Death for Khashoggi killers - DT News · 12/24/2019 · Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul in a case...

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Death for Khashoggi killers Khashoggi’s son says justice done as five sentenced for journalist’s murder

• Fifteen months ago, Khashoggi was murdered at Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul in a case that gripped the world.

Riyadh

The son of murdered jour-nalist Jamal Khashoggi yesterday welcomed the

speedy resolution to the trial as a court in Riyadh sentenced five men to death for the kill-ing in the Saudi consulate last September.

“Today we have been granted justice as the children of the deceased, Jamal Khashoggi,” tweeted Salah Khashoggi. “We affirm our confidence in the Saudi judiciary at all levels, that it has been fair to us and that

justice has been achieved.“The legitimacy of the judi-

ciary is based on two factors – fairness and the speed of the litigation process to ensure that injustice and delaying tactics were avoided.”

Salah’s brother, Abdullah Khashoggi, retweeted the com-ments.

The United States welcomed death sentences issued by Saudi Arabia against five people over the murder of Khashoggi.

“Today’s verdicts were an im-portant step in holding those re-sponsible for this terrible crime accountable,” a State Depart-ment official told reporters after the ruling.

Mr Khashoggi

‘Rulings reflect judicial integrity’Manama

The Kingdom yesterday stressed that the rulings of the Criminal Court of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regarding

the murder of citizen Jamal Khashoggi reflect justice and full integrity of the judiciary and guarantees all rights. The King-dom also noted that the rulings also mirror the unwavering commitment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to comply with the law and hold those involved in this case accountable. The Kingdom reiterated its firm stance in rejecting all attempts by any party or state to target the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or aim to undermine its security and stability, or intervene in its internal affairs in any form, affirming its complete solidarity with the efforts exerted by Saudi Arabia at the regional and international levels as it is a cornerstone of peace and stability in the region and the entire world.

HRH Crown Prince chairs Cabinet

Manama

His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin

Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Su-preme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minis-ter, yesterday chaired the weekly Cabinet meeting at Gudaibiya Palace.

The Cabinet highlight-ed the speech made by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa during the national celebrations held under his patronage, which reflected the Royal appreci-ation of the generous spirit of Bahraini citizens in all fields and reinforced the values which unite all the Kingdom’s citizens.

Full report Page 2

HRH the Crown Prince

02TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2019

28,000 visit farmers’ market TDT | Manama Pradeep Puravankara

The Undersecretary of Agriculture and Marine Resources at the Minis-

try of Works, Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning, Dr Nabil Muhammad Abu Al Fateh, re-vealed that the Bahraini farm-ers market in the Budaiya Bo-tanical Garden attracted a total of 28,000 visitors during its first and second week.

He explained that the first week of the launch of the market witnessed an influx of 11,000 visitors, while in the second week the market at-tracted 17,000 visitors.

The Minister of Works, Mu-nicipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Essam Khalaf inau-gurated the activities of the market on December 14, 2019, with the participation of 38 Bahraini farmers.

The Undersecretary of Agriculture and Marine Resources said that the re-markable presence of both Bahrainis and expatriates at the market reflects the success achieved by it, which constitutes an impe-tus towards further devel-opment and diversification of its activities.

He pointed out that in the coming weeks, the farmers “market will wit-ness various festivals, in-cluding the tomato festi-val, the berry festival, and others”.

He stated that the farm-ers’ market has become an important platform for Bahraini farmers to display their farm products and market them to the public. “It has become an avenue

towards more competition among farmers to introduce the latest systems in agricul-ture, in order to produce new types of different local agricul-tural products.”

Mr Abu Fateh affirmed that the market comes in the con-text of the constant concern

of the Agriculture and Marine Resources Agency to advance the agricultural sector in the Kingdom in co-operation with the National Initiative for the Development of the Agricul-tural Sector, and make it an im-portant contributor to achiev-ing sustainable food security.

New media law planned Law will be in consistent with international treaties and laws

The Cabinet chaired by His Royal Highness P r i n c e S a l m a n b i n

Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Com-mander and First Deputy Prime Minister, yesterday discussed the draft of the Press and Media Law, reviewing its compatibil-ity and consistency with Bah-rain’s commitments under in-ternational law and subscribed treaties.

The Cabinet was briefed by the Deputy Prime Minister on the views and recommenda-tions of the Ministerial Com-mittee for Legal and Legislative Affairs, after which it decided to refer the draft law for a later Cabinet session, after obtain the the Government Executive Committee view on the matter.

The Cabinet approved the Kingdom’s incorporation into the World Bank’s Human Cap-ital Project, launched in 2017.

Bahrain is ranked 47th glob-ally, first in the region, of a total of 157 countries measured, in the World Bank’s Human Cap-ital Index of 2018.

The Human Capital Project aims to expand the knowledge, skills, and health which people accumulate throughout their lives, enabling them to realise their potential as productive members of society.

The topic was presented by the Deputy Prime Minister based on the recommendations of the Ministerial Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs and Fiscal Balance.

The Cabinet reviewed the most important achievements of the “Khatwa Home Busi-nesses” program as reflected in a memorandum submitted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Development.

The document explains that the project succeeded in turn-ing 43 families towards entre-preneurial activity and led to 683 families, from different age and social groups, obtaining

productive licenses. The total of sales obtained

by these productive families amounted to BD 396,000 in 2019, up from BD 134,000 in 2011, thanks to an expansion of sales centres and marketing outlets that now include major markets in Bahrain.

The Cabinet decided, based on recommendations submit-ted by the Ministry of Health, to refer to the Ministerial Committee for Legal and Leg-islative Affairs a draft deci-sion to amend the tables ac-companying the Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances Law 15 of 2007, by adding new sub-

stances to the second and third groups.

Later, the Cabinet reviewed a report on Bahrain’s participa-tion in UNESCO’s 40th General Conference in France submit-ted by His Excellency the Min-ister of Education; a report on Bahrain’s participation in the Arab Ministers of Communica-tions and Information meeting in Saudi Arabia, submitted by the Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications; and a report on Bahrain’s participa-tion in the World Youth Forum in the Arab Republic of Egypt, submitted by the Minister of Youth and Sports Affairs.

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa yesterday received at Al Safriya Palace, Royal Court Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, who presented a book titled “Bahrain’s Legislative Development 1999-2019”, compiled by the Royal Court General Directorate for Legal and Political Affairs. The minister briefed HM the King on the book, which documents constitutional and legislative strides in the Kingdom of Bahrain ever since HM the King acceded to the throne twenty years ago. HM the King commended the valuable book, hailing Bahrain’s legislative strides, which advocate social issues and contribute fruitfully to consolidating the Kingdom’s democratic process. He reiterated resolve to continue the march of development in order to achieve more development and prosperity for the Kingdom of Bahrain and citizens.

HRH the Crown Prince chairs the Cabinet.

The market aims to boost local agricultural produce.

Ties in health sector stressed Manama

Health Minister Faeqa Al Saleh yesterday re-ceived the newly-ap-

pointed Egyptian Ambassador to Bahrain, Yasser Mohamed Shaaban.

The minister praised the his-torical relations between the two countries, and the fruitful Bahraini-Egyptian coopera-tion in various fields.

She stressed the importance of co-operation in the health sector, wishing him success in his diplomatic duties.

The ambassador expressed his appreciation to Bahrain’s leadership, government and people, stressing ways to achieve more growth and pros-perity in common brotherly re-lations at various levels, espe-cially in the health sector and benefit from medical expertise from both sides.

He also conveyed the greet-ings of Dr Hala Zayed, Egyp-tian Minister of Health, and her aspirations to develop the health sector in both coun-tries.


More than 500 attend Tamkeen’s Consultation ForumTDT | Manama

The Chairman of the La-bour Fund Tamkeen, Shaikh Mohammed Bin

Essa Al Khalifa, emphasised the importance of the annual Con-sultation Forum as it falls in line with Tamkeen’s efforts to en-hance its support programmes.

The forum invited all part-ners from the various sectors in Bahrain, including startups, SMEs, individuals, and other stakeholders that play an im-portant role in Bahrain’s econ-omy to share their feedbacks.

The event gathered more than 500 attendees representing dif-ferent sectors in Bahrain’s econ-omy. During his opening Shaikh Mohammed highlighted Tam-keen’s achievements stating: “After two years of launching our 2018-2020 strategy, hav-ing it focused on diversity, ac-celeration, and sustainability, we’re proud of the results we have attained as we reached more than 183,000 individuals and 51 SMEs up to this day, and have spent more than 1 billion BD in the various support pro-grammes and initiatives offered by Tamkeen.”

He also mentioned that 2019 has been a prosperous year, as Tamkeen’s programs witnessed a tremendous transformation based on the feedback received from its customers, in addition to the thorough market re-search and studies made.

“These changes are in line with Bahrain’s vision of sup-porting digital transformation as it positions the Kingdom as a leading regional hub for In-formation and Communication

Technology, especially since Bahrain is considered one of the first countries to introduce the 5G service, in addition to launching the Amazon Web Services data centers, the first of its kind in the MENA region, amongst many other initiatives.”

The speech was followed by a presentation with highlight-ed Tamkeen’s achievements in 2019 and outlined the organi-sation’s proposed plan for 2020 including the approach, pro-

jects, and focus areas moving forward.

A panel discussion on Market Experts was held with Talal Al Aain, Basem Al Saei, and mod-erated with Dr Jarmo Kotailine, Chief Planning and Monitoring Officer at Tamkeen.

The panelists discussed the ambitions of labour market re-form, the role and way forward for market players to achieve those ambitions.

During the press conference,

the Chief Executive of Tamkeen Dr Ebrahim Janahi, mentioned that during the past year, Tam-keen has been focused on boost-ing productivity and efficiency in the of the support programs offered. “Part of our revamp-ing included accelerating the process of applications, allow-ing SMEs to apply to Tamkeen’s programs in a faster and more smooth manner,” he stated.

“Tamkeen is also focused on creating job opportunities for

Bahrainis, as Tamkeen part-nered with different organisa-tions to offer more training pro-grams in Cloud Computing, in addition to collaborating with accelerators,” he added.

Dr Janahi also outlined Tam-keen’s achievements and efforts in Bahrain’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, where Bahrain host-ed regional competitions, host-ed the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, and took part in glob-al awards.

A panel discussion in progress at the forum. Shaikh Mohammed speaks at the forum.

• The Green Building Code will help rationalise energy consumption, by saving 20 per cent to 30pc of energy, water, in the new buildings and helps in preserving natural resources.

TDT | Manama

The Kingdom has been making great leaps in sustainable energy sec-

tor, which is in line with the implementation of some of the provisions embodied in Bahrain Economic Vision 2030, the Sus-tainable Energy Authority (SEA) said in a statement issued.

The SEA under the leadership of Dr Abdulhussain Mirza, aims to enhance the Kingdom’s posi-tion as a centre of excellence in sustainable energy.

“The previous year 2018 wit-nessed the implementations of many policies and initiatives in the field of the renewable energy and energy efficiency such as the Net Metering policy to allow indi-viduals to produce electricity from renewable sources for their own consumption and selling back to the Government any excess they may have,” the centre said.

“Another major achievement was tendering a solar farm with 100 megawatt capacity and in-stallations of solar systems on some of Government houses and

private sector establishments.“The current year witnessed

numerous initiatives taken at na-tional level to implement pilot projects in the field of sustainable energy area i.e. both renewables and energy efficiency. For exam-ple in January 2019, the Green Building Code was approved and was published in the Official Ga-zette, as an important step for-ward in the history of the sustain-ability in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

“It constitutes a fundamental reference for all sectors in secur-ing future building permits, as it sets the mandatory standards and requirements that are needed in

the future before a building per-mit is issued.

“These will be incorporated in the BENAYAT Computerised system to expedite the approval

process.” The Green Building Code will

help rationalise energy consump-tion, by saving 20 per cent to 30pc of energy, water, in the new build-ings and helps in preserving nat-ural resources. It also enables the classification of new buildings according to energy savings.

This project was implemented in co-ordination between both the Sustainable Energy Author-ity and the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs, and Urban Planning, the centre pointed out.

Moreover, the SEA assisted in preparing energy audit studies aimed at reducing electricity

and water consumption in some government buildings and some companies, such as ASRY.

A framework was also devel-oped for the means of measuring energy in government buildings, where more than ten specialists in energy auditing firms from the private sector were trained to take over the implementation of the recommendations.

On the other hand, the Sus-tainable Energy Authority has participated in many national, regional and international events to increase awareness and en-hance capabilities in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy, as well as work with pub-lic and private schools, colleges and universities with the aim of integrating young people into the sustainable energy market and accompany the rapid progress of technology in the sustainable energy sector.

The SEA is also working with Tamkeen and the Bahrain Bank-ing Association (BAB) to develop mechanisms and criteria to fi-nance sustainable energy pro-jects.

Solid Egypt relations stressed Manama

Egyptian Ambassador to Bahrain, Yasser Shaaban,

has stressed that the specific nature of the Bahraini-Egyp-tian relations stems from the existing mutual trust, love and respect between the two brotherly countries, as re-flected in their supportive stances towards each other, and proved by the exchanged high-profile official visits aimed at achieving their common interests and en-hancing joint Arab and re-gional action.

He affirmed that the fra-ternal Bahraini-Egyptian re-lations are solid in all fields, especially the economic, po-litical, military, cultural, me-dia, sports and educational ones, pledging to develop bi-lateral cooperation through-out his tenure.

In an interview with the Bahrain News Agency (BNA), the first of its kind since sub-mitting his credentials to HIs Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the ambassador hailed the progress boom witnessed by Bahrain across various sectors thanks to the wise policies of HM the King and the dedicated efforts of Bahrainis, which, he said, places the kingdom among the most advanced Arab and regional countries.

He stressed that the eco-nomic, investment and trade cooperation is the pillar of the highly successful rela-tions between two brotherly countries, noting that the volume of bilateral trade has reached about $300 million over the past years.

The envoy lauded the quantum leaps made by Bahrain in the fields of ed-ucation, health and infra-structure thanks to the great interest of the government in these sectors as they are essential for achieving sus-tainability and moving to the age of technology, the infor-mation revolution and digital transformation.

A cleanliness campaign was organised by Bahrain Red Crescent Society (BRCS) on Malkiya Beach. The campaign was organised by the Health Awareness Committee of BRCS in co-operation with Northern Municipality and “Malkiya Rover”. The event was held in order to help raise environmental awareness in Bahrain, encourage youth to partake in such initiative and ensure that Bahrain’s beaches remain free of waste. The event also highlighted the importance of preserving the marine environment and its diversity in Bahrain.

Clean-up drive

Bahrain making ‘great leaps’ in sustainable energy sector

Kingdom all set to enhance its position as a centre of excellence in sustainable energy

Dr Mirza The authority has plans in place to harness solar energy.

The current year witnessed numerous

initiatives taken at national level

to implement pilot projects in the field of

sustainable energy area. SEA


Deputy Premier Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, Oil Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa and Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Dr Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Media Adviser to His Majesty Nabeel Al Hamer and Bahrain Journalists Association Vice-Chairman Rashid Al Hamer were among the dignitaries who attended the wedding reception of Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Al Ghatam, held in West Aker.

Wedding reception

Record drug seizureHMS Defender seizes record haul of crystal meth

• CTF150 has seen a huge increase in the amount of crystal methamphetamine being smuggled year on year.

• CTF 150’s mission is to disrupt terrorist organisations and their related illegal activities by restricting their freedom of manoeuvre in the maritime domain.

TDT | Manama

Her Majesty’s Ship (HMS) DE-FENDER, a UK Royal Navy destroyer operating in the

Gulf of Oman in direct support of Combined Task Force 150 (CTF 150), seized 131 kilograms of crystal meth-amphetamine from a dhow they had been following, on December 19.

The suspicious vessel was first de-tected using DEFENDER’s ‘WILDCAT’ shipborne helicopter. DEFENDER then closed the dhow and a team of Royal Marine Commandos in Pacific 24 sea boats boarded and secured the vessel. It was then searched by

a Royal Navy boarding team who found 11 packages of narcotics, with an estimated regional wholesale value of $280,000 US dollars.

The Commanding Officer of HMS Defender, Cdr Richard Hewitt MBE said: “I am really proud that Defend-er has been able to interdict such a significant quantity of drugs and prevent it reaching the streets. Even over the festive season, the Royal Navy is at sea 24/7 working as part of Combined Task Force 150. This has been a real boost for the ship’s

company as they face Christmas away from their loved ones.”

HMS DEFENDER’s haul, on their first day working under Combined Maritime Forces, is CTF150’s largest interdiction of crystal methamphet-amine for 2019; more than doubling the amount seized so far. It takes CTF150’s overall narcotics seizures this year to $48.5m.

“This is the second narcotics ship-ment in a week we’ve kept from reaching its destination,” said Com-modore Ray Leggatt, Royal Austral-

ian Navy, Commander of CTF 150. “With this action, and more to come, we are impacting terrorists’ ability to operate in this region and around the world. Well done to the crew of HMS DEFENDER for their keen eye, skill, and precision in prosecuting this high seas take down.”

Australia assumed command of CTF 150 in early December, with a staff made up of personnel from the Royal Australian, Royal Canadian, and Royal New Zealand navies. HMS DEFENDER’s success under their command follows that of French Ship Courbet last weekend, who seized 3,545kg of hashish with an estimated regional wholesale value of $1.8m.

CTF150 has seen a huge increase in the amount of crystal metham-phetamine being smuggled year on year, with 257kg interdicted to date in 2019, versus only 9kg in 2018.

CTF 150’s mission is to disrupt ter-rorist organisations and their related illegal activities by restricting their freedom of manoeuvre in the mar-itime domain. The activities of CTF 150 are a critical part of global coun-ter-terrorism efforts, as terrorist organisations are denied a risk-free method of conducting operations or moving personnel, weapons or income-generating narcotics and charcoal.

The CTF 150 team with seized drugs.

Verdict date set in kidnap attempt trial

TDT | Manama

An Asian man ac-cused of attempt-ing to kidnap an

eight-year-old girl will hear the verdict in his case on January 14, 2019.

The man is standing trial after a message on social media platforms accusing him of trying to abduct the girl went viral.

However, there are no pieces of proof against him except the state-ments extracted from the eight-year-old child.

Concerned authorities responded to the mes-sage published on the social media platforms and arrested the man af-ter the girl identified him in front of her school in Muharraq, according to Prosecutors.

Initials attempts to have the girl identify the man through a line-up failed after she denied the involvement of any of the men accused at the first stage.

Later, she claimed the man standing trial tried to abduct her at the end of the school day.

Neve r t h e l e s s , t h e defendant’s lawyer ar-gued that his client has been going to the school

everyday to pick-up his daughters.

He said during his closing argument that it was irrational that the man would even think of kidnapping her, pointing out that nobody on the road heard her screams after she ran away from him.

A teacher serving at the same school also told the court that she dropped the girl to her house after she told her that someone tried to kidnap her.

But she said that she didn’t see anything by her own eyes, confirming that the accused Asian man has a daughter stud-ying at the same school and they used to see him picking up her.

Concerned authorities

responded to the message published on

the social media platforms and arrested the

man.PROSECUTORS

The Indian Club Christmas Carol Celebration attracted an audience of more than 700 members. The event was held on Friday at the club premises. Indian Club President Stalin Joseph gave the welcome address, which was followed by a felicitation speech by Club General Secretary Job M Joseph. Joining the festivities were the Chief Guests, Indian Composer Jerry Amaldev, and Bishop Camillo Ballin, who gave his Christmas message and blessings.

Christmas celebrations

Protesters clash with police at key Paris rail terminal

Reuters | Paris

Protesters scuffled with po-lice at the Gare de Lyon

station in Paris on Monday and union leaders threatened to ramp up action at oil facilities as a nationwide strike against government pension reforms went into a 19th day.

Riot police tangled with around 30 protesters at the Gare de Lyon, one of the French capital’s busiest sta-tions, footage from TV station BFM showed.

Protesters let off flares and fireworks, releasing smoke that drifted down into the sta-

tion concourse.The walkouts, which have

disrupted Christmas prepara-tions, have also affected other main Paris stations such as the Gare du Nord, which handles Eurostar services to London and Brussels, and the Gare de l’Est.

“I understand (the strike) but I am not OK with it as I think all French people are being held hostage and it is difficult for us to understand what the goal is,” said Damien Dremont, a commuter at the Gare de l’Est.

Two weeks of nationwide industrial action against Pres-

French army carries out first-ever drone strikeAFP | Paris

France’s armed forces said yesterday it had carried out

a drone strike for the first time, during operations in Mali at the weekend in which it said 40 “terrorists” were killed.

On Saturday, French Presi-dent Emmanuel Macron had announced that French forces had “neutralised” 33 jihadists in the central Malian region of Mopti, in an operation that had started the previous night.

In a statement, the French military command said the drone strike happened during a follow-up operation Saturday in which another seven jihadist fighters were killed.

As French commandos were searching the combat zone in Ouagadou forest, 150 kilometres (90 miles) from the town of Mopti, “they were attacked by a group of terrorists on motor-bikes,” the statement said.

A Reaper drone and a French Mirage 2000 patrol opened fire to support the ground troops, it said.

“This is the first operational

strike by an armed drone,” the statement said, confirming an earlier report published in the specialist blog Le Mamouth.

The strike came just two days after the French army an-nounced it had finished testing the remotely-piloted drones for armed operations.

It has three drones, based near

Niamey, the capital of Niger.The operation at the weekend

was in an area controlled by the Katiba Macina, a ruthless Isla-mist group founded by radical Mopti preacher Amadou Koufa.

Two Malian gendarmes who had been held hostage were freed, and French troops seized a number of armed vehicles, motorbikes and weaponry, “de-livering a very heavy blow” to the jihadists, according to Mon-day’s statement.

France previously said it had killed 25 jihadists in two oper-ations in the Sahel this month.

Last month, 13 French sol-diers were killed in a helicopter crash as they hunted jihadists in the north of Mali -- the biggest single-day loss for the French military in nearly four decades.

France has a 4,500-member force which has been fighting jihadists in the fragile, sprawl-ing Sahel since 2013. Forty-one soldiers have died.

Republicans ‘open to hearing Senate impeachment witnesses’McConnell says Senate Republicans have not ruled out witnesses in Trump impeachment trial

Reuters | Washington

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said yesterday that Republi-

cans had not ruled out hearing witnesses in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, one of the main sticking points in drafting rules for the pro-ceedings.

However, McConnell made clear he would not accede to a Democratic request for the U.S. Senate to agree ahead of time to take testimony during the trial.

The Republican leader in-stead repeated his position in an interview with Fox News Channel that any decision on witnesses be made after opening arguments in the case from both Democrats and representatives for Trump.

Allowing witness testimony, particularly from current and former administration officials, was likely to prolong the tri-al and could bring up new evi-dence damaging to Trump.

Republicans have a 53-seat majority in the Senate, where 51 votes are needed to pass a set of rules for the Trump trial.

The Republican president was impeached last week by the Democratic-led House of Representatives on two charges over his pressuring Ukraine to announce an investigation of former vice president Joe Biden and Biden’s son. Biden is a po-tential Democratic candidate to run against Republican Trump in the November 2020 election.

Hunter Biden was on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.

Trump was charged with abuse of power and obstructing Congress’ investigation. He has said he did nothing wrong.

There is little chance Trump will be convicted and removed from office through a trial in the Republican-led Senate, but the impeachment proceedings could resonate at the ballot box in November.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has requested to have four witnesses subpoe-naed for the Senate trial expect-

ed to begin early next year. The White House blocked all four, including acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton, from testifying during impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives in December.

“We haven’t ruled out wit-nesses,” McConnell said in an interview with “Fox & Friends.” “We’ve said, ‘Let’s handle this case just like we did with Presi-dent Clinton.’ Fair is fair.”

In that 1999 trial, he said, sen-ators went through opening ar-

guments, had a written question period and then decided what witnesses to call based on that.

McConnell and Schumer failed to reach an agreement on Thursday on rules for the trial, which McConnell said would be the Senate’s first order of busi-ness in the new year.

“We remain at an impasse on these logistics,” McConnell said on Thursday.

He used the word “impasse” again on Monday in saying sen-ators could not take any action until House Speaker Nancy Pe-losi formally transmits the arti-

cles of impeachment to the Sen-ate. Pelosi has withheld them in a bid to pressure Senate Repub-licans to reach an accord with Schumer on trial rules.

Schumer and other Demo-crats have criticized McCon-nell for working closely with the White House on trial strategy, saying he was not acting like an impartial juror.

Senators are expected to be administered an oath promising to do “impartial justice accord-ing to the Constitution” at the start of any impeachment trial.

McConnell dismissed the criticism in the Fox interview, asking if any Democratic leaders were impartial.

“Let’s quit the charade,” Mc-Connell said. “This is a political exercise. A political exercise.”

It has three drones, based near Niamey, the capital of Niger.The operation at the weekend was in an area controlled by the Katiba Macina, a ruthless Islamist

group founded by radical Mopti

preacher Amadou Koufa

FRANCE’S ARMED FORCES

There is little chance Trump will be convict-ed and removed from office through a trial in the Republican-led

Senate, but the im-peachment proceed-ings could resonate at the ballot box in

November

05

world

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2019

US Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (C) walks to his office

KNOW

BETTER

A French army drone at an airbase

US, North Korea talks ‘more important than anything’, South Korea tells China

Reuters | Beijing

It is “more important than anything” to keep up the

momentum for talks be-tween the United States and North Korea, South Korean President Moon Jae-in told Chinese President Xi Jin-ping in Beijing on Monday.

North Korea has set a year-end deadline for the United States to change what it says is a policy of hostility amid a stalemate in efforts to make progress on their pledge to end the North’s nuclear program and establish lasting peace.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. Presi-dent Donald Trump have met three times since June 2018, but there has been no substantive progress in dialogue while the North demanded crushing inter-national sanctions be lifted first.

On Saturday, state media said the United States would “pay dearly” for taking is-sue with the North’s hu-man rights record and said Washington’s “malicious words” would only aggra-vate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with President of the South Korea Moon Jae-in

Commuters walk on a platform at Gare de l’Est train station during a strike by all unions of French SNCF and the Paris transport network


The power of campaign music From Biden to Trump, music choices help rally supporters

Washington

At every campaign rally, Elizabeth Warren, Dem-ocratic candidate for the

US presidency, waits to hear the first notes of Dolly Parton’s pop-ular country tune “9 to 5” before striding energetically onto the stage to greet wildly enthusiastic supporters.

The musical backdrop to this age-old campaign ritual de-scribes the daily grind of Amer-ican workers: “Workin’ 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin’ /

Barely gettin’ by, it’s all takin’ and no givin’.”

The senator’s song choice -- others on her list include “Every-day People” and “Respect” -- is anything but accidental, aimed at giving supporters an emo-tional lift while evoking her own working-class roots.

The 70-year-old Massachu-setts progressive is competing against a field of 14 others -- all of them deploying playlists at well-choreographed rallies -- as they seek voters’ backing in a race to take on President Donald Trump in elections next Novem-ber.

“The music employed by can-didates is chosen with great care in order to appeal to certain au-diences or craft an image of the candidate that resonates with the electorate,” Jacob Neiheisel, a political scientist with the Uni-versity at Buffalo (New York), said.

Senator Bernie Sanders, the feisty, self-declared democratic socialist who is the oldest candi-date in the race, opens rallies to the militant tones of John Len-non’s “Power to the People,” an ode to protest and resistance from the 1970s. He also favors “Takin’ It to the Streets.”

And the centrist Joe Biden, who embraces the nickname “Middle-Class Joe,” regularly ends his rallies with gravelly voiced country singer Kenny Chesney (“For the teacher in the classroom, kid kickin’ cans in the street / ... We say we can when they say we can’t”).

Country music may not export well but it is extremely popular in the American heartland, par-ticularly among more conserva-tive voters.

Biden served eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president

and never misses a chance to highlight his association with the country’s first black presi-dent. He includes nearly equal numbers of black and white art-ists on his playlist.

And Democrat Julian Castro, the only Hispanic candidate in the primary field, strongly favors Latin music -- notably by the late Mexican-American star Selena -- as he reaches out to this im-portant demographic ahead of the 2020 elections.

Bernie and Cardi BMusic also allows candidates

to create memorable moments -- a time-tested approach.

Former president Bill Clinton, a Democrat and avid jazz fan, played this card successfully: When he performed Elvis Pres-ley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” on the saxophone in a TV talk show appearance during the 1992 campaign, voters were surprised but largely enthusiastic at this departure from the traditional gray-suited formality of presi-dential candidates.

Democrats generally do better among young people than their Republican opponents, and mu-sic helps them break through to the 18-to-25 crowd, a key demo-graphic if it can be mobilized to turn out and vote.

The team of Pete Buttigieg, who at 37 is the youngest can-didate in the field, created buzz with a campy video of campaign aides dancing to “High Hopes” by the group Panic! at the Dis-co. (An earlier version of “High Hopes,” by Frank Sinatra, was the 1960 theme song of John F. Kennedy -- the nation’s youngest president.)

The Buttigieg video -- with aides dancing side-to-side, per-forming handrolls and claps --

has since been imitated many times on social media and is now seen at the Indiana mayor’s ral-lies. Sanders is quick to highlight supporters from the tradition-ally Democratic-leaning enter-tainment world as he works to again mobilize young voters, as he did in 2016.

Having recently had his prais-es sung by Cardi B -- the former striptease dancer turned rap star -- the 78-year-old with unruly white hair was recently seen on Instagram, arm-in-arm with pop princess Ariana Grande, who has an impressive 168 million followers.

Adele and Queen protestOn the Republican side, Pres-

ident Donald Trump favors popular and patriotic music for his raucous rallies, like Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.,” a country song from the 1980s that clear-ly aims to appeal to his political base.

Some choices have been controversial, how-ever.

When Trump aides played Lu-ciano Pavarotti’s spellbinding “Nessun Dorma” at rallies -- a song meant to impart a sense of grandeur among the sea of red-hatted supporters -- the late tenor’s family protested. The president’s values and Pavarot-ti’s, they said, were “incompat-ible.”

Several other artists or their heirs -- the Rolling Stones for “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” Queen for “We Are the Champions,” as well as Adele, R.E.M. and Neil Young -- have protested what they say is the wrongful appropriation of their iconic tunes at Republican ral-lies.

Former president Bill Clinton, a Democrat and avid jazz fan, played this card successfully: When he performed Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” on the saxophone in a TV talk show appearance during the 1992 campaign, voters were surprised but largely enthusiastic at this departure from the traditional gray-suited formality of presidential candidates.

US President Donald Trump, seen at a campaign rally in Hershey, Pennsylvania on December 10, 2019, favors country music at his political events

Bill Clinton, a jazz fan, played the saxophone at an event in New Jersey in November 1992, shortly before winning that year’s presidential elections

Supporters of Pete Buttigieg, a Democratic candidate for the US presidency in 2020, do a dance in Clear Lake, Iowa

No X’mas Mass at Notre-Dame for first time in two centuries• President Emmanuel Macron has set a timetable of five years to completely repair Notre-Dame

Paris

Notre-Dame cathedral will fail to hold a Christmas

mass for the first time since 1803, French officials confirmed on Saturday, as workers contin-ue to repair and rebuild the Paris landmark eight months after a devastating fire.

The cathedral’s press office said midnight mass would still be celebrated on Christmas Eve by rector Patrick Chauvet but it would be held at the near-by church of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois. Notre-Dame, part of a UNESCO world heritage site on the banks of the River Seine, was ravaged by the April 15 blaze -- losing its gothic spire, roof and many precious artefacts.

The building had remained open for Christmas through two centuries of often tumultuous history -- including the Nazi oc-cupation in World War II -- be-ing forced to close only during the anti-Catholic revolutionary

period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

President Emmanuel Ma-cron has set a timetable of five years to completely repair the eight-centuries-old structure, which remains shrouded in scaf-folding with a vast crane loom-ing over it. Paris prosecutors suspect criminal negligence and opened an investigation in June, suggesting a stray cigarette butt or an electrical fault could be the culprit.

The culture ministry said in October that nearly one billion euros ($1.1 billion) had been pledged or raised for the recon-struction. Notre-Dame is part of a UNESCO world heritage site


Putin opens railway bridge to Crimea

Vladimir Putin takes first train across Crimea bridgeAFP | Moscow

President Vladimir Putin yesterday stood in the driver’s cabin of a train

for the official opening of a rail-way bridge that links annexed Crimea to southern Russia.

During his ride starting in Kerch in Crimea in a shortened three-carriage train, Putin also spent time drinking tea with en-gineers on the 227-billion-ruble ($3.6-billion) project.

The rail bridge, which Putin praised as “magnificent,” is 19 kilometres (12 miles) long. The bridge for car traffic opened in May last year when the presi-dent drove a truck across it.

The total rail route from the northwestern city of Saint Pe-tersburg to the Crimean port city of Sevastopol covers a dis-tance of 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles).

Putin said the bridge would restore rail links to Crimea sev-ered in 2014 when Moscow an-nexed the peninsula, sparking an ongoing separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine that has claimed some 13,000 lives.

The company of Putin’s close ally, billionaire businessman Arkady Rotenberg, won the construction contract for the bridge. He sold the company last month.

Putin told workers an anec-

dote about receiving an emo-tional call from “your main boss with the simple Russian

surname Rotenberg,” after the completion of a key stage of the project.

“He called me at night and spoke in such a voice that I asked him ‘Have you been drinking?’” said the strongman.

The coverage of the project has been reminiscent of Soviet infrastructure projects, with a newsreader on state-controlled Rossiya 24 television channel calling the opening “without exaggeration historic.”

Russia says it is the longest in Europe.

Ukraine was unhappy about both the rail link and Putin’s presence at the opening.

President Volodymyr Zelen-sky’s representative office for Crimea said in a statement on Facebook that the rail link and Putin’s visit to Crimea were “a gross breach by the Russian side of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

It showed “disregard by the Kremlin of the universally rec-ognised principles and norms of international law,” the state-ment said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin rides a train connecting the Crimea to mainland Russia in Kerch

2,500 kilometres are covered by the rail route from the northwestern city of Saint Petersburg to

the Crimean port city of Sevastopol

Australia prepares for post-Christmas extreme bushfiresReuters | Melbourne

Scorching heat baking Aus-tralia eased yesterday (Dec

23) bringing relief from ex-treme bushfires, which de-stroyed around 180 houses and killed one person over the weekend, allowing firefighters to prepare for worsening con-ditions post-Christmas.

Six people have now died in bushfires which have destroyed more than 3.7 million across five states.

Potter Steve Harrison, 67, only survived a major blaze southwest of Sydney by crawl-ing beneath a makeshift kiln as the flames passed over.

Harrison stayed to defend his property in the town of Balmor-al on Sunday but by the time he changed his mind it was too late to leave.

“I ran to my ute (truck) but my garden was already on fire, the driveway was on fire, the road was on fire so I couldn’t evacuate,” Harrison told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“The day before I had actu-ally built myself a small kiln down the back - a coffin-sized kiln - just big enough for me to crawl inside,” he said.

“I could have (died) if I hadn’t thought about plan B. In that little kiln enclosure I made, I had a fire extinguisher, a bucket of water, a drinking water bottle and a fire blanket.”

The town of Balmoral, popu-lation 400 and 150 houses, was virtually destroyed, the New South Wales (NSW) State Pre-mier Gladys Berejiklian said.

Australia has been fighting wildfires for months as hot, dry conditions brought about an early start to the fire season.

Australia posted record tem-peratures over 41 degrees Celsi-

us last week as an extreme heat-wave swept across the country and a long-running drought in the country’s east has created tinder-dry conditions.

Nearly 100 fires are burning across New South Wales state.

“Conditions have begun to ease,” the New South Wales (state) Rural Fire Service said yesterday.

“Crews will continue their work today to identify and strengthen (fire) containment lines, with favourable condi-tions over coming days.”

Temperatures are forecast to spike again in many states by the weekend, with the South Australian capital city of Ade-laide forecast to reach 39 de-grees Celsius, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Similar temperatures are expected in the Victorian city of Melbourne.

Firetrucks are seen stationed on a road as a bushfire burns in Bargo, southwest of Sydney

Crews will continue their work today to identify and

strengthen (fire) containment lines,

with favourable conditions over

coming daysNEW SOUTH WALES (STATE) RURAL

FIRE SERVICE

Captain killed, four Chinese abducted as pirates attack ship

AP | Beijing

Authorities searched yes-terday for four Chinese

crew members who were tak-en hostage by pirates in speed-boats off Gabon’s capital over the weekend.

Government spokesman Ed-gard Anicet Mboumbou Mi-yakou confirmed on Sunday that four vessels anchored in Libreville’s harbour were tar-geted in the overnight attack. He said a Gabonese national, the commander of a vessel op-erated by the Satram company, was killed.

The four Chinese crew members taken hostage were working for the Sigapeche company, the spokesman said.

Security forces were search-ing for the attackers in col-laboration with Interpol and

subregional organisations, he said. Gabonese authorities were taking measures “to guar-antee the safety of maritime traffic,” he said.

While attacks in the Libre-ville harbour are rare, piracy poses a growing threat in the Gulf of Guinea. The Interna-tional Maritime Bureau says the Gulf of Guinea now ac-counts for about 82 per cent of crew kidnappings in the world.

Chinese Foreign Minis-try spokesman Geng Shuang yesterday told reporters the crew members’ whereabouts remained unknown. He said the Chinese embassy has asked Gabonese authorities to “immediately launch rescue efforts to spare no effort to rescue the Chinese person-nel. We will continue to follow closely.”

A ship sails across the Indian Ocean (file photo)

Algeria’s powerful army chief Gaid Salah diesAFP | Algiers

Algeria’s powerful army chief General Ahmed Gaid

Salah has died of a heart attack at age 79, state television re-ported yesterday.

Gaid Salah was seen as Al-geria’s de facto strongman fol-lowing the April resignation of long-time president Abdelaziz Bouteflika in the face of mas-sive protests against his bid for a fifth term.

The lifelong military man played a key role pushing through December 12 presiden-tial elections for Bouteflika’s replacement, defying a months-long protest movement that has demanded deep-rooted politi-cal reforms before any poll.

“The deputy defence min-ister and chief of staff of the army died yesterday morning of a heart attack,” said the pres-idency in a statement, read out by a presenter on state news channel Algeria 3.

As chief of Algeria’s mili-tary for a record 15 years and

a veteran of Algeria’s war for independence, the general was seen as the guardian of the mili-tary-dominated system that has been in power since.

When Bouteflika appoint-ed him in 2004 to head the armed forces – the backbone of Algeria’s opaque regime – he became one of the North Afri-can country’s most powerful men.

He had supported Boutef-lika for years until the presi-dent’s February announcement that he would run for re-elec-tion sparked unprecedented demonstrations.

In early April, Gaid Salah called on his boss to resign. Bouteflika quit the same day, leaving the armed forces chief effectively in charge of the country.

Iraq protests resume as political paralysis deepensAFP | Baghdad

Thousands of protesters blocked roads and bridges

across southern Iraq yester-day, condemning Iranian in-fluence and political leaders who missed another deadline to agree on a new prime minister.

Anti-government demon-strators burned tyres in major cities across the south, forcing the closure of schools and gov-ernment buildings, AFP corre-spondents reported as political paralysis deepened in Baghdad.

Negotiations over a candidate to replace premier Adel Abdel

Mahdi, who quit in November in the face of protests against corruption and unemployment, remained deadlocked as a mid-night Sunday deadline expired.

While a pro-Iran camp has tried to impose a candidate, Ira-qi President Barham Saleh has reportedly put up resistance.

Algerian General Ahmed Gaid Salah


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

SIMON WALDMAN

Last week, Turkey’s for-mer prime minister Ah-met Davutoglu announced

the formation of a new political party called Gelecek – or Future. Mr Davutoglu is hoping to rival President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who leads the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which Mr Davutoglu also once helmed.

Those hoping that his political gambit is a positive development are mistaken. Mr Davutoglu’s democratic credentials are lack-ing and he has had few, if any, political successes of which to boast. He does not have a popu-lar following either. His style is monotone and he lacks charisma.

His support is limited to a small circle of intellectuals within the AKP’s ranks.

Mr Davutoglu missed his op-portunity to challenge Mr Erdo-gan back in 2016 when the lat-ter overstepped constitutional boundaries. At the time, the po-sition of president was supposed to be largely ceremonial but Mr Erdogan still managed to push Mr Davutoglu, who was then prime minister, out of office. Instead of challenging Mr Erdogan, he stepped down and stayed largely silent as the country experienced an attempted military coup, mass purges within the public sector and security services, three mil-itary interventions in Syria and constitutional amendments that transformed the country into a presidential autocracy.

Before entering politics, Mr Davutoglu was a university pro-fessor. His output was limited to several articles published in obscure third-tier journals and an impenetrable book titled Strategic Depth, a hodgepodge of geopolitics, international rela-tions, nationalism and nostalgia for Turkey’s Ottoman past. Still,

it was well-timed. The AKP was emerging as a political force. Its leaders had earned their stripes in political Islam and they saw Mr Davutoglu’s international outlook as a potentially popular strategic vision that countered the country’s traditional western orientation.

He soon became Mr Erdogan’s chief foreign policy adviser before being made foreign minister in

2009 and prime minister in 2014, a position he held until 2016.

While in office, Mr Davuto-glu was the architect of Turkey’s “zero problems” strategy. This was a delusional approach to foreign relations as it confused outcomes with means. Everyone wants to have zero problems but the question of how to achieve this lofty goal drew a blank.

Under his watch, Turkey was

caught off-guard by the 2011 Arab uprisings. Instead of being cau-tious, he rushed to take sides in a desperate bid to gain regional influence. Ankara supported the Muslim Brotherhood, whether it be Mohammad Morsi, the former president of Egypt, or Hamas in Gaza. Meanwhile, Mr Davutoglu allowed Turkey to be dragged into the Syrian civil war and it was under his watch that thou-

ALL MEN PROFESS HONESTY AS LONG AS THEY CAN. TO BELIEVE ALL MEN HONEST WOULD BE FOLLY. TO BELIEVE NONE SO IS SOMETHING WORSE.JOHN QUINCY ADAMS

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Turkey needs a better political

challenger – Ahmet

Davutoglu just doesn’t cut it

The former prime minister has little heft or popularity to take on Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his

one-time colleague

GAVIN ESLER

Christmas time is big for filmmakers as well as audi-ences. The holidays mean

they roll out blockbusters suita-ble for all the family. The latest Star Wars franchise and Frozen 2 are among those in my local cinemas. For the film industry, this is a hugely important time not just for the money they bring in but also for creating publicity for the awards season early in the new year. Yet this year, filmmak-ers are increasingly debating not just what we watch but how we watch it.

Martin Scorsese, with a string of hits going back decades includ-ing Taxi Driver and The Wolf of Wall Street, has enthused most audiences and critics with his latest epic, The Irishman, star-ring veterans Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci. It is an ex-traordinary piece of filmmaking for many reasons – including the way in which the key actors are made “younger” for the movie. But Scorsese – one of the most bankable directors working to-day – took years to get financial backing to making the film. And now he has re-opened the debate about how best to see it.

In an interview with the Rolling

Stone magazine, he bluntly said: “I would suggest if you ever want to see one of my pictures, or most films, please, please don’t look at it on a phone. Please.”

It is difficult to find reliable facts about how many of us have traded in the big screen of a movie theatre for the small screen of a television or the even small-er screen of a laptop, tablet or phone. But the trend is clear: in 2018, a global digital forecast by eMarketer, a US-based market research company, predicted 78.4 per cent of viewers will use their mobile phones to watch digital-ly-streamed content.

Forecasts that have percentages defined down to decimal points should be treated with great cau-tion. But if you ever travel much on trains and planes, the anec-dotal evidence of your own eyes is obvious. More and more of us are doing the one thing Scorsese warns us against and using a tiny device to watch a great work of cinematic art, as well as TV shows and other material.

The Scorsese argument is sim-ply that if you watch a film on a phone, you cannot possibly get the same experience as on a big screen. True. But you do get some kind of experience. Moreover, we

live in a time-poor world where every minute counts, especially in our precious leisure time. There are some films – The Irishman is one – when seeing it on the

big screen is a transformative ex-perience, exactly as its director intended. But Scorsese’s film is three hours and 30 minutes in length, and many of his fans – I

suspect the vast majority – will indeed see it on a much smaller screen.

Netflix funded the movie and that means most of us will prob-

A remarkable, and

expensive, epic like The

Irishman might not have been funded by

Netflix without

profound changes to the entertainment

industry

Movie audiences are in control today – and that’s good for both business and art



SIMON WALDMAN

Last week, Turkey’s for-mer prime minister Ah-met Davutoglu announced

the formation of a new political party called Gelecek – or Future. Mr Davutoglu is hoping to rival President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who leads the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which Mr Davutoglu also once helmed.

Those hoping that his political gambit is a positive development are mistaken. Mr Davutoglu’s democratic credentials are lack-ing and he has had few, if any, political successes of which to boast. He does not have a popu-lar following either. His style is monotone and he lacks charisma.

His support is limited to a small circle of intellectuals within the AKP’s ranks.

Mr Davutoglu missed his op-portunity to challenge Mr Erdo-gan back in 2016 when the lat-ter overstepped constitutional boundaries. At the time, the po-sition of president was supposed to be largely ceremonial but Mr Erdogan still managed to push Mr Davutoglu, who was then prime minister, out of office. Instead of challenging Mr Erdogan, he stepped down and stayed largely silent as the country experienced an attempted military coup, mass purges within the public sector and security services, three mil-itary interventions in Syria and constitutional amendments that transformed the country into a presidential autocracy.

Before entering politics, Mr Davutoglu was a university pro-fessor. His output was limited to several articles published in obscure third-tier journals and an impenetrable book titled Strategic Depth, a hodgepodge of geopolitics, international rela-tions, nationalism and nostalgia for Turkey’s Ottoman past. Still,

it was well-timed. The AKP was emerging as a political force. Its leaders had earned their stripes in political Islam and they saw Mr Davutoglu’s international outlook as a potentially popular strategic vision that countered the country’s traditional western orientation.

He soon became Mr Erdogan’s chief foreign policy adviser before being made foreign minister in

2009 and prime minister in 2014, a position he held until 2016.

While in office, Mr Davuto-glu was the architect of Turkey’s “zero problems” strategy. This was a delusional approach to foreign relations as it confused outcomes with means. Everyone wants to have zero problems but the question of how to achieve this lofty goal drew a blank.

Under his watch, Turkey was

caught off-guard by the 2011 Arab uprisings. Instead of being cau-tious, he rushed to take sides in a desperate bid to gain regional influence. Ankara supported the Muslim Brotherhood, whether it be Mohammad Morsi, the former president of Egypt, or Hamas in Gaza. Meanwhile, Mr Davutoglu allowed Turkey to be dragged into the Syrian civil war and it was under his watch that thou-

ALL MEN PROFESS HONESTY AS LONG AS THEY CAN. TO BELIEVE ALL MEN HONEST WOULD BE FOLLY. TO BELIEVE NONE SO IS SOMETHING WORSE.JOHN QUINCY ADAMS

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Turkey needs a better political

challenger – Ahmet

Davutoglu just doesn’t cut it

The former prime minister has little heft or popularity to take on Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his

one-time colleague

GAVIN ESLER

Christmas time is big for filmmakers as well as audi-ences. The holidays mean

they roll out blockbusters suita-ble for all the family. The latest Star Wars franchise and Frozen 2 are among those in my local cinemas. For the film industry, this is a hugely important time not just for the money they bring in but also for creating publicity for the awards season early in the new year. Yet this year, filmmak-ers are increasingly debating not just what we watch but how we watch it.

Martin Scorsese, with a string of hits going back decades includ-ing Taxi Driver and The Wolf of Wall Street, has enthused most audiences and critics with his latest epic, The Irishman, star-ring veterans Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci. It is an ex-traordinary piece of filmmaking for many reasons – including the way in which the key actors are made “younger” for the movie. But Scorsese – one of the most bankable directors working to-day – took years to get financial backing to making the film. And now he has re-opened the debate about how best to see it.

In an interview with the Rolling

Stone magazine, he bluntly said: “I would suggest if you ever want to see one of my pictures, or most films, please, please don’t look at it on a phone. Please.”

It is difficult to find reliable facts about how many of us have traded in the big screen of a movie theatre for the small screen of a television or the even small-er screen of a laptop, tablet or phone. But the trend is clear: in 2018, a global digital forecast by eMarketer, a US-based market research company, predicted 78.4 per cent of viewers will use their mobile phones to watch digital-ly-streamed content.

Forecasts that have percentages defined down to decimal points should be treated with great cau-tion. But if you ever travel much on trains and planes, the anec-dotal evidence of your own eyes is obvious. More and more of us are doing the one thing Scorsese warns us against and using a tiny device to watch a great work of cinematic art, as well as TV shows and other material.

The Scorsese argument is sim-ply that if you watch a film on a phone, you cannot possibly get the same experience as on a big screen. True. But you do get some kind of experience. Moreover, we

live in a time-poor world where every minute counts, especially in our precious leisure time. There are some films – The Irishman is one – when seeing it on the

big screen is a transformative ex-perience, exactly as its director intended. But Scorsese’s film is three hours and 30 minutes in length, and many of his fans – I

suspect the vast majority – will indeed see it on a much smaller screen.

Netflix funded the movie and that means most of us will prob-

A remarkable, and

expensive, epic like The

Irishman might not have been funded by

Netflix without

profound changes to the entertainment

industry



TOP

4TWEETS

01

Pelosi gives us the most unfair trial in

the history of the U.S. Congress, and now she is crying for fairness in the Senate, and breaking all rules while doing so. She lost Congress once, she will do it again!

@realDonaldTrump

03

The House cannot choose our impeach-

ment managers until we know what sort of trial the Senate will conduct. Pres-ident Trump blocked his own witnesses and docu-ments from the House, and from the American people, on phony complaints about the House process. What is his excuse now?

@SpeakerPelosi

04

Congratulations to @HemantSorenJMM

Ji and the JMM-led al-liance for the victory in the Jharkhand polls. Best wishes to them in serving the state.

@narendramodi

02

I believe that if we make an effort to develop

peace of mind within ourselves and cultivate a proper appreciation of the oneness of humanity, we can create a happi-er, more peaceful world. What we need is com-mon sense—the positive use of intelligence—and warm-heartedness.

@DalaiLama

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

editorial stances)

sands of foreign fighters entered Syria through Turkey to join ISIS – even as millions of Syrian ref-ugees fled to Turkey. He did not oppose Iran’s nuclear programme and turned a blind eye to the re-pression of that country’s Green Movement in 2009. Turkey was soon despised across the region. Even Turkey’s traditional allies in Europe and the US became disil-lusioned. Relations with Moscow,

meanwhile, reached a low ebb with the downing of a Russian jet along the Turkish-Syrian border in 2015.

Mr Davutoglu’s time in office was also marked by his acquies-cence to the country’s descent to autocracy. He was part of Mr Erdogan’s government that bru-tally suppressed the Gezi Park protests in 2013 and destroyed the free press by imprisoning journalists and closing critical outlets. The parliamentary im-munity of politicians from the Kurdish-oriented Peoples’ Dem-ocratic Party (HDP) was stripped under his watch, a policy that led to politically-motivated arrests and imprisonments of scores of deputies. Mr Davutoglu was also happy to campaign during the June 2015 parliamentary elections and its November re-run while his party used state resources and overwhelming media support to win elections that although were free, were far from fair.

His new party has no chance of passing the threshold of 10 per cent of the popular vote in order for it to enter parliament. He would need to join an alliance with another party that might make his own party less appeal-

ing to those disaffected with Mr Erdogan and the AKP.

The real challenge to the AKP will come early next year when Ali Babacan – who held the post of economy minister while Tur-key’s performance was strong – announces his new party.

Mr Babacan has the support of Abdullah Gul, the popular former president and AKP co-founder. However, it should not be for-gotten that both remained si-lent while Turkey’s checks and balances were being eroded and power was increasingly central-ised.

Even if Mr Babacan, Mr Gul and Mr Davutoglu were to have some kind of democratic epiph-any, they would still face an up-hill battle. They would need to get a significant number of AKP deputies to jump ship ahead of elections in four years. Then they would need to work with other opposition parties in order to muster the two-thirds parliamen-tary majority needed to over-turn the constitutional changes of 2017 that gave Mr Erdogan his executive presidency. The best they can hope for is a three-fifths majority, which would bring any proposed changes to the consti-tution back to the voting public through a referendum. Even if successful, this would only return Turkey to the imperfect 2017 sta-tus quo ante, which was deficient in matters pertaining to the free-doms of speech and assembly, mi-nority rights, the independence of the judiciary and civil-military relations.

Those hoping that Mr Davuto-glu’s Future Party will challenge the AKP should look elsewhere. His chances are low, his record of public service is chequered and he has displayed a consistent lack of acumen in foreign affairs. Turkey needs a better political challenger. It deserves no less.

1294Pope Boniface VIII is elected, replacing St. Celestine V, whohad resigned.

1500A joint Venetian–Spanish fleet captures the Castle of St.George on the island of Cephalonia.

1737The Marathas defeat the combined forces of the Mughal Empire, Rajputs of Jaipur, Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab of Awadh and Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Bhopal.

1777Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY

Those hoping that Mr Davutoglu’s Future Party

will challenge the AKP should look elsewhere. His chances are low, his record of public service is chequered and he has displayed a consistent

lack of acumen in foreign affairs. Turkey needs a

better political challenger. It deserves no less.

ably pause it several times to go and make a coffee, or even watch it over a couple of days to fit in with the pressures of our normal lives. Scorsese of course knows all

this. “Ideally I’d like you to go to a theatre look at it on a big screen from beginning to end,” he said. “And I know it’s long – you gotta get up, you gotta go to the bath-room – that sort of thing. I get it.”

The simple fact is that once upon a time, we had to go to where the filmmakers wanted us to go – movie theatres – at a time when they chose to show us their films, pay their prices, eat their popcorn and sit through a three-hour epic without going to the bathroom in case we miss some vital scene. Now audiences are in control.

We see the films of our choos-ing, at the times of our choos-

ing, eating any snacks we care to provide and if we get half-way through an epic like The Irish-man, we can go to bed knowing that the streaming service will re-start the movie at the right place whenever we have more leisure time to watch to the end. This is good for business – and for art.

In the latest figures from the Motion Picture Association of America, movie sales in theatres and home-viewing hit a record $96.8 billion in revenues last year. That is nine per cent up on the previous year. Box office receipts alone are expected to be more than $11 billion in 2019 with TV and home video earnings expect-ed to hit $96 billion – a projected rise of roughly 10 per cent.

We need artists like Scorsese to make important points about the craft of movie-making and celebrate the cultural impor-tance of the big screen. But we also need great movies. The Irish-man would not have been funded without profound changes to the industry. Major studios did not back the project. It took years to make until Netflix risked $159 million on it.

All of us, including Scorsese, come out as winners – however you choose to see his work.


The simple fact is that once upon a time, we had to go to where the filmmakers wanted us to go – movie

theatres – at a time when they chose to show us their

films, pay their prices, eat their popcorn and

sit through a three-hour epic without going to the bathroom in case we miss

some vital scene.

The sheer scale of this month’s celebration was an indication of people’s high spirit, motivation and a clear sign of preparedness for the tasks ahead.

Cheerful month

This month, December, is a festive month in Bahrain. It has celebrated its 48th Na-tional Day and His Majesty’s Accession to

the throne followed by the Commemoration Day (martyrs day). The first ever win of the Gulf Cup by the Bahrain National soccer team has brought an additional flavour to the celebrations.

Bahrain has every reason to celebrate. The re-markable economic progress it is showing, the strong social cohesion it is demonstrating and the exemplary tolerance and coexistence it is display-ing, all add to spice up the celebration.

Among all these festive times, however, what comes to mind is the sacrifice of those brave peo-ple who are no more among us, paid their precious lives for the sake of us and the motherland without which we could not be able to survive, let alone celebrate, our National Day. They are the martyrs that have shown epic patriotism by paying their dear lives for the cause of the country. The Com-memoration Day is celebrated to remember and respect them and appreciate their contributions to the nation.

Bahrain as a peace loving country has fought ter-rorism in all its forms and participated in the US-led coalition against the so-called Islamic State ter-rorist organisation in the Levant. It is also actively

involved in the Saudi-led coalition, tasked with restoring the legiti-mate government in Yemen, and fighting against the Iran backed Houthi rebels that are wreaking havoc in the country.

During these military engage-ments, lives of our brave soldiers have lost. Therefore, our heroes paid their lives not only for the sake of Bahrain’s sovereignty and territorial integrity but also for regional peace and global stability.

Another good news for Bahrain in this month was the news of the

successful medical check-up done by His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa both inside and outside the country.

He remains behind the wheel steering Bahrain’s development that we are witnessing today. A de-signer of Bahrain’s development, the Premier sets up the foundations upon which the current pro-gress is happening.

The Premier has been and continues to be at the heart of the people for various reasons. His kind-ness and sympathy with the sick and the poor and fast response to people’s complaints kept him close to people’s heart.

His lifelong commitment to Bahrain gave its modernity that enables it to keep up with the latest development the world is observing ranging from digital banking systems to top-notch telecommuni-cation services to advanced infrastructure develop-ments to cutting-edge tourism services.

The wise leadership of the Premier and the com-bined measures taken by the respective ministries helped Bahrain to advance in an all-rounded devel-opmental endeavor. As a result, Bahrain is able to score high in a plethora of parametres in economy and human development.

Bahrain is celebrating at a time where the Arab world is witnessing an era of political turmoil and economic downslide, which is causing relentless violence in dozens of countries including Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and Libya.

Bahrain is on safe hands under the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa. The social cohesion inherent in the society, the tolerance and coexistent culture strengthens Bahrain’s commitment to development and prosperity.

Bahrain has a lot of work to do. However, it has the necessary ingredients to achieve what it aims. The sheer scale of this month’s celebration was an indication of people’s high spirit, moti-vation and a clear sign of preparedness for the tasks ahead.

YENUS S

10

business


Manama named ‘Capital of Arab Tourism’ for 2020The announcement came during Bahrain’s participation in the 22nd session of Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism

TDT | Manama

Manama was named ‘Capital of Arab Tour-ism’ for 2020, it was

announced during the 22nd session of the Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism, held in Al Ahsa, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the ‘Capital of Arab Tourism’ for 2019.

The Kingdom of Bahrain’s delegation to the session was headed by the Minister of Indus-try, Commerce and Tourism and Chairman of the Bahrain Tour-ism and Exhibitions Authori-ty (BTEA), Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani, and included the Chief Executive Officer of BTEA, Na-der Khalil Al Moayyed and the Acting Director of Marketing and Tourism Promotion Direc-torate at BTEA, Dr. Ali Follad.

The council, which consists of eight Arab countries, previously elected Bahrain as a member of its Executive Office for a period of two years between 2018 and 2019. During the session, the Kingdom was re-elected as a member of the Executive Office

for the the next period (2020-2021) and was appointed as the Vice President of the 23rd Ses-sion of the council which will be held in Saudi Arabia next year.

Commenting on this occa-sion, the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and Chairman of BTEA, Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani expressed the

Kingdom’s pride towards be-ing named the ‘Capital of Arab Tourism’ for 2020, following an order of the Arab Council of Tourism Ministers in recogni-

tion of Bahrain’s historical and tourism offerings.

On behalf of BTEA’s Board of Directors, BTEA’s employees as well as representatives from the tourism industry, Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani extended his gratitude to the wise leadership on this milestone achievement and lauded their support in fur-ther driving the development of the Kingdom of Bahrain’s tour-ism sector.

The minister also affirmed BTEA’s commitment towards

further developing this vital sec-tor and bolstering bilateral and Arab ties in this field.

“BTEA’s strategy focuses on developing unique tourism products through hosting a se-ries of events and activities that target all segments of the society including families from the GCC and other Arab countries, fur-ther contributing to the devel-opment of the tourism sector,” he added.

The selection of Manama as the ‘Capital of Arab Tourism’ for 2020 is a testament to the Kingdom’s efforts in strength-ening bilateral tourism relations between GCC and Arab countries as well as introducing historical cities and ancient civilizations in the region.

In 2013, Manama was also named the “Capital of Arab Tourism”, this demonstrates that it meets a specific criteria set by the Arab Council of Tour-ism Ministers and reiterates its efforts to promote Bahrain as a leading tourism destination in the world known for its histori-cal and tourism offerings.

Ministers attend the meeting

BTEA’s strategy focuses on developing unique

tourism products through hosting a series of events and activities that target all segments

of the societyZAYED BIN RASHID AL ZAYANI

MINISTER OF INDUSTRY, COMMERCE AND TOURISM

Alba makes history as it tops 15 million working-hours without LTI

TDT | Manama

Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) made history when

it topped 15 million work-ing-hours without Lost Time Injury (LTI) on Saturday for the first time since its commer-cial operations began in 1971

Congratulating everyone in Alba on this occasion, Al-ba’s Chairman of the Board of Directors Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa stated, “2019 has been a sig-nificant year for Alba in many ways and we are proud to have amassed accolades as we bring this year to a close. We thank our employees and contractors without whom this milestone would not have been possible.

We look forward to unfold-ing a new era in 2020 as Alba becomes a 1.5 million metric tonnes smelter with Line 6 fully on stream.”

Adding further, Alba’s Act-ing Chief Executive Officer, Ali Al Baqali said, “Achiev-ing 15 million working-hours without LTI for the first time in Alba’s history proves that

everything is possible when we, employees and contrac-tors, want the same objective. As we are about to enter 2020, we will remain focussed on Safety first and foremost, Em-ployee Development, Commu-nity Development and Opera-tional Resilience.”

Alba has been consistently delivering on its Safety perfor-mance by first achieving 5 mil-lion working-hours without LTI on 30 April 2019 followed by first-time-ever 10 million working-hours without LTI on 27 August 2019.

Alba Acting Chief Executive Officer - Ali Al Baqali

Alba Chairman - Sh. Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa

BAC signs Duty-Free concession agreement for new terminalTDT | Manama

Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications

and Bahrain Airport Compa-ny (BAC) Chairman, Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed and Bah-rain Duty Free Company (BDFC) Chairman Farouk Yousuf Al-moayyed signed two key con-cession agreements for the core duty free category and the Development and Operation of Airside Specialty Retails at the new Passenger Terminal Build-ing’s Duty Free Area with a term of 15 and 10 years consecutively.

In attendance at the ceremo-ny were BAC Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Yousif Al Bin-falah, Gulf Air Group Holding (GFG) Chief Executive Officer Paul Kehoe, and other officials from all three companies.

The Minister said, “We look forward to working with BDFC to improve the shopping ex-perience for passengers at the new terminal. Most airports are places that travelers have to go through, this is an airport we hope they will want to go to. The new Duty-Free area will be four times larger than the existing

terminal and retail areas will be three times bigger, offering passengers more variety and transforming Bahrain Interna-tional Airport (BIA) into a key commercial hub. Duty Free shopping is one of the most popular parts of the airport ex-perience and we are confident that passengers will appreciate the enhanced selection of goods and competitive prices. With the launch of the new termi-nal in 2020, we look forward to delivering a hassle-free airport experience that offers comfort, connections, and character.”

BDFC Chairman Farouk

Yousuf Almoayyed said: “Bah-rain Duty Free Company are honoured to extend our long-standing relationship with Bah-rain Airport Company. The New Passenger Terminal Building is one of the most important infrastructural developments in the Kingdom of Bahrain. As a proud Bahraini company, we look forward to offering an en-tirely new retail experience to passengers travelling through the new facility.”

In addition to core catego-ries, the new Duty-Free Area will house 30 leading brands entering Bahrain for the first

time, and offering a wide vari-ety of products including fash-ion, accessories, eyewear, toys, electronics, perfume, cosmetics, gold, tobacco and international confectionaries. BDFC will be responsible for managing and operating retail points of sale at the Duty-Free Area and its facilities at BIA.

GFG and BDFC established a joint venture in 2018 to invest in both the arrival and departure terminals to increase the contri-bution of the aviation sector to the local economy, in line with the objectives of Bahrain’s Eco-nomic Vision 2030.

KNOW WHAT

Alba is set to become a 1.5 million metric tonnes smelter with

Line 6 fully on stream in 2020

Duty Free Signing

The inauguration of a get-together of the beneficiaries of a housing project ‘Joy Homes’ launched by the Joyalukkas Foundation for the flood-affected people at Thrissur, India. The foundation is building a total of 250 houses for the flood victims. The function was attended by 60 beneficiary families from Thrissur, Ernakulam, Malappuram, and Palakkad districts


Facing decline, Wales dreams of Silicon Valley

Newport | United Kingdom

“We want to be this technology cen-tre like Silicon

Valley, where we can attract whatever the big names of to-morrow are,” said Chris Mead-ows, corporate systems manager at British firm IQE.

“Hopefully it will be whatever the 2030 version of Google is or a Facebook.”

IQE is one of a small group of

local companies, also includ-ing SPTS or Newport Wafer Fab, which have formed an alliance with universities to create a compound semiconductor “clus-ter” in south Wales.

Meadows said his firm and SPTS began working together after they discovered they had the same customer in Taiwan, using them at different points in their supply chain.

“We realised we can offer a better service if we partner,” he said.

Silicon semiconductors are used extensively in electronic circuits, but new innovations re-

quire new enabling technology.Made from a combination of

materials such as silicon and car-bon (silicon carbide) or arsenic and gallium (gallium arsenide), compound semiconductors offer superior properties in terms of power, heat and shock resist-ance.

They are more complex and more expensive than silicon chips, but are more suitable for electric vehicles, laser devices or 5G telephony.

Secret recipe In the sterile offices of IQE,

the machines silently cut slices

of semiconductors -- “wafers” -- as a few technicians in overalls and masks come by occasionally to check the screens.

“That’s where the magic hap-pens. It’s like with cooking -- everybody can have an oven and a recipe but not everyone is a five-star chef,” said Meadows.

“Our know-how, our edge comes from that particular way of working out and assembling wafers. It’s our secret recipe.”

Working together, firms in the Newport “cluster” can of-fer custom-made products for chips used in devices by clients such as Philips or Raytheon, and

maintain control over the pro-duction line.

“America, Europe, we’ve all kind of stepped back from man-ufacturing almost as if it is a dirty thing,” Meadows said, not-ing that this has benefited Asia.

But now “it’s more about ma-chinery and intellectual prop-erty” -- and that brings high-skilled, well-paid jobs to a re-gion that has suffered industrial decline.

Around 1,400 people work for the cluster, but it hopes to have 5,000 by 2023 thanks to the growth of a global market that last year was worth $77 billion

(70 billion euros).The next step for Newport is

to produce their own integrat-ed circuits, and that will bring more jobs.

“We currently have three com-panies that we’re working with, two in North America and one in China... they’ll be assembling the electronic products using chips made within the cluster,” Meadows said.

Example of collaborationIn the cluster, manufacturers

delegate research and innova-tion to the universities of Cardiff or Swansea. The prototypes are managed by government organ-isations that invest in new tech-nologies, the so-called catapults.

Andy Sellars, chief business development officer at the com-pound semiconductor applica-tions catapult, notes a project with McLaren worth around £20 million (around 23.5 million euros).

There is in total “about £300 million of investment in this region on the next generation of semiconductor material”, he added. The cluster is a long way away from replacing the thou-sands of jobs lost in Wales over the last few decades with the closure of a string of factories, including Ford at Bridgend.

“Is it enough to replace the lost jobs? No it’s not,” admitted Heather Myers, chief executive of the South Wales Chamber of Commerce.

“But it is an answer showing that when you collaborate you can make an impact.”

IQE is one of a small group of local companies which have formed an alliance with universities to create a compound semiconductor “cluster” in south Wales

A wafer in a sterile room at IQE’s plant

Wales is better known for its factory closures than high-tech achievements. But in Newport, a former bastion of the coal industry, a handful of semiconductor manufacturers dream of a new Silicon Valley.

Europe marks 40th anniversary of first Ariane rocket launchParis

The first Ariane space rocket lifted off over the forests

of French Guiana 40 years ago, enabling Europe to at last take its place as an independent play-er in the international race for space.

Following a number of delays and technical setbacks, Ariane 1 finally left the launch pad in Kourou at 2:13 pm local time on December 24, 1979.

Its maiden flight was a so-called qualification flight, mean-ing it was not carrying any satel-lite to put into orbit.

But at the launch, and “dur-ing the successive ignitions and separations of different parts of the rocket, there were cries of joy from spectators as the Ariane rose in the clear sky above Guia-na,” AFP’s special correspondent wrote at the time.

The control room erupted with applause when the then head of France’s CNES National Centre for Space Studies, Yves Sillard, declared the mission a success, “without even waiting for the orbiting diagnosis,” the AFP article stated.

“It was a complete success. It triggered inexpressible joy,” Sillard said in an interview with AFP four decades after.

“There was laughter and tears,” recalled the launch cen-tre’s former head of operations, Guy Dubau, visibly moved even 40 years on.

T h e t e a m s involved in the

project had come a long way: just a few days earlier, on De-cember 15, to everyone’s dismay, the rocket failed to take off after ignition due to an unanticipated problem with setting param-eters.

“We had absolute c o n f i -

dence in these engines,” says Dubau. The failure “dealt a body blow to the 150 people working in the launch centre”.

Europa fiascoThere were only nine days left

to fix the problem.“We had to work around the

clock. We even set up a small dormitory in the centre,” Dubau says.

Then, in a final attempt on Christmas Eve, Ariane lifted off.

“It was a miracle. Two hours more and we would have had to bin the rocket launcher,” Dubau said.

Sillard said that if it had failed, “it could have dra-matic consequences, and might have even led to the project being abandoned altogether.”

That was because Eu-rope was still smarting from the fiasco of an earlier project.

The Europa satel-lite launcher, devel-oped in the 1960s, failed because of a lack of coordination between the partic-ipating countries and the absence of a single overall project manager.

The Europa pro-gramme was aban-doned in 1973, the same year that the European

Space Agency (ESA) was set up.From then on, the manage-

ment was entrusted to CNES, which contribut-ed more than 60 per-cent to the new project.

The stakes were high: the United States had just launched its space shuttle programme, claiming launch costs would be “five times cheaper than conven-tional launchers and that these would disappear”,

Sillard said.Ariane would prove the

contrary. But the project was still plagued by an over-all climate of scepticism.

Ariadne’s threadUnder French stewardship,

more than 50 companies from 10 different countries worked on developing a new launcher called Ariane, or Ariadne in English, the name of a Greek mythological princess who left a thread to guide Theseus out of the minotaur’s labyrinth.

In the same way, the new launcher project would “lead us out of the maze of European talks,” said Gerard Brachet, a former CNES engineer who went on to head the organisation.

For the first time, Ariane 1 would break the US hold on sat-ellite launches and Europe of-ficially entered the space race.

“This first successful launch lent us commercial credibility,” Brachet said.

For the current president of CNES, Jean-Yves Le Gall, “if this launch hadn’t taken place 40 years ago, we wouldn’t have the European space industry that we have today.”

Overall, the Ariane project has been a success and there have been five generations of rockets to date, despite some setbacks, such as the explosion of the first Ari-

ane 5 rocket in flight.Between then and now, the

load transported by the rock-ets has increased tenfold, says Stephane Israel, the president of Arianespace, the company responsible for marketing the launcher.

But in recent years, Ariane has come to face much fiercer competition, particularly from American firm Space X with its reusable launcher.

Europe is fighting back with its Ariane 6, due to take off in 2020.

With much more competitive manufacturing costs, the new generation launcher will have a re-ignitable engine enabling several charges to be placed in different orbits during the same mission.

And a potentially reusable motor, Prometheus, is also in the pipeline.

The first launch of an Ariane rocket on December 24, 1979 in French Guiana

The launches were from the space centre in Kourou in French Guiana

Overall, the Ariane pro-ject has been a success

and there have been five generations of rockets to date, despite some

setbacks, such as the ex-plosion of the first Ariane

5 rocket in flight.

The launch of an Ariane 5 rocket in August 2019

Boeing fires CEO Muilenburg to steady spiralling 737 MAX crisisReuters | Washington

Boeing Co ousted Chief Ex-ecutive Dennis Muilen-burg as the world’s big-

gest planemaker sought to control an escalating crisis that has seen it halt production of its best-selling 737 MAX jetliner following two fatal crashes.

The sacking comes as Boe-ing struggles to mend strained relations with the regulators it needs to win over to get the grounded 737 back in the air, and seeks to regain trust with passengers and airline custom-ers around the world.

Chairman David Calhoun will take over as CEO and president, effective from Jan. 13, the com-pany said, adding that a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence.

The company’s shares, which have dropped more than 20% over the past nine months, rose nearly 4% in early trading.

The decision capped a week of dramatic setbacks for Boeing, from a decision to halt produc-tion of the 737, a public slap-down from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a ratings downgrade and an embarrassing space launch glitch on Friday.

One source close to Boeing said the company needed to turn the corner and regain its stride as it faces what is widely seen as

the worst crisis in its more than 100-year history

The 737 MAX has been ground-ed since March after two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people within five months.

It has been by far the biggest crisis of Muilenburg’s tenure at Boeing, where he started as an intern in 1985, rising through the company’s defense and services ranks to the top job in 2015.

Boeing said this month it would stop production of the jets in January, and the crisis also threatens to hit the U.S. economy with House repre-sentative Rick Larsen calling

the decision “a body blow to its workers and the region’s econ-omy.”

A senior industry source called the sparse wording of Boeing’s statement on the 34-year veteran “brutal”.

Speculation that Muilen-burg would be fired had been circulating in the industry for months, intensifying in October when the board stripped him of his chairman title - although he had also twice won expressions of confidence from Calhoun.

Phone callA Boeing official said the

board deliberated over the weekend and decided to fire Muilenburg in a phone call on Sunday.

Aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia of Teal Group said the appointment of Calhoun, who previously served as head of Blackstone Group’s private eq-uity portfolio operation, would provide short-term stability, but not the long-term “emphasis on engineering” the company needs.

“Calhoun is respected in the industry,” Aboulafia said. “But long-term, does he bring the right tool kit? Private equity leans companies out. That’s not Boeing’s problem right now.”

Board member and former airline boss Lawrence Kellner will become non-executive

chairman of the board effective immediately, the company said.

Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith will serve as interim CEO during the brief transition pe-riod.

Boeing - which has taken flak from the FAA for appearing to pressure the regulator by pre-dicting when the planes would return to the air - pledged full transparency, including “effec-tive and proactive communica-tion” with regulators.

Analysts at British-based Redburn said the CEO sacking suggested Boeing’s relationship with the FAA was “at its nadir and should improve from here”.

Muilenburg is a lifelong Boe-ing engineer who fought a rising tide of public and regulatory scrutiny to try to steady the company during the crisis, but who failed to overcome a stilted public image.

In keeping Muilenburg in the job as long as Boeing has, the company was ignoring elements of the classic crisis communi-cations playbook used by other companies, said Paul Argenti, a professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.

“You want to bring somebody from the outside to bring fresh perspective to ‘save the day,’” Argenti said. “He should have been gone a long time ago. He is part of the problem.”


Most Gulf markets rise, Saudi outperformsReuters | Dubai

Most Gulf stock markets rose yesterday, with Saudi Arabia outper-

forming its regional peers on the back of a rise in banking stocks and a rebound in shares of oil giant Saudi Aramco 2222.SE.

The Saudi index .TASI rose for a seventh consecutive ses-sion and was up 1.4pc. Samba Financial Group 1090.SE and Banque Saudi Fransi 1050.SE increased 5.9 per cent and 3.9pc, respectively.

Aramco edged up 0.9pc to 35.6 riyals on bargain-hunting after four straight sessions of losses.

The Aramco stock’s recent fall raised investors’ appetite to buy more shares to average down the cost of investment after having bought at higher prices, an in-vestor told Reuters.

Saudi Industrial Investment

Group 2250.SE climbed 6.5pc to its biggest intraday rise since Oct. 15, 2018. The company’s board recommended a 0.75 riyal per share dividend for the sec-

ond half of the year.Saudi Airlines Catering 6004.

SE jumped 5.3pc after it renewed in-flight catering agreement with Saudi Arabian Airlines

(Saudia) for 10 years in a deal provisionally valued at 12 billion riyals ($3.20 billion).

Abu Dhabi’s index .ADI rose 0.7pc, with market heavy-weight

First Abu Dhabi Bank FAB.AD gaining 1.5pc, while National Bank Of Ras Al Khaimah RAK-BANK.AD rose 2.4pc.

Dubai’s index .DFMGI was also up 0.7pc as Emirates NBD ENBD.DU advanced 1.6pc and Dubai Islamic Bank DISB.DU added 0.7pc.

Yesterday, Dubai-based Noor

Bank said its shareholders ac-cepted Dubai Islamic Bank’s offer to acquire the unlisted lender.

The Qatar index .QSI recov-ered early losses and closed 0.4pc higher, extending gains to a straight third session.

The Gulf ’s largest lender, Qatar National Bank QNBK.QA, increased 1.2pc, while Qatar Is-lamic Bank QISB.QA was up 1pc.

Last week, Qatar presented its biggest budget in five years. The Gulf state said it would spend 1.9pc more in 2020 than this year, outlining a 210.5 billion Qa-tari riyal ($57.81 billion) budget to complete infrastructure pro-jects, including facilities for the 2022 soccer World Cup.

In Egypt, the blue-chip index .EGX30 inched up 0.1pc, led by gains in Commercial Interna-tional Bank Egypt COMI.CA that rose 1.3pc.

A stock broker works at an exchange

Closing BellSAUDI 11.4pc to 8,416 points

ABU DHABI 10.7pc to 5,112

DUBAI T 0.7pc to 2,782 points

QATAR 0.4 pc to 10,515 points

EGYPT 0.1pc to 13,902 points

BAHRAIN 0.4pc to 1,599 points

OMAN 0.8pc 3,898 points

KUWAIT 6,976 points

You want to bring somebody from the

outside to bring fresh perspective

to ‘save the day. He should have been gone a long time ago. He is part of

the problemPAUL ARGENTI

Boeing CEO Muilenburg pauses while speaking during a news conference at the annual shareholder meeting in Chicago

Oil prices steady as Russia touts easing OPEC+ outputReuters | New York

Oil prices were little changed yesterday as Russia said an

OPEC-led producer group may consider easing output cuts next year, offsetting support from some investor optimism that an initial U.S.-China trade deal would be signed soon.

Brent crude LCOc1 was up 25 cents, or 0.4 per cent, at $66.39 per barrel by 12:08 p.m. ET (1705 GMT) in thin trading ahead of the Christmas holiday. West Texas Intermediate CLc1 was up 11 cents, or 0.2pc, at $60.55 a barrel.

The Organization of the Petro-leum Exporting Countries and other top producing nations led by Russia agreed this month to extend and deepen output cuts

in the first quarter of 2020.However, Russian Energy

Minister Alexander Novak said yesterday that the group, known as OPEC+, may consider easing the output restrictions at their meeting in March.

“We can consider any options, including gradual easing of quo-tas, including continuation of the deal,” Novak told Russia’s RBC TV in an interview recorded last week, adding that Russia’s oil output was set to hit a record high this year.

Non-OPEC global supply is ex-pected to rise next year due to higher output from countries in-cluding the United States, Brazil, Norway and Guyana, which be-came an oil producer last week.

Another source of more oil could emerge in the coming

months after Kuwait indicat-ed that a long-standing dispute over the “Neutral Zone” on its border with Saudi Arabia will be resolved by the end of 2019.

Production at two large oil fields in the Neutral Zone was halted more than three years ago, cutting output by some 500,000 barrels per day.

“Oil prices remained soft af-

ter Friday’s drop that stemmed from the Saudi Arabia and Ku-wait deal to resume production

along their border ... The short-squeeze on oil may be running out of steam but if WTI and

Brent prices can hold $60 and $65 respectively, we could see prices remain supported going into the first few weeks of Jan-uary,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York.

Oil prices have risen since the United States and China agreed a so-called Phase 1 trade deal earlier this month following months of tit-for-tat negotia-tions that unsettled markets. President Donald Trump on Saturday said the United States and China would “very shortly” sign the pact.

Under the pact, the United States is expected to agree to reduce some tariffs in return for a big increase in purchases U.S. agricultural products by Chinese importers.

An oil pump jack pumps oil in a field near Calgary, Alberta, Canada

$66.39was the price of Brent crude LCOc1 by 1705

GMT

Dubai’s Emaar to sell view from world’s tallest tower - sources

Reuters | Dubai

Emaar Properties is sell-ing the observation

decks of the world’s tallest skyscraper the Burj Khal-ifa, four sources told Reu-ters, potentially raising $1 billion for Dubai’s biggest developer amid a real estate downturn.

Two of the sources said Emaar had appointed Standard Chartered <STAN.L> to advise it on the sale of the popular “At The Top” tourist attraction.

Emaar, in which the Dubai government has a minority stake of 29.2 per cent, and Standard Chartered declined to comment.

At over 828 metres, the Burj Khalifa is twice as tall as New York’s Empire State Building and nearly three times the height of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Into the Ashes: stylish, violent Western noir keeps us guessingA stylish revenge thriller that relies too heavily on genre conventions

The stylish and violent modern- day Western noir “Into the Ashes” fo-

cuses primarily on Frank Grillo’s Sloan, a sociopathic hardcore criminal who’s just out of prison and hell-bent on revenge.

Wait, hold on. The true center of the story is Luke Grimes’ Nick, who has shed his dark past and is now living an uneventful and quiet life — married to a wonderful woman, working at a furniture store, keeping his nose clean.

Check that. “Into the Ash-es” actually is most concerned with Robert Taylor’s Frank, a small-town sheriff with a Gary Cooper-esque demeanor who has kept the peace for some three decades and has never once stepped outside the law or broken his own moral code — until now, when he just might have to make an exception in the interest of true justice.

To the credit of writer-di-rector Aaron Harvey, “Into the Ashes” keeps us guessing throughout as to which of these characters — if any — will still be standing after their paths cross

in brutal, bloody fashion.

At the outset of the story, an unseen narrator says:

“People never think about the cruelty of the Bible … the vio-lence. … Samson killed a thou-sand men with a donkey jaw-bone. Of course, Samson was the lucky one. In the end, he

didn’t have to see the monster he became. A man can only see so much darkness before he goes blind.”

But who is delivering that heavy and fantastically over-the-top observation? Is it Sloan, who maims and kills with casual cruelty? Or Nick, who has al-ways known his past might come

knocking on his door in the mid-dle of the night? Or the sheriff, whose daughter is married to Nick even though he warned her this guy was bad news?

“Into the Ashes” is set in rural Alabama, and I believe we’re in the relatively recent past circa the late 1990s, given everyone still has wall-mounted landlines

with those long twisty cords, the signs outside rundown motels boast of having air conditioning and HBO, and one character has a cell phone that looks like an early model Nokia.

Frank Grillo (“The Grey,” “End of Watch,”) who has a great screen presence and excels at playing intense, volatile charac-ters, is the perfect choice to play the recently paroled Sloan, who has little trouble tracking down his former partner. That’s Nick, who apparently betrayed the crew on their last job, stole the

money and used it to jump-start his new life.

James Badge Dale (“The De-parted,” “Iron Man 3”) plays Nick’s best friend Sal, who doesn’t hesitate to help Nick even as all hell breaks loose in town and he’s risking jail or death by sticking with Nick. (“Don’t get yourself into trouble, Sal,” says Sal’s supportive wife, echoing a sentiment expressed by many a wife or girlfriend in many a Western.)

After Sloan and his crew ar-rive in town and blood is spilled, writer-director Harvey sling-shots the story forward, where we see the aftermath of a series of deadly confrontations, as ex-perienced through the eyes of a certain character who is just as confused as we are about what has happened.

It’s a maddening, frustrating sequence — but eventually all is explained, and we learn the identity of the narrator who in-troduced the story, and while not all the pieces of the puzzle perfectly fit into place, it’s still a good yarn filled with arresting visuals and solid performances.

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (PG-13)OASIS JUFFAIR: 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PMOASIS JUFFAIR (VIP): 10.45 AM + 4.30 + 10.15 PMCITY CENTRE: 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9..00 PM + 12.00 MN CITY CENTRE (IMAX 2D) :11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PM CITY CENTRE (3D) :12.30 + 3.30 + 6.30 + 9.30 PM + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)CITY CENTRE (VIP I) :11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PMSEEF (II) :11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM WADI AL SAIL: 10.30 AM + 3.45 + 9.00 PM

DAISY RIDLEY, MARK HAMILL, ADAM DRIVER

DABANGG 3 (PG-15)(HINDI/ACTION/COMEDY)OASIS JUFFAIR : 10.30 AM + 1.45 + 5.00 + 8.15 + 11.30 PM CITY CENTRE: 10.30 AM + 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 6.00 + 8.15 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)SEEF (I): 10.30 AM + 11.30 +1.45 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 6.00 + 8.15 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)SEEF (II): 10.30 PM WADI AL SAIL: 10.30 AM + 1.45 + 5.00 + 8.15 + 11.30 PM

SALMAN KHAN, SONAKSHI SINHA, WARINA HUSSAIN

BOMBSHELL (18+)(DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY) OASIS JUFFAIR : 10.30 AM + 3.30 + 8.45 PM CITY CENTRE: 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM SEEF (II): 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 MN WADI AL SAIL: 2.00 + 6.45 + 11.30 PM

CHARLIZE THERON, NICOLE KIDMAN, MARGOT ROBBIE

INTO THE ASHES (PG-15)(DRAMA/CRIME/THRILLER) SEEF (II):11.00 AM + 3.15 + 7.30 + 11.45 PM

LUKE GRIMES, ROBERT TAYLOR (VII), JAMES BADGE DALE

GO FISH (G)(ANIMATION/ADVENTURE) SEEF (II): 1.15 + 5.00 + 8.45 PM

ELIJAH DHAVVAN, JUSTINE EZARIK, MARK HAMILL

I SEE YOU (PG-15)(THRILLER/CRIME/DRAMA) CITY CENTRE: 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PM SEEF (II): 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MNWADI AL SAIL:1.30 + 6.45 PM + 12.00 MN

HELEN HUNT, JON TENNEY, JUDAH LEWIS

BOONIE BEARS: BLAST INTO THE PAST (G)SEEF (II): 11.15 AM + 3.00 + 6.45 PM

CHRIS BOIKE, JOSEPH S. LAMBERT, SIOBHAN LUMSDEN

THE LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS WITCH (PG)SEEF (II): 1.15 + 5.30 + 9.45 PM

PAOLA CORTELLESI, STEFANO FRESI, FAUSTO MARIA SCIARAPPA

JUMANJI THE NEXT LEVEL (PG-15)ممممممم ممممم OASIS JUFFAIR: 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PMOASIS JUFFAIR (VIP): 1.45 + 7.30 PM CITY CENTRE: 12.00 + 2.45 + 5.30 + 8.15 + 11.00 PM + (12.45 MN THURS/FRI)CITY CENTRE (ATMOS):10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.45 + 6.30 + 9.15 + 12.00 MNCITY CENTRE (3D) : 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PM CITY CENTRE (VIP II) : 12.45 + 3.30 + 6.15 + 9.00 + 11.45 PMSEEF (I) : 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.45 + 6.30 + 9.15 + 12.00 MNSEEF (II)12.00 + 2.45 + 5.30 + 8.15 + 11.00 PM + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)WADI AL SAIL: 12.45 + 3.30 + 6.15 + 9.00 + 11.45 PM

DWAYNE JOHNSON, JACK BLACK, KEVIN HART

FROZEN 2 (PG)(ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY) مOASIS JUFFAIR (KIDS CINEMA): 10.45 AM + 1.00 + 3.15 + 5.30 + 7.45 + 10.00 PMCITY CENTRE: 11.15 AM + 12.15 + 1.30 + 2.30 + 3.45 + 4.45 + 6.00 + 7.00 + 8.15 + 9.15 + 10.30 + 11.30PMSEEF (II):11.00 AM + 1.15 + 3.30 + 5.45 + 8.00 + 10.15 PM WADI AL SAIL: 11.45 AM + 4.30 + 9.15 PM

KRISTEN BELL, IDINA MENZEL, JOSH GAD

21 BRIDGES (PG-15)(CRIME/ACTION/THRILLER) م CITY CENTRE: 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM SEEF (II):11.00 AM + 4.15 + 9.30 PM

CHADWICK BOSEMAN, SIENNA MILLER, STEPHAN JAMES

MARDAANI 2 (PG-15)(HINDI/CRIME/THRILLER DRAMA) مOASIS JUFFAIR :12.45 + 6.15 + 11.45 PM

RANI MUKERJI, SHRUTI BAPNA, RAJESH SHARMA

KNIVES OUT (PG-15)(CRIME/COMEDY/THRILLER) مCITY CENTRE: 12.45 + 3.30 + 6.15 + 9.00 + 11.45 PM

DANIEL CRAIG, CHRIS EVANS, ANA DE ARMAS

MALEFICENT 2: MISTRESS OF EVIL (PG)(ADVENTURECITY CENTRE:10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM

ANGELINA JOLIE, TERESA MAHONEY, MICHELLE PFEIFFER

JOKER (15+)(THRILLER/CRIME/DRAMA) مممممم CITY CENTRE: 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM

JOAQUIN PHOENIX, ZAZIE BEETZ, ROBERT DE NIRO

LE MANS ‘66 (PG-13)(DRAMA/SPORT/BIOGRAPHY) CITY CENTRE: 2.45 + 8.30 PM SEEF (II):1.15 + 6.30 + 11.45 PM

MATT DAMON, CHRISTIAN BALE, JON BERNTHAL

MIRACLE IN CELL NO . 7 (PG-15)(TURKISH/DRAMA) CITY CENTRE:12.00 + 5.45 + 11.30 PM

ARAS BULUT İYNEMLİ, NİSA SOFİYA AKSONGUR, İLKER AKSUM

PATI PATNI AUR WOH (PG-15)(HINDI/COMEDY/ROMANTIC) OASIS JUFFAIR : 3.15 + 8.30 PM

KARTIK AARYAN, BHUMI PEDNEKAR, ANANYA PANDAY

MAMANGAM (PG-13)(MALAYALAM)OASIS JUFFAIR :10.30 AM + 1.30 + 4.30 + 7.30 + 10.30 PMSEEF (II): 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PM AL HAMRA:11.45 AM + (12.00 MN THURS./FRI)

MAMMOOTTY, UNNI MUKUNDAN, NEERAJ MADHAV, PRACHI TEHIAN

KETYOLANU ENTE MALAKHA (PG-15)(MALAYALAM) OASIS JUFFAIR : 12.30 + 5.45 + 11.00 PM

ASIF ALI, VEENA NANDAKUMAR

RULER (TELUGU) From Friday 20th onwardsSEEF (I): 12.15 + 5.45 PM

BALAKRISHNA, SONAL CHAUHAN

HERO (PG-15)(TAMIL) From Thursday 8.30 pm onwardsOASIS JUFFAIR :3.00 + 8.30 PM SEEF (I): 10.45 AM + 2.00 + 5.15 + 8.30 + 11.45 PMWADI AL SAIL: 11.00 AM + 5.00 + 11.00 PM AL HAMRA:2.45 + 8.45 PM

SIVAKARTHIKEYAN, ARJUN, ABHAY DEOL, KALYANI PRIYADARSHAN

THAMBI (PG-13)(TAMIL) From Thursday at 7.30 pm onwardsOASIS JUFFAIR: 12.45 + 6.00 + 11.15 PMSEEF (I): 12.15 + 3.00 + 5.45 + 8.30 + 11.15 PM WADI AL SAIL: 2.15 + 8.15 PM AL HAMRA: 6.00 PM

KARTHI, JYOTHIKA, SATHYARAJ

PRATI ROJU PANDAAGE (TELUGU) From Friday 20th onwardsSEEF (I): 3.00 PM

RAASHI KHANNA, SATHYARAJ, SAI DHARAM TEJ

13 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2019

M O V I E R E V I E W

DON’T MISS IT

In the movie, a re-formed bad guy gets a visit from his former partner, a sociopath

fresh from prison, and it’s anyone’s guess who

will be left standing

In the movie, a reformed bad guy gets a visit from his former partner, a sociopath fresh from prison, and it’s anyone’s guess who will be left standing

14 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2019

LUNCH RESERVATION

CHRISTMAS FEAST (Lunch)

on 25th in Sahar Restaurant-call for

Reservations-17725117/ 36045111

C L A S S I F I E D S

This is to notify that Mr. Johnson Villigith Jathanna, Indian National holder of Passport No. K8085624 and Bahraini CPR No. 800727169 is no longer employed with M/s Awal Plastics W.L.L., CR No. 1055. Mr. Jathanna is not authorised to represent Awal Plastics W.L.L., and / or any of its subsidiaries and / or group companies and / or a�liates (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "Company"). This to inform everyone that the Company shall not be

responsible or liable for any claims, costs, losses, expenses and / or damages of whatsoever nature to any one arising out of the acts or omissions of the said Mr. Johnson Jathanna with immediate e�ect.

NOTICE

Justin Timberlake trying hard to mend ties with wife Jessica Biel

Los Angeles

Actor Justin Timberlake has been try-ing hard

to mend his relationship w i t h w i f e and actress Jessica Biel a f t e r h i s hand-hold-ing photo-graph scan-

dal with Alisha Wainwright.Timberlake is “on his best

behaviour” with Biel as they prepare to spend Christmas together after he made head-

lines with his photo scandal, usmagazine.com quoted a source as saying.

“Jessica and Justin are spending the holiday to-gether and she is really ready for some alone time

with him. He has been so sweet to her and is making

sure that Jessica knows how much she means to him. He is

really making a big ef-fort,” the source said.

The “Can’t stop the feeling” sing-e r, 3 8 , m a d e headlines when

he was photo-graphed hold-i n g h a n d s w i t h h i s “ P a l m e r ”

co-star Wain-wright at a bar

in New Orleans on November 21.

Wainwright was spotted with her

hand on his knee and Timberlake also

played with her hands under their table. A video showed the singer and actor putting his hand around the actress’’ waist.

London

Hollywood star Idris Elba is eager to join Grammy-Award win-

ning singer Taylor Swift on-stage.

Elba, who is also a DJ, has teamed up with Swift for di-rector Tom Hooper’s film ad-aptation of Andrew Lloyd Web-ber’s stage musical “Cats”, and now he wants to take their new working friendship to the pop

concert stage, because he be-lieves performing live with the “Shake It Off” hitmaker would be an incredible experience, reports aceshowbiz.com.

“I’ve known Taylor a few years now. People see the al-bum sales, the awards. What they don’t see is the hard work. She is an incredibly hard-work-ing person, she isn’t resting on her achievements. To perform live with her would be fun and hopefully we can make that

happen,” Elba told Britain’s The Sun on Sunday.

The “Pacific Rim” actor pre-viously talked about wanting to work with Swift, saying he wants to collaborate with her on a song.

“This year’s been amaz-ing because I get to play and make music a lot more and I’m hoping maybe Taylor and I... I might get Taylor and I to do a song that would be great,” he said in January.

Robert Pattinson: I don’t really

know how to act

Los Angeles

Actor Robert Pattinson says he does not know

how to act.“I don’t really know how

to act, I kind of wanted to somehow make it real, and one of the ways I’ve always thought makes that a little bit easier is if you shake up your physical state just before ac-tion. You end up walking into a scene having a different ... feeling,” Pattinson told the Observer newspaper, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

At times, the 33-year-old star would gag so hard that he’’d actually throw up.

“I forgot I had a mic on the whole time, so the produc-ers and the director, before every single take of the mov-ie, would get ... It kind of puts everyone else off,” he said.

The London-born actor admits to being a “cata-strophist”.

However, Pattinson feels that in some instances, his pessimistic outlook can be beneficial.

“I’m a catastrophist. I’m always thinking that the worst-case scenario is ac-tually going to happen. So when it does happen, I’m like: “Gah! OK! I’m prepared!’’”

Beyonce looks pretty in her latest ‘Sasha Fierce’ avatar

Los Angeles

Beyonce has chan-nelled her inner ‘Sa-sha Fierce’ in a so-

cial media post where she looked pretty at the same time.

The 38-year-old sing-er-songwriter posted her pictures on Instagram where she donned a leop-ard print corset, along with a pencil skirt, and gloves. She accessorised the fierce look with matching gloves, heels, and a pair of white cat-eye sunglasses.

For her makeup she went light, wearing a nude shade on her lips and a subtle

smokey eye.Over the weekend,

‘The Lion King’ actor, who voiced Nala in the Disney animated remake, was also spotted at a holiday party.

The star also recently became one step closer to earning her first Oscars nomination.

She was also nominated for her song ‘Spirit’ from ‘The Lion King’. It is also the only film with two songs on the list. The singer will also release her debut Ivy Park collection with Adidas in January – Beyonce2020.

Ed Sheeran and wife Cherry Seaborn star in first music video together

Los Angeles

Singer Ed Sheeran and his wife Cherry Seaborn showed off some dance

moves in their first music vid-eo together.

The latest music video is a stunning celebration of love for his latest single ‘Put It All On Me,’ which is a collabo-ration with Ella Mai.

The couple can be seen dancing, reported People magazine.

The singer also post-ed a short video on his

Instagram account and captioned it, “This is the final video from my

no.6 collaborations pro-ject, it’s for Put It All On

Me feat @ellamai, enjoy x.”

The singer was

11-year-old when he first met Cherry at school. However, their bonding didn’t really take a romantic turn until the summer of 2015, when they reconnected and went on for their first date at Taylor Swift’s then-annual Fourth of July fete.

Sheeran announced in Janu-ary 2018 that he had proposed to her over the 2017 holiday season and that she inspired his ballad “Perfect.”

The music video, ‘Put It All on Me’ also gave light to the couples from all around the world, and how they expressed their love for one another through dance.

Sheeran’s visual accompa-niment costarring his wife came five months after he an-nounced he was married.

Sanya Malhotra

gets emotional as

“Dangal’’ turns 3Mumbai

Actress Sanya Mal-hotra is super nos-talgic as her debut

film “Dangal” completed three years on Monday since its release.

Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, “Dangal” is a fic-tionalised tale based on the lives of wrestler – Mahavir Singh Phogat and his famed daughters, Geeta and Babita Phogat.

The film features superstar Aamir Khan in the role of an ambitious father, who, after failing to fulfil his dreams, aspires to achieve his vision of winning a gold medal for his country in an interna-

tional arena through his progeny. It also stars Fatima Sana Shaikh

in the lead role. Reminiscing about the film’s journey,

Sanya took to Instagram and shared a few

stills from the movie.

Idris Elba eager to perform live with Taylor Swift

Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn

Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel

Robert Pattinson

Idris Elba and Taylor Swift

Atletico ‘very close’ to signing PSG striker Cavani: report

AFP | Madrid

PSG str iker Edinson Ca-

vani is poised to move to At-letico Madrid in a transfer d e a l w h i c h could be inked in the com-ing days, the Marca sports

daily reported yesterday.Rumours of a pos-

sible move from Paris Saint-Germain have been on the cards for months, but may be imminent, giv-

en the Uruguayan forward’s frustration at being left on the bench, the Spanish paper said.

“The transfer could take place in the coming days. In principle, the agreement would be for two-and-a-half seasons, although it is

still up for discussion,” it said of Cavani, whose contract with PSG is up in June.

But securing PSG’s agreement for an immediate transfer of their best-ever goal scorer, which would likely happen during the winter transfer window that opens on Jan-uary 1, would doubtless be subject to much negotiation.

French radio station RMCsport also said Cavani had inked a deal with the Madrid club, and that PSG were “open to the idea of letting Cavani go this winter”.

Although Cavani is currently not a regular PSG starter, the Parisians are likely to need him from Febru-ary when they enter the decisive phase for Ligue 1, the Champions League and domestic Cup action, Marca said.

15

sports


The transfer could take place in the coming days. In

principle, the agreement would be for two-and-a-half seasons, although

it is still up for discussion

MARCA SPORTS DAILY

Bahrain Club crush Isa Town Bahrain Club win second game in BBA Silver League

TDT | Manama

Bahrain Club romped past Isa Town 112-75 last night in the Silver Divi-

sion of the Zain Bahrain Bas-ketball League, currently being played at Zain Arena in Um Al Hassam.

Bahrain Club had a red hot start, scoring more than 30 points in each of the first two quarters as they built a com-fortable advantage and never looked back.

The victors led by as many as 48 points the rest of the way, en route to securing the lopsided win.

The result earned Bahrain Club their second win in as many games in the Silver League. Isa Town, on the other hand, suf-fered their third straight defeat and remained winless.

The Silver Division is being contested by the bottom six teams from this year’s national league. They are playing for their

own championship, while the top six are vying for four places in the Golden Square semi-fi-nals.

League action continues the

next two nights with games in the Top Six Division.

Two fixtures are scheduled for this evening. At 5.45pm, Riffa take on Al Najma Club followed at 7.30pm by Al Hala facing off with Manama.

Tomorrow, a titanic match-up between defending champi-ons Muharraq lock horns with perennial contenders Al Ahli at 7.30pm.

In Bahrain Club’s win yester-day, they raced out to a 31-18 lead at the end of the first quarter, which they extended to a com-manding 64-32 advantage at the half-time break.

In the third, they continued their fine play to go up 93-45 at period’s end, which was their biggest lead of the game and more than double Isa Town’s score. Bahrain Club then took the pedal off the gas in the fourth as they cruised to the final buzz-er.

Serbian-Bosnian professional Dragan Tubak paced Bahrain

Club with 24 points and 14 re-bounds. Bahraini guard and team captain Khalid Ali add-ed 21 points, including four three-pointers, to go with six assists and zero turnovers.

Nooh Qaedi came off the bench with 18, also with four triples, while Hussain Lulu add-ed 16 and seven assits.

Bahrain Club made an impres-sive 13 baskets from beyond the three-point arc.

Meanwhile, American im-port William Joseph scored 24 points, grabbed 17 rebounds and registered six blocked shots to lead Isa Town in the loss. Sayed Mohammed Habib had 15 as a substitute while Mohammed Nabeel had 14 points and 10 re-bounds.

Isa Town never led in the game.

In yesterday’s other game, Al Ettihad defeated Samaheej 76-56. Ettihad claimed their second straight win while Samaheej suf-fered their second loss. Bahrain Club’s Tariq Hasan looks to make a move in the post against Isa Town

The Silver Division is being contested by

the bottom six teams from this year’s

national league. They are playing for their own championship, while the top six are vying for four places in the Golden Square

semi-finals

Mbappe adds Olympic appearance to packed 2020 wish listAFP | Paris

Kylian Mbappe is putting himself forward for the

French team at next summer’s Tokyo Olympics, while adding that he would not want to fight his club Paris Saint-Germain over participation.

“Playing in the Olympics, I don’t control everything,” he told France Football magazine in an interview to be published on Tuesday. “Of course I want to go, but if my club, which is my employer, doesn’t want me to go, I won’t force a clash.

“We’ll soon talk about it,” said the 21-year-old, who al-ready has a World Cup win-ner’s medal.

M b a p p e h a d a l r e a d y dropped an Olympic hint when he responded to the French team’s qualification in June with a “TOKYO 2020” tweet ac-companied by a flashing emoti-con and a French flag.

Olympic football at Tokyo, an un-der-23 tourna-ment with each side allowed three overage players, runs from July 22 to August 8, which is also t h e s c h e d u l e d date of the start of the French season. Mbappe is also due to play for France at the Euros which run from June 12 to July 12.

I f t h e

21-year-old Parisian star were to be called up by Olympic coach Sylvian Ripoll, he would take his holiday at the start of the club season.

The striker said he had discussed a possible ap -pearance at the Games with France senior coach Didier Deschamps.

“The coach was adamant that it would never be to the detri-

ment of the Euro,” Mbappe said. “I reassured him by telling him that I also wanted to play in the Euro,

a n d h e said: ‘So i t ’s u p t o yo u to deal with the

people it concerns’.

Mourinho confirms Spurs appeal against ‘wrong’ red for SonAFP | London

Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho said Son He-

ung-min had suffered enough as he confirmed the club would appeal against the red card the South Korean received against Chelsea.

Son was dismissed in the second half of Spurs’ 2-0 loss at home to their London rivals on Sunday after the Video As-sistant Referee (VAR) deemed he had kicked out at Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger -- an inci-dent that led to the alleged racist abuse of the Germany international.

Anthony Talor, the on-field

referee, did not punish Son, but a VAR check saw the player ruled guilty of violent conduct, prompting a red card.

Mourinho was dismayed when a replay of the in-cident was shown in the ground and yesterday saw him announce Spurs’ intention to contest the decision as they appeal against a Son dismissal for the second time this season.

Meanwhile the club are still waiting to dis-cover from the Football Association if Son will be available for Thurs-day’s Boxing Day’s clash

with Brighton.“I hope Son is not pun-

ished five times,” Mourinho said yesterday. “One time was

the foul that Rudiger did on him.

“The second is to be sent off. The third would

be not to play against Brighton. The fourth

not to play against Norwich and the

fifth not to play against South-ampton.

“S o I h o p e to be punished

twice is enough, he doesn’t de-serve for the

third the fourth or the fifth.”The experienced Portuguese

boss lamented the way in which VAR was being deployed, say-ing replay official Paul Tierney rather than Taylor, the referee on the pitch, had been in charge of the game.

“Mr Paul Tierney decides yes and Mr Anthony Taylor who was in the game, in real time, five metres from the situation, Mr Taylor decided no,” said Mourinho, now managing his third leading English club after stints at Chelsea and Manches-ter United.

“So who was refereeing the game? Not Mr Taylor. It was Mr Tierney.

Mbappe had already dropped an Olympic

hint when he respond-ed to the French team’s

qualification in June with a “TOKYO 2020” tweet accompanied by

a flashing emoticon and a French flag

KNOW

BETTER

KNOW

BETTER

Son Heung-min

Edinson Cavani

Kylian Mbappe


Shaikh Salman, Almuyini dominate round three

TDT | Manama

Shaikh Salman bin Isa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and Ahmed Almuyini both

dominated their respective se-ries in an eventful third round of National Race Day, held last weekend at Bahrain Internation-al Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.

Shaikh Salman set the pace in practice, captured pole position and then won both races in the BIC 2,000cc Challenge; while Al-muyini also nearly posted a per-fect weekend en route to claim-ing both sprints in the Bahrain Motorcycle Racing (BMR) 600.

All the action took place along BIC’s 2.55-kilometre Inner Track. The meeting was organ-ised by BIC in cooperation with Circuit Racing Club (CRC) and the Bahrain Motor Federation (BMF).

In the 2,000cc Challenge, Shaikh Salman kicked things off topping the practice timesheet with a best lap of one minute 17.454 seconds. Behind the wheel of his Honda Civic, Shai-kh Salman was then able to claim pole position with a fastest lap time of 1:16.908 – narrowly beat-ing Shaikh Hamad bin Isa bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, also in a Civic, by 0.487 seconds.

Shaikh Salman then made no mistake in the opening 12-lap sprint, leading from pole to the chequered flag and winning in a total time of 19:05.937.

Nasser Al Alawi in a Honda S2000 finished as the runner-up 1.050s behind. He started from fourth but had a strong start and was quickly able to move up one position before capturing second place on lap seven.

Ahmed bin Khanen, also driv-ing a Civic, finished third after trailing the leaders for virtually the entire race. He was classified 3.079s behind Shaikh Salman.

Rounding out the top six, all of whom were competing in the se-ries’ Pro class, were Raed Raffii in another S2000, Tareq Al Tajer in a Ford Focus and Abdulla Al

Qaoud in a Civic. The Novice category was won

by Husain Al Ghanem, also driv-ing a Civic. He beat lady driver Farah Jaber in a BMW E30 to the chequered flag.

In race two, the reverse grid did not slow down Shaikh Sal-man as he was quickly back in the lead by the third lap. He coasted to the finish the rest of the way to win in 15:47.196. Al Alawi was the runner-up once again but was this time 4.687s behind. He dropped all the way to fifth with three laps to go but was able to battle back towards the end to gain his place on the podium.

Raffii took third 5.617s back following a close fight with Al Alawi. In fourth was Al Tajer, bin Khanen came fifth and Al Qaoud finished sixth.

The Novice victory was this time claimed by Ali Al Bahrani

in a Civic. He finished ahead of Al Ghanem and Jaber.

To add to his victories, Shaikh Salman also clocked the fastest lap of both races. He set a time of 1:16.450 in race one and then clocked a best mark of 1:16.585 in race two.

Meanwhile, Almuyini had a near-perfect day in the BMR 600. Riding a Yamaha R6, he had a fastest time of 1:09.675 to set the pace in practice but was then pipped in qualifying by 0.988s by Ali Ahmed Adiby on a Kawasaki ZX6R.

But that didn’t stop Almuyini from powering to victory in the opening 11-lap sprint. Almuyini gained the lead on lap three and cruised to the finish, winning by 6.152s ahead of Adiby. Sa’ad Al Hazza riding another ZX6R

came third a distant 31.274s behind, while the top six was rounded out by Ibrahim Alshari-da (ZX6R), Mohammed Alsadiq (Triumph 675) and Mohammed Redha (ZX6R).

In race two, Almuyini was a winner ahead of Adiby and Haz-za. Alsharida was fourth, Alsadiq fifth and Redha sixth.

Almuyini also clocked both fastest laps, registering a time of 1:09.619 in race one and then 1:09.642 in race two.

Following all the action, the winners in each series were pre-sented their respective trophies by officials from BIC, CRC and BMF.

National Race Day returns for the fourth round of the 2019/2020 season on January 10.

Action from the BMR 600

Almuyini, centre, with both his first place trophies, alongside Adiby, Hazza and officials

Shaikh Salman celebrates on top of the podium with Al Alawi and Raffii

Shaikh Salman in his Civic takes the chequered flag

1:16.585was the best time set by

Shaikh Salman in race two

Kohli declares 2019 ‘great year’ for India after Windies winAFP | New Delhi

Virat Kohli declared it “a great year” for India cricket

after ending 2019 on a high with a series-clinching win over the West Indies.

The India captain’s master-ful 85 set up a successful 316-run chase on Sunday to win the third one-day international by four wickets and complete a 2-1 series triumph.

Kohli’s side end the year ranked number one in Tests and second in ODIs, with the only regret being a World Cup semi-final defeat to New Zealand at Old Trafford in July.

“Apart from the 30 minutes in the World Cup, it’s been a great year,” Kohli said after his team’s win in Cuttack.

“We’ll keep chasing that ICC trophy. But apart from that, the way we’ve played has been sat-isfying.”

India lead the new world Test championship table with three series sweeps away to the West Indies and at home against South Africa and Bangladesh.

Kohli ended the year with 1,377 runs in 26 ODIs, behind swashbuckling opener Ro-hit Sharma who topped the season’s batting chart with 1,490 runs including seven centuries.

India captain Virat Kohli (right) shakes hand with West Indies captain Kieron Pollard after winning the the third one day international

Leclerc extends Ferrari contract until 2024AFP | Milan

Mo n e g a s q u e d r i v e r Charles Leclerc has ex-

tended his contract with Fer-rari by two years until 2024, the Italian team and driver announced yesterday.

“Extremely happy to an-nounce that I will be staying with Scuderia Ferrari for five more years,” the 22-year-old said on Twitter.

L e c l e r c i m -pressed in his f i r s t s e a s o n alongside four-t i m e w o r l d champion Se-bastian Vettel, finishing fourth i n t h e 2 0 1 9

world championship.He had seven pole positions,

nine podium finishes, with wins at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium and the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

Leclerc’s original contract with the Italian stable was until 2022. German Vettel’s

contract at Ferrari ends after the 2020 season.

“This past season, driv-ing for the most illustrious

team in Formula 1 has been a dream year for

me,” said Leclerc.“I cannot wait

to enjoy an even deeper relationship with the team after what has been an intense and exciting 2019.

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