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baseball THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT Established in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com

Page 31

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 / ZUL-HIJJAH 16, 1438 AH

emergency number 112

NO. 16562

36 PAGES

150 FILS

U.S. SIGNALS TIME TO RE-EXAMINE TEHRAN N-DEAL

‘Iran enabled as next North Korea’ Rouhani denounces US threats on Pyongyang WASHINGTON, Sept 6, (AFP): Washington’s ambassador to the United Nations warned Tuesday that, if left unchanged, the Iran nuclear deal could allow Tehran to pose the same kind of missile threat to US cities as North Korea. President Donald Trump is due to decide in the middle of next month whether he believes Iran is living up to its commitments or whether to seek new US sanctions that could torpedo the accord. His ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, would not say explicitly what her advice has been — but left little room for doubt that she believes it is time to re-examine the “flawed” deal. “I’m not making the case for decertifying. What I am saying is that, should he decide to decertify he has grounds to stand on,” she told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute.

“What I am doing is just trying to lay out the options of what’s out there, what we need to be looking at and knowing that the end result has to be the national security of the United States. “We should at no time be beholden to any agreement and sacrifice the security of the United States to say that we’ll do it.” Under a 2015 deal signed by Iran and six world powers, Tehran is supposed to roll back its nuclear program and submit to inspections in return for Washington and its allies lifting some sanctions. Thus far, the IAEA UN nuclear watchdog and the US State Department have reported that Tehran has complied with the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the core of the deal. But Haley, and other influential figures in Trump’s Washington, argue that Iran’s continuing alleged breaches of limits placed on its ballistic missile program violate the spirit of the deal. The previous missile sanctions were listed in

an annex to UN Security Council Resolution 2231, under which the world body adopted the JCPOA into international law. Therefore, Haley argues, Tehran’s ongoing development of ballistic missiles and alleged support for global terrorism should be taken into account when Trump judges the success of the deal. And she warned that the terms of the JCPOA begin to expire in ten years’ time — opening the way for them to resume weapons research. “That’s the day when Iran’s military may very well already have the missile technology to send a nuclear warhead to the United States, a technology that North Korea only recently developed,” she said. Former president Barack Obama never submitted the JCPOA to Congress to be approved as a binding treaty, and US lawmakers passed a bill obliging the White House to recertify it every 90 days. If, as seems increasingly likely, Trump now Continued on Page 6

KUNA photo

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah arrived in Washington on Wednesday where he is scheduled to hold talks with US President Donald Trump. His Highness is being accompanied by Deputy Chief of the National Guard Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. Receiving His Highness at Joint Base Andrews was US State Department Deputy Chief of Protocol Michael Karloutsos, Joint Base Andrews Commander Col Mary Teeter, Kuwaiti Ambassador to the US Sheikh Salem Abdallah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Kuwait’s General Consul in Los Angeles Faisal Ibrahim Al-Houli. (KUNA)

Other Voices

Inhuman, skewed eclecticism By Ali Ahmed Al-Baghli henever our brothers in huW manity, children of Adam and Eve, encounter any devastating

A photo taken on Sept 5, 2017 shows people of the Citadel and the City Park in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region will hold a historic referendum on statehood in September 2017, despite opposition to independence from Baghdad and possibly beyond. (AFP)

Euphrates valley push next

Syria accused in gas attacks ▼

US$/KD 0.30135/45



Euro/KD 0.3598



Yen/KD 0.0027



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▼ KSE -2.56 pts at closing Sept 6 See Page 29

GENEVA, Sept 6, (RTRS): Government forces have used chemical weapons more than two dozen times during Syria’s civil war, including in April’s deadly attack on Khan Sheikhoun, UN war crimes investigators said on Wednesday. A government warplane dropped sarin on the town in Idlib province, killing more than 80 civilians, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said, in the most conclusive findings to date from investigations into that chemical weapon attack. The panel also said US air strikes on a mosque in Al-

▲ Dow +69.08 pts at 21:10 Sept 6 See Page 30

▲ Nasdaq +17.15 pts at 21:10 Sept 6 ▼ FTSE -18.79 pts at closing Sept 6 ▼ Nikkei -27.84 pts at closing Sept 6 ▲ Gold $1,337.85 per oz (London) ▲

NYMEX crude $49.19 pb



Brent crude $54.06 pb 3-month $ LIBOR rate 1.31722%

An exhausted Rohingya woman arrives with her children at Kutupalong refugee camp after crossing from Myanmar to the Bangladesh side of the border, in Ukhia on Sept 5. (AP) — See Page 12

Erdogan prods EU ... Decide ANKARA, Sept 6, (RTRS): Turkey’s president said on Wednesday it was time for the EU to make up its mind whether it wants his country to join the bloc, a day after Germany’s Angela Merkel vowed to push her EU partners to consider suspending or ending its accession talks. Merkel had sharpened her rhetoric in the build-up to this month’s German national vote and said on Sunday Turkey should not become a member. Ankara has

accused her of indulging in populism. “The EU needs to take a step now. Either they will keep their promises and open the road for full membership ... or come out and say they do not want to continue with Turkey,” President Tayyip Erdogan told a meeting of his ruling AK Party in Ankara. Erdogan said Turkey had not abandoned its strategic goal of EU membership. But Continued on Page 6

Jina in rural Aleppo in March that killed 38 people, including children, failed to take precautions in violation of international law, but did not constitute a war crime. The weapons used on Khan Sheikhoun were previously identified as containing sarin, an odourless nerve agent. But that conclusion, reached by a fact-finding mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), did not say who was responsible. “Government forces continued the pattern of using chemical weapons against civilians in opposition-held areas. In the gravest incident, the Syrian air force used sarin in Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib, killing dozens, the majority of whom were women and children,” the UN report said, declaring the attack a war crime. Commission chairman Paulo Pinheiro told a news conference: “Not having access did not prevent us from establishing facts or reasonable grounds to believe what happened during the attack and establishing who is responsible.” In their 14th report since 2011, UN investigators said they had in all documented 33 chemical weapons attacks to date. Twenty-seven were by the government of President Bashar al-Assad, including seven between March 1 to July 7. Perpetrators had not been identified yet in six attacks, they said. The Assad government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons. It said its strikes in Khan Sheikhoun hit a weapons depot belonging to rebel forces, a claim “excluded” by Pinheiro. Continued on Page 6

misfortune, we are obliged by our emotions, feelings and conscience to do something regardless of their origin or ethnicity. In the past months or few days now, we have seen our brothers and sisters in humanity and religion — the minority group known as “Rohingya” in Myanmar, suffer persecution and injustice — something that incites and moves humans and even stones. Needless to say, the persecution of our brothers seems to have not shaken a single hair in the beards of our extremist fundamentalists. The same people we saw in the past raging and barbarically crunching on the tiniest issue due to their bizarre nature in our tolerant society. We saw several of them at a gathering in a diwaniya collecting funds to arm 12 thousand fighters, and we know the number is enough to liberate the occupied Golan Heights plus some villages in the West Bank. They declared with pride and boasted about sending millions of weapons to the people of Syria with mercenaries of all kinds to kill each other. We saw one of them with a poker face bragging about slaughtering a family consisting of a father and his small children, and even wished with a smiley barbaric face to slaughter 12 other individuals from the same group of the slaughtered father and his children. We saw the person who is actually afraid of his own shadow, preparing explosives and standing

behind huge artillery insinuating he is a Jihadist. We saw a gathering of the gang in their numbers in front of the embassy of one major friendly nation protesting against its stance adopted in favor of their creedal adversary in Syria, and noticed scores of fraudulent appearances and hypocritical Jihadism in them. Nonetheless, we neither heard a single word Al-Baghli of protest from the group nor their kind on the genocide committed by Myanmar military against the Rohingya Muslim minority that led more than 125,000 people to flee to Muslim and impoverished Republic of Bangladesh in the last few days. Houses of the Rohingya Muslim minority have been torched and with joints of their religious men cut into pieces! This information and figures were announced by the regional spokesperson of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). There is a global condemnation of the massacre, as humanity calls upon the United Nations and the major countries to intervene. However, our fundamentalists are in total silence ... as silent as the graveyard. This silence is clear indication of their abhorred and rejected inhuman eclecticism, although it’s not a surprising trait in them. ❑ ❑ ❑ E-mail: [email protected]

Newswatch ISTANBUL: Turkish police shot dead an Islamic State militant who was set to carry out a suicide bomb attack on a police station in the Mediterranean city of Mersin on Wednesday, the interior ministry said. The assailant, wearing a vest packed with explosives, was killed outside the police station in the Yenisehir district, which security sources said is located next to the regional headquarters of Turkey’s MIT national intelligence agency. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

MANILA: The Philippines will assist some 10,000 Filipinos who may be deported after the US administration decided to rescind a program that allows undocumented immigrant children to stay legally in the United States, officials said Wednesday. Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said funds earmarked to assist

Filipinos overseas can be released to help those affected by the revocation of the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. He called on Filipinos in the US to actively support efforts to pass legislation that would benefit immigrants enrolled in DACA. Those who may be affected should hope for the best but be prepared for the worst, he said. “In any event, we are ready to welcome and assist our (compatriots) in whatever way we can if they are returned to the Philippines,” Cayetano said in a statement. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

BEIRUT: Lebanon has identified the bodies of 10 of its soldiers found along the Syrian border in a zone taken back from Islamic State last week, state news agency NNA said on Wednesday. An offensive against the enclave Continued on Page 6

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

LOCAL

2

250,000 passengers crossed Kuwait Airport during the same period

29,182 vehicles exited, entered Kuwait land borders from Aug 31-Sept 4 KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: The number of departing and arriving vehicles at the land borders of Kuwait during the period between Aug 31 and Sept 4 was 29,182, comprising of 14,110 arriving vehicles and 15,072 departing vehicles, as per official statistics, reports Al-Anba daily. According to the statistics, most of

these vehicles are to and from Saudi Arabia, followed by Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Oman, and lastly Qatar with only seven total vehicles (three arriving and four departing). The total number of travelers via the land borders in the abovementioned period was 87,000. Meanwhile, a security source

explained that the total number of passengers at Kuwait International Airport during the same period was 250,000. This number is expected to increase by a high rate in the coming phase due to the return of the pilgrims as well as citizens and residents who spent their vacations overseas. Assistant Undersecretary for

Border Affairs at Ministry of Interior Major General Mansour Al-Awadi supervised the movement at the land borders and the airport. Director of Kuwait International Airport Major General Walid Al-Saleh exerted tremendous efforts to facilitate the movement to and from Kuwait.

‘Health monitoring cards given to returning pilgrims from Hajj’ 60,000 appointments made for outpatients clinic online KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Ministry of Health affirmed it has distributed health monitoring cards to all pilgrims returning from Hajj in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, reports Al-Nahar daily. It stressed that all pilgrims among the citizens and residents have received the cards and are supposed to visit prevention centers based on their location of residence within 14 days of return to the country.

Al Jarida daily photo

Dr Mohammad Al-Rashidi with Korean delegation.

Premkumar (center) being honoured by Menon.

Bhavans Fraternity Kuwait celebrates Onam KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: The Bhavans Fraternity Kuwait celebrated Onam, one of the most colorful harvest festivals of South India at the Indian Educational School (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan) auditorium. The school staff dedicated the day which happened to be the Teachers’ Day too, to their Principal, T. Premkumar, (who has been recognized by the CBSE for the CBSE

Teachers’ Award 2016), as a mark of their immense love, reverence and gratitude to their beloved mentor par excellence. The Staff Club of Bhavans hosted a cultural fiesta comprising, a ‘thiruvathirakali’ (teachers of Jack and Jill, Mangaf) ‘the mega three layer thiruvathirakkali’ with more than 50 dancers (teachers of IES), the traditional ‘mohiniyaattam’ (teachers of

SIS), Vanchippaatu by the menfolk of the three schools, skits and musical performances led by talented singer Mahesh Iyer (Principal, SIS). On this occasion, Premkumar, was conferred a golden rondure by N. K. Ramachandran Menon, the Chairman, Bhavans Middle East in appreciation of his accolades as a teacher and a principal and the award conferred on him by the CBSE.

In a circular, the ministry said all doctors are supposed to report about any contagious diseases discovered in the pilgrims who return from Hajj. It stressed the need to visit a doctor in case of emergence of any suspicious symptoms. It also insisted on the importance of providing pilgrims, after their return, with proper health awareness on how to prevent the spread of diseases to their families. The ministry explained that pilgrims who return via land borders have to undergo scan through thermal cameras as they cross into the country. It expressed readiness to deal with any suspicious symptom of contagious disease in accordance with the standard procedures. The ministry indicated that the health prevention team of Hajj will refer their report concerning expeditions that committed any violations of the health regulations. Meanwhile, Deputy Manager of Farwaniya Hospital Dr. Mohammad Al-Rashidi revealed that more than 60,000 appointments were made for outpatient clinics online, affirming that the complete e-system will be launched soon and will cover all departments of the hospital, reports Aljarida daily. Dr Al-Rashidi insisted that the e-system enhances the quality of the offered medical services, saves time and efforts, and minimizes the errors that are seen in paper files and hard documents, adding that implementing the esystem also reduces the cost of medical services. He revealed that a South Korean delegation that visited the hospital had praised the advanced level of automation of services which can have positive impacts on the offered medical services.

Top: His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah with Economic Affairs Minister and Above: with Faisal Nayef Al-Diweesh.

Receptions of HH the Deputy Amir, Crown Prince His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received at Seif Palace on Wednesday Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Minister of

State for Economic Affairs Hind Al-Sabeeh. His Highness Sheikh Nawaf also received Faisal Nayef Al-Diweesh and Falah Bin Jamea. (KUNA)

‘Kuwait Girl Engineers Project’ event on Sept 19

Topics for the Suad Al-Sabah contest to cover current issues KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Dr Suad Al-Sabah has approved the topics for the competition to be organized by Suad Al-Sabah Publishing and Distribution House for the 2017/2018 year in both scientific and literary sections. The inception of this annual competition was in the mid-1980s. It was and still is aimed at providing opportunities for talented Arab youths who possess abilities but lack supporters. Manager of Suad Al-Sabah Publishing and Distribution House Ali Al-Masoudi explained that the competition will include the Sheikh Abdullah Al-Sabah Competition and the Suad Al-Sabah Competition. The topics have been chosen carefully Dr Suad such that they cover the current issues. The topics of Sheikh Abdullah Al-Sabah Competition vary from the history of Kuwait, history of the Kuwaiti parliamentary life, fast food and their impact on health, and the negative and positive roles of social media. The topics of the Suad Al-Sabah Competition include the science behind Arab poetry (Aroud), the inception and

experiences of Kuwait cinema, and the best collection of stories and poems. Al-Masoudi revealed that the participants have to be Arabs who are less than 35 years of age. Meanwhile, Under the patronage of Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and State Minister for Economic Affairs Hind Al-Sabeeh, the Deanship of the College of Engineering and Petroleum at Kuwait University will organize a ceremony to launch “Kuwait Girl Engineers Project”. The ceremony will witness the presence of the dean of the college and his deputies and Minister of Family and Social Policies of Turkey. This program, which is being held for the first time in Kuwait on Sept 19 at the conference hall of Khaldiya Campus, aims at empowering Kuwaiti and Gulf female engineers and preparing them for the job market as well as helping them build skills that can enable them to innovate in the work environment. It also aims at training 30 female engineers in the final stages of the college as well as new graduates in all disciplines. The program is the result of a joint collaboration among Kuwait University, College of Engineering and Petroleum, Turkish Boaziçi University, Center for Continuing Education, and Limak Construction Company — Kuwait. It will include 200 hours of training during the first semester of the 2017/2018 academic year.

News in Brief Ahmadi governor congratulates Amir: On behalf of the residents of Ahmadi Governorate and himself, Governor of Ahmadi Sheikh Fawaz Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah congratulated HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on the third anniversary of his naming as the Humanitarian Leader by the United Nations. Sheikh Fawaz added the achievement is considered a great honor to Kuwait and the entire Gulf, indicating Kuwait’s position as an international center for humanitarian work has improve in the last three years to prove the honor is well deserved. He quoted the Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres as saying Kuwait represents the voice of balance, conversation and wisdom. ❑ ❑ ❑ Kuwaiti official applauds Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia, with King Salman bin Abdulaziz at the helm, held a successful Hajj season in the current Hijri year 1438, a Kuwaiti official said on Tuesday. Undersecretary of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Fareed Emadi told KUNA that “we have grown accustomed to such success and order in the Kingdom’s efforts to placate pilgrims.” He thanked Saudi authorities for their diligent work year-round to ensure that the Hajj pilgrimage is held smoothly and safely, adding that the Kuwaiti Hajj campaigns enjoyed similar success as well. Emadi also said that he was grateful to everyone who participated or contributed in any way towards making this year’s Hajj pilgrimage such a tremendous success. (KUNA) ❑ ❑ ❑ Embassy in Washington cautions citizens: Kuwait Embassy urged its nationals in the State of Florida to be cautious about their safety as the “potentially catastrophic” Hurricane Irma is barreling towards the state from the Atlantic Ocean. Out of keenness on the security and safety of the Kuwaiti citizens and students living in the state, the Embassy urged them a press release to follow the safety instructions specified by the local authorities. It called on the Kuwaiti nationals to keep in touch with Kuwaiti mission in Washington and report on any eventuality via the embassy’s Emergency phone No: +12022620758 or the culture office +12023642104. (KUNA)

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

LOCAL

3

Photo by Rizk Taufiq

Diplomats and heads of foreign missions in a group photo.

Ambassador Mbacké holds dinner party in honor of outgoing Polish and Czech ambassadors Head of the diplomatic corps and Ambassador of Senegal to Kuwait Abdou Lahad Mbacké held a dinner party in honor of the Polish Ambassador to Kuwait Grzegorz Olszak and Czech Ambassador to Kuwait Martin Vítek.

Several accredited diplomats and heads of foreign missions attended the event, which was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel to mark the end of diplomatic tenure for the two ambassadors in Kuwait.

Deal signed on Al-Naeem Smart City project

Kuwaiti businessmen pin hopes on Amir’s US visit WASHINGTON, Sept 6, (KUNA): His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s visit to the United States proves that both nations enjoy historic and solid ties, a Kuwaiti official said on Wednesday. Member of Kuwait’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry Faisal AlMutawa told KUNA that Kuwait’s relationship with the US is vibrant, citing that trade between both Al-Salmi countries reached $6 billion last year. He said that he was sanguine that His Highness the Amir’s visit would be instrumental in pushing both nations closer together.

Meanwhile, the deputy chairman of Kuwait’s Union of Investment Companies Saleh Al-Salmi pointed out that his country has invested heavily in American markets. On His Highness the Amir’s visit, he said it represents a viable chance to explore investment opportunities that will buoy Kuwait’s hopes of morphing into a financial and economic powerhouse. On a related note, a group of Kuwait businessmen were to meet their American counterparts at an economic forum on Wednesday. ❑ ❑ ❑

Ambassador Mbacké presented the outgoing ambassadors a token of appreciation and commemorative plaques, and wished them more success in their future endeavors.

Kuwait Municipality said will not hire any expats in future ‘TV sector not affected by dispensing of foreign employees’ KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: The Kuwait Municipality has announced that expatriates will not be hired in future for any of its contracts, reports Al-Rai daily quoting an official of the Municipality.

Director of Designs Department at Roads Sector of the Ministry of Public Works Engineer Suha Ashkanani announced the signing of an agreement on infrastructure network services for Al-Naeem Smart City, reports Al-Anba daily.

This is in addition to ending the employment of those expatriates whose services are no longer required by the Municipality and other who have completed their term of contract.

Kuwait Today Prayer Timings Fajr .................................................................... 04:07 Sunrise ................................................................ 05:28 Zohr ..................................................................... 11:46 Asr ........................................................................ 15:18 Maghrib ............................................................... 18:04 Isha ..................................................................... 19:23

Weather Expected weather for the next 24 hours: By Night: Relatively hot and relatively humid specially over coastal areas with light to moderate southeasterly wind to southwesterly wind, with speed of 08-26 km/h with a chance for light fog forming. By Day: Hot and relatively humid specially over coastal areas with light variable wind changing to light to moderate southeasterly wind, with speed of 06-26 km/h and some scattered clouds will appear.

Station Kuwait City Kuwait Airport Abdaly Bubyan Jahra Failaka Island Salmiyah Ahmadi Nuwaisib Wafra Salmy

Max Exp

Min Rec

44 45 45 42 46 44 42 42 45 45 45

32 27 26 24 29 28 32 32 30 25 24

4 days forecast - Weather Thursday, Sept 7 Expected weather Hot and relatively humid over coastal areas Max Temp.................................................... 45C Min Temp..................................................... 29C Wind Direction ..................................... SW-VRB Wind Speed ......................................10-30 km/h Friday, Sept 8 Expected weather ......................................... Hot Max Temp.................................................... 46C Min Temp..................................................... 30C Wind Direction ..............................................NW Wind Speed ......................................12-35 km/h Saturday, Sept 9 Expected weather ......................................... Hot Max Temp.................................................... 44C Min Temp..................................................... 31C Wind Direction ..............................................NW Wind Speed ......................................15-40 km/h Sunday, Sept 10 Expected weather ......................................... Hot Max Temp.................................................... 44C Min Temp..................................................... 30C Wind Direction ..................................... NW-VRB Wind Speed ......................................08-28 km/h

Marine Forecast Station

Max Exp

Min Rec

Sea Surf

South Dolphin Umm Mudayrah Beacon M28

44 38 -

32 33 -

-

Today’s Waves Ht Direction

3ft 3ft 3ft

NW NW NW

Beacon N6 Qaruh Island Umm Al-Maradim Sea Island Buo Salmiyah

42 41 40 42

30 33 33 32

-

3ft 3ft 3ft 3ft

NW NW NW NW

4 days forecast - Marine Thursday, Sept 7 Expected weather Hot and relatively humid over coastal areas Sea state .............................. Slight to moderate Wave height............................................... 1-4 ft Max Temp.................................................... 45C Min Temp..................................................... 29C Wind Direction .................................................... SW-VRB ............................................................. Wind Speed ......................................10-30 km/h Friday, Sept 8 Expected weather ......................................... Hot Sea state .............................. Slight to moderate Wave height............................................... 1-4 ft Max Temp.................................................... 46C Min Temp..................................................... 30C Wind Direction ..............................................NW Wind Speed ......................................12-35 km/h Saturday, Sept 9 Expected weather ......................................... Hot Sea state .............................. Slight to moderate Wave height............................................... 2-5 ft Max Temp.................................................... 44C Min Temp..................................................... 31C Wind Direction ..............................................NW Wind Speed ......................................15-40 km/h Sunday, Sept 10 Expected weather ......................................... Hot Sea state .............................. Slight to moderate Wave height............................................... 1-3 ft Max Temp.................................................... 44C Min Temp..................................................... 30C Wind Direction ..................................... NW-VRB Wind Speed ......................................08-28 km/h

Tide times at Shuwaikh Port 1st high tide: ..............................................11:33 2nd high tide: .............................................00:48 1st low tide:................................................18:42 2nd low tide: ..............................................07:10 Sunrise: .....................................................05:27 Sunset: ......................................................18:07

Recorded yesterday at Kuwait Airport Max temp ..................................................... 47C Min temp ...................................................... 27C Max Rh ....................................................... 84% Min Rh ........................................................ 05% Max Wind...........................................S 43 km/h Total Rainfall in 24 hrs .............................. 0 mm

Recorded yesterday at South Dolphin Min/Max/ Air Temp .................................33/44C Min/Max Rel Hum .................................. 08/78% Wind Direction/Wind Speed.............SE/37 km/h Prev Wave Dir/Max Wave Ht ..................... N/- ft Min/Max Sea Surface Temp ........................ -/-C Sea Current .......................................Upwellingt

— Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Mete-

deaths Amina Mohammad Ali Mahmoud Al-Kandari, 79 years old, widow of Mohammad Husein Ali AlKandari, buried on Wednesday. Condolences: (Men) (Shaab) Diwan Al Kanadra, Tel: 66000225. (Women) Sedeek, Block 3, Street 305, House 15, Tel: 97962200. Sara Ammash Abdul Aale Al-Mutairi, 59 years old, wife of Khaleefa Amoush Abdul Aale Al-Mutairi, buried on Wednesday. Condolences: (Men) Sabahiya, Block 1, Street 17, House 835, Tel: 55133111. Awad Said Awad Al-Kherinj, 56 years old, buried on Wednesday. Condolences: (Men) Eshbeliya, Block 1, Street 106, House 3, Tel: 99447809. (Women) Zahra, Block 5, Street 513, House 77, Tel: 97944355. Abdullah Ahmad Abdul Razaak Al-Mutawa, 74 years old, to be buried on ÌThursday at 09:00 am. Condolences: (Men) Shuwaikh housing, Block 3, crossing Shuwaikh Street, with Khawla Street, Opp Shuwaikh Mosque, Tel: 66096561. (Women) Rumaithiya, Block 4, Ahmad Bin Hanbal Street, Avenue 43, House 57, Tel: 97753223. Haydar Yaqoub Ghloom Al-Safaar, 68 years old, buried on Wednesday. Condolences: (Men) Dai’ya, Huseiniyat Abu Al-Fathel Al-Abbas, Tel: 25232455. (Women) South Surra, Block 5, Street 519, House 19, Tel: 99890445. Mohammad Matar Ashour Basheer, 19 years old, to be buried on Thursday after Asr prayers. Condolences: (Men) Rawda, Block 2, Ali Sulaiman Abu Kehail Street, Dasman Ballroom, Tel: 98996165 / 66578563. (Women) Rabiya, Block 1, Street 33, House 20, Tel: 69090500. Rashed Khamis Ashour Basheer, 21 years old, to be buried on Thursday after Asr prayers. Condolences:(Men) Rawda, Dasman Ballroom, Block 2, Ali Sulaiman Boukhail Street, Tel: 98996165 / 66578563. (Women) Rabiya, Block 3, Street 32, House 64, Tel: 99046930. Abdullah Zayed Shenan Al-Ajmi, 59 years old, to be buried on Thursday at 09:00 am. Condolences: (Men) At the cemetery, Tel: 99089022. (Women) Riqqa, Block 2, Street 12, House 556, Tel: 99831892.

Sept 6, 2017

Kuwait’s Dasman Diabetes Institute and University of Canberra officials pose for a photo.

Kuwait’s DDI, University of Canberra sign MoU

Focus on mapping impact of diabetes KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Mapping the impact of diabetes in the State of Kuwait will be the main focus of a new partnership between the University of Canberra and Kuwait’s Dasman Diabetes Institute (DDI). Type 2 diabetes poses a serious problem in Arab countries and experts are increasingly looking to spatial epidemiology to uncover more information about the disease. University of Canberra’s Health Research Institute Associate Professor Neil Coffee said spatial epidemiology looks at disease in terms of geographic variables, like environment, behaviour, socioeconomic and other place-related risk factors. “The new agreement between the University of Canberra and the Dasman Diabetes Institute will look at four areas: build capacity for spatial epidemiology in Kuwait; develop geographic information systems to drive research; training and education; and student/academic exchange,” Dr Coffee said. “Our expertise will help our Kuwaiti partners build capacity in geospatial data and spatial-epidemiology, linking health outcomes to the places where people live, where prevention efforts can then be targeted.” The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between both organisations also outlines collaboration in training and educating researchers in Kuwait. University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Deep Saini and DDI’s Director General Dr Qais Saleh Al-Duwairi signed the agreement in Canberra today. They were joined by His Excel-

Officials signing the MoU.

lency, Najeeb Al-Bader the Ambassador of the State of Kuwait, who confirmed that the MoU will contribute to strengthening the health cooperation frameworks between Kuwait and Australia. The signing was also attended by Dr Faisal Al-Refaei, DDI’s Chief Operating Officer. The agreement will also create opportunities for exchange students and staff from DDI and the University to spend time studying and researching in each other’s countries to grow the expertise in spatial epidemiology. Dr Coffee said a new research collaboration on diabetes led by DDI’s Dr Saad Alsharrah and University of Canberra Professor of Epidemiology Mark Daniel is already under way.

“This pilot is beginning to geocode diabetes patients in Kuwait and soon will produce map visualisations of patients and their social demographics,” Dr Coffee said. “Geo-health as a field of research and a spatial way of understanding the health problems in communities is really catching on around the world. Australia is growing its strength in this space and further partnerships like this will go far to show how spatial epidemiology can be used to deliver better health policies and results.” “We are very excited to engage in further work with our Kuwaiti partners at the DDI and to grow the collaboration in years to come,” Dr Coffee said.

Al-Fares warns of legal action against violating schools

‘Private schools allowed to increase fees by 3 percent’ KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Muhammad Al-Fares has stressed the importance of the role played by private schools, stressing the increase of educational fees in these schools for academic year 2017/2018 is only three percent and there is no other hike in fees, reports Al-Kuwaitiya daily. Al-Fares explained the ministerial

decision allowing private schools to increase fees by three percent entails strict monitoring of these schools to ensure they do not violate the rule. He said the idea of increasing fees in the coming years is still under study and the relevant decision will be taken at the right time. He also warned that legal action will be taken against schools proven to have committed violations, asserting

the parents have the right to contact the Private Education Department in case they are asked to pay more than the authorized three percent fee hike. It is worth mentioning that measures against erring schools include cancellation of the license by the end of the academic year the violation was committed and obliging them to refund the extra fees they collected.

The source added the DirectorGeneral of the Municipality, Engineer Ahmad Al-Manfouhi has asked from the officials of the administrative and finance sectors to provide him an update on the employment of expatriates complete with their biodata, their compatibilities and jobs they occupy. The source pointed out the number of expatriate employees according to preliminary statistics is very high, especially in the suburbs; therefore, the services of both surplus employees and those whose academic certificates do not meet the requirements of the job shall be terminated. The source stressed Al-Manfouhi has asked to stop giving allowances and bonuses to such employees and to review their contracts. He added, there is also a trend to terminate the contracts of those who have exceeded the legal period while at the same time doing away with foreign advisers. Meanwhile, the Undersecretary at the Ministry of Information (for Television) Majed Al-Jazzaf, said the television sector has not been affected by the dispensing of foreign employees, reports Al-Jarida daily. He explained the ministry does not depend on foreigners because there are ambitious Kuwaiti youth who can fill the gap. “We have confidence in our youth and we have prepared them by organizing for them courses in lighting, sound, camera and others, which is part of a careful plan for the overall employment in the industry. Al-Jazzaf said the Ministry’s revenues during last Ramadan were KD 1 million and this “encourages us to double the revenues next year, especially if we are well prepared for the next Ramadan.” “The Montage Center, which is one of the largest projects of the Ministry, will be opened soon. It includes 37 editing centers, all of which are specialized in editing, color correction, graphics, sound, etc”, Al-Jazzaf added. In the meantime, the official gazette “Al-Kuwait Al-Youm” has published eight amendments to the laws issued by the current parliament since its inception in December 2016 until July 2017, reports AlWasat daily. The amendments were made over some typo errors when the laws were published for the first time in the official gazette. Some of the errors were in the headlines and preambles of some of the laws as well as in the attached tables and some articles of the laws and their explanatory notes. One of the notable errors that had been repeated, because of which a number of laws required amendments, was the phrase “Amir of Kuwait”, which should actually be written as “Amir of the State of Kuwait”.

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DIWANIYA A DIGEST OF PUBLIC OPINION ‘Productive expats vital for nation’

‘Need to curb visa peddlers’

KUNA photo

The Members of Parliament organized an event at Sabah Al-Ahmad Hall with the theme, ‘Nation’s Duty to Support Muslims in Rakhine State in Myanmar’. Speaking at the event, MP Adel Al-Damkhi pointed out that around 168,000 people have fled from Myanmar since 2012 because of violence. He called on everyone to support the victims of such a humanitarian disaster. MP Jaman Al-Harbash pointed out this event is a manifestation of the Assembly’s stand on extending a helping hand to those in need throughout its history. MP Nayef Al-Mirdas urged the government to issue a strong statement, expressing the anger of Kuwaitis over the senseless massacres in Myanmar. — See Page 6

‘Govt for judicial reforms, more Kuwaitis as judges’ 25,000 cases pending in Cassation Court KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Minister of Justice and Minister of State for National Assembly Affairs Dr Falah Al-Azab said the government is determined to promote judiciary through an ambitious strategy to enable the national judicial cadres in the

country to take control of the judiciary. Al-Azab in a statement to Al-Jarida daily said, “We aim to qualify Kuwaitis to serve in the judiciary as judges through prosecutors who will be included not only in the courts and the first degrees of litigation in administrative, civil and commercial courts, but in all other branches as well.

The white-eared bulbul or white-cheeked bulbul, is a member of the bulbul family that’s found in south-western Asia from India to the Arabian peninsula and is highly vocal. (Ghazy Qaffaf — KUNA)

Sea polluter held

‘Violations cause of fire’ KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Environment Public Authority (EPA) and Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) have attributed the reasons for the fire incidents that occurred in Sulaibiya farms to the exploitation of these farms for unlicensed activities, reports Al-Shahed daily quoting sources. They explained that the fires witnessed in these farms resulted from the use of some of those farms for industrial and craft activities and workshops for machineries and vehicles. Some others were used as storage places for oils, tires, wood and scrap iron. Some were even transformed into illegal

warehouses. Meanwhile, General Public Relations and Media Security Department of the Interior Ministry stated the Maritime Security Department of Coast Guard has arrested a citizen for dumping waste in the Sea of Kubbar. Statement affirmed that Article 143 of Environmental Protection Law stipulates that a person caught throwing garbage or waste substance of any kind at the beach or the Kuwaiti islands will pay KD 10,000 fine. In noted the same fine is applicable to the owners of small boats committing similar offenses, indicating the boat will be confiscated if the violations is repeated.

News in Brief Honoring actor: The LOYAC Academy for Performing Arts (LAPA) is preparing to build a mural in memory of the late comedian Abdul Hussein Abdulredha, reports Al-Seyassah daily. The mural will be made by a number for formative artists under the supervision of the LAPA Chairperson of the formative arts department, Amira Behbehani. On the other Abdulredha hand, LAPA president, Farea Al-Saqqaf said the mural is a gesture of gratitude and appreciation for Abdulredha’s art which had an impact on many Kuwaiti generations and the GCC and Arab peoples. ❑ ❑ ❑

Amal hospitalized: Actress Amal who suffered a mild heart attack was rushed to the Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital and taken to the Intensive Care Unit, reports Al-Anba daily. Amal said she is now stable and thanked God and the medical staff of the hospital and all those who were concerned about her health. ❑ ❑ ❑

Play moves to UAE: Prominent actor Tariq Al-Ali said the play ‘Wald Batanaha’ (her real son) will be performed in the UAE and then move on to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia following the unprecedented success

in Kuwait, reports Al-Shahed daily. He stressed the play was staged in Kuwait during the Eid al-Adha festival. For his part, another prominent Kuwaiti actor and playwright Abdulrahman Al-Aql said the play is directed by Abdulaziz Safar, starring Tareq Al Ali and Mays Kamar, along with Khaled Al-Ajairb, Mai Abdullah and Khaled Al-Muzaffar. ❑ ❑ ❑

‘No interference’: Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education Dr Mohammad Al-Faris said the educational system needs a barrier to protect it from interference by politicians, reports Al-Anba daily. Al-Faris pointed out this has to be done for the success of education. He pointed out KD 120 million is needed for the demolition of old schools and reconstruction of new education facilities. He explained privatizing the education sector is not an easy process. However, he added, 10 schools shall be made available to the private sector for demolition and reconstruction and for technical management only for 20 years. Meanwhile, the decision by the Minister of Education, Minister of Higher Education Mohammad AlFares to cancel recognition and accreditation of 87 US universities and language institutes has been resented by many Kuwaiti students who continue to study at these institutes, reports Al-Shahed daily. However, the sources said the decision will not affect those who were enrolled at these institutions prior to the issuance of the decision.

He pointed out, “this method contributes to the creation of qualified judges to work in the judiciary rather than waiting for the prosecutor for six years to begin working as judge from scratch.” He pointed out that the Latin and Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence are two schools, recommending the appointment of specialized judges from the beginning according to the needs of the judiciary. He explained the new judges who will be appointed will be in the provisions of the first degree followed by the Appeals and Cassation courts. He indicated there is a problem in the output of the Prosecutors to the First Instance, administrative and personal status courts, because the work of the Prosecutors work is usually connected to crimes, which requires training longer in other courts to be able to make relevant laws. He pointed out that if there is a problem in the names such as a fourth degree judge in relation to the mechanism of his dismissal because of his performance, they can be appointed under the name of law researcher to help judges to write sentences until they are trained, and then promoted to a judge.

Clerics He explained the Ja’afari Court of Status is not appointed by the Public Prosecution, but by clerics because of its nature. He stressed that the settlement of judges is not between day and night, but must begin follow the path of rotation of localization of judges. He pointed out, “this and the independence of the judiciary requires that there is a national judicial authority, and this is what we are going to.” “We are now facing a major dilemma of increasing the number of cases at different levels of litigation, and in turn increasing the number of people and new areas, as well as the use of judges for family courts, and this requires a large number of judges to accommodate all these matters and the number of cases,” said Azab: Solving the issue of judges will help solve this dilemma. He added: “We do not jump into the unknown in our first steps towards the settlement of the judiciary, since the issue of the appointment of prosecutors will be in the First Instance Court and the first degrees of litigation, not Appeal or Cassation.” What is said about this issue is a disproved argument, he added. He pointed out most cases pending are in the Court of Cassation — a whopping 25,000. He added, “Ninety percent of the judges of the Court of Cassation are non-Kuwaitis, and not only that, the number of Kuwaiti consultants at this court is zero while there are 150 non-Kuwaiti consultants.” He went on to say, “A Kuwaiti judge makes to the Court of Cassation only after 25 years, while it takes a non-Kuwaiti 15 years.” He pointed out, “We aim to reduce this period for the Kuwaiti judge.” He said he agreed to what was mentioned by the daily about pumping national cadres into the Public Prosecution. He explained, the beginning of this road is through the appointment of 94 public prosecutors.

“EARLIER, I had written an article on the population structure of the State of Kuwait. However, in view of the importance and the sensitivity of this issue, I feel it is worthy reminding the readers about the subject once again,” columnist and businessman Fahd Abdurrahman Al-Moajel wrote for Al-Seyassah daily. “During a televised interview on one of the Satellite TV Channels, the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and the Minister of State for Economic Affairs Hind Al-Sabeeh, gave some statistics on the current population structure of Kuwait. “She said as much as 30 percent of the people are Kuwaitis and the expatriates 70 percent of the population equation. “She added, based on the above, we will need 15 years to change the current demographics to bring the population of Kuwaitis to 40 percent and the expatriates down to sixty percent. “However, all of us have been following up the statements which have been issued by senior Kuwaiti government officials and parliamentarians and all of them are in agreement over reviewing the current population structure and they are cent per cent correct in their assessment. “Their vision is sound, but what is unsound about it is the manner followed by them in dealing with this issue because their tone is tinted with fanaticism and acute reactions. “In this context, we look at the statements in question, holding the expatriates responsible for the imbalance in the population structure without taking into account the dimensions and the reflections of this logic on Kuwait particularly since all of us know that the expatriates represent one of the significant sources and nerve of the Kuwaiti economy. “Such being the case, the issue of population structure should not be handled through nervous reactions and emotional methods, rather this issue should be handled through well studied decisions and Al-Moajel clear cut strategies to prevent the negative outcome of any solution. “Yes, there is an imbalance which is currently rife with the country’s population structure, but this defect cannot be handled through ambiguous and irrational decisions because we know the expatriates are performing significant tasks in the country and are involved in some occupations which the Kuwaitis refuse to accept. “Here, we would like to point out that all of us realize that many manual professions have vanished from culture of Kuwaiti labor in wake of the oil era which has brought financial surpluses to the country. “In the past prior to the oil era, all construction workers, plumbers, drivers, cleaners, bakers, vendors and so on were Kuwaitis. But now all occupations and related works are done by the expatriates, simply because Kuwaitis are either working in the public or private sectors doing routine office work or are in administrative jobs. “Given the above, we, at the moment are definitely in a sensitive and critical dilemma. Hence, the most imperative question that can be asked over such an issue is: Will the Kuwaitis be in a position to supersede all expatriates. I think the above question does not have any specific answer. “That being the fact of the case, we suggest before making haste to take any decision in this regard and prior to putting in place any strategy to handle the issue of population structure, we have to review the changes that have taken place in the country in the wake of the financial surpluses and its effect on the citizens’ culture of work. “The second measure to be taken to handle the issue in question should actually concentrate on the file of the visa traffickers because it is the visa traffickers who have flooded the country with cheap foreign manpower which actually constitute a social and security danger to the country. “Apart from the above, we would like to refer to the significance of the technical and professional education. This issue should be placed at the top of the list of much needed solutions, particularly following the failure of the Public Authority of Applied Education and Training (PAAET) to respond to the demands of the local labor market vis-à-vis various professions although this authority was founded years ago. “Consequently, as I have mentioned, the issue looks complicated, but it is needless to say the required solutions can be made available, but absolutely not through the tone of arrogance or convulsion, because the solution should foremost begin by fighting the visa traffickers. If we resort to this solution, the latter will bring fruitful outcomes within two years after which we have to resort to the other prospective solutions. “In conclusion, we pray to Almighty Allah to protect the State of Kuwait, the people and the Amir from every devilish action.”

Also: “Certainly the meeting between HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad and the US President Donald Trump will represent a summit meeting in view of its coincidence with the crucial events, circumstances and challenges currently facing the region and the world at large, particularly in light of the crisis that has befallen the Gulf House recently,” columnist Abdurrahman Al-Awwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily. “HH the Amir - the leader of the humanity carries in his mind and heart the solutions required for all of the problems. We know during the past three month he has been in touch with most leaders of the world for the sake of healing the rifts among some of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states in addition to the finding out solutions for all of the crises which current prevail in the Middle East region. “In this context, HH the Amir has made every possible effort and used his good offices to solve the crises as a result of which all nations of the world have declared their support to his efforts and good offices. Hence, the entire world is currently looking forward to the outcomes of great initiatives undertaken by HH the Amir to spread peace and stability in the region. “We have also observed how several countries have dispatched their envoys and representatives

to probe the opinion of HH the Amir over the crises and the required solutions that might be enough to settle these crises. “Certainly, the above cannot be classified as strange because HH the Amir was Kuwait’s Minister of Foreign Affairs for several decades. He was one of the greatest diplomatic minds in the region. Over these decades he managed to draw up the work and roadmap for Kuwaiti diplomacy and transformed the State of Kuwait into a Qibla for politicians and diplomats and was rightfully called ‘The Sheikh of Diplomats’. “For the time being, we see HH the Amir currently moving ahead in a unique march with his good offices to heal the rifts among the conflicting countries in a bid to bring all parties to the table of negotiations and peace. “HH the Amir throughout his diplomatic and political march has called for consecutive global donors’ conferences to provide assistance to the peoples who are facing catastrophes and ordeals and the countries which are facing obstacles in their development marches. “In conclusion, we hope the meeting between the two leaders — HH the Amir and the US President will bring tangible measures to heal the rifts among the relevant GCC countries and find necessary solutions for all the crises currently facing the entire region in a prelude to restore stability, security and safety to this part of the world.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “The London of today is no longer the same as the one we used to visit in the 1960s after the original British residents opted out and they were replaced with a mixture of Asians, Africans and East Europeans in addition to the homeless, thieves and refugees,” columnist Dr Salah Al-Utaiqi wrote for AlQabas daily. “Even the mayor of London has Asian origins. London lost the previous adjustments that distinguished it in the past where shops used to close by night. Now, the shopping malls along many streets stay open until dawn. The traditional conservative Londoner spirit is not there anymore. “Social development does not always go straight forward. They refuse their European surroundings. Furthermore, they dismiss each other as Scotland calls for independence. Also, it has its own currency, flag and national anthem and so do Wales and North Ireland. “The British were known for their logic and reason, in addition to adopting a conservative attitude in each step they take. On the contrary, we see them today being away from reason and going towards the unknown. The British industry is deteriorating and so is the Sterling Pound in comparison to the American dollar and the Euro. “The American Wall Street Journal analyzed correlation between leaving the European Union and decline in the value of the Sterling Pound, pointing out that this made the British manufacturers bear more expenses in order to sell their products in Europe. This will affect the prices, to the extent that demand for British products and services will decline. This will lead to decline in the value of Sterling Pound which will weaken the ability of British citizens to buy foreign products. “A large percentage of the British yearn for the old sweet days when their country was called the Empire, where the Sun never sets and it was Great Britain. Have the old days’ tigers become too old? What will the conditions in England be in the future in case the wave of immigrants from Asia and Africa continued at this rate? Nobody knows. However, the issue is worrisome for the British and all Europeans as well. “Editor-in-chief of Egyptian daily, ‘Al-Akhbar’, Mustafa Amin said 30 years ago: ‘I have been to Lebanon 35 years ago’, and he described it as a small country with big men. ‘Nevertheless, I do not know where those big men went. Some of them passed away, we killed others, some committed suicide and the rest died while they were still breathing.’ “About 65 years have passed since he met those big men. Have things changed? Of course, things got worse. I ask why that lovely country turned into a devastated place, unlike before with its amazing meadows and lofty mountains covered with Cedar trees.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “It is not a secret anymore that the issue of forged citizenship and educational qualifications is now rampant in our country. The government is required to rise up to the expectations in fixing these issues, but will it?,” Saud Al-Samaka wrote for Al-Seyassah daily. “Here is something to ponder over regarding the forged documents. Undersecretary of Ministry of Electricity and Water Eng Mohammad Boushahri was approached by an employee of the ministry who wanted a change in his job position after he obtained a “Computer Engineering” certificate. When the undersecretary asked him some simple questions about computer science, the employee went blank and was unable to answer the questions even though the certificate indicated that he had earned excellent grades. “The employee wanted a job change in order to be responsible for the electricity network; yet he did not understand even basic information related to electricity. We thank God the matter came directly to the attention of the Undersecretary, otherwise this ignorant employee would have become responsible for our electricity.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “I have mentioned in several articles in the past that ‘DAESH’ is a Western made organization aimed at tarnishing the Islamic religion. The idea behind the formation of the organization revolves around demonizing the concept of ‘Jihad’, which sends chills through the Western world if it was ever to happen in the rightful manner,” columnist Dr Hamoud Hattab Al-Enezi wrote for Al-Shahid daily. “Based on this concept, the organization advocates itself through abhorred, sudden and gruesome acts with the practice of unprecedented savagery — most of which are documented or filmed in highdefinition to instill fear and cement skewed concepts about Islam in the mind of non-Muslims. “Nonetheless, ‘DAESH’ is no more than a paper tiger despite its scary name given by Zionists and the Western powers. As the organization continues to lose territories it once occupied in Iraq and Syria, we have yet to hear about its captives or killing of any of its officials, although it’s no secret that members of the group are proven to be mentally disturbed or have spiritual emptiness that made them easy prey for recruitment and brainwashing.” — Compiled by Zaki Taleb

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Call to notify govt agencies before leaving on charity missions abroad MoE warns new teachers not to indulge in political issues Health Minister Dr Al-Harbi with actors Mohammad Jaber and Ibrahim AlSalal.

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak Al-Sabah has issued instructions to all government agencies to notify charity societies and organizations, and voluntary teams that any charity activity outside the country should be reported to the concerned authorities prior to leaving the country on such mission, reports Al-Rai daily. The aim is to protect the sons of Kuwait from any misunderstanding that may arise when they work on their projects abroad.

Al-Rai daily photos

Left to right: Al-Radhan, Huda and Jaber (Al-Aidaroussi)

Family, friends celebrate actor’s safe return The family, friends and fans of actor Mohammad Jaber (Al-Aidaroussi) held a dinner party at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Farwaniya to celebrate his safe return from Turkey after undergoing successful cardiac surgery, reports Al-Rai daily. He told the press, “I thank the people of Kuwait, especially His Highness the Amir of Kuwait and Amir of humanity Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad, and all state officials and artistes who enquired about my wellbeing. I also thank all the good people of Kuwait who did not hesi-

tate to pray for me”. The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Health Dr Jamal Al Harbi, Undersecretary of Ministry of Information Tariq Al-Mazram, and artistic figures such as Ibrahim Al-Salal, Jamal Al-Radhan, Bader Buresli, Mohammed Al-Manea, Ahmad Al-Salman, Munir Al-Zu’abi, Hassan Ibrahim, Bandar Al-Mutairi, Ismail Al-Rashed, Saoud AlShuwa’ei, Mohammed Al-Hamali, Sadiq Behbehani and Abdullah Al-Trarwa. The only female artiste to attend the event was Huda AlKhateeb.

Construction at Bida’a Roundabout

Project withdrawn from company due to delay of work, handed over to another KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: A major crisis witnessed by the construction at the Bida’a Roundabout in the first half of this year necessitated urgent action by the Minister of Public Works Abdulrahman Al Mutawa, reports AlQabas daily. The daily added, the project has been withdrawn from the company because of delay of work and it was handed over to another company. The step has been taken to accelerate the pace of work and completion of the project as soon as possible due to the importance of its location and to get rid of congestion and ensure free flow of traffic to the Fifth Ring Road. The work on the project has resumed after several months as explained by the project manager Engineer Alaa Al-Turki who said it is the construction of a two-way bridge from Al-Taawon Street to the AlBlajat Street opposite the Al-Bida’a Roundabout the length of which is 670 meters in each direction.

The engineer explained the underground tunnel is the second part of the project which is 570 meters long. She pointed out 22 percent of the work on the project, which is worth KD 18 million, has been completed. She added, the scheduled completion of the work is January 2019. Turki explained the area is very sensitive because of overcrowding and high traffic density. She added, most of the services are so old that the water lines pass down the streets, but is reassuring ‘everyone’ is cooperating, especially the owners of private homes. She pointed out that the water lines will be changed from 300 mm diameters to 1000 mm diameters in order to increase the capacity. The representative of the project’s consultant Engineer Ra’afat Helal said 400 engineers and labors are participating in the project pointing out that the work is continuing 24/7 except for the banned hours from 11.00 am to 4.00 pm.

The sources said the Prime Minister has stressed on the need for cooperation between charity societies and government institutions to help the government protect the charity work and the citizens who are dedicated to this work and fly high the flag of Kuwait. The Prime Minister pointed out the Kuwaitis are well-known for charity work in various parts of the world and therefore any association or individual who does such work is under obligation to notify the government agencies prior to embarking on this mission especially in countries that may pose a threat to their lives. Meanwhile, the sources pointed the government stresses on notifying the concerned authorities before leaving the country on such a mission and the martyrdom teachers of Sheikh Dr Walid Al-Ali and Fahd Al-Husseini in a terrorist attack in Burkina Faso should serve as an eye opener. The source explained the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor which oversees the charity work coordinates with the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Defense to take all measures to secure the external charity missions of Kuwaitis. The source affirmed the government will not tolerate any party that does not abide by the instructions. No one will be allowed to carry out charity work without informing the government agencies. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has warned newly contracted not to indulge in political issues and stay away from social media unless it is related to their work, reports Annahar daily. The ministry has also warned the teachers to stay away from issues which stir sectarianism, tribalism and doctrinal strife in schools and everything that may harm the reputation of the country. This came during lectures given by number of senior officers of the ministry during training courses on issues such as the educational, administrative and legal aspects. The six educational directorates began their courses yesterday, and the Director-General of the Capital Educational Directorate Badriya Al-Khalidi confirmed 13 Palestinian teachers out of the total 97 had been hired.

Briefs RETIREMENT: Ministry of Health intends to refer several of its administrative employees to retirement after reaching the legal age, reports AlAnba daily. The daily quoting a source said the ministry is preparing the list of names of employees who have completed 30 years of service. He noted the list, which includes the names of about 140 employees in supervisory positions, will be referred to the Minister of Health Dr Jamal Al-Harbi upon completion. ❑ ❑ ❑ CONTRACTS: Ministry of Public Works affirmed that it is waiting for the Cabinet to take a decision concerning the renewal of the contracts of three assistant undersecretaries — Ahmed AlHassan, Talal Al-Utheina and Abdulmohsen AlEnezi — which will be ending soon, reports AlAnba daily quoting an informed source. He indicated that the ministry will soon approve the new organizational structure, after receiving approval to add new sectors to the organizational structure. The source revealed that the ministry is planning to refer to retirement the second batch of Kuwaiti and expatriate employees in the coming phase, indicating that 65 employees were already referred to retirement on Sept 1, 2017 based on relevant decisions of the Cabinet and Civil Service Commission.

Kuwaiti fine artist participates in several gallery exhibits

Jowhar uses colors in creative dynamic way KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Kuwaiti fine artist Ahmed Jowhar is one artist taking color and brush as a tool to express the distinctive human nature, free of realistic details. Jowhar who graduated from the Faculty of Art Education has since 1990 participated in several gallery exhibitions as a single artist or in partnership with other artists in Kuwait, the Arab world and other foreign countries, including Ukraine, Russia, Italy, Spain, Tunisia, Egypt and Japan. His paintings constituting visual symbols shaped by the smooth harmony between red, blue and yellow with the white highlights side by side to the deep and dark black shadows reflect his attachment to the environment. Jowhar uses his colors in a creative dynamic way that relaxes the sight and stimulates the foresight at one moment. His paintings include dis-

One of the paintings

tinctive contradictory elements and feelings that complement gravity

with buoyancy, stress with relaxation and brightness.

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15th legislative term to kick off latter part of October

National Assembly to hold confab on governance By Abubakar A. Ibrahim Arab Times Staff KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: The second round of the 15th legislative term will commence in the latter part of October, says Secretary-General of the National Assembly Allam Al-Kandari. Speaking to the Assembly staff at the welcoming ceremony after Eid AlAdha holidays, Al-Kandari announced the legislature will hold a conference on governance next month. He also unveiled a plan to form a committee that will be tasked to prepare for the con-

‘Iran enabled Continued from Page 1 decides next month to declare that Iran is in breach of the agreement, Congress will then have 60 days to debate whether to re-impose some or all sanctions. European capitals would oppose this, arguing the agreement is still the best mechanism to restrain even an untrustworthy Iran’s nuclear ambitions and that world powers should stand by signed agreements. But hawks in Washington argue that if Trump and Haley make good on their threat to find against Iran this would not collapse the deal immediately — and may help strengthen it in the longer term. “Trump’s approach is already motivating European countries to discuss options to fix the deal,” argued Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Another certification by Trump — especially when he made it clear that he would not certify Iran again — would undermine that credible threat,” he said. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that threats by the United States had pushed North Korea to test nuclear weapons and were a “dangerous game for the entire world”. “Why has North Korea chosen this path today which has worried people in East Asia? It is because of threats against North Korea’s existence,” Rouhani said in a speech to his cabinet shown on state television. “Can one joke around with atomic weapons? When a country has obtained an atomic weapon, then the game of threatening them becomes a dangerous game for the entire world,” he added. “We believe this issue must be resolved through negotiations and dialogue.” North Korea conducted a sixth nuclear test at the weekend, saying it was a hydrogen bomb that could be fitted onto a missile, prompting the US to accuse the isolated nation of “begging for war”. Rouhani said US officials needed to tone down their rhetoric. “Leave them be. Don’t threaten North Korea so much, and she will pursue her life and that of her people,” he said.

Erdogan prods Continued from Page 1 he has long signalled that his country has run out of patience with the EU over its languishing accession bid, launched in 2005, and the impasse has been brought into focus by a sharp deterioration in Turkey’s ties with Germany. “I am telling them: Come out and say this bravely and do what is necessary. Bravely,” Erdogan said. “Instead of this courage, there is a two-faced approach to halt the Turkey-EU full membership talks. This is politically unethical.” Germany’s frustrations are focused on the detention of 11 German citizens, four of them with dual citizenship, in Turkey on political charges. Turkey accuses Germany of harbouring plotters behind the 2016 coup attempt. Erdogan on Wednesday reiterated a call on Germany’s voters of Turkish descent not to back “enemies” of Turkey, among whom he has previously named Merkel’s Christian Democrats, the SDP and Greens. He also repeated an accusation, which has infuriated Berlin, that German politics were reverting to the country’s Nazi past. “They get offended by my Nazi comparisons, but you are doing that. I am not calling you Nazis, I am depicting the situation. This situation is Nazism, fascism and you are doing it,” he said. Ahead of the April referendum on boosting his powers, Erdogan repeat-

ference, indicating the chairpersons of parliamentary panels will recommend the staff who will be part of preparations to ensure success of the event. He then conveyed the Eid greetings of Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim to the employees, wishing them success in their endeavors. On the other hand, Al-Kandari called on the staff to cooperate with the Health and Safety Department in implementing the ‘smoking ban’ in the designated parts of the Assembly building. He went on to say the Committees Sector is one of the most important

sectors in the Secretariat General as it deals with lawmakers, affirming all employees are ready to serve the MPs. He urged the employees to work beyond expectations in order to serve the country well, stressing that they are competent and experienced. He said there should be coordination with the Human Resources Sector to inform employees about their outstanding performance rating either through their direct supervisors or the sector itself. He thanked the Union of Workers at the Assembly for serving the interests of employees, as well as cooperating

with the Secretariat General in organizing social and sports activities. Meanwhile, the MPs organized an event at Sabah Al-Ahmad Hall with the theme, “Nation’s Duty to Support Muslims in Rakhine State in Myanmar”. Speaking at the event, MP Adel AlDamkhi pointed out that around 168,000 people have fled from Myanmar since 2012 because of violence. He called on everyone to support the victims of such a humanitarian disaster. MP Jaman Al-Harbash pointed out this event is a manifestation of the As-

sembly’s stand on extending a helping hand to those in need throughout its history. MP Nayef Al-Mirdas urged the government to issue a strong statement, expressing the anger of Kuwaitis over the senseless massacres in Myanmar. MP Hamoud Al-Khodair said the Foreign Affairs Ministry must denounce the massacres in Myanmar, while MP Talal Al-Jalal appealed to Islamic countries and the international community to intervene immediately in order to stop the killing, displacement and injustice suffered by Mus-

lims in Myanmar. He asserted, “What is happening to our Muslim brothers in Myanmar is a crime against humanity. It should not be tolerated; otherwise, it will leave a dark mark on the forehead of the international community which must act quickly to stop the killings.” He also asked the Kuwaiti diplomats to coordinate with Islamic and other countries to come up with a unified international stance which goes beyond denunciation in a bid to stop the killings and provide assistance to the victims.

Kuwait aiming for continued major increases in US-based investments

to protect civilians and civilian objects when attacking a mosque, in violation of international humanitarian law.” A US military investigator said in June the air strike was a valid and legal attack on a meeting of al-Qaeda fighters. “However, the commission however has not found any evidence that such an al-Qaeda meeting was taking place,” Pinheiro said. The American F-15s hit the building adjacent to the prayer hall with 10 bombs, followed by a Reaper drone that fired two Hellfire missiles at people fleeing, the UN report said. “Most of the residents of al-Jina, relatives of victims and first responders interviewed by the Commission stated on that on the evening in question, a religious gathering was being hosted in the mosque’s service building. This was a regular occurrence.” The Syrian army and its allies are, meanwhile, fighting to secure and expand a precarious corridor to their comrades in Deir al-Zor a day after they smashed through Islamic State lines to break the jihadist siege. The army reached Deir al-Zor on Tuesday in a sudden, days-long thrust that followed months of steady advances east across the desert, breaking a siege that had lasted three years. However, Islamic State counterattacks lasted through Tuesday night, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported, as the jihadists tried to repel the army. It points to a tough battle ahead as the army aims to move from breaking the siege to driving Islamic State from its half of the city, the sort of street-by-street warfare in which the jihadists excel. “The next step is to liberate the city,” a non-Syrian commander in the military alliance backing President Bashar al-Assad said. Assad and his allies — Russia, Iran and Shi’ite militias including Hezbollah — will follow the relief of Deir al-Zor with an offensive along the Euphrates valley, the commander said. The Euphrates valley cuts a lush, populous swathe of green about 260 kms (160 miles) long and 10 kms (6 miles) wide through the Syrian desert from Raqqa to the Iraqi border at alBukamal. The area has been Islamic State’s stronghold in Syria but came under attack this year when an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias backed by a US-led coalition besieged and assaulted Raqqa. Rapidly losing territory in both Syria and Iraq, Islamic State is falling back on the Euphrates towns downstream of Deir al-Zor, including al-Mayadin and al-Bukamal, where many expect it to make a last stand. However, the jihadist group specialises in urban combat, using car bombs, mines, tunnels and drones, and has held out against full-scale attack for months in some towns and cities. It still has 6,000-8,000 fighters left in Syria, despite losing 45 percent of its territory in the country since September 2014, the US-led coalition said on Wednesday. Parallel with their thrust towards Deir al-Zor, the Syrian army and its allies have been fighting Islamic State in its last pocket of ground in central Syria, near the town of al-Salamiya on the Homs-Aleppo highway. On Wednesday, army advances gained control of four villages in that area, further tightening the pocket, a military media unit run by Assad’s ally Hezbollah reported. In Raqqa, the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance, backed by the US-led coalition, has taken about 65 percent of the jihadists’ former de facto capital in Syria, it has said. Deir al-Zor lies along the southwest bank of the Euphrates. The government enclave includes the northern half of the city and the Brigade 137 military base to the west. The government also holds an air base and nearby streets, separated from the rest of the enclave by hundreds of metres of IS-held ground and still cut off from the advancing army.

Bond built on shared business, interests: Al-Saleh WASHINGTON, Sept 6, (KUNA): In the last 20 years, the Kuwait Investment Authority’s (KIA) investments in the US have grown by nearly 20 times, and Kuwait hopes to see its US-based investments grow by another 20 folds in the coming two decades, especially in US infrastructure, real estate and real estate development and financing, Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Anas AlSaleh said during opening remarks Wednesday at the first US-Kuwait Economic Forum. “Today, the US is KIA’s most important investment destination, and the largest with over 50 percent of our investments deployed here,” Al-Saleh said during the forum, which was held at the US Chamber of Commerce headquarters. “We have over 400 billion dollars invested in the US economy across all asset classes, industries and sectors.” This amount excludes the substantial investments made by Kuwait’s private sector and private entities, he noted. The “unbreakable bond” between the US and Kuwait “was earned by both sides over decades of hard work by those who preceded us, from policy makers to business professionals” — a bond built on shared business, social, diplomatic and political interests, Al-Saleh said. About a year ago, Kuwait began implementing its National Program for Economic and Fiscal Sustainability, which has a key objective of accelerating the growth of the non-oil economy and empowering the private sector to take the lead, he noted. “In this regard, the government outlined a 25-year national privaedly lashed out at Germany and other European countries, accusing them of “Nazi-like” tactics for banning his ministers from speaking to rallies of Turkish voters abroad. Germany’s foreign ministry has warned its citizens travelling to Turkey that they risk arbitrary detention even in tourist areas, revising its travel advice after a spate of arrests of German citizens that it considers politically motivated. The change in travel advice, issued on Tuesday, marks a new low in relations between the NATO allies and is a blow for the tourist sector, which has already been hit by militant attacks and the fall-out from last year’s failed coup attempt in Turkey. The trigger for the sharpening of the travel advice was the detention at the coastal Antalya airport last week of two Germans, one of whom has since been released. Berlin believes they, like 11 others, were detained for political reasons. “There is a risk of similar detentions in all parts of Turkey, including in tourist regions,” the new advice reads. It falls short of a formal travel

KUNA photo

Minister of Commerce and Industry and State Minister for Youth Affairs Khaled Al-Roudhan Wednesday held a meeting with officials from Chinese Railway Group (CRCC) to discuss various investment opportunities in Kuwait. During the meeting, they also discussed the establishment of direct communication lines for future projects related to construction and design of roads and bridges as well as construction of railways.

tization strategy, with a first-stage priority to privatize infrastructure facilities and projects such as power generation, ports, airports and telecom infrastructure,” he said. “In parallel, we are also working on supporting these initiatives with the necessary legislative framework to create an efficient business environment to attract more foreign investment, and it is working.” Global companies are operating locally in Kuwait through different models, including the PPP model, with companies such as the France-headquartered company, Engie, and the 100 percent direct foreign ownership model, such as MacKenzie and GE, Al-Saleh said. Kuwait recently launched a “onestop shop” for foreign investors and companies who wish to establish 100 percent-owned entities in Kuwait, he said. The Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA) was recognized by the US State Department in its 2017 report titled “Investment Climate in Kuwait,” he noted. “This recognition is a direct result of our significant efforts in promot-

ing and encouraging inward investments by making the domestic environment more business friendly,” Al-Saleh said. “Today IBM, HUAWEI, GE, MacKenzie and many more all have 100 percent-owned licenses and operations in the country, with free transfer of capital and earnings, all tax-free,” Al-Saleh said. US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, in his opening remarks, noted the “strong military-to-military partnership and strong trade ties” between the US and Kuwait, including one of “the most important security relationships” in the world. Merchandise trade between the countries is on track to set a new record this year, he said, and the countries plan to sign a direct investments agreement on Friday. The KDIPA has been working to improve the investment climate in Kuwait, Ross said, adding, “We are pleased to partner with them.” “The Kuwait government continues to have a healthy budget and maintains a strong fiscal position,” Ross said. The Kuwait government is working

Kuwait says its detained citizen in Turkey set free ANKARA, Sept 6, (KUNA): Turkish authorities have released Kuwaiti citizen Abdullah Al-Shatti after he was arrested, under the proviso that he would remain in the country, Kuwait’s embassy in Turkey said on Wednesday. A statement issued by the Kuwaiti mission attributed Al-Shatti’s release to the efforts of the Kuwaiti foreign ministry, which it said was the only warning, issued for war-afflicted countries like Afghanistan, Iraq or Yemen, which would make obtaining travel insurance harder. “We can’t take from tourists the decision whether to travel or not,” Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said. “But we have described in detail what you should be aware of before you go.”

reputable source for all information on Kuwaiti nationals abroad. Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti embassy thanked the Turkish government for its “concern and understanding”. It also called on Kuwaitis in Turkey to remain alert and abide by the country’s laws to avoid any legal trouble, providing a hotline of (00905331648479) in case of any emergencies. Large numbers of European citizens have been caught up in the crackdown following last year’s failed coup against Erdogan, in the wake of which tens of thousands of Turks have been imprisoned on “terrorism” charges. Critics say the crackdown amounts to an undiscriminating purge of Erdogan’s opponents.

to streamline registration and licensing procedures for new businesses, and the immediate outlook for the Kuwait economy is strong, but it is important for Kuwait to diversify, he added. Ross said he would encourage Kuwait to ratify the World Trade Organization trade facilitation agreement. Osamah Al-Nisf, from the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said during his opening remarks that when the Amir of Kuwait, H.H. Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, meets with US President Donald Trump on Thursday, “the economic cooperation between our two countries will remain a clear priority.” The Kuwaiti private sector “looks with satisfaction and confidence toward the diversification, privatization and reform plan,” Al-Nisf said. For three decades or more, the US has ranged among the top three of Kuwait’s trading partners, and has been the first and most important destination for Kuwait’s public and private investments, he said. The US “will remain the primary haven for Kuwaiti foreign investments” so that “Kuwait will become your first gateway to the Gulf area and beyond,” Al-Nisf said. The turnout to the forum was huge from the American private sector as there was as well a very positive interaction from their part wanting to know more about the investment opportunities in Kuwait. For their part, several of the American private sector representatives praised the measures and amendments taken by the Kuwaiti government to encourage the foreign investor to enter the Kuwaiti market, in particular the “One Window” project recently launched by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The US Chamber of Commerce and the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority hosted the first of its kind US-Kuwait Economic Forum, which includes panel discussions focusing on “Insights from Kuwaiti Government Leaders” and “Doing Business in Kuwait.”

Syria accused Continued from Page 1 The attack led US President Donald Trump to launch the first US air strikes on a Syrian air base. A separate joint inquiry by the United Nations and OPCW aims to report by October on who was to blame for Khan Sheikhoun. The UN investigators interviewed 43 witnesses, victims, and first responders linked to the attack. Satellite imagery, photos of bomb remnants and early warning reports were used. The independent investigators said they were gravely concerned about the impact of international coalition strikes on civilians. “We continue to investigate coalition air strikes carried out to expel ISIS from Raqqa resulting in an increasing number of civilian casualties,” Pinheiro said. The report said: “In al-Jina, Aleppo, forces of the United States of America failed to take all feasible precautions

Newswatch Continued from Page 1 ended with the evacuation of Islamic State militants and their families to eastern Syria under a Hezbollah-brokered deal. Syria’s government and Lebanon’s Hezbollah allowed a convoy of about 300 lightly armed fighters and 300 relatives to evacuate, surrendering their border enclave. As part of the agreement, IS militants identified where they had buried the soldiers, Lebanon’s army chief said. DNA tests confirmed that all 10 bodies found in the mountainous border region were Lebanese soldiers, security sources and local media said on Wednesday. Islamic State had held territory along the border for years, and took Lebanese troops captive in 2014 when they briefly overran the town of Arsal with other militants, one of the worst spillovers of the Syrian conflict into Lebanon. Lebanese Justice Minister Salim Jrayssati said a military court would look into whether any civil or military authorities played a role in their capture. President Michel Aoun

called for an investigation last week. At a conference on Wednesday, the families of the soldiers demanded an inquiry to punish anyone who led to the deaths during the fighting and negotiations since 2014. For three years, they had protested in the streets and met with many government officials to find out the fate of their relatives. “There is immense and deep sadness in our hearts. But in our minds, there is pride and dignity,” Hussein Youssef, the father of a soldier, said at the government headquarters in Beirut. Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri declared Friday a national day of mourning after meeting with the families. “They were martyred defending this country,” said Nizam Mougheit, whose brother died in Islamic State captivity. “Anyone who had a hand in their martyrdom should be held accountable, whoever it is.” (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ COPENHAGEN: The husband of Queen Margrethe is suffering from dementia, the Danish royal household said Wednesday.

The palace said the 83-year-old Frenchborn Prince Henrik had undergone a medical examination at Copenhagen’s university hospital. Doctors concluded “the extent of the cognitive failure is greater than expected” for the prince, it said, adding this can lead to changes in behavior, reactions, judgment and emotions. Henrik last month caused a stir by saying he won’t be buried next to the monarch in a specially designed sarcophagus. Margrethe, 77, said she had accepted Henrik’s decision, adding it didn’t change her burial plans. Henrik said he wanted to be buried in Denmark, but didn’t say where. The prince, who retired from public life last year, has long complained that he did not become king instead of his wife when she acceded to the throne in 1972. A change in the Danish Constitution 19 years earlier had allowed female succession. Even before that, Henrik wouldn’t have become king. Following the dementia diagnosis, the prince will further downgrade his activities in the future, the palace said. (AP)

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

LOCAL

7

Court Cases/Crime Blogger jailed

Court ‘acquits’ citizen in kidnap, rape at gunpoint By Jaber Al-Hamoud Al-Seyassah Staff and Agencies

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: The Criminal Court acquitted a Kuwaiti citizen who was accused of kidnapping, raping and taking photos of a compatriot at gunpoint. The Public Prosecution had charged the suspect of tricking the victim into accompanying him to his uncle’s house but instead taking the victim to a deserted area with the aim of raping him. The defense counsel Lawyer Zaid Al-Khabbaz stressed the lack of incriminating evidences against his client, urging for the acquittal of his client. Meanwhile, the Misdemeanor Al-Khabbaz Court has sentenced infamous Twitter user ‘@ Kibret1’ to three months in jail with hard labor for offending National Assembly Speaker Mazrouq Al-Ghanim. The Public Prosecution filed defamation charges against the Twitter user as his posts on the microblogging site were deemed offensive and punishable as per the law. On the other hand, the Court of Appeals presided over by Judge Nasser Salem postponed until Jan 3, 2018 the hearing on case against activist Ranaa Al-Saadoun. The activist was accused of repeating the speech of former MP Musallam Al-Barrak entitled, “Enough with Frivolity,” at Erada Square. The Criminal Court overturned the decision sentencing the accused in absentia to one year in prison with hard labor. It then refrained from issuing its verdict and ordered the accused to pay KD 1,000 as guarantee for maintaining good conduct. ❑ ❑ ❑ Wallet snatched: Police are looking for a Syrian who reportedly took advantage of the kindness of a Kuwaiti and escaped with his wallet, reports Al-Rai daily. This happened when the Kuwaiti was sitting in his car in Fahaheel wait-

ing for his food which he had ordered from a restaurant. A young Syrian approached him eyes filled with tears. The Syrian claimed he had not eaten anything for 2 days and asked the Kuwaiti for a dinar to buy a meal. The Kuwaiti, taking pity on the young boy, opened his wallet and the suspect who was watching him closely, snatched the wallet and escaped on foot and within seconds disappeared out of sight. The Kuwait then drove to the Fahaheel Police Station and filed a complaint. The wallet contained his civil ID, driver’s licence, bank credit cards including the Visa Card and about KD 100. ❑ ❑ ❑ Pickpocket at work: The wallet of an Egyptian expatriate was taken by an unknown pickpocket from the back pocket of his trousers at Nugra Clinic, reports Al-Anba daily. He reported the theft at Nugra Police Station, explaining to securitymen that the pickpocket took his wallet following a gentle shove such that the victim did not realize that his wallet was taken until he was asked to provide his civil ID. He revealed that the wallet contained his civil ID, Kuwaiti driving license, Saudi driving license, two bank credit cards, cash KD 150 and EGP 50. A theft case was filed and referred to the concerned authorities to launch investigations for finding the thief. ❑ ❑ ❑ Drugs with expat: An Egyptian expatriate was arrested in possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia, reports Al-Nahar daily. Farwaniya securitymen were on routine patrol when they suspected a vehicle after the driver sped as soon as he noticed the patrol vehicle. Securitymen chased him and eventually forced him to stop. They checked him to find drugs and drug paraphernalia. He was arrested and referred with the confiscated items to the concerned authorities. Meanwhile, Hawally securitymen arrested a drunk Kuwaiti citizen who was in possession of a bottle of liquor at a checkpoint in Salmiya area. He was referred to the concerned authorities.

News in Brief Graduation event: Kuwait National Guard held a graduation ceremony recently for personnel who participated in its equipment operation courses in the presence of Commandant of Protection and Reinforcement Brigadier Hamad Ahmad and other senior officers. Brigadier Ahmad delivered goodwill message from the highest authority, Chief of National Guard His Highness Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah, Deputy Chief of National Guard Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and the Undersecretary of National Guard Lieutenant General Engineer Hashim Al-Refae, urging them to sustain the technical and specialized training to enhance their level of readiness to fight and perform assignments diligently.







Officers honored: Assistant Undersecretary for Border Security Affairs at Ministry of Interior Major General Mansour Al-Awadhi honored a number of non-commissioned officers and border-security officers by awarding them with service medals and certificates of appreciation based on directives from His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The officers were honored for their distinguished military duties and their loyalty.







Monkey on loose: The Operations Room of the Farwaniya Security Command received several complaints

from the inhabitants of Sabah Al-Salem concerning a monkey loitering about the vicinity and breaking into houses, reports Al-Shahed daily. Securitymen captured and handed over the monkey to the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources to be given necessary care after a citizen notified the sector he did manage to lock it up in a room.







Traffic held up: A heavy vehicle loaded with gravel toppled and overturned on Wafra Road Kilo mark 4, bringing the traffic movement on the road to a standstill for about two hours before the trailer was removed from the road, reports Al-Nahar daily. Traffic men immediately rushed to the location after receiving information about the accident. They removed the heavy vehicle from the road before clearing the gravel from the road and returning traffic to normalcy.







Social media victim: Police have arrested three persons for robbing a GCC citizen — his money and car, reports Al-Shahed daily. A security source said the arrest came after the victim filed a complaint with the Kabd Police Station. He told police he befriended a woman while chatting on the social media and the woman showed her willingness to meet him when he arrived in Kuwait.

Warnings issued as singles found living in family homes Municipality launches multiple campaigns to end ‘chaos’ KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: The Public R e l a t i o n s Department of Kuwait Municipality revealed that the Department for Lifting of Violations at Capital Municipality launched a campaign in Sharq, Qibla, Mubarakiya and Shuwaikh Industrial areas which resulted in the confiscation and destruction of 20 kilograms of spoiled food items. Issuance of 29 citations including 17 food-related citations, removal of 12 violating advertisements, issuance of warnings against occupation of state properties, and removal of 70 barriers and 50 kilograms of chains that are used for reserving parking spots, reports Al-Anba daily. Meanwhile, the department revealed that emergency teams from Farwaniya Municipality carried out a field tour targeting bachelors living in residential houses in Khaitan area and discovered 20 violating buildings. Warnings were issued against the owners of the violating buildings, asking them to evacuate the bachelors. Acting head of the emergency team Hussain Dashti said the campaigns also resulted in the issuance of 27 food-related citations, removal of illegal advertisements and issuance of seven warnings against those who have illegally occupied state properties. Furthermore, the Public Relations Department of Kuwait Municipality indicated that the Department of Public Hygiene and Road Occupancy at Mubarak Al-Kabeer Municipality carried out a field tour during which 1,750 cubic meters of garbage were lifted from the yards of mosques and main streets. Also, 100 old garbage bins were replaced by new ones and eight neglected vehicles were lifted. In addition, the department stated that the Department of Public Hygiene and Road Occupancy at Hawally Municipality carried out a campaign which resulted in the lifting of 57 tons of waste, ruins and trees. The campaign also included cleaning 33 inner roads and 45 main roads, lifting of 14 neglected vehicles and those displayed for sale, replacing of 86 garbage containers, cleaning nine school yards, removal of 25 violating advertisements, arrest of five beggars and lifting of five tons of waste from Salwa Slaughterhouse. Also, the Public Relations Department of Kuwait Municipality stressed that the emergency team of Ahmadi Municipality carried out a campaign which resulted in the removal of 87 violating advertisements and issuance of 13 citations. ❑ ❑ ❑ Toys shops fined: The emergency team of Al-Siddiq Commercial Zone in the Consumer Protection Sector of Ministry of Commerce and Industry has imposed fines on six shops that sell children’s toys in Sharq area due to various violations such as price manipulation, selling higher than the declared and advertised price in addition to selling toys with obscene and immoral images, reports Al-Anba daily. Head of the team Hamid Al-Dhufairi explained that the violations included existence of two different prices on one commodity. For instance, the first price was KD 3.950 while the second was KD 4.950. This is a difference of KD 1 in the declared price, which is against the law. The irregularities also included the existence of children’s toys that violate specifications, as there are no warnings on them. Some toys did not have prices mentioned on them while some toys kept on display had obscene and immoral pictures on them.

KFSD photo

Fire broke out on the fourth floor of a skyscraper in Capital area. No injuries were reported. According to a press release issued by Kuwait Fire Service Directorate (KFSD), when the Control Room of KFSD received information about the fire, firefighters, securitymen and paramedics were sent to the location and they reached within four minutes. They exerted tremendous efforts to control the fire and avoid it from spreading further. Investigations have been launched to determine the cause of the fire.

2 held with liquor KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Two Asian expatriates were arrested in Khaitan area in possession of 38 bottles of locally manufactured liquor, says Al-Seyassah. According to security sources, Farwaniya securitymen were patrolling Khaitan area when they noticed the two suspects carrying some cartons. They stopped them and checked the cartons to discover they contained liquor bottles. The two suspects were arrested and referred to the concerned authorities for necessary legal measures.

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

INTERNATIONAL

8

World News Roundup Immigration Dreamers vow to fight

Migrant amnesty repeal wrong & cruel: Obama WASHINGTON, Sept 6, (Agencies): Former US president Barack Obama decried his successor’s decision to end an amnesty for 800,000 people brought to America illegally as children, describing it as “wrong”, “self-defeating” and “cruel”. In a rare re-entry onto the political stage, Obama used a Facebook post to slam Trump’s decision and call on Congress to step in. “To target these young people is wrong — because they have done nothing wrong,” he wrote. “It is self-defeating — because they want to start new businesses, staff our labs, serve in our military, and otherwise contribute to the country we love. And it is cruel.” “What if our kid’s science teacher, or our friendly neighbor turns out to be a Dreamer? Where are we supposed to send her? To a country she doesn’t know or remember, with a language she may not even speak?” Obama, who is currently finishing his memoirs, had vowed before leaving office that he would speak up if Trump moved to unravel the amnesty introduced in 2012 — during the ex-president’s first term. Obama Trump has argued that the policy was legally flawed, and that he must put nativeborn Americans first. Obama rubbished that suggestion. “Let’s be clear: the action taken today isn’t required legally. It’s a political decision, and a moral question.” “Whatever concerns or complaints Americans may have about immigration in general, we shouldn’t threaten the future of this group of young people who are here through no fault of their own, who pose no threat, who are not taking away anything from the rest of us.” “It’s up to Members of Congress to protect these young people and our future.”

Kenia Morales cries as she listens during an event to protest President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on Sept 5, in Las Vegas. Trump began dismantling the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, the government program protecting hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children. (AP)

Hurricane Trump authorizes fund ahead of Irma

Illegally Several US states and immigrant advocacy groups vowed on Tuesday to fight Trump’s decision to end a program that protects people brought illegally to the United States as children from deportation. But legal experts said the challenges will face an uphill battle. Democratic state attorneys general in California, New York, Washington and Massachusetts said they will sue to defend the Obama-era policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and the immigrants known as Dreamers. “We are going to court to defend DACA and to fight for these Dreamers,” said Massachusetts AttorneyGeneral Maura Healy. The states have not said what their legal claims will be. Whatever lawsuit the Democratic states file, winning will not be easy, said Jonathan Adler, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University College of Law. “DACA did not create any legally enforceable rights, and certainly did not create any right to indefinite presence in the country,” he said. One immigrant group, the National Immigration Law Center, has already filed court papers seeking to block the Trump administration’s action by amending an existing lawsuit pending in New York. The case was filed last year on behalf of DACA recipient Martin Batalla Vidal, an immigrant from Mexico who came to the United States when he was 7. It originally contested a ruling enjoining a program of former president Barack Obama that offered protection to undocumented parents of US citizen children. In the new filing, Vidal’s lawyers outlined a twoprong challenge to Trump’s DACA action. One claim was that the move violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act, a law requiring government agencies to follow set processes when making major policy changes. Batalla Vidal’s lawyers said Trump’s announcement was an “abrupt policy shift” affecting nearly 800,000 program participants who had assumed the protections would remain in place. Trump promised during his presidential campaign to dismantle DACA but since taking office in January has taken a softer tone. The lawyers noted that he told DACA recipients he would “take care” of them. The filing also asserts that the new policy is discriminatory and was “substantially motivated by the animus of the president and his administration toward Latinos and Mexicans.” Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration law professor at Cornell Law School, said any litigation against Trump’s action will face multiple obstacles. Immigrants also are vowing to fight to stay in the US and advocates are launching campaigns including fundraisers and registration drives after the Trump administration announced it would dismantle a program that protected hundreds of thousands of young people from deportation.

Families Immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children or whose families overstayed visas said they are veterans of setbacks in the political arena. They added that they are also accustomed to being persistent, and they pledge to do the same in this situation. Opponents of the program said they are pleased with the Trump administration’s decision. They called DACA an unconstitutional abuse of executive power. Attorney-General Jeff Sessions, who made Tuesday’s announcement, said DACA was an overreach that could not be defended by the Justice Department. The Trump administration and other DACA opponents argue that it is up to Congress to decide how to deal with such immigrants. Activists and immigrants have already launched efforts to fight the decision. A group that supports the program in Arizona is using a community summit this weekend to hold a session on DACA and reapplying. Another is holding an information session Wednesday on the program. Maxima Guerrero, a leadership development coordinator for the Phoenix-based advocacy group Aliento, said her organization is considering creating a fundraising campaign to help DACA recipients renew before the October deadline. “A lot of it right now is just kind of like first, taking the time to reflect on what the decision means, and what is happening. Making sure that people who are able to renew will have the support to do so,” Guerrero said. Guerrero, who is enrolled in the program, said advocates will also focus on providing emotional support during what many consider an emotionally taxing time.

House OKs $7.9b Harvey aid bill Stan Glass, of St Petersburg, fills four 5-gallon fuel tanks with gasoline for his boat should he have to evacuate by boat as residents in the area prepare ahead of Hurricane Irma on Sept 5, in St Petersburg, Florida. (AFP)

Trump

McCain

America Trump to pitch tax overhaul: US President Donald Trump was promoting his tax overhaul pitch on a visit Wednesday to North Dakota. On Twitter Wednesday, Trump says he’ll “discuss tax reform and tax cuts.” He adds: “we are the highest taxed nation in the world — that will change.” The president, who has offered few specifics on the plan, met with Republican congressional leaders Tuesday to discuss the tax efforts. Trump and congressional Republicans say they want to simplify the tax code, lowering the rate for corporations from the current 15-35 percent range, and bringing relief for the middle class. At an event near Bismarck, Trump is expected to promote the plan as an opportunity for bipartisanship. He’ll be joined by North Dakota’s Democratic senator, Heidi Heitkamp, who’s traveling with Trump on Air Force One. The overall US tax burden is actually one of the lowest among the 32 developed and large emerging-market economies tracked by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Taxes made up 26.4 percent of the total US economy in 2015, according to the OECD. That’s far below Denmark’s tax burden of 46.6 percent, Britain’s 32.5 percent or Germany’s 36.9 percent. Just four OECD countries had a lower tax bite than the US, South Korea, Ireland, Chile and Mexico. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

WASHINGTON, Sept 6, (Agencies): The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed $7.9 billion in Hurricane Harvey disaster relief as warring Republicans and Democrats united behind help for victims of that storm as an ever more powerful new hurricane bore down on Florida. The 419-3 vote sent the aid package — likely the first of several — to the Senate in hopes of sending the bill to President Donald Trump before dwindling federal disaster reserves run out at the end of this week. “Help is on the way,” said Texas GOP Rep John Culberson, whose Houston district was slammed by the storm. “The scale of the tragedy is unimaginable. But in the midst of all this, and all the suffering, it really reflects the American character, how people from all over the country stepped up to help Houstonians recover from this.” The first installment in Harvey aid is to handle the immediate emergency needs and replenish Federal Emergency Management Agency reserves in advance of Hurricane Irma, which is barreling through the Caribbean toward Florida. “This is a chance to be your brother’s keeper,” said Houston Democratic Rep. Al Green. “This is chance for the unity that we express when we’re before the cameras to manifest itself in the votes that we cast here in Congress.” Far more money will be needed once more complete estimates are in this fall, and Harvey could end up exceeding the $110 billion government cost of Hurricane Katrina. “My friends and neighbors’ homes were completely flattened by Hurricane Harvey’s winds. Businesses were destroyed,” said Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas. “FEMA will be out of money in just two or three days if we don’t pass this.” Politics quickly intruded as Democratic leaders insisted they would back the measure in the Senate only if it were linked to a short-term increase in the nation’s borrowing limit, not the longer-term hike that Republicans and the Trump administration want. And some Democrats from the New York delegation reminded Texas Rewhen Republicans and Democrats need to work together. McCain said he backs legislation to put so-called “Dreamers” on a path to US citizenship, but wants the measure to be part of a comprehensive immigration reform

publicans that they opposed a larger aid bill for those harmed by Superstorm Sandy in the Northeast five years ago. “What you did to us during Superstorm Sandy should not stand, should not be done to any other people, anyplace in the country,” said Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. “We’re one country, we’re Americans. We need to help those who need help.” In the Senate, GOP leaders want to link a long-term increase in the debt limit — until 2019 — to the Harvey aid, but that plan faces opposition from conservatives and thus will need Democratic votes. “I think it’s a terrible idea,” said House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who conceded that conservatives were getting outmaneuvered.

Focus “I think at this point there are bigger issues that we have to focus on,” Meadows said. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York want to retain Democratic influence and trying to ensure the Republican-controlled Congress addresses health care and immigration as the hectic fall agenda kicks off. “Given Republican difficulty in finding the votes for their plan, we believe this proposal offers a bipartisan path forward to ensure prompt delivery of Harvey aid as well as avoiding a default, while both sides work together to address government funding, DREAMERS, and health care,” Pelosi and Schumer wrote. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said again Wednesday that increased Harvey costs show the importance of acting swiftly to increase the government’s debt cap to make sure there’s enough borrowed cash to pay out the surge in disaster aid. Analysts at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank, say Harvey aid wouldn’t cause a cash crunch for weeks. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump declared states of emergency in Florida, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands package. (AP) ❑





House subpoenas Justice, FBI: The House Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed the Justice Department and the

McCain returns to Senate: Sen John McCain declared himself ready for a rigorous Washington schedule after he returned to the Capitol following weeks-long treatment in his home state for brain cancer. “I feel fine,” the six-term Arizona Republican said Tuesday as his Senate colleagues welcomed him — with hugs, pats on the shoulder or a simple handshake. McCain, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he’ll begin shepherding the annual defense policy bill through the Senate next week. The legislation is seeking $700 billion for the Pentagon in the 2018 budget year. Lawmakers are first taking up legislation to speed relief aid to Texas and Louisiana in the wake of the Harvey storm. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in remarks at the start of the Senate session, says lawmakers are “glad to have him back with us.” During a vote, McCain walked around the Senate floor, cheerfully chatting with some lawmakers. Earlier Tuesday, McCain declared President Donald Trump’s decision to phase out an Obama administration program that has protected hundreds of thousands of young immigrants “the wrong approach” at a time

US Sen Robert Menendez (D-NJ) arrives at federal court for his trial on corruption charges accompanied by son Robert Jr, and daughter Alicia Menendez on Sept 6, in Newark, New Jersey. The senator is accused of accepting bribes in regard to his relationship with campaign donor Salomon Melgen, a Floridabased ophthalmologist. (AFP)

on Tuesday ahead of potentially devastating Hurricane Irma’s strike. The move allows federal assistance funds to be deployed so that authorities can better handle emergencies in their areas. The storm, packing winds of 185 miles (300 kms) per hour, is considered potentially catastrophic for Puerto Rico — a commonwealth of 3.5 million US citizens — the tiny US Virgin Islands (100,000) and Florida, population 21 million. Trump’s declaration “authorizes the Department of Homeland Security (and) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate all disaster relief efforts,” a White House statement read. “This action will help alleviate the hardship and suffering that the emergency may inflict on the local population, and provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures.” Monster Hurricane Irma slammed across islands in the northern Caribbean on Wednesday, packing a potentially catastrophic mix of pounding winds, raging surf and rain en route to a possible Florida landfall at the weekend. Irma is expected to become the second powerful storm to thrash the US mainland in as many weeks but its precise trajectory was uncertain. Hurricane Harvey killed more than 60 people and caused as much as $180 billion in damage after hitting Texas late last month. The eye of Irma, a Category 5 storm with winds of 185 miles per hour (295 km per hour), passed over the island of St Martin, east of the US territory of Puerto Rico, on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said. Category 5 is its highest category. In Puerto Rico’s capital of San Juan, a handful of people stood on the windwhipped shore of a beachfront park on Wednesday morning to take a last look at the ocean before seeking shelter. “I am worried. This is going to be a huge storm, bigger than I have ever seen,” said Angelica Flecha, 45. She has stocked her second-floor home with food and water and put metal storm shutters on the windows, but was worried about a storm surge on the island, which is under a hurricane warning. FBI for documents related to a dossier of salacious allegations involving President Donald Trump and possible ties to Russia. In a Sept 1 letter to the Justice Department obtained by The Associated Press, the committee wrote that it had served subpoenas on Aug 24 to the department and the FBI for documents related to the panel’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The department and the agency had missed the original Sept 1 deadline, so the panel extended the deadline to Sept 14. The letter is signed by committee chairman Devin Nunes, R-California, who stepped back from the Russia investigation earlier this year after he was criticized for being too close to the White House. Rep Mike Conaway, R-Texas, took over the leading role, but his name does not appear on the letter. As chairman, Nunes retains subpoena power in the committee. According to the letter, the original subpoenas requested any documents related to the dossier and sought information about whether the department was involved in its production. If the documents are not produced, the committee is seeking to compel AttorneyGeneral Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray to testify in an open hearing. The panel issued two additional subpoenas to Sessions and Wray late Tuesday to underscore its seriousness on the matter. (AP)

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

INTERNATIONAL

9

Tech ‘Re-examine Intel anti-trust fine’

Hackers targeting US, Europe energy sector WASHINGTON, Sept 6, (Agencies): Advanced hackers have targeted United States and European energy companies in a cyber espionage campaign that has in some cases successfully broken into the core systems that control the companies’ operations, according to researchers at the security firm Symantec. Malicious email campaigns have been used to gain entry into organizations in the United States, Turkey and Switzerland, and likely other countries well, Symantec said in a report published on Wednesday. The cyber attacks, which began in late 2015 but increased in frequency in April of this year, are probably the work of a foreign government and bear the hallmarks of a hacking group known as Dragonfly, Eric Chien, a cyber security researcher at Symantec, said in an interview. The research adds to concerns that industrial firms, including power providers and other utilities, are susceptible to cyber attacks that could be leveraged for destructive purposes in the event of a major geopolitical conflict. In June the U.S. government warned industrial firms about a hacking campaign targeting the nuclear and energy sectors, saying in an alert seen by Reuters Chien that hackers sent phishing emails to harvest credentials in order to gain access to targeted networks. Chien said he believed that alert likely referenced the same campaign Symantec has been tracking. He said dozens of companies had been targeted and that a handful of them, including in the United States, had been compromised on the operational level. That level of access meant that motivation was “the only step left” preventing “sabotage of the power grid,” Chien said. However, other researchers cast some doubt on the findings. While concerning, the attacks were “far from the level of being able to turn off the lights, so there’s no alarmism needed,” said Robert M. Lee, founder of U.S. critical infrastructure security firm Dragos Inc, who read the report. Lee called the connection to Dragonfly “loose.” Dragonfly was previously active from around to 2011 to 2014, when it appeared to go dormant after several cyber firms published research exposing its attacks. The group, also known as Energetic Bear or Koala, was widely believed by security experts to be tied to the Russian government. Symantec did not name Russia in its report but noted that the attackers used code strings that were in Russian. Other code used French, Symantec said, suggesting the attackers may be attempting to make it more difficult to identify them. ❑ ❑ ❑ Europe court backs fired employee: Europe’s top rights court on Tuesday restricted the ability of employers to snoop on their staff’s private messages, in a landmark ruling with wide ramifications for privacy in the workplace. The highest body of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in favour of a 38-year-old Romanian man who claimed his rights had been violated when he was sacked in 2007 for sending private chat messages in the office. Bogdan Mihai Barbulescu has fought a 10-year legal battle through Romanian and European courts, claiming his privacy was infringed when his employer accessed intimate exchanges with his fiancee and brother. In a first ruling in January last year, the ECHR found that the snooping was allowed because employers were justified in wanting to verify “that employees were completing their professional tasks during working hours”. But in a review, the 17 most senior judges at the court based in Strasbourg, France, found Tuesday that Romanian courts “had not adequately protected Mr Barbulescu’s right to respect for his private life and correspondence”. In a written judgement, backed by 11 votes to six, they found that previous court rulings had “failed to strike a fair balance between the interests at stake”, namely the company’s right to check on employees and employees’ right to privacy. The judges also found that “an employer’s instructions could not reduce private social life in the workplace to zero”, meaning that some use of the internet at work for personal reasons was justified. The ruling will become law in the 47 countries that have ratified the European Convention on Human Rights, meaning some members will have to adjust their national legislation. Barbulescu’s lawyer Emeric Domokos-Hancu said the ruling was a “ray of light” for his client. “In reality, it represents much more — the fact that man’s private life does not stop at the door to his workplace,” he added. The case revolved around messages sent in 2007 by Barbulescu over the Yahoo messaging platform, which the software engineer was required to use by his bosses to liaise with clients. He was sacked after his employer accused him of using company resources for personal reasons, which violated company policy, and produced 45 pages of his private messages to his fiancee and brother as proof. ❑ ❑ ❑ EU court orders fine re-examination: The EU’s top court on Wednesday ordered a lower court to reconsider its rejection of an appeal by US chip giant Intel against one of the EU’s biggest-ever fines for breaking competition rules. The decision by the European Court of Justice keeps alive one of the longest running EU competition court cases in history that could have a huge impact in similar cases against Google and chipmaker Qualcomm. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, in 2009 slapped a then record fine of 1.06 billion euros ($1.16 billion) on Intel after it said the company had offered clients price rebates to use its own computer chips in preference to rival AMD. Intel then appealed to the General Court, second only to the European Court of Justice, but lost the case in 2014. “The Court refers the case back to the General Court so that it may examine, in the light of the arguments put forward by Intel, whether the rebates at issue are capable of restricting competition,” the court said in a statement. A final decision in favour on Intel would hand a rare defeat to the European Commission that has not lost a major anti-trust case in decades. Sources close to the case said that the decision was a setback for the commission, which will now be required to provide more thorough arguments in similar cases, including ongoing litigation with Google over its Android mobile phone operating system.

Britain’s Prince Harry meets with families affected by the Grenfell Tower apartment fire during a visit to the Support4Grenfell Community Hub in London on Sept 5. (AP)

Princes William, Harry meet survivors of Grenfell fire Princes William and Harry have offered comfort to the survivors of the west London fire that killed at least 80 people. The royal brothers met Tuesday with former Grenfell Tower residents during a visit to a center offering psychologi-

cal support to survivors of the June 14 blaze. Prince Harry urged them to “be there for each other,” noting that some will be reticent to discuss their experiences. The brothers, who have made men-

tal health one of their priority causes, toured the Support4Grenfell community hub, which is near the charred tower’s remains. Prince William’s wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, had intended to accom-

pany them, but cancelled amid severe morning sickness from her third pregnancy. As William apologized for her absence, one volunteer chimed, “She’s got a good excuse.” (AP)

Britain Britain could still reverse Brexit: Heseltine

UK eyes EU migration curbs Demonstrators hold placards as they participate in a protest, organised by nurses, against the British government’s pay cap on public sector workers, outside of the Houses of Parliament in central London on Sept 6. The pay cap affects all workers in the public sector, including NHS staff. (AFP)

Britain Britain rejects Irish call: Britain on Tuesday rejected an Irish demand for a role in running Northern Ireland if parties there fail to revive a devolved power-sharing government, as unionists said concessions would lead to ‘grave consequences” for Theresa May’s government. The 1998 peace deal that ended 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland between Irish nationalists and pro-British unionists provides for a consultative role for the Irish government in the running of the British region. Since January Irish nationalists Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) have failed to reach agreement on re-establishing the devolved administration. The British government has warned it may soon have to step in to rule the province directly for the first time in a decade. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney on Tuesday told journalists in Belfast that if talks to form a power-sharing government failed “there can be no British-only direct rule,” adding that this was Irish government policy. He did not say what kind of role he expected for the Irish government and said he was still hopeful devolved power-sharing could be rescued. In an apparent rebuff to Coveney, a British government spokesman said in a statement that London would “never countenance any arrangement, such as Joint Authority, inconsistent with the principle of consent in the (Good Friday) Agreement.” “In the absence of devolved government, it is ultimately for the United Kingdom Government to provide the certainty over delivery of public services and good governance in Northern Ireland, as part of the United Kingdom,” the statement said. DUP lawmaker Jeffrey Donaldson, whose party Prime Minister Theresa May’s minority government depends on to survive, warned that his party would not accept any concessions to Dublin. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ Britain to buy 5 new frigates: Britain will buy five new frigates as part of a new shipbuilding strategy aimed at boosting the navy and exports following decades of decline in the sector, the defence ministry said on Wednesday. Each of the first batch of ships will cost no more than £250 million and will be built in Britain, the government said. The first ships are planned to enter service by 2023. “Backed up by a commitment to spend billions on new ships, our plan will help boost jobs, skills, and growth in shipyards and the supply chain across the UK,” Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said in

LONDON, Sept 6, (RTRS): Britain is considering measures to restrict immigration for all but the highest-skilled EU workers, a leaked government document said, plans some companies called alarming and an opposition lawmaker described as “plainly cruel”. Large flows of migrants from the European Union were one of the reasons some Britons said they voted to leave the bloc in a referendum last year, with one of the Brexit campaign’s main slogans saying Britain should “take back control”. But companies, especially those in the catering, social care and retail industries which depend on the steady stream of workers from abroad, say they fear a restrictive immigration policy after Britain leaves the EU will leave them unable to hire the staff they need. In the document, leaked to the Guardian newspaper and marked ‘draft — official sensitive’, the interior ministry said Britain was changing its focus to make sure, where possible, British companies take on British workers rather than migrants. “Put plainly, this means that, to be considered valuable to the country as a whole, immigration should benefit not just the migrants themselves but also make existing residents better off,” the document said. A government spokesman said the government did not comment on leaked draft documents. “We will be setting out our initial proposals for a new immigration system which takes back control of the UK’s borders later in the Autumn,” he said.

Control The government has also said it would listen to the results of a yearlong study it commissioned in July from the Migration Advisory Committee to look at the impact of migration and how best to control it after Brexit. Some of the measures are in keeping with earlier statements from interior minister Amber Rudd, who has said that Britain would have to work out a balance between the numbers needed by companies and a level which does not put pressure on public services, such as hospitals and schools. That message was reinforced by Defence Secretary Michael Fallon on Wednesday, when he said the government would pursue a balanced immigration policy. The document described the proposals as “a platform for discussion”

a statement. Fallon added that the new ships would be used for growing Britain’s navy while also having export potential for other countries. The defence ministry said it aimed to grow the Royal Navy fleet by the 2030s. The move to invest more in shipbuilding comes after closures and job cuts in many major centres. BAE Systems closed its yard in Portsmouth in 2014, and the sector comprises just 0.1 percent of GDP.

and the Guardian said it had not been agreed with Prime Minister Theresa May’s top team of ministers, who are divided as the best way to control immigration. It proposes that while highly-skilled workers could get a work permit lasting three to five years, lower skilled workers may only be allowed to work in Britain for two years to limit the number “of EU citizens able to come to the UK”. The changes would be introduced over time, and the government could place tough new restrictions on EU citizens’ rights to bring in family members, it said.

Measures The proposed measures stung some employers, with Ian Wright, director general of the Food and Drink Federation, saying that if they reflect the government’s thinking it shows “a deep lack of understanding of the vital contribution that EU migrant workers make — at all skill levels — across the food chains”. “Food and drink manufacturing, Britain’s largest manufacturing sector, will be alarmed by the proposals,” he said in a statement. Caroline Lucas, co-leader of the Green Party, criticised the plan as not “just economically illiterate, it’s plainly cruel too”, while London Mayor Sadiq Khan said it was “a blueprint on how to strangle our economy”. But for Brexit supporters, it was “a great step in the right direction for the UK to take back control of its borders”. “The government is right to prioritise highly skilled and skilled migration,” said Steven Woolfe, a former member of the anti-EU UK Independence Party and a lawmaker in the European Parliament. ❑ ❑ ❑ Brexit could be reversed if economic pain prompts a change in public opinion that brings a new generation of political leaders to power in Britain, former Conservative minister Michael Heseltine said. Heseltine, who helped topple Margaret Thatcher in 1990 but ultimately failed to win the top job, said that Britain could face another election in just two years and that Prime Minister Theresa May would not lead the party into that election. A supporter of EU membership, Heseltine said he saw a scenario in

May

Coveney

which Britain would not leave the European Union as scheduled in late March 2019. “There is now a possibility that Brexit will not happen, but it will need a change in public opinion,” Heseltine, 84, told Reuters in an interview. “There may be indications but there is no really substantive evidence of public opinion moving but I think that it will happen. My guess is that public opinion will move,” he said. Heseltine said the shift in Brexit policy by the opposition Labour Party — including staying in the European single market and customs union for a transitional period — indicated Labour had sensed the wind of a change in public opinion. May, who quietly opposed Brexit ahead of the referendum, has formally notified the bloc of Britain’s intention to leave and divorce talks are under way. Some European leaders have suggested Britain could change its mind, while former Conservative prime minister John Major has said there is a credible case for giving Britons a second vote on the Brexit deal. His successor, Labour’s Tony Blair, has said repeatedly that Brexit can and should be stopped. In the June 2016 referendum voters in the United Kingdom backed leaving the EU by a margin of 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent. The world’s fifth-biggest economy initially withstood the shock of the Brexit vote, but growth began to slow sharply this year as inflation rose on the falling value of the pound and hit households. May, who has insisted that Britain will leave the European Union, said last month that she wanted to fight the next parliamentary election, not due until 2022. Heseltine, though, said that seemed unlikely given her botched gamble on a snap election in June which lost her party its majority in the lower house of parliament. “I don’t think she will fight the next election, but there is no agreement on her successor. All the people indicated as possibles are singing the same song, and in my view the song is unattractive and will become less attractive,” he said. “’Ousted’ is a specific word, but there are many ways in which the Tory party operates — what it will quite look like I am not going to say. But I think there will be a change to a new leader

The sector has been boosted after Britain’s biggest and most advanced warship, the 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, set out on its maiden voyage earlier this year. However, it may not be fully operational until 2026 because of technical difficulties. Britain said that its sister ship HMS Prince of Wales was also now structurally complete, and would be officially named in September. (RTRS)

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

INTERNATIONAL

10

World News Roundup Iraq probes 4 Germans over IS links

Migrants

Spain, Morocco bust terror cell

‘Relocation valid’

EU wins fight on ‘refugee’ quotas BRUSSELS, Sept 6, (Agencies): The EU on Wednesday won a legal battle against eastern European countries that rejected a quota scheme to force member states to admit tens of thousands of asylum seekers. The European Court of Justice, the 28-nation bloc’s top court, threw out the challenge from Hungary and Slovakia against a scheme Brussels launched two years ago to ease the burden on overstretched Greece and Italy. Europe has been grappling with the worst migrant crisis since World War II, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war, persecution and poverty in the Middle East and Africa. “The court dismisses the actions brought by Slovakia and Hungary against the proviOrban sional mechanism for the mandatory relocation of asylum seekers,” the Luxembourg-based court said. “That mechanism actually contributes to enabling Greece and Italy to deal with the impact of the 2015 migration crisis and is proportionate.” The continuing crisis peaked in 2015. More than 1.6 million people have landed on Greek and Italian shores since 2014. The verdict was welcomed by the European Commission, the executive of the 28-nation bloc.

Confirms “ECJ confirms relocation scheme valid. Time to work in unity and implement solidarity in full,” said EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos. However, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto slamed the verdict as “irresponsible,” saying it “threatens the security of all of Europe”. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called migration the “Trojan Horse of terrorism.” The top court’s press office told AFP there is “no onward appeal for Hungary and Slovakia” when asked about Szijjarto’s comment that Budapest will use “all legal means” against the scheme. In its verdict, the court upheld the right of EU institutions to respond “swiftly to an emergency situation” over the massive migrant influx. It also held that the European Council, the body of member states, “was not required to act unanimously when it adopted the contested decision”. A majority of EU member states decided in September 2015 to relocate 120,000 Syrian and other asylum seekers from overstretched Greece and Italy to most of the other 28 EU member states. It is part of a scheme to relocate a total of 160,000 asylum seekers. Officials in Brussels have argued that the scheme is legally binding on member states, including those that voted against the quotas like Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Romania. Poland initially supported the plan but has come out strongly opposed since a right-wing government came to power. The court statement said Poland intervened in support of Hungary during the proceedings, while the European Commission, along with Greece, Italy, Germany, Sweden and several other member states, argued for the relocation plan. Eastern European member states opposed the plan, saying they were not equipped to integrate people from mainly Muslim countries.

Launched Brussels launched the relocation scheme in September 2015, the year more than one million migrants arrived in Europe by sea. It was introduced as an exception to the so-called Dublin rules under which migrants must apply for asylum in the member state where they first land. Under international and European law, countries are required to grant asylum to people fleeing war or persecution but not those classed as economic migrants. Political pressures have eased with a sharp decline in migrant flows. This is mainly a result of a controversial deal the EU signed with Turkey in March last year to send back migrants in return for billions of euros in aid and for admitting asylum seekers directly from refugee camps in Turkey. However, the scheme has faced trouble from the start. EU figures show that just under 28,000 people have been relocated since the two-year scheme was launched in September 2015. In addition to outright opposition from eastern member states, other EU member states have dragged their feet despite having voted for the plan. Under the plan, Hungary must admit more than 2,300 asylum seekers, while Slovakia must in the long term take in 1,400. Germany’s foreign minister welcomed the ruling. Sigmar Gabriel said he expects all EU countries to implement the decision “without further hesitation.” Gabriel said the ruling confirms that the solidarity measure approved by EU leaders is not just in keeping with European values but also adheres fully to European law. He said “solidarity is not a one-way street.”

Migrants disembark at the port of Heraklion on the island of Crete on Sept 5, after being rescued off the coast of the Greek island. A group of some 103 migrants aboard a wooden boat off the islands’ eastern coast have been safely transferred to the port, with the last few days seeing an increase in refugees and migrant arrivals in Greece. (AFP)

Europe France to use armed drones: France unveiled plans on Tuesday to start using armed drones, joining a growing number of countries worldwide to operate the deadly unmanned aircraft. “I decided to begin the process of arming our intelligence and surveillance drones,” Defence Minister Florence Parly told a gathering of recruits and lawmakers in the southern port city of Toulon. France currently operates a handful of unarmed Reaper drones as part of its presence monitoring jihadist groups in Africa’s Sahel region. Parly said the military planned to equip six unmanned aerial vehicles purchased from the United States with “precision guided” weaponry from 2019. The drones will “pose a permanent threat to armed terrorist groups” in the areas where the French military operates, she said. “This decision doesn’t change the rules on the use of armed force. The rules of engagement for armed drones will be absolutely identical to those already applied,” Parly added. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

‘Block Catalan referendum’: The Spanish government said Wednesday it has asked the Constitutional Court to block the Catalan parliament from voting on a bill that lays the groundwork for an independence referendum. “The Spanish government has asked the Constitutional Court to declare void and without effect the agreements adopted” by the Catalan parliament earlier on Wednesday, Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria told a news conference. She blasted the parliament’s agreement to vote on the referendum bill with little debate as an “act of force” that is characteristic of “dictatorial regimes”. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Tomatoes thrown at Merkel: German police say they’re investigating who threw two tomatoes at Chancellor Angela Merkel during an election campaign event in the southwestern city of Heidelberg. Police spokesman David Faulhaber told The Associated Press on Wednesday the tomatoes came from a group of hecklers on the sidelines. Witnesses Tuesday said they had been yelling things like “hypocrite” and “traitor to the people” in apparent criticism of Merkel’s migrant policies. The dpa news agency reported one tomato glanced off Merkel’s hip, while one slightly splattered the moderator standing next to her. Merkel reacted calmly, offering the moderator a tissue. Faulhaber says police are now investigating against persons unknown on suspicion of attempted bodily harm and attempted property damage. Merkel appeared later in the day at a Stuttgart campaign event wearing the same red jacket. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Saakashvili says to return: Exiled former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili said he was determined to return to Ukraine on Sunday, despite Tbilisi’s request that Kiev detain and extradite him, amid his feud with the Ukrainian leader. Saakashvili, 49, is credited with pushing through proWestern reforms in his native Georgia which he led from 2004 to 2013. But he is Saakashvili currently wanted in his homeland for alleged abuse of power during his tumultuous nine years as president that saw him fight and lose a brief war against Russia in 2008. He left in disgrace for Ukraine in 2015 to work for the country’s pro-Western authorities as governor of the key Odessa region on the Black Sea. But he quit in November 2016 amid a dramatic falling out with President Petro Poroshenko, who stripped him of his Ukrainian citizenship while he was out of the country. (AFP)

MADRID, Sept 6, (Agencies): Police in Spain and Morocco have arrested six members of a suspected terror cell who were preparing “largescale attacks”, officials in both countries said Wednesday. The two forces have “dismantled a jihadist terror cell made up of six individuals, one of whom was arrested in Melilla and five in Morocco,” said a statement from Spain’s interior ministry. Melilla is a tiny Spanish enclave in North Africa. The arrests came nearly three weeks after a group of jihadists, many of them of Moroccan origin, killed 16 people in two deadly attacks using vehicles and knives in Barcelona and another seaside resort in northeastern Spain. “An investigation by the Moroccan security services found evidence that this group was planning large-scale terror attacks, holding discreet nighttime meetings during which they carried out physical training and simulated murder by decapitation,” the ministry said. A similar statement issued by the Moroccan interior ministry and quoted by MAP news agency, referred to group members “training how to slit throats with knives.” The agency said the cell became active in Beni Chiker, a town in the northeastern province of Nador, with its members “planning to carry out a range of execution operations in Morocco and Spain.” Five of the suspects are Moroccan nationals, one of whom had residency in Spain, while the sixth was a Spanish national of Moroccan origin, it said. Police in Spain said the leader of the cell was a 39-year-old Spaniard of Moroccan origin living in Melilla. He was arrested by the security forces while visiting Morocco. “He used his position as an assistant teacher in a centre for reeducating minors to carry out re-

cruitment activities and to radicalise young people in a vulnerable situation,” the interior ministry said. It said such activity was “in line with the global strategy” of the Islamic State group. ❑





Two people were arrested on Wednesday after police found components that can be used to make explosives in a flat south of Paris, a police source said on Wednesday. Gas bottles and other components that can be used to make explosives were found in the empty flat in the Paris suburb of Villejuif, the source said. The source had initially said that TATP explosives were found in the flat. France’s counter-terrorism prosecutor will be in charge of the investigation, a judicial source said. There was no one in the flat in the Paris suburb of Villejuif, and there were no arrests, the source said. ❑





Germany’s Foreign Ministry says Iraqi prosecutors have opened an investigation into four Germans, including a teenage girl, who were detained in Iraq on suspicion of sympathizing with the Islamic State group. German officials said in July that the four — all female, including 16-year-old Linda Wenzel — were found in Iraq as Mosul was liberated from the Islamic State group. They have been trying to determine whether the four can return to Germany, where all face an investigation. Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said Wednesday that Iraqi authorities have opened investigations against the Germans. He said he doesn’t have details of what they’re accused of and German authorities haven’t yet seen an indictment.

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Philippines ‘Win-win situation’

Troops, rebels team up against ‘pro-IS’ group DATU SALIBO, Philippines, Sept 6, (Agencies): The Philippine military said it has teamed up with old foes behind a long-running Muslim insurgency as it looks to eject a breakaway gang of radical militants pledging loyalty to the Islamic State group. As artillery shells and rockets pounded targets nearby, soldiers were seen mingling freely with several hundred Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters who have joined an assault on gunmen in the restive southern island Mindanao. The joint operation is the latest tactic by the Philippine government to try to stamp out pro-IS fighters, after months of battling a separate faction of militants who have besieged the city of Marawi, about 100 kms (60 miles) to the north. Major-General Arnel dela Vega said militant groups had taken the opportunity “to build up their forces” while governDela Vega ment troops were engaged in the Marawi conflict. The alliance with MILF included “providing them with indirect fire support and even air support and other expertise,” he told AFP, adding that the awkwardness of fighting alongside former long-time foes had evaporated. A rebellion by the 10,000-strong MILF has claimed more than 100,000 lives, by government estimates. The group signed a peace treaty in 2014 but will not disarm before the government passes a proposed law granting autonomy to the Muslim regions of the mainly Catholic nation. But small factions continue to fight, as frustration builds over the bill, which has stalled in Congress. The military is feeding intelligence to the MILF in the fight against about 60 militants led by Esmael Abdulmalik alias Abu Turaifi, a former MILF guerrilla leader, according to dela Vega. But he said troop units would not merge with the MILF fighting groups because they had “different operational tactics and procedures” in the conflict, which began in early August on wild marshlands some 800 kms south of Manila. “By and large the result has been substantially in our favour,” dela Vega said. A television journalist working for AFP saw two military helicopters firing at the militant faction’s positions, while a police van collected MILF dead and wounded near the farming town of Datu Salibo on Tuesday. Dela Vega said that the deal was a “win-win” situation for both the government and the MILF. Mohagher Iqbal, a senior MILF leader, said the breakaway Abu Turaifi-led militants wanted to steal the MILF’s guerrilla army and had the same goals as the pro-IS militant faction seeking to carve out territory in Marawi. ❑ ❑ ❑ Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte vowed on Wednesday to pursue cases against erring police officers after three controversial killings of youths. Duterte said he has ordered the Department of Justice to investigate the killing of 19-year old Carl Angelo Arnaiz after he met his parents on Wednesday. “I have always said we will protect the soldiers and the policemen, no doubt about it. But always, there has to be the element of the performance of duty and you do not kill defenceless persons,” Duterte said in speech before social security administration employees. “I’m sorry but I will pursue the cases against the police and if need be, they should go to jail.” Arnaiz, who police accused of robbery, died of five gunshot wounds and an autopsy report showed he was shot while on his back. But police have said Arnaiz opened fire on them and paraffin tests showed gunpowder burns on his right hand. The Philippine president ordered police on Tuesday to let journalists join raids in his crackdown on illegal drugs to disprove growing allegations of extrajudicial killings, but warned reporters they could get shot. Duterte issued the order in a news conference after a televised Senate investigation into the allegations in which the national police chief, Ronald dela Rosa, wept over what he said was his exasperation over unfair allegations against his men. “Now, this is an order: Bring the media and let them go first so that they can get the story from the beginning to the end,” Duterte said, explaining that when journalists are called in when a gunbattle is over, they’ll say, “Ah, they just dumped the guns on the suspects.” “If you get shot, will you still believe that those (suspects) have no guns? Go ahead,” the president said, adding that journalists should take positions beside law enforcers during raids on suspected drug dealers’ hideouts.

Also: MANILA: Philippine lawmakers on Wednesday rejected the nomination of the last leftist President Rodrigo Duterte included in his cabinet, removing the agrarian reform minister a year after he joined the government in a bid by Duterte to promote peace. Duterte, after becoming president in June last year, offered places in his cabinet to members of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines to demonstrate his commitment to talks to end their longrunning insurgency. The minister, Rafael Mariano, was one of two people the party nominated to serve in the cabinet. Senator Vicente Sotto, chairman of a committee scrutinising cabinet appointments, said it had conducted an “exhaustive deliberation” then held a vote. “The weight of the scales ultimately tipped the balance against the confirmation of the appointee,” Sotto told Senate. He did not elaborate on the reason for the rejection but it came a few months after the government cancelled formal peace talks with the communist rebels. Duterte wants to strike a peace deal with the communists but has been angered by continued violence. He says their demands are excessive and he has already made concessions. Mariano, speaking to reporters after the hearing, denounced “big landlords, oligarchs, businessmen and big corporations”, saying they may have prevailed with his rejection but the farmers would win in the end. “I may have failed to get the confirmation today but I will not stop serving our farmers,” he said. Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella expressed regret over Mariano’s removal, saying he had promoted farmers’ rights and welfare and ensured their security of land tenure.

In this photo taken on Sept 5, 2017 shows a Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebel (left), with face covered, along with a government soldier (right), manning a mobile check point in Datu Salibo town, Maguindanao province, in southern island of Mindanao. Firing artillery shells and rockets, the Philippine military said it is backing mainstream Muslim rebels in a deadly fight against radical militants who support the Islamic State group. (AFP)

North Korea Putin says sanctions, pressure alone won’t resolve crisis

‘Test 10 times powerful than Hiroshima’

South Korean army’s K-9 self-propelled howitzers move during a military exercise in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea on Sept 6. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said ahead of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that he hopes their two countries can work together to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. (AP)

Sen

Daley

Asia Vietnam slams China over drills: Vietnam has delivered a sharp rebuke to China over military drills in the South China Sea, the second such warning in a week as tensions rise between the countries over the disputed waterway. China and Vietnam have long traded barbs over the strategic and resource-rich South China Sea, which Beijing claims most of. Tensions have flared in recent months, with Vietnam suspending an oil exploration project operated by Spain’s Repsol in an area off its coast claimed by Beijing. In June, a meeting between top Vietnamese and Chinese generals over border issues was abruptly cancelled, with both sides citing a sudden scheduling conflict. Hanoi condemned Beijing’s latest military drills in the Paracel Islands, a contentious archipelago claimed by both sides. “Vietnam strongly rejects China’s move and seriously requests China to respect Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa archipelago,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said late Tuesday, using the Vietnamese name for the Paracels. China said last week it was conducting “regular military training in the relevant maritime area located in the northwest of the South China Sea”, where the Paracels are located, claiming jurisdiction over the zone. Beijing reiterated its claim Wednesday, with a foreign ministry spokesman saying the islands are “China’s territory without dispute”. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Sen vows to remain in office: Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen vowed on Wednesday to stay in office for another decade following the dramatic arrest of the country’s main opposition leader for treason. Hun Sen, 65, has held power for 32 years, making him one of the world’s longest-serving leaders. But he faces a key test at national polls in 2018 with the main opposition party gaining in popularity as anger mounts over corruption, inequality and rights abuses. His opponents, as well as NGOs and the critical press, have increasingly been smothered by court cases and threats in recent months while Hun Sen has vowed violence if he loses power. On Tuesday the country’s most prominent opposition leader Kem Sokha was charged with treason for allegedly conspiring with unnamed foreigners to topple the government. Hun Sen has accused the United States of being behind the plot. In a characteristically bombastic speech on Wednesday, he spoke at length about the alleged treason plot and said he had no intention of leaving politics any time soon. “After seeing the painful event of treason committed by Khmer nationals who have been arrested – and there may be

TOKYO, Sept 6, (Agencies): Japan Wednesday again upgraded its estimated size of North Korea’s latest nuclear test to a yield of around 160 kilotons — more than ten times the size of the Hiroshima bomb. This marked Tokyo’s second revision higher after previously giving estimates of 70 and 120 kilotons. Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters that his ministry’s upward revision to 160 kilotons was based on a revised magnitude by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO). “This is far more powerful than their nuclear tests in the past,” Onodera told reporters. The US bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945 carried a yield of 15 kilotons. Japan’s latest estimate far exceeded the yield of between 50 and 100 kilotons indicated by UN political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman at the UN Security Council. Early Wednesday, Onodera held telephone talks with US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and both agreed to step up “visible pressure” on North Korea, the ministry in Tokyo said. “North Korea’s nuclear and missile development is at a new stage of grave and imminent threats,” Onodera told Mattis, the ministry said, adding that his US counterpart shared the view. Pyongyang’s Sunday test of what it described as a hydrogen bomb designed for a long-range missile triggered global alarm and has divided the international community as it scrambles for a response. US Ambassador Nikki Haley told the UN Security Council that Washington would present a new sanctions resolution to be negotiated in the coming days, but Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday rejected US calls for more sanctions as “useless”. Putin’s comments appeared to have widened a split among major powers over how to rein in Pyongyang, pitting Moscow and Beijing against Washington and its allies. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to press Putin for his support over the North Korea’s provocation, when the two leaders hold talks in the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok on Thursday. “We have to make North Korea change its current policy and under-

more arrests – I have decided to continue my work for at least 10 years more,” he said during a speech to more than 10,000 garment workers in Phnom Penh. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

2 guilty in slaying of woman: More than six years after an Aboriginal woman bled to death from a violent sexual assault on a remote beach, a jury convicted two men on Wednesday in connection with her death in a case that horrified Australians and exposed the nation’s deep racial divide. After a five-week trial at Coffs Harbour

stand that there is no bright future if North Korea continues the present policy,” Abe told reporters ahead of his departure. Abe, who will separately hold talks with South Korea’s leader Moon JaeIn in Vladivostok, said he wants to send a message to the North from his two talks with Putin and Moon. US President Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday that he would allow Japan and South Korea to buy more “highly sophisticated” US military equipment. Pressed on this during a regular news conference, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga declined to comment on the specific proposal, saying only that Tokyo would continue to purchase necessary equipment from the US and other countries. Meanwhile, resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis is impossible with sanctions and pressure alone, Putin said on Wednesday after meeting his South Korean counterpart, adding that the impact of cutting oil would be worrying.

Summit Putin met South Korea’s Moon Jae-in on the sidelines of an economic summit in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok amid mounting international concern that their neighbor plans more weapons tests, possibly a longrange missile launch before a weekend anniversary. Putin denounced North Korea’s sixth and largest nuclear bomb test on Sunday, saying Russia did not recognize its nuclear status. “Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear program is a crude violation of UN Security Council resolutions, undermines the non-proliferation regime and creates a threat to the security of northeastern Asia,” Putin said at a news conference. “At the same time, it is clear that it is impossible to resolve the problem of the Korean peninsula only by sanctions and pressure,” he said. No headway could be made without political and diplomatic tools, Putin said, later telling the TASS news agency that Russian and North Korean delegations might meet at the Vladivostok forum. Moon, who took office this year advocating a policy of pursuing engagement with North Korea, has come un-

Supreme Court, a jury took less than one hour to convict Adrian Attwater of manslaughter and aggravated sexual assault in the death of Lynette Daley. His codefendant, Paul Maris, was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault and hindering the discovery of evidence. Daley, a 33-year-old mother of seven, died in 2011 after Attwater and Maris drove her to an isolated beach in New South Wales, where she was subjected to a sexual assault so vicious, a forensic pathologist dubbed her injuries worse than those which occur in even precipitous

In this photo taken on Aug 14, 2017 and provided by Imperial Household Agency of Japan on Sept 6, Japan’s Prince Hisahito talks with his sisters, Princess Kako (left), and Princess Mako at the Akasaka imperial residence in Tokyo. Prince Hisahito turned 11 years old on Wednesday. (AP)

der increasing pressure to take a harder line. He has asked the United Nations to consider tough new sanctions after North Korea’s latest nuclear test. Diplomats say the UN Security Council could consider banning North Korean textile exports, barring its airline or stopping supplies of oil to the government and military. Other measures could include preventing North Koreans from working abroad and putting top officials on a blacklist aimed at imposing asset freezes and travel bans. “I ask Russia to actively cooperate as this time it is inevitable that North Korea’s oil supply should be cut at the least,” Moon told Putin, according to a readout from a South Korean official. Putin said North Korea would not give up its nuclear program no matter how tough the sanctions. “We too, are against North Korea developing its nuclear capabilities and condemn it, but it is worrying cutting the oil pipeline will harm the regular people, like in hospitals,” Putin said, according to the South Korean presidential official. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to defend its South Korean ally, warning once more that any North Korean threat would trigger an “overwhelming” response, the Pentagon said Wednesday. In a conversation with South Korea’s Defense Minister Song YoungMoo Tuesday to address North Korea’s latest and most powerful nuclear test to date, Mattis said the United States “remains ironclad in its commitment to the defense of” South Korea. “He further emphasized that any threat to the United States, its territories, or its allies will be met with a massive, effective, and overwhelming military response,” Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement. Mattis’ warning echoed comments he made on Sunday, in which he stressed that the United States was not “looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea,” before warning: “We have many options to do so.” White’s statement said Mattis and Song discussed ways to improve regional defense cooperation.

childbirth. Despite calls from a state coroner and police to prosecute Attwater and Maris, it took prosecutors more than five years to agree to try the men for the killing. Prosecutors only decided to move forward with the case last year, after media reports of her death prompted widespread public outrage and accusations that officials didn’t care about Daley because she was Aboriginal and her assailants were white. Prosecutors have never publicly explained why it took them so long to bring the case to trial, but Daley’s family has always believed it came down to the color of Lynette’s skin. “It was a long fight, a long struggle,” Daley’s stepfather, Gordon Davis, told The Associated Press after the verdict. “Let the world know there was justice for an Aboriginal woman.” The brutality of Daley’s death and the lack of swift justice rattled Australians, who have long struggled to address the centuries of suffering endured by their country’s Indigenous population. Aboriginal people make up around 3 percent of Australia’s population of 24 million people, and suffer from high rates of poverty, imprisonment, unemployment and poor health. Attwater and Maris never denied being with Daley when she died during a camping trip to desolate Ten Mile Beach. But they denied responsibility for her death, saying she’d been a willing participant in what they dubbed “wild sex” inside of Maris’ truck. An autopsy, however, showed Daley’s blood alcohol level was between 0.30 and 0.35 percent — high enough to leave her severely incapacitated and, prosecutors said, utterly incapable of consent. (AP)

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World News Roundup Africa Lesotho’s army chief shot dead: Lesotho’s army commander was shot dead by rival officers at a military barracks Tuesday, an official told AFP, in an assassination likely to revive instability in the mountainous African kingdom. The two senior officers behind the attack were also killed in the gunfight with Khoantle Motsomotso’s bodyguards, just two months after elections meant to usher in a new era of peace. “They attempted to forcefully enter his office. There was a shoot-out between the two ... and the commander’s bodyMotsomotso guards,” a military official who declined to be named told AFP. Prime Minister Thomas Thabane confirmed the deaths at a press conference, describing them as “a serious setback to vigorous efforts to restore peace and stability.” Thabane’s new coalition government took office in June after the third general election since 2012 as Lesotho endures a series of political upheavals. (AFP)







Al-Shebab militants behead 4: Sus-

Indonesian demonstrators are seen through barbed wire during an anti-Myanmar rally nearby its embassy in Jakarta on Sept 6. Indonesian Muslims protested outside the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta on Wednesday demanding an end to violence against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. (Inset): The body of a Rohingya refugee is brought to shore after being recovered following a boat sinking accident on the Naf river, as scores

of refugees tried to flee from Myanmar to Bangladesh, near Ulubunia in Ukhiya on Sept 6. Authorities said three to four boats had sunk at the mouth of the Naf river, which divides Bangladesh and Myanmar’s violence-wracked Rakhine state, raising fears there could be many more casualties. (AFP)

pected militants from the Somalian group al-Shebab beheaded four men in two different attacks in northern Kenya’s coastal Lamu County on Wednesday, authorities said, a month after 12 people were killed in similar incidents in the region. Lamu County Commissioner Gilbert Kitiyo said the attacks took place in SiliniMashambani and Bobo villages, where about 30 heavily-armed assailants went from house-to-house calling out victims by name before pulling some out and slitting their throats. “They were dressed in military gear and had AK-47 rifles. They beheaded four men before fleeing into the forest. All the victims are men. Police have already arrived at the scene and taken the bodies to the mortuary,” Kitiyo told Reuters by telephone. (RTRS)







Boko Haram kill 4: Boko Haram

Afghanistan

Unrest

Anger over offensive leaflets

Modi says shares Myanmar’s concern

Poverty fuels child soldiers into ‘war’

Suu Kyi blames terrorists

GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Sept 6, (AFP): The rescue this summer of dozens of Afghan youths destined to be trained as Taleban fighters has spotlighted how entrenched poverty is fuelling a renewable supply of child soldiers to endlessly replenish the insurgents’ ranks. Afghan forces freed almost 40 children during multiple raids near the Pakistani border. Officials said traffickers working with the Taleban had recruited the boys, some as young as four, from poor families by promising to provide them with a religious education. In reality they were set to be indoctrinated by hardline mullahs in Pakistan and receive military training to carry out attacks inside war-torn Afghanistan, authorities said. “Our parents always wanted us to learn Islamic studies but we didn’t know that we would be fooled and brainwashed to become suicide bombers,” nine-year-old Shafiullah told AFP after being rescued by police. The use of child soldiers by all sides in the Afghan conflict is well documented, including Trump in pro-government security forces, where the practice of “bacha bazi”, or child sex slavery, is said to be institutionalised. But the incidents this summer in southeastern Ghazni province illustrated a practice the Afghan government and rights groups have long accused the Taleban of: kidnapping children to indoctrinate as fighters at madrassas in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In a recent speech charting US strategy in Afghanistan, President Donald Trump vowed, among other things, to “dry up” militant recruitment. But experts say poverty is a significant driving factor, with parents unable to provide for their children delivering them, often unknowingly, into the hands of abusers and extremists. AFP spoke recently with several of the children rescued at an orphanage in southeastern Ghazni province, where they had been placed as officials tried to track down their parents. Officials said they had saved the children, most aged between four and 14, from what Mohammad Aref Wahidi, deputy governor of Ghazni, described as “kidnapping gangs” taking them to Pakistan. ❑ ❑ ❑ US apologizes over leaplets: A senior US commander in Afghanistan apologised on Wednesday for a “highly offensive” propaganda leaflet which contained a passage from the Holy Quran used in the Taleban militants’ banner superimposed on to the image of a dog. The dog is considered unclean in Islam and associating an image of the animal with one of the religion’s most sacred texts prompted indignation. “The design of the leaflets mistakenly contained an image highly offensive to both Muslims and the religion of Islam,” Major General James Linder said in a statement. ❑ ❑ ❑ 2 Red Cross workers freed: Two Red Cross workers were freed in Afghanistan Tuesday, seven months after they were abducted during an attack on their convoy that killed six colleagues, the international charity said. The Afghan aid workers came under fire in the northern province of Jowzjan on February 8 while en route to a remote snowbound area to deliver relief supplies. Six employees were killed on the spot, many of them shot from close range, in one of the worst attacks on the International Committee of the Red Cross. “We are relieved and grateful that our colleagues are now back with us unharmed,” Monica Zanarelli, ICRC chief in Afghanistan, said in a statement. “Their abduction and the killings of our six colleagues were emotional agony for all of us, especially for their families and friends.” The ICRC would not comment on the identity of the abductors or the details of the employees’ release.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves as he poses for a photograph with Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi (right), in Naypyidaw on Sept 6. Modi is on a two-day visit to Myanmar. (AFP)

Subcontinent 7 killed in B’desh raid: At least seven people including two children were killed in an explosion after Bangladesh government forces raided the suspected hideout of a top Islamist extremist, police said Wednesday. Two women were also among those killed in the blast at a five-storey building that was raided by the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) early Tuesday after a tip-off that a top Islamist extremist was holed up there. “Seven bodies were found. They are all burnt,” RAB spokesman Mufti Mahmud told AFP, adding that the bodies were too damaged to be identified. He said the hideout at Dhaka’s Mirpur area belonged to Abdullah, a “daring Islamist extremist of JMB (Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh)”, the homegrown outfit blamed for a wave of deadly attacks in recent years. “There was a explosion in his room. Seven people who were in the room died in the explosion,” he said. The RAB is tasked with tackling Islamist extremism in Muslim majority Bangladesh. (AFP) ❑





Indian journalist gunned down: An Indian journalist was fatally shot outside her home the southern city of Bangalore, the latest in a string of deadly attacks targeting journalists or outspoken critics of religious superstition and extreme Hindu politics. The assailants fled on a motorcycle after spraying bullets at Gauri Lankesh on Tuesday night as she was leaving her car outside her home in the Karnataka state capital. Police said they were searching for leads, but that it was too early to say who killed her. Top police officer R.K. Dutta said he had met Lankesh recently, but that she did not mention any threat to her life. Members of Indian journalism associations expressed outrage and said they would protest Wednesday afternoon in New Delhi. “The silencing of a journalist in this manner has dangerous portents for democracy,” the Indian Women’s Press Corps said in a statement. Lankesh, 55, was the editor of the independent Kannada-language magazine “Lankesh Patrike.” In November, she was found guilty of defaming lawmakers from the governing Bharatiya Janata Party in a 2008 story. She said the case was politically motivated and vowed to challenge her conviction in a higher court. (AP)





YANGON/SHAMLAPUR, Bangladesh, Sept 6, (Agencies): Myanmar said on Wednesday it is negotiating with China and Russia to ensure they block any UN Security Council censure over the violence that has forced an exodus of nearly 150,000 Rohingya Muslims to Bangladesh in less than two weeks. Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi blamed “terrorists” for “a huge iceberg of misinformation” on the strife in the northwestern state of Rakhine but, in a statement, she made no mention of the Rohingya who have fled. She has come under increasing pressure from countries with Muslim populations, including Indonesia, where thousands led by Islamist groups held a rally in Jakarta on Wednesday, to demand that diplomatic ties with Buddhist-majority Myanmar be cut. In a rare letter to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern that the violence could spiral into a “humanitarian catastrophe”. He warned there was a risk of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar that could destabilise the region. Myanmar National Security Adviser Thaung Tun told a news conference in the capital, Naypyitaw, that Myanmar was counting on China and Russia, both permanent members of the Security Council, to block a UN resolution on the crisis. “We are negotiating with some friendly countries not to take it to the Security Council,” he said. “China is our friend and we have a similar friendly relationship with Russia so it will not be possible for that issue to go forward.” Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that India shared Myanmar’s concern about “extremist violence” in its Rakhine state, where a security force operation against Muslim rebels has sent about 125,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh. Modi spoke after talks with Suu Kyi during a visit aimed at expanding commercial ties as part of an “Act East” policy, and pushing back against Chinese influence.

Attack Suu Kyi told a joint news conference at the presidential palace in the capital, Naypyitaw, that Myanmar was grateful for India’s stance on the attack on her country and they could work together to face the challenge. “We would like to thank India particularly for its strong that it has taken with regard to terrorist threat that came would “undergo trauma and agony” if she was not allowed to terminate her pregnancy. Local media reports say one of her father’s colleagues has been arrested on charges of raping her. Nikhil Datar, a



Abortion for rape victim OK’d: India’s top court on Wednesday allowed a 13-yearold rape survivor to have a late abortion after lawyers said carrying the baby to full term would cause her trauma and agony. The girl is 32 weeks pregnant, well beyond India’s 20-week legal limit after which terminations are only allowed where there is a danger to the life of the mother or the baby. In his submission before the court Wednesday, the state counsel said the girl

Dutta

Lankesh

to our country a couple of weeks ago,” she said in brief remarks. “We believe that together we can work to make sure that terrorism is not allowed to take root on our soil.” Modi said India and Myanmar had similar security interests in the region. “We share your concerns about extremist violence in Rakhine state and specially the violence against security forces and how innocent lives have been affected,” he said. In related news, the Arab League strongly condemned Wednesday the escalating violence against the minority Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. The Arab League Secretary General Ahmad Abul-Gheit said in a statement that Myanmar’s government should shoulder its responsibilities for such crimes, calling the international community to protect freedom of religion and the rights of minorities. He referred to reports, including that of the United Nations, which raised concerns of Arab and Muslim people. Tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled into neighboring countries since Aug 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base. The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people.

Violence Indonesian Muslims protested outside the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta on Wednesday demanding an end to violence against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. Thousands of demonstrators, many in white Islamic robes and skullcaps, walked through the capital’s streets to converge outside the embassy in downtown Jakarta. Persecution of the Rohingya, reviled as illegal immigrants and mostly denied citizenship in Myanmar, has been a lightning rod for anger in Indonesia and across the Muslim world. Protesters shouting “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) and holding banners that read “Stop killing Muslim Rohingyas” gathered to condemn the worsening humanitarian situation in Rakhine state. Meanwhile, at least five children drowned when boats carrying Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar sank early on Wednesday, Bangladesh border guards told AFP. Authorities said three to four boats had sunk at the mouth of the Naf river, which divides Bangladesh and Myanmar’s violence-wracked Rakhine state, raising fears there could be many more casualties. Mumbai-based doctor, said the teenager was already 27-weeks pregnant when he saw her. The parents immediately approached the Supreme Court and also lodged a police complaint, he said. “It has been emotionally draining for the girl’s parents as their child is pregnant and they are unable to cope up with this fact,” the child’s lawyer Sneha Mukherjee told AFP ahead of the verdict. The case comes on the heels of another plea by a 10-year-old rape victim for abortion which was rejected by the court after doctors said it would pose a threat to her life. In recent months courts have received a number of petitions from women — including young rape survivors and trafficking victims — seeking abortions where pregnancies had gone beyond 20 weeks. (AFP)

members killed four farmers in a drive-by shooting in Borno state in Nigeria’s volatile northeast, local vigilantes told AFP Tuesday. The insurgents, riding on motorcycles, opened fire on farmers working in their fields in Ngawo Fato Bulamari village outside the state capital Maiduguri, the epicentre of the eight-year jihadist rebellion. “The Boko Haram gunmen while riding past the farmlands opened fire,” said Babakura Kolo, a member of a militia force fighting the jihadists, of the incident which happened on Monday. “Four people were killed while many have gone missing and our assumption is that they ran into the bush to escape the attack,” Kolo said. (AFP)







Odinga rejects poll date: Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga said Tuesday he does not accept the date for the new presidential elections, demanding reforms to the electoral commission and other “legal and constitutional guarantees.” The East African power faces an Oct 17 vote after the Supreme Court nullified President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election, saying the electoral commission had committed irregularities. The court called for a new vote within 60 days. The electoral commission did not consult with the opposition coalition on how the elections will be carried out and when, Odinga said, and he objected to the new vote being limited to two candidates. The opposition leader wants some of the commission’s officials to be prosecuted, arguing that without changes the new vote will be no different from the one last month. (AP) ❑





Sanctions regime for Mali: The UN Security Council on Tuesday agreed to set up a sanctions regime for Mali to punish those who obstruct a 2015 peace deal as fears grow that the West African country is sliding back into turmoil. The council voted unanimously to back a resolution put forward by France that established a sanctions committee to consider names of individuals and entities to be put on a UN blacklist. Those on the list would be subject to a global travel ban and an assets freeze. The move is backed by Mali’s government, which has told the council that repeated ceasefire violations by jihadists threatened to derail a 2015 peace agreement ending years of fighting with the insurgents in the north. Islamist jihadists took over territory in northern Mali in 2012, but were driven out by a French-led military intervention in January 2013. (AFP)

Lat/Am Maduro won’t attend UN meet: The United Nations says Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro won’t attend a UN Human Rights Council meeting next week as originally planned. Council spokesman Rolando Gomez said in an email Tuesday to reporters that Maduro “will not address the Human Rights Council.” Gomez said the Venezuelan government had indicated in a diplomatic note a day earlier that the president would speak to the council at the start of its new session on Monday. Instead, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Alberto Arreaza Montserrat is set to speak to the council on Monday. Meanwhile, Angela Merkel’s office says the German chancellor will meet with Venezuela opposition leaders to express her concerns about the “troubling human rights situation” there. Merkel’s office said Tuesday it was with “great regret” that the Wednesday meeting with Julio Borges, president of the National Assembly, and Freddy Guevara, the legislature’s first vice president, will take place without human rights activist Lilian Tintori. Tintori was barred by the government from leaving Venezuela to meet Merkel and other European leaders. (AP)

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INTERNATIONAL

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Brazil Police find suitcases of cash linked to ex-politician

Brazil charges 2 ex-presidents in Petrobras graft

Pope Francis waves as he boards an aircraft at Fiumicino International Airport in Rome on Sept 6, as he prepares to travel to Colombia. (AFP)

Pope seeks to heal conflict’s wounds Pope Francis headed to Colombia on Wednesday to try to help heal the wounds of Latin America’s longest-running armed conflict, bolstered by a new cease-fire with a holdout rebel group but fully aware of the fragility of the country’s peace process. During a deeply symbolic five-day visit starting Wednesday, Francis is expected to press Colombian leaders to address the social and economic disparities that fueled five decades of armed rebellion, while

encouraging ordinary Colombians to balance their need for justice with forgiveness. In a video message on the eve of his departure, Francis urged all Colombians to take a “first step” and reach out to one another for the sake of peace and the future. “Peace is what Colombia has been looking for and working for for such a long time,” he said. “A stable and lasting peace, so that we can see one another and treat one another as brothers, not as enemies.” (AP)

BRASÍLIA, Sept 6, (AFP): Brazil on Tuesday formally charged ex-presidents Dilma Rousseff and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva with racketeering for plotting to skim funds from Petrobras, the state oil giant. The news is particularly bad for the uphill battle Lula is waging to win the presidency again. Rousseff was Lula’s designated successor, and Brazil’s first woman president. “The crimes are believed to have taken place at least from mid-2002 to May 12, 2016” Lula when Rousseff was suspended as part of impeachment proceedings, the attorney general’s office said. Their Workers’ Party allegedly fleeced $475 million in bribe money, “making use of public entities including

Petrobras, the National Development Bank (BNDES) and the Planning Ministry,” according to the charges. Attorney General Rodrigo Janot alleged that much of what became a transnational graft operation was run by Lula. Meanwhile, Brazilian police on Tuesday found suitcases overflowing with millions of dollars worth of cash in an apartment believed to be linked to a former government minister accused of corruption. There was so much money in the apartment in the northeastern city of Salvador, which was believed to be used by former minister Geddel Vieira Lima, that police took hours even to make a first estimate. Late in the evening, with seven cash counting machines in action, police said that “more than 33 million reais ($10.6 million) have been counted.” But their work wasn’t over. “Given the amount still to go, the prediction is that the counting will take all night,” federal police said in a statement.

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

INTERNATIONAL

14

World News Roundup Climate Sea surface temps fall

La Nina threatening early return – experts LONDON, Sept 6, (RTRS): Forecasts for an El Nino this winter have given way to the prospect of more La Nina-like conditions as sea surface temperatures in the central-eastern Pacific cool rapidly. Surface temperatures in the critical area of the Pacific have fallen to 0.2 degrees Celsius below average, down from 0.7 degrees above average in the week centred on June 28. The rapid cooling has forced meteorologists to reassess the outlook for the northern hemisphere winter. Until June, most forecasters were predicting a mild or moderate El Nino between December 2017 and February 2018. But the rapid cooling of the sea's surface in July and August now points to a shift towards more neutral conditions, or even La Nina developing. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has cut the probability of El Nino between December and February from 44 percent in its May forecast to just 16 percent in August. NOAA’s spokesman is Theo Stein. At the same time, it has doubled the probability of La Nina Stein between December and February from 14 percent to 28 percent. The latest runs of NOAA's forecast models point to La Nina conditions developing by the end of 2017 and into early 2018. Surface temperatures in the central-eastern Pacific area are monitored by meteorologists because they correlate with a broader set of oceanic and atmospheric changes known as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). But the evolution of ENSO remains notoriously hard to predict. The warm phase forecast earlier this year proved to be very weak, failing to reach the threshold to qualify as a full El Nino, and then fizzled early. Something similar could happen with the current predictions of La Nina. Even if La Nina conditions develop in the next few months, it remains hard to predict their intensity or duration.

A wildfire burns near Weber Canyon on Sept 5 in Uintah County, Utah.

Weather Oregon wildfire smoke chokes US west

Blaze sparks eruption comparisons

Rapid Despite the rapid cooling of surface temperatures in the central-eastern Pacific, most of the other components of a La Nina episode are absent or only weakly present at the moment. "Sea surface temperatures have cooled during the past several weeks, yet have remained within the neutral range," the Australian Bureau of Meteorology reported at the end of August. "Other indicators of ENSO ... are also at neutral levels." The most likely outcome this winter is for ENSO to remain in a fairly neutral or slightly cool phase. "The latest outlooks suggest that the central tropical Pacific Ocean will cool slightly in the next month, but remain within the neutral ENSO range for the rest of 2017," according to the Austrian meteorology bureau. But if it does develop, a moderate to strong La Nina would bring a colder winter to the northern United States and Canada and milder conditions to the southern states. It would also bring wetter weather to Southeast Asia and northern Australia, as well as northeast Brazil. ("The three phases of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation", Australian Bureau of Meteorology, 2011) ENSO alternates between warm and cool phases with a major and widespread impact on precipitation and temperatures around much of the world. ("Weather impacts of ENSO", US National Weather Service) ENSO swings predictably between warm and cool phases but their duration and intensity is highly irregular and much harder to predict, which is what makes seasonal weather forecasting so challenging. Meteorologists label intense warm phases "El Nino" and strong cool phases "La Nina" but in reality they are just extreme positions in a continuous cycle. The most common definitions require sea surface temperatures in an area of the central-eastern Pacific known as Nino region 3.4 to be at least 0.5 degrees Celsius above or below the seasonal average for several months to qualify as an El Nino or La Nina episode. But the definition is arbitrary and it is possible to define strong, moderate and marginal instances of both El Nino and La Nina. From an analytical perspective, it is more useful to think about warm and cool phases of ENSO with varying intensities.

Impact ENSO has its most pronounced impact on countries around the Pacific and Indian Oceans because of their proximity but milder effects are felt much further away in North America and the Atlantic. A strong El Nino or La Nina episode tends to have a significant impact on weather conditions while the impact of a milder episode is harder to identify. ENSO is also only one of a number of large scale disturbances in the oceans and atmosphere so the effect of a mild phase may be lost among other variables. The strongest impact is felt in Southeast Asia, the Maritime Continent and northern Australia, where ENSO shifts the location of rainfall and results in alternate droughts and flooding. Similar shifts in rainfall occur in Latin America, the Indian subcontinent and eastern Africa, resulting in alternate heavy rains and dry seasons. El Nino usually brings dry conditions to Southeast Asia, India and parts of South America and heavy rainfall in eastern Africa. By contrast, La Nina brings wetter conditions to Southeast Asia and parts of South America, and drier conditions in eastern Africa. The impact on the United States, Canada and the Caribbean comes from shifts in the strength and track of the Pacific jet stream. ("How El Nino and La Nina affect the winter jet stream and US climate", NOAA, 2016) El Nino is normally associated with a strong westto-east air flow across the Pacific that brings stormier conditions to the southern United States and milder winters across much of the north of the country and Canada. La Nina brings a more variable and weaker Pacific jet stream, allowing more cold polar air to enter from the north, bringing cold weather to the northern states and Canada but milder conditions in the south ("El Nino and La Nina-related winter features over North America", NOAA, 2005). Because the United States and Canada are located further away from the heart of ENSO, the impact tends to be milder and more easily masked by other disturbances in the oceans and atmosphere.

Northern Lights (aurora borealis) illuminate the sky over the beach of Flakstad on Lofoten Islands, Arctic Circle on Sept 5. (AFP)

Discovery Arianespace aborts sat launch: European satellite launching firm Arianespace said it had called off the launch of two communications satellites seconds before lift-off on Tuesday, citing unspecified problems. An Ariane 5 heavy-launcher rocket had been due to take off from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana, carrying satellite Intelsat 37e for Intelsat and BSAT-4a for manufacturer Space Systems Loral. Arianespace, majority-owned by a joint venture of Airbus and Safran, offers launches with Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega rockets and says it has sent into orbit more than half of all telecommunications satellites now in service. The company said engineers were trying to find out what caused the anomaly in the launch, which was to be the fifth Ariane 5 mission from the Guiana Space Center this year. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ Shatner sends msg to Voyager: NASA announced the winner Tuesday of a contest to send a message to the Voyager spacecraft which launched 40 years ago on a historic mission to explore the outer planets. Star Trek actor William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk, read the message from mission control in Houston, before it was beamed out to Voyager 1, according to a broadcast on NASA television. "We offer friendship across the stars. You are not alone," said the message, written by Oliver Jenkins, whose Twitter handle is @Asperger_Nerd. The contest launched by NASA aimed to find the perfect goodwill message -- under 60 characters long -- to commemorate the twin spacecraft that launched in 1977 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Armyworm hits north Cameroon: Crop-eating fall armyworms have attacked nearly 37,000 hectares of maize in northern Cameroon, officials said on Wednesday, accentuating an already dire humanitarian crisis provoked by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram's cross-border insurgency. More than two dozen African nations have reported outbreaks of the invasive Central American variety of the pest, which is harder to detect and eradicate than its African counterpart. They have now spread to all of Cameroon's 10 administrative regions, though maize crops in the Extreme North region have only been heavily affected since July, Deputy Agriculture Minister Clementine Ananga Messina told Reuters. The Extreme North region bordering Chad and Nigeria has been hit hard by Boko Haram, whose campaign of violence and cross-border attacks has sent more than 93,000 Nigerians fleeing into Cameroon where some 235,000 people have also been displaced. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

Grizzly bites, claws hunter: A grizzly bear feasting on an elk carcass charged a

TROUTDALE, Oregon, Sept 6, (AP): People in Oregon covered their faces with scarves to keep choking ash from wildfires from filling their lungs and wiped the soot from windshields, similar to what long-time residents said they had to do in 1980 during the volcanic eruption of Mount St Helens. The growing blaze east of Portland, Oregon, in the scenic Columbia River Gorge, was one of dozens of wildfires in western US states that sent smoke into cities from Seattle to Denver – prompting health warnings and cancellations of outdoor activities for children by many school districts. The 16-square mile (41-square kms) fire east of Portland forced hundreds of home evacuations. And embers from the fire drifted across the Columbia River – sparking blazes in neighboring Washington state. People shielded their faces and authorities in the Northwest urged drivers to use headlights during the day to increase visibility. "I haven't seen ash fall like this in the Portland metro area in my 18 years as a firefighter," said Damon Simmons, with the fire incident management team for the Oregon State Fire Marshal. Joanna Fisher walked to work Tuesday at a Troutdale, Oregon, naturopathic clinic with Calla Wanser, who was wearing a red bandana around her mouth. "You can't really stand outside without getting rained on" by ash, Fisher said. The only comparison people could come up with was the eruption of Mount St Helens in nearby southwest Washington more than 35 years ago. "In 1980, we had a couple of significant ash falls here in the Portland area and this is very reminiscent of what we saw in the ash fall in those days," said Don Hamilton, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Transportation. "The particulate matter that shows up on the cars, it gets in your hair, it gets in your eyes, it?s all over the place like it was in those days." A closure of one section of Interstate 84 because of thick smoke and falling ash was extended 30 miles (48 kms) east of Portland while the US Coast Guard closed about 20 miles (32 kms) of the Columbia River in the same area. The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, a federal agency that coordinates wildfire-fighting, said 80 large fires were burning on 2,200 square miles (5,700 square kilometers) in nine Western states. A fast-moving wildfire in northern Utah swept down a canyon Tuesday morning — destroying structures, forcing evacuations and closing highways. A least five homes burned and more than 1,000 people were evacuated as high winds fed the flames in the canyon north of Salt Lake City. Thick black smoke closed parts of two highways as firefighters struggled to fight the blaze

bow hunter in Montana and attacked him, slashing a 16-inch (41-centimeter) cut in the man's head that required 90 stitches to close. "The bear just flat-out charged us," said Tom Sommer, as he recovered in a Montana hospital on Tuesday afternoon. He said it closed the 30-foot (9-meter) distance in 3 or 4 seconds. "It bit my thigh, ran his claws through my wrist and proceeded to attack my head," Sommer said. "I could hear bones crunch-

How storm predictions are made

Sorting ‘spaghetti’ of hurricane WASHINGTON, Sept 6, (AP): Hurricane Irma, with its record strong winds, is lashing the Caribbean but where will it go from there? Forecasters turn to computer simulations to try to predict a storm's path and how strong it will be. Different computer models – often run by different governments and various agencies — use different recipes or formulas to mimic the atmosphere. They all also approximate current conditions differently. So the resulting models look like a plate of spaghetti thrown on a map. But in that messy mass, meteorologists can get an increasingly strong idea of where a storm like Irma is heading. A look at how those predictions are made: WHO TO TRUST The place to start is the National Hurricane Center's official forecast, say several meteorologists who are not part of the federal government. "You can't beat the hurricane center forecast," said Miami television meteorologist Max Mayfield, who was the director of the hurricane center from 2000 to 2007. The hurricane center sees computer models other people don't, judges individual models and uses a consensus of the better performing models, he said. The center also shows how well they do over time – and they are doing better. The trouble, say those experts, is that those same images of models are spreading over social media and they are getting misread. There are even bogus hurricane tracks spreading on social media. HOW GOOD ARE THE PREDICTIONS

Forecasters track the beginnings of storms, whether they come out of unstable weather that pops up in the Gulf of Mexico, or chug off Africa in classic Atlantic storm mode like Irma. The models usually agree about where the storm will go for the next 12 to 24 hours and the spread out with time. Today, the five-day forecast is as good as the three-day forecast was 15 years ago. And the margin of error for the five-day track forecast is nearly half of what it was when it was first introduced in 2001. What's key is that meteorologists don't stick to a single line or track because a slight change can mean a big difference, Mayfield said. For example, a tiny turn over Cuba, where mountains can eat up storms, can weaken Irma considerably. WHAT GOES INTO A MODEL Computer models are like massive apps that try to solve complex equations that simulate the behavior of the atmosphere and oceans, said MIT meteorology professor Kerry Emanuel. Usually they don't go much farther out in time than five days, and if they do, it's with decreasing accuracy. They use real-time readings of wind, temperature, air pressure, humidity and more. But those real-time readings are sparse and spread out over the open Atlantic. Sometimes the models point to the same general conclusion, like Superstorm Sandy hitting the New York-New Jersey area. The models did well about five days out in 2012, said Emanuel. Sometimes they are all over the place. This time they are in between, not widespread but not clustered, he said.

fueled by winds gust at up to 40 mph. In Washington state the US Department of Defense agreed to assign 200 active-duty soldiers to help fight a wildfire. Civilian firefighting commanders said Tuesday the soldiers from Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington, would undergo four days of training and then be sent to a complex of 14 wildfires in southern Oregon's Umpqua National Forest that have burned 47 square miles (120 square kms). And a wildfire near Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state grew to more than 29 square miles (75 square kms) and heavy smoke blanketed many cities in Washington state. A portion of the park was closed. Mandatory evacuations were called for the fire near Mount Rainier, including the Crystal Mountain ski resort, which

closed Monday because of smoke. The air quality in Spokane, Washington, was rated as hazardous Tuesday morning. The National Weather Service says it was likely to get worse as wind shifts bring in smoke from fires in Canada, Montana, Oregon and Washington. Air quality alerts were issued for parts of Idaho as well. In Oregon, people living in about 700 homes in and around the Columbia River Gorge have been forced to evacuate. Others have been warned to get ready as flames burn trees and brush in one of the state's biggest tourist attractions. Authorities say they believe the blaze, which started Saturday, was caused by a 15-year-old boy and friends using fireworks. They've identified a suspect but have made no arrests.

Shatner

Sommer

ing, just like you read about." Sommer said he and a hunting partner were looking for an elk they had been calling Monday morning when his partner spotted the grizzly in the southern end of the Gravelly Range, just north of the Idaho border. His hunting partner unleashed a blast of bear spray, which slowed the bear's charge. Sommer said he grabbed his canister so quickly that he couldn't release the safety and he couldn't afford to look down as the bear closed in. (AP)

Lee Chang-dong lights up Murakami adaptation ‘Burning’

Film

Don’t look for truth in courtroom, Japanese thriller suggests VENICE, Sept 6, (RTRS): The courtroom is not where you find the truth, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda shows in his legal drama “The Third Murder”, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday. The movie, called “Sandome no satsujin” in Japanese, is one of 21 films from around the world competing for the Golden Lion, which will be awarded on Sept 9 after days of screenings, parties and red carpet glamour on Venice’s Lido island. “Talking with some lawyers ... they told me that the court is not the place where you actually search for the truth. This was the starting point of my project”, Kore-eda told journalists. It tells the story of attorney Shigemori, played by Masaharu Fukuyama, who takes on the defense of murder-robbery suspect Misumi, portrayed by Koji Yakusho, who previously served jail time for a murder he committed 30 years earlier. The case appears quite straightforward, especially after Misumi voluntarily admits his guilt. But as Shigemori digs deeper, doubts soon emerge. The court case is concluded but the truth is never revealed, raising questions about the legal system and whether it is right that some human beings are asked to judge others — questions that go largely unanswered. “I thought that the most correct thing to do as a director was not to give an answer because there isn’t an answer”, he said. “One just has to think about the choices, the choices of the character in that particular instance”. Most of the key scenes are set in an interview room in jail, where

Shigemori interrogates his client, sitting opposite him with only a glass wall between them. Static Kore-eda said that what at first seemed a very static setting soon turned out to be a great way to emphasise the emotional turmoil of the two characters, especially as their physical movements are limited. Unlike a regular crime story, which starts with a mystery that is resolved as the story unfolds, Kore-eda sought “to give this idea of ambiguity, of vagueness that the lawyers themselves perceive ... once the verdict has been handed down”. “So they remain in that sense of uncertainty and vagueness, and it is my hope that the public, the viewer, would remain with this sense of vagueness”, he said. ❑ ❑ ❑ Top Korean auteur, Lee Chang-dong has set “Burning” as the first film he will direct in some eight years. The picture is an adaptation of the short story “Barn Burning”, written by Japan’s “Norwegian Wood” author Haruki Murakami, and first published in The New Yorker. The film is to be produced by Lee’s Pine House, Now Films and Oh Jung-wan’s Bom Films Production. It will star actor Yoo Ah-in (“The Throne”) as one half of a mysterious couple that a writer meets at a party. In the story, the man claims to be an arsonist, and last year Lee described the project as a mystery thriller. “It is a story about young people in today’s world. When they think of their lives and this world it must feel like a mystery”, Lee said at the Busan festival last year.

Pine House was previously in talks with actor Kang Dong-won (“Veteran”, “Woochi”) for another role. The actress for the lead female role, has not yet been finalized. Production starts later this month. It had been set to begin in November last year, but was held up by a dispute between Murakami and Japanese broadcaster NHK, which owns rights to many Murakami works. Lee, who was also Korea’s minister of culture between 2003-04, has a stellar track record as a director of challenging art movies. He won the silver lion at Venice in 2002 for “Oasis”, and the screenplay award at Cannes in 2010 for “Poetry”, his most recent film as director. His “Secret Sunshine” earned Jeon Do-yeon the best actress award at Cannes in 2007.

Also: LOS ANGELES: “Her Love Boils Bathwater” has been selected as Japan’s contender for the foreign language film Oscar. Directed by Ryota Nakano, the film is drama about a terminally ill woman’s determination to put her affairs in order and set her daughter on the right path. This is a first-time Academy Awards race selection for Nakano, whose only previous feature was the 2013 family drama “Capturing Dad”. Released in Japan in October of last year, with Klockworx distributing, the film won an array of Japanese awards. Among its six Japan Academy prizes were best picture, best director and best actress honors, the last going to lead Rie Miyazawa. The nomination was selected by a committee under the auspices of the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan.

Features

Variety

Actress Hirose Suzu attends the photocall of the movie ‘Sandome No Satsujin’ (The Third Murder) presented in competition at the 74th Venice Film Festival on Sept 5, at Venice Lido. (AFP)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

Film Witherspoon plays a perky LA mother LOS ANGELES: Following an Oscar victory for his performance in “Manchester by the Sea”, Casey Affleck has found his next film. Affleck is set to star in “Stoner”, directed by Joe Wright, and produced by Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions. Cohen Media Group (CMG) and Film4 will team with Blumhouse on the film. Andrew Bovell will adapt the script based on the novel of the same name by John Williams. The movie will follow the life of William Stoner, a dirt-poor farmer turned academic, who emerges as an unlikely existential hero while making his way through the first half of the 20th Century. “Because the novel is so beautiful but not well-known, fans of ‘Stoner’ feel like they’re in a secret club. I’m so excited that Casey, Joe and Andrew have come aboard to help expand this club’s membership”, said Blum, who optioned the book in 2011. “This quintessentially American work is being brought to the screen by a terrific international team and we’re confident their combined perspectives will add rich layers to this moving story”. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ LOS ANGELES: Gary Oldman is starring in the independent supernatural thriller “Mary” with Tucker Tooley Entertainment and Entertainment One producing and co-financing. Shooting will begin later this month in Alabama with Michael Goi directing from Anthony Jaswinski’s screenplay. The story focuses on a family that buys an old ship at auction and discovers the ship’s secrets once they are out on the isolated open waters. Tucker Tooley, Scott Lambert, Alexandra Milchan, and Scott Lumpkin are producing. Greg Renker and Jason Barhydt will executive produce with Douglas Urbanski, Oldman’s longtime producing partner.

‘Home Again’ a comedy with pain By Owen Gleiberman ome Again’, a lifestyle comedy with a soupcon ‘H of pain, stars Reese Witherspoon as a perky Los Angeles mother of two coping with a perky divorce and perky career problems (let’s pause and take a breath before we get to her perky love life). It’s the first feature written and directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer, whose last name alone sounds like the opening credits of two dozen comedies: Her mother is Nancy Meyers, director of “The Parent Trap”, “Something’s Gotta Give”, “It’s Complicated” and “The Intern”, and her father is Charles Shyer, director of “Baby Boom”, “Father of the Bride” and “Father of the Bride II”. (The couple, who divorced in 1999, collaborated as writers and/or producers on a number of other features, including “Private Benjamin”.) Depending on your point of view, that pedigree will mean one of two things: Hallie Meyers-Shyer was put on earth to make contemporary Hollywood screwball comedies — or she was put on earth to make glib, pat, overly cozy and superficial contemporary Hollywood screwball comedies. “Home Again” nudges you toward the latter scenario, but who knows? I had limited patience for the original Meyers-Shyer team (though “Baby Boom” remains one of life’s so-cheesy-it’s-irresistible guilty pleasures), yet once Nancy Meyers went out on her own, she became a wittier and more nimble filmmaker. So maybe Hallie Meyers-Shyer will follow in her footsteps and improve. Right now, she’s got nowhere to go but up. Here’s a way that she needs to improve. It’s OK, in rough economic times, to make a movie about uppermiddle-class people who are cushioned from the anxiet-

ies that afflict so many of us, but it seems more than a trifle obnoxious to tell a story that unfolds in a bubble of Hollywood privilege and to present it as if it were something that everyone could relate to. Alice Kinney (Witherspoon), who’d been raising her family in New York, has just separated from her husband, played by Michael Sheen as the world’s nicest cutthroat music-industry executive (the two get along like besties). To cushion the blow, she has moved back to the sprawling LA bungalow where she grew up with her famous, charming and philandering filmmaker dad, John Kinney (David Netto), who is now deceased (we see him in adoring flashback), and her mother, Lilian (Candice Bergen), who has taken her in. Alice seems pretty upbeat for someone who’s in the middle of a marital meltdown, facing the prospect of raising two kids mostly by herself, and it doesn’t take long to see why. Despite her situation, she has no economic worries! She comes from Hollywood royalty, and she has returned to the moneyed bosom of her childhood home, where she attempts to launch a career as a freelance interior decorator. (This part of the film plays like “Curb Your Enthusiasm” without irony.) Then she meets a dude — but even here, it’s really all about her dad.

Aspiring Harry (Pico Alexander), who’s 27 but looks 23, is an aspiring director who has come to LA with his two buddy collaborators: George (Jon Rudnitsky), a screenwriter; and Teddy (Nat Wolff), an aspiring movie star. The three made a short that wowed the indie world (from the clips of it, it almost looks like Meyers-Shyer based it on “Queens Boulevard”, the Sundance film that was Vincent Chase’s stab at indie integrity on “Entourage”),

Oldman will be seen next as Winston Churchill in Focus Features’ “Darkest Hour”, directed by Joe Wright. The World War II drama premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on Sept 1 and generated awards season buzz. It opens in the US on Nov 22. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

LOS ANGELES: Christian Bale

Affleck

Bale

offers a bleak worldview in a trailer released for the Western “Hostiles”, which premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival. The trailer, released Tuesday by Le Grisbi Productions and Waypoint Entertainment, concludes after several violent scenes with Bale’s voiceover: “Understand this — when we lay our heads down, we are all prisoners”.

and now they plan to expand it into a feature. They meet slimy agents who love them, a note-giving corrupt horror producer who loves them, and other cardboard Tinseltown deplorables. But at a bar, Harry meets Alice, and the sparks fly. The best way to describe their relationship might be as mildly inappropriate but cuddly. They start dating — sort of. But more than that, Alice agrees to let Harry and his partners move into her guest house, because ... why not? After all, it’s not as if her kids, her divorce, and her new career are keeping her busy. When George, the screenwriter, stumbles into her dad’s old study, jammed with movie posters and film reels, he acts as if he’d just learned that her father was Orson Welles. (Really? Making commercial American comedies in the late 1970s?) And when Harry tells Alice’s mother that he himself is a filmmaker, and Bergen puts a dry spin on the line “Everybody is! We’re in LA”, Harry shoots her a look that says, Yes, but our film is in black-and-white! The three dudes are portrayed as millennial saints who become Alice’s pals, neighbors, chauffeurs, and babysitters, as the movie seeks to turn itself into a sitcom called “Four’s Company”. “Home Again” really does have the look and feel of an early-period Meyers-Shyer product: the overly bright lighting and soft zingers, the feel-good conceits that get piled on top of each other. But it’s also a little tone-deaf. (At one point, Michael Sheen’s character is described as “Clark Gable meets Sean Penn”.) There’s a fist fight, a reckoning, and a Moral Quandary: Is George betraying his partners by going off to write a screenplay on his own? (Uh, no.) What there isn’t much evidence of is genuine experience: of life, or of filmmaking. Hallie Meyers-Shyer is trying to be a chip off two old blocks, but next time she’d be better off working less close to home. (RTRS)

The film, set in 1892, stars Bale as a captain who agrees to escort a dying Cheyenne war chief (Wes Studi) and his family back home to tribal lands. The journey takes Bale and his detail from New Mexico to the grasslands of Montana. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

LOS ANGELES: A24’s first trailer for “Lady Bird”, starring Saoirse

Ronan, starts with an edgy motherversus-daughter confrontation in a moving car. The actress wants to go to an East Coast college and expresses her hatred for California. Her mother, portrayed by Laurie Metcalf, tells her she’s a snob and suggests that with her work ethic, she should aim low: “Just go to city college, then to jail, then to city college again”. (RTRS)

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

NEWS/FEATURES

16

People & Places Film Carrey on ‘Moon’

3rd Star Wars director quits

Spanish actor Javier Bardem, US actress Jennifer Lawrence (center), and US actress Michelle Pfeiffer attend the premiere of the movie ‘Mother’ presented in competition at the 74th Venice Film Festival on Sept 5 at Venice Lido. (AFP)

Music

Film ‘Daddy’ Gawli’s biopic

‘Despacito’ reign ends

B’wood turns spotlight on real-life mafia dons MUMBAI, Sept 6, (AFP): A movie about the life of a notorious Mumbai mafia don comes out in Indian cinemas this week as Bollywood steps up its longheld fascination with the financial capital’s criminal underworld. “Daddy”, a biopic on gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli, hits screens Friday before the release later this month of a film about the infamous sister of Dawood Ibrahim, India’s most wanted man. Shooting for a third gangster movie, starring Bollywood superstars Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan, will start next year. For “Daddy” director Ashim Ahluwalia, making a film about a former mafia boss currently serving life in prison for the murder of a local councillor was a little intimidating. “It is, but Gawli is an older man now, past his prime and we have made the film with his family’s consent. I wouldn’t have done it otherwise,” he told AFP. “I think he feels he has done his time and that his family has suffered enough. We had to have the Gawli family’s trust. And we assured them that we would not misrepresent. Gawli “However there are others in the film whose consent we did not have and we have thinly disguised some of them, such as a few of the politicians. “Getting threats is an inevitable part of working on a subject like this,” he added. Forty-four-year-old Actor Arjun Rampal plays Gawli in “Daddy”. The film, which takes its title from Gawli’s nickname, charts his life through the 1980s and ’90s from mill worker to gangster, to kingpin of Mumbai’s Dagdi Chawl-based gang to state politician.

Brutal His gang was engaged in a brutal war with Ibrahim’s notorious D-Company for many years. Gawli faced numerous criminal charges but none stuck until he was found guilty in August 2012 of involvement in the murder of local Shiv Sena party politician Kamlakar Jamsandekar four years earlier. The 62-year-old is in jail in Nagpur, central India. “We met him several times and one of the first things I noticed about him is how he doesn’t speak much. He’s rather opaque,” said Ahluwalia. “(But he) did suggest iterations on the script which were made in consultation with his lawyers because several cases are still pending in the courts.” The filmmakers say they made a concerted effort not to glorify Gawli. “We are not trying to promote this lifestyle or this world. We have tried to make a movie that is authentic and entertaining,” Rampal told AFP. Ahluwalia said the film tells Gawli’s story from several points of view, including from his wife, a rival gang member, and the police. “This allows the audience to pick which version they want to accept,” he explained. The movie continues a lengthy fascination that Bollywood has had with Mumbai’s underworld. In the 1970s veteran superstar Amitabh Bachchan made his name playing a number of angry young men involved in nefarious activities such as “Deewar” (The Wall) and “Don”. “Satya”, “Company”, “D-Day” and most recently Shah Rukh Khan’s “Raees” built on the gangster genre. On Sept 22, “Haseena”, directed by Apoorva Lakhia and about the life of Ibrahim’s sister Haseena Parkar, releases in India. Actress Shraddha Kapoor plays the central character who became known as the “Queen of Mumbai” for her role in running Ibrahim’s operations after he fled India following the 1993 Bombay bomb blasts. Connections between Bollywood and gangsters ran deep in the ’80s and ’90s when the film industry depended on the criminal underworld for funding. Before he left India Ibrahim was often photographed with various Bollywood stars at social events, underlining the closeness between the extortions and violence depicted on screen and those carried out in real life.

Swift soars atop chart

Actor Jim Carrey attends the premiere of the movie ‘Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond — The Story Of Jim Carrey & Andy Kaufman With A Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention Of Tony Clifton’ presented out of competition at the 74th Venice Film Festival on Sept 5 at Venice Lido. (AFP)

Variety OAKLAND, California: Rick Stevens, the former lead singer of Oakland’s Tower of Power rhythm and blues band who spent 36 years in prison, has died. He was 77. KTVU-TV reported that Stevens died Tuesday after a short battle with cancer. Stevens joined the band in 1969 and sang lead on the group’s first two albums, including on the hit songs “Sparkling in the Sand” and “You’re Still a Young Man.” But Stevens was convicted of murder for killing three people in 1976 during a drug deal gone wrong. He was paroled in 2012. In a message posted on the band’s Facebook page , current bandleader Emilio Castillo called Stevens a soulful singer who had a strong personality. “I remember talking with him when he was released and I was skeptical about his ‘prison salvation’ experience,” Castillo posted Tuesday. “I told him that I really hoped he would take advantage of the tremendous opportunity that God had given him to help people to avoid the pitfalls he had fallen into. He went above and beyond the call of duty and carried his message of faith and redemption to many.” (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

LAS VEGAS: The life of famed comedian Jerry Lewis was celebrated in Las Vegas, where host Tony Orlando told funny stories in an event that was more joyous than gloomy, as the comic would have wanted. “We lost a great one,” said Orlando, who co-hosted the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon for decades. “The man who generated those laughs was Jerry Lewis. We are going to miss him. Imprint, today, every laugh he ever gave you.” Orlando spoke to more than 400 friends and family Monday. Lewis’ muscular dystrophy telethons were a Labor Day staple for more than 40 years. From the 1960s onward, the telethons raised about $1.5 billion, including more than $60 million in 2009. Lewis died Aug 20 at age 91 in Las Vegas of heart disease and was cremated. “Jerry did not like memorials,” spokeswoman Candi Cazau said. “He would want people to rejoice over what he put into and what he received from life.” Lewis gained fame with his comic partnership with Dean Martin and made movie favorites like “The Bellboy” and “The Nutty Professor.” (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

NEW YORK, Sept 6, (AFP): Taylor Swift’s vengeful new track topped the US singles chart Tuesday with the year’s highest one-week sales, halting the historic reign of global sensation “Despacito”. “Look What You Made Me Do”, a dark dance track that is the first single off Swift’s upcoming album “Reputation”, pushed “Despacito” to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week through Thursday. The pop superstar’s song has broken the one-day streaming record on Spotify — to which Swift recently returned after a high-profile boycott. Tracking service Nielsen Music said “Look What You Made Me Do” had the second highest number of streams ever over all platforms, trailing the 2013 viral dance craze track “Harlem Shake”. “Look What You Made Me Do” also posted the year’s most downloads, at 353,000, the most since Justin Timberlake’s feel-good summer song “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” in May 2016. Swift ended the 16-week streak at the top of “Despacito”, the reggaeton track by Puerto Rican pop star Luis Fonsi with rapper Daddy Yankee, whose remix featured pop celebrity Justin Bieber. “Despacito” tied “One Sweet Day”, the 1995 ballad by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men, for the most weeks at number one. The feat is all the more striking as few non-English songs have dominated the US charts. “Look What You Made Me Do” — accompanied by a video that opens at a cemetery and depicts Swift dressed ghoulishly and wielding a baseball bat — marks a more sinister side to a singer long considered anodyne. The song appears to hit back at Kanye West, who infuriated Swift a year earlier by boasting in a song that she may sleep with him because he “made that ... famous” — presumably a reference to how the rapper interrupted her acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009. Swift over the weekend released a day Czukay’s body was found in an apartment in nearby Weilerswist. There was no immediate word on the cause of death. Czukay co-founded Can in 1968. The band mixed rock, jazz and classical influences with complex harmonies and electronic effects, and was a precursor of New Wave and other music. He left Can in 1977 and embarked on a solo career, working with artists including Brian Eno, David Sylvian and the Eurythmics. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

LOS ANGELES: Late Sunday Michael

BERLIN: Holger Czukay, the co-founder and bassist of avant-garde band Can and a one-time student of composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, has been found dead. He was 79. News agency dpa reported that police in Euskirchen, near Cologne, said Wednes-

Stevens

Lewis

second track off the new album entitled “...Ready For It?” Swift reaches deeper into hip-hop on the song, opening with a heavy beat before a lighter pop chorus. Swift describes her woeful love life, one of her favorite topics, but hints more openly to sex, singing: “In the middle of my night / In my dreams / You should see the things we do, baby.” The song — like much of Swift’s blockbuster previous album, “1989” — is written with the chart-topping Swedish pop producer trio of Max Martin, Ali Payami and Shellback.

Also: NEW YORK: Sam Smith, the English soul singer whose debut album three years ago quickly propelled him to stardom, is back with new music — and heartache apparently is still on his mind. Smith said that a new song, “Too Good at Goodbyes”, would come out Friday as he posted on social media a black-and-white picture of a decaying bouquet. He offered a snippet of the lyrics, starting with the line “Every time you walk out, the less I love you.” The track is expected to be the first on his second album, the followup to his breakthrough debut “In the Lonely Hour” from 2014. Smith — blessed with a voice that is rich and soars comfortably into falsettos — is best-known for the debut album’s song “Stay With Me”, a tender ballad about longing for more than a one-night stand. The 25-year-old Londoner has said that the song was rooted in dark times, as he would hit the gay bars looking for love. But the song also won him a fan base and he was soon packing arenas. At the 2015 Grammys, Smith won Best New Artist, Song of the Year and Record of the Year — three of the four most coveted awards at the music industry’s premier gala. Since the first album, Smith found success with the James Bond theme song “Writing’s on the Wall” — but was also forced to take a break as he underwent surgery for a hemorrhage on his vocal cords. Jackson’s Twitter account posted a short video advertising a project called “Scream.” No details about the project were shared — although John Branca, co-executor of the late singer’s estate, did offer some vague hints in an interview with Variety at the Venice Film Festival on Monday, where a 3-D version of Jackson’s 1983 “Thriller” video premiered. “Now we have ‘Thriller’ 3-D, and two more announcements are coming up in the next couple of weeks,” Branca told Variety, declining to elaborate further. “Michael had an expression: ‘The quality goes in before the name goes on.’ So we are not ready to announce them yet.” Asked if there may be an album coming of unreleased recordings from the vaults, Branca said: “I don’t foresee us releasing any more unreleased music for quite some time.” But he added: “That doesn’t mean there won’t be interesting record releases in the very near future.” According to multiple reports on Twitter as well as the site HipHop N More, posters advertising the project have appeared in Europe that read “Michael Jackson Scream: Album Out Sept 29.” (RTRS)

LOS ANGELES, Sept 6, (Agencies): Colin Trevorrow has left as director of the third installment of the “Star Wars” sequels trilogy, Lucasfilm announced on Tuesday, citing differing visions between the filmmaker and studio executives. Trade press and websites had been speculating that Trevorrow, 40, was going to leave the blockbuster since the opening of his critically-panned commercial flop “The Book of Henry”. “Lucasfilm and Colin Trevorrow have mutually chosen to part ways on ‘Star Wars: Episode IX’”, Lucasfilm said in a statement. “Colin has Trevorrow been a wonderful collaborator throughout the development process, but we have all come to the conclusion that our visions for the project differ. We wish Colin the best and will be sharing more information about the film soon”. The Hollywood Reporter, citing unnamed sources, said the main point of contention was ongoing “script issues”, with Trevorrow being forced into several rewrites.

Unmanageable The weekly trade paper reported that the relationship between Trevorrow and Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy had become “unmanageable”, although it added that she had tried to avoid losing another director. In June, Lucasfilm sacked directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller (“21 Jump Street”, “The Lego Movie”), who were just weeks away from wrapping principal photography on the hotly-anticipated Han Solo spinoff. The pair were replaced by Oscarwinning filmmaker Ron Howard after clashing with Kennedy and writer Lawrence Kasdan, according to reports. Although not strictly a parting of the ways over creative differences, “Fantastic Four” director Josh Trank dropped out of developing a “Star Wars” spinoff in 2015, citing the enormous pressures of being involved with the franchise. The project, reportedly an origin story centered on the bounty hunter character Boba Fett, has yet to get a new director or a release date. Trevorrow’s departure will be seen as a significant upheaval as he is considered hot property after scoring big with Universal’s creature feature “Jurassic World” (2015), the fourthhighest grossing movie of all time. News of the decision sparked a frenzy of speculation on social media over who might be handed Trevorrow’s job, as well as plenty of pithy barbs on the high turnover of Lucasfilm directors.

Replacements Among the suggested replacements were British filmmaker Christopher Nolan (“Inception”, “Dunkirk”), “Batman vs Superman” helmer Zack Snyder and enigmatic “Twin Peaks” director David Lynch, who turned down “Return of the Jedi” (1983). “At this point, the children of House Stark have a better survival rate than Star Wars directors”, tweeted Angie Han, former editor of the SlashFilm blog in an oblique nod to the high death rate on HBO’s “Game of Thrones”. “Hollywood Pro Tip: young directors, don’t take that STAR WARS gig”, tweeted movie industry financial analyst Exhibitor Relations. “Saddened by this news. Colin T is a smart guy and a good dude. He was clearly over the moon about doing the film”, added Nick de Semlyen, the features editor at British film magazine Empire. The untitled Han Solo movie is due out on May 25 next year, while production has yet to start on “Star Wars: Episode IX”, slated for release 12 months later. “The Last Jedi”, the next film in the “Star Wars” franchise, directed by Rian Johnson, opens on Dec 15. ❑ ❑ ❑ Playing Andy Kaufman in “Man on the Moon” was a chance for Jim Carrey to reflect on his own identity and the impact the late cult comedian had on him, the actor said on Tuesday. Carrey was at the Venice Film Festival to present “Jim & Andy: the Great Beyond — the story of Jim Carrey & Andy Kaufman with a very special, contractually obligated mention of Tony Clifton”, a documentary about the making of the 1999 biopic. Director Chris Smith uses hundreds of hours of behind-the-scenes footage to show how Carrey immersed himself in the roles of Andy Kaufman and Tony Clifton, the character of an obnoxious lounge singer created by the US comedian.

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

NEWS/FEATURES

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Opera ‘Comet’ says goodbye

Philly offers 12-day explosion of operas PHILADELPHIA, Sept 6, (Agencies): In a downtown theater, five teenagers take refuge at a site once occupied by members of the radical group MOVE. Across the street, a serial killer terrorizes Victorian London. Up the block, the bird-catcher Papageno longs for true love. A bit further afield, spectators at two museums watch opera amid the art. Welcome to O17, as Opera Philadelphia is calling its festival season, a 12-day explosion of works new and old performed more or less simultaneously at diverse venues in the heart of the nation’s fifth-largest city. “The idea is to kind of Netflix the opera experience, to package a binge-watching opportunity,” said David Devan, the company’s general director. “Everything you’re going to see is like with your remote control going to a completely different channel.” So from Sept 14 through the 25th, customers can choose from among five full-scale productions. Three are world premieres: “We Shall Not Be Moved,” with music by Daniel Bernard Roumain, libretto by Marc Bamuthi Joseph and directed by choreographer Bill T. Jones; “Elizabeth Cree,” Puts by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell, adapted from a thriller by Peter Ackroyd; and “The Wake World,” an adaptation of a mystical fairy tale by the English occultist Aleister Crowley with music by David Hertzberg that will be performed alongside the Impressionist treasures of The Barnes Foundation. There’s also Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” in a version by Australian director Barrie Kosky that sets the characters against an animated backdrop and replaces dialogue with silent-movie titles, and a double bill called “War Stories” pairing Monteverdi’s “Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda” with a modern work, “I Have No Stories to Tell You,” music by Lembit Beecher and libretto by Hannah Moscovitch. As if that’s not enough, the festival offers soprano Sondra Radvanovsky — a week before she opens the Metropolitan Opera season in Bellini’s “Norma” — singing a recital and leading a master class, plus a free broadcast in Independence National Historical Park of last season’s production of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.”

A model displays a creation of Ukrainian fashion designer Sayya during the Spring/Summer Fashion Week in Kiev on Sept 5. (AFP)

Fashion Fashions comeback kid featured in new docu

Posen laid bare in ‘House of Z’

Burst Why this burst of events packed closely together, instead of the previous format which spaced four productions over the course of an entire season? The hope is that the barrage of new and offbeat offerings will attract local ticket buyers tempted by the unusual repertory and also that out-of-town visitors may come and stay for several events. For Devan, it’s a simple matter of survival. The old model of asking customers to buy subscription packages that committed them months ahead has long been failing — an experience shared by most US opera companies. “By everyone’s agreement we were getting better, but we weren’t seeing the results at the box office,” he said. Had the company not made this drastic change, “We calculated that we would be unsustainable within a 10-year period. Costs go up. We weren’t attracting enough new customers.” But Devan has not abandoned the core of loyal fans who still prefer the subscription model. The company will stage two productions later in the season — George Benjamin’s modern masterpiece “Written on Skin” in February and Bizet’s ever-popular “Carmen” in April and May. That hybrid approach may become the model for other mid-size and smaller companies. Both Fort Worth Opera, which switched to festival-only in 2007, and Vancouver Opera, which did so last season, say they plan to add back one or two fall or winter productions to please local fans. ❑ ❑ ❑ Bernadette Peters is Broadway’s new Dolly, with the theater-world fan favorite now confirmed to lead the cast of the mega-selling, Tony-winning revival of “Hello, Dolly!” in January. The casting, which had been the subject of persistent rumors in the theater industry, was seemingly confirmed Tuesday morning in a social media post, now removed, that said that Peters and Victor Garber would join the cast early next year. By Tuesday evening, the producers of “Hello, Dolly!,” led by Scott Rudin, had confirmed that Peters would step into the role. Garber, who would replace Midler’s co-star David Hyde Pierce, was not mentioned in the confirmation. The question of who would replace Bette Midler in “Dolly!,” one of the top-selling shows on Broadway, has been a hot topic of speculation this summer. In the theater-industry rumor mill, a slew of names made the rounds — including Dolly Parton and Sutton Foster — but by August, Peters, last on Broadway in the 2011 production of “Follies,” began to look like the frontrunner. At the time, the comment from Scott Rudin, the show’s lead producer, was the coy, “There’s no replacement for Bette.” But earlier on Tuesday, Garber’s husband, Rainer Andreesen, mentioned the “Dolly” casting in a comment on an Instagram post. That post has since been removed, but a screenshot remains.

Also: LOS ANGELES: A rainy Labor Day weekend brought a minor rise to the Broadway box office, with most individual shows upticking and “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812” going dark after a highgrossing but ultimately unprofitable run. “Great Comet” ($1,183,228) climbed more than 20% (about $200,000) thanks to last-minute business, hurrying in to see the show before the closing that was announced soon after a casting controversy involving the actors who would replace Josh Groban, the topliner who kept the production’s weekly box office high for all of last season. The week-to-week jump at “Comet” was easily the biggest on the chart last week, although “Groundhog Day” ($770,590) jumped about 18% in advance of its Sept 17 closing. With the summer wrapping up, it’s been pretty clear for a while what the successes of the season have been. There was Tony champ “Dear Evan Hansen” ($1,683,308), of course, which over the course of the summer upshifted from its already robust sales. Another Tony contender, “Come From Away” ($1,309,259), held high and strong all summer, and of course “Hello, Dolly!” ($2,273,240) spent most of the season in the stratosphere (except for the weeks when star Bette Midler was on a vacation).

In this June 7, 2017 file photo, Blake Shelton performs ‘Every Time I Hear that Song’ at the CMT Music Awards at Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP)

Variety NEW YORK: Beyonce, Blake Shelton, Barbra Streisand and Oprah Winfrey will headline a one-hour telethon to benefit Hurricane Harvey victims that will be simulcast next week on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CMT. The event will be telecast live at 8 pm Eastern on Sept 12, and on tape delay at 8 pm on the West Coast, and streamed live on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Houston rap artist Bun B and Scooter Braun, a Hollywood talent manager and founder of SB Projects, are the organizers. Bun B, a Houston native and lecturer at Rice University, said he was trying to organize a local event through his contacts and recognized that Harvey was a broader tragedy. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

LOS ANGELES: Metallica singer James Hetfield says he’s OK, but his ego is a bit bruised after falling on stage in the Netherlands. Fan video shows Hetfield walking into a hole created when part of the floor on the band’s custom stage was intentionally lowered as part of the Monday’s show. Hetfield fell face-first into the floor and his guitar. He remained motionless for several seconds until a pair of stagehands helped him up. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

LOS ANGELES: Bjork announced the release of a new single called “The Gate” on her website Monday. The song is due Sept 18 and is described by the artist (in all lowercase, as usual) thus: ‘The gate is essentially a love song, but I say ‘love’ in a more transcendent way. vulnicura was about a very personal loss, and I think this new album is about a love that’s even greater it’s about rediscovering love — but in a spiritual way, for lack of a better word.’ — bjork. The singer described her 2015 album, “Vulnicura,” as a “heartbreak album,” as it featured songs inspired by the end of her decade-plus relationship with artist Mathew Barney. The two have a daughter together, Isadora. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

LOS ANGELES: A new documentary called “Michael Hutchence: The Last Rockstar” promises to “make headlines all around the world,” producer Mark Llewellyn told Australia’s The Daily Telegraph over the weekend. The beloved INXS singer died in Nov 1997 by suicide. He was 37. The film, directed by Richard Lowenstein, who shot several INXS videos including “What You Need” and “Never Tear Us Apart,” is slated to air on Australia’s Channel Seven in honor of the 20th anniversary of Michael Hutchence’s death, and will include previously “missing songs,” personal photos, home videos, and lyrics, according to the Sydney-based paper. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ LOS ANGELES: Paramount Studios has launched development of “Dracula,” a prequel to the classic Dracula story, and attached

NEW YORK, Sept 6, (AP): Boy wonder, tyrant, genius: Zac Posen has been called that and more. The fashion designer, at 36, has experienced more ups and downs than his years might indicate and all are laid bare in a new documentary, “House of Z”, available on demand Wednesday at Vogue.com. Without a theatrical release, after debuting at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, the film traces Posen’s creativefueled childhood in the heart of Soho, his young and beautiful muses, some of whom he met in high school, his best and worst moments on the runway and a painful falling out with loved ones who helped make his dreams come true during lean times indeed. In some ways, the intensely personal film, the directorial debut of Toronto’s Sandy Chronopoulos, feels more like a retrospective than the comeback tale it tells. So why now? “I was at a place in my career, in my company and in myself, to be open to tell a story. I’ve had time to reflect. I knew I wouldn’t want to be part of a puff piece but I didn’t know what kind of story she was going to tell. It was terrifying,” Posen told The Associated Press in a recent interview. Soon after his first independent runway show in 2002, when he was 21, key fashion critics hailed Posen as a star. The “Vogue baby” got a boost when he put his luscious creations on the backs of Naomi Campbell, Claire Danes and Natalie Portman, this after he hosted buyers for Henri Bendel in his parents’ living room, when his company was more “air and interns” than financially secure.

Prestige With his mother, corporate attorney and Wall Streeter Susan Posen, and his sister, Alexandra, by his side on the job, Posen received help in 2004 from rap mogul Sean “Puffy” Combs, who pumped money, prestige and really great runway soundtracks into their company. But Posen, a gay, dyslexic kid who attended his high school graduation dressed as the pope, went on to experience a darker side of fashion. He became known more as the ultimate “song and dance kid” rather than the master draper, the craftsman of luxury gowns, that he is. His mother and his sister, who sit on his board and own a piece of the company today, departed in a contentious falling out. The 2008 recession hit, and the cutthroat fashion world in New York turned on Posen, especially after he decamped to Paris Fashion Week and showed a collection roundly torn apart by American critics. Posen, depressed, not speaking to his family, returned to New York to double

“It” director Andy Muschietti. Paramount won an auction for the prequel, written by Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker in the Bram Stoker Estate’s first authorized prequel. Producers are Roy Lee and Barbara Muschietti, who teamed on “It.” The story is set in 1868, where a 21-year-old Bram Stoker meets with an evil that he traps in an ancient tower. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

Designers focus on millennials

NY fashion world fetes Browne NEW YORK, Sept 6, (Agencies): Twice a year, New York’s Fashion Week crowds have crammed into the lobby of a Chelsea gallery, waiting patiently to descend a staircase and see what bizarre, fantastical, endlessly inventive universe Thom Browne has created for his womenswear show — an otherworldly experience akin to getting lost on the set of a Tim Burton film. Browne has led his guests into a dark and eerie cathedral, with real pews and crosses, candles and incense. He’s brought them to a wood-paneled operating room in an 18th-century hospital. He’s created a dreamy winterscape in an urban park in shades of gray, and an eyepopping, multi-hued swimming pool with bathing beauties from another dimension. New York fashion lovers will have to do without these experiences, now that Browne is moving his womenswear show to Paris. But first, they’ll be turning out on Wednesday to see him honored with the prestigious Couture Council award from the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, an annual event that kicks off Fashion Week. “In my view, his womenswear shows have always been the best in New York — so amazing, incredible and creative,” says Valerie Steele, director and chief curator at the FIT museum. What’s striking, she says, is that given the fantastical nature of Browne’s shows — where models are transformed head to toe, with whimsical headdresses and pasty white makeup

— his clothes are very wearable. “Most clothes out there, you kind of think, ‘the world doesn’t need this,’” Steele quips. “Or, ‘I already have this in my closet.’ But with him, you’re just on tenterhooks, waiting to see what he’s going to do.” Given the popularity of Browne’s womenswear shows, it might seem surprising that he’s still largely known for menswear (he already shows his men’s collections in Paris.) Perhaps that’s because, with his famous “shrunken” suit — his own personal uniform — he revolutionized menswear, in the eyes of Steele and many others. But even though his womenswear has been worn by the likes of Michelle Obama — at her husband’s second inauguration — Browne should be better known for it, his fans say. And so does he, though he’s quick to point out that it’s just fine to call him a menswear designer. New York turns fashion hub of the world for a week starting Thursday, as top designers do battle for the hearts and minds of millennials in a social-media whirlwind of models and celebrities. US designer Tom Ford — fresh back from a stint in Paris — will open the extravaganza that is New York’s Spring/Summer Fashion Week on Wednesday evening. Among the most hotly anticipated collections is Raf Simons’ second line for Calvin Klein, after an avant-garde show designed along with American artist Sterling Ruby last February.

down on craft and regain the respect he had lost in his hometown. That moment is framed in the film by a stunning model walking in a stunning green gown during a February 2014 runway show that sealed his comeback. Before that? “We were a wreck. There were lots of ferocious rumors about us. It was very isolating. I was very physically sick from it. I think mind over body, it’s real. It was hugely humbling, hugely reflective. It was scary,” Posen recalled. Regrets? Posen said he has some, particularly over the shabby way he treated his sister at his most frustrated, angry and lost moments. The family reunited several years ago, learning once again how to be with each other. “I don’t live with regret any more,” he said. “My family and I have certainly evolved and come to terms and grew

from that experience, because it makes everything very real. I just don’t think I was very understanding at certain moments, understanding of her needs, of her desires, of where she wanted to be in her life. I think that in some ways it came out as selfish.” Chronopoulos told The Associated Press by phone from Toronto that digging through Posen family business was perhaps the most difficult for the designer. She spent three and a half years on the film. “When I first started, Zac didn’t really want to talk about it, not even off camera. He would talk about his family but not the separation from the company. That came with time and trust,” she said. “The film really was part of the healing process for his family because they had never talked about it before.”

LOS ANGELES: Samuel Goldwyn Films has

Beyonce

Streisand

acquired Damon Cardasis’ coming-of-age musical drama “Saturday Church,” and plans a release in January for theaters, on demand, and digital. “Saturday Church” stars Luka Kain, Margot Bingham, Regina Taylor (“The Unit”), Marquis Rodriguez, MJ Rodriguez (“The Carrie Diaries”), Indya Moore, Alexia Garcia, Kate Bornstein, and Jaylin Fletcher. (RTRS)

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

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These August 2017 photos provided by RR Auction show (from left), a locket containing a photograph of Princess Diana and her sons Prince Harry (left), and Prince William; a silver-jeweled evening bag; a cable-knit jumper sweater with ring-neck, worn during Princess Diana’s teenage years; a silver necklace, featuring a charm in the shape of her first initial D, thought to have been worn as a teen by Princess Diana; and a sterling silver perfume bottle, engraved on the front with Princess Diana’s pre-marriage initials ‘D.S.’ (Diana Spencer), that is among dozens of items with a direct connection to the princess that are being sold at auction by Boston-based RR Auction. Bidding ends Sept 13. (AP)

‘She still resonates all over the world’

Princess Diana’s items hit auction block BOSTON, Sept 6, (AP): It’s been 20 years since Princess Diana’s death, yet her legacy has barely faded. Now, dozens of items with a direct connection to one of the most admired women in the world — from articles of clothing, to jewelry, to signed papers and photographs, and even to a piece of her wedding cake — are for sale by Boston-based RR Auction. “She still resonates all over the world,” RR Executive Vice President Bobby Livingston. The 79 items from a variety of sources span most of her life, from her childhood to her teenage years to her wedding day and afterward. They even include belongings she donated to charity auctions just months before her death in a Paris car crash on Aug 31, 1997, at age 36. The most spectacular item is a satin-lined, silver-jeweled evening bag that dates to the early 1980s. It was given to a member of the royal household and comes with a letter confirming its authenticity. It’s expected to sell for more than $15,000. A 17-inch (43-centimeter) silver necklace with a capital “D’’ charm that Diana is thought to have worn as a teen is Livingston’s favorite item for sale. “It really strikes me as the most personal item,” he said. “The logo became definitive of her.” The necklace is expected to sell for $2,000, but Livingston suspects it could get much more. Perhaps the strangest item for sale is a piece of wedding cake encased in a special box commemorating Diana’s marriage to Prince Charles, marked on the cover with “CD, Buckingham Palace, July 29, 1981.” The auction even includes a casual white sweater from British department store Marks & Spencer with a simple label inside that reads “D. Spencer”. It was likely worn in Diana’s teenage years and came into the possession of the head chef at her family’s home when the family decided to redecorate her bedroom. Diana’s signed childhood copy of Beatrix Potter’s “The Tale of Pigling Bland” could sell for more than $2,000. Online bidding ends Sept 13.

click Alcoholics Anonymous: If you know someone who can’t stop drinking and would like to help them please check us out and we promise to try to help at www.aaarabia.org There are no fees. This is a genuine public service. ❑ ❑ ❑

Drinking problem?: Friends of Bill W. are available to help. Totally confidential. Email: [email protected] ❑ ❑ ❑ Narcotics Anonymous: NA can help with addiction problems. Totally confidential:

N E W

Y O R K

contract bridge By Steve Becker

A flyer of the event 94087800 English/Arabic. ❑ ❑



Cancer online support group: If you are Cancer patient or family member fighting with this deadly disease, come join our online support group. Best way of dealing with this disease is providing support and share our experience with each other. There are lot of things which even doctors can’t tell so be member of this website and start sharing your experiences which may help others. October is recognized as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM). The primary purpose is to promote self examination and screening mammography as the most effective way to save lives by detecting breast cancer at early stage. For more information visit: http:// fightingwithcancer.webs.com/

passport or non-retrieval of passport from their sponsors in Kuwait. Since it is illegal to hold two travel documents in India at the same time, the concerned passport has to be cancelled before an Emergency Certificate (EC) is issued to an Indian national. At times, Indian nationals who are either detained or due for deportation may not have their passports with them. They apply for travel documents (Emergency Certificate) either directly or through Kuwait Police. In such cases, ECs are issued to them after cancelling their passports. However, in certain cases, they recover their passports later and travel on those passports which already stand cancelled in data available with immigration authorities in India. These passports are immediately seized by Immigration authorities in India. This results in much harassment and inconvenience to these Indian travelers, whose passports are seized. They are also liable to pay

Latest Indian Embassy notice: Indian nationals are issued Emergency Certificates (EC) to facilitate their one-way travel to India due to urgency or deportation, under the circumstances of loss of

T I M E S

CROSSWORD

penalties as per the law. Indian Embassy advises all Indian nationals that if an EC is issued to anyone of them, that implies that his/her passport has been cancelled and that he/she should travel only on the EC issued to him/her. ❑ ❑ ❑

Chess coaching, round robin: Registrations are open for chess coaching and the summer round robin Challenger Series. Send your name Civil ID no., mobile number, age, rating to [email protected] with CCR in the e-mail subject. No entry fee. ❑ ❑ ❑ Invitation to Grand Mosque: The Visits Department is pleased to invite you to visit the Continued from Page 20

Challenger

Conceptis Sudoku The grid must be so completed that every row, column and 3x3 box has every digit from 1 to 9 inclusive

DIRECTIONS: Fill each square with a number, one through nine. ■ Horizontal squares should add to totals on right. ■ Vertical squares should add to totals on bottom. ■ Diagonal squares through center should add to total in upper and lower right.



Yesterday’s solution

THERE MAY BE MORE THAN ONE SOLUTION.

Answer to yesterday’s puzzle

Today’s Challenge Time 9 Minutes 48 Seconds Your Working Time __ Minutes __ Seconds

Word by Word

Dog

Kalb

Dog does not eat dog. Al kalb la yakol kalban.

Numbers thousand six hundred 7651 Seven fifty one

Scratch pad

Sabat alaf wa seto maah wa wahed wa khamsoun

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

19

Overheard in the Souk

the grapevine ● Health is wealth! Silent killers like stroke and heart attack are just waiting to pounce on the possible victim. Who could this be? Someone who lives a sedentary lifestyle, eats unhealthy food, lacks sleep and rest and all the other unhealthy practices. Death comes like a thief in the night and may come in the form of a stroke or heart attack at one shot. But others who survive, may still suffer in their lifetime with some paralysis or other psychomotor and speech problems. A friend who was on his Eid holiday succumbed to heart attack. Only in his 40s, who would think that

in the midst of merrymaking that was his last. As the old adage goes, “Enjoy and be merry for tomorrow, we may die.” Of course, we will all go one day but if we can prolong our stay here on earth then maybe we can by living healthy. Take your medications, change your lifestyle, and see your doctor for regular heart checkups. Above all, think of happy thoughts! ❑ ❑ ❑ ● Many parents in Kuwait have faced the old ‘I’m bored’ cry this summer. While the wise ignore it, for the weak it is often easy

to give in, they try to contend with the monster that is boredom and lavish excitement in an attempt to vanquish it. It is hard in the seemingly endless lull, for parents to set boundaries and enforce measures to unplug. But a wandering mind is so necessary in childhood, to crowd it with activity and entertainment would be to rob it of creativity, independence and ambition. It is a blessing to be bored these days with screens vying for our attention in every corner. Life can be wonderfully boring sometimes. ❑ ❑ ❑

● With barely a month to resume sessions of Kuwait’s parliament which is currently in summer break, several lawmakers have issued their plan to grill some ministers whom they thought have committed serious financial and administrative violations in their ministries. Some also threaten to grill ministers who failed to perform their duties as expected. This kind of scenario usually happens when lawmakers are not satisfied with the performance of ministers. Therefore, government can only avoid tension between

the two authorities either by firing the erring and underperformed ministers or reshuffle members of the cabinet. The question remains with the ministers who had been grilled several times and had been given enough time to correct their mistakes and yet, according to lawmakers’ assessment, they did not. These are the ministers who will be the target of lawmakers as soon as the parliament comes back from recess and not until the government finds radical and swift solution, this witch-hunt will persist and continue on its members.

Tongues Way Food ‘Secret’ is a recipe for success

KitKat bets on weird & wonderful flavours in Japan INASHIKI, Japan, Sept 6, (AFP): Coughmedicine-flavoured KitKat anyone? It may not be to everyone’s taste, but this is just one of 300 weird and wonderful flavours flying off the shelves in Japan, which has become the world’s biggest market for the four-fingered snack. In true Japanese style, human workers are a rare sight at one KitKat factory in Kasumigaura, around 100 kms (60 miles) east of Tokyo. Instead, dozens of robots manufacture four million bars a day at breakneck speed, from mixing the chocolate paste to wrapping them ready for sale. KitKats have been around in Britain since 1935 and only arrived in Japan in 1973. But the Japanese market has a crucial unique selling point — a huge variety of different flavours. It all started with a strawberry flavoured KitKat in 2000 and the range expanded quickly — from flavours aimed at local taste buds such as sake, green tea and wasabi — to more exotic combinations like melon and mascarpone. Access to KitKat factories is strictly limited and photos are kept to a minimum in a bid to preserve the secrets of the recipe. And it appears to be a recipe for success. Without publishing an exact turnover figure for Japan, KitKat manufacturer Nestle says sales have grown 50 percent in the country since 2010, making it the biggest market ahead of Britain — although second-biggest in terms of volume. And in a sign of the success, a new production site was opened only last month in the western region of Kobe.

In this picture taken on Aug 29, 2017, a decoration with different KitKat flavours is displayed at a KitKat ‘Chocolatory’ boutique shop in Tokyo. (AFP)

Why such success in Japan? One reason, according to Cedric Lacroix, managing executive officer of Nestle Japan’s confectionery business, is that Japanese consumers appreciate the variety of flavours on offer. The chocolate market in Japan is really driven by innovation, said Lacroix. “One third of the products is renewed every year. “Consumers want to see new things, taste

new products, even if they always end up buying their favourite flavour.” Twenty or so new versions of KitKat are unleashed on the Japanese market every year, after months of refining the flavour. The company also plays on the superstitious nature of the Japanese public. “KitKat has become a sort of good-luck charm to which the Japanese have become

Picture shows different flavours to be mixed with white chocolate at the laboratory of the KitKat in Inashiki, Ibaraki prefecture, northeast of Tokyo. (AFP)

emotionally attached,” said Lacroix. The name reminds people of the Japanese phrase “kitto katsu”, meaning “sure to win”. It has therefore become common to hand them to friends before an exam or an important event. To profit from this, KitKat offers customers the chance to have their chocolate elaborately gift-wrapped, get special flavours made and even have messages engraved on the bars.

Beyond the local market, the snack is increasingly targeting tourists in a country that aims to have 40 million foreign visitors in 2020 when Tokyo hosts the Olympics, four times as many as in 2013. Travellers are increasingly returning home with bags filled with some of the more outlandish “made in Japan” KitKat flavours.

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

20

Greater range, advanced tech make car the ultimate EV package

New Nissan LEAF: raising the bar for electric vehicles YOKOHAMA, Japan, Sept 6: Nissan today introduced the new Nissan LEAF, the next evolution of its zeroemission electric vehicle. The Nissan LEAF has been completely reinvented, combining greater range with a dynamic new design and advanced technologies, which represent Nissan’s technological leadership. “The new Nissan LEAF drives Nissan Intelligent Mobility, which is the core brand strategy for Nissan’s future,” said Hiroto Saikawa, president and chief executive officer of Nissan. “The new Nissan LEAF, with its improved autonomy range, combined with the evolution of autonomous drive technology, such as ProPILOT Park, and the simple operation of the e-Pedal, strengthens Nissan’s EV leadership, as well as the expansion of EVs globally. It also has core strengths that will be embodied by future Nissan models.” The most advanced e-powertrain The new Nissan LEAF offers a range of 400 km (Japan JC08 cycle**), allowing drivers to enjoy a safer and longer journey. The new e-powertrain gives the new Nissan LEAF 110 kW of power output and 320 Nm of torque, improving acceleration and driver enjoyment. Evolved autonomous drive technologies

The new LEAF adapts ProPILOT

lamps and V-motion flow in the front. The flash-surface grille in clear blue and the rear bumper’s blue molding emphasize its identity as a Nissan EV. Interior design: premium ambience with a clean, relaxed, high-tech feeling

Kalyana Sivagnaman, President for Middle East & Regional Vice-President for Africa.

autonomous drive technology, used during single-lane driving on the highway. It also offers ProPILOT Park. When activated, the car’s ProPILOT Park technology takes control of steering, acceleration, braking, shift changing and the parking brake to automatically guide it into a parking spot. It enables a

New Nissan LEAF

fully released, regenerative and friction brakes are applied automatically, bringing the car to a complete stop. The car holds its position, even on steep uphill slopes, until the accelerator is pressed again. The reactiveness of the e-Pedal maximizes EV driving pleasure.

driver to park, including parallel park, safely with a simple operation. e-Pedal to reduce driver’s stress

The new LEAF’s revolutionary e-Pedal technology transforms the way people drive. It lets drivers start, accelerate, decelerate and stop by increasing or decreasing the pressure applied to the accelerator. When the accelerator is

Exterior design: sleek silhouette and “cool tech attitude”

The new Nissan LEAF’s design includes a low, sleek profile that gives it a sharp, dynamic look. Along with excellent aerodynamics, the styling — from the sleek silhouette to the car’s “advanced expression” — evokes the exhilaration of driving an EV. Familiar Nissan design features include the signature boomerang-shaped

The new Nissan LEAF’s completely redesigned cabin is focused on the driver, featuring a front panel in the form of a “gliding wing.” It combines an excellent use of space with functionality. The interior design creates a relaxed ambience and premium quality feel, due to carefully selected materials. Vibrant blue stitching in the seats, dashboard and steering wheel has been incorporated as a symbol of Nissan’s electric vehicles. The 7-inch, full-color (TFT) display has been redesigned to highlight key features, such as the Safety Shield technology power gauge and audio and navigation system information. Apple CarPlay has also been added. For customers who want more excitement and performance, Nissan will also offer a higher power, longer range version at a higher price in 2018 (timing may vary by market). The new Nissan LEAF will go on sale Oct 2 in Japan. The model is slated for deliveries in January 2018 in the US, Canada and Europe.

Campaign ends

Weekly draw

Burgan Bank names ‘Cash Back’ winners

AUB announces 26 new winners

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Burgan Bank concludes its summer campaign by announcing the last group of its Cash Back draw winners. The lucky winners of the Cash Back draw are: 1. Shareef Mohammad Jumaah 2. Hamed Abdullah Nasr 3. Ammar Ghassan Omeiri 4. Majed Essa Al-Shuaib 5. Sheikha Fotouh Naser Al- Sabah Burgan Bank’s recent summer campaign entitled its credit and ATM cardholders a chance to win back their spending when using their cards. The summer offer continued for three months that started on June 1st and ended on 31st August 2017 where fifteen winners as a total were announced. Customers who used their card more, received higher chances of winning as with every international transaction, they received two chances to enter the draw while every local transaction provided them with one such opportunity. All credit card holders who made local or international transactions entered the draw. As for the ATM card holders they participated in the draw with international transactions only. Burgan Bank debit and credit cards accommodate customers’ different needs with flexibility and convenience for all financial transactions. For more information on Burgan Bank products or services, customers can contact the personal banking executive at the branch, or contact the call center on 1804080. For more information, customers can also log onto the bank’s website on www.burgan.com. The Bank has continuously improved its performance over the years through an expanded revenue structure, diversified funding sources, and a strong capital base. The adoption of state-of-the-art services and technology has positioned it as a trendsetter in the domestic market and within the MENA region. Burgan Bank’s brand has been created on a foundation of real values – of trust, commitment, excellence and progression, to remind us of the high standards to which we aspire. ‘People come first’ is the foundation on which its products and services are developed. The bank was re-certified with the prestigious ISO 9001:2008, making it the first bank in the GCC, and the only bank in Kuwait to receive such accreditation for the third consecutive year. The Bank also has to its credit the distinction of being the only Bank in Kuwait to have won the JP Morgan Chase Quality Recognition Award for twelve consecutive years.

click Latest Continued from Page 19 Grand Mosque, which is one of Kuwait’s most treasured religious and cultural landmarks to discover the beauty of Islamic arts and architecture. Free guided tours are available all year round on official working days between (9-11 am) and (5-7 pm), within a special tour program designed to cater to the needs of different age groups. The program is as follows: Reception; Auditorium show; (according to age group); Touring the Mosque; Q & A; Art workshops; (according to

Photos from the event

Bank brings ‘Your Kids to Work Day’

Gulf Bank’s KidsDay initiative a success KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Gulf Bank’s ‘Bring Your Kids to Work Day’ GBKidsDay initiative was met with great enthusiasm by parents and children alike, when it was held on Wednesday, 30 August, at the bank’s head offices at the Mubarak Al Kabeer and Al Saleh Buildings. The resonating impact of the event was evident throughout the day, which included a staff social media engagement contest and discussing the initiative on 88.8 The Pulse radio station. Gulf Bank welcomed the children with a program full of activities that included a tour of the main departments within the Bank. The departments included Consumer Banking, Products and Segments, Corporate Communications, and Corporate Banking. Kids were presented with a simplified and child friendly brief on different aspects of working at the Bank. During the tour, each department had prepared a fun activity for the children, which varied from fun contests to questions and chats. Several Bank staff volunteered to accompany the kids during the tour, and the children were presented with gift bags that contained an activity book and colours, and were entertained with ‘movie time’, where the latest animated children’s movie were displayed. Gulf Bank also held an internal employee social media activity to add to the excitement of this day, where they posted pictures of their children at work on Instagram with the initiative hashtag #GBkidsday for the chance to win an Apple iPad. Speaking on behalf of Gulf Bank Ms Laila Al-Qatami, Assistant General Manager for Corporate Communications highlighted the importance of such initiatives: “An initiative such

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Gulf Bank held its Al Danah daily draws on Sept 6, 2017 announcing the names of its winners for the week of 27 Aug 27 – Aug 30, 2017. The Al Danah daily draws include draws every working day for two prizes of KD 1,000 per winner. The winners were: (Sunday 27/8): Kamal Hussain Hasan Al-Baghli, Fatema Mohhamed Mofareh Al-Mofareh (Monday 28/8): Mesk Faisal Homoud Al-Saeedi, Feryal Nader Ahmed (Tuesday 29/8): Hashem Abd AlRazaq Al-Sayed Yosef, Najat Ali Abdulla Al-Bahrani (Wednesday 30/8): Hassan Kamel Hussain Hassan, Afaf Ghazi Salem AlHajri Gulf Bank’s Al Danah 2017 draw lineup includes daily draws (2 winners per working day and each receive KD 1,000). Al Danah’s 3rd Quarterly Draw for the prize of KD 500,000 will be held on Sept 28. The final Al Danah draw for 1 Million Kuwaiti Dinars

will be held on Jan 11, 2018 whereby the Al Danah Millionaire will be announced. Gulf Bank encourages you to increase your chances by depositing more into your Al Danah account, immediately from any local bank, using the new ePay (Self-Pay) service, which is available on Gulf Bank’s Online and Mobile Banking. Five reasons why the Al Danah account is the Best:

Kuwait’s single biggest yearly cash prize of KD 1 Million and the largest international bank prize according to Guinness World Records Kuwait’s biggest quarterly cash prizes, up to KD 500,000 Two winners of KD 1,000 every working day The most chances to win Only Bank that transfers your chances to win from the previous year to the current year

as ‘Bring Your Kids to Work Day’ creates something special in the work environment. Amidst the day-to-day professional obligations and responsibilities within the work place and all the formalities related to it, it makes room for employees to show a more personal side, offers them an opportunity to socialize on a different level, and ultimately brings everyone closer. Not to

mention the sense of pride and positive energy that flooded the Bank on the day before the Eid Al Adha holiday”. “We respect and recognize our employees’ personal lives and wanted to have a day where kids were able to see where their parents work, what they do, and meet their parents’ colleagues and children. We also believe that it is never too early to start making an impact on

the minds of our youth, and this was an opportunity to expose young children to a work environment and provide an introduction to what the work life is all about. We thank everyone in the Gulf Bank family for the work they do on behalf of the Bank every day, our success depends on their commitment and dedication.”

age group – between 5 and 18 years old); Snack break; Distribution of the Grand Mosque publications and souvenirs; End

of tour. According to these age groups: Age group: 5 to 9 years old: Morn-

ing: 60 visitors max; Evening: 20; 10 to 15 years: Morning: 100 visitors max; Evening: 45; 16 and above: Morning: 140

visitors max, Evening: 105: Tour language: Arabic- EnglishFrench; Arabic (English upon prior

2 winners per working day

Gulf Bank announces Al Danah draw winners

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Ahli United Bank recently conducted its AlHassad Islamic account weekly draw, Kuwait’s leading Shari’ah compliant rewards program that offers a broad range of prizes to the largest number of winners, on the Sept 6. The account provides 26 weekly prizes that are comprised of KD 25,000 as a grand prize and 25 other prizes valued at KD 1,000 each. AUB also offers four quarterly prizes that are valued at KD 250,000 to each winner allowing them to achieve their dreams of travelling, studying abroad, or owning their dream home or car. On this occasion Ahli United Bank announced, “With this draw, we are adding 26 new winners and prizes to the Al-Hassad Islamic account whereby, the total number of winners annually will include more than 1,300. The weekly grand prize winner of KD 25,000 Adel Hasan Al-Ajaimi. 25 other winners won prizes of KD 1,000 and are as follows: Khaled Abdul-Aziz Al-Fouzan, Abdulaziz Khaled Al-Khateeb, Abdul Gani Mohamed Sulthan, Latifah Abdullah Alnajdi, Ali Saeed Shehab, Tayseer Yacoub Abdelghani, Ameenah Duwairi Al-Enezi, Sharea Hajaj AlAjami, Abdullah Qasem Al-Hashemi, Mohammad Ibraheem Al-Haraki, Ghadeer Mohammad Al-Fahad, Khaled Naseem Fadel, Hadeyah Nahi Al-Enezi, Ahmad Nazal Al-Rajhi, Amani Aqeel Al-Atout, Sami Diab Al-Tamimi, ManAl-Mahye Khalaf, Nawaf Ahmad Al-Adwani, Taleb Ahmad Mohammad, Mohammad Aboud Babad, Khaled Yaqoub Alloughani, Firas N Ajim Al-Amiri, Josephine Borja Fernandez, Abdulaziz Abbas Hussain, Ahmed Ahmed Hasan. Al-Hassad Islamic account’s customers in Kuwait and Bahrain are eligible to participate in the draw in line with the program’s terms and conditions Ahli United Bank added, “There are increased opportunities that await our current customers and those who are interested in opening an Al-Hassad Islamic account to benefit from the wide range of prizes and opportunities offered this year.” request); Arabic- English- French; Arabic (English upon prior request); ArabicEnglish- French: Arabic (English upon prior request) Rules and Regulations: ■ Please arrive in time for your visit. ■ All visitors are kindly required to abide by the mosque’s dress code. Male visitors should wear long pants. Shorts and sleeveless shirts are not allowed. Female visitors: should wear head cover and long loose clothing (available at the mosque). ■ Foods and drinks are not allowed inside the prayer halls. ■ For school visits, teachers are responsible for their students and are required to cooperate with the staff members of the Grand Mosque. ■ Photography is allowed inside the Grand Mosque (please note that disrespectful poses are strictly prohibited). If you would like to book a tour, please contact us: Tel: 22980813/ 22980815/ 22980812 Email: [email protected] Fax: 22473708

Sept 12 IEI Technical Seminar: The Institution of Engineers (India), Kuwait chapter is pleased to inform that we are organizing a Technical seminar on Sept 12, 2017, Tuesday at Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Messilah, Kuwait. The topic of the seminar is “Digitalisation and Cyber Security”.The seminar will be delivered by Egnr Nader Hasawi, Siemens Information Technology Governance, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, Sponsored by Siemens Kuwait. The registration will start at 6:30 pm. followed by seminar at 7:00 pm. We cordially invite IEI Kuwait chapter Members to attend this Technical seminar as a part of the Continuous Professional Development Programme. IEI, Kuwait chapter solicit the support of all the members and request their participation to enhance their technical knowledge.

Continued on Page 21

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

21

ICS presents ‘Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin’ concert on Sept 8

Indian singer Paudwal set to regale fans in Kuwait By Chaitali B. Roy Special to the Arab Times ome singers are born to their calling. AnuSmelodious radha Paudwal, one of India’s most gifted and singers, is one of them. Untrained and unschooled in the classical vocabulary of music, but armed with formidable talent, and a deep passion and commitment to her art, Anuradha Paudwal sang her way into the hearts of more than a billion people. Her songs ‘Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin’, ‘Keh Do Ki Tum Ho Meri’ (Tezab), ‘Nazar Ke Samne’ (Aashiqui), ‘Bahut Pyar Karte Hain’(Sanam), ‘Dhak Dhak Karne Laga’ (Beta) and many other such sparkling numbers have entered the Hindi Film Music Hall of Fame, where they will endure for years to come. Throughout her career, Paudwal has been lauded and feted with many awards and accolades. This year she reached a special milestone when she received the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award from the Government of India. On Sept 8, music lovers in Kuwait will be treated to a special concert organized by the Indian Cultural Society. Featuring Anuradha Paudwal, the concert titled ‘Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin’ will be held at the American International School at 6.45 pm. The programme will also feature Dr Kumar Vishwas, an Indian poet of repute. Pioneers of live entertainment in Kuwait, the ICS has a track record for blockbuster shows featuring great entertainers such as Mohit Chauhan, Meet

Brothers, Himesh Reshammiya, Daler Mehendi, Shreya Ghosal, Alka Yagnik, Abhijit, Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, Shibani Kashyap, Talat Aziz, Hema Sardesai and many others. They have set high standards in live shows and have made significant contributions in promoting popular Indian music on an unprecedented scale. “It is challenging to go a step further and set your own benchmark, and that is what we try to do with each show. We want to better ourselves with each effort and reach out to as many people as possible,” observes Ashfaq Khan, President of ICS.

Devotional Turning one’s back on fame, and fame of the dizzying kind is not easy, but Anuradha Paudwal bid goodbye to the rat race of Bollywood, which she was ruling with a strong hand and turned her attention to devotional music with relative ease. “I left the film industry a long time back. The last time I sang a film song was in 1998,” said the singer who gave some of the biggest hits of the eighties and nineties. One of the reasons for her disenchantment with Bollywood was the kind of songs and lyrics that were becoming popular. “In the film industry every day is a new day, and every song is a new song. It is almost like attending kindergarten every day,” said Paudwal, a multiple time Filmfare award winner. “The film industry is an uncertain place, and that was one of the reasons I turned to devotional music. Moreover, barring five or six songs, my voice and

style is not suited to the kind of songs that are popular now. I am not into that type of music.” When asked if she had any regrets about turning her back to the world of glamour and glitz, she remarks, “I do not regret taking up devotional music because I would not have been able to achieve what I have in this field if I had not done that. And again, devotional music allowed me freedom. I stopped being dependent on producers and directors. I sang what I enjoyed singing.” Bollywood music is ever evolving. In many ways, it is reflective of the society we live in. The eighties and the nineties brought in a marked change in composition, lyrics and rendition, and the trend continued with the arrival of the new millennium. Music, lyrics and singing styles changed so much that singers were herded into voices and styles that were indistinguishable. “To make a mark, singers need to sound different,” says Paudwal who is known for her straight talk. “When a song clicks or a singer clicks, everyone rushes to imitate that singer. As a result, singers fail to develop an identity, and they tend to sound the same.”

Talent Anuradha Paudwal made inroads into an industry which was then dominated by the formidable Mangeshkar sisters; two legendary artists reputed not only for their talent but also for their iron hold over the industry. But some newcomers like Anuradha Paudwal, Alka Yagnik and Kavita Krishnamurthy managed to breach the bastion and hold their own.

Anuradha Paudwal Paudwal, however, looks back at those days with equanimity. “They were my seniors, and they were very good. They pretty much set the benchmark for us. I did not have any formal training in music, and this gave me enough time to do my riyaz, learn music and gain experience. And it will be wrong

to say that I didn’t get an opportunity to sing when they were around. I did sing some songs, and I got a chance to better myself,” says the singer who began her career in the Hindi film industry with Abhimaan (1973). Having entered the industry without any formal grooming in classical music, she eased through hit films like Hero, Tezab, Ram Lakhan, Aashiqui, Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin, Sajan, and Beta. She also sang in Kannada, Marwari, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telegu, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese and other Indian languages. When asked if training in classical music is imperative to an artist’s grooming, she says, “A background in classical music is a boon, but I feel that film music requires a lighthearted approach. If a person does regular riyaz, sings in tune and learns to capture the nuances, then it should be okay.” Devotional music helped bring Anuradha Paudwal closer to the lives of her audience. “Hardly a day goes by when I don’t hear someone tell me that they start their day with my bhajan. It is a very nice feeling to be a part of someone’s life.” Anuradha Paudwal enjoys performing live, and she is looking forward to her concert in Kuwait. “I am a spontaneous performer. I perform according to what my audience wants to hear, but I will sing some of the big numbers anyway. I look forward to meeting my fans in Kuwait. It is a different experience when you reach out to your audience live.” For more information on ‘Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin’ call 97260048, 66550065, 60656546, 97428028.

Museum click Latest Continued from Page 20 All those who are interested to attend the seminar are requested to confirm their participation by registering through email to ieikwt@hotmail. com or by contacting Engr Mohandas Kamath (67030055) or Engr Sudhir Menghani (97987455) or Engr Thomas John (99723829).

Sept 15 BCS inter-school quiz: Quizzing is back with a bang!!! Bengali Cultural Society (BCS) Kuwait invites all to enjoy the nail-bitting moments in the 21st edition of Kitco Inter-school Quiz Competition conducted by Andrew Scolt (Derek O’Brien Associates, Bournvita Quiz Contest fame). On September 15, 2017 @7 pm at American International School, Maidan Hawally. ❑ ❑ ❑

KGA open football tourney: Kuwait Goan Association will organize a one day 7-a-side Open Football tournament on Sept 15, 2017 at 5:00 pm onwards at Bayan grounds. Kindly register your slot with Kenneth 99865349, Sydney 55993612, Rosario 99711936, Brito 97644354, Marshall 66726581 or Salvador 99695677. Oct 20 Ona Thanima 2017: Onathanima 2017, the most notable expatriate cultural fest in Kuwait, will take place on 20th October 2017 at Indian Central School, Abbasiya. Thirteenth National Tug-O-War championship in the auspices of Thanima also will be organized along with Onathanima. It is the Largest Tug-OWar championship in the Gulf Region. The Teams, which are interested to take part in the championship, have to contact on Nos.: 67662667 / 99865499.

General KPWA ‘Norka’: Kuwait Malayali Pravasi’s are requested to utilise this opportunity to know about the initiatives NORKA is taking under Kerala Govt. Officials explained that they are trying to achieve the goal of reaching to all expatriates for relocation and rehabilitation projects by state govt. KPWA is readily supporting all useful leads taken by Expatriate body in Kerala. KPWA is trying to establish a global network for expatriate Keralates regardless to religion , politics, caste and creed. Its operating successfully in 8 countries and all districts in Kerala for Ex NRIs. Please contact Mubarack Kambrath 66387619 (President) Reji Chirayath 99670734 (Secretary) Susan Mathew 66542556 (Office Secretary) Sebastian Vathukkadan 99163248 (Vice-President) Rasheed Puthukkulangara 60488091 (Core Admin) Ravi Pangode 50424255 (Core Admin) Suresh Kumar 65792255 (Mahboula Area Coordinator) Anoop 65878957 (Mangaf Area Coordinator) Sivadasan 51343430 (Mahboula Area Coordinator) Santhosh Kozhikkode 66417538 (Fahaheel Area Coordinator) Saleem Koduvally 66340634 (Mahboula Area Coordinator) ❑ ❑ ❑

Share your story with Amricani: Do you or any of your family members, acquaintances or friends happen to have a story with the American Missionary hospital in Kuwait (Mustashfa Lemraicani) during the years from 1914-1967, the official period of offering medical services in Kuwait? Please share with us your story or your memory during those old days by writing the event and sending it to the following email address: [email protected] Notes: 1. Please send your story only to the above mentioned email. Story shared in Instagram, Facebook or Twitter will not be considered. 2. Please write your story or memory and sign it with your full name, and your contact number. 3. It will be great if you send us your personal photos or those of the place related to the story (optional). Your story will be part of a new book to be published by DAI. I am confident that your contributions will be an essential part of the history of Amricani. Share with us! ❑ ❑ ❑

KIFF anti-drugs campaign: As part of the Fraternity fest, Kuwait India Fraternity Forum (KIFF) is conducting Anti-Drugs Campaign among Indians living in Kuwait. According to the available statistics of Indian Embassy, 60% of the convicted Indians in Kuwaiti Jails are arrested on drug-related cases. The recent cases of death and captives of Indian drug abusers is a threatening news. To defend and to campaign against such social crisis by protecting individuals as well as the society has become obligatory. In this current situation, Kuwait India Fraternity Forum is conducting campaign by distributing handouts, conducting counseling, seminars etc. to educate the Indians living in Kuwait informed President Saifudheen Nalakath in a press release. For more details contact: 55062071 or email at [email protected]. Continued on Page 24

This file photo taken on March 6, 2007 shows Emirati men standing behind a scale model of the new Louvre Abu Dhabi museum. The Louvre Abu Dhabi opens its doors to the public on Nov 11, 2017 bringing to the Gulf Mesopotamian artifacts and post-impressionist masterpieces in the first Louvre-branded museum outside of Paris. (AFP)

‘First universal museum’ in the Arab world

Louvre Abu Dhabi to open its doors in November ABU DHABI, Sept 6, (Agencies): The Louvre Abu Dhabi will finally open its doors to the public in November, bringing to the Gulf Mesopotamian artifacts and post-impressionist masterpieces in the first Louvre-branded museum outside of Paris. Housing 600 works of art, including 300 loaned by 13 French museums for the inaugural year, the Louvre Abu Dhabi is described as the “first universal museum” in the Arab world. It will open to the public on Nov 11, French Culture Minister Francoise Nyssen said at a news conference Wednesday in Abu Dhabi. The museum has been a decade in the making and is opening five years behind schedule. Among the works on loan to Abu Dhabi are Leonardo da Vinci’s La Belle Ferronniere from the Louvre — which houses the world’s largest collection of art — and Vincent van Gogh’s self-portrait from the Musee d’Orsay. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel of France, the “museum city” is reminiscent of an Arab medina, enveloped by a part arabesque, part futuristic silvery dome that lets in the light in patterns mimicking leaves of the palm trees of the Gulf. While the Louvre Abu Dhabi will not lack its Rodins and Gaugins, for some, the real heart of the museum is in its narration of ancient civilisations through artifacts acquired by the United Arab Emirates. The highly publicised architecture of the Louvre Abu Dhabi pays homage to the surrounding culture. “I turned to the geometry of the Arab city because I am of the idea that a museum is much more a neighbourhood than a building,” Nouvel told AFP. “I also wanted to play on this idea of openness, that of a desert open to the sea.” The planned opening comes a decade after France and the UAE agreed a 30-year partnership initially reported to be worth $1.1 billion under which many top French museums will loan art to Abu Dhabi for 10 to 15 years. French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to attend the inauguration of the museum, which had originally been scheduled to open in 2012 but was pushed back after delays in funding and construction. The decision to grant Abu Dhabi the rights to the Louvre name sparked heated debate in France with critics accusing the Louvre of “selling its soul” and questioning the emirate’s record on labour rights.

Louvre Abu Dhabi: some key figures ABU DHABI, Sept 6, (AFP): The Louvre Abu Dhabi on Wednesday announced it would open its doors to the public on Nov 11. Here are some key figures: ■ The museum is built on a 97,000 square metre site on Saadiyat Island, a lowlying island 500 metres off the coast of Abu Dhabi that is the site of a number of tourism and development projects. ■ Engineers had to move 503,000 cubic meters of sand to lay the foundations for the museum. ■ The Louvre Abu Dhabi is part of a vast “museum city” that includes 55 white buildings inspired by traditional Arab medinas. It also includes the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, still under construction. ■ The museum will host 23 permanent galleries. ■ The entire area is covered by a lattice-

work silvery dome that is 36 metres high, and weighs 7,500 tonnes — almost as much as the Eiffel Tower. ■ The dome appears to float, as its four pillars are hidden within the museum. ■ The dome is composed of eight superimposed layers: four outer layers in stainless steel and four inner layers separated by a steel structure that is five metres high. ■ The layering of 7,850 patterned perforations creates what cinematographers call a “rain of light”: each ray of the sun must cross through all eight layers to reach the ground, creating an intricate and ever-shifting pattern. ■ Indoor exhibition spaces will cover a total area of 8,600 square metres. ■ The museum’s galleries will cover 6,400 square metres and showcase 600 works of art, including 300 loaned by 13

French museums for the inaugural year. ■ The space dedicated to temporary exhibitions will cover 2,000 square metres and children’s museum has a dedicated area of 200 square metres. ■ The permanent galleries will cover art and artifacts from the earliest Mesopotamian civilisations to the present day. ■ The Louvre Abu Dhabi was initiated as a result of an Emirati request and was set up under a 2007 inter-governmental agreement between Paris and Abu Dhabi. ■ The Louvre Abu Dhabi is said to have cost funders over one billion euros, including 400 million euros to carry the Louvre name. ■ The construction of the museum has been estimated at nearly 600 million euros, but costs have risen due to delays in funding and construction.

There have also been concerns about the transportation of the art and the conditions in which it will be stored, in a country where temperatures soar well above 40 degrees Celsius (over 100 degrees Fahrenheit) in the

summer. “Their protection is vital to us and we have made sure we have the systems in place to protect them against the environmental conditions,” Mohamed Khalifa al-Mubarak, chair-

man of the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, told AFP.

(From left to right): President of the Louvre Jean-Luc Martinez, UAE Minister of Culture Sheikh Nahyan Mubarak al-Nahyan, French Minister of Culture Francoise Nyssen and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Tourism Mohamed Khalifa Al-Mubarak stand on stage during a press conference in Abu Dhabi Sept 6, during which they announced the Louvre Abu Dhabi will be open to the public on Nov 11, 2017. (AFP)

Also: ABU DHABI, UAE: A planned Middle East outpost of the Guggenheim remains unbuilt as the Louvre Abu Dhabi readies for its opening, with the New York-based museum acknowledging that “no contract has been awarded” to build the $200-million project over a decade after its launch. The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, envisioned in 2006 as a deconstructive jumble of Arabic features and modern design by architect Frank Gehry, was to sit near the Louvre outpost on Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island. But the Guggenheim told The Associated Press that nothing has been done to the site since a foundation was poured in 2011. “There is no construction on Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and no contract has been awarded,” the Guggenheim said in a statement. It’s a far cry from the fanfare that greeted the museum’s launch in 2006, at a ceremony attended by then-Guggenheim director Thomas Krens and the late actor Dennis Hopper. Krens, Hopper, and actors Laurence Fishburne and Jeremy Irons even took a motorcycle trip across the United Arab Emirates.

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

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By Jacqueline Bigar

Capricorn - (Dec 22 - Jan 19)

Happy birthday for Thursday, September 7, 2017: This year you often feel as if you are forging a new path, destination unknown. You will take a risk in at least one area of your life. Many of you will succeed. You will also find your life far more exciting once you add something new to it. If you are single, note when you become possessive of someone you are dating. You might want to stop and see what is happening. You obviously value the person in question. If you are attached, the two of you could decide to separate your finances in order to have a more peaceful bond. You will find relating to your significant other becomes more pleasant and a happier experience. ARIES can push you to act, but only you can act. The Stars Show the Kind of Day You’ll Have: 5-Dynamic; 4-Positive; 3-Average; 2-So-so; 1-Difficult.

**** You have the capability to handle whatever comes up. You could be in a position where you need to have a conversation without triggering. You might want to see another perspective, because when you do, you will naturally find a solution. Tonight: Head home early.

Aquarius - (Jan

20 - Feb 18)

***** Don’t stand on ceremony. You will get past a situation if you stay open. Listen, and you will learn a lot more about the person and his or her needs. Keep communication flowing. You could hear from a close family member. Tonight: Speak your mind.

Pisces - (Feb 19 - Mar 20) **** You can communicate your bottom line and others will remain responsive. You also must extend the same courtesy. A

home decor

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partner or close friend clearly enjoys getting together with you. Make plans as soon as possible. Your efforts count. Tonight: Buy a new item for your home or wardrobe.

Aries - (Mar 21 - Apr 19) **** Opportunities seem to pop up. Extremes mark your plans, decisions and day. You are far more direct than you normally are. Be willing to express your thoughts directly. Someone is clearly interested. Listen to his or her feedback. Tonight: A force to be dealt with.

Taurus - (Apr 20 - May 20) *** You obviously have something or someone on your mind. Share your thoughts, and you’ll get positive feedback. You have more supportive people around you than you originally thought. Remain caring with a relative who might be withdrawn. Tonight: Some matters must be kept hush-hush.

indoor gardening

c Gemini - (May 21 - June 20)

***** Reach out for someone you care about. A meeting or get-together could draw some of your friends together. You might feel far more confident with this group. You trust that their comments are authentic. Be as direct as possible. Tonight: Let your hair down.

Cancer - (June 21 - July 22) ***** Reach out for someone at a distance or an expert who openly shares his or her thoughts with you. Question which way to go. Do you want to blaze a new path? What would you prefer to do? Recognize you can only control so much of what is going on and might need to let go. Tonight: Try out a new spot.

Leo - (July 23 - Aug 22) **** Stretch and do whatever you must to get past an immediate problem. How you see a personal matter could change as a re-

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sult. Perhaps you got stuck in a perspective. Recognize what is happening with a child or loved one. Tonight: Relax to a movie.

Virgo - (Aug 23 - Sept 22) **** A key person in your life knows what he or she wants. This person could become pushy without intending to. Do you know exactly what you desire in the same vein? You cannot proceed if you don’t know or are willing to defer. Be aware there is no lack of caring between you and this person. Tonight: Make plans for the weekend.

Libra - (Sept 23 - Oct 22) **** Defer to others. They appreciate being able to make the choices. In some way, they will reveal more of themselves, and you will see their caring toward you. You have the ability to charm nearly anyone into agreeing with your choices. Try not to interfere with someone’s process. Tonight: Continue

e

letting others take the lead.

Scorpio - (Oct 23 - Nov 21) **** A creative person or associate spouts ideas left and right. You might not be able to absorb these ideas with ease at the moment. Express your appreciation. Meanwhile, clear out what you must do. Once you do, you can participate in what is going on around you. Tonight: Off to the gym.

Sagittarius - (Nov 22 - Dec 21) **** Listen to your inner voice when dealing with a child or loved one. Your fiery side encourages more openness. As a result, you’ll gain a great deal of insight into the other party. Let go of a sense of caution when dealing with this person. Tonight: Go with adventure. ❑ ❑ ❑ Born today: Singer Buddy Holly (1936), Queen Elizabeth I (1533), comedian Leslie Jones (1967)

beauty tips

taste buds

quick custom wainscoting

swiss cheese plant

oily hair: oatmeal hair mask

black bean dip with carrots

Add intricate architectural detailing with ease. This elegant wainscoting looks like the result of hours of elaborate work, but it just calls for a visit to a home center. The ready-made PVC latticework panels are mounted on the wall above the baseboard and topped with a chair rail made from 1x4 and 1x2 boards. Screen molding is nailed in place to hide the joints where the panels meet. Paint the raw wood pieces with white paint colormatched to the PVC.

Botanical Name: Monstera deliciosa Lush and bold, Swiss Cheese Plant makes a good accent if you have the space. Light: Bright light, no direct sun. Water: Water thoroughly and allow the top inch of soil to dry out between watering Temperature: Average to warm 65-85°F/1829°C Soil: Mix 1 part peat moss-based mix and 1 part sand or perlite for good drainage.

For those complaining about dry hair, nothing can be more nourishing than olive oil. Combine two egg yolks with two tablespoons of olive oil, and mix well to form a hair mask that is perfect for dry hair. You need to keep this mask on for fifteen minutes before rinsing it off. Filled with essential fatty acids, vitamins, proteins and antioxidants, eggs will make your hair softer and healthier. While olive oil will strengthen and soften your dry hair. Alternatively, you could also apply a mask of honey and olive oil for extra moisturisation.

Ingredients: 2 15.5-oz. cans black beans; 1/4 cup lime juice; 2 tbsp olive oil; 1 tsp cumin 1/2 tsp onion powder; 1/2 tsp garlic powder; 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper; Salt; 1 16-oz. bag baby carrots Preparation: Combine beans, lime juice, oil, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder and cayenne pepper in a food processor and process until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Transfer to a bowl and season with salt. Serve with carrots on the side for dipping.

what’s on today

Dear Abby Wife concerned about hubby ‘talking’ to kids By Abigail Van Buren Dear Abby: I have been happily married to “Roger” for 20 years and have two kids still at home. They are pretty independent now, but my husband was very involved in coaching and volunteering when they were younger. Sometimes when Roger and I take walks, we run into children playing in a yard or biking up and down the block. If they initiate conversation, I’ll smile at them and respond with a quick “hi” or “nice bike” and keep walking, but my husband will stop to chat or listen to what they say. I have told him not to do that regardless of whether they seem willing. My fear is that an overprotective mom (like many of us moms) glancing out the window and seeing a middle-aged stranger talking to their child may assume the worst. I know Roger loves kids, and we both sometimes miss the younger years when kids could be more open and talk with adults, but times have changed. This used to hapAbigail pen more often when we’d go swimming with our kids and other kids who were bored and not closely supervised would be looking for other people playing together to join. I used to worry then that if I wasn’t there it could be misconstrued, although my fears never came to pass. Do you agree that adults (and especially male adults) have to be overly cautious about engaging in any communication with an unaccompanied child? — Changing times in the Midwest Dear changing times: I think (regrettably) that the answer to your question is yes. Because fears of molestation are so prevalent now, males do have to be more circumspect with minor children than they did years ago. Frankly, that’s a shame, because kids gain so much confidence by knowing an adult is interested in what they have to say. Consider staying with your husband during these friendly instances as a “buffer.” ❑ ❑ ❑ Dear Abby: My husband and I have two homes. We summer in Michigan and winter in Florida. To save money on maintenance, I’d like to sell the house in Michigan and move permanently to Florida. My husband doesn’t want to be in Florida during the summer, but he also does not want to be in Michigan in the winter. He won’t make a decision, but he leans toward living in Michigan full time. Because I don’t like living up north in the winter, I have told him I’ll be staying all year in Florida starting in January to see how it is. He plans to return to Michigan. Our Florida home is older, so to come out ahead financially, we would need to sell our place in Michigan in order to buy a newer one in Florida. Any ideas on how this could be settled? — Warmer weather Dear warmer weather: Your idea about living for a “trial year” in Florida isn’t a bad one. After spending a hot, humid summer there, you might change your mind about relocating permanently. You state that your reason for wanting to sell the Michigan home is you want a newer one than the place you presently own down south. Perhaps you could satisfy yourself AND your spouse by simply spending some money to update the old one a bit. Please consider it. ❑ ❑ ❑ Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069. (Source: Universal Uclick)

emergency number 112

Civil ID info: 1889988

Site for checking travel ban www.kuwaitcourts.gov.kw/mojweb/NGeneral/Main.jsp THURSDAY Items for the What’s On page can be sent directly to the Arab Times, P.O. Box 2270, 13023, Safat or faxed to 24818267 or e-mail to arabtimes@ arabtimesonline.com. All items on this page are published as a courtesy to the public. These announcements can include birthday greetings, weddings, social functions or any other non-commercial events. Photographs of all events are welcome.

■ St Paul’s Church weekly activities: English worship services on Fridays at 10.30 am and on Sundays at 6.30 pm. The Friday English service has separate sessions for children and youth. A Mandarin language speaking congregations meets separately on Fridays at 10.30 am in the Youth Centre at St Paul’s. A combined service with the English and Mandarin language congregations is held on the first Friday of every month. A family service is held on the second Friday of every month with presentations from different organs of the church. The Church of Pakistan has services in English every Thursday at St Paul’s at 5.35 pm and for Urdu language speaking members every Friday at Diwaniya of the NECK Centre, Kuwait City at 5.45 pm. Please contact Fr Michael Mbona on mobile 65960781 or call at Church house on 23985929 or email to [email protected] or [email protected] For Mandarin speaking congregation contact Revd Zhu Peijin on 99551783 and her email address is [email protected] Contact person: Fr Michael Mbona Mobile: 65960781 Email: mrmbona@ gmail.com

30. Classes are free, but seats are limited, so register now by calling 66274724. ❑ ❑ ❑ ■ Tagalog Khutba for Filipinos: The Ministry of Awqaf, Islam Presentation Committee, & Kuwait Philippine Cultural Center (KPC Center) invites all Filipino Muslim & Muslima to hear Khutba (Sermon) in Tagalog every Friday at Marzouq Al-Badr Mosque, Abu Bakr Al-Siddeeq St (at the back of Ambassador Supermarket and SM Supermarket, near Salhiya Police Station & Kuwait Airways Bldg) in Kuwait City. There will be a community started and lunch after Friday prayers at KPC Center in Farwaniya. For further information, please call KPC Center, Tel 4712574. ❑ ❑ ❑

FRIDAY ■ FBC tournament: Filipino Badminton Committee (FBC) is inviting all badminton enthusiast in Kuwait to join their regular badminton tournament being held every Friday from 8 am to 7 pm at Kuwait Disabled Sports Club, Bin Khaldoun Hawalli. Over 10 badminton courts are now available for badminton practices and tournament and it is open for all nationalities and from different badminton organizations. Exclusive-private court are also available on per hour rental. For more information, please contact Dr Chie Umandap – 97197268 ❑ ❑ ❑

A flyer of the event

■ Arnis/Eskrima training: EskrimadorKuwait a member of Cacoy Doce Pares World Federation now opens a new batch of training. Learn the Philippine national sports, which is Arnis/Eskrima with the authentic style and techniques. Training schedule will be every Friday from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm @ Kaifan Sports ComplexKarate Gym. Text or call #50292148Herms. ❑ ❑ ❑

■ Father’s Love Int’l Ministries: Have you had a challenging week? Want to hear something different for a change? Something positive and energizing? At FLIM, you will find all this and much more ... Love, laugher, life and liberty. You will find a community of God-loving believers, who come every Friday, Saturday, Monday and Wednesday to praise and worship together. There always a word of blessing and edification for everyone who comes to the Father’s House. So, don’t be left out! Come join the family! You will be restored, received, renewed and greatly rewarded! Father’s Love Encounter Service on Friday at 11:00 am to 2:00 pm African service on Saturday at 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm Empowerment Services on Monday at 6:30 pm 8:30 pm Tamil Service on Wednesday at 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm Please call 66020972, 99874730, 51003531 ❑ ❑ ❑

■ Free IFRA coaching classes: Indian Football Referees Association (IFRA) will be starting free refresher/coaching classes for existing referees, new recruits, those aspiring to be referees and even those who would like to learn about the laws of the game at IEAS – Salmiya (Don Bosco). Classes will be from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm every Friday. Those interested may call 99519439 or get in touch with any IFRA member for registration. ❑ ❑ ❑ ■ Holy Quran classes: Emanway Foundation – Musk is offering classes to teach English-speaking ladies (and girls ages 5 and up) to read the Holy Quran in Arabic. The method is al-Qaedah Noorania, a traditional program which has been used for many years around the world. (Note: ‘Al-Qaedah’ simply means ‘base’; this can be likened to a basic phonics program.) No Arabic knowledge is required. Every Friday from 4:00 to 5:15 pm, beginning Oct 4. Al-Salam Area (south Surra), Block 2, Street 201, House

■ Redeemed Christian Church: The Redeemed Christian Church of God (HOD Parish) worship in English. Celebration Service: Friday 9 am – 11 am; Divine encounter: Sunday, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm; Digging Deep (Bible studies): Tuesday, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm; Night vigil every last Friday of the month from 10 pm. Venue: New Mishref. For more information and direction please call 99276603, 6557-7482. Email: [email protected] ❑ ❑ ❑

The Afterthought will be playing live at Sirdab Lab on Sept 16 from 7:00-9:00 pm. This event is hosted by the Divan and is free of charge and open to the public.

■ PGMK service: Praise God Ministry of Kuwait (PGMK) holds services in Telugu and English in the NECK Compound, Lighthouse Church. Fridays and Saturdays — 11.30 to 1:00 pm in English / 1:15 to 3:00 pm in Telugu. Sundays services in the Hall of Hope from 3.30 to 5 pm and then in Lighthouse Church from 7.30 to 9.30 pm.

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

23

Health EU eggs scandal hits 45 nations

Good and bad news on aspirin and colon cancer PARIS, Sept 6, (AFP): Daily aspirin use — known to reduce the risk of colon cancer — could also make the disease harder to treat if it does occur, researchers reported Wednesday. The new findings based on mathematical modelling, If confirmed statistically and in the lab, would mean that aspirin’s ability to ward off colon cancer may come at an unacceptably high cost, they cautioned. Taking aspirin regularly “has been shown to reduce the incidence (of) a variety of cancers,” including of the colon, noted the authors of a study in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. But at the same time, the drug may render the cancer “more difficult to manage therapeutically,” they added. “This indicates a potential trade-off.” A growing body of research has shown that daily micro-doses of aspirin taken for at least five years can slash the risk of cancer later in life. Rates of prostate, throat and non-small-cell lung cancer all drop off significantly, with the incidence of colon cancer cut by up to half. Other studies, meanwhile, have tested the impact of aspirin directly on cancer cells in the laboratory, showing that the common painkiller can slow the rate of cell division and boost cell death. But scientists do not yet understand the mechanism at work, or know whether aspirin might have as-yet-undiscovered effects on cancer spread. To find out more, researchers led by Dominik Wodarz of the University of California at Irvine — who conducted these earlier experiments — investigated whether the drug may cause dangerous cancer mutations. Indeed, aspirin did boost the cancer’s ability to produce aggressive, mutant cells that are drugresistant, they found. The results could challenge the protocol for aspirin use in cancer prevention. It is now critical to ensure that aspirin delays “the onset of colourectal cancer by a sufficient amount of time to avoid the negative effects of this trade-off,” the study authors said. People who take the drug, especially in middle age, should be regularly screened for cancer, they added.

Roughly half of adults in the United States take small doses — 80 to 325 milligrammes — of aspirin to ward off cardiovascular disease. In Britain the figure is about 40 percent. The general public has not yet recognised the potential benefits for cancer prevention, notes Peter Rothwell, a professor at the Centre for Prevention of Stroke and Dementia at the University of Oxford. “It takes a while, and more replication studies, to convince people that the benefits are real,” he told AFP. Rothwell published a study earlier this year showing an increased risk of internal bleeding in people over 75 who take aspirin regularly. “You might want to take it in your 50s and 60s, but then stop,” he told AFP. “The benefits you get from cancer prevention carries on for another 10 years or so.” ❑ ❑ ❑ A scandal involving eggs tainted by the insecticide fipronil has spread to 45 countries worldwide, including 19 beyond the European Union where the scare began, a top EU official said Tuesday. “The impact of the illegal use of this product has reached an EU-wide dimension with today hundreds of farms blocked for production, 26 (EU) member states and 19 third countries involved,” European health commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis told a press conference in Tallinn. The figure has increased from the 35 countries reported last week, with millions of eggs pulled from supermarket shelves to limit the risk from a product that can harm human health in high doses. The only two of the 28 EU countries not hit by the scare are Croatia and Lithuania, said a spokesman for the European Commission, the EU executive. The 19 non-EU countries affected are Norway, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Qatar, Liberia, Russia, South Africa, Angola, Iraq, the Netherlands Antilles, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Israel and Canada. Debate on the tainted eggs was added to the agenda of a meeting of EU agriculture and fisheries ministers meeting in Tallinn, which currently holds the rotating six-month EU presidency.

An autonomous robot makes its way around a simulated city with school zones, barricades, buildings and other obstacles at the University of Technology, Sydney in Sydney, on Sept 5. More than two dozen teams of engineering students from Australia, New Zealand and Singapore are competing in the event. (AP)

Studies show virus can destroy cells responsible for glioblastoma

Zika could offer new tool to fight brain cancer MIAMI, Sept 5, (AFP): The Zika virus can wreak havoc on the brain of a developing fetus, but its destructive power may also be harnessed to fight a stubborn form of adult brain cancer, researchers said Tuesday. Early studies have shown the mosquito-borne virus can destroy cells responsible for glioblastoma, the most common form of brain cancer. Glioblastoma affects 12,000 people per year in the United States, and was recently diagnosed in US Senator John McCain. The standard treatment is chemotherapy and radiation. But most patients die within two years. “It is so frustrating to treat a patient as aggressively as we know how, only to see his or her tumor recur a few months later,” said Milan Chheda from Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis. “We wondered whether nature could provide a weapon to target the cells most likely responsible for this return.” The secret to Zika’s apparent success, the latest experiments show, is that the virus specifically takes aim at brain cancer stem cells, the kind that tend to survive chemotherapy and spread. When a pregnant woman is infected with Zika, she faces a higher risk of bearing an infant with an unusually small head because Zika destroys

Roche lung cancer drug cuts brain risk in tests NEW YORK, Sept 6, (RTRS): Patients taking Roche’s targeted lung cancer drug Alecensa have a far lower risk of their disease spreading in the brain than those on Pfizer’s Xalkori, new clinical trial data show. The results, which will be presented at the Sept 8-12 European Society for Medical Oncology congress in Madrid, reinforce Alecensa’s position in an increasingly competitive market. Alecensa is designed to treat advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in patients with a mutation of the ALK gene, which is found in about 4 percent of all people with NSCLC. Clinical results in June had already shown Alecensa worked bet-

ter than Xalkori. The new data adds to evidence of its benefits, with Roche’s drug shown to control existing brain metastases and inhibit the formation of new ones. Among patients who had existing metastases in the central nervous system (CNS), Alecensa reduced the risk of disease progression in the CNS by 60 percent compared to Xalkori, according to a new clinical trial subgroup analysis. In patients without CNS disease at the start of testing, Alecensa reduced the risk of disease progression in the CNS by 49 percent. A second study showed an 85 percent reduction in risk of disease worsening or death versus chemotherapy in patients who had previously seen their disease worsen on

chemotherapy and Xalkori. “There are other drugs out there but so far it looks really good for Alecensa,” said Thomas Buechele, Roche’s head of global medical affairs for oncology. Doctors may use the latest data to decide it makes sense to use the latest generation of drugs as firstline treatment rather than starting with older therapies. Brain metastases are a major problem because Xalkori does not cross into the central nervous system. Novartis also has a relatively new drug for ALK+ lung cancer called Zykadia, while Takeda became the latest to join the race in April when it won approval for Alunbrig, a drug it acquired after buying Ariad.

these very cells, leading to the irreversible condition known as microcephaly. Zika tends to attack neuroprogenitor cells, which are common in fetuses but rare in adults. “We showed that Zika virus can kill the kind of glioblastoma cells that tend to be resistant to current treatments and lead to death,” said study co-author Michael Diamond, professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St

Louis. Researchers injected either Zika virus or a saltwater placebo directly into the brain tumors of 33 mice, said the report in The Journal of Experimental Medicine. Two weeks later “tumors were significantly smaller in the Zikatreated mice,” said the report. These mice also survived “significantly longer than the ones given saltwater.” More work is needed before the

treatment can be safely attempted in humans. The virus would likely be injected directly into the brain during surgery to remove the primary tumor. Extra studies on Zika’s effects on the brain tissue of epilepsy patients showed the virus did not infect noncancerous brain cells. “We see Zika one day being used in combination with current therapies to eradicate the whole tumor,” said Chheda.

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

24

for Diaspora Children (SPDC) which was introduced by Government of India in the academic year 2006-2007 with the objective to make higher education in India accessible to the children of overseas Indians and promote India as a centre for higher studies. Under the scheme, 100 PIO/NRI students were awarded scholarship of up to US$ 4,000 per annum for undergraduate courses in Engineering, Technology, Humanities, Liberal Arts, Commerce, Management, Journalism, Hotel Management, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and some other courses. The scheme is open to NRIs/PIOs from over 40 countries (including Kuwait) having substantial Indian Diaspora population. The Scheme was revamped and launched in July 2016. Under the revamped Scheme, number of scholarships has been enhanced from 100 to 150 with introduction of 50 scholarships for children of Indian workers employed in the Emigration Check Required (ECR) countries. The Scheme is now applicable to four categories of applicants: (i) Persons of Indian Origin (ii) Non-Resident Indians (iii) Children of Indian workers working in ECR countries (including Kuwait). (iv) Children of Indian workers in ECR countries - studying in India The institutions that are covered under this Scheme are: (i) NITs, IIITs, Schools of Planning and Architecture (ii) “A” Grade institutions accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and recognised by University Grants Commission (UGC). (iii) Other institutions covered under Direct Admission of Students Abroad (DASA) scheme. Income criteria will be applicable to all four categories. Applicants will seek scholarships after they obtain admission in the approved list of educational institutions. Applications are required to be submitted online at SPDC portal - http://spdcindia.gov. in/login/index.php. Last date for submission of applications was extended till Oct 14, 2016. Nodal officer for SPDC is P. Bharadwaj, Deputy Secretary (OIA-II), Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, Tel: 00-91-11-24197952, Email: [email protected] ❑ ❑ ❑

Couch slouch Immigrant comedy in the works

AHS’s Cult: ‘Election Night’ takes on Trump-era hysteria LOS ANGELES, Sept 6, (RTRS): Do not read on unless you’ve seen the premiere of “American Horror Story: Cult”, titled “Election Night”, which aired Sept 5 on FX. For many, Nov 8, 2016, was, truly, an American horror story. As former real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump was elected president over the expected winner Hillary Clinton, dozens of media talking heads lost their heads and liberals took to Twitter to express their fear. And, yes, there was hysteria, to say the least ... but few were perhaps as emotional as Ally and Kai in Ryan Murphy’s kind-of fictional universe. Ally and Kai, being, of course, Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters’ characters, respectively, on the latest season of “American Horror Story”, titled “Cult”, which debuted Tuesday night. The premiere, written by co-creators Murphy and Brad Falchuk, is over-the-top, in true “AHS” fashion, but grounded in our very real political state, looking at the extreme reactions on both sides to Trump’s election. The episode opens with a scene that’s familiar to plenty, to be sure: Ally and her wife, Ivy (Alison Pill), watch in horror with their friends as newscasters announce that Trump has won the 2016 election. Ally wails, “What’s going to happen to Merrick Garland?”; the words “Nate Silver!” are yelled at some point. Their friend snaps at his wife for “being too busy on Etsy to go vote”. It’s a blame game that just about anyone who’s been on Twitter in the past ten months can recognize. On the other end of the spectrum, Kai, watching the news alone that same night, is ecstatic. He goes so far to dry-hump the TV screen when Trump appears, and yes, actually covers his face in Cheetos to emulate his orange-hued leader. In that same house, Winter Anderson (Billie Lourd) — who I’ll assume is his sister, given their conversations and shared surname — is devastated. In some of the most in-your-face satire of the episode, Winter, on the phone with her friend, chastises CNN for not issuing a “trigger warning” before announcing the election results. Kai goes to her room, presumably to gloat, but then something strange happens: they lock pinkies, implying some sort of pact between the two of them. Between this scene and her actions in the rest of the episode, Winter becomes the hardest character to pin down thus far. Cut to a few weeks later, and Ally is not doing well. She loses it when she finds Oz reading a Twisty the Clown comic book late at night — and in one of the most blatant “AHS” crossovers we’ve ever seen, John Carroll Lynch returns as the infamous clown in a scene depicting what Oz is reading that was ripped straight out of “Freak Show”. Later, talking with her therapist, Dr. Rudy Vincent (“Hotel” and “Roanoke” alum Cheyenne Jackson), she confesses that her myriad phobias, including a fear of tiny holes, have only gotten worse since the election. In this scene, it’s evident that Ally has an uncanny ability to make everything, well, about herself. It’s a valid argument that she’s in a private therapy session, and therefore should talk about herself, but when she recalls “what happened to me after 9/11, when I couldn’t leave my apartment”, it seems exaggerated to the point of humor. It doesn’t look to be an accident — at a press screening and Q&A last month, Murphy teased that he would take a “satirical” approach

to Ally and Ivy’s white privilege. Regardless, despite Ally’s protests, the doctor prescribes her meds to keep the phobias at bay. Meanwhile, Kai has been keeping busy. He attends what seems to be a city council meeting over whether or not to approve overtime pay for extended security at a Jewish community center. Kai, unsurprisingly, is opposed, and launches into a diatribe over using fear to control people (it’s a familiar narrative — earlier, when Winter admitted that she’s “just so scared now”, Kai snapped back, “Everyone is”.) A city council member dismisses him as a basement dweller who feels free to emerge now that Trump is POTUS, and Kai storms out, incensed. Before Ally can really get to work on her new mission of self-improvement, she suffers a setback, to say the least, at the grocery store. There, after an awkward encounter with a Trump-supporting cashier, Ally sees figures in clown costumes copulating in the produce aisle, and some even move to attack her. She hurls bottles of rose at the assailants and runs to her car, where one of the figures waits for her. Panicked, she crashes into a pole. Later, however, Ivy tells her that the police found no evidence of what she described. With the lack of supernatural elements this season, we can choose to believe one of two options: one, that she’s hallucinating these figures; or two, and maybe the more likely possibility, that they’re actually targeting her.

Also: LOS ANGELES: CBS is developing a new multi-camera comedy series with Greg Garcia set to executive produce, Variety has learned. Currently titled “Welcome to Maine”, the series would follow a ninth-generation Maine family and a recent immigrant and his daughter who must all learn to embrace change when they share the same workplace in a tiny rural town. Austen Earl, who most recently worked as a writer and co-executive producer on the CBS comedy “The Great Indoors”, will write and executive produce. Earl previously collaborated with Garcia as a writer on the CBS series “The Millers”, which Garcia created. Earl has also worked as a writer on CBS’ “Angel From Hell”, and NBC’s “The Carmichael Show”. Garcia will executive produce along with Alix Jaffe, the head of Garcia’s Amigos de Garcia Productions. Garcia has also created the comedy series “My Name Is Earl”, “Raising Hope”, and currently has “The Guest Book” on TBS. CBS Television Studios will produce. Garcia is repped by CAA. Earl is repped by UTA. The development announcement comes on the heels of the Trump administration formally announcing that they will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects approximately 800,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children from deportation. Last week, Variety exclusively reported that CBS is also developing the medical comedy series “Love/Sick”, based on the South Korean series “Emergency Couple”. The multi-cam hybrid follows a young female doctor who is put in charge of a new group of medical interns, only to discover that one of them is her ex-boyfriend. Lisa Parsons will serve as the writer and executive producer on the project, with Jeffrey Kramer and Jiwon Park also executive producing.

A flyer of the event For more information please visit www.leckuwait.com or call 99514995 / 66363310. ❑ ❑ ❑

click

AWL registration: If you would like to join the American Women’s League (AWL), please call 99039723 or 94067999 or email: kuwaitawl@ yahoo.com. All American women and wives of Americans are welcomed. ❑ ❑ ❑

General Continued from Page 21

NYF offers free yoga classes: NYF Kuwait offers free yoga, breathing, meditation and reiki classes by a well-experienced female yoga teacher for all age groups. Classes are given on the basis of different health problems, stress and other problems by different techniques. Contact: 99315825. ❑





Leadership Excellence Course: The Leadership Excellence Course (LEC) is a course modeled on the Seerah of Rasoolullah who is the best model of leadership for all mankind. The LEC focuses on the lessons that we can learn from the Seerah of Rasoolullah and see how we can apply them in our lives to become winners in this world and the next. The objectives of the course are 1. Understand what leadership is from the Seerah of Rasoolullah and how to apply it in our lives today 2. Understand the purpose of our lives and learn to live that purpose with confidence 3. Understand the importance of connecting to Allah and learn how to do it 4. Understand how to leverage your strengths and overcome weaknesses 5. Understand how to articulate your life goal and create a road map to achieve it.

Ugandans register with UIK: Are you a Ugandan living and working in Kuwait? Would you like to get in touch with other Ugandans in Kuwait both socially and professionally? Then please get in touch with us. We would like to invite you to register with the Ugandans in Kuwait (UIK) association, an informal organization of Ugandans living and working in Kuwait. The purpose of this exercise is to get together as Ugandans and to consider taking the first steps to establishing a more formal organisation. This association is voluntary. It is designed to create a forum for Ugandans in Kuwait to foster a sense of community, to communicate more effectively with each other and to encourage Ugandans out here to work together. We are also planning a celebration to mark 50 years of Ugandan’s Independence this year. If you have any questions regarding this association or if you are interested in registering, then please send us an email at [email protected]. We hope to hear from you soon. ❑ ❑ ❑ Indian Embassy SPDC notice: Attention of all Indian associations/Indian schools in Kuwait is once again drawn to Scholarship Programme

Experience Science for Adults: Registration is now open for Experience Science for Adults. Why should kids have all the fun?! The five week programme will be held on Saturday from 10:00 am-11:30 am at the Yarmouk Cultural Centre. Registration is limited to 16. You may register at either the Amricani Cultural Centre, Sunday to Thursday 10:00-3:00 or the Yarmouk Cultural Centre, Sunday to Thursday 10:00-6:00. For more information, please email:[email protected] ❑ ❑ ❑ Winter 2017 AMIE Examinations: The winter 2017 examinations of Sections ‘A’ and ‘B’ shall be conducted in Kuwait during Dec 2-8, 2017.The dates Dec 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 will be referred to as Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 respectively. Applications submitted during the period mentioned hereunder shall only be considered for winter 2017 examinations. Candidates not applied/applied but not appeared in summer 2017 examinations: Aug 18, 2017 to Sept 22, 2017. Candidates appeared in summer 2017 examinations: Sept 23, 2017 to Oct 27, 2017. A candidate shall not be allowed to appear in the following schemes, if exceeding the number of subjects as mentioned against each scheme: Section ‘A’ (Non-Diploma) - 4 subjects; Section ‘A’ (Diploma) - all subjects; Section ‘B’ - 4 subjects The examination form is available with the ‘Membership Pack’ and can also be downloaded from www.ieindia.org Photocopy of the examination form shall be accepted if copied clearly on A4 size paper only. The examination form should be sent duly filled-in directly to the headquarters of the Institution with requisite fee of Rs 3000/- (US$ 225 for candidate intend to appear from overseas examination centre) by demand draft within the stipulated date.

tv highlights Cinema Cinema programme from Thursday 07/09/2017 to Wednesday 13/09/2017

American Made 360°

Bairaq Fanar Al-Kout Muhalab Sharqia Avenues

Laila Marina

11:55, 12:20, 14:10, 14:40, 16:40, 17:15, 20:00, 22:15, 22:30, 01:00 (Daily Exc Fri) 14:10, 14:40, 16:40, 17:15, 20:00, 22:15, 22:30, 01:00 (Fri) 20:00, 00:30 11:55, 14:10, 19:00, 00:15 (Daily Exc Fri) 14:10, 19:00, 00:15 (Fri) 12:00, 15:30, 20:15, 00:45 (Thu, Sat) 15:30, 20:15, 00:45 (Fri) 12:40, 17:30, 22:15 (Daily Exc Fri) 17:30, 22:15 (Fri) 13:30, 22:30 11:55, 14:20, 14:40, 16:40, 17:00, 19:05, 21:30, 00:05, 01:00 (Daily Exc Fri, Sat) 13:40, 14:20, 14:40, 16:40, 17:00, 19:05, 21:30, 00:05, 01:00 (Fri) 11:55, 14:20, 14:40, 16:40, 19:05, 21:30, 00:05, 01:00 (Sat) 20:00 12:15, 17:15, 22:15 (Daily Exc Fri) 17:15, 22:15 (Fri)

Bairaq Fanar Al-Kout Muhalab Sharqia Avenues

Fanar Al-Kout Muhalab Avenues Marina

19:10 11:30, 12:30, 16:00, 17:45, 21:30, 23:55, 00:35 (Daily Exc Thu, Fri, Sat) 11:30, 12:30, 13:30, 16:00, 17:45, 21:30, 23:55, 00:35 (Thu, Sat) 13:30, 16:00, 17:45, 21:30, 23:55, 00:35 (Fri) 11:30, 17:45, 01:00 (Daily Exc Fri) 17:45, 01:00 (Fri) 14:45, 23:45 (Thu, Fri, Sat) 13:45, 00:45 12:10, 22:20, 22:40, 01:00 (Daily Exc Fri) 22:20, 22:40, 01:00 (Fri) 00:45

Back to Q82 (Kuwaiti Film) 360°

13:00, 15:10, 17:25, 19:40, 21:55, 00:10 (Daily Exc Fri)

Muhalab Sharqia Avenues Marina

360°

Ajial Bairaq

Fanar Al-Kout Muhalab Sharqia Avenues

Laila Marina

16:35 (Daily Exc Mon) 12:55, 14:55, 18:55, 21:15 (Daily Exc Thu, Fri, Sat) 11:30, 12:55, 14:55, 18:55, 21:15 (Thu, Sat) 14:55, 18:55, 21:15 (Fri) 15:40, 17:40 15:00, 19:00 12:05, 13:00, 17:00, 21:00 (Daily Exc Fri) 17:00, 21:00 (Fri) 12:15, 14:15, 16:15, 18:15 (Daily Exc Fri) 14:15, 16:15, 18:15 (Fri) 11:30, 14:00, 16:00 (Thu, Sat) 14:00, 16:00 (Fri) 12:30, 14:30, 16:30 (Daily Exc Fri) 14:30, 16:30 (Fri) 13:00, 17:00 (Daily Exc Fri) 17:00 (Fri) 13:15, 15:00, 18:00, 20:15, 11:35, 16:20 (Daily Exc Fri) 15:00, 18:00, 20:15, 16:20 (Fri) 18:00 13:00, 15:00, 17:00 (Daily Exc Fri) 15:00, 17:00 (Fri)

360°

Ajial Bairaq Fanar Al-Kout Muhalab Sharqia

Avenues

Laila Marina

17:00 15:45, 18:45, 21:45

El Kanz (Arabic Film) 360° Bairaq Fanar Al-Kout

14:15, 17:30, 19:00, 20:45, 00:05 14:15, 20:15, 23:00 13:45, 17:15, 20:30, 23:45 14:15, 17:30, 20:45,

11:35, 13:45, 15:05, 16:30, 19:15, 20:15, 22:00, 23:00, 23:15, 00:45, 11:40, 16:20, 21:45, 00:25, 12:45, 15:30, 18:15, 21:00, 23:45 (Daily Exc Fri) 13:45, 15:05, 16:30, 19:15, 20:15, 22:00, 23:00, 23:15, 00:45, 15:30, 18:15, 21:00, 23:45, 16:20, 21:45, 00:25 (Fri) 19:40, 22:30 17:30, 23:30 14:00, 16:45, 19:30, 22:15, 00:35 18:00, 21:15, 00:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat) 18:30, 21:15, 00:05 11:40, 14:15, 19:00, 21:45, 00:30 (Daily Exc Fri) 14:15, 19:00, 21:45, 00:30 (Fri) 13:20, 18:05, 20:50, 23:40, 11:45, 13:05, 16:05, 16:30, 18:50, 21:35, 00:20 (Daily Exc Fri) 13:35, 18:20, 21:05, 23:50 16:05, 16:30, 18:50, 21:35, 00:20, 18:05, 20:50, 23:40 (Fri) 22:30 19:00, 21:45, 00:30

My Cousin Rachel 360°

Daddy (Hindi Film) 360° Ajial

00:05 (Thu, Fri, Sat) 18:15, 21:30 17:15, 20:30, 23:45 14:00, 17:15, 19:30, 20:30, 23:45 15:15, 20:45, 00:05

360° Avenues

Fanar Avenues

11:40, 13:55, 16:10, 18:25, 20:40, 23:05 (Daily Exc Fri) 13:55, 16:10, 18:25, 20:40, 23:05 (Fri) 20:15, 22:30, 00:45 11:30, 17:45, 20:00, 00:40 (Daily Exc Fri) 17:45, 20:00, 00:40 (Fri)

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Re-Release)

19:20, 22:10 15:15, 22:15

Wind River 360°

The Dragon Spell 360° Avenues

It

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

Annabelle: Creation 360°

15:10, 17:25, 19:40, 21:55, 00:10 (Fri) 13:30, 17:45, 22:15 20:00, 22:20 12:30, 17:00, 19:15, 21:30 (Thu, Sat) 17:00, 19:15, 21:30 (Fri) 11:30, 16:00 (Daily Exc Fri) 16:00 (Fri) 15:45, 20:15 14:30, 19:00, 21:20, 23:35

15:00 14:35

The Glass Castle 360°

Avenues Marina

18:35, 21:05, 23:35 (Daily Exc Fri, Sat) 14:05, 18:35, 21:05, 23:35 (Fri) 11:35, 14:05, 18:35, 21:05, 23:35 (Sat) 12:00, 19:25, 21:55, 00:30 (Daily Exc Fri) 19:25, 21:55, 00:30 (Fri) 14:45, 19:45

Fanar Al-Kout Muhalab Sharqia Avenues Marina

Wish Upon 360°

Fanar Al-Kout Muhalab Sharqia Avenues Laila

12:35, 19:55, 22:20, 00:40 (Daily Exc Thu, Fri) 19:55, 22:20, 00:40 (Thu, Fri) 13:00, 15:30 (Daily Exc Fri) 15:30 (Fri) 13:00, 17:45 (Thu, Sat) 17:45 (Fri) 15:00 15:00 11:30, 12:30, 17:30, 00:15 (Daily Exc Fri) 17:30, 00:15 (Fri) 15:30

The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature 360°

Bairaq Fanar Al-Kout Sharqia Avenues

13:20, 15:20, 17:20 (Daily Exc Fri) 14:20 15:20, 17:20 (Fri) 11:30, 15:45 (Daily Exc Fri) 15:45 (Fri) 11:40 (Daily Exc Fri) 13:30 (Fri) 13:30 (Fri) 11:30 (Daily Exc Fri) 13:45, 15:45 16:00 (Daily Exc Fri) 13:30, 16:05 (Fri)

Velipadinte Pusthakam (Malayalam Film) 360° Ajial Plaza

18:30 15:30, 18:30, 21:30 15:45, 18:45, 21:45

16:55, 00:55

Neruppuda (Tamil Film)

The Hitman’s Bodyguard 360°

12:10, 14:30, 16:50, 19:00, 21:10, 23:20 (Daily Exc Fri) 14:30, 16:50, 19:00, 21:10, 23:20 (Fri) 16:30, 21:45 22:30 (Thu, Fri, Sat) 20:00, 00:30 18:00, 00:45 16:45, 19:50, 22:00 12:45, 18:30 (Daily Exc Fri) 18:30 (Fri)

Ajial

16:00, 19:00, 22:00 (Daily Exc Mon, Thu, Fri) 16:00, 22:00 (Mon, Fri) 22:00 (Thu)

Paisa Vasool (Telugu Film) Ajial

19:00 (Mon, Thu, Fri)

Puriyaadha Pudhir (Tamil Film) Ajial

16:00 (Thu)

Logan Lucky Avenues

17:00 (Sat)

IMAX Imax film programme at The Scientific Center

Sunday Showtime Available for Groups Flying Monsters 3D

09:30 am 10:30 am 07:30 pm A Beautiful Planet 3D 11:30 am 06:30 pm, 09:30 pm Journey to Space 3D 12:30 pm Humpback Whales 3D 05:30 pm Kenya: Animal Kingdom 3D 08:30 pm

Monday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am A Beautiful Planet 3D 10:30 am 05:30 pm, 07:30 pm Humpback Whales 3D 11:30 am 09:30 pm Flying Monsters 3D 12:30 pm, 06:30 pm Journey to Space 3D 08:30 pm

Tuesday

Showtime Available for Groups Journey to Space 3D

09:30 am 10:30 am 04:30 pm Flying Monsters 3D 11:30 am 09:30 pm A Beautiful Planet 3D 12:30 pm, 02:30 pm, 05:30 pm, 08:30 pm Kenya: Animal Kingdom 3D 01:30 pm Humpback Whales 3D 03:30 pm, 06:30 pm Secret Ocean 3D 07:30 pm

Wednesday Showtime Available for Groups Flying Monsters 3D

09:30 am 10:30 am 05:30 pm A Beautiful Planet 3D 11:30 am 06:30 pm, 09:30 pm Humpback Whales 3D 12:30 pm Kenya: Animal Kingdom 3D 07:30 pm Journey to Space 3D 08:30 pm

Thursday Showtime Available for Groups A Beautiful Planet 3D

09:30 am 10:30 am 07:30 pm Flying Monsters 3D 11:30 am 06:30 pm, 09:30 pm Kenya: Animal Kingdom 3D 12:30 pm Journey to Space 3D 05:30 pm Humpback Whales 3D 08:30 pm

Friday A Beautiful Planet 3D 02:30 pm, 06:30 pm, 09:30 pm Journey to Space 3D 03:30 pm Humpback Whales 3D 04:30 pm Secret Ocean 3D 05:30 pm Kenya: Animal Kingdom 3D 07:30 pm Flying Monsters 3D 08:30 pm

Saturday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am Flying Monsters 3D 10:30 am 05:30 pm, 07:30 pm A Beautiful Planet 3D 11:30 am 03:30 pm, 08:30 pm Journey to Space 3D 12:30 pm, 06:30 pm, 09:30 pm Humpback Whales 3D 01:30 pm Kenya: Animal Kingdom 3D 02:30 pm Secret Ocean 3D 04:30 pm

Notes: All films are in Arabic. For English, headsets are available upon request. Film schedule is subject to changes without notice. For information call 1 848 888 or visit www.tsck.org.kw

Ma’aden asks banks to refinance nearly $3 bln of debt Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma’aden) , the Gulf’s largest mining company, has asked banks to submit proposals for a loan which would refinance some $2.88 billion of existing debt, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. It sent a request for proposals to banks last week and the banks have until the end of September to respond, the sources said. The facility would be the largest corporate loan out of Saudi Arabia since 2015, according to Thomson

Reuters data. The state-controlled miner is raising the financing for Ma’aden Aluminium, an integrated aluminium facility. France’s BNP Paribas and Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank are coordinating the fundraising, which could be completed by the end of the year, one of the sources said. Ma’aden and BNP Paribas declined to comment, while NCB did not respond to requests for comment. Ma’aden raised the original financing for its aluminium project, a

Market Movements GERMANY FRANCE EUROPE

- DAX - CAC 40 - Euro Stoxx 50

Change Closing pts +90.83 12,214.54 +14.86 5,101.41 +12.94 3,433.80

joint venture between Ma’aden and US aluminium giant Alcoa, in 2010. At that time the company obtained a $1.9 billion loan from 16 financial institutions to back Ma’aden Aluminium Co and Ma’aden Rolling Co, both owned by Ma’aden with 74.9 percent stakes and Alcoa with 25.1 percent. In December of that same year, Ma’aden also obtained a $2.12 billion loan from the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund to finance the first phase of the project. (RTRS)

06-09-2017 AUSTRALIA JAPAN S. KOREA PHILIPPINES INDIA HONG KONG

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production restarting at Libya’s Sharara oilfield

All Ordinaries Nikkei KRX 100 All Shares Sensex Hang Seng

Change Closing pts -14.90 5,752.90 -27.84 19,357.97 -12.25 4,741.90 -27.72 4,739.21 -147.58 31,661.97 -127.59 27,613.76

Production at Libya’s Sharara oilfield, the country’s largest, was gradually restarting on Wednesday after the lifting of a pipeline blockade, Libyan oil sources said. “We have just started, little by little,” said a source at the field, who asked not to be named. He said it would likely take three to four days for production to reach normal levels. Sharara had been producing up to about 280,000 barrels per day (bpd) until it was forced to shut

because of a pipeline blockade on Aug. 19. The blockade was lifted on Tuesday at a valve near the western town of Zintan, on the pipeline leading from the field to Zawiya terminal on Libya’s Mediterranean coast. The source at the field said some maintenance was needed as production resumes, and that some damage had been caused by the closure. A second source said production could restart quickly once checks

were made. “Usually pumping starts after they do some tests to make sure it is okay,” he said. Sharara resumed production in December after a two-year pipeline blockade and has been key to a recovery of Libya’s national output to about 1 million bpd, about four times its mid-2016 level. But the field has suffered repeated temporary shutdowns this year because of protests and armed group activity around the field and along the pipeline leading north. (RTRS)

Business

Boursa Kuwait monthly report Bayan Investment Co

Boursa continues positive performance in Aug oursa Kuwait ended August in B the green zone. The Price Index closed at 6,892.10 points, up by 0.59% compared to the closings of the month before, the Weighted Index increased by 4.18% after closing at 430.57 points, whereas the KSX15 Index closed at 984.90 points increasing by 4.42%. Furthermore, last month’s average turnover increased by 6.63%, compared to the preceding month, reaching K.D 14.57 million, whereas trading volume average was 78.78 million shares, recording an decreased of 4.86%. The market continued its positive performance that it started the month of July with, and the three indices were able to record gains for the second consecutive month, benefiting from some positive factors witnessed during the month, as the market interacted with the relative improvement witnessed by the oil prices, in addition to the positive results disclosed by some listed companies and banks in the market for the first half of 2017. Also, such factors contributed in enhancing most of the traders’ morale and tempted them to executed some purchasing operations included many stocks of different sectors, especially the leading stocks, which reflected its positive performance during the month on the Weighted and the KSX15 indices, which witnessed a relatively better performance from the Price Index that ended the month’s trading with limited gains. Moreover, the market was not away from the effect of the quick profit collection operations that were present during some daily sessions of last month, where such operations were able to push the three indices to

the red zone, especially the Price Index, that was affected by the concentration of such operations on some small-cap stocks, which caused to limit its monthly gains. The Boursa realized good gains to its market capitalization during the last month reached about K.D. 1.46 billion, as the total value of the listed companies in the Boursa (primary market) by the end of August reached K.D. 28.77 billion against K.D. 27.31 billion at end of July, up by 5.35%. On an annual level, the market cap gains for the Boursa reached more than K.D. 3 billion or 13.22% compared to its value at end of 2016, where it reached then K.D. 25.41 billion. (Note: the market value for the listed companies in the official market is calculated based

on the average number of outstanding shares as per the latest available financial statements). For the annual performance, the Price Index ended last month recording 19.90% annual gain compared to its closing in 2016, while the Weighted Index increased by 13.28%, and the KSX-15 recorded 11.29% growth.

Sectors’ Indices Eight of Boursa Kuwait sectors ended last month in the green zone, while the other four recorded decreases. last month’s highest gainer was Insurance sector achieving 12.63% growth rate as its index closed at 1,174.19 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Consumer Goods sector’s index closed at

1,083.55 points recording 6.02% increase, followed by the Basic Materials sector’s index closed at 1,310.76 points recording 3.91% increase. On the other hand, The Technology sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 13.65% to end the month’s activity at 607.02 points. The Health Care sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 10.30%, closing at 1,510.51 points, followed by the Oil & Gas sector, as its index closed at 1,031.29 points at a loss of 4.70%.

Sectors’ Activity The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume during the last month of 681.15 million shares changing hands, representing 39.30% of the total market trading

volume. The Real Estate sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 20.95% of last month’s total trading volume, with a total of 363.07 million shares On the other hand, the Banks sector’s stocks were the highest traded

Oil price to stay at $50-55: Kuwait Strategy on track KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6, (AFP): Kuwaiti Oil Minister Essam al-Marzouk has said he expects oil prices to stay between $50 and $55 a barrel and that the market will rebalance by the end of the year. Marzouk, who heads an oil producers’ committee that monitors compliance to output cuts, told Kuwait’s Al-Rai newspaper in an interview published Wednesday that “demand for oil will pick up this quarter,” and the rate of the fall in crude inventories will accelerate. “OPEC’s strategy is on the right track ... Monthly and weekly indicators for the drop in crude stocks show this strategy is correct,” the minister said. Marzouk said he also expect that a balance between oil supply and demand will be reached by the end of 2017, ending years of supply glut that sent prices crashing. States from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other oil producers including Russia agreed in November last year to cut output for six months, in a bid to raise prices following a collapse that began in mid-2014. The deal was extended for another nine months until March 2018. Oil prices have recovered partially as a result and have been hovering around $50 a barrel. Marzouk said that OPEC will decide at its next meeting in November whether to extend the production cuts deal beyond next March.

Kuwait Oil Minister Essam Al-Marzouk

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (sixth right), holds official talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Tran Dai Quang (sixth left), at the presidential palace in Hanoi on Sept 6. The Egyptian leader is on a two-day state visit focused on bilateral ties. (AFP)

Egypt seeks to kickstart its sputtering economy

Sisi eyes $1 bln in trade on Vietnam visit HANOI, Sept 6, (AFP): Vietnam and Egypt agreed Wednesday to nearly triple trade to $1 billion including with ship-building and IT contracts, as Egypt seeks to kickstart its sputtering economy and forge ties with fast-growing Asian nations. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is in Hanoi for a two-day visit — the first ever by an Egyptian leader — aimed at drumming up business ties with the country. “We discussed means to reinforce bilateral ties in many areas, in particular in economics, especially in light of Vietnam’s achievements in the fields of industry and commerce,” Sisi told reporters. Egypt’s economy tanked after a 2011 revolution that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak, and though growth has steadily recovered, reaching 4.3 percent last year from 1.8 percent in 2011, it is still hampered by high inflation.

in terms of value; with a turnover of K.D. 113.89 million or 35.54% of last month’s total market trading value. The Telecommunications sector took the second place as the sector’s last month turnover of K.D. 65.67 million representing 20.49% of the total market trading value.

After 26 yrs of service

Oman replaces cenbank chief DUBAI, Sept 6, (RTRS): Oman is replacing the executive president of its central bank after he held the post for 26 years, the official ONA news agency reported on Tuesday, quoting a royal decree by the Gulf nation’s ruler Sultan Qaboos. Hamood Sangour al-Zadjali had run the central bank since 1991, overseeing an economic boom fuelled by oil and gas exports and then, in the last few years, managing pressure on the economy caused by a plunge in energy prices. He was the region’s longestserving central bank chief. He is being replaced by Tahir Salim al-Amri, a former director-general of treasury and accounts at the Ministry of Finance, ONA said. At the ministry, Amri headed the committee which arranged the government’s first sale of Islamic bonds in 2015, a 250 million rial ($650 million) issue. More recently, he was deputy chief executive of Oman Finance & Investment Co. ONA did not say why Zadjali, who is about 70, was being replaced. Contacted by telephone, Zadjali declined to comment on the reasons for his departure or on whether central bank policy might change, saying merely that government officials were royal servants who served at the sultan’s pleasure. If oil and gas prices stay low, keeping government finances in deficit, one of Amri’s challenges in coming years may be to maintain investor confidence in Oman’s currency and banking system.

Egyptian foreign reserves rise to $36.143 bln Qatar ups yields CAIRO, Sept 6, (RTRS): Egypt’s foreign reserves rose to $36.143 billion at the end of August from $36.036 billion at the end of July, the central bank said on Wednesday, a slight increase after a sharp jump a month earlier. Egypt has suffered a shortage of hard currency in recent years after tourists and foreign investors, two main sources of foreign currency, were driven away by a 2011 uprising. The shortage hampered the importdependent country’s ability to purchase from abroad and created a black

market that kept much of the foreign currency out of the official banking system, shaking investors’ confidence and slowing economic growth. Foreign reserves have been climbing steadily since Egypt floated its currency, the pound, in November. That helped it clinch a $12 billion International Monetary Fund loan aimed at attracting foreign investors and reviving the ailing economy. Reserves rose by some $4.73 billion between June and July, putting the figure above pre-2011 levels. Some econ-

omists attributed the jump to portfolio investment, demand for which has boomed since November, as the Central Bank of Egypt raised interest rates by 700 basis points after the pound was floated. “It’s not clear whether some proceeds from foreigners’ purchases of Egyptian treasury bills are included or not, but we expect that the additional inflows from the interbank market could have been included in the previous month’s reserves,” said Reham El-Desouki, an economist at Arqaam Capital.

Last year the International Monetary Fund approved a $12 billion loan to prop up the ailing economy. Cairo has also sought new trade partners after relations with Washington soured when Sisi overthrew Islamist

president Mohamed Morsi four years ago. Vietnam’s President Tran Dai Quang called for more trade with Egypt after officials signed nine agreements Wednesday, including in the areas of

transport, fisheries and investment. “We are determined to bring bilateral trade volume to $1 billion in the future,” Quang said, adding they would focus on ship-building, IT, seaports, manufacturing and agro-processing.

in sale of T-bills DUBAI, Sept 6, (RTRS): Qatar’s central bank said it sold 1 billion Qatari riyals ($274.7 million) worth of treasury bills in a monthly auction on Wednesday, with yields higher than in its previous offer. The bank sold 650 million riyals of three-month notes with a yield of 2.25 percent, higher than the 2.14 percent yield at which the bank sold 750 million riyals one month ago in a sign that sanctions against Qatar continue to exert pressure on liquidity in the Qatari money market. It sold 350 million riyals treasury bills with a six-month maturity and a yield of 2.49 percent, it said on its website.

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This file photo taken on Dec 28, 2016 shows the logo of WhatsApp mobile messaging service in Paris. WhatsApp said on Sept 5 that it is testing potentially moneymaking ways to be used by businesses to communicate with customers. A business version of Facebook-owned messaging application WhatsApp will be free to use at the outset, with plans to charge big businesses for certain tools in the future, according to the company. (AFP)

WhatsApp unveils plan to make money from businesses WhatsApp said Tuesday that it is testing potentially money-making ways to be used by businesses to communicate with customers. A business version of Facebook-owned messaging application WhatsApp will be free to use at the outset, with plans to charge big businesses for certain tools in the future, according to the company. WhatsApp had yet to work out details of what it would charge, saying it was focused now on refining features with companies helping to test the application. It will be the first move by Facebook to

monetize WhatsApp, which has focused primarily on growth. “We’ve heard stories of shopkeepers who use WhatsApp to stay in touch with hundreds of customers from a single smartphone, and from people who are unsure about whether or not a business on WhatsApp is authentic,” the company said in a blog post. “In the coming months, we’ll be testing new features that aim to solve some of these challenges, and make it easier for people to communicate with the businesses they want to reach on WhatsApp.”

Features offered in a business version of WhatsApp will include verified accounts to assure people they are really dealing with businesses, and tools for managing text “chats.” Companies will also be able to create profiles providing descriptions, addresses, hours of operation and more. “This is just the beginning of what we want to offer for businesses and our users, and we’’e excited for what’s to come,” said WhatsApp, which boasts more than a billion daily users. (AFP)

US services sector growth accelerates in Aug Trade deficit edges up WASHINGTON, Sept 6, (RTRS): US services sector activity accelerated in August amid strong gains in new orders and employment, suggesting that a slowdown in job growth last month was probably temporary. The economic outlook received a further boost from other data on Wednesday showing only a modest rise in the trade deficit in July. The reports were the latest signs that the economy had gathered momentum early in the third quarter. Economists, however, cautioned that Hurricane Harvey, which devastated parts of Texas, could sap some of the strength. “The US economy carried a little more momentum than originally thought,” said Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto. “However, some of that momentum will be blunted by, for starters, Hurricane Harvey.” The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its non-manufacturing activity index increased 1.4 points to 55.3 in August, rebounding from an 11-month low in the prior month. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector, which accounts for more than two-thirds of US economic activity. Last month’s increase in services industry activity also reflected a jump of 1.6 points in the production subindex. Even more encouraging, a measure of services sector employment jumped

2.6 points. The government reported last week that the economy created 156,000 jobs in August, with the private services sector hiring the smallest number of workers in five months. Economists largely shrugged off the slowdown in job growth, blaming it on a seasonal quirk. Over the past several years, the initial August job count has tended to exhibit a weak bias, with revisions subsequently showing strength. Last month, services industries also reported an increase in new orders as well as prices. The ISM said the “majority of respondents are optimistic about business conditions going forward.” The dollar was trading marginally lower against a basket of currencies as traders digested news that Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer would step down next month. Prices for longer-dated US Treasuries rose, while stocks on Wall Street were trading mostly higher. Reports on consumer and business spending have suggested the economy gathered more strength early in the third quarter after gross domestic product increased at a 3.0 percent annualized rate in the April-June period. In a separate report on Wednesday, the Commerce Department said the trade deficit rose 0.3 percent to $43.7 billion in July. When adjusted for inflation, the trade deficit widened to $61.6 billion from $60.8 billion in June. The so-called real goods deficit in July was below the second-quarter average of $62.4 billion. While that suggests trade could add to gross domestic product in the third quarter, economists at Wrightson ICAP cautioned that Hurricane Harvey could significantly impact commodity prices

Govt posts Can$3bn July trade deficit

Canada central bank ups key lending rate to 1.0% OTTAWA, Sept 6, (AFP): The Bank of Canada increased its key lending rate by 0.25 percentage points to 1.0 percent Wednesday as the economy roars back to life. “Recent economic data have been stronger than expected, supporting the Bank’s view that growth in Canada is becoming more broadly-based and self-sustaining,” it said in a statement. This was only the second rate hike in seven years, from a near-historic low. It comes after the Canadian economy rebounded hard at the beginning of the year, posting its best performance since the 2008 global financial crisis. According to Statistics Canada, the economy continued to grow at a relative breakneck pace of 4.5 percent last quarter. The Canadian dollar, meanwhile, climbed more than 10 percent since May to about 81 cents US. But there remains uncertainty over continental free trade talks with the United States and Mexico, and hurricanes pounding the heart of the US refining capacity in the Gulf coast region — given that Canada exports most of

its oil to its southern neighbor. In a statement, the Bank of Canada noted that consumer spending remains robust, “underpinned by continued solid employment and income growth.” Business investment and exports have also broadly strengthened, it said. In addition, a red hot real estate market in two of Canada’s biggest cities has started to cool after repeated warnings of overheating, thanks in part to new tax and mortgage financing changes. Going forward, the central bank said it expects a moderation in the pace of economic growth in the second half of 2017, but already gross domestic product (GDP) is higher than it had forecast. It noted that inflation remained below its 2.0 percent target, but said there is still some excess capacity in the labor market, and wage and price pressures “are still more subdued than historical relationships would suggest.” Future rate decisions, the bank said, would continue to be guided by economic data and financial market devel-

opments. But particular focus, it said, will be given to labor market conditions, and given Canadians’ high level of indebtedness, “to the sensitivity of the economy to higher interest rates.” Meanwhile, Canada posted a Can$3.0 billion ($2.4 billion) trade deficit in July, as widespread price decreases pushed down both import and export figures, the government statistical agency said Wednesday. The deficit was less than the Can$3.6 billion analysts forecast, after it had more than doubled in the previous month. Imports fell 6.0 percent in July to Can$47.2 billion, following seven consecutive monthly increases. Prices were largely responsible for this decrease, as the Canadian dollar gained 3.6 cents US relative to the US greenback from June to July, said Statistics Canada. Following a record posted in June, imports of aircraft and other transportation equipment and parts fell 35.2 percent in the month. Lower imports of motor vehicles and parts also contributed to the decline, as planned closures in the automotive

manufacturing industry were longer this year. Exports, meanwhile, fell 4.9 percent to Can$44.1 billion. Prices fell 3.9 percent while volumes were down 1.1 percent. Exports of motor vehicles and parts fell 9.6 percent in the month — the strongest decrease since August 2014. Following four consecutive monthly increases, exports of aircraft and other transportation equipment and parts were down 18.3 percent in July, led by a decrease in aircraft exports to the United States. Bilateral trade with the United States — Canada’s largest trading partner — fell, resulting in a wider trade surplus from Can$1.8 billion in June to Can$2.9 billion in July. Statistics Canada also noted large decreases in exports of unwrought gold to Britain, copper, canola and seafood to Japan, and transportation equipment to Saudi Arabia. It also highlighted lower bauxite imports from Brazil, and fewer motor vehicle parts entering the country from Mexico.

and trade volumes, and push up the trade deficit in September. Trade added two-tenths of a percentage point to GDP in the second quarter. The politically sensitive US-China trade deficit increased to an 11-month high in July. That ongoing deficit has grabbed the attention of President Donald Trump, who has blamed it for helping to decimate US factory jobs as well as stunting US economic growth. Trump, who argues that the United States has been disadvantaged in its dealings with trade partners, has ordered

the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was signed in 1994 by the United States, Canada and Mexico. On Saturday, Trump threatened to withdraw from a free trade deal with South Korea. “When you negotiate with countries keep in mind you are really going up against some of the biggest corporations in America who moved their operations overseas years ago,” said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG in New York.

“This deficit concern is somewhat misguided as it is largely a trade war with ourselves. These jobs are not coming back to America’s heartland.” In July, real goods exports slipped despite petroleum exports hitting a record high. Exports of goods and services fell 0.3 percent to $194.4 billion in July. Exports of motor vehicles and parts fell, but shipments of capital goods rose. Exports to China increased 3.5 percent, while those to the European Union tumbled 9.8 percent. Imports of goods and services slipped

0.2 percent to $238.1 billion in July. There were declines in imports of motor vehicles and parts as well as crude oil. Imports of goods from China increased 3.1 percent. The US-China trade deficit rose 3.0 percent to $33.6 billion in July, the highest level since August 2016. The United States saw a 3.7 percent drop in goods and services imported from the EU in July, which left the trade deficit with the economic bloc 7.9 percent higher at an eight-month high of $13.5 billion.

‘I’m encouraging people to get up and let’s get going’

Houston’s businesses inching back to work HOUSTON, Sept 6, (AP): Bobby Jucker has had it with hurricanes. In 2008, Hurricane Ike tore the roof off his business, Three Brothers Bakery. Now, he estimates, he’s facing $1 million in damage and lost revenue from Harvey — the fifth time a storm has put his bakery out of commission. He’s always recovered before. But this time, he wears the weary countenance of a man nearly broken. “This is the last time for me,” he says. “It’s emotionally draining. I just can’t do it anymore.” More than a week after Harvey poured more than 4 feet (1.2 meters) of rain on Houston, killing at least 65 people, destroying thousands of cars and leaving hundreds of thousands of families with flood-damaged homes, America’s fourth-biggest city is striving to reopen for business. Houston’s airports and shipping lanes reopened to limited traffic last week. Some workers returned to their offices Thursday or Friday. More followed on Tuesday after a long Labor Day weekend of cleanup and regrouping. With waters receded, some parts of the sprawling metropolitan area look virtually untouched. Yet in other places — the leafy bedroom community of Kingwood or the Meyerland neighborhood — piles of debris sit above curbs, industrial-size dumpsters dot shopping-center parking lots and the air is thick with the odor of mold and decay. “I’m encouraging people to get up and let’s get going,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said over the weekend. “Most of the city is dry. And I’m saying to people, if you can open, let’s open up and let’s get started.” Many big businesses will likely recover relatively quickly. But small companies will struggle to replace moldy carpets and damaged equipment, to reconnect with suppliers, to meet payroll and to draw back customers, many of whom are nursing financial injuries of their own — swamped cars, flooded basements, leaky roofs. Some companies are still too overwhelmed to resume business, which means their employees remain idle and unpaid. FEMA estimates that nearly 40 percent of small businesses never reopen after a disaster. On Wednesday, Jucker hopes to reopen the bakery, which his father and two uncles founded 68 years ago. Over the weekend, the place was a

In this Sept 2, 2017 photo, Maria Tran, co-owner of Chic Tailors, near Brays Bayou in Meyerland, Texas, prepares to open her business with her 3-year-old son, Ander. Tran wants to get the shop open quickly so her sister can take over while she gives birth to her second

wreck. Jucker tossed a ruined loaf of bread into a dumpster and pointed to a jug of blue food dye that will have to go, too. Also ruined is an icemaker, upended by flood waters. Bees swarmed garbage bags full of rotting confectionary and baking ingredients. Cream puffs and Danishes wilted on racks in the parking lot. The bakery lost the live yeast used for sourdough bread; Jucker will have to grow more. It had been roasting its own coffee but lost $15,000 worth of beans. A remodeled cafe at the front of the bakery was mostly destroyed. One of the bakery’s four industrial ovens has to be replaced at a cost of more than $50,000. A second one needs at least a new motor, if not a full replacement. Across town, Michael Kaufman is counting his own losses. Flood waters drenched his 29-year-old business, Wholesale Cleaners, ruining the carpet, warping the counters and wrecking the computer inside his $40,000

child, a daughter. She worries because she watched customers move away after previous floods. But for now she says she has ‘no complaints. Compared with other people, we’re lucky we’re still here and alive.’ (AP)

Unipress machine. The damage comes to about $10,000. From his son’s home, where he had taken refuge, he watched the nightmare unfold on the shop’s digital cameras. First, the yellow lines in the parking lot disappeared in the rain. Then the water seeped inside. The cleaners, situated in the Jewish community of Meyerland, had always enjoyed good fortune. In the past when storms hit Houston, they flooded the opposite bank of Brays Bayou. This time, water went everywhere. “It was a lake here,” Kaufman says. Next, Kaufman faced an odd problem: Flood victims started dropping off mounds of wet shirts and slacks, some so sodden they needed to be cleaned twice. One longtime customer brought four racks of clothes. But what sounds like a windfall isn’t. Kaufman knows it may be weeks before those customers — many of them distracted and financially squeezed by home repairs — will return to pick up

their clothes and pay for the cleaning. Some might never return. Kaufman worries that some of his clients will give up on Houston and its hurricanes and move away. That’s what happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina brutalized that city in 2005. In the meantime, Kaufman faces a cash crunch. And he has to meet payroll Friday. “I’m worried about the business,” he says. Kaufman’s anxiety led him to seek information about a loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration, which has sent teams to Houston to provide emergency credit to businesses and homeowners. The SBA finances the replacement of damaged property and equipment and offers working capital loans to help businesses through the disaster. The interest rate on SBA business loans is just over 3.3 percent, only about half the rate on comparable loans from private-sector lenders.

US giant ExxonMobil plans Cyprus gas exploration in 2018 NICOSIA, Sept 6, (AFP): US giant ExxonMobil said Wednesday it plans to start drilling at two sites in the second half of 2018 to explore for energy reserves off the south coast of Cyprus. Preparations to support the drilling operations are already underway, the company’s vice president Tristan Aspray said at a presentation in Nicosia. He said the operations would take place back-to-back and begin in the second half of 2018.

ExxonMobil with Qatar Petroleum has signed a licence agreement with the Cyprus government to explore block 10 for oil and gas as part of a third licensing round to exploit new offshore plots. Block 10 is close to where ENI made a huge find in Egypt’s offshore “Zohr” field, raising hopes in Cyprus of more untapped wealth. US firm Noble Energy made the first find off southeast Cyprus in 2011 in the Aphrodite field (Block 12), estimated

to contain 127.4 billion cubic metres (4.54 trillion cubic feet) of gas. Israeli firms Delek and Avner have a 30-percent stake in the venture. Noble has handed over a 35 percent share to the UK’s BG International. Italian-South Korean venture ENIKogas has so far failed to discover any exploitable gas reserves in deep-sea drilling off the island. Block 12 has been declared commercially viable but an action plan on the next steps has yet to be finalised.

Italy’s ENI and France’s Total, which have equal shares in block 11, have been conducting exploratory drilling off the south coast since July. Cyprus needs to find more gas reserves to make a planned onshore terminal financially viable as it seeks to become a regional energy player. It had planned to build a liquefied natural gas plant that would allow exports by ship to Asia and Europe, but the reserves confirmed so far are insufficient to make that feasible.

‘Dreamer’ in Congress agenda

Trump says vital to reduce tax burden on people, cos WASHINGTON, Sept 6, (RTRS): President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged leaders of the US Congress to make a big push on tax reform with tax cuts on individuals and companies and tax breaks for businesses to bring back profits from overseas. “It is vital that we reduce the crushing tax burden on our companies and on our workers,” Trump said as he met at the White House with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republican leaders. The US Congress, back from vacation on Tuesday, already had its plate full with urgent fiscal and disaster relief issues when President Donald Trump saddled it with deciding the fate of people brought illegally to the United States as children. The future of almost 800,000 young “Dreamers,” protected from deportation by the Obamaera Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, now rests with lawmakers who have failed repeatedly to deal effectively with immigration issues. Trump on Tuesday scrapped DACA while giving Congress six months to do something about it. Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona said permanent legislation to fix the immigration system had been Congress’ prerogative all along, and that lawmakers should and could act quickly. “There’s a program, kids are protected by it, they are going to lose that protection if we don’t act,” Flake said.

Relief Other critical issues are bearing down on lawmakers. Leading US lawmakers said on Tuesday they were preparing to swiftly approve disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Harvey and two other must-pass priorities: preventing a default on US government debt and avoiding a government shutdown. The House of Representatives was scheduled to consider on Wednesday a first installment of aid for Harvey relief and recovery, about $8 billion, and the Senate’s leadership promised swift action once the House has passed the measure. Senators will then move on to making sure government creditors are paid and avoiding a government shutdown, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the chamber, outlining the agenda for September. “We have

to get all three of these things done and we have to do it very quickly.” Republican conservatives were concerned that the various urgent items would be packaged together and rushed through in a way that would prevent lawmakers from attaching conditions that could restrain or even reform government spending. Representative Mark Walker, leader of a large group of House conservatives, said in an interview with Fox News: “For Republicans, we have to be willing to hold the line when it comes to the out-of-control spending.” The Senate’s No. 2 Republican, John Cornyn, said Republican leaders were preparing to attach a measure raising the US debt ceiling — unpopular with conservatives — to the Harvey aid package when it arrives in the Senate, The Hill reported. Such a combined measure would then have to be sent back to the House for approval.

Support “It’s imperative that we get that (Harvey aid) supplemental passed. And the leader has made the decision to attach the debt limit to that, and I support that,” Cornyn told a group of reporters, according to The Hill. The Trump administration has urged that the two measures be combined. The debt ceiling caps how much money the US government can borrow, and many conservatives in Congress are loath to raise it without spending reforms. Representative Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, acknowledged on Tuesday evening that conservatives probably did not have the votes to stop a measure combining Harvey aid with a debt ceiling hike. “It will probably pass, with a majority of Democrats and enough Republicans to get it across the finish line,” Meadows said after a meeting of the caucus. Nonetheless, he said the caucus would propose that a requirement capping government spending as a percentage of gross domestic product be attached to the debt ceiling hike. Congress must raise the debt ceiling by early October to stave off an unprecedented US government debt default, which would shake global markets. Lawmakers also need to approve by late September a government funding bill or the government will have to close on Oct 1.

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France begins privatisation drive to fund innovation France has begun selling off shares it still holds in companies as it seeks to raise 10 billion euros ($12 billion) to fund a programme to promote innovation in the country’s sclerotic economy. The sale of a 4.5 percent stake in the energy company Engie conducted late Tuesday, which raised a little over 1.5 billion euros, was the first to raise

money for the innovation fund promoted by President Emmanuel Macron during his election campaign. “This sale of shares took place at a good moment for the state as an owner,” Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said in a statement. “This is the first stage in the plan to sell assets worth 10 billion euros,” he added.

Not all analysts were convinced the French state got a good price, which was below Engie’s closing share price of 13.98 euros on Tuesday. “Engie shares are worth a lot more, it wasn’t necessarily the best time to sell,” said Christian Saint-Etienne at ParisDauphine University. “We’re seeing a fire sale of the family jewels.” (AFP)

eurozone bond yields drift back up Eurozone bond yields drifted higher on Wednesday, reversing early falls, as the impact of strong gains in the US bond market faded and focus turned to higher oil prices and the need for caution a day before a keenly anticipated ECB meeting. US Treasury yields fell to almost 10-month lows on Tuesday as worries about further nuclear tests by North Korea and the impact of powerful storm

Irma sparked demand for safehaven assets. When a bond yield falls, its price rises. That provided a positive backdrop for European bond markets, with German 10-year yields hitting their lowest levels in just over a week in early trade. But as the session wore on, bond yields across the bloc reversed course, rising 1-2 basis points. Analysts said a rise in oil prices helped explain the move.

Brent crude oil prices rose almost 1 percent to their highest levels since May as strong global refining margins and the reopening of US Gulf Coast refineries provided a more bullish outlook after sharp drops due to Storm Harvey. Germany’s 10-year bond yield was up 1 basis point at 0.35 percent, up from one-week lows hit earlier at 0.325 percent. (RTRS)

Firms use loophole to escape ECB watch

Fewer than 10 UK-based banks have asked for EU licence FRANKFURT, Sept 6, (RTRS): Fewer than ten of the approximately 40 banks that conduct EU business out of London have applied so far for a licence to continue banking in the bloc after Britain leaves, regulatory sources told Reuters. The slow pace of applications is raising concern at the European Central Bank, the EU’s top banking supervisor, that some lenders are not doing enough to prepare for Brexit, or may even avoid its watch through a gap in the rules. The past two months have seen a pick-up in the number of banks saying they plan to set up new EU subsidiaries after Brexit, with most major US, British and Japanese banks saying they will establish units in Frankfurt or Dublin. But supervisory sources say they have still seen few formal applications for licences. “We’re having lots of meetings but not enough concrete action,” one supervisor said. While Britain does not leave the EU until March 2019, bank executives have said time is already running out: it could take 18 months or more to set up a new subsidiary, given the need to relocate staff, get the requisite technology and change contractual arrangements with EU clients. The location of investment banks’ European headquarters is a major issue during Britain’s negotiations to leave the EU. Companies across the bloc depend for financing on global banks whose European arms are now mainly based in London. The Bank of England estimates that half of all the debt and equity issued in the EU involves financial institutions in Britain. Big banks have warned a “hard Brexit” could trigger financial instability if they were to suddenly lose access to EU markets. On Friday, Europe’s banking industry group said central banks would need to be ready to inject cash into financial markets to help keep them stable. The application for a banking licence, to an EU member state’s national regulator and to the ECB, can take 6-12 months, and possibly longer if many banks apply at the same time. Three sources at different EU banking watchdogs told Reuters the total number of banks that had submitted appli-

cations so far across Europe was still in single digits. The ECB declined to comment on the number of applications made, but has previously expressed concern that banks are behind in their preparations. “A number of the larger banks have made progress in their planning,” Sabine Lautenschlaeger, who represents the ECB’s supervisory arm on the board, said last month. “But we have not seen many final decisions yet.” A spokesman at German regulator Bafin said it had received some applications and expected this to swell into double-digits eventually. The Central Bank of Ireland did not receive any applications in the first half of the year, its mid-year report shows. According to Lautenschlaeger, there are around 40 banks that now conduct business in other EU countries from UK bases. These include UK lenders, the big Wall Street investment banks and smaller groups from Asia and the Middle East. To receive permission to operate new or expanded subsidiaries in the EU, they would have to subject their business plans, safety and the fitness of managers and investors to national and ECB banking supervisors. Most major international and UK banks already operate small licensed subsidiaries in at least one other EU country, but would still need expanded regulatory approval to transfer big chunks of their London business to them. In at least five cases — Barclays, Citi, HSBC, JPMorgan and State Street — European subsidiaries are already big enough to be directly supervised by the ECB, although they may need further permission to expand their operations. Barclays has said it plans to secure an expanded licence for its subsidiary in Ireland. Among other big banks, Royal Bank of Scotland is negotiating with Dutch supervisors about moving some of its staff and business to its subsidiary in the Netherlands, while Lloyds and Standard Chartered plan to make formal submissions this year. The ECB has complained that some firms could avoid its supervision by setting up market divisions, known as broker-dealers, rather than full-blown banks.

Move largely symbolic

France plans to end oil and natural gas output by 2020 PARIS, Sept 6, (AP): France’s government has unveiled a law to ban all production and exploration of oil and natural gas by 2040 on the country’s mainland and overseas territories. The move is largely symbolic, however, as France’s oil and gas production represents just 1 percent of national consumption — the rest is imported. Current drilling permits will not be renewed, according to the bill formally presented in a Cabinet meeting Wednesday. France currently has 63 oil and gas drilling projects on its territory. The ban, which the government claims is a world first, is part of a larger plan to wean the country’s economy from fossil fuels, encourage clean energy and fulfill France’s commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement to curb global warming. French President Emmanuel Macron praised it as “an important step to fulfill our international commitments.”

Ban The bill, which was elaborated by Environment minister Nicolas Hulot, also includes a definitive ban on all shale gas exploration and extraction. Until now, only hydraulic fracturing, a process known as fracking, was banned. All other potential methods are now to be prohibited as well. Hulot had already announced in

July that France will stop producing power from coal — now 5 percent of total output — by 2022. In parallel, the country wants to reduce the proportion of its power from nuclear energy to 50 percent by 2025, from the current 75 percent.

Issues Hulot said it is important for France to maintain its leadership on climate-related issues following the Paris Agreement signed in 2015. “I have absolute faith in the capacity of renewable energies to become progressively a very important source to fulfill our energy needs”, he said in a news conference. Greenpeace France said in a statement the bill sets a “good goal” but doesn’t go far enough. The environmental organization notes that the extension of an offshore exploration permit in French Guiana was maintained. In this case, Hulot said the existing permits “will be maintained to avoid legal conflicts.” Francis Duseux, president of the French oil lobby UFIP, said it would have been better to keep producing oil and gas in France rather than rely exclusively on imports, because in any case France’s economy will still rely on fossil fuels in 2040. “Energy transition will take time,” he said on Europe 1 radio. Duseux estimated that oil drilling on French territory supports 4,500 to 5,000 jobs.

Industrial orders in Germany decline unexpectedly in July Industry group preparing for hard Brexit FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Sept 6, (Agencies): Industrial orders in Germany fell unexpectedly in July, weighed down by lower demand both in Germany and the euro area, preliminary official data showed on Wednesday. New orders decreased by 0.7 percent month-on-month in July, adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects, the federal statistics authority Destatis said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (third from right), listens to South Korean President Moon Jae-in (fifth from left), during their meeting at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia on Sept 6. (AP)

Cryan says worried about asset bubbles

Deutsche Bank urges ECB to raise rates FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Sept 6, (AFP): The European Central Bank should end its easy-money policy to avoid inflating market bubbles and relieve struggling eurozone lenders, Deutsche Bank chief John Cryan said Wednesday. “The time of cheap money in Europe must come to an end, despite the strong euro,” Cryan told a Frankfurt bankers’ gathering the day before a closely-watched ECB monetary policy meeting. ECB policymakers have set interest rates at historic lows and pumped over 2.0 trillion euros ($2.4 trillion) into the economy by buying government and corporate bonds, which Cryan said had helped banks recover from the financial crisis but “also brought fresh turbulence”. “We are now seeing signs of bubbles in more and more parts of the capital market where we wouldn’t have expected them,” he added. What’s more, “interest rate policy has been partly responsible for the decline in earnings at European banks” to just 23 percent of their pre-crisis levels, Cryan said.

Loans The problem is worsening as more and more loans issued at higher interest rates in the past are paid off. Competing American banks benefit from higher interest rates in the United States, increasing their net interest income bz 8.0 percent in the first half of 2017 compared with a 2.0-percent decline in Europe, Cryan said. However, policymakers are leery of scaling back supportive measures just yet, as inflation remains short of the ECB’s target and the economy confronts a braking effect from the euro’s appreciation to almost $1.20. Cryan sought to flip that perception around, arguing that the exchange rate surge shows investors are pricing in higher future interest rates. “When the market is anticipating it, why not give the market a little bit?” he asked.

‘Govt must maintain strong voice for industry in Europe’

UK oil, gas sector urges ‘clarity’ on Brexit LONDON, Sept 6, (AFP): Britain must provide “clarity” over its Brexit strategy in order to stimulate jobs and investment in the offshore oil and gas sector, industry body Oil & Gas UK urged on Wednesday. The clarion call came as the organisation also revealed in its 2017 economic report that employment in the offshore oil and gas sector fell further this year on the back of deep costcutting, despite rising oil prices. “Potential investors ... require clarity as to how the UK will respond to

the macro-economic impact of Brexit,” said Deidre Michie, chief executive of Oil & Gas UK, in the report. “The UK government must maintain a strong voice for our industry in Europe where indigenous oil and gas will continue to provide a vital part of our energy mix.” She added that offshore energy “continues to make a convincing case that the sector should be at the heart of the UK government’s industrial strategy”.

The total number of those employed — both indirectly and directly in the offshore oil and gas sector — sank by 13,000 people to 302,200 in the first half of 2017, the group added. “The sector continues to support over 300,000 jobs across the economy, but as this is around one-third lower than the peak in 2014, it could threaten core capabilities within the supply chain if activity does not pick up,” Oil & Gas UK added in the report.

Surge in euro complicates exit strategy

What markets will monitor at widely anticipated ECB meet LONDON, Sept 6, (RTRS): European Central Bank policymakers hold a widely anticipated meeting on Thursday, amid speculation the central bank wants to wind down its extraordinary bondbuying monetary stimulus soon. However, this year’s surge in the euro exchange rate complicates the ECB’s exit strategy. It curtails already sub-target inflation by making dollar-priced imports cheaper, dragging down the booming export sector and cutting into corporate earnings from outside the bloc. Any mention of the euro and its relative impact on financial and economic conditions, as a result, may be the biggest market mover on Thursday. Here’s what financial markets are looking for from the ECB’s statement and President Mario Draghi’s press conference. ■ Euro strength The euro’s more than 13 percent rise against the dollar so far this year, its biggest in 14 years, puts the currency at the top of investor watch lists. Absolute levels for the euro are still below its levels since ECB chief Mario Draghi promised to save the eurozone, but it is the speed of the move that is a concern. On a trade-weighted basis, the euro has gained nearly 6 percent in less than five months. That strength creates obstacles for both economic growth and inflation in the eurozone. Sources told Reuters last week that euro strength could delay ECB plans to roll back stimulus, and Draghi is sure to be asked about the currency in the post-meeting news conference . ■ Policy statement With currency strength making a rare appearance in the minutes of the last policy meeting on July 20, markets will watch if the currency gets more attention in the formal post-meeting statement this week. Despite the reference, Morgan Stanley analysts say mention of the currency has dropped sharply in recent months after data-mining each policy statement and accompanying press conference since 1998. July’s policy statement had an abnormally low nine mentions of the currency compared with an average of 27 in the last two years and far below 56 times at its March

meeting. “I think they will be careful not to push any major changes — they are wary of the exchange rate,” said Robert Skelton, a portfolio manager at Mediolanum Asset Management. ■ Staff forecasts Revisions to the ECB’s staff projections following recent gains in the euro is another important focus. Markets expect a slight downward revision in core inflation forecasts, although analysts said the ECB’s long-term forecasts may be little changed and should not in themselves derail plans for tapering next year. Inflation in the 19-country currency bloc, which the ECB aims to keep just below 2 percent, accelerated to 1.5 percent in August from 1.3 percent. The ECB forecasts inflation of 1.5 percent in 2017 and 1.3 percent in 2018. ■ Tapering Markets have pushed back expectations for when the ECB will signal a scaling back of its stimulus, to October from September. The latest Reuters poll predicts the same. Still, ECB comments will be scrutinized for any clues on the timing and scale of a taper. About 36 percent of government bond yields in the eurozone are below zero, compared with a peak in June 2016 of 51 percent, according to JP Morgan Asset Management. Globally, 30 percent of government bond yields are sub zero. Frederik Ducrozet, an economist at Pictet Wealth Management, expects the ECB to lay the groundwork for the decision to be made by year-end, tasking its committees to study all policy options for 2018. ■ Bond-buying parameters The ECB may also be questioned about a growing scarcity of eligible bonds for the bond-buying scheme, which might encourage it to wind down stimulus sooner rather than later. The ECB bought fewer German bonds in August than in any month since the start of the stimulus programme, suggesting it was holding back to avoid running out of debt to buy.

Analysts surveyed by data company Factset had predicted a slight increase of 0.1 percent. Orders from within Germany fell 1.6 percent and those from eurozone neighbours were down 1.0 percent, while contracts from the rest of the world increased 0.6 percent, Destatis calculated. Demand for German-made goods was down across all sectors, with orders for producer goods and capital goods falling by 0.4 percent and 0.7 percent respectively, while there was a 3.0-percent drop in orders for consumer goods. Nevertheless, eliminating highly volatile large contracts from the data showed an increase of 0.6 percent compared with the figure for June, Destatis noted. “The trend for industrial orders points slightly upwards,” the economy ministry in Berlin insisted in a statement. In June and July combined, orders increased by 1.1 percent compared with the preceding two months, the ministry calculated. “Ordering activity remains at a very high level,” the statement added. “According to the indicators, the solid upturn in industry should continue.”

Also: FRANKFURT: Germany’s biggest industry group has set up a task force including companies such as Airbus, Siemens and Deutsche Bank to prepare for a disruptive British departure from the European Union, according to people involved. The Federation of German Industries (BDI) task force will identify by the end of December the risks to German industry from a “hard” Brexit after monthly meetings of dozens of experts, the people said. The preparations are the result of growing nervousness amid slow and acrimonious negotiations between Britain’s Brexit minister David Davis and his opposite number at the European Commission, Michel Barnier. In Germany, companies are now preparing for the worst, including the imposition of tolls and the risk of a loss of access to London financial markets, the people involved said. “Many people in Britain have hoped that they would get a special deal from Germany. We’ve been saying for a year that this is not going to happen,” said Markus Becker-Melching of the Association of German Banks, which is involved in the task force. “We are working on the basis that there will be a hard Brexit,” he said. “The wheels are now set in motion to prepare for this.” One person directly involved with the task force, who asked not to be named, added: “We have to plan now for there being no agreement, for things not working.” The existence of the task force, which was established in June and is now accelerating its work in regular meetings in Berlin, will be officially announced in early October. Its conclusions in December will be important in shaping the position of the new German government, which may be in place then following elections later this month. The companies involved declined to elaborate on the work of the task force. More than six months into Brexit divorce talks that must conclude by April 2019, there is little sign of progress. Earlier this week, Britain’s David Davis warned a row over how much money Britain should pay the EU when it leaves would probably last the duration of the negotiations. The EU has said this and other issues must first be resolved before talks on future trading relations can begin.

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

BUSINESS

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PIA appoints new CEO Loss-making Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Wednesday named Musharraf Rasool Cyan as its new chief executive, entrusting him with turning around the national carrier’s fortunes after a turbulent year. Cyan, who PIA described as a ‘professional technocrat’, will face an uphill task in returning the airline to profitability and improv-

Egypt’s non-oil business activity contraction slows slightly – PMI Egypt's non-oil private sector business activity shrank in August at the slowest pace since July last year amid a decline in new orders and a jump in exports, a survey showed on Wednesday. The Emirates NBD Egypt Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the non-oil private sector rose to 48.9 in August from 48.6 a month before but remained below the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction. Output continued to decline in August, but im-

ing the carrier’s reputation which was dented by a plane crash in December and allegations of financial mismanagement. “(Cyan) brings with him a vast experience of more than 26 years in public sector management, service reforms, project planning and economic development programs,” PIA said in a statement on Wednesday. (RTRS)

proved from the previous month, with the related subindex standing at 48.8, compared with 47 in July, the survey showed. New orders declined in August, reaching 49.5 from 50 the previous month, when it briefly ended a 21-month trend of decline. For the fifth month in a row, new exports rose, with the subindex climbing to 53.7 from 50.3 in July, as the Egyptian pound remained weak. Egyptian exports have gained new markets

Australia economy strengthens after ‘weak’ start to year: data Strong growth boosted by govt and consumer spending SYDNEY, Sept 6, (AFP): Australia’s economy has shrugged off a sluggish start to the year, boosted by government and consumer spending with the nation extending its record run of growth, official data showed Wednesday. Economic growth for the second-quarter was 0.8 percent, after 0.3 percent in January-March, to take the annual rate of expansion to 1.8 percent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. “Today’s national accounts for the June quarter reveal solid and more balanced growth for our economy,” Treasurer Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra. “(It confirms) the emerging national economic consensus of the betterdays-ahead outlook that I referred to in this year’s budget.” The stronger reading came after the economy marked a world-record 26 years without a recession, even as growth slowed at the beginning of the year with the impact of category four Cyclone Debbie on eastern Australia. The Australian dollar slipped slightly below 80 US cents after the data release, with investors disappointed that the latest GDP reading was marginally softer than some analysts’ estimates. The figures showed that household spending rose by 0.7 percent and government expenditure by 1.2 percent, while exports of goods and services increased by 2.7 percent for the period. The Australian economy has charted a rocky path as it transitions away from an unprecedented mining boom, with the Reserve Bank of Australia cutting interest rates to a record-low of 1.50 percent. The central bank on Tuesday kept rates on hold at 1.50 percent for the 13thstraight month, but signalled optimism about recent improvements in the economy. They include a strengthening jobs market, business conditions and sales. “Growth in the number of Australians with jobs has picked up over recent months and the unemployment rate has come down a bit,” RBA governor Philip Lowe said at a dinner speech in Brisbane late Tuesday. “The investment outlook has also brightened. Inflation has troughed and it is likely to increase gradually over the next couple of years. These are positive developments.” Economists said the economy may have passed its trough, although wages growth, which has been tepid, still needed to strengthen further to boost consumption levels. “It’s not saying the economy is

Japan’s Nissan Motor displays the company’s new Nissan LEAF, the next evolution of the zero-emission electric vehicle, during the world premiere in Makuhari, Chiba prefecture on Sept 6. Japanese giant Nissan

on Wednesday unveiled a new electric car with an extended range and semi-autonomous driving functions, as it seeks to battle off competitors in a sector it once pioneered. (AFP)

Bid to drive off competition

Nissan unveils new electric car Leaf CHIBA, Japan, Sept 6, (AFP): Japanese giant Nissan on Wednesday unveiled a new electric car with an extended range and semi-autonomous driving functions, as it seeks to battle off competitors in a sector it once pioneered. The second-generation Nissan Leaf has a potential range of 400 kms (250 miles) between charges, compared with 250 kms for its previous version. It also boasts semi-autonomous driving capabilities such as keeping the vehicle automatically in one lane on the motorway or parking without human intervention. Faced with tighter global environmental regulations, most carmakers are investing heavily in the electric-car sector, sparking a ferocious race to create the next green vehicle.

Nissan was an innovator in the sector seven years ago when it unveiled its first Leaf — which has sold 280,000 units — but has since had to contend with fierce competition from General Motors and Tesla among others. “The second (Leaf) will be one of our core products — it is not a niche anymore,” Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa told a news briefing for the new car on Wednesday. Saikawa defended the vehicle’s potential range, which fell short of expectations and puts it behind Tesla’s Model 3. “(The range) is more than enough for Japan and most European countries,” he said. The Japanese automaker is hoping to double or triple last year’s annual sales of about 48,000 units. “With the first generation Leaf, the

range was not enough and ‘range anxiety’ became a big issue for a lot of consumers,” Christopher Richter, an auto analyst at brokerage CLSA in Tokyo, told AFP. “Now, lithium-ion batteries have become much cheaper, so that allows automakers to offer double the range for about the same price. “So, I would expect the sales to be larger for this new generation of Leaf. However, Nissan will face more competition as there are other quite similar new vehicles on the market,” he added. The new car will be available next month in Japan, followed by the United States and Canada in January 2018. The price tag in Japan will be 3.15 million yen (around $29,000). Shares in Nissan ended down 0.59 percent at 1,086 yen in Tokyo.

booming but it seems to have reached bottom, I think, clearly,” National Australia Bank chief markets economist Ivan Colhoun told AFP. “We’re getting some more favour-

able signs across a range of indicators ... (the economy) will gradually pick up and certainly the labour market data is suggesting that at the moment.” The RBA has been cautious about

lifting rates despite the improvements, with concerns that high levels of household debt and strong property prices could make Australians vulnerable to rising borrowing costs.

since the central bank liberalized the exchange rate in November as part of a $12 billion International Monetary Fund reform programme. The pound has lost half its value since the float. The economy has been struggling to recover since a 2011 uprising scared tourists and investors away, two main sources of foreign currency, but the three-year IMF programme is expected to help restore confidence in the North African country. (RTRS)

Ban will have crippling effects on economy

North Korea oil embargo could add fuel to the fire SEOUL, Sept 6, (AFP): Top of the list for new sanctions on North Korea after its sixth nuclear test is an oil embargo, which analysts say would have a crippling effect on the wider economy — but might do little to curb its weapons programmes. And whether Pyongyang’s key ally China would ever be willing to back such a move at the United Nations Security Council — where it is a veto-wielding permanent member — let alone enforce it, is also in doubt. North Korea has little oil of its own and relies on fuel imports to keep its citizens and soldiers moving. China is by far its biggest trading partner, responsible for around 90 percent of its commerce. But Chinese Customs have not reported figures for crude oil exports to the North since 2014, shrouding the situation in secrecy. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) says estimates suggest Pyongyang imports about 10,000 barrels of crude oil a day, almost all of it from China and going to its sole functioning refinery, the Ponghwa Chemical Factory. At a world market price of $50 a barrel, that would be worth around $180 million a year. In addition, according to figures from the International Trade Centre, a joint World Trade Organisation-United Nations agency, the North imported $115 millionworth of refined oil products — which could include petrol and aircraft fuel — from China last year. Another $1.7 million-worth came from Russia.

Davastating A ban on supplies would be devastating for ordinary North Koreans, the Nautilus Institute think tank said in a report. “People will be forced to walk or not move at all, and to push buses instead of riding in them,” said the document by Peter Hayes and David von Hippel. “There will be less light in households due to less kerosene.” The ban will lead to “more deforestation”, they warned, as North Koreans will be forced to cut down trees to produce charcoal, leading to “more erosion, floods and more famine” in the already impoverished country. But Pyongyang, which embraces a “Songun” or “military-first” would immediately restrict supplies to private citizens, they said, and a ban would have “little or no immediate impact” on the North’s army or its missile and nuclear

programmes. The military, which uses about a third of North Korea’s oil supplies, has stockpiles for at least “a year of routine, non-wartime usage”, they said, and could fight for about a month before running out of fuel. Oh Joon, a former South Korean ambassador to the United Nations, told AFP that a suspension of oil imports would be “fatal” to the North. “But it won’t be easy to get China to agree” to such a move, he added. At the United Nations, diplomats say the US wants to target oil, tourism and North Korean labourers sent abroad in a new set of Security Council sanctions — which would be the eighth imposed on the country. South Korean President Moon Jae-In has called for an oil ban to be seriously considered, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has also backed stronger measures.

Dismissed China is yet to be drawn, and Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed further measures as “useless”, while warning of the risk of “global catastrophe”. Beijing fears a collapse of the regime in Pyongyang that could send refugees fleeing over its border, and — worse — see US troops stationed on its frontier in a unified Korea. “If oil is cut off, that risks the regime falling,” said Jean-Vincent Brisset, a researcher at the Institute for International and Strategic Affairs in Paris. The relationship between Beijing and Pyongyang was forged in the blood of the Korean War, when Mao Zedong sent millions of “volunteers” to fight US-led United Nations forces to a standstill. Mao described them as close as “lips and teeth”, and China has long been accused of failing to enforce sanctions even after voting for them at the UN. But Beijing has become increasingly exasperated with its neighbour. Former South Korean vice-foreign minister Kim Sung-han said: “Regime collapse means China will lose all its strategic interests in having North Korea as a buffer state.” The only way to persuade Beijing to embrace and enforce an oil ban would be if its own interests were threatened, such as by US secondary sanctions targeting its banks and businesses, he said. “China will only consider it if it’s pushed to a dead-end by the US.”

investment funds Funds

Fund Manager

Valuation

Valued date

Currency

Net Asset Prev NAV Prev NAV Dated Value (NAV) ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Net Asset Prev NAV Prev NAV Dated Value (NAV) ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

National Bank of Kuwait

Markaz Fixed Income Fund Kuwait Financial Center Monthly Aug 10, 2017 USD 11.580 11.600 July 27, 2017 Mawazeen International Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly March 26, 2017 USD 9.050 9.140 March 19, 2017 Markaz MENA Islamic Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Aug 15, 2017 USD 10.880 10.880 July 13, 2017 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Money Market Funds

Watani KD Money Market Fund II NBK Capital Weekly Aug 29, 2017 KD 1.030 1.029 Aug 22, 2017 Watani USD Money Market Fund NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Aug 29, 2017 USD 10.240 10.239 Aug 22, 2017 Watani KD Money Market Fund (Acc to Islamic Shariah principles) II NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Aug 29, 2017 KD 1.028 1.028 Aug 22, 2017 Watani USD Money Market Fund (Acc to Islamic Shariah principles) II NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Aug 29, 2017 USD 10.095 10.900 Aug 22, 2017 NBK Kuwait Equity Fund Watani Investment Co. Weekly Aug 24, 2017 KD 0.692 0.684 Aug 17, 2017 Gulf Equity Investment Fund Watani Investment Co. Weekly Aug 24, 2017 USD 11.570 11.440 Aug 17, 2017 Regional Bond and Sukuk Investment Fund NBK Capital Weekly Aug 24, 2017 USD 9.985 9.984 Aug 17, 2017 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Gulf Bank Al Basha’er GCC Equity Fund Kwt. Fin. & Inv. Co. & Gulf Fin. House Monthly July 30, 2017 USD 7.137 7.026 June 30, 2017 Coast Fund Coast Investment & Dev. Co. Monthly July 31, 2017 KD 0.651 0.645 June 30, 2017 Sanaya Dow Jones Kuwait Index Fund Industrial & Financial Investment Co. Weekly Jan 26, 2017 KD 0.561 0.561 Dec 30, 2016 Markaz Capital Preservation Program 1 Monthly Feb 28, 2017 KD 0.912 0.917 Dec 31, 2016 Markaz Capital Preservation Program 2 Monthly Feb 28, 2017 KD 0.942 0.945 Dec 31, 2016 Markaz Gulf Real Estate Fund Bi-annual July 31, 2017 KD 1.393 1.396 June 30, 2017 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al Ahli Bank Al Ahli Gulf Fund Al Ahli Bank Monthly July 31, 2017 KD 0.896 0.909 June 30, 2017 Al Ahli Kuwaiti Fund Al Ahli Bank Monthly July 31, 2017 KD 0.841 0.806 June 30, 2017 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Burgan Bank Burgan Equity Fund Burgan Bank Monthly July 31, 2017 KD 1.824 1.759 June 29, 2017 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Boubyan Bank Boubyan KD Money Market Fund Boubyan Bank Weekly Aug 8, 2017 KD 1.066 1.065 June 25, 2017 Boubyan KD Money Market Fund II Boubyan Bank Weekly Aug 8, 2017 KD 1.012 1.011 June 25, 2017 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Funds

Fund Manager

Valuation

Valued date

Currency

Kuwait & Middle East Financial & Inv. Co. Al Rou’yah Fund KMEFIC Monthly July 31, 2017 KD 1.418 1.365 June 30, 2017 Gulf Gate Fund KMEFIC Monthly Oct 31, 2016 KD 0.944 0.918 Sept 30, 2016 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Global Investment House Index Funds Equity Funds

GCC Large Cap Index Fund Global Weekly Aug 17, 2017 KD 1.270 1.241 Aug 10, 2017 Al-Mamoun Fund A Global Weekly Aug 17, 2017 KD 0.699 0.690 Aug 10, 2017 Al-Mamoun Fund B Global Weekly Aug 17, 2017 KD 0.699 0.690 Aug 10, 2017 GCC Large Cap Fund Global Bi-weekly Aug 15, 2017 USD 150.480 151.290 Aug 8, 2017 Global Saudi Equity Fund Global Bi-weekly Aug 15, 2017 SAR 219.540 219.540 Aug 8, 2017 Sectoral Funds EPADI Fund Global Weekly Aug 15, 2017 USD 93.750 94.910 Aug 8, 2017 Islamic Funds Global GCC Islamic Fund Global Weekly Aug 15, 2017 USD 102.060 102.500 Aug 8, 2017 Al-Durra Islamic Fund Global Monthly Aug 17, 2017 KD 1.308 1.282 Aug 10, 2017 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Kuwait Finance & Investment Co (KFIC) Al Wasm Fund KFIC Weekly July 31, 2017 KD 0.425 0.402 June 7, 2017 Al Basha’er GCC Equity Fund KFIC Monthly June 30, 2017 USD 7.026 6.940 March 31, 2017 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

KAMCO KAMCO Investment Fund KAMCO Monthly July 31, 2017 KD 1.136 1.066 April 30, 2017 KAMCO GCC Opportunities Fund KAMCO Monthly July 31, 2016 USD 115.890 114.380 Feb 29, 2016 KAMCO MENA Plus Fixed Income Fund KAMCO March 31, 2017 USD 11.840 12.551 Jan 31, 2017 KAMCO Real Estate Yield Fund KAMCO July 31, 2017 USD 10.090 10.180 June 30, 2017 Kuwait Education Fund KAMCO Quartely Sept 30, 2016 KD 1.457 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Wafra International Investment Co.

Boubyan USD Liquidity Fund Boubyan Capital Investment Co Aug 8, 2017 USD 10.230 10.231 June 25, 2017 Boubyan Multi-Asset Holding Fund Boubyan Bank Aug 8, 2017 USD 10.730 10.730 June 30, 2017 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Wafra Equity Fund Wafra Co. Monthly July 31, 2017 KD 0.926 0.890 June 30, 2017 Wafra Bond Fund Wafra Co. Monthly July 31, 2017 KD 1.050 1.047 June 30, 2017 Masaref Investment Fund ISKAN Weekly July 31, 2017 KD 0.856 0.853 June 30, 2017 Fajir Islamic Fund Wafra Co. Monthly July 31, 2017 KD 0.702 0.669 June 30, 2017 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Kuwait Investment Co.

Al Aman Investment

Boubyan Capital Investment Co.

Local Fund

Al Raed Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Aug 21, 2017 KD 1.074 1.067 Aug 17, 2017 Kuwait Investment Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly July 31, 2017 KD 0.737 0.705 June 29, 2017 Al Hilal Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Aug 21, 2017 KD 0.713 0.714 Aug 7, 2017 Al Atheer Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly July 31, 2017 KD 1.051 1.046 June 30, 2017 International Global Bond Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Aug 21, 2017 USD 25.700 25.810 Aug 2, 2017 Diversified Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Aug 16, 2017 USD 20.120 20.290 Aug 2, 2017 European Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly July 30, 2017 Euro 21.260 21.780 May 31, 2017 Pacific Equity Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Aug 16, 2017 USD 32.140 32.270 Aug 2, 2017 North American Equity Fund Kuwait Investment Co Tw. Monthly July 30, 2017 USD 18.770 18.340 May 31, 2017 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

National Investment Co. (NIC) Al-Wataniya Fund NIC Monthly July 31, 2017 KD 0.629 0.600 June 30, 2017 Al-Darij Fund NIC Monthly July 31, 2017 KD 0.366 0.359 June 30, 2017 Mawarid Fund NIC Monthly July 31, 2017 KD 0.492 0.501 June 30, 2017 Zajil Fund NIC Monthly July 31, 2017 KD 0.778 0.764 June 30, 2017 Al Mada Investment Fund NIC Weekly July 31, 2017 USD 0.790 0.791 June 30, 2017 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) Mumtaz Fund MIDAF Islamic Fund Markaz Arabian Fund FORSA Financial Fund Real Estate Fund

Kuwait Financial Center Kuwait Financial Center Kuwait Financial Center Kuwait Financial Center Kuwait Financial Center Kuwait Financial Center

Weekly Weekly Weekly Weekly Monthly Monthly

Aug 10, 2017 Aug 10, 2017 Aug 10, 2017 Nov 10, 2016 June 30, 2017 June 30, 2017

KD KD KD KD KD KD

4.238 3.210 1.648 2.990 0.949 1.396

4.237 3.228 1.648 2.920 0.942 1.413

July 27, 2017 July 27, 2017 July 27, 2017 Nov 3, 2016 May 30, 2017 May 30, 2017

Al Aman Islamic Fund Al Aman Investment Weekly June 30, 2017 KD 0.330 0.328 May 30, 2017 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Tharwa Investment Co. Tharwa Investment Fund Tharwa Investment Co Weekly Aug 3, 2017 KD 1.509 1.454 June 30, 2017 Tharwa Islamic Fund Tharwa Investment Co Monthly Aug 3, 2017 KD 0.620 0.594 June 30, 2017 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Bank Al-Bilad Al Seef Fund Bank Al-Bilad Daily Aug 27, 2017 KD 0.441 0.431 July 30, 2017 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Commercial International Bank CIB Money Market Fund (Osoul) CI Asset Management Weekly Sept 6, 2017 EGP 301.580 300.850 Aug 30, 2017 CIB II Equity (Isthethmar) CI Asset Management Weekly Sept 6, 2017 EGP 143.250 140.790 Aug 30, 2017 CIB and Faisal Islamic Al Aman CI Asset Management Weekly Sept 6, 2017 EGP 79.170 77.610 Aug 30, 2017 Hemaya CI Asset Management Weekly Sept 5, 2017 EGP 180.890 178.750 Aug 3, 2017 Thabat CI Asset Management Weekly Sept 6, 2017 EGP 179.340 178.920 Aug 30, 2017 Takamol CI Asset Management Weekly Sept 6, 2017 EGP 140.350 138.650 Aug 30, 2017 Misr El Mostakbel CI Asset Management Weekly Sept 5, 2017 EGP 24.330 23.710 Aug 27, 2017 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Noor Financial Investment Co. Noor Islamic Fund Noor Financial Investment Co Monthly Feb 29, 2016 KD 0.613 0.645 Dec 31, 2015 —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

CapCorp Investment Co. CapCorp Local Fund

CapCorp Investment Company

Weekly

July 31, 2017

KD

0.964

0.914

June 30, 2017

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

BUSINESS

29

UNEC eyes 1 billion dirham loan Dubai-based United Engineering Construction (UNEC) plans to raise around 1 billion dirhams ($272 million) in debt to finance its building work on a major shopping mall project, banking sources familiar with the matter said. The company is building the Deira Mall in Dubai for United Arab Emirates property developer Nakheel, a project which is to involve total investment of 6.1 billion dirhams.

UNEC is raising the money through a loan arranged by Emirates NBD, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is private. Reuters made repeated calls to UNEC asking for comment and was eventually referred to a UNEC manager, who said the information was confidential and declined to confirm or deny it. A spokeswoman for ENBD, contacted by email and telephone, declined to

comment. The UAE’s loan market has been slowed by low oil prices and weaker economic growth, and the UNEC loan could help to stimulate activity in the market, affecting prices and liquidity conditions. Nakheel awarded a 4.2 billion dirham construction contract to UNEC last April. Construction was due to start in the third quarter of this year with completion expected in 2020, Nakheel said at the time. (RTRS)

Kuwait bourse treads water in volatile trade Ooredoo gains 20 fils; Agility slips By John Mathews Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Kuwait stocks trod water on Wednesday after last session’s modest rebound on FTSE inclusion hopes. The price index clipped 2.56 pts in volatile session to settle at 6,918 points even as the broader trend remained mixed. The KSX 15 benchmark edged 1.83 pts higher to 993.91 points taking the year’s gains to 108 pts while weighted index added 1.04 points. The volume turnover meanwhile dipped to a one-month low. 52.49 million shares changed hands — down 39.8 percent from the day before. The sectors closed mixed. Technology outshone the rest with 1.25 percent gain whereas insurance shed 0.86 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, real estate notched the highest market share of 33.6 percent and financial services was close behind with 31.6 pct contributions, In the individual shares, National Bank of Kuwait climbed 6 fils on back of 2.9 million shares extending last session’s gains and Kuwiat Finance House took in 2 fils with a volume of over 2 million. KIPCO was up 5 fils at 360 fils and is down 140 fils year-to-date. Zain dialed up 2 fils and Ooredoo gained 20 fils partly recouping Tuesday’s losses. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) gave up 2 fils and Agility was down 4 fils at 886 fils. Commercial Bank rose 3 fils and Gulf Bank fell 2 fils to 238 fils. The bank has registered a 12.3 pct rise in the second quarter profits to KD 13.4 million from same period last year. During the first half profits was up 10 percent to KD 22.76 mln. The market opened firm and ticked up in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest mark of 6,929.15 pts and drifted sideways briefly. It headed south thereafter as sentiment turned negative and bottomed at 6,880.54 points past the mid-session. It rebounded in the second half and pared back most of the losses at close. Top gainer of the day, Marakez jumped 10.68 pct to 49.7 fils and NICBM climbed 10.61 pct to stand close behind. KCPC slumped 14.5 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Kuwait Real Estate Co topped the volume with over 5

million shares. The market spread was slightly skewed towards the losers. 51 stocks advanced whereas 47 closed lower. Of the 120 counters active on Wednesday, 22 closed flat. 2,366 deals worth KD 9.65 million were transacted — a 47.2 pct dip in value from the day before. National Industries Group was flat at 143 fils and Kuwait Foundry Co too did not budge from its earlier close of 300 fils. Gulf Cable ticked 1 fil up to 501 fils while Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co trimmed 1 fil. Kuwait Food Co (Americana) rose 4 fils to KD 1.999 and ACICO Industries inched 1 fil up to 268 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co gained 5 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co dipped 7 fils to 349 fils. Jazeera Airways climbed 5 fils extending an identical gain in the day before while ALAFCO paused at 378 fils. The company’s earnings surged 49 pct to KD 5.78 million in third quarter ended 30 June from same period last year. Educational Holding Group added 4 fils whereas Kuwait Cable Vision Co stood pat at 35 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co trimmed 0.8 fil and KGL Logistics dialed up 0.4 fils. Gulf Finance Co was up 5 fils at 75 fils. UPAC jumped 15 fils to 730 fils and Human Soft Holding was flat at KD 4.100. The company has recorded a 19.9 pct rise in second quarter profits to KD 6.03 million from Q2 of previous year. In the first half of 2017, the earnings rose 17.3 percent to KD 13.17 million. Eyas For Higher and Technical Training was unchanged at 880 fils and IFA Hotels and Resorts scaled 15 fils. OSOS dialed up 2 fils and AWJ Holding ticked 0.1 fil into green. Mezzan Holding eased 1 fil to 869 fils. In the banking sector, Al Mutahed gained 6 fils and Kuwait International Bank held ground at 245 fils after vacillating narrowly earlier in the session. Boubyan Bank was down 3 fils at 449 fils. Burgan Bank eased 1 fil to 375 fils and Warba Bank followed suit to settle at 265 fils. Al Ahli Bank was not traded during the session. Kuwait Investment Co took in 1 fil with razor thin trading while International Financial Advisors trimmed 0.8 fil. National Investment Co held ground at 113 fils and Coast Investment Co eased 0.4 fil to 44.6 fils. Bayan Investment Co and Arzan Investment added 0.2 fil each

while Osoul Investment Co paused at 62 fils. Securities House Co inched 0.1 fil up and KMEFIC gave up 1 fil. Sokouk fell 1.3 fils to 49 fils while UNICAP and Noor Financial Investment Co trimmed 0.1 fil each. Amwal Investment Co took in 1 fil and Al Imtiaz clipped 2 fils. Kuwait Insurance Co dived 18 fils to 275 fils. National Real Estate Co and Salhiya Real Estate Co were unchanged at 123 fils and 269 fils respectively whereas Kuwait Real Estate Co edged 0.6 fil into green. United Real Estate Co gave up 2 fils and Mabanee stood pat at 790 fils. The market has been mixed so far during the week and has climbed 26 points in last two sessions. It had gained 43 pts during whole of August and is trading 20 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region. In the bourse related news, Aayan Leasing and Investment posted losses of KD 390,000 during the second quarter as against a loss of KD 235,000 in the same period last year. During the first half , the company’s earnings soared 544.2 percent year-on-year to KD 4.67 million. Kuwait Hotels’ second quarter profits jumped by 72.5 pct to KD 15,370 in as compared to KD 55,820 in the same period a year ago. During the first half of 2017, the earnings slid by 71.5 percent to KD 152,870 from the same period last year. Kuwait Investment Co profits soared 158.3 percent to KD 2.97 million in the second quarter of 2017 from same period last year. In the January- June period, profits surged 283.6 pct year-on-year to KD 7.71 million. Kuwait Real Estate Co’s net profits surged 51.2 pct year-onyear in the second quarter of 2017 to KD 1.49 million. In the first half, profits rose 10.5 percent to KD 3.16 million. Mabanee Company posted a 1.55 pct rise in profits to KD 12.55 million for the second quarter from Q2 of previous year. In the first half, profits ticked 1 pct up to KD 24.61 million from corresponding period of 2016. Imtiaz Investment Group’s second quarter profits soared by a whopping 1,041 pct to KD 19.97 million from same period in 2016. During the first six months, profits surged 626.3% to KD 32.32 million.

Mideast Stocks Qatar weighed by FTSE change

Saudi outperforms on firm oil DUBAI, Sept 6, (RTRS): Saudi Arabia’s equities index firmed on Wednesday because of strong oil prices while Qatar fell to its lowest close since January 2016 after index compiler FTSE’s mid-year review hurt some stocks. Brent oil was around $53.50 a barrel, slightly above its level when the Saudi market traded on Tuesday last week, just before it closed for long Eid al-Adha holidays. All but two of the 14 listed Saudi petrochemical producers rose as the market reopened on Wednesday with Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical adding 1.9 percent. The main Saudi stock index rose 0.7 percent. The Doha index lost 1.3 percent to 8,685 points on its first day of trade after a one-week closure for Eid holidays. Qatar Gas Transport (Nakilat) dropped 2.9 percent after FTSE said it would move the company to its mid-cap index from its large-cap index, effective from Sept. 15. Industrial conglomerate Aamal slumped 4.4 percent, Qatari Investors Group fell 1.8 percent and Qatar Navigation lost 0.2 percent after FTSE said it would delete all three stocks from its all-world index. A Reuters poll published last

week showed regional asset managers have turned negative towards Qatari stocks again, with 38 percent expecting to cut their allocations and none to raise them. Selling appeared to ease in July, but the Qatari market came under renewed pressure in August as it became clear there was little prospect of an early end to the diplomatic rift between Doha and four Arab states. In the United Arab Emirates, FTSE decided to remove Abu Dhabi’s Union National Bank from its global equity index. Its shares did not trade on Wednesday but the Abu Dhabi index fell 0.5 percent. Dana Gas, the most heavily traded stock in Abu Dhabi, fell as much as 3.9 percent on profit-taking before closing flat. Dana had soared 20 percent over the previous two days on news of a deal for it to obtain overdue payments from Iraqi Kurdistan. Dubai’s index rose 0.5 percent as the largest listed real estate developer, Emaar Properties, gained 2.3 percent. Egypt’s index lost 0.7 percent as stocks favoured by foreign investors were among the worst performers, including Commercial International Bank, which fell 2.3 percent. Qalaa Holdings slumped 1.6 per-

cent after FTSE said it would exclude the stock from its AllCap index.

Saudi Arabia ■ The index rose 0.7 percent to 7,306 points.

Dubai ■ The index added 0.5 percent to 3,642 points.

Abu Dhabi ■ The index fell 0.5 percent to 4,457 points.

Qatar ■ The index lost 1.3 percent to 8,685 points.

Egypt ■ The index declined 0.7 percent to 13,318 points.

Kuwait ■ The index slipped 0.04 percent to 6,918 points.

Bahrain ■ The index rose 0.7 percent to 1,311 points.

Oman ■ The index edged up 0.03 percent to 5,065 points.

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

BUSINESS

30

number two at US Federal Reserve to step down Stanley Fischer, the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, announced Wednesday he will retire next month, creating a third vacancy for President Donald Trump to fill at the US central bank. The 73-year-old will step down on October 13, nearly a year before his term as vice chair was due to expire and two and a half years before the end of his term on the Fed’s board of governors, the Fed said in a statement. In a letter of

the

resignation, Fischer said he was stepping down for unspecified “personal reasons” and cited the central bank’s work to stabilize the US financial system following the 2008 global financial crisis. Trump in July chose the investor and former Treasury Department official Randal Quarles to join the Fed as vice chair for supervision in a further sign the White House may promote continuing deregulation of the financial sector.

bottomline

MEXICO CITY: Royal Dutch Shell

TRENTON: A technology company

said Wednesday it would invest $1 billion in Mexico over the next decade, after the oil giant opened its first retail gas station in the country. The investment in the world’s fifthbiggest consumer of gasoline depends on market conditions continuing to develop at their current rates, said Shell executive Istvan Kapitany. The money is earmarked for “expanding and improving the retail network, improving fuel logistics infrastructure and developing partnerships” with Mexican consumers, said Kapitany, Shell’s Vice President of Retail. Shell opened its first service station in the country on Tuesday, in the Mexico City suburb of Tlalnepantla. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

will pay $3.5 million and change how it sells laptop computers as part of a settlement reached with federal officials and 32 states. The agreement with Lenovo announced Tuesday settles allegations that the firm, based in Morrisville, North Carolina, sold devices with preloaded software that made users’ sensitive personal information vulnerable to hackers. The VisualDiscovery software was installed on hundreds of thousands of laptops to deliver pop-up ads to consumers. Lenovo stopped shipping laptops with VisualDiscovery preinstalled in February 2015, but some states contend some laptops with the software still were being sold by retail outlets as late as June 2015. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

NORTH RANDALL: An Ohio board has approved an estimated $7.8 million tax credit for Amazon as the e-commerce giant plans a new fulfillment center outside Cleveland that could employ 2,000 people. The Plain Dealer reports the Ohio Tax Credit Authority signed off on a 1.35 percent, 10-year tax credit last week in Columbus. The credit would go toward an 855,000-square-foot (79,000-square-meter) building in North Randall, where workers will pack and ship Amazon products. The building is set to open in 2018. State officials say the authority also approved a 1.39 percent, 10-year tax credit for a smaller Amazon project in Monroe. The state says Amazon expects that project to create 1,000 full-time jobs.(AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

WASHINGTON: Aerospace giant Boeing raised concerns Tuesday about the merger of US-based industrial conglomerate United Technologies and aviation equipment supplier Rockwell Collins, saying it could use its weight with regulators to scrutinize the deal. Boeing said it was concerned the deal announced Monday would not be in the best interests of the company. “We intend to take a hard look at the proposed combination of United Technologies and Rockwell Collins,” Boeing said in a statement. The company said it is “skeptical” whether the deal between two major suppliers to the aerospace industry “would be in the best interest of — or add value to — our customers and industry.” (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

TONGANOXIE: Tyson Foods Inc will invest $320 million in a new chicken-processing plant in northeastern Kansas employing 1,600 people so that it can keep up with a growing consumer demand for fresh poultry, the company and state officials announced Tuesday. The Springdale, Arkansas-based meat producer unveiled its plans during a news conference in Tonganoxie with Gov. Sam Brownback and other state and local officials. The company plans to build the plant outside the town of around 5,300 residents about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Kansas City and expects it to be open in mid-2019. Kansas offered the company a package of incentives “appropriate to a project of this size” to attract the plant, said Kevin Doel, a spokesman for the state Department of Commerce. He declined to provide details, noting that the department does not release such information until contracts with the state are signed. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

OMAHA: CSX railroad says its service is improving after a summer marked by delays as it overhauled its operations, but the company is trimming its profit outlook. The Jacksonville, Florida-based railroad said Wednesday it now expects profit to improve between 20 and 25 percent over last year’s earnings per share of $1.81. Previously, CSX had predicted 25 percent profit growth. New CSX CEO Hunter Harrison says the railroad has made good progress implementing his operating model, but the extensive changes involved did delay some deliveries over the summer. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ NEW YORK: Kohl’s says it will open up Amazon shops in 10 of its stores, making it the latest department store operator to make a deal with the ecommerce giant. Kohl’s shoppers will be able to buy Amazon Echos, Fire tablets and other gadgets from the 1,000-square-foot Amazon shops. Customers can also ask to have an Amazon employee come to their home to install the devices or suggest products. Kohl’s Corp., based in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, said Wednesday the Amazon shops will open next month in Chicago and Los Angeles stores. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

NEW YORK: Gap Inc plans to shift its focus to its growing Old Navy and Athleta stores, and away from the Gap and Banana Republic brands. The company said Wednesday it will close about 200 Gap and Banana Republic stores in the next three years and open about 270 Old Navy and Athleta locations during the same period. Lower-priced Old Navy has been a bright spot for the clothing retailer, posting rising sales even as they fell at the Gap and Banana Republic. AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

ROME: Ryanair’s CEO says the lowcost carrier will make a bid for ailing Alitalia’s long-range assets by Oct 2. Michael O’Leary reiterated the intentions of his low-cost carrier to pick up parts of Alitalia, which filed for bankruptcy in May. O’Leary also told reporters Wednesday that relaunching Alitalia requires job cuts, no matter who buys the company. The ANSA news agency further quoted O’Leary as saying Ryanair would offer Alitalia growth prospects meaning eventually more job security for more people. He said Alitalia employees who’d work for Ryanair would have to work hard and that strikes wouldn’t be tolerated. (AP)

EU plans rule change to hike taxes on online cos

Trump has said he is also weighing whether to name his current senior economic advisor Gary Cohn as Fed chair, replacing Janet Yellen, whom he has also said he may keep in place. In a recent speech, Yellen delivered a forceful defense of Wall Street reforms put in place after the crisis, widely seen as a direct contradiction of Trump’s position which could cause her to lose favor in the White House. (AFP)

European Union finance ministers are set to discuss rule changes next week aimed at increasing taxes on digital multinationals such as Google and Amazon, an EU document seen by Reuters said. Online giants are facing increasing pressure in Europe over the low tax they pay, but states have often found it difficult to raise the bill because existing rules limit the taxation rights to

the countries where companies are physically present. The current legal framework favours digital companies over their physical counterparts and deprives states of valuable tax revenues, the Estonian presidency of the EU said in a document prepared for an informal meeting of finance ministers in Tallinn on Sept 15-16. The document proposes a reform of international tax rules

to change the concept of “permanent establishment” so that digital multinationals could be taxed where they create value, and not only in countries where they have established their tax residence. The proposal comes as several EU countries are negotiating with large digital companies the payment of back taxes, but face legal hurdles to obtain payments. (RTRS)

Global shares climb but tensions remain over N. Korea, hurricane Oil prices rise, gold near 1-year high NEW YORK, Sept 6, (Agencies): Shares in Europe and the United States rose on Wednesday, but Asian markets fell and gold neared a 1-year high on investor concern about tensions on the Korean peninsula and a major hurricane barreling towards Puerto Rico and Florida. The US dollar fell against a basket of major currencies after weaker-than-expected manufacturing data and after Federal Reserve Vice-Chairman Stanley Fischer said he would resign in October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 61.07 points, or 0.28 percent, to 21,814.38, the S&P 500 gained 3.63 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,461.48 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 9.92 points, or 0.16 percent, to 6,365.65. The greenback also hit its lowest against the Canadian dollar in more than two years after the Bank of Canada surprised many by raising rates. The dollar fell as much as 1.9 percent against the loonie to C$1.2140, its lowest since mid-June 2015. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.14 percent and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.14 percent. Risk-averse investors were also still worried about North Korea’s nuclear weapons tests. As tensions remained high, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that resolving the crisis is impossible with sanctions and pressure alone. In the Caribbean, dangerous Category 5 Hurricane Irma slammed across islands with pounding winds and raging surf en route to a possible landfall in Florida this weekend. Given the geopolitical tensions and weaker dollar, gold rose. Spot gold added 0.1 percent to $1,340.01 an ounce. US gold futures gained 0.07 percent to $1,345.40. MSCI’s broadest index of AsiaPacific shares outside Japan closed 0.36 percent lower, while Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.14 percent. Oil prices rose as strong global refining margins and the reopening of US Gulf Coast refineries provided a more bullish outlook after sharp drops due to Storm Harvey. US crude rose 1.05 percent to $49.17 per barrel and Brent was last at $53.96, up 1.09 percent. US US stocks were higher in early afternoon trading on Wednes-

day, helped by a bounce in energy stocks, but gains were limited due to worries over tensions on the Korean peninsula and a potential US landfall of Hurricane Irma. Exxon and Chevron rose about 2 percent, providing the biggest boost to the S&P, while a 2.3 percent rise in Home Depot shares propelled the Dow. The S&P posted its biggest oneday loss in about three weeks on Tuesday after North Korea conducted its most powerful nuclear test yet on Sunday that triggered a dramatic escalation of the country’s stand-off with the United States. At 12:29 p.m. ET (1629 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 60.12 points, or 0.28 percent, at 21,813.43 and the S&P 500 was up 6.06 points, or 0.25 percent, at 2,463.91. The Nasdaq Composite was up 6.99 points, or 0.11 percent, at 6,382.56. Six of the 11 major S&P indexes were higher. The energy index’s 1.6 percent rise topped the gainers, putting it on track for its best day in more than two months. United Continental fell 1.44 percent after it warned Hurricane Harvey and North Korea tensions would hurt its third-quarter results. Newell Brands was off about 4 percent after the Sharpie maker slashed its profit outlook for 2017, while apparel retailer Francesca’s Holdings was down more than 3 percent after its profit forecast fell below estimates. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,650 to 1,123. On the Nasdaq, 1,443 issues rose and 1,359 fell. UK British shares fell on Wednesday, weighed down by losses among banks and housebuilders although they ended off lows hit on simmering geopolitical tensions in the Korean peninsula. Britain’s blue-chip FTSE 100 ended down 0.25 percent at 7,354.13 points, with financials taking the most points off the index with shares in HSBC, Prudential and Barclays down between 0.7 and 1.1 percent. The biggest FTSE loser however was Barratt Developments , down 4.6 percent after the housebuilder reported results and said it would continue to monitor “carefully” the impact of Brexit on its business. Liberum analysts said some investors could be disappointed by Barratt’s lack of an update on its gross margin target. “(Barratt’s) shares are our least preferred in the sector as its rela-

tively lower margins make it more exposed to downside risk, and its relatively short landbank and high land creditors mean that it has less scope to reduce cash outflows in support of the dividend than the other returners,” they said in a note. Smaller peer Berkeley fell 2.5 percent. The company said the London property market continued to be impacted by uncertainty surrounding Brexit and a property tax hike. Other companies in the sector were also retreating, with Taylor Wimpey down 1.7 percent. Royal Mail was down 0.7 percent after Britain’s Communications Workers Union said it would ballot more than 100,000 of its members over industrial action. Easyjet was down 0.4 percent at 1150p after HSBC cut its target price to 1550p from 1600p. Glaxosmithkline fell 0.5 percent after Credit Suisse cut its target price to 1725p from 1775p. Micro Focus shares surged 6.2 percent after its third quarter results. Europe Stock markets in Europe and the United States mostly recovered on Wednesday, although the North Korean crisis remained on the minds of investors. Frankfurt finished the day up 0.8 percent, driven higher by carmakers. Shares in Daimler shot 3.2 percent higher after analysts Goldman Sachs switched their advice to buy, saying the stock in the Mercedesmaker were 25 percent undervalued. Shares in BMW and Volkswagen both added 1.6 percent. Paris closed 0.3 percent higher, but London slid 0.3 percent. ■ Key figures around 1530 GMT: London — FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 7,354.13 points (close) Frankfurt — DAX 30: UP 0.8 percent at 12,214.54 (close) Paris — CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 5,101.41 (close) EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.4 percent at 3,435.36 Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1944 from $1.1914 at 2040 GMT on Tuesday Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3079 from $1.3031 Asia In Asia on Wednesday markets continued to fall but pared the big morning losses. Seoul shed 0.3 percent, Tokyo ended 0.1 percent lower and Hong Kong gave up 0.5 percent. Sydney gave up 0.3 percent as the North Korea woes overshadowed data showing the Australian economy strengthened in the second quarter of the year. Singapore and Taipei were also lower but Shanghai man-

aged to eke out minor gains for a fourth straight advance. The dollar was at 108.75 yen in Asia, heading towards its weakest levels of the year. n Key figures around 0820 GMT: Tokyo — Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 19,357.97 (close) Seoul — Kospi: DOWN 0.3 percent at 2,319.82 (close) Hong Kong — Hang Seng: DOWN 0.5 percent at 27,613.76 (close) Shanghai — Composite: FLAT at 3,385.39 (close) Dollar/yen: DOWN at 108.75 yen from 108.79 yen Oil Oil prices rose on Wednesday as strong global refining margins and the reopening of US Gulf Coast refineries provided a more bullish outlook after sharp drops due to Storm Harvey. Brent had gained 51 cents to $53.89 a barrel by 1356 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 45 cents at $49.54 a barrel. Many refineries, pipelines and ports that were knocked out by Harvey 10 days ago are restarting. On Tuesday, about 3.8 million barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity, or 20 percent of the US total, was shut. This compares with 4.2 million bpd at the height of the storm. But traders remained wary of Hurricane Irma, rated the most powerful Category 5 storm and heading towards the Caribbean and Florida, raising concerns that it could knock out other refineries and cause more fuel shortages. Around 250,000 bpd of refining capacity in the Dominican Republic and Cuba lies in the immediate path of Irma, Thomson Reuters Eikon data showed. Gold Gold rose on Wednesday towards the one-year high hit earlier this week, boosted by tensions on the Korean peninsula and a lower dollar due to growing expectations the Federal Reserve will delay rate rises. Spot gold rose 0.1 percent to $1,339.58 an ounce at 1334 GMT, a gain of around 8 percent so far this quarter and more than 16 percent so far this year. It touched $1,344.21 an ounce on Tuesday, its highest since Sept 8. US gold futures slipped 0.1 percent to $1,344.5. Both US government bonds and gold are seen as risk-free by investors. Low US Treasury bond yields mean there is little opportunity cost in holding gold, which earns nothing and costs money to insure and store.

exchange rates – Sept 6 US dollar Buy Sell Sell Muzaini Sell Dollarco Commercial Bank Buy Sell Buy Gulf Bank Sell Buy NBK Sell Buy Burgan Bank Sell Buy ABK Sell Buy KFH Sell Sell KBE

Cash .298350 .302770 .302650 .302400 .301000 .303400 .301050 .303150 — — — — .298450 .304550 .300990 .306520 —

Buy Sell Sell Muzaini Sell Dollarco Commercial Bank Buy Sell Buy Gulf Bank Sell Buy NBK Sell Buy Burgan Bank Sell Buy ABK Sell Buy KFH Sell Sell KBE

Cash .041735 .043735 — — — — .004554 .004613 — — — — — — — — —

BEC

Draft .300100 .302450 .303850 .302000 .300300 .303900 .301050 .303150 .303250 .305600 .301700 .305800 .300950 .303050 .301700 .304800 .304300

Transfer .300100 .302450 .303850 .302000 .300300 .303900 .301050 .303150 .303250 .305600 .301700 .305800 .300950 .303050 .301700 .304800 .304300

Danish krone BEC

Draft .417347 .467347 — — .045511 .046053 .004554 .004613 .045070 .045910 .447841 .472469 .045090 .047290 .045227 .046253 —

Transfer .417347 .467347 — — .045511 .046053 .004554 .004613 .045070 .045910 .447841 .472469 .045090 .047290 .045227 .046253 —

Cyprus pound BEC Muzaini Dollarco Gulf Bank ABK KFH KBE

Buy Sell Sell Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Sell

Cash Draft Transfer — — — — — — — — — .695000 .168730 .168730 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

travellers cheques BEC Commercial Bank Gulf Bank Al-Ahli Bank

Sterling pound Cash .387180 .397180 — .393000 .391000 .398000 .038762 .039968 — — — — .384400 .395610 .371121 .407120 —

Draft .388180 .395780 .396520 .392075 .390870 .395556 .038762 .039968 .390500 .401380 .379577 .400426 .387880 .393330 .376522 .398739 .380900

Transfer .388180 .395780 .396520 .392075 .390870 .395556 .038762 .039968 .390500 .401380 .379577 .400426 .387880 .393330 .376522 .398739 .380900

Euro Cash .352121 .361121 — .362000 .355000 .361000 .035201 .036288 — — — — .353810 .364390 .323775 .357341 —

Indian rupee Cash .004275 .004963 — .004760 .000400 .006500 — .000480 — — — — — — — — —

Draft .046612 .047372 .004719 .004737 — .004759 — .000480 .004690 .004731 .046091 .048907 .045090 .047290 .004632 .004790 .004694 Draft .011636 .012635 .001222 — — — — — .001196 .000123 .001550

US dollar .3024500 .3039000 .3031500 .3030500

Japanese yen Transfer .352121 .359221 .348360 .361110 .354925 .359179 .035201 .036288 .333780 .343620 .331617 .349851 .357010 .362300 .329064 .347716 .332100

Pakistani rupee

Transfer .046612 .047372 .004719 .004737 — .004759 — .000480 .004690 .004731 .046091 .048907 .045090 .047290 .004632 .004790 .004694

Cash .002714 .003004 — .003050 — — — .000294 — — — — — — — — —

Yemeni riyal Cash .000989 .001069 — — — — — — — — —

Draft .352121 .359221 .348360 .361110 .354925 .359179 .035201 .036288 .333780 .343620 .331617 .349851 .357010 .362300 .329064 .347716 .332100

Draft .028670 .028990 .002869 .002916 — .002921 — .000294 — .002950 .028267 .030008 — .004668 .002858 .002931 .004694

Transfer .028670 .028990 .002869 .002916 — .002921 — .000294 — .002950 .028267 .030008 — .004668 .002858 .002931 .004694

Thai baht

Transfer .011636 .012635 .001222 — — — — — .001196 .000123 .001550

Cash .008585 .009135 — .009000 — — — — — — —

Sterling .3957803 .3955560 .3996800 .3933300

Draft .008507 .008922 .008991 .009820 — — – — .008762 .009122 —

Transfer .008507 .008922 .008991 .009820 — — — – .008762 .009122 —

Euro .3592211 .3591790 .3628800 .3623000

Cash .002679 .002850 — .002745 — — .000274 .000278 — — — — — — — — —

Draft .026790 .028590 .002763 .002745 .002748 .002774 .000274 .000278 .002708 .002788 .002693 .002841 .027446 .027784 .002681 .002835 —

Transfer .026790 .028590 .002763 .002745 .002748 .002774 .000274 .000278 .002708 .002788 .002693 .002841 .027446 .027784 .002681 .002835 —

Sri Lanka rupee Cash .001608 .002188 — .002270 .002000 .003500 — .000202 — — — — — — — — —

Draft .019479 .019890 .001986 .002014 — .002003 — .000202 .001940 .002020 .019415 .020540 — .002119 .001970 .002011 .001984

Transfer .019479 .019890 .001986 .002014 — .002003 — .000202 .001940 .002020 .019415 .020540 — .002119 .001970 .002011 .001984

Swiss franc Cash .307100 .318100 — .313810 .311000 .320000 .031080 .031717 — — — — — — — — —

Transfer .308099 .315099 .315780 .313810 .311974 .315692 .031080 .031717 .306020 .315870 .306276 .323139 .312100 .316410 .305671 .321881 —

Bangladesh taka Cash .003385 .003959 — .004000 — — — .000382 — — — — — — — — —

Draft .037303 .037743 .003763 .003819 — .003794 — .000382 — — .036660 .038947 — — .003691 .003824 .003778

Transfer .037303 .037743 .003763 .003819 — .003794 — .000382 — — .036660 .038947 — — .003691 .003824 .003778

Korean won

South African rand Cash Draft Transfer .017675 — — .026175 — — — — — — — — — — — .002415 .002415 .002415 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Draft .308099 .315099 .315780 .313810 .311974 .315692 .031080 .031717 .306020 .315870 .306276 .323139 .312100 .316410 .305671 .321881 —

Cash .000261 .000276 — — — — — — — — —

local gold BEC Muzaini Exchange

Draft — — — — — — — — — — —

Transfer — — — — — — — — — — —

Gold 999 kg — 12,062.730

Canadian dollar Cash .223388 .232388 — .226990 .227000 .234000 .022772 .023236 — — — — — — — — —

Draft .221387 .231387 .230900 .226990 .228336 .231057 .022772 .023236 .218030 .045910 .224697 .237036 .228690 .231330 .224041 .233338 —

Transfer .221387 .231387 .230900 .226990 .228336 .231057 .022772 .023236 .218030 .045910 .224697 .237036 .228690 .231330 .224041 .233338 —

Philippine peso Cash .006030 .006330 — .006350 .005000 .007900 — .000623 — — — — — — — — —

Draft .056860 .061530 .006146 .006158 — .006195 — .000623 .005930 .006110 .059870 .063517 — .006648 .006001 .006251 .006060

Transfer .056860 .061530 .006146 .006158 — .006195 — .000623 .005930 .006110 .059870 .063517 .006648 .006001 .006251 .006060

Swedish krona Cash .030710 .031810 — — — — .003478 .003518 — — — — — — — — —

Draft .004991 .007191 .002169 .002425 — — — — — — —

Gold 999 10 tola — 1,426.660

Transfer .004991 .007191 .002169 .002425 — — — — — — —

Transfer .307117 .357117 — — .034729 .035143 .003478 .003518 .034390 .034980 .341938 .360703 .034490 .035840 .034572 .035267 —

Australian dollar Cash .221302 .233302 — — .227000 .236000 .022824 .023124 — — — — — — — — —

Syrian pound Cash .001290 .001510 — .000750 — — — — — — —

Draft .307117 .357117 — — .034729 .035143 .003478 .003518 .034390 .034980 .341938 .360703 .034490 .035840 .034572 .035267 —

Draft .219301 .232301 — — .227527 .230238 .022824 .023124 .222040 .230730 .225160 .237591 .228470 .231670 .221648 .236245 —

Transfer .219301 .232301 — — .227527 .230238 .022824 .023124 .222040 .230730 .225160 .237591 .228470 .231670 .221648 .236245 —

Iranian Riyal Cash .000084 .000085 — — — — — — — — —

Gold ounce — 385.640

Draft — — — — — — — — — — —

Transfer — — — — — — — — — — —

Gold gm 22k — 11.070

Saudi riyal Cash .080047 .081347 — .081227 .079000 .083000 .008058 .008168 — — — — .079290 .082010 .080146 .081914 —

Draft .805467 .811867 .081147 .081227 .080577 .081537 .008058 .008168 .080720 .081430 .079149 .083686 .080000 .081530 .080373 .081422

Transfer .805467 .811867 .081147 .081227 .080577 .081537 .008058 .008168 .080720 .081430 .079149 .083686 .080000 .081530 .080373 .081422

Hong Kong dollar Cash .037117 .039867 — — — — .003860 .003938 — — — — — — — — —

Draft .036434 .039534 .038994 — .038736 .039198 .003860 .003938 — — — — .038760 .039210 — — —

Transfer .036434 .039534 .038994 — .038736 .039198 .003860 .003938 — — — — .038760 .039210 — — —

Lebanese pound Cash .000156 .000258 — — — — — — — — —

Draft .001863 .002063 .002026 — — — — — .000197 .000206 —

Gold gm 21k — 10.570

Transfer .001863 .002063 .002026 — — — — — .000197 .000206 —

UAE dirham Cash .081411 .083111 — .082931 .082203 .083029 .008223 .008325 — — — — .082203 .083029 .081840 .083646 —

Draft .813661 .828821 .082850 .082931 .082271 .083252 .008223 .008325 .082440 .083120 .809162 .853504 .081950 .083320 .082074 .083142 .082810

Transfer .813661 .828821 .082850 .082931 .082271 .083252 .008223 .008325 .082440 .083120 .809162 .853504 .081950 .083320 .082074 .083142 .082810

Singapore dollar Cash .214630 .224630 — — — — .021885 .022133 — — — — — — — — —

Draft .215629 .221629 .221080 — .218486 .221089 .021885 .022133 .217140 .219840 .215322 .227191 .219040 .221570 .216846 .222348 —

Transfer .215629 .221629 .221080 — .218486 .221089 .021885 .022133 .217140 .219840 .215322 .227191 .219040 .221570 .216846 .222348 —

Malaysian ringgit Cash .067137 .073137 — .069800 — — — — — — —

Gold gm 18k — 9.060

Draft .661723 .731723 .068879 .069775 — — — — .070132 .072246 —

Transfer .661723 .731723 .068879 .069775 — — — — .070132 .072246 —

100 gm 999 — —

Bahraini dinar Cash .799606 .808106 — .808820 .800883 .808932 .079875 .081019 — — — — — — .794041 .816698 —

Draft .799106 .807606 .808020 .808820 .802135 .811693 .079875 .081019 .080297 .080993 .786925 .832026 .795990 .811090 .799603 .808886 .806500

Transfer .799106 .807606 .808020 .808820 .802135 .811693 .079875 .081019 .080297 .080993 .786925 .832026 .795990 .811090 .799603 .808886 .806500

Jordanian dinar Cash .423764 .432764 — .433500 .420000 .436000 — .043282 — — — — — — — — —

Draft .423349 .430849 .428910 .431140 — .431688 — .043282 .042546 .043286 .418061 .442094 .426230 .433470 .424364 .430295 —

Transfer .423349 .430849 .428910 .431140 — .431688 — .043282 .042546 .043286 .418061 .442094 .426230 .433470 .424364 .430295 —

Indonesian rupiah Cash .000018 .000024 — — — .000020 — — — — —

Draft .000176 .000246 — — — .000020 — — — — .002395

10 gm 999 — 127.450

Transfer .000176 .000246 — — — .000020 — — — — .002395

Omani riyal Cash .783839 .780519 — — .785133 .793024 .078492 .079573 — — — — — — .766260 .793146 —

Draft .778339 .789339 .790281 — .785594 .794955 .078492 .079573 .786500 .793090 .771094 .815244 .782410 .795280 .783517 .792387 —

Transfer .778339 .789339 .790281 — .785594 .794955 .078492 .079573 .786500 .793090 .771094 .815244 .782410 .795280 .783517 .792387 —

Egyptian pound Cash .013995 .019903 .019700 .020000 .012000 .020000 — .001714 — — — — — — — — —

Draft .016303 .017142 .016737 .017031 — .017419 — .001714 .016610 .017780 .015754 .017985 — .018190 .001654 .016834 .016990

Transfer .016303 .017142 .016737 .017031 — .017419 — .001714 .016610 .017780 .015754 .017985 — .018190 .001654 .016834 .016990

New Zealand dollar Cash .213285 .222785 — — .021752 .022204 — — — — —

Draft .211284 .222284 — — .021752 .022204 .218390 .222010 — — —

Transfer .211284 .222284 — — .021752 .022204 .218390 .222010 — — —

All rates in KD per unit of foreign currency

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

SPORTS

31

Ramirez rocks as Tribes extend win streak Red Sox outlast Blue Jays 3-2 CHICAGO, Sept 6, (AP): Jose Ramirez hit two more homers and Austin Jackson also connected as the Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox 9-4 on Tuesday night for their 13th straight victory, the longest run by a major league team this season. Danny Salazar got just two outs in his return from right elbow inflammation, but Cleveland’s deep bullpen took over from there. Seven relievers combined for 8-1/3 scoreless innings as the Indians moved within one of their franchiserecord 14-game win streak last year. Jackson and Ramirez hit back-to-back homers during a three-run first Ramirez against David Holmberg (2-4). Ramirez added another solo shot in the second, and the AL Central leaders went ahead to stay on Greg Allen’s tiebreaking, two-run double in the third. Yan Gomes tacked on a three-run shot in the ninth. Ramirez has five homers in his last three games. He is batting .500 (17 for 34) with seven homers and nine RBIs on Cleveland’s 11-game road trip. Matt Davidson hit a three-run drive for lastplace Chicago, which has dropped six of eight. Top prospect Yoan Moncada went 1 for 5 in his return from a bruised right shin. When the White Sox led 4-3 in the first, it was the first time the Indians had trailed since they were down by one against the Yankees on Aug. 28. Dan Otero (3-0) pitched two scoreless innings for the win. Red Sox 3, Blue Jays 2, 19 Innings In Boston, the Red Sox won their own version of a Boston marathon, beating Toronto in the 19th inning on an RBI single by Hanley Ramirez in a game that took six hours. Mookie Betts led off with a double and Ramirez followed with a bloop single to end it at 1:11 a.m. The AL East leaders stopped a three-game losing streak and increased their cushion to 3 1/2 games over the second-place Yankees. About 700 fans stayed until the end to see Boston win the longest game in the majors since July 2016, when Cleveland beat Toronto 2-1 in 19 innings. The Red Sox forced extra innings by rallying for two runs in the ninth to hand Roberto Osuna his 10th blown save. Boston first baseman Mitch Moreland was 31 years old when his RBI grounder tied it at 2 - he turned 32 when his birthday came at midnight, and celebrated with a win. This was the second-longest game ever at Fenway Park, which opened in 1912. The Red Sox lost to Seattle 8-7 in 20 innings in 1981 that game was suspended after 19 innings past 1 a.m. because of an American League curfew rule, and resumed about 18 hours later. Boston used 12 pitchers against the Blue Jays, tying an American League record set a day earlier by the Angels. Hector Velazquez (3-1) picked up the win. Chris Rowley (1-2) lost in his fourth inning of relief. Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. helped save it when he threw out Jose Bautista at the plate to end the top of the 11th. Diamondbacks 3, Dodgers 1, 10 Innings In Los Angeles, Brandon Drury hit a grounder to third base that scored the go-ahead runs when Justin Turner’s throw home got away, and Arizona beat slumping Los Angeles to equal a franchise record with its 12th straight victory. Dodgers reliever Pedro Baez (3-4) issued consecutive walks to open the 10th. He retired J.D. Martinez, who tied a major league record with four home runs in a 13-0 blowout Monday, on a broken-bat groundout that left runners at second and third. Drury grounded to Turner just inside the third base line, and he fired home to catcher Yasmani Grandal. The throw appeared to ricochet off pinch-runner Chris Hermann and then Grandal’s shoulder before bouncing away. Hermann and A.J. Pollock scored, Drury was safe at second and Grandal was charged with an error. Arizona matched the club record for consecutive wins set in June 2003. The victory earned the Diamondbacks their first season series win over Los Angeles since 2013. The Dodgers lost their fifth in a row and 10th

in 11 games, although they remain baseball’s top team at 92-46. Astros 3, Mariners 1 In Seattle, Justin Verlander pitched six strong innings and won his Astros debut after Cameron Maybin hit a two-run homer with one out in the seventh for Houston’s first hit against Seattle. With all the attention on Verlander’s first game for a team other than the Detroit Tigers, it was another deadline acquisition that sent Houston to its sixth straight victory. Maybin was claimed off waivers from the Angels on Aug. 31 and hit his second home run since joining the Astros to snap a 1-all tie. Seattle starter Ariel Miranda threw 112 pitches over six hitless innings that included six walks - three of which led to Houston’s first run in the third on Alex Bregman’s sacrifice fly. James Pazos (4-5) relieved in the seventh and walked Brian McCann with one out. Pazos was replaced by Emilio Pagan, who gave up Maybin’s eighth homer on a 3-2 pitch. Verlander (11-8), the 2011 AL MVP and a six-time All-Star, allowed six hits and struck out seven. Joe Musgrove threw two innings of scoreless relief and Ken Giles got his 29th save. Kyle Seager homered off Verlander. Orioles 7, Yankees 6 In Baltimore, Manny Machado hit a two-run homer off Dellin Betances with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, capping a big comeback that lifted Baltimore over New York. Betances (3-6) retired the first two batters in the ninth before Tim Beckham walked. Machado then drove a hanging breaking ball far over the center-field wall to provide the Orioles an unlikely victory after New York

BASEBALL

Nick Goody #44 of the Cleveland Indians pitches in the 1st inning against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on Sept 5, in Chicago, Illinois. (AFP)

scored six runs in the third to go ahead 6-1. It was Machado’s second homer of the game and team-high 32nd of the season. Jonathan Schoop and Mark Trumbo also went deep for the Orioles, who closed within a half-game of Minnesota for the second AL wild card. Zach Britton (2-0), Baltimore’s sixth reliever, worked the ninth. New York, which holds the top wild card, dropped 3 1/2 games behind first-place Boston in the AL East. The start was delayed by rain for 2 hours, 14 minutes. Angels 8, Athletics 7, 10 Innings In Oakland, California, pinch-hitter Ben Revere lined a go-ahead single in the 10th inning that diving left fielder Matt Joyce just missed, and Los Angeles took over the second AL wild-card spot by beating Oakland. The Angels moved a half-game ahead of Minnesota, which lost at Tampa Bay. The Angels (72-67) are five games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2015 season. Oakland lost its eighth in a row, matching its longest skid over the last five years. Cam Bedrosian (5-4) pitched a scoreless ninth. Eduardo Paredes retired Jed Lowrie on a flyball to escape a bases-loaded jam for his first career save. Blake Treinen (1-4) retired the first two batters in the 10th. He then hit a batter, C.J. Cron singled and Revere followed with his hit. Cron hit a two-run homer in the sixth and an RBI triple in the eighth. Albert Pujols hit a runscoring single and sacrifice fly, giving him 14 RBIs in his last six games for the Angels. Cardinals, 8, Padres 4 In San Diego, Jose Martinez hit two home runs, rookie Harrison Bader had three RBIs and Michael Wacha overcame a shaky start to last six innings as St. Louis defeated San Diego. Martinez added a double and finished 3 for 3 with three RBIs. Bader, called up on Friday, smacked his third home run and had his third multihit game since being summoned from the minors. Wacha (11-7), who blanked the Padres over his last four innings, was charged with four runs (three earned) and seven hits. Three relievers shut out San Diego the rest of the way. Pirates 4, Cubs 3 In Pittsburgh, Max Moroff and David Freese each hit an RBI single off Carl Edwards Jr. in the eighth inning as Pittsburgh rallied past Chicago. Pinch-hitter John Jaso led off the eighth with a walk and scored when Moroff hit a bloop single off Edwards (3-4) to tie the game. Freese drove home Moroff three batters later after the Cubs intentionally walked rookie Josh Bell. Jordan Luplow hit the second home run of his career for Pittsburgh. Wade LeBlanc (5-2) earned the win in relief. Felipe Rivero worked

KUNA photo

A photo taken during the Kuwait Super Cup press conference.

Qadsia, Kuwait clubs face-off in Super Cup Qadsia and Kuwait sports clubs will faceoff Thursday in the Super Cup at Jaber international stadium, a match which signals the start of the new football season. Kuwait sports club, champion of the Amiri Cup, is seeking to win the competition for the fourth time in its history and third in a row. The club is eager to match to rivals, Qadsia who won the competition in four occasions. Qadsia is seeking to win its fifth title. “Friendly games and camps were held in preparation for the match and hopefully this will have a positive impact on the team in

beginning of the new season”, said football manager of Kuwait Adel Al-Enzi in a statement to KUNA. “Players are technically and physically prepared for the game,” Al-Enzi affirmed. On his part, media coordinator at Qadsia’s football team, Ziad Al-Shatti said that his team was on a training camp in Turkey recently and is fully prepared for the Super Cup and the new season. Kuwait Super Cup launched in 2008, it is one match that brings together the winner of the Amiri Cup and the winner of the League title. (KUNA)

a perfect ninth for his 18th save. The Pirates ran their winning streak to four on the same day the club announced contract extensions for manager Clint Hurdle and general manager Neal Huntington. Reds 9, Brewers 3 In Cincinnatti, Robert Stephenson escaped threats while pitching into the seventh, and Scooter Gennett hit a three-run homer during Cincinnati’s five-run rally in the bottom of the inning against Milwaukee. The last-place Reds have taken the first two games in the series from Milwaukee, which is trying to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2011. The Brewers remained 3Ω games behind Chicago in the NL Central. They also trail Arizona and Colorado in the wild-card race. Stephenson (4-4) wriggled out of a basesloaded, none-out threat in the fourth inning, fanning the next three. The Reds turned three double plays behind the rookie to scuttle rallies. Nationals 2, Marlins 1 In Miami, Stephen Strasburg pitched six solid innings to help Washington edge Miami. Daniel Murphy hit his 22nd homer and Pedro Severino also drove in a run for the Nationals, who have won seven straight against the Marlins. Sean Doolittle worked the ninth for his 18th save in 19 chances. Doolittle allowed a bloop single to Marcell Ozuna, who scored on a sacrifice fly by Derek Dietrich, but got Brian Anderson to line out to end the game. Strasburg (12-4) gave up a single in each of his six innings, but was able to keep the Marlins from getting into scoring position. He struck out eight and did not walk a batter, lowering his ERA to 2.78. Miami slugger Giancarlo Stanton went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts and did not add to his home run total of 53, but did take a home run away from Murphy when he leaped above the right-center field wall to make a catch in the third. Rays 2, Twins 1 In St. Petersburg, Florida, Jake Odorizzi took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in front of a tiny home crowd, helping Tampa Bay top Minnesota. Lucas Duda homered off Bartolo Colon (6-11) and hit an RBI double for the Rays (7070), who moved within two games of Minnesota for the second AL wild card. Joe Mauer got the Twins’ first hit - and extended his hitting streak to 14 games - with a grounder that caromed off second base with one out in the seventh. Odorizzi (8-7) was lifted for reliever Dan Jennings after striking out the next batter. Rockies 9, Giants 6 In Denver, Trevor Story homered and Colorado beat San Francisco for its 10th straight win over the Giants at Coors Field. The Rockies held off a late rally by San Francisco to increase their lead to 2 1/2 games over Milwaukee for the second NL wild card. Nolan Arenado doubled in a four-run sixth for his 112th RBI, tying Miami slugger Giancarlo Stanton for most in the majors. After spot starter Tyler Chatwood lasted three innings, Colorado used eight relievers. Chris Rusin (4-0) earned the win and Greg Holland pitched a perfect ninth for his 37th save. Denver native Ty Blach (8-12) allowed five runs over 5 1/3 innings for the Giants on the anniversary of his big league debut at Coors Field. Tigers 13, Royals 2 In Detroit, JaCoby Jones and John Hicks each hit two of Detroit’s six homers in a rout of Kansas City. Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez threw only five pitches and was knocked out of the game in the first inning after getting hit in the right leg by Whit Merrifield’s single. Sanchez exited with a bruised calf. Myles Jaye (1-0) replaced Sanchez and pitched 2 1/3 innings for the win. Phillies 9, Mets 1 In New York, Ben Lively homered and drove in four runs off Mets ace Jacob deGrom, and also pitched seven strong innings to lead Philadelphia over New York. A day after falling behind the Mets 10-0 by the fourth inning, it was the Phillies’ turn to answer back. DeGrom (14-9) struck out the side in the first, but wound up allowing a career-worst nine runs - six earned - and 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings.

MLB Scoreboard WASHINGTON, Sept 6, (Agencies): Results from the MLB games on Tuesday. Arizona 3 LA Dodgers 1 Houston 3 Seattle 1 St Louis 8 San Diego 4 LA Angels 8 Oakland (10 Innings) 7 Colorado 9 San Francisco 6 Cleveland 9 Chicago White Sox 4 Detroit 13 Kansas City 2 Cincinnati 9 Milwaukee 3 Tampa Bay 2 Minnesota 1 Philadelphia 9 NY Mets 1 Boston 3 Toronto (19 Innings) 2 Washington 2 Miami 1 Pittsburgh 4 Chicago Cubs 3 MLB Standings American League Eastern Division W L PCT GB Boston 78 61 .561 NY Yankees 74 64 .536 3-1/2 Baltimore 71 68 .511 7 Tampa Bay 70 70 .500 8-1/2 Toronto 64 75 .460 14 Central Division W L PCT GB Cleveland 82 56 .594 Minnesota 71 67 .514 11 Kansas City 68 69 .496 13-1/2 Detroit 59 79 .428 23 Chicago W Sox 54 83 .394 27-1/2 Western Division W L PCT GB Houston 85 53 .616 LA Angels 72 67 .518 13-1/2 Texas 69 68 .504 15-1/2 Seattle 69 70 .496 16-1/2 Oakland 58 80 .420 27 National League Eastern Division W L PCT GB Washington 84 54 .609 Miami 67 71 .486 17 Atlanta 60 76 .441 23 NY Mets 59 79 .428 25 Philadelphia 53 85 .384 31 Central Division W L PCT GB Chicago Cubs 75 63 .543 Milwaukee 72 67 .518 3-1/2 St Louis 71 67 .514 4 Pittsburgh 67 72 .482 8-1/2 Cincinnati 60 79 .432 15-1/2 Western Division W L PCT GB LA Dodgers 92 46 .667 Arizona 81 58 .583 11-1/2 Colorado 74 64 .536 18 San Diego 62 77 .446 30-1/2 San Francisco 54 87 .383 39-1/2 MLB Linescores American League Minnesota 000 000 0011 4 1 Tampa Bay 000 101 00x2 6 0 Colon, Rogers (7), Busenitz (8) and J.Castro, Gimenez; Odorizzi, Jennings (7), Cishek (7), Hunter (8), Colome (9) and Ramos. W_Odorizzi 8-7. L_Colon 6-11. Sv_Colome (42). HRs_ Minnesota, Grossman. Tampa Bay, Duda. Kansas City 100 001 0002 5 0 Detroit 070 211 11x13 15 1 Vargas, Cahill (3), A.Machado (6) and Perez, Butera, Gallagher; A.Sanchez, Jaye (1), Hardy (3), Stumpf (6), VerHagen (7), Wilson (8), Alcantara (9) and J.McCann, Holaday. W_Jaye 1-0. L_Vargas 14-10. HRs_Kansas City, Cain. Detroit, Mahtook, Hicks 2, Jones 2, Iglesias. New York 006 000 0006 9 0 Baltimore 101 012 0027 9 1 Sabathia, Kahnle (6), Robertson (7), Chapman (8), Betances (9) and Au.Romine; Hellickson, Bleier (3), Yacabonis (4), Jimenez (6), O’Day (7), Brach (8), Britton (9) and Castillo. W_Britton 2-0. L_Betances 3-6. HRs_Baltimore, Machado 2, Trumbo, Schoop. Cleveland 312 000 0039 10 2 Chicago 400 000 0004 10 0 Salazar, Goody (1), Otero (2), McAllister (4), J.Smith (5), Olson (6), B.Shaw (8), Armstrong (9) and Gomes; Holmberg, Pelfrey (4), Fulmer (6), Fry (9), Beck (9) and Brantly. W_Otero 3-0. L_ Holmberg 2-4. HRs_Cleveland, Ramirez 2, Jackson, Gomes. Chicago, Davidson. Toronto 010 001 000 0000 0000 02 12 0 Boston 000 000 002 0000 0000 13 11 2 (19 innings) Estrada, Leone (8), Osuna (9), Koehler (10), Santos (11), Dermody (13), Rowley (16) and Maile, Lopez, Montero; Rodriguez, J.Kelly (7), Reed (8), Kimbrel (9), Workman (10), Maddox (12), Hembree (14), Scott (15), Boyer (15), Abad (17), C.Smith (18), Velazquez (19) and Vazquez, Leon. W_Velazquez 3-1. L_Rowley 1-2. HRs_ Toronto, Morales. Houston 001 000 2003 2 0 Seattle 000 100 0001 7 0 Verlander, Musgrove (7), Giles (9) and B.McCann, Centeno; Miranda, Pazos (7), Pagan (7), Garton (8), Simmons (9) and Zunino. W_ Verlander 11-8. L_Pazos 4-5. Sv_Giles (29). HRs_Houston, Maybin. Seattle, Seager. National League Chicago 102 000 0003 8 1 Pittsburgh 020 000 02x4 8 0 Hendricks, Edwards (7) and Rivera; Brault, LeBlanc (6), Rivero (9) and E.Diaz. W_LeBlanc 5-2. L_Edwards 3-4. Sv_Rivero (18). HRs_ Pittsburgh, Luplow. Washington 010 000 0102 8 1 Miami 000 000 0011 7 0 Strasburg, Solis (7), Albers (8), Doolittle (9) and Severino; Despaigne, Barraclough (8), Steckenrider (9) and Realmuto. W_Strasburg 12-4. L_Despaigne 0-3. Sv_Doolittle (18). HRs_

Washington, Murphy. Philadelphia 030 600 0009 17 0 New York 100 000 0001 6 2 Lively, Milner (8), Pinto (9) and Alfaro; deGrom, Smoker (4), Rhame (6), McGowan (7), Goeddel (8), Callahan (9) and d’Arnaud. W_ Lively 3-5. L_deGrom 14-9. HRs_Philadelphia, Lively. Milwaukee 000 000 1203 5 1 Cincinnati 001 001 52x9 11 0 Davies, Drake (6), Barnes (7), Wang (7), C. Torres (8) and Vogt, Pina; Stephenson, Wojciechowski (7), A.Hernandez (8), R.Iglesias (8) and Barnhart. W_Stephenson 4-4. L_Davies 16-8. Sv_R.Iglesias (25). HRs_Milwaukee, Shaw. Cincinnati, Gennett. San Francisco 000 010 2306 12 0 Colorado 100 104 12x9 13 0 Blach, Law (6), Moronta (7), Osich (7), Gomez (7), Melancon (8), Crick (8) and Posey, Federowicz; Chatwood, Rusin (4), Estevez (5), Senzatela (6), Rosscup (7), Neshek (7), McGee (8), Ottavino (8), Holland (9) and Lucroy, Wolters. W_Rusin 4-0. L_Blach 8-12. Sv_Holland (37). HRs_Colorado, Story. St Louis 232 000 1008 9 1 San Diego 220 000 0004 9 2 Wacha, Bowman (7), Cecil (8), Lyons (9) and Molina; Wood, M.Diaz (3), Baumann (7), Capps (8) and Hedges. W_Wacha 11-7. L_Wood 3-5. HRs_St Louis, Martinez 2, Bader. San Diego, Wood. Arizona 000 100 000 23 4 0 Los Angeles 000 010 000 01 6 1 (10 innings) Greinke, Bradley (8), D.Hernandez (9), Rodney (10) and Iannetta, Herrmann; Ryu, Stripling (7), Jansen (9), P.Baez (10), Watson (10) and Grandal. W_D.Hernandez 3-0. L_P. Baez 3-4. Sv_Rodney (35). HRs_Los Angeles, Grandal. MLB Leaders American League BATTING: Altuve, Houston, .351; Garcia, Chicago, .324; Hosmer, Kansas City, .316; Ramirez, Cleveland, .310; Reddick, Houston, .310; Schoop, Baltimore, .306; Segura, Seattle, .303; Mauer, Minnesota, .302; Andrus, Texas, .300; Abreu, Chicago, .297. RUNS: Judge, New York, 102; Springer, Houston, 96; Altuve, Houston, 95; Ramirez, Cleveland, 92; Andrus, Texas, 89; Upton, Los Angeles, 87; Schoop, Baltimore, 86; Betts, Boston, 85; 4 tied at 84. RBI: Cruz, Seattle, 104; Schoop, Baltimore, 102; KDavis, Oakland, 97; Upton, Los Angeles, 95; Pujols, Los Angeles, 93; Machado, Baltimore, 91; Mazara, Texas, 88; Judge, New York, 85; Smoak, Toronto, 85; Cano, Seattle, 84. HITS: Altuve, Houston, 183; Andrus, Texas, 165; Hosmer, Kansas City, 163; Schoop, Baltimore, 163; Ramirez, Cleveland, 162; Abreu, Chicago, 158; Cabrera, Kansas City, 157; Dickerson, Tampa Bay, 151; 3 tied at 150. DOUBLES: Ramirez, Cleveland, 47; Betts, Boston, 42; Lowrie, Oakland, 42; Upton, Los Angeles, 39; Andrus, Texas, 37; Abreu, Chicago, 36; Altuve, Houston, 36; Gurriel, Houston, 36; 3 tied at 34. TRIPLES: Castellanos, Detroit, 10; Ramirez, Cleveland, 6; Sanchez, Chicago, 6; Beckham, Baltimore, 5; Bogaerts, Boston, 5; Bregman, Houston, 5; Buxton, Minnesota, 5; Mahtook, Detroit, 5; Merrifield, Kansas City, 5; 8 tied at 4. HOME RUNS: KDavis, Oakland, 38; Judge, New York, 38; Gallo, Texas, 37; Smoak, Toronto, 37; Morrison, Tampa Bay, 36; Moustakas, Kansas City, 36; Encarnacion, Cleveland, 32; Machado, Baltimore, 32; 3 tied at 31. STOLEN BASES: Altuve, Houston, 31; Maybin, Houston, 30; RDavis, Boston, 28; DeShields, Texas, 28; Dyson, Seattle, 28; Merrifield, Kansas City, 27; Buxton, Minnesota, 25; Cain, Kansas City, 24; Andrus, Texas, 23; Betts, Boston, 22. PITCHING: Bauer, Cleveland, 15-8; Sale, Boston, 15-7; Kluber, Cleveland, 14-4; Pomeranz, Boston, 14-5; Santana, Minnesota, 14-7; Vargas, Kansas City, 14-10; Bundy, Baltimore, 13-9; Carrasco, Cleveland, 13-6; 4 tied at 12. ERA: Kluber, Cleveland, 2.56; Sale, Boston, 2.85; Severino, New York, 3.03; Stroman, Toronto, 3.08; Cashner, Texas, 3.29; Santana, Minnesota, 3.35; Pomeranz, Boston, 3.36; Cobb, Tampa Bay, 3.64; Carrasco, Cleveland, 3.67; Verlander, Houston, 3.74. STRIKEOUTS: Sale, Boston, 270; Archer, Tampa Bay, 225; Kluber, Cleveland, 222; Severino, New York, 201; Carrasco, Cleveland, 183; Verlander, Houston, 183; Bauer, Cleveland, 170; Porcello, Boston, 163; Estrada, Toronto, 159; Tanaka, New York, 158. National League BATTING: Blackmon, Colorado, .339; JTurner, Los Angeles, .332; Harper, Washington, .325; Murphy, Washington, .320; Posey, San Francisco, .317; LeMahieu, Colorado, .316; Goldschmidt, Arizona, .314; Votto, Cincinnati, .313; Pham, St Louis, .311; Seager, Los Angeles, .309. RUNS: Blackmon, Colorado, 122; Stanton, Miami, 106; Goldschmidt, Arizona, 102; Bryant, Chicago, 95; Gordon, Miami, 95; Votto, Cincinnati, 94; Harper, Washington, 92; Rizzo, Chicago, 88; 3 tied at 85. RBI: Arenado, Colorado, 112; Stanton, Miami, 112; Goldschmidt, Arizona, 109; Ozuna, Miami, 107; Rizzo, Chicago, 100; Lamb, Arizona, 97; Votto, Cincinnati, 93; Duvall, Cincinnati, 92; Zimmerman, Washington, 91; Rendon, Washington, 90. HITS: Blackmon, Colorado, 189; Inciarte, Atlanta, 175; Gordon, Miami, 165; LeMahieu, Colorado, 164; Ozuna, Miami, 162; Arenado, Colorado, 161; Goldschmidt, Arizona, 152; Murphy, Washington, 152; Votto, Cincinnati, 151; Yelich, Miami, 148.

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

SPORTS

32

Australia lead B’desh by 72 runs

Bangladesh strike back after Warner ton CHITTAGONG, Sept 6, (AFP): David Warner hit his second hundred in a row before Bangladesh fought back with quick strikes on a rain-hit third day of the second Test against Australia on Wednesday. The visitors were 377-9 when bad light stopped play with 13 overs remaining after rain washed out the entire first session at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium in Chittagong. Australia now lead by 72 runs with Steve O’Keefe on eight and Nathan Lyon, who was yet to open his account, at the crease. Bangladesh, who elected to bat first, made 305. Mustafizur Rahman and Mehedi Hasan took three wickets each to bring Bangladesh back into the contest after Warner and Peter Handscomb put on 152 runs for the third wicket. The left-handed Warner showed remarkable patience during his uncharacteristically sedate 123 that came off 234 balls. This was Warner’s 20th Test century and second in successive innings, having made 112 in the first match. He was dismissed by left-arm paceman Mustafizur, who was celebrating his 22nd birthday.

The century saw Warner join a select group of 12 Australian cricketers who have scored 20 or more Test tons, with his skipper Steve Smith the most recent to achieve the feat. “It is satisfying for myself but at the end of the day we’re here to win games,” Warner said after the third day’s play. “I’m doing myself and the team as much favours as I can by trying to put on runs, as everyone else is. “At the moment we’ve got a lead of 72 ...

CRICKET so we’ve got to try and capitalise on that tomorrow morning to push forward for maybe a hundred (run lead),” he added. Warner, who resumed the day on 88, received good support from Handscomb, who made 82 off 144 balls before being run out by a sharp throw from Shakib Al Hasan at midwicket. Handscomb responded to a call for a single that would have completed Warner’s century but was sent back from halfway down the pitch. Bangladesh were then frustrated as Mehedi

Bangladesh vs Australia Scoreboard CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh, Sept 6, (AFP): Scoreboard at stumps on day three of the second and final Test between Bangladesh and Australia at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on Wednesday: BANGLADESH 1st innings 305 (Mushfiqur Rahim 68, Sabbir Rahman 66; N. Lyon 7-94) AUSTRALIA 1st innings (overnight 225-2): M. Renshaw c Rahim b Mustafizur ................... 4 D. Warner c Imrul b Mustafizur ..................... 123 S. Smith b Taijul ............................................. 58 P. Handscomb run out .................................... 82 G. Maxwell c Rahim b Mehedi ........................ 38 H. Cartwright c Soumya b Mehedi .................. 18 M. Wade lbw b Mustafizur ................................ 8 A. Agar b Shakib............................................. 22

dropped Glenn Maxwell on 10 at gully off Mustafizur. Mehedi put down Hilton Cartwright off his own bowling on six, before making amends by having the same batsman caught at slip by Soumya Sarkar for 18 on the stroke of tea. Mehedi removed Maxwell (38) and Pat Cummins (four) after the break and Shakib

P. Cummins lbw b Mehedi ................................ 4 S. O’ Keefe not out ........................................... 8 N. Lyon not out ................................................. 0 Extras (b8, lb3, w1)......................................... 12 Total (for 9 wkts; 118 overs) ......................... 377 Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Renshaw), 2-98 (Smith), 3-250 (Handscomb), 4-298 (Warner), 5-321 (Cartwright), 6-342 (Wade), 7-346 (Maxwell), 8-364 (Cummins), 9-376 (Agar) Bowling: Mehedi 38-6-93-3, Mustafizur 20-284-3 (w1), Shakib 30-2-82-1, Taijul 21-1-78-1, Nasir 6-2-14-0, Mominul 2-0-6-0, Sabbir 1-0-9-0 Toss: Bangladesh Umpires: Ian Gould (ENG) and Nigel Llong (ENG). TV Umpire: Aleem Dar (PAK) Match Referee: Jeff Crowe (NZ)

bowled Ashton Agar for his only wicket of the day. Bangladesh’s Mustafizur did not rule out the chance of a win for his side, who hold a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. “The game still has two more days left. If we can do something good, anything is possible,” he said.

Australian cricketer David Warner reacts after scoring a century (100 runs) during the third day of the second cricket Test between Bangladesh and Australia at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on Sept 6. (AFP)

Ratifying ‘tri-partite’ agreement

IOC preps for ’24-28 Oly vote with results foretold

India’s captain Virat Kohli plays a shot during the Twenty20 cricket match against Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Sept 6. (AP)

India win T20 to complete Tour whitewash in Sri Lanka ‘People make assumptions all the time’

Buoyant West Indies eye England Test series win LONDON, Sept 6, (AFP): West Indies go into Thursday’s third and deciding Test at Lord’s with the chance to complete a dramatic turnaround and win their first series in England in almost 30 years. The Caribbean side last triumphed in England in 1988 when a team boasting a clutch of all-time greats including Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards, Malcolm Marshall and Curtly Ambrose romped to a 4-0 win. The West Indies dominated Test cricket for two decades but their decline has been precipitous and they are currently languishing at eighth in the world rankings, with just Bangladesh and Zimbabwe below them. Having dusted down the “obituaries” after the series opener at Edgbaston — when the visitors slumped to a defeat by an innings and 209 runs — few pundits gave Jason Holder’s novice West Indies

CRICKET side any chance of a revival in Leeds. Yet despite being set more than 300 to win in the fourth innings following a declaration by England captain Joe Root, the tourists showed true grit to win by five wickets. Shai Hope became the first batsman in history to score hundreds in both innings of a match at Headingley, putting his side in a strong position with 147 before following up his maiden Test century with a match-clinching 118 not out in the second innings. After the fourth day of a match of fluctuating fortunes, ex-England captain Nasser Hussain, a former Essex team-mate of West Indies coach Stuart Law, said the tourists were flagging because the physical demands of a Test match were greater than that of Twenty20 cricket. A satisfied Law said: “People make assumptions all the time.” “But he (Hussain) doesn’t know the characters that are inside that dressing room — he doesn’t even know me and I played with him at Essex,” the former Australia batsman added. “Not a lot of these players play T20

cricket anyway. I think it was great we sent a big humble pie to go and chomp on in the commentary box.” England even took the risk of dropping in-form seamer Toby RolandJones, whose three Tests this season have yielded 14 wickets, for the Headingley Test, bringing in Chris Woakes for his first Test of the home campaign after injury, seemingly to get some overs under his belt ahead of the upcoming Ashes tour of Australia. The home side, however, have recalled Roland-Jones on his Middlesex home ground and dropped Woakes in the only change to their side. “Home conditions, he (RolandJones) obviously knows the surfaces and is bowling very well at the moment,” Root told reporters at Lord’s on Wednesday after announcing his team. “It’s obviously very difficult to leave somebody like Chris out, he’s been a consistent performer in Test cricket for England. “But this is a team I think is going to win this week,” star batsman Root added. England still have doubts about their problem top-order batting positions with number three Tom Westley under most scrutiny after a run of single-figure scores.

England’s Moeen Ali during the nets session at Lord’s, London on Sept 6. (AP)

Kohli fires tourists to 7-wicket victory COLOMBO, Sept 6, (AFP): Skipper Virat Kohli hit a blazing halfcentury as India completed their rout of Sri Lanka on this tour, winning the one-off Twenty20 by seven wickets in Colombo on Wednesday. Chasing 171 for victory, India rode on a 119-run secondwicket stand between Kohli (82) and Manish Pandey (51 not out) to achieve their target with four balls to spare. The visitors remained unbeaten in their nine matches against Sri Lanka as they won the Test and One-Day series 3-0 and 5-0 respectively. “Very special, it (whitewash

CRICKET across formats) hasn’t been done before. Credit to all the hard work that the boys have put in over the past couple of months in all formats of the game,” said a delighted Kohli. “That’s evidence of the fact how hungry the players are in Indian cricket. The bench strength is coming through so beautifully ... results are amazing to see as a captain,” he added. Kohli, who received the man of the match award, remained calm in a tricky chase with Pandey for company after India lost their openers for 42 runs in the sixth over. Rohit Sharma fell to veteran paceman Lasith Malinga for nine and Lokesh Rahul was done in by a superb catch by Dasun Shanaka at short cover off Seekkuge Prasanna. But Kohli took the attack to the opposition with 7 fours and a six during his 54-ball knock before falling to Isuru Udana with India requiring just 10 runs to win. Pandey finished off the game with a boundary that brought his

maiden T20 fifty in 36 balls. “We knew one good partnership will get us through. So it was about staying calm in the middle ... and Manish was outstanding today. That partnership was very crucial,” said Kohli. Earlier leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal played his part by claiming three wickets to restrict Sri Lanka to 170-7 after being put into bat first. Dilshan Munaweera hit a 29-ball 53 before Ashan Priyanjan scored a run-a-ball 40 not out to lift the Sri Lankan total after a middle-order collapse. The hosts slipped from 99-3 to 113-6 before Priyanjan put on crucial partnerships with lower-order batsmen including a 36-run unbeaten stand with number nine Udana, who hit a 10-ball 19. “We were 15-20 runs short. We had a good start. Munaweera batted really well, but we lost momentum from overs 10-14,” said a disappointed Sri Lanka skipper Upul Tharanga. “The way Virat batted was outstanding. He was an example for everyone, especially with his energy and running between the wickets,” he added.

MUNICH, Sept 6, (RTRS): When the International Olympic Committee’s 100-plus members sit down next week in Lima to vote on the hosts of the 2024 and the 2028 Olympics, it will be a rare case of the result long known. Paris and Los Angeles were the two last cities left in the race for the 2024 Summer Games, with four others — Hamburg, Rome, Budapest and Boston — having pulled out amid concerns over cost and size. With the Games having lost their sheen and cities now viewing them as a financial burden rather than a glorious opportunity, the IOC changed the bidding process and decided to award two consecutive editions at the same election. The IOC session in Peru will therefore lack the usual dramatic moment when the name of a city is pulled out of an envelope as Paris will be awarded the Games in seven year’s time and the Californian metropolis getting the nod for 2028. No heads of state will fly into the Peruvian capital for frantic, last-minute lobbying as the IOC members will merely be ratifying a “tri-partite” agreement between the two cities and the IOC on Sept 13. IOC President Thomas Bach said the process in the past was “creating too many losers” and the decision for the double awarding would now be “a win-win-win” for all three parties

OLYMPICS involved. Los Angeles had to concede the 2024 Games to the French capital but will still leave Lima with an Olympic Games of its own in the bag. Paris, which like LA has hosted the Games twice before, will no doubt be the bigger winners, having got what they set out to get. French President Emmanuel Macron’s presence at an IOC meeting in July made clear the country’s strong commitment to land their first Summer Olympics since 1924 after three previous failed attempts. The vote is hardly the big celebration the IOC would have wanted as ongoing criminal investigations into alleged corruption linked to last year’s Rio Games serve as a timely reminder that all is not well within the Olympic movement. IOC member and Games head Carlos Nuzman had his house searched on Tuesday as authorities probe claims of vote-buying dating back to before the surprise 2009 decision to award Rio the Games. Doping at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games in Russia, graft in Rio and the suspension of other senior IOC members, including Namibian Frankie Fredericks and Ireland’s Patrick Hickey, over corruption allegations in the past 12 months, have further tarnished the organisation’s image. The IOC is desperate to end this rocky bidding process with two solid and arguably more transparent partners in place for the next 11 years, a decision which they hope will restore some credibility to the world’s biggest multi-sports event.

Sri Lanka vs India Scoreboard COLOMBO, Sept 6, (AFP): Final scoreboard of the one-off Twenty20 international between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo on Wednesday. SRI LANKA N. Dickwella b Bumrah ................... 17 U. Tharanga b Kumar ....................... 5 D. Munaweera b Yadav .................. 53 A. Mathews st Dhoni b Chahal ......... 7 A. Priyanjan not out ........................ 40 T. Perera b Chahal ......................... 11 D. Shanaka b Chahal ....................... 0 S. Prasanna c Kohli b Yadav .......... 11 I. Udana not out .............................. 19 Extras (lb4, w3)................................. 7 Total (7 wickets, 20 overs)............ 170 Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Tharanga), 2-46 (Dickwella), 3-62 (Mathews), 4-99 (Munaweera), 5-113 (Perera), 6-113 (Shanaka), 7-134 (Prasanna) Did not bat: A. Dananjaya, L. Malinga Bowling: Kumar 4-0-36-1, Bumrah 4-0-38-1, Chahal 4-0-43-3, Patel 4-0-

30-0, Yadav 4-0-20-2 INDIA (target 171) R. Sharma c Perera b Malinga ......... 9 L. Rahul c Shanaka b Prasanna ..... 24 V. Kohli c Shanaka b Udana........... 82 M. Pandey not out .......................... 51 M.S. Dhoni not out ............................ 1 Extras (b1, nb1, w5) ......................... 7 Total (3 wickets, 19.2 overs)......... 174 Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Sharma), 2-42 (Rahul), 3-161 (Kohli) Did not bat: K. Jadhav, A. Patel, K. Yadav, B. Kumar, Y. Chahal, J. Bumrah Bowling: Mathews 3-0-33-0, Udana 4-0-36-1, Malinga 4-0-31-1, Prasanna 3-0-25-1, Dananjaya 4-0-28-0, Perera 1.2-0-20-0 Toss: India Result: India won by seven wickets Umpires: Ranmore Martinesz (SRI), Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SRI) TV Umpire: Raveendra Wimalasiri (SRI) Match Referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)

Keino to step down

IOC can’t escape Rio; Nuzman held RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept 6, (Agencies): The International Olympic Committee just can’t get away from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. The IOC is ready to put a rubberstamp approval this month on bids from Paris and Los Angeles for the 2024 and 2028 Olympics, respectively, yet Olympic officials are once again answering questions about corruption in the bidding process, this time from 2009, when Rio surprisingly got more votes than Madrid, Chicago and Tokyo. The 2016 Rio Games were already marred by trails of corruption, and billions of public money spent and several useless white-elephant venues spread around the city. Things got worse Tuesday when police raided the home of Brazilian Olympic Committee President Carlos Nuzman, questioning him over his role in what French and Brazilian authorities say was a vote-buying scheme to land the Olympics. Police took suitcases, documents and a computer, and they displayed detention warrants to question Nuzman. “The Olympic Games were used as a big trampoline for acts of corruption,” federal prosecutor Fabiana Schneider told reporters. The IOC will meet next week in Lima, Peru, and is Nuzman expected to award two Summer Olympics at once. The bid process was changed in part to reduce the opportunity for fraud. The IOC won’t have to worry about another Summer Games bid until 2025, when it would award the 2032 Games. “Although the IOC has tightened rules and looked to rid itself of the mavericks and the crooks in its midst, it is hardly a surprise that a top-level organizer of the Rio 2016 Games is suspected of buying votes,” Alan Tomlinson, an Olympic historian at the University of Brighton, told The Associated Press. Tomlinson said world-wide sports federations “remain an uncontrollable behemoth in global sports governance.” Investigators said Nuzman — an IOC member at the time, head of the organizing committee, and now an honorary member — was a central player in buying votes for Rio’s Olympic bid. Nuzman’s lawyer, Sergio Mazzillo, said his client would cooperate but “did not commit any irregularity.” French and Brazilian authorities said Nuzman brought together businessman Arthur Cesar de Menezes Soares Filho, and Lamine Diack, the former head of track and field’s governing body who at the time was an IOC voting member. Soares Filho’s company, Matlock Capital Group, allegedly paid Diack $2 million into a Caribbean account held by his son, Papa Massata Diack. Authorities said Lamine Diack, an influential African member from Senegal, was instrumental in organizing the African bloc of votes. Meanwhile, Kenyan Olympic chief Kipchoge Keino said Wednesday he will not stand for re-election during the General Assembly in Nairobi on September 29. The 77-year-old double Olympic gold medallist has been at the helm of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) since 1999 when he took over from Charles Mukora, who resigned following the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics bribery scandal.

Also: MOSCOW: The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) on Wednesday authorised Russian athletes in four disciplines to compete as neutrals in qualifying events for the Pyeongchang Paralympic Winter Games but upheld Russia’s suspension over widespread doping. Russia did not compete in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics after its team were suspended over allegations of a state-sponsored doping programme. Dozens of Russians were banned from competing at the Rio Olympics for the same reason.

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

SPORTS

33

Steelers open campaign against Browns

Brady, Patriots chase immortality as NFL kicks off LOS ANGELES, Sept 6, (AFP): Tom Brady and the New England Patriots set out on their latest quest for immortality on Thursday as the National Football League season kicks off with the Super Bowl champions once again the team to beat. Brady, who clinched a record fifth Super Bowl with February’s miraculous comeback against Atlanta, would become the oldest quarterback in history to win the title if the PatriBrady ots defend their crown in Minneapolis next year. The 40-year-old superstar launches his 18th season in the NFL at Gillette Stadium on Thursday night with the traditional banner-raising opener against the Kansas City Chiefs. Yet at a time when most players of his generation are thinking about riding off into the sunset — if they hadn’t

already done so — Brady says there is no end in sight to a glittering career. “I think my mid-40s is a place that I know I can get to,” Brady reflected during the off-season. “Once I’m there, I can evaluate what’s happening in my life and go from there. There’s no question in my mind I’ll be able to do it. I know what

FOOTBALL to do. I know how efficient I am. I know what it takes.” That sense of steely determination is reflected in the lengths Brady is willing to go to in order to elevate his game to the next level. During the off-season, he analysed every offensive play from the 20162017 campaign, including the Super Bowl, at least twice in order to pinpoint areas in need of improvement. “That’s why experience is so good, for things like that,” Brady told Sports Illustrated. “I know exactly what I’m looking for now.”

New England Patriots wide receiver Austin Carr (84) slips an attempted tackle by New York Giants safety Nat Berhe (29) on his way to a touchdown during the first half of an NFL preseason football game on Aug 31, 2017, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP)

The chilling aspect for the rest of the league to consider is that the Patriots look to have strengthened during the

off-season thanks to some typically shrewd trading by head coach Bill Belichick.

While the season-ending injury suffered last month by Brady’s favourite receiver, Julian Edelman, is an undoubted blow, it is offset by the return to fitness of tight end Rob Gronkowski, absent for most of last year. The addition of wide receiver Brandin Cooks from the New Orleans Saints also gives Brady a potent new offensive outlet, while the arrival of Pro Bowl cornerback Stephon Gilmore strengthens the defense. The relatively smooth build-up has even prompted some to wonder if the Patriots are capable of going 19-0, a decade after falling one game short of that target with their Super Bowl defeat to the New York Giants in 2008. Brady however is not getting distracted by the talk of an unbeaten season, knowing full well how quickly best-laid plans can go awry. “It’s a challenging season. It’s a marathon. It’s going to take a lot of good football to get where we need to be,” he said this week. “Football is very humbling. You may think you have it. You go out

there and practice it and things go well, and then you go to a particular game and they do things that maybe you haven’t worked on or thought about or talked about. “We’re prepared. We’re confident. But you’ve still got to go out and do it.” The biggest threat to the Patriots’ hopes of a sixth Super Bowl could come from another team led by a veteran quarterback, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger. Though comfortably beaten by the Patriots in the AFC Championship game last season, the Steelers have strengthened with the addition of wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster and outside linebacker T.J. Watt, the younger brother of Houston Texans star J.J. Watt. Pittsburgh, who open their campaign against Cleveland on Sunday, will also welcome back talented receiver Martavis Bryant, who returns after missing the entirety of 2016 through suspension. “Expectations are high, and they need to be,” Ben Roethlisberger said.

Nibali slashes Froome’s lead Gaviria wins Tour of Britain’s 4th stage Swooping Eagle team

Asian Air Safari team 2

Harbor Slazers team

LOS MACHUCOS, Spain, Sept 6, (AFP): Chris Froome’s Vuelta a Espana lead was cut by 42 seconds to 1min 16sec over Vincenzo Nibali as Austrian Stefan Denifl claimed a memorable win on Wednesday’s 17th stage. Denifl attacked out of a breakaway with five kilometres to go to hold off a brave chase by Alberto Contador to win a brutal, mountainous 180.5km stage from Villadiego Los Machucos in 4hr 48min 52min.

Mangaf Strikers team

COZMO, Asian Air Safari, Turkey Hunters post victory

Swooping Eagles trounce Slazers to end skid By Michelle Fe Santiago Arab Times Staff KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Two teams played blind against their opponents but managed to win their scheduled game in the midway of the Philippine Bowling Association in Kuwait Officers Cup Team Tournament-2017 in the sixth week elimination round held at the Cozmo Bowling Center in Kheifan on Friday. There were no changes in the standing of the teams from top rank to number eight except for the ninth and tenth placers where NUSANTARA surpassed Swooping Eagles. Other teams that posted victory were COZMO, Asian Air Safari and Turkey Hunters while Al Qassem All Stars played bye. Meanwhile, in the Individual High Averages new holders were Nuantara’s Yakoub Al Shatti (226.67), Faisal Saleem (191) of Asian Air Safari and Cozmo’s Ali Al Qattan (169.63) while for Ladies class, the untouchables were All Stars’ Hanadi Mezaiel (186.78) and 2X Strikers Abel Nitikusumo (146.82). The Swooping Eagles without recorded win for the past five games, savour its initial victory despite the less lineup against rated team Haribon Slazers 2636- 2485. In the first game of the 3-game series the fortunate Eagles won the game 880- 783 but the ‘never say die’ Haribon retaliated in the second game 849- 940. In the final game, lady luck stayed under the wings of the Swooping Eagles and once more outscored the frustrated Slazers 882-762. Danny Solis (558) was the high scorer, assisted by Riz Roque (505), Alonzo Bush (415) and Mina Corpuz (345) for Haribon the bowlers were Myra Manalo (468), Joel Tizon (464), Moises Amahan (445), Mar Evanglista (316), Eddie Pena ( 278) and Eden Evangelista (191) who played two games each. Despite the win, the Swooping Eagles cannot control its erros while Haribon Slazers faced its third week losing streak. NUSANTARA’s second consecutive win marked a big surprise for Original Pin Killers halting its winning streak 2890-2592. In the first game, the highly spirited Nusantara outscored the ambivalent OPK 884-837 but the latter trying to improved its standing retaliated and outpaced the Indonesian bowlers 921-917. With 43 points advantage after the summation of two games, Nusantara’s newly recruit Yakoub Al Shatti continued his superb performance as he scored 194,232, 254 for three games then won the third game 1014-809. Aside from Yakoub’s 680 he was supported by Ahmad Fahmi (500), Tatang Razak (482), Saleh Al Faraj (473), Gantosori Tanjung and Erlissa Gantosori. For the loser the top scorer was Ahmad Fadil Karam (518) supported by Christopher Bush, Aji Varghese, Rashid Aker Ali, Alma Turley, Hesham Khaled Ahmed, and Fawaz Rabah Naeem. On-off team 2X Strikers and 4-man team Turkey Hunters squabbled in lanes 11/12 and the former won the first game with 1016-957. In the second game, the Hunters came back and

scored 1058-824 and have an edge of 176 pins after the two games tally. In the third game the X-men excelled and won the game 910-869 but not enough to surpass the leverage and the total outcome was 2909- 2750 in favour of the De Lima’s bowlers. Turkey Hunters top scorer was Basil Al Enezi (619), assisted by Mohammad Karam (594), Ayad Al Ameri (579) and Rudy (506) while 2X Strikers high scorer was Rocky Castil (522) followed by Rey Ualat (449), Reygan Percy (443), Cris Carungay (425), Joe Presenta and Bima Nitikusumo. Finally, COZMO crushed Mangaf Strikers in their 3-game encounter 959-851, 1015-872, 959-862 (2958-2595) and Asian Air Safari stunned Kuwait Star 1026-918, 1020836, 949-823 (3020- 2577) while Al Qssem All Stars Strikersplayed bye with score of 2889. Meanwhile, for the Individual Best and Teams Best results. For Individual High Game – Mens ACOZMO Salem Hajras (278); Mens B — Turkey Hunters Feras Al Mehareb (268); Mens C — Gantosori Tanjung of Nusantara (255) and in Ladies A — Al Qassem Hanadi Mezaiel (196) and Ladies B — 2X Strikers Abel Nitikusumo (180). For Individual High Average — Mens A — Nusantara’s Yakoub Al Shatti grabbed from Hassan Karam of Cozmo (226.67-219.75); Mens B — Asian Air Safari’s Faisl Al Saleem snatched from OPK Aji Varghese (191-190); Mens C — COZMO Ali

BOWLING Al Qattan stole from Turkey Hunters Abdul Rahman Al Tayeb (169.63165.67); Ladies A — All Stars Hanadi Mezaiel (186.78) and Ladies B — 2X Strikers’ Abel Nitikusumo (146.82). Category Name Individual High Game Men’s A Salem Hajras 278 Men’s B Feras Al Mehareb 268 Men’s C Gantosori Tanjung 255 Ladies A Hanadi Mezaiel 196 Ladies B Abel Nitikusumo 180 Team High Game (Scratch) Asian Air Safari — 1068 Category Name Individual High Men’s A Yakoub Al Shatti 226.67 Men’s B Faisal Al Saleem 191.00 Men’s C Ali Al Qattan 169.63 Ladies A Hanadi Mezaiel 186.78 Ladies B Abel Nitikusumo 146.82 Team High Series (Scratch + Handicap) Weekly High Series: 1. Turkey Hunters — 2882 2. Al Qassem All Stars — 2901 3. Al Qassem All Stars — 3011 5. Al Qassem All Stars — 3145 4. Al Qassem All Stars — 3099 6. Asian Air Safari — 2905

Sixth round results: 1. Al Qassem All Stars (18137); 2. Asian Air Safari (17730); 3. COZMO (17249); 4. Turkey Hunters (16925); 5. Original Pin Killers (16058); 6. Haribon Slazers (15938); 7. Mangaf Strikers (15912); 8. 2X Strikers (15876); 9. NUSANTARA (15806); Swooping Eagles (15762) and 11. Kuwait Stars (15365). PBAK would like to thank McDonalds Kuwait and to Erny Hasa, Marketing Manager for their invaluable support by providing free 100 regular meals for PBAK members, players and guests.

NFL Roundup Elliott suspension upheld – reports

Brexit a boost for possible London franchise: UK head LONDON, Sept 6, (Agencies): Britain’s departure from the European Union will make it easier for London to have an NFL franchise by removing some of the legal obstacles, the head of the US sport’s British-based operations said on Wednesday. Alistair Kirkwood, managing director of NFL UK, said such a franchise was viable and realistic but with plenty of hurdles yet to overcome. “The interesting thing about the decision to leave the EU, and I don’t want to get political whilst there’s loads of things that we don’t know, is that it actually makes a franchise in London easier to put up,” he said. Kirkwood, speaking at a Sport Industry Breakfast Club meeting, pointed in particular to current EUrelated issues with the NFL’s revenue-sharing model and drafting of Kirkwood players in a closed league. Previous advice was that the NFL would be in breach of EU employment laws. There has been talk for years of the NFL, which is staging a record four games in London as part of its regular season starting this week, setting up a London franchise but it remains a distant dream. Games have been played since 2007 at Wembley and Twickenham, with Premier League soccer club Tottenham Hotspur’s new home scheduled to replace the rugby venue next year. ❑





Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott was ordered to serve the entirety of his six-game suspension for domestic violence on Tuesday after an independent arbitrator rejected his appeal, the NFL reported on its website. Elliott is at the centre of an acrimonious battle with the NFL over his ban, with the players union last week petitioning a federal court to fight the running back’s case. It came after an appeal hearing against the Aug 11 sanction issued by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell following a probe which alleged the player assaulted former girlfriend

Tiffany Thompson in 2016. ❑





Hurricane Irma’s imminent threat to South Florida has prompted the NFL to announce that Sunday’s game between the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Buccaneers will not be played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami as currently scheduled. When or where the game will be played is still unknown. “In the interest of public safety in light of the current state of emergency, the NFL, in consultation with state and local officials as well as both clubs, has decided that playing an NFL game in South Florida this week is not appropriate,” the NFL said in a statement. ❑





Buffalo Bills center Eric Wood took issue with the notion that the team is in the midst of tanking the 2017 season in favor of more favorable draft picks for the future. “I think it’s hard for any organization to prepare for seasons to come, but I think we still have so much left here in Buffalo talent-wise that a tank really isn’t in our vocabulary,” Wood said Tuesday on Good Morning Football. Bills general manager Brandon Beane dismissed the notion of the team tanking last month after it traded wide receiver Sammy Watkins and cornerback Ronald Darby. ❑





Contador was 28sec back to aid his chances of making the general classification podium with Colombia’s Miguel Angel Lopez 1min 04sec down in third. Froome has looked assured in his bid to become just the third rider to win the Tour de France and Vuelta in the same year. But he seemed to pay for his efforts in winning Tuesday’s time trial as he cracked on the final climb and couldn’t stay with Nibali. The Italian finished alongside Lopez in fourth with Froome down in 14th. “I paid a little bit for yeaterday’s effort for sure, but I am still in a fantastic position,” said Froome.

CYCLING “Still over a minute to second place, so it’s a good buffer and I’m confident about the next few days ahead.” The Briton has three more competitive stages to defend his lead before Sunday’s traditional parade around Madrid with the queen stage up the Alto de l’Angliru still to come on Saturday. “If you include yesterday, this is a fiveday block now,” added Froome. “I’m taking it one day at a time, knowing that stage 20 is going to be the hardest day of this block. “Otherwise, I’m feeling good, optimisitc about what lies ahead. Denifl’s win is by a distance the biggest in Irish team Aqua Blue Cycling’s short history. Aqua Blue needed an invite to take part in the race in their first year as a professional team and also had to overcome the misfortune of their team bus being hit by an arson attack earlier in the event. Denifl was part of an early six-man breakaway and stayed out in front of the general classification favourites despite immense pressure from Contador in the final stages. The Spanish veteran didn’t get the stage win he desired in his final race before retirement. However, Contador, a three-time Vuelta winner, is now just 1min 21sec down on Wilco Kelderman in the battle for the podium as he remains fifth overall. “It was a shame not to get the stage win for the team and the fans, but there are still three hard days to come,” said Contador.

Washington Redskins running back Chris Thompson signed a two-year contract extension, the team announced. Thompson had signed a one-year, $2.75 million restricted tender during the offseason. ❑







Vuelta Results PARIS, Sept 6, (AFP): Collated results of the Vuelta a Espana 17th stage, a 180.5km ride from Villadiego to Los Machucos on Wednesday: 1. Stefan Denifl (AUT/ABS) 4h48min 52sec, 2. Alberto Contador (ESP/TRE) at 0:28sec, 3. Miguel Ángel López (COL/AST) 1:04, 4. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/ BAH) 1:04, 5. Ilnur Zakarin (RUS/ KAT) 1:04. 6. Rafal Majka (POL/ BOR) 1:04, 7. Michael Woods (CAN/CAN) 1:13, 8. Daniel Moreno (ESP/MOV) 1:17, 9. Wilco Kelderman (NED/SUN) 1:19, 10. David De la Cruz (ESP/QST) 1:42, 11. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/LNL) 1:42, 12. Jack Haig (AUS/ORI) 1:42, 13. Mikel Nieve (ESP/SKY) 1:46, 14. Chris Froome (GBR/ SKY) 1:46, 15. Wout Poels (NED/ SKY) 1:53, 16. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA/QST) 2:01, 17. Fabio Aru (ITA/AST) 2:04, 18. Peio Bilbao (ESP/AST) 2:04, 19. Louis Meintjies (RSA/EAU) 2:05, 20. Romain Bardet (FRA/ALM) 2:14 Selected 22. Nicolas Roche (IRL/BMC) 2:32, 24. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) 2:55, 43. Esteban Chaves (COL/ORI) 5:52 Overall Standings 1. Chris Froome (GBR/Sky) 67hr 44min 03sec, 2. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/BAH) at 1:16sec, 3. Wilco Kelderman (NED/SUN) 2:13, 4. Ilnur Zakarin (RUS/ KAT) 2:25, 5. Alberto Contador (ESP/TRE) 3:34, 6. Miguel Angel Lopez (COL/AST) 4:39, 7. Michael Woods (CAN/CAN) 6:33, 8. Wouter Poels (NED/SKY) 6:40, 9. Fabio Aru (ITA/AST) 6:45, 10. David De la Cruz (ESP/QST) 10:10, 11. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/ LNL) 10:13, 12. Esteban Chaves (COL/ORI) 10:46, 13. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) 11:20, 14. Louis Meintjes (RSA/EAU) 13:03, 15. Mikel Nieve (ESP/SKY) 23:20

“I have four days left as a professional cyclist and I’m going to enjoy it to the max.” The terrain eases slightly for the 169km 18th stage from Suances to Santo Toribio de Liebana on Thursday.



Former Tennessee Titans linebacker Tim Shaw, who is battling Lou Gehrig’s disease, was named as one of the team’s six captains for the season. Shaw played with the Titans from 2010-12 and was a special teams captain in his first two campaigns in Tennessee. He was released by the club in 2013 and announced that he has ALS the following year.

Also: LONDON: Fernando Gaviria held his



Free agent wide receiver Jeremy Kerley visited one of his former teams by checking in with the New York Jets, multiple outlets reported. Kerley is less than a week removed from being released by the San Francisco 49ers, who gave him a three-year, $10.5 million contract six months ago.

Sky’s British cyclist Christopher Froome celebrates retaining the red jersey on the podium of the 17th stage of the 72nd edition of ‘La Vuelta’ Tour of Spain cycling race, a 180.5 km route from Villadiego to Los Machucos in Arredondo, on Sept 6. (AFP)

Aqua Blue’s Austrian Stefan Denifl celebrates as he crosses the finish line of the 17th stage of the 72nd edition of ‘La Vuelta’ Tour of Spain cycling race, a 180.5 km route from Villadiego to Los Machucos in Arredondo, on Sept 6. (AFP)

nerve to win the Tour of Britain’s fourth stage after a tense duel with Team Sky’s Elia Viviani on Wednesday. Quick-Step Floors rider Gaviria held off Viviani and Alexander Kristoff to take the 165-kilometre stage from Mansfield to Newark. While Colombia’s Gaviria won the daily honours, Viviani assumed the overall lead from Caleb Ewan. Ewan is level on time with Viviani with four stages remaining, but the OricaScott star has lost the green jersey with the Italian boasting greater consistency. Gaviria now sits third but trails by just six seconds, with Thursday’s fifth stage a 16km time trial in Essex’s Clacton-onSea.

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

SPORTS

34

Australian coach under rising pressure

Syrian fans express joy as WCup dream lives on HONG KONG, Sept 6, (AFP): Syrian fans expressed joy as their fairytale World Cup campaign headed into an Asian play-off against Australia — whose coach found himself under rising pressure.

SOCCER Saudi Arabia also celebrated booking their spot at Russia 2018, but South Korean supporters appeared unconvinced after a 0-0 draw with Uzbekistan took their team to a ninth straight World Cup. After the final night of Asian qualifiers, South Korea and the Saudis joined

Iran and Japan by sealing their trips to Russia, while Syria and Australia finished third in their groups to go into the play-off series. Syria’s Omar Al Soma scored in injury time to force a 2-2 draw at Iran’s Azadi Stadium, earning a crucial point that set off celebrations in their warravaged homeland. Syria have never reached the World Cup before, and their current success comes despite the brutal civil war that has forced them to play all their home games abroad. “I cannot describe my happiness ... I hope that peace will prevail across Syria,” said Lara Hanna, 35, who watched the game in a Damascus coffee shop.

“Of course we wanted the national team to win,” even if Syria is divided into “the opposition and the regime”, said 30-year-old Abu Badr in Eastern Ghouta, where a group of fans watched the game in a farm. “The team represents all of Syria and we hope they will win in the playoffs and go on to qualify for the World Cup,” he said. The mood was markedly worse in Australia, where the Socceroos were pitched into the lottery of the play-offs despite a 2-1 victory over Thailand in Melbourne. Coach Ange Postecoglou, who led Australia to the Asian Cup title in 2015, brushed off questions about his future

while admitting he was “not everyone’s cup of tea”. “What do you do? I took the role to do it a certain way and I’ll see it through,” Postecoglou said. “I’ve survived much worse than this and if anything it motivates me to keep going because I want to make sure Australian football gets on the right path.” China, bidding to improve on their world ranking of 77th and become one of the globe’s top football nations, again missed out despite their 2-1 win over Qatar, the 2022 World Cup hosts. But China’s fortunes have risen since the arrival of Marcello Lippi last October, and officials praised the achievements of the Italian World Cup-

winning coach. “Since Marcello Lippi has been leading the team, the changes have been very big,” said Chinese Football Association (CFA) president Cai Zhenhua, according to the People’s Daily. “The team has an entirely new aspect,” he added. “Marcello Lippi loves China very much. We also hope that he can offer his football philosophy and rich experience to China.” South Korea’s coach Shin Tae-Yong also took over mid-campaign, and he promised doubtful fans that the team would be much improved by Russia. The Taeguk Warriors suffered shock qualifying defeats to China and Qatar, and ended their campaign with back-to-

back goalless draws. “The world will see how strong South Korea are at the World Cup,” he told journalists after Tuesday’s stalemate in Tashkent. South Korea’s fans, however, feared the worst. “Should we go to the World Cup just to be knocked out in the first round?” posted one fan, while another wrote: “I am confused. Why am I angry rather than joyful after the team reached the World Cup?” Syria and Australia play a twolegged play-off next month, with the winner going into an intercontinental play-off against a team from the CONCACAF federation.

Venus ‘makes’ US Open history, to face Sloane Anderson, Pablo reach maiden last 4 Hot-headed Italian tennis star Fabio Fognini said he would accept an Australian Open ban after being kicked out of the US Open for a sexist tirade at a female umpire. The 30-year-old insulted Swedish umpire Louise Engzell after his firstround singles defeat against fellow Italian Stefano Travaglia. Fognini, the world number 26, who is married to 2015 US Open champion Flavia Pennetta, had already been fined $24,000 (20,100 euros) for the incident.

NEW YORK, Sept 6, (AFP): Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams became the oldest semifinalist in US Open history at age 37 on Tuesday by defeating two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/2). US ninth seed Williams, seeking her third US Open crown, advanced to a Thursday matchup against 83rd-ranked compatriot Sloane Stephens for a spot in Saturday's final. Kevin Anderson, of South Africa, hits a forehand to Sam Querrey, of the United States, during a quarter-final at the US Open tennis tournament in New York, early on Sept 6. (AP)

‘Failing to qualify not fatal for 2022 WC’

Cup failure puts Qatar back in spotlight DOHA, Sept 6, (AFP): At the very same time as Syria’s football “miracle” unfolded this week, two rather sorrier World Cup tales were played out. In a virtually empty, expensively-refurbished 2022 World Cup venue, Khalifa International, two of football’s most ambitious nations, Qatar and China, confirmed their exits from the 2018 tournament to almost global indifference. China won 2-1 but their own longed-for miracle to qualify for Russia next year was ended by Syria’s heroics and a goalless draw between Uzbekistan and South Korea. There was at least some solace for Marcello Lippi’s China in coming within a point of making the play-offs after a desperate start to the qualifications. Qatar’s campaign, by contrast, ended in disarray. The country was desperate to qualify for Russia to vindicate FIFA’s controversial decision to give the 2022 tournament to the Gulf state. Instead Qatar becomes the first country to host the World Cup without ever before playing in a finals since Italy in 1934. The only comfort from that is Italy won that tournament. Fossati Qatar’s elimination will be enjoyed by its many critics in the West who claim the emirate should never have been given the chance to host the World Cup, pointing to a lack of footballing pedigree as well as corruption and labour abuse claims. And latterly, it will also be savoured by some regionally as Qatar contends with the ongoing political crisis with its Gulf neighbours. Embarrassing it may be, but analysts contend that failing to qualify is not fatal for the 2022 World Cup, on which Qatar is spending $500 million a week. “Having never qualified for a World Cup before, I don’t think Qatar should have ever made the claim that it was a genuine footballing nation,” Christopher Davidson, a Middle

East expert at Britain’s Durham University, told AFP. “That said, plenty of well-regarded footballing nations often fail to qualify for World Cups, so this works both ways.” And despite making unwanted history, Simon Chadwick, professor of sports enterprise at the UK’s Salford University, argues the failure may soon be forgotten. “Failure is quickly forgotten in football, which has an incredibly short-termist culture.” There are also more ways to judge than the success of the national team, argues Chadwick. On the pitch though, it was genuinely a sorry tale. Qatar managed just two victories in 10 games, one fewer win than the number of coaches they appointed for those matches. Their most notable result, a 3-2 win against South Korea in June, saw the Qatar Football Association fined some $50,000 after players broke FIFA rules against political statements by wearing T-shirts of the country’s Emir as the Gulf diplomatic crisis erupted. Immediately afterwards coach Jorge Fossati surprised

SOCCER everyone, including the QFA, by resigning as “discussions” between him and the federation over whether to use more home-grown rather than “naturalised” players, festered. He was replaced by Spaniard Felix Sanchez, who has put his faith in the next generation of players. “We have a lot of young players to prepare for major tournaments leading to the 2022 World Cup,” said Sanchez after the China defeat. Whether he will be there, as his appointment covered only the remaining World Cup fixtures, is unclear. And without a World Cup fixture now for five years, Qatar is desperate for meaningful matches. Regional politics may scupper that in the short term. Serious doubts hang over whether the Gulf Cup of Nations, scheduled to be played in Qatar in December and January, will take place.

"I'm so fortunate to have won that match. It came down to the wire," Williams said. "I try to tell myself enjoy the competition, enjoy the battle and I think I was able to do that." In the men's event, South Africa's Kevin Anderson reached a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time where he will face Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta who will also be appearing in his maiden last-four at a major. Stephens, who missed 11 months with a left foot injury before returning at Wimbledon, matched her best Grand Slam showing by outlasting Latvian 16th seed Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4). Stephens has won 13 of her past 15 matches and matched her 2013 Australian Open semifinal run for best Slam effort. Williams, who improved to 2-4 alltime against the Czech 13th seed, will return to the world top five for the first time since January 2011, a span that saw her diagnosed with the energysapping disease Sjogren's Syndrome. Williams, the oldest Slam semifinalist since Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 1994, won the 2000 and 2001 US crowns. She was runner-up this year at Wimbledon and the Australian Open and could reach three Slam finals in a year for the first time since 2002. Kvitova battled back from a fivemonth absence after a knife-wielding home intruder injured her left hand last December. "I'm glad I'm still able to compete on the high level against the top players which I hope will give me some confidence to continue to play well, to know that it's still there somewhere," Kvitova said. If Americans Madison Keys and CoCo Vanderweghe win Wednesday, they will produce the first all-American US Open semi-finals since 1981. Legends Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal each practiced ahead of Wednes-

TENNIS

Venus Williams, of the United States, celebrates after winning her quarterfinal against Petra Kvitova, of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (2) at the US Open tennis tournament in New York on Sept 5. (AP)

day quarter-finals in which wins by each would set up their first US Open meeting in an epic Friday men's semifinal. The other half-bracket, however, will offer a first-time Slam finalist. South African 28th seed Anderson downed 17th-seeded American Sam Querrey 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (9/11), 6-3, 7-6 (9/7) to book a berth in Friday's semifinals. Anderson, the first South African in any Slam semi-finalist since Wayne Ferreira at the 2003 Australian Open, will meet Spanish 12th seed Carreno Busta, who has not dropped a set, for a place in Sunday's final. Carreno Busta, the first player in any Grand Slam to face four qualifiers, cruised into his first Slam semifinal by ousting Argentine 29th seed Diego Schartzman 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. With Anderson standing 6ft 8in (2.02m) and Querrey 6ft 6in (1.97m), it was the tallest matchup ever so late in any Slam. Sevastova, who matched her best major run from last year at New York by ousting Maria Sharapova to reach the last eight, led 3-1 in the third set before Stephens rallied. In the tie-breaker, Stephens took four of the last five points, three on Sevastova errors before hitting a down-the-line backhand winner ensured her win to reach the top 35 in next week's rankings. Sevastova admitted nerves got to her in the tie-breaker, saying, "It's normal. You play for semifinals of US Open. I'm not a robot. Sorry." ❑ ❑ ❑

But he fears he could now face a ban from the first Grand Slam of next season in Melbourne. ❑ ❑ ❑ Britain's Andy Murray said on Wednesday he is unlikely to play again this season due to a nagging hip injury that forced him to pull out of the US Open. Murray, recently nudged off the top of the world rankings by Spain's Rafael Nadal, has been struggling with the injury since a five-set French Open semifinal loss to Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka in June. The 30-year-old Scot played at Wimbledon in July but lost in the quarter-finals to American Sam Querrey. ❑ ❑ ❑ World number 17 Nick Kyrgios was Wednesday named in Australia's team to face Belgium in their Davis Cup semi-final, despite crashing out of the US Open with a right shoulder injury. The combustible 22-year-old's availability was under a cloud after his first round exit at Flushing Meadow, but captain Lleyton Hewitt included him along with Thanasi Kokkinakis, Jordan Thompson and John Peers. The tie, in Brussels from September 15 to 17, will be played on indoor clay. "They've all had it at the back of their minds and we are so close now." ❑ ❑ ❑ New Zealander Ben McLachlan has switched allegiance and will play for Japan in this month's Davis Cup World Group playoff against Brazil, Japanese tennis officials said Wednesday. The 25-year-old doubles specialist has been named alongside Yuichi Sugita, Go Soeda and Yasutaka Uchiyama for the Osaka tie, which begins on September 15. World number 10 Kei Nishikori will miss the clash after ruling himself out for the rest of the season with a wrist injury.

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

SPORTS

35

Costa Rica squander chance to qualify

Wood salvages crucial draw for US vs Honduras

United States’ Paul Ariola (left), and Honduras’ Ever Alvarado fight for the ball during a 2018 World Cup qualifying soccer match in San Pedro Sula, Honduras on Sept 5. (AP)

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras, Sept 6, (AFP): Hamburg striker Bobby Wood scored a late equaliser to salvage a crucial 1-1 draw for the United States in their World Cup qualifier with Honduras on Tuesday. Wood bundled in an 85th-minute leveller just 12 minutes after coming on as a substitute to rescue a point for the Americans in sweltering conditions at the Olimpico Metropolitano Stadium. The result means that Bruce Arena’s side still have automatic qualification in their own hands, with a home match against Panama next month followed by an away game against Trinidad & Tobago. If the US win both of those games, they will be assured of reaching next year’s finals in Russia. “That’s a huge point for the US team,” US

coach Arena said afterward. “I’m really proud of our team,” he added. Arena insisted the team had not set out to play for a draw — and added that the US path to Russia is still far from straightforward. “We didn’t come here to play for a point. We fell behind a goal and tried

SOCCER to get it back. The team deserves credit for getting a point,” he said. “There’s not even a crack open in the door to Russia for us. There’s a lot of work to be done.” It was a lucky escape for the US, who had been beaten in their previous game on Friday against Costa Rica and could not afford a second defeat here. Arena rolled the dice with seven

changes from the team beaten by Costa Rica, but the gamble appeared set to backfire when Romell Quioto punished sloppy US defending midway through the first half to score. The best US chance of the opening 45 minutes came when Christian Pulisic played a one-two with Morris only to see his shot saved. There was little more to cheer for the US fans in the second half, as Arena’s men struggled to make any impression on the hosts. The best chances of the second half fell to the Hondurans, with Alexander Lopez seeing a thunderous shot on 61 minutes parried by Brad Guzan. Anthony Lozano also continued to cause problems, and saw his shot crash into the outside of the stanchion on 77th minute after he had skipped clear of Michael Bradley.

With what would have been a disastrous defeat beckoning, the US were given a lifeline five minutes from time with a free-kick in a dangerous position. Kellyn Acosta stepped up to curl a shot against the bar and in the ensuing melee, Wood coolly tucked away the finish. Elsewhere Tuesday, Costa Rica squandered the chance to book their ticket to Russia after being held 1-1 at home by Mexico. Mexico, who have already qualified, took the lead through a Cristian Gamboa own goal on 42 minutes. Costa Rica hit back through Marco Urena seven minutes from time. In the other game, Panama moved into the automatic qualifying places in third spot after defeating Trinidad and Tobago 3-0.

Spain, Serbia eye WC spots Turkey revive prospects VADUZ, Sept 6, (RTRS): Spain hammered Liechtenstein 8-0 as Alvaro Morata and Iago Aspas both struck twice to maintain their country’s lead over Italy at the top of World Cup qualifying Group G on Tuesday. The victory in Vaduz took Spain to 22 points from eight games, three ahead of the Italians who beat Israel 1-0 in Reggio Emilia thanks to Ciro Immobile’s second-half strike. The winners of the nine European groups qualify directly for Russia while the best eight of the second-placed teams take part in two-leg playoffs for four more places. Julen Lopetegui’s Spain side scored three goals in the first 16 minutes to ensure the rest of the game was a formality against the overwhelmed hosts. Spain beat Liechtenstein by the same score in Lopetegui’s first match in charge last year, and this was another example of the verve and style he has his team playing with. “I get on very well with (Morata) off the pitch too and that helps,” Aspas told Movistar. “It’s a pity that neither of us got a hattrick, but the important thing was the three points. “It was a great game in which we played without putting down our arms, scoring as many goals as possible in case we end up level on points with Italy at the end of the qualifiers. “We knew the difficulty of the game, the coach warned us about France’s game at home against Luxembourg (a 0-0 draw), which was an example for us.” The Spanish took control from the start with Sergio Ramos heading home David Silva’s free-kick from close range in the third minute. Chelsea striker Morata netted the second in the 15th, nodding in Andres Iniesta’s cross, before Liechtenstein goalkeeper Peter Jehle put the third goal on a plate for midfielder Isco with a horrific mis-kick. David Silva added the fourth with a freekick before the break and halftime substitute Aspas scored from point-blank range shortly after it when Morata’s header hit the bar and bounced down to him. Aspas repaid the favour three minutes later, teeing up Morata for his second with a cleverly disguised pass, before netting again himself with a fierce drive inside the near post. Liechtenstein’s Maximilian Goppel flicked Spain forward Gerard Deulofeu’s low cross past his own goalkeeper in the 89th minute to end a miserable night for the home side. Serbia 1, Ireland 0 In Dublin, Aleksandar Kolarov’s secondhalf strike put 10-man Serbia on the brink of a World Cup place and delivered a hammer blow to Group D rivals Ireland’s chances with a 1-0 victory at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday. The win puts Serbia four points clear at the top of the group with two games to play — away to Austria and at home to Georgia — and relegated Ireland to third place, a point behind a resurgent Wales who they visit in their final game. The winners of the nine groups qualify directly for the finals in Russia while the best eight of the second-placed teams take part in two-leg playoffs for four more places. Serbia survived the final quarter of the match with 10 men after Nikola Maksimovic was sent off for a professional foul and escaped after a justifiable penalty claim to leave Ireland’s hopes of a playoff place hanging by a thread. “We’ve got to believe that we can still win the last two games and qualify. We’ve still got to fight,” Ireland defender Ciaran Clark said in a pitchside interview. Ireland revamped their midfield after a disappointing draw in Georgia on Saturday with Wes Hoolahan and David Meyler coming into a more attacking unit and while manager Martin O’Neill got a high tempo response, his side still struggled in possession. There was an ominous sign after two minutes when Serbia cut the Irish defence open and Serbia’s Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic was a lunging Shane Duffy block away from opening the scoring from the edge of the box. Ireland, who had risen to the occasion in big home games before, most notably with a victory over Germany two years ago, had a goal disallowed minutes later but the clearly

offside effort from Duffy was as close as they got in the first half. Serbia soaked up the pressure and showed just how much more of a threat they posed in the final third when Dusan Tadic and Filip Kostic handed the chance of the half to Aleksandar Mitrovic who should have done better from close range. Tadic fired another warning shot 30 seconds into the second half and Kolarov struck decisively 10 minutes later, finishing off some more crisp attacking play with a rocket sho that flew into the net off Darren Randolph’s crossbar. Maksimovic’s red card for a misjudged tackle on substitute Daryl Murphy gave the hosts hope and Murphy was very unlucky not to win a penalty after he was held back but the visitors hung on to move closer to a place at next year’s tournament. Turkey 1, Croatia 0 In Istanbul Turkey a 1-0 win over Croatia on Tuesday to revive his country’s prospects of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup and deal a blow to the group leaders with two games left to play. The Turkish striker broke the deadlock in the 75th minute when Croatian keeper Danijel Subasic could only push a shot from Oguzhan Ozyakup away towards the feet of Tosun who fired the ball into the net. Turkey’s prospects had been dented on Saturday when they lost 2-0 to Ukraine but they are back in contention after the win in front of a raucous home crowd in the northwestern Turkish city of Eskisehir. Chances fell to both teams in an attacking opening spell, with Croatia almost scoring from a Luka Modric free kick in the 10th minute that ricocheted of Burak Yilmaz’s shoulder and onto the post as he tried to clear. A minute later Turkey had a good opportunity to take the lead when Arda Turan

SOCCER crossed to Tosun, but he fired the ball wide from close range. The second half started in a similar attacking fashion, with a Modric free kick setting up Dejan Lovren, who could only head the ball straight at Turkish keeper Volkan Babacan. A few minutes of sustained Turkish pressure then followed but both Kaan Ayhan and Burak Yilmaz fired wide. Tosun’s goal took Turkey up to 14 points in Group I after eight games, level with Ukraine on points and trailing Croatia and Iceland who both have 16 points after the latter beat Ukraine. Wales 2, Moldova 0 In Moldova, a wasteful Wales scored two late goals to beat Moldova 2-0 in their World Cup qualifier on Tuesday as a diving header by Hal Robson-Kanu and a deflected Aaron Ramsey strike spared their blushes against Group D’s bottom side. With group rivals Ireland slumping to a 1-0 defeat at home to Serbia, the result lifted Wales into second place ahead of the Irish, with the two sides set to meet in their final qualifying game in Cardiff in October. Though Moldova were stubborn in defence, Wales did not lack chances. They managed to waste every opportunity they had in the opening 45 minutes, however, with Gareth Bale, Ramsey and Robson-Kanu all spurning chances to break the deadlock. The visitors stepped up their assault in the

Republic of Ireland’s James McClean looks on as Serbia’s Aleksandar Mitrovic goes for a high ball during the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying Group D match at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland on Sept 5. (AP)

Italy’s Ciro Immobile goes for the ball during the World Cup Group G qualifying soccer match between Italy and Israel at the Mapei Stadium in Reggio Emilia, Italy on Sept 5. (AP)

European WC Qualifying Standings PARIS, Sept 6, (AFP): 2018 World Cup qualifying European zone standings. Group A P W D L GF GA Pts France 8 5 2 1 15 5 17 Sweden 8 5 1 2 18 7 16 Netherlands 8 4 1 3 16 11 13 Bulgaria 8 4 0 4 13 17 12 Luxembourg 8 1 2 5 7 17 5 Belarus 8 1 2 5 4 16 5 Group B P W D L GF GA Pts Switzerland 8 8 0 0 18 3 24 Portugal 8 7 0 1 28 4 21 Hungary 8 3 1 4 11 9 10 Faroes 8 2 2 4 4 15 8 Andorra 8 1 1 6 2 17 4 Latvia 8 1 0 7 3 18 3 Group C P W D L GF GA Pts Germany 8 8 0 0 35 2 24 N. Ireland 8 6 1 1 16 2 19 Azerbaijan 8 3 1 4 8 12 10 Czech Republic 8 2 3 3 10 9 9 Norway 8 2 1 5 8 16 7 San Marino 8 0 0 8 2 38 0 Group D P W D L GF GA Pts Serbia 8 5 3 0 17 7 18 Wales 8 3 5 0 12 5 14 Republic of Ireland 8 3 4 1 9 6 13 Austria 8 2 3 3 10 10 9 Georgia 8 0 5 3 8 12 5 Moldova 8 0 2 6 4 20 2 Group E P W D L GF GA Pts Poland 8 6 1 1 18 11 19 Denmark 8 5 1 2 18 7 16 Monténégro 8 5 1 2 18 7 16 Romania 8 2 3 3 8 8 9

Armenia Kazakhstan

8 8

2 0 6 8 19 6 0 2 6 4 22 2 Group F P W D L GF GA Pts England 8 6 2 0 16 3 20 Slovakia 8 5 0 3 14 6 15 Slovenia 8 4 2 2 10 4 14 Scotland 8 4 2 2 14 10 14 Lithuania 8 1 2 5 6 18 5 Malta 8 0 0 8 2 21 0 Group G P W D L GF GA Pts Spain 8 7 1 0 32 3 22 Italy 8 6 1 1 19 7 19 Albania 8 4 1 3 10 9 13 Israel 8 3 0 5 9 14 9 Macedonia 8 2 1 5 10 14 7 Liechtenstein 8 0 0 8 1 34 0 Group H P W D L GF GA Pts ‘Q’ Belgium 8 7 1 0 35 3 22 Bosnia 8 4 2 2 19 8 14 Greece 8 3 4 1 11 5 13 Cyprus 8 3 1 4 8 12 10 Estonia 8 2 2 4 6 17 8 Gibraltar 8 0 0 8 3 37 0 Group I P W D L GF GA Pts Croatia 8 5 1 2 12 3 16 Iceland 8 5 1 2 11 7 16 Turkey 8 4 2 2 12 8 14 Ukraine 8 4 2 2 11 7 14 Finland 8 2 1 5 6 10 7 Kosovo 8 0 1 7 3 20 1 * Nine group winners qualify for the 2018 finals in Russia; eight best runners-up go into play-off with four winners qualifying for the finals. * Standings read as played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against and points. * ‘Q’ denotes qualified.

Ivory Coast upset

Salah takes Egypt closer to World Cup return JOHANNESBURG, Sept 6, (AFP): African giants Egypt moved closer to a first World Cup appearance since 1990 when they defeated Uganda 1-0 Tuesday thanks to an early goal from Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah. A near-capacity crowd in the 85,000-seat Borg El Arab Stadium in Alexandria saw the June signing from AS Roma strike just six minutes into the Group E clash. Salah sneaked behind the defence and after goalkeeper Denis Onyango parried his first attempt, he poked the rebound into the net to decide the top-of-the-table showdown. It was the first goal conceded by Uganda in 456 minutes of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia after five consecutive clean sheets. Egypt created most of the chances only to be regularly thwarted by 2016 Africa-based Footballer of the Year Onyango. The Pharaohs host bottom team Congo Brazzaville in October and visit third-place Ghana in November and two victories will ensure they qualify. Atletico Madrid midfielder Thomas Partey scored a hat-trick Salah as Ghana kept faint hopes of a fourth straight World Cup appearance alive with a 5-1 thrashing of Congo in Brazzaville. Egypt have nine points after four rounds, Uganda seven, Ghana five and Congo just one. Although Egypt have been the dominant African football force, winning the Cup of Nations a record seven times, they consistently struggle in the World Cup, qualifying only twice. Leaders Ivory Coast suffered a shock 2-1 home defeat by Gabon in Group C, but the damage was lessened by second-place Morocco only drawing 0-0 with Mali in Bamako. Axel Meye and recent Southampton recruit Mario Lemina scored within 10 minutes during the first half for the Gabonese, who crumbled 3-0 at home to the Ivorians

three days ago. Maxwel Cornet halved the deficit on 56 minutes, but the Elephants could not find an equaliser in Bouake. Ivory Coast have seven points, Morocco six, Gabon five and Mali two, with the final-round clash of the top two nations set to decide who goes to Russia. South Africa were another team to suffer a shock home defeat, losing 2-1 to Cape Verde for the second time in five days, this time in Indian Ocean city Durban. Garry Rodrigues scored twice in the second half, from a free-kick and a shot outside the box, before substitute Andile Jali snatched a late consolation goal. Defeat dropped the South Africans to the bottom of Group D, which is headed by Burkina Faso after a dramatic 2-2 draw with Senegal in Ouagadougou.

SOCCER Bertrand Traore gave the Burkinabe an early lead only for a goal in each half from Ismaila Sarr and Liverpool star Sadio Mane to turn the tide. But substitute Senegal goalkeeper Pape N’Diaye conceded an own goal in the final minute of regular time to keep Burkina Faso on top of a tight table. They and Cape Verde have six points, Senegal five and South Africa four with two matchdays remaining. Tunisia retained a three-point lead over the Democratic Republic of Congo in Group A after coming from two goals behind in Kinshasa to salvage a 2-2 draw. Goals from captain Chancel Mbemba and Paul Jose Mpoku had put the Leopards in control soon after halftime, but they fell apart in the closing stages. Wilfred Moke conceded an own goal and Anice Bardi levelled two minutes later. Tunisia have 10 points, DR Congo seven and out-ofcontention Guinea and Libya three. Captain Kennedy Mweene saved a Riyad Mahrez penalty as second-place Zambia beat Algeria 1-0 in Constantine to close the gap behind Group B leaders Nigeria

Clubs ‘oust’ Sheikh Talal By Hani Salama Al-Seyassah Staff KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Finally, the clubs have ousted Sheikh Talal Al-Fahad’s association, prompting a new chapter of confrontation with the hijackers of Kuwaiti sports and their backers in “FIFA” and the International Olympic Committee. At a meeting last night, the general assembly of Kuwait Football Association decided unanimously to oust the “dissolved” management board, and in its place, form a temporary board to manage the affairs of the association for three months. It decided the appointment is renewable. Membership of the temporary board consists of Ibrahim AlNugheimish, Thamer Al-Saleh, Rasheed Al-Rasheed and Omar AlShahoomi. The new board will start by addressing FIFA to notify them about the minutes of the general assembly

SOCCER held in an “ideal atmosphere”, which affirmed that no third party interfered with the decisions taken by the club members, contrary to the letter sent to FIFA by the former secretary of the association Sahwu Al-Sahwu, claiming decisions taken by the assembly were influenced by the party (the Public Authority for Sports). Meanwhile, the international football federation FIFA had taken a preemptive step before the general assembly meeting held by the International Olympic Committee that sent a letter to the Minister of Trade and Industry, acting Minister for Youth Affairs Khaled Al-Roudan on Aug 26 informing that FIFA will not accept the decision taken at the emergency general assembly.

UEFA prersident backs EPL plans LONDON, Sept 6, (Agencies): UEFA chief Aleksander Ceferin says he supports Premier League plans to close the transfer window before action gets under way on the pitch next season. Clubs in England’s top flight spent a record £1.4 billion ($1.8 billion, 1.5 billion euros) in the transfer window, capped by a final day splurge of £210 million, cementing its position as Europe’s richest league. This year the window shut on Aug 31 after three rounds of Premier League fixtures. Club bosses are set to vote this week on a proposal to close the window early, a move that would leave it out of line with the standard FIFA dates. In an email to the Times, Ceferin said he supported the move to wrap up transfer business before the start of the next domestic campaign. “I am aware there are serious discussions around Europe regarding the shortening of the summer transfer window and we are following them closely,” UEFA President Ceferin told the Times.

PRIME TIME

ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 thursday— (all times are kuwait local)

36

Sports

07:00 liberia vs guinea/soccer ..................... bein sports 2hd 09:00 i. coast vs gabon/soccer .................... bein sports 2hd 10:30 nadal vs rublev/tennis ...................... bein sports 10hd 12:30 bolivia vs chile/soccer ........................ bein sports 5hd 14:05 cubs vs pirates/baseball .................... bein sports 12hd 15:00 federer vs del potro/tennis ............... bein sports 10hd 17:00 vuelta stage 18/cycling ....................... bein sports 7hd 19:00 colombia vs brazil/soccer ................. bein sports 12hd

Latest sports scores at — http://sports.arabtimesonline.com Pilot Gig Rowing

Kuwait crew set for the Great River Race KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Pilot Gig Rowing is a social sport recently introduced to Kuwait by local boat builders Qabazard Marine LLC. A Social sport and culture. It has inspired a group of local athletes from Kuwait to come together, kept together, and work together to raise. Boat Championship 21.6 miles from London Docklands to Ham in our country’s flag at the UK’s Traditional Surrey Saturday, Sept 9. The Great River Race is London’s River Marathon. A spectacular boat race up the River Thames, it attracts over Great River Race appeals to every level of competitor! From dedicated 330 crews from all over the globe. The athletes who like winning, to those who enjoy laughter, fancy dress and charity stunts, it’s a great fun day out for both competitors and spectators. Inspired by JFK’s words the group has taken it upon themselves to participate in this event without sponsorship but instead to rely on teamwork to achieve.

Kuwait Pilot Gig Rowing crew practicing for the showdown.

HH the Amir congratulates Saudis on WC qualification KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6, (Agencies): His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent Wednesday a cable of congratulations to Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud on the Saudi team qualification to Russia’s 2018 FIFA World Cup. His Highness the Amir lauded the members of the Saudi team for their outstanding efforts, wishing them the best of luck during the upcoming grand football event. His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad

Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent cables of similar sentiments to the Saudi King. Meanwhile, jubilant soccer fans celebrated after Saudi Arabia qualified for next year’s World Cup, with many rallying behind Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reform program that promotes sports in the ultra-conservative kingdom. Saudi Arabia stunned Japan on Tuesday to reach their first World Cup since 2006, with a 1-0 victory in Jeddah that consigned

Australia to the play-offs. The win prompted the government to release a new poster for its reform plan, dubbed Vision 2030, with an image of a smiling Prince Salman flashing the victory sign and embossed with

SOCCER the words “Ready for the Future”. “With high spirits and unlimited support, the face of luck supports the Saudi team to reach the World Cup,” the government

tweeted on its official Vision 2030 page. “We congratulate our king for qualifying and the nation for its youth.” Prince Salman, often known as MbS, is the chief architect of Vision 2030, an economic and social diversification plan which he released last year to wean the kingdom off oil. The plan calls for more entertainment, cultural and sports opportunities in a nation where more than half the population is under 25, an Internet-savvy generation that spends much of its life online away from official strictures.

Big guns Argentina, Chile stumble again Uruguay on brink of qualification MONTEVIDEO, Sept 6, (AFP): Argentina and Chile’s World Cup qualification hopes were left on a knife edge after the South American heavyweights slipped up once again on the road to next year’s

finals in Russia. Argentina needed a second-half own goal to help them snatch a 1-1 draw against already-eliminated Venezuela in Buenos Aires while Chile crashed to a 1-0 defeat against Bolivia in La Paz. The results left 2014 World Cup finalists Argentina and reigning Copa America champions Chile outside of the automatic

qualifying places and sets up a nail-biting final two rounds of matches next month. Argentina are fifth in the standings with 24 points from 16 games while Chile are sixth with 23 points. The Argentinians – who would face a playoff against New Zealand if they remain fifth – host fourth-placed Peru next month in Buenos Aires before an awkward final game at altitude against Ecuador.

Chile meanwhile will face Ecuador in Santiago on October 5, before heading to Brazil for their final qualifier five days later. At the top of the table, Brazil have already qualified and assured themselves of first place. The Brazilians picked up another point on Tuesday with a 1-1 draw against thirdplaced Colombia in Barranquilla. A spectacular volleyed goal from Willian gave the Brazilians the lead on the stroke of half-time before Colombia clawed back a share of the points with a battling second-half display capped by a headed equaliser from Radamel Falcao. In Buenos Aires, Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli admitted his team had blown a golden opportunity to force themselves into the auto-

SOCCER matic qualifying places following Chile’s defeat earlier in the day. Sampaoli blamed poor first-half finishing for his side’s failure to take all three points against the Venezuelans. Chile coach Juan Antonio Pizzi echoed Sampaoli’s sentiments after watching his side slide to a dispiriting loss in La Paz. Although Chile have a difficult run-in against Ecuador and Brazil, Pizzi said his side had not lost hope. Uruguay meanwhile moved to the brink of qualification with a typically combative 2-1 win over Paraguay in Asuncion. Paraguay, riding high after a brilliant 3-0 win over Chile in Santiago last month, were left stunned by two opportunistic Uruguay goals. Federico Valverde fired Uruguay into the lead with a deflected shot on 76 minutes before Luis Suarez then broke clear to set up the visitors second.

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