the day of pride...2019/12/17 · ahmed al fateh in 1783, the 47th anniversary of its full...

02 National Day festivities at BIC

03 Strong bilateral ties

04 Best efforts on to tackle rain havoc

6

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• Many world leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated His Majesty on the occasion.

• HM the King and the Pakistani Premier held a meeting during which they reviewed strong historic relations.

Manama

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa pat-ronised, in the presence

of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Su-preme Commander and First Deputy Premier, and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan a ceremony at Al Sakhir Palace, marking the Kingdom’s national celebrations, in commemoration of the establishment of the mod-ern Bahraini state as an Arab and Muslim country founded by Ahmed Al Fateh in 1783, the 47th anniversary of its full member-ship in the United Nations, and the 19th anniversary of HM the King’s Accession to the Throne.

His Majesty called on citizens to renew the pledges of national duty to safeguard the country’s achievements while further raising its status in all spheres.

“Bahrain takes great pride in its civic foundations and mod-ern institutions and in its long-standing achievements across all areas of development.”

“Amongst these abundant feelings of love and affection for Bahrain, and of pride in its unique place in our hearts, it is our pleasure to stand with pride and appreciation before the con-tributions of an elite group of national achievers, to give them particular thanks, and to hon-our their outstanding efforts in the service of the country,” His Majesty pointed out.

HM the King then conferred

the medals on the honourees.Many world leaders including

French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated His Maj-esty on the occasion.

Separately, His Majesty re-ceived at Al Sakhir Palace, Mr Khan in the presence of HRH the Crown Prince.

HM the King welcomed Prime Minister Imran Khan who con-gratulated HM the King on Bah-rain’s celebrations of the nation-al days, wishing the Kingdom and its people further progress and prosperity.

HM the King and the Pakistani

Premier held a meeting dur-ing which they reviewed strong historic relations and steps that contribute to strengthen-

ing joint cooperation and solid partnership to achieve the as-pirations of the two brotherly countries and peoples.

HM the King lauded the Pa-kistani Premier’s efforts and constructive role in supporting joint coordination and further strengthening solid bilateral relations binding the two coun-tries.

The Pakistani Premier ex-pressed deepest thanks to HM the King for the warm welcome and good hospitality, stressing his confidence that his visit would achieve goods results towards developing bilateral relations and expanding coop-eration.

The two sides commend-ed steadily-growing relations, stressing the importance of ex-panding trade, economic, in-vestment, defence and scientif-ic cooperation and benefiting from both countries’ expertise to achieve mutual interests.

HM the King lauded Pakistan’s honourable stances in support of Bahrain, which reflects strong Islamic fraternal relations bind-ing the two brotherly countries.

He commended Pakistan’s pivotal role in advocating Is-lamic issues and contributing positively, alongside the interna-tional community, to maintain-ing regional and global security, stability and peace.

HM the King hailed the Pa-kistani community, stressing their years-long contribution and efforts to bolster Bahrain’s development and progress.

Prime Minister Imran Khan hailed HM the King’s efforts to develop bilateral relations, laud-ing Bahrain’s strides, led by HM the King. He also praised Bah-rainis’ longstanding tolerance, coexistence and openness on all cultures which contributed to the progress of Bahrain and its people.

The two sides discussed re-gional and international devel-opments, including topics rela-tions to the Islamic world and mutual interests.

They reiterated their coun-tries’ stances in support of Arab and Islamic issues, as well as re-gional and international efforts to maintain security and stabil-ity in the region and the world.

The day of pride

His Majesty patronises National Day celebrations

His Majesty and HRH the Crown Prince with Mr Khan, Royal Family members and senior government officials at the ceremony marking Bahraini National Day.

His Majesty honoured many citizens for their distinguished services to the nation.

Bahrain takes great pride in its civic foundations and

modern institutions and in its longstanding achievements across all areas of development.

HIS MAJESTY

Google marks Bahrain National Day

TDT | Manama

Google yesterday marked Bahrain’s National Day

with a doodle. The doodle featured a

Bahraini flag on its home-page. When clicked, the flag re-directed users to infor-mation, photos and videos of Bahrain and its National Day.

The occasion was also marked by the UN. A recep-tion was held last week at the UN headquarters in New York by Bahrain’s Perma-nent Mission to the UN.

“This year’s celebrations coincide with many signif-icant occasions, such as the 100th anniversary of the start of formal education in the Kingdom,” said Bah-rain’s ambassador to the UN, Jamal Al Rowaiei.

He praised Bahraini woman’s advances in educa-tion and sciences. “Since the 1930s, Bahraini women have participated on an equal ba-sis with men in municipal council elections. Women today hold 55 per cent of high positions in the coun-try,” he said.

304 Iranians were killed in protestsDubai

Amnesty International said yesterday that at

least 304 people were killed in last month’s anti-govern-ment protests in Iran, a sig-nificantly higher number than what the rights group had reported previously.

The protests, which last-ed about four days in several cities and towns in Iran in November, were sparked by a sharp rise in gasoline prices.

02TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2019

The Kingdom is an emerging leader in many sectors, thanks to the leadership’s great vision. I wish Bahrain continuous growth and prosperity. I am proud to call this beautiful Kingdom my home. Happy 48th National Day Bahrain!

CLOTILDE MALAUZAT DIRECTOR MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BAHRAIN

Congratulations to the Bahraini national team. This is the start of a new beginning as HH Shaikh Nas-ser said it’s the golden year. We are setting the bars high and we are achieving our goals and we are showing our neighbouring coun-tries that we are here and we will win and make noise.

SALMAN BUKHARI MANAGING PARTNER

DALLAH

It has been overwhelming for everybody in Bahrain! Winning the Arabian Gulf Cup trophy was a long-awaited dream; now achieved by our football heroes. Watching the match, celebrating in the streets, lis-tening to the national football team songs on the radio, welcoming the team as they arrive with the trophy to the Kingdom – all of that was like a nation-wide carnival! And now with the National Day celebrations, the Kingdom and its people continue to celebrate what it means to be Bahraini.

TALAL AHMED AL MAHMOOD MANAGER COMMUNICATIONS & SPONSORSHIP CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

GULF AIR

I extend my best wishes to His Maj-esty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Ham-ad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier on the occasion of National Day.

MOHAMED KHALED AL KAABI DIRECTOR, PUBLIC RELATIONS

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES BAHRAIN S.P.C.

M A R K I N G S P E C I A L O C C A S I O N

National Day festivities at BIC

Thousands flocked to Bahrain International Circuit from December 13 to December 16 to witness National Day festivities. The festival concluded with the performance of famous Arab singer Abdullah Al Ruwaished. Special fireworks were an added attraction. Visitors also enjoyed the shopping exhibition while special entertainment programmes were held for children apart from performances by different bands and acrobatic shows.


Strong bilateral ties Bahrain, Pakistan sign MoU for co-operation in the fields of education, medical sciences and youth and sports affairs

• HRH the Crown Prince went on to commend the role of the Pakistani community in Bahrain, whose contribution to the Kingdom’s development is much appreciated.

• The MoUs were signed by the Minister or Foreign Affairs, Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohamed Al Khalifa, and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Sohail Mehmood.

Manama

His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown

Prince, Deputy Supreme Com-mander and First Deputy Prime Minister, yesterday held an of-ficial round of discussions with the Prime Minister of the Islam-

ic Republic of Pakistan, Imran Khan, at Gudaibiya Palace.

Upon arrival at Gudaibiya Pal-ace, a formal reception ceremony took place to greet the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and both countries national anthems were played.

HRH the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister of Pakistan were then greeted by Ministers and officials, from both countries.

HRH the Crown Prince wel-comed the Prime Minister as he affirmed the strong ties between Bahrain and Pakistan across all fields, which continue to receive the support of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

HRH the Crown Prince not-ed that this visit will contribute further to the strengthening of bilateral relations and help iden-tify new opportunities of coop-

eration to the benefit of both countries and their people.

HRH the Crown Prince went on to commend the role of the Pakistani community in Bah-rain, whose contribution to the Kingdom’s development is much appreciated.

HRH the Crown Prince also commended the advancement of these bilateral exchanges, reflected by the various official

visits which have taken place by representatives from both countries. These visits have re-sulted in higher levels of trade and investment between the two countries as well as the signing of mutually beneficial agree-ments.

On this subject, HRH the Crown Prince noted Bahrain’s commitment to expanding its relations with Asian countries,

consolidating strategic partner-ships, and strengthening coordi-nation in order to achieve securi-ty, stability and prosperity across the region.

HRH the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister then wit-nessed the signing of three Mem-orandums of Understanding in the fields of education, medical sciences and youth and sports affairs.

The MoUs were signed by the Minister or Foreign Affairs, Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohamed Al Khalifa, and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Sohail Mehmood.

After the signing ceremony, the Prime Minister expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to meet HRH the Crown Prince, and highlighted HRH the Crown Prince’s unwavering commit-ment to the strengthening of Bahraini-Pakistani ties.

After the round of official dis-cussions, HRH the Crown Prince hosted a lunch in honour of the Prime Minister which was at-tended by a number of senior government officials and dig-nitaries.

Kingdom-NATO co-operation stressed at Kuwait meeting Kuwait

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for International

Affairs, Dr Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, attended the ceremony marking the 15th An-niversary of the Istanbul Co-op-eration Initiative.

The ceremony was organised by the brotherly State of Ku-wait, represented by its National Security Apparatus, under the patronage of the Prime Min-ister of Kuwait, His Highness Shaikh Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah.

Also present were Chairman of the Kuwaiti National Security Apparatus (NSA), Shaikh Tham-er Ali Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sa-bah, the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani and the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Or-ganization as well as the Ambas-sadors of the NATO countries.

Dr Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, spoke at a seminar devoted to research centers in the Istanbul Cooperation Initia-

tive countries, entitled “15 years of the Istanbul Cooperation In-itiative - Achievements and Fu-ture Aspirations”, moderated NATO Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana, where the Co-operation between the ICI-NATO countries was highlighted from a scientific-academic perspec-tive.

The Undersecretary for In-ternational Affairs reviewed the Kingdom’s initiatives and efforts in the fields of reform, progress and counter-terrorism, as well as its commitment to maritime security, in cooperation with allies and partners, stressing in this regard the efforts exerted

by the NATO Alliance in main-taining international peace and security.

He also affirmed that the continued consultations will contribute to a better under-standing of the strategic needs of each party, help in building capacities and skills, and put forward new paths and visions to deal with existing and emerg-ing challenges, in the context of an effective and sustainable security partnership.

He also noted the second edition of the Individual Part-nership and Cooperation Pro-gramme between the King-dom of Bahrain and NATO for

the period 2018- 2020 achieved fruitful and constructive results, namely in the field of political and diplomatic cooperation, as well as the exchange of defence and security experiences.

The Undersecretary for In-ternational Affairs pointed out that the Kingdom of Bahrain recognises the importance of a comprehensive fight against the threat of terrorism, calling for the concerted efforts of the international community to face the extremist ideology and rhet-oric, prevent its funding sourc-es, and deter those who provide safe havens for terrorists, calling them necessary and preventive measures to reduce the threat of terrorism.

He also warned against the danger of targeting national institutions of countries in the Middle East region to spread chaos, and the continuation of arms race by the development of ballistic missiles, along with the dangers of militias and ter-rorist networks and their role in threatening regional security, as they pose direct threats to the region and the vital area of NATO.

HRH the Crown Prince receives Mr Khan upon his arrival in the Kingdom. HRH the Crown Prince held an official round of discussions with Mr Khan yesterday.

HRH the Crown Prince bid farewell to Mr Khan following the end of his official visit.

Dr Shaikh Abdulla represented Bahrain at the event.

ISB Mega Fair 2019 concludes on a high note

TDT | Manama

The Indian School Mega Fair 2019 concluded on a high note yesterday at

the Isa Town campus. Thou-sands of visitors flocked to the school campus in spite of the weather conditions to enjoy the entertainment programmes held as part of the fair.

Indian Musician Stephen Devassy and Bollywood play-back singer Rithu Pathak and team entertained the crowd with peppy songs.

ISB Chairman Prince S Na-tarajan attended the event. Mementos were presented to sponsors of the fair. The school students presented spectacular Western and Arabic dance.

A variety of game stalls for kids, food stalls and enter-tainment programmes made the Mega Fear 2019 attractive to the visitors.

Many food stalls that were prepared by the Indian School teachers gave an opportunity to

taste homely Indian delicacies. The Mega Raffle draw winner

will get a Mitsubishi car spon-sored by Zayani Motors .

The revenue generated from the fair will be utilised for help-ing the needy children and for the welfare of ISB staff.

ISB Chairman Prince S Nat-arajan, Secretary Saji Antony, Principal V R Palaniswamy and General Convener R Ramesh congratulated the teachers, stu-dents, parents and community leaders and sponsors for making the mega fair a runaway success.

Stephen Devassy performs on stage.


• The government has been taking steps for the past two months to avoid water logging issues caused by rain during the rainy season.

• The Works Ministry received many calls from flooded neighbourhoods to handle the situation.

TDT | Manama

Works Ministry teams were in action as heavy rains caused

floods across the Kingdom yes-terday.

Suction tankers were de-ployed to drain rainwater from flood-affected areas in Saar, Hamala, Shakhurah, Al Jasra, Budaiya, Zinj and parts of Ma-nama.

In anticipation of the rainy season, task forces were created in order to combat the possible troubles caused by rain.

The government has been taking steps for the past two months to avoid water logging issues caused by rain during the rainy season.

Heavy rains have caused wa-ter logging in Bahrain in the previous years but the govern-ment is now taking more meas-ures to avoid repeating such experiences.

A team has been dedicated to each governorate, a source from the Works, Municipalities Af-fairs and Urban Planning said.

Reportedly, the Minister of Works, Municipalities Af-fairs and Urban Planning, Es-sam Khalaf has ordered the

teams to be ready for the rainy season to tackle all issues.

Recently, the ministry offi-cials had met with municipal council members, where the rainy season was a strong point of discussions.

The Works Ministry received many calls from flooded neigh-bourhoods to handle the sit-uation.

The ministry confirmed that some of those cases were re-ferred to the Civil Defence Di-rectorate within the Interior Ministry and 33 water suction tankers were deployed to clear floodwaters.

The Coast Guard Command has called on the seafarers to take caution, given the King-dom’s exposure to high-speed winds.

The Meteorological Direc-torate forecasts an unsettled weather with scattered rain showers may become thundery at times for today.

Southeasterly winds can range from 12 to 17 knots, reaching 20 to 25 knots, with gusts that may reach 35 knots at times.

Fatal hit-and-run suspect held three hours after accident TDT | Manama

A driver, who reportedly fled the scene after caus-

ing an accident, which led to the death of a person was arrested within three hours.

A fatal traffic accident took place in the capital governo-rate yesterday which took the life an expatriate man.

Reportedly, the driver who caused the accident immedi-ately fled the scene.

Authorities sprung into action and launched an in-vestigation and was able to apprehend the suspect with-in three years.

The incident took place in Juffair. According to the ministry, the deceased was 32 years old Asian expatriate.

Confirming the incident, the Ministry of Interior stat-ed: “Within three hours, the driver was arrested after he escaped from the site of a traf-fic accident that happened in Juffair, which resulted in the death of an Asian expatriate. The concerned authorities took necessary measures.”

Recently, a 32-year-old Bahraini woman was injured as a result of a traffic accident on Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Bridge towards Manama.

She was transferred to the hospital and was later reported to be in a stable condition.

The General Directorate of Traffic has urged drivers to be more careful as rainy weather could increase chances of accidents.

Best efforts on to tackle rain havoc

Floodwaters affect normal life in many areas across the Kingdom

Bahrain participates in COSP 8 in Abu DhabiAbu Dhabi

Bahrain has participated in the Eighth session of the Conference of the States

Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (COSP8).

Director of Legal Affairs at the Interior Ministry, Lieuten-ant-Colonel Hussein Matar, headed the Kingdom’s delega-tion to COSP 8.

According to the UAW News Agency (WAM), the United Na-tions Convention against Cor-ruption is the only legally bind-ing universal anti-corruption instrument.

Adopted sixteen years ago, the Convention has reached almost universal adherence, having been ratified by 186 state parties.

Every two years, the States parties to the Convention meet to review the implementation of the Convention and to dis-cuss how States can better tackle corruption.

Among the topics to be dis-cussed at the eighth session are prevention, asset recovery and international cooperation, as well as the preparations for the special session of the General Assembly against corruption, to be held in 2021.

His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister has issued direc-tives to restructure internal au-dit processes within government in order to further strengthen

internal auditing and accounta-bility measures.

The directive was announced during a meeting of the Gov-ernment Executive Committee, which reviewed the 2018-2019 National Audit Office (NAO) re-port and outlined the procedural and administrative measures taken to address the cases of non-compliance.

Ten cases of criminal nature which have been referred to the Public Prosecution include two violations by the Ministry of In-formation Affairs, three viola-tions by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs, one violation each by Budaiya Cultural Sports Club, Al Najma Sports Club, the University of Bahrain, the Elec-tricity and Water Authority and the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco).

Twenty-six cases will be re-ferred to the Ministerial Com-mittee for Legal and Legislative Affairs, for assessment internal investigation committee while

406 cases of procedural viola-tions will be addressed by ad-ministrative measures in order to prevent reoccurrence.

During the meeting, HRH the Crown Prince reiterated the importance of swiftly ap-plying these oversight recom-mendations, especially in cases of non-compliance in order to safeguard public funds.

HRH the Crown Prince went on to underscore the Govern-ment’s commitment to further strengthen the remit and ca-pabilities of supervisory and administrative agencies, which will help facilitate the Kingdom reaching its desired develop-ment goals, to the benefit all Bahraini citizens.

HRH the Crown Prince stressed the importance of objectivity and transparency when addressing all non-compliance cases in-cluded in the report, in order to ensure continued quality man-agement for operations involved with public service delivery.

186state parties have signed

the United Nations Convention against

Corruption.

A car wades through flooded road in Zinj.

Works Ministry took special initiatives to tackle floods across the Kingdom.

‘Falak Unreasonable Entrepreneur Weekend

offered a boost for start-ups’

TDT | Manama

The second Falak Un-reasonable Weekend served a vehicle to ed-

ucate and inspire start-up en-trepreneurs across Bahrain.

The event works in tandem with Bahrain’s Economic Vi-sion to foster entrepreneur-ship as a key factor in achiev-ing economic growth and sus-tainable development within the nation.

The extensive “Extreme Learning” entrepreneurship workshop stretched over two days was organised in collab-oration between Falak Con-sulting and the Labor Fund “Tamkeen”.

The workshop aimed to add value for participating entrepreneurs by providing a channel towards essential experience and expertise that further augments their con-ceptualization along with in-sight into real life situations

and solutions. Commenting on supporting

the workshop for the second consecutive year, Tamkeen’s Chief Executive, Dr Ebrahim Janahi, said: “At Tamkeen, we believe that innovation and entrepreneurship are key ele-ments that support the nation-al objectives of the Kingdom, which in turn helps stimulate the SME sector, develop the non-oil private sector and im-prove the competitiveness of Bahrain.”

He continued: “Innovative knowledge sharing workshop like the Falak Unreasona-ble Entrepreneur Weekend provides our young promis-ing entrepreneurs with the chance to learn from peers who already led the path of entrepreneurship in Bahrain and abroad; ambitious entre-preneurs could learn so much from listening to the success stories of other entrepre-neurs.”

Tamkeen’s Khalid Al Alawi held a session for participants.

Bahrain Indian School conducted a multitude of activities encapsulating the history and culture of Bahrain. The activities ranged from talk and presentation on Bahrain culture and history, craft-making activities, special assembly, bulletin board decoration and fun games. Bahrain’s history and culture was discussed in all the classes through a powerpoint presentations. A special assembly was conducted celebrating Bahrain National Day. Directors Himanshu Verma and Mrs Ritu Verma and Principal Saji Jacob extended their best wishes and heartfelt congratulations to the wise leadership, the government and to the people of the Kingdom of Bahrain on the eve of National Day.

National Day celebrations

05

world

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2019

Jewellery worth $64m stolen from UK’s Tamara Ecclestone

Reuters | London

Tamara Ecclestone, the daughter of former For-

mula One boss Bernie Ec-clestone, has had 50 million pounds ($64 million)-worth of jewellery stolen from her home in West London, the Sun newspaper reported yesterday.

The tabloid said three bur-glars broke into the 35-year-old’s mansion having evaded both the 24-hour security teams that patrol the street known as “Billionaire Row” and Ecclestone’s own internal security operations.

The second daughter of For-mula One’s former commercial supremo lives on Kensington Palace Gardens, amongst the residencies of the French and Russian ambassadors and close to the Kensington Palace home

of Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate.

Ecclestone, a model and ce-lebrity in Britain, had just left the country for her Christmas holidays when the burglars entered the property via the garden and seized gems from safes hidden in her bedroom, the Sun said.

A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan police said they would not confirm any specific details but, when asked about the case, said police had been called to a residential property in west London just after 2300 on Friday night to reports of a burglary.

“Officers attended,” the spokeswoman said. “It was reported that an amount of high value jewellery had been stolen. There have been no ar-rests. Inquiries continue.”

Tamara Ecclestone, daughter of Formula One commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone, holds her daughter Sophia as they arrive at the paddock before the Monaco F1 Grand Prix

Boy, 13, arrested in New York college student stabbing deathNew York

New York City police arrested a 13-year-old boy in con-

nection with the murder of a college student in a Manhattan park, local media reported on Friday, rattling a city in which crime rates have plunged in re-cent years.

Tessa Majors, 18, was stabbed multiple times with a knife on Wednesday evening during a robbery while walking through Harlem’s Morningside Park near her school, Barnard College, ac-cording to the New York Police Department. Police believe there were up to three attackers.

Majors was able to stagger out of the park to seek help at a near-by school security booth, and was declared dead at a hospital. She was completing her first semester at the women-only college after leaving her home

in Charlottesville, Virginia, to move to the city.

Morningside Park has long had a reputation for being unsafe

and the site of numerous crimes, including murders.

“1 individual has been arrested & this remains an active inves-tigation,” NYPD Chief of Detec-tives Rodney Harrison said on Twitter late on Friday without providing any additional infor-mation on the identity of the person detained.

Police found the 13-year-old boy on Thursday while canvass-ing a building lobby nearby, tel-

evision station CBS2, reported, citing unnamed police officials. His clothes matched the de-scription of the suspect, and he was found carrying a knife, the station reported.

CBS2 and other local news channels reported that the boy, whose name has not been dis-closed, confessed to police that he and two friends tried to rob Majors and stabbed her.

Arlene Muniz, a police spokes-woman, said she could not com-ment on any arrests in the case.

Majors played bass guitar in a band called Patient 0, which re-leased its first album in Septem-ber, according to her Instagram account.

Crime rates in New York City have been steadily declining, but city officials acknowledged an uptick in murders during the last months of the year.

Tesa Majors, who died after she was attacked, had gone to a Manhattan park near her school

Italian city evacuates 54,000 people to defuse WW2 bomb

• Believed to have been dropped on the city in 1941

Reuters | Milan

Around 54,000 people were evacuated from the south-

ern Italian city of Brindisi on Sunday as experts worked to defuse a World War Two bomb, authorities said.

Corriere della Sera dai-ly said the operation was the biggest peacetime evacua-tion in Italy, with more than 60 per cent of the city’s resi-dents forced to vacate a “red zone” in a radius of 1,617 me-

tres from where the bomb was found.

The British bomb, believed to have been dropped on the city in 1941, is 1 metre long and contains 40 kgs of dynamite, authorities said.

It was found by chance last month during refur-bishment works at a cinema theatre.

Representative picture

50 bodies unearthed from Mexican mass graveGuadalajara | Mexico

The bodies of at least 50 people have been un-

earthed from a mass grave at a farm outside Mexico’s western city of Guadalajara, local au-thorities said.

The grim site was discov-ered just over three weeks ago

in Jalisco -- a state hard-hit by violence linked to organized crime. The local prosecutor’s office said Saturday 13 of the dead -- 12 men and a woman -- have been identified and the remains given to their families.

The process of identifying more of the victims and how they died will continue.

Thunberg in Twitter spat with German railBerlin

Swedish teenage climate ac-tivist Greta Thunberg was forced to defend herself

in a Twitter spat with German railway service Deutsche Bahn (DB).

Thunberg, 16, provoked a testy reaction from Germa-ny’s oft-maligned rail operator when she tweeted from a DB train on her journey home from the COP25 climate summit in Madrid.

“Traveling on overcrowded trains through Germany. And I’m finally on my way home!” wrote Thunberg above a pic-ture of herself sitting on the floor of a carriage surrounded by suitcases.

DB responded testily, pointing out that Thunberg had travelled in first class during her journey through Germany.

“Dear Greta, thanks for sup-porting us railway workers in our fight against climate change. We are happy that you travelled with us on the ICE 174 on Saturday,” tweeted DB’s offi-cial account in German.

“It would have been nicer if you had also mentioned the friendly and competent manner in which you were treated by staff at your seat in first class,” they added.

The company then followed up the tweets with a press

release, in which they added that Greta’s travel companions “were sitting in first class from Frankfurt onwards”.

Thunberg hit back on Twit-ter, claiming she had found a seat at a stop after Frankfurt, which she said was “no prob-lem”.

‘No problem’“Our train from Basel was

taken out of traffic. So we sat on the floor of two different trains. After Goettingen I got a seat,” wrote the 16-year-old.

“This is no problem of course and I never said it was. Over-crowded trains is a great sign because it means the demand for train travel is high!”

Thunberg’s journey through Germany was the last leg of a continent-spanning trip which began when she travelled to New York on a low-emissions yacht last August.

Th 16-year-old activist start-ed a worldwide movement last year when she began to strike from school every Friday to protest government inaction on climate change.

Refusing to fly, she has twice crossed the Atlantic by boat in recent months in order to speak at a UN climate summit in New York and the hastily rearranged COP25 summit in Madrid.

Her online run-in with Deutsche Bahn comes just days after a high-profile Twitter clash with US president Donald Trump.

After Thunberg was named TIME magazine’s person of the year, Trump tweeted that she had “anger management prob-lems” and told her to “chill”.

Thunberg responded by changing her Twitter bio to include the words “currently chilling”.

Thunberg was heading home, having stopped off in Italy Friday to join one of the weekly climate strikes that she inspired

Philippines hunts for survivors after quake levels trade buildingManila

Rescue teams in the southern Philippines

searched for signs of life on Monday in a collapsed shopping center after a powerful earthquake that killed at least three people and wounded dozens more.

Disaster response offi-cials said five people were believed to be trapped in the rubble of the Southern Trade Shopping Centre in Padada, a town on the island of Mindanao located about 20 kms (12 miles) from the epicenter of Sunday’s quake.

Rescuers were using chainsaws and thermal im-aging equipment to look for survivors, but said there was little hope of finding anyone alive.

“It ’s very distressing. There’s a very slim chance of finding survivors,” re-gional disaster official Christopher Tan told CNN Philippines.

A six-year-old girl was killed when the wall of her house collapsed on her during the 6.8 magnitude quake, the fifth to hit the re-gion since October. Rescu-ers also recovered the bod-ies of two women during a night disrupted by several aftershocks.

A further 31 people were injured, said Francis Irag, regional information officer.

Majors battled in vain to fight off the mug-gers in the attack,

biting one assailant on the hand, it was re-vealed during a court hearing following the

murder this week


Saudi leaders have highlighted a number of these themes at the G20, from social inclusiveness

to environmental stewardship and innovation

and technology, among others. Now the Kingdom must develop innovative approaches to guarantee

the durability of these reforms.

Hon. Chairman Najeb Yacob Alhamer | Editor-in-Chief Mahmood AI Mahmood | Chairman & Managing Director P Unnikrishnan | Advertisement: Update Media W.L.L | Tel: 38444692, Email: [email protected] | Newsroom: Tel: 38444680, Email: [email protected] & circulation: Tel: 36458394 | Email:[email protected] | Website: www.newsofbahrain.com | Printed and published by Al Ayam Publishing

ADEL AL TORAIFI

Earlier this month, Saudi Ara-bia assumed the presidency of the G20, an international

forum for governments and central bank governors representing 19 of the world’s richest countries, as well as the European Union. With this privilege comes a unique opportunity for the Kingdom to showcase an impressive array of economic and social reforms under way there. In fact, hosting next year’s G20 summit has arguably been one of the biggest motivators for Saudi Arabia in recent times, with its government having recent-ly rolled out major initiatives as a consequence.

The road has no doubt been rocky for Saudi Arabia in recent years as it goes through a period of tran-sition on various fronts. Yet the leadership has been determined to alter the narrative and restore lasting, global confidence in the Kingdom. After all, the G20 host has historically had the responsibil-ity of demonstrating an alignment of values with other member-states.

Indeed on several issues, Saudi Arabia can showcase marked im-provements, such as in the quality of life, social transformation, eco-nomic progress and the delivery of a more streamlined business en-vironment. Specific reforms have included granting more rights and freedoms to women and relaxing the issuance of visas. In its Doing Business 2020 report, meanwhile, the World Bank has credited the

Kingdom for being the world’s most improved economy.

Behind this change is a carefully orchestrated mechanism conceived in the Saudi Vision 2030 document, developed under the guidance of Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince, and in coordination with the country’s council of economic and development affairs. While the Kingdom faces myriad challenges in delivering this agenda, it has nev-ertheless made marked progress in certain areas.

For example, at the G20 summit in Japan this year, Saudi Arabia participated in a women’s empow-

erment initiative, signing a pledge to promote participation in the workforce and close the pay gap. Domestically, this has been reflect-ed in a series of reforms to advance the role of women and improve their professional and legal rights. There is still a great deal of work to be done but walking down the streets of Riyadh one can see con-siderable evidence of this change.

Furthermore, in terms of infra-structure, Saudi Arabia has more than $310 billion worth of transport projects that are already under way or being planned. The country has earmarked financial resources for

A FRIEND IS SOMEONE WHO KNOWS ALL ABOUT YOU AND STILL LOVES YOU.ELBERT HUBBARD

QUOTE OF THE DAY

How Saudi Arabia can maximise

a rare opportunity?

The test for the host of next year’s summit will be whether

its economic and social reforms will catapult the Kingdom into a

new era where it can match the world’s leading economies

Post-election expectations centre on the department

of international trade being rolled into a super-ministry that both deals

with leaving the EU with a new association as well as forging new trade deals.

A government certain to stay

in power for five years will

inevitably attract foreign

interest in longer-term and deeper

engagement

Damien McElroy .

The era of post-Brexit Britain dawned when last week’s election delivered a big ma-

jority for Boris Johnson. The coun-try can now be said to have reached the end of the beginning of its trans-formation from a member of the European Union into an independ-ent player.

The most important aspect of the election was that it delivered a clear and durable mandate. This means that the UK can now define its place clearly in international affairs, mak-ing choices where it has recently hedged its bets. In tandem with efforts to reshape the economy, the implications are likely to resonate far beyond the Westminster bubble.

In a victory speech that will rank with those made by Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and Tony Blair in 1997, Boris Johnson gave a careful promise on Friday to those who were “lending” their votes that his people’s government would meet their expectations. Mrs Thatcher ushered in a time of opportunity by promising to replace despair with hope. Mr Blair offered the idea that things could only get better.

Mr Johnson has weathered a political crisis that has been both all-absorbing and immobilising. Now he and his ministers have an opportunity to make a new impact on the world. A government that is almost certain to stay in power for at least five years will inevitably at-tract foreign interest in longer-term and deeper engagement.

As Britain is coming out the EU single market, its opportunities to

strike new trade and investment deals from states far and moving from tentative to tangible.

The removal of Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour party, as a clear and future danger will just by itself make a difference. While governments around the world had drawn plans to engage constructively with Mr Corbyn, there is no doubt that his track re-cord and world view were vastly different from those of any British prime minister in recent history.

It is true that governments act differently and respond to a differ-ent set of considerations that the positioning adopted by opposition leaders. With Mr Corbyn, there was set of factors that was going to reset Britain’s ties with many of its closest allies. In his ties to out-fits like Black September, Hamas, Hezbollah and the IRA, Mr Corbyn had spent a lifetime indulging an alternative worldview.

By contrast, Mr Johnson pre-sents continuity with the long-es-tablished policy positions held by the UK.

After a decade of undeniable drift, there is a tantalising potential for a fresh start. The prime minister was foreign secretary until June last year and forged a valuable bank of friendships with leading officials abroad. The appointment did not result in a lasting legacy. His tenure was, however, a factor in the re-cent election. It especially provided some political positioning around issues of conservation and empow-erment of girls through education.

More instructive is the goodwill Mr Johnson garnered as an open,

internationalist mayor of London. People still fondly remember how Mr Johnson would describe Lon-don as “the eighth emirate of the UAE”. During his tenure, which ended a little less than four years ago, the British capital was open for business, and a great deal of investment flooded east and west.

Calls to get Mr Johnson on the phone from foreign leaders were being booked by officials before midnight on Thursday. As a per-manent member of the UN Security Council, Britain remains a com-pelling actor despite its declining appetite to take a strong stance on a gamut of international issues.

Mr Johnson’s forceful personality represents a gear change in

leadership. The preferred style of governance of the prime minister is as a chairman of the board. By liaising with his peers and giving direction to his executive officers, Mr Johnson seeks to impart energy and direction to his administration. The classical scholar and biogra-pher knows the perils of getting bogged down in detail. Drawn out and agonising tussles with weigh-ing alternative courses of action are not his thing. As a man of ac-tion, Mr Johnson is fortunate that there is plenty of thinking on how to reinvent Britain’s global role draw on.

The advantage of a strong posi-tion in parliament is that he has a

Boris Johnson’s victory gives Britain a chance reassert its place in the world


Saudi leaders have highlighted a number of these themes at the G20, from social inclusiveness

to environmental stewardship and innovation

and technology, among others. Now the Kingdom must develop innovative approaches to guarantee

the durability of these reforms.


ADEL AL TORAIFI

Earlier this month, Saudi Ara-bia assumed the presidency of the G20, an international

forum for governments and central bank governors representing 19 of the world’s richest countries, as well as the European Union. With this privilege comes a unique opportunity for the Kingdom to showcase an impressive array of economic and social reforms under way there. In fact, hosting next year’s G20 summit has arguably been one of the biggest motivators for Saudi Arabia in recent times, with its government having recent-ly rolled out major initiatives as a consequence.

The road has no doubt been rocky for Saudi Arabia in recent years as it goes through a period of tran-sition on various fronts. Yet the leadership has been determined to alter the narrative and restore lasting, global confidence in the Kingdom. After all, the G20 host has historically had the responsibil-ity of demonstrating an alignment of values with other member-states.

Indeed on several issues, Saudi Arabia can showcase marked im-provements, such as in the quality of life, social transformation, eco-nomic progress and the delivery of a more streamlined business en-vironment. Specific reforms have included granting more rights and freedoms to women and relaxing the issuance of visas. In its Doing Business 2020 report, meanwhile, the World Bank has credited the

Kingdom for being the world’s most improved economy.

Behind this change is a carefully orchestrated mechanism conceived in the Saudi Vision 2030 document, developed under the guidance of Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince, and in coordination with the country’s council of economic and development affairs. While the Kingdom faces myriad challenges in delivering this agenda, it has nev-ertheless made marked progress in certain areas.

For example, at the G20 summit in Japan this year, Saudi Arabia participated in a women’s empow-



A FRIEND IS SOMEONE WHO KNOWS ALL ABOUT YOU AND STILL LOVES YOU.ELBERT HUBBARD

QUOTE OF THE DAY

How Saudi Arabia can maximise

a rare opportunity?

The test for the host of next year’s summit will be whether

its economic and social reforms will catapult the Kingdom into a

new era where it can match the world’s leading economies

Post-election expectations centre on the department

of international trade being rolled into a super-ministry that both deals

with leaving the EU with a new association as well as forging new trade deals.

A government certain to stay

in power for five years will

inevitably attract foreign

interest in longer-term and deeper

engagement

Damien McElroy .

The era of post-Brexit Britain dawned when last week’s election delivered a big ma-

jority for Boris Johnson. The coun-try can now be said to have reached the end of the beginning of its trans-formation from a member of the European Union into an independ-ent player.

The most important aspect of the election was that it delivered a clear and durable mandate. This means that the UK can now define its place clearly in international affairs, mak-ing choices where it has recently hedged its bets. In tandem with efforts to reshape the economy, the implications are likely to resonate far beyond the Westminster bubble.

In a victory speech that will rank with those made by Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and Tony Blair in 1997, Boris Johnson gave a careful promise on Friday to those who were “lending” their votes that his people’s government would meet their expectations. Mrs Thatcher ushered in a time of opportunity by promising to replace despair with hope. Mr Blair offered the idea that things could only get better.

Mr Johnson has weathered a political crisis that has been both all-absorbing and immobilising. Now he and his ministers have an opportunity to make a new impact on the world. A government that is almost certain to stay in power for at least five years will inevitably at-tract foreign interest in longer-term and deeper engagement.

As Britain is coming out the EU single market, its opportunities to

strike new trade and investment deals from states far and moving from tentative to tangible.

The removal of Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour party, as a clear and future danger will just by itself make a difference. While governments around the world had drawn plans to engage constructively with Mr Corbyn, there is no doubt that his track re-cord and world view were vastly different from those of any British prime minister in recent history.

It is true that governments act differently and respond to a differ-ent set of considerations that the positioning adopted by opposition leaders. With Mr Corbyn, there was set of factors that was going to reset Britain’s ties with many of its closest allies. In his ties to out-fits like Black September, Hamas, Hezbollah and the IRA, Mr Corbyn had spent a lifetime indulging an alternative worldview.

By contrast, Mr Johnson pre-sents continuity with the long-es-tablished policy positions held by the UK.

After a decade of undeniable drift, there is a tantalising potential for a fresh start. The prime minister was foreign secretary until June last year and forged a valuable bank of friendships with leading officials abroad. The appointment did not result in a lasting legacy. His tenure was, however, a factor in the re-cent election. It especially provided some political positioning around issues of conservation and empow-erment of girls through education.

More instructive is the goodwill Mr Johnson garnered as an open,

internationalist mayor of London. People still fondly remember how Mr Johnson would describe Lon-don as “the eighth emirate of the UAE”. During his tenure, which ended a little less than four years ago, the British capital was open for business, and a great deal of investment flooded east and west.

Calls to get Mr Johnson on the phone from foreign leaders were being booked by officials before midnight on Thursday. As a per-manent member of the UN Security Council, Britain remains a com-pelling actor despite its declining appetite to take a strong stance on a gamut of international issues.

Mr Johnson’s forceful personality represents a gear change in





TOP

4TWEETS

02

01

Co n g re s s i o n a l D o Nothing Democrats

are being absolutely dec-imated in their districts on the subject of the Im-peachment Hoax. People that voted for them are lit-erally screaming in their faces. Crazy Nancy is finding defending Shifty Schiff harder than she thought! #2020Election

@realDonaldTrump

03

James Comey was the head of the FBI. The

buck stops with him. Claiming it was “sloppi-ness” on behalf of the FBI to obtain a FISA warrant is a bogus excuse. Comey owes both @realDon-aldTrump and Carter Page an apology.

@GOPChairwoman

04

There’s a growing view that unless McCon-

nell agrees to hold a fair trial, the House should vote to impeach but not send the articles to the Senate. If the Senate won’t do its job honestly, they shouldn’t be allowed to do it dishonestly.

@ianbassin

Violent protests on the Citizenship Amend-

ment Act are unfortunate and deeply distressing. Debate, discussion and dissent are essential parts of democracy but, nev-er has damage to public property and disturbance of normal life been a part of our ethos.

@narendramodi

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

editorial stances)



innovative projects in the energy sector, as well as in recycling and waste management. These initi-atives will be fundamental to the Kingdom’s economic transforma-tion with the potential to deliver cleaner, more efficient and profit-able solutions for global industry.

Saudi leaders have highlighted a number of these themes at the G20, from social inclusiveness to environmental stewardship and innovation and technology, among others. Now the Kingdom must develop innovative approaches to guarantee the durability of these reforms, as well as elucidate the role it wants to play in a changing global landscape.

While planning for next year’s summit, it can examine the suc-cesses of previous iterations held in Argentina and Japan.

Argentina, for instance, was suc-cessful in delivering a compelling narrative about growth opportu-nities and drawing investor inter-est and confidence. Japan’s use of model cities to demonstrate such concepts as local production for local consumption, and subsidised use of electric vehicles and solar power, provides another useful ex-ample to Saudi Arabia on how it can advertise its own urban projects at the heart of Vision 2030, including Qiddiya and Neom. These projects provide vast investment opportu-nities in energy, tourism, biotech, manufacturing and digital tech-nology, which will be at the core of future growth in the Kingdom.

Riyadh must fully capitalise on

the unique convening power of the G20. To this end, the role of the B20 business summit – hosted by Saudi Basic Industries Corporation – will be critical. The Kingdom will have a rare opportunity to set an agenda that highlights Vision 2030’s vast ambitions for research and devel-opment while identifying private sector champions, both at home and among foreign investors, who embody this spirit of cooperation and ambition.

The success of Saudi Arabia’s G20 presidency will be defined by its ability to present two clear and genuine messages.

First, the Kingdom would be well advised to lay out a coherent, trans-parent and realistic path forward for the realisation of Vision 2030, including plans tied to the Saudi Aramco IPO and priority invest-ments in infrastructure, technology and other megaprojects.

Second, there should be no illu-sions about recent and past chal-lenges, and the hurdles that remain; the Kingdom would benefit from an honest and balanced presentation of changes under way in its society.

Ultimately, the credibility of Sau-di Arabia’s reforms will be on dis-play – as much during the G20 as they will in the months and years to follow. Momentum in economic reform and growth must remain long past the G20. The greatest test will be whether these reforms are ultimately capable of catapulting the Kingdom into a new era where it can match the leading economies within the G20 forum.

1967Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia, disappears whileswimming near Portsea, Victoria, and is presumed drowned.

1969Project Blue Book: The United States Air Force closes its study of UFOs.

1970Polish protests: In Gdynia, soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens.

1973Thirty passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinianterrorists on Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY

A big rights stride

Human Rights Day is celebrated globally every year across the world on December 10, according to United Nations sources and the date was chosen to honour the

United Nations General Assembly’s adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948, following the end of the Second World War.

Every year, each country is expected to revise its human rights record and if improvement are necessary due to recommenda-tions from international organizations and establishments, the respective countries make the required adjustment in line with the international human rights handling norms.

Each year comes with a specific theme to address. This year’s theme was ‘Youth Standing Up for Human Rights’, indicating that the youth age bracket was the focus of the Day.

Probably, this year’s pick of the theme might have related with the continuous youth protests that we are witnessing in several countries and to urge governments give a platform to address their own concerns and work to fulfil their requirements. Youths are demanding to practice their democratic freedoms enshrined

in the human rights laws. It includes free speech and expression and employment opportunities. Providing these rights to the youth ensures sta-bility and prosperity in a given society.

Bahrain’s handling of its human rights has received international applause. In the post 2011 unfortunate incident, the mainstream media and non- government organizations criticized the government. They based their immature conclusions on unreliable sources, concocted or fake news backed by foreign elements that work against Bahrain’s interests.

Truth finally revealed, these days all indica-tions show that Bahrain indeed has dealt with the human rights issue in line with international standards and norms. Since Bahrain has cleared its image, it has the received several nomina-tions to become a member of the Human Rights Council. This indeed is a big stride where few countries have achieved.

In his message addressed to the world on the International Human Rights Day, His Royal Highness Prime Minster Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has summarized the devel-opments of human rights issues in Bahrain as follows:

-Bahrain has made the maintenance and re-spect of human rights as a cornerstone of its development process. The world conscience is the essence of protecting human rights, and everyone has a responsibility to achieve a world of peace.

-Bahrain, under the leadership of His Majesty the King, is rich in leading accomplishment in ensuring human rights and public freedoms.

-The right to life and decent living conditions is a humanitarian goal guaranteed by religious laws and international covenants. The youth

category enjoys abundant interest in all the development plans adopted by the kingdom of Bahrain.

Finally, the Premier has urged the world community to assume its responsibility to defend the present and future of mankind in the face of wars that have exhausted capabilities of states.

The Premier considered the youths as the ‘real future invest-ments’ and the development plans the government is under-taking takes into consideration the requirements of the youths. These requirements include the provision of tailored training courses and creating opportunities for employments under the National Employment Programme.

Under this programme, private companies are requested to participate in several job fair exhibitions where they announce the vacant jobs available. Youths of various academic back-grounds and experience are invited to scan the jobs they require and interviewed to be employed as soon as possible. This move has paid dividends and several youths were employed. The programme is a continuous process, which can further reduce the already low unemployment rate Bahrain is experiencing.

Bahrain development plans always take into consideration the requirements of the youth. This year’s theme of the Human Rights Day, which focused on the youths, only strengthens Bahrain’s previous stand and reminds the world that Bahrain’s handling of the human rights conforms to international stand-ards and norms.

YENUS S

Bahrain development

plans always take into consideration

the requirements of the youth. This

year’s theme of the Human

Rights Day, which focused on the youths,

only strengthens Bahrain’s

previous stand and reminds

the world that Bahrain’s

handling of the human rights

conforms to international

standards and norms.



freer hand to pursue a swift and rapid overhaul of a now malfunc-tioning system.

The Conservative party’s major-ity will almost certainly unleash much of the pent-up appetite for change in foreign policy within the party. There is a widespread feeling that Britain has lost much of the last decade in introspection. A for-mer aide to former prime minister David Cameron declared last week that London had pulled in its horns after the rejection of the strikes on Syria by the House of Commons in 2013.

On the cards already is a plan to reinvigorate the foreign office by putting development spending back under the overall purview of the diplomatic service.

Getting Brexit done is a one-off opportunity to change how the government broadly conducts its international relationships. A wider shake-up is likely on leaving the EU. Post-election expectations centre on the department of international trade being rolled into a super-min-istry that both deals with leaving the EU with a new association as well as forging new trade deals.

Clarity on all sides starts with clear messaging to partners about where Britain is headed. Achieving the consensus of partnership cannot be a matter of accidental innovation or slavish following of precedent.

At the heart of what the reformers need to achieve is to maintain and build on Britain’s global role as part of the process of leaving the bloc. It is important to revamp how the machine functions. This cannot be sufficient. Equally, better definitions

of what Britain is trying to do is vital.Brexit is not an event in isola-

tion. Embedding that lesson in for-eign policy could be asset. So too is adopting new means of assessing how the country deals with an era of increasing global competition. A shift to becoming a more effective player in the Indo-Pacific and the Arctic is sorely needed. A focus on protecting and extending the coun-try’s influence must render real gains for the UK. More resources should be directed towards defence and new strategic technologies, including space. A process of as-sessment of British interests must sit at the heart of daily government in the way that has not been possi-ble so far.

Freed from the distractions of day-to-day survival, British lead-ers can be more effective. Michael Fallon, the former defence secre-tary, lamented recently that during his time in office he would receive reports of his French counterpart travelling to conferences and forum meetings. Mr Fallon could only look on frustrated from London, where he was stuck in the parliamentary lobby defending a non-existing par-liamentary majority.

A more compelling case should also emerge for the UK as a revital-ised economic partner. At a time of low interest rates, Mr Johnson’s government is set to splurge to raise investment levels. Big signature projects and a larger than life polit-ical leader can be expected to draw massive foreign interest.

The effect on diplomatic and po-litical ties should not be underes-timated.


KNOW WHAT

08

business


Banks boost Saudi as Aramco continues rally• All Saudi Arabian banks gain but one

• Aramco closes up at 38 riyals

• FAB up as it opens new branch in Saudi Arabia

Reuters

Saudi Arabia’s stock market rose yesterday, led by bank-ing shares and Aramco, as

the oil giant climbed for the fourth straight day since listing. Most other

major Gulf bourses were also higher.

Riyadh’s benchmark index increased 1.1pc, with Al Rajhi Bank and Arab National Bank gaining 1.9 per cent and 3.3pc, respectively.

Saudi Aramco closed up 1.6pc at 38 riyals.

The state-owned firm will join the Tadawul index and global benchmarks such as MSCI and

FTSE this week, likely leading to “passive” inflows from investors

who track such indexes.Aramco listed 1.5pc of its

shares at 32 riyals ($8.53) on the kingdom’s Tadawul exchange on Dec. 11 in the world’s largest initial public offering (IPO).

Initially priced at $1.7 trillion, the company’s valuation has risen to $2 trillion, a level long sought by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Aramco contributed almost half of the turnover on the mar-ket on Monday, with 87.5 million shares worth about 3.3 billion riyals ($880 million) changing hands. The Saudi market’s total turnover stood at 6.8 billion ri-

yals, Refinitiv data showed.Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia Fer-

tilizers was up 0.8pc after its board proposed a 1.5 riyals per share dividend for the second half of 2019.

Dubai’s index added 0.3pc, led by a 1.6pc rise in Emirates NBD and a 2.7pc increase in Air Arabia.

The Abu Dhabi index edged up 0.2pc, with Abu Dhabi Com-mercial Bank adding 1.9pc and the country’s largest lender, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), up 0.1pc.

FAB said it had expanded its network in Saudi Arabia by opening a branch in Jeddah.

The Qatari index declined 0.4pc. Mesaieed Petrochemi-cal was the biggest drag, falling 2.8pc, while Industries Qatar slipped 0.9pc.

Egypt’s blue-chip index eased 0.2pc, driven down by a 1.4pc decrease in Commercial Inter-national Bank and a 1.8pc fall in El Sewedy Electric.

Bahrain was closed for a pub-lic holiday.

Closing Bell SAUDI p 1.1pc to 8,139 pts

ABU DHABI p 0.2pc to 5,039 pts

DUBAI p 0.3pc to 2,737 pts

QATAR q 0.4pc to 10,222 pts

EGYPT q 0.2pc to 13,404 pts

OMAN q 1.5pc to 3,951 pts

KUWAIT q 0.2pc at 6,815 pts

Traders on the floor of Saudi Stock exchange (file)

Trump poised to become third US president to be impeachedReuters | Washington

Republican Donald Trump is likely this week to become

the third US president to be im-peached when the Democrat-ic-led House of Representatives votes on charges stemming from his effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden.

Trump faces one charge of abusing his power by asking Ukraine to investigate Biden, a leading Democratic contender to oppose him in the 2020 US presidential election, and one of obstructing Congress’ inves-tigation into the matter.

The president has denied wrongdoing and called the im-peachment investigation a hoax and sham.

The House of Representatives is likely to take up the issue on Wednesday, setting the stage for a vote this week on wheth-er to approve the charges and send the matter to the Repub-lican-led Senate to hold a trial on whether to remove Trump from office.

Democrats, who enjoy a 36-seat majority in the House, are expected to win an impeach-ment vote, which requires a

simple majority.Republicans hold 53 of the

100 seats in the Senate, where they appear likely to prevail in any trial against Trump, which would require a two-thirds ma-jority of those present to remove him from office.

Seeking to shape any tri-al, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called on Sun-day for testimony from White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, former nation-al security adviser John Bolton, Mulvaney aide Robert Blair and budget official Michael Duffey.

Schumer made his appeal in a letter to Republican Senate Ma-jority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said last week he was coor-dinating with the White House and has raised the prospect of a short impeachment trial in which no witnesses would be called.

“I hope we can come to an agreement about a fair trial,” Schumer told MSNBC in an in-terview on Monday.

House Democrats also sought testimony from the four men in their inquiry, but they did not appear.

The White House did not im-mediately respond to a request for comment on the Schumer letter.

A McConnell spokesman did not directly address Schumer’s requests, but said the Senate majority leader “plans to meet with Leader Schumer to discuss the contours of a trial soon.”

US President Donald Trump

No US president has been removed as a direct result of im-

peachment. Richard Nixon resigned in

1974 before he could be removed, while

Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were im-

peached by the House, respectively in 1868

and 1998, but not con-victed by the Senate.

Japan, South Korea find ‘common ground’ in trade dispute talksReuters | Tokyo

The first meeting between senior Japanese and South

Korean trade officials since Ja-pan imposed controls on exports of high-technology materials to its neighbor ended hours later than scheduled on Monday, with the two saying they had reached “common ground” and agreeing

to talk again.Testy relations between the

two US allies sank to a new low in July after Japan imposed the curbs on exports to South Korea of three materials used to make semiconductors, threatening a pillar of its economy and the global supply chain of chips.

Japan cited its concern about

insufficient South Korean con-trols on the materials for the move in July, although the curbs came as relations soured over a dispute over Japan’s wartime actions.

Yoichi Iida, director-general at the Japanese trade ministry’s trade control department, and his South Korean counterpart

Lee Ho-Hyeon, met in Tokyo for the first senior-level bilateral talks in three-and-a-half years.

The two made no comment as they shook hands at the begin-ning of their meeting, but the talks ran more than three hours over schedule and Japanese trade minister Hiroshi Kajiyama said there was “progress”, add-

ing the next dialogue would be held in Seoul in the near future.

“These policy talks were the first ones for three-and-a-half years, and we verified each oth-ers’ position,” Kajiyama told reporters in brief, late-night re-marks after the talks broke up. “We’ll make a judgment after building on this.”During the meeting

Weak bank profits a stability risk for euro zone: ECBReuters | Frankfurt

Low euro zone interest rates will squeeze bank margins,

raising financial stability risk for the bloc, even as its eco-nomic prospects appear to be stabilizing after a long slide, European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said yesterday.

“Weak profitability and squeezed margins pose a risk to financial stability as they may hamper banks’ interme-diation and capital generation capacity,” de Guindos told a conference.

“The current environment is characterized by a weakening of the macroeconomic outlook and increasing uncertainty, even though the latest indica-

tors point to a stabilization of economic activity.”

De Guindos repeated his call for euro zone countries to con-sider raising counter cyclical buffers on banks, which can be released quickly in case of an eventual downturn to help lenders to sustain the flow of credit.

A sculpture of Euro symbol is pictured in front of the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium

Sweden set to end sub-zero ratesReuters | Stockholm

Sweden’s central bank is ex-pected to become the first

in the world to claw its way out of negative interest rates on Thursday. The Riksbank cut rates below zero in early 2015 to head off the threat of Japanese-style deflation in the wake of the euro zone crisis.

The European Central Bank,

Denmark and Switzerland had already gone sub-zero - the first central banks ever to experiment with such an ex-treme policy. Japan and Hun-gary have since joined the club.

On Thursday, if analysts are right, the Riksbank will hike its benchmark repo rate to zero from -0.25%, making it the first to return to more normal territory.

$65.41was the price of Brent

crude oil futures by 1305 GMT


John Lennon’s round glasses sell for nearly $200,000• Lennon was fatally shot by a crazed fan outside his Manhattan apartment building in 1980

London

A pair of John Lennon’s sun-glasses The Beatles legend

once left behind in the back seat of a car sold Friday for nearly $200,000 at an auction in Lon-don.

Billed as one of the most fa-mous pair of specs in rock-and-

roll, the round, green-tinted lenses and their golden frame belonged to Alan Herring, the chauffeur for the Liver-pool quartet’s drummer Rin-go Starr and band mate George Harrison.

“In the summer of 1968 I had picked John up with Ringo and George in Ringo’s Mercedes and driven the boys into the office,” Herring recalled in a statement released by the Sotheby’s auc-tion house.

“When John got out of the car I noticed that he’d left these sunglasses on the back seat and one lens and one arm had become disconnected. I asked

John if he’d like me to get them fixed for him. He told me not to worry they were just for the look!”

Herring said he never did get them fixed, and the pair sold for £137,500 ($183,500, 165,000 euros) in an online auction to an unnamed bidder.

The sale included other Fab Four collectibles, including a hippy necklace with cowbells warn by Harrison, which sold for £10,000.

“For my family’s sake it makes sense for me to say goodbye to my collection now while I can still tell all the stories behind everything,” Herring said.

John Lennon and his wife, Cynthia, at Maharishi’s ashram in Rishikesh in 1968. Picture courtesy: Pinterest/Hypeness

Billed as one of the most famous pair of

specs in rock-and-roll, the round, green-tinted lenses and their golden frame belonged to Alan Herring, the chauffeur for the Liverpool quar-tet’s drummer Ringo Starr and band mate

George Harrison.

Oil near 3-month highs on US-China deal• The United States and China announced on Friday a “phase one” agreement

• Agreement averted additional tariffs on Chinese goods totaling $160 billion

• Brent has rallied this year, supported by production curbs

Reuters | London

Oil prices held near three-month highs yesterday, supported by last week’s

announcement of an initial trade deal between the United States and China.

Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were up 19 cents, or 0.29 per cent, to $65.41 a barrel by 1305 GMT, while West Texas Interme-diate crude CLc1 was up a cent,

or 0.02pc, to $60.08 a barrel.The United States and China

announced on Friday a “phase one” agreement that will reduce some US tariffs in exchange for what US officials said would be a big jump in Chinese purchases of US farm products and other goods.

“What the market needs now, though, is clarity around exactly what the deal entails,” analysts from ING Economics said. “The longer we have to wait for this detail, the more likely market participants will start to ques-tion how good a deal it actually is.”

The Friday agreement avert-ed additional tariffs on Chinese goods totaling $160 billion that the United States was set to im-pose over the weekend.

US Trade Representative Rob-ert Lighthizer said on Sunday the deal would nearly double US exports to China over the next

two years and was “totally done” despite the need for translation and revisions to its text.

China’s State Council’s cus-toms tariff commission said on Sunday it had suspended addi-tional tariffs on some U.S. goods that were meant to be imple-mented on Dec. 15.

Progress on trade could jump start oil demand and ease fears of a glut which have weighed on prices, said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.

“Oversupply concerns driving weaker oil prices over the first half of 2020 is the base case for many investors, but we could finally start to see improved data from the world’s two largest economies spearhead calls for a global growth rebound.”

Data from China on Monday showing industrial output and retail sales growth accelerating more than expected in Novem-ber offered some support for oil prices.

But growth in China is ex-pected to slow further next year, with the government likely to set its growth target at about 6pc in

2020 compared with 6pc-6.5pc this year.

Brent has rallied this year, supported by production curbs by the Organization of the Pe-troleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Rus-sia, which this month agreed to lower supply by a further 500,000 barrels per day as of Jan. 1.

The decision, according to Saxo Bank commodity strate-gist Ole Hansen, “helped trigger a 25pc increase in the combined crude long to 602,000 lots, the highest since May and the big-gest one-week accumulation since December 2016”.

Representative picture. (Courtesy of the Economist)

Reliance to divest Jio’s tower assets for $3.5 billionReuters | Bengaluru

Reliance Industries Ltd yesterday said its unit had

inked binding agreements with Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP for an investment of 252.15 billion rupees($3.51

billion).Reliance Industrial Invest-

ments and Holdings Ltd will sell its telecoms arm, Jio’s tow-er assets to Brookfield and its partners, the company, con-trolled by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, said.

RBI governor reiterates there is more scope to cut rates• He said both the government and the central bank had taken steps to help the economy recover

Reuters | Mumbi

There is scope in India for cutting interest rates fur-

ther and the central bank will use it when required after stud-ying growth and inflation data, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) governor, Shaktikanta Das, said yesterday.

The monetary policy com-mittee (MPC) surprised markets and analysts this month by hold-ing rates steady after trimming the key interest rate by 135 basis points since the beginning of the current rate reduction cycle in February.

“While taking a pause we very carefully and very definitely

said there is space for further monetary policy action but the timing will have to be decided in a manner that its impact is optimum and its impact is max-imised,” Das told a conference, the India Economic Conclave, organised by the Times Net-work.

Das said markets were sur-prised when the committee started cutting rates in February but subsequently accepted that it was right in doing so.

“And this time, the pause we have taken, I do hope that events will unfold in a manner which will prove that the MPC decision is right,” Das said.

He said both the government and the central bank had taken steps to help the economy re-cover but the outcome of events in the global economy would play a role.

Das said he hoped a recent trade deal between the United States and China would hold and not be reversed. The “Phase one” agreement reduces some US tariffs in exchange for a big jump in Chinese purchases.

“What is important in the current context is co-ordinat-ed and timely action by all the advanced and emerging econo-mies to revive growth,” he said.

“Growth is an issue of discus-sion in India and global growth is also an issue of discussion because that does impact. For a moment, I am not implying that slowdown that we have seen in

India is entirely due to glob-al factors, but it does impact growth prospects for India”.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while addressing the same conference, said the government was committed to reforms and was working on reviving growth.

“I am not going to spend time saying when it is going to reverse ... As long as anybody wants the government to in-tervene, we shall intervene,” she said.

“We shall keep doing that un-til every sector feels that ‘OK, all right, we are on track now, we are moving forward’.”

Das also stressed the impor-tance of communication for the markets and said the RBI had tried to be as clear and transpar-ent as possible.

“Of course, communication should follow action and any communication should not be empty words, it should be fol-lowed by further action.”

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das

Stocks of Boeing fall on reports of 737 MAX production haltReuters

Shares of Boeing and its sup-pliers fell on Monday after

reports that the US planemaker could temporarily halt pro-duction of 737 MAX aircraft, potentially adding to billions of dollars in costs, as its return to service is pushed to 2020.

The best-selling Boeing plane has been grounded since March after two fatal crash-es in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people, costing the plane manufacturer more than $9 billion in charges so far.

Boeing’s shares fell 4% in premarket trading to $328.13, while Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc fell 3.4%. Spirit is Boeing’s biggest supplier

and makes the MAX fuselage along with other parts such as pylons.

Analysts say a suspension of MAX production would likely result in significant additional charges for Boeing as well as it main suppliers, who have been shielded from a financial hit as they have continued to sell parts for the jet at a rate of up to 52 units per month, even as the planemaker has cut its own production to 42 per month.

“We would highlight Spirit AeroSystems, Safran SA and Senior Plc as names that could potentially experience greater disruption impacts if produc-tion is indeed slowed further or halted,” Berenberg analyst Andrew Gollan said.

10 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2019

Leona Lewis: I enjoy being a solo artist

Los Angeles

Singer-songwriter Leona Lewis says she wouldn’’t have done well in a band,

and enjoys being a solo artist.“When I was about 16 I did

audition to be in a girl band, but I didn’’t make it! Which is lucky because I don’’t think I would have done well in a band,” said Lewis.

“I enjoy being a solo artist, I like my alone time. In a band you must be someone that al-ways wants to be around people and someone who really thrives in that en-vironment,” added “The X-Factor” singing sen-sation.

L e w i s w o n “The X-Factor” in 2006, and continues to be one of its most success-ful ever contestants. At the mo-ment, she is asso-ciated with “The X Factor: The Band” as a guest judge. The show airs in India on Vh1.

With Simon Cowell and Nicole Scherzinger as judg-es, “The X Factor: The Band” aims to create the next big girl or boyband.

Talking about the judges, she said: “I think it’s a really great dynamic between those

two. Simon has been part of huge bands: he was part of putting together Five, and he put together One Direction. He obviously has a tried and tested track record. He knows how to nurture them and make them successful.

“Frozen 2’’ crosses $1 billion mark at global box officeLos Angeles

Chris Buck and Jennif-er Lee’s “Frozen 2”

has crossed the $1 billion mark at the global box of-fice, setting a record by becoming the sixth Dis-ney release of the year to do so and the eighth title of 2019 over all.

The Walt Disney An-imation project has grossed $366.5 million in the US and $666 million internationally, taking the

worldwide t o t a l t o $ 1 . 0 3 2 b i l l i o n , re p o r t s

h o l l y -w o o d r e -

porter.com.Set in the fantastical

land of Arendelle, “Fro-zen” is a story of two sis-ters Elsa and Anna who are on a path of finding acceptance and love, while trying to save their kingdom infused with heart-touching music and emotions. Elsa is struggling to accept her magical icy powers and effervescent Anna is try-ing to find a bond with her sister.

Daniel Craig to sport eight different looks in “No Time to Die’’Los Angeles

Hollywood star Dan-iel Craig will be seen

sporting grey hair in the upcoming film “No Time to Die”.

In the film’s trailer, Craig, who has played the spy in the last four movies, sports his grey locks but also appears to have hints of sever-al other hair colours, reports mirror.co.uk.

Commenting on the different styles, one fan commented: “It w a s r e a l l y o d d

l o o k i n g a t t h e t r a i l e r because It looked

like I was w a t c h i n g d i f f e r e n t movies. I

get that they want to keep Bond looking young but actually Bond with a salt and pepper look is really cool.”

Also, Craig is the first ever James Bond to have grey hair. He will also be seen sporting at least eight different looks in the films.

“No time To Die” is the 25th Bond flick, and is di-rected by new-age mav-erick and Emmy-winner Cary Joji Fukunaga, who made mark calling the shots on “True Detective”.

Khloe Kardashian does Kris Jenner impressionMumbai

Reality TV per-sonality Khloe Kardashian did

a hilarious impression of her mother Kris Jenner in the season 17 finale of their reali-ty show “Keeping Up With The Kardashian”.

In the finale, which aired on Sunday, the Kardashian and Jenner family members were doing impersonation of each oth-er. Kendall opted to dress like her

sister Kylie, Kourtney imperson-ated Kim, reports aceshowbiz.com.

Khloe went all-in on the look

with a short black wig. She also sported smoky eye make-up. She dressed up in an identical outfit to a Versace ensemble which was once worn by Kris.

“Kylie, you can sit next to me, because you are my favourite and you make a billion dollars,” Khloe jok-ingly said as Kris to Ken-

dall’s Kylie in the episode.She added: “I have my Kylie,

my billion dollar baby. Now she will always be the dearest to my heart for a billion reasons.”

Singer Katy Perry all jazzed up for ChristmasLos Angeles

With Christmas just around the corner, singer Katy Perry

seems to be all jazzed up to welcome Santa and Christ-mas festivities in her life.

The singer was seen don-ning a cute red and white furry Santa dress as she

looked busy setting her Christmas tree in her Instagram post.

The picture was a still from her latest

single-’Cozy Little Christmas’.

“Day 15 of 25 Days of Cozy: 10 days left until

Christmas! What are you hop-ing Santa leaves under your tree?” Perry captioned the post.

Perry seemed all jazzed up for the festival wearing a reindeer antlers head-band all festive items in the background was set-ting the perfect Christ-mas theme.

The singer-song-writer on Decem-

ber 3 dropped the audio-visual of

her song fes-t i v e s o n g

‘Cozy Little C h r i s t -

mas’.

Taylor Swift to headline Glastonbury festivalLos Angeles

Pop star Taylor Swift has announced that she will be head-

lining the next edition of Glastonbury Music Fes-tival.

The 30-year-old singer made the revelation on Twitter, shar-ing a photo of the music gala’s in-house newspaper with the headline: “Sunday Night Taylor Made For Glastonbury.”

“I’m ecstatic to tell you that I’ll be headlining Glastonbury on its 50th anniversary - See you there!” Swift wrote.

She joins previously-an-nounced headliner Paul McCa-rtney and Motown star Diana Ross, who will play the Sunday afternoon “legends slot”.

Michael Eavis, the founder of the festival, said, “I’m so pleased to announce Taylor Swift will be headlining the Sunday at Glas-tonbury 2020. She’s one of the biggest stars in the world and her songs are absolutely amazing. We’re so delighted.”

Swift is set to kick off her Lover Fest tour on June 20 in Belgium and her Glaston-bury performance seems to be northern detour.

The five-day festival will take place June 24-28.

Paul Walker’s

daughter wants

school for underprivileged

kidsLos Angeles

Late actor Paul Walk-er’s daughter Mead-ow Walker has re-

vealed that she wants to build a school to serve un-derprivileged children.

The 21-year-old philan-thropist recently shared a post to Instagram in

w h i c h s h e announced her plans t o b u i l d a s c h o o l

w i t h t h e charity Pen-cils of Prom-ise, reports

dailymail.co.uk.Meadow shared multiple

photos of smiling children inside and outside of a rural school.

“Today, I am launching a campaign with @pencilsof-promise to build a school. This is the season of giving and my biggest wish is to provide a space for these children to learn,” she cap-tioned the images.

“Everyone deserves a good education. We are dedicating this school to my dad, Paul Walker,” she concluded, end-ing with a heart emoji.

Daniel Craig

Paul Walker

Britney Spears begs netizens to

stop bullying herLos Angeles

Singer Britney Spears has urged her fans and followers to stop posting mean things about her on the social media.

The singer took to Instagram to ask her followers to refrain from getting mean as she shared an Instagram video to show her

Christmas tree on Saturday, reports dailymail.co.uk.“Happy holidays friends! I love sharing with you all ... but it’s

been hard to keep wanting to share because people say the mean-est things! If you don’’t like a post ... just keep it to yourself and unfollow that person. There’s no reason to ever go out of your way to make mean comments and bully people. Stay happy and nice this holiday season y’’all and God Bless,” she posted along with three crying face emojis.

In the video, the 38-year-old can be seen posing, twirling and dancing around. She is wearing a white crop top.

“Hi, guys, this is what my Christmas tree looks like this year,” she said.

Last week, Us Weekly reported that Spears is planning to go to court next year over her

custody arrangement with her former husband Kevin Federline.

Kris Jenner and Khloe Kardashian

Katy Perry

Britney Spears

Federer admits ‘breakdown’ after Bogota match cancelled

Reuters | London

Ro g e r F e d e r e r admits he suf-fered a “bit of a

breakdown” during last month’s tour of Mexico

and South America after rioting in Colombian capital Bogota forced him to cancel his exhibition match against Germany’s Alexander Zverev.

The 38-year-old’s five-coun-try tour is covered in broadcast-er ESPN’s candid documentary ‘Roger Federer: Everywhere is Home’ which will air on Dec. 17.

It charts the 20-time Grand Slam champion’s journey,

including the histo-ry-making match in

Mexico City bullring when a 42,517 delirious fans watched him take on German Zverev -- a record crowd for a tennis match.

One of the most memorable seg-ments of the documentary comes in Bogota when large scale demon-strations and riots led to a curfew imposed by the government, short-ly before Federer and Zverev were supposed to start their match.

With a huge crowd already pres-ent, Federer reluctantly decided the situation was not safe.

Footage shows Federer walk-ing back to his locker room where he broke down in tears and was hugged by Zverev.

“We went to warm up and were having a blast on the court, but then everything started to get a bit

crazy,” Federer said.“I was thinking is this the best

scenario? Because people need to get home and be safe and this was honestly when I knew we shouldn’t play, it was too much stress and pressure for everybody.

“I had a bit of a breakdown. It was not going to be the dream match it was supposed to have been and I could feel it all falling apart at the end. When I came back (to the locker room) I was emotionally wasted.”

Throughout Federer’s illustri-ous career, visits to South America have been rare with few big tour-naments held there.

His tour took in Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico.

“It was an unbelievable and

amazing trip, each step along the way as the fans expressed their love of the sport and appreciation

for the experience,” the Swiss great said.

“There were so many highlights, it was truly a magical adventure and a blast as well.”

ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi, who hosts the half-hour show, said the doc-umentary offers rare insight into Federer’s personality.

“Before this trip, I’d interviewed Federer dozens of times, but on this trip, in planes, locker rooms and hotel suites, and through police motorcades, my understanding of him was almost completely recast,” he said.

“The reach of his fame, the re-serves of his energy, the connection he has with fans -- all were unlike anything I’d ever witnessed. More than once, fans wept seeing him.”

England batsmen must go big to win: SilverwoodAFP | Benoni, South Africa

Head coach Chris Silver-wood said yesterday that

England’s batsmen would need to post big first innings totals if they are to win the four-match World Test Championship se-ries against South Africa which begins on Boxing Day.

England have struggled over the last couple of years making big totals, especially in the first innings of a Test with their 476 in the second Test against New Zealand in Hamilton this month their first total over 400 since 2017.

Silverwood said the team’s priority now was “getting more first innings runs”.

“As soon as we do that we’ll be very hard to beat,” he said.

Silverwood described Eng-land’s two-Test series in New Zealand, where they were beat-en 1-0 by the hosts, as “part and parcel” of “trying to put things in place” to build a strong Test team.

“We’ve said we really want to drive forward as a Test team,” he said.

Silverwood was encouraged by that batting performance in Hamilton and especially with captain Joe Root’s 226, his third

Test double century.“It was great for him and great

for the team. It puts him on the front foot coming here.”

Anderson readyThe former England pace

bowler said that although the England bowlers had struggled to take wickets on the slow pitches of New Zealand, he had been impressed with their at-titude.

“The bowlers as a unit worked so hard finding ways of getting 20 wickets with the Kookaburra ball,” he said.

The same ball will be used

in South Africa but Silverwood expected pitches to be more helpful to his fast bowlers.

“I should imagine we’ll get more bounce here and there will be a bit more pace in the wickets.”

Silverwood said James Ander-son, England’s all-time leading wicket-taker, was “in a great spot at the moment” after re-covering from an injury that effectively ruled him out of the entire Ashes series.

He confirmed that all-round-er Ben Stokes is fit to bowl after suffering “a little bit of a niggle” in New Zealand and insisted he

is not concerned about the form of Jofra Archer.

The England coach said he expected “a really hard-fought contest” in the Tests, despite South Africa’s poor performanc-es in the Cricket World Cup and in their most recent Test series in India and at home against Sri Lanka last season.

They have since engaged for-mer captain Graeme Smith as director of cricket and former wicketkeeper Mark Boucher as head coach.

“I expect South Africa to come back hard in all depart-ments,” said Silverwood.

Most of the England players are expected to get on to the field during their non-first-class two-day match against an In-vitation team which opens the tour at Willowmoore Park on Tuesday.

China says Arsenal’s Ozil ‘deceived by fake news’AFP | Shanghai

China accused Mesut Ozil yesterday of being “de-

ceived by fake news” and said he should visit Xinjiang to see for himself after the Ar-senal footballer decried the treatment of the re-gion’s Uighur minority.

Ozil , a German national of Turkish origin, condemned China’s crack-down on Mus-lim minorities in the west-ern region in a tweet Friday and crit icised Mu s l i m c o u n -tries for failing to speak up about the alleged abus-es.

Arsenal have distanced them-selves from his comments, but the English Pre-m i e r L e a g u e club’s 3-0 home defeat to Man-chester City on S u n d a y w a s

pulled from Chinese TV by state broadcaster CCTV.

The furore, which has po-tentially damaging repercus-sions for Arsenal and the Pre-mier League in the lucrative Chinese market, follows the

opprobrium heaped on the NBA in October after Houston

Rockets general manager Daryl Morey

tweeted his s u p p o r t f o r H o n g

Kong pro-de-m o c r a c y

protesters.“I don’t know

if Mr. Ozil has been to Xinjiang him-self. But it seems he has been deceived by fake news, and that his judgment was in-fluenced by untruth-ful remarks,” foreign m i n i s t r y s p o k e s -man Geng Shuang said.

“If Mr. Ozil has the opportunity, we will be pleased to see him going to Xinjiang and having a look,” Geng said.

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11

sports


I should imagine we’ll get more

bounce here and there will be a bit more pace in the

wicketsCHRIS SILVERWOOD

Throughout Federer’s illustrious career, visits to South America have been rare with few big tourna-

ments held there

Vertonghen hails Mourinho after Tottenham’s late showAFP | London

Jan Vertonghen believes Tot-tenham’s last-gasp victory

at Wolves proves they have bought into Jose Mourinho’s “fighting mentality” as they closed to within three points of fourth-placed Chelsea.

Spurs’ chances of a fourth successive finish in the Cham-pions League qualification places looked a lost cause when the Portuguese took charge last month with the club 12 points behind Chelsea.

But Spurs host Frank Lam-

pard’s side on Sunday with the chance to leapfrog their London rivals into the top four.

Defender Vertonghen scored an injury-time header to seal a 2-1 win on Sunday and secure a fourth win in five Premier League matches since Mourin-ho replaced Mauricio Pochet-tino.

The Belgium international said Tottenham showed their ability to adapt in search of vic-tory after Adama Traore had cancelled out Lucas Moura’s opening goal for Spurs.

Roger Federer

England’s captain Joe Root walks back to the pavilion after his dismissal

Mesut Ozil

Man Utd draw Club Brugge, Arsenal get Olympiakos in Europa LeagueAFP | Nyon, Switzerland

Manchester United will take on Club Brugge in

the last 32 of the Europa League while struggling Arsenal will face Greek side Olympiakos fol-lowing Monday’s draw in Nyon.

United, who won the com-petition under Jose Mourinho in 2017, travel to Bruges for the first leg on February 20 before returning to Old Trafford a week later.

“There is no easy team at this stage but the team is doing well and hopefully we can get a good result,” United club ambassador Park Ji-Sung told BT Sport.

“A couple of years ago we won the trophy and we know how beneficial it is, particularly with qualification to the Cham-pions League.”

Arsenal are languishing ninth in the Premier League after sacking coach Unai Emery but finished top of their group in Europe and are also away in the first leg.

“We are not doing so well, unfortunately in the Premier League, so this could be a route into the Champions League next year, so I’m sure it will be one of our priorities,” said Arsenal club secretary David Miles.

Ajax were drawn with Span-ish outfit Getafe following their surprise exit from the group stage of the Champions League, while Serie A leaders Inter Mi-lan travel to Ludogorets.

Antonio Conte’s side will be among the favourites for the competition alongside last season’s Champions League semi-finalists Ajax after fail-ing to get past Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund in Europe’s

top competition.Celtic face FC Copenhagen

of Denmark while Steven Ger-rard’s Rangers come up against Portuguese outfit Braga.

Sevilla travel to Romanian side Cluj with the five-time winners riding high in La Liga, while fellow Spaniards Espan-yol travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers, who are enjoying their first European campaign in nearly four decades.


BBA shortlists players for All-Star Game

TDT | Manama

Bahrain’s biggest basketball stars are in line to play in this year’s Bahrain Bas-

ketball Association (BBA) All-Star Game.

The BBA released yesterday its roster of candidates for this

year’s highly anticipated exhi-bition contest.

Fans are being invited by the BBA to vote in the players who they believe deserve a slot on one of the two All-Star teams.

A total of 24 hopefuls, 12 for each team, will get to play in the one-off affair, which has be-

come a staple on the BBA’s yearly calendar.

Through their official social media account on Instagram, the BBA has called on fans to vote in four point guards, six shooting guards, four small for-wards, four power forwards, two centres, and four professional players.

The point guards who are can-didates include Ahmed Hassan from Muharraq, Ahmed Salman and Hussain Shaker from Ma-nama, Ali Aqeel from Al Ahli, Younes Kuwayed from Riffa, Hussain Lulu from Bahrain Club, Hassan Helal and Ammar Mohammed from Al Ettihad, Qassim Hassan from Al Najma and Hussain Busafwan from Sa-maheej.

The shooting guards to choose from are Mohammed Buallay from Muharraq; Ahmed Aziz, Mohammed Hussain and Has-san Nowrooz from Manama; Hesham Sarhan from Ahli; Ali Jassim from Riffa; Ahmed Jamal from Al Hala; Hussain Moham-med and Fadallalah Abbas from Najma; Khalid Ali from Bahrain Club and Mohammed Abdulla from Sitra.

From the small forwards, there are Bader Abdulla Mal-abes and Mohammed Juma’a from Muharraq, Muzamel Ameer from Manama, Maytham Jameel and Sayed Hashim Habib from Ahli, Ali Jaber from Naj-ma, Ali Ghadeer from Ettihad, and Mohammed Nabeel from Isa Town.

The power forwards in the running are Mohammed Ameer from Manama, Mohammed Qur-ban from Ahli, Subah Hussain from Riffa, and Mohammed Al-butti and Ahmed Hassan from Nuwaidrat.

The shortlisted centres in-clude Ali Shukrallah from Mu-harraq, Ahmed Najaf from Ma-nama, Abdulrahman Ghali from Riffa, Essa Ebrahim from Sitra and Hassan Fahad from Al Et-tihad.

The professional players are Kevin Murphy from Muharraq, Christopher McKnight from Manama, Haminn Quantance from Nuwaidrat, Joseph Jones from Riffa, Milos Macura from Sitra, Lester Ferguson from Bah-rain Club and Antwan Wilkerson from Samaheej.

Fans have only a limited time

to vote for the players they would like to see play in the All-Star contest.

The game is set to be the headlining event in the BBA’s upcoming All-Star Festival, which is set to be held as part of their celebrations of the King-dom of Bahrain’s National Day. The schedule for the festival and details of the event’s other com-petitions like a Slam Dunk Con-test or a Three-Point Shootout, along with their participants, have yet to be announced.

Mohammed Qurban ... leading power forwardMohammed Buallay ... hopeful at shooting guard

A total of 24 hope-fuls, 12 for each team, will get to

play in the one-off affair, which has become a staple

on the BBA’s yearly calendar

The UEFA Europa League trophy pictured ahead of the draw for the last 32

Greenwood is ‘special talent’, says MaguireAFP | London

Harry Maguire believes Manchester United are

lucky to have “special talent” Mason Greenwood after the teenager scored his seventh goal of the season to rescue a point against Everton.

With the club celebrating reaching 4,000 consecutive matches featuring a youth product in their squad, the exciting 18-year-old came off the bench to seal a 1-1 draw on Sunday.

Greenwood has long been touted as a future United star and underlined his potential with a fine finish, fresh from hitting two goals in a man of-the-match display against AZ Alkmaar in Thursday’s Europa League encounter.

“It’s a great finish again,” said Maguire. “I think it’s pretty similar to his goal in midweek, to be honest. He’s a special tal-ent, he’s a young boy, he’s work-ing hard in training.

“He needs to keep his head down, not get carried away and I’m sure he’s going to have a big future for this club and we’re lucky to have him.”

Greenwood’s performance off the bench against Everton was one of few positives on a frustrating afternoon, with United failing to build on im-

pressive Premier League wins against Tottenham and Man-chester City.

Victor Lindelof ’s own goal gave Duncan Ferguson’s side the lead and infuriated Magu-ire, who could not understand why VAR gave the opener the green light after Dominic Cal-vert-Lewin caught David de Gea as the corner came in.

Pushed on Everton’s goal, Maguire told MUTV: “Quite s imply, I ’ve watched it back, it’s a foul. It is frustrating.

“Nowadays, you can’t impede the goalkeep-ers. When I am going up for a corner, I know I can’t j u m p a b ove the goalkeep-er and make contact with him unless I ’ m m a k-ing contact w i t h t h e ball at the same time.”

“ T h e n you see their player has charged in, he’s made contact with David, he hasn’t made contact with the ball. It should be a foul.”

The draw leaves

United in sixth place in the Premier League

table, four points behind fourth-placed Chel-

sea.

I think it’s pretty similar to his goal in midweek, to be

honest. He’s a special talent, he’s a young

boy, he’s working hard in training

HARRY MAGUIRE

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Muzamel Ameer ... candidate at small forward

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the day of pride...2019/12/17 · ahmed al fateh in 1783, the 47th anniversary of its full...

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