CELEBS 8 @newsofbahrain OP-ED Canadian politicians aren’t ... · Republic of Mauritania, Mohamed...

Abbas appoints Shtayyeh as PMRamallah

Palestinian pres-ident Mahmud Abbas appoint-

ed longtime ally Mo-hammad Shtayyeh as prime minister on Sunday, a senior of-ficial said, in a move seen as part of efforts to further isolate Hamas.

Abbas asked Shtayyeh, a member of the central com-mittee of the Palestinian pres-ident’s Fatah party, to form a new government, Fatah vice president Mahmoud Al-Aloul told AFP.

Official Palestinian news agency WAFA also reported the move.

Some analysts view bringing in Shtayyeh to replace outgo-

ing prime minister Rami Hamdallah as part of Abbas’s efforts to further isolate his political rivals from Hamas, the Islamist move-ment that runs the Gaza Strip.

Shtayyeh, born in 1958, is a long-

term Abbas ally, while Ham-dallah was politically inde-pendent.

The previous government was formed during a period of improved relations and had the backing of Hamas.

This government is instead likely to be dominated by Fatah, though other smaller parties will be represented. Hamas is not expected to be included.

03New plan to address issues faced by maids, employers

04Moroccan inmate died after suffering multi-organ failure, SIU probe reveals

07 Dying ‘caliphate’ on full display

8

India elections in April-May 5WORLD

OP-EDC E L E B S

‘Captain Marvel’ soars to $153 million launchBrie Larson’s “Captain Marvel” is soaring to a heroic opening weekend of $153 million in North America at 4,310 sites, reviving what had been a slumbering 2019 box office. P14

MONDAYMARCH 2019

200 FILS ISSUE NO. 8047

Canadian politicians aren’t cute. They’re corrupt

JLo, Alex Rodriguez get engaged 14 CELEBS

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Bahrain’s oil industry holds great promises Manama

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa

has asserted that Bahrain boasts a long history in the oil industry, adding that the government is still interested in developing such a promising sector and en-couraging investment in it, being a key tributary to the national economy, and a vital and strate-gic resource to boost all fields of development.

HRH the Premier expressed pride in the Bahraini citizens and their acclaimed competence in the oil sector, whose develop-ment phases, he said, have been carried out by Bahrainis.

During His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s prosperous era, the Kingdom is determined to continue its programmes aimed at increas-ing revenues and resources, and

stimulating the effective eco-nomic sectors, HRH Premier said, praising the role played by His Royal Highness Prince Sal-man bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, in this regard.

The Prime Minister stressed the government’s keenness to take advantage of the steady growth of the oil sector to serve various development sectors on which the kingdom’s economic structure is based, which will contribute to diversifying in-

come resources and enhancing Bahrain’s ability to face various global economic challenges.

HRH Premier made the state-ments while receiving, at the Gudaibiya Palace yesterday, the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco)’s Board of Directors,

led by the Minister of Oil, Shai-kh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, who extended to him sincerest thanks and appreci-ation for laying the foundation stone for the Bapco Modernisa-tion Programme (BMP), which is the largest industrial project in the Kingdom’s history.

HRH Premier asserted that a promising future lays ahead for the oil industry in the kingdom, in light of the use of modern technology in the production and exploration, lauding the efforts exerted by the Ministry of Oil and Bapco in developing the oil industry in the kingdom and preparing distinguished national competencies in this regard.

The Prime Minister ex-pressed pride in the progress and prestigious international reputation reached by the Bah-raini oil industry.

HRH the Premier receives Shaikh Mohammed.

People walk past a part of the wreckage at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Seven Brits and one Irish citizen were among 157 killed after Boeing 737 crashed on way to Nairobi. Full story on page 6

Mid-air disaster

Red card for Qatar? Qatar accused of offering FIFA $880m in secret World Cup payments

• Al Jazeera executives made $400m offer in TV contract, UK newspaper reveals.

• ‘Success fee’ to be paid if Qatar won bid to host football tournament.

London

Qatar allegedly offered FIFA as much as $880 million in secret payments at key stages in its ef-

forts to host the 2022 World Cup, fuelling

further allegations of corruption in the controversial bid.

Leaked files seen by The Sunday Times appear to show that Doha offered foot-ball’s governing body $400 million 21 days before the decision to hold the tournament in the tiny Gulf state was announced.

Executives from the Qatari state-run broadcaster Al Jazeera made the offer at the height of campaigning over the tournament, in a clear breach of FIFA’s own anti-bribery rules, the UK newspa-per claimed.

The new allegations of corruption surrounding Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid may be “the most damaging so far,”

a leading analyst told Arab News on Sunday.

Ghanem Nuseibeh, founder of Corner-stone Global, a management consultancy focused on the Middle East, said that the revelations posed a risk to both FIFA and companies currently working on Qatar

World Cup projects.“It is not about individuals but about

institutions on both sides: FIFA itself and Qatari channel Al Jazeera. FIFA will now need to decide on how it will investigate itself, rather than individuals connected to it. The reputation of FIFA risks perma-nent irreversible damage,” Nuseibeh was quoted by Arab News.

“This also carries substantial risks to companies currently working on Qatar 2022 projects. With a real increase in risk in Qatar not hosting 2022, businesses involved will want reassurances from Qatari authorities on what could happen to them if Qatar is indeed stripped of the right to host.”

The revelations posed a risk to both FIFA and companies currently working on Qatar

World Cup projects.GHANEM NUSEIBEH

Mohammad Shtayyeh

Mass protests in Russia Moscow

Thousands of people in Russia have protested

against plans to introduce tighter restrictions on the internet.

A mass rally in Moscow and similar demonstrations in two other cities were called after parliament backed the controversial bill last month.

The government says the bill, which allows it to isolate Russia’s inter-net service from the rest of the world, will improve cyber-security.

But campaigners say it is an attempt to increase cen-sorship and stifle dissent.

Call for protestCaracas

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido

has called on people from across the nation to con-verge on the capital Ca-racas and protest against socialist President Nicolas Maduro, as the country’s worst blackout in decades dragged on for a third day.

Addressing supporters, Guaido – the leader of the opposition-run congress who invoked the constitu-tion to assume an interim presidency in January – said Maduro’s government “has no way to solve the electric-ity crisis that they them-selves created.”

“All of Venezuela, to Ca-racas!” Guaido yelled while standing atop a bridge in southwestern Caracas, without saying when the planned protest would be held. “The days ahead will be difficult, thanks to the regime.”

02MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2019

02TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2019

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa received at Gudaibiya Palace yesterday His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier. They discussed local issues and progress in implementing citizen-oriented projects. HRH the Premier and HRH the Crown Prince affirmed that the Kingdom has brought about numerous achievements in the prosperous era of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, underlining development at all political, economic and social levels. They stressed fast-paced progress in Bahrain despite challenges, pointing out the government’s ongoing efforts to press ahead with growth, secure present requirements and the needs of the future and promote the pioneering status of the nation.

On behalf of His Majesty King Hamad, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, yesterday received a letter from the President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. The letter was delivered to HRH the Crown Prince by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and the President of Mauritania’s Special Envoy, Ismael Ould Cheikh Ahmed. During the meeting, which took place at the Al Gudaibiya Palace, HRH the Crown Prince and Mauritania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs discussed Bahrain-Mauritania bilateral relations, and highlighted the importance of exploring new avenues for increasing collaboration across different areas and sectors.

Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Wife of His Majesty the King and President of the Supreme Council for Women (SCW), patronised yesterday the opening of a heritage exhibition organised by Bahrain Society for Women Development under the theme “Vision and History at the Palace of late Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. HRH Princess Sabeeka stressed the importance of holding such specialised exhibitions which cast light on national heritage and preserve it as an inherent part of Bahrain’s identity. She pointed out the need to inform the youth about their rich folkloric heritage and boost their sense of belonging.

Labour and Social Development Minister Jameel Humaidan yesterday received MPs Dr Hisham Ahmed Al Ashiri, Fadhil Abbas Al Sawad and Ammar Hussain Abbas, and discussed co-operation to enhance Bahraini youth employment in the labour market. The minister said the National Employment Programme has attracted many unlisted jobseekers, who have benefited from the training programmes offered by the ministry in collaboration with the Labour Fund (Tamkeen), in addition to gaining access to benefits of the unemployment insurance before getting them engaged in the private sector institutions.

Staff at the American Mission Hospital conducted free health check-ups for the elderly at the UCO Elderly Care in Hidd. Many elderly people took part in the health check-up drive.

Yathra Samithi, a grouping of expatriates from the Indian state of Kerala, has made a request to Dr Sashi Tharoor, Member of the Indian Parliament, to resume the services of Air India flights between the Kingdom and Trivandrum. Dr Tharoor, who was a senior ranking UN official and former Indian Minister of State for External Affairs, is on a visit to the Kingdom.

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa yesterday paid a visit to Sadiq Mohammed Al Baharna at his residence in Saar. HM the King exchanged cordial talks and praised Al Baharna’s contribution to Bahrain’s economic and commercial march. HM the King took pride in Al Baharna and other businessmen’s achievements and contributions in economic, commercial and investment fields since the beginning of last century. His Majesty pointed out the Bahraini businessmen’s honesty and integrity, which were the key for their successes at regional and international levels.

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa received at Gudaibiya Palace yesterday members of the Representatives Council and discussed with them issues of interest to citizens. He stressed the government’s keenness to cater to citizens’ needs and boost their welfare in a secure and stable environment. He lauded the government-parliamentary partnership to serve Bahrain and its people, stressing growing cooperation between the executive and legislative branches to better serve the nation and citizens. He described this co-operation as an approach for the government to serve Bahrain and meet citizens’ present and future aspirations.

His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, yesterday received the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco)’s Board of Directors, headed by the Minister of Oil, and Chairman Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, at Riffa Palace. During the meeting, HRH the Crown Prince highlighted the Kingdom’s commitment to ensuring the oil and gas sector continues to contribute to the Kingdom’s comprehensive development, under the leadership of HM the King.

The Bahrain Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (BCICAI) hosted a seminar to celebrate the International Women’s Day on March 9, 2019, Saturday, at Crowne Plaza Bahrain. Speaking on the occasion, Chairperson CA Sridhar Seethapathy said, “We are proud to see the Indian Women Chartered Accountants progress and reach great heights in their career.” Renu Yadav, Second Secretary, Indian Embassy was the guest of honour. Suzy Salman Kanoo, President, Khalil Bin Ebrahim Kanoo in an interactive session stressed the importance of family in creating gender equality in the society and addressed the role of women in the business world. CA Sripriya Kumar, past Central Council Member of ICAI (parent body of BCICAI) spoke about the various aspects of the changes in the audit landscape and how the role of auditors has changed over the last decade.

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa lauded the efforts of the Bahraini people, their awareness and aspiration to serve their homeland. He said, “we all yearn for a bright future and work hand in hand to attain the ambitious national goals and serve our nation and people”. HRH the Premier was speaking as he received yesterday members of the royal family and officials. He recalled with respect contributions of the Bahraini forefathers and their dedicated efforts to serve their nation.

Bahrain-based dancer Sneha Ajith and her team performed dance drama ‘Kamala’ at a special event held in Thiruvananathapuram in the Indian state of Kerala. Vidhya Sreekumar performed the direction and choreography of the show, which was scripted by Sreekumar Ramakrishnan. Palakkad Sreeram was the music director while Dr L Sampath Kumar penned the Sanskrit lyrics.


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New plan to address issues faced by maids, employers

New system built with features to protect domestic workers, says LMRA TDT | Manama Harpreet Kaur

The new system introduced by the Labour Market Reg-ulatory Authority (LMRA)

for the recruitment of domestic workers is aimed at the welfare of both the workers and their em-ployers, it emerged.

According to LMRA, the system will be implemented this month itself.

Under the new system, citizens and residents wishing to issue permits to domestic workers can go to the registered local labour agencies approved by the LMRA to submit the application elec-tronically.

These applications will be passed to both eGovernment Au-thority and Nationality, Passport and Residence Affairs (NPRA) to issue the worker identification number and visa respectively.

Speaking to Tribune, Ali Al Kooheji, Vice-President of Oper-ations at LMRA, said: “As per the

directions of the Government of Bahrain, to ease the procedures for Bahrain nationals and resi-dents, the LMRA has initiated a number of features and facilities to the employers of domestic em-ployees through the new domes-tic work permit issuance system.

“Under the new system, em-ployers can go to a recruitment agency approved by the LMRA, choose the worker and submit the application electronically.”

“The most prominent features of this new system are that it is time and effort saving for the em-ployer where the domestic work permit issuance will be regulated through one electronic transac-tion which will help reduce the number of visits to government offices by more than 50 per cent.

“The new system will allow employers to issue domestic work permits for 12 months or 24 months. In addition to allow-ing employers to renew domes-tic work permits and residen-cy for 6,12 or 24 months, which gives more flexibility to families

regarding the period of time in which they need the domestic workers.”

The new system will help limit the entrance of unfit expatriates to the Kingdom through pre-em-ployment medical check-ups at the country of origin through any of the GCC approved medical centres, which will help main-tain a healthy environment for the nationals and residents of the Kingdom.

“The new system will issue a CPR (national identity number) prior to the entrance to the King-dom, which will provide faster and direct access to facilities that need the presence of identifica-tion in places like banks, hospital, telecom services,” Mr Al Kooheji said.

The system is built with fea-tures to highly protect the do-mestic workers where it will be mandatory for all employers to

use the tripartite domestic con-tract, which is a contract that reg-ulates the relationship between the agency, the employer and the domestic worker.

“Under the new contract, em-ployers seeking to hire a domes-tic worker must declare, among other things, the nature of the job, work and rest hours and weekly days off. In addition to mandating a commitment to em-ployment and wage contract for those domestic employees, who are employed through direct em-ployment arrangements such as transfer from an employer to an-other inside the Kingdom where a recruitment office is not a part of the employment process.

Bahrain is set to announce a new system for expat salary pro-tection, which will require every firm to transfer all expatriate sal-aries through local banks. “This will ensure that the payment of salaries fulfils contractual obliga-tions and can be tracked.”

“Since the last quarter of 2014, the authority has worked on

creating a database for domes-tic workers, in order to optimise these services, the LMRA is adding new facilities for the beneficiar-ies. The authority will inaugurate a new system to issue permits this March. These developmental steps are in line with the Gov-ernment Action Plan to use elec-tronic operations to streamline procedures.”

Meanwhile, the LMRA has warned of dealing with unli-censed agencies or mediators, the list of accredited agencies can be found on LMRA’s website www.lmra.bh or by calling the author-ity’s contact centre on 17506055.

Royal decree establishes Sustainable Energy Centre

Manama

His Majesty King Ham-ad bin Isa Al Khalifa yesterday issued Royal

Decree-22/2019, establishing a Sustainable Energy Centre (SEC).

The SEC will be affiliated to the Cabinet, and supervised by the Minister of Electricity and Water Minister.

The centre shall under-take all tasks and responsi-

bilities related to providing technical support for the relevant sides regarding the preservation of all kinds of sustainable energy sources, as well as enhancing the ef-fective use, ensuring their secure use and encourag-ing investment in them, in co-operation with the rele-vant authorities.

The Sustainable Energy Centre will have a Chief Ex-ecutive Officer, with the rank

of assistant undersecretary, who report to the minister in charge.

The CEO will be appointed as per a Royal Decree, based on a proposal by the minis-ter, for renewable four-year terms.

The Prime Minister and ministers – each in their capac-ity - shall implement the Royal Decree, which will take effect one day after its publication in the Official Gazette.

Govt refers State budget to House

Manama

The Government has re-ferred the general State Budget for the fiscal

year 2019-2020 as per article 109 of Bahrain’s Constitution to the House of Representa-tives.

The Council of Representa-tives Speaker Fawziya Zainal said that the budget plan had been referred to the Financial and Economic Affairs to be scrutinised.

“The council will be updated about the budget referral the coming weekly session,” she said, adding Bahrain’s national interests would be a priority in co-operation with the Shura Council and the Government.

She underlined keenness on

achieving the goals of the Fis-cal Balance Programme, im-plement the Government Ac-tion Plan through the budget endorsement to bolster Bah-rain’s development and pro-gress.

She cited in this regard the directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in his

keynote address at the opening of the first session of the fourth legislative term.

The Speaker announced that joint meetings between the parliamentary and Shura Fi-nancial and Economic Affairs Committees to discussed the law on the general state budget with the Government.

The council will be updated about the budget referral the coming weekly session. MS ZAINAL

Under the new contract, employers seeking to hire a domestic worker must declare, among other things, the nature of the job, work and rest hours and weekly days off. MR AL KOOHEJI

24months will be the maximum period,

for which a domestic worker permit can be

issued.


Moroccan inmate died after suffering multi-organ failure, SIU probe reveals

Probe refutes allegations of torture, mistreatment at the hands of other inmates, prison staff

• Interior Ministry promptly issued a statement denying the claims posted online and clarifying that the inmate died at Salmaniya Medical Complex.

• The SIU took the necessary procedures and assigned an official coroner to examine the body of the deceased.

TDT | Manama

New details were re-vealed in the case of the Moroccan inmate who

passed away last month while in prison.

This comes as the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) issued a statement on Saturday, clari-fying that it has completed its investigation into that case and

denied any torture allegations.In the statement, Depu-

ty Attorney General and SIU member Mohammed Yousif Al Zubari said the unit detect-ed, on February 22, 2019, video footage of a woman posted on social media networks, claim-ing that her son, an inmate in the Reformation and Rehabil-itation Centre in Jau area, was subjected to torture and mal-treatment.

Mr Al Zubari stated that the unit initiated intensive inves-tigations into the case. The inmate was identified as Na-jeeb Mahfoudh Ibn Al Sharqi, a Moroccan national who was serving a 15-year imprisonment sentence issued against him on November 11, 2013, after be-ing convicted in a number of crimes.

The unit ’s investigations also indicated that the inmate passed away at Salmaniya Med-ical Complex on February 20, 2019, and that the woman seen in the video is his mother, in addition to the fact that the

footage was filmed in Morocco.He said: “In its efforts to re-

veal the truth behind the tor-ture claims and determine the responsible individuals, the SIU took the necessary procedures and assigned an official coro-ner to examine the body of the deceased.”

“ Fu r t h e r i nve st i g a t i o n s proved that the deceased was taken to Salmaniya Medical Complex on February 16, 2019, after complaining from abdom-inal pain, hematuria, diarrhea, high temperature and gener-al fatigue. He remained in the

hospital, where he was provid-ed with the necessary inten-sive medical procedures, but he died on the aforementioned date,” Mr Al Zubari said.

The official also said that the reports issued by the Health and Social Affairs Directorate in Interior Ministry showed that the inmate, since his de-tention, received comprehen-sive examination and treatment procedures, which didn’t show any traces of violence or re-sistance.

Mr Al Zubari also confirmed that the deceased’s body was autopsied as per a request from the Moroccan Embassy in Bah-rain, adding that the autopsy report proved that he died be-cause of the illness and the ac-companying malfunction in the performance of several crucial organs including the heart.

As reported earlier by Trib-une, the inmate’s story surfaced after a video of a televised in-terview with his mother, claim-ing that her son died as a result of mistreatment and abuse he

received from other inmates and some guards at the Refor-mation and Rehabilitation Cen-tre in Jau, went viral online.

Interior Ministry promptly issued a statement denying the claims posted online and clar-ifying that the inmate died at Salmaniya Medical Complex because of pain in the kidney and severe anaemia.

The ministry also said that the deceased was asked in 2014, in the presence of the repre-sentative of the Moroccan Em-bassy, if he wanted to be trans-ferred to Morocco to serve his sentence there, but he refused.

It was also revealed in the ministry’s statement that the deceased’s mother fi led a complaint to the centre about maltreatment her son received from some inmates and that he was shifted to another build-ing.

Mr Al Zubari added on Sat-urday that the deceased’s cell-mates were interrogated and denied that if he was tortured or mistreated in any way.

iGA receives OFDPM fellows Manama

The Information and eGov-ernment Authority (iGA)

Chief Executive Mohamed Ali Alqaed received the fourth intake of the Office of the First Deputy Prime Minister (OF-DPM) Fellowship as part of a series of events organised by the authority to develop participants’ leadership skills.

Mr Alqaed praised the im-portant role played by the in-itiative in building leadership skills among public sector employees to advance inno-vation and excellence across all work streams, which will further improve the delivery of public services, in line with the Economic Vision 2030.

The chief executive en-couraged the OFDPM Fel-lows to take full advantage of the opportunities provided to them throughout the pro-gram and wished them suc-cess in their future careers.

The OFDPM Fellowship is a vital platform aimed at enhanc-ing the leadership and analyti-cal skills of young government employees. Participants spend a year working as full-time re-search fellows at the Office of the First Deputy Prime Minis-ter, benefiting from advanced training research methods and policy analysis.

The deceased’s cellmates were interrogated.

There was no evidence of torture or

mistreatment. MR AL ZUBARI

CEO of Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA), Shaikh Khalid bin Hamoud Al Khalifa, yesterday received Palestine’s Ambassador to Bahrain, Taha Abdulqadir, and discussed ways of strengthening bilateral relations and cooperation to benefit tourism sector. Shaikh Khalid bin Hamoud gave a brief on the BTEA’s efforts to attract tourists, in addition to the tourism sector’s contribution to the national economy. The Palestinian Ambassador welcomed promoting bilateral relations, broadening cooperation and launching joint initiatives in the interest of both countries.

AGU launches first GCC copy of International Autism Diagnosis Scale

TDT | Manama

The Arabian Gulf University (AGU) has announced that it has successfully com-

pleted the regulation of the third edition of the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale in GCC States, as an approval was obtained from the publisher to translate the scale to Arabic and apply it on a sample from GCC States; including Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom, the UAE and Kuwait.

The third edition of Gilliam Au-tism Rating Scale is considered to be one of the international scales that is widely utilised across the world to diagnose Autism Spec-trum Disorder (ASD) and to deter-mine the severity of the disorder.

It was designed in line with the recent changes to the diagnosis of disorder mentioned in the fifth edition of the Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).

Assistant Professor in the Learning Disabilities and Devel-

opmental Disorders Department in AGU’s College of Graduate Studies Dr El Sayed El Khami-si, who is also in charge of the translation and regulation project of the scale, said that the project

was applied before two years and that the initial results were demonstrated during an inter-national conference held in Bali, Indonesia, last year. The results of translating and regulating the scale were welcomed by the par-ticipants in the conference.

Dr El Khamisi added that the procedures were continued and resulted in issuing a scale based on the GCC standards. The scale is the first of its kind not only in diagnosing ASD, but also in deter-mining the severity of the disor-der in high and low functioning people with autism, in addition to the provision of GCC diagnosis standards for Arab and non-Arab speaking patients with autism.

The academic said an electron-ic form of the scale is being devel-oped to enable users of instantly detecting the severity of autism. Specialists in GCC States will be soon trained on the use of the scale in both forms; paper and electronic.

The scale is the first of its kind not only in diagnosing ASD, but also in determining the severity of the

disorder in high and low functioning people with autism.

DR EL KHAMISI

Link Atelier hosts Japanese Tea Ceremony TDT | Manama

Link Atelier, the Kingdom’s largest design centre, hosted a Japanese Tea Ceremony for many guests and

dignitaries. The Japanese Tea Ceremony, also called

the Way of Tea, is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial prepa-ration and presentation of matcha, pow-dered green tea.

Link Ateliers founder and principal designer Nahed Eshaq welcomed Hideki Ito, the newly appointed Ambassador of Japan to the Kingdom and other guests.

Tea master and tea sommelier Bedoor hosted a special session on preparing and serving authentic Japanese tea.

Sessions were also held on Japanese history, etiquettes as well as traditional garments. Nahed Eshaq with Japanese Ambassador Hideki Ito and other guests.

A special session was held on preparing and serving authentic Japanese tea.

Tourism ties in focus

05

world

MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2019

India elections in April-May

AFP | New Delhi, India

India announced yesterday a general election to be held over nearly six weeks starting on April 11, when hun-

dreds of millions voters will cast ballots in the world’s biggest democracy.

The poll will see Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi run for a second term against Rahul Gandhi of the Gandhi-Nehru dy-nasty to lead the world’s second-most populous nation.

Some 900 million voters from the Him-alayan peaks to the deserts and tropi-cal shores are eligible to vote for a new government for the next five years in an enormous democratic undertaking.

From April 11 to May 19 voters will elect 543 lawmakers to India’s lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha, which governs the Asian nation of 1.25 billion people from the capital New Delhi, the electoral commission said Sunday.

Counting will be completed and final results announced on May 23, it said.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Gandhi’s left-leaning Congress are the two strongest challengers among hundreds of political parties from across the culturally and geographically diverse country.

Modi, whose right-wing party won an outright majority in the 2014 elections, enters the race in a strong position, the 68-year-old remaining a popular figure and the BJP a well-oiled political ma-chine.

In recent weeks he has been able to bolster his nationalist credentials in In-dia’s most serious standoff with Pakistan in years, sparked by a suicide bombing in the disputed Kashmir region on February 14 that killed 40 Indian paramilitaries.

The deadliest attack on Indian forces in a 30-year-old insurgency in the part of Kashmir that New Delhi controls was claimed by a militant group based in Pakistan, one of many that India and others have long accused Islamabad of harbouring.

Continued to talk toughTwelve days later the Indian air force

bombed what New Delhi said was a train-ing camp of the group deep inside Paki-stan, the first time since 1971 that India hit territory beyond Kashmir.

“We won’t spare anybody who is look-ing to destroy our country even if their (terrorists’) chiefs are sitting on the other side of the border,” Modi told a recent rally.

“But the oppositions have a problem with such stern actions too. But I am going ahead with my resolve to root out terrorism,” he said in his home state of Gujurat.

Opinion polls have suggested ebbing support for the BJP, and even that it may fall short of the 272 seats it needs to form a government on its own.

Gandhi, long criticised as a lacklustre leader, has also started looking more re-cently like a serious challenger.

Congress, which has ruled India for much of its time since independence from Britain in 1947, won three key state election victories in December, chipping into Modi’s core support base in the Hin-di “Cow Belt” regions home to nearly half a billion voters.

He has also gone on the offensive over Modi’s economic record, with the Con-gress state wins attributed to the prime minister’s perceived failure to help im-poverished farmers and to create enough jobs.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) and Bhartiya Janta Party President Amit Shah talk

Indian Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi (L) looks on at a political rally as his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (R) waves to supporters in Lucknow

Egypt names general for transportCairo, Egypt

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said yesterday he would

appoint a senior military officer as transport minister after a recent train crash at Cairo’s central station killed 22 people.

Speaking at a military gather-ing, general-turned-president Sisi said Major General Kamel al-Wazir would be sworn in after the parlia-mentary recess.

Wazir’s selection comes after a backlash from a February 27 crash at Ramses central station, which also wounded more than 40 people, forcing former transport minister Hisham Arafat to resign.

“I’m handing over this (transport) portfolio to one of the best army officers,” said Sisi.

Wazir has been the head of the

Egyptian military’s engineering au-thority since 2015.

The unit is behind many of the ar-my’s mega-projects including a new capital east of Cairo and construc-tion of everything from hospitals to sewage treatment plants.

At press conferences, Sisi often calls upon Wazir informally to give updates on the progress of major infrastructure schemes.

Since he took office in 2014, Sisi has appointed military officers to high-ranking positions, including governorships.

The crash triggered rare calls for protest online against the government ’s record on rai l safety.

Al Sisi

UK removes citizenship from 2 more IS bridesLondon, United Kingdom

Britain has revoked citizenship from two more women who

joined the Islamic State group in Syr-ia, a newspaper reported yesterday, raising questions about the fate of their children.

The revelation follows a row over a similar decision regarding London teenager Shamima Begum, whose newborn baby died in a Syrian refugee camp last week.

Reema Iqbal, 30, and her sister Zara, 28, left east London for Syria in 2013, and between them now have five boys under the age of eight, The Sunday Times newspaper said.

Citing legal sources, the paper said they had been stripped of their British citizenship.

The pair, who are of Pakistani her-itage, reportedly married into a terror cell linked to the murder of western hostages.

The British interior ministry said

it does not comment on individual cases.

A spokesman said: “Any decisions to deprive individuals of their cit-izenship are based on all available evidence and not taken lightly.”

Begum, who married a Dutch IS fighter, was located by journalists in a refugee camp after fleeing fighting between the terror group and US-backed forces.

She had asked to return to Britain with her baby, after her two other children died under IS rule.

Interior minister Sajid Javid re-voked her citizenship amid security fears, but has been criticised for not doing more to help her son.

British law states that the govern-ment cannot remove a person’s cit-izenship if that would make them stateless.

Begum was thought to be eligible for Bangladeshi citizenship through her parents, but Dhaka said she could not go there.

Demonstrators shout slogans as they march with placards and flags during a rally at Place de la Republique in Paris, in support of the ongoing protests in Algeria against the president’s bid for a fifth term in power. Incumbent Algeria’s president bid to secure a fifth term at Algeria’s April 18, election has sparked massive protests in the country, dominated by youth who have called for the president to stand aside.

S h o w o f s t r e n g t h

Tunisia health minister quits over deaths of newborns

Tunis, Tunisia

Tunisia’s health minister has resigned after the

sudden deaths of 11 new-born babies at a state ma-ternity hospital sparked an outcry in the country, the government said.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed accepted Abder-raouf Cherif ’s resignation, the premier’s office said on Facebook.

“Those responsible for any negligence will face le-gal proceedings,” the prime minister said at the mater-nity hospital in the capital late Saturday, according to a video released by his office.


We hereby confirm that our scheduled flight ET 302 from

Addis Ababa to Nairobi was involved

in accident today THE AIRLINE SAID IN A STATEMENT

No survivorsEthiopian jet crashes with 157 aboard

• 149 passengers and eight crew on board the 737 flight

• State-owned Ethiopian Airlines is Africa’s largest carrier

• The Boeing came down near the village of Tulu Fara outside Bishoftu

• Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta said he was “saddened” by the news

• An Indonesian Lion Air 737 MAX crashed into the Java Sea in October

• According to reports, Boeing delivered the plane to Ethiopian Airlines last November

Bishoftu, Ethiopia

An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 crashed yes-terday morning en route

from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, killing all 149 passengers and eight crew on board, state me-dia reported as African leaders offered condolences.

“We hereby confirm that our scheduled flight ET 302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi was in-volved in accident today,” the airline said in a statement, later confirming a report by Ethio-pia’s FANA Broadcasting Corp that there were no survivors.

“It is believed that there were 149 passengers and eight crew on board the flight,” it said.

The airline has not provided information on passengers’ na-tionalities but there are reports people from 33 countries were on board. The crash came on the eve of a major, annual as-sembly of the UN Environment Programme opening in Nairobi.

State-owned Ethiopian Air-lines, Africa’s largest carrier, said the plane had taken off at 8:38 am (0538 GMT) from Bole

International Airport and “lost contact” six minutes later near Bishoftu, a town some 60 kilo-metres (37 miles) southeast of Addis Ababa by road.

The weather in the capital, according to an AFP reporter, was clear when the brand-new Boeing plane, delivered to Ethio-pia last year, plane took off.

The Boeing came down near the village of Tulu Fara outside Bishoftu.

A reporter said there was a massive crater at the crash site, with belongings and airplane parts scattered widely.

Rescue crews were retriev-ing human remains from the wreckage.

Police and troops were on the scene, as well as a crash investi-gation team from Ethiopia’s civil

aviation agency.In the Kenyan capital, fam-

ily members, friends, and col-leagues of passengers were fran-tically waiting for news at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

“I am still hoping that all is fine, because I have been waiting for my sister since morning and we have not been told anything,” Peter Kimani told AFP in the ar-rivals lounge over an hour after the plane was scheduled to land at 10:25 am local time.

His sister is a nurse who he said had gone to Congo. “She

travels a lot on missions.”“We are still expecting our

loved one from Addis... we have just received news that there is a plane that has crashed. We can only hope that she is not on

that flight.”

Hoping for the bestAmong those waiting, Khalid

Ali Abdulrahman received hap-py news about his son, who works in Dubai.

“I arrived here shortly after 10:00 am and as I waited, a se-curity person approached me and asked me which flight are you waiting for. I answered him quickly because I wanted him to direct me to the arrivals, so I told him Ethiopia, and then he said: ‘Sorry, that one has crashed’.”

“I was shocked, but short-

ly after, my son contacted me and told me he is still in Addis and did not board that flight, he is waiting for the second one which has been delayed,” Khalid told AFP.

“I am waiting for my colleague, I just hope for the best,” added Hannah, a Chinese national.

African Union commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat said he had learnt of the crash “with utter shock and immense sadness.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office tweeted it “would like to express its deep-est condolences to the families of those that have lost their loved ones.”

Kenya’s President Uhuru Ken-yatta said he was “saddened” by the news, adding: “My prayers go to all the families and associ-ates of those on board.”

Mahboub Maalim, executive secretary of the IGAD East Afri-can bloc, said the region and the world were in mourning.

“I cannot seem to find words comforting enough to the fam-ilies and friends of those who might have lost their lives in this tragedy,” he said in a statement.

An Ethiopian Airline Boeing 737-700 aircraft takes off from Felix Houphouet-Boigny Airport in Abidjan

Rescue team collect bodies in bags at the crash site of Ethiopia Airlines near Bishoftu, a town some 60 kilometres southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

People make calls near the flight information board displaying the details of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya

Rescue team collect bodies in bags amid debris at the crash site of Ethiopia Airlines near Bishoftu

Boeing ‘deeply saddened’

Washington, United States

US aerospace giant Boe-ing said yesterday it was “deeply saddened”

about the deaths of all 157 peo-ple aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and would provide technical assistance to find out why its aircraft crashed.

The brand-new Boeing 737 -- which was delivered just last year -- was heading from Ad-dis Ababa to Nairobi when it crashed after take-off.

“Boeing is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of the passengers and crew on Ethi-opian Airlines Flight 302, a 737 MAX 8 airplane,” the company said in a statement.

“We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the families and loved ones of the passengers and crew on board and stand ready to support the Ethiopian Airlines team,” it said.

“A Boeing technical team is prepared to provide technical assistance at the request and under the direction of the US National Transportation Safety Board.”

The single-aisle Boeing 737 MAX is one of the world’s new-est and most advanced com-mercial passenger jets. But the company has come under fire for possible glitches with the plane, which entered service in 2017.

An Indonesian Lion Air 737 MAX crashed into the Java Sea in October about 13 minutes after leaving Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board.

After investigators said that aircraft had problems with its airspeed indicator and an-gle of attack (AoA) sensors, Boeing issued a special bulle-tin telling operators what to do when they face the same situation.

Pilot of crashed plane reported ‘difficulties’, asked to returnAddis Ababa, Ethiopia

The pilot of a Nairo -bi-bound Boeing 737

that crashed six minutes af-ter takeoff from Addis Ababa yesterday, had alerted con-trollers “he had difficulties” and wanted to turn back the plane carrying 157 people, the head of Ethiopian Airlines said.

The pilot “was given clear-ance” to return to Addis, chief executive officer Tewolde Ge-breMariam told journalists in the Ethiopian capital when asked whether there had been a distress call.

Congolese people wait at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya


Dying ‘caliphate’ on full displayAFP | Baghouz, Syria

The black flag of the Islamic State group flutters above a

bullet-scarred building. Women covered head-to-toe stroll be-low, as bearded men zip on mo-torbikes down dirt roads strewn with debris.

Pushed flush along a bend in the Euphrates River, this scrap of a desert hamlet in eastern Syria is the only territory the jihadists have left.

“We’re a few dozen metres away from them,” said Ahmad al-Siyyan, a fighter with the Syr-ian Democratic Forces, raising a pair of binoculars for a better look

“This is the closest point we control,” he told AFP journalists on the front line during a fragile ceasefire.

The 24-year-old motioned towards three men dressed in khaki tunics walking through an end-of-days mass of tattered tents and cloth-covered trench-es.

“This is the Baghouz camp,” he said.

The Kurdish-led fighters pushed into the ragged tent en-campment some 10 days ago as they and their US-led coalition backers pounded the jihadists, but they soon paused to allow more civilians to leave.

The no-man’s land between the SDF and the jihadists is filled with abandoned cars, shreds of clothing and holes dug by IS fighters and civilians for shelter.

The charred and twisted re-mains of a truck’s freight trailer lie on the ground.

Once an IS ammunition cache, it was hit during the most recent spurt of fighting, sending a pillar of black smoke jutting into the sky for days.

“When the sun comes up, ci-vilians come towards us... but (IS) snipers fire on them to force them back,” Siyyan said.

A fragile ceasefire has held since the last round of fighting, as the SDF continues its push to clear the redoubt of non-com-batants.

“We’ve managed to pull some civilians out of the camp,” he added.

“Today, an Emirati (fighter) tried to sneak up on us, but we managed to capture him.”

The US-backed fighters have been hoping for weeks that the final day has come for IS’s “ca-liphate”.

Tens of thousands of wom-en, children, and men have streamed out of the besieged bastion since December.

Thousands more poured out after last week’s fighting, up-ending assumptions that few families remained holed up in the area.

Pots, pans, explosive belts

Black smoke billows into the air from an IS-held area of the camp where SDF fighters say jihadists sometimes burn tyres.

Sporadic bursts of gunfire echo across the flat dusty ter-rain, punctuated by a singular

roaring explosion. The ground floor of the pock-

marked building serving as the SDF front line position is strewn with syringes and packs of med-icine -- remnants of a jihadist field hospital.

Spent ammunition of all sizes lie between zig-zagging trenches, scorched pots and

pans and scraps of clothes left behind.

The SDF worry the area has been littered with mines left by the jihadists, who have rou-tinely planted explosives and dispatched car bombs to halt advancing forces.

“Everywhere we go we find two or three explosive belts,” said SDF member Shevan al-Hasakeh, adding there is a real fear that “most of the fighters left would be using them”.

“In this area I’ve personally seen 10 to 15 -- all different siz-es,” he added.

Inside one makeshift tent, a wood stove topped with metal cookware sits on the lip of a metre-deep trench lined with mattresses and blankets.

Flies buzz above the discard-ed detritus of everyday life. An infant’s blue sweater, an over-turned baby stroller, a crushed pair of glasses.

“They were stashing weapons

here,” said one fighter, gesturing towards a trench lined with a singed carpet.

He said the SDF also found stores of ammunition and the bodies of dead jihadists.

With jets from the US-led co-alition rumbling overhead, two young SDF fighters fiddle with the scope on a sniper rifle, jok-ing easily between each other before falling into song for a far-away sweetheart.

“If my heart wanes, how will I embrace you,” the two belt out, their comrades looking on with broad smiles.

They have all fought for years against IS, losing friends and family along the way.

But with hopes high that the end of the long battle is near, the mood among those surrounding the holdout jihadists is trium-phant.

“They only have the camp, they’ve lost,” said Hasakeh.

“The battle is settled... It’s a fait accompli.”

A Syrian fighter of the Turkish-backed Hamza Division mans a turret mounted in the back of a pickup truck flying a Turkish flag at a position in the village of Ulashli in the northeast of Aleppo province

A general view shows the damaged inflicted on the Old Aleppo markets in the old quarter of Syria’s second city of Aleppo

A young Syrian girl is pictured at a refugee camp in the village of Mhammara in the n.Lebanese Akkar region

A fighter with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) sits on a motorcycle at a makeshift camp for Islamic State (IS) group members and their families in the town of Baghouz

Tibet supporters in India mark 60 years since uprising

Dharamsala, India

Huge crowds gathered at the Dalai Lama’s tem-

ple in India Sunday to com-memorate 60 years since the failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule that drove the spiritual leader into exile.

Supporters of the 83-year-old peace icon chanted and prayed at the Buddhist shrine in mountainous Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama established a government-in-exile after fleeing a deadly Chinese crackdown in Tibet in 1959.

Devotees in the Indian hill station the Dalai Lama has called home for six dec-ades waved Tibet’s colour-ful “snow lion” flag, which China has outlawed as a symbol of separatism.

Some had “Free Tibet” painted on their faces along with the colours and dis-tinct golden sun of the icon-ic flag.

“This is a proud day,” Lhakpa Tsering, a Tibetan living in exile in India, told AFP in Dharamsala.

“Sixty years we’ve been in exile. Still, our struggle is young and fresh and strong, so we can give a message to China that until Tibetans remain, our struggle will never end.”

An exiled Tibetan activist holds a placard during a protest marking the 60th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in Chennai

Melania Trump ‘mistook former female Aus FM for partner’Sydney, Australia

Australia’s former foreign minister says she was mis-

taken for the spouse of a poli-tician by US First Lady Melania Trump, in her latest comments on the subordinate role of wom-en in conservative politics.

Julie Bishop has been vocal about the treatment of senior female politicians since she stepped down after the ouster of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull last year.

Bishop, who was Australia’s first female foreign minister and deputy leader of the Liberal Par-ty, is among several senior politi-cians from the centre-right gov-ernment set to quit parliament at upcoming national elections amid expectations of an oppo-sition win.

She told a talk in Adelaide Sat-urday that Melania thought her partner David Patton was Aus-tralia’s foreign minister, instead of her, after President Donald

Trump stuck up a conversation with him, the Australian Broad-casting Corporation reported.

“Melania, standing by, as-sumed David was the foreign minister and she said to me: ‘Julie, will you be coming to my ladies’ lunch tomorrow?,” Bish-op said of the encounter at the UN General Assembly Leaders’ week in 2017.

“And I said ‘No, David’s go-ing to the partners’ lunch’. She thought about that for a while,

thinking: ‘Why would Austral-ia’s foreign minister come to the partners’ lunch?’

“So this went on for a while until the president ex-plained that I was the foreign minister.”

Australia’s embattled minority government has been accused of having a “women problem”, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently boosting the number of female politicians in his cabinet to counter the criticism.Melania Trump and Julie Bishop (file)

15 dialysis patients die in blackout: NGOCaracas, Venezuela

Fifteen Venezuelans with advanced kidney disease

have died after being unable to get dialysis during power outage. “Between yester-day and today, there were 15 deaths for lack of dialy-sis,” said Francisco Valen-cia, director of the Codevida health rights group.


The rule of law is a very grand Canadian virtue until,

it seems, it proves to be a barrier to Liberal electoral

prospects in Quebec.

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

JEN GERSON

There is a particularly quaint element to Cana-da — our smallness, our

politeness, our insularity — that makes many people, including many Canadians, assume the best about our country and ourselves. As if these qualities make us inherently purer than other, more populous coun-tries.

It’s true that Canadians are a trusting, generous lot who generally believe in the greater good, institutions and the rule of law. Consequently, the coun-try is prone to imagining itself more bound by a mythology of its own goodness than it actu-ally is. But there’s a darker side to Canada’s smallness. Our tiny network of political, business and intellectual elite is insular and concentrated.

The scandal now envel-oping Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — a bilingual, femi-nist, pro-multicultural liberal who embodies much of what we like to celebrate in our na-tional character — should put an end to this.

At its heart, the SNC-Lav-

alin scandal that threatens Trudeau’s leadership is about political interference in our judicial system. The Globe and Mail first reported in ear-ly February that last fall, the prime minister and his office pressured Jody Wilson-Ray-bould, then the justice minister and attorney general, to seek a Deferred Prosecution Agree-ment, which is equivalent to a plea bargain, for SNC-Lavalin, a politically well-connected civil engineering firm based in Montreal.

SNC-Lavalin has been at the centre of corruption scandals for decades. (In 2013, the World Bank debarred the company and more than 100 of its affili-ates for 10 years, single-hand-edly putting Canada at the top of the bank’s corruption list.)

In this latest scandal, the company faces criminal charg-es for bribing Libyan officials, including Moammar Gadhafi’s son, with millions of dollars to secure contracts in Libya.

The Deferred Prosecution Ag re e m e n t wo u l d p e r m i t SNC-Lavalin to avoid crimi-nal prosecution, allowing it to continue to bid for domestic government contracts. Without this, the company might face existential peril.

The only person in Trudeau’s cabinet who seemed to push back was Wilson-Raybould. In

January, she was put in charge of the Veterans Affairs Minis-try, effectively a demotion.

Last week, she went public, speaking before a House of Commons committee about the pressure she’d been under to cut a deal with SNC-Lavalin.

For hours, she delivered ex-tensive testimony, citing notes and texts, detailing inappropri-ate levels of political interfer-ence in a criminal proceeding.

Her account was impossible to reconcile with Trudeau’s previous flat denials. The prime minister and his defend-ers have come across as weak and dishonest, more interested in protecting a Quebec-based corporation than in the inde-pendence of the judiciary. His government is now in chaos. On March 4, one of his key cab-inet ministers, Jane Philpott, resigned, saying she had “lost confidence in how the govern-ment has dealt with this matter and in how it has responded to the issues raised.”

Trudeau came to power in 2015 on the promise of a new, revitalised Liberal Party, re-moved from the stale old boys’ club of yore. The party, though it imagines itself as represent-ing the quintessential ideals of Canadiana, has a long track record of corruption and chi-canery, particularly in Quebec.

With an electoral base in the

country’s most heavily popu-lated regions, like Quebec, the Liberals have enjoyed many decades in power. It is not without merit that they are referred to, derisively, as Can-ada’s Natural Governing Party.

Power brings with it certain habits. This is true everywhere, but in a democratic country with a population the size of California spread across a gi-gantic landmass, influence runs in a geographic network that we describe in shorthand as the Laurentian Elite, after the St Lawrence River that runs through eastern Cana-da. Trudeau, the son of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, is very much a crea-ture of this elite.

And so is SNC-Lavalin. Not

just any company gets its calls taken by the prime minis-ter’s office. Founded in 1911, SNC-Lavalin is a crown jewel in the Quebec corporate firma-ment. The company’s lobbyists have long ties in both Conserv-ative and Liberal governments. Its lawyers include a former Supreme Court justice. A re-tired senior federal official is on its board. One of its corpo-rate directors also sits on the board of the Trudeau Founda-tion. Quebec’s public pension funds own about 20 per cent of SNC-Lavalin’s shares.

The decision about SNC-Lav-alin’s case was being made in the lead-up to Quebec’s Oct 1 provincial election — and that was apparently on the prime minister’s mind. According to Wilson-Raybould’s testimo-ny, senior staff members from Trudeau’s office said the com-pany was threatening to relo-cate to London if it did not get the plea deal. One such staff-er, she said, told her “if they don’t get a DPA, they will leave Montreal, and it’s the Quebec election right now, so we can’t have that happen.”

Wilson-Raybould recounted a conversation with Trudeau: “At that point the prime min-ister jumped in, stressing that there is an election in Quebec and that ‘I am an MP in Quebec — the member for Papineau,’”

she said. When she asked if he was trying to override her inde-pendence as attorney general, she said, the prime minister replied, “‘No, no, no, we just need to find a solution.’”

Wilson-Raybould was the first First Nations person to be appointed justice minister. She is a member of Parliament from Vancouver, British Co-lumbia, to boot. By virtue of this background, she is not someone who has been his-torically well-represented in the cozy corridors of Canadian power. Why should she care about SNC-Lavalin? Why would she stake her independence and her reputation on the com-pany’s survival?

It’s no coincidence that she was replaced at the justice ministry by David Lametti, a member of Parliament from Montreal who even now has not ruled out saving SNC-Lava-lin with a Deferred Prosecution Agreement.

The rule of law is a very grand Canadian virtue until, it seems, it proves to be a barrier to Liberal electoral prospects in Quebec. It is a small country, after all.

(Jen Gerson, a contributing editor to Maclean’s magazine who writes regularly for the Canadian Broad-

casting Corp. and The Walrus, is a co-host of the Canadian politics

podcast “Oppo.”)

NEVER IN THE FIELD OF HUMAN CONFLICT WAS SO MUCH OWED BY SO MANY TO SO FEW. WINSTON CHURCHILL

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Canadian politicians aren’t cute. They’re corrupt

The scandal surrounding

prime minister

Justin Trudeau

shows just how cozy the

country’s elite really is

Justin Trudeau, prime minister of Canada, with his former principal secretary, Gerald Butts, last year.

C I V I L I A N ’ S T R I B U N E


TOP

4TWEETS

04

02

03

01

America has no federal law criminalizing gun

trafficking across state lines, making it harder to stop the flow of illegal guns up the Iron Pipeline or prosecute traffickers. Last week I reintroduced my bill to fix that. We need to keep illegal guns off our streets and save lives.

@SenGillibrand

We wish the new members of the Abu

Dhabi Executive Council all success. We are confi-dent that they will work well as a team with their colleagues to achieve the vision of our leadership in driving forward the devel-opment of the country.

@MohamedBinZayed

In the last five years, India’s prestige on

the world stage stands enhanced significantly. Value of the Indian pass-port has increased. Our country has emerged as a leading voice in the glob-al fight against terrorism, climate change and black money.

@AmitShah

In Moscow, demon-strators are protesting

against a new law to cre-ate an autonomous Rus-sian internet. Mikhail Svetov from the Libertar-ian Party told @dwnews that with restrictions on press and political free-dom the web is crucial in Russia. “If they take that we will have nothing.”

@EmilyCSherwin

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

editorial stances)

1968NASA launches Apollo 7, the first successful manned Apollo mission.

1972A race riot occurs on the United States Navy aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk off the coast of Vietnam.

1976George Washington is posthumously promoted to the grade of General of the Armies.

1984Aboard the Space Shuttle Chal-lenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sul-livan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY

KRISTEN R GHODSEE

About a decade ago, I stopped sending flow-ers on Mother’s Day for

political reasons. My mom, a high-school-educated Nuyori-can with a soft spot for Hallmark holidays, was not pleased.

“But I don’t want to celebrate you only as a mother,” I tried to explain.

A resilient woman who once worked two jobs after my fa-ther abandoned her with three mortgages, two kids and no child support, she was more than just a parent to me. She was a super-hero.

“ I wa n t t o a c k n ow l e d g e everything that you are,” I told her. “The whole person.” I start-ed sending my mom flowers on March 8 instead.

It didn’t go over well the first year. The date meant nothing to her.

“It’s International Women’s Day, and it’s celebrated all over the world,” I persisted. “The United Nations declared it an official holiday in 1975.”

“I’ve never seen a card for that,” she said.

“Well, it’s not celebrated in the United States.”

At this, my mom harrumphed. “Why not?”

That’s complicated, I told her.Although a National Women’s

Day was first proposed by the Socialist Party of America and observed in New York in 1909, it was Clara Zetkin, a German Marxist feminist, who formally instituted an international day to celebrate working women at the Second International Congress of Socialist Women in Copen-hagen in 1910. Millions began marking International Women’s Day annually after March 8, 1911.

On International Women’s Day in 1917, Russian women demon-strated for bread and an end to

World War I, and sparked a rev-olution that forced the Czar’s abdication.

After the Bolshevik Revolu-tion, Vladimir Lenin and his newly appointed commissar of social welfare, Alexandra Kol-lontai, declared International Women’s Day an official holiday in the Soviet Union.

From Europe, I explained to my mom, the celebration of March 8 spread across the globe. The early socialists yearned for a world where men and women were equal. They understood the inherent misogyny and sexism that underlay patriarchal cul-tures. By establishing a special day to recognise women, they called attention to the obstacles women face the other 364 days of the year.

Socialists embraced the radical idea that a woman is more than a mother, though she may be that, too. They fought to create a world that also valued women as workers, as citizens and as fully equal members of society.

They desired an economic sys-tem in which a woman need not be dependent on a man, where she would not have to be a su-perhero to successfully raise two kids after their father abandons them.

Of course, 20th-century so-cialist states did not create the world they wanted, but it was not for lack of trying. Different countries implemented different policies, but none achieved the full equality they had promised.

Over a century after socialists expressed their goals, women still earn only 63 per cent of what men are paid, 35pc of women will still be the subject of physi-cal violence by men, and divorce often still means financial ruin.

More than 25 countries mark International Women’s Day as an official holiday, and it is ob-served unofficially in at least a dozen more.

In some countries, women re-ceive flowers and gifts, while in others it is a day of parades and protests for women’s rights.

But Americans have ignored

it, largely because of its socialist origins and its historical asso-ciation with the Eastern Bloc. After the Cold War ended, Rep-resentative Maxine Waters of

California and 79 co-sponsors tried to introduce legislation to designate March 8, 1994, as International Women’s Day in the United States. The bill never made it out of committee.

Instead, Americans celebrate Mother’s Day, a holiday whose precursors united mothers around charitable works and pacifism. Following the Civil War, Anna Reeves Jarvis organ-ised “Mothers’ Friendship Days” to promote reconciliation. In 1907, her daughter, Anna Jarvis, began lobbying to make Mother’s Day a national holiday, flooding Washington with letters until Woodrow Wilson formally es-tablished it in 1914. In Jarvis’ vision, it was a day to quiet-ly acknowledge the sacrifices mothers made for their children.

But merchants soon co-opted Mother’s Day, using the occasion to sell more chocolates, flow-ers, gifts and yes, greeting cards. Jarvis spent the rest of her life fighting the commercialisation of Mother’s Day. She hated the holiday so much that she actual-ly tried to have it removed from the American calendar.

For my part, I despise that Mother’s Day values women only as mothers. It reinforces the idea that this is our most important role: giving birth and sacrificing enormous amounts of unpaid labour towards raising the next generation of citizens. We are more than our wombs.

Despite my rationalisations, my mother remains skeptical. She is a lifelong Democrat and we tend to agree on most things, but I know my leftist feminist politics are a bit too radical for her. I’m sure she would prefer to get her blossoms on Mother’s Day like all of the other women with “normal” daughters.

Still, I have stuck to my guns. Each year I send a bouquet in March instead of May, trying to win her over. I forward her arti-cles about International Wom-en’s Day celebrations from Af-ghanistan to Zambia, and share photos of rallies in Brazil and Nepal.

Since November 2016, I’ve been helped by increasing media attention to March 8, the grow-ing radicalisation of American women and a rising interest in democratic socialism. I imagine a fellow Puertorriqueña, Alex-andria Ocasio-Cortez, may cel-ebrate International Women’s Day as well.

Today, my mom tolerates my hatred of Mother’s Day. And not only because she gave birth to me. Also because she is a ca-pable, open-minded and loving human being who has faced and overcome many obstacles in life, the least of which are her daugh-ter’s militant idiosyncrasies.

(Kristen R Ghodsee, a professor of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania, is the

author of numerous books.)

Have you wished your mother a happy international women’s day yet?

Forget mother’s day. Today we celebrate women as friends, sisters, workers and comrades, too

Bernie finally receiving more scrutiny

I have been pleased to see that, even at this early stage, Bernie Sanders’ record is getting more scrutiny than it did in 2015 and 2016, where it

received virtually none. If it had, it would quickly have become clear that his progressive bona fides are illusory.

His vote in support of the racist 1994 crime bill (that his supporters used to smear Hillary Clinton, who was not even in Congress), his vote for endless war with the 2001 AUMF, his not so clear positions over the years with LGBT folks and their rights, his appearance on Lou Dobbs’ show where he just nodded along as Dobbs blamed Latinos for the economic woes of working class whites, his support for send-

ing his state’s toxic waste to poison indigent minority communities in Sierra Blanca, his weak record on gun control and his sneering dismissal of women and minorities’ issues as “identity politics.” Any one of these things should disqualify him from seeking to lead the Democratic Party in the 21st century. Certainly no serious-minded progressive could possibly defend that record.

Hopefully a meaningful reckoning of Sanders’ deeply problematic record is in the offing, rather than the cult-like fanaticism we saw in his 2016 campaign.

S Nabozny

For my part, I despise that Mother’s Day values women only as mothers. It reinforc-es the idea that this is our

most important role.

C I V I L I A N ’ S T R I B U N E


TOP

4TWEETS

04

02

03

01

America has no federal law criminalizing gun

trafficking across state lines, making it harder to stop the flow of illegal guns up the Iron Pipeline or prosecute traffickers. Last week I reintroduced my bill to fix that. We need to keep illegal guns off our streets and save lives.

@SenGillibrand

We wish the new members of the Abu

Dhabi Executive Council all success. We are confi-dent that they will work well as a team with their colleagues to achieve the vision of our leadership in driving forward the devel-opment of the country.

@MohamedBinZayed

In the last five years, India’s prestige on

the world stage stands enhanced significantly. Value of the Indian pass-port has increased. Our country has emerged as a leading voice in the glob-al fight against terrorism, climate change and black money.

@AmitShah

In Moscow, demon-strators are protesting

against a new law to cre-ate an autonomous Rus-sian internet. Mikhail Svetov from the Libertar-ian Party told @dwnews that with restrictions on press and political free-dom the web is crucial in Russia. “If they take that we will have nothing.”

@EmilyCSherwin

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

editorial stances)

1968NASA launches Apollo 7, the first successful manned Apollo mission.

1972A race riot occurs on the United States Navy aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk off the coast of Vietnam.

1976George Washington is posthumously promoted to the grade of General of the Armies.

1984Aboard the Space Shuttle Chal-lenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sul-livan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY

KRISTEN R GHODSEE

About a decade ago, I stopped sending flow-ers on Mother’s Day for

political reasons. My mom, a high-school-educated Nuyori-can with a soft spot for Hallmark holidays, was not pleased.

“But I don’t want to celebrate you only as a mother,” I tried to explain.

A resilient woman who once worked two jobs after my fa-ther abandoned her with three mortgages, two kids and no child support, she was more than just a parent to me. She was a super-hero.

“ I wa n t t o a c k n ow l e d g e everything that you are,” I told her. “The whole person.” I start-ed sending my mom flowers on March 8 instead.

It didn’t go over well the first year. The date meant nothing to her.

“It’s International Women’s Day, and it’s celebrated all over the world,” I persisted. “The United Nations declared it an official holiday in 1975.”

“I’ve never seen a card for that,” she said.

“Well, it’s not celebrated in the United States.”

At this, my mom harrumphed. “Why not?”

That’s complicated, I told her.Although a National Women’s

Day was first proposed by the Socialist Party of America and observed in New York in 1909, it was Clara Zetkin, a German Marxist feminist, who formally instituted an international day to celebrate working women at the Second International Congress of Socialist Women in Copen-hagen in 1910. Millions began marking International Women’s Day annually after March 8, 1911.

On International Women’s Day in 1917, Russian women demon-strated for bread and an end to

World War I, and sparked a rev-olution that forced the Czar’s abdication.

After the Bolshevik Revolu-tion, Vladimir Lenin and his newly appointed commissar of social welfare, Alexandra Kol-lontai, declared International Women’s Day an official holiday in the Soviet Union.

From Europe, I explained to my mom, the celebration of March 8 spread across the globe. The early socialists yearned for a world where men and women were equal. They understood the inherent misogyny and sexism that underlay patriarchal cul-tures. By establishing a special day to recognise women, they called attention to the obstacles women face the other 364 days of the year.

Socialists embraced the radical idea that a woman is more than a mother, though she may be that, too. They fought to create a world that also valued women as workers, as citizens and as fully equal members of society.

They desired an economic sys-tem in which a woman need not be dependent on a man, where she would not have to be a su-perhero to successfully raise two kids after their father abandons them.

Of course, 20th-century so-cialist states did not create the world they wanted, but it was not for lack of trying. Different countries implemented different policies, but none achieved the full equality they had promised.

Over a century after socialists expressed their goals, women still earn only 63 per cent of what men are paid, 35pc of women will still be the subject of physi-cal violence by men, and divorce often still means financial ruin.

More than 25 countries mark International Women’s Day as an official holiday, and it is ob-served unofficially in at least a dozen more.

In some countries, women re-ceive flowers and gifts, while in others it is a day of parades and protests for women’s rights.

But Americans have ignored

it, largely because of its socialist origins and its historical asso-ciation with the Eastern Bloc. After the Cold War ended, Rep-resentative Maxine Waters of

California and 79 co-sponsors tried to introduce legislation to designate March 8, 1994, as International Women’s Day in the United States. The bill never made it out of committee.

Instead, Americans celebrate Mother’s Day, a holiday whose precursors united mothers around charitable works and pacifism. Following the Civil War, Anna Reeves Jarvis organ-ised “Mothers’ Friendship Days” to promote reconciliation. In 1907, her daughter, Anna Jarvis, began lobbying to make Mother’s Day a national holiday, flooding Washington with letters until Woodrow Wilson formally es-tablished it in 1914. In Jarvis’ vision, it was a day to quiet-ly acknowledge the sacrifices mothers made for their children.

But merchants soon co-opted Mother’s Day, using the occasion to sell more chocolates, flow-ers, gifts and yes, greeting cards. Jarvis spent the rest of her life fighting the commercialisation of Mother’s Day. She hated the holiday so much that she actual-ly tried to have it removed from the American calendar.

For my part, I despise that Mother’s Day values women only as mothers. It reinforces the idea that this is our most important role: giving birth and sacrificing enormous amounts of unpaid labour towards raising the next generation of citizens. We are more than our wombs.

Despite my rationalisations, my mother remains skeptical. She is a lifelong Democrat and we tend to agree on most things, but I know my leftist feminist politics are a bit too radical for her. I’m sure she would prefer to get her blossoms on Mother’s Day like all of the other women with “normal” daughters.

Still, I have stuck to my guns. Each year I send a bouquet in March instead of May, trying to win her over. I forward her arti-cles about International Wom-en’s Day celebrations from Af-ghanistan to Zambia, and share photos of rallies in Brazil and Nepal.

Since November 2016, I’ve been helped by increasing media attention to March 8, the grow-ing radicalisation of American women and a rising interest in democratic socialism. I imagine a fellow Puertorriqueña, Alex-andria Ocasio-Cortez, may cel-ebrate International Women’s Day as well.

Today, my mom tolerates my hatred of Mother’s Day. And not only because she gave birth to me. Also because she is a ca-pable, open-minded and loving human being who has faced and overcome many obstacles in life, the least of which are her daugh-ter’s militant idiosyncrasies.

(Kristen R Ghodsee, a professor of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania, is the

author of numerous books.)

Have you wished your mother a happy international women’s day yet?

Forget mother’s day. Today we celebrate women as friends, sisters, workers and comrades, too

Bernie finally receiving more scrutiny

I have been pleased to see that, even at this early stage, Bernie Sanders’ record is getting more scrutiny than it did in 2015 and 2016, where it

received virtually none. If it had, it would quickly have become clear that his progressive bona fides are illusory.

His vote in support of the racist 1994 crime bill (that his supporters used to smear Hillary Clinton, who was not even in Congress), his vote for endless war with the 2001 AUMF, his not so clear positions over the years with LGBT folks and their rights, his appearance on Lou Dobbs’ show where he just nodded along as Dobbs blamed Latinos for the economic woes of working class whites, his support for send-

ing his state’s toxic waste to poison indigent minority communities in Sierra Blanca, his weak record on gun control and his sneering dismissal of women and minorities’ issues as “identity politics.” Any one of these things should disqualify him from seeking to lead the Democratic Party in the 21st century. Certainly no serious-minded progressive could possibly defend that record.

Hopefully a meaningful reckoning of Sanders’ deeply problematic record is in the offing, rather than the cult-like fanaticism we saw in his 2016 campaign.

S Nabozny

For my part, I despise that Mother’s Day values women only as mothers. It reinforc-es the idea that this is our

most important role.

10

business


BisB launches digital branch

TDT | Manama

Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB) has announced the official launch of its

first fully-fledged digital branch, located in Galleria Mall, Zinj.

The launch was held yes-terday in the presence of rep-resentatives from the Central Bank of Bahrain and the Board

Members of BisB.BisB said its digital branch

will allow customers to per-form a multitude of transactions without the need for human intervention, such as cardless cash withdrawals or deposits, chequebook printing, as well as instant card issuance through the use of a dedicated self-ser-vice kiosk.

Customers, BisB said, can also open accounts, apply for financing, maintain or update their records and even speak to a bank representative, if they wish, through a video screen.

“Simplifying customer expe-rience is a top priority at BisB. Our new digital branch will pro-vide an exceptional digital expe-

rience where almost every task is easily accomplished online or via video conferencing,” said the Chief Executive Officer of BisB, Hassan Jarrar.

“We look forward to enabling such self-service and digital ser-vices across all BisB branches to facilitate our customers’ daily banking transactions and sim-plify their lives,” he added.

Representatives from the Central Bank of Bahrain and the Board Members of BisB during the official launch of BisB first fully-fledged digital branch in Galleria Mall, Zinj

APM Terminals share prices jumps 51pc TDT | Manama

APM Terminals Bahrain, the operator of Khalifa

bin Salman Port (KBSP), said the share price of its com-pany jumped 51pc closing at 995 fils on Sunday from its offer price of 660 fils on 9 December 2018. Approx-imately 6.75 million shares have been traded reflecting a staggering share move-ment pattern.

APMT CEO, Susan Hunter said the share price is driv-en continuous efforts to increase the shareholders’ returns while responsibly serving the community at large.

Savills to manage World Trade Centre Manama

Global real estate advis-er, Savills, and Bahrain

World Trade Center they have agreed on an exclusive appointment.

Savills will take over the property management, leasing, facilities manage-ment and marketing, cov-ering the entire retail and commercial portfolio. This includes office towers and MODA Mall.

US, China driving oil demand: Saudi’s Falih

No April OPEC policy change, says the MinisterReuters | New Delhi

Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih said yesterday that

China and the US would lead healthy global demand for oil this year but that it would be too early to change OPEC+ output policy at the group’s next meet-ing in April.

He said total global oil de-mand is set to grow by around 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd).

“If you look at Venezuela alone you would panic, if you look at the US you would say the world is awash with oil. You have to look at the market as a whole. We think 2019 demand is actually quite healthy,” Falih said.

In Venezuela, suffering from a political and economic crisis, oil exports have plunged by 40 per cent to around 920,000 bpd since Washington slapped sanc-tions on its petroleum industry on Jan. 28.

On the other hand, produc-tion in US hit a record of more than 12 million bpd in February.

The International Energy

Agency in a report last month left its demand growth forecast for 2019 unchanged from Janu-ary at 1.4 million barrels per day.

Falih said Chinese demand was breaking records month after month and estimated the country would breach 11 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2019.

For Saudi Arabia, he said oil output in April was expected to remain at this month’s level of 9.8 million bpd.

“Aramco is finalising their April allocations today or to-morrow so we will know more on Monday. But my expectation is that April is going to be pretty much like March”.

The Organisation of the Pe-troleum Exporting Countries and its allies such as Russia — known as the OPEC+ alliance — will meet in Vienna on April 17-18 and another gathering is scheduled for June 25-26.

Falih said the group was un-likely to change its output pol-icy in April and if required will make adjustments in June.

“We will see what happens by April if there is any unforeseen disruption somewhere else but barring this I think we will just be kicking the can forward,” Falih said.

“We will see where the mar-ket is by June and adjust appro-priately,” Falih said.

On Jan. 1, OPEC+ began new production cuts to avoid a sup-ply glut that threatened to sof-ten prices. The group agreed to reduce supply by 1.2 million barrels per day for six months.

Sources recently said the OPEC+ production policy is ex-pected to be agreed on in June with an extension of the current pact the likely scenario so far, but much depends on the extent of US sanctions on both OPEC members Iran and Venezuela.

OPEC’s share is 800,000 bpd, to be delivered by 11 members — all except Iran, Libya and Venezuela, which are exempt from cuts.

Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih

Trump to ask Congress for $8.6bn for border wall

Reuters | Washington

President Donald Trump today will ask the US Con-

gress for an additional $8.6 billion to help pay for the wall he promised to build on the southern border with Mexico to combat illegal immigration and drug trafficking, officials familiar with his 2020 budget request said.

The demand is more than six times what Congress allo-cated for border projects in the past two fiscal years, and 6 per cent more than Trump has cor-ralled by invoking emergency powers this year.

Democrats, who oppose the wall as unnecessary and im-moral, control the US House of Representatives, making it unlikely the Republican pres-ident’s request will win con-gressional passage.

The proposal comes on the heels of a bruising battle with

Congress over wall funding that resulted in a five-week partial federal government shutdown that ended in Jan-uary.

Regardless of whether Con-gress passes it, the budget re-quest could help Trump frame his argument as the 2020 pres-idential race begins to take shape.

“Build the wall” was one of his signature campaign pledg-es in his first run for office in 2016. “Finish the wall” is al-ready a feature of his re-elec-tion campaign, a rallying cry plastered across banners and signs at his campaign rallies.

“It gives the president the ability to say he has fulfilled his commitment to gain opera-tional control of the southwest border,” an administration of-ficial, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of the budget request.

US President Donald Trump gestures during a rally at El Paso County Coliseum in El Paso, Texas. - Reuters

Oil majors strut into Houston for conferenceReuters

The oil industry converg-es this week on Hou-

ston at CERAWeek, the larg-est gathering of top energy executives in the Americas, with oil majors showing a bigger presence as the United States has taken the crown as the largest crude producer in the world.

Both US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Energy Secretary Rick Perry will speak at the conference.

The larger presence of the majors, including US com-panies Exxon Mobil and Chevron, comes as those firms are shifting invest-ments to shale in west Texas and New Mexico, and con-necting those oil fields to their coastal refineries and chemical plants.

“It’s a little bit different than what’s been seen his-torically,” said Staale Gjer-vik, president of Exxon’s shale business.

Shale wells are cheaper to drill and faster to start production, offsetting the majors’ past focus on giant fields whose payoff can be decades into the future.

Shale has sent US exports ballooning to more than 3 million barrels of crude a day, upending global supply.


Let me stress here that we will never use the exchange

rate for the purpose of competition,

nor will we use the exchange rate to increase China’s

exports or as a tool in handling trade

frictionsYI GANG

GOVERNOR OF THE CENTRAL BANK

SICO makes new appointmentsTDT | Manama

SICO, a leading regional asset manager, broker

and investment bank an-nounced the appointment of Haitham Haji and Jithesh Gopi to its management team.

Haji, new Head of Dis-tribution and Business De-velopment, previously held positions in Credit Suisse and ARCAPITA Bank. Before joining SICO he was the CEO of Investrade Company.

Gopi, who will head SI-CO’s Proprietary Invest-ments Division, has held senior positions in research, asset management and pro-prietary investments at Al Rajhi Capital in Riyadh.

US sanctions against Venezuela scaring off banksMiami, United States

As the United States has quickly ratcheted up sanctions against Vene-

zuela to pressure Nicolas Madu-ro, bankers say they are shying away from doing even legitimate business with the crisis-wracked oil-producing country for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.

The sanctions target a growing list of individuals and companies linked to the Maduro regime -- including state oil company PD-VSA, the lifeblood of the Caribbe-an nation’s crumbling economy.

But because the penalties are complex and the cost of a viola-tion is so high, some banks are beginning to avoid doing any business with Venezuela at all, said Daniel Gutierrez, head of the Florida International Bank-ers Association’s anti-money laundering committee.

Banks must review each trans-action and examine the sanc-tions one by one, consulting law-yers to verify exemptions and requirements, at the risk of being hit with a fine of more than $1 million by the US Treasury De-partment if they get it wrong, Gutierrez said.

That not only presents a chal-lenge for banks and businesses

but for families in the United States, many in Florida, who send money to relatives left in Venezuela to help them weather the nation’s widespread food shortages and hyperinflation that could reach 10 million per-cent this year.

As a result, “there are many major banks in the United States that have made the decision to decouple from Venezuela,” said Gutierrez, who works with 60 domestic and international banks in Florida.

Washington targeted PDVSA

in sanctions announced Janu-ary 28 but granted a handful of exemptions, such as one that allows the banks to work with US oil industry giants Chevron and Halliburton, but forbids transactions involving diluents -- chemicals used the thin the

heavy crude that dominates Ven-ezuela’s reserves. “How am I supposed to know, as your bank, if for example a wire transaction is for the purposes of exporting a diluent?” Gutierrez asked.

Huge business in remittances“The banks find themselves

in a situation where they have to do a cost/benefit analysis on their clients.” But the potential vacuum opens opportunities for some banks willing to take the risk, especially in the massive market for remittances.

Martin Litwak, lawyer based in Miami who specializes in offshore investments and an-ti-money laundering regula-tions, said the banks could be-gin “de-risking” -- cutting off all

operations -- if the Venezuelan crisis is prolonged.

Otherwise, banks will “try to combat the situation and not take any drastic measures,” Lit-wak said. “This is a business op-portunity,” he said. “If a lot of banks back off, then some will continue doing transaction be-cause they will be able to charge more or have more business” including handling remittances.

Manuel Orozco of the In-ter-American Dialogue said there was a conservative esti-mate showing $2.2 billion was sent to Venezuela from abroad last year and of that an estimat-ed $650 million was from the United States.

Christine Savage, a partner at the law firm King & Spalding, said the US Treasury was “acting quickly” to roll out sanctions as the situation in Venezuela was changing rapidly.

But now they are “working out some of the unintended con-sequences of the rapid moves.”

The Venezuelan firm Ecoan-alitica estimates 80 per cent of cash payments from the coun-try’s oil sales come from trade with the United States, since exports to Russia and China are primarily used to pay off debt.

A supporter of Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido, stands in front of a line of National Bolivarian riot police officers during a demo in Caracas

Banks must review each transaction and exam-

ine the sanctions one by one, consulting lawyers

to verify exemptions and requirements, at

the risk of being hit with a fine of more than $1

million by the US Treas-ury Department if they

get it wrong

China will not devalue renminbi: central bank

AFP | Beijing, China

China has gone to great lengths to support its currency and would not

devalue the renminbi to spur exports or combat trade fric-tions, the governor of the cen-tral bank said yesterday.

Speaking on the sidelines of China’s annual parliamentary session, Yi Gang said Washing-ton and Beijing had discussed exchange rates in recent trade talks and reached a consensus on many “crucial” issues.

US President Donald Trump has long accused Beijing of ma-nipulating its currency to gain a trade advantage and Washing-ton has been seeking assuranc-es on the exchange rate in the ongoing trade talks between the two nations.

“Let me stress here that we will never use the exchange rate for the purpose of competition, nor will we use the exchange rate to increase China’s exports or as a tool in handling trade frictions,” said Yi.

“We have committed not to do this,” Yi told reporters.

He noted the US Treasury De-partment had declined many times to label China a currency manipulator in its semi-annu-al report on international ex-change rates.

Beijing and Washington have been locked in a bruising trade war since last year, imposing tit-for-tat tariffs on more than $360 billion in two-way trade, which has left global markets reeling.

“The two sides reached consensus on many crucial and important issues,” Yi said, without specifying which issues.

China’s banking regulator told reporters earlier this week that the two sides would reach a consensus on the exchange rate and indicated it would not be a sticking point in the way of a larger trade agreement.

“China’s efforts and achieve-ments in maintaining the basic stability of the renminbi ex-change rate at a reasonable and balanced level are recognised by the whole world,” Yi said.

In the past three or four years the exchange rate had been un-

der market pressure to depreci-ate, Yi said, adding that Beijing had used up $1 trillion of Chi-na’s foreign currency reserves to stabilise the currency.

There have been conflicting comments from Washington and Beijing on the progress of negotiations.

Beijing is hopeful about its next round of trade talks with the US, China’s vice minister for commerce Wang Shouwen said Saturday, after revealing that top negotiators had tried to hammer out a deal over a lunch of burgers and eggplant chicken in a recent round of talks.

Donald Trump on Friday said he remains optimistic but will not sign a pact unless it is a “very good deal”, and a top economic advisor said the US president could walk away from a bad deal.

The two sides were thought to be readying for a Trump-Xi meeting at the end of March, but the US ambassador to China said Friday that the two coun-tries were not yet ready to bring together the two leaders for a summit and deal signing.

Main points of draft BrexitLondon, United Kingdom

British MPs will vote on a draft Brexit deal on Tuesday aimed at ensuring a smooth exit from the European Union to be

followed by a transition period that could last until 2022.The agreement was voted down overwhelmingly by parlia-

ment in January but the government is hoping that the looming March 29 Brexit deadline will persuade many MPs to change their minds.

Following are the main points of the deal:

• Transition periodA transition period lasting until December 31, 2020 would

preserve the status quo and allow time for Britain and the EU to negotiate their future relations.

It would also allow governments, businesses and individual citizens to adapt to life after Brexit.

The transition period can be extended once for a period of one or two years, meaning it could last until December 31, 2022.

• Irish ‘backstop’The deal outlines a “backstop” arrangement to prevent the

return of border checks between the British province of North-ern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland if the sides fail to agree a free trade pact following the transition period.

Under the arrangement, Britain and the EU would form a sin-gle customs territory and Northern Ireland would also follow EU single market rules on the movement of goods to allow the border to remain free-flowing.

Northern Irish businesses would be able to bring goods into the single market without restrictions.

• ‘Citizens rights’The draft deal preserves the rights of the more than three

million EU citizens living in Britain and the one million British citizens living in the EU.

EU and UK citizens, as well as their family members, can continue to live, work or study enjoying equal treatment to host nationals under the respective laws.

• GibraltarThe deal provides for Spanish-British cooperation on citi-

zens’ rights, tobacco and other products, environment, police and customs matters.

• Other points It oversees the UK’s withdrawal from Euratom, the EU treaty on nuclear

energy and protects intellectual prop-erty, including trademarks as well as more than 3,000 EU geographical indications.

The latter cover regional brands such as Welsh lamb, Parma ham, Champagne, Bayerisches

beer, Feta cheese, Tokaj wine, Jerez vinegar.

Theresa May, British Prime Minister (file)

Renault, Nissan, MMC plan joint board meetingReuters | Tokyo

Renault SA, Nissan Mo-tor Co and Mitsubishi

Motors Corp plan to set up a joint board meeting structure to discuss issues related to their alliance in a step towards integration of operations, TV Tokyo re-ported yesterday.

Citing multiple sources involved in the matter, the broadcaster said the heads of the three automakers - Nissan Chief Executive Hi-roto Saikawa, Mitsubishi Motors Chairman Osamu Masuko, and Renault Chair-man Jean-Dominique Sen-ard - are preparing to an-nounce the plan for the joint meeting soon.

If approved at Nissan’s scheduled board meeting on Tuesday, the three com-panies’ top executives will unveil the plan for the joint meeting, TV Tokyo said.


Closing BellSAUDI 0.2pc » 8,466 pts

DUBAI 0.6pc »2,578 pts

QATAR 0.12pc » 9,769 pts

ABU DHABI 0.9pc » 4,872 pts

EGYPT 0.5pc » 14,979 pts

KUWAIT 0.4pc » 5,577 pts

OMAN 0.6pc » 4,090 pts

BAHRAIN 0.2pc » 1,406 pts

Stocks hit by global weakness• Abu Dhabi stocks hurt by selling in banks

• Saudi loses early gains amid lower oil prices

• Egyptian stocks up, supported by IPOs

Reuters | Dubai

Gulf markets ended low-er yesterday, weighed down by weak global

markets and a drop in oil price, but Egyptian stocks defied the trend, gaining on the back of positive momentum generated by the initial public offering of a state-owned company.

Abu Dhabi’s stock index lost 0.9 per cent, hurt mainly by First Abu Dhabi Bank, which was down 1.6pc, while other banks were also lower.

FAB’s shares were hit partly by technical factors, as the stock fell through its fifty-day moving average on Thursday and also below its 100 day moving aver-age, an analyst said.

The Abu Dhabi index has had a weak March, falling 5.2pc since the start of the month.

Dubai’s stock exchange was down 0.6pc, weighed down by Emaar Properties , which was down 0.8pc and Dubai Islamic

Bank, down 0.8pc.“Dubai is basically just giving

up the funny little rally it had in the second half of February,” the analyst said. “The rally was

triggered by Aldar’s super-dup-er dividend, and everyone got excited and (then) everyone re-alised there wasn’t a reason to get excited.”

Egypt’s stock index was the only gainer on Sunday, up 0.5pc.

This was due to the initial public offering of state-owned cigarette maker Eastern Com-pany last week, as well as an-other upcoming IPO, Karim Abdelaziz, general manager of brokerage Miracle for Securities Transactions, said.

Saudi Arabia’s main index was down 0.2pc, hit by a weak performance among banking stocks. Banque Saudi Fransi was down 1.4pc, while Samba Finan-

cial Group was down 0.7pc.Banks had gained in early

trading after Saudi authorities said on Friday they had no cur-rent plans to increase Islamic tax levels on the private sector.

The Saudi market is antici-pating the Tadawul exchange’s impending entry into the FTSE Russell emerging market index next week, which could bring billions of dollars of fund in-flows.

Qatar’s index lost 0.1pc, trad-ing at its lowest in more than five months, weighed down by Qatar National Bank, and Qa-tar International Islamic Bank, which were down 0.7pc and 2.5pc respectively.

Visitors look at stock price information displayed on a digital screen inside the Saudi Stock Exchange

Cuba taps into high-end luxury tourist marketAFP | Havana, Cuba

In Havana, there’s a shop selling a camera for more than $25,000 -- roughly 850

times the average monthly wage in Cuba.

The eye-popping sum earned predictable scorn on social me-dia, but it begins to make sense when seen through the lens of the island’s fledgling bid to tap into the luxury tourism market.

The exclusive camera store and other boutiques featuring A-list brands like Versace and Armani are located in a shop-ping gallery on the ground floor of the swanky Gran Hotel Man-

zana.The mere existence of

the shops certainly seems incongruous in a country that has been governed as

a one-party commu-nist state since 1959,

a n d

where the average wage is $30 a month.

But the hotel isn’t exactly looking for locals to buy in -- it attracts “a clientele of private airplanes... princes and celebri-ties,” according to general man-ager Xavier Destribats.

The Gran Hotel Manzana, the first ever five-star establishment in Havana, opened in 2017 in a sumptuous historic building that was, at the beginning of the 20th century, the island’s first shopping mall.

The property run by Swiss group Kempinski is “the first genuine luxury hotel in Ha-vana,” said Destribats.

“It’s the first hotel with a

1,000-square-meter spa,” he said. All the rooms are at least 40 square meters (430 square feet), with prices ranging from $370 for a basic room in low season to $5,000 for the presidential suite.

‘Feels like Miami’The hotel terrace offers

stunning views over Havana’s colorful historic neighborhood, where many Cubans live in di-lapidated buildings that have fallen into disrepair or have veg-etation sprouting from them.

“It really doesn’t feel like Cuba, clearly not -- it feels like being in the United States, Mi-ami or Puerto Rico,” said Celia Liegeois, a 26-year-old tourist from Paris.

Having traveled around the island nation for three weeks, she and a friend had decided to spend their last few days relax-ing by the hotel’s rooftop pool.

Nearby, Suki Lu, a recently arrived 28-year-old Chi-

nese television

presenter, is impressed at what she sees.

“It’s beautiful. Look at the sunset! It’s truly addictive,” she said.

“I live in Dubai so when you talk about luxury hotels, the level there is really high, but I think I’ll like this hotel,” she said, while her friend used a drone to get an aerial view of the building.

The largest single group of vis-itors to the Gran Hotel Manzana -- one-fifth of the total -- are tourists from the United States, although there are plenty of vis-itors from Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The Kempinski group, which hopes to open two or three more hotels in Cuba, is of course not the only chain to show an inter-est in the ultra-luxury market.

In September 2018, Spain’s Iberostar opened its second five-star hotel, the Grand Packard.

French hotel giant Accor is planning on opening its own

luxury establishment on the Ma-lecon, Havana’s famous seaside boulevard, in September.

It will include a chocolate shop on its ground floor and a restaurant and concert space on its roof.

The employees’ outfits will be designed by Spanish fashion de-signer Agatha Ruiz de la Prada.

US blacklistHowever, there is a slight

catch: in every case, the hotels are owned by Gaviota, the Cuban army’s branch dedicated to tour-ism. The foreign hotel groups are only allowed to run the es-tablishments, all built by French group Bouygues, which has a long-standing local presence.

Authorities don’t publish the army’s revenues, but this alli-ance between hoteliers and the military landed the luxury hotels on Washington’s blacklist.

US tourists are technically b a n n e d

from staying in the hotels -- but the restriction can be easily cir-cumvented by either paying in cash or booking through travel agents.

“There’s a plan to build golf courses in partnership with real estate groups,” said industry ex-pert Jose Luis Perello.

The opening of a luxury hotel means Cuba has turned a corner, he said.

“Since it opened up to inter-national tourism more than 20 years ago, Cuba has focused all its plans and strategies” on “sun and beach tourism” for the masses, Perello said.

That category currently ac-counts for 73 percent of the 70,000 hotel rooms on offer in Cuba. And those who rent them usually don’t spend much money.

Tourists sit by the swimming pool on the rooftop of the Gran Manzana Hotel in Havana

Thousands protest Russia’s ‘internet isolation’Moscow, Russia

Thousands of people rallied against Russia’s increas-

ingly restrictive internet pol-icies yesterday which critics say will eventually lead to “to-tal censorship” and isolate the country from the world.

The rally in Moscow and smaller events in other cities was called after the Russian lower house of parliament backed a bill to stop Russian internet traffic from being routed on foreign servers, in a bid to boost cybersecurity.

Critics say this is the latest attempt to control online con-tent under President Vladimir Putin, with some fearing the country is on track to com-pletely isolate its network, as in North Korea.

“We are here because an-onymity is being liquidated in Russia,” said 23-year-old

student Nikita Ushakov. “Authorities are adopting

laws that permit them to put people in jail for no reason, block online resources, block access to information,” he said.

Activists said more than 15,000 people had turned up to listen to internet and media rights campaigners as well as to musicians, who have com-plained of government pres-sure in recent months.

“The government is battling freedom, including freedom on the internet,” said one speaker, Sergei Boiko, an internet activ-ist from Siberia.

“I can tell you this as some-body who spent a month in jail for a tweet,” he added.

“You need darkness to steal and kill, in all other cases you need light. In our day, light is the internet,” said protester Viktor Tinovitsky, a 61-year-old engineer.

A protester holds a placard reading “Putin - No!” during an opposition rally in central Moscow

M o v i e R e v i e w

13 MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2019

I, ANISH KALANGADATHU JOHN S/o. KALANGADATHU VARUGHESE JOHN, holding Indian Passport No. H5864586 dated 27-07-2009 issued at Bahrain having permanent residence at KALANGADATH, MANJADI P.O, PATHANAMTHITTA , KERALA, 689105. presently residing at FLAT NO.11, BLDG. NO. 723, ROAD NO. 717 , BLOCK NO. 807, ISA TOWN , BAHRAIN will henceforth be known as (Given Name) ANISH (Surname) KALANGADATHU JOHN Objection(s), if any, may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O. Box No. 26106, Bldg. 1090, Road 2819, Block 428, Al-Seef, Bahrain.

I, POCKER AROORA MALAYIL S/o EBRAYI holding Indian Passport No. H 2331524 dated 29-03-2009 issued at BAHRAIN having permanent residence at AROORA MALAYIL HOUSE, PONMERI PARAMBIL (PO), KOZHIKODE (DT), KERALA -673 542, INDIA presently residing at House. BLDG:231, ROAD:58, BILAD AL QADEEM – Kingdom of Bahrain will henceforth be known as (Given Name) POCKER (Surname) AROORA MALAYIL Objection(s), if any, may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O. Box No. 26106, Bldg. 1090, Road 2819, Block 428, Al-Seef, Bahrain.

CHANGE OF NAME

OASIS JUFFAIR1- CAPTAIN MARVEL (PG-13) (ACTION/ADVENTURE) NEW

BRIE LARSON, GEMMA CHAN, SAMUEL L. JACKSONDAILY AT: 12.45 + 3.15 + 5.45 + 8.15 + 10.45 PMDAILY AT (ATMOS): 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PMDAILY AT (KIDS CINEMA) (3D): 8.45 + 11.15 PMDAILY AT (VIP): 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM

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

FROM FRIDAY 8TH DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM

3- Mr. & Mrs. ROWDY (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) NEW KALIDAS JAYARAM, SHEBIN BENSON, VISHNU GOVINDHAN

DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM

4- BOOMERANG (PG-15) (TAMIL) NEW ADHARVA, RJ BALAJI, MEGHA AKASH, SATHISH

FROM THURSDAY 7.00 PM ONWARDS DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 3.30 + 8.30 PM

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

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

6- TOTAL DHAMAAL (PG-13) (HINDI/COMEDY/ADVEN-TURE)

AJAY DEVGN, MADHURI DIXIT, ANIL KAPOORDAILY AT: 1.00 + 6.00 + 11.00 PM

7-HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD (PG) (ANIMATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE)

CATE BLANCHETT, JONAH HILL, GERARD BUTLERDAILY AT (KIDS CINEMA): 6.30 PM

8-THE LEGO MOVIE 2 (G) (ANIMATION/ACTION/AD-VENTURE/COMEDY)

CHRIS PRATT, ELIZABETH BANKS, WILL ARNETTDAILY AT (KIDS CINEMA): 11.45 AM + 4.15 PM

9-LUKA CHUPPI (15+) (HINDI/COMEDY/ROMANTIC) KARTIK AARYAN, KRITI SANON, VINAY PATHAK

DAILY AT: 3.15 + 8.45 PM

10-SPIDER MAN INTO THE SPIDER VERSE (PG) (ANI-MATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE)

HAILEE STEINFELD, NICOLAS CAGE, MAHERSHALA ALIDAILY AT (KIDS CINEMA): 2.00 PM

11-GULLY BOY (PG-15) (HINDI/DRAMA/MUSICAL) ALIA BHAT, RANVEER SINGH, SIDDHANT CHATURVEDI

DAILY AT: 12.15 + 5.45 + 11.15 PM

12- KUMBALANGI NIGHT (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) FAHADH FAASIL, SHANE NIGAM, SOUBIN SHAHIR

DAILY AT: 2.45 + 8.45 PM

13-KODATHI SMAKSHAM BALAN VAKEEL (PG-13) (MALAYALAM)

DILEEP, MAMTA MOHANDAS, PRIYA ANANDDAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 5.45 + 11.45 PM

CITYCENTRE1- CAPTAIN MARVEL (PG-13) (ACTION/ADVENTURE) NEW

BRIE LARSON, GEMMA CHAN, SAMUEL L. JACKSONDAILY AT (IMAX 3D): 12.00 + 2.45 + 5.30 + 8.15 + 11.00 PM DAILY AT (ATMOS): 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.45 + 6.30 + 9.15 PM + 12.00 MNDAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 12.30 + 1.30 + 3.15 + 4.15 + 6.00 + 7.00 + 8.45 + 9.45 + 11.30 PM + (12.30 MN + 1.00 AM THURS/FRI)DAILY AT (VIP I): 12.45 + 3.30 + 6.15 + 9.00 + 11.45 PM DAILY AT (VIP II): 11.00AM + 1.45 + 4.30 + 7.15 + 10.00 PM + (12.45 MN THURS/FRI)

2- BADLA (PG-15) (HINDI/THRILLER/CRIME) NEW

AMITABH BACHCHAN, TAPSEE PANNU, TONY LUKE

FROM FRIDAY 8TH DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 MN

3- LOOK AWAY (18+) (THRILLER) NEW INDIA EISLEY, MIRA SORVINO, JASON ISAACS

DAILY AT: 2.45 + 7.15 + 11.45 PM

4-QARMAT BIYTMARMAT (PG-13) (ARABIC/COMEDY) NEW

AHMED ADAM BAYYUMY FOUAD SALAH ABDULLAH ENTSARDAILY AT: 12.30 + 5.00 + 9.30 PM

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

DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MN + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)

6-ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVEN-TURE/ROMANTIC)

ROSA SALAZAR, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, JENNIFER CONNELLYDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM

7- FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY (15+) (DRAMA/COME-DY/BIOGRAPHY)

DWAYNE JOHNSON, FLORENCE PUGH, JACK LOWDENDAILY AT: 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM

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

DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM


CATE BLANCHETT, JONAH HILL, GERARD BUTLERDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 2.30 + 4.30 + 6.30 + 8.30 + 10.30 PM

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

DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM


CHRIS PRATT, ELIZABETH BANKS, WILL ARNETTDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 PM

12-COLD PURSUIT (15+) (ACTION/CRIME/DRAMA) LIAM NEESON, EMMY ROSSUM, LAURA DERN

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

13-AQUAMAN (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVENTURE) JASON MOMOA, AMBER HEARD, NICOLE KIDMAN

DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM

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

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

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

ROWAN ATKINSON, OLGA KURYLENKO, EMMA THOMPSON

DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.00 + 3.00 + 5.00 + 7.00 + 9.00 + 11.00 PM

16-RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET (PG) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY)

JOHN C. REILLY, SARAH SILVARMAN, GAL GADOT DAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 4.15 + 8.45 PM

17-SPIDER MAN INTO THE SPIDER VERSE (PG) (ANI-MATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE)

HAILEE STEINFELD, NICOLAS CAGE, MAHERSHALA ALIDAILY AT: 2.00 + 6.30 + 11.00 PM

18-HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U (PG-15) (THRILLER/COME-DY/CRIME)

JESSICA ROTHE, RUBY MODINE, PHI VUDAILY AT: 9.45 + 11.45 PM

SEEF (II)1- BADLA (PG-15) (HINDI/THRILLER/CRIME) NEW

AMITABH BACHCHAN, TAPSEE PANNU, TONY LUKEFROM FRIDAY 8TH DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM + (12.30 MN FRI)


DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MN


AHMED ADAM BAYYUMY FOUAD SALAH ABDULLAH ENTSARDAILY AT: 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM


DAILY AT: 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM

5-ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVEN-TURE/ROMANTIC)

ROSA SALAZAR, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, JENNIFER CONNELLYDAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 MN

6- FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY (15+) (DRAMA/COME-DY/BIOGRAPHY)

DWAYNE JOHNSON, FLORENCE PUGH, JACK LOWDENDAILY AT: 1.30 + 6.15 + 11.00 PM

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

DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 3.45 + 8.30 PM

8-TOTAL DHAMAAL (PG-13) (HINDI/COMEDY/ADVEN-TURE)

AJAY DEVGN, MADHURI DIXIT, ANIL KAPOORDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM


CATE BLANCHETT, JONAH HILL, GERARD BUTLERDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 2.30 + 4.30 + 6.30 + 8.30 + 10.30 PM


CHRIS PRATT, ELIZABETH BANKS, WILL ARNETTDAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 4.15 + 9.00 PM

11-COLD PURSUIT (15+) (ACTION/CRIME/DRAMA) LIAM NEESON, EMMY ROSSUM, LAURA DERN

DAILY AT: 1.45 + 6.30 + 11.15 PM

12- KUMBALANGI NIGHT (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) FAHADH FAASIL, SHANE NIGAM, SOUBIN SHAHIR

DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM

SEEF (I) 1- CAPTAIN MARVEL (PG-13) (ACTION/ADVENTURE) NEW

BRIE LARSON, GEMMA CHAN, SAMUEL L. JACKSONDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 11.15 AM + 12.00 + 1.00 + 2.00 + 2.45 + 3.45 + 4.45 + 5.30 + 6.30 + 7.30 + 8.15 + 9.15 + 10.15 + 11.00 PM + 12.00 MN + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)

2- Mr. & Mrs. ROWDY (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) NEW KALIDAS JAYARAM, SHEBIN BENSON, VISHNU GOVINDHAN

DAILY AT: 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 PM + 12.00 MN


FROM THURSDAY 7.00 PM ONWARDS DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM

4- SATHRU (PG-) (TAMIL) NEW KATHIR, SRUSTI DANGE, SUJA VARUNEE, SUJA VARUNEE

FROM THURSDAY 7.00 PM ONWARDS

DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 4.15 + 9.15 PM

5-LUKA CHUPPI (15+) (HINDI/COMEDY/ROMANTIC) KARTIK AARYAN, KRITI SANON, VINAY PATHAK

DAILY AT: 1.45 + 6.45 + 11.45 PM

SAAR1- CAPTAIN MARVEL (PG-13) (ACTION/ADVENTURE) NEW

BRIE LARSON, GEMMA CHAN, SAMUEL L. JACKSONDAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 11.00 AM + 1.00 + 1.30 + 3.30 + 4.00 + 6.00 + 6.30 + 8.30 + 9.00 + (11.00 PM + 11.30 PM THURS/FRI)


FROM FRIDAY 8TH DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + (11.15 PM THURS/FRI)

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

DAILY AT: 2.00 + 6.30 + (11.00 PM THURS/FRI)

4-FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY (15+) (DRAMA/COME-DY/BIOGRAPHY)

DWAYNE JOHNSON, FLORENCE PUGH, JACK LOWDENDAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 4.15 + 8.45 PM

AL HAMRA1- Mr. & Mrs. ROWDY (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) NEW

KALIDAS JAYARAM, SHEBIN BENSON, VISHNU GOVINDHANDAILY AT: 9.00 PM + (12.00 MN THURS/FRI)


FROM THURSDAY 7.00 PM ONWARDS DAILY AT: 6.00 PM

3- SATHRU (PG-15) (TAMIL) NEW KATHIR, SRUSTI DANGE, SUJA VARUNEE, SUJA VARUNEE

FROM THURSDAY 7.00 PM ONWARDS DAILY AT: 3.00 PM

4- BELL BOTTOM PG-13) (KANNADA) NEW RISHAB SHETTY, HARIPRIYA, YOGRAJ BHAT

DAILY AT: 12.00 NOON

WADI AL SAIL1- CAPTAIN MARVEL (PG-13) (ACTION/ADVENTURE) NEW

BRIE LARSON, GEMMA CHAN, SAMUEL L. JACKSONDAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 12.30 + 1.30 + 3.00 + 4.00 + 5.30 + 6.30 + 8.00 + 9.00 + 10.30 + 11.30 PM


FROM FRIDAY 8TH DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM


DAILY AT: 9.15 + 11.30 PM


AHMED ADAM BAYYUMY FOUAD SALAH ABDULLAH ENTSARDAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PM


DAILY AT: 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM


CHRIS PRATT, ELIZABETH BANKS, WILL ARNETTDAILY AT: 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 PM

Bell Bottom: Thrilling whodunit that gets most things right

Director Rishab Shetty has turned hero with Bell Bottom, directed by Jayatheertha, who

has movies like Tony and Beautiful Manasugalu to his credit.

It is a comedy suspense thriller in which Haripriya plays the female lead. From vehicles to costumes, a lot of detailing has gone into the making to ensure that it looks every bit from the 80s. The premises, characters, story and the crime, everything in the movie gives the viewers of reading a good-old investigative book.

Jayatheertha has peppered the story with comedy and twists, which make it an interesting watch. Rishab Shet-ty shines in the role of Divakar. His humour-filled act is a joy to watch. Haripriya, does not just add glamour, but has a strong role in Bell Bottom. She owns the character comfortably, never going overboard in portraying the right emotions.

Achyuth Kumar, Pramod Shetty, Prakash Tuminad and all the other supporting actors have done justice to their roles. Yogaraj Bhat and Shivam-ani are seen in cameos. Technically,

Ajaneesh Loknath comes out with some memorable songs again.

‘Yethake Bogase Thumba’ is the pick of the album. Special mention for cos-tume designer Pragathi Rishab Shetty and art director Dharani Gangeputhra as they successfully give 80s look and feel to the movie. Last but not the least, Raghu Niduvalli’s dialogues get full marks.

On the flip side, the movie would have been one of the best movies made in this genre if it had a tighter narra-tion. Nonetheless, Bell Bottom is not a ‘defective’ product and has everything to be a feather in Jayatheertha’s cap as it is full on entertainment.

A scene from ‘Bell Bottom’

C L A S S I F I E D S

In accordance with the shareholders resolution ofBMI Bank B.S.C.(Closed) (the “Bank”) registered under registration No. 55436, it was resolved to voluntarily liquidate the Bank and to appoint Keypoint Administration W.L.L. as the liquidator of the Bank.

The liquidator declares that the authority of the Board of Directors of the Bank had ended in accordance with the provisions of Article 235 of the Bahrain Commercial Companies Law promulgated by legislative decree No. (21) for the year 2001, and pursuant to the provisions of Article 335 of the said Law, the liquidator invites all creditors of the Bank to submit their claims, if any supported by appropriate documents within 15 days from the date of publication of this Declaration, the following address:

Keypoint Administration W.L.L.(+973) [email protected]

Declaration to Dissolve and LiquidateBMI Bank B.S.C.(Closed)Commercial Registration No. 55436

14 MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2019

Pursuant to the provisions of Article (50) of the Central Bank of Bahrain and Financial Institutions Law No. 64 of 2006 as amended, BMI Bank B.S.C. (c) registered under 55436, a Retail Bank; licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain (License No:RB/ 020), hereby declares its intention to cease providing all services regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain, subsequent to its acquisition by Al Salam Bank- Bahrain B.S.C.

Written representations regarding the aforementioned cessation must be submitted to the Director of Islamic Financial Institutions Supervision Directorate at the Central Bank of Bahrain within 30 days from the date of publishing this notice to the following address:

Fahad Abdulla Yateem Director – Islamic Financial Institutions Supervision DirectorateCentral Bank of BahrainP.O. Box: 27Manama-Kingdom of BahrainTel: 17547444Fax: 17537554

NoticeWith Regard to BMI Bank B.S.C. (c)Ceasing the provision of all Services Regulatedby the Central Bank of Bahrain

C L A S S I F I E D S

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

R. Kelly released from jail

Los Angeles

Rapper R. Kelly has been released from jail

here after the $161,000 he owed in child support was paid.

The Cook County sher-iff ’s office said the mon-ey was paid on Saturday morning and he was set free shortly afterwards, reports bbc.com.

It is unclear who made the singer’s payment.

The R&B artist was last month charged with 10 counts of aggravated crimi-nal sexual abuse, involving four alleged victims, three of whom were minors.

He pleaded not guilty to all the charges and was re-leased on bail after s p e n d -ing three n i g h t s in jail. If convicted, h e f a c e s three to sev-en years in prison on each charge.

As he walked out of jail on Saturday, CNN quoted him as saying: “We’re going to straighten all this stuff out.”

The singer had been pre-pared to pay up to $60,000 of what he owed to his for-mer wife, Andrea Kelly, and their three children, but the judge had required the full amount and ordered him detained.

The singer’s defence at-torney had previously said the singer was having fi-nancial difficulties and his finances were a “mess”.

Kelly has been a target of a boycott campaign, and his recording contract has been cancelled.

Justin Bieber feels disconnected, weirdLos Angeles

Singer Justin Bieber says he is struggling with a lot of issues and that he

feels weird.He is reportedly been bat-

tling to make his marriage with Hailey Baldwin work. And though he didn’t ad-dress his relationship, Bie-ber opened up about some of his personal struggles in a post on Insta-gram on S a t u r -day, re-ports dai-lymail.co.uk.

“ B e e n struggling a lot,” the Cana-dian pop star admitted.

The accompanying photo-graph, which was originally taken in 2016, showed Bie-ber in prayer with friends Kanye West and Scooter Braun.

Bieber opened his mes-sage by hoping his journey would ‘resonate’ with fans.

“Just wanted to keep you guys updated a little bit hopefully what I’m going through will resonate with you guys,” he wrote.

Pete Davidson Breaks Silence on Kate Beckinsale

relationshipLos Angeles

Pete Davidson is final-ly speaking out about his romance with Kate

Beckinsale, and has something in particularly to say to anyone criticizing their 20-year age difference.

The 25-year-old Saturday Night Live star and comedian made his comments about the 45-year-old British actress on SNL’s Weekend Update.

After talking about people’s reactions to the recent R. Kel-ly sexual abuse case and the revisited molestation accusa-tions made against Michael Jackson in the HBO documen-tary Leaving Neverland, co-an-chor Colin Jost asked David-son if there was anything else he wanted to talk about.

“Not like a new girlfriend situation at all, Pete?” he asked.

“Oh yeah,” Davidson said. “Apparently, people have a cra-zy fascination with our age difference. But it doesn’t really bother us. But then again, I’m new to this.”

“So if you have questions about a relationship with a big age difference, just ask Leonardo DiCaprio, Jason Statham, Michael Douglas, Richard Gere, Jeff Goldblum, Scott Disick, Dane Cook, Derek Jeter, Bruce Willis, Har-rison Ford, Tommy Lee, Alex Baldwin, Sean Penn, whoev-er the president of France is, Mel Gibson, Billy Joel, Mick Jagger, Sylvester Stallone, Ed-die Murphy, Kelsey Grammer, Larry King, Larry King, Larry King, Rod Stewart and Donald Trump,” Davidson said, refer-ring to male celebs who whose wives and girlfriends, past or present, have been younger than them by 10 to 40 years.

Kylie Jenner and Jordyn

Woods did not reunite Los Angeles

Could there still be hope for salvaging Kylie Jenner and Jordyn Woods’ friendship?

Well, judging by the looks of it, Kylie and Jordyn are working through the recent Tristan Thompson cheating

drama over a plate of breakfast. An eyewitness tells E! News that the makeup mogul and her childhood friend were at the Calabasas restaurant Pedalers Fork on Friday morn-ing. A photo of Kylie and a woman resembling Jordyn was circulated on Facebook.

“It seemed very casual and they both were having a dis-cussion together while eating,” the eyewitness shared.

It was recently revealed that Jordyn Woods and Khloe Kardashian’s ex-boyfriend

shared a kiss over the Valentine’s Day weekend.

‘Captain Marvel’ soars to $153 million launchLos Angeles

Brie Larson’s “Captain Marvel” is soaring to a heroic opening weekend of $153 million in North America at 4,310 sites, reviving

what had been a slumbering 2019 box office.“Captain Marvel” took in $302 million

internationally, giving it an estimated global opening weekend of $455 million — the sixth highest global debut of all time.

The 21st installment of Disney’s Marvel Cin-ematic Universe propelled total domestic moviegoing to $210 million — nearly $70 million above the same frame last year.

JLo, Alex Rodriguez get engagedLos Angeles

Music icon Jennifer Lopez and retired baseball star Alex Rodriguez are engaged after two years of dating.

The stars, who often document their relationship milestones on social media, took to Instagram on Sat-urday night to share the news, reports foxnews.com.

“She said yes,” Rodriguez said in a post showing JLo’s hand with a huge engagement ring.

The actress and singer shared the same post.The pair officially celebrated their two-year anniver-

sary on February 4, and Rodriguez shared a heartfelt message on the occasion.

“Only 730 days which have flown by, but it feels like we have been together forever. We are meant to be, and how much you mean to me cannot be put into words,” Rodriguez wrote at the time.

The engagement comes just a day after Rodriguez posted a message on his Instagram story about soul-mates.

“A soulmate isn’t someone who completes you. No, a soulmate is someone who inspires you to complete yourself. A soulmate is someone who loves you with so much conviction, and so much heart, that it is nearly impossible to doubt just how capable you are of becoming exactly who you have always wanted to be,” the message read.

R Kelly

Justin Bieber

Jordyn Woods and Kylie Jenner

Pete Davidson and Kate Beckinsale

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Djokovic dispatches Fratangelo

Novak Djokovic concedes nerves after making winning return since Australian Open

• World No 1 beats US qualifier Bjorn Fratangelo 7-6, 6-2 to reach third round of Masters event

AFP | Indian Wells

World number one No-vak Djokovic shook off a nervy start to

dispatch US qualifier Bjorn Fra-tangelo in straight sets Saturday to reach the third round of the ATP Indian Wells Masters.

Djokovic, playing his first match since winning a record seventh Australian Open title in January, was less than sharp in conceding an early break to his 128th-ranked rival.

He broke back as Fratangelo served for the set to knot it at 5-5, and then raced to a 4-1 lead in the tiebreaker.

Djokovic had to dig deep, however, when Fratangelo bat-tled back to lead the tiebreaker 5-4.

After a double fault and a forehand error from the 25-year-old American, Djokovic suddenly had a set point, and once he’d pocketed the set, the second went all his way.

“To be honest, I was a bit nervous in the beginning,” ad-mitted Djokovic, who is going for a record sixth Indian Wells title.

Djokovic, currently tied with Roger Federer on five wins in the California desert, can also tie world number two Rafael Nadal’s record of 33 Masters 1000 titles.

“I haven’t competed for over five weeks. I was a bit rusty in

the first set. I was kind of wait-ing for him to do something with the ball rather than doing it myself.

“I was lucky to get the first set. After that, things went bet-ter for me,” added Djokovic, who loped over to share a word with US great Pete Sampras in the stands after wrapping up the victory in one hour and 29 minutes.

Djokovic next faces German Philipp Kohlschreiber, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Australian Nick Kyrgios.

Kyrgios, seeded 31st, was coming off a scintillating run to the Mexico Open title in Aca-pulco, where he defeated Nadal, ninth-ranked John Isner and, in the final, third-ranked German Alexander Zverev.

Kyrgios said it wasn’t a mat-ter of an emotional let-down in the wake of his first title in over a year.

“I didn’t really have a prob-lem getting up. I just didn’t play well today,” he said.

Australia beat India by 4 wickets

AFP | Mohali

Peter Handscomb top -scored with 117 as Australia

beat India by four wickets to level the series at 2-2 in the fourth one-day international in Mohali yesterday.

Ashton Turner hit an un-beaten 84 to anchor Australia’s 359-run chase as they achieved

the target with 13 balls to spare and take the five-match series into the final ODI in Delhi on Wednesday.

A second-wicket partner-ship between Handscomb, who registered his maiden ODI ton, and Usman Khawaja, who made 91, was key to Australia’s best ever ODI chase against India.

Osaka turns tables on MladenovicAFP | Indian Wells

Wo r l d n u m b e r o n e N a o m i O s a k a

launched her Indian Wells WTA title defense with a 6-3, 6-4 victory in a grudge match against Kristina Mladenovic .

Osaka, whose second straight Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in Jan-uary propelled her to the top of the rankings, was beaten by 65th-ranked Mladenovic in Dubai last month in her first match since she lifted the trophy in Melbourne.

Keen to avoid a repeat, Osaka marched through the opening set in 38 minutes, but she hit a speed bump as she was broken when serv-ing for the match at 5-2 in the second.

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HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Representative of His Majesty the King for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Supreme Council for Youth and Sports Chairman, and Bahrain Olympic Committee President, receives a copy of the PhD thesis from Abdulrahman Askar, secretary general of the BOC, titled “Psychological stress and its relation to decision-making ability at sports federations employees”, presented to him at the Mohammed V University in Morocco. HH Shaikh Nasser commended the research efforts of Askar in obtaining the doctorate degree, which would increase his experience as well as the practical and academic abilities at the same time

Novak Djokovic of Serbia plays a forehand against Bjorn Fratangelo of the United States

Sparta retains Tennis Challenge Cup title

TDT | Manama

Sparta Tennis retained the title at the end of the Team

Tennis Challenge Cup compe-tition, held at their base at St. Christopher’s School, Saar.

The meeting between Bah-rain Tennis Academy (BTA) and Sparta Tennis featured eight eight-and-under players and six 10-and-under players from each team. Each competitor played short matches against

all opposition players in their age group.

At the end of proceedings, Sparta retained the Cup for both categories, scoring 49 points to BTA’s 15 points in the eight-and-under event, and 22 points compared to BTA’s 20 points in the 10-and-under event. Sparta team captains, Freddie Boyle (8&U) and Faisal Maseeh (10&U), were presented the Team Tennis Challenge Cup trophies by BTA

team captains, Dalal Kazerooni (8&U) and Abdulaziz Al Betairi (10&U).

‘Player of the Meet’ medals were also awarded to most out-standing players. BTA Director, Dan Barrie, awarded medals to Sparta players Lukas Bhilotra (8&U) and Faisal Maseeh (10&U), while Sparta Senior Coach, Simon Bourner, award-ed medals to BTA players Mar-gaux Ehrmann (8&U) and Jean-Paul Santiago (10&U).

Sparta Tennis players with their certificates

Australia’s Peter Handscomb plays a shot

Liverpool rally past BurnleyAFP | Liverpool

Roberto Firmino returned to goalscoring form at the per-

fect moment for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, hitting the net twice in a 4-2 victory over Burnley that hauled them back to within a point of Premier League lead-ers Manchester City.

Sadio Mane was also on the scoresheet twice in a game in which Liverpool were required to respond to falling a goal behind against Sean Dyche’s struggling side.

And with City having opened a four-point gap over Liver-pool, with a victory over Wat-ford on Saturday, the pressure was clearly on Klopp and his players to respond, which they did impressively despite the controversial manner of Burn-ley’s opening goal.

Firmino had a large role to play in steadying Liverpool nerves, taking his league tally

for the season to 11 and end-ing a six-game goal drought as his side reacted impressively to going a goal down in the sixth minute.

Defender Joel Matip need-lessly conceded a corner which Ashley Westwood took from the left wing and curled directly into the Liverpool goal, with home goalkeeper Alisson pro-testing furiously that he had

been impeded in his attempts to deal with it.

Replays suggested Alisson had a strong point, with defend-er James Tarkowski leaning on the Brazilian from behind and Jack Cork making contact in front of him. The goalkeeper’s furious reaction, sprinting 40 yards to remonstrate with ref-eree Andre Marriner, earned him a booking.

Roberto Firmino of Liverpool FC scores his goal

Shaikh Nasser steps down as BOC chief

TDT | Manama

HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa has

decided stepped down as president of the committee, it was announced yesterday.

His Majesty the King’s Representative for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Supreme Council for Youth and Sports Chairman and Bahrain Olympic Commit-tee president said the deci-sion was made in order to devote himself to the Su-preme Council for Youth and Sports during the annu-al board meeting of the BOC.

Abdulrahman Askar, sec-retary general of the BOC for over five years, will also be departing the committee and has also been assigned to work full time as an assis-tant secretary general at the Supreme Council.

Monday, March 11, 2019

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