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02 A new chapter of national success

04 Call for woman House head

05Many candidates ‘paid children’ to work as campaign team members

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Bahrain voted to

victory 67pc voter turnout against 53pc witnessed during the 2014 elections• The polls were

held between 8 am and 8 pm yesterday. A few early results were declared last night until the press time.

• The parliament has significant powers to hold the government to account. These include the right to approve the State Budget and the upcoming Government Action Plan.

Harpreet Kaur TDT | Manama

Bahraini voters turned out in large numbers to select their representatives to

the parliament and municipal councils yesterday.

The preliminary rate of voter turnout has been announced at 67 per cent, well above the 53pc witnessed during the Kingdom’s last elections in 2014.

Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khal-ifa, Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments, re-vealing the participation figure after the close of polling, said: “The increased turnout builds on the success of the 2014 elec-

tions, and ensures a clear man-date for a parliament represent-ing the diverse range of views in Bahraini society.”

Bahrainis’ commitment to ex-ercising their ballot was a clear indication of Bahrainis’ support for the process of democratisa-tion, he added, and showed their rejection of external forces who have deliberately sought to de-rail the electoral process.

The 2018 elections have seen a record number of women can-didates, with 39 women filing nominations for the elections to the House of representatives and eight for municipal councils.

The relative proportion of younger voters taking part in the elections also showed a signifi-cant increase, with more than 50,000 young men and women eligible to vote for the first time.

The polls were held between 8 am and 8 pm yesterday. A few early results were declared last night until the press time.

In all, 430 candidates stood for the elections – 293 for the

House of Representatives, and 137 for municipal councils.

The polling – and the count – are being monitored by 231 observers from four civil society associations in addition to the National Institute for Human Rights.

Full judicial supervision of all stages of the electoral process has guaranteed its integrity, ac-cording to Justice, Islamic Af-fairs and Endowments Ministry sources.

The parliament has signifi-cant powers to hold the govern-ment to account. These include the right to approve the State Budget and the upcoming Gov-ernment Action Plan.

The increased turnout ensures a clear mandate for a parliament representing the diverse range of

views in Bahraini society.

SHAIKH KHALID

HH Shaikh Nasser and HH Shaikh Khalid cast their votes as the Kingdom held its elections to the parliament and municipal councils yesterday.

Wife of HM the King and President of Supreme Council for Women (SCW), HRH Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, cast her vote at the Bahrain International Circuit Polling Centre yesterday.

430candidates stood for the elections – 293 for the

House of Representatives, and 137 for municipal

councils.

EARL Y LEADS ( 1 .30 AM SUNDAY)

1. Adel Al Asoomi (First constituency, Capital Governorate) 2. Sawsan Kamal ( Second constituency, Capital Governorate) 3. Nawar Al Mutawa (Ninth constituency, Southern Governorate) 4. Kaltham Alhayki (First constituency, Northern Governorate) 5. Ali Ishaqi (Tenth constituency, Capital Governorate) 6. Esa Alghadhi (Second constituency, Southern Governorate) 7. Ammar Albannai (Fourth constituency, Capital Governorate) 8. Ali Alnaimi (Seventh constituency, Southern Governorate) 9. Mohammed Alsisi (Eighth constituency, Southern Governorate)

His Majesty congratulates citizens Manama

His Majesty King Ham-ad bin Isa Al Khalifa

congratulated the people of Bahrain yesterday on the national achievement.

HM the King said the high voters’ turnout has contrib-uted to bringing a new peo-ple’s achievement to be fol-lowed by next generation.

HM the King expressed appreciation of the people’s keenness to take on their national responsibilities, praising their awareness and realisation of their du-ties and interest in building their future through consti-tutional institutions.

Der’a Al Shamal Joint Exercise announced Manama

The Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) announced

it would implement Der’a Al Shamal Joint Military Exercise with participation of the National Guard and the Ministry of Interior on November 27-28 in various regions of the Kingdom.

The BDF has always been keen on carrying out these exercises in view of their significant role in develop-ment of applicable meth-ods of raising the level of combat readiness and com-mand-and-control systems, a statement said.

02SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2018

elections 2018

Mamta Sinha, wife of Indian Ambassador to Bahrain Alok Kumar Sinha, inaugurated an expo on women clothing collection at Kachh GH Boutique at World Trade Centre on Friday. Firm partners Isha Anand Vasa, Prakash Patel, and renowned yoga trainer Fatima Al Mansoori were present on the occasion. The expo will end today.

Clothing collection expo

A new chapter of national successReports by Mohammed Zafran, Harpreet Kaur, Ali Tarif TDT | Manama

With a massive turnout in the elections held to elect par-liamentarians and municipal

councillors, the Kingdom has marked a new chapter of national success.

The Kingdom’s leadership, people and electoral officials were praised for the smooth conducting of elections.

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa yesterday received a cable of congratulations from His Royal High-ness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa on the success of the parliamentary and municipal elections.

HRH the Premier hailed the success of the polls which, he said, reflected the dedication of the people of Bahrain to answer the call of duty towards bolster-ing the democratic process.

Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa commended the High Committee to Oversee the Elections’ Integrity for facilitating the citizens’ accessibility to the polling sta-tions throughout the Kingdom as well as the smooth election procedures and high standard of its organisation.

Interior Minister, Lieutenant-Gener-al Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khal-ifa yesterday asserted that the parlia-mentary and municipal elections 2018 are one of the fruitful results of the

comprehensive reform project of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

He said that the wise leadership of HM the King reinforces the political and national achievements.

After casting his vote, the minister highlighted that the high presence of citizens at the polling stations reflects their sense of responsibility, national spirit and love to the nation.

The high number of candidates and voters that participated in the elections shows the enthusiasm of Bahrainis in exercising their constitu-tional rights, said Ghanim Al Buainain, Minister for Parliament and Shura Council Affairs.

He was speaking to reporters at the

media centre for the elections at Sher-aton Bahrain Hotel.

“This term we have 293 candidates running for the parliament, which is the highest number we have ever seen. This shows the interest of the Bahrainis in participating in the elections and exercising their rights.

“The high number of candidates is a positive indicator. Voting is a duty that cannot be separated from the right.

“We in Bahrain are distinguished by some characteristics such as the gov-ernment action plan being presented to the parliament. Since the constitu-tional amendments approved in 2012, government programme goes to the parliament for their analysis.

Iran source of 41,000 e-messages sent to disrupt elections TDT | ManamaMohammed Zafran

Malicious hackers at-tempted to mislead

voters by text messages with false information, it emerged.

The Director-General of Anti-Corruption and Eco-nomic and Electronic Se-curity announced yesterday that Iran was the source for nearly 41,000 e-messages aimed to disrupt the par-liamentary and municipal elections.

“The crime was commit-ted by individuals in Bah-rain and Iran, in which they hacked a number of servers to carry out their illegal act. Legal procedures are being taken to refer the case to the Public Prosecution.”

Voters received messages stating that they are ineli-gible to vote as their names were removed from the vot-ers, say sources.

According to sources, malicious hackers sent the messages disguised as Bah-raini authorities.

Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Minister Shai-kh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa warned against such fake messages, adding that their sources are being dealt with.

First-time voters add charm to polls TDT | Manama

First-time voters added special charm to the polls yesterday.

Rawan Khalid Althani, who turned 21 in last February, were among the first-time voters who exercised their democrat-ic rights.

Speaking to Tribune, she said, “The elections show the confidence the leadership has bestowed on the youth of this nation.

“We need great parliamentar-ians as our country is moving forward. I hope my first vote will certainly make a difference.”

The elections show the confidence

the leadership has bestowed on the

youth of this nation.MS RAWAN

Deputy Prime Minister HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa casting his vote yesterday.

l Huge turnout makes elections to parliament and municipal councils a big success

Counting of ballots began last night, immediately after voting closed at 8pm.

Mr Al Buainain at the press conference.

Police teams ‘ensured poll security’ Manama

As part of directives from Minister of Interior Lieutenant- General

Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, Public Security Chief Major-General Tariq Al Has-san inspected the police forces assigned to secure the polling stations and facilitate the voting process.

He hailed the readiness, se-curity presence and the plans to ensure that parliamentary and municipal elections are carried out within a safe and secure atmosphere.

He also inspected the readi-ness of police directorates and concerned security depart-ments, in addition to steps tak-

en to protect the security and regulate traffic.

He applauded the efforts of police personnel to ensure the smooth traffic flow near the polling stations and the safe-guarding of the general order.

He also hailed steps tak-en to ensure a safe election process.

He expressed of the cooper-ation of the citizens and their dedication to fulfilling their national responsibility out of their strong beliefs in the re-form project of His Majesty the King and determination to contribute to the development of the nation.

Director-General of Traf-fic Brigadier Abdulrahman bin Abdulwahab Al Khalifa

stressed the success of the traf-fic plan during the parliamen-tary and municipal elections, underlining cooperation with the police directorates in the four governorates.

He said that the traffic re-mained smooth and normal on all roads leading to the polling stations despite the massive voter turn-out.

“The traffic police focused on various duties, including the safety of pedestrians, through their crossing to the polling stations,” he added.

He valued the awareness and cooperation of the public that contributed to the success of the traffic plan, adding that no accident had been reported around the polling stations.


elections 2018

A new chapter of national success“If approved by voting then the gov-

ernment overcomes the first obsta-cle otherwise there will be issues that needs to be taken into consideration. The parliament is given the right to

approve or not approve government programmes.

“We have had four legislative terms since 2002 and the councils have man-aged to present hundreds of laws.

These shows how busy the lawmakers have been,” he added.

HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa received a cable of congratulations from Shura Council Chairman Ali bin

Saleh Al Saleh marking the success of the 2018 parliamentary and municipal elections.

The Shura Council congratulated HM the King on the national occasion that

enjoyed transparency and integrity, which reflected the people’s awareness of taking on their national duty in the service of the nation and the democrat-ic process.

Cabinet Affairs Minister Mohammed Al Mutawa at the polling booth. Interior Minister Lt-General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa casts his vote. GCC Secretary-General Dr Abdullatif Al Zayani casts his vote.

l Relative proportion of younger voters taking part in elections shows a significant increase


elections 2018

Call for woman House head Bahraini women constitute a large electoral force, representing 50 per cent of the voters

• Women represent 53 per cent of the work force in the government sector, five per cent in ministerial positions, 23 per cent in leadership positions, 30 per cent in management positions, and 59 per cent in specialised posts.

Manama

Secretary-General of the Su-preme Council for Wom-en (SCW) Hala Al Ansari

has expressed optimism about a woman heading the legislative branch soon.

“Women have outstanding abilities and have accumulat-ed experience over the years of practicing democracy in Bah-rain,” she said.

She reviewed the participa-tion history of Bahraini women in political action, which began in 1951 by participating in the parliamentary elections, review-ing the Bahraini women’s pres-ence in the decision-making and labour market.

Women represent 53 per cent of the work force in the govern-ment sector, five per cent in min-isterial positions, 23 per cent in leadership positions, 30 per cent in management positions, and 59 per cent in specialised posts.

Ms Al Ansari explained that the percentage of women’s par-ticipation in the legislative au-thority is 15 per cent, 23 per cent

in the Shura Council and eight per cent in the Council of Rep-resentatives.

They also hold 42 per cent of presidency in Shura Council committees, and 10 per cent in the Council of Representatives committees.

She noted that women took the post of Second Deputy Speaker in three legislative terms.

Ms Al Ansari reviewed the history of the participation of

Bahraini women in parliamen-tary and municipal councils since the start of the democrat-ic process in 2002, pointing out that the number of candidates for the Council of Representa-tives in 2002 was only eight, but rose to 18 in 2006, fell to nine in 2010 and rose to 13 in 2014. The number of candidates in 2018 reached 39.

In the municipal elections, Al Ansari said that the 2002 elec-

tions saw 33 women candidates. In 2006, they were five. In 2010, only three candidates run in the elections and the number in-creased to 12 in 2014. There are eight women members in the municipal council election this year.

The SCW secretary-gener-al added that Bahraini wom-en constitute a large electoral force, representing 50 per cent of the voters in the past legisla-

tive terms.On the role of the SCW in sup-

porting and empowering women in political and parliamentary action in particular, Al Ansari indicated that the Council has worked early on to develop var-ious programmes aimed at rais-ing the level of voters’ awareness and encouraging participation in elections.

She highlighted the role of the 24-hour Consultation Cen-tre in providing advices to all independent candidates through experts and specialists in the electoral process.

“More than 120 consultations were given between September and November in cooperation with a number of institutions,” she said.

Women voters turned out in large numbers yesterday.

39women candidates are fighting the electoral

battle to win parliament seats.

Women have outstanding

abilities and have accumulated experience

over the years of practising democracy in

Bahrain. MS AL ANSARI

‘More women lawmakers need of the hour’

TDT | Manama

Leading Bahraini business-man Mohammed Dadab-hai said the elections will

pave way for new blood to work with the experienced elements in the society for a better Bah-rain.

Mr Dadabhai who exercised his democratic right at the Shai-kh Khalifa Institute of Tech-nology in Busaiteen, said that the proper functioning of its parliament is important for any country to attract more invest-ments.

“Economic growth is good for everyone. The country pro-gresses and the creation of job opportunities serves the public. I am confident that there will new blood in the parliament during the next four years and they will contribute towards the kingdom’s democratisation process initiated by His Majesty the King.”

Mr Dadabhai added that he hope women would get a fair share of seats in the upcoming parliament.

“I support women and we all know that they have succeeded at all levels in the Parliament. I hope they will occupy leading seats.

“Our democracy is a new-ly-born one and after 16 years we can now say that it is taking

form and the public is more aware of their rights and is aware as to who should rep-resent them in the parliament.

“I am proud to exercise my democratic right and I believe everyone should do it for our beloved Bahrain.”

Mr Dadabhai at the polling booth in Shaikh Khalifa Institute of Technology in Busaiteen.

Long queues reflect voters’ enthusiasm Ali Tarif TDT | Manama

One of the longest queues to vote was found yesterday at the general centre at the Seef Complex.

Voting here began at sharp 8.00 am after judge Jawaher Al Abdulrahman, Head of the Polling Centre, inspected the ballot boxes.

Men, women, young, old and diff-abled flocked to the centre to exercise their democratic rights.

Many prominent citizens were seen queuing up at the centre to cast their votes.

Faisal Foulath, the Head of Nazaha Centre for monitoring the elections and Secretary-General of the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society, said effective measures were in place at the centre to ensure the smooth conducting of the elections.

Dubai TV reporter Talal Al Hendasi said he was impressed by the Kingdom’s electoral experience.

“Bahrainis are living a unique electoral expe-rience. This is a great success for the country.”

Prominent citizen Shaikh Issa bin Rashid Al Khalifa said that elections serve the proof that His Majesty’s reform project would deliver big-ger goals for the nation.

Lawyer Huda Saad said she expected more women parliamentarians and councillors this

time, adding that it would bring more benefits to the nation.

Elderly citizen Jameel Ahmed Alaiwat said that he was shocked to see long queues at the centre, but felt proud over the fact that the whole nation has taken the elections with great seriousness.

Shaikh Issa speaks to media at the general electoral centre at Seef Complex.

Electoral officials at work.


elections 2018

Many candidates ‘paid children’ to work as campaign team members

Children were paid up to BD5 to distribute pamphlets and posters of candidates, say sources

There is a rule that there

should not be any aggressive campaigning

on the election day and these candidates are using children to violate this

ruling. A MUHARRAQ RESIDENT

TDT | ManamaMohammed Zafran

Many candidates were guilty of violations as children were used by parliament and mu-

nicipal council hopefuls to work as promoters for them on the election day.

Children even younger than 10 years old who were allegedly paid by can-didates were seen distributing pam-phlets yesterday in many locations in Bahrain.

According to sources, the children were paid up to BD5 to distribute pam-phlets.

“On my way to work, early in the

morning, I could see many kids dis-tributing pamphlets at the behest of a municipal council candidate. They had even set up a makeshift stand,” a Muharraq resident said.

“After a few hours, I passed through the same area and this time could see more kids carrying out campaign work after setting up special stands.

“They were distributing pamphlets to motorists.

Another Muharraq resident said that strict action should be taken against those candidates who promoted chil-dren to do their campaign work on the elections day.

“There is a rule that there should not be any aggressive campaigning on the

elections day and these candidates are using children to violate this ruling,” he pointed out.

Bahrain Human Rights Watch Soci-ety, an organisation that is monitoring the elections, have already raised their concerns about the issue through a campaign titled ‘Say no to using chil-dren in election campaign’.

Many children were seen campaigning for various candidates on the elections day.

Strong turnout at polling stations in Capital• At exactly 8 am, the ballot casting process started amid massive turnout since the early morning hours, it is learnt.

Manama

Voters rallied en masse to the polling stations in the Capital Governorate

to exercise their constitutional right of casting their ballots in the Kingdom’s legislative and municipal elections.

Judge Salman Al Asfoor, Head of the Organising Panel at Gen-

eral Polling Station Three at Sitra Shopping Mall, said the voters’ turnout since the early morning hours exceeded all the anticipations.

The panel had prepared the station to receive voters who will cast their ballots in the 40 parliamentarians and 30 mu-nicipal seats nationwide in the Kingdom’s legislative elections.

He praised the organising crew for their high efficiency since the polling station was opened at 8am.

He added that the station is witnessing voters from various governorates, as we have opened a second lane for easy voting and to cut the queueing time as we anticipate massive turnout

throughout today until station’s closing time at 8 pm.

Judge Mohammed Khalid Al Hazza, Head of the Polling Sta-tion in the 10th Constituency in the Capital Governorate, af-firmed the judiciary’s full super-vision over the election process is the biggest proof of the elec-tions transparency.

He said since early morn-ing, the ballot boxes and sys-tems were ready and prepared meanwhile the monitors over the election process witnessed the stations pre-opening pro-cedures.

At exactly 8 am, the ballot casting process started amid massive turnout since the early morning hours, it is learnt. Voters undergo ID verifications at the General Polling Station Three at Sitra Shopping Mall yesterday.

Massive turnout of voters in MuharraqManama

Voters across the Muhar-raq Governorate turned out in large numbers

even before the opening of the general polling stations.

Long queues of voters were seen in front of many polling stations.

The elderly were also keen to cast their ballots at various polling stations, and those on wheel chairs were assisted by volunteers and judges to exer-cise their political right.

Bahraini human rights socie-ties monitored the voting pro-cess across the Muharraq Gov-ernorate and affirmed that elec-toral process went on smoothly and without any violations by candidates or voters, noting that

the voters’ turnout in the gov-ernorate was massive. Women voters, of all ages, also turned out in large numbers and were keen to report to the polling sta-tions even before their opening.

Security personnel were sta-

tioned outside the polling sta-tions across the governorate, and were keen to facilitate the citizens’ movement, as well as to maintain the smoothness of traffic caused by the large num-ber of voters.

Citizens cast their votes at one of the polling booths in Muharraq.

Smooth polls in Northern Governorate

Heads of the Northern Governorate polling centres confirmed that the electoral process went smoothly in all constituencies without any interruption. In a statement to Bahrain News Agency, the electoral officials in the governorate said that necessary facilitations were provided for the elderly, illiterate and persons with disabilities who came to cast their votes. Above, voters at Al Ahd Al Zahir School in the Northern Governorate.

06

world

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2018

KNOW WHAT

Sentinelese are believed to be

the last surviving descendants of the

first humans to arrive in Asia

Russia has embarked on a systematic effort to explore and exploit Western vulnerabilitiesGENERAL MARK CARLETON-SMITH

Russia bigger threat to UK than terror groups

Head of the British army sees Russian threat bigger than IS in a interview

• Comments were made by General Mark Carleton-Smith

• He also downplayed the need for a separate European army

London, United Kingdom

Russia “indisputably” now poses a bigger threat to Britain’s security than

terrorist groups like Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaeda, the head of the British army said in an interview published yes-terday.

General Mark Carleton-Smith warned Moscow had shown a willingness to use its military to pursue its national interests

while seeking to “exploit West-ern vulnerabilities”.

“Russia today indisputably represents a far greater threat to our national security than Islamic extremist threats such as Al-Qaeda and (IS),” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“Russia has embarked on a systematic effort to explore and exploit Western vulnerabili-ties, particularly in some of the

non-traditional areas of cyber, space, undersea warfare.”

Carleton-Smith, 54, said fol-lowing IS battlefield loses in Syria and Iraq, the Western al-liance must switch focus to the threat posed by Russia -- and do so through NATO.

“The physical manifestation of the Islamist threat has di-minished with the complete destruction of the geography of

the so-called Caliphate,” he said.“We cannot be complacent

about the threat Russia poses or leave it uncontested.

“The most important conven-tional military response to Rus-sia is the continued capabilities and coherence of the NATO alli-ance.” The former special forces commander was speaking in his first interview since becoming Britain’s chief of the general staff in June.

Carleton-Smith also took the opportunity to downplay the need for a separate European army, as recently encouraged by French President Emmanuel Macron.

“I would not support any ini-tiative that diluted the military effectiveness of NATO,” he said.

“NATO represents the fun-damental gravity of European security.

28 drown in India bus crash, many of them children

New Delhi, India

At least 28 people, many of them children, drowned

Saturday after their bus plunged into a canal in India, police said.

Police said they retrieved 28 bodies from the private pas-senger bus after it veered off the road and fell into the canal in the Mandya district of the southern state of Karnataka.

A police officer at the scene said that many of the victims

were school children returning to their homes.

“Many children are among the 28 dead,” a police official told AFP by phone.

Police could not provide the exact number of passengers on board or the cause of the crash but said the driver was apparently speeding.

Local media said around 35 people were in the vehicle.

Video footage on television showed locals using ropes to reach the submerged bus and pull out the bodies.

Emergency workers and divers with volunteers during the rescue operation

Body of US missionary may never be recovered• Police sent a boat near North Sentinel for the second time

AFP | Port Blair, India

The body of American mis-sionary-adventurer John

Allen Chau may never be recov-ered from the lost island where he fell in a volley of arrows fired by a reclusive tribe whose exist-ence is threatened by the mod-ern world, say experts.

The menace to the Sentine-lese from Chau’s one-man invasion is such that tribal rights specialists say no mur-der charges will ever be laid and Chau’s body will have to stay hidden to protect what is probably the world’s last pre-neolithic tribe.

Indian authorities -- who do not dare enforce their rule over North Sentinel island -- have not even tried to send police ashore to question the tribe who have been greeting outsid-ers with hostility for centuries.

Police sent a boat near North Sentinel for the second time since the killing on Friday.

The American died last week after making several attempts to reach the Sentinelese to preach Christianity -- knowing it was illegal to go within three miles (five kilometres) of the island.

Double dilemmaPankaj Sekhsaria, a tribal

rights expert and author on the Andaman and Nicobar islands, said it would be “a futile exer-cise” to try to retrieve Chau’s body.

“I don’t think it is a good idea to go anywhere near (North Sentinel) because it will create conflict with the community there,” he said.

“I don’t believe there is any safe way to retrieve the body without putting both the Sen-tinelese and those attempting it at risk,” added Sophie Grig, senior researcher for Survival International which campaigns for such isolated groups.

Anup Kapoor, an anthropolo-gy professor at the University of Delhi, said that anyone wanting

to open a dialogue with the Sen-tinelese had to show they were “on the same level.”

“Don’t wear anything,” he recommended. “Only then you can hope to have some sort of interaction.”

The lack of knowledge of the Sentinelese, believed to be the last surviving descendants of the first humans to arrive in Asia -- and who 13th century adventurer Marco Polo called “brutish and savage” -- is the main handicap.

“We have no clue about their communication systems, their history and culture, how can we go anywhere near them,” said Kapoor.

“What we know is that they have been killed and persecuted historically by the British and the Japanese. They hate anyone in uniform. If they see someone in uniform, they will kill him on the spot.

“Let them be the way they are. Leave them in peace in the ecosystem they are in. Do not disturb them because that will only make them more aggres-sive.”

John Allen Chau. (Courtesy of New York Times)

Shooting at US mall sparks panic on Black FridayNew York, United States

A man was shot in the wrist after a fight at a crowded

New Jersey mall on Black Fri-day, police said, sparking panic on the busiest shopping day of the year.

It was not immediately clear what the motive behind the shooting was as the victim was refusing to cooperate, but the gunshot led to the evacuation of the Jersey Gardens mall as police converged on the scene.

Videos posted on social me-

dia showed shoppers taking cover, while others were being urged to “get down.” Some took to Twitter to say they thought they were under attack by an active shooter.

The mall had seen 25,000 shoppers over the course of the busy retail day, local media reported.

“It was an isolated incident,” Lieutenant Todd Kelly of the Elizabeth Police Department told AFP.

“A male was shot in the wrist

in the hallway of the Jersey Gardens Mall, between the Tommy Hilfiger and Marshalls Store.

“We have not apprehended a suspect, and the victim is not cooperating on identifying the suspect. The mall is secure and evacuated at this point,” Kelly said. Disputes between shop-pers scouring for bargains on Black Friday often result in vi-olence. Eleven Americans have been killed and 116 injured on the day since 2006.

Police use tear gas, water cannon against protesters

AFP | Paris, France

Security forces in Paris fired tear gas and water

cannon yesterday to disperse protesters who tried to break through a police cordon on the Champs-Elysees.

Several thousand demonstra-tors, wearing high-visibility yel-low jackets, had gathered on the avenue as part of protests which began last Saturday against an increase in diesel tax, justified

as an anti-pollution levy by the government.

Paris police authorities said yesterday’s incidents were linked to the “presence of mem-bers of the far-right who har-assed the security forces.”

The ‘yellow vest’ protesters were seen ripping up paving stones or starting to build bar-ricades.

But “no demonstrator en-tered” the zone that had been cordoned off by police on the

Place de la Concorde and the lower part of the Champs-Ely-see, near the presidential pal-ace.

Christophe, 49, who had trav-eled from the Isere region in eastern France with his wife, fled into a side road off the Champs-Elysee to escape the tear gas.

“We have just demonstrated peacefully, and we were tear-gassed,” he said. “We see how we are welcomed in Paris.”

Yellow vest (Gilet jaune) protestors stand as a water canon sprays on the Champs Elysees in Paris


France agrees to return African treasures to Benin soon The decision came based on a study Macron had commissioned on returning African treasures held by French museumsAFP | Paris, France

France’s President Em-manuel Macron agreed

Friday to return 26 artworks to Benin “without delay,” his office said.

The decision came as Macron received the findings of a study he had commissioned on return-ing African treasures held by French museums, a radical pol-icy shift that could put pressure on other former colonial powers.

He proposed gathering Afri-can and European partners in Paris next year to define a frame-work for an “exchange policy” for African artworks.

Macron agreed to return 26 royal statues from the Palac-es of Abomey -- formerly the capital of the kingdom of Da-homey -- that were taken by the French army in 1892 and are now housed at Paris’ Quai Branly museum.

Benin had requested their res-titution, and earlier this week welcomed that France had fol-lowed the process through to the end.

But Macron’s office said this should not be an isolated or sym-bolic case.

The president “hopes that

all possible circulation of these works are considered: returns but also exhibitions, loans, fur-ther cooperation”, the Elysee palace said.

The report he received on Friday proposed legislation be developed to return thousands of African artworks taken during the country’s colonial period, now in French museums, to na-tions that request them.

There are conditions, howev-er, including a request from the relevant country, precise infor-mation about the works’ origins,

and the existence of proper facil-ities such as museums to house the works back in their home country.

Macron also wants “museums to play an essential role in this process”, his office said.

They will be invited to “identi-fy African partners and organise possible returns”.

Museums should quick-ly establish “an online inven-tory of their African collec-tions” to allow for searching an item’s provenance, the statement said.

Macron also called for “in-depth work with other Europe-an states that retain collections of the same nature acquired in comparable circumstances”.

Calls have been growing in Af-rica for restitution of artworks, but French law strictly forbids the government from ceding state property, even in well-doc-umented cases of pillaging.

Macron raised hopes in a speech last year in Burkina Faso, saying “Africa’s heritage cannot just be in European private col-lections and museums.”

He later asked French art historian Benedicte Savoy and Senegalese writer Felwine Sarr to study the matter.

Funerary crown of the Kingdom of Dahomey dating from 1860-1889 at the Quai Branly Museum-Jacques Chirac in Paris.

The Ato ceremony of the Kingdom of Dahomey, circa 1934 at the Quai Branly Museum-Jacques Chirac in Paris.`

KNOW WHAT

The artworks were taken by French army in 1892 and are now

housed at Paris’ Quai Branly museum.

Egypt unveils ancient tomb and sarcophagi in Luxor

Luxor, Egypt

E gypt yesterday un-veiled an ancient tomb,

sarcophagi and funerary artifacts discovered in the Theban necropolis of Al-As-sasif in the southern city of Luxor.

In a ceremony in front of the temple of Queen Hat-shepsut, Antiquities Min-ister Khaled al-Anani an-nounced that French and Egyptian archaeologists had discovered “a new tomb... with very nice paintings”.

Located between the roy-al tombs at the Valley of the Queens and the Valley of the Kings, the Al-Assasif ne-cropolis is the burial site of nobles and senior officials close to the pharaohs.

Among the finds in the tomb are sarcophagi, stat-ues and some 1,000 funer-ary figurines called “Ushab-tis” made of wood, faience and clay.

The tomb dates back to the Middle Kingdom, which spanned the 11th and 12th dynasties, and belonged to “Thaw-Irkhet-If”, mummi-fication supervisor at the Temple of Mut in Karnak, according to the ministry.

A carved black wooden sarcophagus inlaid with gilded sheets lying in a burial chamber

eSwatini PM bans first class air travel for officials

Mbabane, eSwatini

The newly-appointed prime minister of the

tiny kingdom of eSwatini yesterday banned first class air travel for top govern-ment officials as part of a slew of measures to control spending.

Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini, who took office a month ago, also announced that he will not buy a new car for himself but inherit the old one used by his pre-decessor as the economy battles slowing growth.

“Following the current economic challenges facing the kingdom, cabinet has decided to implement major interim fiscal decisions to enhance financial prudence and controls so as to spend as little money as possible,” he said in a statement.

Ambrose Dlamini

US soldier killedKabul, Afghanistan

A US soldier was killed in Afghanistan, NATO

said, taking the number of American service personnel to die in the country this year to nine. NATO’s Reso-lute Support mission would not immediately release any details about the soldier -- the second US service mem-ber to be killed in Afghani-stan this month.

Taiwan’s ruling party faces major defeat

Main opposition Kuomintang declared victory in 15 of 22 city and county seatsAFP | Taipei, Taiwan

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen resigned as leader of the ruling Dem-

ocratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday after it suffered major defeats in key mid-term polls, a significant blow to her pros-pects for re-election in 2020.

The Beijing-friendly main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) made gains in the face of Chi-na’s increasing pressure on the island.

Taiwan is still awaiting the result of a closely watched referendum on gay marriage, with activists fearing a win for conservative “pro-family” cam-paigners would turn back the clock on the island’s reputation as a trailblazer for marriage equality.

Tsai and her Democratic Pro-gressive Party (DPP) have faced a mounting backlash over domes-tic reforms as well as concerns about deteriorating ties with China, which still sees self-rul-ing Taiwan as part of its territo-

ry to be reunified. Tsai told reporters that she

would take “complete respon-sibility” for the defeat as she resigned as chair of the party.

The KMT, which oversaw an unprecedented thaw with Bei-jing before Tsai took office in 2016, declared victory in 15 of 22 city and county seats, up from just six going into the election.

The DPP, which had 13 seats, declared victory in only six and

lost its traditional stronghold in Kaohsiung city for the first time in 20 years.

The Taipei mayoral seat is still to be announced.

Beijing has intensified pres-sure on Taiwan under Tsai, up-ping military drills, poaching diplomatic allies and success-fully convincing international businesses to list Taiwan as part of China on their websites.

The DPP is traditionally

pro-independence and Tsai has refused to acknowledge Bei-jing’s stance that Taiwan is part of “one China”, unlike her KMT predecessor Ma Ying-jeou.

Ahead of the vote, Tsai and DPP officials repeatedly said they believed China has med-dled in the lead-up to the elec-tions through a “fake news” campaign, which Beijing has denied.

The KMT -- which lost the leadership and its majority in parliament two years ago as the public feared it had moved too close to Beijing -- framed the election as a vote of no confi-dence in Tsai, with promises to boost the economy and promote peaceful relations with China.

Some analysts said the defeat ruled Tsai out as a candidate for the presidency in 2020.

Observers put the results down to anger over pension cuts and labour reforms, including slashing the number of public holidays, as well as concern that tensions with Beijing are dam-aging local business.

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen holds a ballet before voting at a polling station during local elections in Zhongho district, New Taipei City

Nine dead in IS attack in LibyaBenghazi, Libya

At least nine security service members were killed in a

suspected Islamic State group attack in the southeastern Lib-yan town of Tazerbo on Friday, a senior security official said.

Eleven other people includ-ing civilians and a security

chief were also “kidnapped” by members of the extremist group, which attacked a police station in the oasis town, added the official.

The Tazerbo desert region is controlled by the forces of strongman Khalifa Haftar, who heads the self-styled National

Libyan Army (ANL).The capital Tripoli is the seat

of a rival administration -- the internationally-backed govern-ment led by Fayez al-Sarraj.

The attack, which has not yet been claimed, is the second in less than a month targeting forces loyal to Haftar.

Korean railway surveySeoul, South Korea

The UN Security Coun-cil has granted a sanc-

tions exemption for the two Koreas to jointly conduct a survey on reconnecting railways across their border. The two Koreas last month agreed to start the survey.

FOR EVERY MINUTE YOU REMAIN ANGRY, YOU GIVE UP SIXTY SECONDS OF PEACE OF MIND. RALPH WALDO EMERSON

QUOTE OF THE DAY


C I V I L I A N ’ S T R I B U N E

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

MUSTAFA AKYOL

The agony of Asia Bibi, a 54-year-old Roman Catholic and mother of

five, shows there is something rotten in her country, Pakistan.

She was arrested for blas-phemy in 2009 after Muslim co-workers on a destitute farm denounced her for merely drinking from the same cup and, during the subsequent quarrel, for “insulting Islam” — a charge Bibi always denied. Yet she was convicted in 2010 and spent the next eight years in solitary confinement, on death row.

Luckily, Pakistan’s Supreme Court last month saved her from execution, clearing her of the charges and also setting her free. But Pakistan’s mili-tant Islamists, especially those in the notorious Tehreek-e-Labbaik religious party, which is obsessed with punishing blasphemers, were enraged. They forced the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan to accept a court petition to reverse the case and bar Bibi from leaving the country. She and her family, fearing vigilan-te violence, went into hiding.

I am hoping that the trau-matised family will be able to leave Pakistan safely, to find asylum in some free nation.

As a Muslim, I feel ashamed of the cruelty they have suffered at the hands of people who act in the name of my faith.

Of course, in this story there are righteous Muslims to be proud of as well. They include the Supreme Court judges, whose prudent decision that saved Bibi noted the Proph-et Muhammad’s tolerance for Christians. They include Pun-jabi politician Salman Taser, who stood up for Bibi in 2011, only to be assassinated for that by his own bodyguard. They in-clude three British imams, who recently joined the campaign to grant asylum to Bibi in Britain.

In other words, the militant Islamists who want to kill all blasphemers, real or perceived, do not define Islam. But they do define a fanatic, ferocious, dangerous strain within Islam.

Muslims who support such violent or oppressive responses to blasphemy are missing two important points. One is that it is them, not the blasphemers, who are defaming Islam, by presenting it as an immature tradition that has little room for civilised discourse. The sec-ond point is that their zealotry is not as religiously grounded as they think.

To see this, one must look at the Quran — the most funda-mental and only undisputed source of Islam. Most notably, throughout all of its 6,236 vers-es, it never tells Muslims to silence blasphemy with force. It tells them only to respond with dignity.

This appears in the Quran-ic verses that addressed the tensions between the earliest Muslims and other commu-nities nearby. “You are sure to hear much that is hurtful from those who were given the Scripture before you and from those who associate oth-ers with God,” one such verse tells Muslims, only to add, “If you are steadfast and mindful of God, that is the best course.” [3:186]

A n o t h e r Q u r a n i c v e r s e

holds up as model Muslims “those who walk humbly on the earth, and who, when the foolish address them, reply, ‘Peace.’” [25:63] Yet another verse addresses the issue of mockery, telling Muslims that when they hear people who ridicule “God’s revelations,” they should just “not sit with them.” [4:140]

However, as Islamic juris-prudence developed over the centuries, much was added to the spirit of the Quran, based

often on dubious reports about the words and deeds of the prophet. Blasphemy grad-ually became a capital crime — but only with objections from prominent jurists like Abu Hanifa, the eighth-cen-tury founder of one of the four main Sunni schools. A bigger sin than insulting Islam is dis-belief in God, he reasoned, but Islam decrees no punishment for that.

Today, Pakistan’s liberals, most of whom are faithful Muslims, are referring to such sources in the Islamic tradi-tion to argue against blasphe-my laws. They are right. Those laws should be abandoned — in Pakistan and elsewhere.

At the same time, Muslim opinion leaders should help their societies understand that these laws serve not the hon-our of Islam, but much more mundane interests — for ex-ample, persecuting non-Mus-lim minorities out of greed or jealousy, or silencing Muslims themselves who criticise and challenge the powers that be.

And all Muslims of good faith should stand up more forceful-ly for people like Asia Bibi, who is falsely accused of blasphemy. Also, they should tolerate those who really do blaspheme and at most “not sit with them,” as the Quran counsels.

They should walk away, say-ing, “Peace.”

(Mustafa Akyol is a senior fellow on Islam and modernity at the Cato

Institute and the author, most re-cently, of “The Islamic Jesus.”)

True Islam doesn’t allow any kind of violence

The militant Islamists only define a fanatic, ferocious and dangerous strain within the community

A big loss for Trump The November elections produced a large

enough blue wave for the Democrats to take control of the House, a big loss for

President Trump since every House Commit-tee chair will be a Democrat who will stifle his agenda and open more investigations involving Trump.

These mid-term elections could have been a runaway win in the House and Senate for the Republicans, but they could not focus the public’s attention on the economic growth, employment and regulatory policies instead of being a public referendum on Donald Trump and his divisive personality.

The Democrats outmaneuvered the Republi-cans with a more compelling grass roots mes-sage and a superior ground game that got out the anti-Trump voters. Many good congres-sional and state conservatives lost due to the Trump-resistance vote. The GOP’s failure in revising health care cost it even more votes. Democratic losses in strong Trump states were

very close, which softened the ground for more candidates’ chances in 2020.

Trump also misfired by not appealing to the swing voters who carried him to victory in 2016 when he got more votes from white women than did Hillary Clinton. Trump’s irresponsible comments about females and race after his election drove women to the Democratic side in unprecedented numbers. There are many more female voters in America than male voters, thus it was self-defeating for Trump to disenfranchise that large a voting bloc. This dynamic has created a huge para-digm shift in American politics.

Trump’s 2016 three electoral swing states with 46 votes – Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania – all went decisively blue this November. Unless Trump makes major chang-es in his messaging and improves his unpopu-lar presidential persona, he is setting the table for increased Democratic wins in two years.

Ahmed Shah

As a Muslim, I feel ashamed of the cruelty they have suffered at the hands of

people who act in the name of my faith.

1905Prince Carl of Denmark arrives in Norway to become King Haakon VII of Norway.

1915Albert Einstein presents the field equations of general rela-tivity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

1917World War I: German forces defeat Portuguese army of about 1200 at Negomano on the border of mod-ern-day Mozambique and Tanzania.

1918Vojvodina, formerly Austro-Hungarian crown land, proclaims its secession from Austria–Hungary to join the Kingdom of Serbia.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY


TOP

4TWEETS

04

02

03

01

The fai led at tack against the Chinese

Consulate was clearly a reaction to the unprece-dented trade agreements that resulted from our trip to China. The attack was intended to scare Chinese investors and undermine CPEC. These terrorists will not succeed.

@ImranKhanPTI

I do have to say, it’s obvi-ous with the questions

I am asking about Trump now I should have asked during the election, and the vote would have been clear, sadly my ignorant hatred for Hillary Clinton at the time clouded my judgement to question the Republican party.

@davidmweissman

Why give thanks for Hillary? Because

we must all do a better job understanding that the treatment Secretary Clinton has received from Trump and his allies dis-courages others on both sides from committing their lives to public ser-vice. Hillary deserves better. We deserve better.

@JoeNBC

The Trump Founda-tion functioned as

little more than a check-book to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political in-terests. There are rules that govern private foun-dations, and we intend to enforce them—no matter who runs the foundation.

@NewYorkStateAG

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

editorial stances)

AMANDA SIEBERT

When Canada fully le-galised recreational cannabis on Oct 17, the

Internet giddily re-imagined the CN Tower in Toronto peeking out from a thick haze and swapped the flag’s red maple leaf for its jagged-edged green cousin. Out-siders might titter about an entire populace turning into potheads, but legalisation means some of the country’s brightest can now turn their minds to pot.

As the first G-7 nation to slack-en cannabis laws, Canada has bolted to the front lines of the plant’s methodical scrutiny and investigation. No longer at risk of censure or lacking access to spec-imens, researchers can transcend the narrow parameters of scientif-ic study once considered accept-able, namely, clinical research, to explore social, biological, genetic and agricultural questions. From botanists to phytochemists, mi-crobiologists to epidemiologists, scientists of all sorts are free to openly pursue a greater quantity and quality of cannabis science than ever before.

Ninety-five years of prohibi-tion has made for a rather brief encyclopedia entry, meaning what we do know mainly comes from anecdotal observation and short-term studies. But Canadian laboratories aren’t starting from scratch. It was Canada, in 2001, that became the first country to sanction the medical use of marijuana. It was a Canadian team, in 2011, that published the first sequence of the cannabis genome. Yet these landmark contributions, and the array of

peer-reviewed studies that were spurred, rarely strayed past lines of inquiry that ran parallel with social norms.

Research lurched forward with the early legal steps, offer-ing sick and suffering Canadians a new option to manage chronic pain, treat symptoms of PTSD and boost their overall quality of life. It dwindled under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a Con-servative who slashed health and drug policy budgets and slammed cannabis as “infinitely worse” than tobacco (experts say it’s the other way around). Re-search multiplied again in 2014, when commercial growers got clearance to supply mail-order medical marijuana to Canadian patients, commodification that simultaneously energised corpo-rate interests.

Canada’s brand-new legisla-tion, the Cannabis Act, replaces a restrictive system that treated researchers like would-be drug dealers. Scientists intending to cultivate their own plants can now simply apply for a specific class of license rather than toil for an exemption from the ret-rograde Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which, among other demands, required crimi-nal record checks.

The Canadian government, once unwilling to touch the stuff, has stepped up to properly ex-amine how cannabis affects the body and brain. It’s funding 14 new studies and has set aside millions more for research grants that could ask questions like, Will a pregnant mother using cannabis harm her baby’s devel-opment? Does smoking affect drivers’ reaction time behind the wheel? And at what threshold does teenagers’ pot consumption become destructive?

Canada’s private sector is even more frenzied over the business

case for audacious research. In the lead-up to legalisation, producers rushed to get med-ical licenses so that they could formulate novel cannabis-based products. Already, more than 130 companies have been approved, with hundreds more in line. The industry’s leaders have opened large-scale trials, including ex-ploring the plant’s power to al-leviate chemotherapy-induced nausea and reduce seizures in epileptic children. Amultimil-lion-dollar university profes-sorship has been established to investigate a cannabis solution to the opioid overdose epidemic. Smaller businesses are dabbling in the renegade development ofinfused creams and potent concentrates. And academia and nonprofits are leveraging industry to fund more daring studies and advocacy work, for instance, realistic educational programming to develop teen-agers’ “cannabis literacy.”

With the legal barriers torn down, a path has been cleared for Canadians to stake a global claim in the emerging field of research. New science projects are taking shape in Europe, Israel and Australia, many the fruit of joint ventures with Canadian

companies, others made possible only with imported dried medi-cal marijuana and cannabis oil from Canada. The country has become “the de facto source of research-grade cannabis around the world,” contends Philippe Lucas, who is the head of re-search for the Canadian produc-er Tilray, which has completed exports to 10 countries.

Canada’s grand experiment has already been a catalyst for smarter science in the United States, where its federal prohi-bition has choked research. Al-though 33 states have relaxed their marijuana laws, only one facility in Mississippi is federally licensed to supply dried canna-bis, and its product is often derid-ed by researchers as lacklustre.

Enter Tilray, which, in a rare first this September, was ap-proved by the Drug Enforce-ment Administration to supply cannabis extract from Canada to a California neurologist who’s developing a treatment for trem-ors in the elderly. (Tilray has also built a greenhouse in a Portugal research park, expanding the sci-ence into the European Union.) America’s cannabis entrepre-neurs, however, aren’t so keen on the prospective northern pot pipeline. One multistate medical grower has pleaded with Presi-dent Donald Trump for domestic regulation in a full-page Wall Street Journal ad, fretting that “America is rapidly losing its competitive advantage to Can-ada!”

As bidding wars replace the drug war, legalisation promises empirical evidence for policy-makers caught between popular sensibilities and a paucity of data. Canada’s statistical agency and the country’s health ministry are already gathering information from a newly visible population of cannabis users. The metrics

could enable jurisdictions world-wide to devise policy reforms and public health programs that minimise legalisation’s potential-ly negative impacts.

The scholarship on cannabis will finally advance now that a developed, Western society has welcomed back an ancient drug plant, says Jonathan Page, a Van-couver-based plant biologist and a leader of the cannabis genome project. Therapeutic marijuana application dates back thousands of years, according to archaeo-logical and historical records.

In June, Page sold his labora-tory Anandia to one of Canada’s largest growers, Aurora Can-nabis, for 115 million Canadian dollars ($88 million), and last week he was appointed its chief science officer, overseeing some 40 PhD- and MS-level research-ers. He envisions Canadian sci-entists conducting a cornucopia of taboo-defying research, from decoding cannabis’s sensory ap-peal to testing whether it can be used as a substitute for alco-hol. Science, he says, could even settle the perennial debate over whether there are, in fact, two types of cannabis: sativa, said to provide uplifting, cerebral sen-sations, and indica, considered to be sedating.

“Marijuana’s hard-won return to the Canadian mainstream sug-gests that psychoactive plants matter to modern lives and will continue to shape human cul-ture,” he said. “Prohibition was just a blip on the timeline of civilisation and a dark age for science.”

In an age of global paranoia, Canada’s decisive leadership has produced a veritable green-field opportunity. It’s incumbent on our scientists to do the plowing.

(Amanda Siebert is an author and columnist with The New York Times.)

Canada’s grand experiment has set scientists free

Legalisation will vastly expand our

understanding of the ancient plant and how it can improve

lives

Canada’s private sector is even more frenzied

over the business case for audacious research. In the

lead-up to legalisation, producers rushed to get medical licences so that

they could formulate novel cannabis-based products.

Canadian legislation will pave way for further research into the medicinal values and uses of cannabis.

1905Prince Carl of Denmark arrives in Norway to become King Haakon VII of Norway.

1915Albert Einstein presents the field equations of general rela-tivity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

1917World War I: German forces defeat Portuguese army of about 1200 at Negomano on the border of mod-ern-day Mozambique and Tanzania.

1918Vojvodina, formerly Austro-Hungarian crown land, proclaims its secession from Austria–Hungary to join the Kingdom of Serbia.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY


TOP

4TWEETS

04

02

03

01

The fai led at tack against the Chinese

Consulate was clearly a reaction to the unprece-dented trade agreements that resulted from our trip to China. The attack was intended to scare Chinese investors and undermine CPEC. These terrorists will not succeed.

@ImranKhanPTI

I do have to say, it’s obvi-ous with the questions

I am asking about Trump now I should have asked during the election, and the vote would have been clear, sadly my ignorant hatred for Hillary Clinton at the time clouded my judgement to question the Republican party.

@davidmweissman

Why give thanks for Hillary? Because

we must all do a better job understanding that the treatment Secretary Clinton has received from Trump and his allies dis-courages others on both sides from committing their lives to public ser-vice. Hillary deserves better. We deserve better.

@JoeNBC

The Trump Founda-tion functioned as

little more than a check-book to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political in-terests. There are rules that govern private foun-dations, and we intend to enforce them—no matter who runs the foundation.

@NewYorkStateAG

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

editorial stances)

AMANDA SIEBERT

When Canada fully le-galised recreational cannabis on Oct 17, the

Internet giddily re-imagined the CN Tower in Toronto peeking out from a thick haze and swapped the flag’s red maple leaf for its jagged-edged green cousin. Out-siders might titter about an entire populace turning into potheads, but legalisation means some of the country’s brightest can now turn their minds to pot.

As the first G-7 nation to slack-en cannabis laws, Canada has bolted to the front lines of the plant’s methodical scrutiny and investigation. No longer at risk of censure or lacking access to spec-imens, researchers can transcend the narrow parameters of scientif-ic study once considered accept-able, namely, clinical research, to explore social, biological, genetic and agricultural questions. From botanists to phytochemists, mi-crobiologists to epidemiologists, scientists of all sorts are free to openly pursue a greater quantity and quality of cannabis science than ever before.

Ninety-five years of prohibi-tion has made for a rather brief encyclopedia entry, meaning what we do know mainly comes from anecdotal observation and short-term studies. But Canadian laboratories aren’t starting from scratch. It was Canada, in 2001, that became the first country to sanction the medical use of marijuana. It was a Canadian team, in 2011, that published the first sequence of the cannabis genome. Yet these landmark contributions, and the array of

peer-reviewed studies that were spurred, rarely strayed past lines of inquiry that ran parallel with social norms.

Research lurched forward with the early legal steps, offer-ing sick and suffering Canadians a new option to manage chronic pain, treat symptoms of PTSD and boost their overall quality of life. It dwindled under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a Con-servative who slashed health and drug policy budgets and slammed cannabis as “infinitely worse” than tobacco (experts say it’s the other way around). Re-search multiplied again in 2014, when commercial growers got clearance to supply mail-order medical marijuana to Canadian patients, commodification that simultaneously energised corpo-rate interests.

Canada’s brand-new legisla-tion, the Cannabis Act, replaces a restrictive system that treated researchers like would-be drug dealers. Scientists intending to cultivate their own plants can now simply apply for a specific class of license rather than toil for an exemption from the ret-rograde Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which, among other demands, required crimi-nal record checks.

The Canadian government, once unwilling to touch the stuff, has stepped up to properly ex-amine how cannabis affects the body and brain. It’s funding 14 new studies and has set aside millions more for research grants that could ask questions like, Will a pregnant mother using cannabis harm her baby’s devel-opment? Does smoking affect drivers’ reaction time behind the wheel? And at what threshold does teenagers’ pot consumption become destructive?

Canada’s private sector is even more frenzied over the business

case for audacious research. In the lead-up to legalisation, producers rushed to get med-ical licenses so that they could formulate novel cannabis-based products. Already, more than 130 companies have been approved, with hundreds more in line. The industry’s leaders have opened large-scale trials, including ex-ploring the plant’s power to al-leviate chemotherapy-induced nausea and reduce seizures in epileptic children. Amultimil-lion-dollar university profes-sorship has been established to investigate a cannabis solution to the opioid overdose epidemic. Smaller businesses are dabbling in the renegade development ofinfused creams and potent concentrates. And academia and nonprofits are leveraging industry to fund more daring studies and advocacy work, for instance, realistic educational programming to develop teen-agers’ “cannabis literacy.”

With the legal barriers torn down, a path has been cleared for Canadians to stake a global claim in the emerging field of research. New science projects are taking shape in Europe, Israel and Australia, many the fruit of joint ventures with Canadian

companies, others made possible only with imported dried medi-cal marijuana and cannabis oil from Canada. The country has become “the de facto source of research-grade cannabis around the world,” contends Philippe Lucas, who is the head of re-search for the Canadian produc-er Tilray, which has completed exports to 10 countries.

Canada’s grand experiment has already been a catalyst for smarter science in the United States, where its federal prohi-bition has choked research. Al-though 33 states have relaxed their marijuana laws, only one facility in Mississippi is federally licensed to supply dried canna-bis, and its product is often derid-ed by researchers as lacklustre.

Enter Tilray, which, in a rare first this September, was ap-proved by the Drug Enforce-ment Administration to supply cannabis extract from Canada to a California neurologist who’s developing a treatment for trem-ors in the elderly. (Tilray has also built a greenhouse in a Portugal research park, expanding the sci-ence into the European Union.) America’s cannabis entrepre-neurs, however, aren’t so keen on the prospective northern pot pipeline. One multistate medical grower has pleaded with Presi-dent Donald Trump for domestic regulation in a full-page Wall Street Journal ad, fretting that “America is rapidly losing its competitive advantage to Can-ada!”

As bidding wars replace the drug war, legalisation promises empirical evidence for policy-makers caught between popular sensibilities and a paucity of data. Canada’s statistical agency and the country’s health ministry are already gathering information from a newly visible population of cannabis users. The metrics

could enable jurisdictions world-wide to devise policy reforms and public health programs that minimise legalisation’s potential-ly negative impacts.

The scholarship on cannabis will finally advance now that a developed, Western society has welcomed back an ancient drug plant, says Jonathan Page, a Van-couver-based plant biologist and a leader of the cannabis genome project. Therapeutic marijuana application dates back thousands of years, according to archaeo-logical and historical records.

In June, Page sold his labora-tory Anandia to one of Canada’s largest growers, Aurora Can-nabis, for 115 million Canadian dollars ($88 million), and last week he was appointed its chief science officer, overseeing some 40 PhD- and MS-level research-ers. He envisions Canadian sci-entists conducting a cornucopia of taboo-defying research, from decoding cannabis’s sensory ap-peal to testing whether it can be used as a substitute for alco-hol. Science, he says, could even settle the perennial debate over whether there are, in fact, two types of cannabis: sativa, said to provide uplifting, cerebral sen-sations, and indica, considered to be sedating.

“Marijuana’s hard-won return to the Canadian mainstream sug-gests that psychoactive plants matter to modern lives and will continue to shape human cul-ture,” he said. “Prohibition was just a blip on the timeline of civilisation and a dark age for science.”

In an age of global paranoia, Canada’s decisive leadership has produced a veritable green-field opportunity. It’s incumbent on our scientists to do the plowing.

(Amanda Siebert is an author and columnist with The New York Times.)

Canada’s grand experiment has set scientists free

Legalisation will vastly expand our

understanding of the ancient plant and how it can improve

lives

Canada’s private sector is even more frenzied

over the business case for audacious research. In the

lead-up to legalisation, producers rushed to get medical licences so that

they could formulate novel cannabis-based products.

Canadian legislation will pave way for further research into the medicinal values and uses of cannabis.

LuLu, Saudi National Guard sign deal for supermarkets• Two shopping centres and seven supermarkets in Dammam & Al Ahsa

• The facilities will be on SANG campuses

• Deals were signed at King Fahad National Guard office in Dammam on Wednesday

TDT | Dammam

Hy p e r m a r ke t s re t a i l chain, LuLu Group In-ternational yesterday

announced signing an agree-ment with the Saudi Arabian National Guard Forces (SANG) to open two shopping centres and seven supermarkets in Dammam & Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.

The supermarkets will be on SANG campuses to serve Na-tional Guard officials and their families.

With 15 upcoming projects, LuLu at present operates 14 hypermarkets and 10 ARAMCO

commissaries in different parts of Saudi Arabia.

The agreement was signed by Prince Mishal bin bader bin Saud bin Abdul Aziz, Under-secretary

of the National Guard and Yusuf-fali MA, Chairman and Managing Director of LuLu Group Inter-national at King Fahad Nation-al Guard office in Dammam on

Wednesday. Commenting on the deal,

Yusuffali said,“ We will make sure that, these supermarkets will be the best in the world and

serve the national guard officials and their families in best possi-ble manner.”

“Our goal is to give employ-ment to more than 5,000 nation-

als by the end of 2020,” added Yusuffali. LuLu group currently employs more than 2,700 Saudi nationals in their various hyper-markets across the Kingdom.

The stores, Yusuff Ali said, will be opened in the next 6 months and is expected to gen-erate sizeable employment for local Saudi youth.

10

business


We will make sure that, these

supermarkets will be the best in the world and serve

the national guard officials and their

families in best possible manner

YUSUFFALI MA

CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF LULU GROUP INTERNATIONAL

Prince Mishal bin bader bin Saud bin Abdul Aziz, Undersecretary of the National Guard and Yusuffali MA, Chairman and Managing Director of Lulu Group International after signing the agreements

Bahrain gears up for IFID forumTDT | Manama

The 2nd Annual Islam-ic Finance Innovation

Day (IFID) Forum - “Next Generation Finnovators” is gearing up to welcome more than 150 rising stars and in-dustry experts from across the Islamic finance industry and rapidly developing Fin-Tech sector.

The event, which is taking place tomorrow at 2 pm at the Wyndham Grand, Bah-rain Bay, is being held in Strategic Partnership with the Bahrain Economic De-velopment Board and will feature participation from some of the best known re-gional and global Islamic financial organisations and related parties.

The Forum aims to bring a fresh perspective into the Islamic Fintech de-bate by giving a platform to next-generation leaders alongside more seasoned innovation, strategy and human resources profes-sionals from across the industry.

Discussions will be set around three expert-mod-erated, interactive panels focusing on: Accelerating Fintech Adoption, Edu-cating, Empowering and Leveraging the Power of Young Professionals and Islamic FinTech Innova-tion Labs: Views from the Inside.

EDB, Kaspersky sign deal for Cybersecurity• First phase includes training sessions for teachers and trainers in ‘Train-the-Trainer’ sessions

TDT | Manama

Bahrain’s Economic Devel-opment Board (EDB) and

Kaspersky Lab is bringing cy-bersecurity-related course-ma-terial sourced from the global cybersecurity expert to the Uni-versity of Bahrain and Bahrain Polytechnic.

The deal aims to raise the level of cyber-readiness and prepare a mechanism to en-sure skilled and qualified talent available for the needs of the Kingdom.

The course material, com-piled by Kaspersky Lab, is en-hanced with real-world scenar-ios that cybersecurity specialist professionals may face on a reg-ular basis.

EBD and Kaspersky Lab will also seek to include this course material in additional rele-vant curricula in the Kingdom, with a view to broadening the available skill base in the com-ing years. In the first phase, Kaspersky Lab is rolling-out

immersive training sessions for teachers and trainers to elevate their expertise, and two of these have already been delivered in 2018. These ‘Train-the-Train-er’ sessions include advanced insights and deep-dives into subjects such as Security Moni-toring & Cyber-Threat Hunting; Malware Reverse Engineering, and; Incident Response & Dig-ital Forensics. Each subject requires four training days to complete, and Kaspersky Lab

is rolling out this training to around 25 selected trainers.

John Kilmartin, Executive Director of ICT at the Bahrain EDB, said: “We strongly believe that there is greater value in empowering professionals with real-world information rather than theoretical knowledge, and Kaspersky Lab’s contribu-tion of specialist content will boost the level of awareness and preparedness for the benefit of the nation.”

Amir Kanaan, Managing Director - META, Kaspersky Lab, said, “At Kaspersky Lab, we have successfully delivered similar initiatives in countries such as The Netherlands and Spain, and we are very happy to provide our content and inputs to teachers and students in the Kingdom of Bahrain.”

EBD and Kaspersky Lab will also seek to include this course

material in additional relevant curricula in

the Kingdom

Representative picture

Donald Trump backs Mnuchin after reports of dissatisfactionWashington, United State

Donald Trump on Friday praised the work of his

treasury secretary after a re-port said the president was dissatisfied with his pick and blames him for the appoint-ment of a Federal Reserve chairman who has raised in-terest rates.

“I am extremely happy and proud of the job being done by @USTreasury Secretary” Steven Mnuchin, Trump said on Twitter.

Citing Trump’s advisors, the Journal reported that Trump has also voiced his displeas-ure over Mnuchin’s skepticism toward punitive trade actions against China, as well as recent volatility of the stock market.

Quoting a person familiar with the matter, the Journal reported that during a con-versation with someone who praised Mnuchin’s perfor-mance, Trump mentioned tur-bulence on the stock market and asked: “If he’s so good, why is this happening?”

Trump said the report about Mnuchin was “fake news,” a retort he also issued in late 2017 over reports that Tiller-son would leave the adminis-tration.

Working in Mnuchin’s favor is his long history with Trump

and reputation as an unswerv-ing loyalist who does not allow disagreements to spill out into the public domain.

The main sticking point, however, is reportedly Trump’s annoyance with Jerome Pow-ell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, whose ascendance he pins on Mnuchin -- although Trump nominated Powell to the post.

The Fed has raised its benchmark interest rate three times this year, much to the chagrin of Trump who views the hikes as a threat to the economy and his re-election chances in 2020.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin watches as Trump speaks during a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House


Ring in the magic of festival season with Ritz-CarltonHoliday festivities start December 1 with the illumination of the resort’s grand Christmas tree and magical tunnel of lights

TDT | Manama

Twinkling lights and smells of gingerbread. Delicious

meals and warm cups of hot cocoa. There is nothing quite like the magic of the holidays— especially at The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain.

This season families, couples, as well as leisure travellers, can truly enjoy ‘the most wonder-ful time of the year,’ together with loved ones and friends in-spiring #RCMemories that will last a lifetime. From the light-ing of the grand Christmas tree, overnight packages, the lavish Christmas brunch and the finale New Year’s Eve “On Broadway” celebration– it’s sure to be splen-did occasion even Santa and his elves in the North Pole wouldn’t miss. Starting December 1 from 6 pm onwards, the holiday sea-son at The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain begins with an evening full of magic and splendour. Through-

out the evening, guests will savour traditional apple cider, gingerbread cookies, and hot cocoa while enjoying the holi-day classics sung by the choir. The magical tunnel of lights also excites as the main drive illumi-nates with 150,000 miniature LED bulbs and 280,000 meters of colour-changing ribbons - a perfect holiday “selfie” moment to tag your #RCmemories @ritz-carltonbahrain.

Each day, through the month of December, guests can enjoy a Jolly Teatime menu at the sig-nature Lobby Lounge or Ritz Gourmet Lounge featuring holi-day pastry traditions like minced pie, stollen and panettone, along with a special menu of Christ-mas teas. Gourmet takeaways will also avail at the Ritz Gour-met Lounge for a selection of hampers and desserts perfect to accompany holiday gatherings.

Travelling families can also enjoy the annual Ritz Kids Win-

ter Camp, December 17-January 7, with playful adventures and festive activities, while mums and dads indulge in “12 Days of Spa,” running December 14-26, featuring a daily unveil of complementary treatments and featured products on Facebook.

On December 25, the resort’s Christmas Brunch delights with a lavish buffet spread featuring live stations, large seafood and prime rib corner to a room full of heavenly desserts. The grand finale of the season ends with a New Year’s Eve countdown where the 9,000 square-foot Al Noor Ballroom lights up with the ultimate pizazz for a night of Broadway and entertainment.

Pair holiday moments with overnight Christmas and New Year’s Eve packages, perfect for families or leisure travellers to spend unforgettable #RCMemo-ries together while enjoying the full line-up of festive events and culinary experiences.Christmas Tree Lighting at The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain (file)

Grant Thornton Bahrain has announced their theme for the year 2018-19 during the BCICAI annual conference held in Bahrain. Grant Thornton was the title sponsor for this event. Jassim Abdulaal, Managing Partner and Jatin Karia, Senior Partner congratulated BCICAI and all members for successful completion of the 10th Annual event. Above, officials during a photocall

Bahrain sets sights on IT to power future and progressBahrain Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India summit concludes on a high note TDT | Manama

The 10th annual confer-ence of the Bahrain Chapter of the Institute

of Chartered Accountants of India (BCICAI) concluded on a high note with Kingdom setting sights on Information Technol-ogy to power future change and progress.

The CEO of the Econom-ic Development, Khalid Al Rumaihi was among a stel-lar cast of speakers from Bahrain who addressed the conference.

Speaking about Bahrain’s management of change in its quest for progress, he told the conference participants that EDB had pulled out all stops to make the Kingdom a data desti-nation for Amazon saying, “EDB is keen to leverage the King-dom’s telecoms connectivity and IT knowledge pool to be-come a regional Fintech hub.”

Rumaihi applauded the in-puts and professional efforts of the chartered accountants in building modern Bahrain. Oth-

er speakers were Dr Adel Hu-bail, CEO of Bahrain Commer-cial Facilities who talked about redefining wealth and striving towards sustainable wealth and social equality and Murad Ali Murad, one of Bahrain’s’ first cost accountants and a bank-ing leader who spoke about the

importance of accounting in maintaining transparency and powering growth.

“Accounting is the centre of any business - if treated with respect and discipline, the field paves the way for greater economic growth and stabili-ty regardless of domestic, re-

gional or national crises,” said Murad.

“The professional engage-ment of the conference along with motivational insights by Kargil war veteran, Major D.P. Singh, who rebuilt his life as a marathon runner using his pros-thetic leg, Life Coach CA Reeta

Shah and a corporate look at one of the largest CSR ventures, the Akshaya Patra Foundation which serves 1.76 million mid-day meals to needy children every day, all made the confer-ence a major success,” said CA Sridhar Seethapathy, Chairper-son of BCICAI.

The Executive Committee of the BCICAI, led by Chairperson S. Sridhar, with Guest of Honour Khalid Al Rumaihi, CEO of the Bahrain Economic Development Board

Egypt says U.S. oil firms showing appetite for offshore projectsReuters | Rome

Egypt sees increasing in-terest from US energy

companies in developing its offshore oil and natural gas resources and expects them to participate in two bidding rounds due before year-end, Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla said.

Egypt has emerged as an attractive destination for foreign energy firms fol-lowing a string of major discoveries in recent years including the giant Zohr offshore field, which holds an estimated 30 trillion cu-bic feet of gas.

Molla said Egypt want-ed to become a regional trading gas hub now it had achieved its goal of self-suf-ficiency, but would focus on meeting its existing com-mitments once exports are resumed.

While declining to name potential bidders, Molla said there was “an increase in appetite from different American companies and we will see this in practi-cal ways when the closing of the bidding rounds and submission of offers.”

“This will be the proof that they’re interested,” he said.

Indonesia to sign free trade deal with EFTAReuters | Jakarta

Indonesia has wrapped up negotiations for a free trade

and investment pact with members of the four-nation European Free Trade Associ-ation, and a final agreement is due to be signed in Decem-ber, Indonesia’s trade minister said.

Negotiations on the Com-prehensive Indonesia-Euro-pean Free Trade Association Comprehensive Econom-ic Partnership Agreement

(IE-CEPA) between Indonesia and EFTA members - Switzer-land, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland - have taken sev-en years. “This settlement is a milestone for Indonesia’s rela-tions with the four EFTA coun-tries,” trade minister Enggarti-asto Lukita said in a statement released after Friday’s signing in Geneva.

Indonesia will get better ac-cess to export products such as coffee, palm oil, fisheries, textile and furniture, the state-ment said.


Last min Gibraltar deal saves Brexit

Gibraltar claimed by Spain was a bone of contention for the Brexit deal

• Spain withdrew threat to boycott today’s European Council

• A second short political declaration will also be approved today

• Agreement protects citizens’ rights and the Northern Ireland peace process, while ensuring Britain will keep paying EU dues during a transition period

Brussels, Belgium

European leaders resolved a last-minute dispute over the future of Gi-

braltar yesterday, clearing the way for a summit to approve the Brexit deal.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pe-dro Sanchez withdrew a threat to boycott Sunday’s European Council just hours before Brit-ain’s Theresa May was due in Brussels.

The British premier plans to meet EU leaders Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, even though diplomats say the agree-ment is ready for EU leaders to approve. Ahead of her arrival, diplomats had scrambled for an unexpected intense final round of discussion, after Spain in-sisted on keeping a veto over future changes to EU ties with Gibraltar. Then Britain issued a statement saying it would con-tinue bilateral talks with Spain after Brexit on March 29 -- and Sanchez relented.

“I have just announced to the King that Spain has reached an agreement on Gibraltar,” he told a news conference.

“The European Council will therefore be held tomorrow. Eu-

rope and the United Kingdom have accepted Spain’s demands.

Spain has lifted the veto and will vote in favour of Brexit.”

Even as Sanchez was speak-ing, the president of the Euro-pean Council Donald Tusk was finally able to issue his letter in-viting the leaders of EU member states to today’s summit.

“I will recommend that on Sunday we approve the outcome of the Brexit negotiations,” Tusk said, saying the deal on the table reduces “the risks and losses resulting from the United King-dom’s withdrawal.”

“And although no-one will have reasons to be happy on that day, there is one thing I would like to stress: at this critical time, the EU27 has passed the test of unity and solidarity.”

According to Tusk’s invita-tion, the withdrawal agreement protects citizens’ rights and the Northern Ireland peace process, while ensuring Britain will keep paying EU dues during a transi-tion period.

Alongside the withdrawal treaty, a second short political declaration will also be ap-proved today.

This, Tusk said, will act as a roadmap for negotiations after Brexit day on March 29 to “build the best possi-ble relationship with the UK after Brexit, as friends and partners.”

Gibraltar, a rocky outcrop home to a port and around 30,000 people, is a British ter-ritory claimed by Spain and a bone of contention as London negotiates a new relationship with Brussels after Brexit on March 29.

Yesterday, as the dispute threatened to derail the sum-mit, London issued a statement saying Number 10 would not use the withdrawal agreement as cover to cut short its dialogue with Spain.

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and British Prime Minister Theresa May leave after a press briefing during a meeting at the EU Headquarters

SPAIN

Gibraltar risks derailing Brexit dealSpain threatens to veto a draft Brexit agreement between the UK and

EU over concerns about the future status of Gibraltar

Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica, BBC, FT, AP Picture: Google Earth © GRAPHIC NEWS

Spain wants writtenguarantees thatGibraltar will notautomatically be

covered by any future UK-EU freetrade agreement, and that itsinclusion would depend on bilateraltalks between London and Madrid

Article 184 of draftBrexit deal saysEU and UK will seekto “negotiate rapidly

the agreements governing theirfuture relationship” betweenMarch 29, 2019 and end of transitionperiod in December 2020

GIBRALTARPopulation:30,000Area:6.5 sq km

FACTFILENamed in Arabic “Jabal Tariq”, after

Muslim commander Tariq Ibn-Ziyad, whoturned “the Rock” into fortress in 711

Spain has long claimed sovereignty over territory,which has been ruled by Britain since 1713 underterms of Treaty of Utrecht

Gibraltarians voted overwhelmingly against Spanish sovereignty in1967 referendum, and against joint UK-Spanish control in 2002 vote

Gibraltar is due to leave EU along with UK despite 96% ofpopulation voting to remain in 2016 referendum

GIBRALTAR(UK)

S P A I N

InternationalAirport

Rock of Gibraltar(426m)

Governor’sresidence

Port of Gibraltar:Home tonaval base

Port of Gibraltar:Home tonaval base

Bordercrossing

Alboran sea500m1,640ft

Officials of AlMabarrah AlKhalifia Foundation (MKF) and Vanguard Group during a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing to provide integrated strategic, administrative and financial advisory solutions. The strategy will be developed in line with Bahrain’s economic vision and sustainable development objectives of the United Nations. Commenting on the partnership, Chairperson of AlMabarrah AlKhalifia Foundation, Shaikha Zain bint Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, expressed her gratitude to Hazem Janahi, Founder of Vanguard for his cooperation.

Climate change could cost US ‘hundreds of billions’ a yearTampa, United States

Climate change is already hurting the global econo-

my and will cost the US hun-dreds of billions of dollars an-nually by century’s end unless drastic action is taken to cut carbon emissions, a major US government report warned on Friday.

Compiled by more than 300 scientists, the Fourth National Climate Assessment Volume II

is a congressionally mandated report that spans more than 1,000 pages.

US President Donald Trump dismissed last year’s report, and just this week appeared to confuse weather with cli-mate when he tweeted: “Bru-tal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS - Whatever happened to Global Warming?” Trump also yanked the US out of the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord.

MIKE ORLOV

Moderating Intrusion and Being AccountableA business-owner, senior director or manager makes a differ-

ence as to whether employees succeed or fail. Their lead-ership behaviours determine whether an enterprise succeeds or fails. Their management actions determine how employees deliver for the organisation. Senior players have opportunities to make a difference in the life of an enterprise and in the lives of employees; either negatively or positively.

Recently, while discussing how a company’s owner reacted to hearing negative feedback about one of his key executives, I was reminded about the need to resist the temptation to mi-cro-manage in organisations. This business-owner had begun probing into the company, exploring unsubstantiated rumours, creating all manner of unintended disruptions.

After hearing the rumors about one of his key people, our intrusive business-owner started getting involved at every level of the organisation. He caused considerably more damage than he could have believed possible before he stopped his uncon-trolled thrashing around. This story had all the negative signs of intrusive micro-management causing chaos.

There were instances of credit not being given where it was due. People who had been innovative and active-implementers were becoming demotivated following inappropriate praise for the wrong employees. Boundaries were being broken, causing concern amongst management, with people wondering what was being said about them behind their backs to superiors. Manipulative politics began to soak up time at all levels of the organisation given the perceived endorsement from the top of ‘snitching’ activity.

There was a breakdown in core interdependencies needed to link activities and create effective processes; sequential, reciprocal and pooled interdependencies were destroyed, with individuals and departments attempting to look after them-selves rather than working together. Process trust collapsed, with people expecting others to let them down. When you have these negative expectations, negative things tend to happen. Motives were being continually questioned and shared values were disappearing.

Customer service was out of the window. Sales suffered. Profits slipped. Cash flow was damaged. The fundamentals of the organisation were weakened and the overall culture was unrecognisable to what it had been only weeks beforehand. The old adage is true; it takes years to create a great culture but only days to destroy one.

This was the most distressing outcome from this situation; the long-term damage done to what had been a positive or-ganisational culture, built over many years. The owner, in conjunction with his key senior management team, had crafted a positive workplace. Yet lack of trust and the perceived need by the business-owner to become a detective (not a very good one either) set the organisation back years. It became a place where people did not want to work.

Had the business-owner in this case spent time listening to his employees on a regular basis he would not have felt so sep-arated from what was going on. He would almost certainly not have acted in the way he did, causing such negative disruption to the workplace. Had he been closer to the business with regu-lar two-way communication, without being intrusive, he would almost certainly not have reacted to unsubstantiated rumors in the way he did, causing the dismantling of the culture he and his key managers had taken so long to build.

People need to know where they stand and what they are sup-posed to be doing. Their need to believe in their management, have faith in their leaders and trust each other ensures a well-oiled machine when communication is working for the benefit of the individuals within the organization. But when this fragile balance is disturbed by heavy-handed micro-management causing anxiety, fear and distrust, then the self-preservation instinct takes over and it really is every person for themselves.

(Mike Orlov is a Partner at Stepping Stone Global, a Bah- rain-based boutique strategic management consultancy. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Manage- ment. Email: [email protected])

Canada fast-tracks legislation to end postal strikeOttawa, Canada

Postal service in Canada is expected to resume

Monday after the govern-ment fast-tracks legislation to end five weeks of rotat-ing strikes that threatened a disastrous holiday season for online retailers.

The House of Commons passed the emergency back-to-work bill late Friday and the Senate scheduled a rare weekend session to vote on it. Employment Minister Patty Hajdu signaled the two sides to continue talks in a bid to reach a negotiat-ed labor contract before the legislation takes effect.

“They can still pull a deal off,” she said. “Obviously we would prefer that the parties are able to negotiate an agreement together, but the time has come that we need to be prepared to take action if they cannot.”

Julie Andrews to voice Key Role in ‘Aquaman’IANS | Los Angeles

Veteran actress Julie An-drews will voice a key role

in “Aquaman”.The movie, led by Jason Mo-

moa, is from the house of DC Films and Warner Bros.

Andrews will voice Karath-en, a mythical sea creature that helps Momoa’s waterbound hero broker peace between At-lantis and the dry land, report-ed variety.com.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Peter Safran, a pro-

ducer on “Aquaman”, said: “We wanted the Karathen to have the voice of a classic British actress, albeit somewhat digi-tally altered.

“And when we found out Julie was interested and avail-able and excited to do it, cast-ing her was a no-brainer.”

The film will hit the screens in India on December 14, a week ahead of its release in the US.

In the US, it opens two days before the release of “Mary

Poppins Returns” when Emily Blunt will take on a role origi-nated by Andrews in the 1964 Disney classic “Mary Poppins”.

Andrews won the Best Ac-tress Oscar for the role.

13 SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2018

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

TARON EGERTON, EVE HEWSON, JAMIE

OASIS JUFFAIR DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM DAILY AT (VIP): 12.00 + 5.15 + 10.30 PMCITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 12.30 + 2.00 + 3.00 + 4.30 + 5.30 + 7.00 + 8.00 + 9.30 + 10.30 PM + 12.00 MN + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)CITYCENTRE DAILY AT (VIP I): 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.30 + 6.00 + 8.30 + 11.00 PMSEEF (I) DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM + (12.45 MN THURS/FRI)SAAR DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 8.45 + (11.15 PM THURS/FRI)WADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM

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

JOHN C. REILLY, SARAH SILVARMAN, GAL

OASIS JUFFAIR DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 1.30 + 3.45 + 6.00 + 8.15 + 10.30 PMCITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 PM + 12.00 MNCITYCENTRE DAILY AT (3D): 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PMSEEF (II) DAILY AT: 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PMSAAR DAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 9.00 PM + (11.15 PM THURS/FRI)WADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PM

WIDOWS (15+) (CRIME/THRILLER/DRAMA) NEW

VIOLA DAVIS, MICHELLE RODRIGUZ,

OASIS JUFFAIR DAILY AT: 12.15 + 3.00 + 5.45 + 8.30 + 11.15 PM OASIS JUFFAIR DAILY AT (VIP): 2.30 + 7.45 PMCITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.00 + 3.45 + 6.30 + 9.15 PM + 12.00 MN + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI) CITYCENTRE 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 PMSAAR DAILY AT: 12.00 + 5.45 + (11.30 PM THURS/FRI)WADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 12.15 + 3.00 + 5.45 + 8.30 + 11.15 PM

NOBODY’S FOOL (18+) (COMEDY/ROMANTIC) NEW

TIFFANY HADDISH, MISSI PYLE , COURT

OASIS JUFFAIR DAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 4.15 + 6.30 + 8.45 + 11.00 PM CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 12.30 + 2.45 + 5.00 + 7.15 + 9.30 + 11.45 PMSEEF (II) DAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PMSAAR DAILY AT: 2.30 + 6.45 + (11.00 PM THURS/FRI)WADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM

SHABAB SHAYAB (PG) (ARABIC/COMEDY/DRAMA) NEW

SAAD EL FARAJ, SALLOUM HADDAD,

OASIS JUFFAIR DAILY AT: 7.30 + 9.30 + 11.30 PM CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 + 5.30 + 7.30 + 9.30 + 11.30 PM + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)

SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.00 + 4.00 + 6.00 + 8.00 + 10.00 PM + 12.00 MN SAAR DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 4.45 + 9.00 PMWADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 1.45 + 5.45 + 9.45 PM

DRAMA (PG-13) (MALAYALAM) NEW

MOHANLAL, KANIHA, ARUNDATHI NAG

OASIS JUFFAIR DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 1.45 + 4.45 + 7.45 + 10.45 PM SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 + 11.15 PM + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)AL HAMRA DAILY AT: 9.00 PM + (12.00 MN THURS/FRI)

TAXIWALA (PG-15) (TELGU) NEW

VIJAY DEVERAKONDA, PRIYANKA

OASIS JUFFAIR DAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.45 + 5.30 + 8.15 + 11.00 PM SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PMAL HAMRA ON THURSDAY 22ND: 12.00 NOON + 3.00 + 6.00 PM

FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD (PG-13) (ACTION/ADVENTURE/FANTASY)

EDDIE REDMAYNE, KATHERINE WATER

OASIS JUFFAIR DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PM CITYCENTRE DAILY AT (IMAX 3D): 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PMCITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 PM + 12.00 MN + (12.45 MN THURS/FRI)SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 2.45 + 5.45 + 8.45 + 11.45 PM + (1.00 AM THURS/FRI)SAAR DAILY AT: 2.45 + 8.30 PMWADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PM

THE GRINCH (G) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY)

ANGELA LANSBURY, BENEDICT CUMBER

BATCH, RASHIDA JONESOASIS JUFFAIR DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 + 5.30 PMCITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 4.00 + 9.15 PMSEEF (I) DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 12.45 + 2.45 + 4.45 + 6.45 + 8.45 + 10.45 PM

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (15+) (MUSICAL/DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY)

RAMI MALEK, LUCY BOYNTON, GWILYM

OASIS JUFFAIR DAILY AT: 1.45 + 7.45 PM

MALICIOUS (18+) (THRILLER/HORROR) NEW

BOJANA NOVAKOVIC, JOSH STEWART,

CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 1.45 + 3.45 + 5.45 + 7.45 + 9.45 + 11.45 PM SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 2.30 + 4.30 + 6.30 + 8.30 + 10.30 PM + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)WADI AL SAIL DAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 3.45 + 7.45 + 11.45 PM

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

GERARD BUTLER, GARY OLDMAN,

CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM

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

ROWAN ATKINSON, OLGA KURYLENKO, E

CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 12.00 + 2.00 + 4.00 + 6.00 + 8.00 + 10.00 PM + 12.00 MN SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 1.30 + 3.30 + 5.30 + 7.30 + 9.30 + 11.30 PM

THUGS OF HINDOSTAN (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVENTURE)

AAMIR KHAN, KATRINA KAIF

OASIS JUFFAIR DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 4.30 + 10.30 PMCITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 12.45 + 6.00 + 11.15 PM SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 1.30 + 4.45 + 8.00 + 11.15 PM

VENOM (PG-15) (ACTION/ADVENTURE)

TOM HARDY, MICHELLE WILLIAMS

CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 12.15 + 2.30 + 4.45 + 7.00 + 9.15 + 11.30 PM SEEF (I) DAILY AT: 11.45 AM + 4.00 + 8.15 PM

NIGHT SCHOOL (PG-15) (COMEDY)

KEVIN HART, TIFFANY HADDISH

CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PM

THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS (PG) (ADVENTURE/FANTASY)

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, MACKENZIE FOY,

CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 4.45 + 9.00 PMSEEF (I) DAILY AT: 2.00 + 6.15 + 10.30 PM

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

TAMER HOSNY, AKRAM HOSNI

CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 10.30 AM + 12.30 + 2.30 + 4.30 + 6.30 + 8.30 + 10.30 PM

SMALL FOOT (PG) (ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY)

CHANNING TATUM, JAMES CORDEN,

CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 10.45 AM + 12.45 + 2.45 + 4.45 + 6.45 + 8.45 + 10.45 PM

THE MEG (PG-15) (ACTION/THRILLER)

JASON STATHAM, RUBY ROSE, BINGBING

CITYCENTRE DAILY AT: 2.30 + 6.45 + 11.00 PM

BEL CANTO (15+) (DRAMA) NEW

JULIANNE MOORE, KEN WATANABE,

SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 3.00 + 5.00 + 7.00 + 9.00 + 11.00 PM

IKARUS ISLAND (PG) (ARABIC/COMEDY) NEW

JARRAH ALONAN, MOHAMMED BASH,

SEEF (II) DAILY AT: 11.00 AM + 1.00 PM

Bieber says wants to be more like JesusReuters | Los Angeles

Justin Bieber marked his first Thanksgiving as a married man, saying that “love isn’t always easy” but adding he

was trying, like Jesus Christ, to be more patient and selfless.

The Canadian pop singer, 24, who married model Hailey Bald-win in a hush-hush civil ceremony in September, told his 102 million Instagram followers that Thurs-day’s U.S. Thanksgiving holiday was the first he had hosted.

“First thanksgiving as a married man, first time hosting thanksgiv-ing,” Bieber wrote in a posting on Friday.

“Relationships are hard and love isn’t always easy but thank you Jesus for showing me how! Every day is a learn-ing process, trying to be more like him, pa-tient, kind, selfless, boy I got a long way!

But gods grace is sufficient!” he added.Bieber and Baldwin both attend the evan-

gelical Hillsong Church, which was founded in Australia in 1983 and now has branches

worldwide with a big youth following.Bieber, who found fame as a ba-

by-faced 15 year-old, and Baldwin first unofficially confirmed their marriage in comments on social media last week when the “Sorry” singer called Baldwin “my wife” and the model changed her Instagram name to Hai-

ley Bieber.Thursday was also the 22nd birthday

of Hailey Bieber, which Bieber’s mother Patti Mallette marked with an Ins-

tagram Story showing her son singing “Happy Birthday”

and presenting his wife with a cake.

“I’m SO #THANK-FUL to have you

as a daughter!!!” Mallette add-ed on Twit-

ter.

Kourtney Kardashian shuts down pregnancy rumoursIANS | Los Angeles

Reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian says that she is not preg-nant after a photograph emerged of her posing with hand on

belly.The reality star, 39, spent Thanksgiving with her family and

could be seen in a video shared by sister Kendall Jenner striking a pose that had fans questioning whether she had a fourth child on the way.

Dressed in a long-sleeved burgun-dy-coloured dress that hit mid-thigh, Kourtney placed a hand on her belly as she and ex Scott Disick stood with their two older children - Penelope Scotland, 6, and Mason Reign, 9 next month - and Kourtney’s grandmother Mary Jo “M.J.” Houghton.

“Is Kourtney pregnant?” a fan asked in the com-ments section, to which the non-expectant star replied jokingly, “No, but how good does my arm look in that last photo?” in reference to the final image in Jenner’s post that showed Kourtney loading up her plate, reports people.com.

In a photo Kourtney posted to Instagram Thursday, she and Disick, 35, starred alongside Penelope, Mason and their youngest child - son Reign Aston, 4 next month - where she expressed her gratitude to be able to share the holiday with all (well, most) of those she holds most dear.

Disick and Kourtney ended their nine-year relationship in July 2015, just seven months after welcoming son Reign.

Julie Andrews

Miley Cyrus’ brother engaged IANS | Los Angeles

Singer Miley Cyrus’ brother Braison is engaged to his girlfriend of under a year.

Braison announced his engagement to visual merchandiser Stella McBride over Ins-tagram.

“She said yes. My life has changed in so many amazing ways this year but the most amazing has been meet-

ing and falling in love with you,” Braison, 24, wrote in his posting

to social media on Friday morning.

“I love you with all my heart and I cannot wait to

marry you,” he further posted.The model post-

ed a photograph of himself and his love sharing a kiss while showing off her new ring.

S h a r i n g t h e

same photograph, McBride said: “Love of my life - nothing has ever made me happier than saying yes to forever with you. You are the sweetest soul and I cannot wait to be your wife.”

Braison asked for the stylist’s hand in marriage with a striking and unusual ring featuring an

oval opal rather than a diamond and a gold band.

Justin Bieber

Kourtney Kardashian

Braison Cyrus

Rashid England’s hero as Lanka collapseAFP | Colombo

Sri Lanka threw away a decent po-sition in the final Test against Eng-

land yesterday, collapsing from 183 for 2 at tea to 240 all out as Adil Rashid and Ben Stokes skittled the hosts in Colombo.

At the close of a rollercoaster sec-ond day England were three without loss after four overs when bad light stopped play, 99 runs ahead with a 3-0 whitewash in their sights.

“We came out after tea, had the be-lief, had the mindset and things just changed,” said Rashid, who finished the innings with 5-49.

“It worked out perfectly, Stokesy at one end bowling nice and aggressive and me at the other end mixing it up, bowling my variations,” he added, after Stokes collected 3-30.

In the opening session Sri Lanka’s bowlers had wrapped up England’s first innings for 336 within half an hour, the visitors losing their final three wickets for just 24 runs.

Resuming on 312-7 after Jonny Bair-stow had put his marker down to be England’s permanent Test number three with a no-nonsense 110 the pre-vious day, Moeen Ali continued his indifferent series with the bat, falling for 33.

Stuart Broad followed for a duck and Jack Leach for 2.

Left-arm wrist spinner Lakshan Sandakan was the pick of the Sri Lan-

kan bowlers, taking 5-95 while finger spinners Dilruwan Perera and Malinda Pushpakumara took the other five

between them.With bat in hand and only five overs

of the day played, Sri Lanka’s batsmen laid solid foundations.

Danushka Gunathilaka was the only man out for Sri Lanka before lunch, caught spectacularly by Keaton Jen-nings at short leg for 18 off Leach -- the first of four catches at short-leg for the Lancashire opener.

Dimuth Karunaratne, dropped at slip by Joe Root off Broad early in his innings, then put on a 142-run third-wicket partnership with Dhananjaya de Silva.

Just before tea, de Silva fell for 73, dismissed by another lightning catch by Jennings off Rashid. But with Karu-naratne still in and Root rueing his error, Sri Lanka looked comfortable.

Real crash at EibarThibaut Courtois and defender Marcelo could not stop their opponents

• Real Madrid sink to embarrassing 3-0 defeat in La Liga

• Gonzalo Escalante opened the scoring for Eibar in 16th minute of La Liga clash

AFP | Eibar, Spain

Santiago Solari proved the perfect caretaker but his debut as per-manent coach of Real Madrid

yesterday ended in a disastrous 3-0 defeat at Eibar.

Four wins while in temporary charge earned Solari a contract until 2021 over the international break, only for Real to revert to the kind of chaotic display that cost Julen Lopetegui the sack.

This defeat also brought into focus the mindset of Madrid’s players, after their captain Sergio Ramos faced al-legations of an anti-doping violation on Friday night from German mag-

azine Der Spiegel. The club denied any breach.

Eibar were stronger, more aggres-sive and, worryingly for Solari, ap-peared clearer about the plan they wanted to execute. Marc Cucurella, brilliant down the left, was instru-mental in all three goals, scored by Gonzalo Escalante, Sergi Enrich and Kike Garcia.

Real’s loss halts their revival un-der Solari and denies them a golden opportunity to make up ground on Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

“It is not about finding people to blame,” Solari said afterwards. “Everything is fixable. We had won four straight games, done some things very well, and we have to get back to that.”

Defender Raphael Varane added: “We were not well-organised, we were not comfortable and we did not find

any answers.”Eibar, meanwhile, shoot up to sev-

enth, a reward for their first ever vic-tory over Real Madrid at the 11th at-tempt, inside their tiny 7,083-capacity Ipurua.

“We could even have scored more,” said their coach Jose Luis Mendilibar.

Ramos was not noticeably out of sorts, but perhaps allegations he failed to list the correct medication after the Champions League final in 2017, proved enough of a distraction for his teammates.

Solari, meanwhile, must now rally Real ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League game against Roma, which is likely to decide the winner of Group G.

They started well enough and Ga-reth Bale looked in the mood when he swivelled and sent a stunning shot into the top corner from 25 yards, only to be ruled offside.

Azhar and Sohail give Pakistan edgeAFP | Dubai

Azhar Ali and Haris Sohail both hit gritty half-centuries but Pakistan

were restricted by some tight New Zealand bowling and a lifeless pitch to 207-4 on the opening day of the second Test in Dubai yesterday.

Azhar and Sohail added 126 for the third wicket until a careless run out saw the end of Azhar for 81. Sohail had also eked out 81 from 240 balls by the close.

After losing the first Test by four runs, Pakistan were keen to get on to the offensive early and set the tone of the match, prompting captain Sar-fraz Ahmed to bat when he won the toss.

But it was the Black Caps who had the better of the morning with Colin de Grandhomme, preferred over the more experienced Tim Southee for

the second match running, ripping out both openers for nine each.

He had Hafeez caught at slip by Tom Latham in the eighth over and the same combination accounted for Iman-ul-Haq in de Grandhomme’s next over.

Hafeez has managed just 66 runs in six innings since scoring a comeback hundred against Australia at the same venue last month.

Pakistan fears of a collapse to match the 7-41 they suffered in the fourth innings in Abu Dhabi in the first Test were allayed as Azhar and Sohail dug in. They added only 68 runs in the afternoon session and scoring at just over two runs per over.

Azhar, who made a valiant 65 in that unsuccessful 176-run chase in the first Test, was shaky at the start as he edged the second ball he faced off de Grandhomme through the slips.

14

sports


KNOW WHAT

Real’s loss halts their revival under Solari and denies them a golden opportunity to make up

ground on Barcelona and Atletico Madrid

at Seef District too

Um al Hassan +973 17728699 Seef District +973 17364999

We came out after tea, had the belief, had the

mindset and things just changed. It worked out

perfectly, Stokesy at one end bowling nice and

aggressive and me at the other end mixing it up, bowling my variations

ADIL RASHID

Real Madrid’s goalie Thiabut Courtois (L) fails to stop the goal by Eibar’s Sergi Enrich (R)

Bahraini races to victory at McLaren Shadow Project

TDT | Manama

Ebrahim Almubarak has been crowned the winner of the Mid-

dle East finals of the McLaren Shad-ow Project, securing the opportunity to represent the region in the 2019 world finals at the McLaren Tech-nology Centre in the UK in January 2019.

Held at The Avenues Bahrain on Fri-day, 16 talented esports hopefuls went up against one another in the live final in front of a large enthusiastic audi-ence with Bahraini Ebrahim Almubar-ak coming out on top, after winning a tournament comprising of timed qualifiers, quarter finals, semi-finals and a grand final.

Ebrahim Almubarak goes through to the McLaren Shadow Project Grand Finals where he will compete for a seat in the team’s 2019 F1 esports team. The

eventual victor will not only win a seat in the new esports team but also join the McLaren esports development programme where they will hone their skills and work with the McLaren Formula 1 team.

Mohammed Jamal, also from Bah-rain, finished runner-up in the compe-tition, with Haitham Abdelkaber from Egypt in third position after a hugely competitive final.

Ebrahim Almubarak, commented: “It has been an exciting opportunity for all the esport players in the Middle East, and to come out as the winner amongst the best players in the region is a huge honour. ”

McLaren Shadow Project Middle East has been made possible as the result of a partnership between Bah-rain-based Atyaf e-Racing and the McLaren Formula 1 team with support from Tamkeen.

Winner Ebrahim Almubarak battling at the final

Sri Lanka batsman Roshen Silva reacts as England fielder Keaton Jennings takes a catch to dismiss the batsman off the bowling of Adil Rashid

Kremer: Brave Combat Federation is the future of sports media in GCCTDT | Manama

Carlos Kremer, Veteran Cage Announcer praised the pro-

gress attained by Brave Combat Federation as an innovative ven-ture in the field of sports in the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Kremer is confirmed to return for the nineteenth edition of Brave Combat Federation which will be hosted on 8th December at the Sun City, Johannesburg in South Africa. Till date, Kremer has been the cage announcer for the promotion in events hosted

in five different continents.“It is my honour to be hand-

picked to be voice of the organ-isation which is found by HH

Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa. In two years, the initia-tive restructured world of mixed martial arts,” said Kremer.


Carlos Kremer, is also a Hollywood

actor, is known for roles in The Gender Bowl (2005), Smile

(2017) and The Search (2013)

KNOW WHAT

Hamilton on pole with record lap • The world champion took top spot in qualifying yesterday with a lap record

• Mercedes locked out front row of Abu Dhabi GP pole

AFP | Abu Dhabi

New five-time champi-on Lewis Hamilton smashed the lap record

as he secured pole position at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and led team-mate Valtteri Bottas to Mercedes to another front-row lockout.

In a scintillating performance, the Englishman clocked a best lap in one minute and 34.794 seconds to outstrip Bottas by almost two-tenths of a second. It is his 11th pole of the season and the 83rd of his career.

Four-time champion Sebas-tian Vettel was third ahead of his Ferrari team-mate Saub-er-bound Kimi Raikkonen, Re-nault-bound Daniel Ricciardo

and his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen.

Romain Grosjean was seventh for Haas ahead of Ferrari-bound Charles Leclerc of Sauber, Es-teban Ocon of Force India and Nico Hulkenberg of Renault.

Hamilton kissed his car after the session.

“I’m so grateful for all the sup-port we’ve had here. It’s emo-tional for me because it’s the last

lap I’ll do in this car. I’ve been so emotionally attached to it.

“I’m just happy that this car will be in the history museum at Mercedes in Germany so I can go visit whenever I can!

“I never say there’s a perfect lap, but the first lap wasn’t spec-tacular. That last one started off kind of calm, but got more aggressive – and Valtteri did a great job, too!”

Bottas, still seeking his first win of the season back at the track where he last tasted vic-tory, was again left frustrated by the imperious Hamilton’s unbeatable pace.

“For sure, I was aiming for pole – I had a good race here last year, but I couldn’t repeat that. It wasn’t what I expected, but is still good for us because – even though we have secured

the championships – we can still be one-two for the final race.

“I was performing well, but I couldn’t beat his time. He did such a great job.”

The session began with the sun and the temperature de-scending rapidly after a hot day in the mid-thirties Celsi-us. These changing conditions posed a challenge for tyre-wear at Yas Marina circuit.

Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP celebrates in parc ferme during qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit

BOC extends achievers registration deadlineTDT | Manama

The registration cam-paign for Bahrain’s elite

sports and cultural achiev-ers has been extended till January 2, the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) announced yesterday.

BOC has recently launched a campaign to document the achievements of all Bahrai-nis in the fields of youth and sports in line with the year of ‘Gold Only’ initiative.

Bahrainis with gold med-al records in 2018 have been urged to submit their names in an attempt to document their respective achieve-ments.

Those achievers, either in sports, cultural, scientific or religious competitions, are requested to contact BOC by submitting their data through the following emails: [email protected] or [email protected], or by calling the telephone number 17176663. The last day to accept submission of achievements is on Wednes-day, January 2, 2019.

The ‘Gold Only’ theme is an initiative launched by Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, representative of His Majesty the King for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Supreme Council for Youth and Sports Chair-man, and BOC President, to motivate Bahrainis to excel in their respective challeng-es.

South African cellular network giant partners with Brave CFTDT | Manama

Brave Combat Federation will join hands with Af-

rican cellular network giant, VodaCom during Brave 19 which will take place on 8th December at the Sun City in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Brave Combat Federation has secured the partnership which is key to provide live digital broadcast coverage of events by Brave Combat Fed-eration across the continent of Africa using the extensive network.

Brave Combat Federation which is found in Bahrain by HH Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad

Al Khalifa has secured stra-tegic business partnerships across the world.

Vodacom has its operations to include networks in South Africa, Tanzania, the Demo-cratic Republic of Congo, Mo-zambique, and Lesotho and provides business services to customers in over 32 Afri-can countries such as Nige-ria, Zambia, Angola, Kenya, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon.

Vodacom is the leading cel-lular network in South Afri-ca with an estimated market share of 58 per cent and more than 103 million customers across Africa.

Carlos Kremer

Mahdi claims BTA Junior title

TDT | Manama

Matches in the 8-and-under and 10-and-under catego-

ries of BTA Junior Tennis Tour-nament, organised by Bahrain

Tennis Academy (BTA), took place at the Dilmun Club, Saar.

In the 8-and-under semi-fi-nals, Mahdi Al Ibrahim de-feated Isak Texmo 10-6 while Ahmed Murtadha defeated

Talal Al Sayed 10-6. In play-off for third and fourth place, Talal overcame Isak 10-4. Then, in the final match, Mahdi claimed title with a 7-5, 6-7, 7-6 win over Ahmed.

8-and-under players with tournaments organisers

Al Doy taekwondo club win championshipTDT | Manama

Al Doy taekwondo club bagged the first Korean

Ambassador taekwondo cham-pionship held in a collaboration between the Korean Embassy in Manama and Bahrain Martial Arts Federation.

More than 15 taekwon-

do clubs and centres, locally based in Bahrain, joined the event in which Al Doy be-came the best performance team, winning in the most categories.

The event was attended by the Korean Ambassador, Hyun-mo Ko, the President of Bah-rain Martial Arts Federation

Ahmed Al Khayyat, and Secre-tary General of Bahrain Olym-pic Committee Abdulrahman Askar.

In the junior category, age group 2004 - 2005, Ali Hassan from Bahrain school won the gold medal (Boy Group) and in the Girl Group Hawra Ab-dulredha won gold.

Al Doy taekwondo club pose for photos after winning the championship

1m, 34.794swas the time taken by

Lewis Hamilton to set the lap record

Man City, Liverpool cruise Manchester United stutter to bore draw with Crystal Palace in Premier League

• Sterling scored and set up two more in Manchester City’s 4-0 win over West Ham

• Mohamed Salah scored the opening goal of Liverpool’s 3-0 win at Watford

AFP | London

Ma n c h e s t e r C i t y stretched a relentless winning run to eight

games by thrashing West Ham 4-0 yesterday but remain just two points clear at the top of the Premier League as Liverpool were also 3-0 victors at Watford.

Manchester United are now 14 points off the leaders as Paul Pogba was hauled off by Jose Mourinho as they failed to break down Crystal Palace in a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford.

Everton leapfrogged United to move up to sixth with a 1-0 vic-tory over Cardiff, while Claudio Ranieri won his first match in charge of Fulham in a 3-2 thriller over fellow strugglers South-ampton.

City have now won 12 of their last 13 games with the only dropped points coming in a creditable 0-0 draw at Liverpool last month.

Pep Guardiola’s men had scored 13 goals in their three previous visits to the London Stadium and had another three before half-time in another dom-inant display.

David Silva scored for the fourth straight game when he flicked home Raheem Sterling’s

cross on 11 minutes.Sterling’s own stunning form

in front of goal continued when he tapped home Leroy Sane’s cross for his eighth goal of the season.

The roles were reversed from City’s flying wingers 11 minutes before half-time when this time Sane showed great composure to turn home the England interna-tional’s pass and Sane completed the rout in stoppage time.

In keeping with recent weeks, Liverpool were far less impres-sive but remain on City’s coat-tails as Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Roberto Firmino all struck in the final quarter at Vicarage Road.

Jurgen Klopp’s men rode their luck as Watford had an early goal disallowed and saw strong claims for a penalty just after the break waived away.

However, the visitors front three finally clicked 23 minutes from time when Firmino fed Sa-dio Mane and his cut-back was prodded home by Salah for his ninth goal of the season.

A l ex a n d e r-A r n o l d t h e n bagged his first for the campaign at club level with a sumptuous free-kick after opening his ac-

count for England in the inter-national break.

And despite having captain Jordan Henderson sent-off, Liv-erpool added a third through Firmino a minute from time.

How United wish they had the same firepower as after a bright start they again faded and Palace held out for just a second point in seven Premier League games.

Pogba and Romelu Lukaku were fit enough to start after missing international duty for France and Belgium through in-jury, but failed to spark the hosts and Pogba was even withdrawn for Alexis Sanchez in the search for a winner that never came.

Mourinho’s men were even fortunate that Marouane Fellaini wasn’t shown a red card for a horrendous challenge on Palace captain Luka Milivojevic that went unpunished.


Manchester City’s English midfielder Raheem Sterling (R) scores their second goal

KNOW WHAT

City have now won 12 of their last 13 games with the only dropped

points coming in a draw at Liverpool

India’s Kom wins record sixth world boxing gold

TDT | Manama

India’s Mary Kom yesterday became the most successful

female boxer in world champi-onships history after clinching her sixth gold medal in New Delhi.

T h e 3 5 y e a r- o l d b e a t Ukraine’s Hanna Okhota 5-0 in the final of the 48kg category contest in front of an electric home crowd.

Her sixth gold takes her past Ireland’s Katie Taylor, and lev-el with the men’s record held by Cuban legend Felix Savon as the most successful pugilist ever at the world champion-ships.

The mother of three won a silver in inaugural women’s

edition in 2001 and then went on to win gold in each of the next five championships, with her most recent coming in Bridgetown, Barbados in 2010.

Kom, who was the subject of a Bollywood film in 2014, won bronze at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

“Today, I was a little bit emo-tional because for the last few years, I was not able to fight in 48kg category,” an emotional Kom said after the bout.

“The effort was very chal-lenging for me. Because of your love and support, I hope to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. I wasn’t able to qualify for Rio Games. I am still suffering,” she said to the cheering crowds.

Mary Kom of India gestures with her gold medal

Taijul bowls Bangladesh to victoryAFP | Chittagong, Bangladesh

Taijul Islam claimed 6-33 as Bangladesh defeated West Indies by 64 runs

yesterday in the first match of their two-Test series.

Chasing a target of 204 runs in Chittagong, West Indies stut-tered from the start and were all out for 139 on the stroke of tea on the third day, suffering their first defeat in Bangladesh in seven Tests.

Sunil Ambris was the last man dismissed after top-scoring for the visitors with 43. He had put on a 63-run partnership with Jomel Warrican for the ninth wicket to lift West Indies from 75 for eight to revive an unlikely hope.

But Mehidy Hasan dismissed Warrican for 41, and Taijul sealed the contest in the next over with the wicket of Ambris.

Left-arm spinner Taijul led Bangladesh’s attack with his seventh five-wicket haul in Tests, while Shakib al Hasan and Mehidy each picked up two wickets.

West Indies’ chase got off to a disastrous start, sinking to 11-4 at the lunch break before an attacking 27 off 19 by Shimron Hetmyer provided the visitors a brief respite.

Leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo earlier claimed three wickets

in the morning to finish with 4-26 as West Indies bowled out Bangladesh for 125 runs in their second innings.

Bangladesh spinners re-sponded almost immediate-ly when Shakib drew Kieran Powell forward for Mushfiqur Rahim to accomplish a simple stumping, making Shakib the first Bangladeshi cricketer to claim 200 wickets in Tests.

“Whatever I do, I do for the team, and I’m lucky to have some of these achievements,” Shakib said after the match.

Shakib drew an edge from Shai Hope before a two-wicket burst by Taijul, who trapped

Roston Chase for a duck and Kraigg Brathwaite in the same over, leaving the West Indies in dire straits.

The collapse dashed any West Indies satisfaction from wrap-ping up the Bangladesh innings, with the hosts only adding 70 runs to their overnight score after resuming play on 55-5.

Mahmudullah Riyad top-scored for Bangladesh with 31 in the second innings, but not before he was dropped by Hope off Bishoo on 15.

Pace bowler Gabriel took the first breakthrough of the day when he bowled Mushfiqur Ra-him for 19.

Bangladeshi cricketer Mushfiqur Rahim (R) and Mominul Haque (L) successfully appeal for a leg before wicket decision against West Indies cricket captain Kraigg Brathwaite (C)

Bangladesh first innings 324 West Indies first innings 246 Bangladesh second inningsImrul Kayes b Warrican 2Soumya Sarkar c Brathwaite b Chase 11Mominul Haque lbw b Chase 12Mohammad Mithun b Bishoo 17Shakib Al Hasan c Gabriel b Warrican 1Mushfiqur Rahim b Gabriel 19Mehidy Hasan c Dowrich b Bishoo 18Mahmudullah Riyad c Hope b Bishoo 31Nayeem Hasan c Hope b Bishoo 5Taijul Islam c Warrican b Chase 1Mustafizur Rahman not out 2Extras (b2, lb1, nb3) 6Total (all out 35.5 overs) 125Bowling: Roach 1-0-11-0, Warrican 16-2-43-2, Chase 6.5-1-18-3, Bishoo 9-0-26-4, Gabriel 3-0-24-1West Indies second inningsK. Brathwaite lbw b Taijul 8K. Powell st Mushfiqur b Shakib 0S. Hope c Mushfiqur b Shakib 3S. Ambris c Mushfiqur b Taijul 43R. Chase lbw b Taijul 0S. Hetmyer c Nayeem b Mehidy 27S. Dowrich lbw b Taijul 5D. Bishoo b Taijul 2K. Roach lbw b Taijul 1J. Warrican c Shakib b Mehidy 41S. Gabriel not out 0Extras (b9) 9Total ( all out; 35.2 overs) 139Bowling: Shakib 7-0-30-2, Nayeem 7-1-29-0, Taijul 11.2-2-33-6, Mehidy 8-1-27-2, Mustafizur 2-0-11-0Result: Bangladesh won by 64 runsSeries result: Bangladesh lead the series 1-0Man of the match: Mominul Haque

English Premier LeagueBrighton 1 1 Leicester City

Everton 1 0 Cardiff City

Fulham 3 2 Southampton

Manchester United 0 0 Crystal Palace

Watford 0 3 Liverpool

West Ham United 0 4 Manchester City

Tottenham Hotspur 2 0 Chelsea

English ChampionshipRotherham United 2 2 Sheffield United

Hull City 0 2 Nottingham Forest

Leeds United 2 0 Bristol City

Millwall 1 1 Bolton Wanderers

Preston North End 4 1 Blackburn Rovers

Sheffield 1 2 Derby County

Stoke City 2 2 Queens Park Rangers

Swansea City 1 4 Norwich City

Wigan Athletic 0 0 Reading

Brentford 0 0 Middlesbrough

Italian Serie AUdinese 1 0 Roma

Juventus 1 0 SPAL

German Bundesliga1. FSV Mainz 05 1 2 Borussia Dortmund

FC Augsburg 1 3 Eintracht Frankfurt

FC Bayern München 3 3 Fortuna Düsseldorf

Hertha BSC 3 3 TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

VfL Wolfsburg 1 0 RB Leipzig

FC Schalke 04 0 0 1. FC Nürnberg

Spanish La LigaEibar 3 0 Real Madrid

Valencia CF 3 0 Rayo Vallecano

Huesca 0 0 Levante

French Ligue 1PSG 1 0 Toulouse

*Scores as of closing

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