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Guarding the heritage His Majesty congratulates BACA affiliates for

conserving symbols of national heritage

• BACA President expressed deepest thanks to HM the King, hailing the royal support to preserve the Kingdom’s culture and heritage.

Manama

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa yes-terday received, at Al

Safriya Palace, Bahrain Author-ity for Culture and Antiquities (BACA) President Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa and singer Khalid Al Sheikh.

BACA president presented to HM the King the 2019 Aga Khan Award for Architecture which was conferred by HH Prince Ka-rim Aga Khan on BACA’s “Revi-talisation of Muharraq” project, during a ceremony held in the Tatar Musa Jalil State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Russia.

HM the King congratulated all BACA affiliates on the award and commended dedicated efforts to conserve the deep-rooted national heritage and historic monuments in Bahrain, stress-ing the importance of revamp-ing archaeological buildings

and homes and restoring an-cient cities which reflect Bah-rain’s authentic identity and rich human and civilisational heritage.

BACA President expressed deepest thanks to HM the King, hailing the royal support to pre-serve the Kingdom’s culture and heritage.

She described the award as the fruit of years-long efforts to restore the old city of Mu-harraq, highlighting the role of the Shaikh Ibrahim Centre for Culture and Research and the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA).

She said that the City of Mu-harraq has gained an interna-tional status, with the registra-tion of the Pearl Route project, which is underway, on the UN-ESCO List of World Heritage Sites in 2012.

She stressed the importance of the award-winning “Revital-isation of Muharraq” project in

upgrading infrastructure for cit-izens living and encouraging the new generation to come back to live and invest in the city.

She updated HM the King on an initiative which will be launched by the authority to mark the National Day and the 20th anniversary of the ac-cession of HM the King to the throne.

A grand operetta themed “the 20th Message”, will be staged at the Bahrain National Theatre in December, led by singer Khalid Al Shaikh, who will be accom-panied by a group of Bahraini artists.

HM the King hailed the ini-tiative, commending BACA pa-triotic mission and keenness on participating actively in all national events and enriching cultural life in Bahrain.

HM the King wished BACA president and all personnel working in the sector further success.

His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, yesterday met with the President of the United States of America, Donald J Trump, at the White House in Washington DC. President Trump welcomed the Crown Prince adding that it was a great honour to meet once again, and that he and Bahrain are great friends of the United States of America. The President emphasised that the United States was always going to stand with Bahrain and this was highlighted by the tremendous security, economic and trade relationships. Relationships that he added had never been stronger than now. The Crown Prince noted that the longstanding relationship between Bahrain and the US is based on defence initiatives, trade agreements and cultural bonds, which support the security and economic prosperity of both countries. HRH the Crown Prince went on to stress the importance these discussions in further enhancing security and trade co-operation. See page 3

His Majesty was thanked by Shaikha Mai for the Royal support to BACA.

Strong US ties

02WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has stressed that the distinguished Bahraini-Thai relations are progressing steadily thanks to the two countries’ shared desire to reach the highest level of bilateral co-operation to meet the aspirations of their friendly peoples. HRH Premier made the statements while receiving, at Gudaibiya Palace, yesterday, a Thai trade delegation, led by the Thai Ambassador to Bahrain, Thanis Na Songkhla. HRH Premier stressed the importance of taking advantage of the advanced level reached by the Bahraini-Thai relations to build more economic and trade partnership that would benefit the two countries and their peoples. The delegation gave a presentation about the main Thai trade and investment companies in various fields, especially in the treatment, medical and healthcare sector.

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, received at Gudaibiya Palace yesterday, Board Chairman and members of Bahrain Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Development Society, led by the society’s Honorary President Farooq Yusef Almoayyed and President MP Ahmed Sabah Al Saloom. HRH the Premier praised the role of small and medium enterprises in fast-tracking comprehensive development in Bahrain through their vital contribution to diversifying the productive and commercial base. He described that as an added value to the national economy, adding that the private sector, in general, and the SMEs sector, in particular, provide a favourable climate for innovation and initiatives. He also stressed the government’s keenness to provide all facilities to this sector to thrive and prosper.

Cabinet Minister Mohammed Al Mutawa met Bahrain Permanent Representative to the United Nations and mission members in New York, Jamal Al Ruwaie. The meeting was attended by Shaikh Hussam bin Isa Al Khalifa, president of the award of His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa for Sustainable Development. The minister conveyed greetings from HRH the Premier to the mission president and member hailing their efforts in representing the Kingdom of Bahrain and expressing its stances and visions regarding international issues. He commended preparations for the second edition of the forum “Bahrain’s Share Visions for Successful Future”, which will be held on September 26, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session (UNGA), under the theme “Required Values to achieve Sustainable Development Goals”.

Green energy ties vow India to initiate Kingdom’s entry into

International Solar Alliance

Manama

Electricity and Water Affairs Min-ister, Dr Abdulhussain Mirza, re-ceived Indian Ambassador, Alok

Kumar Sinha, and praised the distin-guished ties between the two friendly countries, reinforced by joint co-opera-tion in various fields.

He said ties between Bahrain and India are developing, especially after the recent visit of the Indian Prime Minister to en-hance trade and economic co-operation and integration.

The two also discussed the recommen-dations made during the visit of the Indian Prime Minister regarding the enhance-ment of bilateral relations in the fields of electricity, water and renewable energy, as well as the technical and legal proce-dures for the Kingdom’s access to the International Solar Alliance (ISA) after the Cabinet’s approval.

ISA is an international organisation based in India aims to address the chal-lenges of expanding access to solar energy and forms an alliance between countries rich in solar resources to meet their re-newable energy needs.

Dr Mirza said that this alliance is an important platform for co-operation be-tween these countries in the fields of sus-tainable and clean energy and contributes to achieving Bahrain’s international com-mitments in relation to comprehensive development goals.

The Indian Ambassador said that en-hancing cooperation between the two parties would be an advanced step to-wards achieving the goals of compre-hensive sustainable development and in increasing the bonds of ties between the two friendly countries.

He said it would also enhance existing co-operation in the electricity, water and renewable energy sectors to serve the interests and aspirations of both countries.

The Kingdom has achieved many mile-stones in the sustainable energy sector, confirmed a new report published.

The Sustainable Energy Unit Annual Report 2018 published by the SEU has confirmed Bahrain’s advancement in the sector.

The report titled ‘Journey towards a sustainable energy future, the beginning’ outlined all the eco-friendly steps taken by the nation.

Net Metering is one of the three policies envisioned in the National Renewable En-ergy Action Plan to encourage the uptake of renewable energy in the Kingdom.

This policy allows individuals, com-panies and industries to install solar and other renewable energy systems on their properties, connect these systems to the EWA electricity network and benefit from this clean and renewable energy source.

Other initiative praised in the report in-clude installation of solar energy systems at The Avenues Mall, inauguration of the first government building with renewable energy, initiative for installation of solar panels on roofs of government buildings, first comprehensive study of wind sources in Bahrain, partnering with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism to launch the initiative to put energy efficiency la-bels on air conditioners, partnering with the Ministry of Industry and SEU part-nership with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism to launch the initiative to put energy efficiency labels on air conditioners.

The Sustainable Energy Unit (SEU) was established in November 2014 as a joint initiative between the Office of the Minister of Electricity and Water Affairs and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The key objectives of the unit are to develop a cohesive and sustainable energy policy and to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency in the Kingdom.

Dr Mirza receives Mr Sinha.

Drug smuggling suspect arrested Manama

The Director-General of Criminal Investigation and Forensic Sci-ence yesterday announced the

arrest of a man, who was smuggling drugs into Bahrain from a Gulf country.

He said that the case was charged as part of the exchange of security infor-

mation between Gulf States. The investigation into the received

information and co-ordination with the anti-narcotic authority in the Gulf country led to the arrest of the suspect and confiscation of 8 kg of hashish.

He said that legal proceedings are being taken to refer the case to the Public Prosecution.


• Bahrain’s long track record in the fight against extremism and terrorism highlighted in the meetings.

• HRH the Crown Prince stressed that co-ordinated action is essential to continued regional stability and economic development.

Washington

Hi s Ro ya l H i g h n e s s Pr ince Salman bin Hamad Al Khali fa ,

Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, yesterday met with the President of the Unit-ed States of America, Donald J Trump, at the White House in Washington DC.

HRH the Crown Prince began by conveying the greetings of His Majesty King Hamad and the people of Bahrain to Presi-dent Trump.

HRH went on to point to the strength of the relationship be-tween the two countries based

on shared values and ideals.President Trump welcomed

the Crown Prince, adding that it was a great honour to meet once again, and that he and Bahrain are great friends of the United States of America.

The President emphasised that the United States was al-ways going to stand with Bah-rain and this was highlighted by the tremendous security, eco-nomic and trade relationships.

Relationships that he added had never been stronger than now.

The Crown Prince noted that the longstanding relationship between Bahrain and the US is based on defence initiatives, trade agreements and cultural bonds, which support the secu-rity and economic prosperity of both countries.

HRH the Crown Prince went on to stress the importance these discussions in further enhancing security and trade co-operation.

HRH and President Trump then discussed strategies to maintain security in the Ara-bian Gulf, emphasising the im-portance of countering those who would seek to undermine stability in the region and fur-ther afield.

Separately, HRH the Crown

Prince, met with the Vice Pres-ident of the United States, Mike Pence.

During the meeting, HRH the Crown Prince welcomed the enduring strength of Bah-rain – US relations, noting that the partnership is based on close security, trade and cultural ties.

HRH the Crown Prince went on to stress the impor-tance of maintaining this key alliance in the face of con-tinued threats, both in the Arabian Gulf region and in-ternationally.

In this regard, HRH pointed to Bahrain’s long track record in the fight against extrem-ism and terrorism.

HRH the Crown Prince stressed that co-ordinated action is essential to contin-ued regional stability and economic development.

Later, His Royal Highness and the Vice President signed an agreement to acquire Pa-triot surface-to-air missile system equipment for Bah-rain, which will form a vital component of the Bahrain Defence Force’s combat read-iness strategy.

The Vice-President of the United States then held

a lunch banquet in honour of HRH the Crown Prince, where

he lauded Bahrain’s contribu-tions towards promoting peace

in the region, maritime security, and countering terrorism.

Kingdom, US vow to further enhance security, trade ties

HRH the Crown Prince welcomes the enduring strength of Bahrain-US relations

HRH the Crown Prince with Donald Trump during the press conference at White House. HRH the Crown Prince and Mike Pence after signing the agreements.

Mike Pence hosted a banquet dinner for HRH the Crown Prince and the accompanying delegation.


NDMA found in samples of ranitidine medicines Manama

The National Health Regulatory Au-thority (NHRA), announced that the US FDA has learned that some raniti-

dine medicines, including some products commonly known as the brand-name drug Zantac, contain a nitrosamine impurity called N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) at low levels.

NDMA is classified as a probable human carcinogen, a substance that could cause cancer, based on results from laboratory tests.

NDMA is a known environmental contam-inant and found in water and foods, includ-ing meats, dairy products, and vegetables.

Ranitidine is an H2 (histamine-2) block-er, which decreases the amount of acid created by the stomach.

Over-the-counter ranitidine is ap-proved to prevent and relieve heartburn

associated with acid ingestion and sour stomach.

Prescription of ranitidine is approved for multiple indications, including treatment and prevention of ulcers of the stomach and

intestines and treatment of gastroesopha-geal reflux disease.

The US FDA has been investigating NDMA and other nitrosamine impurities in blood pressure and heart failure medicines called Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers (ARBs) since last year.

In the case of ARBs, the FDA has recom-mended numerous recalls as it discovered unacceptable levels of nitrosamines.

The US FDA is not calling for individuals to stop taking ranitidine at this time; how-ever, patients taking prescription ranitidine who wish to discontinue use should talk to their health care professional about other treatment options, it said.

According to the FDA, people taking ran-itidine could consider using other medi-cines approved for their condition.

There are multiple drugs on the market that are approved for the same or similar uses as ranitidine, it added.

Bahrain condemns terrorist bombings in Afghanistan

Manama

The Kingdom yesterday condemned the terrorist bombing that targeted

an election campaign rally by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Parwan province, and the terrorist bombing near an army base in Kabul, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, killing and in-juring dozens of people includ-ing women and children.

In a statement, the Foreign Affairs Ministry expressed sin-cere condolences to the families of the victims, wishing a speedy

recovery to all those injured “as a result of these heinous terror-ist acts”.

“The ministry affirms the Kingdom of Bahrain’s solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Af-ghanistan and its support in its relentless efforts to combat vi-olence and terrorism, stressing its unequivocal position against eradicating all forms of violence, extremism and terrorism.

“The ministry also calls for the need for the international community to unite to confront and eliminate this scourge,” the statement also said.

NDMA is classified as a probable human

carcinogen, a substance that could cause cancer,

based on results from laboratory tests.

KNOW

DID

‘Al Janubiya’ application launched Deputy Premier highlights government’s unwavering efforts to upgrade e-services

• A short film highlighting the goals of the application was screened.

• The governor, in his speech, said that the Southern Governorate is progressing in various fields during His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s prosperous era.

Manama

Deputy Premier and Chair-man of the Supreme Council of Information

and Communication Technol-ogy, HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, yesterday patronised, at the invitation of Southern Governor, HH Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, the inauguration of the smart communication applica-tion “Al Janubiya”, launched by the Southern Governorate to improve services.

Interior Minister, General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al

Khalifa, ministers and senior state officials were present.

In a statement, HH Shaikh Mo-hammed bin Mubarak expressed thanks and appreciation to the Southern Governor for inviting him to patronise the launch of the application, which is aimed at enhancing communication with the local citizens, as well as providing smart, quick and quality services, valuing highly the Interior Minister’s efforts and directives in this regard.

The deputy premier indicat-ed that the initiative is within the government’s unwavering efforts to upgrade e-services across various sectors so as to

keep pace with the rapid de-velopments witnessed by the ICT field, and bring about more achievements and services to the citizens and residents.

HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak called on government departments to carry on their efforts to develop the ICT sec-tor and promote the knowledge culture to ensure efficiency and save time, which, he said, will support the government’s efforts to achieve comprehensive sus-tainable development, as well as bring about more progress and prosperity.

HH Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa expressed

thanks and appreciation to HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubar-ak for partronising the launch of the “Al Janubiya” application.

The governor, in his speech, also said that the Southern Gov-ernorate is progressing in var-ious fields during His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khali-fa’s prosperous era, lauding the key role played by the govern-ment, led by His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khali-fa bin Salman Al Khalifa, and the forward-looking vision of His Royal Highness Prince Sal-man bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy

Premier. He stressed that the smart

application is within the South-ern Governorate’s strategy to achieve institutional distinc-tion and ensure direct commu-nication with the citizens, in line with the directives of the Interior Minister to achieve a world-level security, social and development system.

HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak officially launched the “Al Janubiya” application, and then a short film highlighting the goals of the application was screened.

The deputy premier also hon-oured the strategic sponsor, VIVA

Bahrain, for their distinguished partnership.

Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) President, Dr Abdulrahman Jawahery, was also presented with a commem-orate shield for GPIC’s support for the “Al Janubiya” application.

Then, the Southern Governor presented the Deputy Premier with a commemorative gift for patronising the ceremony.

Then, HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak toured the exhibi-tion held by the Southern Gover-norate, to highlight its achieve-ments regarding communica-tion, security and development projects.

HH Shaikh Mohammed tours the expo. HH Shaikh Mohammed with General Shaikh Rashid, Shaikh Khalifa, Dr Mirza, Mr Al Hamer and other dignitaries at the inaugural event.

Pakistan Youth Society organised an event to honour outgoing officials Col Sikandar Hayat and Lt Col Kazim Aqeel as well as the newly-appointed HOC at Pakistan Embassy, Hasnain Yousif, at K Hotel. Chief guest at the event was Pakistan Ambassador Afzaal Mahmood.

Officials honoured

150kg spoiled fish seized at Manama Central Market

TDT | Manama

A special team from the Department of Mar-itime Supervision un-

der the Agriculture and Ma-rine Wealth Agency yesterday seized 150 kilogram of spoiled fish from the Manama Central Market.

The team was carrying out its regular inspection campaigns when they spotted spoiled fish being sold at the market. The department has asked consum-

ers to be on alert over the qual-ity before buying fish.

Meanwhile, nearly 40 per cent of the revamp work at the fish market within the Mana-ma Central Market has been completed by the Capital Mu-nicipality.

This was confirmed by the Director-General of the Capi-tal Municipality. “The revamp work is being carried out at a fast pace, considering the im-portance of this food market,” the official said.

The spoiled fish seized by team of inspectors.

80 students join RAP’s Master’s programmesManama

A batch of 80 students has been admit-ted to the Royal Academy of Police (RAP) to enable them to study for

their master’s degrees.

“They work in various sections and direc-torates affiliated with the Ministry of Inte-rior and 16 government departments,” the Officers Training College Commandant said.

More than 275 people had applied for the RAP postgraduate studies programme. The

students who were accepted praised the Interior Ministry’s role in promoting its affiliates and paid tribute to the Minister of Interior for allowing applicants from other government departments to join the RAP’s Master’s programmes.

05

world

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Canada’s Trudeau reassures allies over spy security breach• Cameron Ortis’s arrest was linked to a major investigation into the laundering of stolen Russian funds

• Ortis, who has worked for the RCMP since 2007, faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted

AFP | Ottawa

Pr i m e M i n i s t e r Ju s t i n Trudeau yesterday sought

to reassure Canada’s allies over security after a senior police in-telligence officer was accused of stealing highly classified ma-terials that, if released, could be “potentially devastating.”

Cameron Ortis served as the director general of national in-telligence coordination for the Royal Canadian Mounted Po-lice (RCMP) before his arrest last Thursday.

The next day he was formally charged with accessing secrets

and unauthorized communica-tion of special operational in-formation.

Trudeau, campaigning for re-election, told reporters at a small train station in St. John’s, Newfoundland that Canadian officials had reached out to allies about the security breach.

“We’re working with them to reassure them, but we want to ensure that everyone under-stands that we’re taking this sit-uation very seriously,” he said.

A senior police intelligence officer, Ortis was undone by US authorities’ discovery of an in-

ternal police document in crim-inal hands, said Canadian media.

The daily Globe and Mail said US authorities discovered in 2018 the RCMP document on the seized laptop of a Vancou-ver businessman with ties to organized crime, triggering the investigation that led to Ortis.

Ortis had reportedly emailed Phantom Secure Communica-tions founder and key admin-istrator Vincent Ramos in 2018,

to offer him “valuable” infor-mation, said public broadcaster CBC.

Ramos, whose company police estimate made more than $80 million selling encrypted mobile phones to drug traffickers and money launderers between 2008 and 2018, pleaded guilty to rack-eteering in an American court in May and was sentenced to nine years in prison.

The RCMP looked at anyone with access to the internal doc-ument, eventually focusing on Ortis.

‘Potential risk’ to allies

Ortis “had access to informa-tion the Canadian intelligence community possessed,” RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki said in a statement Monday.

“He also had access to intel-ligence coming from our allies both domestically and interna-tionally,” she said.

“We are aware of the poten-

tial risk to agency operations of our partners in Canada and abroad,” the statement said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

Lucki did not specify which foreign organizations may have been exposed to the theft of se-crets, which allegedly took place between 2016 and 2019, though Canada is a member of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance with Australia, New Zealand, Britain

and the United States.Ortis had access to material

that could cause a “high” de-gree of damage to the country and its allies, if released, with “potentially devastating” con-sequences, the CBC said, citing a report prepared by Canadian intelligence services.

“Analysis of the contents of the reports could reasonably lead a foreign intelligence agency to draw significant conclusions

about allied and Canadian in-telligence targets, techniques, methods and capabilities,” the report said.

“This type of information is among the most highly protect-ed of national security assets, by any government standard and goes to the heart of Cana-da’s sovereignty and security,” it said.

The Globe and Mail reported Saturday that Ortis’s arrest was linked to a major investigation into the laundering of stolen Russian funds.

Ortis, 47, as recently as August was said to be overseeing a probe into whether some of the money was funneled through Canada.

According to the newspaper, the corruption investigation was looking at a $230-million fraud scheme allegedly run by senior Russian interior ministry and tax officials.

Ortis, who has worked for the RCMP since 2007, faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of the five charges brought against him under Canada’s criminal code and its Security of Infor-mation Act.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Foreign organizations may have been exposed to the theft of secrets from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police National Intelligence Coordination Centre

Snowden says would return to US if guaranteed fair trialHuffPost India

Edward Snowden, the American whistleblow-

er charged with espionage after releasing to journalists a trove of classified docu-ments that exposed the gov-ernment’s mass surveillance program, wants to return to the US, but only if guaran-teed a fair trial.

I n a Mo n d a y i n t e r-view with “CBS This Morn-ing,” the former National Security Agency contractor who lives in exile in Rus-sia said the US has not agreed to give him a pub-lic interest defense, which would allow him to attempt to prove that his leaks were for the greater good.

Israel votes on Netanyahu’s political survival

Jerusalem

Israel voted in its second election in five months yes-

terday that will decide wheth-er to extend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s term as the country’s longest-serving prime minister despite corrup-tion allegations against him.

The stakes could not be much higher for the 69-year-old right-wing leader who, as in April polls, faces a strong chal lenge from ex-mil i-tary chief Benny Gantz and his centrist Blue and White alliance.

Ex-defence minister Avig-dor Lieberman, Netanyahu’s former right-hand man turned rival, could play a kingmak-er role with his campaign to “make Israel normal again.”

Some 6.4 million people are eligible to cast ballots.

Opinion polls ahead of the election have indicated another tight race, showing Netanyahu’s Likud and Blue and White winning around 32 seats each in the 120-seat parliament.

Netanyahu enters the elec-

tion after having suffered one of the biggest defeats of his political career after the April vote.

His Likud along with its right-wing and religious allies won a majority of seats, lead-ing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to task the premier with forming a new government.

But following weeks of dis-cussions, Netanyahu failed to do so, leading him to opt for an unprecedented second elec-tion rather than risk having Rivlin choose someone else.

The danger for Netanyahu extends beyond remaining prime minister, a post he has held for a total of more than 13 years, first from 1996-1999 and again since 2009.

Israel’s attorney general has said he intends to indict Netanyahu for fraud, bribery and breach of trust pending a hearing expected only days after the election in early Oc-tober. A final decision would come later.

Netanyahu would not be re-quired to step down if indict-ed, only if convicted with all appeals exhausted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) faces a strong challenge from retired general Benny Gantz and his Blue and White alliance in polls

Professor, prisoner to face off in TunisiaAFP | Tunis

Official results in Tunisia’s presidential election confirmed yesterday a

duel in the second round of vot-ing between law professor Kais Saied and imprisoned media mogul Nabil Karoui.

Saied led the first round with 18.4 per cent of the vote, and is set to challenge Karoui in polls next month after he earned 15.6pc, according to the elec-toral commission (ISIE).

Sunday’s election was the country’s second free vote for head of state since the its 2011 uprising.

The result is a major upset for Tunisia’s political establish-ment, in place since the fall of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali eight years ago after the mass protests.

The Islamist-inspired En-nahdha party, a main force in parliament, came third with almost 12.9pc of the vote for its first-ever presidential candi-date Abdelfattah Mourou.

Shortly before the official results were announced, En-nahdha congratulated the two winners, implicitly dis-pelling rumours that Karoui would be disqualified over alleged violations during his campaign.

Any such disqualification would have seen Mourou qual-ify for the final runoff.

ISIE has said it is investigating alleged electoral violations, in-cluding campaigning on behalf of Karoui by Nessma TV, found-ed by the media mogul.

“We are analysing” com-plaints, ISIE spokesman Hasna

Ben Slimane said.“But to unseat a candidate,

there must be a valid and solid reason” to believe there was a violation, he said.

Observers from the European Union said the first round has been “transparent”.

But it called for the candi-dates to have the “same oppor-tunities” to campaign, in an ap-parent allusion to Karoui.

Depending on potential ap-peals, the second round could be organised for October 6, the same day as legislative elec-tions, or on October 13, ISIE said.

The two candidates -- though very different -- have drawn on the same “anti-system” sen-timent among the electorate, spurred by exasperation with the status quo.

Tunisia presidential frontrunners Nabil Karoui, (L) a media magnate jailed on corruption charges, and law professor Kais Saied

HK activists take cause to USWashington

Leaders of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy move-

ment yesterday appealed directly to US lawmakers to exert pressure on Bei-jing, warning that an ero-sion of the city’s special status would embolden China’s leaders around the world.

“This is not a plea for so-called ‘foreign interference,’ nor for Hong Kong inde-pendence,” said Cantopop star Denise Ho, whose mu-sic has been banned in main-land China for her activism. “This is a plea for universal human rights. This is a plea for democracy. This is a plea for the freedom to choose,” she said.


SMILE

US swimmer criss-crosses English Channel in 54-hour feat• The athlete relied on a protein recovery drink mixed with electrolytes and caffeine -- which was tied to a rope and thrown to her every 30 minutes -- to complete the feat, according to her mother

London

An American breast cancer survivor yesterday became

the first person to swim across the English Channel four times non-stop in a 54-hour feat of endurance.

Sarah Thomas, 37, an open wa-ter marathon swimmer from the US state of Colorado, could be seen in a video posted on Face-book arriving at Dover on the southern English coast with a group of supporters cheering her on.

“I feel a little sick,” she is heard saying following the her-culean effort, which reportedly saw her cover close to 130 miles (209 kilometres) due to strong tides.

“I just can’t believe we did it,”

Thomas told the BBC.“I’m really just pretty numb.

There was a lot of people on the beach to meet me and wish me well and it was really nice of them, but I feel just mostly stunned.”

Thomas said the hardest part was dealing with the salt water, which left her throat and mouth

sore, while she also got stung in the face by a jellyfish.

The athlete relied on a protein recovery drink mixed with elec-trolytes and caffeine -- which was tied to a rope and thrown to her every 30 minutes -- to complete the feat, according to her mother.

Endurance swimmer Lewis

Pugh wrote on Twitter that her achievement was “extraordi-nary, amazing, super-human”.

“Just when we think we’ve

reached the limit of human en-durance, someone shatters the records,” he wrote.

‘Pain and fear’In a post on Saturday before

setting off, Thomas wrote: “This swim is dedicated to all the sur-vivors out there.

“This is for those of us who have prayed for our lives, who have wondered with despair about what comes next, and have battled through pain and fear to overcome,” she wrote.

The marathon swimmer re-ceived the cancer diagnosis four months after an unprecedented August 2017 non-stop solo swim of 104.6 miles in Lake Champ-lain on the US-Canada border.

She underwent treatment for the aggressive form of breast cancer -- which had already begun spreading to the lymph nodes under one of her arms -- in the summer of 2018, ac-cording to a fundraising website for a documentary about her achievements.

“I was at the peak of my athlet-ic accomplishments... and then I got diagnosed with cancer,” Thomas said in a video posted on the Kickstarter website.

“It’s part of who I am now, part of my story. I just hope it never comes back but if it does, to know that I did everything I wanted to do in life.”

In the video Thomas, who fin-ished her first open-water event in 2007 and had previously made two Channel swims in 2012 and 2016, said swimming across the Dover Strait had been a life-long dream and “just as hard as climbing Mount Everest”.

“When you’re a kid you just dream of swimming the English Channel.”

American swimmer Sarah Thomas, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, was in the water 54 hours during her record-breaking swim

I just can’t believe we did it. I’m really just pretty numb. There

was a lot of people on the beach to meet me and wish me well and it was really nice of them, but I feel just

mostly stunned

SARAH THOMAS

Indonesia ‘doing everything’ to put out forest fires - President

• Forest fires are raging on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, sending a choking fug across the region

Pekanbaru | Indonesia

Indonesia is battling forest fires causing toxic haze across southeast Asia with

aircraft, artificial rain and even prayer, President Joko Widodo said during a visit to a hard-hit area yesterday.

Forest fires are raging on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, sending a choking fug across

the region -- including towards neighbours Malaysia and Sin-gapore.

During a visit to Riau prov-ince in central Sumatra Tues-day, Widodo said nearly 6,000 troops had been sent to hot spots to help put out fires.

“We have made every effort,” he said.

As well as firefighters on the ground, dozens of aircraft were being used to seed clouds and bomb blazes with water, he said.

“We have also prayed,” he added, after a visit to Amrulloh Mosque in Pekanbaru.

The toxic smoke caused by deliberate burning to clear land for plantations is an annual problem for Indonesia and its

neighbours, but has been wors-ened this year by particularly dry weather.

Authorities on Monday said they had arrested nearly 200 people suspected of being in-volved in activities that led to the out-of-control fires.

Four corporations were also being investigated, authorities said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meteoro-logical agency said Tuesday the number of hotspots had stabi-lised, but a thick haze continued to cloak the region.

On Borneo island, which In-donesia shares with Malaysia and Brunei, pollution levels were “hazardous”, according

to environment ministry data. Hundreds of schools across In-donesia were shut.

In peninsular Malaysia, the met office and air force were working together to seed clouds with chemicals in the hope that rainfall would clear the haze.

But hundreds of schools were closed Tuesday, affecting more than 350,000 students.

Air quality was at “unhealthy” or “very unhealthy’ levels in many parts of peninsular Malay-sia and Sarawak state on Borneo, officials said.

Air quality improved in Sin-gapore and was in the “mod-erate” range after slipping to “unhealthy” levels over the weekend, officials there said.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo walks on a burnt forest as firefighters are seen spraying water to extinguish the remaining fire in Pelalawan, Riau province, Indonesia

G r e t a T h u n b e r g r e c e i v e s A m n e s t y

h u m a n r i g h t s a w a r d

Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg and the ‘Fridays for Future’ youth movement are awarded Amnesty International’s “Ambassadors of Conscience” award.

20 killed as truck plunges down ravine in Philippines

Manila

Twenty people, including children, were killed yes-

terday in the southern Philip-pines when the flatbed truck they were riding in plummeted into a ravine, police said.

The vehicle was bringing a group of people home from a trip to the beach when the driver lost control near the town of T’boli in the latest deadly crash on the nation’s dangerous roads.

“Based on eyewitness ac-counts, the truck lost its brakes. We will conduct fur-

ther investigations on the ac-tual cause,” T’boli town police investigator George Tabayan told AFP.

Police initially put the death toll at 15, but doctors said five of the 19 people taken to hos-pital for treatment later died, Tabayan said, updating an ear-lier tally.

The dead included children aged between one to six years old, with the driver among those injured, he added.

The group had come from a swimming party at a beach in a neighbouring town and were on their way home when the accident occurred.

Red Cross volunteers retrieve the bodies of victims following a road accident

Only four swimmers have previously com-pleted the approxi-

mately 21-mile Channel crossing between Britain and France three times

without stopping


I was waiting at the entrance of the recruitment centre. I was behind two men in line when

suddenly the blast struck

MUSTAFA GHIASI

Blast near Afghan presidential rally kills 48

• The attacks happened 11 days before Afghanistan’s presidential elections

• A local government official said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber

• In a separate incident, a blast went off in the centre of the capital Kabul

• The Taliban claimed the two attacks

Reuters | Kabul, Afghanistan

Taliban suicide bombers killed 48 people in two separate attacks in Af-

ghanistan yesterday, the deadli-est taking place near an election

rally by President Ashraf Ghani, though he was unhurt.

The attacks happened 11 days before Afghanistan’s presiden-tial election, which Taliban com-manders have vowed to violently disrupt, and follow collapsed peace talks between the United States and the insurgent group.

Ghani, who is seeking a sec-ond five-year term in voting on

Sept. 28, was due to address a rally in Charikar, the capital of central Parwan province, when a suicide bomber attacked the gathering.

The blast killed 26 people and wounded 42, said Nasrat Rahi-mi, spokesman for the interior ministry.

“When the people were enter-ing the police camp, an old man riding a motorcycle arrived on the highway and detonated his explosives, causing casualties,” said Parwan province’s police chief Mohammad Mahfooz Wal-izada.

In the wake of the attack, bod-ies littered the dusty ground as smoke rose from the site of the explosion, a giant blue billboard bearing the face of Ghani’s run-ning mate Amrullah Saleh loom-ing over the scene.

With sirens wailing, rescuers rushed to lift the wounded into the backs of pick-up trucks for evacuation.

“Women and children are among them and most of the victims seem to be the civilians,” said Abdul Qasim Sangin, head of Parwan’s provincial hospital.

The president was nearby but unharmed, and later took to Twitter to condemn the bomb-ing at the rally.

“Taliban tried to break this unity by targeting innocent ci-vilians,” he wrote. “They shame-lessly accepted responsibility

at a time when they’re cloak-ing acts of terror as efforts for peace.”

In a separate incident, a man on foot blew himself up in the centre of the capital Kabul, sending ambulances and Afghan forces rushing to the blast site.

“I was waiting at the entrance of the recruitment centre,” said Mustafa Ghiasi, lying on a hos-pital bed after being wounded in the explosion. “I was behind two men in line when suddenly the blast struck.”

Twenty-two people were killed, and 38 were wounded, said Rahimi, the interior minis-try spokesman. Most of the dead were civilians, including women and children, though six were security force members.

The Taliban said it carried out the two attacks, and a statement issued by a spokesman for the insurgents said they were aimed at security forces.

“People were given warning,” the statement said.

“Do not take part in the pup-pet administration’s election rallies, because all such gath-erings are our military target,” said the statement. “If, despite the warning, someone get hurt, they themselves are to blame.”

Addressing the Kabul attack, Afghanistan’s president lashed out at the Taliban as the “coward enemy” for targeting civilians.

Afghan security forces arrive at the site of a blast in Kabul, Afghanistan (Courtesy of Reuters)

Lilly, Thailand’s Greta Thunberg, wages ‘war’ on plasticBangkok

Skipping school to glide through a dirty Bangkok ca-

nal on a paddleboard, Lilly fish-es out rubbish in her mission to clean up Thailand, where the average person uses eight plastic bags every single day.

“I am a kid at war,” the bubbly 12-year-old says after a painstak-ing hour-long routine picking up cans, bags and bottles bobbing in the canal.

“I try to stay optimistic but I am also angry. Our world is disappearing,” she adds.

Thailand is the sixth largest global contributor to ocean pol-lution, and plastic is a scourge.

Whether it’s for wrapping up street food, takeaway coffees or for groceries, Thais use 3,000 single use bags per

year -- 12 times more than some-one from the European Union.

In June, Lilly won her first victory: she persuaded Central, a major supermarket in Bangkok, to stop giving out plastic bags in its stores once a week.

“I told myself that if the gov-ernment did not listen to me, it would be necessary to speak directly to those who distribute plastic bags and convince them to stop,” she explains.

This month some of the big-gest brands, including the oper-ator of the ubiquitous 7-Eleven convenience stores, pledged to stop handing out single-use plastic bags by January next year.

Mindsets have started to shift this year w i t h t h e

deaths of several marine mam-mals whose stomachs were lined with plastic, stirring emotions.

The demise last month of a baby dugong was mourned on social media, reviving discus-sion in the government over a proposed ban on most single-use plastics by 2022.

But critics say along with new rules there need to be enforce-ment mechanisms such as fines.

For now young activists like Lilly can help capture attention.

“You might be able to tune out all of the evidence and advo-cacy in the world, but it’s very hard t o i g n o r e a c h i l d w h e n t h e y

ask why we’re trashing the plan-et that they have to live on,” says Kakuko Nagatani-Yoshida, re-gional coordinator for chemi-cals, waste and air quality with UN Environment.

‘It’s up to us’Lilly is Ralyn Satidtanasarn’s

nickname.The US-Thai youngster start-

ed campaigning at the age of eight after a seaside vacation in southern Thailand where she was horrified by a beach covered in rubbish.

“We cleaned up with my par-ents, but that was not helpful

because other waste was thrown out by the sea the next day,” she recalls.

Then came the global movement initiated by 16-year-old Greta Thun-berg, who has become a key face in the battle against glob-

al warming.Inspired by the young Swede,

Lilly did sit-ins in front of the Thai government buildings.

“Greta Thunberg gave me con-fidence. When adults do not do anything, it’s up to us children to act,” she insists.

Though she often skips class to carry out her activism, she will not be in New York along-side Thunberg for a protest on September 20 just days before the UN climate conference.

“My place is here, the fight is also in Southeast Asia,” she says.

Even if she sometimes wants to take a break and “go play” like other kids, she also takes part in cleaning sessions organised by local association Trash Hero.

Other activists praise her but say she is up against massive corporate interests.

The main ob-

stacle is the petrochemical in-dustry, one of the main markets for plastics, accounting for 5 percent of Thailand’s GDP and tens of thousands of jobs.

“Lilly is a very good voice for the youth of this country but the lobbies are very powerful and that makes any change difficult,” concedes Nattapong Nithiuthai, who set up a company turning discarded waste into flip flops.

She can also count on the sup-port of her parents, who help her write speeches to the UN and government officials.

Her mother, Sasie, herself a former environmental activist, adds: “At first, I thought it was a child’s fad, but Lilly hung on, so I decided to support her.”

12-year-old Ralyn Satidtanasarn, known by her nickname Lilly, collects plastic waste during the Trash Hero cleaning initiative


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 | Chairman & Managing Director P Unnikrishnan | Advertisement: Update Media W.L.L | Tel: 38444692, Email: [email protected] | Newsroom: Tel: 38444680, Email: [email protected] & circulation: Tel: 38444698/17579877 | Email:[email protected] | Website: www.newsofbahrain.com | Printed and published by Al Ayam Publishing

ALEXANDER DOWNER

There is no doubt that the process of governing is get-ting increasingly complex.

For a start, a well-educated global public is becoming more demand-ing of high standards. This means there is less public patience for inefficient or misdirected policy-making and provision of services.

With this in mind, political leaders and civil servants have to be able to evaluate policies us-ing the most contemporary tools and methods available. What is more, all governments struggle to match the public demand for entitlements and infrastructure with available resources. Recon-ciling scarce resources with ever growing public demands is a core political challenge for all govern-ments, wherever they may be.

Even in a country as rich as the United States, providing social security and universal health-care continues to be a challenge and also politically contentious. This was evident in the latest debate between members of the Democratic Party, who are vy-ing to become its presidential candidate ahead of next year’s general elections. One of the is-sues debated on this week was whether to promote a sweeping government-run healthcare plan or to build on the already existing Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare”.

Secondly, the public has better ways to express its views. All over the world, social media is ubiq-uitous and unforgiving. Mistakes or poor service are quickly high-lighted and telegraphed to the wider community; in fact, there are entire websites dedicated to criticising actions and policies of governments. And then there is mainstream media, which can be punishing as well. Hence, it goes without saying that civil servants need to understand how it works and how to deal with it.

Related to these trends has been the progressive digitisation of government. As we have seen in recent years, this can bring with it substantial efficiencies, better service for clients and dra-matic improvements in produc-

tivity. But it also brings privacy challenges. Citizens can become uneasy about how their data is stored, managed and used. What is more, introducing digital sys-tems is not straightforward. An example of this is the Indian government’s implementation of Aadhaar, which is considered the world’s largest biometric identi-fication scheme but, nonetheless, has sparked concern among many civil society groups in the coun-try about possible government overreach.

These days, policymakers – be they political leaders or civil servants – need to have an astute feel for how the restless public will react to government initia-tives. There is a great deal more to public behaviour than supply and demand. Policies often fail be-cause their architects did not ac-

curately predict public response. Recent work in the United States and Europe on public behaviour helps policymakers understand better the likely reaction to new programmes, be they social, en-vironmental or economic. This work is as relevant to the UAE as it is to anywhere else.

It is in this context that the an-nouncement made by Sheikh Mo-hammed bin Rashid, Vice Pres-ident and Ruler of Dubai, of the results of a survey of government customer service centres comes as good news. The reasons are two-fold: firstly, it will help civil serv-ants improve their performances and secondly, it will send a signal to the public that the government is working tirelessly not just to recognise the challenges it faces but also the solutions required.

We have all been struck by

the increasingly acerbic nature of public debate. Whatever the reasons for it, we all need to con-tribute to creating more civil forms of dialogue. It is one thing to disagree with someone or with

a government – or, for that matter, for governments to disagree with each other. But it makes sense to disagree politely. That is all the more possible if we learn to em-pathise with each other. That does not mean to sympathise. That is seldom possible. It means under-standing the other person’s point of view and showing due respect.

All this points to one thing, which is the importance of edu-cating present and aspiring civil servants on the various facets of public administration and man-agement, some of which have al-ready been listed.

There are already many univer-sities which offer excellent cours-es in this regard. But few address these contemporary challenges which those in government face. We are trying to fill that gap by establishing a new International

School for Government at King’s College London, which is both a challenge and privilege.

The challenge, of course, is to provide governments from across the globe the opportunity to up-grade the skillset of their policy-makers and civil services with an emphasis on these contemporary governance issues. After all, it is important to allow governments to operate at the highest possible level and to assist civil servants and policymakers in developing their professional skills.

Courses also become more at-tractive if they are made accessi-ble, which explains why many of them are online. And if they can emphasise the new issues people in government need to master, aside from just focusing on his-torical experiences, that is even better.

FAILURE IS A GREAT TEACHER, AND I THINK WHEN YOU MAKE MISTAKES AND YOU RECOVER FROM THEM AND YOU TREAT THEM AS VALUABLE LEARNING EXPERIENCES, THEN YOU’VE GOT SOMETHING TO SHARE.STEVE HARVEY

QUOTE OF THE DAY


The challenge is to provide governments the opportunity to upgrade the skillset of their policymakers and civil services

We have all been struck by the increasingly acerbic nature of public debate.

Whatever the reasons for it, we all need to contribute to creating more civil forms

of dialogue.

Please take care of these struggling students

I wish to bring to your notice the fact that students are fac-ing a lot of stress nowadays.

A look at their huge school bags itself gives us an idea of their burden. At their age learn-ing should be a joy and not a burden.

Their inquisitive minds should

be enriched by education. Education should help them to

express their latent talents. But nowadays the curriculum is such that bookish knowledge is given more importance. Students are burdened

with homework and do not get any time to develop other skills.

Sports are neglected. Even during holidays they are

expected to do a large amount of holiday homework.

Examinations are considered to be very important. The huge syllabus to be learnt for the ex-aminations is a nightmare for students.

The system of education should be reformed and equal importance should be given to classwork and homework.

Examinations should not be the only criteria of assessment. Practical work and other activi-ties should be given due impor-tance.

There should be a Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation of their performance.

I will be very grateful, if you could promote awareness about these problems and work for the implementation of suitable measures to get rid of them.

M Raghavan


C I V I L I A N ’ S T R I B U N E


ALEXANDER DOWNER

There is no doubt that the process of governing is get-ting increasingly complex.

For a start, a well-educated global public is becoming more demand-ing of high standards. This means there is less public patience for inefficient or misdirected policy-making and provision of services.

With this in mind, political leaders and civil servants have to be able to evaluate policies us-ing the most contemporary tools and methods available. What is more, all governments struggle to match the public demand for entitlements and infrastructure with available resources. Recon-ciling scarce resources with ever growing public demands is a core political challenge for all govern-ments, wherever they may be.

Even in a country as rich as the United States, providing social security and universal health-care continues to be a challenge and also politically contentious. This was evident in the latest debate between members of the Democratic Party, who are vy-ing to become its presidential candidate ahead of next year’s general elections. One of the is-sues debated on this week was whether to promote a sweeping government-run healthcare plan or to build on the already existing Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare”.

Secondly, the public has better ways to express its views. All over the world, social media is ubiq-uitous and unforgiving. Mistakes or poor service are quickly high-lighted and telegraphed to the wider community; in fact, there are entire websites dedicated to criticising actions and policies of governments. And then there is mainstream media, which can be punishing as well. Hence, it goes without saying that civil servants need to understand how it works and how to deal with it.

Related to these trends has been the progressive digitisation of government. As we have seen in recent years, this can bring with it substantial efficiencies, better service for clients and dra-matic improvements in produc-

tivity. But it also brings privacy challenges. Citizens can become uneasy about how their data is stored, managed and used. What is more, introducing digital sys-tems is not straightforward. An example of this is the Indian government’s implementation of Aadhaar, which is considered the world’s largest biometric identi-fication scheme but, nonetheless, has sparked concern among many civil society groups in the coun-try about possible government overreach.

These days, policymakers – be they political leaders or civil servants – need to have an astute feel for how the restless public will react to government initia-tives. There is a great deal more to public behaviour than supply and demand. Policies often fail be-cause their architects did not ac-

curately predict public response. Recent work in the United States and Europe on public behaviour helps policymakers understand better the likely reaction to new programmes, be they social, en-vironmental or economic. This work is as relevant to the UAE as it is to anywhere else.

It is in this context that the an-nouncement made by Sheikh Mo-hammed bin Rashid, Vice Pres-ident and Ruler of Dubai, of the results of a survey of government customer service centres comes as good news. The reasons are two-fold: firstly, it will help civil serv-ants improve their performances and secondly, it will send a signal to the public that the government is working tirelessly not just to recognise the challenges it faces but also the solutions required.

We have all been struck by

the increasingly acerbic nature of public debate. Whatever the reasons for it, we all need to con-tribute to creating more civil forms of dialogue. It is one thing to disagree with someone or with

a government – or, for that matter, for governments to disagree with each other. But it makes sense to disagree politely. That is all the more possible if we learn to em-pathise with each other. That does not mean to sympathise. That is seldom possible. It means under-standing the other person’s point of view and showing due respect.

All this points to one thing, which is the importance of edu-cating present and aspiring civil servants on the various facets of public administration and man-agement, some of which have al-ready been listed.

There are already many univer-sities which offer excellent cours-es in this regard. But few address these contemporary challenges which those in government face. We are trying to fill that gap by establishing a new International




FAILURE IS A GREAT TEACHER, AND I THINK WHEN YOU MAKE MISTAKES AND YOU RECOVER FROM THEM AND YOU TREAT THEM AS VALUABLE LEARNING EXPERIENCES, THEN YOU’VE GOT SOMETHING TO SHARE.STEVE HARVEY

QUOTE OF THE DAY



We have all been struck by the increasingly acerbic nature of public debate.

Whatever the reasons for it, we all need to contribute to creating more civil forms

of dialogue.

Please take care of these struggling students

I wish to bring to your notice the fact that students are fac-ing a lot of stress nowadays.

A look at their huge school bags itself gives us an idea of their burden. At their age learn-ing should be a joy and not a burden.

Their inquisitive minds should

be enriched by education. Education should help them to

express their latent talents. But nowadays the curriculum is such that bookish knowledge is given more importance. Students are burdened

with homework and do not get any time to develop other skills.

Sports are neglected. Even during holidays they are

expected to do a large amount of holiday homework.

Examinations are considered to be very important. The huge syllabus to be learnt for the ex-aminations is a nightmare for students.

The system of education should be reformed and equal importance should be given to classwork and homework.

Examinations should not be the only criteria of assessment. Practical work and other activi-ties should be given due impor-tance.

There should be a Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation of their performance.


M Raghavan


TOP

4TWEETS

01

Wh a t d r i ve s m e is working for

youngsters who will make the India of tomor-row. When those little ones reply with love, all I can do is accept it with all humility and happiness.

@narendramodi

03

Wishing a very hap-py birthday to our

Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri @narendramodi ji. I pray Allah give health and long life to take our nation to greater heights and prosperity. My fami-ly members also join me in the prayers

@Yusuffali_MA

04

“The internet can be an immeasurable force

for good, but it can also be used by criminals. “That is why we are put-ting more money and our world-leading technical abilities into catching offenders operating on the dark web.” – PM @BorisJohnson

@10DowningStreet

02

On a lighter note, Im-ran Khan publishes

nuclear sabre rattling in @nytimes of all the newspapers and then expects favorable audi-ence at the White House.. Oops.. that didn’t go well.

@sunandavashisht

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

editorial stances)




1980Soyuz 38 carries two cosmo-nauts (including one Cuban) to the Salyut 6 space station.

1981The Assemblée Nationale votes to abolish capital punishment in France.

1982The Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon comes to an end.

1984Joe Kittinger completes the first solo balloon crossing of the Atlantic.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY



Extrajudicial killings in Nigeria are a symptom of weak governance

UN findings of lawless

security enforcement encapsulates the country’s

many problems, including

chronic poverty and insurgency

A vehicle allegedly belonging to the Islamic State group in West Africa (ISWAP) is seen in Baga , Nigeria.

CHARLIE MITCHELL

When the Nigerian airforce bombed the Rann refugee camp

from the sky after mistaking it for a Boko Haram stronghold, killing 224 displaced civilians and 10 foreign aid workers in January 2017, it was far from an isolated incident. Instead, the episode was symptomatic of the failings that have plagued the Nigerian military’s counterin-surgency efforts. According to UN figures, nearly one third of the 881 children killed in con-flict in Nigeria in 2017 died at the hands of the very people who should have been protect-ing them – the security forces – rather than the terrorist group Boko Haram.

A report from United Nations special envoy Agnes Callamard this month laid bare the extent of extrajudicial killings by the army, the failure to protect vul-nerable civilians and the mili-tary’s complicity in mass kill-ings. “The federal authorities and international parties are presiding over an injustice pres-sure cooker,” Ms Callamard said after a 12-day visit to the coun-try, where she found a “general-ised system of impunity”.

Her findings are concern-ing, yet unsurprising. Rather, they encapsulate all the prob-lems facing Nigeria today, from chronic poverty and demo-graphic growth to regional in-security, under the umbrella of president Muhammadu Buhari’s ailing governance. Collectively these factors risk breaking Nige-ria – a nation with so much po-tential and yet so little to cheer.

It is no surprise, for instance, that Ms Callamard found bru-tality to be most prevalent in the nation’s northwest and north-east, middle belt and south. Boko Haram’s 10-year insurgen-

cy has killed an estimated 27,000 people, according to the UN, and continues to uproot thousands annually in Nigeria’s impover-ished north, many of whom have sought refuge in neighbouring Cameroon. Despite repeated promises, Mr Buhari has failed to bring stability to northeastern states such as Borno, caught be-tween violent attacks by Boko Haram and counterinsurgency efforts and resulting in the dis-placement of 1.7 million people, with another 7.7m needing as-sistance.

With low morale, poor train-ing and insufficient accounta-bility in the army, there is little recourse to due process and the criminal justice system. Deaths in police custody, such as that of Boko Haram founder Moham-med Yusuf in 2009, are rarely investigated, suspects are often held indefinitely without charge and to date, no member of the military or police force has been investigated or prosecuted for wrongdoing.

So insecure is Nigeria’s north-east that the domain of Islamic State West Africa has grown in strength, briefly leading to the seizure of the small town of Baga earlier this year. Just last week, ISIS claimed to have killed 10 Nigerian soldiers in a base in Gajiram.

In the country’s arid middle belt, a tit-for-tat conflict be-tween mostly Christian farmers and Fulani Muslim herders over land and resources has been rag-ing for years. Exacerbated by climate change and the influx of arms from as far afield as Libya, the fighting left 1,300 dead in the first half of 2018. Since 2011, an estimated 11,000 have been killed in the regional conflict deemed to be six times more deadly than Boko Haram’s ter-rorist campaign.

Mr Buhari, himself a Fulani

Muslim, has been criticised for his slow response. But in trying to confront the issue, Ms Cal-lamard’s report states, Nigeria’s security forces have not only failed to protect communities but fostered further distrust and fresh grievances. Meanwhile, in the oil-rich south, where the poor are denied the wealth that flows under their feet, a Biafra independence movement has been put down in recent years.

These flashpoints call for re-straint and mediation. Instead, it seems the state has chosen violence. In December 2017, for example, the Nigerian airforce fired rockets at villages in the middle belt as a deterrent to stop communal violence, killing doz-ens of people in the process. In a separate incident that year in Mkievowro, villagers took ref-uge in a school, where 29 were killed after soldiers were alleg-edly bribed by Fulani herdsmen to do nothing. Although the soldiers were arrested, none of the survivors was asked to give evidence and it is not known if a trial ever happened. Human rights groups, including Am-nesty International and Human Rights Watch, have accused se-curity forces of a string of other abuses.

Incompetence is a hallmark of Nigerian governance. Af-ter securing the presidency in 2015, promising strong, effective leadership, Mr Buhari took six months to name his cabinet. On his three main pledges – to fight corruption, revamp the econo-my and tackle insecurity –little has been achieved.

And yet he was easily re-elect-ed for a second-term in Febru-ary this year, defeating Atiku Abubakar, a septuagenarian who was making his fourth bid for the presidency. With neither candidate offering change, turn-out sank to a record low of 35 per cent.

Last month Mr Buhari over-hauled his cabinet in a bid to realise his agenda and eliminate infighting within the ruling All Progressives Congress which characterised his first term in office. But many Nigerians were left disappointed when loyalists were elevated to senior cabinet roles. It suggested Mr Buhari was more focused on reward-ing those who had helped him secure re-election than trans-forming Nigeria for the better.

For one, the number of wom-en was cut from 15 to seven in a 43-member cabinet. What must Mr Buhari’s supporters – who waved broomsticks at his rallies to symbolise his war on graft – think of the promotion of corrupt officials to ministerial roles? Bashir Magashi, Mr Bu-hari’s new defence minister, was found to have looted $550,000 from the state in the late 1990s, while serving as an adviser to then Nigerian dictator Sani Aba-cha. He now holds the keys to a ministry with a budget of $440 million.

In a true reflection of Nige-ria’s stagnant governance, Mr Buhari will continue in his role as petroleum minister, as well as ruling as president. He is now

on course to celebrate his 80th birthday in office – and Nigeri-ans are bracing themselves for more of the same.

The rise in extrajudicial kill-ings identified by Mr Callamard therefore reflects not just the endemic brutality of the security forces but a wider breakdown of state institutions. Together with inter-communal grievances and extreme poverty, it is a combus-tible concoction.

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest economy and oil producer, with a young, entrepreneurial popu-lation of 200 million. Yet more people live in extreme poverty in Nigeria than in any other nation on earth.

Mr Buhari’s economic meas-ures have hindered growth and fuelled corruption, particular-ly his clumsy foreign exchange policies, which starved local businesses of US dollars and unduly benefited those with connections at Nigeria’s cen-tral bank. Today the economy is propped up by foreign loans and the International Monetary Fund has raised the grim pros-pect of a recession.

Meanwhile, inequality has pervaded Nigerian society. While a wealthy few enjoy west-ern amenities on plush Lagos island, more than 91 million Ni-gerians live on less than $2 a day. Many by the water in Lagos have had their shanties bulldozed – often while they slept – to make way for condominiums, sending thousands of informal settlers scrambling into the city.

Rampant violence, corrup-tion and poverty across Nigeria have chipped away at the rule of law. Against that backdrop, extrajudicial killings have risen, fuelled by a lack of accountabil-ity within the battered and un-der-resourced security services. This is the tragedy of modern Nigeria.

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest economy and oil producer, with a young,

entrepreneurial population of 200 million. Yet more people live in extreme

poverty in Nigeria than in any other nation on earth.

Please take care of these struggling students There should be a Continuous

Comprehensive Evaluation of their performance.


M Raghavan

10

business


2.34 million broadband subscribers in Bahrain

• TRA Publishes Q2 Market Indicators Report

• Broadband subscriptions rise 9pc in Q2

• 18pc increase in Internet data usage

• Mobile broadband subscription overall increased by 9pc

• Fixed wired broadband subscription increased by 14pc

TDT | Manama

Broadband subscriptions in Bahrain recorded a 9 per cent increase to 2.34

million between the second quarter of 2019 and 2018, said a Telecommunications Regulatory

Authority (TRA) report. TRA’s second-quarter Market

Indicators Report for 2019 re-leased yesterday puts the King-dom’s broadband penetration rate a 156 per cent compared to 143pc in the same period a year ago. Data consumption mean-while increased 18pc from the prior-year period.

Mobile broadband subscrip-tion recorded an overall increase of 9pc, at the same time stan-dalone broadband subscription increased 16pc.

In fixed wired broadband, av-erage monthly data consump-tion reached 192 GB per sub-scription while fixed wireless broadband reached 117 GB per subscription. Fixed wired broad-band subscription increased by 14pc while fixed wireless in-creased by 3pc.

Mobile standalone usage per subscription remained stable at 19 GB.

Mobile services Mobile subscriptions, TRA

said, is stabilising at 2.08 mil-lion subscribers at the end of

the second quarter of 2019 with a penetration rate of 139pc after seeing a downward trend since the beginning of 2017 due to the change in consumer behaviour in terms of usage and mobile operators’ change of some com-ponents of available packages.

Postpaid subscribers in-creased from 639,209 at the end of 2018 to 651,049 at the end of Q2, 2019, a 1.9pc increase.

On the other hand, mobile prepaid subscriptions declined from 1,453,505 at the end of 2018 to 1,435,790 at the end of Q2 2019, a 1.2pc decline.

Overall, total subscriptions increased slightly since the be-ginning of 2019 and penetration rates are stable over the period.

The number of accepted ported mobile lines increased to 3,182 from 2,518 in Q1 2019

Concerning outgoing voice calls, mobile voice traffic contin-ues its decline. Traffic declined by 14pc compared to the second quarter of 2018.

Domestic mobile prepaid out-going minutes declined by 20pc

while domestic mobile postpaid minutes dropped by 5pc. Over-all, total domestic minutes de-clined by 13.14pc.

For mobile international out-going minutes, prepaid minutes declined by 16pc while postpaid minutes declined by 18.6pc. Overall, mobile International outgoing minutes declined by 16.1pc.

Fixed telephony services Fixed Telephony Line sub-

scriptions increased slightly compared to the end of the last year, while the fixed wireless telephony services dropped by 9.26pc, however, the fixed wired telephony increased by 1.92pc.

Fixed domestic calls remain stable between Q1 2018 and Q2 2019, while international fixed-line calls dropped by 25.67pc between Q3 2018 and Q2 2019.

Average monthly outgoing do-mestic minutes per subscriber is stable at 132 while average monthly international minutes reached to 6 minutes per sub-scriber.

2,337,786 -broadband subscribers

156pc- Broadband Penetration rate

Fixed Wired subscribers - 86pc

Fixed Wireless subscribers - 14pc

Mobile prepaid subscribers - 1,435,790

Mobile postpaid subscribers - 651,049

Representative picture. (Courtesy of World Economic Forum)

Manama-IX Internet exchange opens for business: Batelco TDT | Manama

Batelco announced that its Manama-IX (mn-ix), the

carrier-neutral internet traffic exchange platform, located in Bahrain, is ready to welcome businesses to interconnect with local, regional and global net-works.

The launch plan of Mana-ma-IX (mn-ix) was announced earlier this year, following the signing of a partnership agree-ment between Batelco and AMS-IX, the world’s leading Internet Exchange.

Manama-IX, located in Global Zone, the neutral transit zone, serves as a neutral Internet

traffic exchange platform in-terconnecting global carriers, local and international opera-tors and both content and cloud providers.

Batelco Chief Global Busi-ness Officer Adel Al-Dayla-mi said: “The introduction of Manama-IX is in line with Batelco’s strategy to support Bahrain’s vision for the King-dom as a key digital hub in the region.”

“The platform is now open for business and we have been delighted with the response so far with a number of leading in-dustry players already on board,” Al-Daylami added.

The introduction of Manama-IX is in line

with Batelco’s strategy to support Bahrain’s

vision for the Kingdom as a key digital hub in

the regionBATELCO CHIEF GLOBAL BUSINESS OFFICER

ADEL AL-DAYLAMI

The launch plan of Manama-IX (mn-ix)

was announced earlier this year, following

the signing of a part-nership agreement

between Batelco and AMS-IX, the world’s leading Internet Ex-

change.


The banks continue to work on it until they are told otherwise.

The sense is that they want it done as quick

as they can

SOURCE

Saudi has confirmed (to us) that our

refinery will fully get its requested loading

in September and October. We have not been asked to switch

or delayA SOURCE

Saudi Aramco presses ahead with IPO• Aramco IPO is a pillar of an ambitious economic diversification drive by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has put the firm’s valuation at $2 trillion

Reuters | Riyadh/London

Saudi Aramco is pressing ahead with its listing plans this week.

The state-owned oil group

will meet local Saudi banks to discuss the initial public offering (IPO) plans, but bankers at inter-national lenders working on the IPO told Reuters there had been no communication from Aram-co’s management on any delay.

Aramco is continuing to pre-pare for a local IPO, which the sources said may happen as early as November.

Aramco plans to sell 1 per cent this year, in a potential $20 billion deal, and another 1pc in 2020 in Riyadh ahead of an in-ternational sale.

Three sources close to the deal

said meetings scheduled this week with Saudi banks to dis-cuss the underwriting work they will do in the offering are still scheduled to take place.

The Aramco IPO is a pillar of an ambitious economic diversi-fication drive by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has put the firm’s valuation at $2 trillion. The domestic flota-tion is the first step of a targeted 5pc sale.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude exporter, recently accel-erated plans for the IPO, naming a new chairman for Aramco and

mandating 9 banks in top roles.A separate source with knowl-

edge of the deal said Aramco has already carved up the different tasks for banks such as deter-mining valuations, organising roadshows and focusing on cer-tain geographic areas.

“The banks continue to work on it until they are told other-wise. The sense is that they want it done as quick as they can,” the source said.

An Aramco pre-IPO meeting with analysts, both local and in-ternational, is scheduled for next week at Aramco’s headquarters

in Dhahran, two sources, said, with one adding that the meet-ing would still go ahead.

Aramco was looking to place part of the offering to wealthy Saudi individuals to ensure de-mand, two other sources famil-iar with the matter said.

Banks including JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have been appointed to coordinate the deal, which has already faced repeated delays and is crucial for Prince Mo-hammed’s plans to diversify the Saudi economy in an era of low oil prices.

A production facility is seen at Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oilfield in the Empty Quarter, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia says to meet oil commitment to Asian refiners• Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd will receive full allocated volumes of crude oil from Saudi in October

• IOC would get some volumes of Arab heavy instead of Arab mix oil

• Two refiners, in China and Taiwan, also said Saudi Aramco had told them that there was no change

• India is looking at raising oil imports from Russia

Reuters | New Delhi/Singapore

Saudi Aramco has informed at least six refiners in Asia that it will sup-

ply full allocated volumes of crude oil in October, although at least one has been told of a grade switch partially.

One other refiner has been told of delays to car-goes though volumes and grade will remain the same in October.

Saudi Arabia has said it would be able to meet oil customers’ demand from its ample storage.

But this is the first indication that its supply to top consumers in Asia - who consume more than 70 per cent of total Saudi crude exports - will largely re-main stable.

Three state-owned refiner-ies in India - Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and Mangalore Refinery and Petro-chemicals Ltd will receive full allocated volumes of crude oil from Saudi in October, three industry sources said.

But Aramco has informed India’s top refiner, IOC, that it would give some volumes of Arab heavy instead of Arab mix oil, said one of the sourc-es, who de-clined to be identified as he is not au-t h o r i s e d t o speak to me-dia.

This indicates that the King-dom is offering heavy crude in-stead of light crude as Arab Mix is a combination of Arab light and heavy.

No immediate comment was available from IOC.

BPCL’S head of refineries, R. Ramachandran, said that his company would get full volumes from Aramco for September and October without any change in the crude grade.

Two refiners, in China and Taiwan, also said Saudi Aramco had told them that there was no change to the loading schedule in September and October.

“Saudi has confirmed (to us) that our refinery will fully get its requested loading in September and October. We have not been asked to switch or delay,” one of the sources said.

Saudi Aramco informed Pet-roChina yesterday that some of its loadings of light crude oil for October will be delayed by up to about 10 days, though it will still supply the same grades and volumes of light crude oil requested for October nomina-tions, a senior Chinese state oil source with knowledge of the matter said.

State-owned Bangladesh Pe-troleum Corp (BPC) will re-

ceive the full volume allo-cated for October, a senior

BPC official said.“Yesterday, we had a

discussion about the next shipment and they assured us that there will be no delay,”

the official said.Some 100,000 tonnes of

Arab Light crude oil is sched-

uled to be loaded on Sept. 28. BPC imports 700,000 tonnes of Arab Light from Saudi Aramco annually for its sole refinery.

In the Asia market, refiner-ies in Japan, South Korea, India and Thailand are main buyers of Saudi’s Arab Light and Arab Extra Light, according to one of the sources.

In South Korea, there has been no indication of disruptions to term supply, a Seoul-based source said.

Officials from Japan’s JXTG Holdings, Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd and Cosmo Energy Holdings Co Ltd said they were collect-ing information but declined to comment further on Saudi Ara-bian oil or alternative supplies.

While refineries are able to source for alternative crude grades from the United States, West Africa and Southeast Asia should there by a disruption to supply, spot premiums for light crude are expected to rise, two trade sources said.

“Heavier condensate, the mid-dle distillate-rich grades such as deodorised field condensate (DFC), can also be used as al-ternative for light crude if light crude gets very expensive,” a trade source said.

India looking to raise imports from Russia

India is looking at raising oil imports from Russia, its oil min-ister said yesterday.

Dharmendra Pradhan said he had met the chief executive of oil producer Rosneft and that four Indian companies planned to increase their investment in Russian oilfields.

“Today I met excellency Igor Sechin, CEO of Rosneft. We elab-orately discussed the possibility of oil imports,” Pradhan told re-porters.

Rosneft, the world’s largest listed oil producer by output, confirmed that a possible in-crease of oil supplies to Indian refineries had been discussed.

Rosneft and the government also discussed the development of Nayara Energy, a company in which Rosneft holds a majority stake.

The consortium is reviewing an option of a two-fold increase in refining throughput at the Vadinar Refinery, Rosneft said.

In the first stage, the consor-tium has committed to invest $850 million towards the build-ing of a petrochemical unit with-in two years.

“The consortium is also plan-ning to expand Nayara Ener-gy’s retail presence, which is currently the fastest growing pan-India fuel retail network with over 5,300 retail outlets,” Rosneft said in a statement.

It also said joint projects - specifically Sakhalin-1 (oil and gas project), Taas-Yuryakh and Vankor (oilfields in Russia) - were being reviewed, but did not elaborate.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

In the Asia market, refineries in Japan,

South Korea, India and Thailand are main buy-

ers of Saudi’s Arab Light and Arab Extra Light.In South Korea, there

has been no indication of disruptions to term

supply


The Gulf Hotels Group presented its annual donation to the Bahrain Association for Parents & Friends of the Disabled. The donation check was presented by Garfield Jones, Chief Executive Officer to Jassim Siadi, Chairman of the Bahrain Association for Parents & Friends of the Disabled in the presence of Ron Peters, Deputy Chief Executive officer of Gulf Hotels Group

Lost Paradise of Dilmun 12th anniversary celebrations beginManama

Lost Paradise of Dilmun is marking its twelve anniver-

sary along with KSA national day with a big Festival starting today and continuing until Monday.

A spectacle of music beats and fun, featuring a one of a kind va-riety show of live performances, will be staged at the waterpark’s wave pool beach area.

Special events include Ardha band, Famous singer from East-ern Province Fatime Al Shudaid, an international singer from Bollywood - Swarti Sharma and Saudi Singers Fahad Khalid & Ms Nazek backed up by tradi-tional activities entertain guests.

To add more excitement, Bah-raini DJ with Just Party enter-tainment productions will hold special games giving away prizes and surprises.

Food and beverage promo-tions such as buy 2 get 1 at the Latheeth food station, Family

package burger meals at Gil-gamesh restaurant & Back to school package offers will be available at various food outlets.

“Now on our 12th year, we are truly thankful to all our guests

who have enjoyed the water-park throughout these years. Our continued growth allows us to inspire our guests of today and tomorrow to experience world-class service & leisure facilities.

By holding various events, we also offer our commitment to the community enabling them to use our property as a platform for cultural interactions and guar-anteed enjoyment.”

With recently launched slides, the waterpark now offers more than 20 rides, slides and at-tractions. Additional food and beverage stations plus more convenience with recently de-

veloped private cabanas & retail offerings.

The waterpark will open from 10am-Midnight, where the event and activities will begin from 12noon onwards.

Lagarde next ECB chief

Strasbourg | France

The European Parlia-ment on Tuesday ap-proved outgoing IMF

chief Christine Lagarde as the next boss of the European Cen-tral Bank, which last week an-nounced massive stimulus for the sluggish eurozone despite divisions among its governors.

Lagarde, who was absent for the vote, won backing from 394 MEPs, with 206 voting against and 49 abstaining in a secret ballot. Some criticised her not turning up.

The parliament’s green light is just a recommendation. The final decision on her appoint-ment is up to EU leaders in a mid-October summit. She is

expected to easily clinch that confirmation as the leaders put her forward for the ECB post back in July.

Lagarde, a former French economy minister and head of the International Mone-tary Fund for the past eight years, is expected to largely follow the course set by de-parting ECB president Mario Draghi.

Draghi was hailed seven years ago for saving the euro-zone from debilitating crisis by vowing “the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes”.

But his decision last Thurs-day to have the ECB intervene again with quantative easing (QE) from November and a cut to the interest paid on banks’ deposits deeper into negative

territory has ruffled the feath-ers of some EU states.

Germany and the Nether-lands notably accused Draghi of going too far. Sources told AFP that around 10 of the 25 ECB governors were against re-launching QE.

Draghi had underlined three challenges facing the ECB and its goal of price stability: a slow-ing eurozone economy, looming trade protectionism and Brexit, and the bank’s degrading eco-nomic forecasts.

He is to leave his job to Lagarde after hosting a last monetary policy meeting in October.

The euro, a symbol of Eu-rope’s single market, is used by 19 of 28 member states current-ly in the European Union.

Mario Draghi is scheduled to hand over the reins of the ECB to Christine Lagarde

Britain’s Supreme Court enters Brexit crisisLondon

Britain’s Supreme Court began considering legal

challenges yesterday to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s con-troversial decision to suspend parliament for over a month, as the country’s political crisis over Brexit intensifies.

The court started hearing three days of arguments over

Johnson’s move to shutter, or prorogue, the House of Com-mons last week until October 14 -- just two weeks before the country is scheduled to leave the European Union.

The politically-charged case, unprecedented in Britain, could lead to parliament being re-called and Johnson’s political hand severely weakened in the run-up to the October 31 depar-

ture date.The appeals revolve around

“whether it was lawful for the prime minister to advise Her Majesty to order prorogation,” Supreme Court President Bren-da Hale said as she opened pro-ceedings.

“The determination of this legal issue will not determine when and how the UK leaves the EU.”Boris Johnson

New York Fed steps into marketNew York

The New York Federal Re-serve Bank on Tuesday

stepped into financial markets for the first time in more than a decade to keep interest rates in line with the Fed’s target.

Analysts say the operation appears to have been success-ful but it caused some jitters, coming as the Fed’s policy-set-ting Federal Open Market

Committee opens a two-day meeting expected to produce a second cut in the benchmark lending rate.

The New York Fed said the $75 billion in repurchase agreements -- known as “re-pos” -- were made “in order to help maintain the federal funds rate within the target range of 2 to 2-1/4 percent.”

It was the first such oper-ation since September 2008.

Apple slams EU as epic court battle over tax bill beginsLuxembourg

Apple went on the offen-sive against Brussels in an

EU court on Tuesday, fighting the European Commission’s landmark order that the iP-hone-maker reimburse Ireland 13 billion euros ($14 billion) in back taxes.

The EU’s tax demand, deliv-ered in 2016, “defies reality and common sense,” Apple’s lawyer Daniel Beard told the EU’s low-er General Court.

The commission’s “conclu-

sion... is wrong,” he added.The commission’s histor-

ic decision was delivered in August 2016 by Competition Commissioner Margrethe Ve-stager, a shock decision that put Europe at the forefront of an emerging effort to rein in the power of US big tech.

Lawyers for the world’s big-gest company faced EU officials in the Luxembourg court, chal-lenging a decision that CEO Tim Cook slammed at the time as “total political crap”.

The EU accuses Apple of park-

ing untaxed revenue earned in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India in Ireland, which has become a European hub for US-based big tech.

This privilege allegedly gave Apple an advantage over oth-er companies, allowing it to avoid taxes between 2003 and 2014 of around 13 billion euros which, according to Brussels, constituted illegal “state aid” by Ireland.

The judges are not expected to hand down their decision before 2020.

UOB introduces cloud computing courseTDT | Manama

University of Bahrain (UOB) announced that it will

launch a new cloud comput-ing degree program to prepare the next generation of cloud professionals. UOB will intro-duce a one-year cloud comput-ing certificate, and a full cloud computing bachelor’s degree, a first in the Middle East, in collaboration with AWS Educate Cloud Degree initiative.

AWS Educate is AWS’s global initiative to provide students and educators with the re-sources needed to accelerate cloud-related learning. The AWS Educate Cloud Degree initiative is a collaborative effort between AWS Educate and leading educational in-stitutions to develop degrees and certif icates in cloud computing.

The new one-year cloud computing 101 certificate will launch in the beginning of 2020, and will initially com-mence for UOB’s students in

the engineering, ICT and busi-ness colleges, to then be offered across all degree courses by 2021. The four-year bachelor’s degree in cloud computing will be introduced in the fall semes-ter of 2020, and will equip stu-dents with technical skills and hands-on experiences to pre-pare them for careers including cloud architecture, cybersecu-rity, software development, and DevOps.

The UOB’s new cloud com-

puting degree program will support the development of cloud computing skills in the region to prepare students for the jobs of the 21st century. Cloud skills have been iden-tified by LinkedIn as the top skill that companies need most for four years in a row. In UOB’s 2019 own executive survey, 25 per cent of current local em-ployers cite training of their own staff in cloud computing as a priority.

13 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Dr. Majid bin Ali Al Nuaimi, Minister of Education during a visit to the call centre, which has been operated by the education sector to answer the queries of schools in all stages of education and take the necessary action. The number of calls received by the centre reached more than 150 calls since the launch of the service on 28 August

AUBH grants scholarships to outstanding students

TDT | Manama

The Kingdom’s first Amer-ican-style university, the

American University of Bah-rain (AUBH) has granted its first scholarships to two outstand-ing students. Atharie Al Salem, and Sara Khaled, were offered a 50 per cent scholarship upon joining the University and to pursue their higher education studies.

Both candidates underwent a rigorous evaluation led by a panel comprising AUBH’s Prov-ost and the Director of Student Affairs. They were selected based on their exemplary aca-demic performance, personal achievements, and motivation to succeed in an American-style environment. They were also seen as great ambassadors of the AUBH mission and vision.

Amal Al Awadhi, Director of Student Affairs at AUBH stated, “part of our mission at AUBH is to facilitate access to education for aspiring, high-achieving students who demonstrate a passion not only for academ-ic excellence, but for gaining skills and knowledge. These students make a difference and actively contribute to the so-cio-economic development of the community. We look for-ward to having these two stellar students be part of the AUBH family, and we are confident in their future success.”

Sara Khaled, will be pur-suing a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering. She has been a high achiever throughout her school years and has engaged in a wide range of activities in sports, music and crafts. She has also been

very active with her participa-tion in national competitions and events including Trade-Quest and the Model United Nations. The committee felt that these accomplishments enhanced her leadership skills and made her a natural fit in AUBH.

Atharie Al Salem, will be pur-suing a Bachelor of Science in Multimedia Design. Atharie is an artistic student with a pas-sion for digital art. She is cur-rently interning as part of the UNIDO Internship Program. She broadened her horizons into the challenges facing develop-ing countries and the efforts made to tackle these issues. Atharie’s enthusiasm and com-mitment towards education and her keenness in making a dif-ference, made her an excellent AUBH candidate.

Atharie Al Salem, and Sara Khaled with officials of AUBH

RCSI Bahrain welcomes new intakeTDT | Manama

The Royal College of Sur-geons in Ireland – Medi-

cal University of Bahrain (RCSI Bahrain) has welcomed over 300 new undergraduate stu-dents as part of its annual Ori-entation programme.

Organised by the Student Services and Events team, the Orientation programme aims to introduce new-joining stu-dents to both academic and ex-tra-curricular aspects of life at RCSI Bahrain.

The students were intro-duced to key members of the university’s academic and ad-ministrative staff, as well as representatives of the Student Council. Assigned to their ‘Bud-dy’ mentor groups, the new-comers also received introduc-tions to academic programmes and university rules and proce-dures, as well as an extensive tour of the campus facilities.

This year’s itinerary also fea-tured a series of social activities for students to get to know each other, including a trip to Bah-rain City Centre, a games night and a movie night.

The latest intake at RCSI Bahrain consists of students from various different nation-

alities, including those from Bahrain, GCC neighbours Ku-wait, Saudi Arabia and Oman, the wider Middle East re-gion, North America, Europe, Africa and Asia, all being at-tracted to the university ’s long-standing international reputation.

NMS-DPS scholars receive accolades at WSC Global RoundTDT | Manama

42 students of New Mil-lennium School – DPS Bahrain after excelling

in the regional round of the World Scholar’s Cup in Febru-ary, emerged successful in the junior category of the Global Round – Hague, held from 21st to 27th July.

1900 Scholars from 51 coun-tries and more than 200 schools worldwide participated in the event. The NMS-DPS students won 126 gold and 134 silver medals and trophies in different categories. 6 students sealed a rank among the top 10 positions from Middle East region. Out of the 14 Teams that participated in the global round, 11 teams have qualified for the next level of tournament of champions ‘Yale Round’ to be conducted in USA in November 2019.

The school team compris-ing of Erica D’Costa, Varsha Rosa, Nanda Menon ranked top in the Middle East fol-lowed by the team of Samiya Shakeel Shaikh, Advait Vaze, Yakov Cherian Thomas which sealed the second place. Mi-hir Kamath, Khushi Rastogi and Abdur Raheem ranked 4th, Aaryan Koul, Aditya Sundaram and Shashank Rao ranked 5th, Arshika Shetty, Shreya Trive-di and Vedika Sunder ranked 7th and Rena Shaheed, Devdutt Dinesh, Reem Ikhwat secured the 10th place.

Erica D’ Costa was awarded as the Top Scholar, 1st Mid-

dle East Top Team, Champion Scholar Gold Medal followed by Aaryan Koul Champion Scholar Gold Medal, 5th Middle East top team and Samiya Shakeel Champion Scholar Silver Med-al, 2nd Middle East top team.

Students showcased their talent in the Scholar’s fair by putting up stall representing country of Bahrain. They gave

souvenirs, dates, set up a henna station, etc. for scholars of other countries. Rahul Menon show-cased his talent in the Scholar’s Show event by singing a melo-dious English song which was appreciated by everyone.

The Management, Principal and Staff congratulated the stu-dents, parents and the mentors for the achievement.

Students of NMS-DPS during the event

New intake students during Orientation Week

14 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Brad Pitt asks NASA astronaut about Chandrayaan 2

Washington

The fate of India’s Chan-drayaan 2 Vikram lander

found a surprise mention during Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt’s question-answer session with a NASA astro-naut.

Pitt was at NASA’s Wash-ington headquarters and he called the International Space Station (ISS) to con-verse with astronaut Nick Hague. The actor asked many questions to get an idea about how life on board the ISS was. He also asked Hague whether the astronaut had managed to get a glimpse of India’s Chandrayaan 2 Vikram lander.

“India was landing on moon and US were assisting them in that effort. Could you see that from where you are?” asked Pitt.

Hague replied: “No, unfor-tunately.”

Pitt’s call to Hague was aired on Nasa TV, and was part of the actor’s promo-tional tour for his new film “Ad Astra”.

The film is a sci-fi fantasy drama, where Pitt is cast as a man who travels across a solar system to hunt his miss-ing father who is a renegade scientist.

Hague is aboard the ISS with two Americans, two Russians and one Italian as-tronaut.

Hazel Keech to act in Ira Khan’s play

Mumbai

Actress Hazel Keech will essay a role in the English play “Euripides’ Medea”,

which marks the directorial debut of Aamir Khan’s daugher Ira Khan.

Ira on Monday had took to Insta-gram and uploaded a photograph of

herself with Hazel. In the image, Aamir’s daughter is on her knees, offering the play’s script to Hazel,

who is seen accepting it.“She said yes! It’s amazing to get

to work with you, as a friend but more importantly as an actor, Hazel Keech. I can’t wait to see what we make.

The play’s Instagram bio reads: “Euri-pides’ Medea” is one of the most popular Greek tragedies. Join us as we journey back to the 4th century BC and partake in this classic tale.”

Sonam Kapoor: My husband is my lucky mascotMumbai

Actress Sonam Kapoor Ahuja can’t get over talking about luck these days. Quite nat-

urally, because she is getting in the mood for the release of her next film “The Zoya Factor”, where she plays a character who turns out to be the lucky mascot for the Indian cricket team at the World Cup.

Asked if she believed in luck, and who her lucky mascot in life was, Sonam named her husband Anand Ahuja.

“My husband (Anand Ahuja) is my lucky mascot,” declared the actress,

while interacting with the media at a special screening of her upcoming film, “The Zoya Factor” on Monday in Mumbai.

In the film, while Sonam plays Zoya Solanki, who be-c o m e s a l u c k y charm for the In-dian Cricket team during the 2011 Cricket World Cup, she is cast opposite Dulquer Salman, cast as the captain of the team who does not

believe in luck and superstitions.Talking about audience re-

sponse to the trailer of “The Zoya Factor”, Sonam said: “This is the first screening of our film, so I am going to find out what people have to say about the

film. People have really loved the trailer and they have told me it looks like a fun and cute film. They have liked the unusual promo-tions we have done. It is releasing on 20th Sep-tember on this Friday so, I am excited for everybody to see it.”

Vicky Kaushal: I am proud to be a technician’s son

Mumbai

Actor Vicky Kaushal, whose father is the

well-known action director Sham Kaushal, has said that he is proud to be a techni-cian’s son.

“Today, I am here to give my claps, respect and love to all the beautiful technicians who are the real heroes be-hind the camera. They help us (actors) to become stars and they help us to reach the audience. I am myself a tech-nician’s sons and I am proud to be a technician’s son so, I have the utmost respect for them,” said Vicky.

Why Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner made Hailey Baldwin insecure

Los Angeles

Model Hailey Baldwin has admitted that she used to harbour an

inferiority complex comparing herself to fellow models and friends, Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid.

“I’m shorter than most of the girls... I’m not a runway girl and I totally used to feel inferior to some of my friends,” the 23-year-old told “Vogue Australia”, on why she felt insecure coming into the profession, and when she compared herself to buddies Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid, who are “all tall and

doing every runway.”Hailey is the niece of Hol-

lywood star Alec Baldwin and daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin, and she said that her famous last name has also of-ten been a reason for problems, adding that casting directors at ramp shows were often reluc-tant to sign her on.

“I had so many people, like casting directors, say: ‘We don’t think she’s a real model’,” a re-port in “pagesix.com” quotes her as saying.

Hailey explained she gradu-ally learnt to carve her niche in a way that she does not have to face the runway competition.

She “found her own lane” in the world of commercial modelling campaigns.

Right now, she is associated with several top-list brands in-cluding Tommy Hilfiger and Adidas. She also represents hus-band Justin Bieber’s Drew fash-ion line, and is the host of “Drop The Mic” on TNT.

Hailey is known to be sport-ing about her flaws as a profes-sional model. Not long ago she posted a snapshot on social me-dia that has her rampwalking, and joked about her imperfect walk by drawing a circle and a question mark around her bent elbow.

Sophie Turner returns to TV after ‘Game of Thrones’

Los Angeles

Actress Sophie Turner who played Sansa Stark in hit ‘Game of Thrones’ is set to

return to TV with ‘Survive.’“I couldn’t be more honored to

portray the role of Jane in Survive for Quibi,” Turner said in a statement, reported People.

“She’s a complex character fighting against the odds to not only save her life, but to also find

her own source of strength and courage. I only hope this can

impact anyone struggling with self-worth to understand they are

braver than they know and to seek the support they need,” she added.Directed by Mark Pellington, the thriller

will also star ‘Straight Outta Compton’ Corey Hawkins and is currently in pro-duction.

Turner is set to play Jane, whose plane crashes on a remote snow-covered moun-tain. With Paul (Hawkins), the only other remaining survivor, the duo must fight for their life as they brave the wilderness and battle brutal conditions.

‘Survive’ is based on Alex Morel’s critical-ly acclaimed novel of the same name.

Jennifer Lawrence and Cooke Maroney spark marriage rumours

Los Angeles

Academy Award-win-ner Jennifer Law-rence a nd f i a nce

Cooke Maroney sparked marriage rumours after they were spotted at a marriage bureau in New York on Mon-day.

Lawrence was seen in grey blazer and jeans and clutch-ing a piece of paper while Maroney sported a white sweatshirt, reported Page Six.

One eye witness wrote in a now-deleted tweet, “When

you go get your m a r r i a g e l i -cense and Jen-

n i f e r L aw-rence walks by to tie the

k n o t b e -

fore your eyes. Yeah, kids, City Hall is COOL. The place to go!”

Lawrence and Maroney got engaged in February this year and the actress recently con-fessed that she had suffered a “bridezilla” moment.

The couple is due to throw a big wedding party next month and the actress re-vealed that she broke down in tears after none of her friends

could make it to a bach-e l o r e t t e party she h a d o r-ganised.

Thank you for being mine:

Priyanka to Nick JonasMumbai

Ac t r e s s P r i y a n -ka Chopra Jonas penned a love-

filled note to her husband Nick Jonas on his 27th birthday.

Sharing a video collage of herself with her husband on Instagram on Monday night, Priyanka wrote: “The light of my life. Everyday with you

is better than the last. You deserve all the happiness

in the world. Thank you for be-

i n g the

most generous loving man I have ever met. Thank you for being mine. Happy birthday Jaan. I love you Nick Jonas.”

The “Quantico” actress tied the knot with the American singer in two extravagant cer-emonies at the Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur in Decem-ber 2018.

She is gearing up for the release of Shonali Bose’s “The Sky Is Pink”, which also stars Farhan Akhtar and Zaira Wasim.

Hazel Keech and Ira

Brad Pitt

Vicky Kaushal

Priyanka and Nick Jonas

Ronaldo ‘embarrassed’ by rape allegationsAFP | London

Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo has admitted he felt “embarrassed” as

he tried to shield his family from allega-

tions he raped a woman in the

United States.Ronaldo w a s a c -

c u s e d of sex-u a l l y assault-

ing Kath-ryn Mayor-ga in a Las Vegas ho-tel in June 2009.

The Por-t u g a l f o r-ward, a five-time Cham-pions League

w i n n e r , strongly de-

nied the claims and the investi-gation was originally closed 10 years ago.

It reopened in August 2018, shortly before Mayorga filed a civil lawsuit in September and offered details she initially withheld.

Prosecutors announced in July this year that they would not be prosecuting the case be-cause the allegations could not “be proven beyond a reasonable doubt”.

The former Manchester Unit-ed great revealed the allegations had taken a mental toll on him as he sought to protect his chil-dren from the reports.

“They play with your dignity,” Ronaldo told ‘Good Morning Britain’ in an interview with Piers Morgan that was broad-casted yesterday.

“It’s hard. You have a family, you have kids. When they play with your honesty, it’s bad, it’s hard.

“I remember one day I was at

home in the living room with my girlfriend watching the tel-evision to see the news and they speak about ‘Cristiano Ronaldo this and that.’

“I listened to my kids coming down the stairs and I changed the channel because I was em-barrassed.

“I just changed the channel for Cristiano Jr not to see that they speak bad about his father about a very bad case.”

15

sports


Neymar’s European suspension reducedParis Saint-Germain will regain Neymar in the Champions League a match earlier than anticipated

• Suspension has been reduced from three to two games after CAS appeal

AFP | Paris

Neymar ’s Champions League ban for insult-ing match officials on

social media has been reduced from three games to two fol-lowing an appeal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled yesterday.

The world’s most expensive player following his move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Ger-main for 222 million euros in 2017 will miss the fixtures against Real Madrid on Wednes-

day and Galatasaray in two weeks’ time due to the original ban from UEFA.

However, he will now be free to face Belgian side Bruges on October 22.

“The Sole Arbitrator partially upheld the appeal and reduced the suspension imposed by UEFA on Neymar Jr. to two (2) UEFA competition matches for which he would otherwise be eligible,” CAS said in a statement.

The Brazilian criticised the referee and his assistants af-ter PSG’s last-16 collapse against Manchester United in March which he watched from the stands due to injury.

United were awarded a pen-alty deep into injury time af-ter a protracted VAR decision, which Marcus Rashford scored to knock the French side out

in the last 16 of the Champions League.

“It’s a disgrace. They get four

guys who don’t un-derstand football to watch a slow motion replay in front of the TV,” Neymar posted on his Instagram account after the 3-1 defeat.

Neymar scored an added time winner in his first PSG appearance of the season on Saturday as his overhead kick claimed all three points against Strasbourg.

He had not played for his club since May and had been left on the sidelines in their first four league games of the campaign because of the uncertainty surrounding his future after months of reports linking him with a move back to Barcelona or to Real.

The Parisians host the Spanish giants without their first-choice attacking trio of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani, the latter pair both suffering from injuries.

In their absence coach Thom-as Tuchel could turn to sum-mer signing Mauro Icardi or Cameroon forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting to lead the line at the Parc de Princes.

Neymar scored the winning goal in injury time on Satur-day as Paris Saint-Germain beat Strasbourg

Bahrain to host West Asia Paralympic GamesTDT | Manama

The Kingdom of Bah-rain will host the third

edition of the West Asia Paralympic Games 2021. The Executive Bureau of West Asia Paralympics Fed-eration held a meeting in Amman, Jordan, and ap-proved the organisation of the championship in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Chaired by Emirati Ab-dulrazzak Bani Rashid, the session was attended by West Asia Paralympics Federation vice chair-man Dr. Mansour Al-Tou-qi, Secretary-general Dr. Mesbah Jaffer Ibrahim and executive board mem-bers. Bahrain Sports Fed-eration for Disabilities technical director Sabah Al-Thawadi attended the meeting.

Bahrain Paralympic Com-mittee Secretary-General Ali Al-Majid commended the keenness of Bahrain Paralympic Committee Chairman Shaikh Moham-med bin Daij Al-Khalifa on hosting the third edition of West Asia Paralympic Games 2021.

KNOW WHAT

PSG and the Brazilian had appealed against the three-game ban

imposed by European governing body UEFA

in June, and CAS partially upheld the

appeal

Felix leading the charge for revenge against JuveAFP | Madrid

Young gun Joao Felix will lead the charge on

Wednesday as his Atletico Ma-drid seek revenge on Juventus and their old enemy Cristiano Ronaldo in a potentially fiery Champions League opener.

Felix, touted as the heir to Ronaldo’s throne, will make his debut in Europe’s top com-petition when the when the Portuguese pair meet at the Wanda Metropolitano, with the La Liga outfit keen to shoot down the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

Juventus dumped Atletico out of the competition last year as Ronaldo scored a sen-sational hat-trick that over-turned a 2-0 first-leg deficit and put the Italian champions in the quarter finals.

The former Real Madrid man rounded off the evening by celebrating provocatively in front of the away fans at Juve’s Allianz Stadium. Now Felix is charged with bringing the old master down a peg or two.

The 19-year-old has been hailed as the new ‘CR7’ af-ter his breakout season at Benfica last year, scoring 20 times as the two-time European cham-pions won the Primeira Liga and reached the Europa League quar-ter finals.

Ronaldo’s former manager at Madrid Jose Mourinho is convinced that Atlet-

ico bagged a “an incredible player” for a club record fee of 126 million euros ($142 mil-lion).

“I think he can cope. He seems to have a good person-ality,” said Mourinho.

“He’s in a good team, sur-rounded by experienced players, with a manager who knows what he wants. Proba-bly Atletico is a good place for his development.”

The noise surrounding Felix was amplified after a sublime pre-season that included a brace in a 2-1 win over Juve, but Felix has shied away from the comparisons.

A poor display in Saturday’s 2-0 La Liga loss at Real So-ciedad showed that. despite the obvious promise, it is still too early to speak of Fe-lix and Ronaldo in the same breath.

Felix was hauled off at half-time by Atleti boss Diego Sim-eone, who said after the defeat -- which cost his side their 100 percent start and top spot in the league -- that “we have

young players who have to weigh in more”.

Ro n a l d o, m e a n -while, is in a rich vein of form, with six goals

in five matches this sea-son for club and country,

as he hunts a sixth C h a m p i o n s

League title and aims to extend his record to-tal of 126 g o a l s i n t h e compe-tition.

They play with your dignity. It’s hard. You have a family,

you have kids. When they play

with your honesty, it’s bad, it’s hard

CRISTIANO RONALDO

PSG forwards Mbappe, Cavani ruled outReuters| Paris

Fo r w a r d s Ky l i a n Mbappe and Edin-

son Cavani have been ruled out for Paris St Germain’s opening Champions League group stage match against Real Ma-drid on Wednes-day, the French Ligue 1 champi-ons said.

Mbappe picked

up a hamstring injury and was forced off against Toulouse last month and has not featured since for PSG,

while Cavani is out of action

with a hip problem.

P S G c o n -f i r m e d on Mon-day that the two

strikers will resume training by the end of the week.

Thomas Tuchel’s side will also be without Neymar, with the Brazilian forward serv-ing a three-match Champions League ban for insulting match officials following PSG’s defeat by Manchester United in the round of 16 last season.

Mbappe, Neymar and Cavani netted 11 of PSG’s 20 goals in their Champions League cam-paign last season, and the trio will be crucial again in 2019-

20 as the club look to go deep in Eu-rope’s elite c o m p e t i -tion.

Neymar

Cristiano Ronaldo

Kylian Mbappe

Joao FelixEdinson Cavani

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