RAJAB 17, 1442 AH MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021

16 Pages Max 22º Min 10º 150 Fils Established 1961

ISSUE NO: 18372 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net

Houthi rebels claim Saudi Women making inroads on Wall Salt spa seeks to soothe Man Utd frustrated in Chelsea 5 strikes, threaten new attacks 8 Street, but still a long way to go 13 cradle of Libya revolution 16 stalemate; Bale stars for Spurs

Amir congratulates citizens, residents on national days

Crown Prince thanks citizens, residents for sharing joy of national days

KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al- HH the Amir greeted the lead- National Day and 30th Liberation Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- Sabah’s great and honorable ers of the Gulf Cooperation Day. Sharing Kuwait’s national Sabah yesterday congratulated endeavors and achievements for Council and Arab and friendly days reflects the “spirit of the nationals and residents on the the dear country and citizens. In countries for sharing Kuwait’s joy Kuwaiti family”, HH the Crown 60th anniversary of National Day addition, HH the Amir recalled the during its national days. The Amir Prince said, citing cables, phone and the 30th anniversary of late Amir’s role in confronting the commended these noble senti- calls and all expressions of joy. Liberation Day. HH the Amir brutal Iraqi invasion that will ments, praying to Allah to pre- Sheikh Mishal recalled with appreciated the atmosphere of remain in citizens’ memory, and serve the country and maintain its pride Kuwait martyrs who sacri- joy shown by citizens on these the country’s martyrs, prisoners security, stability and prosperity. ficed their lives for Kuwait, pray- two dear occasions. The Amir also and missing persons who sacri- He also wished success for every- ing to Allah the Almighty to expressed gratitude to the high ficed their souls for the dear one in serving the country and bestow blessings upon them. He national spirit that embodied loy- homeland. upgrading its status. also prayed to Allah the Almighty alty of the citizens to the dear Sheikh Nawaf urged nationals Meanwhile, HH the Crown to return this occasion with homeland and highlighted the to feel the blessing of the libera- HH the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al- HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Kuwait enjoying further security unified Kuwaiti family. tion of the country, which enjoys Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah thanked citi- and prosperity under the leader- HH the Amir recalled the security and tranquility, pointing zens and residents yesterday for ship of HH the Amir Sheikh founding fathers’ efforts for the to love of the state’s people to to revive the dear homeland. He occasions by official and private their sentiments during the cele- Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- dear homeland and the late Amir harness all capabilities and efforts also extolled coverage of the two media outlets. brations of Kuwait’s 60th Sabah. — KUNA

News in brief Iran seen

Mahboula gambling den busted behind Israel

KUWAIT: Detectives raided a flat where gam- ship blast bling was taking place in Mahboula and arrested 29 suspects, including 19 Arab and Asian women, TEHRAN: The “resistance axis” of Tehran and its the largest gambling den busted in the country. A regional allies may have been behind an explosion security source said the mastermind and main that hit an Israeli-owned “spy” vessel four days suspect is a Filipino, adding that based on tips, a ago, an ultraconservative Iranian newspaper said warrant was obtained and the flat was raided. yesterday. The MV Helios Ray, a vehicle carrier, The source said detectives found KD 5,000, in was travelling from the Saudi port of Dammam to addition to display screens and other tools used Singapore when the blast occurred on Thursday, in this international activity. — Al-Qabas according to the London-based Dryad Global mar- itime security group. Citing unnamed “military experts”, Kayhan, Iran’s leading ultraconservative daily, wrote in a front- Jordan ministers sacked page report that “the targeted ship in the Gulf of Oman is a military ship belonging to the Israeli AMMAN: Jordan’s interior and justice minis- army”. It was “gathering information about the ters were sacked yesterday for breaching health (Arabian) Gulf and the Sea of Oman” when it was regulations to stem the spread of coronavirus, targeted, the newspaper said. DUBAI: This picture taken yesterday shows the Israeli-owned Bahamian-flagged MV Helios Ray cargo ship with their replacements named by royal decree. Continued on Page 2 docked at Mina Rashid cruise terminal. — AFP The Jordanian news website Ammon claimed interior minister Samir Mobaideen and justice minister Bassam Talhuni had attended a dinner “Sadly in the past 24 hours, 93 people lost their 21, saying Iran will face a “more difficult” situation in a restaurant in Amman with a total of nine Iran COVID lives to COVID-19, and total deaths from this dis- over the next year by having to battle “mutated people, when the law allowed a maximum of six. ease reached 60,073,” health ministry spokes- strains of the virus”. Tawfiq Krishan, deputy prime minister and in woman Sima Sadat Lari said in a televised The coronavirus taskforce spokesman Alireza charge of local administration, was appointed deaths cross address. Iran has registered a total of 1,631,169 Raisi on Friday said that Iran is “very concerned” as the new interior minister. Ahmed Ziyadat, infections, according to the ministry. But some about the more contagious British variant of the state secretary for legal affairs, was named as 60,000 mark officials - including Health Minister Saeed Namaki virus, which has already “circulated in the coun- justice minister.— AFP - have admitted in the past that the actual num- try”. “We have identified 112 people infected with TEHRAN: Iran’s coronavirus fatalities broke the bers are likely higher than the official figures. the British variant in the country, eight of whom 60,000 mark yesterday, official figures showed, as the “We have to observe (virus) restrictions proba- have died,” he said, according to the health min- Vatican envoy COVID positive Islamic republic battles the Middle East’s worst out- bly for months, and maybe for the whole of the istry. He noted that the variant was seen in many break of the illness. The grim milestone comes after next year,” President Rouhani said at the country’s provinces including the capital Tehran, and the BAGHDAD: The Vatican’s ambassador to Iraq several Iranian officials, including President Hassan weekly COVID-19 taskforce meeting on Saturday. virus’ new focal point in the southwest, Mitja Leskovar has tested positive for COVID-19, Rouhani, warned of a COVID-19 “fourth wave” with He called on citizens to better observe health pro- Khuzestan. two officials told AFP yesterday, just days before cases rising in certain areas of the country. tocols in the new Iranian year starting on March Continued on Page 2 Pope Francis’ historic visit. “Yes, he tested posi- tive, but it will have no impact on the visit,” an ings of protesters in at least four cities Iraqi official involved in the papal plans said. An Bloodiest day around the country, as police and sol- Italian diplomat also confirmed the infection. As diers attempted to bring the civil a apostolic nuncio to Baghdad, Leskovar had been campaign to heel. The United Nations travelling across the country in recent weeks to of protests condemned the deadly crackdown, prepare for the pope’s ambitious visit. — AFP saying it had received credible infor- in Myanmar mation that as many as 18 people may have been killed. Orban receives Chinese jab YANGON: Myanmar security forces “We strongly condemn the escalat- opened fire on protestors yesterday, ing violence against protests in BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor killing at least eight in the bloodiest Myanmar and call on the military to Orban was vaccinated with a Chinese-made jab action so far to smother opposition to immediately halt the use of force days after Hungary became the first EU member the military coup four weeks ago. The against peaceful protesters,” Ravina to use the vaccine, which has not been approved junta is battling to contain a massive Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the by EU regulators. “I am vaccinated,” said a post street movement demanding it yield UN human rights office, said. AFP on Orban’s official Facebook page alongside power and release ousted civilian could not independently confirm the photographs and a video showing him receiving leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was UN toll. Three men were killed and at a jab from a medical assistant holding a detained along with top political allies least 20 others injured when security Sinopharm box. President Janos Ader also at the start of the month. forces moved on a rally in the south- YANGON: Protesters run after police fired tear gas to disperse them during a received a Sinopharm shot Friday. — AFP Yesterday brought a significant ern coastal hub of Dawei. demonstration against the military coup yesterday. — AFP escalation in force, with fatal shoot- Continued on Page 2 2 Established 1961 Monday, March 1, 2021 Local Kuwait’s Amir sends letters to Bahrain’s King, Oman’s Sultan

Egypt’s Sisi praises ‘close ties’ with Kuwait

MANAMA: This handout photo released by the Bahrain News Agency (BNA) yesterday shows Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah handing over a letter from His Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah delivers to Oman’s Deputy Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al- Prime Minister for Cabinet Affairs Fahad bin Mahmoud Al-Saeed a letter from His Highness the Amir Khalifah. — BNA and KUNA photos Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to Sultan Haitham bin Tareq of Oman.

Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah meets Omani Foreign Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah meets his Bahraini counter- Minister Bader Al-Busaeedi. part Dr Abdul-Latif bin Rashed Al-Zayani.

MANAMA/MUSCAT/CAIRO: His Highness the Busaeedi held talks yesterday with his Kuwaiti addressed by the GCC during its current Bahrain- President Sisi asked for his personal greetings to Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah counterpart on ways of further boosting coopera- chaired session. be conveyed to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf sent yesterday a written message to Bahraini King tion to serve mutual interest. The two top diplomats Close ties Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, as he congratulated Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifah. The message is con- reaffirmed keenness to strengthen cooperation in all In other news, Egypt’s President Abdelfattah Al- the Kuwaiti government and people on their cerned with the strong and solid bilateral relations domains. They have also Sisi praised the “closeness National Day. This came in response to a written between the two brotherly countries and peoples, exchanged views over a and exclusivity” of his message from His Highness the Amir, which dis- and means of supporting and strengthening them in host of regional and inter- country’s relations with cussed deep-rooted bilateral relations, and means various fields and at all levels. The message was national issues, as well as Kuwait during talks with its to support these ties, delivered by the visiting delivered by Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Ahmad measures to cement the Kuwait’s visiting Foreign Minister on Kuwaiti foreign minister. During the talks, Sheikh Dr Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah during his meeting common GCC march fol- Saturday. Cairo is keen to Ahmad said Kuwait is proud of the strong historical with King Hamad in the framework of his official lowing the Gulf FM meets develop its close and dis- ties that exist with Egypt and its people. visit to Manama. Cooperation Council’s tinguished cooperation Kuwait is keen to strengthen cooperation with Earlier yesterday, Sheikh Dr Ahmad delivered a summit that was held in counterparts with Kuwait, he said, as Egypt through periodic consultation and coordina- letter from His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia, last both look to preserve tion on various issues, the Egyptian statement quot- Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to Sultan month. The meeting was domestic as well as region- ed him as saying. The minister praised Egypt’s piv- Haitham bin Tareq of Oman dealing with means of attended by officials from al security, stability and otal role in the region as a “pillar for security and further cementing deep-rooted bilateral relations the two sides. development, according to stability” in the Arab world and its keenness to at all levels. Sheikh Dr Ahmad handed the letter Sheikh Dr Ahmad also held talks on with his presidency spokesman Bassam Radi. Egypt appre- strengthen solidarity and encourage joint action over during a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Bahraini counterpart Dr Abdul-Latif bin Rashed Al- ciates Kuwait’s recent “sincere reconciliation amongst its nations. The encounter was held in the for Cabinet Affairs Fahad bin Mahmoud Al-Saeed Zayani on the solid ties that bind the two countries. efforts,” and stands firmly behind endeavors that presence of Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh yesterday. The discussions also dealt with regional and inter- boost the solidarity and safeguard the national Shoukry and the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Egypt Meanwhile, Omani Foreign Minister Bader Al- national issues and topics that need to be security of Arab nations, he added. Mohammad Al-Thuwaikh. — KUNA

Helios Ray, told Israeli state television Kan on Friday also died while attempting to quell a protest, the Iran seen that the explosion caused “two holes about a meter Bloodiest day military has said. and a half in diameter”. It was “not yet clear” if the Myanmar has been roiled by giant demonstra- damage was caused by missiles or mines attached to tions and a civil disobedience campaign encourag- behind Israel... the ship, Ungar added. He said that the explosion did of protests... ing civil servants to walk off the job since the Feb 1 not cause any casualties among the crew or damage to military takeover. Yesterday’s crackdown followed a Continued from Page 1 the engine. Continued from Page 1 similar wave of violent action against angry but Israel has long accused arch-foe Iran of trying to largely peaceful anti-coup rallies around the coun- “This spy ship, although it was sailing secretly, may acquire nuclear weapons, a charge always denied by Rescue worker Pyae Zaw Hein said the trio were try a day earlier. have fallen into the ambush of one of the branches of Tehran. Iran blamed the Nov 27 assassination outside “shot dead with live rounds”, while the injured were Several journalists documenting Saturday’s the resistance axis,” it added, without offering further Tehran of its top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh hit by rubber bullets. “More wounded people keep assaults by security forces were detained, includ- details. The term “resistance axis” usually refers to the on the Jewish state. “The Zionist regime’s attacks and coming in,” he told AFP. Two teenagers were ing an Associated Press photographer in Yangon. Islamic republic and its allied forces in the region. crimes in the region, which have been going on pub- gunned down in Bago, a two-hour drive north of Human Rights Watch said medical volunteers Israel’s defense minister Benny Gantz said on Saturday licly for some time, seem to have finally made it a legit- commercial capital Yangon. Ambulance driver Than helping to treat wounded protesters were also that the Jewish state’s “initial assessment” is that Iran is imate target,” Kayhan said. Lwin Oo told AFP he had sent the bodies of the 18- being targeted for arrest by security forces. More responsible for the explosion aboard the vessel. “This... The US and Saudi Arabia in mid-2019 alleged Iran year-olds to the mortuary at Bago’s main hospital. than 850 people have been arrested, charged or takes into account the proximity (with Iran) and the used limpet mines to blow holes in Gulf-area ships, and Officers in Yangon began dispersing small context” in which the blast occurred, he added. “This is sentenced since the coup, according to the then US president Donald Trump came close to order- crowds minutes before the slated beginning of the what I believe.” Assistance Association for Political Prisoners ing an attack on Iran in retaliation. Tehran strongly day’s protest, with a 23-year-old man shot dead in Rami Ungar, an Israeli businessman who owns the denied those allegations. — AFP monitoring group. the city’s east. “His wife is heartbroken,” Win Ko, a But the weekend crackdown was expected to social worker who visited the man’s widow, told raise that number dramatically, with state newspa- AFP. “She’s three months pregnant.” In Mandalay, lion doses of Sputnik V, according to Jahanpour, and pers reporting 479 arrests on Saturday alone. Iran COVID they will be delivered gradually. Iranian state media an emergency doctor told AFP that two men had International condemnation of the military regime yesterday reported that 250,000 doses of China’s died from gunshot wounds. has been fierce, with the United States, European Sinopharm vaccine were delivered to Tehran, a day Elsewhere protesters took up positions behind Union and others denouncing violence against pro- deaths cross... after Jahanpour announced that they were donated by barricades and wielded homemade shields to testers. “We are heartbroken to see the loss of so the Chinese government. defend themselves against the onslaught, with many lives in Myanmar. People should not face vio- Continued from Page 1 Health Minister Namaki has said Iran would also police using tear gas to clear some rallies. Hundreds lence for expressing dissent against the military

receive 4.2 million doses of the vaccine developed by of people had been arrested by evening and trans- coup. Targeting of civilians is abhorrent,” the US Similar to previous waves, Khuzestan is among the Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca and Oxford University, ported to the city’s notorious Insein Prison, where Embassy in Yangon tweeted. first areas to relapse into “red”, the highest level on many of Myanmar’s leading democracy campaign- Suu Kyi has not been seen in public since she Iran’s color-coded risk scale. The number of daily infec- purchased via the international vaccine mechanism ers have served long jail terms under previous dic- was taken into custody during predawn raids in the tions nationwide has hit 8,000 in recent days, a level still Covax. Iran is also working on locally developed vaccine projects, with the clinical trials of the second home- tatorships. capital Naypyidaw. A court hearing will be held much lower than the record high of 14,051 infections At least one journalist documenting yesterday’s registered on Nov 27. Daily deaths dropped below 100 grown vaccine starting yesterday. today for the ousted leader, who faces obscure assaults by security forces was beaten and detained in early January, the lowest level since June. The jab, dubbed Razi Cov Pars, was developed at the charges for possession of unregistered walkie- Tehran started a national vaccination campaign on Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, which is further north in Myitkyina, a city at the headwaters talkies and violating coronavirus restrictions on Feb 9 using Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, with the first linked to the agriculture ministry, and unveiled earlier of the Irrawaddy river, according to local outlet The public gatherings. target groups being health workers, the elderly, and this month. Its clinical trial began with two male volun- 74 Media. Another reporter was shot with rubber But her lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told AFP he had those with pre-existing health conditions. Head of health teers receiving it at Tehran’s Rasoul Akram hospital, bullets while covering a protest in the central city of still been unable to meet with Suu Kyi ahead of the ministry public relations Kianoush Jahanpour told AFP state television showed. The Razi facility’s deputy chief, Pyay, their employer said. hearing. “As a lawyer, I put my trust in the court,” he yesterday that “110,000 vaccine doses have been dis- Mohammad-Hassan Falah-Mehrabadi, told attendees at A spokesman for the ruling junta did not respond said. “But in this period of time anything can hap- tributed” in Iran so far, without specifying the number of a ceremony at the hospital that 133 people have volun- to phone calls seeking comment on yesterday’s vio- pen.” State media announced Saturday that the jun- people who had received the first jab. The second dose teered for the trial. The Islamic republic started clinical lence. Before yesterday, at least five people had ta had sacked the country’s United Nations envoy, will start being administered on March 2, he added. trials of its first locally developed vaccine in late died in anti-coup unrest since the army takeover, who gave an impassioned plea for help on behalf of The Islamic republic has bought a total of two mil- December. — AFP including three killed on Feb 20. One police officer Myanmar’s ousted civilian government. — AFP Established 1961 3 Local Monday, March 1, 2021 One year on, COVID fears still linger in Kuwait Cases continue to climb despite vaccine’s rollout By Ben Garcia of time,” he said. ease, so I follow the strict protocols “Yes, we are all in trouble; we could set by the ministry of health,” he said. KUWAIT: While the firstwaves of be the next. If it’s your time, it’s your panic over the coronavirus pandemic time. This disease is no less than ordi- Job interruptions have generally subsided, people nary flu or fever, but because we over- Gary, a Filipino masseur at a five- remain fearful of contracting the virus. reacted to it, we are all suffering,” he star hotel in Kuwait, said he is no Despite the slow rollout of the vac- said, adding he is still not ready to longer happy working as a masseur, as cine, cases in Kuwait are climbing most of 2020 and now 2021 have and the number of serious cases only seen interruptions to his job. “I worsens daily. The virus has been have been in this company for the with us for more than a year now, but past eight years now. Until a year cases of people contracting the virus Kuwait ranks 61 ago, I was earning more than double are still increasing. globally my monthly salary from tips from In the US alone, more than half a my regular clients. Now I am literal- million people have been reportedly in cases ly destitute waiting until the govern- killed by the virus. As of yesterday, ment permits us to work,” he said. total cases around the world were Noof, a 47-year-old Kuwaiti over 114.4 million with over 2.5 mil- woman, said she no longer believes lion fatalities. Kuwait ranks 61 glob- in science. “Before I thought any dis- ally with 190,852 cases and 1,083 receive the vaccine himself. “I will see ease could be cured easily because of deaths as of yesterday. Kuwait Times later. For now I am okay without the science. I was wrong! What happened asked some expats on how they per- vaccine.” to the projections of people claiming to ceive COVID-19 nowadays. Bino, a 42-year-old Indian, said he be health experts? We have been in A 62-year-old Palestinian said the is no longer afraid of the virus, but is this situation since early 2020. We are Vaccines in Kuwait arrived in mercial establishments to close from 8 panic has subsided, but generally he is very careful talking to people. “I will in deep-deep trouble; our economy has December, with frontliners and pm to 5 am. The Cabinet also ordered still fearful on what the end result will not talk to anyone unless they are sunk. The science said after the vaccine Kuwaitis being vaccinated initially, barbershops, salons, gyms and mas- be. “Until governments all over the wearing a facemask. Before I didn’t rollout, we will be OK. So what hap- along with expats. The jabs will con- sage parlors to close down completely world stop being bearers of bad news care about riding the bus and sitting pened? Our country received the vac- tinue until the end of the year or until until further notice. Just before the and stop overreacting and being para- next to other passengers. Now if there cine even before other countries. I have 70 percent of the population is inocu- national holidays, the government noid, we will not overcome this pan- are many people on the bus, I don’t been depressed since 2020 till now,” lated. On Feb 7, Kuwait implemented ordered all restaurants to end dine-in demic and it will continue until the end board it. I don’t want to get this dis- she said. new regulations compelling all com- services.

Kuwait lists 962 new COVID-19 cases, five deaths KUWAIT: Kuwait said yesterday that 962 people tested positive for coronavirus and five patients died within the previous 24 hours, taking the total cases up to 190,852 as deaths rose to 1,083. The number of people hospitalized with the virus stood yesterday at 10,560, with 156 of them in intensive care units, Health Ministry spokesman Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad said, revealing that some 6,423 swab tests were conducted over the same period, bringing the total up to 1,784,449. The ministry had reported earlier that 1,012 patients have recovered during the same period, raising total recoveries to 179,209. Dr Sanad went on to urge the public to abide by health precautions, mainly social and 1,064 recoveries on Saturday. The num- KUWAIT: A picture taken in Kuwait City yesterday shows the sun setting behind the clouds. distancing rules, in order to help limit the ber of patients in hospital had stood at — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat spread of the virus. Kuwait had listed 844 10,615 as of Saturday, including 158 in inten- new cases from 5,704 swab tests, six deaths sive care units. — KUNA

In my view Smoking and COVID-19

By Abdellatif Sharaa

[email protected]

moking will not prevent you from contract- ing COVID-19. Despite fake claims and Srumors claiming otherwise, be they from the southernmost tip of Latin America, or up north in Europe! Man seems to have known tobacco from early on in history, including some who gave it respect and sacredness. The indigenous people of the Americas used it for spiritual rituals and medicinal purposes. Yes, smoking tobacco among them reflected the causes of death due to smok- ing complications, or so it’s being claimed. Tobacco may have a magic component in it, because I noticed those who start smoking become smokers by the tenth stick. The answer when you warn them is always the same: “I am just puffing, that’s all.” They soon become full- fledged smokers - addicts. Back to the statement - do you believe that such a claim is made by some of those known to be scientists, and even doctors!! Strange, is it not? I once attended a conference, during which the panel alluded to passive or secondhand smoking - how bad it is, as it has the same effects as regular smoking, such as causing cancer, heart attacks, heart disease, respiratory infections such as pneumonia and asthma, and diabetes. “Secondhand smoke is the combination of smoke from the burning end of a cigarette and the smoke breathed out by smokers. Secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals. Hundreds are toxic and about 70 can cause can- cer,” says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In short, smoking is never good, and all must understand this. We must real- ize that nicotine addiction is very difficult to get rid of. Passive smokers have a high risk of getting COVID-19 too. 4 Established 1961 Local Monday, March 1, 2021

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News in brief KUWAIT: A shot of the Anjafa beach by photographer Daniela Buiting (Instagram: @picts_of_kuwait). To have your photo considered for Kuwait Times’ Photo of the Day, send to [email protected] or via direct message to Kuwait Times’ Instagram account @kuwaittimes. Photos should be high Second semester starts resolution, with no processing or editing.

KUWAIT: More than 500,000 students will start the second school term today following a break of a month and a half. The education min- motives and reasons.” The Houthis have intensified istry has adjusted the teaching plan for the first Kuwait, Qatar their targeting Saudi Arabia with explosive drones three elementary grades, after a decision was and ballistic missiles, which the coalition confirmed made to have real-time classes and not recorded that they were all shot down without any injuries. classes, as the case was in the first term, so there condemn Houthis’ Meanwhile, Secretary General of the Gulf can be interaction between teachers and stu- Cooperation Council (GCC) Nayef Al-Hajraf dents. The ministry decided school timings from attacks on Saudi deplored the “terrorist” Houthi militias’ attacks with 9:30 am to 2:30 pm for the secondary stage, ballistic missiles and drones on Saudi capital, Riyadh, 8:00 am to 1:00 pm for the intermediate stage, KUWAIT: Kuwait on Saturday condemned in the and other cities. In a press statement, Hajraf stressed and 8:00 am to 12:00 pm for the kindergarten strongest terms the Yemeni Houthi militias’ repeated that the repeated attacks launched by Houthis show a stage. As for the elementary stage, work will be terrorist attacks with booby-trapped drones and bal- blatant challenge to the international community and divided into two periods - mornings (8:00 am listic missiles on civilian targets in the Saudi capital a violation of all international laws and norms. He until 1:00 pm) and afternoon (2:45 pm until 5:45 Riyadh and other cities, said the Foreign Ministry. The called on the international community to take imme- pm). As for the administration (principal, assis- persistence of these Houthi terrorist acts is a danger- diate and decisive stances to stop these repeated tant principal, administrative faculty), they will ous escalation that threatens Saudi Arabia’s security “terrorist” acts that target Saudi Arabia’s civilian and divide work between them in the morning and and the region’s stability, the ministry said in a state- vital facilities, and security and stability, according to afternoon periods. — Al-Rai ment. It affirmed that these acts blatantly defy inter- the statement. national and humanitarian laws and undermine inter- He lauded the vigilance and efficiency of the Saudi-led coalition supporting legitimacy in Yemen Old cars’ import ban national efforts to reach a political solution to the conflict in Yemen. The ministry also renewed Kuwait’s and the success of the air defense forces to intercept these “terrorist” assaults launched by the militias. KUWAIT: Commerce ministry amended deci- call to the international community, mainly the UN Security Council, to assume its responsibilities in Hajraf confirmed GCC solidarity and backing to Saudi sion 59/2010 with regards to importing vehicles, RIYADH: A handout picture provided by the Saudi Press stopping this escalation to help maintain international Arabia in all steps it takes to defend its territories, which said after the amendment that “vehicles Agency (SPA) on Saturday shows damage to a home in peace and security. The State of Kuwait backs the and maintain security and safety of its citizens and with 10 years elapsed from their manufacture are Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh in the aftermath of a mis- Kingdom in all the measures it takes to defend its residents. He stressed that the “Kingdom’s security is banned from import. The commerce and industry sile attack claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. — AFP security, stability and sovereignty, the foreign min- part and parcel of the GCC member states’ security.” minister can disregard the time condition In the meantime, the Organization of Islamic according to public interest. The minister can istry reiterated. Qatar also condemned in the strongest terms the Cooperation has condemned in the strongest terms Secretary General Ahmad Al-Othaimeen expressed also delegate this authority to who he sees fit.” the Yemeni Houthi militias’ firing of a ballistic missile support to the Saudi-led coalition to restore legitima- The decision will be in effect from the date of its missile attack that targeted Riyadh, which contra- towards the Saudi capital Riyadh and launching of cy in Yemen in all measures it takes to stop Houthi issuance and will be published in the official venes all international norms and laws. In a statement, five explosive-laden drones towards several other terrorist militias war crimes and targeting of civilian gazette. — Al-Anbaa “Doha reiterated its firm position on rejecting vio- lence, criminal and sabotage acts, regardless of the southern Saudi cities. In a press statement, OIC areas in the Saudi Kingdom. — KUNA

Brussels Webinar In my view underlines Kuwait’s Our heartfelt role in healing rift condolences to BRUSSELS: Speakers at a seminar on the Italian president Gulf organized by the European Parliament’s Delegation for relations with the Arab By Azzah Al-Ghamdi Peninsula (DARP) heaped praise over Kuwait’s successful mediation role in the Gulf reconcili- would like to send my condolences to ation process. The guest speaker at the online Italian President Sergio Mattarella on the event, Dr Cinzia Bianco, Gulf Research Fellow Ideath of Italian ambassador Luca on Middle East and North Africa Program in Attanasio, who was a victim of terrorism in the the European Council on Foreign Relations, Democratic Republic of Congo. May God have said “Kuwait has played quite an important mercy on him. I want to focus on terrorism role in facilitating the reconciliation between around the world and send a question to the the GCC partners.” She outlined the positions UN Security Council: Until when will we see of Oman and Kuwait in the region calling them victims of terrorism around the world? Who “neutral countries” which are focused on gives these terrorists weapons to execute their mediation and de-escalation in the region. crimes? Kuwait has also been supportive of attempts to We can’t ignore this issue - the entire world pursue dialogue with Iran in the framework of should face this phenomenon as a danger to regional security, she said and stressed that global security. Why is the Security Council Kuwait is a reliable partner for Europe. Bianco waiting to take serious steps to stop selling underlined that the Al-Ula declaration signed weapons to terrorist groups? We can’t accept in December “was very important for ending any excuse because our lives are threatened by these terrorist groups. No one can feel safe the boycott and was the first step and normal- and live in comfort. ization will take place step by step” among the Our children are not safe because terrorists six-member GCC. don’t distinguish between children and adults. The European Council on Foreign Relations They execute their crimes without choosing (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with the victims. I cannot accept the death of the offices in seven European capitals. The seminar Italian ambassador - the Security Council was titled “geopolitical perspectives in the Gulf should demand the elimination of terrorism for 2021. Impact of the Al-Ula Declaration on from the world. ‘Stability and Solidarity’ and role of the new US There should be coordination between administration in regional affairs.” DARP Chair, interior ministers of all UN states to make sure Dr Hannah Neumann, in her introductory security is airtight, with surveillance of remarks said Al-Ula agreement “was concluded weapons manufacturers to make sure they are under the good offices of Kuwait and here not selling weapons to terrorists. They should again Thank you so much to Kuwait for work- report violators to the authorities to take suit- ing continuously and following up on that able actions towards them. issue.” She said a DARP delegation is expected We will not ignore the victims of the Congo to visit Kuwait this year to boost EU-Kuwait attack and will not forget them. We need seri- parliamentary cooperation. ous steps from both the Security Council and Meanwhile, Kuwait’s ambassador to the EU, the UN, to show us their measures to eliminate Belgium and NATO, Jasem Al-Budaiwi, in his terrorism from around the world. intervention expressed his pleasure that yester- I really become sad after the death of the Italian ambassador because Italy and entire day’s virtual event coincided with the day when Europe mean so much to me. I will not stop Kuwait was celebrating its National Day. demanding retribution. I always ask myself Budaiwi, who is currently visiting Kuwait, said when can we live peacefully in this world? This that an important point that needs to be dis- is an important issue we should focus on cussed is the future relations between the EU because God did not put us on this planet to and the GCC “We should capitalise on the kill each other. great momentum we have in the GCC now,” he On the other hand, these crimes will not said referring to the Al-Ula agreement. “It is stop until we change criminal ideology, start- time that we move on with some tangible ing from schools and colleges. Regimes around results in this relationship which includes the the world should follow serious steps to elimi- Free Trade Agreement, the Association agree- nate terrorism. All governments should also ment, waiver of Schengen visa. This is what we control their states firmly to not allow terrorist would like to see,” stressed Budaiwi. He lauded groups to have a chance to execute their the “excellent brotherly agreement reached in crimes. This issue is a universal one and we December,” and added that “we would like to should find a suitable solutions for it. see more engagement and visit from EU lead- - Al-Ghamdi is a law graduate from Kuwait ers and officials.” — KUNA International Law School International MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021 Bangladesh police fire rubber bullets, tear gas In pandemic e-work, Greece sees a chance to reverse brain drain Page 6 at new protests Page 7

SANAA: Fighters loyal to Yemen’s Houthi rebels surround the coffins of fellow combatants killed in battles with government troops during a mass funeral ceremony at the capital Sanaa’s Al-Saleh mosque yesterday. —AFP Yemen rebels claim Saudi strikes Saudi-led coalition pounds rebel positions in north of Yemen

SANAA, Yemen: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels “Our operations will continue and will expand as on the kingdom even after the United States delisted explosion was caused by twin air strikes by the yesterday claimed the attempted strikes that targeted long as the aggression and siege on our country con- the rebels as terrorists, reversing a decision by the Saudi-led coalition. Alongside the cross-border neighboring Saudi Arabia overnight and threatened tinues.” Fragments of the missile scattered over sever- administration of former president Donald Trump. attacks, the Houthis are pressing ahead with a offen- more attacks, as fighting in the grinding civil war al Riyadh neighborhoods, damaging at least one The designation had been widely criticized by aid sive to seize the government-held Marib region, escalates. Houthi fighters have intensified operations home but no casualties were reported, Saudi’s state- organizations, who warned it would hamper their where some of the country’s richest oil fields are against the kingdom as air strikes by the Saudi-led run Al-Ekhbariya television said. efforts to alleviate a humanitarian crisis in Yemen. US found. military coalition pound rebel positions in the north AFP correspondents in the Saudi capital reported President Joe Biden halted support to Saudi offensive Hundreds of fighters from both sides have been of Yemen, in a bid to stop their offensive to seize the hearing multiple loud explosions, with state television operations in Yemen’s war, which he called a “cata- killed in recent ferocious fighting, government source government’s last northern stronghold of Marib. footage showing the night sky light up with a bright strophe” that “has to end”. say. The Houthis now control most of the country’s Years of war have already pushed Yemen to the flash. Separately, the coalition said it had intercepted But he has also reiterated US support for Saudi north and the government has been struggling to brink of famine. Saudi Arabia-which has been backing six Houthi drones targeting the kingdom, including Arabia in defending its territory. Yesterday, in the lat- defend Marib province and the city, which lies some the Yemeni government against the rebels since 2015 the southern cities of Khamis Mushait and Jizan. est violence in Yemen, five civilians including a child 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of the rebel-held capi- — said Saturday it thwarted a Houthi missile that tar- Saree on Sunday claimed those attacks as well, warn- were killed when their home was destroyed in a bom- tal Sanaa. Yemen’s conflict has claimed tens of thou- geted Riyadh. “The operation was carried out with a ing residents in the region to “stay clear from all mili- bardment near the strategic rebel-held Red Sea port sands of lives and displaced millions, according to ballistic missile and 15 drones... targeting sensitive tary airports and sites.” of Hodeida. international organizations, sparking what the UN areas in the enemy’s capital of Riyadh,” said Houthi The warring sides traded blame over who was calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The UN spokesman Yahya Al-Saree, according to the rebels’ ‘Catastrophe’ responsible, with the government accusing Houthis of hopes to raise $3.85 billion to support millions of Al-Masirah TV channel. The Houthis have escalated cross-border attacks firing a mortar bomb, and the rebels saying the civilians and prevent famine in the country. —AFP

national unity”. The political standoff comes as Tunisians protest Tunisia has been hit hard by the coronavirus pan- demic and its social and economic repercussions. This “weakening governance” led international rat- amid standoff ings agency Moody’s this week to downgrade Bribes for votes at Tunisia’s sovereign debt rating, complicating the TUNIS: Tunisia’s main parliamentary bloc country’s borrowing power while it has not final- Ennahdha rallied thousands of people Saturday in a UN-led Libya ized its 2021 budget. demonstration of support for the government amid The International Monetary Fund too warned in a tug-of-war with President Kais Saied. The a report published Friday that the “COVID-19 crisis talks: Expert panel Islamist-inspired Ennahdha and liberal Qalb Tounes is exacerbating Tunisia’s socio-economic fragilities” parties pushed for a reshuffling of the government TUNIS: At least three participants in UN-led Libya and “led to an unprecedented economic downturn”. by Prime minister Hichem Mechichi in mid-January, TUNIS: Supporters of the Islamist Ennahdha party wave peace talks were bribed for votes, experts from the The IMF called for urgent reforms to reduce the fis- introducing 11 new ministers. Saied has strongly national and party flags during a demonstration in sup- world body found in a report for the Security Council cal deficit, which it said was estimated to have criticized the reshuffle-which was confirmed by port of the Tunisian government on Saturday in the capital seen by AFP yesterday. Interim prime minister Abdul reached 11.5 percent of GDP in 2020. It also made a parliament-saying he had not been consulted and Tunis. —AFP Hamid Dbeibah was selected early this month during series of recommendations, including for limits on charged that some ministers were suspected of Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) talks launched energy subsidies and lowering the wage bill. corruption and conflicts of interest. in Tunisia in November, the United Nations’ latest bid He also refused to confirm the new ministers, president hostile to any compromise, he added. to salvage the country from a decade of conflict and ‘Strengthened by visible support’ fragmentation. In a report set to be presented to the including interior, justice and health, leaving the Saied called the protest “a waste of money”. Ennahdha head Rached Ghannouchi addressed Security Council in March, UN experts found that dur- government paralyzed, in a country already reeling “We are not reacting according to their calcula- the protesters Saturday, calling for dialogue and ing the Tunisia talks, two participants “offered bribes from economic hardship and the coronavirus pan- tions and arrangements, but according to our prin- unity among political forces. His party dominated of between $150,000 to $200,000 to at least three demic. Saturday’s protest in the capital Tunis was ciples and commitments to the people,” Saied said the political scene after the 2011 uprising that top- LPDF participants if they committed to vote for called for by Ennahdha, and several protesters said on Saturday. Saied, an independent academic and pled long-time leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali but Dbeibah as PM.” they rallied in support of the moderate Islamist constitutional law expert, has castigated the proce- has seen its base erode, now only controlling a The report, which is yet to be made public, was party as well as for unity and democracy. “We have dure for naming the new ministers, saying it was quarter of the parliament. But the protest showed prepared by UN experts tasked with examining a parliamentary system and it is not up to the pres- unconstitutional. Tunisia’s constitution does not that Ennahdha “could still mobilize in large num- breaches of an international arms embargo to the ident to decide who will govern,” said protester require parliamentary approval for regular reshuf- bers” and this “allows (Ennahdha) to come to the North African nation. In a passage of their report seen Mohamed Khlif, who travelled from the coastal city fles. But in the absence of a constitutional court in negotiating table strengthened by this visible sup- by AFP, the experts reported that one delegate “erupt- of Sfax to take part in the rally. “Democracy and Tunisia, the political crisis has dragged on for six ed in anger in lobby of the Four Seasons hotel in Tunis port”, said analyst Youssef Cherif. The mobilization, the constitution must be respected,” he added. weeks with no solution in sight to ease tensions on hearing that some participants may have received however, risks complicating talks as Ennahdha Around him protesters, who came to the capital between the president, parliament and the govern- up to ... $500,000 for their Dbeibah votes, whereas he leaders have “gained confidence” in the face of a from across the country, chanted “the people want ment. —AFP had only received $200,000.” One participant in the talks, who asked to remain anonymous, confirmed to AFP that he had witnessed the scene, voicing anger at managed to escape and seek a safe haven,” Mansour, Ahmed Sobhy Mansour, who has also resettled in the “unacceptable corruption at a time when Libya is For Egyptian 41, told AFP in a park near his home in the Washington area, was a scholar at Al-Azhar in Cairo, going through a major crisis”. Washington area. the premier university of Sunni Islam, where he was a The Tunisia talks aimed at creating a transitional Mansour, who has a relaxed demeanor and sees leading voice of Quranism, which deviates from much administration to lead the country towards elections activists abroad, his future for now in the United States, says his mainstream thought by deriving religious authority set for December. In February, the 75 participants cousin is now allowed monthly visitations but has only from the holy book-not hadiths. hand-picked by the UN to represent a wide spectrum a growing fear health problems and is regularly interrogated about Successive Egyptian governments’ targeting of of Libyan constituencies themselves selected an inter- his family’s activities. A foreign ministry spokesper- the family “shows that they fear the future that we im administration led by billionaire Dbeibah and a WASHINGTON: When Sherif Mansour was first son in Cairo was not available for comment when represent-a future that allows inclusion of every- three-member presidential council. Dbeibah must now win a vote of confidence in his summoned by Egyptian security at age 17, he recalls contacted. Mansour said at least four other Egyptian one, allows freedom and equality for everyone and, families overseas have faced similar predicaments from within the traditions of Islam, provides the government from the Libyan parliament by March 19. how his father, who had plenty of firsthand experi- He said Thursday he had submitted a “vision” for a since last year. In one case raised by the State basis for this for the general public,” the younger ence, gave him directions on how to go to the inter- cabinet line-up but that the names of proposed minis- rogation. Mansour has now lived in the United States Department, US citizen Mohamed Soltan, who has Mansour said. ters would be disclosed in parliament during the confi- for 15 years. But he remains an activist-and is again filed a lawsuit alleging torture in Egyptian custody, President Joe Biden has vowed a forceful line on dence vote. The latest claims came after several Libyan feeling the heat from Egyptian security, this time said that plain-clothes officers raided the homes of human rights with Arab allies, a shift from his organizations in November demanded an investigation through the targeting of family members. six family members. Soltan is the son of a prominent predecessor Donald Trump who famously was into allegations of corruption over the selection of Mansour’s cousin, Reda Abdelrahman, was member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the now-banned quoted as calling Sisi “my favorite dictator” and future officials. The UN’s interim Libya envoy at the detained in August and is due in court on March 2 on movement of elected president Mohamed Morsi who saw shared interests in targeting the Muslim time, Stephanie Williams told delegates and journalists vague charges of supporting a terrorist group-part was deposed by then general Sisi in 2013. Brotherhood and the Islamic State group as well as that she had launched an investigation into allegations of what human rights campaigners say is a growing working with Israel. In a first telephone call with of bribery. In a letter seen by AFP and dated February extraterritorial effort by President Abdel Fattah Al- ‘They fear the future’ Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, US 20, LPDF participants Sayida Kamel Yaacoubi and Sisi to muzzle critics. “After managing to silence Mansour sees common cause with Soltan even Secretary of State Antony Blinken “raised con- Azza Mahmoud Assid called on Williams’ permanent everyone else inside the country, controlling media though he comes from a different background, cerns over human rights, which he emphasized successor Jan Kubis to make public the expert report, organizations’ editorial lines and forcing many people describing himself as non-religious and a supporter would be central to the US-Egypt bilateral rela- saying the allegations were an affront to their “dignity, into exile, they are trying to pressure those of us who of separating religion and state. Mansour’s father, tionship,” the State Department said. —AFP honour and transparency”. —AFP 6 Established 1961 Monday, March 1, 2021 International In pandemic e-work, Greece sees a chance to reverse brain drain Some 500,000 people move abroad during Greek crisis

ATHENS: The pandemic was a wakeup call that uate degree, according to a survey by consulting firm reminded Christophoros Xenos of what he misses most ICAP. in London-the Greek sun and pleasant Mediterranean way of life. The 36-year old risk manager left Greece in ‘I want to return’ his early 20s for Britain, aiming to complete his studies, The government offers a hefty tax incentive to those gain professional experience abroad and come back. who move back to Greece from abroad-a 50 percent This never happened, as the decade-long Greek cri- exemption on income earned here for the next seven sis that followed killed thousands of jobs. But during the years. Xenos says taxation is one of the main issues still first coronavirus wave, Xenos took advantage of remote keeping people abroad and the new lower taxation poli- work to return to Greece for three months-and home- cy will be a big incentive. sickness hit him hard. “I want to return. I know that the salary won’t be the “I worked for three months from Athens and the same, but I don’t want to make a huge compromise that Greek islands and really enjoyed the weather, the quali- would make no sense professionally,” he said. ty of life, the return to the homeland,” he said. With However, there are other major issues that need to be thousands of employees like Xenos capable of working tackled: low salaries, state bureaucracy and internet remotely, Greece sees an opportunity to bring back bandwidth that is both slow and expensive. According some of the minds the country lost during the past to a study by the EU’s foundation for the improvement decade. “We want you back,” Alex Patelis, chief eco- of living and working conditions, Greece significantly nomic adviser to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, lags behind the European average in terms of creating said at a recent Delphi Forum online event. high-quality jobs with good financial gains and “Open offices, set up new companies or move part of prospects. your businesses to Greece. We have the sun, the tech- Greece also ranks among the worst-performing nology, and we are by your side,” he said. Some countries in the OECD in the employment of higher 500,000 people moved abroad during the Greek crisis. education graduates aged 25-64. Even so, some Greeks ATHENS: In this file photo, Greek scientist Nefeli Lagopati works on samples at a laboratory in Athens. Some The economy shrank by a quarter and unemployment have started to return. 500,000 people moved abroad during the Greek crisis. — AFP skyrocketed to 28 percent. Since then, job figures have improved, but unemployment remains more than double ‘Incredible things happening’ bureaucracy,” she added. Mourkioti worked on a team abroad. “Our work shows that Greece can lead in the European Union and eurozone average. The exodus At the Athens Medical School, a dozen scientists that managed to create a rapid COVID-19 antigen test. research as well. It might be more difficult for a Greek of half a million people cost the Greek economy more have repatriated and so far, have not regretted it. They hope that a Greek company will soon move ahead researcher, having to do all the logistics by himself and than 15 billion euros ($18 billion), according to a report “Incredible things are happening in Greece, the country with mass production, allowing Greece to become more lacking in infrastructure, but it can be done and it is a by the Hellenic Authority for Quality in Higher lacks neither in brains nor in capabilities,” said Ioanna independent in testing. sector that our country can grow,” said Nefeli Lagopati, Education (ADIP). Around 90 percent of those who left Mourkioti, a 29-year-old biology PhD student. “It’s just All the members of the team have completed part of a 37-year old postdoctorate researcher in biology and were college graduates and 64 percent held a postgrad- that everything is done more slowly due to the Greek their studies or spent part of their professional careers nanomedicine. — AFP

Tarek William Saab said authorities had arrested Venezuelans protest Nelson Saavedra, with officials believing him to be News in brief “responsible for the heinous outrage and serial homi- cide” of the two women. ‘VIP vaccinations’ scam in Argentina femicide after Saavedra had reportedly confessed after being turned in by his wife and will be charged with femicide BUENOS AIRES: Thousands of people demon- 3 women killed aggravated by sexual violence, which carries a maximum strated in cities across Argentina on Saturday to sentence of 30 years in prison in Venezuela, Saab said. protest the “VIP vaccinations” scandal that forced The deaths follow that of 33-year-old Carmine Sosa, the health minister to resign. Gines Gonzalez Garcia ACARIGUA, Venezuela: Hundreds of Venezuelans who was killed last week in northern Portuguesa state in quit a week ago at the president’s request after it protested Saturday following the murders of three a suspected domestic violence incident. The attorney emerged that his friends had been able to skip the young women last week, in a rally against femicide in general’s office has recorded more than 610 cases of line for coronavirus inoculation. Protesters carrying the South American nation. Human rights activists have femicide since 2017, half of which have been resolved. signs reading “Give me my vaccine” and “Stop wast- warned that the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened Many of the women who rallied in Acarigua on NEW YORK: Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo ing our money” gathered outside the government gender-related violence globally, with independent Saturday said they only wished to feel safe in their speaks during a press conference at the New York Stock headquarters in Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires. online initiative Monitor de Femicidios estimating there everyday lives. “We want to have the same right that Exchange (NYSE) in this file. — AFP “They started by vaccinating friends of the govern- were 256 femicides in Venezuela last year, compared to men have to go quietly to the gym at 6:00 in the morn- ment. It is not appropriate. They are stealing some- 167 in 2019. Roughly 300 people gathered in the ing, to walk home alone after a Sunday mass, to return one else’s life,” protester Irene Marcet said. — AFP northern city of Acarigua, many holding balloons with home quietly when it gets dark,” said Daniela Duran, a Second woman the phrase “Not one more”, while others rallied in the performing arts student who spoke at the protest. capital Caracas. The 23-year-old, who has experienced street harass- “We are afraid,” 22-year-old psychology student ment, said such occurrences are “part of everyday life.” accuses NY governor Eight arrested at protest in Denmark Ariadna Gonzalez told AFP, holding up a banner with the “There is no need to wear low-cut clothes, you can go message: “Being alive should not be an achievement.” out covered and with your hair up and the men in the of sexual harassment COPENHAGEN: Danish police said they arrested Last week two women were murdered in Turen, a town cars slow down and pull over.” Venezuela suffers from a eight people in an anti-lockdown demonstration in near Acarigua. Eliannys Martinez, 17, was killed February high rate of violent crime compared to other countries in Copenhagen late Saturday. Organized by a group NEW YORK: A second ex-employee of powerful New 21 after leaving her church and 20-year-old Eduarlis the region. Almost 12,000 violent killings occurred last calling itself “Men in Black”, the rally of around 1,200 York state Governor Andrew Cuomo has accused him of Falcon was murdered en route to her gym a day after. year, according to the NGO Observatorio Venezolano de people in the Danish capital was the first since the sexual harassment, charges the governor denied on Both women’s bodies bore signs of sexual violence, Violencia, approximately seven times higher than the government announced last week that it was extend- Saturday. This time the allegations came from 25-year- local media reported. On Saturday, Attorney General world average. — AFP ing many anti-coronavirus restrictions. Police said the old former health adviser Charlotte Bennett, who told rally remained largely peaceful, but eight people were The New York Times that the governor sexually arrested for allegedly using fireworks and for rowdy harassed her in the spring of 2020. behavior. Initially, around 600 people took part in the According to Bennett, the 63-year-old politician said demonstration, but the crowd had swelled to around in June that he was open to dating women in their 20s, 1,200 by the end of the evening on the square in front and asked her if she thought age made a difference in of Copenhagen’s town hall, police said. — AFP romantic relationships, the Times reported. While Cuomo never tried to touch her, “I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared,” Bennett told the paper. Swimmer dies in shark attack She added that she spoke to Cuomo’s chief of staff and legal counsel, who transferred her to another post in NOUMEA, France: A 57-year-old man has died another building. Bennett was happy with the new job after a shark attack off an island in New Caledonia and decided not to insist on an investigation. Cuomo yesterday, officials said. The amateur yachtsman was became a national star last spring with his straight-talk- swimming near his moored boat off Maitre islet in the ing yet empathetic coronavirus briefings that contrasted French Pacific territory when the incident happened, sharply with then-president Donald Trump’s dismissive according to an initial inquiry. “According to witness- approach to the pandemic. But the harassment allega- es the man was bitten on the leg by a four-meter- tions come as he faces a growing storm over his handling long shark” and died before the arrival of a rescue of the coronavirus in nursing homes in his state. In a helicopter, a civil official told AFP. The man is statement Saturday, Cuomo said he “never made believed to have died from a heart attack after the advances toward Ms Bennett nor did I ever intend to act incident, according to the newspaper Les Nouvelles- in any way that was inappropriate.” He said he wanted Caledoniennes. Maitre, a roughly 20 minute trip from instead to support Bennett, who had told him that she the main island, is popular with tourists and was busy LA MISION, Venezuela: A girl along with other people carry white and purple balloons while participating in a reli- was a sexual assault survivor. The governor, whose third the weekend of the attack. — AFP gious event in memory of two young women murdered days ago in the town of La Mision in the state of term expires at the end of 2022, called for “a full and Portuguesa, Venezuela on Saturday. — AFP thorough outside review” of these charges, led by a for- mer federal judge. —AFP Cuba approves animal rights law dum on self-determination for the Britain-sized former Pope Francis expects Western Sahara Spanish colony that is home to about one million people. HAVANA: Cuba has adopted long-called for animal Morocco has offered autonomy but maintains the divid- rights regulations, a groundbreaking victory for returns to European ed territory is a sovereign part of the kingdom. activists in the communist nation. It’s an important to spend his final The Polisario, which fought a war for independence step for a civil society marveling at its demands being from 1975 to 1991, has said it is still willing to join UN translated into law for the first time, and signals a cul- days in Rome: Book Court of Justice discussions on the territory’s future-but would not lay tural shift on an island of contradictions between tra- down its arms. The talks ground to a halt in March 2019. dition and modernity. Late Friday, the Council of State LUXEMBOURG: The European Court of Justice is approved the legislation, which provides for fines and BUENOS AIRES: Pope Francis expects to die in Rome, ‘Economic fight’ next week to discuss EU-Morocco accords allowing potential prison terms for offenders. It comes into still the Catholic pontiff, without returning to spend his Devers said the independence movement was also Rabat to export goods from Western Sahara that are force 90 days after its official publication. — AFP final days in his native Argentina, according to a new waging an “economic fight” to defend the territory’s contested by the pro-independence Polisario Front. It is book titled “The Health of Popes.” In an interview grant- interests. Access to the European market was being used to hold two sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday but a ed to Argentine journalist and physician Nelson Castro “to prolong (Moroccan) colonization”, according to the ruling will take “several months”, a spokesman for the at the Vatican in February 2019, the pope said he thinks longtime activist for the Sahrawi cause. Luxembourg-based court told AFP. Social media ‘awash’ with lies about death, but does not fear it. Extracts from the book The trade figures are significant. In 2019, Morocco For the Polisario, Moroccan exports from the disput- were published Saturday in Argentine daily La Nacion. exported 434 million euros ($524 million) worth of fish, ed territory amount to “looting of its natural resources”, LONDON: Prince William has warned that anti-vac- Asked how he sees his final days, Francis, who is 84, tomatoes and melons from Western Sahara to Europe, cination messages are rife on social media and urged notably agricultural goods, phosphates and fish, accord- the European Commission said last December, without responded: “I will be pope, either active or emeritus, and those eligible to get jabs, following a similar appeal by ing to the independence movement’s French lawyer giving a figure for phosphates. in Rome. I will not return to Argentina.” Francis has had his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. “Social media is Gilles Devers. On the other side of the argument, In 2016, the Polisario won a European Court ruling to cancel some events in recent months due to a painful awash sometimes with lots of rumors and misinforma- Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, quoted by that a trade deal between Morocco and the EU did not problem with sciatica, but is not known to suffer any tion,” the Duke of Cambridge said in video footage the kingdom’s MAP news agency, said Rabat would apply to the Western Sahara. But the European other major ailments. repel “this judicial harassment” and defend “the legitima- Parliament in 2019 extended trade preferences to prod- released by Kensington Palace on Saturday evening. It The Vatican has always been reticent about a pope’s cy of its partnership” with Europe. On the ground, ten- ucts from the territory, which is the last on the African showed him and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of health. According to the new book, “this is the first time sions rose sharply in November when Morocco sent continent whose post-colonial status has not been set- Cambridge, speaking to two women who are clinically that a pope has discussed his health with the transparen- troops into a buffer zone to reopen the only road leading tled. Extending preferential tariffs “contributed to the vulnerable and eligible for first jabs soon. The royal cy afforded by Francis.” The pontiff, formerly the arch- from Morocco to Mauritania and the rest of West Africa. normalization and relaunch of EU-Morocco relations family is speaking out as health officials have voiced bishop of Buenos Aires, says he does not miss his native The two sides have since exchanged regular fire along a and, as such, to maintaining their dialogue and construc- concerns over lower take-up among ethnic minority Argentina, where he was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, UN-monitored demarcation line. tive cooperation on the protection of human rights”, communities. — AFP the son of Italian immigrants.—AFP A 1991 ceasefire deal was meant to lead to a referen- according to the European Commission.—AFP Established 1961 7 International Monday, March 1, 2021 Bangladesh police fire rubber bullets, tear gas at new protests Rights groups demand swift probe into death of writer DHAKA: Dozens were injured yesterday as sion for the protests at the National Press Club, Bangladeshi police fired rubber bullets and tear gas saying that historically no clearance was needed to in a third day of protests sparked by the death of a hold rallies there. “As they stood there for a human prominent writer and government critic in jail. chain, (police) baton-charged indiscriminately,” he Mushtaq Ahmed, 53, collapsed in a high-security said. “It is a murder,” he said of Mushtaq Ahmed’s prison and died late Thursday, 10 months after death. “We think the state is involved.” being arrested under a “digital security” law that critics say is being used to silence dissent in the Swift probe country of 168 million people. International and local rights groups have Live footage yesterday from local television sta- demanded a swift probe into the death of the writer, tion Channel 24 showed a road and footpath in front who was arrested over comments posted on social of the National Press Club-a favorite protest site in media criticizing the government’s response to Dhaka-turning into a battleground as police beat coronavirus. Ambassadors from 13 countries, protesters with batons to disperse them. Student including the United States, France, Britain, Canada activists from the main opposition Bangladesh and Germany, expressed “grave concern” over the Nationalist Party (BNP) hurled rocks and attacked case. He had been detained under the Digital officers with bamboo and plastic pipes, prompting Security Act, passed in 2018, which rights groups police to retaliate by “firing rubber bullets and tear say has been used to silence critics with hefty fines gas”, Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka police and lengthy prison sentences. Sazzadur Rahman said. Ahmed was denied bail at least six times. “They did not take any permission (for the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on protests),” he added, defending the police’s move to Saturday shrugged off concern over the internet clear the protesters. BNP spokesman Rizvi Ahmed law, Ahmed’s death and criticism of her govern- DHAKA: Policemen clash with the activists of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) during the third day of protests fol- said about 30 student activists of the party, includ- ment’s rights record. lowing the death of Mushtaq Ahmed, in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka yesterday. — AFP ing a senior leader, were injured in the clashes. Demonstrators have marched at Dhaka Several policemen were also hurt, including an offi- University for several days chanting slogans con- the protests erupted shortly after midnight follow- charges that he shared Facebook posts by Ahmed cer who was rushed to hospital. Ahmed said more demning the government’s treatment of Mushtaq ing Ahmed’s death on Thursday. Among them, seven and had slammed the writer’s death, his lawyer than 500 protesters were at the press club, trying Ahmed as well as other writers, journalists and were student activists from two left-wing groups Kudrat-e-Khuda said. “He has been charged under to form a human chain. activists. and a labour leader in the southern city of Khulna. the Digital Security Act and remanded into police He defended the party not having sought permis- At least eight people have been arrested since Ruhul Amin, 38, was detained on Friday over custody for two days,” he said. —AFP ‘Seedballs’ giving Kenya’s forests Dozens of Hong Kong a helping hand dissidents charged MASAI MARA, Kenya: At first glance, the round with security crime black pellets could easily be mistaken for animal dung. But these hardy little balls contain acacia HONG KONG: Dozens of Hong Kong dissi- seeds that are helping regrow Kenya’s depleted dents were charged with subversion yesterday forests. In a tranche of razed forest bordering the in the largest use yet of Beijing’s sweeping new Masai Mara wildlife reserve, a team of rangers scat- national security law, as authorities seek to crip- ter generous handfuls of “seedballs” around the ple the finance hub’s democracy movement. bald clearing to give nature a fighting chance to Police arrested 55 of the city’s best-known regenerate. It takes just minutes for the eight pro-democracy campaigners in a series of dawn rangers from the Mara Elephant Project, a conser- raids last month. Yesterday, 47 were charged vation group, to toss some 22,000 seedballs across with one count each of “conspiracy to commit MASAI MARA, Kenya: Rangers from the Mara Elephant Project (MEP) help to disperse seed balls by hand at a this ravaged corner of the Nyakweri forest. “It is subversion”-one of the new national security section of Nyakweri indigenous forest destroyed for charcoal making in the Masai Mara ecosystem. —AFP very simple,” said Jackson Maitai, whose rangers crimes-with police saying the group would discovered that loggers had illegally cleared this appear in court on Monday morning. land during their routine patrols to protect ele- charcoal, a cheap fuel. even dropped by helicopter. Developed by Democracy supporters described the move phants in the area. Nyakweri, for example, has lost more than 50 Seedballs Kenya, the casing of charcoal dust pro- as a body blow. “Every prominent voice of the “The seedballs are not actually heavy. We just percent of its forest cover in the past two decades, tects the seed inside from being eaten by mice, pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong now is throw them away everywhere we see there is defor- reducing key habitats for wild animals, according birds or insects before it germinates. The shell is either jailed, in exile, or charged for subversion estation, so it is not a big deal.” Humble though they to Marc Goss, the director of the Mara Elephant semi-porous, giving it a fighting chance even in of state power,” activist Sophie Mak wrote on may be, seedballs are tackling a century-old prob- Project. But forests, which cover just seven percent arid conditions. “You can throw them out year Twitter. The European Union’s office in Hong lem in Kenya. Trees were felled en masse by colo- of Kenya’s land mass, also act as water reserves round. It would sit there, wait for the rain to come, Kong said the charges were of “great concern”. nial administrators to fuel a train across East Africa, and a powerful bulwark against climate change and it washes the dust away, and then the seed is back “The nature of these charges makes clear that while land today is cleared for agriculture and char- desertification. Kenya’s forests are cleared at a rate to its natural state, and will be able to start grow- legitimate political pluralism will no longer be coal production as Kenya’s population grows of 5,000 hectares a year, the environment ministry ing,” said Teddy Kinyanjui, the co-founder of tolerated in Hong Kong,” the office added. upward and outward. The forests bordering the said in 2018. Seedballs Kenya. The idea is not entirely new: in Beijing is battling to stamp out dissent in semi- Masai Mara, the legendary wildlife haven and For three years, Goss and his team have been ancient Egypt, seeds were coated in mud to pro- autonomous Hong Kong after swathes of the savannah wilderness in the country’s southwest, are giving nature a helping hand by scattering seed- tect them from the elements and hungry passersby, population hit the streets in 2019 in huge and no exception, chipped away for pasture, crops and balls by any means possible-on foot, by car and Kinyanjui said. —AFP sometimes violent democracy protests. The broadly worded security law, imposed on the city last June, criminalizes any act deemed to be subversion, secession, terrorism or collusion Dozens held over Kazakh with foreign forces. Those charged are routinely denied bail until trial and face up to life in prison political prisoner protest if convicted.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan: Police in tions on public assembly. But the ‘Remain strong’ Kazakhstan detained dozens of protest- European Parliament’s non-binding The activists charged yesterday represent a ers yesterday who were calling for the February 11 resolution said “systemic broad cross-section of Hong Kong’s opposition, release of political prisoners in line with shortcomings in relation to respect for from veteran former pro-democracy lawmakers a resolution passed by the European freedom of association, assembly and to academics, lawyers, social workers and a host Parliament. Government opponents expression” persisted. of youth activists. Joshua Wong, one of the city’s were attempting their first protest since It also criticized “secret court deci- most recognizable pro-democracy figures, was the resolution called for the European sions” that have outlawed as extremist among those charged, visited by police inside Union to prioritize rights in its relations two opposition groups affiliated with prison where he is currently serving a sentence with Kazakhstan, saying there had been former energy minister Mukhtar for organizing protests in 2019. John Clancey, an a “worrying deterioration” in the oil- Ablyazov. Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry American lawyer and long-time Hong Kong res- rich country. Roughly 50 protesters said the resolution was “initiated by ident who was with the initial group arrested, were detained in the largest city Almaty unfriendly politicians, fuelled by inac- was one of the few not charged yesterday. Many before they could gather near a city curate information from destructive cir- struck a defiant tone as they prepared to report park, where the internet appeared to cles”. The state prosecutor warned on ALMATY, Kazakhstan: Kazakh law enforcement officers detain a participant in an opposition to police yesterday to hear the charges. have been shut down. Friday that anyone attending the rally in Almaty yesterday. — AFP “Democracy is never a gift from heaven. It Several of the protesters shouted protests-called in cities across the vast must be earned by many with strong will,” “freedom to political prisoners” as they country-could face administrative sidelines when democracies are ready ed asylum by France. He insists the Jimmy Sham, a key organizer of 2019’s huge were manhandled into waiting vans. detentions of between 20 and 50 days to support the people of Kazakhstan in criminal cases are politically motivated protests, told reporters outside a police station. The Central Asian nation’s new presi- for joining unauthorized rallies. the fight against dictatorship”. The ex- retribution for his opposition to former “We can tell the whole world, under the most dent Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has In a Facebook post on Saturday, bank chief, who is wanted for embezzle- president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who painful system, Hong Kongers are the light of styled himself as a reformer and last Ablyazov, who fled the country in 2009, ment and organizing the murder of a remains a powerful figure and is close the city. We will remain strong and fight for year signed off on a law easing restric- called on Kazakhs “not to stay on the banker in his home country, was grant- to Russian leader Vladimir Putin. —AFP what we want,” he added. Former student leader Lester Shum said: “We have long decided not to bow our heads to The regulator did not recommend CoronaVac for reportedly unwilling to be inoculated against the totalitarian rule. I hope Hong Kong people can Philippines receives healthcare workers due to its comparatively low effi- coronavirus. To boost trust, several top officials- carry on with this decision.” The alleged offence cacy. An advisory group to the Philippine govern- including the health minister-are expected to receive of those arrested for subversion was to organize first vaccines ment allowed it to be offered to those willing to take the CoronaVac jab. President Duterte, who has an unofficial primary last summer to choose it, but many nurses and doctors are reluctant and defended Chinese-made vaccines, suggested he will candidates for the city’s partially elected legisla- have opted to wait for other vaccines. In the be inoculated in public, having previously said he ture, in hopes that the pro-democracy bloc from China Philippine General Hospital, one of the country’s main would receive it in private. But the 75-year-old might take a majority for the first time. Many of facilities treating COVID-19 patients, only 10 percent leader’s doctors are still deciding which vaccine to those candidates were ultimately disqualified MANILA: The Philippines received 600,000 vaccine of staff were willing to be inoculated with the use for him. The rollout came as the number of daily from standing, and authorities scrapped the doses from China yesterday, kickstarting the country’s Chinese-made vaccine, spokesman Jonas Del new infections in the Philippines hit a four-month election because of the coronavirus. But inoculation drive despite concerns over the Sinovac Rosario told AFP. high. More than 570,000 cases have been confirmed, Chinese and Hong Kong officials viewed the pri- jab’s effectiveness. Top government officials and health It was far from the 94 percent who registered to including over 12,000 deaths. Aside from hospital mary as an attempt to “overthrow” and “para- workers will be the first on Monday to receive the take the Pfizer-BioNTech jab, said Del Rosario, who workers, the military is set to receive 100,000 lyze” the city’s government and therefore a Chinese-made vaccine-called CoronaVac-just days himself opted not to take the CoronaVac shot. The Sinovac doses. threat to national security. after the drug regulator approved it for emergency hesitancy is not new in the Southeast Asian nation, Members of the Philippines armed forces are Critics say that declaration has effectively use. President Rodrigo Duterte, whose government which has struggled with vaccine programs in recent required to get vaccinated and those who refuse made opposition politics in Hong Kong all but has been under fire over delays in procuring vaccines, years. The Philippines was the first country in 2016 to could be disciplined. The government is in talks with illegal. Clifford Stott, a British academic who oversaw the delivery of the doses at a military air base. deploy the dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, but a botched seven vaccine makers, including Sinovac, in the hope was hired by Hong Kong’s government to sit on Around 525,000 doses of the AstraZeneca jab were rollout led to unfounded claims that several dozen of securing enough doses to inoculate 70 million a short-lived advisory panel to the city’s police also due to arrive Monday as part of the COVAX children had died from the jab. people-about 60 percent of the population-this year. watchdog after the protests, gave a stark global inoculation program and will also be offered to Recent surveys have shown vaccine confidence But the bulk of the supply is not expected to start assessment of yesterday’s charges. —AFP healthcare workers. remains low, with almost half of the population arriving until the summer. — AFP Established 1961

MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021 Business Women making inroads on Wall Street, but still a long way to go Jane Fraser arrives as head of banking flagship Citigroup today

NEW YORK: Pin-up photos and smutty jokes have in their organization... long been commonplace on trading floors, but the and which structures finance world is gradually opening up to women- they can put in place, so underlined by the arrival today of Jane Fraser as the that it is not just on head of Wall Street banking flagship Citigroup. women,” said Muriel Her elevation marks “a milestone,” according to Wilkins. At JPMorgan Lorraine Hariton, director of Catalyst, an organiza- Chase, America’s largest tion that promotes women in the workplace. “But bank by asset size, there is also a long way to go,” she said. there has long been an Employment figures demonstrate the mountains informal women’s net- that still have to be moved to achieve parity work. In 2013, women at between men and women in the financial services the most senior level sector. Women in 2019 made up more than 50 per- started organizing cent of employees in the field in the United States, women-only meetings but only 22 percent of managers-leaving aside the while on business trips Jane Fraser highest positions-according to a report by Deloitte. around the world so Current trends predict that figure will rise to 31 that they could hear employees’ thoughts. percent by 2030. And male financial analysts earned Company head Jamie Dimon wanted to formalize 17 percent more on average in 2020 than their these various initiatives and so in 2018 the “Women female counterparts. Several women told AFP that on the Move” program was created, said project women have to work harder than men to climb the manager Sam Saperstein. “It allowed us to reinvigo- ranks, and have to be seen as beyond reproach. rate what we were doing with HR, with training and Prestigious professions and those that pay the just pull everything together and elevate it in a clear most, like investment bankers and traders, still strategy across the firm,” she said. remain strongholds of white men. And sexist The initiative organized a career development remarks still come out from time to time. “For every program open to all women in the company. About A woman walks on Wall Street in New York. —AFP Jane Fraser, there are hundreds, if not thousands, 500 participated in the first session last year, and out there,” said Muriel Wilkins of the executive 2,000 have applied for the second. consultancy firm Paravis Partner. “Are they being provided with the opportunities to be able to Sponsorships The organization wants to prove that contrary to those same numbers at the associate level.” advance?” she said. But the old certainties have To tackle the citadel of asset management, which popular belief, women are not at all turned off by “Measurement and holding people accountable is started to shift. is still the preserve of men, the organization “Girls the job: companies just have to go out and find critical to make change,” said Lorraine Hariton of who Invest,” founded in 2015, has set itself the goal them. It scours university campuses to recruit stu- Catalyst. Michael Corbat, Jane Fraser’s predeces- Women’s network of having 30 percent of the money invested in funds dents, train them and offer them internships. “The sor, was one of the first in the industry to release Vague promises about the need to diversify worldwide managed by women by 2020. Women industry had moved tremendously in the past five statistics on diversity within his firm. It is also recruiting have gradually led to some real reflection currently represent only six percent of managers in years,” said director Katherine Jollon Colsher. essential, Hariton said, for companies to put in place on the issue. “Slowly more leaders... are starting to venture capital companies, according to the group, “More and more firms are now having 50 per- support measures, whether it is sponsorship pro- think and to talk about what it means to have equity and only three percent in hedge funds. cent female analyst classes and are focused on grams or parental leave. —AFP

and further their knowl- A look at three edge. Batson applauded Citigroup’s appointment China investment in of Jane Fraser as the first women in finance female chief executive of a giant Wall Street bank. Australia plunges as NEW YORK: Women in the US finance industry “For a woman, or any- applaud signs of progress at financial giants like body that’s underrepre- ties sour, virus bites Citigroup, which became the first big Wall Street sented, to be able to look bank to name a female chief executive. and see someone that SYDNEY: Chinese investment in Australia Still, even as more women rise and some compa- looks like them, or has a plunged almost two-thirds last year to less than nies allow greater flexibility to working mothers, similar upbringing, is very, $1 billion as the impact of coronavirus was finance remains a challenging career domain and very important to moving compounded by increasingly fraught relations progress is coming more slowly than many women the needle,” she said. Robin Prunty Anna Zhou Hermina Batson between the two countries. The reading marks would like. ‘Never been easy’ - Transparency has the fourth straight drop and is just a fraction of As a little girl, Hermina Batson was always curious improved following US Mentoring from senior colleagues has been crucial, the $13 billion injected into the country in 2016, when she saw cash exchanged. “I was always won- banking regulations requiring data on employee she said, adding: “I have a clear view of my career with Canberra growing increasingly wary of the dering when my parents paid for things, why we never diversity, but “we’re not there yet,” she said. The wage path ahead.” Asian superpower’s intentions. got the same bill back,” Batson told AFP. “I wanted to gap especially is still too wide, Batson added. Data from the Australian National University know what was happening.” Batson’s mother took her Grateful to work part-time released yesterday showed direct investment to visit the Federal Reserve Bank of New York when Need ‘a strong network’ “Before it was even popular, S&P gave me the plunged to US$800 million last year, from she was six. Anna Zhou, 22, was undecided on her career path opportunity to work part time when I started having US$2.05 billion in 2019. The pandemic has She has been hooked on finance ever since, even when she started at Yale University in 2016 after my family, in 1993,” recalled Robin Prunty. Prunty, 57, almost halved investment globally according to while recognizing that the career, as an African being recruited to the fencing team. She began who has been at S&P Global Ratings since 1987, had United Nations trade body UNCTAD, but a American, “has never been easy.” “I did not feel exploring finance after one of her friends introduced originally expected to work the reduced schedule for much larger drop was seen in China-Australia rejected. I might have felt awkward,” she said. her to Girls Who Invest (GWI), whose mission is to six months, but “ended up working part-time for 17 flows, according to ANU economics professor Throughout her career, senior management or boost the number of women in portfolio management years,” she said. Shiro Armstrong. clients would sometimes hand Batson their coat when and executive leadership in asset management. “I really appreciated that flexibility, and I think it Last year China’s direct investment to they arrived at a meeting. Eventually she learned to The organization helped Zhou line up a summer really made a big difference to other women coming Australia focused on just 20 projects in three return the gesture. After high school, Batson, who internship at Wellington Management in Boston. into the organization after me,” she said. “That really sectors-real estate, mining and manufactur- goes by Nina, immediately began working for a bank. She found support from women at different levels was a big factor in my decision to stay at S&P.” ing-the fewest in a decade. “Naturally, this After studying securitization in college, she worked of the firm. Keeping in touch helped Zhou land a job Prunty kept gaining experience working part-time kind of data is lumpy, because of big projects, her way up to senior positions, eventually spending at Wellington after she graduated. Zhou sees signs of even if her career didn’t advance as quickly as it might but there is a pretty clear trend we can see, 25 years at Japanese bank MFUG. progress on diversity in finance, but says there is have. “When I came back full time and was ready to since the peak in 2016 it has fallen every year “Though I’m currently in transition, I’m very much “room for improvement.” take on management responsibilities, they were fully quite steadily, quite dramatically,” Armstrong looking forward to staying in the financial industry,” “Since my freshman year at Yale, more opportuni- supportive of that,” said Prunty, who currently man- told AFP. she said. ties for women to enter finance have emerged,” she ages analytics and research on US public finance. In 2016 there were a number of large invest- Batson will take over as president of the Financial said. “Through my involvement with GWI, I both Prunty is active in the women’s bond club and ments from the China Investment Corporation, a Women’s Association in July. The group was estab- experienced and am currently promoting the impor- applauds the more significant focus on diversity in sovereign wealth fund, and China’s State Power lished in 1956 after its founders were turned away tance of a strong network for females in the finance recent years throughout the industry, but adds: “I Investment Corporation bought Pacific Hydro. from a men’s club to share professional experiences industry.” think there’s room for improvement.” —AFP While China remains Australia’s largest trad- ing partner, political relations are at their lowest plans to do. Bond yields have risen else- ly above its 2.0 percent target. there aren’t the same risks of overheat- in decades, with Canberra recoiling at Beijing’s Europe less at where too, with 10-year French govern- But bond yields continued to rise, ing as in the United States,” said Fabien efforts to translate economic might into political ment bonds turning positive on Thursday indicating investor concern about a rise Tripier, an economist at CEPII, a Paris- and military power. China has slapped punitive for the first time in months while the in interest rates that would make bor- based research centre on the world sanctions on a range of Australian exports as risk of inflation benchmark 10-year German Bund has rowing and investment more expensive economy. The US economy shrank 3.5 the two countries clash on a range of issues also risen although it remains negative. and slow the economy. However, many percent last year while the drop for the from influence operations, national security and rate fears European inflation data for January analysts are skeptical that Biden’s stimu- eurozone was nearly double that. rules, China’s internal crackdowns and trans- showed a jump in prices of 0.9 percent lus program will spark considerable There is “no risk of overheating or a parency over its handling of the coronavirus PARIS: Investors are watching inflation compared to a minus 0.3 percent read- inflation. “It isn’t clear that Biden’s recov- sustained rise in inflation” in the euro- pandemic. carefully, worried that a boiling over of ing in December, as increased costs of ery plan will create lots of inflation,” said zone, the head of the Banque de France, There is also growing concern in Australia prices will ruin the expected strong pan- raw materials fed through into services Xavier Ragot, head of the French Francois Villeroy de Galhau, insisted this that Beijing has used trade, investments and demic recovery although analysts and industrial goods. After having Economic Observatory think tank. For past week. The French Economic diaspora groups to gain political leverage, believe Europe faces much less of a risk slowed considerably in 2020, inflation is the European Union, there is no likeli- Observatory’s Ragot also does not which has prompted a slew of legislation. than the United States. Fears that US expected to rise this year in Europe as hood that its pandemic recovery pro- believe that if the Fed is pushed by the Armstrong said new Australian rules to President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus the economy picks up following the gram would, he believes. “The amounts markets into raising rates that the screen investments for risks to national secu- plan-which was passed by the House of relaxation of measures to slow the of the European recovery plans pose European Central Bank would be forced rity had a particularly chilling effect and could Representatives on Saturday-will stoke spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. absolutely no inflationary risk,” he said. to follow suit. “It doesn’t work like that in help explain the decline. “There is a national up the economy too much have But it is not so much a spike in infla- macroeconomics,” he said, noting that security test now for foreign investment, there unnerved investors in recent weeks. tion that worries investors but that the ‘No risk of overheating’ the monetary policy of the Fed and ECB have been high profile cases of Chinese A rise in yields on 10-year US Fed would raise interest rates faster The European Commission’s recov- had diverged considerably at the start of investments being withdrawn” he said. “That Treasury bonds-a key indicator of than it has communicated. Federal ery program is worth 750 billion euros the last decade. “With loose financial shakes confidence in foreign investors.” expectations-shows the markets believe Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell ($920 billion), with several EU members conditions still necessary to support the Australia has rejected Chinese bids for prices are set to rise much more sharply pledged Tuesday that the US central also having their own national programs. economy, the ECB is unlikely to react to Japanese-owned Lion Dairy and local con- than last year’s gain of 1.4 percent, which bank will keep benchmark lending rates “We have a European recovery pro- the coming inflation overshoot,” said struction firm Probuild. —AFP could force the US Federal Reserve to low until the economy is at full employ- gram... considerably less strong, and a Capital Economics economist Jack hike interest rates earlier than it says it ment and inflation has risen consistent- loss of growth that is much greater, so Allen-Reynolds. —AFP Established 1961 9 Monday, March 1, 2021 Business NBK adds Web/In-app payment to Samsung Pay, a first for Kuwait Service allows customers to make online payments in one step

KUWAIT: As part of its constant endeavors to meet users for seamless and secure payment experience. part of the efforts to keep infrastructure, and strong partnerships with leading its customers’ needs, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) NBK was the first bank in Kuwait to launch pace with the rapid techno- brands.” strives to provide world-class cutting-edge payment Samsung Pay last September, which is an innovative logical advancement and to To activate Samsung Pay, you can download the solutions. In this context, NBK has added Web/In-app wallet payment solution, based on MST and NFC tech- meet customers’ needs, in Samsung Pay App from Galaxy Store, log in to your Payment feature to Samsung Pay, for the first time in nologies, that allows customers to use their Galaxy view of the highly increas- Samsung account from Samsung Pay App to set your Kuwait. smartphones to make their payments at most NFC- ing reliance on digital chan- PIN and fingerprint, then tap on “add card” and scan or This service is the first of its kind in Kuwait that enabled POS terminals at their favorite stores as well as nels and services for their manually enter the card number, and finally, verify your allows customers to make their online payments in one in online purchases. On this occasion, Prasad Srinivasa, transactions, as a result of card through SMS/e-mail option and enter the OTP. It step using Samsung Pay Wallet, without the need to Head of Payment Acceptance and Customer Loyalty, the exceptional circum- is worth mentioning that NBK was named “Best enter card data and wait for OTP, providing a quick, Consumer Banking Group, National Bank of Kuwait, stances imposed by the Consumer Digital Bank - Middle East” for 2020 by the easy and secure payment method for Samsung Pay said: “We always strive to provide cutting-edge pay- coronavirus pandemic, he reputable international magazine Global Finance, in the enabled customers. ment solutions, as part of our keenness to provide a Prasad Srinivasa pointed out. annual survey of the World’s Best Digital Banks 2020. The service is currently available through the web- top-notch banking experience to our customers and to Srinivasa concluded: The New York-based magazine selects winners based sites of eligible stores for credit cards and debit cards. consolidate our leadership in providing digital banking “We promise our customers on the evaluation of a world-class panel of judges at NBK offers the service for merchants who wish to pro- services.” more of the advanced digital services and solutions that Infosys, a global leader in consulting and technology, vide customers with Samsung Pay Web/In-app check- NBK’s Digital Transformation Strategy yielded many meet their needs, enrich their banking experience, and whereas Global Finance editors are responsible for the out, as well as for customers from Samsung smartphone advanced digital services and payment solutions, as reflect NBK’s capabilities, tremendous technological final selection of all winners.

security operations staff, and building a security opera- Kuwait Trend Micro tions capability that can confidently configure and main- tain a defensive posture as well as provide a rapid detec- tion and response capacity. Mainstream organizations launches Vision are often overwhelmed by the intersectionality of these OneTM platform two problems.”

KUWAIT: Kuwait Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity, yesterday announced the launch of Trend Micro Vision OneTM, an innovative break- through in visibility and response that empowers security teams by eliminating security alert overload from a single console. The new platform, Trend Micro Vision One, has extended detection and response (XDR) at its core and raises the bar with new capabilities to help security teams to see more and respond faster. Organizations are struggling with siloed tools, dis- shops and the tireless efforts they made during the last jointed alerts and stealthy, sophisticated threats, whether Ooredoo Kuwait two months of 2020, in which Ooredoo Kuwait wit- they have a Security Operations Center (SOCs) or are nessed distinguished achievements in terms of both; relying on stretched IT security teams for SOC functions. The holistic threat defense platform is true to its name, the services provided and the percentage of sales dur- Trend Micro has helped hundreds of organizations iden- offering: honors its ing this period of time. tify and reduce cyber risk by correlating alerts across the • Visibility & threat intelligence: Cross-layer detection Ahmed Darbad, Senior Director, Consumer Sales, entire IT environment, with the industry-first XDR solu- models, along with security risk visibility supported success partners Ooredoo Kuwait, said: “Despite the challenges the tion launched in 2019. Now, with Trend Micro Vision by Trend Micro Research insights, enable enterprises telecommunications market in the State of Kuwait has One, the company is solving more complex security chal- to see complex attacks and particular points of secu- experienced, we will continue conducting exceptional lenges with enhanced XDR, new risk visibility, new third- rity risk that siloed solutions miss. In preview, are new KUWAIT: Ooredoo Telecom, the first to introduce promotional activities and support the various market party integrations, and simplified response to threats insights into SaaS application usage, their risk levels innovative digital services in Kuwait, organized a cere- sectors with all means in order to efficiently serve our across security layers. and trends over time. mony to honor its success partners from retail distrib- customers, and provide what is commensurate with the “The past year has seen escalating complexity in IT • Purpose-built sensors: Native integrations with Trend uters, sub dealers and a number of the company’s sales customer base in Kuwaiti market.” stacks, with environments across the region becoming Micro security stack across critical security layers. managers, and thank them for their active participation Dardab added: “Ooredoo Kuwait embraces a group highly hybridized,” said Dr Moataz bin Ali, VP and • Fit with existing infrastructure: Out-of-the-box, API in the successful prepaid sales campaign launched in of individuals demonstrate exceptional efficiency in Managing Director, Middle East and North Africa, Trend integrations with existing third-party solutions November and ended in December 2020 and achiev- their interactions with customers and adequate knowl- Micro. “XDR connects every aspect of infrastructure, already in use to compliment workflows. ing the highest sales during this period. The ceremony edge of the local market, business methods and sales.” from email and endpoints to cloud workloads and net- • Simplified management: Ability to adjust security took place at the company’s headquarters in Ooredoo Darbad concluded: “We are always keen on training works. And Trend Micro Vision One brings these capabil- policies and drive response actions across security Tower on February 24, 2021. and developing the staff of our sales department on an ities together in a comprehensive view of the entire envi- layers from a single console instead of swivel chair During the ceremony, Senior Director, Consumer ongoing basis and enrich their skills, especially those ronment, ridding security teams of alert fatigue and pro- management Sales, Ooredoo Kuwait, Ahmed Dardab, awarded the related to dealing with customers and methods of dis- viding them with a rich, contextual view that allows them In addition to the layered security from Trend Micro, sub dealers and retails shops with the highest sales cussion and dialogue.” It is noteworthy that Ooredoo to hunt down and contain threats more effectively.” customers can easily connect this new platform into other figures on the latest prepaid sales products promo- launched one of its largest campaigns in the Kuwaiti With Trend Micro Vision One, organizations can max- security technologies such as third-party endpoint pro- tional packages and valued prizes worth more than market to support more than 1500 sub-distributors, by imize efficiency by making less sophisticated security tection platforms and SIEM and SOARs, including new $600,000, including iPhone XS devices. This honor is offering unique products that suit all segments, includ- resources operate at a more expert level. The new plat- integrations with Fortinet, Microsoft Sentinel and Splunk a reflection of the dedication of the members and retail ing the prepaid plans and bundles. form allows them to faster dissect security incidents, just to name a few. Early adopting customers are ready to identify critical threat patterns and complex attacks and act on the developing opportunity to integrate beyond understand their overall security posture and trends, so SIEM and SOAR, with solutions like firewalls, ticketing organizations can proactively identify and assess poten- solutions, identity and access management. What will US tial security risks. According to Gartner, Innovation This new blog from IDC resulted from a briefing prior Insight for Extended Detection and Response, March to launch and goes into further detail on the new Trend economic 2020, “Two of the biggest challenges for all security Micro platform. To find out more about Trend Micro organizations are hiring and retaining technically savvy recovery look like? Vision One, please visit TrendMicro.com. for a startup it is about trust, and that seems to be lacking Women fight for when it comes to women entrepreneurs, according to WASHINGTON: The US economy is rebounding Foundos and others interviewed by AFP. faster than expected from the COVID-19 recession, WASHINGTON, DC: US President Joe Biden speaks about “I don’t think women need to be given things,” outperforming the most pessimistic estimates. But some the American Rescue Plan and the Paycheck Protection funding in man’s Foundos said of venture capital backing. “But I think they areas remain largely shut down. So what will recovery Program (PPP) for small businesses in response to coron- are not seeing the same amount of deals.” Forte has look like? avirus, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in world of tech startups grown quickly as the pandemic has gyms and fitness cen- Washington, DC. — AFP ters scrambling to provide online sessions for members. How fast will the economy grow? Foundos brought on a “right-hand man,” a male part- The International Monetary Fund estimates the GDP SAN FRANCISCO: Lauren Foundos has excelled at ner with a British accent, to provide a more traditional of the United States will expand by 5.1 percent this year, rate was 11.1 percent. “The aid and stimulus are critical to just about everything she has put her mind to, from col- face to potential investors and increase the odds of get- after contracting by 3.5 percent in 2020 as the pandemic bridging COVID-tainted waters, stemming employment lege sports and Wall Street trading to her Forte startup ting funding. She has taken to asking venture capitalists losses ... and priming the pump for a more robust recov- forced lockdowns that shuttered businesses nationwide. that takes workouts online. Being a woman in the over- she meets if they have invested in women-led companies ery once social distancing measures are lifted,” econo- But economists think the growth rate could accelerate whelmingly male world of venture capital was still a bar- before, and the answer has always been “no.” further. The nearly $3 trillion in government stimulus pro- mist Diane Swonk of Grant Thornton said. rier-but, like many other female entrepreneurs, she only Moody’s Analytics estimates Biden’s stimulus plan grams last year, including a $900 billion measure worked harder to succeed. Sex for funding? would create 7.5 million jobs this year alone. approved in late December, were key to helping the US “In some cases, before I even spoke, they were asking A paltry few percent of venture capital money goes to economy bounce back. And Congress is moving toward me if I would step down as chief executive,” Foundos said female-led startups in the United States, according to Which sectors are rebounding fastest? approving President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion rescue pack- of encounters with venture capitalists. “This was a whole Allyson Kapin, General Partner at the W Fund and The housing market, strong before the pandemic, age, which will provide more support for businesses, new level.” Men would speak past her in meetings, dis- founder of Women Who Tech (WWT). Being sexually paused only briefly before roaring back hotter than families and state and local jobs. Federal Reserve Chair cussing whether she could emotionally handle the job as propositioned in return for funding, or even an introduc- before. Fueled by rock-bottom mortgage rates-and with Jerome Powell acknowledged growth could hit 6.0 per- if she wasn’t there, or wondering out loud who would tion to venture capitalists, is common for women remote work perhaps starting a trend of people moving cent, while private forecasters like Gregory Daco of take care of the books. “When that happens, I tell them I founders of startups, according to a recent WWT survey. out of congested areas-sales of new and existing homes Oxford Economics said it could break 7.0 percent. am right here,” Foundos said. “I am the finance guy; I Some 44 percent of female founders surveyed told of have jumped about 20 percent above the pre-pandemic The quick recovery has raised concerns that price worked at big banks for more than 10 years. I’ve been the harassment such as sexual slurs or unwanted physical level. But supplies have fallen as homebuilders struggle to increases could spiral higher, but Powell tamped down best at everything I have ever gone into.” contact while seeking funding. And while last year set a keep up with demand, driving prices higher. those fears, saying inflationary spikes in coming months Startups can only get by so long relying on friends, record for venture capital funding, backing for women- Manufacturing, too, has recovered steadily since last are unlikely to last. And the Fed has pledged to keep family or savings before eventually needing to find led startups plunged despite data that such companies summer, although output remains below where it was in interest rates low until employment recovers and inflation investors willing to put money into young companies in actually deliver better return-on-investment, according to early 2020. And even as consumers have been forced to stays above 2.0 percent for some time. exchange for a stake in the business. Kapin. “This isn’t about altruism or charity, this is about curtail activities, they have opened their wallets to spend Money invested in startups in their earliest days, per- making a (load) of money,” Kapin said of backing freely on autos, electronics, furniture, and building and When will the jobs come back? haps when they are no more than ideas or prototypes, is women-led startups. As businesses were able to reopen and adapt to new gardening supplies. Online retailers have been the big called “seed” funding. When it comes to getting backing winners, with a sales increase of just under 30 percent COVID-19 restrictions, the country regained about half Bar set higher over the year. of the 20 million jobs lost in the early weeks of the pan- Prospects for funding get even more dismal for demic. Many of the remaining 10 million jobs are in the women of color. Black entrepreneur Fonta Gilliam worked Where is the damage still visible? hardest-hit service sectors like hotels and restaurants- overseas with financial institutions for the US State The most visible impact of the recession is in the trav- losses that fell especially hard on Black and Hispanic Department before creating social banking startup Invest el, hospitality and entertainment industry, which likely will workers. And millions more have seen their hours cut or Sou Sou. Gilliam took the idea of village savings circles come back to life quickly once people are able to take have left the labor force entirely, including large numbers she had seen thrive in places such as Africa and built it vacations and enjoy concerts, movies or plays. But econ- of women who are taking care of children. Those jobs into a free mobile app, adding artificial intelligence and omists have warned about the potential for more perma- and hours likely will not come back until the vaccine roll- partnering with financial institutions. She created a Sou out reaches a critical mass of Americans, allowing people nent scars on the economy in the wake of the pandemic. Sou prototype and started bringing in revenue to show it to resume normal activities without fear so businesses Thousands of shops and restaurants have closed per- could make money, but still found it tougher to get fund- and schools can fully reopen. The official unemployment manently, and there is a risk of a wave of bankruptcies if ing than male peers. rate-known as U-3 — hit 6.3 percent in January, a dra- the recovery doesn’t come soon enough for some heavily “We always have to over-perform and overcompen- matic worsening from 3.5 percent a year earlier. For Black indebted firms. State and local governments, which typi- sate,” Gilliam said. “Where startups run by men would workers the rate was 9.2 percent. cally cannot borrow to finance their operations, are fac- Allyson Kapin, General Partner at the W Fund and co- get believed, we’d have to prove it 10 times over.” Gilliam But when including individuals who have been dis- ing the possibility of slashing teachers, police and fire- founder of Women Who Tech, peeks out of her back door got insultingly low valuations for her startup, some so couraged from looking for work, or who are working fighters from the payroll to compensate for massive relief before an interview with AFP in Washington, DC.— AFP predatory that she walked away. —AFP part-time but want a full-time position, the broader U-6 spending.—AFP 10 Established 1961 Business Monday, March 1, 2021 KFH leads Kuwaiti banks and private sector as top recruiter of Kuwaitis National staff made up 99% of hires in 2020 • 70% of new hires are fresh graduates

KUWAIT: Deputy General Manager HR Global partnerships Operations and Rewards at Kuwait Finance House Al-Mutairi noted that development of KFH (KFH), Talal Al-Mutairi, expressed his pride that employees has been high on its agenda in 2020 KFH leads the Kuwaiti banks and the private sector where it has successfully concluded a series of virtual as a top recruiter of Kuwaitis where citizens made intensive courses with Harvard Business Publishing, up 99 percent of new hires in 2020. This reflects INSEAD, and IMD to build staff’s capabilities as KFH KFH’s ongoing focus on building and developing the Group Future Leaders. local talents as well as confirms the excellence in terms of local labor and Kuwaitization ratio. LinkedIn learning platform As fresh graduates made up 70 percent of new Al-Mutairi indicated that KFH signed a partner- hires in 2020, KFH confirmed its leadership in terms ship agreement with LinkedIn to launch the educa- of employing and qualifying national youth talents. tional platform “LinkedIn Learning”, for KFH The Bank implemented a comprehensive training employees in Kuwait, Bahrain and Turkey. The agree- and development strategy for talents, providing all ment is designed to develop and explore the employ- the success elements and opportunities that enable ee’s skills through an advanced and data-based edu- them to build a successful career and assume lead- cational experience. ership positions in the future given that they are As it supports initiative-taking and self-learning among the most important elements in achieving for personal and professional development, the plat- sustainable development, Al-Mutairi said. form also features a group of academics and interna- He explained that in collaboration with the rele- Talal Al-Mutairi tional experts who focus on developing the various vant authorities, KFH attaches great importance to skills of individuals and getting acquainted with cre- boost its role in localizing employment, raising the u Al-Mutairi: Exceptional efforts in hiring ativity and technology and the latest trends in the educational and professional levels of employees in business environment. Islamic Banking industry, and developing their Kuwaiti talents The platform provides users with unlimited access expertise with the highest global standards. to its contents, choosing from its collection of more u 2950 employees participated in training than 5,000 tutorial videos and 13,000 training Virtual job interviews courses covering business, creative and technology Al-Mutairi mentioned that KFH is committed to programs during 2020 topics. Enabling intelligence, LinkedIn Learning plat- the health requirements and employees’ safety dur- form creates special recommendations, that help ing the current exceptional conditions. Accordingly, trainees efficiently explore the training courses most u Partnering with E-learning Platforms to it conducted more than 250 virtual interviews with relevant to their goals or jobs. KFH can also use candidates through digital platforms in innovative deliver advanced courses LinkedIn insights to prepare analyses and reports to ways. help measure the effectiveness of learning efficiency, He explained that the procedures of job com- Scholarship program he added. mencement did not stop during the pandemic and He added that, despite the pandemic, KFH grant- lockdown, pointing that KFH continued the recruit- ed in 2020 scholarships to 12 employees: 6 MBAs ‘Certified Sharia Auditor’ certificate ment process by delivering the recruitment docu- and 6 BAs. In addition, KFH celebrated the obtain- Al-Mutairi explained that the Institute of Banking ments such as contracts, Job IDs and laptops to the ing of 4 employees a master’s degree and one Studies (IBS) honored 10 KFH employees in appreci- employee’s address. In addition, KFH provided the employee a bachelor’s degree in 2020 as part of the ation of their obtaining the “Certified Sharia Auditor” new recruits with the necessary training programs scholarship program being offered by the bank certificate, which is one of the “Kafaa” initiative pro- through digital platforms to be fully prepared to grams officially launched by the Central Bank of since 2013. commence their job. Kuwait in collaboration with Kuwaiti banks and the He confirmed that KFH adopts several profes- management of the Institute of Banking Studies. The to a Better Life and a healthier organization. He sional standards to estimate and accurately study Training programs Certified Sharia Auditor is accredited by the Central added that KFH signed strategic partnerships with training, and business needs in line with new admin- Al-Mutairi pointed out that over the past year Bank of Kuwait, the Capital Markets Authority, and various health care providers as part of its wellbeing KFH succeeded in designing and organizing training istrative decisions, products or systems that the the Kuwait Center for Islamic Economy. strategy for KFH Staff and to create a more dynamic, programs for 2950 of its staff through 13225 train- bank launches for its customers. It also adopts He expressed KFH’s pride in the competence and effective and efficient working environment. ing seats and more than 330 training programs and advanced modern human resources systems capabilities of its Sharia auditors, as they completed Employee health and wellbeing is now a business over 575 sessions covering banking, technical and through which the employee can request his/her the Certified Shariah Auditor program within one value of strategic importance and is fast becoming a behavioral aspects. He stressed the importance of training needs with ease and explore the available year only, despite the circular of the Central Bank for source of competitive advantage, asserting the rela- human resources to the success of the institution training programs that suit the functional require- Kuwaiti Islamic banks in 2019 stipulating that a tionship between employees’ wellbeing and organi- and of adapting to the developments in the banking ments of the staff. Certified Sharia Auditor certificate must be obtained zational performance, he said. industry. Maintaining its leadership at all levels, KFH is within two years from the date of the circular. He explained that the KFH Group has achieved Just as core assets and real power are to the suc- keen on the ongoing efforts to raise the productivity progress in employees’ engagement at the group cess of the institution, the human resources are a and efficiency of employees, providing them with Wellness year and engagement level, as strong positive results have shown in the major pillar in adapting to the developments in the advanced training programs that keep pace with the Al-Mutairi pointed out that KFH has launched survey conducted recently by “KFH” for the banking industry, raising the performance indicators competitiveness and accelerated developments in several initiatives focusing on employee health and Group’s employees in Kuwait, Turkey, Bahrain, and improving the efficiency, Al-Mutairi stressed. the banking industry, he said. wellbeing, and on the view that Better Health Leads Malaysia and Germany.

NBK MONEY MARKETS REPORT

100 days in the White House. The package, which the end of 2020, but unemployment edged up and was passed early Saturday by the Democratic con- a previous pick up in hiring slowed as the surge in Powell: Economic recovery remains trolled House, includes $1,400 direct payments, an COVID-19 infections put reopening on hold. The extension of federal top-ups to unemployment employment rate of 75 percent was 1.5 percent uneven and far from complete insurance, and another $350 billion for state and lower than a year earlier. local governments. Biden last week said that the US However, some signs of improvement were appar- KUWAIT: In his testimony before the US Senate conditions expressed by the Fed, Powell stressed economy would come “roaring back” if Congress ent. The number of payroll employees increased in Banking Committee on Tuesday, Federal Reserve how far away the US economy remained from approved his proposals, while Treasury secretary January for a second consecutive month, the rate of Chair Jerome Powell said that the central bank reaching full employment. Janet Yellen this week told G20 finance ministers redundancies has slowed, the number of vacancies would keep its attention focused on getting The Fed has said it would not raise interest rates that they should also “go big” with fiscal support to continued to increase, albeit more slowly, and the Americans back to work as vaccine related recovery from their current level close to zero until it help the pandemic ravaged global economy. Office for National Statistics said pay was growing in proceeds. Powell pushed back on suggestions that achieved full employment, inflation hit 2 percent and The stimulus package needs to pass both the real terms in all sectors at the end of the year. loose monetary policy risked unleashing inflation was “on track” to exceed that target. It also said it House and the Senate -which Democrats control by “Throughout the crisis, my focus has been on doing and financial risks in what may be an emerging eco- would not begin to wind down its bond buying pro- a small margin- if it is going to be sent to Biden’s everything we can to protect jobs and livelihoods,” nomic boom. He told Congress there was “hope for a gram until “substantial further progress” was made desk to be signed into law. Democrats have set said chancellor Rishi Sunak in response to the data, return to more normal conditions” this year but sig- toward its objectives. During the testimony, Powell themselves a deadline of mid-March when the cur- adding that he would set out measures to support naled that the central bank intended to maintain its was repeatedly pressed by senators on the merits of rent round of emergency unemployment benefits jobs through the remainder of the pandemic and heavy support to the economy. Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, but he declined to runs out. recovery in his March 3 budget. He is expected to use When asked about whether a faster than expect- take a position. Powell had publicly pushed the budget to extend the government’s furlough ed recovery still required crisis-level assistance, Congress to approve more government stimulus to Market movements scheme, which is currently due to expire in April, until Powell replied “Monetary policy is accommodative support the recovery and complement the regula- Growing inflations concerns combined with some June, according to people briefed on the plan. and it continues to need to be accommodative ... tor’s easy money policies as the pandemic ravaged technical factors drove interest rates higher as the The UK is now preparing to start easing. Prime Expect us to move carefully, patiently, and with a lot the US economy in 2020. But in recent weeks, the market went on a bond selloff. The developments Minister Boris Johnson declared that the end of the of advance warning before any changes.” He contin- Fed chair has switched to a more neutral stance on intensified on Thursday as the 10-year US Treasury pandemic is “in sight” for England as the government ued to acknowledge the potentially fast growth to the need for more fiscal support, just as US yield spiked higher by 23 basis points from the open is set out to ease restriction rules in a four-step plan. come as the coronavirus crises eases and vaccina- President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers are to an intra-day high of 1.61 percent which fully Schools will reopen March 8th while outdoor activi- tions expand, saying that coming updates to the trying to approve the additional $1.9 trillion in gov- reversed all of the move lower from February and ties from mid-April and sports stadiums by mid-May. Fed’s outlook may show the economy expanding “in ernment spending. March of last year when the negative COVID-19 The Prime Minister aims to reopen all remaining the range” of 6 percent this year, and overall output Powell’s shift was apparent as he repeatedly shock first hit financial markets. But then the market businesses by June 21st. returning in the next few weeks to the pre-pandemic refused to take a position on Biden’s legislative pri- started to question how long the Fed can stay on level. ority. “It’s not appropriate for the Fed to be playing hold when the economy could come thundering ECB eye on bond market Powell’s testimony offered one of his more opti- a role in these fiscal discussions about particular back, and the 10-year US treasury retreated below European Central Bank President Christine mistic assessments of economic conditions since the provisions in particular laws,” Powell told John 1.5 percent. Bond yields have been rising with each Lagarde claimed the bank is “closely monitoring” the start of the pandemic, but stressed that there were Kennedy, a Republican senator from Louisiana. And positive development on the vaccine front and bond market amid gains in yields which have recently still big downside risks to the recovery that justified as Kennedy pressed him further asking if he would decline in COVID-19 spread rates. sparked concern. Across the world, yields are on a the central bank’s ultra-easy stance. “In recent find it “cool” or “uncool” if Congress failed to pass The dollar went back to gain some ground in rally as investors assess vaccination rollouts and the weeks, the number of new cases and hospitalizations the stimulus bill, Powell did not flinch. “I think by light of the developments and closed the week at subsequent end to COVID-19 restrictions which has been falling, and ongoing vaccinations offer being either cool or uncool, I would have to be 90.879. While sterling, the best performing currency could boost consumer spending and inflation. Though hope for a return to more normal conditions later expressing an opinion,” he said. But he did dismiss in February started to retread its gains against the the higher trend suggests optimism regarding the this year. However, the economic recovery remains concerns that the $1.9 trillion package might lead to dollar, coming down from a near three year high at economic recovery moving forward, it may also prove uneven and far from complete, and the path ahead is an unwanted jump in inflation this year. Although as $1.4237 to close the week at $1.3932. to be a costly risk as it boosts the cost of the public highly uncertain,” Powell said in his opening he spoke to Congress he suggested that his prefer- and private-sector debt burden. The ECB has remarks. He then hinted to an improved outlook for ence would be for lawmakers to consider longer New US jobless claims pledged to keep financing conditions favorable until later in the year. term investments at this stage, rather than an instant Initial jobless claims report showed new US the crisis is past. European yields dropped following Some economists have warned earlier that a cash injection into the economy. unemployment filings fell last week to their lowest Lagarde’s comment, with the 30-year German bond burst in economic activity could trigger an Powell’s impartiality on the stimulus package level in 12 weeks. The figure gave a hint that pres- dropping to 0.15 percent, up from its -0.20 percent unhealthy jump in inflation, which would force the marks a return to form for the Fed, whose top offi- sure on the jobs market is easing as COVID-19 level at the start of the year. Fed to start tightening its monetary policy sooner cials are averse to wade into tricky political terrain infections slow. The figure dropped to a seasonally Later on in the week, the ECB indicated that it will and more abruptly than expected. The Nasdaq unless a crisis requires it, as it did in 2020 or during adjusted 730,000 claims from 841,000 during the increase the pace of its emergency bond purchases, Composite reacted to the warnings and was down the last financial crisis. Powell’s neutrality on the previous week, below economists’ expectations of in a bid to counter the recent sell off in eurozone sov- 3.9 percent early on Tuesday prior to Powell’s testi- next round of stimulus means he is not actively an 838,000 reading. ereign debt markets if borrowing costs for govern- mony, but it recovered after Powell spoke and closed endorsing Biden’s plan, but it does not mean he dis- ments, companies and households continue to rise. 0.5 percent lower. approves either, just that he is trying to keep the Fed UK unemployment On Thursday, ECB chief economist Philip Lane said During the question and answer period with the out of political tangle. Data from the UK showed jobless rate rose 5.1 that the central bank was “closely monitoring the senators, Powell said “Inflation dynamics do change percent in the last three months of 2020, the high- evolution of longer term nominal bond yields” and its over time, but they don’t change on a dime,” he Stimulus package est reading in nearly five years but still lower than asset purchases “will be conducted to preserve favor- added “we don’t really see how a burst of fiscal sup- In a significant milestone for president Joe Biden, it would have been without the huge coronavirus able financing conditions over the pandemic period.” port or spending that doesn’t last for many years the House of Representatives passed the $1.9 trillion jobs support scheme that finance minister Rishi would actually change those inflation dynamics.” COVID-19 relief package. Biden has made the stim- Sunak is looking to extend next week. The data Kuwaiti dinar Despite of the hope for a return to more normal ulus package his top legislative priority for his first showed UK labor market had begun to stabilize by USD/KWD closed last week at 0.30185. Classifieds Monday, March 1, 2021

CHANGE OF NAME

I, Arya Ajeshkumar D/o Indran, holder of Indian Sabah Hospital 24812000 Passport no. K5996244, issued at Cochin (Kerala, India) Amiri Hospital 22450005 on 20/03/2013 and presently residing at Kuwait do hereby change my name from Arya Ajeshkumar to Maternity Hospital 24843100 Arya Indran with immediate effect.(C 5765) 28-2-2021 Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital 25312700 Chest Hospital 24849400 Farwaniya Hospital 24892010 Adan Hospital 23940620 Ibn Sina Hospital 24840300 Airlines Al-Razi Hospital 24846000 Kuwait Airways 171 Physiotherapy Hospital 24874330/9 Jazeera Airways 177 Turkish Airlines 1884918 FlyDubai 22414400 Kaizen center 25716707 Qatar Airways 22423888 Rawda 22517733 KLM 22425747 Adaliya 22517144 Royal Jordanian 22418064/5/6 Khaldiya 24848075 British Airways 22425635 Kaifan 24849807 Air France 22430224 Shamiya 24848913 Emirates 22921555 Shuwaikh 24814507 Air India 22456700

Abdullah Salem 22549134 Air India EXPRESS 22438185/4 Sri Lanka Airlines 22424444 Nuzha 22526804 Egypt Air 22421578 Industrial Shuwaikh 24814764 Swiss Air 22421516 Qadsiya 22515088 Saudia 22426306 Dasmah 22532265 Middle East Airlines 22423073 Bneid Al-Gar 22531908 Lufthansa 22422493 PIA 22421044 Shaab 22518752 Bangladesh Airlines 22452977/8 Qibla 22459381 Oman Air 22958787 Ayoun Al-Qibla 22451082 Turkish Airlines 22453820/1 Mirqab 22456536 Sharq 22465401 112 Salmiya 25746401

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Aries (March 21-April 19) Cancer (June 21-July 22) Libra (September 23-October 22) Capricorn (December 22-January 19) The good news is this - it gets better. There The topic of the day is knowledge and learn- The results of the recent planetary influence are The only good thing about being on an emotional could be some trying times in store, Aries. If you're a parent, ing. Did you study the field you really wanted to? Do you feel coming home to roost, Libra. If everything went according roller coaster is that you never feel the same way for long. One the children will ask for something every five minutes, and bad about not having attended such-and-such school or to plan, you gained some insight into your ego. Buddhist moment you're up, the next you're down. You can't figure out you may feel pressure from all sides. Not even your love life is program? If these issues are uppermost on your mind today, wise men say that the path to spiritual fulfillment lies in what it is you want. Rather than drag your loved ones along on immune from the doubt that seems to hover over your head. remember that your creativity has little to do with the knowing how to build a healthy ego while developing a part the ride, get away from your usual environment. You will be a No compromise is possible for you, Aries. Just sit tight and degrees you hold. It has everything to do with how you use of oneself completely foreign to the ego. Are you working lot better off alone. And something more important may know that calmer days are coming. your skills and knowledge to better the world. hard at this? come out of these moments of solitude!

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Leo (July 23-August 22) Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Aquarius (January 20- February 18)

Today rethink all the social values you take at The planetary alignment is favorable, and A small crisis is still a crisis, isn't it, Scorpio? You might want to check your alarm clock to face value. Like the rest of us, you learned them at an ear- you're in the process of reaping the benefits, Leo. It was only You can expect one in your personal life today. Since be sure it really woke you up this morning. Your tenden- ly age and accepted them unthinkingly. Established con- a matter of becoming aware of and settling certain matters you aren't the kind of person who lets issues go unre- cy today will be to stay in the cocoon of your little cepts of propriety are especially deserving of considera- related to your need for social recognition. Don't be so hun- solved, you won't be able to put off dealing with your dream world, deep in your own thoughts. Obsessive thoughts, in particular, will try and drown out some tion. After hearing for years about all those things that gry for approval, Leo. Everybody contains a stern inner par- problems any longer. Are responsibilities shared equally "just aren't done," isn't it refreshing to think that maybe with your partner? Are you each making an equal effort more pressing issues from the past that need resolution ent and can survive comfortably in total self-sufficiency. In once and for all. Ring! It's time to wake up! they should be done after all? fact, it's your greatest strength. to maintain harmony? Asking the questions is the first step to answering them.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Virgo (August 23-September 22) Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Pisces (February 19-March 20) Something has to change. You knew it as soon Today is an ideal day to shop for a new You may feel hemmed in by the role models There's something in the air pushing you as you woke up this morning. Your mirror pro- wardrobe. You may find your usual style too conventional or society currently offers. As you struggle to reach your own toward change or renewal. Is it time to change your vides the impetus for important resolutions today. Is it time to uncomfortably trendy. Sometimes you reject outfits you definition of the truly innovative achiever, other people wardrobe or redecorate your home? If so, today's the day. If begin a diet, commit to exercising more, or strengthen your really like out of fear they're too suggestive, old fashioned, sometimes criticize your rather liberated attitude. Just you have a budget, you will find it just as fulfilling (and a lot or something else. Perhaps you should listen to your good because your ideas aren't in sync with theirs in no way invali- resolve to quit smoking? Anything you do to improve your cheaper) to rid your home of all the things that just aren't judgment for a change instead of being so concerned dates them. If your ideas are too radical, theirs are too con- appearance will make you feel a lot better about yourself. Buy "you" anymore. Surround yourself with things you love. about what other people might think. ventional. There's room for both viewpoints. some new clothes or get a haircut. People will notice. 12 Established 1961 Lifestyle Features Monday, March 1, 2021

andemic stress, the focus on faces during video chats and the conven- Pience of hiding under a mask are fuelling a cosmetic surgery boom in Albania-but rogue operators are putting some patients at risk. Doctors say the surge has been driven by demand from mainly young women such as Ana Kela, a 20-year-old student in Tirana who had her lips plumped in December. “Every time I looked at my face on the screen, I couldn’t even say a word, I was gripped by anguish,” Kela said of seeing herself dur- ing online classes at the University of Tirana, where she studies economics. “I thought I looked ugly, dark circles under my eyes, my nose was too big, my lips were very thin, a real disaster.” After an operation to increase the volume of her lips, she is pleased with the result. But in a country where the informal economy is vast, many patients are being lured into unprofessional and ill-equipped beauty centers who are touting cheap prices and Luis Medical Centre director, surgeon Kostandin Balloma (right) conducts a plastic surgery promotions. intervention at the nose of a woman at his clinic in Tirana. This combination of pictures shows (top) a general view of the Moroccan city of Marrakesh the University Hospital of Tirana. The bad- those who contract Covid-19, liposuction on February 24, 2021, and (bottom) gallery workers pose with an artwork titled “Tower of Unqualified operators ly calibrated laser caused a third-degree is also in demand among those who hope Koutoubia Mosque” by Winston Churchill during a photocall at Christie’s auction house in cen- New salons are popping up daily with burn and a strong allergic reaction. She it could help. “The trend is clear. Nose tral London. — AFP offers for a range of treatments without has fever and unbearable pain along her operations have almost doubled” since medical approval or supervision, said Dr arm. the end of lockdown measures in July, Monika Fida, a professor at the University “In my clinic alone, I have five to seven said Dr Balloma. “Cosmetic surgery is of Medicine in Tirana. Advertised on social cases, mostly young girls, with serious seen as a comfort, a way to alleviate the media, the low-cost offers are attractive in problems, burns, infections, scars as a insecurity of our daily lives and to take a country where average monthly salaries result of procedures carried out” in beauty refuge in a world that smooths the face,” hover around 420 euros. “Come as a centers without professional medical staff, he added. group of four to enjoy a discount of more said Dr Fida, showing images of patients Jorida Zegali, clinical psychologist at ollywood’s Angelina Jolie and the minaret behind the ramparts of the Old than 50 percent” on lip plumping and but- whose work went awry. Dr Kostandin the University of Tirana, says that “the Britain’s iconic wartime prime minis- City, with mountains behind and tiny color- tock lifts, reads one ad. Balloma, director of the Luis Medical pressure of virtual communication” has Hter Sir Winston Churchill, a keen ful figures in front. “You cannot come all “Life isn’t perfect, but your eyebrows Centre in Tirana, estimates that 30 percent heightened the focus on appearances, artist who took inspiration from the this way to North Africa without seeing are,” says another. These salons “use of his clients are victims of “mistakes becoming an “obsession”. There has also Moroccan city of Marrakesh, are combin- Marrakesh,” he is reputed to have told equipment that should be handled only by made by non-specialized establishments”. been pressure to re-emerge from long ing for a March 1 date at Christie’s auction Roosevelt. “I must be with you when you specialists and licensed doctors”, said Dr Albania’s cosmetic sector is supposed periods of confinement improved in some house in London. “The Tower of the see the sun set on the Atlas Mountains.” A Brunilda Bardhi, who specializes in laser to be regulated by a 2017 law, but doctors form. Nertila Rrahmani, 31, is a manicurist Koutoubia Mosque”, an oil painting newspaper photograph taken at the time and mesotherapy treatments that tighten say it is too vague, lacking specificity on in Milan but returned to Tirana to undergo Churchill produced during a World War II shows the two wartime Allied leaders skin. According to field surveys carried out who can carry out which treatments and surgery on her nose because she was visit, is tipped to fetch between £1.5 mil- admiring the sunset. by an association of dermatology and cos- with which products and equipment. experiencing breathing problems. lion and £2.5 million ($2 million and $3.5 metic doctors that Bardhi leads, around There needs to be “a strict regulatory She also took the opportunity to tweak million), according to a Christie’s estimate. ‘Truly remarkable panorama’ 70 salons in Tirana have laser equipment framework where all the professional pro- its shape and pin back her ears so that Put up for auction by Angelina Jolie, it is After the US delegation had left, operated by unqualified personnel. cedures and all the links in this chain are they appear smaller. Still wearing the vaunted in Christie’s catalogue as Churchill stayed on an extra day and clearly detailed,” the president of Albania’s bandages post-surgery, she explained “Churchill’s most important work. Aside painted the view of the Koutoubia Mosque Burns and scars Order of Doctors, Dr Fatmir Brahimaj, told that the operation “will let me get rid of the from its distinguished provenance, it is the framed by the mountains. He sent it to Eva Kola, a 21-year-old political sci- AFP. psychological uneasiness that I’ve been only landscape he made” during the war. Roosevelt for his birthday. “This is ence student, trusted a salon whose work stuck with for years.” “Despite everything,” A career army officer before entering Churchill’s diplomacy at its most personal she was following closely on Instagram. Nose jobs doubled she added, “the pandemic has not been politics, Churchill started to paint relatively and intense,” said Christie’s head of mod- For 20 euros, she paid to have her ex’s ini- Doctors say the top-selling treatments able to prevent people from loving them- late, at the age of 40. His passion for the ern British and Irish art, Nick Orchard. “It is tials erased from her finger tattoo. But the during the pandemic have been focused selves and improving their appearance translucent light of Marrakesh, far from the not an ordinary gift between leaders. This quick fix did not go as planned. “For a on the face-Botox injections, facelifts and through aesthetic treatments to make political storms and drab skies of London, is soft power, and it is what the special week now, my life has been hell,” she told other forms of reshaping-though breast them feel even more beautiful.”— AFP dates back to the 1930s when most of relationship is all about.” AFP, holding back tears, in the waiting and buttock surgeries continue to be pop- Morocco was a French protectorate, and Sold by the Roosevelt family in the room of the dermatology department of ular. With obesity seen as a risk factor for he went on to make six visits to the North 1950s, it changed hands several times African country over the course of 23 before passing on to Hollywood dream years. “Here in these spacious palm couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in groves rising from the desert the traveller 2011, well before their high-profile sepa- can be sure of perennial sunshine... and ration. A second Churchill landscape, can contemplate with ceaseless satisfac- “Scene in Marrakesh”, painted on his first tion the stately and snow-clad panorama visit to Morocco in 1935, is also going of the Atlas Mountains,” he wrote in 1936 under the hammer at Christie’s today. in Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper. That was painted while on a stay at He would set up his easel on the bal- Mamounia, where he marveled at the conies of the grandiose La Mamounia “truly remarkable panorama over the tops hotel or the city’s Villa Taylor, beloved by of orange trees and olives”, in a letter to the European jet set of the 1970s. It was his wife Clementine. The hotel today has from the villa, after a historic January 1943 a suite and a bar named after its illustri- conference in Casablanca with US presi- ous guest.— AFP dent Franklin Roosevelt and France’s Charles de Gaulle, that he painted what Dermatologist Brunilda Bardhi applies esthetic treat- Linda Krasniqi (left) and Nertila Rrahmani (right), chat as they wait for a check-up came to be regarded as his finest work, of ment to a woman at a clinic in Tirana. after an intervention plastic surgery at a clinic in Tirana. — AFP photos

fter being driven out of her village warmly. “It showed the situation we wid- the ajvar production starts in Hoti’s back- become a breadwinner for her children. audience award, Basholli dedicated it to in the midst of Kosovo’s war two ows were in after the war.” Written and yard. As in real life, the film tracks how And it paid off-her business is now one “all the women that really needed their Adecades ago, Fahrije Hoti directed by 38-year-old Kosovar film- the project is met with sneers and of the town’s biggest employers. voice to be heard”. In Kosovo, views returned several months later to find her maker Blerta Basholli, Hive took home aggression from local men who are From the original collective of five wid- around women in the workplace have home destroyed and her husband gone. three prizes after its debut in the presti- scandalized when Hoti learns to drive a ows, today she has some 60 women evolved since the post-war days, particu- The mother of two was suddenly one of gious US Sundance film festival in car. Many of the widows are deathly working for the cooperative, called larly in urban parts. But major inequalities 140 new widows in the farming village of January. It begins with Hoti’s character- afraid of the gossip they will invite. At the Krusha, during the peak ajvar-making remain, with property rights still mostly Krushe e Madhe, whose soil was the site played with masterful restraint by time, people thought “widows should season. During the winter months a registered in the names of husbands, of a massacre by Serb forces in 1999 Kosovar actress Yllka Gashi-struggling to only do housework and childcare,” Hoti smaller staff jar pickle the vegetables, that left 500 children without fathers, tend to her missing husband’s bee hives. recalled. “We had lost our husbands, packing the products by hand as they sit including Hoti’s own. What happened The bees are not producing enough our children, and they called us whores,” on a circle of stools on the factory floor. next is now the subject of an award-win- honey to support the family, who keep she remembered quietly. “That was the The business is still growing, with ning film, titled Hive, that traces Hoti’s their paltry income in a small kitchen tin. most hurtful.” increasing demand abroad, in countries struggle to rebuild a life amid the double And so begins Hoti’s efforts to bring oth- The social pressures could have like Switzerland, France, and the US, injury of her personal loss and social er widows together to start making and trapped her and others in a state of per- leaving little left to sell on the local mar- prejudices about how widows should selling ajvar, a tasty red pepper spread petual limbo, compounded by the lack of ket. The company’s rise has been aided behave. that is a staple of Balkan cuisine. information about their loved one’s fates. along the way by international donors “The movie took me back 20 years,” Some 1,600 victims of the 1998-99 war, and grants that have helped provide key Hoti, now 51, told AFP from the southern Driving was taboo including Hoti’s husband, are still listed training and equipment. village where she still lives. “The movie Made through a laborious process of as missing, a painful ambiguity that com- was not only about me, it was about all roasting, hand-peeling, grinding and plicates emotional closure. But despite Recognition Fahrije Hoti looks on at the Koperativa Kosovo Albanian women,” she added stewing large vats of the red peppers, the taboos, Hoti was determined to When Basholli, then a film student in Krusha, in the village of Krusha e Madhe. New York City, heard about Hoti’s early struggles in the news around a decade while only around 13 percent of women ago, she was surprised and intrigued. are employed compared to more than 40 After returning to her native Kosovo in percent of men. Hoti, for her part, still 2011, she met Hoti in person. “I just overwhelmingly hires women, employing wanted to encourage her for what she only five men, including her son and four did... but I ended being the one encour- others who also lost fathers during the aged because she didn’t need my war. “Among those who were born with encouragement to be honest,” Basholli these prejudices, some have kept them, told AFP with a laugh. After spending others have changed their minds,” she hours with Hoti to learn the details of her said when asked about the impact she story, she wrote a script, secured fund- has had on her own community. “What ing from Kosovo, Albania, North has really changed is my history,” she Macedonia and Switzerland and was added.— AFP able to start shooting in 2019. Hive is her first feature-length film. An employee packs pickled vegetables at the Fahrije Hoti (first right) sits among her employees at the Koperativa Krusha, in the vil- After receiving the awards from Koperativa Krusha. lage of Krusha e Madhe. — AFP photos Sundance, including a Grand Jury and Established 1961 13 Lifestyle Features Monday, March 1, 2021

A photo shows a detail of a large Roman four-wheeled ceremonial chariot after it was discovered near the The archaeo- A detail of a large Roman four-wheeled ceremonial A large Roman four-wheeled ceremonial chariot after it logical park of Pompei. — AFP photos chariot after it was discovered. was discovered.

n ornate Roman chariot has been wheels, along with its iron components, The excavation is part of a program iot in all of its complexity”. “Pompeii contin- which was employed not for everyday use discovered “almost intact” near beautiful bronze and tin decorations, min- aimed at fighting illegal activity in the area, ues to amaze with all of its discoveries, or for agricultural transport, but to accom- AItaly’s buried city of Pompeii, the eralized wood remains and imprints of including tunnel digging to reach artefacts and it will continue to do so for many years pany community festivities, parades and archaeological park announced on organic materials (from the ropes to the that can be sold on illicit markets. Looters yet, with 20 hectares (50 acres) still to be processions.” Pompeii’s remarkably well- Saturday, calling it a discovery with “no remains of floral decoration), has been missed the room where the chariot had excavated,” Culture Minister Dario preserved remains have slowly been parallel” in the country. The four-wheeled discovered almost intact,” a statement lain for almost 2,000 years, tunneling by Franceschini was quoted as saying. uncovered by teams of archaeological processional carriage was found in the issued by the archaeological park said. on both sides, the park’s statement said. specialists. It is Italy’s third most visited portico to stables where the remains of “This is an exceptional discovery... which Specialists took great care to unearth the ‘Parades and processions’ tourist site, drawing more than 3.9 million three horses were unearthed in 2018, has no parallel in Italy thus far - in an vehicle, for example by pouring plaster “It is an extraordinary discovery for the visitors in 2019. The ancient city was including one still in its harness. Pompeii excellent state of preservation.” The exca- into voids “to preserve the imprint of any advancement of our knowledge of the closed after the coronavirus struck, and was buried in boiling lava when Mount vation site is known as the Civita Giuliana, organic material” that had decomposed, it ancient world,” added Massimo Osanna, only reopened on January 18. — AFP Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, killing between a suburban villa that lies just a few hun- added. The park said this had allowed it to outgoing director of the park. “What we 2,000 and 15,000 people. dred meters from the ancient city of emerge well preserved down to the have is a ceremonial chariot, probably the “A large ceremonial chariot with four Pompeii. imprints of ropes, “thus revealing the char- Pilentum referred to by some sources,

ibya’s principal eastern city may be best known as the cradle of a revolu- Ltion, but it has lately scored an A receptionist waits for clients at the Opal salt treatment center in Libya’s eastern city of improbable first for the conflict-riven coun- Bulgarian soprano singer Stanislava Momekova performs on the stage during the opera La Benghazi. — AFP photos try-a salt spa. The Opal center in Traviata by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi, at the Sofia Opera, in Sofia.—AFP photos Benghazi, where citizens rose up against district of Dagadosta in downtown cult to predict. The center’s opening coin- dictator Moamer Kadhafi’s rule a decade Benghazi, promises treatment of respira- cided with a ceasefire agreed in October Opera director Plamen Kartaloff says. Even ago, opened Libya’s first-ever artificial salt tory issues like asthma and skin condi- by the main players in Libya’s conflict- as Europe struggles with a third wave of caves to clients last October. Established tions including eczema and psoriasis. Haftar’s eastern-based forces and rival As third wave infections, in part due to a number of muta- by two women entrepeneurs, the center Pockmarked walls and disfigured build- authorities in the capital Tripoli. And a pre- tions that spread more easily, Kartaloff offers soothing treatments in a zen-like ings are reminders of past conflict in the carious new interim executive authority, expects the opera to remain open. atmosphere accompanied by soft music city, which in recent years has been the approved by both parties to the conflict, and subdued lighting. bastion of eastern Libyan strongman tentatively got off the ground this month rages, show Acoustic challenges “The inhalation of salt particles purifies Khalifa Haftar. Mustafa Ahmed Akhlif, a with a mandate to lead the nation to elec- Tragedy has touched the operatic com- the respiratory tract and brings benefits for banker in his 50s, has suffered from tions set for December. Werfalli is deter- munity, and not just on stage: In November, the skin,” says joint founder Iman acute sinusitis for a decade. “I’ve taken mined to “make this complementary thera- Bulgarian tenor Kamen Chanev died of Bugaighis, sporting a white blouse and a lots of painkillers and tried traditional py known to the medical profession” in her goes on at Covid-19, three weeks after he debuted pink veil around her head. Armed with a medicine without it dulling my pain,” he home city, starting with the doctors and Otello in the central Bulgarian city of Stara shovel, the specialist in alternative medi- said. But in just four sessions of inhaling medical staff. Zagora. Remembering him, soprano cine covers the body of a client in his 30s the salty substances he says he feels “80 The two women are ready to treat Stanislava Momekova, 36, becomes seri- Sofia opera with salt, from his legs to his neck. Eyes percent” better. patients of all ages and Bugaighis said ous. “That’s the risk of this profession-it closed and hands clasped around a ball Bugaighis herself discovered the thera- one little girl with respiratory problems had holds us like a drug, it’s stronger than fear,” of salt, the man relaxes, breathing slowly py when travelling in Arab countries that improved considerably following sessions. Momekova says. For American conductor ith an orchestra spread out across in a windowless but uncramped room. In offer the same treatments. She then stud- Buffeted by repeated rounds of fighting the entire parterre, audiences limit- Evan-Alexis Christ, who saw his perform- ances in Germany cancelled, bringing “La another room, with crystal covered walls ied alternative medicine in neighboring and interruptions to oil output in the Wed to the balconies, and no breaks and resembling a cave, a machine pro- Tunisia. Convinced of the treatments’ effi- decade since Kadhafi’s ouster and killing, but plenty of disinfectant, the Sofia Opera is Traviata” to the stage feels rewarding, despite a number of “acoustic challenges”. pels iodine-laden salt particles through the cacy in tackling chronic illnesses, she Libyans are trying to rediscover a sem- one of the few music venues still hosting live air. An immersive session inhaling the con- returned to her home city and launched blance of normality. Tucked away from the performances in Europe. Across the conti- From the pit, the orchestra had to move to the parterre, where musicians now sit far coction lasts 45 minutes and costs her business, alongside her friend Zainab nearby urban commotion, Libya’s first arti- nent, a third wave of Covid-19 infections is between 80 and 120 dinars ($18 to $27). Al-Werfalli. ficial salt caves invite clients to relax and keeping opera houses and other cultural apart from one another. The singers on stage are even farther Several sessions are required to yield forget, amid lungfuls of salty air, a chaos venues closed-loud singing poses a partic- results, says Bugaighis. Semblance of normality that otherwise all too often overshadows ular risk as the virus spreads through away. “We are acoustically louder for the audience than normal so the orchestra has The Opal “center has met its public,” everyday life. — AFP droplets-but in Bulgaria, classical music ‘Soothes my pain’ enthused Werfalli, even if the years of plays on, from “Tosca” to “La Traviata”. “I to play very quietly and listen even more to the singers,” Christ says. “But overall I think The Opal center, slap-bang in the chic instability makes business success diffi- everyone is very happy, also the musicians and the singers who are able to perform,” he adds, praising the discipline of the musi- cians, who, with the exception of singers and tube instruments, perform with face masks on.

Luring younger audiences To Christ, the opera in Sofia and in Madrid, which has also kept its doors open, are proof that it’s still possible to play for a live audience. “My feeling is that people are An opera employee wearing a protective incredibly hungry, they want to hear music,” facemask arranges flowers on the audi- Christ says, adding that he hopes “to make ence seats prior to the opera La Traviata. a difference” for the 250 people in the audi- am hungry for music. And the risk, why think ence that night. Thanks to Kartaloff’s inge- A specialist poses for a picture at the Opal salt treatment center in about it? It’s not riskier here than in the nuity, the Sofia Opera has found a number Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi. supermarket or the subway,” says 81-year- of ways to perform amid the pandemic: old Petya Petkova, who attended Verdi’s “Swan Lake” was staged on the pontoon of “La Traviata” with her daughter last week. a lake near Sofia, while other operas rever- Despite the disinfectant, social-distanc- berated through an old Roman fortress. ing and staff taking people’s temperature, a Some musical theatre performances festive spirit reigns at the historic opera were limited to adults with children, a way to house in the Bulgarian capital, a stark con- focus on the audience of the future, Kartaloff trast to its silenced counterparts in Paris, says. As clubs and bars have mostly Vienna or Milan. Bulgaria first eased pan- remained closed, Bulgaria’s opera halls demic restrictions in June and allowed have become more alluring to younger operas, concert halls and cinemas to audiences, including students who put on reopen at 30 percent capacity, leading the their prom suits to see “La Traviata”. “It’s a Sofia Opera to arrange plastic and fabric huge pleasure to have the chance to attend flower bouquets as placeholders on the a nice event such as the opera,” 38-year- majority of the crimson plush seats. “We old Nikolay Onufriev, who’s only been to the perform in front of 250 spectators, but it’s opera once before, says. —AFP better than not playing or performing,” Sofia A specialist covers the body of a client with salt. 14 Sports Monday, March 1, 2021

Photo of the Day Porto, Sporting battle to goalless draw in Portugal LISBON: Portuguese league leaders Sporting Lisbon extended their unbeaten run this season after grinding out a scrappy 0-0 draw at defending cham- pions Porto on Saturday. Iran striker Mehdi Taremi, the joint-leading scorer in Portugal’s top-flight last season, missed the best chance for Porto early in the second half at the Estadio do Dragao when he fluffed an attempted tap-in. A minute’s silence was observed before kick-off in tribute to Alfredo Quintana, goal- keeper of the Portuguese men’s national handball team, who died on Friday aged 32 following a heart attack. It was just the fourth time in 21 games Sporting have dropped points this season while Porto have now drawn four of their past five outings and remain 10 points off the pace. For Sporting the prospect of a first league title since 2002 is real, even if they have won just once at Porto in 14 years. Ruben Amorim’s team also overcame Braga in the Portuguese League Cup final last month. Braga could cut the gap to nine points and climb to second on Sunday with victory away to Nacional. — AFP

Alexander Titarenko preforming in Alexandria, Egypt. — Photo taken from www.redbullcontentpool.com

Alvarez crushes Yildirim to retain David Beckham Miami ready boxing super middleweight crown for big-name signings: Beckham ‘Canelo’ eyes World Boxing Organization belt on May 8 MIAMI: David Beckham says Inter Miami are ready to make big-name signings as they pre- MIAMI: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez demolished pare for their second season in Major League Turkey’s Avni Yildirim in three rounds to retain his Soccer under new coach Phil Neville. Speaking WBC and WBA super middleweight titles by Saturday at an event to launch Miami’s new jer- knockout on Saturday. Mexico’s Alvarez dominated sey, Inter co-owner Beckham said the club saw underdog Yildirim from the opening bell and sent home-grown talent as the cornerstone of the the Turk crashing to the canvas with a crisp left- franchise’s long-term success. However he right combination in the third round at Miami’s Hard acknowledged that Inter remained in the hunt Rock Stadium. for big-name players, citing the likes of Cristiano The outclassed Yildirim then failed to emerge Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who have both previ- from his corner for the fourth round as Alvarez once ously indicated interest in playing in MLS. again demonstrated why he is regarded as the best “I have said from day one that our academy pound-for-pound fighter in boxing. “I wanted to system is a massive part of this club and if we have a great fight here and I did what I had to do,” can bring players through here that have lived Alvarez said. “I needed a knockout and that’s what I and breathed Inter Miami then that is the goal,” did. It doesn’t matter if they’re taller, if they’ve got Beckham told AFP. “But we also know that being more reach, or they’ve got a good trainer. I came to in Miami, our fans want to see the big stars. We do my job, I came here to win.” already have players like Gonzalo Higuain and Alvarez, who improved to 55-1-2 with 37 knock- Blaise Matuidi who add to the glitz and glamour outs, had got back into the ring on Saturday a little but also going forward we want to have the over two months after beating Britain’s Callum opportunity to bring some great names in.” Smith in December. After the fight, promoter Eddie Asked about Messi and Ronaldo, Beckham Hearn said the 30-year-old Mexican star will next refused to rule out a move for either player. seek to add the World Boxing Organization belt to MIAMI: This handout photo released by Matchroom shows Saul Alvarez (center) after winning his WBA, WBC and Ring “The player has to be right for the team, still his collection with a May 8 fight against Britain’s Magazine super middleweight championship bout against Avni Yildirim at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, have ambition and want to win,” Beckham said. Billy Joe Saunders. Florida, on Saturday. — AFP “So whatever player we talk to, we have to The Saunders fight will be the next step in make sure that is a priority. Of course, we Alvarez’s quest to become the first undisputed whelm mandatory challenger Yildirim. through Yildirim’s guard and landed on his chin always want to bring in great players. Miami is super middleweight champion in boxing history. The 29-year-old Turk, fighting for the first time and the following right sent the Turk rocking back- a great pull for anyone and those kinds of play- “No one has done it,” Alvarez said. “I want to make in two years, looked hesitant from the outset as ward to the canvas. ers (Messi and Ronaldo) are the kind we aspire history. No-one has done it at 168.” Alvarez landed an array of hooks to the body and Although Yildirim hung on for the remainder of to bring here.” —AFP Alvarez meanwhile brushed off suggestions that uppercuts to easily win the first round. The second the round, the end was nigh. As Yildirim slumped he wants to be remembered as the greatest boxer round followed an identical pattern, with Yildirim on his stool, trainer Joel Diaz could be heard Mexico has ever produced. “I respect everyone but barely offering any kind of resistance as Alvarez telling his fighter he would give him only one more I want to make my own history,” Alvarez said. worked his opponent’s ribcage mercilessly. round before throwing in the towel. In the event, it Jeremy Lin won’t Saturday’s bout will give Saunders plenty of food The end came after a third round where Alvarez never got that far as Yildirim failed to come out for for thought after Alvarez produced his trademark once again went on the attack against a passive the fourth to hand Alvarez victory by technical blend of technical skill and punching power to over- Yildirim. A straight left from Alvarez smashed knockout. — AFP ‘name, shame’ in racism claim Doncic’s Mavericks LOS ANGELES: Jeremy Lin said Saturday he won’t be “naming or shaming anyone” amid reports the NBA’s G League is investigating his claim he halt streaking Nets was called “coronavirus” during a game. “I know this will disappoint some of you but I’m not naming LOS ANGELES: Luka Doncic scored 27 points to or shaming anyone,” Lin tweeted on Saturday. lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 115-98 NBA victory “What good does it do in this situation for someone in Brooklyn Saturday, snapping the short-handed to be torn down? It doesn’t make my community Nets’ eight-game winning streak. James Harden safer or solve any of our long-term problems with scored 29 points for the Nets but ran out of steam racism.” late as he carried the load in the absence of Kevin Lin, a former NBA guard whose heroics for the Durant and Kyrie Irving. NBA’s New York Knicks sparked “Linsanity” in Durant missed his seventh game with a strained 2012, spoke in a Facebook post on Thursday of left hamstring while Irving sat out to rest his surgi- racism that the Asian-American community faces, a cally repaired right shoulder. Harden had just four problem made worse in the coronavirus pandemic points in the second half, sitting out most of the during which former president Donald Trump rou- fourth quarter in which Dallas led by as many as 22. tinely referred to COVID-19 as the “Chinese Virus.” The Mavs were buoyed by the return of Kristaps “Being a 9 year NBA veteran doesn’t protect me Porzingis, who scored 18 points in his first contest from being called ‘coronavirus’ on the court,” wrote since missing three games with back trouble. “We Lin, who is currently a member of the Golden State played like a team today,” said Doncic, who was Warriors’ Santa Cruz affiliate in the NBA’s develop- able to celebrate the victory on the eve of his 22nd BROOKLYN: Luka Doncic #77 of the Dallas Mavericks shoots the ball against the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday at Barclays mental G League. Lin became the first American- birthday. “They have an amazing team,” added Center in Brooklyn, New York. — AFP born NBA player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent Doncic, who added that even with two stars out the to play in the NBA when he played for the Warriors Mavs knew the Nets remained a dangerous adver- and never trailed, claiming the win despite a 42- bench from Jordan Clarkson. Center Nikola Vucevic in the 2010-11 season. He became a breakout star sary. “We just kept going as a team,” he said. point, 16-rebound performance from Embiid. “I led the Magic with 34 points, but Utah out-scored for the Knicks the following season, and became the Brooklyn remained half a game behind Eastern thought we had one quarter with energy, the third the hosts 70-59 in the second half to roll to victory. first Asian-American to win an NBA title with the Conference leaders Philadelphia, who fell 112-109 to quarter,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said. “Other than In Washington, Bradley Beal scored 34 points Toronto Raptors in 2019. — AFP the Cleveland Cavaliers in overtime in a rare home that, they basically got the shots they wanted all and Russell Westbrook added 19 in his 10th triple- defeat. Guard Collin Sexton scored 28 points and game. If they didn’t they got the offensive rebounds. double of the season to propel the Wizards to a Darius Garland added 25 with nine assists for the They got the back cuts when they needed them.” 128-112 victory over the hapless Minnesota Cavaliers, who came into the contest missing half a Timberwolves, who lost their seventh straight. dozen players due to injury or personal reasons. Jazz back in tune Westbrook added 14 rebounds and 12 assists to Despite having just nine players in uniform, The league-leading Utah Jazz wasted no time in help the Wizards to their seventh win in eight starts. Cleveland led 28-23 after the first quarter and 56- bouncing back from a disorganized defeat to the Westbrook’s 10 triple-doubles lead the NBA and 47 at halftime. An 18-9 third-quarter run saw the Miami Heat, cruising past the Magic 124-109 in with just 24 games under his belt since arriving in Sixers pull level at 65-65 and the lead changed Orlando. Donovan Mitchell scored 25 of his 31 points Washington he has a club record for most triple- hands eight times in the fourth. Joel Embiid’s dunk in the second half as the Jazz improved to 27-7. doubles in a season. The Denver Nuggets routed the with 1:38 left in regulation knotted the score at Joe Ingles, starting at point guard in place of Oklahoma City Thunder 126-96 on the back of 26 92-92, but he missed a potential game-winner at Mike Conley, scored 17 points and handed out sev- points from Jamal Murray and a triple-double of 19 the buzzer. en assists and Rudy Gobert chipped in 12 points and points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists from Nikola Jokic The Cavs scored the first five points of overtime 16 rebounds for the Jazz, who had 18 points off the — his eighth triple-double of the season. — AFP Jeremy Lin Established 1961 15 Monday, March 1, 2021 Sports Crisis-hit Schalke sack Gross in major clear out Last-gasp winner caps fightback as Leipzig keep pace with Bayern

BERLIN: Bundesliga crisis club Schalke sacked surfaced in the German media last week in the were in complete control at half-time after Jonas almost their entire sporting leadership yesterday, build-up to Saturday’s defeat. Hofmann netted an early penalty and Marcus including coach Christian Gross, after an alleged Team coordinator Riether sought to play down Thuram used his shoulder to guide the ball into the player revolt and a 16th league defeat plunged their the rumors, saying it was “normal that players are net from a Breel Embolo header. nightmare season deeper into crisis. disappointed” but denying there was a “revolution” However, Sorloth came off the bench and inspired “The decision had become unavoidable after in the dressing room. Yet yesterday, both Gross and the second-half fight back. The former Crystal results against Dortmund and Stuttgart,” said Riether were shown the door as Schalke made one Palace striker had a goal disallowed for handball Schalke chairman Jens Buchta in a statement fol- last desperate bid to save their season. before setting up Nkunku, who fired home Leipzig’s lowing Schalke’s 5-1 loss to Stuttgart on Saturday, The club have already begun to rebuild for the first goal on 57 minutes. Poulsen smashed home the a week after defeat to local rivals Borussia second division, handing over squad planning equalizer on 66 minutes. Leipzig had all the momen- Dortmund. “The team now owe it to the club and duties to loan director Mike Bueskens and youth tum and peppered the Gladbach goal before the fans to be as successful as possible in the last director Peter Knaebel. Two weeks ago, they Sorloth’s winning header deep into added time. third of the season.” announced that sporting director Schneider would Coach Gross, sporting director Jochen leave at the end of the season, a decision which has Goretzka shines Schneider and team coordinator Sascha Riether now been brought forward. Knaebel will now take Earlier, Bayern bounced back after taking just a STUTTGART: Schalke’s Swiss headcoach Christian were all relieved of their duties in Sunday’s mass on “overall responsibility”, with support from point in their previous two league games as mid- Gross reacts during the German first division clear out. Gross’ assistant Rainer Widmayer and fit- Bueskens, Norbert Elgert and Gerald Asamoah, the fielder Leon Goretzka created three goals in their Bundesliga football match between VfB Stuttgart and ness coach Werner Leuthard were also fired. club said. A replacement for Gross as head coach rout of Cologne. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting Schalke 04 in Stuttgart, southwestern Germany, on The move comes with one-time giants Schalke is yet to be announced. headed Bayern into an early lead before Robert Saturday. —AFP bottom of the league and nine points adrift of safe- Lewandowski, the league’s top scorer, struck twice ty, having won just one of their 23 league games Leipzig’s fightback to increase his league tally to 28 goals this season. this season. Having been in the Champions League Elsewhere, a last-gasp Alexander Sorloth goal Serge Gnabry came off the bench to claim two defense and found Lewandowski who restored the two seasons ago, Schalke are now hurtling towards sealed RB Leipzig’s dramatic 3-2 comeback win at late goals behind closed doors at the Allianz Arena two-goal cushion on 65 minutes. their first relegation since 1988. home to Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday on his first appearance since tearing a thigh muscle Cologne midfielder Dominick Drexler hit the and kept them in the thick of the Bundesliga title in Bayern’s Club World Cup final win in Qatar. post before Gnabry made it 4-1 by converting a Player revolt race. Leipzig fought back with second-half goals Coach Hansi Flick made just one change - Choupo- cross, then claimed his second just before the final Veteran Swiss Gross, 66, had been in the job for by Christopher Nkunku and Yussuf Poulsen before Moting for Kingsley Coman - from the side which whistle after an excellent pass from Goretzka. only two months, having taken over from interim Sorloth’s winning header in the 93rd minute after beat Lazio 4-1 in the Champions League on Wolfsburg remain third, seven points behind boss Huub Stevens at the end of December to Gladbach had led 2-0 at half-time. Tuesday. Bayern, after their 2-0 home win over Hertha Berlin, become Schalke’s fourth coach this season. Victory “We’ll try everything to keep the Bundesliga Bayern quickly built a 2-0 lead through whose defender Lukas Kluenter turned the ball into in his second game in charge saw Schalke narrowly exciting,” said Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann. Choupo-Moting and Lewandowski with Goretzka his own net before Maxence Lacroix scored the avoid equaling a 54-year-old Bundesliga record of “We have to keep the momentum. It was an setting up both goals. Cologne midfielder Ellyes hosts’ second. 31 games without a win, but Gross was ultimately extremely important victory in terms of the table. Skhiri chipped Manuel Neuer four minutes after Wolfsburg defender Marin Pongracic was sent unable to stop the rot. We didn’t look good when we conceded the goals, the break to pull a goal back. With just over 25 off in added time for a second booking. England The 4-0 victory over Hoffenheim remained his but were incredibly strong in the second half.” minutes left, Flick settled nerves by bringing on winger Jadon Sancho converted a penalty and only win in 10 league games in charge, as Schalke The victory keeps second-placed Leipzig two Gnabry and Thomas Mueller, who made his first Brazil midfielder Reinier scored his first goal for the remained rooted to the bottom of the table. points behind leaders Bayern Munich, who earlier appearance a fortnight after testing positive for club as Dortmund stayed fifth with a 3-0 home win Reports of a player revolt against Gross’ leadership romped to a 5-1 home win over Cologne. Gladbach COVID-19. Mueller’s pass split the Cologne over Arminia Bielefeld. —AFP

Ronaldo broke through four minutes Ronaldo scores after the break connecting with a per- fect lay-off from Federico Chiesa to fire in. as Juventus Aaron Ramsey missed a chance for Mbappe on a second before the hour mark after a held in Verona Dejan Kulusevski pull-back which the target twice Verona defense closed down. Antonin ROME: Cristiano Ronaldo scored his Barak headed in an equaliser with 19th goal this campaign but champi- quarter of an hour to go and the hosts in PSG cruise ons Juventus had to settle for a 1-1 were denied a late winner with draw at Hellas Verona in Serie A on Szczesny deflecting a Darko Lazovic PARIS: Kylian Mbappe scored twice to take his tal- Saturday. “We managed to take the effort onto the crossbar. ly to 18 goals in Ligue 1 this season as Paris Saint- lead, which was the hardest part, it’s a Germain eased to a 4-0 victory at bottom club pity not being able to hold it,” said Immobile penalty miss Dijon on Saturday to keep the pressure on leaders Juve coach Andrea Pirlo. Lazio’s European ambitions took a Lille in the title race. Pirlo’s side paid for their many knock with a 2-0 loss at Bologna, Moise Kean and Danilo Pereira also scored absences and a redesigned defence days after a heavy defeat by Bayern for Mauricio Pochettino’s team, who bounced with Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Munich in the Champions League. back from a 2-0 home defeat by Monaco last Chiellini out injured and Danilo sus- Ciro Immobile missed a penalty with VERONA: Juventus’ Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo reacts after weekend and moved back up to second in the pended. Also missing were Juan goals in either half from Ibrahima Juventus conceded an equalizer during the Italian Serie A football match table, a point behind Lille. “I am very proud. We Cuadrado, Arthur and Paulo Dybala to Mbaye and Nicola Sansone sealing all Hellas Verona vs Juventus Turin on Saturday at the Marcantonio-Bentegodi were very professional and it was important for injury with Alvaro Morata recovering three points for Bologna who snapped stadium in Verona. —AFP us to get back to winning ways,” Pochettino told from a viral infection. “We lacked their 15-match winless league run Canal Plus. experienced players, we had many against the Romans. “The missed sleeves and do better.” the striker’s weak effort. PSG, who go to Bordeaux in midweek, have now youngsters on the pitch and there are penalty set the tone for the game,” Lazio have lost momentum since And 11th-placed Bologna got the won seven and lost two of Pochettino’s first 10 details that they don’t understand,” said Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi. losing to Inter Milan in the league two breakthrough two minutes later when league games in charge. “The team needs to be continued Pirlo. “I asked Ronaldo and Inzaghi’s side showed signs of weeks ago, and next host Torino Mbaye tapped in a rebound after more consistent in the league,” Pochettino added. Alex Sandro to make their voices fatigue as they came off a 4-1 before travelling to Juventus. Last Pepe Reina parried a Riccardo “Of course it is a mental thing, but it is also physical, heard, but it wasn’t enough.” Champions League last 16, first leg season’s European golden shoe win- Orsolini volley. Musa Barrow set up it is about performance.” Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and loss to holders Bayern Munich. “We ner Immobile had a chance to score Sansone for the second after 64 min- Former Monaco striker Mbappe had been kept the post saved Juventus just minutes must forget about these two from the spot after Joaquin Correa utes as Lazio’s 19-game league scor- quiet by his old club but he got back among the into the game at the Stadio Bentegodi defeats which hurt. An ambitious was tripped in the box with goalkeep- ing streak ended, two short of their goals against the division’s bottom side, who have following a Davide Faraoni header. team like ours needs to roll up our er Lukasz Skorupski easily holding record run in 1956. —AFP now lost their last seven games. Mbappe scored twice when PSG beat Dijon 4-0 at home in October and repeated the feat here to move onto 23 for the season in all competitions. The victory was achieved in the ongoing Barcelona brush absence of Neymar, with the world’s most expen- sive player missing a fourth consecutive game with aside Sevilla to a groin injury. He has returned to individual training but, having already missed the first leg, he remains a doubt for the Champions League last-16 return reignite Liga hopes match at home to Barcelona on March 10. Angel Di Maria, Marco Verratti, Mauro Icardi, SEVILLE: Barcelona reignited their title hopes after Leandro Paredes and Alessandro Florenzi were also Lionel Messi and Ousmane Dembele scored in a 2-0 vic- missing at the Stade Gaston-Gerard along with tory over Sevilla on Saturday to put them two points long-term injury victim Juan Bernat. “We have a big behind Atletico Madrid. Barca looked dead and buried a squad and we need to show that everyone can fight few weeks ago but this was their ninth win out of 10 in La for their place,” replied Pochettino. Liga, a surge that has put them back in contention, with Atletico playing against Real Madrid next weekend. Kean makes mark again “We’ve taken some big hits and we have got up again,” On-loan Everton striker Kean kept his place and said Barca’s Gerard Pique. “Of course the title race is on, he opened the scoring inside six minutes, taking a there is confidence and a lot of hope in this team.” touch and poking home from close range after Sevilla started the day as arguably the form team at being set up by Abdou Diallo. Kean, who was also the top, having won all of their last six league games, the on target twice in the last meeting of the sides, has last five of those without conceding a goal. But they were now scored 15 times for PSG, who could well be second best at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, a dominant convinced to make his loan move into a permanent performance from Barcelona exposing them still as slight- transfer come the season’s end. ly short of Spain’s top three. It also creates an intriguing Mbappe made it 2-0 in the 32nd minute, con- back-drop to Wednesday’s Copa del Rey semi-final sec- verting a penalty awarded for a Bersant Celina ond leg when these two teams meet again, with Barca SEVILLE: Barcelona’s Argentinian forward Lionel Messi (center) reacts during the Spanish league football handball. Julian Draxler had another goal disal- hoping to overturn a 2-0 deficit at Camp Nou. Although match between Sevilla FC and FC Barcelona at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium in Seville on lowed for offside but Mbappe scored again six Pedri and Ronald Araujo could be doubts after both were Saturday. —AFP minutes into the second half, sweeping a low, first- substituted in the second half with injury problems. “We time shot into the corner from a Rafinha pass to fin- believe we can come back but Wednesday is a different ish off a flowing move. game,” said coach Ronald Koeman. “We have to play a Marc-Andre ter Stegen was passed fit to play by the Barcelona’s system, Sevilla struggled to gain a foothold. Danilo, on loan from Porto, wrapped up the perfect match, only then do we have a chance.” team doctor despite hurting his right thumb in the warm- Alba came up just short of De Jong’s cross, Dest slammed win late on as he headed in Draxler’s corner for Koeman could well stick with his new 3-5-2 system, up and in truth it was hardly tested in the first half. Barca against the post and Messi blazed over after another surge his first goal in French football, before being which saw Jordi Alba and Sergino Dest playing as wing- controlled the game and while Alba and Dest never really from Dembele. replaced by 17-year-old midfielder Edouard backs ahead of a back three and Dembele deployed up advanced as much as Koeman might have liked, Frenkie de One of Lopetegui’s substitutes Youssef En-Nesyri had Michut who was making his senior debut. Dijon front alongside Messi. Without Antoine Griezmann, who Jong and Pedri were a constant threat through the middle, Sevilla’s best chance but headed over. Yet without a sec- are eight points adrift at the bottom and nine dropped to the bench, Koeman sacrificed some creativity with the speedy Dembele just in front. ond goal, a nervy finale was always likely and En-Nesyri points from outright safety. in the final third for control through the middle, not to Chances, though, were few and far between and it took found the corner on the turn but had the goal ruled out for Saturday’s other game saw Metz win 2-1 at mention the threat of Dembele in behind. a counter-attack for Barcelona to take the lead. Fernando a handball, his tussle with Araujo seeing Barca’s defender Bordeaux thanks to a stoppage-time goal by Cape Certainly for the best part of an hour Sevilla struggled gave the ball away cheaply up front and two passes were go off and he booted some chairs over in frustration. But Verde international Vagner Dias Goncalves. Metz to escape Barcelona’s press or establish any sustained enough, Messi curling the decisive one through for Sevilla’s push was brief, ended by Messi with six minutes are fifth, a position which brings with it qualification pressure, even after Julen Lopetegui introduced three Dembele to race clear and finish. left. He traded passes with Ilaix Moriba, nipped inside for the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League substitutes at half-time and switched formation to match Lopegtegui reacted with three changes at half-time Diego Carlos and tried to finish with a chip. Bono saved next season. —AFP their opponents. and two more after the hour but even by matching but the ball came to Messi, one yard out. —AFP Established 1961 Sport

MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021 Man Utd draw blank again at Chelsea Bale stars for Spurs • Arsenal hit back to beat Leicester • Fulham held at Palace

LONDON: Manchester United were left ness earlier in February, took just 68 frustrated by a VAR penalty controversy seconds to score with a clinical close- in their 0-0 draw at Chelsea, while the range finish from Son Heung-min’s revitalized Gareth Bale struck twice in cross. In the 15th minute, Bale’s superb Tottenham’s 4-0 rout of Burnley yester- long pass picked out Harry Kane’s run day. Second-placed United had hoped to and the England captain’s shot deflect- close the gap on Manchester City with a ed off James Tarkowski for his 22nd victory at Stamford Bridge. But instead goal of the season. they now sit 12 points behind the Lucas Moura netted with a predatory Premier League leaders as their title finish after Sergio Reguilon’s cross was hopes fade following a run of one win deflected into the Brazilian’s path by from four games. Tarkowski in the 31st minute. Bale, in his Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel is second spell with Tottenham after leav- unbeaten in nine matches in all competi- ing for Madrid in 2013, scored again with tions since replacing the sacked Frank a cool strike from Son’s 55th-minute Lampard, but the stalemate was a blow pass. Tottenham are up to eighth, six to his team’s top-four challenge. The points behind the top four with a game fifth-placed Blues are one point behind in hand. fourth-placed West Ham and four ahead “Sometimes you (the media) like to of sixth-placed Liverpool, who visited say things that are not really true but Sheffield United in yesterday’s late game. there is not one single manager in the Neither side could claim they world that doesn’t play Gareth Bale if deserved to win in a game of few clear- Gareth Bale is in very good condi- cut chances. The biggest talking point tion,” Mourinho said. “There is not came in the first half when United’s one, but now he is better than ever. appeal for a penalty was rejected by ref- It’s not just about the two goals he eree Stuart Attwell after he consulted the scored, it’s fundamentally about his pitchside monitor when Callum Hudson- physical performance.” Odoi appeared to handle in a challenge with Mason Greenwood. Arsenal down Leicester LONDON: Chelsea’s English midfielder Mason Mount (center) runs with the ball during the English Premier League football match After five defeats in their previous six Arsenal delivered a hammer blow to between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge yesterday. — AFP league games, Tottenham eased the Leicester’s faint hopes of winning the pressure on Jose Mourinho with a signif- title with an impressive 3-1 win. Mikel League’s top three since 2015. Europa League as his side’s only hope Greece. After the gamble paid off, Arteta icant contribution from Bale, who made Arteta’s side fell behind to Youri Leicester remain in third place and of qualifying for next season’s said: “Coming into this game I was con- just his third league start of the season. Tielemans’ early goal at the King Power trail City by 13 points with 12 games Champions League. cerned. They’re one of the most danger- The Wales forward’s most impressive Stadium, but David Luiz equalized and remaining. After Thursday’s shock Having picked his best team for the ous teams in the league to play once you display since his season-long loan move Alexandre Lacazette’s penalty gave Europa League exit against Slavia come-from-behind win against Benfica go behind against them. “The reaction from Real Madrid gave him four goals in Arsenal the lead. Nicolas Pepe’s second- Prague, it was a week to forget for in the last 32 second leg on Thursday, was terrific, the team looked really his last four appearances. half goal sealed the Gunners’ second win Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers. Arteta left Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang mature.” Third-bottom Fulham are three Bale, who had clashed with in their last six league games and their With Arsenal stuck in mid-table, and Bukayo Saka on the bench after the points from safety after a 0-0 draw at Tottenham boss Mourinho over his fit- first success at a team in the Premier Arteta has prioritized winning the long trip back from the neutral venue in Crystal Palace. — AFP