Premier orders Works Ministry to prepare for rainy season TDT | Manama

His Royal Highness the Prime Minister directed the various bodies in the

Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning to prepare early for the rainy season and take the necessary measures to prevent water-logging across roads and streets.

This came as His Royal High-ness Prime Minister Prince Khal-ifa bin Salman Al Khalifa chaired the weekly Cabinet yesterday.

Meanwhile, the top ministry officials met yesterday to discuss

preparations for the upcoming rainy season.

Undersecretary for Works Affairs, Ahmed Al Khayat and Undersecretary for Municipal Affairs, Shaikh Mohammed bin

Ahmed Al Khalifa and a number of officials were present at the meeting.

Attendees stressed the impor-tance of protecting houses that were damaged in the past year and finding appropriate solutions as much as possible to ensure that they will not be damaged again.

An emergency team has been set up in each governorate to start work, make sure of preparations, start visiting sites and identify the needs. Hotlines have been allocated to receive reports on water-logging in the four munic-ipalities and public streets.

The team was also directed to ensure the safety of sewage networks through a field visit by officials during the next two days and present a report on the follow up of the sewage channels and

cleaning activities during the past months.

Water suction tankers will parked near to schools, hospitals and residential areas that were submerged by floods last year.

02Give preference to Bahraini contractors, ministries told

03Cultivating tobacco, a major ‘violation of UN convention’

04Kingdom joins global call to protect freedom of religions

8

At least 20 killed, dozens injured in Papua unrest 5WORLD

OP-EDS P O R T S

Team Europe retains Laver Cup Alexander Zverev snatched the Laver Cup for Team Europe as he beat Canada’s Milos Raonic in the final rubber of a thrill-ing three days of action in Geneva’s Palexpo Arena on Sunday. P16

TUESDAYSEPTEMBER 2019

210 FILS ISSUE NO. 8244

Iran should not underestimate Donald Trump

‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Fleabag’ take top Emmy honors on night of upsets 14 CELEBS

24WHATSAPP38444692

TWITTER@newsofbahrain

MAILmail@newsofbahrain.com

WEBSITEnewsofbahrain.com

FACEBOOK/nobmedia

LINKEDINnewsofbahrain

INSTAGRAM/nobmedia

A C T I O N O N

DON’T MISS IT

210 fils (includes VAT)

• HM the King and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques reviewed solid fraternal relations between both countries.

• King Salman hosted a lunch banquet in honour of HM the King on the occasion of his visit to the Kingdom.

Jeddah

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa yes-terday held a meeting

with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at Al Salam Palace in Jeddah.

His Majesty expressed Bah-rain’s condemnation over the subversive terrorist attack on Aramco oil facilities in Buqayq and Hijrat Khurais, describing it as a grave escalation and a major threat to regional security and stability as well as oil supplies to international markets.

HM the King also underlined full support of the Kingdom to Saudi Arabia against any attempt to encroach on its sovereignty

and status as well as threaten its security and stability.

His Majesty also affirmed Bahrain’s unwavering support to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in all measures taken to preserve its security and the safety of the people on its territory.

HM the King extended heart-felt congratulations to the Cus-todian of the Two Holy Mosques and Saudi Crown Prince on the National Day, wishing the King-dom of Saudi Arabia continuous security, growth and prosperity under the leadership of King Salman. The King also thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for the gracious wel-come and hospitality.   

The Saudi King expressed thanks and respect to HM the King for his fraternal feelings, lauding the unwavering hon-ourable stances of the King-dom of Bahrain which affirm deep-rooted relations between both countries.

He asserted ability of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to deal with the repercussions of the criminal act that targets regional security and stability and inter-national oil supplies.

HM the King and the Custo-dian of the Two Holy Mosques reviewed solid fraternal rela-tions between both countries

and ways of consolidating them at all levels.

They also discussed the latest regional developments as well as regional and international issues of common concern.

HM the King expressed thanks and respect to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for the historical stances of the King-dom of Saudi Arabia in support-ing the Kingdom of Bahrain at

all levels. The King also praised King

Salman’s wise stances in dealing with regional issues and main-taining security, describing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a pillar for stability and the bul-wark of regional security given its strategic role at the regional and international level.

His Majesty also commended Saudi Arabia’s pivotal role in defending Arab issues and pro-tecting the supreme interests of the Arab nation.

King Salman hosted a lunch banquet in honour of HM the King on the occasion of his visit to the Kingdom.

The lunch banquet was at-tended by members of the Saudi royal family, members of the delegation accompanying HM the King and senior officials. 

Earlier yesterday, His Majesty the King was received at the King Abdulaziz International Airport by His Royal Highness Prince Khalid Al Faisal, Advisor of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Governor of Mak-kah Region, Shaikh Humood bin Abdullah Al Khalifa Ambassa-dor of Bahrain to Saudi Arabia, Saleh bin Ali Al Turki, Governor of Jeddah, and Ibrahim Al Mus-sallamani, Consul General of Bahrain in Jeddah.

United against threats

Saudi Arabia’s security is inseparable part of Bahrain’s

security, says His MajestyHis Majesty with King Salman at Al Salam Palace in Jeddah.

His Majesty being received by HRH Prince Khalid.

Bahrain supports Saudi Arabia in all measures taken to preserve its

security and the safety of the people in its

territory. HIS MAJESTY

HRH the Premier

‘Iran behind Saudi attacks’New York

US Special Representa-tive for Iran Brian Hook

called on the United Nations Security Council to extend the Iran arms embargo and travel ban on some of its elite Quds force, in response to the attacks on that Saudi oil facilities that he said were conducted by Iran.

“We know based on intelli-gence and open source anal-ysis that these attacks were conducted by Iran,” Mr Hook told the Asia Society in New York on Monday. He didn’t reveal the intelligence that US has gathered nor the origin of the attack, but expected that once the UN-led investigation and site examinations in Sau-di Arabia are concluded, the UN will announce “the origin of the attack”.

Thomas Cook collapsesLondon

The world’s oldest travel firm Thomas Cook col-

lapsed on Monday after fail-ing to secure $250 million in rescue funding, forcing the cancellation of bookings for more than 600,000 global holidaymakers.

The British government said the return of the firm’s 150,000 British customers now abroad would be the largest repatriation in its peacetime history. The pro-cess began Monday and offi-cials warned that delays are inevitable.

The Civil Aviation Au-thority said Thomas Cook has ceased trading, its four airlines will be grounded, and its 21,000 employees in 16 countries, including 9,000 in the UK, will lose their jobs.

Heavy rains caused floods in many areas across the Kingdom last year.

02TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

‘Bahrain-China ties set to grow further’

TDT | Manama Abhitab Kumar

Friendship between China and Bahrain dates back to ancient times and will

continue and grow, Chinese Am-bassador to Bahrain Mr Anwaer said yesterday.

This came as he addressed senior government officials and dignitaries at an event held at The Diplomat Radisson Blu Ho-tel marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

“Over the past 30 years, the high-level exchanges have be-come more frequent, the polit-ical mutual trust has been con-stantly strengthened, the eco-nomic co-operation has been rapidly promoted and the cul-tural exchanges and co-opera-

tion have achieved great success.“In 2018, the bilateral trade

volume has reached $2.21 billion and China has become the sec-ond trade partner, first import

source and sixth export desti-nation of Bahrain,” the envoy pointed out.

“The Middle East and Gulf region are undergoing pro-

found and complicated chang-es. China firmly supports Bah-rain to choose its own develop-ment path and adopt all meas-ures to safeguard its security

and stability. “The development of our bi-

lateral cooperation has brought benefits to our two peoples, and will also promote strategic co-operation between China and GCC countries and make contri-butions to the peace, stability and prosperity of the region. I believe that with the joint efforts of our two countries, the future of our bilateral relations will be more beautiful,” he pointed out.

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Sal-man Al Khalifa deputised his Advisor His Highness Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khali-fa to attend, in the presence of Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA) Chairman HH Shaikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa, the ceremony.

HH Shaikh Salman Khalifa Al Khalifa conveyed greetings

from HRH the Premier to the leadership and people of China on this occasion, wishing the friendly state further progress and prosperity.

HRH the Premier’s Advisor hailed growing relations binding Bahrain and China in all fields, which reflects joint coordination regarding regional and interna-tional issues. He reiterated Bah-rain’s keenness on expanding joint co-operation. 

The Chinese envoy extended deepest thanks to HRH the Pre-mier and hailed his keenness on bolstering joint co-operation, stressing his country’s drive to strengthen cooperation towards meeting the aspirations of the two friendly countries and peo-ples, wishing the Kingdom of Bahrain further development and progress. 

Mr Anwaer speaks at the event. A cake was cut in the presence of royal family members, envoys and dignitaries to mark the occasion.

Chinese cultural shows added special charm to the evening.

Give preference to Bahraini contractors, ministries told

The move is in line with HRH the Premier’s keenness to provide more support to Bahraini companies

• The Cabinet endorsed a plan to operate a round-the-clock health centre in Hamad Town.

• HRH the Premier gave directives to the Ministry of Housing to study increasing need for housing units in the Southern Governorate.

Manama

The Cabinet chaired by His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa

bin Salman Al Khalifa yesterday gave directives to give prefer-ence to Bahraini contractors in the government’s construction projects, in line with the interna-tional trade regulations and the Kingdom’s obligations.

The move is in line with HRH the Premier’s keenness to pro-vide more support to Bahraini companies.

The Ministerial Committee for Financial, Economic and Fiscal Balance Affairs was requested to submit the necessary recommen-dations in this regard.

Among other things, HRH the Premier gave directives to the Ministry of Housing to study increasing need for housing units in the Southern Governorate, while taking into account the governorate’s specific social and historical features, as well as the need to preserve the environ-ment there.

The Prime Minister also in-structed the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning to provide more spaces, facilities and parks that consti-tute an outlet for the local citi-zens, requesting the Ministerial Committee for Development and Infrastructure Projects to follow up on the matter.

As part of efforts to imple-ment HRH Premier’s directives to study and implement service projects across the kingdom’s villages and regions, the Cabi-net endorsed a plan to operate

a round-the-clock health centre in Hamad Town, and requested the Ministerial Committee for Financial, Economic and Fiscal Balance Affairs to provide the necessary funds.

The same committee was also requested to study financing the establishment of a new health centre in Qalali, as part of the government’s efforts to ensure the citizens’ access to non-stop health care and medical services, as highlighted in a memoran-dum submitted by the Minister of Health.

The session discussed increas-ing the financial support granted by the government to disabil-ity-related public and private centres to improve the academic and professional rehabilitation of people with special needs.

Outlined in a memorandum presented by the Labour and So-cial Development Minister, the

matter was referred to the Min-isterial Committee for Financial, Economic and Fiscal Balance Affairs to study it and submit the necessary recommendations on it.

The session was notified by the Minister of Works, Municipali-ties Affairs and Urban Planning about the 271 decisions and rec-ommendations made by munic-ipal councils during the first ses-sion of the fifth municipal term.

One-hundred and twenty-four decisions have been approved by the Works Ministry, while 112 are being studied by other service ministries, the minister said.

HRH the Premier lauded the outcomes of the visit of His Roy-al Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Com-mander and First Deputy Prime Minister, to the United States of America.

The Prime Minister praised HRH Crown Prince’s fruitful talks with US President, Donald Trump, and senior officials in his administration, as well as the agreements signed between the two countries on the sidelines of the successful visit in the politi-cal, military and economic fields, a post-session statement by the Cabinet Secretary-General, Dr Yasser Al Nasser, said.

HRH the Premier chairs the Cabinet.

Support for shrimpers The Cabinet yesterday decided to purchase the assets and

equipment of shrimpers, including fishing boats (banoush boats) for those who wish to do so, or to convert shrimp fishing licences into fishing licences. The session decided to allocate a special budget for this purpose and instructed the Ministerial Committee for Financial, Economic and Fiscal Balance Affairs to follow up on the necessary procedures, in the light of the recommendation submitted for this purpose by the same com-mittee and presented by the Deputy Premier and committee chairman.

03TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

Cultivating tobacco, a major ‘violation of UN convention’

Proposal against WHO guidelines and rules, says anti-tobacco body

• Move, a clear violation of the UN Convention on Tobacco Control.

• The WHO Framework Convention seeks a commitment to protect public health policies with respect to tobacco control.

TDT | Manama

The Bahrain Anti-Smoking Association has strongly rejected the proposal on

cultivating tobacco in the King-dom, stating that it is a clear violation of the UN Convention on Tobacco Control.

The Kingdom’s authorities wants to allow the planting and production of tobacco, as well as the commercial production of alternative nicotine substances – such as vape juice.

Authorities have already drafted legislation that would enable tobacco companies to set up commercial operations here.

In a statement presented to House of Representatives Speaker Fawzia Zainal, the as-sociation said: “The association was founded to combat smoking habits in the Kingdom. We are

totally hurt by the decision.” “The proposal discussed in

the parliament is against World Health Organisation’s regula-tions and rules on controlling use of tobacco.

“We are carrying out an awareness campaign against the use of tobacco and whatever happening now is contradicting our efforts.”

Echoing a similar view, the Bahrain Society of Physicians has also warned against the move, warning that the call for tobacco cultivation would ad-versely affect health achieve-ments.

The President of the Society, Dr Ghada Al Qasem, said that the Kingdom has made great strides in the field of promoting public health and goes against the Kingdom’s health strides.

Dr Al Qasem pointed out that the Kingdom is one of the first GCC countries to issue a law ban-ning smoking in indoor areas to implement the Kingdom’s health policy to combat smok-ing and preserve the safety of citizens and residents from the danger of secondhand smoke.

“As doctors, the first question we ask the patient is whether he smokes or not, because we

are more aware of the dangers of smoking on the respiratory system, veins, arteries, heart, colon, skin and all organs and functions. How can we convince a patient to stay away from smoking when he sees that his country is growing to-bacco?”

As called for in the WHO Framework Convention on To-bacco Control, Governments must comprehensively enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship at international expos and con-ferences, in order to ensure their events and programmes

are tobacco free and that their activities and participants are not sponsored by tobacco com-panies.

The world must unite to halt the tobacco industry’s aggres-sive marketing of its products, that cause addiction, suffering and millions of deaths each year, the World Health Organisation recently stated.

This renewed call came in light of reports of tobacco com-panies aiming to establish new partnerships with governments to sponsor events or pavilions in world expos.

The WHO Framework Con-vention on Tobacco Control in-cludes in Article 5.3, a commit-ment to protect public health policies with respect to tobacco control from commercial and other vested interests of the to-bacco industry.

This commitment is reflected in the Memorandum of Under-standing of 2011 between WHO and the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), which “bans” sponsorship of expos by tobacco companies or their agents or affiliates.

Governments must proactive-ly aspire to reduce the number of people starting and continu-ing smoking, to promote health and preserve future generations, the WHO has been frequently proposing to authorities across the world.

Smoking cigarettes can have many adverse effects on the body, including life-threatening complications.

How can we convince a patient to stay away from

smoking when he sees that his

country is growing tobacco?

DR AL QASEM

Jobs show opens today Manama

At the directives of His Royal Highness Prime

Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Jobs Show takes place today at the Labour and Social Develop-ment Ministry’s premises in Zayed Town.

Organised under the pa-tronage of Labour and So-cial Development Minister Jameel Humaidan, the Career Exhibition aims to expedite the momentum of the inclu-sion of jobseekers into the labour market.

Jobseekers will be able to meet, between 8 am and 1 pm, with human resources officials and learn about the various available positions in the participating entities and the ministry’s Vacancies Bank.

Mr Humaidan recently stressed the positive results of the National Employment Programme (NEP), which was launched following the direc-tives of HRH the Premier and HRH the Crown Prince.

The programme aims through its four initiatives to boost employment, reha-bilitation and integration of citizens, in the labour market.

It also seeks to give priority to Bahraini nationals and sup-port them to become the first choice in employment while maintaining the market’s flex-ibility, being a cornerstone for sustainable development in Bahrain.

The minister revealed that the number of vacancies has gone up by 35pc after the launch of NEP, at an average of 83 vacancies on daily ba-sis, compared to the months preceding the launch of the programme (an average of 60 vacancies on daily basis).

GCC strategic health plan 2020-2022 reviewedManama

Health Minister Faeqa Al Saleh received Direc-tor-general of the Gulf

Cooperation Council (GCC)’s Health Council Suleiman Al Dakhil, in presence of Assis-tant Undersecretary for Pub-lic Health and GCC Executive Health Board member Dr Mar-iam Al Hajeri.

They reviewed the GCC Stra-tegic Health Plan 2020-2022, including capacity building, re-search and awareness focusing on preventative health, develop-ment and investment in health cadres.

The minister praised the GCC health board’s role and keen-ness on the provision of the best

health services in the Arabian Gulf countries.

They also reviewed topics of

shared interest and the coopera-tion to boost the comprehensive GCC-integrated health co-op-

eration apart from regulating players in the health industry.

According to National Health Regulatory Authority CEO Mar-iam Al Jalahma, the regulator’s vision is to provide safe, trusted, high-quality healthcare to the people of Bahrain. We regulate the healthcare system to ensure that the people of Bahrain ex-perience a service that protects and promotes health.

“One of our fundamental roles as a steward of the health care system is to ensure the sys-tem delivers the best possible healthcare outcomes for the people of Bahrain.”

“NHRA has gone through

many changes in the last cou-ple of years, we have reevaluat-ed regulations and procedures. Work flow processes such as professional and facility licens-ing, medical devices clearance and drug registration were re-vised to make them more in line with international standards of efficiency and effectiveness.

“This move has been seen very favourably by our clients and stakeholders in the King-dom. Our achievements in the past year have been made pos-sible through the commitment and professionalism of the ded-icated staff at NHRA, all of whom work.”

Ms Al Saleh receives Mr Al Dakhil in the presence of Dr Al Hajeri.

The Nationality, Passport and Residence Affairs within the Interior Ministry yesterday held special celebrations marking the Saudi National Day. Saudi nationals received a warm welcome on King Fahad Causeway as the day reflected unity and shared heritage between both countries.

Saudi National Day marked

04TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

Kingdom joins global call to protect freedom of religions

Shaikh Khalid stresses Bahrain’s keenness to further develop co-operation with United Nations

• For his part, the President of UNGA hailed the development of the Kingdom in various fields, commending its efforts in achieving the sustainable development goals.

• Shaikh Khalid also participated in the High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage and the United Nations Climate Action Summit.

New York

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Moham-

med Al Khalifa, participated in a high-level event entitled “Global Call to Protect Religious Free-dom”, hosted by the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, at the United Na-tions Headquarters in New York.

The minister expressed ap-preciation for the President of the United States for hosting the event, which reflects his keen-ness to reinforce international co-operation in order to guaran-tee religious freedom in all parts of the world. 

He also stressed the impor-tance of enhancing the efforts aimed at consolidating intercul-tural openness and communi-cation. The event aims to sup-port religious freedom, combat various forms of persecution, address attacks on places of wor-ship, and ensure respect for the cultural and religious heritage of states.

Separately, Shaikh Khalid, met the President of the 74th session of the United Nations Gener-

al Assembly,  Tijjani Muham-mad-Bande,  in the presence of the President of Bahrain Author-ity for Culture and Antiquities, Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa. 

The minister extended his congratulations to Mr Mu-hammed-Bande on being elected as the President of the current session of the General Assembly, wishing him success in fulfilling his tasks in enhancing the role of the UNGA for the benefit of all countries.

Shaikh Khalid stressed the keenness of the Kingdom to further develop co-operation with the United Nations due to its vital role in establishing in-ternational peace and security and enhancing sustainable de-velopment. 

For his part, the President of UNGA hailed the develop-ment of the Kingdom in various fields, commending its efforts in achieving the sustainable devel-opment goals.

He also noted the Kingdom’s policy which focuses on support-

ing global co-operation to over-come all challenges. The meeting also discussed the main issues and topics enlisted in the current UNGA agenda. 

Shaikh Khalid also participat-ed in the High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage and the United Nations Climate Action Summit.

The Minister of Foreign Af-fairs expressed his sincere ap-preciation to the Secretary-Gen-eral of the United Nations, Antó-nio Guterres, for his role and efforts in holding such high-level meetings that discuss important issues to the international com-munity.

Shaikh Khalid affirmed that the Kingdom of Bahrain attaches great importance to universal health coverage, which comes at the forefront of its strategic priorities to achieve the sustain-able development goals related to health.

He added that the King-dom has a distinct experience in providing primary health care services, and is keen to provide therapeutic and pre-

ventive health services of high quality and efficiency in accord-ance with the best international standards and practices.

The Minister of Foreign Af-fairs also pointed out that the Kingdom has launched many initiatives to protect the envi-ronment and preserve its natural resources, as it also strives to enhance co-operation with the countries of the world to achieve these goals. 

Shaikh Khalid at the session.

US President Donald Trump addresses the session.

Bahrain has been striving to enhance

co-operation with the countries of the world

to achieve major UN goals.

SHAIKH KHALID

Seminar on fourth industrial revolution

TDT | Manama

The Bahrain Chapter of ICAI will be conducting

a seminar on the Impact of Fourth Industrial revo-lution on Finance and Au-diting on Wednesday, 25th September 2019.

Commenting on it, Chair-person CA Maheshkumar Narayan said the seminar will discuss how artificial intelligence, robotics and automation will define the way  in which finance and auditing professionals will function in the near future.

CA Anand Jangid, an ex-perienced fintech enthusi-ast will be the speaker. 

Premier thankedManama

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa

bin Salman Al Khalifa has re-ceived cables of thanks from the Kuwaiti Crown Prince, HH Shaikh Nawaf Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah, in reply to the Premier’s condolences over the demise of the late Shaikh Talal Nasser Athbi Al Sabah, and the demise of the late Shaikha Anwar Faisal Al Saud Al Sabah.

The Kuwaiti Crown Prince expressed sincere thanks and appreciation to HRH Premier for his heartfelt consolation and fraternal feelings.

HRH Premier also received a cable of thanks from his Ku-waiti counterpart, HH Shaikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Hamad Al Sabah, in reply to his con-dolences over the demise of the late Shaikha Anwar Faisal Al Saud Al Sabah.

HH Shaikh Jaber Al Mubarak expressed pride in and appreciation of HRH Premier’s sincere initiative and feelings, praying to Allah the Almighty to protect HRH the Prime Minister from evil.

Mr Anand

Conference to focus on universal health coverage

Manama

Bahrain is set to host the annual conference of the Joint Learning Network

for Universal Health Coverage from December 2 to 7, through co-operation between the Su-preme Health Council, the Min-istry of Health and the Inter-national Health Co-operation Network.

President of the Supreme Health Council Lieutenant General Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa yesterday

received a delegation from the International Health Co-oper-ation Network.

He expressed the kingdom’s pride in hosting the annual con-ference to discuss the best inter-national experiences and prac-tices in comprehensive health coverage. Representatives from 34 countries will participate in the event. 

The Supreme Health Council President stressed that choosing Bahrain to host the conference is an international recognition of the kingdom’s major health

achievements thanks to the tre-mendous support of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, His Royal Highness Prime Min-ister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and His Royal High-ness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Dep-uty Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier.

He emphasised Bahrain’s keenness on upgrading the health system to ensure sustain-ability of comprehensive health coverage according to the best international standards.

BJA to probe into complaints over ‘non-credible news’

TDT | Manama Pradeep Puravankara

The Bahrain Journalists Association (BJA) will soon launch a probe

into complaints filed by many journalists over ‘news theft’ as well as fake news, especially on social media and other on-line platforms.

Journalists say that this theft of content is totally illegal, and goes against the existing laws governing the functioning of the media organisations in the Kingdom.

“Journalism is a noble pro-fession. This profession is ex-pressed by the issuance of a newspaper, magazine or any other publication issued in one name and periodically, in-cluding electronic newspapers

that are issued or broadcast by electronic means.

“A distinction must be made between the constitutional right to express and the le-gal right to disseminate opin-ion by word or writing, and

to practise the profession of journalism.

“The press means the in-stitutionalisation of work in accordance with the rules pre-scribed by the laws, including obtaining licences from the official authorities concerned, and the result is the establish-ment of a commercial com-pany subject to the rules of business and to allow it to pub-lish ads to finance its activity and the payment of salaries of its employees,” the journalists observed.

“Some social media news accounts are stealing contents or quotes of personalities pub-lished in local newspapers without even giving a refer-ence. The authorities should put an end to this practice,” they urged.

Lt General Shaikh Mohammed with the delegation from the International Health Co-operative Network.

A distinction must be made between the constitutional

right to express and the legal right to

disseminate opinion by word or writing,

and to practise the profession of

journalism.JOURNALISTS

05

world

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

At least 20 killed, dozens injured in Papua unrest

• About 300 people were arrested in connection with yesterday’s protests

AFP | Wamena | Indonesia

At least 20 people were killed and dozens more injured as fresh unrest

erupted in Indonesia’s res-tive Papua region yesterday, with some victims burned to death in buildings set ablaze by protesters, authorities said.

Papua, on the western half of New Guinea island, has been gripped by weeks of violent protests fuelled by anger over racism, as well as fresh calls for self-rule in the impoverished territory.

Sixteen people were killed in Wamena city where hundreds demonstrated and burned down a government office and other buildings, authorities said.

“Most of them died in a fire,” said Papua military spokesman Eko Daryanto.

“ T h e d e a t h t o l l c o u l d go up because many were trapped in burning kiosks,” he added.

Among the victims, 13 were non-Papuans and three were Papuans, Daryanto said, adding that a soldier and three civilians also died in provincial capital Jayapura, where security forces and stone-throwing protesters clashed yesterday.

The soldier was stabbed to death, while three students died

from rubber bullet wounds, au-thorities said, without elabo-rating.

About 300 people were ar-rested in connection with Mon-day’s protests, Daryanto said, adding that about 65 people had been injured.

The clashes in Papua had qui-etened down in recent days, but flared up again as hundreds took to the streets -- and houses and stores went up in flames.

Yesterday ’s protests in Wamena -- mostly involving high-schoolers -- were report-edly sparked by racist com-

ments made by a teacher, but police have disputed that ac-count as a “hoax”.

Indonesia routinely blames separatists for violence in Pap-ua, its easternmost territory, and conflicting accounts are common.

Demonstrations broke out across the region and in other parts of the Southeast Asian ar-chipelago after the mid-August arrest and tear-gassing of doz-ens of Papuan students, who were also racially abused, in In-donesia’s second-biggest city, Surabaya.

A building burns in Wamena in Indonesia’s eastern Papua province after fresh protests

40 civilians killed in anti-Taliban raid: Afghan officials

AP | Kabul, Afghanistan

Anti-Taliban raids by Af-ghan forces backed by US

airstrikes killed at least 40 ci-vilians attending a wedding party in the southern Helmand province, Afghan officials said.

The civilian deaths in Sun-day night’s raids on Taliban hideouts further rattled Af-ghanistan amid an upsurge in violence that’s followed the collapse this month of US-Tal-iban peace talks to end Amer-ica’s longest war.

“We are saddened and di-vested to hear that civilians have lost their lives in an in-cident in Helmand despite President Ghani’s repeated call for extra cautions in con-ducting military operations,” said Sediq Sediqqi, President Ashraf Ghani’s spokesman.

He added that Helmand’s provincial governor has been instructed to send an investi-gation team to the area.

Abdul Majed Akhund, depu-

ty provincial councilman, said most of the dead were women and children who were who were at a wedding ceremony in Musa Qala district. An addi-tional 12 civilians were wound-ed and were hospitalized in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, Akhund said.

The civilian deaths occurred during the second of two raids undertaken in different areas of Musa Qala, Attahullah Af-ghan, head of the provincial council, said.

The operations killed 22 Tal-iban fighters, including for-eigners, Afghanistan’s defense ministry said in a statement. Fourteen people were arrest-ed, including five Pakistani na-tionals and one Bangladeshi. The statement said large ware-house of supplies and equip-ment was also destroyed.

“The foreign terrorist group was actively engaged in or-ganizing terrorist attacks,” the statement said.

The US military said no Af-ghan or US forces were killed.

Afghans transport the body of a woman who was killed during a raid conducted by Afghan special forces, in the southern Helmand province

Filipinos give thumbs up to Duterte’s ‘excellent’ drugs war: pollReuters | Manila

Philippine citizens are over-whelmingly satisfied with

President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, a survey showed, giving a boost to a gov-ernment outraged by an inter-national push to investigate al-legations of systematic murders by police.

The quarterly poll of 1,200 Filipinos by Social Weather Sta-tions returned a rating of “excel-lent” for Duterte’s three-year campaign, with 82% satisfied due to a perception of less drugs and crime in the country.

That compared to 12% dissat-

isfied, because they believed the drug trade was still flourishing and there were too many killings and police abuses. The survey conducted by the independent pollster in late June had 6% un-decided.

It was released two days after the leak of a presidential memo ordering departments and state-run firms to decline loans or aid from the 18 countries of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) - among them Spain, Britain and Australia - that backed a resolution to in-vestigate Duterte’s crackdown.

Police say they have killed

more than 6,700 suspected drug dealers who all resisted arrest, and deny involvement in the mysterious murders of thou-sands more drug users.

Police reject allegations by human rights groups that they have executed targets, falsified reports and tampered with evi-dence and crime scenes.

Presidential spokesman, Salvador Panelo, said the poll showed that the international community had a warped under-standing of what was happening.

“If it’s true that there are hu-man rights violations then the people of this country will rise

against this administration,” Panelo said on Monday.

“It’s not true that policemen just kill at will, they cannot do that,” he added.

The 47-member Council ap-proved a resolution in July to compile a comprehensive report on the killings, which Manila’s foreign secretary said will not be permitted in the Philippines.

Panelo said domestic inves-tigations had been undertaken already, and the U.N. resolution was “not only unfair, it’s an in-sult.”

The International Criminal Court has since last year been

conducting a preliminary exam-ination to determine if there are grounds to investigate Duterte. He has responded by cancelling the Philippines membership of the court.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said domestic surveys showing support for Duterte and his campaign were exactly why an international probe was needed.

“It’s ridiculous to say there is any sort of serious national in-vestigation into these crimes. It’s laughable,” he told news channel ANC.Rodrigo Duterte

Russia gives definitive approval to Paris climate accordReuters | Moscow

Russia said it would imple-ment the 2015 Paris Agree-

ment to fight climate change after Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev yesterday approved a government resolution signi-fying Moscow’s final accept-ance of the deal.

The same resolution said Russia would not technically ratify the accord however due

to a legal nuance. Medvedev said Moscow would adapt the accord to existing legal norms. It was unclear what, if any, the legal implications of failing to technically ratify the pact were.

Russia is the world’s fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases and the biggest emitter not to have ratified the land-mark global climate deal.

Warne banned from driving after multiple speeding offencesLondon

Australia Test great Shane Warne was yesterday

banned from driving for 12 months after his sixth speeding offence in a two-year period.

The former leg-spinner ad-mitted breaking a 40-miles-per-hour (64 kilometres-per-hour) limit in a hired Jaguar in London last year, a magistrates’ court heard.

The 50-year-old, who was not in court for the hearing, was

clocked at 47 mph early on Au-gust 23, 2018.

Warne, second on the all-time list of Test wicket-takers with 708 scalps, had 15 penalty points on his licence at the time for five previous speeding offences.

Warne, who lives in west Lon-don, was also ordered to pay a total of £1,845 ($3,000) to the court.

“The purpose of disqualifica-tion is to punish and to protect the public and to deter,” said

deputy district judge Adrian Turner.

“There are 15 points to take into account together with the three I must impose today. Be-tween April 2016 and August last year Warne committed six speeding offences.

“It may well be that none on its own were particularly seri-ous but for points disqualifica-tion purposes the triviality of the offences is not to be taken into account.Australia Test great Shane Warne

06TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

Upcycling shot buses to ease water shortageTaez | Yemen

Once a bus wreck pep-pered with bullet holes, the pristine white water

tanker parked in front of a Yem-en university now delivers water to students in the war-torn and cholera-hit south.

Sitt ing among sti l l bat-tle-scarred buses, the tanker was repurposed by student welfare officer Nashwan el-Rebasi, who has made a mini fleet of water transporters for the university at the foot of the Taez mountains.

“The idea was born out of the water shortages in the region and the total lack of a reser-voir at the university,” said the 35-year-old.

Taez, Yemen’s third city lo-cated in the country’s moun-tainous southwest, has been rocked by violent clashes be-tween pro-government forces and Huthi rebels, as well as be-tween different loyalist factions.

The ongoing civil war has rav-aged Yemen since

i t s

outbreak in 2014.

Filled with rainwaterTaez’s 600,000 people have

remained under the control of government forces, while Huthi fighters backed by Iran have be-sieged the city.

The Huthis have tested the resolve of the city’s residents by seizing control of areas that include the principal wells sup-plying the city and restricting access to the essential resource.

“Eighty percent of the buses at the university were destroyed,” said Rebasi from behind the wheel of one of his tankers, which he created by working “tirelessly” for a fortnight.

In an open air workshop, uni-versity technicians dismantle other buses, leaving only the driver’s seat and the chassis onto which tanks are attached in place of passenger benches.

Four passenger buses have been reincarnated as water tank-ers in total, to help 200 dormi-tory-dwelling students out of the university’s 40,000-strong student body.

“We’ve had several assembly issues and have struggled to

find spare parts on the market,” explained technician Mohamed Amin.

“We can’t order them from Sanaa” or provisional capital Aden, he said.

The tankers are filled from what little rainwater falls in the area and from the boreholes still under government control.

The scheme costs the uni-versity 700,000 Yemeni riyals a month ($2,700 at the official rate, $1,300 on the black mar-ket).

‘Nothing is impossible’The United Nations special

envoy for Yemen Martin Grif-fiths wrote this week that “this is a conflict the international com-munity can resolve. And because we can, we must”.

“Let us be clear: Yemen cannot wait. And moreover, Yemen need not wait. And neither should we.”

Two million suspected cas-es of the waterborne infection have been recorded by the World Health Organization, while cholera has killed at least 3,500 people, roughly two-thirds of whom were under

five years old.Cholera is an intestinal infec-

tion caused by eating or drink-ing products contaminated with bacteria which cause serious dehydration that can prove fatal if left untreated.

After parking one of his cre-ations, Rebasi climbs onto a pre-transformation bus without windows and examines the torn leather seats interspersed with mounds of junk.

On another vehicle, the words “Taez University” could still be seen despite the dilapidated state of the bus, complete with a windscreen speckled with bul-let holes.

“We’ve lost friends, family members. The wars have de-stroyed everything. If people aren’t killed, then they’re dis-placed,” Rebasi said.

But he believes that his project shows that “nothing is impossi-ble, everything can be fixed”.

“What’s important is that peo-ple want to do it, to reflect on how they can resolve what the wars have destroyed,” he said.

A man drives a university bus transformed into a water tanker in Yemen’s third city of Taiz

A Yemeni student welfare officer has made a mini fleet of water transporters from battle-scarred passenger buses

The war-scarred passenger buses of a Yemeni university have been repurposed into water tankers

‘How dare you?’ Greta Thunberg asks world leaders at United Nations United Nations | United States

A visibly angry Greta Thun-berg berated world leaders

as she addressed a UN climate summit yesterday, accusing them of betraying her genera-tion by failing to tackle green-house gas emissions and asking “How dare you?”

The Swedish teen, who has become the global face of the growing youth movement against climate inaction, be-gan by telling her audience: “My message is that we’ll be watching you,” eliciting laughter.

But it was soon clear that the tone of the message would be very serious.

“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back at school on the other side of the ocean,” the 16-year-old, who is taking a year off from her stud-ies, said.

“You come to us young people for hope. How dare you?” she thundered.

“You have stolen my dreams

and my childhood with your empty words, yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosys-tems are collapsing.

“We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is the money and fairy tales of eternal economic

growth. How dare you!”She added that in her talks

with leaders, she had been told that the youth were being heard and the urgency was under-stood.

“But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to be-lieve that, because if you really

understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil, and that I refuse to believe.”

Thunberg, who often appears uncomfortable in the limelight and is seen as a reluctant leader, then detailed the various targets that were being missed, height-ening the risk of “irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.”

She also took aim at the sum-mit called by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to ask coun-tries to expand their commit-ments saying: “There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today because these numbers are too uncomfortable, and you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.”

“You are failing us,” she con-cluded. “But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal.

“The eyes of all future gener-ations, are upon you, And if you choose to fail us. I say, we will never forgive you!”

Youth Climate activist Greta Thunberg accused world leaders of betraying her generation through their inaction on reducing greenhouse gas emissions

Mugabe died of cancer, says Zimbabwe mediaHarare

Zimbabwe’s founding pres-ident Robert Mugabe had

“advanced cancer” when he died in hospital in Singapore on September 6, the state-owned newspaper reported yesterday.

The former guerilla lead-er, who died aged 95, came to power at the end of white minority rule in 1980 and ruled Zimbabwe uninterrupted for 37 years and seven months.

He was toppled on Novem-ber 2017 in a military-backed coup, ending an increasing-ly iron-fisted rule marked by political oppression and eco-nomic ruin.

Mugabe’s health deteriorat-ed rapidly after the ousting and he made regular trips to Singapore to seek treatment.

“Mugabe had advanced cancer, and had to be taken off chemotherapy treatment because it was no longer ef-fective,” said The Herald yes-terday.

The information was re-vealed by President Emmerson

Mnangagwa during an address to party supporters in New York on Saturday, according to the paper.

“Doctors had stopped treat-ment... because of age and also because the cancer had spread and it was not helping any-more,” said Mnangagwa, cited by the Herald.

The family had previously downplayed Mugabe’s fre-quent trips to Singapore as necessary for cataract treat-ment.

Mugabe is expected to be buried next month at a mon-ument for national heroes in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare.

Mugabe died less than two years after being forced from office

07WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

When I met him for the first time, he said to me ‘India

has a true friend in the White House.

Mr. President, this morning in Houston,

you can hear the heartbeat of this

great partnership in this celebration of the

world’s two largest democracies

MODI TOLD TRUMP

Trump visits key states with Modi, Morrison

• About 50,000 Indian Americans attended the “Howdy Modi!” rally in Houston

• Trump said US-India bonds are expanding despite tensions over India’s trade surplus

• The US and India are discussing ways to negotiate at least a partial trade deal

• Trump is also scheduled to meet this week with Pakistani leader Imran Khan

AP | Wapakoneta, Ohio

President Donald Trump’s run-up to the U.N. General Assembly was a dash on

Sunday through two key politi-cal states with two world leaders at events that felt like his rau-cous campaign rallies.

In Wapakoneta, Ohio, Trump and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison visited a recycled paper factory being opened by Anthony Pratt, an Australian businessman who is investing billions of dollars in the Unit-ed States to create thousands of manufacturing jobs. Ohio-ans crowded into a hot facto-ry chanted “USA. USA” when Trump talked about products emblazoned with the words “Made in America.”

“This great state of Ohio is open for business,” Trump told the cheering crowd at a new Pratt Industries plant still under construction.

“If it wasn’t for your presi-dency, this mill would not be here today,” Pratt said, praising the Trump administration’s eco-nomic and tax policies.

Earlier, in Texas, Trump joined Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to highlight the growth of US exports to India and bil-lions of dollars spent by India on US defence equipment. Nei-ther mentioned trade tensions. Deafening drums marked the entrance of Trump and Modi as they clasped hands and walked across the stage in a packed Tex-as stadium, sending a message of unity between the world’s two largest democracies.

The president also discussed border security, an important campaign issue for Texas, which shares a border with Mexico.

“We are taking unprecedented action to secure our southern border and stop illegal immigra-tion,” Trump said.

About 50,000 Indian Amer-icans attended the “Howdy Modi!” rally in Houston, where the crowd chanted “Modi! Modi! Modi!” as he took the stage to in-troduce Trump as “my friend, a friend of India, a great American president.”

Modi even used Trump’s po-litical slogan to say the president had a strong resolve to “make America great again.”

“When I met him for the first time, he said to me ‘India has a true friend in the White House,’” Modi said. “Mr. President, this morning in Houston, you can

hear the heartbeat of this great partnership in this celebration of the world’s two largest de-

mocracies.”The event had the feel of one

of Trump’s campaign rallies,

complete with a packed venue and a roaring crowd, and Trump treated it that way at times.

He ticked off his accomplish-ments in office, highlighted a drop in the unemployment rate among Indian Americans and extolled their contributions to the US as he pitched for their vote in a traditionally Republi-can state that Democrats have visions of pulling into their col-umn next year.

Trump said Modi invited him to the rally — one of the largest US gatherings of the Indian dias-pora in history — when they met last month in France, and Trump seemed to explain his decision to attend by saying “I love India.”

Earlier this year, Modi won the biggest reelection India has seen in years and his support for Trump could help the president at the polls next year. The two are to meet Tuesday on the side-lines of the annual U.N. General Assembly.

Trump is also scheduled to meet this week with Pakistani leader Imran Khan, who recent-ly solicited the president’s help mediating the Pakistan-India conflict over Kashmir. India’s government has stripped the disputed Himalayan region of its semi-autonomy and launched a security crackdown last month.

Trump said US-India bonds are expanding despite tensions over India’s trade surplus with the US In June, the US canceled special trade privileges that had allowed India to export certain goods with lower tariffs. India responded by slapping tariffs on more than two dozen US goods.

The US and India are discuss-ing ways to negotiate at least a

partial trade deal, which would let the president score a victory as he campaigns for reelection in November 2020. A partial deal could include Washington reinstating India’s special tariff status in exchange for conces-sions related to access to Indian markets, possibly in dairy and medical devices. Other issues are thwarting efforts to sign a larger trade deal.

In an address in Hindi to “my family,” Modi briefly mentioned the trade talks and expressed hope that an announcement can be made while he and Trump participate in the U.N. gathering.

Modi said that while Trump has called himself a “tough ne-gotiator,” he has learned a few things from Trump about the art of making deals. After the speeches, Modi asked Trump to walk hand-in-hand around the perimeter of the stadium floor, looking up to the stands of cheering fans.

In Texas, Trump also was briefed on recent storm flood-ing in the southeastern part of the state when he stopped at a nearby US Coast Guard station.

Hundreds of homes and oth-er buildings across a region ex-tending eastward from Houston and across the Louisiana border were damaged by Imelda, as the one-time tropical storm slowly churned across the Gulf region, dumping more than 40 inches (102 centimeters) of rain in some areas.

Authorities blame the storm for at least five deaths.

Trump will spend most of the week in New York participating in the UN General Assembly .

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump shake hands after introductions during the “Howdi Modi” President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speak as Pratt Industries chairman Anthony Pratt, center, watches during a tour of Pratt Industries,

Trump says ‘May come to India’Houston

Speaking at the mega “How-dy, Modi!” event in Hou-

ston, Texas, US President Don-ald Trump on Sunday gave hints that he may visit India next week.

The POTUS said that very soon India will have access to the National Basketball Asso-ciation (NBA). The first-ever NBA game will be held in Oc-tober in Mumbai. 

“Very soon India will have to access to another world-class American product-NBA basketball. Wow, sounds good.

Next week thousands in Mum-bai will watch the first-ever NBA game in India..am I in-vited, Mr Prime Minister? I may come, be careful I may come,” Trump said while speaking at NRG Football Stadium.

The NBA India Games 2019 will feature Indiana Pacers and the Sacramento Kings who will play two pre-season games on October 4 and October 5 at the Dome, NSCI, SVP Stadium in Maharashtra’s Mumbai. This will mark the first-ever games from a North American sports league in India.

People look on as President Donald Trump arrives to speak at the “Howdy Modi: Shared Dreams, Bright Futures” event with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at NRG Stadium

Royal couple condemn violence against women in South AfricaCape Town

Prince Harry yesterday spoke out against gender-based vi-

olence in South Africa as his wife Meghan hailed girls who had chosen to “stand up for what is right”.

The British royal couple vis-ited Cape Town’s tough Nyanga township as part of a 10-day tour of southern Africa -- their first official visit as a family since their son Archie was born in May.

Situated on the outskirts of a city known for it pristine beaches and rolling vineyards,

the township is crippled by gang violence and the highest murder rate in the country.

After landing earlier aboard a commercial flight from London, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex surprised young girls who were in the middle of a self-defence class. They then addressed the crowd, stressing the need to roll back gender violence and em-power women.

South Africa is one of the world’s most dangerous places, particularly for women, with more than 40,000 incidents of rape were reported to the police

between April 2018 and March 2019. President Cyril Rama-phosa has vowed to crack down on perpetrators after protests flared up across the country this month. “Touching on what your President said last week -– no man is born to cause harm to women,” said Prince Harry.

“It’s about redefining mascu-linity, it’s about creating your own footprints for your chil-dren to follow in, so that you can make a positive change for the future.”

Meghan, a mixed-race Amer-ican who has been advocating

women’s rights long before mar-rying Harry in 2017, congratulat-ed girls “standing up for what’s right in the face of adversity”.

“Your commitment to stand up for what is right is energising and inspiring,” said the Duchess.

“While I’m here with my husband and as a member of the royal family, I am here as a mother, a wife, a woman of colour and your sister.” Demon-strations have been mounting over the rising toll of murders, rapes and abuse of women and girls, and a sense of impunity that surrounds it.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex met members of the Justice Desk, a rights group in Cape Town’s Nyanga township

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

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

HUSSEIN IBISH

US President Donald Trump might see himself as the an-tithesis of his predecessor

Barack Obama, yet he often seems to follow his example and even amplify his policies. During the 2011 Nato intervention in Libya, for example, Mr Obama, who was then president, was described by White House officials as “leading from behind”. The phrase was quickly seized upon by his polit-ical opponents as a derogatory metaphor for his foreign policy, suggestive of shirking responsi-bility and allowing others to take the initiative.

In the unfolding confrontation with Iran, Mr Trump appears to be seriously attempting to “lead from behind” when it comes to military actions. Washington has spearheaded a “maximum pres-sure” sanctions campaign against Tehran that continues to intensify and the US administration is di-recting its diplomatic and political efforts to isolate and stigmatise Iran.

Indeed, its central role in build-ing a strong global coalition to ad-dress Iran’s misconduct has been complicated because Mr Trump has alienated much of the inter-national community, including close US allies in Europe, who are still trying to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal after he withdrew from it last year.

But given the recent attack on key Saudi oil facilities, which the

US says was orchestrated by Teh-ran, other countries must set aside whatever resentments and doubts they might harbour because Iran has now targeted global oil sup-plies and energy markets.

Because of a growing diplomat-ic momentum against Iran and significant steps towards con-structing a broad international coalition to thwart its destabilis-ing activities – beginning with an increasing number of participants in the US-led naval force to protect international shipping in the Gulf – it’s heartening that Washing-ton and Riyadh have reacted with calm and deliberate assembling of the evidence and a measured response to Iran’s provocation.

The next battlefield will be the UN General Assembly in New York this week, where Washington and Riyadh will work to build a coali-tion broad and committed enough to restore deterrence without a major military retaliation. The hope is that it might still be pos-sible to thwart Iran without being drawn into the military clash that Tehran is trying to provoke, and thereby maintain prospects for negotiation.

The paramount goal at this stage must be to restore deterrence, giv-en that attacks on the Saudi oil sites demonstrate an outrageous degree of presumed impunity by Iran and a dangerous sense that the US and Saudi Arabia either cannot, or will not, retaliate.

If diplomacy and international coalition-building fail to persuade

Tehran, then military force might eventually be required to correct Iran’s evident misapprehension

that it is “winning” and, worse, is dealing with countries incapable of striking back.

NO MAN SUCCEEDS WITHOUT A GOOD WOMAN BEHIND HIM. WIFE OR MOTHER, IF IT IS BOTH, HE IS TWICE BLESSED INDEED.GODFREY WINN

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Iran should not

underestimate Donald Trump

If regime leaders in Tehran conclude they are dealing with a paper tiger, they will be making

a grave miscalculation

TOM FLETCHER

This week the global foreign policy elite are relocating to New York for the an-

nual jamboree of statecraft, the UN General Assembly, now in its 74th year.

Despite being hosted in New York, the city that never sleeps, UNGA can often feel sleepy. The rooms have too little air and the speeches too much of it. Every head of delegation gets a turn at the microphone, many including platitudinous nods to regions of conflict. Occasionally there is a rogue showboat intervention. I remember watching former Lib-yan dictator Muammar Qadd-afi ripping up the UN Charter, and then Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez talking of the “smell of sulphur” at the podium after a George W Bush speech. But whether there is sound or fury, most speeches end up signifying nothing.

Away from the podium, jet-lagged officials stagger from meeting to meeting. This is the ep-icentre of diplomatic speed-dat-ing. Encounters are ranked and prioritised carefully, from plenar-ies, pull-asides and pool sprays; to bilaterals and brush-bys; to “grip and grins”. Most are carefully choreographed, but not all. At one UNGA, I organised an ambush of a South African president who wanted to avoid a difficult meet-ing with the British prime min-ister. At another, I had to bundle the British prime minister into a side room to avoid an unwanted encounter with Robert Mugabe.

Promising careers can be broken by a graveyard speaker slot or an uncomfortable seating arrange-ment. Countries such as Israel, Iran, the US and Saudi Arabia face the protocol nightmare of proximity.

The unspoken reality in the corridors this year is that what the United Nations represents – a system based on states, hier-archies and the status quo – is at a weak point. Nationalism and populism are more fashionable than consensus and co-opera-tion. We are only just beginning to see how digital connectivity will tear through the post-1945 global infrastructure. The pace of technological change means that the internet has often been something that happens to the global architecture, not a force marshalled fully in support of our collective objectives. All this is at a time when Donald Trump’s presidency has orphaned the rules-based international system.

But don’t get me wrong. The UN might not be perfect and the cast has a tendency to inauthentic hy-perbole, yet no one has yet come up with a better idea for global co-existence. Beyond the proto-col, preening and pinball diplo-macy, the tedium and tantrums, what happens in the corridors this week really matters to all of us. And we – and the UN – do not have the luxury of waiting for a US president with a more enlight-ened world view.

So I think there are three tests for the UNGA this year if it is to reverse several years of agonising decline.

Firstly, can it respond – with practical actions, not just fine words – to the extraordinary mo-bilisation of young people on the

climate crisis? Under an ener-getic new communications chief, the UN has sought to ally itself with 16-year-old Swedish activist

Greta Thunberg and her growing army of determined campaigners. The gap between those inside and outside the conference rooms is

UNGA 2019 comes when co-operation at its weakest point

The United Nations needs

to rise to the challenges

posed by technology and speak

to a younger generation

C I V I L I A N ’ S T R I B U N E

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

TOP

4TWEETS

01

If you are motivated by a wish to help on the

basis of kindness, com-passion and respect, then you can do any kind of work, in any field, and function more effectively with less fear or worry, not being afraid of what others think or whether you will ultimately reach your goal.

@DalaiLama

03

On my way to the United Nations. To-

day I’m speaking in the General Assembly at the Climate Action Summit. This is such a crucial day, world leaders are gather-ing at the UN in New York to decide on our future. The eyes of the world will be upon them.

@GretaThunberg

04

The Ministry of Edu-cation will carry out

an audit to ascertain the safety of all school build-ings countrywide to avert incidents that put the lives of learners at risk.

@WilliamsRuto

02

We cannot just sit back and watch

as priceless endangered species like the African elephant, the black rhi-no and the pangolin are wiped off the face of the earth. We are ramping up UK efforts to save the natural world. #UNGA #TeamUK

@BorisJohnson

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

editorial stances)

And that is where Mr Trump appears to be leaning strongly to-wards a genuine version of “lead-

ing from behind”. He is signalling that he wants US allies to take the lead in any necessary military re-

taliations.This pattern has already been

developing in Syria and Iraq,

where Israel has been striking pro-Iranian militias and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps instal-lations and assets.

Since the attack on Abqaiq and Khurais on September 14, Mr Trump has sent unmistakable signals that he also expects Saudi Arabia to take the lead militarily, at least at first.

He tweeted that the US military was “locked and loaded” but was “waiting to hear from the King-dom” before determining “under what terms we would proceed”.

At the very least, this suggested that until Saudi Arabia publicly blamed Iran, and therefore ac-cepted responsibility for what-ever subsequently unfolded, the US would not consider military retaliation.

Later the president noted: “That was an attack on Saudi Arabia, and that wasn’t an attack on us,” add-

ing: “I’m somebody, who would like not to have war.”

Given the emphasis the US pres-ident has put on the “burden-shar-ing” by his partners and his aver-sion to using military force unless American interests have been di-rectly attacked or Americans have been killed, he certainly seems to be sending the strong message that he hopes, or even expects, Saudi Arabia and other regional allies to take the lead in any military retaliation.

There is no doubt that if the confrontation with Iran becomes a conflict, US forces would have to take the initiative fairly quick-ly. But Mr Trump rightly wants to avoid such a dangerous devel-opment and putting the onus on regional allies to take the military lead initially might help him avoid being drawn into an over-hasty clash.

Even more than Mr Obama, then, Mr Trump might have dis-covered the real virtue in leading from behind.

But if regime leaders in Tehran conclude that, because Mr Trump would rather avoid conflict for po-litical reasons and prefers regional partners to take the lead, they are dealing with a paper tiger, they will certainly rue that miscalculation.

Even those who see the world in “America First” terms must understand that if the US cannot quickly restore deterrence with Iran, its status as a Middle East-ern and even a global power will be all but over.

1996Representatives of 71 nations sign the Comprehensive Nucle-ar-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations.

2005Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating por-tions of southwestern Louisiana and extreme southeastern Texas.

2007Between 30,000 and 100,000 people take part in anti-gov-ernment protests in Yangon, Burma, the largest in 20 years.

2008Thabo Mbeki resigns as president of South Africa

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY

There is no doubt that if the confrontation with

Iran becomes a conflict, US forces would have to take

the initiative fairly quickly.

India has had among the highest corporate tax rates in the world and the recent

move by Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister, to reduce it from 30 per cent to 22 per cent is a wise one. It will cer-tainly help lift the mood in the corporate sector.

Hopefully, this will spur in-vestment in the country and encourage corporations to cease laying off personnel and closing factories.

This is also a good time for government to reduce income taxes, which can be as high as 30 per cent. The Indian econo-my is confronted with low GDP

while it is not growing as fast as it should.

So encouraging consumers to buy products will be key to giving it a kickstart.

Government would be smart to put purchasing power back in the hands of consumers by rationalising the rates of in-come taxes and, perhaps, also lowering the goods and ser-vices tax – introduced in 2017 – from the highest point of 28 per cent to a maximum of 20 per cent.

These steps will spur con-sumption and provide a much needed boost to the economy.

Rajesh Kuchal

narrowing. But the activists and the UN now need to turn this into real pressure on those resisting change. We must not mistake ac-

tivity for progress.Secondly, can the UN still act

as a means of reducing friction on key international tensions? The risk of further escalation and provocation between Iran and Saudi Arabia tops this year’s long list. The UN Security Council must show that it will not be para-lysed by vetoes, as it has too often in the past. Diplomacy is hard, patient, frustrating work but the alternative is always worse. The aspirations of the UN’s Respon-sibility to Protect doctrine were buried in the rubble of Syria.

Thirdly, can the UN show that it can deal with tomorrow’s challenges, not just those of to-day? This means putting real energy into the effort to secure long-term finance for global ed-ucation. Once again, the world’s leaders will be given the chance to support creative new mech-anisms such as the Education Cannot Wait global fund and the International Finance Facility

for Education, a platform that aims to mobilise more than $13 billion via a consortium of public and private donors and inter-national finance institutions to ensure 200 million more young people get the opportunities they crave.

Preparing humanity’s future also means accelerating the effort to respond to the challenges and opportunities posed by technol-ogy. One example is the Global Tech Panel, which meets again in New York this week to develop a response to the growing threats posed by lethal autonomous weapons. Time is very short and the tech community is clear that it is creating risks faster than we can manage them.

The UN and governments alone cannot crack these issues. They require the mobilisation of new, creative coalitions between citi-zens, civil society and businesses. But the UN is often the only or-ganisation that can bring together those alliances. So these are the issues on which the UN can begin the fightback, securing not just relevance but influence.

It is easy to be cynical about the hashtags, the celebrity tweets, the vanity photos and the “now or never” cliffhanger campaigns that will dominate social media around the UN again this year. But we all need the UN to rise to these challenges: we have subcontract-ed to it many of the biggest chal-lenges facing humanity. And we ourselves need to rise to the chal-lenge too, so let’s not subcontract our ingenuity, our survival in-stinct and our consciences.

UNGA 2019 comes when co-operation at its weakest point The UN might not be

perfect and the cast has a tendency to inauthentic

hyperbole, yet no one has yet come up with a

better idea for global co-existence.

India tax cut, a welcome move

C I V I L I A N ’ S T R I B U N E

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

TOP

4TWEETS

01

If you are motivated by a wish to help on the

basis of kindness, com-passion and respect, then you can do any kind of work, in any field, and function more effectively with less fear or worry, not being afraid of what others think or whether you will ultimately reach your goal.

@DalaiLama

03

On my way to the United Nations. To-

day I’m speaking in the General Assembly at the Climate Action Summit. This is such a crucial day, world leaders are gather-ing at the UN in New York to decide on our future. The eyes of the world will be upon them.

@GretaThunberg

04

The Ministry of Edu-cation will carry out

an audit to ascertain the safety of all school build-ings countrywide to avert incidents that put the lives of learners at risk.

@WilliamsRuto

02

We cannot just sit back and watch

as priceless endangered species like the African elephant, the black rhi-no and the pangolin are wiped off the face of the earth. We are ramping up UK efforts to save the natural world. #UNGA #TeamUK

@BorisJohnson

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

editorial stances)

And that is where Mr Trump appears to be leaning strongly to-wards a genuine version of “lead-

ing from behind”. He is signalling that he wants US allies to take the lead in any necessary military re-

taliations.This pattern has already been

developing in Syria and Iraq,

where Israel has been striking pro-Iranian militias and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps instal-lations and assets.

Since the attack on Abqaiq and Khurais on September 14, Mr Trump has sent unmistakable signals that he also expects Saudi Arabia to take the lead militarily, at least at first.

He tweeted that the US military was “locked and loaded” but was “waiting to hear from the King-dom” before determining “under what terms we would proceed”.

At the very least, this suggested that until Saudi Arabia publicly blamed Iran, and therefore ac-cepted responsibility for what-ever subsequently unfolded, the US would not consider military retaliation.

Later the president noted: “That was an attack on Saudi Arabia, and that wasn’t an attack on us,” add-

ing: “I’m somebody, who would like not to have war.”

Given the emphasis the US pres-ident has put on the “burden-shar-ing” by his partners and his aver-sion to using military force unless American interests have been di-rectly attacked or Americans have been killed, he certainly seems to be sending the strong message that he hopes, or even expects, Saudi Arabia and other regional allies to take the lead in any military retaliation.

There is no doubt that if the confrontation with Iran becomes a conflict, US forces would have to take the initiative fairly quick-ly. But Mr Trump rightly wants to avoid such a dangerous devel-opment and putting the onus on regional allies to take the military lead initially might help him avoid being drawn into an over-hasty clash.

Even more than Mr Obama, then, Mr Trump might have dis-covered the real virtue in leading from behind.

But if regime leaders in Tehran conclude that, because Mr Trump would rather avoid conflict for po-litical reasons and prefers regional partners to take the lead, they are dealing with a paper tiger, they will certainly rue that miscalculation.

Even those who see the world in “America First” terms must understand that if the US cannot quickly restore deterrence with Iran, its status as a Middle East-ern and even a global power will be all but over.

1996Representatives of 71 nations sign the Comprehensive Nucle-ar-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations.

2005Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating por-tions of southwestern Louisiana and extreme southeastern Texas.

2007Between 30,000 and 100,000 people take part in anti-gov-ernment protests in Yangon, Burma, the largest in 20 years.

2008Thabo Mbeki resigns as president of South Africa

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY

There is no doubt that if the confrontation with

Iran becomes a conflict, US forces would have to take

the initiative fairly quickly.

India has had among the highest corporate tax rates in the world and the recent

move by Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister, to reduce it from 30 per cent to 22 per cent is a wise one. It will cer-tainly help lift the mood in the corporate sector.

Hopefully, this will spur in-vestment in the country and encourage corporations to cease laying off personnel and closing factories.

This is also a good time for government to reduce income taxes, which can be as high as 30 per cent. The Indian econo-my is confronted with low GDP

while it is not growing as fast as it should.

So encouraging consumers to buy products will be key to giving it a kickstart.

Government would be smart to put purchasing power back in the hands of consumers by rationalising the rates of in-come taxes and, perhaps, also lowering the goods and ser-vices tax – introduced in 2017 – from the highest point of 28 per cent to a maximum of 20 per cent.

These steps will spur con-sumption and provide a much needed boost to the economy.

Rajesh Kuchal

narrowing. But the activists and the UN now need to turn this into real pressure on those resisting change. We must not mistake ac-

tivity for progress.Secondly, can the UN still act

as a means of reducing friction on key international tensions? The risk of further escalation and provocation between Iran and Saudi Arabia tops this year’s long list. The UN Security Council must show that it will not be para-lysed by vetoes, as it has too often in the past. Diplomacy is hard, patient, frustrating work but the alternative is always worse. The aspirations of the UN’s Respon-sibility to Protect doctrine were buried in the rubble of Syria.

Thirdly, can the UN show that it can deal with tomorrow’s challenges, not just those of to-day? This means putting real energy into the effort to secure long-term finance for global ed-ucation. Once again, the world’s leaders will be given the chance to support creative new mech-anisms such as the Education Cannot Wait global fund and the International Finance Facility

for Education, a platform that aims to mobilise more than $13 billion via a consortium of public and private donors and inter-national finance institutions to ensure 200 million more young people get the opportunities they crave.

Preparing humanity’s future also means accelerating the effort to respond to the challenges and opportunities posed by technol-ogy. One example is the Global Tech Panel, which meets again in New York this week to develop a response to the growing threats posed by lethal autonomous weapons. Time is very short and the tech community is clear that it is creating risks faster than we can manage them.

The UN and governments alone cannot crack these issues. They require the mobilisation of new, creative coalitions between citi-zens, civil society and businesses. But the UN is often the only or-ganisation that can bring together those alliances. So these are the issues on which the UN can begin the fightback, securing not just relevance but influence.

It is easy to be cynical about the hashtags, the celebrity tweets, the vanity photos and the “now or never” cliffhanger campaigns that will dominate social media around the UN again this year. But we all need the UN to rise to these challenges: we have subcontract-ed to it many of the biggest chal-lenges facing humanity. And we ourselves need to rise to the chal-lenge too, so let’s not subcontract our ingenuity, our survival in-stinct and our consciences.

UNGA 2019 comes when co-operation at its weakest point The UN might not be

perfect and the cast has a tendency to inauthentic

hyperbole, yet no one has yet come up with a

better idea for global co-existence.

India tax cut, a welcome move

KNOW WHAT

10

business

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

This is a clear signal from the government

to boost investors’ confidence in

India’s economy. It will directly

affect a company’s profitability, help fuel

consumption — but more importantly it also reflects India’s

ambitionsVIKAS AGARWAL

INDIA HEAD OF ONEPLUS

A flurry of gasoline bookings that emerged

this week for Europe to Middle East voyages

could see more European gasoline make

its way to Saudi DATA ANALYTICS FIRM VORTEXA

Saudi to restore full oil output by next week• Saudi’s oil production from its Khurais plant is now at more than 1.3 million barrels per day

• The kingdom has managed to recover supplies to customers

• The kingdom ships more than 7 million bpd to global destinations every day

Reuters | London

Saudi Arabia has restored more than 75 per cent of crude output lost after at-

tacks on its facilities and will return to full volumes by ear-ly next week, a source briefed on the latest developments yesterday.

Saudi’s oil production from its Khurais plant is now at more than 1.3 million barrels per day, while current production from its Abqaiq plant is at about 3 million bpd, the source said. 

The Sept. 14 attacks on the Abqaiq and Khurais plants, some

of the kingdom’s biggest, caused raging fires and significant dam-age that halved the crude output of the world’s top oil exporter, by shutting down 5.7 million barrels per day of production.

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and the chief executive of state oil company Aramco, Amin Nass-er, have said the output will be fully back online by the end of

September.The kingdom has managed to

recover supplies to customers to the levels they were at prior to the attacks by drawing from its huge oil inventories and offering other crude grades from other fields, Saudi officials said.

No casualties were reported at the sites even though thousands of workers and contractors work and live in the area.

Saudi said it would ensure full oil supply commitments to its customers. The kingdom ships more than 7 million bpd to global destinations every day, and for years has served as the supplier of last resort to markets.

Saudi Arabia’s ability to quick-ly restore oil production after the attacks, which hit at the heart of the Saudi energy industry, would demonstrate an important de-gree of resilience to potentially very damaging shocks, Moody’s said last week.

Aramco has a meeting with analysts scheduled today at the company’s headquarters in Dhahran, two sources said.

Europe gasoline exports to Mideast surge

Over 400,000 tonnes of gaso-line and gasoline blending com-ponents have been booked in the past week for loading between Sept. 21 and Sept 26 out of north-west Europe with Mideast Gulf delivery options, shipping data shows. The flow is the equiva-lent of around 500,000 barrels per day.

It is unclear where the car-goes will end up, but traders said that Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil company Aramco is seeking to buy large volumes of refined oil

products.Europe’s exports of gasoline

and blending components to Saudi Arabia averaged 60,000 bpd in the first five months of the year, according to data ana-lytics firm Vortexa.

“A flurry of gasoline book-ings that emerged this week for Europe to Middle East voyages could see more European gaso-line make its way to Saudi Ara-bia,” Vortexa said in a note.

Traders said the rise in ship-ping bookings was related to a sharp increase in demand fol-lowing attacks on Saudi Ara-bia’s oil infrastructure on Sept. 14, which knocked out around 1 million bpd of Saudi Arabia’s refining capacity.

Workers are seen at the damaged site of Saudi Aramco oil facility in Abqaiq

Aramco is getting ready for an initial public of-

fering possibly later this year

India’s tax cut to boost smartphone manufacturing: executives• The new tax rate brings it at par with other leading manufacturing economies such as the US and China

• India slashed its headline corporate tax rate to 22 per cent from 30pc

• The country is currently vying with rivals like Vietnam to attract global firms

• New Delhi last week scrapped a tax on imports of open cell TV panels

• The trade war between Beijing and Washington has led to higher tariffs on goods worth tens of billions of dollars

Reuters | Mumbai

India’s lower corporate tax rate will help its smartphone in-

dustry expand, fuel research and development (R&D) investment and attract higher-value com-ponent makers to the world’s second-biggest smartphone market, four top industry exec-utives said.

India slashed its headline cor-porate tax rate to 22 per cent

from 30pc on Friday in a sur-prise gambit aimed at wooing manufacturers and boosting in-vestment in Asia’s third-biggest economy, where unemployment has surged as growth sinks to six-year lows.

The country is currently vy-ing with rivals like Vietnam to attract global firms such as Apple and encourage contract manufacturers like Foxconn and Wistron to step up their pres-

ence. China’s trade tussle with the United States, which is push-ing smartphone makers to seek alternative markets, is giving that fight an additional edge.

“This is a clear signal from the government to boost in-vestors’ confidence in India’s economy,” said Vikas Agarwal, India head of China’s OnePlus, which makes its smartphones locally and rivals Apple for a share of India’s premium device

segment.“It will directly affect a com-

pany’s profitability, help fuel consumption — but more im-portantly it also reflects India’s ambitions.”

The trade war between Bei-jing and Washington has led to higher tariffs on goods worth tens of billions of dollars and disrupted global supply chains, pushing companies to look at newer markets to escape higher tariffs.

And India has already begun stepping up efforts to attract investment, especially in la-bour-intensive electronics man-ufacturing.

New Delhi last week scrapped a tax on imports of open cell TV panels, used to make television displays, in a move likely to boost television manufacturing in the country.

Investing in IndiaThe arrival of global players

has made India the world’s No. 2 mobile phone maker and the smartphone industry is central to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious “Make in In-dia” drive.

Friday’s announcement also cut taxes for any manufacturing firm incorporated on or after Oct. 1 and beginning production by March 2023 to an even lower rate of 17pc — less than rival countries.

That should help charm con-tract manufacturers that do not already have a presence in the South Asian country, such as Taiwan’s Pegatron and other firms which make higher-end electronics components.

The four senior smartphone industry executives said it was

too early to speculate about how much more money their compa-nies would commit to investing following the tax cut.

But Indian smartphone maker Lava and China’s Xiaomi said the cut would help them gener-ate more employment and step up investments in local R&D.

“We are hopeful that we will be able to bring more of our component suppliers to India and help boost the local man-

ufacturing industry further,” said a spokeswoman for Bei-jing-based Xiaomi, India’s top smartphone player.

It makes 99pc percent of its devices locally through contract manufacturers and recently helped its supplier Holitech — a maker of camera modules and other parts — to set up a plant in northern India.

The tax cut will help draw makers of components like phone display panels, lithium cells and camera modules, in-dustry executives and analysts said, also citing a jump for In-dia in a global index that ranks countries by ease of doing busi-ness.

“Earlier, India’s corporate tax rate was among the highest in the world. The new tax rate brings it at par with other lead-ing manufacturing economies such as the US and China,” said one of the smartphone industry executives, who asked not to be named due to company policy. “The central bank now needs to cut lending rates by 75-100 basis points to fuel growth.”

While it is hard to calculate the benefits for individual com-panies, the lower tax rate will mean better profit margins for companies such as Apple and OnePlus which sell high-value phones, Rushabh Doshi of tech-nology research firm Canalys said.

“Right now is the window of opportunity for India to come up with as many incentives as possible to draw attention,” Shih-Chung Liu, vice chairman of Taiwan’s External Trade De-velopment Council, said.

“This is a good start, but it is just one major incentive.”

US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a “Howdy, Modi” rally celebrating Modi at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas

11TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

Thomas Cook collapses, 600,000 stranded• UK government hired planes to bringing home more than 150,000 British customers abroad over the next two weeks

• Largest repatriation in peacetime history

• Shutdown leaves 22,000 global employees without a job

• Tunisian tourism minister Rene Trabelsi said that 4,500 Thomas Cook customers are still on holiday in Tunisia

• Turkish Ministry of Tourism said it will provide support for local companies affected by the Thomas Cook collapse

• Spanish Airport operator Aena says 46 flights operated by Thomas Cook have been cancelled in Spanish airports

• Cyprus says 15,000 Thomas Cook customers are stranded on the island

• A Greek tourism ministry official said that about 50,000 tourists are stranded

• Thomas Cook says there are roughly 140,000 holidaymakers currently traveling with its German units

AFP | London

British travel firm Thomas Cook collapsed into bank-ruptcy yesterday, leaving

some 600,000 holidaymakers stranded and sparking the UK’s biggest repatriation since World War II.

T h e 1 7 8-ye a r- o l d d e b t-plagued group, which had struggled against fierce online competition for some time and blamed Brexit uncertainty for a recent drop in bookings, failed to secure £200 million ($250 mil-lion, 227 million euros) from private investors and collapsed in the early hours.

Yesterday’s bankruptcy, which followed a lengthy period of chronic financial turmoil after a disastrous 2007 merger deal, left some 600,000 tourists stranded worldwide according to Thomas Cook, while its 22,000 staff are now out of a job.

The British government

launched emergency plans to bring some 150,000 UK holiday-makers back home from destina-tions including Bulgaria, Cuba, Turkey and the United States.

‘No choice’Thomas Cook said in a state-

ment that “despite consider-able efforts”, it was unable to reach an agreement between the company ’s stakehold-ers and proposed new money providers.

“The company’s board has therefore concluded that it had no choice but to take steps to en-ter into compulsory liquidation with immediate effect,” it added.

The long-troubled group has also been blighted by enormous costs arising from its disastrous 2007 merger with MyTravel, a deal which left it plagued with huge levels of debt.

The UK government said yes-terday it had hired planes to fly

home British tourists, in

a mass repatriation plan code-named Operation Matterhorn which began immediately.

Launching Britain’s “larg-est repatriation in peacetime history”, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps added that the government and UK Civil Avia-tion Authority had hired dozens of charter planes to fly home Thomas Cook customers.

“All customers currently abroad with Thomas Cook who are booked to return to the UK over the next two weeks will be brought home as close as possi-ble to their booked return date,” the government said.

Both a tour operator and an airline, the travel giant’s key des-tinations were in Southern Eu-rope and the Mediterranean but it offered also holidays in Asia, North Africa and the Caribbean.

“It is a matter of profound re-gret to me and the rest of the board that we were not success-ful,” said Thomas Cook chief

executive Peter Fankhauser.“This marks a deeply sad day

for the company,” he added in the statement.

22,000 jobs lostAs well as grounding its

planes, Thomas Cook has been forced to shut travel agencies, leaving the group’s 22,000 global employees -- 9,000 of whom are

in Britain -- out of a job.Chinese peer Fosun, which

was already the biggest share-holder in Thomas Cook, had agreed last month to inject £450 million into the business as part of an initial £900 million rescue package.

In return, the Hong Kong-list-ed conglomerate was to acquire a 75 percent stake in Thomas Cook’s tour operating division and 25 percent of its airline unit.

“Fosun is disappointed that Thomas Cook Group has not been able to find a viable solu-tion for its proposed recapitali-sation with other affiliates, core lending banks, senior notehold-ers and additional involved par-ties,” the Chinese group said in a statement yesterday.

Passengers are seen at Thomas Cook check-in points at Mallorca Airport after the world’s oldest travel firm collapsed stranding hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers around the globe and sparking the largest peacetime repatriation effort in British history, in Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Pensions to be assessed by British lifeboat fundReuters | London

Britain’s Pension Protection Fund (PPF) said yesterday

it would assess the funding levels of Thomas Cook’s re-tirement schemes. PPF is an industry-funded scheme set up to protect the pensions of em-ployees in failing companies.

“We await notification that the associated schemes have entered PPF assessment,” a spokeswoman said in an emailed statement, adding PPF would protect the pensions

of people on Thomas Cook’s defined benefit, or final salary, schemes.

A f t e r t h e a s s e s s m e n t , which typically lasts about 18-24 months, the pensions could enter the PPF or the risk could be taken over by an insurer.

Thomas Cook pension schemes have in aggregate a surplus of 100 million pounds ($124 million) above levels needed to secure PPF benefits, a spokesman for the Thomas Cook pension trustees said.

25,000 bookings cancelled: EgyptReuters | Cairo

Thomas Cook operator Blue Sky Group said that 25,000 reservations in Egypt booked up to April 2020 had been

cancelled. Blue Sky currently has 1,600 tourists in Egypt’s Hugharda resort, CEO Hossam El-Shaar said in a statement sent.

Owes Tunisian hotels 60 m eurosReuters | Tunis

Thomas Cook owes Tunisian hotels 60 million euros

($66 million)for stays in July and August, Tourism Minis-ter Rene Trabelsi said yester-day, adding that 4,500 British Thomas Cook customers are still in the country.

“I will have a meeting on

Tuesday with the British Em-bassy in Tunisia and the hotel owners to see how debt could be redeemed,” Trabelsi said.

Some British tourists said a hotel in Tunisia briefly stopped them leaving on Saturday night, demanding they settle bills that Thomas Cook owed for their stay. The Tunisian government said it was a misunderstanding.

Passengers are seen at Enfidha-Hammamet International Airport, Tunisia. - Reuters

‘Absolutely gutted’ - demise of Thomas Cook wrecks travellers’ plansReuters | Mallorca, Spain

Holidaymakers stranded by the collapse of Thomas

Cook, the world’s oldest travel firm, desperately scrambled for information yesterday on how to get home, as Britain mounted its largest peacetime repatriation effort.

At airports around the world travellers scoured mobile phones or quizzed officials for travel updates as they waited in long queues beneath flight boards showing flights delayed or cancelled.

“Nightmare, n ightmare, stressed,” said British holiday-maker Nick, as he awaited in-formation at Palma airport on the Spanish island of Mallorca.

“Not what we wanted really before going home. But what can you do? Other people have

lost their jobs, so we’re not as bad (off ) as some other people,” he said, with two young children - an 18-month-old and 12-year-old - in tow.

He and his family had been due to fly back to the northeast-

ern English city of Newcastle on Sunday evening but now hoped to fly to Manchester on Monday evening and then to travel the 240 km (150 miles) back to their home city by coach.

Scottish tourists hoping to fly

back to Glasgow said they now expected to head to the central English city of Birmingham, 400 km (250 miles) away.

“I’m very anxious because I have sore legs so I don’t know how... I’m going to get to Glas-gow if they take us to Birming-ham or somewhere else. So it’s going to be very difficult and a long day and I’m very tired,” said one woman in a wheelchair.

“We’re absolutely gutted, we’ve looked forward to this for a long time, had the wedding in July so it’s been another couple of months waiting for this,” said Simon, who had been due to go on honeymoon with his wife Polly from London’s Gatwick Airport.

He said he felt very sorry for the staff at his local Thomas Cook travel agency who he said had been helpful.

“Must be awful for them as well, coming up to Christmas as well. Yeah, I feel very sorry for them... I wish the govern-ment had maybe stepped in... It could have been done I think, but there’s nothing we can do now. Just have to go home and make the most of it.”

Many travellers complained of a lack of information.

“Obviously the customer ser-vices you couldn’t get a hold of. The travel company we were travelling with, you can’t get a hold of them,” said Steve Tar-rant, who had planned to fly to Cancun, Mexico, from Manches-ter Airport.

“So we just took it upon our-selves to book another flight,” he said, at an extra cost of 1,200 pounds.

British tourists stranded in Greece also complained of being

left in limbo.“There’s a sign saying that

Thomas Cook customers should get in touch with their agency, but you don’t get through to an-ybody because it doesn’t exist. So how can you do that?” said David Midson, holidaying on the island of Corfu.

Even if additional flights are being laid on, there is no news about airport transfers to get them there, he said.

“We’ve only got tomorrow to try and make plans to get to the airport,” he said. “I wish I had brought a driving licence, be-cause I can’t get a taxi.”

His wife Lianne said the cou-ple had happily holidayed three times with Thomas Cook.

“We haven’t had any issues with them before. You get your odd holiday wobbles anyway but nothing like this.”

Cabinet maker Thomas Cook created the travel firm in 1841, transporting temperance supporters by train between British cities.

It soon began arranging foreign trips, being the first operator to take British travellers on escorted visits to Europe in 1855, followed soon after by destinations further afield

KNOW WHAT

Thomas Cook grew into a huge operation but fell into massive debt despite recent annual turnover of £10 billion from transporting about 20 million customers worldwide.

The tour operator’s demise caps a dramatic fall from grace for a company which was ejected from London’s prestigious FTSE 100 shares index in 2010 -- and from the second-tier FTSE 250 last year.

Fal

ls in

to m

assi

ve d

ebt

• Thomas Cook ran hotels, resorts and airlines for 19 million people a year in 16

countries

12TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

Egypt extends losses

• EGX 100 hits its lowest in over 2 years

• All but one property stocks gain in Dubai

Reuters

Egyptian stocks closed low-er yesterday, stretching

last session’s sharp fall over the weekend.

The blue-chip stock index fell 1.5 per cent with Commer-cial International Bank declin-ing 3.5pc and Talaat Mostafa Holding plunging 7.6pc.

The fall added to the index’s previous session loss of 5.3pc, its biggest single-day fall since mid-2016 with all its stocks

s l ipping into the red . Non-Arab foreigners were net sellers, according to the stock exchange.

The broader stock index EGX 100 also traded 1.7pc lower, hitting its deepest trough since April 2017.

The EGX 100 index slumped 5.7pc on Sunday, the most in

one day since November 2012, causing trading to be suspend-ed due to

a 5pc swing for the first time since 2016.

In Dubai, the index snapped a four-day losing streak to rise 0.7pc, led by property and banking stocks.

Blue-chip developer Emaar Properties gained 1.1pc and Dubai Islamic Bank added 1pc.

Property developer Deyaar Development advanced 1.2pc after an update on a court judgement in a land purchase dispute that came in favour of the company.

Abu Dhabi’s index was down 0.9pc, with market heavy-weight First Abu Dhabi Bank slipping 1.4pc and Emirates Telecommunications Group dropping 1.1pc.

Extending losses for a fourth straight day, Qatar’s index end-ed 0.8pc lower with the Gulf’s largest insurer Qatar Insur-ance Company declining 4.5pc, while Mesaieed Petrochemical was down 3.3pc.

Saudi Arabia’s stock market was closed for National Day.

European shares slideLondon

European stock markets fell yesterday after a key survey pointed to weak-

ness in the eurozone economy while some travel and tourism stocks benefitted from the col-lapse of British giant Thomas Cook.

Both Frankfurt and Paris fell by around one per cent after data from a closely watched survey showed that Brexit and trade war fears drove eurozone business growth to its lowest level in six years in September.

IHS Markit’s composite eu-rozone PMI, seen as a key indi-cator of business confidence, fell to 50.4 in September, down from 51.9 in August -- the lowest reading since June 2013.

It warned that the single cur-rency area’s economy was “close to stalling”.

Market analyst David Mad-den at CMC Markets UK said “disappointing manufactur-ing and services reports from France, in addition to Germany, has weighed on European stock markets.”

Investors now need to weigh “German recession odds against central bank support”, added Fawad Razaqzada, market ana-lyst at Forex.com.

The euro also slid lower.

Thomas Cook falloutSome rivals of British trav-

el giant Thomas Cook, which declared bankruptcy after last-ditch re-financing attempts failed, saw their shares rise sharply.

TUI shares, listed in London, shot sixpc higher.

Ryanair gained 1.4pc and easyJet 4.5pc, but British Air-ways parent IAG shed 1.3pc.

In Hong Kong, China’s Fosun International lost 1.5pc after the collapse of Thomas Cook, in which it is the top shareholder.

The price of oil rose after

Iran warned the presence of US forces in the Gulf was causing instability in the region.

Meanwhile the pound sank against the dollar at the start of a crucial week for Britain with the Supreme Court to decide whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson acted legally in sus-

pending parliament for an ex-tended period as he pushes for Brexit on October 31.

‘Hot and cold’Stock markets were also buf-

feted after President Donald Trump ruled out a partial trade deal with China, casting fresh

doubt on any early agreement.“ I n v e s t o r s r e m a i n u n -

convinced that a trade deal is about to see the light of day soon, and that’s likely to put a cap on any further gains in risk assets,” said Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at FXTM.

“I’m not looking for a partial deal. I’m looking for a complete deal,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

He added that he did not see the need for an agreement before the 2020 presidential election.

The remarks tempered re-cent optimism on the talks and the possibility of a quick piece-meal deal, though they came as China hailed progress in pre-paratory discussions ahead of a planned high-level meeting next month.

“The hot and then cold and then hot and cold again US-Chi-na trade vibes continue to rattle markets,” said Rodrigo Catril at National Australia Bank.

US stocks were largely flat in late morning trading.

Key figures around 1530 GMTLondon - FTSE 100: 0.3pc at 7,326.08 points (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: 1.pc at 12,3 (close)

Paris - CAC 40 1.1pc at 5,630.76 (close)

EURO STOXX 50 - 0.9pc at 3,539.27

New York - Dow: less than 0.1pc at 26,942.75

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: Closed for a public holiday

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: 0.8pc at 26,222.40 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: 1.0pc at 2,977.08 (close)

Euro/dollar: at $1.0996 from $1.1021 at 2100 GMT

Pound/dollar: at $1.2437 from $1.2476

Euro/pound: at 88.44 pence from 88.33 pence

Dollar/yen: at 107.47 yen from 107.56

Brent North Sea crude: 29 cents at $64.57 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: 37 cents at $58.46

The collapse of British travel firm was a headache for many its customers, but the shares of some of its rivals rose on the news

Keeping the thread alive at a Vietnam silk villageNam Dinh | Vietnam

Cocoons bob in boiling water as silk is rapidly teased out,

spinning on reels skilfully oper-ated by women in Vietnam’s Co Chat village, where households have been making thread for more than a century.

The village in Nam Dinh prov-ince, two hours south of the cap-ital Hanoi, is nearing the end of silk production season.

Dozens of workers, mostly women, in the bustling work-shops stir the vats, gently un-winding the fibre from the co-coons through clouds of rising steam.

Once the yellow and white fi-bres are spun onto wooden reels, workers hang them in the sun to dry.

“Production from the silk-worm cocoons depends 90 per-cent on the weather,” says work-shop owner Pham Van Ba, whose family has been spinning thread for three generations.

“Our products will be ruined” if it’s not dried under the sun, he tells AFP, explaining that even good quality thread can be marred by inclement weather.

Around 30 kilograms of co-coons are processed by each worker every day, and the final threads are sold to traders ex-

porting to Laos and Thailand.While a few households have

invested in modern silk-reeling machines, the majority choose to unwind the cocoons using chop-sticks, even if it means sweat-ing through the summer heat in stuffy workshops.

Doing it manually makes it easier to salvage usable silk thread from cocoons even if they are not good, Ba says.

Each labourer earns around $10 a day, but worker Tran Thi Hien describes the work

as “precarious”. “If the market price goes up, then we make some profit. Otherwise, it’s only enough to cover our expenses,” the 37-year-old says, sitting next to baskets of yellow cocoons, waiting to be sorted.

Like others in the village, she worries about the future of the industry with many youngsters lured by a city lifestyle in nearby Nam Dinh.

“My kids tell me this job is too hard,” she says. “They will find other jobs instead.”

Around 30 kilograms of cocoons are processed every day by each silk worker in Vietnam’s Co Chat village

Dozens of workers in Vietnam’s silk workshops gently unwind the fibre from silkworm cocoons through clouds of rising steam

Once the yellow and white silk fibres are spun onto wooden reels, workers hang them in the sun to dry

The final silk threads produced in Co Chat village in Vietnam are sold to traders exporting to Laos and Thailand

India’s biggest carmaker Maruti sees higher salesReuters | New Delhi

India’s biggest automaker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd,

expects sales of its cars in Sep-tember to be higher than the previous month, its Chairman R.C. Bhargava said yesterday.

August domestic sales at Maruti Suzuki fell 34.3 per cent, one of the biggest monthly drops in sales in re-cent times. Indian auto sales fell for the 10th straight month in August, marking one of the worst slowdowns in the indus-try’s history.

“We expect that retail sales in September would witness

an improvement over August,” Bhargava said. “The booking levels have gone up compared to last month, have gone up substantially, and the expecta-tion is that the 29th and 30th of this month will probably witness very high retail sales.”

Chairman R.C. Bhargava

I, AFROZ SHARIFF , FATHER OF NUHA BANU , holder of Indian PASSPORT NO. M 5580842 , issued at Hyderabad on 22-01-2015, permanent resident of H.NO : 8-1-399/48/2, JANAKI NAGAR COLONY, TOLICHOWKI, HYDERABAD, TELANGANA-500008 ,(full postal address in India to be given) and presently residing at Flat no :1, Building no : 1056, Block no : 911, Road no : 1119, East Riffa,Bahrain , (full postal address in Bahrain) do hereby change my daughter name as (given name) NUHA (surname) SHARIFF . Objection(s), if and may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P. O. BOX 26106, Al-SEEF, KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN.

I, AFROZ SHARIFF , FATHER OF UMAYMAH KHADIJA BANU , holder of Indian PASSPORT NO. M 5580261, issued at Hyderabad on 22-01-2015 , permanent resident of H.NO :8-1-399/48/2, JANAKI NAGAR COLONY, TOLICHOWKI, HYDERABAD, TELANGANA- 500008 , (full postal address in India to be given) and presently residing at Flat No. 1,Building No. 1056, Block no:911, Road no: 1119, East Riffa, Bahrain , (full postal address in Bahrain) do hereby change my daughter name as (given name) UMAYMAH (surname) SHARIFF. Objection(s), if and may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P. O. BOX 26106, Al-SEEF, KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN.

CHANGE OF NAMEM O V I E R E V I E W

Diego Maradona: A soccer player who got his kicksAsif Kapadia, director of Amy and Senna, captures all the euphoria and catastrophe in a gripping documentary about the ‘hand of God’ megastar

• Asif Kapadia turns Maradona’s life into a remarkable film for the ages

• The filmmaker, who won an Oscar for “Amy”, cuts through the filler of conventional sports documentaries

Diego Maradona is a 2019 British documentary film directed by Asif Kapadia about the Argen-

tine footballer Diego Maradona with never before seen archival footage. It was screened out of competition at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.

A British venture, the film was pro-duced by On The Corner Film, in as-sociation with Film 4 with Altitude Film serving as distributor. The film was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on 14 June 2019.

The concept of producing a documen-tary film about Maradona came after the director released the film Amy in 2015. Due to difficulty on finding a story with a beginning and an end, the director opt-ed on Naples as being the centrepiece for the film.

During the London Olympics in

2012, producer Paul Martin contact-ed the director after discovering ar-chival footage but after the release of Senna the idea was pushed back. Mar-tin and Gay-Rees met with someone outside of Naples who owned private material.

The idea to document Maradona’s life began in 1981 by his first agent Jorge Cyterszpiler. This led to two Argen-tine cameramen recording hundreds of hours of film. However, the film never got produced. In Buenos Aires more

archival footage was discovered in the home of Maradona’s ex-wife Claudia in a trunk untouched for 30 years.

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 87% based on 52 reviews, with an average rating of 7.74/10. The web-site’s critical consensus reads, “Diego Maradona traces the arc of a standard sports documentary, but illuminates its subject with uncommon clarity and depth.”

The world premiere of Diego Mara-

dona was screened out of competition at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival on 19 May 2019. The UK premiere was screened as the opening night film at the 26th Shef-field Doc/Fest on 6 June 2019.

It was released in the United King-dom on 14 June 2019 by Altitude Film Distribution. It will have a theatrical limited release in the United States on 20 September and it will be availa-ble on HBO on demand and HBO part-ners streaming platforms on 1 October 2019.

A still from ‘Diego Maradona’

KNOW WHAT

Documentary wizard Asif Kapadia tries to do for the

Argentine football legend Die-go Maradona what he did for the fallen idols of ‘Amy’ and

‘Senna.’ But in this case, more of his video-verite approach

becomes less

RAMBO: LAST BLOOD (15+)(ACTION/CRIME/DRAMA) OASIS JUFFAIR : 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MN OASIS JUFFAIR (VIP): 2.00 + 6.45 + 11.30 PM CITY CENTRE : 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MN + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)CITY CENTRE VIP (I): 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM CITY CENTRE (ATMOS) : 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MN SEEF (II): 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MN SEEF (I): 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PM + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)WADI AL SAIL: 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MN SAAR: 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + (11.30 PM THURS/FRI)

SYLVESTER STALLONE, PAZ VEGA, SERGIO PERIS-MENCHETA

AD ASTRA (PG-13)(DRAMA/THRILLER/SCI-FICTION)OASIS JUFFAIR : 10.45 AM + 4.00 + 6.30 + 11.45 PMOASIS JUFFAIR (VIP): 11.30 AM + 4.15 + 9.00 PMCITY CENTRE : 12.00 + 2.45 + 5.30 + 8.15 + 11.00 PM + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)CITY CENTRE (IMAX 2D) : 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.45 + 6.30 + 9.15 PM + 12.00 MN CITY CENTRE VIP (II): 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PM SEEF (I): 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM WADI AL SAIL: 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 MNSAAR: 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + (11.15 PM THURS/FRI)

BRAD PITT, TOMMY LEE JONES, RUTH NEGGA

AL-KANZ 2 (PG-15) ARABIC/DRAMA/ACTION/ROMANTIC)CITY CENTRE : 12.15 + 3.00 + 5.45 + 8.30 + 11.15 PM SEEF (II): 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.45 + 6.30 + 9.15 PM + 12.00 MN WADI AL SAIL: 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM

MOHAMED RAMADAN, HEND SABRY, MOHAMED SAAD

PRASSTHANAM (PG-15)(HINDI/ACTION/DRAMA)OASIS JUFFAIR : 3.00 + 8.45 PM CITY CENTRE: 12.45 + 6.15 + 11.45 PM SEEF (II): 12.45 + 3.30 + 6.15 + 9.00 + 11.45 PM SAAR: 10.30 AM + 5.30 + (11.00 PM THURS/FRI)SANJAY S DUTT, JACKIE SHROFF, MANISHA KOIRALATHE ZOYA FACTOR (PG-13)(HINDI/COMEDY/ROMANTIC) STARTING FROM THURSDAY 7.00 PM ONWARDSOASIS JUFFAIR : 12.15 + 3.00 + 5.45 + 8.30 + 11.15 PM CITY CENTRE : 3.30 + 9.00 PM SEEF (II): 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PM WADI AL SAIL: 12.00 + 2.45 + 5.30 + 8.15 + 11.00 PMSAAR: 2.45 + 8.15 PM

SONAM KAPOOR, DULQUER SALMAAN, SANJAY KAPOOR

PAL PAL DIL KI PAAS (PG-15)(HINDIOASIS JUFFAIR : 12.00 + 5.45 + 11.30 PM CITY CENTRE : 11.30 AM + 5.15 + 11.00 PMSEEF (II): 11.00 AM +2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PM WADI AL SAIL: 2.45 + 8.30 PM

KARAN DEOL, KALLIRROI TZIAFETA, SAHHER BAMBBA

DIEGO MARADONA (PG-13)(DOCUMENTARY/BIOGRAPHY)SEEF (II): 11.15 AM + 4.15 + 9.15 PMDIEGO ARMANDO MARADONA, CLAUDIA VILLAFAÑE, DIEGO MARADONA JR. NIKKA ZAILDAR 3 (PG-13) (PUNJABI/COMEDY)SEEF (II): 1.45 + 6.45 + 11.45 PM

AMY VIRK, WAMIQA GABBI, NIRMAL RISHI

ANGEL HAS FALLEN (PG-15)(ACTION/THRILLER/DRAMAرررر CITY CENTRE : 10.30 AM + 11.30 AM + 1.00 + 2.00 + 3.30 + 4.30 + 6.00 + 7.00 + 8.30 + 9.30 + 11.00 PM + 12.00 MNSEEF (II): 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 + 12.00 MNGERARD BUTLER, MORGAN FREEMAN, JADA PINKETT SMITH

DREAM GIRL (PG-15)(HINDI/COMEDY/ROMANTIC/DRAMA) رOASIS JUFFAIR : 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PM

CITY CENTRE : 2.30 + 8.15 PM AYUSHMANN KHURRANA, NUSHRAT BHARUCHA, ABHISHEK BANERJEE

IT CHAPTER TWO (15+)(HORROR/DRAMA) CITY CENTRE : 12.30 + 4.00 + 7.30 + 11.00 PM SEEF (II): 2.30 + 8.30 PM SAAR: 1.15 + 7.45 PM

JAMES MCAVOY, JESSICA CHASTAIN, BILL HADER

FAST & FURIOUS: HOBBS & SHAW (PG-15)(ACTIONرر رر CITY CENTRE: 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PM SEEF (II): 11.45 AM + 5.45 + 11.45 PM

DWAYNE JOHNSON, JASON STATHAM, IDRIS ELBA

DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD (PG)(ADVENTUREOASIS JUFFAIR (KIDS CINEMA) :10.30 AM + 2.45 + 7.00 + 11.15 PMCITY CENTRE: 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PMSEEF (II): 11.15 AM + 4.00 + 8.45 PM

ISABELA MONER, Q’ORIANKA KILCHER, BENICIO DEL TORO

KHAYAL MAATA (PG)(COMEDY/DRAMA) رررر رررر CITY CENTRE : 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PMSEEF (II): 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM

AHMAD HELMY, MINNA SHALABI, HASSAN HOSNEY

THE LION KING (PG)(ADVENTURE/DRAMA/FAMILY) CITY CENTRE: 12.00 + 2.30 + 5.00 + 7.30 + 10.00 PM SEEF (II): 1.30 + 6.15 + 11.00 PM

DONALD GLOVER, SETH ROGEN, CHIWETEL EJIOFOR

THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE 2 (PG)(ANIMATIONOASIS JUFFAIR (KIDS CINEMA): 12.45 + 5.00 + 9.15 PM CITY CENTRE: 12.00 + 4.30 + 9.00 PM

SUDEIKIS, JOSH GAD, AWKWAFINA

47 METERS DOWN : UNCAGED (15+)

CITY CENTRE: 12.00 + 4.00 + 8.00 PM + 12.00 MN

SOPHIE NÉLISSE, CORINNE FOX, BRIANNE TJU

READY OR NOT (18+)(THRILLER/ HORROR) رر رر ررررر CITY CENTRE: 2.00 + 6.00 + 10.00 PM

SAMARA WEAVING, ADAM BRODY, MARK O’BRIEN (IX)

TOY STORY 4 (G)(ANIMATION CITY CENTRE: 2.15 + 6.45 + 11.15 PM

TOM HANKS, TIM ALLEN, JOAN CUSACK

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (18+)CITY CENTRE : 11.30 AM + 5.30 + 11.30 PM

LEONARDO DICAPRIO, BRAD PITT, MARGOT ROBBIE

ALADDIN (PG)(ADVENTURE) ررررر ررررCITY CENTRE: 2.45 + 8.45 PM

WILL SMITH, NAOMI SCOTT, MENA MASSOUD

CHHICHHORE (PG-15)(HINDI/DRAMA/COMEDY) ررررررررOASIS JUFFAIR : 1.15 + 9.00 PM

SUSHANT SINGH RAJPUT, SHRADDHA KAPOOR, VARUN SHARMA

LOVE ACTION DRAMA (PG-15)(MALAYALAM) OASIS JUFFAIR : 12.00 + 2.45 + 5.30 + 8.15 + 11.00 PM SEEF (I): 12.15 + 3.00 + 5.45 + 8.30 + 11.15 PM

NIVIN PAULY, NAYANTHARA, AJU VARGHESE

KAAPPAAN (PG-15)(TAMIL)STARTING FROM THURSDAY 10.30 PM ONWARDSOASIS JUFFAIR : 10.30 AM + 1.45 + 5.00 + 8.15 + 11.30 PMCITY CENTRE : 10.45 AM + 2.00 + 5.15 + 8.30 + 11.45 PM SEEF (I): 11.00 AM + 2.15 + 5.30 + 8.45 PM + 12.00 MNWADI AL SAIL: 10.30 AM + 1.30 + 4.45 + 8.00 + 11.15 PMSAAR: 11.30 AM + 4.30 + (11.00 PM THURS/FRI)AL HAMRA: 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 PM + (12.00 MN THURS/FRI)

MOHANLAL, SURYA, BOMAN IRANI, ARYA, SAYYESHAA SAIGAL, PRAKASH RAJ

BANDOBAST (PG-15)(TELGU) STARTING FROM THURSDAY 10.30 PM ONWARDSSEEF (I): 12.00 + 5.45 + 11.30 PM

MOHANLAL, SURYA, BOMAN IRANI, ARYA, SAYYESHAA SAIGAL

PATTABHIRAMAN (PG-15)(MALAYALAM)OASIS JUFFAIR : 1.15 + 6.30 PM SEEF (I): 3.00 + 9.00 PM

JAYARAM, SHEELU ABRAHAM, ALI

FINALS (PG-15)(MALAYALAM) OASIS JUFFAIR: 10.45 AM + 4.00 + 9.15 + 11.45 PMSEEF (I): 3.15 + 9.00 PM

RAJEESHA VIJAYAN, SURAJ VENJARAMODU

VALMIKI (PG-15)(TELGU)STARTING FROM THURSDAY 10.30 PM ONWARDSSEEF (I): 11.45 AM + 5.45 + 11.45 PM

POOJA HEGDE, VARUN TEJ, ATHARVAA MURALI

13 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

14 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Fleabag’ take top Emmy honors on night of upsets

Julia Garner beats GoT stars to win first EmmyLos Angeles

Actress Julia Gar-ner beat “Game of

Thrones” stars, including Sophie Turner, Lena Head-ey, Maisie Williams, to win her first Emmy in Support-ing Actress in a Drama Se-ries category at the 2019 Emmy awards here.

The first-time Emmy nominee was in contention with Gwendoline Christie (“Game of Thrones”), Head-ey (“Game of Thrones”), Fiona Shaw (“Killing Eve”), Turner (“Game of Thrones”) and Williams (“Game of Thrones”).

Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s ‘Fleabag’ wins big at Emmys

Los Angeles

Actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge won Lead Actress in a Comedy Series trophy at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards gala

here for her role in “Fleabag”, which was also named as the best comedy series.

“This is just getting ridicu-lous,” Waller-Bridge said as she

accepted the honour for best com-edy series.

“’Fleabag’’ started as a one-woman show at Edinburgh Festival in 2013, and the journey has been absolutely

mental to get here,” added Waller-Bridge, who has also created the show.

“Fleabag’’ bested out “Barry”, “The Good Place”, “The Marvelous

Mrs. Maisel”, “Russian Doll”, “Schitt’s Creek” and “Veep” for the honour.

Stan Lee, Luke Perry remembered at Emmys 2019Los Angeles

Late icons including Stan Lee, Luke Per-

ry and Valerie Harper were honoured at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards with a moving tribute.

Taking a break from celebrating the best of the small screen, the star-stud-ded audience took a mo-ment to remember the stars that Hollywood lost over the past year with the “In Memoriam” segment.

Nicole Kidman feels her

kids chose Scientology over her

Los Angeles

Actress Nicole Kidman says her children with former husband Tom Cruise chose Scientology over her.

Kidman adopted Isabella, now 26, and Connor, now 24, with Cruise. Kidman grew apart from

them when they followed Cruise into the Church of Scientology. She is now trying to heal the rift.

“Motherhood is about the journey. There are going to be incredible peaks and valleys, wheth-er you are an adopting mother or a birth moth-er. What a child needs is love. They have

made choices to be Scientologists. It’s our job as a parent to always offer uncon-

ditional love,” Kidman said in an interview to The Sun.

Reese is proud of wrinklesLos Angeles

Actress Reese Witherspoon says she likes

her wrinkles be-cause she has earned them. The 43-year-old actress likes to witness the

signs of herself ageing on screen, reports fema-lefirst.co.uk.

“Now, I can play wom-en who have lived more and gone through a lot of changes, not simply be-cause I’m in my 40s but because I’ve gone through that kind of evolution my-self,” she added.

Amy Jackson and George blessed with a baby boy!

London

Model-actor Amy Jackson and fiance George Panayi-otou on Monday welcomed a baby boy and named him Andreas! The 27-year old shared the good

news on Instagram with a captivating picture of the family of three. “Our Angel, welcome to the world Andreas,” she wrote.

Soon after, her post got bombarded with wishes and blessings for the little one.

The model in August announced on the pic-ture-sharing platform that she will be welcom-

ing a baby boy and wrote, “It’s a boy.”

She first made the announce-ment in March where the actor zeroed in on a love-filled pho-to of herself and her beau with a dreamy sunset in the b a c k d r o p . Amy can be seen flaunt-ing her baby bump along-side George, w h o s e e m e d plant ing a kiss on her fore-head.

Los Angeles

Medieval drama “Game of Thrones” closed its run with a fourth

Emmy award for best drama se-ries while British comedy “Flea-bag” was the upset winner for best comedy series on Sunday on a night that rewarded newcom-ers over old favorites.

Billy Porter, the star of LGBTQ series “Pose,” won the best dra-matic actor Emmy, while British newcomer Jodie Comer took the Emmy for her lead actress role as a psychotic assassin in the quirky BBC America drama “Killing Eve.”

“I am so overjoyed to have lived long enough to see this day,” said Porter, 50, crowning a standout year in which he made waves on red carpets at the Os-cars and the Met Gala for his gender-fluid outfits.

The Emmys are Hollywood’s top honors in television, and the night belonged to Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the star and creator of Amazon Studios’ “Fleabag” who also created “Killing Eve.”

Waller-Bridge took the tro-phy for best comedy actress, beating out six-time “Veep” ac-tress winner Julia Louis-Drey-fus as well as last year’s Emmy champ Rachel Brosnahan for “The Marvelous Mrs. Mais-el.” Waller-Bridge also won an

Emmy for comedy writing.“This is just getting ridiculous!,”

Waller-Bridge said as she accept-ed the comedy series Emmy.

“It’s really wonderful to know, and reassuring, that a dirty, angry, messed-up woman can make it to the Emmys,” Waller-Bridge added.

Already the most- awarded series in E m m y history w i t h 38 wins, HBO’s “Game of Thrones” went into Sunday’s a w a r d s show as the clear front runner, despite a fan uproar over the conclusion of the series.

Amy Jackson

Jodie Comer Natasha Lyonne

Maisie Williams Michelle Williams Naomi Watts Sophie Turner Vera FarmigaKendall Jenner

Stars hit Emmy red carpet

Balotelli in “great shape” before Brescia debut against JuventusAFP | Milan

Mario Balotelli said he was “in great shape” as he

prepares to return to Serie A on Tuesday with his first game for his hometown club Brescia against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Ital-ian champions Juventus.

“Mario will be there Tuesday,” confirmed coach Eugenio Corini of the Italian striker whose de-but was delayed by a four-game suspension for a red card while playing for former club Mar-seille.

The 29-year-old has been getting fit during that time as he looks to impress Italy coach Roberto Mancini and earn a spot in the Euro 2020 team.

“My objective is to play for Ita-ly at the Euros, but my main aim right now is to get into shape as quickly as possible for Brescia,” Balotelli told DAZN.

It will be Balotelli’s third time playing in Italy after Inter Milan and AC Milan.

“I’ve worked harder in the last month and a half than in a decade,” continued the former

Liverpool striker.“I’m ready. I’ve only played

two friendlies, and have not

played 90 minutes, but I am in great shape. The last time I was at this weight, I was at Manches-ter City.”

Balotelli, who has 36 caps for Italy, has not crossed paths with Ronaldo in a decade since the Portuguese star was playing for Manchester United.

But he insisted: “Ronaldo’s presence doesn’t really interest me. I’ll try to score and play the way I will in any game.”

The Italian won three Serie A titles with Inter Milan and the Champions League in 2010

before moving to Man-chester City where he won the Premier League title in 2012.

Brescia were pro-moted to Serie A this year, after being rele-gated in 2011, and are 11th in Serie A after two wins in four games.

Juventus are trailing leaders Inter Milan by two points, as new coach Maurizio Sarri con-tinues to exper-

iment with the eight-time reigning champions.

Inter Milan push for their fifth win against

Lazio in the San Siro, after their derby suc-cess over AC Milan, with the Romans looking to build on their win over Parma.

Napoli, in third, h o s t C a g l i a r i

with AS Roma hosting Ata-lanta.

15

sports

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

Neymar saves PSG Neymar scored a late winner to claim all three points for PSG at Lyon

• Casimir Ninga scored an 11-minute hat-trick as Angers hammered Saint-Etienne

AFP | Paris

Neymar scored a fine late winner as Par-is Saint-Germain beat

Lyon 1-0 on Sunday to move three points clear at the top of the Ligue 1 table.

The Brazilian finally beat An-thony Lopes, who had pulled off numerous impressive saves, with three minutes of normal time to play at the Groupama Stadium.

It was Neymar’s second win-ning goal in as many league games since being reinstated to the team following a protracted transfer saga which saw him at-tempt to force through a return to Barcelona.

“Neymar can do better,” said PSG coach Thomas Tuchel. “It’s the second or third game in four months for him. He’s not at 100 percent capacity.

“He is not at his limit. He can do better, he will do better. He’s going to get to his best level, with matches and decisive goals like that, it’s going to help him.”

The Parisians sit top on 15 points after Angers and Nice both won over the weekend to temporarily join Tuchel’s side at the summit, and followed up their impressive midweek Champions League victory over Real Madrid with the win in constant drizzling rain in Lyon.

Sylvinho’s Lyon remain in ninth place and are without a win since mid-August.

PSG were without the attack-ing trio of Kylian Mbappe, Edin-son Cavani and Mauro Icardi due to injuries, while midfielder Marco Verratti started on the bench.

The best of the early chanc-es fell to Neymar on 22 min-utes but his effort was superbly

saved by Lopes.Neymar was denied again by

another tidy Lopes stop four minutes before the break as the Portugal international tipped the Brazil forward’s dangerous free-kick over the bar.

PSG’s domination from the first half carried over into the second 45 minutes.

Abdou Diallo had the pick of the chances, using the wet conditions to glance a header from a Neymar corner over the crossbar.

The world’s most expensive player was targeted by home fans when taking set-pieces from the left-hand side as they threw plastic bottles and rolled-up bin bags at him.

With 87 minutes on the clock, substitute Verratti found Ney-mar in the box who dribbled into space and finally beat Lopes to the keeper’s left with a low shot.

He celebrated by running to-wards the same corner of the ground where he had earlier been taunted by the Lyon sup-porters.

Hat-trick hero Ninga Earlier, Angers moved into

second place after replacement Casimir Ninga scored an 11-min-ute hat-trick in a 4-1 thrashing of Saint-Etienne.

Ninga, who joined the club from second-tier Caen in Au-gust, put Angers into the lead with less than a quarter of an hour remaining before adding two more goals by the 89th min-ute to clinch their first home win over Saint-Etienne in 43 years.

The defeat at Stade Raymond Kopa leaves Les Verts a point above the relegation zone, with Ghislain Printant’s outfit having failed to win since the opening day of the season.

Neymar scores Paris Saint-Germain’s late winner against Lyon

KNOW WHAT

PSG were without the attacking trio of Kylian Mbappe, Edinson Ca-vani and Mauro Icardi

due to injuries

Benzema header breathes life back into Real Madrid

• Karim Benzema ensures Real Madrid bounce back with impressive win over Sevilla

AFP | Madrid

Real Madrid eased the pres-sure on Zinedine Zidane

and delivered a resounding response to their loss to Paris Saint-Germain by winning 1-0 away at high-flying Sevilla in La Liga on Sunday.

Karim Benzema headed in the decisive goal at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan to secure an impressive victory against a Sevilla side that were unbeaten and hoping to return to the top of the table.

Instead, it is Madrid that go level on points with Athletic Bilbao in first place after a con-trolled and determined perfor-mance that was by some dis-tance their best since Zidane’s return as coach in March.

“We have had a quite diffi-cult time but the players react-ed,” Zidane said.

His position had come under scrutiny after Madrid’s woeful 3-0 defeat by PSG in the Cham-pions League on Wednesday, a result that continued their bumpy start to the season, fol-lowing a turbulent summer in the transfer market.

But this win should do won-ders for belief and leaves Bar-celona as Spain’s chief club in crisis, with Ernesto Valverde under pressure after they were beaten 2-0 by Granada on Sat-urday. Madrid are now four points clear of the Catalans after five games played.

“I am very happy as peo-ple have been questioning us a lot,” said Zidane. “But we don’t think much about that. We played 90 minutes at a very high level in a difficult stadi-um. We must congratulate all the players.”

Not for the first time this season, Zidane singled out Gareth Bale for praise. “To-day hard work was the key,” he said. “The effort made by James, Gareth, all of them.”

Sevilla’s newly-installed coach Julen Lopetegui was sacked by Madrid 11 months ago, 139 days after taking the job that cost him the chance to lead Spain at the World Cup.

He insisted on Saturday there was no desire for revenge but it is hard to imagine victory would not have brought a little extra satisfaction.

Zidane was asked about his own future as well, several times, and while he maintained he still feels the full backing of the club, there was a warning too. If support dwindles, he said, “then it would probably be best to leave”.

Lopetegui bookedBut for all the problems -- a

dreadful pre-season, signings and sales missed, poor perfor-mances against Real Vallad-olid, Villarreal, Levante and PSG -- Madrid now sit second, buoyed by a display that may yet prove a springboard for games to come.

A frantic opening half an hour made for an engrossing contest but there were few chances, as Lopetegui earned himself a booking for beckon-ing Gareth Bale to be shown a yellow card.

Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema scores their first goal

Man City will soon score 10, says Watford’s Ben FosterAFP | Manchester

Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster says it is only a

matter of time before Man-chester City smash 10 goals in a match after being on the end of an 8-0 hammering.

The Hornets felt the full force of the champions’ attack-ing power on Saturday as they were dismantled at the Etihad Stadium, just four months after they were overpowered 6-0 in the FA Cup final.

Pep Guardiola’s men have also

registered a 9-0 and two 7-0s in knockout action in 2019.

“They will do it to somebody,” Foster said. “There will be a nine or 10 out there soon.

“As a goalie, coming here in the first place it’s almost an achievement to keep it at one

or two goals. At times, if they’re on it, they are incredible.

“They were scary at times. You could see them opening us up and the chances developing in front of your eyes. It was ab-solutely no fun. In all honesty, it could have been double digits.”

My objective is to play for Italy at the Euros, but my main aim right now is to get into shape as

quickly as possible for Brescia

MARIO BALOTELLI

Mario Balotelli

16TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

Team Europe retains Laver CupRoger Federer and Alexander Zverev scored vital singles wins as Team Europe roared back to beat Team World at Laver Cup

• Alexander Zverev edged Milos Raonic to secure trophy

Reuters | Geneva, Switzerland

Alexander Zverev snatched the Laver Cup for Team Europe as he beat Can-

ada’s Milos Raonic in the final rubber of a thrilling three days of action in Geneva’s Palexpo Arena on Sunday.

With Roger Federer and Ra-fael Nadal, winners of 39 Grand Slam titles between them, part of the supporting bench, Zverev showed immense composure to close out a 6-4 3-6 10-4 victory and hand Bjorn Borg’s team a 13-11 overall win.

With Nadal forced out with a hand injury at the start of the day and Federer suffering a doubles defeat, it looked as though John McEnroe’s Team World would claim the title for the first time since the event began in 2017.

But after Federer defeated John Isner to close the gap, Ger-many’s Zverev produced a flurry of superb backhands to beat the big-serving Raonic in the final rubber of the weekend.

After crunching a forehand winner, most of the 17,000 sell-out crowd erupted and Zverev was buried under his team mates

with Federer, Nadal, Domi-nic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Fabio Fognini celebrating a third successive victory for Europe. It had been very tight though with the World Team leading 11-7 in the middle of the afternoon.

With three points for each rubber won on Sunday, McEn-

roe’s team made a great start with Jack Sock and Isner beat-ing Federer and Tsitsipas on the charcoal-colored court.

American Taylor Fritz, in for the injured Nick Kyrgios, then extended his team’s lead by beat-ing Dominic Thiem 7-5 6-7(3) 10-5.

It meant that if Federer lost to

Isner, Team World would win the title.

But with the Swiss crowd roaring his every winner, Feder-er preserved his 100% singles record in the event by claim-ing a 6-4 7-6(3) win before set-tling down at courtside to offer high-caliber vocal support to Zverev.

Wise wordsAfter Raonic battled back to

level the match and set up a match tiebreak decider, Zverev left the court with Federer and Nadal in hot pursuit.

Their words of wisdom paid handsome dividends as Zverev fed off the energy from the

crowd to play a superb tiebreak-er.

“Team World came once again very close but we won the right points and had maybe a little bit of luck,” Swede Borg said.

“I’m very proud of my team, they did a hell of a job. I’m a very happy captain.”

American McEnroe looked crestfallen in defeat but congrat-ulated his old adversary Borg.

“I’m getting very sick and tired of you,” the American great told Team Europe after suffering his third successive defeat by Borg’s men. “I’m so proud to be the captain of this team, they fought their hearts out. World, you guys are awesome.”

Federer, who won his two sin-gles matches over the weekend including a classic against Kyr-gios, said it had been a dream to win the title on home soil.

“For us, so many emotions. It’s been an unbelievable roller-coaster,” he said, “Bjorn, you’re a great captain, and Rocket (Rod Laver), thanks for being here today.

“It makes it more special. It’s been a dream weekend for me to be playing in Switzerland. Thank you for all the noise you’ve made, I’ve loved every moment,” he added before joining his team to be presented with the trophy by Australian great Laver as blue ticker-tape rained down on the court.

Alexander Zverev and Roger Federer of Team Europe lift the Laver Cup trophy

Hamilton rues poor team call after finishing fourthAFP | Singapore

World champion Lewis Hamilton felt Mercedes

had the car to win the Singa-pore Grand Prix on Sunday but strategic errors in the middle of the race cost him a chance of victory as the champion-ship leader had to settle for a fourth-place finish.

Hamilton started alongside pole-sitter Charles Leclerc on the front row with the second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen be-hind him.

After fighting off Vettel to slot in behind Leclerc on the opening lap, Mercedes opt-ed to keep Hamilton out for longer than his rivals rather than attempt an undercut to claim the lead, but the plan backfired when he emerged from his pit stop behind the Ferraris and the Red Bull.

“It’s not been the weekend we wanted at all. I was all over Charles in the first stint and I think we had the pace to win the race today,” Hamilton told reporters after the Grand Prix finished with a Vettel-Leclerc Ferrari one-two and Verstap-pen completing the podium.

“We discussed the possibili-ty of the undercut in the strat-egy meeting this morning and I wanted to take the risk but then Ferrari decided to box (pit), so we did the opposite and I stayed out.

“I pushed hard and the tyres were feeling good, but after a few laps they started to drop off real quick. We made mis-takes tonight, but in this team, we win and we lose together.

“We don’t point the finger at people, that’s always been our philosophy and that won’t change because of one race.

“We’re fighting a Ferrari team who are super hungry and pushing very hard,” he added of the Italian outfit, who have now won the last three races.

Lewis Hamilton ahead of the drivers’ parade

After fighting off Vettel to slot in behind Leclerc on the opening lap, Mercedes opted to keep Hamilton out for longer than his rivals rather than attempt an undercut to claim the lead, but the plan

backfired when he emerged from his pit stop behind the Fer-

raris and the Red Bull

KNOW WHAT

Two wins will end our crisis says Barcelona bossAFP | Barcelona

Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde has demanded

his side bounce back from the weekend’s embarrassing away defeat when they host Villarreal in La Liga on Tuesday.

The Spanish champions are in an unlikely eighth position after five Liga games after the shock 2-0 defeat at promoted Granada left the all-star outfit on seven points, their worst league start in 25 years.

“In my job the only thing that counts is results and the coach is always in the firing line,” said Valverde, who led the club to the Liga title in 2018 and 2019.

“In the past two seasons we were already ahead at this stage, but we have started poorly and we need to put that right,” said

the 55-year-old.Barcelona have yet to win

away from home this season and play seventh placed Villar-

real at the Camp Nou Tuesday and at 10th placed Getafe at the weekend.

“The media being what it is

you can plunge into a crisis in three days, and we have the chance to get out of it in three days.”

“This is football. We have two matches and I want six points, it’s the only way to calm the situation.”

Valverde said his French winger Ousmane Dembele would be returning from in-jury Tuesday, naming him in his squad after a month on the sidelines.

Five time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi, Urugauyan cen-tre-forward Luis Suarez and French World Cup winner An-toine Griezmann are all also available.

“Dembele can shake things up,” said Valverde. “We know what he can do, its now up to him to prove it on the pitch.”

Barcelona players react to Granada’s Nigerian midfielder Ramon Azeez’s goal after only two minutes into the game

Leclerc slams ‘frustrating’ Ferrari Singapore pit strategyAFP | Singapore

Charles Leclerc will be seek-ing answers from his Ferrari

team after their ‘frustrating’ pit strategy prevented him from registering a hat-trick of wins but enabled the Italian outfit to secure a one-two finish at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday.

Fresh off consecutive tri-umphs in Belgium and Italy, Leclerc qualified on pole for Singapore but was overtaken by Sebastian Vettel during a pit stop and had to settle for a second-place finish as his team mate recorded a first victory in 392 days.

“I was surprised because ob-

viously I was not aware in the car, but I guess if this decision has been made it was for the good of the team and it had to be the only way for us to do a

one-two,” Leclerc told report-ers of Ferrari’s strategy to bring Vettel into the pits first and the 21-year-old Monegasque one lap later.

“So if it’s the case I complete-ly understand it, but obviously from the car it’s very frustrating. So I’m not completely happy but yeah, anyway the overall result of the weekend is very positive,” added the Ferrari rookie, who has outshone Vettel in his first season at the team.

“We hoped for at least one car on the podium for this weekend and we go back home with a one-two, which we definitely did not expect on a track like this. So this is very positive.”

Venting his frustration on the

team radio during three safety car periods late in the race, Le-clerc said he would take time to absorb the decisions made on the pit wall but would probably feel better about the result in a few days’ time.

“Obviously I think during the safety car I was quite often on the radio, but then as soon as (it) went away I focused on the job and tried to do the best of my race,” he added.

“In the car it’s frustrating and then as soon as I thought a lit-tle bit more about the situation after it, then you see the things maybe a bit differently. Even though I still need some expla-nations just to understand fully why this decision was taken.

Ferrari’s driver Charles Leclerc reacts after finishing in second place