DOCSLIB.ORG

Annual Report Contents Contents

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Annual Report Contents Contents ANNUAL REPORT CONTENTS CONTENTS CORPORATE OVERVIEW 06 Chairman’s and CEO’s Statement 10 About L’azurde 12 Key Milestones 14 Profile of the Board 20 Profile of Executive Management STRATEGIC BUSINESS REVIEW 26 L’azurde’s Principal Business Activities 28 Business Description 32 Business Model 50 L’azurde’s Ownership Structure FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE 62 Dividend Policy 66 Risk Factors 72 Key Financial Highlights CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 86 Board Formation 102 Policies and Code of Governance 118 Communication with Shareholders 124 Audit Committee Report CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 128 Consolidated Financial Statements 2 3 CORPORATE 01 OVERVIEW 01 | CORPORATE OVERVIEW CHAIRMAN AND CEO’S STATEMENT CHAIRMAN'S AND CEO'S STATEMENT All the above-mentioned factors have contributed to reducing Looking back at the past year, 2019 was marked with major the Company’s net profit. In addition, L’azurde adopted the new actions and initiatives taken by L’azurde in both markets in Saudi accounting standard for Leases (IFRS 16) that took effect from Arabia and Egypt, putting the Group in a stronger position to January 1, 2019 and resulted in an increase of SAR 4.5 million deliver its longer-term growth ambitions. in finance costs. Egypt subsidiaries’ corporate tax expenses increased as well in 2019, due to the expiration of tax holiday. From the rise in total retail channel revenues, up to the addition Before exceptional items and sales returns, the net income was of TOUS with 26 stores in KSA, and the promising launch of equal to SAR 23.0 million. the new Miss L’ fashion jewelry line, L’azurde finds itself well- equipped for the future. MAIN ACTIVITIES AND KEY ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2019 The Company reported strong top-line performance in 2019, with the Group operating revenues for the full year amounting to SAR In 2019, L’azurde took steps to shift its business strategy in its KSA CHAIRMAN’S AND 481.2 million, an increase of 18% compared to SAR 406.4 million wholesale channel to counter the increase in gold prices. The in 2018. The Company succeeded at protecting its 60% gross Company worked on altering the product designs and reducing margin, as it generated a gross profit of SAR 287.8 million, also the average weight of its jewelry production in order to meet the 18% higher than last year. evolving taste and budget of its clients. Besides securing that CEO’S STATEMENT customers are stocked with the right low weight products and In 2019 however, L’azurde made the difficult decision to accept the latest fashion trends, those steps were largely supported by one-off sales returns of the heavier gold jewelry in its KSA celebrity endorsements. wholesale channel due to the Gold price increase and volatility. In addition, after many discussions the Board decided to scale down For instance, and as part of its multi-celebrity marketing the L’azurde own brand retail KSA business from 15 to 4 shops strategy, L’azurde has launched two campaigns in 2019 in in order to eliminate unprofitable operations. This consolidation collaboration with the newly appointed celebrity, Myriam Fares. resulted in one-time write-down of inventory and will position The first campaign featured the iconic My Path collection, the Group to start the year 2020 with a much better inventory whereas the second campaign was unveiled at the end of 2019 situation. Those two deliberate decisions had a negative impact and displayed a stunning array of 21k and 18K pieces constituting on the net profit, resulting in a net loss of SAR 17.5 million for the the new ConneXion collection. The year 2019 also marked the year compared to SAR 17.7 million of net profit for 2018. launch of the Written in the Stars collection by Lady Fozaza in Saudi Arabia; the newest line was also launched in Egypt for the 2019 NET INCOME AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE very first time. In 2019, L’azurde witnessed a growth in its retail channel revenues On the production level, L’azurde restored the production in the biggest markets in both KSA and Egypt. In KSA, the retail capacity in KSA swiftly and efficiently to fully produce all the revenues increased by 59% mainly due to the consolidation of KSA products in KSA instead of importing some jewelry finished TOUS franchise brand that was acquired in the fourth quarter goods from Egypt due to a change in the importation process. of 2018. In Egypt, the retail revenues also increased by 47%, on L’azurde has streamlined labor-intensive processes to drive the the back of the increase in sales in the existing shops, and the efficiency of its production processes, in its efforts to charge a Mohammed Ebrahim Juma Al Shroogi Selim Chidiac successful opening of four new outlets. premium labor service charge, meet a wide variety of consumer Chairman Chief Executive Officer tastes and create distinguished pieces of jewelry. On the wholesale level, Egypt had a great performance with a growth of 19% compared to last year, due to successful On another note, L’azurde worked on strengthening its retail advertising campaigns and strong customer uptake of new network in 2019 through the opening of four new showrooms at Looking back at the past year, 2019 was marked with major collections. top locations in Egypt, and the closure of seven non-profitable stores in Saudi Arabia. The retail network in the kingdom is now actions and initiatives taken by L’azurde in both markets in In KSA, however, wholesale revenues suffered a decrease of 19% appropriately lean and efficient with four well-located stores compared to last year, mainly because of the sharp increase in covering the major cities. Saudi Arabia and Egypt, putting the Group in a stronger position gold prices, in response to which, the Company had to go through to deliver its longer-term growth ambitions. a set of measures aimed at addressing this challenge. In fact, In 2019, the Group invested in the new franchise brand TOUS, L’azurde opted for a change in its jewelry designs, reduced the by strengthening its organization through skills training and average weight of its jewelry production while making sure that capacity building for the staff, enhancing product assortment, the new products meet the evolving consumer taste and budget. implementing product launches and gift-with-purchase offers, Moreover, the Company accepted returns of heavy gold jewelry as well as conducting many in-store activities. Furthermore, items, on a one-off basis, in a way to ensure that both customers TOUS collaborated with a large number of local influencers in and retailers have the right products at hand. The one-off costs 2019 with the objective of increasing the brand awareness, and also affected the operating profit that suffered a decline from celebrated the launch of new and exclusively designed collections SAR 69.9 million to SAR 46.7 million. This decrease of 33% was for the Saudi market, through two grand opening events that also due to an exceptional provision amounting to SAR 17.8 generated major media outcome and contributed to the growing million mainly related to the consolidation of L’azurde retail success of the brand. shops in KSA from 15 shops down to 4 shops. 7 01 | CORPORATE OVERVIEW CHAIRMAN AND CEO’S STATEMENT OUTLOOK FOR 2020 Building on the corrective initiatives L’azurde has taken over 2019, and considering the underlying fundamentals In 2020, L’azurde Group will sustain its efforts to further supporting the jewelry industry on the long run, we believe improve its business performance, in order to better position that the Group is well positioned to continue leading the Middle itself for future growth. We will continue to focus on the East and North Africa region’s jewelry market, as the largest execution of our strategic initiatives, namely: gold and jewelry designer, manufacturer, and distributor, and as one of the highly renowned brands in the Arab world. • Pursuing the growth of our wholesale and retail businesses in Egypt. To conclude, we do look forward to a fresh and strong start in 2020, and we would like to express our thanks to our • Further driving our TOUS retail business in KSA. customers, shareholders, employees and partners for their • Growing the new Miss L’ line to its full potential and continued trust and commitment in our success. material contribution in the next three years. • Step-changing the wholesale KSA profitability through better products and lower working capital. • Reducing working capital through improved collections, lower priced jewelry, shorter AR and manufacturing efficiencies. • Digitization the wholesale B2B market through RFID technology and developing the retail omni-channel strategy. • Pursuing our M&A strategy by identifying attractive targets where we can add value, grow our profits and offer attractive return to our shareholders. • Further protecting and improving our positive Cashflow. CHAIRMAN’S AND CEO’S Mohammed Ebrahim Juma Al Shroogi STATEMENT Chairman As a major step forward in 2019, L’azurde launched its new high potential fashion jewelry line Miss L’. Miss L’ offers a wide variety of 18 K gold jewelry products sold by piece in KSA and Egypt, and builds on the fast growing segment of fashion affordable jewelry globally and in the region. Miss L’ is sold today at L’azurde mono- Selim Chidiac brand shops, Miss L’s own dedicated kiosks and Chief Executive Officer at key third party fashion retailers in malls. The new line represents a high potential growth opportunity for the Company where for the very first time L’azurde enters a major fast growing segment at high gross margin, very low working capital and highly attractive value proposition to consumers.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Self-Orientalism in Arab Pop Music | Norient.Com 6 Oct 2021 19:13:25
    Self-Orientalism in Arab Pop Music | norient.com 6 Oct 2021 19:13:25 Self-Orientalism in Arab Pop Music COMMENTARY by Nermin Abbassi When Saad Lamjarred’s hit song «Lm3allem» topped the charts with more than eight hundred million views and became one of the most famous Arab songs worldwide, reinterpreted in English, Hindi, and Korean, little attention was given to the self-Orientalist imageries that were propagated by this song. If anything, argues political scientist Nermin Abbassi, this music video is another invitation to further endorse the global trend of Orientalist consumerism in the audio-visual field. Here is a small experiment one should do when discussing self-Orientalism in Arab pop music: watch Katy Perry’s music video «Dark Horse» without focusing on the lyrics or who the singer is and apply the same process to Myriam Fares’ song «Aman» or better yet, Saad Lamjarred’s songs «Ghaltana» or «Lm3allem». Will you be able to tell the backgrounds of these artists apart or even spot major differences? The Reinvigoration of the Oriental The answer is probably no. These music videos share analogous postmodernist décor glued to ahistorical Orientalist imageries of exotified objects, women, and essentialist cultural representations; though one should state that Arab artists do add an extra creative layer to it. https://norient.com/nermin-abbassi/self-orientalism-arab-pop-music Page 1 of 4 Self-Orientalism in Arab Pop Music | norient.com 6 Oct 2021 19:13:25 Myriam Fares’ song «Aman» features a 500-year old poetry verse mixed with electronic music, in a video themed around an «exotic Oriental woman» in different belly dancers’ costumes, with mystical digital effects of a turning Sufi dervish.
    [Show full text]
  • Kuwait Times 1-11-2017.Qxp Layout 1
    SAFAR 12, 1439 AH WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2017 Max 32º 32 Pages 150 Fils Established 1961 Min 21º ISSUE NO: 17370 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Passenger seatbelt required to Jordan water crisis worsens as Historic Jewish quarter of Invincible Guardiola is 3 avoid vehicle impoundment 11 Mideast tensions slow action 32 Marrakesh sees revival 15 ripping up record books IMF urges Gulf to switch from oil, projects deficits of $160bn Fund warns GCC rift could dampen growth, endorses Saudi business zone DUBAI: The IMF yesterday advised economies to accelerate their diversi- energy-rich Gulf economies to speed fication outside oil and to promote a Dust hits up their diversification away from oil greater role for the private sector to after projecting the worst growth for lead growth and create additional the region since the global financial jobs,” said Jihad Azour, director of Kuwait with crisis. Oil exporters in the Middle the Middle East and Central Asia at East, especially those in the Gulf IMF. “Preparing their economies to cold winds Cooperation Council, have been hit the post-oil era is something that is hard by the collapse in crude prices becoming a priority for authorities all KUWAIT: A dust wave gripped which provided a major part of their over the GCC,” Azour said. “We are Kuwait in the early hours of yesterday, finances. Following the slump, GCC seeing governments developing causing visibility to drop drastically. members Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, diversification strategies and intro- Along with the storm, relatively cold Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab ducing a certain number of reforms to winds were blowing with the visibility Emirates undertook fiscal measures allow the economy to be prepared for level at 500 m in some areas.
    [Show full text]
  • HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES—Monday, March 9, 2009
    March 9, 2009 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE, Vol. 155, Pt. 5 6661 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES—Monday, March 9, 2009 The House met at 12:30 p.m. and was shovel-ready that actually put more in annual Federal and State tax rev- called to order by the Speaker pro tem- people to work per million dollars than enue and producing over $53 billion in pore (Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland). highway construction. annual retail sales and services. These f Bike partisanship is alive and well on are activities that help revitalize the Capitol Hill, with over 200 members in economy exactly at the time we need DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO the Bike Caucus. There is a reason why them. Even those ever-present bicycle TEMPORE people are focusing on cycling activi- rides that are mushrooming around the The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- ties. Since 1980, the number of miles country support in excess of $100 mil- fore the House the following commu- Americans drive has increased three lion a year in critical medical research. nication from the Speaker: times faster than the population, and It is time for us to focus on what we WASHINGTON, DC, almost twice as fast as vehicle reg- in Congress can do to be more bike par- March 9, 2009. istrations. We have reached a point tisan. We urge you to join in wel- I hereby appoint the Honorable DONNA F. where our roadways simply demand re- coming the cyclists to Capitol Hill and EDWARDS to act as Speaker pro tempore on lief. become a member of the Congressional this day.
    [Show full text]
  • | Annual Report Contents
    | ANNUAL REPORT CONTENTS CONTENTS CORPORATE OVERVIEW 06 Chairman’s and CEO’s Statement 10 About L’azurde 16 Key Milestones 18 Profile of the Board 24 Profile of Executive Management STRATEGIC BUSINESS REVIEW 30 L’azurde’s Principal Business Activities 36 Business Description 38 Business Model 60 L’azurde’s Ownership Structure FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE 70 Key Financial Highlights 86 Dividend Policy 90 Risk Factors CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 98 Board Formation 116 Policies and Code of Governance 134 Communication with Shareholders 140 Audit Committee Report CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 144 Consolidated Financial Statements 2 3 �� CORPORATE OVERVIEW 4 5 01 | CORPORATE OVERVIEW CHAIRMAN AND CEO’S STATEMENT CHAIRMAN’S AND CHAIRMAN'S AND CEO'S STATEMENT Despite the Company’s net loss generated by all the above- 2020 was unlike any other year. With the global pandemic and a mentioned factors, the Group has managed to generate a worldwide lockdown, the past year was challenging for all. For significant positive cash inflow from its operations amounting CEO’S STATEMENT L’azurde, 2020 was also marked by a sharp increase in gold to SAR 58.7 million in 2020. This was achieved by increasing prices and the tripling of KSA VAT to 15%. As a result of these collection from wholesale customers and higher sales in the major market shocks, L’azurde posted a substantial loss in retail channel. The Group has also reduced its gold working 2020. Despite this, we are pleased to have produced a positive capital by 36% from 6.6 Tons in December 2019 to 4.2 tons in cashflow and to have made major advances in executing the December 2020.
    [Show full text]
  • Alert Response Teams Limit Impact of Saturday Soaker
    SUNDAY OCTOBER 28, 2018 SAFAR 19, 1440 VOL.12 NO. 4436 QR 2 HEAVY RAIN Fajr: 4:21 am Dhuhr: 11:19 am HIGH : 32°C Asr: 2:33 pm Maghrib: 4:57 pm LOW : 27°C Isha: 6:27 pm America 11 Business 12 Sports 19 11 dead, many wounded in Qafco, Agrico, Yara sign deal to test Yow stuns home favourite Pittsburgh synagogue shooting greenhouse technologies in Qatar Tamimi in Qatar Classic Ooredoo tv Business for FREE Qatar’s Sept trade Alert response teams limit surplus rises 25% to QR15.5 billion impact of Saturday soaker QNA DOHA ThunderstomrsNon-oil exports Heavy rain’s impact limited to brief traffic snarls and puddles; rainwater drained out in swift action QATAR’S trade surplus today:up 36.5% QMD jumped by a quarter to 15.5 billion in September from a Qatar’s non-oil exports year-ago period, Ministry of increased 36.5 percent Development Planning and to QR18.032 billion in Statistics (MDPS) said in a the first nine months of report on Saturday. 2018 when compared In September, Qatar’s with QR13.02 billion exports touched QR6.8 bil- recorded in the same lion, an increase of 30.2 per- period of last year, Qatar cent from the same month Chamber has said in its last year and a jump of 1.5 latest report. Non-oil percent when compared with August this year. exports in September On the other hand, 2018 reached QR1.642 its imports in September billion, a 4.6 percent reached QR11.4 billion, an increase compared to increase of 37 percent com- the QR1.570 billion pared to the same month reported in the same last year and a 27.7 percent- month of 2017, the jump when compared with report said.
    [Show full text]
  • Women's Fashion Consumption in Saudi Arabia
    Women’s Fashion Consumption in Saudi Arabia Elham Abu Nab A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy First supervisor: Dr Emily Baines Second supervisor: Dr Elizabeth Lambourn Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities De Montfort University, Leicester 2013–2019 Abstract This study investigates the influence of the sociocultural factors affecting the fashion and clothing consumption of Saudi women. It is a multidisciplinary study that combines fashion and consumer behaviour approaches in order to define and explain the collective sociocultural norms that underlie the patterns of women’s fashion and clothing consumption in Saudi Arabia. It applies a mixed-method approach as a strategy for data collection, with primary data gathered through observation, a face-to-face questionnaire completed by 654 respondents and interviews with local retailers and experts in the fashion market. The analysis of the empirical data revealed significant findings related to consumption patterns and the characteristics of the local market. It identified that there are two main systems that define fashion consumption in female Saudi society. Each system operates in a different social setting (public and female-only social settings) that requires communicating or establishing a specific value or a set of values to meet social expectations. The research findings also indicate the structure of the market and its operational system used to respond to consumer demands. In the light of these findings, theoretical models were developed to define the particularities of fashion consumption in Saudi Arabia as outcomes of this study. This study could have a substantial influence in academia as it provides a broader insight into fashion consumption behaviour in Saudi Arabia compared to that available in the existing literature.
    [Show full text]
  • Self-Orientalism in Arab Pop Music | Norient.Com 10 Oct 2021 19:43:34
    Self-Orientalism in Arab Pop Music | norient.com 10 Oct 2021 19:43:34 Self-Orientalism in Arab Pop Music COMMENTARY by Nermin Abbassi When Saad Lamjarred’s hit song «Lm3allem» topped the charts with more than eight hundred million views and became one of the most famous Arab songs worldwide, reinterpreted in English, Hindi, and Korean, little attention was given to the self-Orientalist imageries that were propagated by this song. If anything, argues political scientist Nermin Abbassi, this music video is another invitation to further endorse the global trend of Orientalist consumerism in the audio-visual field. Here is a small experiment one should do when discussing self-Orientalism in Arab pop music: watch Katy Perry’s music video «Dark Horse» without focusing on the lyrics or who the singer is and apply the same process to Myriam Fares’ song «Aman» or better yet, Saad Lamjarred’s songs «Ghaltana» or «Lm3allem». Will you be able to tell the backgrounds of these artists apart or even spot major differences? The Reinvigoration of the Oriental The answer is probably no. These music videos share analogous postmodernist décor glued to ahistorical Orientalist imageries of exotified objects, women, and essentialist cultural representations; though one should state that Arab artists do add an extra creative layer to it. https://norient.com/index.php/nermin-abbassi/self-orientalism-arab-pop-music Page 1 of 4 Self-Orientalism in Arab Pop Music | norient.com 10 Oct 2021 19:43:34 Myriam Fares’ song «Aman» features a 500-year old poetry verse mixed with electronic music, in a video themed around an «exotic Oriental woman» in different belly dancers’ costumes, with mystical digital effects of a turning Sufi dervish.
    [Show full text]
  • 2018 / Annual Report
    2018 / ANNUAL REPORT //www.facebook.com/lazurde //twitter.com/lazurde //www.instagram.com/lazurde //www.pinterest.com/lazurde //www.youtube.com/user/lazurdejewelry CORPORATE F I N A N C I A L 1 OVERVIEW 3 PERFORMANCE 04 Chairman’s and CEO’s Statement 54 Key financial highlights 08 About L’azurde 58 Finance and borrowing 10 Key milestones 66 Dividend Policy 12 Profile of the Board 70 Risk factors 18 Profile of Executive Management STRATEGIC CORPORATE 2 BUSINESS REVIEW 4 GOVERNANCE 24 L’azudre’s Principal Business Activities 78 Board formation 26 Business description 92 Policies and code of Governance 30 Business Model 106 Communication with shareholders 44 Ownership structure 112 Audit committee report CONSOLIDATED 5 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 118 Consolidated Financial Statements 1 1 CORPORATE OVERVIEW 04. Chairman’s and CEO’s Statement 08. About L’azurde 10. Key milestones 12. Profile of the Board 18. Profile of Executive Management 2 L’azurde Annual Report 2018 3 — CORPORATE OVERVIEW — Principal among these was our acquisition of the KSA These include revamping our product design to offer fresh franchise of the Tous international jewelry brand. This and contemporary collections; forming collaberations CHAIRMAN’S AND establishes us with a strong position in the fastest growing with designers in France and Italy, and the likes of Al- sector of the jewelry industry, the accessible jewelry Anoud Badr, the designer of the award-winning Lady CEO’S STATEMENT segment. The acquisition diversifies our opportunities Fozaza fashion brand. We have also restructured our sales for growth and will add significantly to our profits in 2019 force and strengthened our merchandizing support to our and beyond.
    [Show full text]
  • Transnational, Gendered, and Popular Music in the Arab World a Content Analysis of a Decade (2010-2019) Dana J
    Media and Communications Media@LSE Working Paper Series Editors: Bart Cammaerts, Nick Anstead and Richard Stupart Transnational, Gendered, and Popular Music in the Arab World A Content Analysis of a Decade (2010-2019) Dana J. Bibi Published by Media@LSE, London School of Economics and Political Science ("LSE"), Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. The LSE is a School of the University of London. It is a Charity and is incorporated in England as a company limited by guarantee under the Companies Act (Reg number 70527). Copyright, DANA J. BIBI © 2020. The author has asserted their moral rights. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher nor be issued to the public or circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published. In the interests of providing a free flow of debate, views expressed in this paper are not necessarily those of the compilers or the LSE. 1 ABSTRACT Songs are a popular, pervasive form of cultural expression across the twenty-two Arab countries situated in the Middle East and North Africa region. Yet, little attention is dedicated to examining the mediated construction of this widely available Arab cultural artefact in terms of the normalized communication messages in its lyrics. The aim of this study is to explore the longitudinal trends of gender representation present in contemporary popular Arab music. Portrayals from both male and female perspectives are considered to generate comparative insights on how each gender depicts gender precepts and idealized identity formations.
    [Show full text]
  • We Are More Than Stereotypes -]
    WE ARE MORE THAN STEREOTYPES -] WE ARE MORE THAN STEREOTYPES We Are More Than Stereotypes Salaam Halila COM 499 - Capstone Gretchen King Spring 2020 WE ARE MORE THAN STEREOTYPES Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Literature Review............................................................................................................................ 3 Methodology ................................................................................................................................... 6 Results ............................................................................................................................................. 8 Discussion ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Communication Campaign ........................................................................................................... 11 Timeline .................................................................................................................................... 11 Target Audience ........................................................................................................................ 12 Objective ..................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Oppn Ex-Mps to Boycott Polls, Awazem to Take Part
    SUBSCRIPTION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013 SHAABAN 15, 1434 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Syria-linked Gunmen kill Egypt army India hold clashes kill nine foreign says it’s nerve to sink at least eight tourists in ready to England in in Lebanon9 Pakistan12 save15 nation rainy20 final Oppn ex-MPs to boycott Max 44º polls, Awazem to take part Min 29º High Tide 00:50 & 11:25 Constitutional court to explain ruling on June 26 Low Tide 06:03 & 19:10 40 PAGES NO: 15849 150 FILS By B Izzak Snowden flies to KUWAIT: Twenty-seven former opposition MPs yester- day signed a statement in which they vowed to boycott Russia, seeking the forthcoming elections, but the opposition’s attempt to garner popular support for the boycott was dealt a Ecuador asylum heavy blow after the Awazem tribe, the largest in the country, decided to participate. The Awazem announce- MOSCOW: Former US spy Edward Snowden arrived ment was made by the tribe’s chief Falah bin Jame’ at a yesterday in Russia, requesting asylum in Ecuador to large gathering of the tribe. Jame’ told his tribesmen escape the US legal authorities after leaking sensa- that he believes that “after the court ruling, we should tional details of cyber-espionage by Washington. Snowden, the target of a US arrest warrant issued participate”. Former opposition MP Falah Al-Sawwagh, a Friday after he blew the lid on massive secret surveil- member of the tribe who is boycotting, appealed to the lance programs, arrived in Moscow on a direct flight tribesmen not to change their opinion, especially since from Hong Kong and was expected to head to South the single-vote amendment does not serve the interests America via Cuba.
    [Show full text]