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Dwayne surprises mother with Christmas gift While we are still unsure of our New Year plans, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has already marked the end of the year in the cutest way possible. P13

TUESDAYJANUARY 2019

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ISSUE NO. 7978

Bahrain glimpses of 2018

Jennifer Lawrence shares her most embarrassing moment 13 SHOW

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02 2018, a great year of achievements

04 New resolutions, new hopes for life

G R A N D P R I Z E

DON’T MISS IT

2019, a VitAl year To realise nation’s dreams

Cabinet vows consumer protection as new era of taxes ushers in; VAT becomes effective today

• The Cabinet approved a memorandum submitted by the Ministry of Finance and National Economy exempting 1,400 government services from the VAT.

• The session praised all efforts exerted towards achieving the Fiscal Balance Program’s objectives through the constructive cooperation of all government entities.

Manama

The Cabinet chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al

Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Dep-uty Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, yes-terday extended its best New Year wishes to to HM the King, HRH the Prime Minister, and to the

people of the Kingdom. It affirmed its commitment to

continue monitoring all minis-tries’ efforts towards ensuring VAT compliance, and instructed the Ministry of Industry, Com-merce and Tourism to intensify its efforts in monitoring the mar-ket, enhancing consumer protec-tion and responding to violations.

In response to HM the King’s directives to consider citizens’ needs through exemptions and non-application of VAT on basic goods and services, the Cabinet approved a memorandum sub-mitted by the Ministry of Finance and National Economy exempt-ing 1,400 government services from the VAT.

It reviewed a memorandum submitted by the Ministerial Committee for Financial, Eco-nomic and Fiscal Balance Affairs outlining the progress of the six initiatives of the Fiscal Balance

Program (2019-2022), since its launch on Oct 4, 2018.

The Cabinet recognised the progress revealed by the perfor-mance indicators and highlight-ed the Arab Monetary Fund’s commendation of the program’s developments and the establish-ment of the necessary frame-works that would support achiev-ing the program’s objectives.

The Cabinet praised all the ef-forts exerted towards achieving the Fiscal Balance Program’s ob-jectives through the constructive co-operation of all government entities, and instructed that the National Budget for the year 2019-2020 reflects Bahrain’s eco-nomic policy that aims to achieve

fiscal balance by the year 2022.The session approved a mem-

orandum requesting the reduc-tion of hotel service fees from 10 per cent to 5pc to accelerate the development of the tourism sector and benefit both tourists and residents alike.

The Cabinet discussed the joint

memorandum submitted follow-ing the directives of HRH the PM regarding the construction of 67 public schools.

In this regard, the Cabinet re-viewed a memorandum high-lighting the construction progress and recommended procedures to deal with the cases outlined in the report. Cabinet instructed the Ministry of Works, Municipal Af-fairs and Urban Planning, and the Ministry of Education to present a cost analysis report.

The Cabinet approved a mem-orandum banning the import of plastic waste following the Gov-ernment Executive Committee chaired by HRH CP’s direction to the Ministerial Committee for Urbanisation and Infrastructure in coordination with the Supreme Council for Environment and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, to propose solu-tions on reducing the waste of plastic bags.

It also reviewed a memoran-dum categorising proposed laws and legislations at the Legisla-tive Authority into two categories following ministerial feedback, which are: proposed laws being considered and proposed laws not being considered.

HRH the Crown Prince chairs the Cabinet session.

The session approved a memorandum requesting the

reduction of hotel service fees from 10 per cent to 5pc to accelerate the development of the

tourism sector. DR AL NASSER

67public schools will

undergo renovation work as part of the directive issued by HRH the Premier.

Tribune subscription draw winner named

The winning number, and above, Prerna Gupta with her husband Jai Gupta.

The ministry representative names the winner.

New ID card unveiled Manama

HRH the Crown Prince unveiled a new gener-

ation of Bahrain’s Identity Card. During the unveil-ing, HRH the Crown Prince highlighted Bahrain’s com-mitment to further improv-ing government services provided to its citizens and residents, by incorporating the latest technological ad-vancements and standards, in line with His Majesty King Hamad’s directives.

• Ms Gupta, a Chartered Accountant by profession is a long-time resident of the Kingdom and has been a subscriber of Tribune for the past eight years.

TDT | Manama

Indian national Prerna Gupta was named the winner of The Daily Tribune Subscription raffle draw yesterday.

The winner will receive brand new Mitsubishi

Eclipse Turbo 2018 model from Zayani Motors. Ms Gupta, a Chartered Accountant by profes-

sion is a long-time resident of the Kingdom and has been a subscriber of Tribune for the past eight years.

She is married to Jai Gupta, a banker, and the couple has three children - Kenisha aged seven and twins Krishiv and Krisha (both aged three).

The raffle draw was officiated by a represent-ative from the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Tourism in the presence of The Daily Trib-une Director and COO Latha Unnikrishnan, CFO Jayaprakash Menon, senior marketing executives Abhitab Kumar, Vernon D’Mello and Tania Rebello.

Hundreds of spectators gathered around the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, during New Year’s 2019 celebrations yesterday. They were treated to spectacular fireworks display welcoming 2019. Celebrations were held across the UAE as well as other GCC countries to welcome the New Year. Many events were held in Bahrain as part of New Year celebrations.

Enchanting fireworks

02TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2019

BD 1.9 only

Try out our Indian plate - Super delicious and great value for money

2018, a great year of achievements • The Government under the leadership of HRH the Premier accomplished many goals last year

• All goals aimed at improving the lives of citizens by introducing a set of welfare measures

Manama

The Kingdom, under the leadership of His Maj-esty King Hamad bin Isa

Al Khalifa, is moving forward with utmost determination and confidence on the path of devel-opment that meets the aspira-tions of citizens in the present and future, HRH the Premier had affirmed, during one of the recent meetings with the senior government officials.

His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has stressed that the develop-ment process being witnessed by the Kingdom is strong and promising and has the potential to enable it to continue with the same momentum and solid will, and to achieve more successes based on the efforts of the citi-zens of the Kingdom.

The Government, under the chairmanship of His Royal Highness the Prime Minister, took adequate care to create its Action Plan for the years 2015-2018. The programme is realistic and measurable. It should not be

far from an important principle that the government is commit-ted to ensuring for citizens.

Despite severe economic chal-lenges experienced by many countries of the world, including the Kingdom, the government headed by His Royal Highness was able to surpass them suc-cessfully and this is confirmed by the figures and statistics, where the average achievement rate in the implementation of projects included in the pro-gramme of the government until November 2018 was about 90 per cent.

This includes projects fi-nanced by the Ministry of Fi-nance and through GCC support, as well as development projects implemented by the private sec-tor, which are part of the imple-mentation of the Government’s Action Plan.

The number of projects mon-itored by the electronic system has reached up to 748, of which 440 were important projects at the national level, implemented by ministries and government departments, according to sta-tistics issued by the government.

On the other hand, the number

of completed national projects has amounted to 321 with 73pc and 119 projects under imple-mentation at 27pc. In the next two years according to the budg-ets approved, timetables will be followed up in the work pro-gramme of the next government, in addition to 308 administrative projects.

HRH the Prime Minister’s ef-forts can be highlighted brief-ly in the continuous follow-up to the extent of progress in the implementation of projects, the inspection tours undertaken by senior officials to follow up the

projects on the ground, the direct working meetings held by His Royal Highness the Prime Min-ister with the ministers and gov-

ernment agencies, and the swift reaction by His Royal Highness the Prime Minister to the media and social networking sites.

The Cabinet meeting held on December 25, 2018, reviewed 99 service projects directed by His Highness at a cost of BD154 million to meet the 318 requests raised by the people in the villag-es and regions in the provinces during field visits ordered by the ministers.

HRH the Premier directed the rest of the projects, which cost BD55.5 million, to be included in the next budget cycles. The

HRH the Premier holds discussions with ministers and senior government officials.

748national projects were implemented by the

ministries and government departments last year.

‘Zero tolerance on’ VAT law violators• Mr Al Zayani concluded by emphasising the importance of continuing to increase VAT procedural and legal framework awareness to ensure effective and seamless implementation of the VAT.

Manama

In line with HM King Hamad’s directives, the Minister of Industry,

Commerce and Tourism Zayed Al Zayani, yesterday underscored the ministry’s commitment to reviewing the mechanisms of applying VAT during its trial period starting January 1, 2019.

The minister said the min-istry will not tolerate any non-compliance with the kingdom’s VAT law and its executive regulations.

In this regard, the minister highlighted the mechanisms that the ministry has imple-mented to increase consum-

er’s protection to prevent charg-ing VAT on goods and services that are not subject to VAT. He highlighted the ministry’s Com-panies Control Directorate and Consumer Protection Directo-rate’s efforts in monitoring the

performance of all commercial establishments.

Mr Al Zayani concluded by emphasising the importance of continuing to increase VAT procedural and legal framework awareness to ensure effective and seamless implementation of the VAT.

Consumers are reminded that the National Bureau for Taxation (NBT) has introduced a hotline (80008001) dedicated to re-sponding to inquiries and com-plaints. Furthermore, investors may also register their busi-nesses by visiting NBT’s website (www.nbt.gov.bh).

The ministry will not tolerate any non-

compliance with the kingdom’s VAT Law and

its executive regulations.MR AL ZAYANI


BD 1.9 only

Try out our Indian plate - Super delicious and great value for money

2018, a great year of achievements • The Government under the leadership of HRH the Premier accomplished many goals last year

• All goals aimed at improving the lives of citizens by introducing a set of welfare measures

Manama

The Kingdom, under the leadership of His Maj-esty King Hamad bin Isa

Al Khalifa, is moving forward with utmost determination and confidence on the path of devel-opment that meets the aspira-tions of citizens in the present and future, HRH the Premier had affirmed, during one of the recent meetings with the senior government officials.

His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has stressed that the develop-ment process being witnessed by the Kingdom is strong and promising and has the potential to enable it to continue with the same momentum and solid will, and to achieve more successes based on the efforts of the citi-zens of the Kingdom.

The Government, under the chairmanship of His Royal Highness the Prime Minister, took adequate care to create its Action Plan for the years 2015-2018. The programme is realistic and measurable. It should not be

far from an important principle that the government is commit-ted to ensuring for citizens.

Despite severe economic chal-lenges experienced by many countries of the world, including the Kingdom, the government headed by His Royal Highness was able to surpass them suc-cessfully and this is confirmed by the figures and statistics, where the average achievement rate in the implementation of projects included in the pro-gramme of the government until November 2018 was about 90 per cent.

This includes projects fi-nanced by the Ministry of Fi-nance and through GCC support, as well as development projects implemented by the private sec-tor, which are part of the imple-mentation of the Government’s Action Plan.

The number of projects mon-itored by the electronic system has reached up to 748, of which 440 were important projects at the national level, implemented by ministries and government departments, according to sta-tistics issued by the government.

On the other hand, the number

of completed national projects has amounted to 321 with 73pc and 119 projects under imple-mentation at 27pc. In the next two years according to the budg-ets approved, timetables will be followed up in the work pro-gramme of the next government, in addition to 308 administrative projects.

HRH the Prime Minister’s ef-forts can be highlighted brief-ly in the continuous follow-up to the extent of progress in the implementation of projects, the inspection tours undertaken by senior officials to follow up the

projects on the ground, the direct working meetings held by His Royal Highness the Prime Min-ister with the ministers and gov-

ernment agencies, and the swift reaction by His Royal Highness the Prime Minister to the media and social networking sites.

The Cabinet meeting held on December 25, 2018, reviewed 99 service projects directed by His Highness at a cost of BD154 million to meet the 318 requests raised by the people in the villag-es and regions in the provinces during field visits ordered by the ministers.

HRH the Premier directed the rest of the projects, which cost BD55.5 million, to be included in the next budget cycles. The

HRH the Premier holds discussions with ministers and senior government officials.

748national projects were implemented by the

ministries and government departments last year.

‘Zero tolerance on’ VAT law violators• Mr Al Zayani concluded by emphasising the importance of continuing to increase VAT procedural and legal framework awareness to ensure effective and seamless implementation of the VAT.

Manama

In line with HM King Hamad’s directives, the Minister of Industry,

Commerce and Tourism Zayed Al Zayani, yesterday underscored the ministry’s commitment to reviewing the mechanisms of applying VAT during its trial period starting January 1, 2019.

The minister said the min-istry will not tolerate any non-compliance with the kingdom’s VAT law and its executive regulations.

In this regard, the minister highlighted the mechanisms that the ministry has imple-mented to increase consum-

er’s protection to prevent charg-ing VAT on goods and services that are not subject to VAT. He highlighted the ministry’s Com-panies Control Directorate and Consumer Protection Directo-rate’s efforts in monitoring the

performance of all commercial establishments.

Mr Al Zayani concluded by emphasising the importance of continuing to increase VAT procedural and legal framework awareness to ensure effective and seamless implementation of the VAT.

Consumers are reminded that the National Bureau for Taxation (NBT) has introduced a hotline (80008001) dedicated to re-sponding to inquiries and com-plaints. Furthermore, investors may also register their busi-nesses by visiting NBT’s website (www.nbt.gov.bh).

The ministry will not tolerate any non-

compliance with the kingdom’s VAT Law and

its executive regulations.MR AL ZAYANI


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2018, a great year of achievements

high percentage achieved by the Government under the lead-ership of His Royal Highness the Prime Minister in the im-

plementation of the projects included in the Government’s Action Plan for the years 2014-2018 confirms the success of the

Bahraini Government in achiev-ing national goals that meet the aspirations of the country and the citizens.

HRH the Premier along with Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Essam Khalaf reviews infrastructural projects.

VAT charging allegations against retailer ‘baseless’ • The BCCI will continue to hold initiatives to help businesses cope with the stress of VAT implementation, assured BCCI board member Sonia Janahi.

TDT | ManamaMohammed Zafran

A rumour that a leading supermarket started charging VAT earlier this

week was found to be baseless.The rumour that was spread

on social media was circulated along with an image claiming that the store, Al Anwar Dis-count Centre started charging VAT on 29th last month.

The image that was circulat-ed was a photograph of a re-ceipt, which showed VAT being charged on a transaction. The claims were found to be untrue and no VAT was charged on con-sumers, Tribune has learned.

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism con-firmed that it has learned about the rumour. The ministry stat-ed that upon investigation it

was found that the circulated picture was the result of an in-ternal trial.

“The sales receipt which showed VAT being charged was found to be a part of a trial. The store had not implement-ed VAT at the time. If there are any comments or complaints, please call 80008001,” the min-istry stated.

Al Anwar Discount Centre also clarified that the store did not charge VAT on consumers. “We would like to clarify to our customers that the receipt was printed during an internal trial to ensure that the business is ready to apply the Value-add-ed Tax starting from January

1, 2019.”The past few days saw brisk

businesses in car showrooms, jewellery shops, furniture stores and other stores as the implementation of VAT loomed. The Kingdom will implement VAT after the legislation was passed last year.

Jewellery showrooms, in particular, witnessed a huge rush yesterday with customers buying large quantities of gold ornaments in the past few days.

Many jewellers said the busi-nesses surpassed all expecta-tions. “We had a good business during the past week,” a jewel-ler told Tribune.

He said that almost all jew-ellers of Manama, have been stocking latest ornament de-signs expecting a pre-VAT rush.

The Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry has assured that it will offer strong support to businesses through organising workshops and in-itiatives.

Last week BCCI had organised a series of VAT workshops to educate businesses about VAT.

The BCCI will continue to hold initiatives to help busi-nesses cope with the stress of VAT implementation, assured BCCI board member Sonia Jan-ahi.

We would like to clarify to our

customers that the receipt was printed during an internal trial to ensure that

the business is ready to apply the Value-added Tax starting

from January 1, 2019.

AL ANWAR DISCOUNT CENTRE


TDT | Manama Harpreet Kaur

Every new year brings new hopes as we plan a fresh start in the book of life.

There would be hardly anyone who had never set any goals or resolutions for the new year.

Some will vow to make more money or new friends. Others will focus on exercising more or eating less.

Each resolution represents the hope that changing one’s behaviour or priorities will bring increased happiness.

Tribune spoke to many prominent cit-izens of the Kingdom, who shared their hopes for the new year.

New resolutions, new hopes for life Firstly, I would like to wish everyone good health, peace and prosperity. My resolution for this year is to focus on time management in order to maintain an ideal balance between work and personal life and always put effort to improve healthy habits.JAWAD AL HAWAJ, CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, AL HAWAJ GROUP

Being a member of the Legislative Council, I will try to put all my efforts towards the welfare of the nation and its people. I am committed to assess and amend the laws to help in improving the country’s system while functioning amicably with the Executive. DR FATIMA AL KOOHEJI, SHURA COUNCIL MEMBER

Last year gave me some really good

times. I am looking forward for a much

positive and successful year ahead. My New

Year resolution is to work harder and continue different

projects for television as I did in 2018.

QAHTAN AL QAHTANI, ACTOR AND PRODUCER

My resolution for 2019 is to enable and

explore the power of biometrics in

financial technology transactions. I’d love

to put our tech to task and help banks and end users to enhance their financial experience in

a secured way. NAYEF TAWFIQ AL ALAWI,

CO-FOUNDER, EAZY FINANCIAL SERVICES

National committee on chemical weapons holds meeting• A delegation from the Kingdom participated in the review and made a statement praising the work of the Organisation and its joint cooperation with the Kingdom of Bahrain

Manama

The National Committee on Pro-hibition of Chemical Weapons Development, Production, Use

and Stockpiling and their Destruction held its fifth meeting yesterday.

Chaired by Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr Shaikha Rana bint Isa bin Daij Al Khalifa, with the participation of the Committee members who represent the relevant ministries and government bodies, the committee looked into the topics tabled on agenda of its meeting.

The Committee was informed of the outcome of the participation in the Twenty-third Meeting of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Con-vention.

The meeting, held from 19-20 No-vember in the Hague, reviewed the efforts of the Kingdom’s National Committee on the Prohibition of De-velopment, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and their Destruction in carrying out its commitment to limit the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The committee also reviewed the outcomes of the Fourth Review Con-ference of the Convention on the Pro-

hibition of Chemical Weapons, held on November 21-30 in The Hague.

A delegation from the Kingdom par-ticipated in the review and made a statement praising the work of the Organisation and its joint cooperation with the Kingdom of Bahrain

The Kingdom, in its statement, called upon States to accede to this Convention immediately and referred to the importance of the obligation for all countries to implement inter-national conventions and Security Council resolutions related to the

non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and to take measures to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

She urged necessary measures to prevent terrorist groups from acquir-ing such weapons and or delivering them to maintain international peace and security.

The Review Conference is held every five years, which represents an opportunity for the States Parties to the Convention to review the mecha-nisms of their implementation and to

develop the strategy work for the Or-ganisation for the five years to follow.

The purpose of the conference is to strengthen the role of the Convention in the promotion of international peace and security and ensure the univer-sality of the Convention and effective implementation of its provisions, in particular those related to the destruc-tion of chemical weapons and ways of cooperating with the Organisation for the prevention of such weapons.

In this regard, Dr Shaikha Rana stressed the importance of contin-

uing effective cooperation with the OPCW for its important role in promot-ing international cooperation to ban chemical weapons and assist the States Parties to the Convention to fulfil their obligations.

The committee also reviewed the results of the national training course on the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, the amended protocol for small quantities of nuclear materials and the additional protocol organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 4-6 November of this year.

Dr Shaikha Rana chairs the meeting.

Bangladeshi nationals jailed for bid to smuggle marijuana • Both convicts will be deported once they complete their sentences.

• From one of the books, the investigators obtained a phone number of the second defendant.

TDT | Manama Ali Tarif

The First High Criminal Court has sen-tenced two Bangladeshi nationals to 15 years in jail along with a fine of BD5,000

each for attempting to smuggle marijuana into the Kingdom.

The incident that led to the case occurred on July 8, 2018. According to court details, the first defendant was arrested at the airport after the customs officials became suspicious of his moves.

Upon thorough interrogation and checking, it

was found that he was carrying marijuana, they added.

“The drug packets were kept between five

books that were packed well along with clothes in an handbag.”

From one of the books, the investigators ob-tained a phone number of the second defendant.

The prosecutors said that the second defendant was a drugs trader and he was using the first de-fendant to smuggle marijuana into the Kingdom.

The first defendant co-operated with the in-vestigating officials to get the second defendant arrested, it is learnt.

Both convicts will be deported once they com-plete their sentences.

The drug packets were kept between five books that were packed well along with clothes in an handbag.

PROSECUTORS


New resolutions, new hopes for life Last year, I started a media company, Evenchi. This year my resolution is to continue working

with the ministries to support this initiative

so that together we can unlock great potentials in the

Kingdom.ISA JASIM ALI, CEO EVENCHI

2018 gave some of my life’s really best

moments. For the New Year, my resolutions

include exploring new countries, read more

works of fiction, increase my historical knowledge apart from making more

friends and planning outdoors with my family.

FAISAL JUMA, DIRECTOR, PRUDENT SOLUTIONS

I aim to read more in the coming year to

enhance my knowledge. I also would want to lead an active social

life in 2019. I will be delivering more lectures on media

studies to youth, to help them emerge successful

media personalities. MOHAMMED DARWISH,

MEDIA PERSONALITY AND SPEAKER

My works revolve around experimenting with the use of shapes

and colours. My New Year resolution is to work towards

showcasing my work in more countries so that I can contribute

more towards charity works. SEEMA BAQI,

CONTEMPORARY ARTIST

My resolution is to surge ahead with the

media work that I perform. I also aim to finish the book, which

I had begun writing recently. On a personal

level, I would like to fulfil the ambitions and

wishes of my family members.

ALI HUSSAIN, CHIEF EDITOR AND BROADCASTER, BAHRAIN TELEVISION

I will continue my journey of staying healthy and

continue my fitness programme to reach

my goals by dedicating more time. I plan to visit

more countries which will enhance my knowledge.

I will also be focusing on my second passion -

baking.NOOR EBRAHIM ZAINAL, CO-OWNER

OF ILFASSAL BOUTIQUE

Drug seller’s jail term upheld TDT | Manama Ali Tarif

The High Criminal Court has upheld five years of

sentence handed down to a defendant convicted of pos-sessing and selling drugs.

The Lower Court had also imposed a BD3,000 fine on the defendant, who was ar-rested by a special team of police officers.

According to prosecu-tors, an undercover officer contacted the defendant on the pretext of buying drugs from him.

“The accused was willing to offer drugs for BD25 to the officer. Upon receiving drugs, the special team arrested the accused, who was jailed by the Court of First Instance.”

Nakshathra Raj C of the Indian School emerged Kalathilakam in the BFC-KCA Indian Talent Scan held at KCA VKL Auditorium. Shauryaa Sreejith of the Asian School won Kalaprathibha award. Shreya Muralidharan of the Indian School is the Group 1 Champion while Lakshmi Sudheer of the New Millennium School emerged Group 2 Champion. Ricky Varughese of the Asian School is the KCA Special Group 3 Champion. KCA Special Group 4 Championship and Kala Ratna award was won by Mia Mariam Alex of the Asian School. Natya Ratna is Rakhi Rakesh of the Indian School while Sangeetha Ratna is Nandana Sreekanth of the New Millennium School. Simran Sreejith of the Asian School won Sahithya Ratna award. The school championship award was won by The Indian School Bahrain and the runner up was Asian School. The Grand Finale was inaugurated by Chief Guest Cine-Artist Manoj K Jayan and other officials.

‘Indian Talent Scan’ concludes

Court hands down death sentences to duo convicted of selling narcotics

Other five defendants sentenced for trading, using drugs

• The fourth, fifth and sixth defendants were sentenced to one year in prison for drug use, and the seventh defendant was sentenced to six months in prison for the use of psychotropic substances.

Manama

Seven men have been handed down various sentences on drug-related charges, Northern Prosecutor Mo-

hammed Al Maliki announced. The Higher Criminal Court sen-

tenced the first and second defendants to death for the possession, planting, smuggling and dealing in drugs.

The court also sentenced the third defendant to life imprisonment for smuggling drug for trading.

The fourth, fifth and sixth defendants were sentenced to one year in prison for drug use, and the seventh defendant was sentenced to six months in prison for the use of psychotropic substances.

Investigation affirmed the authentic-ity of the information received by the Anti-narcotics Directorate saying that the first, second and third defendants had formed a network to bring large quantities of narcotic from abroad for selling the same inside the Kingdom

of Bahrain.After obtaining a search warrant is-

sued by the Public Prosecution, con-sider quantities of drugs were found concealed in the second defendant’s house.

The third defendant was arrested as he was accompanied by the rest of defendants, who had drugs and psycho-tropic substances in their possession.

An amount of drug was also found in the third defendant’s house, who admitted that he got the same from the second defendant, who also admitted that, in co-operation with the first de-fendant, had smuggled the drugs into Bahrain for selling them inside the Kingdom of Bahrain.

All defendants had admitted to the charges levelled against them.

Investigation affirmed the authenticity of the

information received by the Anti-narcotics Directorate

saying that the first, second and third defendants had formed a network to bring large quantities of narcotic

from abroad. PUBLIC PROSECUTION

06

world

TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2019

People wade through a flooded street in the town of Baao in Camarines Sur province

Philippine storm death toll surges to 68• The weather disturbance locally named “Usman” hit the country on Saturday

• Many people failed to take necessary precautions because Usman was not strong enough

• Many affected areas were still experiencing seasonal rains, hampering rescue and recovery efforts

AFP | Manila, Philippines

The death toll from a storm that struck the Philippines

shortly after Christmas rose to 68 with the number of fatalities

expected to climb even higher, civil defence officials said yes-terday.

Fifty-seven people died in the mountainous Bicol region, southeast of Manila, while 11 were killed in the central island of Samar, mostly due to land-slides and drownings, the offi-cials said.

“I am afraid this (death toll) will still go up because there are a lot of areas we still have to clear,” said Clau-dio Yucot, Bicol civil defence director.

The weather disturbance lo-cally named “Usman” hit the country on Saturday. While it did not have powerful winds it brought heavy rains that caused floods and loosened the soil, triggering landslides in some areas.

Many people failed to take necessary precautions because Usman was not strong enough to be rated as a typhoon under

the government’s storm alert system, Yucot said.

“People were overconfident because they were on (Christ-mas) vacation mode and there was no tropical cyclone warn-ing,” he said.

Although Usman has since moved westward away from the country, many affected areas were still experiencing season-al rains, hampering rescue and recovery efforts, he added.

At least 17 people are still missing and more than 40,000 were displaced nationwide due to the storm, the civil defence office said.

An average of 20 typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year, killing hundreds of people and leaving millions in near-per-petual poverty.

The most powerful was Su-per Typhoon Haiyan which left more than 7,360 people dead or missing across the central Phil-ippines in 2013.

NASA spaceship zooms toward farthest world ever photographed

Tampa, United States

A NASA spaceship is zoom-ing toward the farthest,

and quite possibly the old-est, cosmic body ever photo-graphed by humankind, a tiny, distant world called Ultima Thule some four billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) away.

The US space agency will ring in the New Year with a live online broadcast to mark historic flyby of the mysteri-ous object in a dark and frigid region of space known as the Kuiper Belt at 12:33 am Janu-ary 1 (0533 GMT Tuesday).

A guitar anthem recorded by legendary Queen guitarist Brian May -- who also holds an advanced degree in astrophys-ics -- will be released just after midnight to accompany a vid-

eo simulation of the flyby, as NASA commentators describe the close pass on www.nasa.gov/nasalive.

Real-time video of the ac-tual flyby is impossible, since it takes more six hours for a signal sent from Earth to reach the spaceship, named New Ho-rizons, and another six hours for the response to arrive.

But if all goes well, the first images should be in hand by the end of New Year’s Day.

And judging by the latest tweet from Alan Stern, the lead scientist on the New Horizons mission, the excitement among team members is palpable.

“IT’S HAPPENING!! Flyby is upon us! @NewHorizons2015 is healthy and on course! The farthest exploration of worlds in history!” he wrote on Sat-urday.

This artist’s illustration obtained from NASA shows the New Horizons spacecraft encountering 2014 MU69 – nicknamed “Ultima Thule” – a Kuiper Belt object that orbits one billion miles beyond Pluto.

Deadly Russia blast: Hunt on for survivors

AFP | Moscow, Russia

Rescuers hunted for survi-vors yesterday after a gas

explosion tore through a high-rise residential building in cen-tral Russia, killing at least four people and leaving several doz-en unaccounted for.

President Vladimir Putin rushed to the Urals city of Mag-nitogorsk, where the blast left hundreds of residents homeless in freezing temperatures on New Year’s Eve -- the biggest holiday of the year in Russia.

National television showed rescue workers combing through mangled heaps of con-crete and metal in temperatures

of minus 18 Celsius (minus 0.4 F).

A large section of the building collapsed after the explosion around 6:00 am local time (1100 GMT) at the high-rise in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, nearly 1,700 kilometres (1,050 miles) east of Moscow in the Ural mountains.

Officials said four people were confirmed dead and five had been taken to hospital, but that up to 40 could still be trapped under the rubble.

“I went out to have a cigarette at quarter-to-six,” a local man told Russian television. “There was a blast and a wave of fire... then people started running out.” Other witnesses said the

explosion was strong enough to shatter the windows of nearby buildings.

Russian television showed a grim-looking Putin in a black winter jacket meeting with local officials. He was also shown donning a white coat and visiting a victim in hospital.

Senior officials, including the emergencies and health minis-ters, flew to Magnitogorsk to oversee the rescue operation.

Emergencies minister Yevg-eny Zinichev told Putin that between 36 and 40 people could be trapped under the rub-ble. Regional governor Boris Dubrovsky said seven children were among the missing.

Emergency officers helped by cranes take part in a rescue operation after a gas explosion rocked a residential building in Russia’s Urals city of Magnitogorsk

Two killed in bombing in troubled south Philippines

Cotabato, Philippines

Two people were killed and around 35 others

wounded yesterday af-ter a bomb went off out-side a shopping mall in the southern Philippine city of Cotabato, police said.

The explosion prompted officers to search the mall, leading to the discovery of another suspected bomb which they destroyed, said local police spokesman Chief Inspector Rowell Za-fra.

A female street vendor and one man were killed, while many of the wound-ed were shoppers buying goods for traditional New Year festivities.

Three of the wounded were in critical condition, officials said.

Scattered debris includ-ing items sold for New Year celebrations such as horns made from cardboard and plastic, gifts and a bloody slipper lay at the mall’s en-trance where the bombing took place.

Investigators could not immediately say what kind of bomb was used or name any suspects.

Police officers investigate at the site of an explosion


I think the president is committed to

making sure when we leave Syria that ISIS is completely

defeated and we are inside the 10-yeard

lineGRAHAM

In Iraq he had a closed-door meeting

and he said watch what happens...

Watch what happens because he’s got

plans

KELLYANNE CONWAY

Lion kills worker at US wildlife parkWashington, United States

A l i o n a t t a c ke d a n d killed a young Amer-

ican woman who had just started working at the fa-cility where it was kept, the center said yesterday.

Alexandra Black, 22, was passionate about wildlife and had worked just 10 days as in intern at the facility in Burlington, North Carolina.

“ T h e C o n s e r v a t o r s Center is devastated by the loss of a human life today,” it said in a statement.

“While a husbandry team led by a profession-ally trained animal keeper was carrying out a routine enclosure cleaning, one of the lions somehow left a locked space and entered the space the humans were in and quickly killed one person.

“It is unclear at this time how the lion left the locked enclosure. At no time did the lion ever enter a space that was not enclosed by the park’s perimeter fence,” the statement added, ex-pressing its condolences to Black’s family and announc-ing it would close tempo-rarily.

The lion was killed so Black could be retrieved, the center said.

Black, a recent graduate of Indiana University, had worked a few weeks at the facility home to dozens of animals and 21 different species, its website says.

Ghosn’s detention extended to Jan 11: mediaTokyo, Japan

Former Nissan boss Car-los Ghosn will be spend-

ing the beginning of 2019 behind bars after a Tokyo court yesterday extended his detention through to January 11, local media re-ported.

The decision, reported by public broadcaster NHK and local news agency Jiji Press, comes after Japanese prosecutors re-arrested Ghosn for fresh allegations on December 21, dashing his hopes of being home for Christmas.

The move comes as Ghosn, who was arrested on November 19, faces three separate sets of allegations involving financial wrong-doing during his tenure as Nissan chief.

Authorities are pursuing three separate lines of en-quiry against the 64-year-old Franco-Lebanese-Bra-zilian executive.

They suspect he con-spired with his right-hand man, US executive Greg Kel-ly, to hide away around half of his income (some five bil-lion yen or $44 million) over five fiscal years from 2010.

They also allege he un-der-reported his salary to the tune of four billion yen over the next three fiscal years -- apparently to avoid criticism that his pay was too high.

WH Chief: Trump not building a ‘wall’Washington, United States

Outgoing White House chief John Kelly said in an in-

terview published yesterday that he had “nothing but com-passion” for undocumented migrants crossing into the US, and undercut President Donald Trump’s claims to be building a “wall” at the Mexico border.

As a partial government shut-down entered a ninth day due to an impasse over Trump’s de-mands for funding the US-Mex-ico border barrier, the presi-dent’s chief of staff told the Los Angeles Times: “To be honest, it’s not a wall.”

“The president still says ‘wall.’ Oftentimes frankly he’ll say ‘barrier’ or ‘fencing,’ now he’s tended toward steel slats,” Kelly said.

“But we left a solid concrete wall early on in the adminis-

tration, when we asked people what they needed and where they needed it,” he added.

Building a solid “wall” along the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilome-ter) US-Mexico frontier was a central plank of Trump’s 2016 election campaign, and he has tweeted about it almost 100 times this year alone.

“Either we build (finish) the Wall or we close the Border,” Trump -- who has adopted the 2020 re-election mantra “prom-ises made, promises kept” -- posted as recently as Friday.

A former Marine general who led the military command re-sponsible for Latin America, Kelly was Trump’s Homeland Security secretary before be-coming White House chief of staff in July last year.

His relationship with the president reportedly deterio-

rated, however, and he is to be replaced at the end of the year by Mick Mulvaney, the current budget director.

“Illegal immigrants, over-whelmingly, are not bad people,” Kelly told the LA Times, adding that many had been manipulated by traffickers.

“I have nothing but compassion for them, the young kids.”

T h e r e m a r k s were in sharp con-trast to the rhet-oric of the presi-dent who regular-ly appeals to his overwhelmingly white political base by taking a hard line on im-migration.

T r a i n i n g d a y

A baby elephant playing with his half-brother named Raj at an enclosure at Hagenbecks Tierpark zoo in Hamburg, northern Germany.

Will ‘finish the job’Top Republican says Trump vows to ‘destroy’ IS before leaving Syria

AFP | Washington, United States

A senior Republican sen-ator said Sunday that President Donald Trump

had promised to stay in Syria to finish the job of destroying the Islamic State group -- just days after announcing he would be withdrawing troops immedi-ately.

“The president understands the need to finish the job,” Gra-ham told reporters outside the White House after what he described as a two-hour lunch meeting.

“He told me some things I didn’t know that made me feel a lot better about where we’re headed in Syria,” the South Car-olina lawmaker said.

“I think the president is com-mitted to making sure when we leave Syria that ISIS is complete-ly defeated and we are inside the 10-yard line,” he said, using an alternative name for the Islamic State group.

When Trump tweeted on De-cember 19 that “we have defeat-ed ISIS in Syria,” several mili-tary and security experts said he was overstating the case, and warned against a hasty with-drawal.

‘Thinking long and hard’Graham said Trump was

“thinking long and hard about Syria and how to withdraw the forces” after ensuring that ISIS is destroyed, that US-al-lied Kurdish forces are pro-tected and that “Iran doesn’t become the big winner of our leaving.”

Graham, who as a member of the Armed Services committee has frequently visited US troops in combat zones, was once a

frequent critic of Trump but, re-versing course, now frequently defends him and seems to have gained privileged access to the president’s ear.

The senator’s remarks after the White House meeting were considerably modulated from his tone earlier in the day, when he told ABC television’s “This Week” that “if we leave (Syria) now, the Kurds will get slaugh-

tered.”“I’m going to ask the presi-

dent to do something that Pres-ident Obama would never do: reconsider,” he said.

Graham said he knew Trump was “frustrated” by his limited options in Syria.

“The president is reconsid-ering how we would do this,” Graham said.

“I get it. We’re not the police-men of the world here.”

He added: “I’m going to ask him to sit down with his gen-erals and reconsider how to do this. Slow it down. Make sure we get it right.”

A Trump announcement? Kellyanne Conway, a close

Trump advisor, seemed to hint that the president might b e re t h i n k i n g h i s w i t h d rawal plans.

“In Iraq he had a closed-door meeting and he said watch what happens... Watch what happens because he’s got plans and I won’t get ahead of his an-nouncement, but he did want me to convey that,” she said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Another prominent critic of the move was retired US army general Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of US and international forces in Afghan-istan.

Vatican spokesman, his deputy resignVatican City, Holy See

The Vatican yesterday announced the resigna-

tions of its spokesman and his deputy, without giving any explanation.

Pope Francis “has ac-cepted the resignation of the director and deputy di-rector of the press office of the Vatican, Greg Burke and Paloma Garcia Ovejero, and named Alessandro Gisotti as acting director,” it said in a statement.

American Burke, a mem-ber of the ultra-conservative and influential Opus Dei movement, was appointed in July 2016 after having been deputy spokesman.

In a series of tweets, Burke confirmed that he and Garcia Ovejero would step down on January 1.

Palestinian court sentences man to life over Jerusalem land saleRamallah, Palestinian Territories

A Palestinian court sen-tenced a Palestini-

an-American man to life in prison yesterday over the sale of Jerusalem property to Jewish Israelis, a court source said.

Issam Akel, accused of involvement in selling an east Jerusalem building to Jewish buyers, was arrested in October and Israeli and US officials have since called for his release.

Official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported the sentence, while identifying the man only as I.A.

A source with the court confirmed the man sen-tenced was Akel, adding that he could appeal the ruling.

He was found guilty of selling Palestinian land to a foreign country, WAFA said.

The case has stirred con-troversy since the arrest.

“We are aware of re-ports that a US citizen has been sentenced by a Pales-tinian court,” a US official said.

“When a US citizen is in-carcerated abroad, the US government works to pro-vide all appropriate consu-lar assistance.”

In November, US ambas-sador to Israel David Fried-man on Twitter called Akel’s continuing detention “anti-thetical to the values of the US & to all who advocate the cause of peaceful coex-istence”.

Russia detains American suspected of espionageMoscow, Russia

Russia said yesterday its security services had de-

tained a US citizen in Moscow accused of spying, the latest in a series of espionage cases between Russia and the West.

The FSB domestic security service said the American was arrested on Friday “while car-rying out an act of espionage”.

A criminal case had been opened, the FSB said in a state-ment, under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code, which allows for sentences of up to 20 years in prison.

The statement identified the American in Russian, using a name that appeared to trans-late as Paul Whelan.

The arrest came with Mos-cow embroiled in a number of spy scandals with the West and after President Vladimir Putin accused Western nations of using espionage cases to try undermine an increasingly powerful Russia. US intelli-gence services have accused Moscow of interfering in the 2016 presidential election and earlier this month convicted Russian Maria Butina of acting as an illegal foreign agent.

08 TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2019

flashback

Bahrain glimpses of

2018

n Held under the slogan ‘Muharraq Capital of Islamic Culture’, the Bahrain Summer Festi-val returned with a thrilling two-month pro-gramme. The annual festival, which has become one of the most anticipated events throughout the region due to its reputation of exciting line-ups of live shows and multicultural fam-ily-friendly entertainment, which was filled with var-ious performances along with artistic activities and cre-ative workshops. The festival took place in the Nakhool Tent at the historical Arad Fort and offered a variety of children’s activities. Nakhool and Nakhoo-la, the adventurous duo and faces of Nakhool Tent, welcomed all.

n Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Daisy on a journey to the magical worlds of Disney’s The Lion King, The Little Mer-maid, Peter Pan and Frozen. Individuals got the opportunity to ex-plore the Pride Lands with Simba, dive into Ariel’s underwater

kingdom, fly to Nev-erland with Peter Pan, and join Anna, Elsa and Olaf’s quest to discover the most magical pow-er of all with upbeat music and unforgetta-ble moments for fam-ilies and kids.

n The Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities launched ‘Muharraq Capital of Islamic Culture’ 2018 at the Bu Maher Fort under the patronage of HM King Hamad. The Islamic Educational, Scien-tific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) declared Muharraq the capital of Islamic culture in 2018 during the ninth session of the Islamic Conference of Culture Ministers held in Muscat in 2015.

n Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Author-ity (BTEA) in co-operation with partners from the public and private sector launched the fourth edition of the Bahrain Shopping Festival – ‘Shop Bahrain’. The biggest na-tionwide Festival came with a unique line of events and entertainment, fantastic shop-ping experience and numerous prizes to boost hospitality, tourism and retail sector.

n Bahrain increased the price of fuel on 8 January where Jayyid (91-octane) is now sold for 140fils/litre after it was sold for 125fils/litre, while the Mumtaz (octane-95) is sold now sold for 200fils/litre after being sold for 160fils/litre.

n Al Hamala Cultural and Charitable Society (AHCCS) or-ganised its 11th mass wedding at Al Tadhamun Sports Club in Hamala Village, with the participation of 200 couples from the two main sects and from different various areas in Bahrain. The AHCCS social committee finalised the “Marriage License” programme under the patronage of Labour and Social Development Minister, Jameel Bin Mo-hammed Ali Humaidan, with the cooperation of Bahrain Media Team and Future Leaders Team. The programme, held from 17th to 22nd Feb 2018, included a wide range of family and social awareness issues and hosted specialised trainers from Bahrain and other Gulf states.

n The Kingdom of Bahrain cel-ebrated its National Sports Day 2018 across its four governo-rates with tens of thousands of citizens and residents from all segments of the society partic-ipating in many types of sports. The event, which falls on the second Tuesday of every Feb-ruary, was a day of sports and other fun activities to promote the benefits of an active healthy lifestyle. During the Sports Day, staged for the second successive year, all of Bahrain’s institutions participated in various sports event where the country was transformed into a large green playground.

n Bahrain implemented the new ‘sin tax’, which doubled the price of energy drinks and lead to a 50 per cent increase in the price of soft drinks. The 40pc Customs duty previously applied to cigarettes was scrapped and now are subjected to a 100pc tax. The tax aimed to encourage citizens to opt for healthy products, reduce the consumption of harmful goods, enhance social awareness and alleviate the financial burden resulting from the treatment of serious diseases.

n Under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Wife of His Majesty the King

of Bahrain and President of the Supreme Council for Women, the third edition of Art Bahrain across Borders (ArtBAB)

was officially inaugurated on March 14, 2018, at the Bahrain International Exhibition & Convention Centre by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Command-er and First Deputy Prime Minister. The contemporary art fair, which is the flagship project of the Art Bah-rain across Borders movement, is a collaborative venture with Tamkeen and since its launch in 2016, it has created a new international trajectory for Bahraini artists around the world, with exhibitions in the UK, New Delhi and Mumbai.

n His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa patronised the eleventh Bahrain First Festival staged by the Education Ministry at the Bahrain National Stadium. The 11th edition of “Bahrain First” Festi-val reflects the strength of the national unity.

n INJAZ Bahrain successful-ly concluded its 10th annu-al Young Entrepreneurship Competition at annual ap-preciation ceremony at the Diplomat Radisson Blu Ho-tel yesterday. The event wit-nessed student entrepreneurs from around the Kingdom to compete and obtain the cov-eted “University Company of the Year” and “High School Company of the Year” titles in addition to several other awards. Over 200 schools and universities participated in the year’s 10th edition.

n The 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race that took place at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain witnessing thousands of motorsport fans.

n The Kindom held its 42nd Raft Race at the Al Bandar Hotel and Resort which was organised by the Rotary Club of Salmaniya where organis-ers aimed to raise funds for its various initiatives.

n Rajasthanis in Bahrain (RIB) in cooperation with Indian Embassy in the Kingdom of Bahrain organised “Padharo Mhare Des 2018” an event on Friday, 2 February 2018 to showcase the Rajasthani royal culture and to promote tour-ism in India and Rajasthan.

MAY

n A fun, annual contest sees competitors dressed as everything from aeroplanes to superheroes, launching themselves from a platform in an attempt to ‘fly’. Organised by the Bahrain British Club the event raises cash for the RIA Centre for kids with special needs.

n In the spirit of The Holy Month with local bazaars throughout Ramadan at the Oasis Mall offering tradi-tional goods daily with spe-cial entertainment at week-ends such as henna, face painting and clay modelling. There will also be tradition-al Arabic performance art-ists on hand and the malls will be running the Clothes For Compassion initiative throughout the month.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

JUNE

n The Shri Krishna (Hindu) Temple, Manama and The Thattai (Bhatia) Hindu Community, celebrated Holi Rangotsav, the festival of colours at the T.H.M.C. Ground, Al Hadrami Avenue, Manama. The temple which is located in the heart of Manama at Little India in Bahrain, vicinity for the past 200 years where approximately 3,600 people gathered for the Holi Rangotsav celebrations.


flashback

Bahrain glimpses of

2018

n Held under the slogan ‘Muharraq Capital of Islamic Culture’, the Bahrain Summer Festi-val returned with a thrilling two-month pro-gramme. The annual festival, which has become one of the most anticipated events throughout the region due to its reputation of exciting line-ups of live shows and multicultural fam-ily-friendly entertainment, which was filled with var-ious performances along with artistic activities and cre-ative workshops. The festival took place in the Nakhool Tent at the historical Arad Fort and offered a variety of children’s activities. Nakhool and Nakhoo-la, the adventurous duo and faces of Nakhool Tent, welcomed all.

n Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Daisy on a journey to the magical worlds of Disney’s The Lion King, The Little Mer-maid, Peter Pan and Frozen. Individuals got the opportunity to ex-plore the Pride Lands with Simba, dive into Ariel’s underwater

kingdom, fly to Nev-erland with Peter Pan, and join Anna, Elsa and Olaf’s quest to discover the most magical pow-er of all with upbeat music and unforgetta-ble moments for fam-ilies and kids.

n The Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities launched ‘Muharraq Capital of Islamic Culture’ 2018 at the Bu Maher Fort under the patronage of HM King Hamad. The Islamic Educational, Scien-tific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) declared Muharraq the capital of Islamic culture in 2018 during the ninth session of the Islamic Conference of Culture Ministers held in Muscat in 2015.

n Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Author-ity (BTEA) in co-operation with partners from the public and private sector launched the fourth edition of the Bahrain Shopping Festival – ‘Shop Bahrain’. The biggest na-tionwide Festival came with a unique line of events and entertainment, fantastic shop-ping experience and numerous prizes to boost hospitality, tourism and retail sector.

n Bahrain increased the price of fuel on 8 January where Jayyid (91-octane) is now sold for 140fils/litre after it was sold for 125fils/litre, while the Mumtaz (octane-95) is sold now sold for 200fils/litre after being sold for 160fils/litre.

n Al Hamala Cultural and Charitable Society (AHCCS) or-ganised its 11th mass wedding at Al Tadhamun Sports Club in Hamala Village, with the participation of 200 couples from the two main sects and from different various areas in Bahrain. The AHCCS social committee finalised the “Marriage License” programme under the patronage of Labour and Social Development Minister, Jameel Bin Mo-hammed Ali Humaidan, with the cooperation of Bahrain Media Team and Future Leaders Team. The programme, held from 17th to 22nd Feb 2018, included a wide range of family and social awareness issues and hosted specialised trainers from Bahrain and other Gulf states.

n The Kingdom of Bahrain cel-ebrated its National Sports Day 2018 across its four governo-rates with tens of thousands of citizens and residents from all segments of the society partic-ipating in many types of sports. The event, which falls on the second Tuesday of every Feb-ruary, was a day of sports and other fun activities to promote the benefits of an active healthy lifestyle. During the Sports Day, staged for the second successive year, all of Bahrain’s institutions participated in various sports event where the country was transformed into a large green playground.

n Bahrain implemented the new ‘sin tax’, which doubled the price of energy drinks and lead to a 50 per cent increase in the price of soft drinks. The 40pc Customs duty previously applied to cigarettes was scrapped and now are subjected to a 100pc tax. The tax aimed to encourage citizens to opt for healthy products, reduce the consumption of harmful goods, enhance social awareness and alleviate the financial burden resulting from the treatment of serious diseases.

n Under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Wife of His Majesty the King

of Bahrain and President of the Supreme Council for Women, the third edition of Art Bahrain across Borders (ArtBAB)

was officially inaugurated on March 14, 2018, at the Bahrain International Exhibition & Convention Centre by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Command-er and First Deputy Prime Minister. The contemporary art fair, which is the flagship project of the Art Bah-rain across Borders movement, is a collaborative venture with Tamkeen and since its launch in 2016, it has created a new international trajectory for Bahraini artists around the world, with exhibitions in the UK, New Delhi and Mumbai.

n His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa patronised the eleventh Bahrain First Festival staged by the Education Ministry at the Bahrain National Stadium. The 11th edition of “Bahrain First” Festi-val reflects the strength of the national unity.

n INJAZ Bahrain successful-ly concluded its 10th annu-al Young Entrepreneurship Competition at annual ap-preciation ceremony at the Diplomat Radisson Blu Ho-tel yesterday. The event wit-nessed student entrepreneurs from around the Kingdom to compete and obtain the cov-eted “University Company of the Year” and “High School Company of the Year” titles in addition to several other awards. Over 200 schools and universities participated in the year’s 10th edition.

n The 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race that took place at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain witnessing thousands of motorsport fans.

n The Kindom held its 42nd Raft Race at the Al Bandar Hotel and Resort which was organised by the Rotary Club of Salmaniya where organis-ers aimed to raise funds for its various initiatives.

n Rajasthanis in Bahrain (RIB) in cooperation with Indian Embassy in the Kingdom of Bahrain organised “Padharo Mhare Des 2018” an event on Friday, 2 February 2018 to showcase the Rajasthani royal culture and to promote tour-ism in India and Rajasthan.

MAY

n A fun, annual contest sees competitors dressed as everything from aeroplanes to superheroes, launching themselves from a platform in an attempt to ‘fly’. Organised by the Bahrain British Club the event raises cash for the RIA Centre for kids with special needs.

n In the spirit of The Holy Month with local bazaars throughout Ramadan at the Oasis Mall offering tradi-tional goods daily with spe-cial entertainment at week-ends such as henna, face painting and clay modelling. There will also be tradition-al Arabic performance art-ists on hand and the malls will be running the Clothes For Compassion initiative throughout the month.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

JUNE

n The Shri Krishna (Hindu) Temple, Manama and The Thattai (Bhatia) Hindu Community, celebrated Holi Rangotsav, the festival of colours at the T.H.M.C. Ground, Al Hadrami Avenue, Manama. The temple which is located in the heart of Manama at Little India in Bahrain, vicinity for the past 200 years where approximately 3,600 people gathered for the Holi Rangotsav celebrations.

09

flashback


Bahrain Glimpses of

2018

n The 10th edition of the Bahrain Summer Festival came to a close in August. Held under the slogan “Muharraq Capital of Islamic Culture”, the summer festival returned with a thrilling consecutive two-month program. The annual festival, which has become one of the most an-ticipated events throughout the region due to its reputation of exciting lineups of live shows and multi-cultural family-friendly entertainment, was filled with various performances along with artistic activities and creative workshops.

n Thousands of non-Muslims attended the Eid open house in Al Fateh Grand mosque as Bahrain celebrated Eid Al Adha. Accepting the public invitation of Al Fateh Islamic center to join Muslims for Eid celebration, around 3000 non-Muslims visited the grand mosque in Juffair on the second and third day of Eid.

n Bahrain’s largest summer camp, Youth City 2030, was held with over 2000 registered par-ticipants.The annual event was an opportunity for youngsters to learn new exciting arts and sciences. It was held at the Bahrain Internation-al Exhibition and Convention Centre in Sanabis.

n Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj unveils the plaque as she opens the new Indian Embassy Complex in Seef, in the presence of Foreign Affairs Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa and Indian Ambassador to Bahrain Alok Kumar Sinha.

n A biggest loser competition was held as part of an anti obesity drive. A walkathon titled ‘Obesity doesn’t suit me’ was also held.

n His Royal H i g h n e s s Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa hailed the visit of the heads of states a n d N o b e l Pe a c e P r i z e laureates to the Kingdom.

n Five major events was held as part of a campaign to raise aware-ness on childhood cancer. Future Youth Society held the events as part of their campaign for their ‘Smile’ initiative. The campaign aimed to help young cancer battlers better cope with the disease and to give them a chance to enjoy events catering to them as well as to spread awareness about the disease among the public.

n Top world renowned speakers spoke during the International eGovernment Forum 2018. Cloud computing, Cyber-security, Data ana-lytics, blockchain and Digital transformation were the topics discussed by experts at the event. During the event, it was announced that the value of financial transactions completed via the eGovernment channels rose to over BD300 Million.

n The Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities celebrated the annual Bah-rain International Music Festival held under the “Muharraq Capital of Islamic Culture” program, from 18 to 27 October, 2018. The Kingdom of Bahrain has managed to become a focal point of social and cultural movement, where the pro-grams and events keep on gaining both regional and worldwide acknowledgment. This October marked the 27th anniversary of the renowned festival, a veritable artistic platform which brings together talented musicians and performers from all corners of the globe.

n Animania, one of the biggest and most anticipated Anime and gaming convention in the Middle East made its way back to the kingdom with its 8th edition. For the first time in its history, the event spread over two consecutive days and was be held at Bahrain International Circuit on the 28th and 29th of September .

n A record number of candidates competed in this year’s parliamentary elections. The election also witnessed a record number of female candidates.

n Featuring the biggest ever air display in Bahrain and with a doubling of exhibitor area, this year’s edition of Bahrain Inter-national Airshow was the big-gest to date, making BIAS the fastest growing airshow in the Middle East. This year’s Bahrain International Airshow made huge improvements over the previous edition with bigger and more sophisticated air display, a

doubling of the exhibition area and over 70 percent increase in the number of exhibitors. 67.5% of the 185 exhibitors are from overseas. Russia, US, UAE, Tai-wan, United Kingdom and Ro-mania are some of the national pavilions at the exhibition. Ac-cording to organizers, the eco-nomic impact of the airshow on Bahrain has also seen a marked increase since its inception.

n The kingdom’s Light Art Festival was held - the city was be lit up with light sculptures, projections and installations by con-temporary international as well as national artists.

n The 5,000 Years of Pearls from Bahrain exhibition cel-ebrated the opening of the second visitors’ centre of the ‘Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy’ in the heart of Muharraq. The exhibition showcased an exceptional selection of pearl jewellery from the collections of the Na-tional Museum of Bahrain, Mattar Jewelers and the Cartier Collection.

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

n IRONMAN 70.3 Middle East Cham-p i o n s h i p Bahrain was more than just a sporting event, it was a celebration of triathlon and Middle Eastern cul-ture over a weekend that included fam-ily-friendly side events

n F i r e w o r k s , events organ-ised by various ministries, or-ganisations and private compa-nies across the four governo-rates along with entertainment shows marked the Kingdom’s Na t i o n a l Da y celebrations

n The farmers market in Budaiya got off to a packed start as thousands of people visited the market which opened its seventh edition. The extremely popular mar-ket was packed throughout the day and is bigger and better than previous years, according to organizers.

10

business


China’s Xi pledges to open markets, continue reforms AFP | Beijing, China

China will continue mar-ket reforms and open its doors to the world in the

face of a challenging geopo-litical landscape, President Xi Jinping pledged yesterday in a New Year speech.

Xi said that in 2018 -- 40 years since the transformation led by Deng Xiaoping -- the country had enacted “system-atic, holistic and reconstructive reforms of the party and state institutions”.

“The pace of our reform will not stagnate, and the open door will only grow bigger and big-ger,” he said in a speech broad-cast by the state-run CCTV.

China recently marked the anniversary of the momentous policy shift agreed at a Com-munist Party gathering on December 18, 1978 under late paramount leader Deng, who is considered the architect of the country’s opening up to the world.

Xi said yesterday that Chi-na had welcomed many “new and old friends” to the country, hosting several international forums this year.

“My colleagues and I visited five continents... had extensive exchanges with leaders of var-ious countries, consolidated friendship, enhanced trust, and expanded our circle of friends,”

he said. Touching on geopoli-tics, Xi said the world is in an unprecedented situation under the toughest conditions in a century.

“No matter how the interna-tional situation changes, Chi-na’s confidence and determi-nation to safeguard national sovereignty and security will not change,” he said.

“China’s sincerity and good-will to maintain world peace and promote common develop-ment will not change.”

China has been locked in a bruising trade war with the United States and is also facing a slowing domestic economy.

Washington and Beijing have imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on

more than $300 billion worth of goods, and the trade conflict has spooked markets world-wide.

But both countries on De-cember 1 agreed to a 90-day truce after Xi met with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina.

2019 will also see China cele-brating 70 years since its found-ing as a nation.

“Seventy years of challenges, 70 years of wind and rain,” Xi said.

“Along the way, the Chinese people have become self-reliant and hard-working, creating a Chinese miracle that has at-tracted worldwide attention.”

China’s President Xi Jinping (L) and US President Donald Trump attend a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing

GPIC export growth beats 2018 estimates

TDT | Manama

The Gulf Petrochemical In-dustries Company (GPIC)

said its exports grew at a faster pace with the company export-ing more than planned Ammo-nia, Urea and methanol during the year 2018.

According to company Pres-ident Dr Abdulrahman Jawah-ery, GPIC exported a total of 1.13 million tons of ammonia, urea and methanol in 2018, which was 1 per cent higher than what had been planned.

A total of 49,325 metric tons of ammonia, 409,671 metric tons of methanol and 667,721 metric tons of urea fertilizer were sold, all of which was shipped to its final destination on board 59 vessels. In addition, 786 metric tons of urea packed in bags was allocated to the lo-cal market to support Bahrain’s agricultural sector.

China and Brazil account-ed for the largest share of the company’s total exports by 18 per cent, followed by India with 16pc and Taiwan 14pc.

The figures were revealed during a meeting of GPIC Board

of Directors held under the chairmanship of Dr Ahmed Al Sharyan.

Commenting, Dr Al Sharyan said that in spite of the chal-lenges, the Board of Directors is proud of the company’s achievements in the field of safety.

He expressed pleasure at the results in the field of occupa-

tional safety and said, “GPIC had achieved about 8,353 work-days without a lost time acci-dent, which was equivalent to more than 30 million hours.”

The board members stressed that they would take advantage of all the economic and devel-opmental opportunities offered by the petrochemical industry to promote development.

GPIC officials during the board meeting

Zero VAT service @ EK Kanoo

TDT | Manama

Ebrahim K. Kanoo, the exclu-sive distributor of Toyota

and Lexus vehicles in Bahrain, has announced a new service campaign to save on Value Add-ed Tax (VAT) at any of the its service centres in the Kingdom.

The initiative, according to Ebrahim K. Kanoo, helps save

5 per cent tax on any invoice of BD 100 or more.

Ebrahim K. Kanoo Senior Manager of Toyota and Lexus Marketing, Ayman Shehadeh said the offer allows added val-ue of VAT-free service until the 30th of April 2019.

Service centres are located in Riffa, Manama, Arad and Toy-ota Plaza in Tubli, which are

open 365 days a year, including public holidays.

The service centres in Ma-nama, Arad and Riffa are open from 7am to 6pm, while Toyota Plaza is open from 7am to 7pm.

To book appointment, con-tact Toyota Plaza on 17787888, Arad on 17677222, Manama on 17256677 or Riffa on 17776070, or visit Booking.EKKanoo.com

VIVA introduces carrier billing

Manama

VIVA Bahrain said it has in-troduced an option to pay

for purchases in the App Store and for Apple Music and iTunes directly from mobile phone ac-

counts. The service will be available

for post-paid and prepaid mo-bile plans.

To use the service, log in us-ing a new or existing Apple ID and select “Mobile Phone” as a payment method in account

settings for the App Store, Ap-ple Music and iTunes.

The new payment option will be configured automatically and immediately allows for one-tap purchasing from Apple devices, including Apple TV and Apple Watch.

US judge says Obamacare can standWashington, United States

A US judge who ruled earlier this month that Obamacare

is unconstitutional has said the health care law can stand while his decision is appealed.

In a stay order issued Sun-day, Texas-based Judge Reed O’Connor said that while he was confident his ruling would be upheld, it should not take

effect until the outcome of an appeal is known “because many everyday Americans would otherwise face great uncertainty.”

That appeal process is widely expected to take at least a year.

Opposition Democrats, who have seen the law survive previ-ous legal and legislative attacks, view it as a signature achieve-ment of former president Ba-

rack Obama.Republicans on the other

hand dismiss it as governmen-tal overreach and President Donald Trump made repealing the law a key part of his cam-paign platform.

In a separate Obamacare case in 2012, five of the nine Supreme Court justices upheld the law. All five remain on the court.


Oyster farmers in soup over climate changes

AFP | Cancale, France

Gulping down oysters has long been a favourite New Year’s Eve ritual

for the French, but as winters get warmer and summers get drier many growers worry there will soon be fewer of the prized mollusks to go around.

“Twenty years ago, we’d be shivering in the warehouse while preparing the holiday or-ders. Today it’s 15 degrees (60 Fahrenheit),” says Brittany oys-terman Mathieu Le Moal, his sleeves rolled up in front of a tractor carrying dozens of bulg-ing oyster sacks.

“We don’t have seasons an-ymore -- but oysters need all four,” Le Moal adds. “They need the winter, it’s when they can rest, use less energy.”

Inside a wooden hanger redo-lent of salt and the sea, around a dozen of his workers are sorting, weighing and packing oysters into crates in the Brittany port of Cancale.

Le Moal and other farmers along this stretch of France’s Emerald Coast say the long drought which struck swathes of the country this summer took a heavy toll, leading to smaller harvests, and smaller shellfish.

Without summer rains that wash crucial minerals into the oyster beds, “there’s no plank-ton, the main food for oysters, so they don’t grow,” explained fellow oysterman Bertrand Racinne, weaving his way be-tween baskets and stacked crates.

“In the end, we have oysters but not enough of the big ones,” said Racinne, who like most growers sells more than half his yearly production in December.

Cold weather normally en-courages a needed rest for oysters to mature, said Yoann Thomas of France’s IRD research institute.

But this winter has so far been unusually warm and, paradoxi-cally, too rainy.

Rains may bring minerals that favour plankton growth -- but they also mean the mollusks spend too much energy eating.

This year’s harvest are likely to start the spring “fragile and vulnerable”, warned Racinne.

“We’ve found that periods of extreme mortality (more than 25 percent of oysters) come sev-eral months after mild and rainy winters,” Thomas said.

Germs thrive “Ten grams fewer for each

one, that makes a difference in sales,” said Philippe Le Gal, president of the CNC national shellfish producers’ association.

In 2017 the roughly 4,500 oyster growers in France sold 100,000 tons, at an average price of 5,000 euros ($5,700) per ton.

“Oyster farmers will see vol-umes down by 20 to 30 percent this year,” Le Gal said. “Climate warming is starting to have an impact.”

Warmer water temperatures are also a risk because they fa-cilitate the spread of viruses that are especially harmful to oyster larvae, or spat, and young

oysters.Scientists point in particular

to a Herpes virus, OsHV-1, that has been present in French

oyster waters since 1991 but has become more aggressive recently, for reasons still un-

known.S i n c e

2008, u p t o

75 per-c e n t o f

y o u n g o y s t e r s

have been lost in some

years, said Fab-rice Pernet at the

Ifremer ocean re-search institute in

Brest.“Oyster farmers had

found a solution by put-ting ten times the amount

of spat in the water in au-tumn, when the virus is not

active,” Pernet said.But warmer waters would re-

duce this window of opportuni-ty, he said, and new pathogens could arrive if carried north by fish and other sea life fleeing ris-ing temperatures further south.

Adding to the challenges, ris-ing ocean acidity requires oys-ters to spend more energy in building their shells, Pernet said.

‘Still magnificent’Erratic and extreme weather

conditions are likely to become

more frequent unless aggressive steps are taken to limit climate change caused by human activ-ities, scientists warn.

“By 2035 the abnormally high mortality episodes that current-ly occur every ten years risk hap-pening every two years,” Pernet said.

Not every oyster farmer is convinced, however, saying the bigger risks are pollution, oyster beds that are becoming too densely packed and the in-creased use of genetically mod-ified species.

“Mortality rates change every year, depending on the region... but nobody can really explain why,” said Alexandre Prod’homme, another grower in Cancale.

But if warming and weather patterns become increasingly volatile, French farmers might have to start changing their growing seasons or move their beds north or further out to sea, Pernet said.

“Oysters aren’t going to dis-appear... but they’re probably going to have to migrate,” he predicted.

For now, most growers say they’re going to wait and see.

“We’re not sure about any-thing regarding the impact of global warming, we’re waiting for more scientific research,” said Daniel Coirier, president of the shellfish association for the Poitou-Charentes region.

“But even if they’re not as big, our oysters are still magnificent, and top quality!”

Le Moal and other farmers along this stretch of France’s Emerald Coast say the long

drought which struck swathes of the country this summer took a heavy toll, leading to smaller harvests, and smaller shellfish

A general view of oyster beds in Cancale, western France.

Crates filled with oysters in sale, in Cancale, western France

12TUESDAY, JANUARY 1 , 2019

Key figures around 1245 GMTLondon - FTSE 100: 0.1pc at 6,728.13 points (close)

Paris - CAC 40: 1.1pc at 4,730.69

Frankfurt - Closed for public holiday

EURO STOXX 50: 0.4pc at 2,998.24

Tokyo - Closed for public holiday

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: 1.3pc at 25,845.70 (close)

Shanghai - Closed for public holiday

New York - Dow: 0.3pc at 23,062.40 (close)

Euro/dollar: at $1.1439 from $1.1444 at 2200 GMT

Dollar/yen: at 110.13 yen from 110.27 yen

Pound/dollar: at $1.2743 from $1.2699

Oil - Brent Crude: 63 cents at $56.84 per barrel

Oil - West Texas Inter: 41 cents at $45.74

Closing BellSAUDI 0.2pc to 7,827 points

EGYPT 0.7pc to 13,036 points

DUBAI 2.4pc to 2,530 points

ABU DHABI 1.9pc to 4,915 points

QATAR 0.2pc to 10,299 points

KUWAIT 0.1pc to 5,267 points

BAHRAIN 0.4pc to 1,337 points

OMAN 0.4pc to 4,324 points

500-euro note gets last print runParis, France

The eurozone is moving to stop printing 500-euro

banknotes, the violet-coloured bills that authorities fear are fa-voured by criminals, with most of the 19 nations in the currency bloc to halt issuing them next month.

“As of 27 January 2019, 17 of the 19 national central banks in the euro area will no longer issue 500-euro banknotes,” the European Central Bank said on its website. However, Austria and Germany will both contin-ue printing the banknotes until April 26 “in order to ensure a smooth transition and for logis-tical reasons”, the ECB said.

The ECB announced in May 2016 that it would halt issuing new 500-euro notes, saying at the time that it expected to do so around the end of 2018, due to “concerns that this banknote

could facilitate illicit activities”.The largest denomination

banknote in the single currency area is one of the world’s most valuable bills, alongside the 1,000 Swiss franc ($1,017, 888

euros) note.Because of its high value and

portability, experts believe the 500-euro note had become prized by criminals for money laundering and even terrorist financing, earning the nickname “Bin Laden” in some circles.

According to ECB statistics, 500-euro bills account for just 2.4 per cent of the total number of banknotes in circulation, but a little over 20pc of the total value. At the end of November there were 521 million of the banknotes in circulation. The 500-euro banknotes were ac-tually last printed in 2014, with demand satisfied since from stocks.

Several 500 Euro notes displayed in an arrangement

Dubai leaps as Gulf ends strong year• Dubai posts biggest rise since June 2017

• Local institutions buy real estate stocks

• Dubai is world’s worst 2018 performer in local currency terms

• Kuwait, Saudi all beat emerging market index in 2018

Reuters | Dubai

Dubai’s beaten-down stock market rose sharply yes-terday as the largest

Gulf bourses ended a year in which most outperformed glob-al benchmarks, although soft oil prices cloud the outlook for 2019.

The Dubai index, which hit five-year lows last week, surged 2.4 per cent — it biggest rise since June 2017 — as real estate stocks rebounded. Emaar Prop-erties gained 3.3pc and DAMAC

Properties added 4.1pc.Dubai’s bounce still left it

down 24.9pc for all of 2018, making it the world’s worst-per-forming major stock market for the year in local currency terms,

marginally underperforming in-dexes in Shanghai and Athens.

Exchange data showed buying by local institutions supported the market on Monday.

Slumping Dubai real estate

prices, a major cause of the stock market’s weakness in 2018, still show no clear sign of recover-ing. Foreign investors sold a net $77.9 million of Dubai stocks in the last quarter of 2018, a large

amount by historical standards, exchange data shows.

Other big Gulf markets fared much better during 2018, how-ever. Saudi Arabia rose 0.2pc yesterday, bringing its annu-al gain to 8.3pc — far outper-forming a 16.9pc drop by MSCI’s emerging market index.

A $30 slide in oil prices since October has cast a shadow over Gulf markets’ performance in 2019.

Partly because of weak oil prices, “consumer and business sentiment remains depressed across the region,” said Akber

Khan, head of asset management at Al Rayan Investment in Doha.

However, Saudi Arabia is due to join the emerging market in-dexes of MSCI and FTSE Russell next year, which is expected to attract $15 billion of passive, in-dex-linked funds to Riyadh and billions more in active funds.

As a result, Saudi Arabia was the favourite market of fund managers polled by Reuters late this month, with 54pc expecting to raise their Saudi equity alloca-tions and none to reduce them in the next three months.

Kuwait’s blue-chip index, up 9.9pc in 2018, also outperformed other emerging markets by a big margin. Interest in Kuwait has been fuelled by its entry into FTSE Russell’s emerging market index in 2018 and MSCI’s deci-sion to consider in 2019 wheth-er to upgrade Kuwait to that status.

Qatar’s index closed yesterday up 20.8pc for the year. Stocks rose sharply in 2018 as com-panies raised limits on foreign ownership of their shares, a fac-tor which could fade in 2019 as

MSCI hopes draw funds to Sau-di Arabia and Kuwait.

Traders on the floor of Saudi Stock exchange

Pakistan national airline fires pilots with fake school degrees

Islamabad, Pakistan

Pakistan’s national flag car-rier has fired 50 staffers in-

cluding three pilots for holding fake high school degrees, an airline official said yesterday, in the latest embarrassing mis-hap to hit the troubled airline.

Pakistan International Air-lines (PIA), which was con-sidered a global leader in commercial aviation until the 1970s, has been plagued by myriad controversies in recent

years and saddled by billions of dollars in debt.

“The airline has dismissed from service its 50 staffers in-cluding three pilots for holding fake high school degrees,” PIA’s spokesman Mashood Tajwar said. He said at least six ad-ditional pilots had been fired recently on the same grounds.

The airline has cancelled the pilots’ licenses, Tajwar added. He did not speci-fy what the other PIA staff who were sacked did for the airline.

Representative Picture (Courtesy of India TV)

UK awards Brexit ferry contract to firm with no shipsLondon, United Kingdom

Britain’s tortuous breakup with the European Union

took a bizarre turn yesterday after it emerged that London has awarded an emergency ferry services contract to a company without any ships.

B r i t a i n re a c h e d t h re e commercial agreements to move cargo should the main cross-Channel sea route grind to a halt after Brexit takes place on March 29.

Two of them went to estab-lished companies in Denmark and France.

The smallest of the three was won by Seaborne Freight -- a London-based firm that only intends to start providing

ferry services next year.Britain’s transport depart-

ment did not explain why Sea-borne was handed the $17.7 million deal.

“This contract was awarded in the full knowledge that Sea-borne Freight is a new ship-ping provider, and that the ex-tra capacity and vessels would be provided as part of its first services,” the ministry said in a statement released to AFP.

“As with all contracts, we carefully vetted the compa-ny’s commercial, technical and financial position in detail be-fore making the award.”

But a local councillor said it seemed unlikely that Seaborne could have everything set up in time.

Markets stagger towards end of worst year since fin crisisLondon, United Kingdom

World stock markets stag-gered yesterday towards

the end of their worst year since the global financial crisis a dec-ade ago, rocked by rising inter-est rates, the global trade war and Brexit, dealers said.

London and Paris wobbled in holiday-shortened trade on New Year’s Eve -- but nursed dizzying double-digit annual falls after an exceptionally vol-atile 2018.

Hong Kong rose yesterday af-ter US President Donald Trump hailed “big progress” on resolv-ing Washington’s trade war with Beijing, but was down almost 14 percent over the year.

Equities have been hammered in 2018 by tighter monetary pol-icy -- from both the US Federal Reserve and also the European Central Bank, which halted its quantitative easing stimulus

policy this month.The Bank of England mean-

while hiked British interest rates in August for the second time since the financial crisis to help tame inflation, despite worries that Brexit could wreak

havoc on the economy.Sentiment was also slammed

by US President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ trade policy which has sparked a damag-ing trade war with China and others. Wall Street did howev-

er mark the longest-ever “bull market” in August, a run that began amid extraordinary cri-sis-era monetary policy -- but for which Trump has claimed credit after his tax cuts and reg-ulatory rollbacks.

In Europe yesterday, Lon-don’s benchmark FTSE 100 in-dex dipped 0.1 percent to finish at 6,728.13 points, marking a sharp annual loss of 12.5 per-cent. The Paris CAC 40 climbed 1.1 percent to end at 4,730.69 points -- which was drop of nearly 11 percent for the year.

Key Asian markets also limped towards the end -- meaning that they are 20 percent below their most recent peaks.

Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei index had rounded out 2018 on Friday with its first annual loss since 2011, and Shanghai became the worst-perform-ing major global stock market, dropping by nearly a quarter.


I, ANZAR SHAH S/O MOHAMMED MURTUZA, holding Indian Passport No. Z3073528, dated 08.09.2016 issued at BAHRAIN having permanent residence at (full address in India) H NO. 1032/1366, MOH. KALYAN SINGH, NEAR GHARO WALA CHOWK, MAWANA, DIST. MEERUT, UP. presently residing at (full address in Bahrain) FLAT - 203, BLDG- 2048, ROAD 106, BLOCK 1033, MALKIYA, will henceforth be known as (Given name) ANZAR (Surname) SHAH.Objection(s) if any, may be forwarded to Embassy of India, P.O Box 26106, Bldg 1090, Road 2819, Block 428, Al Seef, Kingdom of Bahrain.

MARY POPPINS RETURNS (G) (ADVENTURE/MUSICAL/FAMILY) NEW

EMILY BLUNT, LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA, BEN WHISHAW

OASIS JUFFAIR :DAILY AT (ATMOS): 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM DAILY AT:(KIDS CINEMA): 7.45 + 10.15 PM DAILY AT (VIP): 12.45 + 3.15 + 5.45 + 8.15 + 10.45 PMCITYCENTRE DAILY AT (IMAX 2D): 10.30 AM + 3.45 + 6.30 PMDAILY AT: 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PM + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)DAILY AT (VIP II): 12.00 + 2.45 + 5.30 + 8.15 + 11.00 PMSEEF (II) DAILY AT: 12.45 + 3.30 + 6.15 + 9.00 + 11.45 PM + (12.45 MN THURS/FRI)SAAR DAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.45 + 5.30 + 8.15 + (11.00 PM THURS/FRI)WADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PM

SIMMBA (PG-15) (HINDI/ACTION/COMEDY/DRAMA/ROMANTIC) NEW

RANVEER SINGH, AJAY DEVGN, SARA ALI KHAN

OASIS JUFFAIR :DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 + 11.15 PM CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM

SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 PM + 12.00 MNSAAR DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + (11.00 PM THURS/FRI)WADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 2.45 + 5.45 + 8.45 + 11.45 PM

THOMAS & FRIENDS: BIG WORLD!

BIG ADVENTURES! THE MOVIE (G) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE) NEW

DONA ADWERA, PETER ANDRE, RICHIE CAMPBELL

OASIS JUFFAIR :DAILY AT:(KIDS CINEMA): 2.30 + 4.15 + 6.00 PMCITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 2.30 + 4.30 PMSEEF (II) DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.00 + 3.00 + 5.00 PMSAAR DAILY AT: 12.15 + 2.15 + 4.15 + 6.15 PMWADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 1.15 + 3.00 + 4.45 PM

THE FIXIES: TOP SECRET (G) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY) NEW

LARISA BROKHMAN, PROKHOR CHEKHOVSKOY, JODI EICHELBERGER

OASIS JUFFAIR :DAILY AT:(KIDS CINEMA): 11.00 AM + 12.45 PMCITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 1.00 + 2.45 + 4.30 PMSEEF (II) DAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 1.30 + 3.15 + 5.00 PMSAAR DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.15 + 2.00 + 3.45 PMWADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 1.15 + 3.00 PM

PRETHAM 2 (PG-15) (MALAYALAM) NEW

JAYASURYA, DAIN DAVIS, SANIYA IYAPPAN

OASIS JUFFAIR :DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PM SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PMAL HAMRA DAILY AT: 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 PM + (12.00 MN THURS/FRI)

ZERO (PG-15) (HINDI/DRAMA/COMEDY/ROMANTIC)

SHAH RUKH KHAN, ANUSHKA SHARMA, KATRINA KAIF

OASIS JUFFAIR :DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PM.CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.45 + 5.00 + 8.15 + 11.30 PMSEEF (I) DAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 2.45 + 5.45 + 8.45 + 11.45 PMSAAR DAILY AT: 8.15 + (11.15 PM THURS/FRI)WADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 4.45 + 5.15 + 7.45 + 8.15 + 10.45 + 11.15 PM

AQUAMAN (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVENTURE)

JASON MOMOA, AMBER HEARD, NICOLE KIDMAN

OASIS JUFFAIR :DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 + 11.15 PM CITYCENTRE DAILY AT (ATMOS): 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PMDAILY AT (VIP I): 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PM DAILY AT (IMAX 3D): 9.15 PM + 12.00 MNDAILY AT: (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)SEEF (II) DAILAY AT: 11.45 AM + 2.45 + 5.45 + 8.45 + 11.45 PM + (12.45 MN THURS/FRI)SAAR DAILY AT: 5.30 + 8.30 PM. + (11.30 PM. THURS./FRI.)WADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PM.

BUMBLEBEE (PG-13) (ACTION /ADVENTURE/SCI-FICTION)

HAILEE STEINFELD, JOHN CENA, JORGE LENDEBORG JR.

OASIS JUFFAIR :DAILY AT: 12.15 + 5.45 + 11.15 PMCITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 PM + 12.00 MNDAILY AT (IMAX 3D): 1.15 PMSEEF (II) DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)WADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM

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

JOHN C. REILLY, SARAH SILVARMAN, GAL GADOT

OASIS JUFFAIR :DAILAY AT: 10.45 AM + 3.30 + 8.15 PM CITYCENTRE DAILAY AT: 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PMSEEF (II) DAILAY AT: 11.15 AM + 1.30 + 3.45 + 6.00 + 8.15 + 10.30 PM

SPIDER MAN INTO THE SPIDER VERSE (PG) (ANIMATION/ACTION/ADVENTURE)

HAILEE STEINFELD, NICOLAS CAGE, MAHERSHALA ALI

OASIS JUFFAIR DAILY AT: 1.00 + 5.45 + 10.30 PM CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PMSEEF (II) DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 4.30 + 9.30 PM

MAARI 2 (PG-15) (TAMIL) DHANUSH, SAI PALLAVI,TOVINO THOMAS,

VIDYA PRADEEP, KRISHNA KULASEKARAN

DAILY AT: 2.45 + 8.15 PM SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 + 11.15 PM

KEDARNATH (PG-15)(HINDI/DRAMA/ROMANTIC)

RAJINIKANTH, AKSHAY KUMAR, AMY JACKSON

OASIS JUFFAIR :DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 4.00 + 9.00 PM .

JOSEPH (PG-15) (MALAYALAM) JOJU GEORGE, MALAVIKA MENON,

JAMES ELIYA

OASIS JUFFAIR :DAILY AT: 1.30 + 6.30 + 11.30 PM

ONC`E UPON A DEAD POOL (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVENTURE) NEW

RYAN STEVENSON, DAVID OAKES, AURA GARRIDO

CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 11.30 AM +4.15 + 9.00 PMSEEF (II) DAILY AT: 2.00 + 7.00 PM + 12.00 MN

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

ROWAN ATKINSON, OLGA KURYLENKO, EMMA THOMPSON

CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.00 + 4.00 + 6.00 + 8.00 + 10.00 + 12.00 MN

CREED II (PG-13) (DRAMA/ACTION/SPORT)

TESSA THOMPSON, MICHAEL B. JORDAN, SYLVESTER STALLONE

CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 6.15 + 9.00 + 11.45 PM

HUNTER KILLER (PG-15) (ACTION/THRILLER)

GERARD BUTLER, GARY OLDMAN, COMMON

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

SECOND ACT (PG-15) (COMEDY) NEW

JENNIFER LOPEZ, VANESSA HUDGENS, MILO VENTIMIGLIA


ROBIN HOOD (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVENTURE)

TARON EGERTON, EVE HEWSON, JAMIE FOXX


THE POSSESSION OF HANNAH GRACE (18+) (THRILLER/HORROR)

SHAY MITCHELL, STANA KATIC, LOUIS HERTHUM


17- EL BADLAH (PG-13) (ARABIC/COMEDY)

TAMER HOSNY, AKRAM HOSNI, MAJED EL MASRY, AMINA KHALIL

CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 3.00 + 7.00 + 11.00 PM

18-ODIYAN (PG-13)(MALAYALAM) MOHANLAL, PRAKASH RAJ,

MANJU WARRIER

CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 2.45 + 5.45 + 8.45 + 11.45 PM

5-COLD SKIN (15+) (ADVENTURE/DRAMA/HORROR) NEW

RAY STEVENSON, DAVID OAKES, AURA GARRIDO

SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 6.45 + 8.45 + 10.45 PM

6-SPEED KILLS (15+) (CRIME/DRAMA/THRILLER) NEW

JOHN TRAVOLTA, KATHERINE WINNICK, JENNIFER ESPOSI

SEEF (II) DAILAY AT: 7.00 + 9.00 + 11.00 PM

JACK EM POPOY: THE PULISCREDIBLES () (FILIPINO/ACTION/COMEDY) NEW

COCO MARTIN, VIC SOTTO, MAINE MENDOZA

SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM

CHANGE OF NAME

Dwayne surprises mother with Christmas gift ANI | Los Angeles

While we are still unsure of our New Year plans, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has already marked the

end of the year in the cutest way possible.The Hollywood actor, on Sunday, revealed

that he gave his mom Ata a new house for Christmas, with an Instagram video over-loaded with happy vibes.

“Surprise! Bought my mom a new home for Christmas,” the actor wrote in the cap-tion.

In the video, Dwayne’s mother Ata opens a card and starts to read it before crying and hugging her son out of sheer joy. “Guess what? I get a new house!” she says to her

granddaughter Jasmine (3).Explaining the context

behind the gesture by shar-ing some details from his life with his followers, the former WWE wres-tler wrote, “All our lives growing up we lived in little apartments all across the country. Lived like gipsies on the road from one state to another. The first home my parents ever lived in was the one I bought for them in 1999. “

Pete Davidson ‘enjoying being single’IANS | Los Angeles

Comedian Pete Davidson, who was seen with a mys-

tery woman over the weekend, is “enjoying being single.”

The “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) star, 25, was spotted at the Mandarin Oriental hotel bar in Miami on Saturday, din-ing by the pool with an un-known brunette, according to photos published by TMZ.

In the images, Davidson was dressed casually in a Green Day t-shirt and sunglasses, and had seemingly gone back to his natural hair colour after previously sporting blonde and blue hues.

A source tells people.com that Davidson “was there visiting friends and is very much en-joying being single as he is focusing on himself.”

Representative for Davidson and SNL did not immediately return People.com’s request for comment.

One week earlier, the come-dian was seen out and about while supporting his friend Machine Gun Kelly at one of the rapper’s concerts in Ohio.

Davidson concerned friends and fans on December 15 by writing on his now-deleted Instagram account, “I really

don’t want to be on this earth anymore.”

Hours later, he made a brief appearance on the Matt Damon-host-

ed SNL broad-cast, appearing in a pre-taped sketch, as well as introduc-ing guests Miley Cyrus and Mark Ronson.

Jennifer Lawrence shares her most embarrassing momentIANS | Los Angeles

Actress Jennifer Lawrence hilariously recalls an al-

tercation after getting high at Ellen DeGeneres’ party.

SiriusXM’s “Howard Stern Show” recently shared a throw-back clip from the Red Sparrow actress’ Feb. 28 appearance on the show, showing her talking about getting into a physical altercation at a birthday party.

“I was done, and I went to go see my ride, and my ride wasn’t ready to leave yet,” Lawrence, 28, began. “So, I smoked a joint with some rappers.”

“Their s*** is different,” she added. “So, I entered a different

universe.”Lawrence said she then went

to the porta potty to urinate, and that’s when the altercation ensued, reports people.com.

“There was a woman there, and she was like, ‘No, no, no, go on, go ahead!’ I was like, ‘No, you were here first. You go!’ And she was like, ‘Go!’” Law-rence said on Stern’s show.

“I was like, ‘Okay.’ So I’m in the porta (potty), and I was like, ‘She’s gotta poop. This poor woman just gotta poop.’ So I came out, and I made a beeline for her and I went up to her and I was like, ‘Look, you gotta poop.’ And she was like, ‘No, I don’t. I don’t know why

you’re saying that. I really don’t.’ She was kind of laugh-ing but was like, ‘No.’”

“All of a sud-den, security is grabbing me because what I hadn’t re-alised is I am grabbing this woman by the shoul-ders, shaking her, scream-ing, ‘You have to poop! You have to poop!’” she con-tinued.

Taylor Swift, Joe Alwyn’s cozy day out in New York

ANI | Washington

Seems like Taylor Swift and beau Joe Alwyn

brought some heat to a cold day in New York.

With no big distance be-tween the two, the couple stepped out in the city and walked hand in hand in the chilly weather and enjoyed a lengthy stroll following their lunch at a West Village restaurant.

“They are very low-key and normal. She is much happier without personal life out in open. Joe is very keen on proposing soon,” confirmed Us Weekly.

Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn

Jennifer Lawrence

Pete Davidson

Dwayne Johnson

Cardi B accuses paparazzi of racismIANS | Sydney

Ra p p e r C a r -di B says that

some of the racist comments made by Australian paparazzi didn’t “sit well” with her.

The 26-year-old rapper arrived in Sydney on Satur-day for a New Year’s

holiday gig and was greeted by a swarm of

photographers.She was not in the

mood for pictures or in-

terviews, and covered her head in a blanket as she and her publicist, accompanied by a male associate push-ing luggage, made their way through the terminal.

The paparazzi were not happy, reports eonline.com.

“You’re in Sydney now, mate, you’re in Australia,” one of the photographers shouted at Cardi. “It’s our rules, not yours, buddy.”

Then as Cardi walked by the paparazzi with her face covered, a female photogra-pher said to her, “No wonder your husband left ya”.

Australia a ‘soap opera’ and ‘I feel like a director’: Langer AFP | Melbourne

Australia cricket coach Justin Langer admitted Monday

he feels like a “director of a soap opera” as speculation grew around the future of banned Steve Smith and David Warner.

Debate about the pair reared again during the third Test against India in Melbourne, after Smith and Cameron Ban-croft gave television interviews about the ball-tampering scan-dal in South Africa in March.

Their comments were wide-ly interpreted as deflecting all blame onto Warner, with some former players slamming them for unnecessarily dredging it back up on Boxing Day, the most revered day in the Australian cricket calendar.

Australia’s woeful batting in the match, which they lost by 137 runs, also focused attention on how much Smith and Warner were missed.

Langer, who has previously described the Australia team as a “dysfunctional family”, said the headlines were yet another headache.

“It’s all just part of the soap opera we’re in every day,” he

said in Melbourne before head-ing to Sydney for Thursday’s fourth and final Test, with India leading the series 2-1.

“I feel like a director of a soap opera at the moment, I honestly do.

“Coaching is about man man-agement and looking after peo-ple, caring for people, and that was just another distraction last week,” he added.

Bancroft, who was banned for nine months, made his re-turn on Sunday evening for the Perch Scorchers in the Big Bash League, but only lasted three balls. Smith and Warner’s sus-pensions run out in late March.

Learning on the run Captain Tim Paine admitted on Sunday it was “pretty clear” they were being missed, with no batsmen other than tailender Pat Cummins scoring more than 50 in Melbourne.

Langer said cricket author-ities were “in touch with the boys all the time”.

“There’s a really good process we’re going to go through to get the boys back into the team,” he added of the trio.

They could possibly return for a one-day international in late March, when Australia have pencilled in a series against Pa-

kistan in the United Arab Emir-ates.

According to the Cricket Aus-tralia website, the series was tentatively set for March 15-29, but Pakistan have reportedly proposed pushing it back to March 31-April 13.

Smith and Warner’s exile has left a big void in the Test team.

Aaron Finch has been unable to reproduce his limited overs form in the red ball game, Us-man Khawaja has struggled and newcomer Marcus Harris at the top of the order is yet to post a big score.

Solskjaer tells Pogba to cut out showboatingPogba and Rashford were on fire as United continued their winning run under Solskjaer

• Paul Pogba scored twice for the second straight game as Manchester United beat Bournemouth 4-1

AFP | Manchester

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer en-couraged Paul Pogba to cut showboating from his

game to recreate the “efficient” display that saw the French-man score twice for the second straight game in a 4-1 thrashing of Bournemouth at Old Trafford.

A third consecutive victory since Solskjaer took caretaker charge until the end of the sea-son keeps United eight points adrift of Chelsea in the fight for a top-four finish.

Pogba has been key to all three wins, but this was arguably his best display as he also teed up

Romelu Lukaku’s fourth goal and struck the post late on to just miss out on a first career hat-trick.

“That is a top, top perfor-mance for a midfield player be-cause it’s all-round: work rate, dangerous in the box, no show-boating. It’s touch, pass, move,” said Solskjaer.

“It’s an efficient game and Paul knows he’s at his best when it’s an efficient game.”

The change in mood around United in the 12 days since Jose Mourinho was sacked is pal-pable, no more so in the per-

formances of Pogba, who was discarded from the Portuguese’s starting line-up for his final three league games in charge.

“We are Manchester United and we need to be at the top of the league. It is just a reaction of all of the players and every-one is enjoying themselves,” said Pogba.

“It is different, we still won games with the old manager but it is just a different style of play-ing, we are more offensive and we are creating more chances and that is how we want to play.”

United have now scored 12

times in three games under the Norwegian, but Solskjaer in-sisted he has just tried to instill what he learned under Alex Ferguson during 11 seasons as a player at Old Trafford.

“This is how it was. I’ve just gone about the job as I experi-enced it as a player, and a coach,” added Solskjaer.

“We want to go attacking. We’ve been at home two games and we have to entertain the fans. I love working with good players and good people.”

Pogba played a part in four of United’s five goals at Cardiff

last weekend to get Solskjaer off to a flying start before scoring twice against Huddersfield on Boxing Day.

Solskjaer has spoken of his de-sire to see Pogba break into the box more regularly and he had the simplest of tasks to prod the ball into an empty net after Mar-cus Rashford had bewildered the Bournemouth defence.

Nathan Ake and Diego Rico were left beaten by Rashford’s combination of fleet-footed dribbling and pace before his cross perfectly picked out Pog-ba’s run.

Pogba then made it 2-0 with a bullet header from Ander Her-rera’s cross.

Unlike Pogba, Nemanja Mat-ic was one of Mourinho’s most trusted lieutenants but the Ser-bian has also epitomised the change in tack orchestrated by Solskjaer with the former Chel-sea midfielder much more will-ing to look for a forward rather than sideways pass.

And Matic began the move for United’s third when he picked out Anthony Martial’s run and the Frenchman’s cross with the outside of his boot was turned home by Rashford.

For all the improvements of late, though, Solskjaer is still waiting for a first clean sheet since November as Ake beat Matic to power home David Brooks’s cross.

14

sports


12 goals have been scored Manchester United in

three games under new boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Probably at this time the difference

in the series has been Pujara and

Kohli. Pujara averages 53 and

Kohli 45 or 46. The lesson we learn

from that is keep absorbing the

pressureJUSTIN LANGER

Manchester United’s Paul Pogba scores his and United’s second goal past Bournemouth’s Asmir Begovic

Coach Justin Langer watches the Australia cricket team train in Melbourne

Pique’s investment group Kosmos takes over FC AndorraReuters | Barcelona

Ba r c e l o n a d e f e n d e r Gerard Pique has ex-

panded his business stable by taking over tiny Spanish lower-league soccer club FC Andorra, the player’s Kos-mos investment group said on Saturday.

“The General Assembly of FC Andorra has unanimous-ly approved the transmis-sion of its assets in favour of an Andorran company jointly managed by different investors, including Kos-mos,” said the company’s statement.

“Kosmos welcomes the decision made by the club. The company adds this pro-ject to its global portfolio linked to sports, media and entertainment ventures.”

FC Andorra, founded in 1942, play in the First Re-gional Catalan Division and spent 14 seasons in Spain’s regionalised third tier, Se-gunda Division B.

Kosmos, founded by Pique, who is also the CEO and president of the firm, is most famous for its takeover of tennis’s Davis Cup, inject-ing $3 billion dollars into the 118-year-old competi-tion over the next 25 years and creating a week-long format akin to a World Cup due to start next November in Madrid.

The company’s portfolio also includes the television production company Kos-mos Studios.

Pique, a four-time Cham-pions League winner with Barcelona and Manchester United who quit Spain na-tional team last July, also founded game and app de-veloper Kerad Games.

Lewandowski envisages ending career at Bayern MunichAFP | Berlin

Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski says

he envisages finishing his ca-reer with the club after this summer’s talk of a possible

transfer for the prolific Pole.“I’m not thinking of chang-

ing club. I admit it, this sum-mer it could have been a sub-ject for debate but that’s now all finished,” Lewandowski said.

Sri Lanka cricket rated most corrupt by ICC: ministerAFP | Colombo

Colombo yesterday.O l y m p i c c h a m p i -

on Monica Puig also sailed through to the second round on a day in which none of the seeded players appeared.

The International Crick-et Council feels “Sri Lanka’s cricket administration is cor-rupt from top to bottom”, Harin Fernando said, adding that he had been shown a con-fidential report on the matter at a Dubai meeting.

A host of scandals have rocked Sri Lankan cricket in recent years including a match-fixing controversy re-vealed in a sting operation car-ried out for a TV documentary.

The ICC anti-corruption unit has regularly investigated cas-es in the island nation.

The crisis-ridden Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is to hold delayed elections in February, which were due last May when the term of president Thilanga Su-mathipala ended.

Sumathipala has been ac-cused of violating ICC rules by holding office despite alleged links to gambling. He denies the charges.

“Unfortunately Sri Lanka is being ranked as one of the worst or the top worst country for cricket corruption,” Fer-nando told reporters after re-turning from the meeting with

ICC anti-corruption chief Alex Marshall.

“They told me that the prob-lem was not limited to bookies, but even the local game’s links with the underworld,” he said, adding that the corruption was more to do with cricket admin-istration than players.

Last month former Sri Lan-kan fast bowler Dilhara Loku-hettige was suspended for cor-ruption during a limited over league in 2017.

Lokuhettige was the third Sri Lankan player charged for violating the anti-corruption code following cases against former captain and ex-chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya and former paceman Nuwan Zoysa.

Jayasuriya was charged for failing to cooperate with a match-fixing probe and con-cealing information. Zoysa was suspended over match-fixing accusations.

Sharapova shuts down Bacsinszky in Shenzhen

Maria Sharapova moved past Timea Bacsinszky in the first round of the Shenzhen Open

• Sharapova campaign off to tough start

WTA | Shenzhen, China

Former World No.1 Ma-ria Sharapova of Russia was made to work for a

first-round win by former Top 10 player Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland at the Shenzhen Open yesterday, but Sharapova ultimately prevailed 6-2, 7-6(3) to clinch a spot in the second round.

Bacsinszky and Sharapova had played four times previous-ly -- dating back to 2006 -- but the Russian got the upper hand for the fourth time in their five head-to-head affairs, after one hour and 42 minutes of play. Sharapova powered her way past Bacsinszky, blasting 23 winners, nearly five times more than the Swiss starlet had in the match.

Sharapova, a huge fan fa-vorite of the lively Shenzhen crowds, will have to contend with a potential Chinese heroine in her next match, as she will face 17-year-old wild card Wang Xinyu. Wang is a heavily touted up-and-coming hope for China, who won two junior Grand Slam events in doubles last season.

Bacsinszky was the player who claimed the initial lead, holding her opening service, and

then breaking Sharapova for 2-0 after the Russian’s serve faltered at key moments.

But from that point forward, Sharapova took command of the opening set. Bacsinszky im-mediately handed the service break back after a game in which she fired three double faults, and Sharapova rolled through the next four games with nary an issue.

The former World No.1 crushed a forehand winner to

break Bacsinszky for a 5-2 lead, and polished off the six-game streak with a love hold for the one-set lead. Sharapova fin-ished the first set with seven winners to Bacsinszky’s three, and the Swiss player also had 11 unforced errors, including four double faults.

The second set was much more hotly contested. Once more, Bacsinszky claimed the first two games of the set, but Sharapova again broke back

straight away. However, this time, the Swiss player moved ahead 3-1 after Sharapova’s fore-hand failed her on break point.

The twosome exchanged three more breaks as the set progressed before Sharapova resoundingly held serve at love for 5-5. The Russian seemed to have regained the upper hand at that point, pounding forehands to claim two break points for a 6-5 lead, but Bacsinszky’s guile and grit served her well, and

she held on to maintain service parity.

The players moved into a sec-ond-set tiebreak, where they traded minibreaks up to the changeover at 3-3. But after the switch of sides, Sharapova dom-inated. A stunning return forced an error to give the Russian the crucial minibreak at 5-3, and she reached 6-3 after breaking open an exhausting rally with a booming forehand winner.

With three match points in hand, Sharapova fired a delivery that Bacsinszky returned just wide, ending the competitive set and sending the former top-ranked player sailing into the second round of Shenzhen.

Bouchard gives herself pass mark after comeback winAFP | Auckland, New Zealand

Former Wimbledon final-ist Eugenie Bouchard

launched her comeback year in winning form as she cruised through her first round match in the WTA Auckland Classic yesterday.

Olympic champion Monica Puig also sailed through to the second round on a day in which none of the seeded players ap-peared.

Former world number five Bouchard has earmarked 2019 as her comeback year after slid-ing down rankings following a standout 2014 when she made the Wimbledon final and was a semi-finalist in Melbourne and Paris.

Now ranked 87th, the Cana-dian proved too strong for the 88th ranked Madison Bren-gle, taking just over an hour to beat the American 6-3, 6-3.

The 24-year- old mixed glimpses of her previous best with some unforced errors but overall gave herself a pass mark.

“I think it was OK. It was the first match of the year, so you never know what to expect from your level, so I’m happy I managed to handle my nerves,” Bouchard said.

“I liked that when things

didn’t go so well I managed to turn it around relatively quick-ly, maybe a game or two went by, but then that was it and I managed to get back to playing my game.”

Puig was untroubled in her 6-3, 6-2 win over Ameri-can wildcard Bethanie Mat-tek-Sands while 2017 champion Lauren Davis advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena.

Davis will face the win-ner of the blockbuster clash on day two between for-mer world number ones Ve-nus Williams and Victoria Azarenka.


They told me that the problem was not limited to bookies, but even the local

game’s links with the underworld

HARIN FERNANDO

Sharapova, who won the last of her five Slams at Ro-

land Garros in 2014, has endured a dis-appointing return

to the majors since the end of her drugs ban in April of 2017

KNOW WHAT

Now ranked 87th, Eu-genie Bouchard proved too strong for the 88th ranked Madison Bren-gle, taking just over an hour to beat the Ameri-

can 6-3, 6-3

KNOW WHAT

City ready to fight Liverpool: Kompany

AFP | Manchester

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany ad-

mitted the Premier League champions’ pride has been wounded by a recent shock run of three defeats in four Premier League games to fall seven points behind league leaders Liverpool.

But ahead of the visit of Jurgen Klopp’s men to the Etihad on Thursday, Kom-pany issued a rallying cry to the City squad and fans to keep fighting to become the first side in a decade to retain the Premier League.

“We shouldn’t focus too much on points at the mo-ment, we know if we can play to our potential we are a good team,” Kompany told City’s website.

“Our pride has been hurt over the last few weeks but we have everything to play for and it depends on us.”

City bounced back from consecutive defeats to Crystal Palace and Leices-ter with a 3-1 win at South-ampton to move back into second above Tottenham.

Fulham to take action over Kamara racist abuseAFP | London

Fulham have vowed to take the “strongest pos-

sible action” after striker Aboubakar Kamara was ra-cially abused on social me-dia following his penalty miss against Huddersfield on Saturday.

The Frenchman was strongly criticised by his manager Claudio Ranieri for disobeying orders to hand over penalty duties to Aleksandar Mitrovic.

“It is unbelievable, he did not respect me, the club, the team and crowd. I spoke with him, it is not right. I want to kill him,” said Ra-nieri, despite Mitrovic’s stoppage time winner in a 1-0 victory for the Premier League strugglers.

However, Fulham have promised to support Ka-mara after he was abused online.

Warnock wary of diving Spurs stars for Cardiff clash AFP | London

Cardiff manager Neil Warnock has warned

his players “not to breathe” on some of Tottenham’s stars in a New Year’s Day clash between the sides over fears of playacting..

England captain Harry Kane was booked for diving in Spurs’ shock 3-1 home loss to Wolves on Saturday, while Dele Alli has been re-peatedly accused of going down easily.

“I say to my players about the top players ‘try not to breathe on them’,” said Warnock, whose side conceded a controversial penalty in a 5-1 home defeat by Manchester United last weekend.

Maria Sharapova of Russia serves to Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland

Eugenie Bouchard of Canada plays a shot against Madison Brengle of United States


Serena edges Sakkari in Perth Serena Williams is the bookmakers’ favourite for the upcoming Australian Open in Melbourne

• Serena wins Perth season-opener ahead of Grand Slam tilt

AFP | Perth, Australia

Serena Williams overcame a sluggish start to win her opening match of the

new season in Perth yesterday, two weeks out from 2019’s first Grand Slam.

The 37-year-old was a long way off her commanding best and was visibly frustrated with her own game early in her Hop-man Cup singles match, but still did enough to beat Greece’s Ma-ria Sakkari in straight sets.

However, it was Sakkari and her team-mate Stefanos Tsitsi-pas who had the last laugh as Greece beat the USA 2-1 in the mixed doubles Group B tie.

In her first tournament outing since the controversial loss to Naomi Osaka in the US Open final in September, Williams struggled early and her ground-strokes were erratic in the first set.

Sakkari, ranked 41st in the world, gained an early break and served for the first set but couldn’t capitalise despite sev-eral gilt-edged opportunities.

That opened the door for Williams, the bookmakers’ fa-vourite for the upcoming Aus-

tralian Open in Melbourne, to power back and ultimately win 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 in an hour and 44 minutes.

Williams had her left ankle worked on at the end of the first set but it didn’t stop her domi-nating the second, in which she

looked more like the player who has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles.

“I was making a lot of errors and I’m like ‘it’s okay, it’s your first match, it’ll get better’,” she said.

“It’s never easy (first match),

there are lot of errors that are going to be made and I think we both did pretty good.”

Williams said her taped an-kles weren’t a concern so soon before 2019’s first Grand Slam, blaming a little discomfort with her shoes.

Williams won her last Grand Slam in Melbourne in 2017, but wasn’t able to defend her title due to the birth of her first child.

Bidding to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 titles, she was beaten in last year’s Wim-

bledon and US Open finals.Williams said she was looking

forward to facing Swiss cham-pion Roger Federer today, when the USA plays Switzerland and the pair will be opponents for the first time in the mixed dou-bles.

“I have been looking forward to it, this is so cool,” she said, adding it was “like a dream come true”.

Earlier, world number 15 Tsit-sipas gave Greece the initial ad-vantage in the tie as he edged past Frances Tiafoe in three sets, 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3.

The Greek 20-year-old won the first set comfortably and secured an early break in the second.

But the 39th-ranked American broke back in the sixth game and levelled the match in the tie-break.

Another early break by Tsit-sipas put him ahead in the third and a sizzling backhand winner on match point secured victory for the Greek.

The Greek duo kept their tour-nament alive when they won the deciding mixed doubles, 4-1, 1-4, 4-2.

Serena Williams won her last Grand Slam in Melbourne in 2017, but wasn’t able to defend her

title due to the birth of her first child

KNOW WHAT

Serena Williams of the US hits a return against Maria Sakkari of Greece

Ronaldo ‘not obsessed’ by individual trophiesAFP | Lisbon

Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo has insisted

that he is “not obsessed” by individual trophies, having missed on this year’s Ballon d’Or after winning it five times.

The Juventus striker also missed out on FIFA and UE-FA’s player of the year tro-phies as former Real Madrid teammate Luka Modric, a World Cup runner-up, swept all before him.

“I’m not obsessed by indi-vidual prizes,” Ronaldo told a Portuguese sports daily.

“The most important thing is to win collective trophies and help the team. The rest comes naturally.”

Ronaldo added: “I don’t think all the time of beating records. I work above all to help the club and be at my best level.

“The technical, tacti-cal and physical level of all teams is better today,” he said. “It’s increasingly tough to win so I have to keep working hard to stay on top.”

Having missed the start of Portugal’s Nations League campaign to better adjust to life with Juve, Ronaldo said that in 2019 he “envisages being at the disposal of the national coach”.

Portugal will host the inaugural Nations League finals in June, meeting Swit-zerland in the semi-finals.

In the wide-ranging inter-view, Ronaldo also dubbed as “revolting” allegations of rape made against him dat-ing back to 2009, something he strenuously denies. He added that he had a “calm conscience” and was “con-fident that everything will very soon be clarified”.

Pliskova fights back to win Brisbane opener

AFP | Brisbane, Australia

Karolina Pliskova said she refused to panic despite

falling behind a set and a break to Yulia Putintseva in the opening round of the Bris-bane International yesterday.

Pliskova, a former world number one, appeared head-ed for an early exit when she stumbled against Putintseva late in the first set.

But she recovered from 2-0 down in the second to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two and a quarter hours at the Pat Rafter Arena.

The 26-year-old Czech said despite surrendering the first set, she never felt in any real trouble against Putintseva.

“Even though I was losing a set and a break in the second, I was still pretty positive, be-cause I felt (even though) I’m missing, it’s only small margins here and there,” she said.

“I just felt like the ball on the racquet felt pretty good.”

Pliskova has a good record in Brisbane, winning in 2017 and reaching the semi-finals in 2018.

“I feel it’s pretty fast, which is important for my game,” Pliskova said.

“I can hit some aces, which I did today, and if I play aggres-sive there is a chance that I am going to make a lot of points, so I feel good on this court for sure.”

Australian wildcard Kimber-ly Birrell pulled off a massive upset when she stunned world number 10 Daria Kasatkina in three sets.

Birrell, 20, had only ever won one match on the main WTA tour but showed great composure to come from 3-5 down in the third set to win 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) in three hours, six minutes.

“I was just trying to stay pos-itive -- I was just telling myself to keep fighting and keep ask-ing the questions,” Birrell said.

Even though I was losing a set and a

break in the second, I was still pretty

positive, because I felt (even though)

I’m missing, it’s only small margins here

and thereKAROLINA PLISKOVA

Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova serves against Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan

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