health andprotect them from the polluted water effect. Al-Enezi stat-ed that many camps are randomly scattered and lack of thebasic needs for survival in which it makes providing thefresh water a huge problem. On his part, QRCS ProjectManager Hussein Hamdan said, that this project aims todistribute 4,000 liters’ daily on 2,000 displaced families,pointing out that they are working on increasing the plantefficiency to distribute fresh water to 5,000 families. Thewater treatment plant was opened at the beginning of thecurrent year with the attendance of the Chairman of KRCSDr Hilal Al-Sayer. —KUNA

NEW DELHI: The 3rd round of political consultations betweenKuwait and India have tackled various issues pertaining to bilater-al relations, Assistant Foreign Minister Ambassador Ali Al-Saeedsaid on Thursday. The two sides addressed cooperation in ener-gy, air transport, and mutual trade and investment, Al-Saeed wholed the Kuwaiti delegation in the consultations held Wednesdayadded. In addition, they held extensive discussions on the Indianlabor in Kuwait, and the latest conditions that the Indian govern-ment have put in place for recruitment. They Kuwaiti delegation,which included Kuwait Ambassador to India Fahad Ahmad Al-Awadi, discussed the details of these conditions, Al-Saeed said,noting that the Indian side was convinced of Kuwait’s stance onthe issue, and promised to look into the matter, considering thelatest regulations the Kuwaiti government have implemented inorder to protect the foreign laborers. In addition, the two sidesexchanged views on a number of bilateral and regional issues ofcommon concern, focusing on the latest developments in MiddleEast. They also agreed to encourage the concerned authorities inboth the countries to take the necessary measures to cementbilateral ties. In the meantime, Al-Saeed on Thursday met withSecretary of Economic Relations in the Ministry of External AffairsAmar Sinha and conveyed to him greetings of Deputy Minister ofForeign Affairs Khaled Al-Jarallah. During the meeting, Al-Saeedstressed that time-tested deep-rooted bilateral relations, that arebeing promoted for the good of both countries. — KUNA

Kuwait and Indiahold 3rd round of

consultations

KRCS distributes freshwater to displacedfamilies in Lebanon

LOCALSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

CrimeR e p o r t

KUWAIT: A citizen reported that an old friend of his assaultedhim with a knife and tried to break into his house in Daher areabut he managed to escape before the police arrived at the scene.A case was filed and the suspect was summoned for furtherinvestigations. Also, a female citizen was recently arrested forthreatening her brother with a knife at the family house in Adan.

Kuwait steals phoneA 25-year-old citizen was recently arrested for stealing a

smart mobile phone from a Salmiya store, said security sources.

‘Heavily drunk’An Asian driver was recently arrested while heavily drunk

and driving his sponsor’s vehicle in Salmiya, said securitysources. —Al-Rai/Al-Anbaa

SMS love messagesA Syrian living in Salmiya reported that her neighbor

(another Syrian) had been sending her several SMS lovemessages despite her repeated rejection. A case was filedand the suspect has been summoned for further investi-gations. In another development, two Syrians have beenarrested for fraud, said security sources, noting that one ofthe suspects is wanted for several criminal cases.

Having affairA female citizen working for a local bank recently filed

a complaint accusing her colleague of attacking her at thebank and stealing her mobile phone. However, on sum-moning the suspect, she justified her action- claiming herfellow-worker had been having an affair with her husband.She said she took the phone to stop her from communi-cating with her husband.

Kuwaiti assaulted

Abandoned vehicles, scraps removed By Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: An inspection campaign was recently launched invarious Kuwaiti governorates to remove abandoned and scrapvehicles. 480 citations were filed.

Robbery suspect nabbed A citizen with a criminal record was recently arrested for

robbing a number of expats in Salmiya after threatening themwith a knife, said security sources.

Abdali land Border ExitMoI’s Relations and Security Media Director Brigadier Adel

Ahmed Al-Hashash recently visited the hostel built at Abdaliland Border Exit where he inspected the hospitality servicesprovided there.

KUWAIT: Zain, the leading telecommu-nications company in Kuwait, organ-ized a two-day Public Relations andAdvertising workshop for studentsfrom Gulf University for Science andTechnology (GUST). The workshop,organized in collaboration with theGUST PR Club, was held at the universi-ty’s campus in West Mishref.

The workshop was organized in linewith Zain’s strategy towards the sup-port of the youth and education sec-tors. In addition, the workshop aimedat increasing the ski l ls of PR andMarketing students through sharingZain’s leading experience in public rela-tions and marketing communications.Zain’s Corporate Communications &

Relat ions and Market ingCommunications teams presentedthe students with a detailed explana-tory workshop about Zain’s leadingexperiences and strategies in thefields of Public Relations, Editorialand Media, Social Media, Advertising,and branding.

Zain hosts seminars and studentfield trips regularly in l ine with itsactive Corporate Social Responsibilitystrategy that caters to the youth andeducation sectors. Such initiativesfocus on the development of schooland university students’ skills through aseries of workshops, development pro-grams, and informative seminars. Zaincoordinates similar activities all year-

round with students of various agegroups to further increase their knowl-edge of the telecom industry in Kuwait.

The company is committed to offer-ing school and university students withsimilar opportunities on an annualbasis. Such programs are targeted atstudents in collaboration with publicand private educational institutions inKuwait , ref lecting Zain’s ongoingefforts in promoting the education anddevelopment of the country’s youth. Asa leading national company, Zain firmlybelieves in the advancement of youngpeople’s skills and capabilities, andlooks to empower and prepare themfor the important roles they will play inthe further progress of the country.

Zain organizes PR, Advertising

workshop for GUST students

HSBC hosts the 19th Middle East

Economics Roadshow in KuwaitKUWAIT: More than 150 people gath-ered at the JW Marriot hotel recently forHSBC’s 19th Middle East EconomicsRoadshow. The event saw David Bloom,Global Head of Foreign ExchangeStrategy, and Simon Williams, ChiefEconomist, CEEMEA, discuss the mostimportant global and regional trendsshaping the Middle East’s economies.Each year, the roadshow visits AbuDhabi, Dubai, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar andRiyadh.

Simon Williams said: “Two years afteroil prices started to fall, the slump inenergy earnings still dominates theregional outlook. The Gulf is wealthyenough to weather the downturn, butthe price will be high - falling reserves,rising debt, and slowing growth againsta backdrop of spending cuts that stillhave years to run. Without a fresh pickup in oil prices, only structural reformcan turn the story around - a tough askfor a region that has spent two genera-

tions depending on its oil receipts.”David Bloom said: “Currencies seem

to be broken up into three distinct driv-ers: cyclical, structural, and political.However, as far as the big trendedmoves in foreign exchange are con-cerned, politics has been the main driv-er. For example, Abe in Japan, Modi in

India, Rousseff in Brazil and of course inthe UK with Brexit. Lastly, we recentlywoke up to a game changer for FXwhen we were surprised to discoverthe mighty US dollar is also a politicalcurrency. This change now indicatescaution when it comes to emergingmarkets.”

Charity Group helps refugees

AMMAN: A voluntary team of Kuwaiti females from ‘CharityGroup’ are distributing assistance to Syrian refugee families inJordan. Head of the team Adlah Al-Othman said yesterday, thather team will be distributing coupons that could be exchangedfor winter clothing and heating units to help the families surviveharsh winter conditions. The team will give help, over the nextthree days, to 280 Syrian refugee families, widowers, orphans and50 female students in the cities of Jerash, Irbid and Ajloun.According to government statistics, there are more than 1.3 mil-lion Syrian refugees living in Jordan. — KUNA

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016L O C A L

Newsi n b r i e f

International cooperation needed to fight corruption

VIENNA: Kuwait is keen on intensifying internationalefforts against corruption, said a Kuwaiti diplomat on thesideline of a UN meeting yesterday. Delivering a speech tothe fifth session of the United Nations Convention againstCorruption, First Secretary at the Kuwaiti embassy inAustria Abdullah Al-Otaibi lauded the UN conventionsagainst corruption, stressing it was very important toimplement UN decisions within this field. The diplomatrevealed to the session Kuwait’s anti-corruption efforts,saying that his country continued to implement interna-tional standards in this regard. In their various reports,regional and international experts as well as organizationslauded Kuwait’s efforts within this field, affirmed Al-Otaibiwho added that his country’s executive branches hadlaunched several initiatives to undercover the sources ofcorruption and reduced their influences. The session isheaded by Kuwait’s Ambassador to Austria and permanentenvoy to UN and international organizations’ headquartersin Vienna, Sadiq Marafi.

Ministry denies school vaccination infections

KUWAIT: The Health Ministry strongly denied that 20high school girls were admitted into the ICU after beingvaccinated against Diphtheria and Tetanus at theirschools. The Ministry explained that upon WHO recom-mendations, all grade 12 students have been vaccinatedfor years now against those two diseases. The Ministryalso stressed that vaccinations used in Kuwait and thesystem used in applying them are healthy and safe.

Kuwait, Azerbaijan ink air service agreement

MOSCOW: Kuwait and Azerbaijan have signed a bilateralcooperative agreement in the field of air services. The dealwas signed in Baku by Acting Director-General of the KuwaitiDirectorate General of Civil Aviation Yusuf Al-Fawzan andAzerbaijan Airlines Chairman Jahangir Askerov, KuwaitiCharge d’Affaires in Azerbaijan Faisal Al-Mutairi said in astatement to KUNA yesterday. Al-Fawzan hailed this agree-ment as a watershed in cooperative relations between bothnations, expecting it to pave the way for more developedties in the realms of economy, farming, animal resources,investment and tourism. On his part, the Azerbaijan Airlineschairman voiced confidence that the bilateral agreementwould contribute to the promotion of Azeri-Kuwaiti cooper-ation in economic, trade and tourist domains.

Doha oil meeting ‘positive gesture’

DOHA: The unofficial meeting of global oil producers inDoha is considered a positive gesture that will hopefullyhave an impact on the OPEC ministerial meeting due onNovember 30 in Vienna, said a Kuwaiti official yester-day. Undersecretary at the Ministry of Oil Sheikh TalalNasser Al-Athbi Al-Sabah told KUNA the meetingtouched on issues connected with the global affairs ofoil production, adding that one of the chief items of themeeting was OPEC’s intention to reduce the organiza-tion’s production. Countries such as Russia and Iran hadsome positive inputs regarding their desire to reduceproduction, said Sheikh Talal who hoped OPEC wouldcome up with a decision to decrease its output. Thedecision will exclude Libya, Nigeria, and Iran, said. TheKuwaiti official lauded the role played by Qatar in theprocess of finding a balance between supply anddemand, stressing that it would be beneficial for pro-ducers and consumers.

KUWAIT: Kuwait Finance House (KFH) took partin sponsoring the engineering graduation proj-ects done by students of College of Engineeringand Petroleum at Kuwait University, as part ofKFH efforts to encourage academic and scientificinnovations of Kuwaiti students, and in line withthe social responsibility the bank assumestowards the youth.

KFH sponsored over 35 graduation projectswhich encompasses over 120 College ofEngineering and Petroleum students. The stu-dents will showcase their projects at the engi-neering designs exhibition to be held on January18th -19th 2017.

KFH’s support to students of College ofEngineering and Petroleum stems from its aware-ness of the importance of this college since itsgraduates work in the most vital economic sectorin Kuwait; especially that this college includesvarious branches of engineering that can boostdevelopment in all fields. Moreover, KFH firmlybelieves that students are the real assets ofKuwait, and the pillars of the developmentprocess. Meanwhile, graduation projects ownersapplauded KFH’s continuous support and praisedits keenness to participate in their activities andevents which empowers and motivates them, yetunderlines the bank’s significant role in assumingsocial responsibility.

KFH sponsors College of Engineering

and Petroleum Graduation projects

KUWAIT: Ooredoo, the fastest network in Kuwait in 2016,is proudly partnering with Murouj to bring to you MuroujMarket - a monthly weekend market for local entrepre-neurs and businesses. The market, which is held in MuroujComplex, includes local farm produce, artisanal food prod-ucts and crafts, with a ‘street food’ section aimed at high-lighting the culinary diversity of Kuwait’s local food com-munity. The market also offers a section dedicated for chil-dren’s activities. It will be held on weekends, from October2016 until March 2017.

Commenting on this sponsorship, Ooredoo KuwaitSenior Director of Corporate Communications MijbilAlayoub said: “We’re happy to be supporting local busi-nesses and entrepreneurs through this engaging project.This sponsorship comes in tandem with our social respon-sibility strategy, which in turn is based on our core valuesof Ooredoo, of caring, connecting and challenging. Welook forward to meeting those young enthusiastic smallbusiness owners as well as our valued customers at themarket; today” Ooredoo is a strategic partner of this event.

Updates about the market can be found on Morouj’s offi-cial Instagram account @muroujkw as well as ourInstagram account @OoredooKuwait

Ooredoo partners with Murouj to

support entrepreneurs, businesses

Mijbil Alayoub

8 Nancy Pelosi faces challenge As house minority leader 1411

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

Erdogan calls for world unity to counter terrorism

BERLIN: President Barack Obama used a meeting with keyEuropean leaders yesterday to urge them to work with theincoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump andto discuss steps necessary to resolve the conflicts in Syria andeastern Ukraine, the White House said.

Obama’s meeting with the leaders of Germany, Britain,France, Italy and Spain was likely his last in such a settingbefore he leaves office. The session expands on lengthy talkshe held the day before with German Chancellor AngelaMerkel.

Obama didn’t speak with reporters before departing forPeru on Air Force One. The White House said Obama thankedhis counterparts for their cooperation during his two terms inoffice. He urged them to work on common challenges with aTrump administration on the “basis of the core values thatdefine the United States and Europe as open democracies.”

Since Obama’s arrival on Wednesday on his sixth and lasttrip to Germany as president, he and Merkel have focused sev-eral meetings on issues of globalization and trans-Atlanticcooperation. The talks come largely in the context of what theelection of Trump will mean to efforts to seek peace in Ukraineand Syria, the strength of the NATO alliance, trade agreements,

efforts to fight climate change, and other pressing matters.The White House said in a summary of the meeting that

the leaders expressed grave concern about the humanitariansituation in Aleppo. They agreed that increased attacks by theSyrian regime and its supporters, including Russia and Iran,should be immediately halted. They also are calling forhumanitarian access to the city to be restored.

Sanctions against Russia On Ukraine, the White House said the leaders agreed that

sanctions against Russia must remain in place until it meetsits commitments to resolving the conflict. At a news confer-ence with Obama on Thursday, Merkel diplomatically said shewas approaching the incoming Trump administration “withan open mind.” Around the world, many are looking toMerkel - one of the longest serving leaders of a major worldpower, leader of Europe’s largest economy and one of thebiggest US trade partners with the US - for leadership asObama leaves office.

Obama seemed to underscore that reality as he effusivelythanked Merkel for her “deep friendship.” He said he couldn’t“ask for a steadier or more reliable partner on the world

stage,” while adding that if she chooses to run again for afourth term next year, he’d vote for her - if he could.

Joining the two leaders Friday were the heads of countriesat the center of many of the European Union’s coming chal-lenges. British Prime Minister Theresa May is preparing hercountry for negotiations to leave the trade bloc. Spain’s PrimeMinister Mariano Rajoy faces economic woes in his countrythat have contributed to financial instability in the EU. ItalianPrime Minister Matteo Renzi’s already shaky economy hasbeen rocked by tens of thousands of refugees. And FrenchPresident Francois Hollande’s socialist government faces amajor challenge from the far-right in elections next year.

Trump has applauded the British decision to exit the EU, or“Brexit,” and has had meetings with Nigel Farage, leader ofthe UK Independence Party and a key player in the Britishdecision to leave. For his part, Obama said Thursday his hopewas that the Brexit negotiations be “conducted in a smoothand orderly and transparent fashion and preserve as closelyas possible the economic and political and security relation-ships between the UK and EU.”

Still, Obama noted that he considered the EU “one of theworld’s great political and economic achievements.”— AP

Obama urges European leaders to accept Trump

Conflicts in Syria and Ukraine to be discussed

BERLIN: German chancellor Angela Merkel, third left, attends a meeting with US president Barack Obama, left, French president, Francois Hollande, third right, Spain’s Prime Minister,Mariano Rajoy, right, Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May, second right, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, second left, at the chancellery yesterday. — AP

Bombings in Syria’s Aleppo hit hospital; 7 die in airstrike

I N T E R N A T I O N A LSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

BRUSSELS: The chief of NATO says thatTurkish NATO officers have sought asylum inallied countries amid a Turkish governmentcrackdown following a failed military coup.

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said

Friday that “some Turkish officers working inthe NATO command structure . . . haverequested asylum in the countries where theyare working.” Each country will assess theclaims individually, Stoltenberg said in

Brussels. He did not identify the countries orthe numbers involved, or give reasons for therequests. German media have reported asy-lum claims in Germany by members of theTurkish military. Turkey has arrested thou-

sands of members of its military following theJuly coup attempt, and Stoltenberg notedthat Turkey has made “numerous” changes inits NATO personnel. Stoltenberg is travelingto Istanbul tomorrow.—AP

Turkish officers seeking asylum in other NATO countries

TUNIS: As anger erupted and the tearsbegan to flow, four hours of testimony onlive television by abuse victims shone arare spotlight on the crimes of Tunisia’sdark dictatorship years.

In a plain white room inside a nightclub once owned by a dictator’sentourage, victims of torture and abusejoined bereaved relatives to deliver anunprecedented account of the violenceand intimidation Tunisians endured overdecades of despotic rule. “We will not besilent,” said Ourida Kadoussi, whose sonwas killed by security forces during the2011 uprising against the regime of ZineEl Abidine Ben Ali. “We want justice forour martyrs.”

Kaddousi’s witness statement is one oftens of thousands gathered by the Truthand Dignity Commission (IVD), which hastracked human rights violations spanningfive decades. The complaints which thecommission received include torture, arbi-trary detentions, physical abuse and viola-tions of freedom of speech.

The televised interviews, which willcontinue Friday, are part of the panel’sattempt to get Tunisians to confront thedemons of their past, as well as providejustice to those who endured the worst.

Latifa Matmati’s husband Kamel diedin police custody after his arrest inOctober 1991, just one of hundreds ofIslamists to be detained and mistreatedunder Ben Ali’s rule. Latifa told of her fran-tic attempts to find her husband, who wastortured during his detention. Althoughhe died shortly after being dragged fromhis office by police, she was instructed tobring him clean clothes and food, teasingher with the hope he may still have beenalive. His death certificate didn’t arriveuntil 18 years later. “We want his body sowe can bury it,” Latifa told the panel. “Andwe want these people to be held account-able.”

‘Why did they do that?’ Sami Brahem, an Islamist academic,

also spoke of his experience of torture byBen Ali’s henchmen. After being arrestedfor a remark that was judged to beprovocative, he was severely beaten andhad his head forced down a toilet bowl. “Icouldn’t get up for a week,” Brahem said.

He also described horrific scenes to thepanel-and the television audience-of pris-oners stripped naked, beaten and forcedto climb on top of one another. “This wassexual violence which I cannot under-

stand. I don’t want to sully my country, Iwant to talk about the honorable things ithas done... but why did they do that?”Brahem asked.

“When I was asked to testify, I didn’thesitate in spite of my embarrassment,”he said. Some in the room began to cry. “Iam ready to forgive if they provide anexplanation. It is society’s right to knowthese things, so that they can be told inhistory.” Last to speak was writer GilbertNaccache, well known for his leftist oppo-sition to Habib Bourguiba, who ruledruthlessly between 1957 and 1987. “Thepolice, whether they are political or not,only know one method: torture,” saidNaccache during a testimony sprinkledwith dark humor that had audience mem-bers chuckling in spite of the seriousnessof his allegations. “I have been to prisonthree times and three times I was subject-ed to torture.”

Naccache said he did not wish to dwellon the details of what he was forced toundergo during the Bourguiba years, orthe hardships suffered by Tunisians sincethe 2011 uprising. For him, Thursday’s tel-evised testimonies were “one day thatmakes up for the frustrations of the lastfive years.”—AFP

ISTANBUL: A Turkish government proposal which wouldpardon some people imprisoned for statutory rape in thepast decade has fallen short of passage by legislators.

The proposal would defer sentencing or punishment forsexual assault in cases where there was no force and wherethe victim and perpetrator were married. Following thedefeat late Thursday, the government is bringing the pro-posal back for consideration next week.

An earlier law, abolished in 2005, said there is no crimeif the couple marry. The proposed change in the law wouldapply to cases between 2005 and Nov. 16 or this year.Turkey’s ruling party, rooted in Turkey’s Islamic movement,says the proposal is meant to protect those who were tooyoung to marry legally. Another vote is scheduled nextweek.—AP

Tears as Tunisians

relive torture yearsRare spotlight on dictatorship crimes

TUNIS: Tunisian mothers of a torture victims carry their sons’ portraits as they arrive for a hearing before the Truth andDignity Commission (IVD) on Thursday.—AFP

Outrage over Turkish

proposal protecting

child marriage

BEIRUT: Intensive bombings pummeled Syria’s rebel-heldeastern neighborhoods of the city of Aleppo on Friday, resi-dents and rescuers said, hitting an area housing several hospi-tals and sending the chief of a pediatrics clinic in a franticsearch for a place to move his young patients.

Earlier Friday, airstrikes on a village in the rural Aleppoprovince killed seven members of the same family, includingfour children, opposition activists said. The attacks mark thefourth day of renewed assault by Syrian government war-planes on eastern Aleppo districts, a rebel-held enclave of275,000 people. The onslaught began with a Russianannouncement of its own offensive on the northern rebel-controlled Idlib province and the central Homs province.

So far, more than 100 people have been killed acrossnorthern Syria since Tuesday.

A physician who identified himself as Dr. Hatem, the headof the only pediatric hospital remaining in besieged rebel-held part of Aleppo, said his facility has been targeted oncemore on Friday, causing damages to its exterior. The hospitalwas also hit during a wave of airstrikes on the complex hous-ing four hospitals on Wednesday. “Now it is being bombed ... Iam sorry ... I have to go to transfer the children” to a safe area,he said in a text message. He uses his first name fearing for hisfamily’s safety.

Another Aleppo hospital in a different neighborhood alsocame under intense bombing late Thursday, he said, thoughno one was wounded. Many hospitals and clinics in thebesieged area have moved their operations undergroundafter months of relentless bombings and airstrikes.—AP

Bombings in Syria’s

Aleppo hit hospital;

seven die in airstrike

ALEPPO: This image released by Thiqa News Agencyshows smoke rising and fires still burning after airstrikeshit the Al-Shaar neighborhood yesterday.—AP

I N T E R N A T I O N A LSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

UN says working for

Yemen peace talks

after Kerry’s plan

GENEVA: The United Nations said yesterday that it wasworking with Saudi Arabia to try to bring Yemen’s gov-ernment to peace talks after it rejected a plan brokeredby the United States.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday thatthe Saudi-led coalition, that backs the government in itsfight against the Houthi group, supported a ceasefireplan that the Houthis have agreed to.

But President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s adminis-tration rejected Kerry’s move, complaining that itplayed into the hands of the Houthis and sidelined thegovernment. “We are working very closely with SaudiArabia and other countries in the region that can influ-ence (the parties to the conflict),” U.N. DeputySecretary-General Jan Eliasson told a news conferencein Geneva. “We have discovered a stronger and strongerview that this war must come to an end but we have tobring them back to negotiating table,” he said, givingno timeline.

The Houthis said on Wednesday they were ready tostop fighting and join a national unity government, rais-ing hopes of a resolution to a conflict that has killedmore than 10,000 people. — Reuters

ADEN: More than 20 people have beenkilled in intense fighting between rebelsand loyalists on the outskirts of Yemen’sthird city Taez, military and medicalsources said yesterday.

The clashes have eliminated hope ofthe warring parties abiding by a truceannounced by US Secretary of StateJohn Kerry that was to have taken effecton Thursday. Loyalist military sources

told AFP that 13 rebels and eight pro-government forces were killed over thepast 24 hours, while the rebels reporteddozens of casualties in shelling of a localmarket.

Two civilians were also killed and 16wounded as rebels fired Katyusha rock-ets on a residential area of Taez, theysaid. For its part, rebel-controlledsabanews.net website reported that

pro-government forces fired artilleryrounds into areas east of the city.

Rocket crash in marketA rocket crashed into a market sell-

ing the mild narcotic leaf qat, popularamong Yemenis, leaving 40 casualties,said sabanews.net, without giving abreakdown of dead and wounded. Themedical charity Doctors WithoutBorders (MSF) said emergency rooms itsupports or manages in Taez provincehad received a total of 21 dead and 76wounded.

Among those killed was a watchmanwho works at the MSF trauma centre inTaez. He was killed while “off duty whena blast hit a local market in the neigh-borhood”, said Djoen Besselink, whoheads the MSF mission in Yemen.“Fighting has been intensive in Taezduring recent days, and hospitals onboth sides of the frontline have receiveda continuous influx of war-woundedcivilians and fighters,” MSF said.

Pro-government forces are pressingon with a four-day-old offensive torecapture the presidential residenceand police headquarters in the south-western city, while the Shiite Huthirebels have brought in reinforcements.

The fighting continued despiteKerry’s announcement of a new cease-fire. The US chief diplomat said onTuesday that rebels were ready toobserve a ceasefire plan taking effectfrom November 17, but PresidentAbedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s governmentsaid it was not aware of any new peaceinitiative. —AFP

SIIRT, Turkey: A woman waits as rescue workers searching for trapped miners yesterday at the accident site in Siirt.Turkish rescue workers were yesterday battling to save 13 miners trapped after the collapse of a copper mine alreadyconfirmed to have left at least three dead. The governor’s office in the southeastern Siirt province where the mine islocated said two of three bodies recovered after the accident late Thursday had already been identified. —AFP

More than 20 dead in

heavy clashes in YemenEliminating hope for abiding by a truce

Netanyahu wasn’t

ready for Gaza

tunnel war

JERUSALEM: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahufailed to prepare his country for Hamas’s use of tunnels dur-ing the 2014 Gaza war, according to a key report cited bylocal media yesterday.

A two-year inquiry by state comptroller Yossef Shapirareportedly found that despite intelligence warnings,Netanyahu only belatedly and partially informed his cabinetof the danger.

Shapiro, who is in charge of assessing state policies andthe use of public funds, opened the inquiry soon after theJuly-August 2014 conflict between Israel and Hamas, theIslamist group which controls the Gaza strip. His long-await-ed report, which ministers and military officials receivedThursday, has not been publicly released but local media cit-ed officials familiar with its contents.

Preventing Palestinian militants from launching rocketsfrom Gaza into Israel and destroying Hamas tunnels wereIsrael’s key goals when it launched the 2014 assault, its thirdwar in the coastal territory in six years.

Israel’s border with Gaza is sealed by a closely monitoredsecurity barrier. But during the war, Israel’s military found 32tunnels, including 14 that extended from the Gaza Strip intoIsrael, according to a UN inquiry into the conflict.

Gaza militants used the tunnels during combat, includingto carry out cross-border attacks. The Israeli army said itdestroyed over 30 tunnels during the 50-day conflict. A draftof Shapira’s report in October reportedly slammedNetanyahu and Moshe Yaalon, who was defense minister atthe time. It was quoted as saying the security establishment“did not have a comprehensive plan for dealing with Hamas’soffensive tunnels”. A senior army official said last month thatIsraeli troops should have been better prepared for tunnelwarfare.

A source close to Netanyahu on Friday rejected the accu-sation that he had not adequately informed his cabinet ofthe threat. The threat was discussed “with all the seriousnessrequired at 13 different meetings,” the source said.

The war killed 2,251 Palestinians and left 100,000 home-less, according to the UN. On the Israeli side, 73 people werekilled, most of them soldiers. The UN report said both Israeland Palestinian militants may have committed war crimes,decrying “unprecedented” devastation and human suffering.

The Shapiro report may be politically damaging forNetanyahu, who has faced criticism from political opponentsover the tunnels.— AFP

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: Boko HaramIslamists staged three suicide attacksin Nigeria’s restive northeast yester-day, leaving four attackers and twocivilian vigilantes dead, police said.“Aside from the explosion near amobile police location in Jiddari, wehad two other suicide bombings alongMaiduguri-Gamboru road,” Bornostate police commissioner DamianChukwu told reporters in Maiduguri,epicentre of Boko Haram’s seven-yearinsurgency.

The Islamist group have multipliedtheir attacks in recent days, Chukwusaid, without detailing the incidents.“This is about the sixth or seventh sus-pected suicide attack in the last coupleof days. The police and other securityagents are working hard to stop theugly trend,” he said.

The first attack took place beforedawn when a female suicide bomber

blew herself and another bomber upnear a police checkpoint at Jiddari,Borno state police spokesman VictorIsuku earlier said, A third suspectedbomber survived and was being ques-tioned. “At 3:50am today, mobile policepersonnel on guard duty opposite thefederal high court in Jiddari sightedthree suspected suicide bombers com-prising two females and a male runningtowards their sandbag,” Isuku said.

“They ordered them to a halt forquestioning but they refused,” he said.“One of the females detonated theImprovised Explosive Device (IED)strapped to her body, killing herself andone other male accomplice,” he said.

Later in the morning a male suicidebomber detonated his explosives afterbeing stopped at the entrance of agarage on the Maiduguri-Gamboruroad where traders had gathered totravel under military escort. — AFP

Boko Haram stages three

suicide attacks in NE Nigeria

I N T E R N A T I O N A LSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

BRUSSELS: European Union interiorministers were at odds yesterday overhow to handle immigration, with heateddiscussions between states who wantmore burden sharing and those whooppose any kind of obligatory relocation.“We are looking for compromises but atthe moment they are not there,” saidThomas De Maiziere of Germany, whichlast year took in about 900,000 migrantsand refugees.

The ministers had a heated debateover dinner on Thursday after EU chairSlovakia put forward its proposal toreform the bloc’s asylum system, whichcollapsed last year as member states

quarreled over how to handle an uncon-trolled influx of refugees and migrantsthat saw 1.3 million people reachingEurope, mostly from the Middle East andNorth Africa.

“We had a very open discussion dur-ing the dinner, sometimes passionate,very frank,” said Robert Kalinak ofSlovakia. “We knew this would not beeasy but we have to breach differingviews between member states. “All of ushave the same goal - we want to solvethe migration crisis ... What we inventedlast year is not as efficient as we expect-ed so we are obliged to propose otherways.” To regain control over the flows of

people into the continent, the EUstrengthened its external borders, struckdeals with some of the main countries oforigin and transit along the migrationroutes and suspended its Schengen freetravel zone.

Overall, the number of arrivals hasdecreased from last year but they contin-ue unabated in Italy and tens of thou-sands of people are still stuck in Greeceand Italy, sometimes in dire conditions.EU states cannot agree how to handlethem. Despite agreeing last year to relo-cate 160,000 people from Italy andGreece, eastern European countries,including Slovakia, Poland and Hungary,

have refused to take any in. Germany,which received most of those who madeit to Europe last year, is backed bySweden, Italy and Malta - which takesover the bloc’s presidency in January forsix months - in pushing for obligatoryrelocation in the asylum reform.

That is precisely what the easterncountries are opposing. Instead, theysay, they can offer more resources topolice external borders or take on moreresponsibility for deportations. “We haveto have a mechanism on a permanentbasis, we cannot discuss it every timethere is a crisis,” said Carmelo Abela ofMalta. —Reuters

EU ministers at odds over immigration

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia: The wave of far-right parties across Europe has beengathering steam from Greece to Franceand Germany. While most of the conti-nent’s extreme forces have taken pains tosteer clear of Nazi imagery, Slovakia’sanswer to the trend celebrates it.

Kotleba - The People’s Party OurSlovakia - won almost 10 percent of theseats in Parliament in March. It openlyadmires the Nazi puppet state which thecountry was during the World War II.Party members use Nazi salutes, blameRoma for crime in deprived areas, consid-er NATO a terror group and want thecountry out of the alliance and theEuropean Union.

The party takes its name from itsleader, Marian Kotleba, previously chair-

man of the banned neo-Nazi SlovakTogetherness-National Party, whichorganized anti-Roma rallies and admiredNazi rule in Slovakia.

Thousands have signed a petitiondemanding that the party be banned.Analysts say the party’s popularity couldgrow even further. It’s simple slogan -“With courage against the system!” -attracts young people fed up with cor-ruption and the inability of mainstream

parties to deal effectively with the post-communist country’s problems.

In contrast to most of Europe’s far-right groups, “it’s truly neo-Nazi, it advo-cates the legacy of the Nazi war state,”says Eduard Chmelar, a Slovak politicalanalyst. Miroslav Mares, an expert onextremism from the Masaryk University inthe Czech city of Brno, said the partybelongs to the “hard core of right-wingextremism” in Europe. He said it has onlysome features similar to Greece’s GoldenDawn party and to Hungary’s Jobbik atits beginning.

What’s in commonWhat they have in common is target-

ing the mainstream politics. “The partieslike that are not looking for solutions, it’s

all about protests,” Chmelar said. “Youcan see it globally. It’s the same withDonald Trump, it’s the same with(Marine) Le Pen in France. What’s impor-tant is to be against the system. They’reall riding on a wave of public dissatisfac-tion that has been growing.”

These parties “communicate andcooperate with each other, and that dra-matically changes the situation inEurope, and that’s dangerous,” Chmelar

said. “So far, there’s no recipe to stopthem.” Kotleba’s new party made newsby launching patrols on trains in April in areaction to a robbery blamed on a mem-ber of the Roma minority. Parliamentbanned such activities in October.

The party has proposed legislation tolabel non-governmental organizationsthat receive funding from abroad as for-eign agents, and is trying to get the350,000 signatures needed to forcenationwide referendums on the coun-try’s membership in NATO and theEuropean Union. “Among our majorgoals is above all a creation of an inde-pendent and self-sufficient Slovakia, thatis Slovakia which has an autonomous for-eign policy that is not dictated by any for-eign structure, such as the EuropeanUnion,” Milan Uhrik, a deputy chairmanof the party, told The Associated Press ina rare interview. Kotleba refuses to talk toforeign media, The AP was told.

Speaking in the Parliament building,Uhrik said the EU has been turning into asuper state with Brussels in power.“What’s the worst is that EU legislation isabove Slovak law,” he said. NATO isanother target. “It’s important forSlovakia to leave NATO because we con-sider NATO a terrorist organization. Itdoesn’t bring peace to the world, quitethe contrary,” Uhrik said. “NATO is in facta military organization of the UnitedStates and we are militarily subordinatedto the United States.”

A celebration of wartime Slovakiaremains particularly controversial, butUhrik says it is not about fascism. “Asnationalists, we cannot reject the firstindependent Slovak state,” he argued.“We recognize the Slovak (war) statebecause it was the first Slovak state, notbecause it was a fascist state.”

129th anniversary On Oct. 13, party members celebrated

the 129th anniversary of the birth ofJozef Tiso, a Catholic priest and politicianwho was Slovakia’s war president.During his rule, some 60,000 Slovak Jewswere transported to Nazi death camps.He was sentenced to death and hangedin 1947. Rights activists have submitted apetition with 20,000 signatures calling forthe party to be banned. Prosecutors arereviewing that request. — AP

Slovakia comes to grips with proudly neo-Nazi party

Celebrating the trend

BRATISLAVA: In this Oct. 12, 2016 photo deputy chairman of the extreme rightKotleba - People’s Party Our Slovakia (LS NS) Milan Uhrik answers questionsduring an interview with The Associated Press at Slovakia’s Parliament.—AP

PINKAFELD, Austria: This file photo taken on April 24, 2016shows the candidate of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe)Norbert Hofer dropping his ballot at the polling station atthe first round of Austrian President elections. —AFP

PINKAFELD, Austria: Ask the people of Pinkafeld what makesthem proud of their pastel-colored town set amid pine-strewnhills and many will reply “Our flowers”, followed by “...and ourNorbert”. Prosperous, pretty and almost migrant-free-ruralAustria paradoxically offers a happy hunting ground for far-right presidential candidate Norbert Hofer and his populistFreedom Party. Like elsewhere in the countryside, the 45-year-old swept most of the votes in Pinkafeld in the first runoff inMay, which was annulled over procedural irregularities.

Back then, he lost by a paper-thin margin to the Greens-backed Alexander Van der Bellen. Now many Pinkafeldershope “Norbert”, as he’s affectionately known, will finallyemerge victorious on December 4 — and not just becausehe’s a local resident. “Hofer’s a nice guy who walks his dogaround town but I think people here would support him evenif he wasn’t from Pinkafeld,” local newsagent Hannes Steckertold AFP. “There’s a lurch to the right in Austria and Van derBellen is too left-leaning. That scares people off. I’m not keenon either but because some of my opinions are more on theright side, I vote for Hofer,” the 21-year-old said.

Other locals say they are also frustrated with the rulingcentrist coalition, in power since 2008. “I’m so tired of themain parties always lining their pockets and forgetting aboutus normal folk,” said a butcher in her forties who refused to benamed. — AFP

Austria’s far-right stokes fears in

wealthy countryside

I N T E R N A T I O N A LSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

ISLAMABAD: The President of TurkeyRecep Tayyip Erdogan called theMuslim world Thursday to forge unityand take practical measures to counterthe threat of terrorism. Erdogan madehis remarks during his address to ajoint session of Pakistan’s Parliament inIslamabad, where he is currently visit-ing alongside an accompanying officialdelegation.

Terrorist organizations such as theso-called Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaeda are distorting the teachings and

principles of the religion of Islam,which promotes peace and tolerance,and the image of Islamic world as well,he said.

The Turkish President also stressedthe importance of fighting those ter-rorists anywhere in the world andbringing them to justice as soon aspossible. Meanwhile, he pointed outthe deep-rooted and historic tiesbetween Pakistani and Turkish, addingthat the two countries have alwaysshared mutual joy and grief moments

during various occasions. Erdogan alsoexpressed his aspiration to expandmultidimensional relations withIslamabad in various fields, includingdefense, culture, education, andhealth. The two countries have set thetarget of enhancing their bilateraltrade ties to USD one bill ion, theTurkish President said, pointing outtheir signed 51 MoUs and agreementsover the last few years, and stressedthe importance of focusing on projectsthat create job opportunities for the

people of both countries. Erdogan alsostressed the need for boosting rela-tions between Pakistan andAfghanistan that is vital for peace andsecurity in the region. For his part,Pakistani National Assembly SpeakerSardar Ayaz Sadiq praised the visitingTurkish President, the Turkish people,who he described as “heroic people”,and the “courageous” members of theTurkish Parliament for their nationalefforts to protect and preserve theirconstitution and democracy. —KUNA

KARACHI: The Pakistani navy detected an Indian subma-rine off the Pakistani coast and prevented it from enteringits waters, it said in a statement yesterday, as tensionbetween the nuclear-armed rivals simmers.

The submarine was detected “south of the Pakistanicoast” on Monday, the navy said in a press release.“Thereafter, despite the submarine’s desperate efforts toescape detection, it was continuously tracked by PakistanNavy Fleet units and pushed well clear of our waters,” thepress release said. The navy also released footage andphotographs of what it was said was the submarine tryingto enter Pakistani waters. The Indian navy was not imme-diately available for comment. Relations between Pakistanand India have been strained for several months, whilecross-frontier shelling has intensified leading to deaths ofcivilians and soldiers stationed along the disputed frontier.

Kashmir lies at the heart of the tension between Indiaand Pakistan and the countries have fought two of theirthree wars over the region since partition and independ-ence from Britain in 1947. —Reuters

Erdogan calls for world unity to counter terrorism

KATHMANDU: Sabitri Chilwal’s eyesmist over as she remembers the day 12years ago when her husband was shotin his office and left to die in a pool ofblood at the peak of Nepal’s Maoistinsurgency.

Sunday marks a decade since theMaoists signed a peace deal to end a10-year civil war that claimed more than16,000 lives, laying down their arms andentering politics with a promise tobring change to the deeply feudalcountry.

The peace agreement hastened theend of a 240-year-old Hindu monarchyand transformed Nepal into a secularrepublic, and with it came hope that anew constitution would heal the deepfissures in the impoverished Himalayannation. But Nepal has since shuffledthrough nine governments, mostly brit-tle coalitions, as political infighting hasthwarted reconciliation and left victimsof the bloody insurgency doubtful thatthey will ever see justice.

Complaints filedChilwal is among over 60,000 people

who have filed complaints with the twocommissions set up in 2014 to investi-gate the murders, rapes and forced dis-appearances perpetrated by both sidesduring the conflict. The commissionshave been hamstrung by a lack of fund-ing but the slow progress is also blamedon reluctance among some quarters tofind the perpetrators, many of whomoccupy positions in the military andpolitical parties. “It has been ten yearssince the war ended and yet nothinghas happened. My husband’s killers arewalking free,” said Chilwal. “They them-selves are in the government now. Idon’t know how anything will happen,”she added.

The Maoists swept to victory in thefirst national elections held after the2006 peace deal but soon fell out offavor as former cadres accused rebelleaders of adopting lavish lifestyles andbetraying their sacrifices.

Nepal’s fractious coalition politicshowever meant that Maoist chiefPushpa Kamal Dahal, better known byhis nom de guerre Prachanda or “thefierce one”, secured a second chance atbeing prime minister in August afterwinning the support of other parties.

Prachanda has since promised to

resolve disagreements over the newconstitution, which was finally adoptedin September last year-rushed throughparliament four months after a massiveearthquake devastated the country andclaimed nearly 9,000 lives.

But the passing of the long-awaitedcharter-meant to usher in a new era ofpeace and stability for war-torn Nepal-was marred by deadly clashes betweenpolice and ethnic minority protesters,who say the constitution has left themmarginalized. “If we assess the peacedeal after a decade we find that it lim-ited itself to ending the conflict butfailed on restructuring (the country) toestablish political stability throughequality and progressive agendas,”said Kathmandu-based political com-mentator CK Lal. “It gets a pass mark,but bigger issues remain to beaddressed,” Lal added.

‘Diluted, lost, ignored’ The first sign of trouble emerged

when members of the historically side-lined Madhesi minority, who live in thedensely-populated Terai plains border-ing India, complained that new internalborders laid out in the draft charterwould leave them under-represented atthe ballot box and in the national par-liament. The Madhesis-who make up asignificant proportion of the Terai pop-

ulation-have long complained of dis-crimination, with many encounteringprejudice due to their close cultural, lin-guistic and family ties to Indians livingacross the border. Their demands wentunheard and days after the constitutionwas adopted, protesters kicked off amonths-long border blockade that ledto a crippling shortage of goods acrossNepal. “If you look at the early docu-ments of the Maoists and the peaceprocess there is an agreement on socio-economic transformation on both sides.But it has been hugely diluted, lost orignored,” said Akhilesh Upadhyay, edi-tor of The Kathmandu Post.

Dahal has promised amendmentsto the const i tut ion by the end ofNovember, hoping to stave off anoth-er showdown with Madhesi demon-strators who are threatening a freshround of protests if their demands arenot met.

Shopkeeper Saroj Mishra, 35, wasamong thousands of Madhesis whoprotested against the charter last year.Beaten by police during the demonstra-tions, Mishra said he was fed up of wait-ing for the government to listen to citi-zens like him. “The government seemsto think Nepal is (only) Kathmandu,” hesaid. “So many years have passed afterthe peace deal, but here we are stillforced to fight.”—AFP

A decade on, legacy of

Maoist war stalks Nepal10-year civil war remembered

KATHMANDU, Nepal: In this photograph taken on November 11, 2016, BabluLama, (R) arrested and tortured by members of the Nepalese army duringNepal’s decade-long war, speaks to AFP in an interview. —AFP

KARACHI, Pakistan: Pakistani students of the Pak-TurkInternational school protest on Thursday —-AP

ISLAMABAD: Dozens of Pakistani parents are rallying againsta government order expelling their children’s Turkish teacherswith families from the country.

Yesterday’s rally in Islamabad is the second day of protestsafter 400 Turkish nationals were ordered to leave the countrywithin 72 hours. The Turkish nationals are teachers at thePakTurk International chain of schools and their family mem-bers. Ankara has accused the school of links with the move-ment of U.S.-based dissident cleric Fethullah Gulen, whichPakTurk denies.

Syed Amir Abdullah, who represents parents of PakTurk’s11,000 students from 28 campuses across Pakistan, urgedauthorities to review the expulsion on humanitarian grounds.The school challenged the order in court on Thursday but thepetition was dismissed. The expulsion orders came as TurkishPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Pakistan this week. —AP

Pakistani parents

rally against Turkish

teachers’ expulsion

Pakistan navy ‘pushed’

Indian submarine

clear of its waters

I N T E R N A T I O N A LSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

Japan’s PM confident

in Trump’s diplomacy First foreign leader to meet US president-elect

NEW YORK: Japan’s leader voiced confi-dence about Donald Trump as hebecame the first foreign leader to meetthe US president-elect, who was narrow-ing in on cabinet choices. Prime MinisterShinzo Abe met for 90 minutes with thepresident-elect Thursday evening atTrump Tower to sound him out after acampaign that included rhetoric thatalarmed many US allies. “As an outcomeof today’s discussions, I am convincedMr Trump is a leader in whom I can havegreat confidence,” Abe told reporters,describing a “very warm atmosphere.”He gave no specifics. Japan is one of

Washington’s closest allies, but Trumpalarmed Tokyo during the campaign bymusing about pulling the thousands ofUS troops from the region, and suggest-ing that officially pacifist Japan mayneed nuclear weapons.

Trump also vowed while campaign-ing to tear up the Trans-PacificPartnership, a proposed trade pactbacked by outgoing DemocraticPresident Barack Obama and which Abehad made a top priority.

Also at the meeting with Abe wasTrump’s model-turned-business execu-tive daughter Ivanka and her husband,

real estate developer and publisherJared Kushner. The presence of the cou-ple, who have emerged as key advisors,underscores the family’s influence as thepresident-elect readies to take power.

Flynn as top security adviser? Trump on Friday will head to his

exclusive golf club in Bedminster, NewJersey, transition officials said, a locationthat offers more seclusion and comesamid complaints about the congestionin front of Trump Tower on New York’sbustling Fifth Avenue. Trump, who hasbeen interviewing Republican opera-tives for top cabinet posts, appeared tobe zeroing-in on staunch supporters butalso considering former rivals.

The president-elect has offered therole of national security adviser toretired general Michael Flynn, a militaryintelligence officer and staunch cam-paign loyalist, several US media outletsreported late Thursday, citing transitionteam sources. It was unknown if Flynnhas accepted the job, which does notrequire senate confirmation.

A former director of the DefenseIntelligence Agency in 2012-2014, Flynnwas sharply critical of Obama adminis-tration policies. Flynn however wasousted from that job amid reports of anabrasive management style and clasheswith senior officials. During the cam-paign his vocal support for Trump gavethe businessman credibility with veter-ans despite the billionaire’s lack of mili-tary service. And at the RepublicanNational Convention, Flynn led chants of“Lock her up!”-calling for DemocratHillary Clinton to be imprisoned.

Trump also met with Senator JeffSessions of Alabama and hinted that hewould offer him a prime position.Sessions was one of Trump’s earliestsupporters. — AFP

NEW YORK: This handout picture, released by Japan’s Cabinet Secretariat yes-terday shows Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (2nd L) being welcomed byUS President-elect Donald Trump (R) beside Ivanka Trump (C) and her husbandJared Kushner (L).—AFP

MANILA: This handout photo taken on November 18, 2016and released by the office of Governor Imee Marcos showsmilitary personnel carrying the coffin of the late dictatorFerdinand Marcos, while members of the Marcos familyled by former first lady Imelda (in black) follow the proces-sion during the burial at the heroes’ cemetery.—AFP

MANILA: Ex-Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos was buriedin a secretive ceremony at the national heroes’ cemetery yes-terday, triggering street protests as opponents denouncedwhat they said was the whitewashing of his brutal and corruptrule. The burial at the “Cemetery of Heroes” was another stun-ning development in the remarkable political comeback ofthe Marcos family, a phenomenon given fresh energy by theclan’s strong alliance with new President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Supreme Court last week endorsed a decision byDuterte to lay the dictator to rest at the heroes’ cemetery,three decades after millions of people took to streets in thefamous “People Power” revolution that ended Marcos’s reign.

The Marcos family and government moved quickly afterthe verdict, secretly flying the embalmed body to the ceme-tery on Friday and interring him despite appeals still pendingwith the Supreme Court urging it to reconsider. “Like a thief inthe night, the Marcos family deliberately hid the informationof burying former president Marcos today from the Filipinopeople,” said Vice President Leni Robredo, who was electedseparately to Duterte and belongs to another party.

“This is nothing new to the Marcoses-they who had hiddenwealth, hidden human rights abuses, and now, a hidden bur-ial-with complete disregard for the law.” His wheelchair-bound wife Imelda, 87, and their children and grandchildrenfollowed a horse-drawn carriage with military escort that borehis Philippine flag-draped casket, footage released by thefamily on Facebook showed. The military honored Marcos atthe ceremony with a 21-gun salute as soldiers in parade dressand ceremonial rifles stood to attention. “At last our belovedfather Ferdinand Edralin Marcos’s final instruction to beburied alongside his fellow soldiers was carried out today,”daughter Imee Marcos told reporters afterwards.

‘Marcos thief’ Two thousand riot police and soldiers guarded the perime-

ter of the cemetery during the ceremony, blocking entry byjournalists. Marcos opponents taken by surprise by the burialquickly organised a series of rallies across the Philippine capi-tal of Manila on Friday afternoon that attracted thousands ofpeople. In one of the biggest at the University of thePhilippines, protesters banged on drums and chanted“Marcos thief”, “Marcos dictator” and “exhume, exhume”.Organizers said various rallies would merge at a roadsidemonument commemorating the “People Power” revolution.Marcos, his wife and their cronies plundered up to $10 billionfrom state coffers and plunged the Philippines into cripplingdebt during his rule, according to government investigatorsand historians.

The dictator also oversaw widespread human rights abusesto maintain his control of the country and enable his plunder-ing, with thousands of people killed and tortured, previousPhilippine governments said.

Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International in2004 named Marcos the second most corrupt leader of alltime, behind Indonesian dictator Suharto. Political resurrec-tion After Marcos died in Hawaii in 1989, his family wasallowed to return and began its political resurrection. Imeldabecame a congresswoman and fended off all corruptioncharges against her. Imee and Ferdinand “Bongbong” MarcosJnr also became influential politicians. — AFP

Protests as Philippine

dictator Marcos

given hero’s burial

KUNMING, China: Chinese and US commanders yesterdaystressed the importance of maintaining military-to-militaryexchanges under the administration of President-elect DonaldTrump, saying they are crucial for building confidencebetween the two armed forces that remain deeply wary ofeach other.

Troops from the two sides staged joint drills in the south-western Chinese city of Kunming yesterday in an effort to bet-ter coordinate responses to humanitarian disasters. “This kindof exchange acts as a bridge to promote relations betweenthe two militaries and I am sure it will be conducted in an evenhigher level in the future,” said Gen. Liu Xiaowu, commanderof ground forces for China’s Southern Theater Command.

US Army Pacific Commander Gen. Robert Brown also saidhe would advise the incoming administration to maintain themomentum of engagement. “These types of military-to-mili-tary exchanges are really critical because of the trust theybuild,” Brown said. Trump has yet to articulate a clear defensepolicy toward China and the region as a whole, unsettling offi-cials in close US allies such as Japan and South Korea. Heldsince 2005, the US-China Disaster Management Exchange ispart of efforts to build trust and coordination at a time whenthe two governments are frequently at odds over disputes inthe South China Sea and elsewhere. — AP

China, US militaries stage

joint humanitarian relief

KUNMING, China: US Army Pacific commander Gen. RobertBrown, front row center, and Gen. Liu Xiaowu, front rowthird right, the commander for Southern TheaterCommand Army of Chinese Liberation Army (PLA),applaud with their soldiers at a group photo session afterconducting the US-China Disaster Management Exchange(DME) drill at a PLA’s training base yesterday.—AP

I N T E R N A T I O N A LSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

CHICAGO: Immigration hotlines arebuzzing. Legal clinics are seeing aninflux of clients. Public schools are field-ing frantic questions from parents andstudents. Since the election, DonaldTrump’s tough talk on immigration hasstirred anxiety nationwide among immi-grants regardless of legal status. Theyare turning to lawyers, schools, advoca-cy groups and congressional offices forhelp. “We’re operating with a lot ofunknowns, and a certain amount of fearcomes with that,” said Vanessa Esparza-LÛpez, a managing attorney at theChicago-based National ImmigrantJustice Center.

In Chicago, a hotline run by thestate’s largest immigrant-rights groupreceived more than 330 calls in theweek after the election, compared withthe usual 100 or so. Denver school offi-cials sent a letter to parents in responseto questions about the election’s effecton students living in the country ille-gally. The New York Legal AssistanceGroup said its receiving 40 to 60 dailycalls about immigration, up from 20 to30. The Coalition for Humane ImmigrantRights of Los Angeles reported 19 walk-ins on a single day, all with citizenshipquestions.

Urgent inquiriesThe most urgent inquiries have been

from young people benefiting from a2012 federal program started byPresident Barack Obama’s administra-tion that allows immigrants brought tothe country illegally as children to avoiddeportation and get work permits.

About 740,000 people have participatedin the Deferred Action for ChildhoodArrivals system. Attorneys say the pro-gram is vulnerable because it was creat-ed by executive order, not by law, leav-ing new potential applicants second-guessing whether to sign up. AndreaAguilera, a 20-year-old college studentin suburban Chicago, feels in limbo withher DACA paperwork expiring next year.She was brought across the Mexicanborder illegally as a 4-year-old and

largely kept her immigration statussecret until she was able to get a workpermit through DACA four years ago.She’s since worked as a grocery storecashier and intern at a downtown finan-cial company. Two of her siblings are inthe program; another is a US citizen. “It’sbeen hard to focus on school,” Aguilerasaid. “I just don’t know what’s going tocome next for us.”

During the campaign, Trumppledged to deport the estimated 11 mil-lion immigrants living in the country ille-gally and to build a border wall. TheRepublican president-elect has notdetailed how he will proceed andrecently walked back the number ofanticipated deportees.The Center forImmigration Studies, which advocatesfor lower immigration levels, explainedthe spike in activity as uncertainty aboutwhether existing laws will be enforcedby Trump’s administration. Jon Feere, alegal analyst at the Washington D.C.-based research organization, said thoseenrolled in DACA were aware of the riskswhen they signed up. Others shouldhave little concern. “Those who are incompliance with the law have nothingto worry about,” he said. Still, evenimmigrants with permanent legal statushave had questions since the election.

Attorneys and immigrant organiza-tions said green card holders feel newurgency to ensure that paperwork suchas a renewal application is in order overfears that laws could change under anew administration. Most immigrantscan seek citizenship three to five yearsafter getting a green card. — AP

Trump’s election victory triggers

flood of immigration questions

Anxiety nationwide among immigrants

CHICAGO: Andrea Aguilera sits atthe Erie Neighborhood House onThursday.—AP

DARLINGTON, Indiana: Montgomery County Sheriff’sdeputies remove items from a minivan during a doublehomicide investigation in the 200 block of Madison Streeton Thursday. —AP

DARLINGTON, Indiana: A central Indiana woman killed hertwo young children and then stabbed herself in the neck aday after her husband filed for divorce, a sheriff said Thursday.Brandi Worley, 30, of Darlington, confessed in a “matter-of-fact” demeanor to the killings in a 911 call about 4:30 a.m.,Montgomery County Sheriff Mark Casteel said.

A deputy found 7-year-old Tyler Worley and 3-year-oldCharlie Worley dead in a bedroom, Casteel said. No informa-tion has been released on how they died. An autopsy is sched-uled. Their father, Jason Worley, was asleep in the basement,unaware of what was happening in the home about 40 milesnorthwest of Indianapolis, the sheriff said. “I can’t imagine thepain or the grief that these families are feeling,” Casteel saidduring a news conference. “Please keep these families in yourthoughts and prayers.”

A hospital is treating Worley for injuries to her neck. Thesheriff’s department had not been called to the home before,Casteel said. Online court records show Worley has no priorcriminal history. Divorce papers were filed in MontgomeryCounty on Wednesday. Yellow police tape surrounded thehome Thursday morning. Deputies were seen removing itemsfrom a minivan in the driveway. Tyler was a first grade studentat Sugar Creek Elementary, and Charlie was enrolled in pre-school. —AP

Indiana woman confesses

to killing her 2 children

I N T E R N A T I O N A LSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

WASHINGTON: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California speaks at her weekly news conference onCapitol Hill on Thursday. — AP

WASHINGTON: House Democraticleader Nancy Pelosi is facing a challengefrom one of her caucus’ frustratedyounger members as the party facesanother two years in the minority.

Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan said Thursday hewill challenge the California lawmaker,who has led the party since 2002 andwas the first female speaker from 2007-11, in leadership elections later thismonth. Democrats have been reelingsince last week when the party won few-er seats than she had predicted and lostthe presidency. “What we are doing rightnow is not working,” the 43-year-oldRyan said in a letter to colleagues. “Underour current leadership, Democrats havebeen reduced to our smallest congres-sional minority since 1929. This shouldindicate to all of us that keeping ourleadership team completely unchangedwill simply lead to more disappointmentin future elections.”

Ryan is from a Rust Belt state thatPresident Barack Obama won in 2008and 2012, but President-elect DonaldTrump won Ohio easily this year. Alongwith younger members in the caucus,Democrats from several Midwesternstates have expressed concern that theparty has become too focused on thetwo coasts and forgotten the working-class voters in the middle. Pelosi is fromSan Francisco.

Numbers and questionsWell-known for her ability to count

votes, Pelosi is still the favorite to winanother term as leader. She said inannouncing her candidacy onWednesday that she has the backing oftwo-thirds of the caucus, though Ryanquestioned that number.

The election is Nov. 30. It had been

scheduled for Thursday but was post-poned until after Thanksgiving. Pelosi,76, is a survivor who enjoys enormousrespect and goodwill among mostDemocrats, even as many of her closestallies have left Congress. She has man-aged to maintain unity within the diverseflock of House Democrats and is anunparalleled fundraiser for them, collect-ing more than $100 million in the pastcycle alone.

Ryan’s bid marks the second timePelosi has faced a challenge after a dis-mal Democratic performance in an elec-tion. She easily beat back North CarolinaRep. Heath Shuler 150-43 after the partylost the majority in 2010.

But some Democratic lawmakersexpressed their frustration in a closeddoor caucus meeting earlier Thursday.Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., said she toldher colleagues that “if we don’t, as a par-ty, have our leaders accept responsibilityfor where we are, we can’t move forwardand get to the point where our messageis going to resonate with voters.”

Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said hehad issued a challenge in the caucus“that anybody who is running for anyposition of leadership needs to comeback and explain to us how we’re goingto be able to survive one, the Trumpyears, but two, to not have the sameexcuse we have every two years wherethere’s some external factor that some-how causes us to not gain the seats thatwe need.”

Among the frustrations for juniorDemocrats is that several top Democratson powerful committees have been atoptheir posts for many years - well into their80s in some cases - and are not some ofthe party’s most fresh and vibrant voices.For instance, the top Democrat on the

panel responsible for taxes and theAffordable Care Act is 85-year-oldMichigan Rep. Sander Levin, while thetop Democrat on the JudiciaryCommittee is John Conyers, 87, who’sbeen in Congress for more than 50 years.

“We’ve got a couple of big issuescoming up, not the least of which isdefending the very strong parts of theAffordable Care Act,” said Rep. RichardNeal, D-Mass., a rival of Levin’s on thepowerful panel.

Some Democrats are pressing forterm limits for committee chairmen.Pelosi didn’t dismiss the idea.”If youwant that, you have to fight for it,”Pelosi said. Pelosi was crucial in ensur-ing Obama’s health care overhaulbecame law in 2010. Even in the minori-ty under Obama, Pelosi has been asavvy negotiator with GOP leaderswhen Democratic votes were needed toadvance legislation. “When somebodychallenges you, your supporters turnout, both internally in the caucus and inthe country,” Pelosi, who has ledDemocrats since 2002, told reporters ather weekly news conference.

Indeed, her allies spoke strongly inher favor. “She has been an extraordi-nary leader,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. “If it weren’t for her, a lot of thingsthat are near and dear to our heartswould have been eviscerated. She’s agood negotiator even in the minority.”

On the budget front, HouseRepublican leaders said Trump wants ashort-term spending bill to keep thegovernment running through March ofnext year. The current stopgap spendingbill runs out in less than a month, onDec. 9. House and Senate negotiatorsare working on a bill they could passbefore leaving for the holidays. — AP

Nancy Pelosi faces challenge

As house minority leader

Party faces two years in the minority

Sri Lanka arrests former

US ambassador for graft

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s former ambassador to Washingtonwas arrested yesterday accused of misappropriating morethan $350,000, the latest member of strongman ex-presi-dent Mahinda Rajapakse’s family to be investigated for cor-ruption in office. Jaliya Wickramasuriya, a cousin of formerpresident, was detained at Sri Lanka’s main internationalairport as he tried to leave the island, an airport official said.

The police had obtained a court order preventingWickramasuriya from leaving the country as the authoritiesprobe financial transactions at the Sri Lankan embassy inWashington during his tenure as ambassador from 2008and 2014. “He is accused of pocketing $345,000 from thepurchase of a building for the embassy,” a police officerinvolved in the investigation said. He said two otherinstances of misappropriation were also under investiga-tion, involving undisclosed sums.

The current government has accused Rajapakse and hisfamily of syphoning off billions of dollars when they were inpower and many of the close relatives are currently on bailpending court action. Rajapakse lost power in a snap elec-tion in January 2015 to his former ally Maithripala Sirisenawho has since ordered investigations into alleged wide-spread graft under the former regime. — AFP

Journalist and author

Ruth Gruber dies at 105

NEW YORK: Ruth Gruber, the journalist and humanitarianwhose long, trailblazing life included helping to bring Jewishrefugees to the United States during World War II, has died.She was 105.

Gruber died on Thursday at her home in Manhattan,according to her editor, Philip Turner. Gruber, who was bornin Brooklyn, started college at New York University at age 15and had earned a Ph.D. from the University of Cologne inGermany by the time she was 20. Her dissertation was onVirginia Woolf, whom she later met.

Gruber then went into journalism, becoming a foreign cor-respondent and visiting places including the Soviet Arctic andSiberia. She produced both words and photographs. DuringWorld War II, she was appointed special assistant to Secretaryof the Interior Harold Ickes, for whom she carried out a studyto see if returning veterans could settle in Alaska.

In 1944, Gruber got involved in a mission to bring a groupof 1,000 Jewish refugees from Europe to the United States.She spoke about the day she found out about the effort in a2010 interview in The Sunday Telegraph of London. “I got ridof my breakfast and rushed to the office and said, ‘I have tosee the Secretary.’ I told him, ‘Somebody has to go over andhold their hands; they’re going to be terrified,’” she said.

As she accompanied the refugees to the US, she inter-viewed them, which became the basis of “Haven: TheDramatic Story of 1,000 World War II Refugees and How TheyCame to America,” one of her many books. It was later madeinto a television miniseries starring Natasha Richardson asGruber. Gruber lobbied fiercely for the refugees to be givenAmerican citizenship, which they eventually were granted.

She returned to journalism after the war, covering storiessuch as the plight of other Jewish refugees and the impetusto allow some to settle in what was then Palestine. — AP

PASADENA, California: In this Jan. 9, 2001, file photo, Dr.Ruth Gruber, left, and actress Natasha Richardson posefor a photo at the Ritz Carlton Huntington Hotel. — AP

Business16OPEC moves closer to oil

deal as Iran gets offer

With Trump win, China looks to seize Asia free trade leadership

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

17 18IMF team leaves Ukraine without new loan promise

Dollar charges to 14-year high, bonds in full swing

20

BULANDSHAHR, India: Indian farmer ZakirKhan should be sowing his winter crops now.Instead he is stuck at home after the govern-ment’s shock move to pull high-value notes outof circulation left him with no money to pay forseeds-or feed his family.

Like millions of rural Indians, Khan lives farfrom a bank and relies almost entirely on cashto pay for food and the seeds and fertilizer heneeds. Most of his notes are now worthlessunless he can switch them for new ones ordeposit them with a rural bank-many of whichare yet to receive the new cash. India’s govern-ment asked its citizens to put up with what itcalled the “short-term inconvenience” when itannounced the move to withdraw 85 percentof currency in circulation in a bid to tackle wide-spread tax evasion. But for Khan, left with just80 rupees ($1.2) in cash and with no more foodin the house, it means a lot more than incon-venience. “The government has robbed us,” the42-year-old told AFP in his native village inBulandshahr district in the impoverished north-ern state of Uttar Pradesh.

“The government is saying these hardshipsare temporary, but if we are unable to sow ourcrops this month, we won’t have anything toeat next year.” Huge queues have formed out-side banks and ATMs in cities across India aspeople try to swap their old notes for new ones,while many are finding ways to carry out their

daily transactions online. In rural areas though,none of that is possible. To add to farmers’woes, the prices of vegetables and other stapleshave plummeted as a lack of cash in circulationhits demand. Traders at Delhi’s main producewholesale market Azadpur Mandi say businessis down by as much as 50 percent.

‘People are angry’To try to ease the problems, the government

this week announced it would boost a networkof mobile ATMs in vans and public-sector bankrepresentatives known in India as correspon-dents, who provide rural communities withaccess to bank services. They are part of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s ambitious plan tobring banking to India’s rural masses, wheremany still have no choice but to rely on privatemoneylenders who charge usurious interest.But Mohammad Imran, who works as a bankingcorrespondent in a village of 4,000 people, toldAFP he had received barely any cash since theNovember 8 announcement.

“Mostly I take old currency notes from thevillagers and deposit them in the bank. There ishardly any cash exchange,” said Imran, who hadtaken more than 2.5 million rupees in old notesto deposit, but only handed out 50,000 rupeesin new currency.

“People are angry and often hurl abuse atme for not giving them cash. But I am as help-

less as they are,” he said, adding that he tried toprioritize the sick and needy.

Meanwhile a worker at one government-owned rural bank said it still had no cash, 10days after the announcement. “This is simply arash decision,” he told AFP on condition ofanonymity. The government says the move isaimed at bringing billions of unaccountedmoney into the formal banking system and willultimately boost the economy. That messagehas gone down well in rural areas, whereresentment over tax evasion by the wealthyruns high, and many say they are prepared toput up with the resulting hardships.

Only six people earning over 500 millionrupees filed tax returns in 2012-2013, the latestfigures available, even though an estimated2,100 Indians have a net worth that exceeds$50 million. “Corrupt people have amassedhuge amounts and the poor are suffering as aresult. We have to trust the government tobring about change,” said Mukesh Yadav, a vil-lager in Uttar Pradesh.

India’s move to withdraw high-value rupeebills from circulation to crack down on corrup-tion and counterfeit currency has hurt ruralwomen particularly hard, as most of them areoutside the banking system, activists said. But ithas also curbed consumption, hurt the agricul-ture and real estate sectors, and triggered longlines at banks and ATMs as people wait to

deposit cash, withdraw money and exchangeold notes. At least a dozen people are reportedto have died while standing in queues acrossthe country. The move has had a disproportion-ate impact on women, more than three-quar-ters of whom are outside the banking system.Daily labourers and informal workers, who tendto save their money in cash, have also beenhurt, activists said.

“The impact on such women is disastrous;they are facing a severe financial crisis,” saidKiran Moghe, national joint secretary of the AllIndia Democratic Women’s Association.

“Women in villages and in tribal areas useonly cash, and they scrimp and save to putaside money. Now they cannot even buy dailynecessities,” she told the Thomson ReutersFoundation. Women often put aside moneywithout the knowledge of their husbands,building a nest egg for themselves and theirchildren, and as a safety net for emergencies,Moghe said. These women do not have bankaccounts as they do not have the minimumamount required, or because their husbandshave an account, or because they lack the nec-essary documentation, according to a WorldBank study of rural Jharkhand state.Demonetisation will hurt India’s informal sectorworkers, numbering about 482 million, whoearn cash incomes, according to consulting firmDeloitte. — Agencies

ALLAHABAD: Indian villagers queue outside a bank as they wait to deposit and exchange 500 and 1000 rupee notes in Hanuman Ganj village on the outskirts of Allahabad yes-terday. — AFP

India’s millions pay price of cash banActivists see ‘disaster’ for rural women from govt decision

B U S I N E S SSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

LONDON: Glencore is seeking to raise $550 million frominvestors via a debt issue guaranteed by oil from IraqiKurdistan in an attempt to secure a big slice of the high-risk- and high-reward - market in a region at war with IslamicState. Kurdish oil has been targeted by European tradersover the past two years, during an industry downturn,since Erbil began selling oil independently from Baghdad.It has been relatively cheap due to the potential for supplydisruptions and threats from Iraq’s central government tosue anyone touching the crude.

The government of the autonomous Kurdish region inErbil has borrowed around $2 billion from Glencore’s rivalssuch as Vitol, Petraco and Trafigura to be repaid in oil. Thecompanies have all borrowed money from banks and lentit to Erbil at their own risk. Glencore, whose commoditytrading division has been under pressure to perform asmining profits have declined, was the last merchant toenter the game earlier this year by lending $300 million toErbil. The loan is being repaid by way of one mid-sized oilcargo a month, worth around $25 million.

Now the company is seeking a much bigger role in theregion, but wants to split the risks by selling debt notes tobe repaid with Kurdish oil income, according to a prospec-tus seen by Reuters. Technically, the money would beraised by a special-purpose vehicle, says the documentwhich has been sent to a small number of investors whospecialise in high-risk markets. It says Glencore expects toenter into a new 5-year agreement with the government ofKurdistan to buy its crude, with deliveries rising from onecargo in January, to two in February-March, four in Apriland six from May onwards. Six cargoes a month would rep-resent a quarter of overall exports from Kurdistan andwould be worth over $1.7 billion a year at today’s price ofaround $40 per barrel for Kurdish oil, and more than $8 bil-lion over the course of five years. —Reuters

DOHA: OPEC is moving closer towardsfinalizing this month its first deal since2008 to limit oil output, with most mem-bers prepared to offer Iran significantflexibility on production volumes, minis-ters and sources said yesterday. Iran hasbeen the main stumbling block for sucha deal because Tehran wants exemp-tions as it tries to regain oil market shareafter the easing of Western sanctions inJanuary.

Iran’s rival Saudi Arabia, the biggestproducer in the Organization of thePetroleum Exporting Countries, hasargued Iran’s output has peaked and itshould not be granted major conces-sions.

On Friday, several OPEC oil ministersincluding Saudi Arabia’s Khalid Al-Falihmet in Doha on the sidelines of a gasforum. Iranian officials attended thegathering although minister BijanZanganeh did not come. At the meet-ing, OPEC member countries proposedIran cap its oil output at 3.92 million bar-rels per day (bpd), a source familiar withthe proposal told Reuters.

Iran has previously said it wouldaccept a freeze at between 4.0 and 4.2million bpd. Gulf OPEC sources havesaid they wanted Iran to cap output ataround 3.6-3.7 million bpd - the volumethe Islamic Republic is currently produc-ing, according to OPEC estimates.

The source said Tehran had yet to

respond to the proposal. Iran’s OPECgovernor, who attended yesterday’stalks, said he was optimistic that theproducer group would reach a dealwhen it gathers formally in Vienna onNov. 30.

Falih said the Friday meeting wentwell, but declined further comment. IfOPEC reaches a deal on Nov. 30, it mayalso draw support from non-OPEC mem-bers including Russia, which promisedto cooperate but so far has refrainedfrom any firm commitment.

Russia’s energy minister said yester-day he was “quite optimistic” the OPECoil cartel will reach an agreement laterthis month on a planned output cut toshore up prices.

Alexander Novak was speaking afterinformal talks in Doha with some butnot all of his OPEC counterparts aheadof the cartel’s meeting in Vienna onNovember 30. The cartel’s 14 membershave been at odds over the details ofthe production cut agreed in Algiers inSeptember, which is supposed to leadto a wider agreement with non-OPECproducers including Russia.

Iran has refused to join in until it hasrestored its market share following thelifting of international sanctions inJanuary. Iraq has asked for an exemp-tion, saying it needs the income tofund its war against the Islamic Statejihadist group.

Asked whether he thought Iraqwould agree to a freeze or cut at theVienna meeting, Novak said: “I wouldsay that I am quite optimistic at thispoint.

“Today’s discussions... do instil opti-mism in me. “And I believe that the con-sultations of technical experts, which aregoing to be held soon, and other con-sultations ahead of the 30th Novembermeeting... would result in an agree-ment.” He also told reporters that Russiawas willing to limit production to “cer-tain levels”. “We believe that demandwill continue to grow. “Even today wehave discussed numbers that demandwill grow by 1.1, 1.2 million bpd (barrelsper day) next year.

OPEC ministers agreed in Algiers toreduce production to 32.5-33 millionbpd from the 33.47 million pumped inAugust, the first cut in eight years.

Falih told the Al-Arabiya news chan-nel in an interview aired on Thursdaythat he was “still optimistic that the con-sensus reached in Algiers to put a ceilingto production will be implemented byadopting ceilings for countries”.Algeria’s energy minister NoureddineBouterfa said discussions yesterday hadbeen “good” and that “maybe” 32.5 mil-lion bdp would be the production targetspoken about in Vienna. Iraq and Iranhave been asked to freeze their outputlevels. — Agencies

OPEC moves closer to oil

deal as Iran gets offer Russia remains ‘optimistic’ over output agreement

DOHA: The 18th Ministerial Meeting of the Gas ExportingCountries Forum (GECF) kicked off in Doha Thursday.Speaking at the opening speech, Qatari Minister of Energyand Industry Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sada, who is alsoPresident of 18th Ministerial Meeting of the Gas ExportingCountries Forum (GECF), has outlined the importance of the18th GECF ministerial meeting.

He ascribed this importance to two reasons: Firstly,because of the conditions of the market we are facing nowand in the near future that require us to address it as appropri-ately and as early as we can; and secondly because of twoimportant documents that have been made ready for ourattention, namely, the GECF Long Term strategy and the GECFGlobal Gas Outlook 2040. He pointed out that the Long TermStrategy defines the Organization’s vision, mission, strategicgoals and long-term priority objectives.

It also includes key strategic instruments and initiatives tosuccessfully achieve each of its priority objectives, he noted.“The adoption of this document is very important at this stageas this is going to be the first GECF Long term strategy thatwill pave the way ahead of us for the years to come,” Al-Sadasaid. “In fact, the two important draft documents of long-termstrategy and GECF outlook are the result of such praiseworthyendeavors,” he said. He added that “This is our 18th MinisterialMeeting since we began our collective strive to safeguard ourinterests in the gas sector.

Today, we are meeting at the time of transitional changesin the energy market in general and in gas market in particu-lar. The changes that are bringing both opportunities andchallenges for all of us as gas exporting countries.” Since lastyear in Tehran, global gas market developments have beenchanging the dynamics of the market even in a more rapidway than before, Al Sada pointed out. He indicated that thedemand for natural gas grew in 2015 by 1.9%, more than dou-ble of that of 2014 and is expected to continue to grow duringthe next year albeit with lower pace. “The supply side devel-opments, however, are shaping new dynamics and trends inthe markets and, as a result, is set to create a new environ-ment of competitiveness.” —KUNA

BUTEMBO: A general view of the Biasa Market in Butembo. The high unemployment rate is considered “normal” byGodefroid Kambere Matimbya, deputy mayor of the North Kivu province city of Butembo, which counts over a millioninhabitants. — AFP

Qatar hosts 18th

ministerial GECF

gas exporting summit

Glencore seeks $550

million to raise stakes

in Kurdish oil game

B U S I N E S SSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s central bank is interven-ing in markets to support the beleaguered ringgit, anofficial said yesterday, as regional authorities grapplewith a surging dollar.

Bank Negara Malaysia Assistant Governor AdnanZaylani replied “Yes” when asked by reporters onFriday whether the central back was intervening inthe foreign-exchange market, Bloomberg Newsreported. The ringgit has weakened by around fivepercent since last week’s surprise presidential elec-tion victory by US billionaire Donald Trump.

Trump’s promises to ramp up spending on infra-structure and cut taxes has led to warnings of a surgein inflation. That could force the policy-setting US

Federal Reserve to hike interest rates to cap prices,which has led to a rush back into the dollar.

But Adnan poured water on the possibility thatMalaysia could implement capital controls to shieldthe ringgit, calling speculation over such measures“baseless” and saying they would ultimately be dam-aging. Speculation of such controls rose after thebank issued a statement earlier this week that waswidely interpreted as seeking to curb trading of ring-git futures.

The ringgit had already been among Asia’s worst-performing currencies over the past two years amidthe oil price slump and political frictions stemmingfrom a corruption scandal linked to Prime Minister

Najib Razak. It has been widely speculated that thecentral bank has regularly intervened on behalf ofthe ringgit over that span, eroding its internationalreserves. The energy-exporting, trade-dependentMalaysian economy has seen growth steadily slow inrecent years. Economic growth came in at 4.3 per-cent in the third quarter, snapping a string of fivestraight quarters in which the pace of expansionslowed, Bank Negara said last week. Concern alsohas risen in Malaysia over the potential for clashesbetween reformists who plan a rally today todemand Najib’s removal over the scandal, and a pro-government group that has vowed to confront thedemonstrators. — AFP

Malaysia intervenes to help sagging ringgit

KARACHI: Pakistan’s “war on terror” has cost the devel-oping country a whopping $118 billion so far, a newcentral bank report has said, an amount equivalent towell over one third of its gross domestic product. Thecentral State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) released its annualreport on Thursday showing extremist violence cost thecountry $118.3 billion in direct and indirect losses from2002 to 2016.

“Both economic growth and social sector developmenthave been severely hampered by terrorism related inci-dents,” the bank said in the report. Pakistan became a piv-otal US ally in the battle against extremism after theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks spurred the US invasion ofneighbouring Afghanistan.

A Coalition Support Fund (CSF) was approved by the USto support Pakistan in the war, with an annual release ofaround $1 billion since 2002. By last year Pakistan hadreceived a total of $14 billion under the CSF. The countryhas also been waging a fight against home-grown Islamistinsurgents since at least 2004.

The bank said that apart from causing immeasurablehuman suffering, including casualties and mass displace-ment, the war had helped drive away foreign investment,stall domestic investment, freeze exports, and slow downtrade. Pakistan has carried out major military offensivesagainst Al-Qaeda and the Taleban in its border tribalregions that have sapped their strength, with overall levelsof militant violence dropping drastically in 2015 and 2016.The economy, meanwhile, is improving, with the IMF say-ing in October that the country has emerged from crisisand stabilized its economy after completing a bailout pro-gram. — AFP

KIEV: The International Monetary Fundsaid yesterday its team had ended a visitto Kiev without seeing sufficient eco-nomic restructuring progress to releasea new loan to Ukraine this year.

The impoverished and war-scarredformer Soviet republic had been hopingto receive a $1.3-billion ($1.2-billion-euro) tranche payment in Novemberfrom a rescue package of $17.5 billionagreed with the Fund in 2015. But Kievhas only seen $7.6 billion of that moneydue to foot-dragging by populist law-makers in parliament over deeplyunpopular belt-tightening measuresprescribed by the Fund.

The IMF last released a $1-billiontranche payment in September that Kievhad expected to see last year. A state-ment from the Fund’s mission said thepro-Western government still needed“some time” to adopt all the economicprescriptions mandated under the four-year program.

“While good progress has been

made, the authorities need some moretime to implement policies to ensuremedium-term fiscal sustainability-including adoption of the 2017 budgetconsistent with program targets-safe-guard financial stability, and tackle cor-ruption,” the IMF team said.

“Discussions on these policies willcontinue in the period ahead.” Ukrainianmedia reported the IMF had outlinedfive points that Kiev must comply within order to receive future payments.

The first involves obtaining capital tokeep 12 large and systemically impor-tant banks afloat. An earlier central bankstress test found that 28 of 39 lenderschecked lacked the required cash athand to survive another potential eco-nomic crisis.

The Fund also wants the governmentto start gradually raising household billsfor gas and central heating to “marketlevels” starting in March 2017. Ukrainehas already slashed its utility subsidiesand saw loud street protests from pre-

dominantly pension-age people whocannot afford the new bills.

But economists view Ukraine’s subsi-dization of its energy sector as one ofthe largest drains on the state budget.The IMF also wants the government toturn its loss-making state gas and oilcompany into a profitable venture bythe end of 2017.

It further would like to see Kiev speedup its privatization efforts and simplifyits outdated tax system.

Ukraine has pulled out of a dire two-year recession by recording nine con-secutive months of economic growth.But the Fund’s statement said thatUkraine’s gross domestic product “is stillvery low-just 20 percent of the EU aver-age, the second lowest level of all cen-tral and eastern European countries.”

It also noted that “tangible results inprosecuting and convicting corrupthigh-level officials and recovering pro-ceeds from corruption have yet to beachieved”. — AFP

IMF team leaves Ukraine

without new loan promiseEconomic restructuring progress inadequate

VOORSCHOTEN: Queen Maxima of the Netherlands (C) lis-tens to someone during her visit of a butchery for the Dayof the entrepreneur in Voorschoten yesterday.—AFP

TOKYO: Japanese low-cost carrier Peach Aviation said yester-day it would buy 13 Airbus aircraft valued at almost $1.4 bil-lion as part of its expansion plans to cash in on a pick-up indemand for air travel in the country. Peach, an affiliate ofmajor Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA), agreed tobuy 10 fuel-efficient A320neos and three conventionalA320ceos, it said in a statement. The new aircraft are to beused for Peach’s “business expansion” it said. The airline fliesboth domestic and international routes, including toShanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul. “This will be the first time fora Japanese (low-cost carrier) to order A320neo aircraft,” Peachsaid, stressing the jet’s “superb environmental features”. ChiefExecutive Officer Shinichi Inoue said at a Tokyo briefing thatthe carrier plans to expand its fleet to at least 35 planes by2020 and to 100 later. It currently has 18 Airbus A320s.

Inoue added that it is also looking at setting up a base atSendai airport next year and at Sapporo’s Shin-Chitose in2018. The A320neo has a list price of $107.3 million and theA320ceo $98 million. The announcement comes afterEuropean aviation giant Airbus last month reported a five per-cent fall in January-September net profit and said it intends todeliver more planes than initially forecast this year. The plane-maker is improving its position in the Japanese market, whichhas seen a quasi-monopoly by American rival Boeing with thetwo biggest carriers-Japan Airlines and ANA-having a privi-leged relationship with the US manufacturer.—AFP

TOKYO: Airbus ECO Fabrice Bregier (left) shakes handswith CEO of Japan’s low cost carrier Peach AviationShinichi Inoue during a joint press conference in Tokyoyesterday. — AFP

Japan budget airline Peach

to buy 13 Airbus aircraft

Pakistan ‘war on

terror’ has cost

$118bn: State bank

B U S I N E S SSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

LONDON: Gold hit its lowest level since late May onFriday as the dollar surged to a near 14-year high onexpectations for a US rate hike next month and moreinfrastructure spending from the new Trump administra-tion. The US currency is on track for its best fortnightsince 1988 versus the yen, having hit its highest sinceearly 2003 versus a currency basket as Donald Trump’spresidential win stoked talk of higher fiscal spending andtax cuts to jump-start the US economy. That weighed ongold, which is priced in dollars. Spot gold slid to its low-est since May 30 at $1,203.52 an ounce, and was down0.8 percent at $1,205.76 an ounce.

US gold futures for December delivery were down$11.90 an ounce at $1,205.00, off a low of $1,201.30, itsweakest since mid-February. “It’s all about expectations,and what markets expect is a large fiscal stimulus, mostly

infrastructure spending, and for the Federal Reserve tobe much more aggressive in hiking rates,” CapitalEconomics analyst Simona Gambarini said.

“That’s what’s being reflected in the (gold) price.”Spot prices have fallen nearly 2 percent this week and aremore than $130 an ounce down from their post-electionpeak, hurt by the jump in the dollar and a surge in USTreasury yields.

US bond yields were set for the biggest fortnightly risein 15 years yesterday on bets US inflation and interestrates are headed higher. That increased the opportunitycost of holding non-yielding bullion. Fed chair JanetYellen said on Thursday in congressional testimony thatTrump’s election has done nothing to change the Fed’splans for a rate increase “relatively soon”.

Holdings of the world’s largest gold-backed

exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Shares, fell another 5.6tons on Thursday to their lowest since June. Holdingshave fallen nearly 30 tons since the US election. “Withthe pressure that has been seen in gold prices since earlyNovember, total ETF holdings in gold have fallen to theirlowest level since early July 2016,” ING said in a note.“Further outflows could put further pressure on goldprices.” Silver was down 1.1 percent at $16.47 an ounce,having earlier touched its lowest since June 8 at $16.44,while platinum was 0.5 percent lower at $925.80. Bothmetals were set for a second consecutive weekly decline.Palladium was down 1.9 percent at $713 an ounce, butwas set to post a third weekly rise, of more than 6 per-cent. The metal has benefited from strength in industrialmetals, on hopes that higher US infrastructure spendingcould boost demand. — Reuters

Gold slides to 5-1/2 month low on dollar

KABUL: Stalled luxury hotel and apartment projects nextto the US Embassy in the Afghan capital may have lostAmerican taxpayers $85 million and left the partially con-structed buildings as security threats, a governmentwatchdog said on Thursday.

The projects were partially funded by the OverseasPrivate Investment Corporation (OPIC), a US governmentagency that aims to help foreign investment. But bothnow appear to have been abandoned in a climate ofincreasing concern over security, according to a letter toOPIC from the Special Inspector General for AfghanistanReconstruction.

A suicide bomb attack on Wednesday killed four peo-ple in Kabul, illustrating the precarious security involvingnot only Islamic State and a Taliban insurgency but also awider breakdown in law and order as government con-trol has weakened. “The $85 million in loans is gone, thebuildings were never completed and are uninhabitable,and the US Embassy is now forced to provide security forthe site at additional cost to US taxpayers,” the letter said,accusing the developer of possible fraud and OPIC of laxoversight.

Ground was first broken for the hotel in 2004 by then-Afghan President Hamid Karzai, with the project financedin part by an OPIC loan of $40 million that US officials atthe time called the “largest US private investment inAfghanistan since the fall of the Taleban” in 2001.

It was initially to be run by Hyatt InternationalCorporation and finished in 18 months, according tonews reports at the time, but that never happened. By2007, a group of companies received a new loan of $60million to complete the hotel and Marriott Internationalhad agreed to manage it, the letter said. It is not clearwhat happened to the initial $40 million in loans.

“FALSE ASSURANCES”In 2013, construction was dragging on, but the devel-

oper, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, promisedit would be complete by the end of the year and OPICapproved the disbursement of the last funding, SIGARreported in the letter.

Marriott reportedly withdrew from the hotel and rightafter receiving the final loan funding, the developer toldOPIC it was stopping all work on the project, SIGAR said.“Based on our inspections it is clear that the assurancesmade to obtain the final loan disbursement were falseand misleading,” investigators said. “We are currentlydetermining whether earlier representations made to jus-tify the prior disbursements were also false and mislead-ing.” To this day the hulking building sits empty, over-looking the US Embassy which pays an untold amount ofmoney to secure the structure, according to SIGAR. Thesame developer was also involved in a related project tobuild a neighbouring apartment complex with $27 mil-lion in OPIC loans, but construction there was also haltedafter the company received the last funding, SIGARreported. —Reuters

LONDON: The dollar scaled to its high-est level in almost 14 years against abasket of currencies yesterday, while USbond yields were set for the biggestfortnightly rise in 15 years on bets USinflation and interest rates are headedhigher. A growing perception that theeconomic policies of US President-electDonald Trump will push up consumerprices helped put the dollar on track forits biggest two-week rise against theJapanese yen in almost 30 years.European shares nudged lower in earlyEuropean trade , while Italian bondsbore the brunt of selling in regionaldebt markets, with borrowing costs setfor their biggest two-week rise since the2012 eurozone debt crisis.

In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.4percent to hover just above four-monthlows touched earlier in the week. Itlooked set to log its fourth straight weekof losses. The dollar’s rise against theyen raised hopes of an earnings boost to

Japanese exporters, l ifting Japan’sNikkei average to a 10-month high. Theblue-chip stock index closed 0.6 percenthigher. Data on Thursday suggesting theUS jobs market is tightening and infla-tion is gaining traction have bolstered aview that US growth and inflation couldaccelerate if the Trump administrationcuts taxes and increases fiscal spending.

Last week’s unexpected US electionresult has prompted investors to ditchtheir once rock-solid conviction thatgrowth in developed economies willremain tepid because of tough competi-tion from emerging market economieswith lower wages. That has led to arepricing of assets, witnessed mostnotably in currency and bond markets.“What we’re looking at is a broad shift ofinvestment back to the US,” said RichardCochinos, Citi’s head of G10 currencystrategy in London. “There are expecta-tions for tax cuts next year - which werepart of the Trump campaign’s promises -and then there’s also the idea of what

type of fiscal boost are you going tohave. That’s what’s driving asset prices -it’s people’s expectations for the fiscalimpulse next year,” he said.

BONDS RUMBLEDThe 10-year US Treasury yield rose to

2.34 percent, its highest since December.It is up about 55 basis points over thelast two weeks-the biggest fortnightlyrise in 15 years and the second biggest inalmost 30 years. In Europe, Italian 10-year bond yields rose 8 basis points to2.12 percent, racking up 44 bps over thelast fortnight in its biggest surge sinceMay 2012. Italy has been at the sharpend of the rout as investors fret aboutthe political repercussions of a referen-dum next month that could furtherdestabilize a country battling a bankingcrisis and a weak economy. Rising bondyields across the globe also reflect areassessment of the Federal Reserve’spolicy path down the road, beyond alikely rate hike in December. — Reuters

Stalled luxury hotel projects in Kabul ‘lost $85 million’

TOKYO: Money traders work at a foreign exchange brokerage in Tokyo yesterday. Japanese shares rose Friday on theyen’s weakness while other Asian benchmarks wobbled after Fed chair Janet Yellen signaled that policymakers plan toraise interest rates soon. —AP

Dollar charges to 14-year high, bonds in full swingSolid US data, Yellen comments fuel rate-hike bets

B U S I N E S SSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

LONDON: British Finance MinisterPhilip Hammond is likely to announcea “steady as she goes” budget plannext week without big tax or spendingsurprises, and he will avoid setting afirm target for turning the budgetdeficit into a surplus, a lawmaker said.

Stephen Hammond, who is afriend of the minister and a member ofhis Conservative party but is not relat-ed to him, told the BBC that PhilipHammond would not announce onWednesday a big increase in spendingto help the economy during the uncer-tainty caused by June’s vote to leavethe European Union. “Anyone who

thinks Philip Hammond is going to beKeynes I think has probably misunder-stood his economic philosophy,”Stephen Hammond said, referring tothe economist John Maynard Keynes,who argued that aggressive publicspending was the best way to fighteconomic downturns.

Britain’s new government has saidit will drop the target of former financeminister George Osborne of a budgetsurplus by the 2019/20 financial year,the last of the current five-year parlia-ment, but will still push to eliminatethe deficit. “Intellectually the frame-work remains that same, that we

intend to achieve a fiscal surplus withinthe life of the next parliament,”Stephen Hammond said in a televisioninterview broadcast late on Thursday.He said any increase in spending oninfrastructure would need to providevalue for money and show a provenbusiness case although he said PhilipHammond should not be considered“a boring accountant.”

While there could be some helpfor households such as a cut in fuelduty or measures to have savers, therewould not be a big focus on whatPrime Minister Theresa May has calledBritain’s “just managing” group of fam-

ilies. “This is the time I think for steadyas she goes Autumn Statement,”Stephen Hammond said. “No rabbitsout of a hat.” Hammond’s options forhis first budget statement since takingover Britain’s Treasury in July are limit-ed by the prospect of a slowdown ineconomic growth over the next fewyears as Britain negotiates its exit fromthe EU as well as its already weak pub-lic finances.

Many economists expect theBritish government is now on course toborrow 100 billion more pounds thanit previously expected over the nextfive years. — Reuters

LONDON: UK housebuilders, particularly those operatingin central London, are finding lenders are giving out lessfinance for new projects since Britain’s vote to leave theEuropean Union, according to a report by property con-sultant Knight Frank. Heightened caution among lendersis causing many to scrutinise deals for longer and reducethe amount of their lending by 5-10 percent of the projectcost, Peter Macallan, head of structured developmentfinance at property consultant Knight Frank told Reuters.

“So what that means is that effectively developers arehaving to put more cash equity into the deals upfront, giv-ing lenders a bit more comfort in an uncertain market withBrexit, the US election and what demand for UK housingstock is going to look like in 3-5 years,” Macallan said.

The Residential Development Finance Report 2016/17by Knight Frank, which surveyed the industry’s 50 majoroperators, said over a quarter of respondents expectedthe loan-to-value on development projects to fall. Theresult could be that builders offer bigger discounts to cashbuyers to lure landlords and overseas buyers that mighthave limited purchases due to Brexit uncertainty and anincrease in tax on buy-to-let and second homes.

UK property was the hardest hit sector immediatelyafter the Brexit vote, but new homes demand in most ofBritain, including outer London, has returned after an ini-tial dip, according to builders and surveys. Central Londonthough remains a weak spot, with property prices forecastto fall and housebuilder Barratt having cut prices of someof its expensive homes. The pace of building in this regionhas already slowed. — Reuters

UK’s Hammond plans ‘steady as she goes’ budget: Lawmaker

FRANKFURT: Volkswagen announcedplans yesterday to cut 30,000 jobs in awide-ranging restructuring of its name-sake brand as it tries to recover from ascandal over cars rigged to cheat ondiesel emissions tests.

The German company said the jobcuts are part of a long-term plan toimprove profitability and shift resourcesand investment to electric-poweredvehicles and digital services. Companyofficials at a news conference at itsheadquarters in Wolfsburg said 23,000of the job cuts will come in Germanyand that the measures will save some3.7 billion euros ($4 billion) a year from2020. CEO Matthias Mueller said it was“the biggest reform package in the his-tory of our core brand.” In addition toVolkswagen, the company also makescars under other brands includingPorsche, Audi, SEAT, Skoda andLamborghini. The layoffs cap a difficultyear for Volkswagen, which has beenembroiled in an emissions-rigging scan-dal that damaged the company’s repu-tation and cost it billions.

In response, Volkswagen has agreedto pay $15 billion to US authorities andowners of some 500,000 vehicles with

software that turned off emissions con-trols. Around 11 million cars worldwidehave the deceptive software. The scan-dal has been a spur for the company toaddress longstanding problems such ashigh fixed costs at its manufacturinglocations in Germany and excessivelytop-down management that many saycreated an environment that enabledthe cheating.

Herbert Diess, head of the coreVolkswagen brand, conceded thatVolkswagen had let its costs rise and“lost ground in terms of productivity.”The changes, he said, would make thecompany “leaner and more efficient.”

As well as addressing Volkswagen’slongstanding cost issue, the cuts under-score the company’s status as key jobsprovider in the state of Lower Saxony,which owns a stake in the company.

Volkswagen Group, with its multi-ple brands, has more than 600,000employees worldwide but the cuts willmainly fall on its 120,000-strong Germanworkforce. Job cuts are also foreseen inBrazil and Argentina.

Volkswagen sells roughly the samenumber of cars as Toyota and GeneralMotors, around 10 million a year. But

Toyota does it with 333,500 workers andGM with 202,000. The company has saidit aims to cut nonessential costs andinvestments and shift resources towardbattery-powered cars and internet-based services such as car-sharing andride-sharing. The company had beenslower than some competitors to movetoward electric cars but has shifted itsview after the scandal underlineddiesel’s limitations. Volkswagen nowsays it plans to introduce more than 30electric-powered vehicles by 2025, andto sell 2 to 3 million of them a year. Tomake the job cuts, the company has cuta deal with its powerful worker repre-sentatives. Under the terms of the deal,Volkswagen has agreed to keep much ofthe future investment in new technolo-gy in Germany and to rely on voluntarydepartures such as early retirement,with no firings.

Top employee representative BerndOsterloh said “the next generation ofelectric vehicles will be made here inGermany, not abroad.” Volkswagen’spackage of measures received a cau-tious welcome in markets. The compa-ny’s share price was up 0.3 percent at129.45 euros. — AP

UK housebuilders find lenders more cautious

after Brexit vote: Survey

Volkswagen to shed 30,000 jobs in cost-cutting drive

Automaker tries to recover from scandal

BRUSSELS: The European Central Bank risks conflicts of inter-ests over its bank supervision powers when it uses the samestaff to perform monetary and supervisory functions, EU audi-tors said on Friday. They also cautioned about ECB’s excessivereliance on national supervisors, and said the bank had notprovided it with all the information they needed. The warn-ings came in the first report the European Court of Auditorspublished as part of its mandate to oversee the ECB’s “opera-tional efficiency.” Following the 2007-08 global financial crisis,the ECB has added to its monetary policy functions the task ofsupervising the top banks of the euro zone’s 19 countries.

The two functions should remain separate, but auditorssaid the ECB has set up some departments, called “sharedservices”, which provide support to both the monetary andsupervisory tasks. “This saves on resources, but the risk of pos-sible conflicts of interests in some areas needs to beaddressed,” the EU auditors said in a note.

The ECB defended the practice, replied in a note to thereport: “The establishment of so-called shared services (..) doesnot lead to conflicts of interests and is therefore compatible withthe principle of separation.” Auditors said also the ECB relies toomuch on staff from national authorities to carry out bank super-vision, and this may reduce its effectiveness. —Reuters

WOLFSBURG: (L-R) Karlheinz Blessing, board member of human resources of German carmaker Volkswagen, HerbertDiess, board member of management of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand, Matthias Mueller, CEO of German car-maker Volkswagen (VW), Chairman of VW Works council Bernd Osterloh and Lower Saxony State Premier and VWSupervisory board member Stephan Weil attend the company’s press conference yesterday. —AFP

ECB risks conflicts of interests over bank supervision powers

PERU: This handout photo taken on November 17, 2016 and released by the official APEC Peru 2016 organization showsPhilippine President Rodrigo Duterte (C) arriving at Lima’s international airport to attend the Asia-Pacific EconomicCooperation Summit. — AFP

B U S I N E S SSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

BEIJING: China will position itself as freetrade’s new champion at an Asia-Pacificsummit this weekend, with theCommunist government seeking to proj-ect economic leadership as a US-ledPacific Rim trade pact languishes underPresident-elect Donald Trump.

Beijing aims to capitalize on theTrump-induced coma of the Trans-PacificPartnership (TPP), with President XiJinping selling alternate visions forregional trade at the Asia-PacificEconomic Cooperation (APEC) meetingthis weekend in Peru.

“If the US gives up its leadership here,of course China will take the role,” said TuXinquan, a trade expert at Beijing’sUniversity of International Business andEconomics, who has advised China’s gov-ernment on trade issues. On the cam-paign trail, Trump labelled the TPP,championed by President Barack Obama,a “disaster”. Obama last week abandonedefforts to win congressional approval forthe TPP before Trump takes office, sayingits fate was up to the President-elect andRepublican lawmakers.

The China-backed RegionalComprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP), a rival pact that excludes theUnited States, has become the front-run-ner for new free trade deals in theregion.

The RCEP and the TPP-whichexcludes China-were viewed as parallel,if competing pathways, to an eventualbroader Asia-Pacific free trade zone. Butwhen Beijing hosted the APEC meetingin 2014 and pushed the Free Trade Areaof the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) as a frame-work for liberalising Pacific Rim trade,the United States saw it as a distractionfrom TPP.

Now, the RCEP is likely the mainavenue to a future FTAAP, giving China,

as the largest economy among the deal’s16 countries, a driving role in the futureof Asia-Pacific trade.

Obama had argued that the TPPwould allow the United States and notChina to write the rules of trade for theregion.

‘GEOPOLITICAL REALITIESChina’s efforts to push trade pacts

coincide with other soft power initiativesaimed at cementing the country’s eco-nomic influence, such as Xi’s global OneBelt, One Road infrastructure plan andthe Beijing-led Asian InfrastructureInvestment Bank.

Claire Reade, senior counsel at US lawfirm Arnold & Porter and a formerAssistant US Trade Representative forChina Affairs, said China would seek tocontrast its commitment to the regionwith US inconstancy. “The geopoliticalrealities and China’s economic diploma-cy make it seem unlikely the smallercountries in the region would spurnChina’s leadership,” she said.

In a sign of frustration with theUnited States among some TPP mem-bers, Peru’s president has said thatPacific-rim countries can forge a newtrade deal to replace TPP that includesChina and Russia but not the UnitedStates.

This week, Peru’s trade minister said itwas engaging China on ways to getinvolved with RCEP negotiations. If Limajoined the talks, which is unlikely untilexisting members come to terms, itwould be the only participant from theAmericas and could encourage otherTPP signatories in Latin America to fol-low suit.

Other TPP members, includingstaunch US ally Australia, have said theywill pursue other free trade options in

Asia. Malaysia has said it would shift itsfocus from TPP to RCEP, and Vietnam,which is also party to both deals, willshelve its ratification of TPP due to politi-cal changes in Washington.

MORE OFF-SHORINGTrade experts say that in addition to

dealing a blow to US influence, TPP’s fail-ure could mean US goods lose out onlower tariffs and market access to RCEPcountries, including Japan, China andIndia. Proposed dates for an agreementhave come and gone, but an RCEP dealcould be reached as soon as next year.

Deborah Elms, who runs theSingapore-based Asian Trade Centreconsultancy and advises governments,said the lack of US involvement in futuretrade deals could spur more off-shoringby US companies. “If you want to takeadvantage of RCEP, you need to be inAsia to service Asian markets. Thatmeans you need to be physically presentwith at least some part of your opera-tion,” Elms said.

Governments in the region shouldtake advantage of RCEP momentum, shesaid. “I would be trumpeting loudly fromthe rooftops ... Put your whole globaloperations here to take advantage of theplace that is still open for business.”

The role-reversal on free trade zonesand other uncertainties stemming fromTrump’s election bolsters China’s image,Douglas Paal, vice president for studies atthe Carnegie Endowment for InternationalPeace, said at a forum in Beijing onWednesday. “Withdrawing from tradeagreements, talking about shaking upalliances, talking about pulling out of theclimate change agreement, talking aboutpulling out of Iran - all of these makeChina look like the responsible stakehold-er,” Paal said. — Reuters

Hungary to cut corporatetax rate to EU low

BUDAPEST: Hungary is seeking to lower corporate tax tonine percent starting from 2017, the lowest rate in theEuropean Union, Prime Minister Viktor Orban saidThursday.

“Next year, corporate tax will be set at a single, equi-table figure of nine percent, for small and medium enter-prises, and large corporations alike,” he told reporters inBudapest. Hungarian companies with a turnover of under500 million forints (1.6 million euros, $1.7 million) currentlypay 10 percent of their earnings in tax.

Larger corporations pay 19 percent. The decision tolower taxes rates was taken on Thursday after consulta-tions with Economy Minister Mihaly Varga.

“With these taxes, Hungary will offer the EuropeanUnion’s best fiscal conditions,” Orban said.

To date, Bulgaria, Ireland and Cyprus have had the low-est corporate tax rates in the EU.

Varga said in a statement that the 2017 budget hadbeen designed to accommodate a shortfall of 145 billionforints as a result of the corporate tax reform. “That means145 billion (forints) more will remain in the pockets of cor-porations. The reserve fund of 200 billion will be morethan sufficient to cover this gap,” he added.

The Hungarian press said it feared the nation couldbecome a tax haven. “If the government’s aim is to attractmultinationals and investments, everyone knows thatthese giants pay less attention to corporate tax than topayroll taxes,” the Index.hu website said. — AFP

With Trump win, China looks to seize Asia free trade leadershipAPEC to discuss future of TPP at Peru summit

Mexico CB hikes rates to over 7-year high as US election sinks peso

MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s central bank hiked interest rates totheir highest in over 7 years on Thursday and warned that theelection of Donald Trump as US president had cast doubt onthe direction of Latin America’s second-largest economy. TheBanco de Mexico raised its key rate 50 basis points (bps) to 5.25percent, its highest since May 2009.

The move had been expected by the median of 15 analystspolled by Reuters from the end of last week. But the market lat-er tilted toward a hike of at least 75 bps and the peso closeddown just over 1 percent.

“The market was expecting a bit more,” said Alfonso Esparza,a strategist at Oanda in Toronto, who still thought the 50 bpshike was the right move due to the risk to growth from Trump’sthreat to unwind a free trade deal with Mexico.

“It is still very early to know what could be the effect of thenew policies of President-elect Trump,” he said. “The centralbank could end up risking too much before it really knows whatwill happen with Trump’s promises.” The central bank said theoutcome of the US election could affect the relationship withMexico, on top of further episodes of global volatility.

“The current environment facing the national economy ischaracterized by greater uncertainty,” it said, adding that “thenew international environment” suggested that economicgrowth could be weaker going forward. The peso slid to arecord low last week as Trump swept to power, posting itsbiggest two-day loss since a 1995 devaluation. —Reuters

MONTELIMAR: People walk past closed stored during a“Lifeless town operation” (“Operation ville morte”) as store-keepers protest against the depopulation of the city centerand the construction of a shopping mall in the outskirt of thetown yesterday in Montelimar, southeastern France. —AFP

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19 , 2016 www.kuwaittimes.net

SEE PAGE 24

A Siamese fighting fish with colors resembling the Thainational flag swims in a fish tank in Nakhon Pathom,Thailand. — AP

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

Singer-songwriter Juan Gabriel had never received a LatinGrammy Award during his lifetime, but on Thursday, hebecame a posthumous double winner. The late Mexican

superstar won album of the year and best vocal pop traditionalalbum for “Los Duo 2,” a collection of his greatest hits performedby such luminaries of Latin music as Marc Anthony, AlejandroFernandez, Jose Feliciano and Wisin. A video tribute showedhighlights from his decades onstage, and the presenters of thenight’s final prize called on the audience to “applaud for the mas-ter.” Gabriel died in August at age 66.

He was named the Latin Recording Academy’s Person of theYear in 2009, and Anthony received the honor this year. JenniferLopez presented the prize, stealing the show with her duet withAnthony on “Olvidame y Pega la Vuelta,” followed by a heartfeltspeech in which she described her ex-husband as “a living leg-end.” He was feted in a separate ceremony Wednesday butreceived the award from Lopez on Thursday’s show, held at LasVegas’ T-Mobile Arena and broadcast live on Univision. “Marc,you are a living legend who has laid bare your heart and soul onyour musical journey... An artist magical and pure who has givenus classics that will stay with us forever,” Lopez said in Spanish.“On our own personal and artistic journey, we’ve learned so

much and we’ve grown so much, and you’ve always been somany things in my life: my mentor, a twin soul, a father who’s

not only the Person of the Year, he’s the person of all time.”The audience cheered, “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” and the former

couple obliged with a small peck. Anthony and Lopezwere wed from 2004 to 2011. He has been married to

Venezuelan model Shannon De Lima since 2014.Carlos Vives won record and song of the year

honors for “La Bicicleta,” his duet withShakira. Vives, who also performed

the song during Thursday’s show,thanked “the Spanish- speaking

community all over theworld” as he dedicat-ed his award to hisfamily and homeland

of Colombia. Shakira did not attend the ceremony.Vives accepted the golden gramophone from singer-song-

writer Julieta Venegas and actor-director Diego Luna, whosemessage of unity among Latinos was an indirect allusion to the

rhetoric of President-elect Donald Trump. “Together we can fighthate and discrimination,” Luna said. “We are stronger together.”Show co-host Roselyn Sanchez also said, “There shouldn’t bewalls that separate us,” but no one mentioned Trump’s namefrom the stage. The show began with a strong message indefense of Latinos, as Juanes and Pablo Lopez performed “TuEnemigo” (“Your Enemy”), backed by a gospel choir and Cirquedu Soleil gymnasts. The song includes the lyric, “your hands aremy flag and I have a song as my border.”

Sanchez repeated the lyric after their performance, saying,“the only barriers that should exist are the songs.” Mexican singerCarla Morrison, who won the Latin Grammy for best alternativesong for “Vez Primera,” dedicated the award to “all Latinos whoare in this country, that the walls would only be mental and wecan destroy them and never be separated.” — AP

In this April 10, 2015 file photo, Mexican singer-songwriter, Juan Gabriel,performs at the National Auditorium in Mexico City. — AP/AFP photos

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs accept the award for Best Rock Album during the show of the 17th Annual LatinGrammy Awards.

Recording artists Joy Huerta and Jesse Huerta of Jesse yJoy accept Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Album.

Randy Malcom Martinez (left) and Alexander Delgado, ofGente de Zona, accept the award for Best Tropical Fusion Albu.

Singer Carlos Vives poses with the Grammy for Record ofthe Year and Song of the Year.Nastassja Bolivar

Juan Gabriel a posthumous double winner at Latin Grammys

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

Reik performs “Ya Me Entere” on stage. Mon Laferte and Juanes perform on stage.

Fonseca, center, performs “Vine a Buscarte” with Raul Alexis Ortiz, left, and Joel FidoMartinez, of Alexis y Fido.

Eugenia Leon, from left, Tania Libertad and Guadalupe Pineda, of “Las Tres Grande” per-form “Mi Canto Viene del Sur”.

Recording artist Sofia Reyes

Nina Pastori poses in the pressroom with the award for bestflamenco album for “AmameComo Soy”.

Singer Gente De Zona poses with the Grammy forBest Tropical Fusion Album.

Singers Diego Torres (left) and Rachel Platten perform.

Prince Royce, left, and Gerardo Ortiz perform“Moneda” on stage.

Hosts Roselyn Sanchez (left) and Sebastian Rulli speakon stage.

Banda El Recodo De Cruz Lizarraga poses with theGrammy for Best Banda Album

Singer Marc Anthony performs with Jennifer Lopezduring the show.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

ASiamese fighting fish with the colors of the Thai national flag hasbeen bought for 53,500 baht ($1,530) at an online auction, possiblymaking it the most expensive Betta fish ever sold. Pictures of the

fish, with its blue, red and white horizontal stripes mimicking the Thaiflag, went viral after its breeder Kachen Worachai posted them on a pri-vate Betta fish auction group on Facebook.

Kachen said Thursday he had expected someone to buy the fish for afew thousand baht but was shocked when the bid hit 10,000 baht ($285)on the second day. “I never expected my fish to go for this price,” saidKachen, a 40-year-old convenience store owner who breeds Betta fish as ahobby. He posted the pictures on Nov. 6 with a starting bid of 99 baht($2.82) and closed the auction on Nov 8.

Betta fish have been bred previously to reproduce the colors of theThai flag but Kachen said none have come close. He said the highest pre-vious price for a Betta was for a half-moon Betta fish that sold for 23,500baht ($671). “The chance of getting a fish with the flag’s exact color is likeone in 100,000,” said Kachen. “So many people have tried to breed theThai flag colors. Luck was really on my side.” — AP

Thai fish with national flag colors sold for more than $1.5K

A Siamese fighting fish with colors resembling the Thai nationalflag swims in a fish tank in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. — AP

The world’s earliest-known complete stoneinscription of the Ten Commandments,described as a “national treasure” of Israel, sold

at auction in Beverly Hills for $850,000. HeritageAuctions said the two-foot square marble slab soldWednesday night at a public auction of ancientBiblical archaeology artifacts. The tablet weighs about115 pounds and is inscribed in an early Hebrew scriptcalled Samaritan.

It likely adorned the entrance of a synagogue thatwas destroyed by the Romans between AD 400 and600, or by the Crusaders in the 11th century, saidDavid Michaels, Heritage Auctions director of ancientcoins and antiquities. The auction house said theIsraeli Antiquities Authorities approved export of thepiece to the United States in 2005. The only conditionwas that it must be displayed in a public museum.“The sale of this tablet does not mean it will be hiddenaway from the public,” Michaels said. “The new owneris under obligation to display the tablet for the benefitof the public.”

The tablet lists nine of the 10 commonly knowncommandments, leaving out “Thou shalt not take thename of the Lord thy God in vain” (King James transla-tion), and adding one often employed by theSamaritan sect, encouraging worshippers to “raise upa temple” on Mount Gerizim, the holy mountain of theSamaritans, according to Heritage Auctions. Thetablet was one of a number of Biblical artifacts ownedby the Living Torah Museum in Brooklyn, New York,that were up for auction. The auction opened with a$300,000 bid on the piece. The winning bidder doesnot wish to be identified. — AP

Officials say a dress worn by Marilyn Monroe as shefamously sang “Happy Birthday” to PresidentJohn. F Kennedy has sold for nearly $5 million at a

Los Angeles auction. Julien’s Auctions says that the icon-ic, form-fitting gown was sold for $4.8 million Thursdaynight to Ripley’s Believe It or Not. The company says in anews release that the actress wore the Hollywooddesigner Jean Louis creation - flesh-colored and sparklingwith over 2,500 handstitched crystals - on May 19, 1962,for an early 45th birthday celebration for Kennedy at NewYork’s Madison Square Garden.

Monroe’s breathy rendition of the birthday song hasbeen broadcast repeatedly since, adding to the lore sur-rounding the screen icon. It was just a few months lateron Aug 5, that the 36-year-old Monroe was found deadfrom what the Los Angeles district attorney’s office ruledwas an overdose of barbiturates. — AP

This undated photo provided by HeritageAuctions, HA.com shows the world’s earliest-known stone inscription of the TenCommandments - a two-foot square slab of whitemarble, weighing about 115 pounds andinscribed in an early Hebrew script calledSamaritan. — AP

This April 1962 file photo shows actress MarilynMonroe on the set of her last movie, “Something’sGot To Give,” in Los Angeles. — AP photos

This Friday, Oct 22, 1999 file photo showsMarilyn Monroe’s “Happy Birthday, MrPresident” dress on display at Christie’s inNew York.

Ancient Ten Commandments tablet sold at auction for $850,000

Monroe dress for Kennedybirthday song sold — $4.8 million

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

Models display chocolate dresses at the Salon Du Chocolat 2016 fashion show in Beirut yesterday. —AFP photos

Salon Du Chocolat2016 fashion show

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

In this undated photo provided by Ballet Beautiful, Mary Helen Bowers teaches theSupermodel workout in the Ballet Beautiful studio in New York. —AP photos

This undated photo provided by Nike shows their Lunar Epic Flyknit Shield running shoe.

Because golf balls and yoga mats areso predictable. From spinners toCrossFitters and all the barre lovers in

between, here’s a look at 10 gift ideas tokeep every sweaty body in your life movingand motivated.

Stocking stuffersExo protein bars: The latest ‘it’ bars will

hit every picky dieter on your list. Exo barsare gluten-, soy- and dairy-free, offering 10grams of protein per bar from cricket flour.Yep, as in insects. The company says crick-ets are full of zinc, iron and calcium to helppower you through a spin class. They’resweetened with natural sugars like datesand come in flavors like peanut butter andjelly and banana bread. $3 per bar or $36for 12-pack

TAva DVD: Celebrity to the stars TracyAnderson’s newest DVD feels more like adance party than a workout. Expect someserious booty shaking since the cardio rou-tine was inspired by her sessions trainingJennifer Lopez. $19.99

Yoga and barre loversOnline barre class: Former New York City

Ballet dancer Mary Helen Bowers trainedNatalie Portman for Oscar-winning role in“Black Swan.” Now the founder of the BalletBeautiful workout streams classes online forthose who can’t work out alongside her.Taylor Swift, Gigi Hadid and Karlie Kloss areall regulars. Try the Ultimate SupermodelWorkout. $12.99

Warm-up hoodie: Spiritual Gangster’ship athleisure line offers a new kind ofstreet cred. This cozy “love is the answer”hoodie will keep your warm post savasana.Sizes tend to run a bit small. $78

Cross trainers/runnersJabra Elite Sport: Whether they’re into

boxing, jump-roping or one-armed hand-stands, every gym rat is looking for onething. Wireless headphones that will stayput despite serious sweat and movement.Two microphones in each bud help filter

out background noise for up to three hours.Works with Android or Apple iOS. $249.99

Nike LunarEpic Flyknit Shield: Ice, snowand mud are no problem for Nike’s mostpopular running shoe which now features awater-repellent bootie to keep feet warmand dry. The cool kicks are also safety con-scious with reflective details on the heeland laces as well as multi-surface traction.$200

Workout recovery“Taller, Slimmer, Younger: 21 days to a

Foam Roller Physique” and travel foamroller: Learn to improve posture ailed bytoo much time slumped over the computer.Lauren Roxburgh’s method is a great bal-ance to high-intensity workouts that focus-es on alignment. The mini foam roller’sraised circular bumps aid in lymphaticdrainage and decreasing inflammation.Book $13.95. Travel roller $14.95

Power Dust: Gwyneth Paltrow says sheputs Moon Juice dusts in her daily proteinshakes. The power dust includes Chineseherbs like rhodiola, astragalus andeleuthero that the company says helps soremuscles recover and reduce inflammation.Use it to heal from a heavy lifting session orfind stamina for the next one. $30

Workout newbiesFitmo: The app connects users with real

personal trainers. Choose your coach from alist of profiles and let them create a person-alized diet and workout schedule. Trainersgive feedback and daily motivationsthrough messaging and video chats. $10 amonth or $60 a month depending onwhich coach you choose and the amount ofinteraction you want to have with them.

Pressed Juicery: Don’t let poor mealplanning spoil your hard-fought boot campclass. The juices come delivered to yourdoor with enough flavor options to satisfysweet-tooth skeptics and hardened gree-nies. $130 for a three-day cleanse of 18juices delivered.—AP

From yogis to barre lovers, 10 gift ideas for gym rats

This undated photo provided by MoonJuice shows a jar of their Power Dust.

This undated screen shot from a mobilephone and provided by Fitmo showsthe Fitmo App, which connects userswho want to achieve fitness and healthgoals with real personal trainers.

This undated photo provided by Exo shows different fla-vors of their protein bars. Exo bars are gluten, soy anddairy free, offering 10 grams of protein per bar from crick-et flour.

This undated photo provided by Pressed Juicery showssome of their pressed juices. Don’t let poor meal planningspoil your hard fought boot camp class.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

This undated photo provided by Woman’s Day shows dif-ferent ornaments hanging that may be crafted for the hol-idays using simple items around the house, such as tooth-picks, yarn and cinnamon sticks. —AP photos

This undated photo provided by Bob Richter shows thecover of his book “A Very Vintage Christmas”.

This photo taken from video and provided by Woman’sDay shows star-shaped ornaments made from woodenclothespins.

Making your own ornaments and decorations for the holidayshas its own rewards - the need to create is strong in many ofus - but it feels particularly good to dig out your art supplies

at this time of year. As Bob Richter puts it in his new book, “A VeryVintage Christmas” (Rowman & Littlefield): “At the heart of it, this iswhat Christmas means to me . passing along warmth, memories, tra-dition, stories and so much more.”

Richter keeps his childhood memories alive by decorating withvintage ornaments, some of which he received as a small child fromrelatives. Each delicate piece evokes a memory. “As my grandmothergrew older, she took pleasure in letting me decorate her tree, and Ihave many happy memories of doing it,” Richter reminisces in hisbook. “Now one of my favorite and most treasured ornaments is herfavorite Santa Claus. Each year when I hang him on my tree, I think ofher and smile.”

Our children’s handmade ornaments - perhaps incorporating atiny handprint, a school photo or the year of its making - evoke simi-lar sentiments every holiday season.

“Especially in this culture of time-pressed, technology-obsessedand often distracted people, I think it’s more important than ever topass along the things that really connect us,” says Richter. “AndChristmas does that.” From the December/January pages ofWoman’s Day magazine come a few ornaments that evoke holidayspast. We’ve amended them with another from the magazine’s web-site that evokes a vintage feel. These crafts require just the simplestof materials, such as toothpicks, yarn and wooden clothespins.

Especially when little glue-sticky fingers are at work, these craftscould become next year’s treasures.

Knit bauble“The ball ornament is the most recognizable ornament at

Christmastime,” says Woman’s Day lifestyle director Taryn Mohrman.“You can use one that’s a little chipped . with a bit of yarn, you canturn it into something that evokes soft and cozy, and adds warmth toyour tree.” Remove the metal top from a plain ball ornament. Holdtwo colors of yarn together and hot-glue them inside the opening ofthe ornament. Once dry, wrap both strands around the ornament tocover it completely; use hot glue to secure as you go. Then apply redacrylic paint to the balls of two rock candy sticks, and trim the endsinto points using scissors. Once dry, thread these “knitting needles”through the yarn on the ornament and replace the metal top.

Sweet scented tree“These ornaments make great gift toppers,” says Mohrman.Bend a 3 1/2-inch piece of naturally coiled wrapped wire, avail-

able at crafts stores, in half to form a loop, and then gently pusheach end into the hollow part of a cinnamon stick. Use hot glue toattach cut sprigs of fresh rosemary for branches and small gems forornaments.

Sparkling starburstThis ornament “is about the metallic, the glitter and the shine,”

says Mohrman. Carefully push whole and halved toothpicks into a 11/2-inch foam ball, and then apply one or two coats of silver spraypaint. While the ornament’s still wet, dust fine silver glitter over it. Usea dab of hot glue to attach a string for hanging.

Clothespin snowflake“This is a good sturdy ornament that can be packed away and

stand the test of time,” says Mohrman. You need: eight clothespins,craft glue, white acrylic paint, a paintbrush, a foam paintbrush, whiteglitter, red string and scissors. Start by carefully sliding the metal clipsoff of the eight clothespins and discard. Reattach two woodenclothespin pieces by gluing the flat sides together. Repeat for theremaining wood pieces. Arrange these reattached wood pieces inthe shape of a snowflake and glue together at the base; let dry com-pletely. Apply white paint to the edges and one side of thesnowflake. While the paint is still wet, sprinkle on white glitter.

Once dry, flip the snowflake over and apply paint and glitter tothe other side. Finally, slip a length of red string through one of theopenings in the snowflake and tie the ends into a bow; use it to hangthe ornament.

Even simpler nostalgic diy ideas?Richter suggests stringing popcorn and cranberry chains - three

popcorns for each cranberry - and tying hole-punched vintage holi-day cards to tree branches with red ribbon. Find boxes of old cards atflea markets for a few dollars, he says.—AP

Small and independent retailers are strategiz-ing to try to make the most of an uncertainholiday season. The last three months of the

year are critical for many retailers, who may gethalf their annual revenue during that time. Butconsumers who may be hesitant to splurge haveled retailers to be increasingly creative about spe-cial promotions and discounts, and also promptedmany to use technology to help determine whatcustomers want.

“We’ve had such a protracted, sluggish econo-my that I assume that’s the way it’s going to be,”says Brian Reardon, owner of Monster Music,which sells musical instruments and providesmusic lessons in Levittown, New York. Reardonhas found it harder to get more people to buy les-sons - while the store has 600 students, that’s littlechanged over the past two years. To encourageprospective students or their parents to sign up,he gives away an acoustic guitar when they payfor six months of lessons that cost $600.

Innovation and qualityAlthough overall spending at retailers across

the country rose in September and November, itremains weak at many stores that get much oftheir revenue from the holidays. Sales at depart-ment stores fell more than 5 percent the first 10months of the year, according to the CommerceDepartment. At electronics stores, they were offmore than 3 percent, and they edged up just 0.4percent at clothing stores. Forecasters generally

have predicted retailers will see holiday salesincrease a decent 3 percent to 4 percent.

“They’re going to have to provide some levelof added value, innovation and quality,” says JoeBrusuelas, chief economist with RSM US, a con-sulting firm whose clients include retailers.Traditional brick-and-mortal stores have lost busi-ness not only to the internet but also to con-sumers’ growing preference for travel and otherexperiences over possessions, he says.

Mark Aselstine’s wine club and gift basket salesgrowth has been flat. So he’s planning to give cus-tomers more options when they order fromUncorked Ventures; alongside the company’s$150 baskets will be some priced $115, withcheaper shipping. The baskets can be preselectedor customized. “The market quite honestly simplyhasn’t moved in our direction as much as we’dhoped over the past few years,” says Aselstine,whose company is based in Berkeley, California.

Some of his customers are looking for goodbottles but at lower prices. He’s seeing more inter-est in pinot noir from New Zealand, which costshalf of what the California version does. Choiceslike that have brought down the price of basketsthe company sells - while two years ago the aver-age price was $322, now it’s $45 to $50 less.

Even companies that seem like they might nothave to worry during the holidays are offeringdeals. Jacques Torres, who sells his high-endchocolate and other food at nine locations in NewYork and online, has a special promotion with a

sandwich, beverage and ice cream for $10 at hiscafe in Grand Central Terminal. Torres, whosechocolates retail for nearly $40 a pound, has a lotof competition and rising expenses like rent andwages. “We never used to discount anything. Nowwe do, because we need the sales, we need theadvertising, we need the buzz,” he says. Still, retail-

ers can’t assume shoppers will opt for the cheap-est gifts. Customers of Daddies Board Shop areeager to buy skateboards and snowboards withprice tags that run into the hundreds of dollars,but are choosy about lower-priced staples, presi-dent Daron Horwitz says.—AP

Small retailers strategize with hope of successful holidays

In this file photo, Jacques Torres, who sells his well-known and high-end chocolate andother food at eight locations in New York and online, assembles a gift basket at his flag-ship store in New York.—AP

Today’s crafted ornaments can become tomorrow’s keepsakes

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

A group of tourists visit a former Syrian army post inQuneitra.

On top of a long-abandoned building, 50 young ArabIsraelis listen attentively to Emad Madah as smoke bil-lows into the sky in the distance behind them. Madah

is standing in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights near thedemarcation line with Syria, explaining the fighting on theSyrian plains below. For his guests, this is their idea of fun.“Every time, I learn something new about nature and live outthe events of history in my imagination,” says Roni Haloon, a23-year-old student from the Arab Israeli village of Isfiya whois on his second trip with Madah. Stunning beaches andresorts abound in the Middle East for tourists seeking rest andrelaxation, but there are also other options for the more curi-ous in the politically charged region.

Tours encompassing history or politics can also bearranged-and that’s where guides like Madah come in. Madahgives unusual tours of the picturesque Golan Heights, whichIsrael took from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War, delving into his-tory and current events surrounding the disputed territory.Other examples of such alternative tourism include tours ofthe occupied West Bank led by Israelis or Palestinians provid-ing their versions of the situation there. Madah says his toursaim at “education and entertainment” rather than profit, andseek to help people understand “the Syrian Golan before andafter the (Israeli) occupation”.

A history lesson His trips also boost local businesses as his guests visit

restaurants and buy goods from local farmers, including thecherries, apples, peaches and pears that grow in the region.Madah, who works in theatre and culture, has been givingalternative tours of the Golan for seven years-which leave fromthe coastal city of Haifa and run a full day from 8:00 am to 6:00or 7:00 pm and cost about 100 shekels ($26). As part of them,he talks about how Israel seizing the land affected the popula-tion.

On a recent tour, Madah discusses the town of Quneitrajust across the demarcation line. Israel captured and largelydestroyed the town in 1967. Syria then briefly recaptured it in1973, before Israel retook it and eventually withdrew in 1974.Nowadays, the area around the town is held by Syrian rebelsbattling against President Bashar al-Assad. A few kilometersaway from the town, the Israeli army now allows visitors totour the area’s former Syrian military headquarters, long sinceabandoned. Many rooms in the three-floor building beartraces of conflict.

A sign out front is dedicated to Eli Cohen, an Israeli spy whorose to a key position in Syria in the 1960s. He was hanged in1965 after being discovered, but Israeli officials say the intelli-gence he provided was influential in winning the 1967 war.Ruba Abu Ramheen, 20, a law student at Haifa University, saysshe learns something new each time she visits the Golan withMadah. “I enjoy the nature and pass on what I learn to myfriends and family,” she says.

5 villages remaining The tour also passes the stone-strewn Hasbani River. The

river, which flows 40 kilometers (25 miles) into Lebanon, is asource of tension between Israel and its northern neighborand almost ignited a war in 2002, Madah explains. At onepoint, the group’s bus passes a sign reading “beware ofmines”. The Golan is composed of basalt volcanic rock, with

250 villages and around 150,000 people living there before1967, Madah explains.

Many were destroyed, with just the five villages of Buq’ata,Ein Qiniyye, Masada, Majdal Shams and Ghajar remaining.Prior to 1967, Christians, Muslims, Druze and Circassians livedthere, but the majority left for Syrian-controlled territory dur-ing the war. An estimated 22,000 Druze now live in the Israeli-controlled Golan as well as some 25,000 Israelis. “There was avillage here” called Jbat Al-Zeit, Madah says, on the way to hishometown of Majdal Shams. But it was destroyed and is nowhome to the Israeli settlement of Neve Ativ.

At the center of the town square in Majdal Shams stands amonument to Sultan Pasha al-Atrash, who fought againstFrench colonialism in Syria. Haloon, the 23-year-old student,says the tour has been eye-opening. “I never imagined that Iwould enter the military headquarters and hospital that wererun by the Syrian army.”—AFP

High in the Golan,tourism takes on apolitical edge

A group of tourists visit a former Syrian army post inQuneitra.—AFP photos

A group of tourists visit a former Syrian army post inQuneitra, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

Music icon Bob Dylan is expected tocome to Stockholm next spring, asthe winner of this year’s Nobel prize

in literature will skip the award ceremony inDecember, a Swedish academy member saidyesterday. Sara Danius, permanent secretaryof the Swedish Academy, told public Swedishradio that she received confirmation fromDylan’s manager. “Then he will have an excel-lent opportunity to hold his lecture,” Daniussaid. Holding a lecture is the only requirementfor the Nobel laureate and must be donewithin six months starting from December 10.

The Swedish Academy said the Americansong writer might perform in the Nordicnation next year. “There is a chance that BobDylan will be performing in Stockholm nextyear, possibly in the spring, in which case hewill have a perfect opportunity to deliver hislecture,” it said in a statement. OnWednesday, the academy announced thatDylan would skip the Nobel ceremonybecause of “pre-existing” commitments. “Hewishes that he could accept the award per-sonally, but other commitments make itunfortunately impossible. He underlined thathe feels incredibly honored by the Nobelprize,” it said. Asked on October 28 by

Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper if hewould attend the Nobel prize winners’ ban-quet, Dylan said: “Absolutely. If it’s at all possi-ble.” But the American song writer’s decisionnot to attend the Nobel ceremony does notcome as a surprise. The 75-year-old didn’t saya word about his prize on the day it wasannounced on October 13 when he was per-forming in Las Vegas. Dylan, whose lyrics haveinfluenced generations of fans, is the firstsongwriter to win the literature prize,although experts bet on writers such asSalman Rushdie, Adonis or Ngugi waThiong’o.

Nobel laureates are honored every year onDecember 10 — the anniversary of the deathof prize’s founder Alfred Nobel, a Swedishindustrialist, inventor and philanthropist.Several other literature prize winners haveskipped the Nobel ceremony in the past forvarious reasons-Doris Lessing on grounds ofill health, Harold Pinter because he was hospi-talized and Elfriede Jelinek due to social pho-bia. The value of the prestigious award thisyear amounts to 8 million kronor($870,000).—AFP This file photo taken on June 11, 2009 shows US singer Bob Dylan performing during the

37th AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Michael Douglas at Sony Pictures in CulverCity, California.—AFP

Dylan to come to Stockholm next year: Swedish Academy

This cover image released by Heinz Records shows ‘Je disoui!’ by Pink Martini.—AP

Review: Pink Martini’s new album is

entertaining global trip

Pink Martini brings its progressive commitment to “Je disoui!” (“I say yes”), an entertaining global jaunt in eightlanguages and a whirling variety of styles. With no airs

and graces but plenty of splendor, Thomas Lauderdale’s bigband/little orchestra explores songs from Armenia toPortugal, a few originals and American standards like “Lovefor Sale” on its ninth studio album. NPR’s Ari Shapiro helps outon “Ov Sirun Sirun,” said to be most famous folk song fromArmenia and a real tearjerker about unrequited love, whileRufus Wainwright sings “Blue Moon” with its now rarely-played introductory verse which further deepens the melan-choly.

Songs from Turkey, Iran and Lebanon add to the subliminal“can’t we all get along” message saturating the album, worldmusic from the times before it became just another marketinglabel and “exotic” sounds were not so easily within reach.“Finnisma Di” revamps a Chopin-quoting tune from theband’s first album as a yearning yet hopeful refugee song inArabic, lyricist Iyad Qasem giving voice to the suspended des-tinies of so many. Among the originals is a trio of songs inFrench sung by band mainstay China Forbes from “Souvenir,”a recent film starring Isabelle Huppert. She plays a singer whoonce lost to ABBA in the Eurovision song contest and isattempting a comeback with the support of her much-younger, boxer boyfriend. In other words, one more storywhere Pink Martini feels right at home.—AP

Award-winning Philippine director Brillante Mendoza hasturned his cinematic skills to promoting someone manyin the West would see as an unlikely hero-President

Rodrigo Duterte and his deadly drug war. Mendoza hasbecome a celebrated figure in the global independent filmindustry for his gritty movies exposing social injustice and thesufferings of the poor in his home country. While critics havecondemned Duterte’s anti-crime crackdown, which hasclaimed the lives of thousands of poor people, Mendoza hasfilmed government advertisements promoting it and directedthe broadcast of a presidential address to the nation. “Ifthere’s one person who understands the situation, it’s thepresident,” Mendoza, 56, told AFP at his Manila productionhouse that is full of posters of his movies and trophies fromtop film festivals including Cannes, Venice and Berlin.

“I know there are a lot of people who are not supportive intotality of what he wants and what he’s doing right now, but ifyou actually have witnessed the real situation, this is the wayto go about it.” Duterte easily won presidential elections inMay largely on a campaign pledge to eradicate drugs bykilling tens of thousands of people, warning the Philippineswas in danger of becoming a narco-state. Since he took officeat the end of June, police have killed more than 1,800 drugsuspects and about 2,600 others have died in unexplained cir-cumstances linked to the crackdown, according to official fig-ures. The president has repeatedly insisted police are onlykilling in self-defense and that most of the unexplained deathsare due to criminals attacking each other. But Western govern-ments and human rights organizations have expressed fearsabout alleged extrajudicial killings and a breakdown in therule of law. Those concerns have been fuelled by Duterte’sextreme language and comments viewed by critics as incite-ments to kill.

Culture clash Duterte said recently he would be “happy to slaughter”

three million drug addicts, and likened his campaign to Nazileader Adolf Hitler’s efforts to exterminate Jews in Europe. The71-year-old lawyer later apologized for his Hitler reference, butsaid he was “emphatic” about wanting to kill drug addicts.French newspaper Liberation branded Duterte a “serial killer”.Mendoza, whose films have earned him a French knighthoodand a best director award at Cannes, declined to comment onthe extrajudicial killings issue. He also said he had no personalknowledge of such deaths, while insisting foreign critics mis-understood Duterte due to a culture clash.

“I would tell them you don’t know our president,” Mendozasaid. “You are only seeing it from your perspective as some-

body who lives far away from the Philippines. Because you areliving in a first-world country.” For instance, Mendoza said, itwas easy for foreigners to misunderstand Duterte’s cursing,which he said was merely “an expression” for people in thesouthern Philippines where he is from.

Mendoza said he became aware of the full extent of thenation’s drug problem as he researched his film: “Ma’ Rosa”,which won the Cannes best actress award in May and earned anomination in next year’s Oscars for best foreign languagefilm. “Ma’ Rosa” focuses on a mother selling drugs to makeends meet who is arrested by corrupt policemen. “I didn’tknow there was a huge problem of drugs in this country,” saidMendoza, a former advertising production designer.

The two short films he made pro bono for the governmenthave been viewed millions of times on social media. In hisultra-realist style, they tell the stories of a father who missesmilestones in his daughter’s life due to substance abuse and aFilipina who is working overseas sending money back hometo a son hooked on drugs. Mendoza said he hoped the films,which carry the government’s #partnerforchange hashtag,would help spur drug addicts to kick their habits.

Narrow focus Mendoza said artists and Asians had a better understand-

ing of Duterte than Europeans, who were only learning abouthim from the media. Indeed, tens of millions of Filipinos fromall strata of society continue to support Duterte and his effortsto contain the drug menace in the belief it will make societysafe. —AFP

Award-winning Philippinefilmmaker backs Duterte drug war

Philippine director Brillante Mendoza poses for the photo-graph in Paris.—AFP

T E C H N O L O G YSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

SEOUL: South Korea rejected a requestby Google to use local mapping data inthe company’s global maps service in along-awaited ruling Friday that haddivided the country for months.

The company said it was disappoint-ed by the decision, which the land min-istry said was based on concerns overnational security.

“We’re disappointed by this decision.We’ve always taken security concernsvery seriously and will continue to pro-vide useful map services in compliancewith Korea’s current map data exportregulation,” Taj Meadows, a Googlespokesperson, said in a statement.

The South Korean government saidthe risks outweighed benefits fromexporting the country’s mapping data toGoogle, a unit of Alphabet Inc.

South Korea, facing the overt threatof rival North Korea, bars exporting localmapping data to foreign companiesthat do not operate domestic dataservers.

Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., han-dles its maps service at data centers out-side South Korea. The restrictions havelimited the usefulness of Google Mapswithin South Korea, since the app cannotoffer driving or walking directions.

The government had proposedgranting permission to Google to uselocal mapping data for Google Maps ifthe company would blur sensitive infor-mation on South Korean military facili-ties on its satellite map.

“Our position from the start was thatif it deletes security facilities, we wouldallow exporting (the local mappingdata),” said Kim Tong-il, an official at theland ministry. “Google’s position is that itwon’t delete those. The question waswhether we would allow that regard-less.”

South Korea has been divided over

the issue since Google filed its request inJune. The government extended anAugust deadline to this month, high-lighting disagreements between govern-ment ministries.

The long-time deliberation reflectsgrowing support for Google within somegovernment ministries that are trying topromote tourism and local firms’ over-seas businesses. One of the biggestinconveniences that foreign tourists runinto in South Korea, which has some ofthe fastest and cheapest internet accessin the world, is the lack of an online map-ping service with navigation and direc-tions in foreign languages.

Some local businesses and con-sumers opposed giving Google full

access to the local mapping data, sayingit would be unfair to local companiesthat operate local data servers to sup-port their map services. They saidGoogle should build data centers inSouth Korea instead of seeking anexemption from the rules.

Google said earlier that restrictingGoogle Maps in South Korea would bean inconvenience for foreigners visitingthe host country of the PyeongChangWinter Olympics in 2018.

It also argued that restrictions onexporting the local mapping data couldhinder efforts of companies to roll outglobal services using locations data andwill deprive local consumers of cutting -edge services. — AP

Google hits Pixel resellers

with ‘digital death sentence’

SAN FRANCISCO: Some of Google’s unwitting users arelearning a harsh lesson: If you violate the company’s policies, itcan abruptly cut you off from your Gmail account, online pho-tos and other vital digital services.

Several people who recently bought Google’s new Pixelphone on behalf of a New Hampshire dealer are now sufferingthat punishment after the company detected their online pur-chases and judged they violated its terms of service. Thoserules, outlined in a document that few people read closely ,forbid the purchase of the Pixel for “commercial” resale.

“There isn’t an hour that doesn’t go by that I don’t thinkabout the enormity of what Google has done to me,” said oneof the affected resellers, Shmuel Super of Brooklyn, New York.“This is like a digital death sentence.”

SELL YOUR PHONE, LOSE YOUR ACCOUNTSuper and his fellow resellers got into trouble for buying up

to five Pixel phones from Google’s online store and havingthem delivered to New Hampshire for resale. They received $5for each phone. As of Sunday, some started finding them-selves locked out of their Google accounts.

In a Thursday statement, Google described the resalearrangement as a “scheme” devised by a dealer looking to sellthe Pixels at marked-up prices in violation of its policies.

Google declined to say how many people were affected bythe account lockdown. DansDeals , a consumer-focused web-site that first reported Google’s crackdown, concluded thatmore than 200 people had been blocked from their Googleaccounts after talking to the New Hampshire dealer behindthe Pixel buying spree. — AP

DUBAI: Kaspersky Lab’s discovery in 2016 of an APT able tocreate new tools for each victim has effectively killed off‘Indicators of Compromise’ as a reliable means of detectinginfection, according to the company’s Threat Predictionsfor 2017.

The Predictions are prepared annually by the compa-ny’s expert Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT)and are based on its wide-ranging insight and expertise.The list for 2017 includes the impact of bespoke and dis-posable tools, the growing use of misdirection in terms ofattacker identity, the fragility of an indiscriminatelyInternet-connected world, and the use of cyberattacks as aweapon of information warfare.

The decline of IoCsIndicators of Compromise (IoCs) have long been an

excellent way of sharing traits of known malware, allowingdefenders to recognize an active infection. The discoveryby GReAT of the ProjectSauron APT changed this. Analysisof the group revealed a bespoke malware platform whereevery feature was altered for each victim, rendering IoCsunreliable for detecting any other victim, unless accompa-nied by another measure, such as strong Yara rules.

The rise of ephemeral infections In 2017, Kaspersky Lab also expects to see the appear-

ance of memory-resident malware that has no interest insurviving beyond the first reboot that will wipe the infec-tion from the machine memory. Such malware, intendedfor general reconnaissance and the collection of creden-

tials, is likely to be deployed in highly sensitive environ-ments by stealthy attackers keen to avoid arousing suspi-cion or discovery. “These are dramatic developments, butdefenders will not be left helpless. We believe that it is timeto push for the wider adoption of good Yara rules. Thesewill allow researchers to scan far-and-wide across an enter-prise, inspect and identify traits in binaries at rest, and scanmemory for fragments of known attacks. Ephemeral infec-tions highlight the need for proactive and sophisticatedheuristics in advanced anti-malware solutions,” said JuanAndrés Guerrero-Saade, Senior Security Expert, GlobalResearch and Analysis Team.

Other Top Threat Predictions for 2017• Attribution will flounder among false flags: As cyberat-

tacks come to play a greater role in international relations,attribution will become a central issue in determining apolitical course of action – such as retaliation. The pursuitof attribution could result in the risk of more criminalsdumping infrastructure or proprietary tools on the openmarket, or opting for open-source and commercial mal-ware, not to mention the widespread use of misdirection(generally known as false flags) to muddy the waters ofattribution.

• The Rise of Information Warfare: In 2016, the worldstarted to take seriously the dumping of hacked informa-tion for aggressive purposes. Such attacks are likely toincrease in 2017, and there is a risk that attackers will try toexploit people’s willingness to accept such data as fact bymanipulating or selectively disclosing information.

• Alongside this, Kaspersky Lab expects to see a rise inVigilante Hackers – hacking and dumping data, allegedlyfor the greater good.

• Growing Vulnerability to Cyber-sabotage: As criticalinfrastructure and manufacturing systems remain connectedto the Internet, often with little or no protection – the temp-tation to damage or disrupt them could prove overwhelmingfor cyberattackers, particularly those with advanced skills,and during times of rising geopolitical tension.

• Espionage Goes Mobile: Kaspersky Lab expects to seemore espionage campaigns targeted primarily at mobile,benefiting from the fact that the security industry canstruggle to gain full access to mobile operating systems forforensic analysis.

• The Commodification of Financial Attacks: KasperskyLab expects to see the ‘commodification’ of attacks alongthe lines of the 2016 SWIFT heists in 2016 – with special-ized resources being offered for sale in undergroundforums or through as-a-service schemes.

• The Compromise of Payment Systems: As paymentsystems become increasingly popular and common,Kaspersky Lab expected to see this matched by a greatercriminal interest.

• The Breakdown of ‘Trust’ in Ransomware: KasperskyLab also anticipates the continuing rise of ransomware, butwith the unlikely trust relationship between the victim andtheir attacker – based on the assumption that payment willresult in the return of data - damaged as a lesser grade ofcriminal decides to enter the space. This could be the turn-ing point in people being prepared to pay up.

Kaspersky Lab’s threat predictions 2017

SUWON: Choe Byong-Nam, a director general of South Korea’s NationalGeographic Information Institute, speaks after a meeting at the NationalGeographic Information Institute in Suwon, South Korea, yesterday. SouthKorea has rejected Google’s request to use local mapping data in the compa-ny’s global maps service in a highly-awaited deliberation that divided thecountry for months. — AP

Google disappointed by South

Korean refusal on mapping data

SAN FRANCISCO: File photo, the new Google Pixel phoneis displayed next to a Daydream View virtual-realityheadset, right, following a Google product event in SanFrancisco. — AP

NEW YORK: Facebook is offering new toolsfor charity fundraising, for marking yourselfsafe during a crisis and for helping others -or asking for help - after a natural disaster.

The social network made the announce-ments Thursday in New York at its SocialGood Forum, a first-of-its-kind event ithopes to repeat in coming years. The com-pany has dozens of engineers who work onits relatively new “social good” team creat-ing tools for users to help their friends or theworld around them.

“The philosophy of everything we do atFacebook is that our community can teachus what we need to do,” CEO MarkZuckerberg said in a video played at theevent. “And our job is to learn as quickly aswe can and keep on getting better andbetter.”

USER POWER?A tool cal led “safety check” lets

Facebook users mark themselves safe dur-ing a crisis, whether that’s a natural disas-ter, bombing or something else. Oncesomeone marks themselves safe, theirfriends are automatically notified that theyhave been accounted for.

At first, Facebook activated the tool inareas where disaster struck. Now, Facebooksays it will stop its own activations, hand-ing it off to users instead. How? When a lotof people are posting about an incident(stuff like “was that an earthquake?”), theymight get a notification to let friends knowthey are OK, using safety check. If they do,they can invite other friends to do thesame, and so on.

DISASTER AIDBeginning early next year, a tool called

“community help” will let users offer andreceive shelter, food or other types of helpduring crises. People have already been

doing this on Facebook and Twitter, usinghashtags such as #PorteOuverte (open door)after last year’s attacks in Paris that left 130people dead.

But it was often difficult to pair up. Thenew feature aims to streamline this. Peoplewill be able to select categories to get oroffer help with, such as food and water,transportation, baby items or shelter. Oncethey do, they can use Facebook Messengerto arrange the details.

CHARITY HELPFacebook started letting charities raise

money directly through its platform overthe summer.

At the time, users could choose from 100US nonprofits. Now, that number is 750,000and growing. People can also add donationbuttons to their Facebook Live videos toraise money - but only for actual charities,not a dream vacation. — AP

Facebook boosts efforts to do good with new tools

T E C H N O L O G YSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

Watch your self-ie!India tops ranking

for selfie deathsNEW DELHI: Next time you’re at the TajMahal, find yourself standing on a precariouscliff or see an approaching train, maybe justenjoy the moment rather than trying to cap-ture the perfect selfie.

These are just three of the ways that 76selfie-takers in India have lost their lives,according to a study published by US-basedCarnegie Mellon University and IndraprasthaInstitute of Information Technology Delhi.

In the quest for the coolest selfie, morepeople have died in India in the past twoyears than the total number of selfie-relateddeaths in the rest of the world, according tothe study titled “Me, Myself and My Killfie:

Characterizing and Preventing SelfieDeaths”.

Using special search techniques to trawlthe internet and social media, the researchersidentified 127 confirmed selfie deaths sinceMarch 2014.

They blamed people’s desire for more“likes” and comments on social media fordriving increasingly risky selfie-taking.

“(The) clicking dangerous selfies (hasproved) to be so disastrous that during theyear 2015 alone, there have been moredeaths caused due to selfies than sharkattacks all over the world,” the researcherssaid in a blog post.

Three students in northern India died try-ing to take a daring selfie in front of anoncoming train, according to the study pub-lished last week. Another student lost his lifewhen the cliff he was standing on for a photocracked, sending him plunging 18 metres (60feet) into a ravine.

A selfie-taking Japanese tourist died afterhe slipped down the stairs at the Taj Mahalwhile seven people posing for a group selfiedied when the boat they were in capsized.Pakistan took second place in the globalkiller-selfie rankings with nine deaths, fol-lowed by the United States with eight andRussia on six.

India’s population of 1.25 billion is nearlyfour times the size of the US’s and over sixtimes the size of Pakistan, but that fails toaccount for the huge discrepancy betweenthe number of fatalities.

According to the study, China with its pop-ulation of 1.37 billion only had four selfie-related deaths. The group behind the studyhopes their work will raise awareness of thekiller trend-and maybe encourage people tojust appreciate the view. — AFP

KUALA LUMPUR: The head of a popular Malaysianindependent online news portal was charged Fridayfor airing what prosecutors called “offensive” videosof a news conference by a former ruling party mem-ber, a move a rights group labeled an attack on pressfreedom.

Malaysiakini’s editor-in-chief Steven Gan wascharged under the Communications and MultimediaAct in a special cyber court for “uploading offensivevideos with the intent of annoying others,” his lawyerK.Shanmuga said.

The July 27 videos feature a news conference byKhairuddin Abu Hassan, a former ruling party official,calling on Attorney General Mohamad Apandi Ali toquit over his allegedly bias handling of investigationsinto indebted state investment fund 1MDB.

Gan said prosecutors didn’t give any details incourt on why the videos were offensive.

“We shall prove in court that covering the pressconference is not a crime. We were merely doing ourjob as journalists,” Gan said. If found guilty, he couldbe fined or jailed up to a year.

Khairuddin wasn’t charged for his comments inthe video. However, he was charged last year for eco-nomic sabotage after he filed complaints withauthorities abroad about alleged wrongdoings in1MDB.

Human Rights Watch slammed the charge againstGan as a serious violation of press freedom and said itshowed the “increasingly dictatorial side” of PrimeMinister Najib Razak and his government.

“By using rights abusing laws, ludicrous argu-ments and special cyber courts, Malaysia appears tobe aiming at shutting down the vibrant and diverseonline news environment that has grown up becauseof the government’s control and censorship of the

mainline print and TV media,” the group’s deputyAsia director Phil Roberson said in a statement.

Malaysiakini, the country’s first online news portallaunched in 1999, is known for its criticism of the gov-ernment. Online media have since expanded andplayed a key role in helping the opposition makeunprecedented gains in the last two general elec-tions. The government earlier pledged not to censorthe internet, but Najib has kept an iron grip since alle-gations of massive fraud in the 1MDB fund eruptedlast year.

The 1MDB fund is at the center of investigations inthe US and several other countries amid allegationsof a global embezzlement and money-launderingscheme. Najib started the fund shortly after takingoffice in 2009 to promote economic developmentprojects, but the fund accumulated billions in debtover the years. — AP

PHILADELPHIA: In this May 16, 2012, file photo, the Facebook logo is displayed on an iPad in Philadelphia.Facebook is under fire for failing to rein in fake and biased news stories that some believe may have swayed thepresidential election. — AP

Malaysian online news portal chief charged over videos

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016T V L I S T I N G S

00:00 Lost Time 02:00 Freezer 03:45 Last Knights 05:45 The Maze Runner 07:45 The Machine 09:30 Last Action Hero 12:00 Airplane vs. Volcano 13:45 The Maze Runner 15:45 The Machine 17:30 Last Action Hero 20:00 Automata 22:00 Starship Troopers

01:00 First Response 03:00 Frontera 05:00 Trust Me 07:00 The Silent Mountain 09:00 Rosewood Lane 11:00 First Response 13:00 A Teacher’s Obsession 15:00 Every Thing Will Be Fine 17:00 Rosewood Lane 19:00 5 To 7 21:00 Scenic Route 23:00 Kelly & Cal

01:30 American Girl: Isabelle Dances Into TheSpotlight 03:15 Peter Pan Live! 05:30 Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax 07:15 Eragon 09:00 Beyond The Mask 11:00 Capture The Flag 13:00 Minions 15:00 Charlie And The Chocolate Factory 17:00 The Last Song 19:00 American Girl: Saige Paints The Sky 21:00 The Education Of Little Tree 23:00 Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

01:00 Run All Night 03:00 Life Of A King 05:00 The Duff 07:00 The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 09:00 The Duff 10:45 Concussion 13:00 Brooklyn 15:00 The Rewrite 17:00 Where Hope Grows 19:00 Mad Max: Fury Road 21:00 Backtrack 23:00 The D Train

00:00 Tim And Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie 02:00 Hot Pursuit 04:00 Big Ass Spider! 06:00 The Single Moms Club 08:00 Just Married 10:00 Big Ass Spider! 12:00 Hot Pursuit 14:00 Coneheads 16:00 Just Married 18:00 Forces Of Nature 20:00 Burying The Ex 22:00 Top Five

01:00 The Dark Half 03:00 Love & Mercy 05:00 Testament Of Youth 07:15 Stone Markers 09:00 Grand Central 10:45 Testament Of Youth 13:00 Love & Mercy 15:00 Walking On Sunshine 17:00 Grand Central 19:00 Siberian Education 21:00 A Thousand Times Good Night 23:00 Ex Machina

01:15 Daddy I’m A Zombie 02:45 Hey Arnold! The Movie 04:30 The Heart Of The Oak 06:00 Yellowbird 07:45 Dixie And The Zombie Rebellion 09:30 The Wild Thornberrys Movie

11:15 Rugrats Go Wild 13:00 Hey Arnold! The Movie 14:30 Bolts And Blip 16:00 Delhi Safari 18:00 The Wild Thornberrys Movie 20:00 Ploddy Police Car On The Case 21:45 Bolts And Blip 23:15 Delhi Safari

00:00 Hot Tub Time Machine 2 01:45 Transcendence 04:00 The Song 06:00 Manny 08:00 A Promise 10:00 With This Ring 11:45 Transcendence 14:00 To Write Love On Her Arms 16:00 A Promise 18:00 The Gift 20:00 I Give It A Year 22:00 People Places Things

00:00 Get Over It 01:30 The Congress 03:30 Starsky & Hutch 05:15 Henry’s Crime 07:00 What Women Want 09:15 Little Fish 11:15 Lay The Favorite 12:45 Captain America: The Winter Soldier 15:00 Get Over It 16:30 The Longshots 18:00 The Congress 20:00 Million Dollar Baby 22:15 Drowning Mona

01:20 For Ellen 02:45 Life Itself 04:45 Subconscious Password 05:00 Finding Fela 07:00 The Cove 08:30 Ping Pong Summer 10:00 The Brother From Another Planet 11:55 This May Be The Last Time 13:30 Robert Redford #on Topic 13:50 Indie Game: The Movie 15:35 Listen Up Philip 17:25 California Solo 19:00 Jess + Moss 20:20 The Cooler 22:00 The Disobedient 23:45 Subconscious Password

00:50 River Monsters 01:45 Bondi Vet 02:40 Predators Up Close With Joel Lambert 03:35 Tanked 04:25 Gorilla Doctors 05:15 Gator Boys 06:02 River Monsters 06:49 Predators Up Close With Joel Lambert 07:36 Call Of The Wildman 08:00 Call Of The Wildman 08:25 Predators Up Close With Joel Lambert 09:15 Lone Star Law 10:10 The Vet Life 11:05 Wildest Europe 12:00 Treehouse Masters 12:55 Bondi Vet 13:50 Untamed & Uncut 14:45 Rogue Nature With Dave Salmoni 15:40 Untamed & Uncut 16:35 My Wild Affair: The Rhino Who JoinedMy Family 17:30 Gorilla Doctors 18:25 Untamed & Uncut 19:20 Lone Star Law 20:15 Predators Up Close With Joel Lambert 21:10 The Vet Life 22:05 Treehouse Masters 23:00 Lone Star Law 23:55 Gator Boys

00:00 My Crazy Ex 01:00 The Haunting Of... 02:00 My Haunted House 03:00 Monster In My Family 04:00 My Crazy Ex 05:00 The Haunting Of... 06:00 My Haunted House 07:00 The First 48 10:00 Private Crimes

10:30 Private Crimes 11:00 Homicide Hunter 12:00 Frenemies 13:00 It Takes A Killer 14:00 The First 48 16:00 Monster In My Family 17:00 Crimes That Shook Australia 19:00 Nightmare In Suburbia 20:00 It Takes A Killer 21:00 The First 48 23:00 Measuring Evil: Britain’s Worst Killers

00:30 Redesign My Brain 01:20 Superhuman Showdown 02:10 Now That’s Funny 03:00 Untamed & Uncut 03:50 Bear Grylls: Born Survivor 04:40 How It’s Made 05:05 How It’s Made 05:30 Dirty Jobs 06:20 Mythbusters 07:00 Kenny The Shark 07:25 Kids vs Film 07:50 Doki 08:15 Doki 08:40 Too Cute! Pint-Sized 12:50 Mythbusters 17:00 Redesign My Brain 17:50 Redesign My Brain 18:40 Superhuman Showdown 19:30 Kids Do The Craziest Things 19:55 Kids Do The Craziest Things 20:20 Guinness World Records Smashed UK 21:10 Troy 22:00 Untamed & Uncut 22:50 Untamed & Uncut 23:40 Kids Do The Craziest Things

00:20 Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour 01:10 Counting Cars 01:35 Counting Cars 02:00 American Pickers 02:50 Pawn Stars South Africa 03:15 Pawn Stars South Africa 03:40 Shark Wranglers 04:30 American Restoration 05:00 Mankind The Story Of All Of Us 06:00 Leepu And Pitbull 06:50 Leepu And Pitbull

07:40 Pawn Stars South Africa 08:05 Pawn Stars South Africa 08:30 Counting Cars 08:55 Mountain Men - Closest Calls 09:45 American Restoration 10:10 American Restoration 10:35 Shipping Wars 11:00 Shipping Wars 11:25 Car Hunters 11:50 Car Hunters 12:15 The Curse Of Oak Island 13:05 Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour 13:55 Pawn Stars South Africa 14:20 Pawn Stars South Africa 14:45 Time Team 15:35 Counting Cars 16:00 Car Hunters 16:25 Car Hunters 16:50 American Restoration 17:15 American Restoration 17:40 Shipping Wars 18:05 Shipping Wars 18:30 Pawn Stars 18:55 Storage Wars 19:20 Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour 20:10 Alone 21:00 Billion Dollar Wreck 21:50 Forged In Fire 22:40 Time Team 23:30 Alone

00:10 Eat Street 00:35 Baking Good, Baking Bad 01:00 The Shelbourne 01:25 Carnival Eats 02:15 Raw Travel 03:05 Lyndey Milan - Taste Of Australia 03:30 Tales From The Bush Larder 03:55 Croatia’s Finest 04:45 The Shelbourne 05:35 David Rocco’s Dolce India 06:25 Poh & Co 06:50 Raw Travel 07:15 Maximum Foodie 07:40 Eat Street 08:30 Top Tables, Top Cities 08:55 Croatia’s Finest 09:45 Street Food Around The World 10:10 Tales From The Bush Larder 10:35 Lee Chan’s World Food Tour 11:00 George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces 11:50 Dog Whisperer 12:40 The Shelbourne

13:05 Places We Go 14:00 Fusion Forager 14:55 Lyndey Milan - Taste Of Australia 15:25 Tales From The Bush Larder 15:50 Croatia’s Finest 16:45 The Shelbourne 17:40 David Rocco’s Dolce India 18:10 Valentine Warner’s Wild Table 19:05 Lyndey Milan - Taste Of Australia 19:30 Tales From The Bush Larder 20:00 Croatia’s Finest 20:50 The Shelbourne 21:40 David Rocco’s Dolce India 22:05 Valentine Warner’s Wild Table 22:55 The Shelbourne 23:20 Places We Go

00:10 Locked Up Abroad 01:00 Airport Security: Colombia 02:00 Nazi Megastructures 02:55 Nazi World War Weird 03:50 Kabaddi: The Great Indian Sport 04:45 Operation Sumatran Rhino 05:40 Air Crash Investigation 06:35 Disappeared: The Search For Cody Dial 07:30 Facing... 08:25 Dog Whisperer 09:20 Dog Whisperer 10:15 Monster Fish 11:10 Wicked Tuna: North vs. South 12:05 Science Of Stupid 12:30 Science Of Stupid 13:00 Nazi World War Weird 14:00 Facing... 15:00 Air Crash Investigation 16:00 Planes That Changed The World 17:00 Mega Factories 18:00 Disappeared: The Search For Cody Dial 19:00 Cold Water Gold 20:00 Planes That Changed The World 20:50 Mega Factories 21:40 Disappeared: The Search For Cody Dial 22:30 Cold Water Gold 23:20 Planes That Changed The World

00:20 Predator Battleground 01:10 World’s Deadliest Animals 02:00 Wild Russia 02:50 Wild Survivor 03:45 South Africa 04:40 1000 Days For The Planet 05:35 Hunter Hunted 06:30 Monster Fish 07:25 Hooked 08:20 Unlikely Animal Friends 09:15 Baby Animals In The Wild 10:10 Amazing Animal Selfies 11:05 Animal ER 12:00 River Jaws: Monster Catfish 12:55 Monster Jellyfish 13:50 Mission Critical 14:45 Wild Congo 15:40 1000 Days For The Planet 16:35 Moody Beasts 17:30 Dangerous Encounters 18:25 Animals Gone Wild 19:20 Wild Congo 20:10 1000 Days For The Planet 21:00 Moody Beasts 21:50 Dangerous Encounters 22:40 Animals Gone Wild 23:30 River Jaws: Monster Catfish

00:30 How Do They Do It? 00:55 Food Factory 01:20 Through The Wormhole With MorganFreeman 02:10 NASA’s Greatest Missions 03:00 Superhuman Showdown 03:48 Ways To Save The Planet 04:36 Through The Wormhole With MorganFreeman 05:24 NASA’s Greatest Missions 06:12 How Do They Do It? 06:36 Food Factory 07:00 How Do They Do It? 07:26 Food Factory 09:26 How The Universe Works 10:14 NASA’s Greatest Missions 11:50 How The Universe Works 13:26 How Do They Do It? 15:26 Through The Wormhole With MorganFreeman 16:14 Redesign My Brain 17:02 Mind Control Freaks 17:50 The Science Of Fear And Lust 18:40 Superhuman Showdown 19:30 Ways To Save The Planet

LAST KNIGHTS ON OSN MOVIES ACTION HD

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016T V L I S T I N G S

23:40 Through The Wormhole With MorganFreeman

00:20 Doctors 00:50 The Coroner 01:40 War And Peace 02:25 The Kettering Incident 03:15 The Detectorists 03:45 Him & Her 04:15 The Coroner 05:00 Doctors 09:30 Eastenders 11:00 Stella 13:20 Casualty 14:15 Doctors 15:15 New Tricks 18:00 Doctors 18:30 Eastenders 19:05 The Coroner 20:00 Death In Paradise 21:00 The Durrells 22:00 Class 23:00 The Kettering Incident 23:55 Doctors

00:00 Underground With Dave Attell 00:25 Chris D’elia: White Male, Black Comic 01:15 Broad City 01:40 The Daily Show With Trevor Noah 02:05 I Live With Models 02:30 Broad City 03:00 Nathan For You 03:25 Workaholics 04:15 Key And Peele 04:40 Ridiculousness 05:30 Frankenfood 06:20 Key And Peele 07:15 Ridiculousness 08:30 Workaholics 09:20 Tosh.0 10:10 Catch A Contractor 10:35 Key And Peele 11:25 Ridiculousness 11:50 Catch A Contractor 13:05 Workaholics 13:55 Tosh.0 14:45 Workaholics 15:10 Key And Peele 15:35 Tosh.0 16:30 Key And Peele 16:55 Tosh.0 18:15 Key And Peele 18:39 Key And Peele 19:03 Ridiculousness 19:50 Brotherhood 20:13 Impractical Jokers I Special - Joker’sChoice 21:00 The Daily Show - Global Edition 21:30 South Park 21:54 Broad City 22:18 Anthony Jeselnik: Caligula 23:05 Underground With Dave Attell 23:30 The Daily Show - Global Edition

00:00 BBQ Crawl 01:00 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 02:00 Man Fire Food 02:30 Man Fire Food 03:00 Chopped 04:00 Guy’s Grocery Games 05:00 Roadtrip With G. Garvin 05:30 Roadtrip With G. Garvin 06:00 Chopped 07:00 Amazing Wedding Cakes 08:00 The Kitchen 09:00 Siba’s Table 09:30 Siba’s Table 10:00 The Pioneer Woman 10:30 The Pioneer Woman 11:00 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 13:00 Chopped 14:00 Man Fire Food 14:30 Man Fire Food 15:00 Guy’s Big Bite 15:30 Guy’s Big Bite 16:00 Siba’s Table 16:30 Siba’s Table 17:00 The Big Eat 17:30 The Big Eat 18:00 Chopped 19:00 Man Fire Food 19:30 Man Fire Food 20:00 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 20:30 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 21:00 The Big Eat 21:30 The Big Eat 22:00 Man Fire Food 22:30 Man Fire Food 23:00 Chopped

00:30 Scrubs 01:00 Scrubs 01:30 The Detour 02:00 The Detour 02:30 You’re The Worst 03:00 Black-Ish 03:30 The Goldbergs 04:00 Fresh Off The Boat 04:30 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 05:30 George Lopez 06:00 The Bernie Mac Show 06:30 Community 07:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers 08:00 Fresh Off The Boat 08:30 George Lopez 09:00 Black-Ish 09:30 The Goldbergs 10:00 New Girl 10:30 Community 11:00 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 12:00 The Bernie Mac Show 12:30 Fresh Off The Boat 13:00 George Lopez 13:30 Community 14:00 The Goldbergs 14:30 The Goldbergs 15:00 New Girl 15:30 Scrubs 16:00 Scrubs 16:30 The Bernie Mac Show 17:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers 18:00 The Mindy Project 18:30 The Mindy Project 19:00 Baby Daddy 19:30 Modern Family 20:00 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 21:00 Scrubs 21:30 Scrubs 22:00 Saturday Night Live 23:30 Late Night With Seth Meyers

00:00 Prison Break 01:00 Dead Of Summer 02:00 Survivor: Millennials vs Generation X 03:00 Deadline Gallipoli 04:00 Live Good Morning America 06:00 Unforgettable 07:00 Chicago Fire 08:00 Bones 09:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 10:00 Unforgettable 11:00 Grey’s Anatomy 12:00 Bones 13:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 14:00 Chicago Fire 15:00 Recovery Road 16:00 Live Good Morning America - Weekend 17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 18:00 Bones 19:00 Grey’s Anatomy 20:00 The Blacklist 21:00 DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow 22:00 Supernatural 23:00 Grimm

00:00 The Night Of 01:35 Funny Or Die Presents 02:00 Game Of Thrones 03:00 Westworld 04:00 The Knick 05:00 Cinema Verite 07:00 A Number 08:15 Path To War 11:00 Hysterical Blindness 13:00 Real Women Have Curves 15:00 The Gathering Storm 17:00 Hysterical Blindness 19:00 Preacher 20:05 Code Black 21:00 Silicon Valley 21:30 Silicon Valley 22:00 John From Cincinnati 23:00 Jonah From Tonga 23:30 Getting On

00:20 12 Monkeys 01:10 Warehouse 13 02:00 Warehouse 13 02:50 Warehouse 13 03:40 Warehouse 13 04:30 Warehouse 13 05:15 Face Off 06:00 Stargate SG-1 09:20 Dark Matter 10:10 Dark Matter

14:20 Seeds Of Destruction 16:00 Killjoys 16:50 Face Off 17:40 Sanctuary 18:30 Sanctuary 19:25 Treasure Island 21:00 Neverland 22:30 Neverland

00:00 Bones 01:00 House Of DVF 02:00 Married At First Sight 03:00 Married At First Sight 04:33 Married At First Sight 05:15 Three 06:00 Style By Jury 06:30 Style By Jury 07:00 The Secret Life Of The AmericanTeenager 08:00 Cedar Cove 09:00 Cedar Cove 10:00 Married At First Sight 11:00 Married At First Sight 12:33 Married At First Sight 13:15 Three 14:00 Da Vinci’s Demons 15:00 Transporter: The Series 16:00 Private Practice 17:00 Gallery Girls 18:00 Grey’s Anatomy 19:00 Grey’s Anatomy 20:00 Fashion Star 21:00 House Of DVF 22:00 Bones 23:00 Bones

00:20 Extraordinary Pregnancies 01:10 Secret Eskimo Escape 02:00 Leah Remini: It’s All Relative 02:25 Leah Remini: It’s All Relative 02:50 Monsters Inside Me 03:35 My Big Fat Fabulous Life 04:20 Toddlers & Tiaras 05:10 Toddlers & Tiaras 06:00 Jon & Kate Plus 8 08:30 Cake Boss 09:20 Separated At Birth 10:10 Designer Darlings 11:50 Say Yes To The Dress 14:45 Say Yes To The Dress: The Big Day 15:35 My Big Fat Fabulous Life 17:40 Oprah’s Master Class 19:20 Suddenly Royal 20:10 Cake Boss 21:00 Oprah: Where Are They Now? 21:50 Oprah’s Master Class 22:40 Body Bizarre 23:30 Diagnose Me

0:00 Violetta 00:45 The Hive 00:50 Sabrina Secrets Of A Teenage Witch 01:15 Sabrina Secrets Of A Teenage Witch 01:40 Hank Zipzer 02:05 Binny And The Ghost 02:30 Violetta 03:15 The Hive 03:20 Sabrina Secrets Of A Teenage Witch 03:45 Sabrina Secrets Of A Teenage Witch 04:10 Hank Zipzer 04:35 Binny And The Ghost 05:00 Violetta 05:45 The Hive 05:50 Mouk 06:00 Jessie 06:25 Jessie 06:50 Tsum Tsum Shorts 06:55 Miraculous Tales Of Ladybug And CatNoir 07:20 Star Darlings 07:25 Austin & Ally 07:50 Disney Mickey Mouse 07:55 Jessie 08:20 Descendants Wicked World 08:25 Elena Of Avalor 08:50 Star Darlings 08:55 Alex & Co. 09:20 Disney Mickey Mouse 09:25 Girl Meets World 09:50 Stuck In The Middle 10:15 Disney Cookabout 10:40 Harriet The Spy: Blog Wars 12:10 The 7D 12:20 Liv And Maddie 12:45 Liv And Maddie 13:10 Liv And Maddie 13:35 Liv And Maddie 14:00 Liv And Maddie 14:25 Austin & Ally 14:50 Austin & Ally 15:15 Bunk’d

15:40 Bunk’d 16:05 Descendants Wicked World 16:10 Elena Of Avalor 16:35 Miraculous Tales Of Ladybug And CatNoir 17:00 Gravity Falls 17:25 Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior 19:00 Star Darlings 19:05 Disney Cookabout 19:30 Elena Of Avalor 19:55 Liv And Maddie 20:20 Best Friends Whenever 20:45 Good Luck Charlie 21:10 H2O: Just Add Water 21:35 H2O: Just Add Water 22:00 Binny And The Ghost 22:25 Sabrina Secrets Of A Teenage Witch 22:50 Sabrina Secrets Of A Teenage Witch 23:10 Hank Zipzer 23:35 Binny And The Ghost

Nickelodeon HD 00:12 Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn 00:36 Max & Shred 01:00 The Haunted Hathaways 01:24 Sanjay And Craig 01:48 Sanjay And Craig 02:12 SpongeBob SquarePants 02:36 SpongeBob SquarePants 03:00 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 03:24 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 03:48 Henry Danger 04:12 Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn 04:36 The Haunted Hathaways 05:00 Max & Shred 05:24 Henry Danger 05:48 Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn 06:12 SpongeBob SquarePants 06:36 SpongeBob SquarePants 07:00 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 07:24 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 07:48 Winx Club 08:12 Harvey Beaks 08:36 Breadwinners 09:00 Get Blake 09:24 Rabbids Invasion 09:48 Lost In The West II 10:36 The Haunted Hathaways 11:00 Winx Club 11:24 SpongeBob SquarePants 11:48 SpongeBob SquarePants 12:12 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 12:36 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 13:00 Rabbids Invasion

13:24 Rabbids Invasion 13:48 Rabbids Invasion 14:12 Rabbids Invasion 14:36 Henry Danger Movie 15:24 SpongeBob SquarePants 15:48 SpongeBob SquarePants 16:12 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 16:36 The Loud House 17:00 Sanjay And Craig 17:24 Rabbids Invasion 17:48 Breadwinners 18:12 Henry Danger 18:36 Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn 19:00 100 Things To Do Before High School 19:24 Game Shakers 19:48 SpongeBob SquarePants 20:12 SpongeBob SquarePants 20:36 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 21:00 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 21:24 Breadwinners 21:48 Breadwinners 22:12 Sanjay And Craig 22:36 Sanjay And Craig 23:00 SpongeBob SquarePants 23:24 SpongeBob SquarePants 23:48 Henry Danger

00:20 Wanda And The Alien 00:31 Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom 00:42 Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom 00:54 Blaze And The Monster Machines 01:17 Blaze And The Monster Machines 01:40 Zack & Quack 01:50 Zack & Quack 02:01 Team Umizoomi 02:25 Louie 02:32 Louie 02:37 Louie 02:43 Paw Patrol 02:57 Paw Patrol 03:21 Paw Patrol 03:45 Paw Patrol 04:08 Wanda And The Alien 04:18 Wanda And The Alien 04:28 Dora And Friends 04:51 Dora And Friends 05:15 Blaze And The Monster Machines 05:38 Blaze And The Monster Machines 06:00 Paw Patrol 06:14 Paw Patrol 06:37 Dora The Explorer 07:00 Wanda And The Alien 07:11 Zack & Quack 07:22 Dora And Friends: Into The City!

THE MAZE RUNNER ON OSN MOVIES ACTION HD

W H A T ’ S O NSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

The Indian Dentists’ Alliance in Kuwait (IDAK) conducted the1st IDAK Members’ Scientific Congress on the 28th ofOctober 2016, at the Kuwait Dental Association (KDA) lec-

ture hall in Jabriya. The theme of the Congress was “CriticalChoices for Clinical Success”. This was the first time a Congresswas organized through IDAK by and for its members.

This congress was mainly intended to provide a platform forthe members of IDAK to present their dental research, rare case

reports and innovative clinical techniques in a conference set-ting and to encourage its members to further pursue researchand clinical studies. Papers were presented from the various den-tal specialties. The paper presentations were organized into foursessions of different specialties and each session was chaired byexperienced and eminent dental specialists from within IDAK.

All the presentations were made by IDAK members and allthe topics were presented elaborately, followed by discussions

with the audience and chair persons. Almost 150 dentistsattended the Congress and thereby gave a major boost to theefforts of the Scientific Committee of IDAK, to stimulate scientificendeavor among its members. It ended with a dinner and on apositive note with a greater resolve among its members to pur-sue research and clinical studies in various fields in dentistry.IDAK wishes to thank KDA sincerely, for all the support it extend-ed to us in this successful endeavor of ours.

IDAK conducts 1st Members’ Scientific Congress

Nanma Kuwait Malayalee Associationconducted Onam- Eid Sangamomat Indian Public school Auditorium

Salmiya. Public function was presided bySalim M A (President). Inauguration of theOnam- Eid celebrations was performed byKoshy Alexander (Senior Adv BoardMemebr) by lighting the traditional Lamp.Felicitation addresses were given by Dr

Ameer Ahmed (Indian Doctors ForumFormer President), Louis James (BoardMember), Adv Thomas Paniker (BoardMember), Kalanjoor Radhakrishnan (VicePresident), Saji J (Kala Ex-Secretary), MadhuAppukuttan (Program Convener), GirijaVijayan (Arts Convener), Shoba Nair (BoardMember) and Sherly Suku ((UnitCoordinator).

Nanma Kuwait Malayalee

conducts Onasangamom

Soorya Kuwait Chapter staged ‘SooryaIndia Festival 2016’ on the evening ofNovember 04 2016, at the Indian

Community School Auditorium, Khaitan,Kuwait. A K Srivastava, Second Secretary,Indian Embassy, inaugurated the festival,which aims to promote international integra-tion through culture, by lighting the lamp,along with Renjith Pillai , Vijay Karayil ,President, and B S Pillai, General Secretary.The Embassy Official appreciated SooryaKuwait Chapter for its excellent efforts in pro-moting the rich Indian culture. The generalsecretary welcomed the Audience.

The program, a mix of three oldest danceforms of India - an Odissi dance, aMohiniyattam recital and a Bharatanatyampresentation by recognized artistes fromIndia, mesmerized the audience of all agegroups gathered. The program started withthe Odissi dance, by Uthara Antharjanam, oneamong the very few Odissi Dancers fromKerala. Perfected by Guru RetikantaMohapatra and Smt. Sujatha Mohapatra, shecaptivated the audience with her brilliantmovements.

The Mohiniyattam by one of India’s bestand internationally acclaimed performerSmitha Rajan was scintillating as she succeed-ed in building up an instant rapport with the

audience. With her beautiful presence and aninnate grace, the Bharatanatyam by LakshmiParthasrathy Arthreya was very strong inrhythm and this aspect came through attrac-tively in her recitals, which was a true enter-tainment. Later, the artistes were honoredwith gifts for their outstanding recitals.Renjith Pillai and Vijay Karayil presented thegifts. Soorya has been disseminating Indianart and culture through music and dance withits 19 chapters all over the world.

Soorya Festival

mesmerizes the audience

W H A T ’ S O NSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

Dasman Diabetes Institute (DDI), a leading cam-paigner for diabetes awareness in Kuwait, heldan informative event to commemorate World

Diabetes Day on Thursday, 17 November, 2016 at itspremises. The event allowed visitors to consult withdiabetes specialists and dietitians as well as gatherhealthy information from booths that explained variousfacts of diabetes and promoted healthy lifestyle modifi-cation. Around 1000 guests attended the event under-lining the interest in Kuwait to prevent and manage thisdangerous lifestyle disease.

Many of the booths at the event were about educat-ing visitors on proper dietary habits, sage physicalactivities and oral health. At this event, there wereinformative booths offered by the Institute, some ofwhich provided blood glucose testing, funduscopic andpodiatric exams, as well as nutritional, educational andfitness consultations by the Institute’s experts. In addi-tion, the event hosted booths by the Kuwait DiabetesSociety, Oral Health Program (Ministry of Health), LOY-AC, Kuwait Finance House amongst others, providingassistance to people living with diabetes and the gen-eral public.

The primary goal of the event is to prevent the com-plications of diabetes in people with diabetes throughraising awareness about the complications, andempowering those affected by diabetes to proactivelytake control of their diabetes and improve their qualityof life. The main key messages were to take control ofblood sugar, watch your cholesterol, keep blood pres-sure in check, don’t forget your kidneys, look out foryour eyes and examine your feet.

The event reflected an exciting environment foreveryone, and the activities were tailored towardsyoung children through fun shows featuring mascots, amagic show, and other educational activities. “Holdingsuch events and activities stems from Dasman DiabetesInstitute’s mission statement, where health promotionand awareness are a priority for the Institute. Since itsestablishment by the Kuwait Foundation of theAdvancement of Sciences in 2006, the Institute organiz-es and takes part in many events and campaigns annu-ally to shed light on diabetes and health in general. Thisis in accordance with the Institute’s belief that,‘Prevention is better than cure’”, Dr Qais Al-Duwairi,Director-General of Dasman Diabetes Institute said.

DDI commemorates World Diabetes Day

H E A L T HSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

LONDON: A British girl who died after a ter-minal illness won the right to have her bodyfrozen in an unprecedented ruling, the HighCourt said yesterday. The 14-year-old girlfrom London had written to a judge explain-ing she wanted a chance to “live longer”after suffering from a rare form of cancer.She had researched and decided to undergocryonics, the process through which people’sbodies are frozen in the hope they will bebrought back to life with the help of futuremedical advancements. “I am only 14-years-old and I don’t want to die but I know I amgoing to die,” she wrote to the judge.

“I think being cryo-preserved gives me achance to be cured and woken up-even inhundreds of years’ time.” The girl launchedlegal action to request that her mother, whosupported the child’s wishes, be the onlyperson allowed to make decisions about thedisposal of her body. Her parents aredivorced and the teenager’s father initiallyobjected to his daughter’s plan. Judge PeterJackson ruled in the girl’s favor in Octoberfollowing a private hearing at the High Courtof England and Wales in London. The girlwas too ill to attend the hearing and hassince died, with her remains being taken tothe United States and cryogenically frozen.

US-based Cryonics Institute issued a state-ment saying that the teenager had arrived attheir facility and “packed in dry ice, at 5:00pm on the 25th of October, approximately 8days after death,” becoming its 144thpatient. Its minimum fee for cryopreserva-tion is $28,000 (26,400 euros), according toits website, and The Times reported the costto the girl’s family was $46,000. The case wasnot reported on before yesterday in keepingwith the wishes of the teenager, who alsoasked that no one involved be identified.Jackson said his decision was based on thedispute between the girl’s parents and thebest outcome for the child’s welfare, not onthe science itself, in what he described as anunprecedented ruling.

‘This is my wish’ “It is no surprise that this application is

the only one of its kind to have come beforethe courts in this country-and probably any-where else,” he said. “It is an example of thenew questions that science poses to the law-perhaps most of all to family law,” Jacksonadded. The judge described the case as a“tragic combination” of childhood illness andfamily conflict, while praising the girl for the“valiant way” she approached the situation.In her letter to the judge, the 14-year-oldwrote: “I don’t want to be buried under-ground. I want to live and live longer and Ithink that in the future they may find a curefor my cancer and wake me up.

“I want to have this chance. This is mywish.” The girl’s solicitor, Zoe Fleetwood, saidher client had called Jackson her “hero” afterbeing told of the court’s decision shortlybefore her death on October 17. “By October6, the girl knew that her wishes were goingto be followed. That gave her great comfort,”she told BBC Radio 4. For the last eight yearsof her life the teenager had not had face-to-face contact with her father, who raised hisconcerns about the costs and consequencesof his daughter being frozen. “Even if thetreatment is successful and she is broughtback to life in, let’s say, 200 years, she maynot find any relative and she might notremember things,” he was said to have toldJackson. The father’s position however shift-ed during the case, saying that he respectedhis daughter’s decision.—AFP

British girl’s body

frozen after death

in UK legal fight

MARRAKESH, Morocco: A UN climate sum-mit in Marrakesh tasked with implementingthe hard-won Paris Agreement movedtoward its scheduled close yesterday,dogged by Donald Trump’s promise to aban-don the landmark pact. The 196-nationforum was stunned to see an avowed cli-mate change denier capture the WhiteHouse, and has been left to ponder theimpact that could have on their collectiveeffort to beat back the threat of global warm-ing. On Thursday, the conference sought toshore up their commitment with a rare unit-ed appeal.

“Our climate is warming at an alarmingand unprecedented rate and we have anurgent duty to respond,” the 196 nations,including the outgoing US administration,said in the “Marrakesh Action Proclamation”.“We call for the highest political commit-ment to combat climate change, as a matterof urgent priority.” Many fear that US presi-

dent-elect Trump-who has described climatechange as a “hoax” perpetrated by China-willact on his threat to withdraw from the Parisaccord or its framework convention, whichcould roll back years of painstakingly negoti-ated political goodwill.

It would also deprive poor countries of bil-lions of dollars in promised finance aid, tohelp them shift to clean energy and shore updefenses against climate change impacts thatcan no longer be avoided. “We have to workon facilitating access to finance,” Moroccanforeign minister Salaheddine Mezouar, whohas taken over stewardship of the UN talksfrom France, said yesterday. “There’s nodoubt that if Mr Trump makes sharp cuts tothe federal government support of develop-ing countries, that will be noticed and havean impact,” veteran climate negotiations ana-lyst Alden Meyer of the Union of ConcernedScientists told AFP. The Paris pact sets thegoal of limiting average global warming to

2.0 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit)over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.

No backtracking That can only be achieved by rapidly

slashing greenhouse gas emissions generat-ed by the burning of fossil fuels, scientists say.Countries-including the United States-havepledged to do so under the deal by shiftingto renewable energy sources. But Trump hasvowed to boost oil and gas production, andto revive the sagging US coal industry, bat-tered mainly by the rise of natural gas fromfracking. Experts say global warming over 2Cwill result in land-gobbling sea level rise,worsening storms and droughts, diseasespread and conflict over ever-scarcerresources. Highlighting the stakes, US gov-ernment scientists said Thursday that the first10 months of the year were the hottest inmodern times-and 2016 will likely surpass2015 as the warmest year on record. — AFP

NEW YORK: With more people than ever before migrating to cities,finding a toilet is not only a chore but a public health issue for hundredsof millions of people around the world, WaterAid, a sanitation charity,said on Thursday. Nearly one in five city dwellers, or about 700 millionpeople worldwide do not have access to decent toilets, according tothe Britain-based WaterAid. About 600 million people use dirty orcrowded communal toilets and pit or bucket latrines, while some 100million have no facilities at all, it said. Ensuring sanitation for all by 2030was among the global development goals adopted last year by the 193members of the United Nations. Here are a few facts from WaterAid’sreport on urban areas where toilet troubles are most pressing:

1 India has the highest number of urban dwellers who do not haveaccess to safe and private toilets - 157 million people.

2 Eight Olympic-sized swimming pools could be filled daily withexcrement produced by India’s 41 million urban residents who mustdefecate in the open.

3 The 10 countries with the most urban dwellers lacking access tosafe and private toilets are: India, China, Nigeria, Indonesia, Russia,Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Brazil, Ethiopia andPakistan. 4- The 10 countries with the least number of safe and privatetoilets per capita in urban areas are all located in Africa. In descendingorder, they are South Sudan, Madagascar, the Republic of Congo,Ghana, Sierra Leone, Togo, Ethiopia, Liberia, the Democratic Republic ofCongo and Uganda. —Reuters

Dogged by Trump, UN

climate talks wind down‘We have to work on facilitating access to finance’

Urine trouble: Finding a toilet in cities

around the world is no easy task

INDIA: Indian skilled workers build toilets at a factory in Morbi,some 230km from Ahmedabad, yesterday, on the eve of WorldToilet Day. World Toilet Day (WTD), held today each year, is acampaign held around the world to mobilize people over issuessurrounding health and sanitation. —AFP

MARRAKECH, Morocco: Members of International delegations pose for a group photooutside the COP22 climate conference on yesterday, in Marrakesh. —AFP photos

MARRAKECH, Morocco: Members ofInternational delegations play with agiant air globe ball outside the COP22climate conference.

H E A L T HSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

CINCINNATI: Federal inspectors concluded that theCincinnati Zoo’s barrier to keep the public and gorillasseparate wasn’t in compliance with standards for hous-ing primates when a 3-year-old boy slipped into theirexhibit, resulting in the shooting death of an endangeredgorilla named Harambe. The US Agriculture Departmentinspection report, obtained Thursday by The AssociatedPress, also stated that the zoo’s dangerous-animalresponse team properly followed procedures after visi-tors called 911 on May 28 to report a child in the gorillaenclosure. A team member concluded the child was in“life-threatening danger.” The death of the 17-year-oldmale western lowland gorilla led to mourning around theglobe and a storm of criticism and unending social mediaattention. The zoo quickly made the barrier taller andadded nylon mesh and surveillance cameras. The zoosaid there had been no previous problems in the GorillaWorld exhibit’s 38-year history and its barriers werealways found compliant in earlier federal inspections,including in April. The federal investigation is continuingand could lead to fines or other disciplinary action. Thedepartment’s animal welfare arm confirmed that thezoo’s barrier system had been considered to be in com-pliance during earlier inspections. —AP

SHANGHAI/BEIJING: China is makingprogress in battling the damaging smogthat can shroud its big cities, but in manyareas - from parts of the giant Yangtze riv-er to the coalfields of Inner Mongolia - itswater pollution is getting worse. Despitecommitments to crack down on polluters,the quality of water in rivers, lakes andreservoirs in several regions has deterio-rated significantly, according to inspectionteams reporting back to the Ministry ofEnvironmental Protection (MEP). In docu-ments published this week, inspectorsfound that a fifth of the water in theYangtze’s feeder rivers in one provincewas unusable, and thousands of tons ofraw sewage were being deposited intoone river in northeastern Ningxia eachday. Worried about unrest, Chinalaunched its war on pollution in 2014,vowing to reverse the damage done to itsskies, rivers and soil by more than threedecades of breakneck industrial growth.“We still have a lot of work to do,” vice-min-ister Zhao Yingmin said at a press briefingon Friday. “First, I’d say the point of inspec-tions is to discover problems, and indeed wediscovered in some places water quality hasgotten significantly worse,” he said, noting,though, that the overall situation was improv-ing. Over the first nine months of this year, 70.3percent of samples taken from 1,922 surfacewater sites around China could be used asdrinking water, up 4 percentage points from ayear ago, Zhao said.

Tight supplyChina has long been worried about a

water supply bottleneck that could jeop-ardize future economic development. Percapita supplies are less than a third of the

global average. A survey published by theMEP last year showed that nearly twothirds of underground water and a third ofsurface water was unsuitable for humancontact, with much of it contaminated byfertilizer run-offs, heavy metals anduntreated sewage. China’s priority,though, has been air pollution, especiallyin industrialized regions like Beijing andHebei, and it said this week that concen-trations of harmful small particles, knownas PM2.5, fell 12.5 percent in January-October. “With air, you stop pollution atthe source, and the blue skies come backinstantly,” said Ma Jun, director of theInstitute of Public and EnvironmentalAffairs, which monitors Chinese waterpollution. “For water, you can stop pollu-tion at the source, but you still have thepolluted sediment and the soil that isgoing to leech into the water, and it’sgoing to take much longer.”

‘Below grade 5’China grades its water in five categories.

Grade three and above is deemed safe fordirect human contact, while grades fourand five can only be used in industry andagriculture. Water “below grade five” has“lost all functionality”. In an action plan pub-lished last year, the government vowed toimprove water quality nationwide by 2030,and it aims to bring large volumes of unus-able “below grade five” water back into theeconomy.

While improvements have been madein the past five years, China’s growingdemand for water has put increasing pres-sure on its limited resources, and sourcesof pollution have not been put under ade-quate control, said vice-minister Zhao. This

week, the top coal producing province ofShanxi revealed that 29 of the 100 surfacewater sites tested between January andSeptember were found to be “belowgrade five”, with water in the city ofDatong deteriorating sharply over theperiod. In the manufacturing powerhouseof Jiangsu near Shanghai on the easterncoast, inspectors found that the Yangtze,China’s longest river, wasn’t being protect-ed. They said 20.5 percent of water sam-ples taken from feeder rivers were “belowgrade five” last year, an increase of 11.4percentage points in a year. The numberof surface water monitoring sites metingstate standards in the coal producingregion of Inner Mongolia fell by 7.7 per-centage points, and the number catego-rized as “below grade five” rose by morethan three percentage points. In Ningxiain the northwest, another growing coalproducer, water at two lakes had deterio-rated from grade three to “below gradefive”, and inspectors found that 6,400tonnes of raw sewage was being deposit-ed into one river each day. Ammonia andphosphate concentrations in one reservoirin rural Guangxi in the southwest, doubledlast year as a result of pollution from farm-ing and fishing, the ministry said. Chinasaid this year it would spend 430 billionyuan ($62.4 billion) on around 4,800 sepa-rate projects aimed at improving the qual-ity of its water supplies, though it did notgive a timeframe. “You need infrastruc-ture, and there is a deficit that we have tocatch up ... but the problem is how to findthe motivation to clean up and behaveproperly, and stop pollution at thesource,” said Ma at the Institute of Publicand Environmental Affairs. —Reuters

Barrier to gorilla exhibit

entered by boy ineffective

Smog may be easing, but in parts

of China water quality worsens

CINCINNATI: In this file photo, a visitor touches a pictureof Harambe, a male silverback gorilla, at a makeshiftmemorial outside the Gorilla World exhibit at theCincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden in Cincinnati. —AP

Readings in some regions show marked fall in water quality

112

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY(17/11/2016 TO 23/11/2016)

SHARQIA-1ATTEEJ (Kuwaiti Film) 12:30 PMBLEED FOR THIS 2:15 PMTROLLS 4:45 PMATTEEJ (Kuwaiti Film) 6:45 PMATTEEJ (Kuwaiti Film) 8:45 PMATTEEJ (Kuwaiti Film) 10:30 PMBLEED FOR THIS 12:15 AM

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FANAR-3AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL -Hindi 12:30 PMFORCE 2 - Hindi 3:30 PMAE DIL HAI MUSHKIL -Hindi 6:00 PMFORCE 2 - Hindi 9:00 PMAE DIL HAI MUSHKIL -Hindi 11:30 PM

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MARINA-2ATTEEJ (Kuwaiti Film) 12:15 PMATTEEJ (Kuwaiti Film) 2:00 PMNO FRI+SAT+MONTROLLS 2:00 PMFRI+SAT+MONTROLLS 4:00 PMLAF WA DAWARAN 6:00 PMATTEEJ (Kuwaiti Film) 8:15 PMATTEEJ (Kuwaiti Film) 10:00 PMATTEEJ (Kuwaiti Film) 11:45 PM

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AVENUES-1JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK 11:30 AMDOCTOR STRANGE 2:00 PMJACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK 4:15 PMFORCE 2 - Hindi 6:45 PMAE DIL HAI MUSHKIL -Hindi 9:15 PMFANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM 12:30 AM

AVENUES-2FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM -3D -4DX 12:15 PMFANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM -3D -4DX 3:00 PMFANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM -3D -4DX 5:45 PM(2D+3D+4DX) FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM -3D -4DX 8:30 PMFANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM -3D -4DX 11:15 PM

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360 º 1FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM 11:45 AMFANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM 2:30 PMJACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK 5:30 PMFANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM 8:00 PMFANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM 10:45 PM

360 º 2RAVEN THE LITTLE RASCAL- THE BIG RACE 12:30 PMRAVEN THE LITTLE RASCAL- THE BIG RACE 2:15 PMRAVEN THE LITTLE RASCAL- THE BIG RACE 4:00 PMRAVEN THE LITTLE RASCAL- THE BIG RACE 6:00 PMSHUT IN 8:15 PMOPERATION CHROMITE 10:15 PMOPERATION CHROMITE 12:45 AM

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BAIRAQ-3BLEED FOR THIS 1:30 PMFORCE 2 - Hindi 4:00 PMAE DIL HAI MUSHKIL -Hindi 6:30 PMBLEED FOR THIS 9:30 PMBLEED FOR THIS 12:05 AM

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CHANGE OF NAME

I, Pedro Domingo Dias s/oDomingo Dias holder ofIndian Passport No.G3441110 and Civil ID No.268113001912 has changedmy name Pedru DomingoDiasy to Pedro Domingo Diasherein after in all my dealingsand documents, I will beknown by name of PedroDomingo Dias. (C 5233)

I, NAZEEMA MOHAMMEDholder of Indian Passport No.L-4904837 and Civil ID No.278022005597 has changedmy name from NAZEEMAMOHAMMED toNASIMUNNISA hereinafter inall my dealings and docu-ments, I will be known byname of NASIMUNNISA. (C 5234)

17-11-2016I, Jujar AbbasbhaiDahodwala s/o AbbasbhaiDahodwala holder of IndianPassport No. H8465779 andCivil ID No. 268111401621has change my surname toJujar Abbasbhai Dalrotiwalahere in after. In all my deal-ings and documents I will beknown by name of JujarAbbasbhai Dalrotiwala. C 5231)

I, Shaik Mushtaaq s/o ShaikYousuf holder of IndianPassport No. G3955355 CivilID No. 276030802124 haschanged my name to ShaikMukthar herein after in all mydealings and docements. Iwill be known by name ofShaik Mukthar s/o ShaikYousuf. (C 5232)16-11-2016

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

Arrival Flights on Saturday 19/11/2016Airlines Flt Route TimeMSC 415 Sohag 00:10THY 772 Istanbul 00:10JZR 267 Beirut 00:30FDB 069 Dubai 00:55DLH 635 Doha 01:00QTR 1086 Doha 01:15JZR 539 Cairo 01:20SAI 441 Lahore 01:30PGT 858 Istanbul 01:40ETH 620 Addis Ababa 01:45RJA 642 Amman 01:45THY 1464 Istanbul 01:50JZR 553 Alexandria 01:50MSC 501 Alexandria 02:00KKK 6506 Istanbul 02:00GFA 211 Bahrain 02:15UAE 853 Dubai 02:25OMA 643 Muscat 02:35ETD 305 Abu Dhabi 03:05MSR 612 Cairo 03:15QTR 1076 Doha 03:25PGT 860 Istanbul 03:30KAC 544 Cairo 03:40KAC 514 Tehran 03:50AVV 653 Alexandria 04:30DHX 170 Bahrain 04:35FEG 931 Alexandria 05:00THY 770 Istanbul 05:15SYR 341 Damascus 06:00JZR 529 Asyut 06:00PAL 668 Manila/Dubai 06:25KAC 412 Manila/Bangkok 06:30BAW 157 London 06:40FDB 5061 Dubai 07:15JZR 503 Luxor 07:25KAC 382 Delhi 07:30KAC 346 Ahmedabad 07:35KAC 206 Islamabad 07:40KAC 204 Lahore 07:40KAC 302 Mumbai 07:50FDB 053 Dubai 07:50SVA 512 Riyadh 07:50KAC 332 Trivandrum 08:15KAC 344 Chennai 08:15KAC 352 Kochi 08:20KAC 362 Colombo 08:20UAE 855 Dubai 08:25ETD 301 Abu Dhabi 09:00KAC 284 Dhaka 09:00ABY 125 Sharjah 09:05QTR 1070 Doha 09:20FDB 055 Dubai 09:40GFA 213 Bahrain 10:40UAE 873 Dubai 10:40IRM 1188 Mashhad 11:10JZR 325 Al Najaf 11:20RBG 553 Alexandria 11:30FDK 801 Damascus 11:45JZR 165 Dubai 11:50IAW 157 Al Najaf 11:55AVV 651 Sohag 12:05MSR 610 Cairo 13:00THY 766 Istanbul 13:10SVA 2502 Jeddah 13:30SVA 2504 Jeddah 13:55KAC 672 Dubai 14:00KNE 231 Riyadh 14:00KNE 535 Jeddah 14:05QTR 1078 Doha 14:05MSR 575 Sharm el-Sheikh 14:15FDB 057 Dubai 14:20GFA 221 Bahrain 14:20JZR 779 Jeddah 14:25KAC 512 Mashhad 14:30KAC 540 Sharm el-Sheikh 14:50KAC 788 Jeddah 15:00KNE 683 Madinah 15:05KNE 529 Jeddah 15:05ETD 303 Abu Dhabi 15:10OMA 645 Muscat 15:10ABY 127 Sharjah 15:35UAE 857 Dubai 15:45NIA 251 Alexandria 15:50RJA 640 Amman 16:00FDB 051 Dubai 16:10QTR 1072 Doha 16:15JZR 535 Cairo 16:20KNE 531 Jeddah 16:35SVA 2508 Jeddah 16:40JZR 787 Riyadh 16:45KAC 680 Muscat 16:55KAC 562 Amman 16:55KAC 118 New York 17:00SAW 705 Damascus 17:05IRA 669 Mashhad 17:10SVA 510 Riyadh 17:15JZR 357 Mashhad 17:30GFA 215 Bahrain 17:30JZR 177 Dubai 17:45KAC 792 Madinah 17:45JZR 777 Jeddah 17:50

SVA 500 Jeddah 17:55QTR 1080 Doha 17:55KAC 176 Geneva/Frankfurt 18:20MSR 620 Cairo 18:30KAC 786 Jeddah 18:35KAC 774 Riyadh 18:35KAC 502 Beirut 18:35KAC 742 Dammam 18:50CLX 856 Luxembourg 18:50KAC 542 Cairo 18:55KAC 618 Doha 18:55KAC 104 London 19:00GFA 217 Bahrain 19:05UAE 875 Dubai 19:05KAC 614 Bahrain 19:10FDB 063 Dubai 19:10ABY 123 Sharjah 19:15JAI 572 Mumbai 19:35KAC 674 Dubai 19:45FDB 059 Dubai 19:50OSJ 4116 XQC 20:00DLH 634 Frankfurt 20:05KNE 381 Taif 20:10MEA 402 Beirut 20:15OMA 647 Muscat 20:20JZR 189 Dubai 20:25MSR 618 Alexandria 20:30QTR 1088 Doha 20:35FDB 5053 Dubai 20:55KAC 174 Munich 20:55ETD 307 Abu Dhabi 21:05UAE 859 Dubai 21:15ALK 229 Colombo 21:20KLM 415 Amsterdam 21:25KAC 676 Dubai 21:35FDB 8053 Dubai 21:40QTR 1082 Doha 21:55GFA 219 Bahrain 22:00KAC 564 Amman 22:05ETD 309 Abu Dhabi 22:10NIA 151 Cairo 22:10JZR 125 Bahrain 22:15AIC 987 Chennai/Hyderabad 22:25KNE 533 Jeddah 22:45JZR 185 Dubai 22:55THY 764 Istanbul 22:55JAI 574 Mumbai 23:05JZR 513 Sharm el-Sheikh 23:30MSR 614 Cairo 23:30FDB 071 Dubai 23:35JAD 301 Amman 23:45

Departure Flights on Saturday 19/11/2016Airlines Flt Route TimeAIC 976 Goa/Chennai 00:05BBC 044 Dhaka 00:10JAI 573 Mumbai 00:10MSR 615 Cairo 00:30FDB 072 Dubai 00:30PIA 240 Sialkot 00:40MSC 416 Sohag 01:05KLM 413 Amsterdam 01:05JZR 502 Luxor 01:15THY 773 Istanbul 01:40DLH 635 Frankfurt 02:00SAI 442 Lahore 02:30PGT 859 Istanbul 02:40ETH 621 Addis Ababa 02:45THY 765 Istanbul 02:45KKK 6505 Istanbul 02:55UAE 854 Dubai 03:45OMA 644 Muscat 03:50MSC 502 Alexandria 04:00ETD 306 Abu Dhabi 04:10MSR 613 Cairo 04:15PGT 861 Istanbul 04:30QTR 1077 Doha 04:35OSJ 4115 XQC 05:00AVV 654 Sohag 05:30THY 1465 Istanbul 06:00FEG 934 Sohag 06:00RJA 643 Amman 06:25QTR 1087 Doha 06:30THY 771 Istanbul 06:45GFA 212 Bahrain 06:50SYR 342 Damascus 07:00FDB 070 Dubai 07:05JZR 164 Dubai 07:15JZR 324 Al Najaf 07:55FDB 5062 Dubai 07:55BAW 156 London 08:25FDB 054 Dubai 08:30KAC 173 Munich 08:35KAC 511 Mashhad 08:40JZR 778 Jeddah 08:50SVA 513 Riyadh 08:50KAC 539 Sharm el-Sheikh 08:50KAC 671 Dubai 09:15KAC 787 Jeddah 09:30JZR 534 Cairo 09:30ABY 126 Sharjah 09:45UAE 856 Dubai 09:50KAC 101 London/New York 10:00

ETD 302 Abu Dhabi 10:05QTR 1071 Doha 10:35FDB 056 Dubai 10:40KAC 501 Beirut 11:00KAC 561 Amman 11:20KAC 679 Muscat 11:25KAC 165 Rome/Paris 11:25GFA 214 Bahrain 11:35JZR 356 Mashhad 11:40KAC 541 Cairo 12:05UAE 874 Dubai 12:10RBG 554 Alexandria 12:10JZR 776 Jeddah 12:15IRM 1189 Mashhad 12:20FDK 802 Damascus 12:45IAW 158 Al Najaf 12:55KAC 791 Madinah 13:00KAC 785 Jeddah 13:00OSJ 4115 XQC 13:00AVV 652 Alexandria 13:05JZR 176 Dubai 13:10JZR 786 Riyadh 13:20MSR 611 Cairo 14:00THY 767 Istanbul 14:10SVA 9302 Jeddah 14:30PAL 669 Dubai/Manila 14:45KNE 382 Taif 14:55SVA 3904 Jeddah 14:55KNE 536 Jeddah 14:55KAC 773 Riyadh 15:00MSR 576 Sharm el-Sheikh 15:00KAC 673 Dubai 15:05GFA 222 Bahrain 15:05FDB 058 Dubai 15:05KAC 617 Doha 15:15QTR 1079 Doha 15:15KAC 741 Dammam 15:30JZR 188 Dubai 15:50KNE 530 Jeddah 15:55KAC 613 Bahrain 16:00KNE 684 Madinah 16:00OMA 646 Muscat 16:10ABY 128 Sharjah 16:15ETD 304 Abu Dhabi 16:20KAC 563 Amman 16:30NIA 252 Alexandria 16:50RJA 641 Amman 16:55KAC 675 Dubai 17:00FDB 052 Dubai 17:00JZR 266 Beirut 17:10JZR 512 Sharm el-Sheikh 17:15QTR 1073 Doha 17:25KNE 532 Jeddah 17:25UAE 858 Dubai 17:40SVA 9308 Jeddah 17:40IRA 666 Esfahan 18:10SVA 511 Riyadh 18:15JZR 184 Dubai 18:20SAW 706 Damascus 18:20GFA 216 Bahrain 18:20JZR 538 Cairo 18:30QTR 1081 Doha 19:05JZR 238 Amman 19:15JZR 124 Bahrain 19:20SVA 505 Jeddah 19:25MSR 621 Cairo 19:30KAC 285 Dhaka 19:40GFA 218 Bahrain 19:50FDB 064 Dubai 19:50KAC 361 Colombo 19:55ABY 124 Sharjah 19:55CLX 856 Hong Kong 20:20FDB 060 Dubai 20:30UAE 876 Dubai 20:35JAI 571 Mumbai 20:35KAC 331 Trivandrum 20:45DLH 634 Doha 20:50KAC 353 BLR 20:55KAC 543 Cairo 21:00KAC 351 Kochi 21:00KNE 232 Riyadh 21:10JZR 554 Alexandria 21:15MEA 403 Beirut 21:15OMA 648 Muscat 21:15MSR 607 Luxor 21:30QTR 1089 Doha 21:45DHX 171 Bahrain 21:50FDB 5054 Dubai 21:55ETD 308 Abu Dhabi 21:55ALK 230 Colombo 22:20KAC 381 Delhi 22:25UAE 860 Dubai 22:25KLM 415 Dammam/Amsterdam 22:25KAC 301 Mumbai 22:30KAC 345 Ahmedabad 22:55KAC 1205 Islamabad 23:00GFA 220 Bahrain 23:00ETD 310 Abu Dhabi 23:05NIA 152 Cairo 23:10FDB 8054 Dubai 23:15KAC 155 Istanbul 23:15QTR 1083 Doha 23:20KAC 411 Bangkok/Manila 23:25

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

i n f o r m a t i o nSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

ACROSS1. Having or denoting a low vocal or instrumental range.5. United States linguist whose theory of generative grammar redefinedthe field of linguistics (born 1928).12. A state-chartered savings bank owned by its depositors and managedby a board of trustees.15. Type genus of the family Arcidae.16. A failure to maintain a higher state.17. A plant hormone promoting elongation of stems and roots.18. Fastener consisting of a resinous composition that is plastic whenwarm.19. The ending of a series or sequence.20. (of complexion) Blemished by imperfections of the skin.22. Relating to the deepest parts of the ocean (below 6000 meters).24. Affected manners intended to impress others.26. The lean flesh of a fish similar to cod.27. Formerly a term of respect for important white Europeans in colonialIndia.29. Small South American spiny tree with dark crimson and scarlet flowerssolitary or clustered.30. Being or moving higher in position or greater in some value.32. Make off with belongings of others.34. Large recently extinct long-horned European wild ox.38. A source of oil.42. American prizefighter who won the world heavyweight championshipthree times (born in 1942).43. An ancient Egyptian city on the west bank of the Nile opposite Cairo.44. Abnormally distended especially by fluids or gas.47. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.49. A disreputable vagrant.50. A high wave (often dangerous) caused by tidal flow (as by collidingtidal currents or in a narrow estuary).51. The compass point midway between northeast and east.52. After noon.54. The first month of the year.55. A contorted facial expression.59. American Revolutionary patriot.61. (prefix) Indicating difference or variation.62. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.65. Being one hundred more than three hundred.66. The capital and largest city of Zambia.70. Of or relating to or functioning as a phrase.74. A number of sheets of paper fastened together along one edge.

CROSSWORD 143575. Involving the entire earth.78. A device (trade name Aqua-Lung) that lets divers breathe underwater.79. An overwhelming feeling of wonder or admiration.80. French revolutionary who was prominent in the early days of theFrench Revolution (1749-1791).82. A rapid escape (as by criminals).83. A workplace for the conduct of scientific research.84. A large continuous extent of land.85. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

DOWN1. A vigorous blow.2. A particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually servingsome special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geogra-phy).3. A large number or amount.4. A deep bow.5. Electronic equipment that provides visual images of varying electricalquantities.6. Lap that forms a cloth border doubled back and stitched down v 1.7. Evergreen trees and shrubs having oily one-seeded fruits.8. Possessing or using or characteristic of or appropriate to supernaturalpowers.9. A cut of pork ribs with much of the meat trimmed off.10. A state in midwestern United States.11. An affirmative.12. Tropical Asian starlings.13. A branch of the Tai languages.14. A Chadic language spoken in northern Nigeria.21. A European corvine bird of small or medium size with red legs andglossy black plumage.23. A gonadotropic hormone that is secreted by the anterior pituitary.25. (Norse mythology) Wife of Thor and guardian of the home.28. A bachelor's degree in science.31. Having a pair of equal and opposite charges.33. A silvery soft waxy metallic element of the alkali metal group.35. Dry red table wine from the Rioja region of northern Spain.36. A member of a Turkic people of Uzbekistan and neighboring areas.37. A river in eastern France.39. United States baseball player (born 1925).40. The function or position properly or customarily occupied or servedby another.41. A light strong brittle gray toxic bivalent metallic element.45. A large fleet.46. Keep in mind or convey as a conviction or view.48. Greek god of light.53. Sloth bears.56. Genus of tall smooth herbs of forested mountains of Europe and Asiaminor.57. (astronomy) The angular distance of a celestial point measured west-ward along the celestial equator from the zenith crossing.58. Ratio of the hypotenuse to the opposite side.60. A white trivalent metallic element.63. An Indian tree of the family Combretaceae that is a source of timberand gum.64. A unit of dry measure used in Egypt.67. Scale-like structure between the base of the wing and the halter of atwo-winged fly.68. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with veg-etables.69. Small terrestrial lizard of warm regions of the Old World.71. (computer science) A standardized language for the descriptivemarkup of documents.72. Pitiable in circumstances especially through abandonment.73. Any wingless blood-sucking parasitic insect noted for ability to leap.76. Having undesirable or negative qualities.77. A defensive missile designed to shoot down incoming intercontinen-tal ballistic missiles.81. A very poisonous metallic element that has three allotropic forms.

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S P O R T SSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

TOKYO: Fukushima, site of one of theworld’s worst nuclear disasters, posesno threat to players if baseball gamesare held there at the Tokyo 2020Olympics, the sport’s top official saidyesterday.

Tokyo organisers want to hold partof baseball’s preliminary rounds in theregion to support its recovery from the2011 quake-tsunami and resultingnuclear crisis.

While any such decision could trig-ger health fears among participatingnations, the head of the World BaseballSoftball Confederation insisted itwould be safe to play in Fukushima,about 240 kilometres (150 miles) northof Tokyo.

“It can be an issue but from the dataI have received, at this moment it’s notdangerous in Fukushima,” Riccardo

Fraccari told reporters. “From this pointof view we do not have any problem togo to Fukushima.” Fraccari is set toinspect three venues in Fukushimaprefecture today, including IwakiGreen Stadium, which hosted theunder-15 Baseball Cup earlier this year.

“Only one country (Germany)refused to come, but the rest werethere,” the Italian said of the 12-teamtournament. Baseball and softball weredropped from the Olympic pro-gramme after 2008 but were votedback in by the International OlympicCommittee (IOC), in large part due totheir popularity in Japan.

Any move to stage games inFukushima still needs to be formallyapproved by the IOC, however, with afinal decision expected next month.

“The main issues are the facilities

and the schedule. The other things arenot a problem,” Fraccari said, referringto concerns about radiation exposure.

The March 2011 tsunami, triggeredby a massive undersea quake, killedaround 18,000 people and swampedemergency power supplies at theFukushima nuclear plant, sending itsreactors into meltdown.

Tens of thousands of people evacu-ated their homes and farms at the timeand the Japanese government hasbeen working to rebuild the region,although areas near the crippled plantremain uninhabitable because of radi-ation dangers.

Fukushima has two baseball stadi-ums with a capacity of 30,000 each,located dozens of kilometres awayfrom the “difficult-to-return zone” des-ignated by the government.

Tokyo 2020’s proposal comes afterIOC President Thomas Bach met lastmonth with Japanese Prime MinisterShinzo Abe and said Olympic officialswere considering the option.

It also comes after experts warnedthe total Tokyo 2020 budget could hitan eye-watering $30 billion-four timesthe initial estimate and almost triplethat of the 2012 London Olympics.

Tokyo metropolitan officials, led byGovernor Yuriko Koike, are pursuingcheaper options, such as relocating thecanoeing and rowing events whilescaling back plans for a new swimmingvenue.

IOC executive director ChristopheDubi said recently that the rowing andcanoeing could take place in Miyagiprefecture, also part of the region hithardest by the 2011 disaster. — AFP

Fukushima ‘safe’ for Tokyo 2020, says baseball boss

KUWAIT: The 19th Prof RamachandranMemorial Cricket Tournament conductedby College of Engineering AlumniAssociation (CETTA) and sponsored by GTEOlayan Co on November 11 at cricketgrounds. The first match, batting firstagainst MACE began steadily with skipperSuresh (21) and Gireesh (13) putting on 37runs for the opening wicket by the 6thover. After Gireesh’s Dinto (15)increased the tempo but his exit (retiredhurt) put paid to TEC’s charge and they fin-ished on 75 for the loss of 5 wickets in their12 overs. For MACE, Roy, Jayesh, Sandeepand Manu took a wicket each to peg backTEC. In reply, MACE lost wickets at regularintervals and could score only 50 for theloss of 8 wickets leaving c o m f o r t a b l ewinners by 25 runs. Sandeep (3), Gireesh (2)man of the match), Sreekumar andDhanesh (1 wicket each) were instrumentalin dampening the hopes of a MACE win.

AECK batting 1st against NIT in the sec-ond match scored at a fast pace with usefulcontributions from Shamir (14) and Mahesh(13). But it was the unbroken 4th wicket part-nership of82 runs between Nimish (50 no

man of the match) and Remon (22 no) thattook the match away from NIT. Nimish wasparticularly impressive with his silken drivesand ability to put away the loose balls. Jacob(2) and Tharun were the wicket takers for NITbut could not stem the flow of runs. In replyNIT committed “hara-kiri” with 5 of theirbatsmen getting run out and AECK wonoverwhelmingly by 119 runs. For AECK,Munaz (2), Nimish (2) and Mahesh 1 wicketshowed they are up and ready for thetougher matches ahead.

In the 3rd match, batting first TKM couldnot make much headway against the disci-plined bowling of KEA. Ziad (12) and Anfar(23 no) fought bravely but the run rate wasalways below 5 per over. TKM finished at anon too impressive 56 for the loss of7 wick-ets in their allotted overs. For KEA, Sibin (2),Ajin (l) & Nasif (1 wicket) helped to keepTKM to a below par total. In reply, after theearly fall of Tibish, Govind (17) and Ajin (15no- man of the match) took the score to 38by the 6th over to ensure there were noalarms and KEA won comfortably by 5 wick-ets with 11 balls to spare.

In the final match of the day, NSS batting

first were helped by a spate of no balls fromhosts CETAA. Aided by Jaymohan (11) andShaifuddin (10), NSS reached 51 for 3 by the11 over. But a hat-trick by Zakir in the 7thover changed the complexion and CETAAshowed signs of a strong comeback. But anunbroken partnership of 40 runs betweenDileep (18 no -man of the match) and Joe(16 no) took NSS to a comfortable 91 for 6of their 12 overs.

For CETAA, Zakir (3), Arun (1), Prashant 1wicket strove manfully but a plethora ofwides proved their undoing. In reply, Daniel(16) and Arief (14) showed determinationbut they were always behind the askingrate. In the end, CETAA could reach only 55for the loss of 6 wickets leaving NSS deserv-ing winners by 36 runs. NSS put up a fine allround bowling performance with Mahesh(2), Priyan and Arjun (1 wicket each) beingthe wicket takers.

In the morning, CETAA Vice PresidentManoj Balakrishan inaugurated the tourna-ment. Jose Kurishinkal (CETAA) welcomedthe gathering while the Chief Guest TapanRamesh, Regional Manager, GTE Olayan Comet and spoke with the players.

TEC, AECK, NSS and KEA win on

opening day of CETTA tournament

KUWAIT: Tapan Ramesh, Regional Manager, GTE Olayan giving the man of the match award to Gireesh (TEC).

COFFS HARBOUR: Norway’s Andreas Mikkelsen,chasing second place in this season’s FIA WorldRally Championship, led yesterday after winningfive of the opening day special stages in the RallyAustralia.

The young Volkswagen star held a 15.4 secondadvantage after 11 special stages south of CoffsHarbour, in New South Wales. Mikkelsen is in astrong position to challenge second-place Belgiandriver Thierry Neuville in the championship stand-ings ahead of Sunday’s finish. Newly-crowned four-time champion Sebastien Ogier finished second,with three special stage wins, with Neuville in thirdplace. “We had a good morning and a good run,although it is very loose so I expected to lose moretime,” Mikkelsen said.

“I think we are doing a really good job beingthird on the road so we will have to keep to this.“We have to push if we want the win and so far it islooking good. The car is really perfect and I am feel-ing very comfortable in there.” Ogier won the finaltwo stages on the faster surfaces and was satisfiedwith his second position.

“Our position does not reflect the struggle wehad this morning and I think maybe others are notmaking the best of their advantage being behindus,” Ogier said.

“It’s certainly better than I expected, but it is astruggle to clean the roads and I think it will be diffi-cult to keep this position.” Under WRC rules, Ogierwill start first again on fresh stages Saturday, butSunday’s running order will be set on Saturday’sresults.

Standings after Friday’s special stages:1. Andreas Mikkelsen-Anders Jaeger (NOR/VW

Polo-R) 57 minutes 16.7 seconds, 2. Sebastien Ogier-Julien Ingrassia (FRA/VW

Polo-R) at 15.4, 3. Thierry Neuville-Nicolas Gilsoul(BEL/Hyundai i20) 22.5, 4. Hayden Paddon-JohnKennard (NZL/Hyundai i20) 23.7, 5. Mads Ostberg-Ola Floene (NOR/Ford Fiesta RS) 38.8, 6. Eric Camilli-Benjamin Veillas (FRA/Ford Fiesta RS 46.6, 7. DaniSordo-Marc Marti (ESP/Hyundai i20) 50.2, 8. OttTanak-Raigo Molder(EST/Ford Fiesta RS 1:30.6, 9.Esapekka Lappi-Janne Ferm (FIN/Skoda Fabia R5)2:20.3, 10. Lorenzo Bertelli-Simone Scattolin(ITA/Ford Fiesta RS) 2:24.7

Stage winnersMikkelsen 5 (SS1, SS3, SS4, SS5, SS6, Ogier 3 (SS8,

SS9, SS10, Neuville 1 (SS7), Paddon 1 (SS2), Lappi(SS11) . — AFP

Mikkelsen leads

Ogier in Rally

Australia

S P O R T SSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

FLORENCE: South Africa’s Nizaam Carr isready to show thousands of Springbok hope-fuls what it means to pull on the green andgold jersey when he lines up, out of position,against Italy in Florence.

Described as one of the most excitingyoung prospects of recent years, Carr madehistory when he became the squad’s firstMuslim player on his maiden call-up in 2014,when he made his debut in a 22-6 win overItaly. But a disastrous 2015 he blamed on adebilitating and mystery virus, as well as otherissues, meant he dropped off the radar andnotably missed possible selection for the 2015World Cup.

The 25-year-old is now back “in-form” aftercoming off the bench in a 37-21 loss to

England to earn a place in Allister Coetzee’sstarting XV against the Azzurri in Florencetoday. After losing for the first time in adecade to England at Twickenham last week-their fifth test reverse in six outings-thewounded ‘Boks are out for redemption.

And Carr, despite not playing at his pre-ferred No 8, wants to show he fully deservesjust his fourth cap.

“I was very emotional about falling out ofthe ‘Bok squad in 2015. It was a big yearbecause it was a World Cup year and as aresult I really struggled mentally,” Carr said inFlorence on Thursdady. “I took it out on myfamily and they could see how much it wasaffecting me. I’m grateful and blessed to behere again and I’m hoping to make a differ-

ence.” Carr said he had “seven to nine” doc-tors probing, in vain, the virus that com-pounded his nightmare year in 2015.

But he added: “The illness was when I fellback but I made a full recovery so I can’t standhere and blame the virus for losing my place.

“It happened, it’s in the past and I’m herenow, starting against Italy.

I’ve stepped up mentally and I’m the in-form Nizaam Carr that people know. “I slowlypicked up and there are thousands of kidswho want to play for the ‘Boks. I have aresponsibility to not only play for my commu-nity, myself and my family, but for all SouthAfricans to make them proud.”

Carr replaced Lood de Jager for the final 12minutes at Twickenham, and did enough to

impress Coetzee. With lock Eben Etzebethruled out of the match due to concussion,Pieter-Steph du Toit will return to the secondrow after playing as flanker against England.

Carr will form a new back row with WillemAlberts moving to blindside after operating atopenside last week and Warren Whiteleyretaining his place at No 8.

“I’ve been blessed to be able to able toplay No 8 and No 6, although I 100 pe centprefer eighthman,” said Carr.

“I have to adapt my game because I can’tbe standing out wide and playing that linkinggame I do as a No 8.

“I need to be at the breakdown firstbecause Italy will look to make those leg tack-les and get the stealer in over the ball.” —AFP

Carr ready to relaunch ‘Boks bid against Italy

CHICAGO: File photo shows Ireland’s Joey Carbery, left, celebrates with Josh van der Flier, second from left, after a rugbymatch against New Zealand, in Chicago. — AP

WELLINGTON: It took the Irish 111 yearsto beat New Zealand. Today, they’ll beseeking a second win over the mighty AllBlacks in two weeks.

“We are going into the game as theunderdogs,” said New Zealand coachSteve Hansen, words that stretch the truthbut will still hearten Ireland fans who havesuffered a century of heartache at thehands of the world’s greatest rugby team.They aren’t alone.

The All Blacks’ reaction to a loss can begauged by the seven years since any oneteam beat them back to back. That wasSouth Africa. Only two home nations haveconsecutive wins: Wales in 1935 and 1953,and England in 2002-03. Wales hasn’tbeaten them since, and England just once.

This is the size of the task facingIreland, whose 40-29 win in Chicago onNov. 5 was arguably the country’s greatestmoment in rugby, certainly in moderntimes. Driven on by the memory ofAnthony Foley, the popular former inter-national who died weeks earlier, the Irishtook advantage of a sloppy All Blacks per-

formance to score five tries. “You’d love tothink that we’re favorites, wouldn’t you?”Ireland coach Joe Schmidt said, reacting toHansen’s earlier remark. “But I wouldn’tsuggest that Steve Hansen become abookmaker. “We’re at about 6-1, not thatwe’re allowed to indulge in that. It’s a bitbetter than the 13-1 we were in Chicago.You certainly wouldn’t put us as favorites. Ithink everyone is due a hiccup.” Schmidthas acknowledged Ireland caught the AllBlacks at an “opportune moment” inChicago due to the absences of first-choice locks Sam Whitelock (ankle) andBrodie Retallick (concussion), which forcedHansen to play flanker Jerome Kaino outof position in the second row. Hansendefended Kaino afterward, and blamedhooker Dane Coles.

Without Whitelock and Retallick,Ireland bossed the mauls and disruptedlineouts, where Coles came under pres-sure on throw-ins. Ireland also competedfor kickoff ball, forcing more errors.

Whitelock and Retallick are back, butKaino is out with a minor calf injury.

Otherwise, the All Blacks are at fullstrength, with Beauden Barrett at flyhalf inhis first game since being named worldplayer of the year.

Ireland, whose only change fromChicago has Sean O’Brien replacing theinjured Jordi Murphy at openside flanker,is expecting a “Blacklash.”

“It wasn’t the New Zealand that we hadbeen used to seeing throughout theRugby Championship,” Ireland fullbackRob Kearney said, recalling the game inChicago. “Their lineout was poor. Some oftheir handling was pretty poor. They con-ceded five tries in the whole (Rugby)Championship and we scored five againstthem. If we’re honest, it wasn’t the NewZealand that we’ve all come to know. It’sreally important that we recognize andunderstand that.” That loss ended the AllBlacks’ record 18-test winning run, andthey began a new one by thrashing Italy68-10 last weekend. Next stop is Dublin,where they scored an injury-time try andconversion to beat the Irish 24-22 on theirlast visit in 2014.— AP

Ireland seeking double

over the All Blacks

SYDNEY: World number seven Adam Scott surged into con-tention while two-time major champion Jordan Spiethremained within striking distance of leader James Nitties inthe Australian Open second round yesterday.

Nitties-who competes on mini-tours in the United States,and complained he often stays in cockroach-infested hotels-fired seven-under 65 to enter the weekend at nine-under 135.New Zealander Ryan Fox was one shot behind at eight-under,with Australia’s Rhein Gibson alone in third at the par-72 RoyalSydney Golf Club. Local favourite Scott vaulted into a five-waytie for fourth at six-under, three shots off the pace, after amorning 65 that included a closing nine of six-under 30.Former world number one Spieth is one shot further back in asix-way tie for ninth after following his opening 69 with a 70.Nitties started on the 10th hole and ignited his round with aneagle at the par-five second before producing five birdies inhis final six holes. “It’s been a pretty rough last three years,”Nitties said. “Playing mini-tours this year in America andyou’re 34 years old and you’ve been on the PGA Tour andyour game hasn’t really changed much from then, but you’restaying in hotels which have cockroaches running around.”

‘BRAINLESS’ SPIETH Fox-who has full status on the European Tour for 2017 —

will play alongside Nitties in today’s final group and is lookingto become the first New Zealander to win the AustralianOpen. “Playing in The Open at St Andrews last year and theOlympics this year, granted I wasn’t in this position, hopefully Ican draw from those experiences and be nice and relaxed andgo out and have some fun tomorrow,” 29-year-old Fox said.

Scott picked up four shots in three holes late in his Fridayround, which included an eagle at the par-five seventh.

“It’s always the secret when you’re not quite on top of yourgame, you just need a good stretch of nine holes somewherein the tournament and that can carry you,” Scott said.

“Hopefully that will be the nine that will (be) enough withtwo solid days on the weekend to carry me through.”

Alongside the 2013 US Masters winner at six-under are fel-low Aussies Rod Pampling, Todd Sinnott, reigning US Amateurand Asia-Pacific Amateur champion Curtis Luck, and 20-year-old Lucas Herbert. Spieth carded five front-nine birdies butlost momentum with a three-putt double bogey at the par-four 15th. “It’s just the putter that needs improvement but,again, I’m still in it with feeling like I’ve been brainless on thegreens,” the American said. The top three players in Sydneywho are not otherwise exempt will win direct entry into nextJuly’s British Open at Royal Birkdale. — AFP

Cockroach kid leads

Scott, Spieth in Sydney

Adam Scott

S PORTSSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

ST PAUL: Mikael Granlund scored with 44.5seconds left, Devan Dubnyk stopped 25 shotsfor his league-leading fourth shutout, and theMinnesota Wild beat the Boston Bruins 1-0Thursday night. Granlund took a pass fromJonas Brodin circled below the end line andcame out to the right of Tuukka Rask. His cen-tering pass went off the skate of AdamMcQuoid and trickled into the Boston net.Dubnyk has had to carry the Wild lately asMinnesota’s offense has mustered just 10goals in its past seven games, winning three.He has allowed nine goals in his last ninegames, stopping 274 of 283 shots in that spanto account for a .965 save percentage.Minnesota has allowed an NHL-low 29 totalgoals in 16 games this season, including 10 inits last nine games, dating back to the 5-0shutout Oct. 25 in Boston.

LIGHTNING 4, SABRES 1Alex Killorn had a goal and assist and

Tampa Bay won its first game without captainSteven Stamkos. Nikita Kucherov, NikitaNesterov and Brayden Point also scored, andValtteri Filppula set up two goals with no-lookpasses in helping the Lightning win their thirdstraight and improve to 6-2-1 in their pastnine. The spread-out offensive contributionscame in Tampa Bay’s first game since Stamkostore a ligament in his right knee during a 4-3win at Detroit on Tuesday. During the gameat Buffalo, the Lightning announced Stamkoshad surgery and is expected to miss fourmonths. Cody Franson scored for Buffalo,which dropped to 0-4-2 in its past six. It’s astretch in which the team’s offense has driedup in managing just six goals.

BLUES 3, SHARKS 2Jaden Schwartz scored twice and David

Perron added the game-winner to lift St. Louispast San Jose. Jake Allen had 29 saves - hold-ing off the Sharks’ 6-on-4 advantage over thefinal 55 seconds as the Blues won their sec-ond straight. Kevin Labanc got his first NHLgoal and Logan Couture also scored for theSharks, who lost their second straight afterwinning the first three on a season-high six-game trip. Perron broke a 2-2 tie with a pow-er-play tally late in the second period. SanJose had killed off its previous 26 penaltiesover an 11-game stretch.

STARS 3, AVALANCHE 2Patrick Eaves capped Dallas’ three-goal

first period and the Stars held off Colorado.Johnny Oduya and Brett Ritchie also scored inthe first for Dallas, and Kari Lehtonen finishedwith 34 saves. Nathan MacKinnon had a goaland an assist and Mikhail Grigorenko alsoscored for the Avalanche, who nearly ralliedafter trailing 3-0 after the first. SemyonVarlamov stopped 19 shots and snapped an11-game winning streak against the Stars.Lehtonen stopped MacKinnon on a break-away midway through the second period andagain on a rebound with 10 minutes left inthe game.

FLYERS 5, JETS 2Michael Raffl and Sean Couturier scored 34

seconds apart in the first period onPhiladelphia’s initial two shots, and the Flyerswent on to beat Winnipeg. Mark Streit, WayneSimmonds and Brandon Manning also scoredfor the Flyers, who had 12 players registerpoints. Blake Wheeler and Dustin Byfuglienhad the goals for the Jets, who opened a sea-son-high five-game, nine-day road trip withjust their second loss in the last six. Couturiergot Philadelphia on the board 9:13 in whenhe capitalized on a Winnipeg turnover andbeat Connor Hellebuyck high to the gloveside from close range. Raffl doubled the lead

just over a half-minute later with his third ofthe season. Steve Mason made 30 saves toimprove to 6-0-1 in his career againstWinnipeg. Hellebuyck stopped 17 shots.

PREDATORS 5, SENATORS 1Ryan Ellis scored the tiebreaking goal late

in the first period and Pekka Rinne stopped 30shots to lead Nashville. Mike Ribeiro had agoal and assist, and Colton Sissons, PontusAberg and James Neal also scored to help thePredators sweep the two-game series seriesagainst the Senators. Derrick Brassard scoredfor Ottawa, and Mike Condon finished with 35saves in his third start. The Senators haven’tscored more than two goals in their last 11games. Ellis beat Condon on the far side withabout 4 1/2 minutes left in the opening peri-od to put the Predators up 2-1.

MAPLE LEAFS 6, PANTHERS 1Connor Brown had two goals and two

assists to lead help spoiling James Reimer’sfirst start in Toronto since leaving the MapleLeafs in the offseason. Mitch Marner hadanother impressive goal, and Leo Komarov,James van Riemsdyk and Jake Gardiner alsoscored as Toronto improved to 7-2-0 at home.Nazem Kadri had two assists and FrederikAndersen stopped 27 shots. Aaron Ekbladscored the lone goal for Florida and Reimerfinished with 24 saves. The Maple Leafs got totheir former goalie quickly, scoring threetimes in the first period - including two byBrown.

DUCKS 3, DEVILS 2Ryan Kesler scored the tiebreaking goal on

a rush to the net with 3:40 to play, andAnaheim snapped New Jersey’s five-gamewinning streak. Rickard Rakell and JakobSilfverberg scored 16 seconds apart in thesecond period for the Ducks, who maintainedtheir Pacific Division lead with their fifth victo-ry in six games. Anaheim struggled in thethird period until Silfverberg controlled thepuck behind the net and centered it to Kesler,who stormed into the slot and forced home

his team-leading eighth goal. Kyle Quinceyhad a goal and an assist for the Devils, whohad been on their longest streak sinceFebruary 2013. Devante Smith-Pelly alsoscored against his former team for the Devils.Jonathan Bernier made 27 saves for theDucks, who have won the first two on a five-game homestand.

CANUCKS 3, COYOTES 2Ben Hutton scored on a penalty shot at

2:34 of overtime to lift Vancouver overArizona. Daniel Sedin had a goal and an assist,and Brandon Sutter also scored forVancouver, which had lost 11 of 13. JacobMarkstrom made 34 saves. Hutton washooked on a breakaway by Dylan Stromebefore beating Louis Domingue with a nicebackhand deke for his second goal of the sea-son. Brad Richardson and Anthony DeAngelo

had goals for Arizona, which has lost fourstraight. Richardson was later carted off on astretcher with an injured right leg in the sec-ond period and taken to a hospital.Domingue finished with 39 saves.

KINGS 4, OILERS 2Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking short-

handed goal midway through the secondperiod and Los Angeles beat Edmonton.Derek Forbort had a goal and an assist andDevin Setoguchi and Tyler Toffoli also scoredfor Los Angeles. Peter Budaj made 26 saves.Darnell Nurse and Oscar Klefbom scored forthe Oilers,, who have now lost five straightgames to fall to 2-7-1 since starting 7-1-0.Jonas Gustavsson made 21 saves. Trailing 2-0after the first period, the Oilers scored twice inthe second to tie it before Carter scored at9:06 of the middle period. — AP

Dubnyk gets league-best 4th SO as Wild beat Bruins

TORONTO: Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Matt Hunwick (2) hits Florida Panthers centerJonathan Marchessault (81) into the boardsduring first-period NHL hockey game action in Toronto, Thursday. — AP

Western ConferenceCentral Division

W L OTL GF GA PTSChicago 11 4 2 54 43 24St. Louis 9 6 3 44 50 21Winnipeg 9 8 2 56 55 20Minnesota 9 6 1 42 29 19Dallas 7 6 5 48 59 19Nashville 7 6 3 46 44 17Colorado 7 9 0 33 45 14

Pacific DivisionAnaheim 9 6 3 48 43 21Edmonton 9 8 1 49 49 19San Jose 9 8 0 39 39 18Los Angeles 8 9 1 44 47 17Calgary 7 10 1 42 60 15Vancouver 7 10 1 38 57 15Arizona 5 9 2 41 54 12

Eastern ConferenceAtlantic Division

Montreal 13 2 2 56 38 28

Tampa Bay 11 6 1 58 46 23Ottawa 10 6 1 39 42 21Boston 10 7 0 41 39 20Toronto 8 6 3 56 58 19Florida 8 8 1 45 48 17Detroit 8 8 1 44 47 17Buffalo 5 8 4 31 45 14

Metropolitan DivisionNY Rangers 13 4 0 72 38 26Washington 10 4 2 45 37 22Pittsburgh 10 4 2 48 46 22New Jersey 9 4 3 39 34 21Philadelphia 8 7 3 62 64 19Columbus 8 4 2 47 33 18Carolina 5 6 4 39 46 14NY Islanders 5 8 3 40 51 13Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point inthe standings and are not included in the loss col-umn (L)

NHL results/standings

Tampa Bay 4, Buffalo 1; Philadelphia 5, Winnipeg 2; Toronto 6, Florida 1; Nashville 5, Ottawa 1; St. Louis 3,San Jose 2; Minnesota 1, Boston 0; Dallas 3, Colorado 2; Vancouver 3, Arizona 2 (OT); Anaheim 3, New Jersey2; Los Angeles 4, Edmonton 2.

S P O R T SSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

HOBART: South Africa captain Faf duPlessis has been charged with ball tam-pering during the second test againstAustralia in Hobart, the InternationalCricket Council (ICC) said yesterday.

The ICC announced on Wednesdaythat it would review footage of thematch that appeared to show duPlessis applying saliva to the ball with alolly in his mouth. “The charge relatesto changing the condition of the ball inbreach of Law 42.3 and has been laidby the ICC Chief Executive DavidRichardson who has exercised his rightto do so,” the ICC said in a statement.

“Du Plessis has pleaded not guiltyto the charge ... Details of the hearingwill be announced in due course,” thegoverning body added.

If proven guilty, du Plessis could behanded a maximum fine of 100 per-cent match fee, two suspension pointsand four demerit points. Two suspen-sion points equates to a ban of onetest match.

Earlier in the day, Hashim Amla wasaccompanied at a media briefing bythe entire South African squad andsupport staff to “show solidarity” withtheir captain. Amla said du Plessis has

done “absolutely nothing wrong”. “Thereason everybody is here is to standtogether and to show solidarity towhat has been something we actuallythought was a joke. It’s not April,” Amlasaid, hours before the ICC charge wasannounced.

“But the allegations against Fafwere really, for us, a ridiculous thingand as a team we are standing strong.For us it is basically a joke. The boys arehere, standing strong.”

The 32-year-old du Plessis, thestand-in captain for the injured AB deVilliers has previously been in hot

water for ball tampering.In 2013, he was fined 50 percent of

his match fee for ball tampering in thesecond test against Pakistan. He wascaught on camera rubbing the ballagainst a zip on his pocket on the thirdday of the match in Dubai, leadingumpires Ian Gould and Rod Tucker topenalise South Africa five runs andchange the ball. Du Plessis did not con-test the charge.

South Africa’s innings and 80-runwin over Australia in Hobart sealed thethree-match test series with a game inhand. — Reuters

S Africa’s du Plessis charged with ball tampering

VISAKHAPATNAM: RavichandranAshwin starred with the bat and ball toput India on top in the second Test asEngland’s batsmen struggled againstspin in their first innings reply on daytwo in Visakhapatnam yesterday.

England were reeling at 103 for fiveat stumps in response to India’s firstinnings score of 455. The visitors stilltrail by 352 runs.

Ashwin, who scored a gritty half-cen-tury to propel the Indian score afterskipper Virat Kohli’s 167, claimed twowickets in the final session to rattle theEnglish top-order.

Pace spearhead Mohammed Shamistruck early to shatter skipper AlastairCook’s off stump in an early blow asEngland began their first innings replybefore tea.

Shami bowled an inspired first spellwith the new ball as he cleaned up Cookfor two in the third over of the innings.

Shami’s sensational delivery pitchedon a good length before moving in ashade to hit the top of Cook’s off stumpand break it in two, leaving England 4-1.

Haseeb Hameed, who impressed ondebut with a well-made 82 in the sec-ond innings of the Rajkot Test, put on 47runs with Joe Root (53) in his bid tosteady the innings.

But Hameed’s resistance did not lastlong as he was run out for 13 after beingsent back while attempting to take asecond run.

Off-spinner Ashwin soon took chargeto get Ben Duckett clean bowled for fiveand then got the big wicket of Root,who recorded his 24th Test half-century.

Root tried to counter the Indian spinattack during his 98-ball stay laced withsix boundaries, but ran out of patienceafter giving away a catch to long-off.

Debutant off-spinner Jayant Yadavjoined his senior partner from the otherend to get his first Test wicket after trap-ping Moeen Ali lbw for one as Englandslipped to 80-5.

Stokes and Bairstow then played cau-tiously to see off the rest of the day’splay with a 23-run unbeaten stand.

Earlier Ashwin, who scored 70 in theRajkot Test, continued his good run ofform with the bat before the hosts werebowled out in the afternoon session.

Ashwin’s fighting 58 came after off-spinner Ali checked the Indian chargewith three wickets in the morning ses-

sion, including Kohli, who added just 16runs to his overnight 151.

Ashwin put on 64 runs for the eighthwicket with Jayant Yadav, who scored35, guiding India to a respectable firstinnings score on a pitch that is expected

to offer turn as the match progresses.Kohli’s 226-run third-wicket partner-

ship with Cheteshwar Pujara (119) onthe opening day was the highlight ofthe Indian innings after the hosts elect-ed to bat first. — AFP

CHRISRCHURCH: New Zealand debutants Colin deGrandhomme and Jeet Raval helped their side into a strongposition at the close of the second day’s play of the first testagainst Pakistan at Hagley Oval in Christchurch yesterday.

Left hand opening batsman Raval was on a composed 55,while Henry Nicholls was 29 not out as New Zealand were 104for three at stumps, 29 runs behind Pakistan’s first innings133. Seam-bowling all-rounder De Grandhomme, a surpriseselection, dominated the first two sessions as the 30-year-old’s nagging line and length provided him with figures of sixfor 41, the best for a New Zealander on debut.

De Grandhomme became the eighth New Zealander totake a five-wicket haul on debut, doing just enough off thepitch and through the air to create doubt for Pakistan’s bats-men in bowler-friendly conditions.

Pakistan’s bowlers were also penetrating, with MohammadAmir, Sohail Khan and Rahat Ali all taking a wicket in the finalsession as the hosts slumped to 40 for three when Ross Taylorfell for 11.

Amir had earlier trapped Tom Latham in front for one,before Sohail had New Zealand captain Kane Williamsoncaught at first slip by Sami Aslam for four.

Raval, who was on the tour of southern Africa earlier thisyear but did not play a test, was composed on debut as he leftballs he needed to and put away the rare bad deliveries.

The 28-year-old, who also took three catches in the slips,brought up his first test half century from 89 balls when hedabbed Rahat behind point for two runs as he and Nichollssettled New Zealand’s innings with an unbeaten 64-run stand.

The home side’s bowlers had earlier made the most ofWilliamson winning the toss, reducing the visitors to 88 forfour at lunch with De Grandhomme taking three wickets.

They continued to put pressure on Pakistan’s batsmenduring the middle session, with De Grandhomme completinghis five-wicket haul when he had Sohail caught at short mid-wicket. The Aucklander then wrapped up the innings whenRahat Ali nicked behind to wicketkeeper BJ Watling for a five-ball duck.

Captain Misbah-ul-Haq provided the only real resistancefor Pakistan with an obdurate 31 from 108 balls. Thursday’sopening day was washed out. — Reuters

CHRISTCHURCH: New Zealand’s Jeet Raval (R) batswatched by Pakistan’s Azhar Ali (L) during day two of thefirst cricket Test match between New Zealand and Pakistanat the Hagley Park in Christchurch yesterday. — AFP

Kiwis hold advantage

after debutants shine

Ashwin puts India on

top in second Test

India 1st innings (overnight 317-4; V.Kohli 151 not out, R. Ashwin 1 not out)M. Vijay c Stokes b Anderson 20L. Rahul c Stokes b Broad 0C. Pujara c Bairstow b Anderson 119V. Kohli c Stokes b Ali 167A. Rahane c Bairstow b Anderson 23R. Ashwin c Bairstow b Stokes 58W. Saha lbw b Ali 3R. Jadeja lbw b Ali 0J. Yadav c Anderson b Rashid 35U. Yadav c Ali b Rashid 13M. Shami not out 7Extras (b4, lb5, w1) 10Total (all out, 129.4 overs) 455Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Rahul), 2-22 (Vijay),3-248 (Pujara), 4-316 (Rahane), 5-351(Kohli), 6-363 (Saha), 7-363 (Jadeja), 8-427 (Ashwin), 9-440 (J. Yadav), 10-455(U. Yadav)

Bowling: Anderson 20-3-62-3, Broad16-2-49-1, Stokes, 20-4-73-1 (w1),Ansari 12-1-45-0, Rashid 34.4-2-110-2,Ali 25-1-98-3, Root 2-0-9-0.

England 1st innings:A. Cook b Shami 2H. Hameed run out (J.Yadav/Saha) 13 J. Root c U. Yadav b Ashwin 53B. Duckett b Ashwin 5M. Ali lbw b J. Yadav 1B. Stokes not out 12J. Bairstow not out 12Extras (b 4, lb 1) 5Total (5 wickets, 49 overs) 103Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Cook), 2-51(Hameed), 3-72 (Duckett), 4-79 (Root),5-80 (Ali)Bowling: Shami 8-2-15-1, U. Yadav 6-1-14-0, R. Jadeja 15-3-38-0, Ashwin 13-5-20-2, J. Yadav 7-3-11-1.

SCOREBOARDVISAKHAPATNAM, India: Scoreboard at stumps on day two of the second crick-et Test between India and England at Visakhapatnam on yesterday.

VISAKHAPATNAM: India’s Ravichandran Ashwin (2R) celebrates the wicket ofEngland’s Joe Root with captain Virat Kohli (L) and teammates during the second dayof the second Test cricket match between India and England at the Dr. Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Vishakhapatnam yesterday. — AP

S PORTSSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

Washington 119, NY Knicks 112; Miami 96, Milwaukee 73; Houston 126,Portland 109; Minnesota 110, Philadelphia 86; Chicago 85, Utah 77.

Eastern ConferenceAtlantic Division

W L PCT GBToronto 7 4 .636 -Boston 6 5 .545 1NY Knicks 5 7 .417 2.5Brooklyn 4 7 .364 3Philadelphia 2 10 .167 5.5

Central DivisionCleveland 9 2 .818 -Chicago 8 4 .667 1.5Detroit 6 6 .500 3.5Indiana 6 6 .500 3.5Milwaukee 5 6 .455 4

Southeast DivisionAtlanta 9 2 .818 -Charlotte 7 3 .700 1.5Orlando 5 7 .417 4.5Washington 3 8 .273 6Miami 3 8 .273 6

Western ConferenceNorthwest Division

Oklahoma City 7 5 .583 -Portland 7 6 .538 0.5Utah 7 6 .538 0.5Denver 4 7 .364 2.5Minnesota 4 7 .364 2.5

Pacific DivisionLA Clippers 10 2 .833 -Golden State 9 2 .818 0.5LA Lakers 7 5 .583 3Sacramento 4 8 .333 6Phoenix 3 9 .250 7

Southwest DivisionSan Antonio 9 3 .750 -Houston 7 5 .583 2Memphis 6 5 .545 2.5Dallas 2 8 .200 6New Orleans 2 10 .167 7

NBA results/standings

MANILA: Thailand will seek to underline theirsupremacy in Southeast Asian football byretaining the Suzuki Cup, a tournament thatdraws passionate support and also closescrutiny for possible match-fixing.

The War Elephants are Southeast Asia’s lastteam standing in qualifying for the 2018World Cup, and they won new admirers in lastweek’s 2-2 draw with Asian championsAustralia. Thailand’s smooth-passing, attack-minded team have contested the last twoSuzuki Cup finals and they are bidding tobecome the first country to win the competi-tion five times. But their coach Kiatisuk “Zico”

Senamuang said they would not be living onpast glories when they open the tournamentagainst Indonesia today.

“Statistics are in the past, we are looking atthe present,” the former Thailand striker toldreporters in Manila. “Every team is strong, wewould prefer to only focus on our team. Wewant to be champions but we will focus onthe group stage first,” added Kiatisuk.

Victory in the biennial tournament, splitbetween Manila and Yangon, would makeThailand the first country to lift the trophy fivetimes. This year, Thailand also made it to theAsian U23 final, while their women’s team

reached the World Cup for the first time.Thailand’s star man is Teerasil Dangda,

who top-scored at the 2008 and 2012 SuzukiCups but missed their 2014 victory during hisstint with La Liga club Almeria.

“(Twice) being the top scorer of the tour-nament was meaningless because we gotnothing from it,” said Teerasil, who baggedboth of Thailand’s goals last week againstAustralia. “I would prefer to win the tourna-ment than be the top-scorer. I was disap-pointed not to have been in the squad lasttime.” Thailand also play Singapore and co-hosts the Philippines in Group A, while

Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnamare in Yangon-based Group B. SoutheastAsian football attracts enormous support butit has frequently been plagued by match-fix-ing, as seen by the suspension of four Laosinternationals earlier this month. Anti-corrup-tion agency Sportradar will oversee the com-petition, monitoring hundreds of bookies forunusual betting patterns. “Sportradar’s frauddetection system will notify the AFF (ASEANFootball Federation) if there are any suspi-cious betting patterns on any of the 12 groupgames or the six games in the knock-outstages,” Sportradar said last week. —AFP

Super Thais seek record fifth Suzuki Cup

HOUSTON: James Harden posted his thirdtriple double in five games and the HoustonRockets turned offensive blitzed in the first andthird quarters into a 126-109 victory over thePortland Trail Blazers on Thursday night atToyota Center. Harden totaled 26 points, 14assists and 12 rebounds to pace the Rockets (7-5) while they shot 48.4 from the floor including14 of 32 on 3-pointers. All five Houston startersreached double figures in points includingguard Patrick Beverley, who scored 11 in hisfirst start of the season following preseason leftknee surgery. Forward Trevor Ariza scored 16points while center Clint Capela added 15. Eachchipped in seven boards. Guard Eric Gordonadded 16 points off the Houston bench.

TIMBERWOLVES 110, 76ERS 86Andrew Wiggins scored 35 points and Karl-

Anthony Towns had 25 points and 10 rebounds

in a matchup of star young centers asMinnesota cruised to a victory againstPhiladelphia. Wiggins added 10 rebounds andfour assists, while shooting 14 of 20 as two ofthe four youngest teams in the NBA met for anationally televised game showcasing theyoung skill of players like Wiggins, Towns andPhiladelphia rookie center Joel Embiid. GorguiDieng had his fourth double-double of the sea-son with 12 points and 10 rebounds forMinnesota, which won for the third time in fivegames. Dieng also helped limit Embiid to 10points and 10 rebounds in 23 minutes of action.It’s the second straight double-double forEmbiid and his third of the season. But the 7-footer entered the game leading all rookieswith 18 points per game.

HEAT 96, BUCKS 73Dion Waiters scored 23 points and Miami

snapped a six-game losing streak with a winover Milwaukee at AmericanAirlines Arena.The losing skid was the longest since 2008 forthe Heat. The Heat got some revenge againstthe Bucks, who had won their previous threemeetings in Miami. Even with the win, theHeat is just 2-6 in their past eight gamesagainst the Bucks. Point guard Goran Dragic,who had missed the past three games due toan injured left ankle, returned to the startinglineup and contributed 16 points and fourassists.

WIZARDS 119, KNICKS 112John Wall had 23 points and 11 assists as

Washington snapped a three-game losingstreak with a win over New York. The Wizardsreturned home after a demoralizing 109-102loss Wednesday to a one-win Philadelphia76ers squad during which they trailed by as

many as 24 points. Washington reversedcourse dramatically by sinking 15 of 25 3-pointers and limiting New York’s offense formost of the game.

BULLS 85, JAZZ 77Jimmy Butler scored 20 points and

Dwyane Wade added 18 to lead Chicago to itsfourth consecutive victory, a decision overUtah. Robin Lopez added 10 points and 12rebounds for the Bulls, who won their thirdconsecutive road game. Chicago overcameshooting 36.7 percent (33 of 90) from the floorby holding Utah to 38.5 percent (30 off 78)from the field. Rudy Gobert scored 16 points,collected 13 rebounds and blocked threeshots to lead the Jazz. Dante Exum chipped in14 points and Rodney Hood added 12 forUtah, which lost its second straight homegame. —Reuters

Harden has triple-double as Rockets beat Blazers

HOUSTON: Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) brings the ball up the court as he is defended by Portland TrailBlazers guard Evan Turner (1) in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Thursday, in Houston. — AP

S PORTSSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

BERLIN: Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munichface a stern challenge to their place at the topof the table this weekend when CarloAncelotti’s Bavarian giants play BorussiaDortmund away today.

Bayern could be knocked from top spoteven before kick-off if second-placed RBLeipzig pick up a point at Bayer Leverkusenon Friday night to extend their unbeatenrecord to 11 matches.

But all eyes will be on Dortmund, wherethe German league’s top two strikers-Borussia’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang andBayern’s Robert Lewandowski-will go head-to-head. Fifth-placed Dortmund are six pointsbehind Bayern in what promises to be a battleroyal and between them, Aubameyang andLewandowski have scored 18 league goals.

“It’s not just the fans who look forward tothis game, but the players as well,” said

Bayern’s Germany forward Thomas Mueller.“It’s the best game of the year, because it’sthe hardest to win. “It’s the biggest chal-lenge.” The battle of Germany’s top twoteams has been dubbed ‘Der Klassiker’ by theGerman media in recent years, butDortmund’s last league win over Bayern-home or away-was more than two years ago.

CLASSIC SHOWDOWN Nevertheless, hosts Dortmund are eager

for their first win over the Bavarians at SignalIduna Park since April 2012. Both sides havestars with a point to prove against their for-mer club. Bayern’s Germany defender MatsHummels can expect to face a cacophony ofwhistles and jeers every time the ex-Dortmund captain touches the ball. “If welose then lots of teams, including Dortmund,will be very close behind us (in the table),”

said Hummels. Mario Goetze, who spent thelast three seasons in Munich, will leadDortmund’s attack while defensive midfielderSebastian Rode is hoping for a start againstex-club Bayern. Dortmund winger Marco Reuscould make his first start of the season after agroin injury while Bayern have had bothdefender Jerome Boateng and winger FranckRibery back in training after knocks.

Dutch winger Arjen Robben has been giv-en the all clear after complaining of a sorethigh in the Netherlands’ 3-1 win overLuxembourg tomorrow in a World Cup quali-fier. But Bayern are waiting to hear if ArturoVidal is fit after the Chile midfielder played ina mid-week World Cup qualifier while carryingan injury-despite requests not to do so fromBayern’s chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

“Best not to ask,” Vidal told reporters afterhurting his thigh during Chile’s 3-1 win over

Uruguay, having also returned from interna-tional duty in October with an ankle injury.

Elsewhere, third-placed Hoffenheim, underJulian Nagelsmann, the youngest coach inBundesliga history at 29, are at home to bot-tom side Hamburg on Sunday.

Hoffenheim are unbeaten this season andhave caused opponents all manner of prob-lems with a solid 3-5-2 formation. They heldBayern to a 1-1 draw last time out whileHamburg have yet to win a game this season.

Borussia Moenchengladbach have failed towin any of their last five games and they faceCologne on Saturday in the Rhineland derby.

Coach Andre Schubert is under pressureand his side needs a confidence-boostingwin for next Wednesday’s ChampionsLeague clash at home to Manchester Citywith Gladbach clinging on to third place inGroup C. —AFP

Bayern under pressure for ‘biggest challenge’

MADRID: Atletico Madrid host Real Madrid for the last time inLa Liga at the Vicente Calderon today with the pain of a sec-ond Champions League final defeat in three years to their cityrivals still fresh in the memory.

However, both sides have been troubled by severe injuryproblems with Atletico’s top scorer Antoine Griezmann andReal captain Sergio Ramos facing a race against time to be fit.

Real lifted their 11th European Cup on penalties in the lastmeeting between the teams in May and Atletico are the moredesperate side for more reasons than just revenge as DiegoSimeone’s men lie six points off the leaders at the top of thetable. “There are scars that remain there and that we will nev-er forget,” said Atletico captain Gabi.

“They are bitter moments and above all they are hardbecause of what it meant to all Atletico fans.”

Atletico are due to move to their new La Peineta stadiumnext season after 50 years at the Calderon.

And after two defeats in three games, Gabi believes victoryis necessary to get back in the title hunt.

“That it is the last derby at the Calderon in La Liga makes itall the more exciting and special,” he added. “If we win we arein the fight once more.”

Griezmann returned from international duty with Francewith a severely bruised left foot, but has trained this week andis expected to start. Real are even more ravaged by injurywith Toni Kroos, Casemiro and Alvaro Morata definitely side-lined. Ramos hasn’t played since spraining knee ligamentsover a month ago, but is aiming to return with his usual cen-tral defensive partner Pepe also a major doubt.

However, Madrid will have a fully-fit Luka Modric, who Gabidescribed as Real’s “best player” free to start for the first timein nearly two months. Despite Real’s European hoodoo overAtletico, it is the red and white side of Madrid that has domi-nated in recent seasons in league encounters. Atleticohaven’t lost a league derby in the past three seasons, includ-ing Zinedine Zidane’s only La Liga defeat as Real boss in a 1-0win at the Santiago Bernabeu back in February.

BARCA’S CHANCE With their two major title rivals facing off, Barcelona have

the chance to jump into top spot earlier on Saturday whenMalaga visit the Camp Nou. Barca reversed a trend of poorresults following international breaks with a 4-0 hammering ofDeportivo la Coruna last month, but once again face beingdeprived of some of their South American stars. Luis Suarez issuspended, whilst Lionel Messi and Neymar only arrived backin Barcelona on Thursday after starring for Argentina andBrazil respectively in World Cup qualifying.

Paco Alcacer will start in Suarez’s absence as he continueshis search for a first Barca goal since a 30 million euro movefrom Valencia in August. Meanwhile, Barca should be boostedby the return of Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba from injury.

Sevilla will aim to remain in the title hunt and bouncebackfrom a thrilling 2-1 defeat to Barca a fortnight ago when theyvisit Deportivo la Coruna.—AFP

Atletico seek Real

revenge in last

Calderon derby

LONDON: A combination of pictures created in London yesterday show Manchester United’s Portuguese manager JoseMourinho (L) arriving for the English League Cup fourth round match between Manchester United and Manchester Cityat Old Trafford in Manchester, north west England on October 26, 2016 and Arsenal’s French manager Arsene Wenger(R) watching his players during the English Premier League football match between Aston Villa and Arsenal at Villa Parkin Birmingham, central England on December 13, 2015. —AFP

Wenger, Mourinho set

for Old Trafford reunionLONDON: The next chapter in one of thePremier League’s most volatile managerialrivalries will be written this weekend whenArsene Wenger’s Arsenal visit JoseMourinho’s Manchester United.

Sparks often fly when the pair areobliged to share a touchline, typified by anotorious shoving match during aChelsea-Arsenal fixture at Stamford Bridgetwo years ago.

Wenger has never beaten Mourinho inthe league and has been branded a “spe-cialist in failure” by his Portuguese neme-sis, but with Arsenal six points aboveUnited, he currently has the upper hand.

“You know, we didn’t lose always,”Wenger said when asked about his recordagainst Mourinho on Thursday.

“We have beaten them and there weremany draws as well. I think I have wonagainst every manager in the world duringmy 20 years here and I do not make of thisgame a competition between two man-agers. “It’s between two clubs and twoteams. I can understand that people want

to create controversy, but it’s not that thatmakes the audience. “I think it’s importantthat it’s a top-level game because that willbe watched all over the world and for thereputation of the Premier League, it’simportant that the quality of the game isgood.” Wenger intends to make a latecheck on the fitness of Alexis Sanchez,who is not due to report back from inter-national duty with Chile.

Sanchez scored twice for Chile in a 3-1World Cup qualifying win over Uruguay onTuesday, despite Wenger warning before-hand it would be “suicidal” for him to playdue to a hamstring problem.

Arsenal will be definitely be withoutright-back Hector Bellerin and central mid-fielder Santi Cazorla, who have ankle andAchilles problems respectively.

But Wenger’s selection problems paleby comparison beside Mourinho’s, amidreports the United manager could bewithout up to seven first-team players.Centre-backs Eric Bailly and Chris Smallingwill miss the game through injury, along

with suspended top scorer ZlatanIbrahimovic. There also fitness doubts overcaptain Wayne Rooney, midfielderMarouane Fellaini and full-backs AntonioValencia and Luke Shaw.

With Saturday’s game taking place atlunchtime, victory for Arsenal would liftWenger’s side to the top of the standingsand leave United a yawning nine pointsoff the pace. Liverpool, the current leaders,will look to pick up where they left off pri-or to the international break when theyvisit Southampton later today.

Jurgen Klopp’s crowd-pleasing sidehave won seven and drawn two of theirlast nine league games, culminating in a 6-1 demolition of Watford last time out.

Adam Lallana is likely to miss out forLiverpool after sustaining a groin injuryduring England’s 2-2 friendly draw withSpain on Tuesday, in which he scored.

But Klopp is hopeful Philippe Coutinhoand Roberto Firmino will both be able tofeature after jetting back from internation-al duty with Brazil.—AFP

S P O R T SSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2016

English Premier League

Man United v Arsenal 15:30beIN SPORTS 2 HDbeIN SPORTS 11 HD ENEverton v Swansea City 18:00beIN SPORTS 7 HDSouthampton v Liverpool 18:00beIN SPORTS 2 HDSunderland v Hull City 18:00beIN SPORTS 8 HDCrystal Palace v Man City 18:00beIN SPORTS 1 HDWatford v Leicester City 18:00beIN SPORTS 4 HDStoke City v Bournemouth 18:00beIN SPORTS 12 HD ENTottenham v West Ham United 20:30beIN SPORTS 2 HDbeIN SPORTS 11 HD EN

Spanish League Primera Div. 1

Deportivo v Sevilla 15:00beIN SPORTS 3 HDBarcelona v Malaga 18:15beIN SPORTS 3 HDbeIN SPORTS 17 HD ESEibar v Vigo 20:30beIN SPORTS 9 HDAtletico v Real Madrid 22:45beIN SPORTS 3 HDbeIN SPORTS 17 HD ES

Italian Calcio League Serie A

Chievo Verona v Cagliari 17:00beIN SPORTSUdinese v Napoli 20:00beIN SPORTS 4 HDJuventus v Pescara 22:45beIN SPORTS 4 HD

German Bundesliga 1st Div.

Wolfsburg v Schalke 17:30beIN SPORTS 5 HDBorussia Monch’ v Koln 17:30beIN SPORTSMainz v Freiburg 17:30beIN SPORTSAugsburg v Hertha Berlin 17:30beIN SPORTSDarmstadt v Ingolstadt 17:30beIN SPORTSBorussia Dortmund v Bayern Munich 20:30beIN SPORTS

French League 1st Div.

Paris Saint-Germain v Nantes 19:00beIN SPORTS 6 HDNancy Lorraine v Dijon 22:00beIN SPORTS 7 HDBastia v Montpellier 22:00beIN SPORTSToulouse v Metz 22:00beIN SPORTS 6 HDStade Rennes v Angers 22:00beIN SPORTS 1 HD

Matches on TV (Local Timings)

LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur managerMauricio Pochettino is crossing his fin-gers Harry Kane will be fit enough tofeature in all three of his side’s high-pro-file fixtures over the next week.

The Premier League’s only remainingunbeaten team host West Ham Unitedin today’s evening fixture and go intobattle in another London derby atChelsea a week later.

In between is a Champions Leaguetrip to Monaco, which will also present athorough test of Spurs’ credentials at atime when a number of key men areabsent through injury.

Kane has played just one match sincebeing sidelined by an ankle injury inSeptember, the 1-1 draw at Arsenalimmediately prior to the internationalbreak. He did not feature in England’s 3-0 win over Scotland in World Cup quali-fying last Friday and was sent back toSpurs to continue his rehabilitation priorto Tuesday’s 2-2 friendly draw withSpain. “The training during the weekwas good after he came back from thenational team,” Pochettino said. “He felta bit tired because training has beenhard from Monday until today(Thursday).

“To play 90 minutes? We don’t knowbecause we need to manage the nextfew games. We have Monaco and thenChelsea and we will see what happensduring the game.

“But it’s true he’s in a good conditionlike he was against Arsenal when wedecided he could play.” Pochettino facesa similar dilemma with midfielder DeleAlli, who is close to recovering from aknee problem. “We need to assess him,”said the Argentine. “He showed he is invery good condition. We need toanalyse if we take a risk or not, or if he ison the bench and we protect him forTuesday or next week. “It was not a bigissue. If not for Saturday, he will be avail-able in the squad for Tuesday (againstMonaco).”

BILIC FRONTS UP Defenders Toby Alderweireld and

Ben Davies plus winger Erik Lamela havealready been ruled out of the West Hamgame on fitness grounds.

West Ham will arrive at White HartLane still struggling at the wrong end ofthe table despite suffering only one lossin their last six games.

Manager Slaven Bilic admits a side

that qualified for the Europa League lastseason are still stuck in a relegation bat-tle. “We are 17th, and if you are 17th youare very close to relegation and we haveto improve even more,” he said.

“On one hand, the worst thing to dois lose confidence and doubt yourselvesindividually and as a group.

“On the other hand, you can’t keeptalking and saying, ‘The table doesn’tmatter, we are a good team and we willclick.’ “We need to win games becausethe other teams are also getting unex-pected results, which are getting thempoints. We have improved a lot since thelast international break.

“We took seven points from fourgames and beat Chelsea in the (League)Cup, were much better in every aspectof the game, clean sheets and a fewgood performances.

“But if we look at the table, we arestill in a position we don’t want to be.”

Captain Mark Noble is suspendedand a number of experienced cam-paigners still injured, but defenderWinston Reid has been passed fit. StrikerDiafra Sakho, missing since the end oflast season with a back problem, couldbe on the bench. — AFP

Spurs hope Kane fit for

West Ham derby date

SANT JOAN DESPI: FC Barcelona’s Arda Turan, center, controls the ball during a training session at the Sports Center FCBarcelona Joan Gamper in Sant Joan Despi, Spain, yesterday. —AP

‘New Vardy’ set for Leicester return at Watford

WATFORD: A two-week break fromPremier League action has broughtgood news and bad for flagging cham-pions Leicester City, who visit Watfordtoday.

A 2-1 defeat at home to WestBromwich Albion sent Claudio Ranieri’smen into the international break justtwo points above the relegation zoneand with injury issues piling up.

But an England goal for Jamie Vardy,ending a two-month drought, has giventhe Foxes a timely boost ahead of theirtrip to Vicarage Road.

“It was important for him and impor-tant for everybody to score,” said man-ager Ranieri.

“Of course he never spoke about it,but I know goalscorers always wants toscore. Now we’ll see a new Vardy.”

Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel (bro-ken hand) and close-season signingNampalys Mendy (ankle) remain out andkey midfielder Danny Drinkwater is adoubt with a rib injury.

But while Drinkwater was sitting outEngland’s games against Scotland andSpain, Vardy was scoring for the firsttime in 15 games in the 2-2 draw withthe Spaniards at Wembley on Tuesday.

Having being dropped for his side’slast two Premier League games, the tal-isman of last season’s title triumph is setfor a recall.

“Yes, I think he will have a run ofgames now,” said Ranieri. “He can playnormally now.”

Vardy went 14 games for club andcountry without a goal after scoring forLeicester in their 4-1 defeat at Liverpoolin September.

Vardy said: “It’s just always good toget that goal. That one is in the back ofthe net now and hopefully I can kick onand start putting more away.

“The gaffer (manager) spoke to us,the strikers. The way we play, we can’tget all of us on the pitch and that’s justfootball. “That’s how it is. If I’m on thebench then it’s up to me to make animpact if I come on.”—AFP

46

Wenger, Mourinho

set for Old

Trafford reunion

SA

TU

RD

AY,

NO

VE

MB

ER

19,

201

6

CHARLOTTE: When Luke Kuechly was cartedoff the field with a concussion, the tearsstreaming down his face as he left , itappeared the Carolina Panthers might beready for another collapse. Their defensiveleader was gone and another big fourth-quarter lead was crumbling. Instead, thePanthers did just enough to hold on and beatthe New Orleans Saints 23-20 on Thursdaynight in a game marred by injuries to keyplayers. When Kuechly went down the leadwas at 10, and players gathered around himas he was put on a cart near midfield.

Carolina would give up another score, buthold on for itsr third win in four games. “Werally behind that guy,” defensive end CharlesJohnson said about Kuechly. “He’s our leader.When you see a leader go down like that, wejust rally behind him. I’m keeping Luke in myprayers.” The Panthers, who surrendered a17-point lead and lost to the Kansas CityChiefs last week, entered the fourth quarterwith a 23-3 lead before injuries began to take

their toll. Along with Kuechly, the Pantherslost two-time All-Pro center Ryan Kalil (shoul-der), top pass rusher Mario Addison (foot)and cornerback Leonard Johnson (chest) toinjuries. The Saints lost running back MarkIngram to a head injury in the third quarter.

“It was the Grim Reaper walking aroundout there,” Panthers quarterback CamNewton said. Saints quarterback Drew Breesseemed to seize the momentum. Brees, whohad been held to 171 yards and no touch-downs in the first three quarters, rallied theSaints back to 23-20 with touchdown passesto Brandon Coleman and Coby Fleener.

But an 18-yard reception by KelvinBenjamin on a third-and-10 with 2:39 left inthe game proved pivotal, taking enough timeoff the clock where Brees only had 14 sec-onds to work with on his final drive. Hecouldn’t manage to get his team into fieldgoal range.

Newton finished 14 of 33 for 192 yards,including a 40-yard touchdown pass to Ted

Ginn Jr. as the Panthers (4-6) pulled even withthe Saints for third place in the NFC South.“Our mantra is to Keep Pounding and itspeaks volumes in situations like this,”Newton said. “I will take an ugly win over apretty loss.” Jonathan Stewart also ran for atouchdown and Graham Gano had three fieldgoals. Carolina’s next two games are on theWest Coast - at Oakland and Seattle.“Hopefully, the time off will give us enoughtime to heal up for this long road trip,” safetyKurt Coleman said. “And also you wonder if itwasn’t a Thursday game and it was a Sundaygame, would there be these type of injuries?You never know. ... I’m just going to pray foreverybody. Not only our team but their team.”

BETTER DEFENSEBrees finished with 285 yards passing.That was a dramatic difference from the

last time the two teams met on Oct. 16 whenBrees threw for 465 yards and four touch-downs in a 41-38 win over the Panthers.

“They did exactly what we hoped and thatwas keep the ball it in front of them,” Riverasaid of his young secondary. “You can’t askfor the guys to do a better job.”

KICKING WOESSaints coach Sean Payton was upset after

the game about the team’s continuing strug-gles on special teams, including a blockedfield goal that was returned 73 yards byKuechly before the half to set up Ginn’stouchdown catch. Last week the Saints lost toDenver when a potential game-tying extrapoint was blocked and returned for a 2-pointdefensive conversion. “Fundamentally we’vegot to be able to kick an extra point. ... We’vegot to be able to, you know, kick a field goalthat’s a makeable one,” Payton said. “We’vejust struggled in that area. It cost us at NewYork, it cost us last weekend (against) Denverand it cost us again tonight. And we’ve got tobe smart enough in the game early to under-stand that the turnovers aren’t good.”—AP

Panthers beat Saints 23-20CHARLOTTE: Carolina Panthers’ Jonathan Stewart (28) dives over the goal line for a touchdown against the New Orleans Saints in the first half of an NFL football game in Charlotte, N.C.,Thursday. — AP

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