The biggest the 4 x 400 metres mixed relay at the Asian ... · the sincere and dedicated efforts...

Kate Middleton wears Bahrain Pearl Drop earrings London

Kate Middleton has once again proved she knows exactly how to rock jewellery fit for a literal queen.

The mother of three was photographed head-ing to church on Sunday during her family’s visit to Queen Elizabeth‘s summer retreat in Scotland, Bal-moral Castle, People.com reported.

“Kate rode in the backseat of a car next to the 92-year-old monarch herself and wore earrings straight from her grandmother-in-law’s jewellery box: the Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings.

“According to Her Majesty’s Jewel Vault, the earrings were made from a shell containing seven pearls gifted to Queen Elizabeth from the ruler of Bahrain for her wedding in 1947.

“The earrings contain a large round diamond with a smaller circle diamond hanging below it. Three baguette diamonds hang from there, with three more small diamonds making way to the dangling pearl.

“Prince William‘s grandmother is more than gen-erous in lending pieces from her jewelry vault to her relatives for special occasions. As Kate walked onto the steps of the Lindo Wing outside St. Mary’s Hospital to introduce her newborn son, Prince Louis to the world, she paid homage to the Queen by wearing another pair of diamond and pearl drop earrings,” the website said.

The simpler earrings have proved to be one of Kate’s favorites. She has worn them on several occasions, in-cluding during a 2016 visit to the Mauritshuis gallery in Holland, where she viewed the iconic painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring.”

03 How safe is the water we drink?

04‘National economy remains key target of terror elements’

05Sudani killed Indian ‘outof his love for Bahrain’

10

Russia to hold biggest drills since Cold War12WORLD

OP-EDC E L E B S

Price urges Andre to inform about kids Television personality Katie Price has requested her former husband Peter Andre to inform her about their children, who have gone on a trip to Orlando with their father. P16

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R A R E G I F TDON’T MISS IT

Bahrain’s Kalkidan Befkadu celebrates winning the final of the women’s 5,000m athletics event.

Bahrain bags more medals

Jakarta

The Kingdom of Bahrain athletes put on another splendid show at the

18th Asian Games, being held in Jakarta and Palembang.

On the fourth day of athletics events, held at Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex, the Bahrainis extended their supe-rior run and notched four med-als – two gold and two bronze to remain in 12th position in the medal table with 18 in total (8 gold, 3 silver 5 bronze).

Kalkidan Befkadu opened Bahrain’s medal haul win of the day after coming first and third in the women’s 5,000m final in a time of 15 minutes and 8.08 seconds. Maslova Daria (15:30.57) of Kazakhstan was second and another Bah-raini Rebitu Bontu (15:36.78)

was third.Manal El Bahroui folowed

suit, racing to women’s 800m bronze in 2 minutes and 2.69 seconds. Chunyu Qang (2:01.80) clinched the gold, followed by silver medal-ist Margarita Mukasheva (2:02.40) of Kazakhstan.

Late on, the team of Ali Khamis, Abbas Abubakr, Olu-wakemi Adekoya and Salwa Naser rounded off Bahrain’s victorious day by taking home the 4x400m mixed relay gold medal in total time of 3 min-utes and 11.89 seconds.

India (3:15.71) and Kazakh-stan (3:19.52) were respective second and third. The race saw Oluwakemi fall in her final me-tres after passing on the baton to Salwa, and was rushed to hospital for x-ray tests.

There was even more joy for Bahrain as Edidiong and Yaqob Salem made it to the women’s and men’s 200m final.

Edidiong Odiong came sec-ond in her women’s semi-final heat in 23.01 seconds, while Salem complete the men’s semi-finals heat in third place in 20.61 seconds.

Meanwhile, Bahrain riders reached the second round of the individual showjumping events as they moved up to 14th position in the team sec-tion

The second day of equestri-an sports saw Bahrain team of Shaikh Hasan bin Rashid Al Khalifa, Khalid Al Khatry, Sayed Adnan Al Alawi and Ahmed Makki scored 82.82 points in the team qualifier staged at Jakarta International Equestrian Park.

Ali Khamis, Salwa Naser and Abbas Abbas of Bahrain celebrate after winning the 4 x 400 metres mixed relay at the Asian Games in Jakarta.

The biggest destabiliser‘Iran will be held accountable for its reckless acts’

• Brian Hook, the Trump administration’s newly appointed special representative for Iran, said Tehran’s policy of destabilising its neighbours come at the expense of the Iranian people.

Washington, DC

The US Secretary of De-fence Jim Mattis said yesterday that Iran

would be “held accountable” for its reckless behaviour in the region.

He was speaking as a string of senior American officials offered fresh warnings about Tehran’s aggressive foreign policy and the effect it has on destabilising the Middle East.

Mattis said that Iran had been “put on notice” that its “continued mischief ” in the region — including its support for Houthi rebels in Yemen and supplying of missiles fired into Saudi Arabia, as well as

threats to the Strait of Hormuz — would not be tolerated by the US and its allies.

The Defence Secretary went on to say that Iran was the “single biggest destabilising element in the Middle East re-gion.”

In Washington, Brian Hook, the Trump administration’s newly appointed special repre-sentative for Iran, said Tehran’s policy of destabilising its neigh-bours come at the expense of the Iranian people.

Speaking at an event at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies think tank, the envoy highlighted the vast sums spent by Iran on funding Hiz-

bollah and other proxy groups across the Middle East.

Slogans making similar points have been chanted at anti-regime protests in Iran in recent months. The protests have intensified as Iran plunges further into an economic cri-sis exacerbated by a return of tough US sanctions after Donald Trump pulled out of a deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.

“The regime’s economic mis-management has put the coun-try in a tailspin,” Hook said. “The rial’s value has collapsed in the past year. A third of Ira-nian youth are unemployed. A third of Iranians now live in poverty.

Iran has been the single biggest destabilising element in the Middle East region.MR MATTIS

Kate seen wearing Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings.

‘Hurricane Maria killed 3,000 in Puerto Rico’San Juan

Hurricane Maria killed nearly 3,000 people in Puerto Rico in the des-

perate, sweltering months after the storm — almost double the previous government estimate — with the elderly and impov-erished hit hardest, according to an independent study or-dered by the US territory.

The new estimate of 2,975 dead in the six months after Maria devastated the island in

September 2017 and knocked out the entire electrical grid was made by researchers with

the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Wash-ington University. It was re-leased Tuesday.

“We are hopeful that the government will accept this as an official death toll,” said Lynn Goldman, dean of the in-stitute. “A lesson from this is that efforts for assistance and recovery need to focus as much as possible on lower-income areas, on people who are older, who are more vulnerable.”

2,975died in the six months after Maria devastated

the island.

Turkish lira weakens againIstanbul

The Turkish lira weak-ened yesterday as inves-

tors weighed up Turkey’s efforts to manage its rift with the United States af-ter Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said US trade sanc-tions against Ankara could destabilise the Middle East.

The currency has lost about 38 per cent of its value against the dollar this year due to a sell-off accelerated by a row with Washington over an Amer-ican evangelical Christian pastor detained in Turkey on terrorism charges. More broadly, investors are wor-ried about the direction of monetary policy under President Tayyip Erdogan.

The president, a self-de-scribed “enemy of interest rates” has repeatedly put public pressure on the cen-tral bank and picked Al-bayrak, his son-in-law, as finance minister.

Iraq sending team to USBaghdad

Iraq will send a delegation to the United States seek-

ing an agreement on finan-cial transactions with Iran following Washington’s re-imposition of sanctions on Tehran, Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi said yes-terday.

His statement was the first by an Iraqi official since Reuters reported last week Baghdad was going to ask Washington for exemptions from some of the sanctions because Iraq’s economy is closely linked with neigh-boring Iran.

“We are not with eco-nomic sanctions against any country and that is our stra-tegic position,” state televi-sion quoted Abadi as saying at a weekly news conference.

02WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2018

Anti-human trafficking efforts laudedHis Majesty praises initiatives launched by the LMRA to combat human trafficking

• HM the King expressed appreciation of the sincere efforts that contributed to bringing the achievement under constant keenness to maintain values based on respect, equality and justice.

Manama

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has praised the out-standing international achieve-

ment made by the Kingdom, as it has become the first Arab State to reach Tier 1 in the US Department of State Traffick-ing in Persons (TiP) Report.

This came as His Majesty received Foreign Affairs Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Chief Executive of Labour Market Regulatory Authority, Chairman of the National Commit-tee to Combat Trafficking in Persons,

Ausamah Al Absi, and members of the committee received at Safriya Palace yesterday.

HM the King expressed appreciation of the sincere efforts that contributed

to bringing the achievement under constant keenness to maintain values based on respect, equality and justice.

HM the King paid tribute to the role of the Coordination Committee, led

by HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Su-preme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, in laying out initiatives and programmes to address trafficking

in persons and to safeguard freedoms and human rights.

His Majesty also commended the efforts of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, LMRA, National Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons, as well as other government and civil organisations which earnestly worked to accomplish the honourable achievement.

HM the King congratulated the LM-RA’s CEO over the honour he received by the US State Department as the first Arab personality among ten interna-tional figures who have made remarka-ble efforts to combat human trafficking, in addition to his significant initiatives to protect rights of expat labour.

The Foreign Affairs Minister stressed that the achievement reflects the royal vision of making Bahrain a pioneering country in the field of combating traf-ficking in persons.

He pointed out the close cooperation between the three sides, which has contributed to bringing the national achievement.

His Majesty receives Shaikh Khalid, Mr Al Absi and other senior officials at Al Safriya Palace.

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa yesterday received, at Al Safriya Palace, Khalid Abdulrahman Almoayyed. HM the King appreciated the sincere and dedicated efforts which were exerted by Mr Almoayyed to enhance the performance of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and serve the trade and economic sectors in the Kingdom. His Majesty commended the role of Bahraini traders and businessmen as well as marked contributions to the national economy, wishing Mr Almoayyed continuous success.

Parliamentary delegation from Jordan holds talks with MPs

• The Jordanian delegation hailed the reform project, led by HM the King, lauding Bahrain’s landmark development strides in all fields in the prosperous era.

Manama

A joint parliamentary session was held yesterday between Bah-rain and Jordan at the Council

of Representatives.The Jordanian parliamentary del-

egation, chaired by Jordan-Bahrain Fraternity chairman MP Qusai Ahmed Al Damisi arrived on an official visit to the Kingdom.

The visit affirms deep-rooted his-toric bilateral relations binding Bah-rain and Jordan, led by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and King Abdulla II of Jordan.

MP Abdulrahman Boumajid, the ses-sion of talks was attended also by MPs Dr Jameela Al-Sammak and Hamad Salim Al Dosery.

Mr Boumajid stressed the impor-tance of such meetings in exchanging expertise and highlighting ways of combating terrorism and extremism through legislations and concerted efforts.

The Bahraini side shed light on the programmes and strategies of the gen-eral secretariat, focusing on the efforts exerted by the Council of Representa-tives to enhance parliamentary work in Bahrain.

The Jordanian delegation hailed the reform project, led by HM the King, lauding Bahrain’s landmark develop-ment strides in all fields in the pros-perous era.

The delegation commended the ef-forts exerted by the Council of Rep-resentatives Speaker in Bahrain to develop legislative work and promote parliamentary diplomacy.

BCCI role hailed

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies, Dr Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa took part in the opening session of the third edition of the Indian Ocean Conference which was organised by India Foundation in Hanoi. The conference was inaugurated by Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister of the Republic of Sri Lanka and the Chairman of the Conference Organising Committee, Sushma Swaraj, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of India and Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Singapore, and attended by government officials, distinguished political and academic figures and representatives from 43 countries.

03

big story

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2018

How safe is the water we drink?

Two children had died in the Kingdom after consuming water, which carried a deadly germ Chromobacter Violaceum

• The parents of the dead children has blamed the company as well as the Ministry of Health for failing to inspect the tanks to ensure they remained clean.

• Scores of unhygienic water containers were spotted by Tribune yesterday outside of residential buildings and shops in the Manama souq area. Some of the water containers were the ones used to store acid.

TDT|ManamaMohammed Zafran

Drinking water supplied to a large number of households and shops

in Manama is unhealthy and un-hygienic, according to apparent evidence.

Apart from the seemingly dirty containers and bottles used in storing and delivering water, many of the containers also had holes and were left exposed in the open on the streets.

According to sources, illegal drinking water suppliers have been mixing tap water with ‘sweet water’ in a 50% ratio. The tap water is not purified in any way and is thought to be added for adulteration, sources said. The tanker truck delivering the water have mold formation in-

side, according to claims.A Bahraini citizen, who is a

resident of Manama, said he has resorted sealed containers or wa-ter after being suspicious about the quality of “sweet water”.

“I started noticing how dirty the bottles they used to deliver were. One day as I opened the bottle and looked behind the cap, I saw something green which very much looked like mold or bacteria.

“I tried to wipe it off and it clung to my hand, at this point I was sure that it was mold and that it would be unwise to drink it. This is when I stopped drink-ing water that is refilled from these shops. It is unhygienic and I do not want to put my health in danger.

“Initially, when I found out about this I tried to warn people and tried to complain but I could not make a long lasting impact. I kept myself safe by avoiding it but I could not make an impact for other people.

“However, after reading the news in Tribune recently about the two boys who died after drinking contaminated water

that came from out of an unhy-gienic water tank, I once again decided to speak out.

“Now I am doubly conscious about the water I consume. Many of the cheap restaurants will give you free water which they pour out of a jug. Just imagine the process it goes through before it reaches your glass.

“First of all they buy from these free visa suppliers who do not keep their containers clean, secondly they keep the water in their tank, which is also dirty.

“Unlike food, water is much easier to pollute. Food can be cleaned by washing off with water while water cannot be cleaned in such a manner. They are playing with the lives of the people by distributing such water,” he warned.

According to sources, gangs of ‘free-visa’ workers control the water supply business. “This is basically an illegal business as they don’t have any approval from the health authorities.

“They earn a profit of mini-mum BD10 per day or more in most cases, so they are quite happy to continue doing this. This is a business that expa-triates manage, although the vehicle belongs to Bahrainis, who allow them to do this.

“These workers would pay a monthly amount to the Bahrai-nis to be able to run and profit from the business. The expatri-ates are often free visa workers, they do not work under a com-pany name or own a licence,” the sources added.

While these workers charge 100 fils per refill, large sealed

water containers can cost 700 fills per refill or even over BD 2 for sealed new ones.

Tribune contacted an illegal supplier who was seen refilling water bottles at a cold store in Manama souq area yes-terday. When asked about his business, he said, “I own this business, I run it and take care of it.”

When asked if had a licence he refused to an-swer citing that he needs to leave as the traffic was getting congested.

His water taker ap-peared to have superficial rusting and small holes. The water bottles which he was filling seemed dirty and molded.

Scores of unhygienic water containers were spotted by Tribune yes-terday outside of residen-tial buildings and shops in the Manama souq area. Some of the water containers were the ones used to store acid.

“These black contain-ers are used to store acid, the jewellers used it for their purpose but it is now being used to store water which is totally un-safe,” a source said.

Tribune’s queries relat-ed to the matter have so far not been responded to by the Ministry of Health.

When shown the pic-tures and videos of the water containers, Gener-al Practitioner Dr Babu Ramachandran said that

such unhygienic condi-

tions could cause water-borne infections.

“This is absolutely unhygienic. Many people drink this water most probably because of igno-rance. The tanks are definitely not cleaned regularly. It is pos-sible that many water-borne in-fections can occur. Diarrhea and gastroenteritis can be caused. Authorities I am sure will take a note of this and take needful steps,” he said.

Tribune reported yesterday that the High Appeals Court will hear on September 9, 2018, the appeal filed by the parents of two children who reportedly died after con-suming bacteria-infected water.

The children aged 5 and 11 years, died after drinking water which carried a deadly germ, namely Chromobacter Violace-um, according to court docu-ments.

The parents of the children blamed the company as well as the Ministry of Health for fail-ing to inspect the tanks of the former to ensure they remained clean.

According to the World Health Organisation, waterborne

diseases account for about 1.5

million human deaths annually.

KNOW

DID

Many people drink this water,

probably out of ignorance. The tanks are definitely not

cleaned regularly. Authorities, I am sure will take a

note of this.DR RAMACHANDRAN One of the containers spotted with a huge

hole in the middle.

These black containers are used

to store acid, the jewellers used it for their purpose but it is now being used to store water which is

totally unsafe.A SOURCE Mold formations seen inside a tanker truck.

A nitric acid can being used to deliver ‘sweet water’.

Mold seen on the cap of a water can.

Superficial holes and rust found on a water tanker used by illegal suppliers.

Unclean cans filled with ‘sweet water’ kept on a footpath in Manama.

Know the villain

Chromobacterium vi-olaceum is a rare, but

potentially life-threat-ening infection, with a high mortality rate. The bacteria first infects the skin, which can pro-gress and extend into the bloodstream, and in-fect key organs, causing organ failure and death. Symptoms include high fever, vomiting and low blood pressure. The rare family of germs causing the infection are resist-ant to first-line antibi-otics used for standard infections. The bacteria is water-related.


‘National economy remains key target of terror elements’

Workshop calls for joint efforts between nations to combat funding of terror

• Maj Gen Al Hassan praised the security efforts exerted by the Ministry of Interior, and the security authorities, in dealing with terrorist acts, and in taking the necessary measures to thwart these crimes, in order to protect citizens and residents and preserve their safety.

• Mr Siberell said that it is the common responsibility of all countries to impose strict laws in order to combat terrorism while stopping the flow of funds that facilitate all terror-related crimes.

TDT|Manama

The main target of Iran-sponsored terrorists in the Kingdom is its nation-al economy, Head of Public Security, Major General Tariq Al Hassan said yesterday.

Maj Gen Al Hassan was speaking after inaugurating a workshop on ‘Best

practices during the investigation and funding of terror crimes’ at the Public

Security Officers Club, when he made this remark.

“The terrorists are trying to destabi-lise Bahrain, target the lives of security men, hit the national economy and endanger national interests.”

Maj Gen Al Hassan praised the secu-rity efforts exerted by the Ministry of Interior, and the security authorities, in dealing with terrorist acts, and in taking the necessary measures to thwart these crimes, in order to protect citizens and residents and preserve their safety.

He hailed the sacrifices of the securi-ty men who even offered their lives in defence of the security and stability of the homeland.

The head of public security stressed

the importance of continuing to devel-op the skills of the security man and the need to provide them with sufficient knowledge to confront any kind of ter-rorist acts while performing work.

Maj Gen Al Hassan stressed that the

fight against terrorism and its financing cannot be carried out by a single insti-tution or state, but rather is a collective action that requires joint national and international efforts.

He highlighted the need to invest this opportunity to upgrade the security system in the battle against terrorist elements.

The event was attended by US Am-bassador to the Kingdom Justin Siberell and a number of representatives of the US Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

For his part, Mr Siberell said that it is the common responsibility of all countries to impose strict laws in order to combat terrorism while stopping the flow of funds that facilitate all ter-ror-related crimes.

The US envoy thanked the Minister of Interior for his directives to organise the event.

He pointed out the importance of continuing such activities that enhance mutual cooperation and exchange of experiences between the two countries to combat criminal activities, including terrorist crimes, money laundering and terrorist financing.

The workshop, which had 28 partici-pants from various departments within the Ministry of the Interior, aimed to exchange experiences and develop the skills in uncovering and investigating terrorist financing methods, combating terrorism directed at local and interna-tional communities.

The terrorists are trying to destabilise Bahrain, target

the lives of security men, hit the national economy and

endanger national interests.MAJ GEN AL HASSAN

Countries should enhance cooperation countries to

combat criminal activities, including terrorist crimes,

money laundering and terrorist financing.

MR SIBERELL

A senior Interior Ministry official honours Mr Siberell in the presence of Maj Gen Al Hassan.

The workshop in progress.

Bahraini on trial for hiding fugitiveTDT|ManamaAli Tarif

A Bahraini man, in his twen-ties, is set to stand trial before the High Criminal

Court for giving shelter to a want-ed man in a serious security case. The fugitive had been awarded a 15-year imprisonment sentence in absentia after he was held guilty in a security case, but the

22-year-old provided him shelter despite knowing his status.

The defendant revealed that the fugitive is his cousin and he requested to offer a shelter in order to hide from the police.

“I asked him to surrender. But he was returning to our house despite being kicked out many times, until police officers came and arrested him at our house,” the defendant said.

‘New left-turn’ to boost traffic flow

Manama

The Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning

yesterday launched the work to develop a new left-turn at the intersection between Dry Dock Road and Hatem El Taie road in Hidd, Muharrraq gov-ernorate, designed to improve traffic flow between Shaikh Khalifa Bridge towards Hidd,

Muharraq, Amwaj and Diyar al Muharraq.

The Minister of Works, Mu-nicipalities Affairs and Urban Planning, Essam Khalaf con-firmed that the works form part of a five year strategy to develop road infrastructure in the King-dom, supported by $1.2 billion of funding from the Gulf Devel-opment Programme. Phase two of the strategy will include 15 projects, it was learnt.

The project includes two new lanes, increasing the number of lanes to five and delivering a 100 percent increase in capacity for vehicles turning left towards Hatem Al Tai road. Safety meas-ures and new traffic signals are included.

The expansion is expected to expand the capacity of the junction to 1,500 vehicles dur-ing rush hour, reducing waiting times by 35 per cent.

The expansion is expected to reduce waiting time by 35pc.

1.2billion American dollars is the Gulf Development

Programme funding for infra projects in the

Kingdom.


Sudani killed Indian ‘out of his love for Bahrain’ Defendant charged with premeditated murder; next hearing on September 16

• The report stated that the Indian man was strangled to death after he was beaten up.

• To mislead investigators, the accused is said to have written slogans on the walls of the apartment with an intention to get people belonging to a certain sect indicted in the murder.

TDT|ManamaAli Tarif

A Sudani national told judges yester-day that he killed a drunken Indian national because “he loves Bahrain

and hates seeing drunk people walking on public roads”.

Shockingly, the 41-year-old man carried

out an ‘Islamic State killing’, where he tor-tured his victim to death while recording the murder using a camera, according to court files.

The Sudani national murdered the vic-tim after encountering him on a public road at dawn.

He also sodomised him while he was dying, according to medical reports.

The report stated that the Indian man was strangled to death after he was beaten up.

The Sudani national said he did everything out of his love for Bahrain and refusal to see drunk men walking publically.

The defendant came to Bahrain in search of a job and he is a holder of a medical engineering certificate.

“I came to Bahrain four months ago, looking for a job. My sister works as a doctor at a hospital here. Her employers sponsored me, but I couldn’t find a job,” the defendant said in his statement yes-terday before the High Criminal Court.

“I didn’t have any relationship with the victim. I saw him on the day of the incident at dawn and he was drunk. I was talking with my Bahraini friends on the road and I stopped him.

“I asked him about his religion and be-cause I love Bahrain and I don’t like to see drunk people walking in public. I ordered him to show me his ID. But he ran away,” he added.

The defendant got to know about the accommodation of his victim through one of his friends.

“I went to his apartment because I wanted to advise him. He opened the door for me, and I entered inside. He locked the door and attacked me. And I responded in self-defence,” he revealed.

The court documents say the defendant then proceeded with torturing the victim and he killed him.

To mislead investigators, he is said to have written slogans on the walls of the apartment with an intention to get people belonging to a certain sect indicted in the murder.

“I decided to pour Chlorine on the body of the victim because I saw in movies that they were using chemicals to conceal the traces of the crimes. I also poured alcohol and powder all around the apartment.

“Before I left I wrote some slogans on the walls to mislead investigators,” he explained.

The defendant has been charged with premeditated murder.

His next hearing is scheduled for Sep-tember 16 to hear prosecution witnesses.

Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Essam Khalaf yesterday opened the third edition of Bahrain Property Development Exhibition (BaPDEX) at the City Centre. Leading Bahrain and Gulf real estate developers are taking part in the expo. The expo showcases projects worth over BD2 billion, according to the minister, who highlighted the contribution of the construction sector to the national economy.

Expo opens

I decided to pour Chlorine on the body of the victim because I saw in movies that they were using chemicals to conceal the

traces of the crimes.THE ACCUSED

Council to seek British expertise for assessing credibility of universities TDT|ManamaThamer Tayfour

Bahrain will use the expertise of British Accreditation Council to assess the credibility of higher education insti-

tutions operating in the Kingdom, Dr Abdul Ghani Al Shuwaikh, the Secretary-General of the Higher Education Council, said yesterday.

Mr Al Shuwaikh said that the council is preparing to implement the third phase of the academic accreditation programme in coordination and cooperation with the British Accreditation Council with the start of the new academic year 2018-2019.

He said that all academic institutions will be assessed to ensure that they meet all required standards.

He pointed out that a team of experts has been hired, from the British Accreditation Council, to assess the credibility of higher education institutions.

“Our academic accreditation standards cover diverse aspects including governance,

strategy, financial management, teaching and learning, research, grants and innovation apart from buildings and other facilities,” the official pointed out.

Our academic accreditation

standards cover diverse aspects

from governance to facilities.

MR AL SHUWAIKH

Anchorman wins plea in insult caseTDT|ManamaAli Tarif

A local anchorman convicted of in-

sulting a former MP has been acquitted follow-ing a successful appeal against a two month’s jail sentence.

The defendant, aged 53, was held guilty earlier for allegedly insulting ex-MP Mohammed Khalid on his Twitter account.

The case was filed against the defendant by the former MP himself, but at that time it was lodged against an anony-mous individual because the Twitter account’s profile indicated a fake person.

Following investi-gations, police officers identified the anchorman was behind the alleged crime and he admitted he was the owner of the account.

The High Appeals Court, however, fined the anchorman BD50 for causing a nuisance to Mohammed Khalid.

Preparations for Ashoora season discussed

Manama

Chairman of the Jaffari Endowments Council, Shaikh Mohsen Al Asfoor, yesterday received a delegation from the Northern Governo-

rate’s Municipality, in the presence of Acting Jaffari Endowments Director, Ali Mirza Khamis.

Mr Al Asfoor lauded the role of the Northern Governorate’s Municipality in managing and de-veloping services and public facilities to meet the

needs of the citizens, in coordination with the relevant parties.

He discussed with the delegation areas of joint cooperation and coordination during the Ashoora season, affirming the Jaffari Directorate’s keenness to finalise preparations for the events as early as possible.

Mr Al Asfoor said that the directorate had put forward organisational regulations for all events to be held on the sidelines of the Ashoora Commemo-ration, and would announce them soon.

Mr Al Asfoor in talks with the delegation.


Illegal Bangladeshi taxi driver loses appeal TDT|ManamaAli Tarif

The High Criminal Court has rejected an appeal filed by a Bangladeshi

man, who provided taxi servic-es without a licence.

He was earlier fined BD1,000 and was ordered to be expelled out of Bahrain as well as denied entry for three years.

The defendant was arrested offering transportation services to pedestrians without having the required permissions from the competent authorities.

He was reported to police by a Bahraini citizen who saw him transporting several peo-ple to Bahrain International Airport, after which they paid him money.

“When I asked them why you paid him, they told me that this was agreed between them that he would pick them up to the airport in return of BD5,” the eyewitness told police officers earlier.

The defendant confessed during questioning that he was providing taxi services without having the required licence.

Relief from Bahrain charities continues to flow to KeralaYousif and Aysha Almoayyed Charity donates BD3,500 to help flood victims of Kerala

TDT|Manama

Many charity organisations and societies continue to send re-lief material to Kerala, the

Indian state which was devastated by floods and landslides over a week ago.

Yousif and Aysha Almoayyed Charity made a donation worth BD 3,500 to Bah-rain Keraleeya Samajan (BKS) in aid of the people in the affected areas of the state.

The donation was handed over to officials from BKS and includes dry rations and other essentials such as toothpaste, toothbrush, baby diapers,

soaps, antiseptic lotions and other relief materials to be shipped to Kerala.

The Indian Club Senior Member T V Suresh handed over a cheque for INR 100,000 towards Kerala Chief Min-ister’s Disaster Relief Fund through Indian Club.

The Club’s Acting President Thank-achan Vithayathil along with Acting Gen-eral Secretary Siby Varghese and Indian Club Kerala Flood Relief Committee’s Convener Mohamed Hussain Malim received the cheque from T V Suresh.

Meanwhile, the Cochin International Airport, which was closed due to inces-sant flooding in Kerala, will resume its

full-scale operations at 2pm today. The airport, among the busiest in the

country, had been rendered non-func-

tional since August 15 due to flooding and torrential rains.

The airlines have been notified re-garding the same and asked to make sure the smooth functioning of the services as per the schedule. Passengers can now book tickets to/from COK as most of the airline’ s sites have already started facilitating journey planner on or after august 29, Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) stated.

The flight services from Kochi Naval Base, which was carrying out rescue operations have also been suspend-ed. “Services from Naval base will be suspended from August 29 noon,” the

statement added.As a special gesture to students from

CBSE affiliated schools, whose board exam academic documents such as mark sheets/ migration certificates/ pass certificates have been lost or dam-aged in the Kerala floods, the Central Board of Secondary Education has de-cided to facilitate and provide digital mark sheets, migration certificates and pass certificates.

Over 1,300 schools are affiliated to the CBSE in Kerala. Board exam aca-demic documents are crucial for admis-sion for higher studies and employment etc.

Mr Suresh hands over the cheque to Indian Club officials. Relief materials ready to be flown to Kerala.

440people have died in floods and landslides across the

various districts of Kerala.

BDB plans to fuel entrepreneurial spirit by investing in start-ups TDT|ManamaMohammed Zafran

Bahrain Development Bank (BDB) plans to in-vest in six to eight start-

ups per year, the bank’s Chief Executive assured.

The bank, through it Seed Fuel Rowad Programme hopes to fuel entrepreneurial spirit and innovation in the Kingdom by supporting promising and innovative startups.

“We aim to invest into 6-8 innovative startups annually that fit the overall criteria for BDB Seed Fuel Rowad,” Group CEO of Bahrain Development Bank Sanjeev Paul confirmed to Tribune.

Explaining the investment plan for the programme, he said, “The investment amounts for start-ups through BDB Seed Fuel Rowad Pro-gramme is up to BD 250,000.

“In 2017, we invested in six start-ups with a total invest-ment of BD 150,000. In 2018, we just completed one invest-ment and have several others in the pipeline,” he said.

“For Seed Fuel Rowad we are just within the second year of the funding program and are happy to say that 2 out of the 6 have already received further seed funding.

“It is too early to give an ex-act success rate, but we believe through our intense coaching, mentoring and monitoring that we will hopefully be able to achieve great success,” he said.

When asked about the big-gest challenges faced by entre-preneurs in Bahrain, he said, “The biggest challenge for en-trepreneurs in Bahrain is not specific to them – typical chal-lenges is managing cash flow and ensuring that they are able to raise funding in a timely man-ner. Also for technology start-ups is being able to hire talent for programming, coding etc.”

Responding to a question on

why many of the innovative Bahraini talents fail in commer-cialization of business despite taking patents, he said, “We do not see that it is linked to not being business savvy. It is up to the individual to take advantage of the opportunity and the var-ious support programs that are available to entrepreneurs.”

According to BDB, Rowad Programme is “a comprehen-

sive platform designed to assist and empower entrepreneurs in starting their businesses”. The programme supports entrepre-neurs from the earliest stage of idea conceptualisation all the way to the stages of growth and maturity along with distressed stages.

The programme has a num-ber of centres dedicated to supporting the development of entrepreneurial enterpris-es. The centers include Bah-rain Business Incubator Centre (BBIC) a multipurpose incubator with office space and workshop units, Business Women Incu-bator Center (Riyadat) main-ly housing start-ups owned by Bahraini women entrepreneurs, Rukn.me - supporting technolo-gy start-ups, Arts cluster which offers incubation facilities and affordable rent for startups, and Farmers Market which is a joint initiative between Bahrain De-velopment Bank (BDB), Ministry of Municipalities and Urban Planning and Agricultural Af-fairs (MUN) and Tamkeen in support of the National Initia-tive for Agricultural Develop-ment (NIAD).

The farmers market which is located in Hoorat A’ali has had over 60,000 visitors since its inception in February.

It is too early to give an exact

success rate, but we believe

through our intense coaching,

mentoring and monitoring that

we will hopefully be able to achieve

great success.MR PAUL

The farmers market which is located in

Hoorat A’ali has had over 60,000 visitors since its inception in

February.

KNOW

DID

Bahrain-Russia ties discussedMoscow

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Presidential Envoy for

the Middle East and North Af-rica, Mikhail Bogdanov, yester-day received at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Russian Federation, Ahmed Al Saati.

During the meeting, Mikhail Bogdanov hailed the course of

the friendly relations between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Russian Federation which are developing in various fields.

They reviewed ways to en-hance them and develop them to a wider horizon to meet the common interests of the two countries and the two friendly peoples.

A number of issues of mutual interest at the regional and in-ternational levels were further discussed during the meeting.

07

business


BAHRAIN AIRPORT COMPANY (S.P.C.) wishes to invite proposals for the following Public Tender:

Tender Title Tender No.Tender

Doc. FeesInitialBond

Tender Closing

Day/ Date Time

Design and Build of High Mast Lighting at

Western Apron, Bahrain International Airport (BIA)

BAC/232/2017 BD 100/-non-refundable

BD4,000/-

Wednesday30 September

20171:30pm

th

Tenderers are requested to purchase tender documents online through the Bahrain Tender Board’s portal https://etendering.tenderboard.gov.bh.

For any enquires or assistance related to the e-tendering, please contact the help desk on Tel: 17566617 email: [email protected]

For more information please contact the Purchasing Department of Bahrain Airport Company, Tel: 17353296 or 17353258

Deposit each Tender Submission in the tender box provided at the TENDER BOARD’S OFFICES AT Arcapita Building , Bahrain Bay Ground Floor on the above date before 13:30 L.T. along with an initial bond for the amount specified above or at the rate of 1% of the quotation value whichever amount is the lesser, in the form of a Certified Cheque, Bank Guarantee or Insurance Policy valid for the duration specified in the tender documents.

The Tender will be submitted along with an initial bond for the amount specified above, in the form of a Certified Cheque or Bank Guarantee valid for the duration specified in the tender documents. Failure to submit Initial Bond shall disqualify the tender.

Articles of the Decree by Law No. 36 for 2002, regarding the regulation of Government Tenders and Purchases, together with its executive regulations issued in Decree No. 37 for 2002, must be observed www.tenderboard.gov.bh

The following conditions must also be observed:

Submit the Grand Prices and Unit Prices (according to conditions) on Form No. TB 02.

The submitted application shall be in the arrangement of one original hard copy and two electron-ic copies (pdf format).

All documents submitted as part of the tender (original or copies) must bear the stamp of your Company/Establishment.

Enclose a copy of the Commercial Registration Certificate for the current year, which must include the Tender Subject as one of its activities.

Enclose a copy of a valid Certificate of Compliance with the Employment Percentage for Bahraini Manpower issued by Ministry of Labour.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

This advertisement is considered as complementary to the Tender Documents.

Bahrain, Pakistan agree to boost trade • The two sides expressed commitment as Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid telephoned Shah Mehmood Qureshi

TDT| Manama

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Shaikh Khalid

bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa and his Pakistani coun-terpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi, yesterday agreed to reinvigorate economic and investment rela-tions between their countries to boost the current bilateral trade volume of $310 million.

The two sides expressed the commitment as Foreign Min-ister Shaikh Khalid telephoned Shah Mehmood Qureshi to congratulate him on assuming the office of foreign minister, Pakistan newspaper The News reported.

The two foreign ministers agreed to revive institutional mechanisms of joint ministe-rial commission and bilateral political consultations to ex-plore fresh avenues of bilateral

cooperation.Foreign Minister Qureshi

congratulated Shaikh Khalid on achieving the Tier-1 status on anti-human trafficking ef-forts and termed it a remarka-ble achievement that made the entire Muslim world proud, The News reported.

Shaikh Khalid stressed the keenness of the Kingdom to support these relations and to continue joint cooperation be-tween both countries to achieve common aspirations.

Shaikh Khalid also said that he looks forward to the sec-ond meeting of the Joint Bah-raini-Pakistani Ministerial Committee which will be held

in the Kingdom of Bahrain next year.

For his part, the Pakistan Min-ister expressed sincere thanks and appreciation to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for his con-gratulations.

The Pakistan Minister af-firmed the pride of the Islam-ic Republic of Pakistan in its strong and distinguished rela-tions with the Kingdom of Bah-rain, praising the stances of the Kingdom of Bahrain that sup-port the security and stability of the Islamic Republic of Paki-stan and wishing the Kingdom further progress and prosperity.

He expressed gratitude for Bahrain’s assistance in setting

up Hamad University in Islam-abad and for hosting more than 100,000 Pakistani workers in Bahrain.

He expressed concern over the reports of visa suspension for Pakistani nationals by Bah-rain and hoped the visa restric-tions would be eased up.

During the telephone call, both sides exchanged views on the latest regional and interna-tional developments and issues of mutual interest.

Shaikh Khalid Shah Mehmood Qureshi

KNOW WHAT

Foreign Minister Qureshi congratu-

lated Shaikh Khaild on achieving the Tier-1 status on

anti-human traf-ficking efforts and

termed it a remark-able achievement that made the en-tire Muslim world

proud

NBB Chief Human Resources Officer, Dana Buheji (first from right) handing over a cheque to the Child Care Home Treasurer, Mona Al Moayyed. NBB made the donation to the Child Care Home as part of its efforts in supporting the welfare, educational, physiological, medical and living care aspects for orphans. The cheque was presented by NBB’s Board Secretary, Nasser Mohammed Nasser.

Trump says Google is ‘rigged’ with bad news about him

AFP| Washington

US President Donald Trump yesterday claimed that

Google results were “rigged” because searches for “Trump News” brought up negative sto-ries about him, and questioned whether this was illegal.

The president has attacked US social media giants in the past days for allegedly censor-ing conservative voices, an un-founded claim widely believed by his followers.“Google search

results for ‘Trump News’ shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media,” the president

tweeted yesterday. “In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal?”According to Trump, “96% of results on ‘Trump News’ are from Nation-al Left-Wing Media,” which he describes as “very dangerous.”

“Google & others are sup-pressing voices of Conserva-tives and hiding information and news that is good.”

Donald Trump

Canada eyeing free trade with southeast Asian blocAFP| Ottawa

Canada wants free trade with the ASEAN bloc,

Trade Minister Jim Carr said on the eve of a trip to Thailand and Singapore for “explorato-ry” talks.

His comments follow a breakthrough in US-Mexico bilateral talks to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that saw Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland interrupt a European trip to rejoin trilateral NAFTA negotiations in Washington.

Carr on the August 28-30 trip will look to promote bi-lateral trade and investment with Thailand and Singapore -- which, along with Canada, is expected to soon ratify the Trans Pacific Partnership -- and press for free trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

“Expanding into the South-east Asia region will help Canadian-owned businesses access one the world’s fast-est-growing markets,” he said in a statement.

Canada and the EU provi-sionally entered into a free trade pact last September, as NAFTA appeared to falter and the US exited from the Trans Pacific Partnership.

A deal with the ASEAN bloc, which includes Thailand, Ma-laysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam,

Laos, Burma and Cambodia, would give Canada access to 650 million consumers.

Ottawa is also eying free trade with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, which form the Mercosur bloc, and has suggested a trade deal with China is also in the works, which if successful would make Canada the first Western nation to do reach a free trade deal with Beijing.

US hopes to reach Canada trade 'quickly': MnuchinAFP| Washington

The United States hopes to strike a quick bar-

gain with Canada after reaching an agreement with Mexico this week on continent-wide trade, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said yesterday.

Canada's Foreign Minis-ter Chrystia Freeland was due in Washington to begin talks later Tuesday, one day after US President Donald Trump suggested he could cut Ottawa out of any final deal if disagreements per-sist in the year-long efforts to rewrite the North Amer-ican Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).


Ticking Point

They manage using broad integrating mechanisms

CEOs must avoid trying to do too much themselves. It just isn’t possible for them to make or even ratify most decisions directly. Instead, effective CEOs put in place well-designed structures

and processes that help everyone else in the organization make good choices. These inform, support, enable and integrate the work of others while building the organization’s capabilities.

The most powerful integrating mechanisms include strategy (on which CEOs in our study spent an average of 21% of their work time), functional and business unit reviews (25% of their time), developing people and relationships (25% of their time), matching organization-al structure and culture with the needs of the business (16% of their time), and mergers and acquisitions (4% of their time).

HARNESSING STRATEGY. The CEO’s single most powerful lever is ensuring that every unit — and the company as a whole — has a clear, well-defined strategy. Strategy creates alignment among the many decisions within a business and across the organization. By spending time on strategy, a CEO provides direction for the company, helps make its value proposition explicit and defines how it will compete in the marketplace and differentiate itself from rivals. Strategy also provides clarity on what the company will not do. A compelling strategy — if well understood throughout the organization — is motivating and energizing. And without clarity on strategy, the CEO will be drawn into too many tactical decisions.

In large, complex firms, CEOs can almost never spend enough time on strategy — they must constantly be working to shape it, refine it, communicate it, reinforce it and help people recognize when they may be drifting from it. CEOs must also ensure that the strategy is renewed from time to time and based on changes

in the environment. Portfolio choices such as divestitures, mergers and acquisitions are critical to strategy, and a CEO must be personally involved with them.

ALIGNING ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND CULTURE. To foster appropriate decisions across the company, the organization’s struc-ture needs to be aligned with its strategy. Otherwise, the CEO will be drawn into endless adjudication among units. It can also become a big drain on the CEO and others if the organization is constantly lurching from one structure to another.

Culture — which encompasses an organization’s values, beliefs and norms — is another key CEO lever for reinforcing strategy and influ-encing how the organization as a whole goes about doing its work. CEOs can shape a company’s culture in many ways, from the time they spend talking about it at various forums, to personally living the valued behaviors, to recognizing, rewarding and celebrating those who exemplify the desired culture while taking corrective action with those who don’t. It is the CEO’s job to champion the organiza-tion’s culture and constantly look for opportunities to strengthen it.

DESIGNING, MONITORING AND IMPROVING PROCESSES. CEOs must ensure that the company’s strategy is being well executed. This will occur when the organization has rigorous processes through which work — such as marketing plans, pricing, product development and strategy development itself — is done. Good processes bring together the best organizational knowledge and keep the CEO from continu-ally having to override decisions.

Formal reviews are essential to monitoring whether the compa-ny is delivering the required process performance. Though these consume a quarter of a CEO’s total work time, they allow CEOs to track progress, provide regular feedback, uphold high standards and ensure timely course corrections. Reviews are also necessary to make sure that lessons learned are used to enhance the various processes through which work gets done.

However, excessive participation in reviews can get the CEO too involved in the company’s operations and mired in unnecessary de-tails. We talked a lot with the CEOs in our study about this problem. We have found, again and again, that many have a hard time shedding the COO or president roles they may have previously held. Some also forget that their senior team should bear the primary responsibility for many reviews and keep the CEO informed on a regular basis.

When CEOs fail to delegate reviews to direct reports who can handle them, they erode the autonomy and accountability of their management teams. That doesn’t help CEOs get the best out of others.

DEVELOPING PEOPLE AND RELATIONSHIPS. Building the company’s leadership pipeline is an important CEO function in its own right. We have found that CEOs must be personally committed to and be involved in improving the quality of the company’s leaders. They cannot just leave this task to human resources. Leadership choices are also pivotal in shaping the company’s culture. Who gets hired, promoted or fired signals what is truly valued by the CEO and the company.

CEOs need to get the most out of an organization’s talent, and to do that, they must forge personal connections. Our CEOs spent another quarter of their total work time in meetings that focused on building relationships. When trust is mutual, delegation comes more naturally, agreement is easier to reach and less monitoring and follow-up are necessary. Good relationships also make people more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt when you need it — and to tell you the truth, which is invaluable at the top.

The time CEOs spend building social capital through a network of personal relationships has many benefits and is time well spent.

Michael E. Porter is a university professor at Harvard, based at Harvard Business School in Boston. Nitin Nohria is dean of Harvard Business School

NITIN NOHRIA/ MICHAEL E. PORTER

Global stocks continue rally on US trade deal• Equities had already been enjoying a run higher after Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell last week indicated that

AFP| London

Stock markets climbed yesterday, with Wall Street pushing even high-

er a day after setting records following a trade deal struck between the United States and Mexico.

Equities had already been enjoying a run higher after Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell last week indicated that the US central bank would not aggressively raise interest rates.

“US stocks are adding to a recent run in early action that has the markets back in record high territory, with the global markets finding support from yesterday’s bilateral trade agreement between the US and Mexico, which appeared to alleviate some of the festering uneasiness,” said analysts at Charles Schwab brokerage.

The Dow added 0.2 percent at the open. In opening trad-ing, the S&P broke through the 2,900 level for the first time ever, while the Nasdaq Com-posite also blew by the intra-day record it set the day before.

In afternoon trading in Eu-rope, London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 0.5 per-cent. In the eurozone, Frank-furt’s DAX 30 rose 0.1 percent and the Paris CAC 40 gained 0.5 percent.

The US-Mexico agreement

raises hopes that the North American Free Trade Agree-ment, rejected by the White House soon after US President Donald Trump’s election, can be salvaged after Canada re-joins talks on Tuesday.

Analyst Patrick O’Hare at Briefing.com said that it is still unclear whether a three-way deal with Canada can be reached by the end of the week as needed, or whether the US

Congress would approve a bi-lateral deal with Mexico.

“For now, market partici-pants seem to be content knowing something got done at least with Mexico,” he said in a note to clients.

Mizuho Securities said in a note to clients that investors are monitoring “the US-Can-ada negotiations... and the im-pact on US-China trade talks”.

Monday’s agreement comes

after officials from Washing-ton and Beijing last week held talks aimed at easing trade ten-sions that have seen them hit each other with tariffs on tens of billions of dollars worth of goods.

‘Festive mood’ While the meeting did not achieve any breakthrough, the fact it took place was seen as a good sign.

Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trading at OANDA, said dealers were “in a festive mood” as the deal removed “one major hurdle that has been haunting North Ameri-can investors for months”.

He added: “Markets are rev-elling in any trade positives... After all, a deal is a deal.”

However, Trump appeared to temper expectations for a fresh round of talks with Chi-na, saying after announcing the new pact that “it’s just not the right time to talk right now” before adding “eventual-ly, I’m sure that we’ll be able to work out a deal”.

In foreign exchange trad-ing, Turkey’s lira weakened to around 6.2 against the dollar, with dealers continuing to fret over the country’s financial crisis. The pound slid after Prime Minister Theresa May indicated that a no-deal Brex-it would not be a disaster for Britain, playing down warn-ings of serious consequences for the UK economy.

But it later rebounded following a report from the Evening Standard newspaper that Mark Carney had been approached about staying on another year as head of the Bank of England following the end of his term in June 2019.

Key figures around 1330 GMTNew York - Dow Jones: 0.2pc at 26,100.65 points

New York - S&P 500: 0.2pc at 2,901.09

New York - Nasdaq: 0.3pc at 8,039.01

London - FTSE 100: 0.5pc at 7,617.89

Frankfurt - DAX 30: 0.1pc at 12,554.75

Paris - CAC 40: 0.5pc at 5,504.72

EURO STOXX 50: 0.1 at 3,460.15

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: 0.1pc at 22,813.47 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: 0.3pc at 28,351.62 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: 0.1pc at 2,777.98 (close)

Euro/dollar: $1.1725 from $1.1680 at 2100 GMT

Pound/dollar: $1.2926 from $1.2895

Dollar/yen: 111.08 yen from 111.07 yen

Traders on the floor of New York Stock Exchange (File photo)

‘Post-Brexit UK will be key investor in Africa’ AFP| Cape Town

British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday

pledged to prioritise invest-ment in Africa as she started a three-nation visit to the con-tinent aimed at drumming up trade deals ahead of leaving the European Union.

Her tour of South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya -- May’s first to Africa since becoming

premier in 2016 -- is seen as an effort to reinforce Britain’s global ambitions after Brexit.

“By 2022, I want the UK to be the G7’s number one investor in Africa, with Britain’s private sector companies taking the lead,” May told business lead-ers in Cape Town.

The G7 groups major in-dustrialised nations but does not include China, which has become a big investor on the

African continent.“As prime minister of a

trading nation whose success depends on global markets, I want to see strong African economies that British com-panies can do business with,” she said.

“I want to create a new partnership between the UK and our friends in Africa built around shared prosperity and shared security.”May with children in Cape Town

A new batch of pilots who underwent training under the Gulf Air-Tamkeen programme took to the skies with the Kingdom’s national carrier as they completed ground and base training courses. Seven pilots are now operating as second officers to complete a set of flying hours and earn their next stripe to be first officers. In the picture: Top (from left to right): Qasim Galadari, Khaled AlAbbasi, Gulf Air Chief Executive Officer Krešimir Kucko, Omar Fathi and Ebrahim Bushager. Below: Gulf Air Chief Operations Officer Captain Suhail Abdulhameed Abdulaziz Ismaeel, Gulf Air Director Human Resources Nouf AlSowaidi, Gulf Air Chief Executive Officer Krešimir Kucko, Abdulrahman AlJanaid, Moayed Darwish and Abdulaziz AlHasan


Closing BellSAUDI 0.5% » 8,037

DUBAI 0.4% » 2,819

ABU DHABI 0.4% » 4,958

QATAR 0.6% » 9,858

KUWAIT 1.0% » 5,5258

BAHRAIN 0.1% » 1,347

OMAN 0.7% » 4,410

EGYPT 2.4% » 15,606

Nestle to market Starbucks coffeeZurich, Switzerland

Nespresso maker Nestle yesterday said it has

sealed a deal to market the products of US coffee giant Starbucks around the world, outside of its cafes.

Swiss food giant Nestle, which also produces Nes-cafe instant coffee, had an-nounced in May it would pay $7.15 billion (6.13 bil-lion euros) for the rights to market Starbucks coffee globally.

Under the deal, some 500 Starbucks employees in the United States and Europe will join Nestle, the Swiss company said in a state-ment.

“With Starbucks, Nesca-fe and Nespresso we bring together the world’s most iconic coffee brands,” Nestle CEO Mark Schneider said.

“The outstanding collab-oration between the two teams resulted in a swift completion of this agree-ment, which will pave the way to capture further growth opportunities,” he added.

According to the state-ment, the deal will signifi-cantly boost Nestle’s portfo-lio in North America.

Bloomberg News said Nestle has struggled in the US for years.

Moody’s to pay $16 mn over flawed credit ratingsWashington

Ratings agency Moody’s h a s a g re e d t o p ay

more than $16 million to resolve charges tied to its assessment of residential mortgage-backed securi-ties worth tens of billions of dollars, market regulators announced Tuesday.

The case also involved the first charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission involving de-ficient ratings symbols.

According to the SEC, Moody’s failed to establish and enforce proper internal controls for models used to rate mortgage backed securities between 2010 and 2013. As a result, the agency, one of the largest in the United States, corrected more than 650 ratings of mortgage-backed securities valued at more than $49 bil-lion, according to the SEC.

In 54 cases, Moody’s rated securities differently than its own models suggested it should but kept no record of its reasons for doing so, the commission said.

The agency also issued 26 ratings of securities called “combo notes” valued at about $2 billion in a man-ner the SEC said was incon-sistent with ratings of other securities using the same ratings symbols.

A congressionally man-dated inquiry in 2011 said that ratings agencies had played an “essential” role in fomenting the 2008 melt-down on Wall Street -- and accused Moody’s in par-ticular of internal “break-downs” in which the com-pany systematically gave its highest rating to toxic assets that later crashed.

Saudi stocks rise for 3rd day • Saudi market buoyed by inflows of foreign funds

• Dubai was weighed down by Emaar Properties

• Property, financial stocks helped Abu Dhabi

Reuters | Dubai

Saudi Arabia’s stock market rose yesterday for a third consecutive day, fuelled by

gains in energy and telecommu-nications shares, while Qatari stocks were lifted by financials.

Saudi Arabia’s main index added 0.5 per cent, with Saudi Telecom rising 1.8pc and oil re-finer Petro Rabigh up 1.4pc.

Saudi market, which has add-ed about 11pc in the year-to-date, has been buoyed by inflows of foreign funds in anticipation

of Riyadh joining emerging mar-ket indexes next year. Recent ex-change data indicates those in-flows have slowed but not halted as stock valuations have risen.

Qatar index rose 0.6pc on

sustained interest in financials, which were recently battered by concerns about Turkey. Qatar National Bank rose 0.6pc and Masraf Al Rayan climbed 2.1pc.

Dubai index was weighed

down by Emaar Properties which fell 2.4pc and a 2.1pc drop in Emirates NBD as investors remained jittery about its agree-ment in May to buy Turkey’s Denizbank in a $3.2 billion deal.

Abu Dhabi index rose 0.4pc, helped by property and financial stocks.

In Egypt, the benchmark in-dex rose 2.4pc as buying interest returned to the market after a miserable quarter when emerg-ing market assets came under pressure due to Turkey.

Commercial International Bank rose 4pc and El Sewedy Electric Co climbed 4.4pc, as broker CI Capital raised its price target to 248 Egyptian pounds ($13.89) from 165 pounds. The stock last closed at 181.66 pounds.

Traders on the floor of Saudi stock market (Courtesy of Asharq Al Awsat)

India says manned space mission to cost $1.4 billionReuters | New Delhi

India said yesterday it expect-ed to spend less than 100

billion rupees ($1.43bn) on its first manned space mission to be launched by 2022, suggesting it is likely to be cheaper than similar projects by the United States and China.

India is cultivating a reputa-tion as a low-cost space pow-er, after the 2014 launch of an unmanned Mars mission at a cost of $74 million, or less than the budget of the Hollywood space blockbuster “Gravity” and a fraction of the $671 million the US space agency NASA spent on its MAVEN Mars mission.

The Indian manned mission, announced this month by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and to be led by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), will aim to send a three-member

crew to space for five to seven days in a craft that will be placed in a low earth orbit of 300-400 km, the Department of Space said in a statement.

“ISRO has developed some critical technologies like re-en-try mission capability, crew es-

cape system, crew module con-figuration, thermal protection system, deceleration and floata-tion system, sub-systems of life support system etc required for this programme,” the statement said.

ISRO Chairman K. Sivan said

the agency had “perfected the engineering aspects of the mis-sion”, although it was new to the field of bioscience - dealing with living beings.

Private agencies will also participate in the mission, and ISRO might consider collab-

orations with space agencies from “friendly countries with advanced space programmes”, the statement added.

India’s neighbour and old ri-val China first sent humans to space in 2003, becoming only the third country to have such capability after Russia and the United States.

China’s Shenzhou program is secretively run through military and government agencies and its budget is not public. In 2003, officials said it had cost 18 billion yuan here($2.62 billion).

India’s space programme has a total budget of around $4 billion, and Modi’s govern-ment hopes recent satellite launches - many on behalf of foreign governments - would improve its prospects of win-ning a larger share of the more than $300 billion global space industry.

India is cultivating a reputation as a low-

cost space power, after the 2014 launch of Mars mission at a

cost of $74 million, or less than the budget of blockbuster “Gravity”ISRO Chairman, K Sivan

KNOW WHAT

Oil touches 7-week highs Reuters | London

Oil prices stabilized yester-day, pausing after strong

gains last week, but losses were limited after a US-Mexico trade agreement eased con-cerns about tensions between the two countries.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 6 cents to $76.27 a bar-rel by 11:00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT). The global benchmark touched $76.97 earlier in the session, the highest since July 11. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures fell 21 cents to $68.66 a barrel.

Last week Brent marked a 5.6 percent gain, while WTI increased 4.3 percent.

“We have put in a good ral-ly the last couple of days and for lack of any headline devel-opments, possibly people are starting to take profits against these levels,” said Bob Yawger, director of futures at Mizuho in New York.

Boosting market sentiment, however, was news that the United States and Mexico

agreed on Monday to over-haul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Modest output increases from OPEC also supported pric-es. The monitoring committee of the Organization of the Pe-troleum Exporting Countries found that producers partic-ipating in a supply-reduction agreement, which includes non-OPEC member Russia, cut output in July by 9 percent more than called for.

OPEC and its partners agreed in late 2016 to cut output from 2017 by around 1.8 million bar-rels per day (bpd) versus Octo-ber 2016 levels.

$76.27a barrel was the price

of Brent crude by 1500 GMT

Gold climbs as dollar dips Reuters | London

Gold edged higher yester-day, helped by weakness

in the dollar after a trade deal was struck between the United States and Mexico but analysts said ongoing US-China tensions would continue to weigh.

The United States and Mex-ico agreed on Monday to over-haul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The dollar was pinned at its lowest in nearly a month against a basket of major cur-rencies, while riskier assets such as equities rose. A weaker US currency generally boosts demand for dollar-denominat-ed commodities.

“The main trade dispute, meaning US-China conflict, is still going on so this NAFTA deal is just a small aspect,” said Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann, adding that the effects on gold markets would be limited.

Spot gold rose 0.1 per cent to $1,212.65 an ounce by 1407 GMT

after snapping a six-day losing streak in the previous session and touching a two-week high.

US gold futures for delivery in December were up 0.3pc at $1,219.10.

Short-covering could kick in if gold breaks above $1,220, Kitco Metals analyst Peter Hug said.

Spot silver was up 0.2pc at

$14.88 while platinum rose 0.7 percent to $805 after touching a two-week high of $810.

Palladium rose 0.4pc to $952.50, having touched $956, its highest since July 10.

The NAFTA deal, which in-cludes new rules for the car industry, lifted platinum and palladium because of their use in auto catalysts.

An employee sorts gold bars in the Austrian Gold and Silver Separating Plant ‘Oegussa’ in Vienna

EMOTIONAL SELF-CONTROL IS THE RESULT OF HARD WORK, NOT AN INHERENT SKILL. TRAVIS BRADBERRY

QUOTE OF THE DAY


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

PANASHE CHIGUMADZI

The old guns have retained power in Zimbabwe. On August 24 the country’s

constitutional court confirmed Emmerson Mnangagwa, the lead-er of the incumbent Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, as the president after re-jecting a legal challenge by the leading opposition party seeking the annulment of the results of the country’s July 30 election.

According to the official results, the incumbent ZANU-PF led by Mnangagwa narrowly won the elections - the first after the fall of Robert Mugabe - with 50.8 per cent of the vote, and the opposi-tion Movement for Democratic Change Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa won 44.3pc of the vote.

Chamisa disputed the results, describing them as “fraudulent, illegal and illegitimate,” and claimed he had won 56pc of the vote. On August 10, he challenged the results in the constitutional court, which led to the postpone-ment of Mnangagwa’s inaugu-ration.

Despite the opposition’s opti-mism, the legal challenge was not expected to succeed owing to the judiciary’s tilt towards ZANU-PF since independence from British colonial rule in 1980

After replacing Mugabe in No-vember, Mnangagwa has been ea-

ger to gain legitimacy and would repeatedly say in public that “the people’s voice is the voice of God.” The ouster of Mugabe did bring about the end of petty oppression. The police stopped harassing and taking bribes from drivers on the roads. Zimbabweans actively ex-ercised their newfound freedom to speak out: Many energetically insulted Mnangagwa in their com-ments on his social media accounts.

Murehwa, my ancestral vil-lage in Zimbabwe, is a ZANU-PF stronghold. In late March, as the campaign season was picking up, my family was surprised to see Chamisa lead the first opposition rally in the area in years, without any incident. In April, I attend-ed a performance of “Operation Restore Regasi,” a political satire about the ouster of Mugabe, in Harare. The play was directed by the celebrated Zimbabwean playwright Daves Guzha.

In late July, I had an event about a book I wrote interrogating the events and history leading up to Mugabe’s fall at the same venue. Despite concerns about the wis-dom of holding such an event in high electoral season, we were freely able to discuss controver-sial subjects such as Gukurahundi — the term used in Zimbabwe to describe the killing and torture of thousands of civilians from the Ndebele minority in the Matabe-leland province between 1983 and 1987. The Ndebeles were accused of being “dissident” supporters of Joshua Nkomo, a rival of Mugabe. Mnangagwa ran internal security for Mugabe at the time.

Despite these tentative dem-

ocratic openings, the cynicism about a fair electoral process re-mained. On the eve of the elec-tions, a young cousin who sup-ports the charismatic and young Chamisa remarked, “The boy will win, but the old man will rule.” Many of us, though hopeful about change, were hard-pressed to see an outcome where the old men, the veterans of the libera-tion struggle of the 1970s, would cede to young Chamisa the power they consolidated after deposing Mugabe.

In early August, Chamisa’s sup-porters poured into the streets of Harare disputing the election results. In contrast to November, when Zimbabweans formed an

unprecedented alliance with the military to force out Mugabe, the military and the police used tear gas, water canons and live bullets against protesters from the oppo-sition. Six civilians were killed.

The actions of the military and police after the elections made it clear that in Mnangagwa’s “New Zimbabwe,” citizens enjoy their constitutional rights at the dis-cretion of the state.

Members of the opposition par-ties continued to be harassed, assaulted and arrested. On Aug. 4, riot police interrupted a news conference held by Chamisa in Harare. To control the bad press, Mnangagwa sent a minister to disperse the riot police, tweeted

VANESSA BARBARA

It takes determination to have a normal childbirth in Bra-zil, and I’m not talking about

just getting through labour.My country has one of the

highest rates of cesarean sec-tions in the world: In 2015, they accounted for 55 per cent of all births. (By comparison, that same year, the U.S. had a C-section rate of 32pc, while in Sweden, they accounted for just 17.4pc of births.) Sure, C-sections are necessary and lifesaving in certain situations, like cord prolapses or placental abruptions.

But according to the World Health Organisation, once C-section rates climb higher than 10pc, there is no evidence that they help reduce maternal and newborn mortality; on the contrary, the surgery can lead to significant complications, which is why the WHO recommends it only be undertaken when medi-cally necessary.

That’s definitely not the case here. In Brazilian private facil-ities, C-section rates are even higher than in public hospitals,

reaching 84.6pc. The procedure is more profitable for these insti-tutions, which must think about money, and more convenient for doctors, who don’t have to wait hours for the natural processes of labor to unfold.

And so, C-sections are rou-tinely prescribed under an end-less number of pretexts, many of them as implausible as: placental allergies, asthma, scoliosis, gin-givitis, an excessively hairy baby, a soccer match between Atlético and Cruzeiro, and — most crea-tive of all — the assumption that evolution made the female body incompatible with labor.

Surgery is the rule; vaginal childbirth is the exception.

So when I expressed my de-sire to let nature take its course ahead of the birth of my daugh-ter two months ago, my OB-GYN told me she would assent “only if everything goes perfectly until the due date.” She didn’t seem to notice that her logic was invert-ed — natural labor should be the default unless something goes wrong — but perhaps that was to be expected from a physician who, according to insurance re-cords, has an 80% C-section rate. When I asked why she hadn’t overseen more vaginal births, she said that nowadays, most of her patients face complications in their pregnancies. Brazil, it seems, is the land of statistical

anomalies.Those of us who want a nor-

mal delivery must often resort to small birthing centers with a staff of midwives and nurs-es, where epidurals are usu-ally not available, or to public hospitals, where, according to a study by the Brazilian think tank Fundação Perseu Abramo, women are more likely to suf-fer obstetric violence — that is, physical, sexual and verbal abuse from medical staff during labor.

A third option is to hire a whole “birth team” of out-of-network professionals (com-posed of an obstetrician or mid-wife, a nurse, a doula, an anes-thetist and a neonatologist) who attend to the patient at her home or in a private hospital. But most women cannot afford their fees, which hover around $4,000.

In any case, it’s necessary to prepare beforehand — I, for instance, read the WHO’s “In-trapartum Care for a Positive Childbirth Experience” — and write down a birth plan with one’s choices concerning labor and delivery.

Mine contained demands which should be self-evident, such as the ability to move around freely during labor, to choose the delivery position and to have my husband present in the delivery room, as well as a long list of potentially harmful,

but nonetheless routine inter-ventions that I didn’t want, such as pubic shaving, the adminis-tration of an evacuation ene-ma and the artificial rupture of membranes.

In my research I also learned that there is a lack of evidence for the effectiveness of a pro-cedure called an episiotomy, a

surgical incision of the vagina that is performed to, supposed-ly, protect the pelvic floor from lacerations. The procedure was widely adopted in the past, but has undergone a steady decline over the last four decades as studies have shown that it not only does not provide benefits, but might even contribute to

more severe lacerations and pelvic floor dysfunction. But in Brazil, episiotomies are still per-formed in 53.5% of births.

So, when my OB-GYN said, “I do perform episiotomies, every time,” I decided to find another doctor. (She also said, “Nobody deserves a 12-hour labor, right?” even though I would have been


Zimbabwe’s constitutional court has upheld the election of Emmerson Mnangagwa as

the president of the country

Avoid all worries, better get a C-section!The challenges of trying to give birth naturally in surgery-happy Brazil

EMOTIONAL SELF-CONTROL IS THE RESULT OF HARD WORK, NOT AN INHERENT SKILL. TRAVIS BRADBERRY

QUOTE OF THE DAY



PANASHE CHIGUMADZI

The old guns have retained power in Zimbabwe. On August 24 the country’s

constitutional court confirmed Emmerson Mnangagwa, the lead-er of the incumbent Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, as the president after re-jecting a legal challenge by the leading opposition party seeking the annulment of the results of the country’s July 30 election.

According to the official results, the incumbent ZANU-PF led by Mnangagwa narrowly won the elections - the first after the fall of Robert Mugabe - with 50.8 per cent of the vote, and the opposi-tion Movement for Democratic Change Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa won 44.3pc of the vote.

Chamisa disputed the results, describing them as “fraudulent, illegal and illegitimate,” and claimed he had won 56pc of the vote. On August 10, he challenged the results in the constitutional court, which led to the postpone-ment of Mnangagwa’s inaugu-ration.

Despite the opposition’s opti-mism, the legal challenge was not expected to succeed owing to the judiciary’s tilt towards ZANU-PF since independence from British colonial rule in 1980

After replacing Mugabe in No-vember, Mnangagwa has been ea-

ger to gain legitimacy and would repeatedly say in public that “the people’s voice is the voice of God.” The ouster of Mugabe did bring about the end of petty oppression. The police stopped harassing and taking bribes from drivers on the roads. Zimbabweans actively ex-ercised their newfound freedom to speak out: Many energetically insulted Mnangagwa in their com-ments on his social media accounts.

Murehwa, my ancestral vil-lage in Zimbabwe, is a ZANU-PF stronghold. In late March, as the campaign season was picking up, my family was surprised to see Chamisa lead the first opposition rally in the area in years, without any incident. In April, I attend-ed a performance of “Operation Restore Regasi,” a political satire about the ouster of Mugabe, in Harare. The play was directed by the celebrated Zimbabwean playwright Daves Guzha.

In late July, I had an event about a book I wrote interrogating the events and history leading up to Mugabe’s fall at the same venue. Despite concerns about the wis-dom of holding such an event in high electoral season, we were freely able to discuss controver-sial subjects such as Gukurahundi — the term used in Zimbabwe to describe the killing and torture of thousands of civilians from the Ndebele minority in the Matabe-leland province between 1983 and 1987. The Ndebeles were accused of being “dissident” supporters of Joshua Nkomo, a rival of Mugabe. Mnangagwa ran internal security for Mugabe at the time.

Despite these tentative dem-

ocratic openings, the cynicism about a fair electoral process re-mained. On the eve of the elec-tions, a young cousin who sup-ports the charismatic and young Chamisa remarked, “The boy will win, but the old man will rule.” Many of us, though hopeful about change, were hard-pressed to see an outcome where the old men, the veterans of the libera-tion struggle of the 1970s, would cede to young Chamisa the power they consolidated after deposing Mugabe.

In early August, Chamisa’s sup-porters poured into the streets of Harare disputing the election results. In contrast to November, when Zimbabweans formed an

unprecedented alliance with the military to force out Mugabe, the military and the police used tear gas, water canons and live bullets against protesters from the oppo-sition. Six civilians were killed.

The actions of the military and police after the elections made it clear that in Mnangagwa’s “New Zimbabwe,” citizens enjoy their constitutional rights at the dis-cretion of the state.

Members of the opposition par-ties continued to be harassed, assaulted and arrested. On Aug. 4, riot police interrupted a news conference held by Chamisa in Harare. To control the bad press, Mnangagwa sent a minister to disperse the riot police, tweeted

VANESSA BARBARA

It takes determination to have a normal childbirth in Bra-zil, and I’m not talking about

just getting through labour.My country has one of the

highest rates of cesarean sec-tions in the world: In 2015, they accounted for 55 per cent of all births. (By comparison, that same year, the U.S. had a C-section rate of 32pc, while in Sweden, they accounted for just 17.4pc of births.) Sure, C-sections are necessary and lifesaving in certain situations, like cord prolapses or placental abruptions.

But according to the World Health Organisation, once C-section rates climb higher than 10pc, there is no evidence that they help reduce maternal and newborn mortality; on the contrary, the surgery can lead to significant complications, which is why the WHO recommends it only be undertaken when medi-cally necessary.

That’s definitely not the case here. In Brazilian private facil-ities, C-section rates are even higher than in public hospitals,

reaching 84.6pc. The procedure is more profitable for these insti-tutions, which must think about money, and more convenient for doctors, who don’t have to wait hours for the natural processes of labor to unfold.

And so, C-sections are rou-tinely prescribed under an end-less number of pretexts, many of them as implausible as: placental allergies, asthma, scoliosis, gin-givitis, an excessively hairy baby, a soccer match between Atlético and Cruzeiro, and — most crea-tive of all — the assumption that evolution made the female body incompatible with labor.

Surgery is the rule; vaginal childbirth is the exception.

So when I expressed my de-sire to let nature take its course ahead of the birth of my daugh-ter two months ago, my OB-GYN told me she would assent “only if everything goes perfectly until the due date.” She didn’t seem to notice that her logic was invert-ed — natural labor should be the default unless something goes wrong — but perhaps that was to be expected from a physician who, according to insurance re-cords, has an 80% C-section rate. When I asked why she hadn’t overseen more vaginal births, she said that nowadays, most of her patients face complications in their pregnancies. Brazil, it seems, is the land of statistical

anomalies.Those of us who want a nor-

mal delivery must often resort to small birthing centers with a staff of midwives and nurs-es, where epidurals are usu-ally not available, or to public hospitals, where, according to a study by the Brazilian think tank Fundação Perseu Abramo, women are more likely to suf-fer obstetric violence — that is, physical, sexual and verbal abuse from medical staff during labor.

A third option is to hire a whole “birth team” of out-of-network professionals (com-posed of an obstetrician or mid-wife, a nurse, a doula, an anes-thetist and a neonatologist) who attend to the patient at her home or in a private hospital. But most women cannot afford their fees, which hover around $4,000.

In any case, it’s necessary to prepare beforehand — I, for instance, read the WHO’s “In-trapartum Care for a Positive Childbirth Experience” — and write down a birth plan with one’s choices concerning labor and delivery.

Mine contained demands which should be self-evident, such as the ability to move around freely during labor, to choose the delivery position and to have my husband present in the delivery room, as well as a long list of potentially harmful,

but nonetheless routine inter-ventions that I didn’t want, such as pubic shaving, the adminis-tration of an evacuation ene-ma and the artificial rupture of membranes.

In my research I also learned that there is a lack of evidence for the effectiveness of a pro-cedure called an episiotomy, a

surgical incision of the vagina that is performed to, supposed-ly, protect the pelvic floor from lacerations. The procedure was widely adopted in the past, but has undergone a steady decline over the last four decades as studies have shown that it not only does not provide benefits, but might even contribute to

more severe lacerations and pelvic floor dysfunction. But in Brazil, episiotomies are still per-formed in 53.5% of births.

So, when my OB-GYN said, “I do perform episiotomies, every time,” I decided to find another doctor. (She also said, “Nobody deserves a 12-hour labor, right?” even though I would have been


Zimbabwe’s constitutional court has upheld the election of Emmerson Mnangagwa as

the president of the country


1498Vasco da Gama decides to depart Calicut and return to Kingdom of Portugal.

1966The Beatles perform their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

1991Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party.

2005Hurricane Katrina devastates much of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, killing up to 1,836 people and causing $125 billion in damage.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY

Zimbabwe is rife with tales of multiple centres of power

within the establishment. Many believe that Chiwenga,

the army general who ensured Mugabe’s ouster

and Mnangagwa’s ascension as president, is the power

behind the throne.


TOP

4TWEETS

04

02

03

01

I smile at Senators and others talking about

how good free trade is for the U.S. What they don’t say is that we lose Jobs and over 800 Billion Dollars a year on real-ly dumb Trade Deals....and these same countries Tariff us to death. These lawmakers are just fine with this!

@realDonaldTrump

On three occasions today, I asked the

President to comment on @SenJohnMcCain and, finally, on the American Legion’s call to lower the White House flags to half staff. He ignored my questions, but eventual-ly he issued a statement and lowered the flags.Jonathan Karl added,

@jonkarl

The majority of school students here in

#Gaza are in great need of basic school supplies. Therefore, we have de-cided to help these stu-dents get the needed tools and clothes to start their new school year in Gaza which has almost started.

@MuhammadSmiry

The Foreign Minister of Bahrain Shaikh

Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa called the For-eign Minister Makh-doom Shah Mahmood Qureishi. Both sides agreed to work together to bring our two coun-tries and nations closer.

@ForeignOfficePk

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

editorial stances)

his regrets and promised an inde-pendent investigation. The police have reportedly suspended 16 officers for their conduct during the crackdown on postelection demonstrations.

Police had also charged Tend-ai Biti, an opposition leader and former finance minister, with in-citing violence and protests by proclaiming that the opposition had won the elections. A threat-ened Biti sought refuge in Zambia but the Zambian officials handed him over to Zimbabwean police.

When Biti was produced in a Harare court, many foreign dip-lomats and election observers attended to observe the pro-ceedings. Biti’s case became a

test of Mnangagwa’s treatment of his political opponents and had ramifications for Zimbabwe’s at-tempts to better its relations with the global political and business community in the post-Mugabe world.

The United States, the Euro-pean Union, the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees and several additional countries criticized the mistreatment of the opposition leaders and activists. To contain the fallout, Mnangag-wa tweeted that he had “inter-vened” to ensure that Biti gets bail and is released. Mnangagwa’s announcement revealed the judi-ciary’s lack of independence from the governing party.

The United States has enact-ed a new law imposing tougher conditions that Zimbabwe is ex-pected to meet before the sanc-tions imposed upon the country during the Mugabe regime can be removed. After taking over as president in November Mnangag-

wa has repeatedly stated, includ-ing in these pages, that the “New Zimbabwe” is open for business and will ensure democratic and human rights for all.

The new United States law insists that the recent Zimba-bwean election must be “widely accepted as free and fair,” and its army has to act as “nonpartisan” and “respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of all per-sons,” before the sanctions can be removed. Without shedding the sanctions, Zimbabwe cannot readily get loans from global fi-nancial institutions such as the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund. The sanctions ban defence-related trade with Zimbabwe as well as govern-ment assistance for numerous programmes.

The postelection repression and the renewed American sanc-tions are derailing Mnangagwa’s attempts to find international acceptance and secure funding from the international commu-nity to rebuild Zimbabwe’s fragile economy.

Zimbabwe is rife with tales of multiple centers of power within the establishment. Many believe that Chiwenga, the army general who ensured Mugabe’s ouster and Mnangagwa’s ascension as president, is the power behind the throne. As with Mugabe, the biggest challenge to Mnangag-wa’s rule is likely to come from his own ranks.

(Panashe Chigumadzi is the author of “These Bones Will Rise Again,” a book

about the coup that deposed Robert Mugabe.)

fine with it.)Instead of a whole team, I de-

cided to hire only an obstetri-cian and a nurse, who would be complemented by the staff at the hospital. The contractions be-gan on a Sunday morning, in the middle of the World Cup match between England and Panama. I was at home when I started to feel weird and spotted some blood. By the time Japan vs. Sen-egal had begun, I was vomiting orange juice and frantically call-ing the nurse. At some point, I saw a black vulture landing on the roof of a neighboring build-ing (seriously).

When the nurse arrived, four hours into the start of labor and many hot showers later, I was almost 8 centimeters dilated. We rushed to one of the hospitals in my insurance plan’s network (with a C-section rate of 88.8pc), where they gave me a combined spinal-epidural block that made life beautiful again.

The next stage took seven hours of exercises, massages and a few lindy hop steps to the sounds of “Fly Me to The Moon.” The hospital staff some-times fell into the same routine procedures drilled into them by thousands of C-section births: The obsession with sterility, for example, was absurd. I clear-ly remember a nurse aimlessly trying to change a dirty sheet

under me while I tried to con-centrate on a contraction, even though there was already blood and vomit everywhere in the room. Later, they would check me over many times for surgery stitches that didn’t exist.

During the whole process, the hospital’s anesthesiologist wouldn’t allow me to eat or drink anything, just in case it turned out I needed a C-section. (A recent review by Cochrane, a global independent organi-zation that produces systemat-ic assessments of evidence on health care, found no evidence supporting this protocol.) Who could have guessed that with-out any food, enduring hours of labor would start to feel impos-sible and a cesarean would start

to look like a sensible choice? Luckily my obstetrician smug-gled in several cups of water and peach Jell-O, and that was how I managed to deliver my daughter, Mabel: with the help of anes-thetics, exercise and Jell-O. It was almost midnight.

The fact that I could do this by myself, and then immediate-ly hold Mabel in my arms and nurse her for an hour was a lit-tle miracle of its own in such a medicalized, paternalistic set-ting. It’s a shame that it takes so much effort — and money, and knowledge — for a woman to get what should be normal. A vagi-nal birth is, after all, the wish of 72pc of Brazilian women at the beginning of their pregnancies; then so many of them are per-suaded to have a C-section in the months that follow, sometimes only for the convenience of their doctors.

But when you think about it, this is not a surprise in a country where abortion is still illegal. On childbirth, as on so many other matters concerning women’s rights, everybody wants to have a say in what we should do. Here, the real miracle is a woman be-ing heard at all.

(Vanessa Barbara, a contributing opinion writer, is the editor of the

literary website A Hortaliça and the author of two novels and two nonfic-

tion books in Portuguese.)

Wide Angle

John Locke’s political philosophy: Is it still relevant?

About a year ago, at Oxford in the United Kingdom, the guide of our walking tour was showing us vari-ous colleges of those prestigious academic environs.

He showed us a building where he said philosophy students might have debated and discussed radical ideas, for centuries.

Among the philosophers he mentioned was one special name. John Locke.

A few months ago, when I was listening to Michael Sandel’s video lectures on ‘Justice’ - available freely on YouTube, from Harvard University - I met the name again. John Locke.

Born some 400 years ago, John Locke the English philosopher and physician had influenced politics and justice systems in ways more powerful than, probably, how many other frontrunners of western philosophy would have done.

It was on this day, 29 August, in 1632, that he was born in Somerset, England. And it is unlikely that anyone may have thought then, that John Locke would grow up to become one of the most influential thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment (1620s – 1780s).

In fact, he went on to become the “Father of Liberalism”.

Some political philosophers even say that his writings had generated such agi-tation in political discourse that they are the main reason the French and Ameri-can Revolutions actually happened!

His philosophy had influenced French thinkers like Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and his momentous work called ‘Two Treatises of Government’, in particular, had given monarchs, gov-ernment leaders and politicians radical new perspectives on ‘governance’ that they were unable to ignore.

This British scholar was among those who argued that all of us have a ‘natural right to life, liberty and property’; and that governments, based on ‘social con-tract’, must not violate these rights.

Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, was so captured by the teachings of John Locke that he had incorporated them into the US Declaration of Independence of 1776.

When Thomas Jefferson drafted the declaration, bor-rowing from Locke, he gave three examples of “unaliena-ble rights” which all his country’s citizens must be entitled to, namely “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The related text in the US Declaration of Independence says: “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among them are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness – That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed”.

The choice or the consent of its citizens is therefore paramount when it comes to the conduct of elected governments.

While it may have the right to control what its citizens do, the government must note however that it can do so, only to the extent that it does not violate the natural rights of individuals.

Locke had believed that no government should ever take away any individuals’ fundamental rights.

For example, since the fruit of a man’s labour is effec-tively his property, how much of it can be taken away as ‘tax’? Is it with his consent? Moreover, is the man able to enjoy the results of what he has gained without undue government intervention?

Conservative governments may not hold the same view as liberal governments. But it is essential for us to under-stand that Locke made us think of governance by social contract that benefits nation, society and the individual.

Is there a threat to the life of an individual? Is the lib-erty of the individual restricted? Is the individual unable to fully enjoy his own property?

If the answer to these questions is yes, then the govern-ment is failing in following moral principles, laid down by Locke.

It is essential for us to understand that Locke made us think of governance by social contract that benefits nation, society and the individual.

JOEL INDRUPATI


But when you think about it, this is not a surprise in a country where abortion is

still illegal. On childbirth, as on so many other matters

concerning women’s rights, everybody wants to have a say in what we should do.

Britain’s May dances with children in South AfricaHer moves provoked hilarity online, with Tweets comparing her to the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz

Daily Mail

Theresa May cemented her reputation as the ‘Maybot’

today with a cringeworthy at-tempt at dancing with school-children in South Africa.

The Prime Minister was greeted by a beautiful display of traditional singing and dancing as she met youngsters in Cape Town this morning.

But her toe-curling bid to copy the children’s movements had TV viewers watching through their fingers as she jerked and shuffled her way across the play-ground.

A video of her dance moves provoked hilarity online, with Twitter jokers comparing her to the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz and footballer Peter Crouch doing his robot celebration.

Others were more forgiv-ing, sympathising with Mrs May for being made to dance on TV, something which they said would terrify most British people.

Twitter user Andrew Jones joked: ‘Theresa May has stolen my ‘I should have gone to bed at least an hour ago’ wedding dance.’

Sky News reporter Alan McGuinness added: ‘Theresa May is me at weddings after be-ing dragged to the dance floor and forced to dance after an en-tire evening of avoiding doing

so.’The Prime Minister was vis-

iting the I.D. Mkize Secondary School, which takes part in a British Council funded teacher exchange, to promote ties be-

tween Britain and South Africa.At a packed school assem-

bly, Mrs May told pupils: ‘Can I thank all those young people who were involved in the per-formances outside who wel-comed me.’

She added: ‘What I see before me in this hall today is the future of South Africa.’

The Prime Minister is to make clear the £13billion annual de-velopment budget will ‘una-shamedly’ be used for the UK’s ‘national interest’.

Mrs May landed in Cape Town this morning on board the RAF Voyager following a 12-hour flight ahead of a three-day tour of South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. In a keynote speech today, she will also pledge to drive up investment by British businesses in Africa.

12

world


Theresa May has stolen my ‘I should have gone to bed at least an hour ago’

wedding danceANDREW JONES

TWITTER USER

Russia to hold biggest drills since Cold War

AFP | Moscow, Russia

Russia will next month hold its biggest war games since at least the

1980s, with around 300,000 troops and 1,000 aircraft, the defence minister said yesterday.

The Vostok-2018 exercises will be carried out from Sep-tember 11 to 15 in the country’s east with the participation of China and Mongolia.

“This will be something of a repeat of Zapad-81, but in some senses even bigger,” Ser-gei Shoigu said of the 1981 war games in Eastern Europe, in comments reported by Russian news agencies.

He said “more than 1,000 aircraft, almost 300,000 troops and almost all the ranges of the Central and Eastern military districts” would be involved in the exercises.

“Imagine 36,000 pieces of military equipment moving to-gether at the same time -- tanks, armoured personnel carriers, in-fantry fighting vehicles. And all of this, of course, in conditions as close to combat as possible.”

Moscow said last year’s Za-pad-2017 military drills, con-ducted in ally Belarus and re-gions of Russia, saw the partici-pation of roughly 12,700 troops.

But NATO claimed Russia could have been massively un-derreporting the scale of the exercises, which some of the alliance’s eastern members said involved more than 100,000 ser-vicemen.

‘Reinforcing military presence off Syria’Meanwhile, Russian media re-ported that the country is rein-forcing its military presence in the Mediterranean near Syria, as speculation grows that Damas-

cus is planning a Russian-backed offensive on rebel-held Idlib province.

Quoting anonymous sources, the Kommersant daily reported that Russia sent two warships and an additional anti-aircraft missile system to the Mediter-ranean in August.

Pro-Kremlin paper Izvestia said Russia currently has 10 warships and two submarines in Syrian waters, saying this amounted to Moscow’s biggest military presence there since it became involved in the conflict in 2015.

According to Izvestia, Russia plans to send “several more” warships to Syria.

Russia’s deputy foreign min-ister Sergei Ryabkov charged

that the jihadist group Tahrir al-Sham “is close to committing a very serious provocation in Idlib using chemical weapons”.

Focus on tech In another development, Pres-ident Vladimir Putin said yes-terday that a scientific break-through was a key priority for Russia as the country struggles with increasing international isolation and a brain drain.

“We have placed the scientif-ic technological breakthrough among our key national goals and priorities,” Putin said at a tech forum in Siberia’s main city Novosibirsk.

“I am convinced that we are able to accomplish this by unit-ing the efforts of the state, busi-

nesses and the scientific educa-tional community while expand-ing the freedom for initiative and creativity of our people,” Putin said in comments released by the Kremlin.

He called on the authorities to do everything for talented youth to “feel like they are in demand” and to lure “scientists from all over the world to Russia”.

Putin said Russia’s financing for science has drastically in-creased in the last 17 years and called for the state to “create conditions to attract talented youth to science”.

But critics say the government has done little to improve the investment climate and oppor-tunities for businesses and sci-entists in Russia.

A picture taken on August 26, 2018, shows Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (R) looking at vegetation during a short vacation in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia

Moscow to respond the US ‘reciprocally’Moscow, Russia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned

that Moscow will take recip-rocal measures in response to Washington’s latest sanc-tions, in an interview to a Slovak newspaper published yesterday.

“We will continue to act calmly and pragmatically, reacting to all attacks in ac-cordance with the principle of reciprocity,” Lavrov told the Slovak paper Pravda.

The interview was also published in Russian on the Russian foreign ministry’s website. “At the same time we remain open to building normal mutually respectful relations with Washington based on a genuine consid-eration of each other’s inter-ests,” Lavrov added.

This month the US imposed new sanctions on Russia over the attempted assassination of a former spy in Britain.

The sanctions include halting foreign aid to Russia, blocking the sale of items or services related to defence and national security, and banning any govt credit sup-port for any exports.

The sanctions, first an-nounced August 8, are a response to the March 4 failed attempt to kill former Russian agent Sergei Skri-pal and his daughter Yulia Skripal using Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent developed by the Soviet Un-ion during the Cold War.

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May (C) watches school children dancing during a visit to the ID Mkhize Secondary School in Gugulethu

Man arrested over viral assault on Paris womanParis, France

A man has been detained on suspicion of assault-

ing a 22-year-old student who released a shocking video of the attack last month outside a Paris cafe which went viral online.

Surveillance footage of the incident shows a man hurling an ashtray from a table outside the cafe at Ma-rie Laguerre, allegedly after she told him to “shut up” following lewd comments.

A police source said the suspect was detained Mon-day -- as he was leaving a psychiatric hospital -- on suspicion of assault and sex-ual harassment.

Laguerre wrote on Face-book that she was returning home when a man started using “dirty language, in a humiliating and provocative manner”.

Japanese man freed by N.Korea returns to TokyoTokyo, Japan

A Japanese man detained by North Korea earlier

this month arrived in To-kyo on Tuesday, local media reported, after Pyongyong said it was freeing him on humanitarian grounds.

Tomoyuki Sugimoto ar-rived at Tokyo’s Haneda airport from Beijing, where he landed earlier Tuesday, according to public broad-caster NHK and Kyodo news agency.

Reporters at the airport did not see the man while the foreign ministry did not immediately confirm his ar-rival. His arrest was report-ed earlier in August, though the exact date and reason for his detention remains unclear. Earlier this week North Korea’s KCNA news agency said he was being released, without providing further details.

Strong quake strikes off eastern IndonesiaKupang, Indonesia

A strong 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck east-

ern Indonesia on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, but there was no tsu-nami warning or immediate reports of damage.

The offshore tremor struck at a shallow depth of eight kilometres (five miles), about 100 kilometres southeast of Kupang on the Indonesian portion of Ti-mor island, the USGS said.

It was followed by a shal-low 5.6 magnitude quake nearby. Witnesses described a powerful jolt from the first tremor which lasted a few seconds.


A second wave of punitive measures

is due to hit the OPEC member

state in early No-vember, targeting

its vital energy sector including

oil exports

Truce reached in Libyan capitalTripoli, Libya

A truce has been reached after deadly clashes

erupted between rival mi-litias in Tripoli, a security source said Tuesday as res-idents reported calm had returned to Libyan capital.

Five people were killed and 33 wounded on Mon-day, the health ministry said, as two factions faced off with tanks and pickup trucks mounted with ma-chine guns.

After explosions and gun-fire rocked Tripoli’s sub-urbs, a truce was reached on Monday evening according to a source from the security services.

Negotiations were due to take place on Tuesday aimed at achieving a lasting ceasefire, the source added.

A resident of the Ain Zara neighbourhood in south-east Tripoli confirmed calm had returned to the area.

UN meeting on Syrian constitution

Geneva, Switzerland

The UN peace envoy for Syria will host senior

officials from a range of Western and Middle-East-ern countries next month for talks on drafting a new Syrian constitution, the UN said yesterday.

Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has been tasked with setting up a committee to write a new constitution for the war-ravaged country.

He is already set to host a meeting on September 11-12 at the UN’s European head-quarters in Geneva of sen-ior officials from the main foreign powers backing the project. And on Tuesday, UN spokeswoman Alessan-dra Vellucci said de Mistu-ra had convened a one-day meeting on September 14 with senior representatives from Egypt, France, Germa-ny, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In U-turn, Trump lowers WHouse flag for McCainWashington, United States

Under fire for what crit-ics said was a lack of

respect for the late US sen-ator John McCain, Presi-dent Donald Trump issued Monday a formal procla-mation about the lawmak-er’s death and ordered the White House flag back to half-staff.

“Despite our differenc-es on policy and politics, I respect Senator John Mc-Cain’s service to our coun-try and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment,” Trump said.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Chief of Staff John Kelly and National Security Advisor John Bolton will represent Trump at a me-morial service for McCain, the president added.

No role for UN court in Iran case, says US

US lawyer told the International Court that it “lacks prima facie jurisdiction to hear Iran’s claims

• Iran argued that Trump breached a 1955 treaty

• Trump said the deal did not do enough to curb the threat from Iran

The Hague, Netherlands

The United States told UN judges yesterday they had no jurisdiction to rule on

Tehran’s demand for them to order the suspension of debili-tating nuclear-related sanctions against Iran.

Washington cited security concerns in its first legal re-sponse to a suit by the Islamic Republic, which is suffering in-creasing economic chaos.

Iran has argued that US Pres-ident Donald Trump breached a 1955 treaty with his decision to reimpose the sanctions after withdrawing from a multilateral nuclear accord.

But US State Department law-yer Jennifer Newstead told the International Court of Justice in The Hague that it “lacks prima facie jurisdiction to hear Iran’s claims”.

She argued that the United

States had the right to protect its national security and other interests.

The treaty “cannot therefore provide a basis for this court’s jurisdiction” in the case, she said.

Sanctions on Iran had been lifted under a landmark 2015 accord with the five perma-nent members of the UN Secu-rity Council plus Germany. In return, Tehran made commit-ments not to seek to develop

nuclear weapons.But Trump said the deal did

not do enough to curb the threat from Iran.

He pulled out of the accord in May and began reimposing sanctions this month, alarming other signatories to the deal.

In the first day of hearings at the ICJ on Monday, Iran’s lawyers said the sanctions were threatening the welfare of its citizens and disrupting tens of billions of dollars’ worth of busi-

ness deals.The US lawyers held Iran to

blame for its economic woes.They have “deep roots in the

Iranian government’s misman-agement of its own economy and repression of its own popu-lation,” Newstead said.

Oil sanctions comingTrump says the sanctions are needed to ensure Iran never builds a nuclear bomb. He ac-cuses it of supporting terrorists.

The Islamic Republic’s lead representative in the case, Mo-hsen Mohebi, branded the sanc-tions “naked economic aggres-sion”.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday dismissed Iran’s claims as “meritless”.

The US measures have added to Iran’s economic woes, fuel-ling strikes and protests across the political spectrum.

Iran’s currency has lost around half its value since April.

Jennifer G Newstead (C), lawyer of lawyer for the United States and representative of Iran Mohsen Mohebi (L) are pictured during the opening of case between Iran and the United States at the The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague

KNOW WHAT

Rare 1962 Ferrari sold for a staggering $48.4 million• The car eclipsed the previous record - also held by a Ferrari 250 GTO made in the same year - of $38.1 million (£29.5m)

Daily Mail

Say hello to the most expen-sive car ever to be sold at

auction.This 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO

- just one of 36 in existence - sold for a record-breaking $48,405,000 (£37.5m) at RM So-theby’s Monterey sale in Califor-nia at the weekend.

Dubbed the Holy Grail of collectible cars, it eclipsed the

previous record - also held by a Ferrari 250 GTO made in the same year - of $38.1 million (£29.5m) to take the title of the most valuable motor to go under

the hammer.The car was part of the same

auction that included a 1963 As-ton Martin DP215 Grand Tour-ing Competition Prototype that

went for $21.5 million (£16.7m) - the third most expensive British car of all time - and raised a total of $157.6 million (£122.1m) in total with 124 vehicles changing hands.

The sale is one of the biggest of the year, taking place dur-ing the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance - a five-day festival of auctions, exclusive vehicle unveilings (like the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ) and invite-only parties for car collectors with the deepest pockets on the plan-et. Chassis number 3413 GT is one of the earliest made. It was the third 250 GTO to ever leave the Maranello production line, though it’s widely believed that all 36 examples remain in exist-ence today.

Each road-legal racer left the

Italian factory with a 3.0-litre V12 engine under the bonnet that produces a quoted 300bhp.

That was good enough for a zero to 60mph sprint in 6.1 sec-onds and a top speed of 174mph - enough for the 250 GTO to dominate the motorsport scene during its heyday.

If rumours are to be believed, a later 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO sold for $70million earlier this year.

Leading Ferrari historian Marcel Massini, who described the car as ‘one of the top three or four GTOs in the world’, con-firmed it had been bought by an American businessman in June.

And he predicted the famed GTO could get pricier, with val-ues expected to rise beyond $100million in the next five years.

Experts have estimated that Ferrari 250 GTOs could soon be changing hands for in excess of $100m before 2023

Pompeo visit scrapped after letter from NorthWashington

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s planned trip to

North Korea last weekend was cancelled after he received what US officials deemed to be a belligerent letter from Pyong-yang, The Washington Post re-ported.

The precise contents of the letter, which came from Kim

Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling party, were not known, the Post said.

Pompeo received it Friday and showed it to President Donald Trump. They conclud-ed it was belligerent enough to call off the visit, the Post said late Monday, quoting two ad-ministration officials.

In pulling the plug on the visit, Trump tweeted that he

had not seen sufficient progress toward Pyongyang denuclear-izing. Trump acted amid in-dependent reports that North Korea has done little or nothing to roll back its nuclear program, despite promises made at a his-toric summit in June with Kim Jong Un.

Trump also blasted China for not doing enough to help push denuclearization.

Philippine court asked to halt ICC withdrawalManila, Philippines

Rights advocates urged the Philippines’ top court yes-

terday to halt President Rod-rigo Duterte’s push to quit the International Criminal Court, which has launched a prelimi-nary probe into his deadly nar-cotics crackdown.

In oral arguments before the Supreme Court in Manila, they told the justices the Philippine Senate would have to approve the nation’s withdrawal from

the tribunal’s founding treaty. Duterte in March gave no-

tice he was pulling out of the agreement, saying the ICC’s examination of his interna-tionally condemned drug war was “unduly and maliciously created”.

However opposition sena-tors and rights advocates have asked the Supreme Court to declare the withdrawal invalid, arguing the constitution re-quires two-thirds of the Senate to approve the move.

14

features


The need for speed After driving ban ends, Saudi women taste thrill of speed

AFP | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Donning a helmet inside a pearl silver sports se-dan, Rana Almimoni skids and drifts around a Riyadh park, engine roaring, tyres

screeching and clouds of dust billowing from the back.

For Saudi women, such adrenaline rush-es were unimaginable just weeks ago.

Speed-crazed women drivers are bound to turn heads in the desert kingdom, which overturned the world’s only ban on female motorists in June as part of a liberalisation drive led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Almimoni, 30 and a motor racing en-thusiast, is defying the perception –- or sexist misconception that only dainty cars in bright colours are popular with women drivers.

“I adore speed. I love speed... My dream car is more than 500 horsepower,” said Almimoni, slamming the accelerator of her silvery sleek Kia Stinger inside Riyadh’s Dirab motor park.

“It’s a myth... that Saudi women only choose pink and cute cars.”

Almimoni said she was awaiting an ex-

pected government decision that would permit women to obtain a “racing licence”, which would allow her to hone her pas-sion in motor-sport competitions.

That includes drifting –- oversteering the car to slip and skid or even spin, and other high-speed daredevilry -- which is illegal in public but tolerated in the con-trolled environment of Dirab park, whose private owners insist on safety.

Joyriding in RiyadhAuthor Pascal Menoret’s acclaimed

book “Joyriding in Riyadh” described the high-octane Saudi obsession for drifting, long seen as a symbol of revolt among le-gions of restless youth, as all “about being a real man”.

Now newly mobile Saudi women are embracing what was previously deemed a male entitlement -- speed.

“Most of our enquiries (from women) are about drifting -- how to learn drifting, which cars can they train on, how long will it take them” to drift, said instructor Fa-lah al-Jarba as he watched Almimoni zip around the park.

Auto showrooms tapping new women clients have rolled out a line-up of cherry red Mini Coopers, but sales professionals

say many exhibit an appetite for muscle cars like the Camaro or the Mustang con-vertible.

Many new drivers seek inspiration from Aseel al-Hamad, the first female member of the kingdom’s national motor federation, who got behind the wheel of a Formula One car in France in June to mark the end of the driving ban.

Clad in skinny jeans and Harley-David-son T-shirts, a handful of women are also training to ride motorbikes at a Riyadh driving school, a scene that is still a stun-ning anomaly in the petro-state.

Transport authorities have rolled out racing simulators to help first-time wom-en drivers get a feel of being behind the wheel.

As a male traffic official demonstrated the importance of seatbelts by buckling up inside a car tethered to a flat platform and upturning the vehicle, some women zipped around twisted tracks in toy cars.

Another sat down behind the wheel of a simulator and instantly floored the accel-erator, sending the speedometer soaring.

“I don’t feel I’m in Saudi Arabia anymore,” said Nag-wa Mousa, a 57-year-old

university professor in Riyadh.“But I don’t expect to see many women

in Saudi Arabia overtaking and speeding in the streets anytime soon.”

The driving reform is said to be trans-formative for women, freeing them from dependence on private chauffeurs or male relatives, but many are keeping off the streets.

“Congratulate me, finally saw a female driving! Although she is Bahraini but it counts as she is driving in Saudi land,” comedian Yaser Bakr said on Twitter after the ban was lifted.

Costly driving courses For now, most women drivers appear to be those who have swapped foreign li-cences for Saudi ones after undergoing a practical test.

Many complain that driving courses cost several times more than those available to men and that women instructors are in short supply.

While no overt incidents of street har-assment have been reported public-

ly, many women are also wary of pervasive sexism and aggres-

sion from male drivers despite warnings from authorities.

Rana Almimoni drifts a car

Auto showrooms tapping new women clients have rolled out a line-up of cherry red Mini Coopers, but sales professionals say many exhibit an appetite for muscle cars like the Camaro or the Mustang convertible.

I adore speed. I love speed... My dream

car is more than 500 horsepower. It’s a myth... that Saudi

women only choose pink and cute cars

RANA ALMIMONI

Rana Almimoni, a 30-year-old Saudi motor

racing enthusiast, walks with her helmet on the

track in Dirab motor park, on the southern outskirts of the capital Riyadh

15

entertainment


C R O S S W O R D

S U D O K U

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION

How to playPlace a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.

Y O U R S T A R T O D A Y

B E E T L E B A I L E Y

AriesA friend who planned to come over tonight might not show up. You may worry, since this person isn’t one to blow you off. Don’t imagine accidents or disasters. The culprit’s probably traffic. Phone your friend. If you don’t reach him or her, leave a message to call you.

TaurusTravel of any kind might be virtually impossible today. Airports could be jammed, flights delayed, and planes plagued with mechanical problems. If you’re traveling by car, expect road construction and backed-up traffic. Stay home if you can. If you must travel, take music and books to keep you occupied while you’re waiting.

GeminiThis isn’t a good day to invest in anything. Don’t spend much time working on speculative projects, and don’t put your money into anything but gold, land, or blue-chip stocks and bonds. You probably wouldn’t lose everything, but it would be a long time before you saw a profit. Concentrate on what you know is secure now.

CancerA love partner could be gloomy today. This might be the kind of day when no matter how many times you draw your mate’s attention to the doughnut, he or she still sees only the hole. The glass is always half empty, never half full. Your beloved will probably be this way all day. Don’t let it drive you crazy.

LeoYou tend to be curious, and you’re always trying to learn more about your many interests. But today you could be eager to research a subject but be unable to find any information about it no matter how many libraries or databases you explore. Don’t bother with it today. You’ll only get frustrated.

VirgoThe need to attend to business or networking obliga-tions disguised as parties could get to you today. You may have been forced to attend too many of these recently, and now there are even more coming up. You dread going to a place you don’t want to go, eating food you hate, talking with people you can’t stand.

LibraYour home could be empty today. Other household members may be away and you could find it depress-ing. Instead of enjoying the solitude, you could feel like the walls are closing in around you. The only answer is to go out for a while. Take a walk or visit some bookstores or antique shops.

ScorpioSomeone close to you might be uncharacteristically silent today. Something is bothering them terribly, and they don’t seem to want to talk about it. You’re willing to listen or help, but don’t try to coax your friend into sharing. Use your intuition to sense what’s going on and do what you can to alleviate the situation.

SagittariusFinancial worries might come up today. You may check your bank balance and find that you have little money. This might come as a shock, because you thought there was plenty there. Before you panic, ask whoever’s in charge at the bank to double-check the records. It’s probably a computer error.

CapricornToday you might be so gloomy that you don’t even want to get up. It might not be a good idea to stay home, however. Try to find some tasks to distract you. At some point during the day, get out in the open air and take a walk, preferably through a park and near water, if possible.

AquariusAny work today could require a higher level of con-centration than you can muster. You might lapse into daydreams, think about personal matters, and feel guilty because you aren’t doing what you’re supposed to be doing. On days like this it’s best to focus on rou-tine tasks you can do automatically. That way, your mind can wander.

W O R D O F T H E D A Y

LodestarDefinition:1: one that serves as an inspiration, model, or guideDid You Know?The literal, albeit archaic, meaning of lode-

star is “a star that leads or guides,” and it is a term that has been used especially in refer-ence to the North Star. (The first half of the word derives from the Middle English word lode, meaning “course.”) Both the literal and the figurative sense (“an inspiration or guide”) date back to the 14th century,

the time of Geoffrey Chaucer. The literal sense fell out of use in the 17th century for the most part, and so, for a while, did the figurative sense—but it appeared again 170 years later, when Sir Walter Scott used it in his 1813 poem The Bridal of Triermain.

Across

1- One of the Cartwrights; 5- Legal rights org.; 9- Latin stars; 14- Killer whale; 15- Polite address; 16- Ninth-century pope; 17- Slovenly person; 18- Blues singer James; 19- Curt; 20- Traveler; 22- Fall bloomer; 23- Pays to play; 24- Coherent light beam; 28- Eternal; 34- Adventurous expedition; 38- Colorful moths; 39- Tropical plant; 40- Shares viewpoints; 41- Cargo ship; 43- West Wing worker; 44- CD earnings; 47- Marked down; 48- Ignoramus; 51- ___ Majesty’s Secret Service; 52- Lanterns; 57- Runs without moving; 61- Pertaining to Oxford; 63- Orna-

mental coronet; 64- “Rule, Britannia” composer; 66- Snack in a shell; 67- Pesto ingredient; 68- Visualized; 69- Sock ___ me!; 70- Cosmetician Lauder; 71- Meat-grading org.; 72- What you do to a shadow;

Down1- Plantain lily; 2- Acrylic fiber; 3- Reconnoiter; 4- Buffalo hockey player; 5- Iowa city; 6- Bovine animals; 7- Back muscle, for short; 8- Actress Thurman; 9- Hitching posts?; 10- Gets the picture; 11- Civil wrong; 12- Ascend; 13- Affirm; 21- Grenoble’s river; 25- “Exodus” role; 26- ___-mo; 27- Singer Sheena; 29- Sight; 30- Makes brown; 31- Columnist Chase; 32- Christmas song; 33- Richard of “Chicago”; 34- Drench; 35- Neat as ___; 36- Rover’s pal; 37- Once again; 42- ___-Saxon; 45- ___ degree; 46- Definite article; 49- Cash register key; 50- Pressed; 53- Caper; 54- Mazda model; 55- Covenants; 56- Snob; 57- Let ___; 58- Buenos ___; 59- Make it to the end; 60- Tole-do’s lake; 62- Lucy Lawless role; 64- Sun Devils’ sch.; 65- Hi-___;

PiscesToday your creative impulses could seem blocked. You might be trying to reach your own or someone else’s deadline. You may feel the need to get some work done, while your muse seems to have gone on vacation. If your deadline is official, phone whoever’s in charge and ask for an extension.

16 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2018

MILE 22 (15+) (ACTION/THRILLER) NEW

MARK WAHLBERG, LAUREN COHAN, IKO UWAIS

CINECO (20)(IMAX 2D): 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PM + (1.00 AM UPTO SAT) (VIP I): 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT) (ATMOS): 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM + (2.00 AM UPTO SAT) 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM + (2.00 AM UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 11.00 AM + 12.00 + 1.15 + 2.15 + 3.30 + 4.30 + 5.45 + 6.45 + 8.00 + 9.00 + 10.15 + 11.15 PM + (12.30 MN + 1.30 AM UPTO SAT)SAAR 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PM + (1.00 AM UPTO SAT)WADI AL SAIL 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM + (1.45 AM UPTO SAT)

EL BADLAH (PG-13) (ARABIC/COMEDY) NEW

TAMER HOSNY, AKRAM HOSNI, MAJED EL MASRY, AMINA KHALIL

CINECO (20)12.30 + 2.30 + 4.30 + 6.30 + 8.30 + 10.30 PM + (12.30 MN + 2.30 AM UPTO SAT)SEEF (I) 12.00 + 2.00 + 4.00 + 6.00 + 8.00 + 10.00 PM + 12.00 MN + (2.00 AM UPTO SAT)SAAR 10.45 AM + 12.45 + 2.45 + 4.45 + 6.45 + 8.45 + 10.45 PM + (12.45 MN UPTO SAT)WADI AL SAIL 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 + 5.30 + 7.30 + 9.30 + 11.30 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT)

THE DARKEST MINDS (PG-13) (THRILLER/SCI-FICTION) NEW

AMANDLA STENBERG, MANDY MOORE, BRADLEY WHITFORD

CINECO (20) 11.15 AM + 1.30 + 3.45 + 6.00 + 8.15 + 10.30 PM + (12.45 MN UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM + (1.45 AM UPTO SAT)SAAR 5.30 + 7.45 + 10.00 PM + (12.15 MN UPTO SAT)WADI AL SAIL 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PM + (1.00 AM UPTO SAT)

PAPILLION (15+) (THRILLER/DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY) NEW

CHARLIE HUNNAM, RAMI MALEK

CINECO (20) 11.00 AM + 1.45 + 4.30 + 7.15 + 10.00 PM + (12.45 MN UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 7.45 + 10.30 PM + (1.15 AM UPTO SAT)WADI AL SAIL 3.30 + 9.15 PM

CHARMING (PG-13) (ANIMATION/COMEDY) NEW

DEMI LOVATO, WILMER VALDERRAMA, SIA

CINECO (20) 11.00 AM + 1.00 + 3.00 + 5.00 + 7.00 + 9.00 + 11.00 PM + (1.00 AM UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 10.45 AM + 12.45 + 2.45 + 4.45 + 6.45 + 8.45 PM SAAR 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 PMWADI AL SAIL 12.15 + 2.15 + 4.15 PM

FROM A HOUSE ON WILLOW STREET (15+) (THRILLER/HORROR) NEW

CARLYN BURCHELL, SHARNI VINSON, GUSTAV GERDENER

CINECO (20) 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 5.00 + 9.30 PM + (2.00 AM UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 5.30 + 7.30 + 9.30 + 11.30 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT)

THE MEG (PG-15) (ACTION/THRILLER)

JASON STATHAM, RUBY ROSE, BINGBING LI

CINECO (20) 10.45 AM + 12.15 + 1.15 + 2.45 + 3.45 + 5.15 + 6.15 + 7.45 + 8.45 + 10.15 + 11.15 PM + (12.45 MN + 1.45 AM UPTO SAT)SEEF (I) 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM + (2.15 AM UPTO SAT)WADI AL SAIL 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT)

THE EQUALIZER- 2 (15+) (ACTION/CRIME/THRILLER)

DENZEL WASHINGTON, PEDRO PASCAL, ASHTON SANDERS

CINECO (20) 12.45 + 3.15 + 5.45 + 8.15 + 10.45 PM + (1.15 AM UPTO SAT) (VIP II): 11.45 AM + 2.15 + 4.45 + 7.15 + 9.45 PM + (12.15 MN UPTO SAT)SEEF (I) 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT)SAAR 12.00 + 2.30 + 5.00 + 7.30 + 10.00 PM + (12.30 MN UPTO SAT)WADI AL SAIL 2.45 + 3.15 + 5.45 + 8.15 + 10.45 PM + (1.15 AM UPTO SAT)

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE FALLOUT (PG-15) (ACTION/THRILLER/CRIME)

TOM CRUISE, HENRY CAVILL, VING RHAMES

CINECO (20) 10.30 AM + 1.30 + 4.30 + 7.30 + 10.30 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 12.30 + 3.30 + 6.30 + 9.30 PM + (12.30 MN UPTO SAT)WADI AL SAIL 12.30 + 6.15 PM + 12.00 MN

SKYSCRAPER (PG-13) (ACTION/THRILLERA/DRAMA)

DWAYNE JOHNSON, NEVE CAMPBELL, PABLO SCHREIBER

CINECO (20) 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00+ 9.15 + 11.30 PM + (1.45 AM UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PM + (1.15 AM UPTO SAT)

CHRISTOPHER ROBIN (PG) (FAMILY/ADVENTURE/COMEDY)

EWAN MCGREFOR, HAYLEY ATWELL, BRONTE CARMICHAEL

CINECO (20) 10.45 AM + 1.00 + 3.15 + 5.30 + 7.45 + 10.00 PM + (12.15 MN UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 10.45 AM + 1.00 + 3.15 + 5.30 PM

HOTELTRANSYLVANIA 3: SUMMER (PG) (ANIMATION/COMEDY/DRAMA)

ADAM SANDLER, ANDY SAMBERG, FRAN DRESCHER

CINECO (20) 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 + 5.30 + 7.30 + 9.30 + 11.30 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT)SEEF (II) 2.30 + 6.45 + 11.00 PM

THE INCREDIBLES 2 (PG) (ANIMATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE)

CRAIG T. NELSON, SAMUEL L. JACKSON, CATHE-RINE KEENER

CINECO (20) 1.15 + 6.00 + 10.45 PM

OCEAN’S EIGHT (PG-15) (COMEDY/CRIME)

SANDRA BULLOCK, CATE BLANCHETT, ANNE HATHAWAY

CINECO (20) 11.00 AM + 3.45 + 8.30 + (1.15 AM UPTO SAT)

THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME (15+) (ACTION/COMEDY)

MILA KUNIS, SAM HEUGHAN, KATE MCKINNON

CINECO (20) 2.30 + 7.00 + 11.30 PM

MAZINEGER Z: INFINITY (PG) (ANIMATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE) NEW

SHOTARO MORIKUBO, AI KAYANO, SUMIRE UESAKA

SEEF (II) 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 PM

A DAY AFTER VALENTINE (PG-15) (FILIPINO/ROMANTIC/DRAMA) NEW

JC SANTOS, BELA PADILLA, LAUREN YOUNG

SEEF (II) 12.15 + 4.30 + 8.45 PM + (1.00 AM UPTO SAT)

SATYAMEVA JAYATE (PG-15) (HINDI/ACTION/THRILLER)

JOHN ABRAHAM, MANOJ BAJPAYEE, AISHA SHARMA

SEEF (II) 11.45 AM + 4.30 + 7.30 + 10.45 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT)

GOLD (PG-13) (HINDI/DRAMA/SPORT/HISTORY) NEW

AKSHAY KUMAR, FARHAN AKHTAR, MOUNI ROY

SEEF (II) 10.30 AM + 1.30 + 10.30 PM + (1.30 AM UPTO SAT)

HAPPY PHIRR BHAG JAYEGI (PG-15) (HINDI/COMEDY) NEW

JIMMY SHEIRGILL, SONAKSHI SINHA, DIANA PENTY

SEEF (I) 2.00 + 7.30 PM + (1.00 AM UPTO SAT)

JAWANI PHIR NAHI ANI 2 (PG-13) (URDU/COMEDY/ROMANTIC) NEW

MAWRA HOCANE, KANWALJIT SINGH, HUMAYUN SAEED

SEEF (I) 4.00 + 9.45 PM AL HAMRA ON WEDNESDAY 22ND: 12.00 MNFROM THURSDAY 23RD: 12.00 NOON

LOAD WEDDING (PG-13) (URDU/COMEDY/ROMANTIC) NEW

MEHWISH HAYAT, FAHAD MUSTAFA (II), SAMINA AHMED

SEEF (I) 10.30 AM + 1.15 + 7.00 PM + (12.45 MN UPTO SAT)AL HAMRA 22ND: 9.00 PM FROM THURSDAY 23RD: 3.00 PM

PARWAAZ HAI JUNOON (PG-13) (URDU/DRAMA/COMEDY/ROMANTIC) NEW

HAMZA ALI ABBASI, AHAD RAZA MIR, SHAZ KHAN

SEEF (I) 11.15 AM + 4.45 + 10.15 PM AL HAMRA 6.00 PM

LAKSHMI (TAMIIL) NEW

PRABHU DEVA, AISHWARYA RAJESH, SALMAN YUSYFF KHAN

AL HAMRA FROM THURSDAY 23RD: 9.00 PM + (12.00 MN UPTO SAT)

CHRISTOPHER ROBIN (PG) (FAMILY/ADVENTURE/COMEDY)

EWAN MCGREFOR, HAYLEY ATWELL, BRONTE CARMICHAEL

WADI AL SAIL 11.15 AM + 1.30 + 3.45 PM

Dench to get Spain’s honorary awardAFP | Madrid

British screen legend Judi Dench, best known for her role as M in James

Bond films, will receive a life-time achievement award at Spain’s famous San Sebastian film festival, organisers said yesterday.

The 83-year-old actress who won an Oscar in 1999 for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in “Shakespeare in Love” will get the Donostia Award on Septem-ber 25, they said.

Dench, a veteran star of the stage and screen, made her cinema debut in 1964 and has worked with directors as var-ied as Stephen Frears, Kenneth Branagh, Clint Eastwood and Sam Mendes.

Her subtle portrayal of com-plex characters such as Queen Victoria in “Mrs Brown” or au-thor Iris Murdoch in “Iris” have earned her critical acclaim.

A seven-time Oscar nomi-nee and the recipient of sever-al Bafta awards, Dench is per-haps best known worldwide for playing M, the head of MI6, in

James Bond films.It will be her first visit to

the film festival in the Basque Country, where her new film “Red Joan,” directed by Trevor Nunn, will be screened.

In the film inspired on a true story, she plays a tranquil re-tiree who is suddenly arrest-ed by MI5 and exposed as a long-standing KGB spy.

She will join US actor Danny de Vito and Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, whose film “Shoplifters” won the Palme d’Or in this year’s Cannes Film Festival, in receiving the Don-ostia Award.

Past recipients include Greg-ory Peck, Robert De Niro, Bette Davis, Susan Sarandon and Meryl Streep.

Judi Dench

KNOW WHAT

Judi Dench made her stage debut in Shake-

speare’s “Hamlet”. Judi played the role of Ophelia in this Vic Production Company play and performed

with the company from 1957-1961

Katy Perry denies Dr. Luke raped herIANS | Los Angeles

Singer Katy Perry has denied she was raped by Dr. Luke,

according to a deposition un-sealed on Monday from the on-going legal battle between Luke and Kesha.

In court documents obtained by people.com, Perry’s dep-osition from July 21, 2017, reveals that the singer, 33, repeatedly shut down the

allegation that was made public as part of his defamation suit against Kesha, who accused him of raping her.

The producer’s legal team previously accused Kesha of circulating the rumour that he raped Perry.

“The false narrative Kesha created about being raped be-came widely accepted, dam-aging Dr. Luke’s reputation irreparably. Compounding this

malicious act, in 2016, Kesha told Lady Gaga that Dr. Luke raped Katy Perry, which is out-rageous and untrue,” Dr. Luke’s attorneys said in the statement.

“Katy Perry testified under oath in this case that Dr. Luke never raped her. Regardless, Kesha refused to apologize. Instead, she issued a press re-lease which again irresponsibly suggested that Katy Perry was actually raped by Dr. Luke.

Eddie Murphy expecting his 10th childIANS | Los Angeles

Actor Eddie Murphy, 57, is expecting his 10th

child. His partner Paige Butcher has debuted her baby bump .

“Eddie Murphy and long-time girlfriend Paige Butch-er are pleased to announce that they are expecting their second child in December,” a representative for Murphy said in a statement.

Butcher, 39, was photo-graphed wearing a flo-ral maxi dress that accentuated her growing belly.

The Austral-i a n a c t r e s s looked com-f o r t a b l e a s she kept her h a i r d o w n and wore flip-flops.The cou-ple, who have been together s i n c e 2 0 1 2, already share two-year-old daughter Izzy Oona.

The legend-ary actor and comedian has e i g h t o t h e r children from previous rela-tionships. His oldest son Eric is 29.

Eddie Murphy and longtime girlfriend

Paige Butcher are pleased to

announce that they are expecting their

second child in December

Eddie Murphy

Katy Perry

Price urges Andre to inform about kidsIANS | Los Angeles

Television personality Katie Price has requested her

former husband Peter An-dre to inform her about their children, who have gone on a trip to Orlando with their father.

Price on Monday took to

Twitter to check in on them after alleging she has not been able to make contact with chil-dren, reports metro.co.uk.

She tweeted: “Still up at this hour, trying to contact my kids in America. Been try-ing Morning, Afternoon and Night. Please Peter Andre let me know they are okay?” Katie Price

17

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Ahmed Amir trains at KHK MMA Gym in BahrainTDT | Manama

Ahmed Amir has initiated training at the KHK MMA Gym in Bahrain.

The Egyptian lightweight fighter made an impact in the world of mixed martial arts when he dominated the Jiu Jitsu legend Richie Martinez dur-ing the inaugural edition of Brave Combat Federation.

Amir started training alongside the KHK MMA Fight Team which is an initiative by HH Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

Amir became the first Egyptian ath-lete to train at the SBG Ireland during his preparation for Brave 11. Amir was trained by veteran coach John Kavan-agh to prepare for the fight.

Amir has been victorious three times over his four appearances at the Brave Combat Federation.He will join the training alongside the pro-fighters Hamza Kooheji and Hussain Ayyad

who are preparing for their upcoming fights in Brave 16.

Currently KHK MMA Fight Team trains multitude of athletes including the Bahrain National Team who are

undergoing training for the upcoming 2018 IMMAF World Championships hosted in the Kingdom of Bahrain during the Brave International Com-bat Week.

Ahmed Amir in action

Undefeated record on the line for LazzezTDT | Manama

Mounir Lazzez will be having his promotional debut at Brave

16 hosted on 21st September at the Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi.

The Sniper who is undefeated in his career will be matched up with yet another undefeated fighter from Swe-den. Dmitrijs Homjakovs (4-0) will face Mounir Lazzez (6-0) at Brave 16.

Homjakovs turned pro in 2014 and took his first two fights with the Full Metal Dojo promotion in Thai-land. He has a 4 fight undefeated record coming into this bout. The fighters will face off in a catchweight bout.

Meanwhile Mounir who was born in Tunisia and has stopped 5 of his 6 opponents in his unblemished 6-fight run. Mounir Lazzez

First edition of Brave Talks launched TDT | Manama

Brave Combat Federation unveiled the first edition of the latest con-

tent segment branded - The Brave Talk.

The first edition featured Mark San-giao, Head Coach of Team Lakay. The segment gives an inside look into the philosophy and concepts that motivate athletes to strive towards their goals.

The veteran coach elaborated what motivates him and his team to embrace the sport of mixed martial arts and the social aspects of the impact Team Lakay have created for Philippines.

Team Lakay is the only Asian team to have scored victory twice against SBG Ireland and to have a victory against

Xtreme Couture, USA. Stephen Loman who is the reign-

ing bantamweight champion of Brave Combat Federation is trained by Mark Sangiao at Team Lakay.

Jeremy Pacatiw from Team Lakay claimed the record for most number of appearances at Brave Combat Federa-tion during Brave 14 hosted at Tangier, Morocco.

Mark Sangiao elaborated what makes Team Lakay athletes special from other mixed martial artists and the ethics they follow in their careers.

Sangiao also analysed upon growth of mixed martial arts in Bahrain and the role played by Brave Combat Fed-eration in the MMA world.

Nadal sends Ferrer into Slam retirement

• Murray, Wawrinka return in style

AFP | New York

Defending US Open champi-on Rafael Nadal sent close

friend David Ferrer into Grand Slam retirement on Monday when his veteran compatriot was forced to quit their first round match with injury, but former winners Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka made suc-cessful returns to New York.

Ferrer, a former world num-ber three but now standing at a lowly 148, called it quits on a hot and humid night on Arthur Ashe Stadium despite leading 4-3 with a break in the second set after twice receiving treat-ment on a left leg injury.

Top seed Nadal had taken the opener 6-3.

“This is my last Grand Slam,” said Ferrer who was runner-up to Nadal in the 2013 French Open final.

“I have great memories of this tournament and I am just sorry that I couldn’t finish it tonight.”

Ferrer, 36, will play his last tournament on home ground in Madrid next year.

“I am very sorry for David and sad for him,” said Nadal.

“We are close friends and have shared great moments -- the Roland Garros final and Davis Cup wins.

“He is one of the greatest players to have come from our country. He’s a great person and great player.”

Nadal, chasing his 18th Grand Slam title, will face Canada’s Vasek Pospisil for a place in the

last 32.Nadal’s potential semi-final

opponent, Argentine third seed and 2009 champion Juan Mar-tin del Potro, also reached the second round with a 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 win over American qualifier Donald Young.

Former world number one Murray marked his first Grand Slam tournament in 14 months with a 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 win over Australia’s James Duck-

worth.Murray, the 2012 champion

and playing just his fifth tourna-ment of the year after undergo-ing hip surgery in January, last featured in a major at Wimble-don in 2017.

Wawrinka, the 2016 champi-on, swept to a 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 vic-tory on Arthur Ashe Stadium to repeat his opening round tri-umph over Dimitrov at Wim-bledon.

Rafael Nadal

Serena surges into second round Halep toppled at US Open

AFP | New York

Serena Williams made a tri-umphant return to the US

Open on Monday, launching her bid for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam victory with a straight-sets win as top-seeded Simona Halep made dubious history with a first-round exit.

Williams, who counts six US Open titles among her 23 Grand Slams, can match Mar-garet Court’s all-time record of 24 majors with another title at Flushing Meadows.

She missed last year’s edi-tion as she gave birth to daugh-ter Olympia on September 1, but showed every indication she’s ready to make up for lost time in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Poland’s Magda Linette.

Williams’ path may have been eased by Kaia Kanepi’s stunning upset of world num-ber one Halep, who became the first top-seeded woman to lose in the first round of the US Open.

It was the kind of Grand Slam history Halep could have done without as she tried to expunge the memory of her first round loss to Maria Shara-pova at Flushing Meadows last year.

But the Romanian, who broke through for a first Grand Slam title at the French Open this year, had no answer for Kanepi’s power.

Venus, a seven-time Slam winner, outlasted another former champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

Serena Williams


I think it was an undeserved defeat for

us, in our desire, in everything we put into it. But football can be cruel. We just have to

bounce backPAUL POGBA

Henry not joining Bordeaux as talks break downAFP | Bordeaux, France

Thierry Henry will not be the next coach of

Bordeaux, with the French club’s president confirming to AFP yesterday that nego-tiations had broken down.

“Yes, we can confirm the end of those negotiations,” Stephane Martin told AFP, following earlier reports in France and England that Henry had turned the job down.

Sky Sports, the channel for whom Henry worked as a pundit for four years before quitting last month, said late on Monday that he had refused the offer to take his first managerial role since retiring as a player.

Vardy, Cahill retire from England duty

AFP | London

Jamie Vardy and Gary Ca-hill announced their in-

tention to retire from inter-national duty with England yesterday, although both did leave the door open to a return in emergency cir-cumstances.

Leicester striker Vardy, 31, and Chelsea defender Cahill, 32, were both part of Gareth Southgate’s squad that reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in Russia.

However, both saw their playing time limited and believe the time has come to concentrate on their club careers.

Ronaldo Jr joins Juventus youth academyAFP | Milan, Italy

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo’s old-

est son has started training with the Juventus youth academy’s Under-9 team, according to media reports in Italy.

Five-time Ball d’Or win-ner Ronaldo, 33, signed for Italian champions Juventus this summer from Real Ma-drid for 100 million euros.

His oldest son Cristiano Jr -- who was born in June 2010 -- was photographed training on Monday with the Juve Pulcini 2010 squad reserved for Under-9s at Ju-ventus’s Vinovo ground.

Real Madrid set to buy back Mariano

AFP |Madrid

Real Madrid are set to bring striker Mariano

Diaz back to the club, a year on from selling him to Lyon, after they matched an earlier bid by La Liga rivals Sevilla, the Andalusian side said on Tuesday.

“Real had first refusal and they have told us that they are going to activate their buy-back clause,” Sevilla president Jose Castro told media.

Mourinho calls for respect Lucas Moura double for Spurs deepens gloom at Manchester United

AFP | Manchester, United King-dom

Manchester United man-ager Jose Mourinho called for respect af-

ter suffering the heaviest home defeat of his career as Harry Kane and a Lucas Moura double moved Tottenham joint top of the Premier League with 3-0 win at Old Trafford.

A second consecutive defeat piles even more pressure on the Portuguese coach as United now trail Spurs, Liverpool and Chel-sea by six points and stand four adrift of champions Manchester City just three games into the new campaign.

The odds on Mourinho losing his job have been slashed in re-cent weeks as on top of adverse results, he has clashed with the club’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward over a lack of signings.

However, he railed against his critics by citing his record of winning the Premier League three times over two spells at Chelsea.

“I won more Premierships alone than the other 19 man-agers together. Three for me, two for them. Respect!” a fiery Mourinho raged at reporters on exiting his post-match press conference.

Mourinho stood in front of Old Trafford’s Stretford End at the end of the game to applaud the home fans, who didn’t boo his side at full-time despite the result.

“Today I had the proof the best judge are the supporters,” Mourinho said.

The fans and Mourinho’s re-sponse came after a dominant first 45 minutes from the hosts before Spurs took control with two goals in two minutes just after the break.

United, though, were left to rue a series of missed chances by Romelu Lukaku, particular-ly when the Belgian fired wide with an open goal on 15 minutes.

Second-half surge Tottenham hadn’t even scored in losing on their four previous

trips to Old Trafford under Mau-ricio Pochettino.

Yet, the Argentine’s half-time words of wisdom made a huge difference as Spurs came out a different side after the break.

David de Gea had already denied Kane and Dele Alli had seen a goalbound effort deflect-ed wide by the time Kane rose highest from Kieran Trippier’s corner to loop a header into the net.

Hugo Lloris kept his place in the Spurs goal and retained the captain’s armband despite being arrested for drink driving in the early hours of Friday.

And Pochettino’s faith in his skipper was rewarded when Lloris denied Lukaku again with a brilliant save to keep Spurs in front.

A minute later, they doubled their advantage when Christian Eriksen’s cross was swept home by Lucas.

“It is a massive victory for us and I am very proud of the per-formance,” said Pochettino. “It is difficult to beat Manchester United at Old Trafford. They were better in the first half but we dominated from then on.”

Mourinho encroached onto the pitch to bellow encourage-

ment to his charges. But the damage had already been done and the final reckoning could have been even more embarrass-ing for the hosts.

Lindelof, on for the injured Jones, was handed a reprieve when De Gea denied Alli after a short back pass by the Swede before Kane headed wide when unmarked from another corner.

Lucas did rub salt into United wounds six minutes from time when he outpaced Lindelof be-fore firing into the far corner.

Mourinho was goaded with chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” by the travelling Tottenham fans.

Woodward is not expected to bite the bullet quite so soon. But with United already facing an uphill battle just to make the top four nevermind challenge for the title, time is running out for Mourinho to get the 20-time champions of England back on track.

Lucas Moura celebrates scoring Tottenham’s second goal against Manchester United with Harry Kane (right), who scored the first two minutes earlier

Bolt struggling with A-League pace

AFP | Gosford, Australia

Sprint superstar Usain Bolt admitted yesterday he was

struggling with the tempo of professional football but is working hard to raise his fit-ness levels ahead of his first trial match this week.

The eight-time Olympic champion has been given an opportunity by Australia’s Central Coast Mariners to ful-fil his dream of a soccer career and has stepped up his training regime since hooking up with the A-League club last week.

He was put through his pac-es with the rest of the squad at a more intensive session at the team’s base in the town of Gos-ford, 75 kilometres (47 miles) north of Sydney, yesterday.

After some warming up and

a jog around the pitch, he took part in ball drills and while his passing was fine, he was slow to get the hang of the move-ment required.

The 32-year-old’s lack of football fitness was also evi-dent and he appeared to tire quickly, resting more than his teammates.

Bolt admitted to struggling with the constant stop-start of football, more used to a quick fire sprint on the athletics track before winding down.

“The most challenging thing for me is the stop and go be-cause I’m not used to picking up speed, going back down, then back again,” he said.

“It’s all about practising and getting used to the system. I have time so will just learn the ways and keep pushing.”

Thirty-one-year-old eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt trains for the A-League football club Central Coast Mariners in Gosford

Salah row escalates with Egyptian FAAFP | Cairo

A bitter spat between Egypt star Mohamed Salah and

his country’s football authori-ties escalated Monday, casting a fresh shadow over his involve-ment with the national team.

Salah, 26, and the Egyptian Football Association have pre-viously been at loggerheads due to a disagreement over image rights.

Now the conflict has flared up again after the striker and his lawyer accused the FA of failing to respond to a list of re-quests dealing with the player’s treatment.

Salah’s lawyer Ramy Abbas Issa said the demands involved the player’s “well-being whilst with the national team, and as-surances that the image rights violations wouldn’t happen again”.

In an angry rebuttal the foot-ball federation said Monday that it would not accept the requests, blasting some as “il-logical” and insisting it would not “favour one player over an-other”.

Salah hit back with a pair of Facebook videos, insisting he was asking for better security for the whole squad at team hotels.

He said that he did not want to be disturbed in his room by visitors wanting to chat in the middle of the night as had hap-

pened before. “I’m the person that these

things happen to. I’m the per-son who gets harmed by these things,” he said.

“These requests are very small but make things easier, they make the player focused in the match.”

The fresh war-of-words be-tween the two sides comes ahead of Egypt’s African Cup of Nations qualifier against Niger on September 8.

The disagreement between national hero Salah and the Egyptian FA first burst into the open in April over the player’s image rights.

Salah was angered that his image was being used by the national team’s main sponsor, telecoms firm WE, when he al-ready had a contract with rival company Vodafone.

That dispute was eventually resolved following intervention from political leaders.

The player was also report-edly left unhappy after he was made to appear with Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov at Egypt’s training ground in the region for the World Cup in Russia this summer.

Mohamed Salah

KNOW WHAT

And Salah has been credited with a rise

in attendance at England’s oldest

mosque, which is in Liverpool

China’s teen divers take the cake

AFP | Jakarta

Two 14-year-old divers from China became the

youngest gold medallists at the 2018 Asian Games when they romped to victory in the women’s synchronised 10 me-tre platform yesterday.

Zhang Jiaqi and Zhang Min-jie -- fresh from a win at the Wuhan World Cup event in June -- tumbled into a com-manding lead from their ex-quisite opening dive and never looked threatened, securing the top spot with 361.38.

Victory was the icing on the cake for Zhang Minjie, who was celebrating her 14th birth-day yesterday.

Behind the terrific teens came North Korean duo Kim Kuk Hyang and Kim Mi Rae -- who placed fourth in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio -- on 337.86.

Malaysian pair Leong Mun Yee and Nur Dhabitah Sabri bagged the bronze with 310.80.

Zhang Jiaqi, ranked five in the world, and world number nine Zhang Minjie showed no hint of nerves as they rolled out a spectacular back two-

and-a-half somersaults and one-and-a-half twists in the fifth and final round to clinch the gold.

Exiting the pool and even wiping their faces in perfect synchronisation, there was no smile -- just a conspiratori-al whisper from Zhang Jiaqi, nicknamed “Little Fu Ming-zia” after the Chinese diving great, into the ear of her team-mate.

The Chinese also reigned supreme in the men’s synchro-nised three metre springboard, grabbing gold ahead of South Korea in second and Japan in third.


Indian’s women boxers struggle without KomAFP | Jakarta

Huswatun Hasanah set the Asian Games box-ing tournament alight

yesterday, becoming the first Indonesian woman ever to win a medal as India’s female fight-ers struggled without “Magnif-icent” Mary Kom.

Meanwhile Manny Pacquiao’s proud boxing nation, the Phil-ippines, secured their first medal of the men’s tournament through flyweight Rogen Ladon.

Indonesia’s 20-year- old Hasanah showed a touch of ar-rogance as she showboated in the second round and edged her lightweight quarter-final by split decision, 3-2, against India’s Pavitra, who goes by just a single name.

“I didn’t think I could beat her, she is very experienced,” Hasanah said of Pavitra, 31, who was in her first Asian Games and succeeding Sarita Devi, who controversially refused her 2014 bronze medal in a judging row, in the 60kg division.

“My strategy was to box to my coach’s instructions,” she told reporters.

“There were no difficulties and I could tell how she was boxing from the first round.”

Indonesia’s women’s boxing team was only formed in 2006 and they have never won a med-al at the Asian Games, until now.

Hasanah’s win means she is guaranteed a bronze even if she loses her semi-final against Thailand’s Sudaporn Seesondee on Friday.

But India’s 2016 World Cham-pionships silver medallist Sonia Lather refused to speak to re-

porters after the crushing dis-appointment of a unanimous points defeat to tough North Korean Jo Son Hwa in the wom-en’s featherweight (57kg) quar-ter-final.

Filipino Ladon squeaked past awkward Kazakhstani Azat Mahemtov to secure at least a bronze via a 3-2 split decision in a battle of southpaw flyweights.

Ladon had arrested a major Philippines meltdown on Sun-day when he became the first fighter to reach the last eight after four of his more fancied team-mates lost.

He prevailed even though he reopened an existing cut over his right eye early in the first round.

“The cut? It’s OK,” he told AFP,

despite wearing three butterfly plasters to close the wound.

He will face Thai Yuttapong Tongdee in Friday’s semi-final.

“I will listen and follow my coach’s instructions for that op-ponent,” Ladon added. “I need to focus more closely on what he tells me.”

India were left licking their wounds without all-time great Kom, the flyweight (51kg) gold medallist from four years ago, and former world and Asian champion Devi.

Five-time world champion Kom, the subject of the Bolly-wood biopic “Magnificent”, has skipped the Asiad to concen-trate on winning a sixth world title on home soil in Delhi in November.

Indonesia’s Huswatun Hasanah (in blue) fights against India’s Pavitra (in red) in their women’s light (60kg) quarter-final boxing match at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta on August 28, 2018

KNOW WHAT

Mary Kom took boxing seriously only after gradu-ation. It’s Dingko Singh’s winning gold medal in

1997 Asian Games that became a

life-changing in-spiration for Mary

Kom

China’s Zhang Minjie and Zhang Jiaqi perform in the women’s synchronised 10m platform event

Twins make it a double sister actReuters | Jakarta

Two sets of twins stood on the podium with Asian

Games medals around their necks after the final of women’s duet in synchronised swim-ming yesterday.

China’s famed Jiang sisters Tingting and Wenwen won the event for the third time, dom-inating both technical routine and free routine to claim their sixth golds over three editions of the Games.

The Japanese duo of Yukiko Inui and Megumu Yoshida won the silver at Jakarta’s Golera Bung Karno Aquatic Center and in third place were 23-year-old twins Alexandra and Yekaterina Nemich from Kazakhstan.

The Jiang sisters, who also have two team Olympic medals from 2008 and 2012 Games, won the event at the 2006 and 2010 Games before retiring in

2013.The pair returned to pool af-

ter giving birth to daughters and won the Chinese national crown last year.

Japan’s Yukiko Inui and Megumu Yoshida compete in the artistic swimming women’s duets final competition

Korean archer refuses to celebrate Reuters | Jakarta

Tottenham Hotspur striker Son Heung-min is not the

only South Korean chasing an Asian Games gold to avoid mil-itary service and the issue influ-enced celebration in yesterday’s archery final in the men’s indi-vidual recurve event.

Kim Woo-jin won the all-Ko-rean contest 6-4 for his third Asian Games gold but refused to celebrate his victory over compatriot Lee Woo-seok.

Korean law states that every able-bodied man must re-port for national service for 21 months before their 28th birthday, while exemption is of-fered to all Olympic medallists or Asian Games champions.

Kim secured his exemption eight years ago when he won two golds in the 2010 Games in Guangzhou. But for Lee, al-ready serving in the armed forc-

es, yesterday’s final was the last opportunity to win a gold and obtain an early discharge.

Kim said he performed with-out thinking about the implica-tions of the outcome.

“It was just tough to beat someone that I know so well after months of training togeth-er,” he said.

Lee, who won a team silver on Monday, rued his perfor-mance.

“I am disappointed with the result, but I have to accept these results because they’re all my own doing,” he said.

“And the military isn’t all that bad. South Korean men all have to go, anyway. I’ll go back and serve the country the best I can.”

Lee Woo-seok competes against compatriot Kim Woo-jin

Vietnam fans laud South Korean coach as football ‘wizard’Reuters | Hanoi

Vietnamese football fans have dubbed national coach Park

Hang-seo a “wizard” following a rare string of successes by the Southeast Asian country’s “Golden Star” team.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Hanoi late on Monday night to celebrate an otherwise minor event in in-ternational football - a 1-0 victory over Syria in the quar-

ter-finals of the Asian Games in Indonesia.

“I’m so pumped up, I kept cry-ing all night long,” football fan Nguyen Hoang Ha posted on Facebook. “Thank you Mr. Park Hang-seo.”

A second Facebook user was more effusive.

“Park Hang-seo is Vietnam’s soccer wizard. He changed play-ers and predicted the game so sharply,” Nguyen Son wrote.

Another of their compatriots

added wistfully: “I just wish wiz-ard Park Hang-seo sensei was Vietnamese.”

Park may be South Korean but he has given football-mad Viet-nam, which has never qualified for the World Cup as a unified nation, its first taste of success on the international stage.

When he led Vietnam to the final of the under-23 Asian Cup in January, hundreds of thou-sands of people took to the streets of Vietnam’s cities to

wave flags and toot horns in ju-bilant scenes reminiscent of a revolution.

Those scenes were repeated on Monday night when Park’s side beat Syria to earn the uni-fied nation’s first Asian Games semi-final, spurring calls for the 59-year-old to be granted Viet-namese citizenship in return for his coaching prowess.

In a cruel test of his patriot-ism, Vietnam’s semi-final will be against South Korea.Vietnam’s Doan Van Hau (C) vies for the ball with Syria’s players

• ‘Idol’ Liu Xiang inspires China’s ninth straight hurdles win

• Sarah Lee bags women’s keirin gold

AFP | Jakarta

Indonesia’s Jonatan Chris-tie stunned Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen for Asian Games

badminton gold as a home pair affectionately dubbed the “Min-ions” won the men’s doubles at a rocking Jakarta arena yesterday.

Christie sent the home crowd into raptures as he upset Tai-wan’s sixth-ranked Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 20-22, 21-15 to be-come Indonesia’s first men’s singles champion since 2006, before ripping off his shirt in celebration.

The 20-year-old’s surprise win capped a memorable run for In-donesia’s men after Anthony Sinisuka Ginting knocked out world champion Kento Momo-ta and Olympic gold-medallist Chen Long en route to bronze.

Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, nick-named the “Minions” owing to their stature, rounded off the party as they won an all-Indo-nesian final against Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto 13-21, 21-18, 24-22.

In a celebratory atmosphere at the badminton stadium, Sukam-uljo and Gideon collapsed to the floor as their opponents’ final shot went wide to settle a tense final game.

Once-dominant China failed to win a singles badminton med-al for the first time in 38 years, but otherwise it was another productive day for the Olympic heavyweights.

Olympic medallist PV Sind-hu yet again finished second-best in a major final but grabbed a historic individual silver medal at the Asian Games after losing the women’s singles title clash to world number one Tai Tzu-Ying in Asian games Women’s Badminton Singles finals.

China passed 200 medals ear-ly in the day and they finished

with four golds in track and field, including Xie Wenjun’s come-from-behind victory in the 110m hurdles.

Xie, 28, capitalised on a late stumble by Taiwan’s Chen Kuei-ru to claim China’s ninth straight

win in the event, before reveal-ing he had received “special in-structions” from Chinese hur-dling great Liu Xiang.

“Before the match, before I went to Europe, he gave me spe-cial instructions. I really thank

him,” said Xie, who also won the sprint hurdles in 2014.

As the dust settled on day 10, China were on 97 gold medals, more than double Japan’s 43, with South Korea on 32 and In-donesia on 24.

Kurash, bang, wallop Earlier, Saudi Arabia ended their wait for their first gold medal of the Games when they won equestrian’s team jumping event.

Hong Kong’s former Olympic bronze medallist Sarah Lee Wai-

sze successfully defended her keirin title, becoming the first woman to win four track cycling golds at the Asian Games.

India yesterday clinched two medals, one gold and one sil-ver, in the men’s 800m athlet-ics event of the ongoing 18th edition of the Asian Games.

While Indian athlete Manjit Singh bagged the gold medal with a clock timing of 1:46.15, his fellow tracker Jinson Johnson settled for a silver after clocking 1:46.35 in the finals of the event.

After complaints over the judging in pencak silat, in which Indonesian athletes won all six golds, Uzbekistan cleaned up in kurash, another martial art making its debut.

India’s Pincky Balhara and Malaprabha Yallappa Jadhav handed India another two medals as they won silver and bronze, respectively, in women’s 52 kg kurash.


I did not expect that I can win a

gold at the Asian Games. Actually there are a lot

of good players here and I never expected that I

could come out as a winner

JONATAN CHRISTIE

M e d a l l i s t

Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze Total 1 China 97 64 45 206 2 Japan 43 38 61 142 3 South Korea 32 40 46 118 4 Indonesia 24 19 29 72 5 IR Iran 17 16 16 49 6 Taipei 13 14 20 47 7 North Korea 12 8 7 27 8 India 9 19 22 50 9 Uzbekistan 9 15 14 38 10 Thailand 9 11 33 53 11 Kazakhstan 8 9 30 47 12 Bahrain 8 3 5 16

Hosts excel in badmintonChristie, ‘Minions’ send Indonesia into raptures

Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie hits a return against Taiwan’s Chou Tienchen in their men’s singles final badminton match

(L-R) Japan’s Taioh Kanai and China’s Xie Wenjun compete in the final of the men’s 110m hurdles athletics event

Indonesia’s Marcus Fernaldi Gideon (L) and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (R) celebrate

38China failed to win

a singles badminton medal for the first

time in 38 years

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