03 1,2,3,4,5G...

04 What a Waste!

05Ethiopian crew unable to regain control of jet

8

Britney Spears checks into psychiatric facility6WORLD

FRIDAYS H O W

Project Ghazi: An audacious attempt goes wrongProject Ghazi is a 2019 Pakistani science fiction action film starring Humayun Saeed, Sheheryar Munawar, and Syra Shehroz. | P13

FRIDAYAPRIL 2019

200 FILS ISSUE NO. 8072

Iraq’s ancient pottery struggles to outlive modern plastic

Britney Spears checks into psychiatric facility 14 CELEBS

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Saudi grants Iraq loans as consulate opensBaghdad, Iraq

Saudi Arabia ’s trade minister announced a

one-billion-dollar aid pack-age for Iraq during a visit to Baghdad yesterday, pledg-ing stronger bilateral ties.

Majed al-Qasabi also in-augurated a new Saudi con-sulate in Baghdad, one of four planned branches to open in Iraq after decades of no diplomatic links between the two countries.

Speaking to reporters alongside Iraqi Oil Minister Thamer Ghadban, Qasabi said the relationship had entered “a new phase”.

“There’s no doubt that this exchange, this discus-sion, is a two-way street that will strengthen these ties,” said Qasabi, wrapping up a two-day visit.

UAE honours Indian Prime Minister with Zayed MedalPTI | Dubai

The UAE yesterday an-nounced it will honour Prime Minister Naren-

dra Modi with the prestigious Zayed Medal for playing a “piv-otal role” in giving a “big boost” to the bilateral strategic ties.

President of the UAE Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan made the announcement to con-fer the Prime Minister with the award, the highest decoration awarded to kings, presidents and heads of states.

“We have historical and com-prehensive strategic ties with India, reinforced by the pivotal role of my dear friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who gave these relations a big boost. In appreciation of his efforts, the UAE President grants him the

Zayed Medal,” Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohamed Bin Zayed tweeted.

The Crown Prince, who is also the Deputy Supreme Command-er of the UAE Armed Forces, said Modi played a key role in enhancing bilateral ties to the

level of comprehensive strategic relations.

“By granting our dear friend the Indian Prime Minister the Zayed Medal, we express our appreciation for his role and efforts in developing friendly relations and extending bridges

of cooperation between the UAE and the Republic of India in var-ious fields,” he said.

The award comes in apprecia-tion of Modi’s role in consolidat-ing the long-standing friendship and joint strategic cooperation between the two countries, the Khaleej Times reported.

“I am extremely happy to welcome the announcement of Order of Zayed for a great son

of India Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi by His Highness Mohamed Bin Zayed,” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted.

She said the prestigious award was bestowed on Modi in recog-nition of his “stellar role” in ush-ering in a new era of strategic partnership with the UAE and the “best ever” relations with the Islamic world.

“On behalf of the people of India, I express our deep sense of gratitude to His Highness the President, His Highness the Crown Prince of UAE for this great honour. With this, you have honoured India and the people of India,” Swaraj said.

Modi visited the UAE for the second time as Prime Minister in February last year and held wide-ranging talks with the Crown Prince.

UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Courtesy of The Hindu)

we express our appreciation for his role and efforts in

developing friendly relations and

extending bridges of cooperation

SHEIKH KHALIFA BIN ZAYED AL NAHYAN

Libyan crisis deepens Strongman Haftar orders ‘advance’ on Tripoli

AFP | Tripoli, Libya

Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar ordered his troops yesterday to “advance” on Tripoli, seat of the

internationally-recognised unity govern-ment, after UN chief Antonio Guterres warned against a major flare-up.

“The time has come,” Haftar said in an audio message released online by his self-proclaimed Libyan National Army. 

Haftar’s forces announced Wednesday they were gearing up for an offensive in the west of the country to purge it of “terrorists and mercenaries”.

Following that statement, a convoy of LNA vehicles pushed towards the city of Gharyan, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Tripoli, witnesses and military sources said. 

Commander Abdessalem Al-Hassi said yesterday that his forces had entered into the city without a fight.

But at least four sources in the city denied this, and a Gharyan official said there were “ongoing efforts to avoid a confrontation” between rival fighters who divide the city. 

Dozens of militias have fought for control of the North African country

since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

Haftar’s forces have emerged as a key player, opposing the government in Trip-oli and backing a parallel administration in the east.

Unity government chief Fayez al-Sar-raj condemned Haftar’s “escalation” and

said he had ordered loyalist forces to prepare to “face all threats”.

His interior ministry announced a “state of maximum alert” and powerful armed groups from Libya’s western city of Misrata said they were ready to halt Haftar’s advance.

The rise in tensions came as United Nations chief Guterres visited Tripoli

ahead of a planned conference later this month to hammer out a roadmap for delayed parliamentary and presidential elections.

“I am deeply concerned by the military movement taking place in Libya and the risk of confrontation,” the visiting Gu-terres tweeted from the capital.

Soldiers from the self-styled army of Libyan Strongman Khalifa Haftar take part in a military parade

Khalifa Haftar

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

Global life expectancy up 5.5 years since 2000: WHOGeneva, Switzerland

Global life expectancy grew by 5.5 years be-tween 2000 and 2016,

the World Health Organization said yesterday, warning though that unequal income and access to healthcare translates into far shorter lives for many.

The UN health agency also stressed significant gender differences in life expectancy

worldwide.On average, a child born in

2016 can expect to live 72 years, up from 66.5 in 2000, according to the annual World Health Sta-tistics report.

The first 16 years of the centu-ry saw dramatic drops in deaths among children under five, es-pecially in sub-Saharan Africa, where progress has been made against malaria, measles and other communicable diseases,

WHO said.Life expectancy has also in-

creased thanks to advances against HIV/AIDS, which rav-aged much of Africa in the 1990s. 

But despite progress in poor-er countries, WHO said there remained significant life expec-tancy gaps between developed and developing nations.

People in low-income coun-tries live 18 fewer years on av-

erage than those in high-income nations, statistics showed.

In Lesotho, for instance, peo-ple on average live to be just 52, or 53 in the Central African Re-public 53 years of age, compared to over 83 for Switzerland and over 84 in Japan.

While most people who die in rich countries are old, nearly one in three deaths in poorer countries are children under five, WHO said.Representative picture

Doomed EgyptAir Airbus ‘should not have taken off’

Paris, France

An Airbus jet operated by EgyptAir that crashed

over the Mediterranean al-most three years ago, kill-ing all 66 people on board, should have been ground-ed because of a series of technical issues on previ-ous flights, according to a French investigation.

The report, ordered by the French judiciary, stops short of drawing firm con-clusions about the precise cause of the disaster but makes clear a serious of previous issues with the plane should not have been ignored.

Flight MS804, which was bound from Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport to Cairo, plunged into the sea be-tween Crete and the north-ern coast of Egypt after dis-appearing from radars. 

02FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

Bahrain Pride Trading Centre opened its 6th new store in Askar yesterday. The new store was inaugurated by Chairman and Managing Director Shakeel Ahmed, Shakeel Trading company Director Rabia Shakeel and Nayla Shakeel in the presence of other staff members. The new store is on road 5233 in Ras Zuwayed

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa yesterday offered condolences to His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa on the demise of HH Shaikha Aisha bint Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. HM the King was accompanied by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier and HM the King’s sons. HM the King extended condolences to Shaikh Ibrahim bin Hamad bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, the sons of late HH Shaikha Aisha bint Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa and members of the Royal Family, during a visit to the Majlis of Shaikh Ibrahim bin Hamad bin Abdullah Al Khalifa. HM the King also received condolences from members of the Royal Family on the demise of HH Shaikha Aisha. His Majesty paid homage to her, praising her contribution to humanitarian and charity work to serve Bahrain’s society

Commander-in-Chief of the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF), Field Marshal Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, during inspection visits to BDF units. He was briefed about their training programmes, as well as combat preparedness and administrative readiness

Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa chairing a meeting of the probe committee in charge of investigating the incident of Hamad Intermediate Girls School. The committee is waiting for the results of the ongoing investigations of the Public Prosecution into the criminal aspect of the incident

Electricity and Water Affairs Minister Dr Abdulhussain Mirza receiving Dr Fahd Ibrahim Al Shehabi, who presented his fourth book in the series “My Beloved Bahrain”, which includes an overview of Bahrain’s various historical and modern aspects. The minister praised the efforts of Dr. Al-Shehabi and his interest in documenting the history of Bahrain

Speaker of the Council of Representatives, Fawzia bint Abdulla Zainal with outgoing Libyan Ambassador to Bahrain, Fawzy El-Tahir Ahmed Abdul-A’ali. The speaker lauded the solid brotherly relations between Bahrain and Libya

Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani with Russian Ambassador to Bahrain Igor Kremnev. They discussed ways of boosting bilateral relations mainly in the economic field

Information Affairs Undersecretary Dr Abdulrahman Mohammed Bahar with Palestinian Authority’s General Supervisor of the official media, Minister Ahmed Assaf, on the sidelines of his visit to attend the first Animation Industry Conference. General Director of Palestine TV, Mohammad Barghouthi, and Palestinian Ambassador to Bahrain, Khalid Arif, were present. The Information Undersecretary and the Palestinian Minister toured a number of the ministry’s departments, including radio, television studios and Bahrain News Agency

03

big story

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

The world is at the cusp

of further evolution, with

5G already making waves

in South Korea and about to go live in Bahrain,

offering more communication

per millimetre frequencies

than ever. With a latency

(lag time) as little as 1

millisecond or about the time

it takes to flash on a normal camera, 5G,

as experts say, is going

to change the lives of billions

of people.

TDT | Manama

When Neil Armstrong made that small step back in 1969 to the

surface of Moon, it was, as he famously said, was “one giant leap for mankind.”

Now after 50 years, human space exploration is still going on developing new hardware

and skill that would even-tually take him farther from

Earth than ever before to the Red Planet.

NASA says it wants humans to reach Mars by 2033, the next giant leap.

But, as they say, giant leaps are built on a series

of small steps. One such small step, that

would eventually change the day-to-day lives of billions of people on our little Earth, is happening right now among us.

In fact, as you read this, it has already happened.

The world calls it by the name 5G.

Yes, 5G has made its first baby steps yesterday two days earlier than expected in South Korea, which has also made super-powers crazy and sparring for control.

Three top telecom providers -- SK Telecom, KT, and LG Up-lus -- began their 5G services at 11 pm local time Wednesday, despite previously announcing the launch date would be April 5.

The celebrities -- including two members of K-pop band EXO and Olympic ice-skating hero Kim Yu-na -- were “the world’s first 5G smartphone sub-scribers”, SK Telecom said.

Both KT and LG Uplus said they also went live at the same time

For general customers, the services will be available from

Friday -- the previous launch date -- when Samsung Electron-ics rolls out the Galaxy S10 5G, the world’s first available smart-phone using the technology.

Meanwhile, Verizon also be-gan rolling out its 5G services in Chicago and Minneapolis on Wednesday US time, a week ahead of schedule.

However, according to Yon-hap, the South Korean launches came two hours earlier.

But what’s all the fuss about? Why are people so excited? Is

it worth our time?Of course, it is, as it is not just

about how faster it connects one to the internet to download movies.

Experts say it promises to con-nect everything around us to a network that is 100 times faster than our cellular connection and 10 times faster than our speed-iest home broadband service.

The superfast communica-tions heralded by fifth-genera-tion wireless technology could ultimately underpin everything from toasters to telephones; from electric cars to power grids.

The system will bring smart-phones near-instantaneous con-nectivity -- 20 times faster than existing 4G -- allowing users to download entire movies in less than a second.

Beyond speed, the biggest benefit of 5G is its low laten-cy or short lag time. Meaning a surgeon may not be needed in the same room as a patient

in the future. As Ericsson had d e m o n s t ra t e d a t King’s College London us-ing a dummy patient, surgeons can perform an actual operation in another location without ac-tually being there.

It’s all in the words of Erics-son Chief Technology officer Ulf Ewaldon. “It’s the first time the network will be faster than your mind.”

That makes it a vital part of the infrastructure of tomorrow, and the 5G standard is expect-ed to bring about $565 billion in global economic benefits by 2034, according to the Lon-don-based Global System for Mobile Communications, an in-dustry alliance.

However, until now, no mobile networks have offered nation-wide 5G access. Bahrain held its trials in 2018. In the US, hotspots in a few selected cities have of-fered 5G speeds but over wifi only, while Qatari firm Oore-doo says it offers 5G services in and around Doha -- but does not have devices available to use them.

But don’t think that the South has won the race. It is only one part of the wider battle that would soon sink the world.

Where is Bahrain in 5G race?

Closer than you think is the answer.

“Preparat ions are complete,” said Minister of Transportation and Telecom-munications in Bahrain, Kamal Ahmed last month pointing out the availability of handset as the only hurdle.

As you read, the Telecom-munications Regulatory Au-thority (TRA) here is finalising the licensing and spectrum allocation procedures for the country’s 5G radio network.

Most probably, starting June, Bahrainis would officially start enjoying the perks of super fast communication.

All licensed operators here have begun rolling out the in-frastructure required to sup-port commercial 5G services.

“There were a lot of chal-lenges along the way – ensuring spectrum availability as soon as possible was a big challenge, but overcoming these obsta-

cles exemplifies the support and cooperation amongst Team Bahrain and demonstrates how Bahrain can move quickly, de-liver enormous progress against an accelerated timeframe, and be a partner to technology lead-ers,” said the Minister.

Batelco has selected Ericsson to launch 5G, while VIVA Bah-rain has partnered with Hua-wei that has registered 1,529 5G patents, according to data analysis firm IPlytics.

Incredible things 5G can do

Remote surgery

A 5G network virtually eliminates any delay in pinging the network and getting a response allowing surgeons to per-

form an actual operation in another location from anywhere in the world.

The idea “internet of skill” as people call it enables anyone to transfer their expertise over a great distance in real time.

Touch-feely internet

Super speed allows to transmit the tactile sensation of experience or

in other words, will be able to touch and feel things miles away.

Self-driving cars

Fully autonomous vehicle will remain as a dream without 5G.

Virtual reality

5G could enhance the experience with real time chat and live streaming.

Guaranteed connection

Unlike in the past, phone companies have started offering “service-level agreements” that guarantee a connection

for mission-critical businesses and applications.

Home broadband

The most obvious application of 5G is as a replacement for

traditional home internet service. (Agencies)

Barriers

Current 3G and 4G trans-mission towers can cov-er tens of square kilo-

metres, whereas the footprint of a 5G cell may be limited to a short street or city block.

The shorter range also means more cell towers. How-ever, with transducers about the size of a small rucksack, as it is currently offered, they can be attached easily to even street lamp posts. Idea is to have a lot of them.

Cost is likely to be a barrier for user uptake initially, ana-lysts say, as the cheapest ver-sion of the new Galaxy handset will be priced at 1.39 million won ($1,200).

Galaxy S10 5G smartphones

5G services on VR device

Timotheus Hoettges, chairman of German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom, stands next to antenna for the ultra-fast 5G mobile network

Kamal Ahmed

04FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

The NGN Training Centre which was established with the main objective to provide premium educational and professional development

courses for Bahrain businesses and financial institutions has been keen to provide the trainees with the latest theoretical and

practical knowledge, and VR skills developed by international trainersYAQOOB AL AWADHI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF NGN

Virtual reality, also referred to as VR is a technology that uses a headset to generate

images and sounds and other cues that help to make the user believe

they are in an imaginary environment. A person using a virtual reality

headset is able to move their head and see the artificial world as if it

was real.

What a Waste!22000 tonnes of household waste collected from northern governorate in the first

two months of this year

TDT | ManamaMohammed Zafran

Civic authorities have cleared a massive 22000 tonnes of domestic waste

in Northern Governorate this year, that too in the first two months alone, it was revealed.

Officials further revealed that this is in addition to the 4,000 tonnes of construction waste and 6500 tonnes of agricultural waste generated by the governo-rate during the months of Janu-ary and February.

“In total, we cleared a total

of 34,000 tonnes of waste from the governorate with house-hold waste amounting a greater chunk of it,” a municipality rep-resentative said.

During inspections, the au-thorities also detected several violations related to dumping of construction waste in empty plots.

“Notifications were served to a total of 137 violators during January and February,” the of-ficial said adding: “84 of them were for dumping construction waste, 15 for violations regarding

agricultural waste, 29 for clean-liness issues and nine for sewage violations.”

Bahrain is currently rolling out a new waste management strategy in all its governorates following a study conducted by the Ministry of Works, Munici-palities Affairs and Urban Plan-ning last year through Estidama - a waste management centre under the Ministry.

“The waste is growing as the population expands, which also requires updating our waste management strategy,”

an Estidama representative said.

Tribune previously reported, citing official statistics by the Ministry of Works, Municipal-ities Affairs and Urban Plan-ning, that the country produces 1,773,107 tonnes of waste a year.

Of which, 559,053 tonnes were from households, 313,362 were commercial and 82,006 were industrial.

Green waste or biodegrada-ble waste amounted to 125,306 tonnes. Building waste amount-ed to 684,610 tonnes.

During inspections, the authorities also detected several violations

A waste bin

Virtual Reality set to change the game in Bahrain’s job market

TDT | ManamaHarpreet Kaur

A specialized training and development company in Bahrain, NGN Centre,

announced plans to boost King-dom’s contribution to the global multi-billion-dollar virtual real-ity (VR) industry with its newly launched VR programme.

The four-month programme will focus on the training and development to provide oppor-tunities for Bahraini graduates

who are seeking high profile jobs in Media and PR agencies, engineering offices, property development companies and the industrial sector.

This programme, the centre said, also helps business owners to meet qualified Bahrainis in virtual reality.

“This is in line with our efforts to enhance Bahrainis’ calibre of skills, so they may establish their own projects, provide quality VR content to the market and the

modern economy,” Chief Exec-utive of NGN, Yaqoob Al Awadhi told Tribune.

“The training programme will be divided into classroom training and on-the-job train-ing, held over two months each. The classroom training will be held at the East Tower of the World Trade Centre, while the remaining will be on-job train-ing during which candidates will be engaged in projects related to the field.”

KNOW WHAT

05

world

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

The crew performed all the procedures

repeatedly provided by the

manufacturer, but was not able to

control the aircraft

DAGMAWIT MOGES

Canadian couple find lost ticket to become last-minute millionaires

Montreal, Canada

A Quebec couple won Can$1 million ($750,000) in the

lottery after finding a winning ticket that had been forgotten in a book for months, the prov-ince’s Loto-Quebec organiza-tion said Wednesday.  

Nicole Pedneault and Roger Larocque only realized last weekend that they had a win-ning ticket from an April 5, 2018 drawing. 

While looking through a book about Japan to help her grandson with a school project, Pedneault noticed something had fallen from the pages. 

It was a lottery ticket the couple had bought for Val-entine’s Day last year. 

“If my grandson hadn’t asked me to give him some things for his presentation, I wouldn’t have ever found the ticket,” Pedneault said. 

“The first thing I did when I found the ticket in the book was go look at the deadline for claiming winnings on the Lo-to-Quebec website,” she said. 

The ticket was still valid, but not for long -- only until Friday. 

“It’s all just by chance that we found it at the last minute like that,” the winner said as she claimed her check. 

Nicole Pedneault and Roger Larocque realised they had a winning ticket from an April 5, 2018 drawing. (Courtesy of NDTV)

Maradona in hot water over pro-Maduro comments

Mexico City, Mexico

The Mexican Football Fed-eration said Wednesday it

has opened an investigation into whether Diego Maradona violated its ethics code when he praised Venezuelan Pres-ident Nicolas Maduro after a recent match.

Maradona, the coach of Mexican second-division side Dorados, triggered the con-troversy -- the latest in a long line for the Argentine legend -- with his comments during a post-match press conference Sunday, following his club’s 3-2 win over Tampico Madero.

“I want to dedicate this vic-tory to Nicolas Maduro and all Venezuelans, who are suffer-ing,” he said.

“These Yankees (the Unit-ed States), the sheriffs of the world, think just because they have the world’s biggest bomb they can push us around. But no, not us.”

Maradona is close to Madu-ro, the embattled leftist leader who has presided over a spi-ralling political and economic crisis in Venezuela.

The United States has led more than 50 countries in

recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s acting president.

Maradona, who has been close with a string of Latin American leftist leaders -- once calling Cuba’s Fidel Castro a “second father” -- went on to criticize US President Donald Trump, comparing him to a blond-haired puppet named Chirolita who was popular on Argentine TV in the 1970s.

“This Chirolita they have for president can’t buy us,” he said.

The Mexican Football Fed-eration said in a statement its disciplinary committee had opened an investigation over the comments “for an alleged infraction of articles 6, 7, 9, 10 and 11 of the FMF ethics code.”

Article 7 of that code calls on those affiliated with the fed-eration to “maintain a neutral stance on political and reli-gious matters.”

Maradona, who won the World Cup with Argentina in 1986, is considered one of the greatest footballers of all time.

But he is also known for leading a life as colorful off the pitch as on it, publicly battling drug addiction, alcoholism, obesity and countless scandals.

Diego Maradona

Ethiopian crew unable to regain control of jetAFP | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The crew of the Ethiopi-an Airlines plane that crashed last month

killing 157 people, repeatedly followed procedures recom-mended by Boeing, but were unable to regain control of the jet, according the investigators’ report released yesterday.

The initial report, unveiled by Ethiopian Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges, cast further doubt on the system controlling the Boeing 737 MAX 8 mod-el, which has been grounded worldwide for almost a month.

“The crew performed all the procedures repeatedly provided by the manufacturer, but was not able to control the aircraft,” said Dagmawit Moges, unveil-ing results of the preliminary probe into the crash.

The report recommends “the aircraft flight control system shall be reviewed by the manu-facturer,” she said.

“Aviation authorities shall verify that the review of the aircraft flight control system has been adequately addressed by the manufacturer before the release of the aircraft for oper-ations,” she added.

The release of the report came after the US Federal Avi-ation Administration (FAA) an-nounced a review of the certi-fication of the automated flight control system on the 737 MAX. Boeing is reviewing the report.

The Ethiopian Airlines flight was headed to Nairobi on a clear morning on March 10 when it plummeted nose-first into a field outside Addis Ababa just minutes after take-off, having reportedly experienced erratic steep climbs and descents.

Citizens from over 30 coun-tries were on board.

Anti-stall systemSimilarit ies

quickly emerged between the crash and that of an Indonesian Lion Air 737 MAX 8 flight in Oc-tober last year which killed 189 people.

Scrutiny has centred on an an-ti-stall system, developed spe-cifically for the latest versions of the planes, that has given pilots problems.

Dagmawit did not make specific reference to the au-

tomatic anti-stalling system, but did mention a “repetitive nose-down” movement of the aircraft.

The Maneuvering Charac-teristics Augmentation System (MCAS) is designed to automat-ically lower the aircraft’s nose if it detects a stall or loss of air-speed.

Boeing issued a bulletin re-minding operators of emergen-cy guidelines to override the anti-stall system after the Lion Air crash.

The Wall Street Journal re-ported Wednesday that pilots had shut off the anti-stall sys-tem, but switched it back on because they could not regain control, citing people briefed on the preliminary findings.

Dagmawit did not give de-tails of what happened in the cockpit during the fateful final minutes of the flight, but said takeoff “appeared very normal” and that all the crew had the requisite qualifications to op-erate the jet.

The head of the accident in-vestigation bureau Amdiye Ay-alew said the full probe would

take s i x

months to a year, but that there had been no sign of “foreign object damage” to the aircraft.

“Within this one year we’ll analyse whether other problems are existing on this aircraft,” he said.

‘Proud’ of pilotsThe head of Ethiopian Air-

lines Tewolde GebreMariam said he was proud of the efforts of the pilots in trying to stop their jet from crashing.

“We are very proud of our pilots’ compliances to follow the emergency procedures, and high level of professional per-formances in such extremely difficult situations,” he said in a statement.

Meanwhile Boeing, seeking to win back public confidence in the planes, on Wednesday released photographs of its chief executive, who joined a test flight of a 737 MAX with the company’s updated anti-stall system.

Boeing last week gathered hundreds of pilots and reporters for a presentation on proposed MCAS changes -- including the system no longer repeatedly making corrections when pilots try to regain control.

The company is anxious to win approval for a remedy that could get the planes back in the air.

But the FAA, which faced harsh questioning last week at a congressional hearing regard-ing its oversight of Boeing, said it expected the plane maker to submit the proposed fix “over the coming weeks” after it un-dertakes additional work.

The FAA said Monday that Boeing needed to undertake more work on the proposed fix before it could be submitted for r e - view.

Ethiopian Transport minister Dagmawit Moges addresses a press conference

People stand near collected debris at the crash site of Ethiopia Airlines which killed 157 people near Bishoftu, a town some 60 kilometres southeast of Addis Ababa.

06FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

Damaged or stressed stem

cells can be selectively

eliminated by intact stem cells every day in our

skinEMI NISHIMURA

Spider surprise: Philippines seizes 750 smuggled tarantulas

Manila, Philippines

Philippine authori t ies said Wednesday they

cracked open a gift-wrapped package shipped from Po-land to discover 757 taran-tulas crammed into plastic containers.

The illicit payload found at a mail facility near Manila’s air-port was the latest seizure in a nation that is a major source and transit point of wildlife trafficking.

Customs thought the pack-age suspicious and after open-ing it found boxes for cook-ies, oatmeal and tea. Yet the cartons contained dozens of plastic containers packed with arachnids.

The seized tarantulas -- priced at about $5,700 -- are

frequently sold to hobbyists as pets, Arnel Matreo, chief of the Wildlife Traffic Monitor-ing Unit of the environment ministry, said.

Matreo sa id two peo -ple who tried to claim the package were detained on charges of violating wild-life protection and customs laws.

Customs officials turned over the tarantulas to the en-vironment ministry’s rescue centre, which will take charge of the animals and identify its species.

The seizure comes about a month after authorities said they had seized about 1,500 exotic turtles, some of which were restrained with duct tape, crammed into a passen-ger’s bag at Manila airport.

Customs officer examining a tarantula seized by customs officers at the Manila international airport.

A visitor looks at handguns, swords and different sorts of weapons displayed on a stall during the 45th edition of the Arms Trade Fair, in Lucerne. Switzerland, where gun culture has deep roots, has managed to avoid the charged national debates surrounding firearm ownership that have consumed other countries. But in a country where compulsory military service means that many are comfortable around weapons, voters might, in a May 2019 referendum, push back against gun reforms demanded by the European Union.

G u n g a m e s

Polish priest ‘very sorry’ for Harry Potter book burningWarsaw, Poland

A Polish priest apologised yes-terday for burning “mag-

ic” Harry Potter books, after his actions sparked a wave of protest and comparisons with totalitarian regimes and the Inquisition.

Last Sunday, after mass, three priests in a parish at the Bal-tic port city of Gdansk presided over the burning of items includ-ing books they said were “linked to the occult and magic”.

They had burned them in line with Biblical exhortations against practising idolatry, they said.

A post detailing the incident on a Facebook page run by the Catholic “SMS from Heaven” evangelical group went viral, drawing heavy criticism online and headlines around the world.

On Wednesday Father Rafal Jaroszewicz, one of the three

priests involved, posted on the same Facebook page that he was “very sorry”.

“The fact of burning books and other objects was unfortu-nate,” he wrote.

“However, it was not irrever-ent to any social group or reli-gion, nor was it aimed at books as such or culture.”

The offending post -- which included photographs showing two altar boys standing over the fire pit as Jaroszewicz prayed over the “occult” items -- had been deleted, he added.

Father Jaroszewicz had ap-peared unrepentant in a post on Monday.

He “dreamed of the day” when “the killing of unborn babies” would trigger as much outcry as the book burning, he wrote then.

‘Ideological madness’The books burned included

some from British author J.K. Rowling’s famed Harry Pot-

ter fantasy series; and at least one from the Twilight vam-

pire-themed fantasy romance stories.

But other items included a Hindu religious figurine.

The Polish Episcopate de-clined comment despite calls for it to condemn the incident.

Respected commentator Lukasz Turski described the “participation of children” in the burning as “particularly rep-rehensible”.

“In 1821, Heinrich Heine made a prophetic statement in his ‘Almanzor’ drama: ‘When we start to burn books, we finish by burning people’,” he wrote in the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza.

“A hundred and some odd years later, in Nazi Germany, Heine and (Thomas) Mann’s books and many other promi-nent artists were burning in piles in Berlin; a dozen or so years later, crematoria burned... the victims of the ideological mad-ness of the supposedly civilised world.”

Catholic priests in Poland have burned books that they say promote sorcery, including one by JK Rowling. (Courtesy of the Guardian/Facebook)

Forever youngStudy uncovers protein that keeps skin youthful

Tokyo, Japan

Beauty might only be skin deep, but for those won-dering how to keep that

skin young, scientists may have found an answer in the form of a protein that encourages cell competition.

The prosaically named CO-L17A1 might not sound like a fountain of youth, but the new study suggests it does the heavy lifting when it comes to keeping skin intact and unimpaired.

The protein works by en-couraging cell competition, a key process to maintain tissue fitness. That effectively “drives out” weaker cells while encour-aging replication of stronger ones.

“Damaged or stressed stem cells can be selectively elimi-nated by intact stem cells every day in our skin,” said Emi Nishi-mura, a professor at the Tokyo Medical and Dental Universi-ty’s Stem Cell Biology depart-ment, who led the research.

But ageing results in a deple-tion of COL17A1, as do familiar enemies of youthful skin, like UV radiation and other stress factors.

And when that happens, weaker cells replicate, leaving the skin thinner, more prone to damage and slower to heal.

The research published Thursday in the journal Na-ture is based on investigations using mice tails, which share

many of the same characteris-tics as human skin.

After confirming the impor-tance of COL17A1, the team de-cided to investigate whether they could stimulate the protein once it was depleted -- effec-tively looking for compounds that could kickstart the an-ti-ageing process in skin.

They isolated two chemical compounds -- Y27632 and apo-cynin -- and tested both on skin cells, with positive results.

“Application of these drugs to full-thickness skin wounds significantly promoted wound repair,” the study said.

The two compounds point to ways of “facilitating skin re-generation and reducing skin ageing,” the study added.

In a review of the study com-missioned by Nature, two pro-fessors from the University of

Colorado said cell competition had previously only been stud-ied extensively in fruit flies.

The research “provides ev-idence that healthy cells in mammals can also efficient-ly repopulate adult tissues, replacing unfit or damaged cells,” wrote professors Ganna Bilousova and James DeGre-gori.

And they said the research of-fered “proof-of-principle” that the two chemical compounds could combat ageing.

“Future studies are needed to determine the mechanisms of cell competition in other tissues, and to identify com-pounds capable of reversing ageing in other organs,” they said.

Nishimura told AFP that the work could eventually lead to products like creams or tablets that could stop skin deteriora-tion and promote repair.

“We are going to collaborate with pharmaceutical or cos-metic companies for the clinical use of the chemicals,” she said.

She said additional research would investigate whether the same process might also be at work in other parts of the body that have so-called epithelial cells like skin does.

“We are working on other epithelial organs as well to find out (whether) similar compe-tition may underlie long-term tissue maintenance as well as organ ageing,” she said.

Representative picture (Courtesy of medium)

US teen says he is boy missing for seven years: reportsWashington, United States

A teenager told police that he escaped from

captivity on Wednesday and identified himself as a boy who has been missing for seven years, US media reported.

The 14-year-old gave his name as Timmothy Pitzen and said he had been held by two men with bodybuild-er physiques at a Red Roof Inn in the Cincinnati area, according to the reports, which said that his identity has not yet been confirmed.

Pitzen was last seen with his mother in May 2011 at a water park in Wisconsin, according to the National Center for Missing & Ex-ploited Children.

Before his disappearance, Pitzen’s mother had taken her son on a trip that cov-ered over 500 miles (800 kilometers) in two days, ac-cording to CNN.

She was found dead at an Illinois motel along with a note saying her son “was safe with people who would love and care for him,” the channel said.

07FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

Poor diet linked to 1 in 5 deaths globally: studyParis, France

One in five deaths globally are linked to poor diet, experts

said Thursday, warning that overconsumption of sugar, salt and meat was killing millions of people every year.

The United Nations estimates that nearly a billion people worldwide are malnourished, while nearly two billion are “overnourished”.

But the latest study on global diet trends, published in The Lancet, showed that in nearly every one of the 195 countries surveyed, people were also eat-ing too much of the wrong types of food -- and consuming wor-ryingly low levels of healthier produce.

For example, the world on av-erage consumes more than ten times the recommended amount of sugar-sweetened beverages, and 86 percent more sodium per person than is considered safe.

The study, which examined consumption and disease trends between 1990-2017, also cau-tioned that too many people were eating far too few whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds to

maintain a healthy lifestyle.Of the 11 million deaths at-

tributed to poor diet, by far the largest killer was cardiovascular disease, which is often caused or worsened by obesity.

“This study affirms what many have thought for several years -- that poor diet is respon-sible for more deaths than any other risk factor in the world,” said study author Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evalua-tion at the University of Wash-ington.

“Our assessment suggests the leading dietary risk factors are high intake of sodium, or low intake of health foods.” The re-port highlighted large variation in diet-related deaths between nations, with the highest-risk country Uzbekistan having ten times the food-based mortality rate of the lowest-risk, Israel.

EAT-Lancet reportIn January, a consortium of

three dozen researchers called for a dramatic shift in the way the world eats.

The EAT-Lancet report said

that the global population must eat roughly half as much red meat and sugar, and twice as many vegetables, fruits and nuts in order to avert a worldwide obesity epidemic and avoid “cat-astrophic” climate change.

Authors of Thursday’s study noted that economic inequali-ty was a factor in poor dietary choices in many countries.

It found that on average, reaching the “five-a-day” fruit and vegetable servings advo-cated by doctors cost just two percent of household income in rich nations, but more than a half of household income in poorer ones.

“This study gives us good evidence of what to target to improve diets, and therefore health, at the global and nation-al level,” said Oyinlola Oyebode, Associate Professor at Warwick Medical School, who was not involved in the research.

“The lack of fruit, vegetables and whole grains in diets across the world are very important -- but the other dietary factor highlighted by this study is the high intake of sodium.”

A girl holds plastic containers on her way to collect water from a tank in the southwestern Yemeni city of Taez

IS exodus overwhelms Syria hospitalsAFP | Hasakeh, Syria

Young children nursing se-vere facial burns, others suffering from malnutri-

tion -- an exodus of jihadist fam-ilies and civilians from the Is-lamic State group’s vanquished final enclave is overwhelming eastern Syria’s hospitals.

A handful of health facilities in the Kurdish-administered northeast receive dozens of pa-tients every day, often including young victims who are terribly disfigured, some allegedly by mortar fire.

Most arrivals are women and children from Al-Hol, a camp for the displaced that has swelled far beyond its capacity to house more than 70,000 people during a months-long offensive against the last scrap of the jihadists’ “caliphate”.

“The situation here in the hospital is tragic,” said Aydin Sleiman Khalil, who manages the main health institution in Hasakeh, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Al-Hol.

To cope with the influx, the semi-autonomous Kurdish re-gion’s hospitals are desperately seeking support from the in-ternational community and aid agencies.

“We lack equipment, med-icine, finances and medical personnel,” Khalil said, urging humanitarian groups and the United Nations to help.

Lit by neon strips, long and clean corridors led to a succes-sion of hushed rooms inhabited by women clad in black from head-to-toe, caring for their sick and wounded offspring.

In one room, several women slept on iron beds, their new-born babies in nearby cots, wrapped in thick blankets.

On another floor, Iraqi mother Badreya Kamel said she arrived a few days ago with her three children.

One of them, Rowayda, died at the hospital on Monday from severe burns.

“She was two years old,” said the 24-year-old, her voice bare-ly audible behind her face veil, long black robes draped over her

frail figure.

‘Urgent need’Kamel had spent the last five

months at Al-Hol, after fleeing a village caught up in the fight-ing between IS and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who are backed by a US-led coalition.

She left her tent to look for breakfast one recent morning. During her brief absence, her children lit a gas stove, sparking a fire.

Four-year-old Zobeida and

10-year-old Hafsa survived.In their hospital room, both

children sat in silence, moving their heads only rarely, a thick cream smeared over the raw, red wounds disfiguring their faces.

“We do what we can, but it’s not enough,” said Khalil, re-ferring to the two girls and a clutch of other very young burn patients.

“They need more care -- more medicine, aesthetic surgery.”

His hospital hosts around 25 in-patients who fled the col-

lapsing IS “caliphate”, mainly via Al-Hol.

Around 50 more arrive for out-patient appointments each day from the camp, includ-ing many who need dressings changed and wounds cleaned.

In March alone, local hos-pitals were “overwhelmed” by some 2,000 women and children from Al-Hol, mostly suffering from wounds or malnutrition, the International Rescue Com-mittee (IRC) aid group says.

But two new field hospitals

should open at the camp itself by the end of April, the aid group says, to fill what the United Na-tions says is a pressing need.

“There is an urgent need for expanded health services in the camp itself,” said the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Human-itarian Affairs, or OCHA.

Donors have disbursed 4.3 million dollars (3.8 million eu-ros) for Al-Hol, including to combat malnutrition and to provide emergency health care, it said.

‘Many children burnt’On March 23, the SDF pro-

claimed victory against IS, after dislodging the jihadists from all but a few tunnels on the edge of Baghouz, a village that served as their final Syrian redoubt.

Over several weeks before that, the Kurdish-Arab alliance periodically had paused opera-tions to allow out civilians -- in-cluding jihadists’ families -- and surrendering fighters.

Among the 500 most recent arrivals to Al-Hol, a number of women and children were trucked in with burns and shrap-nel wounds, the IRC confirmed.

Saniya Roustom arrived around three weeks ago at the hospital, where she shares a room with two other Russian women and their children, all burn cases.

The 32-year-old had been trapped in Baghouz, where she sheltered against the gun bat-tles, mortar fire and coalition air strikes in a trench covered by tarpaulin sheet.

That sheet was ignited by a mortar round, she said.

“Many children were burnt. They needed help, good doc-tors... We were brought here,” Roustom said in hesitant Arabic.

Of her six children, only one is still alive. The others died during other bombardments, or from their burns.

Five-year-old Mariam sat stooped on a hospital bed, her blonde hair trimmed short, parts of her face terribly burnt. Her skinny forearm swaddled in bandages, she clutched a pen and scribbled on a notepad.

Five-year-old Mariam (C) receives treatment at a hospital in Syria’s northeastern Hasakeh province

Sri Lanka commando commits suicide at PM’s residenceColombo, Sri Lanka

An elite police comman-do committed suicide

yesterfday by shooting him-self at Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s official residence in Colombo, offi-cials said.

The Special Task Force (STF) member used his of-ficially issued automatic as-sault rifle to shoot himself at the gate of the Temple Trees residence while the premier was inside the sprawling complex.

It was not immediately clear why the commando took his life, but police of-ficials said an investigation was underway.

An opposition legislator raised Thursday’s suicide in parliament during a de-bate on the budgets of the military and the police, but there was no immediate comment from the govern-ment.

Philippines calls Chinese ships ‘illegal’ near disputed islandManila, Philippines

The Philippines yester-day branded as “ille-

gal” the recent presence of hundreds of Chinese ships near a disputed island in the South China Sea -- a rare public rebuke of Beijing by Manila, which has large-ly set aside the once tense standoff.

Control over the South China Sea is a point of re-gional contention because trillions of dollars of goods pass through it, and rich petroleum reserves are thought to sit deep beneath its waters.

Under President Rodri-go Duterte, however, Ma-nila has largely set aside its previously confrontational stance on China’s claims in favour of seeking trade and investment from Beijing.

US says poised to pump dollars into VenezuelaWashington, United States

The US is prepared to pump dollars into Ven-

ezuela to fortify its economy if President Nicolas Maduro leaves, the top White House economic advisor said, as American senators intro-duced legislation to author-ize $400 million in humani-tarian aid.

Larry Kudlow said that Washington is already working with banks and the International Monetary Fund on a rebuilding plan to revitalize the country’s crushed economy and said that, when the time comes, “we will be moving as fast as we can.”

“We call it Day Two,” he said at a briefing arranged by The Christian Science Monitor newspaper.

Iraqi girls receive treatment at a hospital in Syria’s northeastern Hasakeh province

Arab News | Dubai

French-Egyptian artist Hoda Tawakol’s first Dubai exhibit, which is running at

Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde until Jan. 3, is a timely contribution to the ever-evolving feminism discourse.

Tawakol, whose work has been featured at the gallery since November, was inspired by her experiences growing up in France, Germany and Egypt.

Tawakol has made a name for herself through the use of hand-dyed and sewn textile pieces, sculptures, fabric collages and works on paper.

Her work, which mimics female cy-cles of life in an attempt to deconstruct stereotypes, is inspired by the feminist

movement of the 1970s.In fact, interwoven within her artwork

are feminist ideals and blatant critiques of patriarchy.

Like many, Tawakol wishes to quell the expectations placed on women.

Her collection, entitled “Dolls,” is an expression of anger at women being ob-jectified.

In “Lures,” she uses a falconry hood, a tool normally used to calm the birds of prey, to symbolize the way in which men oppress powerful women they wish to subdue.

Her artwork is masterfully done. It is symbolic and almost interactive in a way that simple paintings cannot be.

The pieces are so eye-catching, indeed, mesmerizing, not least through her use of captivating colour schemes, that they almost beckon a response.

The exhibition is named after the main piece on display, a tapestry of black and red-coloured fabric from her series “Palm Trees.”

The piece features hand-dyed textiles in Tawakol’s signature style. The series, which she began in 2015, is inspired by her multi-cultural childhood.

“Palm trees make me nostalgic,” the art-

ist said. “They symbolize the Egypt of the 1940s and 1950s, the era of glamour, the golden age that I didn’t experience. At the same age, my playground in Europe had another kind of palm grove I found in the Palmengarten, a botanical garden in Frank-furt in Germany.”

AFP | Najaf, Iraq

Adel Al Kawwaz expertly spins the potter’s wheel, shaping the wet clay into a smooth jug. His family is fa-

mous for this millennia-old Iraqi craft, but Adel is struggling to keep it alive.

For thousands of years, clay utensils for storing food and cooking were found in

virtually every home in Sumer, the earliest known civilisation in modern-day southern Iraq.

Adel’s own family drew their name from

ASSOCIATE WITH MEN OF GOOD QUALITY IF YOU ESTEEM YOUR OWN REPUTATION; FOR IT IS BET-TER TO BE ALONE THAN IN BAD COMPANYGEORGE WASHINGTON

QUOTE OF THE DAY

D E C O N S T R U C T I N G S T E R E O T Y P E S

C L A S S I C T O U C H

FRIDAY

Hon. Chairman Najeb Yacob Alhamer | Editor-in-Chief Mahmood AI Mahmood | Chairman & Managing Director P Unnikrishnan | Advertisement: Update Media W.L.L | Tel: 38444692, Email: sales@newsofbahrain.com | Newsroom: Tel: 38444680, Email: mail@newsofbahrain.comSubscription & circulation: Tel: 38444698/17579877 | Email:subscription@newsofbahrain.com | Website: www.newsofbahrain.com | Printed and published by Al Ayam Publishing

Palm trees make me nostalgic. They symbolize

the Egypt of the 1940s and 1950s, the era of

glamour, the golden age that I didn’t experience.

At the same age, my playground in Europe had another kind of

palm grove I found in the Palmengarten, a botanical garden in

Frankfurt in GermanyHODA TAWAKOL

APRIL 5, 2019

Iraq’s ancient pottery struggles to outlive modern plastic

Pottery has deep roots in Iraq, where ancient

civilisations turned to clay to build their homes, shape their cooking utensils, and

even make their ovens

Hoda Tawakol’s work, which mimics female cycles of life

in an attempt to deconstruct stereotypes, is inspired by the feminist movement of

the 1970s

Artist interweaves feminist ideals with textilesArtist Hoda Tawakol has her first exhibit in Dubai about the ever-evolving feminism discourse

An Iraqi man making clay pots

Iraqis making clay pots in Najaf

Hoda Tawakol Contemporary art materials by Hoda Tawakol on display at Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde in Dubai

the jug, or “kawz” in Arabic, which they have produced for more than 200 years from clay found at a lake by Najaf, a holy Shiite Muslim city.

“Making clay vases is a craft that my family had become fa-mous for,” says 45-year-old Adel wistfully.

Pottery has deep roots in Iraq, where ancient civilisa-tions turned to clay to build their homes, shape their cook-ing utensils, and even make their ovens.

Cuneiform, one of the earliest forms of writing invented by the Sumerians, was also carved into clay tablets.

But now, with a flood of more modern products, demand for the handmade clay items has dried up.

Adel’s family jugs were shaped from Najaf mud, dried in the shade, then baked at high tem-peratures for no less than 15 hours.

In Iraq, one of the hottest countries on earth, they were indispensable.

“These vases were used to keep water cool or preserve food. They were placed in the shade or hung in another high location,” he says.

Some Iraqis even used them to store jewellery.

“Those that practiced pottery would make a lot of money be-cause they were common items in ancient Iraqi households,” says Adel.

They were surprisingly handy during the era of Saddam Hus-sein, when many families strug-gled financially, as well as in the 1990s, when international sanc-tions hit Iraq.

With household appliances extremely rare or unaffordable for most of the population, Iraqis once again relied on clay.

“The income of most fami-lies did not allow them to buy a refrigerator or freezer to keep their water cold, so most used clay cauldrons,” he says.

Back then, his family sold their large jugs in bulk - some-times thousands per week across every Iraqi province.

But times have changed.“We sell very few now - the

numbers in an entire year don’t hit 100 or 200 jugs,” explains Adel.

Farmers who once used the large containers are opting for cheaper goods, made either else-where in Iraq or imported.

“They buy plastic bags import-ed from China, so now we rarely sell clay pots,” says Adel in his studio, itself made of mud and covered in palm leaves.

He makes the vases by spe-cial request only, but admits it’s hardly worth it.

Small jugs cost just 2,500 di-nars or around $2, while the larger cauldrons that hold sever-al dozen litres are sold at 15,000 dinars.

Despite the prevalence of electric and gas cookers, Um Haydar prefers her trusty clay oven.

On her rooftop terrace in Old Najaf, she uses it to bake her own traditional bread every morning.

“The taste of bread made in a traditional oven is so different from bread baked in an electric or gas oven,” says Um Haydar, as the searing oven near her radi-ates an enticing smell.

Well into her sixties, the Iraqi woman is dressed in a traditional black robe that covers her from

head to toe.Like her mother and grand-

mother before her, she has stuck to tradition when it comes to the clay oven, with one exception - she didn’t build it herself.

But some Iraqis, like Hay-dar Al Kaabi, insist on the full Sumerian experience.

On the edge of the Najaf Sea, Haydar begins mixing togeth-er ingredients to make his own oven.

“To the clay, you have to add reeds, red sand, and synthetic wool fibres. You let the mixture rest for two days so the clay be-

comes compact,” he explains.Despite the drop in sales, this

potter is upbeat.“Even if we sell less, even if the

craftsmen are fewer and fewer, we’re fighting to keep the arti-sanal heritage of our fathers and grandfathers alive,” he says.

“And of course, there are still Iraqis who only eat good bread,” he says with a wink.

1722 Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen dis-covers Easter Island

1242 Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod de-feats Teutonic Knights in the Battle of the Ice

1874 Birkenhead Park, the first civic public park, opens in Birkenhead, England, designed by Joseph Paxton

1879Chile declares war on Bolivia and Peru, starting the War of the Pa-cific.

TODAY IN HISTORY

D E C O N S T R U C T I N G S T E R E O T Y P E S

Hon. Chairman Najeb Yacob Alhamer | Editor-in-Chief Mahmood AI Mahmood | Chairman & Managing Director P Unnikrishnan | Advertisement: Update Media W.L.L | Tel: 38444692, Email: sales@newsofbahrain.com | Newsroom: Tel: 38444680, Email: mail@newsofbahrain.comSubscription & circulation: Tel: 38444698/17579877 | Email:subscription@newsofbahrain.com | Website: www.newsofbahrain.com | Printed and published by Al Ayam Publishing

These vases were used to keep water

cool or preserve food. They were

placed in the shade or hung in another

high location. Those that

practiced pottery would make a lot of money because they were common

items in ancient Iraqi households

ADEL AL KAWWAZ

Farmers who once used large containers are

opting for cheaper goods, made either elsewhere in Iraq or

imported

Artist interweaves feminist ideals with textilesArtist Hoda Tawakol has her first exhibit in Dubai about the ever-evolving feminism discourse

Iraqis making clay pots in Najaf

An Iraqi man works with clay in Najaf

An Iraqi man examines clay pots in Najaf

Iraqis making clay pots in Najaf

‘Jungle #1’ by artist Hoda Tawakol, from her collection ‘Palm Trees,’ on display at Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde in DubaiContemporary art materials by Hoda Tawakol on display at Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde in Dubai

10

business

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

I will limit the amount of bosses’ golden handshakes to 30

percent of their salary. It will be written in

stone in the law

BRUNO LE MAIRE

FINANCE MINISTER

India’s central bank cuts rates• Benchmark repo rate -- the level at which it lends to commercial banks -- would be reduced by 25 basis points to 6.00 per cent

AFP | Mumbai, India

India’s central bank cut inter-est rates yesterday a week before the start of a mara-

thon general election.The second snip in borrowing

costs this year comes as central banks around the world take a softer line on monetary policy in the face of a slowdown in the global economy.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the benchmark repo rate -- the level at which it lends to commercial banks -- would be reduced by 25 basis points to 6.00 per cent.

It was the second consecutive reduction under governor Shak-

tikanta Das, who was appointed in December after his predeces-sor quit following a spat with the government.

The bank said the time was ripe for a cut, with inflation well below its target of four percent. The move is expected to boost consumer sentiment.

“The output gap remains neg-

ative and the domestic economy is facing headwinds, especially on the global front,” the bank said in a statement.

“The need is to strengthen domestic growth impulses by spurring private investment, which has remained sluggish,” it added.

The decision was predicted

by all but two of 47 analysts sur-veyed by Bloomberg News.

Dovish tone Das has now reversed two

rate hikes brought in by pre-vious governor Urjit Patel last year. Central banks around the world are adopting a more dov-ish tone as they reassess their monetary policies to address flagging growth.

The US Federal Reserve raised its key rate four times in 2018 but has said it will not increase this year with some observers are even tipping a cut.

The European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England and Reserve Bank of Australia are also looking sounding more cautious as the global economic outlook looks less certain.

India’s general election will be the largest democratic exer-cise of its kind ever held with around 900 million voters eli-gible to cast ballots. Results are expected on May 23.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das takes part in a news conference at the RBI head office in Mumbai

France to cap golden handshakes after ‘excessive’ Airbus packageParis, France

The French government plans to cap executive “golden

handshakes” at 30 percent of their salary, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Thursday, calling the multi-million-euro exit package planned for Airbus boss Tom Enders “excessive”.

“I will limit the amount of bosses’ golden handshakes to 30 percent of their salary,” Le Maire told the BFM news chan-nel, adding: “It will be written in stone in the law.

On Tuesday, it emerged that the chief executive of European aerospace giant Airbus stands to receive a nearly 37 million euro ($41 million) severance package when he steps down next week,

according to calculations by an investor advisory firm.

Airbus acknowledged the “soundness” of the calculations made by Proxinvest, which were based on financial filings under German CEO Enders.

“These amounts are excessive and belong in the past,” Le Maire said, announcing plans to limit them in a bill currently before parliament.

According to Proxinvest, Enders will receive a total of 26.3 million euros in retirement pay over the next 20 years, along with stock and performance bo-nuses valued at 7.3 million.

He will also benefit from a one-year non-compete clause worth 3.2 million, bringing the

total to 36.8 million euros.The huge exit packages paid to

the departing bosses of big com-panies and executive pay have long been controversial subjects in France and other Western countries.

France’s previous Socialist government had introduced a non-binding code of conduct for companies which recommended that they cap the exit packages at 45 percent of the executive’s salary.

Le Maire said legislation was needed “because clearly good practises are not enough”.

The French state owns an 11 percent stake in Airbus, while Germany has 11 percent and Spain 4.2 percent.French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire

Trump says US economy strong despite ‘destructive actions’ by Fed

Reuters | Washington

President Donald Trump yesterday said the US

economy was very strong despite what he said were “unnecessary and destruc-tive actions” taken by the U.S. Federal Reserve, his latest attack on the nation’s independent central bank.

“Despite the unnecessary and destructive actions tak-en by the Fed, the Economy is looking very strong, the China and USMCA deals are moving along nicely, there is little or no Inflation, and USA optimism is very high!,” Trump said on Twitter.

USMCA is Trump’s desig-nation for a trade pact be-tween the United States, Mexico and Canada that would replace the North A m e r i c a n F re e Tra d e Agreement.

German industry urges Berlin to scale back climate goalsBerlin, Germany

Germany’s powerful BDI industry federation yes-

terday urged Berlin to trim its ambitions for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, saying the goal of close to zero by 2050 is unrealistic.

“We can’t reach highly ambitious climate protec-tion targets by lowering our heads and charging for-ward, but only by harmonis-ing them with economic re-ality and security of supply,” BDI president Dieter Kempf said in a statement.

Rather than almost totally eliminating carbon diox-ide (CO2) emissions, “a CO2 reduction of 80 percent is manageable with today’s technology -- if the politi-cal management is optimal,” Kempf added. Such a target would require investments of around $1.7 trillion over the coming 30 years.

Christine Lagarde

EU okays no-deal Brexit visa waiverBrussels, Belgium

The European Parlia-ment on Thursday ap-

proved a law allowing Brit-ons visa-free EU visits even after a “no deal” Brexit, de-spite a furious dispute over the status of Gibraltar.

The law means British visitors making trips of fewer than 90 days to the Schengen passport-free zone will not need visas, even if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal in place. The parliament ap-proved the measure by 502 votes to 81, with 29 absten-tions.

London court orders Djibouti to pay $385 mln to DP WorldDubai, United Arab Emirates

A London-based interna-tional court has ordered

Djibouti to pay $385 million in compensation to UAE glob-al ports operator DP World over a breach of contract, the Dubai government said yesterday.

The London Court of Inter-national Arbitration also or-dered the African nation to pay interest for unilaterally scrap-ping a 50-year concession contract with state-owned DP World to manage and develop Doraleh Container Terminal, a statement said.

The ruling gave DP World the right to claim further pos-sible damages if Djibouti goes ahead with plans to develop the container port with any other operator, the statement said.

The Horn of African nation, which controlled a two-thirds stake in Doraleh, nationalised

the joint venture in September after scrapping the concession agreement, claiming that the terminal had effectively come under the control of DP World.

The terminal is an essential facility for supplies to neigh-bouring landlocked Ethiopia.

It had been run by DP World since 2006, but in late Feb-ruary Djibouti cancelled the contract, saying its national sovereignty was being com-promised.

Currently, Hong Kong-based China Merchants Port Holdings Company owns a 23.5-percent stake in the fa-cility.

The Dubai government said DP World is engaged in anoth-er legal battle with Djibouti over a free trade zone in the same area.

It said that China Merchants Co. operates the $3.5 billion free trade zone that DP World had developed under an agree-ment with Djibouti.

Fighting graft boosts tax revenues: IMFWashington, United States

Reducing corruption allows governments to collect

more in taxes, according to a study published Thursday by the International Monetary Fund.

The global crisis lender es-timates that, among advanced economies, those that best com-bat graft collect on average 4.5 percent more in tax revenue as a share of GDP than those most beset by corruption.

“The annual cost of brib-ery alone is over $1.5 trillion, roughly two percent of global GDP,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Tues-day in remarks previewing next week’s spring meetings with the World Bank.

“Money laundering and the financing of terrorism are oth-er serious dimensions of the problem, where the IMF has been working with over 100 countries.”

Allowing corruption also re-

sults in lower public spending on education and health, said the authors of the report re-leased Thursday, noting that this was particularly acute among low-income and emerg-ing economies.

Commonplace corruption is hardest to eradicate, entrapping cities and even countries in per-vasive venality, they added.

“A public official will be more tempted to accept a bribe when ‘everyone’ takes bribes,” the re-port found, noting that the re-verse was also true.

As instances of corruption

grow scarce, the temptation to accept a bribe weakens as officials increasingly fear being caught.

“Thus, escaping the trap of high corruption is difficult,” the report’s authors say, citing Georgia, Liberia and Rwanda as having made progress over a relatively short period.

Georgia had been ranked among the most corrupt nations in the world until 2003. But by 2008 combating graft there had boosted tax revenues to 25 per-cent of Gross Domestic Product from 12 percent, according to the report.

A year ago, the IMF said it had adopted a new framework to evaluate corruption more systematically among its 189 member countries.

In addition to assessing the nature and gravity of corrup-tion and scrutinizing govern-ance, the fund said it would review local government meas-ures meant to prevent bribery and embezzlement.

11FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

KNOW WHAT

May scrambles to avoid chaotic Brexit finale• Britain’s latest deadline is April 12

• Her European counterparts will decide whether to grant May’s request to push back Brexit until May 22

• One alternative is to force her to accept a much longer extension

• The other is to let Britain go without a deal on April 12

London, United Kingdom

Britain’s government re-doubled its efforts yester-day to win over the main

opposition party in a last-gasp bid to avoid a chaotic exit from the European Union next week.

The latest round of talks came after lawmakers tried to safe-guard against a doomsday end-ing to the 46-year partnership by fast-tracking a bill Wednesday night seeking to delay Brexit.

May is racing against the clock in a desperate search for votes that could push her ill-loved di-vorce deal with the other 27 EU leaders through parliament on the fourth attempt.

May’s spokesman said there would be “intensive discussions over the course of today”, noting the “urgency” of the situation.

Britain’s latest deadline is April 12 and resistance to May’s plan remains passionately strong.

But increasingly weary EU leaders -- tired of Britain’s po-

litical drama and eager to focus on Europe’s own problems -- want to see either a done deal or a new way forward from May before they all meet in Brussels

on Wednesday. Her European counterparts will decide wheth-er to grant May’s request to push back Brexit until May 22 -- the day before nations begin electing a new European Parliament.

One alternative is to force her to accept a much longer exten-sion that could give Britain time to rethink Brexit and possibly reverse its decision to leave.

The other is to let Britain go without a deal on April 12 in the hope that the economic disrup-tion is short-lived and worth the price of eliminating long-term

Brexit uncertainties.

‘Sense of resignation’May dramatically ended her

courtship of her own party’s holdouts and resistant North-ern Irish allies by turning to the main opposition Labour Party this week.

The premier met Labour lead-er Jeremy Corbyn on Wednes-day for a reported 100 minutes of talks both sides described as “cordial” but inconclusive.

The EU’s chief Brexit negotia-tor Michel Barnier on Thursday

welcomed the cross-party effort to resolved the deadlock.

“It’s time for decisions,” he tweeted.

But May’s decision to hear out Corbyn’s demands for a clos-er post-Brexit alliance with the bloc that includes membership in its customs union has enraged Britain’s right-wing and seen two junior ministers resign.

One senior minister said May had no other choice.

“It’s very simple -- there’s no-where else to go,” the unnamed cabinet minister told the news

website Politico.“There’s a sense of resigna-

tion about her that ‘we get this through and I take the flak’.”

Pro-European members of May’s team also insisted that it was time to compromise on long-standing political beliefs for the benefit of safe resolu-tion of Britain’s biggest crisis in decades.

“Both parties have to give something up,” finance minister Philip Hammond told ITV.

“There is going to be pain on both sides.”

Competing visions May and Corbyn have compet-

ing visions of Britain’s place in Europe and neither has shown much willingness to compro-mise in the past.

Corbyn said late Wednesday that he did not see “as much change as I expected” from May.

The Times newspaper quoted an unnamed government source as saying that May’s office thought it more likely than not that the negotiations would fail.

May has resisted the customs union idea because it bars Brit-ain from striking its own inde-pendent trade agreements with nations such as China and the United States.

And Corbyn is under pressure from Labour’s pro-EU wing to push for a second referendum that would pit May’s final deal against the option of staying in the bloc.

Corbyn has shied away from backing another vote due in part to his own sceptical view of Brussels.

The Labour-backing Mirror newspaper said May and Corbyn would let their teams negotiate Thursday before deciding on whether to meet again face to face Friday.

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May speaking during the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) question and answer session in the House of Commons in London

May has resisted the customs union idea

because it bars Britain from striking its own

independent trade agreements with nations

such as China and the United States.

Ghosn vows he won’t be ‘broken’ after re-arrestTokyo, Japan

Japanese prosecutors yes-terday re-arrested Carlos

Ghosn on fresh allegations of financial misconduct, as the former auto tycoon slammed an “outrageous and arbitrary” detention and vowed he would “not be broken.”

In the early hours, officials raided the central Tokyo apart-ment the 65-year-old Ghosn has called home since winning bail last month after more than 100 days of detention on different charges.

It was the latest twist in a rollercoaster drama that has gripped Japan and the rest of the world since his shock arrest at a Tokyo Airport on November 19.

Prosecutors said Ghosn had been detained over transfers of Nissan funds totalling $15 mil-lion between late 2015 and the middle of 2018. They suspect Ghosn used $5 million of that for personal expenditure.

“The suspect... was respon-sible for overseeing the whole of Nissan’s operations and per-forming his duty loyally so as not to cause losses to Nissan, but he betrayed that duty in order to benefit himself,” they said in a statement.

Ghosn released a statement through his representatives attacking what he called the “outrageous and arbitrary” de-tention.

“Why arrest me except to try to break me? I will not be bro-ken,” said the former high-flying executive.

He has denied any wrong-doing and took to Twitter for the first time Wednesday to an-nounce plans to “tell the truth” at an April 11 news conference that now looks unlikely.

Prosecutors can hold Ghosn for up to 22 days while they in-vestigate the new claims and

may re-arrest him again or seek to hold him in pre-trial deten-tion.

Deputy chief prosecutor Shin Kukimoto justified the arrest by saying they judged there was a “risk of destruction of evidence.”

But Ghosn’s lawyer Junichiro Hironaka, known as the “Razor” for his mental sharpness, told reporters the fresh arrest was “against the spirit of the law” and “should not be tolerated in

a civilised nation.”He added his client had ex-

pected prosecutors would re-arrest him and had therefore prepared a video, without spec-ifying the contents or exactly when it would be released.

Visibly angry, he vowed to fight likely attempts by the pros-ecutor to extend the detention, claiming the arrest was “not necessary” and designed merely to pile pressure on Ghosn.

He added prosecutors had confiscated not only diaries and documents belonging to Ghosn, but also the passport and phone of the tycoon’s wife Carole.

Ghosn already faces three separate charges. The first two relate to

the alleged deferring of around $80 million in

income and concealing this in official docu-

ments to shareholders.The third, more com-

plex, charge is that he attempted to transfer

personal losses to Nissan and paid a Saudi contact who provided

collateral from the com-pany funds.

A car beleived to be carrying former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn arrives to the Tokyo Detention House in Tokyo

US regulators probe reports of e-cigarette use causing seizuresWashington, United States

US r e g u l a t o r s s a i d Wednesday they are

investigating reports that e-cigarettes -- increasing-ly widespread in America and elsewhere -- may cause seizures.

“We have reports indicat-ing that some people who use e-cigarettes, especial-ly youth and young adults, are experiencing seizures following their use,” the Food and Drug Admin-istration (FDA) said in a statement.

The FDA has reviewed “voluntary adverse event re-ports,” finding “a total of 35 reported cases of seizures following use of e-cigarettes between 2010 and early 2019,” it said.

“We believe these 35 cas-es warrant scientific investi-gation into whether there is in fact a connection.”

The use of e-cigarettes began to take off among young Americans in the 2010s, and overtook ciga-rette smoking in 2014.

The US categorizes e-cig-arettes as tobacco products, a definition not shared by all countries.

12FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

Closing BellSAUDI 0.9 pc » 9,064 pts

ABU DHABI 0.3 pc» 5,032 pts

DUBAI 0.6 pc » 2,776 pts

QATAR 0.3 pc » 10,190 pts

EGYPT 0.3 pc » 15,248 pts

BAHRAIN 0.1 pc » 1,419 pts

US court to hear contempt case against Tesla’s MuskNew York, United States

Elon Musk’s messy Twitter habit will get a once-over yesterday when a federal court weighs whether the

controversial Tesla chief executive should be held in contempt of court.

His attorneys and the US Securities and Exchange Commission are scheduled to appear before US District Judge Alison Nathan, who will hear arguments on the agency’s request to crack down on Musk for allegedly violating the terms of a set-tlement Nathan approved in October.

Musk’s removal as CEO is not seen as a very likely result of the latest fight, al-though a finding of contempt could make such an outcome more likely down the road, analysts said.

Tesla’s press office did not respond to queries on whether Musk would attend the hearing.

The October agreement required Musk to step down as chairman and pay $20 million to settle charges he defrauded investors with false claims on Twitter in August about a possible go-private trans-action that was quickly aborted.

Tesla was also fined $20 million.The settlement, which allowed Musk to

remain as CEO, required the CEO and oth-er senior officers to obtain pre-approval from Tesla counsel before making written communications “that contain, or reason-ably could contain, information material to Tesla or its stockholders.”

‘Nobody’s perfect’The hearing is the latest event in Musk’s

running battle with the SEC, which he derided on Twitter as the “Shortseller Enrichment Commission” on October 4, days after the SEC settlement was signed but before it was finalized in court.

Musk also blasted the agency in a De-cember “60 Minutes” interview where he acknowledged his tweets were not being reviewed.

“I guess we might make some mistakes. Who knows?” Musk said. “Nobody’s per-fect.”

“I want to be clear. I do not respect the SEC,” he said. “I do not respect them.”

The agency took action after Musk tweeted on February 19 that Tesla would make 500,000 cars in 2019 -- up from the 400,000 that the company had estimat-ed until then, an apparent increase on a benchmark tied to profitability.

Musk corrected himself four hours later, saying that Tesla would indeed pro-duce about 400,000 cars this year: “Meant to say annualized production rate at end of 2019 probably around 500k.”

Six days later, the SEC asked Nathan to hold Musk in contempt for violating the settlement, arguing that Musk had not made “a diligent or good-faith effort” to honor the commitment to seek review for a statement that could be “material,” or consequential to investors.

Musk “once again published inaccurate and material information about Tesla to his over 24 million Twitter followers, in-cluding members of the press, and made this inaccurate information available to anyone with Internet access,” the agency said.

In response, Musk’s lawyers argued that the production figures were not material and that Musk had shown “diligence” in following the order, cutting his average monthly Tesla-related tweets “nearly in

half.”Musk’s attorneys also accused the SEC

of an “unconstitutional power grab” that flouted Musk’s free speech rights and “smacks of retaliation and censorship” over the executive’s remarks on “60 Min-utes.”

Erik Gordon, a professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan who has also taught at its law school, expects Musk’s arguments on freedom of speech to be discounted be-cause they concern remarks that were governed by the settlement Musk and Tesla signed.

Gordon said the argument on whether the tweet was material may be taken more seriously, although Tesla production figures are closely watched by investors.

He said the court could impose a sanc-tion short of the CEO’s removal but that a contempt finding could be used later to oust him if Musk continues to act out.

The “60 Minutes” interview feeds the image of Musk as a “guy who habitually displays contempt for authority” and un-dermines claims that he has been careful and diligent in trying to follow the settle-ment, Gordon said.

CFRA Research analyst Garrett Nelson said additional fines and social media restrictions were the most likely outcome of the current battle but that a possibility of more severe punishment had weighed on shares.

Governance issue Analysts note Musk also owns a large

stake in Tesla, which would likely make him a presence in the company even if he were barred as CEO.

“If he did get removed as CEO, he’d probably get some type of creative di-rector job at Tesla because making or thinking of cool things is what he’s very good at,” said Morningstar analyst David Whiston.

“Then you have a tricky governance problem because the former CEO... is still there, probably telling people what to do, and he owns over 20 percent of the com-pany,” Whiston added in an email.

“I wouldn’t want to be the new CEO in that situation.”

A Tesla Roadster Sport sits in a dealership showroom in Chicago, Illinois

Elon Musk (File)

Brent oil resumes climb to $70Reuters | Tokyo/London

Brent oil prices resumed their climb towards $70 per barrel

yesterday as expectations of tight global supply outweighed pressure from rising US inventories and pro-duction.

International benchmark Brent futures rose 27 cents to $69.58 by 1143 GMT. Brent touched $69.96

on Wednesday - the highest since Nov. 12, when it last traded above $70.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 22 cents to $62.68 a barrel. The contract hit $62.99 on Wednesday, also the highest since November.

Brent has gained nearly 30 per-cent this year, while WTI has risen nearly 40 percent. Prices have been

underpinned by US sanctions on Iranian and Venezuelan crude, OPEC production cuts and rising global demand.

Crude oil inventories in the Unit-ed States rose by 7.2 million barrels last week. Analysts had forecast a decrease. US crude production climbed by 100,000 barrels per day to a record 12.2 million bpd, govern-ment data showed.

Canadian home prices at risk: IMFWashington, United States

The risks of a sudden drop in Ca-nadian house prices have risen

over the last two years to levels not seen since the financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday.

The conclusions appeared in a report released ahead of next week’s IMF-World Bank spring meetings.

A bubble in US home prices burst in 2007, causing the roiling market for complex securities backed by residential mortgages to implode -- sparking the global financial crisis and Great Recession a year later.

Last year, US homes were ap-peared less overpriced than they had prior to the crash in 2008, the report said.

“In contrast, the housing market

in Canada headed in the opposite direction, especially in cities such as Hamilton, Toronto and Vancouver, where valuations look overstated, much as in 2008,” the report said.

Transactions involving foreign banks appear to make real estate

prices riskier in North American cities such as Toronto, Vancouver, British Columbia and Calgary, Al-berta as well as Las Vegas, Miami and Los Angeles, it said.

“In Canada, the effects are most pronounced for the major cities in Alberta, a province sensitive to oil fluctuations and where real house prices almost tripled over the past four decades but have recently seen a correction,” according to the re-port.

Elsewhere, recent data show in-creased risks on a three-year hori-zon in real estate markets for other countries, including China.

“This may be a cause for concern for financial stability and for the global macroeconomic outlook over the medium term,” the report said.

Representative picture

Banks lift Saudi Arabia, Dubai continues rally • Al Rajhi Bank surges after capital increase approval

• Dubai continues winning streak for the sixth session

• Emirates NBD hovers around 11-year high

• Orascom Investment rises on FY result, Nile Sugaracquisition

Reuters

Saudi Arabia’s stock market marked its ninth session of gains yesterday, led by banking

shares, while Emirates NBD’s deal to buy Turkey’s Denizbank lifted Dubai’s main index.

The Saudi index was up 0.9 per cent, led by a 3.1pc rise in Al Rajhi Bank and a 2.3pc gain in the largest lender National Commercial bank.

Al Rajhi Bank’s shareholders ap-proved an increase in its capital to 25 billion riyals ($6.7 billion) from 16.25 billion riyals through issuing bonus shares.

Sahara Petrochemical rose 0.4pc after it announced an amendment to the proposed merger of equals with Saudi International Petrochemical Company (SIPCHEM).

The company said CEO Saleh Mohammed Bahmdan will be ap-pointed as chief executive of the combined company, and SIPCHEM’s Chief Executive Abdullah Saif Al-saadoon will be appointed chief operating officer of the group. SIP-CHEM was up 0.3pc.

Middle East Healthcare added 2.5pc, a day after the company said its Saudi German Hospital project

was 84pc complete as of March 31, and that it expects its completion by June.

The Dubai index closed 0.6pc higher, with Emirates NBD adding 4pc, trading around its highest level in more than a decade.

On Wednesday, the bank said it will buy Denizbank for 15.48 bil-lion lira ($2.7 billion) from Russia’s state-owned Sberbank. The offer is a roughly 20pc discount to a previ-ously agreed price after a steep fall in the Turkish lira.

Shuaa Capital jumped 3.8pc. Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG) is set to take over Shuaa in a reverse merger, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

B u t E m i r a t e s I n t e g r a t -ed Telecommunications (du)

slipped 2.8 as the stock traded ex-dividend.

The Egyptian blue-chip index gained 0.3pc with Global Telecom Holding adding 3.7pc and Heliopolis Co For Housing and Development rising 5.8pc. On Tuesday, Heliopolis’ board approved the sale of multiple pieces of land.

Orascom Investment Holding inched up 0.7pc after its full-year net profit nearly doubled.

In a separate bourse filing, the firm said that it had negotiated with shareholders to buy 100pc of the issued share capital of Nile Sugar for 3.59 billion Egyptian pounds ($207 million).

In Qatar, the index gained 0.3pc, with Qatar Gas Transport (Nakilat) jumping 4.5pc to its highest in over two years.

Abu Dhabi’s index slid 0.3pc with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank de-clining 3.2pc.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank outper-formed with a 2.5pc rise. The bank denied that it was in merger talks with First Abu Dhabi Bank after a news report said the emirate was considering combining them. First Abu Dhabi edged 0.1pc lower.

The Kuwaiti and Omani markets were closed for public holidays.

A trader watching stock movements on the floor of a stock market in the Gulf (file)

Project Ghazi is a 2019 Paki-stani science fiction action film starring Humayun

Saeed, Sheheryar Munawar, and Syra Shehroz. The film is direct-ed by Nadir Shah and produced by Syed Mohammed Ali Raza who are known for their work on TV commercials as well as short films. It’s not fair to call Project Ghazi a train wreck, because train wrecks are exciting and the film is punishingly boring.

At best, Project Ghazi feels like a number of trailers strung together, beautifully mysteri-ous but ultimately meaningless. The plot is indecipherable, the directing underwhelming, the dialogues atrocious and the ed-iting choppy.

Art direction and original score are the film’s only re-deeming qualities. Without shape or structure, Ghazi’s nos-talgic, grandiloquent, patriotic pastiche turns into a disjointed, muddled mess.

At the centre of the movie is

Major Zain Zulfiqar (Sheheryar Munawar) and his relationship (or lack thereof ) with his vari-ous father figures: his biological father whom he never got to know, his uncle, Dr. Zaid (Ta-lat Hussain) who has ostensibly raised him, and his father’s best

friend Salar (Humayun Saeed) who shows up as mentor and role model.

A situation ripe for drama and conflict, except that the charac-ters are such thinly drawn cari-catures, that their back-story is inconsequential.

Syra Sheroz plays Zara Ift-ikhar, who switches from being a scientist to a military expert to a convenient sidekick, as required.

Though she attempts to show authority and determination, her role in the narrative is so un-clear that she comes off mostly

as sullen and irrationally suspi-cious of Major Zain.

The main issue is that no mat-ter how many times the charac-ters talk about the importance of “Project Ghazi,’ we never really know what the project is. Are they creating super soldiers by finding people with superhuman abilities or attempting to create them through science? So far, Salar is the only survivor of the first experiment, and Major Zain is the latest incarnation.

Their fight is against Qatan (an unhinged Adnan Jaffar) and his men, who wear masks and spout nihilistic philosophies, their only motive to spread cha-os. Salar takes on this faceless army – men who we must as-sume woke up and decided to attack us. It’s easy to justify kill-ing them because they are not quite human.

But Qatan has a dark plan: a gas he hopes to unleash that will bring out a man’s inner hate and aggression, resulting in mass

violence. Ironically, this idea of a faceless angry villain who is destroying the fabric of society is also how war mongering prop-aganda works.

M O V I E R E V I E W

13 FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

KNOW WHAT

The movie was ini-tially scheduled for release in July 2017. But at the premiere,

a day before its general release, it was postponed, as

it appeared to get a harsh response from the audience due to the technical issues,

particularly the sound design

OASIS JUFFAIR1-SHAZAM! (PG-15) (ACTION/COMEDY/ADVENTURE) NEW

ZACHARY LEVI, MARK STRONG (II), ASHER ANGELDAILY AT: 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PM DAILY AT (3D): 1.30 + 6.30 + 11.30 PMDAILY AT (VIP): 12.00 + 2.45 + 5.30 + 8.15 + 11.00 PM

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DAILY AT: 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PM

3-ARGENTINA FANS KAATTOORKADAVU (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) NEW

KALIDAS JAYARAM, AISHWARYA LEKSHMIDAILY AT: 3.45 PM

4-LAKSHMI’S THUNAI (PG-13) (TELGU) NEW P VIJAY KUMAR, YAGNA SHETTY

DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.15 PM

5-MAJILI (PG-15) (TELGU) NEW NAGACHAITHAYA, SAMANTHA AKKINENI, DIVYANSHA

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FROM THURSDAY 7.30 PM ONWARDS DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 9.15 + 11.45 PM

8-DUMBO (PG) (ADVENTURE/DRAMA/FAMILY) COLIN FARRELL, MICHAEL KEATON, DANNY DEVITO

DAILY AT (3D): 11.15 AM + 4.15 + 9.15 PM DAILY AT (KIDS CINEMA): 11.30 AM + 3.45 + 6.00 + 8.15 + 10.30 PM

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DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 3.45 + 9.00 PM

10- WONDER PARK (PG) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY) *- BRIANNA DENSKI, JENNIER GARNER, KEN HUDSON CAMPBELL

DAILY AT (KIDS CINEMA): 1.45 PM

11- LUCIFER (PG-15) (MALAYALAM) MOHANLAL, MANJU WARRIER, VIVEK OBEROI,

TOVINO THOMAS DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.45 + 5.00 + 8.15 + 11.30 PM

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CITYCENTRE1-SHAZAM! (PG-15) (ACTION/COMEDY/ADVENTURE) NEW

ZACHARY LEVI, MARK STRONG (II), ASHER ANGELDAILY AT (IMAX 3D): 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 1.30 + 4.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 7.30 + 10.00 + 10.30 PM + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)DAILY AT (ATMOS): 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 PM + 12.00 MN DAILY AT (VIP II): 12.30 + 3.30 + 6.30 + 9.30 PM + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)DAILY AT (VIP I): 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00PM

2-PET SEMATARY (18+) (HORROR/THRILLER) NEW JASON CLARKE, AMY SEIMETZ, JETE LAURENCE

DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MN + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)

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JUSTIN BRINER, CHRISTOPHER SABAT, RAY CHASEDAILY AT: 12.00 + 4.45 + 9.30 PM

4-DUMBO (PG) (ADVENTURE/DRAMA/FAMILY) COLIN FARRELL, MICHAEL KEATON, DANNY DEVITO

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5- CAPTAIN MARVEL (PG-13) (ACTION/ADVENTURE) BRIE LARSON, GEMMA CHAN, SAMUEL L. JACKSON

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

6- US (15+) (HORROR/THRILLER) LUPITA NYONG’O, ELISABETH MOSS, ANNA DIOP

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9- WONDER PARK (PG) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY)

BRIANNA DENSKI, JENNIER GARNER, KEN HUDSON CAMPBELL

DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 3.00 + 7.00 + 11.00 PM DAILY AT (ARABIC DUBBED): 1.00 + 5.00 + 9.00 PM

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MEL GIBSON, SEAN PENN, NATALIE DORMERDAILY AT: 12.00 + 4.30 + 9.00 PM

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

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

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

DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM

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

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DWAYNE JOHNSON, FLORENCE PUGH, JACK LOWDENDAILY AT: 12.15 + 4.45 + 9.15 PM

16- AQUAMAN (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVENTURE)

JASON MOMOA, AMBER HEARD, NICOLE KIDMANDAILY AT: 2.00 + 6.45 + 11.30 PM

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TOVINO THOMAS DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.45 + 5.00 + 8.15 + 11.30 PM

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ZACHARY LEVI, MARK STRONG (II), ASHER ANGELDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.45 + 6.30 + 9.15 PM + 12.00 MN

2-PET SEMATARY (18+) (HORROR/THRILLER) NEW JASON CLARKE, AMY SEIMETZ, JETE LAURENCE

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BRIAN COX, ROSANNA ARQUETTE, J.J. FEILDDAILY AT: 12.45 + 5.00 + 9.15 PM

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NUJOODDAILY AT: 1.30 + 5.15 + 10.00 PM

6-PROJECT GHAZI (PG-15) (URDU/ACTION/THRILLER) NEW

SHEHERYAR MUNAWAR SIDDIQUI, SYRA SHEHROZ, ADNAN JAFFAR

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7-NATPE THUNAI (PG-15) (TAMIL) NEW HIPHOP TAMIZHA, ANAGHA, KARU PALANIAPPAN

FROM THURSDAY 4.00 PM ONWARDSDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 7.00 PM

8-DUMBO (PG) (ADVENTURE/DRAMA/FAMILY) COLIN FARRELL, MICHAEL KEATON, DANNY DEVITO

DAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PM

9- CAPTAIN MARVEL (PG-13) (ACTION/ADVENTURE) BRIE LARSON, GEMMA CHAN, SAMUEL L. JACKSON

DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 4.15 + 9.00 PM

10- US (15+) (HORROR/THRILLER) LUPITA NYONG’O, ELISABETH MOSS, ANNA DIOP

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11- ESCAPE ROOM (PG-15) (THRILLER) TAYLOR RUSSELL, LOGAN MILLER, DEBORAH ANN WOLL

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12- WONDER PARK (PG) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY)

BRIANNA DENSKI, JENNIER GARNER, KEN HUDSON CAMPBELL

DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 12.45 + 5.15 + 9.45 PM

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

DAILY AT: 12.15 + 2.00 + 5.00 + 6.45 + 9.45 + 11.30 PM

14- BADLA (PG-15) (HINDI/THRILLER/CRIME) AMITABH BACHCHAN, TAPSEE PANNU, TONY LUKE

DAILY AT: 12.45 + 5.30 + 10.15 PM

15- CAPHARNAUM (18+) (ARABIC/DRAMA) KAWTHAR AL HADDAD, NADINE LABAKY, FADI YOUSEF

DAILY AT: 2.45 + 7.15 + 11.45 PM

SEEF (I) 1-SHAZAM! (PG-15) (ACTION/COMEDY/ADVENTURE) NEW

ZACHARY LEVI, MARK STRONG (II), ASHER ANGELDAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 2.00 + 4.45 + 7.30 + 10.15 PM + (1.00 AMTHURS/FRI)

2-MY HERO ACADEMIA: TWO HEROES (PG-13) (JAPA-NESE/ANIMAITON/ACTION/COMEDY) NEW

JUSTIN BRINER, CHRISTOPHER SABAT, RAY CHASEDAILY AT: 12.15 + 2.15 + 4.15 + 6.15 PM

3-ARGENTINA FANS KAATTOORKADAVU (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) NEW

KALIDAS JAYARAM, AISHWARYA LEKSHMIDAILY AT: 8.15 + 11.15 PM

4-LAKSHMI’S THUNAI (PG-13) (TELGU) NEW P VIJAY KUMAR, YAGNA SHETTY

DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 5.30 + 11.30 PM

5-MAJILI (PG-15) (TELGU) NEW NAGACHAITHAYA, SAMANTHA AKKINENI, DIVYANSHA

KAUSHIKFROM FRIDAY 5TH

DAILY AT: 2.30 + 8.30 PM

6-URIYADI II (PG-15) (TAMIL) NEW VIJAY KUMAR, VISMAYA, SUDHAKAR

FROM THURSDAY 7.30 PM ONWARDS DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM

7- LUCIFER (PG-15) (MALAYALAM) MOHANLAL, MANJU WARRIER, VIVEK OBEROI,

TOVINO THOMAS DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 6.00 + 8.15 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)

SAAR1-SHAZAM! (PG-15) (ACTION/COMEDY/ADVENTURE) NEW

ZACHARY LEVI, MARK STRONG (II), ASHER ANGELDAILY AT: 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + (11.30 PM THURS/FRI)

2-PET SEMATARY (18+) (HORROR/THRILLER) NEW JASON CLARKE, AMY SEIMETZ, JETE LAURENCE

DAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + (11.15 PM THURS/FRI)

3-DUMBO (PG) (ADVENTURE/DRAMA/FAMILY) COLIN FARRELL, MICHAEL KEATON, DANNY DEVITO

DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 PM

4- US (15+) (HORROR/THRILLER) LUPITA NYONG’O, ELISABETH MOSS, ANNA DIOP

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TOVINO THOMASDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.30 + 4.45 + 8.00 + (11.15 PM THURS/FRI)

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MOHANLAL, MANJU WARRIER, VIVEK OBEROI, TOVINO THOMAS

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ZACHARY LEVI, MARK STRONG (II), ASHER ANGELDAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 12.45 + 2.30 + 3.30 + 5.15 + 6.15 + 8.00 + 9.00 + 10.45 + 11.45 PM

2-PET SEMATARY (18+) (HORROR/THRILLER) NEW JASON CLARKE, AMY SEIMETZ, JETE LAURENCE

DAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PM

3-DUMBO (PG) (ADVENTURE/DRAMA/FAMILY) COLIN FARRELL, MICHAEL KEATON, DANNY DEVITO

DAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PM

4- CAPTAIN MARVEL (PG-13) (ACTION/ADVENTURE) BRIE LARSON, GEMMA CHAN, SAMUEL L. JACKSON

DAILY AT: 1.45 + 6.45 + 11.45 PM

5- US (15+) (HORROR/THRILLER) LUPITA NYONG’O, ELISABETH MOSS, ANNA DIOP

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6- WONDER PARK (PG) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY)

BRIANNA DENSKI, JENNIER GARNER, KEN HUDSON CAMPBELL

DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 2.30 PM

7- LUCIFER (PG-15) (MALAYALAM) MOHANLAL, MANJU WARRIER, VIVEK OBEROI,

TOVINO THOMASDAILY AT: 4.30 + 7.45 + 11.00 PM

Project Ghazi: An audacious attempt goes wrong

Humayun Saeed in ‘Project Ghazi’

Rachel Weisz in talks for major role in 'Black Widow'PTI | Los Angeles

Oscar winner Ra-chel Weisz is in

negotiations for a key role in Scarlett

Johansson-fronted 'Black Widow' film.According to a magazine,

the talks with the 49-year-old actor, who was recently

nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Yorgos Lanthimos' 'The Favour-ite', are in early stages.

The star David Harbour is also in talks to board the cast, which also includes

' O u t l a w King' actor F l o r e n c e Pugh.

T h e highly an-t i c i p a t e d M a r v e l

stand-alone movie will star Johans-son as Romanoff aka Black Widow,

an agent of the fictional spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D and a member of the superhero team, the Avengers.

After 'Captain Marvel', 'Black Window' is the sec-

ond female superhe-ro-led project in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The shoot-ing is scheduled to begin in London this June.

Australian film-maker Cate Short-hand of Nazi drama 'Lore' fame is at-tached to direct. Jac Schaeffer wrote the most recent draft for the film.

Marvel is yet to confirm the casting.

Photos of Miley Cyrus raise concern about Joshua trees

AP | Palm Springs, Calif.

Social media photos showing Miley Cyrus

posing in a Joshua tree have drawn criticism from peo-ple concerned about pro-tecting the iconic desert species.

The photos posted this week on Instagram were captioned “Looking down at all the petty drama like….” and “Monkey Bizzzzznassssss” but gave no specific location.

The Desert Sun newspaper reported other photos posted in the past two weeks appear to show the singer near elec-tricity-producing windmills in the Palm Springs area of

California.Joshua trees are protected in

Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave National Preserve as well as under some city and county ordinances.

With their dagger-like leaves and contorted limbs, the trees are considered important to the Mojave Desert ecosystem.

There was no immediate response to an email seeking comment from a publicist for Cyrus.

Susan Burnett, who manag-es Mojave Sands hotel in the community of Joshua Tree, told the Desert Sun the im-ages of Cyrus are a setback in educating the public about the trees.

This image posted on the Instagram account of actress and singer Miley Cyrus shows her sitting in a Joshua Tree

14 FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

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

celebs

Britney Spears checks into psychiatric facilityANI | Los Angeles

American singer Britney Spears recently checked into a mental health facility after suffering from emotional distress.

The 37-year old singer, known for smashing hits including ‘Toxic’, ‘Oops...I Did It Again’ and ‘pretty girls’, was admitted about a week ago and is expected to stay there for a month.

According to Variety, the singer has been going through a tough time over the past year because of her father’s health crisis, who recently un-derwent a second surgery to fix a broken colon.

Last year in November, the ‘make me...’ singer had to put her Las Vegas residency on hold to look after her ailing father. She even opened up about the situation in one of her Instagram posts.

“A couple of months ago, my father was hos-

pitalized and almost died. We’re all so grateful that he came out of it alive, but he still has a long road ahead of him. I had to make the difficult decision to put my full focus and energy on my family at this time,” she wrote.

This is not the first time that the pop star’s mental health issues have disrupted her life. Back in 2007, Spears made headlines after she shaved her head. She also attacked paparazzi with an umbrella.

Angelina Jolie not ruling out public office in futureAP | Los Angeles

Angelina Jolie is not ruling out running for public office.

The 43-year-old actress and U.N. special en-voy tells People magazine “never say never!” However, Jolie says she’s “looking to others for leadership.”

In her role with the U.N.’s High Commission for Refugees, Jolie recently urged nations to deploy more women peacekeepers in order to prevent sexual violence against refugees. Jolie says “we have to change laws that treat women as second-class citizens.”

Since breaking up with Brad Pitt more than two years ago, Jolie is focused on their six children and her work. Her oldest, Maddox, enters college in the fall.

She wrapped up her first starring movie role in four years in “Malef-icent: Mistress of Evil.” It’s due out in October.

The inter-view appears in People’s April 15 is-sue.

Reuters | Los Angeles

Pop singer Celine Dion on Wednes-day announced a world tour and

a new album called “Courage” that she said was inspired by life after the death of her husband.

Dion, 51, gave the news at a live performance show in Los Angeles that was broadcast on

Facebook Live and watched by more than 11,000 fans around the world.

The French-Canadian singer, best known for the “Titanic” movie theme song “My Heart

Will Go On,” has been perform-ing in Las Vegas on and off

since 2003 but said last year her concert residen-cy in the city would end in June.

“I think it’s time for a change, time to hit the road,” she said on Wednesday.

The “Courage” tour - her first in the Unit-ed States for 10 years - will kick off in Quebec City, Can-ada in September. Dion said the al-bum, also called

“Courage,” will be released “roughly in

November.” She did not give dates for the rest o f t h e world.

T h e

singer said the album’s title was inspired by the 2016 death from throat cancer of her husband and manager Rene Angelil. The couple had three children.

“When I lost Rene, he wanted me back on stage. He wanted to make sure I was still practicing my passion,” she said. “I wanted to prove to him that I’m fine, we’re fine, we’re going to be ok. I’ve got this.”

Dion, a five-time Grammy winner, sang around the world in 2007 with her “Taking Chanc-es” tour that was one of the high-est-gross-ing tours o f t h a t year.

Celine Dion announces ‘Courage’ world tour and new album

Bieber shares selfie from therapyANI | Los Angeles

Singer Justin Bieber has never shied-away

from speaking about his mental health issues and even ensures to regularly

update fans about his situation. In a recent social media post, the

singer showed people how “cool” it is to priori-tise mental health.

The 25-year-old sing-er, on Wednesday, posted

a selfie on Instagram story and wrote, “Therapy Ses-sion (written in bold). It’s

cool to have a healthy mind and healthy

emotions.”In March, the

‘Sorry ’ s ing-er, via an In-stagram post,

asked his fans to “pray” for him amid his battle with depression.

Celine Dion

Angelina Jolie

Rachel Weisz

Justin Bieber

Britney Spears

Man City back on top as Spurs party in style

Kevin De Bruyne slips into gear and drives Manchester City past Cardiff

• Ruben Loftus-Cheek adds gloss as Chelsea make light work of Brighton

• Son Heung-min christens new stadium with first Spurs goal in win over Palace

AFP | London

Ma n c h e s t e r C i t y brushed aside strug-gling Cardiff to leap-

frog Liverpool at the top of the Premier League on Wednesday as Tottenham opened their glit-tering stadium in style.

City’s 2-0 victory over Cardiff took Pep Guardiola’s quadru-ple-chasers to 80 points -- one clear of Jurgen Klopp’s Liver-pool, with both sides having six matches to go.

Tottenham marked their long-delayed move into their state-of-the-art new home with a 2-0 win against Crystal Palace, while Chelsea thumped Bright-on 3-0.

Kevin De Bruyne put City ahead in the sixth minute at the Etihad Stadium, firing in from a tight angle and Leroy Sane dou-bled the lead for the defending champions with a sharp finish just before half-time.

Guardiola, whose team take on Brighton at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final on Satur-

day, made seven changes to his starting line-up, handing teen-ager Phil Foden his first Premier League start.

Despite the win, Guardiola said his side, who had 11 shots on target, needed to be more clinical.

Spurs, who were on the edge of the title race for a large chunk of the season, started their match at home to Palace in fourth spot, behind north London rivals Arsenal.

Spurs back on winning track But Son Heung-min and

Christian Eriksen made sure the celebrations did not fall flat, scoring second-half goals that enabled Spurs to end a wretch-ed run of four defeats in five league games.

Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri made multiple changes from the team that started Sunday’s tense 2-1 win at Cardiff, with Eden

Hazard and N’Golo Kante back in the starting XI.

But the main talking point was a first Premier League start for 18-year-old Callum Hud-son-Odoi, who has already im-pressed for Gareth Southgate’s young England side.

Sarri has angered Chelsea fans with his refusal to start the winger and they vented their feelings at Cardiff on Sunday.

Hudson-Odoi was in the thick of the action at Stamford Bridge, setting up Olivier Giroud for just his second Premier League goal of the season in the first half.

Hazard doubled Chelsea’s lead in the 60th minute and midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek put the game beyond doubt just three minutes later.

The race for the top four is tight, with just

three points sepa-rating third-placed

Spurs from Manches-ter United, in sixth

position

KNOW

BETTER

15

sports

FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

Kevin De Bruyne fires Manchester City into the lead against Cardiff

Shaikh Khalid aims to make Brave best on international level

TDT | Manama

HH Shaikh Khalid bin Ham-ad Al Khalifa, First Depu-

ty Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and Honorary President of Bahrain Mixed Martial Arts Federation (BMMAF) affirmed that the Brave Combat Cham-pionship is steadily continuing its strides towards becoming the best on international level.

These statements by HH Shaikh Khalid were an-nounced in an interview with ESPN5 sports channel during His Highness’s stay in the Re-public of the Philippines on the invite of Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Philippines.

His Highness stated: “The Kingdom of Bahrain and the Republic of the Philippines are bonded by strong bilateral ties in various fields. This has contributed to the fast growth of mutual relations, which re-flected on the development of both countries and opened

new horizons of cooperation in new fields, especially sports, creating opportunities that would positively impact the development of this cooper-ation.”

HH Shaikh Khalid said: “The Philippines has succeeded in hosting the 22nd edition of Brave Combat Championship, by facilitating it and contrib-uting to organising this event, which was launched from the Bahraini Capital, Manama, and was held in different cities across the world, reiterating the success of the Bahraini ex-periment in the field of combat sports and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), especially on the pro-fessional level.

“This supports the Bahraini efforts dedicated to promoting and strengthening the culture of this sport and to reaffirm on the Kingdom’s endeavours to embrace MMA professional athletes and to have a positive impact on development of the sport,” His Highness added.

HH Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa during the interview

Holders PSG set up French Cup final date with Rennes

AFP | Paris

Holders Paris Saint-Ger-main will play Rennes

in the French Cup final lat-er this month after beating 10-man Nantes 3-0 in their semi-final tie on Wednes-day as Kylian Mbappe scored one penalty after missing another.

Mbappe’s two spot-kicks came after he set up Mar-co Verratti for the opener in the first half at the Parc des Princes, with substitute Daniel Alves wrapping up the victory late on.

The result keeps Thomas Tuchel’s team on course to win a domestic league and cup double, which would go some small way to easing the pain

of their exit from the Champi-ons League in the last 16 at the hands of Manchester United.

“After the first goal it was a little easier,” said PSG captain Thiago Silva.

“We had to try and score the second because if it had stayed at 1-0 it would have been more difficult.

“I think we deserved this result even if it was difficult and we still deserved to be in the final, which is important for the club.”

PSG are 20 points clear at the top of Ligue 1 with nine match-es left and could be crowned champions for the sixth time in seven seasons as early as Sunday, if they beat Strasbourg and second-placed Lille lose their game.

Paris Saint-Germain’s French forward Kylian Mbappe executes a penalty kick

Valencia inflict first defeat on Zidane’s new MadridAFP | Madrid

Zinedine Zidane dropped Gareth Bale and endured

his first defeat since returning to Real Madrid as his side were deservedly beaten 2-1 by a re-surgent Valencia on Wednes-day.

The last time Zidane left Bale on the bench, the Welshman proved a spectacular substitute against Liverpool in the Cham-pions League final 10 months ago but there was to be no res-cue act at Mestalla.

Instead, Valencia surged to a convincing victory, Gonca-lo Guedes and Ezequiel Garay scoring in each half to leave Marcelino’s team within a point of La Liga’s top four. Karim Benzema headed in a late con-solation in injury-time.

“We lacked a bit of spark up front,” Zidane said. “I am not going to criticise my players. They have tried and we played a good team. But losing always

hurts.” After a miserable start to the

season, Valencia could yet enjoy a barnstorming finish.

Champions League qualifi-cation is now within touching distance while a Copa del Rey final against Barcelona and Eu-ropa League last 16 tie against Villarreal still await.

“The game played out how we hoped,” said Marcelino. “It was a complete performance.”

For Zidane, after two open-ing victories, this was perhaps something of a reality check, even if Madrid’s reappointed coach has insisted he is under no illusions regarding the task ahead.

Valencia’s French defender Mouctar Diakhaby (L) vies with Real Madrid’s French forward Karim Benzema

BCC power to top of ETS leagueTDT | Manama

BCC defeated Climax Zal-mi by 16 runs in the ETS

Div A league organized by Cricket Bahrain Associa-tion. Batting first BCC post-ed 248 runs. Umer Imtiaz became the top scorer with 120 runs while Rizwan Baig made 52 runs. In reply Cli-max Zalmi could only man-age 232 runs. Imran Butt top scored with 95 runs for Cli-max Zalmi. Ammaduddin claimed 2 wickets for BCC.

Pak Arab Zalmi defeat-ed Exelon Young Boys by 7 wickets in another fixture. Batting first Exelon Young Boys could only manage 130 runs. Ahsan Khan claimed 4 wickets for Pak Arab Zal-mi. In reply Pak Arab Zalmi chased target for loss of 7 wickets. Ahsan Khan top scored with 66 runs for Pak Arab Zalmi.

BCC A defeated BDS Bas-sali by 14 runs in another fixture. Batting first BCC A posted 160 runs. In reply BDS Bassali could only man-age 146 runs.

Mick shocked by F1 performanceMick Schumacher drove for Ferrari and Alfa Romeo at the post-Bahrain Grand

Prix test Auosport | Manama

Mick Schumacher says he did not expect the performance he

showed in his debut Formula 1 test this week, having found it “easy” to improve with Ferrari and Alfa Romeo.

Schumacher drove for Fer-rari, the team his seven-time world champion father Michael won five F1 titles with, on Tues-day before switching to Alfa on Wednesday.

The reigning European For-mula 3 champion and Formula 2 rookie was second-fastest in the Ferrari and then sixth-quickest in the Alfa, setting almost iden-tical lap times in both.

Asked by Autosport if he ex-pected this performance ahead of the test, Schumacher admit-ted: “To be honest, not. “But I guess because I had so much fun it was easy the work on myself, to work with the team.

“Both teams were very open and very good in teaching me the points I had to know.

“Over the whole day I was able to improve and to find the limit.”

Schumacher’s 1m29.998s on the second day in the Alfa was just 0.022 seconds slower than he had managed in the Ferrari, which was the dominant car over the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend.

His Ferrari programme was interrupted by the prolonged rain that halted the test for sev-eral hours on Tuesday and the 20-year-old said although he had improved on his second day, comparing the times was difficult.

“[It was] very different con-ditions,” he

said. “It is

hard to compare the two days, the cars in front were very quick.

“But we did a decent job and we can be happy about it.”

Schumacher added he had gained confidence by targeting “all the points of [Tuesday] that maybe didn’t work, or where I had the feeling of being able to improve”.

“It seems like it worked well, so I’m happy,” he said.

Schumacher’s first F1 test followed his F2 race debut in Bahrain last weekend.

The Prema driver scored points in both races and record-ed a best finish of sixth in the sprint race, which he started from pole position.

He said he did not know when his next F1 opportunity would emerge, with fellow Ferrari pro-tege Callum Ilott due to drive for Alfa in the Barcelona test.

The next F2 race is in Azer-baijan at the end of the month.

“[I do not know] what is going to happen,” said Schumacher.

“I’m looking forward to being in F2 again.

“Baku is a special track and it will be the first time for me.

“I’m going to do a lot of work with Prema in the sim and pre-pare for that. “I’ll try to use what I’ve learned here and try to put that onto the track in F2.”

16FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019

Both teams were very open and very good in teaching me the points I had to know. Over the

whole day I was able to improve and to find

the limitMICK SCHUMACHER

Mick Schumacher walks out of the garage after his first laps for Ferrari at the in-season test

Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton (C) celebrates after winning the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix

Hamilton relieved to win on a difficult trackRaceFans | Manama

Lewis Hamilton says his Bahrain Grand Prix victory

was especially satisfying as he considers it one of his weaker venues.

“This is a track that I strug-gle probably one of the most of the lot of them,” said Hamilton following his victory on Sun-day. “And so to come out ahead of Valtteri [Bottas] who is real-ly, really quick here always – so was Nico [Rosberg] – and to be in the mix, I was really happy with that.”

Hamilton was running be-hind the two Ferraris as the fi-nal stint began but was able to capitalise on Charles Leclerc’s technical problems after over-taking Sebastian Vettel.

“Naturally you have to get yourself in a position to have opportunities to open,” he said. “I’m sure that overtake with Seb was quite a decisive point

today to enable the opportu-nity to win.

“But honestly I was really happy with how I drove in the race. We did struggle with the balance of our car throughout and it kind of worsened as we got more into the race.”

The world champion also admitted he was frustrated to lose a position to his team mate at the start for the second race in a row despite having con-centrated on his getaways.

“I can’t express to you how hard I’ve been working on my starts and then the start really wasn’t good,” said Hamilton.

“I’m just going to keep work-ing at it. Basically you stumble and you fall and you get back up. I always keep pushing.

“Fortunately I was still in the mix and got past Valtteri which, I was happy with that manoeuvre. Then got that bat-tle with Sebastian which was awesome.”

Barty to ride wave of success into clay seasonAFP | Sydney

Miami Open winner Ash Barty is confident she

can “do some damage” in the upcoming clay season, and has hooked up with seven-time world surfing champion Steph-anie Gilmore to gain inspira-tion.

The 22-year-old Australi-an cracked the world top 10 this week with her victory over Czech fifth seed Karolina Pliskova in the Miami final on Saturday.

It was a breakthrough title for the former Wimbledon junior champion as she became the

first Australian woman since Sam Stosur in June 2013 to be ranked inside the top 10.

Now back on home soil, her focus is on this month’s Fed Cup semi-final in Brisbane against Belarus, although she is already thinking about the clay season leading up to the French Open.

“I think I have the game on clay to be able to do some dam-age, I just have to continue to learn how to use it properly,” she told reporters on the Gold Coast late Wednesday.

“This clay-court season in particular is an opportunity to go out and learn more about

myself on that surface.”With WTA Tour seeing an in-

credible 14 different winners from 14 events so far this season, Barty knows she has as good a chance as anyone at second Grand Slam of the year at Ro-land Garros next month.

“Yes it ’s open but I also feel like it ’s stronger than ever before. It’s about who can execute best on the day,” she said.

“I think for me, I’m moving in the right direction. I feel great, and I feel like I’ve got an op-portunity to achieve some of my dreams.”

She made the quarter-finals at the opening major of the season at Melbourne Park and this week spent time with fel-low Australian Gilmore to learn from her incredible success.

Gilmore is also on the Gold Coast for the season-opening World Surf League event.

“It’s an opportunity for me to learn from other elite ath-letes, and Steph in particular. What she has been able to do for women’s sport in Austral-ia is absolutely phenomenal,” Barty said.

“To see how she handles her-self and goes about it is the big-gest thing. When you meet gen-uine people, authentic people, they absolutely rub off on you.”

Ashleigh Barty of Australia in action during the final of the 2019 Miami Open WTA Premier Mandatory tennis tournament

Klopp relaxed about Salah’s Liverpool drought

AFP | London

Liverpool manag-er Jurgen Klopp

is relaxed about M o h a m e d S a -lah’s goalscoring drought, saying the Egyptian for-ward remains a key part of the title

chasers’ attacking armoury.Salah, who scored

44 times in his maid-en season at Anfield, has gone eight matches without finding the net

but still has 20 goals in 2018/19 and played a pivotal part in the last-gasp winner

against Tottenham on Sunday.“When everybody is talk-

ing about ‘he didn’t score in I don’t know how many games’,

he doesn’t seem to be bothered about it. I’m not,” Klopp said on

Wednesday.“For sure we didn’t really speak

about it. I think if something is clear and obvious you do speak about it. How do you deal with a situation when he scored 40 goals last year?

“His career’s not over. It’s like if he can score this year 20 goals then he’s scored 60 in the last two. Wow, that’s not too bad.”

Salah’s success last season means he has attracted more attention from

opponents in the current campaign, often being double-marked.

It has had the effect, though, of bene-fiting teammates, with Sadio Mane (20 goals) and Roberto Firmino (14) taking on some of the burden.

“Sometimes you need a bit of time to adapt to the new situations and I don’t think he really needed that,” said Klopp on Salah’s overall value to the side and how he has coped with the close atten-tion.

“He’s a threat. He helps us a lot. He deals with all the new situations for him really well.

“If you have only one (goalscorer), you think maybe you rely a bit too much on that. This year we don’t rely on Mo’s goals, but he’s still in a very good position in comparison to all the other players.

“Seventeen (league) goals is a good number, and there are still a lot of games to come. But it was never a problem. We have 79 points -- you cannot have that with a lot of problems over the year.”

KNOW WHAT

Mohamed Salah had scored 44 times in his maiden season at

Anfield

Mohamed Salah