CELEBS 8 @newsofbahrain OP-ED Jolie to star in thriller

Navy couple faces nearly $11,600 bill to move pair of dogsVirginia

A Navy couple is under shock after coming to know that they need to bay a bill of nearly $12,000 to ship

two beloved German shepherds to Guam, where they got transferred from Norfolk.

The transfer was somewhat unex-pected because Kenneth, a petty officer second class and master-at-arms, and

his wife had only been at Norfolk Naval Station, for about a year after returning from a stint in Bahrain.

Most of the airliners in the US have stopped transporting large dogs.

They set up a GoFundMe account in hopes of defraying the cost of shipping the pair of eight-year-old dogs. By the last week of January, they’d raised almost $1,000.

“I’m smart enough to know that I probably won’t reach anywhere near my goal,” Emily Sanders said. “My family and friends are great. They’re supporting me and I’m so thankful for that. But that’s a lot of money.”

They plan on using credit cards to pay the bill.

“I know they have a high interest rate, but, what’s a girl to do?” she said.

02 Premier hails GAP endorsement

03Key forum discusses ways to make smooth VAT transition

04Kingdom’s exports grow 8pc in fourth quarter of last year

8

‘French Spiderman’ caught in police web 5WORLD

OP-EDC E L E B S

Jolie to star in thriller ‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’Angelina Jolie is all set to star in Taylor Sheridan’s chase thriller ‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’. Produced by Bron Studios and Film Rites, Sheridan is adapting the script from Michael Ko-ryta’s 2014 novel of the same name, reported Variety. P14

WEDNESDAYJANUARY 2019

200 FILS ISSUE NO. 8007

The US should return to UNESCO

Kendall, models may have to testify over failed Fyre Festival 14 CELEBS

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Deadly blast shocks Yemen Abu Dhabi TV cameraman among seven civilians killed in Yemen bomb

• The improvised explosive device was planted on a motorcycle parked in the middle of the market.

• Ziad Al Sharabi was killed and his reporter colleague wounded.

Dubai

A bomb attack in a market killed seven Yemeni civil-ians including a camera-

man for a UAE television channel in the government-controlled town of Mokha yesterday.

At least 20 people were wound-

ed in the overnight blast in the Red Sea town, where pro-govern-ment forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthi mil-itants are based.

The blast killed Ziad Al Shar-abi, a cameraman for Abu Dhabi TV and wounded Faisal Al Thub-hani, a correspondent for the same network, the official WAM

news agency reported.Abu Dhabi Media general man-

ager, Dr Ali bin Tamim blamed the Houthi militia for the attack and said they have repeatedly targeted the media.

“This is not the first time that our frontline crews in Yemen have been exposed to Houthi vio-lations and terrorist acts,” he said.

“We will not stop exposing their brutal crimes and terror acts in Yemen on all our media platforms.”

The improvised explosive de-vice was planted on a motorcycle parked in the middle of the mar-ket, an official in the pro-govern-ment forces said.

There was no immediate claim

of responsibility for the attack, but the Yemeni government news agency Saba blamed it on the Iran-aligned Houthis.

The city of Mokha has enjoyed relative calm since government forces, backed by an Arab coa-lition that includes the UAE and Saudi Arabia, seized it from the rebels in July 2017.

Yemen’s war was sparked by the Houthis decision to seize the capital Sanaa in 2014.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said, prior to Al Sharabi’s death, that at least 16 journalists have been killed in Yemen since 2015.

In another development, Houthi rebels yesterday released the first prisoner under an agreement with the government brokered last month, the United Nations said.

16journalists have been

killed in Yemen since the civil war began in 2015.

Left, Ziad Al Sharabi, a cameraman for Abu Dhabi TV, was killed in the attack and correspondent Faisal Al Thubhani was injured.

Bahrain experienced cloudy weather and scattered rain yesterday. The General Directorate of Traffic has urged roadusers to be cautious of the rain and keep the safety distance between vehicles. Above, an aerial view from Bahrain Financial Harbour.

Cloud canopy Foreign Ministry slams Iranian statements

Manama

The Kingdom affirmed that the statements of the Spokesman of the

Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the rulings of the independent judiciary in the Kingdom reflect the ag-gressive nature of the regime in Iran as well as its approach that disrespects the principles of international relations and good neighbourliness.

“These statements also mirror the Iranian policy which inter-feres in the internal affairs of the Kingdom and other Arab states in order to promote chaos, ten-sion and violence in the region,” said the Foreign Ministry.

It noted that such state-ments aim to cover the suffer-ing of the Iranian people which results from the regime’s prac-tices in Iran and its support for terrorism in the region against the interests of the Iranian peo-ple who live in poverty, repres-sion and violence caused by the Iranian regime.

These statements also mirror the Iranian

policy which interferes in the internal affairs

of the Kingdom and other Arab states.

FOREIGN MINISTRY

Kenneth and Emily Sanders pose with their dogs Phoenix, left, and Nautia.

Palestinian govt resignsAmman

Palestinian Prime Min-ister Rami Hamdallah

yesterday announced the government’s resignation.

Government spokesman Yousef Al Mahmoud was quoted by Arab News that the Cabinet will continue carrying out its responsi-bilities until a new govern-ment is formed, though he said he could not predict how long that would take.

The Palestinian Legisla-tive Council was dissolved in December 2018, and leg-islative elections were or-dered by the Constitutional Court within six months. No mention has been made of presidential elections.

Tehran rejects talks on missile programme London

Iran yesterday dismissed pressure from France

and other Western powers for talks over its ballistic missile program, but said it had no plans to increase the range of the weapons.

France said last week it was ready to impose further sanctions on Iran if no pro-gress was made in talks about the missiles, described by Tehran as defensive but seen in the West as a destabilising factor in a volatile region.

02WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2019

Premier hails GAP endorsementExecutive-legislature co-operation is the cornerstone of national action march, says HRH the Premier

• The Premier lauded the positive spirit that prevailed during the government-parliament consultations on GAP and the meaningful discussions held in the Council of Representatives ahead of its endorsement.

• HRH Premier commended the tremendous efforts exerted by the Government’s team to the joint GAP meetings, and its constructive cooperation with the Council of Representatives.

Manama

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khali-fa bin Salman Al Khal-

ifa has lauded the Representa-tives Council’s approval of the

Government Action Plan (GAP) 2019-202, stressing that it is a blessed move towards achieving the joint Executive-Legislature aspirations to continue build-ing the nation and achieving the sound visions of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa for the sake of a more prosperous future for Bahrain and its people.

In a statement following the Representatives Council’s en-dorsement of the Government Action Plan for the next four years, HRH Premier stressed that co-operation between the Exec-utive and Legislative branches is the cornerstone of the national action march, and a catalyst for carrying on the development process, building on previous achievement, enhancing services and increasing the citizens’ gains.

The Prime Minister stressed that the government-parliament consensus on GAP 2019-2022 em-bodies the two branches’ con-structive cooperation, and their shared desire to move forward towards more promising hori-zons that meet the requirements and challenges of the current phase.

HRH Premier extended thanks and appreciation to the Speaker of the Council of Representatives,

Fawzia Zainal, and MPs for their approval of GAP by a majority of votes, noting that their discussion of GAP reflected their keenness to place the interests of the nation above all priorities.

The Premier lauded the pos-itive spirit that prevailed dur-

ing the government-parliament consultations on GAP and the meaningful discussions held in the Council of Representatives ahead of its endorsement.

HRH Premier commended the tremendous efforts exert-ed by the Government’s team to the joint GAP meetings, and its constructive cooperation with the Council of Representatives, which led to the lawmakers’ ap-proval of GAP.

The Prime Minister affirmed that the government-parliament cooperation has always been based on mutual trust and re-spect, a sense of patriotic respon-sibility and keenness to push the development process forward in order to attain more accom-

plishments.“We are on the threshold

of a new phase of national ac-tion, in light of global economic changes and challenges, and we

will work hand in hand, with all determination and ambition, with the Legislative Branch, on everything that would strength-en our economy and build on the nation’s previous achievements,” he said.

“We are all partners in building and invigorating the nation. We seek to continue the develop-ment efforts and improve the standards of living of citizens,” HRH Premier added, noting that Bahrain will, thanks to the soli-darity of its people and cooper-ation between its executive and legislative branches, attain more accomplishments that meet the aspirations of the citizens.

HRH Premier affirmed that the government will start its efforts to honour the commitments in-cluded in the GAP 2019-2022 in various sectors, according the priorities that meet the require-ments of the coming period and ensure the optimal use of the state’s resources.

HRH the Prime Minister highlighted the importance of consolidating the “serious and fruitful” Executive-Legislature cooperation in a way that would embody real partnership in building the nation and enhanc-ing its prosperity, stressing the government’s keenness to inter-act swiftly and positively with everything raised by the Repre-sentatives and Shura councils, as part of their exercise of their monitoring and legislative roles.

The ultimate goal of the gov-ernment is to provide quality ser-vices to the citizens with high efficiency, he said. noting that it will seek to strengthen the con-structive partnership between the two branches to bring about more achievements and ensure a better future.

We are all partners in building and

invigorating the nation. We seek to continue the

development efforts and improve the

standards of living of citizens.

HRH THE PREMIER

HRH the Premier

Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa yesterday attended the celebration of the Customs Affairs to mark the World Customs Day. The event was also attended by Interior Ministry Undersecretary of Nationality, Passport and Residence Affairs, Chief of Public Security and senior officials from ministries and concerned authorities. The Interior Minister expressed thanks and appreciation for the sincere efforts of the Customs Affairs to meet work requirements and the latest developments in the sector. He highlighted that the security system operates within integrated fields and the customs is among them, hailing the seriousness and performance development of the Customs Affairs and its dedication to meet the changes and benefit from successful experiences.

The House of Representatives has approved the Government Action Plan after lengthy discussions.

Shaikh Khalifa bin Daij Al Khalifa received a red carpet welcome at Iringal Ayyappa Temple in the presence of Dr Varghese Kurian, Chairman of VKL and Al Namal Group of Companies. Above, temple officials handing over a memento to Shaikh Khalifa.


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Key forum discusses ways to make smooth VAT transition

Experts urge companies to implement measures that would assure VAT compliance TDT | Manama Harpreet Kaur

A panel discussion organ-ised by the Association of Chartered Certified

Accountants (ACCA) at the Four Seasons Bahrain Hotel discussed the VAT journey in Bahrain and its impact on busi-nesses.

Though the VAT transition is happening at a fast pace, many companies have only trained a few staff to carry out the transi-tion, observed VAT experts from Sage, Deloitte, Thomson Reu-ters, Grant Thornton, Al Tamimi and Company and BIBF at the discussion chaired by Lindsay Degouve de Nuncques, Head of ACCA Middle East.

Speaking at the session, Sage Middle East technical director Mansoor Sarwar said that busi-nesses preparing for the further rollout of VAT in Bahrain must focus on their people and their processes.

“We all know that there are so many fine details that you need to remember as a business and it’s not humanly possible to remember all those details all

the time. “A simple invoice requires 15

separate details to be compliant with new VAT procedures. It’s impractical to expect a human to check that every time. The more manual steps involved in any process, the more the risks of mistakes, if nothing else.”

“In Saudi Arabia, which im-plemented VAT last year, more than a third of 12,500 compa-

nies inspected had failed their audits, whereas Bahrain phased implementation of VAT, begin-ning with the larger companies, which gave small and medi-um-sized businesses more time to prepare.”

Separately, speaking to Trib-une, Mr Sarwar said: “The big-gest challenge that almost every country that rolls out any new legislation is the non-availabil-

ity of skilled resources to help with the transition. This, in turn, affects the optimisation of processes and systems around the interpretation of tax regu-lation, compliance, reporting and control.

“Bahrain is experiencing similar challenges that UAE and KSA have gone through early last year. However, the scale of those challenges is eased for

Bahrain as a business here ben-efits from the experience of their neighbours. For example, phased implementation of VAT over 12 months is a welcome in-itiative by NBT to help small and medium businesses get regis-tered for VAT in phased periods.

“Other challenges include effects on cash flow for many businesses – ranging from in-vestments in upgrading their systems to up skilling their staff in addition to managing their cash flow for additional VAT impact. As per several expert estimates, Bahrain is expecting

to generate BD 600m in VAT rev-enues for first 12 months while this is relatively a small percent-age of the country’s GDP. “

“VAT is expected to partly con-tribute to short term inflation. VAT obviously helps in economic diversity, business transparency and shared economic respon-sibility between governments, businesses and consumers.

“There are two pieces of ad-vice that you need to sort out quickly. It’s people and systems. They are connected. The right people understand compliance, the law and everything you need.

“If you don’t have the right system, they’ll help implement one, and if you have the right system, it would require you to upskill or hire the right people.

“An ideal system should go further, allowing efficient docu-ment storage and retrieval, with centralised master data manage-ment, produce cash flow projec-tions allowing for VAT payments and refunds, be able to cleanse data and generate artificial in-telligence based alerts for any exceptions and delays based on workflow,” he added.

Panelists share their views at the forum.

VAT obviously helps in economic diversity, business transparency and shared economic

responsibility between

governments, businesses and

consumers. MR SARWAR


Kingdom’s exports grow 8pc in fourth quarter of last year

Saudi Arabia emerged Bahrain’s top export partner, followed by the UAE and Egypt TDT | Manama

The Information and eGov-ernment Authority (iGA) issued its foreign trade re-

port of the fourth quarter of 2018, which encompasses balance of trade, imports, exports (national origin) and re-exports.

The value of imports increased by 9 per cent as it reached BD1.462 billion during fourth quarter of 2018 versus BD1.344bn for the same quarter of the previous year, while the top ten countries ac-count for 66pc of the imports val-ue and 34pc for other countries.

According to the report; Chi-na is ranked as the first coun-try, which exports to Bahrain with BD193 million, the United States of America as second with BD142m whereas the Unit-ed Arab Emirates ranked third with BD113m.

Non-agglomerated iron ores and concentrates emerged as the top product imported to Bahrain with BD110m, while the alumin-ium oxide as the second with BD106m. Floating or submersible drilling platforms were the third products with BD54m during fourth quarter 2018.

Additionally, the value of the exported national origin increased by 8pc as it reached BD567m during fourth quarter of 2018 versus BD525m for the

same quarter of the previous year. The top ten countries account for 81pc of the exported national origin value and 19pc for other

countries.Saudi Arabia was ranked as

the first country importing from Bahrain with BD113m, the United

Arab of Emirates (UAE) second with BD71m and Egypt comes in third place with BD69m.

As for national export prod-ucts, agglomerated iron ores and concentrates emerged as the top products exported in fourth quarter of 2018 with BD121m; aluminium wires were posi-tioned second products import-ed with a value of BD59m; and unwrought aluminium alloys stood third place for exported products with BD52m.

With regard to the re-export-ed field, the value of re-exports increased by 17pc as it reached BD165m during fourth quarter of 2018 versus BD141m for the

same quarter of the previous year. The top ten countries account for 90pc of the re-exported val-ue and 10pc for other countries. Saudi Arabia is ranked as the first country to re-export from

Bahrain with BD55m, the UAE is ranked as the second with BD24m and China as the third with BD22m.

Four-wheel drive cars emerged as the top product re-exported from Bahrain with BD24m, gold ingots came as second products with BD12m, and cigarettes con-taining tobacco came as the third with BD11m.

The trade balance, difference between exports and imports, the value of the deficit of the trade balance reached BD731m dur-ing fourth quarter of 2018 versus BD678m for the same quarter of the previous year with an in-crease of 8pc.

731million Bahraini dinars

was the Kingdom’s trade deficit during the fourth

quarter of last year.

Most advanced prostate tumour diagnosis facility at King Hamad University Hospital TDT | Manama Tamer Tayfoor

King Hamad University Hospital has implement-ed the most advanced

prostate tumour diagnosis fa-cility which uses radioactive isotopes.

This was announced by Ma-jor General Shaikh Salman bin Ateyatallah Al Khalifa.

“The radioactive isotope technology is the most advanced one to identify even small tu-mours within the prostate,” he told Tribune.

“Sustainable upgrading and development of tumour detec-tion devices are among the top

priorities of the hospital,” he added.

Echoing a similar view, Dr

Waeel Ibrhaim (consultant of interventional radiology) said: “King Hamad University Hos-pital is among the first hospitals in the world to produce and use (F-PSMA) technique and tool.”

“This technique (F-PSMA) can detect very small sized tumours in the body which can’t be seen or be detected by normal types of X-rays.

“The technique also enables to know how the tumor has been circulated in the body, so the plan can be made to treat the patient and do the needed follow up with him,” he added.

The radioactive isotope technology is the most advanced one to identify even small tumours within the prostate. MAJ GEN SHAIKH SALMAN

Government to allocate extra BD15m for buying medicines

TDT | Manama Tamer Tayfoor

The Government has an-nounced that it would add BD15 million to the

existing budgetary allocation of the Health Ministry to buy medicines.

The move is aimed at en-suring the availability of all medicines at the Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) as well as health centres in the Kingdom.

It follows complaints from

the part of patients over short-age of some medicines at SMC and health centres.

According to sources, the government earmarks BD 50 m towards buying medicines.

Lawmaker Ammar Qambar had asked the government to problem the shortage of med-icines, if there is any.

Meanwhile, the govern-ment maintains that the crisis doesn’t emerge out of budg-etary allocation but due to lengthy administrative and technical procedures.

Bahrain’s judiciary independence highlightedCairo

The Assistant Foreign Minister, Abdulla Al Doseri, affirmed that

the Kingdom, in the era of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, has made many gains in the field of human rights in various national, regional and international forums.

He added that the constitu-tion and the laws of the King-dom guarantee all rights and freedoms, including the right to litigation and the independ-

ence of the judiciary which emphasise the nature of demo-cratic governance and provide all legal guarantees for fair trials that meet international standards.

This came as the Assistant Foreign Minister headed the delegation of the Kingdom participating in the 15th ses-sion of the Arab League Hu-man Rights Committee, held on January 28 and 29 this year, at the League of Arab States’ Headquarters in Cairo.

The Assistant Foreign Min-

ister stressed that the com-prehensive development in the Kingdom is based on justice, gender equality and indis-crimination, which led Bah-raini women to making great achievements in various social, economic, cultural and politi-cal fields.

He added that the govern-ment of the Kingdom is fol-lowing an advanced program to ensure that all citizens and residents in the Kingdom of Bahrain enjoy decent living standards, highlighting the

successful role of the unem-ployment insurance system in this regard since its establish-ment in 2007.

The delegation of the King-dom also discussed various topics and provided direct, transparent and objective re-sponses to all the questions posed by the members of the Committee, which focused on the right to life, physical integ-rity and freedom from torture, as well as the independence the judiciary, among many others. Mr Al Doseri speaks at the 15th session of the Arab League Human Rights Committee.

05

world

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2019

Indonesia toll touches 70

AFP | Jakarta, Indonesia

Floods and landslides that battered Indonesia’s Su-

lawesi island have killed at least 70 people, authorities said yesterday, as aerial footage underscored the scale of the disaster with whole villages wiped off the map.

Lashed by heavy rain, rivers swelled and burst their banks, inundating dozens of commu-nities across 12 districts as well as parts of the provincial capi-tal Makassar.

The bodies of 70 victims have been found, while six are still missing, Syamsibar, head of South Sulawesi’s disaster mitigation agency, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP.

Drone footage showed land-slides had buried Pattallikang village in hard-hit Gowa dis-

trict, with only a few buildings -- including a mosque -- visible after an avalanche of mud and rock cascaded down a nearby hillside.

Nearly 9,500 people have been displaced by the ex-treme weather, and hundreds of houses, government build-ings, schools and bridges have been damaged, the dis-aster mitigation agency said Monday.

Authorities say floodwa-ters are receding but a state of emergency will remain in place until February 6, while rescuers look for those still missing and help repair dam-aged infrastructure.

Landslides and floods are common in Indonesia, espe-cially during the monsoon season between October and April, when rains lash the vast Southeast Asian archipelago.

Indonesian rescuers searching for survivors after a landslide in Gowa, after heavy rains and strong winds pounded the southern part of Sulawesi island.

Failed escape bid earns Singapore church fraudster more jail timeSingapore, Singapore

A Singaporean man jailed over a multi-million-dol-

lar fraud at a glitzy megachurch was given extra prison time yesterday for trying to flee the country before his sentence started.

In a case that gripped the city-state with a mix of religion and lavish spending, six City Harvest Church leaders were convicted in 2015 of pilfering tens of millions of dollars from the place of worship to promote the pop career of the pastor’s wife.

Among them was investment manager Chew Eng Han, who was sentenced to three years and four months.

His imprisonment was de-layed by a series of appeals but after losing his final challenge, Chew was meant to start serv-ing his sentence on February 22 last year.

But a day before he was due to go to jail, police caught him in a small fishing boat off east-ern Singapore attempting to flee to neighbouring Malaysia.

After the failed escape bid, he started serving his sentence in March.

Chew was convicted in De-cember of two fresh charges

related to the attempt to flee.Yesterday District Court

Judge Victor Yeo sentenced him to an extra 13 months for the two charges, to be served at the end of his current sentence.

The judge said he was not persuaded by the defence law-yer’s argument that Chew had shown genuine remorse for his actions.

State prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 15 months, saying Chew’s actions were “premeditated” and underlined his “complete lack of respect for the law”. Three other men

were jailed last year for helping Chew in the escape bid.

The church leaders were con-victed of using Sg$24 million ($19.8 million) from a church building fund to help advance the music career of the pastor’s singer wife Sun Ho, and were also found guilty of misappro-priating huge sums as they cov-ered their tracks.

The money was used to fund glitzy pop videos featur-ing scantily clad dancers, with the church arguing Ho’s music could be used to attract more followers.

City Harvest Church investment committee member Chew Eng Han is seen arriving at the state court in Singapore to face charges in relation to a multi-million-dollar defrauding of the glitzy megachurch. (Courtesy of malaysianinsight)

iPhone FaceTime bug lets callers eavesdropSan Francisco, United States

A newly discovered Face-Time bug lets people hear

and even see those they are reaching out to on iPhones even if the other person hasn’t an-swered their phone.

When a phone number is dialed on FaceTime -- the iP-hone’s internet-based voice and video calling feature -- the caller can swipe up from the bottom of the screen and tap an option to add a person, accord-ing to video demonstrations.

If the caller then enters their own number as that of the add-ed caller, a group call begins even though the person being called hasn’t even answered.

The caller can then eaves-drop on the person being called, and in some demonstrations even watch them through the camera app. Declining a call breaks the connection.

The bug, initially outlined by Apple product and review web-site 9to5Mac.com, was reported by several media outlets.

A video posted at Twitter ac-count @BmManski showing how simple it is to take advan-tage of the flaw and listen in on

an iPhone being called using FaceTime, logged nearly two million views and was shared 14,000 times by late evening in California.

Some Twitter users offered advice to disable the FaceTime application until a fix was in place.

An Apple support page list-ed Group FaceTime calling as “temporarily unavailable” as of 7:16 PM here (03:16 GMT) due to an ongo-ing “issue” t h a t wa s not speci-fied.

An Ap-ple state-

ment quoted in US media said the iPhone maker was aware of this issue and has “identi-fied a fix that will be released in a software update later this week.”

“Disable FaceTime for now until Apple fixes,” Twitter co-founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey advised in a tweet.

Dorsey’s message included a forwarded post by

technologist Andy Baio.

“Want to see a really bad bug?” Baio asked in his post.

“You can Face-Time any iOS device running 12.1 and listen in remotely—WITHOUT THE OTH-

ER PERSON ANSWER-ING THE CALL.”

Apple did not imme-diately respond to re-quests for comment.

FaceTime soft-ware enables voice

or video calls us-ing iPhones, iP-ads, iPod Touch, and Macintosh computers.

‘French Spiderman’ caught in police webManila, Philippines

French urban freeclimber Alain Robert was arrest-ed yesterday, police said,

after he scaled one of Manila’s tallest towers in his latest high-risk ascent.

The 56-year old adventurer dubbed the “French spiderman” climbed the 47-storey GT Tow-er without safety equipment, leaving watchers on the ground staring in amazement.

“This is my path, this is my way of living. It is as important to me as eating, sleeping. I need that. It keeps me alive,” he told reporters after completing the climb.

Police were less enthusias-tic about the stunt and took him into custody as soon as he reached the ground after the roughly two-hour climb up and down the building.

He was being held on a charge of public disturbance and was awaiting a decision from pros-ecutors on bail.

Robert has scaled more than 100 structures without ropes or other safety equipment, set-ting a record for “most buildings climbed unassisted” according to Guinness World Records.

His successes include many of the world’s tallest skyscrapers

and iconic buildings, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House, the Petronas Twin Tow-ers in Kuala Lumpur and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai -- where he used suction devices and a safety rope as it has no hand or footholds.

However in June he was foiled when he attempted to ascend a Seoul skyscraper, get-ting more than half way up the 123-storey Lotte World Tower before security forced him to abort. Robert has suffered sev-eral severe falls while climbing and estimates his accidents have left him 66 percent disabled. He has been arrested numerous times for his exploits.French urban free-climber Alain Robert (top C), popularly known as the "French Spiderman", is pictured on the side of the 47-storey GT Tower in Manila's financial district of Makati


Macron calls for Inter- religious talks in ParisAFP | Cairo, Egypt

French President Emma-nuel Macron met yes-terday with Egypt’s top

clerics and called for inter-re-ligious dialogue at the end of a three-day visit aimed at boost-ing ties while raising human rights concerns.

Macron and Pope Tawadros II stressed the need for “dialogue between religions” as he met Pope Tawadros II at St. Mark’s Cathedral, seat of Egypt ’s ancient Coptic Orthodox Church.

“I decided that a new confer-ence will be held in Paris to see how to act more effectively,” he said, without giving details.

A diplomatic source said the French capital would host a fo-rum on religious minorities in the Middle East, but without giving a date.

Macron visited the church adjacent to the cathedral that was the site of a December 2016 jihadist attack which killed 29 people.

He also met in Cairo with Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, the most prestigious seat of Sunni Islamic learning in Egypt.

Their talks centred on “the training of imams (prayer lead-ers) in France and the fight against the misguided vision of religion”, the French presidency said.

Also yesterday, Macron lunched with civil society mem-bers “active in the areas of ju-dicial protection of detainees, press freedom, gender equali-ty and children’s defence”, the

presidency said.On Monday, the human rights

situation in Egypt was at the centre of talks between Macron and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Their different visions were on show at a joint news confer-ence where Macron said respect of freedoms was inseparable from stability while Sisi said security was the priority for

Egypt’s 100-million population.During the visit, Macron

and Sisi oversaw the signing of some 30 deals worth nearly a billion euros (dollars) includ-ing in transportation, education and health. No arm deals were signed.

After Egypt, the French pres-ident travelled on to Cyprus for a summit of southern EU coun-tries on migration and security.

Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron visit the Coptic Church headquarters in Cairo Five-day-old baby Rotschild giraffe is seen between adult giraffes at the zoo

in Prague

W e l c o m e p a r t y

UN agency eyes $1.2 bn budget for Palestinians despite US cutsGeneva, Switzerland

The UN agency for Pales-tinian refugees yesterday

appealed to nations to help it maintain a $1.2-billion budget in 2019 after it was hit last year by the withdrawal of US funding.

The organisation, known as UNRWA, was able to fully fund a budget of the same amount in 2018, despite a dramatic initial shortfall when the ad-ministration of US President Donald Trump announced it was withdrawing nearly all support.

“The campaign last year was successful,” agency chief Pierre Kraehenbuehl told re-porters in Geneva.

“We closed the entirety of the shortfall, which was an almost existential shortfall of $446 million, ... thanks to the remarkable and generous mo-bilisation of member states” and others, he said.

The US, which was previous-ly UNRWA’s largest contributor, last year cut a full $300 million in funding to UNRWA, and has said it will not repeat the $60 million it did provide.

In the void, the European Union, followed by Germany and Saudi Arabia were the big-

gest donors, with a total of 40 governments providing funds to the UN agency.

Kraehenbuehl told report-ers he had come to Geneva to appeal to governments to repeat last year’s “extremely generous contributions” and allow the vital core services and life-saving humanitarian aid for some 5.4 million Pal-estinian refugees across the Middle East to continue.

He said he had already re-ceived indications from sever-al countries, including France, that they aimed to increase their donations this year.

“It is essential to preserve the key services carried out by courageous UNRWA staff in some of the most difficult and polarised regions of the Mid-dle East,” Kraehenbuehl said.

UNRWA chief Pierre Kraehenbuehl

‘Suicide bomber’ among Philippines blast suspects: DuterteManila, Philippines

A male suicide bomber and his wife carried out a

Catholic cathedral attack that killed 21 people in the coun-try’s restive south, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said yesterday.

Duterte told reporters a woman who remains at large left a device that exploded during mass at the cathedral in the remote Muslim-majority island of Jolo on Sunday, and her husband later blew himself up outside.

The president’s account dif-fered from earlier statements by security officials.

He said military intelligence told him Tuesday the second bomb was strapped on to the body of the male suspect who detonated it as survivors of the first explosion ran for their lives. “They (investigators) could not find any part of the body because it exploded, be-cause that was terrorism and that was a suicide,” the pres-ident said.

China executes man who killed 15 people in car attackBeijing, China

Chinese authorities yes-terday executed a man

who killed 15 people after ramming a car into a crowd-ed square in central Hunan province last year.

Last September, Yang Zanyun ploughed a Land Rover into pedestrians at a public square in Heng-dong city before slashing at people with a shovel and dagger.

Fifteen people were killed and 43 others were injured.

The Hengyang Inter-mediate People’s Court in Hunan province said Tues-day it “carried out the death penalty” on Yang Zanyun for “endangering public se-curity through dangerous methods”.

Local police had called him a “vengeful repeat of-fender” at the time, naming drug charges, theft and in-tentionally causing hurt as previous offences in their statement.

China has experienced a spate of similar incidents in recent months.

In late November, a car ploughed into a group of children crossing a street in front of an elementary school in northeastern Li-aoning province, killing five people and injuring at least 19.

The driver said he “chose his victims at random” and had reportedly been con-templating suicide due to domestic troubles before the tragedy occurred.

US imposes sanctions on Venezuela oil firm PDVSAWashington, United States

The United States imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s

state oil company PDVSA on Monday in the latest effort to ramp up pressure on the coun-try’s President Nicolas Maduro.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the sanctions prevented Maduro from di-verting more resources from the crisis-damaged country until control in Caracas could be transferred to an interim government or new democrat-ically-elected government.

However, Mnuchin said PDV-SA’s US-based subsidiary Citgo would be able to continue op-erations, as long as its earnings were deposited into a blocked account in the United States.

Washington “is holding ac-countable those responsible for Venezuela’s tragic decline,”

Mnuchin announced at the White House.

President Donald Trump last week immediately recognized Venezuela’s self-proclaimed president Juan Guaido, spark-ing a standoff with Maduro.

“We call on our allies and partners to join the United States in recognizing interim

president Guaido and blocking Maduro from being able to ac-cess funds.”

Citgo “will be able to contin-ue to operate provided that any funds that would otherwise go to the oil company instead will go into a blocked account in the United States.”

The latest sanctions on PDV-SA, which has been a “vehicle for corruption...will help pre-vent further diverting of Ven-ezuela’s assets by Maduro and preserve these assets for the people of Venezuela,” Mnuchin said.

The United States will issue temporary licenses to ensure US, Caribbean and European refineries that rely on Vene-zuelan crude can keep buying PDVSA oil but he said many had been taking steps to find other sources.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin

Vatican priest resigns over advances to nunVatican City, Holy See

A senior Vatican priest ac-cused of making advances

towards a nun during confes-sion has resigned, the Vatican said yesterday.

Austrian Father Hermann Geissler resigned as one of three top officials at the Con-gregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which ensures Ro-man Catholic moral doctrine.

“Geissler decided to take this step to limit the damage already done to the congregation and to his community,” a Vatican statement said, adding that he

“reserves the right for possible civil legal action.”

A Canonical disciplinary procedure in 2014 let Geissler off with a warning after Ger-man former nun Doris Wagner accused him of inappropriate behaviour during confession.

“He kept me for hours, kneel-ing before him, he told me that he loved me and that he knew that I loved him and that even if we couldn’t marry, there were other ways,” Wagner said.

“He tried to take me in his arms and kiss me. I panicked and ran,” Wagner said in testi-mony she put on social media.

Wagner also accused another priest of raping her in 2008.

He was removed from the Vatican but remains a priest in a community where “many young nuns live”, according to Wagner.

Doris Wagner


Germany to soften ban on ‘advertising’ abortionsBerlin, Germany

Germany’s coalition govern-ment agreed in principle

yesterday to soften a controver-sial law that bars medical doc-tors from advertising abortion services.

Gynaecologists and hospitals will now be allowed to share es-sential information about where and how women can terminate unwanted pregnancies.

German law allows abortions but has long effectively discour-aged them through various hur-dles such as the advertising ban.

Last year gynaecologist Kristi-na Haenel was fined 6,000 euros ($6,800) for breaking the law by publishing information on abor-tion services on her website.

The case revived debate in the coalition government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Demo-crats (CDU).

Junior partners the Social Democrats (SPD) wanted the paragraph scrapped, a demand backed by leftist opposition par-ties the Greens and Die Linke.

In the end the ruling parties reached a compromise that many read as a defeat for the SPD.

Andrea Nahles, the SPD lead-er, nonetheless welcomed the agreement, tweeting that “wom-en are finally getting the infor-mation they need”.

Health Minister Jens Spahn of the CDU said women needed

access to crucial information but added that abortions should not be advertised because they are “not a medical procedure like any other”.

The draft bill seen by AFP would allow federal health au-thorities and the German Med-ical Association to publish na-tionwide lists of doctors who perform abortions.

In other changes, the age limit for women entitled to free con-traceptives will be raised from 20 to 22 years, and training on performing abortions will be expanded for medical students.

The bill is expected to be ap-proved by the Merkel cabinet on February 6 and then pass both houses of parliament.

German gynaecologist Kristina Haenel (L) speaks with Thorsten Schaefer-Guembel, leader of the Social Democrat party SPD in Hesse, ahead the beginning of the appellation trial after a German court fined her 6,000 euros (USD 7,400) for spelling out on her practice’s website that she performs abortions.

Italy says stranded migrants can land if they head elsewhere

Rome, Italy

Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini

said Tuesday that 47 mi-grants rescued at sea by an NGO can disembark if they agree to leave for Germany or the Netherlands.

“Disembarking of mi-grants? Only if they head for the Netherlands, whose flag the Sea Watch boat is flying, or to Germany, the country of the NGO,” he said on Twitter.

“In Italy we have already received, and spent, too much.”

The Dutch-flagged Sea Watch 3 ship, operated by the German charity Sea Watch, picked up the mi-grants and asylum-seekers -- including eight minors -- on January 19 off the coast of Libya as they made the treacherous Mediterranean crossing.

It is currently sheltering from bad weather off Sicily.

An Italian coastguard patroller flanks the Sea-Watch rescue ship off the Sicilian coast

In Egypt, stray dogs pose growing urban challengeAFP | Cairo, Egypt

Alaa Hilal was out shop-ping in Cairo when she was attacked by a stray

dog in broad daylight -- an in-creasing problem of daily life in Egypt which is stirring debate.

“I got out of my car and saw an exceptionally large street dog,” the 38-year-old housewife told AFP at her home, northeast of Cairo.

“He approached me and bit me without barking or doing anything else,” said Hilal, adding that she had been injured in the thigh.

An overpopulated mega-city of more than 20 million people, Cairo is already plagued by mon-ster traffic jams, widespread waste problems and rampant pollution. Packs of stray dogs are only adding to the city’s chal-lenges.

Complaints about dog attacks, exposure to rabies and in some cases even deaths over the years have triggered calls for the ani-mals to be brought under con-trol.

Hounds unleashedCommonly referred to

as “baladi dogs”, strays are widely viewed as unsani-tary and dirty. They are typically seen running around the streets and scaveng-ing garbage for food.

Accord-i n g t o t h e agriculture min-istry, there were around 400,000 cas-es of dog bites in 2017, up from 300,000 in 2014.

And 231 people died over the past four years

from the

wounds they received, mainly as a result of rabies.

A bite from a dog carrying the rabies virus can be fatal with-in 24 hours as it damages the human’s nervous system, said Shehab Abdel-Hamid, the head of Egypt’s society for the pre-vention of cruelty to animals (SPCA).

Hilal, who had never feared dogs having had several pets when growing up, was rushed to a nearby hospital only to discov-er that she was the ninth person to be bitten by the same dog.

“Due to the trauma caused by this incident, I became worried and I no longer want to be in the same place with them,” she said.

There are no official data on the numbers of stray dogs, but activists say they are running loose in their millions.

A survey by the SPCA showed that the number of stray dogs “may reach up to more than 15 million”, Abdel-Hamid said.

And though street dogs appear to fear the most crowded areas, they can be loud and ag-gressive in

poorly lit and rubbish-strewn suburbs.

In November, a video wide-ly circulated on social media showed a car hitting a teenager who was being chased by two stray dogs.

“Garbage is the main reason behind the stray dogs’ crisis in Egypt,” said Abdel-Hamid, high-lighting how the problem was exacerbated when the rubbish men stopped working during the 2011 uprising.

Government mauled The SPCA, however, lacks

resources. Its headquarters in downtown Cairo was loot-ed during the uprising and has not been renovated since, Ab-del-Hamid added.

And Egyptian authorities say they can only intervene on a case by case basis.

“We do not go around the streets

looking for dogs to kill them,” said the agriculture

ministry spokes-man Hamed Ab-

d e l - D a y e m . “We only take m e a s u r e s

following c o m -

plaints.”He didn’t specify what meas-

ures are taken to bring the stray dog population under control.

But animal rights advocates often lambast the government, accusing it of mass culls.

In 2017, authorities killed more than 17,000 stray dogs fol-lowing multiple complaints of dog “disturbances” and “biting” in Beni Sueif, south of Cairo, according to an August report by the governorate’s veterinary directorate.

The Red Sea governor even offered a 100 Egyptian pounds ($5.58) award to those who cap-ture and hand over at least five strays.

Animal rights defenders also accuse the government of kill-ing dogs using a drug, known as “strychnine”, a chemical sub-stance listed as “unacceptable on animal welfare grounds” for euthanasia by the World Organ-isation for Animal Health.

But Abdel-Dayem denied that the government imported banned substances.

‘Shelter of Hope’Animal rights advocates

have sought to offer solutions, actively removing dogs from

the streets and giving them homes.

Ahmed al-Shorbagi, 35, opened two dog shelters

in a desert area west of Cairo, near the famed

Giza pyr-

amids. The buildings with sheer con-

crete walls have kept more than 250 dogs safe for the past three years. Shorbagi contributes 40 percent to the funding of the shelters while the rest comes from donations.

“At first I followed the ani-mal rescue pages on Facebook,” Shorbagi told AFP, rubbing one dog’s belly as she wagged her tail in joy.

“I saved a dog that I called ‘Hope’ and when I opened the shelter, I named it after her.”

Shorbagi believes the solu-tion lies in dog sterilisation programmes, providing rabies vaccinations and removing the garbage.

“Instead of the government paying millions of dollars to im-port poison, it should consider sterilisation,” he said.

“We, as associations, pro-posed to the ministry of agri-culture to solve the problem but it refused.”

The ministry’s spokesman denied however refusing to co-operate with private entities and hailed their work to help resolve the crisis.

Ahmed el-Shorbagi, owner of the HOPE shelter for stray dogs, feeds dogs in the shelter’s courtyard, in the village of Abusir, about 20 kilometres southwest of the Egyptian capital Cairo

Second fuel pipeline explodes in MexicoMexico City, Mexico

A pipeline in Mexico ex-ploded while people

were stealing fuel from it, near where a similar blast this month left 115 dead, an official said.

The new blast struck Monday in the central state of Hidalgo, about 50 kilo-meters (30 miles) from the site of the explosion 10 days ago.

State governor Omar Fayad said there were no initial reports of anyone being injured in the latest explosion, in the town of San Agustin Tlaxiaca.

Hardliner in failed Soviet coup dies at 92Moscow, Russia

Alexander Tizyakov, one of the hardliners

behind an attempted coup in 1991 against Soviet lead-er Mikhail Gorbachev, has died aged 92, authorities said. “We are in mourning. The former director of ZiK plant Alexander Tizyakov has passed away,” said au-thorities in the Urals city Yekaterinburg, where the plant is located.

ZiK, or Kalinin Ma-chine-Building Plant, makes anti-aircraft rocket systems.

Tizyakov reportedly died late last week. Regional gov-ernor Yevgeny Kuivashev called Tizyakov a “strong, courageous and smart per-son”.


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

ROGER COHEN

The United States quit UN-ESCO, the United Nations cultural organisation, this

month. It did not go quietly. A “cesspool,” Nikki Haley called it. “Unesco is among the most corrupt and politically biased UN agencies,” she tweeted.

True, Haley was on her way out the door as US ambassador to the United Nations and so unconstrained in speaking her mind. There’s scarcely a multi-lateral organisation around that the wall-focused, America-first Trump administration has not lambasted, threatened to leave or left.

In the case of the Paris-based UNESCO, the departure was a slam dunk for President Don-ald Trump. His affinity for its mission of building world peace through cultural and scientific co-operation is as great as his affinity for reading and scholar-ship. That is to say nonexistent.

More important, UNESCO has shown a persistent anti-Israe-li obsession, deploring and de-nouncing one Israeli action after another in ways that denied any Jewish connection to the Holy

Land, including sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. A decision in 2017 to designate as a Palestinian World Heritage site in danger an area in Hebron that includes the Cave of the Patriarchs stirred Is-raeli outrage — with reason. The shrine, burial site of Abraham and his wife, Sarah, is sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians alike.

The organisation granted full membership to Palestine in 2011, prompting the United States and Israel to stop paying dues. By the time it left, the United States had around $600 million in arrears.

Israel, which marches in vir-tual lock step with the Trump administration, also quit UNES-CO this month. Last year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the organisation’s “persistent and egregious bias against Israel.”

The strange thing about all this is that the US and Israeli with-drawals came just as UNESCO had taken serious steps to rectify its bias and find mediated solu-tions to disputes. The pullouts smacked in the end of stubborn grandstanding rather than prin-ciple.

No surprise there: That’s the Trump approach to the world. Israel judges the price of deviat-ing by a millimeter from its most powerful, uncritical backer to be too high.

Under Audrey Azoulay, the di-rector-general who took up her

post after Trump announced the decision to leave, Israel and Arab states have reached consensus on a dozen UNESCO texts — a new development.

A Holocaust education website was introduced along with the United Nations’ first educational guidelines to combat anti-Semi-tism.

“UNESCO was being used for things not strictly in its sphere, like issues of sovereignty,” Azou-lay told me in an interview.

“The debate about overpolit-icisation was legitimate given how the organisation was being used, especially in the last dec-ade. There was a loss of credi-bility. I have tried hard to reduce the politicisation and work for consensus.”

She continued: “In the light of the progress made over the past 12 months, I deeply regret the withdrawal of the United States, a founding member, and Israel.”

A UNESCO conference on an-

I WOULD PREFER EVEN TO FAIL WITH HONOR THAN WIN BY CHEATING. SOPHOCLES

QUOTE OF THE DAY

The US should

return to UNESCO

The real cesspool is elsewhere: in the moral depravity of a US

government that no longer stands firmly with freedom,

democracy and decency

MICHAEL KHODARKOVSKY

On Jan 5, some 150,000 people lined up in front of the St Sophia Cathedral in

Ukraine’s capital, Kiev. They came to see a single document called a tomos, issued a few days before by the ecumenical patriarch of Con-stantinople, Bartholomew. There, on a piece of parchment, written in ornate Greek, English and Ukrain-ian, were words that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had dreamed about for centuries: The document made the Ukrainian Church auto-cephalous, meaning it is now fully independent from Moscow.

This declaration of independ-ence came about despite months of behind-the-scenes attempts by the Kremlin and Russian Ortho-dox Church officials to dissuade Bartholomew from issuing a to-mos. When cajoling did not work, Kremlin-connected hackers (who were recently indicted in the Unit-ed States) stole thousands of email messages from Bartholomew’s aides. When blackmailing failed also, Moscow resorted to tradi-tional bullying — issuing unspec-ified threats and denouncing the patriarch as an agent of the United States and the Vatican.

Still he did not waver, and the split was accomplished.

It is a serious blow, on several levels, to the ambitions of Rus-sia’s president, Vladimir Putin, as well as the Russian Church. The Ukrainian Orthodox population

accounts for about 30 per cent of all Orthodox Christian believ-ers under Moscow’s patriarchate. Dozens of parishes have already switched to the Ukrainian Church and hundreds more are likely to follow. Moscow stands to lose mil-lions of the faithful and untold mil-lions of dollars in church property.

But those are not the most im-portant losses. With autocephaly, a large portion of the Ukrainian population will now be under the influence not of Moscow on church matters but of an inde-pendent church in Kiev. In other words, Russia may have annexed Crimea, but it has lost Ukraine.

Most significant, the struggle over the Ukrainian Church has played out against a background of Putin’s efforts to recast a much-weakened Russia, where 20pc of the population is Muslim, as a land of unified people with a single identity.

In that effort, one of his strate-gies has been a growing reliance on the church as a core of Russian identity and a stalwart supporter of his regime.

Indeed, the ties between the Kremlin and the Moscow Patri-archate are as old as Russia it-self. Throughout its history, the Russian Orthodox Church was subservient to the state and an un-shakable supporter of autocracy.

Starting in the 16th century, the church provided Moscow’s rul-ers with a political theology of Manifest Destiny, asserting that Moscow had become the Second Jerusalem and the Third Rome (after Rome and Constantinople).

The emergence of the atheist Soviet state in 1922 dealt a se-vere blow to the church. The state confiscated most ecclesias-tical property, and few seminaries

When the Ukrainian Orthodox

Church broke from Russia’s, it dealt a blow

to President Vladimir

Putin’s efforts to portray

his country as one people with a single

identity

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, left, and Metropolitan Epiphanius, the head of the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, conduct a service after presenting the “Tomos,” a scroll containing the decree, in a symbolic ceremony sanctifying the Ukrainian Church’s independence from the Russian Orthodox Church at the Patriarchal Church of St George in Istanbul, earlier this month.

Putin’s dream of Godliness: Holy Russia



ROGER COHEN

The United States quit UN-ESCO, the United Nations cultural organisation, this

month. It did not go quietly. A “cesspool,” Nikki Haley called it. “Unesco is among the most corrupt and politically biased UN agencies,” she tweeted.

True, Haley was on her way out the door as US ambassador to the United Nations and so unconstrained in speaking her mind. There’s scarcely a multi-lateral organisation around that the wall-focused, America-first Trump administration has not lambasted, threatened to leave or left.

In the case of the Paris-based UNESCO, the departure was a slam dunk for President Don-ald Trump. His affinity for its mission of building world peace through cultural and scientific co-operation is as great as his affinity for reading and scholar-ship. That is to say nonexistent.

More important, UNESCO has shown a persistent anti-Israe-li obsession, deploring and de-nouncing one Israeli action after another in ways that denied any Jewish connection to the Holy

Land, including sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. A decision in 2017 to designate as a Palestinian World Heritage site in danger an area in Hebron that includes the Cave of the Patriarchs stirred Is-raeli outrage — with reason. The shrine, burial site of Abraham and his wife, Sarah, is sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians alike.

The organisation granted full membership to Palestine in 2011, prompting the United States and Israel to stop paying dues. By the time it left, the United States had around $600 million in arrears.

Israel, which marches in vir-tual lock step with the Trump administration, also quit UNES-CO this month. Last year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the organisation’s “persistent and egregious bias against Israel.”

The strange thing about all this is that the US and Israeli with-drawals came just as UNESCO had taken serious steps to rectify its bias and find mediated solu-tions to disputes. The pullouts smacked in the end of stubborn grandstanding rather than prin-ciple.

No surprise there: That’s the Trump approach to the world. Israel judges the price of deviat-ing by a millimeter from its most powerful, uncritical backer to be too high.

Under Audrey Azoulay, the di-rector-general who took up her

post after Trump announced the decision to leave, Israel and Arab states have reached consensus on a dozen UNESCO texts — a new development.

A Holocaust education website was introduced along with the United Nations’ first educational guidelines to combat anti-Semi-tism.

“UNESCO was being used for things not strictly in its sphere, like issues of sovereignty,” Azou-lay told me in an interview.

“The debate about overpolit-icisation was legitimate given how the organisation was being used, especially in the last dec-ade. There was a loss of credi-bility. I have tried hard to reduce the politicisation and work for consensus.”

She continued: “In the light of the progress made over the past 12 months, I deeply regret the withdrawal of the United States, a founding member, and Israel.”

A UNESCO conference on an-

I WOULD PREFER EVEN TO FAIL WITH HONOR THAN WIN BY CHEATING. SOPHOCLES

QUOTE OF THE DAY

The US should

return to UNESCO

The real cesspool is elsewhere: in the moral depravity of a US

government that no longer stands firmly with freedom,

democracy and decency

MICHAEL KHODARKOVSKY

On Jan 5, some 150,000 people lined up in front of the St Sophia Cathedral in

Ukraine’s capital, Kiev. They came to see a single document called a tomos, issued a few days before by the ecumenical patriarch of Con-stantinople, Bartholomew. There, on a piece of parchment, written in ornate Greek, English and Ukrain-ian, were words that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had dreamed about for centuries: The document made the Ukrainian Church auto-cephalous, meaning it is now fully independent from Moscow.

This declaration of independ-ence came about despite months of behind-the-scenes attempts by the Kremlin and Russian Ortho-dox Church officials to dissuade Bartholomew from issuing a to-mos. When cajoling did not work, Kremlin-connected hackers (who were recently indicted in the Unit-ed States) stole thousands of email messages from Bartholomew’s aides. When blackmailing failed also, Moscow resorted to tradi-tional bullying — issuing unspec-ified threats and denouncing the patriarch as an agent of the United States and the Vatican.

Still he did not waver, and the split was accomplished.

It is a serious blow, on several levels, to the ambitions of Rus-sia’s president, Vladimir Putin, as well as the Russian Church. The Ukrainian Orthodox population

accounts for about 30 per cent of all Orthodox Christian believ-ers under Moscow’s patriarchate. Dozens of parishes have already switched to the Ukrainian Church and hundreds more are likely to follow. Moscow stands to lose mil-lions of the faithful and untold mil-lions of dollars in church property.

But those are not the most im-portant losses. With autocephaly, a large portion of the Ukrainian population will now be under the influence not of Moscow on church matters but of an inde-pendent church in Kiev. In other words, Russia may have annexed Crimea, but it has lost Ukraine.

Most significant, the struggle over the Ukrainian Church has played out against a background of Putin’s efforts to recast a much-weakened Russia, where 20pc of the population is Muslim, as a land of unified people with a single identity.

In that effort, one of his strate-gies has been a growing reliance on the church as a core of Russian identity and a stalwart supporter of his regime.

Indeed, the ties between the Kremlin and the Moscow Patri-archate are as old as Russia it-self. Throughout its history, the Russian Orthodox Church was subservient to the state and an un-shakable supporter of autocracy.

Starting in the 16th century, the church provided Moscow’s rul-ers with a political theology of Manifest Destiny, asserting that Moscow had become the Second Jerusalem and the Third Rome (after Rome and Constantinople).

The emergence of the atheist Soviet state in 1922 dealt a se-vere blow to the church. The state confiscated most ecclesias-tical property, and few seminaries

When the Ukrainian Orthodox

Church broke from Russia’s, it dealt a blow

to President Vladimir

Putin’s efforts to portray

his country as one people with a single

identity

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, left, and Metropolitan Epiphanius, the head of the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, conduct a service after presenting the “Tomos,” a scroll containing the decree, in a symbolic ceremony sanctifying the Ukrainian Church’s independence from the Russian Orthodox Church at the Patriarchal Church of St George in Istanbul, earlier this month.

Putin’s dream of Godliness: Holy RussiaIt is recommended for businesses to seek advice or support from Professional Accountants when making necessary adjustments.


TOP

4TWEETS

04

03

01

Right now, in 99% of the counties in

America, if you are a minimum-wage worker working full time you cannot afford market rate for a one-bedroom apartment. That is un-conscionable.

@KamalaHarris

Anyone in the White House who thinks

another government shutdown is an option needs to talk to the feder-al workers and contrac-tors who suffered as a result of the last one. We can’t do this again.

@MarkWarner

Director of National Intelligence Dan

Coats says that while North Korea has “halt-ed its provocative be-havior related to WMD program,” it is unlikely to “completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capabilities” because leaders view them as critical to regime survival.

@kaitlancollins

02

On top of human suf-fering and lasting

damage to our national parks, the Trump shut-down cost the economy $11 billion. End shut-downs as a political hos-tage-taking tactic.

@HillaryClinton

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

editorial stances)

ti-Semitism was held on the side-lines of the UN General Assembly last September. Netanyahu had shown serious interest in attend-ing. But to offend Trump and Ha-ley was, in the end, a bridge too far for the Israeli prime minister.

In his speech, Secretary-Gen-eral António Guterres did not pull punches. He said anti-Sem-itism was “expressing itself in attempts to delegitimise the right of Israel to exist” and used “the pretext of the situation in the

Middle East to target Jews and Jewish symbols.” He denounced neo-Nazi and white supremacy groups and spoke of “tribalism run amok.” It was a conference that merited the highest-level Israeli attendance.

Azoulay’s senior staff has tem-pered the language of UNESCO resolutions on the Middle East through diplomatic mediation, relegating the most sensitive lan-guage about Israel to non-binding annexes.

The former Israeli ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama Haco-hen, compared the atmosphere last April to “a wedding.” Last June he welcomed a “new spirit” and said that there was a “a need to re-evaluate, in full coordina-tion with the US, the question of leaving.”

It is a pity that his advice was

not heeded. To leave when you are getting what you want is pet-ulant. The world needs more dia-logue, not less. UNESCO, for all its failings, plays an important role. It supports press freedom, pro-motes literacy and preserves the idea of culture as the connective tissue of humanity.

Trump might also consider that it creates jobs. For example, since Paducah, Kentucky, a center of quilt making, was named part of UNESCO’s network of “creative cities,” it has benefited from in-creased tourism.

The real cesspool is elsewhere: in the moral depravity of a US government that no longer stands firmly with freedom, democracy, decency, a free press and the rule of law. In the notion that “cul-ture” is money. In the systematic undermining of truth.

Israel, of all countries — and especially if its real concern is an-ti-Semitism — should not move in lock step with an administration given to innuendo about cosmo-politan financiers and the like.

Leaving a reforming UNESCO was a mistake for both the Unit-ed States and Israel. The United States left once before, in 1984, only to announce its return in 2002. Both countries should re-consider.

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

(In collaboration with New York Times)

1982Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called “Elk Cloner”.

1989Closure of the American embassy in Kabul, Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

1995Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preven-tive treatment for sickle-cell disease.

2000Off the coast of Ivory Coast, Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY

Leaving a reforming UNESCO was a mistake

for both the United States and Israel. Both countries

should reconsider.

survived. The KGB infiltrated the priesthood, informing on clergy and promoting Soviet interests abroad.

During Russia’s brief experi-ment with democracy in the 1990s, the church rebounded from the decades of suppres-sion. But under Putin, the state has co-opted and subsumed the church. The Kremlin has relied on the Orthodox Church as the main unifying force in the coun-try and provides it with generous financial support. In return, the church has been the key promoter of a “Russian world” concept that casts the Kremlin as a defender of Russians outside Russia.

Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has gone so far as to call the Putin era “a miracle of God.”

One of the best examples today of how the church and Kremlin work hand in hand to advance Russian nationalist projects is an exhibition: “Russia — My Histo-ry” — organized by the govern-ment with the Russian Orthodox Church.

On display throughout the Rus-sian Federation, it glorifies Rus-sian autocrats, including Ivan the Terrible and Stalin, as great lead-ers, while vilifying as Western agents the Decembrists, a group of young Russian officers who sought to introduce reforms and a constitution in 1825. Portraits of Putin and Alexander Pushkin, the founder of modern Russian literature, hang together. Simi-larly, Dostoyevsky is paired with a Russian fascist philosopher, Ivan Ilyin, whose little-known works have been revived under Putin.

The exhibition’s explicit mes-sage is that Russia’s size and ge-opolitical ambitions demand a

strong, even if repressive, leader to solidify the country and defy its enemies in the West. This time-worn argument, often used to jus-tify autocracy, is now being fused with a religious doctrine earlier propounded by Ilyin: Russia is a unique and separate Christian civilisation whose responsibilities are only to God.

The exhibition is a brainchild of Bishop Tikhon Shevkunov, who is known for his strong nation-alist views and for being Putin’s confessor. He is also behind a project to rename Russia’s main airports after Russian “heroes.” The list consists almost complete-ly of ethnic Russian men, either military figures or scientists, who contributed to Russia’s military might. Conspicuously, Andrei Sakharov, the father of the Soviet nuclear bomb, who also received the Nobel Peace Prize for human rights campaigning, is missing from the list.

Alongside those developments, the role of the church and its in-fluence in the government and the military have been steadily growing.

Russia’s Defence Ministry is completing a construction of its own cathedral, billed as the third largest of the Orthodox Christian churches. The ministry recently announced that the cathedral’s steps will be made out of melt-ed German armour captured in World War II.

The newfound religious zeal of the military establishment im-itates Putin’s own personal ties with Tikhon. At a meeting with a group of Russian leaders on Oct 18, the president’s use of apoc-alyptic rhetoric was startling. He declared that Russia was not afraid of anyone and that the Rus-sian people were ready to sacrifice themselves for the motherland. As for the use of nuclear weapons, he said that if Russia is attacked, “we will respond, and we will end up in paradise as martyrs, while they will simply croak because they will have no time to repent.”

“They,” of course, is the West, which has now been transformed by propagandists from a mere ge-opolitical foe into an enemy of the true Christian faith represented by Moscow.

In reality, however, Putin’s Rus-sia has reached a dead end. His policies have only led Russia into deeper isolation, now in matters worldly and holy alike. Seemingly unable to change course, Putin’s regime is desperately searching for an ideology in the dark cor-ners of Russian history and the-ology. The fact that this ideology depends on creating a nation-alist and anti-Western rhetoric alongside a vision of an Orthodox Christian Holy Russia should give anyone pause for serious concern.

(Michael Khodarkovsky is a profes-sor of history at Loyola University

Chicago.)

In reality, however, Putin’s Russia has reached a dead end. His policies have only

led Russia into deeper isolation, now in matters

worldly and holy alike.

Putin’s dream of Godliness: Holy Russia

RAMPRASAD R

On January 1, 2019, history was created when the Kingdom of Bahrain’s big-gest and most important economic

reform for the supply of Goods and Services TAX (VAT- Value added Tax) was implement-ed. Yes, we are now into 4th week of effec-tiveness of VAT.

The National Bureau for Taxation issued insights in the form of executive regulations in line with the VAT law and providing pe-riodically various guides and FAQs on VAT related matters. Most importantly, the call centre is responding to all VAT related queries from its hotline 80008001 and by email ([email protected]) without any delay.

Although the law and its executive regu-lations are very strict in its non-compliance, they facilitate reliefs and solutions to reduce side effects from VAT implementation on business

One important thing should not lose sight of businesses that have been given option to register for VAT voluntarily on or before 20th June 2019 with criteria. It is imperative for them to first get their Tax Invoice and VAT Accounting system in place before applying for registration.

If this is not enough, these businesses should also evaluate the amount of Input VAT Credit on their purchases including import, they are going to forgo till the date of their

registration. It may be a catch 22 situations for many businesses. They must weigh in their com-petitiveness, their readiness for VAT vis-à-vis Input VAT Credit loss.

At the time of import of Goods, the taxable person i.e. Importer shall pay VAT along with duty at the time of import of goods into Bahrain. A Taxable Person may apply to the NBT to defer payment, NBT may in its discre-

tion allow the deferral of payment for select registered taxpayers.

Hence it’s important for importer to regis-ter to recover the input VAT (for the amount paid at the import) and request for deferral.

VAT Return Form has not yet been pub-lished but an outline of it has been provided under VAT Legislation. In order to meet the VAT Return Form requirements including VAT Compliance, all taxable entities will need to make necessary adjustments to their Record keeping, Accounting System and Financial Reporting.

It is recommended for businesses to seek advice or support from Professional Account-ants when making necessary adjustments. Wherever necessary, one should also appoint a Tax Advisor to assist one in determining the VAT implications for the various transactions to ensure that one is compliant with VAT Law.

The business houses, big and small, will need the professional tax consultant guid-ance to review their business model and comply with Tax Invoice, file returns, Input tax credit and understand the day-to-day intricacies of the new tax policy, particular-ly the Input VAT credit claim and deferring the import cash out flow (by executing the volunteer registration with NBT).

We, AJMS Alatheer, provide both Account-ing and TAX Advisory services, as a one stop premier professional setup. Our profession-al team assists organisations to effectively monitor and manage their risk and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

(Ramprasad R is the partner of AJMS International Management Consultancy.)

Ensure VAT compliance for all transactions

10

business


SMILE

EU okays US soya for biofuelsBrussels, Belgium

The EU approved yester-day the import of US

soya beans for use as bio-fuels, a gesture that helps strengthen a fragile trade truce with US President Donald Trump.

Caught in a trade spat, Trump and European Com-mission head Jean-Claude Juncker agreed to bury the hatchet in July, with a pledge by Europe to boost US soya imports.

“The Commission has to-day concluded that US soya beans meet the technical requirements to be used in biofuels in the EU,” a state-ment said.

The recognition, which runs until July 2021, means US beans meet EU sustaina-bility criteria despite con-cerns that production for biofuels harms the environ-ment.

Nearly 5,000 garment workers sacked over B’desh strikesDhaka, Bangladesh

Nearly 5,000 low-paid Bangladeshi garment

workers stitching clothes for global brands have been sacked by factory bosses for joining strikes over wages this month that turned vi-olent, police said Tuesday.

Thousands of labourers walked out of factory floors across the country in days-long protests that disrupted the $30 billion industry -- and saw police fire rubber bullets and tear gas at dem-onstrators.

One worker was killed and more than 50 injured in clashes in Ashulia, a key in-dustrial town outside Dhaka where clothes are sewn for retail giants H&M, Walmart and many others.

Three banks merge to form 3rd largest in UAEAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Three banks based in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi

yesterda announced they have agreed to merge to form the Emirates’ third largest lender.

The boards of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) and Union National Bank have unanimously agreed to merge and then acquire the third lender, Al-Hilal Bank which will continue to operate as an Islamic bank under the new group, a statement said.

The merger is still subject to regulatory and shareholder ap-provals in the coming weeks, said the statement by the three banks.

The new lender will oper-ate under the ADCB name and will have assets of $114 billion,

making it the third largest in UAE after the First Abu Dhabi Bank and Emirates National Bank of Dubai, both of which were the result of mergers.

The oil-rich govern-ment of Abu Dhabi

through the Abu Dhabi Investment Council will own a

60.2 percent stake in the new bank

US hands bank accounts to Venezuela’s GuaidoWashington, United States

The United States said yes-terday that it has handed

control of Venezuela’s bank accounts in the United States to Juan Guaido, the opposition leader whom Washington has recognized as interim president.

Secretary of State Mike Pom-peo signed off on the order last week for Guaido to control holdings in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and federally insured banks, the State Depart-ment said.

“This certification will help Venezuela’s legitimate govern-ment safeguard those assets for the benefit of the Venezue-lan people,” State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement.

The United States has been pressing all countries to part ways with President Nicolas Maduro, a leftist firebrand pre-

siding over a crumbling econ-omy and rising street protests, and recognize Guaido, the head of the National Assembly.

Palladino called on all nations

to “take similar steps to protect Venezuela’s patrimony from further theft by Maduro’s cor-rupt regime.”

Venezuela, which is strug-

gling to provide basic services, has some $8 billion in foreign reserves around the world.

A major chunk is around $1.3 billion in gold held by the Bank of England, which Guaido has asked Britain to put under his control.

The United States on Monday announced sanctions against Venezuela’s state oil company, further trying to squeeze Madu-ro’s cash-strapped government.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, speaking Tuesday to the Fox Business Network, said that more economic pressure could be coming.

“We will always look at addi-tional sanctions to make sure we protect the assets of the country for the people of Venezuela,” he said, while adding that the United States wanted to ensure that medicine and other hu-manitarian goods can still go through.

Venezuela’s National Assembly head and self-proclaimed “acting president” Juan Guaido, accompanied by his wife Fabiana Rosales (2-R) and his mother Norka Marquez (L), is greeted by a woman during a mass in honour to the fallen in the fight for freedom, political prisoners and the exiled, at the San Jose church in Caracas

GPIC President Dr Abdulrahman Jawahery along with Labour Union Chairman and Senior Officials presenting a certificate and an award to Nahla Essa from the Finance and Marketing Department, who has been named the Employee of the Month for October 2018. Nahla joined the Company in 2015 and is a Cash Officer in the Finance and Marketing Department.

China’s top trade negotiator arrives in US for talksAFP | Beijing, China

China’s top trade negotiator arrived in Washington as

the world’s top two economies prepare for high-stakes trade talks, Chinese state media said yesterday.

The large delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He and in-cluding the head of the central bank arrived Monday as a US Justice Department indictment against top Chinese tech firm Huawei was unsealed, possibly complicating the discussions.

Beijing and Washington have a month remaining on a truce -- declared in December by Don-ald Trump and Xi Jinping -- that delayed a hike in tariffs on hundreds of billions in Chinese exports economists say could further damage an already-fal-

tering global economy.Trump will meet with Liu

during the two-day talks, which are slated to open Wednesday, US officials said, as pressure mounts on both sides to reach a deal, with China in particu-lar struggling with stuttering growth.

While there have been contradictory reports on the chances of success for the ne-gotiations, global equities have been risen in recent weeks on hopes the two will reach some sort of deal.

China’s negotiating team includes central bank chief Yi Gang, Vice Finance Minister Liao Min and Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang, a m o n g o t h e r

high level officials, official state news agency Xinhua reported.

But the gathering comes days after the US Justice De-partment unveiled sweeping charges against Chinese tel-ecoms giant Huawei and its c h i e f financial officer

Meng Wan-zhou -- also the daugh-ter of the company’s founder.

Vice Premier Liu He

Electricity and Water Affairs Minister Dr Abdulhussain Mirza receiving Mamdouh Abbas Al-Saleh, member of the Chamber of Deputies, and Vice-Chairman of the Services Committee. They reviewed topics related to electricity, water and renewable energy and discussed ways to improve the quality of the services provided by the Authority as well as steps taken by the government to encourage investment in energy solar energy.

Japan to survey 200 mln gadgets for cyber securityTokyo, Japan

Japan is preparing a national sweep of some 200 million

network-connected gadgets for cyber-security lapses ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

The government-backed Na-tional Institute of Information and Communications Tech-

nology will start the survey from Feb to check vulnera-bilities in routers, webcams and web-connected home ap-pliances. Tokyo is rushing to beef up cyber security as the nation prepares to host ma-jor global events, such as the Rugby World Cup this year, the Group of 20 meetings and the summer Olympic Games.

SBI set to own 15 percent of Jet AirwaysReuters | New Delhi

State Bank of India, a lender to Jet Airways,

is likely to own 15 per cent of the cash-strapped car-rier after the airline gets consent for a debt to equity swap.

Jet Airways said it would seek a shareholder nod next month to convert existing debt into equity, raise more money and allow its lenders to nominate a director on its board as part of efforts to resolve its financing prob-lems.


Greece raises 2.5 bn euros in first bond sale since bailoutAthens, Greece

Greece yesterday raised 2.5 billion euros (2.9

billion) from a five-year-bond, its first since exiting the last bailout, the finance minister said.

“This is 36 percent of our requirements for 2019,” finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos said in par-liament, according to the state-run Athens News Agency.

The yield was set at 3.6 percent, Tsakalotos said.

Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs International Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Societe Gener-ale were named as manag-ers of the bond, which has an April 2024 maturity.

The previous five-year bond, in July 2017, raised 3.0 billion euros at 4.625 percent.

Greece currently has no urgent need to draw money from the bond markets as it has built a cash cushion of at least 15 billion euros.

“Our financing needs are fully covered to 2020,” Prime Minister Alexis Tsip-ras told parliament earlier this month.

But it acts as a psycho-logical milestone, designed to show that the country is on the road to recovery af-ter emerging from its third international debt bailout in August.

May seeks to reopen Brexit deal

London, United Kingdom

Br i t i s h P r i m e Minister

Theresa May will seek to re-negotiate the EU divorce deal, her spokesman said

yesterday, ahead of crunch votes in par-liament that could reset the course for Brexit.With exactly two

months to go until Brit-ain is scheduled to leave

the European Union on March 29, May is going to at-

tempt to change the agreement she herself negotiated -- even though Brussels has insisted it will not re-open it.

“We have to have a deal which can carry the support of parlia-ment and that’s going to require some changes to the withdrawal agreement,” May’s spokesman said, as Downing Street tried to seize the initiative back from MPs.

The draft divorce deal was overwhelmingly rejected by lawmakers on January 15 and

deeply divided MPs have been coming up with their own ideas to take a different path.

After May opens a day of de-bate, MPs are set to vote from 1900 GMT on measures that could include preventing a no-deal Brexit, delaying Brexit, changing the negotiated deal and even seizing control of the entire process.

May’s spokesman said she backed a proposed measure that called for the removal of a con-troversial Irish border “back-stop” arrangement written into the divorce deal.

Brexit hardliners from May’s Conservative Party are set against the deal due to the back-stop, which could see Britain in-definitely tied to EU trade rules in order to keep open the border with the Republic of Ireland.

The proposed measure put forward for votes calls for the backstop to be replaced with “al-ternative arrangements to avoid a hard border” on the island of Ireland.

The amendment would make clear that the Commons wish-es to leave the EU with a deal, confirms the commitment to avoiding border checks and “gives us scope for a new dis-

cussion with the EU about how best we achieve that”, said May’s spokesman.She told her cabi-net that “to win the support of the House of Commons, legal changes to the backstop will be required”, he said.

‘Groundhog Day’Confidence in London about

being able to change the agree-ment is met with disbelief in Brussels.

Sabine Weyand, deputy to EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barni-er, said: “There’s no negotiation between the EU and the UK. That negotiation is finished.

“It does feel like Groundhog Day.”

She said Britain risked crash-ing out of the EU without a deal “by accident” because London cannot decide what it wants.

A source in French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said Tuesday: “The withdrawal agreement and the backstop are not renegotiable.”

And Ireland’s Europe minister Helen McEntee called for “real-ism” from London as “there can be no change to the backstop”.

No-deal riskTuesday’s votes are the lat-

est twist in the turmoil that the Brexit vote has unleashed in one of the world’s top economies.

Increasing numbers of gov-ernment ministers have warned they will not accept the pros-pect of Britain leaving without a deal on March 29, immediately severing all ties with its largest trading partner and threatening economic chaos.

British stocks jumped Tues-day and the pound was firmer ahead of the votes.

London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index was 1.3 percent high-er in midday deals, while the pound held recently won ground versus the dollar.

One of the amendments which could be voted on on Tuesday would open the door for the House of Commons to bring in legislation preventing Britain leaving the EU without a deal by forcing May to delay Brexit for nine months if her deal is not approved before February 26.

It would also give MPs the ability to extend the deadline indefinitely.

The main opposition Labour Party is throwing its weight be-hind the amendment.

Pro-Brexit activists hold placards reading “Leave Meansd Leave” and “Believe In Britain” as they demonstrate opposite the Houses of Parliament in London

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May leaves from 10 Downing Street in London

Billion-euro SAP restructuring to cost 4,400 jobsBerlin, Germany

German software giant SAP said yesterday-

it would slash 4,400 jobs in a billion-euro restruc-turing plan after profits stagnated in 2018, while insisting it was on track to grow revenues and earnings this year.

“We are talking about a completely voluntary pro-gramme,” chief financial officer Luka Mucic said.

The number of job cuts would be “slightly high-er” than during a previous overhaul in 2015, he add-ed, when the group shift-ed focus to “cloud” com-puting from traditional software.

“We are expecting 4,400 job cuts, more than the 3,000 in 2015 and we think that Germany and the US will be the most impacted,” spokesman Benjamin Nick-el told AFP.

Under the new turn-around plan, executives plan to spend between 800 million and 950 mil-lion euros ($915-$1.1 bil-lion) on restructuring in 2019 “to further simplify company structures and processes”.

They aim to realise “a mi-nor cost benefit” this year, before slashing annual out-goings by up to 850 million euros from 2020.

Chief executive Bill Mc-Dermott said the departures were necessary to clear the way for SAP to make new bets on growth areas in the software industry.

French authorities reject Ford plant closure planBordeaux, France

French authorities have rejected a plan put for-

ward by US auto-maker Ford to close one of its plants, giving a Franco-Belgian equipment manufacturer more time to improve a buy-out offer.

Authorities in the south-west, where Ford’s Acquit-aine Industries plant at Blanquefort has been turn-ing out gear boxes since 1972, Monday evening re-jected the company’s plan to lay off 850 workers, citing procedural “non-compli-ance” as a reason.

Government sources said the decision gives Stras-bourg-based Punch-Pow-erglide two more weeks to “beef up” a buy-out offer earlier rejected by Ford.

Brazil miner Vale loses $18 bn in market capSao Paulo, Brazil

Brazilian mining giant Vale lost more than $18 billion of

its value Monday in a dramatic share plunge on the Sao Paulo stock exchange as investors re-acted to the collapse of one of its dams that killed scores and left hundreds missing.

The 24.5 per cent drop fol-lowed an eight percent dive on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, the day the disaster occurred. The Brazilian bourse was closed that day for a public holiday.

US-listed shares in Vale con-tinued to fall Monday. They were 17.5pc lower just before close of trading.

Vale, the world’s biggest iron ore miner, has seen its reputa-tion severely tarnished by the deadly accident -- the second in-volving a company-owned mine in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais in just over three years.

The company announced it was suspending dividend pay-ments to shareholders and per-formance-related bonuses to executives.

Brazilian authorities sep-arately have frozen a total of 11 billion reais -- around $3 billion -- in Vale assets

in anticipation of compen-sation it will likely have to fork out.

A tsunami of mineral-laced mud broke through a dam at an iron-ore mine owned by Vale near the town of Brumadinho on January 25.

The official toll from the dis-

aster so far stands at 60 dead and 292 missing.

Flavio Godinho, a lieutenant colonel in the Minas Gerais civil defense who is organizing the search and rescue effort, said while hopes were dwindling, “there is still a chance of finding survivors.”

Firefighters receive equipment to open a vehicle found in the mud as they search for victims of Friday’s dam collapse at an iron-ore mine belonging to Brazil’s giant mining company Vale near the town of Brumadinho, state of Minas Gerais


KNOW WHAT

Closing BellSAUDI 0.5pc » 8,581 pts

DUBAI 0.2pc » 2,566 pts

QATAR 0.2pc » 10,722 pts

ABU DHABI 0.4pc » 5,033 pts

EGYPT 0.5pc » 13,977 pts

KUWAIT 0.4pc » 5,415 pts

OMAN 0.3pc » 4,172 pts

BAHRAIN 0.5pc » 1,386 pts

Key figures around 1540 GMTLondon - FTSE 100: 1.3pc at 6,836.07 points

Frankfurt - DAX 30: 0.2pc at 11,227.71

Paris - CAC 40: 1.1pc at 4,940.20

EURO STOXX 50: 0.6pc at 3,157.27

New York - Dow: 0.1pc at 24,550.60

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: 0.1pc at 20,664.64 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: 0.2pc at 27,531.68 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: 0.1pc at 2,594.25 (close)

Pound/dollar: at $1.3171 from $1.3163 Monday

Euro/pound: at 86.70 pence from 86.83 pence

Euro/dollar: at $1.1426 from $1.1428

Dollar/yen: at 109.41 yen from 109.35

Oil - Brent Crude: $1.07 at $60.88 per barrel

Oil - West Texas Inter: 93 cents at $52.92

Global Telecom leads Egypt gains• GTH surges to six-month high

• IHC continues to gain on PAL Cooling acquisition talk

• 10 of 11 Saudi banks slide

• Saudi’s Amana jumps on capital increase approval

Reuters

Saudi Arabia’s stock market fell yesterday as most of its bank shares dropped while

Egypt’s blue-chip index gained, partly helped by Global Tele-com on the prospect of it going private.

Market sentiment was also hurt by weak global markets, as prospects for a long-awaited Sino-US trade deal were dealt another blow after the United States levelled sweeping crimi-nal charges against China’s tel-ecom giant Huawei.

Saudi Arabia’s index lost 0.5 per cent with Al Rajhi Bank dropping 0.8pc and Samba Financial Group shedding 1.6pc.

Al Khodari lost 0.4pc after the Capital Market Authority said it

would impose a fine of 40,000 riyals ($10,665.81) following its failure to disclose financial re-sults within the specified time frame.

But Amana Cooperative In-surance jumped 10pc after say-

ing its shareholders approved a capital increase to 240 million riyals from 140 million riyals.

The Dubai index edged down 0.2pc, pulled by its banking shares. Mashreq Bank plunged 10pc, while Commercial Bank

of Dubai slumped 7.5pc.Property developer DAMAC

Properties added 0.8pc.The firm responded to re-

ports that it was going invest $1.3 billion in London’s prop-erty market. DAMAC said it had no plans to invest in the UK real estate market at the moment.

The Egyptian blue-chip index was up 0.5pc,helped by a 9.9pc jump in Global Telecom Hold-ing. The stock has gained for the third straight session after its major shareholder VEON Ltd said it was considering taking it private.

Sixth of October Develop-ment and Investment Com-pany (SODIC) increased 2.5pc, while Madinet Nasr for Hous-ing and Development (MNHD) gained 3pc.

The firms have been rising in the last few sessions after calling off a planned merger last week.

Abu Dhabi’s index slid 0.4pc, with First Abu Dhabi Bank fall-ing 0.8pc and Abu Dhabi’s Na-tional Energy Company (TAQA) slipping 6.8pc. TAQA said the board will meet next week to approve financial results.

International Holding contin-ued to gain, closing 8.8pc high-er. The company said it would initiate discussions to buy PAL Cooling.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), Union National Bank (UNB) and Al Hilal Bank agreed a merger yesterday to create the third-largest bank in the United Arab Emirates.

The announcement was made after the market closed. ADCB dipped 0.2pc and UNB lost 2.4pc as of last close on Monday.

The Qatar index edged up 0.2pc, helped by a 3.6pc rise in Qatar Fuel and a 3.2pc increase in Qatar Gas Transport Co.

Traders on the floor of Saudi Stock exchange

Gulf Aluminium Rolling Mill files for re-Organisation protectionTDT | Manama

Gulf Aluminium Rolling Mill (GARMCO) yesterday an-

nounced it has filed a voluntary petition for relief under Section 3 of Law No 22 of 2018.

The protection, GARMCO Chairman, Basim AlSaie said, will allow the company to pur-sue and finalise its re-organisa-tion efforts.

Law No 22 enables companies with strong underlying funda-mentals, but unsustainable fi-nancing structures to obtain the necessary protection to continue operating while undergoing a full re-organisation.

“The protections under the law will enable GARMCO to ensure the needs of our cus-tomers and suppliers are fully served,” AlSaie said adding the move will enable “GARMCO to re-emerge as a globally competi-tive business under a sustainable capital structure for the long term.”

The decision was taken during an Extraordinary General Meet-ing held on 6 January 2019.

In a statement, Garmco said its performance during the past several years has adversely im-pacted by a number of factors despite strong underlying mar-

ket fundamentals. This, Garmco said, resulted

in pursuing a wide range of ini-tiatives to improve its operating profitability including the con-struction of a new state of the art re-melt facility to enhance its metal sourcing capability. During this period, GARMCO continued to face constraints under its financing agree-ments that needed to be fully addressed.

In 2018, GARMCO said it pur-sued an accelerated effort to manage its financial liquidity and develop a comprehensive strategic, operating and financial

re-organisation plan aimed at ensuring a globally competitive business with a sustainable cap-ital structure. Despite signifi-cant progress in developing core aspects of the re-organisation plan, GARMCO said it required additional time to build con-sensus among its stakeholders, including its banking partners.

Subsequently, in order to meet its legal obligations and obtain the necessary protection to con-tinue its efforts, the Sharehold-ers of GARMCO decided to file a voluntary petition for relief under Section 3 of Law No 22 of 2018.

Law No 22 enables com-panies with strong under-lying fundamentals, but unsustainable financing structures to obtain the necessary protection to

continue operating while undergoing

The Minister of Industry, Commerce & Tourism Zayed R. Alzayani during a meeting with the Chairman of Hospitality & Tourism Committee Jehad Ebrahim Amin and a number of committee members, in the presence of CEO of Bahrain Authority for Tourism and Exhibitions Shaikh Khalid bin Hamoud Al Khalifa and BCCI board member Sonya Janahi. They discussed a number of topics related to tourism sectors in the country and government’s directives to advance this sector.

US Federal Reserve begins interest rate meetingWashington, United States

The US central bank opened its first policy meeting of

the year on Tuesday but has sig-naled clearly that it intends to hold off on any further interest rate increases.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and other offi-cials have hammered home the message that the Fed can be “patient” while gauging how

the US economy is likely to perform this year, after strong growth and four rate increases last year.

Powell will have another opportunity on Wednesday to make sure skittish finan-cial markets get the message, when he holds the first of eight news conferences for the year.

With the US-China trade war already starting to slow growth

-- and the five-week govern-ment shutdown dealing a tem-porary blow to the economy but a larger hit to sentiment -- markets increasingly are con-cerned about prospects for the US economy.

Powell has repeatedly stum-bled with comments late last year sending markets to precip-itous declines, forcing him and other officials to publicly walk back some statements.

London stocks rallyLondon, United Kingdom

British stocks jumped yes-terday and the pound

was f i rmer befo re fresh crunch votes on Prime Min-ister Theresa May’s revised Brexit deal.

London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index was 1.3 per cent high-er in mid-afternoon deals.

Among eurozone heavy-weights, Frankfurt and Paris also rose, on the back of grow-ing optimism over the US-China trade dispute.

Wall Street was a touch high-er just after the opening bell.

Oil prices rebounded gently, having tumbled the previous day on worries over a slowing global economy and political instability in key producer Ven-ezuela.

As British lawmakers pre-pared to hold a series of votes that could reset the course of Brexit, the pound held recently won ground against the dollar.

MPs are set to vote from 1900 GMT on measures that could include preventing a no-deal Brexit, delaying Brexit, chang-

ing the negotiated deal -- and even seizing control of the en-tire process.

‘Relatively optimistic’“The FTSE 100 is gaining

ground ... with markets look-ing relatively optimistic about today’s parliamentary votes,” said IG analyst Joshua Mahony.

S t e r l i n g h a s e n j o y e d healthy buying in recent

weeks on expectations that a chaotic no-deal exit will be avoided.

“Given the EU’s intransigence, the probability of a referendum or an election remains high, and will likely feed European asset volatility over the coming weeks,” said Franklin Pichard, director-general at Kiplink Fi-nance.

GARMCO Chairman, Basim AlSaie

13 Wednesday, January 30, 2019

A reputed internationalfast food company is hiring individuals for the position bike drivers, interested candidates can contact 17683222 or email CV to sujith.udhayam@gmail. com

URGENTLY REQUIRED

A 17 year old,Has got something to say

And if you don’t mind, let me write it for you.

You adults! Please stop being this fake face.

Please stop acting like you know everything,

Please stop that judgment of yours About how nice you were and how

bad we are. Stop that ancient dialogue of yours

that “We all came through this age “and

Yet doesn’t understand us. Stop thinking we have got nothing

to say and Stop thinking we can’t understand

anything. Yes. We feel

We feel extreme pain, Unbearable sadness,

Gets rejected. So you adults, stop being such a

Mess and please Grow up!

FakefaceAdhila Sherin

Poets’ Corner

AGU bags Innovation Award for best leading research institutionTDT | Manama

Minister of Tolerance in the UAE and Hon-orary President of

the UAE Genetic Diseases As-sociation Shaikh Nehyan bin Mubarak Al Nehyan honoured the Arabian Gulf Universi-ty (AGU) for winning the best leading research institution in innovation.

The Minister handed over the award to AGU President Dr. Khalid bin Abdulrahman Al Ohaly, in the presence of minis-ters, ambassadors and reputed international scientists, doctors and health researchers, who attended the special ceremony that was held in Etihad Museum in Dubai.

In the ceremony, Shaikh Ne-hyan explained that the award is given to leading personalities and institutions in the field of health on local and international

levels, adding that the winners have leadership characteristics and remarkable impact on the health service field.

Other awardees included the

National Health Regulatory Authority of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Dubai Health Author-ity, Abu Dhabi Health Author-ity, Doctors Without Borders

(Médecins Sans Frontières) of France, Davita Inc. of the US and other internationally renowned public and private health estab-lishments.

AGU President Dr. Khalid bin Abdulrahman Al Ohaly receives the award from Shaikh Nehyan bin Mubarak Al Nehyan

Bahrain Polytechnic runs donation campaign to support animals

TDT | Manama

Th e C o m m e r c i a l a n d Community Initiatives

at Bahrain Polytechnic ran a non-monetary donation drive with the support of the Stu-dent Council and Volunteer Club.

The drive goes to support the dogs and cats sheltered at the

Bahrain Society for the Pre-vention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA).

The items collected were from the Shelter’s wish list which includes dry and wet cat and dog food, cat litter, dis-infectants and bleach.

These items were donated by students and staff through allo-cated boxes distributed across

the campus.Head of the Community and

Commercial Initiatives, Sh. Fayebint Khalifa Al Khalifa, stressed that Bahrain Polytech-nic seeks to support community initiatives in all its forms, point-ing out that this is the second donation campaign by Poly-technic for the animal welfare centres.

Bahrain Polytechnic students with the items collected for the donation

BIS wins science contest

TDT | Manama

Students of Bahrain Indian School participated in the

Science Exhibition Working Model Contest conducted by The Institution of Engineers (India) Bahrain Chapter which is affiliated to Bahrain Society of Engineers and won acco-lades for their working mod-els and presentation in all the three categories.

The judging panel com-prised of a team of doctorates related to the field of Science, eminent engineers and expe-rienced teachers. The judg-ment was based on originality of the concept, innovation in the working model exhibit, presentation of the concept and the students’ ability to an-

swer the questions.BIS students Nithyasri Chak-

kingal and Rachana Redla of Grade II bagged first prize and third prize in Sub Junior Kids category. They presented the model on ‘Storm Water Management’ and ‘Rain Water Harvesting.’

Anushka Jaydip Tayde and Saira Mariam Sabu of Grade V got third prize in Sub Junior category and presented the model on ‘Eco Coolers.’

Steve Chalil Biju of Grade VII got second prize in Junior Kids category for the model ‘Robotic Arm.’

Directors Himanshu Verma, Ritu Verma and Principal Saji Jacob congratulated the win-ning students, their parents and the teachers.

Winners with principal and other school officials

The Bahrain School (BS) varsity basketball team coach Herrera (C) holds the Middle Eastern Unity Cup with Derrick Lee (L) and Derek Westendorff. The team won five of its six matches hosted in Muharraq Club. The School has won the Middle Eastern Unity Cup for five years

I, MOHAMMED IDRISH, S/O GULAM HUSSAIN, holding Indian Passport No. H1825635 dated 15/03/2009 issued at BAHRAIN having permanent residence at (full address in India) KHIRWA, LAXMANGARH, SIKAR, RAJASTHAN presently residing at FLAT NO 675, ROAD 3213, BLOCK 332, MAHOOZ, BAHRAIN will henceforth be known as (Given name) IDRISH (surname) MOHAMMED. Objection(s) if any may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O Box 26106, Al Seef, Kingdom of Bahrain.

I, ALBERT JOHNS MANGALAM, S/O JOHNS ISAC MANGALAM, holding Indian passport No. H5863066 dated 01/07/2009 issued at Bahrain, having permanent residence at MANGALAM HOUSE, PULAKODE P.O., THRISSUR, PIN-680586, KERALA presently residing at FLAT-33, BLDG-771, ROAD-716, BLOCK-107, HIDD, KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN will henceforth be known as (given name) ALBERT (surname) JOHNS MANGALAM. Objection(s), if any, may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O. Box 26106, Al-Seef, Kingdom of Bahrain.

I, UNNIKRISHNAN PUNNAKKAL KESAVAN NAIR F/O PARVATHY UNNIKRISHNAN, holder of Indian Passport No L8324409 dated 08/04/2014 issued at Muscat , having permanent residence at PUNNAKKAL HOUSE , P.O KUZHUR, THRISSUR , KERALA , 680734. Presently residing at FLAT NO.33, BUILDING NO.890 , ROAD NO. 3316, BLOCK NO: 333, MAHOOZ, BAHRAIN do hereby change my daughter name as (Given Name) PARVATHY, (Surname) UNNIKRISHNAN, objection if any may be forwarded to Embassy of India , P.O.Box 26106, Bldg No. 1090, Road No. 2819 , Block 428, Al Seef, Kingdom of Bahrain.

CHANGE OF NAME

RCSI Bahrain promotes nursing careersTDT | Manama

The annual Nursing Careers Day took place at the Royal

College of Surgeons in Ireland – Medical University of Bahrain (RCSI Bahrain) recently with the aim of introducing senior nursing students to future ca-reer opportunities.

Organised by the School of Nursing and Midwifery, in col-laboration with the Careers and Alumni Office, the event was at-tended by more than 80 nursing students and guests.

Attendees were welcomed by RCSI Bahrain Head of School of

Nursing and Midwifery, Profes-sor Seamus Cowman, before a presentation on ‘Developing your Nursing Career’.

The keynote address was de-livered by Chief Nursing Infor-mation Officer at Dubai Health-

care Authority and Chair of UAE Nursing and Midwifery Council Scientific Research Committee, Professor Jane Griffiths, on the theme of ‘What Nursing Can Do for You and What You Can Do for Nursing.’

RCSI Bahrain officials at The annual Nursing Careers Day

14 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2019

at Seef District too

Um al Hassan +973 17728699 Seef District +973 17364999

Amy Schumer doesn’t want her sneakers photographedLos Angeles

Actress Amy Schum-er, who is expect-

ing her first child with husband Chris Fischer,

does not like to get her shoes clicked by paparazzi.

During the opening of Colin Quinn’s “Red State Blue State” at the Minet-ta Lane Theatre, Schumer made an odd request to the media personnels not to carry the photograph of her sneakers, reports pagesix.com.

“Amy told photographers to shoot whatever they wanted, and get her baby bump, but to not shoot her purple sneakers,” the pub-lication quoted as a source saying.

A few months ago, the “Snatched” actress revealed that she is struggling with a tough pregnancy.

Douglas asked Zeta-Jones to tap dance in bathroomLos Angeles

Actor Michael Douglas has revealed that he

had asked actress and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones to tap dance in their bath-room.

“When we first got to-gether, I asked her to tap dance in our bathroom on the tile floor,” Douglas told people.com.

Zeta-Jones jokingly add-ed: “That was limited, be-cause the marble got a bit scratched up.”

The story came after Zeta-Jones acknowledged how she has a dance stu-dio in their home. Though Douglas doesn’t “put on the dance shoes too often”, he has no problem sitting back and admiring his wife perform.

“He likes to watch me tap dance every now and again,” the Welsh actress

said.

Sam Smith left with black eyes after surgeryLos Angeles

Singer Sam Smith has been left with two nasty

black eyes after undergoing a surgery.

The “Stay with me” singer has been using make-up to mask the bruises, but says he has always secretly want-ed to look like a tough guy with a black eye, reports aceshowbiz.com.

“I had to have an opera-tion,” he said in an interview to DJ Zane Lowe.

“I got a black eye, and I’ve always wanted a black eye,” added the singer, who had the surgery on Janu-ary 19.

Margot Robbie shares Harley Quinn look from ‘Birds of Prey’

Los Angeles

Margot Robbie has shared her first look as Harley Quinn in the upcoming “Birds of Prey (And

The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)”.

The 28-year-old actor, who reprises her “Suicide Squad” breakout character in the female-led film, took to Insta-gram to post the photograph.

“Miss me? HQ,” Robbie signed the picture as her on-screen character.

Cathy Yan is directing the film from “Bumblebee” writer Christina Hod-son’s script.

The movie also features Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary, Ella Jay Basco as Cas-sandra Cain and Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya.

Ewan McGregor is the latest addition to the cast who stars as Black Mask, the villain.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will follow

Quinn as she “assembles a girl gang of friends to take on a

bad guy”.Robbie is also attached as producer, along with

Sue Kroll and Bryan Unkeless.

“Birds of Prey” is scheduled to

be released on February 7,

2020.

Kelsy gets Harry Styles’ face tattooed on her cheekLos Angeles

Singer Kelsy Karter has got Har-ry Styles’s face tattooed on her cheek as his birthday surprise.

Karter has had Harry Styles’ face tattooed on her cheek after pre-viously saying she is desperate to record a song on his next album, reports dailymail.co.uk.

The inking was done by Los Ange-

les-based tattoo artist Romeo Lacoste and the New Zealand born, Los

Angeles-based singer, 24, shared the results on Instagram, writing: “Mama, look what I made me do.”

The singer, who has written a song for Zayn Malik, 26, had hint-ed on Twitter earlier this month

that she was planning to do some-thing for 24-year-old Styles’ birthday,

which falls on February 1.

Los Angeles

Seems like newly-weds Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra are having a gala with their

families.It has been close to

two months after Nick and Priyanka first ex-changed vows in India but the two have been celebrating their love ever since.

Recently, Nick’s par-ents Kevin Jonas and Denis Jonas hosted a wonderful reception for the couple in Belmont. The Jonas family, along with Priyanka’s mother Madhu Chop-ra, were seen in attend-ance at Nellie’s Southern Kitchen in Belmont, North Carolina, reported E! Online.

Priyanka took to her In-stagram account to share a picture with her hubby and family.

Los Angeles

Models and social media stars who promoted the scandal-laden Fyre Fes-tival may be forced to testify about the

luxury weekend-turned-scam, according to a new court filing.

At least five celebrities who created hype around the event — including models Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski — may be required to answer questions about payments they received from disgraced organizer Billy McFarland, according to court papers filed in Manhattan federal Bankruptcy Court Friday.

The subpoenas are linked to an investigation into what happened to the estimated $26 million Mc-Farland spent in the months before the Fyre Festival imploded with massive food, shelter and security problems. Many of the models were paid to frolic in the Caribbean ocean for a video promoting the event in spring 2017.

In the court papers, trustee Gregory Messer de-mands to know what happened to roughly $5.2 million worth of festival cash.

“The Trustee believes that these transfers were made from funds that belong to the Debtor in connection with the Fyre Festival,” the court documents state.

Jolie to star in thriller ‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’Los Angeles

Angelina Jolie is all set to star in Taylor Sheridan’s chase thriller ‘Those Who

Wish Me Dead’.Produced by Bron Studios

and Film Rites, Sheridan is adapting the script from Michael Koryta’s 2014 novel of the same name, reported

Variety.The novel follows a 14-year-old

boy who witnesses a brutal murder, is issued a false identity and hidden in a wilderness skills program for troubled teens while the killers are slaughtering anyone who gets in their way in a methodical quest to reach him.

While plot details and Jolie’s character are still under wraps, the story is set against a wildlife in the Montana wilderness.

Producers plan to shoot in May, after Sheridan completes the second season of his Kevin Costner series

“Yellowstone.”Notably, Jolie was last seen in ‘By the

Sea,’ which she also directed. She’s also starring in ‘Maleficent II,’ which is set to

release in May 29, 2020.

Kendall, models may

have to testify over failed

Fyre Festival

AngelinaJolie

Kendall Jenner

Margot Robbie

Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas

Nick Jonas, PriyankaChopra spend somequality time with family

Solskjaer says trophies more important than top four for UnitedAFP | Manchester

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says trophies are more impor-

tant for Manchester United than a top-four finish as he tar-gets success in two cup compe-titions over the second half of the season.

A run of eight successive victories to start his caretak-er reign at the club has trans-formed a campaign that ap-peared to be heading nowhere under his predecessor Jose Mourinho.

United are still in the FA Cup and Champions League, while vastly improved league form now has the Reds looking at a potential best-case scenario of finishing third in the Premier League.

To t t e n h a m ’s M a u r i c i o Pochettino, still in the frame to become United’s eventual long-

term manager, has claimed a top-four finish and Champions League football is his club’s pri-mary target and not silverware.

But Solskjaer, who won many trophies at Old Trafford as a player under Alex Ferguson, has other aims.

“I am not here to discuss what Pochettino says and what other managers say but we are about winning trophies, of course we are,” said Solskjaer.

“And we can’t win the league this year, we are still in the cup, we are going to try to win the FA Cup of course. I think every manager wants to win every game so I don’t think that is the point he was making.

“If you win trophies that’s a fantastic day for everyone in the club, it’s just the best time of your life, that day when you win because you never know when

the next one is going to come.”

Champions League Despite Solskjaer’s hunger

for silverware, the realities of modern football mean the im-portance of qualifying for the Champions League cannot be underestimated.

“That’s not the dream though, to be top four,” he said. “We’re Man United, you should always aim to win the league. We can’t do that this year but we’ve just got to look forward to that again because we have to get back to that.

“We’ve got the Champions League, we’ve got the FA Cup, we can’t just say ‘top four and that’s it’. We’ve got to look at ‘can we win something this year?’ and I go into every single game as a Man United manager thinking we can win this game.”

Murray has hip resurfacing surgery

• Andy Murray posted hospital photos after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery

• Player highly unlikely to meet desired Wimbledon farewell

AFP | London

Andy Murray has under-gone hip resurfacing surgery in London, the

British tennis great told his Ins-tagram followers yesterday.

The two-time Wimbledon champion had been weighing up the pros and cons of the op-

eration, which involves putting a metal plate into the joint, in one last bid to prolong a career plagued by injury.

The 31-year-old double Olym-pic gold medallist had previous-ly said ahead of this month’s Australian Open earlier that he intended to retire following the 2019 edition of Wimbledon.

“I underwent a hip resurfac-ing surgery in London yesterday (Monday) morning... feeling a bit battered and bruised just

now but hopefully that will be the end of my hip pain,” Murray said on Instagram.

There are no guarantees that the operation will allow Murray to play top-flight tennis again but it should enable him to live a pain-free life off the court.

At the Australian Open, Mur-ray showed his competitive spir-it and talent were undimmed in a five-set defeat by Roberto Bautista-Agut.

That match led Murray to say

he would do all he could to pro-long his career but Monday’s operation may mean he is not fit in time for Wimbledon, where he had thought of making his farewell to tennis.

Monday’s operation was the second time Murray had un-dergone surgery in the past 12 months after a first operation failed to ease the pain in his hip.

Ahead of this latest bout of surgery, Murray spoke to US doubles specialist Bob Bryan, who has just returned to the game following the same pro-cedure last year.

Bryan urged Murray to have similar surgery, although the greater physical demands of singles compared to doubles, mean there is no guarantee this operation could help the British tennis great to regain a place among the world’s top players.

Dr Edwin Su, who operat-ed on Bryan, though, told Brit-ain’s Mail on Sunday: “I think it would absolutely be able to help him. Ideally, it is with no pain. Most of the time, right away from the time they wake up from the surgery, patients say that the pain is gone.”

Su, however, added: “What is unknown in elite athletes is whether they can return to sport...Singles is much more strenuous than doubles. It’s uncharted territory.


KNOW WHAT

Monday’s operation was the second

time Murray had undergone surgery

in the past 12 months after a first operation failed to ease the pain

in his hip

We’ve got the Champions League,

we’ve got the FA Cup, we can’t just say ‘top four and

that’s it’. We’ve got to look at ‘can we win something this year?’

and I go into every single game as a

Man United manager thinking we can win

this gameOLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER

The image Andy Murray shared on instagram after his surgery

Manchester United’s Norwegian caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (R) celebrates with Manchester United’s English midfielder Ashley Young (L) on the pitch after the English FA Cup fourth round football match between Arsenal and Manchester United

Robben mulling Tokyo move after Bayern exit: reportsAFP | Tokyo

Superstar Dutch winger Ar-jen Robben is lining up a

move to J-League outfit FC To-kyo after he leaves Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, local media reported yesterday.

The 35-year-old has al-ready confirmed he is leaving Bayern at the end of the sea-son after a glittering career that saw him win seven Bundesliga titles and nearly 100 caps for the Netherlands.

If confirmed, it would be the lat-est high-pro-file transfer to the Japa-nese league, after Span-i s h Wo r l d Cup winner Andres Inies-ta and German s t r i ke r L u k a s Podolski joined Vissel Kobe.

I n i e s t a ’ s World Cup win-ning teammate Fernando Torres is also playing at J-League rival Sa-gan Tosu.

T h e S p o r t s Nippon daily said there was a “rap-idly emerging ” chance of Robben playing in Japan next season.

“Robben’s family, who are believed to

have a big say (in his decision), seem positive about coming to Japan,” it said.

“Several Japanese clubs are interested but FC Tokyo are close to clinching his signa-ture,” the paper quoted anon-ymous sources as saying.

A spokesperson for the club declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

The 35-year-old, in his prime considered one of

the world’s best wingers, told German football magazine Kicker last month he had no plans

beyond the end of this season.

“That’s not en-tirely clear, perhaps

I will stop play-ing -- it’s about

waiting and seeing what

possibili-ties there are,” he said.

“If of-fers come in, I’ll re-ally consider them 100 percent and if it’s something nice,

I’ll play on, but if no ideal offers come,

then that could be it.

“I have three children and they also must be hap-py.. . The family plays a very im-

portant role in every decision of mine.”

Panels step up efforts for Bahrain Sports DayTDT | Manama

The executive commit-tee of the 2019 Bahrain

Sports Day, scheduled for February 12, has reviewed updated details on the standing committees’ ar-rangements made in prepa-ration for the third edition of the event.

During its third meet-ing, staged at the Bahrain Olympic Committee offices in Seef, executive commit-tee’s events committee head Lounes Madene made a presentation on the Bahrain Roadrunners’ procedures to organize the women’s run-ning race at the Bahrain In-ternational Circuit in Sakh-ir, in addition to the main running race at the sports village in Riffa.

He revealed a dedicat-ed section for kids where a number of entertaining activities have been lined up as part of the programme. The sports federations have also been approached to contribute to their respec-tive activities and contests to be performed on the day.

Media Committee head Mohammed Lori also pre-sented his panel’s efforts, which include daily updates to local publications and the social media accounts. The committee is also preparing a promotional video on the running races, in addition to a leaflet to spread aware-ness on benefits of walking.

Man City to take extra care over Mendy return, says GuardiolaAFP | Manchester

Pep Guardiola will monitor Benjamin Mendy’s return

to regular first-team football with Manchester City closely as he attempts to ensure that the France full-back suffers no repeat of his persistent injury problems.

Mendy has endured a frus-trating 18 months playing for Guardiola’s side, with a knee injury ruling him out of virtu-ally all of last season.

This campaign has been scarcely better, with different knee problems limiting him to 11 starts in all competitions to date.

His latest, minor, setback came last week w h en th e 24-year-old re-t u r n e d a f t e r more than two months on the sidelines as a substitute late in the League Cup semi-fi-nal win over Burton.

M e n d y s u f f e r e d swelling to his knee af-ter his 30-minute run-out, prompt-ing his manager to leave him out of the weekend FA Cup win over Burnley.

“With this kind of injury, when you come back immedi-ately to the real competition always you have to keep the balance,” he said.

“I think it will happen in the next month,” he added. “We have to have him fit and good but we demand a lot of his knee. He’s going to stop a little bit, three or four days.

“Football is not just physical, run up and down, it’s what you have to do, read the situations. He was out for a long time, he has got to go step-by-step, not game, game, game -- or, after that, he will not survive.”

With City still active on four fronts, the City manager is clearly playing the long

game with his extrovert left-back, which

means his chanc-es of being used

for the week-end meet-i n g w i t h A r s e n a l also look

remote.Guar-

diola has conced-ed that

his team may not be able to lose another

game -- or even drop a point -- for the remainder of this season if they are to overhaul leaders Liver-pool and their four-point advantage at the top of the

table.

Benjamin Mendy

Arjen Robben

Yoshida calls for Japan to finish job at Asian CupAFP | Al-Ain

Japan captain Maya Yoshida sounded the battle cry after

the Blue Samurai tore Iran to shreds to reach the Asian Cup final.

After celebrating Monday’s 3-0 victory over the tournament favourites in Al-Ain, Yoshida called for the Japanese to com-plete the job as they chase a record-extending fifth title.

“We can’t be satisfied with beating Iran,” said the South-ampton defender after a tem-pestuous semi-final, effectively decided by Yuya Osako’s con-troversial second-half double.

“We still have another game that we must win. If we lose that, all the hard work will have been for nothing so we need to finish it.

“We talked about going to war before we came out here,” added Yoshida, who needed to be restrained by his teammates in a late flashpoint after react-ing furiously to Iran striker Sar-dar Azmoun.

“We have come together as a strong unit and we need to keep fighting as a team.”

Yoshida admitted he had calmed down just in time to avoid seeing red.

“If I’d got myself sent off and missed the final it would have been terrible,” he said.

“What’s important is to en-joy the ride and hopefully we can keep improving. We want to make sure we win the fi-nal and be Asian champions again.”

Osako headed a bizarre open-er from Takumi Minamino’s cross in Monday’s semi-final with five Iran players busy ges-ticulating to the referee for him to book Minamino for a dive.

Japan pedigree

The Werder Bremen striker smashed home his second from the penalty spot after the ball struck the unfortunate Morteza Pouraliganji’s arm as he slid in to tackle, knocking the stuffing out of Iran’s players.

Genki Haraguchi added a stoppage-time third to add in-sult to injury for Iran.

“I’ve had my problems with injuries so that was a little pay-back -- to get out the frustra-tion,” said Osako.

“We’ve played our best foot-ball in the biggest game of the Asian Cup.”

Japan captured the last of their four Asian Cups in 2011 and have never lost a final.

Hajime Moriyasu’s new-look side have hardly set the world alight, but given Japan’s ped-igree in the competition they

w i l l now be favourites to win Fri-day’s final in Abu Dhabi.

With Japan u n b e a t e n i n 11 matches since Mori-y a s u t o o k over after last year’s World Cup, Osako insisted only a w i n -ner’s medal would do.

“A lot of young players have come in since the World Cup,” said the former Cologne for-ward.

“If we can go on to win the tournament, it will give them a massive confidence boost.

“We’re not finished yet, we have to go again,” added Osako. “Winning the final is all that matters.”


UAE’s Asian Cup dreams over Alberto Zaccheroni’s men beaten 4-0 by Qatar in the semi-final at Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium in in Abu Dhabi

The National | Abu Dhabi

The UAE’s hopes of Asian Cup glory were ended yesterday night with

a 4-0 defeat by Qatar in the semi-final in Abu Dhabi.

The hosts, seeking to contest a second showpiece on home soil, were outdone at a near-capacity Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium by goals from Boualem Khoukhi, Almoez Ali, Hasan Al Haydos and Hamid Ismail. Qatar now take on Japan in Friday’s final in the capital.

Felix Sanchez’s side took the lead on 22 minutes, when Khoukhi led a counter-attack along his team’s right flank. See-ing no other option but to shoot from the edge of the penalty area, his shot squirmed under UAE goalkeeper Khalid Essa.

Eight minutes before half-time, Qatar doubled their advan-tage. Ali collected a pass from Akram Afif before curling his effort around Essa and into the UAE goal via the post. It was Ali’s eighth goal this tournament.

Attempting to get back into the encounter, UAE manager Al-berto Zaccheroni introduced veteran forward Ismail Matar at the beginning of the sec-

ond-half, and 2015 Asian Player of Year Ahmed Khalil shortly afterwards.

On 53 minutes, Ali Mabk-hout’s deflected shot from dis-

tance was tipped over the Qatar crossbar by goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb. Then, 19 minutes from time, Bandar Al Ahbabi’s cross found Khalil at the opposition

back post, but the striker’s head-er was deflected over once more by Al Sheeb.

To their credit, the UAE pushed for a way back into the

game. However, on 80 minutes, Al Haydos latched onto Afif ’s flick as defender Ismail Ahmed played for offside. The Qatar captain lifted the ball over the onrushing Essa to put his side 3-0 up and into the first Asian Cup final in the country’s his-tory.

The UAE, runners-up the only other time the tournament was staged in the Emirates, in 1996, concluded the match with 10 men after Ahmed was sent off for an elbow on Salem Al Hajri. Ismail rounded off the victory deep into injury-time.

Salem Al Hajri of Qatar is tackled by Saif Rashid Alshemeili of the UAE

KNOW WHAT

The UAE had become the run-ners-up in Asian

Cup when the tour-nament was staged in the Emirates in

1996

Kvitova hails end to Grand Slam issues at Australian OpenAFP | Prague, Czech Republic

Australian Open finalist Pet-ra Kvitova hailed the end of

her Grand Slam bad luck -- and of a two-year transition follow-ing a knife attack that almost ended her career.

Having played only two Grand Slam quarter-finals since her Wimbledon triumph in 2014, Kvitova joked last year that she might as well quit play-ing at the top four events.

This year’s Australian Open offered a different picture of the left-handed Czech who did not lose a single set on her way to the final in which she lost to Japan’s Naomi Osaka in three sets on Saturday.

“I’m glad it was only a joke, that it didn’t happen,” the 28-year-old, who also won Wimbledon in 2011, told re-porters in Prague.

“I guess it’s a compensation for last year which wasn’t the best when it comes to Grand Slams,” added Kvitova, who in 2018 reached the last-32 phase at the French and US Open, bowing out of the Australian Open and Wimbledon at the first hurdle.

“I wasn’t too happy after the loss but now the positive things prevail,” said the new world number two.

“I felt very well throughout those three weeks I played in Australia.”

Kvitova started the year poor-ly at Brisbane where she lost in the last 16, but she took the

top honours at Sydney a week later -- at a tournament where she initially was not expecting to play.

‘Chequered flag’ Besides the on-court battles,

Kvitova is fighting memories of an attack at her Czech home by a knife-wielding burglar in De-cember 2016, which left deep scars on her left hand.

She identified the man and is willing to give her testimony in court in early February on the condition she does not meet the suspect.

“Petra takes this as an in-evitable thing. She knows it’s necessary to put an end to the whole affair,” her spokesman Karel Tejkal told reporters.

Kvitova herself declined to speak about the attack that re-quired a complicat-ed surgery and saw her sink from sixth to sixteenth in the world.

“ S u c h questions make me a bit angry but I can’t do an-ything about it. But it will be over some day.”

“I guess this trophy is a chequered flag on those two years,” Kvitova said, looking at the silver plate she won at Melbourne.

One of those to ask

her was former world number one Jim Courier -- on court, following her quarter-final win against the home crowd’s fa-vourite Ashleigh Barty.

“I suppose he didn’t want to make me cry -- but he did,” Kvitova said.

“The interview was pretty tough -- but he’s a nice guy.”

Nice messages Sympathy poured in from the

Australian audience and from fellow players.

“Simona Halep sent me three nice messages -- after the Syd-ney win, after the quarter-final with Ashleigh Barty and after the final,” said Kvitova.

“It’s great to have such good relationships even when you’re at the top of the rankings.”

If Kvitova had won at Mel-bourne, she would have re-

placed Halep as the world number one -- an hon-our that went to Osaka

instead.“We didn’t talk about

the rankings with Si-mona,” chuckled Kvi-tova, adding it was not her top priority.

“I’m trying to im-p r o v e a s t h e

games go and I think the

rankings will re-f l e c t t h a t , ” s h e

said.

We still have another game that we must win. If we lose that,

all the hard work will have been for

nothing so we need to finish it

MAYA YOSHIDA

Tottenham boss Pochettino pledges to stay with Spurs

AFP | London

Mauricio Pochettino claims he won’t walk

out on Tottenham despite being a “victim” of his own success.

Pochettino has been criticised after Tottenham crashed out of two cup com-petitions in the space of four days last week.

Defeats against Chelsea in the League Cup semi-finals and Crystal Palace in the FA Cup fourth round have left Tottenham boss Pochettino in danger of going another season without a trophy.

Despite failing to win a single major prize in his managerial career, Pochetti-no says he regards finishing in the Premier League’s top four as a greater achieve-ment.

The Argentine, linked with a move to Manches-ter United at the end of the season, responded to the doubters by claiming he has over-achieved on the club’s brief to take them in the Champions League by the time they built their new stadium.

“I love my job, I love my job. And of course I love a big challenge,” Pochettino

said yesterday.

Petra Kvitova

Maya Yoshida

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