@bahrainnbr health care for all - home | the daily tribune | kingdom of bahrain · 2019. 2. 19. ·...

15 killed in Idlib twin blasts Amman

Twin explosions in the bustling centre of the rebel-held northwest-

ern Syrian city of Idlib on Mon-day killed at least 15 people and injured scores, medics and witnesses said.

They said an explosive de-vice planted in a parked car detonated in a main street in the provincial capital. Many of the casualties were civil de-

fence workers who reached the site moments before a second explosion nearby. That blast was attributed by some wit-nesses to a bomb rigged to a motorcyle.

Social media footage showed aid workers carrying away bodies and rescuing wound-ed civilians amid smouldering wreckage.

Idlib province, in Syria’s northwest corner, is under the control of Hayat Tahrir al

Sham, a bloc of Islamist mili-tant factions spearheaded by Syria’s former al Qaeda affili-ate, and has long been targeted by bombings and assassina-tions.

Alliance commanders say they hundreds of people have been rounded up for suspect-ed links to Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s intelligence services or Islamic State sleep-er cells who they blame for some of the bombings.

02Saudi human rights strides lauded

03Deaths caused by cardiac diseases ‘on the increase’

04Bahraini woman who filed ‘fake kidnap complaint’ fined BD100

10

Saudi vows to ‘de- escalate’ tensions 6WORLD

BUSINESSC E L E B S

Miranda Lambert reveals marriage to Brendan McloughlinCountry star Miranda Lambert has tied the knot with her boyfriend Brendan Mcloughlin.The two-time Grammy winner shared the news on Instagram with a photo from her wedding. P14

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Health care for all Cabinet green light to implement first phase of Health Insurance Scheme

• The recommendations were put forward by the Ministerial Committee for Legal and Legislative Affairs.

• The Cabinet also endorsed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Bahrain’s National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA), and Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA).

Manama

The Cabinet chaired by His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khali-

fa bin Salman Al Khalifa in the presence of His Royal High-ness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier, ap-proved, the necessary legal tools to implement the first phase of the Health Insurance System by giving green light to seven draft decrees and resolutions.

The recommendations were put forward by the Ministerial Committee for Legal and Legis-lative Affairs, and presented by the Deputy Premier and commit-tee chairman before the Cabinet.

They include the nomina-tion of the minister in charge of Health Insurance Law, the for-mation of the Board of Directors of the Health Insurance Fund, the separation of some existing governmental health institutions from the Ministry of Health, the formation of the Board of Trus-tees of government hospitals and primary health care cen-tres, the establishment of the Supreme Council of Health, the implementation phases of the Health Insurance System, and determining the hospitals and primary health care centres that will be covered by the Health Insurance System.

Among other things, HRH Pre-mier reviewed the implementa-tion progress at the Mohammed bin Khalifa Specialist Cardiac Hospital in Awali, as part of his

constant follow-up on service and development projects across the kingdom.

The Prime Minister was also informed on the work status of a number of on-going projects in Muharraq, including the Sa’ada (happiness), the Central Market and the Long-stay Care Centre projects.

Commenting on a presenta-

tion by the Minister of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Ur-ban Planning in this regard, HRH Premier gave directives to be committed to the pre-set sched-ule, and to take the necessary procedures to expedite the im-plementation process.

The Cabinet approved amend-ing the executive regulation of the Civil Aviation Law to ensure that the issuance of travel agen-cies’ licenses is transferred to the Bahrain Tourism and Exhi-bitions Authority (BTEA) after the approval of the Civil Aviation Affairs.

It also endorsed a Memoran-dum of Understanding (MoU) between Bahrain’s National Health Regulatory Authori-ty (NHRA), and Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA).

HRH the Premier chairs the Cabinet in the presence of HRH the Crown Prince.

32countries in the world

only have universal health care, according to World

Health Organisation.

Syrian White Helmet civil defence workers carrying an injured man after blast.

Trump lashes out at ‘treasonous’ officials Washington, DC

US President Donald Trump has issued an

angry response after a TV interview on Sunday alleged that officials had held dis-cussions to have him re-moved.

Mr Trump tweeted of “il-legal and treasonous” be-haviour and an “illegal coup attempt”.

In the interview, ex-act-ing FBI chief Andrew Mc-Cabe said talks had been held in 2017 about invoking a clause that can remove a president deemed unfit.

The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman has vowed to investigate the claims.

Lindsey Graham said the claims were an “attempted bureaucratic coup”.

In a series of tweets on Monday morning, he con-demned “so many lies by now disgraced acting FBI Director Andrew McCa-be. He was fired for lying and now his story gets even more deranged.

Trump

Officers killed in CairoCairo

Two police officers were killed when a terror sus-

pect blew himself up after he was surrounded by po-lice near Al Azhar Mosque in Cairo yesterday.

Three other policemen were injured in the blast in the Darb Al Ahmar district, the interior ministry said. The explosion took place af-ter police chased the suspect who they believe had plant-ed a bomb near a mosque last week.

Saudi gave $13bn to YemenJeddah

Saudi Arabia has provid-ed more than $13 billion

in support to Yemen since 2014, the Arab coalition said yesterday.

“We are providing polit-ical and humanitarian re-lief efforts to support the Yemeni people in addition to combating terrorism in Yemen,” coalition spokes-man Turki Al Maliki said.

Speaking in Riyadh, Al Maliki gave details about a series of successful mil-itary operations through-out Yemen. He said specific military operations were continuing in Hadramout province, Saada and other Yemeni areas.

02TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2019

22nd February 2019

Saudi human rights strides lauded His Majesty praises comprehensive growth of Saudi Arabia in the prosperous era of King Salman

Manama

His Majesty King Ham-ad bin Isa Al Khali-fa yesterday received

President of the Saudi Human Rights Commission and Head of the Anti-Trafficking in Per-sons Committee Dr Bandar bin Mohammed Al Aiban and his accompanying delegation.

HM the King took pride in deep-rooted and distinguished fraternal relations between the Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, laud-ing the advanced level of bilateral cooperation mainly in supporting international efforts to protect human rights.

HM the King commended the honourable stances of Custodian

of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in supporting Bahrain and its peo-ple and cementing bilateral ties.

His Majesty praised compre-

hensive growth of the Kingdom in the prosperous era of King Salman. He also lauded Saudi Arabia’s big strides in boosting human rights and caring for its

citizens.HM the King stressed that the

democratic experience in Bah-rain emanates from the will of the people and their consensus.

His Majesty also affirmed keenness to ensure it is in tune with the Islamic precepts, Bah-rain’s inherent traditions and mutual respect between all.

HM the King lauded the king-dom’s honourable human rights record, underlining keenness to provide a decent life for all cit-izens.

The King also underlined the importance of exchanging vis-its between officials from both countries given their role in pro-moting bilateral fraternal co-or-dination.

Dr Al Aiban expressed thanks and respect to HM the King for the gracious welcome and hos-pitality, stressing deep-rooted historical fraternal relations be-tween both countries.

He also commended Bahrain’s achievements thanks to the lead-ership of HM the King, wishing it constant growth and prosperity.

His Majesty receives Dr Al Aiban and the accompanying delegation.

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa received at Safriyah Palace yesterday Housing Minister Bassim Al Hamer, who presented him with a copy of the book Sustainable Cities for a Brighter Future, which highlights the achievements of the Housing Ministry and provides statistics on the projects and services provided by the ministry nationwide.

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa received at Safriyah Palace yesterday President of Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA) Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, who presented him with a copy of Holy Quran with a luxurious cover engraved with Islamic motifs and Arab calligraphy, which was printed by BACA as part of “Muharraq the Capital of Islamic Culture 2018” events.

The Bahrain Journalists Association (BJA) signed a memorandum of Understanding with the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF). Under the deal, the BJA members will enrol to attend short BIBF courses free of charge. BIBF director-general Dr Ahmed Abdulhamid Al Sheikh hailed the pioneering role of the national press in promoting society and supporting development and progress. He commended co-operation with the Bahrain Journalists Association (BJA) to enhance the press, by providing training opportunities to hone the skills of Bahraini journalists. Bahrain Journalists’ Association (BJA) President Ahdeya Ahmed commended the role of the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF), which trained 340,000 people from 63 countries. BJA Vocational Training Committee chairman Hassan Al Sitri said that the BIBF training courses would cover various sectors to meet the needs of the press and journalists.

Premier, Crown Prince review jobs initiatives Manama

HR H P r i m e M i n i st e r Prince Khalifa bin Sal-man Al Khalifa yesterday

received HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Com-mander and First Deputy Prime Minister, and reviewed graduate recruitment programme.

Their royal highnesses stressed the need to develop programmes and strategies to engage graduates into the la-bour market under the current challenges and variables.

They urged to prepare the graduates of different educa-tional levels in accordance with training plans that ensure the maintenance of the employment process of job seekers in co-op-eration with labour and educa-tional relevant sides.

Their royal highnesses di-rected to continue providing a high-level training for citizens to assist them to benefit from the government effort to pro-

mote investments, including creating job opportunities for citizens.

HRH the Prime Minister and HRH the Crown Prince wel-

comed the success achieved at the level of government-pri-vate employment partner-ship throughout the past few years.

HRH the Premier receives HRH the Crown Prince.

Royal support for journos hailed Manama

A tribute was paid to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa for his keenness on promoting the national press. Bahrain Journalists’ Association (BJA) President Ahdeya

Ahmed extended deepest thanks to HM the King, describing his stances towards the press as a catalyst to bolster the role of the media enterprises.

She lauded HM the King who received the newly-elected BJA board, pledging to spare no effort and assume their media role to promote Bahrain’s standing.


26-27 February 2019, Manama, Bahrain

The GCCFinancial Forum

Confi rmed Keynote Speakers:• HE Mr Khalid Al Rumaihi, Chief Executive, Bahrain Economic Development Board• HE Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Finance, Bahrain• HE Mr Zayed R. Alzayani, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Bahrain• HE Mr Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, Governor, Central Bank of Bahrain• Steve Wozniak, Co-Founder, Apple Computers

In partnership with The Economic Development Board of Bahrain, Euromoney Conferences will host the eighth GCC Financial Forum in Bahrain on 26-27 February 2019.

The Forum will give C-level fi nancial professionals from the Gulf and beyond, anin-depth strategic overview of the global drivers of change in fi nance and the implications of this evolution for fi nancial services professionals of every stripe, andfor the future of their businesses.

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Deaths caused by cardiac diseases ‘on the increase’

Hypertension, diabetes cited major reasons behind heart attack deaths

• According to WHO, a third of ischaemic heart disease cases are attributable to high cholesterol.

• The latest World Health Organisation (WHO) data published in 2017 revealed that coronary heart disease deaths in the Kingdom reached 23.97 per cent of total deaths.

TDT | Manama Harpreet Kaur

Deaths caused by cardiac diseases are on the rise in the Kingdom, accord-

ing to experts. For many in the Kingdom, a

regular day may include lots of caffeine before and during work, a quick meal at the office with a side of snacks, hours of staring at a screen, and a box of fast food and television time to end a very long day.

Repetitively living this day, however, could be what is lead-ing a growing number of young-er people to experience heart diseases and even heart attacks at an early age.

The latest World Health Or-ganisation (WHO) data pub-lished in 2017 revealed that coronary heart disease deaths in the Kingdom reached 23.97 per cent of total deaths.

According to WHO, a third of ischaemic heart disease cases are attributable to high cho-lesterol, which is estimated to cause 2.6 million deaths world-wide.

Conditions such as hyperten-sion (high blood pressure) and stress can cause direct ulcera-tions and cracks on the inner layer of coronary arteries. As a result, they open the doors for cholesterol molecules to penetrate and accumulate into the middle layer of arteries, say experts.

Speaking to Tribune, Dr Babu Ramachandran, American Mis-sion Hospital (Amwaj branch) head, said: “There has been

quite a high number of cardi-ac death’s in the Kingdom and a good number of them were expatriates.

“We can not pinpoint a particular reason for cardiac deaths. However, I feel that stress is a major factor that has contributed to this rise. More-over, the lifestyle adopted such as unhealthy eating habits could be another factor.”

Echoing a similar view, Chief Resident of Accident and Emergency at Salmaniya Med-ical Complex, P V Cheriyan said, “High blood pressure and diabetes are early signs of car-diac problems. Most individu-als think that heart attack hap-pens all of a sudden but when early signs aren’t detected and treated on time, complexities occur.”

“Family history, stress and diabetes are the most com-mon causes of heart problems.

Regular check ups and proper diet control is a must. Even in schools there are children who

are suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes at a young age,” he added.

Bahrain to attend Arab parliamentary conference

Manama

The Arab Inter-Parlia-mentary Union will hold its 29th confer-

ence in Amman. The three- day pan-Ar-

ab conference will open on the 2nd of March, under the theme “Al Quds, Permanent Capital of the State of Pales-tine”.

A delegation representing the Council of Representatives and the Shura Council will take part in the conference.

The joint delegation in-

cludes Second Deputy Speak-er Ali bin Ahmed Al Zayed, MPs Youssef Zinelabdine and Fatma Abbas, Shura Council members Dr Mansour Mo-hammed Sarhan, Dr Fatima Abduljabbar Kooheji and Ab-dulla Khalaf Al Dosari.

The delegation will also in-clude Shura Council Secre-tary-General Osama Ahmed Al Asfoor and Council of Repre-sentatives Secretary-General Rashid Mohammed Boune-jma.

Council of Representa-

tives Speaker Fawziya Zainal chaired the joint coordina-tion meeting and discussed preparations to take part in the upcoming pan-Arab par-liamentary conference.

She stressed the impor-tance in the conference which represents a key platform to strengthen pan-Arab coopera-tion in all fields, stressing Bah-rain’s keenness on promoting parliamentary diplomacy to build bridges of friendship and cooperation and contribute to global security and peace.

Chinese trader jailed in bribery bid case

• The Public Prosecution accused the man of offering a bribe to an on-duty public servant with the intention of hindering his duties.

TDT | Manama

The Fifth Minor Criminal Court yesterday sen-tenced a Chinese trad-

er to one year imprisonment along with a fine of BD500 fine for trying to bribe an officer working with the Customs De-partment.

The accused wanted coun-

terfeited goods that belonged to him, get released at the air-port, according to Prosecutors.

He was instantly detained at the airport and was referred to Public Prosecution for trial.

The officer, who works with the Customs Department at the Bahrain International

Airport, testified before the Public Prosecution that the defendant offered him BD500 in bribe to clear the goods.

The officer told the inves-tigators that he had ignored the man and walked away from him, but the defendant, offered the same to an em-ployee of the Standards and Metrology Directorate, who alerted the Anti-Corruption Directorate.

Subsequently, a plan was fixed and the defendant was trapped while paying bribe to the official.

The Public Prosecution accused the man of offering a bribe to an on-duty public servant with the intention of hindering his duties.

500Bahraini dinars was

allegedly offered by the accused to the Customs

official.

2.6million deaths are

caused by heart diseases across the world.

Expat dies of cardiac arrest Manama

A 57-year-old expatriate died yesterday after suffering a cardiac

arrest. The deceased was identified as Indian national Vasavan Arjunan, who hailed from Kerala state.

Vasavan Arjunan, who had been undergoing treatment for over a month died at the King Hamad Hospital.

A resident in the Kingdom for the past thirty-seven years, Vasavan was working as an aluminium technician.

His immediate survivors include wife and two sons.

The deceased Vasavan


Bahraini woman who filed ‘fake kidnap complaint’ fined BD100

Lower court had sentenced her to one year in jail; it was replaced with fine by appeals court

• Further investigations proved that the woman lied in her statements filed with police.

• The defendant appealed the verdict, which replaced her sentence with a fine.

TDT | Manama

A woman who attempted to trap her ex-boyfriend’s relatives in a kidnap case

has had her jail sentence re-placed with a BD100 fine.

The details of the case show that the defendant had sev-eral disagreements with her ex-boyfriend’s brother and his wife, who would frequently convince him to annul the re-lationship.

According to prosecutors, the defendant then decided to settle scores with ex-boyfriend’s fam-ily, primarily her ex-fiancee’s

brother, as she believed he was the main reason why the break-up happened.

She lodged a complaint with the police claiming that she was kidnapped by four masked men,

who she alleged took her to Bu-hair area in Riffa.

The woman told the police that one of the men in mask was her ex-boyfriend’s brother.

When asked if she was as-saulted or harassed by any of the alleged kidnappers, the woman denied and told the police that she was released in Buhair area.

Further investigations proved that the woman lied in her state-ments as she wasn’t able to an-swer certain questions during the interrogation.

When cornered, she con-

fessed that the accusation was false and that she made the story up to take revenge against her ex-boyfriend’s brother.

The Public Prosecution then accused her of providing false information to the police to file a case.

She was subsequently re-ferred to the Eighth Minor Court, which sentenced her in absentia to one year of impris-onment.

The defendant appealed the verdict, which replaced her sen-tence with a fine.

The woman told the police that one of the

men in mask was her ex-boyfriend’s brother.

PROSECUTORS

Young robbers face trial TDT | Manama

A 20-year-old man and a teenager are facing

sentences for the robbery they committed in 2015, it was revealed.

Although the crime hap-pened four years ago, the duo have been recently put before the High Criminal Court on robbery charges.

The 20-year-old man attributed his crime to his young age at the time of the incident.

“We were really young and weren’t aware of the consequence of our ac-tions,” he told prosecutors.

Details of the case re-vealed that the pair were in-volved in an armed robbery, using a knife to steal money from an Asian motorcyclist in Zallaq.

“I was riding my bike in Zallaq and the defendants waylaid me. One of them drew a knife and threatened me.

“They asked for my wallet and I immediately gave it to them,” the victim told pros-ecutors.

The 20-year-old man re-vealed to prosecutors that they had robbed sever-al people using the same method.

The pair were arrested fol-lowing an extensive police investigation.

AlFanar Travel launched its exclusive loyalty programme Kabayan+, on the 14th February at Jawad Dome. Alfonso A Ver, Philippines Ambassador to Bahrain, inaugurated the event in the presence of Kareem Jawad, CEO, Alfanar Travel and Deputy CEO, Jawad Business Group; Deepak Janardanan, GM, Alfanar Travel, as well as representatives from Kabayan+ sponsors and airlines. For more details on Kabayan Plus card, call 17227114 or visit aftbahrain.com.

Kabayan Plus launched

Start-Up Bahrain Week to host innovators, investors • Week-long events provide insights into business-friendly Bahrain as regional centre for start-ups.

TDT | Manama

Under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al

Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander, Chairman of the Economic Development Board (EDB), Bahrain will host the next edition of Start-Up Bahrain Week – a series of inspirational events for entrepreneurs, inves-tors and businesses aimed at the dynamic start-up community.

Bahrain’s focus on shaping a regional hub for entrepreneurs, as part of its ongoing efforts to meet key goals within the Eco-nomic Vision 2030, comes under

the spotlight between 3 – 7 March 2019. With the region’s premier start-up forums organised by the EDB, strategic partner Tamkeen (Bahrain Labour Fund) and in collaboration with the start-up community in Bahrain.

The events will provide an envi-ronment for like-minded individu-als to network and learn about the

start-up ecosystem that has suc-cessfully been created by Bahrain thanks to its business-friendly eco-nomic and regulatory framework.

In a statement issued, Khalid Al Rumaihi, Chief Executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board, said: “Start-Up Bahrain Week promises to be a week-long of inspirational events for entre-

preneurs and investors that will encourage innovation and growth in the start-up ecosystem. Cur-rently, the regulatory climate we have cultivated, in recent years, has provided a solid foundation for the start-up community. We look forward to sharing knowledge, great ideas, and most important-ly the opportunities available in

Bahrain.”“We are now seeing our finan-

cial services sector transform due to technology and disruptive start-ups, and we hope to see technolo-gy and start-ups play a role in other sectors as well, such as Manufac-turing, taking us forward to the fourth industrial revolution.”

Dr Ebrahim Janahi, Chief Ex-

ecutive Officer of Tamkeen, said: “Tamkeen is delighted to once again be a strategic partner of Start-Up Bahrain Week. It under-lines our commitment to helping promising talent develop the right skills for the knowledge econo-my. These are skills that we need to encourage and develop within Bahrain and across the region.

“Start-Up Bahrain Week comes just weeks after Tamkeen an-nounced the region’s first talent programme specifically for the financial services and technolo-gy industry focused on training and developing Bahrainis in the FinTech space, one of the fastest growing start-up sectors.”

Start-Up Bahrain Week will at-tract key stakeholders including investors, corporates, accelerators, incubators, educational institu-tions and government agencies. More than 2,500 delegates are expected to attend the week-long events featuring over 20 speakers and two start-up competitions.

Golf tournament to raise funds for youth’s welfare TDT | ManamaHarpreet Kaur

AmCham Bahrain and IN-JAZ Bahrain announced the details of the upcom-

ing annual golf tournament at a Press conference held yesterday.

The one-day event golf tour-nament, to be held at the Royal Golf Club on 22nd of March, will be played under a Florida scram-ble format and will include many side contests and other enjoyable on-course offers followed by an award ceremony.

The press conference was attended by Shaikha Hessa bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Executive

Chairwoman of INJAZ Bahrain and Qays Zubi, President of Am-Cham Bahrain’s Board of Direc-

tors. It included David Caston, AmCham Board Director and Golf Committee Chair; Dr Ab-

dul Rahman Jawahery, President of GPIC and Talal Fuad Kanoo, Managing Director of Ebrahim K

Kanoo B.S.C.It is learnt that the funds col-

lected from sponsors and teams

taking part in the golf tournament will be donated to INJAZ Bahrain.

INJAZ Bahrain is an NGO that educates K-12 students about en-trepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy inspires and prepares youth to succeed in the global economy.

“This is an exclusive part-nership and collaboration with AmCham towards youth devel-opment. INJAZ Bahrain brings together education, the business world and communities to ensure we equip young minds with the skills they need to be the work-force we want,” Shaikha Hessa told Tribune.

Shaikha Hessa along with AmCham members and sponsors of the event.

Start-Up Bahrain Week promises to be a week-long of inspirational events for entrepreneurs and investors that will encourage innovation and growth in the start-up ecosystem. MR AL RUMAIHI

Tamkeen is delighted to once again be a strategic partner of Start-Up Bahrain Week. It underlines our commitment to helping promising talent develop the right, adequate skills. DR JANAHI

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 201905

BBK B.S.C- Interim Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements 31 December 2018

Murad Ali Murad Jassem Hasan Zainal Reyadh Yousif Sater

Chairman Deputy Chairman Chief Executive Above information available on www.bbkonline.com Audited by Ernst & Young

The consolidated statement of financial position, consolidated statement of profit or loss, consolidated statement of other comprehensive income, consolidated statement of changes in equity, consolidated statement of cash flows and segmental information have been extracted from the consolidated financial statements of BBK B.S.C. for the year ended 31 December 2018 which were audited by Ernst & Young who expressed an unqualified opinion on 18 February 2019.

Licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain as a conventional retail bank www.bbkonline.com

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS Year ended 31 December 2018BD ’000s

2018 2017Net cash (used in)/from operating activities (92,144) 97,658 Net cash (used in)/from investing activities (69,396) 22,683 Net cash used in financing activities (103,580) (47,274)Foreign currency translation adjustments - net (2,440) 2,287 NET CHANGE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS (267,560) 75,354 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the year 612,958 537,604 CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS AT END OF THE YEAR 345,398 612,958

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITIONAs at 31 December 2018BD ’000s

2018 2017ASSETSCash and balances with central banks 191,028 469,436

Treasury bills 410,380 427,130

Deposits and amounts due from banks and other financial institutions 239,174 223,824

Loans and advances to customers 1,772,528 1,740,651

Investment securities 800,263 748,985

Investments in associated companies and joint ventures 62,935 46,958

Interest receivable and other assets 77,849 79,680

Premises and equipment 27,543 26,436

TOTAL ASSETS 3,581,700 3,763,100

LIABILITIES AND EQUITYLiabilitiesDeposits and amounts due to banks and other financial institutions 258,676 193,472

Borrowings under repurchase agreement 198,997 161,314

Term borrowings 144,542 199,012

Customers' current, savings and other deposits 2,374,480 2,623,577

Interest payable and other liabilities 104,566 84,890

Total liabilities 3,081,261 3,262,265

EquityShare capital 108,165 108,165

Treasury stock (2,521) (998)

Perpetual tier 1 convertible capital securities 86,098 86,098

Share premium 41,016 41,016

Statutory reserve 54,082 54,082

General reserve 54,082 54,082

Cumulative changes in fair values (25,105) (8,349)

Foreign currency translation adjustments (11,711) (9,271)

Retained earnings 148,967 134,632

Proposed appropriations 44,617 39,161

ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE OWNERS OF THE BANK 497,690 498,618

Non-controlling interest 2,749 2,217

Total equity 500,439 500,835

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY 3,581,700 3,763,100

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF PROFIT OR LOSSYear ended 31 December 2018BD ’000s

2018 2017Interest and similar income 165,828 136,983 Interest and similar expense (55,878) (46,077)Net interest income 109,950 90,906 Fee and commission income - net 28,187 31,094 Other income 18,925 15,540 Total operating income 157,062 137,540 Staff costs (36,408) (34,659)Depreciation (3,654) (3,435)Other expenses (17,664) (15,914)Total operating expenses (57,726) (54,008)Net provision for credit impairment (35,048) (28,912)Net provision for impairment on investments (313) (98)Net operating income 63,975 54,522 Share of profit of associated companies and joint ventures 4,142 5,519 PROFIT FOR THE YEAR BEFORE TAXATION 68,117 60,041 Net tax provision (408) (810)PROFIT FOR THE YEAR 67,709 59,231 Attributable to:Owners of the Bank 67,118 58,685 Non-controlling interest 591 546

67,709 59,231 Basic earnings per share (BD) 0.056 0.048 Diluted earnings per share (BD) 0.052 0.045

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOMEYear ended 31 December 2018BD ’000s

2018 2017Profit for the year 67,709 59,231 Other comprehensive incomeItems that will not be reclassified to profit or lossFair value through other comprehensive income reserve

(equity instruments) 6,496 (8,466)Items that are or may be reclassified subsequently to profit or lossMovement in translation reserve:Foreign currency translation adjustments (2,440) 2,287 Movement in hedging reserve:Effective portion of changes in fair value 443 284 Movement in fair value reserve:Net change in fair value (21,266) 15,603 Net amount transferred to profit or loss (2,936) (3,427)

Other comprehensive (Loss)/Income for the year (19,703) 6,281 Total comprehensive income for the year 48,006 65,512 Attributable to:Owners of the Bank 47,415 64,966 Non-controlling interest 591 546

48,006 65,512

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITYYear ended 31 December 2018BD ’000s

Attributable to the owners of the Bank and capital securities’ holdersNon-

Share Retained Proposed controlling Total capital Others earnings appropriations Total interest equity

Balance at 1 January 2017 108,165 207,748 122,830 33,666 472,409 1,806 474,215

Profit for the year - - 58,685 - 58,685 546 59,231

Other comprehensive income for the year - 7,607 (1,326) - 6,281 - 6,281

Total comprehensive income - 7,607 57,359 - 64,966 546 65,512

Share - based payments - - 699 - 699 - 699

Distribution on perpetual tier 1 convertible capital securities - - (7,103) - (7,103) - (7,103)

Dividends paid - - - (32,266) (32,266) (135) (32,401)

Donations - - - (1,400) (1,400) - (1,400)

Movement in treasury stock - 1,305 - - 1,305 - 1,305

Unclaimed dividends - - 8 - 8 - 8

Proposed appropriations - - (39,161) 39,161 - - -

Balance at 31 December 2017 108,165 216,660 134,632 39,161 498,618 2,217 500,835

Profit for the year - - 67,118 - 67,118 591 67,709

Other comprehensive loss - (19,196) (507) - (19,703) - (19,703)

Total comprehensive income - (19,196) 66,611 - 47,415 591 48,006

Share-based payments - - (578) - (578) - (578)

Distribution on Perpetual tier 1 convertible capital securities - - (7,103) - (7,103) - (7,103)

Dividends paid - - - (37,761) (37,761) (210) (37,971)

Donations - - - (1,400) (1,400) - (1,400)

Movement in treasury stock - (1,523) - - (1,523) - (1,523)

Movement in non-controlling interest - - - - - 151 151

Unclaimed dividends - - 22 - 22 - 22

Proposed appropriations - - (44,617) 44,617 - - -

Balance at 31 December 2018 108,165 195,941 148,967 44,617 497,690 2,749 500,439

SEGMENTAL INFORMATIONYear ended 31 December 2018BD ’000s

31 December 2018 Retail bankingCorporate

bankingInternational

banking

Investment, treasury and

other activities TotalOperating income before share of profit of associated companies and joint ventures 53,205 31,867 26,088 45,902 157,062

Segment result 26,191 (9,197) 1,779 44,794 63,567Share of profit of associated companies and joint ventures 4,466 - - (324) 4,142

Profit for the year 67,709

Profit attributable to non-controlling interest (591)

Profit for the year attributable to the owners of the Bank 67,118

31 December 2017 Retail banking Corporate banking

International banking

Investment, treasury and

other activitiesTotal

Operating income before share of profit of associated companies and joint ventures 47,452 29,726 22,894 37,468 137,540

Segment result 17,093 (2,344) 1,987 36,976 53,712 Share of profit of associated companies and joint ventures 5,448 - - 71 5,519

Profit for the year 59,231

Profit attributable to non-controlling interest (546)

Profit for the year attributable to the owners of the Bank 58,685

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

4,000

3,500

3,000

2,500

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

0

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

3,501

72

359

3,646

73

361

3,703

86

474

3,7633,582

11091

501 500

67

Total Assets (BD Millions)

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Net Interest Income (BD Millions)80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

5053 56 59

Net Profit (BD Millions)

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Equity (BD Millions)

06

world


Saudi vows to ‘de-escalate’ tensions

• Saudi signed $20 billion in investment deals

• Crown Prince to receive the country’s highest civilian award, the Nishan-e-Pakistan (Order of Pakistan)

AFP | Islamabad, Pakistan

Saudi Arabia vowed to “de-es-calate” rising tensions be-

tween Pakistan and India dur-ing a high-profile summit in Islamabad yesterday as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman prepares to travel from Islama-bad to New Delhi.

The kingdom’s foreign min-ister spoke at a press confer-ence in Islamabad as Pakistan recalled its envoy from Delhi for “consultations”, the latest development in a fresh diplo-matic crisis between the nucle-ar-armed neighbours.

“Our objective is to try to de-escalate tensions between the two countries, neighbour-ing countries, and to see if there is a path forward to resolving those differences peacefully,” said Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.

The pledge came as the crown prince, widely known as “MBS”, prepared to head for India later Monday, at the con-clusion of his two-day visit to Pakistan.

After his arrival late Sun-day, MBS signed $20 billion in investment deals with cash-strapped Islamabad and vowed to free thousands of Pakistani prisoners in Saudi custody.

Islamabad is facing a serious balance of payments crisis and hopes the huge deals signed over the two-day visit -- sev-en separate agreements and memorandums of understand-

ing -- will boost its struggling economy.

Pakistan has laid on a lavish welcome for the crown prince, including a 21-gun salute, fight-er jet escort, and honour guard.

He was also due to receive the country’s highest civilian award Monday, the Nishan-e-Paki-stan (Order of Pakistan), before heading to India to meet with

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. MBS is staging a three-coun-

try Asian tour just five months after the murder of journal-ist Jamal Khashoggi, a fierce critic, at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul ignited a diplomatic crisis.

After India, he is expected to finish with two days in China on Thursday and Friday.

9 killed in new Kashmir battle

• New losses in fierce battle with militants

• Army major was amoung the dead

• Firefight ongoing in the village of Pinglan

Srinagar, India

Indian troops suffered new losses yesterday in a battle

with Kashmir militants that left nine dead, officials said.

Several hours of shooting rocked the Pulwama district, south of Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar, after officials said four soldiers, a policeman, three militants and a civilian were killed in the latest clash.

An army major was among the dead, along with three mil-itants from the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group which claimed last week’s attack, military and po-lice officials said.

Six senior army men includ-ing a brigadier and a lieuten-ant colonel were injured in the hours-long gun battle, a police official said.

“A police dep- u t y i n -s p e c t o r g e n e r -a l h a s

also suffered injuries,” the official said.

The identity of the militants was not revealed but local media reports said one of those killed was Abdul Rashid Gazi, a Pakistani na-tional whose role in Thursday’s attack was being probed by in-vestigators.

Hundreds of soldiers raided villages and fired warning shots at a suspected militant hideout, unleashing the firefight in the village of Pinglan late Sunday.

Images showed flames and smoke billowing out of one of the residential houses in the area. Government forces have launched a massive hunt since an explosives-packed van struck the convoy transporting 2,500 security

men close to

Pinglan on Thursday. A video on so -

c i a l m e d i a purported-ly shows a

p r e - r e c o r d -ed message by the 20-year-old Kashmi-

ri suicide b o m b e r w a r n i n g

of more attacks.India accuses Pakistan

of harbouring the JeM group, a charge Islamabad denies.

With tensions mounting, Is-lamabad recalled its envoy to New Delhi for “consultations” while Indian Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi called for greater international action against “terrorism”.

“The cruel terrorist attack in Pulwana shows that time for talks is over,” Modi said af-ter a meeting with Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri in New Delhi.

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (C) reviews a guard of honor at the Prime Minister House in Islamabad

An Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter aircraft fires missiles on dummy targets during the IAF ‘Yayu Shakti’ fire power demonstration at Pokharan, in the Rajasthan state

Clouds of smoke rise as Indian paratroopers jump from an AN-32 aircraft during the IAF ’Yayu Shakti’ fire power demonstration at Pokharan

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan (R) greets Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (L) upon his arrival at the military Nur Khan Air Force base in Islamabad

This handout photograph released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) shows Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri (R) and wife Juliana Awada (L) with their daughter Antonia during a visit the Taj Mahal in Agra. Macri is on a three-day state visit to India.

M o m e n t s t o c h e r i s h

AFP | Istanbul, Turkey

Concerned for the health of a black cat roaming around the university

campus where she works, Mev-lude dropped off the feline at the veterinary clinic for street animals run by the Istanbul mu-nicipality.

Visitors to the Turkish city, who admire its centuries-old mosques and Ottoman palaces, are often surprised to see cats and dogs making themselves at home on the streets, and watch them taking the best seats in cafes and restaurants without a care for the world.

Like Mevlude, many Istan-bul residents try to help these four-legged friends in their neighbourhood, putting out bowls of food and offering shel-ter by their doors or windows.

Now Istanbul officials are in-creasing efforts to ensure the good health of the street ani-mals, and thereby of the resi-dents who come into contact with them.

That care can be seen at the “Vetbus”, where Mevlude brought the black cat because one of its eyes had been closed for several days.

The bus is a mobile clinic sta-tioned for several days in differ-ent neighbourhoods around the Turkish metropolis.

“We often get in touch with the municipality when we see animals who are in need of care,” Mevlude said, once reassured over the cat’s health whose eyes were now wide open.

“People generally bring the animals that they take care of... so that they are given anti-par-asite” treatment, said Nihan Dincer, a veterinarian working for the Istan-bul Metropoli-

tan Municipality (IBB).And “because people are in

constant contact with them, they are also protected”, she added.

Islamic tradition

The attention given by Istan-bul residents to caring for street animals partly “comes from the Islamic tradition, and part of it... comes from the structuring of the public space in the Otto-man Empire,” Mine Yildirim, a doctoral candidate at the New School for Social Research in New York, said.

In Ottoman times, people moved between home, the mosque and the market. The streets were the space for the dogs, the researcher said.

Then in the early 20th century there were extermination poli-cies like in the West, and even in the 1990s city officials would put poison on the streets to kill animals, said Yildirim, coordina-tor of the collective “Dort Ayakli Sehir” (Four-legged City).

But an animal protection law passed in 2004 forced munic-ipalities to take care of street animals.

In Istanbul, as well as the mobile clinic, IBB maintains six health centres.

The aim is to vaccinate, ster-ilise and take care of around 130,000 dogs and 165,000 cats who live on the streets, accord-ing to the municipality.

The animals, fitted with a mi-crochip, are then taken back to where they were found, except those which are adopted by in-dividuals during their stay at the health centres.

Due to the development of these services, the municipali-ty has cared for 73,608 animals in 2018 -- that

compares with only 2,470 back in 2004.

There hasn’t been a single case of rabies in Istanbul since 2016, according to the municipality which employs 100 veterinari-ans and veterinary technicians.

While the municipality re-fused to say how much the ser-vices cost, Agriculture and For-ests Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said last month that his ministry has provided 31 million Turkish lira (around $6 million) of sup-port to local authorities across Turkey for the care of street an-imals between 2009 and 2018.

“If people knew how much money was spent on these ser-vices, maybe people would be more upset, but these figures are not disclosed,” Yildirim com-mented.

PuppiesWhile animals living on Istan-

bul’s streets are often well fed, in the forests surrounding the city, “animals don’t have a place to feed themselves,” Umut Demir, also a veterinarian at IBB, said during a patrol in Belgrade For-est on Istanbul’s European side.

So around a tonne of food is distributed each day by vans dis-patched full of dry food, towards which dogs come running after hearing the horn.

According to Tugce Demirlek, chief veterinar-ian at Sultan-gazi district health cen-tre, the fact that the ani-mals are well fed and cared for ensures that they are calm and limits any ag-

gressive behaviour.But the number of dogs has

remained fairly stable in the past few years despite sterilisation

efforts. “We sterilise them systematically, but the an-

imals that we do not catch continue to

reproduce,” s h e e x -

plained.Puppies continue to be born

every year in Istanbul, like a small golden puppy only 40 days old, that was found alone, whim-pering, on the side of a road.

Once examined and chipped, the dog is put up for adoption, its picture displayed in the Vetbus.

One recent afternoon, the puppy attracted a lot of atten-tion, but it still has not found a home.

“We will try our luck again tomorrow,” Dincer said.

A veterinarian of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality checks stray dogs as workers feed them


The Vetbus is pictured at Rumelihisari district in northern Istanbul.

Tugce Demirlek, chief veterinarian of the Sultangazi Health Center poses with a stray dog

A veterinarian checks a puppy at Sultangazi Health Center

Istanbul vets make city’s stray animals feel at home

Stray dogs at t Sariyer, northern Istanbul

People look at a puppy presentend in a showcase on a Vetbus for adaption


Hon. Chairman Najeb Yacob Alhamer | Editor-in-Chief Mahmood AI Mahmood | Deputy Editor-in-Chief Ahdeya Ahmed | Chairman & Managing Director 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

VIRGINIA LOPEZ-GLASS

I’d seen the black and white photos of German children using bundles of money as

building blocks during the Wei-mar Republic. I’d read about the skyrocketing price of bread in Zimbabwe, and how people were carrying their cash in wheelbar-rows. But nothing you read can prepare you for life with hyper-inflation.

In the Weimar Republic hyper-inflation was largely the result of reparation: payments imposed on Germany after World War I. In Zimbabwe it was the result of Robert Mugabe’s land reform policy and the drop in food pro-duction and foreign investment that followed.

But in Venezuela it has been the result of two decades of gross economic mismanagement, prof-ligate public spending, govern-ment debt despite a historic oil windfall and epic corruption.

What was once the most pros-perous country in the region is now a man-made disaster.

As Venezuela’s political crisis reaches new heights and inter-national pressure mounts against Nicolás Maduro, hyperinflation and the hunger it has sown could worsen. But they could also prove to be the force that hastens his exit from power. In the end, hy-

perinflation spares no one.Inflation in Venezuela began

to creep up slowly after Madu-ro rose to power in 2013. As a journalist, I began to report on how it, along with chronic food shortages, was one of the reasons life had become so hard in 2014.

Price controls meant that sub-sidised food disappeared from shelves. If and when you found cooking oil, corn flour or sugar, you could offset the cost of more expensive food by reselling the cheap goods in the black market or across the border. It became such a profitable business that a new job soon emerged. Bach-aqueros, or ant-traders, would carry anything from soap to pow-dered milk to Colombia and make five times as much in a day as in a month at their formal jobs.

As shelves were bled dry in this scheme, Maduro blamed “economic warfare waged from abroad.” The government sup-porters that stood in mile-long queues outside food shops still believed him then.

By 2015, Venezuela had the worst inflation rate in the world. Some food items have never made it back on the shelves. Shop owners started using mon-ey-counting machines.

People carried bags full of cash. By 2016, the inflation rate hit over 700 per cent.

At the time, I interviewed Hugo Lugo, a collector of rare coins and old bills. At his numis-matic shop, Lugo, a self-taught amateur historian, told me that what had begun as a hobby had

become a painful reminder of the turn the country had taken. Next to rare bills used during the country’s best years — and now protected carefully by plas-tic vault like envelopes — was a glass shelf where crinkled, more recent notes had been carelessly shoved. Printed less than three years before, he said, they were now worthless.

By late 2017, the inflation rate exceeded 50pc a month. It was a turning point: Economists sig-nalled that we were officially in hyperinflation. Inflation is bad, but hyperinflation is a totally different game.

Hyperinflation hits the poorest the hardest. Venezuelans have reported losing on average 24 pounds in body weight. Nearly 90pc now live in poverty. In the slums of Caracas, I visited moth-ers who have gone from reducing their children’s portions to hav-ing them skip meals altogether.

Marilyn Alma, a mother of three, had to give up custody of her eldest child because she can no longer feed him. One week, a dozen eggs cost Alba three days of wages; the next week, the cost doubles. Eggs, the cheapest source of protein, are now a distant dream for the vast majority of people. Alma, who had once been a staunch government supporter, told me, “Maduro betrayed this country.”

The professional class has also been affected. In middle-class neighbourhoods large super-markets previously stocked with imported goods are now half

stocked with cheaper versions. Professionals can only afford two or three food items, and retirees often must leave behind products they can no longer afford. Their life savings and pensions are sud-denly worthless.

Hyperinflation has also meant a brain drain. Young engineers or doctors are now working as wait-ers in Bogotá, Colombia, or as store clerks in Lima, Peru. “The

WE SHALL NEVER KNOW ALL THE GOOD THAT A SIMPLE SMILE CAN DO. MOTHER TERESA

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Nothing can prepare you for life with

hyperinflationFood shortages

and an unrelenting surge in prices are overwhelming

Venezuelans. They could prove to be the force that spurs

Maduro’s exit from power

BORHAN OSMAN

The United States and the Taliban made substantial progress in peace talks in

late January after coming to a basic understanding about with-drawing American troops in re-turn for Taliban commitments to prevent Afghanistan from be-coming a safe haven for transna-tional terrorists. An agreement between the United States and the Taliban has been long over-due and is the way out of a war without victory.

The fear of Afghanistan-based terrorists attacking the United States has been the key reason for keeping American troops in the country and keeping the Taliban out of power, but it is rooted more in perception than in reality.

The transnational terrorist threat from Afghanistan has been exaggerated. For years, I have puzzled over claims from American and Afghan officials that 20 terrorist groups operate in Afghanistan. Ashraf Ghani, the president of Afghanistan, portrayed the country as a “front line” in the global fight against terrorism. These statements make the Afghan conflict appear terribly chaotic.

The reality is that the Afghan war is a two-sided struggle,

something increasingly rare in the fragmented landscape of modern warfare. The conflict in Afghanistan is simpler than the multi-factional wars in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen. Almost every battle in Afghanistan in-volves the Taliban fighting the government forces, which makes insurgency almost synonymous with the Taliban.

Foreign jihadi groups in Af-ghanistan grew, mutated and faded over the past two decades. Al Qaida dwindled from a potent force in southern and eastern Afghanistan to a peripheral actor. This happened partly because of the relentless American cam-paign against them and partly be-cause al-Qaida’s attention moved to the Middle East.

The decline of other mili-tant groups in Afghanistan has also resulted from the Taliban’s calculated effort to establish a near-monopoly over insurgent operations in the country. This could be observed when the Tal-iban declared a three-day cease-fire in June. No militants broke the cease-fire except for the Is-lamic State in Khorasan Prov-ince, or ISKP, a local franchise of the Islamic State. ISKP was born in 2015 partly in reaction to the Taliban’s purge of foreign jiha-di groups and its own hard-line commanders.

When the ISKP emerged in eastern Afghanistan, the Taliban was the first to move against it. The Taliban was one of the three forces alongside the United States military and Afghan gov-ernment forces whose sustained offensive against ISKP confined it to a handful of districts in the

remote eastern mountains, al-though it has shown resilience.

Hunted and isolated, ISKP is the biggest non-state group after the Taliban; the other “20 terror-ist groups” have little strength, reach or operational capabili-ty. More than half are local Pa-kistani groups, some are long

defunct, and others regularly change their ideology and brand-ing. Most of them target Shia or Christian minorities in Pakistan and occasionally Indians.

Others are weak and divid-ed Central Asian organisations, driven mostly by hostility to their repressive states rather than the

West. Some of these groups have a mere 20 or 30 members. There is no public evidence that apart from the remnants of al-Qaeda and ISKP, any militant group in Afghanistan has actively threat-ened the United States. Not a single attack against the United States or Europe by any of these groups has been publicly linked to Afghanistan since 2001.

Critics of the American ne-gotiations with the Taliban are questioning whether the Talib-an’s assurances to not allow any terrorist acts against the United States and its allies from Afghan-istan can be trusted.

The Taliban — like any group or state — can be expected to act in their own interests. Instead of trying to evaluate their trustwor-thiness, the more relevant ques-tions are: Do the Taliban have their own reasons for excluding terrorist groups from Afghani-stan? Do they have the capability to do so?

I have observed the evolution of the Taliban’s relations with transnational jihadi groups on the ground. The Taliban’s full-throat-ed fight against the Islamic State franchisee in Afghanistan shows their will and capability to coun-ter a jihadi group that they con-sider a competitor.

The Taliban are a nationalist and traditionalist group with no

Why a deal with the Taliban will prevent attacks on America?Taliban members have come to see Al Qaeda and the Islamic State as a threat to their cause



VIRGINIA LOPEZ-GLASS

I’d seen the black and white photos of German children using bundles of money as

building blocks during the Wei-mar Republic. I’d read about the skyrocketing price of bread in Zimbabwe, and how people were carrying their cash in wheelbar-rows. But nothing you read can prepare you for life with hyper-inflation.

In the Weimar Republic hyper-inflation was largely the result of reparation: payments imposed on Germany after World War I. In Zimbabwe it was the result of Robert Mugabe’s land reform policy and the drop in food pro-duction and foreign investment that followed.

But in Venezuela it has been the result of two decades of gross economic mismanagement, prof-ligate public spending, govern-ment debt despite a historic oil windfall and epic corruption.

What was once the most pros-perous country in the region is now a man-made disaster.

As Venezuela’s political crisis reaches new heights and inter-national pressure mounts against Nicolás Maduro, hyperinflation and the hunger it has sown could worsen. But they could also prove to be the force that hastens his exit from power. In the end, hy-

perinflation spares no one.Inflation in Venezuela began

to creep up slowly after Madu-ro rose to power in 2013. As a journalist, I began to report on how it, along with chronic food shortages, was one of the reasons life had become so hard in 2014.

Price controls meant that sub-sidised food disappeared from shelves. If and when you found cooking oil, corn flour or sugar, you could offset the cost of more expensive food by reselling the cheap goods in the black market or across the border. It became such a profitable business that a new job soon emerged. Bach-aqueros, or ant-traders, would carry anything from soap to pow-dered milk to Colombia and make five times as much in a day as in a month at their formal jobs.

As shelves were bled dry in this scheme, Maduro blamed “economic warfare waged from abroad.” The government sup-porters that stood in mile-long queues outside food shops still believed him then.

By 2015, Venezuela had the worst inflation rate in the world. Some food items have never made it back on the shelves. Shop owners started using mon-ey-counting machines.

People carried bags full of cash. By 2016, the inflation rate hit over 700 per cent.

At the time, I interviewed Hugo Lugo, a collector of rare coins and old bills. At his numis-matic shop, Lugo, a self-taught amateur historian, told me that what had begun as a hobby had

become a painful reminder of the turn the country had taken. Next to rare bills used during the country’s best years — and now protected carefully by plas-tic vault like envelopes — was a glass shelf where crinkled, more recent notes had been carelessly shoved. Printed less than three years before, he said, they were now worthless.

By late 2017, the inflation rate exceeded 50pc a month. It was a turning point: Economists sig-nalled that we were officially in hyperinflation. Inflation is bad, but hyperinflation is a totally different game.

Hyperinflation hits the poorest the hardest. Venezuelans have reported losing on average 24 pounds in body weight. Nearly 90pc now live in poverty. In the slums of Caracas, I visited moth-ers who have gone from reducing their children’s portions to hav-ing them skip meals altogether.

Marilyn Alma, a mother of three, had to give up custody of her eldest child because she can no longer feed him. One week, a dozen eggs cost Alba three days of wages; the next week, the cost doubles. Eggs, the cheapest source of protein, are now a distant dream for the vast majority of people. Alma, who had once been a staunch government supporter, told me, “Maduro betrayed this country.”

The professional class has also been affected. In middle-class neighbourhoods large super-markets previously stocked with imported goods are now half

stocked with cheaper versions. Professionals can only afford two or three food items, and retirees often must leave behind products they can no longer afford. Their life savings and pensions are sud-denly worthless.

Hyperinflation has also meant a brain drain. Young engineers or doctors are now working as wait-ers in Bogotá, Colombia, or as store clerks in Lima, Peru. “The

WE SHALL NEVER KNOW ALL THE GOOD THAT A SIMPLE SMILE CAN DO. MOTHER TERESA

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Nothing can prepare you for life with

hyperinflationFood shortages

and an unrelenting surge in prices are overwhelming

Venezuelans. They could prove to be the force that spurs

Maduro’s exit from power

BORHAN OSMAN

The United States and the Taliban made substantial progress in peace talks in

late January after coming to a basic understanding about with-drawing American troops in re-turn for Taliban commitments to prevent Afghanistan from be-coming a safe haven for transna-tional terrorists. An agreement between the United States and the Taliban has been long over-due and is the way out of a war without victory.

The fear of Afghanistan-based terrorists attacking the United States has been the key reason for keeping American troops in the country and keeping the Taliban out of power, but it is rooted more in perception than in reality.

The transnational terrorist threat from Afghanistan has been exaggerated. For years, I have puzzled over claims from American and Afghan officials that 20 terrorist groups operate in Afghanistan. Ashraf Ghani, the president of Afghanistan, portrayed the country as a “front line” in the global fight against terrorism. These statements make the Afghan conflict appear terribly chaotic.

The reality is that the Afghan war is a two-sided struggle,

something increasingly rare in the fragmented landscape of modern warfare. The conflict in Afghanistan is simpler than the multi-factional wars in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen. Almost every battle in Afghanistan in-volves the Taliban fighting the government forces, which makes insurgency almost synonymous with the Taliban.

Foreign jihadi groups in Af-ghanistan grew, mutated and faded over the past two decades. Al Qaida dwindled from a potent force in southern and eastern Afghanistan to a peripheral actor. This happened partly because of the relentless American cam-paign against them and partly be-cause al-Qaida’s attention moved to the Middle East.

The decline of other mili-tant groups in Afghanistan has also resulted from the Taliban’s calculated effort to establish a near-monopoly over insurgent operations in the country. This could be observed when the Tal-iban declared a three-day cease-fire in June. No militants broke the cease-fire except for the Is-lamic State in Khorasan Prov-ince, or ISKP, a local franchise of the Islamic State. ISKP was born in 2015 partly in reaction to the Taliban’s purge of foreign jiha-di groups and its own hard-line commanders.

When the ISKP emerged in eastern Afghanistan, the Taliban was the first to move against it. The Taliban was one of the three forces alongside the United States military and Afghan gov-ernment forces whose sustained offensive against ISKP confined it to a handful of districts in the

remote eastern mountains, al-though it has shown resilience.

Hunted and isolated, ISKP is the biggest non-state group after the Taliban; the other “20 terror-ist groups” have little strength, reach or operational capabili-ty. More than half are local Pa-kistani groups, some are long

defunct, and others regularly change their ideology and brand-ing. Most of them target Shia or Christian minorities in Pakistan and occasionally Indians.

Others are weak and divid-ed Central Asian organisations, driven mostly by hostility to their repressive states rather than the

West. Some of these groups have a mere 20 or 30 members. There is no public evidence that apart from the remnants of al-Qaeda and ISKP, any militant group in Afghanistan has actively threat-ened the United States. Not a single attack against the United States or Europe by any of these groups has been publicly linked to Afghanistan since 2001.

Critics of the American ne-gotiations with the Taliban are questioning whether the Talib-an’s assurances to not allow any terrorist acts against the United States and its allies from Afghan-istan can be trusted.

The Taliban — like any group or state — can be expected to act in their own interests. Instead of trying to evaluate their trustwor-thiness, the more relevant ques-tions are: Do the Taliban have their own reasons for excluding terrorist groups from Afghani-stan? Do they have the capability to do so?

I have observed the evolution of the Taliban’s relations with transnational jihadi groups on the ground. The Taliban’s full-throat-ed fight against the Islamic State franchisee in Afghanistan shows their will and capability to coun-ter a jihadi group that they con-sider a competitor.

The Taliban are a nationalist and traditionalist group with no


C I V I L I A N ’ S T R I B U N E


TOP

4TWEETS

01

Reuters says that Russian contractors

“who do secret missions for Russia” have been deployed to Venezuela to protect Maduro, an important Kremlin pri-ority. Any theories on why Putin isn’t using his “leverage” over Trump to stop his regime change efforts?

@ggreenwald

03

If I saw a Republican President achieve the

lowest ever black unem-ployment rate, a 500% increase in black owned businesses, sign prison reform, pardon wrong-ly convicted people of color, and win back the black vote, I would be desperate to believe fab-ricated hate crimes too

@charliekirk11

In 2017, 51 million chil-dren suffered from

acute malnutrition, 80-90% have no access to treatment. We have an ef-fective treatment – now we need the efficient sys-tem to match.

@richardbranson

04

02

History will condemn McConnell for his

shameful role in making the Senate an adjunct of the presidency and there-by undermining constitu-tional democracy.

@tribelaw

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

editorial stances)

worst part is that they send back money to help us,” Melani Delga-do, whose two sons have left, told me recently as she fought back tears. A part-time dentist, Del-gado said she could once afford to send her children to private university on her salary. Today remittances are fast becoming a lifeline for those left behind. “This government broke up the Venezuelan family and turned

parents into parasites,” she said.If you belong to the dwindling

minority that has access to dol-lars, you can somewhat offset the rise in prices with the surge in the black-market exchange. You may be able to survive, but it’s impossible to plan for something that changes every day. To adapt to the destruction all around you.

For those with access to dol-lars, living with hyperinflation is

demoralising. At 6,000 bolívars (the equivalent of $2, or one third of the minimum monthly wage), a pound of butter is obscene-ly expensive. Paying $30 for a 17-ounce bottle of olive oil feels criminal. Today this bottle costs the equivalent of five times the minimum wage, but that’s likely to change tomorrow. “Beating the system” feels like you are eviscerating your country’s econ-

omy.In a hyper-inflationary econ-

omy, buying food becomes your one and only priority. But even for those in the business of sell-ing food, hyperinflation is a los-ing game. Strict price controls mean that producing, distribut-ing or commercialising food is either going to lead you to bank-ruptcy or if you sell at a profit, to jail.

“If people feel their salaries are evaporating, I feel the work of two generations of my fami-ly could vanish overnight,” the owner of a supermarket, who asked to remain anonymous, told me. Scores of executives, man-agers and employees in the food distribution business have been imprisoned on charges of price manipulation, hoarding food or conspiring against the govern-ment. Speaking to the media or even allowing journalists to film inside stores can also land you

in jail.A recent move to slash five

zeros off the previous currency became obsolete within months. Venezuela now has two curren-cies simultaneously in circula-tion — the strong bolívar and the sovereign bolívar — both of which are worthless.

Venezuela’s economic collapse is fast becoming an international conflict. Maduro’s inability to tackle an economic crisis with rampant shortages of food and medicine has fuelled a human-itarian crisis where hundreds of people, like Hugo Lugo the numismatic, have died of pre-ventable diseases.

This humanitarian crisis, in turn, has led to the exodus of more than three million, like Delgado, the part-time dentist, who has since joined her sons abroad. It is the worst migration crisis the Americas has seen in this century and one that our neighbours can no longer resist.

While a growing number of countries condemn Maduro as illegitimate, the queues outside food shops or at the border only grow longer. More than 80pc of Venezuelans want Maduro to re-sign. Like Alma, they blame him and no longer “economic war-fare” for destroying the coun-try. For Maduro, hyperinflation is the force that is rallying half the world and his entire country against him.

(Virginia Lopez-Glass has covered Ven-ezuela and Latin America extensively

for international media.)

2001A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg) is recorded at Tosontsengel, Khövsgöl, Mongolia.

2001Argentine economic crisis: December riots: Riots erupt in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

2012Park Geun-hye is elected the first female president of South Korea.

2013Spacecraft Gaia is launched by European Space Agency.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY

If you belong to the dwindling minority that has

access to dollars, you can somewhat offset the rise in prices with the surge in the

black-market exchange.

transnational ambitions; these features of Taliban ideology have strengthened over the past four years since the emergence of the ISKP. The Taliban leadership has purged commanders whose ide-ology did not align with their own in recent years.

Because the Taliban have struck tactical compromises with al-Qaida in the past, an impor-tant question is whether the Tal-iban will again offer hospitality to al Qaida or fail to prevent its resurgence after an American withdrawal.

After hundreds of conver-sations with Taliban figures, I concluded that both the prag-matists and the former champi-ons of Osama bin Laden within

the Taliban have grown weary of al-Qaida and its ideology.

Harbouring transnational ji-hadist groups cost the Taliban their government and sparked a bloody war. Many Taliban mem-bers have come to see al Qaida as a threat to their cause. There is now little sympathy in the Tal-iban’s internal discussions for any transnational jihadi group, which is a remarkable break from the Taliban’s ambivalent attitude toward global jihadism a decade ago.

A clear and public rejection of al-Qaida and other transnation-al jihadi groups, with verifiable commitments to prevent them from resurfacing, must follow as part of a political settlement. An agreement with the Taliban that brings them into the Afghan political mainstream would cre-ate an opportunity to harness their interests in and capability to deal with any resurgent terrorist groups.

A Taliban that has made com-mitments against terrorism to join an Afghan government could be a more effective barrier against terror attacks in the West than keeping troops in Afghanistan and fighting an unending war.

(Borhan Osman is a senior analyst for Afghanistan at the International Crisis

Group.)


The Taliban leadership has purged commanders whose ideology did not align with their own in recent years. It is becoming clear that

nei ther Congress nor Mexico is going to fund

Donald Trump’s wall on the US southern border.

I would like to suggest that our president, since he so bad-ly wants the wall, chip in $1 billion of his own money to get the project started. Then he can start a GoFundMe page and reap billions of dollars from his MAGA hat-wearing constituents, who I’m sure would be willing to contrib-ute a week’s pay to secure our southern border.

If conservative-minded Alaskans would donate their PFDs, they could have a beau-tiful wall that they could all be proud of and wouldn’t have to feel the guilt of taking that socialist handout. Seems like a win-win situation!

President Trump has re-peatedly stated he wants all immigrants who want to come to this country to come here, but they have to come here legally, not sneak across our border illegally in the dark of night.

If we don’t regulate who comes into our country you will have more crime than we can control. Drugs are pour-ing into this country already

and killing innocent Ameri-cans, illegals killing innocent Americans, MS-13 gangs kill-ing innocent Americans, child molesters, human traffickers, the scourge of the world.

Then there are all the dis-eases some bring here. It also

gives potential terrorists an opportunity to infiltrate and possibly cause another 9/11. It’s more than obvious why you would protect these crim-inals and murderers instead of Americans.

Steve

Let Trump pay for the wall

10

business


Grant Thornton names Nomaan senior Manager

TDT | Manama

Grant Thornton, Bahrain announced appointing

Mohammad Nomaan as a Senior Manager in its Advi-sory Services.

Mohammad Nomaan has over 14 years of experience spread across Financial Ad-visory, Corporate Finance and Equity Research. Pre-viously working with Big 4 Audit firm in Transactions Advisory Services, Nomaan was actively involved in nu-merous M&A assignments.

Mohammad Nomaan

Security1 wins ‘Best Partner’ award

TDT | Manama

Security 1, a division of Ebra-him K. Kanoo, has won the

‘Best Partner’ award from Unit-ed Technology Corporation (UTC) during the Intersec 2019 trade fair held in Dubai.

A Security 1 delegation was present at Intersec; the world’s leading annual trade fair for se-curity, safety & fire protection, to accept the award on behalf of the company.

Security 1 represent the

Edward fire alarm system and the Lenel Access Control System in Bahrain on behalf of UTC Fire & Security since 2007, a leading global provid-er of fire safety and security solutions.

Security 1 General Manager Ramgopal Menon highlighted the importance of the award stating; “We are very proud of this award which further underlines Security 1’s com-mitment to our customers and our partner brands. 2018 was a successful year for Security

1 and especially for our UTC products.”

Security 1 is a division of Ebrahim K. Kanoo and is a se-curity-focused company that provides specialized turnkey ELV (extra low voltage) solu-tions in the areas of access con-trol, fire alarm, fire suppression, video surveillance, intrusion detection, including building management system and home automation requirements for all governmental, commercial, industrial and residential pro-jects.

Officials with the award

Solidarity appoints Digital Transformation ManagerTDT | Manama

Solidarity Bahrain, one of the largest insurance

companies in Bahrain has announced yesterday the appointment of Jalal Aqelah as Digital Transformation Manager

Aqelah joined Solidari-ty Group in 2008 and has been heading the Corporate Communications & Mar-keting department since 2010. Aqelah holds a CIM certificate from Chartered Institute of Marketing UK, and BSc in Banking & Fi-nance from The University of Bahrain.

Jalal Aqelah, Digital Transformation Manager

BBK nets 14.4pc growth • BBK board recommended a cash dividend of 40 per cent of the share capital

• Net interest income grew by 20.9 pc

• Quarterly profit rose 35.4pc

TDT | Manama

BBK yesterday reported a 14.4 per cent rise in its 2018 annual growth from

a year ago helped by various factors including increasing in-terest rate environment as well as growth achieved in the retail banking assets.

BBK board also recommend-ed a cash dividend of 40 per cent of the share capital, equiv-alent to 40 fils per share to the shareholders registered at the date of the AGM, subject to the approvals.

Reyadh Sater, BBK’s CE said: “BBK has maintained its record of sustained profitability and achieved growth of 14.4 per cent in 2018.”

Net profit attributable to the owners of the bank was BD 67.1 million, compared to BD 58.7m in the previous year.

The increase in the net profit was attributed partly to increas-ing interest rate environment, and partly due to the growth achieved in the retail bank-ing assets by 9.1pc to reach BD 681.0m (2017: BD 624.3m), in-creasing the retail banking prof-its by 33.5pc to reach BD 30.1m (2017: BD 22.5m).

Operating profit (excluding net provisions and tax) during

the year rose to BD103.5m, com-pared to BD89.1m last year, with an increase of 16.2pc.

Operat ing revenue was B D 1 6 1 . 2 m , c o m p a r e d t o BD143.1m in last year, with an increase of 12.7 pc.

Basic Earnings per share in-creased to 56 fils compared to 48 fils last year.

Net loans and advances grown marginally by 1.8pc in 2018 to reach BD 1,772.5m compared to BD 1,740.7m as end of December 2017.

Investment securities port-folio increased by 6.8pc to stand at BD800.3m compared to BD749.0m as end of Decem-ber 2017.

Customer deposit portfolio stood at BD2,374.5m compared to BD 2,623.6m, while the loans to customer deposits ratio stood at a comfortable level of 74.6 pc (2017: 66.3 pc).

Net interest income grew by 20.9 pc which was driven by the increase in loans and invest-ments portfolio, in addition to improving interest rate environ-ment which resulted in higher

margins. Non-interest income (Fees

and Commission Income and Other income) also increased marginally by 1.0pc due to high-er income received from div-idends of equity investments.

Net provisioning require-ments was increased to BD35.4m for the year 2018 (BD29.0m last year) to cater for expected cred-it loss mandated by IFRS 9, as well as the conservative pro-visioning policies followed by the bank.

Total comprehensive income attributable to owners of the bank for the year ended 31st December 2018 amounted to BD47.4m compared to BD65.0m during last year. Other compre-hensive income has been im-pacted negatively by the insta-bility and volatility in financial markets which led to unrealized negative valuations on invest-ment securities and foreign cur-rency translation adjustments.

For the fourth quarter, net profit attributable to the own-ers of the bank was BD18.7m, compared to BD13.8m in the year

earlier quarter, with an increase of 35.4 pc.

The increase was mainly due to the healthy increase in Net interest income by 28.2pc due to improvement in interest rate en-vironment, active balance sheet management and deployment of resources in higher yielding assets such as loan and advances and investment securities.

Operating profit (excluding net provisions and tax) for the quarter was BD27.9m, compared to BD 21.1m in the year ago quar-ter, with an increase of 32.2 pc.

The bank achieved BD 42.2m operating revenues, compared to BD35.5m in the correspond-ing quarter of last year, with an increase of 18.9pc.

Basic Earnings per share were 14 fils compared to 10 fils in the fourth quarter of last year.

Commenting of the re-sults, the Board of Directors said that BBK’s new three-year strategic plan has now been fi-nalised, following an internal process supported by interna-tionally recognized strategy consultants.

Murad Ali Murad, BBK, Chairman Reyadh Sater, BBK, CE

bwallet launches new services• Added International Money Transfer and International Mobile Top Up

TDT | Manama

Batelco and Arab Finan-cial Services (AFS), have

launched two new services on the digital mobile wallet bwal-let: International Money Trans-fer and International Mobile Top Up.

The new services, accord-ing to Batelco, allows users to send money to bank accounts, eWallets or individuals in Bang-ladesh, Egypt, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines and Sri Lanka – all with the click of a button on their phones. Addi-tional countries will be added in the coming months.

Bwallet uses the innovative Mastercard Send payment service. The first of its kind in the Kingdom, Mastercard’s cross-border push payments platform facilitates the delivery

of funds quickly and securely. bwallet users can now top up

any international prepaid mo-bile phone account. The service is available in over 100 different countries, including neighbour-ing GCC states, and with almost 700 different operators across the globe.

Batelco General Manager En-terprise Abderrahmane Mounir said, “We are working very closely with our partners to add features that deliver value to

mobile users for global services, and we aim to add additional new services in the future to engage our customers and de-liver further enhancements and convenience.”

AFS Chief Executive Officer, B Chandrasekhar said: “We look forward to having bwallet users embrace these new, inno-vative, technology-driven solu-tions and hope to roll out many more such innovative offerings in the coming months.”

B Chandrasekhar Abderrahmane Mounir

British intelligence says Huawei risk manageable: FTLondon, United Kingdom

British intelligence has concluded that security

risks posed by using equip-ment made by Chinese telecom giant Huawei can be managed, the Financial Times reported yesterday.

The National Cyber Se-curity Centre (NCSC) sees ways of limiting risks from using Huawei in future 5G networks. The firm is the leading manufacturer of equipment for next-gener-ation 5G mobile networks, but several Western nations have barred it.

Facebook violated privacy laws: MPsLondon, United Kingdom

A scathing British par-liamentary report on

Monday branded Facebook “digital gangsters” that knowingly violated data pri-vacy and competition laws.

Lawmakers’ 18-month investigation into disinfor-mation and “fake news” also accused Facebook of failing to faithfully fight Russia’s al-leged attempts to influence elections.


Oil rises as investors grow optimistic over OPEC dealReuters | London

Oil rose for a fifth day yes-terday, on track for its

strongest first quarter in eight years, thanks to a growing belief among investors that OPEC’s supply cuts will pre-vent a build-up in unused fuel, though concern over China’s economy tempered gains.

Brent futures were last up 22 cents at $66.47 a barrel by 1557 GMT, having touched a 2019 high of $66.83, while U.S. futures rose 35 cents to $55.94 a barrel.

Oil has risen nearly 25 percent so far this year and is on course for its strongest first-quarter performance

since 2011, thanks largely to a commitment by the Organiza-tion of the Petroleum Export-ing Countries and allies to cut output.

Refiners around the world are also having to pay more to secure supplies of the medium, or heavy, sour crudes produced by Iran and Venezuela, both of which are under U.S. sanc-tions.

The broader financial mar-kets eased a little after data showing a drop in Chinese car sales in January raised con-cerns about the world’s sec-ond-largest economy.

US energy companies last week increased the number of oil rigs.

Libas Design Collections opens Marina Mall showroom

TDT/Manama

Setting a new benchmark in the fashion segment, Suha

Investment Group has opened Libas Design Collections at the Marina Mall.

Group chairman Aref Sadeq cut the ribbon to open the show-room in the presence of Chief Executive Officer Fahad Sadeq and Libas General Manager Ma-lik Jan Mohammad.

The Group plans to open one

more showroom in Hoora on March 15. Libas offers exclusive collections for women, men and kids. It has also made a name for itself when it comes to customer service.

Suha Investment Group is a Bahrain-based investment and holding company having inter-est in property development and management, construction, trading, travel and tourism, fash-ion and department stores, su-permarkets, electro-mechanical

contracting, elevators, escalators and BMUs, architectural con-sultation, health and education industries.

Speaking to Tribune, Aref Sad-eq said the Group is advancing its interests in various sectors across the Gulf, driven by a stra-tegic vision to become one of the largest regional investment and holding companies.

The Group aims to support national strategies for sustain-able growth and development,

through its companies that are driving significant changes across the Kingdom, he pointed out.

The Group companies include Iris Property Management, Ax-is-Arepro for Building Prod-ucts, Suha Travel and Tours, Fontana Builders (Aluminium Contractors), Gulf General Lift Systems, Utility Electrical and Mechanical Contracting Co, MRS Fashions, Indeco Interiors, Suha Galleria Vitra, Wezan Lighting,

Macromart Supermarket and Department Stores, Aref Sadeq Design Consultants, New Gen-eration International School, Super Hardware Tools and Welding Supplies Centre, Protile Designer Pavings, Sherwin-Wil-liams Paints, IBS Architectur-al Hardware, Gulf Integrated Vertical Solutions, Weight Loss Cosmetic Centre, Fabulous De-velopment Marketing and Man-agement Co, Ajax Profession-al Maintenance and Cleaning

Services, Thawabit Properties, Tylos Electrical and Electronics (TEE), EduCom (NGPS), Super Fire and Safety Services, Zee Events and Entertainment as well as Bahrain Cricket Centre.

“This synergy of strengths—a strong reputation, impressive track record and a network of fast-rising companies makes Suha Investment Group well po-sitioned to become one of Bah-rain’s largest business groups,” he added.

Group chairman Aref Sadeq with other dignitaries at the opening The opening ceremony

Al Qassab wins ‘Al Waffer’ BD100,000 grand prize TDT | Manama

Khaleeji Commer-cial Bank (KHCB)

has concluded the ninth edition of its “Al Waffer” investment account with the naming of Nader Al Qassab as its December Grand Prize winner.

Al Qassab won a BD 100,000 cash prize and a monthly salary of BD 1,000 for 10 years.

Sattam Sulaiman Algo-saibi, Chief Executive Of-ficer of KHCB expressed his delight of successfully concluding this edition of “Al Waffer” and con-gratulated Al Qassab for winning the final Grand

Prize.The draw for the Fi-

nal Grand Prize was conducted on the 3rd

of January 2019. This is considered the last prize of the 2018 edition of the campaign, titled “Al

Waffer Salaries”, with a total cash prize of more than USD 2 million that were awarded during the

past year. The prizes in-cluded monthly salaries of BD500 for 5 years, cash prizes of BD 50,000 and 30 monthly winners of BD 500 awarded to each of them.

A l g o s a i b i a d d e d : “KHCB has continuous-ly been developing the awards of Al Waffer ac-count since its inception in 2009, by taking clients’ views into consideration and following up on the latest updates of the market, resulting in an-nually providing a new edition that meets the aspirations of our valued clients and enables them to achieve their dreams.”

Nader Al Qassab wins BD100,000 Cash and 10 years Monthly Salary of BD1,000

Seef Terraces begins awarding title deeds TDT | Manama

Dadabhai Group, the de-veloper of Seef Terraces has begun the transfer

of title-deeds to homeowners in the award-winning freehold project.

Hand-over of apartments be-gan in March 2018, four months ahead of schedule, after the pro-ject was completed in December 2017, only 19 months after devel-opment began in May 2016.

The 29-storey Seef Terrac-es tower comprises 173 apart-ments – ranging from studios to three-bedrooms - targeted at the mid-range market in a neighbourhood that blends res-idential, commercial and leisure space.

Talking about the project, Dadabhai Group Managing Di-rector Shabeer Dadabhai said, “We are glad to announce the re-ceipt of all apartment title-deeds from the Survey and Land Reg-istration Bureau (SLRB) for the Seef Terraces project and have commenced their transfer to the owners.

“The title-deed registration is an important step towards

aiding foreign buyers looking to apply for residency under the property investment scheme in the kingdom. The availability of the title deeds also assists all prospective buyers looking to avail bank home loans from participating banks towards ful-filling their dream of owning a home in this iconic develop-ment,” added Dadabhai.

He further said, “Bahraini cit-izens looking to make Seef Ter-races their new home are also able to take advantage of a hous-ing loan through the Ministry of Housing’s Al Mazaya scheme on the basis of immediate reg-istration of the apartments and transfer of title deed.”

“Our strength has always been to deliver on our promise of on-

time completion and secure the buyers’ property in the King-dom,” Dadabhai added.

Amenities featured at Seef Terraces include landscaped play area for children; barbecue deck; multi-purpose hall; cine-ma; game-room with table ten-nis and billiards; tennis, squash and basketball courts; jogging

track; fully equipped health club, sauna and Jacuzzi for women and men; infinity pool, sun-deck and outdoor Jacuzzi on the roof-top level.

“The double-height lobby and reception areas have been designed to be warmly inviting and evoke a luxurious feel, then there are three elevators and a

service elevator, four levels of parking, a high-tech CCTV secu-rity system, with qualified facili-ties managers,” added Dadabhai.

The project’s exclusive sales agent is Pegasus Real Estate’s whose Managing Director Aziz Mithaiwala said over 70 per cent of the apartments have already been sold to buyers that repre-sent 19 different nationalities.

“A majority of the buyers are from Bahrain followed by other GCC nationals and expatriates of various nationalities,” he added.

“The availability and imme-diate transfer of the Title Deeds will certainly encourage pro-spective buyers looking to secure their home under their name as also take advantage of the home loan options available to them from their preferred bank. Long-term residents of Bahrain are re-alising the benefit of buying into such a lifestyle-oriented project rather than renting through the convenient mortgage facility, as the amount they pay for their rent is almost the same that they would pay towards owning their own apartment in the project,” said Mithaiwala.

Seef Terraces Title Deed Transfer - Survey & Land Registration Bureau (SLRB) officials with Seef Terraces Apartment Owners & Legal Representative of Dadabhai Properties


Al Baraka Islamic Bank names alBarakat monthly winnersTDT | Manama

Al Baraka Islamic Bank (AIB – Bahrain) has announced

Ahmed Yusuf Abulfateh as the winner of BD 10,000 Grand Prize for the alBarakat raffle draw for February 2019.

Eman Mohamed Alsabaie was also named as the winner of One Year Salary of BD 555 Per Month, along with 80 other win-ners who received cash prizes as well.

The raffle draw was held a t t h e A l B a r a k a Is l a m -i c Ba n k h e a d q u a r t e r s i n Bahrain.

Al Baraka declared the names of the 80 prize winners of the al-Barakat Raffle Draw, 20 of whom won BD 500 each, while 60 of them were awarded cash prizes

of BD 300 each.Speaking on the occasion,

Tariq Kazim, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of Al Baraka Islamic Bank - Bahrain, said: “On behalf of Al Baraka Islamic Bank, I would like to extend my heart-iest congratulations to the win-ners of alBarakat Account Raffle Draw for the month of February 2019, especially Ahmed Yusuf Abulfateh and Eman Mohamed Alsabaie for their incredible wins of BD 10,000, and a Month-ly Salary of BD 555 for a whole year, respectively.

“In our 5th year, the cash priz-es have just gotten bigger and better, in line with our philos-ophy of giving back plentifully to our customers for their well-placed trust in us, by justifying

their investments, both through our annual returns and through these monthly rewards.”

Also, in a distinct illustration

of the bountiful nature that is characteristic of the highly re-warding alBarakat Account, one truly fortunate customer will

walk away with the Grand Prize of BD 300,000 at the end of the year.

The complete list of win-

ners of the alBarakat monthly draw for the month of February 2019 can be viewed on the Al Baraka website.

Ahmed Yusuf Abulfateh winner of BD 10,000 Eman Mohamed Alsabaie winner of BD 555 Per Month

Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) officials and employees during an awareness workshop organized by GPIC Health Committee on developing focus and stress management skills. The lecture was presented by Art of Living Bahrain representative Prem Sagar, who highlighted the importance of developing skills that increase concentration and eliminate tension. It also spoke of the effective impact of these skills in helping the individual to cope with problems of work, increase his ability to focus as well as explain how to practice meditation and relaxation sessions and breathing exercises.

Honda to close UK plant in 2022, risking 3,500 jobsLondon, United Kingdom

Japanese car giant Honda is expected to announce that

it will close its plant in south west England in 2022, putting 3,500 jobs at risk, according to media reports on Monday.

The carmaker is due to an-nounce the closure of its Swin-don plant on Tuesday, accord-ing to Sky News, but still retain its European headquarters in nearby Bracknell.

Other carmakers including Nissan and Ford have also warned that jobs could be lost

at British plants as it prepares to leave the European Union, but local MP Justin Tomlinson said the Honda decision was not down to Brexit.

“I have already spoken to... Honda. They are clear this is based on global trends and not Brexit as all European market production will consolidate in Japan in 2021,” he tweeted.

The plant, Honda’s only one in the European Union, has produced the Civic model for the global market for over 24 years, with 150,000 units roll-ing off the line every year.

UAE signs major missile deals with RaytheonAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emir-ates announced yester-

day it had signed deals worth more than $1.6 billion for the purchase of Patriot missile launchers from US arms giant Raytheon, state media said.

The deals, inked on the sec-ond day of an international military exhibition in Abu Dhabi, come a day after the UAE announced it would buy $353 million worth of Patriot missiles from Raytheon.

Some $3.2 billion in deals have been signed between the oil-rich state and western companies at the expo, set to

run through Thursday, state-run WAM news agency said.

The UAE, long a key ally of the United States, maintains close ties with the admin-stration of President Donald Trump.

The US is preparing to build a military hospital, funded by the UAE, in Abu Dhabi to treat Emirati soldiers and American troops based in the region, a US army official said Sunday.

The facility would be “very similar” to the one in Land-stuhl, Germany, the biggest American hospital outside the US, said Lieutenant General Charles Hooper, director of the US Defence Security Co-operation Agency.

US sanctions force Russia to delay MC-21 plane: Rostec CEOMoscow, Russia

Production of the MC-21 plane, which Russia hoped

could revive its civil aviation industry, has been delayed for a year due to US sanctions, the head of the Rostec conglomer-ate said yesterday.

“Due to the fact that the Americans have stopped sup-plying composite materials, we are switching to our own,” Sergey Chemezov told Russian news agencies in Abu Dhabi.

“The date of the beginning of mass production is slightly shifting” and is now expected by the end of 2020, he said.

Sanctions came into force last September against Rus-sian companies involved in the

creation of the plane, which Washington said were acting “contrary to the national secu-rity or foreign policy interests of the United States”.

Russia unveiled the proto-type of the MC-21 in 2016.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev arrives to give a speech in front of the new MC-21 medium-haul airliner during the roll-out ceremony at an aircraft plant in Irkutsk.

EU vows ‘swift’ riposte to threatened US auto tariffsBrussels, Belgium

The EU promised a quick and effective response if the United States im-

poses import duties on Euro-pean autos, a spokesman for the European Commission said yesterday.

Brussels issued the threat af-ter the US Commerce Depart-ment filed a report that empow-ers President Donald Trump to apply car duties within the next 90 days.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has labelled as “fright-ening” the prospect that this report could label European car imports as a national secu-rity threat to the United States, enabling the tariffs.

The White House has already used the national

security argu-ment, saying that under-

m i n i n g t h e Ameri-

c a n

manufacturing base impairs military readiness, among oth-er claims, to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

“Were this report translated into action detrimental to Eu-ropean exports, the European Commission would react in a swift and adequate manner,” EU spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a news briefing in Brussels.

The protectionist Trump has threatened 25 percent duties on European autos, especially targeting Germany, which he says has harmed the American car industry.

European officials have said that Brussels has drawn up a list of 20 billion euros ($22.6 billion) of potential counter-

measures, without providing

further details.In 2017 just under half of the

17 million cars sold in the US were imported, most of them produced in Canada and Mexico which are expected to be ex-empt from any new automobile duties.

German automobile groups last year exported 470,000 cars from Germany to the United States, according to the VDA manufacturers’ federation.

The transatlantic flare-up followed a truce estab-lished in July, in which Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker pledged no new tariffs while both sides pur-sued a limited trade deal.

Juncker “trusts President Trump’s word. The European Union will stick to its word as long as the US does the same,” Schinas said.

Germany is pushing hard for the trade deal with the US, but according to a European source, France is reluctant to pursue talks fearing they may stoke popular anger ahead of Euro-pean elections in May.

EU trade ministers will dis-cuss the talks, as well as the pos-sible countermeasures against the US, at talks in Bucharest on Thursday.

Aside from economic matters, US-European ties have already been upended over Trump’s ap-proach towards Iran and Syria, as well as other issues.

Employees inspect Mercedes-Benz C-Class cars at the Mercedes-Benz US International factory in Vance, Alabama.

Trump

Merkel

The Quake: A damn fine sequel that will leave you breathlessJohn Andreas Andersen’s

The Quake, a sequel to the excellent 2015 Norwegian

disaster film The Wave, should be required viewing for all of to-day’s Hollywood franchise jock-eys. It shows you how to make one of these things without sac-rificing your characters’ souls (or your own, for that matter).

In the earlier movie, the entire side of a mountain spectacularly collapsed into a fjord, setting off a massive, 250-foot tsunami that consumed the small picturesque town of Geiranger. When The Quake starts, the geologist who tried to warn everybody at the

time, Kristian Eikjord (Kristof-fer Joner), is now being hailed as a national hero — but even before he opens his mouth, we know that he’s still traumatized by the event, and by all the lives he couldn’t save.

As we watch him prepare for a TV interview, our view is ob-structed by a giant screen show-ing images of the devastation; he regularly seems dwarfed by everything around him, as if he might be losing his sense of self.

For all the sensitivity with which its characters have been drawn, The Quake has been conceived (by screenwriters

John Kåre Raake and Harald Rosenløw-Eeg, who also wrote The Wave) with all the delirious, what-if imagination of an intri-cate engineering experiment.

Much of the action in the film’s second half takes place in the topmost section of a Radis-son Blu which has been left tee-tering precariously after another falling building took out much of what’s below.

And each tilt, each crack, each secondary collapse feels like it has been thought through in all its geometric and physical im-plications — which just makes everything that much more

nerve-racking. (In its broad strokes, this setpiece recalls a key one from Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and even though that’s one of the bet-

ter Transformers entries, The Quake’s variation feels so much more honest, detailed, and, yes, exciting.)

If anything, The Quake might

be a little too good. The Wave had a certain far-fetched roman-ticism that reminded us in its final act that we were, after all, watching a movie, with all the unlikely but welcome develop-ments that come with such a thing: families reunited, rem-nants of communities restored, and so on.

The destruction in The Quake is more total, more hopeless, and more convincing. And without giving too much away, let’s just say that by the time it fades out, we’re not at all convinced that things will ever be okay again. I can’t wait for the sequel.

13 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2019

“I, THANDRALA MALLESH s/o THANDRALA NAIKAIAH holding Indian Passport No. H 5864590 dated 27.07.2009 issued at BAHRAIN having permanent residence at (full address in India) NACHUPALLY, KODIMAIYAL, KARIMNAGAR, TELANGANA. Presently residing at (full address in Bahrain) BUILDING. 914, ROAD. 31, BLOCK. 623, KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN will henceforth be known as (given name) MALLESH (Surname) THANDRALA. Objection (s), if any, may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O. Box 26106, Adiliya, “Kingdom of Bahrain.”

“I, YUSUF KHAN s/o MUSTAK KHAN holding Indian Passport No. H 5073515 dated 09.07.2009 issued at JAIPUR having permanent residence at (full address in India) BADA BAAS, LADNUN, NAGAUR, RAJASTHAN. Presently residing at (full address in Bahrain) BUILDING. 914, ROAD. 31, BLOCK. 623, KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN will henceforth be known as (given name) YUSUF (Surname) KHAN. Objection (s), if any, may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O. Box 26106, Adiliya, Kingdom of Bahrain.”

“I, GURMEET SINGH s/o MUKHTIAR SINGH holding Indian Passport No. H 6771109 dated 30.07.2009 issued at AMRITSAR having permanent residence at (full address in India) RAJGHAAT ROAD, OUT SIDE KASURI GATE, FEROZEPUR CITY, PUNJAB. Presently residing at (full address in Bahrain) BUILDING. 914, ROAD. 31, BLOCK. 623, KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN will henceforth be known as (given name) GURMEET (Surname) SINGH. Objection (s), if any, may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O. Box 26106, Adiliya, Kingdom of Bahrain.”

“I, BINOD CHAUHAN s/o RAM AVADH CHAUHAN holding Indian Passport No. H 5283788 dated 15.07.2009 issued at LUCKNOW having permanent residence at (full address in India) VILL- SINDWARI, P.O- ORARAI, P.S.-DULLAHPUR, DIST- GHAZIPUR UTTARPRADESH. Presently residing at (full address in Bahrain) BUILDING. 914, ROAD. 31, BLOCK. 623, KINGDOM of Bahrain will henceforth be known as (given name) BINOD (Surname) CHAUHAN. Objection (s), if any, may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O. Box 26106, Adiliya, Kingdom of Bahrain.”

“I, SARABJIT SINGH s/o SAROOP SINGH holding Indian Passport No. H 6657718 dated 15.07.2009 issued at DUBAI having permanent residence at (full address in India) SIMBAL MAZARA, BALACHAW, NAWANSHAHE, PUNJAB. Presently residing at (full address in Bahrain) BUILDING. 914, ROAD. 31, BLOCK. 623, KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN will henceforth be known as (given name) SARABJIT(Surname) SINGH. Objection (s), if any, may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O. Box 26106, Adiliya, Kingdom of Bahrain.”

CHANGE OF NAME

OASIS JUFFAIR1-ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVEN-TURE/ROMANTIC) NEW

ROSA SALAZAR, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, JENNIFER CONNELLYDAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 MNDAILY AT (VIP): 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM

2-GULLY BOY (PG-15) (HINDI/DRAMA/MUSICAL) NEW ALIA BHAT, RANVEER SINGH, SIDDHANT CHATURVEDI

DAILY AT: 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 PM + 12.00 MN

3-RACE TIME (PG) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COME-DY) NEW

SONJA BALL, LUCINDA DAVIS, TOD FENNELLDAILY AT (KIDS CINEMA): 10.30 AM + 2.45 PM

4-ORU ADAAR LOVE (PG-15) (MALAYALAM) NEW PRIYA PRAKASH VARRIER, NOORIN SHEREEF,

ROSHAN ABDUL RAHOOFDAILY AT: 12.45 + 3.30 + 6.15 + 9.00 + 11.45 PM

5-ALLU RAMENDRAN (G) (MALAYALAM) NEW*- KUNCHAKO BOBAN, APARNA BALAMURALI

DAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 5.30 + 11.15 PM

6-DEV (PG-13) (TAMIL) NEW KARTHI, RAKUL PREET SINGH, PRAKASH RAJ

DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM

7-COLD PURSUIT (15+) (ACTION/CRIME/DRAMA) LIAM NEESON, EMMY ROSSUM, LAURA DERN

DAILY AT: 12.45 + 6.15 + 11.45 PM

8-THE LEGO MOVIE 2 (G) (ANIMATION/ACTION/AD-VENTURE/COMEDY)

CHRIS PRATT, ELIZABETH BANKS, WILL ARNETTDAILY AT (KIDS CINEMA): 12.30 + 4.45 + 9.15 PM

9- KUMBALANGI NIGHT (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) FAHADH FAASIL, SHANE NIGAM, SOUBIN SHAHIR

DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 + 11.15 PM

10-SPIDER MAN INTO THE SPIDER VERSE (PG) (ANI-MATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE)

HAILEE STEINFELD, NICOLAS CAGE, MAHERSHALA ALIDAILY AT (KIDS CINEMA): 7.00 + 11.30 PM

11-9 (PG-15) (MALAYALAM) PRITHVIRAJ SUKUMARAN, PRAKASH RAJ, MAMTA

MOHANDASDAILY AT: 2.30 + 8.15 PM

12-MANIKARNIKA: THE QUEEN OF JHANSI (PG-15) (DRAMA/ACTION/BIOGRAPHY)

KANGANA RANAUT, DANNY DENZONGPA, SURESH OBEROIDAILY AT: 3.15 + 8.45 PM

13-URI: THE SURGICAL STRIKE (15+) (HINDI/ACTION/DRAMA)

VICKY KAUSHAL, KIRTI KULHARI, PARESH RAWALDAILY AT: 12.00 + 5.30 + 11.00 PM

14-NJHAN PRAKASHAN (PG) (MALAYALAM) FAHAD FAZIL, NIKHILA VIMAL

DAILY AT: 2.45 + 8.15 PM

CITYCENTRE1-ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVEN-TURE/ROMANTIC) NEW

ROSA SALAZAR, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, JENNIFER CONNELLYDAILY AT (IMAX 3D): 12.30 + 3.00 + 5.30 + 8.00 + 10.30 PM + (1.00

AM THURS/FRI)DAILY AT (ATMOS): 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 MNDAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 MNDAILY AT (VIP I): 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM


DAILY AT: 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 PM + 12.00 MN + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)

3-HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U (PG-15) (THRILLER/COMEDY/CRIME) NEW

JESSICA ROTHE, RUBY MODINE, PHI VUDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MN

4-QESAT HOB (PG-15) (ARABIC/ROMANTIC/COMEDY/DRAMA) NEW

AHMED HATEM, HANNAH EL-ZAHED, HALA FAKHERDAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PM

5-THE VANISHING (15+) (DRAMA/THRILLER) NEW GERARD BUTLER, PETER MULLAN, OLAFUR DARRI HUSTON

DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 3.15 + 7.30 + 11.45 PM

6-STAN & OLLIE (PG) (COMEDY/DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY) NEW

JOHN C. REILLY, STEVE COOGAN, DANNY HUSTONDAILY AT: 1.15 + 5.30 + 9.45 PM


SONJA BALL, LUCINDA DAVIS, TOD FENNELDAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 1.45 + 3.45 PM


DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)DAILY AT (VIP II): 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 MN


CHRIS PRATT, ELIZABETH BANKS, WILL ARNETTDAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PM

10-GLASS (PG-15) (THRILLER) JAMES MCAVOY, BRUCE WILLIS, SAMUEL L. JACKSON

DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)

11-THE UPSIDE (PG-15) (COMEDY/DRAMA) KEVIN HART, BRYAN CRANSTON, NICOLE KIDMAN

DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM

12-NADI ELREGAL EL SERI (PG-15) (ARABIC/COMEDY) KARIM ABDULAZIZ, GHADA ADEL, MAJDE ALKIDDAWI

DAILY AT: 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM

13-THE PRODIGY (18+) (THRILLER/HORROR) TAYLOR SCHILLING, JACKSON ROBERT SCOTT, PETER

MOONEYDAILY AT: 5.45 + 7.45 + 9.45 + 11.45 PM

14-AQUAMAN (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVENTURE) JASON MOMOA, AMBER HEARD, NICOLE KIDMAN

DAILY AT: 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PM

15-JOHNNY ENGLISH STRIKES AGAIN (PG) (COMEDY/ACTION/ADVENTURE)

ROWAN ATKINSON, OLGA KURYLENKO, EMMA THOMPSONDAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.00 + 4.00 + 6.00 + 8.00 + 10.00 PM + 12.00 MN

16-HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD (PG) (ANIMATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE)

CATE BLANCHETT, JONAH HILL, GERARD BUTLERDAILY AT: 2.30 + 6.45 + 11.00 PM

17-RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET (PG) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY)

JOHN C. REILLY, SARAH SILVARMAN, GAL GADOT DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.15 + 3.30 + 5.45 + 8.00 + 10.15 PM

18-SPIDER MAN INTO THE SPIDER VERSE (PG) (ANI-MATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE)

HAILEE STEINFELD, NICOLAS CAGE, MAHERSHALA ALIDAILY AT: 12.15 + 4.30 + 8.45 PM

SEEF (II)1-ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVEN-TURE/ROMANTIC) NEW

ROSA SALAZAR, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, JENNIFER CONNELLYDAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 12.15 + 1.45 + 2.45 + 4.15 + 5.15 + 6.45 + 7.45 + 9.15 + 10.15 + 11.45 PM + (12.45 MN THUR/FRI)


DAILY AT: (12.45 MN THURS/FRI)


JESSICA ROTHE, RUBY MODINE, PHI VUDAILY AT: 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM


AHMED HATEM, HANNAH EL-ZAHED, HALA FAKHERDAILY AT: 2.30 + 7.00 + 11.30 PM

5-THE VANISHING (15+) (DRAMA/THRILLER) NEW GERARD BUTLER, PETER MULLAN, OLAFUR DARRI HUSTON

DAILY AT: 2.30 + 7.15 PM + 12.00 MN

6-STAN & OLLIE (PG) (COMEDY/DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY) NEW

JOHN C. REILLY, STEVE COOGAN, DANNY HUSTONDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 4.45 + 9.00 PM

7-THE QUAKE (PG-13) (THRILLER/DRAMA) NEW KRISTOFFER JONER, ANE DAHL TORP, KATHRINE

THORBORG JOHANSENDAILY AT: 2.30 + 6.45 + 11.00 PM


SONJA BALL, LUCINDA DAVIS, TOD FENNELDAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 PM

9-TIME FREAK (15+) (ROMANTIC/COMEDY/FANTASY) NEW

ASA BUTTERFIELD, SOPHIE TURNER, SKYLER GISONDODAILY AT: 5.30 + 7.30 + 9.30 + 11.30 PM

10-DEV (PG) (COMEDY/ACTION/ADVENTURE) NEW KARTHI, RAKUL PREET SINGH, PRAKASH RAJ

DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 + 11.15 PM


CHRIS PRATT, ELIZABETH BANKS, WILL ARNETTDAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 3.45 + 8.15 PM

12-GLASS (PG-15) (THRILLER) JAMES MCAVOY, BRUCE WILLIS, SAMUEL L. JACKSON

DAILY AT: 1.15 + 6.30 + 11.45 PM


DAILY AT: 12.00 + 4.45 + 9.30 PM

14-NADI ELREGAL EL SERI (PG-15) (ARABIC/COMEDY) KARIM ABDULAZIZ, GHADA ADEL, MAJDE ALKIDDAWI

DAILY AT: 12.15 + 4.45 + 9.15 PM

15-AQUAMAN (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVENTURE) JASON MOMOA, AMBER HEARD, NICOLE KIDMAN

DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 3.45 + 9.00 PM


CATE BLANCHETT, JONAH HILL, GERARD BUTLERDAILY AT: 1.30 + 6.00 + 10.30 PM

SEEF (I) 1-GULLY BOY (G) (ANIMATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY) NEW

ALIA BHAT, RANVEER SINGH, SIDDHANT CHATURVEDIDAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 2.45 + 5.45 + 8.45 + 11.45 PM

2-ORU ADAAR LOVE (PG-15) (MALAYALAM) NEW PRIYA PRAKASH VARRIER, NOORIN SHEREEF, ROSHAN

ABDUL RAHOOFDAILY AT: 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 PM + 12.00 MN

3-ALLU RAMENDRAN (G) (MALAYALAM) NEW KUNCHAKO BOBAN, APARNA BALAMURALI

DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.45 + 6.30 + 9.15 PM + 12.00 MN

4-KALA SHAH KALA (PUNJABI/COMEDY) NEW BINNU DHILLON, SARGUN MEHTA

DAILY AT: 3.15 + 8.45 PM

5-PERANBU (15+) (TAMIL) NEW MAMMOOTTY, SADHANA, ANJALI

DAILY AT: 12.30 + 6.00 + 11.30 PM


DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 MN

7- KUMBALANGI NIGHT (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) FAHADH FAASIL, SHANE NIGAM, SOUBIN SHAHIR

DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PM

SAAR1-ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVEN-

TURE/ROMANTIC) NEW ROSA SALAZAR, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, JENNIFER CONNELLY

DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + (11.30 PM THURS/FRI)


DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 + (11.15 PM THURS/FRI)


JESSICA ROTHE, RUBY MODINE, PHI VUDAILY AT: 9.00 + (11.15 PM THURS/FRI)


DAILY AT: 8.30 + (11.00 PM THURS/FRI)


CHRIS PRATT, ELIZABETH BANKS, WILL ARNETTDAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 PM


CATE BLANCHETT, JONAH HILL, GERARD BUTLERDAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 PM

AL HAMRA1-ORU ADAAR LOVE (PG-15) (MALAYALAM) NEW

PRIYA PRAKASH VARRIER, NOORIN SHEREEF, ROSHAN ABDUL RAHOOF

DAILY AT: 12.00 + 3.00 + 9.00 PM

2-DEV (PG) (TAMIL) NEW KARTHI, RAKUL PREET SINGH, PRAKASH RAJ

DAILY AT: 6.00 PM + (12.00 MN THURS/FRI)

WADI AL SAIL1-ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVEN-TURE/ROMANTIC) NEW

ROSA SALAZAR, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, JENNIFER CONNELLYDAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM


DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM


JESSICA ROTHE, RUBY MODINE, PHI VUDAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PM


AHMED HATEM, HANNAH EL-ZAHED, HALA FAKHERDAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PM


DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM


DAILY AT: 1.30 + 6.15 + 11.00 PM


CHRIS PRATT, ELIZABETH BANKS, WILL ARNETTDAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 4.00 + 8.45 PM

M O V I E R E V I E W

Ane Dahl Torp and Kristoffer Joner in ‘The Quake’

14 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2019

Fine Dining

Redefined...

For Reservations, Call:Umm Al Hassam 17728699 Seef District 17364999

Cardi B slammed for

‘vulgar’ social media postLos Angeles

Rapper Cardi B has sparked out-rage with a provocative video clip which she has posted on

her Instagram page to promote her new single called “Please me”.

Over the last few weeks, Cardi has taken her antics to new heights as she stripped out of her bottoms to let her privates breathe and was slammed for a ‘disgusting’ clip caressing herself.

For “Please me” , the 26-year-old has teamed up with Bruno Mars, and its lyrics are as explicit as the title itself.

In the video, the “I like it” singer put on a very steamy dis-play as she stretches out on her knees while sitting on a sofa, pulsating her body in a tiny gold top and tracksuit bottoms. She is seen grinding and sticking her tongue out at the camera, re-ported dailystar.co.uk.

She explained the video with a sleazy caption, and signed it off with a mention of the single: “Thotiana Mix with a little bit of Please Me.”

The video attracted over 13 million views for her saucy performance.

Los Angeles

Country star Miranda Lambert has tied the knot with her boyfriend Brendan Mcloughlin.

The two-time Grammy winner shared the news on Instagram with a photo from her wedding.

“In honour of Valentine’s Day, I wanted to share some news. I met the love of my life. And we got

hitched! My heart is full. Thank you Brendan Mcloughlin for loving me for.... me,” she wrote

in the caption.According to EOnline, the couple tied the knot on January 26 in Davidson

County, Tennessee.The country singer was pre-

viously married to Blake Shelton for four

years.

Women in Hollywood see some gains after Oscars equality pleaLOS ANGELES

A year after best actress winner Frances McDormand used the Oscars stage to advocate

for more women in front of and be-hind the camera, Hollywood is cele-brating some progress - but remains far from reaching parity with men.

McDormand urged powerful celeb-rities to insist on inclusion riders: contractual

provisions that require producers to interview female candidates for jobs ranging from gaffer to director.

In the aftermath of McDormand’s speech, one major Hollywood stu-dio, Warner Bros., adopted policies

based on the idea, and A-list stars such as Matt Damon and Michael B.

Jordan, who also work as producers, committed to pushing for inclusion

riders.

Lindsay Lohan denies threatening to ‘expose’ CBSLos Angeles

Lindsay Lohan now c l a i m s a f o r m e r member of her team

bashed CBS and that she had nothing to do with the statement.

“I have been made aware that further comments were added to my last Instagram post as to appear that I wrote them. Firstly, I can guarantee these comments were not made from me,” Lohan wrote on Instagram Saturday. “Sadly from in-vestigation I have learned that a past member of my team who had access to my account made these chang-es. This matter has now been dealt with internally.”

Depp fights to stop ex-lawyers from obtaining medical recordsLos Angeles

Actor Johnny Depp has demanded a

judge stop his medical records from being giv-en to his former law-yers as their bitter legal battle continues.

The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star filed a complaint back in Octo-ber 2017 claiming Jacob A. Bloom a n d p a r t -ners at his law f i r m , B l o o m Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaVi-olette Feldman Schenk-man and Goodman, LLP, committed “profession-al malpractice” while representing him, re-ports aceshowbiz.com.

He also said that they “improperly and neg-ligently collected over $30 million in voidable contingent fees”.

Jussie Smollet’s case goes to grand juryLos Angeles

Actor Jussie Smollet’s case of homophobic

attack will now come before a grand jury next week.

According to tmz.com, a panel will hear the case, but it is not clear who is facing charges or what they might be. Last month, the “Empire” star told the p o l i c e that he was at-t a c k e d on Jan-uary 29 by m e n w h o used “racial and hom-ophobic slurs” against him.

Following an inves-tigation, two brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo were arrest-ed by the police who viewed them as “po-tential suspects”, but they were released lat-er due to lack of evi-dences.

S N I P P E T S

Miranda Lambert reveals marriage to

Brendan McloughlinLos Angeles

Amber Davies has finally broken her silence on re-ports she shared a string

of dates with former One Direc-tion singer Liam Payne.

The celebrity pair were said to have enjoyed a brief romance shortly after Payne’s split from Cheryl last July.

Davies, who found fame on Love Island, has now confirmed she is not dating Payne, insisting they are “just friends”.

“Liam is a genuinely lovely guy and very down to earth considering how successful

he is,” she told OK! Magazine.“If I messaged him and asked him

for advice he would give it to me, but I’m not dating him. Liam is lovely but we’re just friends!”

Davies, who is currently starring in the West End’s Dolly Parton musi-cal, is said to have met Payne at Lon-don nightclub Libertine last year, with a source claiming there was a “real physical attraction between them”.

The source claimed the pair were determined nobody find out, telling The Sun that they “still keep in touch and text every now and then”.

Payne is said to have moved on to Naomi Campbell in December, ac-cording to the newspaper, with the pair spotted on a series of “dates”.

They were pictured partying in Ghana over the New Year and were spotted enjoying Davido Adeleke’s concert at London’s O2 Arena in a VIP suite earlier this month.

Not me, but Naomi

After two miscarriages, motherhood makes

Spearritt feel ‘incredible’Los Angeles

Actress Hannah Spear-ritt is on cloud nine to have her own child, es-

pecially after suffering two miscarriages.

In an interview to OK! Magazine, Spearritt, who

welcomed her d a u g h t e r

Tea with boyfriend A d a m Thomas in

December last year, spoke about

the new phase of her life, reports thesun.co.uk.

“To have my own little girl is incredible,” Spearritt said.

On how her sleeping pat-tern has changed with the ar-rival of the newborn, she said: “We (Spearritt and Thom-as) have to sleep in different rooms, not every night but most nights, so at least one of us gets a full night’s sleep.”

Apart from miscarriages, the 37-year-old actress also

dealt with other health haz-ards in the past. She also opened up about her battle after a breast implant went wrong in 2013.

“My body was shutting down. At my worst

moments, I felt like I was dying. I was

suffering from breathlessness to the point where I

would be on the f l o o r,” s h e

added.

Lindsay Lohan

Liam Payne and Naomi Campbell

Amber Davies

Cardi B

Champions Juventus are firmly on track for an eighth consecutive

title after Cristiano Ronaldo scored in a 3-0

win over lowly Frosi-none on Friday

KNOW

BETTER

Mbappe fires PSG to extend lead• ‘Special player’ Kylian Mbappe secures hard-fought win to shoot PSG 12 points clear in Ligue 1

AFP | Paris

Kylian Mbappe’s excel-lent volley secured Paris Saint-Germain a hard-

fought 1-0 win at Saint-Etienne on Sunday as the runaway Ligue 1 leaders moved 12 points clear at the summit.

The 20-year-old Mbappe fired home his league-leading 19th goal of the campaign with 17 minutes remaining.

“He (Mbappe) shows his quality every day in training, he has this hunger to score, score, score,” said PSG coach Tuchel. “It’s his quality. He is a special player.”

Mbappe has now scored 45 goals for PSG since signing from Monaco at the start of last sea-

son. “We lost to a goal from no-where... A 20-year-old who will soon be the best player in the world,” said Saint-Etienne coach Jean-Louis Gasset.

With a second straight French title all but secured, Tuchel’s men, who also have two games in hand on second-placed Lille, now have their eyes on break-ing their own record tally of 96 points set in 2015-16.

Tuchel rested midfielder Mar-co Verratti after his excursions in the midweek Champions League victory at Manchester United, with Leandro Paredes handed his first league start for the club. “Everyone was tired after Manchester United -- physically, but also mentally,” added Tuchel. “It was necessary to control the game, to play fo-cused.”

PSG fashioned their first clear-cut chance in the 18th minute, as Julian Draxler turned and fired over the crossbar after a fine exchange of passes with Dani Alves.

Mbappe saw a shot well saved by home goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier in an underwhelming first half.

The visitors always appeared

in control of the game, but Draxler wasted another gold-en chance to put them ahead shortly after the restart when he was denied by a sprawling

Ruffier stop.Angel Di Maria, who starred

with two assists on his return to Old Trafford in midweek, dragged an effort wide as PSG continued to plug away in search of an opening goal.

It arrived in the 73rd min-ute, as Alves picked out the run of Mbappe, and the French-man caught out Ruffier with a fine first-time volley on the turn.

Saint-Etienne started to show more ambition with time running out, but the best they could muster was Kevin Mon-net-Paquet’s long-range strike which flew harmlessly over, with the winger injuring himself in the process.

A late set-piece came to noth-ing for Les Verts, as PSG sealed a 20th win from only 23 Ligue 1 games this term. Earlier on Sunday, Lille were held to a goal-less draw by Montpellier, while Reims boosted their hopes of European qualification with a 2-0 victory over Rennes.

Paris Saint-Germain’s French forward Kylian Mbappe Lottin scores a goal

Torino frustrate Napoli as Nainggolan seals Inter win• Inter dug deep to see off Sampdoria, but without Mauro Icardi after he was stripped of the captaincy

• Polish striker Arkadiusz Milik missed chances as Napoli were held for the third time in four league matches

AFP | Milan

Napoli’s title hopes took a further blow on Sunday as

Carlo Ancelotti’s side settled for a goalless draw for the third time in four league matches against Torino on Sunday to trail Serie A leaders Juventus by 13 points.

Napoli had drawn at home against AC Milan two weeks ago and at Fiorentina last time out and will face a top-of-the-table clash against Juventus on March 3 with their Serie A bid already all but over.

Champions Juventus are firmly on track for an eighth consecutive title after Cristiano Ronaldo scored in a 3-0 win

over lowly Frosinone on Friday.“We played with focus, mo-

tivation, determination, but it’s unacceptable to have 18 scoring opportunities over two games and not score any of them,” An-celotti told Sky Sport Italia.

“We’ve only ourselves to blame. When you deserve a victory you just have to go and do it. The only thing missing was the goal.

“But we’re still well posi-tioned in the standings.”

Polish forward Arkadiusz Mi-lik missed a string of chances to break the deadlock at the San Paolo Stadium with Lorenzo Insigne rattling the post in the 74th minute.

On-loan Chelsea defender Ola Aina threatened for Torino late on but was chased down by Brazilian Allan as Walter Mazzarri’s side stayed ninth -- three points off the Europa League places.

“I saw a great Napoli, made up of players of the highest lev-el,” said Mazzarri.

“Taking a point against this team means we were good.”

Earlier Sunday, Radja Na-inggolan scored the winner for Inter Milan to consolidate

third position with a 2-1 win over Sampdoria at the San Siro, while Lazio’s Champions League hopes took a knock with defeat by Genoa.

Nainggolan rifled in low from the edge of the box on 78 min-utes after Danilo D’Ambrosio had opened the scoring five minutes earlier, with Mano-lo Gabbiadini equalising for Sampdoria in between.

It was the Belgian’s third goal this season and gave Inter a third straight win after a recent slump as Luciano Spalletti’s side sit seven points adrift of Napoli in third.

Argentine forward Mauro Icardi watched from the stands, along with his wife Wanda Nara, who is also his agent, after being stripped of the captaincy amid protracted contract ne-gotiations.

“I very much appreciated that he was in the stadium,” said Spalletti of Icardi who missed the last two games with a re-ported knee injury.

“I would have liked even more if he had come into the dressing room afterwards to celebrate with us, as it was a very important victory.”

Inter Milan’s Croatian midfielder Ivan Perisic (C) runs to kick the ball

Opelka hits 43 aces, edges Schnur for ATP New York titleAFP | New York

American Reilly Opel-ka blasted 43 aces past

Canadian qualifier Brayden Schnur on the way to cap-turing his first ATP Tour title at the New York Open on Sunday.

Opelka outlasted Schnur 6-1, 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (9/7) one minute beyond two hours in the first ATP champi-onship match for either competitor. Opelka, ranked 89th, finished two aces shy of Ivo Karlovic’s ATP best-of-three-set record of 45 from Halle in 2015 for the second consecutive match, having also smashed 43 in beating US top seed John Isner in the semi- finals. In all, Opelka hit nine aces in the first set and 17 in both the second and third sets, the last of them on the deciding point. He suf-fered only two double faults and never faced a break p oint.

Former national team star Marjan Eid and Bahrain Olympic Committee representative Hamad Mohammed present footballs to young talents during a visit to East Riffa’s playgrounds. A short practice match was also conducted for the young football hopefuls while encouraging them to continue playing football. The initiative, aimed to promote sport among youngsters and pick up future stars of thegame

Modest rally past GT Abdulaal TDT | Manama

Modest defeated GT Abdu-laal by 36 runs in a CBA

Division D25 overs League match.

Modest won the toss and elected to bat first. Opener Xavier (121) scored a brilliant century and was well support-ed by Rahul (45) who helped Modest to score 219 runs in 25 overs. Sameer and Chris took two wickets each for Abdulaal. Chasing the target Abdulaal ended up with 183 runs in 25 overs and Modest won the match by 36 runs. Omer (42) became the top scorer for Ab-dulaal and Sachin took three wickets for Modest.

Brief Score: Modest 219 /4 in 25 overs (Xavier 121, Rahul 45, Chris 2/49) beat GT Abdulaal 183/8 (omer 42, Aqeel 42, Sa-chin 3/13) by 36 runs

Other match scoresSuha Travel 160/6 in 23.4

overs (Tabrez 30, Haider 29) beat Karnataka Strikers 156/8 (Sandy 36, Nabeel 3/25) by 4 wickets

Hempel Paints 56/7 in 13.4 overs (Ahmad 11, Anandhu 3/14, Aneez 3/18) beat RUCT 55/10 (Sajeev 12, Sanjeev 6/18) by 3

wicketsTornado A 154/9 in 24 overs

(Athul 36, Naveen 28, Shanu 4/27) beat Rising Star 153/5 (Rajeesh 32, Francis 27, Athul 2/21) by 1 wicket

Friends XI 150/3 in 22.2 overs (Shah Alam 48, Fahad 36) beat Kerala XI 149/10 (Hakkim 42, Abdullah 3/29) by 7 wickets

Spartans 92/3 in 16.3 overs (Farhan 20, Tirumal 2/25) beat Young Blasters 91/10 (Zulfi 18, Jahangeer 2/17) by 7 wickets

Alpha Fire Bahrain 81/6 in 12 overs (Ruvina 35, Binoy 3/23) beat Bulls 80/10 (Sebastian 14, Lalith 3/13, Thusara 3/18) by 4 wickets

Colts CC 221/6 in 25 overs

(Nijo 77, Antony 39, Karthik 2/19) beat Cebarco 198/7 (Mil-lon 41, Ashwin 29, Gio 2/37) by 23 runs

Via Cloud Royal Riders 188/6 in 21.4 overs (Vinod 54, Kabeer 23, Mohammed 2/35) beat Shafiq Glass 187/4 (Raj 60, Ro-shan 2/36) by 4 wickets

Challengers 176/8 in 25 overs (Aneesh 61, Salam 32, Rizwan 3/30) beat ETS 152/3 (Rizwan Tariq 65, Rzwan Ghani 39) by 24 runs

CBA Division B 25 overs League

Shifa AL Jazeera Tornado 163/8 in 25 overs (Rasheed 37, Rateesh 34, Shehzad 3/34) beat Asgharali 132/5 (Yousif 37, Suneer 2/35) by 31 runs

Anees - Challengers Nijo - Colts C

15

sports


Wawrinka returns to top 50 after Rotterdam final runAFP | Paris

Stan Wawrinka returned to the world’s top 50 yesterday

for the first time since last year’s French Open after his run to the final in Rotterdam.

The three-time Grand Slam champion is on the road back to his best after serious knee in-juries and reached his first final last week since losing to Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros in 2017.

The 33-year-old Swiss was beaten in three sets by Gael Monfils, though, with the

Frenchman climbing 10 spots to 23rd.

Wawrinka sits 41st in the rankings after a rise of 27 places.

Henry can prosper despite Monaco flop: WengerAFP | Monaco

Thierry Henry has the quali-ties to be a successful man-

ager despite his disappointing short spell at Ligue 1 strugglers Monaco, his former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said.

The 69-year-old Frenchman said Henry could not have taken the Monaco job at a worse time in October when they were al-ready on a poor run and by the

time January came around the alarm bells were ringing.

Henry, who was one of the stars of the Gunners side that enjoyed huge success under Wenger including the ‘Invin-cibles’ side of 2003/04 when they went through the league season unbeaten, guided Mo-naco to just two league wins in 15 matches. The 41-year-old was then sacked last month.

“In our job, it’s one thing

when you start the season, even if it doesn’t go well, you have six months,” said Wenger.

“If you arrive in October and the team is in a very bad posi-tion, you have three months.

“Because in January, every-body starts to become nervous, and things could go very badly.

“So you have less time when you arrive in the middle of the season, that’s what happened to Thierry.

Halep returns to second despite Doha final defeatAFP | Paris

Simona Halep reclaimed sec-ond place in the WTA rank-

ings yesterday after her run to the Qatar Open final, while Doha champion Elise Mertens climbed back into the top 20.

Halep moved up a spot as Australian Open runner-up Pe-tra Kvitova dropped two places to fourth, with Sloane Stephens matching her career-best of third despite not playing since losing in the last 16 in Mel-bourne.

Naomi Osaka remains top of the standings, while Serena Williams returned to the top

10 for the first time since July 2017.

Mertens rose to 16th after the Belgian rallied from a set down to beat Halep 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday to claim the biggest title of her career.


WTA top 10:1. Naomi Osaka (JPN) 6,970 pts2. Simona Halep (ROU) 5,537 (+1)3. Sloane Stephens (USA) 5,307 (+1)4. Petra Kvitova (CZE) 5,120 (-2)5. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 5,0556. Elina Svitolina (UKR) 5,020 (+1)7. Angelique Kerber (GER) 4,960 (-1)8. Kiki Bertens (NED) 4,8859. Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) 3,56510. Serena Williams (USA) 3,406 (+1)

ATP top 10:1. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 10,955 pts2. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 8,3203. Alexander Zverev (GER) 6,4754. Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) 5,0605. Kevin Anderson (RSA) 4,5956. Kei Nishikori (JPN) 4,190 (+1)7. Roger Federer (SUI) 4,100 (-1)8. Dominic Thiem (AUT) 3,8009. John Isner (USA) 3,22510. Marin Cilic (CRO) 3,140

Vettel, Ferrari make flying start• Vettel nearly two seconds clear of field and completes most laps in the morning session of F1 testing

• Perez second ahead of Bottas, Raikkonen and Verstappen

Reuters | Barcelona

Ferrari made a strong start to the first day of Formu-la One testing yesterday

with four-times world champi-on Sebastian Vettel top of the timesheets at lunchtime with 72 laps completed.

The Italian team won six of the 21 races last year, finishing overall runners-up, and are hop-ing the new SF90 car can end Mercedes’s five-year strangle-hold on both championships.

Vettel’s fastest lap of one min-ute 18.161 seconds, on a sunny morning at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, was already quick-er than anything set during the weather-hit first four-day test

of 2018.The German was also nearly

two seconds faster than the best of the rest.

Racing Point ’s Mexican Sergio Perez was next on the timesheets, with a 1.19.944, on a day when mileage mattered more than outright speed as teams get to grips with their new cars for the first time and focus

on getting in plenty of laps.R e i g n i n g c h a m p i o n s

Mercedes, with Valtteri Bottas first behind the wheel of the sil-ver W10, completed the second most laps — three fewer than Ferrari — with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg doing 65.

Five-times world champion Lewis Hamilton will take over from Bottas, who was third fast-

est, in the afternoon.Former champions McLar-

en also made a solid start with Spaniard Carlos Sainz, stepping into the shoes of departed com-patriot Fernando Alonso, com-pleting 56 laps with the sixth fastest time.

Red Bull, now powered by Honda after their split from Renault, managed 52 laps with

Dutch driver Max Verstappen in action.

Alfa Romeo, the renamed former Sauber team, had 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen in new overalls after leaving Fer-rari and completing 46 laps after an early trip into the gravel that brought out the first red flag of 2019.

The Finn was fourth fastest at

the lunch break.Russian Daniil Kvyat was

slowest in the Honda-powered Toro Rosso but did more laps than Romain Grosjean, who did only 18 for Haas, while Perez took Racing Point’s tally to 20.

Only nine of the 10 teams ap-peared on track, with struggling Williams failing to get their car ready on time and not expecting to test until Wednesday at the earliest.

Ferrari’s German driver Sebastian Vettel drives during the tests

KNOW WHAT

The RB15 was also clocked fastest

through the speed trap to provide fur-ther positive signs

in Red Bull’s search of more horsepower

with their new engine suppliers

Simona Halep of Romania returns the ball to Elise Mertens of Belgium during the third set of their WTA Qatar Open final

Stan Wawrinka reacts during his final tennis match against Gael Monfils

Arsenal’s Thierry Henry (L) stands next to manager Arsene Wenger (file photo)

‘Nothing personal’ in beating Bayern for Klopp

AFP | Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp has buried the hatchet of his old Bundesli-

ga rivalry with Bayern Munich but wants Liverpool to show they are Champions League contenders by beating the German giants when the sides meet in the first leg of their last 16 tie on Tuesday.

Bayern have won the Bunde-sliga for the past six years since Klopp’s Dortmund claimed back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012.

Dortmund also lost the Champions League final to Bayern in 2013 and the rival-ry between the two was in-tensified as Bayern picked off some of Klopp’s best players in Mario Goetze, Mats Hummels and Robert Lewandowski.

“It’s nothing, not a little bit personal,” said Klopp yester-day. “There were never any negative things with Bayern but when we played them or when they bought our players how could I be happy and say ‘Great, good idea I’ll bring him in my car.’

“That was not nice for us at Dortmund but it’s part of the business. In these moments I was not happy, but it is long ago.”

Despite reaching four semi-finals and a quarter-fi-nal since 2013, Bayern have not

added to their five European Cup wins since Arjen Robben’s late winner at Wembley six years ago.

Liverpool also came close to adding to their five European crowns last season when los-ing out to Real Madrid in the final, but Klopp believes the fact his side are even consid-ered contenders for the title now is a sure sign of progress since he was hired in 2015.

“The best thing of all the things we did so far since we are together is that we are a real competitor again. That is of course not enough, but it is a big step,” added Klopp.

“Being not only part of the competition but people think-ing we can beat Bayern, that’s a big thing. The story so far is a nice one but not finished yet.”

Jordan Henderson and Jurgen Klopp celebrate the 4-3 victory over Crystal Palace (file photo)

Being not only part of the competition

but people thinking we can beat Bayern,

that’s a big thing. The story so far is a nice one but not finished

yetJURGEN KLOPP

@bahrainnbr health care for all - home | the daily tribune | kingdom of bahrain · 2019. 2. 19. ·...

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