JAMADA ALAWWAL 21, 1439 AH WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018

Max 28º 32 Pages Min 09º 150 Fils Established 1961

ISSUE NO: 17451 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net

Duterte, Kuwaiti envoy to In Iraq, death-row militants Rashidi: Kuwait oil production Qatar stadium designed by 3 discuss worker suspension 6 ‘confess’ on prime-time TV 17 to reach 3.225m bpd by March 16 Hadid built ‘by end of year’

Minor accidents to be settled instantly at police stations

New curbs on absconding domestics during amnesty • Mobile labor office to serve expats

By Hanan Al-Saadoun and Meshaal Al-Enezi months to a few hours. Meanwhile, Assistant Undersecretary for Nationality KUWAIT: The interior ministry announced yesterday and Passports Affairs Maj Gen Mazen Al-Jarrah said that the activation of articles 2 and 5 of the traffic law no. 41 due to increased demands by citizens over the status of approving settlements at police stations for accidents of domestic helpers who absconded from their sponsors limited damage. Motorists who cause a minor accident and wish to benefit from the amnesty without leaving the will pay KD 20 at the police station and acknowledge country, they can do so after paying the due fines with a their responsibility, thus relieving personnel and civilians condition that they can only transfer their residencies involved of a lot of time and effort. The interior ministry’s after a year. relation and security information department said this Separately, the Manpower Public Authority’s Deputy was decided at a meeting of the ministry’s investigations Director for Labor Protection Abdullah Al-Motoutah department and the Kuwait Insurance Association held said that the authority has set up a mobile office to at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. receive complaints by laborers working in remote areas Deputy General Manager of the Investigations who cannot reach the authority’s departments easily. Department Jamal Al-Reesh said the implementation of Motoutah added that the mobile center is equipped with the plan will begin from the Capital governorate. He said various administrative and regulatory needs to provide these items already exist in the law and the investigations easy and swift service. He said the center is currently department merely decided to activate them. He said manned by a special emergency team including investi- receipt books will be distributed to police stations and gators and inspectors working in collaboration with the will be given to those who pay the KD 20 charge. He Humanitarian Foundation for Legal Aid that has provided KUWAIT: Officials are seen during the interior ministry meeting at the Chamber of Commerce yesterday. — KUNA said this will reduce the documentary cycle from 18 volunteer translators and lawyers.

Global market Freed Kuwaiti returns from Iran panic fading; KUWAIT: Kuwaiti citizen Faleh Al- Azmi, who was released by Iranian Kuwaitis lose authorities, has returned home and is in good condition, Assistant Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs Sami Al- big in bitcoin Hamad said yesterday. Kuwaiti diplo- mats received Azmi yesterday morning LONDON/KUWAIT: A collective sigh of following his release, Hamad told relief swept across global trading floors yes- reporters at Kuwait airport. The for- terday as bargain hunters swooped on Wall eign ministry exerted every possible Street stocks, stemming a hemorrhage that effort to secure the release of Azmi, had been spreading panic among investors. NEW YORK: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) yesterday. — AFP who was held in captivity for months, With Asian and European equity markets plunging, New York stocks started their trad- be playing out between those betting on a downwards after some banks banned their he said. Azmi was arrested in further downturn and those who thought that customers from buying it with credit cards. September when he mistakenly KUWAIT: Kuwaiti citizen Faleh Al- ing day with another jaw-dropping fall as the Azmi is welcomed at Kuwait airport Dow index dived nearly three percent, adding the market correction had gone too far, lead- The news is the latest to hit the cryptocur- entered a military zone on his way ing to some wild price swings. rency after recent crackdowns by authorities back to Kuwait from Turkey. — KUNA yesterday. — KUNA to the previous day’s record-breaking loss. But within minutes a fierce battle appeared to Meanwhile, bitcoin continued its spiral Continued on Page 11

debate a draft law that gives them more financial rights Assembly guards and refused to keep quiet when asked by the speaker. Then the guards intervened and asked them to leave. At this point, the guards asked the journalist not to assault journalist cover the encounter, but he insisted as he was doing his job. He said the guards spoke to him roughly. He then By B Izzak went to their commander who was watching and com- plained that they were preventing him from doing his KUWAIT: A journalist covering the National Assembly job. The commander did the same and asked him to news for local Arabic daily Al-Jarida claimed he was leave. Ajmi said he refused since he was doing his duty. physically assaulted by the commander of the National At this point, the commander ordered him to hand over Assembly guards yesterday after preventing him from his Assembly ID and leave the building, which he did. doing his work. The newspaper decided to suspend its As he was being escorted by the guards towards the coverage of the National Assembly following the inci- gate, the commander hit him from behind, Ajmi claimed. KUWAIT: National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al- dent, which took place after a verbal encounter Meanwhile, the Assembly session passed yesterday Ghanem gestures during a session of the National MANILA: Crushed luxury vehicles are seen at the between the journalist and the Assembly guards. without any significant output, except a number of Assembly yesterday. — KUNA customs yard yesterday after they were seized for Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem said the inci- decisions on work to do in the coming sessions. being smuggled illegally. — AFP dent will be investigated today, adding that he had Lawmakers decided to discuss a draft law on naturaliz- recommended be referred to the public prosecution. called the editor of the newspaper. He affirmed his ing stateless people known as bedoons and allowing However, the Assembly could not debate the issue as respect for both the media personnel and the Assembly them to join the army in today’s session. They decided the session ended. During the session, MPs criticized Philippines crushes guards for maintaining order at the building. to debate the new economic charter on Feb 20 after the government failure to bring down the cost of Journalist Ali Al-Sunaideeh Al-Ajmi told Al-Jarida that threats by MPs to grill the finance minister. recruiting domestic helpers from abroad and the fail- he was covering an incident where the Assembly guards MPs also agreed to debate an investigation report ure of the newly-established Al-Durra company to do sports, luxury cars were trying to calm down military pensioners who were about a huge rise in so-called hospitality spending by the same. in graft warning in the spectators’ gallery. The men wanted MPs to the interior ministry, which the budgets committee Continued on Page 11

MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to pave the way for an end to the conflict. watched bulldozers flatten dozens of sports cars More civilians A UN-mandated committee however and other luxury vehicles yesterday as part of a said the recent escalation “made a mock- drive to fight corruption at the country’s customs ery” of the deal, which has failed to take bureau. A Jaguar, a Lexus, a Corvette Stingray, and killed in deadly hold as the Syrian government continues dozens of top-end German sedans and Japanese its nationwide military re-conquest. The SUVs were crushed at a customs yard in the capital Syrian strikes latest casualties in Ghouta came as Manila. The vehicles were seized after they were Washington threatened military action smuggled in, authorities said. SAQBA, Syria: Fresh regime strikes on a over the reported use of chemical A total of 30 vehicles worth a combined 61.6 besieged rebel-held enclave near weapons in the enclave, which regime and million pesos ($1.2 million) were scrapped in Damascus killed 47 civilians yesterday allied forces have besieged since 2013. The Manila and two other cities on Duterte’s orders. despite mounting Western pressure on death toll there rose from an initial report The president has made fighting corruption and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. The of 16 to 47 and the Syrian Observatory for illegal drugs the cornerstones of his six-year term. bloodshed came a day after another 31 Human Rights warned it could climb fur- “Reduce them to scrap metal,” Duterte said in a civilians were killed in Eastern Ghouta and ther as bodies were still being pulled from speech to customs employees after the event. as the United Nations pleaded for a truce the wreckage and many of the 197 wound- Normally, seized smuggled vehicles are impounded in the seven-year-old war to allow for aid ed were in critical condition. and then auctioned with the government taking the deliveries. Eastern Ghouta and Idlib, a All too familiar scenes of chaos proceeds. “I will pay for them, no problem,” northern province where violence also engulfed the towns scattered across the DOUMA, Syria: The bodies of a Syrian man and child who died in air strikes on Duterte said. flared this week, are both so-called de- semi-rural rebel-held area of Ghouta this rebel-held besieged town in the eastern Ghouta region are seen at a morgue Continued on Page 11 escalation zones agreed last year in a bid Continued on Page 11 yesterday. — AFP 2 Established 1961 Local Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Amir receives outgoing Ambassador of Somalia Crown Prince represents Amir at Janadriyah festival

Kuwaiti delegation meets Palestinian President in Ramallah RAMALLLAH: A Kuwaiti official delegation arrived yesterday in the West Bank city of Ramallah aboard a Jordanian helicopter to partake in the scheduled festival Jerusalem Capital of Muslim Youth 2018. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received the delegation, headed by His Highness the Amir Envoy, Minister of Commerce and Industry and Minister of State for Youth Affairs, Khaled Al-Roudhan. A number of senior Palestinian officials also KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets with Ambassador of Somalia Abdulqader welcomed the Kuwaiti delegation Amin Sheikh. — KUNA upon arrival by air in the main town. The festival kicked off yes- RAMALLAH: Minister of Commerce and Industry and Minister of State for terday in Ramallah, under spon- Youth Affairs Khaled Al-Roudhan meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al- Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Prime Minister Abbas. — KUNA Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received at Bayan Palace Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent sorship of President Abbas. yesterday Ambassador of Somalia Abdulqader Amin similar cables. Delegations from 26 Arab and Sheikh on the occasion of ending his tenure in Kuwait. In other news, His Highness the Crown Prince is Islamic states will attend the festi- support for the Palestinian cause response to US President Donald The reception was set to leave today val and visit Jerusalem and has not changed for decades and Trump’s decision to recognize attended by Minister of along with his accom- Hebron today. years. “We will robustly seek to Jerusalem as capital of the occu- Amiri Diwan Affairs panying official dele- ensure success of this convention pation state. Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al- Amir congratulates gation for the Kingdom Amir’s approach and help our Palestinian brothers It also manifests support for Sabah. His Highness the of Saudi Arabia, where Kuwait’s participation in the with whom we have been bonded the Palestinian people in the face Amir also received His Cypriot he is expected to rep- festival affirms the approach of His with cordial links, same religion, of the continuous Israeli aggres- Highness Sheikh Nasser resent His Highness the Highness the Amir towards the blood and Arab identity.” He sion and practices against Islamic Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad president on Amir inauguration of Palestinian cause, Roudhan said. underscored significance of the sanctities in Jerusalem, Roudhan Al-Sabah. the 32nd national festi- “Our participation along with a gathering for bolstering steadfast- added. The event is the first of its Separately, His re-election val for heritage and number of sisterly states is also an ness of Jerusalem’s population. kind following the emergency Highness the Amir sent a culture (Al- affirmation that Jerusalem is capital Islamic summit on Jerusalem, cable of congratulations Janadriyah). The visit is of State of Palestine ,” he said in a Unwavering stance hosted by Istanbul, Turkey, two to President Nicos in response to an invi- statement upon his arrival. Prior to his departure from months ago. Young citizens from a Anastasiades of Cyprus tation extended by the “We as Kuwait Capital of the Amman, Roudhan re-affirmed number of Islamic nations are par- on the occasion of his re- Custodian of the Two Arab Youth, celebrate with our Kuwait’s unwavering stance in taking in 20 programs and activi- election as President for a second term, wishing him all Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz to His Palestinian, Arab and Muslim support of the Palestinian cause at ties during the festival, also the best and more prosperity for his country. His Highness the Amir to attend the event which takes brothers Jerusalem as the Capital regional and international quar- attended by a large number of Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad place in Riyadh. — KUNA of Muslim Youth. “Kuwait’s bonds ters. The Kuwaiti minister stated ministers from member states of with the Palestinian cause is solid that the Kuwaiti participation in the Organization for Islamic and historic... and its continuous the event constitutes practical Cooperation (OIC). — KUNA

Zain sponsors ‘Ma’a Hamad Show’ on Al-Rai TV

KUWAIT: Zain Telecommunication Company announced providing platinum sponsorship to the third season of the famous interactive TV show “Ma’a Hamad Show,” which is broadcasted on Al-Rai TV every Saturday and pre- sented by the social media star Hamad Al-Ali. Zain said in a statement that it is sponsoring the show for the third straight year out of its keenness on supporting Kuwaiti youth and their creative ideas in various fields.

second consecutive year. Kuwait Expo Hall 6 hosts a commercial exhibition for member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, in addition to participants from all fields including 2018 underway food, textiles, perfumes, construction, spare parts, decor, steel, electronics, kitchenware and others. By Nawara Fattahova Hall 5 hosts the Maker Faire Kuwait exhibition, which is sponsored by the Kuwait Investment Co and KUWAIT: Over 200 exhibitors from 24 countries are displays products by individuals, including inventors participating in the Kuwait Expo 2018 held at the and small entrepreneurs from various countries. This Kuwait International Fairground from February 6 to event also includes a raffle draw for three Kuwait- 10, 2018 in Hall 6 and 5. This major event is organ- Dubai-Kuwait air tickets daily. Timings from Tuesday ized by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and to Saturday are from 9:30 am to 1:00 pm and from participants include companies, embassies, organiza- 4:30 pm to 10:00 pm, and from 4:30 pm to 10:00 pm tions and individuals. The expo is being held for the on Friday.

d’Affaires, Fadhel Al-Hassan, during a meeting with Kuwait invites minister Dorji, in the Kingdom. The Kuwaiti diplomat conveyed during the meeting greetings from Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Bhutan to partake Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. The embassy statement quoted the Bhutanese minister in Asian workshop as expressing eagerness to visit Kuwait and pursue activities within the Asia Dialogue framework, in addi- KUWAIT: Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Bhutan tion to examining issues of common concern. Minister Damcho Dorji yesterday received an invitation to par- Dorji has participated in the previous session at this take in Asia Dialogue’s second workshop due in the level, hosted by Thailand. Moreover, the two sides dur- State of Kuwait on March 14. The State of Kuwait ing the meeting examined other topics, namely projects Embassy in the Kingdom of Bhutan said in a statement of four prospected agreements, to be inked during a that the invitation was delivered by the Acting Charge senior official’s predicted visit to Kuwait. — KUNA Established 1961 3 Local Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Duterte, Kuwaiti envoy to discuss labor suspension developments Electricity and Water Ministry pushes ‘Kuwaitization’ efforts forward

By A Saleh and Meshaal Al-Enezi a worker’s right to secure tenure, organize 2017 with 19,078 workers, while expats into unions, and bargain collectively. Bello dropped to only 1,362. MANILA/KUWAIT: Philippine President announced on Monday that they are still Rodrigo Duterte will meet with Kuwait’s mulling whether or not they will “make the Construction violations Ambassador to the Philippines Musaed suspension a total ban or to lift it.” There is Kuwait Municipality Director Ahmed Al- Saleh Al-Thwaikh today to discuss the sus- an estimated 250,000 OFWs in Kuwait, 75 Manfouhi urged the construction violations pension of overseas foreign workers (OFW) percent of them working as domestic committee he recently formed to enforce the deployment to Kuwait, Labor Secretary helpers. law without abuse or leniency. Speaking on Silvestre Bello III announced yesterday. the sidelines of his meeting with the com- At a press briefing, Bello said Duterte MEW staff mittee, Manfouhi said the municipality has and Thwaikh may also discuss the long- The Ministry of Electricity and Water’s succeeded in enforcing municipal laws and delayed signing of the Memorandum of (MEW) total employees till Dec 2017 were it will not step back. He added that the com- Agreement (MOA) that will give Filipino 20,440, including 19,078 citizens, 704 Arab mittee has been granted all powers includ- workers greater protection in ing referring violators for relevant inves- Kuwait, the Philippine-based tigations. GMA News reported. Bello said Manfouhi said that the committee they are still evaluating “conflict- was asked to set a clear mechanism to ing” reports from the Department Municipality administratively and legally deal with MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte wears a hardhat as he watches the destruction of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and violators, as well as document its work. of luxury vehicles at a ceremony at the customs yard in Manila yesterday, after they were Kuwait Ministry of Foreign fights In addition, Manfouhi stressed the need seized for being smuggled illegally. — AFP Affairs (MOFA) regarding the to execute various construction viola- condition of OFWs in Kuwait. construction tions’ demolition verdicts and put a limit for an extra three months. The decision also countries. The decision also included lifting Duterte’s meeting with on people taking the law lightly. The included listing all companies importing an embargo on importing the same from Thwaikh and the results of the violations committee’s chairperson Amshaa Al- those items. Notably, the decision is a con- Zimbabwe and Mexico. report of the Philippine labor Mutairi said that the municipality will tinuation of the ministry’s decision to lift an attache in Kuwait will be major coordinate with MoI to execute final embargo on Egyptian produce issued in Food inspection factors in assessing whether or demolition verdicts by force and at the Nov 2017 on the condition of providing Mubarak Al-Kabeer food and nutrition not the deployment suspension violators’ own expense. She added that health certificates with each shipment, pro- manager Abdullah Ahmed said the depart- will be lifted, Bello said. If, however, just expats, 630 Asians, 24 Africans and four one of the violators was fined KD 25 million. viding a certificate on testing for pesticide ment’s inspection teams recently inspected one of the maltreatment cases under expats of other nationalities, technical residues in agricultural products and hold- various restaurants and food outlets in investigation turns out to be factual, Bello supervision and statistics manager Iqbal Al- Egyptian produce ing all shipments until specimens are exam- Subhan, Qusour and Adan. Ahmed added said they will strongly consider a total Tayyar said. Tayyar added that MEW has The Ministry of Commerce and Industry ined to make sure the products are safe for that the raids resulted in filing three cita- deployment ban. been keen on replacing expatriate staff issued a resolution extending the period of human consumption. The ministry also tions for handling food items without hav- Duterte will also meet with labor groups working in various sectors with citizens for precautionary inspection and examination issued a ban on importing all poultry - fresh, ing health certificates and violating today to discuss the executive order that years. She added that citizens formed 93.3 of agricultural products imported from chilled, frozen or processed - from India and hygiene conditions, in addition to issuing will ban signing contracts if it interferes with percent of the ministry’s employees in Dec Egypt (lettuce, capsicum, onion and guava) Japan because of bird flu outbreaks in those 48 warning notices.

50 kg marijuana found in citizen’s house By Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: Criminal detectives arrested a citizen who planted marijuana for trade purposes. Detectives, after making sure the information was correct, obtained a warrant and raided his house. They found nine seedlings ready for use, besides 50 kg of marijuana, seeds in addition to special supplements for mar- ijuana growth. They also found a piece of hashish and drugs paraphernalia. The suspect was arrested while he was preparing a sale. KUWAIT: Marijuana seedlings found in a citizen’s house that police raided Fire drill yesterday. The Kuwait Fire Service Directorate (KFSD) carried out an exercise yester- in the 57th National Day exhibition day at the oil sector complex which being held at the Mishref International includes the Kuwait Petroleum Fairgrounds until Feb 10. It said its par- Corporation and the Oil Ministry. The ticipation includes several sectors to exercise is within the KFSD’s plans to inform the public about the duties of keep firemen’s efficiency at its best while these sectors and the modern scientific training employees on how to act in case methods used in events and security of emergencies. development. The exhibition is open from 10 am to 1:30 pm and from 5 pm to National Day 9:30 pm, and from 5 pm to 10 pm on The interior ministry is participating Fridays. Kuwait concerned over chemical weapons claims

NEW YORK: Kuwait’s Permanent Ambassador to the UN and current Security Council President Mansour Al-Otaibi (left) speaks at the UN Security Council. —KUNA

NEW YORK: Kuwait’s Permanent to a state of division amongst Security Ambassador to the UN and current Council member states, who were Security Council President Mansour Al- unable to extend the joint investigative Otaibi said it was hoped that the issue mission’s presence in Syria, which con- of chemical weapons use in Syria would ducted its role in the “utmost profes- have been closed in 2013 after it was sionalism, impartiality and objectivity.” proven to have been the case. In a He went to express “extreme anxiety” speech to the Council after the adop- on the ongoing claims of chemical tion of UNSC resolution 2118, he said weapons use in Syria, most recently Security Council members had the yesterday in Idlib and Eastern Ghouta opportunity to illustrate its “solidarity last week. He also condemned the use and resolve” in ending the matter back of heavy artillery against civilians and then. This would have ensured that this the targeting of healthcare facilities in crime “is not repeated and its perpetra- Syria. Otaibi also said he looked for- tors held accountable,” he said. ward to the upcoming the fact finding Otaibi said he regretted seeing a mission’s report on the two recent “huge retreat” on facing the issue due attacks. — KUNA 4 Established 1961 Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Local Ooredoo Kuwait wins Excellence in Social Media Accounts Award Kuwait Public Relations and Customer Service Award KUWAIT: Under the patronage of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah; Ooredoo Kuwait was awarded at the Public Relations and Customer Service Awards the Excellence in Social Media Accounts Award. The event held recently at Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Center was attended by His Highness the Amir’s represen- tative the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and State Minister for Economic Affairs Hind Al-Sabeeh, Head of Amiri Protocols Sheikh Khaled Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, and Head of Kuwait’s Public Relations Association Jamal Al- Nasrullah, Representing Ooredoo at the event were Ooredoo Kuwait’s Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Dr Hamad Al- Nuaimi, Corporate Communications Senior Director Mijbil Alayoub, and Public Relations and Internal Communication Senior Manager Fatima Dashti. Ooredoo won in the category of Excellence Award in Social Media Accounts for the great work it has done throughout the year in terms of engaging and connecting with their customers through their growing social media channels. Commenting on this, Ooredoo Kuwait’s Corporate Communications Senior Director Mijbil Alayoub said: “We are proud to be winning such a distin- Ooredoo officials pose with the event’s organiz- guished award, and we dedicate this to our beloved cus- ers after receiving the award. tomers for believing in us. We at Ooredoo are always striv- ing to connect better with our customers, which reflects from our deep-rooted values of caring, connecting and and pushing them forward in measuring the extent to challenging. We are honored to see our efforts awarded, which their employees apply international standards. In and we promise to deliver and engage even more with our launching the award the association took into account the customers.” institutional work and the extent of cooperation between The Public Relations and Customer Service Awards is the departments to provide the best services to customers hosted by the Kuwait Public Relations Association and is especially that the public relations and customer service are considered the most difficult professions because they KUWAIT: Public Relations and Internal Communication Senior Manager Fatima Dashti receives aimed at developing the public relations and customer Ooredoo’s award. service sectors in both government and private sectors depend on the employee’s way of dealing with the public.

KOC, GOFSCO organize photo gallery to celebrate anniversary

KUWAIOT: Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) and Gas and Oil Fields Services Company (GOFSCO), one of the largest integrated service providers in Kuwait specializing in the upstream oil and gas sector, both onshore and offshore, held a photo gallery in celebration of the 12-year anniversary of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s accession as the ruler of Kuwait. The photo gallery which is installed at Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Center - Flag Square, featured exclusive photo- graphs of His Highness the Amir throughout his journey of ruling Kuwait. Finance Affairs) at KOC, Mohammed Al-Basry, Manager (Public Relation KOC and GOFSCO’s organization of the photo gallery aims to express and Information) at KOC, Hussam Ali Marafie - Chairman and Chief their pride in His Highness the Amir’s long history of committed leadership Executive Officer at GOFSCO, and Sahar Al-Akab. to the people of Kuwait and his international recognition as the World It is worth mentioning that during the period between 25-26 February Humanitarian Leader. The inauguration of the photo gallery involved the 2018, KOC will have the photo gallery installed at the Avenues Mall for attendance of Ahmad Abulazeem Al-Hamad, Deputy CEO (Admin and mall visitors to walk through the history of Kuwait’s Humanitarian Leader.

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti businessman Jawad Bu Khamseen hosted a reception yesterday in honor of a visiting delegation of Iraqi journalists headed by President of the Federation of Journalists of Iraq (IJS) Moaid Allami. Representatives of Kuwait’s Ministry of Information and Kuwaiti media attended the gathering. —Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh Iraq’s top journalist hails Amir’s support

KUWAIT: An Iraqi journalist hailed the generous initiative by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al- Jaber Al-Sabah in hosting Kuwait International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq (KICRI), includ- ing his constant support for Iraq that won the hearts and minds of Iraqis. Speaking after arrival in Kuwait heading a delegation of journalists, President of the Federation of Journalists of Iraq (IJS) Moaid Allami said the visit comes as part of media preparation for the conference, scheduled to take place on February 12-14. Allami added that the KICRI represents a huge step for Iraq, due to the support given by His Highness the Amir of Kuwait with an initiative that will bolster relations between the two countries, in addition to the humanitarian aspect to it. The IJS chief also expressed his thanks to media higher committee in charge of KICRI headed by Amiri Diwan Advisor Mohammad Abulhasan, Ministry of Information, and Kuwait Journalists Association for the efforts in ensur- ing success to the conference. Undersecretary of the External Media at the Ministry of Information Faisal Al-Mutlaqqem said meanwhile that the visit by the Iraqi delegation comes in coordination with the higher committee, and to ensure success for the con- ference. Mutlaqqem added the invitation to IJC delegation also to give them more time to interview officials prior to the conference. —KUNA Established 1961 5 Local Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Puppies rescued after being found inside school Call for creating government facility for animal welfare

By Ben Garcia said. According to him, when the headmaster of the school learned about the incident, he was deeply concerned and KUWAIT: Five puppies ended up at the Royal Veterinary the school immediately took the necessary action. “The Hospital in Rai after they were tossed and thrown into a puppies were taken to the vet hospital in Rai by the garbage bin by students at a local school. A video of the schoolboys who were seen playing with them,” he said. incident, filmed by one of the students, went viral in “The boys said the mocking was unintentional; they Kuwait earlier this week. A local animal rescue team, were not laughing in the video because they were wit- Become a Foster Guardian (BFG), along with other local nessing the dogs being tortured. According to them, they animal protection groups were laughing because Rescue, Adopt, Foster some of the boys were and Help the Animal scared of the puppies. So, I Kuwait, worked with the think the moral lesson is school principal to res- that the government cue the pups and send Awareness should take some serious them for treatment. steps on running more Anwar Jawhar, BFG campaigns on awareness campaigns on group volunteer, said the how to treat animals. school promised to pay how to treat Secondly, we have to con- the hospital bills of the sider having more facilities five puppies of around animals needed for animal welfare. We KD 270. According to have facilities, but they are Jawhar, the students in the desert - too far found the puppies inside away,” Jawhar said. the school early morning on Monday. The school does not He pointed out that Kuwait should create a separate know where they came from, but according to Jawhar, they department for animal welfare. “Look how the animals are could be pups of stray dogs left there by their mother. sadly treated at the pet market. Our behavior mirrors the “The kids are clearly making fun of the dogs in the way how we respect human and animal rights in the Kuwait has no official, licensed animal shelter, as the videotaped and shared across social media. At the same video. They were playing but did not know they were country. Stray dogs are killed through poisoning - they only one closed down in December. Kuwait, along with time, a growing community of animal rescuers and hurting the puppies. It is a cruel thing to do, but it also die a slow death by this inhumane method of killing ani- other Gulf Cooperation Council states, has seen a grow- activists has emerged to protect animals, but it receives reflects the way these kids are raised at home,” Jawhar mals and no one cares.” ing rise in cases of animal abuse and mistreatment, often no government support.

Meanwhile, Farwaniya police arrested a after he ran away from them. He first Driver falls Jordanian man with two hashish joints, an denied having an ID on him, so he was envelope containing drugs and drugs para- fingerprinted and identified. He was phernalia, and he was sent to the DCGD. found wanted on a forgery case that Airport passenger asleep in middle The man was stopped by police because his took place two years ago. He was taken car was in need of repairs. When the to residency affairs detectives for fur- traffic up by 24 percent of the road policeman spoke to him, he seemed to be in ther legal action before being deported. an abnormal condition, then refused to get In a separate case, police in Industrial KUWAIT: Passenger traffic at Kuwait International Airport increased 24 percent KUWAIT: A Sudanese man obstructed traf- out of the car, so he was forced out despite Shuwaikh asked a man for his ID, but he in January 2018 to 1.37 million compared to 1.11 million last year, airport authori- fic in Ardiya after he stopped his car in the resisting. fled and disappeared among the ties said on Monday. This included 716,114 arrivals compared to 553,935 arrivals, middle of the road and fell asleep under the Separately, two men, Syrian and garages, so they searched the area and as departures also increased recording 716,114 compared to 553,935, a influence of drugs. Motorists called police Jordanian, were arrested in Salwa late at found him hiding under a car. Police dis- Directorate General of Civil Aviation official said. after he did not respond. Police arrived and night under the influence of drugs. The two covered he is a Lebanese wanted for a Some 10,090 flights took place compared to 8,701 flights, including 9,664 found him sleeping with a hashish cigarette were stopped by a police patrol, who found felony committed in 2016. He is also commercial flights up from 8,284 commercial flights, said Deputy Director- still burning in his hand, so they opened the drugs and psychoactive pills on them. They wanted in a civil case. He was taken to General for Aviation Safety and Air Transport Emad Al-Juluwi. Meanwhile, air car and woke him up. He was arrested and were taken to the DCGD. the police station to face legal action. cargo movement at the airport recorded 19,610 tons compared to 16,530 tons, drugs were found on him. He was sent to The suspect is also in violation of the including 14,570 tons of incoming freight up from 13,490 tons and 5,030 tons of the Drugs Control General Department Fugitives caught residency law. dispatched cargo compared to 3,030 tons. —KUNA (DCGD). Police in Salhiya arrested an Egyptian —Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Rai InternationalEstablished 1961 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018 Maldives crisis deepens; opposition leader seeks Rohingya women find peace in ‘widows camp’ barred to men Page 9 intervention from India Page 9

BAGHDAD: Iraqis look at printed profiles of Islamic State (IS) group members released by Iraqi authorities yesterday. Iraqi authorities issued a new list of ‘internationally wanted terrorists,’ headed by IS group leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. —AFP Iraq publishes list of ‘most wanted fugitives’ Iran-backed Iraqi groups urge full US withdrawal

BAGHDAD: Iraqi authorities published a list of most want- jihadists, 12 from Al-Qaeda and 20 Baathists. Minister Haider Al-Abadi’s government, in charge of the based al-Mayadeen TV on Monday evening. ed fugitives yesterday headed by elusive Islamic State interior, said any remaining US, troops would be cause Kataib Hezbollah has strong links to Iran’s group leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and his number two. It Full US withdrawal for instability. Revolutionary Guards Corps and has threatened to was the second list Iraq had published this week of people In another develop- “The two governments attack US forces several times in the past, describing wanted on suspicion of belonging to the Islamic State ment, two major Iraqi should coordinate to their presence as an occupation. A US official in Baghdad group, Al-Qaeda or the Baath Party of executed dictator Shiite groups backed by ensure a full withdrawal. said: “We take anything that sounds like a threat from Saddam Hussein. “They are more dangerous than those Iran are demanding all US presence will be cause anyone against Americans seriously.” “There’s not that who appeared on the first list published on Sunday and US forces leave Iraq, for internal polarization many of us here and we are all operating within Iraqi mil- they are wanted internationally whereas the others are opposing plans by IS leaders, and a magnet for terror- itary bases. A lot of this is frankly just political posturing wanted only by the Iraqi courts,” a security official said. Baghdad and ists,” Badr spokesman and trying to take advantage of stories in the press to The IS leader appears on the list under his real Washington to keep Saudis, Jordanian, Kareem Nuri said. Kataib make broader political points,” he added. name Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali Al-Badri Al-Samarrai. some there for training Hezbollah, a more militant, The US-led international military coalition helped His deputy is listed as Abdel Rahman Al-Qaduli rather and advisory purposes. Yemeni and secretive and anti- Iraqi forces recapture territory taken by Islamic State in than his nom de guerre Abu Alaa Al-Afari. Seven other An Iraqi government Qatari named American group, repeated 2014 and 2015, providing air and artillery support in the Iraqis are on the list as are five foreigners accused of spokesman said US threats to attack US forces. battle to for Mosul, and trained tens of thousands of elite IS membership-two Saudis, a Jordanian, a Yemeni and forces - who number “We are serious about Iraqi soldiers. “The Coalition will tailor our forces in a Qatari. Sunday’s list contained the names of 60 more than 5,000 - had getting the Americans out, consultation with our Iraqi partners in order to ensure wanted suspect, all but one of them Iraqis. It includes begun reducing their using the force of arms the lasting defeat of Daesh (Islamic State),” the coali- the name of Saddam’s daughter Raghad, who lives in numbers but some would remain. The Badr because the Americans don’t understand any other lan- tion’s director of operations, Brigadier General Jonathan neighboring Jordan. It also features 28 suspected IS Organization, a Shiite group that has a minister in Prime guage,” its spokesman, Jaafar Al-Husseini, told Beirut- Braga, said in a statement on Monday.—Agencies In Iraq, death-row Israel kills Hamas member militants ‘confess’ suspected of murdering rabbi on prime-time TV NABLUS: Israeli forces yesterday shot dead a Hamas member suspected of killing a rabbi BAGHDAD: Every Friday in Iraq, a gripping as two deadly attacks against Israeli settlers in a month increased tensions in the occupied show on state television beams the alleged con- West Bank. The Palestinian suspect in the murder of the rabbi on January 9 was shot dead fessions of death-row jihadists into homes in a pre-dawn raid hours after another Israeli was killed in a stabbing in the West Bank. around the country. At peak viewing time, it Several hundred mourners attended the funeral yesterday for Itamar Ben Gal, the 29-year- broadcasts gruesome images of their purported old man killed a day earlier who was also a rabbi. There was no indication of a direct link crimes before interviewing the convicts, who between the two attacks, with violence common in the West Bank between Palestinians and appear clad in orange or yellow jumpsuits. Israeli settlers or security forces. Islamist movement Hamas said the suspect killed Baghdad declared victory against the Islamic overnight was a member of its armed wing. The 19-year-old believed to have committed State group in December, after years of fighting Monday’s stabbing remained at large. “The security forces will catch whoever tries to to regain vast stretches of territory the jihadists attack Israeli citizens and we will deal with them to the fullest extent of the law,” Israeli seized in 2014. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday. “So it will be with the murderers of Iraq has detained thousands of suspected Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal.” members of IS, a group infamous for deadly Both attacks have led to Israeli calls for more settlement building in the West Bank, attacks, mass killings and the execution of BAGHDAD: Video editors prepare for an episode on the set of the show titled ‘In the grip of the law’ in which has been under Israeli occupation for more than 50 years. Earlier this week in detainees in orange jumpsuits. Once a week, a Baghdad. —AFP response to the rabbi’s murder on January 9, Israel’s government in a rare move decided to show titled “In the grip of the law” escorts con- “legalize” the rogue West Bank outpost where he lived, Havat Gilad, essentially creating a victed jihadists back to the scene of their crime their 2014 execution by IS in the town of Heet, The country’s anti-terrorism law orders the death new settlement. There were further calls for more settlement construction at yesterday’s under heavy security. By spotlighting IS atroci- northwest of Baghdad. It then introduces Mithaq penalty for any person who commits, plans, funds funeral for Ben Gal held at the Har Bracha settlement where he lived, Israeli media reported. ties, the show aims to stamp out any remaining Hamid Hekmet, 41, one of those condemned over or assists in acts of “terrorism”. support for the jihadist group’s ideology, its pre- the massacre, who recounts the killings in chilling Hamas welcomes attack senter says. “I get tipped off by the interior min- detail-even citing the names of others who took ‘Why kill my sons?’ The overnight raid occurred in the village of Yamoun near Jenin, where the 22-year-old istry, the defense ministry or national security, part. On the show’s set, a mahogony desk, stacks Hassan says all his convict interviewees take suspect, Ahmad Jarrar, was said to be hiding. It came after a weeks-long manhunt for who captured them,” Ahmad Hassan, 36, says. of papers, maps of Baghdad and mugshots of the part “voluntarily”, and know participating will in Jarrar, the son of a Hamas figure killed by Israeli forces during the second intifada of the “They choose the case to highlight and I ask day’s convict seek to create an intriguing atmos- no way help to alleviate their sentence. “They do early 2000s. Beginning late Monday and into yesterday, dozens of Israeli army jeeps the justice ministry for permission to interview phere to draw in viewers. it because they have regrets,” he says. “They entered Yamoun and besieged a part of the town. Heavy clashes broke out with live fire, the convict,” says Hassan, whose show is aired In another episode, former IS finance official want to show the horrendous acts they have according to a Palestinian security source. Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency said by state channel Al-Iraqiya. The program is up to Mohammad Hamid Omar, nom de guerre Abu committed and reveal the thinking of the group that “during the attempted arrest, the terrorist came out of a building where he was hiding its 150th episode, he says, and not about to end Hajjaj, describes his speciality: extorting funds they belonged to, to persuade others not to armed. “Security forces fired in his direction. An M-16 assault rifle and a bag containing any time soon. “Even if IS has lost militarily, its from pharmacies, schools, real estate agencies, make the same mistake.” The show’s most explosives were found near his body,” the agency said in a statement. Hamas’s armed wing, ideology still exists,” he says. “Its supporters petrol stations and doctors. Hassan says all of his poignant moments are meetings set up between the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, claimed Jarrar as a member and welcomed the attack on view others as non-believers and will continue to interviewees have been found guilty and sen- the convicts and the mothers of their purported January 9 that saw Raziel Shevach, 35, shot dead. “Our heroes in the occupied West Bank murder as long as its ideology lives on.” tenced-most to death, but some to lengthy prison victims. In one such scene, the mother of two wrote a heroic epic that made the Zionists lose sleep and put their security establishment terms. They are mostly Iraqis, but also sometimes policemen killed by IS vents her anger. “Why did on alert,” the Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement. It said a “Qassam bullet” was ‘Detective agency’ nationals from other Arab countries. Some have you kill my sons Ahmad and Hamid?” she asks responsible for the murder, though it was unclear if the Hamas leadership was claiming Dressed in a beige suit and brown tie, on a set since been executed, Hassan says, but “that’s the three sentenced jihadists, who hang their heads direct responsibility for the attack or whether the cell acted on its own. Israeli forces had meant to evoke a detective agency, Hassan starts justice ministry’s business, not mine”. Iraq exe- in response. “They were your friends. Did they been hunting for the assailants since the murder, with roadblocks and checkpoints set up his show each week with shocking images. One cuted more than 100 people last year, mostly ever wrong you? Why did you destroy my fami- following the attack. —AFP episode opens with a photo of dozens of Sunni after “terrorism” convictions, the office of the UN ly?” asks the woman, dressed from head-to-toe tribesmen lying in a pool of their own blood, after High Commissioner for Human Rights has said. in black. —AFP Established 1961 7 International Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Gaza health facilities face closure over fuel shortage Gaza deep in political and energy crisis

GAZA: Fuel for emergency generators that keep Gaza’s become exhausted within the next ten days”. hospitals and sanitation services operating will run out It said emergency and diagnostic services, intensive within 10 days, the United Nations said yesterday in an care units and operating theatres were at risk, as well as appeal for immediate donor support. The shortage stems the running of 55 sewage pools, 48 desalination plants and from a dispute between Gaza’s dominant Hamas Islamist solid waste collection facilities. Hamas, which seized the group and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority enclave in 2007 from Fatah forces loyal to the PA’s leader, (PA). Both signed a unity deal in October but have failed to President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Authority was with- finalize the details of politi- holding payment for the cal power-sharing. fuel, which is supplied So far generators have via Israel. stopped at three of Gaza’s The PA said Hamas 13 hospitals and 14 of its 54 had failed to transfer medical centers, said Ashraf Hamas and PA money collected from the Al-Qidra, the Hamas- sale of medicine to appointed spokesman for trade blame for patients in Gaza, funds the impoverished territory’s the Authority uses to buy Health Ministry. Officials at fuel shortage the fuel. OCHA said $6.5 the affected facilities said million is required to they were directing seri- provide 7.7 million liters ously ill patients to other of emergency fuel in health facilities and operat- 2018 - “the bare mini- ing at limited capacity. mum to stave off a col- With Gaza’s electrical grid supplying only about four to six lapse of services”. “Without funding, more service hours of power a day to Gaza’s two million people - a providers will be forced to suspend operations over the complicated crisis also largely rooted in the Hamas-PA coming weeks, and the situation will deteriorate dramati- rivalry - back-up generators are a lifeline for health care cally, with potential impacts on the entire population,” the and sanitation facilities. OCHA statement quoted Roberto Valent, the acting At Durra Hospital for Children in Gaza City, which nor- Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian territories, as mally treats up to 180 patients a day, many of its 90 beds saying. “We cannot allow this to happen.” were empty yesterday. Doctors said fuel ran out a week In Durra hospital, mothers sat beside their sick children ago and services were operating at minimum levels. “We and complained that politics were endangering lives. “We are working in life-saving mode,” the hospital’s director, blame all parties. Why should these children be at risk of Majed Hamada, told Reuters. He said doctors were provid- dying because Hamas and Fatah failed to reconcile?” said ing primary health care and, in emergency cases, transfer- one mother, whose three-year-old daughter has been ring patients to other hospitals after stabilizing them. In a waiting a week for an X-ray. A US decision to cut aid to statement, the United Nations Office for the Coordination the United Nations Relief and Welfare Agency (UNRWA), of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Palestinian territo- which provides aid to Palestinian refugees, also threatens GAZA: Palestinians take part in a protest against the US move to freeze funding for the UN agency for ries said emergency fuel for critical facilities in Gaza “will to deepen hardship in Gaza.—Reuters Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) at the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday. —AFP

Men with guns rule Nigeria President in Libya as return to Buhari attacked ‘ghost town’ blocked by predecessors TRIPOLI: More than six years after they were forced to as elections loom leave their homes in the civil war that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, tens of thousands of residents of the Libyan ghost city of Tawergha were finally meant to start going home LAGOS: Ibrahim Babangida has become the latest for- last week. It never happened. Armed groups blocked the mer leader in Nigeria to criticize President road, shattering the hopes of families, casting a long- Muhammadu Buhari, as elections approach and the negotiated settlement into doubt, and demonstrating yet incumbent is yet to confirm he will stand again. The again the human cost of life in a country ruled by men with man who once described himself as Nigeria’s “evil guns who appear to answer to no one. genius” said in a statement issued on Sunday that The case of Tawergha, a city built among date palm “analogue” Buhari should make way for “digital” lead- groves about 200 km (124 miles) south-east of Tripoli, has ers. “There comes a time in life when personal ambi- become a symbol of division and conflict in Libya follow- tion should not override national interest,” he added. ing the Nato-backed uprising against Gaddafi. Tawergha Babangida, who ousted Buhari as military ruler in a was used by pro-Gaddafi forces attacking the nearby city bloodless coup in 1985, later distanced himself from of Misrata during the war. After the fighting, Misrata the statement, which he attributed to his spokesman. forces emptied Tawergha of its inhabitants. The city was TAWERGHA: Displaced Libyans from the western city of Tawergha wait by their cars to enter the city, He then put out another in his own name, calling on abandoned as a ghost town, while its residents, many the which lies about 250 kilometers east of the capital Tripoli as armed groups from nearby Misrata set up any realignment of forces to be lawful. dark-skinned descendents of sub-Saharan African slaves, roadblocks. —AFP Babangida’s intervention follows that of Olusegun lived in squalid temporary camps. Obasanjo-another former military ruler in the 1970s, After years of negotiations, the Tawergha residents who became the first civilian president when democ- were finally meant to start going home on Feb 1. But after allied factions in eastern Libya. Towns and cities are large- halted the returns. “They have some legitimate demands, racy was restored in 1999. He said last month that days on the road they said militia fighters never let them Buhari needed a “deserved rest” and had shown a ly carved up between militia groups, many of which draw including some points of the agreement between Misrata through. “My kids were carrying doves with them to salaries from the state but answer only loosely at best to and Tawergha, such as recognition of the revolution of poor grasp of the economy, foreign policy and release as a sign of peace, and they were carrying olive Nigeria’s complex internal politics during his time in either government. February 17 (2011), and an official apology from Tawergha branches too,” said one woman at a camp for displaced The GNA had promoted the return to Tawergha as a authorities to the people of Misrata,” he said at a press office. Many people in Nigeria have interpreted people on Tripoli’s airport road whose family tried to reach Babangida’s comments as support for Obasanjo, who major breakthrough. But when convoys of residents tried conference. The UN mission in Libya blamed the reversal the city in a convoy. “The elders stopped the cars and to approach the town last week from the west, armed men on “some extremist elements”, and denounced “attempts at has thrown his weight behind a new movement that asked us to wait,” said the woman, who asked not to be could yet evolve into a political party. from GNA-linked brigades halted them. Other residents financial extortion in exchange for (residents’) return”. identified for security reasons. “Suddenly the cars were were turned back approaching from the east, before Tawergha remains abandoned and in ruins, and it is not driving fast and there was shooting.” No easy ride reaching Sirte, controlled by Misrata since forces led by clear how residents can resettle there before basic infra- “We were asked (by the elders) to wait until the prob- the city’s brigades ousted Islamic State from the city in structure has been restored. Still, the GNA, which has Nigerians go to the polls to choose a new president lem could be solved. But after three days, and with the and parliament on February 16 next year. Politicians 2016. Officials from Misrata, itself divided between moder- struggled to impose its authority in the capital and beyond, shooting at us, my son started crying uncontrollably. His ate and hardline groups, had called for a delay to the had tried to mediate a solution to the stand-off. “We held a and their parties are already jostling for position. dream has collapsed.” More than six years since Gaddafi Buhari, 75, was dogged by an unspecified illness last planned returns, saying more preparations were needed to meeting with municipality of Misrata, the commander of was captured hiding in a sewer and killed, Libya still has ensure security for returnees, and arguing that some terms central military region, and the commander of military year but is still expected to seek a second, four-year no government that can exercise control of the streets. The term. Commentator Chris Ngwodo said high-profile of a 2016 deal between Misrata and the Tawerghans had police,” Yousef Jallalah, minister of refugees and displaced internationally recognized Government of National Accord not been fulfilled. Yousef Zerzah, chairman of Misrata’s dia- people, told reporters on Monday. “The meeting lasted till criticisms from two powerful political figures were an (GNA) in Tripoli is opposed by a rival government and indication of growing opposition among prominent logue committee with Tawergha, defended the groups that midnight but we didn’t get a positive result.”—Reuters Nigerians to Buhari’s re-election. Buhari made history in 2015 by becoming the first opposition candidate to unseat an incumbent president, Khaled, a native of the neighboring securing national support in a country split between a Uprooted, province of Hama. He fled Hama in 2012, Muslim north and Christian south. “The consensus that settling in Idlib province. Battered by supported Buhari to win the popular vote in 2015 is rain, the makeshift camp where he now falling apart,” said Ngwodo. “His support base, particu- again: War lives outside the town of Sarmada has larly from his military constituency, is no longer cohe- turned into a massive mud pit. Rows of sive. If he runs, he is likely to face a more formidable tents made of plastic tarpaulins, blankets challenge. It will not be an easy ride for him.” catches up with and curtains are stained with dirt, and Buhari’s office has brushed aside Obasanjo’s criti- chunks of mud are wedged into pairs of cisms and both men were seen laughing and joking Syrians in Idlib shoes piled outside. Young girls wash a together at a recent African Union summit in Addis saucepan in a large brown puddle and Ababa. There has been no formal response to men slip and slide past the tents. Babangida. The criticisms of both may ring true for SARMADA: The shabby, mud-covered tent many voters, however, with Nigeria having only in northwest Syria is the only home Abu ‘Day of tears and blood’ recently emerged from recession that has increased Khaled’s family has left. Uprooted four Rebels and jihadists overran Idlib in financial hardship. At the same time, it may give times in six years, they say war is practi- 2015. But since then, hardliners have greater scrutiny to Buhari’s campaign pledges, in par- cally stalking them. “As soon as we settle ticular to get tough on security, with Boko Haram still down somewhere for a year or a little expanded their control and the influence of active and new threats elsewhere. Buhari is also under more, the bombardment arrives and we mainstream rebels has shrunk drastically. pressure because of perceptions he has failed to act change places,” says the elderly man, origi- At the same time, the province’s population against his Fulani kinsmen, a herder community nally from a neighboring province. The tent has swollen, particularly with tens of thou- sands of people-rebels and civilians- blamed for a wave of attacks against farmers. where he, his wife, and his 12 children now BATABU, Syria: Abu Khaled washes his hands in a large puddle of rain water live is pitched alongside dozens more in bussed out of besieged opposition at make-shift camp for internally displaced people in Batabu, on the border Syria’s Idlib, the only province that still enclaves elsewhere. Abu Mohammed, 48, Not enough time between Syria’s Idlib and Aleppo provinces. —AFP Ngwodo said Buhari-if he stands-will be judged on largely escapes government control. More was among them. Along with his wife and his record and that with a little over a year to go to the than a million Syrians from other parts of six children, he was bussed out of the town polls, there was still time for the opposition to mobilize. the country now live in the northwestern of Daraya near Damascus in August 2016 children away. Two rockets and some bar- were similarly displaced. In December So far, only the governor of the southern state of Ekiti, province, after they fled fighting or as a under a negotiated settlement to end years rel bombs hit near our house,” says Abu 2016, the married couple was bussed out Peter Fayose, and Obasanjo’s former vice-president, result of negotiated settlements to escape of crippling government siege. Mohammed. They moved closer to Idlib of their native Aleppo, Syria’s second city, Atiku Abubakar, have declared their intention to run. suffocating sieges. “It was a day of tears and blood. You’re city in December, now living in a sparsely under one of the war’s most controversial Both are likely to struggle to gain the necessary In Idlib, they hoped to find a shred of in the bus, you can’t speak-you’re leaving furnished apartment. “There’s no work evacuation deals. The agreement capped a support outside their respective regions, while their normalcy and stability-but since late your town behind,” he recalls. They settled here. Jarjanaz had become like our second ferocious month-long government assault Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is weak and divided. 2017, the province has been the target of in Jarjanaz, a town in Idlib province. But a home-we knew everyone,” says Abu on the city and several months of siege, Dapo Thomas, a history and politics lecturer at Lagos a blistering Russian-backed government little more than a year later, they found Mohammed, a scarf tied around his head. and saw tens of thousands of civilians and state university, said the status quo was likely to remain offensive. “I lost my land, my trees, my themselves fleeing the government assault rebels evacuated. In the 13 months since unaltered, unless Buhari’s health worsens. —AFP home. I left my house only with the on Idlib. “The strikes started to escalate 13 months, five homes they left Aleppo, Taleb and Abu Qusay clothes I had on my back,” says Abu and people were sending their women and Marwa Taleb and Saleh Abu Qusay have been displaced five times. —AFP 8 Established 1961 Wednesday, February 7, 2018 International 100 years of women suffrage: How one group changed British history One great tragedy put an end to intolerable torture LONDON: British women won the right to vote 100 years ago them when they had recovered. Pankhurst was jailed and after an intense struggle marked by a violent fringe campaign released 11 times. Detractors said the actions of the Suffragettes that shocked the country but helped to change the world. On showed that women were emotional and irresponsible and there- February 6, 1918, the Representation of the People Bill became fore not fit to vote. Some historians credit the role of women in law and added to the voting roll around eight million women World War I as more important in securing voting rights than who were aged over 30 and met other conditions. It was not militant activism. But in 1999 Time magazine named Pankhurst as until 1928 that British women gained the same voting rights as one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. She men, but the 1918 act was a major step that put the country “shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a ahead of some contemporaries such as France. Among those new pattern from which there could be no going back,” it said. involved in the decades-long British campaign, the Suffragettes “The militant campaign was absolutely essential to moving the stand out for militant actions vote forward,” Krista that were unprecedented at Cowman, history professor the time, although their influ- at the University of Lincoln ence is still debated. in Britain said. “There was 50 years of peaceful cam- Bombs, a martyr Representation paigning before that really Suffragettes chained hadn’t done anything.” themselves to railings, broke of People Bill shop windows and blew up Men’s work post boxes as part of their became a law When World War I fight. They cut electricity broke out in 1914, lines, disrupted meetings and Feb 6, 1918 Pankhurst called a halt to even bombed the house of a the militant campaign in government minister. It was a support of the govern- deliberate move into militan- ment’s war effort. Women cy preached by Emmeline Pankhurst, founder of the Women’s stepped into crucial jobs vacated by men sent to fight. In a rev- Social and Political Union (WSPU) which became known as olution of their role in society, they worked in fields, factories the Suffragrettes. In the most shocking act, Suffragette Emily and beyond. “Many of these feminists hoped that patriotic sup- Davison became a martyr to the cause when she was killed port of the war would enhance the prospects for women’s suf- throwing herself under the king’s horse at the 1913 Derby. She frage after the war,” according to the historian Joshua was convinced “one great tragedy ... would put an end to the Goldstein in “War and Gender”. As the war wound down, the LONDON: The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (left) flanked by historian Lucy Worsley pose in Trafalgar square intolerable torture of women,” Pankhurst wrote in her 1914 first steps towards equal right votes were allowed. “It’s very against a backdrop of lifesize pictures of members of the Suffragete movement to mark the centenary of wom- autobiography “My Own Story”. much a start,” said Cowman, who was historical advisor to the enís suffrage yesterday. —AFP 2015 film “Suffragette” in which Meryl Streep played Hunger strikes Pankhurst. “There’s a whole raft of legislation that comes in Hundreds of Suffragettes were jailed for their actions but Britain in the 1920s that’s about improving lives for women, like Britain was not the first country to enfranchise women. New 1917, Germany in 1918, the United States in 1920, and Brazil they continued their protest in prison by refusing to eat. divorce law reform, equal access to professions.” Zealand led the way in 1893, followed by Australia in 1902, and Thailand in 1934. Other countries lagged, though, includ- Many were force fed, a harsh practice that ended in 1913 with Finland in 1906 and Norway in 1913. In the period between ing France whose own Suffragettes-influenced by their British legislation that allowed authorities to release hunger-striking Around the world the two World Wars, women in more than two dozen coun- sisters but without the militancy-eventually gained the right women prisoners when they became too weak and re-arrest While the Suffragette campaign attracted much publicity, tries acquired voting rights, including the Soviet Union in to vote in 1944. —AFP

News in brief Hong Kong 12 patients stabbed

GOMA: Unidentified assailants stabbed 12 patients in activists walk their hospital beds in the restive DR Congo city of Goma, with fears it was the work of Ugandan Islamist rebels, officials said yesterday. Three of the victims were serious- free in victory ly hurt in the knife rampage overnight Sunday-Monday in two health centers in the Goma district of Mbosho, provincial health minister Martial Kambumbu said. “It is HONG KONG: Joshua Wong and two other leading Hong the first time we have seen patients being stabbed in Kong democracy activists won an appeal against their jail health facilities in Goma,” said Etienne Kambale, civil terms at the city’s highest court yesterday in a case seen as society rapporteur in North Kivu province, of which a test for the independence of the city’s judiciary, which Goma is the capital. “It is surprising. We are wondering if some fear is under pressure from Beijing. But the trio it was the ADF who have turned up in Goma, because this warned it was not a time for celebration because the city is the way they killed people in Beni.” —AFP still faced threats to its freedoms. Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow were jailed in August last year for their role in the mass pro-democracy Umbrella Movement protests of 9/11 convict complains 2014 after Hong Kong’s government pushed for more severe sentences. WASHINGTON: The only person convicted in the United A lower court had originally given Wong and Law com- munity service orders and Chow a suspended sentence. But HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s leading democracy activists (left to right) Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow arrive outside States for the 9/11 attacks is suing President Donald the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong yesterday. —AFP Trump over his conditions at a high-security prison in after the government’s intervention they were jailed for Colorado. In a four-page handwritten complaint seen by between six and eight months by the Court of Appeal. All AFP Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen, says “I want to three activists were later bailed pending their appeal. Chief activists, it also endorsed the view of the sentencing court wider Umbrella Movement rallies which brought parts of be heard” and claims to have been subjected to “psycho- justice Geoffrey Ma said Tuesday that the terms given to the that unlawful assembly involving violence must be deterred, the city to a standstill. The protests called for fully free lead- logical torture in solitary detention.” According to the trio were “significantly more severe” than the range previ- saying even the “relatively low” degree of violence in the ership elections to replace a system where the city’s chief document, filed in December, Moussaoui accuses the ously given for unlawful assembly offences. The judgment trio’s case could in future lead to jail terms. “According to executive is selected by a pro-Beijing committee, but failed Trump administration and the US prison bureau of deny- backed the decision of the magistrate who originally handed the judgment, maybe more activists will be locked up,” said to win any concessions. Since then there have been growing ing him access to a lawyer in order “to break me psycho- down non-custodial sentences, saying she had not “erred in Wong outside court after the ruling. “It’s not the time for signs that China is increasing its control over Hong Kong. logically and stop me to expose the truth about 9/11.” US principle” by taking into account factors including the any congratulation or celebration,” he added. Wong, 21, who Hong Kong has been governed under a “one country, courts have rejected previous applications by Moussaoui, defendants’ idealism, their youth and the fact that they had became the face of the Umbrella Movement, could soon two systems” deal since 1997, when Britain handed the ter- whose mental health was the object of questioning at the not offended before. return to prison for another protest-related offence, for ritory back to China. The deal allows citizens rights unseen 2006 trial that sentenced him to life in prison. —AFP The government’s move to seek jail sentences for the which he is currently on bail pending appeal. on the mainland, including freedom of speech and a partially activists was seen as further evidence of Beijing’s growing directly elected parliament, as well as an independent judi- influence over the semi-autonomous city, with Chinese Disappearing freedoms ciary. But the jailing of democracy activists, the disqualifica- G5 Sahel summit authorities particularly riled by the emergence of activists The unlawful assembly charges for which Wong, Law tion of opposition lawmakers from the legislature at Beijing’s calling for independence for Hong Kong. Wong and Law’s and Chow were jailed related to their involvement in the request and the lack of answers over the disappearance of NIAMEY: Leaders of five Sahel countries met with France’s political party Demosisto wants self-determination for the storming of a fenced-off government forecourt known as five Hong Kong booksellers who resurfaced in the mainland defense minister yesterday to discuss funding for an city. But while yesterday’s judgment found in favor of the Civic Square in September 2014. Their arrests sparked the have fuelled concern. —AFP unprecedented joint force to combat jihadism in their vulner- able region. The presidents of the so-called G5 Sahel nations-Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger-met with French Defense Minister Florence Parly, whose country Fighters, refugees is the initiative’s major backer. On Sunday, Malian Defense Court rejects legal Minister Tieman Hubert Coulibaly said the G5 force “will be operational by the end of March.” The five countries, along stoke terror risk with Nigeria and Cameroon, are at the brunt of jihadist bid to ‘stop Brexit’ attacks in west Africa that have left thousands dead, unleashed a humanitarian crisis and sapped economies that in Germany: Police are already among the poorest the world. —AFP EDINBURGH: A Scottish court rejected yesterday a legal attempt to ask the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to clari- FRANKFURT AM MAIN: Fighters returning to fy whether Britain could unilaterally stop the Brexit process. Europe after the collapse of the Islamic State (IS) Deadly landslides in Jakarta The case was brought by a group of anti-Brexit lawmakers and radicalization among refugees could increase in an attempt to show that Britain’s decision to leave the the terror threat in Germany, a high-ranking police JAKARTA: At least four people were killed and two more European Union could be reversed if London withdrew its official warned yesterday. “We know that the risks are missing after Indonesia’s capital region was hit by notification of Article 50 - the process by which Brexit was have not shrunk because of the influx of refugees” severe flooding and landslides, authorities said yesterday, formally initiated. LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May arrives in Downing into Europe’s most populous country since 2015, as thousands fled waterlogged neighborhoods. The bod- But judge J. Raymond Doherty of Scotland’s top civil Street for the weekly cabinet meeting yesterday. — AFP Federal Criminal Police chief Holger Muench told ies of three people were pulled from a pile of mud and court declined to refer the matter to the ECJ. “I am not sat- the European Police Congress in Berlin. rock after a landslide triggered by torrential rain inundat- isfied that the application has a real prospect of success. “If their dreams are not fulfilled” of a better life ed a village in the city of Bogor south of Jakarta, the dis- Permission to proceed is refused,” he said. A lawyer for the ‘Legal route to revocability’ in Europe, some among the more than one million aster mitigation agency said. Hundreds of rescuers, group who brought the case said they would appeal against Jo Maugham, a lawyer funding the Scottish legal case, including members of the army, police and local commu- arrivals since that year could become radicalized, the ruling. At stake is an attempt to clarify whether Britain said the case was plainly in the national interest. “I will sup- he warned. Meanwhile, Muench said that “we must nity, are digging through the debris to find two others theoretically has the option of unilaterally withdrawing its port an appeal against this decision - to the Supreme Court assume that there will be those who return” from buried in that incident. Near Jakarta’s main airport, a 24- Article 50 notification, regardless of whether the 27 other if necessary,” he said. He argues that while there is no doubt battlefields in Iraq and Syria to Europe, he said, year-old woman was rescued after spending some 14 EU members authorize it to do so. To date, there are no that Britain could stop Brexit with the permission of the oth- and that “people prepared to carry out attacks” hours trapped inside a car buried under a landslide that plans to stop Brexit and opinion polls have shown no clear er 27 members, it should seek to establish a legal right to do stove in part of an underpass retaining wall.—AFP sign of a change of heart. In 2016, Britain voted to leave the so unilaterally whether the rest of the bloc likes it or not. will enjoy support from underground networks EU by 52 to 48 percent. “To improve the bargaining position of the UK, to ensure communicating via the internet. “IS is very adapt- But a recent poll showed most Britons would support a we retain the opt-outs and rebates that we presently enjoy, able,” he added. Militia chief surrenders vote on whether or not to leave once the terms of departure and to place the decision entirely in the hands of the UK’s The number of people listed as “dangerous” are known. And British lawmakers defied the government in Parliament and - if it chooses - its people, we must seek to potential terrorists by German police has increased KANANGA: A militia chief accused of waging a weeks- December by giving parliament a much more substantial say establish a legal route to revocability,” he wrote in an from 139 five years ago to 743, while some 970 peo- long terror campaign in DR Congo’s Kasai region has sur- on whether to accept the final Brexit deal. Prime Minister explanatory blog. Yesterday’s decision can be appealed in ple are known to have travelled from the country to rendered to the authorities, a local official said yesterday. Theresa May’s government is divided on exactly what the Scotland and then, if permission is granted, to the UK the would-be caliphate. Most attacks or attempted “Chief Kalamba Dilondo came to Kakenge of his own terms of Brexit should be but is clear that Britain will be Supreme Court in London. From there it could be referred attacks in Germany since 2015 have been carried out accord (on Monday),” Jacopo Pembe Longo, administra- leaving the European Union in March next year. Anti-Brexit to the ECJ, which rules on the meaning of EU law. The law- by asylum seekers. Security forces could combat the tor of Mweka territory in Kasai said. “He was received by campaigners have been arguing that once the negotiated makers behind the challenge represent electoral areas in increased threat by working together more closely the governor of the province, who handed him over to the terms of Brexit are known, lawmakers should be given the Scotland which voted strongly to remain in the EU in the and sharing information at the national and regional sector commander” of the Congolese army, option to vote on the deal. In that case, one of the options 2016 referendum, against the grain of the United Kingdom European levels, Muench said, as well as upgrading Pembe Longo said. —AFP should be to reverse Brexit and stay in the EU, they say. which as a whole voted to leave.—Reuters their digital sleuthing skills.—AFP Established 1961 9 International Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Maldives top judges arrested; state of emergency declared Maldives opposition calls for Indian intervention

MALE: An exiled former president of the Maldives urged ed to know how well planned this coup,” he said. As part of the India yesterday to send an envoy backed by military to release crackdown, police also detained Yameen’s half-brother, political prisoners after the government of the Indian Ocean Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who had ruled the Maldives for 30 archipelago imposed a state of emergency and arrested two years until 2008 and now stands with the opposition. Gayoom senior judges. Best known as an “A-list” holiday destination, was detained at his residence along with his son-in-law. But the Maldives plunged into crisis last week after the Supreme Gayoom’s son Faris, who was one of the imprisoned opposition Court quashed terrorism convictions against nine leading leaders that the court ordered to be freed, was released yes- opposition figures including the country’s exiled, first demo- terday, his lawyer said. Other opponents of Yameen remained cratically elected president, Mohamed Nasheed. Having defied in prison. the court ruling to release the detainees, President Abdulla Yameen declared an emer- Rival influences gency and ordered security Located near key ship- forces to seize control of ping lanes, the Maldives the court and arrest the Maldives have assumed greater chief justice and another importance after China judge. plunges into began building political and Nasheed, who was economic ties as part of its granted asylum by Britain crisis; president so-called ‘String Of Pearls’ after the government strategy to build a network allowed him to leave jail for defies court of ports in the Indian Ocean medical treatment abroad region. Having historically in 2016, sought Indian orders held more clout in the intervention to resolve the islands, India has sought to island nation’s most serious push back against China’s political crisis in years. “On growing influence there. behalf of Maldivian people we humbly request: India to send India, the United States and Britain have urged Yameen to envoy, backed by its military, to release judges & pol. honor the rule of law and free the detainees. “President detainees... We request a physical presence,” Nasheed, who is Yameen has systematically alienated his coalition, jailed or MALE: Photo shows an aerial view of the island of Male, capital of the Maldives. The Maldives yesterday currently in Colombo, said in a Twitter post. exiled every major opposition political figure, deprived elected sought to reassure tourists they would be safe as governments warned their citizens to steer clear of He also urged the United States to block financial transac- members of parliament of their right to represent their voters the troubled honeymoon islands amid a spiraling political crisis.—AFP tions of Yameen’s government. Since Yameen took control of the in the legislature, revised laws to erode human rights ... and overwhelmingly Muslim country of 400,000 people in 2013, his weakened the institutions of government,” the US State government has faced heavy criticism over the detention of Department said in a statement. Indian intervention in the China has had good ties with Yameen’s government and a free and economic assistance. The tumult comes during the peak opponents, political influence over the judiciary and the lack of Maldives would not be unprecedented, as New Delhi sent trade agreement between the two countries was signed in tourism season in Maldives, which earned $2.7 billion in 2016 freedom of speech. Addressing the nation on state television, troops in 1988 to foil a coup, purportedly involving foreign December, despite criticism from the opposition. Any Indian from holidaymakers visiting luxury hotels and dive resorts scat- Yameen said he had acted to prevent a coup, and suggested that mercenaries. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng involvement would risk raising tensions further in the over- tered round the myriad tiny islands and coral atolls. China, the the judges had chosen to side with his opponents because they Shuang said it was an internal matter for the Maldives. whelmingly Muslim archipelago of 400,000 people and inten- United States and India have already issued advisories against were being investigated for corruption. “We believe that the Maldives government, political parties sify the rivalry with China. Aside from the intervention in 1988, travelling to the tropical islands, though most tourists would “I declared the state of emergency because there was no and people have the wisdom and ability to cope with the pres- India has generally tried to avoid meddling in the Maldives’ only pass through rather than stay in Male, the densely popu- way to hold these justices accountable. This is a coup. I want- ent situation themselves,” Geng told a daily news briefing. internal affairs, although it has continued to provide military lated capital where the political tensions are highest. —Reuters

Rohingya women News in brief find peace in ‘widows Priests, teacher murdered ACAPULCO: Two priests and a primary school teacher were camp’ barred to men shot dead Monday in the violent Mexican state of Guerrero as they returned home from a village dance, authorities said. Another four people were wounded when gunmen opened BALUKHALI: It is known as “widows’ camp”-a sanctuary fire on the group’s car in the early morning hours on the off limits to men inside Bangladesh’s congested refugee highway between the towns of Taxco and Iguala, the south- settlements, where Rohingya women and children trauma- ern state’s security ministry said. “A black vehicle blocked tized by violence find rare moments of peace. The cluster the road and several suspects immediately opened fire” on of orange tarpaulins strung across bamboo offers a safe the other car, it said. Police found the black vehicle aban- haven for dozens of widows and young children left fend- doned 1.5 kilometers (about a mile) away with a rifle strap ing for themselves after fleeing into Bangladesh in an exo- inside. The local Catholic archdiocese condemned the killing, dus of nearly 690,000 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. saying it “has left our entire community in mourning” and They escaped atrocities likened by the UN to “ethnic calling on authorities to find those responsible.—AFP cleansing” but their husbands did not, leaving them to compete for food, shelter and survival in a border zone teeming with close to one million refugees. Among them is Japan princess’ wedding delayed Swaleha Begum, who crossed alone after her husband of just three months was killed in an army-led crackdown on TOKYO: The wedding of Princess Mako, the eldest grand- their village. At just 18 she oversees the women-only daughter of Emperor Akihito, and her college sweetheart encampment separated from other refugee tents in a will be postponed until 2020 due to lack of “sufficient crowded and dusty valley. preparations”, news reports said yesterday. Mako and Kei The sense of ownership and pride in their basic refuge Komuro, both 26, had been scheduled to become formally is strong among the 60-odd widows, who maintain their engaged in a traditional court ceremony next month before own bathrooms, run prayer sessions and share responsibil- their wedding on November 4. But the couple have decided there was not enough time to make “sufficient prepara- ity for scores of children and orphans. “Those who have UKHIA, Bangladesh: Women walk inside the ‘widow’s camp’ at the Balukhali refugee camp in tions”, Mako said in a statement quoted by Jiji Press. They husbands can make their own accommodation using bam- Bangladeshís Ukhia district. —AFP boo and tarpaulins,” Swaleha said. “We got this by the have already informed the emperor and empress that their grace of god,” she added, gesturing at the simple tents wedding-related ceremonies will be delayed until 2020, lined with thin sleeping mats and cooking utensils. One of The International Organization for Migration has docu- Mabiya Khatun, who said her husband and two sons since the imperial family’s schedule will be tight next year her primary tasks is ensuring men-even teenage boys- mented cases of refugee women being lured away from were butchered as their village was razed by soldiers, as Akihito abdicates, Jiji said. “I’m very sorry for causing a venture nowhere near their shelters, where the inhabitants the camps with promises of marriage or jobs that end cherished the solidarity among her “sisters” in the widows’ big trouble and extra burden to those who have sincerely are comfortable enough to eschew the veil worn by most instead in forced labor or sex work. camp. “I like it here. I find it very peaceful. We get to live a helped our wedding,” Mako said.—AFP Rohingya Muslim women in public areas. More than half the Rohingya refugees who escaped the life of respect here, a dignified life,” she said. The mood bloodshed in Myanmar’s westernmost Rakhine state are shifts at talk of returning to their homeland. Bangladesh ‘Sisters’ in the camp women and children, the UN Women agency said. They and Myanmar have agreed to a two-year timetable for Pirates release ship Aid workers say women and girls are most at threat made it out alive but not without scars. The UN Women repatriating some 750,000 refugees to Rakhine on a vol- from predators and human traffickers lurking in the poorly agency says almost every woman and girl in the sprawling untary basis, but the process has stalled. Despite the safe- NEW DELHI: A tanker with 22 Indian crew on board has supervised camps. This risk is compounded when Balukhali camp is a victim of unimaginable violence-a sur- ty in Bangladesh, and the horrors inflicted against their been released by pirates who had seized the vessel off the Rohingya women-uncomfortable at sharing toilets with vivor of rape, or witness to the sexual assault, murder or people in Myanmar, some Rohingya living in the widows’ coast of West Africa, the company that manages the ship men-venture far away for privacy in the forest after dark. burning alive of their family and friends. camp yearn for the lives they left behind.—AFP said yesterday. The Panama-registered MT Marine Express, loaded with 13,500 tons of petrol, was anchored off Benin when authorities lost contact on Thursday. “Marine Express, which was the subject of a pirate attack relations with South Korea have softened and seizure in the Gulf of Guinea on February 1st, is now US, North Korea in the lead-up to the Pyeongchang back under the command of the captain and crew,” the Olympic Games opening on Feb 9. North Hong Kong-based Anglo-Eastern said in a statement. “All trade warnings Korea accused the United States of seek- crew members are reported to be safe and well, and the ing to aggravate the situation on the divid- cargo of 13,500 tons of gasoline remains on board.” —AFP ed Korean peninsula by “deploying large on nuke strikes nuclear assets” nearby and lay the ground for a possible pre-emptive strike against it. Heavy snow hits Japan “In view of the nature and scale of US GENEVA: The United States said yester- TOKYO: A heavy snowfall in central Japan brought road day that North Korea may be only months military reinforcements, they are designed traffic to a standstill yesterday, trapping some 1,000 cars, away from being able to strike the US to make a pre-emptive strike against the local officials said, adding they have asked the military for mainland with a nuclear-tipped ballistic DPRK,” North Korean diplomat Ju Yong help but have not heard of any injuries or illness among missile, while Pyongyang said Washington Chol told the talks, referring to his coun- those trapped. Snow has reached 1.36 meters in Fukui pre- was considering a pre-emptive strike try’s official name the Democratic People’s fecture, 320 km west of Tokyo, as of 2:00 pm yesterday, the against it. The clash came at the United Republic of Korea. “US officials including heaviest snowfall in nearly four decades in the region, a Nations-sponsored Conference on the defense secretary and the CIA director Disarmament days after the Trump admin- repeatedly talked about DPRK nuclear and local meteorological observatory said. The traffic standstill, istration said it will expand its nuclear missile threat to justify their argument for a stretching for about 10 km in the prefecture, was caused by capability. US disarmament ambassador military option and a new concept of a so- some cars going off the shoulder of the road in the snow- Robert Wood, addressing the Geneva called ‘bloody nose’, a limited pre-emptive storm and others stopping to put on tire chains as a pre- forum, also warned that arsenals in China strike on the DPRK is under consideration cautionary measure, an official at a local office of the Transport Ministry said. —Reuters and Russia were expanding, drawing within the US administration,” Ju said. PYONGYANG: An unidentified missile and mobile launcher makes its way rebukes from their respective delegations. Wood took the floor to retort: “If you claim through Kim Il-Sung Square during a military parade in Pyongyang. —AFP “Russia, China and North Korea are to want peace, end your nuclear and ballis- growing their stockpiles, increasing the tic missile tests and stop your provocative Vietnam activist jailed prominence of nuclear weapons in their behavior and threats”. system “achieved its anticipated goal” ing a diplomatic strategy to convince North security strategies, and - in some cases - according to a brief statement by the Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to come to the HANOI: A Vietnamese environmental activist was jailed for pursuing the development of new nuclear Missile defense test Chinese defense ministry. “This test was table and negotiate away his nuclear weapons. 14 years yesterday over protests against a toxic waste dump capabilities to threaten other peaceful In another development, China yester- defensive. It does not target any country,” But other senior figures in the Trump that killed tons of fish in the communist country, whose lead- nations,” Wood said. North Korea “may day successfully conducted a test of a it added. The US has deployed a missile Administration have reportedly endorsed the ership is accused of cracking down on critics. The toxic now be only months away from the capa- ground-based missile defense system amid defense system, known as THAAD, in idea of a “bloody nose” strike to damage Kim’s dump in 2016 by Taiwanese steel firm Formosa destroyed bility to strike the US with nuclear-armed rising tensions on the Korean peninsula. South Korea to guard against threats from nuclear sector and show the US means busi- livelihoods along swathes of coast in central Vietnam and ballistic missiles”, he said, giving no further Concern over a potential conflict with North Korea, despite objections from ness, hopefully without provoking a wider war. sparked rare nationwide demonstrations that saw several detail on the source of the statement. nuclear-armed North Korea is growing fol- Beijing, which considers the installation a Trump’s pick for ambassador to South Korea, activists put behind bars. Hoang Duc Binh, 34, was convicted North Korea is under tightening UN lowing a series of bellicose statements threat to its own security. Victor Cha, was dropped after refusing to of “abusing democratic freedom” and “resisting public offi- Security Council resolutions for its banned between Washington and Pyongyang. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and endorse the idea, according to a recent article cers” following a half-day trial in the central province of nuclear and ballistic missile programs, but Monday’s test of the mid-range missile Defense Secretary Jim Mattis have been push- in the Washington Post.—Agencies Nghe An held under heavy security, his lawyer said. —AFP 10 Established 1961

Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Analysis

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Stock market crash or healthy correction?

he dramatic fall in stock prices on Wall Street that has spooked equity markets around the Tworld yesterday is making investors nerv- ous that this could be the start of a new stock market crash. But the underlying strength of the global economy seems to suggest that the sell-off might actually be just a temporary - but long overdue - correction to a more or less uninter- rupted market rally since Donald Trump was elected US President in late 2016. On Monday, New York’s Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its steepest ever one-day point drop, shedding a total of 1,175.20 points or a hefty 4.6 percent in value. That has triggered panic in Asia and Europe, where stock prices fell sharply yester- day. “We haven’t seen swings of such magnitude for Investors lick their wounds and hunt a long time and in that sense, it’s traumatic,” said Jean-Francois Robin, bond strategist at Natixis. t had been a long time coming. The speed of Monday’s cent (3.97) followed by real estate which fell 5.1 percent dividend yields look less competitive compared with bond “Lots of investors have become unaccustomed to jaw-dropping sell-off on Wall Street had traders and and telecom, which fell 5.5 percent. yields. That leaves some strategists talking up cyclical sec- so-called ‘bear’ markets.” Iinvestors bumped and bruised. But few seemed sur- After the close of trading, equity futures traded sharply tors such as financials, industrials, materials and technolo- The downturn began on Friday when bright US prised that a pullback had actually happened. Some were down, indicating another day of selling was ahead. “If I gy as beneficiaries of a strong economy. non-farm payrolls data sparked fears that inflation looking for the right time and opportunity to wade back in were running a hedge fund, I wouldn’t be rushing to buy; will surge this year - and that the Federal Reserve - but wary of catching a falling knife. “We finally got the I’d be waiting,” said Michael Purves, chief global strategist Looking for the safest bet will be forced to raise borrowing costs more quickly correction we were all kind of figuring would happen,” at Weeden & Co in New York. No S&P sector looked like “Right now there’s no safe place to hide,” said Robert than anticipated. At the same time, US Treasury said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset a safe bet in the current environment. “I have a strong feel- Pavlik, chief investment strategist and senior portfolio yields shot to four-year peaks, as bonds become Management in Chicago. “It feels a lot more painful only ing that this sell-off is going to intensify because bears are manager at SlateStone Wealth LLC in New York. However more attractive for investors than stocks. Behind all because we haven’t seen it in 14-15 months or so, and it’s Pavlik said he bought stocks on Friday, and on Monday as this were concerns that central banks could start to certainly, from the way we look at it, healthy.” he was banking on a continuation of strong economic wind down their ultra-expansive monetary policy Stocks have been on a bull run since 2009, accelerated growth and a rapid increase in US earnings. “This is not measures more quickly than anticipated. “Protected in the last year by strong earnings and the Trump adminis- going to be a protracted sell-off. This is going to happen by central banks’ generosity, investors have got used tration’s corporate tax cut. The S&P 500 rose 19 percent Right now relatively quick because the economic numbers are still so to low borrowing lates, low inflation and an absence in 2017 alone. But with valuations sky high after the buying good,” he said. of volatility,” said Jean-Louis Mourier, economist at binge carried deep into January, something had to give. there’s no Since the S&P’s financial sector fell 5 percent on Aurel BGC. The down days started last week. The shakeout accelerat- Monday, some investors said they saw the decline as a ed on Friday, with the S&P’s biggest drop since September safe place buying opportunity as bank profits are boosted by rising ‘Herd instinct’ 2016 after jobs data raised the specter of inflation and interest rates because they can charge customers more for The current configuration of the market tends to spooked investors. to hide borrowing money. “You have a great opportunity to buy “favor the herd instinct which can partly explains the Monday started out in the red, but calm. The afternoon financials here,” said Phil Blancato, CEO of Ladenburg ferocity of the sell-off,” said Robin at Natixis. But was anything but, as frantic selling set in. “The market pan- Thalmann Asset Management in New York. “With a optimism still holds the upper hand, at least for now. icked for whatever reason,” said Phil Orlando, chief equity strengthening consumer that’s going to continue to borrow “We can say it’s a correction, but I don’t believe strategist at Federated Investors in New York said in the seeing blood on the Street and all they want is right in and spend your best opportunity is in financials and tech- we’re witnessing large-scale panic,” said Jean- afternoon. “The sharp reversals you saw in the last hour or front of them,” Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at nology.” In particular Apple Inc, which fell 6.7 percent in Laurent Bonnafe, head of BNP Paribas at the bank’s so is recognition of the fact that things got overdone.” ThinkMarkets, London the last two sessions, looked like a bargain to Blancato, annual news conference. For many analysts, the cur- Even so, some investors went shopping as they kept who said he bought the stock Monday. “Apple is getting rent bout of selling fever is primarily a matter of Catch a falling knife? their focus on strong economic data and earnings growth. very inexpensive.” “market psychology”, said Christopher Dembik, chief The Dow briefly entered correction territory on The utilities and real estate indexes performed better than While the broader market is punished by inflation anxi- economist at Saxo Banque. Monday with a 10 percent dip from its Jan. 26 record. It the S&P on Monday, but with declines of 1.7 percent and ety, Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at the Leuthold But it is the scale of the current sell-off that is put- ended down 4.6 percent on the day, while the S&P 500 2.7 percent, the traditionally defensive sectors could hard- Group in Minneapolis says investors should buy stocks in ting investors on edge and because of this, what hap- fell 4 percent. Since the S&P’s Jan. 26 all-time high it has ly be called safe havens. These are considered bond prox- energy and materials companies and in a diverse array of pens over the next few trading sessions will prove cru- fallen 7.8 percent. Of its 11 sectors, energy led the decline ies, and along with consumer staples and telecommunica- commodities to profit from rising commodity prices. “If cial. “Markets sometimes have a tendency to create with a 10.5 percent drop followed by a 9.4 percent drop in tions, are seen as relatively safe in even the dourest mar- commodities rise maybe stocks go down over all. Even their own reality,” said Vincent Juvyns, strategist at healthcare and an 8.8 percent drop in materials. The best kets due to their high dividend yields and predictable if energy and materials stocks might come down but they JPMorgan AM. The pick-up in inflation and the rise in performer was utilities with a decline of just under 4 per- slow growing earnings. But with interest rates rising, the might outperform,” said Paulsen. —Reuters bond yields were already making investors jumpy and so the US jobs data on Friday could have just been a convenient excuse to start selling, he said. flight to safety into Treasuries will be long- “Objectively, the conditions are not in place for a real Bond bears smell lasting: Inflationary fears, strong economic crash,” Juvyns said. “From an economic point of view, data and an announcement of bigger nothing has changed. On the contrary, the latest indi- blood, others claw Treasury auctions have and will continue cators confirm that the global economy remains to drive yields higher, they say. Indeed, the robust.” for opportunity 10-year Treasury yield hit a four-year high on Friday after the latest monthly U.S. jobs ‘Healthy correction’ report showed solid wage gains, effectively Robin at Natixis said that markets “are still trauma- confirming an expected rate increase at the tized by the events of 2008, the worst financial crisis ome of the biggest US investors believe the bond market has slipped Federal Reserve’s next meeting, in March. since the 1930s. “But we’re not in 2008,” he said. Investors have been bracing for such “There is no reason to panic. Corporate earnings are Sinto a bear phase. Others believe it has turned into one of the best buying moves in Treasuries. Yields in the $14 tril- on the up. Business indices are at their highest levels in lion market for US government debt decades.” At the current juncture, a stock market cor- opportunities in years. Pimco, one of the world’s largest bond fund managers, and touched record lows in 2016, driven by rection is “actually rather healthy,” Robin argued. That years of aggressive central bank interven- view is shared by many market players, with the US widely followed Guggenheim Partners are among the investors who say benchmark tion in the wake of the 2008-2009 finan- S&P 500 in January putting in its best start to the year cial crisis to keep interest rates low to since 1997. 10-year Treasuries yielding 3 percent - now within reach - are too hard to resist. stimulate the economy. Now, as the Federal Mourier at Aurel BGC suggested that investors “are Reserve is expected to raise interest rates finding out that assets regarded as risky, such as Other players, such as Wall Street bond king Jeffrey Gundlach, see a lot more sell- three times this year and as some econo- shares, are just that”. Investors were being reminded mists predict that the European Central that “inflation and volatility haven’t disappeared and ing pressure to come. “Valuations are beginning to look more Bank will start to raise rates later this year, central banks won’t always be there” as a backstop, investors are grappling with the effects of added Robin. Nevertheless, the current correction interesting,” said Dan Ivascyn, group chief investment officer at Newport Beach, prolonged rising rates for the first time in A trader works on the floor at the closing bell of the Dow Industrial Average at “offers new opportunities,” the expert said. nearly 10 years. the New York Stock Exchange on Monday in New York. —AFP “The shares in the (French) CAC 40 index, for California-based Pacific Investment Management Co, known as Pimco, which With inflationary pressures and massive example, aren’t expensive, particularly in view of the budget deficits having become the topic du outlook for corporate earnings and economic oversees more than $1.75 trillion in assets. other income classes” such as high-yield the breakdown of the more-than 30-year “We can see some further weakness in jour this year, the bond-market “vigilantes” credit or mortgage debt, he said. bull run. Paul Ciana, a technical strategist growth. It’s actually more of an opportunity to buy term has made its way back onto trading shares,” Robin concluded. —AFP rates, especially the first half of year. But we at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, sees still see limited upside for yields from here.” floors. The term “bond vigilantes” was Technical signs the next major support level for 10-year Scott Minerd, global chief investment coined by Ed Yardeni, the longtime Wall Not all prominent bond fund managers notes at around 2.95 percent, the 150- officer at Guggenheim, who helps oversee Street strategist now president at his name- are buying in. Billionaires Bill Gross and month simple moving average, which they more than $260 billion in assets, agreed. sake research firm. Yardeni was describing Ray Dalio believe the bond market is at last touched in 2007. A break above that “We’re waiting for 3 percent,” he said. “We the demand by investors in the 1980s for the beginning stages of a bear market. could lead the yields to next test 3.28 definitely will add there. No one will per- high yields to compensate for the perceived Gundlach, the chief executive of percent, the 200-month simple moving fectly time the bottom.” Investors have risks of inflation and budget deficits. DoubleLine Capital, told Reuters on average, which has not been reached already pounced on bonds even below the All told, the jump in Treasury yields has Saturday that it is “hard to love bonds at since 1989. 3 percent level. On Monday, investors yet to make its way into the broader econ- even 3 percent when GDPNow for Q1 Ciana sees a monthly close above 3.03 rushed into Treasuries as the S&P 500 and omy in the form of higher borrowing costs, 2018 is suggesting annualized nominal percent as technically confirming a so- Dow Jones Industrial Average nosedived yet it will likely start to dampen the hous- GDP growth above 7 percent,” referring called double bottom, which is when yields more than 4 percent - reversing a move on ing and auto markets as consumer loans to a new indicator of economic growth retest a previous low and which can signal Friday when a spike in bond yields, which become more expensive, said Gary Cloud, from the Atlanta Fed. a trend reversal. A close above that level move inversely to prices, triggered an a portfolio manager of the Hennessy Equity Meanwhile, benchmark 10-year note could send the benchmark yields “well into equity rout. The yield on the benchmark and Income Fund. That, in turn, will make it yields have broken above a long-term the mid-4 percent area,” Ciana said in a A display showing the German stock market 10-year Treasury ended the session at 2.71 less likely that the Fed raises rates more downtrend in effect since the 1980s, report on Monday. Richard Bernstein, index DAX is pictured at the stock exchange in percent, down dramatically from 2.852 per- than three times this year, he said. “We’re which some technical strategists see as a chief executive of Richard Bernstein Frankfurt yesterday. —AFP cent on Friday, the highest level since not haters of the bond market here at all. bearish indicator going forward. If yields Advisors, said he would be a buyer when January 2014. Some investors doubt the Treasuries look very cheap compared to continue to rise, it could further confirm the yield curve inverts.——Reuters Established 1961 11 News Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Assad’s main backer, retorted that “no perpetrators More civilians have been identified” and accused the United States of orchestrating a “propaganda campaign” against the Syrian government. The UN said it was looking into killed in deadly... the reports of chemical attacks and condemned what it Continued from Page 1 described as an escalation in violence in Ghouta and Idlib. “Over the last 48 hours, the scale and ferocity of which lies just east of Damascus. Rescuers from the attacks has increased dramatically,” the UN-mandated White Helmets, an award-winning organization featured Independent International Commission of Inquiry said in an Oscar-nominated documentary this year, could be in a statement. seen rushing shredded bodies covered in white dust to In Idlib, the last province in the country to largely ambulances hurtling down streets littered with rubble. escape government control, daily fighting is also claim- Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman added that ing an growing human toll and displacing thousands. few rebels were among the dead because they rarely left The UN commission said at least three hospitals were their tunnels and had better protection from air strikes hit in recent strikes and shelling. “These reports are than civilians, estimated to number around 400,000 in extremely troubling, and make a mockery of the so- Ghouta. He described yesterday’s bloodshed as the called ‘de-escalation zones’ intended to protect civilians deadliest since efforts to broker a truce in Ghouta failed from such bombardment,” said Paulo Pinheiro, chair of and the government intensified its operations against the the commission. enclave six weeks ago. In apparent retaliation, rockets After talks in Russia and Austria last month failed to were fired on several Damascus neighborhoods, killing yield a breakthrough, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator three civilians, the state news agency SANA reported. and top envoys in Syria issued a statement in Damascus Although less deadly, regime attacks involving sus- Tuesday calling for a month-long truce. The measure pected chlorine-filled munitions on Ghouta have also would “enable the delivery of humanitarian aid and serv- been on the up in recent weeks. The US State ices, evacuation of the critically sick and wounded, and Department said on Monday it had recorded six sus- alleviation of people’s suffering, to the extent possible, pected chemical attacks in Syria in the past 30 days. wherever they are,” the UN said. Washington, which last year launched cruise missiles on The UN said existing agreements on the delivery of a regime airfield in retaliation for a nerve agent attack in aid were not being honored and stressed that “if access Khan Sheikhun that killed scores of people, has threat- was granted, three convoys could be dispatched each British students at the Connaught School for Girls in London connect via a video call on Feb 1, 2018 ened more military action. France last month blacklisted week, reaching over 700,000 people in these areas in with Palestinian refugee students from Al Fallouja and Haifa schools in Damascus, which is run by companies and nationals it said had links to Syria’s two months”. While the fighting is abating in some parts UNRWA. — Reuters alleged chemical program. of the country, the humanitarian crisis is still in full swing US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley clashed with and aid groups predict a further 1.5 million people will be her Russian counterpart at a meeting of the Security displaced in 2018. There was no immediate comment though we are worlds apart ... we’re all teenagers, so Council on Monday after proposing a statement con- from the regime or any of the other belligerents on the ove of K-pop we found some common ground,” said Asiya, who demning Damascus “in the strongest terms”. Russia, UN’s appeal. — AFP volunteered to join the ‘My Voice, My School’ project run by UNRWA and social enterprise Digital Explorer links UK teens to learn more about refugees. “It was quite ironic cies. It consistently tops independent surveys as one of because we were on a conference call to people in Philippines crushes the country’s most corrupt government agencies. with Palestinian Syria and we were talking about Korea.” Customs commissioner Isidro Lapena said in a speech UNRWA says it currently supports 5.3 million at the ceremony that he has reassigned 691 of his some Palestinians across the Middle East, including in Gaza sports, luxury cars... 7,000 employees since he took office in August last refugee students and the West Bank. But the United States, the Continued from Page 1 year. Two other employees were dismissed and 16 oth- LONDON: The sugary pop songs of South Korean agency’s biggest donor, said last month it would with- ers have been suspended over alleged illegal activity, he groups BTS, EXO and BlackPink might be sung in hold about half of a $125 million aid package after The Bureau of Customs collects duties on imports added. — AFP Korean but it has not stopped Palestinian refugee President Donald Trump questioned the value of such and is one of the state’s key revenue-generating agen- teenager Tasnim from being an avid fan from her funding amid a widening rift with Palestinian leaders. home in war-torn Syria. To Tasnim’s surprise, it is a UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said the love shared by students at London’s Connaught funding cut would put the stability of the Middle East from trading fees. School for Girls with whom her school in Damascus at risk. “It’s a time when extremists are in full recruit- Global market European stock markets were helped off the day’s holds Skype calls as part of a project to connect ment mode. It’s simply unwise to have 500,000 chil- worst levels by the Wall Street recovery, but remained refugee students in the Middle East with European dren not in schools,” he said in a phone interview from deeply in the red at the close. The selloff striking fear in and US pupils. Jerusalem. UNRWA has launched a global campaign panic fading... investors’ hearts began last Friday when bright US non- “My favourite kind of music is K-pop music, for countries and private donors to help it deal with a farm payrolls data sparked concern that inflation will Korean music,” exclaimed Tasnim during a recent shortfall in funding. Continued from Page 1 surge this year - and that the Federal Reserve will in video call, sitting alongside classmates from two Seven countries - Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, response raise borrowing costs more quickly than schools in the Syrian capital run by aid agency United Sweden, Norway, Germany and Russia - had in India, South Korea, China and Russia. A report in anticipated. New York’s Dow Jones Industrial Average Nations Relief and Welfare Agency (UNRWA). “Do already transferred early funds while four - Belgium, Al-Anbaa daily yesterday said approximately 12,000 saw its steepest ever one-day point drop on Monday, you like BTS?” 14-year-old British student Asiya Kuwait, the Netherlands and Ireland - had pledged investors in Kuwait have lost half the value of their shedding a total of 1,175.20 points or a hefty 4.6 per- replied, before excited chatter erupts between the to do so soon, the agency said last week. “Our edu- portfolios trading in the volatile cryptocurrency market. cent in value, while 10-year US Treasury yields set two groups about their favourite ‘K-pop’ performers. cation is at risk because of a funding reduction,” Recent weeks have seen a widespread sell-off in the four-year peaks. “Did you hear their latest song? Do you like Palestinian refugee Mulham, 14, told students in digital asset, with the value of bitcoin falling from its The downturn was so rapid that some investors BlackPink?” said Tasnim, wearing a white hijab, as London, asking for their support to ensure they all-time high of $19,500 in December to below $8,000. wondered whether they were headed for a crash, but does Asiya in London. have access to education. The collapse has been felt strongly in Kuwait, where others welcomed what they saw as a reality check for More than half a million Palestinian refugee stu- British student Asiya said hearing about Mulham’s investors reportedly account for 1.5 percent of the total an overbought market. “It’s not doom and gloom, and dents attend 700 UNRWA schools across Gaza, the and Tasnim’s circumstances firsthand has made her value of cryptocurrencies. The average investment size it’s not financial markets Armageddon; it’s just a much West Bank, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, the aid appreciate her education and inspired her to do is estimated at $10,000, which exploded in value to needed and much overdue correction,” AxiTrader’s agency says. UNRWA was established by the U.N. more. “Although we sometimes complain a lot about $70,000 by the end of the year. BitFils, a prominent Hughes told AFP. “Markets usually grind to the upside, General Assembly in 1949 after thousands of school, we found that their situation is a lot worse local exchange, reported that Kuwaitis were buying but fall like a rock,” said analyst Naeem Aslam at trad- Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes in and we should be grateful for what we have,” she bitcoin with their credit cards with an average monthly ing firm ThinkMarkets. “Traders have been looking at the 1948 war that followed Israel’s creation. “Even said. — Reuters investment of $6,000, including commissions and other the market for the past year moving in one direction fees. One trader admitted that he had lost more than which was skewed to the upside. Now, it’s time for the $20,000 in just 18 days. bears to take their revenge.” Yesterday, the Kuwaiti stock index fell 1.3 percent to Prior to the chaotic selloff, Wall Street had enjoyed 6,624 points. “Traders don’t know which way to turn as an impressive record-breaking run ever since Trump’s ernment and will be sent to the Assembly soon. The uncertainty is running high,” said David Madden, mar- 2016 election on hopes over the US president’s pro- Assembly guards Assembly then gave the legal and legislative panel one ket analyst at CMC. “The colossal range on the US business tax-cutting policies. Asia and Europe had month to complete the legislation. indices sum up how irrational equity traders are at the meanwhile reaped bumper gains from the improving Head of the budgets committee MP Adnan moment, and while some go bargain hunting, others are economic outlook. “If investors had been waiting for an assault journalist... Abdulsamad said that the Assembly should not debate fearful we could see another leg lower.” Even as the opportunity to take profits, the prospect of higher than a government draft law stipulating to allow the govern- Dow index gyrated in and out of positive territory, the expected inflation and tightening by the Fed provided Continued from Page 1 ment to borrow as much as KD 25 billion until his panel feeling spread that the worst of the brutal downturn just that,” Richard Hunter, head of markets at online completes the revision of the state’s financial status was over. “Dow up! Panic over, as you were everyone,” stockbroker Interactive Investor, told AFP. MPs also insisted that the government should speed within one month. The government wants the law to be tweeted James Hughes, chief market analyst at Yesterday, Tokyo stocks led a collapse throughout up a key reform law on regulating conflict of interests able to borrow from the domestic and international AxiTrader, during a brief breather for the index. Jasper Asia, briefly diving almost seven percent before closing to allow the prosecution of MPs and ex-lawmakers markets to finance the budget deficit resulting from low Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group, down 4.7 percent. Hong Kong lost more than five per- accused of accepting bribes from the government. oil prices. The Assembly then started to debate the tweeted “Trader’s paradise out there right now”, in a cent in its worst day since summer 2015, while Sydney State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Anas Al-Saleh told housing problem, but could not finish the debate before reference to volatility which boosts brokers’ earnings and Singapore each sank three percent. — Agencies the Assembly the law has been approved by the gov- the session was adjourned for today.

Established 1961 13 Sports Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Japan skate king Hanyu ready to rumble at Olympics: Coach Hanyu, strong favourite to win back-to-back Olympic figure skating titles PYEONGCHANG: Japan’s figure skating king Yuzuru the sense of drama before one of the most watched sports Hanyu will be ready to defend his Olympic title in of the Games, which open on Friday. Pyeongchang, his coach said yesterday, after an ankle American Nathan Chen, Spain’s Javier Fernandez and injury threatened to scuttle his double dream. The 23- fellow Japanese Shoma Uno-runner-up to Hanyu at the year-old, widely considered the greatest skater ever, dam- 2017 world championships-are among those lurking. aged ankle ligaments attempting a quadruple lutz in train- China’s Jin Boyang could also provide a threat after his ing in November and has been training in secrecy since. recent Four Continents gold. But coach Brian Orser prom- Doubts linger over how com- ised Hanyu would be fit in time petitive Hanyu will be after his for the men’s short programme ill-timed training accident and on February 16 at Gangneung the absence of the Japanese star, Ice Arena. “He is training quite one of the most recognisable well,” the Canadian told We need every athletes of the Games, would be reporters. “In the last few a major blow to organisers. weeks everything has been minute between However, Orser gave the coming together and all of us now and the Japanese superstar’s legions of have been very optimistic. devoted fans a boost by dismiss- “We need every minute competition ing fears he would not be ready between now and the competi- to compete. “He will be 100 per- tion, but I am really impressed cent,” Japan’s Kyodo news quot- with the way he has been able ed him as saying. “I remember in to manage all of this,” added Orser. “Every day he keeps the summer we got back to training in July and saying getting better, but we have goals. We know exactly what then he’s ready for the Olympics. He was ready in August. has got to be worked on and what we have to achieve, and “So we have all that work behind us and it is sort of in we do it.” the bank. Thank goodness for that because now it is all A fit Hanyu would arguably be a strong favourite to coming to fruition. “We are kind of peaking again and it’s become the first man to win back-to-back Olympic figure mainly conditioning right now and getting some run- skating titles since American Dick Button in 1948 and throughs done,” Orser added. “He has done a lot of condi- 1952. But tetchy Japanese skate officials have refused to tioning off the ice so in some ways he is much stronger MOSCOW: File photo taken on October 21, 2017 shows Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu competing during the senior men’s discuss Hanyu’s progress since his injury scare, adding to than ever, but we need the extra time.” — AFP short programme at the ISU Grand Prix Rostelecom Cup in Moscow. — AFP

Coaching change rekindles

Chan’s skating passion in super-G gold and downhill bronze in Olympics Death Sochi and giant slalom silver in 2010, time for Games said: “You have to compartmentalise things, and it’s tough. “We talk about and denial in it, we know that sport has a lot of GANGNEUNG: Patrick Chan said yesterday that a drastic coaching risks, but we forget our sport is a dan- change weeks ahead of the Pyeongchang Winter Games had helped top flight gerous one. him rekindle his appreciation for figure skating to make the most of his “When you crash, you can hurt third and last Olympics. ski-racing yourself - a knee, an elbow - but this Speaking to reporters after his second practice in South Korea, the (death) is difficult to accept.” Jansrud 27-year-old said his bold decision to return to his native Canada and added: “I’ve tried not to think too hire a new coach with only a few months left in his competitive career PYEONGCHANG: Elite downhill rac- much about it because that bring fears, had already yielded benefits. ers will strap on their skis at the a lot of nerves, I’ll try to keep that “I think it has already helped me,” said Chan, who has said he Pyeongchang Winter Olympics aware away so that I don’t make any mistakes would retire after Pyeongchang. “It’s a big change mid-season. I think of the risks but sometimes in denial myself.” it’s not a very normal way of doing things. But I just had to trust my about the real dangers despite two Luc Alphand, France’s 1997 world gut and I needed a change.” The turning point for Chan came at the deaths in the run-up to the Games. downhill champion and erstwhile Skate Canada grand prix event in October last year, where he finished German teenager Max Burkhart and Dakar Rally driver, confirmed that “the a disappointing fourth. France’s two-time Olympian David word ‘fear’ is taboo in our sport”. “At Skate Canada, at that time I was really uncomfortable and Poisson both died in racing incidents in “However, every skier has periods unhappy,” he said. “I was just unhappy about skating. Period. I did Canada, the first fatalities on the pro- when he’s less physically in form and not like it.” After withdrawing from the grand prix event in Japan in fessional circuit since 2001, casting a when he feels fear,” Alphand said. “It’s November-a move he said was needed to “get organised mental- dark shadow over the sport. up to the skier to manage those peri- ly”-Chan parted ways with Marina Zoueva, with whom he trained “We know we do a risky sport,” ods, it’s up to him to look after himself, in the United States, moved to Vancouver and hired Canadian said Poisson’s teammate Blaise it’s a massive mental task.” coach Ravi Walia. Giezendanner. “You accept wrecking a Chan said he wanted to be mentally happy for the end of his career, knee, you accept sliding into the nets. RISK MANAGEMENT KEY and moving back home has contributed to that. “Not many people Injuries are part of the game. “But the Mental issues to one side, Bernhard have done a change - moving places, changing coaches and then hav- game is not about dying. At no Russi, who won a gold and silver for ing to train and not have as much time as you would like,” Chan said. “I Patrick Chan moment do we downhillers say to our- Switzerland in the Olympic downhills only really had two months of training by that time.” selves ‘this morning, I’ll maybe die’.” in 1972 and 1976, insists there is also The new training regime has been helped along by teaming up with Despite taking an additional silver in Sochi for the team competi- That said, there is an element of the physical side of risk management: different trainers and physiologists to get Chan ready for competition. tion, Chan sat out the next season before a comeback in 2015-16. denial among the elite racers given the that is, ski racers knowing just how far “It has ended up being enough time to be trained to be really comfort- Chan is known for his artistry in an era of ever-increasing quadruple taxing nature of a sport that combines they are willing to push themselves. able and confident,” he said. jumps, a trend he has regarded with caution amid concerns about sheer speed with technical prowess. “99 times out of 100, racers will say skater safety. Dressed in a skin-tight catsuit, back ‘no, I’m not scared. I have respect for IT’S A JOB In the 2017 world championships in Helsinki, Chan landed three support and helmet, begoggled racers the mountain’,” Russi, the designer of A three-time world champion and seasoned Olympian, Chan knows quadruple jumps in his free programme for the first time, but still only shot through course falls, snakes and Olympic downhill courses for the the Olympic drill. “It feels a little more normal,” he said. “I don’t feel as finished fourth, with each of the podium finishers, Japanese duo rolls, on a wide variety of terrain, in International Ski Federation since like, ‘Oh my God, this is the Olympics’. It’s just like another... it’s a job Yuzuru Hanyu and Shoma Uno, and China’s Jin Boyang, landing four. parts propelling them 60 metres in the 1980, told AFP. almost. I’m just coming in, doing my plan and I’m focused on my prac- Chan is set to represent Canada in the team event once again, air, only to slam down for icy traverses “Once they stop, they’ll remember tices every single day.” something he said would be “another great moment at the Olympics.” that severely test technical ability and moments when they were scared. But Chan, who finished fifth at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, clinched “We have a great chance, we have a great team,” he said. “All I can mastery of well-honed equipment. they’d never admit to that today, they silver behind Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu in Sochi in 2014, where he had think about is how I can contribute my best. I feel confident because Norwegian Kjetil Jansrud, who won have to protect themselves. —AFP been favoured to win. of what I can offer because I’m confident in myself.”— Reuters

Local wheelchair basketball tourney to conclude today

By Abdellatif Sharaa

KUWAIT: The local wheelchair basketball tour- nament, organized by the Handicapped Sports Club will come to a conclusion today as the third day of the tournament resulted in Aboudka team beating Tahreer by the score of 54-45 and the Lakers defeated the Olympic by the score 63-48. KHSC Secretary General Abdallah Al-Azmi said he was pleased with the tournament which proved to be a good preparation for upcoming events abroad, as the teams who participated include several national team players. He said KHSC board members are happy with the turnout, which shows a good interest in the club’s activities and is being supported by them. He concluded by thanking all those who made the tournament possible adding that there will be many events to come as part of the club’s sports season. 14 Established 1961 Sports Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Brazilian jockey Ricardo bags world record 12,844th victory ‘My life has always been about horse racing’

RIO DE JANEIRO: For years, Brazilian jockey Jorge Ricardo told AFP. “If you were going to think something Ricardo battled for one of the least heard-of, yet toughest up, you’d never imagine winning nearly 13,000.” Fans titles in sport-most horse races won-and on Monday he praise Ricardo’s professionalism, intelligence and guts. But got there with a 12,844th victory. The win in the rain at another reason for his spectacular numbers is sheer time Rio de Janeiro’s Hipodromo race track equalled the spent on the horse. He estimates having ridden 70,000 extraordinary world record held by Ricardo’s career-long races and has never taken a long holiday. “I never had Canadian rival Russell Baze. much time for vacations. I took a week, occasionally two,” But with the California-based Baze already retired, he said. “My life has always been about horse racing.” Ricardo now needs only one more win-practically a for- mality-to own the record. The hard work is done. A griz- RELENTLESS DUEL zled 56-year-old who has been racing since he was 15, The duel between Ricardo and Baze for that top spot Ricardo cried and raised his was a relentless, slow motion fist aloft. Well-wishers, family contest with few, if any equiv- and journalists mobbed the alents in sport. For about 15 rider and the sweat- and rain- years they shadowed each streaked winning horse other, one reaching the 10,000 Jubileia. “I waited long for this I waited long mark first, then the other and finally I got it,” Ricardo 11,000 and so on. said through tears. Although for this and “I think we have something based in Argentina, Ricardo of a connection,” Ricardo said. came to his native Rio on finally I got it “He must have known about Sunday, needing only three the races I was winning here wins to equal Baze’s record. and I always checked out what Riding seven races he won he won there. There was a RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian jockey Jorge Ricardo crosses the finish line to win at Rio de Janeiro’s Hipodromo twice, and on Monday evening symbiosis.” Strangely, they race track in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ricardo rode his 12,844th win at Rio de Janeiro’s Hipodromo race track he rode six more before hitting the magic number. Now only met a few times, including at a special 2014 head-to- on Monday. —AFP he will return to seek that extra record-making 12,845th head in Brazil, which Ricardo won. win in front of his Argentinian fans. But really the rivalry became more a war of attrition, not just against each other, but against age and the EMOTIONAL DRAIN The diminutive, tough-as-granite jockey seems not to NON-STOP WINNING MACHINE inevitable injuries facing people who hurtle around on As well as the sheer battering, Ricardo has been sick notice the advice. “Every time he wins he seems to be Ricardo has been racing for 41 years, which is just thoroughbred horses. Asked what bones he has broken with lymphoma, and even he admits that 56 “is not a nor- even more excited. He gets even worse,” she told AFP. “I under 15,000 days, meaning on average he has won almost over his career, Ricardo needed to pause and think, before mal age for a jockey.” But beyond those physical travails is don’t think he’ll stop, no.” Maybe reaching the record one race every day. The feat is staggering and unlikely to calling himself “half-bionic” and coming up with this list: the emotional drain of an extreme life. Ricardo’s wife might seem like an ideal moment to hang up the spurs, but be matched, much less bettered any time soon. Apart from collarbone, humerus, maxilla, shoulder blade, elbow, finger, Renata Teixeira, 42, said he was a loving but often “absent” there’s no sign that Ricardo agrees. the now out-of-action Baze, there’s no other jockey in the rib. “It’s a very risky profession,” he said. “You fight with father and that their children “although feeling proud, miss Asked moments after Monday’s big win if he would world who has even reached 10,000 wins. your body and sometimes you’re lucky, sometimes not.” him.” She rarely watches his races live, because “I get now take it easy, Ricardo stopped crying.He grinned. “It “I never in my life imagined I’d win so many races,” quite nervous,” and longs for him to retire. hasn’t entered my head to stop yet,” he said. —AFP

for the two T20 games in Bangladesh on S Lanka’s injured February 15 and 18. Mathews’ absence from the deciding Test starting Thursday is unlikely to trouble Sri Lankan plans given their dominant IOC will not Mathews ruled out batting performance in the drawn first game in Chittagong. of Bangladesh tour Sri Lanka’s top-order fired in their only exclude Asian innings, with three of their batsmen hitting cen- turies including a fine 196 by Kusal Mendis to cities from COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s limited-overs skipper post a mammoth 713-9 declared. Bangladesh Angelo Mathews has been ruled out of the rest have already indicated a change in strategy for of the Bangladesh tour due to a hamstring injury, the deciding game after adding strength to their 2026 Games bid the country’s cricket board said yesterday. batting by bringing in Sabbir Rahman. Veteran Mathews, who sustained the injury during the tri- left-arm spinner Abdur Razzaq is also expected PYEONGCHANG: Asian cities considering a bid for nation ODI tournament that Sri Lanka won in to make the starting XI in Dhaka. the 2026 Winter Olympics will not be excluded Bangladesh last month, will miss the second and Bangladesh have been a dominant side at despite the continent hosting three consecutive final Test against the hosts as well as the two home after registering memorable Test wins Games, International Olympic Committee Vice subsequent T20 matches. Mathews, 30, was against England and Australia in the 2016-17 President Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr said yester- recently named as Sri Lanka’s captain in the season. Their only Test win against Sri Lanka day. Japan’s Sapporo has expressed an interest in shorter format until the 2019 World Cup. came in their landmark 100th Test in Colombo, hosting the Games for 2026 but its chances of win- But he has been beset by injuries and now when the visitors drew the two-match series 1-1. ning are considered slim with South Korea’s faces a race against time to be fit for a T20 tri- Former captain Mushfiqur Rahim, who scored 92 Pyeongchang hosting the 2018 winter Games start- nation tournament at home involving Bangladesh in the first Test in Chittagong, said the team had ing this week and Beijing staging the 2022 edition. and India. The tri-series will be played at “every chance to win the series 1-0”. “In the last Japanese capital Tokyo has been awarded the Colombo’s R Premadasa Stadium from March 8. Test, bowlers did not get the purchase from the 2020 summer Games, completing the trio of con- Mathews has suffered “a right hamstring tight- wicket, that’s why they could not be effective,” secutive Asian hosts. “The thing here is flexibility,” ness (and) will not take part in the two T20 the senior batsman said yesterday. Samaranch, who also heads the IOC coordination matches”, Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement. “Hopefully the Mirpur wicket will be different. commission for the 2022 Games in Beijing, told the “His participation in the Nidahas Trophy 2018 I have full faith in our bowling department. We IOC session when asked whether Sapporo should will be decided after an assessment of his med- have good memories here as we beat both be excluded due to the number of Asian hosts. ical conditions.” England and Australia in Dhaka, so obviously the Thisara Perera is likely to stand in as captain “We are going to be flexible to make sure we team will be confident.” —AFP Angelo Mathews organise the best possible Games in the best possi- ble place for the best athletes in the world,” said Samaranch, the son of the late former IOC President. “It is not up to the executive board to in the latest edition of the Dhaka Premier League, a Lord’s in August 2010. The trio admitted to working exclude anybody. We are in a dialogue stage. It is Disgraced popular Bangladesh club franchise which runs until with a bookmaker and served time in prison in England not a formal process with a list of questions and March 20. Butt has committed to a full season for local before being suspended for a minimum five years by answers. We will accept anybody who wants to talk ex-Pakistan giants Mohammedan Sporting Club, a club captained the International Cricket Council. to us.” Unlike some other sports organisations by Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan. The for- The ban ended on September 1, 2015. Amir has since there is no official rotation system by region for the mer Pakistan skipper is expected to make his debut returned to international cricket but Butt and Asif’s Olympics. skipper Butt to against Brothers Union today. careers were limited to Pakistan’s domestic competi- Switzerland’s Sion and Stockholm have also Mohammedan official Wasim Khan said the club was tion. Butt was allowed to play two matches in a expressed interest in the Games as well as cities from looking for a left-handed opener and Butt “easily fit” Twenty20 competition in the United Arab Emirates in Austria and the United States and Canada among play in Bangladesh the profile, adding they were not concerned about his January-one controversial match in that event is under others. After a newly-introduced dialogue phase the past. “It happened long, long ago. He already served investigation by the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit-before IOC session in October will invite specific candidates DHAKA: The disgraced former Pakistan captain out his ban,” he said. “We don’t think it should be an being cleared to play in Bangladesh. to bid, with a decision to be taken in 2019. The bid Salman Butt has arrived in Bangladesh to play his first issue now. We have seen him scoring runs and that is Dhaka Premier League is a 50-over tournament fea- process has been overhauled after a string of cities full-fledged competition outside his homeland since important to us.” turing many retired international players including pulled out in previous bids, fearful of the Games’ serving a five-year ban for spot fixing, an official said Butt was captain of Pakistan when fast bowlers Pakistan’s Wasim Akram and Shahid Afridi, Sri Lanka’s cost, size and environmental impact. —Reuters yesterday. Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir delivered delib- Arjuna Ranatunga and Sanath Jayasuriya, India’s Ajay He was cleared by the Pakistan Cricket Board to play erate no-balls during a Test match against England at Jadeja and England’s Neil Fairbrother. — AFP

track, had two walk or run distance cate- Bannis and Mohammed Khalil while the BeInspired gories, 5km or run 10km. Participants could winners from the women’s side were: Ms also choose to run a 5-km obstacle course, Durra Al Subouei, Ms Meghann Cleary, and also on the same sandy track. The event was Ms Lisa Jennings. Series holds run a crowd pleaser, attracting 450 partici- The winners of the 5km Obstacle Mud pants. Post-race, winners of all distance Run were Ms Sarah Al Safti, Ms Maryam event with a twist categories were announced, the winners for Khaja and Ms Lamees Najem from the the 5km mud run were: Sulaiman Abbas females group, and Maali Babiker, Ahmed KUWAIT: The BeInspired Race Series, Ahmad, Ali Al Thajeel, and Khalid Al Al Sharhan and Talal Al Miahi from the sponsored by Gulf Bank, held its fourth Shimmari. The winners of the women’s 5km males group. Commenting on the race and race, the Mud Run and Obstacle Mud Run, were: Ms Najlaa Al Juraiwi, Ms Renata the BeInspired Series, Ms Laila Al-Qatami, on 27 January 2018 at Inspire Sahara Health Hoppova, and Ms Fatima Shaheen Al Assistant General Manager for Corporate Club which is located in Sahara Golf Club. Ghanim. Judges also announced the 10km Communications at Gulf Bank said: The Mud Run, which took place on a sandy mud run winners: Ahmed Bakry, Younes “Promoting a healthy lifestyle is a key com- ponent of our corporate social responsibili- ty strategy and we are pleased to be spon- soring the BeInspired series of events held by Inspire Gym, and in cooperation with our friends at Pro-Vision Sports Management. This series clearly is appeal- ing to sports lovers as evidenced by its growing popularity.” Noting feedback from participants, Ms Al-Qatami continued: “Pleased with the suc- the series success is the beautiful scenery and race will be the winners’ competition, to be held cess of the Mud Race, as well as all previous venue of the Sahara Club. On behalf of Gulf in March 2018.” For more information about races within BeInspired series, participants Bank, I would like to congratulate those who Gulf Bank’s corporate social responsibility initia- noted the excellent organization and provi- won today and encourage everyone to continue tives and activities, please log on to www.e- sion of safety measures. Another key factor in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The next and final gulfbank.com or visit its social media channels. Established 1961 15 Sports Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Watford thrash Chelsea 4-1 after three late goals Chelsea stay fourth with 50 points, Watford in 11th spot

LONDON: Ten-man Chelsea suffered another setback their France midfielder Bakayoko was booked twice for in their stumbling season as they lost 4-1 at Watford on challenges in the space of a few minutes before the Monday after conceding three late goals to go down to half-hour mark. Watford reacted quickly to Hazard’s their second straight Premier League defeat. equaliser as defender Janmaat exchanged passes with Daryl Janmaat, Gerard Deulofeu and Roberto Pereyra before shooting low past Courtois. Deulofeu Pereyra all scored late on in response to Eden Hazard sealed the win in the 88th with his first goal for the club dragging Chelsea back into the game with a curler in before Pereyra got the fourth in added time. the 82nd minute after Tiemoue Bakayoko was sent off Monday’s loss has added to the pressure on Conte, for a second booking on who faces more ques- the half-hour. tions about his future Chelsea cruised to the after a poor start to title in coach Antonio 2018 which has seen Conte’s first campaign in Chelsea knocked out of England last season but the League Cup by they are 19 points behind Bakayoko Arsenal before they lost runaway leaders 3-0 at home to Manchester City and are sent off on Bournemouth last week focused on finishing in in the league. the top four Champions the half hour “My position? It is League qualification the same. I stay here, try spots. to work and put all Chelsea sit in fourth myself in the work,” spot, a point behind Conte told Sky Sports. third-placed Liverpool and one ahead of Tottenham “The pressure? What is the pressure? I work - if this is Hotspur in fifth. “I tried to warn everyone about the dif- enough it is, OK. Otherwise the club has to take anoth- ficulty of our path in the league and Champions er decision.” League,” said Chelsea coach Antonio Conte. “We per- It was a different story for new Watford manager formed very bad but maybe I made the mistakes with Javi Gracia who modestly described the victory in his the starting XI today. My choice was very poor I first home match in charge as a “good beginning” for think.” Mid-table Watford had taken the lead in the his side, who sit in 11th place but are still only six points 43rd with a Troy Deeney penalty after Chelsea goal- clear of the relegation zone. “I think it is important not LONDON: Chelsea’s Spanish midfielder Pedro (C) vies with Watford’s English-born Jamaican defender Adrian Mariappa keeper Thibaut Courtois brought down on-loan only for three points but for the motivation to believe in (L) during the English Premier League football match between Watford and Chelsea at Vicarage Road Stadium in Barcelona winger Gerard Deulofeu. our possibilities,” Gracia told reporters. “I think it is Watford, north of London. —AFP By that stage, Chelsea were down to 10 men after very important today.” — Reuters

Champions League. New-look Arsenal Before kick-off in north London even that target seemed further away than ever. Not only was Arsenal’s malaise a cause for concern, but there were also doubts just the tonic over Wenger’s moves for former Dortmund team-mates Premier League Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan. After a disappointing for Arsene Wenger spell at United, Mkhitaryan was dismissed in some looking to introduce quarters as a fading force and nothing more than a makeweight in the deal that sent Sanchez to Old LONDON: Just days after Arsenal were lurching Trafford. ‘winter break’ towards another crisis, Arsene Wenger can suddenly look to a brighter future thanks to a revitalised attack ‘POSITIVE SWING’ spearheaded by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Aubameyang’s goal record with Dortmund was before 2022 Henrikh Mkhitaryan. exemplary but there were questions about his volatile An error-strewn 3-1 defeat at struggling Swansea personality. Even he described himself as a “crazy kid”- LONDON: The Premier League said yesterday last Tuesday was the latest low-point of a troubled sea- a trait that led him to him clashing with his Bundesliga that it is open to introducing a mid-season break, son for Arsenal.Coming just days after Alexis Sanchez club on several occasions. Those issues may yet resur- with British media reporting that it could be imple- finally got his wish to leave Arsenal in a blockbuster face, but for now Wenger is keen to accentuate the mented before 2022 as part of the next TV rights move to Manchester United, Wenger was once again positives after the eye-catching elan with which deal. under fire from angry fans frustrated by the club’s fail- Mkhitaryan, making his first Arsenal start, and Talks have been ongoing between the Football ure to win the Premier League since 2004. Aubameyang, on his debut, stole the show against Association (FA) and the English Football League But a week is a long time in the frenzied world of Everton. “When you have new players it gives always a (EFL) regarding the proposal as they explore the English football and by the final whistle at the Emirates little positive swing, and it wakes everybody up as well, possibility of bringing the English fixture schedules Stadium on Saturday, the Arsenal manager was all because there’s suddenly competition so they have to in line with the top leagues in Germany, France, smiles as he reflected on the speed at which percep- live with that as well,” said Wenger, who now faces the Italy and Spain. tions can change. It was little wonder Wenger was in conundrum of how to use previous record signing According to reports, the prospect of a such an upbeat mood as he had just watched Gabon Alexandre Lacazette. European winter break is referenced in the tender striker Aubameyang, a £56 million ($78 million) club- “Overall, I think as well we have a game based on documents that have been sent to potential broad- record signing from Borussia Dortmund, and Armenia team spirit so that kind of acceptance is very important cast partners. The next domestic TV rights deal midfielder Mkhitaryan produce superb first appear- and when they show on a football field that they accept will cover 2019 to 2022, the results of which are ances at their new club’s stadium in a 5-1 demolition of our game, they are even easier to integrate into the due to be announced next week. Everton. Aubameyang’s pace and movement tormented team. “Your main target is just to get the players to Arsene Wenger In response to media speculation, the Premier the Everton defence as he netted with a composed enjoy the game they play, to share it with the fans, so League released a statement yesterday saying it first-half finish, while Mkhitaryan’s range of passing when you have that positive experience it’s great for was examining ways to ease fixture congestion, provided three assists as he linked up with fellow play- you.” Aubameyang’s impact was even more impressive “There are similarities there. Santi was an exceptional including a winter break. “The Premier League has maker Mesut Ozil to devastating effect. given he had only two 45-minute training sessions and football player. But he for sure has the technical level to been in discussions with the FA and EFL for sever- A blur of one-touch passing, with Ozil, Mkhitaryan was battling an illness ahead of his debut. But it was play in our team,” Wenger said. “I met Mkhitaryan al months regarding the challenges of the increas- and Alex Iwobi switching positions behind Mkhitaryan, so assured in possession, who caught before, before he came here, because I always liked his ingly congested English football calendar, and Aubameyang, Arsenal’s effervescent performance was Wenger’s eye, drawing comparisons with Santi Cazorla, game but he’s a player completely focused on football, ways in which we can work together to ease fix- by far their most encouraging of a season that sees whose metronomic passing was such a key for Arsenal dedicated totally to the game. “He looks happy to play ture congestion while also giving players a mid- them engaged in a draining battle to qualify for the before his injury problems took hold. football because he just loves it.”— AFP season break,” the statement said. “Provided space can be found in the calendar, we are open to this in principle and will continue constructive discussions with our football stake- Mariam Erzouqi holders to seek a workable solution.” It is reported that the break would take place in January and would not impact the traditional English festive fix- wins gold in ture schedule. A winter break has long been mooted in the 10m Air rifle Premier League, not least by overseas coaches who have argued that the existing schedule is too taxing on players. Louis van Gaal described play- By Abdellatif Sharaa ing through the English winter as “evil” during his tenure as Manchester United manager. His succes- KUWAIT: Kuwait shooter Mariam Erzouqi won the sor, Jose Mourinho, said in November that it ham- gold medal in the 10m Air rifle event at the Fourth pers English clubs’ chances in the knockout stages Women’s Clubs tournament being held in Sharjah, UAE of European competitions. from Feb 2-12, with the participation of 15 Arab coun- There have also been suggestions that the lack tries in various games. of a break leaves Premier League players tired for Erzouqi scored 619.2 points, while Bahrain’s Safa Al- international competitions and in particular has Dousary took second place with 617.7 points and her been part of the reason behind the England nation- compatriot Nouf Al-Dousary took third place with al team’s poor tournament record in recent years. 615.5 points. England manager Gareth Southgate, however, Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti team of (Mariam Erzouqi, expressed doubt in December about whether a Fatima Abdelmalek and Munira Al-Anjari) won second break would significantly enhance the team’s place in the same event as Bahrain won gold and the prospects of winning a first major trophy since bronze went to Oman. 1966. — Reuters Secretary General of Arab and Kuwait Shooting Federations Obaid Al-Osaimi dedicated the win to HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and the Kuwaiti people, as the Matches on TV achievement coincides with the celebrations of the national days, as well as the 12th anniversary of HH the (Local Timings) Amir’s ascension to power. Al-Osaimi lauded the spirit of Kuwait shooters and SPAIN COPA DEL REY their determination to win, adding that Kuwait Shooting Sport Club is proud of what they have achieved. Al-Osaimi thanked the Public Sports Authority Sevilla v Leganes 23:30 and its Director General Dr Humoud Fulaiteh and his deputies for their continued support of Kuwait beIN SPORTS HD 3 shooting. Established 1961 Sport

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7، 2018

Japan skate king Hanyu ready S Lanka’s injured Mathews Watford thrash Chelsea 4-1 13to rumble at Olympics: Coach 14 ruled out of Bangladesh tour 15 after three late goals

INDIANAPOLIS: Mike Scott #30 and Ian Mahinmi #28 of the Washington Wizards goes up for a rebound against the Indiana Pacers on Monday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.— AFP Wizards top Pacers, Pistons beat Blazers Dirk Nowitzki reaches 50,000 minutes

LOS ANGELES: Bradley Beal scored 21 on 9-of-16 seven shots and mixed in three turnovers in their game- the worst record in the NBA-upset host Miami. Miami 13. Jrue Holiday paced the Pelicans with 28 points. shooting to lead eight Washington players in double ending scoring drought. had a chance to send the game to overtime on its final figures in a win at Indiana. The Wizards have won five possession with 13 seconds left, but Josh Richardson NUGGETS 121, HORNETS 104 consecutive games, all since John Wall went down with PISTONS 111, TRAIL BLAZERS 91 missed a contested mid-range jumper. Miami’s Tyler Gary Harris scored 27 points and host Denver used a knee injury. He had a procedure last week and is Blake Griffin posted 21 points, nine rebounds and six Johnson grabbed the rebound, but his shot was blocked an array of 3-point shooting to produce a victory over expected to be out six to eight weeks. Kelly Oubre Jr. assists, and Detroit stretched its winning streak to four by Bismack Biyombo. After a review in which a goal- Charlotte. Seven Denver players hit at least one 3-point contributed 15 points and Otto Porter Jr. 13 for the games by pulling away from visiting Portland. Detroit tending call on Biyombo was overturned, Miami got one basket, topped by Harris with five (on seven attempts). Wizards, who shot 54.9 percent from the field. reached the .500 mark more chance with 1.8 Jamal Murray, who made four treys, and Will Barton, Washington’s Markieff Morris contributed 11 points and is 3-0 since Griffin seconds left, but Justise who supplied eight assists, both posted 18 points. and a team-high 10 rebounds. Indiana’s Bojan joined the starting line- Winslow’s bad inbounds Nikola Jokic added 15 points and 16 rebounds for the Bogdanovich scored 29 points. up. The five-time All- pass was intercepted by Nuggets, who completed a 3-0 homestand. Kemba Star was acquired from Orlando to end the game. Walker scored 20 points and Dwight Howard added 19 LA CLIPPERS 104, DALLAS 101 the Los Angeles Clippers Gary Harris points for the Hornets. Dirk Nowitzki became the sixth NBA player to reach a week ago. Andre JAZZ 133, PELICANS 109 the 50,000-minute milestone, but Danilo Gallinari stole Drummond racked up 17 scores 27 Rodney Hood came KINGS 104, BULLS 98 the spotlight with two lead-changing free throws with points, 17 rebounds and off the bench to score 30 Bogdan Bogdanovic scored a team-high 15 points, 24 seconds remaining Monday, helping the host Los five assists for the points points as hot-shooting and Sacramento rallied from a 21-point, first-half Angeles Clippers overtake the Dallas Mavericks 104- Pistons, and Anthony Utah won its sixth con- deficit to beat visiting Chicago. George Hill scored 14 101. Gallinari, playing just his third game since missing Tolliver scored 13 of his secutive game with a points for the Kings, and Garrett Temple had 12. Zach almost two months with a partially torn left glute, fin- 15 points during the victory at New Orleans. LaVine scored a season-high 27 points to lead the ished with a season-best 28 points. Tobias Harris added fourth quarter. Damian The Jazz made 58.4 per- Bulls, who lost their seventh game in a row. Chicago 19 for the Clippers, who scored the game’s final 13 Lillard led the Trail Blazers with 20 points. cent (52 of 89) of their field-goal attempts, including center Robin Lopez was ejected late in the first half for points after trailing 101-91 with 4:42 to go. The win was 66.7 percent (14 of 21) of their 3-point tries. Utah’s screaming at officials about what he believed should the Clippers’ fourth in their past five games and 14th in MAGIC 111, HEAT 109 Ricky Rubio had 20 points and 11 assists, Derrick have been a foul call. Lopez, who is a candidate to be their past 20. Wesley Matthews had 23 points and Jonathon Simmons drove the lane for a game-win- Favors scored 19, Rudy Gobert had 19 points and 10 traded this week, threw a chair in the tunnel on his way Devin Harris 16 for the Mavericks, who missed their last ning dunk with 1:31 left as Orlando-which entered with rebounds, Joe Ingles scored 18 and Royce O’Neale had to the locker room. — Reuters

four years still to go to the tournament. reduced to 20,000. It was one of Hadid’s last Qatar stadium to The Khalifa International Stadium, also the major designs before her death in March 2016, venue for the 2019 World Athletics aged 65. Major works by Hadid include the Championships, was completed last year. “We Guangzhou Opera House in China, the Bergisel be completed will be finishing hopefully by the end of this year ski jump and the aquatics centre at the 2012 and then ready to use,” Thani Al-Zarraa, Al- London Olympics. Wakrah’s project manager told AFP. Zarraa said the stadium would “be one of her by end of year One of the major tasks ahead is to fit the sta- (Hadid’s) legacies”. The project has not been dium’s distinctive retractable roof-meant to without controversy. Qatar has come under resemble the sails of a traditional dhow fishing intense pressure for its human rights record and DOHA: The Qatar World Cup venue designed boat-comprised of some 1,400 pieces, which treatment of its huge migrant labour force, num- by celebrated Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid will be shipped to Qatar from Italy. bering some two million, since winning the right will be finished by the end of 2018, officials Once completed, 2022 World Cup officials to host the 2022 World Cup. responsible for the project said yesterday. The will trial the stadium with “test matches” includ- Hadid took successful legal action when it was 40,000 capacity, $575 million (465 million ing potential international friendlies, said Zarraa. claimed she had no concern for the plight of euros) Al-Wakrah Stadium is expected to be He said the design would also make it “one of labourers in Qatar helping build Al-Wakrah. She one of two further 2022 venues completed this the loudest stadiums” in 2022. also had to defend claims that the stadium’s design year. Building work on the 60,000 Al-Bayt sta- “All the ambience and cheering will hit the was offensive and resembled female genitalia. dium is also expected to be completed by roof and come back into the stadium,” he said. Baghdad-born Hadid called such criticism “embar- December. If so, it will mean Qatar-which has Al-Wakrah, some 15 kilometres south of the rassing”. Qatar is building eight stadiums for the said it is spending almost $500 million a week DOHA: Qatar’s Thani Al-Zarraa, project Manager of Al-Wakrah Stadium, a World capital Doha, will be used during the World Cup World Cup, although FIFA has yet to decide on a Cup venue designed by celebrated Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, directs on World Cup-related projects-will have built for games up to and including quarter-finals. final number of venues and could instruct the gas- workers at the site yesterday. — AFP almost half of its proposed eight venues with After the World Cup, the capacity will be rich Gulf state to build a ninth. —AFP Established 1961

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018 Business Kuwait’s real estate activity Boeing, Embraer near deal KAMCO wins ‘Best Kuwait 18remained buoyant in 2017 19 on commercial air business 21 Equity Fund’ by MENA FM

Kuwait oil output to hit 3.225m bpd by March

Production cut agreement helps balance market: Al-Rashidi

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s oil production capacity will reach combination of factors, most notably the recovery of Rashidi said that the strategy of the oil sector is always 3.255 million bpd by the end of next March, Kuwait’s Oil growth rate of demand, improving the rate of growth of working to raise the volume of proved reserves through Minister and Minister of Electricity and Water Bakheet Al- the global economy and the geopolitical and technical exploration operations and increase oil extraction rates. Rashidi said. Al-Rashidi said in an interview with KUNA developments, which affect production of some countries. On the impact of Kuwait’s oil projects on the fluctuation of yesterday that the volume of Kuwaiti exports of crude oil oil prices, he pointed out that they are strategic long-term is about 2.1 million barrels per day, while the daily produc- No specific fair price and diversified projects covering all oil fields, stressing that tion volume is about 2.7 million barrels per day in line with On the current oil prices, he said that there is “no spe- the KPC is continuing to implement them regardless of the agreement to cut production between the Organization cific fair price” because it changes permanently according fluctuating prices. of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and producers to market conditions, as the price level reflects the state of from outside the cartel. the oil market, noting that the state of improving the fun- Al-Zour refinery He said that the producers’ agreement from within and damentals of the oil market will strengthen prices levels in On the importance of the project of environmental fuel outside OPEC to reduce production, which came into the coming months. and Al-Zour refinery at the moment, he stressed that they force in January 2017, contributed to the efforts to restore With regard to the impact of US rock oil at price levels, are environmentally strategic projects aimed at protecting the balance of markets, which reflected positively on oil he said that increased production led to imbalance of the the environment and meet the local and global needs in Oil Minister and Minister of Electricity and Water prices, which rose in the past period following improve- market with the increase in supply, which contributed to accordance with the highest standards for the specifica- Bakheet Al-Rashidi ment in the balance of demand and supply in the markets. the weakness of crude oil prices in previous years and tions of petroleum products. He explained that the agreement proved effective in other factors, pointing out that there are expectations of He pointed out that the environmental fuel project aims controlling the balance of demand and supply in order to continued increase in rock oil production in the coming to produce an environmentally-clean Kuwaiti production in pointing to existing projects in the field of aromatics and achieve balance in the markets, stressing that the funda- months. On KPC’s new strategy of producing 4.750 million line with global demand patterns in the markets as well as olefins inside and outside the country, as well as the exis- mentals of the market will be reviewed at the Ministerial barrels per day (bpd) by 2040, he said that the KPC has “maintaining our markets and secure new markets”, noting tence of many investment opportunities under study. Conference of (OPEC) in June. translated its strategic directions into a roadmap to ensure that the completion rates in the project is 90 percent and is He pointed out that the strategy of KPC is based on He pointed out that the recent decision on the exten- its achievement and supports Kuwait’s domestic and inter- expected to be completed by the end of this year. the principle of complementarity between the various sion of the agreement to reduce production until the end national role as a reliable source of energy security. The oil minister said that Al-Zour refinery project will activities carried out by the oil and gas industry in Kuwait, of this year will achieve the balance required by the end of He pointed to the need to invest in exploration and be completed in 2019, as nearly 45 percent has so far been which starts from production and ends at the delivery to next year amid an obvious recovery in the basic market development of production, including the development of achieved. On petrochemicals industry, he pointed out that customers, a strategy that ensures protection against fluc- factors associated with supply and demand. heavy and light oil production to achieve the goals set to Kuwait has a pioneering experience in this industry, which tuations in oil prices and maximize the added value of Al-Rashidi pointed out that oil prices are affected by a raise the production capacity of Kuwaiti crude oil. Al- is receiving increasing attention in the KPC’ strategy, Kuwaiti crude oil. — KUNA

Talal Mohammed Reza ABK operating profit Behbehani, Chairman of ABK said : “Over the year we maintained our cau- grows by 9.4% to tious approach, consoli- dating our financial posi- tion while embracing new KD 97.8 million in 2017 opportunities for expand- ing our business across KUWAIT: Building on its strong business performance our markets, especially in from last year, Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait (ABK) yesterday Egypt. I am particularly announced its financial results for the fiscal year ended proud that this success December 31, 2017. ABK grew its Operating Income by has been achieved through 6.4 percent, from KD 147 million to KD 157 million, and its the close working rela- Talal Mohammed Reza Operating Profit by 9.4 percent, from KD 89.4 million to tionships developed Behbehani KD 97.8 million. ABK reported a net profit of KD 35.7 mil- across the business at all lion for the year, a growth of 10 percent, against KD 32.5 levels. This year will go million in 2016. Earnings Per Share stood at 22 fils, com- down as one of our most pared to 20 fils in 2016. The Bank continued to aggressive- memorable years as we ly add to its total provisions, which reached KD 58 million mark our 50th year of in 2017 against KD 52.4 million in 2016. This was support- operations in the region. ed by impressive performances in Kuwait and Egypt. We will continue to Asset quality remained strong with the NPL ratio falling to demonstrate a cautious 1.67 percent with a NPL coverage of 400 percent. Capital approach, consolidating adequacy ratio was robust at 17.23 percent. In Egypt, the our financial position Bank continued to expand its presence, with assets while embracing new increasing 40 percent, loan and credit facilities growing by opportunities for expand- 52 percent and deposits up 46 percent. The ABK Board of ing our business across directors have proposed a distribution of 12 fils per share our markets.” cash dividend compared to 11 fils in 2016, subject to the Michel Accad, Chief approval of ABK’s General Assembly Meeting. Executive Officer at ABK Furthermore, ABK’s credit ratings remained constant commented, “Today, it is Michel Accad with a rating of A2 from Moody’s and A+ from Fitch. This crucial to focus our atten- reflects the Bank’s healthy capital position and excellent tion on preparing the Bank liquidity, which is fully compliant with the Central Bank of to meet the growing needs Kuwait’s conservative and robust regulatory system. of our customers. We are substantially simplifying our Recognized by Global Finance Magazine as one of the processes to ensure greater efficiency and drive revenue top ten safest banks in the region and ranking No. 29th in growth, and we are investing in new products, channels, Emerging Markets, ABK also received prestigious awards customer service and information technology to improve from Banker Middle East, Asian Banker, NASEBA, the overall customer experience. At the same time ABK is International Finance Magazine (IFM), Arabian Business at the forefront of the implementation and roll-out of the Magazine, and The European, a Thomson Reuters Affiliate. new International Financial Reporting Standard IFRS9 This is attributed to the Banks’ outstanding performance from the beginning of 2018, as well as for the forthcoming throughout the year including its successful implementa- introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) in Kuwait.” tion of the new Finacle core banking system in the UAE This year, ABK’s commitment to ‘Simpler Banking’ was and Kuwait, as well as its investment in digital banking to further strengthened through numerous enhancements maximize ABK’s reach across the region. including the launch of the new core banking system in its Earlier in the year, ABK further diversified its funding UAE and Kuwait operations. This new system, which will sources when it launched a successful debut senior bond also be introduced in ABK - Egypt, will ensure customers issue of $500 million. This issue was enthusiastically receive consistent service, regardless of where their ABK received by the international financial markets and drew account is held, through greater interaction within the strong interest from investors in SE Asia, the Middle East Bank’s systems, and increased efficiency in responding to and Europe. customer needs and requests.

According to Statistics Canada, total imports climbed Canada’s trade 1.5 percent to a record Can$49.7 billion in December, while exports rose for a third consecutive month, up 0.6 percent to Can$46.5 billion-both led by energy products. deficit widens Crude oil and bitumen imports increased 23.9 percent while refined petroleum energy products imports rose 17.8 percent, mainly on higher imports of diesel and fuel oils. in December Imports of logging, mining and construction machinery and equipment also rose to a record Can$897 million. to Can$3.2bn “These gains precede new emissions regulations affect- ing off-road diesel engines and machines. As of January 1, 2018, imports of equipment not meeting the new standards OTTAWA: Canada’s trade deficit widened to Can$3.2 bil- are no longer permitted,” Statistics Canada said. There lion (US$2.6 billion) in December, capping off 2017 with a were also higher imports of passenger cars and light drop in trade with its neighbor the United States, the gov- trucks from Germany as well as refined petroleum energy ernment statistical agency said yesterday. The figure was products from the Netherlands. up from a Can$2.7 billion deficit posted the previous Imports of aircraft and other transportation equipment, month, and higher than analysts had forecast of Can$2.2 following two strong sales months, however, fell as fewer billion. airliners were imported from the United States.—AFP 18 Established 1961 Business Wednesday, February 7, 2018

NBK Economic Report Kuwait’s real estate activity remained buoyant in 2017 Investment and commercial sectors fall behind

KUWAIT: Activity in Kuwait’s residential sector was strong while the investment and commercial sectors fell behind. Overall activity improved as the number of transactions rose 6.5 percent to 4,524. However, sales decreased again in 2017 but a slower rate (6.9 per- cent; to KD 2.2 billion) than in the past two years. While residential activity grew by 22 percent, sales in the investment and commercial sectors fell 19 percent and 37 percent, respectively. The real estate market benefited from some optimism during the year as oil prices improved. The year also saw a stable consumer sector which may have provided some impetus to the residential property market. Real estate sales were up slightly in December, but compared unfavorably to strong figures reported a year ago. Sales rose to KD 171.4 million in December, but were down 40.5 percent year-on-year (y/y) most- ly as the commercial sector posted much weaker num- bers compared to the prior year. Residential sector sales were stable in December 2017 as prices continued to improve. Though the num- ber of transactions in the sector was down 10 percent y/y in December 2017 (to 246 from an average of 280 for the year), sales activity grew by 1 percent y/y in terms of value, to KD 82.3 million. Prices increased in the residential real estate com- pleted 2017, especially in the residential home sector. The NBK Residential Home price index posted posi- tive annual growth for the first time in two years, ris- ing 0.2 percent y/y to reach 152.2. The Residential Land Index declined 3.4 percent y/y, but compared to the 2017 overall, the pace of decline has eased. Investment property sales were lackluster in December. Contracts in the month amounted to KD 39.1 million, down 39 percent y/y and marking the ninth month of negative annual growth in 2017. Transactions also slowed to 76, down 22 percent y/y. December, but declined compared to last year. The standing a temporary dip in the 3Q17 which was during a period of strength a year ago. December Two-thirds of the transactions were apartment units index reached 183.6 in December 2017, rising 1.2 reversed in 4Q17. saw just one commercial transaction; a building in located predominantly in Mahboula and Bneid Al-Gar. percent m/m, but remained down 3.4 percent y/y. Commercial sector activity picked up pace after a Salmiya sold for KD 50 million. Sales were down 65 The investment sector prices improved in The index appeared to stabilize in 2017, notwith- slow November, but was well below levels recorded percent y/y.

Australia holds rates as inflation GM profit beats remains soft estimates, margins SYDNEY: Australia’s central bank yesterday kept inter- est rates at a record low in its first meeting of the year, up despite sales drop with inflation still soft and the outlook for household spending uncertain. DETROIT: General Motors Co yesterday posted The Reserve Bank of Australia has not adjusted rates quarterly results that beat analyst expectations as since August 2016, following a series of cuts from cost-cutting and higher vehicle prices offset a dou- November 2011 that took it to 1.50 percent in a bid to ble-digit decline in US sales volume, and said it boost non-mining sectors of the economy. expected 2018 would be a strong year globally and in Governor Philip Lowe said in a statement that the North America. current monetary policy stance was supporting eco- Speaking to reporters, Chief Financial Officer nomic growth. “The low level of interest rates is contin- Chuck Stevens said that despite recent stock market uing to support the Australian economy,” he said after volatility due to concerns that the US economy may be overheating, the No 1 US automaker is “not overly the RBA board meeting. concerned about inflation.” “Further progress in reducing unemployment and “Our forecast is premised on continued growth in having inflation return to target is expected, although the US economy,” Stevens said. He said GM expects this progress is likely to be gradual.” interest rates to rise 75 basis points in 2018. GM’s The economy has endured a bumpy exit from an results came despite selling 135,000 fewer vehicles to unprecedented resources investment boom, but recent dealers in North America in the fourth quarter and data has pointed to a strengthening labor market and nearly 450,000 fewer in the full year than in 2016. business investment. Even so, wages growth remains SYDNEY: Pedestrians are reflected in the marble wall of the Reserve Bank of Australia in Sydney Thanks to cost-cutting and higher transaction weak while household debt is high, keeping the central yesterday. —AFP prices for its more popular, and higher-margin, SUVs bank on the sidelines with economists tipping a possi- and pickup trucks in North America, the automaker’s ble rate rise only later this year. global pre-tax margin rose to 8.2 percent in the quar- “One continuing source of uncertainty is the outlook Underlying or core inflation-which strips out volatile interest rate strategist Henry St John told AFP that ter versus 6.5 percent in the same quarter in 2016. for household consumption. Household incomes are items and is closely watched by the central bank-is at weak inflation forecasts and below-trend growth GM reported a fourth-quarter loss of $4.9 billion growing slowly and debt levels are high,” Lowe said. an annual 1.9 percent, just below the RBA’s target band weighed on the normalization of monetary policy in the or $3.46 per share, compared with a profit of $2.1 bil- “Notwithstanding the improving labor market, wage of 2.0-3.0 percent. near-term. “Inflation outcomes have remained weak ... lion or $1.36 per share a year earlier. Excluding one- growth remains low.” Another concern has been the Lowe added that the bank expected consumer alongside that we continue to see growth outcomes as time items, GM posted earnings per share of $1.65. strength of the Australian dollar owing to weakness in prices to remain low for some time, “reflecting low below trend,” he said. On that basis analysts had expected earnings per the greenback, with the RBA reiterating that an appre- growth in labor costs and strong competition in retail- “So on the basis of that as well as financial stability share of $1.38. —Reuters ciating exchange rate could slow growth in economic ing”. “A gradual pick-up in inflation is, however, expect- issues around household balance sheets, we see little activity and inflation. ed as the economy strengthens,” he added. JP Morgan prospects for the RBA to move rates over this year.” —AFP

EXCHANGE RATES

Euro 374.910 Japanese Yen 3.735 Asia Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. Sterling Pound 421.960 Syrian Pound 1.585 Bangladesh Taka 0.003249 0.003833 Canadian dollar 241.290 Nepalese Rupees 2.940 Chinese Yuan 0.046187 0.049687 ASIAN COUNTRIES Turkish lira 80.500 Malaysian Ringgit 78.045 Hong Kong Dollar 0.036359 0.039109 Japanese Yen 2.752 Swiss Franc 324.500 Chinese Yuan Renminbi 48.075 Indian Rupee 0.004203 0.004844 Indian Rupees 4.695 Australian Dollar 239.620 Thai Bhat 10.530 Indonesian Rupiah 0.000018 0.000024 Pakistani Rupees 2.720 US Dollar Buying 299.450 Turkish Lira 80.000 Japanese Yen 0.002678 0.002858 Srilankan Rupees 1.946 Korean Won 0.000264 0.000279 Nepali Rupees 2.957 GOLD Malaysian Ringgit 0.073607 0.079607 Singapore Dollar 228.630 20 Gram 260.52 BAHRAIN EXCHANGE COMPANY WLL Nepalese Rupee 0.002999 0.003169 Hongkong Dollar 38.448 10 Gram 133.18 Pakistan Rupee 0.002530 0.002820 Bangladesh Taka 3.604 5 Gram 67.43 CURRENCY BUY SELL Philippine Peso 0.005844 0.006144 Philippine Peso 5.842 Europe Singapore Dollar 0.221848 0.231848 Thai Baht 9.524 Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd British Pound 0.413580 0.421080 Sri Lankan Rupee 0.001689 0.002269 Czech Korune 0.006700 0.016000 Taiwan 0.010103 0.010283 GCC COUNTRIES Danish Krone 0.045855 0.050855 Thai Baht 0.009168 0.009718 Saudi Riyal 80.227 Rate for Transfer Selling Rate Euro 0. 366158 0.373658 Qatari Riyal 82.630 US Dollar 300.100 Georgian Lari 0.120704 0.120704 Arab Omani Riyal 781.315 Canadian Dollar 242.420 Hungarian 0.001105 0.001295 Bahraini Dinar 0.790912 0.799412 Bahraini Dinar 798.860 Sterling Pound 425.125 Norwegian Krone 0.034092 0.039292 Egyptian Pound 0.014079 0.019797 UAE Dirham 81.932 Euro 375.360 Romanian Leu 0.083192 0.080042 Iranian Riyal 0.000083 0.000084 Swiss Frank 280.865 Russian ruble 0.005213 0.005213 Iraqi Dinar 0.000197 0.000257 ARAB COUNTRIES Bahrain Dinar 798.075 Slovakia 0.008925 0.018925 Jordanian Dinar 0.419429 0.428429 Egyptian Pound - Cash 19.700 UAE Dirhams 82.110 Swedish Krona 0.033544 0.038544 Kuwaiti Dinar 1.000000 1.000000 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 16.985 Qatari Riyals 83.335 Swiss Franc 0.316008 0.327008 Lebanese Pound 0.000148 0.000248 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.207 Saudi Riyals 80.920 Moroccan Dirhams 0.021893 0.045893 Tunisian Dinar 126.860 Jordanian Dinar 424.545 Australasia Omani Riyal 0.774591 0.780271 Jordanian Dinar 424.050 Egyptian Pound 17.024 Australian Dollar 0.227671 0.239671 Qatar Riyal 0.078291 0.083231 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 2.004 Sri Lankan Rupees 1.948 New Zealand Dollar 0.212664 0.222164 Saudi Riyal 0.079087 0.080387 Syrian Lira 0.000 Indian Rupees 4.685 Syrian Pound 0.001273 0.001493 Morocco Dirham 33.406 Pakistani Rupees 2.715 America Tunisian Dinar 0.121561 0.129561 Bangladesh Taka 3.640 Canadian Dollar 0.234166 0.243166 Turkish Lira 0.074187 0.084487 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES Philippines Pesso 5.830 US Dollars 0.296550 0.300970 UAE Dirhams 0.080430 0.082130 US Dollar Transfer 300.650 Cyprus pound 17.865 US Dollars Mint 0.297050 0.300970 Yemeni Riyal 0.000977 0.001067 Established 1961 19 Business Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Boeing, Embraer near deal on commercial air business

US giant announces service orders worth nearly $1bn

NEW YORK/SINGAPORE: US aerospace giant great strategic fit.” “These discussions are productive Boeing and Brazil’s Embraer are close to an agree- and we’re continuing to have active dialogue with the ment to combine their commercial air operations into key stakeholders,” Muilenburg said. a new company, a person familiar with the talks told Boeing said yesterday its global services unit has AFP yesterday. signed deals worth nearly $1 billion at the Singapore Boeing would hold 80 to 90 percent of the new Airshow in areas like parts, maintenance, modification company, which would be based in Chicago. Embraer’s and training. The deals underscore the growing impor- military operations would not be affected by the trans- tance of the huge commercial aviation market in the action and would remain under Brazilian control, the Asia-Pacific region. “Boeing is serious about helping source said. That structure could address the main customers optimize performance of their fleets and roadblock to the deal between the two aerospace com- reduce operational costs,” said Stan Deal, president panies: Brazilian government opposition. and chief executive of Boeing Global Services. The companies in Among the deals is an December confirmed agreement with Malaysia they were in talks on a Airlines to receive over- possible combination, a hauled landing gear from move that was seen as an exchange pool main- part of Boeing’s strategy Boeing to hold tained by the US aviation to counter archrival giant. Singapore Airlines Airbus’ ambitions in the 80 to 90% of signed a contract to use smaller commercial air- electronic logbooks on craft category with a new company its Boeing 777 and 787 venture with Canadian airliners. company Bombardier. Boeing did not give However, the talk of a individual values for the deal drew immediate deals but said they objections from the gov- totalled more than $900 ernment in Brazil, which holds a so-called golden share million. Its European rival Airbus said yesterday that air with veto power over Embraer transactions. traffic will triple in the Asia-Pacific region over the next Brazil’s defense ministry has referred to that control 20 years, making it the world’s biggest aviation market. of Embraer as “a matter of national sovereignty.” The region will require 14,450 new aircraft during that According to the report in Brazilian daily Valor period, worth a combined $2.3 trillion. This accounts for Economico, the government would retain the “golden more 40 percent of global demand, Airbus said. The share” in Embraer. Singapore Airshow, the biggest such event in Asia, is Boeing chief Dennis Muilenburg told investors last held every two years. Analysts say they do not expect RENTON, WA: Employees check out the first Boeing 737 MAX 7 aircraft as it sits on the tarmac outside week that the combination with Embraer would be “a major plane orders at this year’s show. —AFP of the Boeing factory on Monday in Renton, Washington. — AFP Carillion’s former finance boss denies US trade deficit ‘being asleep rises to 9-year at the wheel’ high on robust LONDON: The former finance director of collapsed British construction firm Carillion denied being “asleep imports at the wheel” yesterday as lawmakers questioned whether the company had taken on too much risk, put- WASHINGTON: The US trade deficit widened more ting thousands of jobs on the line. than expected in December to its highest level since Carillion, which employed nearly 18,000 people in 2008, as robust domestic demand pushed imports to a Britain, collapsed on Jan. 15 when its banks halted fund- LONDON: A video grab from footage broadcast by the UK Parliament’s Parliamentary Recording Unit record high, potentially putting pressure on the Trump ing, triggering Britain’s biggest corporate demise in a (PRU) yesterday shows (left to right) Carillion CEO, Keith Cochrane, Finance director Emma Mercer administration as it renegotiates trade deals. decade and forcing the government to step in to guar- and former Finance director Zafer Khan answering questions at a joint hearing of the Commons The import-driven surge in the trade gap reported antee public services from school meals to roadworks. Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee and the Work and Pensions Committee on the by the Commerce Department yesterday also suggests The failure has ignited a row over Britain’s system of collapse of Carillion at Portcullis House in London.—AFP a 3 percent annual economic growth may be hard to outsourcing public services - everything from hospital achieve. Imports, which subtract from gross domestic meals and prison security to the maintenance of nuclear product, could get a further boost from a $1.5 trillion warheads - to competing private companies who rely opposition lawmaker Rachel Reeves. “Four months “I’m truly sorry,” he said. “It was the worst possible tax cut package that became effective in January. The on government work for a large part of their income. after you left, the company went into liquidation with outcome. This was a business worth fighting for and fiscal stimulus comes when the economy is almost at “No I don’t believe we were asleep at the wheel,” just 29 million pounds left, leaving thousands of people that’s certainly what I sought to do during my time as full employment, which means the resulting increase in demand will likely be satisfied with imports. former FD Zafar Khan said. “I believe I did everything potentially without jobs, and thousands of people sav- chief executive.” “When an economy is at full employment, an accel- that I could have done essentially.” His replacement as ing for pensions without the pensions they’d expected, Responding to questions, Cochrane said that net eration in demand tends to be accompanied by a pick- finance director Emma Mercer, who had held other but you did everything right at the right time,” she said. debt was too high at the end of 2016 and the company up in import growth and a wider trade deficit,” said finance roles at the group, said accounting had become was trying to reduce it before it faced a deterioration of John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in more aggressive in the years before it collapsed but “Well done Mr Khan.” cash flow after March 2017. New York. The trade deficit increased 5.3 percent to Khan denied that there had been a concerted effort to Earlier in the hearing interim Chief Executive Keith The government is working to protect some jobs but $53.1 billion, the highest level since October 2008. take risk. Khan’s comments prompted a rebuke from Cochrane had apologized for the company’s collapse. 829 redundancies have already been made. — Reuters Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the trade gap widening to $52.0 billion in December. Part of the rise in the trade gap reflected higher commodity price increases. The deficit surged 12.1 percent to $566.0 billion in 2017, the highest since 2008. That represent- Just weeks into 2018, ed 2.9 percent of GDP, up from 2.7 percent in 2016. Toyota forecasts The politically sensitive US-China trade deficit banks rethink increased 8.1 percent to a record $375.2 billion last record net profit year. President Donald Trump has vowed to shrink the trade gap through his “America First” trade policies, year-end bond which aim to shut out more unfairly traded imports for full fiscal year and renegotiate past US free trade agreements. Trump has repeatedly threatened to terminate the North yield forecasts American Free Trade Agreement unless the 1994 pact TOKYO: Japanese car giant Toyota yesterday revised linking Canada, Mexico and the United States can be its earnings forecast, saying it expected to see a LONDON: Little over a month into 2018 and several banks made more favorable to Washington. And his adminis- record annual net profit thanks to a weaker yen and MUMBAI: Indian stock traders look at share have already raised their forecasts for where key US and tration has launched an investigation into China’s intel- US tax cuts. prices during intra-day trade at a brokerage European bond yields will end the year, another sign that the lectual property practices that could lead to major Japan’s top carmaker expects to bank a net profit house in Mumbai yesterday.— AFP tide for bonds has turned as an era of easy monetary policy new trade sanctions on Beijing. of 2.4 trillion yen ($22 billion) for the fiscal year to comes to an end. “The terms of trade are not completely unfair,” said March 2018, up from its November estimate of 1.95 While this week’s global equity rout has driven investors percent to 2.90 percent, while Deutsche Bank estimates Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG in New York. trillion yen. Annual sales are now forecast at 29 trillion to seek safety in bonds and pushed yields sharply lower, that Treasury yields could rise to 3.25 percent, upping its previ- “Don’t forget it is American companies assembling yen, up from an earlier projection of 28.5 trillion, the is just a sign that the march higher in borrowing costs will ous forecasts of 2.95 percent. goods outside the country and then bringing them Prius maker said. In May, the company announced its not be a straight line upwards. It has done nothing to change Robust economic data, a pickup in inflation expectations back in which is the problem with the trade imbalance first drop in annual profit for five years, which it analysts’ minds that the only way for yields is up. Yesterday, and hawkish central bank talk have prompted investors and in goods.” The surge in the December trade deficit blamed on the cost of customer incentives in the key HSBC told clients that it now forecasts German Bund yields analysts to reassess the outlook for bonds. Even after this was flagged by an advanced goods trade deficit report US market. Toyota said net profit rose 40.5 percent to to end the year at 0.90 percent from a previous estimate of week’s recovery in bond markets, 10-year yields in Germany published in late January. When adjusted for inflation, 2.0 trillion yen for the nine months to December, on 0.60 percent. and the US are 26-30 basis points higher compared with the trade deficit increased to $68.4 billion from $66.5 sales of 21.8 trillion yen, which were up 8.1 percent. It joins a series of banks - UBS, Deutsche Bank, JP where they ended last year. Those rises are significantly billion in November. Toyota officials said the profits were the result of Morgan, Mizuho, Commerzbank and HSBC - which over the higher than comparable moves in the first six weeks of 2017, The jump in the so-called real trade deficit at the several factors, including a weaker yen, US tax cuts past three weeks have revised US or European bond yield setting the backdrop for the rethink on bond forecasts so end of the year puts trade on course to be a drag on and company cost-cutting measures. “In the US, the forecasts higher. Other banks such as ABN AMRO and early in the new year. GDP in the first quarter. Trade subtracted 1.13 per- corporate tax cuts of 2017 resulted in a reduction in Rabobank said they were in the process of revising their JPMorgan in mid-January raised its forecast of 10-year centage point from economic growth in the final three income taxes of 291 billion yen,” helping push up net forecasts against the backdrop of a faster-than-anticipated US bond yields to 2.85 percent from 2.70 percent. For months of 2017. The economy grew at a 2.6 percent income, senior managing director Masayoshi rise in bond yields at the start of the year. Europe, the rises in bond yield forecasts were generally annualized rate during that period, helping to lift Shirayanagi told reporters. US 10-year Treasury yields rose to four-year highs at more modest, reflecting caution about inflation, which growth in 2017 to 2.3 percent from 1.5 percent in 2016. Executive vice president Koji Kobayashi said around 2.89 percent this week, while German equivalents remains below the European Central Bank’s near 2 percent The US dollar held onto gains against a basket of Toyota was “seeing the benefits coming from cost climbed to their highest in more than two years. “The bearish target. ING lifted its year-end German Bund forecast by a currencies after the data. U.S. stock index futures were reductions faster than I thought.” Analysts also point- momentum in bonds has surprised us,” said Richard modest 0.1 percent to 0.85 percent. HSBC and Mizuho said a mixed after two straight days of heavy losses on Wall ed to the effects of a weaker yen across Japan’s auto McGuire, head of rates strategy at Rabobank in London. pricing in of higher interest rates by euro zone money mar- Street. Prices of U.S. Treasuries were trading higher. industry. “The reason the selling pressure was more pronounced this kets was the main reason for upward revisions to bond yield The Trump administration believes a smaller trade “So far, foreign exchange has been a positive factor year is that the arguments in favor of higher yields are forecasts in Europe. Forward money market rates suggest a deficit, together with deep tax cuts, could boost annu- for the Japanese auto industry, but it’s hard to predict numerous.” Another large European bank told Reuters it had 10 basis point rate rise from the ECB is priced in for early al economic growth to 3 percent on a sustained basis. if the impact will continue as the yen has recently revised its US bond yield forecasts higher but was unable to 2019. “Market expectations for a rate hike are more aggres- Late in January, Trump imposed broad tariffs on become strong,” said Satoru Takada, an analyst at disclose details due to regulatory factors. Swiss bank UBS sive than what we think is likely,” said Peter Chatwell, head of imported solar panels and large washing machines, TIW, a Tokyo-based research and consulting firm. expects 10-year bond yields in Germany, the eurozone’s rates strategy at Mizuho. “But unless the ECB massively and is considering slapping tariffs or quotas on steel “Foreign exchange will remain a decisive factor for biggest economy and its benchmark bond issuer, to end the downgrades its inflation forecasts at upcoming meetings, it’s and aluminum for national security reasons. Such the industry,” Takada told AFP before Toyota’s year at 1 percent versus a previous forecast of 0.90 percent. unlikely the rate-hike risk-premium will be priced out by actions may prove politically popular with Trump’s announcement.— AFP It has raised year-end US 10-year Treasury forecasts by 0.2 markets.”—Reuters working-class supporters, —Reuters 20 Established 1961

Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Business Investors flocking to safe-haven bonds

LONDON: Eurozone government bond fell as low as 0.695 percent, down 5 basis Central Bank President Mario Draghi said en heavily in recent sessions as a risk-off an advertising ban on Facebook have hit yields tumbled yesterday as a sell-off in points on the day and below Monday’s that the bank is increasingly confident that mood across markets, worries about a regu- sentiment. Several banks announced in world stock markets drove anxious investors more-than-two-year highs at 0.774 percent. inflation will rise along with economic latory clampdown, and moves by banks to recent days that they were banning cus- into safe-haven debt markets. Bond yields US 10-year Treasury yields fell from four- growth, but currency market volatility is a ban buying bitcoin on credit cards have rat- tomers from buying cryptocurrencies using across the bloc fell 3 to 5 basis points, after year highs to as low as 2.648 percent. potential obstacle. Later yesterday, tled investors, pushing prices lower. The vir- their credit cards. Still, many cryptocurrency rising to multi-year highs in recent sessions Japanese government bond yields fell to Germany auctioned 1 billion euros in bonds tual currency hit a peak of almost $20,000 backers say that regulation should be wel- on expectations strong growth and a pick- their lowest in almost a month at 0.065 per- maturing in 2026, while Austria sold 1.4 bil- in December, receding to around $13,800 at comed, and that short-term price volatility is up in inflation would encourage central cent in European trade . lion in bonds maturing in 2023 and 2028. the start of the new year. to be expected for a new market backed by banks to pull away from ultra-easy mone- Both are seen, along with German Bunds, The European Financial Stability Facility On the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp a potentially powerful technology. tary policies. as safe havens. European stock markets (EFSF)will also launched its benchmark exchange, bitcoin fell to as low as $5,920, its “This is an extremely volatile market,” However, a rout in world stock markets, were down over 2 percent in early yester- transaction yesterday. Greece is forecast by weakest since mid-November, before recov- said Iqbal Gandham, managing director at with US shares sliding more than 4 percent day’s trade. “In the case of risk aversion, we analysts to syndicate its new seven-year ering back above $6,000. It was trading at trading platform eToro. Gandham said that on Monday with Asian and European stocks might see support for core government government bond for 2 billion to 3 billion $6,860 by 1315 GMT, almost flat on the day. his company had seen a drop in interest following yesterday, arrested the sell-off in bonds,” said Mathias van der Jeugt, head of euros ($2.5 billion to $3.7 billion). Other cryptocurrencies have also dropped from investors wanting to trade digital coins bonds for now. Worldwide, equities have lost market research at KBC. “But over the long sharply in value this week. Ethereum, the in recent weeks amid the sell-off, but that more than $4 trillion of in value since their term the (bond) sell-off will continue Bitcoin falls second-largest by market value, is down levels of interest remained far higher than peak in late January. because growth is strong, inflation is rising Bitcoin briefly slid below $6,000 yester- almost 11 percent over the past 24 hours, before the fourth quarter of last year. Germany’s 10-year bond yield, the and central banks are heading towards poli- day to its lowest point so far this year in a while the third-largest, Ripple, is down 7 “We are not seeing a mad panic. People benchmark for the bloc, was set for its cy normalization.” sell-off that has seen the cryptocurrency percent, according to trade website are asking what is happening but they are biggest one-day fall in over two months. It In a speech on Monday, European lose more than half its value. Bitcoin has fall- Coinmarketcap.com. Bitcoin is down more also aware that there was a sharp rise in than 10 percent in that period. December,” he said. Bitcoin gained more After a massive run-up in prices last year, than 1,300 percent last year. The plunge in in which investors across the world piled its value has coincided with a heavy sell-off into the market, cryptocurrency prices have in global stock markets in recent days, a skidded lower this year at the same time as break from the traditional narrative often regulators have stepped up warnings about used as a selling point for bitcoin enthusi- the risk of investing in them. Regulatory asts: that it is uncorrelated from other asset clampdowns in South Korea and India and classes. — Reuters Established 1961 21 Business Wednesday, February 7, 2018 KAMCO wins ‘Best Kuwait Equity Fund’ by MENA FM Recognition for consistent, outstanding, risk-adjusted fund performance

KUWAIT: KAMCO Investment Wuheib, Chief Assets Officer of rely on strong research and analytics to make Company, a leading investment KAMCO, and Mahmood Tifouni, investment decisions. This award will also serve company with one of the Acting Head of the MENA Asset as a catalyst to consistently offer optimal prod- largest AUMs in the region, has Management Department, ucts and services to our investors and clients.” won the prestigious “Best accepted the award on behalf of Al-Wuheib added, “We will continue to fur- Kuwait Equity Fund” award the Company. ther enhance our comprehensive and complex from MENA Fund Manager The event was attended by a approach in actively growing our clients’ port- Magazine (MENA FM), spe- number of senior representatives folios through our distinctive investment per- cializing in asset management from the local and international formance levels, benefiting our investors and within the MENA region. investment scene. shareholders.” During the MENA FM award On this occasion, Al- He also mentioned that the Kuwaiti market ceremony held in Dubai, KAM- Wuheib said, “We would like to has been one of the best performing markets CO was recognized for its con- sincerely express our gratitude and the trend is expected to continue. The Salah Al-Wuheib sistent, outstanding, risk-adjust- and appreciation towards the entry of Kuwait into the international indices, ed fund performance throughout MENA FM team for presenting improvement in corporate earnings, and gover- 2017. The Firm’s top performing fund, the KAM- us with this prestigious award. This award fur- nance standards are attracting both institutional CO Investment Fund (“KIF”), achieved a notable ther reflects our leadership role within the local and retail investors. He also noted that the fund, 21.4 percent return during 2017, ranking it as the markets, which is backed by a skilled team of with its excellent performance, will be in higher top performing fund in the region. Salah Al- experienced fund and portfolio managers who demand. Tifouni receiving the award

work. Guests who book during this offer peri- www.jetairways.com, the airline’s mobile app Explore the od, ending February 12, 2018, will enjoy great or via their travel agent. Bipin Balakrishnan, savings up to 15 percent discount on prevail- Country Manager-Kuwait, Jet Airways, said, ing fares on the Jet Airways’ flights from “This special promotion provides our guests a world with Kuwait to selected destinations in India and wonderful opportunity to pencil in their next beyond including Bangkok, Colombo, Dhaka, trip home or embark on an adventure across Hong Kong, Kathmandu, and Singapore. the Far East. Our destinations across the Far Jet Airways Tickets booked as part of the promotion East are perfect for those keen to experience will be valid for travel from February 6, 2018 vibrant cities full of culture and character as KUWAIT: Jet Airways, India’s full-service, onwards with applicable terms and conditions. well as those looking for a relaxing break”. premier international airline, is offering guests The special fares will be applicable only on Discount based on base+yq of promotion- the opportunity to make huge savings on flights operated by Jet Airways and guests can al fare against regular fare. Offer subject to flights to global destinations across its net- book their tickets via the airline’s website at applicable terms and conditions.

with a thorough brief of the various functional sectors within Boursa Kuwait, the responsibil- Boursa Kuwait concludes tour ities of each and the role they play in assuring productive and efficient operations. for students from AUK Moreover; students also learned about the Kuwaiti stock market history, and the nation’s at 17:15 hours, landing in Sharjah at 19:50 KUWAIT: Boursa Kuwait recently hosted stu- the Boursa Kuwait journey, as the first priva- proud trading heritage. hours local time. dents from the American University of Kuwait tized entity in Kuwait and its main objective, Boursa Kuwait is keen to adopt initiatives Grozny joins Adel Al Ali, Group Chief Executive Officer (AUK) at its premises, where it presented which focuses primarily on continuously that contribute to raising awareness of the of Air Arabia, said: “Expanding our Russia them with a dedicated tour of the trading hall; upgrading the exchanges infrastructure and exchange and its operations; as a key invest- Air Arabia’s network, to include the new state capital of the heart of Boursa Kuwait, where the actual business environment, in accordance with ment driver and a significant contributor to the Grozny, forms an important part of Air trading activity takes place on a daily basis. best practices and international standards. Kuwait economy, among young students, who Arabia’s ongoing commitment to our passen- During the tour, students were informed of Boursa Kuwait also presented the students are the leaders of Kuwait’s prosperous future. Russia network gers to access affordable and unique holiday destinations. SHARJAH: Air Arabia, the Middle East and This new flight option will offer passengers North Africa’s first and largest low-cost carri- the opportunity to explore Grozny and expe- er (LCC), announced yesterday its new route rience the rich history and culture of this to Grozny, capital of the Chechen Republic in exciting city, at great value. The new route Russia. Air Arabia will begin flights to Grozny adds to our existing network in Russia, which on 20th April, 2018. already includes Moscow”. Air Arabia’s Russia network, which recently Located on the banks of the Sunzha River, increased by launching flights to Grozny has a rich and diverse, history and is Sheremetyevo International Airport adding a home to the Akhmad Kadyrov Mosque, one of second route for travel to the Russian capital, the most lavish in the world. Completed in 2008, has been extended to include the city of it is locally known as the Heart of Chechnya and Grozny from April 2018. is by far the largest mosque in Russia. Air The Grozny flight will operate three times Arabia, currently operates flights to 140 routes a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and across the globe from five hubs located in the Fridays, departing Sharjah International Middle East and North Africa, continues on the Airport (SHJ) at 13:00 hours and arriving at mission to create an ever expanding network of Grozny International Airport at 016:10 hours diverse destinations, allowing for high-quality local time. The return flight will depart Grozny and cost-effective travel.

VIVA launches ‘Free’ Internet roaming offer during February

ment since German unification in 1990, cov- production during periods of high demand. German pay ers half a million employees in southwestern IG Metall had staged a series of 24-hour Germany, home to industrial powerhouses strikes and threatened to ballot its members like car maker Daimler AG. for extended industrial action if employers deal heralds It is expected to be applied in the rest of failed to offer concessions at Monday’s Germany as well and is likely to influence sixth round of pay talks. Last week’s strikes negotiations in other industries. cost carmakers, automotive suppliers and end of wage Germany’s second-biggest union, Verdi, engineering firms almost 200 million euros is due to publish its wage demand for pub- ($249 million) in lost revenues, affecting big restraint lic sector workers tomorrow. Verdi and IG firms like Daimler, BMW and Airbus and Metall together account for about 15 per- dozens of smaller suppliers. As is often the STUTTGART, GERMANY: A hard-fought cent of the German workforce. IG Metall’s case in Germany’s ritualized system of deal on pay and working hours for industri- deal will reinforce market expectations for wage bargaining, the details of IG Metall’s al employees in southwestern Germany sets the ECB to dial back stimulus further this wage deal were highly complex. a benchmark for millions of workers across year as growth in the bloc is now self-gen- At the end of the day, regional employ- Europe’s largest economy and heralds erating and wages are moving slowly ers’ association Suedwestmetall’s negotia- wage growth in the coming years. upwards. It comes as world stock and bond tor Stefan Wolf said, the cost to employers The agreement between labour union IG markets are selling off on fears that a jobs would work out at below 4 percent per Metall and the Suedwestmetall employers’ bonanza in the United States may force year, which industry players said will push federation, struck overnight, foresees a 4.3 early interest rate hikes there. companies to their limit. KUWAIT: VIVA, Kuwait’s fastest-growing and tor in Kuwait. Launched in December 2008, percent pay raise from April and other pay- But the euro zone outlook is much dif- In addition to April’s 4.3 percent pay most developed telecom operator, launched new VIVA makes things ‘More’ for its customers by ments spread over 27 months. Tough pay ferent with the jobless rate still at almost 9 rise, employees will receive a one-off pay- internet roaming offer during February, celebrat- transforming communication, information and negotiations are expected to end years of percent and the broader slack, which ment of 100 euros extra for the first quar- ing the National and Liberation Days. entertainment experiences. The company has wage restraint in Germany, potentially aid- includes part-time and temporary workers, ter. From 2019, they will receive an addi- This new offer allows all VIVA’s customers to rapidly established a pioneer position in the ing the European Central Bank as it tries to perhaps twice as high, economists say. tional fixed annual sum of 400 euros as well enjoy “free” internet roaming 500 MB in the market through its customer centric approach. get euro zone inflation back up to the as a payment equivalent to 27.5 percent of GCC, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq and Jordan, by simply VIVA’s quest is to be the mobile brand of choice bank’s target rate of just below 2 percent. Work-life balance their monthly pay. Some workers can sending “f” to 102. It’s worthy to note that in Kuwait by being transparent, engaging, ener- On an annual basis, the agreement is Employers also agreed to give workers choose to have more time off instead of VIVA’s roaming internet plans give customers getic and fulfilling. VIVA continues to take a equivalent to a 3.5 percent increase in the right to reduce their working week to receiving the additional money. unlimited internet in the GCC, Egypt, Turkey, considerable share of the market by offering an wages, according to Commerzbank analyst 28 hours from the standard 35 to care for “This wage agreement hurts especially Iraq and Jordan for 3 Days, 7 Days and 30 Days innovative range of best value products, services successively for KD 5, KD 7 and KD 18. For the and content propositions; a state of the art, Eckart Tuchtfeld, well below IG Metall’s ini- children, or for sick or elderly relatives, for the many Mittelstand companies in the rest of the world, 500 MB, 1 GB and 2 GB inter- nationwide network and world-class service. tial demand for a 6 percent hike over 12 up to two years, which had been a major machinery and plant engineering sector,” net plans for the same prices. Customers can VIVA offers internet speeds of more than 100 months, but was still seen as a good deal. sticking point in negotiations. “Workers’ Thilo Brodtmann, managing director of benefit from add-on service for discounted rates Mbps, due to the implementation of the most “The agreed pay rises, and accompany- priorities have shifted. Instead of higher engineering association VDMA, said yes- once they consume their quota for KD 5 and 7 advanced fourth generation “4G LTE” network ing measures, are at the top end of expec- wages, work-life balance is now in focus,” terday. This may prompt more companies plans. These new plans offer postpaid, prepaid in Kuwait resulting in superior coverage, per- tations and should result in annual wage BayernLB economist Christiane von Berg from the Mittelstand - the many medium- and data customers, ease and flexibility during formance and reliability, and has been recog- increases of close to 4 percent over the said. In return for bowing to IG Metall’s sized, privately held businesses that form their travels outside Kuwait to meet their roam- nized as “Speedtest Award Winner 2017 - next couple of years,” Pictet economist demand on working hours, employers have the backbone of Germany’s economy - to ing needs. Customers can subscribe to any of Kuwait’s Fastest Mobile Network”, based on Frederik Ducrozet said. The “pilot” deal, been given the ability to take on more staff seek labor agreements with their workers these plans by sending an SMS “i” to 102. Ookla’s analysis of Speedtest Intelligence data in struck against a backdrop of a strong eco- willing to work for up to 40 hours - creat- without the involvement of unions like IG VIVA is the fastest-growing telecom opera- Q2-Q3 2017. nomic recovery and the lowest unemploy- ing the flexibility they need to ramp up Metall, he said. — Reuters 22 Established 1961 Technology Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Trappist planets have water and may be ‘habitable’: Researchers ‘All the traffic lights we have passed so far are green’

This handout image obtained from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) shows an artist’s impression of an A size comparison of the planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system, lined up in order of increasing distance from their imagined view from close to one of the three planets orbiting an ultracool dwarf star just 40 light-years from host star. Earth that were discovered using the TRAPPIST telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory. —AFP photos

PARIS: Seven planets recently spotted orbiting a dim ferent from the only planet we know to harbor life (Earth),” Cooler than the Sun star in our Milky Way galaxy are rocky, seem to have Triaud told AFP. “But they have suitable characteristics and All seven planets were considered potential candi- water, and are potentially “habitable”, researchers study- are to date the best place beyond the edge of our (Solar) dates for harbouring water, but the chances to find it in ing the distant system said Monday. Though much system to search.” The presence of liquid water is consid- liquid form are highest in the temperate “Goldilocks” remains unknown about the planets’ surfaces and atmos- ered essential for life to exist anywhere. Astronomers used zone-not too far from the star for it to be frozen, nor too pheres, the new measurements have not ruled out the close to evaporate. The Trappist-1 system is considered possibility that they may harbor even rudimentary life, the current best hope for finding evidence of alien life. the scientists reported. “When we combine our new masses with our “So far, no sign allows us to say that they are not hab- improved radii measurements, and our improved itable,” said University of Birmingham astronomer knowledge of the star, we obtain precise densities for Amaury Triaud, the co-author of a study on the subject. each of the seven worlds, and reach information on “All the traffic lights we have passed so far are green.” Water is their internal composition,” said Triaud. “All seven Research teams gleaned more information about the planets remarkably resemble Mercury, Venus, our dwarf star at the centre of the Trappist-1 system, as well considered Earth, it’s Moon, and Mars.” According to study co- as improved measurements of the size and mass of each author Simon Grimm from the University of Bern, the planet, and the composition of their atmospheres. essential for life third and fourth planets from the star are “the most All seven are mostly made of rock, with up to five per- likely” to host some form of life. cent of their mass in water-though it may be in the form “The more we learn about these planets, the more of gas or ice, or trapped deep inside the rocky orbs, habitable they seem to be,” Grimm told AFP by email. researchers said. On Earth, the oceans account for about Compared to our Solar System, the Trappist-1 family is 0.02 percent of our planet’s mass. A year ago, the Hubble Space Telescope to learn more about the very tightly-knit. With orbits ranging from 1.5 to 12 researchers announced the discovery of the seven Earth- Trappist system by studying the planets’ atmospheres as days, the planets would have fit comfortably in the dis- like planets orbiting Trappist-1, an “ultracool” red dwarf they passed in front of their star, appearing as a dark, trav- tance between the Sun and its closest planet, Mercury. An artist’s impression showing an imagined view from the star some 39 light years from our home. elling dot from the observer’s point of view. Findings were Trappist-1 has a mass less than 10 percent the mass of surface one of the three planets orbiting an ultracool dwarf As for the odds of the planets hosting organic life published Monday in two papers in the journals Nature our Sun and is much cooler, which explains why its plan- star just 40 light-years from Earth. forms, “we cannot say at this stage, as they are vastly dif- Astronomy, and Astronomy and Astrophysics. ets can orbit so nearby. —AFP

Third time lucky High levels of for another cellphone radiation Samsung leader SEOUL: Samsung heir Lee Jae-Yong on Monday became the third generation of his family to benefit from merciful linked to tumors legal treatment, when most of his bribery convictions were set aside and his jail sentence was replaced with a sus- pended term. Lee, 49, is vice chairman of Samsung in male rats Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker and the WASHINGTON: Male rats exposed to very high levels of the flagship of the Samsung Group founded by his grandfather kind of radiation emitted by cellphones developed tumors in the in 1938. tissues around their hearts, according to a draft report by U.S. Lee’s father Lee Kun-Hee went on to build up the tech government researchers on the potential health risks of the empire but was convicted of bribery in 1996. The Seoul devices. Female rats and mice exposed in the same way did not Central District Court also found him guilty of tax evasion develop tumors, according to the preliminary report from the US and other charges 10 years ago but suspended sentences National Toxicology Program (NTP), a part of the National meant he never served time in jail. Similarly, his grandfa- Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The findings add to ther Lee Byung-Chull, who founded Samsung (“Three years of research meant to help settle the debate over whether Stars”) as a trading company in 1938, was engulfed in a cellphone radiation is harmful. Although intriguing, the findings huge case of smuggling involving his fertilizer manufactur- can not be extrapolated to humans, NTP scientists and the US ing subsidiary in 1966. He avoided being charged after Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Friday. They noted “donating” the firm to the state. that the animal studies were meant to test extreme exposures to Lee himself was sentenced to five years in prison for cell phone radiation, and that current safety limits on cellphone bribing the then-South Korean president Park Geun-Hye radiation are protective. However, the two 10-year, $25 million and her secret confidante, and spent almost a year in cus- studies - the most comprehensive assessments of health effects tody after first being detained in February 2017. But an SEOUL: This file photo taken on August 25, 2017 shows Samsung Group heir Lee Jae-Yong (C) arriving at Seoul and exposure to radiofrequency radiation in rats and mice to appeals court on Monday dismissed most of his bribery Central District Court. —AFP date - do raise new questions about exposure to the ubiquitous convictions and gave him a suspended sentence for the devices. In the studies, about 6 percent of male rats whose entire rest, paving the way for his release. bodies were exposed to the highest level of cell phone radiation both the fourth quarter and the 2017 full year — and its growing rapidly thanks to its burgeoning smartphone developed schwannomas - a rare type of tumor - in nerve tissue ‘Minus touch’ share price has roughly doubled in two years. The jun- business. He was made vice chairman in 2012, a banner near their hearts, while there were no schwannomas in animals Mild-mannered and often smiling inscrutably, bespec- ior Lee earned a degree in Asian history at South year when Samsung dethroned Apple as the world’s top that were not exposed to radiation. tacled divorcee Lee Jae-Yong cuts a different figure from Korea’s top Seoul National University before studying smartphone maker and shattered profit records every his father-a visionary but eccentric and reclusive leader business at Japan’s elite Keio University and later quarter. But the stellar performance was largely credited Higher risk who rarely made public appearances. Lee Kun-Hee is Harvard. In 1998 he married the granddaughter of the to his father and an elite coterie of Samsung veterans at “The intriguing part of this is the kind of tumors we saw were credited with transforming a once-obscure electronics founder of South Korean food giant Daesang. The cou- the now-disbanded Future Strategy Office, which dictat- similar to tumors noted for quite some time in some epidemiologi- firm into a global powerhouse that today is the world’s ple had a daughter and son but divorced in 2009 and ed key management decisions at the sprawling empire. cal studies in heavy duty cellphone users,” John Bucher, a senior biggest maker of both mobile phones and memory chips. Lee remains single. Since a heart attack in 2014 left his father bedridden, scientist with NTP, said in a telephone interview. “Of course, these But his son is not seen as having inherited his manage- He started his career at Samsung Electronics in 1991 Lee has functioned as the group’s public face, attending were in the nerves in the ear and next to the brain, but the tumor ment prowess, with some critics instead ascribing to him before a rapid climb up the corporate ladder-common major events and meetings with visiting luminaries. But types were the same as we saw in the heart.” a “Minus touch” after several of his pet projects at among offspring of the founding families of the South’s how much he has contributed to Samsung’s business powerful family-run conglomerates known as chaebol. He decisions remains unclear. The Lee clan is known for its Dr Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Samsung fizzled out. became an executive in 2001, a vice president in 2010 secrecy, with neither the scion nor his father having ever Society, noted that the studies were negative for common tumors. Profits at Samsung Electronics have soared despite and a president less than a year later, when the firm was given a media interview. —AFP “These draft reports are bound to create a lot of concern, but in his absence-last week it announced record numbers for fact they won’t change what I tell people: the evidence for an asso- ciation between cellphones and cancer is weak, and so far, we have shipping, have traditionally been massive, ating officer of Australia-based LNG Ltd, Pacific Company. The firm is building not seen a higher cancer risk in people,” he said in a statement on New LNG custom-built facilities that cost tens of bil- which has proposed mid-scale LNG small, modular plants for LNG buyers, Twitter. Brawley said if cellphone users are concerned about this lions of dollars. And so to justify the plants in the United States and Canada. who need to convert the liquefied fuel data in animals they should wear an earpiece. terminals get investment, they have typically required The new designs reflect a maturing mar- back to a gas form after shipping. Unlike ionizing radiation such as that from gamma rays, radon equally massive, long-term supply deals, ket with a more diverse base of customers Typically, such markets will be small at and X-rays, which can break chemical bonds in the body and are smaller to offer often lasting a decade or more. that will drive future growth. first, but the hope is that demand will known to cause cancer, radiofrequency devices such as cell- Numerous terminal projects on the grow as additional customers convert to phones and microwaves emit radiofrequency energy, a form of flexible supply deals horizon, by contrast, are new modular- Liquefiedfu el LNG, Moujaes said. The modular plants non-ionizing radiation. The concern with this type of radiation is style designs built to snap together like In 2008, the average contract was for allow terminals to grow with the market. that it produces energy in the form of heat, and frequent expo- VANCOUVER: The liquefied natural gas Legos, allowing for small to mid-scale liq- 18 years and more than 2 million tons per Demand for liquefied natural gas, or LNG, sure against the skin could alter brain cell activity, as some stud- market is growing every year, but the ter- ies have suggested. uefaction or regasification plants that can annum (Mtpa). By 2016, it had dropped to has taken off in recent years as it is a minals that ship and receive the fuel are be expanded if and when demand grows. less than eight years and less than 1 Mtpa, cleaner fuel than oil or coal, and abundant In the NTP study, rats and mice were exposed to higher levels shrinking. of radiation for longer periods of time than what people experi- The first next-generation liquefaction with new buyers in emerging markets like supply has driven its price sharply lower. The booming sector’s next-generation plant is under construction in the US state China, India and Pakistan seeking flexibili- Overall global consumption of LNG rose ence with even the highest level of cellphone use, and their entire infrastructure is being designed for a bodies were exposed all at once, according to the draft report. of Georgia and is expected to begin oper- ty due to market uncertainty. These new to 33.1 billion cubic feet per day in 2016, emerging-market buyers that want smaller Bucher said the effect likely only showed up in the male rats ating mid-year. These facilities, with far buyers are fueling small utilities and about 10 percent of total natural gas volumes on shorter, more flexible con- because they were larger, and likely absorbed more radiation than smaller liquefaction units - known as industrial users such as fertilizer plants usage; it is expected to grow by 75 per- tracts. LNG export terminals, where the the female rats or mice. —Reuters trains - are “more consistent with market and factories, said Alfred Moujaes, cent by 2027, according to the US Energy gas is liquefied and put on vessels for conditions,” said John Baguley, chief oper- Houston President for Atlantic, Gulf and Information Administration. —Reuters Established 1961 23 Health Wednesday, February 7, 2018 UK experts urge smokers to switch to e-cigs for improved health gains Likely to be far less harmful than regular tobacco cigarettes

LONDON: Vaping, or using e-cigarettes, poses only a due to false fears about their safety.” fraction of the health risk of tobacco smoking and should The PHE report comes a few weeks after a US National be encouraged among smokers to reap substantial health Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report benefits, British public health experts said yesterday. In a on e-cigarettes. Summarising data from hundreds of scien- review of evidence on e-cigarettes commissioned by the tific studies, that report also said e-cigarettes are likely to government-backed authority Public Health England, be far less harmful than regular tobacco cigarettes. PHE experts said e-cigarettes could already be helping some called on smokers and health authorities to act now on the 20,000 UK smokers a year to quit tobacco - and possibly evidence reviewed in these latest reports. many more. Any smoker who has The report said there struggled to quit should was “much public misun- try switching to an e-ciga- derstanding” about nico- rette and get professional tine, with fewer than 10 help, it said, adding: “The percent of adults under- greatest quit success is standing that the vast Growing among those who combine majority of the harms using an e-cigarette with from smoking are not scientific support from a local stop caused by nicotine. It said smoking service.” It also the evidence does not consensus called on Britain’s National support concerns that e- Health Service to ensure cigarettes are a gateway e-cigarettes are available into tobacco smoking in hospital shops along among young people. with other nicotine replacement products Fraction of the risk such as gum and lozenges. The UK campaign group Action “Our new review reinforces the finding that vaping is a on Smoking and Health welcomed the report, saying it was fraction of the risk of smoking, at least 95 percent less part of a growing scientific consensus that e-cigarettes are harmful, and of negligible risk to bystanders,” said John much less harmful than tobacco. “We hope this reports Newton, a professor and director for health improvement will...encourage the 40 percent of smokers who’ve failed at PHE. “It would be tragic if thousands of smokers who to quit but never tried vaping to go ahead and switch,” it CAPE TOWN: A woman smokes a cigarette prior to the Met horse race. —AFP could quit with the help of an e-cigarette are being put off said in a statement. —Reuters

ties in Papua’s Asmat district between September 2017 and February 4, local against Jakarta’s rule for decades and it remains the most impoverished region Indonesia declares officials said. No new measles cases had been identified following the deploy- in the sprawling Southeast Asian archipelago. ment of military and medical teams to the region last month. “The extraordi- Harrowing footage of rail-thin children with exposed ribs at under- nary status of the measles event has been revoked and is over,” Asmat district equipped hospitals fuelled criticism that wealth from the region’s abundant nat- Papua measles chief Elisa Kambu said in a letter dated Monday. No figures were given for the ural resources is not being evenly shared with the ethnic Papuan population. number of children sickened but earlier official figures said the number topped President Joko Widodo ordered military and medical teams to several locations outbreak over 800. The statement marks a de-escalation of a health crisis first made public in across the vast region to treat the sick and undertake a mass immunisation mid-January that highlighted a severe lack of medical care and other basic campaign. But the head of the military medical teams acknowledged to AFP JAKARTA: A deadly measles-and-malnutrition outbreak that killed scores of services in a far-flung island region. that Jakarta’s response was slow. Observers blamed the crisis on a complex mix children in Indonesia’s remote Papua province is over, authorities said. Official Earlier reports suggested more than two dozen other children and adults of government inaction, lack of jobs, logistical hurdles in reaching remote com- figures showed a total of 72 children died while hundreds more were sickened had died in a remote community, but their deaths came earlier than the out- munities and resettlement efforts that pose a serious threat to many Papuans’ as a result of the “extraordinary” outbreak, which hit several isolated communi- break’s official date range. Papua has been the site of a low level insurgency traditional hunting-based lifestyles. —AFP 24 Established 1961 What’s On Wednesday, February 7, 2018 NBK hires new batch of employees

he National Bank of Kuwait (NBK)’s Al-Watani Academy recently received the 19th batch of new employees. They met the conditions of selecting young Kuwaiti graduates to undergo special four-month training course on banking skills such as banking principles, risk management, team work, financial accounting, marketing, negotiation, consumer and corporate loans and practical training in various bank departments with the aim of working in TNBK. On this occasion, Ahmed Al-Ablani stressed that NBK is proud to be one of the largest private sector investing in national youth through attracting them into the banking sector and accordingly qualifying them. Al-Ablani added that the training course was designed according to the highest international standards and latest techniques. LOYAC volunteers bridge cultural gaps between Kuwait and Thailand KIB sponsors ‘Portable Foldable House’ project of petroleum engineering students n line with its ongoing efforts to Speaking on this occasion, support youth as key players in the Corporate Communications Manager Icommunity’s development, Kuwait at KIB, Nawaf Najia, said: “KIB always International Bank (KIB) sponsored a strives to support students by partici- number of graduation projects for stu- pating in a number of activities and dents from the College of Engineering initiatives. We are also dedicated to and Petroleum at Kuwait University. sponsoring the projects and ideas of This sponsorship reflects the Bank’s students, as we believe that the youth strong belief in the importance of sup- segment is crucial to building a porting the forward-looking vision and brighter future for the nation. For this innovative ideas of ambitious youth, reason, KIB considers youth empow- believing them to be key players in the erment to be a cornerstone of its nation’s advancement across various social responsibility program.” Najia different areas. further added that KIB commits itself KIB’s sponsorship included the to engaging with youth in Kuwait by nder the patronage of NBK, Young the National Bank of Kuwait. which correspondingly promotes the princi- “Portable Foldable House” project establishing a line of direct communi- students from local high schools Community Service Manager at LOYAC, ple of peace, and therefore is in line with the developed by students Mariam Al- cation with them. Additionally, the Urecently joined LOYAC on a commu- Ninnar Al Qames said that Thailand’s trip vision of LOYAC, enlightened youth for Alimi, Marwa Al-Harz, Aseel Ramadan Bank offers a number of products and nity service trip to Thailand. The program had many goals. The main goal revolves peace and prosperity.” Al Qames thanked and Esraa Al-Saleh. The project aims services specifically designed to cater stems from LOYAC’s keenness to implement around enhancing the concept of self-devel- the National Bank of Kuwait for sponsoring at developing mobile accommodation to the modern lifestyles and needs of opportunities for youth to engage in various opment through such programs offered by the trip to Thailand, as part of its mission to suitable for both internal trips and youth, including the Shabab Al Dawli experiences and gain skills that would LOYAC to the youth. “These trips organized support all segments of society and its vol- camping that can be loaded and Account, which combines both the develop their character and increase their by LOYAC focus on the importance of cul- untary institutions that support the youth installed anywhere via an automatic benefits of saving and investing. self-reliance. tural interaction and the strengthening of and meet their needs and requirements for a folding mechanism. The program which served 18 adolescents communication and dialogue among people; better future. ages 14 to17 offered a rich collection of self- development, volunteer service, cultural and recreational workshops. It enabled the youth to thrive in a collective atmosphere and encouraged openness to other cultures. The program also encompassed classes to teach children the English language alongside oth- er workshops that taught them Thai cuisine and the several uses of bamboo. Moreover, the program allowed the youth to experi- ence visiting elephant reserves and identify- ing ways of preserving them, in addition to enjoying the Thai sports and community service in the areas of education, agriculture and development. Such profound learning experiences couldn’t have been made possi- ble without the support and sponsorship of

nder auspices of the first deputy PM and Minister of Defence, Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmed and with the attendance of the AmiriDiwan undersecretary, Sheikh Sabah Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmed, Kuwait Formative Arts Association (KFAA) honored the winners of the 12 Formative Creation Festival in which 75 artists took part with 116 paintings and creations. The ceremony was also attended by KFAA chairman and the head of Arab UFormative Artists Union, Abdul Rasoul Salman, artists and art lovers. Established 1961 25 TV Wednesday, February 7, 2018

19:00 Lip Sync Battle UK 20:10 Liv And Maddie 11:15 John Torode’s Asia 03:25 Nella And The Princess 19:25 Impractical Jokers 20:35 Jessie 11:45 Miguel’s Feasts Knight 19:50 Real Husbands Of Hollywood 21:00 Tangled: The Series 12:10 Eat Street 03:36 Paw Patrol 20:12 Friends 21:25 K.C. Undercover 12:40 Places We Go 03:59 The Day Henry Met 20:35 Friends 21:50 Hotel Transylvania: The Series 13:05 Places We Go 04:05 Max & Ruby 00:10 WAGs Atlanta 00:40 Mythbusters 01:05 The Core 21:00 The Daily Show With Trevor 22:15 Bizaardvark 13:35 Charlie Luxton’s Homes By 04:28 Dora The Explorer 01:00 WAGs Atlanta 01:30 How Do They Do It? 03:30 Cyborg X Noah 22:40 Stuck In The Middle The Med 04:50 Sunny Day 01:50 E! News 01:55 Food Factory 05:15 Compadres 21:30 The Opposition With Jordan 23:05 Rolling With The Ronks 14:30 Testing The Menu 05:12 Nella The Princess Knight 02:50 Botched 02:20 X-Ray Mega Airport 07:00 Face/Off Klepper 23:20 Miraculous Tales Of Ladybug 14:55 One Man & His Campervan 05:35 Shimmer And Shine 03:40 Botched 03:10 Alien Encounters 09:15 The Core 22:00 Teachers And Cat Noir 15:25 My Dubai 05:59 Wallykazam! 04:35 Botched 04:00 Nextworld 11:30 Iron Man 2 22:25 Tosh.0 23:45 Lolirock 15:50 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 06:21 Zack & Quack 05:30 Celebrity Style Story 04:48 Mythbusters 13:40 The Darkest Hour 23:15 Real Husbands Of Hollywood 16:20 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 06:32 The Day Henry Met 06:00 Botched 05:36 How Do They Do It? 15:15 The Rock 23:40 The Daily Show With Trevor 16:45 John Torode’s Asia 06:38 Blaze And The Monster 06:55 E! News Middle East 06:00 Food Factory 17:35 Iron Man 3 Noah 17:15 Miguel’s Feasts Machines 07:10 Botched 06:24 X-Ray Mega Airport 19:50 The Avengers 17:40 Eat Street 07:00 Rusty Rivets 08:10 E! News: Daily Pop 07:12 Alien Encounters 22:15 Wyrmwood: Road Of The 18:10 Places We Go 07:13 Paw Patrol 09:10 Revenge Body With Khloe 08:00 How Do They Do It? Dead 00:15 PJ Masks 18:35 Places We Go 07:37 Dora The Explorer Kardashian 08:26 Nextworld 00:40 PJ Masks 19:05 Charlie Luxton’s Homes By 08:00 Nella The Princess Knight 10:10 Revenge Body With Khloe 09:14 Mythbusters 01:05 PJ Masks The Med 08:10 Kid-E-Cats Kardashian 10:02 Alien Encounters 01:30 Art Attack 20:00 Testing The Menu 08:15 Kid-E-Cats 11:05 Revenge Body With Khloe 10:50 How Do They Do It? 00:30 Destroyed In Seconds 01:55 Henry Hugglemonster 20:30 One Man & His Campervan 08:21 Bubble Guppies Kardashian 11:14 Food Factory 00:55 Destroyed In Seconds 02:05 Loopdidoo 21:00 My Dubai 08:44 Blaze And The Monster 12:00 E! News Middle East 11:38 X-Ray Mega Airport 00:50 Lone Star Law 01:20 Now That’s Funny 02:20 Henry Hugglemonster 21:30 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita Machines 12:15 Keeping Up With The 12:26 Nextworld 01:45 Treehouse Masters 02:10 Now That’s Funny 02:35 Calimero 22:00 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 09:05 Paw Patrol Kardashians 13:14 Mythbusters 02:40 Bad Dog 03:00 Prehistoric 02:50 Henry Hugglemonster 22:25 John Torode’s Asia 09:07 Paw Patrol 13:10 Keeping Up With The 14:02 How Do They Do It? 03:35 Escape To Chimp Eden 03:50 Ultimate Survival 03:05 Art Attack 22:55 Miguel’s Feasts 09:30 Shimmer And Shine Kardashians 14:26 Food Factory 04:00 Escape To Chimp Eden 04:40 Tanked 03:30 The Hive 23:20 Eat Street 09:53 Nella The Princess Knight 14:05 Keeping Up With The 14:50 Alien Encounters 04:25 North Woods Law 05:30 How It’s Made: Sports 03:40 Loopdidoo 23:50 Places We Go 10:15 The Day Henry Met Kardashians 15:38 Nextworld 05:15 My Fat Pet Equipment 03:55 Henry Hugglemonster 10:21 Paw Patrol 15:00 E! News Middle East 16:26 X-Ray Mega Airport 06:02 North America 05:55 How It’s Made: Sports 04:10 Art Attack 10:44 Rusty Rivets 15:15 E! News: Daily Pop 17:14 Mythbusters 06:49 Lone Star Law Equipment 04:35 Loopdidoo 11:07 Wallykazam! 16:15 WAGs Atlanta 18:02 Alien Encounters 07:36 Meet The Orangutans 06:20 Destroyed In Seconds 04:50 Calimero 11:30 Bubble Guppies 17:10 Citizen Rose 18:50 Nextworld 08:00 Meet The Orangutans 06:40 Destroyed In Seconds 05:05 Art Attack 11:54 Team Umizoomi 19:00 E! News 19:40 Mythbusters 08:25 Escape To Chimp Eden 07:00 Ultimate Survival 05:30 Henry Hugglemonster 00:10 Empire Of The Snake King 12:17 Kid-E-Cats 20:00 Revenge Body With Khloe 20:30 Secrets Of The Underground 08:50 Escape To Chimp Eden 07:50 How It’s Made: Sports 05:45 Henry Hugglemonster 01:00 Wicked Tuna: North vs South 12:22 Shimmer And Shine Kardashian 21:20 How Do They Do It? 09:15 Treehouse Masters Equipment 06:00 Art Attack 02:00 Air Crash Investigation 12:44 Sunny Day 21:00 Revenge Body With Khloe 21:45 Food Factory 10:10 Bad Dog 08:15 How It’s Made: Sports 06:30 Henry Hugglemonster 03:00 The Long Road Home 13:07 Max & Ruby Kardashian 22:10 Alien Encounters 11:05 North America Equipment 06:45 Loopdidoo 04:00 Empire Of The Snake King 13:30 Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom 22:00 Revenge Body With Khloe 23:00 Secrets Of The Underground 12:00 Escape To Chimp Eden 08:40 Destroyed In Seconds 07:00 Henry Hugglemonster 05:00 Filthy Riches 13:40 Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom Kardashian 23:50 Nextworld 12:28 Escape To Chimp Eden 09:05 Destroyed In Seconds 07:15 Calimero 06:00 Breakthrough 13:52 The Day Henry Met 23:00 E! News Middle East 12:55 North Woods Law 09:30 Tanked 07:30 PJ Masks 07:00 Dog Whisperer 13:57 Blaze And The Monster 23:15 Keeping Up With The 13:50 My Fat Pet 10:20 Prehistoric 08:00 P-King Duckling 08:00 I Am A Girl Machines Kardashians 14:45 Bad Dog 11:10 Mythbusters 08:25 Jungle Junction 09:00 Filthy Riches 14:19 Blaze And The Monster 15:40 North America 12:00 Invent It Rich 08:40 Special Agent Oso 10:00 Route Awakening Machines 16:35 Lone Star Law 12:50 How It’s Made: Sports 09:00 Handy Manny 10:30 Route Awakening 14:41 Paw Patrol 00:45 Sleepwalking 17:30 Treehouse Masters Equipment 09:15 PJ Masks 11:00 Explorer XL 14:52 Kid-E-Cats 02:30 Get Over It 18:25 Tanked 13:15 How It’s Made: Sports 09:30 Puppy Dog Pals 12:00 Drain The Ocean 14:58 Kid-E-Cats 04:00 Frailty 19:20 Treehouse Masters: View Equipment 10:00 Mickey And The Roadster 13:00 Breakthrough 15:04 Shimmer And Shine 00:10 Masterpiece With Alan 05:45 Shall We Dance ? From Above 13:40 Destroyed In Seconds Racers 14:00 Inside 15:26 Nella And The Princess Titchmarsh 07:45 Dirty Pretty Things 20:15 Bad Dog 14:30 Tanked 10:25 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 15:00 The Long Road Home Knight 01:00 Emmerdale 09:15 All Good Things 21:10 Escape To Chimp Eden 15:20 Ultimate Survival 10:55 Sheriff Callie’s Wild West 16:00 Death Of A Mars Rover 15:38 Paw Patrol 01:30 Coronation Street 11:00 Kite 21:38 Escape To Chimp Eden 16:10 Prehistoric 11:20 Sheriff Callie’s Wild West 17:00 Explorer XL 16:01 The Day Henry Met 02:00 Coronation Street 12:45 America’s Sweethearts 22:05 Tanked 17:00 Mythbusters 11:50 The Lion Guard 18:00 Drain The Great Lakes 16:07 Max & Ruby 02:30 Couples Come Dine With Me 14:30 Sleepwalking 23:00 Treehouse Masters: View 17:50 Invent It Rich 12:15 The Lion Guard 19:00 The Long Road Home 16:29 Dora The Explorer 03:25 Endeavour 16:15 Babel From Above 18:40 Destroyed In Seconds 12:45 Sofia The First 20:00 Breakthrough 16:50 Sunny Day 05:15 Don’t Tell The Bride 18:30 Meet Bill 23:55 North America 19:30 How It’s Made: Sports 13:10 Sofia The First 20:50 Explorer XL 17:11 Nella The Princess Knight 06:15 Masterpiece With Alan 20:00 Once Equipment 13:35 PJ Masks 21:40 Drain The Great Lakes 17:35 Shimmer And Shine Titchmarsh 21:30 Kinky Boots 20:20 Tanked 14:00 PJ Masks 22:30 The Long Road Home 17:59 Wallykazam! 07:10 Couples Come Dine With Me 23:15 Dirty Dancing : Havana Nights 21:10 Mythbusters 14:30 Doc McStuffins 23:20 Inside 18:21 Zack & Quack 08:05 Endeavour 22:00 Invent It Rich 14:55 P-King Duckling 18:32 The Day Henry Met 09:55 Don’t Tell The Bride 22:50 Prehistoric 15:20 Vampirina 18:38 Blaze And The Monster 11:00 Masterpiece With Alan 00:20 Unforgotten 23:40 Ultimate Survival 15:45 Sofia The First Machines Titchmarsh 01:10 Unforgotten 16:10 Puppy Dog Pals 19:00 Rusty Rivets 02:00 Class 11:50 Couples Come Dine With Me 16:35 Mickey And The Roadster 19:13 Paw Patrol 01:00 Fashion Star 02:50 Doctors 12:45 Emmerdale Racers 19:37 Dora The Explorer 02:00 Mistresses 03:20 Stella 13:15 Emmerdale 17:00 PJ Masks 20:00 Nella The Princess Knight 03:00 House Of DVF 04:10 New Tricks 13:45 Coronation Street 17:25 Mission Force One: Connect 00:20 Top Cats 20:10 Kid-E-Cats 04:00 Married At First Sight: The 05:05 Holby City 14:15 Masterpiece With Alan And Protect Shorts 01:10 Monster Fish 20:15 Kid-E-Cats First Year 06:00 Holby City Titchmarsh 00:50 Who Killed Angie Dodge: 17:35 Miles From Tomorrow 02:00 Revenge Of The Lioness 20:21 Bubble Guppies 05:00 Project Runway 06:55 The Musketeers 15:10 Couples Come Dine With Me Keith Morrison... 18:00 Goldie & Bear 02:50 Monster Fish 20:44 Blaze And The Monster 05:50 Fashion Star 07:50 Stella 16:00 The Doctor Blake Mysteries: 01:45 Who Killed Angie Dodge: 18:30 Puppy Dog Pals 03:45 Pythonathon Machines 07:00 Fashion Star 08:40 Holby City Family Portrait Keith Morrison... 18:55 Sofia The First 04:40 Wild 24 21:07 Paw Patrol 08:00 Mistresses 09:35 Holby City 17:50 Don’t Tell The Bride 02:40 Once Bitten: People Magazine 19:25 Mickey And The Roadster 05:35 Revenge Of The Lioness 21:30 Shimmer And Shine 09:00 House Of DVF 10:30 New Tricks 18:50 Emmerdale Investigates Racers 06:30 Monster Fish 21:53 Nella The Princess Knight 10:00 Married At First Sight: The 11:30 The Musketeers 19:15 Emmerdale 03:35 Murder Online 19:55 Doc McStuffins 07:25 Pythonathon 22:15 The Day Henry Met First Year 12:25 Stella 19:45 Coronation Street 04:30 Who Killed Angie Dodge: 20:10 The Lion Guard 08:20 Wild 24 22:21 Paw Patrol 11:00 Project Runway 13:15 Holby City 20:10 Couples Come Dine With Me Keith Morrison... 20:35 P-King Duckling 09:15 Africa’s Deadliest (2018) 22:44 Rusty Rivets 11:50 Fashion Star 14:15 Holby City 21:00 The Doctor Blake Mysteries: 05:25 Who Killed Angie Dodge: 21:00 Vampirina 10:10 Man V. Monster 23:07 Wallykazam! 13:00 Fashion Star 15:10 New Tricks Family Portrait Keith Morrison... 21:30 PJ Masks 11:05 Ultimate Animal Countdown 23:30 Bubble Guppies 14:00 Mistresses 16:10 The Musketeers 22:50 Emmerdale 06:20 I Almost Got Away With It 22:00 PJ Masks 12:00 Wild Congo 23:54 Team Umizoomi 15:00 House Of DVF 17:10 Stella 23:15 Emmerdale 07:10 Evil Stepmothers 22:25 Sofia The First 12:55 Man-Eater Of The Congo 16:00 Married At First Sight: The 18:00 Doctors 23:40 Coronation Street 08:00 Who On Earth Did I Marry? 22:50 P-King Duckling 13:50 Monster Fish First Year 18:30 Eastenders 08:25 True Crime With Aphrodite 23:20 Puppy Dog Pals 14:45 How Big Can It Get 17:00 Project Runway 19:00 New Tricks Jones 23:45 Mickey And The Roadster 15:40 Wild 24 18:00 Cedar Cove 20:00 Stella 09:15 Who On Earth Did I Marry? Racers 16:35 Africa’s Deadliest (2018) 19:00 Cedar Cove 20:45 The Durrells 09:40 Who On Earth Did I Marry? 17:30 Maneater Manhunt 20:00 Mistresses 21:35 New Tricks 10:10 Evil Stepmothers 18:25 Ultimate Animal Countdown 00:50 Monte Carlo 21:00 House Of DVF 22:35 Doctors 11:05 I’d Kill For You 19:20 How Big Can It Get 02:40 The Flintstones 00:00 Your Bleeped Up Brain 22:00 Married At First Sight: The 23:05 Eastenders 12:00 Fatal Encounters 20:10 Wild 24 04:15 Christmas Trade 01:00 Cowboys & Outlaws First Year 23:35 Stella 12:55 True Crime With Aphrodite 21:00 Africa’s Deadliest (2018) 06:00 Little Loopers 02:00 UFO Files 23:00 Project Runway Jones 00:15 Yukon Men 21:50 Maneater Manhunt 07:35 Monte Carlo 03:00 America’s Book Of Secrets 13:50 I Almost Got Away With It 01:05 Diesel Brothers 22:40 Ultimate Animal Countdown 09:25 Mune 03:50 Ancient Aliens 14:45 Evil Stepmothers 01:50 Gear Dogs 23:30 Wild Congo 10:55 The Flintstones 04:40 Breaking Mysterious 15:40 I’d Kill For You 02:35 Fast N’ Loud 12:30 A Tiger’s Tail 05:30 Your Bleeped Up Brain 16:35 The Perfect Murder 03:20 Street Outlaws 13:55 Zootropolis 06:20 Cowboys & Outlaws 17:30 True Crime With Aphrodite 04:05 Alaska Monsters 15:45 Mostly Ghostly: One Night In 00:20 Extraordinary Pregnancies 00:00 The Menendez Murders: Erik 07:10 The Universe: Ancient Jones 04:50 Deadliest Catch Doom House 01:05 My Extreme Excess Skin Tells All Mysteries Solved 18:25 Who On Earth Did I Marry? 05:35 How Do They Do It? 17:15 Beethoven’s Second 01:50 Outrageous 911 01:00 Evil Up Close 08:00 UFO Files 18:50 Who On Earth Did I Marry? 06:00 Backroad Bounty 00:12 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 18:45 Alone For Christmas 02:12 Outrageous 911 02:00 Evil Up Close 09:00 America’s Book Of Secrets 19:20 I Almost Got Away With It 06:45 How Do They Do It? 00:36 Rabbids Invasion 20:15 A Tiger’s Tail 02:35 The Spouse House 03:00 The First 48 10:00 Ancient Aliens 20:15 Evil Stepmothers 07:10 How Do They Do It? 01:00 Rabbids Invasion 21:45 Zootropolis 03:20 Our Little Family 04:00 The Menendez Murders: Erik 11:00 Breaking Mysterious 21:10 I’d Kill For You 07:35 Alaska Monsters 01:24 Sanjay And Craig 23:35 Beethoven’s Second 03:42 Say Yes To The Dress Tells All 12:00 Your Bleeped Up Brain 22:05 Married With Secrets 08:20 Backroad Bounty 01:48 Sanjay And Craig 04:05 Toddlers & Tiaras 05:00 Evil Up Close 13:00 United Stuff Of America 23:00 Kiss Of Death 09:10 Deadliest Catch 02:12 Winx Club 04:50 Outdaughtered: Busby Quints 06:00 Evil Up Close 14:00 UFO Files 23:55 Love Kills 09:55 Diesel Brothers 02:36 Winx Club 05:35 Say Yes To The Dress 07:00 It Takes A Killer 15:00 America’s Book Of Secrets 10:45 Gear Dogs 03:00 Harvey Beaks 06:00 Say Yes To The Dress UK 07:30 It Takes A Killer 16:00 Ancient Aliens 11:30 Fast N’ Loud 03:24 Harvey Beaks 06:22 Say Yes To The Dress UK 08:00 The First 48 17:00 Breaking Mysterious 12:20 Backroad Bounty 03:48 The Loud House 06:45 Iyanla: Fix My Life 09:00 Escaping Polygamy 18:00 The Universe: Ancient 13:05 How Do They Do It? 04:12 The Loud House 01:25 A Short History Of Decay 07:30 Oprah: Where Are They 10:00 Leah Remini: Scientology And Mysteries Solved 13:30 How Do They Do It? 04:36 Breadwinners 03:00 Elizabethtown Now? The Aftermath 19:00 United Stuff Of America 13:55 Deadliest Catch 05:00 Breadwinners 05:05 Meet Dave 08:15 Our Little Family 11:00 Robbie Coltrane’s Critical 20:00 UFO Files 00:10 Sabrina Secrets Of A Teenage 14:40 Yukon Men 05:24 Get Blake 06:40 Big 08:37 Say Yes To The Dress Evidence 21:00 America’s Book Of Secrets Witch 15:30 Diesel Brothers 05:48 SpongeBob SquarePants 08:25 Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot 09:00 Cake Boss 12:00 Nightmare In Suburbia 22:00 Ancient Aliens 00:35 Binny And The Ghost 16:15 Gear Dogs 06:12 SpongeBob SquarePants 09:55 Spy Hard 09:25 Toddlers & Tiaras 13:00 The First 48 23:00 Modern Marvels 01:00 Hank Zipzer 17:05 Fast N’ Loud 06:36 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 11:25 Meet Dave 10:10 Say Yes To The Dress UK 14:00 Crimes That Shook Britain 01:25 Alex & Co. 17:50 Alaska Monsters 07:00 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 13:00 Big 10:32 Say Yes To The Dress UK 15:00 Robbie Coltrane’s Critical 01:45 Disney Mickey Mouse 18:40 Deadliest Catch 07:24 Rabbids Invasion 14:50 Big Stone Gap 10:55 Outdaughtered: Busby Quints Evidence 01:50 Evermoor Chronicles 19:25 Yukon Men 07:48 Get Blake 16:35 Joe Somebody 11:40 Outdaughtered: Busby Quints 16:00 Nightmare In Suburbia 02:15 Sabrina Secrets Of A Teenage 20:15 Street Outlaws 08:12 Harvey Beaks 18:15 Big Momma’s House 12:25 Cake Boss 17:00 Homicide Hunter Witch 21:00 Heavy Rescue 08:36 Sanjay And Craig 19:55 Baby, Baby, Baby 12:47 Cake Boss 18:00 Crimes That Shook Britain 02:40 Sabrina Secrets Of A Teenage 21:50 Railroad Australia 09:00 SpongeBob SquarePants 21:25 Adventures Of A Pizza Guy 13:10 Say Yes To The Dress UK 19:00 It Takes A Killer 00:20 Swamp People Witch 22:40 Abandoned Engineering 09:24 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 22:55 Dead Snow: Red vs Dead 13:32 Say Yes To The Dress UK 19:30 It Takes A Killer 01:10 Swamp People 03:05 Binny And The Ghost 23:30 Alaska Monsters 09:48 Henry Danger 13:55 Toddlers & Tiaras 20:00 Crimes That Shook Britain 02:00 American Pickers Best Ofs 03:30 Binny And The Ghost 10:12 Game Shakers 14:40 Our Little Family 23:00 Ghost Inside My Child 03:55 Hank Zipzer 02:50 Ice Road Truckers 10:36 Regal Academy 03:40 Road Hauks 15:25 Outdaughtered: Busby Quints 04:15 Disney Mickey Mouse 11:00 Winx Club 16:10 Cake Boss 04:20 Hank Zipzer 04:30 Swamp People 11:24 SpongeBob SquarePants 05:15 Swamp People 16:35 Cake Boss 04:45 Alex & Co. 11:48 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 00:55 Secretary 06:00 Mountain Men 17:00 Iyanla: Fix My Life 05:10 Alex & Co. 06:00 Supa Strikas 12:12 The Loud House 02:55 The Quiet Hour 06:50 Forged In Fire 17:50 Say Yes To The Dress UK 00:05 Comedy Central Presents 05:35 Sabrina Secrets Of A Teenage 06:25 Milo Murphy’s Law 12:36 Rabbids Invasion 04:30 Waiting For Superman 07:40 Ice Road Truckers 18:20 Say Yes To The Dress UK Comedy 3alwagef Witch 06:50 Right Now Kapow 13:00 Breadwinners 06:25 Me Before You 08:30 Road Hauks 18:50 Say Yes To The Dress 00:35 The Half Hour 06:00 Sabrina Secrets Of A Teenage 07:15 Mech-X4 13:24 Massive Monster Mayhem 08:20 The Quiet Hour 09:20 American Pickers 19:15 Outdaughtered: Busby Quints 00:58 The Half Hour Witch 07:40 Disney Mickey Mouse 13:48 Hunter Street 09:55 Waiting For Superman 10:10 Ax Men 20:10 Cake Boss 01:20 Broad City 06:25 Binny And The Ghost 07:45 Walk The Prank 14:12 I Am Frankie 11:50 The Flying Scotsman 11:00 Forged In Fire 20:35 Cake Boss 01:45 Tosh.0 06:45 Disney Mickey Mouse 08:10 Walk The Prank 14:36 The Thundermans 13:40 Coming Through The Rye 11:50 Ice Road Truckers 21:00 Ambulance 02:10 The Opposition With Jordan 06:50 Rolling With The Ronks 08:35 Right Now Kapow 15:00 Rabbids Invasion 15:25 Spare Parts 12:40 Road Hauks 21:50 An Hour To Save Your Life Klepper 07:00 Jessie 09:25 Mighty Med 15:24 School Of Rock 17:35 Pawn Sacrifice 13:30 Swamp People 22:40 Body Bizarre 02:35 Real Husbands Of Hollywood 07:25 Tangled: The Series 09:50 Mighty Med 15:48 SpongeBob SquarePants 19:35 Wild Bill 14:20 Swamp People 23:30 90 Days To Wed 03:00 The Daily Show With Trevor 07:50 Tsum Tsum Shorts 10:20 Star Wars: The Freemaker 16:12 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 21:20 Blue Sky 15:10 Mountain Men Noah 07:55 Hotel Transylvania: The Series Adventures 16:36 The Loud House 23:10 The Long Goodbye 16:00 Forged In Fire 03:25 Tosh.0 08:20 Elena Of Avalor 11:10 Gamer’s Guide To Pretty 17:00 Massive Monster Mayhem 16:50 Ice Road Truckers 03:50 The Opposition With Jordan 08:45 Bunk’d Much Everything 17:24 I Am Frankie 17:40 Road Hauks Klepper 09:10 Stuck In The Middle 11:35 Gamer’s Guide To Pretty 17:48 Hunter Street 18:30 Mountain Men 04:15 Kroll Show 09:35 Miraculous Tales Of Ladybug Much Everything 18:12 Henry Danger 04:40 Key And Peele 19:20 Forged In Fire And Cat Noir 12:00 Kid vs. Kat 18:36 Rabbids Invasion 00:00 Chopped 05:05 I Live With Models 20:10 American Pickers Best Ofs 10:00 Miraculous Tales Of Ladybug 12:25 Two More Eggs 19:00 School Of Rock 00:40 The Wish Fish 01:00 Iron Chef Gauntlet 05:30 Impractical Jokers 21:00 Counting Cars And Cat Noir 12:30 Kid vs. Kat 19:24 Game Shakers 02:05 Legend Of The Sea 02:00 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 05:55 Disaster Date 21:50 Billion Dollar Wreck 10:25 Lolirock 12:55 Kirby Buckets 19:48 The Thundermans 03:30 Teo: The Intergalactic Hunter 02:30 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 06:20 Ridiculousness Arabia 22:40 Forged In Fire 10:50 Lolirock 13:20 Kirby Buckets 20:12 Regal Academy 04:55 A Town Called Panic 03:00 Man Fire Food 06:50 Punk’d (Bet) 23:30 Mountain Men 11:15 Sabrina Secrets Of A Teenage 13:45 Supa Strikas 20:36 SpongeBob SquarePants 06:20 Elias And The Royal Yacht 04:00 Chopped 07:15 Punk’d (Bet) Witch 14:10 Disney Mickey Mouse 21:00 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 07:45 Help And Freedom 05:00 Guy’s Grocery Games 07:40 The Jim Gaffigan Show 11:40 Sabrina Secrets Of A Teenage 14:15 Supa Strikas 21:24 Sanjay And Craig 09:20 Louis & Luca And The Snow 06:00 Barefoot Contessa: Back To 08:05 Impractical Jokers Witch 14:40 Right Now Kapow 21:48 Rabbids Invasion Machine Basics 08:30 Disaster Date 12:05 Hank Zipzer 15:05 Right Now Kapow 22:12 Breadwinners 10:45 Twigson Ties The Knot 06:50 Anna Olson: Bake 08:55 Workaholics 12:30 Alex & Co. 15:30 Milo Murphy’s Law 22:36 Harvey Beaks 12:10 Dinofroz Return To The Past 07:15 The Kitchen 09:20 Kroll Show 12:55 Alex & Co. 00:15 Places We Go 15:55 Two More Eggs 23:00 SpongeBob SquarePants World 08:05 The Pioneer Woman 09:45 Key And Peele 13:20 Lolirock 00:45 Andy And Ben Eat Australia 16:00 The Suite Life Of Zack & 23:24 SpongeBob SquarePants 13:50 Legend Of The Sea 08:30 The Pioneer Woman 10:10 I Live With Models 13:45 Lolirock 01:10 Ariana’s Persian Kitchen Cody 23:48 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 15:15 Teo: The Intergalactic Hunter 08:55 Siba’s Table 10:35 The Jim Gaffigan Show 14:10 Miraculous Tales Of Ladybug 16:25 Lab Rats 01:40 Places We Go 16:40 Phantom Boy 09:25 Siba’s Table 11:00 Impractical Jokers And Cat Noir 16:50 Lab Rats 02:05 Places We Go 18:15 Twigson Ties The Knot 09:55 Cooking For Real 11:25 Disaster Date 14:35 Miraculous Tales Of Ladybug 17:15 Mech-X4 02:35 Charlie Luxton’s Homes By 19:40 Nur And The Dragon’s Temple 10:25 Cooking For Real 11:50 Ridiculousness Arabia And Cat Noir 17:40 Marvel’s Spider-Man The Med 20:55 Back To The Sea 10:55 The Kitchen 12:15 Impractical Jokers 15:00 The Zhuzhus 18:05 Supa Strikas 03:30 Testing The Menu 22:35 Phantom Boy 11:45 Cooking For Real 12:40 The Dude Perfect Show 15:15 K.C. Undercover 18:30 Marvel’s Ant-Man 03:55 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 12:10 The Pioneer Woman 13:05 The Dude Perfect Show 15:40 Bunk’d 18:35 Walk The Prank 04:25 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 00:15 Kid-E-Cats 12:35 The Pioneer Woman 13:30 I Live With Models 16:05 Disney Mickey Mouse 19:00 Gravity Falls 04:50 A Taste Of South Africa 00:21 Shimmer And Shine 13:00 Siba’s Table 13:55 Friends 16:10 Elena Of Avalor 19:25 Milo Murphy’s Law 05:20 A Taste Of South Africa 00:45 Sunny Day 00:10 Gone Girl 13:30 Siba’s Table 14:20 Friends 16:35 Bizaardvark 19:50 Marvel’s Rocket And Groot 05:45 John Torode’s Asia 01:06 Max & Ruby 02:45 The Count Of Monte Cristo 14:00 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 14:45 Workaholics 17:00 Tangled: The Series 19:55 Mech-X4 06:15 Miguel’s Feasts 01:29 Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom 05:00 Oleanna 14:30 Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives 15:10 Key And Peele 17:25 Descendants Wicked World 20:20 Penn Zero: Part Time Hero 06:40 Eat Street 01:39 Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom 06:35 Janie Jones 15:00 Chopped 15:35 Kroll Show 17:30 Stuck In The Middle 20:45 Gamer’s Guide To Pretty 07:10 Places We Go 01:50 The Day Henry Met 08:30 Dreamgirls 16:00 The Kitchen 16:00 Comedy Central Presents 17:55 K.C. Undercover Much Everything 07:35 Places We Go 01:55 Blaze And The Monster 10:40 Bottle Rocket 17:00 Cooking For Real Comedy 3alwagef 18:20 Miraculous Tales Of Ladybug 21:10 Kid vs. Kat 08:05 Charlie Luxton’s Homes By Machines 12:15 The Count Of Monte Cristo 17:30 Cooking For Real 16:30 Ridiculousness Arabia And Cat Noir 21:35 Marvel’s Rocket And Groot The Med 02:18 Blaze And The Monster 14:30 It’s Complicated 18:00 Chopped 16:55 Friends 18:45 Hotel Transylvania: The Series 21:40 Disney Mickey Mouse 09:00 Testing The Menu Machines 16:40 Leatherheads 19:00 Guy’s Grocery Games 17:20 Friends 19:10 Star Wars Forces Of Destiny 21:45 Lab Rats 09:25 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 02:40 Paw Patrol 18:35 Shanghai Noon 20:00 Tia Mowry At Home 17:45 Disaster Date 19:15 Bunk’d 22:10 Lab Rats 09:55 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 02:51 Kid-E-Cats 20:35 Days And Nights 20:30 Tia Mowry At Home 18:10 Ridiculousness Arabia 19:40 Girl Meets World 22:35 Phineas And Ferb 10:20 A Taste Of South Africa 02:56 Kid-E-Cats 22:15 Suspect Zero 21:00 The Big Eat - Middle East 18:35 Lip Sync Battle UK 20:05 Disney Mickey Mouse 23:00 Programmes Start At 6:00am 10:50 A Taste Of South Africa 03:03 Shimmer And Shine 26 Established 1961

Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Stars

CROSSWORD 1829 STAR TRACK

Aries (March 21-April 19) Libra (September 23-October 22)

Aries, you step away from the usual way of doing things; this pertains to Libra, some things that have confounded you could be cleared up and put electronic gadgets, work related methods or transportation options. You open your away today. You could have to deal with an urge to spend, spend, spend just now. You mind to new technologies and thereby gain abundance in many areas of your life: real don t intend to pass a good deal when you see it; watch your purse strings as you try to estate, finances, possessions. You re confident and unafraid to cut a new path in new stay within your budget. Your tax plans need your attention today as you could have areas of endeavor. While you re considered a risky bet, you re focused on the way to forgotten to add or subtract important information. You should get to the center of an prosperity as you see it; listen well to your intuition. Someone could complain about a issue at work with ease and accuracy. You have a social gathering on your mind; per- suggestion you make later but the rest go with the flow and understand what you re haps you have been asked to cater or address invitations. Make an effort to slow your saying. You reject a new age type idea in favor of traditional beliefs. You agree to take pace so that nothing is overlooked. Make a list and check off chores as you go for bet- the lead when planning a project with new team members. Stargaze this evening, Aries. ter focus and peace of mind. Put your feet up tonight and let your hair down, Libra.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Scorpio (October 23-November 21)

Taurus, you re drawn to gaining control in all areas of your life; be careful Scorpio, you try something new and bold like bright colors in clothing or that you don’t come across as a control freak or busybody. Intimate secrets draw your paint; whatever this is makes a definite statement. Your mind shifts dramatically in think- attention and you long to have your own private reality apart from family and friends. ing; what before seemed foreign now seems as though you ve found your home. A friend Privately, you will go to ominous places in your mind; beware that keeping these agrees with your ideas and supports them. Duties and tasks go quickly and smoothly thoughts and urges to yourself will not help them go away. An opportunity to make mon- during this period of positive energy opening up. This new cycle could represent a good ey comes from an unexpected place today. Vibrations of a stubborn nature plague you time to take risks at an emotional level; you can offer fine contributions to a relationship. regarding a certain situation. This is a good day for you physically as you feel healthier Tensions could run high with a family member who only wants the best for you. Later, than you have in a while. Tempers could flare around you and you may want to join in; you seek fun and laughter with friends at a new place in town; you could find yourself use your desire for control to keep yourself calm and going in the right direction, Taurus. running into someone new and exciting in a friendly sort of way, Scorpio.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Gemini (May 21-June 20) Sagittarius, you notice strong discomfort in general with surroundings, Gemini, communications with those younger than yourself are called for. A people, even thoughts. You could hold your affections back due to lack of certain task falls to you as the group can t make a decision about how to warmth in your mood. Friends call on you for help in a trying matter; your input is valu- ACROSS ized by behavioral and learning disor- move forward. You have entered a cycle of abundance in material, financial and spiritual able and most appreciated. Your quiet nature is useful as you stand back and observe 1. The executive agency that advises the ders. aspects. A new design or method makes itself known today and becomes a regular part while making your own plans. This new cycle is the perfect time to uncover important of your routine. Your memory is occupied by someone who s passed away; let your heart President on the federal budget. 5. A chronic inflammatory collagen disease theories and ideas that represent the future. A new assignment has your name written all be light and try to remember the times of joy you shared. The tendency for broadening over it; you re relieved and prepared to make your mark on this. You could write an emo- 4. A resident of Alabama. affecting connective tissue (skin or your mind is strong; leaving a mark with your work is important and your efforts reflect 12. A change in the electrical properties of joints). tional note that speaks of your true feelings. You receive a surprise gift from someone this. Enjoy this evening beneath the stars or perhaps at a planetarium would be fun; who loves you; this gesture fills your heart. Reading helps get you to sleep, Sagittarius. the skin in response to stress or anxi- 6. An associate degree in nursing. spending time with someone special makes a difference in your sleep tonight, Gemini! ety. 7. Genus of North American plants with 15. Large brownish-green New Zealand showy pealike flowers and an inflated Capricorn (December 22-January 19) parrot. pod. ) 16. Add nonfissionable material to (fission- 8. Goddess of criminal rashness and its Cancer (June 21-July 22 Capricorn, you look and feel good as you focus on getting things done. You able material) so as to make unsuitable punishment. Cancer, you could be tempted to venture where perhaps you shouldn’t for use in an atomic bomb. 9. True mosses. could feel something amiss, something that just niggles and irritates but you socially; someone critical is watching you closely. You may feel as though can t tell exactly what. A new project progresses and the teamwork is excellent; some- 17. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike 10. The act of arousing. you re not comfortable in your own skin. You could be challenged by someone who one could challenge some of your decisions on this! A quick visit with someone sparks part of an organism. 11. A colorless odorless gaseous element rarely agrees with you. You re able to avoid an argument by using your natural charm; your thoughts and ideas as you connect on a mutual understanding and agree to pursue 18. An honorary arts degree. that give a red glow in a vacuum tube. make a note to stay away from a certain person when possible. A very sensitive situation this together. Warm feelings for someone younger brighten your day; you feel strongly 20. The basic unit of money in Uruguay. 12. (Greek mythology) Goddess of the comes to your attention through a surprising connection; intimate hurts require a special about the future being with those of the younger generation and you contribute to this in 22. Not only so, but. earth and mother of Cronus and the kind of healing. Hold your head up as you work to grow and evolve; it s not everyone some way. Your energy is very positive, your heart is light and it feels good! A new 25. Of a leaf shape. Titans in ancient mythology. who can manage to follow this difficult, sometimes painful, path. You re invited to a small romantic interest invites you for a light dinner to become more acquainted, Capricorn. 26. Inflammation of the aorta. 13. A thin strip (wood or metal). dinner with friends featuring a new dish. Unwind later with a favorite book, Cancer. 28. Any plant of the genus Acanthus hav- 14. A rapid series of short loud sounds (as ing large spiny leaves and spikes or might be heard with a stethoscope in white or purplish flowers. some types of respiratory disorders). Leo (July 23-August 22) Aquarius (January 20- February 18) 31. Consider or hold as true. 19. A cut of meat (beef or veal or mutton or Aquarius, today brings a sense of ease when communicating on all lev- 36. The 10th and last incarnation of Vishnu. lamb) from the upper part of the leg. Leo, you let physical concerns go to the wayside as your attention is fully focused on the true meaning of dreams and intuitive experiences. Be care- els. Your gains in money and material items are a focus for you now; remember to be 37. Being one more than one. 21. Reconnaissance (by shortening). ful to let your logical side play a role in new beliefs and notions. You may have the sensa- grateful for all that you have now! You find it hard to focus on anything but reaching 39. Any of various coarse shrubby plants 23. Hormone released by the hypothala- tion of watching your own life unfold from a distance, almost like an out of body experi- your goals; pay attention to personal issues. Your sense of worth when looking at pur- of the genus Iva with small greenish mus that controls the release of thy- ence. Pay attention to new information; it could hold ideas and answers you aren’t pre- chases or projects is very sharp; your judgment is on target. You shine when address- flowers. roid-stimulating hormone from the pared for. A new place to grocery shop is just what you re looking for. You make an effort ing a group with updates and plans. There may be a difficult family discussion later; 40. A doctor's degree in religion. anterior pituitary. to pay attention to the needs and wants of others. Being a bit too much into yourself you have the ability to take the bull by the horns and get to the heart of the matter. A 42. A rapid bustling commotion. 24. Small ornamental ladies' bag for small sometimes creates friction you don t want at this time! Your advice is golden when you re certain sentimental item could be argued over when the subject comes up; is posses- 43. Measure of the US economy adopted articles. approached by someone new who s in a volatile situation that could be serious, Leo. sion of this worth family unrest you learn some interesting facts tonight, Aquarius. in 1991. 27. Terrestrial game birds of the Old World 44. Lead someone in the wrong direction. and Australia. 47. Thick heavy expensive material with a 29. Salted roe of sturgeon or other large Virgo (August 23-September 22) Pisces (February 19-March 20) raised pattern. fish. 50. A workplace where baked goods 30. A state in northwestern North Virgo, you could actually accept an invitation to a special gathering later; Pisces, you receive information regarding someone who is a large part of (breads and cakes and pastries) are America. remember, with the new phase you have entered you ll feel free to be you most of the your emotional landscape. Activities with family members takes promi- produced or sold. 32. Long pod containing small beans and time. A domestic project for a friend introduces you to new people and new food. nence over any other relationships. A discussion with others helps strengthen the bonds 52. Away from the mouth or oral region. sweetish edible pulp. Kicking back and enjoying yourself feels like something you want to do regularly; go for you share; if you have done or said anything you are confronted with remember it s just it! You could notice a certain radiance in your physical appearance; the new lifestyle better to be honest so that feelings can be repaired. An older person may want you to 53. Toward the mouth or oral region. 33. The younger brother of Edwy who do something that would go against your morals; remember shysters aren’t right or 54. Perennial northern temperate plant became king of Northumbria when it changes are working for you. You enjoy the perks of life such as nice clothes, vehicles and home as well as art, jewels and real estate; you value these things very highly right good just because you re related. Money and control are very attractive to you; sexual with toothed leaves and heads of small renounced Edwy. acceptance and fulfillment are strongly desired. It is up to you to destroy circumstances purplish-white flowers. 34. A genus of Ploceidae. now and are in a cycle of acquiring. Friends gather round to celebrate a nice occasion; you feel humbled and grateful for the blessings and good fortune you enjoy, Virgo! and behaviors that are hurtful to others; look at both sides of the coin, Pisces. 56. Gay or light-hearted recreational 35. Written on a typewriter. activity for diversion or amusement. 38. A numbered compartment in a post 58. The wife of a sheik. office where mail is put to be called 62. A short high tone produced as a signal for. Wordsearch Puzzle Yesterday’s Solution or warning. 41. The longer of the two telegraphic sig- 65. (trademark) A type of inflatable air nals used in Morse code. mattress. 45. A projecting ridge on a mountain or 67. Large swift fly the female of which submerged under water. sucks blood of various animals. 46. Trailing grass native to Europe now 68. A river in north central Switzerland that cosmopolitan in warm regions. runs northeast into the Rhine. 48. (Christianity) Saved from the bondage 69. The semantic relation that holds of sin. between a whole and its parts. 49. Ratio of the hypotenuse to the oppo- 73. A dark-skinned member of a race of site side. people living in Australia when 51. Lengthen in time. Europeans arrived. 55. An architectural support or base (as for 74. Being two more than fifty. a column or statue). 75. A small slow-growing deciduous tree 57. Any of various small plant-sucking of northern Iran having a low domed insects. shape. 59. Tropical American tree grown in 76. The month following February and southern United States having a preceding April. whitish pink-tinged fruit. 77. Water frozen in the solid state. 60. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked 78. In 1649 the place was captured by on a skewer usually with vegetables. Oliver Cromwell, who massacred the 61. 100 agorot equal 1 shekel. Catholic inhabitants. 63. Concerning those not members of the 79. A loose sleeveless outer garment made clergy. from aba cloth. 64. A member of an Iroquoian people for- merly living on the south shore of Lake DOWN Erie in northern Ohio and northwest 1. (informal) Being satisfactory or in satis- Pennsylvania and western New York. factory condition. 66. A harp used by ancient Greeks for 2. Being nothing more than specified. accompaniment. 3. A Chadic language spoken south of 70. Canadian hockey player (born 1948). Lake Chad. 71. A toilet in England. 4. A condition (mostly in boys) character- 72. An affirmative.

Yesterday’s Solution

Daily SuDoku Yesterday’s Solution Classifieds Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Sabah Hospital 24812000 Amiri Hospital 22450005

DAAYY: 7XHVGDD\\  99DDOLG )URP  30 77RR  $0 Maternity Hospital 24843100 Expected WWeeather for the Next 24 Hours Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital 25312700 Chest Hospital 24849400 %< 1,*+7 3DUUWWO\ FORXG\  ZLWK  OLJKW  YDULDEOH  ZLQG  ZLWK  VSHHG  RI    NPKK  Farwaniya Hospital 24892010 Adan Hospital 23940620 %< '$$<< ::DDUUPPZLWK OLJKW YDULDEOH  ZLQG  ZLWK VSHHG  RI    NPK DQG VRPH VFDWWHUHG  FORXGV  ZLOO DSSHDDU holder of Indian Passport SITUATION VACANT Ibn Sina Hospital 24840300 No. L4103327 & Civil ID No. 264072704364 has :($$77+(5::$$51,1* 1R &XUUHQW ::DDUQLQJV Al-Razi Hospital 24846000 House Driver required for changed my name from reputed Kuwaiti family. HYDER ALI SHAIK to HYDER STTAAATTION 0$;5(& 0,1(;3 6)& &+$57  87& Physiotherapy Hospital 24874330/9 Must have transferable visa ALI SYED hereinafter in all and English speaking. my dealings and docu- .8::$$,7 &,7<  ƒ&  ƒ& Please contact: 66079496. ments, I will be known by .8::$$,7 $,5325577  ƒ&  ƒ& (C 5378) 5-2-2018 name of HYDER ALI SYED. Kaizen center 25716707 (C 5379) 6-2-2018 $%'$//<<  ƒ&  ƒ& CHANGE OF NAME %8%<<$$$11 ƒ& ƒ& Rawda 22517733 I, HYDER ALI SHAIK S/o -$+55$$  ƒ&  ƒ& Adaliya 22517144 KHADAR SAHEB SHAIK 112 ))$$,/$.$ ,6/$$11'  ƒ&  ƒ& Khaldiya 24848075 6$/0,<<$$+  ƒ&  ƒ& Kaifan 24849807 $+0$',  ƒ&  ƒ& Shamiya 24848913 18::$$,6,%  ƒ&  ƒ& Shuwaikh 24814507 ::$$)5$  ƒ&  ƒ& 6$/0<  ƒ&  ƒ& Abdullah Salem 22549134 Airline Nuzha 22526804 American Airlines 22087425 4 DAAYYS FORECAST 22087426 Temperatures Industrial Shuwaikh 24814764 Kuwait Airways 171 DAAYY DAATTE WEAATTHER Wind Direction Wind Speed MAX. MIN. Qadsiya 22515088 Jazeera Airways 177 ::HHGQHVGD\  ::DDUPDDQQG VRPH  VFDWWWWHUHG  FORXGV  ZLOO DSSHDU  ƒ&  ƒ&95%      NPK Jet Airways 22924455 Dasmah 22532265 FlyDubai 22414400 7KXXUUVGD\  ::DDUPDDQQG VRPH  VFDWWWWHUHG  FORXGV  ZLOO DSSHDU ƒ&   ƒ& 1:      NPK Qatar Airways 22423888 )ULGD\  ::DDUPDDQQG VRPH  VFDWWWWHUHG  FORXGV  ZLOO DSSHDU  ƒ&  ƒ& 1:      NPK Bneid Al-Gar 22531908 KLM 22425747 6DWWXXUGDD\\  3DDUUWO\ FORXG\  ƒ&  ƒ& 95%      NPK Shaab 22518752 Royal Jordanian 22418064/5/6 British Airways 22425635 7202552:35$<$<(5 7,0(6 RECORDED YESTERDAAYY AATT KUWWAAIT AIRPORT Qibla 22459381 Air France 22430224 Fajr  MAX. Temp.  °C Ayoun Al-Qibla 22451082 Emirates 22921555 Sunrise MIN. Temp. °C   Air India 22438184 Zuhr MAX. RH % Mirqab 22456536   Sri Lanka Airlines 22424444 Asr MIN. RH %   Sharq 22465401 Egypt Air 22421578 Sunset  MAX. WWiind 6:  km/h Swiss Air 22421516 Isha TOTTAALL RAINFFAALLL IN 24 HR.  mm Salmiya 25746401

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw) DIAL161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Arrival Flights on Wednesday 7/2/2018 QTR 078 Doha 14:20 Departure Flights on Wednesday 7/2/2018 SAW 702 Damascus 13:30 Airlines Flt Route Time FDB 059 Dubai 14:20 Airlines Flt Route Time JZR 176 Dubai 13:40 JAI 572 Mumbai 00:05 KAC 206 Islamabad 14:20 AIC 976 Goa/Chennai 00:05 MSR 611 Cairo 14:00 JZR 607 Kochi 00:10 KAC 672 Dubai 14:25 JZR 528 Asyut 00:15 UAE 872 Dubai 14:15 JZR 539 Cairo 00:50 KAC 286 Dhaka 14:35 JAI 573 Mumbai 00:30 AXB 394 Kozhikode 14:15 PGT 858 Istanbul 00:55 GFA 221 Bahrain 14:40 MSC 406 Sohag 00:30 JZR 124 Bahrain 14:30 THY 772 Istanbul 00:55 KAC 364 Colombo 14:40 FDB 072 Dubai 00:35 KAC 661 Abu Dhabi 15:00 KAC 102 London 01:20 SVA 500 Jeddah 14:45 MSC 412 Asyut 01:00 KAC 673 Dubai 15:05 DLH 625 Bahrain 01:45 KAC 304 Mumbai 14:50 JAI 571 Mumbai 01:05 FDB 060 Dubai 15:10 KNE 529 Jeddah 14:55 UAE 853 Dubai 01:45 JZR 504 Luxor 01:30 QTR 8512 Doha 15:25 THY 764 Istanbul 01:50 KAC 788 Jeddah 15:10 JZR 142 Doha 01:45 GFA 222 Bahrain 15:25 AXB 395 Kozhikode 02:00 ETD 303 Abu Dhabi 15:15 KAC 677 Dubai 01:50 KAC 785 Jeddah 15:25 JZR 267 Beirut 02:10 KAC 502 Beirut 15:30 KAC 285 Dhaka 01:55 QTR 1079 Doha 15:30 ETH 620 Addis Ababa 02:15 KAC 562 Amman 15:30 KAC 417 Manila 02:00 SVA 501 Jeddah 15:45 QTR 1086 Doha 02:20 OMA 645 Muscat 15:35 KAC 363 Colombo 02:00 KNE 530 Jeddah 15:45 GFA 211 Bahrain 02:30 UAE 857 Dubai 15:45 THY 773 Istanbul 02:30 KLM 446 Bahrain 02:30 QTR 1072 Doha 15:55 PGT 859 Istanbul 02:30 KAC 775 Riyadh 15:50 WAN 548 KTM 02:40 KAC 118 New York 16:00 DLH 625 Frankfurt 02:45 KAC 283 Dhaka 15:50 OMA 643 Muscat 02:55 JZR 535 Cairo 16:00 AXB 396 Kozhikode 02:55 KAC 743 Dammam 16:05 KKK 1268 Istanbul 02:55 FDK 801 Damascus 16:00 ETH 621 Addis Ababa 03:05 PAL 669 Manila 16:10 KAC 414 Bangkok 03:05 ABY 127 Sharjah 16:00 UAE 854 Dubai 03:40 KAC 563 Amman 16:10 RJA 644 Amman 03:05 JZR 779 Jeddah 16:25 QTR 1087 Doha 03:40 KAC 619 Doha 16:10 MSR 606 Luxor 03:05 FDB 051 Dubai 16:40 KLM 446 Amsterdam 03:55 ETD 304 Abu Dhabi 16:20 ETD 305 Abu Dhabi 03:10 RJA 640 Amman 16:55 KKK 1269 Istanbul 03:55 OMA 646 Muscat 16:35 MSR 612 Cairo 03:15 SYR 341 Damascus 17:00 OMA 644 Muscat 03:55 ABY 128 Sharjah 16:40 QTR 1076 Doha 03:50 KAC 542 Cairo 17:05 THY 765 Istanbul 04:00 KAC 615 Bahrain 16:40 LMU 5510 Cairo 04:00 SVA 510 Riyadh 17:15 MSR 607 Luxor 04:05 FDK 802 Damascus 16:55 QTR 1090 Doha 04:05 GFA 215 Bahrain 17:30 ETD 306 Abu Dhabi 04:05 QTR 1073 Doha 17:15 KAC 382 Delhi 04:15 JZR 125 Bahrain 17:35 MSR 613 Cairo 04:15 JZR 240 Amman 17:15 KAC 1544 Cairo 04:25 JZR 777 Jeddah 17:40 LMU 5511 Cairo 05:00 JZR 266 Beirut 17:15 KAC 418 Manila 04:25 WAN 984 Tbilisi 17:50 QTR 1091 Doha 05:05 FDB 052 Dubai 17:40 KAC 784 Jeddah 04:35 UAE 875 Dubai 18:00 KAC 205 Islamabad 05:20 UAE 858 Dubai 17:45 KAC 284 Dhaka 04:50 FDB 063 Dubai 18:10 QTR 1077 Doha 05:30 KAC 361 Colombo 17:45 FDB 069 Dubai 04:55 JZR 177 Dubai 18:15 FDB 070 Dubai 05:45 RJA 641 Amman 17:55 JZR 609 Hyderabad 05:10 MSR 620 Cairo 18:30 KAC 303 Mumbai 06:05 SYR 342 Damascus 18:00 THY 6376 Istanbul 05:10 QTR 1080 Doha 18:50 JZR 560 Sohag 06:25 KAC 331 Trivandrum 18:00 DHX 170 Bahrain 05:20 KAC 744 Dammam 19:10 JZR 786 Riyadh 06:25 KAC 343 Chennai 18:00 JZR 143 Doha 05:25 KAC 776 Riyadh 19:20 THY 771 Istanbul 06:50 SVA 511 Riyadh 18:15 THY 770 Istanbul 05:25 KAC 662 Abu Dhabi 19:25 JZR 164 Dubai 06:55 JZR 538 Cairo 18:15 KAC 346 Ahmedabad 05:30 ABY 123 Sharjah 19:25 RJA 645 Amman 07:05 GFA 216 Bahrain 18:20 KAC 332 Trivandrum 05:40 GFA 212 Bahrain 07:15 JZR 184 Dubai 18:30 KAC 302 Mumbai 06:10 RBG 555 Alexandria 19:25 KAC 167 Paris 07:35 JZR 608 Hyderabad 18:40 KAC 678 Dubai 06:30 GFA 217 Bahrain 19:30 KAC 501 Beirut 08:00 WAN 115 Bahrain 18:50 WAN 338 Alexandria 06:40 KAC 156 Istanbul 19:30 KAC 171 Frankfurt 08:00 KAC 381 Delhi 18:50 JZR 529 Asyut 06:50 WAN 356 Luxor 19:35 THY 6376 Dubai/Istanbul 08:10 FDB 064 Dubai 19:10 BAW 157 London 07:15 NIA 161 Cairo 19:40 KAC 165 Rome 08:15 JZR 554 Alexandria 19:20 KAC 354 Bengaluru 07:35 KAC 674 Dubai 19:45 FDB 054 Dubai 08:35 UAE 876 Dubai 19:30 FDB 053 Dubai 07:35 FDB 057 Dubai 19:50 KAC 787 Jeddah 08:40 MSR 621 Cairo 19:30 KAC 358 Kochi 07:40 KAC 616 Bahrain 19:55 BAW 156 London 08:55 QTR 1081 Doha 20:00 JZR 505 Luxor 07:45 KAC 166 Rome 20:10 KAC 117 New York 09:00 RBG 556 Alexandria 20:05 ETD 995 Abu Dhabi/Bahrain 07:50 KAC 620 Doha 20:15 JZR 534 Cairo 09:10 ABY 124 Sharjah 20:05 KAC 384 Delhi 08:00 OMA 647 Muscat 20:20 KAC 561 Amman 09:40 GFA 218 Bahrain 20:15 UAE 855 Dubai 08:35 QTR 1088 Doha 20:45 ABY 126 Sharjah 09:45 FDB 058 Dubai 20:35 ETD 301 Abu Dhabi 09:05 DLH 624 Frankfurt 20:45 NIA 162 Cairo 20:40 ABY 125 Sharjah 09:05 KAC 671 Dubai 09:45 ICV 675 Luxembourg 21:10 KAC 101 London 09:45 KAC 301 Mumbai 20:50 QTR 1070 Doha 09:10 KAC 168 Paris 21:20 KAC 357 Kochi 21:00 FDB 055 Dubai 09:40 ETD 9882 SGN 09:50 ETD 307 Abu Dhabi 21:20 OMA 648 Muscat 21:20 JZR 787 Riyadh 09:50 UAE 856 Dubai 10:00 ALK 229 Colombo 21:20 KAC 1543 Cairo 21:20 WAN 342 Sohag 10:15 KAC 515 Tehran 10:00 MEA 402 Beirut 21:20 DLH 624 Bahrain 21:30 IRA 675 Lar 10:40 KAC 541 Cairo 10:00 KAC 786 Jeddah 21:25 DHX 171 Bahrain 21:50 GFA 213 Bahrain 10:40 ETD 302 Abu Dhabi 10:10 KAC 172 Frankfurt 21:30 QTR 1089 Doha 22:00 MSC 403 Asyut 11:15 KAC 773 Riyadh 10:10 UAE 859 Dubai 21:35 KAC 411 Bangkok 22:05 QTR 1074 Doha 11:20 KAC 617 Doha 10:15 GFA 219 Bahrain 21:45 ETD 308 Abu Dhabi 22:10 JZR 165 Dubai 11:30 QTR 1071 Doha 10:20 MEA 403 Beirut 22:20 WAN 134 Doha 11:55 KLM 445 Amsterdam 21:50 KAC 155 Istanbul 10:25 ALK 230 Colombo 22:25 MEA 404 Beirut 11:55 WAN 116 Bahrain 21:50 FDB 056 Dubai 10:35 SAW 701 Damascus 12:30 KAC 564 Amman 22:00 JZR 778 Jeddah 10:40 GFA 220 Bahrain 22:30 JZR 561 Sohag 12:45 QTR 1082 Doha 22:05 ZAV 4101 IQA 11:00 KAC 783 Jeddah 22:35 UAE 871 Dubai 12:50 AIC 987 Chennai/Hyderabad 22:25 GFA 214 Bahrain 11:25 KAC 383 Delhi 22:40 MSR 610 Cairo 13:00 PIA 239 Sialkot 22:35 IRA 674 Lar 11:40 KLM 445 Bahrain 22:50 AXB 393 Kozhikode 13:15 JZR 241 Amman 22:40 WAN 953 Baku 12:00 UAE 860 Dubai 23:00 KAC 774 Riyadh 13:40 JZR 185 Dubai 23:10 JZR 776 Jeddah 12:00 KAC 795 Madinah 23:05 QTR 8511 Doha 13:55 JAI 574 Mumbai 23:15 MSC 404 Asyut 12:15 ICV 675 Hong Kong 23:10 PAL 668 Manila 14:00 MSC 405 Sohag 23:30 QTR 1075 Doha 12:30 QTR 1083 Doha 23:20 KAC 618 Doha 14:15 BBC 043 Dhaka 23:30 JZR 606 Kochi 12:45 PIA 240 Sialkot 23:35 KAC 516 Tehran 14:20 FDB 071 Dubai 23:45 MEA 405 Beirut 12:55 WAN 337 Alexandria 23:45 28 Established 1961

Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Lifestyle Gossip Chester Bennington’s widow says she has been blamed for his death

hester Bennington’s widow has been blamed my fault, it’s not my children’s fault, it’s not the for his suicide by “cruel” online bullies. The band’s faults - it’s nobody’s fault.” Although Talinda Clate Linkin Park front man’s wife Talinda admitted it was naive, she did explain how she Bennington has spoken candidly over his suicide in thought her husband - who had been sober for six July 2017, and insisted nobody is to blame for his months - was “in the clear” with his demons. She death. Discussing mental health at the Canadian added: “My husband had had a past ... in the past, Event Safety Summit, she said: “As much as social he had attempted suicide, but I thought to myself, ‘It media has been a huge support for me, I do every was ‘cause he was wasted. He was this or that. So now and then get people blaming me - straight-up [before] he did pass, I thought very naively, we were blaming me - for him dying, for not saving him, for in the clear. We had a very, very dear friend, Chris mistreating him. Who knows why these people Cornell, take his own life. And I felt that, ‘OK, behind their devices are saying these horribly cruel Chester sees what Vicky and [their] kids’ - we’re things to me? But, you know, it is a little stab in the godparents to their children - ‘what they’re going heart, but what I have to remember is that it’s not through and this will never happen.’”

AC/DC to carry on with Axl Rose and release music? C/DC will reportedly carry on with Angus Young’s brother Malcolm Young - Axl Rose as frontman and potentially who quit the group in 2014 - passing away, Arelease a record with the Guns N’ and Brian pulling out of the tour due to his Roses singer. The ‘Thunderstruck’ rockers’ hearing problems. However, not everyone is biographer, Murray Engleheart - who keen on the idea of another legendary band penned the tome ‘AC/DC: Maximum Rock member replacing Brian. Def Leppard’s Joe & Roll’ in 2012 - has seemingly confirmed Elliott recently said he wouldn’t have the legendary rock band will continue to replaced the 70-year-old frontman with Axl perform with Brian Johnson’s replacement if he was in AC/DC, because he wouldn’t and that new music could be in the pipeline. have “dealt with” the situation in that way if In a post on Facebook, he insisted: he had been part of the group. He said: “I The Cure’s “Speculate all you want but I’ve said it wouldn’t have done it like that. “I can’t before and I’ll say it again: AC/DC will con- speak for [AC/DC guitarist] Angus [Young] tinue with Axl on vocals - new album, tour- and his team as to what their reasons were ROBERT SMITH ing, the whole nine yards. What was a mas- for doing what they did. “But considering sive gamble by Angus turned out to be an that we had a drummer [Rick Allen] lose an equally enormous triumph that has set the arm and we waited for him. The way that curating Meltdown scene for the future. (sic)” The ‘Welcome to they dealt with it was not the way I would the Jungle’ hitmaker was drafted in for the have done it, put it that way.” While he latter part of AC/DC’s ‘Rock or Bust World didn’t agree with the way Axl took Brian’s Festival 2018 Tour’ in 2016 after Brian pulled out due to place in the band, Joe, 58, thought the he Cure’s Robert Smith will year’s curator M.I.A. in the role. A hearing issues. The ‘Back in Black’ stars ‘November Rain’ singer did a “pretty good curate this year’s Meltdown month later, The Cure will mark their went through a transformation last year job”, but to him the current line-up doesn’t TFestival. The ‘Friday I’m In 40th anniversary as a band with a with bassist Cliff Williams retiring, guitarist feel like the AC/DC of old. Love’ hitmaker is thrilled to be special gig at Barclaycard presents organizing the bill for the prestigious British Summer Time Hyde Park The 10-night music event held at punk rockers have produced 30 mil- London’s Southbank Centre from lion combined sales of 13 studio June 14 to 24, and has teased that he albums and more than 40 singles Gene Simmons: Working with Bob has chosen some of the most “inspi- during their four-decade career, and rational” acts to perform. He said: “I will celebrate the milestone perform- am honored and excited to be curat- ing at the iconic landmark on July 7, Dylan was like winning lottery ing the 25th Meltdown Festival. with support from Interpol, ene Simmons has compared collaborat- “More than 30 of my all-time Goldfrapp, Editors, Ride, Slowdive ing with Bob Dylan to winning the lot- favorite artists - some of the most and The Twilight Sad. James King, tery. The Kiss rocker and the legendary exciting, inspirational, intense and Senior Vice President, AEG Presents G singer/songwriter penned the track ‘Waiting influential performers of the last 40 commented: “The Cure playing at For The Morning Light’ in 1991, and it was later years - will make sure this 10-night Barclaycard presents British Summer released on the ‘Crazy Nights’ hitmaker’s 2004 extravaganza at London’s Southbank Time Hyde Park will be an incredible solo record “A*****e’. The 68-year-old shock Centre is the must-see event of the day where The Cure join the list of rocker says that it was a matter of luck that he summer!” For the first time in its 25- other global legends who have got to work with Dylan, 76, and recalled how year history, Meltdown will cover the played the Great Oak Stage. On July after contacting his manager to ask to speak to entire venue, including the Queen 7 we celebrate the 40th anniversary the ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ hitmaker, he turned up Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room. of a truly iconic British band and it’s outside his home two days later, and the rest is Smith, 58, follows in the footsteps of an honor that they have chosen to history. Appearing on ‘The Pulse Of Radio’ the likes of the late David Bowie, share this magical experience with us recently, Simmons said: “Everybody buys lot- Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker and last in Hyde Park.” tery tickets. “What are their chances of win- ning? Not much. “So what? There is a chance you can win, and I’m like that. So I called his manager: ‘Can I speak with Bob?’ ‘What do you wanna talk to him about?’ ‘I ... I wanna write a song with Bob.’ “[Laughs] And all of a sudden within two days, an unmarked van shows up at James Bay my house and Bob gets out with an acoustic guitar in his hand, and tells his driver, ‘I’ll see teases new song you at the end of the day,’ comes up and we start strumming. I mean it was just like that.” me - and that’s in the box set - ‘So, how do Wild Love Simmons released ‘Gene Simmons - The Vault you write songs?’ ‘Well, y’know, I write stuff Experience: 1966-2016’ last year, which and Paul (Stanley) comes up with stuff. . . “He ames Bay is set to release range of influences and fusing includes a never-heard-before 15-minute clip of goes, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, and then the other brand new track ‘Wild Love’ them together. He said: “Chance him in the studio with Dylan. The ‘Lick It Up’ guys play it?’ “I go, ‘Well, I usually tell ‘em Jtoday. The ‘Hold Back The the Rapper’s ‘Coloring Book’ and singer says getting to discuss how we writes what parts to play’ - he goes: ‘You do?’ River’ hitmaker will give fans the Frank Ocean’s ‘Channel Orange’ music with the ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ star will (Laughs) I couldn’t believe I was having this first taste of his second record were really big influences this forever be a career “highlight”. Recalling their discussion. Yeah, we were talking about how with the song, his first new music time around. “I went on holiday to time working together, he said: “He was asking we write songs, and it’s still a life highlight.” since his 2015 debut LP ‘Chaos the Caribbean and must have and the Calm’. Alongside a snip- placed ‘Channel Orange’ 15,000 pet of the music video for the new times. “I know that probably makes me sound like some organ- ic guitar dude who is now deep Drake shoots video at Miami into hip-hop but I’ve always had a soulful, non-rock side. “The inter- aul Simon has announced a ‘Farewell Tour’ and con- school and donates scholarship esting thing to me was having firmed he will retire from work as a touring musician those two in my left hand, and this summer. The ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ singer David Bowie and LCD P has had an illustrious career including 18 studio albums - rake presented $25,000 dollars to a high 31, then thanked the kids for being extras in the Soundsystem in my right and five of which were recorded with fellow musician Art school after shooting his latest music video by donating $25,000 dollars to the school smashing them together.” James Garfunkel - and 12 Grammy Awards. In a touching statement, video there. The ‘Hotline Bling’ rapper and promising to design and supply them all with chopped his long hair and ditched D Simon, 76, has revealed he sees the upcoming shows as a surprised pupils at Miami Senior High School in new uniforms, according to The Miami Hurricane. his trademark fedora for his sec- “natural end” to his time on the road, citing the difficulties of Florida when he arrived on campus to shoot the The rapper also presented student Destiny ond album campaign, but knew all being away from his family as a big part of a his decision. He video for his latest hit single ‘God’s Plan’. Drake, James, whose Facebook profile says she is study- along he wanted to do something said: “I’ve often wondered what it would feel like to reach ing biology, with a $50,000 dollar university “unexpected” and become a “dif- the point where I’d consider bringing my performing career scholarship. After performing ‘God’s Plan’ on a ferent person”. He said: “Round to a natural end. Now I know: it feels a little unsettling, a raised terrace while camera’s filmed the crowd, two has been about thinking out- touch exhilarating, and something of a relief. “I love making Drake said: “I’ll tell you one thing. I’ve been to a side the box and doing something music, my voice is still strong, and my band is a tight, lot of places in the world. I don’t think I’ve ever unexpected. “As a competitive extraordinary group of gifted musicians. I think about music been to a more turnt [excited] school than this. I person, I set myself that challenge. constantly. Sadly, we lost our lead guitarist and my friend of wish you all the best in life, a lot of love, a lot of I was more than ready to cut my 30 years, Vincent N’guini, who died last December. His loss happiness for you, your friends and your family.” hair off and put my hat on the is not the only reason I’ve decided to stop touring, but it is a Representatives from Cash Money Records stand and walk out a completely contributing factor. “Mostly, though, I feel the travel and patrolled the campus with signs stating students different person this time. “Of time away from my wife and family takes a toll that detracts entering the area were consenting to be filmed. course, telling your team that this from the joy of playing. I’d like to leave with a big Thank You Footage on social media also shows Drake per- is how you want to play it takes to the many folks around the world who’ve come out to forming on a hydraulic crane above the crowd. courage. “But I’m confident. The watch me play over the last 50 years.” The US and Canada Meanwhile, Drake recently named LeBron James opposite of doing that is being leg of the ‘Farewell Tour’ starts in Vancouver, BC at the as one of his biggest inspirations. The chart-top- boring. So it was a no-brainer - Rogers Arena on May 16 before ending on June 20 at the ping rap star has hailed the NBA star after he go courage.” But James admitted Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN. From there, Simon will passed the 30,000 career points milestone, and track, James wrote on Twitter: he was left with a “void” once he’d move onto mainland Europe with a performance at Drake has admitted he regards LeBron to be one “WILD LOVE. February 8th 2018. finished touring and promoting his Stockholm’s Ericsson Globe, ending that run in Amsterdam of his heroes. He shared: “Seems like every time #WildLove (sic)” The 27-year- first record around the world in on July 7 at the Ziggo Dome. He will call time on his leg- we look up, you’re setting another milestone or old singer/songwriter recently December 2016. He said: “Touring endary career with four UK performances - Manchester breaking another record and I always tell you revealed that he was inspired by was over. The bubble had burst. Arena, Glasgow’s SSE Hyrdo, the ROS Arena in Dublin and a that you’re one of the most inspirational people Frank Ocean and Chance The “When you’ve dispersed from the headlining slot in at Hyde Park’s British Summer Time in my life.” In fact, Drake said that LeBron’s Rapper on his new album. James tight-knit family you’ve created Festival. On the final run of shows, he added: “After this com- career achievements encourage him to go into insisted he has always had a on the road, you lose your sense ing tour, I anticipate doing the occasional performance in a the studio and make new tunes. He told Billboard: “soulful non-rock side” and was of purpose for a minute. I was (hopefully) acoustically pristine hall, and to donate those “Every time you do something like this I always excited about taking a diverse standing in front of this void.” earnings to various philanthropic organizations, particular try to get in the studio and make the song that those whose objective is to save the planet, ecologically.” would go with the moment.” — Bang Showbiz Established 1961 29

Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Lifestyle Gossip James Mangold hates post-credit scenes ames Mangold finds post-credit sequences they feel good. They are designed to do that, like ads, “embarrassing”. The 54-year-old filmmaker as they hook you to buy the next film/s and at the Jrecently helmed the R-rated ‘X-Men’ spin-off same time, I feel like the omnipresent expectation of movie ‘Logan’, but even though his movie didn’t have a them cheapens the integrity of a theatrical experience post-credit scene - which has become a regular con- as the movie doesn’t stick its ending but rather drib- tribution to superhero films - Mangold has revealed bles to an end with a series of pleasing vignettes/ads his views on how he feels about the teasing of future for the thing they will sell you next year ... So its not so films. He vented: “Now we’ve actually gotten audi- much the scenes I despise as much as I fear that ences addicted to a bonus in the credits. It’s embar- movies (an art form I deeply love) are not advanced rassing. It means you couldn’t land your movie, is what when they are no longer functioning as a form with a it means. Even if you got 100,000 Twitter addicts who beginning middle and end but rather as part of a seri- are gambling on what scene is going to happen after alized money machine. These scenes promote a slight- the credits, it’s still cheating. “[Post-credits scenes ly false sense of fully realized “universe” as if everyone are] selling them the next movie while you’re making behind scenes knows exactly what’s next in a saga, this movie, and kind of all that s**t that I find really when the truth is a bit less charted despite what many embarrassing. “Like, that audience are actually asking tell a sycophantic press that makes $ on the “univers- for scenes in the end credits when those scenes were es” & the gossip mill they create “Lastly, the term first developed for movies that suck, so they put “easter egg”‘s a bit infantile &, at least 2 me, feels something extra at the end to pick up the scores when condescending toward a thoughtful & intellectual the movie couldn’t end right on its own feet.” Now, audience that might be treated w/ more respect than after making these comments at the beginning of the imagining them as kids jumping around trying to month, Mangold took to Twitter this week to continue guess storylines from breadcrumbs dropped by cor- venting about the scenes which are so popular with porations. “One more thing. The argument that these cinema goers. The director - who is currently making scs. make people watch end credits is just lame. “If ‘Captain Nemo’ - wrote: “Many folks commented on you have to offer shiny objects to keep people watch- my diatribe re: end credits scenes. Good points made ing the names of the crew, then they are not showing by some who disagree. My vehemence comes from a an ounce of respect for the crew. Just waiting like belief these scenes r cinematic MSG/crack. Of course dogs for milk bones. [sic]”

Chadwick Boseman Bruce Willis joins Motherless Brooklyn ruce Willis, Alec Baldwin and agency, but their world is rocked couldn’t breathe Gugu Mbatha-Raw have joined when their boss is stabbed to death. Bthe cast of ‘Motherless Essrog will then become obsessed Brooklyn’. The trio of major stars have with solving the murder and his inves- been signed up for the project by tigations will lead him to closely- in Black Panther suit Edward Norton, who is starring in and guarded secrets that have ramifica- directing the project. Norton has also tions for ‘The Big Apple’. Norton will penned the screenplay, an adaptation play Essrog and Willis has signed up of Jonathan Lethem’s 1999 detective to portray Minna with the previously novel of the same name which is set in announced Willem Dafoe taking on 1950s Brooklyn and focuses on pro- the part of Paul Randolph. Other con- tagonist Lionel Essrog, a Tourette firmed cast members include Cherry syndrome sufferer who works with Jones, Ethan Suplee, Leslie Mann, the characters Tony, Danny and Gilbert as a group Josh Pais, Fisher Stevens, Michael K. Williams and LETITIA WRIGHT known as the Minna Men for Frank Minna, the Robert Wisdom and shooting on the project is learnt so much from owner of a “seedy and makeshift” detective already underway in New York City. Angela Bassett on Black Panther

etitia Wright learned a lot has the ceremonial title Black from Angela Bassett on the set Panther as the chief of the Panther Lof ‘Black Panther’. The 24- Tribe, but is killed when a bomb year-old actress plays Shuri in the goes off at the UN leaving his son to Chris Hemsworth new Marvel Cinematic Universe take on the mantle. The film also movie ‘Black Panther’ alongside the Lupita Nyong’o, Forest Whitaker, would love to do ‘American Horror Story’ star, and Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman and initially she was “really nervous” Andy Serkis - who are both repris- Crocodile Dundee reboot working with Bassett, 59. But Wright ing their roles as Everett K. Ross had no need to be pensive as Bassett and Ulysses Klaue respectively in took her under her wing and sup- the new film. The movie has been hris Hemsworth is “open” to making a ‘Crocodile Dundee’ ported her on the set of the action hailed by critics for having a cast movie following his popular Super Bowl advert. The 34- blockbuster. Speaking to Time Out predominantly made up of black Cyear-old Australian actor appeared in a star-studded com- London magazine, Wright said: “I actors and although Wright admits it mercial created by Tourism Australia, which left fans speculating learned a lot from her. I was really is “refreshing” it is totally necessary a possible reboot of the classic 1986 movie, which starred Paul nervous during the first couple of to the story being told on screen. Hogan in the titular role. And after the $36 million dollar clip weeks. “I wanted to hide in the Wright - who was born in proved popular with fans, Chris - who played himself in the pro- background and do my lines. She Georgetown, Guyana, but raised in mo - admitted he would love to be involved with a potential noticed that and built up my confi- London, England, from the age of reboot. Speaking to News.com.au, he said: “Hearing such a posi- dence.” Chadwick Boseman stars as seven - said: “The cast is pretty tive response from a fan point of view, I would definitely be open the titular hero Black Panther aka much all black, which is refreshing, to it. “You’d have to find a story and a great script but it’s certain- T’Challa, a character that was creat- but we want that to be normal. ly made me stop and think what the future holds and my next few ed by legendary Marvel Comics Every time we see a period drama, jobs and whether we could make something like this work.” In the writer Stan Lee and the equally we don’t say, ‘Oh my God. It’s white commercial, American comedian Danny McBride played the cen- iconic artist-and-writer Jack Kirby, folks in the 60s’. It’s just a story.” tral role as Dundee’s long lost son, who returned to the outback first appearing in ‘Fantastic Four Although shooting to fame in the to save his father. He was then taken by the ‘Thor’ actor to see #52’ back in 1966. The motion pic- Channel 4 series ‘Top Boy’ and now “pristine beaches” and taste some “of the finest wines in the ture is expected to expand on the starring in a Hollywood blockbuster, entire world”, and it didn’t take Danny long to realize he is actual- storyline that was first introduced in Wright admitted she wants to do ly in an advert for Australia rather than a film. Chris said: “Yes, but ‘Captain America: Civil War’ of how more arthouse movies. She said: listen. You’re the best ‘Crocodile Dundee’ since ‘Crocodile T’Challa becomes Black Panther. “Arthouse films. I want to do stuff Dundee’” The camera then cut to Hogan sitting in his iconic outfit T’Challa’s father T’Chaka is king of like ‘Lady Bird’. I want people to say, holding a glass of beer. The A-listers in the advert included fictional African nation Wakanda and ‘She told amazing stories.’ Margot Robbie, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Isla Fisher and Chris’ younger brother Liam. Luca Guadagnino hopes to empower Domhnall Gleeson hadwick Boseman struggled to breathe woman in Suspiria when he first wore his ‘Black Panther’ surprised General Hux survived Csuit. The 41-year-old actor was first seen uca Guadagnino hopes to of the female artistic experience”. as T’Challa aka Black Panther in 2016’s ‘Captain empower women in his In an interview with Yahoo America: Civil War’ but admitted the tight, Star Wars: The Last Jedi L‘Suspiria’ remake. The 46- Movies, Guadagnino said: “I hope spandex suit felt too restricting and said he felt year-old director is due to helm a that this movie, made by a man, like he was “suffocating” when squeezed into it. Ren [Adam Driver] is on the ground, and it looks remake of Dario Argento’s 1977 turns out to be experienced Speaking to Variety, Boseman said: “It was suf- like maybe I’ll finish him. It’s like, what state cult classic, and he admitted he through the horrors as a sort of focating. Literally, it closed off every possibility would the franchise be in if like Snoke and Ren hopes the film will be a “showcase fierce showcase of the female of air getting to you. I was in it, put the mask are gone? And it’s just Hux going right. “Can you artistic experience. The relentless, on. I said, ‘Hey, you got to get me out of this!’” imagine how annoyed people would’ve been?” unsentimental idea of femininity Now, Boseman is donning the suit once more Although Snoke’s death caused outrage among that I grew up witnessing, that I’ve for his standalone movie as the superhero and fans, Andy Serkis - who portrayed the terrifying been accompanied by in my life. revealed he has become more comfortable with villain - has teased his ‘Star Wars’ alter ego could It’s going to be the witches are the costume. He said: “I think it begins to feel make a return to the franchise. Serkis said: “Look, back.” ‘Suspiria’ tells the story of like skin after a while. But it takes time to get it’s ‘Star Wars’, so you never know how life, or Suzy, an American ballet dancer to that place.” The Black Panther character whether life can be come back to or not. Whether who wins a place at a renowned was created by legendary Marvel Comics you can be resuscitated or brought back. I was German academy only to notice writer Stan Lee and the equally iconic artist- shocked. Dramatically, it felt absolutely right for numerous disappearances and and-writer Jack Kirby and first appeared in that moment in the film, so I didn’t question it. “I deaths on campus and soon dis- ‘Fantastic Four #52’ back in 1966. Ryan just think it’s a very, very important scene, so I covers that dark powers are at Coogler directed the movie which will take on didn’t question it. But I do know it’s left fans feel- work and the town is filled with the plot which was first introduced in ‘Captain ing, like, that they were really searching for witches. The original was set in America: Civil War’ of how T’Challa becomes something there. And what I’m saying is, who the town of Freiburg, however, the superhero the fictional African nation of knows?” Serkis isn’t the only actor who doesn’t Guadagnino has moved the setting Wakanda. Boseman doesn’t think a white film- know his future in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise as to Berlin. The remake is set to fea- maker could have helmed ‘Black Panther’ omhnall Gleeson was surprised General Lupita Nyong’o admitted she has no idea ture Dakota Johnson taking on the because they wouldn’t have the “same con- Hux survived in ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’. whether she’ll appear in ‘Star Wars: Episode IX’. lead as Suzy alongside Chloe flict” that Coogler could bring to it as an DThe 34-year-old actor portrayed the The 34-year-old actress plays alien Maz Kanata Grace Moretz, Mia Goth and Tidla African American man. He said: “Well, is it young, ruthless officer in the First Order in both and had a significant role in the J.J. Abrams- Swinton. Guadagnino and Swinton possible for them to make? It could be, yes. ‘The Force Awakens’ and ‘The Last Jedi’ - which directed ‘The Force Awakens’, but Nyong’o previously worked together on the Would they have his [Coogler] perspective? saw Supreme Leader Snoke being killed - and doesn’t know what the future holds for her char- drama ‘I Am Love’ and the director Probably not. It wouldn’t be nuanced in the Gleeson couldn’t believe his character has made acter. Gwendoline Christie - who plays Captain has also worked with Johnson on same way because they wouldn’t have the it this far. Speaking on the Happy Sad Podcast, Phasma - would also love to continue playing the ‘A Bigger Splash’. He hopes to be same conflict. They don’t have the African- Gleeson said: “I’ll be honest, I was very surprised commander of the First Order’s legions of joined by American composer American conflict that exists: whether you’re that I survived. I kind of imagined myself getting Stormtroopers, but she doesn’t yet know if she’ll John Adams to make the score for conscious of it or not, you have an ancestry blown up in a ship pretty early on. Spoiler alert, I be afforded the opportunity after appearing to the film. — Bang Showbiz that is very hard to trace.” suppose. There’s also this moment where [Kylo] be killed by Finn (John Boyega) in ‘The Last Jedi’. 30 Established 1961 Wednesday, February 7, 2018 Lifestyle Music & Movies Berlin filmfest to spotlight #MeToo moment

his month’s Berlin film festival, Europe’s first major include panel discussions on fighting sexual misconduct the world premiere of Wes Anderson’s “Isle of Dogs”, an cinema showcase in the wake of the Harvey in the entertainment industry, generating financing for animated feature voiced by stars including Bill Murray, TWeinstein revelations, will shine a light on sexual more female-led movies and getting more women into Jeff Goldblum, Greta Gerwig and Liev Schreiber-all misconduct in the industry, its director said yesterday. technical areas of filmmaking. Berlin ranks with Cannes expected on the Berlinale’s red carpet. Tom Tykwer, one Berlinale chief Dieter Kosslick told a news conference and Venice among Europe’s top film festivals and is gen- of the German directors behind the blockbuster minis- that the screenings and guests from Hollywood and the erally considered the most politically minded. eries “Babylon Berlin” now appearing on Netflix, will lead global film industry at the 68th edition would open up a Kosslick told a separate briefing for the foreign press a gender-balanced jury including Belgian actress Cecile long-overdue “debate” on rampant discrimination and that he had disqualified certain productions from partici- de France (“The Young Pope”), “Moonlight” producer abuse problems. “The international resonance of pating this year-”less than five,” he said-because a direc- Adele Romanski, Time magazine critic Stephanie #MeToo quickly made clear that the problem isn’t limited tor, screenwriter or star attached to the production was Zacharek, Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamato and to Hollywood,” he said as he announced the some 400 facing credible sexual misconduct allegations. He Spanish film historian Chema Prado. — AFP films set to screen during the event’s 11-day run. declined to say what films were excluded. Kosslick added Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick points at the poster of the “The Berlinale sees itself as a forum where problems that four of the 19 films in competition for the Golden 68th Berlinale as he poses for photographers during a press can be aired and it will host a range of events that should Bear top prize were directed by women: “not great but conference prior to the 68th Berlinale film festival in Berlin contribute to concrete change.” He said these would there you go”. The event will kick off on February 15 with yesterday. — AFP ‘Frasier’ dad John Mahoney dies at 77

ctor John Mahoney, who portrayed the no-nonsense father in according to the Chicago Tribune. “So many wonderful plays the TV sitcom “Frasier,” has died in Chicago at the age of 77, together over the years,” Sinise reminisced on Twitter. “A wonderful Ahis longtime theater company said Monday. Mahoney played actor I’ll never forget his 1985 performance in Orphans (Chicago and the iconic role of Martin Crane for all 11 seasons of the popular sit- New York).” Mahoney appeared in more than 30 productions at the com until 2004. He won numerous acting accolades including nomi- prestigious theater, including “The Rembrandt” in September. nations for Emmys and Golden Globes. The Steppenwolf Theatre “John was a beloved member of our Steppenwolf family who was Company in Chicago said Mahoney, who was a member of the known for his extraordinary kindness, generosity of spirit and quick ensemble for 39 years, died Sunday due to complications from can- smile,” Steppenwolf spokeswoman Madeline Long said in a state- cer while in hospice care. The character actor was born in England, ment. “John’s impact on this institution, on Chicago theater, and the but moved to the United States at the age of 19 to teach English at a world of arts and entertainment is great and will endure.” Mahoney college in Illinois, according to Variety. Chicago was his longtime appeared in numerous films and TV shows, and continued to appear home, and he had said he felt happiest when in the Windy City. “John on television as recently as 2015 in the TV series “Foyle’s War.” Mahoney was a fixture on the Chicago stage,” Mayor Rahm His more than three decades-long career in film saw him appear This file photo shows Dwayne Johnson as he poses with Jack Black and Jake Kasdan (left), director of the Emanuel said in remembrance. “Even as his fame grew through his in movies such as “The American President,” “Moonstruck” and “Say new Jumanji film on Johnson’s Hollywood Walk of Fame Star after it was unveiled at a ceremony in fantastic work in movies and television, John stayed connected to his Anything.” “Rest In Peace, John Mahoney. ‘Say Anything’ is one of Hollywood, California. — AFP artistic home here in Chicago. “Though he will be missed, his work my favorite films of all time,” said actor Ken Jeong. Mahoney won a and impact will endure for generations to come.” number of acting awards, including Tony and Screen Actors Guild Mahoney got his acting start in Chicago relatively lately, when he trophies. — AFP was 40 in the late 1970s, after fellow actors John Malkovich and Sony’s ‘Jumanji’ in rare return to Gary Sinise invited him to join the then-nascent Steppenwolf, top box office in N America

ony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” man- In third spot was a new release, “Winchester” aged the rare feat this weekend of regaining from Lionsgate, with takings of $9.3 million despite Sthe No. 1 spot in North American box offices abysmal reviews. The movie, a gothic thriller, was on its seventh week out, industry figures showed on inspired by the real-life story of Sarah Winchester, Monday. Taking in $10.9 million for the three-day the 19th-century heiress to the Winchester gun- weekend-as competition with football’s Super Bowl making fortune, who built an enormous, spookily depressed ticket sales-”Jumanji” became the first elaborate mansion in California to appease the spir- film since “Titanic,” in 1998, to win a February its of people killed by her family’s firearms. Despite weekend following a nationwide release in the draw of Helen Mirren in the title role, the film December. After holding top spot for three consec- scored a paltry nine percent on the Rotten utive weekends, the film closed out January in sec- Tomatoes website. Even she could not “class up... ond place. this super-silly feature,” The New York Times said. The family flick, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Fox’s “The Greatest Showman,” with Hugh Johnson, Jack Black and Kevin Hart, follows a group Jackman as larger-than-life circus impresario P.T. of teens who find themselves transported inside the Barnum, clung to fourth spot, taking in $7.7 million. video game world of Jumanji. Its domestic cumula- Fox’s “The Post,” starring Meryl Streep as newspa- tive take of almost $338 million makes it only the per publisher Katharine Graham, spent a second third Sony film to reach that mark. Last weekend’s weekend at fifth place grossing $5.2 million. North American leader, Fox’s “Maze Runner: The Rounding out the top 5 were: Death Cure,” slipped to second place with a take of “Hostiles” ($5.1 million) $10.5 million, according to industry tracker “12 Strong” ($4.7 million) Exhibitor Relations. The dystopian sci-fi film follows “Den of Thieves” ($4.6 million) In this file photo taken on September 13, 1998 the cast of the television situation comedy ‘Frasier’ pose with their Emmy for Outstanding the harrowing adventures of three teens who have “The Shape of Water” ($4.4 million) Comedy Series at the 50th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles (From left:) Dan Butler, John Mahoney, Peri Gilpin, Kelsey Grammer, survived a destructive virus infecting the world. “Paddington 2” ($3.3 million). — AFP Jane Leeves and David Hyde Pierce. — AFP Show must go on: NY Fashion Week weathers #MeToo storm

ew York Fashion Week kicks off the global fall/winter and independent enforcement “are not going to work.” is taking a break, and rap superstar Kanye West chose to 2018 season fighting to stay relevant blighted by sexu- Marchesa, the label of Harvey Weinstein’s estranged wife unveil his latest installment for urban sportswear brand Yeezy Nal harassment scandals, an industry in chaos, and Georgina Chapman, cancelled their Valentine’s Day show, still last week on Instagram, modeled by his wife Kim Kardashian. designers jumping ship. More than 230,000 people flood the reeling from the fallout of his downfall over multiple allega- British former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham is marking her last US financial capital to attend the style fest that generates tions ranging from sexual harassment to rape, in favor of “an show in New York before celebrating her label’s 10th anniver- nearly $900 million a year for the city. It is currently sched- updated format.” sary in London. Spanish label Delpozo is already moving to uled twice-yearly in February and September. But as social Added to the schedule is a #MeToo fashion show-named London and Tome to Paris. media influencers wrestle power from fashion editors and for the movement against sexual harassment-on Friday to Bucking the trend is Italian luxury house Bottega Veneta, buyers, more labels than ever are opting out this season, raise awareness. “The only way to change things is to be unit- showing at the American Stock Exchange on Thursday as a abandoning New York for Europe or tearing up the runway ed... and stand up and say, ‘That is not OK, we are not going to one-off to celebrate a new boutique on Madison Avenue. show altogether. Here is a look at the top trends expected to accept this anymore,’” organizer Myriam Chalek told The dominate when Fashion Week formally gets underway on Daily Beast. New York state of mind Thursday, preceded by three days of men’s shows. Look out for the influencers-the breed of bloggers, Period of chaos Instagramers and celebrities whose followings can shift mar- #MeToo Alexander Wang, the New York king of cool whose urban kets and who are particularly dominant in New York. “We’re The sexual harassment watershed engulfing the United chic is so adored by off-duty models, is making his swansong so embedded in pop culture, in media and entertainment,” States and rocking the fashion industry has seen the Council before this summer ditching the traditional February- explains Kolb. of Fashion Designers of America unveil new guidelines in an September calendar in favor of June-December. His departure attempt to clamp down on misconduct. “We have zero toler- follows the exit of Proenza Schouler and Rodarte for couture Model royalty ance for unsafe environments and strongly encourage every- week in Paris on the same schedule, and Altuzarra, which Face and figure alone are no longer a guarantor of hitting one in our industry to report abuse in the workplace,” wrote moved to Paris Fashion Week. “Why do something that’s not the big-time. Instead it’s genes, having the right name and an CFDA chairman Diane von Furstenberg in a letter announcing working?” Instagram following. Think 16-year-old Kaia Gerber, look- the guidelines, which also raise awareness against eating dis- Stephanie Horton, chief strategy officer at Alexander Wang alike daughter of Cindy Crawford already collaborating on a orders and advocate greater diversity. Misconduct accusa- told a recent industry event in New York. “The business model collection with Karl Lagerfeld, Kendall Jenner, half-sister of tions have seen celebrated photographers Terry Richardson, needs to change because the consumer has changed.” Steven Kim Kardashian, and Gigi and Bella Hadid, daughters of “The Mario Testino and Bruce Weber barred from collaborating Kolb, president and CEO of the CFDA, predicts that other Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Yolanda Hadid. with Vogue and Vanity Fair publisher Conde Nast. designers could follow suit. “I think it’ll be a period of chaos, No longer just the face of brands, their huge celebrity fol- The magazine empire has issued a new “Code of Conduct” maybe, but chaos always calms down at some point,” he told lowing is a meal ticket for brands and they can monetize that. to include bans on alcohol on sets, on under-18 models with- the same event in New York. Think Calvin Klein’s recent underwear campaign featuring the out a chaperone, and for nudity or “sexually suggestive” pos- Kardashians.—AFP es to be agreed beforehand. But the Model Alliance has Great escape In this file photo designer Victoria Beckham is applauded demanded “meaningful and lasting change,” saying “voluntary Tommy Hilfiger is taking his see-now, buy-now fashion during her Spring Summer 2017 show at New York Fashion standards” without education, proper complaint mechanisms roadshow to Milan, Rihanna’s Fenty collaboration with Puma Week in New York.

File photo taken on September 10, 2016 a model displays the fashion of Alexander In this file photo a model displays the fashion of Proenza Schouler during New York In this file photo taken on February 14, 2015 models present creations by designer Wang during New York Fashion Week in New York. — AFP photos Fashion Week in New York. Altuzarra during the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2015 in New York. Established 1961 31 Lifestyle Awards Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Oscar nominees including Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Gary Oldman, Timothee Chalamet, Daniel Kaluuya, Sally Hawkins, Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan, Greta Gerwig, Meryl Streep, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Sam Rockwell, Kobe Bryant, Mary J Blige, Allison Janney, Laurie Metcalf, Jordan Peele, and Octavia Spencer attend the 90th Annual Academy Awards Nominee Luncheon at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 5, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. — AFP photos High Fives and a black eye: Scenes from Oscar Nominees Lunch

he Oscar nominees luncheon brings we’re the ones laughing along the most,” Paul Unlike many of the nominees, her film was together A-listers and rising stars - artists said Monday. released by Netflix on the streaming platform. Tfrom every aspect of filmmaking - for an “La La Land” was mistakenly announced as Rees says it proves that audiences are interest- afternoon of celebration and mutual fandom. the best picture winner at last year’s Oscars ed in content and not business models. She says With little on the agenda other than posing for a before the error was caught and “Moonlight” watching Indiana Jones on television growing group photo, Monday’s gathering was a chance was named the winner of the evening’s top up didn’t impact her awe of the filmmaking. for nominees to bask together in their exalted prize. Paul and Benj Pasek are nominated year status together before the Academy Awards are for “The Greatest Showman” song “This is Me.” Oh, I get it now presented on March 4. They said that they’re able to enjoy awards sea- “The Shape of Water” director Guillermo First-time acting nominees Timothee son a little more this time and are five percent del Toro was still riding high Monday from his Chalamet and Daniel Kaluuya high-fived at less terrified at every event. Directors Guild Award win on Saturday night. every opportunity. Greta Gerwig and Meryl The Mexican director was all smiles thinking Streep chatted on the risers before the class about the evening with his peers. Del Toro photo next to a cardboard cutout of Agnes said the night was fun and praised Judd Varda brought to the event by her “Faces Monday’s Apatow’s hosting skills, although he admitted Places” co-director JR. that one joke aimed at him went over his head Gerwig playfully choked best supporting gathering was at the time. actor nominee Sam Rockwell on the red carpet, Apatow poked fun during Saturday’s cere- and many of the stars and filmmakers mony at del Toro’s director’s photo, quipping exchanged laughs as they assembled - all 170 of a chance for that it was like an eHarmony profile picture. Del them - for the class photo. The nominee having Toro said Monday that he didn’t actually know the most fun was Kobe Bryant, whose “Dear nominees to what eHarmony was when Apatow made the Actor Sam Rockwell (left) attends the 90th Annual Academy Awards Nominee Luncheon at The Basketball” is up for animated short. Bryant joke and that he had to look it up. He thinks it’s Beverly Hilton Hotel. wore a permanent grin and posed for photos bask together quite funny now. with anyone who asked. The event includes some pointers about giving good speeches , and Bruised, but not giving up on basketball also a chance for nominees to reflect on their Common was looking so dapper Monday for place in this Oscars season. Here are some more Dee Rees looks behind her historic nomination the nominees’ luncheon you could hardly tell he moments from interviews with nominees con- “Mudbound” director and co-writer Dee was trying to hide a black eye. The musician and ducted by The Associated Press at the nomi- Rees said Monday she is more interested in the producer said he was trying to look good after nees’ luncheon event: future than she is excited about making history. getting beat up on the basketball court this Rees recently became the first black woman to weekend. Common donned a pair of glasses in Best picture mistake still stings get nominated for a best adapted screenplay hopes of hiding the little remaining bruise, Returning Academy Awards host Jimmy Academy Award. “Mudbound” also scored although he was quick to pull out his phone and Kimmel has been poking fun at last year’s best another historic nomination for cinematograph- show photos of how his face looked after the picture mix up in promotional spots for this er Rachel Morrison, who became that category’s accidental hit. year’s Oscars, but it’s not a laughing matter for first female nominee. Common laughed that might have gotten a some. “La La Land” lyricist Justin Paul says the Rees said she wants the entertainment mild concussion from it. It certainly didn’t sour envelope gaffe was a bit of a soft spot for some industry to get to a place where this is an him on basketball: he was one of numerous stars of his friends and colleagues involved in the film. everyday occurrence and not news. “I think it’s who posed for photos with retired Lakers star Paul says that he understands why it’s still being like cause for reflection and to really ask our- Kobe Bryant, who is nominated for his short talked about and to not mention it at all would selves you know could there have been other animated film “Dear Basketball.” Common is be awkward. moments and why is this the first time,” Rees nominated for a best original song alongside “We have some wonderful, brilliant friends said. “And again I think it’s more about using Diane Warren for “Stand Up for Something” and colleagues who you know, it was a little bit the moment to think how do we make the from the film “Marshall.”—AP of a soft spot, a sore spot in that moment, so we future a place where this isn’t news making or can totally understand it but I don’t know if this is an everyday occurrence.” Actress Octavia Spencer Actor/singer Mary J. Blige Actress Saoirse Ronan

Actor Laura Dern speaks onstage during the 90th Annual Academy Awards Nominee Luncheon. Director Firas Fayyad Actor Timothee Chalamet Actor Meryl Streep (left) and director Greta Gerwig. Actor Willem Dafoe Actor Gary Oldman Daniel Kaluuya

Agnes Varda is happy, but not proud, of her Oscar nomination

ocumentarian Agnes Varda is not only the oldest one week a month. “I could not shoot more than one person ever nominated for an Academy Award, week a month,” she said. “Because it leaves me tired, you Dshe’s the first woman to receive an honorary Oscar know. I’m old!” “Faces Places” was released in US the- and a competitive nomination in the same season. And aters in October. while she’s quite delighted by the recognition, the 89- She did not attend Monday’s luncheon for nominees, year-old notes that she is “not proud.” She is so not but JR made sure she was in the class photo: he brought proud that she mentions it several times during a brief a cardboard cutout of Varda holding a cat that he dis- telephone interview from her home in France last month played on the red carpet and on the risers with the rest of after learning that “Faces Places” was nominated for best the assembled nominees. In November, Varda danced documentary feature. “There is nothing to be proud of, with Angelina Jolie at the film academy’s Governors but happy,” Varda said. “Happy because we make films to Awards, where Varda received an honorary Academy love. We make films so that you love the film.” She sees Award recognizing her decades of filmmaking. herself as more modest than proud. “I love my own work French film director Agnes Varda, nominated for her docu- “Everyone was there in the room, so I was very wel- and I’ve done it for so many years, so I didn’t do it for mentary ‘Faces Places’ poses as she receives an award comed and I felt very good,” she recalled of the untele- honor or money,” she said. “My films never made money.” while attending the 23rd Lumieres Awards ceremony at the vised ceremony. The honor came with an invitation to the Varda shares the Oscar nod with her co-director, JR, and Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute) in Paris. 90th Academy Awards on March 4, so Varda was already her daughter, Rosalie Varda, who produced “Faces planning to attend with her daughter, even before they Places.” pair of water tanks. The film follows the French New were nominated. “But I won’t change my hair, my double- Streetartist JR (center) poses with a cutout of French film- The film was inspired by the elder Varda’s connection Wave pioneer and journeyman photographer as they color hair,” Varda said, though no one has suggested she maker Agnes Varda and John Bailey (right), President of with JR, a 34-year-old street artist known for installing travel through France, meeting people, capturing their should. “We are happy. Nothing to be proud of.” — AP the Academy of Motion Pictures on arrival the Annual massive portraits on real-world landscapes: a boy peer- images and talking about art. Varda said they spent more Academy Awards Nominee Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton ing over a border wall in Mexico, a pair of giant eyes on a than a year and a half making the film, diligently shooting Hotel. — AFP photos Established 1961 Lifestyle

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018

Models walk the catwalk during the Simof 2018 (International Flamenco Fashion) in Sevilla on February 4, 2018. — AFP Paris opens a door to exiled artists

t was when Kubra Khademi stopped the traffic in Kabul, helping some 200 artists find their feet in France since and men began to throw stones at her and bay for her October. The Studio of Artists in Exile does not pretend to Iblood, that she knew she was going to have to leave the be a panacea for the problems artists face when they sud- country. The young performance artist had walked alone denly find themselves “a fish out of water” in a new country. into one of the Afghan capital’s busiest intersections wear- ing tin armor over her breasts and backside to highlight the ‘France is easier for artists’ harassment women face in the streets. But, despite operating on a shoestring budget and in donated premises, it can help artists navigate the maze of relaunching their careers, said co-founder Judith Depaule. “In ways France is attractive for artists and easier for them to work in because, unlike Germany-where you have either Paris has historically the underground or subsidized state art organizations, — in France there is a lot in-between,” she said. “The system itself makes it easier here,” she added. always been a “Paris has historically always been a place where exiled artists came to. In the 1920s, we had the Russians and then place where exiled the artists who fled the civil war in Spain to join Picasso,” Depaule said. While it has been nearly half a century since artists came to Paris, often dubbed a “museum city”, was a major destina- Sudanese artist Moneim Rahama poses at the agency of artists in exile, an organisation that identify artists in exile from all ori- tion for artists, “the cycle is perhaps changing”, Depaule gins and disciplines in Paris. — AFP photos insisted. Last week French Culture Minister Francoise Nyssen publicly backed the studio, inviting its artists to her escape from Nazi occupied France to Spain during World feel easier, softer, because it is your country, your lan- Even as she made her escape in a taxi, one of the mob offices even as her government tightened rules making War II. With her work getting noticed, and a commission guage,” Salameh told AFP. “Here is quite tough. It’s a big touched her behind. “I had to hide out in Kabul until they claiming asylum more difficult in France. She praised the for a performance in the French Museum of Immigration, capital, you see people living in the street, it can be scary could get me away,” she told AFP of her flight to France. “extraordinary” way some in the arts had embraced the her career is taking off. For Rahma, 57, whose family is sometimes. There are lots of opportunities but a lot of Twice condemned to death for criticizing the Khartoum newcomers and urged others to follow their lead to “enlarge stuck in Ethiopia, the situation is more complicated. With competition as well. But I am OK, and I am starting to have government, Sudanese poet Moneim Rahma did not think the way we see the world and open up our culture”. much of his energy devoted to trying to get his wife and some ideas to do films here now.” — AFP twice when an unexpected chance to flee the country pre- Nyssen also invited 15 exiled artists, including Khademi four children away from “the long arm of the Sudanese sented itself. While Syrian director Samer Salameh knew and Rahma, to show their work in her ministry. Khademi, secret police”, he is less at ease. he was putting himself at risk by making a film about his 28, has fully embraced her new life since arriving in the Yet he has published a book with 10 French painters on devastated Damascus neighborhood of Yarmouk-once French capital two years ago, going back to university and what it is like to be a refugee, written “lots of poems” and is described as “the worst place on earth” by aid agencies- being honored by the government as a “knight of arts and starting his third novel. But his focus remains firmly on his while serving as an army conscript. letters”. homeland. Getting to France allowed Syrian Palestinian All three eventually made it to the French capital, which a Salameh to finish his film showing the fate of Yarmouk dur- half century after it was last the prime destination for writ- Backwards over the Pyrenees ing the war-”194. Us, Children of the Camp”. It has since ers and artists fleeing oppression, is again becoming a “I walk a lot in Paris and that is where I think about my been shown at festivals in Europe. Yet even for a 32-year- haven for emigres. Next to a cash-and-carry in a working- art,” she said. In fact, she walked backwards over the old, the adaptation to a new life has not been painless. “It class district of northern Paris, a drop-in center has been Pyrenees to recreate the philosopher Walter Benjamin’s is quite weird but even during a war your homeland can

Sudanese artist Mohamed Abdulatief poses at the agency of artists in exile. Palestinian filmmaker Samer Salameh poses at the agency of artists in exile. Afghan artist Kubra Khademi poses at the agency of artists in exile.