MUHARRAM 29, 1443 AH MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2021

16 Pages Max 48º Min 33º 150 Fils Established 1961

ISSUE NO: 18525 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net

Taleban battle for Panjshir ‘Silent crisis’ looms as US to end Do tourist boats stress out Tokyo bids colorful farewell to 7 as US warns of civil war 8 COVID aid for millions of jobless 13 whales? Researchers find out 16 ‘historic, fantastic’ Paralympics

Speaker confident of political breakthrough

Health official says PCR test for arrivals essential after Delta case in returnee

By B Izzak support of 32 law- makers, to grill the KUWAIT: National Assembly Speaker Marzouq prime minister, lead- Al-Ghanem said yesterday that a large number of ing them to boycott initiatives have been put forward during the parlia- or disrupt sessions. mentary recess, adding he is confident they will lead Ghanem said the to a political breakthrough. He declined to provide initiatives are being details about the initiatives, which came from HH the studied quietly away Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, from the media and MPs, political groups and activists, but expressed “certain quarters hope that positive results will be achieved before who always attempt the start of the next Assembly term late October. to obstruct positive He however harshly blasted the opposition, initiatives”, a clear Marzouq Al-Ghanem whom he accused of opposing all positive initiatives reference to the and obstructing solutions. Ghanem said the initia- opposition. “But I am pleased to announce today tives aim to achieve “understanding that will con- with confidence that considerable progress has been tribute to achieve political breakthroughs for many made in these initiatives, which reflect the good complicated issues that had been the center of dis- intention of those who floated them,” Ghanem said. putes in the past years”. He did not elaborate on the Such initiatives are expected to secure a parlia- nature of the issues. mentary majority, said Ghanem, who strongly lashed Kuwait has been plunged into non-stop political out at opponents. “I cannot deny that a small minor- disputes between the government and opposition ity (of MPs) are trying to obstruct the initiatives, but MPs, which intensified in the past year. Disputes they have been exposed to the Kuwaiti people. between the government and the speaker on one They work for agendas that are known to all,” said side and a majority of MPs completely paralyzed Ghanem, adding they will raise their voices as long the National Assembly during the previous term. as progress is achieved. “Personally, I am confident The government - with its 16 Cabinet members there will be breakthroughs before the start of the KUWAIT: An Egyptian resident is welcomed upon arrival at Kuwait International Airport yesterday as backed by the speaker and around 16 MPs - next Assembly term” he said. direct flights resumed between the two countries. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat blocked attempts by the opposition, which had the Continued on Page 2

sor their parents and children up to 25 News in brief UAE launches years old, officials said. “It targets highly skilled individuals, investors, Children hurt in Houthi attack new ‘green’, businesspeople, entrepreneurs, as well exceptional students and postgradu- RIYADH: Two children were hurt and 14 homes ates,” said Minister of State for damaged as Saudi forces intercepted ballistic freelance visas Foreign Trade Thani Al-Zeyoudi. missiles fired across the border by Yemeni rebels, The visa will also grant them a DUBAI: The UAE announced a new grace period of 90-180 days to stay scattering debris over the eastern city of visa yesterday allowing foreigners to Dammam. “Saudi Air Defense has intercepted in the country once their visa is can- work in the country without being celled either due to job loss or retire- and destroyed (3) ballistic missiles and (3) bomb- sponsored by an employer, loosening laden drones launched by the Iran-backed ment. Zeyoudi also announced a residency requirements in an attempt “freelance visa” for owners of inde- Houthi militia,” spokesperson Brigadier General to boost economic growth. Foreigners Turki Al-Maliki said. — AFP (See Page 5) pendent businesses or self-employed in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates workers based in the UAE and over- are generally only given limited visas seas in specialized fields such as arti- tied to their employment, and long- ficial intelligence, blockchain and digi- IS attack kills 13 Iraqi police term residency is difficult to obtain. tal currencies. But those holding the new “green Resource-rich Gulf countries such DUBAI: A boat sails at sunset against the backdrop of Burj Khalifa and high- KIRKUK: Thirteen Iraqi policemen were killed visa” will be able to work without as the UAE are increasingly seeking rise buildings in this May 27, 2020 file photo. — AFP in an Islamic State group attack against a check- company sponsorship, and can spon- Continued on Page 2 point in the country’s north early yesterday, security and medical sources said. The attack, in the region of Al-Rashad around 65 km south of sides in Afghanistan’s forever war. Kirkuk city, took place just after midnight, a Crisis cements Qatar invited the Taleban to open a senior Iraqi police officer said. “Members of the political office in Doha in 2013, with Islamic State organization targeted a federal Qatari global then US president Barack Obama’s police checkpoint,” said the officer. — AFP blessing as conflict in Afghanistan raged. It went on to host talks between influence Washington and the Taleban that con- Man dies in shark attack cluded in 2020 with a troop withdraw- DOHA: Political leaders have flocked al agreement, followed by direct nego- SYDNEY: A man has died following a shark to Doha and some countries have tiations between the former insurgents attack in Australia despite the efforts of moved their Kabul embassies to and Afghan government. “incredibly brave” surfers and bystanders who Qatar, all praising their host for its key Doha’s long-standing hotline to the came to his aid, authorities said yesterday. The role in the airlift out of the Afghan Taleban ultimately helped Qatar burst man, believed to be in his 20s, was mauled by capital. Tiny Qatar has seized the onto the world stage as the lynchpin moment, cementing its outsize global of efforts to evacuate desperate the shark at Emerald Beach near Coffs DOHA: Afghan refugees are seen at their accommodation in the Qatari capi- influence and reputation as a neutral Afghans and foreigners - and now the Harbour, about six hours north of Sydney, tal on Saturday.— AFP according to paramedics. It was the second mediator after winning the trust of all Continued on Page 2 fatal shark attack recorded in Australian waters this year. — AFP Sandwiched between a pharmacy and play in the front. The end of the con- too. White Taleban baseball caps with Boom time a general store, his shop in the flict has led many weapon-owners to the Muslim proclamation of faith Egypt bus crash kills 12 Panjwai district of southern Kandahar conclude they no longer need them, printed on them hung from the ceiling. province - the spiritual birthplace of Mohammad explained. “People who The group’s flags were also on sale.

for Afghan the Taleban - is flush with fresh have had guns at home for years bring Another dealer in the dusty Panjwai CAIRO: Twelve people were killed on an inventory. us their weapons,” he said. market, whose shop was adorned with Egyptian highway early yesterday when their arms dealers Camouflage combat vests and ban- Mohammad has a customer lined large Taleban flags and pictures of the bus overturned on their return from the popu- doliers hung from the walls as up too. “We buy them and sell... to the group’s top leaders, had more potent lar Red Sea resort Sharm El-Sheikh, medical PANJWAI, Afghanistan: The Mohammed showed off his wares, mujahideen,” he said, referring to the offerings. They included assault rifles and security sources said. Thirty-four other Taleban takeover may have plunged including US-made Smith & Wesson Taleban. “The Taleban don’t let any- - variants of the AK-47 as well as the passengers were injured and transported to the Afghanistan into uncertainty and pistols and ammunition belts. More one else take (the weapons).” US-made M4 and M16 - and even port town of Suez for treatment, the medical economic pain, but arms dealer Khan pistols, grenades, walkie-talkies and Mohammad did not just have light machine guns. source added. — AFP Mohammad is making the most of it. jars full of bullets lined the glass dis- weapons - there were accessories Continued on Page 2 2 Established 1961 Local Monday, September 6, 2021 Kuwait’s Amir receives Crown Prince, top officials

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets His Al-Sabah. — Amiri Diwan and KUNA photos Speaker of the National Assembly Marzouq Al-Ghanem. Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice, and Minister of State for meets ministers of defense Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah and inte- Al-Sabah. Enhancing Transparency Abdullah Al-Roumi. rior Sheikh Thamer Ali Al-Sabah.

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Speaker of the National Assembly Marzouq Al- Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice, and Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled at Seif Palace yester- Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received at Seif Ghanem, His Highness the Prime Minister Minister of State for Enhancing Transparency day. His Highness Sheikh Mishal also received Palace yesterday His Highness the Crown Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Abdullah Al-Roumi. ministers Sheikh Hamad and Roumi, in addition Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Meanwhile, His Highness the Crown Prince to Minister of Interior Sheikh Thamer Ali Al- Sabah. His Highness the Amir also received Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah and received Speaker Ghanem and His Highness Sabah. — KUNA

confirm this account. Later yesterday, the Army putschists claim coup, head of Guinea’s military special forces Lieutenant-Colonel Mamady Doumbouya appeared on public television, draped in arrest Guinea president the national flag, and cited government “mismanagement” as a reason behind his CONAKRY: Army putschists in Guinea to answer a question from one soldier actions. said yesterday they had arrested the about whether he was being mistreated. The apparent coup comes amid a president and staged a coup, in the latest Guinea - one of the world’s poorest long period of political tension in political upheaval to roil the impoverished countries despite boasting significant Guinea, first spurred by Conde’s highly west African country, as the government mineral resources - has long been beset contested bid for a third presidential insisted it had repelled the attack. “We by political instability. Earlier yesterday, term last year. The day before the presi- have decided, after having taken the pres- residents of the capital Conakry’s dential election last year, the military ident, to dissolve the constitution,” said a Kaloum district, the government quarter, blocked access to Kaloum after an uniformed officer flanked by soldiers tot- reported hearing heavy gunfire. alleged military rebellion east of the ing assault rifles in a video sent to AFP. Speaking on condition of anonymity for capital. Conde, 83, also survived an The officer also said that Guinea’s land their safety, they reported seeing a num- assassination attempt in 2011. and air borders have been shut and the ber of soldiers on the streets who called The most recent presidential poll in the government dissolved. on residents to return to their homes and nation of some 13 million people, in Oct CONAKRY: Members of the armed forces of Guinea drive through the central neighbor- But the situation remained unclear as stay there. 2020, was violently disputed and also hood of Kaloum yesterday. — AFP Conde’s government released a rival A Western diplomat in Conakry, who marred by accusations of electoral fraud. statement saying that an attack on the also declined to be named, said the unrest Conde won a controversial third term in third term for the president, often in other opposition figures calling the elec- presidential palace by special forces had started after the dismissal of a senior that poll, but only after pushing through a clashes with security forces. Hundreds tion a sham. After the poll, the govern- been “repulsed”. Another video sent to commander in the special forces - pro- new constitution in March 2020 that were also arrested. ment launched a crackdown and arrested AFP by the putschists showed a rumpled- voking some of its highly trained mem- allowed him to sidestep the country’s Conde was then proclaimed president several prominent opposition members looking President Alpha Conde sitting on bers to rebel and occupy the presidential two-term limit. Dozens of people were on Nov 7 last year - despite his main for their alleged role in abetting electoral a sofa, surrounded by troops. He refused palace. AFP was unable to independently killed during demonstrations against a challenger Cellou Dalein Diallo as well as violence in the country. — AFP

Afghanistan’s new rulers now possess equipment and under the Taleban is not assured, was seen as a Boom time vehicles - including humvees, armored personnel carri- Crisis cements powerful gesture. ers, and at least one functioning Black Hawk helicopter. Qatar’s meteoric rise on the world stage is all the The militants are also making the most of their spoils. more striking because until January the gas-rich for Afghan... The Taleban are cashing in on a wide variety of Qatari global... emirate was at loggerheads with its neighbors. items from abandoned Afghan and Western military Saudi Arabia, along with the UAE, Bahrain and Continued from Page 1 bases. They seized Panjwai district in July as the with- Continued from Page 1 Egypt, cut ties with Doha in 2017, accusing it of drawal of US-led troops from Afghanistan gathered backing Islamist groups and Iran, charges which The Taleban for years procured weapons and ammu- pace. In the local market, everything from construc- push to reopen Kabul airport. “The Qataris have Qatar denied. nition from the black market. They also captured arms tion material to metal trays salvaged from the district’s earned a reputation as honest brokers who are will- and equipment from the battlefield and abandoned mili- Despite its regional rehabilitation at a January Afghan military base was for sale. “We bought all ing to help multiple warring parties to find a way to tary posts, according to UN and Western monitors. summit, Qatar’s growing role has not been without these things from the Taleban after they conquered end these conflicts,” said Colin Clarke, senior And the recent collapse of the Afghan military cre- the Afghan army base,” said vendor Murtaza, who challenges. French website Intelligence Online research fellow at the Soufan Center. “I think what ated an arms bonanza for the militants. Alongside a gave only one name. “Now we bring them to the mar- claimed senior Qatar commanders “would have large haul of American-made infantry weapons, ket to sell.” — AFP Qatar got out of it was a growing recognition that been convinced of the Pashtun insurgents’ willing- Doha is the place to make a deal. It has grown into ness to share power” with the now-ousted govern- the Geneva of the Middle East, a place where war- ment. “Doha has watched with surprise the total such scheme in the Gulf. ring parties can meet on neutral territory.” disconnect between the promises of the political UAE launches Similar programs have since been launched in In little more than a week, the Arabian desert representatives (of the Taleban) in exile and the other resource-rich Gulf countries, such as Saudi peninsula will have welcomed the foreign ministers of realities on the ground.” Arabia and Qatar. Riyadh said in June 2019 that it Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Britain and the US. Several observers have also raised questions new ‘green’... will offer permanent residency for 800,000 riyals US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, due in Doha about the longevity of Qatari influence following the ($213,000) and a one-year renewable residency today, has already expressed “profound gratitude” spectacular Taleban victory. David Roberts, an Continued from Page 1 costing 100,000 riyals, allowing expats to do busi- for Qatar’s evacuation of foreigners and Afghans vul- associate professor at King’s College London, ness and buy property without a Saudi sponsor. nerable to reprisals from the Islamist hardliners. questioned whether the Taleban negotiators in to diversify their economies and reduce reliance on Doha also flung open its property market to foreign- Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab lauded Doha “will be able to retain important places in the oil. The coronavirus pandemic has also impacted tourism ers, with a scheme giving those buying homes or stores the dramatic airlift, in which Doha has served as a and businesses in the UAE, whose economy was already Taleban apparatus back home, and whether they the right to longer-term or permanent residency per- key transit stop, saying “the biggest operation of its slumping in recent years due to low oil prices. In 2019, mits. Foreigners account for 90 percent of the 10 million will have control”. the UAE launched the 10-year “golden visa” to attract kind in our living memory (was) in no small part “That will be the limit of the Qatari endgame,” he population in the UAE, the Arab world’s second-largest because of the cooperation of our Qatari friends”. wealthy individuals and highly skilled workers, the first economy after neighboring Saudi Arabia. — Agencies told AFP. “I imagine that the phone lines between While in Doha, where Britain has relocated its Washington, DC and Doha have been red-hot in the Kabul embassy, Raab described Qatar as “an influ- past few days. The apparatus in the State have detected an infection in a passenger who arrived ential player” and its ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Department and the Pentagon, they know that Qatar Speaker confident from a country where the Delta strain is active. The Al-Thani as a “friend”. has now had years of contacts that can be poten- tweet promoted speculation that the case is of an The Gulf nation has been working with the tially used and leveraged.” of political... Egyptian passenger after commercial flights resumed Taleban to quickly reopen Kabul’s airport, closed On a skeptical note, however, Michael Rubin, with Egypt following a year-long suspension. since the departure of US troops, and it hopes to resident scholar at the American Enterprise But Jarallah wrote a second tweet saying the see the establishment of humanitarian aid corridors. Institute, accused Doha of providing the Taleban Continued from Page 1 case was not of an expat and not related to some- At the height of evacuation operations, Qatar’s with international legitimacy as well as access to one who came from an Arab country. Local media ambassador to Afghanistan personally escorted international finance. “There is a limit to Qatar’s Meanwhile, head of the consultative committee to said the case was of a Kuwaiti returning from Americans and vulnerable Afghans to the airport. influence,” he said. “Attention can be addictive, and counter the coronavirus pandemic at the health min- Turkey. Jarallah insisted on the importance of con- His efforts to accompany a number of young Qatar is both an addict for attention and a country istry Khaled Al-Jarallah said yesterday authorities tinuing PCR tests on arrival. Afghan women, for whom access to education in search of relevance.” — AFP Established 1961 3 Local Monday, September 6, 2021 Kuwait’s Prime Minister honors diplomats to be

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Prime Minister His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah is seen in a group picture with the Saud Al-Nasser Al-Sabah Diplomatic Institute’s seventh class of graduates. — KUNA photos

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Prime Minister His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah spon- sored yesterday a ceremony honoring Saud Al- Nasser Al-Sabah Diplomatic Institute’s seventh class of graduates, telling them to serve the nation well as they foray into the world of diplomacy. Addressing the new diplomats, Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Ahmad Al-Nasser Al-Sabah congratulated them as they embark on their diplomatic careers, urging them to keep the Kuwaiti people’s best interests at heart. He spoke of the local institute’s efforts, some 15 years after its inception, to mold competent diplomats who would help further the nation’s shrewd foreign policy, citing some of the profound contributions the institute has made over the years. The institute celebrates today a “promising” new class of diplomats, its chief Abdulaziz Al-Sharekh said in his speech, urging them to further “solidify Kuwaiti diplomacy.” He went on to applaud the new diplomats for persevering in the face of the COVID His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah (center) receives a memento during Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Ahmad Al-Nasser Al- pandemic, which makes their graduation all the more the ceremony. Sabah speaks during the event. meaningful, added the diplomat. — KUNA Return ticket prices to Kuwait sky high KUWAIT: Kuwait International Airport received yesterday the first direct flight from Egypt since the Cabinet’s decision to allow direct flights between the two coun- tries. But while commercial flights resumed between Kuwait and Egypt after agree- ments were reached on the number of passengers and flights, ticket prices hit record levels, particularly for those desir- ing to return to Kuwait. Return ticket prices from all destinations have risen six- fold compared to departing airfares. Chairman of the Board of Kuwait Travel and Tourism Agencies Association est indicators show airfares from Kuwait to ate between the two countries according Mohammad Al-Mutairi said the rise in tick- Egypt start at KD 58, while the return ticket to the number of seats decided between et prices is normal under the current cir- price has reached around KD 550, Al-Rai them, which agrees with the Cabinet’s lat- cumstances, adding that there are four Arabic daily reported yesterday. est decisions to raise the capacity of aspects to this issue - the limit on the oper- Meanwhile, Director of Air Transport Kuwait airport. He said his department is ational capacity for arrivals, allowing full at Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil waiting for Indian authorities to resume capacity for departures, supply and Aviation Abdullah Al-Rajhi said nine flights from India to Kuwait, expected demand, and return from holidays. The lat- Kuwaiti and Egyptian carriers will oper- during the week.

KUWAIT: Travelers are greeted warmly upon their arrival to Kuwait yesterday, coming from Egypt on direct flights for the first time since the Cabinet’s decision to allow direct flights between the two countries. —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Kuwait’s Ashkanani joins fine arts greats during Hungary gala VIENNA: Visitors to an international exhibi- tion in Hungary were treated to seven works of art by Kuwaiti artist Mahmoud Ashkanani on Saturday, as international craftsmen put their works on display to the delight of fine arts aficionados in attendance. Such gather- ings give artists the recognition they strive for as they get a chance to mingle with their peers from all around the world, the Kuwaiti artist said. The two-week event features the Kuwaiti artist Mahmoud Ashkanani is seen in his works of some 30 artists from all over the studio. — KUNA photos globe, giving their works the global exposure One of Kuwaiti artist Mahmoud Ashkanani’s works. they seek. — KUNA 4 Established 1961 Local Monday, September 6, 2021

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Kuwait condemns continued Houthi KUWAIT: Workers are seen near a street in Kuwait yesterday. The period in which outdoor labor is banned during noon hours in Kuwait has officially ended on attacks on Saudi August 31st. - Photo by Fouad Al-Shaikh (To have your picture featured in the Kuwait Times’ ‘Photo of the Day’ section, please send your high resolution, unedited photos to [email protected], along with the full name and Instagram account) KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry yesterday strongly condemned the continued Houthi attempts to target civilians and civilian areas, and to threaten the security of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, by firing three ballistic missiles and launching three drones on the Eastern Region and Several arrests Najran and Jazan cities. The continuity and esca- lation of these hostile actions against the security made in ‘alcohol of the Saudi Kingdom and regional stability are blatant violations of the international law and international humanitarian law, the Foreign breweries’ raid Ministry said in a statement. It added that these violations necessitate swift and firm actions from KUWAIT: Hawally police made several arrests the international community to stop these threats during raids at apartments where alcoholic drinks and hold perpetrators accountable. The ministry were being brewed illegally in the area. A total of reiterated Kuwait’s full solidarity with Saudi nine apartments were raided during the operation, Arabia and support to all the measures it takes to the Interior Ministry said in a statement yesterday. defend its security, stability and sovereignty. The suspects reportedly rented the apartments to Meanwhile, Secretary General of the Gulf use them for the sole purpose of brewing liquor, it Cooperation Council (GCC) Dr Nayef Al-Hajraf added. The detainees were taken to the proper strongly condemned the continued Houthi militia authorities for further action. attacks on Saudi Arabia. The Secretary General, in a Separately, Kuwait Fire Force said that firemen press statement yesterday, stressed that these battled a blaze that engulfed a 1,000-square-meter storage area for lumber in Al-Rai yesterday morn- KUWAIT: This handout photo released by Kuwait Fire Force yesterday shows fire engines at the site of a stor- attacks are obvious violations of the international age area in Al-Rai where a fire was reported. law and international humanitarian law. He renewed ing. No injuries were reported in the incident as an the council’s full solidarity with Saudi Arabia and investigation was opened to reveal the cause of the support to all the measures it takes to defend its fire. In the meantime, KFF also reported that fire- daily reported yesterday. He told police about two Meanwhile, police in Rawda arrested a person security, stability and sovereignty. He also praised men stopped a leak of hazardous material from a of his compatriots with whom he kept the stolen who attempted to break into two ATM machines. the high efficiency of the Saudi air defense forces tanker outside a factory in Amghara yesterday. rosaries. An Arab resident rushed to Salhiya police The suspect then slipped into the house of a that were able to intercept all Houthi attacks. On In other news, Salhiya detectives arrested a sus- and told them his store was burgled, accusing a Kuwaiti man and took the keys of two cars before Saturday, Houthi attacks targeted civilian areas by pected thief who confessed to stealing rosaries person who works for him of committing the crime. stealing them. The citizen told police the two cars firing three ballistic missiles and launching three worth KD 120,000. He said he made copies of the Detectives found the accused was about to leave were parked in front of his home in Yarmouk. The drones on the Eastern Region, as well as Najran and keys of a store where he worked, then disabled the country and were able to arrest him minutes suspected thief was arrested from his Farwaniya Jazan cities. — KUNA surveillance cameras during the theft, Al-Anbaa before his departure.. residence, reported Al-Anbaa.

addition, 72 employees attended Middle Management NBK adopts digital Program across 4 cohorts, delivered by Learning Tree International. With the shifting direction towards digi- tal learning, Training and Development took the advan- training culture tage of training 44 employees from NBK overseas branches across multiple development programs. KUWAIT: In-line with NBK’s ongoing initiatives On this occasion, Ahmad Darweesh, Head of towards instilling a digital training culture and con- Training and Development at National Bank of Kuwait stantly developing its human capital, NBK has wit- quoted: “At the Training and Development Department, nessed a remarkable interest in participation from we are proud of the progress made in implementing a employees in professional training courses and pro- map of top-notch training programs aiming to help grams during the first half of 2021, which aimed to promote a digital culture across NBK Group, in line improve employees’ capabilities and actively con- with the bank’s digital transformation strategy.” tribute to their career development through the latest “Today, Group Human Resources has a digital infra- learning solutions. structure and a unique training and development sys- During the first six months of the year, 1,433 of the tem that are on par with international best practices. bank’s employees successfully completed the training The bank’s E-Learning platform was developed into an programs and courses, whilst scoring the highest atten- advanced easily accessible digital platform that offers dance and training completion rate of total employee various training programs, including induction for new- participation, which signals the great passion of the ly hired employees, training requirements of the bank’s employees towards career development. Central Bank of Kuwait, as well as programs From the beginning of the year, the for developing key competencies, aside Training and Development Department of from its function as a tool for taking tests,” Group Human Resources organized 27 he elaborated. interventions of in-house programs, Darweesh emphasized that the including Yalla Watani, NBK Academy and “Accelerated Learning” concept is consis- workshops with a combined total of 661 tently exhibited across the NBK Group, participants. within a culture and work environment that The training programs held in the first drives employees to pursue personal half involved soft skills training, covering growth whilst recognizing their long-term areas of building a performance-driven Ahmad Darweesh career paths, in addition to its contribution culture, that gained intensive attendance to investing in their talents and skills, which with a total of 282 participants, who all of serves the bank’s sustainable growth. which attended a variety of 15 soft skills training ses- Darweesh noted that NBK provides equal opportu- sions; Covering all levels. Due to the massive interest nities for all its employees, by giving them opportuni- witnessed, a total of 975 staff were enrolled in 32 ties to attend training programs that are designed planned sessions according to the annual training plan. based on assessment of corporate and individual Furthermore, NBK organized specific courses and needs, as well as being committed to developing the workshops for leadership and development training, as academic and practical skills of its staff, with a view to well as courses focusing on leading the digital transfor- prepare them as future leaders. mation, in line with the bank’s digital roadmap. In the It is worth mentioning that NBK consistently sup- meantime, the Training and Development Department ports its employees in building their careers within the intensively worked on developing 3 specialized cur- bank, believing that its sustained successful transfor- riculums for IBG, Corporate, CBG, Foreign Corporate mation depends on the diversity and quality of talents. and Oil and Gas, as well as Trade Finance and Internal In recent challenging times, efficient workforce proved Audit in coordination with Moody’s Euromoney and to make a difference, acting as a strategic pillar of the Deloitte, with a total of 156 attended participants. In Bank’s strategy and ambitious plans for the future. International Monday, September 6, 2021 Taleban push deep into Panjshir Climate change blamed for havoc in northeast floods Page 7 Valley holdout Page 7

SANAA: Shiite Muslim supporters of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels gather to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Shiite Imam Zaid Bin Ali in the Houthi-held Yemeni capital Sanaa. —AFP Yemen rebels fire missiles into Saudi ‘Children hurt’, 14 homes damaged

RIYADH: Two children were hurt and 14 homes dam- spokesperson Brigadier General Turki Al-Maliki said said in a video statement that the rebels launched a Saturday’s interception comes four days after a drone aged as Saudi forces intercepted ballistic missiles in a statement, calling it “brutal, irresponsible behav- series of missile and drone attacks on “vital installa- hit Abha International Airport in the south, wounding fired across the border by Yemeni rebels, scattering ior” by the Yemeni rebels. A spokesperson at the tions”, including military bases and facilities of Saudi eight people and damaging a civilian plane. debris over the eastern city of Dammam, officials said defense ministry yesterday said that two children oil giant Aramco. A Saudi official told AFP that the It also came just a few hours before Hans yesterday. The attack, which took place on Saturday, were wounded and 14 homes damaged after debris rebel claims were “baseless”. No immediate comment Grundberg, the UN’s new envoy for Yemen, assumed was the latest in a series by the Iran-backed Houthi from the interception scattered across Dammam. It was available from Aramco. his duties on Sunday. Yemen’s grinding conflict has rebels who control almost all of Yemen’s north. Saudi was not clear how serious the reported injuries were. Eastern Saudi Arabia is home to major oil infrastruc- claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced mil- Arabia intervened in Yemen’s war on behalf of the ture. A previous attack in September 2019 temporarily lions, resulting in what the United Nations calls the internationally recognized government in 2015, Houthis say Aramco targeted halted half of the kingdom’s oil production. The Saudi- world’s worst humanitarian crisis. While the UN is shortly after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa. Saudi authorities said the ballistic missiles were led coalition fighting the rebels in Yemen told state-run pushing for an end to the war, the Houthis have “Saudi Air Defense has intercepted and destroyed targeting civilians in the Eastern Province - where television it would take “strict measures” to protect demanded the reopening of Sanaa airport, closed (3) ballistic missiles and (3) bomb-laden drones Dammam is located - and the southern cities of civilians. In August, the rebels escalated cross-border under a Saudi blockade since 2016, before any launched by the Iran-backed Houthi militia,” Najran and Jazan. Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree operations using unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles. ceasefire or negotiations. —AFP

el bans in a supposed anti-corruption purge. Algeria places Karoui was arrested in late August by Algerian border police, with Tunisia releasing a warrant for his arrest the day after. Algeria and Tunisia are Karoui in pre-trial bound by an agreement stipulating the extradition by either country “of any person prosecuted or detention convicted” in the other. Any extradition request must be “accompanied by an official document from ALGIERS: The runner-up in Tunisia’s 2019 presi- the authorities”. Karoui founded the private dential election, Nabil Karoui, has been placed in Tunisian channel Nessma TV, which is partly owned pre-trial detention in neighboring Algeria, accused by Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. of “entering the country illegally”, local media He has been under investigation since 2017 in a reported yesterday. Karoui and his brother Ghazi, money laundering and tax evasion case. He was an MP, had faced a hearing before a magistrate in arrested in 2019 and spent more than a month in the northeastern city of Constantine, the Ennahar prison at the height of the presidential election cam- newspaper wrote citing “judicial sources”. paign. He was freed but rearrested last December and Constantine prosecutors could not immediately be spent six months in pre-trial detention before being let reached for comment. In July, Karoui’s former oppo- out again in June. Karoui came second in the 2019 nent, President Kais Saied had suspended parlia- election to Saied, a retired law professor and political ment and granted himself sweeping powers, hitting newcomer, as the electorate rejected the political class judges, MPs and businessmen with arrests and trav- that had ruled since the 2011 revolution. —AFP

Taleban order university women to wear niqab KABUL: Women attending private Afghan universi- ties must wear an abaya robe and niqab covering most of the face, the Taleban have ordered, and class- es must be segregated by sex - or at least divided by a curtain. In a lengthy document issued by the Taleban’s education authority, they also ordered that female students should only be taught by other women, but if that was not possible then “old men” of good character could fill in. KABUL: An Afghan burqa clad woman sells face masks The decree applies to private colleges and univer- to the commuters at a traffic intersection in Kabul sities, which have mushroomed since the Taleban’s yesterday. —AFP first rule ended in 2001. During that period, girls and women were mostly excluded from education “Practically, it is a difficult plan - we don’t have because of rules regarding same-sex classrooms and enough female instructors or classes to segregate the the insistence they had to be accompanied by a male girls,” said a university professor, who asked not to be relative whenever they left the house. There was no named. order for women to wear the all-enveloping burqa in “But the fact that they are allowing girls to go to the new regulations issued late Saturday, but the schools and universities is a big positive step,” he told niqab effectively covers most of the face anyway, AFP. Afghanistan’s new rulers have pledged to be leaving just the eyes exposed. more accommodating than during their first stint in In recent years burqas and niqabs have largely power, which also came after years of conflict - first vanished from the streets of Kabul, but are seen more the Soviet invasion of 1979, and then a bloody civil frequently in smaller cities and towns. The decree war. They have promised a more “inclusive” govern- comes as private universities prepare to open today. ment that represents Afghanistan’s complex ethnic “Universities are required to recruit female teachers makeup - though women are unlikely to be included for female students based on their facilities,” the at the top levels. decree said, adding that men and women should use Over the past 20 years, since the Taleban were last separate entrances and exits. If it is not possible to hire in power, university admission rates have risen dramati- women teachers, then colleges “should try to hire old cally, particularly among women. Before the Taleban men teachers who have a good record of behavior”. returned in a lightning military campaign, entering the While women now have to study separately, they capital Kabul last month, women studied alongside must also end their lesson five minutes earlier than men and attended seminars with male professors. But a men to stop them from mingling outside. They must spate of deadly attacks on education centers in recent then stay in waiting rooms until their male counter- years sparked panic. The Taleban denied being behind parts have left the building, according to the decree the attacks, some of which were claimed by the local issued by the Taleban higher education ministry. chapter of the Islamic State group. —AFP 6 Established 1961 International Monday, September 6, 2021 Protests as Montenegro new Orthodox head inaugurated Decision to anoint Bishop Joanikije aggravates ethnic tension

CETINJE: The new head of the Serbian Orthodox and sound bombs to clear the protesters from the Church in Montenegro was inaugurated yesterday, monastery. On Saturday, thousands of protesters arriving by helicopter under the protection of police used cars or piled up rocks to block roads, with who dispersed protesters with tear gas. The deci- many spending the night huddled around fires set to sion to anoint Bishop Joanikije as the new keep warm, an AFP correspondent said. “I am here Metropolitan of Montenegro at the historic to show my love for the country,”†said one protest- monastery of Cetinje has aggravated ethnic tension er, Saska Brajovic, 50. in the tiny Balkan state. Protesters had blocked “We are not asking for anything from anyone roads since Saturday in a bid to prevent access to else, but we are dismissed by the occupying Serbian the small town, both the headquarters of the Church. We are here defending our dignity.” The Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) and a symbol of protesters are backed by the Democratic Party of sovereignty for some Socialists (DPS) of Montenegrins. President Milo Djukanovic. Montenegro broke The president accused away from Serbia in 2006, Police fire neighboring Serbia and the but a third of its 620,000 SPC of “dismissing inhabitants identify as tear gas Montenegro and Serbs and some deny and sound Montenegrins, as well as Montenegro should be a the integrity” of his coun- separate entity. The SPC bombs try. Djukanovic had been is the dominant religion in eager to curb the SPC’s the small state but its clout in Montenegro and opponents accuse it of build up an independent serving Belgrade’s inter- Orthodox church. ests. And the government that assumed power at the end of 2020 is accused by its opponents of being ‘Benefits and privileges’ CETINJE: A man walks past burning tires at a barricade set up to block access roads to the historic city of too close to the church. According to images But in August 2020 elections the DPS lost - for Cetinje during a protest against the inauguration of the new head of the Serbian Orthodox Church yesterday released by the SPC, Joanikije and Patriarch Porfirije the first time in three decades - to an opposition in Montenegro. —AFP were dropped off by helicopter on the monastery’s bloc led by SPC allies. Prime Minister Zdravko lawn and rushed in under the sound of bells. Krivokapic, who is close to the†Serbian Orthodox Church, has accused Djukanovic of having deliber- The monastery, where Montenegrin leaders sat Orthodox world. Metropolitan Joanikije was named ‘Defending our dignity ately stoked the recent tensions for political purpos- for centuries until the end of World War I, is consid- to his new post in May, after the death of his prede- A security perimeter had been set up by police es. Krivokapic called on Montenegrins “not to give ered by SPC opponents the property of the cessor Metropolitan Amfilohije from COVID-19. around the 15th century building to protect the in to the manipulation” of those willing to risk con- Montenegrin Orthodox Church, which remains a The protesters abandoned the blockades as the brief enthronement ceremony. Police fired tear gas flict “in order to keep their benefits and privileges”. small minority and is not recognized by the enthronement ceremony began. —AFP

able: The air on Mars has a density NASA’s tiny equivalent to only one percent that of Earth’s atmosphere. By way of compar- ison, flying a helicopter on Mars would Salah Abdeslam, Mars copter be like flying one in the thin air nearly 30 km above Earth. Nor was it easy the ‘10th man’ of still flying high getting to Mars in the first place. Ingenuity had to withstand the initial WASHINGTON: It was only supposed shock of takeoff from Earth, and then of the Paris attacks to fly five times. And yet NASA’s heli- the Feb 18 landing on the red planet fol- copter on Mars, Ingenuity, has com- lowing a seven-month voyage through PARIS: The sole surviving member of the terror cell pleted 12 flights and it isn’t ready to space, strapped to the rover’s belly. that massacred 130 people in Paris in November 2015 retire. Given its stunning and unex- Once in its new surroundings, the was a pot-smoking party man who dabbled in petty pected success, the US space agency tiny (1.8 kilogram) copter has had to crime before falling in thrall to the Islamic State group. has extended Ingenuity’s mission survive the glacial cold of Martian All eyes will be on Salah Abdeslam on Wednesday indefinitely. The tiny helicopter has nights, drawing warmth from the solar when he goes on trial in Paris along with 19 others over become the regular travel companion panels that charge its batteries during the worst terror attack in France’s history. But those of the rover Perseverance, whose core the day. And its flights are guided hoping that the so-called 10th man of the Islamic State mission is to seek signs of ancient life using an array of sensors, since the 15- attacks will tell all about what drove him to be part of on Mars. minute lag in communications from IN SPACE: This file NASA photo shows NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter (right) the macabre plot risk being disappointed. “Everything is working so well,” said Earth makes real-time guidance captured by Mars Perseverance rover using its Left Mastcam-Z Camera. —AFP Since his arrest after a massive four-month man- Josh Ravich, the head of Ingenuity’s impossible. hunt that ended in a shootout with police in Belgium, mechanical engineering team. “We’re On April 19, Ingenuity carried out its Ravich, who works for NASA’s famed has gone smoothly. Its sixth flight Abdeslam has maintained near-total silence on his role doing better on the surface than we maiden flight, making history as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which brought some excitement. in the bloodshed. Nine other gunmen and suicide had expected.” Hundreds of people first motorized craft to fly on another developed the helicopter. After being knocked dangerously bombers died in the carnage, including Abdeslam’s contributed to the project, though only planet. Exceeding all expectations, it Since then, Ingenuity has flown as off-balance by a malfunction affecting brother Brahim, who blew himself up in a bar. Like about a dozen currently retain day-to- has gone on to fly 11 more times. high as 12 m, and its last flight lasted the photos taken in flight to help it sta- Brahim he was equipped with a suicide belt, but he did day roles. Ravich joined the team five “We’ve actually been able to handle two minutes and 49 seconds. In all, it bilize, the tiny craft was able to recover. not activate the device, which was found in a rubbish years ago. “When I got the opportunity winds greater than we had expected,” has covered a distance of 2.5 km. In It landed, safe and sound, and the bin in southern Paris several days after the killings. to come work on the helicopter project, Ravich told AFP. “I think by flight three May, Ingenuity flew its first one-way problem was resolved. Ingenuity is now The 31-year-old, who has French citizenship but I think I had the same reaction as any- we had actually accomplished all of our mission, landing outside the relatively being sent out to scout the way for grew up in Belgium, is accused of playing a key logis- body else: ‘Is that even possible?’” engineering goals ... (and) got all the flat “airfield” that had been carefully Perseverance, using its high-resolution tical role in the attacks. He drove the three suicide His initial doubts were understand- information we had hoped to get,” said selected as its initial home. But not all color camera. —AFP bombers who blew themselves up outside the Stade de France to their destination. Abdeslam also rented cars and hideouts and drove across Europe in the is on a scale unmatched in recent times. months before the attacks to collect jihadists who had France’s biggest It will last nine months until late May slipped into the continent unnoticed among masses of 2022, with 145 days for hearings involv- migrants. He told police shortly after his arrest that he trial to open over ing about 330 lawyers, 300 victims and too had been primed to carry out a suicide attack at former president Francois Hollande who Stade de France, one of six venues targeted in the 2015 attacks will testify in November. The case file Paris attacks, but that he had backed out at the last runs to a million pages in 542 volumes, minute. Investigators have cast doubt on that claim, PARIS: The biggest trial in France’s measuring 53 meters across. saying they believe he was intent on seeing through modern legal history begins on his mission but was hamstrung by a faulty explosive Wednesday over the November 2015 Security alert belt. Whatever the outcome of the trial he is likely to attacks on Paris that saw 130 people Surviving gunman Abdeslam, a spend many years behind bars, being just three years slaughtered at bars, restaurants and the Belgium-born French-Moroccan, fled into a 20-year sentence for attempted murder over Bataclan concert hall. The suicide bomb- the scene of the carnage after abandon- the firefight with Belgian police. ing and gun assault by three teams of ing his suicide belt, which investigators jihadists, later claimed by the Islamic found to be defective. Abdeslam, now 31, Dope-smoking clubber State group, was France’s worst post- was later captured in Brussels, hiding in One of the world’s most-wanted spent the imme- war atrocity. A purpose-built facility at a building close to his family home, after diate aftermath of the Paris attacks eating fries and the historic court of justice on the Ile de four months on the run. He has resolutely chatting with two unsuspecting teenagers in the stair- la Cite in central Paris will host the trial, refused to cooperate with the French well of a Paris high-rise while waiting to be driven with 14 of the 20 defendants present, investigation and remained largely silent throughout a separate trial in Belgium in PARIS: A man looks at the memorial plaque near the Bataclan theatre and across the border to Belgium. It was only when his including the only surviving attacker, Cafe in Paris where jihadists attacked and killed 90 people. —AFP mugshot was released by police days later that the Salah Abdeslam. 2018 that saw him declare only that he pair realized the man who was looking over their “Everyone has their own expecta- put his “trust in Allah” and that the court shoulder at a news item about the attacks was one of tions, but we know that this is an impor- was biased. A major question is whether State-controlled regions of Syria as cov- dead, mainly in air strikes in Syria, the chief suspects. In the Brussels suburb of tant milestone for our future lives,” said he will speak at his scheduled testimony er. Fourteen of the accused - who face a including French jihadist brothers Fabien Molenbeek, where he grew up, Abdeslam was known Arthur Denouveaux, a survivor of the in mid-January 2022. range of charges from providing logisti- and Jean-Michel Clain. The alleged for his bad-boy lifestyle of petty crime, smoking Bataclan music venue attack and presi- Another focus of the trial will be on cal support, to planning and weapons coordinator, Belgian national weed and gambling. An inveterate clubber, he also dent of the Life for Paris victims’ associ- how the squad of killers managed to offences - are expected to be present in Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was killed by had a reputation as a womanizer. ation. The trial over the traumatic jihadist come undetected into France, allegedly court. Six more suspects are being tried French police northeast of Paris five days His multiple brushes with the law included a con- killings, which were planned from Syria, using the flow of migrants from Islamic in absentia. Five of them are presumed after the attacks. —AFP viction for attempted robbery in 2010 with a child- hood friend, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the coordinator of to the White House have voiced alarm at the high AFP bounty hunting was a profession “deeply embed- the Paris attacks who was shot dead by French police Guns for hire: court’s break with 50 years of precedent in protecting ded in the American psyche... that speaks to the most in a siege a week later. Abdeslam, who grew up in a nationwide access to abortion. “In effect, (Texas) has conservative of US citizens.” The vast majority of family of five children, worked as a technician for the deputized the state’s citizens as bounty hunters, offer- bounty hunters make their living by rounding up fugi- Brussels tram network but was fired for skipping New abortion law ing them cash prizes for civilly prosecuting their neigh- tives who have skipped town in return for a share of work in 2011. In later years, he spent much of his time bors’ medical procedures,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor the bail. They argue that they provide a public service hanging out in a cafe run by Brahim. Friends of the wrote in a stinging dissent. at no public expense. brothers say they became hooked on the Islamic sparks debate Activists who fear the reform will metastasize saw the But the Texas abortion law has reignited debate on State after the Sunni radical group proclaimed a writing on the wall when the Texas Right to Life campaign, a job that can unleash freelance law enforcement per- WASHINGTON: The phrase “bounty hunter” conjures caliphate in Iraq and Syria in 2014. They say they which has tip lines for people to anonymously report vio- sonnel whose methods are often protected from local images of “wanted” posters and gunslinging cowboys lators, said it hoped to “replicate our success across the oversight. President Joe Biden told reporters at the stopped drinking, showed a new-found interest in hunting fugitives in the Wild West - but the controver- nation.” Their concerns were confirmed when South White House on Friday the Texas law amounted to Islam and huddled with other would-be jihadists to sial profession is very much alive in modern-day Dakota’s Republican governor Kristi Noem was among “vigilante” justice that “sounds ridiculous, almost un- imbibe IS propaganda. In February 2015, Belgian America. The industry, almost unique to the United the first to suggest adopting the idea in her own state. American.” In one of the most high profile recent police summoned Salah Abdeslam to discuss States, came under a renewed spotlight this week as Bounty hunting spread across the globe from the incidents of citizen law enforcement gone wrong in Abaaoud who had appeared in a gruesome video the Supreme Court refused to block a Texas law giving Middle Ages but is found almost exclusively today in 2017, two bounty hunters died in a shootout in a from Syria, showing him driving a pick-up that was ordinary citizens the green light to sue anyone helping the United States and the Philippines. Tristan Cabello, Greenville, Texas car dealership, along with the fugi- dragging mutilated bodies to a mass grave. —AFP women access abortions. a historian specializing in US culture and politics, told tive they were hired to apprehend. —AFP Activists and politicians from street level campaigns Established 1961 7 Monday, September 6, 2021 International Taleban push deep into Panjshir Valley holdout Afghan civil war ‘likely’: Top US general

KABUL: Taleban fighters have advanced deep into Both sides claim to have inflicted heavy losses on Civil war ‘likely’ Afghanistan’s holdout Panjshir Valley, with resistance each other. “The Taleban army has been hardened with Afghanistan will “likely” erupt in civil war, the top fighters saying they are keeping the Islamists at bay, 20 years of war, and make no mistake, the Taleban US general told US media Saturday, warning that but analysts warned they are struggling. Italian aid trained an army,” Roggio tweeted Sunday, adding that those conditions could see a resurgence of terrorist agency Emergency, which runs a hospital in Panjshir, “the odds were long” for the Panjshir resistance. “The groups in the country. As American forces began their said Taleban forces had reached the village of Anabah, Taleban army was injected with a massive amount of withdrawal, the Taleban took over Afghanistan in a where they run a surgical centre. “Many people have weapons and munitions after the US withdrawal and lightning campaign, with only the northern province fled from local villages in recent days,” Emergency collapse of the ANA” (Afghan National Army), he Panjshir holding out against the hardline Islamists. “My said in a statement, adding it was continuing to pro- added. Fighters in Panjshir held out for a decade military estimate... is that the conditions are likely to vide medical services. against the Soviet military and also the Taleban’s first develop of a civil war,” General Mark Milley, chairman regime from 1996-2001. of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Fox News. Ali Maisam Nazary-who is not in Panjshir but He questioned whether the Taleban-who are yet to Resistance remains a spokesman for the resistance-boasted yes- declare a government-would be able to consolidate pow- terday that the resistance “will never fail”. But former er and establish effective governance. “I think there’s at fighters ‘keeping vice-president Amrullah Saleh, who is holed out in least a very good probability of a broader civil war and Panjshir alongside Ahmad Massoud-the son of leg- that will then in turn lead to conditions that could, in fact, Islamists endary anti-Taleban commander Ahmad Shah lead to a reconstitution of Al-Qaeda or a growth of ISIS at bay’ Massoud-warned of a grim situation. Saleh in a state- or other... terrorist groups,” Milley said. Emphasizing that ment spoke of a “large-scale humanitarian crisis”, with he could not predict what would happen next in thousands “displaced by the Taleban onslaught”. Afghanistan, he nonetheless gave a bleak assessment. Pro-Taleban social media have boasted of captur- “The conditions are very likely,” Milley told Fox “There has so far been no interference with ing swathes of the valley, but Nick Waters from the News, “that you could see a resurgence of terrorism Emergency’s activities,” it said. “We have received a investigative website Bellingcat said the posts did not coming out of that general region within 12, 24, 36 small number of wounded people at the Anabah include verifiable photographs to back up the claims. months.” The United States invaded Afghanistan and Surgical Centre.” Anabah lies some 25 kilometers “It will be quite easy to verify a video showing toppled the first Taleban regime in 2001 in the wake of PANJSHIR: An Afghan resistance movement and anti- north inside the 115-km-long valley, but unconfirmed Taleban within the Panjshir valley,” Waters said. The the 9/11 attacks by Al-Qaeda, which had sanctuary in Taleban uprising forces personnel takes part in a mili- reports suggested the Taleban had seized other areas Panjshir Valley, surrounded by jagged snow-capped the country. Western governments fear Afghanistan tary training at Malimah area of Dara district in too. Bill Roggio, managing editor of the US-based peaks, offers a natural defensive advantage, with fight- could again become a haven for extremists bent on Panjshir province as the valley remains the last major Long War Journal, said Sunday that there was still a ers melting away in the face of advancing forces, then attacking them. The United States has said it will main- holdout of anti-Taleban forces. - AFP “fog of war” with unconfirmed reports the Taleban had launching ambushes firing from the high tops down tain an “over-the-horizon” capability to strike against captured multiple districts-but that “it looks bad”. into the valley. any threats to its security in Afghanistan.— Agencies

Haiti racing to rebuild News in brief schools destroyed Gunfire in Guinea capital in earthquake CONAKRY: Heavy gunfire rang out in the cen- tre of the Guinean capital Conkary yesterday PORT-AU-PRINCE: Haiti is struggling to send chil- morning and troops were seen on the streets, dren back to class amid the devastation of the earth- with a Western diplomat in the city describing quake last month that killed more than 2,200 people and the events as an attempted coup. The govern- destroyed tens of thousands of buildings, including ment in the west African nation has not yet com- many schools. It is a logistical and humanitarian chal- mented on the situation. The whereabouts of lenge in the disaster-prone country - the poorest in the President Alpha Conde is not yet clear. Guinea - Americas - one that never fully recovered from the huge one of the world’s poorest countries despite quake in 2010 that killed more than 200,000 people and boasting significant mineral resources - has long caused billions in damage. been beset by political instability. Yesterday, Classes for most students, initially scheduled to start residents reached by telephone in Conakry’s September 6, have been pushed back by two weeks. Kaloum peninsula - the government quarter - And they have been postponed until October 4 in the reported hearing sustained gunfire. Speaking on three southern departments hardest hit by the 7.2 mag- condition of anonymity for their safety, they nitude quake of August 14. In those areas, many families reported seeing a number of soldiers on the lost everything. Word of the delayed start to the school streets who called on residents to return to their year launched a countdown for aid workers, who have SRINAGAR: Indian paramilitary troopers patrol along a road in Srinagar yesterday as thousands of Indian security homes and stay there. One resident said that he raced to help the very needy people in the southern forces maintained a lockdown across Kashmir after the death of a separatist political leader sparked clashes had seen a “column of military vehicles with departments. with protesters. - AFP excited soldiers” on board, driving towards the city centre. — AFP Schools destroyed “Of the 2,800 schools in the three affected areas, 955 told the visiting police officers that they had taken con- have been assessed by the government with support Late Kashmir leader’s trol of everything after my father’s death and that we from UNICEF, and the first results show that 15 percent were mourning. We had no way of knowing who was of them were destroyed and 69 percent were damaged,” family charged under doing what,” the son said yesterday. Bruno Maes, head of UNICEF in Haiti. “It is going to be A video widely shared on social media showed the a race against time because it is just a few weeks to set leader’s body wrapped in a Pakistani flag before police up protective, safe learning shelters for children in these anti-terror law officers took itaway amid a scuffle with his family mem- three departments so they do not miss another school bers. Chants of “we want freedom” were heard in the year,” Maes said. background during the mayhem. Authorities yesterday SRINAGAR: The family of a separatist icon from The 2019-2020 school year ended in March of last eased a lockdown imposed to maintain calm after his Indian-administered Kashmir has been charged under a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The following death across Kashmir, allowing for limited movement. An sweeping anti-terrorism law for allegedly chanting anti- school year was then disrupted for many Haitians by internet and mobile phone shutdown was partially eased New Delhi slogans and wrapping his body with CONAKRY: Members of the Armed Forces of Guinea widespread violence from powerful street gangs. In late on Saturday. Geelani, a popular figure in the region, Pakistan’s flag after he died, officials said. Tensions in the drive through the central neighborhood of Kaloum 2020 and early this year, gang members carried out spent over five decades fighting for self-determination Himalayan territory, which is disputed between India and in Conakry yesterday after sustainable gunfire was many kidnappings for ransom, abducting children or for people in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Islamabad Pakistan, have been heightened since Syed Ali Geelani heard. - AFP teachers near schools in the capital Port-au-Prince. observed a day of national mourning after Geelani’s died on Wednesday at the age of 92 in the main city of About 150 kilometers from Port-au-Prince, the crime death and funeral prayers for the leader were held across Srinagar. wave largely spared†Camp-Perrin, but the area was hard Pakistan and in Turkey. In Srinagar, Indian troops are Police in Kashmir said a case under the Unlawful hit by the quake. guarding Geelani’s grave and no-one is allowed to Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) - which effectively Four killed in suicide blast Welcoming children back to school is a particular approach it. Anger has simmered in the territory since allows people to be held without trial indefinitely-was headache for private schools, which account for 80 per- 2019 when New Delhi controversially revoked the registered on Saturday against Geelani’s family. The fam- QUETTA: Four Pakistani paramilitary guards cent of the schools in Haiti. “We have students who have region’s semi-autonomy and brought it under direct rule. ily were accused of “raising anti-national slogans and were killed yesterday when a suicide bomber on not yet paid their tuition for the 2017-2018 school year,” Residents in the Muslim-majority region say repres- resorting to other anti-national activities” at the influen- a motorbike blew himself up in the southwestern said Maxime Eugene, a teacher at Mazenod high school. sion has intensified in the two years since the changes. tial resistance leader’s home soon after his death. They city of Quetta, police said. The bomber targeted “We cannot send them home and make them miss a year India has used the vaguely-worded UAPA legislation have not yet been detained by police. Frontier Constabulary guards in the Mian of school over money,” he said. The quake destroyed against thousands of Kashmiri residents, journalists and His son Naseem Geelani did not deny the allegations Ghundi neighborhood of the city - around 140 every classroom in that well-known Catholic school. dissidents, according to activists. Rebel groups have but repeated earlier claims that police took his father’s kilometers from the frontier with Afghanistan - Soldiers have cleared away the debris but school offi- been fighting Indian forces for decades, demanding body away to be buried in the middle of the night just where Hazara Shiite merchants were trading cials are still waiting for help to get the scholastic year independence for the territory or its merger with hours after his death, and did not allow the family to per- vegetables. Three died immediately in the blast, going. —AFP Pakistan that controls a part of it. Tens of thousands have form last rites. Police have refuted those allegations. “We with another officer dying later of his wounds, died in the fighting, most civilians.— AFP said Azhar Akram, a deputy inspector general of police. Akram told AFP that 17 guards and two lines and water mains, he said. Nicole Gelinas, an has made threats from climate change a priority, flew civilians were wounded in the blast. Three are in Climate change urban economics expert at the Manhattan Institute, to Louisiana, where more than 800,000 people a critical condition, he said. A spokesman for the another think-tank, said New York’s infrastructure remained without power after Ida made landfall as a police’s Counter-Terrorism Department con- blamed for havoc in “was not built for seven inches of rainfall in a few Category 4 storm. He said costly improvements to the firmed the attack. Quetta is home to approxi- hours.” Drains for the city’s sewer system get clogged, levee system around New Orleans after the far dead- mately 500,000 Hazaras, who mostly live in an Gelinas said, and “there’s not enough green space to lier Hurricane Katrina in 2005 had proved their worth ethnic enclave on the edge of the city.— AFP northeast floods catch some of the water before it runs into the drains. in preventing more catastrophic damage this time. “So some of these avenues, they become canals when Similarly transformative infrastructure projects - there’s a big storm.” rather than simply rebuilding - will have to become the NEW YORK: Climate change and creaky infrastruc- New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania were the new norm, he said, pushing for passage of his giant Sao Tome holds election ture have been blamed for the scale of the impact from hardest hit by Ida, which ravaged the southern state of $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill in Congress. “Things floods tearing through New York City when remnants Louisiana and the Gulf Coast earlier in the week have changed so drastically in terms of the environ- of Hurricane Ida swept across the US northeast, killing LIBREVILLE: Sao Tome and Principe, a tiny before sweeping northeast. President Joe Biden, who ment, you’ve already crossed a certain threshold,” he Portuguese-speaking archipelago widely at least 47 people. “We are in a whole different world,” said. “You can’t build back a road, a highway or a New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said after the flash praised for its strong democracy, was voting bridge to what it was before.” New Jersey Governor yesterday in the second round of a presidential floods. “This is a different challenge.” Record rain Phil Murphy said Storm Ida had left 25 people dead in election after two postponements. The runoff turned streets into rivers and shut down subway serv- his state, most of them “individuals who got caught in was initially scheduled for August 8 but was ices as water cascaded onto tracks. Nearly a dozen their vehicles.” Thirteen deaths were reported in New postponed until August 29 before being people drowned in basement apartments. York City, including 11 victims who could not escape rescheduled again after a candidate complained The extreme weather, combined with a lack of their basements, police said. preparation, stretched the United States’ biggest city Three people were killed in the New York suburb about the results in the first round. The country to breaking point. “It’s no big surprise that the city of Westchester, while another five died in Pennsylvania is a former Portuguese colony of 210,000 peo- seems to break down every time there’s a big storm,” and one - a state trooper - in Connecticut, officials ple in the Gulf of Guinea off West Africa, whose said Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the think- said. “I’m 50 years old and I’ve never seen that much parliamentary system has fostered a tradition of tank Center for an Urban Future. “The city’s infrastruc- rain ever,” said Metodija Mihajlov, whose Manhattan peaceful transitions of power. It opened up to a ture hasn’t kept pace with the population growth that restaurant basement was flooded with three inches of multiparty system in 1991 after 15 years of sin- New York’s had in the last couple of decades, let alone water. “It was like living in the jungle, like tropical rain. gle-party rule by a Marxist regime. Carlos Vila the increasing ferocity of storms, and rising sea levels Unbelievable. Everything is so strange this year,” Nova of the centre-right opposition Independent Democratic Action (ADI) party led that have come with climate change,” Bowles said. LOUISIANA: A sign for a beach resort rests among Mihajlov said. The National Weather Service recorded While there has been a lot of investment in big 3.15 inches of rain in New York’s Central Park in just an the first round of voting on July 18 with 39.5 storm debris in the wake of Hurricane Ida in Grand percent of the vote. — AFP projects - train stations, airports, new bridges - less Isle, Louisiana. — AFP hour - beating a record set just last month during funding has gone to “unsexy” projects such as sewer Storm Henri.—AFP Established 1961

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2021 Business Troubled German IAA auto show opens under climate, COVID cloud Biennial event to spotlight electric cars, scooters and even bicycles

MUNICH: Germany’s revamped IAA auto show, Climate litigation one of the world’s largest, opens in Munich tomor- Climate campaigners have vowed to disrupt row for a celebration of all things car-related, but the IAA by staging protests on Friday and climate concerns and pandemic woes threaten to Saturday, when the general public is invited. spoil the party. After a disappointing edition in Similar “civil disobedience” rallies at times 2019, marred by environmental protests, poor visi- blocked access to the IAA in Frankfurt in 2019, tor numbers and no-shows from major automakers, leaving visitors waiting outside for hours. the biennial event has reinvented itself as a “mobil- The threat of legal action against polluters will ity fair” with a spotlight on electric cars, scooters also hang over the fair, after Greenpeace and and even bicycles. Germany’s DUH environmental group threatened Historically held in Frankfurt, the IAA will for Friday to file lawsuits against Volkswagen, BMW the first time take place in the Bavarian city of and Daimler if they do not speed up efforts to Munich as part of efforts to revive the event. The reduce carbon emissions. six-day fair will be one of the biggest exhibitions The plaintiffs want the German car giants to since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, com- stop producing diesel or petrol cars by 2030, ing just as Germany grapples with a fourth wave. arguing that their current pledges for electrifica- To reduce the infection risk, daily visitor num- tion are vague and non-binding. The plaintiffs bers are capped at 80,000 and guests must show are emboldened by landmark recent court deci- proof of vaccination, recovery or a recent negative sions in favor of climate protection, including a test before entering. Confirming a trend seen at German verdict that forced Merkel’s government auto shows around the world, many well-known to commit to faster CO2 reduction so as not to brands will again skip the showcase, chief among place an unfair burden on future generations. them the Stellantis group (Peugeot-Fiat Chrysler) and Japan’s Toyota. Chip shortage FRANKFURT: Visitors are pictured at the booth of German car maker Volkswagen at the International Auto Also absent will be leading electric car-maker The health crisis has meanwhile left its mark Show (IAA), in Frankfurt am Main, on September 11, 2019. The German IAA motor show opens tomorrow in Tesla, leaving IAA organizers to hope that this on the industry in other ways. While carmakers Munich.—AFP year’s more than 70 bicycle exhibitors will keep initially recovered quickly from last year’s show- audiences satisfied-and attract new ones. room and factory shutdowns, a pandemic-fuelled Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is bowing out of surge in demand for home electronics has led to in August. In France, they were 15 percent lower. sidiary is to offer a fully electric sedan with politics after a general election on September 26, a global shortage in computer chips that threat- In China, the world’s biggest car market, sales semi-autonomous driving functions. will give a speech tomorrow when the fair opens to ens to slow the auto industry’s recovery. have “clearly lost momentum”, according to auto Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler will launch a trade visitors. The semiconductor crunch has forced industry analyst Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer. battery-powered luxury Maybach concept Once known as the “car chancellor” for her automakers worldwide to trim production, car. The group’s Smart brand will show off a efforts to shield German carmakers from tougher including at General Motors, VW and Stellantis. Electric surprises small electric SUV. BMW plans to present a EU pollution rules, the veteran leader is likely to As a result, car sales are expected to remain Although car manufacturers are increasingly hydrogen-powered SUV, as well as its vision touch on the industry’s costly transition towards below pre-pandemic levels for a while longer. unveiling new models online, exhibitors are sav- for a fully recyclable electric car made entire- greener engines, even if critics say change isn’t In Europe’s top economy Germany, new car ing a few surprises for the IAA. VW will debut a ly from recycled material and renewable happening fast enough. registrations were down 23 percent year-on-year plug-in hybrid T7 multivan, while its Audi sub- resources. —AFP Nespresso adds two new limited-edition coffees to its Ispirazione Italiana range TotalEnergies signs KUWAIT: Nespresso is adding two new limited-edi- meanwhile, takes its aromatic cues from new trends of tion coffees to its Ispirazione Italiana range for artisanal roasting sweeping the country, alongside $27billion oil, gas, Original system inspired by the art of Italian master growing preferences for brighter, fruitier flavors. To roasters and the tastes they so skillfully craft. Over the achieve this fresh, modern taste, lighter and shorter centuries, just as new artistic movements have roasted Brazilian and Colombian Arabicas have been solar deal in Iraq emerged and grown, coffee roasting styles have also blended with beans from the Indian subcontinent. The BAGHDAD: French energy giant TotalEnergies has evolved. Indeed, despite Italy’s long coffee history, the result is a well-rounded and pleasantly intense coffee signed a $27-billion contract to invest in oil, gas and specialty coffee scene in the country is flourishing. with spicy notes, fine acidity and hint of fruit. solar energy production in Iraq, the country’s oil Nespresso has captured the tastes and aromas of 3. Spoon the hot milk foam onto the coffee. minister said yesterday. The announcement of the both the traditional and modern with Ispirazione Art comes in many roasts 4. Sprinkle 3g brown sugar over the milk and deal, supposed in part to reduce Iraq’s reliance on Novecento and Ispirazione Millennio, each of them a Nespresso’s Ispirazione Italiana is more than a caramelize it using a blow torch. fossil fuels, came as minister Ihsan Ismail signed the true masterpiece of Italian roasting history. range of Italian-inspired coffee, it’s a skillfully crafted 5. Sprinkle some flakes of grilled almond over the top contract at a Baghdad ceremony with TotalEnergies masterpiece, balancing varied aromas, tastes, and and finish with lemon zest. chief Patrick Pouyanne. TotalEnergies has not directly Take a trip back in time with geographical influences. The permanent range of sev- Padova Style Mint Cocoa - with Ispirazione confirmed to AFP the value of the contract. “This is Ispirazione Novecento en coffee capsules offers a broad variety of espressos Millennio the largest investment in Iraq by a Western compa- New Limited Edition Ispirazione Novecento has and ristrettos, each capturing the roasting essence of 1. Pour 100ml of skimmed milk into the Nespresso ny,” Ismail said. “Implementing these projects is the been inspired by the classic Italian espressos of the an Italian city or region, from the spicy North African Barista device. Add 5ml of mint syrup. Close the lid, challenge we face now.” 1940s. It is a smoky dark cup that paints a picture of influences in Palermo to the rich depth of history of select “CafÈ Viennois” and press start. Iraq has immense reserves of oil and gas. But the country’s early stand-up coffee bars, in an era Rome. The range is available in Original with certain 2. Extract 40ml of Ispirazione Millennio into an despite being the number two producer in the when roasting was slower and often wood-fired, and coffees also lending themselves to being prepared as espresso glass. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, blends were dictated by the beans available in wartime longer coffees with milk. 3. Spoon the milk foam onto the coffee. it is experiencing an acute energy crisis and chronic Europe. Anchored in Brazil, Ispirazione Novecento is 4. Sprinkle some fresh mint leaves over the foam and blackouts that fuel social discontent. Officials justify embellished with heirloom Arabicas and West African Almond Lemon Brulee - with Ispirazione Novocento dust with cocoa powder. the lack of investment and the dilapidated state of its Robustas to give an intense espresso with raw spicy, 1. Pour 100ml of semi-skimmed milk into the Limited editions Ispirazione Novecento and energy network by citing falling oil prices, which nutty brown flavors and a dense, dark crema. Nespresso Barista device. Close the lid, select Ispirazione Millennio will be available online and at represent more than 90 percent of state revenue. “Cappuccino” and press start. Nespresso boutiques. For further information on the The country is highly dependent on neighboring Step into the modern with Ispirazione Millennio 2. Extract 25ml of Ispirazione Novecento into an Ispirazione Italiana range, please visit kw.buynespres- Iran, which supplies it with a third of its gas and elec- Nespresso’s Limited Edition Ispirazione Millennio, espresso glass. so.com tricity needs. However, Baghdad currently owes Tehran six billion dollars for energy already supplied. The contract inked yesterday with TotalEnergies ployed. “I think it’s going to be an underappreciated covers four projects, an Iraqi oil ministry source said ‘Silent crisis’ looms event in the economy,” said Andrew Stettner of pro- ahead of the signing ceremony. gressive think tank The Century Foundation, predict- One of these aims to pipe seawater from the Gulf as US to end COVID ing that 7.5 million people will be relying on the pro- to southern Iraqi oilfields. Water is used to extract oil grams when they end. “It’ll be kind of a silent crisis.” from subterranean deposits. Two projects focus on aid for millions of jobless extracting and exploiting gas in southern Iraq, which ‘Screwed over’ is rich in fossil fuel deposits. The fourth project will WASHINGTON: Spending less on food. Drawing The expansion of the unemployment safety net see the installation of a solar farm in Artawi, near the down on retirement savings. Dropping out of the occurred in March 2020, when Congress rushed to southern port of Basra. The Iraqi source said that workforce altogether. Last year, the United States blunt the emerging pandemic with $2.2 trillion in ultimately, the solar panels should produce “1,000 massively expanded unemployment aid as COVID- spending through the CARES Act rescue package. megawatts” of electricity, the equivalent of the ener- gy produced by a nuclear reactor. 19 broke out. But in the coming days those benefits While never meant to be permanent, the benefits “Iraq will not pay anything,” the source added. were reauthorized twice, most recently in the $1.9 will end, forcing millions of jobless Americans-some France’s former Total, which has renamed itself of whom haven’t worked for the entire pandemic-to trillion American Rescue Plan enacted by President TotalEnergies to symbolize a diversification into make hard choices about how they will get by in an Joe Biden and his Democratic allies in Congress last TORRANCE, US: In this file photo taken on June 23, 2021 an employer holds flyers for hospitality employment dur- cleaner sources of power, is one of the world’s top economy newly menaced by the Delta variant. March. While many in the Republican Party at first five energy companies. While still focused on oil and “I have no idea how we would survive, just on my backed the programs, by this year their lawmakers ing a Zislis Group job fair at The Brew Hall in Torrance, California. —AFP gas, the company has indicated that this year it will daughter’s income,” said Deborah Lee, an unem- were arguing against them, and 26 states, most with devote 20 percent of its growth investments to elec- ployed phlebotomist in Arizona who is recovering Republican governors, moved to end them early in tricity and renewable energies. —AFP from a COVID outbreak that affected her daughter whole or in part. and two of her three granddaughters. A study published last month by researchers retire, but worries she’ll have to start dipping into The government-funded programs that increased from American and Canadian universities found only her retirement savings once the long-term unem- weekly payments and gave aid to the long-term modest improvements in hiring and earnings in ployment program ends. unemployed and freelancers were credited with some of those states that ended the aid early, while “There’s just nothing out there. There’s jobs, but keeping the United States from an even worse eco- spending fell 20 percent. Meanwhile, the economy the money’s not there anymore,” Coldwell said. nomic collapse last year. In recent months they have is far from healed, with 5.3 million jobs lost to the Others can’t return to the workforce, even though become controversial, with some states ending them pandemic yet to be restored and employers adding they know the benefits that make up their only early and arguing they encouraged people not to a mere 235,000 positions in August, according to income are ending. Brooke Ganieany of The Dalles, return to jobs that COVID-19 vaccines made safe, government data released Friday. Oregon, said she has no one to care for her toddler though studies have disputed that contention. In Delaware, Ohio, Karen Coldwell says she son if she were to find employment. From September 6 they will end nationwide, and sends out about 10 job applications weekly but has “I feel kind of screwed over,” the 21-year-old while economists don’t expect them to meaningfully yet to be hired. All other openings she sees are for told AFP. “I feel like they’re doing this to make us dent the US economy’s recovery from its 2020 deba- low-wage work, the kind of jobs she held when she have a plan and get back to reality, which is not cle, they’ll undoubtedly up the pressure on the unem- was younger. At age 64 she is not yet ready to exactly the slogan they should be using.” —AFP Established 1961 9 Monday, September 6, 2021 Business Cloud and Microsoft will create 13,100 jobs in Kuwait by 2024: IDC Kuwait IT sector’s annual growth to reach $1.3 billion by 2024

KUWAIT: Kuwait is accelerating its adoption of technolo- gy with large-scale investments that will create 13,100 new Institute for Supply Management’s gauge, manufac- jobs in the economy, enabled through cloud and Microsoft’s NBK Money Market Report turing activity registered at 59.9 following 59.5 in July, ecosystem, according to new research by the International moving more comfortably away from the 50 mark Data Corporation (IDC). This expansion results from an which delimitates expansion and contraction. expected 3.5 times rise in public cloud services in the coun- try, from approximately $32.0 million in 2019 to $112.3 mil- US non-farm Manufacturers struggle lion in 2024. German manufacturers struggled to keep up with This IDC White Paper discusses the impact that IT, cloud jobs report demand in August due to rising prices and supply services, and the Microsoft ecosystem will have on Kuwait’s shortages for raw materials and components such as economy during the 2019-2024 period. It builds on more semiconductors. The IHS Markit’s final Purchasing than a decade of analysis around the economic impact of IT jolts markets Managers’ Index fell to 62.6 from 65.9 in July, marking on local economies. The study finds that together with investments in public, private, and hybrid cloud solutions, the the lowest level for the index in 6 months while KUWAIT: The jobs report for August 2021 shocked Kuwaiti economy will enable businesses to generate nearly remaining comfortably above the 50-expansion mark. $1.3 billion in net new revenues over the next five years. The markets with weaker than estimated jobs data fueling As growth in new orders rises towards the highest on report further stated that Microsoft ecosystem is projected concerns over the pace of the economic recovery in record, output has fallen behind an extent unseen in to add 8,200 net new jobs to the Kuwaiti economy. the US. The data surfaced at a time when the Federal over 25 years. The German economy rebounded in “Cloud computing is a crucial pivot to successfully tran- Reserve is considering a reduction in their stimulus Q2 of 2021, registering a growth rate of 1.6 percent sitioning through the digital transformation. And we have program. The Labor Department report showed non- compared to the previous three months alongside the dedicated ourselves to spreading the culture of the cloud farm payrolls increased by 235K last month, a miss of easing of COVID-19 restrictions. Moving forward, and other impactful technologies such as AI, and data ana- 490K from expectations of a 725K increase. the government expects growth of 3.5 percent this lytics, within the public and private sectors through the many Nevertheless, the unemployment rate fell from 5.4 year and 3.6 percent for the next. tech-influenced initiatives,” said Dr Ammar Al-Husaini, percent to 5.2 percent and average hourly earnings Deputy Director General at Central Agency for Information increased by 4.3 percent. Eurozone inflation Technology. “The current workforce requires the best in Following the release of the data, the US dollar fell Eurozone inflation surged to a 10-year-high this training and skilling, as we equip them with the right tools, to a 1-month low of 91.947 as the labor market wasn’t month with further rises still likely to come, challenging knowledge, and know-how to enrich their journey in growth as resilient as the markets were expecting. The single the European Central Bank’s benign view on price and building a brighter future for the country.” The imple- investments into small and medium-sized enterprises currency advanced to a 2 month high of 1.1909. growth and its commitment to look past what it deems a mentation of today’s smart tech will provide more job (SMEs), and increasing interest in hybrid-cloud and multi- Additionally, expectations for the Fed to hike interest transient increase. Consumer prices in the 19 countries opportunities, improve customer experiences, and support cloud strategies. rates fell to a 68 percent chance of a hike in sharing the euro rose by 3 percent this month, after the country’s goals and vision for boosting the stability and “The country has a very ambitious national development December of 2022 while 3-month LIBOR dropped to increasing by 2.2 percent in July, far above expectations strengthening of the economy as a whole. And we can plans outlined as “New Kuwait” in Vision 2035 that strives an all-time low of 0.1155 percent on Friday as well. for 2.7 percent and moving well clear of the ECB’s 2 achieve these heights with our knowledge, creativity, and to diversify its economy through various transformations and innovation in practice,” Al-Husaini added. percent target. The increase was fueled by energy costs modernization initiatives. And the use of cloud and AI is con- Consumer confidence “The government of Kuwait has embarked on a path but food prices also surged, while there were also sidered an integral element of its 2035 digital strategy,” said Concerns regarding the spread of the delta variant unusually large increases in the prices of industrial toward becoming a fully digitized nation by 2035. The jour- Manish Ranjan, Program Manager for Software & Cloud at ney to the cloud is considered an integral element of its 2035 and rising prices have weighed on American con- goods, said Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency. IDC Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META). “Government sumers outlook. The US Conference Board’s index, digital strategy, with the aim of improving the government’s authorities such as the Communications and Information performance and efficiency,” said Alaeddine Karim, Country which tracks consumer confidence, fell to 113.8 from a OPEC to raise supply Technology Regulatory Authority (CITRA) and the Central revised 125.1 in July versus expectations for a drop to Manager, Kuwait. “Microsoft’s efforts and investments in Agency for Information Technology (CAIT) have been phe- Despite a call from the US Biden administration to just 123. Following the latest spike in COVID-19 infec- Cloud and AI are at the heart of Kuwait’s journey to achieve nomenal in driving ICT modernization initiatives and collab- increase production further, OPEC and its allies have Kuwait Vision 2035 - this is why Microsoft has collaborated orating with technology solution providers to develop the tions, restaurant reservations, airline travel, and hotel decided to move ahead with their previous plan of with the Central agency of information technology (CAIT) ICT skill sets that will be required in the future. The need for occupancy have all been curbed as sentiment took a gradually increasing oil output. The approved plan and the Communication and Information Technology innovation and the rising use of public and private cloud turn. The gauge of current conditions fell to its lowest details an additional 400,000 barrels per day to its Regulatory Authority (CITRA), in the form of various MoUs services will drive Kuwait’s economic diversification, which since April at 147.3, while the expectations compo- monthly overall production, until pandemic-related and partnership agreements, as we empower the govern- will result in additional jobs,” continued Manish. nent dropped to a 7-month low of 91.4. cuts are phased out. The White House had previously ment of Kuwait to achieve more. Cloud and AI services have already given birth to new Activity in the US manufacturing sector inched urged OPEC to boost production faster to meet glob- The IDC report finds that continued investments across professions. As COVID-19 shifts the world into a “new nor- higher in August, illustrating faster orders and pro- al demand as countries around the world emerge from Kuwaiti industries in digital services and emerging technolo- mal,” there is a strong need for workforce with digital skills, duction growth alongside continuous supply chain the pandemic. Meanwhile, OPEC delegates have said gies such as artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), as companies are increasingly operating in a more digital challenges. Adding to supply chain bottlenecks, man- that it was still too early to accelerate supply as many analytics, automation, and mobility are accelerating cloud and connected environment. This will, in turn, further drive ufacturers have also seen labor constraints which countries around the world still struggle with the adoption in the country. Consideration is also given to the rapid digital upskilling programs among non-technical have lengthened delivery times. According to the impact of the Delta variant. ongoing focus on public, private partnerships, as well as workforce,” concluded Ranjan.

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KUWAIT: Providing buyers with safety, value for tion and reconditioning process, focusing on the cos- money and peace of mind, Nissan Al-Babtain is bol- metic and mechanical aspects of a vehicle, to offer stering its Nissan Intelligent Choice fleet of Certified customers the highest level of quality and assurance. Pre-Owned (CPO) vehicles with the launch of first- Maintaining a distinctive and desirable CPO fleet is of-its-kind manufacturer-backed warranty in the made possible by ensuring all vehicles are less than Middle East. Catering to a growing need for high- five years old, have a clean history, and an untam- quality and cost-effective mobility, Nissan pered mileage of under 150,000 kilometers. Intelligent Choice is an innovative program by In addition to offering exceptional value for mon- Nissan that allows an increased number of buyers to ey, Nissan Intelligent Choice offers buyers a range partake in the joys of owning a certified pre-owned of benefits, including but not limited to, higher resid- vehicle from the brand’s extensive line-up and bene- ual values and peace of mind with up to two-year or fiting from the exciting performance, innovation, and 60,000km manufacturer-backed warranty that reliability of a Nissan. offers regional coverage and is transferable to other A global program that made its way to the region, owners. This warranty accompanies all certified pre- Nissan Intelligent Choice covers the changing needs owned Nissan vehicles and is radically different to of customers in markets such as the UAE Qatar, dealer-backed warranties provided by other CPO Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Lebanon. Recording a programs in the market. year-on-year increase in sales, over 5,000 Nissan Customers are welcome to visit and interact Intelligent Choice of certified pre-owned vehicles with sales teams at showrooms located in Ardiya - have been sold across the region to date, signaling Al-Qurain markets, Al-Rai and KFH showroom or Nissan’s commitment to leading the industry online, as well as browse the exciting range of towards greater transparency when it comes to Nissan Intelligent Choice vehicles at select Nissan sales, aftersales support, pricing and servicing. showrooms in Kuwait. Along with a dedicated and flexibility they are used to when purchasing a ing more information can contact the dedicated All CPO vehicles sold under the Nissan Intelligent retail space within showrooms, Nissan Intelligent certified Nissan vehicle. call center on 1804 888 or visit the official website Choice program pass a stringent 167-point inspec- Choice offers customers the same convenience Customers with queries and interest in gather- www.babtai.com.

has been a catalyst for greater attacks is a cause of concern. Mimecast threat intelli- Three risks putting investment into new technolo- gence detected a 44 percent rise in brand imperson- gies such as artificial intelli- ation emails directed at Mimecast customers in 2020, hybrid work models gence and LTE. Security lead- reaching an average of 27 million such emails every ers at the roundtable discus- month. Top brands were welcome targets of fraud- sion also cited the need for sters and cybercriminals. According to Mimecast’s Gulf Bank appoints in danger and what new policies and processes to State of Brand Protection report, companies on the ensure employees can work Brandz Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2020 Waleed Mandani to do about it remotely without compromis- index experienced a massive 381 percent increase in ing organizational defenses. As Werno Gevers brand impersonation attacks in May and June 2020 as Deputy CEO By Werno Gevers hybrid work models are likely compared to January and February, before the pan- to remain for the foreseeable demic struck. fter the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in early future, it is vital that organizations stay abreast of the In the UAE, 36 percent of respondents to the KUWAIT: Gulf Bank 2020 and countries around the world went into new security risks and challenges created by hybrid Mimecast State of Email Security 2021 report saw an has announced the Alockdown, organizations embarked on rapid work models. According to Mimecast research and increase in brand impersonation via counterfeit web- appointment of digital transformation at an unprecedented scale. A insights gained from members of the discussion, there sites, and two in five had a rise in malicious email Waleed Khaled global McKinsey survey found that companies accel- are a few main risks - internal and external - threatening spoofing. Organizations across the region will need to Mandani as Deputy erated the digitization of their customer and supply the defenses of organisations across the Middle East: look beyond their own perimeters to protect cus- CEO of Consumer chain interactions and their internal operations by tomers and partners from attack. Tools such as Banking and three to four years. Risk 1: User Behavior DMARC are essential in protecting their own Investments, starting Roughly 18 months after the first lockdowns, most User behavior plays a major role in strengthening domains from compromise, but that’s only one step in yesterday. Mandani organizations follow a hybrid work model that sees organizational defenses and building greater resilience protecting a brand from exploitation. Waleed Mandani will be leading the some employees working from the office some of the against data breaches. However, employees working in Machine learning powered web scanning and Consumer Banking time, in between periods of remote work. isolation while dealing with the mental impact of a analysis of key indicators - such as new domain regis- Unfortunately, a new picture is emerging. The global global health crisis were more psychologically vulner- trations and the issuing of security certificates - could and Investment groups, while implement- cybercrime industry - already experiencing a period able, increasing the rate of risky user behavior. One help organizations stop cybercriminals before they ing the groups long-term consumer bank- of unrestrained growth and expansion thanks to new example is the use of work devices for personal mat- can take their impersonation attacks live. ing and investments strategy and main- attack tools and the growing digitisation of our ters: research conducted by Mimecast in 2020 found taining its alignment with the digital everyday lives - is pouncing on the opportunity to that 87 percent of respondents from the UAE stated Risk 3: Lack of defensive depth transformation plan currently taking place exploit vulnerabilities in hybrid work models. they use their company-issued devices for personal An over-reliance on boxed security solutions that at the bank. Hybrid work models offer a plethora of potential use. More worryingly, while all UAE respondents said accompany popular business productivity tools such Mandani brings to the table over 25 attack surfaces, with remote working employees they were aware that links found in emails, on social as Microsoft 365 could be leaving organizations vul- years of extensive banking and invest- especially vulnerable due to the generally lower levels media or within websites can infect their devices, six nerable to sophisticated attack. If native security tools ment experience, having held numerous, of protection against cyberattacks on home networks out of ten (61 percent) still admitted to opening emails fail to halt an attack, another tool should be able to prominent leadership roles across multi- and personal devices. In a recent roundtable discus- they thought suspicious. With some studies estimating compensate, thereby keeping organizations - and ple, major financial institutions. Prior to sion hosted by Mimecast, security leaders across the that nine of out ten successful data breaches involve end-users - safe. A defense-in-depth strategy can joining Gulf Bank, Mandani held the posi- Middle East detailed their challenges with securing human error, organizations should invest in ongoing improve an organization’s overall security posture. tion of Group Chief Retail and Private their hybrid workforce. One security leader recount- awareness training to equip end-users with knowl- Such a strategy needs to provide protection and visi- Banking Officer at the Kuwait Finance ed how threat actors targeted his organization’s edge and skills that can help avoid risky behavior. bility within the organization, at the email perimeter, House Group. finance and accounting department with a flurry of and beyond, where the aforementioned brand Mandani received his Bachelor of impersonation attacks as they worked from home. Risk 2: Online brand exploitation exploitation and impersonation attacks can wreak Science degree in Business For some participants, the increase in cyber threats Globally, a sharp rise in brand impersonation havoc on organizations and their supply chains. Administration from the University of Arizona in the US in 1992. He successfully completed a specialized training course in cant strides with its digital transformation journey, Decision Making Strategies at Harvard KFH: Huge customers’ drawing attention to its advanced and innovative finan- AUB congratulates Business School in 2015 and an Executive cial services and products. The bank successfully Program in Project Management & demand on ‘instant launched the digital service “opening bank account Leadership from Cornell University in the winners of online” for new customers; citizens and residents within US in 2011. minutes without having to visit the branch. Al-Hassad draw card issuance’ service KFH rolled out various innovative financial solutions such as: Live FX service, which provides live dynamic KUWAIT: Kuwait Finance House (KFH) has witnessed KUWAIT: Ahli United Bank (AUB) held the foreign exchange prices with favorable margins 24 huge customers demand on “instant card issuance” weekly draw of 1 September 2021 of Al- hours a day, every weekday, instant cross-border pay- Hassad Islamic account Al-Hassad Islamic service that has been introduced by KFH as the first ments service to at KFH-Turkey using Ripple’s technol- Burgan Bank account, the first Islamic prizes account in bank in the world using a Hybrid Solution powered by ogy, the free of charge “SWIFT GPI” service to track Kuwait which offers over 750 prizes over a NCR’s solution. local and international banking transfers electronically announces 12 month period and provides numerous KFH customers can now initiate and complete the for individuals and corporate via KFHonline, Kuwait features. Such features include the simplest whole card issuance process using over 100 “Self Clearing Company KCC dividend subscription, transfer and easiest savings program, highest num- Service” terminals installed in branches and shopping to KFH Trade, deposit of cheques via mobile, Cardless winners of Yawmi ber of winners, largest prize value, loyalty malls within 3 minutes. Customers at their convenient cash withdrawal by (QR Code, Civil ID& Mobile multipliers, and unique account opening time can print their own banking cards 24x7 using a Number), and a complete update of KYC request account draw feature online with all ease with instant “Self Service” Solution or through KFH online using QR “Know your customer”. In addition, KFH offers digital deposit option. code or while visiting the branch where KFH Customer services of opening a gold account with options of sell- KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterday The bank announced 20 winners of KD Support Representative can initiate the card printing ing, buying and trading online, Skiplino to book the names of the daily draw winners of its 1,000 as follows: Mohalhal Khaled Al- using a tablet during the account opening process or appointments electronically in the banking branches, Yawmi account draw, each taking home a cash- Mudhaf, Schuster Otmar, Sanat Humoud Al- card replacement request. This confirms KFH’s ongoing KFHPay electronic payment service through which the prize of KD 5,000. Rasheedi, Musthafa Unniyalukkal, Yousif keenness to adopt the latest financial technology while customer can pay through the KFHonline mobile appli- Malallah, Saud Bu Haimad, Amir Abdulredha delivering superior customer’s banking experience. cation or via the K-Net page, Chatbot, Push The lucky winners are: Al-Hussain, Islam Khan, Baheyyah Hetaimi With this innovative solution, KFH demonstrates its Notification service, Instant Cheque Printing and • Azizah Jassim Hussain Hasan Al-Dhafeeri, Israel Abu Husain, Khaled Saleh commitment to transforming branches using self-ser- receiving gold biscuits instantly through XTMs avail- • Fawzya Kamel Arfaj Alkhaldi Majed, Mohammad Abbas Al-Ibrahim, vice and assisted services technology to improve cus- able at the smart branches; KFH Go, in addition to many • Shurooq Ahmad Mahmoud Qabazard Abdullah S A Al-Salbood, Mohammad Hajeej tomer experience. KFH succeeded in making signifi- other highly efficient digital services. • Eman Khalaf Abdullah Karam Ghadhban, Abdulaziz Yousef Al-Saffar, • Saleh Bokhamseen & Nasar Alnasar Mohammad Hamad Al-Enezi, Faisal Salem Al- In addition to the daily draw, Burgan Bank Mohammad Al-Hajri. Azmi, Luluwa Jaber Ahmad, Nessrin Abdul also offers a quarterly draw with more chances CBK announces The bank stated that the salary campaign is aimed Ghafur and Sameerah Abdulaziz Al-Barouni. to win higher rewards, offering the chance to at customers who transfer their salaries of KD 500 or The draws of Al-Hassad include several one lucky customer to win KD 125,000 every more to the Bank, especially Kuwaiti employees and cash prizes, such as KD 100,000 each Eid winners of three months. The Yawmi Account offers daily residents working in the government, oil sectors and and the grand quarterly draw of KD and quarterly draws, wherein the quarterly companies listed with the Bank as well as retirees, and 250,000 prize which continues to be a key Al-Najma draws draw requires customers to maintain a mini- aspiration for customers who are wishing to take advantage of the benefits of this campaign and get mum amount of KD 500 in their account for fulfill their dreams. Al-Hassad offers 20 KUWAIT: Commercial Bank conducted the weekly an instant cash gift from KD 250 to KD 500 or an two months prior to the draw date. Additionally, weekly prizes of KD 1,000 for each winner. and monthly draws on Al-Najma Account and Salary interest-free loan for a period of up to five years and every KD 10 in the account will entitle cus- Furthermore, for the first time in Kuwait, the Transfer Campaign yesterday. The draws were con- up to KD 25,000, Kuwaiti pensioner, along with expa- tomers to one chance of winning. If the AUB Al-Hassad presents the “Privilege ducted in the presence of Ministry of Commerce and triate customers who transfer their debt to the Bank Draw”, which is a quarterly draw of KD Industry representative Ahmed Al-Basman. will receive an instant cash gift of 1 percent from their account balance is KD 500 and above, the 25,000 exclusively for Al-Hassad customers The results of the draws were as follows: transferred debt. The bank stated that Al-Najma account holder will be qualified for both the who maintained their balances for more than 1- Al-Najma monthly draw - the prize of KD Account prizes are distinguished by the highest cash quarterly and daily draws. one year and have not won a prize in the 20,000 went to the winner Eun Sang Choi. prize and diversity of prizes throughout the year clari- Burgan Bank encourages everyone to open a past five years. For all draws, the clients are 2- Al-Najma weekly draw - the prize of KD 5,000 fying that the account offers weekly prize of KD Yawmi account and/or increase their deposit to eligible for one draw chance for each KD 50 went to the winner Khalid Jamal Al-Abdallah. 5,000, monthly prize of KD 20,000 and a semi-annual maximize their chances of becoming a winner. deposited in their Al-Hassad account. 3- Salary account campaign - the prize of up to prize of KD 500,000 in addition to the largest prize - The higher the level of the deposit, the higher KD 1,000 went to the winner Muneerah linked bank account payout of KD 1,500,000. the likelihood to win. Established 1961 11 Lifestyle Features Monday, September 6, 2021

Polish actor Piotr Witkowski poses during the Director Maciej Barczewski (left) and Eleonora Szafran (right) - daughter of Auschwitz boxer Eleonora Szafran - daughter of Auschwitz boxer Tadeusz “Teddy” Pietrzykowski holds her book premiere of his movie “Mistrz” (Master) based Tadeusz “Teddy” Pietrzykowski and author of his biography are seen speaking with press during about her father during an AFP interview. on the book by daughter of Pietrzykowski - the premiere of the movie “Mistrz” (Master) based on the book, Warsaw. Eleonora Szafran, Warsaw.

olish boxer Tadeusz Pietrzykowski had its premiere at home and will hit the- “Generally though, sports weren’t a his friends smuggled him out and hid him. was known for his ability to dodge atres abroad later this year. widespread phenomenon at Auschwitz. Szafran’s book “Mistrz” (“Champion”) Pblows. Still, the odds were against Most inmates were so exhausted from has just been published featuring him when he fought his first bout at the Sports at Auschwitz daily work that they couldn’t afford to Pietrzykowski’s wartime memories-among Nazi German death camp Auschwitz. “It’s an incredible story since very few expend extra effort and sometimes didn’t them, his assassination attempt against Severely emaciated, Prisoner Number people know there was boxing at even have the strength to walk over to the camp’s commandant and horrifying 77 was up against a much heavier Auschwitz, that there were sporting watch,” she told AFP. Those who did scenes he witnessed of Nazi brutality. A German inmate-a “kapo” who oversaw events,” said Piotr Witkowski, the actor catch the boxing matches included Nazi million Jews died at Auschwitz-Birkenau, other prisoners. who plays Duening in the film. Witkowski SS officers, who even placed bets on the along with tens of thousands of others “From around me I got warnings and told AFP that the boxer was a danger for winner. including Catholic Poles, Roma and gestures that I was crazy: ‘He’ll kill you, the Germans “because he became the Soviet prisoners of war, between 1940 destroy you,’” he said in his official inmates’ hope that it was possible to win ‘Bravery, benevolence’ and 1945. account for the Auschwitz-Birkenau against the system, to win against the evil In exchange for providing entertain- Museum after the war. “But there was no Nazis”. Pietrzykowski, who was Catholic, ment, Pietrzykowski received various ‘Do the right thing’ time to think... There was bread to be was sent to Auschwitz in June 1940 as a perks. Not only was he able to secure an Pietrzykowski survived-both Auschwitz won. I was hungry, my friends were hun- political prisoner after being caught trying easier work assignment and added calo- and a couple of other concentration gry,” said Pietrzykowski, the pre-war to reach France to join the Polish army ries for himself, he also shared whatever camps-and tried to restart his boxing Champion of Warsaw in the ban- that was forming there. He was put on the extra food he received, according to testi- career after the war but was foiled by ill- tamweight class. His courage paid off. first mass transport to the death camp. monials from fellow inmates. The leeway ness. He went on to become a beloved With a successful left jab to the face, the Nearly a year into his internment, he he enjoyed as a star boxer at the camp school gym teacher, pursuing his lifelong 23-year-old Pietrzykowski drew blood was offered the chance to fight Duening. enabled him to procure medication for oth- passion for painting on the side, and died from the kapo, Walter Duening. The Germans had grown tired of only ers, pass information and fulfill other in 1991 in his seventies. The loser chose not to seek revenge sparring each other for fun and were look- assignments for the resistance movement. The actor who portrayed him, Piotr for his loss and instead rewarded the box- ing for other opponents. “There was “My father lived, fought, and demon- Glowacki, said he hoped moviegoers er nicknamed Teddy with a loaf and some cheering from both Poles and the German strated this bravery and benevolence for would be inspired to “have the courage to meat. Pietrzykowski went on to fight prisoners. It was an interesting event, his fellow inmates... and was helped in follow Teddy’s example and do the right dozens of matches at Auschwitz, winning something new at Auschwitz. So this bout return too,” his daughter Eleonora Szafran thing.” “To defend those who are segre- all but one or two, thereby scoring special set off matches between inmates of differ- told AFP. When Pietrzykowski was lying gated because of their race, nationality, In this Handout picture taken in Warsaw before privileges that ensured his and others’ ent nationalities,” said Renata Koszyk, sick with typhus at the camp hospital, sexual orientation, views... To side with the World War II and released by Eleonora survival. Little known even in Poland, curator of a new exhibition on sports at word spread that the SS officers were the oppressed,” he said. — AFP Szafran, Auschwitz boxer Tadeusz ‘Teddy’ Teddy’s story has inspired a movie, “The Auschwitz, which runs until March at the planning to select patients to send to the Pietrzykowski poses in his sports’ gear. Champion of Auschwitz,” which recently museum on the site of the former camp. gas chambers. To save the boxer’s life,

the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz” that played with the cliches of horror and action films. His ‘Last Night in new film, playing out of competition in Venice, takes a more serious approach. It features a modern-day fashion student Soho’ brings (played by Thomasin McKenzie) trans- ported back in time to 1960s Soho in cen- tral London. MeToo to 1960s Initially intoxicated by the glamour of the time, things take a dark turn as she discovers the brutal misogyny suffered by her alter-ego (played by Taylor-Joy). As it London evolves into a slasher picture, the film keeps up a steady stream of classic omantic notions about Swinging songs from the period, which Taylor-Joy Sixties London were slashed to said was a particular pleasure for her. pieces at the Venice Film Festival “The first music that I really fell in love was R the music of the Sixties,” she said at a Saturday with the premiere of “Last Night in Soho”. It is a very different role for Anya press conference. “I tend to make Taylor-Joy, the breakout star from last playlists for my characters and for Sandy year’s Netflix hit “The Queen’s Gambit”, (her character) it was all the music I lis- who finds herself doused in gallons of tened to when I was 16... It was a blast.” blood in the new psychological horror. But “Last Night in Soho” proved to be the last film for Diana Rigg, star of the iconic at its heart, the movie has a serious point (From left) Italian actress Teresa Saponangelo, actress Sofya Gershevich, Italian actor Filippo Scotti, Italian actor Marlon Joubert, Italian actor to make about our rose-tinted views of the 1960s TV show “The Avengers”, who died in September 2020. “It’s desperately sad Biagio Manna, Italian actor Toni Servillo, Italian actress Luisa Ranieri and Italian director Paolo Sorrentino arrive for the screening of the film ‘E past, director Edgar Wright told journalists stata la mano di Dio’ (The Hand of God) presented in competition during the 78th Venice Film Festival. — AFP in Venice. that I won’t be able to have another gos- “It’s dangerous to romanticize the sipy brunch with Dame Diana Rigg. The past,” he said. “As you get further away only thing I can take away is how lucky I said he was partly provoked by a friend meet beautiful birds.” What every from a decade, you tend to concentrate was to work with her,” said Wright. “She who accused him of avoiding personal Neapolitan of that era remembers is the on the good things. The Sixties become had to finish her work on the movie-she Sorrentino taps films. “I realised there was a lot of love in arrival of Argentine legend Maradona to about the fashion or Carnaby Street and was such a professional,” he added. “We my boyhood, even though one part was play for the struggling local team. “For me reduced to, like, Austin Powers fancy were told she needed to finish very painful, and that all this could be told cine- as a boy, the most important thing that dress. But everything bad that’s happen- urgently and we knew what that meant Naples boyhood matographically,” he said. If “The Great happened at that time was the fact that ing now was happening then.” Wright without asking.” — AFP Beauty” was an ode to Rome, his latest is Maradona came to Naples,” Sorrentino made his name with comedies “Shaun of similarly a love letter to his home town. said. in latest film at “Naples in the ‘80s was like going on a The film’s title refers to Maradona’s safari on foot without the safety of a jeep,” infamous handball goal against England Sorrentino said. “It was very fun, very vio- in the 1986 World Cup. It traces how the Venice lent, very dangerous. It was like a jungle- young Sorrentino, represented by alter- you could meet a lion but you could also ego Fabietto (played by newcomer Filippo Scotti), was indirectly saved by the foot- urning 50 last year, Italian director baller, before he went on to pursue his Paolo Sorrentino found he was final- dream of becoming a film-maker. “The Tly ready to put his heartbreaking sto- message of the movie is that there is a ry about growing up in 1980s Naples on future for everyone, regardless of the suf- film, in all its exuberance and anguish. fering and the pain you have experienced “The Hand of God” is an autobiographical in life,” he said. “I hope that young people film that explores family, maturity, and a can understand this because... they’re moment in time when the chaotic under- more worried about the future than we dog city gained dignity and hope with the were.” — AFP arrival of football legend Diego Maradona. “At a certain point you take stock of the beautiful things that you’ve loved in your life,” the director told journalists ahead of Italian director Paolo Sorrentino the film’s premiere at the Venice Film arrives for the screening of the film ‘E (From left) British actor Michael Ajao, British director Edgar Wright, US-born Argentine-British Festival on Thursday. Renowned for his stata la mano di Dio’ (The Hand of actress Anya Taylor-Joy and British actor Matt Smith arrive for the screening of the film ‘Last Oscar-winning “The Great Beauty” and God) presented in competition during Night in Soho’ presented out of competition during the 78th Venice Film Festival at Venice Netflix hit “The Young Pope”, Sorrentino the 78th Venice Film Festival. — AFP Lido. — AFP

vehicle carrying acclaimed reported. The attacker, a male in his 40s al fame for his roles in gritty dystopian and are interviewing him to determine his Japanese film director and actor from the Chiba region east of Tokyo, thriller “Battle Royale” as well as in the motive, NTV said. Tokyo Metropolitan ATakeshi Kitano was attacked by a cracked the windshield and beat other eponymous comedy game show Police declined to comment when reached man with a pickaxe and a knife, media parts of the vehicle, TBS and other local “Takeshi’s Castle”. No one was injured in by AFP yesterday. — AFP reports said. Kitano, 74, also a celebrated media said. Saturday evening’s attack, reports said, television comedian in Japan, was inside Kitano, also known by his stage name which national broadcaster NHK said took the vehicle on the premises of private net- Beat Takeshi, first drew acclaim for his raw place after Kitano had finished filming a work TBS in Tokyo when the attack took depictions of the violent world of Japanese live news and entertainment show for place late Saturday night, the station organized crime. He garnered internation- TBS. Police arrested the man on the spot Japanese director Takeshi Kitano 12 Established 1961 Lifestyle Features Monday, September 6, 2021

he historic Khan Al-Harir souk in Ahmed al-Damlakhi took over a fabric of the Old City to the gates of the citadel war-torn Syria’s erstwhile economic shop in Khan Al-Harir from his brother in the east, covering an area of around Tcapital of Aleppo has reopened fol- who emigrated to Turkey with his children 160,000 square meters. For centuries, lowing restoration work, but much of the several years ago. Under a freshly reno- they were the commercial heart of the former workforce that energized it vated arch dotted with white and black ancient city and served as a key trading remains exiled. “Reconstruction works are stones, the 65-year-old greeted neighbors hub between the East and the West. done and this is great, but it’s not he hadn’t seen in years. He started a Restoration works began two years ago enough,” said Ahmed Al-Shib, a 55-year- video call with his brother in Turkey to after Syrian authorities signed a partner- old textile merchant who had hoped to show the scene in the market, where ship agreement with the Aga Khan pass his business onto his sons. “What traders had gathered outside their shops Foundation in Syria. The renovation of we want is for our sons to return to these amid a trickle of customers. “I am opti- Khan Al-Harir - home to some 60 stores - Ahmed Al-Damlakhi, a 65-year-old fabrics merchant, stands outside his shop in the ‘Souq Khan stores,” he told AFP during the reopening mistic about the reopening of the market took around a year to complete, and Al-Harir’ (Silk Khan covered market) in Syriaís northern city of Aleppo. — AFP photos of the covered market this week, showing ... but we are missing merchants and preparations are underway for two other pictures he had sent to his eldest who investors who are now scattered across markets to also be restored. moved to Algeria three years ago to join the Arab world and have established busi- “The area was a pile of destruction, his brother. nesses there,” he said. and today we can say that the market’s Khan Al-Harir (silk souk) - one of 37 Although he wished his brother was infrastructure has been completely reha- markets surrounding Aleppo’s famed citadel - attracted thousands of tourists and merchants before the onset of Syria’s conflict in 2011. It was hit hard in fighting between rebels and regime forces that damaged as much as 60 percent of Aleppo’s Old City, according to estimates by the UN’s cultural agency, UNESCO. The market officially reopened on Sunday - five years after the Syrian government regained control of Aleppo. Restoration works erased traces of some of the conflict’s most brutal battles but it did little to console traders who have lost much more than just their stores. In Ahmed’s fabric shop, a portrait of his father - the founder of the family business People walk about in the reopened “Souq Khan Al-Harir” (Silk Khan covered market) in Syria’s - adorns a freshly painted wall. Like many northern city of Aleppo. others in Khan Al-Harir, Ahmed fears the family’s store may die with him. “My chil- An historic building undergoes restoration dren live in Algeria, and the children of in the “Souq Al-Habil” (ropes market) in other traders are scattered between Syria’s northern city of Aleppo. Egypt, Erbil” in northern Iraq and else- where, he said. “There are a lot of trades that will be threatened if our sons contin- ue to emigrate.” with him to celebrate the reopening, bilitated,” said Jean Moughamez of the Damlakhi said the reasons that initially Syria Trust for Development, a govern- Economic exodus pushed him out had not changed. “We ment-linked agency overseeing restora- Syria’s conflict has killed nearly half a used to depend on tourists and visitors tion works. But the exodus of traders pos- million people, forced half of the pre-war coming from the countryside and other es a challenge, he admitted. “We’ve had population from their homes, and deci- provinces... but the economic situation is difficulty communicating with shop owners mated the economy and infrastructure, now very difficult,” he said. “Western who are outside Syria, especially those with more than 80 percent of its residents sanctions, meanwhile, create obstacles in who do not have an agent taking care of now living below the poverty line. As a relation to imports, exports and overall their shop affairs,” Moughamez said. “We result, Aleppo, long considered one of trade,” Damlakhi added. “So long as the cannot work alone, and we need every- Syria’s main commercial hubs, has lost situation doesn’t change, it will be hard for one’s cooperation,” he said.—AFP many of the merchants and businessmen my brother and his sons to return.” who once gave the city its economic edge. Many have sought business oppor- Vacant shops An historic building undergoes restoration in the ‘Souq Al-Habil’ (ropes market) in Syriaís north- tunities elsewhere, with neighboring Iraq The vast souks, the oldest of their kind ern city of Aleppo. and Turkey popular destinations. in the world, stretch from the western part

s conductor Guillaume Berney couple small changes before clicking a tor said, acknowledging though that ogists believe could have been for a new cal composition more accessible and for marks the opening downbeat, the button to generate the score. “It’s like “maybe it lacks that spark of genius.” symphony. “The idea is to just push a but- broadening human creation. While the Afirst chords ring out in a Lausanne watching a birth,” Berney said as he Colombo, a computer scientist at the ton to produce a complete musical score program “can digest what has already concert hall of what could conceivably be picked up the first pages emerging from EPFL technical university, developed his for an entire symphonic orchestra com- been done and propose something simi- an extract of Beethoven’s Tenth the printer. The excitement was palpable algorithm using so-called deep-learning, a pletely without intervention,” Colombo lar,” he said the aim was for “humans to Symphony-if the great German composer as the freshly created sheet music was subset of artificial intelligence aimed at said. “That is, except for all the work I put use the tools to create something new.” had ever managed to complete the piece. presented to the orchestra. The musicians teaching computers to “think” via struc- in ahead of time,” added the computer “It is not blasphemous at all,” Berney The classical music world has often spec- ulated what Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) would have gone on to write after his monumental Ninth Symphony. And a number of musicologists and com- posers have already ventured to orches- trate and complete some of the scraps of notation they believe were his first sketch- es for his next symphonic masterpiece. But to mark their 10th anniversary sea- son this year, Berney and the Nexus orchestra have decided to use artificial intelligence to create a four-minute extract which they have dubbed BeethovANN Symphony 10.1. “That is not a typo,” Berney told the audience at the first night, with a second performance scheduled in Geneva on Friday. Berney explains that the ANN refers to the artificial neural net- work that created it, basically without Nexus orchestra performs in Lausanne. human intervention. Computer program designer Florian Colombo (right) speaks to members of Nexus orchestra next “We don’t know what it will sound like,” to conductor Guillaume Berney (second right) during a rehearsal in Lausanne. Berney acknowledged to AFP ahead of the Lausanne concert. The final score eagerly began rehearsing for the evening tures modeled on the human brain or programmer who has been working for agreed, stressing that “no one is trying to was only generated and printed out hours concert, many smiling with surprise as the ANNs. To generate something that might nearly a decade towards deep-learning- replace Beethoven.” In fact, he said, the before the performance, after computer harmonies unfolded. “This is an emotional possibly pass as an extract from generated music. German composer would likely have been programme designer Florian Colombo experience for me,” said Colombo, him- Beethoven’s Tenth, Colombo first fed the a fan of the algorithm. “Composers at that oversaw the final step in what for him has self a cellist, as the sound filled the hall. computer all of the master’s 16 string ‘Not blasphemous’ time were all avantgarde,” he said, point- been a years-long process. “There is a touch of Beethoven there, but quartets, explaining that the chamber Colombo said that using a computer to ing out that the best were “always eager really, it is BeethovANN. Something new works provided a very clear sense of his try to recreate something begun by one of to adopt new methods.”— AFP ‘Like watching a birth’ to discover.” Berney agreed. harmonic and melodic structures. the world’s greatest musical geniuses was Seated in his small apartment with a “It works,” he said. “There are some He then asked it to create a piece not encroaching on the human creative view over the old city of Lausanne and the very good parts, and a few that are a bit around one of the theme fragments found process. Instead, he said, he saw his Alps in the distance, Colombo made a out of character, but it’s nice,” the conduc- in Beethoven’s sparse notes that musicol- algorithm as a new tool for making musi-

Computer program designer Florian Colombo (right) and conductor Guillaume Berney Computer program designer Florian Colombo (right) and conductor Guillaume Berney A member of Nexus orchestra annotates a music score look at a music score on a computer screen in Lausanne. — AFP photos look at a music score freshly printed in Lausanne. on his tablet computer during a rehearsal in Lausanne. Established 1961 13 Lifestyle Features Monday, September 6, 2021

In this file photo models walk the runway at the Rodarte show during New York Fashion Week: The Shows in In this file photo taken on February 13, 2019, models walk the runway for the Michael Kors Collection Fall 2019 runway New York City. — AFP photos show at Cipriani Wall Street during New York Fashion Week in New York City.

fter a long hiatus due to the coron- Strada, Hillary Taymour, will confirm her banned from many countries, “there will American fashion world faced some major The week gets fully underway tomor- avirus pandemic, New York is environmentally conscious approach with be many of our normal international defections, with onetime tentpoles like row with Christian Siriano and Collina Aopening its Spring/Summer 2022 a show on a rooftop garden in Brooklyn. guests... not getting to New York,” Kolb Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Tommy Strada. Also on the calendar are Fashion Week with the return of in-person “This is an important moment for New told AFP. But he insisted that he has “no Hilfiger dropping high-end lines or moving Liberian-American stylist Telfar Clemens, runway shows featuring big names like York, and we’re proud to support the city concern that the impact will not reach an their shows elsewhere. New York had whose vegan leather shopping bag cre- Tom Ford and Altuzarra. But COVID-relat- and the industry,” said Michael Kors. international audience. It’ll just reach also lost designers like Pyer Moss, ated a sensation, and Peter Do, the ed curbs will deprive the series of some of “We’re resilient,” added Steven Kolb. “And them” virtually. Rihanna and Victoria Beckham. This time, young designer who grew up on a small its usual international flavor as it rolls out we’re optimistic.” the CFDA has been touting the return of farm in Vietnam and is now taking part in this week. The pandemic overshadowed ‘Less routine’ Thom Browne and Joseph Altuzarra, who his first Fashion Week. The week closes the last two fashion weeks, in September The COVID factor Even before the pandemic, the earlier left New York for Paris. on Sunday with shows by big names 2020 and February 2021, as both were Fashion Week this year overlaps with Tory Burch, Oscar de la Renta and Tom dominated by virtual runway shows. the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s own Ford. Meantime, the pandemic, by at Steven Kolb, chief executive of the fashion extravaganza, a high point of the least temporarily de-emphasizing in-per- Council of Fashion Designers of America city’s social calendar, set for today. This son shows, has left some designers with (CFDA), says he sees room for both digi- year’s Met Gala has a distinctively youth- mixed feelings. tal and in-person shows. ful imprint, hosted by singer Billie Eilish, “I don’t think designers necessarily feel But “there is a real optimism and ener- actor Timothee Chalamet, poet Amanda the pressure to show every season, as gy and enthusiasm about returning to live Gorman and tennis star Naomi Osaka, some of them have maybe once felt,” said shows,” he added. “There is, of course, none of them older than 25. But in a city Cathleen Sheehan, a professor at the nothing you can compare to a live show.” that has been slammed by COVID-19 — Fashion Institute of Technology in New In New York, whose fashion shows pre- and again in recent days by historic flood- York. “It’s a tremendous relief for a lot of cede those of London, Milan and Paris, ing-the return to normal is coming slowly. brands, because shows are incredibly there is no shortage of iconic runway set- Fashion Week’s organizers have expensive. “It’s less of an obligation and a tings, as with Tommy Hilfiger’s Apollo announced a strict protocol: All guests routine. There’s more freedom.” — AFP Theater show in 2019 or Michael Kors’ and participants must be vaccinated, Studio 54-themed event the same year. masks are recommended-though not for On Thursday evening, LaQuan Smith will runway models-and audience sizes are present his collection atop the Empire limited. According to the CFDA, “a large In this file photo taken on February 10, 2020, State Building, capping a day including percentage” of the 91 official events will a model walks the runway for the Proenza shows by Moschino, Sergio Hudson and take place outdoors, while some labels Schouler fashion show during February Carolina Herrera. continue to rely on digital presentations. 2020 - New York Fashion Week: The Shows On Tuesday, the founder of Collina And with travel to the United States still at the Spring Studios in New York City.

though 2020 was a quiet year due to the Do tourist boats pandemic. More than 360,000 whale watchers were registered in 2019, three times the number a decade ago. Almost a stress out whales? third of them began their whale watching tour in the Husavik harbor, heading for the Researchers find out chilly waters of Skjalfandi Bay. Feeding disruptions Previous studies on tourism’s impact ust off the northern coast of Iceland, on whales, which were based on behav- scientists are collecting data from ioral observations, concluded that tourism Myanmar photographer won the whales’ breath to find out if they get J caused only minor disruptions to the top award Saturday at photojour- stressed by whale-watching boats, an mammals. The most recent study, from nalism’s biggest annual festival for industry that has boomed in recent years. A 2011, found that whale-watching excur- his coverage of the troubled nation’s pro- Researchers from Whale Wise, a marine sions were disrupting minke whales in the democracy protests and bloody military conservation charity, are studying the Faxa Bay near Reykjavik, in the south of crackdown. The photographer, who whales’ stress levels in their hormones. the country. “We found that the minke remained unnamed for security reasons, From their small sailboat, a drone lifts off. whales were disturbed in their feeding, scooped the Visa d’Or for News, the most After six hours of waiting, the scientists but it was only a short-term disturbance,” prestigious award handed out at the “Visa have finally spotted a humpback whale. one of the authors of the study, Marianne Pour L’Image” festival in Perpignan, Attached to the flying device are two petri Rasmussen, director of the University of southwestern France. Mikko Takkunen, dishes-transparent cylindrical containers- Iceland Research Center in Husavik, told the Asia photo editor for The New York that will collect water droplets from the AFP. “It didn’t affect their overall fitness.” Times, collected the prize on behalf of the whale’s spray. The method used by Whale Wise this photographer. summer has been used elsewhere by Myanmar has been in turmoil since the biologists but this was a first for military seized power in a February 1 researchers in Iceland. coup, with near-daily protests and a huge “From the samples, you can look at civil disobedience movement. “He is prob- hormones such as cortisol, which is a ably the strongest photographer in the stress-related hormone, and then you can country. He is extremely happy and hon- determine the physiological stress levels ored to win this prize,” Takkunen said. Visitors look at photos displayed at the exhibition ‘Documenting India’s Greatest Healthcare Crisis’ of these whales,” said Tom Grove, Whale Takkunen said the photographer dedicat- by Indian Reuters photographer Danish Siddiqui during the 33rd edition of the Visa pour líImage Wise co-founder and a PhD student at the ed the prize to his peers in his country international photojournalism festival, in Perpignan, southern France, on September 3, 2021. University of Edinburgh. Since 2018, 59 who are working under extremely difficult samples have been collected. While a conditions. His photographs portray civil- was “on the streets every day since after devastating fires. Also nominated minimum of 50 are needed for a proper ian protesters armed with stones, soldiers February 1. “I encountered many difficul- was American Erin Schaff from The New analysis, he hopes to collect around 100. firing live bullets and grieving families ties, working between bullet shots, tear York Times for photographs depicting the This summer, some of the samples were mourning their dead. gas and deafening grenades.” storming of the US Capitol in Washington. collected together with French environ- Across Myanmar, more than 1,000 “On the ground, we stopped working Indian Danish Siddiqui from Reuters was mental group Unu Mondo Expedition, civilians have been killed in the ongoing with helmets marked PRESS as we real- nominated for his work on the health crisis which travelled to Iceland for a month- military crackdown, according to an advo- ized the soldiers were targeting photogra- following the coronavirus pandemic in his long expedition to study climate change cacy group. The press has been phers,” he said. Among the others nomi- country. Siddiqui was killed in July while issues. “The whales are important to us, squeezed as the junta tries to tighten con- nated was Greek photographer Angelos covering fighting between the Taliban and for our lives, because they are part of the trol over the flow of information, throttling Tzortzinis from AFP for his work on the Afghan forces. — AFP ecosystem on our planet,” said Sophie internet access and revoking the licenses last days that migrants and asylum seek- Simonin, 29, the organization’s co- of local media outlets. The anonymous ers spent at the Moria refugee camp on founder. photographer said in a message that he the island of Lesbos, which was cleared This aerial picture shows a humpback “They also absorb enormous amounts whale diving in Hestfjorour (Westfjords), of carbon dioxide,” she added. According Iceland. — AFP to a December 2019 study by the International Monetary Fund, a large whale The timeframe to collect the sample is captures an average of 33 tons of carbon short-the duration of a whale’s breath. dioxide. While whales are a tourist attrac- This time, the drone flies over the whale tion, they are also hunted in Iceland. The carefully, crossing through the spray com- International Whaling Commission banned ing from the whale’s blowhole... and mis- commercial whaling in 1986, but Iceland, sion accomplished. It returns to the sail- which opposed the moratorium, resumed boat, delivering its precious cargo to the its hunt in 2003. Iceland only bans the hunt researchers. Once wrapped in paraffin of blue whales. But while the country has and frozen, the samples will be sent to a established an annual quota of 209 fin laboratory for analysis. The researchers whales and 217 minke whales until 2023, aim to collect samples before a whale no whales were hunted this year for the watching boat arrives and then after- third straight year, as whalers say it is not wards, then compare the two samples to financially viable. — AFP determine the direct impact of that encounter on stress levels. Tourists have been increasingly flock- ing to the waters of the North Atlantic off French photographer Jerome Gence tells the stories behind his pictures French photographer Agnes Dherbeys of the agency MYOP for the Iceland to admire the majestic creatures, displayed at his exhibition ‘Telework’. European Commission tells the stories behind the photos at her exhibition “Crisis Upon Crisis - Refugees and the Pandemic”.— AFP photos 14 Established 1961 Sports Monday, September 6, 2021 Djokovic moves on at US Open as top-ranked Barty ousted Zverev, Barrettini advance; Kvitova out

NEW YORK: Novak Djokovic moved within four Djokovic, meanwhile, marched toward a 21st career matches of completing the first men’s singles calendar- Grand Slam title, which would break the deadlock for year Grand Slam in 52 years on Saturday while top- the men’s record he shares with Rafael Nadal and ranked Ashleigh Barty was eliminated from the US Roger Federer, both absent with injuries. The 34-year- Open by a stunning fightback from American Shelby old Serbian star advanced to a fourth-round matchup Rogers. on Monday against 99th-ranked US wildcard Jenson World number one Djokovic defeated Kei Nishikori Brooksby. “He was playing pretty solid,” Nishikori said. 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-3, 6-2, taking his 17th consecutive “I couldn’t break the wall. Very unfortunate I lost.” victory over the Japanese star and improving to 18-2 in Djokovic, who had 52 unforced errors and 45 win- their overall rivalry. “I was very pleased with the ners, dropped the last three points of the first-set tie- focus,” Djokovic said. “Maybe at some points I wasn’t breaker, the last on a Nishikori service winner. “I don’t my best, but I was determined and focused and that think I started off very well,” Djokovic said. “I was too made the difference.” passive. He was dictating With a fourth career US the play. I was still trying to Open trophy, Djokovic find the tempo. It took me a would complete the first little bit of time to adjust to men’s singles sweep of Djokovic his game.” major titles in the same year But Djokovic broke early since Rod Laver in 1969. marches in each set from there to Reigning Wimbledon seize command. In the champion Barty won 11 of toward 21st fourth he grabbed a 3-2 14 games after dropping the Grand Slam lead and never dropped first set, only for Rogers to another game. “Big credit to capture five of the last six Kei, who played on a very games for a shocking 6-2, high level,” Djokovic said. 1-6, 7-6 (7/5) triumph. “I “He was quick. It was tough. NEW YORK: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic hits a return to Japan’s Kei Nishikori during their 2021 US Open Tennis didn’t want to leave,” Rogers said. “I just said make Great fight from him.” tournament men’s singles third round match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New balls, try to stay in this match, it can’t get any worse, Tokyo Olympic champion Alexander Zverev defeat- York, on Saturday. —AFP you’ve lost to her every time.” ed 184th-ranked Jack Sock 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 2-1 when the Rogers had dropped all five prior meetings with American retired with a right thigh injury. “I know I’m Barty but would not be denied, breaking the Aussie playing OK but a lot of other guys are playing well, who beat Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5. the US Open, advancing over 104th-ranked Belgian as she served for the match in the eighth and 10th too,” Zverev said. “I’m hoping to keep my form and lucky loser Greet Minnen 6-1, 6-2. Tokyo Olympic games as the crowd went wild at Arthur Ashe give myself my best chance.” Sakkari beats Kvitova champion Belinda Bencic, a 2019 US Open semi-final- Stadium. “I was just trying to stay in the point longer Fourth seed Zverev, the 2020 US Open runner-up, Greek 17th seed Maria Sakkari, a French Open ist, defeated US 23rd seed Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-4. than Ash,” Rogers said. “I was happy with myself for joined qualifiers Oscar Otte and Peter Gojowczyk as semi-finalist, ousted two-time Wimbledon champion The Swiss 11th seed will next face Polish seventh sort of problem solving. I’m just so excited to be the first German trio in the US Open fourth round since Petra Kvitova 6-4, 6-3, booking a fourth-round match seed Iga Swiatek, last year’s French Open champion, moving on to the next round.” 1994 and any Slam last 16 since Wimbledon in 1997. against 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu. who beat Estonian Anett Kontveit 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Czech Rogers will next face 150th-ranked British qualifier Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Barrettini, the Italian Czech 10th seed Kvitova double faulted on the final fourth seed Karolina Pliskova, this year’s Wimbledon Emma Raducanu, an 18-year-old who routed Spain’s sixth seed, eliminated Ilya Ivashka of Belarus 6-7 point to hand Sakkari the victory after 81 minutes. runner-up and a 2016 US Open finalist, beat Australian Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-0, 6-1 in 70 minutes. (5/7), 6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. Next up is 144th-ranked Otte, Canadian sixth seed Andreescu improved to 10-0 at Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 6-2. —AFP

starting with our employees. Aside from the support Al-Sayer congratulates Toyota provides for athletes as an employer, the com- pany also offers support in equipment development, as a sponsor, and in a variety of other ways. Kuwait’s Al-Mutairi Akio Toyoda, CEO of Toyota, had delivered a video message to those who had arrived in Tokyo after going on Paralympic medal through various hardships and are finally heading to make their dreams come true in Tokyo 2020. “All the KUWAIT: Mohamed Naser Al-Sayer and Sons and employees of Toyota and all our friends in the Japanese Toyota congratulated Kuwaiti Paralympic athlete, automotive industry are supporting you. That’s over World record holder and Global Team Toyota five and a half million people! Your journey may have Athlete Ahmad Al-Mutairi, who won the silver medal begun as Start Your Impossible, but now it’s time to in class T33, 100-meter wheelchair racing in 2020 Achieve Your Impossible! Then fight with all your spir- Tokyo Games. it... and make your dreams come true!”. Mutairi is part of Global Team Toyota Athlete and is According to Mubarak Naser Al-Sayer CEO at under a strategic sponsorship contract with Mohamed Mohamed Naser Al-Sayer and Sons “We are proud of TOKYO: Ahmad Al-Mutairi poses with his silver medal Naser Al-Sayer and Sons since April 2019. There are Ahmad’s achievement for Kuwait in the most presti- at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. NEW YORK: Emma Raducanu of the United Kingdom 233 athletes that Toyota supports around the world. Of gious international competition. His hard work and celebrates after defeating Sara Sorribes Tormo of them, 123 athletes competed in the Olympic Games dedication during such challenging and uncertain cir- Naser Al-Ajmi, the Chairman of Board of Directors Spain during her Women’s Singles third round match Tokyo 2020, and 57 athletes in the Tokyo 2020 cumstances is remarkable. I also thank valuable con- at National Paralympic Committee Kuwait praised Al- of the 2021 US Open on Saturday. —AFP Paralympic Games. tribution of Toyota Motor Corporation towards our Sayer’s effort to support interpreting the global part- Global Team Toyota athletes are comprised of not long terms partnership with Ahmad as well as mem- nership between Toyota and the International only athletes that are also Toyota employees, but bers at National Paralympic Committee Kuwait for Paralympic Committee, providing a unique and distinc- include athletes that have been selected from each their cooperation.” tive model for the contribution of the private sector in Qualifiers, teens country because they share Toyota’s philosophies and Mutairi expressed his happiness and appreciation supporting Kuwaiti disabled sport. values, such as “challenge,” “continuous improvement,” towards Toyota and Al-Sayer, pointing that this long- Al-Sayer Board of Directors stressed that the com- “sincerity,” “teamwork,” “humility and gratitude,” term sponsorship will prepare him to accomplish the pany would spare no effort in providing all aspects of making their “accountability and honesty,” etc. The athletes put achievements in the coming competitions. He also support through the sponsorship agreement to enable “Start Your Impossible” into practice when they com- thanked his coach, support team, the Kuwaiti the Kuwaiti champion to continue the march of bril- pete in their respective sports, and they demonstrate Paralympic Committee and the Kuwaiti Sport Club for liance towards more achievements and raise the name mark at US Open courage and invigorate all of Toyota’s stakeholders, the Disabled for their constant support. of Kuwait high in future Para Athletics competitions. NEW YORK: A record week for success by US Open qualifiers and teen wonders saw Britain’s Emma Raducanu and German Oscar Otte advance to the fourth round on Saturday. Otte, who was throwing up Plane flies through during two qualifying matches, became the third qualifi- er into the last 16 on the New York hardcourts, joining countryman Peter Gojowczyk and Dutchman Botic Van tunnel at 245 km/h, de Zandschulp. “I’m just really happy to be first time in my life in the second week of a Slam,” Otte said. And while Raducanu is the only women’s qualifier sets World Record into the fourth round, she joined fellow 18-year-olds ZANDVOORT: Just after dawn on Saturday, profes- Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and Leylah Fernandez of sional race and stunt pilot Dario Costa of Italy wrote Canada, who ousted French Open runner-up Stefanos a new chapter in aviation history as he flew a race- Tsitsipas and four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi plane through the narrow confines of two enclosed Osaka, respectively. auto tunnels just outside Istanbul. Closely surround- “To have so many young players coming through is just really great for the game, because it just shows how ed by the concrete arc of the walls, Costa executed strong this next generation is,” Raducanu said. “Having a tricky takeoff inside the first tunnel, flashed so many young players, I think we all inspire each other through an open-air gap and then continued his to play better. I wanted to join them in the second week flight at 245 km/h through the second tunnel, flying as well, so that was an extra bit of motivation.” no more than one meter from the asphalt. Here’s Raducanu won’t get her chance at a big upset. She everything you need to know about Tunnel Pass: next faces American Shelby Rogers, who ousted top- l Costa, 41, won the top category of the Italian ranked Wimbledon champion Ashleigh Barty of Aerobatic Championship and became first Italian Australia on Saturday. On the men’s side, it’s the first pilot to join, and earn a race win in, the Red Bull Air time three qualifiers have reached the last 16 since qual- Race Challenger Class. With over two decades of ifying records were first kept in 1982. flying experience, and numerous aviation feats to incline and shape. something to improvise. It was a big relief, of Three qualifiers hadn’t reached the men’s fourth his credit, he has flown more than 60 airplane mod- l From take-off to exiting the second tunnel, the course, but big, big happiness was the main emo- round at any Grand Slam since the 1995 French Open. els and logged over 5,000 hours in the air - more flight lasted 43.44 seconds, covering a distance of tion. For me it’s another dream come true.” It didn’t hurt their cause that the men’s side lacked 20- than half in high-performance aerobatics. 2,260 m / 2.26 km and reaching an average speed of l The achievement set a new Guinness World time Grand Slam winners Rafael Nadal and Roger l Tunnel Pass was by far Costa’s most demanding 245 km/h in the second tunnel. Record: Longest Tunnel Flown through with an Federer and defending champion Dominic Thiem. No and complex undertaking yet, requiring a team of l Changes to airflow, combined with the highly Airplane (1,610 m). Four other notable records were: US Open qualifier has gone past the quarter-finals and 40 people, especially developed training technology sensitive steering of the aircraft, required pilot reac- first airplane flight through a tunnel, longest flight only five in other Slams have made the semi-finals, the and more than a year of preparation. Throughout, tion times of less than 250 milliseconds and fine under a solid obstacle (1,610 m), first airplane flight most recent being Russian Aslan Karatsev at this year’s the project was shrouded in secrecy to limit vari- Australian Open. Otte takes pride in his journey from hand movements of mere millimeters throughout the through two tunnels, first airplane takeoff from a ables and distractions, allowing complete focus for a throwing up in qualifying to showing up in the last 16. flight. One of most critical moments came at the 360 tunnel. “Quallies are always tough, especially the first two successful flight that was no more than a simple m gap between tunnels, which exposed the race- l Costa was mentored by Hungarian aerobatic rounds. I wasn’t in very good physical shape. I puked idea on paper 12 months ago. plane to cross winds as Costa prepared to thread it and racing pilot Peter Besenyei, 65, an aviation leg- on the court in both deciding tie-breaks,” Otte said. l Located outside Istanbul on Northern into the low, narrow opening of the second tunnel. end renowned for his role in developing and com- “I was just thinking, ‘OK, doesn’t matter what’s the Marmara Highway and initially put into service in l Costa said: “Everything seemed to be happen- peting in the Red Bull Air Race. Besenyei is also well score, how the match is going to end.’ I just wanted March 2020, the dual «atalca tunnels are state-of- ing so fast, but when I got out of the first tunnel, the known for feats such as flying upside down under to be off court out of the sun because it was so the-art; but were designed for automobile traffic, plane started to move to the right because of the the Chain Bridge in Budapest. humid and hot. Yeah, it’s a crazy ride. Just unbeliev- not an aircraft in full flight. cross winds, and in my head, everything slowed l Besenyei said: “To fly in a tunnel is not a normal able. I didn’t expect that I could come so far.” l At the controls of his specially modified Zivko down in that moment. I reacted and just focused on situation. The main point is the mindset. Because to Suddenly Otte, who next plays Italian sixth seed and Edge 540 raceplane, Costa took off inside the first getting the plane back on the right path to enter the fly straight at one meter off the ground and follow a Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini, has faith in tunnel at 6:43 am local time (TRT), with the early other tunnel. Then in my mind everything sped up center line is not really so difficult technically if you going even farther. “I have more trust in my game, and hour putting the sun at the pilot’s back and offering all over again.” are over a runway. But in the tunnel, especially a it’s working really well. Let’s see when this ends,” he optimal ambient conditions. Limited overhead clear- l When the raceplane shot out of the other side, dark tunnel, and to come out of the tunnel into the said. “I know if I play well and my game works really ance meant that he had to keep the aircraft on a Costa pulled it into a celebratory loop before land- light and then back into another dark tunnel, it’s dif- good, I can make a lot of damage to no matter who is flight path just above the asphalt, while also manag- ing. The ecstatic pilot said: “I’d never flown in a tun- ferent. And also there are air waves that can affect my opponent. It was a long way, but I think it’s still not ing a tight distance of barely four meters between nel in my life - nobody had ever done it - so there the flight, and you should expect some bumps. It’s the end.” —AFP each wingtip and the unforgiving tunnel walls. was a big question mark in my head whether every- difficult in your mind because you know that if you Complicating the trajectory were changes in tunnel thing would go as we expected or if there would be make a mistake, the wall is hard.” Established 1961 15 Sports Monday, September 6, 2021 France draw again as Dutch roll in World Cup qualifying Haaland powers Norway past Latvia; Croatia, Russia win PARIS: World Cup holders France stut- Gibraltar. Barcelona star Depay opened tered again in their bid to qualify for the the scoring for the Dutch with a penalty 2022 finals in Qatar after a 1-1 draw in and netted a second on the hour. Captain Ukraine, while Memphis Depay inspired Georginio Wijnaldum added a slick third the Netherlands to a rout of Montenegro and Cody Gakpo bagged his first goal on Saturday. for the national team with a terrific curl- France drew their fifth successive ing shot. match as Anthony Martial scored his first “Once the first goal went in we played international goal in five years to earn in a much more relaxed manner and pro- Didier Deschamps’ side a point in Kiev. duced some very good football,” said The Manchester United forward, who Van Gaal, back for a third spell in charge missed Euro 2020 with a knee injury, of the Netherlands. “Memphis had an grabbed just his second goal in 29 caps extraordinary game. He was undoubtedly to cancel out a magnificent first-half the man of the match.” strike by Ukraine midfielder Mykola Shaparenko. Haaland spot on Les Bleus remain four points clear at Erling Haaland converted a spot-kick as the top of Group D but have played two he scored for the second game running in games more than Finland, who they host in Norway’s 2-0 win against Latvia, with Lyon tomorrow. Mohamed Joel Pohjanpalo’s Elyounoussi also second-half effort on target in Oslo. clinched Finland a Norway and the 1-0 victory over Fifth consecutive Netherlands are Kazakhstan. both a point “We are draw for France back of Turkey, maybe not in a who go to better situation Amsterdam next than we were week. “Now we before the match, must win on but it is not any Tuesday against worse either. It’s just one more point when Turkey. A victory would put us in an ideal obviously our goal was to take all three,” position for qualification,” added Van Gaal. Deschamps told French broadcaster M6. Marcelo Brozovic’s late goal gave Croatia KIEV: France’s forward Anthony Martial (second left) shoots and scores his team’s first goal during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Ukraine have now drawn all five of their a 1-0 victory away to Slovakia, ensuring Group D qualification football match between Ukraine and France at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev on Saturday. – AFP qualifiers so far, including both matches the 2018 World Cup runners-up stayed against France. level with Russia in Group H. Depay led the Netherlands to a 4-0 Russia beat Cyprus 2-0 away while Islands 1-0 and record a fifth win in as home win over Moldova. at the top of Group A. A late Shane defeat of Montenegro in Eindhoven that Slovenia won 1-0 at home to Malta. many outings in Group F. Scotland Aleksandar Mitrovic struck twice as Duffy equalizer salvaged the Republic of kept Louis van Gaal’s team right behind Denmark needed an 85th-minute effort moved above Austria into third place as Serbia defeated Luxembourg 4-1 to Ireland a disappointing 1-1 draw at home Group G leaders Turkey, who won 3-0 in from Jonas Wind to see off the Faroe Lyndon Dykes’ early strike sealed a 1-0 edge above Portugal on goal difference to Azerbaijan. — AFP

Ribery has been a free agent since Fiorentina him always encourages others to give their best.” Serie A Salernitana chose not to renew his two-year contract in the Ribery indicated that he wanted to stay in summer. “FR7” will arrive in Salerno on Monday Florence, where he made 50 Serie A appear- to undergo a medical examination and “then he ances scoring five goals, but since being cut say they are poised will sign a contract that will bind him for one loose on June 30, he has continued to train, for a year to the Dark Reds, with an option of exten- while at Bayern, while awaiting offers. to sign Ribery sion,” said the Corriere dello Sport yesterday. Salernitana returned to Serie A this season The Rome sports daily reported the club for the first time since 1998-99 and have ROME: Franck Ribery, a free agent since the would pay Ribery 1.5 million euros ($1.8 million) opened their campaign with two defeats. The summer, will extend his playing career at for the season and had lined up housing for him. possible signing has already inspired the Salernitana, a club promoted to Serie A this sea- “There is an agreement in principle, we are wait- appearance of black-market club shirts with his son, Italian media reported yesterday. The club ing for the ratification,” said Angelo Fabiani, name in Salerno, south of Naples. On its web- confirmed there was an agreement in principal, sports director of the club, quoted by Corriere site, Salernitana pointed out that “the player but has yet to confirm the signing of the 38- dello Sport. “With his experience, he can be use- does not belong to the club” and warned that it year-old former French international and Bayern ful to the growth of Salerno, he can guide the “reserves the right to take legal action to pro- Franck Ribery Munich star. group and help the coach. Having someone like tect its image.” — AFP

team hotel and not travel with Team India until fined 15 percent of his match fee after showing dis- India coach Shastri confirmation from the medical team”. A spokesman sent following his dismissal on Saturday. The open- added later yesterday that Arun, Sridhar and Patel er was unhappy at being given out caught behind had all since tested negative. on review for 46 off the bowling of England great tests positive Officials insisted it was safe for the match to con- James Anderson. tinue as the remaining members of the Indian con- After Alex Wharf reversed his decision, Rahul for COVID-19 tingent had undergone two lateral flow tests, one on gestured to the on-field umpire that he had hit his Saturday and another yesterday morning, all of pad with the bat, although the Decision Review LONDON: India head coach Ravi Shastri has been which produced “negative COVID reports”, and System confirmed he had edged the ball before forced to remain in the team hotel after testing pos- were allowed to go to the Oval for the fourth day. making any further contact. Rahul was found to itive for COVID-19 during the ongoing fourth Test But Shastri, Arun, Sridhar and Patel were not at have breached article 2.8 of the International against England at the Oval, a Board of Control for the south London ground, as India resumed on Cricket Council code of conduct, which relates to Cricket in India statement said yesterday. 270-3 in their second innings, a lead of 171 runs, in “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision during an The BCCI said Shastri, bowling coach B Arun, a five-match series all square at 1-1. The fifth Test international match”. at Old Trafford, Manchester, is scheduled to start The 29-year-old Rahul has also had one demerit fielding coach R Sridhar and physiotherapist Nitin NOTTINGHAM: In this file photo taken on August 4, on Friday, September 10. The two teams have been point added to his disciplinary record for a first Patel were all isolating as a “precautionary meas- 2021 India’s head coach Ravi Shastri looks on in separate environments, with the only interactions offence in a 24-month period. Rahul admitted the ure” following 59-year-old former India all- ahead of play on the first day of the first cricket taking place on the field during play. offence and accepted the sanction proposed by rounder Shastri’s positive lateral flow test late on Test match of the India Tour of England 2021 ICC match referee Chris Broad, the former England Saturday. between England and India at the Trent Bridge Rahul fined for dissent batsman, which meant there was no need for a for- They have all undergone PCR testing, with the cricket ground in Nottingham. — AFP BCCI statement saying they will “remain in the Meanwhile, India batsman KL Rahul has been mal hearing. — AFP Established 1961 Sport

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2021

TOKYO: Fireworks light up the sky during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo yesterday. — AFP Tokyo bids colorful farewell to ‘historic, fantastic’ Paralympics

TOKYO: Tokyo bid a colorful farewell to the opening ceremony for its vivid props. medal table with 207, including 96 golds, followed of pandemic difficulties. Paralympics yesterday after 12 days of stereotype- Among the athletes carrying their nations’ flags by Britain, the United States and the Russian team. The final day’s action began with the early defying, record-shattering performances despite a were Afghanistan’s Hossain Rasouli and Zakia morning marathon events, with Swiss wheelchair year-long pandemic delay. International Paralympic Khudadadi, who arrived in Tokyo with the Games Charismatic figures master Marcel Hug defending his T54 crown. Committee chief Andrew Parsons declared the already in progress after being evacuated from Highlights included cycling legend Sarah Storey “Silver bullet” Hug opened up an early gap on the Games closed on a cool night in the Olympic Taliban-controlled Kabul. The pair, wearing red and becoming Britain’s most successful Paralympian field, and moved away from silver medalist Zhang Stadium, saying they had “not just been historic, green team tracksuits, with her 17th gold medal, Yong over the last two uphill kilometers. “I don’t they’ve been fantastic”. handed the flag over to a 29 years after her first. know how to feel. I’m just tired. Empty,” said Hug, It was a Games like no other, postponed a year volunteer before joining Charismatic figures like who won the sixth Paralympic gold of his career in because of the pandemic and dogged by difficulties other athletes in helping to Italian wheelchair fencer a time of 1hr 24min 2sec. and low public support in the build-up. But the decorate a replica of Record 86 Beatrice “Bebe” Vio and In the women’s T54 marathon, Australian action did not disappoint when it got underway, Tokyo’s Skytree tower. German long jumper Madison de Rozario clung on to finish ahead of with a record 86 teams winning medals and 62 Tokyo Governor Yuriko teams won Markus Rehm wowed TV Swiss great Manuela Schaer, winning the gold by claiming at least one gold. Koike handed the medals audiences. just one second. “That was the longest 500 meters Parsons said the Games had “opened the door”, Paralympic flag over to And Japanese wheel- of my life,” de Rozario told reporters after finishing and it was “time for us all to play our part to break Parsons, who passed it on chair tennis player Shingo in a Paralympic record of 1:38.11. “That finish line down the barriers”. “During our carnival of sport, to Paris Mayor Anne Kunieda delighted the couldn’t have come quick enough.” we have celebrated difference, exhibited the best of Hidalgo, representing the home crowd on the penul- Organizers had urged local residents to stay humanity and shown unity in diversity,” he said. 2024 hosts. Parsons then announced the end of the timate day by claiming one of his country’s 13 gold home and watch the action on TV, but sweet shop The closing ceremony, with fans locked out over Games, bringing the curtain down after 539 gold medals. There were also impressive performances owner Atsushi Nishimura told AFP in Tokyo’s virus fears but with roughly 2,000 athletes and offi- medals across 22 sports, contested almost entirely from Britain’s wheelchair rugby team, who won their Asakusa district that he was glad he saw it live. “We cials in attendance, took “harmonious cacophony” behind closed doors because of the virus. first ever gold, while badminton and taekwondo could have enjoyed the Olympics and Paralympics as its theme. It featured a riot of neon-clad break- “I don’t want to do this, but the time has come made their Paralympic debuts. The Games featured differently if they weren’t during a pandemic, but I dancers, unicycling butterflies and strutting stilt- for me to declare the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic 163 delegations — one fewer than the London 2012 think it was good for us that we could host the walkers, using materials recycled from the Olympic Games closed,” he said. China finished on top of the record, despite several teams withdrawing because events,” he said. ”— AFP

away at the gap to the Dutchman. Brilliant Verstappen storms to Verstappen delights home crowd Hamilton again came in on lap 40 to home Dutch Grand Prix triumph switch to medium tires, needing to pick ZANDVOORT: Home favorite Max Lauda for McLaren 36 years ago. his way through traffic as he returned to Verstappen snatched the world champi- “Expectations were high going into the the track. A nerveless Verstappen contin- onship lead from Lewis Hamilton yester- weekend, I’m so happy to win here. It’s ued to frustrate his title rival who feared day as the Red Bull driver produced a such an amazing day, the whole crowd, his tires wouldn’t last to the finish. scintillating performance to win the first incredible.” As Verstappen cruised towards the Dutch Grand Prix since 1985. A week Verstappen, who earned half points line, igniting jubilant celebrations along after the farcical washout in Belgium, for his win over two laps behind the the North Sea coast, Hamilton entered the pole-sitter Verstappen controlled the safety car at Spa last Sunday, pulled pits for the third time in a successful last- race from the start in bright sunshine at a away on the opening lap here, keeping ditch attempt at the quickest lap. On a circuit set in coastal sand dunes at the Hamilton in his rear-view mirror and day that began with Verstappen showing beach resort of Zandvoort. surging clear. A narrow track with pun- Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen His seventh win in 13 races this season ishing deep gravel traps made overtaking Maxima around the Red Bull garage, turned a three-point deficit into a three- difficult, prompting Mercedes to use Hamilton though simply had no answer to point lead over seven-time world cham- varying strategies for Hamilton and a regal display from the 23-year-old. “Max did a great job, congratulations pion Hamilton ahead of Monza next Bottas to ramp up the pressure on ZANDVOORT: Red Bull’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen (right) holds the winner’s trophy as to him. I gave it everything, they were weekend. Hamilton came in second, set- Verstappen. Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton (left) applauds on the podium of the Zandvoort ting the fastest lap on the final lap to Hamilton pitted on lap 21, inducing just too quick for us,” said Hamilton, circuit after the Netherlands’ Formula One Grand Prix in Zandvoort yesterday. — AFP earn a consolation bonus point, with Red Bull to immediately call Verstappen again frustrated in his bid to become the Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas a in and leaving Bottas briefly at the head first man to win 100 Grands Prix. “They distant third. of the field. Verstappen retook the lead had that upper edge, and it’s very hard Pierre Gasly took fourth in his Sergio Perez, who began the race in the “As you can hear already, it’s just as he burst past Bottas down the final to follow here. The last lap was one of AlphaTauri ahead of Ferrari’s Charles pit lane after an engine change, came incredible,” said Verstappen, roared on straight on lap 31 to the sound of bellow- the best parts of the race for me - single Leclerc. Fernando Alonso made up three home eighth with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon by some 70,000 orange-clad fans at a ing roars from the grandstand, but with lap, low fuel. This is now one of my places on the grid to finish sixth followed and Lando Norris of McLaren complet- venue where the last winner was Niki the Finn having allowed Hamilton to eat favorite tracks.” by Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari. ing the top 10. — AFP