celebs 8 @newsofbahrain op-ed swift gets political, · 9/10/2018 · linkedin newsofbahrain...

‘Egypt’s most-wanted’ militant nabbed in LibyaBenghazi

Egypt’s most-wanted ex-tremist was captured yes-terday in Libya.

Hisham Al Ashmawy, a for-mer Egyptian special-forces of-ficer turned Al Qaeda militant, was detained by the East Libyan

forces of Gen. Khalifa Haftar in the city of Derna, on the coast road about 265km west of the Egyptian border.

The captured man “was wear-ing an explosive vest but was unable to detonate it,” a spokes-man for Haftar’s Libyan Nation-al Army (LNA) said.

He is expected to be handed over to Egypt after he has been interrogated. Al Ashmawy’s ar-rest deals a blow to militants who have been battling the LNA and carrying out attacks across the border into Egypt.

Al Ashmawy is wanted by Cai-ro for orchestrating a deadly

ambush on Egyptian police in the Western Desert last year, and other high-profile attacks.

He had also been convicted in his absence and sentenced to death for a 2014 raid in which 22 Egyptian military border guards were killed near the frontier with Libya.

03 Soft or hard VAT?

04Leading US nano firm eyes production unit in Bahrain

05Kingdom set to launch first International Youth Festival

8

US ‘green growth’ duo win Economics Nobel 6WORLD

OP-EDC E L E B S

Swift gets political, backs Democrats Pop star Taylor Swift is not really known for making political statements, but the “Bad Blood” singer is no longer holding back ahead of the midterm elections in November. P 13

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An insidious and contagious American presidency

Terry hangs up his boots 15 SPORTS

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Deputy King His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa has launched the social media campaign #TeamBahrain. The campaign offers a tribute to all those who have been contributing towards the nation-building, be it a soldier, police officer or a private sector employee. “Together, we can overcome any challenge under the leadership of HM King Hamad,” the campaign says, calling for citizens and residents to contribute towards the development of the Kingdom.

#TeamBahrain campaign

Call to ensure fiscal balance Cabinet directs all ministries to consolidate fiscal sustainability

• The session approved the addition of new tasks to the National Committee to follow up on Bahrain’s commitment to all UN Security Council’s resolutions.

Manama

The Cabinet chaired by His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince

Khalifa bin Salman Al Khali-fa yesterday gave directives to all ministries and government departments to remain com-mitted to the Fiscal Balance Programme.

All ministries were directed to consolidate fiscal sustaina-bility while ensuring the conti-nuity of efforts to improve the quality of government services.

The Cabinet welcomed the

fraternal stance of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait following the signature of the framework arrangements for fiscal cooperation between their governments and the Gov-ernment of Bahrain.

The session extended deep-est thanks and appreciation to the three brotherly countries for their supportive stances to-wards Bahrain in various fields, stressing that the noble stances of the leaderships of Saudi Ara-bia, UAE and Kuwait are a role model for true relations among brotherly countries.

The session affirmed the strength of the deep-rooted ties between them and Bahrain which have always been based on common destiny and uni-fied goals, a statement by the Cabinet Secretary-General, Dr Yasser Al Nasser, said.

Among other things, HRH the Premier gave directives to ministries and government de-partments to constantly follow up on dues to contractors and companies to make sure they are always paid according to schedule.

The Cabinet lauded HRH Pre-mier’s keynote speech during the “Bahrain Visions Forum: Shared Visions for a Success-ful World Future”, and praised the importance of the Forum regarding attendance and effec-tive international participation, welcoming the event’s success in highlighting Bahrain’s efforts to promote the concepts and principles of cooperation, peace and co-existence.

Continued on page 2

HRH the Premier chairs the Cabinet.

1,481recommendations and resolutions were made

by the municipal councils during their fourth term.

CABINET SESSION

Cultural festival set Manama

Under the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al

Khalifa, the Al Ahram Cultural Festival will open today at the University of Bahrain.

Egypt’s Al Ahram group is organising the three-day fes-tival in cooperation with the Ministry of Information Af-fairs under the theme “Egypt and Bahrain ..Two civilizations and one common destiny”.

Information Minister, Ali Al Romaihi welcomed the partic-ipation of an elite of Egyptian an Arab media, cultural, intel-lectual, legal and diplomatic personalities in the frater-nal festival.

Iran has ‘unclean hands’ in world court battleThe Hague

The United States ac-cused Tehran yester-day of having “unclean

hands” as it fought an Iranian court bid to unfreeze billions of dollars earmarked by Wash-ington for terror victims.

Washington said Iran’s “sup-port for international terror-ism,” including bombings and airline hijackings, should rule out its case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

Iran dragged Washington to the UN’s top court in 2016 over a US Supreme Court ruling that the $2 billion should go to vic-tims of attacks blamed on the Islamic republic.

Iran said the case breached a 1955 “Treaty of Amity” be-tween Washington and Tehran signed before Iran’s Islamic revolution.

Washington tore up that treaty last week after the ICJ in a separate case ordered the

United States to ease sanctions reimposed on Iran by US Pres-ident Donald Trump after he pulled out of Iran’s 2015 inter-national nuclear deal.

“Iran comes to the court with unclean hands. Indeed, it is a remarkable show of bad faith,” Richard Visek, a US State Department legal official, told the court.

“The actions at the root of this case center on Iran’s sup-port for international terror-ism... Iran’s bad acts include supports for terrorist bomb-ings, assassinations, kidnap-pings, and airline hijackings,” he said.

Iran comes to the court with unclean

hands. Indeed, it is a remarkable show of

bad faith. RICHARD VISEK

Al Ashmawy in Libyan police custody.

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Focus on cloud transformation By 2020, Artificial Intelligence will eliminate 1.8 million jobs around the world while providing other 2.3 million jobs, say experts Manama

On the second day of the Bah-rain International eGovern-ment Forum 2018, specialised

sessions presented by 11 speakers cov-ered tracks on Cloud Computing, Data Analytics and Blockchain Technology.

On the topic ‘Operating on Cloud Computing’, AWS Enterprise Strategist from the UK Thomas Blood presented the impact of the cloud technology on structures and entities’ work mech-anisms.

He also added that organisations are facing changing environments in terms of customers’ high expectations as well as rapid and constant changes.

“Public entities also have existing advantages such as deep knowledge, skilled and committed employees, fi-nancial resources and customer base.”

He further stressed that everything in the world today became software, innovation is inexpensive and that according to his notion, organisations must ‘Think big, start small and go fast’.

On the same topic, Center of Tech-nology in Government and Research Director Dr Theresa Pardo spoke about transformation of cloud com-puting and its adoption by having a clear vision that is based on three suc-cess factors represented in having top leadership support; deep under-standing of management, policy and

technology; strategic planning as well as culture of coordination and shared decision-making which will massive-ly assist in expanding the spread of adopting the cloud.

Dr Pardo also highlighted the US experience in cloud computing by indicating that cloud adoption rates have risen from 0.3 per cent in 2010 to 7pc in 2016. Additionally, very small and largest companies have the highest rates and are the heaviest adopters of

cloud computing. Simon Bradford, Cloud Technolo-

gies Director in Microsoft, said that approaches to take in the journey to the cloud requires building trust and skills required then getting on the journey; having a clear information management strategy; as well as pro-tecting and controlling what is really important.

On ‘Data Analytics: Opportunities and Trends’ topic, EMEA Regional CTO Ap-

pDynamics Mr James Harvey estimat-ed that by 2021, $2.1 trillion is estimated to be spent on digital transformation. Also, he said he believed that 80-90pc of initiatives fail to digitally transform because organisations don’t understand the definition of transformation nor have a vision.

Dean Lacheca, Research Director of Gartner, said that Singapore is heavily investing in data and that Artificial Intelligence continues to reshape ana-lytics. He continued that by 2020, Arti-ficial Intelligence would eliminate 1.8 million jobs worldwide while replac-ing them with other 2.3 million jobs.

Jeanne Holm, Senior Technology Advisor to the Mayor and Deputy CIO from Los Angeles, spoke on ‘Open Data: History, Challenges and the Fu-ture’ about government open data which will ignite the opportunity of open data and sparkle new economic growth.

2.1trillion US dollars is

estimated to be spent on digital transformation by

the year 2021.

A panel discussion in progress at the event.

Very small and largest companies have the

highest rates and are the heaviest adopters

of cloud computing. DR PARDO

Bahrain eGovernment Index launched Manama

The Information and eGovernment Author-ity (iGA) has launched

the Bahrain eGovernment Index.

Acting Vice CE in eTransfor-mation Dr Zakareya Ahmed AlKhajah stated that the King-dom has emerged a pioneer in the field. “The index is de-veloping government perfor-mance by facilitating proce-dures and raising quality of ser-vices delivered to the public. It is consistent with international indicators that are applied in the eGovernment sector.”

He continued that the index regularly evaluates public en-tities based on a set of criteria, which focus on maturity of de-livered eServices in terms of in-tegration, interaction, simplicity of procedures, accessibility to information as well as level of entity’s adoption to the cloud computing technology and level

of commitment to IT as well as HR development.

The level of entities’ adop-tion to the culture of IT strategic planning is also measured along with their security readiness in the field of information secu-rity based on the classification of the Cyber Trust programme, he added.

Dr AlKhajah stated that this

initiative seeks to regularly as-sess public entities in order to encourage the adoption of best IT practices, develop government performance and raising effi-ciency so as to reduce expendi-tures and enhance strategic plan-ning, revising and determining government IT priorities based on planning and coordination amongst public entities.

The index regularly evaluates public entities based on a set of criteria, which focus on maturity of delivered eServices in terms of integration, interaction, simplicity of procedures and accessibility to information. DR ALKHAJAH

Amendments approved Continued from page 1

The session approved a draft-law on amend-ing some provisions of the Law on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, and

decided to take the necessary constitutional and legal measures, as recommended by the Ministeri-al Committee for Legal Affairs and highlighted in the memorandum presented by the Deputy Prime Minister and committee Chairman.

Under the amendment, the relevant service authorities that need precursors in their field of work will be allowed to import, export and trans-port these materials under the supervision of the Ministry of Health.

A “National Committee on the Affairs and Fight against Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Sub-stances”, to be chaired by the Minister of Interior,

will also be formed.The session reviewed a report presented by

the Minister of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning including statistical information about the most important decisions and recom-mendations adopted by the municipal councils during the fourth session of 2014-2018.

The report showed that a total of 1,481 reso-lutions and recommendations had been made during the fourth session, and that 632 of which were approved and 276 were rejected. Meanwhile, 38 per cent of them were referred back for further study.

The report also revealed that the operating expenses of municipal councils and those of the Capital Trustees had reached about BD 7 million during the fourth municipal session.


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• The unified GCC agreement grants each member country the right to adopt the suitable tax policy to exempt or impose a tax in the sectors of health, education, real estate, local transport and financial services.

• Shura Council General Secretary Abduljaleel Al Turaif said Shura members will discuss the new taxation system today.

TDT | Manama Thamer Tayfoor

The impact of Value Added Tax (VAT) on normal life was invariably the most

discussed topic yesterday by both citizens and residents as the par-liament approved on Sunday a law stipulating the implementing of VAT from January 1, 2019.

The move by the Kingdom comes as part of unifying and in-tegrating the economic strategies of GCC countries.

However, as the new tax ap-proaches, many citizens and res-idents are unaware of the direct effect it would have on their lives.

VAT is a type of tax that applies to all goods and services, and it’s usually assessed and collected on the value of the goods or servic-es provided each time there is a sale and purchase transaction,

amounting to five per cent of the value of the commodity.

The unified GCC agreement grants each member country the right to adopt the suitable tax poli-

cy to exempt or impose a tax in the sectors of health, education, real estate, local transport and finan-cial services.

Finance Minister Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khal-ifa stated that the VAT wouldn’t be implemented on a number of primary commodities, taking into consideration the interests of cit-izens. According to parliament sources, 97 commodities will be exempted from the tax.

The official statistics says there are 120,000 families in the King-dom, which receive governmental financial assistance.

Those families, according to ex-perts and economists, will be the most affected once the new tax is implemented despite assurances from the part of authorities.

Shura Council General Secre-tary Abduljaleel Al Turaif said Shura members will discuss the

new taxation system today. On his part, MP Jamal Buhassan

hailed the implementation of VAT as it strengthens bonds between GCC countries, considering it a general commitment for GCC countries.

He said it benefits citizens as it will create additional revenues to reinforce the budget of the state, without affecting the pric-es of commodities in a big way or harming the interest of citizens.

Mr Buhassan said: “The gov-ernment should clarify the mech-anism of the implementation of the new tax system, its collection and monitoring the commercial

establishments to ensure that no manipulation of prices occurs. There should be a strict govern-mental plan to achieve the goals sought through the implementa-tion of VAT.”

As for Bahrain Chamber for Commerce and Industry (BCCI), it confirmed that it would commit to the implementation of VAT and said it comes to fulfil the increas-ing need to achieve long-term fiscal sustainability and ease the financial burden on the govern-ment, in light of the continued sharp decline in oil prices.

The BCCI also said that the im-plementation of VAT comes as an answer to the need to reform the taxation system in the GCC and

diversify sources of income away from the oil sector.

The chamber affirmed that it would raise more awareness on VAT among traders and entre-preneurs and answer all of their queries.

Soft or hard VAT? 97 primary commodities will be exempted from the tax, say parliament sources

There should be a strict governmental action plan to achieve the

goals sought through the implementation of

Value Added Tax. MR BUHASSAN

The VAT wouldn’t be implemented on a number of primary commodities, taking into consideration the interests of citizens. SHAIKH AHMED

KNOW WHAT

VAT is a type of tax that applies to all goods and services, and

it’s usually assessed and collected on the value of the goods or

services provided each time there is a sale and purchase transaction.

Manipulating prices of various commodities will be the biggest challenge faced by the authorities as well as customers.

120,000Bahraini families receive governmental financial

assistance in the Kingdom, according to official

statistics.


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• The technology is able to help multiply the efficiency and durability of machinery, devices and automobiles.

TDT | ManamaMohammed Zafran

An award winning US-based company who are pioneers in nano-mechanics aims to

make Bahrain its regional hub by setting up a production plant here.

NanoMech, which owns around 3,000 patents and claims, is a pioneer in nano-manufactur-ing - an innovative process that takes manufacturing to nanoscale which is one billionth of a meter.

The technology is able to help multiply the efficiency and dura-bility of machinery, devices and automobiles. The company, which manufactures and ships lubri-cants and coatings among oth-er things, designs and engineers products at nano-scale, caters to industries in the manufacturing, energy, automotive, and defence sectors.

James Phillips, Chairman and CEO of NanoMech told Tribune that the technologies available with the company can increase the efficiency of machines by 200 or 1,000 times.

“In technology today, it’s a big deal if you’re 5 per cent or 10pc better, we’re typically somewhere between around 200pc and thou-sand percent better in what we do and in terms of our products.”

He said that the implications of

the science of Nanoscale is huge as it will be the driver for the fu-ture with huge involvement in ar-eas such as artificial intelligence and robotics.

“Big data, Artificial Intelli-gence, robotics, autonomy are driven by by Nanoscale. We are the leader in the United States in terms of developing nano in-ventions. Currently we focus

heavily in several sectors such as oil and gas, transportation which includes trucking, auto-motive, retail, manufacturing and military.”

“We have products that give higher performance, as much as a 1,000pc more in terms of in-creasing performance, increasing efficiency, and increasing sustain-ability. We drop friction down to

near zero, we may get machines to last two, three or four times longer.”

“We’re going to replace all the oils, all greases, all lubes, the rea-son being is that we obsolete all of those since they are all micron based. We are nano-based which is a thousand times smaller and and we’re able to do things at the Nanoscale that you cannot do at

micron scale. Micron technol-ogy is thirty years old so we’re able to provide operating char-acteristics and differentiation that outperforms all the prod-ucts that are pretty much out there today, whether it’s paints, lubricants or coatings, which are all multi-hundred billion dollar industries.”

He confirmed that he, along

with senior executives from his company, has held talks with Bah-raini organisations, both in the government and private sector.

Bahraini businessman and Cox Capital Group, Middle East chair-man Hadi Al Alawi, said the plant would be a huge win for Bahrain.

“I met Phillips in a conference in a Newport Rhode Island in the United States about six weeks ago. I visited his facility and I was so impressed with the technol-ogy and with the top scientists and expertise which they brought from all over the world. I was convinced that this is what we need in this part of the world,” Mr Al Alawi said.

“We have had meetings here organised by the Economic Devel-opment Board. We had meetings with various investors, we are also meeting the the Minister of Oil and Gas.”

“If we have a plant in Bahrain, it will be used for distribution to the Middle East, Indian subcon-tinent and perhaps even the far east,” he added.

We are nano-based which is a thousand times smaller and and we’re able to do things at the Nanoscale that you cannot do at micron scale. MR PHILIPS

We have had meetings here organised by the Economic Development Board. We had meetings with various investors and Oil and Gas Minister. MR AL ALAWI

Banking ‘constitutes 17pc of Kingdom’s GDP’ TDT | ManamaMohammed Zafran

Bahrain’s banking sector’s contribution to the GDP is at 17 per cent and is ex-

pected to play a crucial role in growth of the GDP this year, it was revealed.

Banks are playing an important role in the growth of Bahrain’s economy, said Adnan Ahmed

Yousef, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bahrain As-sociation of Banks (BAB).

He was speaking during the The Open Dialogue Forum held yesterday. The event was organ-

ised by Bahrain Association of Banks.

He said that the bank fi-nancing portfolio grew by BD500 million during the first half of this year to BD 9.2 bil-lion, while the contribution of the sector reached almost 17 per cent in GDP and employs 14,093 employees, of whom 66pc are Bahrainis.

“Let me stress at the outset that the successes achieved by the Association and the banking sector in Bahrain have taken place against the backdrop of a supportive local economic environment. Ac-cording to the EDB, Bahrain’s non-oil sector is expected to grow by 4.3pc in 2018, with GDP growth estimated at 3.4pc.

“The outlook follows a strong performance in 2017 as Bahrain’s fastest-growing economy in the GCC region grew by 3.8pc with a growth rate of 4.8pc in the non-oil sector. The expected growth is mainly supported by strong growth in the lending sector by banks in Bahrain in 2018,” he said.

He added that for banks, their reported profits were “very excellent”, expected to generate at least 10pc growth in net profits in 2018.

In his speech, he highlight-

ed the role played by BAB in re-cent years. “The business plan of BAB focuses on strengthening the representation of the Asso-ciation for the banking sector in the Kingdom and defending its interests at all levels.

“A number of initiatives have been implemented within this strategy, especially with regard to the establishment of eleven permanent committees; each specialised in a specific banking field such as the Banking Prod-ucts Committee, the AML / CFT Committee, Sustainability and Social Responsibility Committee and others.

“A term of reference has been established for each committee and each one of them includes a group of specialised experts and officials in the member banks of the Association to meet peri-odically and develop common solutions to the issues facing the banking sector.

“This experience proved very successful and the banking in-dustry began reaping the fruits of the work and achievements of these committees in organising events, preparing studies, work-ing papers and solutions to the issues before them according to priorities approved by the Board of Directors.”

Outlining the association’s plans, he said, “Perhaps the first of these tasks is to expand the mem-bership base of BAB. At present, there are 52 banks members out of a total of 100 retail and whole-sale banks in Bahrain. Therefore, we must seek to restore the con-fidence of various commercial and investment banks to develop comprehensive solutions to the challenges facing the financial and banking sector in Bahrain.

“We are looking forward through this forum to reach this goal and attract more banking institutions to the membership of the Association. One of the challenges that the banking in-dustry must seriously prepare for, with the continued support and guidance of the Central Bank of Bahrain, is the digital transfor-mation in order to maintain the leading position of Bahrain as regional and international finan-cial centre.”

Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain Rashid Al Maraj and the Chief Executive of the Economic Development Board Khalid Al Rumaihi also took part in the event.

Leading US nano firm eyes production unit in Bahrain

NanoMech, which owns around 3,000 patents, is a pioneer in nano-manufacturing

A panel discussion in progress at the event.

The expected growth is mainly supported by

strong growth in the lending sector by banks

of Bahrain in 2018. MR YOUSEF

14,093people are employed by the banking sector

in the Kingdom, of which 66pc are

Bahrainis.


Kingdom set to launch first International Youth Festival

The event emphasises the Kingdom’s status as an important hub for achieving SDGs Manama

Under the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the Minis-

try of Youth and Sports Affairs is organising the first Internation-al Youth Festival for sustainable development goals (SDGs) this month. The festival is considered to be one of the most important youth events in the world.

The event emphasises the Kingdom’s status as an impor-tant hub for achieving SDGs. The festival is another initiative for Bahrain towards international goals after launching the King Hamad Youth Empowerment Award to achieve SDGs, which is the first of its kind in the world, and the opening of Bahrain Sci-

entific Centre.The international festival

aims to offer a wide range of programmes to raise awareness among youngsters about the im-portance of the sustainable de-velopment goals through a wide range of activities.

The Kingdom has been keen to engage many youngsters from Bahrain and the world in the fes-tival given the great potentials they have to achieve people’s as-pirations.

In a statement, Representa-tive of HM the King for Charity Work and Youth Affairs, Chair-man of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sport and President of Bahrain Olympic Commit-tee His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa expressed

great appreciation of His Maj-esty the King’s patronage of the festival which, he said, aims to highlight Bahrain’s pioneering role and steps in achieving sus-tainable development and in-volving the youth in achieving SDGs.

“The Kingdom will once

again be a pioneer in delivering pioneering youth initiatives to achieve sustainable development goals after amazing the world with the launch the King Ham-ad Youth Empowerment Award towards achieving the SDGs,” HH Shaikh Nasser said, pointing out another unique global achieve-

ment which was the opening the first-of-its-kind centre to achieve SDGs.

“The Kingdom is keen to in-vest in the youth’s capacities for production, creativity and youth empowerment,” said HH Shaikh Nasser, pointing out the king-dom’s keenness to bring togeth-er youngsters from all over the world in Bahrain to explore new and innovative programmes at the global level and confirm anew their great potentials to create new opportunities to achieve the SDGs.

“The festival will represent a real opportunity to hear the voice of the youth and open the door for them to participate in decision-making, especially with regard to achieving the objectives

of sustainable development,” HH Shaikh Nasser stressed.

“The concept of sustainable development is not only to meet the needs of the present but also to meet future needs,” said HH Shaikh Nasser.

“We are keen to involve young people to underscore the impor-tance for them to adopt the 2030 plan in their countries in order to ensure its success and achieve the sustainable development goals.”

HH Shaikh Nasser said the fes-tival will seek to achieve a number of objectives including informing the largest possible number of young people and all segments of the community about SDGs as well as highlighting the efforts and initiatives of the Kingdom to achieve them.

The Kingdom is keen to invest in the youth’s capacities for production, creativity and empowerment. SHAIKH NASSER

Finance Minister stresses pension fund sustainability

Manama

Finance Minister Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa has hailed the

parliamentary approval of law decree 45 of 2018 on setting pen-sion of ministers and fixing the pension bonuses allocated for members of the Shura Council, the Council of Representatives and the municipal councils.

“The move is part of the meas-ures which aim at consolidating the sustainability of the pension funds for the sake of citizens”, he said, stressing the impor-tance of preserving the stabil-ity, efficiency and durability of the funds, without prejudicing rights.

The minister commended the Council of Representatives which convened in an extraor-dinary session to approve the law 46 of 2018 on providing support to the Fiscal Stability Programme, commended the brotherly countries for backing

the Kingdom.The minister commended co-

operation with the legislative branch of government to con-tinue the development momen-tum, led by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

“The framework arrange-

ments for supporting the Fiscal Stability Programme, which was signed by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the State of Kuwait and the Arab Fund reflect deep-rooted fraternal relations on the basis of unity and common destiny”, he said.

The minister stressed the im-portance of continuing coop-eration to achieved the objec-tives of the Fiscal Stability Pro-gramme, stressed the success of the recent efforts to reduce deficit and save up to BD854 million.

He underlined the more ef-forts would be exerted to meet the pre-set goals and save a fur-ther BD800 million, under the Fiscal Stability Programme.

The move is part of the measures which aim at consolidating the sustainability of the pension funds for the sake of citizens. SHAIKH AHMED

Verdict date set in car robbery case

TDT | Manama Ali Tarif

The High Criminal Court announced yesterday that it will issue its ver-

dict in the car robbery case on October 31, 2018.

The suspect is accused of robbing his neighbour’s car after attacking him.

According to court de-tails, the victim was getting inside his car parked outside his house when the suspect attacked him from behind, snatched the key and made off driving the car.

The suspect was kicked out of his house by his father, ac-cording to sources.

“I was getting inside my car when he hit me with a leath-er bag and snatched the car’s key from me,” the victim told prosecutors.

The suspect was arrested following the investigation. However, he, pleaded not guilty before the court.

I was getting inside my car when he hit me with a leather bag and snatched the car’s key

from me. VICTIM

Imam murder suspect to undergo mental health test TDT | Manama Ali Tarif

The High Criminal Court yesterday accepted the request made by the

defence lawyer to subject the suspect to mental health tests in imam murder trial, Tribune learnt.

The 35-year-old Bangladeshi defendant earlier admitted to murdering his victim before the High Criminal Court.

According to court details, the suspect killed imam Abdul-jaleel Hmood by hitting him in the head with an iron rod.

“He then cut the body into pieces along with the co-de-fendant before dumping it in plastic bags near the scrapyard in Askar.”

The co-defendant has plead-ed not guilty in the case.

Sources say the suspect, a muezzin at the mosque in Muharraq, where the imam was working, was trading in

free visas and the imam had warned him against engaging in the illegal act.

“The imam reported the il-legal act to the Justice Minis-try and the Bangladeshi man killed him in an act of revenge.”

The defendant told prose-cutors that he had informed his wife about his intention to commit the crime prior to murdering the imam.

However, the defendant’s wife was cleared of charges of hiding the crime.

The defendant’s next hear-ing has been scheduled for October 15, 2018.

The imam reported the illegal act to the Justice Ministry and the Bangladeshi man killed him in an act of

revenge. SOURCES

Bahrain Chapter of ICAI Excom met Alok Kumar Sinha, Indian Ambassador to Bahrain and apprised him about the Chapter’s plan for the year and extended invitation for the International Annual Conference to be held in Bahrain on 23rd and 24th November 2018.

Courtesy call

06

world

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018

We can absolutely make substantial

progress to protecting the environment, and without giving up the chance for sustained

growthPAUL ROMER

Egypt army says 52 jihadists killed in SinaiCairo, Egypt

Egyptian security forc-es pressing a campaign

against Islamist militants have killed 52 suspected jihadists in the Sinai Penin-sula in operations in which three soldiers also died, the army said yesterday.

The military launched a sweeping operation in Feb-ruary focused on the Sinai in eastern Egypt aimed at wiping out jihadists, includ-ing from the Islamic State (IS) group, who have been waging a bloody insurgency.

On Monday, the military said that 52 “takfiris” or Sunni Muslim extremists were killed in two separate operations by security forc-es in the restive peninsula.

Three members of the armed forces were also killed in these operations, it said in a statement, with-out stating when they took place.

The military has regularly reported operations in the Sinai since it launched the campaign.

Drunk cop shoots colleague

Dushanbe, Tajikistan

A policeman working at Tajikistan’s main in-

ternational airport shot his colleague twice with his service pistol in a “drunken quarrel”, the interior minis-try said yesterday.

A spokesman for the ministry said a 34-year-old officer at the Dushanbe International Airport shot his 30-year-old subordi-nate with a Makarov pis-tol, widely used by security forces in the ex-Soviet Un-ion. The incident took place Saturday evening in a room used by police after both men had been drinking al-cohol and did not affect the airport’s running.

At least 53 killed in DR Congo tanker crashKinshasa, DR Congo

At least 53 people were killed when an oil tank-

er crashed in the Democrat-ic Republic of Congo at the weekend, according to an updated toll from the health ministry on Monday.

The tanker collided with another vehicle and caught fire on Saturday on a high-way 120 kilometres (75 miles) west of the capital Kinshasa.

The ministry said another 72 people were injured, and warned that the death toll could rise further.

President Joseph Kabila has declared three days of mourning for the victims of the disaster.

US ‘green growth’ duo win Economics Nobel

The academy said their models have “significantly broadened the scope economic analysis”.

• Nordhaus is a professor at Yale University.

• Romer is a former World Bank chief economist

• The pair will share the nine million Swedish kronor (about $1.01 million or 860,000-euro) prize.

AFP | Stockholm, Sweden

US economists William No r d h a u s a n d Pa u l Romer yesterday shared

the 2018 Nobel Economics Prize for constructing “green growth” models that show how innova-tion and climate policies can be integrated with economic growth.

Working independently, they have addressed “some of our time’s most basic and pressing questions about how we cre-ate long-term sustained and sustainable growth,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement.

Nordhaus is a professor at Yale University. Romer is a former World Bank chief economist now at New York University’s Stern School of Business.

The academy said their mod-els, both developed in the 1990s, have “significantly broadened the scope of economic analysis”.

The prize announcement came as the UN warned in a landmark report that an “un-precedented” transformation of society and the world economy was needed to avoid global cli-mate chaos.

It said time was running out to avert disaster, noting that

our plant’s surface has already warmed one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit).

Romer told the Swedish acad-emy in a live phone interview at the prize announcement that he was confident the world could reduce greenhouse gas emis-sions and still improve standards of living in the future.

“We can absolutely make sub-stantial progress to protecting the environment, and without giving up the chance for sus-tained growth,” he said.

“One of the problems with the current situation is that many people think that dealing with protecting the environment will be so costly and so hard that they will ignore the problem and deny it exists,” he said.

“I hope the prize will help people see humans are capable of amazing accomplishments when we try to do something.”

‘Achieving sustainable growth’The jury said that while Nord-haus and Romer “do not deliver conclusive answers ... their find-ings have brought us consid-erably closer to answering the question of how we can achieve sustained and sustainable global economic growth.”

Nordhaus, 77, was specifically honoured for “integrating cli-mate change into long-run mac-roeconomic analysis.”

His “integrated assessment model” was created in the 1990s and combines theories and em-pirical results from physics,

chemistry and economics.It is now widely “used to sim-

ulate how the economy and cli-mate co-evolve.” It is used to examine the consequences of climate policy interventions, for example carbon taxes.

Nordhaus’s research shows that the most efficient remedy for problems caused by green-house gas emissions is a global scheme of carbon taxes uni-formly imposed on all countries.

Countries refusing to take part in the scheme could be subject-ed to customs tariffs.

The 62-year-old Romer mean-while won the prize for “inte-grating technological innova-tions into long-run macroeco-nomic analysis.”

Complementing Nordhaus’ research, Romer laid the foun-dation for “endogenous growth theory”, which explains how ideas are different to other goods and require specific con-ditions to thrive.

His research demonstrated how economic forces govern the willingness of companies to pro-duce new ideas and innovations.

“They [the laureates] show and they have taught us how the economic situation is dependent on technological development, environmental changes, so they integrate economics with major issues facing mankind,” Goran K. Hansson, secretary general of the Royal Swedish academy for sciences, said

William Nordhaus (USA) and Paul Romer (USA),have won the Economics Prize for including climate changeand technological innovation in longterm economic theory

Nobel Prize in Economics

Source: Nobelprize.org Pictures: Getty Images, Newscom, paulromer.net © GRAPHIC NEWS

RECENT LAUREATES

2013: Eugene F. Fama (USA)Lars Peter Hansen (USA)Robert J. Shiller (USA) “for theirempirical analysis of asset prices”

2015: Angus Deaton (UK)“for his analysis of consumption,poverty, and welfare”2017: Richard

Thaler (USA)“for his contributionsto behaviouraleconomics”

2016: BengtHolmström (FIN)Oliver Hart (GBR) “for theircontributions to contract theory”

2014: Jean Tirole (FRA)“for his analysis of market powerand regulation”

KNOW WHAT

Unlike the other prizes which were created by Alfred Nobel’s will, the

economics prize was started by the Swed-

ish central bank in 1968 to mark its

tricentenary. It was awarded in 1969.

20 killed in upstate New York limo horrorAFP | New York, United States

Twenty people have been killed after a limousine ca-

reened out of control in what in-vestigators described Sunday as the most deadly transportation accident in the United States for nearly a decade.

All 18 occupants of the SUV-style stretch limo died along with two pedestrians on Satur-day afternoon in upstate New York, police deputy superinten-dent Christopher Fiore told a news conference.

He said the 2001 Ford Excur-sion had failed to stop at an in-tersection and continued into a

parking lot, ultimately crashing into a parked car. Investigators have not yet established if the

victims were wearing seatbelts.“Twenty fatalities is horrific...

This is one of the biggest losses

of lives that we have seen in a long, long time,” added Nation-al Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chairman Robert Sum-walt.

“This is the most deadly trans-portation accident in the coun-try since February of 2009,” he added -- referring to the Colgan Air Flight crash from New Jer-sey to New York, which killed 49.

Pictures posted on Twitter by Jesse McKinley, the Albany bureau chief for the New York Times, showed a hair brush and a fragment of tail light in the grass at the side of the road, in the aftermath. Deep muddy tire tracks disappeared into wood-

land beyond. The tragedy un-folded outside the Apple Barrel Country Store and Cafe in the town of Schoharie, southwest of the state capital Albany and a three-hour drive north of New York City.

“That limo was coming down that hill probably over 60 mph... I don’t want to describe the scene. It’s not something I want to think about,” manager Jessica Kirby was quoted as saying.

The Columbus Day weekend is the busiest of the year for the store, Kirby said, noting that it was full of customers from New York City, New Jersey and Albany at the time of the crash.

Eighteen of those killed were riding in the limo and part of a group of relatives


Russia uses Nazi photos to find Stalin-era mass graves

AFP | Moscow, Russia

A team of Russian historians and archaeologists have used a Nazi bomber pilot’s photograph to

help them pinpoint the location of mass graves in Moscow containing the re-mains of thousands shot by Stalin’s secret police.

The existence of a mass grave in the Kommunarka district in southwestern Moscow first came to light in the dying days of the Soviet Union when the KGB opened up its archives.

It was one of three killing fields in the city used by Stalin’s NKVD secret police in the 1930s.

Historians believe at least 6,609 peo-ple were shot and thrown into mass graves in Kommunarka between 1937 and 1941.

The gated forested area was once used by NKVD chief Genrikh Yagoda, who had a holiday cottage there.

But he fell foul of the regime and was removed from his post in 1936 and shot in 1938 -- with his body most likely also disposed of in Kommunarka.

Until recently, the mass graves were believed to be located in one area of the forest, where victims’ relatives put up a memorial.

But historians now believe the graves’ location was misidentified.

An aerial shot of Kommunarka taken by a Nazi pilot flying over Moscow in 1942 -- when the graves were “fresh” -- was key to the investigation.

Crucially, it showed the height of the trees in the area at the time.

Historians came to the conclusion

that some of the trees had been planted over fresh graves -- a tactic often used by the NKVD to cover up its executions.

The next step, Romanov said, is to identify in which specific pits the bod-ies of victims were placed.

“In a small one there could be 30 people and in another there could be 100 -- we want to know who is buried where.”

Mongolian govtYan Rachinsky, a senior member of rights group Memorial that documents Stalinist crimes, estimates that around 30,000 people were shot in Moscow alone during Stalin’s Great Terror be-tween 1937 and 1938.

During a brief period of openness during the Perestroika era in the 1980s, the KGB sent files on Stalin-era victims to journalists and Memorial, Rachinsky said.

In some, the NKVD gives the place of execution as Butovo or Moscow’s Don-skoye cemetery. Others simply say that the victim’s body is “in a pit”.

“We believe those with no (marked) place of execution are in Kommunarka,” Rachinsky said.

High-ranking officials and scientists were among those shot and hastily bur-ied in Kommunarka.

“Almost the entire Mongolian government is there,” Rachinsky said. Mongolia was a Soviet satellite country.

Many officials from the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia were also executed there after their countries were occupied by the USSR in 1940.

The existence of a mass

grave in the Kommunarka district came to light when

the KGB opened up its

archivesA monument for those killed by Stalin’s regime from Yakutia region in Russia

Historians believe at least 6,609 people were shot and thrown into mass graves in Kommunarka between 1937 and 1941

Moscow to summon envoy over attack claimAFP | Moscow, Russia

The Russian foreign min-istry was to summon the

Dutch ambassador yesterday after the Netherlands said it had foiled a cyber attack by Russians, state news agen-cies reported. “Due to the campaign of disinformation carried out in The Hague the Dutch ambassador will be summoned to the foreign min-istry on Monday,” a source in the ministry told RIA Novosti state news agency.

The Netherlands said Thurs-

day it had expelled four GRU military intelligence agents in April for an attempt to hack into the headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibi-tion of Chemical Weapons.

At the time of the alleged plot the OPCW was investi-gating the March poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English town of Salisbury.

It was also probing allega-tions of a chemical weapons attack on the Syrian town of Douma by forces loyal to Pres-ident Bashar al-Assad.

Mexican couple found with body parts are suspects in 10 murdersMexico City, Mexico

A Mexican couple arrested outside Mexico City while

transporting human body parts in a baby carriage are now sus-pected of killing 10 women, prosecutors said Sunday.

The man and women were detained on Thursday in Ecate-pec, a crime-ridden northeast-ern suburb of the capital, pros-ecutors in Mexico state said in a statement.

After searching two build-ings, investigators found ad-ditional human remains in

buckets filled with cement, and wrapped in plastic in a refriger-ator, the statement added.

A judge ordered the couple to remain in detention as the investigation proceeds.

Forensics experts are at-tempting to identify the victims.

Hundreds of people vented their outrage in the streets of Ecatepec on Sunday. Carrying candles and white flowers, they demanded justice and an end to rampant femicide in Mexico state.

“Not one more! Enough

i s e n o u g h ! ” s a i d t h e i r placards.

Mexico has suffered for years from waves of violence against women and girls. More than 90 percent of crimes go unpun-ished in the country.

According to UN Women, sev-en women and girls are killed in Mexico every day.

The local non-governmental organization Semaforo Delic-tivo recorded 188 killings of women in the country between January and March this year -- an 18 percent increase from the same period last year.

Taliban vow to attack Afghan security forces Kabul, Afghanistan

The Taliban yesterday-vowed to target gov-

ernment security forces in upcoming parliamentary elections, as US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with Afghan leaders to discuss ways to end the 17-year war.

Describing the polls as a “malicious American con-spiracy”, Taliban spokes-man Zabihullah Mujahid said the militants would pull no punches to disrupt the long-delayed ballot scheduled for October 20.

Thai official caught with bearcat carcasses, weaponsAFP | Bangkok, Thailand

A Thai official has been charged by police after

being caught with bearcat car-casses and hunting weapons in a national park, police said Mon-day, the latest case of poaching allegedly committed by power-ful Thais.

Senior district official Vacha-rachai Sameerak was part of a group of 12 found by National Park officials on Saturday night in Sai Yok Park, in Kanchanaburi

province. “After checking their cars, there were four bearcats paws found, together with guns and ammunition,” said police chief Thanee Sangaunjeen, adding that the group did not have authorisation to enter the park.

The hunting weapons found in their vehicles included a rifle with a silencer and a pistol.

The 12 were charged with violating forestry, wildlife and national park laws, which they all denied.

The Interior Ministry sus-pended Vacharachai from his position on Monday, as well as two other civil employees who were with him on the excursion, said the Kanchanaburi governor in a press briefing.

“The suspension is for the du-ration of the investigation so that it can be unhindered,” Jirakiat Bhumisawasdi said.

The rare bearcat -- also known as a binturong in Asia -- is a pro-tected species in Thailand and is classified as ‘vulnerable’ on the

global IUCN Red List.Edwin Wiek of animal pro-

tection group Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand said locals usually eat the bearcat as bush-meat, while its paws are sold illegally as medicine.

“It’s not something you can openly sell because most people know it is a protected species,” Wiek said.

This is the latest case of pow-erful Thais being ensnared by the law when it comes poaching rare and protected species.

Weapons, ammunitions and severed feet of a bearcat confiscated from a Thai official at Sai Yok national park in Kanchanaburi province

ALMOST ALL QUALITY IMPROVEMENT COMES VIA SIMPLIFICATION OF DESIGN, MANUFACTURING... LAYOUT, PROCESSES, AND PROCEDURES. TOM PETERS

QUOTE OF THE DAY


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

ROGER COHEN

Insidious is the man. Insid-ious is his pollution of the FBI, whose former director,

James Comey, he fired after Comey refused to show “loyalty.” Loyalty in this instance meant willingness to shelve, at Presi-dent Donald Trump’s demand, an investigation into dealings between his first national secu-rity adviser, Michael Flynn, and Russia.

Now the FBI — given a week to investigate what happened 36 years ago between Brett Ka-vanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford — concludes an investiga-tion on which the lives of our children and grandchildren may hinge in less than a week. It does so as Trump, speaking behind the seal of the president of the United States, unloads his bile on Dr Blasey.

Contagious is the man. Con-tagious is Trump’s view that judges should be agents of those who appoint them rather than

the independent guarantors of America’s constitutional de-mocracy. Trump wants loyalty from Brett Kavanaugh, too, and the angry, emotional testimony that the judge provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee carried this subliminal message: “I am one of yours.” It was right out of the Trump playbook.

The Supreme Court is the ul-timate arbiter of the rule of law. It was conceived as a critical part of the political system, not as just another venue for ordi-nary, ugly, polarised politics. Ka-vanaugh’s confirmation would be the capstone to a shift in that direction. Courts were meant to be America’s great levellers, not their great dividers and inciters.

“Kavanaugh’s statements were so partisan and suggested so strongly an inability to be independent on any sort of issue salient to contemporary politics that his confirmation would put at serious risk the rule of law,” Stephen Burbank, a professor at the University of Pennsylva-nia Law School, said. Imagine a Justice Kavanaugh on political gerrymandering.

It ’s worth remembering that Kavanaugh was reading a prepared statement when he said Blasey’s allegations and a

“long series of false, last-min-ute smears” were a “political hit” and “revenge on behalf of the Clintons.” The charge was not extemporaneous. His Wall Street Journal mea culpa — “I

might have been too emotional at times” — is unpersuasive.

Poisonous is the man. Poison-ous is Trump’s inability to aban-don mob incitement as his mode of political operation. Meanness

is how this man gets his kicks. Always was, always will be.

It has become axiomatic to regret the tribal division of the United States — the inability to build bridges or even hold

conversations across ideological divides, the sharpening national fracture into algorithm-consol-idated political silos — and, of course, the Kavanaugh hearings now constitute Exhibit A in this unravelling.

There’s something pathetic about these laments. No call for civility or the capacity for civilised disagreement (the sign of any healthy society) has any weight when, from the highest office in the land, there ema-nates a stream of partisan vili-fication. The Oval Office either ennobles Americans or befouls them. There is no escape from the current poison, other than to vote Trump out.

Corrupting is the man. Cor-rupting is a presidency dedi-cated to the blurring of the line between truth and falsehood. False or misleading statements have issued from him sever-al times a day. It’s impossible to recall on Friday the lie that outraged you on Monday. The effect of this is to devalue truth. More and more Americans care little for the sacredness of facts. I see references, even in the na-tion’s best newspapers, to the “reality-based press” or “fact-based journalism.” What other kind is there?

THOMAS MEANEY

Right-wing protests in Germany these days are an unusual spec-tacle: The police sometimes

seem more like uniformed extras than able keepers of public order.

This summer, scenes played out that were nearly unimaginable a few years before. In the eastern Sax-on city of Chemnitz, thousands of people joined a right-wing protest spurred by suspicions that an Iraqi and a Syrian had killed a German man. Several protesters gave the ille-gal “Heil Hitler” salute and chanted, “We are fans, Adolf Hitler hooligans,” while outnumbered police officers looked on. Packs chased people of questionable skin color through the streets with little hindrance by the authorities.

Chancellor Angela Merkel de-nounced what she referred to as a citywide “hounding” and called for due process of the accused, who were charged with manslaughter. In response, more protests were or-ganized by Pro Chemnitz, the latest of the right-wing street movements that have sprung up across Germany.

But the darkest twist came when Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, the federal domestic intelligence service known as the BFV, responded. When a short video circulated of men

chasing at least two young men in the city, Maassen, supposedly the man with all the information and himself a member of Merkel’s party, dismissed the interpretation that there were groups “hounding” foreigners, in calculated contradiction of the chan-cellor’s own words. Speaking to the tabloid Bild, he suggested — without professionally reviewing the mate-rial — that the clip may have been fabricated as a way to divert attention from what he hastily declared a mur-der of the German man.

Maassen’s overtly political com-ments sent shockwaves through Ger-many’s quality press. The head of in-telligence had just publicly attacked the chancellor in the pages, and with the connivance, of Germany’s largest tabloid, and appeared to be straining to defend neo-Nazis. The message to the far right could not have been clearer: You have people on your side in the heart of the state bureaucracy.

When it comes to far-right extrem-ism, German law enforcement has made little secret of its priorities. While a paltry number of police of-ficers responded in Chemnitz and to similar incidents elsewhere, they were deployed en masse — and with state-of-the-art gear — for a pro-test days later in North Rhine-West-phalia, where German environmental activists continue to defend a pri-meval forest against a coal-mining project. During the visit last month by the President Recep Tayyip Er-dogan of Turkey to Germany, two police officers deployed to Berlin from Saxony were discovered to have used the code name “Uwe Böhn-

hardt,” the name of one of the mem-bers of the terror cell the National Socialist Underground, which over the course of the 2000s murdered 10 Turkish-Germans and others, in the most dramatic known example of domestic right-wing terror since the end of the war.

Should the right-wing ties with the police really have come as a surprise? For decades, the German security services, and the BFV in particular, have been accused of operating sym-pathetically — even symbiotically — with elements of the far right. But with the recent rise of Alternative for Germany, the far-right, anti-im-migrant party that polls rank as the second-most popular party in the country, this symbiosis has taken on new urgency.

The BFV’s precursor was founded after World War II by the American occupiers. It then became a magnet for ex-Nazis and Gestapo members looking for a second act. Its desig-nated purpose was to spy on and root out the West German Communist Party. (The party was finally banned in 1956, based on materials turned up by the BFV) In the 1960s, Hubert Schrübbers, the head of the agency, employed former SS colleagues. By the 1970s, employees of the BFV who were Social Democrats or lacked right-wing credentials fell under sus-picion. It was hardly surprisingly that Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s attempt to ban the far-right Nation-al Democratic Party of Germany in the early 2000s failed when a court ruled against the ban because much of the party’s right-wing orientation

had been shaped by the state itself through paid informants.

Maassen himself has hardly dimin-ished the organization’s right-wing reputation. This year, a defector from Alternative for Germany accused him of having advised the party’s former co-leader on how to avoid surveil-lance. Maassen was never charged, but even the hint of such a link is detrimental to the state’s legitima-cy. A constellation of forces is now relearning to cooperate: right-wing street movements, right-wing news

outlets, a fully fledged political par-ty and a murky portion of the state bureaucracy.

So in a sense, Horst Seehofer, Ger-many’s interior minister and Maas-sen’s sympathetic boss, is not wrong when he calls Maassen a “classic civil servant.”

Seehofer has proved Maassen’s most important ally, raising questions about the interior minister’s own pandering or fealty to the far right. For Maassen’s professional breach, Merkel’s fragile coalition agreed to

remove him from his post as head of German intelligence. Yet instead of demoting him — or outright fir-ing him — the coalition effectively promoted him. His new job as state secretary came with a salary increase. In reaction to the public outcry, he was shuffled once again, this time to become “special adviser” to Seehofer.

Seehofer is the fiercest critic of Merkel within her governing coali-tion. “Migration is the mother of all problems,” he recently declared. But Merkel needs his party, the Chris-


Poisonous is Trump’s inability to

abandon mob incitement as his mode of political operation

The right-wing rot at the heart of the German stateRecent events make clear that extremists have allies deep inside the government

1962Uganda becomes an independent Commonwealth realm.

1970The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.

1980Pope John Paul II shakes hands with the Dalai Lama during a private audience in Vatican City.

1981Abolition of capital punishment in France.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY

Infectious is the man. Infectious is Trump’s hard work to bring the whole

country down to his level.Free societies do not die overnight. The growth of a climate of intellectual fear is one sign of their

weakening.


TOP

4TWEETS

04

02

03

01

Anger and fear under-mine our immune sys-

tem, while warm-hearted-ness brings peace of mind. Therefore, just as we teach children to comply with physical hygiene for the good of their health, we should also counsel them in a kind of hygiene of the emotions.

@DalaiLama

Tell me how it’s good strategic communi-

cations policy to bring only 1 US journalist into NKorea with the secretary of state for a previously publicly an-nounced meeting with Kim Jong Un. And then not have the secretary take questions about it.

Tell me, experts.@APDiploWriter

If you think the out-c o m e w o u l d ’ v e

been different i f @MichaelAvenatti hadn’t been involved then you probably haven’t ever before thought about rape culture or know anything about how it works. Please be quiet.

No seriously.@ZerlinaMaxwell

If you had told me two years ago Kanye would

be running around in a MAGA hat while Taylor Swift was endorsing dem-ocratic candidates, I would have smacked you to the ground and stolen your wallet for wasting my time.

@KaraRBrown

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

editorial stances)




In the end, the Kavanaugh hearings have been about the pursuit of truth — the truth of this Jekyll-and-Hyde man, the truth of whether he assaulted Blasey, the truth of his words. I believe he failed the test of truth in ways that disqualify him from confirmation.

But the meaning of honesty is not something Americans can agree on any more. So the hear-ings have been about everything but that: white privilege, the #MeToo movement and, of course, Donald Trump.

Corrosive is the man. Cor-rosive is the pollution of the FBI that now seems about to

be extended to the Supreme Court. Other pillars of the Re-public, including a free press, are in Trump’s sights. Behind the scattershot outbursts, there is a consistent pattern. It con-forms to all we know about a president whose sympathies lie with the autocrats of the world, from Moscow to Manila, rather than with democratic leaders.

Free societies do not die over-night. The growth of a climate of intellectual fear is one sign of their weakening. So are the development of a personality cult, the stripping of meaning from language and the spread of disorientation.

Infectious is the man. Infec-tious is Trump’s hard work to bring the whole country down to his level. A spineless Repub-lican Party folds into the Trump Party. Uncle Sam wants you in his indecent reality show. If, as now seems likely, Kavanaugh is confirmed, Trump will be con-firmed; and the damage this president has done will look more irreparable in the age of the judge-agent.

(Roger Cohen is a columnist with The New York Times.)

(In collaboration with New York Times)



tian Social Union, to form the right flank of her government. He, in turn, believes he needs to appeal to the far more right-wing elements in his own party, which faces a challenge in this month’s regional Bavarian elec-tion from the Greens and, crucially, Alternative for Germany. Evidently, Seehofer considers the disgraced Maassen a valuable electoral asset for keeping his conservative bona fides intact.

The entire affair is only one in a series of events that have marked a change in the public perception of the far right in Germany. Only two years ago, many right-wing politi-cians were still reluctant to officially endorse nationalist, anti-immigrant street movements such as Pegida. Now it is normal for not only Alterna-tive for Germany politicians to back them officially, but even members of the putative political center to make shows of sympathy. Wolfgang

Kubicki, vice chairman of the liberal Free Democratic Party, was quick to attribute “the roots of the riots” in Chemnitz to Merkel’s policy of ad-mitting refugees and asylumseekers in 2015.

For decades, the right-wing ele-ments in the German state never had the opportunity to cooperate with a major party that shares its views. Now they do.

For hundreds of civil servants, the rise of Alternative for Germany has presented an opportunity to engage in more right-wing political activities than would have been pos-sible only a few years ago. A senior public prosecutor in Berlin, a judge in Dresden, as well as police officers and teachers across the country: For all of them, supporting the party serves as the bridge between the functioning state apparatus and the far right.

Very often, the party’s members draw connections between their profession and what they take to be the necessity of right-wing ac-tivism. They spread rumors of the government’s secret commands to prioritize anti-right policies over the solving of crimes committed by refugees or the “left-green indoctri-nation of students” in public schools. Their conspiracy theories have not diminished with their proximity to power. The future is a dark one when a right-wing party surges and finds sectors of the state full of “classic civil servants.”

(Thomas Meaney is a fellow at the American Council on Germany.)

It will be great if Nasa sends a man with no emotions, who hardly understands the words of other humans, to Mars in its first mission.

Mission possible?

Thank God. Finally they are back! I was wondering about the plight of one Russian cosmonaut (Russians call an astronaut, cosmonaut for some nutty reasons)

and two American astronauts, who were on a six-month mission at the International Space Station (ISS) and got into a trouble after finding a ‘mysterious hole’ in the Russian spacecraft docked to the orbiting station.

Fortunately the hole, which caused an air leak on the ISS, was quickly sealed up. We thought that would be the end of the story. But something was building up. The world soon came to know about a dispute between Russians and Americans when the chief of the Russian Space Agency, Dmitry Rogozin said, “US Investigators believed the small hole had been created deliberately and was not a manu-facturing defect!”

Adding to trouble, a Russian daily reported the US astro-nauts deliberately drilled the hole in order to sent a sick associate back home!

The ISS may be the only area where Russia and the US gave each other some space to breath. The co-operation remained unchanged by the slump in ties. Washington’s sanctions against Russia over Ukraine and other disputes they had including in Yemen were neglected on this mis-sion. Finally, it seems that this compromise zone would also be short-lived.

I was wondering about the fate of these astronauts if these disputes eventually lead to a war between the two global powers. In that case, American astronauts would

demand a safe landing in the US or its territories while Russians would opt their land. Naturally, a neutral country could be suggested for landing. But is there one? Even international waters are not free from disputes.

Russia and the US are the two countries that always nurture the dream of controlling our planet earth. They must be thinking that they are done with earth, while kicking off ambitious programmes in space and the universe beyond earth.

The very crazy idea of inventing weapons and technologies started after the Second World War. Both these countries were busy in showing off their mettle.

When Russia successfully launched Sputnik I, it gave sleepless nights for the Americans. The passionate efforts to conquer moon was a part of this race. This unhealthy contest only led to both countries developing technologies capable

of mass destruction. Both Russians and Americans loved the Cold War, for it

created huge markets for weapons across the world as fear began spreading its wings.

The Cold War took a pause with the collapse of the USSR. However, the resurgent Russia under the leadership of Vladimir Putin reignited efforts to start the new Cold War from the point where it stopped.

However, in between, the space emerged an area of co-operation. Russia and the US decided to join hands to build the first lunar space station. They were also planning joint initiatives to send humans to Mars.

At this time, the US Space Agency Nasa said they were exploring a programme called the ‘Deep Space Gateway’, a multi-stage project to push further into the solar system.

Nasa’s initial plan was to send humans to Mars orbit by 2030s and subsequently to colonise the red planet. This mission was put on hold during Obama’s period. President Trump is discussing the proposal. For sure, Trump would love colonising the red planet as well.

Trump is known for throwing surprises with untimely decisions and speeches. Many, including me, were shocked to hear Trump’s arrogant utterings against Saudi Arabia. How can he talk about a country, to which he sold weapons and arms worth $400 billion?


He/she will be successfully able to dominate aliens if there are any in Mars. As of now, there is only one Amer-ican, who has rightly proved his eligibility. I hope you have identified him by now. Haven’t you? Is that mission possible?

(P Unnikrishnan is the Chairman of the Management Board as well as Managing Editor of The Daily Tribune)

Like it or not

P UNNIKRISHNAN



For hundreds of civil servants, the rise of Alternative for

Germany has presented an opportunity to engage in more right-wing political activities

than would have been possible only a few years ago.

1962Uganda becomes an independent Commonwealth realm.

1970The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.

1980Pope John Paul II shakes hands with the Dalai Lama during a private audience in Vatican City.

1981Abolition of capital punishment in France.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY

Infectious is the man. Infectious is Trump’s hard work to bring the whole

country down to his level.Free societies do not die overnight. The growth of a climate of intellectual fear is one sign of their

weakening.


TOP

4TWEETS

04

02

03

01

Anger and fear under-mine our immune sys-

tem, while warm-hearted-ness brings peace of mind. Therefore, just as we teach children to comply with physical hygiene for the good of their health, we should also counsel them in a kind of hygiene of the emotions.

@DalaiLama

Tell me how it’s good strategic communi-

cations policy to bring only 1 US journalist into NKorea with the secretary of state for a previously publicly an-nounced meeting with Kim Jong Un. And then not have the secretary take questions about it.

Tell me, experts.@APDiploWriter

If you think the out-c o m e w o u l d ’ v e

been different i f @MichaelAvenatti hadn’t been involved then you probably haven’t ever before thought about rape culture or know anything about how it works. Please be quiet.

No seriously.@ZerlinaMaxwell

If you had told me two years ago Kanye would

be running around in a MAGA hat while Taylor Swift was endorsing dem-ocratic candidates, I would have smacked you to the ground and stolen your wallet for wasting my time.

@KaraRBrown

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

editorial stances)




In the end, the Kavanaugh hearings have been about the pursuit of truth — the truth of this Jekyll-and-Hyde man, the truth of whether he assaulted Blasey, the truth of his words. I believe he failed the test of truth in ways that disqualify him from confirmation.

But the meaning of honesty is not something Americans can agree on any more. So the hear-ings have been about everything but that: white privilege, the #MeToo movement and, of course, Donald Trump.

Corrosive is the man. Cor-rosive is the pollution of the FBI that now seems about to

be extended to the Supreme Court. Other pillars of the Re-public, including a free press, are in Trump’s sights. Behind the scattershot outbursts, there is a consistent pattern. It con-forms to all we know about a president whose sympathies lie with the autocrats of the world, from Moscow to Manila, rather than with democratic leaders.

Free societies do not die over-night. The growth of a climate of intellectual fear is one sign of their weakening. So are the development of a personality cult, the stripping of meaning from language and the spread of disorientation.

Infectious is the man. Infec-tious is Trump’s hard work to bring the whole country down to his level. A spineless Repub-lican Party folds into the Trump Party. Uncle Sam wants you in his indecent reality show. If, as now seems likely, Kavanaugh is confirmed, Trump will be con-firmed; and the damage this president has done will look more irreparable in the age of the judge-agent.

(Roger Cohen is a columnist with The New York Times.)

(In collaboration with New York Times)



tian Social Union, to form the right flank of her government. He, in turn, believes he needs to appeal to the far more right-wing elements in his own party, which faces a challenge in this month’s regional Bavarian elec-tion from the Greens and, crucially, Alternative for Germany. Evidently, Seehofer considers the disgraced Maassen a valuable electoral asset for keeping his conservative bona fides intact.

The entire affair is only one in a series of events that have marked a change in the public perception of the far right in Germany. Only two years ago, many right-wing politi-cians were still reluctant to officially endorse nationalist, anti-immigrant street movements such as Pegida. Now it is normal for not only Alterna-tive for Germany politicians to back them officially, but even members of the putative political center to make shows of sympathy. Wolfgang

Kubicki, vice chairman of the liberal Free Democratic Party, was quick to attribute “the roots of the riots” in Chemnitz to Merkel’s policy of ad-mitting refugees and asylumseekers in 2015.

For decades, the right-wing ele-ments in the German state never had the opportunity to cooperate with a major party that shares its views. Now they do.

For hundreds of civil servants, the rise of Alternative for Germany has presented an opportunity to engage in more right-wing political activities than would have been pos-sible only a few years ago. A senior public prosecutor in Berlin, a judge in Dresden, as well as police officers and teachers across the country: For all of them, supporting the party serves as the bridge between the functioning state apparatus and the far right.

Very often, the party’s members draw connections between their profession and what they take to be the necessity of right-wing ac-tivism. They spread rumors of the government’s secret commands to prioritize anti-right policies over the solving of crimes committed by refugees or the “left-green indoctri-nation of students” in public schools. Their conspiracy theories have not diminished with their proximity to power. The future is a dark one when a right-wing party surges and finds sectors of the state full of “classic civil servants.”

(Thomas Meaney is a fellow at the American Council on Germany.)


Mission possible?

Thank God. Finally they are back! I was wondering about the plight of one Russian cosmonaut (Russians call an astronaut, cosmonaut for some nutty reasons)

and two American astronauts, who were on a six-month mission at the International Space Station (ISS) and got into a trouble after finding a ‘mysterious hole’ in the Russian spacecraft docked to the orbiting station.

Fortunately the hole, which caused an air leak on the ISS, was quickly sealed up. We thought that would be the end of the story. But something was building up. The world soon came to know about a dispute between Russians and Americans when the chief of the Russian Space Agency, Dmitry Rogozin said, “US Investigators believed the small hole had been created deliberately and was not a manu-facturing defect!”

Adding to trouble, a Russian daily reported the US astro-nauts deliberately drilled the hole in order to sent a sick associate back home!

The ISS may be the only area where Russia and the US gave each other some space to breath. The co-operation remained unchanged by the slump in ties. Washington’s sanctions against Russia over Ukraine and other disputes they had including in Yemen were neglected on this mis-sion. Finally, it seems that this compromise zone would also be short-lived.

I was wondering about the fate of these astronauts if these disputes eventually lead to a war between the two global powers. In that case, American astronauts would

demand a safe landing in the US or its territories while Russians would opt their land. Naturally, a neutral country could be suggested for landing. But is there one? Even international waters are not free from disputes.

Russia and the US are the two countries that always nurture the dream of controlling our planet earth. They must be thinking that they are done with earth, while kicking off ambitious programmes in space and the universe beyond earth.

The very crazy idea of inventing weapons and technologies started after the Second World War. Both these countries were busy in showing off their mettle.

When Russia successfully launched Sputnik I, it gave sleepless nights for the Americans. The passionate efforts to conquer moon was a part of this race. This unhealthy contest only led to both countries developing technologies capable

of mass destruction. Both Russians and Americans loved the Cold War, for it

created huge markets for weapons across the world as fear began spreading its wings.

The Cold War took a pause with the collapse of the USSR. However, the resurgent Russia under the leadership of Vladimir Putin reignited efforts to start the new Cold War from the point where it stopped.

However, in between, the space emerged an area of co-operation. Russia and the US decided to join hands to build the first lunar space station. They were also planning joint initiatives to send humans to Mars.

At this time, the US Space Agency Nasa said they were exploring a programme called the ‘Deep Space Gateway’, a multi-stage project to push further into the solar system.

Nasa’s initial plan was to send humans to Mars orbit by 2030s and subsequently to colonise the red planet. This mission was put on hold during Obama’s period. President Trump is discussing the proposal. For sure, Trump would love colonising the red planet as well.

Trump is known for throwing surprises with untimely decisions and speeches. Many, including me, were shocked to hear Trump’s arrogant utterings against Saudi Arabia. How can he talk about a country, to which he sold weapons and arms worth $400 billion?


He/she will be successfully able to dominate aliens if there are any in Mars. As of now, there is only one Amer-ican, who has rightly proved his eligibility. I hope you have identified him by now. Haven’t you? Is that mission possible?

(P Unnikrishnan is the Chairman of the Management Board as well as Managing Editor of The Daily Tribune)

Like it or not

P UNNIKRISHNAN



For hundreds of civil servants, the rise of Alternative for

Germany has presented an opportunity to engage in more right-wing political activities

than would have been possible only a few years ago.

10

business


Germany probes Audi over SKorea ‘fraud’Berlin, Germany

German prosecutors are in-vestigating whether Audi

fraudulently obtained author-isations for some cars in South Korea by falsifying chassis numbers and test records, local media reported Monday.

Basing its report on docu-ments from Munich prose-cutors probing the case, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung said employees at Audi are suspect-ed of having modified results of tests including on pollution measurements and fuel con-sumption.

Chassis numbers of the affected engines are also switched to cover their tracks, the report said.

“Audi therefore used fal-sified information to obtain approval for cars that would otherwise not be authorised on the roads,” said the daily.

If confirmed, the scam would open a new dimension in the enormous scandal al-ready besetting Audi and its parent company Volkswagen, which had in September 2015 admitted to fitting 11 million vehicles worldwide with ille-gal devices to cheat pollution tests.

Audi’s chief executive Ru-pert Stadler, who has been in jail over the emissions probe, was last week removed from his post by VW.

Stadler’s home has also been raided by Munich police over charges of fraud and the falsi-fication of documents.

The so - cal led “diesel-gate” scandal has so far cost Volkswagen 27 billion euros ($31 billion) in compensation, buy-backs, fines and legal costs and the group remains entan-gled in legal woes at home and abroad.

Facebook says UK tax bill triples to £16mLondon, United Kingdom

US social media giant Facebook’s British tax

bill tripled to £15.8 million ($21m, 18m euros) last year, according to a company fil-ing. The bill compared with £5.1m in 2016, Facebook’s British division revealed in an official document lodged last week.

Media reported howev-er that Facebook UK’s net tax bill for 2017 will stand at £7.4m, due to a tax relief credit of more than £8.4m on employee stock awards.

Facebook UK’s revenues meanwhile swelled by 50 per cent to £1.26 billion last year compared with 2016.

But pre-tax profits in-creased by just seven per-cent to £62.7m.

Recent media reports suggest that British finance minister Philip Hammond will launch a new digital services tax to stop some US groups funnelling sales income through other countries to cut their tax bills.

Alba’s production rises 8pc• Sets up a target of 1,000,000 metric tonnes

• Total Sales volume increased 7pc

TDT | Manama

Al u m i n i u m B a h r a i n B.S.C. (Alba) yesterday announced recording a

strong operational performance in the 2018 nine-month period with its overall sales and pro-duction volumes, while setting up a target of 1,000,000 metric tonnes for the first time in Alba’s history

“As we move towards the fourth quarter, we expect a strong finish with our target to achieve 1,000,000 metric tonnes for the 1st time in Alba’s history,” Alba’s Chief Executive Officer, Tim Murray said commenting on Alba’s Sales and Production volumes for the nine months of 2018.

Alba’s total production rose

by 8 per cent Year-over-Year (YoY) to 762,952 metric tonnes (mt) for the nine months of 2018.

Total Sales volume topped 750,202 mt, an increase of 7pc YoY, versus 700,629 mt for the nine months of 2017

For the third quarter of 2018, the company reported a flat growth in its Sales and Produc-

tion volume wherein total sales and production volume touched 248,970 mt and 251,472 respec-tively.

Alba closed the third quarter and the nine months of 2018 with Value-Added Sales averag-ing 60pc and 59pc respectively.

Alba will release its third quarter 2018 Financial Results to the public on 29 October 2018.

Alba’s CEO Tim Murray Ariel view of Alba’s plant

KNOW WHAT

Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project is one of the largest brownfield developments in the region. Expected to begin production by January 1st 2019, this Project will boost the smelter’s per-annum production by 540,000 metric tonnes, bringing its total produc-tion capacity to 1.5m mt per year.

Roadmap on way for electric cars TDT | Manama

Authorities here yesterday mulled developing a na-

tional plan for electric vehicles in line with the Kingdom green energy drive.

The project, subject to regu-latory approval, is expected to be developed in coordination with relevant govt bodies.

The decision was revealed during a committee chaired by the Minister of Industry, Com-merce & Tourism Zayed bin Rashid Alzayani,

The meeting, the second of Vehicles & Electrical Applianc-es Efficiency Standards, also mulled setting up specific tar-

gets for the electric vehicles plan during a presentation.

Discussions also focused on projects for developing high-ef-ficiency air conditioners.

Also on focus were the con-trol programmes undertaken

by the Directorate of Standards and Metrology at the Minis-try of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, in energy efficiencies such as lighting programmes, fuel efficiency for vehicles and tires safety.

Officials during the meeting held yesterday

Electricity and Water Affairs Minister Dr Abdulhussain Mirza with a delegation from Origin Group, led by Group Chief Executive Officer Dr Ahmed Al Banna and a number of members of the executive management. The minister thanked them for organising the Middle East and North Africa Legal Studies Conference in cooperation with the MC Academy, Belgium which will be held on January 15 and 16, 2019 at the Diplomat Bahrain Hotel. The conference, the first of its kind in the region, will highlight the problems posed by various institutions in the legal field. He agreed the conference be held under his patronage and said he would provide all the support and encouragement for its success. Speakers include the President of the Conference, Prof. Adnan Baino, who is Director of the MC Academy in Belgium.

Global markets sell-off accelerates London, United Kingdom

World stock markets slid yesterday on economic

worries over China and Italy, allied to the prospect of ris-ing US interest rates, dealers said.

Wall Street dipped at the opening bell, with strong jobs data fanning expectations the Federal Reserve will hike rates at a quicker pace than previous-ly thought.

In Europe, Milan stocks tum-bled 2.5 per cent on concern that Italy could face a sovereign debt crisis, after its populist govern-ment passed a purse-busting budget last week to the chagrin of the EU.

London stocks lost 0.6pc with Royal Mail notably plum-meting eightpc on a Monday profit warning, while both Frankfurt and Paris each gave up 0.9pc.

The Tokyo market was shut

for a holiday.

‘All-round sell-off’“It’s an all-round sell-off: the prospect of high-interest rates from the Fed could not come at a worse time, given the slow-down in the Chinese economy and other emerging economies

as well as the Italian debt and fiscal crisis,” CMC Markets an-alyst David Madden told AFP as Shanghai skidded to close 3.7pc down.

The People’s Bank of China had lowered the required re-serve ratio (RRR) as it looks to shore up the economy after a se-

ries of weak data, amid Beijing’s trade war with Washington.

European investors are mean-while concerned about Italy, which sparked disquiet last week by unveiling a budget that set the public deficit at around 2.4pc of gross domestic product (GDP) for the next three years, earning a rebuke from Brus-sels and forcing it to row back slightly.

Brazil’s Bolsonaro bounceWall Street marked Colombus Day by retreating as the Dow Jones opened shedding 0.25pc while the Nasdaq sank 0.53pc despite news of unemployment at a 49-year low and of rising wages.

Bucking the sagging trend was Brazil, where the Iboves-pa index rose sixpc on the Sao Paulo exchange after far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro topped first-round voting in Sunday’s presidential election.

Key figures around 1345 GMTMILAN - FTSE MIB: 2.5pc at 19,840.50 points

New York - Dow Jones: 0.25pc at 26,381.31

London - FTSE 100: 0.8pc at 7,258.47

Paris - CAC 40: 1.1pc at 5,298.56

Frankfurt - DAX 30: 0.9pc at 12,004.25

EURO STOXX 50: 0.9pc at 3,315.64

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: 1.4pc at 26,202.57 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: 3.7pc at 2,716.51 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: Closed for a holiday

Euro/dollar: $1.1471 from $1.1524 at 2100 GMT

Pound/dollar: $1.3053 from $1.3120

Dollar/yen: 113.16 from 113.72 yen

China punishes taxmen who investigated superstar FanBeijing, China

Officials who investigat-ed Chinese superstar Fan

Bingbing for tax evasion have been punished for “poor man-agement”, state media reported yesterday.

At least five people have been disciplined, including the head of the taxation bureau in the eastern city of Wuxi, where Fan’s company is based, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The State Administration of Taxation has instructed the pro-vincial tax bureau in Jiangsu to “hold accountable” those involved in Fan’s case for poor

management, Xinhua said, be-fore going on to list a number of individuals who have been issued with official and verbal

warnings about their shortcom-ings.

But the statement offered lit-tle detail about what led to the

punishment. Last week, tax authorities or-

dered Fan to pay 883 million yuan ($129 million) in back tax-es, fines and penalties, adding that she would avoid incarcera-

tion if she pays up in time. The 36-year-old actress, mod-

el and producer had been a ubiq-uitous household name in China for years and tasted Hollywood success with a role in the 2014 blockbuster “X-Men: Days of Future Past.”

Last year, she topped Forbes magazine’s list of top-earning Chinese celebrities with income of $43 million.

A prolific social media user, she disappeared from the pub-lic eye in May after allegations emerged that she evaded tax-es on a lucrative movie shoot, charges her studio called slan-

ders. Her sudden absence from screens and advertisements across the country spurred rumours that she had been snatched by officials at a time when Beijing is cracking down on what it views as excesses in the film and television industry.

A number of well-known Chi-nese figures have gone missing in recent years, only to resurface weeks or months later in a court-room accused of corruption.

The highest profile figure to face such a fate is former Inter-pol president Meng Hongwei, who was on Monday accused of taking bribes.


$129mmillion fine was imposed by the authorities on Fan

KNOW WHAT

Peer learning crucial to BIA’s success: Minister

• Transport minister chairs 5th meeting of ORAT

• New Passenger Terminal scheduled for completion in Q3, 2019

TDT | Manama

Minister of Transpor-tation and Telecom-munications and Bah-

rain Airport Company (BAC) Chairman, Kamal Ahmed yes-terday stressed the importance of learning from other airport operators in the region while reviewing the progress of the new Passenger Terminal Build-ing scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2019.

“It is important to learn from other airport operators in the re-gion that have successfully com-pleted development projects,” the minister said while chairing the 5th meeting of the National Operations Readiness and Air-port Transfer (ORAT) Steering Committee formed to oversee the smooth transition of oper-

ations to Bahrain International Airport’s (BIA) new Passenger Terminal Building.

Explaining the importance of transferring airport operations to the new Passenger Terminal Building, the minister said that it “is a critical success factor of the Airport Modernisation Programme.”

Airport Modernisation Pro-gramme (AMP), the minister told the committee, is the biggest infrastructural development in Bahrain and one of the most im-portant national projects in the Kingdom’s history.

The committee was formed

as per Royal Order (10) for 2017, issued by HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Com-mander, and First Deputy Prime Minister.

The Minister also expressed his appreciation for the steady progress being made by the ORAT National Committee to ensure the smooth transition of operational processes to the new terminal,

In attendance were BAC Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Yousif Al Binfalah, represent-atives from Bahrain Civil Avi-ation Affairs (CAA), Bahrain

Customs, the Ministry of Inte-rior’s Nationality, Passport, and Residence Affairs, and Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide.

The Minister and the commit-tee were briefed on the project’s progress by Fraport AG Frank-furt Airport Services World-wide, which is providing a com-prehensive ORAT programme to ensure the operational readiness of the airport’s new infrastruc-ture.

Government agencies in-volved in the project also deliv-ered presentations on the pro-ject’s latest developments.

Minister Kamal Ahmed with other top officials during a photocall after the meeting

Bahrain Airport Company (BAC) was established in 2008 with the mandate of developing Bahrain

International Airport (BIA)

Chairman of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) Sameer Nass alongside Vice-Treasurer Waleed Kanoo and board members Abdulhakeem Al Shemeri and Batool Dadabai during a reception held at Bait Al Tijjar yesterday for the president of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bahrain (FCCIB) Jean-Christophe Durand accompanied by a number of board members. The meeting stressed bolstering ties between the Bahraini and French business communities and discussed unifying efforts of both chambers in this endeavour. Investment and partnership opportunities were also reviewed.

UAE plans initial coin offerings: regulatorReuters | Abu Dhabi

The United Arab Emirates plans to introduce initial

coin offerings (ICOs) next year to provide companies with a fresh way to raise money, the head of the securities regulator said yesterday.

In ICOs, companies issue cryptocurrency tokens to in-vestors, in much the same way as they issue shares in an initial public offer of equity.

“The board of the Emirates Securities & Commodities Authority has approved con-sidering ICOs as securities. As per our plan we should have regulations on the ground in the first half of 2019,” Obaid Saif al-Zaabi told a seminar.

ESCA is drafting regulations for ICOs with international ad-visers and is working with the

Abu Dhabi and Dubai stock markets to develop trading platforms for the offers, he said, adding that details would be announced later.

Weak equity markets cou-pled with low oil prices in the last several years have severely constrained IPOs in the UAE and the Gulf Arab region as a whole.

A new law may take effect in 2019 to facilitate IPOs in which family owners sell ma-jority or 100 percent stakes in the companies they control, Zaabi said.

“The Ministry of Economy has written to the prime minis-ter’s office and we are awaiting approval,” he added.

Other initiatives under way include having a minimum of 20 per cent women on the boards of listed companies, he said.

Officials of VIVA and Avaya, a US-based global leader in telecommunication industry during an event held to unleash the identity of “VIVA One, a cloud-based service focusing businesses of various sizes and industry verticals. The company has also been awarded the ‘Diamond Partner’ medal level by Avaya at an event held at the Capital Club. The launch event, attended by Senior Government Officials and VIVA Business clients from different sectors, featured a live demo session of VIVA One’s features and capability across different devices such as laptops, smartphones, tablets and the latest Avaya IP phones.

Starbucks names Hyatt executive as new CFOReuters

Starbucks Corp said yes-terday that it named Pat-

rick Grismer as its new chief financial officer replacing Scott Maw.

Prior to joining Hyatt, Grismer has held several financial and strategy roles at companies, including KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants owner Yum Brands Inc and The Walt Disney Co, Star-bucks said.

The appointment comes just two weeks after the company said, in an internal memo, that it was planning an organizational restruc-turing that would include leadership changes, job losses and role expansions.

It also comes at a time when the world’s largest coffee retailer is facing a raft of challenges, includ-ing a cooling U.S market and heavy competition from ri-vals, while undertaking a massive expansion project in China.

Facebook debuts smart speaker

Reuters | San Franciso

Facebook Inc yesterday released a smart speak-

er designed to ease video calls, but the company’s history of privacy mishaps and the device’s price and limited functionality could slow it from taking on mar-ket leaders Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google.

The device, known as Portal, comes in $199 and $349 versions and its signa-ture feature is a wide-angle camera that automatical-ly keeps users in focus as they move about a room, Facebook hardware exec-utives said in a meeting last week.

They said Portal is avail-able at Amazon and Best Buy stores in addition to Facebook.com and starts shipping to US customers in early November.

Smart speakers costing under $100 from Amazon and Google have become best sellers in the nascent industry. Users issue voice commands to search, shop and listen to music, turning the speakers into a major funnel into the technology companies’ competing net-works.

Fan Bingbing waving as she arrives for the screening of the film ‘L’Amant Double’ (Amant Double) at the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes.


Closing BellSAUDI 0.6% » 7,939

DUBAI 0.6% » 2,775

ABU DHABI 0.3% » 5,003

QATAR 0.3% » 9,820

KUWAIT 0.04% » 5,309

BAHRAIN 0.1% » 1,325

OMAN 0.2% » 4,505

EGYPT 3.6% » 13,604

Timing of ECB rate hike still not fixedReuters | Amsterdam

The European Central Bank (ECB) will have to

start discussing the timing of an interest rate hike in January and the outcome of that debate is still open, Dutch central bank gover-nor Klaas Knot said yes-terday. Knot stood by the ECB’s current guidance that interest rates would remain at their current, record-low level through next summer but said this was only an expectation.

“We are very comfortable with our choice of words”, Knot told reporters.

“But it reflects an expec-tation, and as any statisti-cian knows, an expectation represents the midpoint in a collection of outcomes, and always holds the possi-bility of other outcomes to the left or the right of that point.”

Knot also said the ECB would stick to its goal of ending its asset purchasing programme at the end of the year.

The bank halved its net purchases of bonds this month, to $17.2 billion per month. It said it would maintain this pace until the end of December, after which the programme was expected to end.

Egypt sinks to 12-month low• Egypt underperforms global emerging market index

• But exchange data shows foreigners are net buyers

• Broad market fares better than blue-chip index

• Saudi’s Mobily hit by regulator’s penalties

• United Electronics rises after strong earnings

Reuters

Egypt’s blue-chip stock index plunged 3.6 per cent yesterday to its low-

est level in 12 months, dragged down by weakness in emerging markets and margin calls among local investors, while banking shares boosted Saudi Arabia.

Twenty-nine of 30 stocks in the Egyptian index fell. It has fallen 15pc since the end of Au-gust, leaving it down 9.4pc year-to-date. The broader EGX100

index fared better on Monday, losing only 1.9pc.

Egypt’s market far under-performed the MSCI index of emerging market stocks, which was down nearly 1pc. Among big blue-chip losers were tobacco firm Eastern Co, down 4.9pc.

Exchange data showed Mon-day’s selling was heavily con-centrated among local investors, who were hit by margin calls. Non-Arab foreign investors were net buyers by a consider-able margin, the data showed.

“It is a mixture of both emerg-ing market weakness and mar-

gin trading, and the closure of some margin trades,” said Rad-wa El-Swaify, head of research at Pharos Holding said.

Turmoil in emerging markets has fuelled concern about possi-ble capital outflows from Egypt and depreciation of the pound currency. But many foreign fund managers say they remain long-term positive on the market be-cause of an improving underly-ing economy.

Khaled Abdel Majeed, man-aging partner at London-based asset manager MENA Capital, said Monday’s drop was due to a

combination of profit-taking and emerging market weakness, but he was confident the slide would not continue.

Memphis Pharmaceuticals shed 9.5pc after its first-quarter loss widened year on year.

In Saudi Arabia, the index rose 0.6pc with Al Rajhi Bank up 1.6pc and Samba Financial Group gaining 1.6pc.

Telecommunications firm Mobily fell 2.3pc after saying the regulator had ordered it to suspend sales of some prod-ucts to new customers because it had failed to hire enough

Saudi citizens at the top of the company.

United Electronics Co was up 2.0pc after reporting a quarterly net profit of 30.9 million riyals ($8.2 million), up from 26.1 mil-lion riyals last year, while reve-nues also climbed.

The Gulf’s largest dairy com-pany, Almarai Co, dropped 2.9pc after reporting a fall in third-quarter profit on Sunday.

Advanced Petrochemical ex-tended losses, falling 2.1pc after reporting a slight fall in quarter-ly net income, also on Sunday.

Dubai’s index closed 0.6pc lower after bank stocks reversed early gains. Emirates NBD fell 1.6pc.

Al Ramz Corp plunged 6.1pc after saying it had divested its 17.8pc stake in insurer Takaful Emirates having achieved its targeted return.

Traders on the floor of a stock market (Courtesy of Business Recorder)

Al Baraka Turk issues a TL 250m domestic sukukTDT | Manama

Al Baraka Turk Partici-pation Bank, one of the

subsidiary banking units of Al Baraka Banking Group (ABG) announced it has successfully finalized the issuance of a TL 250 million lease certificate (sukuk) through its subsidi-ary, Bereket Varlık Kiralama Sirketi.

While the targeted amount of the issuance was TL 200m, the demand for the certif-icates, which have a ma-turity of 98 days, was 1.68

times oversubscribed and the issuance was closed at TL 250m.

75 per cent of the issuance was subscribed to by qualified individuals with the remaining 25pc by institutional inves-tors including portfolio man-agement companies, pension funds, and insurance compa-nies.

This most recent issue brings the total amount of out-standing local currency sukuk issuances of the bank to TL 1.2 billion and total issuances in 2018 to TL 2.1 billion.

Seera completes sale of Buckeye logistics centre

TDT | Manama

Seera Investment Company, a Shari’a compliant invest-

ment firm headquartered in Bahrain, announced yesterday the sale of Buckeye Logistics Centre. The 1 Million square ft. distribution warehouse in Phoenix, Arizona is 100 per cent leased to Amazon. Seera and its partner, the Koll Group, acquired the warehouse, locat-ed in the main logistics hub of Buckeye, Phoenix in July 2016.

Hamad Al Ameeri, Seera’s Chairman of the Board of Di-rectors said: “The Warehouse was acquired in mid-2016 with

a remaining lease of around 5-years and was projected to be sold in 2021 after the renewal of the lease. However, we have been able to achieve a highly successful exit well ahead of the projected investment holding period.” He said that the sales provided a cash yield of 9pc over the investment holding period also earned capital gain providing returns close to the projected returns.

Abdulla Janahi, Seera’s CEO, said the sale has provided in-vestors with a total return on investment of around 30pc ROI over a period of around 18 months.

Abdulla Janahi, Chief Executive Officer, Seera Investment Company

Microsoft testing new game service

Reuters | Washington

Microsoft Corp is testing a new game stream-

ing service called Project xCloud that is designed to work across PCs, consoles and mobile devices, the company said on Monday.

Public trials for Project xCloud would begin in 2019, Microsoft said.

“We are testing Project xCloud today. The test runs on devices (mobile phones, tablets) paired with an Xbox Wireless Controller through Bluetooth, and it is also playable using touch input,” Kareem Choudhry, corporate vice president, gaming cloud, said in a blog post. The service will com-pete with Google’s “Project Stream”, a game streaming service that is being tested.

Airbus insider Faury to be next CEO

Reuters | Paris

Company insider Guil-laume Faury was set to

be named as Airbus’s next chief executive yesterday, giving him a mandate to fill key posts and address industrial problems at the dominant jets division, peo-ple familiar with the matter said.

The 50-year-old French-man will replace Ger-man-born Tom Enders who is due to retire in April 2019, with an announce-ment from the Airbus board expected later on Monday, they said.

The timing of the formal handover was not immedi-ately clear.

Oil drops to around $83Reuters | London

Oil dropped to around $83 a barrel yesterday, pres-

sured by expectations that some Iranian oil exports will keep flowing after the US re-imposes sanctions, easing a strain on supplies.

Two companies in India, a big buyer of Iranian oil, have ordered barrels in November, India’s oil minister said on Monday. The Trump adminis-tration is considering waivers on sanctions, a US government official said on Friday.

“One way or another, it looks as though India is going to take some Iranian crude,” said Oliv-ier Jakob of Petromatrix, add-ing that the development was helping oil to “retrace some of the price surge we saw last week.” Brent crude, the inter-national benchmark LCOc1, was down 94 cents to $83.22

per barrel at 1325 GMT. It hit a four-year high of $86.74 last week. US crude CLc1 was down 81 cents at $73.53.

US sanctions will target Iran’s crude oil exports from Nov. 4, and Washington has been putting pressure on governments and companies worldwide to cut their imports to zero. Saudi Arabia said last week it plans to raise produc-tion in November from Oc-tober output of 10.7 million barrels per day (bpd).

$83.22per barrel was the price of Brent crude by 1325

GMT

Rotary Club of Adliya launches 7ewar forum powered by BBK

TDT | Manama

7ewar Forum, the first of its kind in Bahrain, is the latest

youth initiative to be launched by the Rotary Club of Adliya, it was announced.

The initiative held on a quar-terly basis includes a series of panel discussions and work-shops to facilitate meaningful dialogue between young profes-sionals (Millennials) and sen-ior management (Generation X and Baby-Boomers).

Each 7ewar will have a dif-ferent theme, which will be explored through discussion panels and group debates. The aim is to enhance profession-al understanding between the generations and create inno-vative solutions for improving workplace productivity.

The first 7ewar, powered by BBK and supported by BIBF, Dadedo, AMG and Obai and Hill, was a one-day event (9am-2pm) held in November 2018 with the main theme of ‘What does productivity mean in today’s world?’

The discussion panel includ-ed three young professionals from the Millennial generation

and three HR experts and exec-utives from the Generation X and Baby-Boomer generations.

Durry Atasi, President of RCA and Reyadh Sater, BBK Chief Executive earlier discussed the importance of the initiative and how it will enhance employee engagement. Sponsorship of the first quarter was handed over during the meeting.

BBK signing 7ewar

Swift gets political, backs DemocratsAFP | Los Angeles

Pop star Taylor Swift is not really known for making political statements, but

the “Bad Blood” singer is no longer holding back ahead of the midterm elections in No-vember.

In a lengthy post on Insta-gram, where she has 112 mil-lion followers, the 28-year-old Swift says while she has been “reluctant” to share her polit-ical views in the past, she has changed her mind.

She endorsed the Democrat running for the US Senate in her home state of Tennessee, and unleashed a fierce attack on his opponent, Republican Mar-sha Blackburn, who currently serves in the House.

“As much as I have in the past and would like to continue vot-ing for women in office, I can-not support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me,” Swift said.

“She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against

the Reauthorization of the Vi-olence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic vio-lence, stalking, and date rape.”

Last year, Swift won a lawsuit against a former radio DJ she accused of groping her.

Blackburn “believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to mar-ry,” Swift added.

“These are not MY Tennessee values. I will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives.”

She urged her fans to register to vote, saying: “Please, please educate yourself on the candi-dates running in your state and vote based on who most closely repre-sents your values.

13 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018

VENOM (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVENTURE) NEW

TOM HARDY, MICHELLE WILLIAMS,

CINECO (20) DAILY AT (IMAX 3D): 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PMCINECO (20) DAILY AT (ATMOS): 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 MNCINECO (20) DAILY AT: 12.30 + 3.00 + 5.30 + 8.00 + 10.30 PM + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)CINECO (20) DAILY AT VIP (I): 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM CINECO (20) DAILY AT VIP (II): 12.30 + 3.00 + 5.30 + 8.00 + 10.30 PM SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.30 + 5.00 + 7.30 + 10.00 PM + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PMSAAR DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + (11.00 PM THURS/FRI)WADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 12.45 + 1.15 + 3.15 + 3.45 + 5.45 + 6.15 + 8.15 + 8.45 + 10.45 + 11.15 PM

TOURAB AL MAS (18+) (ARABIC/THRILLER/CRIME) NEW

ASSER YASSINE, MENNA SHALABY,

CINECO (20) DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 3.00 + 8.15 PMWADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 12.15 + 5.45 + 11.15 PM

ANDHADUN (PG-15) (HINDI/CRIME/COMEDY) NEW

TABU, AYUSHMANN KHURRANA, RADHIKA

CINECO (20) DAILY AT: 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PM SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.45 + 6.30 + 9.15 PM + 12.00 MN

LOVE YATRI (PG-13) (HINDI/ROMANTIC/COMEDY) NEW *- AAYUSH SHARMA, WARINA HUSSAIN,

CINECO (20) DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.45 + 6.30 + 9.15 PM + 12.00 MNSEEF (II) DAILY AT: 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PMSAAR DAILY AT: 12.00 + 5.30 + 11.00 PMWADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 12.45 + 6.15 + 11.45 PM

MAQUIA: WHEN THE PROMISED FLOWER BLOOMS (PG-13) (ANIMATION/DRAMA/FANTASY) NEW

MANAKA IWAMI, MIYU IRINO, AI KAYANO

CINECO (20) DAILY AT (DUBBED IN ENGLISH): 2.30 + 7.00 + 11.30 PM CINECO (20) DAILY AT (DUBBED IN ARABIC): 12.15 + 4.45 + 9.15 PM

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

ROWAN ATKINSON, OLGA KURYLENKO,

CINECO (20) DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 12.00 + 1.00 + 2.00 + 3.00 + 4.00 + 5.00 + 6.00 + 7.00 + 8.00 + 9.00 + 10.00 + 11.00 PM + 12.00 MN + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)SEEF (II) DAILY AT: (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 + 5.30 + 7.30 + 9.30 + 11.30 PMSAAR DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.00 + 3.00 + 5.00 + 7.00 + 9.00 PM + (11.00 PM. THURS./FRI..)WADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 1.15 + 3.15 + 5.15 + 7.15 + 9.15 + 11.15 PM

NIGHT SCHOOL (PG-15) (COMEDY)

KEVIN HART, TIFFANY HADDISH

CINECO (20) DAILY AT: 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 6.00 + 11.15 PMSAAR DAILY AT: 7.00 + 9.15 + (11.30 PM THURS/FRI)

WADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PM

SMALL FOOT (PG) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY)

CHANNING TATUM, JAMES CORDEN,

CINECO (20) DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 + 5.30 + 7.30 + 9.30 + 9.30 + 11.30 PM CINECO (20) DAILY AT (3D): 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 2.30 + 4.30 + 6.30 + 8.30 + 10.30 PM SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.00 + 3.00 + 5.00 + 7.00 + 9.00 + 11.00 PMSAAR DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.00 + 3.00 + 5.00 PMWADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 2.30 + 4.30 PM

AL DIESEL (PG-15) (ARABIC/ACTION/THRILLER/CRIME)

MOHAMMED RAMADAN, YASMINE SABRI,

CINECO (20) DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PMSEEF (II) DAILY AT: 2.15 + 7.00 + 11.45 PMWADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 3.15 + 8.45 PM

THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN IT’S WALLS (PG-13) (COMEDY/FANTASY/THRILLER)

CATE BLANCHETT, JACK BLACK, LORENZA

CINECO (20) DAILY AT: 12.00 + 4.45 + 9.30 PMSEEF (II) DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 4.30 + 9.30 PM

THE NUN (18+) (HORROR/THRILLER)

TAISSA FARMIGA, DEMIAN BICHIR,

CINECO (20) DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MN

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

DENZEL WASHINGTON, PEDRO PASCAL,

CINECO (20) DAILY AT: 12.15 + 4.45 + 9.15 PM

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

TAMER HOSNY, AKRAM HOSNI, MAJED EL


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

JASON STATHAM, RUBY ROSE, BINGBING LI


MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE FALLOUT (PG-15) (ACTION/THRILLER/CRIME) *- TOM CRUISE, HENRY CAVILL, VING

CINECO (20) DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 4.15 + 9.00 PM

ALPHA (PG-13) (ADVENTURE/DRAMA)

KODI SMIT-MCPHEE, JOHANNES HAUKUR


PEPPERMINT (PG-15) (ACTION/CRIME/THRILLER/DRAMA)

JENNIFER GARNER, RICHARD CABRAL,


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

ADAM SANDLER, ANDY SAMBERG

CINECO (20) DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 1.15 + 3.15 + 5.15 PM

LITTLE ITALY (18+) (ROMANTIC/COMEDY) NEW

HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN, EMMA ROBERTS,

SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 1.00 + 5.15 + 9.30 PM

FIRST REFORMED (18+) (THRILLER/DRAMA) NEW

ETHAN HAWKE, AMANDA SEYFRIED

SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 12.00 + 3.00 + 4.45 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.30 PM

SINGULARITY (PG-15) (ADVENTURE/DRAMA/SCI-FICTION)

JULIAN SCHAFFNER, JOHN CUSACK,


HARVIE AND THE MAGIC MUSEUM (PG) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE) NEW

MARTIN DEJDAR, OTA JIRAK, MARTIN

SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 1.15 + 3.15 + 5.15 PM

EXES BAGGAGE () (FILIPINO/DRAMA/ROMANTIC) NEW

ANGELICA PANGANIBAN, CARLO AQUINO

SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MN

SUI-DHAAGA- MADE IN INDIA (PG-13) (HINDI/DRAMA/COMEDY)*- ANUSHKA SHARMA, VARUN DHAWAN,


96 (TAMIL) NEW

VIJAY SETHUPATHI, TRISHA KRISHNANA

SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 PM + 12.00 MNAL HAMRA DAILY AT: 9.00 PM + (12.00 MN THURS/FRI)

RATSASAN (TAMIL) NEW

VISHNU VISHAL, RAAI LAXMI

STARTING THURSDAY 7.00 PM ONWARDSSEEF (I) DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 5.15 + 11.00 PM AL HAMRA FROM FRIDAY 5TH AL HAMRA DAILY AT: 6.00 PM

ORU KUTTANADAN BLOG (MALAYALAM) NEW

MAMMOOTTY, RAAI LAXMI, ANU SITHARA

SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 2.30 + 8.15 PM

CHEKKA CHIVANTHA VAANAM (TAMIL)

ARVIND SWAMI, VIJAY SETHUPATHI,

SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM

VARATHAN (MALAYALAM)

FAHADH FAASIL, AISHWARYA LAKSHMI

SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM AL HAMRA ON THURSDAY 4TH: 3.00 + 6.00 PM AL HAMRA FROM FRIDAY 5TH: 3.00 PM

ANDHADUN (PG-15) (HINDI/CRIME/COMEDY) NEW

TABU, AYUSHMANN KHURRANA

SAAR DAILY AT: 2.45 + 8.15 PM WADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 3.30 + 9.00 PM

NAWAB (TELGU) NEW

ARVIND SWAMI, VIJAY SETHUPATHI

AL HAMRA DAILY AT: 12.00 NOON

“I, SOM LAL s/o PIARA LAL holding Indian Passport No. H 1643566 dated 04.02.2009 issued at DOHA having permanent residence at (full address in India) V BANWALIPUR, PO KALASANGHIAN, DT. KAPURTHALA, PUNJAB. Presently residing at (full address in Bahrain) Building. 914, Road. 31, Block. 623, Kingdom of Bahrain will henceforth be known as (given name) SOM (Surname) LAL. Objection (s), if any, may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O. Box 26106, Adiliya, Kingdom of Bahrain.”

“I, MOHAMMAD CHAND s/o MOHAMMAD SALAM holding Indian Passport No. H 3054431 dated 12.01.2009 issued at PATNA having permanent residence at (full address in India) KAITHA, DHAMAUL, JAMUI, BIHAR- 505101. Presently residing at (full address in Bahrain) Building. 914, Road. 31, Block. 623, Kingdom of Bahrain will henceforth be known as (given name) MOHAMMAD (Surname) CHAND. Objection (s), if any, may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O. Box 26106, Adiliya, Kingdom of Bahrain.”

CHANGE OF NAME

McCartney loves meeting Beatles bandmates in dreamsIANS | Los Angeles

Legendary singer Paul Mc-Cartney has revealed that

he still spends time with his Beatles’ bandmates, but in his dreams.

In an interview to the Sunday Mirror, the 76-year-old became nostalgic and shared that he often dreams about his former late bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison.

McCartney said: “I often have dreams about John or George. I often dream about people who aren’t here anymore. They tend to be very good. And it’s only when you get to wake up you go, ‘Oh yeah, it was a dream’.”

Harrison died of cancer in 2001 aged 58 and Lennon was shot dead aged 40 by deranged fan Mark Chapman.

McCartney confessed that he suffers issues with his self-con-fidence.

He said that Lennon once told him that he fretted over how he was likely to be remem-bered, before he rightly told him he would be held as one of the greats.

Founded in 1960, the English rock band that was formed in Liverpool with Lennon, McCa-rtney, Harrison and Ringo Starr -- and became widely regarded as the foremost and most in-fluential music band of their times.Paul McCartney

Bradley Cooper’s biggest challengeIANS | Los Angeles

Actor Bradley Cooper says his biggest challenge was

to keep going on through the long process of filming his first directorial venture “A Star Is Born”.

The 43-year-old actor co-wrote the script, directed and produced the movie as well as starring in it. He admits that it was the “most fulfilling” ex-perience, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

“It was most fulfilling I’ve ever been artistically. I guess

the biggest challenge was just the fortitude to keep going be-cause it was a long process and you can’t really see the light

at the end of the tunnel for a good half of that process. You sort of get up knowing you’re going to be digging a while be-fore you find anything,” Cooper said.

“A Star Is Born” is based on the eponymous 1937 film, which was directed by William Wellmam. The story centres on a fading movie star who helps an aspiring actress while his own career spirals downward.

Also featuring singer Lady Gaga, the film will release by Warner Bros Pictures in India on October 12.

Bradley Cooper

Iggy Azalea tour cancelledIANS | Los Angeles

Nearly all of the dates of rapper Iggy Azal-

eas “Bad Girls” North American tour have been cancelled, according to the tours promoter, Live Nation.

The 21-city, five-week tour, her first headlin-ing trek in the territory in four years, was sched-uled to kick off on Octo-ber 27 in Hollywood and wrap up on December 4 in Houston.

Taylor Swift

14

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Bahraini becomes world’s highest ranked athlete

TDT | Manama

2017 IMMAF Gold Medalist, Murtaza Talha Ali from the

Kingdom of Bahrain will be the world’s highest ranked active contender when he competes at the upcoming IMMAF-WM-MAA Unified Amateur World Championships.

Having most recently se-cured the gold medal at this year’s IMMAF European Open, the 22-year-old Bahrain repre-sentative competes on home soil once again as he aims to retain the world title.

Ali remains undefeated in amateur MMA with an impres-sive record of eight victories. Noted for his strength and precision when it comes to

striking, the fighter who trains at the KHK MMA Bahrain Gym have dominated opponents around the world.

At the World Champion-ships, he will have the oppor-tunity to join an exclusive club of athletes who have won the amateur world title for the sec-ond time.

Ali is currently undergo-ing training at the KHK MMA Training facility which was found by HH Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

Bahrain national team is preparing to compete in the World Championships under the training of Head Coach, El-dar Eldarov to compete in Bah-rain during the Brave Interna-tional Combat Week 2018.

Murtaza Talha Ali

Brave 17 set to create broadcast record in PakistanTDT | Manama

Brave Combat Federation has confirmed that Brave

17 will break the record for the most coverage for a combat sport event in Pakistan.

Brave 17 will take place on 27th October in the Nistar Park Sports Complex in Lahore, Pakistan. The event marks the first International mixed martial arts event taking place in Pakistan. Brave 17 has an-nounced fighters to compete representing 12 nations.

Brave 17 will be broadcasted live on Abu Dhabi Sports in Middle East and North Africa, StarSat and VodaCom in Afri-

ca, Combate in Brazil, Fite Tv in Europe and North America and Brave TV in other regions.

The event features most number of professional ath-letes from Pakistan in a single global event with 5 profession-al fighters and two amateur fighters competing in Pakistan.

The main event will feature Dagestani-French fighter Ab-doul Abdouraguimov facing Rodrigo Cavalheiro in the main event in a bout which is crucial to determine the chal-lenger for the welterweight championship. In the co-main event Uloomi Karim will face Jeremy Pacatiw from Team Lakay, Philippines.

Pakistani athlete to take on Team LakayTDT | Manama

Uloomi Karim is fired up to take on Jeremy Pacatiw from Team

Lakay, Philippines. The fighter from Team Fight Fortress will be making his promotional debut at Brave 17.

Uloomi is the first fighter from Pa-kistan to be announced by the pro-motion to join the expanding ban-tamweight division. He will face the fighter with most number of appear-ance with Brave Combat Federation, Jeremy Pacatiw.

Team Fight Fortress and Team Lakay had earlier ceased during Brave

2 hosted in Bahrain. Haider Farman faced Jomar Pa-ac in the straw weight division. The bout ended in a disap-pointing note for the fight team from

Pakistan as Jomar Pa-ac claimed vic-tory for Team Lakay, Philippines by unanimous decision.

Brave 17 marks the second time the two major fight teams in Asia are clashing with each other. Uloomi Ka-rim had already put the stakes high for Pacatiw who has experience compet-ing in Asia, Africa and South America in his fight career with Brave CF.

“I can’t wait to show everyone how it’s done in Pakistan. I am prepared and there is going to be some heavy fireworks in Lahore. Let us show how Team Fight Fortress and Team Lakay gets it done”, said Uloomi.

Uloomi Karim

BIC all geared up for National Race Day season-openerTDT | Manama

Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) is all set to

host the opening round of the 2018-’19 National Race Day this Friday in Sakhir.

Set to light up BIC’s 2.55-kilometre Inner Track are the BIC 2,000cc Chal-lenge and the Bahrain Mo-torcycle Racing (BMR) 600.

Both series are amongst most hotly contested na-tional championships in Bahrain, with competitors of different nationalities and skill levels.

Dawani suffers early exitTDT | Buenos Aires

Bahrain’s Ali Dawani start-ed his campaign on a low

note in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, being held in Buenos Aires.

Dawani lost his opening round match in the men’s sin-gles event to Netherland’s Jas-per De Jong 0-2 at B.A Lawn Tennis. Sets results were 2-6, 1-6 in a 71-minute match.

The 17-year-old Bahraini will now take a one-day break before teaming up with Thasaporn Naklo of Thailand in the first round of the mixed doubles event, where they take on the

tandem of Sada Nahimana of Burundi and South Africa’s Philip Barr Henning.

Meanwhile, short-distance

pair of Ahmed Anan and Mar-wa Al Ajooz have stepped up their preparations for their re-spective athletic events starting later this week.

Anan will be competing in the men’s 400m heat, scheduled for Wednesday, while Marwa is to take part in the women’s 100m heat, also due to take place on the same day. The pair have been training with their na-tional tactician Salim Nasser, a former short-distance athlete.

More than 4,000 athletes are lined up for the Games, includ-ing Bahrain’s four athletes that will compete in three different events.

Ali Dawani in action

Osaka sets sights on Tokyo Olympics

AFP | Hong Kong

US Open champion Naomi Osaka yesterday set her sights on Olympic glo-

ry in 2020 as she became only the second Japanese woman to reach number four in the world rankings.

The fast-rising tennis star, who turns 21 on Sunday, has already become Japan’s first Grand Slam singles champion after she stunned Serena Wil-liams in New York last month.

And yesterday, she rose to a career-high ranking of four to become the top ranked Japa-nese woman since Kimiko Date in 1995.

Now she is targeting a strong performance at the WTA Finals Singapore later this month and she could yet finish her standout season as the top placed Japa-

nese woman of all time.Looking further ahead the

Osaka-born dual US-Japanese national, who represents the

country of her birth in tennis, has her eyes on the Tokyo Olym-pics.

“Everyone is really excited

in Japan for the Olympics,” she told reporters at the WTA Hong Kong Open, which she has been forced to withdraw from with a back injury.

“I know that everyone -- all the Japanese players -- wants to do well and of course I share that same feeling.”

She added: “I really want to experience the moment and at the same time I know I want to win the gold medal -- every-one who plays in the Olympics wants to win gold -- so that would be my aim, but (also) overall just to have fun.”

Osaka, who has referred to her breakthrough victory at Flush-ing Meadows as “bittersweet” after it was overshadowed by an explosive row between Wil-liams and the chair umpire, has been tipped for greatness by Chinese tennis great Li Na.

Naomi Osaka

Kyrgios beats hasty Shanghai retreat for third year AFP | Shanghai, China

Australian firebrand Nick Kyrgios exited the Shang-

hai Masters in ignominy for the third year running yesterday, appearing to lose heart during

his first-round defeat.The 23-year-old was on the

end of a surprise loss to the American qualifier Bradley Klahn, the world number 104 winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

The talented but tempera-

mental Kyrgios, who is ranked 38th in the world, has a cheq-uered history with Shanghai.

Last year he was fined after he stormed off mid-way through his first-round match, with jeers and boos ringing in his ears from

the crowd.Two years ago he argued with

spectators and was accused of giving away points in another defeat.

The fiery Australian was fined and suspended on that occasion.


Terry hangs up his boots

Reuters | London

Former Chelsea and England captain John

Terry has decided to call time on his playing career af-ter 23 years in the game.

The central defender has been without a club since leaving Cham-pionship (sec-ond-tier) side Aston Villa f o l l ow i n g their play-off defeat

by Fulham at Wembley

Stadium last season.

“After 23 incredible years as a football-er, I have decided now is the right time for me to retire from playing,” Terry, 37, wrote on his Instagram account on Sunday.

He has been linked by British media with a managerial role at Villa Park as the number two to former Arsenal and France forward Thierry Henry following the sacking of Steve Bruce on Wednesday, with Villa now struggling in 15th place.

Terry, a no-nonsense defender who won 78 England caps, left Chelsea in 2017 after 19 seasons at the west London club where he won 17 trophies, including five Premier League titles, five FA Cup triumphs and three League Cup trophies.

Terry also won both a Champions League and Europa League winners’ medal although he did not appear in either final, having been suspended for the 2012 European Cup triumph and injured for the Europa League success the following year.

After he announced his retirement,

Chelsea wrote on Twitter: “Twenty-two years as a Blue. Fifteen major trophies. One of the finest careers of any English-man in the history of the game. Enjoy your retirement, JT.”

Captain TerryTerry joined Chelsea in 1995 and made his England debut in June 2003, with Jose Mourinho making him captain at Stamford Bridge when he took over as manager in 2004. Terry captained his country 34 times after first taking the armband in 2005.

“As a 14-year-old, I made my best and biggest decision: to sign for Chelsea Foot-ball Club,” he added in his Instagram post. “Words will never be enough to show how much everyone at the club means to me, in particular the fans.”

Terry was reluctant to leave Chelsea but took up the challenge of trying to lead former European champions Villa back to the top flight, just missing out in the Wembley playoff.

Nadal, Djokovic to play exhibition in Saudi ArabiaAFP | Paris

World number one Ra-fael Nadal said he has

agreed to play an exhibition match against fellow Grand Slam title winner Novak Djokovic in Saudi Arabia in December.

The match between the two stars will take place at Jeddah’s King Abdullah Sports City on December 22.

“Thanks for the invitation and looking forward to play-ing and visiting for the first time,” Nadal said on Twitter.

Na d a l , t h e re i g n i n g French Open champion, has 17 Grand Slam titles to his name. Former world num-ber one Djokovic, now at three in the rankings, won Wimbledon and the US Open this year to take his majors collection to 14.

Djokovic and Nadal have played 52 times in their ca-reers with the Serb leading their head-to-head 27-25.

Saudi Arabia has host-ed a series of internation-al sports events in recent months.

Lloyd hat trick lifts USA in 5-0 win over PanamaAFP | Los Angeles

Carli Lloyd scored three goals as the United

States beat Panama 5-0 Sun-day to advance their bid to qualify for the 2019 Wom-en’s World Cup.

With the win in Cary, North Carolina, the Ameri-cans have won the first two of their three group match-es in the eight-nation CON-CACAF Women’s Champi-onship.

They opened with a 6-0 victory over Mexico and were assured of a semi-final spot in the regional quali-fying event when Mexico beat Trinidad & Tobago 4-1 on Sunday.

Hoeness backs Kovac ‘to the end’

AFP | Berlin, Germany

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness affirmed

yesterday his strong support for coach Niko Kovac, as the Croat came under intense pressure over a winless run capped by a stinging 3-0 de-feat at home.

“I will defend Niko Kovac to the end,” declared Hoe-ness in an interview with Kicker magazine.

Separately, Hoeness told the daily Sueddeutsche Zei-tung he stands by the Ger-man-born former Croatia midfielder, “regardless of what happens in the next weeks”.

Kovac only took over at Bayern over the summer and was portrayed as a long-term leader after the venerable Jupp Heynck-es had successfully stead-ied the ship for a season on a temporary basis af-ter Carlo Ancelotti was s acked.

Hazard still keen on ‘dream’ Real Madrid move

AFP | London

Chelsea’s Eden Hazard has cast fresh doubt

over his future despite a blistering start to the season

by admitting he is still tempt-ed by the childhood dream of

a move to Real Madrid.Hazard has been instrumen-

tal in Chelsea’s unbeaten start under Maurizio Sarri, scoring eight goals in all competitions, as the Blues sit joint top of the Premier League alongside Manchester City and Liver-pool.

The Belgian was crowned the second best player at the World Cup and, after leading his country to third place in Russia, stated he felt the time was right for a fresh challenge with Madrid his preferred

destination.“I spoke af-

ter the World Cup and I said that I think it is time to

c h a n g e b e -cause I played a

great World Cup,” Haz-ard told the British media after scoring

in Sunday’s 3-0 victo-ry at Southampton.“I am really in the

game, I am playing good football at the moment.

“Real Madrid is the best club in the world. I don’t want to lie today. It is my dream since I was a kid. I was dreaming about this club.

“We will see. I don’t want to talk about this every day. I don’t have time but we will talk about my future soon.”

Real could do with Hazard’s fire-power in the absence of the depart-ed Cristiano Ronaldo, having failed to score in four consecutive games for the first time since 1985.

Different case to Courtois Hazard is out of contract in 2020, but doesn’t want to follow the ex-ample of international team-mate Thibaut Courtois in forcing his way out of the club.

Courtois had just a year to run on his contract, lowering his transfer value, when he refused to return to pre-season training with Chelsea before sealing a move to Real in August.

“I don’t want that,” Hazard said. “I want what’s good for me, but I want what’s good for the club because the club has given me everything.

Klopp blasts ‘senseless’ Nations LeagueAFP | Liverpool, United King-dom

Jurgen Klopp has branded the UEFA Nations League

“the most senseless competi-tion in the world” as he pre-pares to see many of his squad leave on international duty fol-lowing Liverpool’s drab 0-0 draw with Manchester City.

The two sides -- along with Chelsea -- are all locked on 20 points at the top of the Premier League table, separated only by goal difference after Sun-day’s matches.

Klopp is pleased a hectic schedule of seven matches in 23 days is now over but is un-sure what the next fortnight will bring for his players.

“If somebody would have told me after eight match-days you have 20 points, I would say with that fixture list, ‘I’ll buy it, let’s start with the ninth matchday’,” said Klopp.

“The boys unfortunate-ly go away again now and have to play Nations League games, the most senseless competition in the world of football.”

Klopp said players need a proper break to be fresher, pointing to the case of Liv-erpool midfielder Jordan Henderson who played for England at the World Cup in Russia.

Riyad Mahrez misses a penalty

Barca lose Liga lead to SevillaReuters | Valencia, Spain

Sevilla became surprise Liga leaders on Sunday after

beating visiting Celta Viga 2-1 while champions Barcelona drew 1-1 at Valencia thanks to another Lionel Messi strike but are still without a victory in their last four league games.

Atletico Madrid joined Bar-ca on 15 points after scraping a 1-0 win at home to Real Betis with a late strike from sub-stitute Angel Correa to climb above Real Madrid into third in a highly competitive cam-

paign with the top six separat-ed by two points.

The Catalans fell behind in the second minute at a bounc-ing Mestalla stadium after dreadful defending from a corner allowed Argentine de-fender Ezequiel Garay to stab home from close range.

Barca continued to leak chances but got a foothold in the game thanks to a superb strike in the 23rd minute from Messi, who has been in in-spired form and delivered a performance for ages against Tottenham on Wednesday.

‘I should have scored more’, says MbappeAFP | Paris

Teenage sensation Kylian Mbappe insisted that he

“should have scored more” despite netting four times in a magnificent individual display as Paris Saint-Ger-m a i n t h r a s h e d Ly o n o n Sunday.

The 19-year- old scored four goals in the space of 13 second-half minutes as a 5-0 victory saw PSG set a new French top-flight record of nine straight wins to start a season.

But Mbappe did miss sev-eral earlier chances as he was thrice denied when one-on-one with Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes and struck the post before grabbing his first goal just after the hour mark.

“I missed opportunities, I should have scored more,” he told Canal+.

“I keep working and I never doubted. I knew I had the sup-port of my team-mates. I often say that as long as an attacker is creating chances, everything is fine.”Kylian Mbappe shoots the ball

Eden Hazard

John Terry

Australia face tough task after Sohail hits tonAFP | Dubai

Australia’s openers survived a torrid 13 over spell to

finish on 30 without loss after Haris Sohail’s maiden century guided Pakistan to 482 on the second day of the first Test in Dubai yesterday.

Usman Khawaja was un-beaten on 17 and debutant Aaron Finch was 13 not out as Australia negotiated some tight spin bowling from Pa-kistan on a pitch which has started to show signs of turn.

Pakistan unleashed four overs from leg-spinner Yasir Shah and a combined three from off-spinners Mohammad Hafeez and Bilal Asif, but both Australian openers looked as-sured.

Australia trail Pakistan by 452 runs with all ten wickets intact, but they face a big battle ahead of them with Yasir ex-pected to pose the main threat.

A sparkling hundred from left-hander Sohail and a pol-ished 80 from Asad Shafiq enabled Pakistan to build on an overnight score of 255 for 3, with nightwatchman Mo-hammad Abbas (one) the only wicket to fall in the morning session.

Sohail’s patient six-hour knock featured eight fours and two sixes, as he added 150 for the fifth wicket with Shafiq who was unlucky to miss out on his 10th century.

The pair frustrated the Aus-tralian attack with some solid batting as Pakistan reached 329-4 at lunch, with both in sight of centuries.

But Shafiq fell to the leg-spin of Marnus Labuschagne minutes before tea as he edged a turning ball to wicketkeeper Tim Paine for the debutant’s first wicket.

Shafiq hit nine boundaries and a six in his 278 minutes at the crease.

Sohail did to get to three fig-

ures though, hitting a six off spinner Jon Holland before cutting him to third man for two to complete his century.

He was finally dismissed by Nathan Lyon, caught behind as he tried to cut the off-spin-ner, having easily surpassed his previous best of 76 made against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi last year.

Sohail was pleased to go on and post a big score after regu-larly making several promising starts before getting out earlier in the year.

“I was getting out on 30-40 runs on the tour of England (in May-June this year),” said Sohail. “So I wanted to get out of that panic situation and I am happy that I have done that today.”


SCOREBOARD

Australia 30 for 0 (Khawaja 17*, Finch 13*) trail Pakistan 482 (Hafeez 126, Haris 110, Shafiq 80, Siddle 3-58) by

452 runs

Wolff wary of ‘freak’ Hamilton injury

AFP | Tokyo

With Lewis Hamilton on the brink of cap-turing a fifth Formu-

la One world title, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff revealed he’s living in dread of the Briton suffering a “freak” injury -- es-pecially to one of his fingers.

Hamilton opened a 67-point lead over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel with four races left after storming to victory in Japan at the weekend, but Wolff clearly wants to wrap his star driver in cotton wool for the remainder of the season.

“Absolutely freak incidents happen everywhere,” said the Austrian. “I don’t want to even think about him breaking a fin-ger!”

Hamilton could put Vettel out of his misery if he wins the next race at Austin in two weeks and Vettel finishes lower than second -- or if he outscores the German by eight points.

But Wolff has warned against complacency after Vettel could only finish sixth following an early collision with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

“It’s important to stay con-centrated,” insisted Wolff. “You either have the trophy in your hands or you don’t -- and we haven’t got it in our hands.”

“A bad result suddenly wipes off a large chunk of your points,” he added.

“It doesn’t look likely, but this is motor racing. It’s a sport, an-ything could happen. I don’t want to dwell too much about it because it’s bad karma too, so let’s just go to Austin and get

it done.”Hamilton was cock-a-hoop af-

ter leading a Mercedes one-two for his sixth win in seven races and fourth in a row.

It was also his 71st Formula One victory and 50th for the Silver Arrows.

Standing over his car, the Brit-on said: “Austin is usually a good track for us, so I can’t wait to unleash this beast there.”

Vettel slump Hamilton will back himself to claim a 10th victory of the sea-son in the United States, where he has won every race but one since 2012.

But as Vettel was left hop-

ping mad over the tangle with Verstappen that sent his Fer-rari spinning off, Hamilton expressed dismay at his rival’s nose-diving form.

“In terms of Sebastian’s per-formance, I definitely hadn’t anticipated that they would tail off as they have,” he said, after Vettel’s fading title hopes were all but extinguished.

“I don’t really have an answer for that, it’s not something I’ve really focused on -- I’m sure Sebastian could tell why.”

A rampant Hamilton has scored 168 out of a possible 175 points since the British Grand Prix in July -- a 75-point swing over a misfiring Vettel in the

past seven races.But Wolff wants Hamilton

and Valtteri Bottas to go full throttle in the remaining races.

“We like the pressure and em-brace it,” he said. “It’s important to re-invent yourself as a team and set new objectives.”

Vettel, beaten by the two Mercedes in Russia a week ear-lier, tried to put a positive spin on a disastrous Japan race.

“It’s not been an easy couple of weeks,” he said. “But the spir-it in the team is unbroken.

“You walk in the garage and the guys are all fired up, so that has certainly helped. We have nothing to lose now and we will give it everything we can.”

Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton leaves his car in the pit after his victory

Ostapenko dumped out of HK Open by lowly KucovaAFP | Hong Kong

Former French Open cham-pion Jelena Ostapenko was

dumped out of the Hong Kong Open yesterday -- by a player ranked 299 places below her.

The Latvian world number 18 crashed out in three sets against outsider Kristina Ku-cova -- who before Monday had not had a WTA main draw in more than a year -- in the first round.

Third seed Ostapenko scraped through the first set 7-5 before losing her way in the second with repeated net-ted ground strokes and Ku-cova’s vicious backhand tip-ping the scales in the Slovak’s favour.

The match ended on a farci-cal note when a shot by Kucova was called in even though it appeared to land well beyond the baseline. An angry Ostap-enko, out of challenges, then faced a double match point and quickly succumbed to go down 7-5, 3-6, 2-6.

“In tennis sometimes one

ball can decide the whole match. That ball was quite far out -- I was surprised the chair umpire didn’t call it,” Ostap-enko said.

“But unfortunately I had run out of challenges and couldn’t do anything.”

Ostapenko, still only 21, was looking to recover from a poor China Open performance hampered by a wrist injury, but instead endured a miserable evening in Hong Kong.

She said her 28-year-old op-ponent had played like she had “nothing to lose”.

“Today she was playing at a very high level but of course it was not the best match and I made a lot of unforced errors.”

Earlier, France’s number two Alize Cornet swept into the second round of the Hong Kong Open Monday -- helped by a “home” crowd.

The eighth seed brushed aside Israel’s Julia Glushko 6-1, 6-2, to record her first victory in more than a month after a string of first round exits in Chinese tournaments.

Haris Sohai in action

Bale, De Bruyne in Ballon d’Or listAFP | Paris

Real Madrid and Wales forward Gareth Bale

and Manchester City’s Belgium midfield-er Kevin De Bruyne were among the first 15 nominees for the Ballon d’Or award announced yester-day.

B a l e , w h o scored two goals in Real’s triumph

in the final of the Champi-ons League against Liverpool, joins his club teammate Karim Benzema among the first wave of 30 nominees for the year’s best player.

De Bruyne was nominated for helping his club win the Premier League and his country

reach the World Cup semi-finals.The winner of the prestigious

award organised by France Foot-ball magazine will be announced on December 3.

Having lost out in the FIFA best player of the year award to Luka Modric, Cristiano Ronaldo takes his place among the 30 nominees for the Ballon d’Or that were be-ing unveiled in stages yesterday.

The Juventus forward, cur-rently facing allegations of rape dating back to 2009 that he stren-uously denies, has already won the Ballon d’Or five times and is the current holder of the award.

Antoine Griezmann, a World

Cup winner with France and Eu-ropa League champion at Atletico Madrid, is nominated alongside international teammate and Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante.

Eden Hazard gives Chelsea an-other player in the running after starring alongside De Bruyne at the World Cup, with England’s Golden Boot winner Harry Kane also included.

Manchester City forward Ser-gio Aguero is nominated as is another prolific South American striker, Edinson Cavani of Uru-guay and Paris Saint-Germain.

Two goalkeepers are also among the first 15 -- Thibaut Courtois of Belgium and Real Madrid and Liverpool and Brazil stopper Alisson Becker.

Real Madrid midfielder Isco, Liverpool’s Brazilian Roberto Firmino and Uruguay’s rugged defender Diego Godin of Atletico Madrid also got the nod.

For the first time, a Ballon d’Or for women players will be award-ed this year, with the nominees to be announced later.

In another first, the best un-der-21 player will receive the Kopa Trophy. Kylian Mbappe, the Paris Saint-Germain striker who burst onto the global scene with his performances as France won the World Cup, is the favourite.

The Ballon d’Or, which was first won by Englishman Stanley Matthews in 1956, is decided by a ballot of journalists from around the world.

First 15 nominees (of 30) for Ballon d’Or

1. Sergio Aguero (Argentina, Manchester City)2. Alisson Becker (Brazil, Liverpool)3. Gareth Bale (Wales, Real Madrid)4. Karim Benzema (France, Real Madrid)5. Edinson Cavani (Uruguay, Paris St Germain)6. Thibaut Courtois (Belgium, Real Madrid)7. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Juventus)8. Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium, Manchester City)9. Roberto Firmino (Brazil, Liverpool)10. Diego Godin (Uruguay, Atletico Madrid)11. Antoine Griezmann (France, Atletico Madrid)12. Eden Hazard (England, Chelsea)13. Isco (Spain, Real Madrid14. Harry Kane (England, Tottenham Hotspur)15. N’Golo Kante (France, Chelsea)

Gareth Bale