SPORTS 9 @newsofbahrain Nadal to face OP-ED We can no

Amber Rudd quits UK govt over Johnson’s Brexit stanceLondon

Amber Rudd has quit the cabinet and surrendered the Conservative whip saying she cannot “stand by”

while “loyal Conservatives are expelled”.The work and pensions secretary said

she no longer believed leaving the EU

with a deal was the government’s “main objective”.

Ms Rudd described the sacking of 21 Tory MPs on Tuesday as an “assault on decency and democracy”.

No 10 said it was “disappointed” by the resignation of a “talented” minister.

But a spokesperson added that “all min-

isters who joined the Cabinet signed up to leaving the EU on 31 October come what may”.

A senior government source said “res-ignations to chase headlines won’t change the fact that people want Brexit done so that government can deliver on domestic priorities”.

02 Team Bahrain role lauded

03Rate of illiteracy in Bahrain ‘among the world’s lowest’

04Bahrain Pavilion honoured at La Biennale Paris 2019

9

Rebels hand in guns in Philippines peace deal 5WORLD

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Nadal to face Medvedev for title Rafael Nadal will play for his 19th Grand Slam title, one shy of Roger Feder-er’s all-time men’s record, after battling past Italy’s Matteo Berrettini on Friday and into his fifth US Open final.P16

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His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa yesterday attended the conclusion of the 2019 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, held in the city of Nice, France, which saw the participation of the Bahrain endurance team, and athletes from various countries. Upon arrival, HM King Hamad was welcomed by the Mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, senior local officials and senior officials from the high organising committee of the 2019 Ironman 70.3 World Championship. HM the King’s Representative for Charity Work and Youth Affairs and Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, briefed HM King Hamad on the participation of the Bahrain endurance team in the championship, as well as its preparations for such a world sporting event. HM the King expressed pleasure at attending the world championship, and lauded the solid good relations of friendship between Bahrain and France, especially in the youth and sports fields. His Majesty congratulated Bahrain’s endurance team for winning the first and second places in the 2019 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, praising their strong determination.

Bahrain team congratulated Iran seizes ship for ‘fuel smuggling’ Tehran

Iran seized a boat and ar-rested 12 Filipinos as it

busted a “fuel-smuggling ring” in the Strait of Hor-muz yesterday, the semi-of-ficial news agency ISNA re-ported.

“A foreign tugboat was confiscated as well as 283,900 litres (75,000 gal-lons) of petrol worth 233.71 billion rials ($20.2 million),” ISNA said, citing the coast guard chief in the southern province of Hormozgan.

“Twelve Philippine na-tionals were arrested and the relevant judiciary offi-cials are currently taking the required legal measures,” Major Hossein Dehaki was quoted as saying.

Dehaki said the group was suspected of operating a fu-el-smuggling ring and the confiscated shipment had been intercepted close to Sirik county in the Strait of Hormuz.

The seizure comes amid tensions in the Gulf after the United States unilater-ally withdrew from a nu-clear deal putting curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in return for relief from sanctions.

Breach after breach Iran again violates nuclear deal and says time is running out

• Iran already has gone beyond the stockpile and enrichment level limits set by the nuclear deal.

• France has floated a proposed $15 billion line of credit to allow Iran to sell its oil abroad despite US sanctions.

Tehran

Iran yesterday said it is in-jecting uranium gas into ad-vanced centrifuges in a fur-

ther breach of the 2015 nuclear deal agreed with world powers.

“Europeans should know that there is not much time left” to save the 2015 Joint Comprehen-sive Plan of Action, an agree-ment on the Iranian nuclear

programme, said Behrouz Ka-malvandi, spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation.

He also claimed that Iran has the ability to go beyond 20 per

cent uranium enrichment, which analysts say is a short technical step from reaching 90 per cent, or weapons-grade, enrichment.

Mr Kamalvandi said that Iran will, however, continue to allow United Nations inspectors to ac-cess nuclear sites in the country.

Iran already has gone beyond the stockpile and enrichment lev-el limits set by the nuclear deal.

The breaches are intended to raise pressure on the European signatories – France, Germany and Britain – to find effective ways around choking US econom-ic sanctions imposed on Tehran since President Donald Trump pulled out of the pact last year.

France has floated a proposed $15 billion line of credit to allow Iran to sell its oil abroad despite

US sanctions. Another trade mechanism pro-

posed by Europe called Instex also faces difficulty.

Mr Kamalvandi said Iran had begun using an array of 20 IR-6 centrifuges and another 20 of IR-4 centrifuges. An IR-6 can pro-duce enriched uranium 10 times as fast as an IR-1, Iranian officials say, while an IR-4 produces five times as fast.

A map showing Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Iran will continue to allow United Nations inspectors to access nuclear sites in the

country.MR KAMALVANDI

Amber Rudd with Boris (a file picture).

Andreescu stuns Serena to win US Open final New York

Serena Williams, so strong of limb and spirit, could

not disguise her inner frailty when she stumbled at the tape in the US Open final, and tennis embraced an-other new teenage champi-on, Bianca Andreescu, who took an hour and 40 min-utes to win 6-3, 7-5 on her grand slam final debut.

It was a match of uneven quality but festooned in un-alloyed drama and much history. It also crowned the best first appearance in the tournament decider since Venus Williams lost to Mar-tina Hingis in the 1997 final.

Serena has reached four of six slam finals (most re-cently losing to Andrees-cu’s friend, Simona Halep, at Wimbledon) since giv-ing birth two years ago, but has yet to win one and re-mains stuck one short of the all-time record 24 majors owned by Margaret Court.

Israel strikes in GazaJerusalem

Israeli forces attacked Hamas positions in Gaza

after rockets fired from the Palestinian enclave hit the Jewish state, the military said early Saturday.

The exchange came hours after two Palestinian teen-agers were killed by Israeli fire during clashes on the Gaza border.

Bianca Andreescu

02SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2019

Team Bahrain role lauded Shaikh Salman praises the efforts of ‘Team Bahrain’ to achieve economic success

• Team Bahrain has steadily and dedicatedly endeavoured to accomplish achievements that elevate the status of the Kingdom, the minister said.

• Efforts are being steadily exerted to implement all the initiatives with

determination, the minister pointed out.

Manama

The Minister of Finance and National Economy, Shaikh Salman bin Khal-

ifa Al Khalifa, has welcomed the praise by Gulf ministers and the Arab Monetary Fund over Bahrain’s achievements in im-plementing the Fiscal Balance Programme’s initiatives in line with its established timeframes.

The Minister of State for Fi-

nancial Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, Obaid bin Hu-maid Al Tayer, the Minister of Finance of the State of Kuwait, Dr Nayef bin Falah Al Hajraf, the Assistant Minister for Interna-tional Financial Affairs and Mac-ro Fiscal Policies of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz Al Rasheed have praised the results achieved thus far, and noted the determination of Government authorities to achieve the initi-atives thoroughly.

Shaikh Salman said that the progress was accomplished by Team Bahrain, who worked as

one team comprising mem-bers from the executive and legislative branches and from the public and private sec-tors.

Team Bahrain has steadily and dedicatedly endeavoured to accomplish achievements that elevate the status of the Kingdom, fulfil the visions and aspirations of His Maj-esty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and benefit the citi-zens, he added.

Efforts are being steadily exerted to implement all the initiatives with determina-tion and resolve in order to

reach the Fiscal balance point by 2022, which has been the goal set by the Bahrain team since the program was launched in

October, Shaikh Salman said.“The positive feedback on

the implementation of the pro-gramme is a source of pride, and we hope that it will motivate everyone to intensify their ef-forts and continue to implement the fiscal balance initiatives ac-cording to the timetable of each of them to achieve further suc-cesses that will, upon reaching the programme objective, con-tribute, to the greater develop-ment and further prosperity of Bahrain,” he said.

The meeting held on Friday focused on the progress and results of initiatives activated as part of the Kingdom’s Fis-cal Balance Programme, which was launched in October 2018 and aims to achieve a balance between government expend-iture and revenue by the year 2022.

The ministers highlighted the results of an assessment car-ried out by the Arab Monetary Fund on the implementation of the Fiscal Balance Programme, which revealed that significant progress is being made across the Program’s initiatives and affirms the government’s com-mitment to achieving a balanced budget by 2022.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, yesterday held talks with US Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, and his accompanying delegation, who is on an official visit to the Kingdom. During the meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs welcomed the US Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and his accompanying delegation, stressing the depth of the historical friendly relations and strategic alliance between the Kingdom and the United States of America.

Shaikh Salman at the meeting of finance ministers.

The positive feedback on the implementation

of the programme is a source of pride, and

we hope that it will motivate everyone to

intensify their efforts. SHAIKH SALMAN

Key Mena conference on information security set

• The Kingdom’s Information and e-Government Authority (IGA) managed to address nearly six million cyber-attacks during the first half of 2019.

Riyadh

Riyadh will host the sev-enth Middle East and North Africa Infor-

mation Security Conference Sept 9-10 under the title “Cy-berspace, The New Frontier: Deception, Orchestration and Black Holes.”

Samer Omar, CEO of Virt-uPort highlighted that the increasing attacks on Saudi Arabia are due to its econo-my being one of the strong-est economies in the Middle East and ranked among the top 20 global economies, making

Saudi companies and institu-tions a direct and indirect tar-get of cyber-attacks to disrupt their operations and seize their data and resources.

He shed light on the impor-tance of continued focus on human capital in addition to investments in tools and tech-nologies required by compa-nies and government agencies to secure themselves from cyber related threats.

The use of modern techno-logical tools to combat these threats will enhance the ca-pabilities of cyber-attack spe-

cialists, he said, noting that the upcoming conference, which attracted more than 300 par-ticipants from all over the King-dom, in previous editions, will enhance its integrative role in order to maintain connectivity and networking among senior cybersecurity professionals in the Middle East and North Af-rica region and provide them with the best security practices necessary.

Samer concluded by pointing that the #MENAISC2019 aims at increasing and sustaining the bridges built between cyberse-curity professionals across the Middle East and North Africa and provide them with the best cybersecurity practices and up to date information.

Bahrain’s Information and e-Government Authority (IGA) managed to address nearly 6 million cyber-attacks during the first half of 2019. The IGA add-ed that the cyber-attacks along with 831,000 harmful e-mails were targeting government in-stitutions.

The use of modern technological tools

to combat these threats will enhance

the capabilities of cyber-attack

specialists. SAMER OMAR


Rate of illiteracy in Bahrain ‘among the world’s lowest’

MoE currently focusing on improving electronic illiteracy across the populace

• The Ministry of Education has launched a programme to enable participants to master computer skills.

• Digital literacy programmes have been introduced for students at the ministry’s centres.

Manama

Education Minister, Dr Ma-jid Al Nuaimi, has stressed that Bahrain’s efforts to

provide continuous and adult education have contributed to reducing the illiteracy race to less than 2.4 per cent, which is among the lowest at the interna-tional level.

He pointed out that the Minis-try of Education is currently fo-cusing on eradicating electronic illiteracy by providing a variety of continuous courses in the com-puter-related skills.

In a statement marking the International Literacy Day, cel-ebrated annually on September 8, Dr Al Nuaimi said that the Ministry of Education, thanks to the unwavering support of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, provides continuous ed-

ucation facilities across the king-dom’s governorates, as well as free services, books and transpor-tation for people studying there.

“These are in line with the provisions of the Constitution and Law 27/2005 on Education, which stipulate that the right to education is guaranteed by the state for everyone, and that erad-icating illiteracy is a national re-sponsibility to raise the citizens’

level culturally, socially and pro-fessionally, while taking interest in improving the conditions of the workers in this vital sector to enable them to carry out their important mission.”

He indicated that the Edu-cation Ministry has been keen on developing literacy, adult and continuous education pro-grammes based on the principles of ‘Lifelong Learning’, ‘Learn-

ing for Life’ and ‘Learning for Development’, through the in-troduction of digital literacy programmes for students in the ministry’s centres.

“These are in addition to many educational, cultural and pro-fessional courses directed to the public at all levels, including lan-guage courses, in response to the needs of the labour market, and in order to develop productive

human resources.“It is to be noted that the

evening continuous education is divided into three stages, name-ly the literacy stage, which is equivalent to the fourth class of Primary Stage of formal educa-tion, the follow-up stage, which is equivalent to the sixth grade of the formal education and the consolidation stage, which is equivalent to the Intermediate Stage of formal education,” the minister said.

Students who pass the three stages successfully receive the equivalent of the Intermediate Certificate, and can join the par-allel secondary education pro-gramme, which qualifies them to obtain the General Certificate of Secondary Education.

In the 2003/04 academic year, the Ministry of Education launched a programme to enable participants to master computer skills.

Dr Al Nuaimi visits a technical training centre for Bahraini students.

97.3per cent is the current

literacy rate in the Kingdom.

Man accused of attacking woman cop

• The incident happened on April 15, 2019, and the defendant was charged with attacking an on-duty officer.

TDT | Manama

The High Criminal Court will hear today the case of a Bahraini

man accused of attacking a policewoman.

The man has been di-rected to undergo a mental health test at the psychiat-ric hospital to determine whether he was responsible for his action.

The defendant allegedly elbowed the officer in her waist while she was on duty.

He is said to have been speaking with his family members when he rushed towards the policewoman and attacked her without any reason, according to prosecutors.

The incident happened on April 15, 2019, and the defendant was charged with attacking an on-duty officer.

He was referred to the Psychiatric Hospital to as-certain if he was healthy mentally before being tried.

The defendant was talking to his family members when he

rushed to attack the policewoman on duty.

PROSECUTORS

Awareness campaign against childhood cancer launched TDT | Manama

The “Smile” initiative of the Future Youth Association, which provides psycho-

social support to children with cancer in the Kingdom, has an-nounced the launch of the sixth edition of its awareness cam-paign “Our Children as Gold”, in order to spread awareness of childhood cancer among various segments of society.

The President of the Associ-ation, Sabah Abdul Rahman Al Zayani, revealed that the cam-paign was launched with a rec-reational activity for the heroic kids of “Smile” on the occasion of returning to schools, and will continue for a whole month.

“This year will witness a great

development in the campaign, in terms of establishing a real partnership with various public and private sectors wishing to participate in the campaign and support child cancer patients in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” Mr Al Zayani said.

“This year, we have decided, through our campaign, to give the private sector as much as possible the opportunity to ex-press their support for the cause of children with cancer, and to encourage them to generate in-novative ideas to express this support.

“The campaign witnessed a large turnout from private sec-tor institutions this year, such as banks, real estate companies,

logistics companies and others, which will implement various community awareness activi-ties,” he explained, “We will re-main ready to provide any neces-

sary advice or logistical support.”“Any organisation that wants

to participate in our campaign can choose any event, such as organising the Walkathon Walk

Festival with the participation of its employees, a paediatric cancer awareness pavilion with-in the institution or in a public place such as a commercial com-plex or a park,” he said.

Mr Al Zayani called on all to participate in support of the campaign’s efforts in enhanc-ing the awareness of the various segments and components of the Bahraini society about childhood cancer and how to deal with the child heroes affected, and put Bahrain on the list of countries of the world that participate annu-ally in the activities of childhood cancer.

The campaign also aims to highlight the Kingdom’s achieve-ments in the field of providing

health and medical services to children affected by cancer, he said.

In addition to the main edu-cational objective of the cam-paign, the campaign aims to achieve other goals, including the improvement of psycho-so-cial support services provided to children with cancer and their parents, providing greater op-portunity for children suffering from cancer to participate in a wide range of entertainment, sports, social and cultural events and offer a permanent platform for acquaintance among the parents of sick children, reliev-ing them of the psychological burden usually caused by the disease.

The campaign also aims to highlight the Kingdom’s achievements in the field of providing health and medical services to children affected by cancer. MR AL ZAYANI

Bahrain Airport Company (BAC) team members attended an Emergency Tabletop Exercise Management course aimed at further improving Bahrain International Airport’s emergency preparedness. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) certification course focused on a crisis simulation that targeted risk assessment and the creation of corrective action plans in the event of an emergency.

Boosting emergency preparedness


Bahrain Pavilion honoured at La Biennale Paris 2019

The Bahrain Pavilion aims to strengthen creative links between France and Bahrain, promoting cross cultural dialogue

• The pavilion serves to introduce art collectors and enthusiasts to Bahrain’s artists and artisanal craftsmen, the report said.

• The exhibition is curated by noted art critic Pascale Le Thorel and artist/curator Amal Khalaf.

Paris

Bahrain has been chosen as the guest of honour at La Biennale Paris 2019.

They will be taking on board a major Pavilion dedicated not only to contemporary art but also to crafts from this Gulf country, Artlyst reported.

The pavilion will offer a pano-rama of Bahraini Art, design and crafts in their many forms.

Art Bahrain Across Borders Kaneka Subberwal along with Mathias Ary Jan, President of SNA will present under the nave of the Grand Palais more than forty works by twenty-one Bahraini artists at the Bahrain Pavilion.

The Kingdom is this year’s ‘in-vited country’ at the 60-year old art festival, which takes place from September 13 to 17. The pa-vilion was designed by Nathalie Crinière.

The 364 square-meter ArtBAB Pavilion will be the largest at the

show. It will also be the first time that traditional Bahraini artisans are part of the Kingdom’s art del-egation at an international show of this stature.

The Bahrain Room exhibits include two wall art installations and collectible furniture piec-es highlighting the traditional handicraft techniques of Bah-rain.

The exhibition is curated by noted art critic Pascale Le Thorel and artist/curator Amal Khalaf, both influential and knowledge-able within the global art world.

The Bahrain Pavilion at La Biennale, aims to strengthen creative links between France

and Bahrain, promoting cross cultural dialogue.

Celebrating Bahrain’s rich his-tory as one of the oldest cultures in the Middle East, the pavilion serves to introduce art collectors and enthusiasts to Bahrain’s art-ists and artisanal craftsmen, the report said.

Presenting a story of Bahraini art and culture, the pavilion will feature the work of twenty-one contemporary artists, alongside unique, rarely seen artisanal pieces developed by nine local traditional craftsmen as part of ArtBAB’s newly-launched crafts

showcase, The Bahrain Room. The contemporary artists

range from those born before and after the oil-boom, all of them witnesses to multiple histories and changing perspectives. The pieces in a diverse range of media from photography to sculpture.

The works reflect the aesthet-ics of change, explorations into the material and cultural legacy of oil extraction and industry, the growth and decay of urban cen-tres and aspirations to progress.

Balqees Fakhro will be show-ing a series of paintings. With a prolific career spanning three decades, Fakhro investigates pre-historic art, ancient images and objects as surfaces of memory, her paintings are dreamy and at once very lucid.

Another well-known painter is AbdulRahim Sharif, whose work has expressed such themes as alienation, hardship and emo-tional disconnection. The next generation of painters are also represented in the pavilion.

Hamed Al Bosta’s abstract paintings often are found on un-usual surfaces from plastic pipes to other industrial materials, mir-roring the frenetic influence of rapid development.

Also using a layered and col-laged approach to painting and sculpture is the innovative prac-tice of Abdulla Buhijji who com-bines graphic abstraction with spatial practice.

Hesham Sharif’s layered work is energetic and loudly examin-ing notions of identity and dis-location.

The Kingdom has been chosen as the guest of honour at La Biennale Paris 2019.

The 364 square-meter

ArtBAB Pavilion will be the largest

at the show.

KNOW

DID

Schoolbag support for RCO students Manama

The Royal Charity Or-ganisation (RCO) has

credited the value of the schoolbag requirements in the bank accounts of all its sponsored orphans among regular school and university students in or-der to enable them meet their school needs ahead of the new academic year, 2019-2020.

Commenting on the sup-port, RCO Secretary-Gen-eral, Dr Mustafa Al Sayed, said that the gesture is in line with the directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, RCO’s Honorary President, to en-sure that RCO-sponsored students’ needs are provid-ed so as to enjoy their right to education.

Mr Al Sayed highlighted RCO’s keenness to create all suitable conditions for its orphans to continue their education and achieve out-standing results, stressing that the “Schoolbag Pro-ject” is within RCO’s in-terest in encouraging its affiliates to pursue their education.

He extended congratula-tions to all students on the new school year, wishing everyone success.

RCO’s Social Care Direc-tor, Badr Ali Qambar, said that RCO cares for its spon-sored students throughout the school year through many projects, citing the honouring of high-achiev-ing students, rehabilitation courses for its scholarship students, granting schol-arships for distinguished students and regular fol-low-up on its affiliates’ academic performance to motivate them to exert more efforts to achieve success.

Labour Minister pays tribute to voluntary work pioneer

Manama

Labour and Social De-velopment Minister, Jameel Humaidan, has

lauded the dedication and ser-vice of Munira Isa bin Hindi Al Mannai in serving people with disabilities, noting that her struggle to inspire them and motivate them to achieve success and distinction is an example to be emulated.

The minister made the state-ments during an expanded meeting with a number of the

heads of societies and person-alities interested in the affairs of people with disabilities.

Mr Humaidan praised Mu-nira Al Mannai’s role and per-sonal initiatives in caring for people with determination, noting that she is among the first national personalities who laid the foundations for sup-porting such a social group.

He pointed out that Al Man-nai had succeeded in all the tasks assigned to her through-out her career that is laden with giving and distinction through her management of

many specialised centres, such as the Bahrain Mobility Inter-national and the Azhar Alherak Kindergarten, or membership in the Shura Council, as the first woman with disability to hold such a post at the GCC level.

The minister asserted that Munira Al Mannai’s continu-ous generous contributions to the voluntary work and social care fields have entitled her to be a source of pride for all social segments, wishing her further success in serving the Bahraini society.

The Gulf Hotels Group have made its annual donation to the Issa Town Club, Bahrain, as part of the Group’s ongoing initiative to support organisations that provide a valuable service to the local community. Gulf Hotels Group Chief Executive Officer Garfield Jones presented the donation cheque to Mr Adnan Al Marki – Finance Director and Walid Khalaf – Head of Sports Committee of the Issa Town Club - Bahrain. Mr Humaidan praised Munira Al Mannai’s role in serving people with disabilities.

Annual donation

Forum throws spotlight on achieving SDGs Manama

Member of the Repre-sentatives Council, MP Ahmed Al Damistani,

has stressed Bahrain’s contin-uous efforts to strengthen its legislative infrastructure to en-hance effective social partici-pation and achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He was speaking during the

World Parliamentary Forum on Sustainable Development, held in Bali, Indonesia, on September 4-5, under the theme ‘Combat-ing Inequality through Social and Financial Inclusion’.

Through the Government Ac-tion Plan (GAP), Bahrain seeks to adopt sustainable development strategies aimed at improving its institutions’ performance and ensuring their involvement in

the development process, he said.

The lawmaker noted that the Kingdom’s priorities include combating corruption and de-veloping its work mechanisms, commensurate with SDGs.

Mr Al Damistani also high-lighted that achieving the Sus-tainable Development Agenda is a voluntary, universal and in-clusive process.

05

world

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2019

Rebels hand in guns in Philippines peace deal

Sultan Kudarat | Philippines

Muslim rebels in the main-ly Catholic Philippines

began handing over their guns to independent foreign moni-tors Saturday, as part of a peace treaty aimed at ending a dec-ades-long separatist insurgen-cy that has left about 150,000 people dead.

Just over a thousand guerril-las are turning in 940 weapons in a single day, in a graduated decommissioning process that aims to turn the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country’s largest rebel force,

into a regular political party.The fighters demobilised

yesterday represent a symbolic first step toward retiring what MILF says is a force of 40,000 fighters in the coming years.

“The war is over... I have no firearms left,” Paisal Abdul-lah Bagundang, 56, a self-de-scribed veteran of more than 100 firefights with government security forces since the 1970s, said. Each retired fighter will receive a million pesos’ (about $19,000) worth of cash, schol-arships, health insurance, and training to become productive civilians.

About a third of Moro Islamic Liberation Front combatants are to be retired in the first phase of the Philippines’ decommissioning process

‘No small achievement’“Country proud of you”: Indian PM Narenda Modi tells ISRO scientists

NDTV | New Delhi/Bengaluru

Around 10 minutes after India’s space agency lost contact with Chan-

drayaan 2’s moon lander, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to whom scientists broke the news.

Looking sombre, Dr K Sivan, the chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), walked up to the pavilion from where PM Modi was watching the mission. The rocket scientist was consoled by other scientists after he briefed the PM.

Leaving the spot from where he was watching the progress of the lander and applauding the steps in its scheduled touch-down at 1.55 am, PM Modi went to the control room of at Ben-galuru and gave the roomful of dejected scientists a pep-talk.

“The country is proud of you,” said the Prime Minister.

C o m m u n i c a t i o n w i t h the Chandrayaan 2 lander was lost seconds before it was sup-posed to touch down on the Moon’s surface, ISRO chief K Sivan said.

“There are ups and downs in life. This is not a small achieve-ment. The nation in proud of you. Hope for the best. I con-gratulate you. You all have done a big service to nation, science and mankind. I am with you all the way, move forward brave-ly,” PM Modi said at the control room.

He then walked to the 70-odd school children chosen to

witness the mission based on a space quiz and interacted with them.

“What will you tell peo-ple back home,” PM Modi asked a student. She replied that she would say commu-nication to Chandrayaan’s lander, Vikram, was lost.

The PM also posed for a photo with the students before he left the centre.

He later tweeted that the sci-entists gave their best.

“India is proud of our scien-tists! They’ve given their best and have always made India proud. These are moments to

be courageous, and courageous we will be! ISRO chairman gave updates on Chandrayaan-2. We remain hopeful and will contin-ue working hard on our space programme” he tweeted.

Communication was lost when the lander was just a couple of kilometers from the moon’s surface.

“Vikram lander’s descent was as planned and normal perfor-mance was observed. Subse-quently communication from lander was lost. The data is be-ing analysed,” Dr Sivan said.

The moon lander Vikram that separated from its orbiting

mothership performed a series of manoeuvres to lower its alti-tude for a touchdown between 1:30 am and 2:30 am. It used rocket thrusters to slow itself down to attempt the extremely tricky operation that ISRO called “15 minutes of terror”. It was at this point, about 2.1 km from the surface, that contact was lost.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi comforts scientists and a stunned nation from the lunar program’s command centre in Banglalore

T h e G u a r d i a n

The UK-based news outlet described the Chan-drayaan-2 Mission as India’s “most complex and

ambitious space project”. It said, “the mission, which comes amid a renewed global interest in moon ex-ploration, was watched closely by scientists around. It is hoped the rover, named Pragyan, which means wisdom in Sanskrit, would spend two weeks collect-

ing crucial data about the composition of the moon s surface.”

T h e B B C

The Chandrayaan mission made global headlines because it was “so cheap”. “The budget for Aveng-

ers: Endgame, for instance, was more than double at an estimated USD 356 million. But this isn’t the first

time ISRO has been hailed for its thrift. Its 2014 Mars mission cost USD 74 million, a tenth of the budget

for the American Maven orbiter,” it said.

T h e W a s h i n g t o n P o s t

“India’s first attempt to land on the moon appears to have failed”, said the mission had been a source of

“immense national pride”.

N e w Z e a l a n d ’ s S t u f f . c o . n z

“The fate of the lander, whether it crashed or land-ed, wasn’t immediately known. A successful landing

would have made India just the fourth country to land a vessel on the lunar surface, and only the third

nation to operate a robotic rover there,”

Here’s how international media covered India’s Moon mission

T h e N e w Y o r k T i m e s :

“While India may not have stuck the landing on its first try, its attempt highlighted how its engineering prowess and decades of space development have

combined with its global ambitions.”

There are ups and downs in life. This is not a small achievement. The nation in proud of you. Hope for the

best. I congratulate you. You all have

done a big service to nation, science

and mankind. I am with you all the

way, move forward bravely

PRIME MINISTER

NARENDRA MODI

NOTE: Tender documents can be purchased online using e-Tendering system starting on 8th September 2019

• Tenderers who are eligible to supply/provide the goods/ services/ works specified above are kindly requested to purchase the tender document online through the e-Tendering portal http://www.tenderboard.gov.bh (for assistance please contact the Tender Board help desk on Tel: +97317566617).

• An Initial Bond should be enclosed for the amount specified above or at a rate of 1% of the quotation value whichever of the amount is lesser, provided that no initial bond’s value shall be less than BD 100/-. Ensure that the Initial bond is in a form of Certified Cheque, Cash, Bank Guarantee or Insurance Policy, valid for the duration specified in the tender documents.

• Quotation should be deposited in the tender box provided at the Tender Submission Office, Tender Board Arcapita Building 551, Ground Floor Road 4612, Block 346 Bahrain Bay Manama, Bahrain, before 1:30 After Noon on the tender closing date.

• All tenders/Auction are in compliance with the government tendering & purchasing regulations issued in Decrees Nos. 36 & 37 of 2002 and its executive regulations.

• The following conditions should be complied with:

1. Enclose a copy of the Commercial Registration Certificate valid for the current year, and related to the subject tender.2. Submit the quotations on Form No. TB 02 - tender submission.3. Enclose a copy of Certificate of Compliance with the Employment Percentage for Bahraini Manpower issued by Ministry of Labour. 4. Ensure to stamp with the official seal on all the original documents and copies there-of, which form part of the offer.

• This announcement is to be read as part of the Tender Documents.

• All public tenders related to Gulf Air Company are published on the Tender Board website: http://www.tenderboard.gov.bh

• For any enquiry on the Tender Documents, please contact procurement and logistics department on Telephone.: +973 17338101/+973 17338790/+973 17338545, Fax : +973 17327999

Important Note: All participants are invited to attend the opening of the tender at at the Tender Submission Office, Ground Floor, Tender Board Office at Al Arcapita Building on the next day of the closing date.

Seq. Tender Title Tender No. Tender Document Fee

Last date of accepting bidsDay Date Time

1 Supply of paper products for inflight services 19-06-1990-BTB BD 100 Sunday 22/9/2019 13:30

2 Supply of Aluminum products 19-06-1989-BTB BD 100 Sunday 22/9/2019 13:30


French first lady is ‘truly ugly,’ says Brazilian ministerAFP | Rio de Janeiro

A Brazilian government min-ister said French first lady

Brigitte Macron was “truly ugly” Thursday, only days after the country’s president appeared to endorse an attack on her ap-pearance.

Brazil’s economy minister Paulo Guedes said he agreed with President Jair Bolsonaro’s comments about Macron’s looks.

“The president said it -- it’s true,” he said to applause during an economic forum. “The wom-an is truly ugly.”

Later, an aide said in a state-ment that Guedes “asks for for-giveness for the joke he made today during a public event... when he mentioned the French first lady.”

Bolsonaro garnered criticism

last week when he appeared to agree with a Facebook post that implied French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife was not as attractive as his own wife Michele Bolsonaro.

He wrote “Do not humiliate the guy, ha ha” on a post that read “Now you understand why Macron is persecuting Bolson-aro” next to pictures of the two first ladies.

The French president called Bolsonaro’s behavior “extraor-dinarily rude” and the Brazil-ian president later deleted his comment.

Brazi l and France have clashed in recent weeks over the handling of fires in the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, which is crucial for a stable glob-al climate.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (L) is seen with his economy minister Paulo Guedes French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife Brigitte Macron

Russians go to polls after summer of protests

• Russians will elect governors in 16 regions and elections to legislative assemblies will take place in 13 regions, including Crimea

• Some 7.2 million people are eligible to elect 45 lawmakers

Moscow

Russians are set to vote in local elections to-day following a huge-

ly controversial campaign in Moscow that degenerated into the biggest police crack-down on protesters in nearly a decade.

Municipal and regional polls will be held across the vast country, but most attention will be focused on the Moscow parliament vote following the arrests and jailings of inde-pendent would-be candidates and their supporters.

Over the past weeks tens of thousands have taken part in Moscow protests demanding a fair vote after allies of oppo-sition leader Alexei Navalny were barred from the election. Rap stars and prominent blog-gers backed the demonstra-tions.

Authorities responded with a police crackdown -- the big-gest since a wave of protests in 2011-12 against Putin’s return to the Kremlin after a stint as prime minister.

Some 7.2 million people are eligible to elect 45 lawmakers in the Moscow parliament, which is dominated by the rul-ing United Russia party and never opposes the policies of staunchly pro-Kremlin Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

‘Smart voting’ Navalny has put forward a

“Smart Voting” plan urging Muscovites to support those who have the highest chances of beating pro-Kremlin candi-dates. Most of them are Com-munists.

The chief of the central election commission, Ella Pamfilova, said that a dozen opposition candidates were disqualified because they did not provide the right papers or faked some of their supporters’ signatures.

Elections will take place in each of the country’s 85 re-gions. Russians will elect gov-ernors in 16 regions and elec-tions to legislative assemblies will take place in 13 regions, including Crimea which was annexed by Moscow from Ukraine in 2014.

The race for the governor’s seat in Saint Petersburg has become the most controver-sial campaign outside Mos-cow, with the Kremlin backing deeply unpopular acting city chief Alexander Beglov.

Alexei Navalny served 30 days in jail for urging protests over the exclusion of opposition allies

Russian election chief attacked

Moscow

The head of Russia’s cen-tral election commit-

tee was attacked at night by a masked assailant who climbed into her house and hit her with a taser, Russian police said Friday.

The attack on 65-year-old Ella Pamfilova, at around 1:30 am (Thursday 2330 GMT).

Police described the attack in a village outside Moscow as “armed assault,” saying the offender “entered the house’s conservatory via a window and hit the owner with an electric shocker several times, after which he fled”.

Pamfilova on Friday took part in a conference in Mos-cow and television footage did not show any visible in-juries.

Pamfilova has backed a decision barring Moscow opposition candidates

Zimbabweans divided in mourning for Mugabe

• Mugabe will be buried at a hilltop shrine reserved exclusively for Zimbabwe’s ruling elite, an official said

Harare

Zimbabweans entered a first full day of national mourning yesterday, di-

vided over the legacy of Rob-ert Mugabe, the guerrilla hero turned despot who ruled the country for 37 years.

Flags flew half mast in the capital Harare as shops re-mained open and people bustled about their daily errands.

“We are not mourning, why should we mourn when we are suffering like this,” said Ozias Mupeti, 55, standing on a dusty curb in downtown Harare on a cold and cloudy morning.

“Look at me selling pieces of ginger on the streets, at my age. I should have been an employer by now.”

Mugabe, 95, passed away at 0240 GMT on Friday in Singa-pore, where he had been for medical treatment since April.

As Zimbabweans expressed sharply divided opinions about

Mugabe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said Friday that his predecessor had been declared a “national hero” and that Zim-babwe would mourn him until the burial.

The news of Mugabe’s death was plastered across the front page of local papers.

“End of an era” said Daily-News. “95 and out”, echoed NewsDay, while state-owned The Herald published a special edition entirely dedicated to the former president.

First heralded as a liberator who rid the former British col-ony Rhodesia of white minority rule, Mugabe used repression and fear to govern until he was finally ousted by his previous-ly loyal generals in November 2017. His increasingly tyrannical leadership and economic mis-management prompted millions to leave the country.

Only a handful of Mugabe supporters came out the streets, sporting Mugabe-emblazoned T-shirts in honour of his pass-ing. One small group chanted and danced, another blasted music from a car.

“Mugabe provided education and scholarships to most Zim-babweans,” Comrade Bhobhi said. “Of course he failed some-where but on the education side

he did great.”“We will never get any other

president like president Mugabe who during his time had the guts to call the British ‘these stupid British’ right in their face,” said Vivian Jena, anoth-er supporter. But while some Zimbabweans hailed Mugabe as a “revolutionary icon”, for others his named evoked only “destruction” and “suffering”.

“He destroyed this country. Now he’s gone and we have nothing left in the country be-cause of him,” said Mupeti, puff-ing at a cigarette.

“Why should I shed any tear for him when I’m suffering like this. I can’t even pay fees for my daughter who is doing Form 4.”

‘Betrayed his people’South African President Cyril

Ramaphosa remembered Mug-abe as a “liberation fighter” and a “champion of Africa’s cause against colonialism”.

China lauded him as an “out-standing national liberation movement leader” while Rus-sian President Vladimir Putin noted Mugabe’s “great personal contribution” to Zimbabwe’s independence.

But Britain said “Zimbabwe-ans suffered for too long as a result of Mugabe’s autocratic

role”.And the United States blamed

him for impoverishing Zimba-bwe, saying he “betrayed his people’s hopes”.

The former political prison-er and guerrilla leader swept to power in 1980 elections af-ter a growing insurgency and economic sanctions forced the Rhodesian government to the negotiating table.

In office, he initially won international plaudits for his declared policy of racial rec-onciliation and for extending improved education and health services to the black majority.

But that faded rapidly as Mug-abe cracked down on his oppo-nents. During the 1980s, he led an infamous campaign known as Gukurahundi during which an estimated 20,000 dissidents were killed.

The violent seizure of white-owned farms turned him into an international pariah -- although his status as a liberation hero still resonates strongly across Africa.

As his health weakened, the military finally intervened to quash his second wife Grace’s presidential ambitions in favour of their preferred candidate, Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s vice president at the time.


There are just too many police around

But we’ll be out again tomorrow

TAO TSZ FUNG, WHO MANAGED TO GET THROUGH THE SECURITY CHECKS AND

MADE IT TO THE AIRPORT

Riot police thwart Hong Kong airport protest• Last month hundreds of flights were cancelled over two days when huge crowds of protesters staged a sit-in at the airport

• Since the violent scenes, security has been ramped up

Hong Kong

Riot police fanned out across Hong Kong yester-day and thwarted plans

by pro-democracy protesters to target the airport, days after the city’s leader made a surprise concession which was rejected by the movement as too little, too late.

Millions of pro-democracy supporters have taken to Hong Kong’s streets for the past three months in the biggest challenge to China’s rule since the city’s handover from Britain in 1997.

On Wednesday, the city’s pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam surprised many by announc-ing she was scrapping a hugely unpopular extradition law that sparked the widespread and sometimes violent rallies.

The withdrawal was one of the protesters’ key demands and both she and Beijing had previ-ously refused to budge on the issue.

Lam, who was not direct-ly elected but appointed by an overwhelmingly Beijing-friendly committee, portrayed the move as a bid to de-escalate tensions and start a dialogue.

But it has been widely dis-missed by protesters as an empty gesture after 14 weeks of clashes with more than 1,100 arrests and many facing lengthy jail sen-tences.

Online messaging forums used by the largely leaderless move-

ment had called for protesters to “stress test” the airport on Sat-urday afternoon, filling up with suggestions for how to disrupt the road and rail links leading to the terminals.

But a large deployment of po-lice at key bus, ferry and rail ter-minals across the city appeared to deter protesters from arriving en masse.

Tao Tsz Fung, 26, managed to get through the security checks and made it to the airport, along with a few dozen more protest-ers hanging around outside the terminal.

“There are just too many po-lice around,” he said. “But we’ll be out again tomorrow.”

Some train and bus services to the airport were running a more restricted service while police

performed multiple stop and searches, largely against young people.

At the airport itself, the at-mosphere was calm but passen-gers had to queue to have bags searched and boarding passes checked before being allowed to enter.

“On the way to the airport, our bus stopped for some sort of searching. The police came into the bus and checked everyone,” James Reis, a passenger who arrived nine hours ahead of his flight home to Portugal, said.

Travel chaosIn recent weeks, the airport

-- the world’s eighth busiest -- has become a repeated target of pro-democracy protesters as they try to ramp up pres-

sure on Beijing and city lead-ers by denting Hong Kong’s reputation as a stable business hub.

Last month hundreds of flights were cancelled over two days when huge crowds of protesters staged a sit-in at the airport, with ugly scenes playing out as two men suspected of being Chinese spies were beaten.

Previous protests at the air-

port had been non-disruptive and peaceful, aimed at enlight-ening travellers about the move-ment’s goals.

Protesters have said their movement will only end when other key demands are met such as an amnesty for those arrested, an independent inquiry into the police and the granting of fully free elections, all of which Lam and Beijing have rejected.

Riot police maintained a heavy presence at Hong Kong train, bus and subway stations

The airport has repeatedly been targeted in the protests but the tactic is divisive because of the travel misery it causes

Russia, Ukraine swap prisoners in sign of thawing relationsReuters | Moscow/Kiev

Russia and Ukraine carried out a long-awaited prisoner

swap yesterday in a step that could thaw a deep freeze in rela-tions since Moscow’s annexation of the Crimea region in 2014.

While the unfolding exchange could help rebuild confidence between Moscow and Kiev and allow them to start negotiating seriously on other issues, any road to a full rapprochement is likely to be long and complex.

After lengthy negotiations, expectations have been run-ning high for the prisoner swap, which had been described as imminent by the leaders of both countries in recent days.

Yesterday, a Russian aircraft carrying freed Russian prisoners from Kiev landed in Moscow while a Ukrainian plane with released Ukrainian prisoners aboard touched down in Kiev.

Ukrainian President Volody-myr Zelenskiy hugged and shook hands with the freed Ukraini-ans while Russia’s Rossiya 24 TV showed Russian prisoners dis-embarking the plane in Moscow.

Zelenskiy told reporters at the Kiev airport that the swap was part of his deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He said all steps had to be tak-en “to finish this horrible war,” referring to the five-year-old conflict with pro-Russian sepa-ratists in eastern Ukraine.

The swap was carried out on a “35-to-35” basis, Interfax news agency quoted Russian human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova as saying. “Ukraine has handed out 35 people to Russia, we handed out the same number to Ukraine,” she said.

Among those handed over to Moscow as part of the exchange is Volodymyr Tsemakh, a former

commander of separatist forces in Ukraine’s east, Interfax news agency reported.

Tsemakh is suspected of in-

volvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, a crash that killed 298 people

flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Dutch prosecutors had urged Kiev not to allow Tsemakh to travel to Russia, fearing this

could jeopardise the investiga-tion into Flight MH17. He was released on bail by a Ukrainian court on Thursday.

Relatives of Ukrainian prisoners, included in the Russia-Ukraine prisoner swap, wait at Borispil International Airport outside Kiev

Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, who was jailed on terrorism charges in Russia, hugs his relative upon arrival in Kiev, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a welcoming ceremony after Russia-Ukraine prisoner swap, at Borispil International Airport outside Kiev, Ukraine

A protester destroys a ticketing machine during a protest in Mong Kok, Hong Kong

Brazil deforestation risesReuters | Brasilia/Sao Paulo

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rose

for the fourth straight month in August from a year earli-er, according to preliminary government data released on Friday, adding to concerns over fires already ravaging the region.

Brazil’s leading meat ex-port industry group and other agribusiness associations on

Friday joined with nongovern-ment organizations (NGOs) to call for an end to deforestation on public lands, demanding government action amid the fires.

Representative picture

Sudan’s Bashir kept key to room with millions of eurosReuters | Khartoum

Sudan’s toppled former leader Omar al-Bashir was the only

person with a key to a room at the presidential palace holding millions of euros, his last office manager testified yesterday.

Speaking at Bashir’s trial on charges of possessing illicit for-eign currency and corruption, Yasser Basheer said the former president gave him more than

10 million euros’ ($11 million) cash in his final months of rule for delivery to different parties.

Sudan’s military ousted Bashir in April after months of protests. His prosecution is a test of how far power-sharing military and civilian authorities will tackle the legacy of his 30-year authoritarian rule.

The former manager, who worked for Bashir from Sep-tember 2018 and was speak-

ing as a defence witness, said the president once gave him 5 million euros for Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo, deputy head of the feared paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The money, Basheer said, was delivered in the presence of Ab-delrahim’s brother Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the RSF and deputy head of the Tran-sitional Military Council that ruled after Bashir’s ouster.

Sudan’s former president Omar Hassan al-Bashir sits inside a cage at the courthouse


C I V I L I A N ’ S T R I B U N E

Hon. Chairman Najeb Yacob Alhamer | Editor-in-Chief Mahmood AI Mahmood | Chairman & Managing Director P Unnikrishnan | Advertisement: Update Media W.L.L | Tel: 38444692, Email: [email protected] | Newsroom: Tel: 38444680, Email: [email protected] & circulation: Tel: 38444698/17579877 | Email:[email protected] | Website: www.newsofbahrain.com | Printed and published by Al Ayam Publishing

ELIZABETH TSURKOV

After a week of violence be-tween Israel and the Leb-anese militia Hizbollah,

tensions have simmered down. The situation was quite different last Sunday, when hundreds of cars packed with terrified civil-ians fleeing southern Lebanon created traffic jams as they fled north after a volley of tit-for-tat strikes. After being hit by a series of drone and airstrikes, which killed two fighters and damaged its media centre, Hiz-bollah launched a retaliatory strike from southern Lebanon against Israeli army targets in the village of Avivim. Israel re-sponded with artillery strikes on southern Lebanon. Yet despite the prospect of an all-out war between these two well-armed adversaries increasing in recent months, the balance of mutual fear and aggression inflicted by both sides has reduced the im-mediate likelihood of real con-flict.

The latest escalation followed a wave of attacks attributed to Israel against Iran’s non-state allies in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Israeli’s increasingly aggressive posture against the network of Iran-aligned militias is trying to reverse, or at least stymie, some of the gains made by Tehran and its proxies in recent years. While the popularity of Iran and Hizbollah suffered from their involvement in the Syrian war on the side of the Assad regime, Iran’s influence in the Levant has grown significantly since 2011. International negotiations with Iran during the Obama ad-ministration focused on curbing its nuclear programme, with its regional ambitions largely going unchecked. The Trump admin-istration, for all its belligerent statements, has not done much to counter Iran’s growing clout in the region.

Israel’s more confrontation-al approach and the fiery war of words between officials and Hizbollah raised concerns about the prospect of renewed con-flict. Following an Israeli attack

on Hizbollah foreign fighters in Syria, the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah made an unusually frenzied speech a fortnight ago, threatening that from then on, Israel’s drone flights over Leb-anese airspace would no longer be tolerated and that the de-vices would be shot down by Hizbollah.

Israeli Housing Minister Yoav Galant responded by threaten-ing to “return Lebanon to the stone age”, echoing previous rhetoric from other Israeli of-ficials.

The bellicose exchanges have fuelled fear among Lebanese and Israelis of a repeat of the trauma of the last war in 2006, which was enormously devas-tating to Lebanon, particularly in the south. Most of the 1,000-plus people killed in Lebanon were civilians. Israel suffered significantly fewer losses. How-ever, the low public tolerance for casualties and inability to definitively defeat Hizbollah on the battlefield left Israelis

aggrieved and contributed to the downfall of then prime minister Ehud Olmert, who led Israel into the conflict.

Despite the recent fiery rhet-oric, officials from both Hiz-bollah and Israel have been at pains to calm down tensions. In an August 31 speech, Mr Nas-rallah walked back his vow a week earlier to shoot down Is-raeli drones, which continue to hover over Lebanon. Hizbol-lah’s deputy secretary general, Naim Qassem, said the group would retaliate against an attack from Israel but not aim to start a wider conflagration. And Is-raeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu banned his minis-ters from passing judgment on the exchange of fire after Mr Galant’s comment.

Other signs point to efforts on both sides to avoid war. Hiz-bollah’s retaliation against the Israeli strikes on its fighters in Syria, in the form of a cross-bor-der attack against military tar-gets and not civilians, is one

such indication. Israel’s decision to significantly reduce the pres-ence of soldiers along the border with Lebanon and replace them with mannequins in uniform was intended primarily as a de-terrent and to avoid loss of civil-ian lives. However, by using this tactic, which appeared to ensure no soldiers were harmed in the Hizbollah attack, the Israeli De-fence Forces also guaranteed

there would be no pressure on government from the Israeli public to retaliate further. The Israeli counter-shelling follow-ing the Hizbollah attack largely pounded empty fields near Ma-roun Al Ras in southern Leba-non, to the bemusement of an-chors on Hizbollah’s TV station.

Both sides are trying to avoid conflict because they know another war would be devas-tating. Hizbollah now holds an arsenal of more than 100,000 rockets and missiles that could hit any point inside Israel. This means that a strategy employed in previous conflicts to reduce the number of casualties in Is-rael, namely mass flight from the north to the south, would be less effective. In addition, Hizbollah now has dozens of precision-guided missiles that could hit strategic targets. Hiz-bollah fighters have also gained significant combat experience from the battlefields of Syria.

On the other side of the bal-ance of power is the IDF, which

has vowed that in the next war with Hizbollah, it would pursue the 2006 “Dahiya doctrine” of indiscriminate destruction of in-frastructure and disproportion-ate force against communities thought to be supporting Hiz-bollah across the country. The IDF’s chief of staff said under the doctrine, nowhere would be considered safe and every vil-lage and neighbourhood would be treated as a military base.

Warfare would be damaging to whoever is in power in Isra-el. It will result in large-scale destruction while failing to achieve that goal with limited civilian and military casualties. Mr Netanyahu has no reason to rattle the cage. He is currently projected to win the election and continue as prime minister, whether he forms a right-wing government or is forced into a unity government with his for-mer ally Avigdor Liberman.

All these factors decrease the likelihood of war in the short and medium term but the overall trajectory is troubling. Israel and Iran are diametrically opposed to one another and perceive the actions of their adversary as aggressive, while regarding their own as defensive. Iran is determined to continue expand-ing its influence in the region. Israel, for its part, is resolute in stopping this expansion. We should expect future skirmishes between the two sides, increas-ing the likelihood of unwanted deterioration to an all-out war.

Russia, which could play a mediator role between the two sides, has other priorities. With-in the Trump administration, some senior officials appear to goad Israel on instead of trying to reduce tensions. The balance of terror between the two sides can keep this conflict simmering without boiling over, but any se-rious miscalculation could lead to a horrifyingly violent confla-gration. Those paying the price will be civilians in Lebanon, Israel and possibly Syria, who will be killed, displaced and lose their property. All efforts must be made to avoid this scenario.

SUCCESS ISN’T MEASURED BY MONEY OR POWER OR SOCIAL RANK. SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY YOUR DISCIPLINE AND INNER PEACE. MIKE DITKA

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Hizbollah and Israel have stepped back from the brink, still trouble persists

Mutual fear and aggression have reduced the immediate danger but both are diametrically opposed to one another and a future clash is certain

Israel’s more confrontational approach and the fiery war of words

between officials and Hizbollah raised concerns

about the prospect of renewed conflict.

How can the Brexit impasse be solved?

I believe it is right to hold out hope the United Kingdom will resolve the current Brexit impasse.

But to avoid such crisis in the future will require more than codifying the British Constitution as suggested by experts, both economical and political.

It will require systematic electoral reform as a pre-requisite to setting out a new framework for governance.

The current impasse has been directly

contributed to by the will of the country being frustrated by the vagaries of the ‘first past the post’ voting system.

It has unfairly silenced the power and the voice of those winning many votes but disproportionately few parliamen-tary seats.

The current stalemate has its roots in this democratic distortion. To rewrite the British Constitution without first addressing this issue amounts to build-

ing castles in the air.Likewise I am afraid that a codified

constitution may, alas, not the be the ultimate solution to end the crisis.

The law, however framed, is only as fair and just as those charged with ex-ecuting it.

Events in Parliament this week pro-vide ample and worrisome evidence of this.

John


C I V I L I A N ’ S T R I B U N E


ELIZABETH TSURKOV

After a week of violence be-tween Israel and the Leb-anese militia Hizbollah,

tensions have simmered down. The situation was quite different last Sunday, when hundreds of cars packed with terrified civil-ians fleeing southern Lebanon created traffic jams as they fled north after a volley of tit-for-tat strikes. After being hit by a series of drone and airstrikes, which killed two fighters and damaged its media centre, Hiz-bollah launched a retaliatory strike from southern Lebanon against Israeli army targets in the village of Avivim. Israel re-sponded with artillery strikes on southern Lebanon. Yet despite the prospect of an all-out war between these two well-armed adversaries increasing in recent months, the balance of mutual fear and aggression inflicted by both sides has reduced the im-mediate likelihood of real con-flict.

The latest escalation followed a wave of attacks attributed to Israel against Iran’s non-state allies in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Israeli’s increasingly aggressive posture against the network of Iran-aligned militias is trying to reverse, or at least stymie, some of the gains made by Tehran and its proxies in recent years. While the popularity of Iran and Hizbollah suffered from their involvement in the Syrian war on the side of the Assad regime, Iran’s influence in the Levant has grown significantly since 2011. International negotiations with Iran during the Obama ad-ministration focused on curbing its nuclear programme, with its regional ambitions largely going unchecked. The Trump admin-istration, for all its belligerent statements, has not done much to counter Iran’s growing clout in the region.

Israel’s more confrontation-al approach and the fiery war of words between officials and Hizbollah raised concerns about the prospect of renewed con-flict. Following an Israeli attack

on Hizbollah foreign fighters in Syria, the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah made an unusually frenzied speech a fortnight ago, threatening that from then on, Israel’s drone flights over Leb-anese airspace would no longer be tolerated and that the de-vices would be shot down by Hizbollah.

Israeli Housing Minister Yoav Galant responded by threaten-ing to “return Lebanon to the stone age”, echoing previous rhetoric from other Israeli of-ficials.

The bellicose exchanges have fuelled fear among Lebanese and Israelis of a repeat of the trauma of the last war in 2006, which was enormously devas-tating to Lebanon, particularly in the south. Most of the 1,000-plus people killed in Lebanon were civilians. Israel suffered significantly fewer losses. How-ever, the low public tolerance for casualties and inability to definitively defeat Hizbollah on the battlefield left Israelis

aggrieved and contributed to the downfall of then prime minister Ehud Olmert, who led Israel into the conflict.

Despite the recent fiery rhet-oric, officials from both Hiz-bollah and Israel have been at pains to calm down tensions. In an August 31 speech, Mr Nas-rallah walked back his vow a week earlier to shoot down Is-raeli drones, which continue to hover over Lebanon. Hizbol-lah’s deputy secretary general, Naim Qassem, said the group would retaliate against an attack from Israel but not aim to start a wider conflagration. And Is-raeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu banned his minis-ters from passing judgment on the exchange of fire after Mr Galant’s comment.

Other signs point to efforts on both sides to avoid war. Hiz-bollah’s retaliation against the Israeli strikes on its fighters in Syria, in the form of a cross-bor-der attack against military tar-gets and not civilians, is one

such indication. Israel’s decision to significantly reduce the pres-ence of soldiers along the border with Lebanon and replace them with mannequins in uniform was intended primarily as a de-terrent and to avoid loss of civil-ian lives. However, by using this tactic, which appeared to ensure no soldiers were harmed in the Hizbollah attack, the Israeli De-fence Forces also guaranteed

there would be no pressure on government from the Israeli public to retaliate further. The Israeli counter-shelling follow-ing the Hizbollah attack largely pounded empty fields near Ma-roun Al Ras in southern Leba-non, to the bemusement of an-chors on Hizbollah’s TV station.

Both sides are trying to avoid conflict because they know another war would be devas-tating. Hizbollah now holds an arsenal of more than 100,000 rockets and missiles that could hit any point inside Israel. This means that a strategy employed in previous conflicts to reduce the number of casualties in Is-rael, namely mass flight from the north to the south, would be less effective. In addition, Hizbollah now has dozens of precision-guided missiles that could hit strategic targets. Hiz-bollah fighters have also gained significant combat experience from the battlefields of Syria.

On the other side of the bal-ance of power is the IDF, which





SUCCESS ISN’T MEASURED BY MONEY OR POWER OR SOCIAL RANK. SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY YOUR DISCIPLINE AND INNER PEACE. MIKE DITKA

QUOTE OF THE DAY



Israel’s more confrontational approach and the fiery war of words

between officials and Hizbollah raised concerns

about the prospect of renewed conflict.

How can the Brexit impasse be solved?

I believe it is right to hold out hope the United Kingdom will resolve the current Brexit impasse.

But to avoid such crisis in the future will require more than codifying the British Constitution as suggested by experts, both economical and political.

It will require systematic electoral reform as a pre-requisite to setting out a new framework for governance.

The current impasse has been directly

contributed to by the will of the country being frustrated by the vagaries of the ‘first past the post’ voting system.

It has unfairly silenced the power and the voice of those winning many votes but disproportionately few parliamen-tary seats.

The current stalemate has its roots in this democratic distortion. To rewrite the British Constitution without first addressing this issue amounts to build-

ing castles in the air.Likewise I am afraid that a codified

constitution may, alas, not the be the ultimate solution to end the crisis.

The law, however framed, is only as fair and just as those charged with ex-ecuting it.

Events in Parliament this week pro-vide ample and worrisome evidence of this.

John


TOP

4TWEETS

04

02

03

01

China just enacted a major stimulus plan.

With all the Tariffs THEY are paying to the USA, Billions and Billions of Dollars, they need it! In the meantime, our Fed-eral Reserve sits back and does NOTHING!

@realDonaldTrump

As important as the final result is the

journey and the effort. Our effort and journey to the moon was worth it. There will be a new dawn and a brighter tomorrow soon!

@narendramodi

Foreigners sometimes ask if Hinduism re-

quires vegetarianism or abjures alcohol, &are puzzled when diff Hin-dus give them diff an-swers. Versions of the faith come with their own prescriptions and proscriptions; there is no universal require-ment

#TheHinduWay@ShashiTharoor

Bahamas govt has asked for US help

in Hurricane Dorian aftermath. After South America trip with Ivanka Trump, USAID chief Mark Green heads to Miami to oversee delivery of emer-gency supplies as part of int’l response that in-cludes govts of Caribbe-an, UK, Canada, Green’s aides say.

@JenniferJJacobs

Disclaimer: (Views expressed by columnists are personal and need not necessarily reflect our

editorial stances)





1971In Washington, D.C., the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugu-rated, with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass.

1974Watergate scandal: US President Gerald Ford signs the pardon of Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.

1978Black Friday, a massacre by soldiers against protesters in Tehran, results in 700–3000 deaths, it marks the beginning of the end of the monarchy in Iran.

TODAY DAY IN

HISTORY



RASHMEE ROSHAN LALL

Let’s face it, an econom-ic slowdown is probably good for climate change.

Last week Sir Ian Boyd, the UK government’s chief envi-ronmental scientist, called for a complete change in how the country measures economic growth. If it’s by gross domestic product (GDP), he said, rather than metrics such as environ-mental security and a relatively stable climate, it simply encour-ages the mindset of consump-tion. “The way we live our lives is generally not good for the environment. We like to con-sume things but the more we consume, the more we absorb the resources of the planet.”

In so doing, we generate waste, with all our polluting activities contributing to cli-mate change.

There is something in the diagnosis, which isn’t particu-larly new but bears repeat-ing, if only to drive the point home. For some years, ecolo-gists and economists alike have questioned the very principle of pursuing growth as an eco-nomic model. Just like Sir Ian, Federico Demaria, an expert on ecological economics at the Autonomous University of Bar-celona, has spoken out about modern capitalism’s fixation on growth. GDP is not an accurate indicator of progress, he said, as it merely leads to an increase in material and energy usage. He called instead for “degrowth, the hypothesis that we can live

well, with less”.In June, C40 Cities, a network

of nearly 100 of the world’s big-gest cities, released a report that focused on their 700 mil-lion inhabitants’ consumption habits. It said the appetite for goods and services, “including food, clothing, aviation, elec-tronics, construction and vehi-cles”, is responsible for 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. In August last year, a scientific report commissioned by the United Nations put the case very starkly: “Economies have used up the capacity of planetary ecosystems to handle the waste generated by energy and material use.”

What this means is pretty clear. The so-called “hedon-ic treadmill” promotes buying stuff but rising demand for trav-el, electronics, entertainment, food and all manner of bau-bles big and small is a problem. Consumerism has expanded the world economy, made in-dividual countries richer and improved their people’s stand-ard of living. But consumption uses resources and generates waste. The idea of permanent and rising economic growth is unsustainable. And it is not possible, however hard we try, to decouple consumerism from environmental and societal costs.

By that token, is the predict-ed global economic slowdown such a bad thing? It’s been a couple of weeks since all the signs started to point to a se-rious downturn. China has re-

ported the weakest growth in industrial output since 2002.

The German economy, Eu-rope’s largest, shrank as exports slumped. In the Eurozone, trade performance is faltering and industrial production has plummeted lower than at any point in more than three years. Meanwhile the US and UK bond markets have flashed their big-gest recession warnings since the 2008 global financial crisis. For now, economists are warn-ing that multiple trade spats set off by US president Donald Trump and a slew of geopolit-ical crises are coalescing to hit growth.

The world economy, they say, faces its weakest expansion since the financial crisis.

What does this really mean in terms of consumption? Not much, in the short term. Just days ago, government data from the US, the world’s largest consumer market, showed the

strongest growth in consumer spending in nearly five years. Americans still seem willing to open their wallets for health and beauty care, as well as res-taurant meals, snacks, fancy bottled water and leisure travel. But they don’t seem that keen any more on big-ticket items such as new cars, which is why auto manufacturers are reduc-ing capacity and cutting tens of thousands of jobs.

Best Buy, the multinational that is America’s largest speci-ality retailer of consumer elec-tronics, has lowered its reve-nue forecast for the year on the expectation of falling sales of televisions and smartwatches hit by Trump’s 15 per cent tar-iffs. Some US clothing retail-ers also said they expect lower sales on account of the tariffs, which went into effect on Sun-day. Overall, the University of Michigan’s assessment of US consumer confidence showed an 8.7 per cent fall in August, its largest monthly decline since 2012.

All of which suggests a com-ing recession that would mean less consumption. This is all to the good, if you go by a theory newly being pushed by some that the trade war might be the Trump administration’s most environmentally friendly pol-icy yet. As economics Nobel laureate Robert Shiller recently pointed out: “During a reces-sion, people pull back and re-assess their views. Consumers spend less, avoiding purchases that can be postponed: a new

car, home renovations, and ex-pensive vacations.”

Quite. Even so, it’s unsustain-able to rely on a recession to prevent environmentally cost-ly consumption. The world’s economic model itself needs to be rejigged. How is this to happen when mainstream pol-iticians everywhere routinely seek election on the promise of more growth and increased disposable income?

Britain’s Sir Ian suggests a three-pronged strategy, comprising greater politi-cal honesty, higher taxes on consumption and the use of modern technology. This is an excellent plan. Digital com-munications would reduce the need for travel and 3D printing would replace the need to ship products all over the world. Tax policy would be reformed to reward low-carbon lifestyles and nudge consumers towards frugal behaviour. Crucially, politicians would sell alterna-tive growth strategies such as the circular economy, which relentlessly recycles.

Can this really come to pass? The growing popularity of city allotments to grow food – in Germany and the UK – and rooftop urban agriculture – in Belgium, France and parts of the US – indicates a new appre-ciation among millennials for sustainable consumption.

A recession won’t be enough to enshrine the trend. That will require a shift in economic par-adigms, political truth-telling and far-sighted policymaking.

We can no longer wait for a recession to consume less

To tackle climate change, there needs to be an urgent relook at how any country measures its economic growth

A report released by ‘C40 Cities’ said the appetite for goods and services is responsible for 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Consumerism has expanded the world economy, made

individual countries richer and improved their

people’s standard of living. But consumption

uses resources and generates waste. The

idea of permanent and rising economic growth is

unsustainable.

1951Japanese representatives sign a peace treaty in San Francisco.

10

business


The courts making a decision to try to make a prime minister abide by the law, made by a parliament, of which

he is a member. These are strange times for

democracy

OPPOSITION LABOUR PARTY LEADER JERE-MY CORBYN TOLD BBC TELEVISION.

A pro-Brexit supporter protests between European Union flags outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain

Court action to enforce Brexit delay• The government had no immediate comment on the BBC report

• Johnson took office in July

• He wants to take Britain out of the EU on Oct. 31

• Johnson has said he has no intention of seeking an extension

Reuters | London

British lawmakers are preparing legal action in case Prime Minister Boris

Johnson tries to defy legislation compelling him to seek a further delay to Brexit, the BBC reported yesterday.

An opposition bill which would force Johnson to ask the European Union for an exten-sion to Britain’s departure to avoid a no-deal exit on Oct. 31 was approved by parliament’s appointed upper chamber, the House of Lords, on Friday.

Queen Elizabeth is expected to sign it into law on Monday.

The government had no im-mediate comment on the BBC report, which said lawmakers, including Conservatives ex-pelled this week from Johnson’s ruling party, have lined up a legal team and are willing to go to court to enforce the legislation if necessary.

Johnson, a leader of the cam-paign to leave the EU during the 2016 Brexit referendum, took office in July after his Conserv-ative party predecessor Theresa

May quit following three failed attempts to get a deal with Brus-sels through parliament.

The new prime minister says he wants to take Britain out of the EU on Oct. 31, with or with-out a deal with the bloc.

Johnson has said he has no in-tention of seeking an extension and would rather “die in a ditch” than delay Brexit.

Saturday’s Daily Telegraph re-ported that the prime minister is prepared to defy parliament’s instruction to request an exten-sion to the Brexit process if he fails to agree a new deal.

The newspaper quoted John-son as saying he was only bound “in theory” by the new legis-lation.

Opposition Labour Party lead-er Jeremy Corbyn said he was aware of the lawmakers’ legal moves. “The courts making a decision to try to make a prime minister abide by the law, made by a parliament, of which he is a member. These are strange times for democracy,” Corbyn told BBC television.

An opinion poll on voting in-tentions, carried out by Surva-tion for the Daily Mail, put the

Conservatives on 29 per cent, down 2pc from the previous poll, with Labour unchanged on 24pc. The Liberal Democrats were on 18pc, with the Brexit Party on 17pc.

Rule of LawFormer deputy prime minister

David Lidington said obeying the rule of law was a fundamen-tal principle of the ministerial code.

“Defying any particular law sets a really really dangerous precedent,” he told BBC radio.

Lidington, who was May’s deputy, resigned before Johnson took office.

Johnson says the only solution to the Brexit deadlock is a new election, which he wants to take place on Oct. 15, allowing him to win a new mandate with two weeks left to leave on time.

Two-thirds of parliament’s lawmakers need to back an early election, but opposition parties, including Labour, said they would either vote against or abstain on this until the law to force Johnson to seek a Brexit delay is implemented.

“We need a clear statement from the prime minister that he is going to abide by that act of parliament,” Corbyn said.

Johnson failed to win enough support in a vote on Wednesday for an election, with another vote scheduled for Monday.

Separately on Saturday, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said a “concerningly high number” of firms in the coun-try are not ready for a no-deal Brexit.

The BCC said its survey of 1,500 firms found 41% had not even done a Brexit risk assess-ment.

“Our evidence yet again rein-forces the importance of avert-ing a chaotic exit on Oct. 31,” director general Adam Marshall said.

Trump bullish on China tariffs, but aide warns of long haulWashington

US President Donald Trump on Friday said the costs of

his protracted trade war are fall-ing squarely on China, but a top adviser warned that the struggle between the economic super-powers could drag on for years.

Top-level negotiators are due to resume stalled talks in Wash-ington early next month, with lower-level staff preparing the way in late September, according to officials on both sides.

And Trump says the pressure is on China to come to the table.

“China is eating the tariffs,” Trump said on Twitter, repeat-ing his claim that higher duties mean Washington is collecting billions of dollars from the Asian giant, without costs being passed on to US importers.

“China having worst year in decades. Talks happening, good for all!”

The face-off between the number one and two economies began about 18 months ago and now features steep tariffs on

hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of trade. Trump says he wants to force China into radical change on protection for intel-

lectual property and other key aspects of the current trading relationship.

But White House economic

adviser Larry Kudlow cautioned that the trade war could be a drawn-out contest resembling the Cold War under president

Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.“The stakes are so high, we

have to get it right. If that takes a decade, so be it,” Kudlow told reporters.

“This is the kind of thing where you’re looking at far-reaching consequences... so if it takes us more time to do it and to get it right, so be it,” he said.

“I didn’t go through the whole Cold War, but a lot of it. You know, it took decades, decades, to get where we want-ed to be with the old Soviet Union.”

Economic falloutTrump has repeatedly insist-

ed that US tariffs and China’s slowing economy will pressure Beijing to cut a deal. There are signs that the trade war has also begun to weigh on the US econ-omy, however.

Corporate earnings reports indicate US companies have been hit by the tit-for-tat measures and overall uncertainty. A report released this week said more

than 10,000 job cuts announced last month stemmed from “trade difficulties.”

Tariffs were hiked by both sides last month and US duties on Chinese goods are due to rise further in October and Decem-ber.

However, Kudlow said the face-to-face talks will resume in a good atmosphere.

“I’m just saying it is good thing that they’re coming here, and tempers are calmer,” Kudlow said on CNBC television.

“We would love to go back to where we were in May, where we were getting kind of close to an agreement, maybe 90 percent of the way,” he added.

“It’s very positive that we ne-gotiate and it may well be that something positive comes out of that.”

Talks abruptly broke up in May, with Washington accus-ing Beijing of retracting core commitments just when an overall agreement was close to fruition.

National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow warns the US-China trade war could drag on for years


Boeing suspends testing of 777X aircraftNew York

Boeing has suspended test-ing on its new long-haul 777X aircraft, the com-

pany said Friday, a setback that comes as it battles to rebound from the crisis surrounding the 737 MAX.

The so-called “final load” tests are part of the aircraft certification process, overseen by inspectors from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and meant to subject the plane to “loads and stresses well be-yond normal operational loads,” a Boeing spokesman told AFP in an email.

“During final load testing on the 777X static test airplane, the team encountered an issue that required suspension of the test,” the spokesman said.

“The testing conditions were well beyond any load expect-ed in commercial service. The event is under review and the team is working to understand root cause.”

A source close to the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity said a door of the plane blew out

during the test.Such an occurrence is rare

during final load testing, an in-dustry source said.

The 777X was originally scheduled to take off on its first test flight this summer. That date has been postponed until early 2020 by Boeing, due to problems with its General Elec-tric engine.

The company spokesman de-clined to say whether the latest setback would further delay the schedule.

The FAA investigates issues that come up during structural testing of aircraft, the agency said.

During these tests, the plane is placed under extreme stress to verify its structural strength. To check the wings, for example, a system of fasteners are con-nected which allow examiners to bend them up and down.

Traditionally, these tests push the aircraft to the breaking point estimated by the manufacturers, and are essential to obtain certi-fication from regulators.

The suspension of the testing for the 777X comes as Boeing is in the process of completing

changes required by regulators on the 737 MAX, which has been grounded worldwide after two crashes that resulted in 346 deaths.

Civil aviation authorities have stepped up their inspections since the disasters, most notably the FAA, which has been accused of cozy ties with Boeing.

In an effort to reinforce its independence, the US regulator has become much more detailed and demanding, according to industry sources interviewed.

Boeing’s 777X, which is meant to replace the 777 and can car-ry 400 to 425 passengers, has already been ordered by eight airlines, including Emirates.

It is meant to compete with the A350 of European manufac-turer Airbus.

Up until Friday, industry ex-perts had said the first deliveries of the 777X probably would not take place before 2021 because the test flight period and ap-proval process should be ex-tended, due to the delays caused by the engine issue.

(Courtesy of the seattle times)

Voice-command ovens, robot pets on show at Berlin’s IFA fairBerlin’s IFA, is showcasing a flood of product launches until Wednesday. Here are five trends and gadgets making waves

Fitness trainer for pets

No time to walk or play with your pet puppy or kitten?

California start-up Varram showcased a Pet Fitness robot, which plays with cats and dogs at home via smartphone instructions, even dropping treats as a reward, while the owner is at work.

Sensors in the robot help it detect and stay away from furniture to not get stuck, avoiding bored pets.

The robot can be timed to play with the fam-ily pet at different times and keep track of how much activity the animal has had.

A Pet Fitness robot can keep track of how much activity the animal has had

AI at home

As executive director Jens Heithecker said, “three main

trends at IFA this year are 5G, voice control and AI (artificial intelli-gence)” with the latter two combined in innovations for the home.

Siemens claimed two world firsts with an oven that opens on voice command and separate washing ma-chine and clothes drier that commu-nicate via wifi to predict how long garments will need to dry.

The Home Connect system links household appliances, suggests rec-ipes and even knows which ingredi-ents are already at home, via cameras in the fridge.

Once the meal has been prepared, the oven door opens on voice com-mand, leaving the cook with both hands to slide in the dish.

Meanwhile, the system’s washing machine has built-in sensors to meas-ure the moisture in washed clothes, sending the information to the drier.

However, the sensor cannot detect

whether a stray black sock is about to ruin a load of white laundry. “That would be useful to know,” admitted a Siemens spokeswoman with a smile.

Christmas gifts

Heithecker tips that of the thou-sands of items showcased at

IFA, headsets and wireless stereos will make popular Christmas gifts, as they are “affordable, moveable, high quality and part of the digitally connected world.”

“Headsets with noise cancelling are mostly used in homes now, to squeeze out the surrounding noise - you go into your own world and won’t be disturbed if you want to hear music,” he added.

However, some of these items do not come cheap. Panasonic’s high-tech earphones are retailing for 1,200 euros ($1,326) while Samsung’s mas-sive 219-inch television, aptly called ‘The Wall’, is retailing to business customers for around 500,000 euros.

‘All-in-one’ 5G chip

Huawei created a buzz Friday by launching a new super-fast

Kirin 990 processor, which has a version specially designed for the 5G era - the fifth generation of cellular network technology.

According to Huawei’s claim, the “industry’s first and only all-in-one” 5G chipset includes a modem with fast download speeds. The company also said that by using a single chip, the Kirin will make phones more ef-ficient compared to their rivals, who use a separate processor and modem.

The new Kirin chip, no bigger than a fingernail, “can make phones much smaller,” boasted Richard Yu, who is in charge of Huawei’s consumer business group.

The Chinese firm is embroiled in US-China tensions with Washing-ton advising its allies against using Huawei’s technology to build 5G net-works, due to fears it could be used for spying by Beijing, an accusation the company denies.

Yu took no questions in Berlin, as Huawei also showcased their sleek Mate 30 Series, due to be launched on September 19 in Munich.

Not to be outdone, Korean rivals Samsung also showed off their 5G Fold, a phone which folds out into a single screen.

High-tech relief

High-tech relief for the incon-tinent is offered by D-Free, a

sensor which fits on the abdomen and detects changes in bladder size, calculating how full it is and giving a prediction via a smartphone about when the user will need to urinate.

The system is aimed at young chil-dren being toilet trained and the el-derly worried about being caught short.

It keeps track of the average time between bathroom visits and a ver-sion for senior care homes tells staff which patients will soon need to visit the toilet.

Siemens claimed a world first at Berlin’s IFA tech fair with an oven that opens on voice command

Samsung’s massive 219-inch television is aptly called ‘The Wall’

Richard Yu, who is in charge of Huawei’s consumer business group, spoke at the international electronics fair IFA in Berlin

High-tech relief for the incontinent is offered by D-Free, a sensor which fits on the abdomen and detects changes in bladder size

Boeing’s 777x meant to replace the 777 can carry 400 to 425 passengers


Every oil major is betting heavily against

a 1.5 degree Celsius world and investing in projects that are

contrary to the Paris goals

ANDREW GRANT, A FORMER NATURAL RESOURCES ANALYST AT BARCLAYS

DoJ seeks Google records

San Francisco

The US Department of Jus-tice has asked Google to

provide records on past in-vestigations, as part of its ex-tensive probe of tech giants over possible anti-competitive practices, the internet titan said yesterday.

Washington has not named the companies it has targeted in its probe -- which began in July -- but it appears directed at the likes of dominant tech players such as Google, Face-book, Twitter and Amazon.

“We have answered many questions on these issues over many years, in the Unit-ed States as well as overseas, across many aspects of our business, so this is not new for us,” Kent Walker, Google’s senior vice president of global affairs, said in a blog post.

“The DOJ (Department of Justice) has asked us to pro-vide information about these past investigations, and we expect state attorneys gener-

al will ask similar questions,” Walker said, confirming ru-mors in the US media that a coalition of US states would soon launch an antitrust inves-tigation of the group.

“We have always worked constructively with regulators and we will continue to do so,” he said.

Google was “one of Ameri-ca’s top spenders on research and development, making in-vestments that spur innova-tion: Things that were science fiction a few years ago are now free for everyone,” he stressed.

Lawmakers and activists have raised concerns about the growing dominance of online giants such as Google, Face-book and Amazon in key seg-ments of the digital economy.

A coalition of US states, in-cluding New York, on Friday launched an antitrust investi-gation of Facebook, the first of what is expected to be a wave of action against dominant technology firms.

Google Senior Vice President and General Counsel Kent Walker appears before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S (yahoofinance)

Big Oil undermines UN climate goals with $50bn new projects• Scientists view 1.5 degrees Celsius as a tipping point

Reuters | London

Major oil companies have approved $50 bil-lion of projects since

last year that will not be eco-nomically viable if governments implement the Paris Agreement on climate change, think-tank Carbon Tracker said in a report published on Friday.

The analysis found that invest-ment plans by Royal Dutch Shell, BP and ExxonMobil among other companies will not be compatible with the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“Every oil major is betting heavily against a 1.5 degree Cel-sius world and investing in pro-jects that are contrary to the Par-is goals,” said report co-author Andrew Grant, a former natural resources analyst at Barclays.

Big oil and gas companies have welcomed the U.N.-backed Paris Agreement, in which govern-ments agreed to curb green-house gas emissions enough to limit global warming to 1.5 de-grees Celsius, or “well below” 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

Scientists view 1.5 degrees Celsius as a tipping point where climate impacts such as sea-level rise, natural disasters, forced migration, failed harvests and

deadly heatwaves will rapidly start to intensify if it is breached.

Carbon Tracker’s analysis, co-authored by Mike Coffin, a former geologist at BP, found that 18 newly approved oil and gas projects worth $50 billion

could be left “deep out of the money” in a lower carbon world.

The projects include Shell’s $13 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) Canada LNG project, a $4.3 billion oilfield expansion project in Azerbaijan owned by BP, Exx-on, Chevron and Equinor, and a $1.3 billion deepwater project in Angola operated by BP, Exxon, Chevron, Total and Equinor.

The report also concluded that oil and gas companies risk “wasting” $2.2 trillion by 2030 on new projects if governments apply stricter curbs on green-house gas emissions.

Previous reports on the impli-cations of climate change for oil and gas companies by Carbon

Tracker and other researchers have contributed to a wave of investor pressure on majors to show that their investments are aligned with the Paris goals.

While some companies in-cluding Shell, BP, Total and Equinor have increased spend-ing on renewable energy and introduced carbon reduction targets, the sector says it needs to continue investing in new projects to meet future demand for oil and gas as Asian econo-mies expand.

Shell said in a statement that it has set out an “ambition” to halve net carbon emissions by 2050 “in step with society as it moves towards meeting the aims

of Paris.”“As the energy system evolves,

so is our business, to provide the mix of products that our custom-ers need,” Shell said.

BP said its strategy to produce low cost and low carbon oil and gas was in line with the Interna-tional Energy Agency (IEA)fore-casts and the Paris agreement.

“All of this is aimed at evolving BP from an oil and gas focused company to a much broader en-ergy company so that we are best equipped to help the world get to net zero while meeting rising energy demand,” the company

said in a statement.Chevron said in a statement

that while it was tracking policy changes around climate, “most outlooks we track conclude that oil and gas demand will con-tinue to grow over the coming decades.”

Exxon, Equinor and Total did not reply to requests for com-ment.

Nevertheless, the latest Car-bon Tracker report said the big oil and gas companies spent at least 30% of their investment last year on projects that are inconsistent with the path to limit global warming to even 1.6 degrees Celsius.

“These projects represent an imminent challenge for inves-tors and companies looking to align with climate goals,” the report warned.

Carbon Tracker’s calculations were based on three scenarios produced by the Paris-based IEA models of oil and gas supply un-der different warming pathways.

With fossil fuel supply on course to outstrip demand if the world is to limit warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, the report assumed that the projects with the lowest production costs would be the most competitive.

“Demand for oil can be sat-isfied with projects that break even at below $40 per barrel and pursuing higher-cost pro-jects risks creating stranded assets that will never deliver adequate returns,” the report said.

Benchmark crude futures were trading at around $62 per barrel on Thursday.

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg participates in a youth climate change protest in front of the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan

Turkey calls on US to lift barriers to boost tradeReuters | Istanbul

Turkey asked the Unit-ed States to lift trade

barriers between the two countries during talks on Saturday aimed at sharply increasing bilateral com-merce, Turkey’s trade min-ister said.

Washington and Anka-ra have set an ambitious goal of quadrupling their trade to $100 billion a year, despite the prospect of US sanctions over Turkey’s re-cent purchase of Russian missile defense systems.

Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said she expressed Turkey’s “clear expecta-tion” to US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross over the removal of “cer-tain barriers and policies as implemented by the US ad-ministration that constitute (an) obstacle to enhancing our bilateral trade.”

The White House said in May it was ending a prefer-ential trade agreement with Turkey.

Turkey could also face sanctions from its NATO ally over the delivery in July of Russian S-400 missile de-fense equipment.

Pekcan said she discussed increasing Turkish exports in the civil aviation, auto-motive, jewelry, furniture, textiles and clothing sec-tors.

The US embassy said Ross and Pekcan had agreed that raising trade to $100 billion would require hard work on both sides.

French minister hopes for closer ties with Italy• Relations between Italy and France soured under Italy’s previous government

Reuters | Cernobbio, Italy

With the arrival of a new government in Rome, France and

Italy have a unique chance to strengthen their ties through joint projects and closer coop-eration on European matters, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said yesterday.

Relations between Italy and France soured under Italy’s previous government, whose migration policy Paris has of-ten criticised, drawing angry rebuffs from Interior Minister and right-wing leader Matteo Salvini.

Tensions hit a high in Feb-ruary when France recalled its ambassador to Italy for the first time since World War Two, blaming a string of insults from Italian politicians, capped by then Deputy Prime Minister Luigi di Maio’s decision to meet members of France’s “yellow vest” protest movement.

The coalition comprising Salvini’s League party and Di Maio’s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement collapsed last month after 14 fraught months, paving the way for the 5-Star

to form a new majority with the pro-European Democratic Party (PD).

Speaking at a media briefing on the margins of the annual Ambrosetti business forum, Le Maire said he hoped his first meeting next week with his Italian counterpart, former PD parliamentarian Roberto Gual-tieri, would lay the foundation for joint initiatives.

“There are many projects on the table and I think we can give fresh impetus... to both in-dustrial and financial projects between France and Italy,” he said.

France and Italy have tra-ditionally had close corporate ties, further boosted in recent years by cross-border deals such as the merger to create eyewear giant EssilorLuxotti-ca or shipbuilder Fincantieri’s purchase of rival Chantiers de l’Atlantique.

Further transactions are seen as possible as the two govern-ments grow closer, though Paris has been blamed for scupper-ing a proposed tie-up this year between Fiat Chrysler and Re-nault, in which Paris holds a 15% stake.

Le Maire on Saturday poured cold water on the possibility that merger talks could restart soon, saying Renault had to fo-cus on strengthening its alli-ance with Nissan.

“We need Renault and Nis-san to propose a clear strategic view of their future and I think it’s always better not to do two things at the same time.”

Le Maire said he hoped It-aly would back a recent Fran-co-German proposal to reform EU competition policy to ease big mergers in the Continent, as well as France’s push for an international digital tax on tech giants.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire

Italian Finance Minister Roberto Gualtieri

Carbon Tracker’s anal-ysis, co-authored by Mike Coffin, a former geologist at BP, found

that 18 newly ap-proved oil and gas pro-jects worth $50 billion

could be left “deep out of the money” in a

lower carbon world

The projects include Shell’s $13 billion lique-fied natural gas (LNG) Canada LNG project, a $4.3 billion oilfield expansion project in Azerbaijan owned by

BP, Exxon, Chevron and Equinor, and a $1.3 bil-lion deepwater project in Angola operated by BP, Exxon, Chevron, Total and Equinor.

IT CHAPTER TWO (15+) (HORROR/DRAMA) اااا ااااOASIS JUFFAIR : 10.45 AM + 5.00 + 8.15 + 11.30 PM OASIS JUFFAIR (VIP):11.45 AM + 5.30 + 11.15 PM CITY CENTRE :10.30 AM + 2.00 + 5.30 + 9.00 PM + (12.30 MN + 1.00 AM THURS/FRI)CITY CENTRE (VIP I) :1.00 + 4.30 + 8.00 + 11.30 PM CITY CENTRE (IMAX 2D) :12.30 + 4.00 + 7.30 + 11.00 PM CITY CENTRE (ATMOS) :10.15 AM + 1.30 + 5.00 + 8.30 PM + 12.00 MNSEEF (II): 11.00 AM + 2.15 + 5.30 + 8.45 PM + 12.00 MN + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)WADI AL SAIL: 12.30 + 3.45 + 7.00 + 8.30 + 10.15 + 11.45 PM SAAR:12.45 + 4.00 + 7.15 + 8.15 + 10.30 + 11.30 PM

JAMES MCAVOY, JESSICA CHASTAIN, BILL HADER

CHHICHHORE (PG-15) (HINDI/DRAMA/COMEDY) اFROM THURSDAY 7.00 PM ONWARDSOASIS JUFFAIR : 11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM CITY CENTRE :11.30 AM + 2.30 + 5.30 + 8.30 + 11.30 PM SEEF (I):11.45 AM + 2.45 + 5.45 + 8.45 + 11.45 PM WADI AL SAIL: 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 + 11.15 PM SAAR: 11.00 AM + 2.00 + 5.00 + 8.00 + 11.00 PM

SUSHANT SINGH RAJPUT, SHRADDHA KAPOOR, VARUN SHARMA

PLAYMOBIL: THE MOVIE (G) (ANIMATION/ADVENTUREOASIS JUFFAIR (KIDS CINEMA): 11.00 AM + 3.00 + 7.00 + 11.00 PMCITY CENTRE : 11.30 AM + 1.45 + 4.00 + 6.15 + 8.30 + 10.45 PM SEEF (II): 10.30 AM + 2.30 + 6.30 + 10.30 PM WADI AL SAIL:10.30 AM + 12.30 + 2.30 + 4.30 + 6.30 PM SAAR: 12.15 + 2.15 + 4.15 + 6.15 PMDANIEL RADCLIFFE, ADAM LAMBERT, ANYA TAYLOR-JOYJUST A STRANGER (15+) (FILIPINO/ROMANTIC/DRAMAOASIS JUFFAIR: 10.30 AM + 4.00 + 6.45 + 9.30 PM SEEF (II):11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM

ANNE CURTIS, MARCO GUMABAO , EDU MANZANO

BERLIN, I LOVE YOU (15+) (ROMANTIC/DRAMA)SEEF (II): 2.30 + 7.15 PM + 12.00 MNWADI AL SAIL: 11.45 AM + 4.30 + 9.15 PM

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, HELEN MIRREN, LUKE WILSON

LIGHT OF MY LIFE (PG-15) (DRAMA) SEEF (II):12.00 + 4.45 + 9.30 PM WADI AL SAIL: 2.00 + 6.45 + 11.30 PM

CASEY AFFLECK, ANNA PNIOWSKY, TOM BOWER

SURKHI BINDI (PG) (PUNJABI/COMEDY/ROMANTIC/DRAMA) SEEF (II): 3.30 + 9.00 PM

GURNAM BHULLAR, SARGUN MEHTA, RUPINDER RUPI, NISHA BANO

KHALEB SHANAB (PG) (ARABIC/COMEDY)CITY CENTRE :2.30 + 7.15 PM + 12.00 MNSEEF (II): 9.30 PM + 11.15 PM

AMMAR AL RAHMA, SAAD ABDULLAH, MOHAMMED AL KINDI

ANGEL HAS FALLEN (PG-15)(ACTION/THRILLER/DRAMA) OASIS JUFFAIR : 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PMOASIS JUFFAIR (VIP): 3.00 + 8.45 PMCITY CENTRE : 11.00 AM + 12.00 + 1.30 + 2.30 + 4.00 + 5.00 + 6.30 + 7.30 + 9.00 + 10.00 + 11.30 PM + (12.30 MN THURS/FRI)CITY CENTRE VIP (II): 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 + 12.00 MNSEEF (I): 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 + 9.30 + 12.00 MN

WADI AL SAIL: 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PMSAAR:11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM

GERARD BUTLER, MORGAN FREEMAN, JADA PINKETT SMITH

SAAHO (PG-15)(ACTION/CRIME/THRILLER) اااا OASIS JUFFAIR (HINDI): 10.45 AM + 2.00 + 8.15 + 11.30 PM SEEF (II) (HINDI) : 10.30 AM + 1.45 + 5.00 + 8.15 + 11.30 PM

PRABHAS, SHRADDHA KAPOOR, MANDIRA BEDI

FAST & FURIOUS: HOBBS & SHAW (PG-15)(ACTIONاا CITY CENTRE: 10.15 AM +12.00 + 1.00 + 2.45 + 3.45 + 5.30 + 6.30 + 8.15 + 9.15 + 11.00 + 12.00 MNSEEF (II): 12.30 + 3.15 + 6.00 + 8.45 + 11.30 PM

DWAYNE JOHNSON, JASON STATHAM, IDRIS ELBA

KHAYAL MAATA (PG)(COMEDY/DRAMA) اااا اااا CITY CENTRE : 11.15 AM + 1.45 + 4.15 + 6.45 + 9.15 + 11.45 PM SEEF (II): 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PMWADI AL SAIL: 11.00 AM + 1.30 + 4.00 + 6.30 + 9.00 + 11.30 PM

AHMAD HELMY, MINNA SHALABI, HASSAN HOSNEY

DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD (PG)(ADVENTURECITY CENTRE:10.30 AM + 12.45 + 3.00 + 5.15 + 7.30 + 9.45 + 12.00 MNSEEF (II): 12.00 + 2.15 + 4.30 + 6.45 + 9.00 + 11.15 PM

ISABELA MONER, Q’ORIANKA KILCHER, BENICIO DEL TORO

THE LION KING (PG)(ADVENTURE/DRAMA/FAMILY) CITY CENTRE: 10.45 AM + 1.15 + 3.45 + 6.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PM SEEF (II): 11.30 AM + 2.00 + 4.30 + 7.00 PM

DONALD GLOVER, SETH ROGEN, CHIWETEL EJIOFOR

47 METERS DOWN : UNCAGED (15+)(THRILLER/ HORROR) CITY CENTRE: 12.00 + 2.00 + 4.00 + 6.00 + 8.00 + 10.00 PM + 12.00 MN

SOPHIE NÉLISSE, CORINNE FOX, BRIANNE TJU

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (18+)(DRAMA/COMEDY) CITY CENTRE : 10.30 AM + 1.45 + 5.00 + 8.15 + 11.30 PM

LEONARDO DICAPRIO, BRAD PITT, MARGOT ROBBIE

THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE 2 (PG)(ANIMATION/ADVENTUREOASIS JUFFAIR (KIDS CINEMA): 1.00 + 5.00 + 9.00 PMCITY CENTRE: 2.00 + 6.30 + 11.00 PM SEEF (II): 12.30 + 4.30 + 8.30 PM

SUDEIKIS, JOSH GAD, AWKWAFINA

TOY STORY 4 (G)(ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY) CITY CENTRE: 11.45 AM + 4.15 + 8.45 PM

TOM HANKS, TIM ALLEN, JOAN CUSACK

ALADDIN (PG)(ADVENTURE) ااااا ااااCITY CENTRE: 11.45 AM + 4.30 + 9.15 PM

WILL SMITH, NAOMI SCOTT, MENA MASSOUD

READY OR NOT (18+)(THRILLER/ HORROR) اا اا ااااا CITY CENTRE: 11.45 AM + 1.45 + 3.45 + 5.45 + 7.45 + 9.45 + 11.45 PM

SAMARA WEAVING, ADAM BRODY, MARK O’BRIEN (IX)

MISSION MANGAL (PG-13)(HINDI/DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY) اا OASIS JUFFAIR : 1.15 + 6.30 + 11.45 PM

AKSHAY KUMAR, VIDYA BALAN, ANIRBAN BHATTACHARYYA

BATLA HOUSE (15+) (HINDI/DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY) اااا ااا OASIS JUFFAIR : 4.00 PM

JOHN ABRAHAM, MRUNAL THAKUR, NORA FATEHI

PORINJU MARIAM JOSE (PG-15)(MALAYALAM) OASIS JUFFAIR: 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 PM

JOJU GEORGE, CHEMBAN VINOD, NYLA USHA

THANNEER MATHAN DINANGAL (PG-13)(MALAYALAM) OASIS JUFFAIR: 10.30 AM + 3.45 + 9.00 PM

VINEETH SREENIVASAN, IRSHAD, MATHEW THOMAS

ITTYMAANI (PG)(MALAYALAM)FROM FRIDAY 06TH OASIS JUFFAIR : 11.45 AM + 2.00 + 5.45 + 11.45 PM SEEF (I): 11.45 AM + 2.45 + 5.45 + 8.45 + 11.45 PM AL HAMRA: 9.00 PM + (12.00 MN FRI)

MOHANLAL, SWASIKA, RADHIKA SARATHKUMAR

BROTHER’S DAY (PG-13)(MALAYALAM) FROM FRIDAY 06TH OASIS JUFFAIR :12.45 + 6.15 + 11.45 PM SEEF (I): 11.15 AM + 2.15 + 5.15 + 8.15 + 11.15 PM AL HAMRA: 6.00 PM

PRITHVIRAJ SUKUMARAN, MIA GEORGE, MADONA SEBASTIAN, AISHWARYA LEKSHMI

ENAI NOKI PAAYUM THOTA (PG-15)(TAMIL)FROM FRIDAY 06TH FROM 12.30 PM ONWARDSOASIS JUFFAIR: 2.45 + 5.15 + 8.45 + 11.15 PMSEEF (I): 12.00 + 3.00 + 6.00 + 9.00 PM + 12.00 MNAL HAMRA: 12.00 NOON + 3.00 PM

DHANUSH, MEGHA AKASH, SUNAINA

MAGAMUNI (PG-15)(TAMIL) FROM FRIDAY 06TH SEEF (II): 12.30 + 6.00 + 11.30 PM

AARYA, INDUJA , MAHIMA, ROHINI

09 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2019

M O V I E R E V I E W

It Chapter Two: a clowning gloryThe clown is back, and the kids have grown up in part two of Stephen King’s monster novel, which inspires an overlong, but

suitably scary sequel

• It Chapter 2 is flawed, but still lives up to its predecessor with plenty of scares and humour

It Chapter Two is a 2019 American supernatural hor-ror film and the sequel to the

2017 film It, both based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Stephen King.

The film is directed by Andy Muschietti and written by Gary Dauberman. Set in 2016, 27 years after the events depicted in the first film, it stars James McA-voy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Ha-der, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, and Andy Bean as the adult versions of the Los-ers Club.

Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Wyatt Oleff reprise their roles as the younger Los-ers, while Bill Skarsgård also re-turns as Pennywise the Dancing

Clown. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 65% based on 231 reviews, with an average rating of 6.25/10. The website’s critical consensus reads: “It: Chapter Two proves bigger doesn’t always mean scar-ier for horror sequels, but a fine cast and faithful approach to the source material keep this follow-up afloat.”

On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film has a score of 59 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating “mixed or average reviews”.

Audiences polled by CinemaS-core gave the film an average grade of “B+” on an A+ to F scale, the same as the first film, while those at PostTrak gave it an over-all positive score of 80% and a 62% “definite recommend.”

Writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper praised the production design and cast, but said it wasn’t as scary as the first film, writing: “For all of Muschietti’s visual flourishes and with the greatly talented Bill Skarsgård again delivering

a madcap, disturbingly effective, all-in performance as the dread-ed Pennywise, It: Chapter Two

had a relatively muted impact on me.”

Variety’s Peter DeBruge wrote:

“The clown is back, and the kids have grown up in part two of Stephen King’s monster novel,

which inspires an overlong, but suitably scary sequel.”

Katie Rife of The A. V. Club gave the film a C+, praising Ha-der’s performance but summa-rizing, “What a shame, than to build this beautiful stage, pop-ulate it with talented actors and high-level [craftsmen], and then drop them all through the trap door of plodding humor and scattershot plotting”.

The sequel to 2017’s horror hit once again pits the Losers Club, now adults, against Stephen King’s psy-

cho-killer clown — but a nearly three-hour run time dulls the terrifying effects

KNOW WHAT

A scene from ‘It Chapter Two’

13

14 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2019

Camila avoids social media to ‘protect her energy’Los Angeles

Singer Camila Cabello says she avoids social media in order to “protect her en-

ergy”.“I want it to be things I can

relate to, things from the heart. I do it to protect my energy. I can’t do that if I care about what people think. I can’t do that if I’m trying to please,” Cabello said on on Apple Music’s

Beats 1 radio

show, reports “femalefirst.co.uk”.

The “Havana” hit-maker has earlier said that she doesn’t use social media “that much” because it ’s “not good” for her.

“I don’t go on s o c i a l m e d i a that much

cause it’s not good for me, and I don’t know how to not be affect-

ed by what people say here so I just

don’t read it,” she said.

Camila, how-ever, acknowl-

e d g e d n o

everything about social media was bad. “I am totally aware I can use this platform to help people even in small ways! So to anyone on here who is strug-gling, which we all do some-times cause we’re human! I super recommend taking five minutes out of your day to just breathe.” she said.

The pop has taken to medi-tation and breathing exercises lately in a bid to reduce anxiety.

Orlando overcomes fear of snakes by adopting oneLos Angeles

Hollywood actor Or-lando Bloom has

adopted a pet snake to over-come his fear of serpents.

“The Lord of the Rings” star took in a snake, while playing outside with Flynn, his son from his marriage to former wife Miranda Kerr, reports “aceshowbiz.com”.

“I’m afraid of snakes, but I like to confront my fears. I was actually in the garden with my son Flynn and I saw a little snake,” Bloom said during an appearance on “The Late Late Show with James Corden”. “

“He was freaking out so I just picked it up and grabbed it. I had this snake and it was actually really sweet. I got a little aquarium for him and a little heat lamp and did all the things (you’re sup-posed to do). We named him Willbur and I really fell in love with him.”

When Brad Pitt made Kendall

Jenner nervousLos Angeles

Supermodel Kendall Jenner has revealed why she slipped out quickly from brother-in-law Kanye Wests recent Sunday Ser- vice. She was too nervous on

spotting Hol- lywood hunk Brad Pitt at the Service.

“He was there. I think he’s been a couple times, but

that was the first time that I was there when

he was there. And, I lit-erally left early,” Jenner

confessed to Jimmy Fallon, on his popular show, “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”, according to a report in “holly-woodlife.com”.

Pitt surprised all when he turned up at West’s Service on September 1. Although the “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” actor has been to West’s Service before, this was the first time he was around on the same day that 23-year-old supermodel Kendall was around.

“I just saw ‘’Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’’ and it was so good and he just gets better with age so I was like “I gotta go. Isn’t there a saying “don’t ever meet your superheroes?’’ I just love him so much I’’m going to leave it at that,” she explained to Fallon.

Amber Heard appoints attorney to defend her from USD 50 million defamation suitLos Angeles

Amber Heard has r e c r u i t e d a t -torney Roberta

Kaplan to defend her from the USD 50 million lawsuit filed against her by ex-husband and actor Johnny Depp.

Kaplan is a known name and is the co-founder of Time’s Up Legal Defence Fund. He has represented women in similar cases who were sued for making sexual abuse allegations, report-ed Variety.

Heard is facing a defama-tion suit filed by Depp earlier in March, three months after Heard published an op-ed in the Washington Post.

In the article, Heard allud-ed to the backlash she faced after accusing the former husband of domestic vio-lence.

However, Depp denies the claims levelled by Heard, which first arose in the course of their 2016 divorce.

Will Smith to produce and star in ‘Brilliance’ adaptationLos Angeles

Actor Will Smith, who is awaiting the release of

his upcoming feature ‘Gem-ini Man’ has landed a role to star in a movie adaptation of Marcus Sakey’s dystopi-an trilogy ‘Bril-liance’.

Smith will also bankroll the film, re-ported Variety.

The script of the upcoming feature will be written by Akiva Goldsman who will produce along with James Lassiter and Shane Salemo.

The film will be co-pro-duced by Goldsman’s pro-duction house Weed Road, along with Smith’s West-brook and Overbrook and Salerno’s the Story Factory.

Justin Bieber slams fan after being criticised

for his relationship with Hailey Bieber

Los Angeles

Singer-songwriter Justin Bieber is head over heels in love with his wife and model Hailey Bieber and doesn’t care about the haters.

The 25-year-old singer drew criticism from a fan on Thursday after gushing over a photo of Hailey.

“No makeup like what??” Justin wrote alongside a photo of his wife, adding a slew of emojis, which he shared on his Instagram account.

Although his wife seemed to appreciate the love, commenting, “making a girl blush over here,” one of the singer’s fans

felt differently.“You don’t need to do this, if you really love each oth-

er, just live and enjoy it without trying to pre-sume to appear or

force someone else to see that ‘YOU’RE IN

LOVE,” the social media user commented.

Clapping back, like a boss, Justin, who has publicly de-fended his relationship with Hailey in the past, wrote that “honouring your wife pub-licly is actually such an amazing respectful thing to do.”

‘It’s been 30 years; I am happy with my growth’: SalmanMumbai

Sa l m a n Khan who

recently com-pleted 30 years in Bollywood, says whatever he does on screen will always con-tinue to be based on the choices of his fans.

“There is that bond between fans and stars. I have got a really special connect with them since ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ till today. They are the same with me whether my films work or not,” said Salman.

Rajinikanth, Akshay’s ‘2.0’ opens across 48000 screens in China

Beijing

The blockbuster “2.0” starring Rajinikanth

and Akshay Kumar, hit the screens in China across 48,000 screens in the country.

The film was originally supposed to release across 56,000 screens, but Ra-jini fans are happy. They are celebrating the film’s big release in China, and cheering on social media.

“ # 2 P o i n t 0 I n C h i n a -FromToday. Star Alliance Ltd. is our distributor for #2Point0 in Mainland Chi-na. @2Point0movie releas-ing in a record number of 48000 - 3D screens in Chi-na today,” the film’s pro-ducers Lyca Productions tweeted on September 6.

The film, which features Rajinikanth in triple role as scientist Vaseegaran, Robot Chitti and 2.0, an upgraded version of Chit-ti, was originally planned for a July release in Chi-na, where Bollywood films such as “3 Idiots” and “Dangal” has done big business.

Music maestro AR Rah-man, who has composed the music of “2.0”, had ear-lier tweeted: “2 point 0 in China on 56,000 screens. Premiere on June 28.. . Grand release on July 12.”

“2.0” is a sequel to the 2010 film “Enthiran” and is directed by Shankar.

Priyanka jets off to Toronto for ‘The Sky Is Pink’ premiere

Toronto

Priyanka Chopra is on her way to the Toronto In-ternational Film Festival

(TIFF), where her upcoming starrer, “The Sky Is Pink”, is scheduled have its world pre-miere on September 13.

“On my way to @TIFF_NET today. Can’t wait for the rest of the team to join me for the premiere on the 13th. So ex-cited for the amazing early reviews and to share this with the world!

#TheSkyIsPink,” tweeted Priyanka who, apart from starring in the film, also co-produces the project.

“The Sky Is Pink”, scheduled to release on October 11, also features Far-han Akhtar and Zaira Wasim.

While Priyanka chose a photo of them casually hanging out on a beach, Farhan posted an image where he gives a piggyback ride to the actress.

“#TheSky-IsPink was made with not just hard work but with

a lot of love and it is over-whelming to receive so much

love and appreciation at #TIFF! Trailer will be out soon guys,” he captioned it.

The film is produced by RSVP and Roy Kapur Films, in association with

SK Global and Purple Pebble Pictures.

Orlando Bloom

Will Smith

Salman Khan

Kendall Jenner

Amber Heard

Camila Cabello

Brad Pitt

15

sports


Leclerc grabs Monza poleFerrari’s Charles Leclerc took pole position following a farcical end to qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix

• Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz of McLaren were the only drivers to produce final qualifying runs after clocking lap-times on their first runs in Q3

• Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas take second and third places respectively

• Sebastian Vettel in fourth for F1 Italian Grand Prix

AFP | Monza, Italy

Charles Leclerc secured pole for Ferrari in the Italian Grand Prix in

shambolic circumstances yes-terday when only two cars par-ticipated in the final qualifying showdown laps.

An unprecedented ‘cat-and-mouse’ procession as the teams crawled round the circuit, back-ing each other up to claim good slipstreaming positions, result-ed in a farce that saw eight cars timed out by the chequered flag.

“A big mess,” said Leclerc, who took pole ahead of defend-ing five-time champion Lewis Hamilton.

The Monegasque and Carlos Sainz of McLaren were the only drivers to produce final qualify-ing runs after clocking lap-times on their first runs in Q3.

The stewards immediately declared that the shambolic fail-ure at the end of the session was under investigation, the teams having failed to deliver a contest for the paying public.

“Today, to see so many peo-ple here feels amazing,” said a happy Leclerc, who claimed his

maiden victory at last week’s tragic Belgian Grand Prix where he dedicated his win to the memory of his late friend An-thoine Hubert, who was killed in the previous day’s F2 race.

“I am happy with pole, but disappointed at the end.

“Honestly, I have to be grate-ful we’re on the front row to have a fight with the Ferraris,” said Hamilton.

“It’s a bit of an anti-climax, but we just timed out.”

Valtteri Bottas qualified third in the second Mercedes ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the sec-ond Ferrari, the two Renaults of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg and Sainz, who was seventh.

Red Bull new boy Alex Albon was eighth ahead of Lance Stroll of Racing Point and Kimi Rai-kkonen of Alfa Romeo, both of whom failed to clock a time in Q3 when Raikkonen crashed. He was uninjured.

Bottas said he and Mercedes had been unlucky to be trapped in the bunched traffic.

“The yellow flag in the last corner meant we probably missed the pole.”

Wild cheering

The Q1 session started in dry conditions and warm late-sum-mer sunshine with a welcome air temperature of 23 degrees Celsius and the track at 38, a near-perfect invitation for Fer-rari to delight a big red crowd in the old Autodromo Nazionale.

As expected, the top teams made a cautious start as they

looked for enough room to launch a tag-team slipstream-ing show. When they did, Le-clerc soon went top to be passed promptly by both Renaults, led by Hulkenberg.

Leclerc rose again to wild cheering from the tifosi after a brief red-flagged suspension when Sergio Perez pulled up at Curva Grande.

That cost him a spot in Q2 as he went out along with Romain Grosjean of Haas, the two Wil-liams men George Russell and Robert Kubica and Verstappen, who suffered a power failure.

The Dutchman was set to take penalties and start at or near the back anyway, but this continued a recent run of setbacks.

Hamilton was out early and soon on top in Q2 before Le-clerc took over with a lap in 1:19.553, just a tenth faster than the champion and Vettel, before Hamilton went top in 1:19.464.

Hamilton led Bottas out of the Mercedes garage ahead of the two Ferraris for Q3 and then stopped at the pit-lane exit to allow them to pass – a strategic move that left Vettel as a reluc-tant leader.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc celebrates taking pole position

KNOW WHAT

The almost laughable scenes at the end were precipitated by the fact that a

slipstream at Monza can be worth about

0.3secs a lap, invalu-able when the times are so close around a circuit with only six

effective corners

England narrowly avoid follow-on against Australia

Reuters | Manchester

England narrowly avoided the follow-on after they

were bowled out for 301 at Old Trafford yesterday leav-ing Australia with a lead of 196 runs as they head into their second innings with the chance to retain the Ashes.

The series is level at 1-1 with the final test to come at The Oval next week and England need to produce another re-markable comeback to avoid defeat.

It was a fine combined effort from Australia’s pace attack with Josh Hazlewood ending with four wickets and Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins pick-ing up three each.

Left-arm seamer Starc am-ply justified his inclusion for this Test with the key break-through wickets after England resumed on 200 for five.

With the Manchester skies

brighter, the hosts added 28 runs before Starc, with the new ball, removed Jonny Bairstow (17) with a peach of a delivery which got through the gap left by the Yorkshireman’s unwise attempt to drive.

Not for the first time, Ben Stokes, the hero of the Head-ingley comeback was left with the responsibility of saving his country’s innings, but he too fell victim to Starc’s move-ment, this time off the seam, as he edged to Steve Smith at second slip to fall for 26.

Jofra Archer joined Joss Buttler at the crease but scored just one before getting out to a poor shot, edging Cummins to keeper Tim Paine.

Stuart Broad (5) has his off-stump emphatically removed by Starc, bringing to the crease Jack Leach, whose famous one not out at Headingley was re-warded with a standing ova-tion.

Bails fly as England’s Jonny Bairstow is bowled by Australia’s Mitchell Starc

Mexico forward Javier Hernandez (right) opens the scoring on a header against the United Sates

Mexico dominates USA 3-0 in rematch of Gold Cup finalAFP | East Rutherford, United States

Erick Gutierrez and Uriel Antuna scored second-half

goals as Mexico routed the United States 3-0 on Friday in a rematch of the 2019 CONCA-CAF Gold Cup final.

PSV Eindhoven’s Gutierrez and Antuna scored just four minutes apart as Mexico post-ed their biggest win over the US since 2009 in a regional ri-valry that has become one-sid-ed of late.

Mexico, who are ranked 12th in the world, have now won five of the last six contests be-tween the countries includ-ing a 1-0 victory in their last game, the Gold Cup final on July 7.

Mexico’s 31-player roster in-

cluded all 23 players that were part of the 2019 Gold Cup-win-ning squad, while the US had 15 players from their runner-up squad.

Mexico did a good job of pressuring the US defence in their own end, forcing turn-overs and creating scoring chances.

“We need to be smarter with some plays we make,” said US midfielder Wil Trapp. “They press well and at times we were naive how we played the ball out. The connections wer-en’t there.”

There were so many fans in green and red among the throng of 47,900 at MetLife Stadium that it sounded like the game was being played in Azteca Stadium instead of the state of New Jersey.

‘Critical but stable’ Correa in induced comaAFP | London

Juan Manuel Correa is in an induced coma in a London

hospital after suffering com-plications following the crash in which Anthoine Hubert was killed at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.

The Ecuadorian-American racing driver is in a “critical but stable” condition, his parents said in a statement yesterday.

Correa, 22, broke his legs and suffered a spinal injury last Sat-urday when he crashed with Hubert during a Formula Two race at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

Frenchman Hubert, 20, died at the circuit 90 minutes after the race.

Correa, grandson of former Ecuador president Rodrigo Borja, was moved to London from a Belgian hospital, where he underwent four hours sur-

gery last Sunday, on Tuesday.In their statement, Juan

Carlos and Maria Correa said: “New complications have sur-faced as a consequence of the massive impact he suffered Sat-urday in Belgium.

“On his arrival to London, Juan Manuel was diagnosed with Acute Respiratory Dis-tress Syndrome. This is an inju-ry considered common in high impact accidents such as this one.”

Track marshals look on as the wreckage of Juan Manuel Correa’s car is lifted off the circuit

Watford sack manager Javi GraciaAFP | New York

Watford have sacked head coach Javi Gra-

cia, the Premier League club said yesterday..

The club are currently bottom of the table with one point from their first four games. Gracia joined in January 2018.

Chairman and CEO Scott Duxbury said: “Javi has rep-resented Watford with great dignity and will always be deserving of our fullest re-spect for his achievements.

“Javi Gracia’s staff will also be leaving the club, ahead of appointment of a new coaching team.

“Everyone at the Hornets wishes Javi and his staff all the very best for the future, and they will always be wel-come visitors in the future at Vicarage Road.”


Nadal to face Medvedev for titleRafael Nadal to play for his 19th Grand Slam title against Daniil Medvedev at US Open

• Nadal overcomes early Berrettini resistance to reach US Open final

• Medvedev swats aside Dimitrov to make US Open final as sublime run goes on

AFP | New York

Rafael Nadal will play for his 19th Grand Slam title, one shy of Roger Feder-

er’s all-time men’s record, after battling past Italy’s Matteo Ber-rettini on Friday and into his fifth US Open final.

The 33-year-old Spaniard dispatched Berrettini 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-1 at Arthur Ashe Stadium to reach a Sunday showdown against Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev, who ousted Bulgar-ian Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-3.

“Very happy to be back into the final of the US Open,” Nadal said. “It means a lot to be back where I am today after some tough moments at the beginning of the season.”

Nadal, who shook off an early season right hip injury to win a 12th French Open title, seeks his fourth US Open crown -- one short of the Open-era record of

five shared by Federer, Pete Sampras and Jimmy

Connors -- to reach the brink of Feder-

er’s mark.“It ’s just an-

other chance on Sunday,” Nadal

said. “I want to enjoy a day off, have a good practice and Sunday is the day to play my best.”

Nadal, into his 27th Grand Slam final, beat Medvedev in last month’s Montreal final in their only prior meeting. But the world number two skipped Cin-cinnati, where Medvedev was champion the following week.

“He’s one of the more solid players on tour,” Nadal said of Medvedev. “He’s making steps forward every single week.

“I need to be playing at my best.”

Medvedev, in his first Grand Slam final at 23, has gone 20-2 in the past six weeks with run-ner-up efforts in Washington and Canada, a title in Cincinnati and a breakthrough US Open run.

“I’m just happy to be in the final,” Medvedev said. “When I was going to USA, I didn’t know it was going to be this good. So I have to say I love USA.”

Medvedev is the first Russian in a men’s Grand Slam final since

Marat Safin won the 2005 Aus-tralian Open title and the first Russian to reach the US Open final since Safin won the 2000 crown.

Nadal has dropped only one set at the Open but was severely tested by 24th seed Berrettini, the first Italian man in the US Open semi-finals since Corrado Barazzutti in 1977.

Berrettini denied Nadal on six break points in the first set, jumped ahead 4-0 in the tie-break and seized two set points at 6-4 as the Ashe crowd roared with delight.

“Winning the first set would have been big,” Berrettini said. “It’s tough to go a set down with him after more than an hour. I was playing really good.”

But the Italian netted two backhand volleys, a baseline backhand and then hit a fore-hand long to hand Nadal the set.

“I was lucky to win that first set,” Nadal said. “First set had been a little bit frustrating. You don’t want to be in a tie-break-

er against a player like Matteo after you have missed all those opportunities.”

Nadal, who never faced a break point, took his first break for a 4-3 lead in the second set, held twice to take the set, then rolled to victory in two hours, 35 minutes.

“I survived at the moment and finally I had the break in the sec-ond set and the match changed,” Nadal said. “I played calm more and super aggressive.”

Medvedev draws cheers

US Open fans gave solid ap-plause to Medvedev after ear-lier-round boos for flashing an obscene gesture and taunts saying he thrived on their jeers for energy to win. He later apologized.

Medvedev took the first-set tie-break after Dimitrov netted a forehand and sent another long on the last two points.

“The confidence means a lot in this case because I do think he was better player in first set. I do think I was kind of lucky to win it,” Medvedev said. “Then the momentum changed com-pletely.”

Dimitrov netted a backhand to surrender a break and the sec-ond set in the 10th game. Med-vedev broke for a 3-1 lead in the third set and held to the finish.

“There’s something strong that makes me win these crazy sets and crazy matches, which maybe two months ago I would have lost,” said Medvedev.

Russia’s Daniil Medve-dev will play his first Grand Slam final at

the US Open

KNOW WHAT

Germany slip up to the Netherlands, Croatia thrash Slovakia

AFP | Paris

Germany suffered a sur-prising 4-2 home defeat

by the Netherlands as World Cup runners-up Croatia ham-mered Slovakia in qualifying for Euro 2020 on Friday.

Joachim Loew’s side lost in Hamburg after debutant Donyell Malen’s late effort for the visitors as the home side failed to pick up a point for the first time in the campaign.

Serge Gnabry scored for the Germans after nine minutes before new Barcelona signing Frenkie de Jong responded for the Dutch. A Jonathan Tah own goal with less than an hour to play gave the trav-

elling Dutch fans something to cheer about before Toni Kroos equalised from the spot.

In Trnava, Croatia retained top spot in Group G with a 4-0 thumping of Slovakia as Nikola Vlasic, Ivan Perisic, Bruno Pet-kovic and Dejan Lovren all got on the scoresheet.

“Since I have been coach this is one of the best matches of the Croatian national team and that is why I am very pleased,” boss Zlatko Dalic, who led his side to the 2018 World Cup final, told HRT Sport.

“There was no chance of us losing this game. We missed a lot of chances in the first half an hour, a little bit of nervous-ness came in.”

Neymar snags equalizer in return as Brazil draw Colombia 2-2 in friendlyAFP | Miami

Neymar didn’t disappoint in his much anticipated

return Friday, grabbing a sec-ond-half equalizer for Brazil in a 2-2 friendly draw with Colom-bia on Friday.

The Paris Saint-Germain star was playing for the first time for club or country since suffering an ankle injury in a friendly against Qatar in June, which ruled him out of the Copa America.

Since then the Brazilian star had been embroiled in a long-running transfer saga that ended this week with the Bra-zilian staying at PSG -- a return to Barcelona finally ruled out.

Before a sell-out crowd of 65,232 at Hard Rock Stadium,

home of the NFL’s Miami Dol-phins, Neymar delivered for Brazil, scoring the equalizer in the 58th after setting up Case-

miro for the game’s opening goal in the 20th minute.

Colombia were lacking top stars James Rodriguez and Rad-

amel Falcao, but thanks to Luis Muriel’s brace they gave Copa America champions Brazil a fright before Neymar rode to the rescue and Tite’s men extended their unbeaten run.

Although Neymar made a qui-et start, it was his cross from a corner that found a soaring Ca-semiro, who nodded past help-less Colombian keeper David Ospina to open the scoring.

The lead didn’t last long as Luis Muriel converted from the spot in the 25th after taking a high kick from Alex Sandro.

Less than 10 minutes later Muriel fired Colombia ahead 2-1. Roger Martinez launched the counter-attack and Duvan Zapata played a ball out wide to Muriel, who blasted past Ed-erson.

Serena coach tips Andreescu as future world No. 1AFP | New York

Patrick Mouratoglou, the coach of 23-time Grand

Slam champion Serena Wil-liams, touted the US Open final opponent Bianca An-dreescu as a future world number one in women’s tennis.

Williams is chasing a 24th Grand Slam singles crown to equal the record held by Australian Margaret Court, but Mouratoglou said he had full respect for the 19-year-old Andreescu.

“I said before the tourna-ment, I had been asked who are my two underdogs, and I said Bianca and (Daniil) Medvedev. So I’m not sur-prised she’s there,” Moura-toglou said Friday.

“I expected her in final, and I think she’s going to be number one soon. Not too soon but in the future, because she has everything that’s needed to be number one.

“A lot of respect for her. A lot of tools in her game. Like a really complete game. She has the whole package. Like the game’s amazing, I think: the physical, the ath-leticism, and the mental. She looks incredibly confi-dent. She feels like she’s where she belongs. That’s the impres-sion she gives.”

Williams has lost three Grand Slam finals since her last major title at the 2017 Australian Open, but Mourato-glou is confident she can finally clinch a record-tying title at the fourth attempt.

Daniil Medvedev of Russia returns a shot against Grigor Dimitrov of BulgariaRafael Nadal of Spain returns a shot against Matteo Berrettini of Italy

Brazil’s foward Neymar Jr. (R) and Colombia’s defender Luis Manuel Orejuela vie for the ball

Debutant Donyell Malen scored the Netherlands’ third goal in their victory over Germany

Messi ‘can leave’ at end of season: BartomeuAFP |

Madrid

Ba r c e l o n a president

Josep Maria Bar-tomeu said on Friday the Spanish giants are not worried about Lionel Messi’s future, despite

the Argentinian star being able to leave the club at the end of the season.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner signed a new four-year deal with Barca in 2017, but Bartomeu says he is free to end his contract beforehand.

“Leo Messi has a contract through to the 2020/21 season, but the player is able to leave Barca before the final season,” Bartomeu told Barcelona’s in-

house television channel.“It’s the same case as with the final

contracts that Xavi, (Carles) Puyol and (Andres) Iniesta had. They are play-ers who deserve that liberty, and we shouldn’t worry, as they are very com-mitted to Barca.

“We want Messi to play for Barca through to 2021 and beyond. We are very calm.”

Bianca Andreescu

Lionel Messi