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UK diplomat’s murderer sentenced to deathBeirut

A criminal court in Lebanon yesterday sentenced an Uber driver to death in

connection with the killing of an employee of the British Embassy in Beirut nearly two years ago.

The driver, Tarek Houshi, was arrested two days after the body of the diplomat, Rebecca Dykes, 30, was found in December 2017, next to a highway on the outskirts

of the Lebanese capital.Ms. Dykes was believed to have

spent the night at a friend’s party in the Gemmayze District of Bei-rut and was last seen leaving a bar in the area.

The National News Agency of Lebanon reported at the time that Mr Houshi, then identified only as Tarek H., had a criminal record and had confessed to the killing of Ms. Dykes, but it was not immedi-ately clear on Friday what crime

he had been convicted of.The sentence can be appealed

and is likely to be commuted to life in prison. Lebanon has an un-official moratorium on the death penalty and has not carried out an execution since 2004, according to the rights group Human Rights Watch. Ms. Dykes had worked at the British Embassy with the De-partment for International Devel-opment. She was found strangled with a rope, and there were signs

she had been sexually assaulted.Uber has been under intense

scrutiny around the globe for its work culture and its poor over-sight of drivers.

In 2014, Uber and one of its competitors, Lyft, lobbied regu-lators in cities across the Unit-ed States to ease rules requiring the fingerprinting of drivers for background checks, a more thorough but time-consuming process.

02 Bolstering bilateral ties

03Life in prison verdict issued for Al Ashtar terror convicts

04Forum highlights private segment’s key role to achieve healthcare goals

8

Pakistan mourns victims of train fire 5WORLD

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Djokovic storms into semisNovak Djokovic produced a magnificent performance to thrash seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-1, 6-2 yesterday and set up a Paris Masters semi-final against Grigor Dimitrov. P12

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Tens of thousands of demonstrators have converged on the streets of Algiers as Algeria marked the 65th anniversary of its war of independence from France. Protesters are demanding a “new change” and oppose the government’s proposed election next month. Demonstrations in the capital on Friday were some of the largest since protests began in February.

Anti-poll protests US withholds $105m in security aid to Beirut

Washington, DC

The Trump administra-tion is withholding $105 million in security aid

for Lebanon, two days after Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s resignation.

The State Department told Congress that the White House budget office and National Se-curity Council had decided to withhold the foreign military assistance, officials told Reu-ters.

The US has given an average of $70m annual aid to the Leb-anese army and security forces, and is seeking to put pressure on the Lebanese leadership for a swift formation of a govern-ment that could enact tangible reforms.

“We will support Lebanon when it takes the decision to re-form. No one is going to bail out

Lebanon,” a US senior official told The National on Thursday.

The popular protests that have rocked Lebanon since Oc-tober 16, forcing the resignation of Mr Hariri on Tuesday, are a cause of hope and anxiety in the Trump administration.

A senior US official called the upheaval “remarkable” but voiced “a concern over stabili-ty” as protests, strikes and par-tial bank closures drag into a second week.

We will support Lebanon when it

takes the decision to reform. No one is going to bail out

Lebanon. US OFFICIAL

Biggest terror sponsor Iran spends $1 billion a year on global proxies: US report

• The report also showed global presence of Daesh continued to advance in 2018 through networks and affiliates.

• The Iranian regime funnels nearly a billion dollars a year to support its proxies in the region.

Washington, DC

Iran remained a top state sponsor of terrorism around the world in 2018, the State

Department said in its annual terrorism report on Friday.

A briefing by the department’s counter-terrorism spokesman Nathan Sales showed the regime funnels nearly a billion dollars a year to support its proxies in the region despite Washington

having significantly ramped up its sanctions against Tehran.

The report also showed glob-al presence of Daesh continued to advance in 2018 through net-works and affiliates, even though the Trump administration de-clared it defeated the jihadi group in Syria and killed its leader last

month in a US raid.Terrorism tactics and the use of

technologies have also evolved in 2018, while war-hardened fight-ers from groups such as Daesh returning to their home countries began raising fresh threats, the report said.

“Even as Daesh lost almost all

its physical territory, the group proved its ability to adapt, espe-cially through its efforts to inspire or direct followers online,” said Sales using an acronym for Daesh, the US counter-terrorism co-ordi-nator, whose office produced the congressionally mandated report.

“Additionally, battle-hardened terrorists headed home from the war zone in Syria and Iraq or traveled to third countries, posing new dangers,” he said. Daesh de-clared its so-called “caliphate” in 2014 after seizing large swathes

of Syria and Iraq. The hard-line group established its de facto cap-ital in the Syrian city of Raqqa, using it as a base to plot attacks in Europe.

In 2017, Daesh lost control of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syr-ia, and quickly thereafter almost all of its territory as a result of operations by US-backed forces. Its leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, was killed last month in Syria in a raid by US Special forces.

World leaders welcomed his death, but they and security ex-perts warned that the group, which carried out atrocities against religious minorities and horrified most Muslims, re-mained a security threat in Syria and beyond.

The group on Thursday con-firmed his death in an audio tape posted online and said a succes-sor, identified as Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Quraishi, had been appointed. It vowed revenge against the US.

Rebecca Dykes worked for the UK embassy in Lebanon.

Iran is accused of supporting major terror groups in the region including Houthis.

10suspected Islamic

Revolutionary Guard Corps – Quds Force

operatives were questioned by German investigators last year.

‘Victims all Vietnamese’ London

All 39 people found dead in a refrigerated lorry

in Essex were Vietnamese nationals, police have said.

The victims were found in a container on an industrial estate last week and were in-itially thought to be Chinese.

But Essex Police said it was now in “direct contact with a number of families in Vietnam and the UK” and the Vietnamese government.

A number of Vietnamese families have previously come forward fearing their loved ones are among the dead.

Post-mortem examina-tions are being carried out on the 31 men and eight wom-en to establish the cause of death.

Assistant Chief Constable Tim Smith said: “At this time, we believe the victims are Vietnamese nationals, and we are in contact with the Vietnamese Government.”

He said police were not in a position to identify any of the victims.

Iraqis defy protest curbsBaghdad

Iraqis have defied a crack-down to stage their big-

gest protests yet after the country’s leading Shiite cleric warned the govern-ment against the use of vi-olence to curb demonstra-tions.

The number of protest-ers on the streets of Bagh-dad and Iraq’s southern provinces more than dou-bled in the past 24 hours, security officials and eye-witnesses were quoted by Arab News.

02SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2019

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa received at Sakhir Palace, on Thursday, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Tomáš Petříček. He praised relations of friendship and cooperation between both countries and their perpetual growth in various fields.HM the King welcomed the Czech minister who conveyed to him the greetings of President Miloš Zeman and his best wishes of further progress and prosperity to Bahrain and its people. HM the King asked the Czech Foreign Minister to convey his greetings to President Miloš Zeman and his best wishes of more development and prosperity to the Czech people. He lauded growing bilateral relations, stressing the kingdom’s keenness to further enhance them for the best interest of both countries and peoples. He also pointed out religious freedom characterising the Bahraini community.

Deputy Premier, Jawad bin Salim Al Arrayed, yesterday received the Chairman of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), Sameer Abdulla Nass. The meeting discussed BCCI’s preparations to organise the 18th Arab Businessmen and Investors Conference, due to be patronised by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. The deputy premier lauded the important role played by BCCI in the kingdom’s development process, hailing its support for efforts and initiatives aimed at enhancing the trade and economic movement. He also praised BCCI’s endeavours to attract economic conferences and events to the kingdom, wishing the conference every success and BCCI continued progress.

Bolstering bilateral ties

Shaikh Khalid holds discussions with Thai Premier General Prayuth Chan-ocha

• The Foreign Minister affirmed keenness of the Kingdom of Bahrain to push forward bilateral relations and joint co-operation with the Kingdom of Thailand in several areas.

• General Prayuth Chan-ocha expressed the pride of the Kingdom in friendly and growing relations with the Kingdom, which are based on trust, respect and mutual appreciation

Bangkok

Minister of Foreign Af-fairs, Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mo-

hammed Al Khalifa, conveyed the greetings of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, His Royal Highness the Prime Min-ister, Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and His Royal High-ness the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khali-fa to the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, and their wishes to him and his people of

abundant health and success and the Kingdom of Thailand further progress and prosperity.

This came as General Prayuth Chan-ocha received the minis-ter in Bangkok.

General Prayuth Chan-ocha requested Shaikh Khalid Al Khalifa to convey his greetings to His Majesty the King, His Royal Highness the Prime Min-ister and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, alongside his wishes of further prosperity to the Kingdom of Bahrain.

General Prayuth Chan-ocha also expressed the pride of the Kingdom of Thailand in friend-ly and growing relations with the Kingdom of Bahrain which are based on trust, respect and mutual appreciation, welcoming

the Kingdom of Bahrain’s acces-sion to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.

For his part, the Foreign Min-ister affirmed keenness of the Kingdom of Bahrain to push for-ward bilateral relations and joint cooperation with the Kingdom of Thailand in several areas, and continue consultation and co-ordination on various issues in international forums.

He commended the Kingdom of Thailand for hosting the 35th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASE-AN) and wished the summit success in reaching results that contribute to strengthening the role of the association, achieving its goals and meeting the hopes and aspirations of its countries towards further progress and prosperity.

General Prayuth Chan-ocha receives Shaikh Khalid.

Water Garden project progress reviewed

Manama

Work on the second phase of the water garden project is on

track, reaching 47 per cent so far, it emerged.

This came as Works, Munici-palities Affairs and Urban Plan-ning Minister Essam Khalaf visited the site of the project and inspected progress of work on the project.

The minister was accompa-nied by National Initiative for Agricultural Development Sec-retary-General Shaikha Maram

bint Isa Al Khalifa, Undersecre-tary for Municipal Affairs Shai-kh Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Urban Development Director Rawya Al Mannai and other officials.

The minister said that work on the second phase of the wa-ter garden, which started early this year, is expected to be com-pleted during the first quarter of the year 2020.

He pointed out the water garden development project, one of the key infrastructure schemes, is being carried out in partnership with the Capital

Municipality.He paid tribute to Her Royal

Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Wife of His Majesty the King and Supreme Council for Women (SCW) for her keenness on reviving the iconic water garden.

National Initiative for Agri-cultural Development Secre-tary-General Shaikha Maram bint Isa Al Khalifa expressed delighted at the tangible pro-gress of work on the project, looking forward to the open-ing of the milestone in the first quarter of 2020.

Mr Khalaf being briefed on the project progress.

The Civil Defence Organisation held an awareness campaign for children to boost their knowledge of public safety. Children were given lessons on various aspects of public safety by the officials during the interactive sessions.


Life in prison verdict issued for Al Ashtar terror convicts

Five terrorists convicted of plotting to carry out attacks across the Kingdom

• Prosecutors said that the seven defendants later planned to bomb a petrol tank near security check-points to kill police officers.

• It’s reported that the defendants were caught in possession of machine guns, explosives and other weapons too.

TDT | Manama

The High Criminal Court has sentenced five men to life each behind bars

after convicting them of run-ning a terrorist group, name-ly Saraya Al Ashtar (Al Ashtar Brigades).

Two other men involved in the case received only seven years in prison each.

It’s said that the first defend-ant, a prominent leader in the terrorist group, recruited the fourth defendant in order to car-ry out terrorist attacks in the Kingdom.

Therefore, he paved the way for him to travel to Iraq to un-dergo military training at a camp belonging to Iraqi Hizbollah.

He was trained on how to use guns and explosives by the sev-enth defendant, according to Prosecutors.

The same goes to the fifth de-fendant who also visited Iraq for

the same purpose, they added. Prosecutors said that the sev-

en defendants later planned to bomb a petrol tank near secu-rity check-points to kill police officers.

However, their plot was foiled before seeing the light thanks to a precautionary operation and they were arrested.

It’s reported that the defend-ants were caught in possession of machine guns, explosives and other weapons too.

Two men accused of funding terrorism have been hit with three years behind bars as well as a fine of BD100,000 each.

According to Prosecutors, the pair were part of Al Ash-

tar Brigades terrorist group and they were providing financial support to help implement its terrorist plans in an effort to destabilise the Kingdom and target police officers.

It’s said that the first defend-ant assigned the second defend-ant to receive money via dif-ferent illegal channels and he funded terrorists to boost their activities, while some of the cash was given to families of the men convicted in security cases.

The defendants were held guilty based on the technical pieces of evidence submitted against them as well as their statements before the Public Prosecution.

The pair were part of Al Ashtar Brigades terrorist group and they were providing financial support to help implement its

terrorist plans.PROSECUTORS

Africans fined for defrauding telecom firm TDT | Manama

The Lower Criminal Court has fined six Af-

ricans BD60,000, BD10,000 each for defrauding a tel-ecommunication compa-ny, inflicting it with losses worth BD25,000.

It’s said that the defend-ants obtained prepaid SIM cards with electronic de-vices.

“And with the help of several computer pro-grammes, they contacted unknown people and they managed to pave the way for free international calls for more than seven hours in an effort to avoid the tariff,” the Prosecutors said.

The defendants have been accused of resorting to fraud with the help of unknown men to benefit from a service provided by a licensed company using a device called SIM boxing to avert paying it.

Bahraini tourists raise nation’s flag in Antarctica

TDT | Manama

In one of the rarest feats, two Bahraini tourists have made the Kingdom proud by trav-

elling to Antarctica and raising the Kingdom’s flag there.

In a unique initiative of its kind, Spring Travel and Tour-ism, as represented by their CEO, Mohamed Al Hamad, and, well-known social activist/film-mak-er, Omar Farooq, “tried out” a trip to the most mysterious areas of Antarctica with huge moun-tains and floating icebergs.

For his part, as the CEO of the Spring Travel and Tourism, Mo-hamed Al Hamad said: “We are proud to be the first travel and tourism company in the Arabian Gulf region to reach the Ant-arctic pole. The trip to the far south of the earth is bizarre and is an incredible and distinctive adventure.

“It requires a lot of prepara-tions especially with the cloth-ing and winter gears made spe-cially to keep warm with the extreme cold weather. Raising our Bahrain flag over the Ant-arctic land is a great whole new experience, as the southern tip of our planet is one of the most mysterious land masses.

“We are proud to be the first travel and tour company in the Kingdom of Bahrain to offer this wonderful trip of lifetime

to this region with a view to exploration and raise the name of the Kingdom of Bahrain high.

He added that the journey re-quires time and energy, as they set from the Kingdom to Tur-key, to take another flight to the Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital and then finally the flight to an-other city of Argentina, Ushuaia, which has been known as “The End of the World”, where our Antarctica expedition will em-bark.

A couple of days exploring the

beauty of Ushuaia then headed the South Pole and our journey takes approximately 10 days.

Spring Travel and Tourism Company provides different travel and tourism services with a different vision and includes more than 57 lead-ers and flights to more than 80 destinations globally have been able in a short time to change the concept of travel and tourism in the Kingdom by creating new destinations at competitive prices.

Mr Al Hamad and Mr Farooq hold the Bahraini flag in Antarctica.

UN to launch biggest-ever global conversation on the world’s futureTDT | Manama

On October 24, to mark UN Day, Secretary-General António Gu-terres announced that next year’s

commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations will feature a large and inclusive global conversation on the role of global co-operation in building the future we want, a statement issued by UN Information Centre in Bahrain, said.

Starting in January 2020, the United Nations will hold dialogues around the world and across borders, sectors and generations. The aim is to reach the

global public; to listen to their hopes and fears; and to learn from their expe-riences.

The United Nations was founded in 1945 to support collective action to re-alise peace, development and human rights for all. The UN75 initiative seeks to spark dialogue and action on how we can build a better world despite the many challenges we face.

While UN75 seeks to drive conver-sation in all segments of society - from classrooms to boardrooms, parliaments to village halls - it will place special em-phasis on youth and those whose voices

are too often marginalised or not heard in global affairs.

In a film released, the Secretary-Gen-eral appealed to people everywhere to add their voices to this campaign: “We need your opinions, your strategies, your ideas for us to be able to deliver better for the people of the world that we must serve.”

Through the upcoming dialogues, UN75 aims to build a global vision for the year 2045, the UN’s centenary; to increase understanding of the threats to that future; and to drive collective action to realise that vision.

Global opinion polling and media analysis will be conducted in parallel to provide statistically representative data.

The views and ideas that are generated will be presented to world leaders and senior UN officials at a high-profile event during the 75th Session of the General Assembly in September 2020, and dis-seminated online and through partners on an ongoing basis.

There are no limits or requirements for those who want to be a part of the conversation - physically or online. In-formation is available at www.un.org/UN75.

The United Nations was founded in 1945 to support collective action to realise peace, development and

human rights for all.

KNOW

DID

Envoy visits annual IACP in Chicago

Washington

The Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United States Shaikh

Abdullah bin Rashid bin Abdul-lah Al Khalifa visited the securi-ty exhibition accompanying the annual conference of the Inter-national Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP 2019), which was held in Chicago.

On the sidelines of the visit, the Ambassador held several bi-lateral meetings with heads of police and public security from different US states and cities to explore cooperation opportuni-ties within the framework of the existing security coordination and exchange of experiences be-tween the two countries.

As he toured the expo, the

envoy visited the platforms of a number of participating Amer-ican and international compa-nies and companies which were present to get acquainted with the state-of-the- art equipment, security technologies and inno-vative solutions on display to be able tackle emerging crimes and threats.

He also toured the Dubai Police Pavilion where he listened briefly to Major General Abdullah Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police on their initiatives and projects aimed at enhanc-ing security and upgrading the services provided to customers.

This visit comes within the framework of the Embassy’s keenness to be acquainted with the latest trends and develop-ments in the security industry

and to discuss opportunities for cooperation and joint work in the field of security and public safety.

The Ambassador of the King-dom of Bahrain to the United States Shaikh Abdullah bin Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa visited the security exhibition accompanying the annual con-ference of the International As-sociation of Chiefs of Police (IACP 2019), which was held in Chicago on 26-29 October.

On the sidelines of the visit, the Ambassador held several bi-lateral meetings with heads of police and public security from different US states and cities to explore cooperation opportuni-ties within the framework of the existing security coordination and exchange of experiences between the two countries.

Shaikh Abdullah tours the expo.


HRH Princess Sabeeka to patronise Anti-cancer Conference TDT | Manama

Under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint

Ibrahim Al Khalifa, wife of His Majesty the King of Bahrain, President of the Supreme Coun-cil for Women and Honorary President of the Bahrain Cancer Society, the Third Combined Gulf Cancer Conference will be held in the Kingdom from 7-9 December 2019.

Organised by the Bahrain Cancer Society (BCS) close to 50

local, regional and internation-al experts will deliver lectures during the conference, offer-ing delegates the opportunity to benefit from their vast ex-perience and expertise in the most up to date techniques and advances in the treatment of cancer - with parallel sessions dedicated to reconstructive sur-gery.

On this occasion the Presi-dent of BCS, Dr Abdul Rahman Ibrahim Fakhro, expressed his thanks and appreciation to Her Highness Princess Sabeeka bint

Ibrahim Al Khalifa, for her en-during and gracious support to

the conference and to BCS. Her dedication and commit-

ment to citizens and residents of Bahrain who are battling cancer is a beacon of hope for their future.

Dr Fakhro noted that BCS has partnered with The Gulf Fed-eration for Cancer Control, the Gulf Centre for Cancer Control and Prevention and the Bahrain Association of Plastic Surgery in organizing the conference in order to achieve compliance with internationally recognised treatment standards delivered

by hospitals and high-level ac-ademic institutions.

Dr Shahid Fadhul, Chairman of the Bahrain Association of Plastic Surgery, advised that the conference will cover the latest, state of the art surgical techniques in breast, head and neck reconstruction after tumor resection so that patients can move forward with confidence in their lives. The conference will be held in conjunction with the regular meeting of the Paris Breast Surgery Forum, spon-sored by the Gustave Rossy In-

stitute, one of the world’s larg-est cancer research institutes and the first European Cancer Center.

This prestigious conference will provide increased oppor-tunities and knowledge for doctors and health workers in various cancer control programs within the GCC, allowing them access to global expertise and providing them with the knowl-edge needed to develop and im-plement enhanced cancer treat-ments and policies within their own health sectors.

HRH Princess Sabeeka

Forum highlights private segment’s key role to achieve healthcare goals

Forum recommendations in line with Bahrain 2030 Vision

• The participants recommended supporting the governmental efforts in achieving the pharmaceutical security through encouraging the launch of pharmaceutical industries.

• The forum also met the expectations of the Economic Development Council, which focused on five sectors for the development of the national economy, experts noted.

TDT | Manama

The “Business Development and Investment in Health and Medical Industries -

BDFEX 2019” forum recommend-ed exploring and encouraging

more national health industries, including the pharmaceutical industry, equipment and med-ical supplies, to provide the re-quirements of health facilities such hospitals, centres, clinics and pharmacies in the Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.

The forum was held in Bahrain under the patronage of General Dr Shaikh Mohammed bin Ab-dullah Al Khalifa, President of the Supreme Council for Health, for two days and in strategic partner-ship with Tamkeen.

Participants stressed that the pharmaceutical and medical industries are among the most promising industrial fields in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, especially with the agreement of unified companies for medicines and medical sup-plies in the GCC, plus the support they provide for exporting med-icines to Gulf and international markets.

At the end of the forum, the participants recommended sup-porting the governmental efforts in achieving the pharmaceutical security through encouraging

the launch of pharmaceutical industries and medical supplies that meet the needs of the local market in Bahrain and Saudi Ara-bia, besides the reinforcement of economic growth in general.

The first Business Develop-ment Forum and Exhibition in the Health sector “BDFEX” was organised by the international consulting company of the King-dom “PROACT” and the “United Gulf Industrial Alliances” Com-pany of Saudi Arabia.

A group of speakers and many

local and foreign investors who are seeking investment oppor-tunities in the pharmaceutical industry and the medical supplies sector in Bahrain and Saudi Ara-bia participated in the Forum.

The executive chairman of “PROACT” Dr Khalid Bomtaia expressed his satisfaction with the success of the works of the “BDFEX” Forum that was held for the first time in Bahrain.

He also noted that the recom-mendations made by the partici-pants in the forum over two days

are in keeping with the goals of the Kingdom of Bahrain 2030 vision, especially in the direction of the orientation towards the knowledge economy and invest-ing Bahrain’s human and scientif-ic capabilities in developing the national economy and increasing the gross domestic product.

The forum also met the expec-tations of the Economic Devel-opment Council, which focused on five sectors for the develop-ment of the national economy, he pointed out.

On his part , Executive Vice-President of the United Gulf, Akl Al Hulil, said that the “BDFEX” Forum succeeded in devoting its position as the first event of this kind that deals with the phar-maceutical and health industries topic in all its legislative and in-vestment aspects.

He pointed out that the fo-rum also witnessed the signing of many related agreements be-tween companies, suppliers and Gulf, Arab and foreign investors, and confirmed the keenness of putting the recommendations of the meeting into application.

The forum succeeded in devoting its position as the first event of this kind that deals with the pharmaceutical and health industries topic in all its legislative and investment aspects.MR AL HULIL

BIDEC 2019 ‘a huge success’ Manama

Bahrain International Defence Exhibition and

Conference (BIDEC 2019) has been so successful that many participant said they were looking to taking part in BIDEC 2021.

The biennial event, the only tri-service defence ex-hibition in Bahrain, is seen as a unique opportunity to keep up-to-date with the latest in the local and re-gional defence industry de-velopments and procure-ment requirements.

It is also a highly valued platform to showcase the latest technological innova-tions to both procurement and operational decision makers.

“The exhibition was great and offered us ample op-portunities to interact with several parties,” Yoonhwan In, Sales Representative, Special Purpose Vehicle Biz, from South Korea, told Bahrain News Agency.

South Korea is among the new nations that joined a large number of countries participating in BIDEC.

“We now look forward to participating in the next BIDEC and capitalize on the opportunities that we have built during this year’s par-ticipation.”

Established in 1989, Jino Corporation is specialized in trading military and po-lice supplies.

Kenneth Longmuir, head of Global Marketing and Sales at Robus System, said that he too was looking for-ward to the next BIDEC, ex-plaining their experience in BIDEC 2019 was successful.

The company that devel-oped mobile re-deployable shelter showcased its ability to deploy a massive all-pur-pose tent in the harshest of climates, with a minimum man-power.

Envoy participates in Japan Self-Defence Forces Day celebrationsTokyo

The Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to Japan, Ahmed Moham-

med Al Dosary, participated in the annual celebration of the Japan Self-Defence Forces Day at the invitation of the Minis-ter of Defence of Japan, Taro Kono, and in the presence of the Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Shinzo Abe, a number of

ministers and senior Japanese government officials, diplomat-ic missions accredited to Japan and foreign military attachés in Japan.

During the ceremony, Shin-zo Abe delivered a speech in which he thanked the heads of diplomatic missions for their continued support and their governments’ support for the Japan Self-Defence Forces, not-ing the prominent role they play

in United Nations peacekeeping operations, which contributes to the establishment of peace

and security in various regions of the world.

He stated that more than 60,000 members of the Japan Self-Defence Forces have par-ticipated in these operations since 1992, in addition to the Self-Defence Forces’ protec-tion of more than 4,000 ships from piracy, praising their ef-forts during the natural disas-ters that have hit the country in the past months, especially

Hurricane Hagibis, where the Self-Defence Forces played a prominent role in saving the lives of citizens and residents.

Ambassador Ahmed Al Dos-ary congratulated the Japanese Minister of Defence on the occa-sion, appreciating the strength of the relations between the two countries and the role played by Japan in maintaining peace, wishing Japan further progress and prosperity.

Mr Al Dosary with Mr Kono.

2,000 publishers taking part in ‘greatest book fair’ Sharjah

His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme

Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, inaugurated the 38th Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF).

Sharjah Ruler explained that winning a prestigious cultural title like World Book Capital, whose extensive selection crite-ria is defined by UNESCO and top international entities, requires

years’ worth of extensive efforts and strategic planning, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.

Dr Al Qasimi highlighted the importance of SIBF as platform for the convergence of ideas, lan-guages, stories, experiences and cultures from around the world.

“I stand here today, amid 2,000 publishers from 81 countries, 173 authors, 90 cultural personalities and a packed 11-day agenda of 900-plus activities, which have brought arts and culture from across the globe under one roof,”

Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Ameri, Chairman, Sharjah Book Author-ity, said.

“This is what Sharjah is of-fering. This is what we are safe-guarding for our future and yours; for your children and for humanity,” he said.

HH Shaikh Sultan honoured Lebanese author and critic Dr Yumna Al Eid , also known as Hikmat Sabbagh, as the Cultural Personality of the Year, in recog-nition of the significant role she has played to promote the Arab

literary scene through her con-tributions as an award-winning author and critic, for over four decades.

Abdullah Al Nuaimi was awarded Best Emirati Book (Novel) for Zubaida’s Apartment, while Palestinian Abdullah Sal-eem Amarah, Latifa Ali Obaid and Afraa Rachid Al Basti from the UAE won the Best Emirati Book in the field of Studies for A Brief of UAE’s cultural and Political History (From Stone Age to 1971).The forum is expected to attract record visitors.


We actually worked with the

Ventura county fire department in May and they bring out

hundreds of goats to our property

MELISSA GILLER, A SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE LIBRARY TOLD ABC.

Goats save the Ronald Reagan library from wildfiresThe Guardian

Diligent work by a team of 500 goats has helped save

the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library from wildfires that are ravaging parts of California.

The library deployed the goat squadron during the spring in or-der to munch their way through around 13 acres of scrubland around the library that could’ve provided tinder-like fuel to a wildfire.

This preventive action created a fire break between the library and the Easy fire, which has menaced thousands of homes in the Simi Valley near Los Ange-les. More than 1,000 firefighters are tackling the blaze, which caused flames to approach the presidential library from a near-by hillside. Treasures saved in-clude a piece of the Berlin Wall and Air Force One.

“We actually worked with the Ventura county fire department in May and they bring out hun-dreds of goats to our property,”

Melissa Giller, a spokeswoman for the library, told ABC. “The goats eat all of the brush around the entire property, creating a

fire perimeter.”The goats were sourced from

a firm called 805 Goats, which oversees an army of horned con-

tractors, including Vincent van Goat, Selena Goatmez, Goatzart and, more prosaically, Oreo. The company charges fire-threat-ened clients about $1,000 per acre of goat-cleared land. It

plans to expand its herd to cope with a growing wildfire threat in California, fueled by the climate crisis.

Goats are growing in popular-ity as a tool to combat wildfires across the western US, as they are viewed as cheaper and more environmentally friendly than teams of human workers using chemicals. They are also used for general weed clearance in other parts of the country, such as in New York City’s Prospect Park.

A heavy dependence upon goats does carry risks, however, as residents of West Boise, Ida-ho, found out to their cost last year when a herd of more than 100 goats rampaged through the neighborhood. The invad-ers caused carnage in flower-beds and lawns before breaking a fence and it took two hours for the goats to be rounded up.

The library deployed the goat squadron during the spring in order to munch their way through around 13 acres of scrubland

People gather near burned-out rail cars Oct. 31, 2019, after a passenger train caught fire in Punjab province. (Courtesy of the Washington post/Punjab Emergency Service Rescue)

Dozens were hurt in the inferno, with many others suffering injuries as they jumped from the train to escape the flames

Family of victims struggle to identify loved ones

Reuters | Lahore, Pakistan

Relatives of victims of a Pakistani train fire that killed 74 people struggled yesterday to identify their loved ones, with

dozens of people burned beyond recognition and needing DNA testing to determine who they are, an official said.

Jameel Ahmad, a senior official in Rahim Yar Khan district in Punjab province, where the blazing train came to a stop, said 57 of the victims were very badly burned.

“Relatives of several people came to identify them but failed,” Ahmad told Reuters. “Now the government is collecting DNA samples.”

The train was on its way to the city of Rawalpindi, near the capital, from the southern city of Karachi, with many passengers traveling to a religious gathering.

People sneaking stoves onto trains to cook on long journeys is a common problem in Pakistan, despite rules against it, offi-cials say.

An investigator said that according to survivors, people in the compartment where the fire broke out had used gas cookers at least three times. Pakistan Railways showed pictures of a blackened, cracked gas canister recovered from the wreckage.

Pakistan mourns victims of train fireMirpurkhas | Pakistan

Distraught relatives gath-ered yesterday for the first funerals of some

of the 74 people killed when fire ripped through a crowded train in Pakistan, with many of the victims residents of a single town.

Sobbing family crowded an official building in Mirpurkhas overnight as the first bodies cov-ered in white cloth began arriv-ing by ambulance from the scene of the disaster.

After morning prayers, with women watching from nearby rooftops, more than a hundred men attended the first funeral -- of a car mechanic named Mo-hammad Saleem, who was in his late 40s.

It was held at the Bismillah Mosque, from which at least 42 pilgrims had left to board the train one day earlier bound for a religious festival near Lahore.

Officials say as some of the train’s passengers cooked break-fast around dawn Thursday, two of their gas cylinders exploded, sending flames racing through three carriages as the train passed near Rahim Yar Khan, in Punjab province.

At least 74 people died, some after jumping through win-dows on the still-moving train to escape the blaze. Local media reported that rescue officials found bodies and some injured people along a two-kilometre stretch of track.

Dozens more were wounded and rushed to nearby hospitals.

One of the carriages -- Wagon No.12 -- was carrying mainly people from Mirpurkhas, the town’s deputy commissioner, Attaullah Shah, said.

“There was never such a tragic incident to happen to Mirpur-khas,” he said.

Eight of the bodies had been confirmed as being residents of the town so far, he said.

Twenty-four Mirpurkhas res-

idents were among the injured.But at least another 40 are still

missing, he said.Officials in Rahim Yar Khan

have said many of the bodies are charred beyond recognition and will have to be identified

through DNA testing -- a process that could take up to one month.

Shah said the government was arranging to send families of the missing from Mirpurkhas to the hospital in Rahim Yar Khan

where the bodies have been tak-en.

‘Mistake’ Mirpurkhas, a town of some

half a million people surrounded

by farms and mango orchards, was largely shut down Friday as businesses closed in mourning.

“These were such people that we can not ever forget them,” Mohammad Anwar, the 57-year-old headmaster of a government school, said at the Bismillah Mosque.

He said that among the miss-ing was his nephew, as well as the mosque’s imam. Most of those who left from the mosque had known one another or lived nearby.

Yawar Hussain came to the deputy commissioner’s office overnight in hopes of finding his brother Mohsin, 20.

Clutching a photograph of his brother wearing a starched beige shalwar kameez and sunglasses, the 23-year-old described rush-ing home after hearing of the accident.

“I consoled my father, and my mother and sisters were crying,” he said.

Gas cylinders are supposedly banned on trains. Pakistan’s rail-ways minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said Thursday that it had been a “mistake” to allow the cylinders on board, and Prime Minister Imran Khan has or-dered an inquiry.

The train was the Tezgam, a daily express service that runs back and forth between the southern port city of Karachi and Rawalpindi, adjacent to Is-lamabad.

But it was being diverted Thursday to carry pilgrims to the annual Tablighi Ijtema, one of Pakistan’s biggest religious gatherings, which sees up to 400,000 people descend on a tented village outside Lahore for several days to sleep, pray and eat together.

Mourners carry the coffin of a train fire victim during a funeral in Mirpurkhas

Courtesy of the Dawn

The fire appeared to have burned the interior of the carriages entirely

06 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2019

society

Secretary-General of the Shura Council, Chancellor Osama Ahmed Al-Asfoor, received in his office at the Shura Council, Dr Jassim Haji who has presented him with latest book ‘Artificial Intelligence..future of humanity’. Dr Haji delivered a vote of thanks for the Secretary-General and Shura’s support towards development of Artificial Intelligence development in the kingdom.

Providing more infrastructural facilities for the growth of sports activities, the Indian School’s renovated Jashanmal auditorium and the International Badminton courts were inaugurated on Wednesday. Bahrain Badminton and Squash Federation (BBSF) Secretary General Hesham Alabbasi inaugurated the Badminton Courts in the presence of ISB Chairman Prince S Natarajan, Secretary Saji Antony, EC Members Rajesh MN, Ajayakrishnan V, Mohammad Khursheed Alam, Adv Binu Mannil Varughese, Saji George, Deepak Gopalakrishnan, Mohammed Nayaz Ullah, Principal VR Palaniswamy, Santy Excavations and Construction Company Managing Director R Ramesh, social workers Mohamed Malim, S Inayadullah, Vice-Principals and Physical Education teachers.

The Palakkad District Committee of Bahrain Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre has selected its new office bearers for 2019-2021. Rafeeq Thottakara was elected President while Firoz Babu Pattambi became the new General Secretary. Nizamuddin Marayamangalam is the new treasurer and Haris VV Thrithala was elected the Organising Secretary. The newly-elected Vice-Presidents are KP Sharafuddin Marayamangalam, Muhammadali CP Pottachira, Yusuf Mundoor and Shafeeq Kumaranellur. Mazil Pattambi, Ashique Mezhathoor, Anwar Kumbidi and Noushad Pudunagaram are the new Secretaries.

As part of the activities of the US Embassy’s Discover America Week 2019 in Bahrain, the US Embassy and AECOM organised a site visit headed by US Ambassador Justin Siberell to the Diyar Al Muharraq project, where leading US companies AECOM, Great Lakes and Parsons are working on the development. AECOM Country Manager Clarke Morton-Shepherd, Great Lakes Manager Garrett Gibson and Parsons Area Manager Hussam Awad toured the project with the Ambassador and briefed him on the progress. Ambassador Siberell underlined the long history of America’s commercial relationship with Bahrain.

07

society

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2019

New Millennium School –The culture of ‘Love and Give’ echoes within the heart of each and every member of NMS DPS. Every year true to its belief and traditions, the students are being encouraged to collect funds through various school activities and donate the same to charity organisations across the Kingdom. The students undertook a charity drive by donating an amount of BD 300 to Bahrain Parents Care Society. This is an organisation which provides social, health, psychological, living and recreational care services for elderly people who do not have supporters. The fund was raised through NMMUN (New Millennium Model United Nations Conference, 2019).

Students and the teaching faculty of Quality Education School organised ‘Giving is Living’, a think pink initiative in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The 4-day event was supported by members of the Student Council as well as parents who assisted in a smooth sale of edibles, such as cookies, cakes, sandwiches, sweets, as well as various creative activities and competitions. The event was attended by Ms. Ghalya M. Alfadhul, a cancer survivor, Ms. Roji George from Aster Clinics, Mr. Peter Carlow, a U.K based educationalist, as well as Ms. Amal Alderazi from Quality House Consultancy. Students from Kindergarten sections, along with Principal, Dr. Ravi Warrier and Chief Guest of Honour Mr. Kunal Kewalram, handed the collections to Ms. Selia Nicolaou; a volunteer at Bahrain Cancer Society.



Rotary Club of Sulmaniya held it’s regular lunch meeting on Wednesday 30th October 2019 at the Golden Tulip Hotel. Guest speaker was Dr Farid Al Mulla CEO of Oasis Capital who spoke about “Investment in the age of Uncertainty”.

07

society


New Millennium School –The culture of ‘Love and Give’ echoes within the heart of each and every member of NMS DPS. Every year true to its belief and traditions, the students are being encouraged to collect funds through various school activities and donate the same to charity organisations across the Kingdom. The students undertook a charity drive by donating an amount of BD 300 to Bahrain Parents Care Society. This is an organisation which provides social, health, psychological, living and recreational care services for elderly people who do not have supporters. The fund was raised through NMMUN (New Millennium Model United Nations Conference, 2019).

Students and the teaching faculty of Quality Education School organised ‘Giving is Living’, a think pink initiative in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The 4-day event was supported by members of the Student Council as well as parents who assisted in a smooth sale of edibles, such as cookies, cakes, sandwiches, sweets, as well as various creative activities and competitions. The event was attended by Ms. Ghalya M. Alfadhul, a cancer survivor, Ms. Roji George from Aster Clinics, Mr. Peter Carlow, a U.K based educationalist, as well as Ms. Amal Alderazi from Quality House Consultancy. Students from Kindergarten sections, along with Principal, Dr. Ravi Warrier and Chief Guest of Honour Mr. Kunal Kewalram, handed the collections to Ms. Selia Nicolaou; a volunteer at Bahrain Cancer Society.



Rotary Club of Sulmaniya held it’s regular lunch meeting on Wednesday 30th October 2019 at the Golden Tulip Hotel. Guest speaker was Dr Farid Al Mulla CEO of Oasis Capital who spoke about “Investment in the age of Uncertainty”.

08

business


Phase one trade deal with China is in good shape: US

Reuters | Washington

The initial “phase one” trade pact with China

appears to be in good shape and is likely to be signed around mid-November, al-though a finite date is still in question, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Friday.

“We’re pretty comfort-able that the phase one is in good shape,” he told Fox Business Network in an in-terview.

US President Donald Trump and other adminis-tration officials had looked toward the Nov. 11-17 Asia Pacific Economic Cooper-ation summit as a possible venue to sign the deal with Chinese President Xi Jin-ping before Chile this week canceled its plan to host the international summit.

“Hopefully we can res-urrect a date right in that range,” Ross told the tele-vision network, adding that the question of a new loca-tion remained.

Lead trade negotiators from both the United States and Chine are expected to speak by telephone on Fri-day as Ross prepared sepa-rately to travel to Asia for a three-day summit in Thai-land.

AppleTV+ debuts streaming TV service with Oprah and Aniston• All of the programming is original because, unlike Netflix Inc and the forthcoming Disney+ from Walt Disney Co , Apple does not have rights to a back catalog of TV shows and movies

Reuters | Los Angeles

Apple TV+, the iPhone mak-er’s entry into the crowded

streaming TV market, debuts on Friday as the first “all-origi-nal” subscription video service, according to Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook.

All of the programming is original because, unlike Netflix Inc and the forthcoming Dis-ney+ from Walt Disney Co , Ap-ple does not have rights to a back catalog of TV shows and movies.

That makes Apple’s offering relatively slim compared to other online video services. It is also cheaper than compet-itors at $4.99 per month. And anyone who has purchased an iPhone, iPad, Apple TV device, iPod touch or Mac after Sept. 10

can get a free subscription for one year.

Cook, in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, said he welcomes the wide range of competition in streaming vid-eo because he believes it will encourage more people to drop cable television and seek digital entertainment options.

“That really advantages not

only Apple, but everyone in the streaming field,” Cook said.

Launching in more than 100 countries and territories, Ap-ple TV+ will debut with four TV series for adults, an episode of “Oprah’s Book Club,” a nature documentary, and three chil-dren’s series. Additional pro-gramming will be added each month.

Here is what to expect on day one.

“The Morning Show”One of Apple’s most heavi-

ly promoted programmes, the drama series stars Jennif-er Aniston in her first TV role since “Friends,” alongside Re-ese Witherspoon and Steve Carell. The series, set behind the scenes of a morning news show, explores power dynamics between men and women in the workplace, ethics in the news business and ageism.

Reaction from TV critics has been mixed, with a 59 percent positive rating as of Thursday on the Rotten Tomatoes website, which aggregates reviews.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Daniel Fienberg said the show started with “a brutally dull pilot and a meandering second epi-sode” before picking up steam in later episodes.

Judy Berman of Time maga-zine called the series “a sophis-ticated drama with A-list stars that capitalizes on hot topics and hot gossip.”

The first three episodes of a planned 10-episode season de-but on Friday. A new episode will be released each Friday thereafter.

“For All Mankind”

This 10-episode science-fic-tion drama series imagines a world where the Soviet Union wins the space race.

That sets the stage for an al-ternate history with sweeping ripple effects on everything from women’s rights and the environment to the Vietnam War.

Among reviews collected on the Rotten Tomatoes website, 73 percent were positive as of Thursday.

“The sprawling, yet pre-cisely calibrated alt histo-ry is Tim Cook and Apple’s first total touchdown,” wrote Dominic Patten of Deadline Hollywood.

As with “The Morning Show,” the first three episodes debut on Friday, and a new episode will be released each Friday thereafter.

“Dickinson”Set in the 19th Century, the

series is a half-hour dark com-edy that reimagines poet Emi-ly Dickinson, played by Hailee Steinfeld, as a rebellious teen-ager.

It had a 76 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of Thursday. All 10 episodes launch on Friday.

“See”

Starring “Aquaman” and “Game of Thrones” actor Jason Momoa, the epic drama takes place 600 years in the future after a virus has decimated most of humankind. Those who have survived are blind and must adapt while fighting to protect themselves from a powerful queen. Alfre Woodard co-stars.

“See” scored the lowest among TV critics, earning a 43 percent positive rating on Rotten To-matoes.

“Although the show creates a ruthless world - the action is brutal and visceral, and the sto-ry advances quickly - it’s not inventive enough to overcome the stilted dialogue and stock characters,” wrote Brian Lowry of CNN.com.

The first three of eight epi-sodes debut on Friday, and a new one will be released every Friday thereafter.

“Oprah’s Book Club”In the first episode, Oprah

Winfrey discusses the novel “The Water Dancer” with author Ta-Nehisi Coates. The book tells the story of a young man who was born into slavery and later joins the abolitionist movement and the underground railroad.

Reese Witherspoon (R) and Jennifer Aniston arrive to the global premiere for Apple’s “The Morning Show” at the Lincoln Center in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S

Germany, India to deepen bilateral ties• Sign wide-ranging agreements

• Agreed to join hands in the area of education

Reuters | New Delhi

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

signed wide-ranging agree-ments in New Delhi yesterday to deepen strategic cooperation and exchanged notes on ways to boost bilateral trade.

Merkel, accompanied by sev-eral cabinet colleagues and a business delegation, is in India on a three-day visit that began on Thursday.

“We’re encouraging our pri-vate sectors to give an impetus to our growing bilateral trade and Chancellor Merkel and I will meet some of the top busi-

ness and industry leaders,” Modi told a joint news conference with the German leader.

“We’re encouraging our pri-vate sectors to give an impetus to our growing bilateral trade

and Chancellor Merkel and I will meet some of the top busi-ness and industry leaders,” Modi said.

Bilateral trade between the two countries rose to $24.06

billion (18.5 billion pounds) in the 2018/19 fiscal year ending in March from $22 billion the previous year, while German companies have invested nearly $12 billion in India since 2000.

Germany is India’s largest trading partner in Europe and more than 1,700 German com-panies are operating in India.

The agreements struck on strategic cooperation, included agriculture, cyber security and artificial intelligence. Modi said the two countries would also bolster ties to combat “terrorism and extremism”.

Germany and India also agreed to join hands in the area of education.

“As many as 20,000 Indian na-tionals are studying in Germany and we would like to see more,” Merkel said.

Although Merkel and Modi didn’t mention anything about restarting talks on finalising a free trade agreement between India and the European Union,

sources earlier said the two leaders could take up the trade deal.

Eric Schweitzer, president of the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), earlier said India had enormous potential but there has been uncertainty among companies after an in-vestment protection agreement between the two countries end-ed in 2016.

“Small and medium-sized German companies stand in a labyrinth of regulations and shy away from larger investment. Negotiations should restart and Merkel’s visit could help,” he said.

VDA, Germany’s car industry association that counts auto-makers like Volkswagen, Daim-ler, BMW and Audi as members, also wanted India to restart the FTA talks.

Daimler’s Mercedes-Bez, BMW and Audi dominate India’s luxury car market.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrive ahead of their meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, India

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross

Trump to move permanent residence to FloridaWashington

US President Donald Trump announced Thursday that

he will change his permanent residence from New York to Palm Beach, Florida, claiming he had been “treated very badly” in his native city.

“My family and I will be mak-ing Palm Beach, Florida, our Permanent Residence,” the pres-ident tweeted.

“I cherish New York, and the people of New York, and

always will, but unfortunate-ly, despite the fact that I pay millions of dollars in city, state and local taxes each year, I have been treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state,” he wrote, add-ing that “few have been treated worse.”

According to a report from The New York Times, Trump -- who is a native New Yorker -- and his wife Melania filed indi-vidual declarations of domicile in September changing their

primary residence from Man-hattan to Palm Beach.

The New York Times also wrote that White House offi-cials declined to say why Trump changed his primary residence but cited a source close to the president as saying it was pri-marily for tax purposes.

Other than the White House, the Trumps’ main residence will now be their Mar-a-Lago re-sort, where Trump has spent 99 days since becoming president -- compared to just 20 at his

previous primary residence in Trump Tower, according to the Times.

“I hated having to make this decision, but in the end it will be best for all concerned,” Trump tweeted.

New York “will always have a special place in my heart!”

But New York has not always loved Trump back: Demonstra-tions outside Trump Tower are common, and Trump has butted heads with the city and state multiple times.Donald Trump


You will appreciate that four successive

events have not happened ever before

and therefore, we call for urgent and

effective action. We regret the

inconvenience but we need desperate

measures to put things in order

DGCA

No one party owns the Brexit vote, that

even includes the Brexit Party

BREXIT PARTY LEADER NIGEL FARAGE

Google to buy wearables maker Fitbit for $2.1 bln

Washington

Google has agreed to buy Fitbit for $2.1 billion in a

move giving the US tech gi-ant an entry into the weara-ble technology space, the two companies announced yester-day.

The move comes with Goog-le seeking to expand beyond its core business of online search into hardware, and with Fitbit struggling against rivals in-cluding Apple.

“We have built a trusted brand that supports more than 28 million active users around the globe who rely on our products to live a health-ier, more active life,” Fitbit co-founder and chief executive James Park said in a statement by the two firms announcing the deal.

“Google is an ideal partner to advance our mission. Fit-bit will be able to accelerate innovation in the wearables category, scale faster, and make health even more accessible to everyone. I could not be more excited for what lies ahead.”

Rick Osterloh, Google sen-ior vice president for devic-es and services, said the deal for the wearable tech pioneer is one “bringing together the best hardware, software and AI, to build wearables to help even more people around the world.”

While Fitbit was among the first to popularize fitness bands, it has lost ground in recent years to rivals.

A survey by research firm IDC for the second quarter of 2019 found Fitbit in fourth place in a market led by China’s Xiaomi leading the global mar-ket, followed by Apple -- which makes the leading smartwarch -- and Chinese-based Huawei.

Fitbit has introduced its own smartwatch in 2017 but it has failed to keep pace with the Apple Watch.

Google, which faces pres-sure from regulators around the world over its dominance of internet search, has been boosting its hardware offer-ings, including a line of Pixel smartphones and tablets, along with connected speakers.

FitBit co-founder and CEO James Park, seen at a presentation at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show, said Google is an ideal partner to advance the mission of the wearable tech maker

India orders IndiGo to replace all Pratt engines on A320neos• IndiGo is Airbus’ biggest client for A320neo planes

• Pratt & Whitney engines had issues since they entered into service in 2016

Reuters | New Delhi

IndiGo must replace all Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines on its fleet of 97 twin-en-

gined Airbus A320neo family aircraft with new P&W power units, India’s air safety watch-dog said yesterday following re-cent inflight engine shutdowns.

The incidents have caused “serious concern” and the de-cision to order the engines be replaced was taken after “con-siderable deliberations,” the Di-rectorate General of Civil Avia-tion (DGCA) said in a statement.

“You will appreciate that four successive events have not hap-pened ever before and therefore, we call for urgent and effective action. We regret the inconven-ience but we need desperate measures to put things in order,” the DGCA said.

“This situation cannot be al-lowed to go on indefinitely,” it said, adding that the engines would need to be replaced by Jan. 31, 2020.

IndiGo is Airbus’ biggest cli-ent for A320neo planes.

While the United Technolo-gies’ Pratt & Whitney engines are fuel efficient there have

been issues since they entered into service in 2016, forcing the airline to ground its planes sev-eral times.

The groundings have cost In-diGo, which last month posted its biggest-ever quarterly loss after being forced to lease air-craft to replace planes grounded with engine issues.

On Monday the DGCA or-dered IndiGo and domestic ri-val GoAir to modify 29 Airbus A320neo aircraft fitted with Pratt & Whitney engines with-in 15 days to avoid them being grounded.

The DGCA said that planes fitted with Pratt & Whitney 1100 series engines that have clocked more than 2,900 hours must have at least one modified en-gine, impacting 16 of IndiGo’s planes.

In its statement on Friday, the DGCA said 7 more of IndiGo’s planes have been found to have the same issue taking the total to 23. It has asked the airline to replace at least one engine on these 23 planes by Nov. 19.

It would then need to replace both engines on its entire fleet of A320neo and A321neo planes by Jan. 31, 2020.

DGCA chief Arun Kumar, who was recently appointed to the position, is making the right decisions relating to safety, said Kapil Kaul at consultancy CAPA.

“This gives time for these en-gine changes to be completed and yet remains firm on safety,” said Kaul, adding that Pratt & Whitney would need to ensure that all engines are replaced by the deadline.

Indigo would need to replace both engines on its entire fleet of A320neo and A321neo planes by Jan. 31, 2020.

Drop Brexit deal or we contest every seatReuters | London

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage told Prime Minis-

ter Boris Johnson on Friday that he must drop the Brexit deal he struck with the EU and agree to a leave alliance for the Dec. 12 election or face a fight over every seat in Britain.

Farage, who as UKIP leader pushed then-Prime Minister David Cameron to call the Brexit referendum and then helped lead the campaign to leave the EU, said on Friday Johnson had until Nov. 14 to agree to his demands.

If the government doesn’t agree “then the Brexit Party will be the only party standing in these elections that actually represents Brexit,” Farage told reporters in London.

“We will contest every seat in England, Scotland and Wales. Don’t doubt that we are ready.”

He added: “I will say this to Boris Johnson: drop the deal, drop the deal because it is not Brexit, drop the deal because as weeks go by and people dis-cover what it is you will have signed up, they will not like it.”

Farage said an alliance could usher in a majority for Brex-it-supporting parties.

“No one party owns the Brexit vote, that even includes the Brexit Party,” he said. “This is something that crosses all traditional loyalties and di-

vides and it’s why the only way to get Brexit done is to form a ‘Leave’ alliance and to win this election with a big stonking majority.”

Both Johnson’s Conserva-tives and the opposition La-bour Party will have to fight on at least three fronts: against each other while the Brexit Party seeks to poach Brexit voters and the Liberal Demo-crats seeks to win over oppo-nents of Brexit.

North Korea says it conducted successful test of multiple rocket launchers

Reuters | Seoul

North Korean state news agency KCNA said yes-

terday another test of su-per-large multiple rocket launchers a day earlier had been a success, but the test drew protests from neigh-boring Japan and South Korea.

KCNA said the latest test of the “super-large multiple rocket launchers”, follow-ing two tests of the same weapon in August and Sep-tember overseen by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, indicated the progress of Pyongyang’s weapons de-velopment while talks with the United States remain in limbo.

Thursday’s test verified that the “continuous fire system” of the multiple rocket launchers was able to “totally destroy” a group target of the enemy by a sur-prise strike, KCNA said.

People watch a TV broadcast showing a file footage for a news report on North Korea firing two projectiles

US adds surprisingly strong 128,000 jobs in October amid GM strikeWashington

The US labor market took a hit in October from an ex-

tended strike at General Motors but the economy kept adding jobs at a solid pace, the govern-ment reported Friday.

The steady hiring showed demand for workers remained resilient despite President Don-ald Trump’s protracted trade war with China, which has chilled investment and slowed the economy.

Employers added 128,000 net new jobs, the Labor Depart-ment reported in the closely watched monthly employment report, defying many econo-mists who expected a sharper slowdown.

Gains in the prior months were revised upward sharply and wages continued to climb, making the jobs picture even rosier.

Meanwhile, the jobless rate rose a notch to a still-low 3.6 percent, as expected. The 3.5 percent unemployment rate in September was the lowest since 1969.

While the GM strike weighed on jobs, the increase in the unemployment rate reflect-ed growth in the labor force as 325,000 people came off the sidelines to look for work.

Nearly 50,000 GM workers were called back to work this week following a 40-day strike, but not before the stoppage put

a deep dent in October’s auto industry employment levels.

The ranks of auto workers shrank by more than 41,000, according to the report -- the biggest drop in that sector since October 2009, when the Ameri-can auto giant was on the brink of collapse.

Without the impact of the GM strike, employment in the US manufacturing sector would have risen in October and over-all payrolls would have risen by around 170,000 net new posi-tions, matching the average of the prior six months.

The news sent Wall Street higher while Trump hailed the news on Twitter, calling it a

“blowout” number.“This is far greater than ex-

pectations. USA ROCKS!” he wrote, claiming that, adjusted for the prior months’ revisions and the GM strike, October’s re-port showed a total of 303,000 new jobs.

In fact, even with August and September revised upward by 95,000 and the auto-sector’s losses discounted, the net in-crease is 264,000.

Hiring was also strong in other sectors, averting the dire outcomes some economists had predicted, as bars, restaurants and financial services compa-nies continued to snap up new workers.

But for a six-week strike at GM, US manufacturing employment would have expanded in October 2019

10 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2019

Salman Khan starts shooting for ‘Radhe’Mumbai

Su p e r -star Sal-

man Khan has started shoot-ing for his up-coming release, “Radhe”, directed by Prabhudheva.

Salman on Friday took to Twitter and shared a pho-tograph of himself with Prabhudheva, Disha Patani, Jackie Shroff, Sohail Khan, Randeep Hooda and Atul Agnihotri. All of them pose with the film’s clapboard.

Los Angeles

Actress Bella Thorne was criticised for her “insensitive” domestic

violence-inspired Halloween post.

The 22-year-old actress took to her Instagram account to share a number of disturbing selfies, reports aceshowbiz.com.

The photographs featured her rocking a make-up that made her look like she had a bruised eye, bloody cut on her lip as well as overall facial discoloration.

“Hire me for your Hallow-een make-up I got u boo,” Thorne captioned the images.

However, social media users were not impressed with her look and accused Thorne of

glamourising physical abuse.“Why is glamourising being

physically abused culturally appropriate during Hallow-een?” one of her followers wrote in the comment section.

Another added: “Looks like domestic violence to me.”

One fan found the images triggering.

“I just find this post slightly triggering and surprising as she is a strong spokeswoman against abuse and such,” the person said.

Some raved over Bella’s make-up skills.

“Girl is this really make-up because it looks real and I want to beat up whoever did it to you,” one fan wrote.

“Oops that did seem very real,” another added.

Big B urges people to support Indian athletes

Mumbai

Bollywood veteran Am-itabh Bachchan has

appealed people to cheer and support Indian ath-letes the same way they shower support to other sports, especially cricket.

On the Friday episode of “Kaun Banega Crore-pati”, champion sprinters Dutee Chand and Hima Das will be felicitated for their victories.

On the show, Big B asked: “Just like the stu-dio audience present here cheered for you and gave you a standing ovation, do a lot of Indians come for your athletic meets to cheer for you?”

Dutee was quick to re-spond: “No Sir, there are very few Indians who at-tend our events.”

Anna Faris to produce, star in ‘Summer Madness’

Los Angeles

Actor star Anna Faris will produce and star in comedy feature ‘Summer Madness’.

Writer-director James Mottern will helm the feature, reported Variety.

Faris, in the movie will be playing both leading roles as twins- one who is flat broke and foul-mouthed while the other is successful and elegant twin sister.

“Anna Faris is a comedy icon with global value. We are thrilled to bring a studio-lev-el actress to an indie marketplace,” Brian O’Shea, head of the Exchange, said in a statement.

The Exchange is handling the worldwide sales of the film. Production on the film is expected to commence in the spring of 2020. Faris and Mottern will be bank-rolling the movie along with Mi-chael Barrett and Emilio Mauro.

Mumbai

Former Miss World Aish-warya Rai Bachchan is cel-ebrating her 46th birthday

on Friday and husband Abhishek Bachchan wished her ‘princess’ on the occasion by sharing a magnifi-cent snap of the former Miss World.

Junior Bachchan shared a picture of his wife on Instagram where she looks straight

out of a fairy tale and wrote, “Happy birthday Principessa (Princess).”

Along with Abhishek, Bipasha Basu, Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh too

showered birthday wishes on the actor in the comment section.

The couple has been married for 12 years now and is parents

to a daughter named Aaradhya.With a career spanning over two

decades, Aishwarya has not only earned a name in Bollywood but Ben-

gali and Tamil film industry too.

The ‘Umrao Jaan’ star has also acted in the 2003 Bangla film ‘Choker Bali’ apart from Bollywood hits

including ‘Hum Dil De Chuke San-am’, ‘Jodha Akbar’ among others.

Most recently, she appeared in the 2018 release ‘Fanney Khan’

opposite Rajkummar Rao and Anil Kapoor.Meanwhile, she has also lent her

voice to Angelina Jolie’s titular evil witch char-acter in the Hindi version of the recent release

‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’. The Joachim Ronning directorial is a sequel

to the 2014 film ‘Maleficent’ and hit big screens on October 18.

Meg Ryan and John Mellencamp split, call of engagementLos Angeles

Ho l -l y -

wood star Meg Ryan and musician John Mellencamp have parted ways and called off their engagement.

The duo decided to go their sperate ways after being together

for eight years.According to E! online,

Ryan ended the engagement.“It got exhausting for her

to deal with. There were too many ups a n d d o w n s and it wasn’t healthy. She just needed to get out and

not be in that environment anymore. It’s for the best and she can focus on herself for a while.

“She cares about John but it was time for her to move on. She knows she made the right decision and is happy,” a source told the publication.

‘Jurassic World 3’ to start filming mid-next year, reveals Jeff Goldblum

Los Angeles

Veteran actor Jeff Goldblum has re-

vealed that the team of “Jurrasic World 3” will start shooting for the film mid-next year.

The actor, who is re-turning as Dr Ian Malcolm to the franchise alongside other original “Jurassic Park” stars – Laura Dern and Sam O’Neill, said he is looking forward to start the work on the new film to be directed by Colin Trevorrow.

“Well, I guess those di-nosaur movies are kind of scary. And we’re gonna do another one of those around these parts come this summer.

“(I’ll) be here shooting with Laura Dern and Sam O’Neill and Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas How-ard. Colin Trevorrow as the great director is going to be writing and direct-ing it. And I can’t wait,” Goldblum said while talk-ing about horror movies with Virgin Radio host Chris Evans.

Arnold on action genre: We can entertain people better nowSeoul

Ho l l y -w o o d

star Arnold Schwarzeneg-ger is back to action – that too with the sixth instalment of the “Ter-minator” franchise, which has defined his career trajec-tory over 35 years now.

James Cameron’s direc-torial, “The Terminator”, was released in October 1984. The film went onto become a blockbuster and transformed former body-builder Schwarzenegger into a cinematic icon, and since then the Hollywood icon has never looked back.

With the sixth film in the series, “Terminator: Dark Fate”, releasing on No-vember 1, Schwarzenegger opened up on the evolution of action cinema – especial-ly the “Terminator” films – over the years.

Los Angeles

Se e m s l i k e J e s s i c a

Chastain has joined the ‘Joker’ fan clan as

the actor feels the mov-ie is “one of the greatest

pieces of acting” she ever saw!

Even more, Chastain was just left “shook” by Joaquin Phoenix’s

performance.“Mouth was dropped open in the

theatre as it played. It left me shook,” Chastain tweeted.

Phoenix’s October release set the cash registers ringing at the box office as the film raked in over USD 856 million worldwide, and even became the

highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.Not only did it ruled the box office, but also bagged the Golden Lion award and an eight-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festi-

val in late August before its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

While speaking at the film’s Toronto International Film Festival premiere in September, Phoenix said playing

the Joker was “one of the greatest experi-ences of [his] career.”

Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker one of the greatest performances I ever

seen: Jessica Chastain

Joaquin Phoenix

Jessica Chastain

Bella Thorne slammed for insensitive Halloween post

Abhishek Bachchan

Amitabh Bachchan

Jeff Goldblum

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Salman Khan

John Mellencamp and Meg Ryan

Bella Thorne

Bartlett-Rook claim girls’ doubles title

British duo Aryana Bartlett and Olivia Rook bagged the title in the second Shine Bahrain Super Series ITF Junior Championship

• Alexander Knox Jones and Archie Graham won the Boys’ Doubles title

TDT | Manama

Aryana Bartlett and Oliv-ia Rook were crowned Girls’ Doubles champi-

ons for the second week in a row yesterday after claiming the coveted title in the second Shine Bahrain Super Series ITF Junior Championship, played at the Bahrain Tennis Federation (BTF) courts in Isa Town.

The British duo captured their winners’ trophies follow-ing a 6-0, 6-3 decision against the Egyptian pair of Jermine Sherif and Mariam Atia in the final.

Bartlett and Rook made it two wins from two tournaments here in Bahrain in as many weeks. They had also claimed the Girls’ Doubles title in an-other ITF tournament held in

the Kingdom. The result yesterday

earned them their second championship on the In-ternational Tennis Feder-ation’s (ITF) World Ten-

nis Tour Juniors circuit. Meanwhile, the pair of Alex-

ander Knox Jones and Archie Graham emerged as the win-ners of the Boys’ Doubles title

following a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Mark Owen Endler of Germa-

ny and Pablo Trochu of France.

K n o x Jo n e s a n d

Graham were able to get their revenge over their op-ponents, whom they lost to last week in their final of the other ITF tournament held in Bahrain.

After both of yesterday’s dou-bles finals, the winners and run-ners-up were presented their respective trophies by BTF Vice-President Shaikh Abdul Aziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, BTF Secretary General Fuad Al Rowaie, and other high-ranking BTF officials.

Meanwhile, Rook will have a chance to claim a fantastic title-double after she booked her seat last night in the Girls’ Singles final.

Rook upset top seed Hagar Ramadan of Egypt 7-6 (2), 6-0 to

march through. She will now meet her doubles

opponent Sherif in yet another

championship battle. Sherif de-nied Rook a final against her teammate Bartlett, whom she defeated in their semis clash 1-6, 7-5, 6-4.

The Girls’ Singles final is scheduled to take place at 2pm today, which is the tournament’s final day.

In the Boys’ Singles, the fi-nal will be between Trochu and Nicolas Moser of Austria. Trochu earned his spot fol-lowing a 6-2, 7-6 (5) victory over Briton Matteo Fuschillo, while Moser beat Graham 6-2, 6-3.

The boys’ final is scheduled to start not before 3pm following the girls’ title bout.

All are welcome to attend and watch the two finals.

Manama edge Samaheej in BBA CupTDT | Manama

Manama registered a lopsid-ed 102-66 victory over Sa-

maheej last night in their Group B match of the Bahrain Basket-ball Association (BBA) Cup.

The victors built a com-manding lead early on and

never looked back, go-ing ahead by as many

as 38 points en route to the final whistle.

Manama ended the first quarter

up 30-17, and then they extended their lead

to 53-27 at the half. S a m a h e e j p u t u p a

spirited fight in the third to momentarily prevent their opponents from stretching the advantage, but their re-

sistance would not last in the fourth as Manama twice post-ed their biggest lead late in the

period. American professional Chris-

topher McKnight led for players

in double-figures with 19 points to go along with four steals. Mohammed Hussain added 18 markers with three three-point-ers, while court general Hus-sain Shaker had 16 points and 10 assists.

Husain Safar came off the bench to contribute 13, also with three triples.

For Samaheej, Ahmed Fateel had 18 points but committed a horrendous 11 turnovers in the loss. US import Antwan Wilk-erson had a triple-double, but it was of the unconventional kind. He scored 17 points and took down 15 rebounds but also had 10 turnovers.

Cup action continues tomor-row with two games. At 5.30pm, Muharraq face Nuwaidrat in a Group A game while Al Najma take on Al Ahli at 7.15pm, also in Group A.

11

sports


KNOW WHAT

Knox Jones and Graham were able

to get their revenge over their opponents, whom they lost to last week in their final of the other ITF tourna-ment held in Bahrain

Shaikh Khalid hails achievement in Gulf Women’s Sports eventTDT | Manama

HH Shaikh Khalid bin Ham-ad Al Khalifa, First Dep-

uty President of the Supreme Council of Youth and Sports and President of Bahrain Olympic Committee hailed the achievement accomplished by the Bahraini women in the 6th Gulf Women’s Sports Tournament after topping the standing with the highest med-al tally won throughout the event.

The Kuwait-organised event concluded recently and saw Bahrain emerging victorious thanks to bagging 77 medals, including 36 golds, 28 silvers and 13 bronzes.

Commenting on this oc-casion, HH Shaikh Khalid said, “This accomplishment made by Bahrain’s women is a real reflection of the big

strides sports are making in the Kingdom of Bahrain and this is mainly attributed to the support and sponsorship ex-tended by HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the King of the Kingdom of Bahrain to sportspeople in the Kingdom. We are reaping the fruit of this backing.”

He further added, “Women’s sports are living their bright-est days thanks to the Royal support and the efforts being exerted by HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad to put in place de-velopment programmes that help in empowering women in sports.”

Moreover, HH Shaikh Khalid praised the performances of the Bahrainis during the competition, stating that they proved their worth by topping the general standing of the event.

Lionel Messi returns for Argentina after ban AFP | Buenos Aires

Lionel Messi was called up by Argentina on Thursday

for friendly games against Bra-zil and Uruguay next month, the country’s football associ-ation announced on Twitter.

Messi has not played for Ar-gentina since he was sent off against Chile in their victori-ous third-place play-off match in the Copa America on July 7.

The striker was then hand-ed a three-month suspension for comments he made after the game, in which he accused CONMEBOL, the governing

body of South American football, of corruption.

In-form Manchester City forward Sergio Aguero has been recalled after missing out on the last four friend-lies, while Manchester Unit-ed defender Marcos Rojo re-mains in the squad following his surprise recall after the Copa America.

In Messi’s absence, Ar-gentina have played four f r i e n d l i e s , d raw i n g against Chile (0-0) and Germany (2-2) while thrashing Mexico 4-0 and Ecuador 6-1.

Boys’ Doubles winners Knox Jones and Graham, second and third from right, with their opponents and officials

Girls’ Doubles champions Bartlett and Rook, second and third from right, alongside their opponents and officials

Manama’s Mohayed Ameer goes for a lay-up as Samaheej’s Wilkerson looks to block his shot

Bale back in the fold but not fit to face BetisAFP | Madrid

Zinedine Zidane said yes-terday Gareth Bale has re-

sumed light training but will not be available for Real Ma-drid’s La Liga game at home to Real Betis.

Madrid can register their third consecutive victory by beating struggling Betis on Sat-urday but Bale remains on the sidelines, as he continues his recovery from a calf problem.

Bale caused a stir this week by taking the day off on Monday to meet his agent in London, prompting reports in Spain he was discussing a move away from the Santiago Bernabeu in January.

But Zidane has insisted Bale had permission to be absent from the club and he is now back in training.

The Welshman was not with the rest of the squad for yes-terday’s early session but did some running alone with a

team physio.“He is here with us, he is

training and working hard,” said Zidane in a press conference yes-terday.

“He is back from his trip and he is getting better. He is not avail-able yet but he is recovering bit by bit.

“It seems we should bring him out here to speak to you because I don’t know any-thing more.”

Real Madrid sit second in La Liga, a point behind Barcelona and one ahead of Atletico Madrid and sur-prise high-fliers Granada, both of whom have played a game more.

Gareth Bale

Lionel Messi


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Djokovic storms into semisDjokovic crushes Tsitsipas to set up Dimitrov semi-final in Paris

AFP | Paris

Novak Djokovic pro -duced a magnificent performance to thrash

seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-1, 6-2 yesterday and set up a Paris Masters semi-final against Grigor Dimitrov.

The 32-year-old, battling Rafael Nadal for the year-end world number one spot, dis-patched Greek star Tsitsipas in only 58 minutes.

The 16-time Grand Slam champion went into the match with a 2-1 losing record against Tsitsipas, but put the youngster in his place with a commanding victory.

“It was a really good match for me today,” said Djokovic. “All week and all year here, it’s great to play in Paris.”

Djokovic will be usurped by Nadal at the top of the rankings next week, but can ensure the fight to be the best player at the end of the year reaches the ATP Tour Finals in London by win-ning a record-extending fifth title at Bercy.

The crushing defeat ended Tsitsipas’ run of three consec-utive semi-finals and dealt a blow to his confidence ahead of his maiden appearance at the season-ending championships, which start on November 10.

Djokovic holds an 8-1 winning head-to-head record against

Dimitrov, who saw off unseeded Chilean Cristian Garin 6-2, 7-5 earlier in the day.

“It will obviously be a difficult match,” said Djokovic, who is bidding to tie Pete Sampras’ re-cord of finishing as the year-end number one on six occasions.

“I have lots of respect for him. He has lots of talent and is very quick. But I have lots of confi-dence after this match today.”

Tsitsipas made a nightmare start, as back-to-back double faults gifted his illustrious oppo-nent a break in just the second game.

Djokovic had been struggling with illness earlier in the week

and laboured past Corentin Moutet and Kyle Edmund in his first two matches, but was at his irrepressible best en route to a 5-0 lead.

Tsitsipas, encouraged by a packed crowd, avoided a first-set bagel by saving three set points, only for Djokovic to serve it out in the following game after a mere 28 minutes on court.

The 21-year-old’s misery was compounded by a time violation in the third game of the second set, and Serbian Djokovic duly broke his serve.

Another break to love helped the top seed forge 5-1 in front,

and Tsitsipas’ humiliation was complete when he carved a forehand wide on match point.

Dimitrov marches onFormer world number three

Dimitrov last reached the semis at a Masters tournament in Monte Carlo in 2018, but has rediscovered his form in recent weeks after heading into the US Open ranked 78th.

The Bulgarian became the lowest-ranked player to reach a Grand Slam semi-final since 2008 at Flushing Meadows, be-fore losing to Daniil Medvedev.

Dimitrov has now won three consecutive matches in straight sets at Bercy, where he had lost in the third round in each of the previous six years.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic returns the ball to Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas

KNOW WHAT

Djokovic had been struggling with illness earlier in the week and laboured past Corentin

Moutet and Kyle Edmund in his first two matches, but was at his irrepress-

ible best en route to a 5-0 lead

Pliskova, Svitolina through to last-four in Shenzhen

• Karolina Pliskova beat Simona Halep to claim a spot in the semi-finals of the WTA Finals

AFP | Shenzhen, China

Karolina Pliskova overcame a mid-match stutter to

book a semi-final showdown with world number one Ash-leigh Barty after a three-set victory over Simona Halep at the WTA Finals yesterday.

The world number two lost six straight games in the sec-ond and third sets but even-tually prevailed 6-0, 2-6, 6-4 in one hour and 43 minutes to secure the Purple Group’s second spot.

Defending champion Eli-na Svitolina will play Belinda Bencic in the other semi-final after she capped off an unbeat-en round robin campaign with a 7-5, 7-6 (12/10) victory over late replacement Sofia Kenin.

Pliskova believed she would be the underdog against Barty. “She’s having a great year, so it’s going to be super tough,” she said.

“It’s going to be a big chal-lenge but I have nothing to lose.”

An aggressive Pliskova start-

ed red hot against Halep win-ning 13 of the first 16 points en route to blitzing through the first set in just 20 minutes.

Halep appeared rejuvenated after receiving a pep talk from coach Darren Cahill between sets as the match flipped.

The Wimbledon champion finally hit the scoreboard by breaking to open the second set and she rediscovered her touch, hitting menacing slices to rattle Pliskova.

In the earlier match, Svitoli-na was pushed in the dead-rub-ber by world No.12 Kenin, who replaced Bianca Andreescu after the US Open champion suffered a knee injury against Pliskova on Wednesday.

Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic returns the ball to Simona Halep of Romania

SPORTS 8 @newsofbahrain BUSINESS Djokovic storms

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