new ethiopian airlines boeing crashes after takeoff, 157 killed...

KUWAIT: Dasman Diabetes Institute, founded byKuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences,recently organized the French Diabetes Days confer-ence in collaboration with the French Embassy inKuwait, Sanofi, URGO Medical and Universite Coted’Azur. The conference was held at the Institute onMarch 10 and 11, 2019. The conference offered partici-pants a platform to discuss the latest issues and find-ings on diabetes and its complications and opportuni-ties for networking and forming new partnerships.Many international guest speakers from ImperialCollege, Weill Cornel and Nice University made pre-sentations at the conference, in addition to chairper-sons and speakers from the Institute, Kuwait Universityand the ministry of health.

The conference was launched with an opening cere-mony speech delivered by Dr Qais Al Duwairi, DirectorGeneral, Dasman Diabetes Institute. It was followed byspeeches delivered by Marie Masdupuy, theAmbassador of France to Kuwait, Jean Paul Scheuer,Country Chair & General Manager for Sanofi in Gulf

Countries, Francois Regis Jan, CEEMEA Director,URGO Medical and Charles Guepratte, Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Nice University Centre, France. (See Page 3)

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Palestinian president appoints loyalist Shtayyeh as new PM

Chelsea rescue Wolves draw asLiverpool battle to beat Burnley

RAJAB 4, 1440 AHMONDAY, MARCH 11, 2019

Sharakah Forum underway: Creatingshared value through collaboration4 22 28

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Syria’s ancient Aleppo souk poised to regain its bustle

Passengers from more than 30 countries were on board • Amir sends condolences

News in brief

New Ethiopian Airlines Boeingcrashes after takeoff, 157 killed

2,200 deportations in 2019

KUWAIT: Security sources said around 2,200 Araband Asian expats were deported in January andFebruary 2019. Expats are usually deported for vio-lating residency or labor laws or involvement incriminal cases including traffic violations, feloniesand crimes. The sources said that some sponsorscooperate with the authorities and purchase ticketsfor their workers from travel agencies at the depor-tation prison, which has helped accelerate theprocess to three days to a maximum of one weekbefore the detainees are deported. — A Saleh

Tunisia health minister quits

TUNIS: Tunisia’s health minister has resigned afterthe sudden deaths of 11 newborn babies at a statematernity hospital sparked an outcry in the country,the government said. Prime Minister Youssef Chahedaccepted Abderraouf Cherif’s resignation, the pre-mier’s office said on Facebook late on Saturday.Leading newspaper Essafa yesterday cried foul andcompared the deaths of the babies to a “statecrime”. A medical association said the suddendeaths could have been caused by a food productthat had gone bad. — AFP

General named Egypt transport minister

CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisisaid yesterday he would appoint a senior militaryofficer as transport minister after a recent train crashat Cairo’s central station killed 22 people. MajorGeneral Kamel Al-Wazir’s selection comes after abacklash from a Feb 27 crash at Ramses central sta-tion, which forced former transport minister HishamArafat to resign. “I’m handing over this (transport)portfolio to one of the best army officers,” said Sisi.Wazir has been the head of the Egyptian military’sengineering authority since 2015. — AFP

BISHOFTU, Ethiopia: Rescue workers carry bodies in bags at the crash site of an Ethiopian Airlines plane near thistown some 60 km southeast of Addis Ababa yesterday. — AFP

BISHOFTU, Ethiopia: A Nairobi-bound Boeing 737crashed minutes after an early-morning takeoff fromAddis Ababa yesterday, killing all eight crew and 149passengers on board, including tourists, business trav-ellers, and at least one delegate to a UN meeting. Amida global stream of condolences, many gathered in tearsat Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA),as the victims’ identities started to emerge.

HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah expressed his deepest sympathies yes-terday over the crash. The Amir extended his condo-lences in a cable he sent to Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde, saying he was distraught over the terribletragedy. HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-AhmadAl-Jaber Al-Sabah and HH the Prime Minister SheikhJaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent similar mes-sages to the Ethiopian leader.

“It is with deep sorrow that I announce that my dearwife, Blanka, son Martin and daughter Michala, died inthe air disaster in Addis Ababa this morning,” SlovakMP Anton Hrnko wrote on Facebook. People from 35countries and one UN passport-holder were on boardflight ET 302 when it ploughed into a field 60 km south-east of Addis Ababa on what the airline’s CEO TewoldeGebreMariam labeled a “very sad and tragic day”.

An eyewitness told AFP the plane came down inflames. “The plane was already on fire when it crashedto the ground. The crash caused a big explosion,”Tegegn Dechasa recounted at the site, littered

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Dasman Diabetes Institute holds French Diabetes Days conference

KUWAIT: Country Chair and General Manager for Sanofiin the Gulf Jean Paul Scheuer is seen with CEO ofCentral Circle Co Dr Ziad Al-Alyan at the French DiabetesDays conference.

Ambassador of France to Kuwait Marie Masdupuyaddresses the conference.

By Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: The Interior Ministry’s AssistantUndersecretary for Residency Affairs Maj Gen TalalMaarafi yesterday announced the start of the imple-mentation of ministerial decision 135/2019, whichcalls for stopping the use of the residency stickerand substituting it with the civil ID. He said the firststage of the decision is being implemented for arti-cle 20 visa holders (domestic helpers).

Maarafi said this move is based on the instruc-tions of Deputy Premier and Interior MinisterSheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah to employ thelatest technologies, improve the level of services andenable citizens and expats to process transactionsonline. The undersecretary said any expat with aregular residency permit will not be allowed to enter


New iqama process begins; names on passport and civil ID should match

By B Izzak

KUWAIT: Opposition MP Riyadh Al-Adasani yester-day threatened to grill two ministers and the prime min-ister if he does not get proper answers over allegedviolations in the ports fund, in which the governmentholds a majority stake. Adasani said he sent questionsover the issue to the minister of commerce, who super-vises the fund, and the finance minister about the


MP threatens actionover ports fund

Narendra Modi

Benjamin Netanyahu

NEW DELHI: India will hold a generalelection in seven stages starting on April11, the election commission said yester-day, in what will be the world’s biggestdemocratic exercise with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi likely to benefit fromtensions with Pakistan. About 900 mil-lion citizens will be eligible to vote, 15

million of them aged between 18 and 19,in a mammoth exercise lasting more thana month, Chief Election CommissionerSunil Arora said at a press briefing in thecapital New Delhi yesterday.

Until a few weeks ago, a shortage ofjobs and weak farm prices were seendenting Modi’s popularity. But pollsterssay his ruling Hindu-nationalistBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) now has aclear advantage after India’s armedforces clashed with those of archrivalPakistan last month, triggering a waveof patriotic fervor across the country of1.3 billion.

Of the 543 parliamentary seats up

for grabs, 241 could go to Modi’s rulingall iance, compared with 141 to theCongress party-led opposit ionalliance, according to a nationwidesurvey of 50,000 people by theCVoter polling agency conducted overthe past four weeks. “The Hindi heart-land - barring Uttar Pradesh - hascharged up due to the Pakistan issue,”said Yashwant Deshmukh, founder ofCVoter, referring to the northern stateof Uttar Pradesh that sends the largestnumber of lawmakers to India’s lowerhouse of parliament and is a key bat-tleground for the election.


India to hold mega-election from April 11

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu, in full campaign mode ahead ofApril 9 polls, yesterday said Israel “was nota state of all its citizens” in a reference tothe country’s Arab population. The primeminister, in comments on Instagram, wenton to say all citizens, including Arabs, hadequal rights, but referred to a deeply con-troversial law passed last year declaringIsrael the nation-state of the Jewish people.

“Israel is not a state of all its citizens,”Netanyahu wrote in response to comments

from an Israeli actress. “According to thebasic nationality law we passed, Israel isthe nation-state of the Jewish people - andonly it. As you wrote, there is no problemwith the Arab citizens of Israel. They haveequal rights like all of us and the Likudgovernment has invested more in the Arabsector than any other government,” he saidof his rightwing party.

As the comments caused waves in Israel,Netanyahu again spoke of the issue at thestart of a cabinet meeting, making similarcomments. He called Israel a “Jewish, dem-ocratic state” with equal rights, but “thenation-state not of all its citizens, but onlyof the Jewish people”. Netanyahu has beenaccused of demonizing Israeli Arabs, whomake up some 17.5 percent of the popula-tion, ahead of April polls in a bid to boostrightwing turnout. He has continually

warned that his opponents will receive thesupport of Arab parties and that they willmake significant concessions to thePalestinians.

Netanyahu, under threat of indictmentfor corruption, is facing a tough challengefrom a centrist political alliance led by for-mer military chief of staff Benny Gantz andex-finance minister Yair Lapid. Thealliance’s centrist positions and its securitycredentials - it includes three former mili-tary chiefs of staff - have helped it beatback Netanyahu’s claims that its leaders are“weak” leftists.

Arab parties would be extremely unlike-ly to be part of any coalition governmentafter elections. Arab Israelis are Palestinianswho remained on their land after the 1948creation of Israel and are largely support-ive of the Palestinian cause. — AFP

Netanyahu says Israel ‘not a state of all its citizens’

Defense Ministermeets FrenchenvoyKUWAIT: First Deputy Prime Minister andDefense Minister Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah held talks yesterday withFrance’s Ambassador to the Gulf state MarieMasdupuy. The talks revolved around issuesof mutual concern, according to a statementissued by the Kuwaiti defense ministry.

Separately, Deputy Minister of ForeignAffairs Khaled Al-Jarallah met with theUnited States’ Ambassador to KuwaitLawrence Silverman. During the meeting, thetwo sides discussed bilateral relations and thelatest regional and international develop-ments of common concerns. The meeting wasattended by Assistant Foreign Minister forDeputy Foreign Minister’s office AmbassadorAyham Al-Omar and Assistant ForeignMinister for America’s Affairs MinisterPlenipotentiary Reem Al-Khaled.

In the meantime, Finance Minister Dr NayefAl-Hajraf met with Ambassador of the UKMichael Davenport, discussing with him waysto enhance bilateral cooperation in the eco-nomic field. According to a press statement bythe Ministry of Finance, the meeting alsotouched on the outcomes of the ‘Jordan:Growth and Opportunity London 2019’ confer-ence, which was held in February. Meanwhile,the minister met with Ambassadors of SlovakiaIgor Hajdusek, Hungary Dr Istvan Gyula Soos,and Armenia Sarmen Baghdasaryan, dis-cussing with them the resumption of jointcommittees meetings aimed at boosting eco-nomic cooperation. — KUNA

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-JaberAl-Sabah received at Bayan Palace yesterday His Highness the CrownPrince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. His Highness alsoreceived Speaker of the National Assembly Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanemand His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

His Highness the Amir also received the President of the JudicialHigher Council and President of the Court of Cassation andConstitutional Court of Justice Yousuf Al-Mutawa. Furthermore, HisHighness the Amir received First Deputy Prime Minister and Ministerof Defense Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Meanwhile, His Highness the Crown Prince received Speaker

Ghanem, His Highness Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak, and Sheikh NasserSabah Al-Ahmad. He also received Deputy Prime Minister andForeign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, DeputyPrime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah and Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for CabinetAffairs Anas Al-Saleh. — KUNA

Monday, March 11, 2019

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KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets with His Highness theCrown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. — Amiri Diwan and KUNA photos

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets with Speaker of National AssemblyMarzouq Ali Al-Ghanem.

His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets with His Highness thePrime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets with First Deputy PrimeMinister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.

Amir, Crown Prince receive topstate officials at Bayan Palace

KUWAIT: First Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-AhmadAl-Sabah meets with France’s Ambassador to Kuwait Marie Masdupuy. — KUNA photos

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Khaled Al-Jarallah meets with the US Ambassador toKuwait Lawrence Silverman.

KUWAIT: Japanese Ambassador toKuwait Takashi Ashiki said that hiscountry is ready to cooperate withKuwait in the fields of industries perti-nent to knowledge and innovation. Theambassador made the remark during asymposium organized by the SupremeCouncil for Planning and Development(SCPD) yesterday on Japaneseautomaker Toyota’s success stories.

He commended Kuwaiti-Japaneserelations as having been ‘deep and dis-tinguished’ in various fields over sixdecades, adding that the event focusedon how the Japanese car maker countson non-material aspects in managementlike culture and human relations.

The Japanese ambassador boastedthat Toyota’s success gives impressivelessons that should be tapped by entre-preneurs in building successful institu-tions. He also spoke highly of Kuwait’seagerness to encourage and spur youngpeople to get engaged in diversedomains and create sustainable eco-

nomic activities that could contribute toputting Kuwait’s 2035 developmentvision in place. — KUNA

Japan can help Kuwait in knowledge-based industries: Envoy

Japanese Ambassador to KuwaitTakashi Ashiki

KUWAIT: National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem leaves for Rabat toattend the 14th conference of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization ofIslamic Cooperation’s Member States. — KUNA

Speaker headsto Rabat forPUIC meetingKUWAIT: National Assembly SpeakerMarzouq Al-Ghanem yesterday left forRabat to attend the 14th conference ofthe Parliamentary Union of theOrganization of Islamic Cooperation’sMember States (PUIC) which startstoday and runs through Thursday.Speaker Ghanem is set to deliver a

speech at the conference, as well asparticipate in the Arab group coordina-tion meeting on the sidelines of the con-ference, Al-Dostour news network saidin a statement. The delegation will alsotake part in sub and permanent commit-tee meetings on Palestine, politicalaffairs, foreign relations, human andwomen rights, 8th meeting of theMuslim Women Parliamentarians andthe second meeting of the secretariesgeneral of member parliaments.Ghanem’s accompanying delegationincludes MPs Rakan Al-Nisf, Dr AwdahAl-Rowaie, Mohammad Al-Dalal, NayefAl-Ajmi, Ali Al-Doqbasi, Al-Humaidi Al-Subaie, Nasser Al-Dosari and Safa Al-Hashem. — KUNA

Kuwait a rolemodel in religioustoleranceKUWAIT: Since its inception, Kuwait hasbeen a model in several aspects, especiallythe religious tolerance through the multiplici-ty of religions and sects on the Kuwaiti land.In 2019, the ‘Year of Tolerance’ as the UAEdescribed, KUNA highlights the bright side ofKuwait and Kuwaitis in tolerance, which is amilestone in the history of Kuwait throughjustice and equality without any religious,racial or gender discrimination.

On this regard, Abdullah Al-Shoreka,Director-General of Wasatia (moderation)Centre of the Ministry of Awqaf and IslamicAffairs, said that tolerance is a cornerstoneof Islamic law, stressing that Islam empha-sizes the preservation of the rights of allpeople without distinction. Islamic historyabound with many examples in this regard,as it allowed non-Muslims to establish theirreligious rites according to Sharia principles,noting that Kuwait as a Muslim country took

that process, headded. Shorekapointed out that tol-erance in all its formsis evident in thisbenevolent country,thanks to the lawsthat govern it, espe-cially in the organiza-tion of affairs of wor-ship and religions.

Great example in peaceMeanwhile, Emmanuel Gharib, the chair-

man of the National Evangelical Church ofKuwait, stressed that Kuwait is a great exam-ple in peace thanks to its people’s tolerancewith all the residents on its land. “The diversi-ty of religions, languages and cultures shouldnot be a cause of conflicts, but should be atreasure that enriches all mankind,” he added.Bibi Ashour, Kuwait Society for HumanFraternity’s Secretary, said that tolerance hasan important role to play in the advancementand development of any society as it rejectsall forms of intolerance and discrimination.The Society aims at developing a culture offraternity and coexistence among the compo-nents of the community and combating all

forms of intolerance and racial discrimination,she added.

In last December, UAE President SheikhKhalfia Al-Nahyan announced 2019 as theyear of tolerance, to consider the value of tol-erance as sustainable institutional actionthrough a set of legislation and policies aimedat deepening the values of dialogue andaccepting the other. Finally, in recent days,the Organization of Islamic Cooperation(OIC) in their recent meeting, they declaredand praised “the initiative of the UAEPresident, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, to name the year 2019 as a Year ofTolerance in UAE, and decide to mark thedate of 11th March of each year as a day oftolerance in all OIC member states. — KUNA

Abdullah Al-Shoreka Emmanuel Gharib Bibi Ashour

L o c a l Monday, March 11, 2019

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KUWAIT: Dasman Diabetes Institute, founded byKuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences,has recently organized the French Diabetes DaysConference in collaboration with the French Embassyin Kuwait, Sanofi, URGO Medical and Université Cóted’Azur. The conference was held at the Institute on10th and 11th March 2019. This conference offeredparticipants with a platform to discuss the latestissues and findings on diabetes and its complications,opportunities for networking and forming new part-nerships. Many international guest speakers fromImperial College, Weill Cornel, Nice University pre-sented at the conference, in addition to chairpersonsand speakers from the Institute, Kuwait University andthe Ministry of Health.

The conference was launched with the opening cer-emony speech delivered byDr Qais Al-Duwairi, DirectorGeneral, Dasman DiabetesInstitute. It was followed byspeeches delivered by MarieMasdupuy, the Ambassadorof France to Kuwait, Jean-PaulScheuer, Country Chair andGeneral Manager for Sanofi inGulf Countries, Francois RégisJan, CEEMEA Director,URGO Medical and CharlesGuepratte, Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Nice University Centre, France.

Important effortJean-Paul Scheuer, Country Chair and General

Manager for Sanofi in Gulf Countries commented,“Together with Dasman Diabetes Institute and theEmbassy of France in Kuwait, we are pleased to holdthe first-ever French Diabetes Days conference in thecountry. Facilitated by eminent international and localspeakers, this important educational effort will surelyfacilitate robust scientific discussions on diabetes man-agement and ultimately benefit patients. At Sanofi, westrongly value and support partnership efforts that fur-ther our long-standing commitment to healthcare inKuwait and globally.”

Dr Qais Al-Duwairi, Director General of DasmanDiabetes Institute stated that “Dasman Diabetes

Institute and its strategic collaborations with Sanofi andthe Embassy of France in Kuwait, strives to accomplishits Mission. We also aim to empower the medical andscientific communities with the latest clinical guidelines,research findings and applications. We aspire to devel-op educational frameworks and awareness-raising pro-grams that make a difference in our healthcare system.”

10 presentationsThe conference consisted of more than 10 presenta-

tions; “Diabetes: Is it All in the Fat?” By Dr SaraSuliaman, Consultant Endocrinologist, Imperial College,Abu Dhabi, “Nutritional Aspect of Diabetes” by DrNicola Guess, Head Of Nutrition, Dasman DiabetesInstitute, “Management of Obesity in the DiabetesClinic” by Dr Ebaa Al Ozairi, Chief Medical Officer,

Dasman Diabetes Institute,“Managing Diabetes:Guidelines Approach” byProfessor Stephen Atkin,Professor of Medicine, WeillCornell Medical College,Qatar, “What Type ofDiabetes is it Anyway? ALook Through Genetics” byDr Sara Suliaman, ConsultantEndocrinologist, ImperialCollege, Abu Dhabi, “Gettingthe Patient Excited About

Crossing The Bridge: Motivational Counseling” by DrAbdulla Al-Ozairi, Assistant Professor, KuwaitUniversity, “Polycystic Ovaries - An Update” byProfessor Stephen Atkin, Professor of Medicine, WeillCornell Medical College, Qatar, “Diabetes andPregnancy” by Dr Abdulmohsen Al-Shammari, Head ofEducation and Training, Dasman Diabetes Institute,“Exploring the Future of Diabetic Foot”, by MarcoMeloni, Resident in Diabetic Foot, Nuova Villa ClaudiaClinic, Italy and Emilio Galea, International MedicalDirector, URGO Medical, UAE, “Fellowship Programs inFrance” Guillaume Huart, French Regional Counselorfor Health, Middle East, and finally “Presentation ofFellowship Programs at Nice University Centre, France,by Professor Thierry Piche, Chief Medical Officer, NiceUniversity Centre, France and Professor NicolasChevalier, Head of Endocrinology/Diabetes, Nice

University Centre, France.The conference was concluded with questions and

answers. The conference was well attended by many

healthcare professionals, scientists, researchers andothers from all over Kuwait. The conference wasaccredited by KIMS with 8 CME credits.

Dasman Diabetes Institute holdsFrench Diabetes Days conference

Platform to discuss the latest issues and findings on diabetes

In collaborationwith the

FrenchEmbassy

KUWAIT: Officials attend the French Diabetes Days Conference, organized by the Dasman DiabetesInstitute.

Jean-Paul Scheuer, Country Chair and General Manager forSanofi in Gulf Countries, speaks at the conference.

Dr Qais Al-Duwairi, Director General, Dasman DiabetesInstitute, delivers a speech.

Gulf Bank goesgreen with continuedQout Market’s sponsorshipKUWAIT: The second QoutMarket of 2019, took place onMarch 9, 2019, in Kuwait’sSafat Square. The market sawrenewed focus on the environ-ment, as Gulf Bank went greenwith a unique initiative high-lighting both sustainabilityand the environment.

Alongside fun featuredactivities, the Bank hosted afull spring experience, featur-ing a stunning garden andspring-themed photobooth, aswell as a unique planting workshop. As visitors enjoyed thestriking scenery of the garden, accompanied by live music,they were invited to take part in a planting workshop. Theworkshop saw visitors choose a leaf seed, before being guid-ed on soil planting and care. In addition to the workshop, GulfBank set up an innovative outdoor recycling station, further-ing its commitment to the environment.

Commenting on the initiative, Ahmad Al-Amir, AssistantGeneral Manager for External Communications, Gulf Bank,said: “Gulf Bank has always maintained a strong commitmentto the care of our environment, and through our partnershipwith Qout Market, we are proud to promote the importanceand ease of going green. We would like to thank everyonewho joined us on Saturday, and we look forward to spreadingthe message of our mission and working together to protectKuwait’s environment.”

Founded in 2013, Qout Market has become a national fix-ture on the social calendar attracting over 18,000 regionaland local visitors in previous seasons. Initially established toprovide a versatile space bringing together artisanal farmersfrom different backgrounds, the market has developed into aplatform of diversity. Offering a full rounded market experi-ence suitable for every member of the community andattracting, incubating, and highlighting the incredible spec-trum of Kuwait’s local artisan community.

NBK organizesannual carnivalat Bayt Abdullah KUWAIT: The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) organized itsannual carnival at the Children’s Hospice Project BaytAbdullah. NBK takes great pride in celebrating with childrenat Bayt Abdullah. NBK has always considered supporting thechildren as an essential part of its social and philanthropicoutreach. NBK is proud of its support and cooperation withBayt Abdullah. This project does not only look after childrenwith terminal conditions, it goes deep in to recognizing howto manage their pain rather than sedate it. Children enjoyedmany fun activities in the carnival that was titled “SafariFestival”. Many fun games and challenges occurred.

Since its establishment, NBK has been at the forefrontof supporting Kuwait’s community through a range ofeducation, health, sports and social initiatives. NBK’sChildren Hospital at Al Sabah Medical Area stands as oneof many NBK initiatives for children. Also, NBK expanded

the hospital capacity by building the first of its kind inKuwait, the independent marrow transplant center atNBK’s Children Hospital, in order to treat children withcancer and blood diseases.

Bayt Abdullah Children’s Hospice was designed toaccommodate the needs of children with life-limiting andlife-threatening conditions and their families, in Kuwait. Thehospice is part of a continuum of care that offers childrenand their families the maximum freedom of choice withoutcompromising the quality of that care, whether at home inhospital or within the hospice itself.

Ahmad Al-Amir

KJA holds GeneralAssembly, boardelectionsKUWAIT: Kuwait Journalist Association’s (KJA) GeneralAssembly will hold its meeting today at its temporarypremise, Balagh newspaper building, opposite Khaldiya.The General Assembly will discuss the administrative andfinancial reports, and will hold the board of directors’elections for the years 2019-2020 from 4:00 pm to 8:00pm. Nine candidates are competing for seven seats. Theyinclude seven candidate representing Al-Jamee list:Fatima Hussein, Adnan Al-Rashid, Jassim Kamal, DhairanAba Al-Khail, Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan, Rabiaa Al-Jumaa, and Owayed Al-Enezi; In addition to two inde-pendent candidates: Hiba Al-Taweel, Najem Al-Shimmari.

Kuwait Consulateopens in New YorkNEW YORK: The State of Kuwait’s Consulate in New Yorkhas announced the start of consular services for citizens asof today, hoping the opening of the mission would furtherboost economic, trade and investment relations. ConsularGeneral Hamad Al-Hazeem expressed in a statement hopesopening of the Kuwait Consulate in New York “will pro-mote economic, trade and investment relations between thecity, which is considered the world’s economic hub, and theState of Kuwait.”

The consulate, he added, would contribute to new hori-zons in relations and cooperation between Kuwait and theUS. New York City has many investment capabilities andopportunities in different sectors, he said, and the consulatewould facilitate communication between Kuwait investorsand their counterparts in the city.

Hazeem hoped the consulate would contribute to promo-tion of investment opportunities within New Kuwait Vision2035, thus honoring His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s vision to transform Kuwait into afinancial and commercial hub. —KUNA


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Photo of the Day

KUWAIT: Al-Shaheed Park’s fountain putting on a colorful display for visitors. —Photo by Yousef Al-Batashi (KUNA)

By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: The sixth edition of Sharakah Forum organ-ized by the Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO Holding)from March 10 to 13, 2019 was launched yesterday atSalwa Ballroom. Sharakah is a unique project in theregion. “This forum is a yearly platform developed byKIPCO to bring together key stakeholders involved inthe field of social responsibility in Kuwait with the aim tofoster the creation of shared value through collaborationand capacity building,” said Abeer Al-Omar, Group CSRDirector at KIPCO, during the opening ceremony.

This year’s forum includes a main discussion panelabout sustainability in the digital transformation era withleading executives from the public, private and non-profit sectors. “We are keen to hold this forum annuallyand to continue our work so we all together make a dif-ference in developing our community. We will exchangeknowledge, experience, and ideas between decisionmakers and project directors, which will improve thesustainable development of our community,” addedOmar.

Sharakah Forum has two main goals. “To stay in touchfor sustainable partnership for a better community, andthe second is highlighting the latest development issuesand bringing up innovative solutions and new ideas. Inthe past few years, sustainable development has becomeone of the most important issues due to the challengesfacing humanity in all fields. Also, we believe that the pri-vate sector is the main source for development and char-ity work around the world,” she explained.

“This event builds on the efforts already undertakenby KIPCO group - for example in last year’s CSR Forum- to bring together key players involved in social respon-sibility in Kuwait in order to take our work in this field tothe next level and increase our impact and efficiency

through greater coordination and collaboration. We areproud to be leading the way in this arena, and hope to beable to contribute effectively to HH the Amir’s NewKuwait vision for 2035, which emphasizes the role ofpartnerships in the road to development,” stressed Omar.

The forum will also include a networking opportunitytitled Mix and Mingle, allowing NGOs to have theopportunity to communicate directly with representa-tives from the private sector. “This platform createsopportunities for NGO representatives to meet newcompanies and provides them with an opportunity toexplain their strategy as non-governmental organiza-tions,” she pointed out. “Private sector representativeswill be able to share their platform and aspirations as acompany and have direct access to different NGOs,making connections for future collaborations in the CSRdepartment,” concluded Omar.

In addition to Minister of Commerce and IndustryKhaled Al-Roudhan, Vice-Chairman (Executive) of KIP-

CO Faisal Al-Ayyar, Deputy Director General of KFASSalem Al-Hajraf and CEO of Qatar Foundation for SocialWork Amal Al-Mannai participated in the discussionpanel that followed the opening speech. The one-dayforum is followed by three days of workshops offeredby KIPCO and KFAS to non-profit organizations andsocial entrepreneurs interested in increasing their finan-cial sustainability.

The workshops will be delivered by local, regionaland international trainers, and will cover the followingtopics: Towards Digital Transformation: Tactical

Technology Planning; User Centered Design for SocialImpact; Bridging the Gap between Strategy andOperations; Digital Responsibility and Security, TheData Informed Organization, and Speed Networking forDigitalization. The aim of these workshops is to con-tribute to strengthening the role of local non-profits andincreasing their ability to acquire resources to promotetheir causes.

The Sharakah Forum and Workshops are free ofcharge to all participating organizations. Attendance isby invitation only.

Sharakah Forum underway: Creatingshared value through collaboration

Featuring discussion panel about sustainability in the digital transformation era

Minister of Commerce and Industry Khaled Al-Roudhan (center) and other officials attend a discussionpanel that followed the opening speech.

KUWAIT: Abeer Al-Omar, Group CSR Director at KIPCO,speaks during the ceremony. —Photos by Joseph Shagra

Official highlightsmedia’s role in combating narcoticsKUWAIT: Assistant Undersecretary ofthe Ministry of Information for MediaPlanning and Knowledge DevelopmentAffairs said Saturday the combat againstnarcotics depends primarily on promotionof public awareness about the risks ofthis menace. The youth-oriented shortmovies, circulated on traditional of newmedia, have to focus on the health haz-ards posed by smoking and drug addic-tion, Khaled Al-Rashidi said at the awardceremony of the Second Mentor ArabiaShort Movie Competition. He was speak-ing on behalf of Minister of Informationand Minister of State for Youth AffairsMohammad Al-Jabri at the Kuwait

National Library. The competition, part ofKuwait National Youth Project, was heldunder the theme of ‘Awareness againstRisky Behaviors and Drugs.’

Rashidi renewed the support of theMinistry of Information to noble messageentailed in the innovative works of art thatparticipated in the competition, sayingthat these movies would be screened onKuwait TV channels. Regarding theawards, ‘Sulalah’ (strain) - a documentarydirected by Maha Moussa, of Palestine,won the top prize. In the promotional tier,No Smoking, directed by Jordan’s HebaNajjar, won the top award. In the featurefilm tier, ‘Lait,’ directed by Asil Sawb, ofJordan, won the top award. In the Kuwaitifilm tier, ‘Hajar Ala Al-Tariq (stone on theroad), directed by Mohamad Al-Baloushiwon the top award. Launched in 2017,Mentor Arabia Short Movie Competitionis a regional initiative aiming to encouragethe Arab filmmakers to produce substan-tive movies that could educate the young-sters against risky behaviors. —KUNA KUWAIT: A general view of the audience at the award ceremony of the Second Mentor Arabia Short Movie Competition. —KUNA

KFH collaborateswith COFE Appto add more value to coffeelovers’ livesKUWAIT: As a pioneer in all digital transfor-mation initiatives, Kuwait Finance House (KFH)continues supporting cooperation and partner-ship agreements, and social and economic spon-sorships to keep up with the digital develop-ment. Based on the significant growth rates thatmobile applications have and the global preva-lence they have achieved, KFH has signed acooperation and partnership agreement withCOFE App, Kuwait’s favorite online coffee mar-ketplace app. The agreement reinforces KFH’sefforts to support local entrepreneurship initia-tives and youth ideas.

The KFH Golden COFE Contest is the firstinitiative under the year-long partnershipbetween the two powerhouse brands. Whenevera user orders their coffee using the COFE App,then win an entry into the weekly $1000 cashprize draw. The more a coffee-lover uses theapp, the greater their chances of winning. Overthe year, KFH will be awarding over $50,000through this contest.

Executive Manager Group Public Relationsand Media at Kuwait Finance House (KFH),Yousef Abdullah Al-Ruwaieh said that KFH’spartnership with COFE App confirms the bank’sinterest in supporting Kuwaiti youth projects,Online Apps and innovative entrepreneurshipinitiatives. He also praised KFH’s record of sup-porting initiatives that add value to the economy,enhance the business environment and developyouth skills and their innovative initiatives.

Ruwaieh added that COFE App has showntangible success in a short period of time, stress-ing KFH’s keenness to partner for such compa-nies and contribute to their growth and success.“KFH is always aiming to support young peopleand innovation. The COFE App, developed andrun by young Kuwaiti team, provides users withan innovative user interface and distinctive serv-ices. Having realized COFE App’s potential, KFHdecided to sign the partnership agreement. Weare looking forward to exploring the variousopportunities this partnership will provide,” hementioned.

Ruwaieh said that the partnership will includeexclusive offers and discounts for KFH cus-tomers and COFE App users as part of its strat-egy to improve the customers experience, serv-ice excellence and achieve their aspirations.

“KFH has supported many initiatives to pro-mote youth activities, entrepreneurship andinnovation, participating in events that supporttechnology and digital solutions, including theKFH People’s Choice Start-Up Award, the firstaward of its kind in Kuwait, which went to(Scrrap). Also, KFH signed a partnership agree-ment with the special football app (Li3ib),launched by a group of young Kuwaiti initiators.

KFH was a Platinum Sponsor in the third editionof ArabNet Kuwait and signed a strategic part-nership with CODED Juniors Summer Campthat aims at teaching children the basics of cod-ing and technology using the latest tools. KFHcontinuously invests in technology, promote thedigital transformation and startup initiatives andimprove the entrepreneurial environment,” heexplained.

Meanwhile, Ali Al-Ebrahim, Founder andCEO, COFE App said, “Our purpose has alwaysbeen to add more choice and ease to our appusers’ lives. We are a lifestyle app that encour-ages the budding coffee culture in Kuwait. TheGolden COFE Contest is our way of adding anelement of fun and surprise to the one thingpeople do every single day - Get COFE. Wethank KFH for believing in us, and for helping usbring to our users, a little more than just COFE.”

COFE App enables customers to order andpay for their coffee online. With the app userscan get COFE at the coffee shop counter, office,car, classroom, hospital, and airport departuresor have it delivered to their preferred address.The entire selection and purchasing processtakes place in the app, which offers comprehen-sive menus and drink customization options.

By A Saleh

KUWAIT: Minister of Public Works and Minister ofState for Housing Affairs Jenan Bushehri said the totalnumber of expats working for the Ministry of PublicWorks (MPW) since 2016 make up only 3.9 percent ofthe ministry’s total manpower. In a memo addressingthe parliament, Bushehristressed that expats work inengineering, legal, financial,technical and legal consultan-cy jobs and that they have allbeen appointed upon theCivil Service Commission’s(CSC) approval. She addedthat MPW only renewed thecontracts of 28 percent of theexpats because it needs theirspecialties until they can bereplaced by citizens. “Expat technicians older than 55will be replaced by citizens soon,” she added. In arelated development, Minister of Justice and Minister

of State for National Assembly Affairs Fahd Al-Afasisaid as part of the ministry’s Kuwaitization strategy,the contracts of 62 expats will be terminated soon.

New schoolsWell-informed educational sources said that the

Ministry of Education (MoE) is about to receive 21 newschool buildings and work onfurnishing and equipping themis on to join service as soon aspossible. “Some schools will beready by the beginning of thenext school year and others bythe beginning of the secondterm,” the sources explained.The sources added that thenew schools include 11 inAhmadi educational area (sixin Wafra and five in Sabah Al-Ahmad), followed by seven in

the Capital educational area, two in Farwaniya and onein Jahra. “Given that each school needs 70-100 teach-

ers, MoE will surely needat least 1,000 teachers torun the new schools,” thesources added, noting thatpriority will be forKuwaitis, followed by GCCnationals and bedoons,then expats, adding thathiring teachers from out-side Kuwait will be the lastresort.

Security camerasThe Cabinet issued a

resolution adding 37 facili-ties to be included in law number 61/2015 pertainingregulating the installation of CCTV and security cam-eras. The new list includes mosques, places of worship,marinas, shooting ranges, oil facilities, oilfields, refiner-ies, fuel reservoirs, oil ports, infrastructure facilitiessuch as power and water desalination plants, gas plants,sewage purification plants, irrigation units, telecom

centers, marine, land and air exits, Kuwaiti islands, arti-ficial marine structures, the seafront, custom warehous-es, diplomatic areas, radio and TV facilities, KUNApremises, satellite TV and radio stations, educationalfacilities, free trade zones, public transport buses andferries, health facilities, ambulances, press and publica-tion houses, industrial areas, public libraries, labor hos-tels, the scrap market, investment and commercial resi-dential complexes, markets, marine and sports clubs,spas, gyms, recreation centers, museums, theatres andcinemas, Kuwait bourse, mobile ATM trucks, moneytransport trucks, parking spaces and buildings, chari-ties, NGOs, touristic facilities, parks, conservations,cafes, wedding halls, cemeteries and stores selling mili-tary and marine, fishing and hunting equipment.

Corruption chargeKuwait Ports Authority urged Kuwait Municipality

to clear Fintas harbor and filed a report to the PublicAnticorruption Authority (Nazaha), accusing the fisher-men’s diwaniya of collecting money from the boatsdocked there.


5L o c a l

Established 1961

1,000 teachersneeded for

21 new schools

Minister Jenan Bushehri

KUWAIT: Yousef Al-Ruwaieh and Ali Al-Ebrahim sign the agreement at the KFH head-quarters in Kuwait.

2,170 dialysispatients inKuwaitBy Meshaal Al-Enezi

KUWAIT: The total number of dialysispatients in Kuwait is around 2,170 with anannual increase of 8 percent, said the head ofkidney diseases and transplants at Hamed Al-Essa Organ Transplant Center, Dr Turki Al-Otaibi. Speaking on the occasion of WorldKidney Day, observed on the secondThursday of March, Otaibi said the day willbe marked from Wednesday for two daysunder the motto ‘Kidney Health ForEverybody Everywhere’, adding that an

international health campaign will belaunched to boost public awareness on kid-neys and reducing kidney diseases.

Otaibi said that the ceremonies willinclude specialized scientific lectures to bedelivered by local and foreign experts focus-ing on kidney diseases, prevention, diagnosisand best treatments. He added that the cere-monies will also highlight the main reasons ofthe increase in chronic kidney diseases andtheir relation with diabetes, hypertension andcardiac diseases. He noted that a specialbooth at The Avenues mall will be set up onThursday to address the public directly andrespond to their inquiries.

Otaibi said that there are around 830 mil-lion kidney patients around the world andthat the cost of dealing with the disease inthe US alone is $114 million annually. He alsonoted that Hamed Al-Essa Center conducted70 kidney transplants in 2018.

Two freedfrom underfallen containerBy Hanan Al-Saadoun and Meshaal Al-Enezi

KUWAIT: Firemen rescued two personswho were trapped under a refrigeratedcontainer that fell on them in Jahra. Thecontainer was affixed to a steel base, andwas filled with excess weight on one side,so it tipped over. The rescue operation wascomplicated and needed skilled firemen toensure the safety of the workers. The con-tainer was lifted carefully and the two werefreed without being harmed.

Bridge collapseThe Interior Ministry’s Relations and

Security Information Department said yes-terday that part of a bridge on King FahadRoad had collapsed, and authorities workedon cleaning it up to restore traffic flow. Noinjuries were reported in the incident

Verdict annulledThe court of cassation yesterday

annulled a previous verdict by the court ofappeal acquitting a TV announcer and theprogram producer from charges of accus-ing former MP Ahmad Al-Khateeb of cor-ruption during his parliamentary member-ship. The court fined each of the defendantsKD 3,000.

Fatal crashA Kuwaiti man was killed when his vehi-

cle collided with a tanker truck on AbdalyRoad, Al-Rai reported yesterday.Concerned authorities are investigating.

EscapeA Saudi man put a passport official and

the gate officer in trouble when he took hisdaughters without the knowledge of theirhusbands out of Salmy border exit using thecivil IDs of their sisters, who live in Kuwait.The Saudi arrived in Kuwait and took backhis daughters due to differences they hadwith their husbands. One of the husbandsdiscovered his wife had escaped, so hecalled police and lodged a complaintagainst his father-in-law, Al-Rai reported.Investigations are ongoing.

Entrance, exiton AirportRoad closedBy Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: The traffic departmentin cooperation with PublicAuthority for Roads and Transportwill close the entrance and exitacross from the Civil ServiceCommission’s building on AirportRoad on Wednesday, March 13, for45 days to complete the final workon the Jahra road project. Thealternative roads are: Entrance toJahra road before the foreign min-istry authentications building;Entrance to Jamal Abdul-NasserRoad with Abdulrahman Al-BaderRoad; Entrance to Second RingRoad opposite Road 61.

KUWAIT: A map released by the Interior Ministry showing the closedentrance, exit and road (in yellow).

KUWAIT: Kuwait Fire Services Directorate Acting Director General Maj Gen Khalid Al-Tarkeet launched an accidents damage estimationcourse that is being held from March 10 to 14, and 20 persons are participating. — By Hanan Al-Saadoun

Expats make up 3.9 percent ofpublic works ministry’s workforce

Security cameras to be installed in 37 new facilities

KUWAIT: Firefighters help remove a refrigerated container that fell on two persons in Jahra.

InternationalDemocracy, DPRK style: N Korea holds election‘Brexit in peril’ as British PM faces heavy defeat

Page 8

MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2019

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani journalist watches a video released by Pakistan’s Navy that allegedly shows an Indian submarine, on a smartphone in Islamabad. Pakistan has stopped an Indian submarine from entering its waters, the navy said on March 5,as tensions continue to run high between the nuclear-armed foes. — AFP

NEW DELHI: India has signed a $3 billiondeal to lease a third Russian nuclear-pow-ered submarine for 10 years, giving Delhia boost in the Indian Ocean against arch-rivals Pakistan and China, media reportssaid. The deal - which according to thereports took months to negotiate - comesas tensions run high between India andPakistan following their biggest standoff inyears, and as Chinese influence grows inthe region. A defense ministry spokesmandeclined to confirm the agreement to AFPbut the reports said that the submarine,the third India has leased from Russia,would be delivered by 2025.

Russia, India’s Cold War ally, remainsa major supplier of arms to India, irkingthe United States which has imposedsanctions on nations buying mil itaryhardware from Moscow. Last October

Russian President Vladimir Putin andIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modimet and inked a deal for Delhi to buyRussia’s S-400 surface-to-air missiledefence system for $5.2 billion. ButIndia a lso shares US fears aboutChina’s growing assertiveness in theIndian Ocean, where New Delhi hastraditionally held sway.

In 2017 India and China had a mili-tary standoff over a Himalayan plateauclaimed by both Beijing and Bhutan, aclose ally of India. China has madeinroads in Sri Lanka and Maldives,countries that India considers to be inits sphere of influence, through its Beltand Road Initiative (BRI). India has raisedconcerns about the initiative as a majorsection passes through Pakistan-adminis-tered Kashmir, a disputed territory which

was again the fuse for the latest crisis.On February 26 India said its warplanes

hit a militant training camp in Pakistan inresponse to a suicide bombing in Kashmir,which killed 40 paramilitary officers andwas claimed by a militant group based in

Pakistan. Pakistan a day later carried outits own air raid, triggering a dogfight in

which an Indian plane was shot down.India also says it shot down a Pakistanplane but Is lamabad denied th is .Tensions cooled after Pakistan lastFriday returned the Indian pilot of thedowned a ircraf t , a l though bothnations have continued to fire shellsand mortars over the ir de-factoKashmir border.

Meanwhile, India’s election commis-sion issued a notice asking politicalparties not to use images of the coun-try’s armed forces in their campaignposters and other advertising during its

upcoming general election. The notice fol-lowed pictures posted to social mediarecently showing the ruling BharatiyaJanata Party used images in their cam-

paign posters of a captured Indian AirForce pilot recently returned by Pakistanafter a clash with India over the disputedKashmir territory.

The Election Commission said in anotice on its website on Saturday thatpolitical parties must refrain from usingphotographs of defense personnel inadvertisements or their election cam-paign propaganda as the armed forcesare “apolitical and neutral stakeholdersin a modern democracy.” The commis-sion cited a 2013 order that said photo-graphs of defense personnel should notbe used “in any manner in advertise-ment/propaganda/campaigning or in anyanother other manner in connectionswith elections by political parties andcandidates.” It called for “strict compli-ance” with the order.— Agencies

India, Russia ink $3 billion submarine deal India to lease nuclear-powered submarine for 10 years

Page 9

Political parties asked to stop using armed

forces images

BOGOTA: A plane crash in Colombia killed12 people on Saturday, including a mayorand her family, aviation and emergencyservices said. The Douglas DC-3 aircraft,an American-made twin-engine propellerplane that was first produced in the 1930s,crashed in the center-east of the country ona flight between the towns of San Jose delGuaviare and Villavicencio. A fire depart-ment official told AFP it then caught fire.

“Unfortunately... there were no sur-vivors,” the Aeronautica Civil aviationauthority said, adding that the wreckagewas found close to Villavicencio. Among thevictims was the mayor of the municipalityof Taraira, Doris Villegas, and her husband

and daughter, as well as the owner of theaircraft, pilot Jaime Carrillo, co-pilot JaimeHerrera and an aviation technician identi-fied as Alex Moreno.

President Ivan Duque paid tribute to thevictims on Twitter. “My solidarity with thefamilies,” he wrote. The Defensa Civil emer-gency services put the death toll at 12, withdirector Colonel Jorge Martinez suggestingan engine failure could have caused thecrash. “At the moment of flying over themunicipality of San Martin, an engine turnsoff and the pilot ... tries to land ... but it getsout of control,” he theorized to RCN newschannel. But Aeronautica Civil gave nodetails on a cause and asked the press toshow restraint in using images circulating onsocial media “out of respect for the victimsand their families.” Meanwhile, the firedepartment confirmed the flight had notfaced unfavorable weather conditions. Theplane was operated by Laser Aereo, a cargoand passenger transport company.Contacted by the AFP, the company declinedto comment on the accident.— AFP

NEW YORK: A Turkish Airlines passenger jettraveling from Istanbul to New York hit severeturbulence Saturday as it approached its des-tination, with 30 people suffering injuries

before it landed safely, officials said. Theinjured were taken from New York’s John FKennedy International Airport to local hospi-tals, mainly for treatment of bumps, cuts andbruises.

One flight attendant suffered a broken leg,according to Steve Coleman, a spokesman forthe Port Authority of New York and NewJersey, which operates the area’s airports, busterminals, bridges and tunnels. The Boeing 777- which had 326 passengers and 21 crew onboard-was over the Atlantic Ocean, about 45minutes from landing, when it struck the turbu-

lence, Coleman told AFP.Airport operations were not disrupted as a

result of the incident, he added. Turkish Airlinesdid not immediately respond to a request forcomment. Earlier in the day, a plane operatedby Canada’s Air Transat made an emergencylanding at another New York area airport-inNewark, New Jersey-after smoke was detectedin the cargo hold, the company said. TheBoeing 737-800, which had 189 passengers onboard, was traveling from Montreal to FortLauderdale, Florida. No one was injured, aspokeswoman for Air Transat said.— AFP

Colombianplane crashes;12 dead

VILLAVICENCIO: Photo shows members of civil defense at the site of a plane DC-3crash in San Martin, northeast of Colombia. — AFP

Thirty injured as turbulence hits Turkish plane

CARACAS: As the crisis in Venezuela rages on, itremains uncertain whether President NicolasMaduro will cling on or opposition leader JuanGuaido will secure a transition of power. Butwhatever the outcome, experts say it will be themilitary that tips the balance. Here are the pathsanalysts say the crisis could take.

Pressure until collapseGuaido, who enjoys strong popular support,

returned to Venezuela this week after a tripacross the Colombian border to help coordinatethe entry of humanitarian aid — a failed effortMaduro had blasted as a precursor to US militaryintervention. The self-declared interim president- recognized by over 50 countries, including theUnited States - avoided arrest upon his return,despite the fact he had violated a travel ban.

Back on home soil, he vowed to ramp upprotests and continue to make life difficult for

Maduro - namely by calling public sector strikesand asking the European Union to tighten sanc-tions on the socialist government. This kind ofpressure could push military leaders to embraceGuaido and “collapse the regime, paving the wayfor a transition with elections,” Michael Shifter, ofWashington-based think tank Inter-AmericanDialogue, told AFP.

“So far there are few signs that this is happen-ing, but it’s possible.” But first, sanctions imple-mented by US President Donald Trump - includ-ing a fuel embargo - would make life even harderfor Venezuelans. That creates the potential totaint Guaido’s image, said analyst Luis VicenteLeon, of Venezuela’s Datanalisis. In fact, some -including political scientist Luis Salamanca -believe Maduro is betting on a strategy of “attri-tion” from Guaido.

Political-military negotiationMaduro’s approval rating has dwindled to just

14 percent, according to Datanalisis - but the loy-alty of the military stands strong. In a bid to robMaduro of one remaining saving grace, Guaidohas offered military members amnesty if theydefect - unless they are accused of crimesagainst humanity.

Guaido says around 700 military membersand police officials have broken from Maduro inrecent weeks, although no high-ranking person-

nel. Getting commanding officials on side wouldrequire “specific guarantees” for those implicatedin corruption and human rights violations - not tomention with economic interests. “A transitionlike this would take longer, but it would increasethe likelihood of it not being violent,” accordingto Shifter.

Leon believes soldiers fear being decimatedby a new government or failing in a rebellionagainst Maduro, so any amnesty must be “nego-tiated face to face.” That could lead to a solutionsuch as a set-up in which “the military retainscontrol of its forces as a guarantee of self-pro-tection,” he suggested. An International ContactGroup on Venezuela - made up of EU and LatinAmerican countries - has pushed for govern-ment-opposition talks. So far, however, that hasnot moved forward.

Coup or invasionA third scenario could see the military break

from Maduro and organize elections - or over-throw him in a traditional coup, according toShifter. “The scenario of military intervention, ledby the United States, seems less and less likely -but it can’t be ruled out, depending on how the sit-uation develops,” he said. Guaido asked the LimaGroup - the primarily Latin American bloc thatrecognizes his leadership - to consider all options,but it declined to intervene via force.—AFP

Where is the Venezuelan crisis heading?

I n t e r n a t i o n a l Monday, March 11, 2019

7Established 1961

News in brief

Sudanese court sentences nine women protesters to 20 lashes

Women accused of participating in an unauthorized demonstration

15 die in nightclub shooting

MEXICO CITY: At least 15 people were killed andanother seven wounded in a shooting at a nightclubearly on Saturday in Mexico’s violence-wrackedGuanajuato state, according to the local prosecu-tor’s office. It was not immediately clear who com-mitted the crime. Before sunrise, a group of armedmen pulled up in three vans at the La Playa Men’sClub in the city of Salamanca, burst into the premis-es and opened fire, local media reported. Powerfuloil theft gangs have stolen vast quantities of fuelfrom Salamanca’s oil refinery. This week PresidentAndres Manuel Lopez Obrador launched a majoroffensive to capture local gang leader Jose AntonioYepez, known as “El Marro.”—Reuters

Hungarian scientists fearful

BUDAPEST: Staff members of the historicHungarian Academy of Sciences said their academicfreedom has been threatened by a new deal givingthe nationalist government influence over itsresearch institutions. Prime Minister Viktor Orban, aconservative leader who came to power in 2010, hastightened control over Hungarian public life, includ-ing the courts, the media, the economy, as well aseducation and now scientific research. Hungary’soldest and largest academic institution, the academy(MTA) is solely funded by the government but self-managing with a network of scientific research bod-ies employing about 5,000 people. On Friday, MTAPresident Laszlo Lovasz and Innovations andTechnology Minister Laszlo Palkovics announcedthat they had reached an agreement to separate thescience research network from the academy’s teach-ing institutions. — Reuters

Trudeau denies wrongdoing

MONTREAL: The office of Prime Minister JustinTrudeau, whose image has taken a hit in recentweeks over a growing corruption scandal, deniedSaturday that he acted in a hostile way toward afemale lawmaker in his party. Celina Caesar-Chavannes, a Liberal lawmaker from the Torontoarea, said in an interview with The Globe and Mailthat she was targeted by Trudeau’s wrath, when shesaid she would not seek reelection in October. “Hewas yelling. He was yelling that I didn’t appreciatehim, that he’d given me so much,” said Caesar-Chavannes. While he later apologized, she saidTrudeau was hostile on other occasions. Trudeau’soffice denied the characterization, saying in a state-ment: “The prime minister has deep respect forCelina Caesar-Chavannes. Discussions they had inFebruary were direct but not hostile.”— AFP

Israel strikes Hamas targets

JERUSALEM: Israeli aircraft struck Hamas targetsin the Gaza Strip yesterday after a rocket from thePalestinian enclave hit the Jewish state, the armysaid. “Fighter jets and aircraft struck several militarytargets in a Hamas compound in the northern GazaStrip in addition to two Hamas vessels,” a statementfrom the army said. The attacks were in response toa rocket fired from Gaza late Saturday “in additionto the continued violence emanating from the GazaStrip,” the army said. The rocket hit an open field inIsrael’s Eshkol region, causing no casualties or dam-ages, a local government spokeswoman said. Asecurity source in Gaza said a Hamas site in thenorthern Gaza Strip was hit as well as fishing boatswest of Deir Al-Balah in the central part of theenclave. — AFP

KHARTOUM: A Sudanese emergency court has sen-tenced nine women protesters to 20 lashes each forparticipating in an unauthorized demonstration againstPresident Omar Al-Bashir’s rule, defense lawyers said.The ruling by the Khartoum court came despite Bashiron Friday ordering the release of all female detaineesheld during nationwide demonstrations that haverocked the country since December.

The authorities have set up special emergencycourts to investigate violations of a nationwide state ofemergency imposed by Bashir on February 22 to endthe demonstrations after an initial crackdown failed tosuppress the protest move-ment. The nine women pro-testers were taken to courtafter they were arrested onThursday for participating ina “banned demonstration”earlier that day in the capi-tal’s eastern district of Burri,a site of regular protests.

“Nine women protestershave been sentenced to onemonth jail and 20 lashes,”defense lawyer Enaam Atiegtold AFP. “They have been taken to women’s prison inOmdurman,” she said, referring to the twin city of thecapital across the Nile. Atieg said an appeal against thecourt’s verdict was filed yesterday. A lawyers’ groupthat is part of the protest movement also confirmed thesentencing. “Following pressure from their lawyers thecourt has still not implemented the floggings,” the

Democratic Lawyers Alliance said in a statement.Activists and rights groups have regularly com-

plained about Sudan’s selective application of Islamicsharia law, with hundreds of women sentenced to flog-ging under a controversial public order law. Saturday’sruling was not the first against protesters since specialemergency courts were established.

Eight men accused of participating in a rally werehanded jail terms ranging from six months to five yearson March 1 in the first such penalties by the specialcourts. An emergency appeals court on Thursday over-turned that decision and freed the eight protesters. On

Friday, Bashir ordered therelease of all womendetainees held during thedemonstrations since theyerupted last year, in a movethat coincided withInternational Women’s Day.

Protests initially broke outin Sudan on December 19following a government deci-sion to triple the price ofbread. They quickly mush-roomed into nationwide

demonstrations against Bashir’s three-decade rule, withcrowds calling on the veteran leader to step down.Bashir himself has acknowledged that the protests wereled by youths, the majority of them women. Officials say31 people have died in protest related violence so far,while Human Rights Watch has put the death toll atleast 51.—AFP

Activists complain about selective

application of sharia law

BISSAU: The West African state of Guinea-Bissau washolding key legislative elections yesterday aimed at end-ing a protracted political crisis. Here is some background:

Four coupsA former Portuguese colony and onetime important

source of slaves for the Americas, the small country onAfrica’s western bulge achieved independence in 1974after an 11-year armed struggle. Since then it has livedthrough four successful military coups-the last one in2012 - as well as 16 attempted, plotted or allegedcoups, according to a World Bank profile. Instabilityand conflict have battered infrastructure and hobbleddevelopment, leaving Guinea-Bissau one of the world’spoorest states.

The current president, Jose Mario Vaz, was electedin 2014. Vaz vowed to bring stability but the countryhas been in the grip of a power struggle since August2015, when he sacked his then prime minister DomingosSimoes Pereira. He has been followed by a string ofprime ministers who were unable to muster a majorityin parliament. The body did not sit for nearly two yearsuntil an accord in April 2018 that saw Aristide Gomesappointed as “consensus prime minister”. Legislativeelections were set for November 2018 but were post-poned until March 10.

Cocaine route At 36,100 square kilometers, the country is slightly

larger than Belgium and includes a scattering of 88islands in the Atlantic Ocean called the Bijagos. Theseislands as well as a porous coastline and chaotic admin-istration have provided fertile ground for LatinAmerican drug lords trafficking cocaine to Europe.Senior government and military officials have beenimplicated in the traffic. A US diplomatic cable in 2009,revealed by WikiLeaks, said Guinea-Bissau was in dan-ger of becoming Africa’s first narco-state.

In April 2013 US agents captured the former navy

chief and alleged drugs trade kingpin in a sting opera-tion at sea. Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto pleadedguilty and was sentenced to four years in jail, returningto Guinea-Bissau in October 2016. The United Nationshas praised Guinea-Bissau’s progress since the electionof Vaz in fighting drugs trafficking, but expressed dis-appointment in a recent report that it has not bolsteredthe fight over the past year.

Cashew cash-in More than two-thirds of Guinea-Bissau’s population

of 1.86 million people (World Bank, 2017) live on undertwo dollars a day. More than a third live in extremepoverty on less than one dollar, according to UN fig-ures. It is placed as 13th lowest on the UN’s 2018

Human Development Index that assesses developmenton the basis of health, poverty and other measures.Largely as a result of poor healthcare services, averagelife expectancy is 57.8 years.

Guinea-Bissau’s main export is cashew nuts, whichfinanced nearly half of the 2017 national budget. It isAfrica’s third-largest cashew producer after IvoryCoast and Tanzania. Economic growth reached 5.9 per-cent in 2017, but slowed to around 3.8 percent in 2018after a drop in cashew production because of badweather and a fall in prices, according to theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.Guinea-Bissau’s 44th anniversary of independencepassed by without fanfare last September as the statecoffers were bare.—AFP

Guinea-Bissau: Coups,cocaine and cashews

OMDURMAN, Sudan: Sudanese protesters chant slogans during an anti-government demonstration inKhartoum’s twin city of Omdurman yesterday. — AFP

BISSAU: Photo shows an aerial view of buildings around the Praca Che Guevara square (center) in Bissau, theday before the country’s parliament election. — AFP

BAGHOUZ: Armed with assault rifles and with faceswrapped in scarves, the Islamic State fighters visible atthe boundary of their last enclave in eastern Syria areamong the hardened jihadists who appear ready tofight to the death. Thousands of people - many of themthe wives of Islamic State fighters and their children -have been streaming out of the besieged enclave atBaghouz for weeks, forcing the US-backed SyrianDemocratic Forces (SDF) to delay an assault on the lastvestige of the jihadists’ territorial rule.

Reuters TV footage of the Islamic State-controlledfrontline shows armed militants, most with only theireyes visible, supervising the evacuations from a scrub-by patch of agricultural land scattered with vehiclesand a few buildings. The SDF has said the fighters stay-ing put through waves of evacuations are the mosthardened foreign militants, wanted by governmentsaround the world, who are likely to fight to the death.On Saturday, a Reuters witness saw dozens of mostlymen cross from Islamic State territory into SDF-con-trolled lines. The SDF said these were wounded IslamicState fighters.

A few women in full face-covering black robes andchildren carrying bags could be seen among the peoplemilling at the frontline. A man on crutches was also visi-ble. A no-man’s land of about 200m separates SDF

positions from the Islamic State frontline at Baghouz, acollection of hamlets and farmland near the border withIraq. Evacuees are screened by the SDF as they emergeand are sent north to the Al-Hol camp, already over-crowded with uprooted Syrians and Iraqis from yearsof war and struggling to cope with the influx.

After suddenly seizing swathes of land straddling theIraqi-Syrian border in 2014 and declaring it theircaliphate, Islamic State was beaten back by numerouslocal and foreign forces in both countries, sufferingmajor defeats in 2017. However, the jihadists remain athreat. In Iraq they have gone to ground, staging wavesof killings and kidnappings. In Syria, their comradeshold out in remote desert areas and have carried outbombings in areas controlled by the SDF.— Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has deported sixEgyptians and a Tunisian suspected of being linkedto Islamist militant groups abroad, despite protestsfrom human rights groups. The suspects includefive people who allegedly confessed to being partof Egypt’s banned Muslim Brotherhood, Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun said in astatement yesterday. Rights groups say that mem-bers of the group face possible torture and perse-cution in Egypt, which brands them as terrorists.

The Tunisian and one of the Egyptians deportedwere members of Ansar Al-Sharia Al-Tunisia,which is listed as a terrorist group by the UnitedNations, Mohamad Fuzi said. The two, both in theirearly 20s, had previously been detained forattempting to enter another country illegally in2016. They allegedly used fake passports to enterMalaysia with the intention of traveling to andlaunching an attack in a third country, police said.“Members of this terror group are suspected ofbeing involved in plans to carry out large-scaleattacks in other countries,” Mohamad Fuzi said.

The other five Egyptians confessed to beingmembers of the Muslim Brotherhood, and areaccused of providing shelter, transport andemployment for the two linked to Ansar al-Sharia. —Reuters

Malaysia deports 6 Egyptians, Tunisian despite concerns

With shrouded faces, IS fighters standguard over thefinal enclave

BAGHOUZ: A fighter with the Syrian Democratic Forces(SDF) takes aim with his Kalashnikov assault rifle afterseeing a man walking towards his position in the town ofBaghouz. — AFP

How the world marksWomen’s DayPARIS: Protests, strikes and studies -people around the globe are takingaction to mark International Women’sDay and to push for action to obtainequality. Here are some of the events:

Strikes and tear gasIn Turkey authorities sought to quash

Women’s Day demonstrations on Friday,with police firing tear gas to disperse asea of demonstrators at the entrance ofthe city’s main pedestrianised shoppingstreet Istiklal Avenue. Protesters hadgathered at the central avenue despite aban on their protest, with crowds chanti-ng slogans including: “We are not silent,we are not scared, we are not obeying.”They were blocked by police in riotgear, who then used tear gas and dogsto disperse them.

Across Spain, women downed tools ina strike for equality, a mass movementwhich drew in female employees fromacross the spectrum, from nuns to jour-nalists and even the mayor of Madrid,Manuela Carmena. Authorities said morethan half a million people took part inWomen’s Day protests in Madrid andBarcelona. In France, thousands of peo-ple took to the streets to mark the day,with demonstrators in Paris carryingbanners with slogans including “Equalpay, equal work” and “we will never besilent again”.

Thousands protest Duterte misogyny About 4,000 demonstrators marched

through Manila chanting slogans againstPresident Rodrigo Duterte, who hasrepeatedly made jokes about rape andlast year admitted indecently touchingthe family maid when he was a teenager.Aides brushed off his comments asjokes, but activists have denounced his“misogynistic” statements as “unaccept-able, pointing to statistics showing a153 percent increase in rape from thedecade before he was elected. With onewoman or child raped in the Philippinesevery hour, activists aiming to raiseawareness about gender-based vio-lence staged an exhibition of clothesworn by victims, called ‘Don’t tell mehow to Dress’.

Mourning murdered womenIn Mexico, demonstrators held

marches and staged a series of perform-ances with graphic depictions of domes-tic abuse in Ecatepec, a town one houroutside Mexico City known as a flash-point for violence against women.Mexico State, where Ecatepec is locat-ed, led the country in femicides in 2017,with 301 women and girls murdered,according to official figures. “It makesme sad to wake up every day and see inthe news that another (woman) has dis-appeared, another body has been found.It makes me sad to realize I’m very vul-nerable as a woman and that I neverknow if I’m going to make it home,”Fernanda Pando, 23, a recent graduate inpsychology who has lived her whole lifein the town, told AFP.

Flowers for mums and wives In Pyongyang, Flower Shop No. 5

did a brisk trade in f lowers onInternational Women’s Day, which is apublic holiday in North Korea, as asteady stream of customers turned upto buy blooms for their wives, mothersand significant others. As the North’sfounder Kim Il Sung once said: “In ourcountry, women are in charge of one ofthe wheels of the revolution.”

Do more at home, UN tells men Of all the factors blocking equality in

employment, the biggest is the heavyburden of caregiving borne by women, aUN report has found, saying the pace ofchange will only change if men take on

far more unpaid tasks at home. “In thelast 20 years, the amount of time womenspent on unpaid care and domestic workhas hardly fallen, and men’s hasincreased by just eight minutes a day,”said Manuela Tomei of the UN’sInternational Labor Organization.Globally, women perform more thanthree-quarters of the total time spent onunpaid care work, averaging four hoursand 25 minutes per day, while men onlydo one hour and 23 minutes. “The imbal-anced division of work within the house-hold between men and women is one ofthe most resilient features of genderinequality,” the report said. —AFP

In, out or limbo: Brexitend-game scenariosLONDON: The tortuous Brexit saga isculminating in a crunch week that eithersends Britain sailing nervously out ofEurope - or sets the stage for it stayingput. The House of Commons will hold upto three votes between Tuesday andThursday as the March 29 Brexit dateraces in. Their outcome will ultimatelydetermine the future of a 46-year rela-tionship which Britons voted to end at a2016 referendum, surprising much ofEurope.

May’s dealThe idea of Prime Minister Theresa

May’s deal with Brussels making its waythrough parliament seemed fanciful whenMPs voted against it by a historic marginlast month. But Tuesday’s vote on essen-tially the same set of proposals should bea closer affair whose outcome hinges onlast-gasp talks with the EU. Two factorsare suddenly playing in May’s favor.

One is that Brexit backers are graduallyrealizing that May might be offering theirbest - and quite possibly last - chance tosplit from the bloc. And EU officials would

like to see Britain’s status settled by thetime the newly-elected EuropeanParliament throws open its doors in July.This might make EU bosses offer a last-minute concession that is just goodenough to convince parliamentary hold-outs to back May’s plan. London bankstrategists surveyed by Bloomberg put thechances of the agreement being approvedby the end of March at 37 percent.

No dealMay last month upturned her strategy

that “no deal is better than a bad deal” byoffering parliament a chance to take thedreaded “no-deal” Brexit off the table. Avote on whether Britain should leave with-out the so-called Withdrawal Agreementwill happen on Wednesday if the dealitself is voted down the day before.

May had long argued that fear ofBritain simply crashing out should be usedas motivation for getting everyone to rallyaround her plan. But the idea of traderoutes clogging up and the UK poundcrashing were too much for a growingfaction of May’s team to bear. More andmore have openly spoken of rebelling ifBritain is headed for that outcome. Theparliamentary vote would only be adviso-ry - but carry plenty of political weight.Bloomberg’s bankers now put the odds ofa “no-deal Brexit” at less than one in ten.

Brexit delayThe third vote on Thursday, if the first

two have been rejected, would tell May to

ask EU leaders to approve a delay ofBritain’s departure date. May has spokenof a possible delay until the end of Junebut the Financial Times said some law-makers are thinking much longer - nine to21 months. The Guardian said the longeroption was also backed by Brussels,although it leaves the prickly question ofwhether Britons would get to vote inEuropean Parliament elections in May. EUleaders have the final say on whetherthere should be any delay - making theirMarch 21-22 summit in Brussels particu-larly significant. The bankers put the odds

of Brexit being postponed at 54 percent.

Second referendumWhat such a delay might be used for is

one of Brexit’s great unknowns. There arefew reasons to think the different sides willsuddenly stumble on a solution that hadevaded them during two previous years oftalks. But two forces are expected to springinto action: groups backing a much closerEU-UK union - and ones that simply wantto call the whole thing off. Demands for asecond referendum rang out the momentEU sceptics narrowly won the first. —AFP

LONDON: Brexit could be reversed if lawmakers rejectthe government’s exit deal, British foreign minister JeremyHunt said yesterday after two major eurosceptic factions inparliament warned that Prime Minister Theresa May wasfacing a heavy defeat. Just 19 days before the UnitedKingdom is due to leave the EU on March 29, May isscrambling - so far unsuccessfully - to secure last-minutechanges to an EU exit treaty before parliament votes onTuesday on whether to approve the deal.

If she fails, lawmakers are expected to force May toseek a delay to Brexit which some fear could see the 2016decision to leave the blocreversed. Others argue thatwithout a delay Britain faces aneconomic shock if it leaveswithout a deal. “We have anopportunity now to leave onMarch 29 or shortly thereafterand it’s important we grasp thatopportunity because there iswind in the sails of people try-ing to stop Brexit,” Hunt toldthe BBC. “We are in very per-ilous waters.”

The United Kingdom’s labyrinthine crisis over EU mem-bership is approaching its finale with an extraordinaryarray of options including a delay, a last-minute deal, no-deal Brexit, a snap election or even another referendum.The ultimate outcome remains unclear, though most diplo-mats and investors say Brexit will define the UnitedKingdom’s prosperity for generations to come. The gov-ernment has previously tried to use the risk of Brexit beingreversed as a way to convince eurosceptics to back May’sdeal despite their deep reservations about it.

“If you want to stop Brexit you only need to do three

things: kill this deal, get an extension, and then have a sec-ond referendum. Within three weeks those people couldhave two of those three things ... and quite possibly thethird one could be on the way.” Nigel Dodds, deputyleader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) whichprops up May’s minority government, and Steve Baker, aleading figure in the large eurosceptic faction of herConservative party, warned “the political situation is grim”.

“An unchanged withdrawal agreement will be defeatedfirmly by a sizeable proportion of Conservatives and theDUP if it is again presented to the Commons,” they wrote

in the Sunday Telegraph. TheSunday Times said May wasbattling to save her job as aideswere considering persuadingher to offer to resign in a bid toget the deal approved. Thenewspaper also said cabinetministers have spoken aboutwhether to insist she goes asearly as this week.

‘Total uncertainty’Parliament rejected May’s

deal by 230 votes on Jan 15, prompting the British leader toreturn to Brussels in search of changes to address the so-called Irish backstop - an insurance policy designed toprevent the return of a hard border between Ireland andNorthern Ireland. Many British lawmakers object to thepolicy on the grounds that it could leave Britain subject toEU rules indefinitely and cleave Northern Ireland awayfrom the rest of the country.

But, May’s attempts to get the clause rewritten have sofar failed to yield any result, with EU negotiators unwilling tomeet her demands, and Britain rejecting a compromise offer.

Hunt said Tuesday’s vote would definitely go ahead, and thatit was too soon to say that negotiations with the EU had “runinto the sands”. He said realism and a lot of work was need-ed from both Britain and the EU to get a deal. If lawmakersreject May’s deal on Tuesday, she has promised to let themvote the next day on whether to leave without a deal on

March 29. If they reject that, then on Thursday they are dueto vote on a “limited” delay. “In the event of this vote onTuesday not going through, nobody knows what wouldhappen. In everything that followed there would be totaluncertainty - that would be the only certainty,” health minis-ter Matt Hancock told Sky News. — Reuters


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LONDON: A dog wears an EU flag-themed placard outside the Houses ofParliament during stunt organized by the anti-Brexit Wooferendum campaign incentral London yesterday where the group have labeled Brexit a ‘dog’s dinner’and called for it to be stopped. — AFP

MAIDENHEAD: Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May leaves after attending a church service, near her Maidenheadconstituency, west of London yesterday. — AFP

Parliament to vote

on Brexit options

May staggers on amid predictions of her political demise

‘Brexit in peril’ as UK’s Prime Minister faces heavy defeat

ISTANBUL: Turkish anti-riot police officers push back women during a rally markingthe International Women’s Day on Istiklal avenue. — AFP

US Spanish speakersdecry ‘second-class’treatment underTrumpNEW YORK: When Donald Trump took office,one of his first acts was to remove the WhiteHouse’s Spanish-language web page. More thantwo years later, as the US president battles withCongress over funding for a border wall to stemthe tide of immigrants from Central America,disturbing incidents linked to the use of Spanishare on the rise. In May, a New York lawyer wentoff on employees in a Manhattan store whowere speaking Spanish, threatening to callimmigration authorities.

That same month, two American women werearrested by border patrol agents for speakingSpanish to each other. The acts of intoleranceare evidence of the country’s increasing politi-cal polarization, even though the language ismore and more commonplace in American life.More than 41 million people living in the UnitedStates claim Spanish as their mother tongue.Hispanics are now the country’s main minoritygroup, at 17 percent of the population, accord-ing to the Pew Research Center.

Worryingly, a study from the center pub-lished in October revealed that about 40 per-cent of Latinos said they had been harassedover the last 12 months because of their back-ground, including speaking Spanish in public.Since Trump was elected in November 2016,“we are seeing more employees calling saying,‘Hey, I’ve been told to speak English only’,” saysChristopher Ho, a lawyer for Legal Aid at Workin San Francisco. The association provides legalassistance to workers and a toll-free numberwhere Latinos can file complaints about lan-guage-based discrimination.

Harassment On social media, it’s not hard to find exam-

ples of people behaving badly when faced withSpanish speakers. In June, 24-year-old JulioCesar Ovalle-who was born in Los Angeles andis American but grew up in Mexico-was walkingin San Antonio when he was arrested by a bor-der patrol agent. Ovalle did not have ID on him,and never really learned to speak good English.

He was quickly accused of being in theUnited States illegally, and was deported thenext day, despite his efforts to explain his situa-tion. “It was an injustice and racism, all becauseI don’t understand or speak English well ,”Ovalle said-in Spanish-to the San AntonioExpress-News. In October, a Guatemalan familywas harassed in a restaurant in Lovettsville,Virginia. One woman, after asking to see theirpassports, used an expletive multiple times intelling them to “go back” home.

“The Trump administration and its rhetorichas clearly emboldened some of the worstimpulses” at US Customs and BorderProtection, said Cody Wofsy, a lawyer at thepowerful American Civil Liberties Union. Theorganization is representing the two womenwho were arrested in Montana and have sincefiled a complaint against border patrol. “There’sno official language in the US. People are withintheir right to speak any language they want, andhundreds and hundreds of languages are spokenin the US,” Wofsy said. — AFP

I n t e r n a t i o n a l Monday, March 11, 2019

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For PakistanKashmiris, a sense of the grave inside their bunkersDHANNA: Chaudhry Hakam Deen has a bunker - a cold,damp hole dug in the ground - next to his home where he andhis family have often taken refuge amid soaring tensions withIndia. Spending the night inside, he said, “feels like sitting in agraveyard”. The shelter dates from the Kargil conflict, a skir-mish between India and Pakistan in disputed Kashmir in 1999.Twenty years later, the nuclear-armed neighbors are again atloggerheads. The latest crisis was sparked by a February 14suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 40Indian paramilitaries, and was claimed by a Pakistan-basedmilitant group.

In its aftermath, New Delhi and Islamabad launched tit-for-tat air strikes on each other’s territory, igniting fears of freshconflict in South Asia. The nuclear-armed neighbors regularlysend shells and gunfire across the de facto border in Kashmir,known as the Line of Control, or LoC. But as they stumbled tothe brink of war in recent weeks, there was a surge in the

already-heavy firing, and families such as Deen’s found thebunkers a miserable refuge.

Deen’s shelter, a stone’s throw from his house in the vil-lage of Dhanna some five kilometers from the LoC, is as tinyas it is uncomfortable: just four feet long and three feet wide.Most adults cannot stand beneath its low ceiling, forced tosit or squat on cardboard or carpets, huddled around a mudstove whose smoke makes the inhabitants cough. “Whenshelling starts we take our children... inside the bunker,” Deensays, looking down. “They don’t have strength in their legs toeven walk to the bunker, they don’t eat anything inside out offear,” he adds.

For his older brother Chaudhry Maqbool, being in the bunkeris worse than just being in a cemetery: it feels like sitting in agrave itself. The white and blue walls of Deen’s home are studdedwith holes, some the size of a fist. One shell landed in his kitchen,while another broke an outside door. He has piled sandbags atthe entrance to his bunker. But in the event of an explosion, thepacked earth walls and the roof of branches and plastic sheetsmay not be enough to protect those huddled inside.

‘Valley of fear’ Several civilians and soldiers died in the recent shelling on

both sides of the LoC. In Dhanna, the shelling was so intense thatmost of the 2,000 villagers fled. Only a handful stayed to protecttheir property. An AFP correspondent saw a dozen houses, ahealth centre and a service station that had been hit by theIndian strikes. The women and children of Deen’s family were

finally evacuated to the nearby town of Kotli, which was lessexposed. Tensions may have eased for now, but overall theshelling has increased dramatically since 2016, and locals fearworse is to come. “This is a valley of fear. Life is at a standstillhere,” said Sardar Javed, a local journalist. “When people hear asound they become nervous. They don’t know what will happento them the next moment.” —AFP

Democracy, DPRK style: N Korea holds electionPYONGYANG: North Koreans went to the polls yes-terday for an election in which there could be only onewinner. Leader Kim Jong Un’s ruling Workers’ Party hasan iron grip on the Democratic People’s Republic ofKorea, as the isolated, nuclear-armed country is offi-cially known. Every five years it holds an election forthe rubber stamp legislature, known as the SupremePeople’s Assembly. The exercise has all the trappings ofvotes elsewhere, from electoral rolls to sealed ballot

boxes to scrutineers for the count.But in keeping with one of Pyongyang’s most endur-

ing slogans - “Single-minded unity” - there is only oneapproved name on each of the red voting slips. Withportraits of the leader’s father Kim Jong Il and grandfa-ther Kim Il Sung looking down on every ballot box,voters lined up to drop their slips inside. There is apencil in the paneled voting booths for anyone whomight wish to register dissent by crossing out a candi-date’s name. But no one does.

By 6pm, the official KCNA news agency reported,all electors in all constituencies had voted, “except forthose abroad or working in oceans”. Turnout in 2014was 99.97 percent and the vote was 100 percent in

favor of the named candidates, a result unmatched any-where else in the world. “Our society is one in whichthe people are gathered around the respected SupremeLeader with a single mind,” election official Ko KyongHak told AFP outside a polling station at the 3.26Pyongyang Cable Factory.

Participation in the election was a citizen’s obliga-tion, he said, “and there are no people who reject acandidate”. An editorial in the Rodong Sinmun, themouthpiece of the ruling party, reinforced the message.Voters “should cast approval ballots with their loyaltyto the party and the leader, absolute support to theDPRK government and the will to share their destinywith socialism to the last”, it said. —AFP

DHANNA: A Pakistani Kashmiri resident prepares foodoutside a bunker adjacent to his house in Dhanna village,near the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-administeredKashmir. —AFP

9 police killed in attack in Myanmar’s RakhineYANGON: Nine policemen have been killed in a militantattack in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, police saidyesterday, as tensions ratchet up in a state riven by eth-nic and religious conflict. A bloody military crackdownin 2017 forced some 740,000 Rohingya Muslims overthe border into Bangladesh in violence UN investigatorshave said warrants the prosecution of top generals forgenocide and crimes against humanity.

But the armed forces are now waging a war againsta militant group claiming to represent the state’s ethnicRakhine Buddhists, a population that also standsaccused of aiding soldiers in their expulsion of theRohingya. The Arakan Army (AA) has in recent monthsmounted several attacks on security forces and officialsin its struggle for more autonomy and rights forRakhine people.

The latest attack occurred late Saturday took place inYoetayoke village, just an hour north of Rakhine state’scapital Sittwe. “Nine police were killed, one was injuredand another one is missing,” a senior police officer toldAFP, not wanting to be named. A leaked police reportsaid weapons were also taken from the police station. Nogroup has yet claimed responsibility and the AA couldnot immediately be reached for comment. A local admin-istrator confirmed investigations are under way.

Northern Rakhine state is inaccessible outside ofcarefully government-chaperoned trips and informationis difficult to verify independently. But swathes of thestate’s north are once again engulfed in conflict. The mil-itary has brought in thousands of reinforcements and isbombarding AA positions with heavy artillery. Severalthousand people have been forced from their homes bythe violence. Yet there is widespread support for theAA’s cause across much of Rakhine, one of the pooreststates in the country, where many feel they have suf-fered decades of discrimination by the state. —AFP

DHARAMSALA: Huge crowds gathered at the Dalai Lama’stemple in India yesterday to commemorate 60 years sincethe failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule that drove thespiritual leader into exile. Supporters of the 83-year-oldpeace icon chanted and prayed at the Buddhist shrine inmountainous Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama establisheda government-in-exile after fleeing a deadly Chinese crack-down in Tibet in 1959.

Devotees in the Indian hill station the Dalai Lama hascalled home for six decades waved Tibet’s colorful “snowlion” flag, which China has out-lawed as a symbol of sepa-ratism. Some had “Free Tibet”painted on their faces alongwith the colors and distinctgolden sun of the iconic flag.“This is a proud day,” LhakpaTsering, a Tibetan living in exilein India, told AFP inDharamsala. “Sixty years we’vebeen in exile. Still, our struggleis young and fresh and strong,so we can give a message toChina that until Tibetans remain,our struggle will never end.”

The Dalai Lama himself was not present at the anniver-sary ceremony, but chief representatives of the exiled Tibetanadministration and foreign dignitaries gathered for thesolemn occasion. Performers dressed in traditional attiredanced and recited Tibetan songs at the temple for guests,which organizers said included parliamentarians from 10

nations. A minute’s silence was held at the outset to remem-ber those killed when China brutally crushed the fledglingTibetan revolt, a crackdown the government-in-exile claimedkilled tens of thousands.

Call for dialogue Buddhist Tibet, a vast Himalayan area of plateaus and

mountains, declared independence from China in the early20th century but Beijing took back control in 1951, havingsent in thousands of troops. The Dalai Lama - chosen at the

age of two in 1937 as the 14thincarnation of TibetanBuddhism’s supreme religiousleader - was enthroned ashead of state after theChinese invasion.

His co-existence with theBeijing authorities was tenseand when the Chineseauthorities summoned him toan event without his body-guards on March 10, Tibetansfeared a trap that couldendanger their leader.

Thousands of his supporters assembled at his summerpalace to prevent him from leaving; thousands moredemonstrated in Lhasa to demand the Chinese depart, theDalai Lama would later say. Beijing sent more troops intoTibet, and in the bloodshed that followed, refugees pouredover the border into Dharamsala - already then a sanctuaryfor Tibetan exiles fleeing Chinese repression. —AFP

Huge crowds gather at the Dalai Lama’s temple in India

Tibetan supporters mark 60 years since uprising against Chinese rule

NEW DELHI: An exiled Tibetan activist is handcuffed with chains during a protest marking the 60thanniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in the Indian capital yesterday. —AFP

60 years we’ve been in exile

The black flag of the Islamic State group fluttersabove a bullet-scarred building. Women coveredhead-to-toe stroll below, as bearded men zip on

motorbikes down dirt roads strewn with debris. Pushedflush along a bend in the Euphrates River, this scrap of adesert hamlet in eastern Syria is the only territory the mili-tants have left. “We’re a few dozen meters away fromthem,” said Ahmad Al-Siyyan, a fighter with the SyrianDemocratic Forces, raising a pair of binoculars for a betterlook. “This is the closest point we control,” he told AFPjournalists on the front line during a fragile ceasefire.

The 24-year-old motioned towards three mendressed in khaki tunics walking through an end-of-daysmass of tattered tents and cloth-covered trenches. “Thisis the Baghouz camp,” he said. The Kurdish-led fighterspushed into the ragged tent encampment some 10 daysago as they and their US-led coalition backers poundedthe militants, but they soon paused to allow more civil-ians to leave.

The no-man’s land between the SDF and the militants isfilled with abandoned cars, shreds of clothing and holesdug by IS fighters and civilians for shelter. The charred andtwisted remains of a truck’s freight trailer lie on theground. Once an IS ammunition cache, it was hit during themost recent spurt of fighting, sending a pillar of blacksmoke jutting into the sky for days. “When the sun comes

up, civilians come towards us... but (IS) snipers fire onthem to force them back,” Siyyan said.

A fragile ceasefire has held since the last round of fight-ing, as the SDF continues its push to clear the redoubt ofnon-combatants. “We’ve managed to pull some civiliansout of the camp,” he added. “Today, an Emirati (fighter)tried to sneak up on us, but we managed to capture him.”The US-backed fighters have been hoping for weeks thatthe final day has come for IS’s “caliphate”. Tens of thou-sands of women, children, and men have streamed out ofthe besieged bastion since December. Thousands morepoured out after last week’s fighting, upending assump-tions that few families remained holed up in the area.

Pots, pans, explosive belts Black smoke billows into the air from an IS-held area of

the camp where SDF fighters say militants sometimes burntyres. Sporadic bursts of gunfire echo across the flat dustyterrain, punctuated by a singular roaring explosion. Theground floor of the pockmarked building serving as theSDF frontline position is strewn with syringes and packs ofmedicine - remnants of a field hospital. Spent ammunitionof all sizes lie between zigzagging trenches, scorched potsand pans and scraps of clothes left behind.

The SDF worry the area has been littered with minesleft by the militants, who have routinely planted explosives

and dispatched car bombs to halt advancing forces.“Everywhere we go we find two or three explosive belts,”said SDF member Shevan Al-Hasakeh, adding there is areal fear that “most of the fighters left would be usingthem”. “In this area I’ve personally seen 10 to 15 - all dif-ferent sizes,” he added.

Inside one makeshift tent, a wood stove topped withmetal cookware sits on the lip of a metre-deep trenchlined with mattresses and blankets. Flies buzz above thediscarded detritus of everyday life. An infant’s bluesweater, an overturned baby stroller, a crushed pair ofglasses. “They were stashing weapons here,” said onefighter, gesturing towards a trench lined with a singed car-pet. He said the SDF also found stores of ammunition andthe bodies of dead militants.

With jets from the US-led coalition rumbling overhead,two young SDF fighters fiddle with the scope on a sniperrifle, joking easily between each other before falling intosong for a faraway sweetheart. “If my heart wanes, how willI embrace you,” the two belt out, their comrades looking onwith broad smiles. They have all fought for years against IS,losing friends and family along the way. But with hopeshigh that the end of the long battle is near, the mood amongthose surrounding the holdout militants is triumphant.“They only have the camp, they’ve lost,” said Hasakeh. “Thebattle is settled... It’s a fait accompli.” —AFP


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Fired-up Modi guns for new term in mega-election

India’s mega-election announced yesterday will seeNarendra Modi run for a new term boosted by the latestPakistan bust-up but vulnerable to attacks over the econ-

omy by the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty’s latest scion. PrimeMinister Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) is hoping for a repeat of the 2014 contest when it deci-mated Rahul Gandhi’s left-leaning Congress party to win anoutright majority. The rightwing party is banking on Modi’scharisma and sharp tongue and an array of emotive issues,not least hostility to Pakistan after their tit-for-tat air strikesand aerial dogfights late last month.

Dapper Modi, 68, will also harp on his humble origins asthe proud Indian tea seller’s son, contrasting with designer-stubbled Gandhi, 48, the privileged, half-Italian princeling ofIndia’s most famous family. But opinion polls have suggesteda dip in BJP support, and even that it may fall short of the 272seats it needs for a government on its own, in the electionrunning from April 11 to May 19. This could mean a hung par-liament - and maybe curtains for Modi. “If the BJP fails towin a majority on its own. Modi will lose power forever,”Mohan Guruswamy from the Centre for Policy Alternativesthink-tank told AFP. “It will the beginning of his end,” he said.

Cow Belt Congress, which has ruled India for much of the time

since independence from Britain in 1947, won three key stateelections victories in December, suddenly making Gandhilook a lot more like a serious challenger. The states form partof the Hindi “Cow Belt” region of some 475 million people -nearly as many as the United States, Canada and Mexicocombined - where the BJP has its core support base. Theshock defeats were largely attributed to Modi’s perceivedfailure to improve the lot of India’s farmers - thousands ofwhom have committed suicide in recent years - and to createenough jobs.

In addition, the silver-haired, silver-bearded Modi isdogged by corruption allegations involving a fighter jet dealwith France that Gandhi says was done to benefit a close bil-lionaire chum. “This election will truly assess the perform-ance of Modi government,” Gurpreet Mahajan, political sci-ence professor at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University,told AFP. “It is a referendum on whether Modi delivered onits promises or not,” she said.

Grassroots to greatness Modi, one of the strongest and most popular Indian lead-

ers in decades, rose through the grassroots of Hindu groupsto become the head of the world’s largest democracy. ButBJP figures have been accused of stoking religious polariza-tion to woo Hindu votes, including pledges to construct atemple on the ruins of a medieval mosque demolished byHindu mobs in 1992. Many critics say the radical Hindurightwing, including groups closely allied to Modi’s party,have been emboldened.

A US intelligence report earlier this year warned of a com-munal flare-up in India ahead of the election as the BJP rakesup Hindu nationalistic themes. With India now home to 830million mobile phones, the election campaign will also likely beawash with rumors and fake news - some of it generated bythe parties themselves. A key to Modi will be the northern bell-wether state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) that gave the BJP 73 seatsout of the 80 on offer in 2014, and where it sailed to victory ina state election three years later. This was despite the votecoming in the wake of the chaos that followed the withdrawalof 86 percent of Indian banknotes in circulation overnight in2016, seen as one of Modi’s biggest missteps.

And this time India’s most serious standoff with Pakistanin years, which has enabled Modi to grandstand as a leader,may help him over the line - provided he can keep thenationalism on the boil. The opposition “are not ready totrust our armed forces. India’s 1.3 billion people who believethe government are my proof. Stop pleasing Pakistan,” Modithundered at a recent rally. “Modi has the skill to keep thenationalist frenzy kicked off by this act of getting even withPakistan going for some time,” T K Arun, the editor ofEconomic Times daily, said in a column. —AFP

How film format brought ‘Apollo 11’ back to life

New documentary “Apollo 11”, whichtells the story of man’s first steps on theMoon, contains footage so striking that

it seems practically a crime that it remainedhidden for nearly five decades. The film - whichpremiered at Sundance in January but only hitUS theaters this weekend - injects new life intothe most famous space mission of all time,which transfixed the world from July 16-24,1969. It blends images that are well known withlong lost gems found in a National Archiveswarehouse and digitized for the first time.

“A good 50 percent of the film is imagesthat have never been seen before but really,100 percent of it has really never truly beenseen before - the quality of it all,” director ToddDouglas Miller told AFP in a recent interview.The visuals are mesmerizing: Seen in color in atheater, the tracks of the giant NASA crawler-transporter - used to carry the massive SaturnV rocket that launched the crew into space - fillthe entire screen.

The captivating shots were a few of themany found on 177 65mm reels uncovered byDan Rooney, supervisory archivist of theNational Archives film section. They werefound poorly labeled, without any real indica-tion of their contents except for a generic“Apollo 11”, at a storage facility in theMaryland suburbs where the temperature wasbelow freezing.

“We knew these large format holdingsexisted, but it took a lot of research to reallyunderstand what was there,” said Rooney,who worked with Miller to bring the reels tothe silver screen. “The real discovery part wasin the research that led us to a lot of newinformation about the content and the qualityof the material.”

All told, the Archives provided the film crewwith 279 reels of 16, 35, 65 and 70 mm film. The65mm and 70mm were considered the luxury

format of their time, used in cinema in the1950s and 1960s. Only a part of the trove wasused for the 1972 film “Moonwalk One”. NASAprobably didn’t use the reels “because of thedifficulty of working with these large formats,and they probably lacked the equipment andthe expertise,” said Rooney.

Is there any more footage? NASA used the large formats for filming

ground operations at the Kennedy SpaceCenter, and on the ship used to retrieve astro-nauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and MichaelCollins at the end of their historic mission. Asthe camera pans from the top to the bottom ofthe rocket, viewers get a sense of its sheerenormity, as the astronauts silently pull on theirsuits. Also captured is the space mania amongthe general public of the time, as thousandstook to Cocoa Beach to watch the launch,binoculars in hand.

In the firing room and at mission control inHouston, rows and rows of male engineers areseen in white shirts and dark ties, as opposedto the somewhat more gender balanced teamsat NASA and SpaceX today. In contrast to thelarge format images, many shot in smaller for-mats by the astronauts aboard the Apollo cap-sule and on the Moon were already onYouTube.

But the director re-digitized some that werepreviously only seen in mediocre quality, suchas the nail-biting landing of the Eagle lunarmodule. Brilliant color photos captured by thecrew complete the picture. The film’s successlies in its seamless combination of the iconicand the re-discovered in a single, fluid narra-tive, occasionally seen on split-screens.

The only narration is from the period: view-ers are guided by the voice of the late, greatCBS anchorman Walter Cronkite and the radioexchanges between the astronauts and“Houston,” which have been resynchronizedwith the new images. Back at the NationalArchives, a team of 25 is working to finish digi-tizing the rediscovered film reels to make thempublic. Rooney says it’s likely that all the mate-rial related to Apollo 11 and in the Archives’possession has now been found, but adds: “Ican’t say for sure that they don’t exist some-where else.” —AFP

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Dying ‘caliphate’ on display in desert

In this photo taken on Jan 24, 2019, an astronaut poses with the audience during the“Apollo 11” premiere during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray in Park City,Utah. —AFP

Women and children evacuated from the Islamic State group’s embattled holdout of Baghouz arrive at a screening area held by the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian DemocraticForces (SDF) in the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor on March 6, 2019. —AFP

Do KraftHeinz’ travails signal a reckoning?

Buffeted by rising consumer taste forfresh ingredients, competition fromupstarts and a tricky retail environ-

ment, 150-year-old Campbell Soup nowfinds itself having to rethink the business ofsoup. It is a similar tale at Kraft, whoseonce-popular yellow and white cheese sin-gles are no longer ubiquitous. And atKellogg, which has seen demand for cerealgo soft. As the travails of these and compa-nies show, iconic brands that dominated20th century American supermarkets arehaving a much tougher time in the Amazon-Whole Foods era.

Kraft Heinz last month announced asteep annual loss following a $15.4 billionasset impairment, partly from writing downthe value of the Oscar Mayer and Krafttrademarks. Some experts see a broaderreckoning in the American food industryakin to the shakeout in other sectors,though technology is not really the mainculprit in this case.

Many of Kraft Heinz’ products are “geri-atric brands” that were “created in the earlyor mid-20th century, at a time when con-sumers aspired to eat ‘American food’ andadvertising reached almost everyonethrough television”, said Anastacia Marx deSalcedo, author of “Combat-ReadyKitchen”, a history of processed foods. Bycontrast, today’s consumers are more ethni-cally diverse, health conscious and foodadventurous, she said, adding that many ofthe older brands will see market share fallfurther or disappear entirely.

Saved by treats, snacks The industry’s response thus far has

included healthier options that are low-fat,low-sodium or gluten-free items. There arealso more flavors of flagship products, withSpecial K breakfast cereal now available invanilla and almond as well as blueberry withlemon clusters, among other options. Butthese efforts have not reversed the trend.Major food companies also have popularcookie and snack products that can make upfor weakness in other products, although theindustry’s overall record with consolidationis mixed.

Campbell Soup, which has faced pres-sure from activist investor Daniel Loeb, hasoffset weakness in soup with solidPepperidge Farm sales. The companyacquired Pepperidge farm, known forMilano cookies and “Gold Fish” crackers, in

1961. But Campbell Soup last year wrotedown $748 million mostly on a 2011 acquisi-tion Bolthouse Farms of refrigerated saladdressings, carrots and other fresh foods itnow plans to divest.

Soups, meanwhile, remain challenged,suffering lower US sales in 2018. Campbell’sblamed the decline on the change in promo-tion strategy by a major retail customer andsaid retail sector consolidation and the riseof private label competitors could furtheraffect sales, according to a securities filing.Campbell’s new Chief Executive MarkClouse, said last month he was still develop-ing a strategy for turning around soups butthat a “much more holistic and comprehen-sive” approach was needed.

Targeting Rover At General Mills, which announced a

$193 million write down last year onProgresso soups and two other brands, partof the strategy is to diversify. Last year,General Mills, which makes Cheerios cereal,Yoplait yogurt and Haagen-Dazs ice cream,bought natural pet food company BlueBuffalo for $8 billion, a sum that raised eye-brows with some analysts. Chief ExecutiveJeffrey Harmening gave a bullish outlook onthe brand during a recent conference call,highlighting wet pet food and treats as twogrowth areas that have high profit margins.Treats “are just pet food speak for snackingand we see snacking can trend in humanfood and we see it in Pet the same way,”Harmening said, calling the dynamic the“humanization of pet food.”

Whither Miracle Whip?But the dangers of acquisitions were

underscored with Kraft Heinz, which share-holder Warren Buffett has said was a case ofspending too much. Baruch Lev, an account-ing professor at New York University, saidbig mergers like Kraft-Heinz usually under-performed, undermining the logic of furtherdeal making by the company. Daniel Binns,chief executive of Interbrand NY, said someof Kraft Heinz’s brands, such as pasta sauceClassico or Philadelphia cream cheese canbe successfully updated, while others, suchas Jell-O or Miracle Whip sauce could fadefurther. “It’s so rooted in another era,” hesaid. “You’re not going to create a MiracleWhip for the 21st Century that’s going toappeal to the farm-to-table consumer.”

But Moody’s analyst Brian Weddingtonpredicts leading food companies will adaptto changing consumer needs over time,adding that established brands still havecredibility. “Brands like these still resonatewith the core consumer,” he said. “There’sno question that more consumers are look-ing for premium or fresher products, butthere will always be a very large market forproducts that give you consistency and val-ue as well. Everyone can’t afford organicproducts.” —AFP

Rahul Gandhi (above) and Narendra Modi (below)

China will not devaluerenminbi to spurexports, says CB chiefBEIJING: China has gone to great lengths to support itscurrency and would not devalue the renminbi to spurexports or combat trade frictions, the governor of thecentral bank said yesterday.

Speaking on the sidelines of China’s annual parliamen-tary session, Yi Gang said Washington and Beijing haddiscussed exchange rates in recent trade talks andreached a consensus on many “crucial” issues. USPresident Donald Trump has long accused Beijing ofmanipulating its currency to gain a trade advantage andWashington has been seeking assurances on the exchangerate in the ongoing trade talks between the two nations.“Let me stress here that we will never use the exchangerate for the purpose of competition, nor will we use theexchange rate to increase China’s exports or as a tool inhandling trade frictions,” said Yi. “We have committed notto do this,” Yi told reporters.

He noted the US Treasury Department had declinedmany times to label China a currency manipulator in itssemi-annual report on international exchange rates.

Beijing and Washington have been locked in a bruisingtrade war since last year, imposing tit-for-tat tariffs onmore than $360 billion in two-way trade, which has left

global markets reeling.“The two sides reached consensus on many crucial and

important issues,” Yi said, without specifying which issues.China’s banking regulator told reporters earlier this weekthat the two sides would reach a consensus on theexchange rate and indicated it would not be a stickingpoint in the way of a larger trade agreement.

“China’s efforts and achievements in maintaining thebasic stability of the renminbi exchange rate at a reason-able and balanced level are recognized by the wholeworld,” Yi said.

In the past three or four years the exchange rate hadbeen under market pressure to depreciate, Yi said, addingthat Beijing had used up $1 trillion of China’s foreign cur-rency reserves to stabilize the currency. There have beenconflicting comments from Washington and Beijing on theprogress of negotiations.

Beijing is hopeful about its next round of trade talkswith the US, China’s vice minister for commerce WangShouwen said Saturday, after revealing that top negotia-tors had tried to hammer out a deal over a lunch of burg-ers and eggplant chicken in a recent round of talks.

Donald Trump on Friday said he remains optimistic butwill not sign a pact unless it is a “very good deal”, and atop economic advisor said the US president could walkaway from a bad deal.

The two sides were thought to be readying for aTrump-Xi meeting at the end of March, but the USambassador to China said Friday that the two countrieswere not yet ready to bring together the two leaders fora summit and deal signing. —AFP

Trade tensions, Brexit crisis present a gloomy outlook for global economy

Few trade war jitters as Macau’s casinos boom

Nissan Al-Babtain unveils all-new 2019 Nissan Altima in Kuwait 1412 13

BusinessEstablished 1961


MIAMI: As the United States has quickly ratcheted upsanctions against Venezuela to pressure NicolasMaduro, bankers say they are shying away from doingeven legitimate business with the crisis-wracked oil-pro-ducing country for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.

The sanctions target a growing list of individuals andcompanies linked to the Maduro regime-including stateoil company PDVSA, the lifeblood of the Caribbeannation’s crumbling economy.

But because the penalties are complex and the cost ofa violation is so high, some banks are beginning to avoiddoing any business with Venezuela at all, said DanielGutierrez, head of the Florida International BankersAssociation’s anti-money laundering committee.

Banks must review each transaction and examine thesanctions one by one, consulting lawyers to verifyexemptions and requirements, at the risk of being hit

with a fine of more than $1 million by the US TreasuryDepartment if they get it wrong, Gutierrez told AFP.

That not only presents a challenge for banks andbusinesses but for families in the United States, many inFlorida, who send money to relatives left in Venezuela tohelp them weather the nation’s widespread food short-ages and hyperinflation that could reach 10 million per-cent this year.

As a result, “there are many major banks in the UnitedStates that have made the decision to decouple fromVenezuela,” said Gutierrez, who works with 60 domesticand international banks in Florida.

Washington targeted PDVSA in sanctions announcedJanuary 28 but granted a handful of exemptions, such asone that allows the banks to work with US oil industrygiants Chevron and Halliburton, but forbids transactionsinvolving diluents-chemicals used the thin the heavy

crude that dominates Venezuela’s reserves. “How am Isupposed to know, as your bank, if for example a wiretransaction is for the purposes of exporting a diluent?”Gutierrez asked.

Huge business in remittances “The banks find themselves in a situation where they

have to do a cost/benefit analysis on their clients.” Butthe potential vacuum opens opportunities for somebanks willing to take the risk, especially in the massivemarket for remittances.

Martin Litwak, lawyer based in Miami who specializesin offshore investments and anti-money laundering regu-lations, said the banks could begin “de-risking”-cuttingoff all operations-if the Venezuelan crisis is prolonged.

Otherwise, banks will “try to combat the situation andnot take any drastic measures,” Litwak told AFP. “This is

a business opportunity,” he said. “If a lot of banks backoff, then some will continue doing transaction becausethey will be able to charge more or have more business”including handling remittances.

Manuel Orozco of the Inter-American Dialogue toldAFP there was a conservative estimate showing $2.2 bil-lion was sent to Venezuela from abroad last year and ofthat an estimated $650 million was from the UnitedStates. Christine Savage, a partner at the law firm King &Spalding, said the US Treasury was “acting quickly” toroll out sanctions as the situation in Venezuela waschanging rapidly. But now they are “working out some ofthe unintended consequences of the rapid moves.”

The Venezuelan firm Ecoanalitica estimates 80 per-cent of cash payments from the country’s oil sales comefrom trade with the United States, since exports to Russiaand China are primarily used to pay off debt. —AFP

US targets a growing list of companies including PDVSA

Venezuela sanctions scaring off banks CARACAS: In this file photo, the headquarters of Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA, in Caracas. As the US has quickly ratcheted up sanctions against Venezuela to pressure Nicolas Maduro, bankers say they are shying awayfrom doing even legitimate business with the crisis-wracked oil-producing country for fear of getting caught in the crossfire. — AFP

Italy wants to signBelt and Road dealto help exportsMILAN: Italy wants to join China’s giant “Beltand Road” infrastructure plan to boost Italianexports, not to strengthen political ties with theAsian giant, Deputy Prime Minister Luigi DiMaio said yesterday. Di Maio was responding toUS concerns at the prospect of a key ally sup-porting the Chinese initiative. A spokesman forthe White House’s group of national securityadvisers, Garrett Marquis, on Saturday calledthe Chinese venture a “vanity project” that Italyshould steer clear of. The “Belt and RoadInitiative” (BRI), championed by ChinesePresident Xi Jinping, aims to link China by seaand land with southeast and central Asia, theMiddle East, Europe and Africa, through aninfrastructure network on the lines of the ancientSilk Road.

Aside from boosting trade and investment, Xiaims to advance exchanges in areas such as sci-ence, technology and culture. “I have heard thealarm being raised from the United States yes-

terday about this deal on the Silk Road that Italywants to sign with China,” Di Maio said at anevent organized by supporters of his ruling 5-Star Movement.

“Let it be clear that, if we are looking at theSilk Road towards China for our exports, it is notto strike a political deal with China but only tohelp our companies,” he said. He added that Italywas an ally of the United States and respected itsconcerns, but that the Chinese market was hun-gry for “made in Italy” products and know-how.On Friday, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Contesaid that he might sign a framework deal on theventure when Xi visits Italy from March 22-24.

A number of European Union states havesigned memorandums on the BRI with China,including Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary,Greece, Malta, Poland and Portugal. If Italysigns, it would be the first members of the Groupof Seven industrial powers to do so.

Washington argues that China is saddlingpoor nations with unsustainable debt throughlarge-scale infrastructure projects that are noteconomically viable, and is using the project tofurther its political and strategic ambitions.

Italy fell into recession at the end of 2018 forthe third time in a decade and the government iseager to find ways to boost the economy andrevive the stalled construction sector. — Reuters

Poor South African savers ruined by bank collapseTHOHOYANDOU, South Africa: “As treas-urer of my stokvel, I had to go to the bankalmost every day to find out what is happen-ing,” said Annah Muambadzi, 65, of the panicthat gripped her savings club.

Fear spread through poor rural communi-ties across South Africa in November whenVBS, a regional bank that catered to poorercustomers, collapsed. It came as Muambadzi’sson was about to get married, and universityfees were due for another child.

“The ladies started looking at me suspi-ciously thinking I had stolen the money,” shesaid of her savings club, known as a stokvel,into which members contribute an agreedamount each month.

“It broke down the trust.”The bank was left in ruins after 53 people

stole $130 million deposited by individuals

like Muambadzi and her club. One of thoseimplicated was the brother of FloydShivambu, a prominent leader of the radicalEconomic Freedom Fighters (EFF) partywhich has campaigned against corruption.

VBS was founded in 1982 at the height ofapartheid in the Venda homeland, an area ofmodern-day Limpopo province reserved bywhite authorities for black communities.

Its collapse, after the High Court ordered itbe liquidated, became one of the most seriouscorruption scandals to rock post-apartheidSouth Africa-largely because so many victimswere poor, black and female. South Africa’scentral bank was forced to step in and guar-anteed $7,300 per retail depositor through acompeting bank.

More than 17,000 people flocked to openaccounts according to the rescuer, Nedbank.

But those with savings above the thresholdface losing the difference. Retired universitylecturer and minority shareholder professorElwani Khuba, 81, said she saved at the bankbecause it promised to guarantee her future.“We used to get dividends... we were happythat VBS was working well,” Khuba told AFP.Now, “I’m still waiting to get my money andthe value of my shares.”

‘Criminals similar to bank robbers’ Khuba had hoped “to give this legacy to

my children and also to my grandchildren. “Itwas so heart-wrenching, we didn’t knowwhat to do,” she said. Local investigativejournalists reported on executives purchas-ing luxury cars and chartering helicopterswith the bank’s money.

The central bank in October published a148-page report titled “The Great BankHeist” that laid bare the greed of those whoplundered the bank. “These were criminalssimilar to bank robbers, the only differencewas that they carried suitcases and theywore fancy Armani suits,” said administratorAnoosh Rooplal. Four months after the bankcollapsed, officials told AFP that asset recov-eries will depend “on the success of the liq-uidation process”.

Cyril Ramaphosa, who became SouthAfrica’s president in February 2018 pledgingto stamp out graft, vowed to “prosecutethose responsible” for the missing funds, butno arrests have yet been made. The rulingAfrican National Congress fired 14 mayorsaccused of illegally investing surpluses inthe bank.

‘Killing small businesses like us’ANC deputy chairperson in Limpopo’

Florence Radzilani, was among those fired forreportedly taking bribes for investing 300-million rand of the Vhembe municipality purse

into the bank. In Hamutsha, a village in thenorthern Vhembe district, water and electrici-ty supplies are scarce as funds were divertedto dubious investments in VBS.

“You must imagine-it’s very hot. There’s nowater so people go to the river to get water,”said Aubrey Mulaudzi, a local mechanic whoalso lost money in the bank. “The money wasthere but the politicians are playing aroundwith the lives of the people. Poor people who

voted for them don’t get services.”The collapse has also hit businesses hard.

At Mulaudzi’s auto repair shop, a thick layerof dust covers the dozens of cars parkedthere. For 25 years, the garage offered repairsto drivers navigating the potholed roadthrough Thohoyandou, 460 kilometres (285miles) north of Pretoria. “My father, my moth-er used to bank there,” said Mulaudzi, 56,wiping oil from his hands with a cloth. —AFP

KUWAIT: As trade tensions and politicaluncertainty cloud prospects all around theworld, the Organization for EconomicCooperation and Development released afairly gloomy report last week regarding itsoutlook on the global economy. Weakness inthe euro area and China are proving morestubborn, while trade growth deceleratesseverely and the Brexit debacle drags on. Thereport downgraded almost every “Group of20” nation’s economy, disappointing hopesthat the sources of weakness seen towardsthe end of 2018 would prove temporary.Growth in Europe was downgraded to 1 per-cent from 1.8 percent, China’s growth waslowered to 6 percent from 6.2 percent, andfor the UK forecast was cut to 0.8 percentfrom 1.4 percent. Nevertheless, there aresome signs that the global economy will soonrecover. Trade tensions between the US andChina appear to have thawed in recentmonths, boosting confidence that a truce maybe reached soon between the two largesteconomies.

US trade deficit soars In a rough setback to US President Donald

Trump’s ambitions to reduce the trade imbal-ance, the US trade deficit rose to $621 billionlast year. The figure marks the largest onrecord since 2008 when the figure hit$709bn. China, who is still engulfed in ongo-ing negotiations with the US after months oftit-for-tat tariffs, accounts for nearly half thattotal. Trump’s pledge to protect the US fromwhat he describes as the primary threat to theAmerican economy - the trade deficit - mightnow prove detrimental to his political vulnera-bility as he prepares for his 2020 re-electionbid. The durable US economy compared toweakness around the globe is a noteworthyfactor contributing to the imbalances as con-sumers in the US buy more from overseaseven as struggling foreign counterparts buyless American goods. The continuously strongdemand from US consumers seems to haveovercome the tariffs imposed by the Trumpadministration, while the softer demand fromabroad has been more affected by retaliatorytariffs on US goods.

Jobs growth comes to a haltThe Department of Labor reported that

non-farm payrolls rose just 20,000 - theweakest gain in 17 months - gravely missingthe forecast of 180,000 and marks a severedrop from the strong 311,000 jobs added inJanuary. However, the disappointing figurewas offset by year-on-year wage growth at3.4 percent, marking its quickest pace since2009. Unemployment dipped slightly from 4percent to 3.8 percent. Average hourly earn-ings rose 0.4 percent in February after gain-ing 0.1 percent in January, raising the annualincrease in wages to 3.4 percent.The USdollar took a hit following the report, howev-er still remains at an over two-month high.

The US kept interest rates on hold inJanuary and pledged to be patient movingforward, and the figures are unlikely to putthe Fed off from its stance as it watches howthe domestic economy will handle slowingglobal growth. Both industrial productionand retail sales unexpectedly reported to thedownside in both December and January,while the housing sector decelerated.

EquitiesJust this past week, we have seen China

cut its goal for economic expansion, theBoC cut its expectations for policy tighten-ing, and the OECD lowered its global out-look. The tech industry sent US stocksdown while the ECB aided in the drop afterdelivering a grim economic forecast. TheS&P 500 index sank for the fifth consecu-tive day, initially dragged down by Amazon,Microsoft, Apple and Facebook. In Europe,the Stoxx Europe 600 index sank the mostin the month while China’s stock marketslumped the most since October.

ECB cuts growth outlookThe European Central Bank’s new out-

look for annual GDP growth has been“revised down substantially” as quoted bythe president of the ECB, Mario Draghi. OnThursday, the central bank announced itwould keep interest rates on hold “until atleast the end of this year”. The statementextended the banks previous forecast of

holding rates until the summer of 2019amid concerns regarding Eurozone growthand productivity. GDP projections this yearwere downgraded harshly to 1.1 percentfrom a forecast of 1.7 percent just threemonths ago, and the decision to make afresh offer of cheap loans to euro-zonebanks were both signals as to how con-cerned ECB policymakers have become.The bank introduced another program tostimulate bank lending in the euro-zonecalled the “targeted longer-term refinanc-ing operations”, or TLTRO-III, which willbegin September of 2019 and end in Marchof 2021. The loans, which the ECB will pro-vide at cheap rates to banks in the euroarea, will provide better credit conditionsto customers.

The aim is to stimulate the economy asthe third injection of stimulus mimics themechanism first introduced in 2014 and forthe second time in 2016. Inflation forecastswere also cut, with prices now set to under-shoot the bank’s 2 percent aim at 1.2 percentthis year against a previous forecast of 1.6percent. The stance follows both the USFederal Reserve and the Bank of Englandwho have also ruled out rate hikes any timesoon as global demand wanes. The euro fellto the lowest level since 2017 following theannouncement, dropping to 1.1182 againstthe US dollar and later recovered slightly.

Draghi acknowledged there were stilldownside risks to the euro-zone economyeven with the new policies in place, reflect-ing the limits of the bank’s ability to fight aclimate of political uncertainty over tradeand Brexit - both of which are out of theECB’s hands. The heavily export-dependenteconomy is struggling to counteract effectsof global trade battles and Brexit, aspects

which have weighed heavy on the country’seconomic performance. Italy is now in reces-sion, and Germany barely avoided a reces-sion at the end of 2018. Nevertheless, offi-cials still hope the slowdown will prove tem-porary, pinning their hopes on a strong labormarket, a slight rise in government spending,and a series of factors affecting the Germanindustry last year that are believed to beimpermanent.

Brexit uncertaintyThe UK is due to leave the EU on the 29th

of March, and with only a few days remainingnegotiations are proving tough. PrimeMinister Theresa May will now have anothergo at getting her deal through parliament onMarch 12th, which would have to reverse thehistoric record defeat of 200 votes inJanuary. She will now seek legally-enforce-able changes to the backstop - the contro-versial policy designed to prevent physicalchecks on the border between NorthernIreland and the Republic of Ireland. LeadingBrexiteers want insurance that the backstopwill not endure indefinitely as it would see theUK aligned with EU customs until alternativearrangements worked out.

Looking forward, if the vote next week isrejected a choice will then have to be madeon whether to leave the EU without a dealor to defer the exit date. Such an extensionto the Article 50 process would need unani-mous approval of the EU. The Sterling has

continuously struggled since the 2016 Brexitvote, and is down more than 11 percentsince then.

CommoditiesOil prices fell on Friday after the ECB

delivered a warning on economic weaknessas US crude output and exports reach newrecords, undermining efforts by OPEC totighten global market supply. The overallslowdown in global economic growth is alsolikely to stall fuel demand and pressure prices.Looking at the supply aspect, prices havebeen receiving support from output cuts ledby OPEC and some non-affiliated producerssuch as Russia. The total amount pledged tobe withheld is around 1.2m bpd of supply tohelp prop up prices and tighten markets.

Yet, these efforts have been dented by arecord US crude oil production which hasincreased by more than 2m bpd since early2018. This makes America currently theworld’s biggest producer following Russiaand Saudi Arabia and surpassing OPECmembers like the UAE, Kuwait, and Iran. Oilprices have since recovered from their endof 2018 lows. Year to date, Brent crude andthe West Texas Intermediate are both uparound 21 percent.

KuwaitKuwaiti dinarUSD/KWD opened at 0.30385 yesterday

morning.

B u s i n e s s

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BAHRAIN EXCHANGE COMPANY WLL

Egyptian Pound - Transfer 17.424Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.224Tunisian Dinar 102.940Jordanian Dinar 430.370Lebanese Lira/for 1000 0.203Syrian Lira 0.000Morocco Dirham 32.380

Rate for Transfer Selling RateUS Dollar 304.340Canadian Dollar 227.535Sterling Pound 398.595Euro 344.495Swiss Frank 309.360Bahrain Dinar 809.355UAE Dirhams 83.265Qatari Riyals 84.500Saudi Riyals 82.055Jordanian Dinar 430.540Egyptian Pound 17.378Sri Lankan Rupees 1.706Indian Rupees 4.343Pakistani Rupees 2.194Bangladesh Taka 3.617Philippines Pesso 5.827Cyprus pound 18.105Japanese Yen 3.735Syrian Pound 1.590Nepalese Rupees 2.722Malaysian Ringgit 75.315Chinese Yuan Renminbi 45.730

CURRENCY BUY SELLEurope

British Pound 0.390220 0.404120Czech Korune 0.005335 0.014635Danish Krone 0.041834 0.046834Euro 0. 335760 0.349460Georgian Lari 0.132174 0.132174Hungarian 0.001149 0.001339Norwegian Krone 0.030788 0.035988Romanian Leu 0.065312 0.082162Russian ruble 0.004606 0.004606Slovakia 0.009113 0.019113Swedish Krona 0.028277 0.033277Swiss Franc 0.296187 0.0307187

AustralasiaAustralian Dollar 0.207080 0.219080New Zealand Dollar 0.201480 0.210980AmericaCanadian Dollar 0.222120 0.231120US Dollars 0.300600 0.305900US Dollars Mint 0.301100 0.305900

AsiaBangladesh Taka 0.003056 0.003857Chinese Yuan 0.043873 0.047373

Hong Kong Dollar 0.037075 0.039825Indian Rupee 0.003633 0.004405Indonesian Rupiah 0.000017 0.000023Japanese Yen 0.002662 0.002842Korean Won 0.000259 0.000274Malaysian Ringgit 0.070785 0.076785Nepalese Rupee 0.002612 0.002952Pakistan Rupee 0.001540 0.002310Philippine Peso 0.005804 0.006104Singapore Dollar 0.218941 0.228941Sri Lankan Rupee 0.001365 0.001945Taiwan 0.010170 0.010350Thai Baht 0.009252 0.009802Vietnamese Dong 0.00013 0.00013

ArabBahraini Dinar 0.793652 0.810152Egyptian Pound 0.017212 0.019812Iranian Riyal 0.000084 0.000086Iraqi Dinar 0.000211 0.000271Jordanian Dinar 0.424856 0.433856Kuwaiti Dinar 1.000000 1.000000Lebanese Pound 0.000157 0.000257Moroccan Dirhams 0.022157 0.046457Omani Riyal 0.785110 0.790790Qatar Riyal 0.079404 0.084344Saudi Riyal 0.080167 0.081467Syrian Pound 0.001292 0.001512Tunisian Dinar 0.095829 0.103829Turkish Lira 0.049716 0.061216UAE Dirhams 0.081534 0.083234Yemeni Riyal 0.000991 0.001071

Thai Bhat 10.580Turkish Lira 56.375Singapore dollars 223.485

Trade tensions, Brexit crisis present a gloomy outlook for global economy

Soaring US output thwarts OPEC’s efforts to bolster oil prices

Annah Muambadzi was one of many people in poor rural communities across SouthAfrica who lost money when the VBS bank collapsed after $130 million was looted by53 individuals last year. — AFP

B u s i n e s s Monday, March 11, 2019

13

WALL STREET WEEK AHEAD

Ghana bets on rejuvenated railways for growthACCRA: As Ghana’s urban landscapegently slides by the train window, ShaibuAmoah swells with pride. The 37-year-old has been helping to renovate railwaylines in Accra since June, clearing debrisand shovelling ballast in the hot sun.When the short line from Accra to theport of Tema finally reopened in January,Amoah was on the first public run.

“I am feeling proud of my workbecause I am helping my country tomove ahead,” he told AFP as the traineased out of the capital.

The head of the Ghana RailwayDevelopment Authority, RichardDiedong Dombo, said the transport sec-tor was crucial for the country’s devel-opment, pointing to railways as historic“engines of growth”.

President Nana Akufo-Addo estab-lished the railways development ministryin 2017 to restore existing lines datingback to British colonial rule-and buildnew ones.

Ghana’s railway network comprisesthree lines with some branch extensions,totalling 940 kilometers (584 miles) oftrack. Only about a sixth of this is actual-ly in use, and much of the rolling stock isout of date or in disrepair. Even thoughthe section between Tema and Accra hasbeen renovated, the 30-kilometre (18-mile) trip takes an hour and a half.

But under a 2013 “Master Plan,” thecountry aims to have 4,000 kilometers(2,500 miles) of track by 2048. It would

connect Accra with Sekondi-Takoradi inthe southwest to the central city ofKumasi, and to Tamale in the north, andlink Tema to Burkina Faso, Ghana’snorthern neighbor-a 1,200-kilometreendeavor in itself.

The total cost is estimated at about$21.5 billion (19 billion euros). That’s abig ask for any country, let alone adeveloping country in sub-SaharanAfrica, and the authorities say they arecautiously taking a phased approach inthe project, based on funding.

Diedong said “a mixed bag” offinancing, including local sources, washelping with rehabilitation work, but for-eign firms were likelier to build new lines,which are far more costly. No contractshave been awarded for new lines, butChina and Chinese companies seemmore interested in investing in infra-structure in Ghana than those in theWest, he said.

Economic transformationIn December, Akufo-Addo termed

neglect of the railway infrastructure oneof Ghana’s “greatest tragedies” sinceindependence in 1957.

The Accra-Tema line was shut downin 2017 following a derailment. Withservice now restored, carriages paintedin the national colors of red, yellow andgreen rolled along the renovated line,though people squatted close to thetracks and onlookers did a double-takeas the train passed.

The line connects diverse communi-ties that comprise Ghana’s capital,passing shanty towns and glitzy apart-ment blocks, new suburbs, a polo cluband mosque, vegetable gardens, theexpanding port and the seafront. Eachtrain can carry 600 people at a cost ofjust five cedis (90 US cents, 80 eurocents) one way.

Grace Amihere, 38, a hostess on theline, remembers taking trains when shewas younger.

“People will patronize it because it’sless costly,” she forecast. “The view isnice, the buildings... You can see the seawhen you get to the harbor. It’s quiteinteresting.”

Dombo said that in the past, the rail-ways had become a “dead sector.”Infrastructure had been neglectedbecause railways were previously part ofthe transport ministry, whose budgetfailed to cover maintenance or buildingnew lines, he said.

Worries Train driver supervisor Kofi Asare, 52,

is a more-than 20-year veteran ofGhana’s railways. While he was pleasedwith the renewed focus on railways, hewas concerned about whether the sup-

port would be sustained.In his long experience, he said, he had

seen an “off and on” approach to therailways-during “off” periods, this oftenmeant months without pay. “It’s a matterof sustainability-they have done it, soare they going to continue to maintainit?” he asked.

“Railways are cash-strapped ... so ifthe government does not come to ouraid we will be struggling in five or 10years” once more, he said. Asareremembered a well-managed rail sec-tor as he grew up in Ghana and saidthat was the case until about 2002,when maintenance faltered. He andothers who have dedicated their work-ing lives to the railways are now justhoping for the best. “We are still put-ting our faith high, our hope and expec-tations. We are expecting things will gowell,” he said. —AFP

ACCRA: A staff member and passengers ride on Ghana’s railway system on thefirst train reconnecting Accra to Tema, 25 kilometers east of the capital city. —AFP

Housing shares dependent on economy easing but not fallingNEW YORK: The pace of US economic growth may proveto be critical for shares of homebuilders, which haveclimbed sharply as spring approaches. An easing economythat allows for lower interest rates supports an optimisticoutlook for the industry, investors say, but any hints of asustained downturn could sink shares.

So far this year, the PHLX Housing Index has jumped16.3 percent, versus a 9 percent advance for the benchmarkS&P 500. Housing shares tend to rise from late fall to earlyspring, in anticipation of the busiest selling season of theyear for homebuilders. Since 2002, the PHLX HousingIndex has averaged a 7.1 percent rise between the end ofOctober and the end of April, versus a 3.8 percent dropoutside of that period.

This year’s run-up is pronounced given the sharp tumbleUS stocks took in the fourth quarter of 2018. The PHLXHousing Index fell 15.7 percent, even more than the S&P500’s 14 percent decline. The seasonal trend in homebuild-

ing shares has been resilient even in the face of dismal datathat showed US housing starts dropped to their lowest levelin two years.

Yet a survey from the National Association of HomeBuilders showed that homebuilder confidence increased inFebruary, and the latest housing starts data released by theCommerce Department on Friday showed that homebuildingincreased more than expected in January. Along with a posi-tive outlook for the US economy as a whole, those data sup-port a sustained climb in homebuilding shares, someinvestors say.

“The risk-reward ratio for housing still looks good, aslong as employment and household formation remain strong,”said Eric Marshall, portfolio manager at Hodges Capital inDallas. Elevated home prices have been one of the biggesthurdles for the industry, both investors and analysts say.Rising mortgage rates, which climbed past 5 percent last fall,exacerbated concerns about affordability.

But mortgage rates have since eased in tandem withTreasury yields as the Federal Reserve has indicated it willpause interest-rate hikes and inflation has remained benign.US 30-year mortgage rates are tied to the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield. “We have had a revival in housingbecause rates have declined,” said Gary Shilling, president ofthe investment research firm A. Gary Shilling & Co. inSpringfield, New Jersey.

Home prices have also moderated, with the S&P/Case-Shiller index showing prices increasing in December by thesmallest percentage since November 2014. The 2017 US fed-

eral tax overhaul capped deductions for state and local taxes,which raised concerns that people would be dissuaded frombuying homes in high-tax states such as New York andCalifornia. But a slowdown in those markets may be offset byan uptick in other regional markets.

The Las Vegas market, for instance, has drawn interestfrom home buyers deterred by high tax rates in California,said Jack Micenko, housing analyst at SusequehannaFinancial Group in New York.

Homebuilders that focus on entry-level homes are alsoespecially poised to reap benefits as more Millennials seek tobuy their first homes, said Marshall. Hodges owns shares ofCentury Communities Inc, D.R. Horton Inc and LGI HomesInc, all of which build starter homes. Still, given persistentlyhigh home prices, affordability could weigh on the housingmarket once again, said Torsten Sl¯k, chief internationaleconomist at Deutsche Bank Securities in New York.

That may be especially the case if economic conditionsshow signs of deterioration. Such concerns rose on Fridaywhen Labor Department data showed the US economyadded just 20,000 jobs in February.

While an economic slowdown would support a furtherdecline in interest rates, the ensuing downturn in consumerconfidence would outweigh the effect of more accommoda-tive rates, investors say. “The labor market is crucial for con-sumer confidence,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strate-gist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey. “If it sud-denly slows down to where it looks like a recession is coming,the housing market would suffer.” —AFP

AUB announces launch of new mobile app

KUWAIT: Ahli United Bank announces the release of itsupdated mobile banking application with enhanced serv-ices and a refreshed interface. New features include theability to register directly through the application, inte-gration with biometric features available on modernsmart phones, an updated currency converter and theability to manage your beneficiaries for bill payment andtransfers. Ahli United Bank customers already enjoy inter-national and local transfers, bill payment for utility andmobile providers, the ability to do donations to charities,viewing balances of their cards and accounts in additionto a convenient branch and ATM locator.

Speaking on this occasion, AUB Acting ChiefExecutive Officer, Tareq Muhmood said: “We are com-mitted to our customers and this major upgrade includeschanges and enhancements based on the excellent feed-back of our customers. This upgrade is one in a series ofimprovements across all of our digital channels as part ofour comprehensive digital focus. Our customers increas-ingly rely on their mobile devices and we continue toimprove and innovate in this key area.”

Muhmood emphasized that Ahli United Bank “is keento capitalize on technology to best serve our customersand offer them a secure, safe and convenient bankingexperience which has been the hallmark of the organiza-tion since its inception.”

Commenting on the launching of the new service, AUBGeneral Manager Digital Transformation Huda Al-Madanisaid: “We are committed to innovation across the entireorganization in order to improve our customer’s experi-ences. The effective use of technology can provideenhanced security and reliability while providing bankingfeatures across different platforms, devices and inter-faces. In addition to development of channels and servic-es, we also actively engage with our service partners toevaluate emerging technologies in order to enhance ourcustomer experience.”

Al-Madani added: “this upgrade includes the imple-mentation of a new platform allowing us to develop andrelease new services allowing our customers to bank attheir convenience through their smart phones.”

MACAU, China: The trade war may have sent ripples ofuncertainty through the world’s second-largest economybut one corner of China has so far remained steadfastlybuoyant-the gambling enclave of Macau. The city’s for-tunes depend almost solely on its gambling industry, whichin a single week rakes in more gaming revenue than LasVegas makes in a month.

The trade tensions between Washington and Beijing-and the general slowing down of China’s economy-has hitbusinesses hard across the region. But in the past fewweeks Macau’s four casino giants-SJM, Sands China,Galaxy Entertainment and Wynn-have all reported abumper year of gaming rev-enues and profits. Chen Jinjun, a46-year-old car garage ownerfrom eastern Zhejiang province,says he has little interest in see-ing much of the formerPortuguese colony during hisfive day visit with friends.

“I mainly come for playing atthe casinos, not sightseeing,” hetells AFP, saying he expects todrop around 50,000 yuan($7,450). “Apart from food andhotel, the rest will all be forgambling. And if I win some money, then I’ll buy some lux-uries like handbags and clothes.” Players like Chen are theoil that keep Macau’s economic engine ticking-even in themidst of a trade war. “The Macau market actually had avery good 2018,” Grant Govertson, an expert on the indus-try at Union Gaming said.

“The good news... is that the mass-market segment con-tinues to exhibit solid growth and is the market segmentthat drives operating profits for the industry.”

VIPs and high rollersThere was once a time when the casino giants paid little

attention to the mass-market players like Chen. Instead

they hungrily courted the VIPs and high rollers to fill theircoffers. But a widespread corruption crackdown byChinese President Xi Jinping saw a dramatic decline in VIPfortunes from 2014 as wealthy mainland gamblers-many ofthem officials with suitcases of illicit cash-tried to avoidattracting attention. The VIP market has returned in thepast two years although analysts noted a drying up in thelatter half of 2018 as the trade war bit.

But the mass-market gamblers keep coming and up untilJanuary Macau reported 29 consecutive months of gamingrevenue growth.

That contraction in January suggests Macau is far frominvulnerable to the trade war,especially if the conflict deep-ens. Ben Lee, a managing part-ner at IGamiX, a gaming con-sultancy in Macau, said casinosin the city may have hit “thepeak of this current cycle”.

All eyes, he said, will befocused on whether the US andChina can find a way to avoid anew round of tariffs in theirongoing trade talks.

“If the second tier of tariffscome in that will increase the

magnitude of impact on the industry, particularly in the VIPsegment,” he said. Govertson was more optimistic. “We stillmaintain a somewhat bullish outlook and expect the marketto grow in the mid-single digits, which includes high sin-gle-digit mass growth and flattish VIP,” he said.

Record visitorsPartly in response to the jitters caused by the corruption

crackdown, Macau’s authorities have tried to make the cityless exclusively reliant on the gambling sector, pushing itinstead as a food and family tourism destination. The driveappears to have paid off in terms of visitor numbers.

The semi-autonomous city of just 620,000 people said

35.8 million people visited in 2018, a 10 percent jump onthe year before, fuelled in part by the opening of a massivesea bridge linking Macau to the nearby cities of Zhuhai andHong Kong.

The figures show Macau is still overwhelmingly relianton visitors from Hong Kong and the mainland who made up32.6 million arrivals. Chen, a 40-year-old wine businessowner from Hubei province, is one of those gamblers whohas ventured beyond the casinos during his stay in Macau.

“I went to see the ruins of St Paul’s cathedral, the usualtourist attractions,” he told AFP as he took photos in a

square outside the Venetian casino, a huge complex ownedby US billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s Sands Corporationthat features an artificial canal complete with gondolas.

He said he tends to visit twice a year, spending around30,000 yuan each time. “For gambling I’ve visited severalof the casinos to try my luck. I won a bit of money andbought myself new shoes and clothes,” he added.

But Xiao, a 40-year-old restaurant owner from nearbyGuangzhou, was less fortunate. “I’ve lost more than30,000 yuan,” she said as she left the Wynn casino. “I wantto go home now”. —AFP

In a single week, city rakes in more revenue than Las Vegas makes in a month

Few trade war jitters as Macau’s casinos boom

MACAU: In this photo, visitors use slot machines in a casino in Macau. The trade war may have sent rip-ples of uncertainty through the world’s second-largest economy but one corner of China has so farremained steadfastly buoyant — the gambling enclave of Macau. —AFP

I mainly comefor playing at

the casinos, notsightseeing

Tareq Muhmood Huda Al-Madani

KUWAIT: Abdulmohsen Abdulaziz Al-Babtain Company (AABC), the sole author-ized dealer of Nissan vehicles in the State ofKuwait recently unveiled the latest edition ofthe all-new Altima at the Avenues mall. Thesixth generation of Nissan’s best-sellingsedan was on display for Nissan fans to wit-ness first-hand a new benchmark in design,driving enjoyment and technology builtwithin the new Nissan Altima.

The event included entertainment withglobal artists alongside special prizes andgiveaways during the MC contest. The carfeatures expressive styling, an uplifting interi-or, two new powertrains, and advancedNissan Intelligent Mobility features. It islonger and wider than the previous genera-tion with a highly balanced, aggressive stanceand the option of 19-inch wheels and tires.Inside, the all-new premium interior features awide ‘gliding wing’ instrument panel - whichaccentuates the exterior’s low cowl and hood,helping create an open, airy environment.

Laurent Pernet, General Manager -Automotive Division at Al-Babtain Groupsaid, “For 70 years, Al-Babtain has repre-sented and developed the Nissan brand inKuwait: 70 years is an exceptional sign ofloyalty and dedication by our customers whobelieve in the brand and its offerings. Despiteour long tenure, we still remain more thanever excited when a new product is about tobe launched. So, what better way to cele-brate our seven decade anniversary thanwith The All-NEW 2019 Nissan Altima:

• The all-new, sixth-generation Altima

features: • Advanced Nissan Intelligent Mobility

safety • Two new engines, including the compa-

ny’s world’s first production-ready VariableCompression Turbo

• Expressive design with wider and moreathletic proportions

• New open, airy premium uplifting inte-rior design

The All-New Altima benefits from a richheritage of 25 years of presence in themarket, now in its 6th generation withmore than 5.5 million vehicles sold. I canassure you that the New Altima sets newlevels of standards in the Kuwaiti marketbe it for its design, technology, safety or

mere pleasure of driving. As far as Qualityof Service is concerned, we ensure this is atop priority and that all of our employeesdeliver the expected level of professional-ism and expertise for guaranteed customersatisfaction.”

Key interior comfort and conveniencefeatures include upgraded seats with addedbolstering for improved holding and support.The car also features Apple CarPlay(tm) andAndroid Auto(tm) and an 8-inch multi-touchcolor display for complete in-car entertain-ment and ease of driver control.

Cutting-edge Nissan Intelligent Mobilitytechnologies have been integrated into the2019 Altima as standard. These includeNissan’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert, which

helps drivers to detect stationary objectswhen reversing. When an object is detected,the system warns the driver with visual andaudible warnings. The all new Altima alsoprovides front, side and rear safety monitor-ing and intervention technologies - includingAutomatic Emergency Braking withPedestrian Detection, Lane DepartureWarning (LDW), radar-based Blind SpotWarning (BSW), Rear Cross Traffic Alert(RCTA) and High Beam Assist (HBA).

Two new engines have been introducedon the 2019 Altima. Standard on all 2019Altima grade levels is a new 2.5-liter DOHCinline 4-cylinder direct injection engine.More than just the gains in horsepower andtorque, the new engine offers improvements

in smoothness and cabin quietness, alongwith enhanced fuel economy and cleaneremissions.

Replacing the previous-generationAltima’s 3.5-liter V6 engine is the world’sfirst production-ready variable compressionturbo inline 4-cylinder. A significant techno-logical breakthrough, the VC-Turbo seam-lessly changes its compression ratio, deliver-ing the performance of a much larger powerplant with fuel efficiency and improvedemissions.

The 2019 Altima offered in a range of trimlevels - S, SV and SL & Sport in the 2.5Land SV and SL grades in 2.0L Turbo. Thevehicle is available in Nissan Al-Babtainshowrooms located in Al-Rai and Ahmadi.

B u s i n e s s Monday, March 11, 2019

14 Established 1961

KIB sponsors Light ExpoKUWAIT: Kuwait International Bank (KIB)announced its sponsorship of ‘Light Expo’,the exhibition dedicated to showcasingRamadan products, clothing and accessoriescreated by talented female entrepreneurs anddesigners from Kuwait and the GCC region.This marks the fifth consecutive year that KIBhas sponsored the annual exhibition, which isset to take place at the InternationalFairgrounds in Mishref during the periodbetween 4 to 9 March.

Light Expo is an annual event that aims tosupport young female entrepreneurs andsmall business owners, by providing themwith a commercial platform that allows forcollaboration, networking and sharing ofexperiences. The exhibition features the par-ticipation of a large number of Kuwaitidesigners and entrepreneurs, as well as a

number of prominentsocial media person-alities and influencers.

On this occasion,Senior Manager ofthe CorporateCommunications Unitat KIB, Nawaf Najia,said: “KIB is proud toonce again be part ofthis initiative whichseeks to supportfemale entrepreneursand talented youngKuwaiti women. Weknow that women play an integral role in thecountry’s economic growth and development.That is why we continue to include femaleempowerment as a permanent fixture in oursocial responsibility program, as we activelyseek to support impactful initiatives that sup-port, encourage and develop Kuwait’s femaletalents.”

It is worth noting that KIB continues tosupport and sponsor various local initiatives,

such as “Light Expo”, which seek to promotedevelopment across all sectors and segmentswithin Kuwait’s society. The Bank is especial-ly keen on being a part of initiatives and pro-grams that focus on empowering youngentrepreneurs and their innovative ideas.Within this context, KIB has always consid-ered youth initiatives and entrepreneurialprograms to be integral components towardsempowering and nurturing future genera-tions; by providing employment opportunitiesin the private sector for young men andwomen, nurturing the creative ideas of ambi-tious young minds, and helping build abrighter future for the country.

VIVA launches new Samsung Galaxy S10 KUWAIT: VIVA, Kuwait’s fastest-growing and most developed telecomoperator, launched the all-new SamsungGalaxy S10, with VIVA Postpaid com-mitments starting KD 30, at all VIVA’sstores and VIVA’s E-store, and specialexperience corners at Avenues MallPhase 4 and Marina Mall stores.

Abdulrazzaq Bader Al-Essa,Corporate Communications Director atVIVA commented: “At VIVA, our state-of-the-art infrastructure supports arange of telecom services that enablesmartphone makers like Samsung tounleash the full potential of their world-class devices, to enrich our customers’experience.” The latest additions toSamsung’s Galaxy smartphone lineuppushes it further into the future. GalaxyS10+ has a cutting-edge dual in-displayselfie camera module. It also features asuper secure on-screen fingerprint scan,5 pro-grade cameras, a large 6.4inchdisplay, 4,100mAh battery and comewith three different storage options.

The Galaxy S10 boasts extraordi-nary features, including a large 6.1inchdisplay, a super secure on-screen fin-gerprint scan, multi pro-grade cameras,a cinematic infinity display, wirelesspowershare and 3,400mAh battery andwill be available with 128GB storageand 8GB of RAM. The Galaxy S10efeatures a 5.8inch infinity display, dualrear-facing cameras, an in-display selfiecamera, a side-mounted fingerprintscanner, a 3,100mAh battery and willbe available with 128GB of internalstorage and 6GB of RAM.

Nawaf Najia

Burgan Bankannounces winners ofYawmi account drawKUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterday thenames of the daily draw winners of its Yawmi accountdraw, each taking home a cash-prize of KD 5,000.

The lucky winners are: 1. Jasem Mohammad AbdulazizAl-Mutawaa2. Ghadeer Jaafar Abdullah Seraj3. Talal Eissa Sulaiman Alsultan4. Mahmoud Mostafa Kamel Sharaf5. Fatemah Ali Akbar MakhseedIn addition to the daily draw, Burgan Bank also offers

a quarterly draw with more chances to win higherrewards, offering the chance to one lucky customer towin KD 125,000 every three months. The YawmiAccount offers daily and quarterly draws, wherein thequarterly draw requires customers to maintain a mini-mum amount of KD 500 in their account for two monthsprior to the draw date. Additionally, every KD 10 in theaccount will entitle customers to one chance of winning.If the account balance is KD 500 and above, the accountholder will be qualified for both the quarterly and dailydraws. Burgan Bank encourages everyone to open aYawmi account and/or increase their deposit to maxi-mize their chances of becoming a winner. The higher thelevel of the deposit, the higher the likelihood to win.

Warba Bank announces 5 winners of Al-Sunbula drawKUWAIT: Warba Bank, “the Best invest-ment Bank” and “Best Corporate Bank” inKuwait, held its weekly Sunbula drawnumber 10. The draw announced the 5lucky winners in the presence of repre-sentatives from the Ministry of Commerceand Industry and bank officials.

The bank proudly announced the lucky5 winners of the 1000 Kuwait Dinar prize:Mohammad Salem Kraidi Al-Dousari,Jassim Mohamed Al-Ibrahim, AbdulrazzaqWaleed Abdulrazzaq Al-Dosari, AhmadMohammad Ahmad Abdullah and AhmadMuhareb Ghareeb Al-Jassar.

Al-Sunbula both account and fixeddeposits are the perfect choices for cus-tomers who wish to save money and

achieve steady returns while at the sametime have the opportunity to win cashprizes throughout the year.

In line with the bank’s mission to devel-op and differentiate its offerings, WarbaBank has enhanced its Sunbula campaignfor 2019 with more cash and prizes reach-ing more than KD 1 million.

Warba Bank will continue its weeklydraws for 5 winners of KD 1,000 each.What’s new in 2019 are the “MegaDraws” which will be held every quarterto reveal five winners, the 1st winner willget KD 100,000! The four winnersthereafter will each get the latest LandCruiser VXR. Furthermore, the final Megadraw held in January 2020 will feature 2more Land Cruiser VXRs!

As for the chances for winning, eachcustomer is eligible to enter the drawagainst each KD 10 in the SunbulaAccount. Nevertheless, Sunbula FixedDeposit investors also get chances in theSunbula draws along with high expectedreturns that reach up to 3.5 percent dis-tributed either monthly or at maturityupon the customer’s preference.

KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwaitconducted the weekly draw on Al-Najma Account and the “Salary andCash on Top” campaign. The drawswere conducted in the presence ofMinistry of Commerce and Industryrepresentative Abdulaziz Ashkanani.

The results of the draw were asfollows:

1- Al-Najma weekly account - theprize of KD 5,000 and was for theshare Najlaa Omar Ali Al-Saber

2- “Salary & Cash on Top”Campaign the prize KD 1,000 and wasfor the share Ali Hussain Al-Qallaf

The bank stated that the accountprizes this year is featured by the high-est cash prize and diversity of prizesthroughout the year clarifying that Al-Najma Account will offer weekly prizeof KD 5000, monthly prize of KD20,000 and a semi-annual prize of KD500,000 in addition to the largest prize- linked bank account payout of KD1,500,000. Al-Najma Account can beopened by depositing KD 100, andcustomer should maintain a minimumamount of KD 500 to be eligible toenter all draws on Al-Najma Account

prizes. As for the chances of winning,the more balance a customer maintainsin Al Najma Account, the more chancesthe account holder will get to win,where each KD 25 will give the cus-tomer one chance to win, the accountalso offers additional benefits like theATM card, a credit card against cus-tomer’s account and all CBK bankingservices that customer can enjoy.

As regarding “Salary & Cash on Top”campaign designated for Kuwaiti andexpatriate employees as well as theretirees and which is valid until 31December 2019 and the mechanism ofjoining this campaign for availing its bene-fits, the Bank explained that Kuwaitiemployees with a salary of KD 500 andabove whether newly recruited or in serv-ice can transfer their salary to the Bankand avail the benefits of this campaign bygetting instant cash gift of KD 250 or aninterest free loan five times the salary upto KD 10,000, add to this they will auto-matically enter the weekly draw on KD1,000. As for the expatriate customerscategorized under Premier BankingAccount with a salary KD of 1,700 andabove, they will get instant cash gift.

Al-Tijari announces winnersof Al-Najma weekly account

Nissan Al-Babtain unveils all-new 2019 Nissan Altima in Kuwait

Sixth generation of Altima sets new standards for Nissan sedan design


15W h a t ’ s O n

Established 1961

As part of its 8th “Ya Zain Turathna” campaign, Commercial Bank organized a visit to Asar Al-Qabandi Bi-Lingual School, in order to educate students about various aspects of Kuwait heritageas well as old Kuwaiti traditions.

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get-together to a sophisticated black-tie, HiltonKuwait Resort are able to understand each guests’unique style and tailor the menu to the specifiedrequirements. Entertaining guests is an inhabited artrequiring a high level of customer service with theability to multitask and anticipate the guest’s needs atall times. Ensuring the highest level of hospitality ispart of Hilton’s ethos in every aspect of the brand,making them experts in the field.

Leave it to the chef The Hilton Kuwait Resort team provides a complete

catering solution for every requirement. The talented

chefs bring flavors from preferred cuisines from aroundthe world. Your events can now have a live cooking sta-tion and a personal chef, so that guests can enjoy thefreshest delectable dishes. The culmination of remark-able details is what makes every occasion that extra bitspecial, and with significant experience this is possible.General Manager for Hilton Kuwait Resort, ZiadTantawi commented, “We are delighted to offer ourcatering service as an extension of our Hilton facilities.We hope it will enrich the experience of playing host tofamily, friends or colleagues, and we can help deliver aseamless experience as well as create special memoriesto last a lifetime.”

Hilton Kuwait resort can cater your event anytime, anywhere

ABK participates in the 21st Career Fair at GUST

Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait (ABK) yesterdayannounced its successful participation inthe 21st Career Fair of Gulf University of

Science &Technology (GUST) , which was held onthe 6th & 7th March 2019, at the University’scampus. ABK’s participation reinforces its commit-

ment in playing an active role in supportingKuwait’s youth and encouraging those that wish tohave a career in banking.

Commenting on the Bank’s involvement, AliAkbar, Executive Manager - Human Resources atABK said, “ABK regularly participates in CareerFairs as this is the best platform to meet graduateswho want to go into banking. It is also a goodopportunity for ABK employees to meet graduatesand discuss the various departments within bank-ing. Through our ABK Academy, the Bank trainsnew employees and works with them to enhancetheir skill sets in order to manage their day to daydeliverables within the bank.”

GUST holds 21stannual career fair

Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST)held its 21stAnnual Career Fair yesterday on its cam-pus. The event, which hosted over 45 different enti-

ties from various sectors, aims at connecting GUST studentsand alumni with potential career opportunities. The eventwas opened by Mohammad Al-Bahar, GUST Chairman ofthe Board of Trustees, attended by the university’s top man-agement, and held under the patronage of the IbrahimMohammad Al-Kandari, Director General of the NationalFund for Small and Medium Enterprise Development.

The Career Fair is one of the most prominent events theuniversity organizes each year as it helps ensure a smoothtransition for students into the work force after graduation.GUST continuously works on improving the fair by pro-viding a wide variety of different employers to cater tograduates’ interests and talents. The diversity keeps grow-ing to include more institutions from the education, tech-nology, public relations, media, and the industrial sector.

This year’s participation also included, for the firsttime, international banks and financial institutions.Corporations were present for GUST graduates, stu-dents and alumni to network with and apply to forinternships, full-time, and volunteer positions on loca-tion. Potential employers offered their services, marketinsights, advice, collected CVs, helped students applyonline for possible job opportunities, and conducted on-site interviews with candidates.

GUST Chairman of the Board of Trustees, MohammadAl Bahar, said, “At GUST, we put a lot of emphasis onpreparing our students for their future not only on theacademic side which they receive in the classroom, butalso in venturing outside the classroom in activities thatshape their personality, and strengthen their character. TheCareer Fair is a prime opportunity for students andemployers to connect, and potentially start a successfuljourney together.”

Before officially inaugurating the fair, IbrahimMohammad Al-Kandari, Director General of the NationalFund delivered his keynote session titled “The NationalFund’s Services and Programs for Fresh Graduates”.GUST also organized sessions and discussions during thesecond day of the fair that focused on providing usefulinsight to its students. The first presentation was led byWael Ghaddar, SME Relationship Manager at Bayt.com,and was about “Job Search Strategies”. This was followedby a session from Investment Manager at Gulf Bank,Ahmad Al-Fuwaires which was titled “Invest Wisely”.These sessions added a distinctive factor to the event, andproved beneficial to students and alumni.

Sponsoring this year’s event are Alghanim Industries,National Bank of Kuwait, Boubyan Bank, Kuwait FinanceHouse, Gulf Bank, Ooredoo, Zain, VIVA, Al Hasawi Group,Kuwait National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises,Ahli Bank of Kuwait, Boursa Kuwait, Manpower andGovernment Restructuring Program, Commercial Bank ofKuwait, Huawei Technologies, and Nestle. The Career Fairis a yearly event open to all students and alumni for free. Itwill be held for a total of two days, and opening times arefrom 8:30am - 3:00pm.

Music concert at the Sirbb circuit By Nawara Fattahova

Over 2400 people attended the musical concert heldat the Sibrr Circuit on Thursday night. After thesuccess of his concert earlier this month, young

popular Kuwaiti singer Eissa Al-Marzouq held this concertalong with another popular Kuwait singer Nabeel Sheil.Outdoor concerts have become more popular. The concertorganized by Fikra Production was quite a success has itamassed a large audience with people still vying for ticketswell into the show, the pleasant weather also lend itself tothe atmosphere.

The concert started with a performance of a Kuwaititraditional dance performed by a troupe of young Kuwaitigirls. This was followed by the performance of the Kuwaitipopular star Nabeel Sheil, who presented songs from hisnew album in addition to some old songs, some which areover 30 years old. The concert concluded with the per-

formance of Eissa Al-Marzouq, an upcoming singer whohas become very popular in the last two years. He enter-tained the audience for over 90 minutes, and he also tookphotos with disabled children who were seated in the front.

It was a solemn moment at the Kuwait African International Church (KAIC) on Thursday as family,friends and well-wishers gathered for a funeral service in honor of Late Mrs Beatrice OrieataEdumijeke. May her gentle soul rest in perfect peace Amen.

ANTSIRANANA: Frangeline is aged two but weighs no morethan a four-month-old — the terrible result of her battle withmeasles, which is cutting a deadly swathe through Madagascar.Widespread malnutrition and low rates of immunization on theIndian Ocean island have ramped up the killing power of thehighly infectious virus.

In the last six months, nearly 1,000 children have been killedby a resurgent disease that vaccination once appeared to havetamed. Now on a drip, the scrawny infant was only savedbecause her mother Soa Robertine, 32, made the 25-kilometretrek from her home to the Anivorano-nord health centre, in theisland’s far north. Without her timely action, respiratory or neu-rological complications arising from the virus would have provedfatal, doctors said.

“Frangeline is suffering severe malnutrition and she wasn’t vac-cinated” against measles,” said the clinic’s head of medicine,Hollande Robisoa. “She contracted a complicated form of measlesand she would have died if she hadn’t been brought here.” Manyother children have not been so lucky. Between last Septemberand February, there were more than 79,000 cases of measles inMadagascar, 926 of which were fatal, according to the WorldHealth Organization (WHO).

The Anivorano-nord clinic has had 510 patients suffering from“kitrotro” and “kisaosy” — the local names for measles. Roughly100 patients were hospitalized but only four lost their lives,according to official statistics. But many local people dispute thenumbers in a community where rumors are common. “I heard thathundreds of children have already died,” said SylvainRandriamaro, 46, sitting in the hospital waiting room. “I wasalarmed, so I decided to vaccinate my two children,” aged fiveand six, he said.

Measles has hit Madagascar barely a year after it was grippedby an outbreak of plague that claimed 200 lives. “It’s a major epi-

demic,” said doctor Vincent Sodjinou, a WHO representative. “It’sdown to the fact that for almost a decade the rate of vaccine cov-erage was not high enough and, over generations, the numbers ofunvaccinated people have increased.”

‘Malnutrition a bed for measles’ Measles can be relatively benign if symptoms like fever and

cough are handled promptly. If not, there is a risk of “opportunis-tic” illness such as pneumonia or diarrhea — diseases that canfatally attack patients with weak immune systems. In Madagascar,where 47 percent of children under five are malnourished, the dis-ease has proved particularly dangerous.

“It’s often said that malnutrition makes a bed for measles,” saidSodjinou. “The most serious cases are often reported in malnour-ished children.” The paediatric ward at Antsiranana’s military hos-pital, north of Anivorano, has been overwhelmed. “Normally weonly treat one measles case here every two months,” said head ofmedicine Ravohavy Setriny Mahatsangy. “We’ve had 444 justsince December.” Mahatsangy blamed physical contact betweenpatients, their “reluctance to go to hospital and opposition to vac-cinations”. The combination of factors has wrought a tragic toll onhis patients. One example is Marie Lydia Zafisoa, aged eight,whose “mother took her to a witchdoctor... and then a traditionalhealer who prescribed six baths,” according to her aunt BanaTombo. When that failed, Zafisoa’s father carried her to the clinic.“It was too late — she died on the way, on her father’s shoulders,”said Tombo. Seven-month-old Adriano Luc Rakototsioharana wasmore fortunate. Her grandmother Catherine had also turned to tra-ditional medicine before taking her to hospital. She barely sur-vived the ordeal — but even so, Catherine remains adamant thattraditional medicine holds the key. “For measles, you need a cowdung infusion or a tea with bark from the lazalaza tree,” she said.

Doctors say that such beliefs are frustrating their efforts to

roll back the disease. “It’s the culture,” Ravohavy said, with aresigned smile. “Changing people’s mentality is far more difficultthan treating measles.” The profession also complains that the sit-uation is worsening despite the state paying for most measlestreatment. “But the people prefer traditional healers who often

advise them to refuse any hospitalization,” said a health ministryofficial, doctor Said Borohany. “And most villages are hours awayfrom basic medical centers.” The other viable solution, vaccina-tions, has been complicated by the lack of funds available forsuch a program. —AFP

H e a l t h Monday, March 11, 2019

16 Established 1961

ANTSIRANANA: In this photograph taken on February 27, 2019, a mother holds her child while she takesan intraveneous (IV) drip at a military hospital. —AFP

Madagascar battles killer measles outbreak with infection spreading


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CROSSWORD 2154

ACROSS1. Any of various units of capacity.4. A large group of islands in the south

Pacific including Melanesia andMicronesia and Polynesia (and some-times Australasia and the MalayArchipelago).

12. The sense organ for hearing and equi-librium.

15. A flat wing-shaped process or winglikepart of an organism.

16. Occurring or existing before birth.17. The 21st letter of the Greek alphabet.18. The bill in a restaurant.19. Produce saliva.20. An ugly evil-looking old woman.21. The blood group whose red cells carry

both the A and B antigens.23. The arch of bone beneath the eye that

forms the prominence of the cheek.28. Used especially of fruits.30. A silvery ductile metallic element found

primarily in bauxite.31. A soft yellow malleable ductile (trivalent

and univalent) metallic element.32. A small cake leavened with yeast.36. United States astronomer (1835-1909).38. Avoiding waste.39. An edge tool with a heavy bladed head

mounted across a handle.40. An associate degree in nursing.43. A member of the Siouan people for-

merly living in the Missouri river valleyin NE Nebraska.

44. An intricate network suggesting some-thing that was formed by weaving orinterweaving.

49. Not reflecting light.50. An independent ruler or chieftain

(especially in Africa or Arabia).52. The large trunk artery that carries

blood from the left ventricle of theheart to branch arteries.

53. Lower in esteem.55. Continued in your keeping or use or

memory.57. Free from favoritism or self-interest or

bias or deception.59. A public promotion of some product or

service.60. Spots before the eyes caused by

opaque cell fragments in the vitreoushumor and lens.

61. Any of a number of fishes of the familyCarangidae.

63. The property of radiation that enablesit to produce photochemical effects.

67. A short labored intake of breath withthe mouth open.

70. Any fern of the genus Doodia havingpinnate fronds with sharply dentatepinnae.

71. Not in a state of sleep.75. Aircraft landing in bad weather in

which the pilot is talked down byground control using precisionapproach radar.

76. Electrical conduction through a gas inan applied electric field.

77. Semi-parasitic herb with purple orwhite or pink flowers.

79. A light touch or stroke.80. East Indian tree bearing a profusion of

intense vermilion velvet-texturedblooms and yielding a yellow dye.

81. Propose as a candidate for some honor.82. A loose sleeveless outer garment made

from aba cloth.

DOWN1. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake

Chad.2. Divulge information or secrets.3. A workplace for the conduct of scientific

research.4. (Roman mythology) Goddess of abun-

dance and fertility.5. A steep rugged rock or cliff.6. The fatty flesh of eel.7. Of the appetites and passions of the

body.8. Connected with or belonging to or used

in a navy.9. A republic in southern Europe on the

Italian Peninsula.10. Brightly colored carnivorous fish of

western Atlantic and West Indieswaters.

11. Fermented alcoholic beverage similar tobut heavier than beer.

12. An ancient Hebrew unit of dry measureequal to about a bushel.

13. According to the Old Testament he wasa pagan king of Israel and husband ofJezebel (9th century BC).

14. Port city that is the capital and largestcity of Latvia.

22. The capital and largest city ofBangladesh.

24. The oily secretion of the sebaceousglands.

25. Common black-and-gray Eurasian birdnoted for thievery.

26. A historical area and former kingdomin northwestern Spain.

27. Light informal conversation for socialoccasions.

29. A minimal unit (as a word or stem) inthe lexicon of a language.

33. Small terrestrial lizard of warm regionsof the Old World.

34. The dialect of Malay used as thenational language of the Republic ofIndonesia or of Malaysia.

35. Having winglike extensions.37. A unit of power equal to 1 joule per

second.41. Any of a group of Indic languages spo-

ken in Kashmir and easternAfghanistan and northern Pakistan.

42. Lacking or deprive of the sense ofhearing wholly or in part.

45. The stock of a tool used for turning adrilling bit.

46. City in the northern DominicanRepublic.

47. A fine-grained unstratified accumula-tion of clay and silt deposited by thewind.

48. The Tibeto-Burman language spokenin the Dali region of Yunnan.

51. Done or occurring in a brief period oftime.

54. (informal) Exceptionally good.56. A member of one of the four divisions

of the prehistoric Greeks.58. A very poisonous metallic element that

has three allotropic forms.62. (Irish) Chief god of the Tuatha De

Danann.64. (Greek mythology) Daughter of Zeus

and Demeter.65. A landlocked republic in northwestern

Africa.66. The capital and largest city of Yemen.68. Someone who works (or provides

workers) during a strike.69. A metabolic acid found in yeast and

liver cells.72. A victory (as in a race or other compe-

tition).73. A case for containing a set of articles.74. The compass point midway between

east and southeast.78. Before noon.

Yesterday’s SolutionDaily SuDoku

Wordsearch Puzzle Yesterday’s Solution


18S t a r s

Established 1961

Yesterday’s Solution

You’re satisfied sleeping late, eating a great, maybe not so healthy,breakfast with loved ones and vegging out the rest of the day. Things you feel goodabout are on your mind now which adds to the enjoyment of your day. Making themost of your life is still in the active process of changing and not just because it’sanother day, Aries, but because you’re working on it even now. Good conversationand learning new manners of living is part of the satisfaction you encourage for emo-tional growth now. Get in the hot tub with your lover or take a long luxurious bathtonight and dream of things yet to come.

Aries (March 21-April 19)

STAR TRACK

Homelife is the center point of your life now. You want to make sure it’severything it’s cracked up to be. You need this part of your life free of emotional dis-satisfaction and you’re willing to work hard to keep it strong. This is a time you canspeak eloquently and be understood even better. Share with your lover what theymean to you even though you may have problems allowing others to know how muchthey mean to you. Fear shouldn’t be a motivator now. You need the security and youhave a manner of speaking creatively to let your chosen partner know how much youcare. Perhaps dinner and a movie later for a nice, comfortable date.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

You feel tranquil and are loving it today. Try doing something to relaxmore with those you love although you may not want to stay with them all day long ifthey belong in your home. Take some time to enjoy a good nap or catch up on a favoritetelevision program. You may not be really watching your TV but you can act like it andkeep most intrusion to a minimum. Don’t be surprised if you’re not asked to intervene ina family hot discussion while trying to take it easy, Cancer. Your decision will be seen asaccurate and should call a truce to the issue without destroying your calm.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

Leo (July 23-August 22)

You feel a need to be part of something larger than life. You may evenbe thinking of getting married if you’re not already. You feel as if you’re living twolives now or stuck in two places, one is getting everything you want and the other isbeing unsure you can make it work. Both are at work in your life now. Although youthink of marriage you also want to investigate more in order to see just who can real-ly make you happy you’re settling down. It’s not that you’re fickle, Virgo. It’s just thatyou want to be sure you’re making the right decision.

Virgo (August 23-September 22)

A gift from someone special might include concert tickets for yourfavorite musical artist which will brighten your day especially if that friend comeswith you. Your quieter side is showing now and invites those you love to want to getcloser if they’re not wondering what you’re up to now. What they don’t know isyou’re trying to contain the war waging within you. What they don’t know is theyreally want to keep your Pandora’s Box closed or more than they ever thought theywanted could be unleashed from you, Libra. Keeping the lid on your sensitive emo-tions is a good thing for you to do now.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

This day is much like yesterday only you’ve gotten a sense of peacefrom enjoying your day and having the option of doing the same today. You may evenput on some favorite music and dance around your house with your pet dance part-ner. Though you’re playing, Scorpio, you’ve got the beginnings of plans in your mind.You want security in all forms and it’s creeping into the outskirts of your conscious-ness. Material acquisition is only a part of what you need. You want the white picketfence and the love that goes along with it. Get it settled in your mind so that you canvisualize and create your future in the present.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)

Perhaps it’s because you’re home today enjoying your solitude if you’realone because you feel more peaceful than usual. It could be that you’ve

got good music by your favorite artist playing or have some great classical music onso that you can clean house without thinking about much. Either way, this is a goodtime for you, Sagittarius. You really don’t want to argue but you know that you couldbe set off quite easily if need be. That’s why enjoying the music is particularly nice.Only invite friends and family to be around you who you know will keep the peacefulvibes going. Otherwise, it’s you and your pets.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

You’ve got it all going on today. From the mundane to the esoteric, it’s inyour wheelhouse. What’s more? You know it. People want to listen and help out. You’renot running towards gathering more people to your side, rather you watch to see whattheir reaction is going to be. New solutions to old problems are being resolved today.One of your younger family members seeks your assistance. You’re glad you can help.You’ve been thinking about the solution and presentation for this problem for this par-ticular loved one. Though you don’t go along with the crowd you feel as if you’ve giventhis day your all. Enjoy. Get out and about doing something you love.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

You’re still wrestling with the emotional part of your marital or loverrelationship. Sex will only prolong the exposure. Do I, don’t I is the question. Thismay have a basis in the fact that you’ve been getting attention from others at work orfrom a very good friend. If you want a change, then it stays on your mind. You’vegone through a time where you began to want to break habits. Sometimes a lovingrelationship can develop unhappy habits that neither notices until it becomes appar-ent one or the other is unhappy. Aquarius, it takes two. Think before you act.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18)

Stability is what satisfies your needs right now, that and your life’s part-ner in bed with you giving the same gift of love you needed so much yesterday.That’s your meaning for having a great life today. That and people you love otherthan your lover in communication with you. Get out and walk around the yard ordown the street. Do something that stretches your muscles and allows you not tothink by letting your mind drift. These are some of your most peaceful times. Enjoythis beautiful day, Leo.

You’re feeling as if the stability in life you’ve craved is finally going tostay. This gives you great peace and happiness. You probably will be meeting withsomeone who brings the promise of more material gain today as well. The Midastouch seems to be your forte now, Capricorn. Keep believing. People far away maybe supplying solid blessings in some form which makes you glad you invested. Youmay think about taking a travel tour that teaches in some form. Anything you do willonly help you to accomplish more.

On this Sunday, put on some good music and dance with your lover.Enjoy the time you two have together while letting your troubles ease away. This isyour day. It’s not a time to worry. De-stress doing items you and your romanticinterest love today. Take some time outdoors. Nature is a soother. Finish off your dayin bed doing what you’re good at, Gemini, or make it your whole day. A little lovenever hurts anyone. Enjoy a midnight snack with only the light of the refrigerator tokeep you two company.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

MONDAY, MARCH 11 , 2019

Established 1961

Lifestyle

Indian businessman Anil Ambani (second right) poses for photographs alongwith his wife and former Bollywood actress Tina Ambani (second left) and theirsons, Anshul Ambani (right) and Anmol Ambani (left), as they arrive to attend thewedding ceremony of Akash Ambani, son of Indian Businessman MukeshAmbani in Mumbai. — AFP photos

Former British prime minister Tony Blair(right) and his wife Cherie Blair (left) pose forphotographs as they arrive to attend thewedding ceremony of Akash Ambani.

Akash Ambani (center), son of Indian businessman Mukesh Ambani (right) and businesswoman NitaAmbani (third left), their daughter Isha Ambani (third right) and her husband Anand Piramal (second right),son of Indian billionaire industrialist Ajay Piramal (not pictured), pose during the wedding ceremony ofAkash Ambani.

Costumed revelers perform in a carnival procession on the streets of Strumica, Macedonia, during the great evening carnival on March 9, 2019. The renowned carnival, which marks the beginning of the Christian Orthodox Lent, attracted hundreds of partici-pants and tens of thousands of visitors in Strumica. — AFP

It’s official! Jennifer Lopez,A-Rod are engaged

Singing superstar Jennifer Lopez and retiredbaseball great Alex Rodriguez have been one ofthe most glam celebrity couples in recent years.

Fans, get ready: a J-Rod wedding is on the cards.Lopez and Rodriguez confirmed on Instagram lateSaturday that they are engaged. Both posted a pic-ture of their hands at sunset, with Lopez’s enormousdiamond ring. While the multi-hyphenate singer-actress-dancer-producer only captioned the picwith heart emojis, Rodriguez went a bit farther,writing in lower-case letters: “she said yes.” Lopez,49, and Rodriguez, 43, have been a couple for abouttwo years.

Lopez, currently the executive producer andjudge on NBC reality dance competition show“World of Dance,” is set to go on tour later this yearacross North America. She wrapped up a Vegasresidency in 2018. She has been married three times:to Ojani Noa, back-up dancer Cris Judd, and singerMarc Anthony, with whom she has 11-year-oldtwins. She also had a high-profile relationship withactor Ben Affleck.

Rodriguez retired from Major League Baseball in2016, after a lengthy career, mostly with the NewYork Yankees. He won one World Series title withthe Yankees and was an All-Star 14 times. Hisachievements were tarnished by his admission thathe used performance-enhancing drugs. He was sus-pended for the entire 2014 season. Rodriguez cur-rently works as an on-air baseball analyst. He hasbeen married once. He and ex-wife Cynthia Scurtishave two daughters. — AFP

In this file photo US singer Jennifer Lopez (left) andformer US baseball player Alex Rodriguez attend the2018 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City MusicHall in New York City. — AFP

Global celebrities including film stars, company execu-tives, politicians and sports personalities descendedon Mumbai on Saturday for the wedding celebra-

tions of the son of India’s wealthiest man and RelianceIndustries boss, Mukesh Ambani. Sundar Pichai, the chiefexecutive of Google, former British prime minister TonyBlair, film stars Rajinikanth and Priyanka Chopra and crick-eters Sachin Tendulkar and Hardik Pandya were among theguests. Indian stars Shah Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor

were seen dancing with the bridegroom Akash Ambani andplenty of Indians shared photos on social media with#AkashAmbani and #AkashShlokaWedding among the toptrending hashtags in India.

The bride, Shloka Mehta, is the daughter of Russell Mehta,a wealthy diamond merchant and managing director of family-owned company Rosy Blue. Celebrations began in Mumbaiwith feasts, singing and dancing, and other pre-wedding ritu-als, for the wedding between the two 28-year-olds.

Photos on Twitter showed elaborate floral decora-tions and celebrities posing on a lawn before the wed-ding. Mukesh Ambani, his wife Nita and the bridegroomwore various shades of pink. Ambani, whose businessempire spans oil and gas, telecoms and retail, is Asia’srichest man and the world’s 13th most wealthiestaccording to Forbes magazine, with his wealth estimat-ed at $50 billion. — Reuters

Global celebrities gather for the wedding of India’s richest man’s son

Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan (left)poses for photographs along with his wifeand actress and model Aishwarya RaiBachchan (right), and their daughter (center),as they arrive to attend the wedding ceremo-ny of Akash Ambani.

Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan (left) posesfor photographs along with his wife and filmproducer Gauri Khan.

Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra poses forphotographs as she arrives to attend thewedding ceremony.

L i f e s t y l e Monday, March 11, 2019

20 Established 1961

Fe a t u r e s

A Pakistani musical band per-form with bagpipes made atthe Mid East bagpipe factoryin the eastern city of Sialkot.— AFP photos

The owners of the Chrysler Building havereached a deal to sell the iconic New YorkCity building for “a little more than $150

million,” The Wall Street Journal reportedSaturday. The sale price of the tower in midtownManhattan, considered an Art Deco master-piece, marks a significant loss for Emirati invest-ment firm Mubadala, which paid $800 millionfor a 90 percent stake in 2008. Real estategroup Tishman Speyer, which had bought thebuilding outright for a reported $210-250 mil-lion in 1997, retained a 10 percent stake.

The Journal reported that the building’sowners do not own the ground beneath itand pay annual rent that went up from$7.75 million to $32 million in 2018 and wasset to increase again to $41 million in 2028.Citing brokers, the newspaper said thosefees “have eaten away at much if not all ofthe building’s revenue.” The building alsohas some 400,000 square feet (37,160square meters) of space that is eithervacant or will become so in the comingyears, the Journal said.

The Chrysler Building, which opened in1930, stands 1,046 feet (319 meters) tall. Itwas the world’s tallest building, but only for11 months, after which it was dethroned bythe Empire State Building, also in Manhattan.The building was a personal project forWalter Chrysler, the founder of the car man-ufacturer that bears his name, but remainedseparate from the auto business. — AFP

New York’s iconic Chrysler Building to sell for $150 million

Umer Farooq’s grandfather and father made bag-pipes. Now he is the third generation to take upthe tradition in Pakistan, which is thousands ofkilometers from Scotland yet sells thousands of

bagpipes each year. The fresh smell of wood floatsthrough the Mid East factory in Sialkot, on the easternside of Punjab province, where Farooq is one of the man-agers. Workers are busy standing or sitting on the ground.Covered in sawdust, they carve the wood and polish it.Rosewood or ebony serve as the blowstick, into whichplayers exhale. The drones-long pipes with a lower tone-follow a similar process. They are then attached to a bag,and often covered with tartan, a coloured plaid fabric typ-ical of Scotland. “In my family, all the boys know how tomake a bagpipe, step by step,” said Farooq.

“When we were seven or eight, we would go to thefactory. It was like a school, but the teachers were ourdads and uncles.” Honing such a craft is not easy. SouthAsia has had for centuries its pungi, a wind instrumentused for snake charming, and shehnai, a traditional oboe.But the bagpipe had to wait until the mid-19th century forBritish colonialists to bring it to subcontinental India, ofwhich Pakistan was a part before independence and parti-tion in 1947.

Military tradition “Anywhere the British army went, they took pipers with

them,” says Decker Forrest, a Gaelic music teacher at theUniversity of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland. Localsseized on the tradition, which remains popular till this day,

with dozens of bagpipe bands available for weddings andreligious festivals. “People love the bagpipe,” smiles YaserSain, the leader of a Sialkot trio who play at least two per-formances each day, he says. Proudly he shows pictureson his mobile phone of the band in colourful costumes.Forrest says Pakistani bands put the emphasis on how theylook, rather than musical technique, “which is less impor-tant to them”.

At the world bagpipe championship, which is heldevery year in Glasgow, they are “the most beautifullydressed,” he says. The kilt, however, is not de rigueuramong the Pakistanis. The Pakistani military, born out ofthe colonial British Indian Army, also still has a soft spotfor the instrument. In 2014 it established a camel-mountedbagpipe band attached to a unit of Desert Rangers. Thecamels, draped in scarlet and gold as their musicians swayabove them, are particularly appreciated during parades.

But Pakistan’s main affiliation with bagpipes is its massproduction of them, though the quality of the instrumentsit makes can vary. Some 2,600 are exported from the MidEast factory each year, mainly to the United States.

Bagpipe ambassadors The M.H. Geoffrey & Co workshop, also in Sialkot,

claims to manufacture a further 500 annually-but its own-er, Zafar Iqbal Geoffrey, estimates that when contributionsfrom dozens of small and medium-sized businesses in thecity are counted, Sialkot can produce a total of 10,000bagpipes a year. That is more than any country other thanthe United Kingdom, according to people in Sialkot.“Bagpipes are our roaming ambassadors. This is good notonly for the economy, but for the image-building ofPakistan,” says Waqas Akram Awan, vice president of theSialkot Chamber of Commerce.

The city’s exports for 2017 — a 15-year record of $4million for thousands of instruments-underscores his com-ment. “Our instruments are the same as the European

ones, but they are much cheaper. We make music moreaccessible,” says Umar Farooq’s uncle Muhammad Aftab.Cheap labor means Pakistani bagpipes are priced lessexpensively than ones made in Scotland, with Mid East’sgoing for around 300 pounds ($390) in Britain, comparedto 900 pounds ($1,170) for instruments made in Scotland.

But Pakistani bagpipes have a reputation. “The qualityof sound is not the same,” says Paul Gardner, manager of aLondon music store. “They are for beginners who areworking on a really low budget,” he explained. “It mightget somebody started, but that person will quickly look toupgrade.”— AFP

Pakistan - the other great home

of the bagpipes

Visiting international musicians watch theprocess to make bagpipes at the Mid East bag-pipe factory in the eastern city of Sialkot.

A Pakistani worker polishes a component to be used to make a set of bagpipes at the Mid Eastbagpipe factory in the eastern city of Sialkot.

A Pakistani worker fixes a component to make a set of bagpipes. A Pakistani artisan works on a machine to make componentsused in bagpipes.

A Pakistani worker plays and tests a set of bagpipes at the MidEast bagpipe factory in the eastern city of Sialkot.

A Pakistani worker plays and tests a set of bagpipes at the MidEast bagpipe factory in the eastern city of Sialkot.

A member of a Pakistani musical band performs with bagpipesmade at the Mid East bagpipe factory in the eastern city ofSialkot.

Monday, March 11, 2019L i f e s t y l e T r a v e l

Established 1961 21

A tourist stands by the swimming pool on the rooftop of the Gran Manzana Hotel in Havana. — AFP photos A worker cleans the Spa Albear at the Gran Manzana Hotel in Havana.

After a big event like FIFA the world has seen manychanges in Russia with building new roads, air-ports, hotels and restaurants. For GCC tourists,

many improvements like implementing Halal friendly con-cept in hotels and restaurants have been introduced inthe country.

The fact that during the FIFA World Cup guests wereaccepted on the basis of their FAN ID proves that the

country is ready to implement easier visa process as thecountry has already opened its doors to UAE citizenswho do not need a visa to travel to Russia anymore.

New trendsRussia is keen to explore the possibilities of space

tourism and tourists can now try space simulators thatare used by real cosmonauts to fly to space or the real

Zero gravity at cosmonaut training centre at Star city.Event tourism has also shown its growth and this yearMoscow will become the first platform in Russia whereArab designers will introduce their creations to theRussian audience.

It the biggest project in fashion industry where great-est designers who dress world-famous Hollywood stars(such as Nicki Minaj, Beyonce, Heidi Klum and many oth-

ers), as well as members of the Royal families of Arabcountries will present their unique and bold design, rec-ognized throughout the world. “We are building a bridgebetween Russia and the Middle East in terms of tourismand culture and we see constant growth of interesttowards Russia” said Basel Al Aswad, Head of the Russiantourism board.

Tourism in Russia: Opportunities after FIFA World Cup

In Havana, there’s a shop selling a camera for more than$25,000 — roughly 850 times the average monthlywage in Cuba. The eye-popping sum earned pre-dictable scorn on social media, but it begins to make

sense when seen through the lens of the island’s fledglingbid to tap into the luxury tourism market. The exclusivecamera store and other boutiques featuring A-list brandslike Versace and Armani are located in a shopping galleryon the ground floor of the swanky Gran Hotel Manzana.

The mere existence of the shops certainly seems incon-gruous in a country that has been governed as a one-par-ty communist state since 1959, and where the averagewage is $30 a month. But the hotel isn’t exactly looking forlocals to buy in-it attracts “a clientele of private air-planes... princes and celebrities,” according to generalmanager Xavier Destribats.

The Gran Hotel Manzana, the first ever five-star estab-lishment in Havana, opened in 2017 in a sumptuous historicbuilding that was, at the beginning of the 20th century, theisland’s first shopping mall. The property run by Swissgroup Kempinski is “the first genuine luxury hotel inHavana,” said Destribats.

“It’s the first hotel with a 1,000-square-meter spa,” hesaid. All the rooms are at least 40 square meters (430square feet), with prices ranging from $370 for a basicroom in low season to $5,000 for the presidential suite.“There was a certain type of clientele that didn’t travel toHavana, or Cuba, because there wasn’t the standard ofluxury five-star hotel like in cities such as Paris orLondon,” Destribats added.

‘Feels like Miami’ The hotel terrace offers stunning views over Havana’s

colorful historic neighborhood, where many Cubans live indilapidated buildings that have fallen into disrepair or havevegetation sprouting from them. “It really doesn’t feel likeCuba, clearly not-it feels like being in the United States,Miami or Puerto Rico,” said Celia Liegeois, a 26-year-oldtourist from Paris. Having traveled around the island nationfor three weeks, she and a friend had decided to spendtheir last few days relaxing by the hotel’s rooftop pool.

Nearby, Suki Lu, a recently arrived 28-year-oldChinese television presenter, is impressed at what shesees. “It’s beautiful. Look at the sunset! It’s truly addic-tive,” she said. “I live in Dubai so when you talk about lux-ury hotels, the level there is really high, but I think I’ll likethis hotel,” she said, while her friend used a drone to getan aerial view of the building.

The largest single group of visitors to the Gran HotelManzana-one-fifth of the total-are tourists from theUnited States, although there are plenty of visitors fromEurope, Asia and the Middle East. The Kempinski group,which hopes to open two or three more hotels in Cuba, isof course not the only chain to show an interest in theultra-luxury market.

In September 2018, Spain’s Iberostar opened its sec-

ond five-star hotel, the Grand Packard. French hotel giantAccor is planning on opening its own luxury establishmenton the Malecon, Havana’s famous seaside boulevard, inSeptember. It will include a chocolate shop on its groundfloor and a restaurant and concert space on its roof. Theemployees’ outfits will be designed by Spanish fashiondesigner Agatha Ruiz de la Prada.

US blacklist However, there is a slight catch: in every case, the

hotels are owned by Gaviota, the Cuban army’s branchdedicated to tourism. The foreign hotel groups are onlyallowed to run the establishments, all built by Frenchgroup Bouygues, which has a long-standing local pres-ence. Authorities don’t publish the army’s revenues, butthis alliance between hoteliers and the military landed theluxury hotels on Washington’s blacklist. US tourists aretechnically banned from staying in the hotels-but therestriction can be easily circumvented by either paying incash or booking through travel agents.

Beyond hotels, developers have more ideas to enticethose with deep pockets. “There’s a plan to build golfcourses in partnership with real estate groups,” saidindustry expert Jose Luis Perello. The opening of a luxuryhotel means Cuba has turned a corner, he said. “Since itopened up to international tourism more than 20 yearsago, Cuba has focused all its plans and strategies” on “sunand beach tourism” for the masses, Perello said.

That category currently accounts for 73 percent of the70,000 hotel rooms on offer in Cuba. And those who rentthem usually don’t spend much money. The same goes for

cruise ship tourists-while the number of cruises docking inCuba has exploded, passengers only spend an average of$15 a day on land. That isn’t great news for Cuba, whichwelcomed 4.7 million tourists in 2018 — it needs the cash.The government, which has been subjected to US sanc-tions since 1962, used to depend on aid from its oil-richally Venezuela. But with Venezuela in turmoil, Cuba isscrambling for other sources of hard currency and its eco-nomic growth has stagnated at around one percent-notenough to cover the population’s basic needs. Openingluxury hotels is “a new stage,” but also “a necessity,”Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz says. — AFP

Cuba taps into high-endluxury tourist market

Tourists sit by the swimming pool on the rooftop of the Gran Manzana Hotel in Havana.

Tourists sit next to the swimming pool on the rooftop of theGran Manzana Hotel in Havana.

A tourist walks past the counter of the Spa Albear at the GranManzana Hotel in Havana.

Tourists sit at the lobby of the Gran Manzana Hotel in Havana.

A waiter serves a cocktail at the Gran Manzana Hotel in Havana. Tourists visit a camera shop at the Gran Manzana Hotel inHavana.

Tourists stand next to an old American car in front of the GranManzana Hotel in Havana.

Tourists sit by the swimming pool on the rooftop of the Gran Manzana Hotel in Havana.


Fe a t u r e s

Established 1961 T

22L i f e s t y l e

A general view shows the damage inflicted on the Old Aleppo markets in the old quarter of Syria’s second city of Aleppo.

Laborers take part inrestoration work at the

Saqatiya market in the oldquarter of Syria’s second

city of Aleppo.

Violinist Laura Colgate, co-founder and co-artistic director of the Boulanger Initiative promot-ing women composers, poses at her home in Takoma Park, Maryland.

British cellist Steven Isserlis rehearses at the John F Kennedy Center forthe Performing Arts in Washington, DC.

Violinist Jennifer Koh and composer Missy Mazzoli perform works by Mazzoli atthe Boulanger Initiative’s inaugural women composers festival at Blind Whino inWashington, DC.

On the domed roof of a historical market inthe northern Syrian city of Aleppo, archi-tect Bassel Al-Daher moves between

workers painstakingly working to erase the scarsof war. Men wearing vests and helmets repairparts of the roof still bearing visible traces of thefour-year-long battle for the former rebel strong-hold. They cover its charred surface with a freshcoat of white paint as part of a wider effort torehabilitate the Saqatiya market, or souk in Arabic.Located in the old quarters of Syria’s second city,the market dates back to the Ottoman period. “Ifeel like I’m redrawing history by restoring thissouk,” says Daher, 42, one of six architects over-seeing its revival as the country’s conflict marks itseighth year next week. “For me, it’s the project of alifetime.”

The Saqatiya souk covers an area of more than1,500 square meters (16,000 square feet) andused to house more than 50 shops before Syria’sconflict landed in Aleppo in 2012. It is located nearother landmarks of Aleppo’s Old City, aUNESCO-listed World Heritage Site that servedas a frontline during clashes that ended in 2016.Russia-backed regime forces that year retookcontrol of the eastern side of the city, much ofwhich remains in ruins. The celebrated citadel, ajewel of medieval architecture whose surroundingwall was damaged by a blast in July 2015, is visiblefrom the market’s roof. The Umayyad mosque, anancient site that dates back to the 11th century, iswithin walking distance. Clashes in April 2013reduced the mosque’s minaret to an unrecogniz-able pile of blocks.

‘Bring merchants back’ UNESCO estimates that as much as 60 per-

cent of the Old City was severely damaged.Saqatiya market fared better than most, with 30

percent battered during the fighting, says Daher.It shows signs of major damage but no sign ofcollapse, Syria’s antiquities authority said in areport last month. Restoration works began onNovember 1 after Syrian authorities signed apartnership agreement with the Aga KhanFoundation in Syria. Renovations are expected tobe completed in July, according to Daher. Workersare focusing on erasing all “signs of war” from themarket and correct old construction violations.“The broader aim is to bring merchants back totheir shops,” he says. Saqatiya market is one ofaround 37 souks surrounding the Aleppo citadel,the oldest of their kind in the world.

They stretch from the western part of the OldCity to the gates of the citadel in the east, cover-ing an area of around 160,000 square meters. Forcenturies, they were the commercial heart of theancient city and served as a key trading hubbetween the East and the West, says Alaa Al-Sayyed, a historian and specialist on the Old City.The expert, who is also overseeing the restoration,says “they are more than 2,000 years old”. “Theyare the longest and oldest covered markets in theworld,” he says. They consist of dozens of shops,schools, mosques and bathhouses.

‘Charred and damaged’ In their long history, this is not the first time the

markets have had to be restored. Over two millen-nia, they have weathered numerous earthquakesand conquests, but “every time they were rebuilt”,he says. Diyaa Al-Issa, 38, wears a white helmetand uniform as he works on renovating a massivegate in the market. He is one of around 60 meninvolved in restoration works. Before the conflict,Issa used to work in renovation and maintenanceof the city’s ancient heritage. “Renovations todayare nothing like those we used to carry out in the

past,” he says. “We used to restore stones affect-ed by moisture, wind and time,” he says.

“But today we are treating stones that havebeen charred and damaged by shrapnel, and weare rebuilding some domes that have been com-pletely destroyed.” Issa hopes the souk can berestored in a way that does not alter its historicalcharacter or dispense with too may of the originalmaterials. His colleague, Mohammed Baqiya, 47,is looking forward to the market coming back tolife. “The stone will be restored,” he says. But“what is most important is the return of shopowners and people who used to bring life to thesouk”, he says. “It does not matter how beautifulthe souk will be,” he says. It will mean nothing “ifit is empty of people”. — AFP

Music is riddled with stories of tempestuous affairsand unrequited love. In a concert series, virtuosoBritish cellist Steven Isserlis is exploring the influ-

ence of love on music by contrasting three familiar piecesby male composers with lesser known ones by their tradi-tionally underrepresented female muses. “Women werenot encouraged to compose. It was difficult,” the influen-tial soloist said in an interview ahead of a performance atthe Kennedy Center in Washington. “They had to battleagainst the odds,” added Isserlis, pointing to the contribu-tions of Amy Beach and Lili and Nadia Boulanger. “Thereare so many women composers now. Things have definite-ly improved.”

Isserlis’s program-whose next stop is Thursday inKempen, Germany after five performances in the USaccompanied by Canadian pianist Connie Shih-opens withhis own arrangement of Clara Schumann’s “ThreeRomances.” It’s wistful music composed as her husbandRobert Schumann grew increasingly ill, eventually commit-ting himself to an insane asylum in 1854. Schumann’s“Three Fantasiestucke” become profoundly meditative inthe warm tone and rich bass of the 1726 Stradivarius thatIsserlis plays on gut strings.

Perhaps no love story is as tragic as that of Vitezslava

Kapralova and Bohuslav Martinu, who vowed to elope toAmerica, only for Kapralova to marry someone else anddie two months later of tuberculosis, in June 1940. She wasjust 25, but already a promising composer and conductor.Her only surviving “Ritournelle,” passionate and energeticdespite being her last known composition, mirrors herteacher Martinu’s modernist innovations.

The piano and cello are almost locked in a duel inMartinu’s first Cello Sonata, composed as Kapralova wasnearing death, after the Nazis occupied their homeland ofCzechoslovakia and shortly before the Paris occupation.French femme fatale Augusta Holmes captured the imagi-nation of many of her contemporaries, chief among themCesar Franck, 25 years her senior. Isserlis played anevocative arrangement of parts of her cantata “La visionde la reine”-published in 1895, the same year she becamethe first woman to premiere an opera in Paris. Its religiousovertones echo those of Franck’s beloved sonata.

‘Not rocket science’ Despite featuring seldom-heard works by women,

Isserlis insisted “it’s not a feminist recital.” “I wouldn’t playa piece just because it was by a woman or because it wasby somebody from a certain racial background... It’s con-

descending if one does that,” he said. “You have to lovethe music. It’s got to be good music.” Jenny Bilfield, presi-dent and CEO of concert organizer WashingtonPerforming Arts, advocates a straight-forward approach toinclusion. “Let’s not overthink this... Study history, discovermusic that’s been overlooked and bring it forward to thepresent day,” she said. “It’s not rocket science.”

‘Rewrite history?’ Although male-composed works predominate in the

classical music canon, it’s not for lack of quantity or quali-ty of pieces by women. “A lot of these women in their owntimes were famous and were well-known and wereplayed,” said violinist Laura Colgate. “We actually have togo back and rewrite history.” She co-founded theBoulanger Initiative to promote these works. ComposerMissy Mazzoli, 38, and violinist Jennifer Koh, 42, headlinedits inaugural Washington festival Friday. From 2014 to2018, just 1.7 percent of pieces performed by leadingAmerican orchestras were composed by women, accord-ing to data compiled by the Baltimore SymphonyOrchestra.

For the upcoming 2019-2020 season, the Institute forComposer Diversity’s survey of 50 orchestras found an

increase to 7.4 percent. Some groups have introducedcorrective measures, though true progress may comewhen having women in these roles becomes unremarkable.More than 150 music festivals have pledged to reach a50/50 gender balance by 2022 under the internationalKeychange campaign, with women, transgender and non-binary people falling under the same category. Only nineof the festivals are American.

Women conductors have slowly gained traction,including Marin Alsop, Alondra de la Parra and ElimChan. Colgate started her project a year ago withorganist Joy-Leilani Garbutt to bridge that gap, withcommissions, concert series and educational programsin the offing. She says there’s a real thirst for this music,which could make the symphony more appealing to thegeneral public. While orchestras focus on the need toget new people in the audience, “that’s not actually theproblem-it’s getting them to come back a second time,”said Colgate. “There’s all of these expectations in theclassical music world that make most people feel likeoutsiders. We’re trying to get rid of all of those labelsand make anybody feel welcome.”— AFP

British cellist gives voice to composers’ muses

Syria’s ancient Aleppo souk poised to regain its bustle

Laborers take part in restoration work at the Saqatiyamarket in the old quarter of Syria’s second city of Aleppo.

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Departure Flights on Monday 11/3/2019Airlines Flt Route TimeAIC 982 Ahmedabad/Chennai 00:05FDB 072 Dubai 00:40JAI 571 Mumbai 01:15JZR 111 Doha 01:45KAC 363 Colombo 01:50KAC 677 Dubai 01:50KAC 285 Dhaka 01:55KAC 417 Manila 02:20DLH 625 Frankfurt 02:25THY 773 Istanbul 02:30PGT 859 Istanbul 02:55IGO 1758 Kochi 02:55THY 767 ISL 03:05ETH 621 Addis Ababa 03:05UAE 854 Dubai 03:40OMA 644 Muscat 03:55THY 765 Istanbul 04:00QTR 1087 Doha 04:00KKK 1269 Istanbul 04:00ETD 306 Abu Dhabi 04:05MSR 613 Cairo 04:15JZR 701 Asyut 04:30PGT 861 Istanbul 04:55IGO 1752 Chennai 05:10QTR 1077 Doha 05:30FDB 070 Dubai 05:50JZR 215 Jeddah 06:00JZR 713 Sohag 06:15JZR 121 Dubai 06:35THY 771 Istanbul 06:40UAE 874 Dubai 06:50KAC 167 Paris 07:10RJA 643 Amman 07:15GFA 212 Bahrain 07:15KAC 413 Bangkok 07:20JZR 115 Doha 07:30KAC 173 Munich 08:20KAC 163 MXP 08:40FDB 054 Dubai 08:50KAC 161 Geneva 09:00KAC 501 Beirut 09:00KAC 787 Jeddah 09:05BAW 156 London 09:10JZR 731 Cairo 09:10KAC 541 Cairo 09:30KAC 561 Amman 09:40ABY 126 Sharjah 09:45KAC 101 London 09:45KAC 671 Dubai 09:45UAE 856 Dubai 10:00ETD 302 Abu Dhabi 10:10KAC 773 Riyadh 10:10FDB 056 Dubai 10:35KAC 617 Doha 10:35IGO 1754 Ahmedabad 10:40JZR 211 Jeddah 10:40QTR 1071 Doha 10:45KAC 155 Istanbul 10:45GFA 214 Bahrain 11:25KAC 117 New York 11:25AXB 396 Kozhikode 11:50JZR 213 Jeddah 12:00JZR 221 Riyadh 12:00AXB 890 Mangalore 12:10MSC 416 Sohag 12:15MEA 405 Beirut 12:55QTR 1075 Doha 13:00JZR 113 Doha 13:30JZR 123 Dubai 13:40MSR 611 Cairo 14:10UAE 872 Dubai 14:15

JZR 103 Bahrain 14:40

RBG 554 Alexandria 14:45

QTR 1079 Doha 15:00

KNE 382 Taif 15:00

IRA 666 Esfahan 15:10

FDB 060 Dubai 15:10

GFA 222 Bahrain 15:25

KAC 673 Dubai 15:40

SVA 501 Jeddah 15:45

KAC 775 Riyadh 15:50

KAC 743 Dammam 15:55

KNE 530 Jeddah 16:00

KAC 615 Bahrain 16:05

KAC 563 Amman 16:10

KAC 619 Doha 16:10

ETD 304 Abu Dhabi 16:20

OMA 646 Muscat 16:35

KAC 785 Jeddah 16:40

ABY 128 Sharjah 16:45

SAW 706 Damascus 17:00

SYR 342 Damascus 17:00

KAC 361 Colombo 17:35

FDB 052 Dubai 17:40

UAE 858 Dubai 17:45

KAC 283 Dhaka 17:45

QTR 1073 Doha 17:50

KAC 331 Trivandrum 18:00

JZR 721 Alexandria 18:00

JZR 733 Cairo 18:10

SVA 511 Riyadh 18:15


KAC 621 Doha 18:25

JZR 127 Dubai 18:35

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JZR 403 Hyderabad 18:40

KAC 381 Delhi 18:55

FDB 064 Dubai 19:20

UAE 876 Dubai 19:30

MSR 621 Cairo 19:30

QTR 1081 Doha 19:55

ABY 124 Sharjah 20:05


JZR 1735 Cairo 20:20

KAC 357 Kochi 20:30

FDB 058 Dubai 20:35

KAC 301 Mumbai 20:35

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with passenger belongings, human remains, and air-plane parts around a massive crater at the point ofimpact. “I was near the river near the crash site. Shortlyafter the crash police and a fire crew from a nearby airforce camp came and extinguished the plane’s flameson the ground,” Dechasa said. “The plane was in flamesin its rear side shortly before the crash. The plane wasswerving erratically before the crash.”

The Boeing 737-800MAX was brand new, deliveredto state-owned Ethiopian Airways on November 15,said the carrier, Africa’s largest. The plane is the sametype as the Indonesian Lion Air jet that crashed lastOctober, 13 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all189 people on board. Foreign governments saidtourists, business people, doctors, and a Kenyan foot-ball official were among the dead.

Also on board was at least one staff member of theUN Environment Program meeting in Nairobi fromtoday for an annual assembly of 4,700 heads of state,ministers, business leaders, senior UN officials and civilsociety representatives. “As many of you have alreadyheard, at least one of our colleagues is unaccountedfor,” UNEP acting head Joyce Msuya said in a messageto staff, adding more losses are feared.

Ethiopian Airlines said the plane had taken off at8:38 am (0538 GMT) from Bole International Airportand “lost contact” six minutes later. It came down nearTulu Fara village outside the town of Bishoftu. The car-rier, which changed its logo on Twitter to black andwhite from its trademark green, yellow, and red, said“there are no survivors”. “We can only hope that she isnot on that flight,” Peter Kimani, who had come to fetchhis sister at Nairobi’s JKIA, told AFP after news of the

disaster reached those waiting in the arrivals hall.Loved ones were later brought to the onsite

Sheraton Hotel where they were debriefed and offeredcounselling. Journalists were not allowed in, but couldhear sobbing from inside. Ethiopian Airlines said Kenyahad the largest number of casualties with 32, followedby Canada with 18, Ethiopia nine, then Italy, China, andthe United States with eight each. Britain and Franceeach had seven people on board, Egypt six, andGermany five. Twelve countries in Africa and 14 inEurope had citizens among the victims.

African Union commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamatspoke of “utter shock and immense sadness”, whileMahboub Maalim, executive secretary of the IGAD EastAfrican bloc, said the region and the world were inmourning. “I cannot seem to find words comfortingenough to the families and friends of those who mighthave lost their lives in this tragedy,” Maalim said in a state-ment. Sympathy messages also came from the govern-ments of Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Britain and Germany.

GebreMariam said the plane had flown in fromJohannesburg earlier yesterday, spent three hours inAddis and was “dispatched with no remark”, meaningno problems were flagged. Asked if the pilot had madea distress call, the CEO said “the pilot mentioned thathe had difficulties and he wants to return. He was givenclearance” to turn around. The senior captain, YaredGetachew, had some 8,000 flight hours under his belt.Ethiopian and American investigators will probe thecrash, said GebreMariam.

The last major accident involving an EthiopianAirlines passenger plane was a Boeing 737-800 thatexploded after taking off from Lebanon in 2010, killing83 passengers and seven crew. For one family memberwaiting in Nairobi there was a happy ending. Khalid AliAbdulrahman was waiting for his son who works inDubai and feared the worst when a security official toldhim the plane had crashed. “I was shocked, but shortlyafter, my son contacted me and told me he is still inAddis and did not board that flight, he is waiting for thesecond one which has been delayed.” — Agencies

New EthiopianAirlines Boeing...


or exit Kuwait unless they have a valid passport andcivil ID. He said those who have a residency sticker intheir passports issued before the implementation of this

decision will be exempted from presenting the civil ID,provided their residency permit is valid.

Meanwhile, the Public Authority for Civil Information(PACI) has stopped issuing civil IDs to all expats andstipulated that they refer to the interior ministry andpresent their original passport to update their Latin namefor the renewal application to be accepted and ID cardissued. The names in Latin of many expats in the min-istry’s database do not match those on their passports, asearlier the names were only in Arabic in the residencyinformation, and were based on PACI’s translation.

New iqama process begins; names on...


alleged violations which cost public funds millionsof dollars in losses.

He said that he was surprised that he got theanswers from the Kuwait Ports Authority directly with-out passing through the two ministers. Adasani said theauthority’s letter told him that it was illegal for him tointerfere in the issue since it is being tackled by thejudiciary. The lawmaker however said that even if theissue is being handled by the judiciary, it does not pre-vent him from exposing the violations, since publicfunds had been stolen. He said that he has got all thenecessary documents to prove all the financial viola-tions that have taken place since the fund was estab-lished over 10 years ago.

Meanwhile, head of the National Assembly’s humanrights committee MP Adel Al-Damkhi said the commit-tee held a meeting with officials of the national humanrights commission and discussed why the commission

has not been set up yet. He said the panel found thatthe commission, the law of which was passed four yearsago, was still ink on paper and nothing functional on theground.

The commission has no premises or budget or evenan internal charter, which were supposed to have beenfinalized six months after the law was issued. Damkhialso said that a draft law passed by the committee lastmonth giving sweeping civil and social rights to thou-sands of stateless people (bedoons) will be debated inthe Assembly after arrangements with the government.The bill grants bedoons the right to education, medicalcare, official marriage certificates and others.

MP Osama Al-Shaheen yesterday sent a series ofquestions to Minister of Public Works and HousingJenan Bushehri about investigations launched into thedamage caused by torrential rains in November lastyear. He asked the minister how many investigationcommittees have been formed by the ministry of publicworks or the roads authority or any other bodies andwanted to know the outcome of those investigations.

The lawmaker asked the minister about administra-tive and technical measures taken in the face of short-comings exposed by the rains. He also asked if anypublic employee has been penalized over the problemsassociated with the rains.

MP threatensaction over ports...


Earlier surveys released in January, before the mostrecent tension with Pakistan, showed the BJP and its alliesemerging as the largest group in the election but fallingshort of a majority. In 2014’s general election, the BJP won282 out of 543 contested seats - the strongest showing forany political party in three decades. However, the mainopposition Congress party, which late last year ousted theBJP from power in three largely rural states, is trying toband together with regional and caste-based parties to oustModi. Congress, controlled by the Nehru-Gandhi dynastythat ruled India for most of its post-independence history, isbanking on voter resentment to propel the oppositionalliance to victory.

The recent clashes between India and Pakistan weretriggered after a Feb 14 suicide bombing that killed 40Indian paramilitary police in the northern region of Kashmirclaimed by both countries. A Pakistan-based militant groupclaimed responsibility for the attack and India accusedPakistan of complicity - a charge Pakistan denies. Aerial

confrontations between the nuclear-armed nations ensuedand, although questions have been raised about how effec-tive the Indian military action actually was, Modi’s approvalrating soared.

“For the first time I will vote for Narendra Modi, becauseI like what he has done against Pakistan,” said Anjali Tivarias she was picking up her son from school in Mumbai. “I’mimpressed. He gave the right answer to Pakistan.” HSBCSecurities and Capital Markets said in a note that nationalsecurity and nationalism could trump economic issues indetermining voters preferences. Arora, the chief electioncommissioner, said three special observers would bedeployed in the northern Jammu and Kashmir state, whereIndia is battling multiple insurgencies and where electionsare usually marred by violence. Votes will be counted onMay 23, he said.

He also said Facebook, Twitter, Google and WhatsApphave committed to cracking down on fake news by deploy-ing fact checkers and grievance officers. There has beenmounting concern in India that political party workers couldspread false news on the social media platforms to swayvoters. WhatsApp has in particular become a key campaigntool used widely by both leading parties. The commissionhas also set up a separate team to monitor expenditure ofpolitical parties after a record spend in the 2014 election.Many parties understate their expenses and monitoring hasbeen difficult in the past. — Reuters

India to hold mega-election...

WASHINGTON: A text-generating “bot” nicknamedTobi produced nearly 40,000 news stories about theresults of the Nov 2018 elections in Switzerland for themedia giant Tamedia - in just five minutes. These kinds ofartificial intelligence programs - available for nearly adecade - are becoming more widespread as newsorganizations turn to them to produce stories, personal-ize news delivery and in some cases sift through data tofind important news.

Tobi wrote on vote results for each of Switzerland’s2,222 municipalities, in both French and German, for thecountry’s largest media group, according to a paper pre-sented last month at the Computation + Journalism con-ference in Miami. A similar automated program calledHeliograf has enabled The Washington Post daily to cov-er some 500 election races, along with local sports andbusiness, since 2014.

“We’ve seen a greater acceptance of the potentialfor artificial intelligence, or robo-journalism, in news-rooms around the world,” said Damian Radcliffe, aUniversity of Oregon professor who follows consumertrends and business models for journalism. “These sys-tems can offer speed and accuracy and potentially sup-port the realities of smaller newsrooms and the timepressures of journalists.”

News organizations say the bots are not intended todisplace human reporters or editors but rather to helpfree them from the most monotonous tasks, such assports results and earnings reports. Jeremy Gilbert,

director of strategic initiatives at The Washington Post,said Heliograf was developed as a tool to help the news-paper’s editorial team. “The Post has an incredible teamof reporters and editors and we didn’t want to replacethem,” Gilbert told AFP.

‘Is this something we can automate?’ Gilbert said the bot can deliver and update stories

more quickly as they develop, allowing reporters to con-centrate on other tasks, and that reaction has been gen-erally positive. “The surprise was that a lot of peoplecame up and said, ‘I do this story every week; is thissomething we can automate?’” Gilbert said. “Theseweren’t stories that anyone wanted to do.”

Similar conversations are going on in newsroomsaround the world. The Norwegian news agency NTBautomated sports reports to get match results deliveredwithin 30 seconds. The Los Angeles Times developed a“quakebot” that quickly distributes news articles on tem-blors in the region and also uses an automated system aspart of its Homicide Report.

The Associated Press has been automating quarterlyearnings reports for some 3,000 listed companies,allowing the news agency to expand from what had beenjust a few hundred, and this year announced plans withits partner Automated Insights to deliver computer-gen-erated previews of college basketball games. Rival newsagency Reuters last year announced the launch of LynxInsight, which uses automated data analysis to identify

trends and anomalies and to suggest stories reportersshould write.

Bloomberg’s computerized system called Cyborg“dissects a company’s earnings the moment they appear”and produces within seconds a “mini-wrap with all thenumbers and a lot of context,” editor-in-chief JohnMicklethwait wrote last year, noting that one-fourth ofthe agency’s content “has some degree of automation.”France’s Le Monde and its partner Syllabs deployed acomputer program that generated 150,000 web pagescovering 36,000 municipalities in the 2015 elections.One advantage of using algorithmically generated storiesis that they can also be “personalized”, or delivered tothe relevant localities, which can be useful for electionsand sports coverage.

Investigative robo-reporter? While news professionals acknowledge the limits of

computer programs, they also note that automated sys-tems can sometimes accomplish things humans can’t. TheAtlanta Journal-Constitution used a data journalism teamto uncover 450 cases of doctors who were broughtbefore medical regulators or courts for sexual miscon-duct, finding that nearly half remained licensed to prac-tice medicine. The newspaper used machine learning, anartificial intelligence tool, to analyze each case andassign a “probability rating” on sexual misconduct, whichwas then reviewed by a team of journalists.

Studies appear to indicate consumers accept comput-

er-generated stories, which are mostly labeled as such. Areport prepared by researcher Andreas Graefe forColumbia University’s Tow Center said one study of Dutchreaders found that the label of computer-generated “hadno effect on people’s perceptions of quality.” A secondstudy of German readers, Graefe said, found that “auto-mated articles were rated as more credible,” althoughhuman-written news scored higher for “readability.”

Robot apocalypse? Even though journalists and robots appear to be

helping each other, fears persist about artificial intelli-gence spinning out of control and costing journalists’jobs. In February, researchers at the nonprofit centerOpenAI announced they had developed an automatictext generator so good that it is keeping details privatefor now. The researchers said the program could be usedfor nefarious purposes, including to generate fake newsarticles, impersonating others online, and automate fakecontent on social media.

But Meredith Broussard, a professor of data jour-nalism at New York University, said she does not seeany immediate threats of robots taking over news-rooms. She said there are many positive applicationsof AI in the newsroom, but that for now, most pro-grams handle “the most boring” stories. “There aresome jobs that are going to be automated, but overall,I’m not worried about the robot apocalypse in thenewsroom,” she said. — AFP

Robo-journalism gains traction in a shifting media landscape

RAMALLAH: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbasappointed long-time ally Mohammad Shtayyeh as primeminister yesterday, a senior official said, in a move seenas part of efforts to further isolate Hamas. Abbas askedShtayyeh, a member of the central committee of thePalestinian president’s Fatah party, to form a new gov-ernment, Fatah vice president Mahmoud Al-Aloul toldAFP. Official Palestinian news agency WAFA alsoreported the move.

Some analysts view bringing in Shtayyeh to replaceoutgoing prime minister Rami Hamdallah as part ofAbbas’ efforts to further isolate political rival Hamas, theIslamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip. Shtayyeh,61, is a long-term Abbas ally, while Hamdallah was polit-ically independent. The previous government wasformed during a period of improved relations and hadthe backing of Hamas.

This government is instead expected to be dominat-ed by Fatah, though other smaller parties will be repre-sented. Hamas will not be included. Hamas said theappointment reflected “Abbas’s unilateralism andmonopoly of power”. “Hamas stresses that it does notrecognize this separatist government because it wasformed without national consensus,” spokesman FawziBarhoum said in a statement. Shtayyeh has been part ofa number of Palestinian negotiating teams in US-bro-kered talks with Israel, and is a former government min-

ister. He is also an academic and economics professor.Hamdallah’s government submitted its resignation in

late January, though it has continued on an interim basis.Abbas remains the primary decision-maker and inter-locutor with the international community. Palestinianpolitics has essentially been paralyzed since 2007, whenIslamist group Hamas seized control of the Gaza Stripfrom Abbas’s forces in a near civil war, a year after win-ning parliamentary elections.

Since then Abbas’ governments have maintained lim-ited self-rule in the occupied West Bank, while Hamashas led a rival administration in Gaza. Abbas has recent-ly been in conflict with US President Donald Trump’sadministration, which is expected to release its long-awaited peace in the coming months. Abbas froze tieswith the White House after Trump declared JerusalemIsrael’s capital in 2017.

Trump has since then taken a series of steps againstthe Palestinians, including cutting some $500 million inaid. Palestinian leaders call it an attempt to blackmail theminto accepting a plan that they believe will destroy theirhopes for independent statehood. They view Trump’sadministration as blatantly biased in favor of Israel.

Abbas won a four-year term as president in 2005,but he has since remained in office without further elec-tions. The 83-year-old who has had recent health issueshas not publicly lined up a successor and the move toname Shtayyeh could put him among the potential can-didates. Others mentioned as possible successorsinclude Al-Aloul, Palestine Liberation Organization sec-retary-general Saeb Erekat, senior Fatah official JibrilRajoub and head of Palestinian intelligence Majid Faraj.Polls show the most popular Palestinian leader isMarwan Barghouti, but he is serving five life sentencesin an Israeli jail for allegedly organizing and authorizinga series of killings of Israelis. — AFP

Palestinian president appoints loyalist Shtayyeh as new PM

CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi warnedyesterday against the dangers of protesting, in the wake ofwidespread demonstrations in Algeria and neighboringSudan. Sisi, who regularly evokes political stability to drawforeign investment, said protesters elsewhere were “ruin-ing” their countries.

The president fell short of naming the countries,although neighboring Sudan has since December seenregular demonstrations against longtime ruler Omar Al-Bashir. In Algeria, tens of thousands of people have ralliedin recent weeks against ailing President AbdelazizBouteflika’s bid for a fifth term in office. “All this talk (ofprotests) comes at a price that people are required topay,” Sisi said in a televised address to a military gathering.

Egypt’s president has overseen a crackdown on dissent,banning protests and jailing Islamists as well as liberal andsecular activists. A former general, Sisi came to power fol-lowing mass demonstrations against the rule of his Islamistpredecessor Mohamed Morsi in 2013. The president hasrepeatedly criticized the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011,which in Egypt ended the rule of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

“How are tourism or factories or trade supposed to getoff the ground? Should we eat or should we say that wewere busy protesting?” he said yesterday. Egyptianauthorities insist curbing freedoms - including tightening

Internet controls - are necessary to maintain stability andcounter terrorism in the country. Recently, rare calls forprotest emerged on social media following a train crash atCairo’s central station that killed 22 people.

“Dozens were arrested for calling for the protestsonline after the crash,” rights lawyer Gamal Eid told AFPyesterday. In January, Amnesty International saidEgypt’s intensified crackdown on dissent has made thecountry “more dangerous” than ever for peaceful critics.Running virtually unopposed, Sisi was re-elected inMarch 2018 for another four-year term with over 97percent of the vote after all serious challengers werearrested or dropped out. Parliament stacked with Sisi’ssupporters are looking into constitutional amendmentsto extend his tenure beyond 2022.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s annual urban consumer priceinflation increased to 14.4 percent in February from 12.7percent in January, the official statistics agency CAP-MAS said yesterday, confounding some analysts’ expec-tations of an imminent easing cycle. Inflation had cooledto 12 percent in December after an increase in fuel, elec-tricity and transportation prices last year had sent therate up to a high of 17.7 percent in October.

Prices in the transport sector rose 32 percent,CAPMAS said, while food and beverage pricesincreased 15.3 percent year-on-year. The accommo-dation, water, electricity, gas and fuel sector saw pricerises of 15.2 percent, the agency said. The educationsector’s prices rose by 15.1 percent. Egypt has imple-mented a series of tough austerity measures to helpmeet the terms of a $12 billion IMF loan program itsigned in late 2016. — Agencies

Sisi warns against dangers of protesting

Monday, March 11, 2019S p o r t s

Djokovic dispatches Fratangelo to book Kohlschreiber clash

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Kyrgios falls at first hurdle at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS: World number one Naomi Osakalaunched her Indian Wells WTA title defense with a6-3, 6-4 victory in a grudge match against KristinaMladenovic on Saturday. Osaka, whose secondstraight Grand Slam title at the Australian Open inJanuary propelled her to the top of the rankings, wasbeaten by 65th-ranked Mladenovic in Dubai lastmonth in her first match since she lifted the trophy inMelbourne.

Keen to avoid a repeat, Osaka marched throughthe opening set in 38 minutes, but she hit a speedbump as she was broken when serving for the matchat 5-2 in the second. After Mladenovic held serve tonarrow the deficit to 5-4, the Japanese player facedanother break point before wrapping up the matchafter one hour and 21 minutes. “The last time I playedher I lost, so anything’s a bonus,” Osaka said, addingthat she felt a few butterflies before opening the firsttitle defense of her career. Her surprise triumph atIndian Wells last year launched a 2018 campaign thatwould eventually include her first Grand Slam crownat the US Open.

“I’ve never been a defending champion before,that’s new and I was really nervous,” said Osaka,who booked a third-round meeting with AmericanDanielle Collins, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over KirstenFlipkens.

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williamspulled off the upset of the day, rallying from a setand two breaks down to topple third-seeded PetraKvitova 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. “I just fought and tried myhardest,” said Williams, currently ranked 36th in theworld. “A double break is not ideal against a greatserver, especially a left-handed server,” Williamssaid, adding that the secret to coming back was “justbeing in the moment”. “I think I created some oppor-tunities. I had some good points. I think she had afew tight points, and here we are.”

She booked a third-round clash with fellowAmerican Christina McHale, a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 winnerover 30th-seeded Russian AnastasiaPavlyuchenkova. Two-time Wimbledon championKvitova, who was runner-up to Osaka in Melbourne,appeared to have taken control of the stadium courtslugfest when she broke Williams for a 4-3 lead inthe third. But Williams immediately broke back andKvitova soon found herself serving to save thematch. She took a 40-15 lead in the final game, buttwo double faults, followed by a lucky netcordbounce for Williams gave the American a matchpoint and Kvitova sailed a ball long to end mattersafter two hours and 27 minutes.

Williams pulled off the unlikely comeback despitefailing to produce a single ace although she said hervarying serve speeds were “what I needed to do”.She was broken four times, but proved more consis-tent in the bruising baseline rallies. Kvitova fired 10aces, but also had 10 double faults and while theCzech fired 38 winners to Williams’s 15, her 56unforced errors were more than double theAmerican’s 25.

“It was such a weird match,” Kvitova said, callingit her worst of the year. “I took the first set. SuddenlyI was leading in the second, but somehow I just gaveher a chance again to be back in the match, and shetook it. “I was so frustrated with myself from the halfof the second set to the end, which shouldn’t happento me,” she said.

There was disappointment, too, for 2011 winnerCaroline Wozaniacki, who fell 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 to 59th-ranked Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova. — AFP

Osaka turns tables on Mladenovic, Venus rallies at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS: World number one Novak Djokovicshook off a nervy start to dispatch US qualifier BjornFratangelo in straight sets Saturday to reach the thirdround of the ATP Indian Wells Masters. Djokovic, play-ing his first match since winning a record seventhAustralian Open title in January, was less than sharp inconceding an early break to his 128th-ranked rival.

He broke back as Fratangelo served for the set toknot it at 5-5, and then raced to a 4-1 lead in thetiebreaker. Djokovic had to dig deep, however, whenFratangelo battled back to lead the tiebreaker 5-4.After a double fault and a forehand error from the 25-year-old American, Djokovic suddenly had a set point,and once he’d pocketed the set, the second went all hisway. “To be honest, I was a bit nervous in the begin-ning,” admitted Djokovic, who is going for a recordsixth Indian Wells title. Djokovic, currently tied withRoger Federer on five wins in the California desert, canalso tie world number two Rafael Nadal’s record of 33Masters 1000 titles.

“I haven’t competed for over five weeks. I was a bitrusty in the first set. I was kind of waiting for him to dosomething with the ball rather than doing it myself. “Iwas lucky to get the first set. After that, things wentbetter for me,” added Djokovic, who loped over toshare a word with US great Pete Sampras in the standsafter wrapping up the victory in one hour and 29 min-utes. Djokovic next faces German PhilippKohlschreiber, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Australian NickKyrgios. Kyrgios, seeded 31st, was coming off a scintil-lating run to the Mexico Open title in Acapulco, wherehe defeated Nadal, ninth-ranked John Isner and, in thefinal, third-ranked German Alexander Zverev.

Kyrgios said it wasn’t a matter of an emotional let-down in the wake of his first title in over a year. “I didn’treally have a problem getting up. I just didn’t play welltoday,” he said. “He’s an incredible competitor,” Kyrgiossaid. “He knows how to win tennis matches.”

As men’s seeds swung into action after first-roundbyes, third-seeded Zverev advanced when Slovakianfoe Martin Klizan retired with an ankle injury with theGerman leading 6-3, 2-0.

Action opened on stadium court with 18-year-oldCanadian Felix Auger-Aliassime powering pastGreece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-4, 6-2, for his first winover a top-10 player. In a battle of two ATP youngguns, 58th-ranked Auger-Aliassime came out firing, andhis aggression paid off with a victory over 20-year-oldTsitsipas, who shot to prominence with a victory overFederer at the Australian Open.

He moved into the top 10 for the first time with hisrunner-up finish to Federer in Dubai, where the Swissgreat claimed a remarkable 100th career title. ButTsitsipas could find no answer to Auger-Aliassime, whobroke early in the first to gain the upper hand andseized a 2-1 lead with the first of two breaks in the sec-ond. Auger-Aliassime saved all seven break points hefaced-six of them in the first set. “It’s unbelievable,”Auger-Aliassime said. “I never expected to play thatwell today, to get my first top-10 win is special, againstStefanos who has been playing so well.”

Auger-Aliassime, who next faces Japan’s YoshihitoNishioka, is one of four teens in the draw, along withcountryman Denis Shapovalov, Alexei Popyrin andlucky loser Miomir Kecmanovic. Kecmanovic gainedentry into the second round in place of injured fifth-

seed Kevin Anderson.He made the most of his chance, beating Germany’s

Maximilian Marterer, 6-3, 6-2, to reach the third round.

At the other end of the age spectrum, 40-year-old IvoKarlovic advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) victory over11th-seeded Croatian Borna Coric. —AFP

INDIAN WELLS: Novak Djokovic of Serbia plays a backhand against Bjorn Fratangelo of the United States duringtheir men’s singles second round match on day six of the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden onMarch 09, 2019 in Indian Wells, California. — AFP

KUWAIT: Zain, the leading digital service provider inKuwait, awarded the winning teams of GulfRun’sKarting Endurance Race as part of its strategic part-nership of the 14th edition of GulfRun, the GCC’s mostpopular motorsport event. The event, held at KuwaitMotor Town Race Circuit in Arifjan, in March.

Zain strongly believes in the important role the pri-vate sector plays in developing the youth and sportssectors in Kuwait. The company makes this concept areality by sponsoring and supporting various majorsporting events in Kuwait, including this regional event,as well as sponsoring and encouraging many Kuwaitiathletes who represent Kuwait in local, regional, andinternational arenas. Many of these athletes, whoachieve great titles that Zain takes pride in, are motor-sports champions.

GulfRun involved a Karting Endurance race, whichwas held at Kuwait’s Motor Town Race Circuit over acontinuous period of 24 hours. The activity witnessedtremendous success, gathering many enthusiasts of

this sport alongside the public. Zain awarded “ZainKarting Team” for winning the first place title, as wellas awarding the winners of the second and third placetitles.

GulfRun already kick-started with the sports carsshow that took place at Murooj, where participantsshowcased their exquisite high-speed sports cars andthrilled visitors. In addition, the main GulfRun race,held at Bahrain International Circuit in the Kingdom ofBahrain, was a true test of the participants’ motorsportskills, where they had the chance to take part in severaltraining procedures in preparation for the final racethat was extremely popular with professional and ama-teur racers alike.

Next March, GulfRun will feature the KartingEndurance race that will be held at the recently-opened Kuwait Motor Town Race Circuit in Arifjan,where it will continue over a period of 24-hours, offer-ing racers, both professionals and amateurs, with anexciting and safe atmosphere to compete and win the

race title. The Karting Endurance race will also featurethe participation of Zain’s team.

Zain’s support to GulfRun comes in line with itskeenness on encouraging the various efforts that con-tribute to developing the Kuwaiti youth and sportssectors. The company puts the support of Kuwaitisports at the forefront of its priorities under theumbrella of its Corporate Sustainability and SocialResponsibility strategy, and Zain’s support of Kuwaitichampions results in many achievements that the com-pany is proud of one year after another.

GulfRun is considered an ideal and safe alternativeto street racing, which threatens the lives of many peo-ple, many of them young drivers. Motorsport enthusi-asts are able to showcase their talents within profes-sional and certified grounds at the Kuwait Motor TownRace Circuit and Bahrain International Circuit, in addi-tion to having taken advantage of the opportunity togain valuable insights with the help of qualified trainersand experienced professional instructors.

Waleed Al Khashti awarding a group of winners. From the GulfRun race at Kuwait Motor Town Circuit.

Zain awards winners of GulfRun Karting Endurance Race

KUWAIT: Kuwait Airways Corporation(KAC) announced sponsoring KuwaitSpecial Olympics national Team as anofficial carrier of the team that left onFriday from T4 aboard a KAC flightheading to Abdu Dhabi to take part in the15th Special Olympics World Gamestourney held in UAE in the period ofMarch 14-21. The team comprising of 86players received swift service through 10check-in counters.

In this regard, KAC’s PR and mediamanager, Fayez Al-Enezi said that thissponsorship is part of KAC’s socialresponsibility activities and represents itskeenness on supporting people with spe-

cial needs to represent Kuwait in interna-tional arenas. He added that KAC is alsokeen on encouraging young people withspecial needs to integrate with theirpeers in various sports, cultural andsocial fields. On her part, head of theKuwaiti delegation and the chairpersonof Al-Tomooh Sport Club for IntellectualDisabilities and the manager of KuwaitSpecial Olympic Games, Rehab Boreslyexpressed her joy with the new experi-ence of taking part in the games alongwith 7,500 players from 192 countries.“This will be a unique experience forboth the players and their parents”, sheunderlined.

KAC sponsors 15th Special Olympics World Games tourney

Monday, March 11, 2019S p o r t s

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KRANJSKA GORA: Marcel Hirscher madecertain of his eighth consecutive overall WorldCup crown when he completed his second runin the slalom in Kranjska Gora in Slovenia yes-terday. The Austrian began the day with ahuge lead in the overall standings over AlexisPinturault of France with five races to go.Hirscher was sixth after the first run. Hestayed on his feet and recorded a time thatensured he would collect enough points towin his 20th crystal globe.

After al l the competitors had finished,Hirscher was third behind winner RamonZenhaeusern of Switzerland and NorwegianHenrik Kristoffersen. Pinturault was seventh.The result means Hirscher is 509 points aheadof Pinturault with four races left, one of them adownhill-a discipline in which neither skierhas ever finished on a World Cup podium, anda maximum of 400 points to ski for.

The huge Zenhaeusern, who stands 2metres (6’7”) tall, was only seventh after thefirst run but was fastest in the second to beatKristoffersen by 1.15sec, for a first careerslalom victory, although the Swiss skier haswon two World Cup city knockout races.

Kristoffersen, who had won his last threeraces, seemed set to add to his streak whenhe led by almost half a second after the firstrun but was only 24th second time down. Inthird, Hirscher took his 138th career podiumdespite a much less convincing performancethan usual.

But, in his competition with the legends ofskiing history, the Austrian further increasedhis lead. He already held the record for mostoverall titles. He now has two more than thesecond most successful skier in history,another Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell,who won six large globes. The most successfulman had been Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg,with five. American Lindsey Vonn and AustrianHermann Maier both won four.

With 68 race victories in the World Cup,Hirscher, who turned 30 a week ago, can aimfor the record of 86 set by Sweden’s IngemarStenmark, if he is prepared to keep going longenough. The Austrian suggested at the timethat the World Championships in Are inSweden in February, where he won a fifth indi-vidual title, would be his last, and is mullingretirement after this season. He has talked ofthe pressure from Austrian fans and the loneli-ness of the circuit.

World Cup standings after Sunday’s slalom in Kranjska Gora:

Overall (after 34 of 38 races): 1. MarcelHirscher (AUT) 1,508 pts, 2. Alexis Pinturault(FRA) 999, 3. Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR)988, 4. Dominik Paris (ITA) 750, 5. BeatFeuz (SUI) 653 , 6 . Vincent Kr iechmayr(AUT) 634, 7. Aleksander Aamodt Ki lde(NOR) 587, 8. Mauro Caviezel (SUI) 566, 9.Marco Schwarz (AUT) 560, 10. Daniel Yule(SUI) 491

Slalom after (12 of 13 races):1. Marcel Hirscher (AUT) 768 pts, 2. Daniel

Yule (SUI) 491, 3=. Ramon Zenhaeusern (SUI)471, 3=. Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) 471, 5.Clement Noel (FRA) 451. — AFP

Hirscher seals eighth straight overall WCup title

Handscomb hundred and Turnerblitz help Australia to level series

Dhawan roars back into form with a career-best 143 MOHALI: Peter Handscomb struck his maiden ODIhundred and Ashton Turner smashed a blistering 84 notout to secure Australia’s series-levelling four-wicketvictory against India in the high-scoring fourth one-day international in Mohali yesterday.

Chasing a steep 359 to stay alive in the series,Australia were 12-2 in the fourth over beforeHandscomb (117) and Usman Khawaja raised 192 runsto put their chase back on track. Turner then explodeddown the order, clobbering six sixes and five fours inhis charmed 43-ball blitz as Australia romped homewith 13 balls to spare.

Earlier, Rohit Sharma (95) narrowly missed his cen-tury but Shikhar Dhawan roared back into form with acareer-best 143 to help India post a commanding 358-9after electing to bat first.

Dhawan went into the match having totalled 41 runsfrom his last five outings in limited-overs cricket, a rundrought he ended with his 16th ODI hundred, raising193 runs with fellow opener Rohit in the process.

Rohit clubbed a couple of sixes and seven bound-aries to inch close to his century before his front-footpull off Jhye Richardson found Handscomb at midwick-et. Dhawan hit three sixes and 18 boundaries, steppingout even to the fast bowlers in a dominant display ofbatting. Pat Cummins ended the boundary carnage bybowling him out. Rishabh Pant, replacing the rested

Mahendra Singh Dhoni in one of the four changes tothe India squad, made 36 before falling to Cummins (5-70) who claimed his maiden five-wicket haul in ODIs.

Australia, missing all-rounder Marcus Stoinisthrough a thumb injury, were jolted early in their chase.Bhuvneshwar Kumar breached Aaron Finch’s defenceto dismiss the Australia captain for a duck in the firstover and Jasprit Bumrah yorked Shaun Marsh in thefourth. Khawaja and Handscomb defied India for nearly30 overs and did not panic even as the required runrate climbed above nine. Kuldeep Yadav deniedKhawaja his second century of the series, dismissingthe opener for 91. Handscomb brought up his hundredoff 92 balls to keep Australia on course, with thetourists needing 98 from the last 10 overs with sixwickets in hand.

Yuzvendra Chahal eventually ended Handscomb’s105-ball knock, which included three sixes and eightfours. Glenn Maxwell (23) could not provide the lateassault but Turner tore into the Indian attack with somebreathtaking power-hitting.

He needed 33 balls to bring up his maiden ODI fiftythough was lucky to be dropped twice in three balls inthe 47th over sent down by Kumar having also surviveda stumping chance earlier in his knock. The teams nowmove to New Delhi for the decisive fifth and final matchof the series on Wednesday. — Reuters

MOHALI: India cricketer Kuldeep Yadav (2R) celebrates the wicket of Australia cricketer Glenn Maxwell (R) duringthe fourth one-day international (ODI) cricket match between India and Australia at the Punjab Cricket AssociationStadium in Mohali yesterday. —AFP

WELLINGTON: New Zealand short-ball maestro NeilWagner believed a result in the rain-affected secondTest against Bangladesh was still “definitely possible”after New Zealand trailed by 173 at stumps on daythree in Wellington yesterday.

New Zealand reached 38 for two in reply toBangladesh’s first innings 211 after the first two dayswere washed out. Thirteen wickets fell in the 72 overspossible, leading New Zealand’s chief wicket-takerWagner to think there was still time to force a result inthe remaining two days.

“It’s definitely possible,” Wagner said havingremoved the cream of the Bangladesh side with four for28. “If we keep taking it session by session and get our-selves into the lead and pile on whatever we can, any-thing is possible.”

New Zealand will resume today with Ross Taylor on19 and Kane Williamson on 10. Tamim Iqbal gave thetourists a sound start with 74 as Bangladesh reached119 for one before the next nine wickets fell for just 92runs. New Zealand, in reply, were reduced to eight fortwo as Abu Jayed claimed both openers cheaply, butWilliamson and Taylor steadied the innings before therain returned to force an early close.

Williamson, who won the toss, had no hesitation inbowling first on a green wicket but it did not hold the

demons that conditions suggested. Tamim and ShadmanIslam put on 75 for the first wicket-their third consecu-tive fifty-plus stand as new-ball pair Boult and TimSouthee were unable to generate much swing or effec-tive seam movement.

Once they were out of the attack the wickets beganto fall with Colin de Grandhomme accounting forShadman for 27 before Wagner weaved his magic. “Itried to pitch my first over up and went for 10 runs sothere wasn’t a lot of swing or a lot of movement at thatpoint of time,” Wagner said explaining why he revertedto his favoured short deliveries.

“Obviously, I wanted to try and make the most out ofthe bounce ... and try and get nicks, try and get a gloveand see if it goes through to BJ (Watling) and luckily itworked on the day.” Unlike the first Test when the

Bangladesh batsmen were troubled by the menacingheight he extracted from the pitch, this time they werethe architects of their own downfall with the wicketscoming from injudicious pull shots or unnecessary legside flicks. “Batsmen have to think before playing theirshots,” said Liton Das, the second highest scorer with33. “We know (Wagner) will bowl short from where youhave very little to do. Sometimes the only way to tacklehim is by leaving the deliveries. If we can focus moreagainst him and leave him more, it might help us.”

In a telling 13-ball spell either side of lunch, Wagnerfirst removed Mominul Haque (15) and MohammadMithun (three) before the break and soon after theresumption took the key wicket of Tamim, who top-edged an attempted pull shot. Boult mopped up the tailwith three wickets for four runs in nine balls. — AFP

Result ‘definitely possible’ as NZ reach 38 for two

SCOREBOARD

Bangladesh first inningsTamim Iqbal c Southee b N Wagner 74Shadman Islam c Taylor b de Grandhomme 27Mominul Haque c Watling b Wagner 15M. Mithun c Watling b Wagner 3Soumya Sarkar c Watling b Henry 20Mahmudullah c de Grandhomme b Wagner 13Liton Das c Williamson b Southee 33Taijul Islam lbw Boult 8Mustafizur Rahman b Boult 0Abu Jayed b Boult 4Ebadat Hossain not out 0Extras: (b4, lb7, wd2, nb1) 14

Total: (all out, 61 overs) 211 Fall of wickets: 1-75 (Shadman), 2-119 (Mominul), 3-127(Mithun), 4-134 (Tamim), 5-152 (Soumya), 6-168(Mahmudullah), 7-206 (Taijul), 8-206 (Rahman), 9-207 (Das),10-211 (Jayed)Bowling: Boult 11-3-38-3, Southee 15-2-52-1 (2w, 1nb), deGrandhomme 7-0-15-1, Henry 15-0-67-1, Wagner 13-4-28-4.

New Zealand: Jeet Raval, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson (capt),Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, BJ Watling, Colin de Grandhomme,Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult.Series: New Zealand lead 1-0

Scoreboard at the end of the Bangladesh first innings on day three of the rain-shorted second Test against New Zealand inWellington.

By Abdellatif Sharaa

KUWAIT: The tournament of Sheikh Jaber Al-Abdallah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Cup concluded at Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Olympic ShootingComplex in the presence of patron representative Sheikh Abdallah Al-Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, President of Kuwait and Arab ShootingFederations Eng Duaij Khalaf Al-Otaibi, Secretary General ObeidMunahi Al-Osaimi, Assistant Secretary Eng Mohammad Misfer Al-Ghurba and board members.Competitions continued for three days in the 10 meter pistol and rifle aswell as Olympic archery.Results of the tournament were as follow:In the 10m air rif le men: Abdullah Al-Harbi, Khalid Ibrahim,Mohammad Adel.In the 10m air pistol men: Ali Al-Mutairi, Hassan Abdulmajed, SaadNughegan.In the 10m air rifle women: Maryam Arzouqi, Yara Al-Khalaf, FatemahAbdulmalek.In the 10m air pistol women: Amera Awad, Sundos Al-Hamad, MaryamAl-Kandari.Olympic Archery men: Abdallah Taha, Faisal Sendi, Abdallah Al-Harby.Olympic Archery men - compound: Abdallah Malallah, Salem Al-Saeed, Amer Al-Hajiri.Archery - open category: Hatem Al-Osaimi, Suad Al-Bahar, Mohammad Munahi.

Sheikh Jaber Al-Abdallah Al-Sabah Cup concludes

SYDNEY: David Warner smashed a rapid-firecentury for his Sydney club side on his returnfrom elbow surgery, reinforcing his destructiveabilities ahead of the World Cup in England. Theopener plundered seven sixes and four fours inhis 77-ball onslaught for Randwick-Petersham,better known as the Randy Petes, in a one-daygame against Penrith that they lost.

He was finally caught during Saturday’s match,in front of a few dozen fans, off the bowling of 18-year-old left-armer Henry Railz, the CricketAustralia website reported. Year-long ball-tam-

pering bans from state and international forWarner and former Australian skipper SteveSmith run out on March 28.

They were both left out of Australia’s squad onFriday for the upcoming one-day series againstPakistan despite being eligible for the final twogames. Selector Trevor Hohns said they would bebetter served easing their way back at the IndianPremier League, which gets under way thismonth. Both men were forced to pull out of theBangladesh Premier League Twenty20 tourna-ment in January with elbow injuries and theyunderwent surgery. Smith’s injury was worse thanWarner’s and he is yet to return, although hepicked up a bat again and had a session at theSydney Cricket Ground last week.

“We all know they’re two of the better playersin world cricket,” Hohns told reporters on Friday.“So it’s only natural we will take them seriouslyinto consideration when we pick our World Cupsquad. The main thing for them and us is to havethem playing competitive cricket.” —AFP

Warner smacks ton on return from surgery

S p o r t s Monday, March 11, 2019

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Matches on TV (Local Timings)

ITALIAN CALCIO LEAGUEAS Roma v Empoli 22:30beIN SPORTS

GERMAN BUNDESLIGAFortuna D¸sseldorf v Eintracht Frankfurt 22:30beIN SPORTS

LONDON: Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish was punched by apitch-invading Birmingham fan in a shocking incident dur-ing yesterday’s Championship clash, but the midfielder hadthe last laugh as he scored the decisive goal in a 1-0 winover their bitter rivals.

Grealish was in the Birmingham penalty area in the 10thminute when a man ran on to the field and threw a punchfrom behind at the Villa captain. The blow caught Grealishon the side of the head and sent him sprawling to the turf.The intruder was quickly restrained by a steward as Villaplayers including Tammy Abraham and Glenn Whelanrushed to Grealish’s defence.

After the fan had been shoved over, he was eventuallyled away by police, defiantly blowing kisses to the crowd.A visibly furious Grealish was helped to his feet and wasable to continue playing once order was restored atBirmingham’s St Andrew’s stadium.

Grealish produced the perfect response to the assaultin the 70th minute. Taking possession 20 yards from goal,he advanced into the Birmingham penalty area beforedrilling a low shot into the far corner to seal Villa’s leaguedouble over their hated neighbours.

In a fittingly dramatic gesture, Grealish jumped into thestand to celebrate with the Villa fans behind the goal andwas booked as a result. West Midlands Police confirmedthe Birmingham supporter had been arrested, while theBlues condemned the attack as “deplorable and disgust-ing” and will apologise to Grealish personally.

It was reported Birmingham will ban the man for lifefrom St Andrew’s. “The EFL condemns the mindlessactions of the individual who encroached on to the pitch atSt Andrews yesterday afternoon,” a Football League state-ment read. “It’s a situation no player should ever be facedwith.”

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville said:“The club are going have to take a huge punishment forthis to act as a deterrent in the future. A Points deductionor Empty stadium for 10 games!”

Former Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie, working as a TVpundit at the match, added: “A fan running on to the pitchand taking someone like Jack out, there’s knife crime...anything could have happened out there.”

There is a long history of animosity betweenBirmingham and Villa supporters, with outbreaks of seri-ous violence in the streets marring many of the ‘secondcity’ derby encounters. There was fighting between rivalgangs before Sunday’s match, with police having to holdback fans while at least one man was seen being treatedby paramedics after suffering a head wound.

Fanning the flames further, Grealish is a boyhood Villafan and once turned down a chance to join Birmingham onloan when he was a youngster, reportedly saying: “I’m notgoing there”. In 2002, a Birmingham fan was jailed for fourmonths after running onto the pitch at St Andrew’s to tauntthen Villa goalkeeper Peter Enckelman, who had just con-ceded a bizarre own goal when he let a backpass rollunder his foot into the net.—AFP

Villa’s Grealish punched by Birmingham fan

Bucks crush Hornets, become first team to notch 50 wins

Celtics dominate Lakers behind Irving’s 30 pointsMILWAUKEE: Giannis Antetokounmpo had 26 pointsand 13 rebounds, Brook Lopez scored 25 points, andthe host Milwaukee Bucks beat the Charlotte Hornets131-114 on Saturday night. The Bucks trailed by asmany as 14 in the second quarter but exploded for 39third-quarter points to take the lead before increas-ing their advantage to as many as 18 in the fourthquarter. The Bucks became the first team in theleague to reach the 50-win plateau. They are now 27-5 at home. They have won two straight and nine oftheir past 11. Kemba Walker scored 25 points to leadthe Hornets, who remain in 10th place in the EasternConference playoff race. Frank Kaminsky scored 16,Miles Bridges had 15, Nic Batum and Jeremy Lambfinished with 14 apiece, and Cody Zeller scored 10.

TIMBERWOLVES 135, WIZARDS 130 (OT)Karl-Anthony Towns collected 40 points and 16

rebounds before exiting with a right knee injury, andhost Minnesota outlasted Washington. Towns, wholeft in the final minute of regulation and did not playin overtime, reached the 40-point plateau for thethird time in five games. The two-time All-Star felljust shy of his season high of 42 points. He will under-go further testing on his knee, but coach RyanSaunders said he has not heard reason for seriousconcern. Derrick Rose scored 16 of his 29 points afterthe third quarter for the Timberwolves, who have wontwo of three. Taj Gibson had 15 points and 13rebounds.

CELTICS 120, LAKERS 107Kyrie Irving scored 30 points, Marcus Smart and

Marcus Morris added 16 each, and visiting Bostonextending its winning streak to three with a win overLos Angeles. Gordon Hayward added 15 points as theCeltics avenged a defeat to the Lakers at home in

February when former Boston point guard RajonRondo hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer. LeBronJames finished with a triple-double (30 points, 12assists, 10 rebounds) for the Lakers, who were play-ing without a number of key contributors because ofinjuries. Los Angeles lost its fifth consecutive gameand fell for the seventh time in its last eight games.

NETS 114, HAWKS 112D’Angelo Russell hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with

1:39 remaining, and Brooklyn held off host Atlanta tocomplete a season-series sweep despite a triple-dou-ble performance by rookie Trae Young. SpencerDinwiddie had 23 points and Jarrett Allen finishedwith 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Nets, who hadbeaten the Hawks twice in Brooklyn earlier in thethree-game season series. Young’s triple-double con-sisted of 23 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. JohnCollins had 33 points and 20 rebounds for Atlanta,which dropped its second straight.

KINGS 102, KNICKS 94De’Aaron Fox scored a game-high 30 points and

hit the go-ahead basket with 5:03 to play as visitingSacramento beat New York. The Kings overcame a15-point first quarter deficit and survived squander-ing an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter to win theopener of a pivotal four-game Eastern Conferenceroad trip. Sacramento, which hasn’t made the playoffssince 2006, entered Saturday four games behind theSan Antonio Spurs in the race for the eighth and finalplayoff spot in the Western Conference. Buddy Hieldscored 19 points, and Nemanja Bjelica had a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds) for the Kings.

BLAZERS 127, SUNS 120CJ McCollum scored 26 points on 11-for-14 shoot-

ing as Portland pulled out a victory over visitingPhoenix. Seth Curry came off the bench to match hisseason high with 22 points for the Trail Blazers, whoended their two-game losing streak. Damian Lillardadded 18 points and nine assists, and Jusuf Nurkic

contributed 14 points and nine rebounds for Portland.Devin Booker scored 23 points and DeAndre Aytoncollected 21 points and eight boards for the Suns,who had won three in a row. Kelly Oubre had 17points and seven rebounds for Phoenix. — Reuters

MILWAUKEE: Cody Zeller #40 of the Charlotte Hornets shoots the ball against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday atthe Fiserv Forum Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. — AFP

KUWAIT: The 12th Kuwait international sailing cham-pionship concluded at Kuwait Sea Sport Club (KSSC)on Saturday with an award giving ceremony. Thechampionship, organized by KSSC sailing, rowing andkayaking committee, saw Malika Bellomi, of Italy,leading the Optimist (dinghy) category, followed byhis compatriot Mose’ Bellomi in the second place and

Yahya Al-Fakharani, of Egypt, in the third. In the Laser4.7 category, Al-Baraa Al-Nawfali, of Oman, camefirst, while Kuwait’s Ya’qoub Shah came second andAli Al-Failakawi, of Kuwait too, came third. Speakingto KUNA, KSSC Secretary-General Khaled Al-Fawdery said the championship lived to our expecta-tions and was a complete success.”The event provided

a good opportunity for seaports people from Kuwaitand other GCC states to compete with their peersfrom around the globe,” he said, voicing hope that theKuwaiti sailors will continue training and do better inthe coming events. The championship, which kickedoff on Thursday, gathered 74 participants from 18countries. —KUNA

Kuwait int’l sailing event honor winners

MILAN: Krzysztof Piatek struck again to res-cue a 2-1 win for AC Milan at bottom clubChievo on Saturday, keeping their ChampionsLeague push firmly on track, but the Polishstriker was accused of scoring with a ‘kung fu’kick. Piatek joined Milan from Genoa in Januaryand has now scored eight goals in nine matches,as the club notched up a fifth straight leaguewin to remain unbeaten since before Christmas.Returning from injury, Lucas Biglia opened witha curling free kick after 31 minutes in Verona. Itwas just his second goal for Milan and firstsince February last year.

Finnish midfielder Perparim Hetemaj got hishead to the end of Leris cross to pull the hostslevel four minutes before the break. But onceagain Piatek proved crucial, scoring the winnerafter 57 minutes in controversial circumstances.

Chievo goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino par-ried a shot from the Polish striker who thendived to send the ball back into the net after anoverhead kick which struck Mattia Bani. A VARreview confirmed the goal to the fury of Chievocoach Domenico Di Carlo.

“It was a kung fu kick, it’s impossible not tospot that,” complained Di Carlo whose sidehave just one win from 27 games. “You canwrite the headline: ‘Chievo beaten by a kung fushot’.” The 23-year-old Piatek joins Juventus

star Cristiano Ronaldo and Sampdoria’s FabioQuagliarella on top of the Serie A scorers’ chartwith 19 goals this season.

Milan consolidate third position to move fivepoints behind second-placed Napoli who travelto Sassuolo later. Champions Juventus pulled 19points clear at the top on Friday with MoiseKean scoring a brace in a 4-1 win over lowlyUdinese. Inter Milan, are fourth, four pointsbehind Milan, before hosting SPAL. The Milanteams will go head-to-head next weekend. “Westarted off well, controlled the game but wethen conceded a goal and then lost the compassfor a moment,” said Milan assistant coach LuigiRiccio.

“Fortunately Krzysztof Piatek got the winnerand sorted things out. “We know the difficulitesinvolved in a derby and wanted to get to thatgame with this kind of standing. We’re on theright road and want to continue like this.”

However, coach Gennaro Gattuso was sent tothe stands for arguing on the sidelines withChievo midfielder Riccardo Meggiorini in thefirst-half and now risks a suspension for thederby. “We hope Gattuso will be there for thederby, it would be an added bonus for us,” saidRiccio. “These things happen, Gattuso spoke tothe referee afterwards and it’s all sorted out. Allclarified.” Roma, in fifth, three points off theChampions League places begin life under newcoach Claudio Ranieri at home against Empolitoday. Czech midfielder Juraj Kucka scored theonly goal as Parma ended mid-table rival’sGenoa’s six-game unbeaten run. Kucka brokethrough after 78 minutes against his former clubon a rebound after Brazilian goalkeeper parriedhis header. Parma overtake Genoa to move twoplaces up to 11th position. — AFP

LONDON: Raheem Sterling urged Manchester City tomaintain their “amazing mentality” as the PremierLeague leaders chase an unprecedented quadruple.Pep Guardiola’s side won the English title in record-breaking fashion last season, but their defence of thecrown has been much tougher, with Liverpool posing aserious threat.

City have climbed back above the Reds in recentweeks and also lifted the League Cup trophy followingtheir final win over Chelsea. With a 3-2 lead overSchalke heading into Tuesday’s Champions League last16 second leg and an FA Cup quarter-final at Swanseanext weekend, City are still in with a chance of sweep-ing up all the available silverware.

Sterling’s 13-minute treble secured a 3-1 win againstWatford in the league on Saturday and the Englandwinger believes City’s confidence and steely focus cancarry them to an historic season.

“It’s going alright for me and the team,” Sterling said.“We’ve got one trophy already and the most importantthing is not how many goals I am scoring, it’s how manytrophies we lift. “You know, hopefully we can continuewith this amazing mentality and see how far it gets us.

“We don’t get excited about anything. We know howdifficult teams can be, we know how difficult thesecompetitions are, we’re playing against top teams, topplayers and anything can happen.

“We’ve got to keep humble, keep fighting game bygame.” Guardiola kept Sterling’s feet on the ground bysaying “he can do better” after a match that was leveluntil a controversial opener just after half-time.—AFP

Piatek ‘kung fu’ goal rescues Milan at Chievo

Sterling urgesCity to clinch quadruple

SportDjokovic dispatches Fratangelo to book Kohlschreiber clash

Hirscher seals eighth straight overall World Cup title

Bucks crush Hornets, become first team to notch 50 wins 2725 26

Established 1961


Firmino keep Liverpool in touch with CityRoberto takes his league tally for the season to 11

LIVERPOOL: Burnley’s English defender Charlie Taylor (R) blocks a shot from Liverpool’s English midfielder Jordan Henderson (L) during the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Burnley at Anfield in Liverpool, north west Englandyesterday.—AFP

LIVERPOOL: Roberto Firmino returned to goalscoringform at the perfect moment for Jurgen Klopp’sLiverpool, hitting the net twice in a 4-2 victory overBurnley that hauled them back to within a point ofPremier League leaders Manchester City.

Sadio Mane was also on the scoresheet twice in agame in which Liverpool were required to respond tofalling a goal behind against Sean Dyche’s strugglingside. And with City having opened a four-point gapover Liverpool, with a victory over Watford onSaturday, the pressure was clearly on Klopp and hisplayers to respond, which they did impressively despitethe controversial manner of Burnley’s opening goal.

Firmino had a large role to play in steadyingLiverpool nerves, taking his league tally for the seasonto 11 and ending a six-game goal drought as his sidereacted impressively to going a goal down in the sixth

minute. Defender Joel Matip needlessly conceded acorner which Ashley Westwood took from the left wingand curled directly into the Liverpool goal, with homegoalkeeper Alisson protesting furiously that he hadbeen impeded in his attempts to deal with it.

Replays suggested Alisson had a strong point, withdefender James Tarkowski leaning on the Brazilian frombehind and Jack Cork making contact in front of him.The goalkeeper’s furious reaction, sprinting 40 yards toremonstrate with referee Andre Marriner, earned him abooking.

This was a real test of Liverpool’s mental fortitudeafter a run that has seen them draw five of their previ-ous seven games in the league and Champions League.

They trailed for just 13 minutes, equalising with aflowing move started when Mohamed Salah andGeorginio Wijnaldum exchanged passes and the

Egyptian drilled over a pacy near-post cross.Burnley’s England goalkeeper Tom Heaton and

Tarkowski both had chances to clear but somehowallowed the ball to pass through them for Firmino to tapinto an open net.

Liverpool were now firmly in control, clickingthrough the gears and placing the Burnley defenceunder increasing pressure before Mane shot them intothe first lead of the afternoon shortly before the halfhour. The goal owed much to the persistence of mid-fielder Adam Lallana, who charged down an attemptedclearance by Phil Bardsley, with the ball breaking forSalah, who was well tackled by Charlie Taylor.

The rebound fell for Mane, who curled a magnificentfinish past the diving Heaton from 15 yards, scoring in asixth consecutive home league game in the process.

It was hard to see a way back for struggling Burnley,

who started the day just two points outside the relega-tion places as the second half quickly threatened toturn into a one-way procession towards the visitors’goal before Liverpool struck again midway through thesecond half.

Salah broke clear and was poised to shoot whenTaylor made a superb tackle which, unfortunately forthe visitors, left the loose ball sitting up neatly forFirmino to drive it into an open goal from 12 yards.

There was late anxiety after Johann BergGudmundsson made it 3-2 with an injury-time consola-tion after a knock-down in the area from Burnley sub-stitute Peter Crouch.

But with virtually the last kick of the game in the93rd minute, Mane chased a long through ball, roundedHeaton and completed the victory by kicking into theopen goal. —AFP

LONDON: Eden Hazard came to MaurizioSarri’s rescue as the Chelsea star’s superblate strike earned a 1-1 draw against Wolvesyesterday. Sarri’s side were seconds awayfrom another damaging defeat after RaulJimenez put Wolves ahead at StamfordBridge.

Hazard spared the under-fire Sarri’sblushes with his thunderous stoppage-timeequaliser, but it was still a frustrating dayfor the Blues boss.

Sarri’s side had won three times in 10days to temporarily silence reports that theItalian was facing the sack. But Chelsea’slatest misfiring effort raised the possibilitythat Sarri is back on borrowed time in westLondon. With fourth-placed ManchesterUnited playing fifth-placed Arsenal later onSunday, Chelsea, languishing in sixth, willbe further adrift of the top four after anoth-er tense afternoon for Sarri.

It has been a nightmare debut season forformer Napoli boss Sarri, who had to

endure a League Cup final defeat againstManchester City in which Chelsea goal-keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga refused to besubstituted. Under Sarri’s watch, Chelseahave also suffered humiliating thrashings atCity and Bournemouth, while supporterschanted for his sacking after the FA Cupexit against Manchester United.

Beating Tottenham and Fulham in theleague and then easing past Dynamo Kievin the Europa League last 16 first leg onThursday had given Sarri some breathingspace.

But Wolves have proved a thorn in hisside this season and, after beating the Blues2-1 at Molineux in December, they left theItalian looking over his shoulder anxiouslyagain.

Chelsea are in action at Kiev onThursday before a league trip to Evertonnext Sunday. The international break loomsafter that and Sarri could do with victoriesin those games to ensure Chelsea ownerRoman Abramovich doesn’t wield the axe.

With Chelsea’s legendary striker DidierDrogba watching from the stands, it didn’ttake long for Gonzalo Higuain-Sarri’s hand-picked targetman-to demonstrate the flawsin the current crop.

After a rapid exchange of passes withPedro, Higuain could only muster a shot thatwas blocked by Romain Saiss. Higuain, on

loan from AC Milan, had another sight ofgoal from N’Golo Kante’s pass, but thistime his low strike was pushed away by RuiPatricio.

Despite all their possession, Chelsealacked a cutting edge in a creatively unin-spired display that was a return to theproblems they have endured for much ofthe season. A monotonous procession ofslow, sideways passes brought no rewardagainst Wolves’ massed defence, trigger-ing jeers from frustrated Chelsea fans athalf-time. After an anonymous first half,Hazard finally showed signs of life with asurge that ended with the Belgian beinghauled down by Matt Doherty on the edgeof the area. But David Luiz’s effort fromthe resulting free-kick bounced tamely offthe Wolves wall.

Having soaked up Chelsea’s futileattempts to break them down, Wolvessprang out to snatch the lead with a per-fectly executed counter in the 56th minute.

Breaking from their own area, Wolvesexploited the out of position Chelseadefence as Jimenez flicked a pass to DiogoJota. Jota ran wide before guiding the ballback into Jimenez, who prodded home via adeflection off Cesar Azpilicueta for his 14thgoal this season.

Higuain tried to lead the Chelsearesponse with a shot on the turn, but

Patrico saved before Pedro’s long-rangeeffort was pushed over by the keeper.Higuain couldn’t stretch far enough to scorewhen Hazard’s corner was deflected into hispath. Willian’s low strike was repelled by

Patricio as Chelsea pushed for the equaliser.With just moments left, Hazard at last endedWolves’ stubborn resistance with a fiercelong-range drive that flashed past Patriciofor his first goal in seven games. — AFP

Hazard rescues Chelsea in Wolves draw

LONDON: Wolverhampton Wanderers’ English midfielder Conor Coady (R) pressures Chelsea’sArgentinian striker Gonzalo Higuain (L) during the English Premier League football matchbetween Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Stamford Bridge in London yesterday. —AFP

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